1 febbraio: News!

	The Sentinel Hires Desperate Actress - Longoria reportedly joins Michael Douglas thriller.  Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) has reportedly been cast in The Sentinel, according to Production Weekly. The Regency Enterprises thriller will be directed by Clark Johnson (S.W.A.T.). George Nolfi (Ocean's Twelve) penned the screenplay adaptation of the Gerald Petievich novel. Outlook Pictures will produce along with star Michael Douglas' Futher Films. Filming kicks off mid-May in Toronto before seguing to D.C. A plot synopsis at Production Weekly says that, in The Sentinel, "Special Agent Pete Garrison (Douglas) suspects that the neo-Nazi Aryan Disciples have positioned one of their own in the White House, but his investigation is cut short by a blackmailer who knows of his affair with the First Lady Sarah Ballentine (Kim Basinger) and tries to frame him for murder. Though he is officially relieved of his duties, Garrison doesn't stop trying to prove his innocence and save the president's life. He comes into a direct confrontation with his protege, hardheaded Agent Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland)." No word on what role Longoria plays in The Sentinel. Her next film is Harsh Times opposite Christian Bale.
	Roth takes 'Shot' at indie ensemble - Tim Roth has joined the cast of the indie gambling drama "Jump Shot."  He joins Danny DeVito, Kim Basinger, Nick Cannon, Forest Whitaker, Carla Gugino, Jay Mohr, Kelsey Grammer and Ray Liotta. Director Mark Rydell is shooting the film in Los Angeles.  Roth next appears in "Dark Water" from Brazilian director Walter Salles. He received an Oscar nomination in 1996 for his supporting role in "Rob Roy."
	Eva Longoria joins big cast of The Sentinel - Eva Longoria joins big cast of The Sentinel. The Sentinel is lining up to have quite an interesting cast and with the recent news of Eva Longoria from that strangely well received show - Desperate Housewives, it’s probably about time we talked about it. Special Agent Pete Garrison (Douglas) suspects that the neo-Nazi Aryan Disciples have positioned one of their own in the White House, but his investigation is cut short by a blackmailer who knows of his affair with the First Lady Sarah Ballentine (Basinger) and tries to frame him for murder. Though he is officially relieved of his duties, Garrison doesn’t stop trying to prove his innocence and save the presiden’t life. He comes into a direct confrontation with his protege, hardheaded Agent Breckinridge (Sutherland). Sounds interesting, and try as I might not to make comparisons based on blurbs alone, I can’t help but think of No Way Out with Kevin Costner, in my mind one of the best movies he ever did. It’s a similar idea and I really shouldn’t make the comparison, but it’s so hard not to when we’re surrounded by remakes…plus it’s a cheap shot at shouting about a great movie that some of you might not have seen! Anyway, behind the movie is Michael Douglas’ production company, and S.W.A.T. helmer Clark Johnson is attached to helm a script written by George Nolfi (Ocean’s Twelve). The rest of the cast list for looks like this so far: Keifer Sutherland, Michael Douglas, Kim Basinger Stretch of acting capability here for Sutherland though, he’s playing a bad FBI agent. Phew, hope he can do that after four seasons of playing a…well…a good CTU agent!
	Top 50 United States Video Rentals for the week ending 30 January 2005: 4. 2 Cellular (2004) 12 $8.07M $17.5M 41. 39 The Door in the Floor (2004) 47 $790K $10.2M
	Basinger, steel magnolia - Kim Basinger in her latest film Cellular God and a sense of humour mean a lot to me in my life," drawls Kim Basinger. "Believe me, I spend a lot of time on my knees. I do." She's talking about the divorce from Alec Baldwin, the bitter custody battle and the past two years of her life, during which her nightly prayer was simple. "I'd get down on my knees and say, 'God, when is this going to be over?' " says the fragile 50-year-old actress, whose hands shake as she says those words. It's noon at L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills, and for the first time since her split with Baldwin, the shy half of the former duo speaks about her life. "What people don't realise is that hurt is involved. There's an emotional range that no one in the world could ever understand in a million years unless you've gone there," she says. Asked if she believes there's a reason she's gone through so much turmoil, Basinger looks steely. "You know what? I made my choices in life with free will. Now all I can quote is my favourite childlike line, which is: 'God makes lemonade out of lemons.' I got my daughter, Ireland, from the choices I made. So I got my lemonade. She's a gift from God." A second act of her celebrated career is another gift. Basinger stars in Cellular, opening in cinemas on February 10. The film revolves around a man (Chris Evans) who gets a call on his mobile phone from a woman (Basinger) who claims she has been kidnapped and will soon be killed. She begs him to save her husband and son, who will be the kidnapper's next victims. The only problem is, she doesn't know where she is, and he can't hang on for long because his phone battery is about to die. "It's one of those scary films where you find yourself clutching your chest," she says with a laugh. "It's not just that I'm a 'fraidy-cat. Grown men tell me they were really afraid for me because danger is around every corner." Basinger, from the American south - she was born in Athens, Georgia, in December 1953 - is also getting some of the best reviews of her career, and there's Oscar talk for her role as Marion in The Door in the Floor. She plays a mother in East Hampton, New York, who faces the unthinkable when her teenage sons are both killed in a freak accident. Marion withdraws into her own pain, pulls away from her husband (Jeff Bridges) and leaves her six-year-old daughter to fend for herself. The only person who brings her to life is a summer helper (Jon Foster). He's 17 and Marion seduces him