Natalie Imbruglia Gets First Movie Role

Natalie Imbruglia will make her film debut in the spy spoof "Johnny English." THR reports pop-singer Imbruglia will play a special agent in the film, starring opposite Rowan Atkinson and John Malkovich.

The film, which like the Austin Powers series spoofs spy movies like James Bond, builds on the television character of Johnny English, who Rowan Atkinson created for a British television series. In the United States, Atkinson is most famous for the quiet comic character "Bean."

Malkovich plays the bad guy in the film and Imbruglia plays Atkinson's love interest. Imbruglia acted previously in the Australian soap opera "Neighbours" before she made it big in music. Imbruglia is known for the songs "Torn" and "Wrong Impression."

Eddie Murphy Makes Room for 'Daddy Day Care'

He's played a Beverly Hills cop, a nutty professor, a veterinarian who talks with animals -- and now Eddie Murphy will star as a father who tries to make a living out of watching other people's kids. The actor has signed on to play the title role in "Daddy Day Care," a broad family comedy that Revolution Studios is set to begin shooting in August.

The picture, written by Geoff Rodkey, centers on a father who loses his job and decides to open a free-spirited day care center with his friends. Revolution picked up the film in turnaround from 20th Century Fox.

Fox-based producer John Davis originally had set up the project at his home studio just last month, but Murphy wanted to shoot the film before his next commitment, "Haunted Mansion," a Disney film that goes before the cameras Nov. 15.

Fox had planned to make "Daddy Day Care" after "Haunted Mansion," but allowed Davis to shop the project to another buyer who might be able to accommodate the faster track. Davis will now produce the film for Revolution. Murphy previously teamed with Davis on the lucrative "Dr. Dolittle" franchise.

Murphy most recently starred in "Showtime" for Warner Bros. opposite Robert De Niro and will next be seen in Warner Bros.Pictures' "The Adventures of Pluto Nash."

John Lee Hancock Gets Radical for Next Film

After scoring with his directing debut, family baseball movie "The Rookie," John Lee Hancock is plotting his sophomore effort -- a film about a hapless 1960s domestic terrorist.

Hancock has teamed up with "Rookie" producer Mark Johnson to option "Rads," the Tom Bates book that will form the basis for a film about Vietnam War-era peace activist turned saboteur Carl Armstrong. The seemingly harmless University of Wisconsin student ended up on the FBI Most Wanted List when he and three other students blew up an Army-built campus building, killing a young researcher.

Hancock will write the script and direct. The pair has been hoping to make the film since Hancock wrote the screenplay for the Johnson-produced 1993 drama "A Perfect World," which Clint Eastwood directed and starred in with Kevin Costner.

"Rads" had been set up with Amy Pascal at the now-defunct Turner Pictures. Although Hancock has long been an A-list writer, the project languished until he could prove his worth behind the camera.

With Hancock's directing stock high off the success of "The Rookie" -- the $22 million Disney film starring Dennis Quaid grossed $35 million in its first 10 days -- the duo reoptioned the book and hopes to set it at a studio quickly.

Armstrong is hardly a sympathetic figure. His fertilizer bomb is reminiscent of the one Timothy McVeigh detonated in Oklahoma City. But his circumstances and misguided attempt to become popular on a radical campus caught Hancock's fancy.

"He felt hurt by the war, and he wanted to be noticed by the hijinks he pulled, even though he was so bad at them," Hancock said.

Armstrong's sabotage campaign began with his setting fire to a primate lab he thought was the campus selective services office. He and his brother then stole a plane, and after nearly crashing and hitting power lines, tried to drop a huge kerosene-filled mayonnaise jar on the ROTC center.

It missed, but a story in the local paper about the anonymous bombers emboldened them to bomb the Army building, which contained math and physics classrooms.

The inept terrorists then went underground after being ostracized by the underground radical groups that had encouraged them.

Armstrong was later caught, his trial was turned into an anti-war polemic by his lawyer, and the judge threw the book at him. He served 10 years and now sells ice cream and sandwiches on the campus to students who are oblivious to his notoriety.

