• Madonna and Guy keep it in the family
• Helena Bonham Carter and Beatrice Dalle to star in horror comedy
• Olivia Williams to play US suffragette
• Robert Carlyle lined up for new Danny Boyle film
• Lucas defends the Light Saber
• Jennifer Lopez the chambermaid
• Director Wayne Wang sees Asian style in Hollywood
• Kirk Wong signs to direct Artisan's Iron Fist
• Will Fox Break Apes Records?
• Padmalaya Telefilms Ltd to produce and market a 200 part animation series
• Genoa: the movie

Madonna and Guy keep it in the family

It must be love. Despite his wife's knack of not quite making it on the big screen, director Guy Ritchie is set to team up with Madonna for a new film. The couple, who married last year and have a baby son together, are to work together on a remake of the 1975 movie Swept Away, scripted by Ritchie.

In what sounds like quite a departure for the director, who is known for gangster movies, Madonna will star as a spoiled rich woman who goes on a yachting holiday and gets entangled in an unlikely romance with a communist sailor.  Variety reports that sources close to Ritchie say he was drawn to the idea of filming a love story with a strong female lead.

The pair worked together before when Ritchie directed Madonna's recent video, What It Feels Like For A Girl.  Ritchie's regular producing partner Matthew Vaughn will produce and the film is understood to be scheduled to start filming in the autumn.

Review of the 1975 Movie: Lina Wertmüuller (Seven Beauties) made this pointed, 1975 comedy-drama about class and sex conflicts. Mariangela Melato plays a rich woman marooned on an island with a crude sailor (Giancarlo Giannini). The two initially assume their accustomed class relationship with one another--she expects service, he grumbles about it--but then a revolution takes place and the subjugation is reversed. The film comes down on you like a hammer, but Wertmüuller adroitly traces the shifting nuances of the relationship, and the two stars are excellent. Numerous scenes stick in the memory many years after one viewing.

Helena Bonham Carter and Beatrice Dalle to star in horror comedy

 Helena Bonham Carter and Beatrice Dalle are expected to play long lost sisters in the horror comedy Lucinda's Changed. Rose Troche is writing and directing the French-backed movie, which is loosely based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

The film is due to be made on locations outside Paris and London early next year. A source told EII: "It's a wonderful idea. Two girls find each other after 20 years apart. But one of them isn't quite what she seems." Bonham Carter, 35, appeared in Kenneth Branagh's 1994 version of Frankenstein.

Olivia Williams to play US suffragette

Olivia Williams is set to play American suffragette Victoria Woodhull in At the Top of the Hill. Director Paul Verhoeven is putting the finishing touches to  the new $40 million movie drama.

It tells the story of the woman who shook the White House with her views at the turn of the 20th century. Verhoeven, who directed Robocop and The Hollow Man, has told friends that he is anxious to get away from his action-man image. A source told EII: "It's the old story so far as he is concerned. Every time he talks to a Hollywood studio they ask him what he wants to blow up.

"He has a slate of product in his mind and has long wanted to take a look at American history, which has always fascinated him." Kathy Bates and Ed Harris have been penciled in to play support roles in the movie which is due to go into production next spring.

Robert Carlyle lined up for new Danny Boyle film

Robert Carlyle could work with Danny Boyle again on the futuristic sci-fi thriller 28 Days Later. The story focuses on a research scientist who discovers a potentially lethal virus being leaked into a city's water supply. The $15 million film, based on a novel by Alex Garland (The Beach), is expected to be made in the UK next year.

The Film will be produced by DNA Films, Figment Films (company of Andrew MacDonald have just won some funding from the British National Lottery) and Fox Searchlight

Scottish star Carlyle, 30, made his breakthrough on British television in the police series Hamish Macbeth and won over Hollywood as James Bond's rival in The World is Not Enough. He will soon be seen in the new Japanese PoW drama To End All Wars with James Cosmo, Keifer Sutherland and Mark Strong. Carlyle first found movie fame alongside Ewan McGregor in Boyle's Trainspotting.

