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Eddie Murphy has reportedly been cast as his hero Richard Pryor in a new biopic of the stand-up comedian's life.

Reports suggest that Murphy will take the lead role in the film, tentatively titled Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said?, which is currently being shopped around by writer-director Bill Condon.

A source told Entertainment Weekly that Fox Searchlight is interested in producing the project, although the studio has not commented on the rumours.

Pryor died of a heart attack in 2005, aged 65.

He became famous for his controversial stand-up work in the 1970s and '80s before going on to star in a number of Hollywood films, including Stir Crazy and Silver Streak.

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Sigur Ros keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson will write the score for a new movie starring Colin Farrell.

The Icelandic musician will record the soundtrack for Ondine, which tells the story of an Irish fisherman who discovers a mermaid in his fishing net.

According to the Sigur Ros's website, a number of songs featuring the entire band will also be included on the soundtrack.

Ondine, which is directed by Neil Jordan, is scheduled for release later this year.

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Helen Mirren is learning Hebrew and Jewish history ahead of her role in upcoming Nazi-hunting movie The Debt, it has been claimed.

The Caligula actress reportedly hopes to absorb the culture of Israel to prepare herself for the part of Mossad spy Rachel Singer.

WENN quotes a source as telling the Daily Express: "Helen has spent the past six weeks reading the history of Israel, Mossad and the life and times of Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal and she's learning Hebrew, too.

"She's really taking this seriously and she's totally immersed into the way of life over there."

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Tom Wilkinson, Jessica Chastain and Ciaran Hinds had joined Mirren and Sam Worthington in the cast of The Debt, which will be directed by John Madden.

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Kylie Minogue has arrived in Mumbai to shoot her Bollywood movie cameo.

The singer will don traditional Indian dress and a red bindi dot for her appearance in the movie Blue.

Joining established actor Akshay Kumar, Mingoue will become the first international star to appear in an "item number", the traditional Bollywood dance.

"I've heard Kylie moves as sweet as she sings, so it's back to the rehearsal room for me," Kumar told Hello.

The song was penned by A.R. Rahman, who wrote the Oscar-winning soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire.

Blue is expected to become the most expensive Bollywood movie of all time with a budget of £20 million, according to The Sun.

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Jennifer Lynch has revealed that her father called her "sick" after reading the script for her upcoming movie Surveillance.

The film, Jennifer's second feature after 1993's Boxing Helena, gives an executive production credit to her father, renowned Eraserhead and Inland Empire filmmaker David Lynch.

Jennifer told The Guardian: "My father called me after he read the script a couple of years ago and he said, 'You're the sickest bitch I know!'

"He called ages later and said, 'What's happening with your movie?' and I said 'Zilch'. I told him I don't know if it's the material, if it's the 15 years raising a kid, if it's Boxing Helena, but nobody's interested.

"And he said, 'What if I put my name on it?' I'm like, 'C'mon Dad, you know how I feel about it'. Because, believe me, it's a big issue for me."

However, she revealed that after adding her father's name to the script as executive producer, she received "more offers than I knew what to do with".

Last year, reports emerged that Jennifer would direct Bollywood thriller Nagin - The Snake Woman.

Surveillance, which stars Julia Ormond and Bill Pullman, opens in UK cinemas on March 6.

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Acclaimed filmmaker Ang Lee will head the jury at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Lee has twice won the top Golden Lion prize at the ceremony, for Brokeback Mountain in 2005 and Lust, Caution two years later.

Organisers said: "Ang Lee is one of the most successful directors in creating a dialogue between the filmmaking culture of the East and West, and is one of the most highly-awarded directors of recent years."

They added that Lee is "one of the most highly appreciated international filmmakers".

The 66th Venice International Film Festival runs from September 2 to 12 and will include a lifetime achievement award for Pixar creative officer John Lasseter.

Darren Aronofsky's Oscar-nominated movie The Wrestler won the Golden Lion at last year's ceremony.

