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Lindsay Lohan will head the cast of fantasy-comedy The Other Side.

The project, Lohan's first big screen role since 2007's I Know Who Killed Me, focuses on a student who spends her summer working on a remote island populated by an eccentric community with a tragic secret.

Woody Harrelson, Giovanni Ribisi, Dave Matthews and Alanis Morissette have also joined the movie, which begins production this October off the coast of Massachusetts.

Commenting on Lohan's casting, director David Michaels told Variety: "Lindsay's very aware of people's perceptions of her. She's really committed to doing what she has to in order to change that."

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Martin Scorcese has been chosen to direct a new biopic of legendary Rat Pack singer Frank Sinatra.

Sinatra has been acquired by Universal from Mandalay Pictures and will be helmed by Scorsese and penned by Field Of Dreams screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson.

The company has purchased the life and music rights of the crooner from the Sinatra Estate and Warner Music Group.

Sinatra's daughter Tina said: "My father had great admiration for the talent of the people he chose to work with, and the talented people who worked with my father had great admiration for him.

"It is personally pleasing to me that this paradigm continues with Marty Scorsese at the helm of the Sinatra film."

Mandalay chairman Peter Guber added: "We have dreamt of making a movie about Frank Sinatra, and Marty Scorsese is undeniably the perfect vision keeper for this project."

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50 Cent and Forest Whitaker have signed up for a re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, reports Variety.

The pair will play the lead roles in the classic tale about a doctor who invents a potion that can unleash his violent alter ego.

Albert Ferrara is attached to direct the project, which will begin shooting at the end of the summer.

"The combination of such formidable talent in front of and behind the camera will turn this wonderful gothic story into a modern classic for a whole new generation," said executive producer Luc Roeg.

Last week, Universal revealed plans for another remake of the famous novel, which is expected to star Keanu Reeves.

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Ray Liotta, Mila Kunis and Mark Ruffalo have been added to the cast of Tina Fey and Steve Carell's Date Night.

The Shawn Levy-directed comedy centres on a married couple whose planned date night goes horribly awry. Other actors on board for the 20th Century Fox film include Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Taraji P. Henson, Common, Leighton Meester and Kristen Wiig.

Liotta will take on a villainous role, Kunis is playing the criminal wife of Franco's character, while Ruffalo has been cast as Wiig's husband and Carell's best friend, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Shrek The Third writer Josh Klausner penned the script for Date Night, which went into production last month in California.

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Philip Seymour Hoffman has voiced his frustration with his profession.

The Oscar winner, whose new film Synecdoche, New York opens in UK cinemas this week, told ShortList that he finds acting "torturous".

"You have to [make people] believe that you're 70 years old and that you're lying at the death bed of your daughter that you haven't seen in 30 years," he said of his Synecdoche role. "There's a certain amount of pain that goes into that. So torturous is just being dramatic. It's painful. It's not easy."

He continued: "It's painful for anybody. That's just part of the job of being an actor. It's one of the things you have to do. Every job has those things that are tough."

Hoffman recently completed work on his directorial debut Jack Goes Boating, in which he stars as a stoner limo driver looking to impress fellow misfit Connie (Amy Ryan).

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McG has said that he is to blame for Christian Bale's outburst during the filming of Terminator Salvation because of the atmosphere he encouraged on set.

The director told The Times that Bale is "simply not a bad guy" and is a "passionate, passionate man".

McG said: "I'm largely to blame for creating an environment of great intensity. I encourage a fiery set, especially making a war movie. I like people to be very wound up.

"That it got leaked is a violation of the sanctity of the film set. When Kate Winslet lets her robe drop in Titanic, you don’t want it ending up on YouTube."

He added: "If the actor has to worry about those things, it can colour their choices on the set."

Bale's expletive-laden rant became an internet phenomenon. It was remixed into a dance song and incorporated into an episode of animated comedy Family Guy.

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Sylvester Stallone's 1993 box office hit Cliffhanger is to be remade.

According to Variety, French firm StudioCanal and Neal Moritz's Original Films are teaming up to overhaul the Renny Harlin action movie.

"Just as they rebooted Star Trek, we're going to do the same with Cliffhanger," Moritz commented.

