Phoo Action

The BBC have officially announced Phoo Action, their TV series adaptation of Jamie Hewlett's Get the Freebies, a strip he did for Face magazine. One of the writers for the TV show is Jessica Hynes, nee Stevenson, so that's two film ick fan flags up already, while Peter Martin and Matthew Enriquez Wakeham are the other two members of the script team.

Quite incredibly, Carl Weathers has signed on to star as Police Chief Benjamin Benson. His daughter, Whitey Action is to be played by Jaime Winstone while Eddie Shin has been cast as Terry Phoo (that's them in the picture above). Filming started this week under Euros Lyn, director of several Dr. Who episodes - including The Girl in the Fireplace and The Runaway Bride.

In case you don't know the strip, this is going to be the kind of show in which zombies get dusted by some impossible kung fu moves while old school hip hop and dub reggae play and the online editor starts pressing as many buttons at once as they can.

As the two comics are translated to live action this may drift even closer to Scott Pilgrim territory. The movie version of Pilgrim is in the hands of Hynes' Spaced co-conspirator Edgar Wright and I can't help but fantasise about Simon Pegg feeling a little left out and cooking up his own undead chopsocky opera.

Do note that the Phoo Action MySpace page announces not only a TV series but a feature film too. Wishful thinking? Contractual small print? Or are the Beeb keeping the best bit of news back for now?

Direct Download Link For Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution Trailer

As a SWF file, here's a trailer for Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution with Catherine Tate, Dr. Who's companion in white.

Movie Minesweeper - The Automatic Out Of Office Response Edition

Is this a slow news week? You bet it is.

- Catherine Tate is to return to Dr. Who for the entirety of the fourth series, as his 'companion'. This appears to contradict everything about the Tom Ellis story, but I'm still told "he's not gone for good - we'll see him again". Maybe in Torchwood?

- New Line have hooked up with HBO to bankroll and release a Sex and the City movie. All of the other details are just as rumoured from the last year or two. As part of the deal, Kim Cattrall has been given a deal for a new series on HBO TV.

- Keith David will voice Dr. Facilier, the villain of Disney's The Princess and the Frog. I love Keith David, and I really love the song that Belle and Sebastian wrote for him.

- Just a couple of days after I mentioned A Dog's Breakfast again, it pops up in the news. MGM have quietly released it directly to iTunes and Unbox - and you can download it now. Will I be able to download it in the UK? Seems not... I'll have to wait for the September 18th DVD and import that. Either way, I'm a little disappointed this is bypassing cinemas, but very glad that, at last, we'll all be to able to enjoy it.

- The official Cloverfield site is online. Rubbish - but online.

- Michael Jai White is in The Dark Knight. I expect we'll also see him in the big fat Kill Bill coming out in November, though he was cut from the episodic version.

- The IESB have some video interviews with Werner Herzog and his Rescue Dawn boys.

- The Alvin and the Chipmunks poster hasn't been getting much love. I'm not exactly surprised, looking at the thing.

- Ratatouille producer Brad Lewis has confirmed that his involvement on another, as yet unannounced, Pixar project is underway.

- Fangoria have a couple of exclusive 30 Days of Night shots.

- The poster and trailer for Catacombs have both turned up. I see Pink is being credited by her real name.

The Sound Of Tom Tom Drums

According to tabloid type rumour mongers and couch-sitting TV gossips, Tom Ellis, who played Tom Milligan in the last two Dr. Who episodes, is set the be the Doctor's new assistant.

My Whovian chums back this up - and they were spot on about The Master, I think, so I guess they're spot on again.

Our Master

Spoilers ahead. Be warned.

AintItCool have linked to a piece at the BBC Press Office that reveals the mother of all Dr. Who spoilers. It looks as if The Master is to wind up at the end of this series' penultimate episode ruling the entire Earth. Time Lord warships? That's a turn up. What will they look like? One like a lamp post, one like a letter box, one like a whale, one like a vase of geraniums?

