"ME BEFORE YOU" & "WALKING WITH DINOSAURS" FILMS! "BARBARELLA" TV SHOW! "THIRD PERSON" WITH ADRIEN BRODY, MILA KUNIS, LIAM NEESON, OLIVIA WILDE, JAMES FRANCO!

Star studded movie THIRD PERSON from Oscar winner Paul Haggis will hit cinemas this Fall. This structurally complex drama follows three couples living in Rome, Paris, and New York, with each pairing representing the beginning, the middle, and the end of a relationship. Adrien Brody and Moran Atias play the new couple who take a road trip through Italy. Liam Neeson and Kim Basinger portray the Paris couple, who are both writers. Mila Kunis and James Franco are playing the embattled New York couple. Olivia Wilde, Adrien Brody and Maria Bello are also in the cast. To prove that they don't only offer manly epic shows, Starz is preparing a ballet drama for the female audience.  According to "THR" the untitled entry revolves around a young female ballet dancer named Claire with a troubled past who joins a ballet company in New York. The project, which is described as dark and gritty, will explore the dysfunctional underbelly of the ballet world. Later this year Starz will air another female oriented show - historical series THE WHITE QUEEN!

HOLLYWOOD SPY HEADLINES

Yet, another film which is scheduled for release this year, later in December, but we haven't seen any pictures from it, is WALKING WITH DINOSAURS. Animated adventure from Fox will centre on two teenage brothers who want to follow in the footsteps of their father, as

they discover dinosaurs in the Arctic Circle. The film is being directed by Barry Cook the helmer of delightful ARTHUR CHRISTMAS and MULAN. 

In TV news (don't forget to tune in this Sunday for HOLLYWOOD SPY's extensive spotlight on all TV pilots for this year), SKYFALL writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are set to pen new TV series based on trashy sf film BARBARELLA! The story, which follows Barbarella a young woman who travels throughout space and has various adventures, often of a sexual nature, is supposed to be directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.

ME BEFORE YOU

The Hollywood Reporter reports that huge bestseller ME BEFORE YOU which has been sold in half million copies so far will be made into a movie at MGM. Jojo Moyes' unique and emotional love story follows

 Lou, a small-town girl caught between dead-end jobs, and Will, a high-profile, successful man who becomes wheelchair-bound following an accident. Will has decided his life is not worth living until Lou is hired for six months to be his new caretaker. Worlds apart and trapped together by circumstance, the two get off to a rocky start. But, Lou becomes determined to prove to Will that life is worth living, and as they embark on a series of adventures together, each finds their world changing in ways neither of them could begin to imagine. The book has already been sold for translation in over 30 countries!

NEW PICS OF HUGH JACKMAN AS "THE WOLVERINE" & HENRY CAVILL AS "MAN OF STEEL"! WW2 TRAILER FOR RUPERT GRINT'S "INTO THE WHITE"! "THE LADY WHO WENT TOO FAR" 18TH CENTURY EPIC! REESE WITHERSPOON IN "THE GOOD LIE"

In her effort to take a more serious direction in her career, Reese Witherspoon has landed yet another dramatic role: she will apparently star in THE GOOD LIE. Inspired by a real story, the film will centre on a young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the U.S. with three other lost boys. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with a brash American woman assigned to help them, but the young man struggles to adjust to his new life and his feelings of guilt about the brother he left behind. Meanwhile, "THR" writes that David Seidler, THE KING'S SPEECH scribe, has a new project: THE LADY WHO WENT TOO FAR will be a sweaping and adventurous period epic on Lady Hester Stanhope, who rejected London society in the early 1800s to travel across the Mediterranean and into the Middle East, where she played a major role in stifling Napoleon's advances toward India.

HOLLYWOOD SPY HEADLINES

Oooh, a bunch of delightful new photos from the upcoming blockbusters for you today, my people. First, check out the dashing picture of Hugh Jackman as all suited up Wolverine from

"GQ Magazine"! THE WOLVERINE will hit cinemas this July and will see him travelling to Japan to train with a samurai warrior. His origin story also stars Famke Janssen and Will Yun Lee. The second picture is from another superhero - Superman, with Henry Cavill posing as MAN OF STEEL for the cover of EMPIRE! That film is hitting cinemas this June directed by Zack Snyder and also starring Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Russel Crowe as Superman's father, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Clark Kent's adoptive parents, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White in the story about a child, sent to Earth from a dying planet,

which is then is adopted by a couple in rural Kansas. Posing as a journalist, he uses his extraordinary powers to protect his new home from an insidious evil! The $200 million film will delve into the psychology of Superman!

