I saw a preview for "Anything Else" Saturday and had no idea it was a
preview for a Woody Allen film until the very end, it seemed more
like a teen flick or young adult comedy. Here are some recent Woody
Allen stories:

Entertainment - Reuters

Woody Allen Set to Launch Venice Film Festival
2 hours, 29 minutes ago Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Shasta Darlington

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - Notoriously press-shy Woody Allen (news)
has finally been lured to the Venice Film Festival and will kick off
festivities for the 60th edition of the competition here at the
lagoon city on Wednesday.


Reuters Photo



The world premier of his new comedy "Anything Else," also starring
Christina Ricci (news), Jason Biggs (news) and Danny DeVito (news),
opens the world's oldest film festival and Allen is eagerly expected
to tread the red carpet for the gala screening on the Lido.


The normally sleepy island in the lagoon city was abuzz as thousands
of journalists and fans waited for the quirky American director and
his cast to sail up.


Organizers were even hoping Allen, 67, would improvise a few jazz
tunes on his clarinet at the exclusive dinner later.


"We thank him already for making us laugh," Moritz de Hadeln, the
director of the Venice Film Festival, said ahead of a preview press
viewing.


More than 140 titles will screen over the next two weeks, 20 of them
vying for the prestigious Golden Lion award, which will be announced
on September 6.


Johnny Depp (news), Antonio Banderas (news) and Salma Hayek (news)
were expected to be among the first wave of stars arriving on
Wednesday ahead of the premier of "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," the
latest south-of-the-border gun-slinging flick by Robert Rodriguez
(news).


Nicole Kidman (news), George Clooney (news), Catherine Zeta-Jones
(news) and Hollywood legend Omar Sharif (news) will also stroll down
the red carpet in coming days.


Allen's first-ever appearance at the festival marks the return of his
films to Venice after opting to premier "Hollywood Ending" at Cannes
last year. His previous eight films had all taken their first bow on
the Lido, though Allen himself always shied away from the festival.


But Allen has had a long-term love affair with Venice.


He secretly married Soon-Yi here in 1997 after a much-gossiped about
breakup with Mia Farrow (news), Soon-Yi's adoptive mother and his
long-time partner and movie muse. He also shot parts of the 1996
musical "Everyone Says I Love You" amid the city's winding canals and
footbridges.


Gondoliers proudly point out the waterfront hotel where he and Soon-
Yi stay on their visits and hail Allen's contributions to help
rebuild Venice's famed La Fenice opera house which was destroyed by a
fire.


In "Anything Else," Allen relinquishes the leading man role to Biggs
("American Pie"), who plays an aspiring New York writer head-over-
heels in love with Amanda, played by Ricci.


"She's really the ultimate nightmare girlfriend," Ricci said in the
film's press notes. "I figured if you're going to do a Woody Allen
movie, you might as well play the quintessential Woody Allen girl."

Movies - Reuters

Miller Aboard Woody Allen's Latest Film
Wed Aug 27, 1:36 AM ET Add Movies - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Chris Gardner

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - British actor Jonny Lee Miller
(news), who first garnered buzz in America with "Trainspotting," has
joined the cast of Woody Allen (news)'s upcoming untitled project,
which is due to shoot this fall in New York.



He joins Radha Mitchell (news), Chloe Sevigny and Chiwetel Ejiofor
("Dirty Pretty Things"). Jason Biggs (news) is in talks to replace
Robert Downey (news) Jr. in the Fox Searchlight project.


The plot line, as is typical of Allen's projects, is being kept under
wraps.


Miller's other credits include "Mansfield Park" and "Afterglow." He
recently wrapped a title role in the BBC miniseries "Byron," and next
stars in director Renny Harlin's "Mindhunters." He is also known for
a brief role as the first husband of Angelina Jolie (news).


Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Entertainment - AFP

Glamour, canals and Woody Allen; the 60th Venice film festival
Wed Aug 27, 1:36 AM ET Add Entertainment - AFP to My Yahoo!



VENICE, Italy (AFP) - The Venice film festival gets underway with the
world premiere of Woody Allen (news)'s "Anything Else" giving the
60th "Mostra" a real New York flavour ahead of a heavily European-
oriented main programme.


