Kill Bill: A few stories back we ran snippet claiming that internet rumors had spawned that Quentin Taratino's next flick, Kill Bill, was in fact so long that it was going to be split into two different movies. Well, it seems that the rumor is untrue and official sources have set the record straight at both Ain't It Cool and CHUD.

Baker Street Irregulars:AICN has landed some interesting info on an upcoming Sherlock Holmes project:

I was eating about 4 seats down from Malcolm McDowell and overheard him talking to some of the dancers from the movie. They asked what he had lined up and his response was, "I just signed to do a film where I play Sherlock Holmes against Christopher Lee as Moriarty." My ears perked up and I think I popped instant wood when I heard him say that.  

Unfortunately, I had no film title to work with and have been on the lookout for more information on this project ever since. Today, in dreary, rainy LA I found out more. The film is called BAKER STREET IRREGULARS. It's a dramatization of the kids that were the secret army of Sherlock Holmes. The film will be shot on location in Bucharest. Towers of London Group is producing.

Check out Quint's full article over at AICN. CLICK HERE

Goonies 2: A reader over at Ain't It Cool has told of his own meeting with Sean Astin at the Texas Film Festival, where he talked more in depth about the sequel to Goonies:

Regarding a sequel to THE GOONIES, Sean indeed said that he's got a complete story all worked out in his head, and was visibly enthused by it. At last year's Golden Globes he mentioned this to Spielberg (who seems intent on producing it), but was told that a script was already in the works and nearing completion (though I don't know the writer). Since then, though, Sean hasn't heard anything else about the project's status.

However, Sean did express very strong interest in directing the GOONIES sequel himself (!) -- but only if Richard Donner declined to direct. (Having seen Sean's excellent work on a recent episode of ANGEL ["Soulless"], I'd be very interested to see him do this.)

The Matrix Reloaded:Sci Fi Wire recently spoke with Hugo Weaving about the many tasks of Agent Smith, his upcoming role in The Matrix sequels:

"We achieved the multi Smiths in a number of different ways," Weaving said in an interview. "Sometimes I would move into a room, say, and do it 10 times and end up in 10 slightly different positions. And then there would be 10 of me."

"Then there are other scenes where there are stunt doubles or doubles of me, men the same height as me, and there would be face replacements done afterwards. And then there would be completely CG Smiths in other scenes, and then also sometimes there were dummies. There were just stationary dummies."

In addition to the new duplication ability, Weaving said there will be another big change in his character. Smith has broken away from the Matrix and is now a free agent within the system. "He's basically working for himself," Weaving said. "But he has the same goal and the same purpose and focus, which is to destroy Neo."

The Last Samurai: Timothy Spall recently spoke with The New Zealand Herald about many thing, including his upcoming role in the Tom Cruise starrer, The Last Samurai:

The film tells the story of an American Civil War veteran, Captain Woodrow Algren (played by Cruise), who travels to Japan in the 1870s to train modern troops for then emperor Meiji. The new army was used to break up the samurai, the warriors who traditionally protected the emperor and Japan.

"I play Simon Graham," says Taylor. "He's an Englishman who's lived in Japan for like 20 years. My character becomes Tom Cruise's translator.

"My character not only speaks fluent Japanese - which is a bit of task because I don't speak any at all, I'm learning the lines phonetically - but he's also a photographer trying to record the old Japan before it disappears.

"He's sort of a minor aristocrat, sort of a third son of a minor baronet somewhere. He's what you would call a remittance man who's found himself in a place that he adores, incongruously in another culture entirely.{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}"And he's a very eccentric character, my character."