Lucas defends the Light Saber

George Lucas is determined to protect a Jedi's right to bear arms. The director and creator of Star Wars is suing an American firm for calling its new energy-beam-related surgical devices "Light Sabers." E! online reports that Lucas has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco claiming that Minrad Inc infringed Lucasfilm's exclusive copyright on the Light Saber name. He claims that the use of the name would dilute the value of his trademark, potentially cost him millions of dollars and dupe consumers into thinking that Lucas endorsed the gadgets. "Any deficiencies or faults in the quality of the defendant's goods are likely to reflect negatively upon, tarnish and seriously injure the reputation which Lucasfilm has established for goods and services marketed under its Light Saber mark," the suit says. "This confusion is likely to result in loss of revenues to Lucasfilm and damage to its reputation."

Jennifer Lopez the chambermaid

Jennifer Lopez is negotiating to star in the romantic comedy The Chambermaid, scripted by John Hughes. Variety reports that the project was originally set up as a directing project for Hughes with Hilary Swank as the star. Hughes will now only produce and Swank is no longer involved.

Producers of the project are Revolution Studios (Joe Roth), Hughes Entertainment (John Hughes) for distribution by Columbia Pictures (Sony).  Lopez recently completed the Michael Apted thriller Enough and is said to be considering a number of offers.

Director Wayne Wang sees Asian style in Hollywood

From the aerial-acrobatic fighting scenes of The Matrix to the high-flying martial arts antics of Charlie's Angels, the Asian movie style has become part of the global film genre, Asian-American director Wayne Wang says.

The stylized fight scenes emblematic of martial arts action movies and the blazing guns of Hong Kong gangster thrillers have made their way out of Asia and have been adapted and absorbed by moviemakers in the West, Wang said in a recent interview.

The only problem is that while the Asian style is making waves, the wind has gone out of the sails for Asian-American movies, the 52-year-old Wang said. "What I think is interesting is the Asian stunt people, or movie people from Asia, have come over here and Hollywood directors are using these Asian martial arts traits for their own specific purposes. It ranges from The Matrix to Charlie's Angels to what not," Wang said.

The Hong Kong-born Wang became a pioneer in independent film with his 1981 movie Chan is Missing and in making movies about the Asian-American experience with films such as the 1993 movie The Joy Luck Club.

He had high praise for Taiwan-born director Ang Lee for his movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Wang said Lee had found a way to reinvent the martial arts action movie genre and make it accessible to Western audiences.

There was also a bit of sadness when thinking back on his early career and that of Lee, and how the Asian-American cinema movement they helped create lost its momentum.

There was a time in the early 1990s when Asian-American cinema was taking off. Wang set the table with 1980s' movies about Chinese-Americans such as Chan is Missing, Dim Sum - A Little Bit of Heart and Eat a Bowl of Tea.

Kirk Wong signs to direct Artisan's Iron Fist

Hong Kong action director Kirk Wong has committed to develop and direct Iron Fist, the film of Marvel Enterprises’ comic book which is the first to be generated by a joint venture between Artisan Entertainment and Marvel formed to create character-based programming across all media.

Ray Park will star in the title role of Iron Fist which has been scripted by John Turman. Principal photography on the film is expected to begin in late 2001 or early 2002. Artisan will handle distribution worldwide.

Iron Fist is the story of Danny Rand who, as a child, was raised in a secret temple in the Far East and, as an adult, returns to the US to seek revenge on his parents’ murderer.

Wong has made one English language film before - 1998’s The Big Hit for SPE with Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips and Christina Applegate. His Hong Kong credits include Crime Story (1993) with Jackie Chan as well as Rock And Roll Cop (1994), Story Of A Gun (1991) and Gunmen (1988).

Artisan executive vice president Patrick Gunn and vice president, legal & business affairs, Erin Austin, handled the negotiations for Artisan with United Talent Agency on behalf of Wong.

Will Fox Break Apes Records?

Read also our exclusive Interviews with Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, Marc Walhberg

Twentieth Century Fox are hoping that the American release of Planet of the Apes this weekend will break box office records. The science fiction film, directed by Tim Burton, is opening in 3,494 locations, a record number of screens for the studio.

"There seems to be great anticipation for our picture," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder told Variety. "We're really popping."

The number of screens the film is opening on is the second highest for any summer opening (after Mission: Impossible 2). It continues the recent trend among Hollywood studios of opening on 3,000 plus engagements which has contributed towards a tendency for box-office takings for major releases to plummet dramatically in their second weekend (as so many people turn up in the first week).

