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CULVER CITY, California — Who does Jamie Foxx want to engage in a few rounds of “tongue boxing” with? How many guardian angels does Jim Carrey have? What would smack talk between superheroes sound like?

On Saturday night the 2006

MTV Movie Awards took over the Sony Pictures Studios lot, asking those and too many other bizarre questions to count. On Thursday night at 8:30 p.m., the world will learn the answers. As for those who were inside Soundstage 15 to experience it firsthand — well, let’s just say they won’t be forgetting anytime soon. (Click here for photos of the show’s highlights.)

“This doesn’t suck,” Hayden Christensen grinned, a baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes as he surveyed the scene. “This is very cool.”

Strolling down a red carpet that was actually blue, monitored from above by an overhead tram containing an enormous camera, and approached by celebrity interviewers like Rihanna and Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, attendees ranging from Owen Wilson to Keanu Reeves must have felt like they had wandered into a parallel universe. (Click here for photos from the blue carpet.)

“I’m not gonna lie to you,” admitted Will Ferrell, hesitantly looking to the sky. “It scares the sh– outta me, that giant camera.”

The star sightings were far-ranging, from Justin Timberlake to Hulk Hogan’s pop-singer daughter, Brooke. In one corner, you may have seen Steve Carell bumping into Brandon Routh, and in another, you might catch Amanda Bynes tiptoeing around a shirtless Steve-O.

Highlights from Hollywood’s big night

The hottest and most bizarre blue-carpet fashions

A complete list of this year’s nominees

“The best part about being on the carpet is just soaking up the all of the love,” advised a crown-sporting Flavor Flav, with a trademark clock around his neck and a glass of champagne in his hand. “I’m pulling for everybody. The reason why everybody be pulling for Flavor Flav is ’cause Flavor Flav is pulling for everybody.”

At the carpet’s halfway point (after SuChin Pak had pulled them aside for an interview, but before they reached MTV News guest reporter Rihanna), stars had to pass under a bridge overflowing with screaming fans. Surveying the scene, Sandra Bullock looked up at them and playfully teased: “Are you looking down people’s shirts?”

“These fans, they provide so much energy,” observed Eva Mendes, soaking in those up above as well as the armies of ear-piercing shriekers who surrounded her. “It’s so nice to have them here, because you can feel the love and support.”

Racing from interview to interview, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly remained in character as NASCAR drivers from the August comedy “Talladega Nights.” Other stars, however, were themselves long enough to handicap a few nominees.

“The other categories show parts of movies that were great, but the Best Movie category shows what had the best overall everything,” actor and “Just a Friend” singer Mario said, before finally fessing up to who he’d be rooting for. “I’m pulling for ‘Wedding Crashers,’ that’s one of my favorites.”

Pondering his acceptance speech if he should win for Best Villain, Christensen promised “nothing too villainous. Hopefully everything will go smoothly, but there won’t be nothing too villainous. Being nominated is pretty cool, and these are good [awards], because the people vote for it.”

When the subject of conversation wasn’t the stars themselves or the acceptance speeches they had prepared, many offered words of encouragement to first-time host Jessica Alba just moments before she officially kicked off the festivities.

“Don’t suck,” warned Justin Timberlake, laughing. “I’m watching you. I’m a vet, and I’ll be watching you, Jessica.”

“She doesn’t need any advice,” Jessica Simpson grinned. “All she has to do is strut her stuff.”

“I’m excited and nervous,” Alba revealed, adding that she’d been through several rehearsals but never went so far as to practice her lines in front of the mirror. “That,” she laughed, “would be weird.”

As for “Wedding Crashers” co-star (and nominee for Breakthrough Performance) Isla Fisher, there was something extra-special that had her excited. “I’m looking forward to seeing Borat; he’s performing tonight, and he’s very funny.”

Fisher is actually engaged to Sacha Baron Cohen, the comedic chameleon behind the Movie Awards performer. “He’s very good-looking,” she said of Borat, “and I just want to make out with him.”

Fisher wasn’t disappointed once inside, thanks to Borat’s borderline NC-17 introduction of performers Gnarls Barkley. The quirky group proved itself equally as memorable, with a beautifully bizarre rendition of “Crazy.” Earlier in the evening, AFI busted out their latest single, “Miss Murder,” for its first TV performance, and Christina Aguilera did the same for “Ain’t No Other Man.”

