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Johansson gets to make Napoleon movie
Indo-Asian News Service

New York, Dec 9 (IANS) Actress Scarlett Johansson has beaten Al Pacino in a bitter battle to make a film on Napoleon.
 

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According to hollywood.com, Pacino was to play the French emperor in "The Monster Of Longwood". This was an adaptation of a Staton Rabin novel about Napoleon's last days and his relationship with a young British girl after he was exiled to the island of St. Helena.

The story line was similar to Johansson's "Napoleon And Betsy" in which the actress plays Betsy. 

"Monster of Longwood" producer Howard Rosenman asked his lawyers to stop Johansson's project. He claimed "Napoleon And Betsy" writer Rebecca B. Kennedy had written the first draft of the "Longwood" movie and that Johansson had flirted with his project ever since she did a reading with Pacino a few months ago.

The battle now seems to have ended in Johansson's favour with an official announcement being made that Benjamin Ross would go ahead with his plans to write and direct "Napoleon And Betsy".

  
Spielberg to remake sci-fi classic
Indo-Asian News Service

London, Dec 9 (IANS) Director Steven Spielberg is to produce a remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic "When Worlds Collide".

According to ananova.com, the film is about a group of people who travel to another planet to escape the earth's collision with a dead star. 

The original won an Oscar for special effects. Stephen Sommers, the director of hit film "Van Helsing", will direct the remake.
 

Paltrow's directorial debut goes to Sundance festival
Indo-Asian News Service

London, Dec 9 (IANS) Oscar winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow's directorial debut has been accepted at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

According to contactmusic.com, the actress teamed up with friend Mary Wigmore to make a short film called "Dealbreaker". 

The film was co-written by Paltrow and stars newcomer Arija Bareikis as a woman looking for Mr. Right.

Paltrow was inspired to make the movie after she read an article written by a Glamour magazine reader about her own dating disasters. 

The film is a part of five short movies in the Glamour Reel Moments series, which will be posted on the magazine's website glamour.com.

The film festival, the brainchild of actor Robert Redford, will run Jan 19-29 ayt Park City, Utah.

 
Damon's fiancée is pregnant
Indo-Asian News Service

London, Dec 9 (IANS) Actor Matt Damon and his fiancée Luciana Barroso are expecting their first child together.

According to contactmusic.com, Barroso is three months pregnant. The child will be Damon's first but Barroso already has a six-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. 

The news comes just a week after Damon had expressed a strong desire to be a father figure. 

He says: "I have longed for (kids) in real life, anyway. I just have to learn how to be a disciplinarian. Now I'm good at winding kids up, but I'm not so good at chilling them out."
 

Kanye West 'warns' Grammy voters
Indo-Asian News Service

London, Dec 9 (IANS) Outspoken singer Kanye West has "warned" Grammy Award voters to "hand" him the Album Of The Year prize in 2006 or "suffer the consequences".

According to contactmusic.com, West received eight nominations and he said that if his album "Late Registration" doesn't win, he will "publicly ridicule" the Grammy panel. 

"If I don't win Album Of The Year, I'm gonna really have a problem with that," he warned. 

He fears he won't win the prize because of the controversial comments he made during a Hurricane Katrina telethon accusing US President George Bush of disliking black people. 

"I don't care what I do, I don't care how much I stunt - you can never take away from the amount of work I put into it. I don't want to hear all of that politically correct stuff," he said. 

"You put the camera in front of me, I'm gonna tell you like this: 'I worked hard to get here. I put my love, I put my heart, I put my money (into 'Late Registration'). 

"I'm $600,000 in the hole right now on that album and you tell me about being politically incorrect? People love these songs," he maintained.