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** MOVIE NEWS **

LORD OF THE RINGS - THE RETURN OF THE KING

Director Peter Jackson talked to the official fan magazine about how the third film is progressing: "We're shooting, we're cutting, the visual effects still have a long way to go before they are done, we haven't started recording the music yet - so for me there may be light at the end of the tunnel, but the premiere in December still seems a long, long way away from where I am at the moment."
"I have experienced my last day of shooting Elijah Wood as Frodo and my last day of shooting Viggo [Mortensen] as Aragorn. Those to me are more profound than what my personal last day is going to be."

"[The Return Of The King] is the movie that I want to be most proud of, so I am working very hard to make sure that happens. I think when people look back at the three films; I want Return Of The King to be the one that really lingers with them in terms of the emotional experience. I want it to be the reason why we made the other two films."

THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK

More details are filtering through on this proposed trilogy of sci-fi movies starring Vin Diesel. The first movie is designed to be a standalone story, taking place five years after the events of Pitch Black.

The production are halfway through the 77-day shoot, and has been utilizing massive sets (dwarfing those used for Men In Black II and Planet Of The Apes). The tone has "made a conscious decision to move away from horror film and into science fiction epic".

DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS

'DreamWorks Pictures' is developing a remake of Francis Veber's French comedy Le Diner de Cons ("The Idiot Game") - now retitled Dinner For Schmucks tapped. Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G) is set to star.

The French film focused on a weekly dinner party held by a Paris publisher who challenges his friends to bring the most pathetic guest to the gathering.

In the new version, Cohen will play a character deemed to possess such "extraordinary schmuckiness" that he is capable of ruining the life of anyone who spends more than a few minutes in his orbit. Coen will play a variety of new characters.

Cohen has also been talking with 'Fox Searchlight' to see if there is a movie opportunity with his TV character Borat - the Kazakh TV reporter.

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UNDERWORLD

Actors Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman both talked to 'Entertainment Tonight' about their roles in the upcoming Underworld.

Beckinsale said the harder the role, the better: "That's the whole point for me. I think the more frightened you are and the more convinced you are that you can't do it, that's the job you should take."

Speedman: "I've never done anything like this. All the training, running around and getting shot at - I wanted to see if I'd like it. It was a lot of hard work, but was definitely cool to do."

Beckinsale: "[Scott] was amazingly able to withstand the physical pain. I wasn't expecting that. He's so pretty that you don't think he'd stay in freezing cold water for 10 hours and come back asking for more."

And will the movie spawn a sequel? Beckinsale seems to think so, telling 'MTV' that "I would love to do it again. I had an amazing experience on this movie. I think that when you push yourself beyond what you think your limits are - like, a lot - it's a really profound kind of life experience. And I had an amazing time on this."

"People are sort of talking about it being a love story, [but] it's less a love story than 'The Matrix.' There's an attraction there between my character and Scott Speedman's character, but the main thrust of the movie is absolutely not a love story. It's action."

GHOST RIDER

'CountingDown' spoke with 'Marvel' honcho Kevin Feige about the long gestating movie adaptation of Ghost Rider: "In a perfect world, we'd love to be shooting [Ghost Rider] early next year. Writer/director Mark Steven Johnson [Daredevil] is halfway through his rewrite of the script and is coming up with spectacular stuff."

"Nicholas Cage is dying to do Ghost Rider. He's doing a movie called National Treasure as his next project, but after that he wants to do Ghost Rider. We're committed to him and he's committed to the movie. Now it's just a matter of timing".

Strangely, Cage had since attached himself to The Weather Man, meaning his starring-role in Ghost Rider will have to wait.

ROBOCOP 4

Recent rumours about Paul Verhoeven returning to direct a fourth RoboCop movie have been denounced by the director's agent. "Paul did speak of doing another RoboCop in the past, but nothing is in the works at the moment. Paul is trying to cast the 'New Line' film Solace and has some other projects he is attempting to set up also."

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RESIDENT EVIL - APOCALYPSE

'IGN Filmforce' posted new details on the character of Jill Valentine, played by actress Sienna Guillory (The Time Machine). Here's how they describe her: Dark hair, 20's, casual clothes. Her striking looks might make you forget what a top class police officer she is. A mistake many people have made before - to their detriment.

The site also says that The Nemesis (the classic Resident Evil villain) will appear in the film, and that the creature will look similar to the game. He's described as follows: Eeight feet tall and humanoid with metallic pipes and tubes grown into his flesh. He is incredibly muscular, scarred and disfigured but has clear blue eye" - striking reminders of a humanoid past.

STAR WARS EPISODE III

'Independent' spoke with Ewan McGregor before he flew to the set of Star Wars Episode III.

"I'm delighted to be in the Star Wars films. There'll be quite a lot of fighting in the film and I always enjoy that. I imagine it [the Star Wars series] has got to resolve itself with me and Hayden Christensen [who plays Anakin Skywalker] having some big, kick-off fight."

WALLACE & GROMIT IN THE GREAT VEGETABLE PLOT

Aardman Animations are finally ready to shoot their first feature as part of their four-picture deal with 'DreamWorks', signed way back in 1999.

Chicken Run co-director Nick Park will begin production on his long-awaited movie outing for Wallace and Gromit in September. The film will be co-directed by Park with Steve Box. The film is scheduled for a mid-2005 release.