“Amazing — she blew me away,” marveled Fisher, stunned by Aguilera’s performance. “I’ve never seen her live before. She’s so tiny, yet her pipes are sensational.”

“She’s got quite the voice,” Christensen concurred.

Meanwhile, “Dukes of Hazzard” co-star Jessica Simpson, sporting a skirt as short as her marriage to Nick Lachey, drove “Miami Vice” star Foxx so crazy that he seemed to forget the beatbox noises he was laying down for co-presenter Colin Farrell’s stroll across the stage.

For a few more days, many questions will linger: How did Jessica do as host? Who was it that screamed “Kelly Clarkson!” during an acceptance speech? And why, oh why, was Andy Dick whipping himself?

Like any feature film worth waiting for, the 2006 MTV Movie Awards will reveal all its highs and lows — and some very happy endings — this Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Popcorn is optional.

For complete, up-to-the-minute info on the show, the nominees and host Jessica Alba, visit our Movies Awards site.

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Star Wars star Hayden Christensen has been named best villain in the 2006 MTV Movie awards.
The actor won the golden popcorn award for playing Darth Vader in the final film Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

The award for best hero went to Batman star Christian Bale for his starring role in Batman Begins.

There was also a lifetime achievement award for Lemony Snicket star Jim Carrey. The awards ceremony will be screened on MTV on 8 June.

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You’ve heard the clichés a million times: It’s an honor to win; it’s great just to be nominated. Every year at dozens of awards

shows, the stars deck themselves out in dapper suits and designer dresses, waving, posing and even offering polite golf claps when they lose. But let’s be honest — what really excites many celebrities is the one prize that even losers take home.

With that in mind, the 2006 MTV Movie Awards has kept with an — ahem — rich tradition by dishing out some serious swag this year. Boasting an estimated total value exceeding $17,000, one thing is certain: Even Paris Hilton’s gonna want to grab one of these.

(Check out photos of the 2006 MTV Movie Awards gift basket here.)

What the hotel heiress and a huge array of other stars found inside their Movie Awards “gift baskets” is a head-spinning array of the latest high-end technology, exclusive fashion necessities and exotic travel getaways.

Attendees received a luscious fruit-floral-chocolate mix courtesy of Missoni, which pairs up nicely with Beyond Technology’s e-Bright teeth-whitening system. Other luxurious items included robes, slippers, sleep masks, flip-flops and “overnight softening gloves and socks” from Bath Accessories Group. Should someone need more than just whiter teeth or a little relaxation, Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. David Sayah gifted free consultations.

The male demographic tuning in to the Movie Awards audience would no doubt loved to have taken a peek backstage, where beauties like Famke Janssen, Amanda Bynes and Rebecca Romijn might have been trying on some Cosabella lingerie from the new Forever collection: a padded soft bra, low-rider thong and low-rider bikinis. Female viewers might also have appreciated a peek backstage, to see those actresses busting out their T3 Tourmalines, the so-called “Rolex of hairdryers.” Claiming to be the lightest, fastest and quietest hairdryer in the world, it makes one ponder the ultimate hypothetical showdown: The revolutionary appliance in one corner, and the pre-waxed, soaking wet chest hair of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” nominee Steve Carell in the other.

The 2006 Movie Awards were led by male-dominated films like “Virgin” and “Wedding Crashers,” so it was only right that Justin Timberlake went home with something he didn’t have to fork over to Cameron Diaz. Maybe he’ll want to play with the Superman, Napoleon Dynamite or Kamhi World “40-Year-Old-Virgin” action figures, or maybe he’ll instead spread the love to his wheels with a License2Bling license plate frame, embedded with Swarovski crystals. After that, perhaps Justin will invite over Owen Wilson, Hayden Christensen and Will Ferrell, and they can all take turns playing with their brand-new copies of the nearly photo-realistic video game version of “The Godfather.”

As the stars load up the arms of their entourages with the three(!) designer bags needed to contain this year’s goodies, they’ll likely give them one all-encompassing order: Keep your grubby hands off the electronics. If Jamie Foxx happened to need a portable DVD player and a one-year subscription to Netflix, well, he’s in luck. If Kate Beckinsale was looking to sink her teeth into a portable device, she’ll no doubt be psyched about her new PocketSurfer, a portable Web browser that will allow her to shop, check stock quotes and even approve the latest stills e-mailed to her from the “Click” set photographer. Christina Aguilera spends countless months out on the road touring, so it only makes sense that she’ll now sporting a Samsung Helix and one year of XM2go Satellite Radio with MP3, which allows her to bookmark “Genie in a Bottle” whenever it comes on and then purchase it through Napster, essentially paying herself.

