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Disney to release 'Tron' against 'Hornet'

Disney has set a December 17, 2010 release date for Tron Legacy, putting it in direct competition with Sony's The Green Hornet.

The Seth Rogen superhero movie, which is currently in production, was pushed from a summer 2010 slot this week by the studio.

Sony's 3D Smurfs movie is also scheduled to open on the same day, although the studio is likely to shift the date to avoid competition with its own Green Hornet and Warner Bros animation Yogi Bear, reports Variety.

Tron Legacy, a continuation of Disney's visual effects-pioneering 1982 film, will see original star Jeff Bridges joined by Garrett Hedlund, Michael Sheen and Olivia Wilde.

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Hopkins: 'Blunt is as good as Jodie Foster'

Anthony Hopkins has heaped praise on Wolfman co-star Emily Blunt.

Talking to Empire, the veteran Welsh actor said that Blunt and his Silence Of The Lambs co-star Jodie Foster are the best actresses he has worked with.

"Wonderful. One of the absolute best I've worked with," he said of Young Victoria star Blunt. "For me, it's her and Jodie Foster. You just don't get any better than that."

Hopkins also admitted that he had huge admiration for Blunt's "unspoiled" outlook, saying: "I hope she stays the way she is, because she's absolutely wonderful. She's so unspoiled. There's something so natural about her and she doesn't give a stuff about any of the rubbish."

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Ketai to direct '30 Days of Night' sequel

Ben Ketai will direct Dark Days, the sequel to the 2007 adaptation of comic miniseries 30 Days of Night, reports Bloody Disgusting.

Ketai also collaborated with series creator Steve Niles to write the script for 30 Days of Night: Dark Days and previously wrote the online series 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails and 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust.

The film follows Stella Oleson, a protagonist from the first movie, as she hunts down the vampire responsible for the attack on her home and the death of her husband.

Filming is expected to begin in October.

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Gilliam 'turned down Cruise for Parnassus'

Terry Gilliam has revealed that he turned down an approach from Tom Cruise to step into Heath Ledger's role in The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus.

Ledger died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs while making Parnassus, prompting Gilliam to recruit Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to replace the late actor and complete the movie.

The director told Total Film that he turned down overtures from Cruise because the A-lister didn't know Ledger personally.

"I'm not sure if it was Tom or his agent [who put Cruise forward for the role]," he said. "I know there was a period when Tom's agents were keen. The thing is, I was only interested in people who were friends of Heath. Simple as that. I wanted to keep it in the family."

Gilliam will receive the Movie Legend honour at the Digital Spy Movie Awards next month.

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Nachmanoff: 'It's good to branch out'

Jeffrey Nachmanoff has revealed that he decided to script Billy Smoke partly in a bid to branch out from his past work.

The writer of The Day After Tomorrow and Traitor will pen and direct the Warner Bros comic book adaptation, which will feature Matthew Fox in the lead role.

Nachmanoff confirmed to DS that the film is currently in development and that he hopes to start on the script in the next few months.

He said: "It was something that came along and I was interested in the individuals involved and said, 'Let's see what we can do here'.

"Part of me knows that it's a good idea to branch out a little bit. There's not a long life career-wise to do only political films."

He added: "If you want to stay in the world of making movies you have to do commercial things. The idea is to find ones you can get excited about and do something fun and entertaining with."

Nachmanoff has said that he is "more energised" when working a project that is not merely "pure popcorn".

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Colin Firth 'to play Queen's father'

Colin Firth has signed up to portray the Queen's father in a new film, reports suggest.

According to Tiscali, the actor will take on the role of King George VI in The King's Speech.

The movie records the King's attempts to correct his speech impediment after learning that he is to inherit the throne following his brother Edward's abdication.

Geoffrey Rush will play speech therapist Lionel Logue, says The Hollywood Reporter.

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Carla Bruni cast in Woody Allen's next?

Carla Bruni has signed up for Woody Allen's next movie, reports The Daily Telegraph.

The former supermodel and wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy will allegedly star in Allen's next film, due to shoot in summer 2010 in Paris, says Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

Bruni's entourage has denied to comment on the alleged casting.

Allen expressed his desire to make a film with Bruni earlier this year, saying: "I'm sure she would be wonderful. She has charisma, and she performs, so she's not a stranger to an audience, and I would cast her in many different ways."

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Gilliam denies Farrell 'Quixote' casting

Terry Gilliam has laughed off rumours that Colin Farrell will replace Johnny Depp in the revived Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

Farrell appears in Gilliam's new film The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus as a transformed version of Heath Ledger's character Tony, however the director insisted that talk of the casting is just online gossip.

"Well I'm not even going to comment on that, I don't know where it comes from," Gilliam told DS. "Actually, it comes from the web, I spotted that first on the web. It's the great rumour machine of the world. It's like old ladies talking over the garden wall while they're hanging out their clothes.

"That's what the web has become and everyone has become an old lady - full of crap! I just let it run, I don't care! Colin's brilliant and I'd love to work with Colin. I can't say anything about the casting at the moment because we're just starting that process, but Colin I would never say no to. That's a good rumour!"