INTO THE WHITE TRAILER

And I have a trailer for you today for a Norwegian and Swedish World War 2 drama INTO THE WHITE. The historical thriller  tells the

 story of English and German pilots who shoot each other down, and later find themselves at the same cabin in the middle of some polar region swept with snow and blizzard. In order to survive the tough winter in the Norwegian wilderness they have to stand together. It's the start of a long and unlikely friendship. Beside HARRY PLOPPER's Rupert Grint who plays one of the British pilots, the cast also includes Florian Lukas, David Kross, Lachlan Nieboer and Sondre Larse. The film premiered last year in Norway but will open in Russia, Germany and USA later this spring and winter.

"CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON" GETS "SILVER VASE, IRON KNIGHT" SEQUEL! "ROBOTECH" LIVE ACTION MOVIE! UNUSUAL TRAILER FOR MICHEL GONDRY'S "MOON INDIGO" WITH AUDREY TAUTOU!

And after our Sunday spotlight on upcoming Asian epics, here are some more movie news from Asia: "Deadline" reported last week that one of the most famous Asian epics CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is getting a sequel! With the production scheduled to start this May, the film will be helmed by Ronny Yu which is a rather strange choice since he is known for gorry horrors such as BRIDE OF CHUCKY and FREDDY VS JASON, but he did direct Jet Li's FEARLESS too!  The story of the sequel will be based on SILVER VASE, IRON KNIGHT, the fifth book in Wang Du Lu's Crane Iron

pentalogy which revolves around the Yu Shu Lien character which was portrayed by Michelle Yeoh in the original movie directed by Ang Lee! And Asian anime ROBOTECH will also get a live action film adaptation since Warner Bros. has hired Nic Mathie to helm the project. As "THR" reports, the story is set in a future where humans have developed massive robots from a downed alien spacecraft on a South Pacific isle. Humanity is forced to battle waves of unrelenting invaders, while the fate of the planet has been put into the hands of two young pilots.

MOON INDIGO TRAILER

Are you up for something strange and unusual today? If yes, than I have the first trailer for bizarre French drama MOON INDIGO which will open up in French cinemas this April directed by Michel Gondry (can't say that I 

personally like his work since he directed THE GREEN HORNET and wrote ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND)! In a world where you can travel around on a pink cloud or literally be swept off an ice-skating rink into a hole, Colin (Romain Duris), a wealthy young man and inventor of the cocktail-mixing piano, wants to fall in love. With the help of his cook Nicolas and best friend Chick, he meets Chloe (Audrey Tautou), the incarnation of a Duke Ellington tune. But soon after their wedding, Chloe falls ill. She has a water lily growing in her chest. Ruined by medical expenses, Colin resorts to increasingly desperate methods to save his beloved's life!

KATE WINSLET IN SF SAGA "DIVERGENT"? STUNNING "UPSIDE DOWN" SF TRAILER WITH JIM STURGESS, KIRSTEN DUNST! EPIC TRAILER FOR "VIKINGS" SHOW WITH TRAVIS FIMMEL, CLIVE STANDEN, GABRIEL BYRNE!

 One of the best living actresses, British rose Kate Winslet is, according to "Variety", close to inking a deal to star in the movie adaptation of

 fantasy novel DIVERGENT. The movie version of Veronica Roth's dystopian saga already has young Shailene Woodley in the lead role of young Beatrice Prior who, somewhere in dystopian future Chicago, must make the choice facing every 16-year-old between one of the five factions that represent different virtues. The decision forces her to make the choice between remaining with her family and being true to herself. It is not known which role would Winslet take, but I've recently informed you that three handsome lads - Alex Pettyfer, Jeremy Irvine and Lucas Till - have all read for the lead male part. You can currently see Winslet next to Hugh Jackman and Gerard Butler in comedy MOVIE 43, and you will also see her in LABOR DAY before the end of the year. Her most delightful one of the 

future projects is Kenneth Branagh's THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY about a writer who forms an unexpected bond with the residents of Guernsey Island in the aftermath of World War II when she decides to write a book about their experiences during the war.

VIKINGS TRAILER

Two trailers for you today, people, first one being a new teaser for History Channel's first scripted series VIKINGS which will hit the small screens Sunday March 3rd! The exciting new historical show from 

legendary Michael Hirst, with a rather realistic look, will follow Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) while he rises to become King of the Viking tribes. Ragnar Lothbrok is an adventurous farmer who discovers a new navigation technique that will change everything. He

believes it will enable Norse ships to sail west safely to find out if the tales of a rich land called England are true. He becomes frustrated when his local chieftain, Earl Haraldson (Gabriel Byrne), forbids his raiders to go west because he wrongly believes nothing is there. Ragnar's 

conflict with the Earl fuels much of the early part of the series, which begins with Ragnar and his brother, Rollo (Clive Standen), finishing off a group of Saxon soldiers at the end of an epic battle. Joining Fimmel, Byrne and Standen are Gustaf Skarsgard as Floki, Ragnar's friend with whom he builds a new generation of boats, Katheryn

Winnick as Lagertha, a warrior woman and Ragnar's wife, Jessalyn Gilsig as Siggy, Earl Haraldson's duplicitous wife, and George Blagden as Athelstan, a young, innocent Christian monk captured by Ragnar on his first raid on England. If you visit HOLLYWOOD SPY's Facebook page, you can check out the opening sequence of the show too!

