Eccleston quits Doctor Who role
Actor Christopher Eccleston has quit as Doctor Who after just one episode of the new series has been screened, the BBC has confirmed.
Eccleston, whose first appearance as the ninth Time Lord attracted around 10 million viewers, feared being typecast.
Talks are taking place to replace him with Casanova star David Tennant.
A second series of the new Doctor Who, which will again be written by Russell T Davies and produced by BBC Wales, has already been commissioned.
Billie Piper, who plays Dr Who's assistant Rose, is expected to star again.
Eccleston - whose last appearance is expected to be in a Christmas special - said he was also planning new projects and that he found filming the series gruelling.
"The audience's response for the new Doctor Who has been incredible and I am really proud to be part of it and I hope viewers continue to enjoy the series," he said in a statement issued through the BBC.
A BBC spokesman said the corporation would issue a formal statement later on Thursday and that it had hoped, rather than expected, that Eccleston would continue in the role.
He said that although talks to make David Tennant the 10th Doctor were taking place, other names may be put forward.
Bill Nighy was also considered for the Eccleston role, while Richard E Grant starred in a BBC web drama version of Doctor Who.
Period drama Casanova, which moves to BBC1 from BBC3 on Monday, added to Tennant's reputation after his success in the drama Blackpool.
The BBC announced on Wednesday that it had commissioned the second Doctor Who series, which will again feature 13 episodes.
Billie Piper will once again play Rose in the new series
Russell T Davies said: "It's fantastic news. It's been a tense and jittery time because the production team has been working on plans.
"It's particularly good for BBC Wales. This is a major flagship show for the region, and their staff and crews are the best you could find. It's a tribute to them that Doctor Who is returning."
Dr Who was relaunched last Saturday weekend following a 16-year hiatus.
With 9.9 million viewers, it beat Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
Corgan Teams With Smith
Former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan will release his debut solo album, TheFutureEmbrace, on June 21st.
"It's guitar-driven and loud, but not aggressive," Corgan tells Rolling Stone. "The videos, music and tour will be really new and different. No one will accuse me of sitting on my past."
Recorded in Chicago, Future was co-produced by Corgan and features eleven new songs, including the first single, "Walking Shade," as well as an unlikely cover of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody," with the Cure's Robert Smith on backing vocals.
"The Cure is one of my favorite bands of all time," Corgan says. "Robert is a good friend of mine, so it's a dream come true. That song's sort of a gem that not everyone will know."
As for Corgan's aforementioned past, more than 200 Pumpkins' songs will be made available digitally on April 1st, including their six studio albums and dozens of B-sides. "The band was really aggressive about recording B-sides," Corgan says. "There's a song called 'Set the Ray to Jerry' that Flood, our producer, didn't think much of, but many Pumpkins fans think it's one of the best things we ever did."
Corgan just finished shooting the video for "Walking Shade" in Los Angeles and he plans to launch a world tour in July.
Huey Lewis & The News celebrate 25 years with live set, tour
Huey Lewis & The News will mark their 25th anniversary with a recently recorded live set and another round of tour dates.
Titled "Live at 25," the new collection is due in stores May 17, and will be available as an audio CD and video DVD. The group recorded the set during a two-night stand in Chico, CA, last December.
In addition to the recently recorded live material, "Live at 25" will also include some bonus material from the group's archives. A final track listing has not yet been released.
As "Live at 25" heads to stores, Lewis and his band plan to log some miles during a tour that so far stretches from early April into late September. The itinerary is included below.
Best known for their '80s-era batch of hits, Huey Lewis & The News have continued to tour steadily over the years. The group's most-recent studio album is 2001's "Plan B," which is its first collection of new material since 1991's "Hard at Play."
"Sports," released in 1983, remains the group's most commercially successful album to date. It features the Top 10 hits "I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock & Roll," "If This Is It" and "Heart and Soul," and has been certified seven-times platinum, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
Tour Itinerary
April 2005
3 - Saint Louis, MO - Fox Theatre
8 - Boca Raton, FL - Mizner Park Amphitheatre
9 - Orlando, FL - Universal Studios
10 - Saint Petersburg, FL - FunFest
29, 30 - Lincoln City, OR - Chinook Winds Casino
May 2005
28 - Kelseyville, CA - Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa
29 - Sparks, NV - John Ascuaga's Nugget
June 2005
4 - Las Vegas, NV - Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
10, 11 - Hankinson, ND - Dakota Magic
23 - Rama, Ontario - Casino Rama
30 - San Rafael, CA - Marin County Fair
July 2005
2 - Kettering, OH - Fraze Pavilion
3 - Cleveland, OH - Scene Pavilion
4 - Dublin, OH - Coffman High School
29 - Dubuque, IA - Dubuque County Fair
30 - West Bend, WI - Washington County Fair
August 2005
3 - Sterling Heights, MI - Jerome Duncan Ford Theatre
4 - Clio, MI - Clio Amphitheater
18 - Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
19 - Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
20 - Mashantucket, CT - Foxwoods Casino
21 - Vienna, VA - Wolf Trap Filene Center
24 - Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheatre
26-28 - Atlantic City, NJ - Hilton Hotel & Casino
September 2005
6 - Livermore, CA - Wente Concerts at the Vineyard
8 - Tucson, AZ - Desert Diamond Casino
9 - Alpine, CA - Viejas Concerts in the Park
10 - Sante Fe Springs, CA - To be announced
15 - Santa Ynez, CA - Chumash Casino
16, 17 - Saratoga, CA - Historic Mountain Winery
24 - San Francisco, CA - Blues Festival
Online 'Hitchhiker' Trailer Visits 'Sin City'
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - A trailer for "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" that was made exclusively for the Internet will make an unprecedented leap to the big screen on Friday, April 1st. No foolin'.
