Reclusive film director Woody Allen, who shocked audiences Oscar night with his unprecedented appearance at the Academy Awards for a tribute to New York City, is set to jump back into the limelight again at the Cannes Film Festival. Allen will open the festival with his new film Hollywood Ending, which will open nationwide in the United States on May 3rd. The film had been scheduled to close out the San Francisco Film Festival a day before it's national release. The filmmaker, whose films have always done well with French audiences at Cannes, was last at the festival in 1979 when he screened his film Manhattan there. It was extremely well received, and went on to become one of Allen's most appreciated films. He will open the festival as a special thank you to the French people, who have always supported his work. "For some reason I'm more appreciated in France than I am back home," Allen said. "The subtitles must be incredibly good."

It looks as though the British themselves are taking a stab at the spy spoof genre. Along the same lines as Mike Myers' Austin Powers franchise will be a new film about a bumbling secret agent. Comic actor Rowan Atkinson will play the lead role in Johnny English, with John Malkovich signed on to play the villain in the film. The film begins shooting April 15th under the eye of director Peter Howitt (Sliding Doors (1998)), from a script by writers Neal Purvis, William Davies, and Robert Wade. Australian singer/actress Natalie Imbruglia will also co-star in the film, which will be distributed by Working Title Films. Atkinson was last seen in the film Rat Race (2001), and has a huge following in Britain, where his feature film version of the popular television series Bean opened to big box office business, a feat not repeated here in the States. Malkovich appeared as filmmaker F.W. Murnau in Shadow of the Vampire (2000) and will next be seen in Knockaround Guys (2002). Imbruglia began her career on the Australian soap opera Neighbors before embarking on her music career.

Fresh off of her Academy Award win for Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind (2001), stunning actress Jennifer Connelly will join British actor Ben Kingsley in Vadim Perelman's new film The House of Sand and Fog, based on the novel by Andre Dubus III. The book, which made the Oprah Winfrey book club list, has since become a bestseller. Kingsley will star as an Iranian immigrant who successfully bids at auction on a house that had been foreclosed. Connelly will play the alcoholic former owner of the house who will do whatever is necessary to get her home back. She is currently shooting the comic book adaptation The Hulk with director Ang Lee, which also stars Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down (2001)) as the scientist/green-skinned hero who becomes a wanted man by the government. That film is now lensing in Berkeley with an eye towards a 2003 release.

Nicholas Cage is quickly becoming a favorite of director John Woo. After starring for the action filmmaker in Face Off (1997) with John Travolta, Cage will soon be seen in the upcoming war drama Windtalkers (2002), also directed by Woo. Now, the two are looking to join together again for the upcoming project Men of Destiny, a story about railroad workers in the 19th century. Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)) is also set to star in the film as a Chinese immigrant worker alongside Cage, with the two initially feuding before working together towards achieving the same American dream. Disney will distribute the film, which was recently rewritten by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, the same team that wrote Face Off. Cage has been in comic book development hell over the past several years, being attached to developing projects Superman Lives, Constantine, and Ghost Rider - all of which have since been put on the back burner with the exception of Superman, which has now been put back on the fast track thanks to Charlie's Angels (2000) director McG.

Action favorite Samuel L. Jackson (The 51st State (2002)) is set to join Mark Wahlberg (Planet of the Apes (2001)) in a big screen, updated version of the 70's television series S.W.A.T.. The original series starred Robert Urich as a member of the Los Angeles Police special department of Special Weapons and Tactics, and was on air from 1975 to 1976. The Fast and the Furious's Paul Walker, who has now joined the cast of Richard Donner's Timeline, was originally being sought after for S.W.A.T., but the producers for the film are now moving the project towards the pairing of Jackson with Wahlberg. A new script has recently been penned by screenwriter David Ayer (Training Day (2001)), but whether he will remain with the film through to production remains to be seen. At this time, no director is attached to the film.

After weeks of industry squabbling and post-production re-working, the dust is finally clearing on the great battle between New Line and MGM over the title of the latest Austin Powers film. Through a deal made between the two studios, including New Line's commitment to attaching trailers for the upcoming Bond film to their schedule of films, it seems that Austin Powers in Goldmember will be the title of the new movie after all. Besides promising to include the trailers for Bond in their advertising campaign, New Line will need to get approval through the proper channels for all future parody titles, remarking that "any future titles that may be construed as parodies of James Bond titles will be subject to MGM's approval," in a statement released by both the studios. It is interesting to note that Mike Myers and Jay Roach apparently went back into editing in post after they initially were denied the title, "beefing up" the satire element and really adding some zing to their jab at the Bond franchise. It will be interesting to see if they will pull back once again before the final cut is put together by this summer. Yeah, baby - yeah!

Paramount Pictures is the latest studio to get its hands on a classic series of books by Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The John Carter of Mars novels tell the story of a soldier from the Civil War, who falls asleep one day and wakes up on Mars - here imagined as a green, lush world populated by creatures great and small. The adventures of John Carter have been a hot Hollywood property for years now - Disney spent millions of dollars at one point to try and get the franchise moving, with Mario Kassar producing as a vehicle for Tom Cruise. Now, Paramount is looking at a potential Star Wars-type future for the project, optioning $300,000 towards getting the rights and promising another $2 million if the films go into production. The John Carter series has had a long life floundering in Hollywood, as many people have tried to get the films made as both live action and animated works - the ideas for the latter going back all the way to 1936, when Warner Bros. was interested in doing it as a cartoon.

