Last April the story of the women's institute members who posed naked behind strategically placed sieves and arranged flowers for a fund-raising calendar caused a flurry of media interest and money for Leukaemia research.
The tale of Rylstone and District Women's Institute's alternative glamour calendar shot across the Atlantic, and nine months later, the New York Times ran an article on the pin-ups. Now it seems that their story has caught the eye of several leading American film companies.
Disney, Telstar and Buena Vista and Julia Roberts' agent have all approached the women, keen to make a film of their story. But the women, as one might expect from the WI, are being straightforward about the whole business.
Says WI member Tricia Stewart, "We've been contacted by Hollywood and it's funny because they're so pushy. But we'd want [a film] done over here. Maureen Lipman invited us down to Women of the Year last year and was so lovely to us that we'd love her to be involved."
Probably not quite what Hollywood has in mind.
Fury over BBFC's End of the Affair ruling
Stephen Woolley, producer of Neil Jordan's The End of the Affair, has hit out at the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for giving the film an 18 certificate.
Woolley is furious that the adaptation of Graham Greene's novel, which stars Ralph Fiennes as a novelist who has an affair with a married woman (Julianne Moore) has been given such a prohibitive rating. In an interview with the Independent, Woolley said that whilst he never expected a large teenage audience, the 18 certificate would now make the film appear "ugly" to an adult audience. "Any parent with a 16-year-old would love them to see The End of the Affair", he said. "Now, many parents will be put off seeing the film themselves".
Woolley believes the BBFC's decision was based on two scenes: one where "Ralph's bottom was pumping too many times" and another where Fiennes and Moore are seen outstretched on a bed. The ruling comes as a surprise to those who thought the BBFC was adopting a more liberal approach to film censorship, but according to Robin Duval, the BBFC's director, the new guidelines will not come into force until later this year and until then the BBFC is bound by its current ruling which restricts simulated sex scenes to the 18 certificate.
Brosnan's seventh 007 in 007?
Pierce Brosnan wants to equal Roger Moore's record and star in seven Bond films.
Empire Online reveal that the 007 star is in negotiations to appear in four more Bond films, bringing his total to seven. His stunt double Douglas James explains: "He wants to do seven films in all, equalling Roger's record and - if you count Never Say Never Again - matching Sean's total. But his record will be the best - his seventh film will be released in 2007, making it 007 in 007".
Keen to go head to head with Brosnan in one of those films is Eastenders star and former Spandau Ballet singer Martin Kemp. The actor, who made his screen debut as Reggie Kray in The Krays and recently told The Sun that none of Bond's previous villains were as handsome as him, but "that's all about to change", is in preliminary talks with production company EON to play the lead baddie.
Whether Bond will be made in England is another matter: the German city of Cologne has pledged free use of the city to EON and a good rate at their new movie studio complex.
Tim Burton joins the Shockwave set
Tim Burton has signed a deal with Shockwave.com to develop original animation for the web.
The director of Sleepy Hollow will create 26 episodes of a new series based on Stain Boy, a character from his 1997 cartoon book, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. The slightly dubious hero who, according to a poem Burton wrote for the book, "can't fly around tall buildings, or outrun a speeding train, the only talent he seems to have is to leave a nasty stain," will make his debut in the spring.
Burton will join South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone who recently announced that they would develop thirty-nine two and five-minute animated short programs for Shockwave.com. Their efforts will be online in March.
News in brief
The Australian censors have lifted their ban on Catherine Breillat's film, Romance. The Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) said it did not believe that the film's scenes of real sex offended standards generally accepted by reasonable adults and has given the film an 18 certificate.
Girlfight, a film about a woman determined to become a champion boxer, and You Can Count on Me, a drama about a brother and sister who struggle to maintain a sense of family after their parents are killed in a car crash, have split the grand jury prize for best dramatic film at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Film director Pedro Almodovar has won seven of the Spanish Film Academy's Goya prizes, including the Best Director prize, for All About My Mother. Almodovar, who is in line to win an Oscar for the film, dedicated the award to his mother who died earlier this year.
Gwyneth Paltrow, who provoked worldwide ridicule last year when she broke down in tears after winning an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, is to present an award at this year's Oscar ceremony.
Casting couch
• Marlon Brando is in talks to join Edward Norton and Robert De Niro in The Score, the Frank Oz film about a young thief (Norton) who persuades a master thief (De Niro) to pull off one last heist. If he agrees - and the producers can stump up his enormous fee - Brando will play De Niro's fence. Filming is scheduled to start in April in Montreal.