Meanwhile, the Screen Actors Guild is apparently looking into complaints that the producers of Apes and their stunt coordinator violated affirmative action contract rules during the making of the film.

The online magazine Inside.com reports that the rules require the producers to "cast qualified [stunt] persons of the same sex and/or race as the actors for whom they are doubling."

However, the magazine also cited internal SAG documents claiming that white stuntmen regularly doubled for Michael Clarke Duncan and that several men doubled for Helena Bonham Carter.

Stunt coordinator Charlie Croughwell told Inside.com that his decisions were based solely on concern for safety. "When you use the wrong person for something and somebody gets killed, then you are violating something," he said. Nevertheless an unnamed black stuntman told the online magazine: "They made a minimal effort to comply with SAG rules."

Padmalaya Telefilms Ltd to produce and market a 200 part animation series

Film Club USA and AAFD (Anglo American Film Distributors) have joined with Padmalaya Telefilms Ltd to produce and market a 200 part animation series based on the popular Indian folk stories, The Jataka Tales.

The Indo US joint venture will bring together Padmalaya's state-of-the-art animation studio in Hyderabad, and the expertise of AAFD and Film Club USA, in packaging and selling of entertainment products in developed and emerging markets.

Film Club has produced Bachelor Party, In The Shadow Of Kilimanjaro and The Jungle Book .The Jataka Tales will use leading international talent in the likes of Uli Meyer Studios (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Space Jam), EMMY award winner Joseph Kleinman and ToonCity.

Story-writing, screenplay, story board, voice directions and sound recording is being done in the US while production, layout, background, editing, titles, opticals and inserts are being done by Padmalaya in India. The cost of production per episode is estimated at $150,000 and for the 200 episodes at $30 million. The turnover for the entire series is expected to be between $50 million to $200 million over a period of three years. The series will air in September 2001.

Genoa: the movie

(Adrian Cooper The Guardian)

Italy's finest film-makers were in town on the day of the G8 summit - and they had their cameras trained on the violence. An old man, his knees hunched to his chin, is fishing on a rocky outcrop off Punta Vagno, a slice of Genoa's coast to the west of the town center. People swim, sunbathe and chatter. On the nearby shore, a group is huddled around a wooden table, drinking beer and talking emphatically. Among them are two of the great names in Italian cinema: Gillo Pontecorvo and Ettore Scola. They intend to make a documentary that gives human face and voice to the anti-capitalist spirit that has amassed in various forms inside this north-western Italian port.

Only 20 days previously, a small team at the Luna Rosa production company in Rome began the arduous task of bringing 35 of Italy's most talented film-makers to Genoa. Overseen by director Francesco Maselli, this isn't the first time that the children of Italy's neo-realist cinema have worked for nothing. In the mid-1980s, under the banner of Il Cinema Italiano, they made two documentaries: Scala Mobile and L'Addio A Enrico Berlinguer. But, according to Pontecorvo, director of The Battle of Algiers and Kapo: "In Italy we like to destroy ourselves every so often. Film, literature, politics. For the past 10 to 15 years we've been asleep. Genoa is a unique occasion to look at the contradictions of the world. It is necessary for democracy for us to be vigilant now." Today, joined by younger directors like Gabriele Salvatores, Pasquale Scimecca and Francesca Archibugi, they have just finished shooting the first of several demonstrations in Genoa's streets.

"They look good, full of life. They will be crushed," mutters director Paolo Pietrangeli, as thousands of demonstrators trail out of Carlini stadium, their temporary home in east Genoa. Pietrangeli knows there's trouble ahead. So do the demonstrators: foam is taped around elbows; a loudspeaker describes what to do when tear gas burns the skin.

The demonstration moves towards the centre of town, and rumors of a police blockade begin to spread. Bystanders relay their version of events: the "black block" group of anarchists has smashed shop windows and set vehicles alight. Pietrangeli asks a young man leaning from a window if he will open his doors to Cinema Italiano. He does, and for the next two hours the Candellis' home is refuge for the crew, as skirmishes ensue between police and protesters. Signora Candelli hands out lemons to dampen the impact of tear gas that now swirls around the flat. Pietrangeli sends his assistant back to the production office. News has reached him that another crew has had a tape confiscated by the police.

