News

Members of the South Carolina State House are considering a bill that would make a woman who has an abortion in the state eligible for the death penalty.

The “South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023” would amend the state’s code of laws, redefining “person” to include a fertilized egg at the point of conception, affording that zygote “equal protection under the homicide laws of the state” — up to and including the ultimate punishment: death.

The bill was authored by Rep. Rob Harris, a registered nurse and member of...

Gina Torres has spoken to Digital Spy about her role in NBC's new drama Hannibal. The upcoming series - loosely based on Robert Harris novel Red Dragon - stars Mads Mikkelsen as cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy as his FBI nemesis Will Graham.

[Left: Gina Torres in 'Suits', Right: Mads Mikkelsen in 'Hannibal'] Torres joined the show in October as the wife of Graham's FBI colleague Jack Crawford, played by her real-life husband Laurence Fishburne. "I've read the scripts, I've seen the first episode and... it is chilling," the actress told Digital Spy. "NBC is really doing something beautiful and smart, and they're pushing those boundaries. "It is scary, it is creepy, it is heartening... and this cast that they've assembled - Hugh Dancy, (more)...

NBC's Jennifer Salke has insisted that a forthcoming Hannibal Lecter TV series will not be "gratuitous". The network's President of Entertainment discussed the horror drama - based on Robert Harris novel Red Dragon - at this year's TCA press tour, Collider reports. "It's very unique," Salke claimed. "It's not a shoot 'em up show. It's really difficult to explain because it's incredibly unique. But it's not gratuitous, in the way you might be thinking." Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller is the showrunner on Hannibal, which will star Mads Mikkelsen as the title character and Hugh Dancy as his FBI nemesis Will Graham. "With Bryan Fuller's imagination and the production value that he's brought to a procedural show, which obviously has ongoing (more)...

Mads Mikkelsen has spoken about taking on the iconic role of Hannibal Lecter in a new NBC drama. Hannibal - from Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller - is loosely based on Robert Harris novel Red Dragon. Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) told Entertainment Weekly that the 2013 series is "quite bloody" with "a lot of gruesomeness". "Hannibal is a thriller," he said. "It's something you can [only] get away with in American television, and quite bloody. There's a lot of gruesomeness in this one, but it's a big, big mind game. We've only shot six or seven episodes now." The Danish actor added that he has tried to find sympathetic (more)...

Lara Jean Chorostecki has joined NBC's new drama Hannibal. The upcoming series - based on Robert Harris novel Red Dragon - stars Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) as cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy (Black Hawk Down) as his nemesis, FBI agent Will Graham. Camelot actress Chorostecki will play Freddie Lounds, a sleazy tabloid reporter, according to TVLine. The character - a male in Harris's original novel - was previously played by Stephen Lang in 1986 adaptation Manhunter and by Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2002 film Red Dragon. Chorostecki will next be seen in BBC America's original (more)...

Caroline Dhavernas has joined the cast of NBC's Hannibal. The forthcoming drama - based on the Robert Harris novel Red Dragon - will chart the early days of the relationship between FBI agent Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and serial killer Hannibal Lecter. Off the Map actress Dhavernas will play Dr Alana 'Al' Bloom, a protege of Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen), TVLine reports. A psychology teacher at Georgetown University, Bloom introduces Lecter to the FBI's Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne). 34-year-old Dhavernas previously starred in short-lived Fox series (more)...

It was announced today that The Indomina Group, the fast-growing U.S. and Dominican Republic based producer and distributor of film, TV and trans-media content, and leading proponent of 'fanboy' cinema is resurrecting the popular Cabin Fever franchise and will produce and distribute at least two more feature films. The announcement was made by Indomina Group Vice Chairman and CEO .

The Indomina Group has optioned the rights for two new Cabin Fever installments, which will be Cabin Fever: Patient Zero and Cabin Fever: Outbreak. The films will be shot back to back in the Dominican Republic in early Spring of 2012.