The reinvented Cliffhanger will follow a group of young climbers across several mountain locations. The original grossed $255 million at the worldwide box office.

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Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard picked up the soundtrack of the year gong for The Dark Knight at the Classical Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London last night.

Gustavo Dudamel and Alison Balsom were named male and female artists of the year respectively, while Alina Ibragimova won the young British performer award.

Howard Goodhall won the prize for composer of the year and Spirit of the Glen - Journey from The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was NS&I album of the year.

The lifetime achievement award was given to the 62-year-old tenor José Carreras.

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ITV has revealed that a Primeval movie is going ahead.

Last month, an ITV insider confirmed to DS that discussions were underway for a movie based on the cult series.

Warner Bros. has reportedly acquired the screen rights to Primeval in a high six-figure deal.

According to Variety, Akiva Goldman, who scripted Angels & Demons, and Kerry Foster will produce the film.

"There is a solid mythology to the series, but the movie has the dinosaur element of Jurassic Park and the time travel element of Lost, and it just feels like the kind of big movie that Warner Bros. does well," said Foster.

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Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp are reportedly the frontrunners to star in Martin Scorsese's recently-announced Frank Sinatra biopic.

According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, Scorsese is eager to cast DiCaprio as the legendary Rat Pack singer. The pair have previously collaborated on Gangs Of New York, The Aviator, The Departed and the upcoming Shutter Island.

However, executives at Universal want to go in another direction and cast Depp in the part after being wowed by his turn as John Dillinger in Michael Mann's soon-to-be-released crime drama Public Enemies.

The untitled biopic, which is being written by Field Of Dreams screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson, will feature Sinatra's own recordings after Universal agreed a deal with the late singer's estate and Warner Music Group for his music rights.

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Gemma Arterton and Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick have signed on for the upcoming movie adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

The Quantum Of Solace actress will take on the role of Cathy following Natalie Portman's departure, while Westwick will star as Heathcliff in Peter Webber's big screen version of Emily Bronte's novel.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, producer Robert Bernstein said: "We've cast it as written. Heathcliff's a teen and the story takes him into his early 20s. Cathy is just as young. It's radical because usually actors playing these characters are much older."

He added: "We're very proud to have British actors."

The project will be produced by Bernstein's Ecosse Films, which has been developing the movie for nearly three years.

Laurence Olivier's 1939 film of Wuthering Heights, co-starring Merle Oberon, was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture. A 1992 version featuring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche was also released.

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Mickey Rourke and Eva Green will star in a remake of British gangster movie Mona Lisa, reports Variety.

Kids helmer Larry Clark will write and direct the revised version, which follows an ex-con (Rourke) who gets a job as a chauffeur for a high-class escort (Green).

Bob Hoskins was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Neil Jordan's 1986 original, while Cathy Tyson made her movie debut as prostitute Simone.

The new Mona Lisa will relocate from the UK to the US, with production scheduled to begin in New York in July.

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Jason Statham has signed up to star in $40 million action thriller The Killer Elite, reports Variety.

The project, which is based on Ranulph Fiennes's novel The Featherman, will be directed by Everything In This Country Must's Gary McKendry.

Fiennes's book, based on real events, tells the story of former British special forces members who are being hunted down by assassins called The Clinic on the orders of the ex-Shah of Oman.

Statham will play an ex-Navy Seal who comes out of retirement to save a close friend.

Shooting is expected to begin in London, Paris and Australia in the autumn.

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Philip Seymour Hoffman has admitted to being both impressed and confused when he first read the screenplay for Synecdoche, New York.

The Charlie Kaufman-penned and directed movie stars Hoffman as a theatre director who stages a life-spanning play in a replica of New York City.

Hoffman told ShortList: "I remember being very impressed by its scope and ambition. And very moved but confused by it. Thrilled by it.

"What I found so profound about the script when I read it was how he kind of succeeded in showing how odd life is through the actual eyes of someone, or the mind of someone."

He added that he was not concerned that Kaufman had not directed a film before and was encouraged by the writer's past work with Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry.

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Monica Bellucci has joined the cast of Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

The Italian actress will portray Veronica, a sorceress who is Nicolas Cage's character's long-lost love, according to Variety.

