Reel Deal

Singing for her supper

Multi-Grammy award winner Norah Jones is to make her film acting debut for none other than revered art-house auteur Wong Kar-wai. Jones has signed on to appear alongside Oscar winner Rachel Weisz and heartthrob Jude Law in Wong’s first English-language film. The still-untitled film will commence shooting in the US in June. According to the Oriental Daily News, the film will be a road movie and love story set on the highways between New York and California.

“Always” a winner

Takashi Yamazaki's period drama "Always – Sunset on Third Street," scored 12 Japan Academy Awards last month, including best picture. But perhaps a little surprisingly, that’s not a record haul in the awards. Yoji Yamada's "The Twilight Samurai" also took home 12 gongs in 2003; but both lag behind Masayuki Suo's "Shall We Dance?" which swept the awards with 13 prizes in 1997.

Denzel and Russell to tussle

What could be tougher than turning South Sydney into a premiership contender? How about sharing the set with two of the movies’ biggest names in Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. The pair will team up in Ridley Scott’s new one, American Gangster. Set during the 1970s, the film tells the story of a Harlem drug lord, Frank Lucas, who perpetuated one of the most audacious – and sickening – import scams ever by shipping heroin into the US in the body-bags of soldiers killed in Vietnam. Scott plans to start shooting in “mid to late 2006”.

Quaid hung out to dry

Actor Randy Quaid is suing the producers of Brokeback Mountain, claiming he’s a victim of “movie laundering”. Quaid says the producers duped him into accepting scale for the film by claiming it was a low-budget movie with “no prospect of making any money”. Although the film has gone on to make over $US160 million, the actor’s lawyers haven’t quite explained how the producers are supposed to have predicted that success at the time. Should’ve asked for points, Randy.

Theatres fight back

As home entertainment gets ever more like a movie theatre, cinema chains in America are fighting back. They figure, if TV wants to be more like the movies, they’ll get more like TV. Theatres in the New England region are already showing big-screen broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games (complete with beer, peanuts and hotdogs). Shari Redstone, president of the National Amusements chain says cinemas will become more of “community entertainment destinations”, with sports and other “experiences” on offer.

Stop bugging me

What would it take to bring comedian Jerry Seinfeld out of retirement? Insects, apparently. Seinfeld, along with Robert Duvall, William H Macy, Uma Thurman and others are reportedly signed on to provide voices in the animated Bee Movie. The idea sounds cute though – a bee decides to sue the human race after discovering we’ve been taking honey without paying for years.

David Edwards

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Reel Deal

April 2006