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Steve Coogan and actress Lisa Kudrow, two of the stars of the film Happy Endings. Coogan will be appearing with Ben Stiller in future press conferences, having announced that they will be filming a remake of The Persuaders. PHOTO: AP

Ben Stiller and Steve Coogan have signed on to star in a remake of the 1971 British TV series The Persuaders, according to Variety.

Stiller will play the role originated by Tony Curtis -- a street-smart millionaire from the Bronx, while British comic actor Coogan will take on Roger Moore's part -- that of a posh British crimefighter.

Together the two romp through exotic locales, romancing women and dishing out justice.

The jury in Michael Jackson's sex-abuse trial was expected back for a third day of deliberations yesterday, working behind closed doors in a courthouse surrounded by a sea of impatient, sun-blasted reporters and fans. The eight women and four men, who were handed the case by Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville last week, have so far spent about 14 hours deliberating without reaching a verdict. They have asked only one question, which the judge refused to make public.

As jurors weigh Michael Jackson's guilt in his child molestation trial, music industry executives and bankers have been weighing a separate, but related question: Will Jackson have to sell his US$500 million stake in the Beatles' music catalog? Jackson bought the publishing rights to the catalog for about US$48 million two decades ago at the height of his career.

Dido, Annie Lennox, Travis and Texas will take the stage in Scotland for a sixth Live 8 rock concert to press world leaders to fight African poverty at next month's G8 summit, organizers have said. Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof has announced concerts in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Philadelphia for July 2, to urge G8 leaders to boost aid to African states, cancel their debts and remove trade barriers that make them less competitive.

Actor Russell Crowe was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon on Monday after throwing a telephone at a hotel employee, police and prosecutors said. The Oscar-winner, who plays a boxer in his new movie Cinderella Man, was arrested early on Monday and later released on his own recognizance after being taken in handcuffs to his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court.

Annie Sprinkle has had a long career as a prostitute, porn star and performance artist. Now she's offering to share some secrets. In a new book, Dr Sprinkle's Spectacular Sex: Make Over Your Love Life With One of the World's Great Sex Experts, she offers advice on how to uncover hidden desires and how to chart a 14-step path toward a more fulfilling sex life.

With his raggedy suit, scruffy bowler hat, cane and wobbly walk, Charlie Chaplin became one of the most enduring images of 20th century cinema, raising a smile from even the most hard-bitten audiences.

Now for the first time an exhibition -- mostly drawn from previously hidden Chaplin family archives -- seeks to explore the reality and the myth of the man born into poverty in London in 1889 who became the first true mega star of the big screen.

Through film clips and some 250 photos, the exhibition examines the creation and evolution of Chaplin's Little Tramp, Chaplin's work as an actor and as a director, the running gags in his movies and the artistry of his movements, through to his flight from McCarthyism to Switzerland where he died in 1977.

Chaplin in Pictures, which opens at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris, is the first exhibition of its kind devoted to Chaplin, whose work has mostly in the past being admired through cinema retrospectives.

India's Roman Catholic Church, worried about traditional values breaking down in the country, has joined hands with Bollywood to make a movie highlighting the dangers of risky sex.

The Hindi-language film, made in trademark Bollywood style with songs, dance and melodrama, includes an HIV-positive character and is titled Aisa Kyon Hota Hain (Why Does This Happen?).

The film, set for release in July or August, is the brain-child of Dominic Emmanuel, a Catholic priest and spokesman for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese.

He says it is "the first ever instance" of India's Roman Catholic church producing a commercial film.
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