Sharon Stone is returning to the big screen after a two year absence provoked in part by serious illness. She will take on two independent projects.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Stone is negotiating to star opposite Rupert Everett in A Different Loyalty, about the wife of the British traitor Kim Philby. She is also likely to star in The Liars Club about a dysfunctional Texan family.
Robert Altman and Cate Blanchett are teaming up, for the small screen. The Oscar nominees look likely to work together on a three-hour film for American cable station HBO, with Altman directing Blanchett as Mata Hari." To do it the way I plan on doing it would not fit a theatrical release because it would be too long a picture," Altman told the Hollywood Reporter. It's such a big undertaking that if we did it at HBO, we could do it in a full three hours. It pleases my soul to be able to go after an audience that will get what we are doing."
Madonna is to play a fencing instructor in James Bond's next outing, Die Another Day. The Hollywood Reporter says Mrs Ritchie appears in one scene in the film which involves Bond duelling with the villainous Gustav Graves. The two men are supervised by Madonna.