to find some meaning in her life. It's Summer of '42 (1971) from there, except with more explicit sex scenes. She laughs about their non-stop nudity in the film. "The poor boy has a girlfriend. I think he called her about 100 times a day!" It seems the tables turned for her in these sex scenes. "All through my career, I've had guys I've slept with on screen," she says. "Usually it's the guy who is taking care of me during the take. But I found myself taking care of Jon and asking if he felt comfortable. It was very cute." Basinger almost turned down the role but had second thoughts. "This character was someone who just said, 'You know me'. I guess I was at that time in my life where I could understand her." It was at a time when her divorce from Baldwin was heating up and custody issues were looming. "The movie was sent from God," she insists. A film didn't mend her life. That role went to her daughter. "I think that once you become a mother, your heart is no longer yours," she says. "All I know is that my daughter is the greatest thing I'll ever do. "That's why this movie hit home too. Jeff Bridges and I would walk around the set, saying, 'Isn't your greatest fear in life something happening to your child?' I mean . . ." Her voice trails off and her eyes fill with tears. Ireland Baldwin will be nine in October. She lives mainly with Basinger but visits her father. Basinger says: "We've obviously had a loss, and now the goal is to have a physically, emotionally and mentally happy child. All of those things are under my umbrella when I'm on my own with my daughter." Basinger has always been known as a fragile bird. "I'm vulnerable in many ways," she admits. "But I've grown away from being nervous and self-conscious or whatever. I guess you just have to drop your own agenda when you become a mother. "I've grown more in the last four years than I can say. It's about coming into your own game and finding your own strengths." Her new toughness came into play during those moments. "I call it a survival tactic. Plus, I want my daughter to say, 'I've got a pretty strong mum,' " she says. Basinger has been dealing with Hollywood since 1977, when she made her small-screen debut in the series Dog and Cat. Her films include 9 1/2 Weeks (1986), Batman (1989) and The Marrying Man (1991), where she met Baldwin. She won an Oscar for LA Confidential (1997) and rave reviews for I Dreamed of Africa (2000) and 8 Mile (2002). In 2005 she will star in the comedy Elvis Has Left the Building. Her life is simple when she's not working. At home, outside Los Angeles, Basinger looks after Ireland, pursues watercolour painting and writes children's books. She also takes care of the 21 animals on her property. Forget Ireland following in her on-screen footsteps. "She wants to be a veterinarian," Basinger says proudly. Unlike other women in Hollywood, Basinger isn't obsessed with her looks, which haven't changed much over the years. "Women are pounded over the head with this idea of turning 50," she says. "My attitude is, I can't wait to see what's up the road. There's a looseness and letting go that comes with 50 that I welcome. "I've let go of bad feelings, anger and anything else that can destroy you," she says. And how did Basinger spend her 50th birthday? "I just came home from the hospital where I had a back procedure. So I turned 50 sitting in my favourite chair and watching my daughter take over my birthday. She has all these little rituals she does with the cake. It was everything to me."
	KIM BASINGER. WITH long red locks, NHS specs and frumpy coat, this Hollywood star is barely recognisable as a blonde pin-up. But we can confirm it is indeed Kim Basinger. Kim, 51, once the sexy star of LA Confidential, has undergone a drastic image change for her latest flick, Jump Shot, being shot in LA with Danny DeVito. Blonde definitely suited you better, Kim!

5 febbraio: News!

	A bright future in acting is an odds-on bet for girl - Taking off like a meteor, 12-year-old Carson Brown appears to be the bright young star on the horizon. She has hit the Hollywood scene with a role in Mark (On Golden Pond) Rydell's new film Jump Shot. Back from L.A. Wednesday night with mom, Linda, the Kinkaid School sixth-grader has just completed most of her work in the indie ensemble drama. She plays the daughter of Kim Basinger and Ray Liotta in the film, which follows intertwining stories of individuals affected by gambling addictions. Also starring are Danny DeVito, Forest Whitaker and Kelsey Grammer. Although the part was written for a 17-year-old, the casting team and Rydell were less than impressed until they encountered young Carson. As soon as she read for the part, they changed the character's age and signed her up. Other Texas connections with the film: Casting director Shari Rhodes is a native of Abilene, and the producer, David S. Greathouse, is from Alvin. And did we mention that Carson is taking singing lessons, writing her own songs and looking for a record label? That in addition to a bit of modeling and print work. Stay tuned. Tuesday, the Brown family — Carson, Linda, dad Greg and twins Krissy and Kaddy, 11 — head for Crested Butte, Colo., for "Country in the Rockies." That's the charity weekend where most of the Nashville, Tenn., country music world turns out to raise funds for Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Cowboys & Indians, the glossy mag owned by the Browns, is a sponsor.
	Housewives star joins new thriller - 'Desperate Housewives' star Eva Longoria is joining Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and Kim Basinger in the new thriller 'The Sentinel'. Production Weekly reports that the film is based on the book by former Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich and is due to begin shooting in Toronto in mid-May before moving to Washington.The film tells the story of a secret service agent (Douglas) who finds himself framed for murder and he uncovers a plot to kill the President of the United States. Clark Johnson, the director of 'SWAT', is to helm the movie.