When the demonstrators are pushed back to the stadium, Pietrangeli goes out again. In a small square, police stand around a dead body. Cameraman Malcolm Pagani begins to cry; he cannot film any longer. "Please, you take it for me?" he asks. I climb up and get the shot: two legs twisted from beneath a white sheet, blood near the covered head. "What time did it happen?" asks a journalist. "Four o'clock, five o'clock, what does it matter?" replies Pietrangeli.

A crowd has gathered in the square, and chanting begins: "A-ssa-si-no, A-ssa-si-no", and by the time the ambulance arrives: "Fascista! Fascista!" The police retreat, using tear gas to disperse the crowd. News spreads by word of mouth, and then images filter through to TV stations and newspapers. That night, Rai-I, a state-run channel, shows pictures of Carlo Giuliani, the 23-year-old from Genoa, shot in the head by a terrified young police officer who may face manslaughter charges.

For Cinema Italiano, the black block's empty violence has had a profound impact on the documentary. What Ettore Scola had described as a film about a "grand occasion" is increasingly being inhabited by a different sense of purpose. "There is a very dangerous atmosphere," announces Maselli the following day, as a prelude to Cinema Italiano's decision to meet with the Genoa Social Forum (GSF), the organization spearheading "radical dissent towards the G8 summit". A theory has emerged: the police reacted slowly to the black block rampage on purpose, to legitimize the force they later unleashed. "I want to understand this black block. Who are they? What are they saying?" Franco Giraldi, an Italian film and TV veteran, wants to know. "But what is important is the big blanket of people here demonstrating as pacifists."

The crews return to a temporary production office in the centre of Genoa. A police officer is filming the flow of people in and out of the building. For most, it's the last day of shooting. There will be no more demonstrating; most of the protesters are already leaving town. Bush, Blair et al have already gone, and there have been no more deaths. But the celebratory mood of dinner that night soon changes. Word arrives that police have surrounded the GSF press centre. "The tapes? Something to do with our shooting?" muses Giraldi. The restaurant empties.

On Via Cesare Battisti, the GSF turned an empty school into their HQ for the week-long summit: press and legal centre, radio studio, accommodation for some demonstrators. On arrival, it's unclear what has happened. Ambulances arrive, stretchers carry injured people away. The uninjured, and those who didn't manage to escape, are taken away by the police. About 100 people were inside the school when the police raided it near midnight.

Around 2am, the police retreat to shouts of "Assasino", "Fascista". A helicopter flies low, scattering dust, muffling voices. GSF members link arms to create a human wall between the retreating police and angry crowd. "This is vengeance for the success of the demonstrations," says Giraldi. "The orders come from Rome."

"We are absolutely convinced that the events did not happen by chance," begins Vittorio Agnoletto, a GSF leader and doctor, at a press conference the following day. "They were a scientific, pre-planned attack made directly by the government against mass democratic protest." Lawyers, a doctor, journalists and political leaders all offer individual accounts of the previous night and past few days. The legal centre at the HQ was trashed in the raid, witness statements were lost in the wreckage. GSF appeal to the crowd for evidence, and there's a call for protests throughout Italy and a demand for the state police chief and minister of interior to resign.

Then comes video footage, shot the previous day by a director unattached to the Cinema Italiano project. Davide Ferrio shows two scenes to the crowd on a small TV: "I happened to film something. I'm not discussing the implications. It is for people to reflect upon." A burly man with a white handkerchief moves towards a group of policemen. It's hard to tell whether he is one of them; he wears civilian clothes and a white handkerchief over his mouth. Later, he gives instruction to a couple on a moped; we now see he's wearing a gold police badge. The sequence ends.

Just as "comrade Carlo Giuliani" has become a martyr to many present at the GSF, there's a need for villainy and a yearning for truth: evidence of police provocation or involvement in the violence. The video footage alone is inconclusive. The man was an officer, but it's not clear whether he'd been inciting or organizing unrest. Perhaps Amnesty International's investigation will collect more convincing material.

And what of Cinema Italiano's contribution to GSF's mounting attack on Silvio Berlusconi's government? In one corner of Punta Vagno sits Maselli: "Of course there is a need for truth. And if they need it, we can contribute."