Good thing the bags come with handles, because they’ll be that much easier to tote when the celebs take off for a weekend getaway. First off, they can disguise themselves from the paparazzi with sunglasses by Fendi-Marchon, then they can slip into something more comfortable — like the Seven for All Mankind jeans made exclusively for the 2006 Movie Awards. Next they can sneak off to La Costa Hotel & Spa for a getaway that includes private accommodations, dinner and a romantic “spa journey” in a VIP suite. Perhaps Kate Hudson could hang poolside in her new Salinas bikini swimwear, while Matt Dillon could kick it old-school in his limited-edition Vans slip-ons. Oh, and if heavily adorned Gnarls Barkley whirlwind Cee-Lo wants to dial things back a bit before kicking it in the sun, Tattoo MD will be handing him a $1,000 gift certificate toward laser tattoo removal.

If you want to catch a glimpse of all these sweet items in the months to come, keep your eyes on the movie premieres, talk-show appearances and wardrobe-dissecting magazine features that they’ll undoubtedly be flaunting them in — after all, that’s why so many companies are eager to make like Anthony Kiedis and give it away. And if a bag happens to spill on its way to the trunk of a celebrity Escalade, some bystanders might dive on that Swarovski crystal chandelier pendant. The real movie geeks, however, will be on the official “Superman Returns” package (action figure, dog tag and “inflato-suit”!) faster than awards presenter Samuel L. Jackson can throw a snake off a plane.

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Darth Vader, the times they are a-changin’! Hayden Christensen recently wrapped one of his first post-”Star Wars” projects, an indie film that had him channeling one of rock and roll’s biggest legends. “In ‘Factory Girl,’ I play this sort of folk-singer star, based on a Bob Dylan-ish sort of character,” said Christensen. “It’s a movie about Edie Sedgwick, who was this actress and New York socialite back in the ’60s. She was hanging out with Dylan briefly.” Featuring Sienna Miller as Sedgwick, Guy Pearce as Andy Warhol and cameos by Jimmy Fallon and Mary-Kate Olsen, the drama gave Christensen a chance to transform into one of his idols, a job he said was made easier by his natural tendency to mumble. “I do that on my own anyway,” he laughed. “I definitely took my cue from Dylan. I’m a massive fan.” The film is due in theaters this fall, and Christensen hopes it will give him an excuse to rub elbows with the tambourine man himself at the premiere. “I’ve never met the man,” the actor lamented. “But maybe, one day.” …

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Amongst the hottest stars in Hollywood, the Dark Lord of the Sith was honored as only MTV could — with a golden trophy and a tribute from one of the coolest bands dominating the charts.
MTV honored actor Hayden Christensen with the coveted golden popcorn tub trophy as he won in the Best Villain category for portraying Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. In his humble acceptance speech, he thanked filmmaker George Lucas for giving him “the chance to play such a cool character.” Other nominations for Episode III included actor Ewan McGregor as Best Hero, as well as Christensen and McGregor for Best Fight.

To continue the Star Wars love, the band Gnarls Barkley performed their hit song “Crazy” donning authentic costumes from the Star Wars saga which included lead singer Cee-Lo as Darth Vader, Danger Mouse as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and drummer Chris Vrenna as Chewbacca, among many others. “It was an honor to wear the Wookiee costume,” Vrenna says.

Of course, this isn’t the first time MTV has given Star Wars characters the royal rock treatment. Previous MTV Movie Awards shows have honored Star Wars characters over the years. In 2003, Jedi Master Yoda received a prestigious MTV Award in the category of “Best Fight” for his show-stopping duel with Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones. And in 2000, the podrace in The Phantom Menace received an MTV Movie Award for “Best Action Sequence” of the year. Most memorably, in 1997, Chewbacca appeared on the MTV Movie Awards and was given a Lifetime Achievement medal by actress Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia Organa) to make up for the Wookiee not receiving a medal during the closing celebration A New Hope.

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Stars look forward to upcoming projects that range from serious dramas to outrageously ridiculous comedies.