"It was a tragedy all around, and I'm not saying there should be sympathy for him because he was wracked with guilt over what he had done," Hancock said. "He felt strongly about changing the world, to end the killing in Vietnam, but the last thing he wanted to do was to kill someone."

Dreamworks Has Won A Spirited Auction For Billy Jack

DreamWorks has won a spirited auction for rights to redo "Billy Jack" as a starring vehicle for Keanu Reeves, who will play the counterculture hero originally portrayed by Tom Laughlin in the 1971 cult hit.

Laughlin controlled rights to the film, which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. The film will be produced by Danny DeVito and his Jersey Films partners.

DreamWorks executive Mike De Luca snapped up the film because of the chance to present an unambiguously heroic figure, and Laughlin is convinced that a well-executed update will find its audience.

The original, he said, is still the most successful indie film ever. "They say 'Blair Witch' sold 30 million tickets, but we sold 65 million when there were 80 million less people in the world," said Laughlin, who added that the sensation came despite a lackluster distribution effort by Warner Bros.

"They tried to dump it by opening it in places like porn theaters. Theater guys like Sumner Redstone had to make their own tearsheets, but the film would stay in the same theater for a year. It was colossally profitable."

Why did it work? "Yes, it had the first karate action in a movie, but the bottom line was the love story," Laughlin said. "This woman gave her life for these oddball kids, and Billy was willing to give his life for her or those kids. People are lost today, and they always tell me we need another Billy Jack, who stood for moral and spiritual values and psychic truths."

Laughlin got out of the film business because he hated acting, and instead has taught Jungian psychology at Yale and Stanford.

Married 47 years to his onscreen partner, Delores Taylor, Laughlin hopes they will reprise their roles and pass the baton to the new protagonist.

Natasha Henstridge to spy on new drama series

Movie actress Natasha Henstridge has signed on to star in an action-drama TV series, "She Spies," from NBC Enterprises and MGM Worldwide Television Group.

But in an unusual deal, the NBC network will air the first four episodes of the show in prime time this summer before the series rolls out in national broadcast syndication in the fall. The summer sneak peak is set to start Saturday, July 20. at 10 p.m.

NBC Enterprises also has finalized syndication deals for the show, formerly known as "B.A.I.T." The show has been cleared to appear weekly on NBC owned-stations and most Hearst-Argyle TV stations, covering more than 50 percent of the country.

Henstridge, whose first film role was in 1995's "Species," will star as the leader of a trio of female ex-cons recruited by a clandestine federal organization to combat crime. Other roles are in the process of being cast.

NBC's summer lineup already includes a project from Dick Wolf, a Bruce Nash-produced reality series, a "Fear Factor"-like game show and a "Dateline" offshoot. In addition to "She Spies," NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker said one more reality show is likely to be part of the summer originals.

Zucker has said for several months that he has been looking to work lower-budget scripted hours into NBC's mix. This will be the first such project to hit NBC's air; the network also has two low-cost drama pilots in the works for fall 2002.

The "She Spies" deal plays into NBC's twin desires to reduce program costs and beef up summer programming, Zucker told Daily Variety.

"We liked the script, liked the genre, and we think it's good, fun, escapist fare, especially for summer," he said. "We think it fits the right profile for what we want to do economically and in terms of summer programming."

Craig Van Sickle and Steven Mitchell, who executive-produced the NBC drama "The Pretender," wrote the premiere episode.

NBC Enterprises president Ed Wilson said deal represents the kinds of new models he's looking to use when launching shows on the increasingly competitive TV landscape.

Wilson and Zucker both said that if the experiment works, previewing new shows -- for syndie or cable -- from the NBC Enterprises division on the network likely will be revisited.

MGM has a history of innovative deals itself, starting with its dual cable-syndication distribution of such shows as "The Outer Limits."

Under the terms of the "She Spies" agreement, MGM will produce 20 episodes of the series and also handle U.S. and international distribution of the show.

Among Henstridge's recent credits are "The Whole Nine Yards" and "Bounce." She'll next be starring in Showtime original movie "Beauty and Power" as John F. Kennedy's paramour, Judith Exner.