	Our story begins ... - John Irving never believed his novel A Widow for One Year, which spans 37 years and three generations, would make a coherent film. It took an unknown director with a radical plan to change his mind  When I adapted my novel The Cider House Rules to a screenplay, the hardest part was compressing the passage of time. (In the book, Homer Wells delays his return to the orphanage at St Cloud's for 15 years; in the film, he is away from the orphanage for barely more than a year.) I saw no way to make a movie of A Widow for One Year, because in the novel the feeling of the passage of time is as important as any major character.  Ruth Cole's story is told in three parts, each focusing on a critical time in her life. The first part takes place during the summer Ruth is four, when her mother leaves her and her father. (Ruth's mother, Marion, is grief-stricken over the deaths of Ruth's two older brothers. Marion is not just leaving her womanising husband; she can't bear to love her daughter, Ruth, out of fear that she might lose her, too.)  The second window into Ruth's life opens when she is an unmarried 36-year-old whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. She distrusts her judgment in men, with good reason. (Her father, Ted Cole, who is now 77, kills himself because he sees how his sexual lawlessness has influenced his daughter's sexual choices.)  A Widow for One Year closes when Ruth Cole is a 41-year-old widow and mother. Her mother, Marion, who is now 76, will re-enter Ruth's life after a 37-year absence.  An impossible story structure to mimic in film. The passage of time resonates in many novels; it often enhances a reader's emotional attachment to the characters. Movies, for the most part, struggle with the passage of time, which can have the negative effect of distancing an audience from the characters.  I rejected several proposals for a film that began when Ruth was already a widow - the rest of the story would have been a flashback. The most emotionally affecting character in the novel is Ruth's mother, Marion; the most devastating part of the story (in the novel and the film) is the loss of Ted and Marion's sons. The death of those boys, from which Marion never recovers, makes her incapable of remaining in her daughter's life. I couldn't accept losing the premise of the novel in a flashback.  Then Tod Williams came along with his brilliant idea: to make only the first part of the novel, up to when Marion leaves. Make Marion and Ted the main characters. (Ruth is just a child; she doesn't get to be the eponymous widow.) Make it a darker story - about the grief Marion can't get over, about how Ted hides his grief in philandering. Eddie O'Hare, the hapless writer's assistant to Ted - and Marion's 16-year-old lover - is, as he is described in the novel, a pawn.  I liked Williams's idea immediately. Nothing had to be compressed or lost; the film could be faithful to the first part of the novel. The rest of the novel remains intact for audiences who like the movie and want to know what happens to these characters.  This isn't a new idea. Volker Schlöndorff did it in his adaptation of Günter Grass's The Tin Drum. Schlöndorff made only part of the novel, up to the point when Oskar Matzerath starts to grow; when Oskar stops being a dwarf, the film is over. You want to know what happens? Read The Tin Drum. What a good idea!  Of course, we had to find another title. It was not possible to call the film A Widow for One Year - not when Ruth is only four at the end of the film, many years away from being a widow. Tod Williams, who is called Kip, wanted to use the title of one of Ted Cole's children's stories - the creepiest of them. In fact, The Door in the Floor is such a disturbing "children's story" that it has become a cult classic among college students. And what a good title for this film!  Not only is the story symbolic of the demons Ted Cole conjures for children; it also represents Ted's descent into loneliness, an alienation from which he can't, or won't, escape. At the end of the movie, when Ted lifts the trap door in the floor of his squash court and descends from sight, he is leaving this world.  I have told Kip that his screenplay is the most faithful translation, word for word, to film of any of the adaptations written from my novels - including my own adaptation of The Cider House Rules. That's true. But his choice, to make only the first third of the novel as a movie, has a radically altering effect. One I completely accept.  In the novel, my sympathy resides almost wholly with Marion; notwithstanding that she abandons her daughter, Marion has a reason to do anything she chooses. She is grieving; she cannot recover from the loss of her sons. But in the film, the story of what happened to those boys and Marion is told (on camera) by Ted. On film, the teller of the tale earns our sympathy. Besides, Marion has left not only her husband and daughter, but also the movie. We end the film with Ted.  It isn't that Kim Basinger (Marion) is less sympathetic than Jeff Bridges (Ted); it is that the Kim Basinger character exits the stage and we finish the story with the Jeff Bridges character. He is the one we see descending into hell through that squash-court trap door.  The Door in the Floor is darker than A Widow for One Year because there is no redemption for the characters. (Marion doesn't get to come back; Ruth doesn't get to forgive her.) And the movie accentuates Ted and Marion's grief; it is an analysis of what we recover from, and what we don't.  Even when you don't have to lose much in an adaptation from book to screen, you always lose something. Screenwriters learn to compensate for what they've lost; they substitute something for what they've had to take away. In the novel The Cider House Rules, Fuzzy Stone, the orphan who dies of a chronic respiratory ailment, dies on Homer's watch - before Homer leaves the orphanage. In the film, I kept Fuzzy alive longer; I let him die on Dr Larch's watch, long after Homer has left St Cloud's.  In an adaptation, you can't be too literally wedded to the novel. You have to take advantage of what a film can do. This movie does that - and not only because it chooses to end the film with Ted's descent through that door in the floor. In a more light-hearted moment in the screenplay, Williams invents a brand-new scene - something that was never in the novel - to compensate for the novel's lost humour. (You would be half right to call A Widow for One Year a comic novel; you'd be dead wrong to call The Door in the Floor a comedy.) The joke is crucial - not only as a moment of awkwardness between Eddie and Marion, but as an indelible truth about their differences.  The black-and-white photographs of the dead sons are critical to Ruth's life. Those photos are her only means of knowing her brothers, and of comprehending their irreplaceability to her mother and father.  "It makes me sad to think about them," she tells her father.  "It makes me sad, too, Ruthie," Ted says.  "But Mommy's sadder," Ruth says. (She's right about that.)  It is a stunning choice to begin the movie with Ruth dragging the chair down the upstairs hall and climbing up on to it, to examine more closely one of those photos. "Dead means they're broken," Ruth says. "Tell me what dead is," she asks her father - a four-year-old's question.  The film gives us a sense of symmetry when, at the end, we see that upstairs hallway dotted with picture hooks - all but one of the photographs are gone. The sound, both before and after the music starts, is of that angry squash ball bouncing off the walls in Ted's court in the second storey of his barn. I neither began nor ended the first part of the novel with the image of that sorrowful hall, but it is absolutely the best place to begin and end the movie. I told Kip early on that The Door in the Floor would never be a distinguished film if all he accomplished was to be literally faithful to my book: he had to do something more. He has been extremely faithful to my novel, but he also has his own film. It is excellent work.  · The Door in the Floor is released on February 11
