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Warner Brothers has denied asking Guy Ritchie to reshoot scenes for his upcoming movie Sherlock Holmes.

Earlier this week, The Sun suggested that studio executives had been disappointed with early footage, branding one particular scene "ridiculously unrealistic".

However, a representative for the company has dismissed the report as "untrue", insisting that it is "very pleased" with what Ritchie has delivered to date.

"The inserts and pickup shots being completed next week, which have long been part of the schedule, do not involve any cast and are a standard part of filmmaking," said the spokesperson in a statement.

"It is still early in the production process and the studio has not yet seen the movie. Both Warner Bros. and Guy Ritchie are very pleased with the footage they have seen thus far."

The film, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as the titular detective, is scheduled for release in November.

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90210 star AnnaLynne McCord has admitted that she is desperate to join the cast of Twilight sequel New Moon.

The actress, who plays Naomi Clark in the CW show, has confirmed that she auditioned for the role of Heidi, a "fisher" who uses her beauty to lure humans to the Volturi vampires.

Speaking to E! News, she said: "It went really well. We haven't found out yet. I'm just sitting here, crossing the fingers, hoping it'll work out.

"I really loved meeting with Chris Weitz. He's a darling director, and it would be cool to work on it. Obviously, I'm a fan of Twilight. I'm a huge vampire fan, so that, in general, makes me want to do the film."

McCord added that she is unfazed by reports that her potential character will only play a small role in the blockbuster movie.

"Honestly, for me, I really just want to do something really quick, very easy and be a part of a great film…I am more than happy to take the small role and then just take a week or two and go chill," she said.

Production is scheduled to begin in Washington next month, with a slated November release date.

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When it comes to Mickey Rourke, it looks like you can't always take what he says at face value. Yesterday, New York Magazine reported that in a conversation with the actor at New York's Fashion Week, Rourke explained that he is no longer doing Iron Man 2. But it turns out that's not necessarily the case. The Oscar-nominated star of The Wrestler, who starts his gig on Sylvester Stallone's testosterone-fueled The Expendables in two weeks, could still play a Russian baddie in the Iron Man sequel, as sources tell EW that the offer still stands, though nothing's yet being negotiated.
In other Expendables news, EW has learned that Ben Kingsley will not be part of the actioner, but Eric Roberts will. Whether the two have swapped parts remains unclear. Finally, the rumor that Arnold Schwarzenegger is joining the movie seems to be false -- though one source says, "You never know."

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A biopic of late Blockheads frontman Ian Dury has been confirmed for release in 2010.

The unconventional film, named Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll after one of the band's biggest hits, will star Lord Of The Rings actor Andy Serkis in the title role.

It will be produced by Damian Jones, who worked on Kidulthood and Adulthood, with The Blockheads recording music for the soundtrack.

Discussing the role last month, Serkis said that Dury "pre-empted the Sex Pistols and the whole punk movement".

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My Chemical Romance have dismissed speculation that they will write a song for the New Moon soundtrack.

Speaking to MTV News, frontman Gerard Way admitted that the band are "very choosy" about which movie soundtracks they contribute to.

"There were a few films that we didn't do the song for because it didn't fit," he said. "I guess a lot of people would say that a vampire movie would fit, but I would disagree with that these days.

"Even since Black Parade, I would kind of disagree with that. I don't know if we'd be interested in that."

Earlier this month, popstar trio the Jonas Brothers revealed that it would be "very cool" to record a track for the highly-anticipated Twilight sequel.

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Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl have reportedly signed to star in thriller Five Killers.

According to Variety, the film will begin as a romantic comedy which sees the pair falling in love after meeting on holiday. However, their relationship soon takes a dangerous twist when they begin to suspect their neighbours of being assassins hired to kill them.

Robert Luketic, who recently directed Heigl in The Ugly Truth, will helm the project for Lionsgate.

School Of Rock's Scott Aversano and Katalyst Films's Jason Goldberg are slated to produce.

Filming is scheduled to start in Atlanta and France next month.

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Linda Hamilton has revealed that she is in negotiations to reprise the role of Sarah Connor in Terminator Salvation.

Speaking to MTV, the actress confirmed rumours that she had been asked to provide a voiceover for the fourth instalment of the sci-fi franchise.

"I haven’t read it yet. I don’t know what direction they will go in," she said. “I would probably be very happy to loan my voice depending on what the material is. Wait and see. They’re already writing it. We’ve been negotiating it."

Hamilton first played the feisty heroine in the original 1984 movie, returning for its 1991 sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day. However, she admitted that she had rejected the chance to star in the third follow-up because she was unhappy with the storyline.

"They offered me a part. I read it and I knew my character arc was so complete in the first two, and in the third one it was a negligible character," she explained. "She died halfway through and there was no time to mourn her. It was kind of disposable, so I said no thank you."

Terminator Salvation, starring Christian Bale, opens in the UK on June 5.

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Watchmen star Jeffrey Dean Morgan is in talks to join Warner Brothers' The Losers, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on the comics by DC-Vertigo, the story follows a group of Special Forces agents who set out for revenge after they are betrayed by their own government.

