News: Nicole Kidman

Kidman continues to pick interesting and promising projects, with this week’s fun animated musical Happy Feet yet another impressive entry to her eclectic CV. Despite her 40th approaching looming (on 20th June 2007), she’s busier than ever, bucking the trend of Hollywood actresses finding themselves out of work as their forties come near.

Next year will see three interesting projects for the Aussie beauty. The Invasion, starring alongside new Bond Daniel Craig, will see her play a psychatrist who uncovers an alien invasion – and the key, lying in her critically ill son. Then will come the highly promising – but as yet untitled – new film from Noah Baumbach, the writer/director responsible for brilliantly quirky outings The Squid and the Whale and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Little is yet known other than that it is a comedy drama revolving around a weekend family reunion, and will star Kidman alongside the likes of Jack Black, Jennifer Jason Leigh and John Turturro.

Kidman will also be re-teaming with directos she’s had some success with before. First up is Headhunters, from a script from Birthday Girl writer/director Jez Butterworth, following a group of women from New Jersey who head to Monte Carlo to land rich husbands. Then – and almost certain to have more potential – will come the latest project from Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann, Australia. Set during World War II, Kidman will play an Australian heiress who sets out on a cattle-drive roughneck rancher Hugh Jackman, only to get embroiled in a Japanese invasion.

Most likely to buy a few more fancy designer dresses, however, is bound to be the His Dark Materials triology, the first instalment of which, Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass if you’re in America), should be out around Christmas 2007. Adapted from the bestselling (and really rather good) Philip Pullman novels, Kidman will play the scheming Miss Coulter in all three movies, again alongside Daniel Craig as the dashing Lord Asriel.

News: Jack Black

The tubby star of this week’s Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny has gone from second-fiddle sidekick in 2000’s High Fidelity to global superstardom in less than half a decade, so little wonder he’s making the most of it, with a whole slew of projects in the offing. Next up he’ll be seen (perhaps somewhat implausibly) as Kate Winslet’s love interest in romantic comedy The Holiday, due out on 8th December in the UK, with loads more due in the next few years.

Potentially promising is the as-yet untitled project from Noah Baumbach, writer of the superb The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and writer/director of Oscar-nominated The Squid and the Whale, which will follow a family reunion over the course of a weekend. With Baumbach in charge, it’s impossible to predict what the outcome might be.

Then will come the much-anticipated Be Kind Rewind from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry, with Black desperately trying to re-make movies from Back to the Future to The Lion King for a friend’s video store after accidentally wiping his entire stock. And talking of talking animals flicks, Black will aslo voice the lead character in the upcoming Dreamworks flick Kung Fu Panda, alongside the vocal talents of the likes of Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane and Jackie Chan. He is also attached to Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright’s Them, and adaptation of the non-fiction book by journalist Jon Ronson, exploring the wacky (and sometimes downright worrying) world of conspiracy theorists. With Wright and Black on board, it’s unlikely this is going to be a straight piece of reportage, however…

Meanwhile, his semi-spoof band Tenacious D seems to be continuing with its tours and occasional gigs – so keep an eye out, and you could catch a sight of Black in the flesh…