Short Cuts

Matthew Vaung reveals future projects, Anthony Minghella announces his next film and 'Charlotte's Web' is to hit the big screen again.

Jan 20 2005

'Layer Cake' director Matthew Vaughn is in talks with writer John Hodge ('Trainspotting') to work on his big screen re-make of the classic 1960s TV series 'The Man From Uncle'. Vaughn has also optioned (to direct) Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel 'Stardust', the fantastic story of a magical half man/half fairy called Tristran Thorn.

Mark Rydell’s 'Jump Shot' starts filming in LA this week. The production, which stars Danny DeVito, Kim Basinger, Ray Liotta, Kelsey Grammer and Jay Mohr, focuses on the effects of gambling and drugs on everyday lives through a series of interlinked stories.

After his Indiana Jones-esque work in the upcoming 'Sahara', Matthew McConaughey has agreed to star in 'Failure to Launch', the story of a thirty-something singleton whose parents trick him into meeting the love of his life in an effort to get him to finally leave home. Tom 'Shanghai Noon' Dey directs.

The live action/CG adaptation of children's classic 'Charlotte's Web' goes into production in Melbourne later this year, and the impressive vocal talents onboard include Julia Roberts (Charlotte the Spider), John Cleese (Samuel the Sheep) and Steve Buscemi (Templeton the Rat). Other stars lending their dulcet tones to the film include Oprah Winfrey, Cedric the Entertainer, Reba McEntire, Kathy Bates and Thomas Hayden Church, while Dakota Fanning stars as pig pal Fern.

Anthony Minghella will direct his own screenplay for the first time since his 1991 debut 'Truly, Madly, Deeply'. The film, to be called 'Breaking and Entering', will be set in London's King's Cross and starts production in April.