Indiana Jones Tops Hero Poll
Actors Bruce Willis and Harrison Ford have been voted the greatest ever action heroes. Around a quarter of the 3,000 people polled remembered Ford fondly as Han Solo in Star Wars and swashbuckling archaeologist Indiana Jones, a role he takes up again later on this year - for the fourth time.
Willis also set the standard in the 1980s, as John McClane in Die Hard, a role he reprised for the fourth time last year.
Third place was taken by Last Action Hero star Arnold Schwarzenegger, with 15 per cent of the vote.
Newer breeds of action hero Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, and Daniel Craig as James Bond, achieved fourth and fifth-equal places in the poll.
Craig tied with Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal and Mel Gibson in joint fifth place with 5 per cent each. Read the rest of this entry
Mel Gibson to play lead in ‘Edge of Darkness’
Mel Gibson is to play the lead in new drama Edge of Darkness.The movie, an adaptation of the six-hour 1985 BBC mini-series, is the actor’s first starring role since 2002.
Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, GoldenEye), who helmed the original show, will direct the film version from William Monahan’s script.
Original producer Michael Wearing is also back on board, alongside Graham King and the BBC.
Gibson will play a straitlaced police investigator who uncovers a web of corruption when his activist daughter is killed.
The 52-year-old, who has turned his attention to directing in the last few years, most recently headlined 2002 movies Signs and We Were Soldiers.
Shooting is scheduled to begin in Boston in August.
Mel Gibson Sued Over “Passion Of The Christ” Script
A screenwriter sued Mel Gibson and his production company on Monday, claiming he was misled by the actor-director into accepting a small payment for writing “The Passion of the Christ,” and was refused extra money when the film became a blockbuster.
Benedict Fitzgerald claimed that when he was asked to write a script about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Gibson told him the movie would cost between $4 million to $7 million, according to the lawsuit filed in Superior Court. Fitzgerald also alleged Gibson promised he wouldn’t receive any money from the film and any profit would be distributed to people who worked on the movie.
Gibson stated he didn’t want “money on the back of what he considered a personal gift to his (Roman Catholic) faith,” the lawsuit said.
Heath Ledger Found Dead
Heath Ledger has been reported dead today, his body found this afternoon at his New York apartment. A police spokesman has confirmed that Ledger was pronounced dead at the scene and that, while the precise cause of death has not been officially confirmed, the body was discovered surrounded by pills and the incident is being treated as a possible overdose.
The Australian actor was reportedly discovered by his housekeeper just hours ago when she went to inform him that his masseuse had arrived for a scheduled massage appointment.
The former Home And Away star shot to stardom in 1999 with smart teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You. Following this with a role opposite Mel Gibson in The Patriot and his first major lead with A Knight’s Tale, Ledger proved himself a charismatic leading man. More dramatic roles followed in Monster’s Ball and The Four Feathers, with Ledger later garnering an Oscar nomination for his role as Ennis Del Mar in Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain.
The actor had most recently starred in I’m Not There and is due to appear later this year as The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. He had been in the middle of shooting The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus with Terry Gilliam.
He leaves behind a two-year-old daughter, Matilda. Ledger died at the age of 28.