Morgan would reportedly play Clay, the group's leader.

Stomp The Yard director Sylvain White is slated to helm the project, which has been adapted for the big screen by Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt.

The movie is scheduled for release in 2011.

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Oscar-winner Stephen Gaghan has signed up to pen the script for thriller Dead Spy Running.

The Traffic writer's latest project is an adaptation of a novel by British author John Stock, which follows the story of a newly-trained spy, who starts an around the world adventure to clear his father's name.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project is intended to be the first in a trilogy, which aims to reinvent the spy genre. The films will apparently mix the grittiness of the Bourne franchise with the humour of John Le Carré's novels.

Terminator Salvation director McG is expected to helm the movie.

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A leaked winner's list for this year's Oscars has been branded a "complete fraud" by organisers.

Earlier this week, a document surfaced that appeared to reveal the recipients of awards at Sunday night's event. It was thought to be authentic because it was signed by Academy President Sid Ganis.

Speaking to E! News, spokesperson Leslie Unger assured fans that the papers were a hoax, adding: "The Academy's president is not advised of the winners in advance."

She added that Pricewaterhouse Coopers was "still counting the ballots" and that a master list of winners was never compiled.

"There are only two people there who will know the complete list of winners in advance of the envelopes being opened during the ceremony," she explained.

Last month, bosses at the Golden Globes Awards were forced to deny claims that Anne Hathaway had been prematurely declared a winner because of an error on their website.

The 81st annual Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday night.

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Mickey Rourke has expressed fears that he will miss out at this weekend's Oscars because of his past altercations with movie bosses.

The Wrestler star admitted that despite his BAFTA and Golden Globe successes, he does not think that he will win the best actor prize on Sunday.

Rourke said: "I don't know. It's voted for by people from the movie business and in the past I've hacked them all off. I was good at that. It came easy to me.

"I stupidly said acting wasn't a job for a real man. I threatened producers, raged at directors, forgot my agent's name. I really burned my bridges. And a lot of people have long memories."

He added that he went "out of control" during the filming of Angel Heart and ended up losing his house, career and his wife.

Rourke will attend the Oscar ceremony without his beloved dog Loki, who passed away earlier this week.

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Fox has purchased the big screen rights to Benjamin Mee's memoir We Bought A Zoo, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Zoo, which was published in September, tells Mee's story as he puts his family's life savings into a dilapidated English zoo, which faced destruction despite holding around 200 exotic animals.

The zookeeper and his children dealt with escaped tigers and endangered animals, while also looking after Mee's wife, who was dying from brain cancer. Mee was previously the subject of BBC documentary Ben's Zoo.

No writer has been confirmed for the project.

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The young cast of Slumdog Millionaire have reportedly left the slums of Mumbai to attend the Academy Awards in Hollywood.

Rubina Ali (Latika) and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (Salim) were initially forbidden from attending by their families.

However, the Daily Mail reports that the youngsters have now been told they can take part and will join Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (Jamal) and other child stars on the red carpet this Sunday.

Ali, nine, said: "I'm very happy that I'm going to the Oscars. My friends are saying, 'your fate is so good'."

The children will reportedly spend two days in a five-star hotel during their stay in Los Angeles.

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Beyoncé has said that Etta James, whom she plays in new film Cadillac Records, is one of her heroes.

Beyoncé told The Mirror that she performed for James when the soul star was coaching her for the movie.

She said: "You can imagine how scary it is when you’re singing someone's song dressed as them and they are watching.

"I knew she was very tough and I was really nervous. My heart was racing. At the end, I hugged her and wanted to cry because she's one of my heroes."

Beyoncé added that it was vital for her portrayal of James to be "raw and honest" to make it as real as possible.

James recently told concertgoers that she could not stand Beyoncé after the singer performed her hit 'At Last' at Barack Obama's inauguration, She later insisted that the comments were made in jest.

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Jewish human rights organisations have claimed that Kate Winslet should not be awarded a best actress Oscar for The Reader.

Holocaust education groups have denounced the film as "the worst Holocaust film ever made" and a "repellent form of revisionism", claiming that it portrays female prison camp guard Hanna Schmitz too sympathetically.

"Essentially it takes a woman who serves in, is responsible for, is complicit in, you pick the words, in the deaths of at least 300 Jews - and her big secret shame is that she's illiterate," said Mark Weitzman, head of The Simon Wiesenthal Centre.

Trudy Gold, chief executive of the London Jewish Cultural Centre, told Jewish News: "This is just one of a spate of films portraying sympathetic Nazis. This woman acted monstrously, there’s no question about that.

"The question is have we gotten to the point where we have to make heroines out of Nazis? I do find it a bit sick."

Winslet has already won a Bafta and Golden Globe for her role in the movie.

The 81st annual Academy Awards take place on Sunday.

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The inaugural recipient of the Heath Ledger Scholarship has been named.

Australian actor Oliver Ackland beat 150 applicants to win the award at a ceremony in Los Angeles last night.