Movie Minesweeper - The Is It Shia LaBeouf Or Karen Allen Who Has A Crystal Skull? Edition

- No link for this one, but here's the news anyway: Be Kind Rewind won't be released in the US until April 4th next year. That's a long time to be waiting for a film that is, essentially, completely finished. But don't worry - Eternal Sunshine faced similar delays.

- Enter the Phoenix is to get a US remake. Producer Andrew Tennebaum is quoted as saying "This movie should be remade for a bigger, broader audience" - what, bigger than the Chinese speaking world? That's ambitious.

- Letters from Iwo Jima screenwriter Iris Yamashita has apparently pitched a project she describes as "Big Fish meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

- The official site for Criss Angel's Cement Block stunt is now live and will, apparently, be premiering clips from his upcoming 3 series of Mindfreak as well as, of course, hosting live webcam coverage of his upcoming trick.

- HorrorMovies dot CA have some new Resident Evil: Extinction pictures. Dusty.

- Inspector Rebus is retiring. I find it rather odd he hasn't be turned into a big screen character yet, despite the TV series.

- John Woo is expected to collaborate on a videogame with Deus Ex creator Warren Spector, and then turn the resulting title into a movie too. The game, Ninja Gold, is apparently based around the real-life involvement of Yakuza and Russian mafia in the theft of South African Gold.

- Daily Script have posted David Webb People's Sgt. Rock script draft from 1987. It is far, far better than it had any right to be - and it still got nixed. The subsequent drafts, by a number of other writers, have been considerably worse.

- The Silver Snail comic shop in Tornoto made a Muppet Show/Lord of the Rings hybrid window display, and have now posted some images online. Ham's Deep indeed.

- More Muppet/Movie crossovers (but no link this time, I'm afraid). Visitors to Disney theme parks will soon be able to buy Muppet Star Wars action figures - Piggy as Leia, Fozzie as Chewbacca, Beaker as C3-PO, Kermit as Luke and, best of all, Gonzo as Vader.

- The Guardian reveal the cynical machinations behind the Magicians soundtrack album.

- Expectations for Ratatouille's box-office are being managed carefully behind the scenes at Disney. Who cares how much money it takes? It's going to be tens, if not hundreds, of millions more than enough, so, really, end of conversation - right?

- Freema Agyeman doesn't appear to be leaving Dr.Who - but nobody is denying the stories that David Tennent is going to opt out of the series after five or six episodes in the 2008 run. Probably because he is. I wonder who will replace him?

- What's different in the Lego Star Wars compound edition? The word is out.

- Joan Cusack, Chris O'Donnell and Julia Ormond are the newest additions to the American Girl cast. Two of three 'aint bad. The full title is now, apparently Kitt Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery.

When The Doctor Met Gollum

The BBC have announced Einstein and Eddington, a film retelling the story of Einstein's discovery of relativity. The big brain himself is to be played by Andy Serkis while Dr. Who David Tennant has the other title role, Einstein's pen pal Eddington.

Other stars will include Jim Broadbent, Rebecca Hall and Jodhi May. I'd cast both Broadbent and Hall in We3, I think.

Here's a little something from the BBC Press Release:

This human story chronicles two men who, during the First World War, refused to accept narrow nationalistic boundaries and, against the odds, continued to strive for a greater truth.

Between them, they changed the world and proved one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century.

Opening in 1913, the then obscure German theorist Albert Einstein (Serkis) had spent years working on his General Theory of Relativity, a theory that threatened two centuries of Newtonian certainty and the foundations of British science.

British scientist Arthur Eddington (Tennant) was one of the most prominent astrophysicists and was Director of the Cambridge Observatory, a seat originally held by the father of British science, Sir Isaac Newton.

Eddington's wholehearted belief that "truth knows no boundaries" led him to start a correspondence with Einstein and to solely champion Einstein's theories at a time when the rest of the British scientific community and the public at large were rejecting anything German, due to their role in the war.

