Music of the spheres
Star Wars fever continues apace, and today you can preview the music. Some Danish entrepreneurs have leapt on the bandwaggon and released a Star Wars-inspired single. You can listen to it here, but don't worry, those cheesy Danish guys aren't the only ones offering Star Wars-related music.
We've got links to clips from the official first single from the Phantom Menace album, Duel of the Fates. These sound clips use MP3 rather than real audio: you can download the necessary player from either www.winamp.com or www.macamp.com. If you're on a PC, right-click on the link and save the file to your desktop, then download win/macamp and use that application to open the file. If you're on a mac, just hold the mouse button down to get the 'save link as' option. Try site 1, site 2 or site 3. The instrumental is no top-40-style hit, but it's got the epic scope (and gigantic classical chorus) that we've come to expect from composer John Williams and the Star Wars crew.
Caring and sharing
As the plight of Kosovan refugees reaches crisis levels, one New York film producer has decided to attack what she sees as a critical problem for the ill-fed, rag-clad Albanian children - boredom.
Caroline Baron has formed Film Aid, backed by Miramax, Robert De Niro and Susan Sarandon, to send out video equipment and movies to distract the kids from their miserable living conditions. Miramax pitched in $25,000, the celebs are campaigning for further funds, and the United Nations has said they can distribute the equipment within two weeks.
Keeping up with the Jones
Vinnie Jones has just been cast in his first big American picture, a remake of the 1974 action flick Gone in 60 Seconds starring Nicolas Cage. Cage will get $20 million to star in the underworld thriller about a gang of car thieves. The film is being directed by big-budget blockbuster boffin Jerry Bruckheimer and produced by Touchstone, Disney's grown-up films arm.
Casting couch
Sharon Stone and Woody Allen will star in Picking Up the Pieces, a black comedy where Allen kills and chops up unfaithful wife Stone, only to find her disembodied hand working miracles in a small-town church; filming starts Monday... Kelsey Grammer, Robert De Niro, and Edward Burns will star in 15 Minutes, a thriller about a New York fire department arson investigator who teams up with a police detective on a case involving a controversial radio talk-show host; shooting starts in June.
