News: Robert De Niro

De Niro’s concentration on comedy in recent years has been depressing for fans of his earlier work, so this week’s The Good Shepherd – which he directed as well as cameos in – has been something of a relief even if it isn’t as good as it should have been. Thankfully, with loads of films in the pipeline, quite a few are set to involve straight acting for a change.

Next up is an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman fantasy novel Stardust, with a supremely impressive cast that includes the likes of Peter O’Toole, Ian McKellen, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais, Sienna Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer and Clare Danes. Then there’s New Orleans, a thriller about police corruption, with De Niro investigating with the help of his new partner, played by rapper 50 Cent, before hooking up with the rather more talented George Clooney for the crime drama 36.

Then it’s back to comedy for Hollywood expose What Just Happened?, based on the book by Heat and Fight Club producer Art Linson (who also wrote the screenplay), with De Niro playing a film producer having a tough time getting funding, with co-stars including the likes of Bruce Willis, Sean Penn and John Turturro. After that it’s more drama, starring alongside his erstwhile Taxi Driver co-star Jodie Foster for her latest directorial effort, Sugarland, about two lawyers fighting to end the exploitation of migrant sugar labourers.

Then more drama – and a return to familiar territory – for The Winter of Frankie Machine, with De Niro playing a retired mob hit man, lured back into his former profession for one last hit. Finally, he’s set to star as the husband of Meryl Streep female President of the United States in the political comedy First Man, which sounds promising – as does the computer game version of Heat, assuming De Niro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer all sign on to do voice duties, as they’re currently only in negotiations.

News: Angelina Jolie

Everyone’s favourite fantasy figure Angelina Jolie may be wasted in this week’s The Good Shepherd, and may have been seen in the tabloids more often than on screen in the last couple of years, but that’s hopefully set to change.

She’s next up doing full-on “proper” acting in A Mighty Heart, following the efforts of the wife of murdered Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl to find out precisely how her husband ended up being beheaded on camera by Islamist fanatics back in 2002. then she’s on voice duties as the voice of the mother of the monster Grendel in the much-anticipated adaptation of the Dark Age poem Beowulf, starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins and a host of other top-notch actors, with more voice duties following in the animated comedy Kung-Fu Panda, alongside Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman and Lucy Liu, before switching back to drama for the Ayn Rand adaptation Atlas Shrugged, possibly alongside her real-world lover and father of her ultra-famous baby, Brad Pitt.