Crusades: In a recent interview with The San Bernardino County Sun, Ridley Scott spoke briefly about his Crusades project which has been looming:

"It's a movie I've been thinking about for 20 years. It's going to take place in the middle of the Crusades, around 1130, 1136, and feature Saladin, a Muslim, who was the wisest of all the knights, a trustworthy man of his word. He kept the peace around Jerusalem, which was held by Baldwin, a Christian who believed that any religion should be able to come to the city and pray. The two men had a connection of respect. I don't want the movie to be about knights in armor and chaps charging around with red crosses and waving swords and hacking off heads. It really should be a fundamental discussion between the two religions and not only that, but the actual misrepresentation of the Holy Roman Empire by the Catholic church, which was in those times seriously corrupt. When they got down there, the people the church regarded as infidels had a faith that was as strong, if not stronger than the fundamental rules of Christianity". What comes after that? "It will be "Gladiator 2,' probably in '05. The script is done. It's very simply the next generation. Roman history is so exotic that where you go next is taking the son, Lucius, somewhere". There's also some talk about the additions to the "Alien" re-release: "I added 4 1/2 minutes of unseen material. There's more stuff at the alien's nest; you see where the crew members disappear to and you see their demise more vividly spelled out. Mainly though, it's an opportunity to reconfigure the negative digitally and get the bloody thing looking like it should for new generations that haven't seen it properly, i.e. on the big screen".

Thanks to DH for the scoop!