	CELLULAR Overseas Total as of Jan. 30, 2005: $18,224,870  Argentina 11/18/04 $524,972 1/16/05  Baltic States 11/19/04 $89,015 Final  Belgium 11/24/04 $642,531 1/16/05  Bolivia 12/30/04 $20,307 1/16/05  Brazil 11/12/04 $1,405,421 1/16/05  Bulgaria 11/26/04 $84,329 1/9/05  Central America 11/3/04 $162,836 1/2/05  Chile 1/6/05 $65,326 1/16/05  Colombia 11/12/04 $242,291 Final  Croatia 12/9/04 $9,241 Final  Czech Republic 11/11/04 $42,064 Final  Denmark 11/5/04 $115,666 12/12/04  Finland 12/3/04 $64,692 1/5/05  France 11/17/04 $2,468,831 Final  Greece 10/15/04 $695,331 Final  Holland 11/11/04 $198,979 12/8/04  Hong Kong 11/11/04 $139,404 Final  Hungary 11/11/04 $105,474 Final  Iceland 10/8/04 $31,225 Final  Indonesia 1/5/05 $74,886 1/16/05  Israel 9/16/04 $527,795 1/5/05  Lebanon 11/24/04 $304,881 Final  Mexico 11/19/04 $2,189,353 1/2/05  Norway 11/19/04 $113,280 12/16/04  Peru 12/2/04 $95,127 12/12/04  Philippines 10/20/04 $263,438 Final  Poland 12/10/04 $364,870 1/9/05  Portugal 12/2/04 $268,955 1/16/05  Puerto Rico 9/17/04 $442,241 11/24/04  Romania 11/26/04 $74,026 1/9/05  Russia 11/11/04 $894,266 Final  Serbia 11/18/04 $27,303 Final  Singapore 10/28/04 $230,932 Final  Slovenia 12/2/04 $67,012 1/9/05  Spain 11/12/04 $1,797,048 Final  Taiwan 11/19/04 $585,113 Final  Thailand 9/23/04 $248,126 Final  Ukraine 11/11/04 $99,222 Final  United Kingdom 9/24/04 $1,914,470 Final  Venezuela 12/17/04 $404,671 1/16/05

28 febbraio: News!

	AUSTRALIA BOX OFFICE (Feb. 17-20): 11 7 Cellular Roadshow $213,757 -34% 113 $1,892 $658,022 2.
	GERMANY BOX OFFICE (Feb. 3-6): 9 - Cellular WB $572,857 - 152 $3,769 $572,857 1.
	GERMANY BOX OFFICE (Feb. 10-13): 10 9 Cellular WB $499,969 -12% 154 $3,247 $1,303,041 2.
	AUSTRIA BOX OFFICE (Feb. 4-10): 1 - Cellular WB $294,440 37 $7,958 $294,440 1.
	AUSTRIA BOX OFFICE (Feb. 11-17): 2 1 Cellular WB $279,414 37 $7,552 $573,854 2.
	ARGENTINA BOX OFFICE (Feb. 3-6): 19 - Cellular Dist. $3,540 14 $253 $588,371 12.
	Top 50 United States Video Rentals: 13 February 2005: 8. 5 Cellular (2004) 26 $4.66M $28M. 6 February 2005: 5. 4 Cellular (2004) 19 $5.85M $23.4M - 48. 41 The Door in the Floor (2004) 54 $580K $10.7M.
	Open door... - Craving for an adult drama? Then it has to be THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR (15). Now 55, four-time Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges is at his enigmatic best as Ted Cole, a children's author breaking up with his wife Marion (Kim Basinger, still looking good and stripping off at 51. When virginal wannabe writer called Eddie (Jon Foster) arrives at the family home, it's clear he's got eyes for Marion - and that Ted isn't necessarily going to object! Playing knowing daughter Ruth is Elle Fanning, the younger but equally talented sister of Hide and Seek star Dakota Fanning. She has a remarkable observation about daddy's manhood to make, but it's Eddie's coming of age fused with Marion's grief which gives this movie such unusually explosive fuel. Little known New Yorker Tod Williams directs his own adaptation of the first third of A Widow For One Year, a novel by John Irving (The Cider House Rules). His film will leave you guessing at every turn about where it's all going and why - even beyond the final credits. It is sumptuously acted, beautifully shot and, after Ocean's Twelve, sheer quality.
	More than child's play - Subtle exploration of author's dark side. Kim Basinger tells her husband's young assistant about her deceased children. John Irving's novels are a bit unwieldy and have a mixed track record in being adapted for the screen. Screenwriter and director Tod Williams solves many of the problems by concentrating on just part of an Irving novel. The Door in the Floor comes from the first third of A Widow for One Year. The title refers to a children's book written and illustrated by one of the main characters, Ted Cole, played quite masterfully by Jeff Bridges. Ted describes himself, in a slightly affected tone, as an entertainer of children who likes to draw. His books, modern-day fairy tales, have a surprisingly dark side. So does Ted himself. He likes to dabble in complex psychological games with almost everyone around him, including female neighbors whom he sweet-talks into modeling for increasingly lurid sketches. But the core of the movie is an absence. Ted and his wife, Marion, played by Kim Basinger, lost their two teenage sons about five years before the movie starts. Their house, in an exclusive part of New York's Long Island, is a shrine to the dead children. A young living daughter, played by Elle Fanning, never met her brothers but endlessly asks for stories about the pictures of them on the wall. She also asks what it means to be dead. Into this mausoleum existence Ted invites a teenage boy to be his assistant. What he really needs is a chauffeur, since his drinking has temporarily cost him his license. The boy, Eddie, played by Jon Forster, has a bit of a resemblance to one of the dead boys and goes to the same elite school. Eddie winds up spending a lot of time with Marion and filling several roles in her emotion-starved life. He also becomes a pawn in Ted's manipulative games. Director Williams, in his second film, shows great skill with finding the proper tone for the material. The photos of the dead boys at times suggest cues for nightmarish flashbacks, but they never arrive. Williams generates a deeply disturbing mood without resorting to a hovering camera and cheap lighting effects. The most horrific scene is of Bridges reading from one of his children's books to an adult audience in a darkened bookstore while Eddie shows slides of Ted's illustrations. Both Basinger and Bridges give incredibly simple performances that help to underscore the subtlety of the film's psychological elements. Since the film addresses only a third of the novel, it relies more on mood than a fully cohesive story. While some gaps about what happened to the Cole family are finally filled in, there is quite a bit of enigma left at the end. The Door in the Floor is a rare film that challenges the audience to fill in some of the blanks.
