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week 38-01
ShowBiz Weekly: news from the UK & US...

MADONNA is preparing to go under the direction of her husband GUY RITCHIE in an update of the romantic saga Swept Away. Ritchie is signing up actors for his third film, and has chosen ELIZABETH BANKS to play a dumb beauty and DAVID THORNTON for the role of a millionaire. Madonna will play Amber, the wife of a billionaire drug lord who goes on a luxury cruise, where she falls in love with a communist sailor, Gennairo. Swept Away, based on LINA WERTMULLER's 1975 Italian-language movie, will mark a dramatic departure from Ritchie's previous mob dramas. Ritchie has worked with Madonna before, directing her music video What It Feels Like for a Girl, which was rejected by MTV because of its violent content.

America's Warner Bros TV network is stripping Superman of his trademark swirling cape in their new series to try to win more viewers. And the Man of Steel's undergarments will be taking a more discreet role beneath a pair of jeans. Defending their decision to change the superhero's look, the show's writer MILES MILLAR says: ``It's difficult to connect with someone wearing underpants over his tights.''

The Emmy awards, which have been rescheduled for October 7, are expected to go ahead without many of the nominees. Most of the stars from The Sopranos and Sex and the City, which received most of the nominations, have said they will not make the journey from New York to Los Angeles. As a result the HBO cable network, which screens the shows, has cancelled its annual post-Emmy party at Spago in Beverly Hills. Emmy officials are considering organising a live transmission from New York as a way to accommodate stars who do not want to fly.

The release of the sci-fi film The Time Machine is to be delayed while a scene of pieces of the moon falling on New York is deleted. Originally intended for release on Christmas Day, it has now been pushed back until next February when fewer movies are being released. ``Things are so crowded in the holiday period that we felt we'd have a better chance elsewhere,'' said MICHAEL CHRISTIANSON, a distribution executive at DreamWorks. Based on the classic novel by HG WELLS, the special effects-laden adventure is directed by his descendant, British film-maker SIMON WELLS. GUY PEARCE stars as the time travelling hero and JEREMY IRONS and MARK ADDY co-star in the film, which cost around 60 million.

CLINT EASTWOOD's actress daughter Alison is following in her father's footsteps with her new clothing line. Alison, who has appeared in 12 films, including four of her father's, is set to launch a line called Eastwood Ranch. Her father heads Tehama, a successful sportswear line. ``He warned me that it's a tough business but he wishes me a lot of success,'' Eastwood, 29, a former model, tells USA Today. ``Acting is very tough, and when I began acting, he gave me the same advice.'' Denim will play a big part in her collection, which will feature earth tones and organic fabrics. ``We're focusing on authentic, rugged, a bit eclectic, a bit of the old West mixed with the new looks of the millennium,'' she said of her clothes, which will all be made in the USA.

PATRICK SWAYZE is returning to the dance floor 14 years after he starred in the hit Dirty Dancing. This time his dancing partner will be his wife, actress LISA NIEMI, who also wrote and directed Without a Word, in which they will play an ageing dance couple who come out of retirement for one last performance. ``We wrote it as a play 15 years ago and it went through a who le bunch of writers and financiers until Lisa finally decided to write and direct the movie version and I produced it,'' Swayze tells Premiere magazine.

RORY CULKIN is to star with MEL GIBSON and JOAQUIN PHOENIX in Signs, the M NIGHT SHYAMALAN drama which is about to go into production in Pennsylvania. Culkin, the youngest brother of Macaulay and Kieran, was hired after a long search. He previously appeared in You Cant Count On Me and most recently joined Kiernan in Igby Goes Down. Signs concerns the mysterious appearance of a 500ft array of circles and lines found carved into the crop's of a family's farm. The joke-filled monologues which are a staple of the Emmy Awards have been scrapped for this year's ceremony, which has been rescheduled for October 7. Instead, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is promising a ceremony ``different in approach and tone'' and ``one that reaffirms the spirit of the American people'' while celebrating the television industry. The annual Emmys, originally scheduled for last Sunday and due to be hosted by ELLEN DEGENERES, were postponed for three weeks. ``The presentation has been affected dramatically by the events of last week,'' said the academy chairman Bryce Zabel. Leading nominees are The West Wing, The Sopranos and Sex and the City.

Australian actor ERIC BANA has emerged as the leading candidate to play the title character in The Incredible Hulk, Universal's adaptation of the Marvel Comics adventure. Bana, who has just finished work on RIDLEY SCOTT's Black Hawk Down, would play Dr Bruce Banner, the scientist who morphs into the muscular green superhero.

Comedienne ELLEN DE GENERES has talked for the first time of how ANNE HECHE broke her heart when she suddenly ended their three-year lesbian love affair. ``She walked out the door and I haven't spoken to her since,'' said the 43-year-old actress, who is promoting her new television sitcom The Ellen Show while Heche is hawking her autobiography, Call Me Crazy. They met in 1997 at a Vanity Fair Oscar party and the relationship ended a year ago. ``It was the first time I'd ever had my heart broken and it was in a big way,'' she told the Los Angeles Times. ``I'd always been the one to leave relationships and I really believed it was forever, and I felt safe and I felt we shared so much together. ``I'd like to believe she loved me and I'm not that stupid that I would be completely fooled, but I will never really know. ``I know that I was happy for a long time and she obviously changed her mind. I don't have the answers. I'm left with everyone else wondering what happened. I don't know, I really don't. I feel betrayed.''

