American stardom awaits for McFly

Boy band McFly talk to the BBC News website as they gear up for the US launch of their new album and their first Hollywood movie.

The McFly foursome returned from the US last weekend
In Just My Luck, a romantic comedy starring Lindsay Lohan, British foursome McFly play a young guitar band from England trying to make it big in America.

It is a fictitious scenario the boys hope will soon be transformed into reality.

A week spent in the States recently saw the group attend an early Hollywood screening of the film and meet the local media.

Between appearances, the boys spoke to the BBC News website about their ambitions and first impressions of Hollywood.

"This is like the entertainment capital, isn't it? It's really dreamy," said drummer Harry Judd.

"It's such an amazing and beautiful place. You go along the street and there's so much character with the restaurants and everything. It's quite surreal being here."

For a band still trying to find their feet in the world of showbiz, Los Angeles appears to have struck a chord.

"In England, if you just talk about yourself you come across as arrogant, but over here it's really cool," said singer Tom Fletcher.

"Everyone comes over and tells you exactly what they do and what they've done."

'Not big-headed'

McFly have had a meteoric rise since becoming the youngest group since the Beatles to debut at number one with their first album. It is an achievement that has aroused much interest in the US.

"In a lot of American interviews it's come up, so it's really nice," said vocalist Danny Jones.


Their first film sees them share the screen with Lindsay Lohan
"We're not big-headed about that kind of thing though," added Judd.

However, the boys know they have everything to prove if they are to make an impact on the US music scene.

"It's like when we were starting in England - everything's new and exciting again," said Fletcher.

"The success we've had doesn't mean anything over here, so we have to come over and work hard."

"It's a big place to crack but we'll do our best shot," added Jones.

"We're not going to just expect it'll happen," agreed bassist Dougie Paynter.

When McFly were signed to appear as themselves in Just My Luck, they did not expect to have major roles in the film.

But as the script developed, they were given speaking parts as well as an opportunity to contribute original songs to the soundtrack.

'Pretty nervous'

The Just My Luck CD - which features songs from McFly's first two UK albums - will be released next month in the US.

However, the band are quick to point out the film is more notable for their musical contribution than for their performances as actors.


First the Beatles, now McFly - but is America ready for them?
"We're not actors to be honest," said Judd. "But it's a great opportunity for us and to get our faces out there in America."

Another bonus was the chance to work with Lindsay Lohan, a star in the US thanks to such films as Freaky Friday and Mean Girls.

"We were pretty nervous about meeting her for the first time," admitted Fletcher.

"But about a week into filming she took us out to dinner with her family. It was a nice way to break the ice.

"She's just a normal girl," added Jones, who - like his bandmates - is undeterred by the prospect of courting the same media interest that has made Lohan one of the most talked-about celebrities in Hollywood.

"As much as people deny it, that's the main reason why people do it," said Judd.

"You say to kids now 'What do you want to do?' and they say 'I want to be famous'."

Just My Luck opens on 21 July in the UK.

Film promotes Da Vinci 'set-jet'

A short film produced to exploit the tourism spin-offs for Scotland from the Da Vinci Code movie has been given its first screening in New York.
The Rosslyn Enigma was commissioned jointly by VisitScotland and Scottish Screen at a cost of £50,000.

In it, a US student visits the 600-year-old Rosslyn Chapel.

The chapel near Edinburgh featured in Dan Brown's blockbuster book about the Holy Grail, the film of which stars Tom Hanks and comes out next month.

Tourism officials want to cash in on the trend known as "set-jetting" where fans flock to shoot locations around the world.

The documentary was shown at the Anthology Film Archives in New York during Tartan Week.

Public invited to 'produce' movie

Two young film makers are offering members of the public an opportunity to become associate producers or appear in a new movie set in Scotland.
For £50 aspiring producers can see their name in the film credits or for £100 budding actors can appear in the film called The Simulator.

The scheme aims to fund the film, which could start shooting in October.

