THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING RUPERT

Pressed five or so years ago to pick the next big comeback after John Travolta, few of us would have settled on Rupert Everett. Reduced at that time to starring in Italian horror movies and impersonating comic Englishmen in comedies like Dunston Checks In (where he played straight man to an orangutan), Everett nevertheless made it back into the big time with the double whammy of An Ideal Husband and My Best Friend’s Wedding. Nor has 2001 seen even the slightest hint of his star waning, notwithstanding the distinctly disappointing performance of The Next Best Thing, in which he co-starred with his new best pal, Madonna.

At the start of the new year, the laconic Englishman is currently in line to play two major roles: that of Jack Warner’s elegant personal assistant, Richard Gully, in a biopic to be produced by Merv Griffin; and Algernon in an upcoming screen version of The Importance of Being Earnest.

The real-life Gully died late last year at the age of 93, after a life in which he had rubbed shoulders, not just with the elite of Hollywood, but with European royalty. The Wilde adaptation, meanwhile, will see Everett reunite with director Oliver Parker (who directed him in An Ideal Husband) in a British production backed by Miramax which is expected to go in front of the cameras in the next couple of months. And in case you’re wondering who will play Lady Bracknell, it will be Judi Dench - an actress who has likewise gone from being a legend of the British stage (and television) to being a justly-deserved star of Broadway and Hollywood in the aftermath of her Oscar-nominated performance in Mrs Brown.

WHAT A TANGLED WEB

There have been a few changes in the world of the Spiderman movie since I last updated you. Yes, Tobey Maguire is still getting into the bright red and blue webbed spandex. His nemesis will no longer be played by John Malkovich, however, but by Willem Dafoe. The latter has signed on as Peter Parker’s grumpy next-door neighbour, who metamorphoses into the fearsome Green Goblin when Peter becomes Spidey.

The latter, additionally, has acquired a new ally in the form of Kirsten Dunst(left), who will play his girlfriend, Mary Jane. Spiderman began production in January, when Dunst was back from Berlin, where she had been shooting The Cat’s Meow, the first film in more than a decade from director Peter Bogdanovich. The actress co-stars with Eddie Izzard and Cary Elwes in the story of how newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (Elwes) supposedly tried to shoot Charlie Chaplin (Izzard) when he discovered the latter was having an affair with his mistress (Dunst). All of this allegedly happened on a yacht sailing from San Diego to San Pedro in 1924.

As previously reported, it is Sam Raimi who directs the Spiderman movie, which is due for release in the US at the start of the summer after next.

PLUS...

A couple of title changes. The Sylvester Stallone drama about a detox centre for ex-cops which was originally called (not surprisingly) D-Tox has now been retitled Eye See You. Kris Kristofferson, Tom Berenger and Polly Walker also star. And Rob Cohen’s movie about LA street gangs who engage in a little on-the-block hot-rod racing - which went into production as Redline - is now called The Fast and the Furious. It stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Girlfight’s Michelle Rodriguez.

And finally… recent start-of-shoots include: a modern Romeo & Juliet story set in Texas and called What Matters Most, starring Chad Allen, Polly Cusumano, Tamara Clatterbuck, Jim Metzler and Marshall Teague; and Silent Cry, a contemporary London-set thriller about a young woman (Emily Woof) fighting to prove that her new-born baby is still alive. Douglas Henshall also stars and Julian Richards directs.