BBC - Movies -news article - High Noon

		Star Wars In The Cannes George Lucas was presented with The Trophy Of The Festival De Cannes at a ceremony held aboard the QE2 at the weekend. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith got its world premiere at the festival last night, which as Lucas explained, struck a neat symmetry. "This is a great honour for me," he said. "Star Wars actually began here in 1971 when I was in the Directors' Fortnight." He went on to recall an early deal he made with United Artists (for the Star Wars script) on a terrace overlooking the Riviera. Over 30 years later, the final episode gets its UK premiere tonight in London's Leicester Square - as if you didn't know.

		Stars On The Prairie Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan and Woody Harrelson have signed up for Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion. Michelle Pfeiffer, John C Reilly and Lily Tomlin are already confirmed for the line-up while Kevin Kline is in talks to join this fictionalised story of real-life radio host Garrison Keillor. His award-winning show was an American institution telling homespun tales of a fictional Midwestern town. Keillor wrote the script, which follows what happens when the show is cancelled after a 30-year run.

		Pfeiffer's A New Woman Michelle Pfeiffer is unusually busy these days. Aside from Prairie Home Companion, she's signed on to take the lead in I Could Never Be Your Woman for director Amy Heckerling. The Clueless helmer also penned the romantic comedy, which follows a successful career woman with a troubled love life. The plot details are being kept under wraps, but it must be something special as esteemed producer Scott Rudin (The Hours, School Of Rock) is overseeing the project.

		Farrell's Plans On Ice According to Sky, Colin Farrell is eyeing a remake of John Sturges' 1968 thriller Ice Station Zebra. "The cinema's been missing seat-gripping films like this," he said. "It's still a classic and I've always loved Rock." By the way, that's the late Rock Hudson as opposed to Walking Tall star The Rock. The Irish bad boy intends to fill Hudson's shoes as US Naval Commander James Ferraday, who leads the rescue of a British meteorological team trapped on the polar ice cap and uncovers a Cold War espionage plot. Watch this space...

		Eccleston Leads Double Life Christopher Eccleston will star in romantic yarn Double Life. It's the movie debut of TV director Joe Ahearne whose credits include the new Dr Who series, headlined, of course, by Eccleston. This time the Lancashire thesp will play a man who falls in love with two women who appear to be twins, but later turn out to be the same person. It's described as "a non-naturalistic tale of love and obsession", but sounds more like a Farrelly brothers comedy to us. Cameras roll in Budapest this autumn.

		That's A Wrap Monster-In-Law has clawed its way to the top of the US box office albeit with a less than monstrous $24m (£13m). This continues a three-month streak of poor box office sales across the pond, although the J-Fo/J-Lo vehicle did well to beat Will Ferrell comedy Kicking & Screaming, which took $20.9m (£11.4m), and Jet Li actioner Unleashed, which scraped $10.6m (£5.8m) for third place... Rhys Ifans, Miranda Richardson, Bernard Hill, and um, Brian Blessed are lending their voices to an animated adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's a Spanish production re-titled Midsummer Dream and it's being unveiled in Cannes this week... Liam Gallagher is being courted for the role of real-life Mancunian thug Paul Massey who's currently serving 14 years for stabbing a man. The untitled film centres on notorious Glasgow gun-runner Paul Ferris to be played by Robert Carlyle. The Oasis frontman is reportedly "mad for it". Obviously, no acting required... Shockmeister David Cronenberg will direct Painkillers, his first original screenplay in eight years. It's the futuristic tale of a detective sent undercover to save humanity in a world where "surgery is sex and pain is pleasure". We shudder to think where Cronenberg gets his inspiration, but he explains, "Sometimes it's good to be afraid of what you create - and I am afraid of Painkillers." You're not alone, David.