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Schnabel to write 'Girlfriend In A Coma'

The Love Guru director Marco Schnabel will reportedly team with Larry Stuckey to write Girlfriend In A Coma.

According to Variety, the film is a satirical high school comedy that focuses on an unlikely romance.

The movie has been pitched to Fox Atomic, the department at Twentieth Century Fox which specialises in youth-orientated projects, including the forthcoming The Post Grad Survival Guide.

Baby Mama's Michael McCullers and 3 Arts will produce.

Stuckey's previous screen credits include 2004's Meet The Fockers, on which Schnabel was a second-unit director.

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Rogen denies 'Green Hornet' axe



Seth Rogen has denied reports that his superhero comedy The Green Hornet has been shelved by Sony.

Rumours emerged earlier in the week claiming that the big budget movie was "highly unlikely" to film this year, prompting studio Sony to ditch its intended June 25, 2010 release date.

The film first ran into trouble last month when Kung Fu Hustle's Stephen Chow withdrew from directing duties.

Speaking to Hitfix, Rogen insisted that making the release is still possible. "The Green Hornet has many people working for it, including production designers, costume designers and many conceptual artists, office staff, etc," he said.

"[The studio heads] have every intention on making it, and assuming we're able to hire a new director in the upcoming weeks, which seems like a distinct possibility, it should still hit the release date."

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Damon: 'James Bond is repulsive'



Matt Damon has branded the character of James Bond "repulsive".

Speaking to the Miami Herald, the actor dismissed any similarities between the British spy and his own action franchise based on CIA agent Jason Bourne.

"They could never make a James Bond movie like any of the Bourne films," he said.

"Bond is an imperialist, misogynist sociopath who goes around bedding women and swilling martinis and killing people. He's repulsive."

The 38-year-old, who has starred in three Bourne movies, also criticised the Bond series for being too formulaic.

"[The director] Steve [Soderbergh] told me that years ago he was offered a Bond movie. He told them he'd do it if they gave him creative control," he said

"'Absolutely not', they said. They have a formula, they stick to it, and it makes them a lot of money. They know what they're doing, and they're going to keep doing it."

Damon previously accused the Bond character of being "dated", saying: "[He] will always be anchored in the 1960s and the values of the '60s."

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Protesters 'will burn Boyle effigies'



Protesters in India have vowed to burn effigies of director Danny Boyle in protest against the title of his Oscar-nominated film Slumdog Millionaire.

Some Indians have complained that the name of the movie insults people who live in slums.

Tateshwar Vishwakarma, the general secretary of a slum dwellers rights group, told the Indo-Asian News Service that he has filed a complaint against the film.

"Referring to people living in slums as dogs is a violation of human rights," he said. "We will burn Danny Boyle's effigies in 56 slums here."

Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy said: "I just made up the word. I liked the idea. I didn't mean to offend anyone."

One of the film's stars Anil Kapoor denied that the term was offensive, claiming that children from slums are "actually called much worse names".

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Fox saves Narnia franchise



Twentieth Century Fox has reportedly agreed to develop the third instalment in the Chronicles Of Narnia franchise alongside Walden Media.

Walt Disney Pictures, which produced the first two instalments, pulled out of The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader last month, citing budgetary reasons.

According to Variety, Fox was entitled to the first crack at Dawn Treader because of the shared Fox Walden marketing and distributing label.

Fox 2000 will reportedly share the production costs, which are thought to be around $140 million (£100 million), with Walden Media.

The Horse Whisperer's Richard LaGravenese has penned the most recent script, while The World Is Not Enough director Michael Apted will helm the project. Andrew Adamson and Mark Johnson will take on producing duties.

The studio is likely to greenlight the project after budgetary and script concerns are settled.

Production is scheduled to begin in Australia this summer, with a slated holiday 2010 release date.

Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley will reprise their roles, with Son Of Rambow star Will Poulter joining the cast as Eustace Clarence Scrubb.

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Universal making 'The Thing' prequel



Universal Pictures is developing a prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 horror The Thing.

According to Variety, the film will be set in a Norwegian research camp and will follow the first discovery of the shape-shifting alien and how it overcame the camp's inhabitants.

Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ron Moore has been hired to write the re-imagining. It will reportedly be inspired by John W. Campbell Jr.'s original short story Who Goes There, which influenced Carpenter's film and Howard Hawks's original The Thing From Another World.

Matthijs Van Heijningen will direct the project, with Eric Newman and Marc Abraham producing and David Foster executive producing.

Van Heijningen is predominantly known for directing commercials, helming adverts for companies including Toyota, Pepsi and Visa. He is also developing Army Of The Dead for Warner Brothers.

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'Harry Potter' stuntman 'seriously injured'



A stuntman working on the latest Harry Potter film has been seriously injured on set, according to The Mirror.

The 25-year-old, who doubles for the film's star Daniel Radcliffe, was reportedly performing an aerial sequence when a planned explosion caused him to fall to the ground.

