BBC - Films - High Noon - 11th February 2004

		Jones Joins Dozen Days after ditching her agent, Catherine Zeta-Jones has scored a slot in ensemble crime caper Ocean's Twelve. The Chicago star will play a Europol agent romantically linked with Brad Pitt's grifter, in Steven Soderbergh's sequel to über-cool hit Ocean's Eleven. Zeta-Jones' Intolerable Cruelty co-star George Clooney is, of course, on board as the titular heist-master, doing a job that takes his crew - including Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and Don Cheadle - to Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Monte Carlo, Chicago, Las Vegas, and LA. Shooting starts in April.

		Simpsons On Big Screen John Major was prime minister when this was first suggested, but finally there's some movement on bringing The Simpsons to cinemas. Series creators Matt Groening and James L Brooks have apparently been working for months on a big screen concept, but it took co-writer Mike Reiss to spill the beans to DVDFantastic.com: "They've wanted to do this since season two," he said. "Finally Fox said, "Let's just do it!" We never had the greatest idea that was compelling but Fox said, "Maybe if we start paying you, you'll get inspired." And sure enough, it worked!" Expect to see dysfunctional family fun in 2006, at the earliest.

		Sindependence Day Independence Day director Roland Emmerich is developing a gritty, low-budget drama about true-life sex slaves. Yes, you read that right. He's optioned New York Times Magazine article The Girls Next Door, by Peter Landesman, about the illegal trade in Eastern European and Latin American children and teens, who are sold into sexual servitude. "There are so many silly movies made," the director of Godzilla told Variety, apparently with a straight face. "I feel strongly this is a story that should be told, one that touched my heart, and which I had to buy." Landesman is Hollywood's hack of the moment, working stories into scripts for Michael Mann, Tom Cruise, and Oliver Stone.

		Alexander Stoned Colin Farrell is limping through the final week of shooting on Ollie Stone's Alexander, after fracturing his heel. The Irish rabble-rouser injured himself by tripping on the way to dinner (there's no word on whether alcohol was involved). He's soldiering on for the next few days, wearing a soft cast. After a relatively trouble-free shoot, Stone has also been afflicted by faulty film - which was exposed to x-rays (possibly during airport security checks). It means he's probably lost all the footage he shot in Bangkok, making reshoots an expensive probability.

		Ken Cuts It Ken Loach has recut his four-year-old drama Bread And Roses, making it 16 minutes shorter. The director's cut of the Adrien Brody starrer, about janitors in America, apparently pulls back on the political hectoring. Loach hopes distributors will use this version on future DVD releases, telling Variety: "It just plays so much better now. I'm kicking myself that I didn't see it sooner."

		Rawk On Large-lipped rawker Steven "Father of Liv" Tyler has become the latest name to sign for Be Cool. The Aerosmith frontman will play himself in the record industry-set sequel to Get Shorty, which stars John Travolta and Uma Thurman... Storytelling actress Selma Blair and Magnolia's Philip Baker Hall will co-star in Dennis Quaid comedy Synergy, about a businessman (Quaid) whose young boss (Topher Grace) starts dating his daughter (Scarlett Johansson)... Lolita star Dominique Swain has joined Thora Birch in rock'n'roll drama Vinyl, about the women behind an on-the-verge male band... And lo, the lion shall lie down with the lamb: Microsoft is teaming with Disney, to sell downloadable movies over the net. The scheme should start later this year... A.I. actress Frances O'Connor will return to Oz for Three Dollars, playing a woman whose husband finds he only has the measly amount of eponymous cash to support his family... Infernal Affairs II won top gong at the Hong Kong Film Critics' Society awards, although a member was heard to gripe, "There were no very outstanding films." Welcome to our world, mate.