Julie Gardner, BBC Wales’ head of drama and executive producer of Doctor Who and Torchwood, has told icWales that tabloid rumours about difficulties on the set of the third series of Doctor Who are untrue.

However, Ms Gardner side-stepped questions about whether Russell T Davies, the man responsible for reinventing the franchise, was planning to leave the show and moving on to other projects. Last week ’show insiders’ dismissed both rumors as ‘idle speculation’, adding that the BBC had a long-term commitment to the Bafta-winning programme.

The third season of the new show will close this Saturday with the broadcast of the final episode, Last of the Time Lords.

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Posted in Doctor Who, Television •

A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone fetched £9,000 ($18,000) at auction on Tuesday reports the AP.

An anonymous buyer purchased the book in axcess of the Bonhams auctioneers estimate which predicted a value of between £5,000 ($10,000) and £10,000 ($20,000).

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Posted in Books & Comics, Harry Potter •

Daniel Radcliffe has told SCI FI Wire that his portrayal of the junior wizard in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will stay true to the dark vision in J.K. Rowling’s original book.

‘A lot of people had a problem with the fifth book because they didn’t like Harry’s anger in it,’ said Radcliffe. ‘They felt he was too angry. And J.K. Rowling did just say, ‘If you haven’t understood Harry’s anger in the fifth book, then you haven’t understood the four books previous to it.’ Because if you did, then you would see that he has a right to be this angry.’

‘In terms of Harry’s character’ the British thesp added, ‘it’s about sticking to your guns, and if you know something is the truth and you know that it’s right, then you can’t let yourself be compromised by other people and outside forces. And I think that’s what Harry and Dumbledore both do in this film.‘ 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens July 11th.

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Posted in Harry Potter, Movies •

Sophia Myles has been picked up the lead female role in the upcoming CBS vampire drama Moonlight says The Hollywood Reporter.

Moonlight, from Warner Brothers TV and Silver Pictures, centers on an undead private investigator played by Alex O’Laughlin who struggles with the repercussions of immortality, vampire adversaries and his love for a mortal.

Myles (Tristan & Isolde) will play his love interest, Beth Turner, a beautiful, ambitious Internet investigative reporter who is always on the hunt for the big story. Myles replaces Shannon Lucio, who played the part—then a TV reporter—in the pilot presentation.

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Posted in Movies •

Kill Bill executive producer E. Bennett Walsh has revealed details of a possible third and fourth film at the Shanghai International Film Festival reports the Hangzhou-based newspaper City Express.

The story, published on CRIENGLISH.com, claims that Walsh has said that the plots of Kill Bill 3 and 4 have been shaped and there is a chance director Quentin Tarantino will return to China to shoot them. Speaking at the Film Festival, Walsh claimed that the third film involves the revenge of two killers whose arms and eyes were hacked by Uma Thurman in the first stories. The fourth instalment concerns a cycle of reprisals and daughters who avenge their mother’s deaths.

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Posted in Movies •

Paramount has snapped up the movie rights to The Foundation, an upcoming comic book from Boom! Studios says the Hollywood Reporter.

Penned by John Rozum and illustrated by Kody Chamberlain, the five-issue miniseries uses the prophesies of Nostradamus as its setup. In the tale, Nostradamus’ books of foreshadowing made him a rich man, and he took his riches and created a foundation to prevent the prophesies from happening. The comic focuses on the secret team in the present day who uses the prophet’s published and unpublished works to predict threats to the world.

Boom founders Andrew Cosby and Ross Richie will serve as producers. Currently there is no writer attached to the project.

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Posted in Movies •

MTV has been speaking to Spider-Man helmer Sam Raimi and discussing his future involvement with the franchise.

‘Sony Pictures is going to be making many more Spider-Man pictures’ said Raimi ‘I just don’t know what [my] future holds yet. If I can’t find the right story that would work for me and that I could tell really well, I would like someone else to tell that story. It would be really hard for me to make a movie without Tobey and Kirsten playing the two leads.’

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Posted in Movies, Spider-Man •

Stephen St. Leger and James Mather will write and direct The Lost Squad! says the Hollywood Reporter.

The film will be based on a Devil’s Due comic written by Chris Kirby and drawn by Alan Robinson. The Lost Squad! are a unit of soldiers who are called in by the US military top brass during WWII to tackle missions deemed too weird for the army. As the seemingly unstoppable Wermarcht is on the march and Hitler’s scientists perfect a mechanism that could guarantee his ultimate victory, American turns to ‘the Dirty Dozen by way of the X-Files’.

Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter are producing with Devil’s Due Josh Blaylock co-producing.

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Posted in Movies •

Variety reports that Laurence Fishburne and A-Mark Entertainment have purchased the movie rights to Paulo Coelho’s adventure novel The Alchemist from Warner Bros (not to be confused with The Alchemyst, another feature in development).

Fishburne has written the screenplay for the feature and will also take directing duties. He’ll produce with Barrie Osborne (Lord of the Rings) and Helen Sugland. A-Mark co-chairmen Steve Markoff (Alpha Dog) and Bruce McNall will executive produce.

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Posted in Movies •