MICHAEL JACKSON is assembling an all-star cast to record a benefit single which is expected to raise more than 30 million for terrorist attack victims. DESTINY'S CHILD, THE BACKSTREET BOYS, 'N SYNC, BRITNEY SPEARS and CARLOS SANTANA are among the talent set to join in on What More Can I Give?, a ballad written, produced and financed by Jackson. It is expected to be in the stores within a month. Jackson's publicist Susan Blond said he hopes the song ``will unite the whole world''.

The future of British film-maker MIKE NEWELL's next project, The Girl With the Pearl Earrings, has been thrown into doubt by the withdrawal of KATE HUDSON. She was to have starred with RALPH FIENNES, playing a housemaid who works for the 17th-century Dutch painter JOHANNES VERMEER. Following her abrupt departure because of ``creative differences'', the British backers, Intermedia, have now withdrawn their financing. Producer Andy Paterson told Daily Variety he was shocked by Hudson's sudden departure. ``She pursued us for this role, she was deeply thrilled when she got it and then she backed out,'' he said. ``The official reason was creative differences, but we don't recognise that.''

Two major films, starring BEN AFFLECK and his ex-girlfriend GWYNETH PALTROW, may be delayed or even scrapped because of last week's terrorist attacks. Affleck stars in Paramount's film version of TOM CLANCY's novel The Sum of All Fears, playing a CIA agent who foils a scheme to drop a nuclear weapon on a football stadium during the Super Bowl. At Miramax executives are reportedly considering the future of A View From the Top, which stars Paltrow and KELLY PRESTON as competing flight attendants.

HEATHER GRAHAM will return as the US government agent Felicity Shagwell for the second Austin Powers sequel, Goldmember, but will meet her doom at the hands of Dr Evil, she says. ``I talked to the producers and I said, `Just don't blow me up', she tells USA Today. `If you can think of a cooler way to do me in at the beginning of the movie, then I'll do it'.'' In the first sequel ELIZABETH HURLEY, whom Graham replaced, was also dispatched by Dr Evil. Special effects wizard RIK BAKER, who transformed humans into simians for Planet of the Apes, has been hired to tackle the effects for Universal's big-budget comic book adventure The Incredible Hulk. His hiring dispels rumours that Hulk, to be directed by ANG LEE, will be completely computer-animated. Casting is still under way, although a release date has already been set for the summer of 2003. A 1980s television series starred BILL BIXBY as Dr Banner and the former bodybuilder LOU FERRIGNO as his alter ego, the Incredible Hulk.

The first episode of a new TV series about the CIA has been pulled because it includes a reference to Osama bin Laden as the mastermind of a plot to blow up Harrods. Instead, a later episode of The Agency series will be screened with an explanation to account for the lack of continuity. The Agency executive producer SHAUN CASSIDY said he did not know what changes would have to be made in later episodes. ``The world's a very different place today than it was last week,'' he said. ``We will have to make some adjustments.'' Entertainment consultant RON KRUEGER, of Movie and TV Marketing, said: ``Studios are very aware of the problems they are facing and they want to be seen to be doing the right thing. ``Anything that might be seen as offensive or upsetting is being pulled immediately. ``At the moment money is not a consideration. Probably some of the films and television programmes being shelved now will eventually be screened but not until next year at the earliest.''

JAY LENO, the host of the Tonight show, sought the advice of his predecessor, JOHNNY CARSON about how to resume broadcasting in the wake of last week's tragedy. Carson, who invented the late-night monologue, was the host of the NBC show in 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated. Carson told Leno to ``take a few days to reflect and easy back into it'', according to a network employee. He also advised Leno to avoid jokes about the president. Leno said he would try to keep a light tone, adding: ``We'll do a lot more Viagra jokes for a while.''

ALLEN and ALBERT HUGHES, whose Jack the Ripper film From Hell is soon to be released, may buy an East London pub where several of the Ripper's victims drank. The Ten Bells in Commercial Road is up for sale and, Allen tells Premiere magazine: ``It would be great to live above the Ten Bells and restore it. ``Turn it into a lounge and an eatery and coffee place where people can come in and enjoy themselves. Have photos and memorabilia, but don't Planet Hollywood it.'' Built in 1753, the Ten Bells features prominently in From Hell, which stars JOHNNY DEPP and HEATHER GRAHAM.

Ally McBeal creator and producer DAVID KELLEY has persuaded SIR ELTON JOHN to appear in an episode of the popular television series. The rock star will play himself in an episode which will also star his fellow Briton JACQUELINE BISSET. ``Ever since I was young I've been a fan of Elton's and I'm thrilled to have him on the show,'' says Kelley, who has also signed rock singer JON BON JOVI as a recurring guest star. The exact number of episodes in which Bon Jovi will appear is yet to be decided and his role is still being polished. But sources indicate his character will become romantically involved with CALISTA FLOCKHART's Ally McBeal.