The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced fantasy-adventure film centres on sorcerer Balthazar Blake as he tutors a young student. Jay Baruchel will play the protégé, while Alfred Molina, Teresa Palmer and Toby Kebbell are also among the cast.

Jon Turteltaub is directing the movie with a July 16, 2010 release date targeted.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which is currently shooting in New York, has been beset by recent filming problems with 11 people sustaining injuries in two separate car stunt accidents earlier this month.

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Sir Anthony Hopkins is to reprise his most famous role as Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Universal has confirmed that a new film will be made, with the Oscar-winning actor and director Ridley Scott both on board, the New York Post reports.

"As far as we know, [this project] is alive," a Universal spokeswoman said. "Anthony Hopkins and Ridley Scott are both very committed. We like what we've got, and the revised script is really, really good."

There was speculation that the latest instalment in the franchise might be scrapped after original Silence Of The Lambs star Jodie Foster bowed out to direct Clare Danes in Flora Plum. Cate Blanchett has been touted as a possible replacement for the role of Clarice Starling.

Director Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Ted Tally, who both won Academy Awards for the first film, reportedly also passed on participating in the new movie.

Hopkins previously played the cannibalistic psychiatrist in Silence Of The Lambs, follow-up Hannibal and prequel Red Dragon.

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British teenager Katie Jarvis has earned the praise of critics and audiences at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Fish Tank.

Jarvis, 17, had never acted before when she was spotted rowing with her boyfriend at Tilbury train station. Fish Tank's casting director invited her to audition and she subsequently won the role of a troubled teen whose life changes when she befriends her mother's boyfriend.

Fish Tank was given a standing ovation when it screened on the Croisette yesterday. However, Jarvis was not in attendance for the premiere as she was at home in the UK looking after her two-week-old baby.

"I don't think she quite understands what it means," the film's director Andrea Arnold told The Independent. "She has got an agent and she's been up for a couple of things which she's got but hasn't taken. I don't know if she wants to continue. I think she does but she has just had a baby."

Jarvis said of her experience on Fish Tank: "I learnt a lot doing the film. Whereas before I was doing nothing all the time, it made me learn that I could do things if I wanted to... It shows you don't have to go to drama school. But I think I was one of a kind, I don't think anyone else will get picked off a train station."

Fish Tank is competing for the prestigious Palme D'Or prize at Cannes against films such as Inglourious Basterds, Looking For Eric and Taking Woodstock. The winner will be announced on May 24.

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Jane Campion has called on a greater number of female directors to step forward and compete in the Cannes film festival.

The director, whose own John Keats biopic Bright Star is nominated at this year's event, told the BBC that women's upbringing can make it hard for them to "develop a tough skin" needed in the world of cinema.

Campion said: "What interests women is very interesting to me and without more women writers and directors, the rest of us are never going to learn the whole story.

"But I think women grow up without a lot of harsh criticism, they are treated more sensitively and it's quite hard when you first encounter the world of filmmaking."

Campion last won the Palme D'Or at Cannes 16 years ago for The Piano, for which she also picked up an Oscar for Best Screenplay.

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Kent Harper has said that Lindsay Lohan will stay out of trouble while filming The Other Side.

The movie's producer told People that the actress insisted to him that she "really wanted to get serious".

"She said, 'I'm committed, I'm not going to be late. I'm really, really excitied about doing this and working with these other actors'," Harper said. "So we're excitied."

He added that he believes Lohan is "going to be phenomenal" in the film and that he is not "worried whatsoever".

The Other Side is expected to start shooting in October off the coast of Massachusetts. Jason Lee, Woody Harrelson, Giovanni Ribisi, Alanis Morissette and Dave Matthews will also star in the movie.

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Angels & Demons actor Stellan Skarsgard has said that he doesn't care for the book the film is based on.

The star admitted that he thinks author Dan Brown is a "terribly bad writer" in an interview with Swedish broadcaster SVT.

"He has cliffhangers after every chapter which makes you continue reading," he said. "It's like eating peanuts at a bar. You don't like them, but you keep on eating them anyway."

Skarsgard, who plays the head of the Pope's Swiss guard in the film, added that he only took on the role after reading director Ron Howard's adaptation, which he called "significantly different".

The actor also said that he thinks Angels & Demons is a better movie than The Da Vinci Code because "the story is more simple and straightforward but just as dramatic".