BBC - Films - High Noon - 24th November 2003

		Cage Weathers It Nic Cage will come over all gloomy with sunny spells in The Weather Man, for Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. The boggle-eyed one will play a TV forecaster who must make peace with his ex-wife and children, before going for a big job in the Big Apple. Apparently, it'll be a bit like American Beauty and About Schmidt.

		Meow! Mike Myers' comedy The Cat In The Hat topped the US box office at the weekend, despite receiving dreadful reviews. The adaptation of the Dr Seuss tale was dubbed "about as creatively inspired as a giant hairball" by the Washington Post, while The New York Times called it "a vulgar, uninspired lump of poisoned eye candy". Halle Berry horror Gothika, which opened in second, didn't fare much better, with the Post claiming it had "all the subtlety of a Judas Priest music video".

		Hostage To Fortune Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowen has pocketed another huge chunk of change for a non-ficton account of American international disaster. The Hours producer Scott Rudin has splashed a seven-figure sum on the rights to Bowen's to-be-written Guests Of The Ayatollah, a book about the Iran hostage crisis of 1979.

		Allen Skips Christmas Tim Allen is teaming with director Joe Roth on Skipping Christmas. The festive tale is an adaptation of John Grisham's novel about a bloke who decides to, um, skip Christmas and head abroad for a holiday. But when his daughter decides to come home unexpectedly, he has to sort the celebrations out quick. Harry Potter and Home Alone director Chris Columbus will write the screenplay - his first effort since 1995's Nine Months. Hmm.

		Stamps Out Terence "Tell them I'm coming" Stamp has returned to his roots. Speaking at the premiere of Eddie Murphy comedy The Haunted Mansion, in which he plays a butler, he told BBCi FILMS: "I've just finished a few days on a movie in London right back near where I was born, in Bow actually. It's called Dead Fish and I think it might be fun. It's a farcical gangster movie and I play a dodgy lawyer." Robert Carlyle co-stars.

		Aniston Lives It Up? Jennifer Aniston may join Frances McDormand in an adaptation of British comic novel Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. The Winifred Watson book focuses on a governess (McDormand) who must sort out the complicated private life of a 30s nightclub star. Aniston is one of several stars interested in the latter role. Neverland writer David Magree is scripting.

		Spiderwick Series Elf screenwriter David Berenbaum is scripting a big screen adaptation of kids' book series The Spiderwick Chronicles. "It's about kids and goblins so it's kind of a supernatural tale," he told BBCi FILMS. "I like elves, I like ghosts and now I like goblins, so I'm mixing it up! The project is a potential franchise for Paramount, which is also developing Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events. There's no word yet on a director or stars for Spiderwick.