News: Hugh Jackman

After this week’s The Fountain, and recent outings including Flushed Away, The Prestige and Happy Feet all having been released in the space of just a couple of months, Jackman’s really churning them out. His own X-Men spin-off, Wolverine, is due for 2008 as well – but it’s not all big blockbusters, as his lead role in Woody Allen’s Scoop (set in London but as yet not set for release in the UK) should attest.

Of Jackman’s other upcoming projects, most interesting are likely to be The Tourist, where he’ll play a lawyer who leads Ewan McGregor into a hidden world of sex and kidnapping, genius Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai’s 1930s-set The Lady From Shanghai (again opposite Rachel Weisz), and weirdo Aussie director Baz Lurhmann’s ambitious-sounding epic Australia, in which Jackman will star alongside fellow antipodean Nicole Kidman.

There’s also The Amateur, with Jackman playing a geeky CIA code cracker who turns himself into a killing machine when his wife is killed by terrorists, a small role in period piece A Plumm Summer, full-on action thriller Drive, with Jackman as a Hollywood stuntman trying to escape a hitman, romantic comedy Rebound Guy, and supernatural musical romance If You Could See Me Now – and that’s before you even start on the rumours of a remake of Oklahoma! with Jackman reprising the role that brought him such success on the London stage before Hollywood came a-calling.

Busiest man in Hollywood? He’s certainly a top contender. Does the guy even know how to say “no”?

News: Tony Scott

Always destined to be both Ridley’s less talented little brother and the man responsible for homoerotic 80s cheesefest Top Gun, Tony Scott’s on his typical competent form with this week’s Deja Vu. His planned remake of the 1979 cult gang warfare classic The Warriors still apparently on hold, Scott will no doubt be hoping instead to get his other planned movie, Emma’s War, off the ground. Revolving around a female aid worker in the Sudan who falls in love with a local warlord, Nicole Kidman was at one point rumoured to be interested and, with Africa seemingly popular with the Academy at the moment, with the right cast and screenplay Scott no doubt knows that this could finally bring him his Oscar.

If, of course, he can ever get it made…

Review: Happy Feet

UK release date: 8th December

George Miller, the co-writer of Babe, does for penguins what he did for pigs in this fabulous family adventure. Playing like March of the Penguins: the Musical, it combines jaw-dropping computer animation with contemporary and classic tunes to bring to life a simple but eloquent story of an outcast emperor penguin’s struggle for acceptance.

Moral and ecological messages abound as avian cutie Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) hatches without the ability to sing — a terrible misfortune in an Antarctic community where penguin couples find their mate through song. What he can do however is tap dance brilliantly, leading to social rejection that prompts him to embark on an exciting quest to prove his worth.

Every element of this heart-warming tale is delightful, from the astonishing visuals and imaginative song and dance numbers to the relentlessly paced (and occasionally scary) action sequences. The voice talent is also seriously classy, with Robin Williams in dual roles a highlight in a cast that also includes Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman as Mumble’s parents.

Radio Times rating:

****

UK cinema certificate U
Running time 108mins

Review by Sloan Freer

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: Hugh Jackman

Like his Flushed Away co-star Kate Winslet, Jackman’s also had a fair few movies recently, so his latest film news can be found here. The only new news is that the epic Baz Luhrmann project in which Jackman is set to star with fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman now has a name: Australia. More details on the promising period piece can be found courtesy of The Age.

News: Daniel Craig

Unsurprisingly for an actor who’s been working in films for a fair while, and for whom the role of James Bond in this week’s Casino Royale is if anything a bit of a departure, Daniel Craig has plenty of very varied projects on the go – he won’t be one to rest on his 007 laurels.

Already completed, and due for a US release in August 2007 (though no UK date has yet been set) is sci-fi thriller The Invasion, where Craid will star opposite Nicole Kidman, who plays a psychiatrist who uncovers the cause of an alien disease that threatens to destroy the whole of mankind.  Craig and Kidman will then be reunited in the first of the adaptations of Philip Pullman’s excellent philosophical fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, pitched as The Golden Compass after the North American edition of the novel, but likely to revert to the book’s original title, Northern Lights, for its UK release, probably in December 2007. Amusingly enough, Craig is playing the mysterious Lord Asriel – a part played by former Bond Timothy Dalton in the London stage production.

After that, Craig will take on the ultimate in evil as Satan himself in I, Lucifer, Craig’s evil one posessing the body of Ewan McGregor after a bet with God, and taking full advantage of the freedom a human body can bring.

And then, of course, there’s the as-yet untitled Bond 22. Craig is currently contracted for two more films as 007 – but quite what direction they will take is anyone’s guess – even those involved most likely don’t know yet. Rumours, however, suggest that parts of the next Craig Bond movie will be inspired by aspects of the Bond novel – though not the Roger Moore-starring film – For Your Eyes Only…

News: Hugh Jackman

Though almost unknown when heended up as a last-minute replacement for Dougray Scott on the first X-Men film back in 2000, Hugh Jackman’s career is now in full-on overdrive, with his turn in this week’s The Prestige just the latest impressive addition to his film CV. With his own X-Men spin-off, Wolverine, due for 2008, this freshest Australian superstar is really churning them out,with lead roles alongside his The Prestige co-star Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allen’s Scoop and Rachel Weisz in Darren Aronofsky’s ambitious The Fountain and voice work as a rat in Wallace and Grommit creators Aarman Animation’s Flushed Away and as a penguin in the much-anticipated Happy Feet already completed and ready for imminent release.

Of Jackman’s other upcoming projects, most interesting are likely to be The Tourist, where he’ll play a lawyer who leads Ewan McGregor into a hidden world of sex and kidnapping, genius Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai’s 1930s-set The Lady From Shanghai (again opposite Rachel Weisz), and weirdo Aussie director Baz Lurhmann’s as yet untitled next project, in which Jackman will star alongside fellow antipodean Nicole Kidman. And if that’s not enough, just this week another project has emerged, The Amateur, with Jackman playing a geeky CIA code cracker who turns himself into a killing machine when his wife is killed by terrorists.

At this rate, Jackman could soon see himself making a serious challenge to Russell Crowe and even Mel Gibson as Hollywood’s premiere Australian male – especially if Crowe keeps appearing in dross like A Good Year and Gibson keeps getting drunk and making sexist/racist remarks to police officers…