	La femme fatale si trasforma - Kim Basinger come Wonder woman Los Angeles, 23 febbraio 2005 - Da donna fatale di '9 settimane e mezzo' a 'Wonder woman'. Kim Basinger, 51 anni, potrebbe essere la protagonista di 'Wonder woman', la versione cinematografica basata sul fumetto della supereroina 'Donna meraviglia'. La Basinger è la candidata numero uno nel caso in cui Joel Silver, regista del film, opterà per una protagonista avanti negli anni. Se invece la scelta cadrà su un'attrice giovane, la favorita per interpretare 'Wonder woman' è la 22enne Jessica Biel, protagonista di 'Blade: Trinity'. Silver, già regista di 'The Matrix', scioglierà nei prossimi giorni la riserva assieme alla Warner Bros che produce il film. La sceneggiatura dovrebbe essere scritta da Joss Whedon, autore di 'Buffy l'ammazzavampiri'. La Basinger, che ha vinto un Oscar come migliore attrice nel 1997 per 'L.A. Confidential', ha poi ottenuto ottime critiche per l'interpretazione della madre di Eminem nel film '8 Mile'. 'Wonder Woman' ha debuttato come fumetto nel 1941 come versione femminile di Superman. Scritta dallo psicologo Charles Moulton e disegnata das Harry G.Peters, la serie ha visto 'Wonder woman' trasformarsi negli anni da personaggio mitologico a maestra di arti marziali. Nel 1986 l'avventura dei fumetti di 'Wonder woman' finì ma dieci anni prima era approdata in televisione con una serie interpretata da Lynda Carter.
	Jessica Biel e Kim Basinger in lotta per Wonder Woman - Sono Jessica Biel (nota al grande pubblico per la sua partecipazione al serial 'Settimo cielo') e Kim Basinger le principali candidate a vestire i panni di Wonder Woman, protagonista di uno dei prossimi film supereroistici tratti dai fumetti. L'unico problema è che la Biel sta per compiere 23 anni, mentre la Basinger ne ha 51... I produttori della Warner Bros., proprietaria della Dc Comics che detiene i diritti di Superman, Batman e, appunto, Wonder Woman, sono infatti ancora indecisi sull'età dell'eroina, forse influenzati anche dal fatto che pure nei fumetti Wonder Woman, dea immortale, sembra più una donna matura che una ragazza. Creata da William M. Marston negli anni '40, l'epoca d'oro del fumetto statunitense, Wonder Woman è nota al grande pubblico soprattutto per la serie televisiva degli anni '70 in cui il personaggio era interpretato da Lynda Carter. Per quanto riguarda il film finora di certo, invece, c'è solo il nome del regista, quel Joel Silver che ha prodotto 'The Matrix' ma non vanta esperienze significative dietro alla macchina da presa, mentre per la sceneggiatura è stato contattato Joss Whedon, il creatore di 'Buffy'.
	Kim Basinger Wonder Woman? La 51nne attrice Kim Basinger è stata presa in considerazione per Wonder Woman. A riferirlo è il New York Post, secondo il quale la bellissima protagonista di 9 settimane 1/2 e premio Oscar del 1997 per LA Confidential potrebbe avere la meglio sulla favoritissima Jessica Biehl, star di Blade, che però è troppo giovane per la parte. Il produttore Joel Silver (Matrix) sta facendo di tutto per coinvolgere nel progetto Joss Whedon, l'autore di Buffy l'ammazzavampiri, cui vorrebbe affidare anche la regia di Wonder Woman. Il telefilm Wonder Woman ha debuttato nel 1976. Sono state realizzate tre serie sempre interpretate da Linda Carter. Per il ruolo di Wonder Woman si è autocandidata anche Jennifer Lopez.
	Kim, la donna dai poteri sovrumani - Basinger protagonista di Wonder Woman? La fumetto-mania che ha colpito produttori e registi Usa non accenna a diminuire. Ora che tutti i supereroi più popolari sono stati trasferiti su grande schermo, non rimane che buttarsi su figure minori. E' il caso di Wonder Woman, eroina creata negli anni '40, nota anche in Europa per una serie tv che ebbe discreto successo. Due le candidate per la parte: Jessica Biel (da giovane) e Kim Basinger (da grande).  La notizia apparsa sul New York Post è piuttosto curiosa. Quando pensiamo ai nostri supereroi preferiti, di certo non ci curiamo della loro età. Anzi, un supereroe dovrebbe essere immortale e quindi non invecchiare mai. E invece, alla Warner Bros, una volta deciso di produrre un film su Wonder Woman, si sta discutendo se costei debba essere una giovane donna, poco più che ventenne o se, invece, debba essere raccontata come una donna adulta, o "parecchio" adulta, se pensiamo che la Basinger ha 51 anni. Nel primo caso la scelta di regista e produttori cadrebbe su Jessica Biel, giovane attrice, vista nel film d'azione "Blade", che di certo ha poca esperienza e non ha la popolarità (nè il premio Oscar) della bella Kim. D'altra parte, come potrebbe una donna di mezza età - per quanto ancora bellissima e in forma smagliante - essere credibile nei panni di una donna dai poteri sovraumani, che salta un muro con un salto o che solleva un autobus con una mano sola? Il regista del film è già stato scelto e sarà quel Joel Silver che ha fatto la fortuna di "Matrix". Quanto allo sceneggiatore, la Warner è in fase di trattative con Joss Whedon, celebre autore della serie tv "Buffy, l'ammazzavampiri". "Wonder Woman" nacque negli anni '40. La figura di questa donna dai poteri e dalla moralità superiori a ogni uomo fu creata da William Moulton Marston, un educatore americano, stanco di vedere solo uomini in veste di supereroi. Dal fumetto, poi, si tentò di trasferire il personaggio sul piccolo e sul grande schermo, ma con scarso successo. L'unica serie tv che ebbe una certa fortuna fu quella degli anni '70, che vedeva Lynda Carter strizzata in un costumino a stelle e strisce... da perfetta eroina americana.