The all-star crowd has dispersed, Jessica Alba has returned to her day job, Steve-O has put his shirt back on and the janitors are almost done sweeping up all that confetti dumped by AFI.

Another MTV Movie Awards ceremony is behind us, and as stars like Steve Carell, Hayden Christensen and Isla Fisher put their shiny new Golden Popcorn trophies on their mantelpieces, fans may be wondering: what next?

Alba, this year’s Movie Awards hostess with the most-ess, boasts one of the strongest upcoming film slates. Future Best Kiss and Sexiest Performance nominations seem like a no-brainer as the 25-year-old slips back into leather chaps for “Sin City 2,” this time toughening up to reflect her character’s despondency over the death of her beloved Hartigan (Bruce Willis).

Around the same time, Alba will be hanging with the Silver Surfer for “Fantastic Four 2,” the superhero sequel that plans to introduce the Marvel Comics character as an ambiguous new friend of Sue Storm’s family (see “Alba Says ‘Fantastic Four 2′ Will Be ‘Exciting, Hot, New, Fresh’ “). Continuing with a schedule that would exhaust Ryan Seacrest, the actress also has the psychological thriller “Awake” due in theaters near the end of this year, and the midlife-crisis comedy “Bill” will be shooting around the same time.

Similarly wide “Awake” is newly crowned Best Villain Hayden Christensen, who hopes audiences enjoy his stiff performance as the un-anesthetized operating-room patient in the movie, which also stars Terrence Howard. Christensen will then go from motionless to mumbling, appearing as a thinly veiled Bob Dylan-type character in “Factory Girl,” due later this year and set among the Andy Warhol-centered New York scene of the mid-’60s. Looking further down the line, the former Anakin will skywalk through the period film “Angels and Virgins,” the treasure-hunting thriller “Crash Bandits” and the cop-held-hostage hard-boiler “Poker Nights.”

Dame Judi Dench will explode into theaters in the next 12 months with … Oops! After Will Ferrell’s Movie Awards joke, we’ve still got the British thespian on the mind, but let’s talk about our favorite “Anchorman” instead. In case his plugging was too subtle, you should know that Ferrell and his Awards date John C. Reilly have the NASCAR comedy “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” in theaters on August 4. Ferrell is currently filming the figure-skating comedy “Blades of Glory” alongside Jon Heder (due out next March), which also co-stars “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” nominee for Breakthrough Performance and Best On-Screen Team, Romany Malco.

Malco’s “Virgin” co-star, Carell, can thank Kelly Clarkson for his own lengthy list of upcoming gigs. Between trips to “The Office,” the red-hot star has been squeezing in “Evan Almighty,” a sequel to the Jim Carrey classic “Bruce Almighty,” that has Carell’s character building an enormous ark to please God (Morgan Freeman). “Evan” is due in theaters next June, and next month festival fave “Little Miss Sunshine” will get its release. He’ll also be shooting comedies ranging from “Dan in Real Life” (Carell falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend) to “Juvenile” (he’s sent to an adolescent prison for a crime he committed years earlier) to “Get Smart” (based on the classic TV show).

Jake Gyllenhaal told the world that he was dreaming about the Best Kiss trophy when he locked lips with Heath Ledger, but his back-to-back kiss awards chances seem slim considering his next role in “Zodiac,” a serial-killer thriller. Directed by the acclaimed David Fincher (“Fight Club”), Gyllenhaal has marveled over the intensely recreated murder scenes that dropped himself and co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. into the horrors of the mid-’70s murder spree. The flick is expected in theaters late 2006 or early 2007.

The “Wedding Crashers” duo will be pushing their way into plenty of films over the next year, with Vince Vaughn already riding high at the box office with “The Break-Up” and Owen Wilson starring as a high-maintenance houseguest in July 14′s “You, Me and Dupree.” Vaughn will continue to dodge “Old School 2″ scripts while finishing the filming of the Sean Penn drama “Into the Wild,” followed by a 180-turn into “Joe Claus,” a holiday comedy about Santa’s ne’er-do-well older brother. Audiences can currently hear Wilson’s voice as hot-rod Lightning McQueen in “Cars,” and will see the rest of him when he teams with Harold Ramis (“Groundhog Day”) on a currently untitled comedy about a slacker caveman. Wilson will also have a tiny cameo as a tiny cowboy in this December’s Ben Stiller comedy “Night at the Museum.”