Film makers Mark Buchanan and Gregor Barclay had the idea when they were unable to secure conventional funding.

Film making is something everybody can be a part of

Gregor Barclay

Mark, 22, and Gregor, 24, from Glasgow, are embarking on the task of making the low budget science fiction tale set in an underground geological laboratory.

Billy Connolly is among the stars they have approached to appear in the film.

Both Mark and Gregor have won awards on the film festival circuit.

Despite this, they have been unable to secure funding.

Closed doors

Mark said: "We have approached and are still approaching the big funding bodies.

"Because of our proposed low budget and relative youth, we have found a lot of doors closed to us.

"This industry is not known for taking risks with new talent."


Gregor Barclay and Mark Buchanan have had funding bids rejected

Mark and Gregor hope the public will now play their part.

Benefits of joining up include seeing your name in credits, tickets to the premiere and an appearance in the film.

Gregor said: "We wanted to show people that film making is something everybody can be a part of.

"For too long, it has been seen as an exclusive club, but new technology has shown that it's possible to make a film with high artistic standards, on a minimal budget.

"We want to make films this way. Why not let other people get involved too?"

Mark added: "We have such a great history of quality film making in the country and the talent is still present, it just needs to be encouraged."

Bollywood film upsets 'gangster'

One of India's most wanted men has demanded that a Bollywood movie he says is based on his life should not be released while he is facing trial.

Lawyers for Abu Salem are appealing in a court in the western city of Mumbai (Bombay) to try to block the release of the film, Gangster.

The film's producer says it is a work of fiction not based on Salem's life.

Salem was extradited from Portugal last year and is a suspect in the Mumbai blasts of 1993 that killed 250 people.

Other cases of murder, kidnapping and extortion are also pending against him.

On Saturday, a Mumbai court rejected Salem's petition on technical grounds. But his lawyer says he will now approach the high court.

'Trial by media'

The legal move came after their client read reports that it was based on his life. Salem's lawyer, Ashok Sarogi, said if the movie were released while the trial was going on, it could adversely influence his client's case.

My client will be tried and sentenced by the masses and the media long before the court does

Lawyer Ashok Sarogi

"If something is dramatised and shown on silver screen then the masses do get affected," he told the BBC.

"Investigation in my client's case is still going on and if a movie is released then it could influence the witnesses who are to be questioned."

"My client will be tried and sentenced by the masses and the media long before the court does."

But Mr Sarogi also said he had asked the court to view the film and if it believed that it was not based on his client's life, then they should permit it to be released.

'Misinformed'

But the film's producer, Mahesh Bhatt, has denied the allegation.

I would never pass a judgement on a person before the last word is given

Director Mahesh Bhatt

Mahesh Bhatt says he has received a notice from Salem's lawyer and he has replied saying they were "misinformed".

"My film Gangster is a work of fiction and it is not a story of a gangster but a story of a bar girl who is in love with two people, one an ordinary, simple man and the other, a gangster," he told the BBC.

"The character of the gangster is not even remotely connected with Salem or any of his biographic details that are known to me or throughout the world."

Mr Bhatt also said he would be "delighted" if someone saw the film as soon as possible and put Abu Salem's fears to rest.

"I would never pass a judgement on a person before the last word is given.

"I think the man is right to be looked upon as innocent until pronounced guilty and with this belief cannot make a film that calls him a gangster. And I have not done that, this film is not about Salem."

Scary Movie 4 tops US box office

Scary Movie 4, the latest film in the spoof horror series, has proved a hit with North American fans, taking $41m (£23m) at box offices over the weekend.
Six years after the first Scary Movie film, the franchise shows little sign of losing its appeal with cinemagoers.

The fourth instalment set a new Easter weekend record, beating the $30m (£17m) earned by thriller Panic Room in 2002.

Ice Age: The Meltdown was second at the weekend, taking $20m (£11.3m), according to studio estimates.

