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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.

spratt89

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."

gyki98

i have to see this film

spratt89

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.

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Calista Flockhart has admitted that she has never seen fiancé Harrison Ford's Star Wars movies.

The Brothers & Sisters actress, who began dating Ford in 2002, confessed that she had little interest in the sci-fi blockbusters growing up.

"I was never starstruck [by him]. I have not seen Star Wars, isn't that amazing?" WENN quotes her as saying

"I'm sure it is [good]. It's weird that I haven't seen it. We lived in a small town and the movie theatre was an hour away. And I was 12 - the perfect age to see it."

Ford shot to fame playing Han Solo in the legendary franchise, which has grossed over $4 billion at the worldwide box office.

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Jason Bateman will star in Jason Reitman's new movie Up In The Air, reports Variety.

An adaptation of a Walter Kim novel, the project will also star Anna Kendrick and George Clooney.

Clooney will portray a corporate downsizer who has become obsessed with collecting frequent flyer miles, while Bateman will play his boss.

The actor previously worked with Reitman on 2008 Oscar-winner Juno.

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Russell Crowe has admitted that he is refusing to watch the BBC's State Of Play miniseries, fearing that his movie adaptation will not match it.

Crowe, who portrays a journalist uncovering a political conspiracy in Kevin Macdonald's big screen version, told Empire that he would most likely be "angry" if he saw the acclaimed 2003 TV show.

"I was aware of [State Of Play] but haven't seen it. I haven't and I'm not going to see it. It's six hours of finely crafted BBC television and it's not something you can compare, really. It would probably just make me angry if I watched it, because no doubt it's full of really lovely details and lots of cross-connections with characters and stuff.

"Where possible we've done that here, but essentially it's a different form and there's a big difference between two hours and six hours. A huge difference."

Crowe added of his role, played by John Simm in the mini-series: "I'm fascinated by the ambiguity of journalism and how there are supposedly rules that are lived under, but the reality is you are a human being and humans are never objective. They always drag their life into what they do. And journalists are no different."

State Of Play is out in UK cinemas on April 24.

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Jessica Rabbit has been named the sexiest cartoon character of all time.

The singer, who first appeared in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, nabbed 37% of the vote to beat competition from Betty Boop (21%) and the Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Bunny (10%) in the poll carried out by Cadbury.

"The top three are all similar in that they share the most alluring virtues," said marketing director Lee Rolston.

Around 1,000 people were surveyed to mark the return of the Cadbury Bunny to adverts this Easter.

"What we find most impressive is that she is the only British character on the list," said Rolston. "In this way, she very much echoes Cadbury Dairy Milk's British roots."

Other fictional characters to make the list included Scooby Doo's Daphne Blake, Wilma Flintstone, Cinderella and Snow White.

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McG has confirmed that he is in talks with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton to appear in his upcoming movie Terminator: Salvation.

The director told SCI FI Wire at WonderCon that he had spoken to Hamilton about reprising her role as Sarah Connor and will talk to Schwarzenegger next week.

Of Schwarzenegger, McG said: "Truthfully, it's not clear. It's not clear. We'll see where we land. I mean, he's a very powerful guy, he's got to do what's right for him.

"I just kind of respect that the guy's the governor of the state of California, and he's got to go back to his advisers and ask them, 'Hey, is this a good idea?'"

He added that the governor's staff may believe that people will feel uncomfortable if Schwarzenegger decides to appear in the film.

Last month, the actor confirmed that he would film a cameo role in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables.

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Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Sacha Baron Cohen and Paul Giamatti have reportedly been cast in Alexander Payne's new project Downsizing.

According to Hollywood Elsewhere, the quartet are attached to the movie, which has yet to be announced by the Oscar-winning writer-director. No story details have yet surfaced.

Both Giamatti and Witherspoon have worked with Payne previously; Giamatti in wine-themed comedy Sideways in 2004 and Witherspoon in Election, which provided her big screen breakthrough.

Payne recently directed the pilot for HBO's comedy Hung, about a well-endowed high school basketball coach (Thomas Jane). He is also serving as an executive producer on the series.

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A private doctor is reportedly being flown to Africa to monitor Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood on the set of their latest movie.

Freeman will play Nelson Mandela alongside Matt Damon in The Human Factor, which will be directed by Clint Eastwood, 78.

According to the New York Daily News, producers are especially concerned about the health of 71-year-old Freeman due to his serious car accident last year.

"There's a huge budget for the film at stake," a source said. "These guys are getting up there in age. Sure, they had physicals before leaving; everyone has to. But [the private doctor] was just an agreed upon decision on all sides of the table."

The passenger travelling with Freeman when his car left the road in Mississippi last August recently revealed that she is suing the actor for negligence.

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Kevin Smith has signed with Warner Bros to helm comedy A Couple Of Dicks, reports ERC.

The film, to star Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan, has been scripted by Rob and Marc Cullen.

Production is expected to get underway later this year, with a January 29, 2010 release date scheduled.

The script, based on two LAPD detectives attempting to track down a stolen 1952 baseball card, is rumoured to have been on the 2008 Blacklist, a list of the year's best unproduced screenplays.

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James Corden has said that he is glad upcoming movie Lesbian Vampire Killers does not look like a British film.

The co-star of the upcoming horror movie admitted that he was afraid that the film could end up looking like The Benny Hill Show, BANG Showbiz reports.

Corden said: "I'm impressed that it doesn't look like a British film. After the first 20 minutes, it really kicks in and looks like an American teen flick.

"Ultimately it's a comedy horror and there is nothing gratuitous in it."

He added that he enjoyed acting alongside Gavin & Stacey co-star Mathew Horne without the pressure of having written the script.

Last year, a lesbian group claimed that the film was "shamelessly catering to men's girl-on-girl fantasies".

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Tom Selleck has reportedly revealed that he wants to land the lead role in the movie adaptation of his US TV show Magnum P.I.

The actor, who played private investigator Thomas Magnum from 1980 until 1988, admitted that he is eager to reprise the character on the big screen, despite studio bosses failing to offer him the part.

"They haven't called, they haven't written. I keep hearing they're developing one but I don't know whether I'm going to be in it," WENN quotes him as saying.

"But they keep doing [fan] polls and I keep winning them."

Last year, Matthew McConaughey confirmed that he had been offered the lead role, telling DS: "I'm having a look at it right now. I'm considering that."

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A film version of David Tennant's Hamlet will reportedly be produced.

Oliver Ford Davies, who played Polonius in the stage play, told The Daily Telegraph that production will take place in June.

Tennant, 37, sustained a bad back during the Novello Theatre run of the show, which meant that he only managed 11 performances at the venue.

The Dr Who star had already appeared in Stratford-upon-Avon, where some commentators described his performance as the best Hamlet of his generation.

Davies said: "We are intending to film it over two or three weeks in June. It won't be a full feature film as there isn't time but it will certainly be more than just the filming of the stage. It will be fantastic to work together again."

Ticket's for the RSC production sold out within three hours of becoming available last September.