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Daniel Day-Lewis is reportedly in talks to star in Martin Scorsese's upcoming film Silence.

According to Variety, Benicio Del Toro and Gael Garcia Bernal are also in negotiations to join the cast of the long-discussed drama.

Based on the book by Shusaku Endo and adapted by Jay Cocks, the story follows two 17th century Jesuit priests who travel to Japan to locate their mentor and spread the word of Christianity.

Scorsese has reportedly been considering the project for more than a decade.

Silence would mark the third time that Day-Lewis and Scorsese have worked together. They previously collaborated on 1993's The Age Of Innocence and Gangs Of New York, for which Day-Lewis was nominated for an Oscar.

Production is expected to start later this year in New Zealand.

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Dev Patel has joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's cartoon adaptation The Last Airbender, reports Variety.

The Slumdog Millionaire star will play Zuko, the evil prince of the Fire Nation. Patel steps into the role after singer Jesse McCartney pulled out due to scheduling conflicts.

"Jesse had tour dates that conflicted with a boot camp I always hold on my films, and where the actors here have to train for martial arts," explained Shyamalan.

The director added that Patel was "already one of the guys I was interested in. Then I saw Slumdog Millionaire, and the kid just grew in my eyes."

Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone and Jessica Jade Andres are already among the cast of the Paramount movie.

The Last Airbender is scheduled for release on July 2, 2010.

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Kung Fu Panda has swept the board at the 36th annual Annie Awards.

The DreamWorks movie picked up ten awards from its sixteen nominations at the industry event that celebrates the best animated features of the past year.

Among its triumphs were best animated feature and best voice actor for Dustin Hoffman, who played the martial arts expert Master Shifu.

DreamWorks also walked away with prizes for storyboarding and production design, while the spinoff TV series and video game were also honoured.

Competitors in the best animated feature category had included Disney's Bolt and the critically-acclaimed Pixar movie WALL-E.

Last year, it was revealed that a sequel to Kung Fu Panda was in the works.

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Michael Patrick King has hinted that the proposed follow-up to Sex And The City: The Movie will be very different to the original film.

The writer and director revealed that although he has not yet written the script, he knows what route the sequel will not be taking.

"In the last movie, I thought [the fans] wanted to see an epic and violently tragic love story, and drama, but I don’t think you go to that candy store twice," he told reporters at a WGA discussion in Los Angeles.

"You can’t try to do what you did already, so you come up with a different tone that you like."

King also admitted that he had to fight for Jennifer Hudson to be cast as Carrie Bradshaw's (Sarah Jessica Parker) assistant Louise in the hit film.

"It was originally supposed to be Isla Fisher, but I didn't agree with that at all," he said. "It can’t be called Sex And The City without a little colour - it’s just wrong.

"Women are very nice when they figure out who I am. And the only negative comment I ever got about the series was every now and then, some woman of colour - whether it’d be Latina or an African-American - they’d stop and say, 'Where are the sisters?’ in my ear, and I was like, ‘Yeah, where are they?’"

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Samuel L. Jackson has reportedly joined the cast of Rodrigo Garcia's Mother And Child.

The Snakes On A Plane actor will star alongside Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and Kerry Washington in the intersecting story of three women, reports Screen Daily.

The film follows a 50-year-old woman, the daughter that she gave up for adoption and a woman looking to adopt a child of her own.

Everest Entertainment will produce alongside Mockingbird Pictures's Julie Lynn. Babel's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu will executive produce.

"I am thrilled to be financing Rodrigo Garcia's new film. The quality of the material has attracted a world-class cast, and I am proud that this will mark the first film of my new company," said Everest's Lisa Maria Falcone.

Production has already started on the film, which is scheduled for release in 2010.

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Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle has announced plans to invest some of the film's profits back into India.

Investors plan to meet in London this week to discuss how much money to put into a fund to help those living in the Mumbai slums.

The director told The Times: "We want to set it up as soon as possible.

"What absolutely mustn't happen is that the money disappears, or people think this is a PR stunt."

He added that the plan will give the filmmakers a chance to "give something back" to the city which helped them make an extraordinary movie.

Producer Christian Colson recently defended the film from accusations of exploitation of its child stars.

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Kate Moss will reportedly make an attempt to launch an acting career in the US.

According to the News Of The World, the 35-year-old supermodel has been put in touch with a movie agent by boyfriend Jamie Hince ahead of the couple's move to New York.

"She's always had dreams of acting," a source said. "Kate's nervous but feels, with the right backing, she can make the transition from supermodel to Hollywood star."

Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis, who helmed an Agent Provocateur commercial with Moss in 2006, is reportedly assisting with her shift to acting.

"Figgis and Kate have been discussing possible projects and he is helping her work with the right people," added the source.

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Friday The 13th remake director Marcus Nispel has revealed that he will direct a film about cloning.

Speaking to Bloody Disgusting about the project, the German director likened it to John Schlesinger's Marathon Man.

"There's a movie that I'm interested in," he said. "A great movie about cloning, it's called Immaculate Conception. A girl gets pregnant, doesn't know why. You think it goes like Rosemary's Baby but it's not a horror movie, though.

"You find out that she's part of an experiment. A splinter group of the church found a rusty old nail in the hills of Golgotha and they've harvested the DNA they believe is from Jesus Christ. It's like Marathon Man or Coma."

Nisel, who helmed 2003's Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, added that he is also working on a movie called Pod.

"It's dealing with a huge fascination of mine - the seven sub-levels under Manhattan. When they dig deep they find something they shouldn't have," he said.

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Isla Fisher has admitted to trying to keep the clothes she wore for the fortchoming film Confessions Of A Shopaholic.

The actress said that she attempted to have a clause written into her contract but the suggestion met an unfavourable response.

She told The Sun: "I asked my agent if I could have my costumes in my contract - but she laughed in my face! I guess that doesn't really happen."

Fisher recently confirmed that she still plans to marry Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen, who is the father of her child.

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Electronic Arts (EA) has announced that it has sealed a deal to publish all future games in the Jason Bourne franchise.

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy was released last June by Activision after being developed by High Moon Studios.

However, following negotiations with Bourne IP owner Ludlum Entertainment, EA will now oversee all future games featuring the American assassin who suffers from amnesia.

The agreement includes taking over publisher duties for the latest title in the series being developed by Swedish studio Starbreeze.

Mike Quigley,  EA's group vice-president of marketing,  described the Bourne character as "the most exciting action hero to emerge in decades".

"?EA is excited to enter into a long-term relationship with Ludlum Entertainment, bringing the action,  intrigue and intensity of Robert Ludlum’s fiction to life for casual and core gamers around the globe," he added.

Ludlum Entertainment also recently entered into an agreement with Universal Pictures to develop future movies based on the Bourne character.

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Vanessa Hudgens will definitely not be appearing in New Moon, according to the film's writer.

Last month, the High School Musical 3 star's representative denied that she had auditioned for the role of werewolf Leah Clearwater.

Speaking to People, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg confirmed that the actress would not be starring in the follow-up to Twilight.

"I'm not sure about [final] casting but I had heard Vanessa Hudgens was going up for the part of Leah," she said. "But at the moment, the part of Leah doesn't happen until the third movie."

Rosenberg revealed that "the original cast will all be coming back", adding: "They're on set right now in Vancouver. They're all up there prepping the movie to start shooting very soon."

Discussing director Chris Weitz, who has replaced Catherine Hardwicke, she said: "[He] directed The Golden Compass which was a beautiful-looking film. And I think it's wonderful we have someone who has worked with CGI animals... that will be a big part of New Moon.

"I'm delighted we have someone who's so expert at that."

New Moon is scheduled to begin filming in March with a slated November 2009 release date.

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Clint Eastwood has been named as a Modern Master for his work in the movie industry.

The 78-year-old was presented with the award by Sean Penn at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, where Penn told the crowd that working with the veteran actor and director had been one of the highlights of his career.

He said: "He is the director actors dream about. His career is one of continuing jazz."

Eastwood thanked the festival for bestowing him with its highest honour before assuring the crowd that he has no plans to quit the film industry, reports WENN.

"There's a ton of people I haven't worked with. That's a fun thing about making movies. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of new parts that come along you need faces for," he said.

Eastwood recently took second place in a poll of America's favourite movie stars.

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My Chemical Romance have spoken about their recording of Bob Dylan's 'Desolation Row'.

Their cover will feature on the soundtrack of the upcoming movie adaptation of The Watchmen graphic novel.

Lead singer Gerard Way told the BBC that he wanted the band's take on the song to be of its time.

"The movie The Watchmen and the comic are set in this alternate version of the early '80s - I wanted the youth culture to listen to from that universe," he said.

"I think that's what Bob Dylan would want for the song."

Way added that it was not easy being a fan of Dylan and completely altering the way one of his songs was played.

Director Zack Snyder revealed last year that Way had approached him to appear on the soundtrack because he is a "huge fan" of the graphic novel.