Lifetime Original Movies Top 3 Highest Rated Movies On Basic Cable This Year

Lifetime Television garnered record ratings for its movie adaptation of the Joyce Carole Oates book, "We Were the Mulvaneys," which earned a 4.7 household rating (4 million homes) on Monday, April 8th at 9 PM (ET/PT). "We Were the Mulvaneys" is the 2nd highest rated basic cable original movie of 2002 to date among households. Lifetime's original movies are now the top 3 highest rated original movies on basic cable year to date. "Mulvaneys" was seen by 5,418,000 million viewers winning the time period in household delivery among all basic cable networks. "We Were the Mulvaneys" was Lifetime's 4th highest rated original movie of the past year and the 8th highest rated in the Network's 18-year history.

The Lifetime Original Movie "We Were the Mulvaneys" starring Tony Award-winner Blythe Danner ("Meet the Parents," "The Love Letter"), multiple-Emmy-Award-winner Beau Bridges ("P.T. Barnum," "Hidden in America") and Emmy-Award-winner and Golden Globe nominee Tammy Blanchard ("Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows") tells the heart-wrenching drama of a close-knit, rural family shattered by the emotional toll of shame and rage in the aftermath of the only daughter's rape.

"We Were the Mulvaneys" was produced by von Zerneck/Sertner Films and Adelson Entertainment for Lifetime Television. Executive Producers were Robert Sertner and Frank von Zerneck (Lifetime Television's "Within These Walls" and "No Ordinary Baby") and Andrew Adelson and Tracey Alexander. Peter Werner (Lifetime Television's "No Ordinary Baby" and "Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story"), who won an Oscar for Joyce Carol Oates' short story "In the Region of Ice," directed and produced from a screenplay by Joyce Eliason ("Blonde," "The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All") and Peter Silverman ("Hidden In America") & Nancy Dalton Silverman, based on the book "We Were the Mulvaneys" by Joyce Carol Oates. Randy Satter produced, Peter Sadowski and Ted Babcock co-produced.

Macquarie And Roadshow Ink Landmark Deal For Feature Bad Eggs

Charles Wheeler, Chairman of Macquarie Film Corporation, one of only two companies licensed under the Film Licensed Company Act 1998 (FLIC) today announced that it is investing in the feature film "Bad Eggs" written and to be directed by renowned comedian Tony Martin.

"Bad Eggs" is a comedy thriller about two undercover detectives with way too much publicity.  The producers are Greg Sitch and Stephen Luby with Tony Martin for Double Yolker Films.

Jennie Hughes, Macquarie Film Investments Senior VP described the deal as “landmark” with investment partners Roadshow Film Distributors and Movie Network being sole funding bodies.  She went on to comment, “we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to continue and build on our strong relationship with Roadshow and to be working again with the Movie Network.  We’re also very excited to be working with Tony Martin.  He is a great talent.  Bad Eggs has given us a great opportunity to work with commercial partners on a project that we all feel very passionate about and believe will be a great success”.

Managing Director of Village Roadshow Limited, Graham Burke added, “Our investment in this film is the single biggest commitment we have made to a non in-house production in our company’s history.  Mass audiences demand big laughs and we believe that Bad Eggs will deliver”.

Joel Pearlman, Managing Director of Roadshow Film Distributors said “Roadshow has worked closely with Macquarie on a number of upcoming films and we are very excited to be partners again on the debut feature from Tony Martin, who is certainly one of this country’s most outstanding comic talents.”

Macquarie has now invested in a total of six feature films including Dirty Deeds due for theatrical release on July 18, 2002, The Nugget starring Eric Bana, Crackerjack with Mick Molloy, Horseplay with Marcus Graham and Take Away currently shooting in Melbourne.  Bad Eggs will be Macquarie’s fourth feature with Roadshow distributing.

New Venture, Sunlion Films Seeks Additional Projects That "Ignite The Imagination"

Chairman Gregory K. Sabatino today officially launched his new venture, Sunlion Films, with a casting update on the production company's first project, "Dallas and Rusty," produced with Konwiser Brothers.

"Dallas and Rusty," which began shooting on April 1, marks the directorial feature film debut of actor Scott Caan ("Ocean's 11," "Novocaine," "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Boiler Room," Varsity Blues"). Caan also stars in the independent feature.