Jake Wade Wall (The Hitcher, When a Stranger Calls) has signed on to pen the screenplay for Cabin Fever: Patient Zero. When a cruise ship in the Caribbean collides with an abandoned research vessel, a deadly virus is unleashed. Passengers must find a way to survive before...

Rarely do novels enter the marketplace with movie-adaptation deal already in place. I recall Thomas Harris. Hannibal Rising inking a tentative film deal before the author had wrapped the manuscript, Nicholas Sparks wrote The Last Song as a book with Miley Cyrus already set for the movie, and Dan Brown no doubt keeps Sony on a special hotline whenever he has a fresh idea for a Robert Langdon mystery. Now we can add Robert Harris.s name to the illustrious list of authors who move automatically to movie deals. The rights to the author.s as-yet-unpublished The Fear Index have been sold to Fox 2000 and Chernin Entertainment, Deadline reports. Paul Greengrass was rumored to be interested in the story of a scientist who cracks the secret to succeeding at the stock market, only to get blackmailed by a mysterious antagonist; though Harris and the Bourne director have history, the filmmaker...

It's that time of the year when there will be one film awards ceremony and/or critical poll after another, and we've got the results of three to kick off this week. The European Film Awards took place in Estonia over the weekend, and Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer scored six awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor, the latter for Ewan McGregor. Meanwhile, at the British Independent Film Awards, The King's Speech took best picture, while Monsters director Gareth Edwards scored Best Director.  And the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association honored The Social Network, Inception and The Fighter. All the lists are after the break. We'll kick off with the DC critics, because it's the shortest list. It's also a very safe list, with very little consideration for films outside the expected list of studio and studio-indie awards choices. (Also nominated: 127 Hours, Black Swan, True Grit...

Ridley Scott has signed on for a four-hour TV miniseries, according to The Guardian. The American Gangster director and his production company Scott Free will produce Pompeii, a project based on the historical novel by Robert Harris. The miniseries, which was originally slated as a feature film to be directed by Roman Polanski, is set in the last days of Pompeii before Mount Vesuvius erupts in 79 Ad. Scott Free said in a (more)...

Gladiator director to produce TV version of novel Pompeii

Robert Harris's epic, bestselling story of the destruction of Pompeii is to be turned into a four-hour television mini-series by Gladiator director Ridley Scott.

Harris's novel, Pompeii, is set in the final few days before Vesuvius erupts in 79Ad. It follows the story of Marcus Attilius, a young engineer sent to repair the Aqua Augusta aqueduct, which brings water to the cities on the Bay of Naples. The author depicts Marcus and his new love Corelia's struggle to survive the eruption of the volcano and Pompeii's destruction. "The further he went the more clogged the road became, and the more pitiful the state of the fleeing population. Most were coated in a thick grey dust, their hair frosted," he writes.

Scott, who will produce the mini-series, described the book as "a strong and compelling character drama set against a backdrop...

Veteran Martin Scorsese and newcomer Banksy add a much-needed gloss to the lacklustre Berlinale

Wet-weather thrillers and American neurosis comedies typified much of what was a surprisingly modest 60th Berlinale programme, and both categories had their superstar pairing. The great directors Scorsese and Polanski, one present, one absent, each with a film adapted from a novel set on an island that might have attracted Hitchcock, dominated the opening few days. And the week that followed peaked with Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, one present, one absent, brilliantly playing a cranky, middle-aged lesbian couple in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right.

Torrential rain drenches both Roman Polanski's The Ghost and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, but while the former is in the lighter Hitchcock mode of North by Northwest, the latter requires an effort of focus and belief worthy of Vertigo. The Ghost is Robert Harris's tale...

The Ghost might not be a film that you’ve heard of and until today I was with you. In the Us, the movie is called The Ghost Writer and that’s what we’ve been calling it too until today. The Ghost is directed by Roman Polanski, stars Ewan McGregor, Pierece Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams and is based on the book by Robert Harris.