The cartoon sequel has now almost reached the $150m (£85m) mark in ticket sales in the US and Canada.

NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE TOP FIVE

1. Scary Movie 4 - $41m
2. Ice Age: The Meltdown (above) - $20m
3. The Benchwarmers - $10m
4. The Wild - $9.6m
5. Take the Lead - $6.7m
Friday-Sunday. Source: Exhibitor Relations
Third place in the box office chart went to baseball comedy The Benchwarmers, starring Rob Schneider.

But Disney's latest animal animation The Wild could only enter in fourth place, reaping $9.6m (£5.4m) in ticket sales in three days.

Hollywood's overall takings rose for the fourth weekend in a row, with the top 12 movies making $110m (£62m) - up 23% on Easter weekend last year.

Scary Movie 4 also gives Bob and Harvey Weinstein their first number one movie since they left Miramax to set up their own company last year.

"We couldn't have asked for a more impressive opening for Scary Movie 4 and are so proud to have accomplished this only six months after our company launched," Bob Weinstein said.

"This exceptional opening proves that this franchise has tremendous staying power."

New film crew arrives on island

British actress Kristin Scott Thomas is among the stars to arrive on the Isle of Man for filming on a new movie.
Work on The Walker, also starring Lauren Bacall and former Cheers Actor Woody Harrelson, was due to get under way on Thursday.

It follows the story of Carter Page, a society "walker" who acts as an escort for the wives of the rich and powerful.

Filming on Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor, finished on the island earlier this week.

Department of Trade and Industry minister Alex Downie said: "We're delighted to welcome such Hollywood legends to the Island and hope that they enjoy their time here.

"The calibre of actors filming on the Island is representative of the quality of our films and we are looking forward to a busy summer in terms of production."

The Walker's cast and crew are expected to be on the Isle of Man until 5 May when the production will move to Washington DC.

Stellar cast headed for Highlands

Scenes for a new movie starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer are being shot in Wester Ross.
Members of the cast and scores of film crew are filming Stardust at an undisclosed location.

The fantasy is based on a novel by Neil Gaiman and is directed by British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn.

Scottish Screen, the national film body, said it had "worked hard" to have the Highlands used as a location for the movie.

Worked hard

The organisation's Celia Stevenson said Hollywood A-listers De Niro and Pfeiffer star in the film.

She told BBC Scotland News online: "We have worked hard to bring this film to Scotland."

The Daily Record on Friday said Sienna Miller and Rupert Everett also have leading roles and actress Clare Danes flew into Inverness Airport for filming in Wester Ross.

The film, set in an English village, follows a young man named Tristan played by Charlie Cox who goes on a quest to win the heart of his beloved, Victoria - actress Sienna Miller.

His journey leads him to a magical world where he faces the Pfeiffer's witch, Lamia,

Star Trek movie turns back time

JJ Abrams, creator of TV show Lost and director of Mission Impossible III, is to produce and direct the 11th Star Trek film.
The film, produced by Paramount and set for release in 2008, will focus on the early days of Captain James T Kirk and Mr Spock.

The as-yet-untitled feature will tell of their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission.

The most recent Trek film, Star Trek: Nemesis, was released in 2003.

Abrams will write the film with his Mission Impossible co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

The film will be co-produced by Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk.

STAR TREK FILMS
The Motion Picture (1979)
The Wrath of Khan (1982)
The Search for Spock (1984)
The Voyage Home (1986)
The Final Frontier (1989)
The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Generations (1994)
First Contact (1996)
Insurrection (1998)
Nemesis (2002)

The decision to revive the Trek franchise comes a year after the cancellation of spin-off TV series Enterprise, which was axed after four seasons due to poor ratings.

The film Star Trek: Nemesis - which starred the cast of the Next Generation series - also underperformed, making less money than any of its nine predecessors.

However, rumours that the film series would continue in a different form have been circulating since 2003.

Earlier this year, Next Generation star Patrick Stewart told ITV1's This Morning there was "interest in bringing the Next Generation cast together with actors from different Star Trek series".