UPSIDE DOWN TRAILER

The second trailer is for long awaited science fiction movie UPSIDE DOWN which will finally hit the big screens March 15th! HOLLYWOOD SPY has been writing about this stunningly beautiful

 and extremely touching film for years now. Ever since Adam (Jim Sturgess) and Eden (Kirsten Dunst) fell in love as teens, their bond has faced astronomical odds. The pair are separated not just by social class and a political system bent on keeping them apart, but also by a freak planetary condition: they live on twinned worlds with gravities that pull in opposite directions — he on the poverty-stricken planet below, she on the wealthy, exploitative world above. Their budding but illicit romance screeches to a tragic halt when interplanetary-border patrol agents catch them and Eden suffers an apparently fatal fall. But when, ten years later,

Adam learns she is alive and working at a vast corporation whose towering headquarters connects their planets, he sets out on a dangerous quest to infiltrate the company and the upper world to reconnect with her. UPSIDE DOWN is a visually stunning romantic adventure that poses the question: what if love was stronger than gravity?

SPOTLIGHT ON 2013 ASIAN EPICS: "THE MONKEY KING" WITH DONNIE YEN, AARON KWOK, CHOW YUN FAT! STEPHEN CHOW'S "JOURNEY TO THE WEST"! SEXY KOREAN EPIC "THE CONCUBINE"

 As you know, from time to time I like to entertain you with lavish productions from Asia, and today we shall spotlight some of the upcoming oriental epics!

THE CONCU- BINE

First, there's a period film which was considered rather scandalous last summer over in its homeland of South Korea due to tones of explicit sex scenes... but of course, if you ask us, that is always a delightful plus in any movie :) THE CONCUBINE stars gorgeous Yeo-Jeong Jo as Hwa-yeon who, in order to escape a life of poverty, is forced to offer herself as one of the king's concubines. Once inside the royal palace, two men are immediately captivated by her. The Grand Prince Seong-won

(Dong-wook Kim), a powerful, lust filled megalomaniac and Kwon-yoo (Min-jun Kim), who has everything to lose if his desire for Hwa-yeon is exposed. The film hasn't been sold for US distribution yet, but you can find the whole movie over at YouTube with English subtitles.

THE MONKEY KING

Then, there is also the long awaited and long delayed $100 million fantasy epic THE MONKEY KING from Donnie Yen and Soi Cheang in which the story is based on the legendary Chinese novel

 “Journey To The West”. The plot of the film will follow the adventures of the Monkey King as he rebels against the Jade Emperor of Heaven. The first instalment of a planned fantasy trilogy revolves around Sun Wukong, (The Monkey King), a monkey born from a heavenly stone who acquires supernatural powers. After rebelling against heaven and being imprisoned under a mountain for 500 years, he later accompanies monk Xuanzang on a journey to India. According to the legends this is how Buddhism was

brought to ancient China. The first movie is the origins story - beginning with the birth of Sun Wukong and ending with his imprisonment for his crimes under the Five-Peaked Mountain. Along the way he acquires incredible powers. Ready to open up in Chinese cinemas this July, as one of summer's leading blockbusters, the enchanting fantasy adventure has a whole gallery of the most famous Chinese actors in the cast - Donnie Yen as the Monkey King, Aaron Kwok as Bull Demon King, Joe Chen Qiao-En, Chow Yun Fat as the Jade Emperor, Peter Ho, Faye Wong, Gigi Leung, Cecilia Cheung and Fan Siu-Wong! PS ignore the truly horrid narrator in the otherwise lovely and intriguing teaser below!

JOURNEY TO THE WEST

And as a proof that Hollywood studios aren't the only ones which often compete against eachother with rival projects on the same topic, China

 will see yet another movie this year based on the same legend about the Monkey King. JOURNEY TO THE WEST, directed by famous comedian Stephen Chow, will hit cinemas first, ready to premiere this spring after a long postproduction. Although the director claims he had a 500 member special effects team, as you can see from the teaser trailer, the visuals in this one are much weaker and looking incomparably cheaper to Soi Cheang's THE MONKEY KING. The cast is also filled with less known names unlike the ones in the rival project: the cast includes Shu Qi, Huang Bo, Wen Zhang and Show Lo.

