Vindaloo-hot British star Orlando Bloom has been blabbing about playing war-sparking Trojan prince Paris, in Wolfgang Petersen's Troy. "It was awesome," he told BBCi Films. "Peter O'Toole played my dad and Eric Bana played by brother. Brad Pitt, of course, was Achilles. I worked with some amazing people: Julie Christie, Brendan Gleeson, Brian Cox. They're amazing and Wolfgang did an incredible job. It felt like working on an old movie like Ben Hur or something. It was awesome!"

As for the proposed sequel to Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl, he has little choice but to appear in it, as it was a condition of his starring in part one. "Fortunately," he said, "Having seen the results of that movie - I don't mean just how it's done but just the enjoyment I got out of making it and working with the cast, the director, everyone involved - I'd go back anytime."

Paul WS Anderson's sure-to-be-awful Alien Vs Predator has a decent female lead, with little-known-but-quite-good actress Sanaa Lathan signing on for a Ripley-alike role.

Lathan, who appears in the forthcoming Denzel Washington thriller Out Of Time, will play Lex Kline, an explorer who discovers the interplanetary beasties doing battle in Antarctica. Aliens star Lance Henriksen will play a wealthy industrialist who funds her expedition, while Trainspotting actor Ewen Bremner is also aboard.

Michael Bay's production outfit Platinum Dunes has announced plans to remake 1979 hit The Amityville Horror - a supposedly based-on-fact tale about a haunted house.

Bay has already scored a big success with Dunes' remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, although he's told Variety a sequel to that is unlikely. "We've heard from the rights holders that they want what Hillary Clinton earned for writing her book," he said. "That simply isn't worth it to us."

British filmmaker Peter Webber is going down well in Hollywood, with his debut film Girl With A Pearl Earring.

The period drama stars Scarlett Johansson as the muse of Dutch artist Vermeer, played by Colin Firth. "It's fantastic," says Webber, of its reception in Hollywood. "When you start working on a film, you have no idea how it's going to go so the response we've been getting is absolutely incredible. It's very, very exciting.

He went on to praise Johansson, who is also winning plaudits for her performance in Lost In Translation - which is playing, like Girl... in the London Film Festival. However, the film has other things going for it.

"It's different to the usual run of the mill stuff," he says. "It takes you to another time and place. It's very quiet and it's quite intensely erotic. Hopefully it's the individuality that people are responding to."

Something's Gotta Give star Diane Keaton has revealed that her initial reaction to starring in a romantic comedy was "utter terror".

Keaton, who play a divorcee pursued by Jack Nicholson's lothario, and his doctor (Keanu Reeves), said, "It's been years since I've played a romantic role like this. The fun part was having all these men kiss me. I was propelled into a fantasy world that has long since left me. It was great fun to play. I hope it's good. I never know. Working with Jack again was heaven."

Mel Gibson's recently-retitled Gospel epic "The Passion Of Christ" has snared a US distributor, with Newmarket Films agreeing to release the picture on 25th February - Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar. The picture will be released in the UK by Gibbo's own Icon outfit.

The Best Man star Taye Diggs - recently seen as the MC in Chicago - has inked to topline Drum, a true story based on the experiences of a magazine writer exposing brutality in apartheid-era South Africa. Shooting stars in November.

Confirmation that Exorcist: The Beginning is going to suck like a million-buck vacuum cleaner comes with news that Renny Harlin has been hired to do six weeks of reshoots.

The Driven director replaces Paul Schrader, who left the project last month due to "creative differences" (he wanted to make a clever, psychological thriller. The producers wanted a gore-fest).