BBC - Films - High Noon - 23rd December 2003

		Willow Gets Sally! Buffy The Vampire Slayer stalwart Alyson Hannigan will play Sally Albright in the West End musical When Harry Met Sally. Hannigan will star opposite Luke Perry in the stager, which opens on 20th February 2004. Hannigan's previous musical experience includes an all-singing, all-dancing episode of Buffy (Once More With Feeling), although critics were none-too-impressed by her off-key rendition of Walk Through The Fire. She also plays flute-tooting Michelle in the American Pie franchise. High Noon admits a mawkish fascination with the musical, and perversely looks forward to seeing one of its favourite romantic comedies destroyed on stage. We can only hope for songs such as You Made A Woman Meow?, Baby Fish Mouth, and This Wagon Wheel Table (we can even hear that song now - "All relationships are unstable / Just like this wagon wheel table"). Remember: you winced first here.

		Make His Day Clint Eastwood will receive a lifetime achievement award from the, ahem, Publicists Guild on 27th February 2004. The Hollywood legend is being honored for his "remarkable achievements, first as an actor, then as a director and producer," says PG honcho Henri Bollinger (good name!). In what must be the most understated press statement ever issued by a bunch of publicists, Henri adds: "He is clearly a film icon, having starred in 45 films, appearing in 56; directed 24; and produced 19." If you hurry, you can still catch Clint's latest, Mystic River, at your local fleapit.

		The Devil You Don't Know Peter Stormare will star as Satan in comic book adaptation Constantine. The actioner, based on the DC Comic Hellblazer, stars Johnny Depp as "mystical troubleshooter" John Constantine, with Stormare playing his devilish arch-enemy. The 50-year-old Swede is best known for his work in Fargo (remember the woodchipper scene?), Armageddon, Chocolat, and Minority Report. In 2004 he'll also be seen in Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm, alongside Nicole Kidman in Birth, and in Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic.

		Newell Fired Up For Goblet British filmmaker Mike Newell says directing the fourth Harry Potter film will be "a huge challenge", both in terms of storytelling and technical wizardry. Newell is the first Brit to take the reins of the lucrative franchise, and he's ready to put his own spin on the boy wizard. "Each [of the first three films] were made by a foreigner with a very particular view of England," Newell tells the Daily News. "Chris [Columbus] saw it as a wonderful kind of Never Never Land. Alfonso [Cuarón] thinks of it as somewhere that is much darker with a lot of stress in it. There's a lot of rain in Alfonso's picture." However, Newell insists he will carry on where the previous directors left off: "There is a progression there which I am going to follow." In Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, Harry, Hermione and Ron are hormonal teenagers, leading to lots of angst and tension. Newell says: "They're almost young adults so therefore they're faced with all sorts of stuff that we all remember, such as engaging with the horrors of the opposite sex. It's full of all sorts of interesting stuff about the tests of manhood. Are you going to grow up, or are you going to run away and carry on being a kid? They're formidable films, unbelievably difficult, a huge challenge, which is why I really wanted to do it. I can make this kind of deadeye thriller, which is sharp and mean and all of that stuff. But if that's all I deliver, then every kid in the world who's read it is going to be disappointed. I have to put in the all-singing, all-dancing stuff, and make that into a whole with everything else." Goblet Of Fire starts production in the spring. Prisoner Of Azkaban opens in the UK in June 2004. This is the last High Noon until Monday 29th December, so have a great Christmas, y'all.