Because of overwhelming online buzz since debuting mid-February, the promo will piggyback onto the theatrical release of Robert Rodriguez's action-packed "Sin City," which opens Friday.
"The response to the online trailer has been nothing short of phenomenal, with more than 7,000 discussions about the film posted since its debut. Many of those discussions urged us to put the trailer on the big screen," says Oren Aviv, president of marketing at Buena Vista Pictures. "The trailer is great fun for movie fans of all ages, whether they've read the Douglas Adams books or not, and it takes a very lighthearted, engaging and irreverent approach towards introducing the film."
The preview sets up the adventures of humble Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman of "The Office" and "Shaun of the Dead") after he becomes the only human to survive the demolition of Earth by the Vogons, who intend to use it for hyperspace freeway development. He joins a ragtag bunch of intergalactic travelers who are trying to discover the meaning of life.
Based on the best-selling novel by Douglas Adams, "Hitchhiker's Guide" opens nationwide on Friday, April 29. The film also stars Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel and Bill Nighy.
MAYBE THE TWIST ENDING THIS TIME IS THAT GIAMATTI WILL ACTUALLY GET AN OSCAR NOMINATION!
Days after setting his next film, "Lady in the Water," at Warner Bros., M. Night Shyamalan is moving quickly to set Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard in the starring roles.
Shyamalan has for several days been courting Giamatti to play a building super who finds a sea nymph in his apartment building's pool, and he has tapped Howard to play the title character.
WB will make formal offers to both thesps today for an August start date and a July 2006 release.
Sam Mercer is producing the project through Shyamalan's Blinding Edge shingle.
Pic will mark a reteaming for Shyamalan and Howard, who starred in his last film, "The Village." She replaced Nicole Kidman in the Lars Von Trier-directed "Manderlay" and next stars for Kenneth Branagh in the HBO Films-financed theatrical feature "As You Like It." She also will play the title role in "Mary Queen of Scots" for Warner Independent Pictures.
Giamatti is coming off "Sideways" and will next be seen starring opposite Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger in the Ron Howard-directed "Cinderella Man."
Showdown Between 'Lost' and 'Idol'
In a decision that is likely to boost the sales of TiVos and other digital video recorders, ABC plans to air the season finale of Lost as a two-hour special on May 25, the last night of the May sweeps and the 2004-05 season, opposite the two-hour season finale of American Idol.. In an interview with Daily Variety, ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson said that the decision "was driven by the creative," TV jargon for content, adding that the show's producers and writers "have worked really hard to deliver for this first season, and to have it come to this great climax. They've delivered at the highest level, and it made sense to put it on regardless [of the competition]." Fox said that it had always planned to air the Idol finale on May 25.
'Miami Vice' Squad Books Gong Li as Love Interest
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Chinese-born actress Gong Li has joined the cast of Michael Mann's big-screen update on the 1980s TV crime drama "Miami Vice" for Universal Pictures.
Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star, respectively, as Detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs in the film being adapted from the hit NBC series. Mann, who executive-produced the TV show, is writing, directing and producing the feature.
The actress will play Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban wife of the leader of a transnational crime syndicate and Crockett's love interest.
"Vice" is set for a July 28, 2006, release.
Li, whose credits include "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Farewell My Concubine," appears in the upcoming films "2046," "Eros" and "Memoirs of a Geisha."
Run DMC Star to Spread the Word on Reality TV Show
NEW YORK (Reuters) - What happens when rappers grow up? A new reality show starring former Run DMC star Joseph "Reverend Run" Simmons aims to show you.
And you might be surprised.
"It's about Run, formerly Run DMC, who grew up on MTV, all grown up," said the rapper and father of five who now wears a white collar and preaches at an evangelical church.
"We grow up, we're fathers, we're family men. People don't see that side of rappers," Simmons told Reuters Television in an interview. "Rap has come a long way and you see that on this reality show," he said, adding that a pilot has been made and he expected to get the green light from MTV soon.
Simmons, who also has his own sneaker line and continues to make music, teamed up with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to make the show which he hopes will help his mission of spreading the word of God through rap -- a genre better known for the crime, cursing and hard-living of many of its protagonists.
"I can go to church and preach to the saved and that's good, but they're saved. Or I can make a record and take my time and figure out how to catch everybody," said Simmons, who was accompanied to the interview by his mentor Bishop E. Bernard Jordan, founder and head of the Zoe Ministries church.
Combs approached him with the MTV idea. "He said ... I'm P. Diddy, you are Frank Sinatra ... I'll put you on MTV."'
"Run DMC were the first group on MTV that was black besides Michael Jackson so it's kind of perfect for me to be on MTV and say 'Look, rappers grow up,"' Simmons added.
For Simmons, the cause of the problems that make rap such a controversial art is the breakdown of the family and the fact that so many black Americans grow up in single parent homes.
Already under fire for lyrics that glorify violence and drugs, the rap world made headlines again recently over a feud between 50 Cent and The Game which erupted into a shootout at a New York radio station before the two called a truce.
Simmons said rap was misunderstood. "They're just showing what's going on in their neighborhood. It's not a pessimistic or optimistic view of the world, it's just like that."
The reality show aims to offer another view of the world, and offer an alternative black role model to the comedian Bill Cosby whose 1980s sitcom showed the lives of an affluent, professional family in New York.
"You will see Bill Cosby on steroids," Simmons said. "You'll see a lot of funny stuff, you'll see a lot of daddy knows best stuff, you'll see a lot of me and my wife trying to hold the family together."