	Kim Basinger sarà Wonder Woman? Kim Basinger è stata presa in considerazione per interpretare il ruolo della protagonista nella versione cinematografica di Wonder Woman. L’attrice, 51 anni portati magnificamente, dovrebbe interpretare l’eroina in età matura mentre Jessica Biehl è per il momento la favorita ad interpretare Wonder Woman da giovane. Il regista sarà Joel Silver (The Matrix) mentre la Warner bros ha contattato Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) per scrivere la sceneggiatura. Basinger, che ha vinto un Oscar come miglior attrice nel 1997 con LA Confidential, ha interpretato la madre di Eminem in 8 Mile. La serie tv Wonder Woman è stata lanciata nel 1976 con l’attrice Lynda Carter come protagonista. Visto il successo sono state realizzate tre stagioni, più volte replicate.
	Cinema: Kim Basinger in trattative per 'Wonder woman' - Da donna fatale di ''9 settimane e mezzo'' a ''Wonder woman''  Los Angeles, 23 feb. (Adnkronos) - Da donna fatale di ''9 settimane e mezzo'' a ''Wonder woman''. Kim Basinger, 51 anni, potrebbe essere la protagonista di ''Wonder woman'', la versione cinematografica basata sul fumetto della supereroina ''Donna meraviglia''. La Basinger e' la candidata numero uno nel caso in cui Joel Silver, regista del film, optera' per una protagonista avanti negli anni. Se invece la scelta cadra' su un'attrice giovane, la favorita per interpretare ''Wonder woman'' e' la 22enne Jessica Biel, protagonista di ''Blade: Trinity''. Silver, gia' regista di ''The Matrix'', scogliera' nei prossimi giorni la riserva assieme alla Warner Bros che produce il film. La sceneggiatura dovrebbe essere scritta da Joss Whedon, autore di ''Buffy l'ammazzavampiri''
	Silver Confirms Whedon For "Wonder Woman" - Producer Joel Silver confirmed to SCI FI Wire that he is wooing "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon to write and direct a new film version of Wonder Woman. At an interview at WonderCon in San Francisco on Saturday, Silver said "I'm trying to work a deal with Joss. ... I was just in the other room [where Whedon was talking about his upcoming SF movie, Serenity]. I don't know if I could work that out. It's a complicated deal to do, but I would love him to do it. It would be great if he could do it." Silver revealed that Whedon came to him with a new twist on the venerable character. "It's just a great, legendary comic-book hero, and it's one that has never been kind of brought back to life after Lynda Carter. I mean, it's a reinvention. Tim Burton reinvented Batman after Adam West, and Richard Donner reinvented Superman after George Reeves. It's time to do that to Wonder Woman. It's a thing that could be great if it's done great. The idea is to try to find a way to make it, and I thought Joss has a great idea, because he understands a kind of female superhero character, and also he's great at what he does. So I'm trying to find the best way to do it."
	Kim's Wonder role - According to reports, Kim Basinger is being lined up to play Wonder Woman on the big screen. But hold your horses. Before you start bleating on about how the character isn’t blonde and Basinger is in her fifties, bare with us. Basinger is tipped to don the red boots if the script focuses on the character being older, while Blade: Trinity star Jessica Biel is favourite to play her if she's younger, reports the New York Post. The Matrix director Joel Silver is reportedly going to take charge on the planned Warner Bros' flick, and they’re in talks with Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Joss Whedon to pen the script. Meanwhile 51-year-old Basinger isn’t coaching Biel about who Lynda Carter is.
	Basinger the Wonder Woman frontrunner - The eternally spunky Kim Basinger - most recently seen in, what I thought was junk, "Cellular" - is Producer Joel Silver's first-choice to play "Wonder Woman" in the forthcoming pic, says The New York Post.  Silver wants Basinger to play a more mature Wonder Woman. If the studio ultimately doesn't go for his aged-superheroine idea, he's also fancying "Blade Trinity" babe Jessica Biel.  "Kim would be used if Wonder Woman is older, Jessica is if she's younger," an insider tells.  The paper also states that Joss Whedon is in talks to write the film. No mention of him directing though.
	Kim Basinger may be the next Wonder Woman! London, Feb.23 (ANI): Hollywood actress Kim Basinger has reportedly been shortlisted as one of the candidates to play the role of Wonder Woman on the big screen. Basinger, 51, however, faces stiff competition from the much younger Jessica Biehl, the heroine of "Blade", reports the New York Post. According to the report, the Warner Bros' movie is to be directed by Joel Silver of The Matrix fame, while the script is likely to be penned by Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Joss Whedon. Wonder Woman debuted in 1976 and continued for three series with Lynda Carter in the title role as a woman from a lost island with special powers.