We’ve just been sent this new poster and international trailer which you can click to enlarge or scroll down to view. The Ghost is released 16th April.

Based on Robert Harris’ acclaimed novel, The Ghost is the story of a ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor, Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge) hired to take over writing the memoirs of one former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan, James Bond, The Thomas Crown Affair), after the ex-Prime Minister’s first co-writer dies in an accident. Soon after the Ghost accepts the assignment,...

The 60th Berlin film festival opens today with the first ever screening of Maoist epic Apart Together, but most eyes are already focused on towards tomorrow evening's premiere of Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer

China took centre stage at the 60th Berlin film festival this morning, as the event opened with the world premiere of Apart Together, a Maoist epic about a group of ex-soldiers from the National People's party. The film is directed by Wang Quan'an, a previous winner of Berlin's Golden Bear award for his 2007 drama Tuya's Marriage.

Tomorrow, however, sees the grand unveiling of Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer, a political saga that stars Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan. Based on the book by Robert Harris, the tale concerns a disgraced former British prime minister and has been read as a thinly veiled attack on Tony Blair. Polanski, still under house arrest at a chalet in Switzerland,...

A few days ago Todd posted an article called "Have Your Say" about who should direct the new Dune movie, and it was so successful that we might make this a regular column in which readers can comment on various current topics.

So here is another recent item in the news we'd like discussed. As a director Roman Polanski is of course much lauded, and next month his new film "The Ghostwriter" (scripted by Robert Harris after his own novel "The Ghost") will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

But of course that film is not what he is currently in the news for. Polanski is finally facing trial in a case which has been following him ever since the late seventies: the accusation that he drugged and raped a 13-year old girl.

At first sight the question in the title shouldn't even be a question: if guilty, Roman Polanski...

As we reported earlier, Roman Polanski was arrested this past weekend in Switzerland, 31 years after pleading guilty to having sexual relations with an underage girl and subsequently leaving the United States. His arrest means that his latest film, “The Ghost” has been left unfinished. Starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor, the movie centers on the fictional former British politician Adam Lang (Brosnan) as he writes his memoirs with the help of McGregor’s character. Based on the Robert Harris novel, “The Ghost” also stars Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Olivia Williams and James Belushi. Hit the jump to find out more about the film and whether or not it can make it into theaters.

With a controversial main character heavily based on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, “The Ghost” had already secured distribution deals with a number of international territories, including Germany, where it was shot, and France, where Polanski currently resides.

The future of Roman Polanski's latest, The Ghost, has been thrown into doubt with the director currently under arrest in Switzerland and facing possible extradition to the Us.Although shooting has wrapped on The Ghost, Variety reports that sound mixing and music scoring have yet to be completed on the political thriller, leaving postproduction in limbo while Polanski fights moves to return him to America.The Ghost is Polanski's first feature since 2005's Oliver Twist and sees him tackle Robert Harris' topical thriller about a Blair-like Pm's ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) who stumbles on a secret that threatens his life. Germany was used to double for the book's original Martha's Vineyard setting during filming.Considering the severity of the charges against him, the fate of The Ghost is the least of Polanski's worries at this point, but the week's developments are unlikely to make it easier to sell the...

The Hollywood Reporter has an update on the shocking arrest of director Roman Polanski over the weekend and what it might mean for his upcoming film The Ghost , starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor. Based on the novel by Robert Harris about a British leader named Adam Lang (played by Brosnan) and the ghostwriter hired to help pen his memoirs, Polanski had finished shooting the movie with Germany taking the place of the book's New England settings. Although the film was mostly edited, a lot of the post-production such as the music scoring and mixing still needed to be finished. While the film, which includes Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Olivia Williams and James Belushi, didn't have U.S. distribution, it had already set up companies to release it in Germany and Polanski's...