Luscious Latina Penelope Cruz is taking a breather from smooching Tom Cruise in order to lock lips with Charlize Theron in an upcoming film called Head in the Clouds. A romance set in Europe during the turbulent years before World War II, Clouds centers on a Spanish refugee named Mia (Cruz) who is befriended by Gilda (Theron), a budding fashion photographer. Mia begins to share a Paris apartment with Gilda and her boyfriend, Guy, an idealistic teacher (played by Theron's real-life boyfriend, Stuart Townsend), and a bizarre love triangle ensues. The war intervenes and threatens to separate the three forever. The $20-million film will be directed by Australian John Duigan (Sirens) from his own screenplay and is slated for release in 2004.
More Ripley, Believe It or Not
It looks like The Green Mile's Barry Pepper will be the next actor to portray late lesbian novelist Patricia Highsmith's smarmy, sexually ambiguous psychopath Tom Ripley on the big screen. Pepper has been cast as the amoral rogue in an independent film based on Highsmith's Ripley Under Ground, the second novel in the Ripley series. Director Roger Spottiswoode, who helmed the AIDS-themed And The Band Played On, is set to direct the film, in which Ripley is involved in a contemporary art forgery ring in London. Oscar-nominated actor Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom, Normal) will be joining the cast as the detective who attempts to bust the ring. In other Ripley news, the makers of the completed feature Ripley's Game (in which John Malkovich takes on the Ripley role) are seeking a new distributor because New Line Cinema decided against opening the film.
The Gay-ting Game
First comes love, then comes marriage … then comes dating? Kirk Marcolina, the creator and producer of Bravo's reality miniseries Gay Weddings, will be doing some romantic backtracking when he tackles the treacherous world of gay dating in six half-hour episodes for Bravo. Although Marcolina is very tight-lipped about the still-untitled show and won't divulge the exact format, we do know that it will be shot in sunny San Diego. But here's what I want to know: Do people get voted off for bad shoes? Is threeway dating allowed? Keep a lookout on Bravo this summer.
American Sweethearts
That bitchy Simon Cowell is at it again. Cowell is producing an 11-episode summer reality series called Cupid for CBS. One will get to hold auditions for the perfect date, and the guys who try out have only 30 seconds to prove they're date-worthy. Ten finalists are then flown to L.A. for real dates. A la American Idol, viewers at home can phone in and vote off the poor guy they like the least. Although Cowell is set to star in the British version of the show, he'll be strictly behind the scenes here in the States.
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