Eddington's expedition to Africa to photograph light bending round the sun during an eclipse lead to his proof that Einstein's theory is right, turning Einstein into a worldwide superstar in 1919. A star is born.

Einstein And Eddington is written by Peter Moffat (Hawking, Cambridge Spies), the producer is Mark Pybus and the director is Philip Martin (Hawking, Prime Suspect).

Moffat and Martin are reunited after working together on the award-winning Hawking, BBC Two's 2005 biopic of Stephen Hawking, who is considered the greatest mind in physics since Einstein.

Einstein And Eddington is currently filming on location in Cambridge, Croatia and Hungary and will transmit later this year on BBC Two.

Movie Minesweeper - The I've Just Eaten Some Mediocre Pasta Edition

- There's going to be a third season of Masters of Horror. I'm still waiting for season one of Masters of Comedy, Masters of Sci-Fi or Masters of Drama. Imagine that: Steven Soderbergh, Terry Gilliam, Joel and Ethan Coen, Ken Loach, David Mamet, Stephen Frears... directors like those given absolute carte blanche to create whichever 60 minute drama they wish.

- Nathaniel R is hosting video of the recent Hairspray-centric Oprah.

- MoviesOnline have the trailer for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but it's in the wrong aspect ratio. No thanks. But it is TV and it might change direction any number of times, and will go through a great deal of writers and directors so it may, perhaps, turn out to be something very strong.

- Mark at badlibrarianship has posted Popbitch's insider info on this season's Dr. Who finale. It goes slightly against the info I've been given, but those popbitches have an incredible track record so I'm fairly confident they're at least close.

- Variety are looking at Working Title's upcoming slate. Some new titles and a whole shedload we already knew about.

- Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit received a fifteen minute standing ovation at Cannes. It's described as "the story of an Egyptian police band that gets lost on its way to a music festival in Israel and end up stranded in a remote village."

- A great clip of James Randi arguing about Uri Geller has gone up on YouTube today. Shows Don Lane to be quite a sad character.

- Shannyn Sossamon. Stephen Rea, Christopher Lee and Vinnie Jones are appearing in the British crime thriller The Heavy.

- John Simm has signed up to play a prisoner in Michael Winterbottom's Seven Days. The film will take place over five years and that's the shooting schedule too - a few weeks per yer until 2012. Richard Linklater has been shooting his own drip-feed movie for some years now - in fact, he's not due to be done until 2013. That one is likely to be called Boyhood which works fine as the central subject matter is the growth and formative years of a young boy.

- What would The Simpsons look like if they were real people? This link is not for the faint hearted.

John Simm, Time Traveller - Again

I've had it spelled it to me by somebody who really understands Dr. Who that two different actors will play The Master in this series. I'm about to reveal all, so look away if you want to play at home.

Apparently, Derek Jacobi is playing a character called The Professor. He's actually The Master, and when he regenerates, he's going to be John Simm - apparently, the tabloids have already covered this bit and I'm rather late to the party. The Master is currently using the alias of Saxon on the show - and, I'm told this is because Mister Saxon is an anagram of Master No. Six - which, if Russell T Davies' maths is correct, is the amount of actors to have played the Master in canon, up to and including Jacobi's Professor, the originator of the Saxon pseudonym. There is reportedly a tradition of using anagrams whenever and wherever The Master is concerned. How 1960's Batman of them.

Some clips of Simm in the role have been screened to a select few - Johnathon Ross amongst them - and, apparently, he was absolutely fantastic.

Brothers In Time

Yes, Dr. Who tonight did feature the Doctor claiming he had a brother. Yes, it is a set up for something coming later in the season. Yes, that something is another Timelord. Yes, The series finale is called The Last of the Timelords, and yes it's Davies' reintroduction of The Master.

But, no, I'm not much fussed, personally. I respect Russell T Davies for what he's doing here, but it's hardly Buffy, is it? House remains the only scripted show on TV I will make a date for. Though I did really enjoy Love and Monsters in the last series of Who.