RON HOWARD TO DIRECT CHRIS HEMSWORTH IN "IN THE HEART OF THE SEA" EPIC ADVENTURE! DAKOTA FANNING, KEVIN KLINE, SUSAN SARANDON IN "THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD"! NICOLE SCHERZINGER NEW VIDEO "BOOMERANG"! LENA HEADEY, ETHAN HAWKE IN SF "THE PURGE"! J.J. ABRAMS HELMS "STAR WARS 7"

 Now this is certainly a piece of news we like: according to "Vulture" Chris Hemsworth is about to take the lead role in a period epic IN THE HEART OF THE SEA. We've announced that it might happen earlier in the past, but the new info is that the film will be helmed by Ron Howard. Hemsworth will star in this 19th century set drama as the first mate on board the Essex, a doomed ship whose encounter with an angry sperm whale was the inspiration for famous novel Moby Dick. The ship went down in the middle of the South Pacific after being rammed by the whale, and its crew drifted for more than 90 days, ultimately forced to turn to drastic measures in order to survive. The story of the film will be based upon the novel by Nathaniel Philbrick. It is interesting that Chris Hunksworth has just finished another film with Ron Howard - RUSH, a biopic on Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda which also stars Olivia Wilde.

HOLLYWOOD SPY HEADLINES

It seems we shall have yet another biopic in cinemas soon. Beside GRACE OF MONACO, and the films about Julian Assange and Alfred

Hitchcock and many others, "Deadline" reports that we shall also see THE LAST OF ROBIN HOOD, a biopic on famous actor Errol Flynn. Kevin Kline will play Errol Flynn, while Dakota Fanning has boarded the project and will portray Beverly Aadland, the actor's teenage girlfriend in the last part of his life, with Susan Sarandon attached to star as Beverly's mother Florence Aadland. If you prefer sf horrors, THE PURGE is the one for you. Starring Lena Headey and Ethan Hawke the deeply weird movie will be set in the not-too-distant future, where a new political regime, called the New Founding Fathers of America, attempts to control an epidemic of violence and crime by imposing strict martial law, and by trying out a new experiment called The Purge, where three times a year, for 12 hours, murder is completely legal. Isn't it bone chillingly realistic having in mind American obsession with violence and aggression. And you've probably heard it already, but the biggest news this week is that STAR TREK's J.J. Abrams will direct STAR WARS EPISODE 7 for Disney! What do you say about that?

BOOMERANG VIDEO

And since it has been a very dry week in movie news, I shall spice up your Saturday with freshly released video for Nicole Scherzinger's new single

BOOMERANG. The owner of one of the best female vocals and an educated classic music singer is continuing her pop music career after hitting huge success in Europe last year with her hits "Right There", "Don't Hold Your Breath", "Wet" and "Poison". The new single BOOMERANG, produced by Will I Am, is the first one from her upcoming second solo album which will bring up-tempo sound. Nicole has become one of the most  popular stars in Europe after she crossed the ocean and took a seat in the jury of British UK X Factor where she won the hearts of audience with her warm and loving approach and witty charms which weren't allowed to shine over in the US XFactor. She also revealed recently that her boyfriend, Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton also loves music - he plays a guitar and is recording his own songs. 

And, people, don't forget to LIKE and visit our Facebook page often, since I often post exclusive material there, especially trailers and fresh pictures and posters that don't get to be posted here. This weekend for example I posted opening sequence for VIKINGS epic sereis, new posters for OZ GREAT AND POWERFUL and also first pictures from GAME OF THRONES season3!

POSTERS FOR KEANY REEVES ASIAN EPIC "47 RONIN"! CAM GIGANDET, JIM CARREY, ADAM SANDLER FOR "GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY"! SF EPIC "SELECTION" GETS NEW PILOT AT CW! "DAY OF THE FALCON" EPIC TRAILER WITH ANTONIO BANDERAS, MARK STRONG, FREIDA PINTO!

 I've mentioned recently that we have tones of big films coming out this year which have had zero marketing so far and we haven't seen anything from them even though only months separate us from their premiers. One of such is

 Keanu Reeves' Asian epic 47 RONIN. The long awaited adventure was first supposed to hit cinemas last year but was pushed further to December 2013. Now the posters which were meant to be used back last year have appeared around the internet but they will not be used when the new campaign starts later this summer. Starrng Keanu Reeves, Rinko Kikuchi, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Yorick van Wageningen, Kou Shibasaki and Togo Igawa, the 18th century set story centres on a band of samurai who set out to avenge the death of their master. The outcast Kai (Reeves) joins a group of Samurai, led by Kuranosuke Oishi (Sanada), who seek vengeance on Lord Kira (Asano), who killed their master and banished the group. The Samurai

ATTENTION! I had to take down the posters due to the request from NBCUniversal, but I think you can still find them at numerous other places around the web.

embark on a journey whose challenges would defeat most warriors! While the film is based on the true story of the forty-seven Ronin, it is a fantastical take, being set in a world of witches and giants. This is why it is described as a mix of LORD OF THE RINGS and GLADIATOR.

