Pierce Brosnan has confirmed his intention to take a break from big screen espionage and his role as Britain's most famous secret agent (see News, July 19, 1999).
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly Online, the 46-year-old actor however knew better than to say never again, and is keeping his options open. "I don't think my investigation of the role is over yet," he says. "I love playing James Bond and for me it's just gotten sweeter and better. And it certainly turned my life around."
Brosnan might have one more Bond flick in him, he but doesn't want to overstay his welcome. "Whether I do a fourth or a fifth or a sixth Bond movie, I would suspect there would be somebody else after me," he says. For now, Brosnan plans to have a think about continuing the Bond saga. "At the end of the year," he says, "I'm planning to sit back and take stock of things."
Whitney Houston in princess project
More than a year after her success as the fairy godmother in ABC television's version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, diva Whitney Houston is returning to royalty. Disney has paid mid- to low-six figures to option novelist Meg Cabot's book The Princess Diaries for the singer's production company, Brownhouse Productions, to develop into a family movie.
The film is on the fast track at the Magic Kingdom, with the manuscript already in the hands of screenwriters.
The book tells the tale of feisty and rebellious 16-year-old Mia, who discovers much to her dismay that she is in fact the princess of a small European country. As a result, Mia must suffer the indignity of "princess lessons" at the hands of her stern grandmother.
Death of a hunk
Legendary Hollywood actor of the 40s and 50s Victor Mature has died at the age of 86. A cousin, Julia Mature of Louisville, Kentucky, said the actor died last Wednesday at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, near San Diego, California, after a three-year battle with cancer.
Tall, dark and with a physique of a body builder, Mature was adored by legions of female fans and was one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the postwar era. Studio publicity machines labelled him a "beautiful hunk of a man," or simply, the "hunk." Although best known for roles in biblical melodramas such as Samson Delilah and The Robe, Mature played a wide variety of roles from Doc Holliday in John Ford's My Darling Clementine to the famed Indian warrior in Chief Crazy Horse.
Critics dismissed his acting as wooden, and it was true his acting range was limited. Mature, himself, often said he was a better golfer than actor and was not playing parodies of himself. Nevertheless, he gave some memorable performances, and won praise for his work in the Betty Grable 1941 thriller I Wake Up Screaming, and for Nick Bianco in the 1947 film noir Kiss of Death with Richard Widmark as a giggling psychopath on his trail.
Willis's sensitive turn wins top box-office spot
The Sixth Sense, an afterlife drama, took the US box office honours over the weekend. Its gross of $25.8 million makes it the highest August opening ever.
Forsaking his usual tough guy roles, Willis plays a child psychologist who helps a troubled young boy deal with his ability to see dead people. The movie's unexpected ending apparently more than makes up for its slow passages.
Blair Witch Project, the shoestring fake documentary, remains in second place, having made $80.2 million. It looks set to make at least $125 million, which would seal its status as an Indie phenomenon. Last weekend's champion, Runaway Bride the romantic comedy which reunites Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, slipped to No 3.
The remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, opened at No 4 with $14.6 million, and Renny Harlin's shark thriller, Deep Blue Sea, fell two places to fifth place.
Casting couch
Matthew McConaughey, who just finished work alongside Harvey Keitel on U-571, a second world war submarine drama, is to make another war picture. The project - to be called either Raven Mocker or Red Eagle - casts McConaughey as a Creek Indian Chief, who in 1812 led the Creek nation into battle against Andrew Jackson's troops.
Bridget Fonda is in talks to star in the independent feature Delivering Milo for director Nick Castle. Albert Finney is also negotiating to star in the $5-$10 million budgeted Milo, described as a Frank Capra-style comedy about a young boy in heaven waiting to be born. After the boy refuses an earthly existence, an angel shows the heavenly lad the value of life. The project is the first from the two-year-old IMMI Pictures.