AFP Photo



Stars lining up for a photo opportunities on the famous canals during
the festival, which runs until September 6, include George Clooney
(news), Anthony Hopkins (news), Nicole Kidman (news), Antonio
Banderas (news), Glenn Close (news), Catherine Deneuve (news),
Nicholas Cage and Catherine Zeta-Jones (news).


"Anything Else" opens the latest instalment of the world's oldest
film festival and festival director Moritz de Hadeln believes it will
set the tone for the 143-film event.


"Opening this 60th 'Mostra' with a laugh seems to me the best way to
start," de Hadeln said in an interview with Italy's Corriere della
Sera at the weekend.


Allen recently described the film as being about "life, love and New
York" and the British-born festival director believes its themes of
love and betrayal, sex, the family, art and politics runs the gamut
of what to expect from the rest of the festival.


Clooney stars in the Coen brothers' "Intolerable Cruelty", while
Kidman and Hopkins co-star in Robert Benton (news)'s "The Human
Stain".


Along with De Hadeln's favourite, "The Dreamers" -- Bernardo
Bertolucci (news)'s tale of sex, cinema and the 1968 riots in Paris --
these and other crowd-pullers are being shown out of competition.


Hollywood appears to have been given the heave-ho, with this year's
festival heavily weighed towards European output.


Twenty films are entered in the competition for the Golden Lion award
including works by three former Venice laureates; Japan's Takeshi
Kitano (news), Taiwan's Tsai Ming-liang and Germany's Margarethe von
Trotta.


French cinema is represented with three films including the world
premier of Bruno Dumont's "29 Palms", bound to pick up headlines for
its sex scenes if nothing else.


Only one American film will be seen in competition; "21 Grams" by
Mexican director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, which stars Sean Penn
(news), Benicio Del Toro (news) and Naomi Watts (news).


Plenty of other big names, besides Woody Allen, will have their works
screened outside the competition including Ridley Scott
(news)'s "Matchstick Men", and "The Divorce" directed by James Ivory
(news).


The "Controcorrente" ("Upstream") prize candidates, for films
of "innovative intent, creative originality or alternative
cinematographic languages," include Buddhist Lama Khyentse Norbu,
Algerian Abdelkrim Bahloul, Cypriot Dervi Zaim and Iranians Abolfazi
Jalili and Babak Payami.


Two Lions d'or have already been decided, with lifetime achievement
awards to go to Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis and Egyptian
actor Omar Sharif (news).

Entertainment - E! Online

Rap Sheet Scuttles Downey's Plans
Tue Aug 26, 5:15 PM ET Add Entertainment - E! Online to My Yahoo!


By Lia Haberman

Robert Downey Jr.'s bad-boy ways have caught up with him, while Tom
Sizemore is racing to stay ahead of the warden.


• News: Downey, Ryder apprehended by Allen
• News: Sizemore guilty of Fleiss abuse
• News: Fleiss sobs on Sizemore stand



E! Online Photo



Downey, an Industry darling who has continued to work despite his
very public drug problems, has been dropped from Woody Allen's next
flick because he was too expensive to insure.


Allen is reportedly in talks with Jason Biggs to replace Downey in
what would have been an all-con cast, with Winona Ryder (news)
costarring. Biggs stars opposite Christina Ricci (news) and Allen in
the writer-director's upcoming romantic comedy Anything Else, which
hits theaters Sept. 19.


According to Variety, Downey and Fox Searchlight were unable to come
to an agreement on who would pay the hefty insurance premium required
because of Downey's past problems with drugs. It wasn't until Downey
took and passed a physical for the film that he found out about the
prohibitive insurance cost.


Downey's rep would not comment on the casting hiccup.


Extra insurance was also required on the set of the thesp's two
upcoming flicks, The Singing Detective, opposite former Air America
costar Mel Gibson (news), and Gothika, costarring Halle Berry (news).
However, the producers were willing to cover the costs.


Others who've bent over backward to accommodate Downey, who was first
arrested for cocaine possession during a routine traffic stop in
1996, include Ally McBeal (news - Y! TV) creator David E. Kelley. It
took two arrests before Downey lost his job as Ally's love interest.
The axe finally fell after Downey was busted in a Culver City alley
in Apr. 2001 on suspicion of being under the influence of a
controlled substance--charges weren't filed.