"It is thought he may have been caught by the explosion and hit the ground very hard," said a source.

"He told crew members who went to help him he couldn’t feel anything from the waist down. Everyone is just hoping he makes a good recovery. It has come as a terrible shock."

The accident happened at Leavesden Studios, near Watford, where Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows is currently in pre-production.

"Paramedics were called to Leavesden Studios after a man in his 20s sustained a significant back injury. He was stabilised at the scene and taken to Watford General Hospital," an ambulance spokesperson told PA.

Hospital staff have declined to comment on the man's condition.

A spokesperson for the studio said: "We can confirm a member of the Harry Potter production was injured in an accident. We are awaiting further news."

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'Spectacular!' features Rock Band tie-in



Sony has announced a unique tie-in edition DVD of Spectacular! featuring two free Rock Band songs for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The special version of the film will be released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on March 31, Home Media Magazine reports.

It will first air on Nickelodeon on February 16.

Marc Rashba, vice-president of marketing at the company, said: "We think this is the first-ever DVD tie-in of this kind with Rock Band.

"This is a bullseye for teenagers. Anyone between the ages of eight and 16 can't miss this thing."

The DVD will feature the tracks 'Break My Heart' and Don't Tell Me', which will also be on sale separately online.

Spectacular! stars Nolan Gerard Funk as Nikko, a "bad boy" who is kicked out his band and ends up as the frontman of a show choir group.

The film features ten tracks from the music production team behind High School Musical.

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DiCaprio, Winslet 'have no boundaries'



Director Sam Mendes has said that there were "no boundaries" when filming Leonardo DiCaprio and his wife Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road.

He told The Telegraph that directing the pair was like "working with a brother and sister" who have the same approach to work and the same sense of humour.

Mendes said: "There were no boundaries; Leo could go anywhere and Kate will never get offended and he knew that.

"It's exciting to know that someone's never going to get cross with you or embarrassed if you hit them or lift them onto a kitchen cabinet and make love to them or whatever it is."

He added that he was lucky to inherit the pair's relationship which formed on the set of Titanic a decade ago, as that kind of rapport cannot be created in rehearsals.

Winslet recently joked that she had been talking about DiCaprio so much that he feels more like her husband than Mendes does.

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DiCaprio's 'Fleming' finds writer



John Orloff has been hired to write Leonardo DiCaprio's Fleming, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The project is a biopic of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, who served as a Naval intelligence officer during World War II and worked as a journalist for Reuters. Fleming released his first Bond novel Casino Royale in 1953 and went on to write 13 more. He also penned the children's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

DiCaprio will produce the Warner Bros movie through his Appian Way company. It has also been rumoured that he will take on the role of Fleming.

Orloff recently worked on the Angelina Jolie film A Mighty Heart and is writing Zack Snyder's animated film Guardians Of Ga'Hoole.

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Marshall assembles 'Centurion' cast



Michael Fassbender, Dominic West and Olga Kurylenko have joined the cast of Neil Marshall's Centurion.

The sword and sandals epic takes place during the Roman invasion of Britain in 117 AD, says The Hollywood Reporter. The movie will focus on Quintus Dias, who unites with General Virilus's Ninth Legion to wipe out the Picts tribe after they raid a Roman fort.

Fassbender, up for the Orange Rising Star BAFTA, appeared with West in last year's 300. Kurylenko starred in Quantum Of Solace and Max Payne.

Marshall, whose previous credits include Doomsday and The Descent, will write and direct the movie with Slumdog Millionaire's Christian Colson producing.

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Neeson still hoping for Spielberg reunion



Liam Neeson has revealed that he is still hoping his Abraham Lincoln biopic with Steven Spielberg will move forward.

Neeson has been attached to the project, which will recount the life of the 16th President of the United States, since 2005. It will be based on the biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

"According to Mr. Spielberg, 'It's a work in progress'," Neeson informed Parade. "That's as much as I know.

"He asked me four years ago if would I do it and I said, 'Let me think about it. Well, I've thought about it and the answer is yes'.'"

Neeson and Spielberg previously worked together on the Oscar-winning Schindler's List. The actor likened the slow development process for Lincoln to the 1993 drama.

"He developed Schindler's List for ten years before he started production," Neeson added. "He'll do [Lincoln] whenever he's ready to do it, but it's in the works."

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'Slumdog' chiefs deny child exploitation



The producer of Slumdog Millionaire has defended the movie following accusations that child actors in the film were exploited.

Christian Colson told ITN that recent reports surrounding how much the youngsters were paid and their working conditions on set were inaccurate.

He said: "Immediately after we cast the kids, we put in place a plan of action for their future welfare, over and above the money we paid them; we did that in consultation with their parents.

"The essential plank of that was education; they never attended school. We enrolled them in school for the first time in their lives, a fund was established to pay for any costs associated with their education, and medical emergencies, other emergencies, basic living costs."

