BBC - Films - High Noon - 14th January 2004

		Ride Em, Cowboys! Homoeroticism is a strong underlying theme in all westerns - discuss. Well, people will be doing just that when Ang Lee brings Brokeback Mountain to the big screen next year. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger look set to play a pair of cowboy lovers in the early 60s-set pic. Brokeback Mountain is based on a novella by E Annie Proulx (who also penned The Shipping News, but don't hold that against her), and tells the story of a ranch-hand and rodeo cowboy who meet while driving cattle through a mountain range. Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) and Ledger (Ned Kelly) are "in negotiations" to play the leads, with Gyllenhaal playing the ranch-hand and Ledger the cowboy. The movie - Ang Lee's first since Hulk last July - is set to start shooting in the summer. That strange sound you hear is John Wayne spinning in his grave.

		Still Blooming Not content with becoming one of Hollywood's hottest properties in 2003, Orlando Bloom is now branching out into production. He's co-producing Haven, in which he stars alongside Gabriel Byrne and Bill Paxton. "By getting involved in something you believe in, you can help forward a film," he tells Entertainment Tonight. "In terms of the role that I've been playing as a producer, it's been really just a sounding board; it's very much a collaborative effort and we're all just mucking in and getting on with it." Haven is filming in the Cayman Islands (tough break!), with Bloom playing a young man whose encounter with two shady businessmen on the run from the federal government changes his life. "It's a pretty intense little film, both visually and emotionally," Bloom reports, "and I feel an audience will feel the impact of that. I play a young character called Shy, a happy-go-lucky young man who's been brought up in the Cayman Islands. He's in love with this young Caymanian girl [Zoe Saldana]; he's kind of from the wrong side of the tracks and she's from the right side of the tracks. They get together to the fury and anger of their families." In yet more Bloom-related news, the Brit is wanted for Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer. Set in the 18th century, the thriller is an adaptation of the late 80s bestseller by Patrick Suskind. German director Tom Tykwer is favourite to end up in the director's chair.

		The Dead Zone Chris Columbus looks set to direct his first movie since Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets. He'll definitely produce supernatural romance The Brief History Of The Dead, with "an eye to direct the pic" (reports Variety). The uncinematic-sounding story revolves around a blind man who arrives in a new city and recounts a story of travelling across a desert after his death. The other city-dwellers have similarly weird stories to tell, too. So, let's get this straight. It's a metaphysical movie about quirky dead people, to be directed by the guy who brought us Home Alone? Riiiight.

		The Secret's Out... Another comedy vehicle is being parked in Matthew McConaughey's driveway. Dirty Little Secret looks at a successful young couple whose lives become derailed when they have a baby. The film is loosely based on the book Attack Of The Toddlers by Julie Tilsner, and will no doubt feature hil-ar-ious scenes involving nappies, nannies, and nervous parents. McConaughey has enjoyed mixed fortunes over the years with his romantic comedies. edTV was fantastic but flopped at the box office; The Wedding Planner was nauseating but was a minor hit at the box office; and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days was a hit despite running out of ideas after about, ooh, seven minutes. The Texan will next be seen in Clive Cussler adventure pic Sahara, set to open here in December.

		Class Act Fresh from her success with New Zealand indie hit Whale Rider, director Niki Caro will next helm Hollywood pic Class Action. The drama is a retelling of the first major sexual harassment case in the United States. The drama focuses on a woman who took a job at a Minnesota iron mine in the mid-70s and endured years of abuse - ranging from verbal taunts to pornographic graffiti. She eventually took the mine to court and won a landmark trial in 1984. So, Erin Brockovich without the cleavage then (unless you count the male miners', anyway).

		To The Max! Nepotism, as God famously said to Saint Peter, is an ugly word. And we're sure there's no mention of it in the Minghella household this morning. Eighteen-year-old Max Minghella - son of Cold Mountain director Anthony - has just landed his first film role, in Scott McGehee and David Siegel's Bee Season. Bee Season - sure to generate plenty of buzz (sorry) - stars Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche as parents whose 11-year-old daughter is eyeing the top prize in the national spelling bee (a competition which was famously chronicled in the documentary Spellbound last year). Minghella will play the young girl's elder brother.