Downey was also sprung from rehab for a day at Elton John (news)'s
request to star in the Rocket Man's "I Want Love" music video in Aug.
2001. The recovering addict spent a day at the Greystone Manor in
Beverly Hills, where he lip-synched the tune from John's album Songs
from the West Coast for director Sam Taylor-Wood.


On the flip side, Sizemore is squeezing in as many roles as possible
before he's sentenced to a possible jail term in October.


On Aug. 15, the Black Hawk Down star was found guilty of seven counts
of domestic violence, criminal threats and vandalism against his
former gal-pal Heidi Fleiss, as well making obscene and harassing
phone calls. He remains free on $100,000 bail. Sizemore, 41, faces up
to four years in jail, plus fines.


In the meantime, the embattled actor is keeping busy with roles in at
least two indie dramas. First up, a role as a thuggish father in
Morgan J. Freeman's Piggy Banks, which began production in Salt Lake
City on Monday.


Then next month, Sizemore stars in the Asia Argento (news)-helmed
adaptation The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. Based on the
novel by J.T. LeRoy, The Heart features Argento as a single mom and
prostitute and Sizemore as one of her boyfriends.


Sizemore's most recent gig, the CBS series Robbery Homicide Division,
ended in December just after the actor was arrested for allegedly
punching a woman in the face. (A trial in that case is pending.)


However, the show seemed destined for the scrap heap even before the
incident, with an average 7.1 million viewers for last season against
NBC's juggernaut Law & Order: SVU.

Movies - Reuters

Aussie Mitchell Aboard Allen Feature
Wed Aug 13, 3:34 AM ET Add Movies - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Australian actress Radha Mitchell
(news), who most recently starred on screen in "Phone Booth," has
joined the cast of Woody Allen (news)'s untitled feature, replacing
Winona Ryder (news) who had reportedly been in talks to star.



Although the plot for the Fox Searchlight feature is being kept under
wraps, Mitchell joins a cast that also includes Robert Downey (news)
Jr. and Chloe Sevigny.


Mitchell is shooting Fox's "Man on Fire," opposite Denzel Washington
(news) for director Tony Scott (news). She next stars in Miramax
Films' "J.M. Barrie's Neverland" with Johnny Depp (news).


Reuters/Hollywood Reporter


Entertainment - Reuters

Chaplin's Son Touched by Cinema Tribute
Tue Aug 19, 6:19 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Paul Majendie

LONDON (Reuters) - Charlie Chaplin (news)'s son is deeply moved --
British cinema is paying a 21st century tribute to the comic genius
who was born in London and went on to make movie history.



"The time is right," said Michael Chaplin as "The Great Dictator" is
re-released and a major documentary is shown about one of cinema's
legendary icons.


"I think he deserves the recognition. He was always remembered as a
very popular and recognized artist in France but maybe not in the
United States and England. He was a little bit eclipsed," said the
son who acted in two of his father's films.


"In 'Limelight' I appeared at the beginning on the steps with two of
my sisters. But that was just for 30 seconds," he told Reuters in an
interview marking the British Film Institute tribute to his father.


"But in 'A King in New York' he gave me quite a meaty part. That was
wonderful and that was the time I came closest to him, I was just
nine years old and he really coached me."


Michael, one of 10 children from Chaplin's four marriages, had a
tempestuous relationship with his father who died in 1977 at the age
of 88.


Michael Chaplin, now 57, said: "I had my ups and downs with my father
when I was younger. We had quite a conflictual relationship. Now I
have gained perspective and I am able to admire him."


"I could see I was not a good son, that I was a problem child. I was
a terrible student. It started from there. Then there was the Sixties
and the hippie generation and I dropped out. But I was not the only
one."


Chaplin now reflects with pride and admiration over his father's most
enduring creation -- The Tramp.


"This is a figure that speaks to people in China, in South America,
around the world. He was really universal. His comedy was very
physical and did not need words," he said of the downtrodden little
figure so instantly recognizable on the silver screen.


The British Film Institute is releasing on video some of Chaplin's
most innovative early work and the London Philharmonic Orchestra will
be accompanying live a string of Chaplin classics on screen.


Michael Chaplin, reflecting on the documentary by Richard Schickel on
his father, said "What really moved me was to see film directors like
Martin Scorsese (news) and Woody Allen (news) say in the documentary
that my father was very much alive to them."


Chaplin, who appears in the documentary that was first screened at
this year's Cannes film festival (news - web sites), is also involved
in helping with the planning of a museum at his father's house in
Vevey in Switzerland. "It should be open in 2006," he said.