HOLLYWOOD SPY HEADLINES

And the casting games for Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY still continue. After Lee Pace, Eddie Redmayne, Zachary Levi,

Joseph Gordon Levitt, Michael Rosenbaum and Jim Sturgess, the latest names to audition for the lead role of the Star-lord, the leader of the Guardians, are Wes Bentley and Cam Gigandet. And apparently, according to "Latino Review" two comedians Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler are also wanted in, so far, unknown roles. In TV news, CW has again ordered a retooled pilot of THE SELECTION, a sf pilot which wasn't picked up for airing last year. I don't know if the new version will have the same cast, but it will be an epic romance set 300 years in the future, centring on a poor young woman (Aimee Teegarden played the part in last year's failed attempt) who is chosen by lottery to participate in a competition to become the next queen of a war-torn nation at a crossroads. CW is still deliberating whether to pick up AMAZON pilot which is telling Wonder Woman's origin story.

DAY OF THE FALCON

And a film HOLLYWOOD SPY has spotlighted two years ago is finally getting its US release: with the title changed from BLACK GOLD to DAY OF THE

 FALCON, the sweeping epic will hit cinemas in America March 1st. Directed by amazing Jean Jacques Annaud (ENEMY AT THE GATES, ) and starring Antonio Banderas, Mark Strong, Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed and Tahar Rahim, DAY OF THE FALCON is an epic film that tackles honor, greed, betrayal and love between rival kingdoms. Just as the two groups cease to fight after years of bloodshed, oil is discovered between their territories, reigniting their once violent past. It's now up to their children- young lovers who married in hopes of bringing the families together- to find a way to end the violence and to bring peace to the land. You can read more in HOLLYWOOD SPY's extensive spotlight on the film!

NEW TRAILER FOR "STOKER" WITH NICOLE KIDMAN, MATTHEW GOODE! "OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN" WITH GERARD BUTLER, AARON ECKHART, ASHLEY JUDD & "THE HEAT" WITH SANDRA BULLOCK, MELISSA MCCARTHY

 We shall have a trailer day today, people, with three new clips to show. The first one is a new clip for STOKER, an unusual horror drama written by Wentworth Miller, which is ready to start its cinematic life in March starring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Dermot Mulroney, Lucas Till and Alden Ehrenreich. After India's (Mia Wasikowska) father dies, her Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother (Nicole Kidman). She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him.The film is also the first English language project of Asian helmer Chan-wook Park.

DID YOU KNOW? 
You shall watch magnetic Matthew Goode this year in CROOKED HOUSE too with Gemma Arterton, Julie Andrews and Gabriel Byrne, in a story about an engaged woman who holds off on marriage until the identity of the person who poisoned her grandfather is found! Nicole Kidman will be seen in period film THE RAILWAY MAN next to Collin Firth and in BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP next to Mark Strong. 

THE HEAT 2ND TRAILER

The second trailer for you today is a red band one for new comedy THE HEAT which will open up in cinemas this April. Directed by Paul Feig, the film will see Sandra Bullock play Sarah Ashburn, an uptight

FBI agent who must forge an unlikely partnership with no-nonsense Boston cop Shannon Mullins, played by hilarious Melissa McCarthy, to take down a ruthless drug lord.

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

In one of favourite American pastimes - general paranoia and seeing terrorists everywhere but in their own mirrors - we shall have not one 

but two films this year in which the infamous White House is under attack. The first one to drop a trailer is action thriller OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN which will open in cinemas this March starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Dylan McDermott and Morgan Freeman and divine Ashley Judd.  The Scottish hunkster Butler plays a disgraced Presidential guard who becomes the country's last hope when the Commander in Chief is kidnapped by a "ruthless gang of terrorists". Later on this summer you will watch pretty much the same thing in WHITE HOUSE DOWN but with Channing Tatum in the lead role.

A POSTHUMOUS OSCAR FOR EIKO ISHIOKA'S COSTUME DESIGN IN "MIRROR MIRROR"? TONI COLLETTE'S NEW SHOW "HOSTAGES"! NEW "HELIX" SF SHOW! JESSICA DE GOUW JOINS JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS IN "DRACULA" SHOW

 It's been a very dry week in the movie news business, people, so I have to entertain you today with some TV news! First, NBC's upcoming epic

 show DRACULA which I announced earlier last year with Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the lead role, has also cast ARROW's Jessica De Gouw who will play Dracula's love interest Mina! The show will be set in the 1890s London, where Dracula acts as an American businessman whose true aim is to seek revenge on those who ruined his life. However, his plans are thwarted when he falls in love with Mina, who resembles his deceased wife. Mina, who is described as forward-thinking, clever and independent, is the only female studying medicine at London's University College. The show is being planned for this Autumn and will have up to ten episodes.