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Terminator Salvation director McG has said that his forthcoming action movie is more realistic than blockbuster rival Transformers.

Speaking to Empire, McG dismissed Michael Bay's robot movies, claiming that they rely on "breakdancing", "backspins" and implausible action scenes.

"I think Transformers is a terrific picture, but that's a picture whose genesis is in a toy. They're sort of more colourful and optimistic and the pictures are sort of breakdancing and flips and backspins," he said.

"But ours is a very different, real world. Ours is a world of, 'This is where we can be ten years from now'. The whole idea for doing this movie was to honour the first three movies... But begin again!"

Bay started a war of words with McG earlier this year when he accused the Charlie's Angels helmer of copying him by introducing giant robots into his Terminator film.

Terminator Salvation and Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen will go head-to-head at the box office this summer, with both movies scheduled to arrive in the UK in June.

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Richard Curtis has helped a group of teenagers make a film about the "real" Notting Hill.

The director was asked by eight local pupils if he would appear in their 'remake' of his 1999 rom-com Notting Hill, which starred Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

Grove Roots, which centres on race riots and immigration, premieres at the Electric Cinema in London tonight, reports the Evening Standard.

Curtis apparently admits in an interview in the film that he was "asking for trouble" by naming his middle-class romantic comedy after the multi-ethnic West London district.

He said: "You think you're in the richest part of town, then you go down one street and you are in a completely different area."

Gabrielle Tierney, from project organisers the Octavia Foundation, said: "[The teenage filmmakers] wanted Curtis to be involved so we requested an interview and he very kindly said yes.

"He talked to us at length and gave the group fantastic advice on how to make it in film."

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Michael Sheen has admitted that he gets frustrated being called an impersonator.

The Welsh actor has portrayed several real-life people throughout his career, including Tony Blair, Kenneth Williams and most recently David Frost in Frost/Nixon. He will next star as legendary football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United, released on March 27.

"I do slightly bristle when I hear the word 'impersonation' because that's not what I do," he told Empire. "But there isn't really a word for anyone doing this. It's a character, just with very specific parameters."

Sheen added that the opportunity to work with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen) again meant that he is eager to continue taking on roles as real people. "Peter's writing some of the best scripts around at the moment and once you start doing them, it's hard to stop," he said.

Discussing The Damned United, Sheen revealed that he was attracted to Clough due to his forceful personality, saying: "One of the amazing things about him is that he's going to shape the world in his image. Inevitably there's something in us that recognises that that's playing with fire and the gods will have to strike you down.

"There was that Saturday night triumvirate of 1970s television: [Impressionist Mike] Yarwood, Parkinson and Match Of The Day. Clough was the only person who'd be on all three."

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New Line and Platinum Dunes have reportedly begun work on a follow-up to horror remake Friday The 13th.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a second instalment in the reworked franchise featuring Jason Voorhees could be released as early as next year.

While no green light has yet been given, writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift have begun penning a possible draft script. However, it is thought that the project will not be approached as a sequel and will not borrow from any pre-existing storylines.

The reimagined Friday, which was released earlier this month, has grossed around $70 million at the worldwide box office to date.

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An American student has staged a vigil outside the studios where Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows is being filmed in a bid to secure a bit-part in the movie.

Brent Klovstad has dipped into his life savings to fly from the US to the UK to establish his camp outside Leavesden Studios in Watford, Herts, in the hope of catching the producer's eye.

Klovstad said that when a number of pleading letters to film bosses for an extra role went unreplied, he hatched the plan to attend the studios in person. Every morning he waits for producers with placards reading phrases such as "Have a Harry Day" and "You are Magical".

The 21-year-old, from San Clemente, California, has vowed to use all his £10,000 savings and said he will carry on for "as long as it takes", reports The Daily Telegraph.

Klovstad said: "I'm prepared to wait as long as my savings last, have an open air fare and have told them I will work for free. I have met the stars and Daniel Radcliffe told me he was really impressed with my commitment and he wished me well."

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Producer Damian Chapa is about to start filming a biopic of Bobby Fischer, considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time.