Gilliam began production on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in October 2000 with Johnny Depp in the lead role, but the project was abandoned when actor Jean Rochefort suffered a herniated disc and flash floods destroyed sets and equipment.

The full DS interview with Terry Gilliam will run next month when the filmmaker receives the Movie Legend honour at the Digital Spy Movie Awards.

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Sheen: 'I won't play Tony Blair anymore'

Michael Sheen has announced that he won't play Tony Blair in any more movies.

Sheen has just finished working on The Special Relationship, the third film in which he takes the role of the former prime minister.

However, it is the last time he will do so, The Daily Telegraph reports.

"Goodbye Mr Blair," Sheen wrote on Twitter. "After three films, think I'm hanging up my Blair boots. If so, last word I ever said as Blair was 'America'. The irony..."

Sheen previously starred as Blair in The Deal and The Queen.

It had been rumoured that the actor would play him for a fourth time in a sequel to The Deal.

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DiCaprio: 'Scorsese is a man of film'

Leonardo DiCaprio has said that working with Martin Scorsese is like a "crash course" in cinema.

The Departed star, who recently completed filming his fourth movie Shutter Island with the director, has insisted that Scorsese is the most impressive film aficionado that he has ever met.

DiCaprio told Total Film magazine: "It's like a little cool learning workshop before we start to make the movie. It's a film course, you get a crash course, like an education. He's the best teacher. I'm sure that there are professors out there but I would challenge anyone to know as much about movies as him.

"I would see Marty up there against anyone in the world as far as film knowledge is concerned because it's weird. He knows not only the film but the editor and second assistant director of an obscure French film. It's weird because that's what he does, that's all he does, that's who he is. He's a man of film."

He added: "We watch a lot of films for lighting and mood tone, a lot of obscure movies.

"I remember for The Aviator we watched House of Wax just for the dialogue because Marty remembered the dialogue in that movie was really snappy."

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Barrymore: 'Roller derby is scary'

Drew Barrymore has admitted that she had no idea how brutal the sport of roller derby could be.

The 34-year-old actress, who stars and makes her directorial debut in the new movie Whip It!, has insisted that the roller skating contact sport is "scary as s**t".

Barrymore told Time Out New York magazine: "What I love about the sport is that it's real and high stakes. And by the way, it's scary as s**t to do. I wouldn't have guessed that the first film I directed would have a sports element, but then again it doesn't surprise me, because I love girls getting to do what boys do.

"I love when women get to be women and not feel like they have to become a man in order to play in a man's world."

Barrymore has also said that as a director she was adamant on being involved in the entire creative process.

She added: "Well, I've always found that I tend to rebel against authority. I wanted to throw myself in there so I could really go through what the girls were going through. I didn't want to be that guy who said, 'Just get in there'. I hate that - I hate dictatorship, I hate hierarchy, I hate sidelines."

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Freeman to receive 'Golden Icon' award

Morgan Freeman will be honoured for his career achievement at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

According to WENN, the actor will receive the 'Golden Icon' award on the final night.

Festival organisers revealed that they chose Freeman for the accolade because of his "multi-faceted talent, his sense of business and his integrity".

They added that he has earned "a level of respect within and outside the entertainment industry that few others enjoy".

The festival opens on September 24.

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Cruz: 'I'm addicted to Pedro Almodovar'

Penelope Cruz has insisted that she is "addicted" to working with Pedro Almodovar.

The Broken Embraces star, who has worked with the director since she was 17 years old, has said that she will always love working with him.

Cruz told The Times: "For him, it's not like, 'Today we will shoot a big scene'. Everything is treated with the same intensity. That's the way it should be, every day should feel like the first day of shooting, because even if you have been rehearsing for months like we do, it is still abstract until you start filming.

"I like this. It's addictive too: everything is constantly changing, the energy of your fellow actors and director affects you. It's very alive."

The 35-year-old actress has also revealed that despite the numerous films that the pair have collaborated on, she never finds herself too relaxed on his sets because she fears that she might disappoint the iconic Spanish filmmaker.

She said: "Some people ask me that, because we are friends and I have known him for so many years, maybe I am more relaxed on set with him.

"It is the opposite, because he is someone very important in my life and career as an actress and because he has given me really great opportunities. So I never want to disappoint him. That would make me feel really sad."

Almodovar, who is openly gay, has recently admitted that his muse Cruz was the first woman to ignite a "sexual desire" in him.

Broken Embraces is currently in cinemas in the UK and is to be released in the US on October 11 for the New York Film Festival.

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Streep 'auditioned during night out'

Meryl Streep auditioned for her role in Julie & Julia on a night out, the film's director has revealed.

Nora Ephron, who wrote, produced and directed the film, told Streep about the project when they met up at the theatre, WENN reports.

Ephron explained: "I was at the theatre one night, Shakespeare In The Park in New York Central Park, and I saw her and she said, 'What are you doing?'

"I said, 'Blah, blah, blah... Julia Child' and she immediately rose up. Julia was six [foot] two [inches], Meryl five-six and she suddenly grew in front of me and went into this Julia thing, this warble thing of Julia.

