Print

Mail

wiki links

Reel News

It's more murder, mystery and suspense for 67-year-old Al Pacino PHOTO: AP

James Bond star Pierce Brosnan's sacking as agent 007 was a stunning "body blow," he revealed in an

interview Tuesday, as the hunt for his successor as the suave superspy

reportedly drew to an end.

Brosnan's comments came as news reports in Britain said the year-long search for a new Bond had ended with the selection of 37-year-old British actor Daniel Craig as the first blond Bond.

But Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which holds the lucrative Bond franchise, declined to comment on the growing rumors that Craig had been cast in Casino Royale, which is set to begin production in January.

"The studio has no comment at this time," spokesman Steve Elzer said.

Brosnan, 52, who incarnated the British secret agent in four screen outings that reaped US$1.45 billion in ticket sales, said he was stunned and disappointed over the decision to dump him.

Big screen superstars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton are teaming up to

produce a new television mini-series about famed US explorers Lewis and Clark, producers said Monday.

Daniel Craig may get a license to kill. PHOTO: AP

But the pals and co-stars of 1999's Fight Club will not act in the 10-part HBO television adaptation of Stephen Ambrose's book about the 19th century journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark across the American continent.

Norton and Pitt will instead act as executive producers of the series, while Norton will also direct at least one of the episodes of the show to be co-produced by National Geographic and HBO, HBO confirmed.

"Lewis and Clark's expedition is as great a story as you could ever hope to tell, and like so many people, Brad and I have both been drawn to it for years," Norton was quoted as saying by Daily Variety.

And Oscar-winning US superstar Al Pacino is taking on the role of a college professor who doubles as an FBI forensic psychologist in a new crime thriller called 88 Minutes, the industry press said Monday.

Pacino, 65, will be joined by co-stars Leelee Sobieski, Alicia Witt and Neal McDonough in the movie that is scheduled to begin production in the Canadian city of Vancouver today.

The film is to be directed by Jon Avnet, the maker of the hit 1991 comedy-drama Fried Green Tomatoes starring Kathy Bates, according to Daily Variety.

In the new movie, the 30-year-old Witt, who had roles in Two Weeks Notice (2002) and Vanilla Sky (2001) starring Tom Cruise, will play a teaching assistant who falls for Pacino's character.

Sobieski, 23, will play one of Pacino's students, while Minority Report star McDonough will play a death row inmate Pacino's character suspects is orchestrating his murder.

North Korea is commonly portrayed as the world's bad guy in Hollywood, but the country's movie-buff leader Kim Jong-Il is striking back by opening up Pyongyang's film industry to foreign participation.

The policy is aimed at reviving the fortunes of the Stalinist state's once thriving movie business and will also enable North Korean films to reach overseas, according to Chinese

filmmaker Piao Zun Xi, the director of the first foreign feature made in the

reclusive country.

"North Korea is willing to participate actively in co-production activities," Piao told a meeting at the Pusan

International Film Festival in South Korea's southern Busan city.

"Kim Jong-Il is well known to be an avid film lover. (North Korea) wants to learn from other countries what is going on in the film sector," he said.

"If such co-operation takes place there will a lot of interest worldwide and in Asia," he told the gathering of film industry professionals.

Meanwhile the US film industry is also worrying about its future as a new survey shows teenage boys and young men lead disillusioned US movie-goers in staying away from cinemas as ticket prices rise and the quality of home entertainment soars.

As Hollywood wages an epic battle against falling ticket sales, the poll revealed that one of the industry's most crucial audience groups, males aged between 13 and 24, are opting to stay home to watch DVDs and play video games.

Boys and young men in the key demographic group reported watching a whopping 24 percent fewer films in the all-important summer cinema season this year than they did over the same period in 2003, consumer research firm Online Testing eXchange (OTX) said.

"The perception among young male moviegoers that there wasn't much to see his year was a difficult barrier to overcome, regardless of price," said Vincent Bruzzese of OTX.

This story has been viewed 1863 times.