	CELLULAR - Overseas Total as of Feb. 20, 2005: $21,334,897  Argentina 11/18/04 $524,972 2/13/05  Australia 2/10/05 $434,796 2/16/05  Austria 2/4/05 $645,849 2/20/05  Baltic States 11/19/04 $89,015 Final  Belgium 11/24/04 $688,671 2/20/05  Bolivia 12/30/04 $20,691 Final  Brazil 11/12/04 $1,405,421 1/16/05  Bulgaria 11/26/04 $84,329 1/9/05  Central America 11/3/04 $227,122 2/20/05  Chile 1/6/05 $105,749 2/9/05  Colombia 11/12/04 $242,291 Final  Croatia 12/9/04 $9,241 Final  Czech Republic 11/11/04 $42,064 Final  Denmark 11/5/04 $115,666 Final  Finland 12/3/04 $65,721 1/30/05  France 11/17/04 $2,468,831 Final  Germany 2/3/05 $1,606,855 2/20/05  Greece 10/15/04 $695,331 Final  Holland 11/11/04 $204,088 Final  Hong Kong 11/11/04 $139,404 Final  Hungary 11/11/04 $105,474 Final  Iceland 10/8/04 $31,225 Final  Indonesia 1/5/05 $103,073 2/2/05  Israel 9/16/04 $527,795 1/5/05  Lebanon 11/24/04 $358,751 Final  Mexico 11/19/04 $2,189,353 1/2/05  Norway 11/19/04 $113,280 12/16/04  Peru 12/2/04 $95,127 12/12/04  Philippines 10/20/04 $263,438 Final  Poland 12/10/04 $364,870 1/9/05  Portugal 12/2/04 $276,827 1/23/05  Puerto Rico 9/17/04 $442,241 11/24/04  Romania 11/26/04 $74,026 1/9/05  Russia 11/11/04 $894,266 Final  Serbia 11/18/04 $28,660 Final  Singapore 10/28/04 $230,932 Final  Slovenia 12/2/04 $67,012 1/9/05  Spain 11/12/04 $1,797,048 Final  Switzerland 1/19/05 $30,146 1/23/05  Taiwan 11/19/04 $585,113 Final  Thailand 9/23/04 $248,126 Final  Ukraine 11/11/04 $99,222 Final  United Kingdom 9/24/04 $1,914,470 Final  Venezuela 12/17/04 $553,982 2/13/05
	SILVER WANTS BASINGER FOR WONDER WOMAN - Movie producer JOEL SILVER is pursuing KIM BASINGER for the heroic title role in his film remake of classic comic book WONDER WOMAN. After months of negotiations WARNER BROS have finally given DIE HARD film-maker Silver the go-ahead to start work on the delayed project, and he's already recruited BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER writer JOSS WHEDON to pen the script. Silver is now targetting Basinger to portray a more mature Wonder Woman, but will approach JESSICA BIEL if studio bosses decide to keep the superheroine youthful. An insider tells website PAGESIX.COM, "Kim would be used if Wonder Woman is older, Jessica is if she's younger."
	Stallone's new magazine dishes (junk) food for thought Whew! For a while there, it seemed like the trend toward celebrities starting magazines named after themselves had petered out, but now we're in luck: Sylvester Stallone, star of the Rocky and Rambo movies, has published the premiere issue of Sly, and it's just as wonderfully awful as you'd expect. Whenever these mags appear, we snap into action and count the photos of the celebrity in the premiere issue so we can rate it on our patented EgoMania Index. Sly has 34 pix of Stallone, which means he comes out in the middle of the index, ahead of Rosie (5) and Oprah (15) and Gene Simmons (27) but behind Ivana (58) and Mary-Kate and Ashley, who hold the record with 63. The premise of Sly is that Stallone, the mag's 58-year-old "editorial director," will teach men how to "stay in the game past 40." To that end, it includes generic advice on diet, clothing, travel, cigars, wine, beer, HDTVs and, of course, sex. There's also a piece on anger management that reveals the kind of guys Sly expects to reach. A quiz designed to determine just how angry you are asks this question: "Are people so used to you being angry all the time they assume you are even when you're just constipated?" Stallone's contributions to the first issue are, um, modest. Under the title "Women We Love," he wrote a tiny, poetic essay on Kim Basinger: "She lets you into her life a molecule at a time." He recorded a brief conversation with James Caan in which Caan tries to lure him into appearing on a TV show. There's also an excerpt from Sly Moves, Stallone's forthcoming fitness book. And a story about The Contender, the upcoming NBC boxing-related reality show that Stallone co-hosts. Plus, an excerpt of the script of the forthcoming Rocky VI, which just might be almost as much of a cinematic masterpiece as Rocky V. For the intellectuals in the audience, Stallone has composed a couple of pages of neo-Nietzschean philosophizing: "Be the guy who tells the joke, not the recipient of the punch line. Be the predator, not the food source." Stallone didn't just write those words — he lives those words. In the case of Sly, he is the predator, and the suckers who shell out $3.99 are the food source.