But for now, the London boy who created Hollywood magic is being
hailed where it all started.


Michael Chaplin concluded: "The French have an expression that no one
is a prophet in his own country. He may have suffered from that in
the past so it is nice to see Britain doing all this to revive
interest in his work."

Entertainment - AP Movies

Harrison Ford Guest for French Film Fest
Tue Aug 19, 2:47 PM ET


DEAUVILLE, France - Harrison Ford (news) will be the star guest at
next month's Deauville film festival and director Roman Polanski
(news) will preside over the jury, organizers said Tuesday.



Ford, 61, is to attend the festival in the exclusive Normandy resort
to promote his latest movie "Hollywood Homicide," an action comedy
directed by Ron Shelton (news). The 29th edition of the festival,
which honors American cinema, is to take place Sept. 5-14.


This year, organizers plan to introduce a new documentary
competition. Oliver Stone (news)'s "Persona Non Grata", about
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), and "The
Agronomist" by Jonathan Demme, about a Haitian journalist and human
rights activist, are in the running.


Ten films will compete for the prestigious Jury Prize, while another
15 will be shown out of competition, including "American Pie III",
Woody Allen (news)'s "Anything Else" and "Hollywood Homicide."


John Cusack (news), Edward Burns (news), Charlize Theron (news),
Ridley Scott (news) and Jessica Lange (news) are among other stars
expected to walk down the red carpet at Deauville this year.


British actor Ben Kingsley (news), Germany's Nastassja Kinski,
Ludivine Sagnier of France and Tunisia's Claudia Carnivale will sit
on the jury alongside Polanski.


Science - Space.com

Dark Energy Confirmed: Shadow of Mystery Force Seen in New Study
Tue Aug 5, 1:29 PM ET Add Science - Space.com to My Yahoo!


By , SPACE.com




"I awoke on Friday and because the universe is expanding it took me
longer than usual to find my robe."


-- Woody Allen, in "Strung Out," the New Yorker, July 28, 2003


In a recent satiric article in the New Yorker magazine, Woody Allen
makes a passing reference (a sexual one, of course) to dark energy. I
suspect he knows -- though he does not say so -- that the universe is
actually expanding at an accelerating pace, driven by this mysterious
force.


So I figure Allen would be interested to know about a new study that
provides important confirmation for the existence of dark energy,
even if scientists remain baffled over what it is and how it works.


Whereas gravity attracts, dark energy repels (or sucks, depending on
whether its viewed as an internal or external force relative to the
universe). Theorists have no clue what's behind this antigravity, but
they say it fuels an increased pace by which all galaxies in the
universe recede from one another. The end result, as best as they can
figure, is a lonely universe in which folks in one galaxy can no
longer see or hear from the folks in other galaxies because they're
moving away at the speed of light.


Or perhaps, one fantastic theory posits, the acceleration will
ultimately shred all matter in a Big Rip.


Observations of dark energy have so far been very indirect, limited
to examining the light from distant supernovae to determine the state
of the expansion at the time the light left the exploded stars.


The new study employed an entirely different method. Researchers
compared millions of galaxies imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
with a temperature map of the early universe recently developed with
data collected by NASA (news - web sites)'s Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe (WMAP).


Dark energy's shadow


The researchers say they found dark energy's shadow on the cosmic
microwave background radiation, a relic of the earliest epoch of the
universe after the Big Bang that supposedly started it all.


Let's back up: The theorists theorized about what would happen to the
microwave radiation over time, if there was dark energy and if there
was not.


They determined that dark energy should leave a certain imprint, and
it did.


Photons streaming from the cosmic microwave background, across time,
pass through many concentrations of galaxies and dark matter,
explained study team member Andrew Connolly of the University of
Pittsburgh. As the photons fall into a gravitational well created by
a large cluster of galaxies, they gain energy -- just like a ball
rolling down a hill. As they come out they lose energy.


Photographic images of the microwaves become more blue (i.e. more
energetic) as they fall in toward a well and become more red, or less
energetic, as they climb away.


"In a universe consisting mostly of normal matter one would expect
that the net effect of the red and blue shifts would cancel," said
Albert Stebbins of the Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory. "However in recent years we are finding that most of the
stuff in our universe is abnormal in that it is gravitationally
repulsive rather than gravitationally attractive."