Other actors in the film include Jeff Goldblum, Shawn Hatosy, Kelly Lynch, Selma Blair, Heavy D, Marley Shelton, Freddie Rodriguez and Bob Gunton.

The privately funded Sunlion will focus on smaller, independent films with $3 to $5 million budgets, and plans two additional films in the next 12 to 18 months. Sabatino is currently in negotiations for these projects.

He noted that Sunlion Films looks for two attributes in potential projects. "We're seeking out concepts and scripts that excite us, that ignite not only our imaginations but those of our audiences as well," he said. "Additionally, we want to partner with talented writers, directors, and actors who believe so passionately in their projects that they're willing to share in the producer's traditional responsibilities to get them done."

He acknowledged Sunlion's partnership with Konwiser Brothers and principals Emmy Award winning producers Kip and Kern Konwiser as a particularly exciting one. "It's a privilege for Sunlion to do our first project with Kip and Kern, who are setting new standards in the film industry not only through the quality of their work but their commitment to super- specialized films," Sabatino said.

Konwiser Brothers is heralded as a groundbreaking cooperative established to develop, produce, sell, package and provide global distribution for specialized films. Projects to date have included the critically acclaimed "Focus" (with Laura Dern and William H. Macy), "The Maze" (Laura Linney and Rob Morrow) and "The Wash" (Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre). The company also directed, produced and distributed the "United We Jam" Concert DVD, a benefit for the International Association of Black Fire Fighters and the September 11th Fund, presented by New Orleans Saints football star Joe Johnson and hosted by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, during Superbowl weekend.

The Konwisers are also known for an impressive body of work including the Emmy Award winning HBO film, "Miss Evers' Boys," one of the most awarded movies in the history of television, and TNT's "On Hallowed Ground," winner of a Sports Emmy for Best Documentary and a Gold Medal at the New York Film Festival.

Sabatino, who is Managing Partner of Mandalay Branded Entertainment (MBE), also emphasized the production company's financial stability. "Because we're very well financed, Sunlion Films can follow through on our commitments to these types of projects."

Associated with Mandalay for the past two years, Sabatino worked with Hollywood visionary Peter Guber to develop the concept of Branded Entertainment. He is also Chairman of Flynn, Sabatino & Day, one of the country's largest (top 250) independent advertising agencies, which he co- founded nearly 20 years ago.

Singapore Pumps Money Into Movie Biz

In a bid to expand its tiny film industry, the Singapore government announced Tuesday it has earmarked money to fund local film projects co-produced with filmmakers from abroad. The 500,000 Singapore dollars ($237,777) fund will be parceled out to local talent who cooperate with overseas partners and is meant to help "enhance the positive image of Singapore, its people and culture," said the Singapore Film Commission in a press release Tuesday.

The program also seeks to make Singapore films more export-friendly, said Ismail Sudderuddin, director of the Singapore Film Commission.

The new fund is part of the Singapore government's drive to make the country an Asian "hub" for high-technology industries and media.

The grants will be considered an investment, allowing the commission to recoup a portion of any box office returns.

In an earlier effort to boost the local media industry, the government in December set up a $1.95 million fund with National Geographic Channels International to make TV documentaries.

legal: Sesame Street, Furore over Bert and Ernie gay flick

Children's Television Workshop gets steamed up over Sundance-shown queer spoof. Sesame Street's lawyers have targeted director Peter Spears over his short film, Ernest and Bertram, which presents the show's puppet stars Bert and Ernie as gay lovers.

ABC News reports that Spears' film showed at Sundance this year, and is a mockumentary which ends with Ernie committing suicide. Unsurprisingly, the Children's Television Workshop - the people behind Sesame Street - did not take too kindly to this. It's unlikely that Ernest and Bertram will be shown elsewhere, with the threat of legal action hanging over it.

Bert and Ernie have long been rumoured to be having a relationship, much to the chagrin of the CTW, who felt moved to issue a statement in 1993, which said, "Bert and Ernie, who've been on Sesame Street for 25 years, do not portray a gay couple, and there are no plans for them to do so in the future. They are puppets, not humans." Glad we cleared that one up, then.