HOLLYWOOD SPY TV NEWS

In other television updates today,  one of the best living actresses, amazing Toni Collette, who recently stunned us with her diverse portrayal of multiple characters in THE UNITED STATES OF TARA show, will come back to TV as the lead star of Jerry Bruckheimer's new drama

HOSTAGES. The CBS show will see Collette as a successful surgeon who is thrust into the middle of a political conspiracy when her family is taken hostage, and her character is chosen to operate on the President of the United States. Meanwhile, "Deadline" reports that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Ron Moore is preparing a new sf show HELIX.  The thirteen episode show will air on SyFy and will tell the story of a team of scientists who must save the human race from annihilation following a disease outbreak at an Arctic research facility. Moore is busy these days, since he is also working on epic show OUTLANDER based on Diana Gabaldon's bestselling saga for Starz, and a television version of A KNIGHT'S TALE for ABC!

POSTHUMOUS OSCAR FOR EIKO ISHIOKA?

Now, as you might have noticed your HOLLYWOOD SPY didn't cover 2013 Academy Awards Nominations, since Oscars are usually going to the wrong hands if you ask me, but one thing this year truly did make me rejoice - the nomination of wonderful costume designer Eiko Ishioka for the costumes she made for Tarsem's delightful blockbuster MIRROR MIRROR which scored success last spring

 around the world bringing much needed warmth of fairy tales and imagination to cinemas. Sadly, if Eiko wins the Oscar next month it will be a posthumous one since the legendary costume designer died last year from cancer. So what do you think? Will the iconic designer, who last time won an Oscar back in 1992 for her outstanding work in BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, be honoured at the Oscars this year for the stunning work she did in MIRROR MIRROR?

If you watched the film you remember the mindblowingly colourful, superbly vivid, charmingly picturesque and utterly enchanting gowns and costumes that the cast wore in the fantasy tale. Her nomination has been celebrated over in her Japan. Stunning costumes she designed for 

MIRROR MIRROR included a number of richly embroidered golden gowns for Julia Robert's character of Evil Queen, and also her legendary white wedding gown covered with thousands of silk leaves which was 20kg heavy and also with about 100,000 Swarowski crystals which went into her costumes. There were also adorable headpieces and

dresses for Lily Collins and her Snowhite, including the famous floral gown and the sensational light blue gown with a golden bow that she wore at her wedding with the prince. And let us not forget all the stunning costumes wore by the dwarfs, the royal soldiers and the guests at the palace, all done with intricate filigree details.

As you remember from my coverage of Eiko's death, she is also known for her masterful and otherworldly imaginative costumes from other three Tarsem's films THE CELL, IMMORTALS and THE FALL, for her costumes made for many music videos and also for the costumes made for Beijing Olympics! Let us all pray that Eiko gets a posthumous Oscar for her final masterwork! She was undergoing chemotherapy

while working on more than 400 costumes for MIRROR MIRROR but didn't live to see its premiere in March last year, since she died in January. Below you can check out the lovely song from the film - I BELIEVE IN LOVE from Lily Collins and the video shows some of the marvellous costumes seen at the wedding!

EWAN MCGREGOR IS "OUR KIND OF TRAITOR"! JOHNNY DEPP IS "MORTIMER WINTERGREEN"! MICHAEL GAMBON & ALFRED MOLINA ARE GAY IN "LOVE IS STRANGE"! "THE END OF LOVE" TRAILER WITH AMANDA SEYFRIED, MARK WEBBER!

Will Johnny Depp leave his fantasy world and finally do something that doesn't involve him wearing tones of make up? Of course not, he is busy planning yet another movie from the fantasy genre: Jack Thorne, who is mostly known as the scribe of popular British show SKINS, has just been hired to pen Depp's new magician movie MORTIMER WINTERGREEN. Depp will produce and possibly also star in this film to be directed by NANNY MCPHEE helmer Susanna White. According to "The Hollywood Reporter" the project is loosely based on a 1987 novel written by Myron Levoy titled "The Magic Hat of Mortimer Wintergreen". Set in the 1890s, the book follows a brother and sister who run away from their mean aunt and cross paths with a travelling magician named Mortimer Wintergreen. The man possesses a magical hat with a mind of its own, and the three find themselves on a series of wild adventures.

