BBC - Films -news article - High Noon

		Cruise On Oscar Trail Again? Tom Cruise is entering Rain Man territory, with a biopic of off-kilter artist Jon Sarkin. The Mission: Impossible star has tapped writer-director Billy Ray (of upcoming Hayden Christensen starrer Shattered Glass) to develop the project. Ray told BBCi FILMS exclusively, "I'm writing a screenplay through Cruise-Wagner Productions as a star vehicle for Tom. It's based on an article in GQ magazine about an artist named Jon Sarkin. He started out as a chiropractor. This very rigid, controlled guy had a stroke, a heart attack and a coma and came out of the hospital two years later a totally changed human being. All of a sudden, he was this rambling, manic child. The screenplay is about him and his wife and their little boy, and how this family changed and how they reacted to this new man. It's a great piece." High Noon smells Oscar.

		Star Wars Blah The box office doesn't lie: some of you still care about Star Wars. So, for your benefit, here is Anakin/Darth Vader star Hayden Christensen blabbing exclusively to BBCi FILMS about his role in Episode III. "My character in this one is more or less in the entire film, in every scene in the movie. The character arc is very specific and graduates to the dark side nicely. It was a great part to play. It's definitely darker in tone but I turn into Darth Vader, so how could it not be?" He continues: "In the first act of the film, there's lots of adventure and Ewan [McGregor] and I are in our element there acting as Jedi Knights. There's a nice banter between the two of us. It has its light-hearted humour but, as the film progresses, it gets darker and darker." Episode III will be released in 2005.

		More Hype For Poor Sci-fi Blockbuster Keanu Reeves has been blabbing about The Matrix Revolutions, telling BBCi FILMS, "I'm really excited that it's coming out and that people get to see this remarkable movie. I really enjoyed it when I saw it. I thought the performances and how it comes together in the action and the cinema of it was pretty extraordinary. I think there's a lot of compassion, a lot of love in it, and it's the backbone, the raison d'être of the pieces." Producer Joel Silver, meanwhile, has ruled out another Matrix movie - even though Revolutions leaves room for one. "This is it. This is the end," he told BBCi FILMS. "The boys [Larry and Andy Wachowski] have an idea for an online game which they're going to start working on, that may be coming out next summer, which will still incorporate themes from The Matrix and the story. But this story, this physical story of this movie, is over." The Matrix Revolutions opens here on 5th November.

		Wilson Attends Date School Shanghai Knights star Owen Wilson looks set to continue his run of being the best thing in bad movies, by starring in Date School. The presence of Swingers writer/actor Jon Favreau at the helm does give some hope that the romantic comedy will be OK - hope squished when you realise the female lead is... (cue ominous music) Drew Barrymore.

		Scott Seeks Help American Pie star Seann(nnnn) William Scott has inked to act in Sebastian Knight - as a CIA agent who seduces a neurotic self-help addict to get himself out of trouble. Hilarity, of course, ensues.

		Chainsaw II? The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake made a killing (see what we did there?) at the US box office this weekend, prompting talk of a sequel. Producer Mike Fleiss and director Marcus Nispel are already mulling over a follow-up, with the former also attached to a version of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde. The horror pic took $29.1 million, easily surpassing the other big new release, Runaway Jury. Massacre opens here on 31st October.

		Duvall Kicks It Robert Duvall continues his odd onscreen love for football, signing to star opposite Will Ferrell in a to-be-titled comedy. The A Shot At Glory star will play the highly competitive father of Ferrell's school footy coach, who has a son on an opposing team.

		Streep Bags Award Meryl Streep - last seen sporting irritating tics in The Hours - will be getting all teary next June, when she's handed the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in a ceremony in Hollywood.

		Janssen Plays Hide And Seek Former Bond girl and Love & Sex star Famke Jannsen is joining Robert De Niro on Hide And Seek. The chiller, about a young girl who deals with her mother in a "terrifying" way, is currently shooting in New York, under the director of Swimf@n's John Polson.