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Brad Pitt has revealed that The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button forced him to confront his own mortality and ultimately changed his outlook on life.

The Oscar-nominated movie, for which Pitt received a Best Actor nod, has left him cherishing every moment and banishing "pettiness", reports WENN.

"I walked away realising that time is short. I don't know if I have a day or ten days or ten years or 40 years. Am I halfway or am I close to the end?" he said.

"I don't know, so I have to make sure I don't waste those moments in any kind of pettiness or bitterness or laziness, and that I surround myself with the people who are most important to me."

The father-of-six recently spoke about the "elation" he feels when he is surrounded by his family, adding that he and partner Angelina Jolie see "no reason to stop" adding to their brood.

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Michael Cera has admitted that he enjoyed filming a sex scene with his Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist co-star Kat Dennings.

The Canadian actor told Edinburgh Evening News that director Peter Sollett helped him feel at ease when the love scene was filmed.

"It wasn't hard, I mean it felt like the rest of the shoot pretty much," he said. "It's delicate, it's easy to be uncomfortable in those situations but Peter was really great and the crew were really sensitive about it. It was fun."

Cera, who has appeared in Juno and Superbad, said that he is struggling to come to terms with his pin-up status.

"I don't know what being a sex symbol means," he commented. "It's such a strange thing."

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Marc Forster has reportedly been hired to helm Sony Pictures's Angelology.

According to Variety, the studio won the rights to Danielle Trussoni's debut novel after a fierce bidding war with Universal and Warner Brothers on Friday.

Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment will produce alongside Forster's Apparatus.

The story revolves around a young nun who is forced to team with an angelologist (a studier of angels) after unwittingly reigniting an ancient war. Together the pair must attempt to halt a group of monster-like descendants of angels and humans who want to destroy mankind.

Forster's directing credits include The Kite Runner, Quantum Of Solace and the upcoming zombie epic World War Z.

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Hunger has beaten Slumdog Millionaire to the Best Picture gong at the Evening Standard British Film Awards.

The Steve McQueen-helmed account of the last days of the Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands was selected as this year's prize winner by a jury of film critics.

Kate Winslet, who received an Oscar nod for The Reader, lost out in the Best Actress category to Tilda Swinton for Julia.

The Best Director gong went to The Reader's Stephen Daldry, while the award for Best Actor was shared between Michael Sheen for Frost/Nixon and Pat Shortt for Garage.

Martin McDonagh was awarded the Best Screenplay prize for In Bruges and Sally Hawkins won the Peter Sellers Award For Comedy for Happy Go Lucky.

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Fearne Cotton will host red carpet coverage of the Orange British Academy Film Awards.

The TV presenter has signed a deal with Orange to interview celebrity arrivals at the star-studded event. Coverage will appear on the Orange website from 9.30am on Monday, February 9.

"I'm really looking forward to hosting the Orange Red Carpet programme this year," Cotton said. "Fans of fashion know there's nothing quite like a red carpet in awards season for style spotting! The Orange British Academy Film Awards will be the ultimate place to see the world's biggest film stars and I can't wait to be in the thick of it."

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire lead the BAFTA nominations, with 11 nods apiece.

The BAFTAs take place February 8 at London's Royal Opera House.

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Bill Murray has signed on to star in period drama Get Low, reports Variety.

The Lost In Translation actor will star alongside Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Jarhead's Lucas Black in the true story of a recluse who planned his own funeral so that he could enjoy it while he was still alive.

Murray and Black will play partners at a funeral home, while Duvall will star as Felix 'Bush' Breazeale, the protagonist of the story.

The project will be helmed by Aaron Schneider, who won an Oscar in 2004 for his short film Two Soldiers.

Schneider penned the script alongside C. Gaby Mitchell and Chris Provenzano. Richard, Dean and Harrison Zanuck will produce.

Production is scheduled to begin in Atlanta later this week.

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Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino has climbed to the Australian box office top spot.

The crime drama beats off competition from Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, which moves up to second.

Last week's number one, Tom Cruise's Valkyrie, falls to fourth, while Oscar nominee The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button returns to the top ten.

The top ten in full:

1. (1) Gran Torino - $1,230,789
2. (5) Slumdog Millionaire -$880,744
3. (2) Bride Wars - $788,066
4. (1) Valkyrie - $779,470
5. (4) Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans - $557,977
6. (6) Hotel For Dogs - $530,201
7. (7) Role Models - $492,317
8. (9) Revolutionary Road - $394,671
9. (8) Australia -$351,633
10. (13) The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - $329,124