Vaughn and Wilson won’t have the luxury of having their “Crashers” co-star and Breakthrough Performance winner Isla Fisher in their upcoming projects, however, as the chameleon-esque beauty will bring her considerable charms to several different and impressively varied projects. First up is “The Pleasure of Your Company,” a dark comedy directed by cult comic Michael Ian Black, which has a lovelorn Jason Biggs spontaneously proposing marriage to a stranger (Fisher).

After that film hits theaters later this year, Fisher will resurface in “The Lookout,” a crime thriller co-starring the up-and-coming Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“Brick”). Her show-stealing fiance, the equally transformative Sacha Baron Cohen, will bring the controversial comedy stylings of “Borat” to theaters in November. We can only hope that Jessica Simpson and her Daisy Dukes make it to the premiere.

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From Pete Wentz Journal
(Bass player for Fall Out Boy)
I think I freaked Hayden Christiansen out further by
following him around the Toronto airport today talking about Star Wars. it was pretty sweet”

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Hayden Christensen and his Forest Park Pictures production banner have signed with ICM. The actor, known for his work in the most recent “Star Wars” features, will star opposite Jessica Alba in the thriller “Awake” for the Weinstein Co. Christensen, who had been with CAA, continues to be repped by attorney Steve Warren of Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman Newman Warren Sloan & Richman. (Staff report)

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STAR WARS castmates SAMUEL L JACKSON and HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN are set to reunite on the big screen for a time travelling drama. The actors were slated to star in a project called POKER NIGHT but, according to Jackson, that project is now dead and the pair are looking to team up in director DOUG LIMAN’s JUMPER, based on the hit STEVEN GOULD novel. PULP FICTION star Jackson tells website Moviehole.net the story follows a kid from a broken home who discovers that he has the ability to teleport. In his quest to find the man he believes is responsible for the death of his mother, the child draws the attention of the National Security Agency (NSA). Jackson will play the NSA agent tracking the jumper, played by Christensen.

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“You, Me and Dupree” star Owen Wilson said last month he’s “big” on table tennis. Turns out, so are Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey and Hayden Christensen.

“I’m a pingpong man,” Foxx said. “I have a pingpong table in my living room, and if I had the time to play, I’d play for days.”

“When we were making ‘Shattered Glass,’” Christensen recalled, “we had a pingpong table on the set, and in between every shot, Peter Sarsgaard … and I would rush back to the pingpong table, and we’d have an ongoing tally.”

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, those behind the film Jumper, slated for a week of shooting in Peterborough near the end of August, have put Canadian native Hayden Christensen in the lead role.

Christensen is best known for his role as Anakin Skywalker, a.k.a Darth Vader, in the last two Star Wars films.

Jumper is based on Steven Gould’s novel about a teen from an abusive household who discovers he can teleport from one place to another. He uses that ability to search for the man he believes responsible for the death of his mother but draws the attention of the American government and someone else with the same power.

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Star Wars star Hayden Christensen likes to keep people guessing about the gay rumours surrounding him, because he finds them entertaining.

The 25-year-old insists he doesn’t mind the speculation surrounding his sexuality – and even encourages it.

He tells V Man magazine, “To me, masculinity is the ability to flirt with the effeminate.”

Christensen said the rumours don’t bother him “because it’s fun, entertaining and a bit of a joke”.

The star refused to divulge his sexual orientation during the interview saying cryptically, “People I relate to know who I am.”

Christensen was photographed kissing his Factory Girl co-star Sienna Miller in March, but remains tight-lipped about their relationship.

He adds, “When people catch a picture of Sienna and me, they can speculate, and I don’t do anything. Rumours are more fun than reality.”

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The Hayden Christensen and Mischa Barton lead film adaptation of the old “Decameron” story has been renamed yet again to “Virgin Territory” and delayed two months to March 9th 2007.

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In his nightmare thriller, director Joby Harold takes audiences on an abstract journey through the consciousness of a paralyzed heart transplant patient.

By the third time Hayden Christensen runs screaming down the same stretch of orange hallway at New York’s Bellevue Hospital Center for the rolling cameras, his bright blue hospital scrubs are darkened with sweat and he looks ready to be committed.

In his nightmare thriller Awake, first-time writer-director Joby Harold takes audiences on an abstract journey through the consciousness of Clay (Christensen), a heart transplant patient who is paralyzed yet able to sense pain while under the knife. “It’s called anesthetic awareness,” says Harold, leaning over a monitor. “Here, he’s experiencing being cut, and he’s running to different places inside his mind, trying to find a place to deal with the pain.”