	Nominations dei Saturn Award 2005 - Miglior attrice non protagonista: Kim Basinger - Cellular (New Line Cinema) Irma P. Hall - The Ladykillers (Buena Vista) Daryl Hannah - Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Miramax) Angelina Jolie - Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow (Paramount) Diane Kruger - Il mistero dei templari(Buena Vista) Meryl Streep - The Manchurian Candidate (Paramount)
	How Kim Basinger deals with panic WITH her long blonde hair, porcelain skin and super-fit body, Kim Basinger looks anything but 50. By the time she takes her seat and says hello in her Southern accent, the Academy Award-winning actor has single-handedly lit up the room at this Santa Monica hotel.  But it soon becomes apparent something is not quite right about Basinger. It's not her golden locks, her manicured nails or impeccable black jacket and matching pants. They are all perfect.  It's her eyes. They are closed.  The veteran of 34 films, former Ford model and 1997 Oscar winner keeps her eyes completely shut.  Not just shut for a blink, or because she has a piece of grit in them. They are tightly closed, and that's how she will keep them for almost the length of the interview.  All the professional polish fails to hide the fact all is not well with Kim Basinger. She is afraid.  It is well known that Basinger has suffered from agoraphobia for most of her adult life. It's a battle she is still fighting.  At their worst, the panic attacks keep Basinger inside her home for up to six months at a time.  So severe was her anxiety as a child, her parents thought she was autistic.  But Basinger has refused to let fear beat her. From the age of 17 - when she left home in Georgia for a modelling career in New York - Basinger has always confronted her demons. And she says acting has been her key to survival.  "Acting has always been so therapeutic," she says. "It has made me face my fears.  "Sometimes I go, 'God, why did you make me an actress?' And all my crew say, 'God, why did you make her an actress? She is a mule'."  Clearly, that's not a view shared by the Hollywood powerbrokers who have kept Basinger in work. And with great reviews for her role in the dark The Door in the Floor and new thriller Cellular, there is no sign of Basinger disappearing any time soon.  In Cellular she plays a mother who is kidnapped and locked away in an attic. She has no idea why she has been taken and spends much of the film frightened and in tears.  All she has is an old phone that she repairs and uses to call a stranger on a mobile (cellular) phone. Their connection is the one thing that keeps her alive.  The harrowing emotions she displays on screen are not unfamiliar to Basinger in her own life, and she readily admits she used them as inspiration.  "If you have been through some pretty horrible experiences with people and if you have ever been threatened in any way . . . I have a very great memory bank. You can go back and grab some of that," she says.  "It takes years to learn to be an actress, to learn how to act, but if you have been pretty savvy through your life, it's all about not wanting to forget, daring to not forget."  There's no doubt Basinger's life is a rich source of material. She has been through a great deal: panic disorder, bankruptcy, legal fights over movies, two divorces, and a bitter dispute with second husband Alec Baldwin over custody of their daughter, Ireland.  That would have been too much for many, but for Basinger the pain has become valuable fuel.  "One day you wake up and go, 'I have the button, I know where I can go to get this emotion'," she says.  "It happened rather quickly for me – I literally woke up one day and knew where the buttons were.  "You come to a place in your life where you really learn what makes you tick as an actress. You find these buttons and you just push them."  Basinger's acting debut was in an episode of Charlie's Angles in 1976. She was a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again in 1983, and 14 years later won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for LA Confidential.  And she's not finished yet. Basinger wants to do Broadway -- because she is afraid of doing it.  "I have to tackle that because it is a fear of mine," she says.  "I would love to do it. I have been asked many times if I wanted to come to Broadway and do something. So it might be one of those steps in the near future if I could find something I really wanted to do. It would be mortifying, but I have a tendency to go toward anything I fear.  "By the end of my life I want to overcome a long list of challenges."  Cellular opens today. The Door in the Floor opens on March 3.
	Kim's eyes wide shut Lockdown ... Basinger in the thriller Cellular. Advertisement: With her well-documented struggle to beat agoraphobia, bombshell actress Kim Basinger's had plenty of material to draw on for her latest releases, the dark drama Door In The Floor and the thriller Cellular. Basinger, 51, the veteran of 34 films and 1997 Academy Award winner, keeps her eyes tightly shut for most of our interview.  All the preening, preparing and professional polish fade into the background and fail to hide the fact that all is not well. She is afraid.  Basinger has suffered from agoraphobia most of her adult life. Clearly, it's a battle she's still fighting.  At their worse the panic attacks and anxiety have kept Basinger inside her home for up to six months at a time; so severe was her anxiety as a child that even her parents thought she was autistic.  But Basinger has refused to let the fear beat her. She says acting has been her key to survival.  "Acting has always been therapeutic," she says. "It has made me face my fears. Sometimes I go, 'God, why did you make me an actress?'. And all my crew says, 'God, why did you make her an actress? She is a mule'."  Clearly, that view isn't shared by Hollywood.  With great reviews for her performance in Door In The Floor and this week's release of the thriller Cellular, there's no sign of Basinger disappearing any time soon.  In Cellular, Basinger plays a mother kidnapped and locked away in an attic. She has no idea why she has been taken and spends much of the film quivering in tears.  She only has an old phone which she uses to call a stranger on a cellular (mobile) phone.  Their connection is the one thing that keeps Basinger's character alive.  There's no doubt her life is a rich source of acting material.  She has been through a lot, from her panic disorder to bankruptcy, legal fights over movies, two divorces and a bitter custody dispute with second husband Alec Baldwin over the couple's daughter, Ireland.  That pain has become valuable for her acting and she recalls the day she learned to harness the hurt.  "One day you wake up and you go, 'I get it. I have the button, I know the tools, I know where I can go to get this emotion'," she says.  "It takes you a long time to learn how to be an actress, then you find these buttons that become so accessible to you and you just push them."  Cellular opens today, Door In The Floor on March 3.
	The Door In The Floor Not often you can say the film's better than the book, but this Kim Basinger and Jeff Bridges acting vehicle achieves the impossible. Taking John Irving's hulking novel, just a small part of it makes it on screen, but it's a jolly fine small part nonetheless. Bridges and Basinger are Ted and Marion Cole, a husband and wife coping with the aftermath of the death of their two teenage sons. When Ted, a successful children's writer, employs assistant Eddie (Jon Foster) to help him with his work, Eddie gets sucked into a detective role, trying to work out how the boys died. The film is dominated by the obvious heavy hearts carried round by Basinger and Bridges for the entire film, but there are surprises in the shape of Eddie's furtive self-pleasuring (no really) and his growing urges for his bosses' wife. Meanwhile, Kim and Jeff are on fine form as the wallowing pair in this almost – not quite – great film.