MOVIE NEWS
CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
The roles of Violet and Veruca have been cast for Tim Burton's Charlie And
The Chocolate Factory, which stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddie
Highmore as Charlie Bucket.
Annasophia Robb (right) has been cast as gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde and newcomer
Julia Winter will play the bitchy Veruca Salt. Annasophia can be seen soon
in Because Of Winn-Dixie, due out in January 2005.
SIN CITY
'Variety 'reports that actress Rosario Dawson (Men in Black II) has joined
the ensemble cast of the Robert Rodriguez/Frank Miller-directed Sin City.
Dawson will take part in the third and final segment. Rodriguez has based
the film on Miller's graphic novel series. The finale also stars Benicio Del
Toro, Clive Owen and Brittany Murphy. Quentin Tarantino is considered likely
to direct some of that episode.
The film's starry cast also includes Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett, Mickey
Rourke, Nick Stahl (Terminator 3), Jessica Alba (Dark Angel), Elijah Wood,
Carla Gugino (Spy Kids), Jaime King and Marley Shelton.
THE RING 2
Actress Elizabeth Perkins (Big, The Flintstones) (right) has been cast as a
psychologist in The Ring sequel alongside Naomi Watts.
THE DA VINCI CODE
'The Boston Herald' reports that George Clooney, Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks
and Hugh Jackman are all in the running to star in the film adaptation of
the best-selling book The Da Vinci Code, by author Dan Brown.
Director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman,
the Oscar-winning trio from A Beautiful Mind, are re-teaming to make the
film for 'Sony Pictures Entertainment'.
Goldsman will adapt the novel, while Grazer (Howard's 'Imagine
Entertainment' partner) will produce. Howard himself will direct the film
after completing Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe.
The Da Vinci Code book debuted at Number 1 on the 'New York Times
Bestseller' and was the second novel by Brown to focus on Harvard professor
of symbology Robert Langdon, who first appeared in his successful novel
Angels & Demons published in 2000.
The Da Vinci Code focuses on a 2000 year-old conspiracy, clues to which are
encoded in the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci. Brown is currently at work on
a third novel featuring his Professor Langdon character.
SERENITY
Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things) (right) has joined 'Universal Pictures'
Serenity, Joss Whedon's movie film version of his cancelled TV series
Firefly.
The film revolves around an ensemble of characters who are galactic outcasts
500 years in the future. The film centres on a captain and the crew on his
transport-for-hire spaceship, called Serenity. When they pick up two
passengers, they find themselves caught between a military force and
cannibalistic savages.
Ejiofor is the first actor to sign on to the movie who did not appear in the
'Fox' TV show. He will play a character known as the Operative, an assassin
and tracker who speaks with eloquent sophistication.
** IN THE PIPELINE **