Meanwhile, director Danny Boyle has defended the film's title after protestors vowed to burn effigies of him because of its derogatory undertones. Some claim that the name is offensive to people who live in the slums of Mumbai, where the Oscar-nominated film is set.

Boyle said: "For us, slumdog was always a very affectionate term because for us it was a hybrid, a mixture of underdog and rooting for the underdog, and obviously he comes from the slums."

The film has so far won the Best Picture award at the Golden Globes, the Producer Of The Year gong from the Producers Guild Of America, and Best Ensemble Acting, the highest award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.l

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Rodriguez developing 'Predator 3'?



Robert Rodriguez is reportedly developing a third instalment in the Predator franchise.

According to Bloody Disgusting, the Sin City director has begun producing the project for Twentieth Century Fox.

Plot details have not been released but it is thought that the movie could introduce more than one predator.

No writer or director have been hired yet and it is not known whether Rodriguez will produce the film himself.

The original Predator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was released in 1987. It followed an elite team of commandos who are hunted by an extraterrestrial life form as they try to rescue a group of hostages.

The movie spawned a sequel in 1990 and a series of spinoff films, including last year's Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem.

Rodriguez's previous credits include Spy Kids, From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse.

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Lee: 'James Brown biopic will happen'



Spike Lee has insisted that his long-discussed biopic of James Brown "will happen".

Speaking to MTV News, the director confirmed that Wesley Snipes will play the legendary soul singer, who passed away in 2006.

"We're doing it together," he said. "It's going to happen. He's my man."

However, Lee revealed that the Blade actor will not be singing in the movie, saying: "I want to hear James Brown’s voice. That’s just my personal taste. I know Joaquin Phoenix [as Johnny Cash] in Walk The Line did some of the singing. I’m a purist."

Lee began developing the project in 2007 after acquiring the rights with Paramount Pictures. Snipes reportedly signed on around the same time.

In April 2008, Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion but he remains free while he appeals his sentence.

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Cruz: 'I drove Allen crazy on set'



Penelope Cruz has said that she drove Woody Allen crazy on the set of Vicky Cristina Barcelona by asking the director for more takes.

The actress claimed that she made Allen so mad that he had to run away on the final day, Metro reports.

"The last day I went psychotic and asked for ten more takes," she said.

"When they were about to wrap the movie I always go into a crisis and I think this is it, I have no more chance to do anything else for the character."

She said that Allen was "very patient" and gave her nine more takes before he fled the scene on the last day of shooting.

Last year, Scarlett Johansson expressed surprise at the reaction of "conservative" people to news of her on-screen kiss with Cruz in the movie.

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Reply 287#287 spratt89's post

quick question to ponder...How can they be filming Deathly Hallows in the UK if Daniel Radcliffe (and Richard Griffith for that matter, but he only has a small role if any) is currently in New York?  I saw him there about two weeks ago!  It's kinda hard to film parts of a movie without your leading actor!

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'Slumdog's Beaufoy writing 'Leap Year'



Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy has been hired to pen the Amy Adams rom-com Leap Year.

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter will rework Made of Honour pair Harry Elfont and Deb Kaplan's script, which follows Adams's character as she journeys across Ireland to propose to her boyfriend on February 29 of a leap year, a day when women traditionally pop the question to men.

Anand Tucker (And When Did You Last See Your Father?) boarded the project as director last year.

Beaufoy previously scripted Adams's screwball comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day and The Full Monty.

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'Slumdog' star Patel wants Will Smith film



Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel has revealed that he is desperate to work on a movie with Will Smith.

Patel, who found fame on E4 teen drama Skins, revealed that he once waited at a premiere for three hours to meet his acting idol.

"Hello, Mr. Smith?" said Patel on US TV show Extra. "Please let me do a film with you. I stumbled upon your premiere of Hancock in London and I waited three hours. I was dying to go to the toilet and I've got a picture of you on my phone.

"It'd be great. Just a small role. Shake your hand or something... Thank you."

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Sandler making 'Green Hornet' cameo?



Adam Sandler will reportedly make a cameo appearance in forthcoming film The Green Hornet.

The superhero comedy stars Seth Rogen as Britt Reid, a bored playboy who becomes a masked crimefighter when he inherits his father's crusading newspaper.

According to a blogger at the Los Angeles Times, at least two industry sources have confirmed The Wedding Singer star's involvement.

"Adam Sandler has a brief but key role in the movie as a certain surprise superhero," he wrote. "I heard which one, too, but I don't want to ruin it."

Sandler and Rogen are currently working together on Judd Apatow's Funny People.

Earlier this week, Rogen denied reports that Hornet had been axed, saying: "[The studio heads] have every intention on making it, and assuming we're able to hire a new director in the upcoming weeks, which seems like a distinct possibility, it should still hit the release date."

The Green Hornet is scheduled for release on June 25, 2010.

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