Nicole Kidman, Nicolas Cage and Renee Zellweger are among the Hollywood dignitaries who shall be attending this Sunday's Bafta ceremony at the Odeon Leicester Square. The event's presenters, too, offer a further taste of California, with the likes of Michael Douglas and Angelina Jolie lined up to hand out the awards. For the record, the Bafta awards are the British film equivalent of the Oscars.
Toni Collette will appear opposite Nia Vardalos, the star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, in the musically inclined follow-up Connie and Carla. The Hollywood Reporter says the project is described as a cross between Some Like it Hot and Tootsie, a female buddy film about two working class performers who go undercover in LA as drag queens. The film is due to go into production later this year.
Matt Damon, Heath Ledger and Robin Williams are in negotiations to star in the fantasy adventure Brothers Grimm, for director Terry Gilliam. A re-imagined take on the life of the writing duo, Gilliam's film will cast the siblings through a host of outlandish folklore adventures. Damon is pencilled in to star as Jakob Grimm, with Ledger lined up for support as Will. Continuing his shift into darker territory following Insomnia and One Hour Photo, Williams will play the villain of the piece. Brothers Grimm, which shoots later this year, will be Gilliam's first production since his ill-fated Don Quixote project.
Alfred Molina has nabbed the role of Doctor Octopus in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man sequel, which begins shooting in April. As portrayed in the Marvel Comics strip, Doc Oc is a crazed scientist who has a set of steel tentacles artificially welded to his torso. Molina will join Tobey Maguire, James Franco and Kirsten Dunst in the movie.
Martin Sheen, Janeane Garofalo and Anjelica Huston are spearheading a campaign to deluge the White House and the Senate with anti-war missives next Monday. Described by organisers as a "virtual march on Washington", the campaign aims to flood government phones, emails and faxes during office hours on February 24. "Our message to Washington will be clear: Don't invade Iraq," says Sheen. "We can contain Saddam Hussein without killing innocent people, diverting us from the war on terrorism and putting us all at risk."