Comedies head MTV movie shortlist

Wedding Crashers and The 40-Year Old Virgin lead the nominations for the MTV Movie Awards, with five mentions each.
The two comedies compete in the best film category alongside Batman Begins, King Kong and Sin City.
The awards show, which takes place in California on 3 June, sets out to be more irreverent than other ceremonies.
Best kiss nominees include Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback Mountain, and real-life couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt for Mr & Mrs Smith.
Crash, which won best picture at the Academy Awards, did not receive a nomination for the awards, whose winners are chosen by viewers.

Best kiss: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have a nominationWedding Crashers duo Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are up for best on-screen team, pitting them against 40-Year-Old Virgin's lead Steve Carell and co-stars Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen and Romany Malco.
A new category, sexiest performance, sees a nomination for Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo star Rob Schneider.
He competes against Beyonce Knowles, Ziyi Zhang, Jessica Alba and Jessica Simpson.
A best hero category has also been added, along with a student film-maker award.

SA 'Tsotsi' returns stolen baby

In an apparent replay of the movie Tsotsi, a South Africa thief returned a baby he found in a car he had stolen.
Police contacted the man by calling a mobile phone stolen at the same time. The thief then delivered the child to an agreed place.
Tsotsi won South Africa its first Foreign Language Film Oscar and is about a young thug who finds himself in charge of a baby after stealing a car.
A policeman called the incident a "total simulation of the Tsotsi movie".
"I think this movie is playing an important role among criminals out there - maybe it encouraged him to have a soft heart," Inspector Paul Ramaloko told the BBC News website.
Phone
The theft took place when a woman in her 30s, identified in the local media as Olga Botha, left her car idling outside her Pretoria home while she opened the gate.
The unidentified man then drove off in the car, along with the baby and the woman's handbag, which contained her mobile phone.
"The police called the number - the man answered, and indicated he was waiting for the call," Inspector Ramaloko said.
"He indicated he didn't want the baby or the purse, only the car."
The thief duly dropped off the baby at a school building.
The man also said he would return the car later, as he only wanted to use it for the weekend.
By Tuesday morning, the police had not heard from him.
"We have intensified our efforts and are not relaxing," Inspector Ramaloko said.
"We are so happy the baby is back."

Film director 'sees future in 3D'

Film director James Cameron has said Hollywood should release more digital 3D movies as a way of luring people back into cinemas and reducing piracy.
He told a US media conference he was considering a 3D reissue of Titanic, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
He described the format as "a powerful experience" which could be used while shooting new releases or to offer a fresh perspective on classic films.
He said he would not make movies "for people to watch on their cellphones".
Cameron added: "I don't want that grand, visionary, transporting movie experience made for the big screen to become a thing of the past."
Special filming techniques
Several forthcoming films are being produced using 3D-compatible methods.
A remake of Journey to the Centre of the Earth will be shot in live action with so-called "stereographic" cameras.
Beowulf, directed by Robert Zemeckis, will use 3D filming techniques, while Walt Disney's computer-animated Meet the Robinsons will be projected in 3D.
George Lucas plans to reissue his original Star Wars movie in the format next year to mark its 30th anniversary, while director Peter Jackson has a similar idea - at some stage - for King Kong.
Cameron told the National Association of Broadcasters' Digital Cinema Summit in Las Vegas the movie industry needed "to fight back harder, come back blazing, not wither away and die" in response to falling ticket sales in cinemas and increases in incidents of piracy.
International film box office revenues dropped by nine per cent in 2005, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.
Only four films made more than $300m (£168m) outside the US, compared with seven in 2004.