HOLLYWOOD SPY HEADLINES

My, my, it was only recently that I informed you about Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi preparing a sitcom together in which they will play a grumpy gay couple who constantly fight with each other, and now we 

have another glorious gay match - according to  "Collider" Michael Gambon and Alfred Molina will play a married couple in LOVE IS STRANGE! The upcoming film follows Ben (Gambon) and George (Molina), a couple who marry at a City Hall wedding in Manhattan after 28 years of being together. Shortly after their honeymoon, the couple are faced with a financial issue when Ben is fired from his job as a choir director at a Catholic high school. The pair are forced to move in separately with other people - a nephew and his family in Brooklyn, and two gay cops next door. Meanwhile, our favourite Ewan McGregor has joined new spy movie OUR KIND OF TRAITOR based on a John Le Carre's novel which follows a British couple who find themselves caught up between the Russian Mafia and the British Secret Service after becoming mixed up with a mysterious Russian businessman.

THE END OF LOVE TRAILER

And here is a charming and heartwarming trailer for you today: the first clip for upcoming drama THE END OF LOVE which stars Amanda Seyfried, Shannyn Sossamon, Michael Cera, Aubrey Plaza, Mark Webber and Isaac Love. The story of this drama revolves around a young man who has lost his wife. The plot focuses on the relationship between the young father and his infant son after the death of the boy's mother. Mark Webber both directs and takes the lead role in the film.

"EMPEROR" TRAILER WITH TOMMY LEE JONES & MATTHEW FOX! "THE BEST OFFER" TRAILER WITH GEOFFREY RUSH, JIM STURGESS! TORNATORRE'S "LENINGRAD" WW2 EPIC! CHARLIE HUNNAM & EMMA STONE IN DEL TORO'S "CRIMSON PEAK" THRILLER

 Today you can check out a new trailer for Peter Webber's historical drama EMPEROR which should open up in theatres this March telling the story, inspired by true events, of the bold and secret moves that won the peace in the shadows of post-war Japan. Starring Academy Award- winner

 Tommy Lee Jones, Matthew Fox, and newcomer Eriko Hatsune, EMPEROR brings to life the American occupation of Japan in the perilous and unpredictable days just after Emperor Hirohito's World War II surrender. As General Douglas MacArthur (Jones) suddenly finds himself the de facto ruler of a foreign nation, he assigns an expert in Japanese culture - General Bonner Fellers (Fox), to covertly investigate the looming question hanging over the country: should the Japanese Emperor, worshipped by his people but accused of war crimes, be punished or saved? The film also has a love story between Fellers and a Japanese girl.

HOLLYWOOD SPY HEADLINES

 It also seems that Charlie Hunnam from SONS OF ANARCHY will again work with director Guillermo Del Toro! The two of them worked together on science fiction spectacle PACIFIC RIM which hits

  cinemas  later this summer, but now "Variety" reports that he could star in Del Toro's new thriller CRIMSON PEAK. Not much is know about the paranormal thriller except that it might also star Emma Stone. And the famous Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, for whose new film you can watch a trailer below, is planning a $100 million epic on WWII. Titled LENINGRAD (not to be confused with STALINGRAD I mentioned last week), and written by late Sergio Leone, it will depict the seige of Leningrad by the German army during World War II. The Russians suffered terrible losses but the Communists would not give up the birthplace of the Russian revolution. The film has been in preproduction for many years now and Tornatorre wants Nicole Kidman in one of the lead roles.

THE BEST OFFER TRAILER

And here's a trailer we've been waiting for a long time now:Italian movie THE BEST OFFER starring Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush and young Jim Sturgess. Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore the helmer of classics such as MALENA and CINEMA PARADISO, and also starring Donald Sutherland beside Geoffrey Rush and Jim Sturgess, the griping movie brings the tale of an eccentric art expert who is invited by a mysterious woman to assess a piece, and it's a journey that will change his life forever. The film, which is currently

 playing in Italian cinemas and should get its US release later this year, has a great honour of having legendary Ennio Morricone as the writer of the music.

BIG THANK YOU!

And also big thanks to the delightful cast of DA VINCI'S DEMONS - amazing Tom Riley, gorgeous Laura Haddock and utterly delightful

Elliot Cowan - who all sent us messages, tweets and retweets last night after reading our spotlight on their show! Such brilliant and kindhearted people they are!

HOLLYWOOD SPY EXCLUSIVE SPOTLIGHT ON NEW EPIC SHOW "DA VINCI'S DEMONS" WITH TOM RILEY, ELLIOT COWAN, BLAKE RITSON, LAURA HADDOCK! AMAZING NEW PICTURES AND TRAILER!

On our utter delight next few years will be years of epic shows on TV, as you can see in HOLLYWOOD SPY sidebar section with FEATURED

SHOWS, dozens of historical series are coming to the small screens. One of the first ones to air will be BBC's and Starz' DA VINCI'S DEMONS which will start its life on April 12th (Starz has smartly chosen the date of your Dezzy's birthday to launch the show LOL, they do love me that much) taking the Sunday spot from SPARTACUS WAR OF THE DAMNED when the Roman show finishes. Today we spotlight the story and the characters from DA VINCI'S DEMONS with a bunch of new pictures and a super exciting and beautiful new trailer below.