Chapa, who recently released Polanski Unauthorized, will direct and star in Bobby Fischer Live, which will begin production in March, according to PRNewswire.

Fischer was an American Grandmaster who beat the Russian defending champion in the final of the 1972 World Chess Championships during the Cold War. The clash has been viewed as historic in easing tensions between the USA and Russia, as well as bringing chess into the mainstream.

However, Chapa and Amadeus Pictures said that Fischer was exiled from the US after playing a rematch in Yugoslavia while sanctions were in place against the country. He is said to have become reclusive and developed a hatred towards his American homeland.

The feature will span Fischer's entire life, with filming scheduled to take place in the USA, Russia and Iceland.

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Sweeney Todd has picked up five nominations at the 2009 Empire Awards.

Tim Burton's adaptation of the hit stage musical, which casts Johnny Depp as the titular Fleet Street barber, has been recognised in the best actor (for Depp), actress (Helena Bonham Carter) director, soundtrack and horror categories.

Other movies figuring strongly in the nominations, voted for by readers of Empire magazine, include The Dark Knight, There Will Be Blood and Quantum Of Solace with four nods each.

The best film prize will be a contest between weighty dramas There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, and blockbusters The Dark Knight, Iron Man and WALL-E.

The Jameson Empire Awards 2009, to be hosted by Dara O'Briain, takes place on Sunday, March 29 at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

The nominations in full:

Best Film
There Will Be Blood
WALL-E
No Country For Old Men
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man)
Christian Bale (The Dark Knight)
Daniel Craig (Quantum Of Solace)
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd)

Best Actress
Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
Ellen Page (Juno)
Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky)
Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd)
Olga Kurylenko (Quantum Of Solace)

Best Director
Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight)
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)
The Coen Brothers (No Country For Old Men)
Andrew Stanton (WALL-E)

Best British Film
Rocknrolla
Eden Lake
In Bruges
Son Of Rambow
Hunger

Best Soundtrack (Shortlist by Empire Magazine)
Mamma Mia!
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Rocknrolla
Quantum Of Solace
There Will Be Blood

Best Comedy
Tropic Thunder
Son Of Rambow
Ghost Town
In Bruges
Burn After Reading

Best Horror
The Orphanage
The Mist
Eden Lake
The Strangers
Sweeney Todd

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Superhero Movie
Iron Man
Wanted
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight
WALL-E

Best Thriller
No Country For Old Men
Quantum Of Solace
Changeling
Gone Baby Gone
Eagle Eye

Best Newcomer
Robert Pattinson
Gemma Arterton
Jim Sturgess
Toby Kebbell
Hayley Atwell

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Madea Goes To Jail has retained its place at the top of the US box office.

Tyler Perry's cross-dressing comedy emerges as the number one movie over the weekend, beating off competition from Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.

Buoyed by its Oscar success, Slumdog Millionaire climbs to number three, while Taken and He's Just Not That Into You round out the top five.

Elsewhere, video game adaptation Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li fails to make much of an impression with US filmgoers, landing at number eight.

The top ten in full:

1. (1) Madea Goes To Jail - $16,500,000
2. (-) Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience - $12,700,000
3. (5) Slumdog Millionaire - $12,150,000
4. (3) Taken - $9,950,000
5. (4) He's Just Not That Into You - $5,875,000
6. (7) Paul Blart: Mall Cop - $5,600,000
7. (2) Coraline - $5,252,000
8. (-) Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li - $4,650,000
9. (8) Confessions Of A Shopaholic - $4,490,000
10. (9) Fired Up - $3,800,000

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Keira Knightley has signed up to appear in Mark Romanek's sci-fi project Never Let Me Go.

The actress will star alongside Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan in the cloning-themed movie, reports Variety. 28 Days Later writer Alex Garland penned the script.

Adapted from a Kazuo Ishiguro novel, the plot revolves around three boarding school friends, who discover that they have been bred specifically for organ donation.