"I thought to myself, 'Well, that's the end of the casting search'. It seemed to me she was auditioning for it. It's as close as you'll get to Meryl Streep auditioning.

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Gyllenhaal: 'McPhee' sequel was exhausting'

Maggie Gyllenhaal has admitted that she found working with five young co-stars and animals to be exhausting.

The 32-year-old actress has said that her upcoming 2010 comedy Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang has made her decide to wait longer to have more children.

Gyllenhaal told Marie Claire: "I'm playing a mom at her wit's end - tripping over things, with things falling on my head. That kind of physical comedy is exhausting. Especially working with five kids. And sometimes animals."

Gyllenhaal, who has a daughter with husband Peter Sarsgaard, has revealed that despite enjoying motherhood, it was not what she expected it to be.

She added: "Before my daughter was born, I was all, 'I'm only going to feed her organic food, I'm only going to give her cloth diapers...' And then, once you have a real child who is starving on a plane, you give them a bag of potato chips because that's all there is, and they're OK and it's fine."

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Fox promises "super-violent" 'Jonah Hex'

Megan Fox has said that her upcoming movie Jonah Hex is "super-violent" in spite of its PG-13 rating.

Fox will star as the love interest Leila in the adaptation of DC Comics' western title, alongside No Country For Old Men’s John Brolin as the eponymous antihero.

"I think it's a really good interpretation of the comic," Fox told MTV News. "It somehow manages to be super-violent while still having a PG-13 rating. I don't know how they did that.

"It looks incredible and I've never been so blown away with the performances in an action film, aside from my own, as I am in this one. Because it's Brolin and [John] Malkovich and Michael Fassbender, and these theatre actors who are just phenomenons and brilliantly talented."

The film will be released next year.

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Gervais: 'I turned down Star Trek'

Ricky Gervais has claimed that he was offered acting parts in J.J. Abrams's Star Trek and Mission: Impossible III movies.

Gervais also told BBC Newsbeat that he was overjoyed by the recent quote from the director about his own upcoming film The Invention Of Lying.

Abrams said: "Ricky Gervais proves, once again, that he is the master. Not only of comedy, but social commentary.

"The Invention Of Lying is as funny as it is biting, wholly original, and surprisingly moving. Is there such thing as important comedy? Turns out there is, and this is it."

Gervais said: "It's the best thing anyone's ever said about anything I've ever done. I was blown away. Star Trek was my favourite film of this year.

"He's a genius, he's like the new Spielberg. And he said it was an important comedy. It's embarrassing talking about it but I put it on my website immediately!"

He added: "I worked with him on Alias all those years ago. He was a fan of The Office. Everything's come from The Office.

"He's offered me a couple of parts I couldn't do, one in Mission: Impossible and one in Star Trek itself but I couldn't do them because I was busy. I'll work with him again one day and I've thanked him, I've thanked him very much."

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MMA star to lead Soderbergh's 'Knockout'

Mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano will lead the cast of Steven Soderbergh's spy thriller Knockout.

Carano, who has no previous acting experience, will play a troubled girl from the other side of the tracks who is given a chance to use her fighting skills for good, reports Variety.

Soderbergh will shoot the movie in January on location in the US, Ireland and Turkey. The director plans to make a globetrotting espionage adventure in the vein of the James Bond films.

Lem Dobbs, who wrote Kafka and The Limey for Soderbergh, penned the script for Knockout.

Soderbergh's next film The Informant! opens next week in the US and on November 20 in the UK.

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Stewart: 'Twilight marketing is weird'

Kristen Stewart has said that she finds it unusual to see her likeness on merchandise and tie-ins for the Twilight movie series.

The actress also told The Times that she is not often approached by fans on the street because she is rarely recognised.

Stewart said: "I think I just look different in person or something. I'm also not very approachable, and maybe they're just thinking, 'Ooohhh, she's scary'.

"It is weird seeing all the marketing, though, and the billboards. I like burgers, but do I want to see my face all over the burger cartons? Not really."

Regarding her own Twilight action figure, she added: "I think she has a much bigger rack than I have. I also think she looks much older than me.

"I guess I can live with that. In fact, I'm getting used to the bigger rack."

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Stallone discusses 'Rambo 5' plot

Sylvester Stallone has revealed that Rambo 5 will feature the lead character fighting a "feral beast".

It was previously reported that the NuImage/Millenium Films project would centre on the Vietnam veteran dealing with drug lords and human traffickers in order to rescue a young girl kidnapped near the US-Mexico border.

However, Stallone clarified the plot rumours in an interview with Ain't It Cool. He claimed that the story will be based in the Pacific Northwest, where experiments are taking place on elite soldiers. When the military's plans go wrong, John Rambo is forced to come in and save the day.

Speaking about the villain of the movie, Stallone added: "It's not a super-soldier, it's a feral beast; a thing. It’s this amalgamation of fury and intelligence and pure unadulterated rage, from before men became human - it’s inhuman!

"It's man's 'conscious' fighting his dark, uncontrollable unconscious. It has absolute cunning and intelligence and a will to survive that is only matched by Rambo's."

Shooting starts in the spring.

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