DA VINCI'S STORY

The show brings the story of the world's greatest genius during his raucous youth in Renaissance Florence. Brash and brilliant, young da

Vinci is an artist, inventor, swordsman, lover, dreamer and idealist. As a free thinker, with intellect and talents that are almost superhuman, he struggles to live within the confines of his own reality and time. He

begins to not only see the future, but invent it. In a world where thought and faith are controlled, one man fights to set knowledge free. Leonardo Da Vinci is tortured by a gift of superhuman genius. He finds himself in a conflict between truth and lies, religion and reason, past and future. His aspirations are used against him by the opposing forces of the time

– luring him into a game of seduction where those who despise his intellect need him most. His quest for knowledge nearly becomes his undoing. Da Vinci throws himself into his genius and emerges as an 

unstoppable force that lifts an entire era out of darkness and propels it into light. His story becomes a mirror into our own world, calling us all to join his fight to free the future.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Leonardo Da Vinci, played by seductive, warm and charismatic Tom Riley, is a genius, hungry for knowledge but frustrated that he has not found his true calling. Eventually he will become the most famous artist of all time, some say the most recognized figure after Jesus, but when we first meet him he is an outsider, a bastard who grew up as a peasant. While his genius is uplifting, it also has a destructive component – both to him and the world at large. As a bastard he yearns for legitimacy. He is haunted by the absence of his mother and the mystery surrounding her disappearance. Wounded by his father’s disdain, he looks for a surrogate father in both Verrocchio and the Turk.

Da Vinci is learned, but not yet wise. He will come to realize that personal sacrifice is often necessary for the greater good and will make sacrifices for both Florence and those he loves.

LUCREZIA DONATI

Played by mindblowingly gorgeous Laura Haddock (the fiance of young Sam Claflin who is also not a stranger to epic shows and films) Lucrezia is a wife, mistress and celebrated beauty of Florence. The fact that Lucrezia is Lorenzo’s mistress is an open secret in Florence and something easily accepted. Although her relationship to her upper‐class husband gives her some status, it’s really her role as “royal mistress” that cements her renown and influence. As a beautiful woman, Lucrezia is well aware of her seductive skills and doesn’t hesitate to employ them to her ends. Her motives remain obscure.

COUNT RIARIO

Publicly, Lord Girolamo Riario (played by talented Blake Ritson whom we've watched in a brilliant role of the king in WORLD WITHOUT END), Count and Captain-general of the Holy Roman Church, is known as Sixtus’ nephew. Only a select few are aware of his true lineage, and like Leonardo, he has a desire to cement his position and legitimacy in society. Although dedicated to the Holy See, he perceives Pope Sixtus to be guided by more worldly desires and selfish indulgences, while he himself is driven by a pure belief in the Divine. Nevertheless, Riario gladly leads the mission to destroy the Medicis, as he sees Florence as a prime example of the rapid deterioration of holy ideals in Europe. He is ruthless and unwavering — utilizing every resource at his disposal.

LORENZO MEDICI

Lorenzo (played by magnetic and deeply enchanting Elliot Cowan whom we've most recently seen in another epic show SINBAD and also in other epic projects such as THE GOLDEN COMPASS, HAMMER OF THE GODS, Oliver Stone's ALEXANDER ) is a reluctant leader. Despite his coarse appearance, he is a shrewd and sober man. His love of the arts makes him far more suited to be a poet than a prince, but he was forced at a young age to become head of the Medici Bank, and thus the de facto ruler of Florence. The Medici Bank is one of the most influential

institutions in Europe. But its  sovereignty is being challenged by competing banks. Lorenzo regards Rome and Pope Sixtus as necessary evils.

CLARICE ORSINI

Played by Lara Pulver, Clarice married Lorenzo by proxy when she was 16. The marriage was arranged by Lorenzo's mother, who wanted her eldest son to marry a woman from a noble family, in order to enhance the social status of the Medicis. Clarice was not initially popular in Florence because her strict religious personality was in deep contrast with the humanist ideals of the age. Of the nine children born to Clarice and Lorenzo, three died in infancy. At the time our series begins, none of the surviving children are male. Despite the initial circumstances of their

 marriage, Clarice quickly proves herself to be much more than a political pawn. Sharp, patient, and deeply committed to Lorenzo, she’s a valuable advisor to her husband.

You can also watch the second trailer, just released today, which is even more atmospheric, dynamic and exciting, with amazing music and the main motto - EVERYTHING YOU'VE NEVER IMAGINED! And don't forget our previous spotlight on the show too!