BBC - Films - High Noon - 15th April 2004

		Ferrell Flies The Hardest Working Man In Hollywood (aka Will Ferrell) has signed up for yet another project. He'll star in Fly On The Wall, a comedy written by Neil Tolkin (The Emperor's Club). The film focuses on a down-on-his-luck lawyer (feelgood for us!) whose life starts improving after he, er, saves the life of a fly. Since quitting US TV comedy institution Saturday Night Live in 2002, Ferrell has become Hollywood's 'go-to' guy for comedy. He's starred in a variety of successful laughers - including Elf, Old School, and a cameo in Starsky & Hutch. He'll next be seen in the 70s-set comedy Anchorman (due here in September), but also has starring roles in - deep breath - the big screen version of Bewitched (with Nicole Kidman); soccer comedy Kicking & Screaming; Luke Wilson's The Wendell Baker Story; drama Winter Passing; and Woody Allen's Melinda And Melinda. Ferrell plans to take a weekend off sometime in December.

		Going With The Wind Walt Disney is to make another live-action version of The Wind In The Willows. Novelist Mark Friedman has signed up to bring Kenneth Grahame's legendary characters - Mole, Badger, and Co - to life. A live-action version of The Wind In The Willows was previously made by Terry Jones in 1995, but the Brit pic - starring Steve Coogan, Eric Idle, and Jones himself - failed to cause a stir at the box office. Of course, once Disney casts Will Ferrell as Mole, it'll be a completely different story (in every sense).

		Ring In The New It's official. Antipodeans have taken over Hollywood. Need more proof? Simon Baker has just been cast opposite Naomi Watts in The Ring 2, the sequel to the 2003 hit. Tasmania-born Baker is best known as the lead in TV series The Guardian, but has previously appeared in the likes of L.A. Confidential, The Affair Of The Necklace, and Ride With The Devil. Baker and Watts go w-a-y back, with the actress being best friends with Baker's wife. Not that we're saying he didn't get the job on merit, or anything... The Ring 2 is to be directed by Japanese helmer Hideo Nakata. He's the guy who directed the original Japanese Ring movie, which was then remade by Gore Verbinski. Obviously Nakata needs some sense of closure on the 'hole' thing. The Ring 2 starts shooting mid-May.

		Just Like Real Life. But Grimmer. Much Grimmer If the words 'indie' and 'drama' fill you with the same dread as the words 'Pee-Wee Herman' and 'babysitting your children', best look away now. Felicity Huffman (Magnolia and the absolutely fantastic Aaron Sorkin TV dramedy Sports Night) and Kevin Zegers (Dawn Of The Dead) will star in Transamerica, to be directed by newbie Duncan Tucker. As if to prove that it is indeed an indie drama, Transamerica is about a transsexual woman (Huffman) who discovers that she fathered a son when she was a man. Natch, she's more than a little curious to meet the fruit of her loin. Of course, said son is now a teenage runaway hustling on the mean streets of New York - indie drama, remember?