Writer/Director John Davis - after working on the recent Oscar nominated Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - has signed on to bring a computer animated adaptation of the children's book Ant Bully to the big screen. The story follows the adventures of a boy who spends his days squirting ants with his water pistol - only to be shrunk down to ant size, where he has to go to work for the colony as punishment for his crimes. While among the ants, he develops a friendship with them, coming to understand their ways and eventually becoming an ally to them in their war against the dreaded wasps. The film will be financed and produced through Universal and Playtone, whose partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman have been busy developing feature projects based on children's books. The two have already set in motion plans to bring both The Polar Express and Where the Wild Things Are to theaters.

Nona Gaye, the daughter of Motown legend Marvin Gaye, has stepped in to replace the late pop singer Aaliyah in the upcoming Matrix sequels. Gaye, who made her feature film acting debut in last year's Oscar-nominated Ali, will star alongside Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne in the cyber-action films as Zee, another character fighting to free herself from the clutches of the Matrix. Aaliyah had actually completed most of her filming for the second installment before being tragically killed in a plane crash last fall, and there was a certain amount of pressure to keep her scenes in the film as an honor to her memory. However, as the singer had not filmed any significant scenes for the third film in the series - The Matrix Revolutions - directors Andy and Larry Wachowski were forced to recast the role, as Zee's character has more screen time in the last installment. The Matrix Reloaded is scheduled to explode onto the screens on May 23, 2003, with the last film set to open the following November.

Hollywood favorite Russell Crowe is reteaming with his Gladiator director Ridley Scott to bring yet another historical epic to the silver screen. Tripoli is an epic retelling of David Lean's film Lawrence of Arabia, set in North Africa during the 19th century. Crowe will play William Eaton, a representative sent from the United States in 1798, who returned to Tripoli a few years later to help lead a revolution against the king and bring an heir into power. Crowe is no stranger to the war epic - in fact, it seems to be his taste in roles these days. He has signed on to star in and make his directorial debut with The Long Green Shore, a World War II epic concerning the Australians. He will also star in a dramatic remake of the classic television show Hogan's Heroes, in the lead role originally played by Bob Crane. Tripoli is expected to go under the lens sometime this fall.

New Line, who delivered blockbusters like The Fellowship of the Ring and the Austin Powers films, has signed actor/filmmaker Jon Favreau (Made (2001)) to direct Elf, a comedy that will star SNL alumnus Will Ferrell (Zoolander (2001)). The story is about a human, raised as an elf after falling into Santa's toy bag while a child, who lives and works up at the north pole. When he begins wreaking havoc on the workshop and the other elves due to his size, Santa sends him to America to find his true roots. Favreau starred in and scripted the film Swingers (1996), and recently made his feature film debut on Made. He has also directed for television, a pilot for the Fox network. He will be seen in next summer's comic book film Daredevil (2003), which has just recently begun filming in Los Angeles.

Actress Sharon Stone is among a select few performers to join the jury for the feature film competition at Cannes alongside jury president, director David Lynch (Mulholland Drive (2001)). The jury will be made up primarily of actors and directors, a move that has caused a stir of criticism for its lack of representation by writers and film critics. Other members joining the jury will be actress Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)), and directors Billie August, Walter Salles, Claude Miller, Raoul Ruiz, and Regis Wargnier. The Cannes Film Festival takes place every year in the picturesque town in the south of France, and is scheduled to run from May 15th to the 26th.

In a move that many in the industry found surprising, director David Fincher (Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2002)) has chosen to make his next directorial effort Mission: Impossible III, joining Tom Cruise in the high-profile third installment in the series. Heavily panned by film critics, the M:I films have both been hugely successful with audiences (the 1999 sequel went on the gross more than $546 million). Fincher's involvement in the franchise reportedly came out of a new friendship he developed with Cruise when they were working on a future project for Columbia Pictures about World War II. Plans for that film fell through when Cruise opted to star in another film instead. The decision to direct M:I3 came after Fincher had considered other projects for Warner Bros., including Seared, an adaptation of a novel centered around the professional chef industry. According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Robert Towne, who wrote the second film in the series, will write the third film as well.

Paramount Pictures has renewed interest in moving ahead with the television to big screen remake of the classic series The Honeymooners. The project has been circulating around in development hell for a few years, but recently gained momentum when actor James Gandolfini expressed his interest in playing the role of Ralph Kramden - an icon made famous in the original series by the legendary Jackie Gleason. The cinematic remake would be along the lines of previous films like The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and The Flintstones (1994). The new version of The Honeymooners is not to be confused with the other big screen project To The Moon, which is already in development with Nathan Lane set to star as Gleason in a biopic about the actor's life. Gandolfini was last seen in the Robert Redford prison drama The Last Castle (2001).