Accepting his prize, Ackland admitted that he felt "surreal", adding that he had entered the competition "an hour before the entries closed" not expecting to be successful.

The scholarship, which was backed by Ledger's ex-girlfriend Naomi Watts and fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman, was designed to help struggling Australian actors make their mark on Hollywood. The prize package included $10,000 and fully-paid flights between Australia and the US.

Famous faces on the judging panel included Brothers & Sisters star Rachel Griffiths and Ledger's Ned Kelly director Gregor Jordan.

Speaking to People, Jordan said: "[Ackland is] a great actor and he's really likeable... He's got [a sort of] Jude Law look. Maybe he's an Aussie Jude Law, who knows?"

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Heath Ledger's father has warned fans that his son is not guaranteed to win an Oscar on Sunday.

The Australian star has been awarded a posthumous nomination in the best supporting actor category for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

Speaking to TMZ, Kim Ledger said: "You can't expect to win something like this. [The Academy] could just as easily turn left, as it could go right. You can't take anything for granted."

"I'm extremely proud," he added, hinting that he "may say a few words" if his son does win.

He revealed that most of Ledger's family have travelled from Australia to Los Angeles for the event but admitted that the ceremony will be a "bittersweet" affair.

The 81st annual Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC on Sunday night.

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Steve McQueen has praised Michael Fassbender's performance in his BAFTA-winning biopic of IRA member Bobby Sands.

The Hunger director said that it was the human element of Sands's story that raised his attention.

He told The Mirror that he had spoken to a number of people involved with the hunger striker as well as prison officers.

Talking about Fassbender's preparation for his portrayal of Sands, he said: "It was more to do with how he was going to occupy that character.

"He did an amazing execution of it."

The former Turner Prize winner added that the reaction to the film was mainly positive, though he admitted that before the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement eight years ago there may have been a different response.

Hunger recently beat Slumdog Millionaire to the best picture gong at the Evening Standard British Film Awards.

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It's not going to snag 11 Oscars, but The Dark Knight—Christian Bale and all—is nipping at Titanic's heels in the court of public opinion.
The 2008 blockbuster has surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Warner Bros. announced late Friday.
According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, the critically acclaimed Caped Crusader sequel—which actually could win eight Academy Awards on Sunday—is now in fourth place on the list of all-time box office grosses, behind only Titanic ($1.84 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.07 billion).
The Dark Knight is currently sitting pretty with $1.001 billion, while the fifth-place Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is way back there with $974.7 million.
$533.1 million of that billion-plus sum was grossed in U.S. theaters, while $468 million was raked in overseas.
Warner Bros.' news comes along with the announcement that The Dark Knight is also now the top-grossing 2-D IMAX release of all time, with $64.9 million grossed worldwide

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Forget the guild awards. Forget the favorites. We're rounding up the theories—and starting some new ones—that say everything you think about Sunday's 81st Academy Awards is wrong.

Sorry about that in advance.

Why Slumdog Millionaire Won't Win Best Picture: It's 1999 again, Slumdog is Saving Private Ryan, The Reader is a Nazied-up Shakespeare in Love, and Harvey Weinstein is Harvey Weinsten.

Why Heath Ledger Won't Win Best Supporting Actor: Doubt is an actor's-actor movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman is an actor's actor, and actors cast the majority of votes.

Why Kate Winslet Won't Win Best Actress: Same as above, except insert Meryl Streep's name in place of Hoffman's. Or, alternately, it's 1994 again, Winslet is Ralph Fiennes, and Streep is Tommy Lee Jones, saving the Academy from presenting an award to a Holocaust heavy.

Why Sean Penn Won't Win Best Actor: Mickey Rourke is Robert De Niro; The Wrestler is his Raging Bull.
Why Mickey Rourke Won't Win Best Actor: Harvey Milk is Harvey Milk; Milk is his tribute; Sean Penn benefits by association.

Why Danny Boyle Won't Win Best Director: The DGA Award-Oscar connection has been less automatic this decade (diverging two out of nine times, to date) than any other decade outside of the DGA's beginnings in the 1940s. Plus, people think David Fincher is cool.

Why Penélope Cruz Won't Win Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams has the bigger part and just might be gaining, while a noted election prognosticator's computer told him Taraji P. Henson has the best statistical chance.

Why WALL-E Won't Win Best Animated Feature: It's the Annie Awards again, and Kung-Fu Panda is the surprise victor again.

Why Slumdog Won't Win Adapted Screenplay: Hmmm…that's a stumper.

Why Milk Won't Win Original Screenplay: An even bigger stumper. The other nominees in this category (WALL-E, Happy-Go-Lucky, Frozen River, In Bruges) failed to muster enough support for Writers Guild nominations.

Why The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Won't Win Best Visual Effects: Ditto what was said about the last two categories. Sometimes, a lock is a lock, and a CGI Brad Pitt is unbeatable.

Why Slumdog Won't Win Best Sound Mixing: The sweep is out; The Dark Knight, at least one oddsmaker's favorite in this category, is in; a measure of revenge is exacted.

[ Last edited by spratt89 at 2-22-2009 11:12 ]