New York first to see 9/11 movie

The Tribeca film festival, founded by Robert De Niro, has opened with the world premiere of a movie about the 11 September terrorist attacks.
United 93 is set on the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania after its passengers fought with hijackers.
De Niro, who created the festival to help revitalise lower Manhattan after the events of 2001, said "it would seem strange" not to show the movie.
Several of the festival's 275 films also tackle the impact of that day.
These include documentaries about a fire department chaplain killed at the World Trade Center - entitled Saint of 9/11 -

Festival creator Robert De Niro said it was right to show United 93and also The Heart of Steel, about volunteers who helped victims of the attacks.
Writer-director Paul Greengrass, who made United 93, said Tribeca was "the most appropriate place for the film to play first".
He added it was "an honour and a privilege to bring this film there. It's daunting and it's humbling, but I know in my heart we all did our best to honour this subject".
'Right thing'
De Niro acknowledged that "some will be ready, and some will not be ready" for United 93.
"Not everyone is going to feel good, of course. But after four and a half years, it feels like the right thing to do," he said.

A remake of disaster movie Poseidon is among the premieres
Some cinemas in the US have already pulled trailers for United 93 after audiences became upset.
Among the 90 premieres at the festival is the first US screening of Mission: Impossible 3, which sees Tom Cruise travelling across Manhattan by helicopter, speedboat, sports car and underground train.
Other major movies include the disaster remake Poseidon, with Kurt Russell and Josh Lucas, and Lonely Hearts, which stars John Travolta and James Gandolfini as detectives tracking down two killers.
More than 4,000 productions were submitted for consideration by the organisers of the two-week festival.

9/11 film makes number two in US

United 93, the first Hollywood film to deal with the terrorist attacks of 11 September, was the second most popular movie in the US on its opening weekend.
It generated ticket sales of $11.6m (£6.4m) across the country, having received its premiere last week at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
The film dramatises events on a flight which crashed when passengers fought back against hijackers.
It was beaten to number one by Robin Williams' new comedy, RV.
Williams plays the beleaguered head of a family making a cross-country trip in a recreational vehicle which has plumbing problems.
RV earned $16.4m (£9m) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, while the teen gymnastics drama Stick It made number three, with takings of $11.3m (£6.2m).

United 93 is the first Hollywood film to tackle the attacks of 2001
United 93's sensitive subject matter had made it difficult to forecast how it would fare in US cinemas.
Some audiences watching trailers for the film had expressed concern that it was too soon to release a drama about the events of 2001.
However, Nikki Rocco, the president of domestic theatrical distribution at Universal, said: "I think Americans have spoken loud and clear, that they were ready for a film like this."
She added the studio had not made any predictions about its box office performance because it "wasn't the first and foremost aspect of producing the film".

Actor Cruise on New York mission

Tom Cruise has traversed New York on a helicopter, fire truck, motorcycle and speedboat to promote his new movie, Mission: Impossible III.
The star attempted to build up buzz for his latest film by taking the unusual modes of transport to the city's premiere and two other screenings.
Followed by fans, photographers and camera crews, he also caught rides in a sports car and a subway train.
The latest adventure in his film series is released around the world this week.

Cruise took a New York fire truck through Times Square
In Manhattan, a fire truck gave the star a lift through Times Square to a local heliport, where a helicopter whisked him to a premiere.
Less than an hour later, he pulled up on a motorcycle to the first opening of the movie at the Tribeca Performing Arts Centre.
The film's publicists tried to keep his route secret to generate excitement among fans and paparazzi who hoped to catch a glimpse of him around the city.
Photographer Charles Sykes said: "It's been my own mission impossible trying to chase him down.
"I didn't get any information from the publicist or movie people. I had to get word of mouth."
One fan who did see him, 18-year-old Eleonora Bershadskaya, said: "I don't think anything is too much for him, but I might be really shallow. I love Tom Cruise."
Cruise has embarked on a global promotional tour for the blockbuster film - directed by Lost creator JJ Abrams - despite the birth of his baby daughter on 18 April.
The actor has visited Rome, Paris and London and is returning to Los Angeles on Thursday for the Hollywood premiere.
Mission: Impossible III also stars Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames and Billy Crudup.