God help anyone foolish enough to get on the wrong side of Clint Eastwood. Many saw his recent pop at Michael Moore - "If you ever show up at my front door with a camera, I'll kill you" - as a gag, but the suits at Warner Brothers can be in no doubt that Clint has crossed them off his Christmas card list.
Following rumours that Eastwood was appalled at the studio's lack of enthusiasm for both Million Dollar Baby and the equally award-friendly Mystic River, it has been announced that, for the first time in 30 years, he will direct a film for another company. Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers, a treatment of the lives of the soldiers who erected the flag on Iwo Jima, will begin shooting this summer for DreamWorks. Steven Spielberg, one of the flick's producers, is already clearing a space in his trophy cabinet.
Gaybraham Lincoln
Liam Neeson, currently receiving rave notices for his performance in Kinsey, has a very big forehead and is thus ideally suited for playing either a Klingon or Abraham Lincoln. It transpires that Steven Spielberg is courting Neeson to star as honest Abe in a film based on an as-yet-unpublished biography by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Meanwhile, another recent book, The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln by C. A. Tripp, has suggested that Lincoln may have been involved in gay love romps with two of his aides. Spielberg, who has remained tight-lipped on this detail, may, noting the underwhelming performance of Alexander in the Red States, very well decide to keep Lincoln's hands off the fellows. Then again, as Alexander director Oliver Stone has demonstrated, homophobia can always be used as a convenient excuse for poor box-office returns.
Head and shoulders
Sources close to Reel News (yeah, right) report that, following the most geopolitically significant break-up since that between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Jennifer Aniston, former squeeze of Brad Pitt, has temporarily moved in with hairstylist Chris McMillan, the genius behind "The Rachel". It has further emerged that the golden couple - in, by Hollywood standards, a gesture of touching confidence - failed to draw up a pre-nuptial agreement. Hearing this, Angelina Jolie has rather half-heartedly sought to quash rumours that either party is seeking custody of her big lips. "I've been painted as the Wicked Witch of the West and a marriage wrecker. But all I've ever been to Brad is a shoulder to cry on," the Wicked Witch of the West said. Don't pretend you don't care, readers.
Swanky affair
The Golden Globe Awards, which is to next month's Oscars as the Stella Artois Tournament is to Wimbledon, offered few shocks last Sunday. Million Dollar Baby's Hilary Swank, having seen off the formidable challenge of Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake, is now looking a strong challenger for glory in February. The victorious supporting players from Closer - Natalie Portman and Clive Owen - are fighting a rearguard action for a film which received decidedly mixed reviews. Meanwhile, by giving a best dramatic film paperweight to The Aviator, the night's biggest winner, while awarding Clint Eastwood the best director Globe for Baby, the judges only managed to spread doubt and confusion. Reel News was, however, surprised and delighted to see William Shatner receive a best actor gong for his performance in some TV show or other. Justice at last, Bill.
Another gong show
In further golden envelope news, the nominations for the BAFTAs - the would-be British Oscars - were announced last Monday. Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers and Michael Mann's Collateral were featured more prominently than expected, and Kate Winslet found herself shortlisted for both Finding Neverland and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Irish interest is provided by playwright Martin McDonagh, whose short film Six Shooter, the first collaboration between The Irish Film Board and the experimental Film Four Lab, was nominated for a Best Short Film BAFTA. Expect Vera Drake to win a bundle.