Welcome new data





The research, announced last month, shows that "dark energy, whatever
it is, is something that is not attracted by gravity even on the
large scales probed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey," said David
Spergel, a Princeton University cosmologist and a member of the WMAP
science team. "This is an important hint for physicists trying to
understand the mysterious dark energy."

John Blakeslee of Johns Hopkins University recently led a separate
study of two very distant supernovae that helped pin down the timing
of a switch from deceleration to acceleration in the universe, which
occurred about 6.3 billion years ago. (Yes, the universe has always
been expanding, but not always at an accelerating rate.)

Blakeslee told SPACE.com the Sloan result "provides an important
consistency check" for assumptions about dark energy.

But are we sure now that dark energy exists as it has been
described? "There still is some room for doubt," Blakeslee said.

If dark energy baffles the smartest scientists -- and it does -- then
the rest of us can be excused for wondering what all this means to
the evolution and fate of the universe. We can even be excused for
not comprehending any of this. Woody Allen claims his grasp of
general relativity and quantum mechanics "now equals Einstein's --
Einstein Moomjy, that is, the rug seller."

And Moomjy knows the source of dark energy just about as well as
anyone.

All About Dark Energy
Space Myths, Mysteries & Hoaxes
Space Mailbag

Entertainment - USA TODAY

He always craved the crowds, friends say
Tue Jul 29, 8:05 AM ET Add Entertainment - USA TODAY to My Yahoo!


Andy Seiler USA TODAY

Bob Hope (news)'s admirers and colleagues joined in a chorus of
Thanks for the Memory on Monday.


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AFP
Slideshow: Bob Hope Dies at 100



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But Hope himself would have preferred a roaring round of applause,
they say.


''He told me, 'I will go anywhere if there is an audience for me
there,' '' recalls stand-up comic pioneer Phyllis Diller (news), who
worked with Hope on television more often than anyone else (23 times,
plus two movies). ''When he wasn't entertaining the troops, he would
play a lot of little cities -- and I mean little cities.''


Even while shooting movies, Hope liked having a live audience, co-
star Eva Marie Saint recalls. She followed her Oscar-winning
performance in On the Waterfront, which was shot on a closed and very
serious set, with the 1956 Hope comedy That Certain Feeling.


''The first day, he had a whole football team watching us,'' she
says. ''But he was so professional, funny, dear and kind. And he had
such a cute face with that wonderful, funny nose. He was the last of
the greats in the entertainment field, and he'll never be replaced.''


Perhaps not, but the style of comedy Hope concocted lives on in the
topical humor of late-night talk show hosts. Johnny Carson (news)
calls him ''the best loved, most admired and most successful
entertainer in all of history.''


Hope also survives as long as a movie star feigns cowardice to get
the big laugh.


''It's hard for me to imagine a world without Bob Hope in it,'' says
Woody Allen (news), who patterned his screen persona after Hope's.
Allen once raved about Hope's ''brilliant gift of delivery (and)
comic speech. He had a very breezy attitude. He was a great man with
a quip.''


And he had a great eye for talent.


''Bob gave me my first big break when he discovered me performing at
the Greenwich Inn in New York City,'' singer Tony Bennett (news)
says. ''He took me on the road and taught me everything I know today
about the art of performing.''


Hope gave Bennett, born Anthony Benedetto, his stage name.


Diller says the turning point in her career was when Hope brought ''a
whole bunch of big shots'' to watch her act at a Washington, D.C.,
dive in 1959.


''For 10 days, I was talking about family life and children and cats
to an audience of salesmen and hookers,'' she says. ''I was bombing.
I tried to sneak out so I wouldn't have to face him. He jumped up and
caught me and said, 'You were great.' From that point I could fly
over any bad scene.''

Ananova:

American Pie star could star in new Woody Allen film

American Pie star Jason Biggs is in talks to take over Robert Downey
Jr's role in Woody Allen's latest project.

It is thought that film company Fox couldn't afford Downey's fees for
the low-budget movie, which has yet to be given a title.

The film also stars Chloe Sevigny, Radha Mitchell and Chiwetel
Ejiofor, and begins filming this autumn.

Mitchell took over from Winona Ryder who was originally tipped to
star alongside Downey, according to Empire Online.


Story filed: 09:00 Wednesday 27th August 2003