Shooting is expected to begin to London and Norfolk next month. It is Romanek's first feature since 2002's One Hour Photo.

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Michael Palin and Terry Jones may appear at a historic screening of the 1979 film Monty Python's Life Of Brian.

The pair have been invited to a showing at Aberystwyth in west Wales, where the film was banned on its release and has never been screened.

Town mayor Sue Jones-Davies, who played Brian's girlfriend Judith Iscariot in the film, will host the sold-out night at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Jones-Davies said: "It was actually a journalist who pointed out to me that the film had never been shown in Aberystwyth because of the ban.

"We decided that we might as well go on with it and see if we could arrange a screening in Aberystwyth. It will be a great evening, and it is about time the film was shown anyway."

She added that she had invited Jones to appear at the screening and will also ask Palin to attend to make the event "more special".

Money from the event will be donated to the British Heart Foundation and ethical news website Truthout.

Last year, a 30-year ban on Life Of Brian was lifted in the Devon resort of Torbay.

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Theo Walcott's girlfriend has reportedly landed a role in the next Harry Potter film.

According to the Daily Mail, Melanie Slade will appear in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part One as a friend of Hermione Granger (Emma Watson).

Explaining her part, she said: "I had a couple of lines to say. I'd love to do more acting."

The 20-year-old, who has been dating the Arsenal and England star since 2006, was offered the role through her boyfriend's aunt, whose partner David Yates is directing the movie.

Slade will make her screen debut alongside Watson as the two girls watch a Quidditch match at Hogwarts.

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Iranian officials have demanded an apology from Hollywood for "30 years of insults and slanders".

A senior advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the request as a delegation of movie industry representatives arrived in Tehran to meet with Iranian filmmakers.

"The Iranian people and our revolution have been repeatedly unjustly attacked by Hollywood," said arts advisor Javad Shamghadri. "How can we sit and have a sincere meeting with American film makers while they they humiliate and insult the Iranian people and the great revolution of this nation?"

He singled out films including Zack Snyder's 300 and the Oscar-nominated drama The Wrestler for promoting anti-Iranian sentiment.

Shamghadri described the bloodthirsty portrayal of Iranian ancestors in 300 as a "clear example of total lies". He also slammed a scene in The Wrestler, which caused controversy last month, for showing an Iranian flag being broken.

Speaking to AFP, the group's representative Leslie Unger described their presence in the region as being on a "completely private initiative for educational and creative exchange, and with no political agenda".

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An Australian movie has been temporarily pulled from cinemas after violence broke out during two screenings.

According to the BBC, a security guard at a Sydney theatre was hospitalised after being attacked by 30 young people during a Thursday night showing of The Combination.

Greater Union Cinemas decided to axe future performances of the David Field movie, based on the 2005 race riots between Australian Lebanese and white youths, for the "safety and security" of staff members.

The Australian Film Syndicate described the move as "unprecedented", adding that the film was a "powerful, critically acclaimed work that has touched a nerve with the Australian public and deserves to be seen by everyone".

However, Greater Union have now announced that screenings will resume on Wednesday with additional security present at each showing.

"Our staff and patrons were placed in an environment they were not comfortable with from a personal safety perspective," said Flynn.

"Until we were able to address these concerns properly and implement additional security measures, the decision was made to suspend sessions of this film."

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American actor Dustin Hoffman was honoured last week at the Cesar Awards - the French equivalent of the Oscars.

The All The President's Men star received the lifetime achievement award for his full body of work at the ceremony.

Recent Oscar winner Sean Penn also attended the awards as its guest of honour.

The best film gong went to Séraphine, while the best director prize went to Jean-Francois Richet.

Vincent Cassel and Yolande Moreau won the awards for best actor and actress, with Jean-Paul Roussillon and Elsa Zylberstein winning for their supporting performances.

The best foreign film prize went to Waltz With Bashir, which had missed out on the same award at last month's Oscars.

Hoffman was recently hailed as "one of the greatest actors of our time" when he was made an honorary commander of France's National Order Of Arts And Letters.