Satisfied with the take, Harold calls for the next scene, which offers Christensen the respite of lying on a stretcher. Jessica Alba, who plays Clay’s wife, leans over to whisper words of comfort before he’s wheeled away to the operating table. “He’s looking for a happy place, and the place he goes is back to where we fell in love,” says Alba. Looks like the operation won’t be the first time the poor guy lost his heart.

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Comcast, the biggest cable operator in the U.S., is going bananas with high definition, offering all six “Star Wars” movies in HD on Cinemax on Demand, plus dozens of musical performances in a service called INHD Jukebox.

The “Star Wars” pictures will be available in Cinemax on Demand from Nov. 2 to Dec. 28 to all cable operators, but only Comcast will have the HD version. Comcast customers need a digital box, an HDTV set and a subscription to Cinemax.

Comcast will share with the rest of the cable and satellite universe Cinemax’s first-time offer of the “Star Wars” movies in HD in a weekend marathon on the 24/7 network, beginning Nov. 10. Each of the movies will get additional runs on Cinemax for the rest of the month.

Outside of Comcast, the movies will be available for callup on Cinemax on Demand in standard definition, enhanced by more than a dozen special features and footage produced by Lucasfilm.

For INHD Jukebox, Comcast subscribers with digital boxes will get more than 20 performance clips each month from artists like Pink, Franz Ferdinand, Nelly Furtado, Norah Jones and the Who, all at no extra cost. It’s the first free high-def music platform.

In Demand Networks, the biggest distributor of pay-per-view and VOD programming, has compiled the performances from many of the concerts originally produced and transmitted in high-def to cable and satellite through PPV. The company plans to sell the INHD Jukebox service to other cable operators.

Page Thompson, senior VP and general manager of video services for Comcast, said the “Star Wars” movies and INHD Jukebox are the highlights of the operator’s offering of more than 100 hours of HD VOD programming a month. Thompson engineered the Jukebox deal with Rob Jacobson, president-CEO of the In Demand Networks.

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Why we are excited: Little Britain’s David Walliams is in it plus Darth Vader Hayden Christensen and the OC’s gorgeous Mischa Barton.

Plot:Period adventure as 10 young Florentines take refuge in the Italian countryside in 1348 as the Black Death plague ravages the city.

Stars: Hayden Christensen, Mischa Barton, Tim Roth, David Walliams

When: 2007.

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Harvey Weinstein is famous for campaigning earlier, harder, and more successfully for Oscars than any of his filmmaking peers. But the “For Your Consideration” ads for Factory Girl that ran this week in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter may represent a new benchmark for claiming award-worthy status for a film that is, to all appearances, still very much in production.

With entire new scenes—not reshoots—still being shot in New York, most critics have still seen only limited footage of the movie, and the window for getting even a rough cut in front of them is rapidly closing. “You’d really better have a screening by the first week of December, or you’re risking a lot of critics not being able to see it in time” for Golden Globe nominations, says Anne Thompson, deputy film editor of the Hollywood Reporter.

A spokeswoman for Weinstein, however, notes some critics have already “seen an early cut of the movie and given it high praise, especially Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce’s performances. We don’t think it’s premature to start promoting the film for awards consideration.”

Based on the story of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick, Factory Girl has been dogged by delays and rumors of dissatisfaction on the part of its producers. But Thompson says the ongoing tinkering is not an automatic red flag as long as it is only “pickups” being shot and nothing more substantial. “Harvey knows what he wants, and he’ll know what’s missing, especially if he’s aiming for the Oscars. And the Weinstein Co. has been known to play these things out very late in the day.”

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The A/A Campaign has supplied information several times to the people working on the movie AWAKE! starring Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen. Contrary to information previously obtained from the web that, “as of November 13, 2006, according the movie publicists, AWAKE is scheduled to open in theaters on February 8, 2007: a call to The Weinstein Company on November 29, 2006, failed to obtain a release date for AWAKE. At least one test viewing has been done, and audience reaction to the film is said to have been very strong.

Finding informaton on AWAKE have proven to be nearly impossible. Literally multiple dozens of calls to anyone I can think of result in zero information from anyone I believe to be associated with the production. This is a puzzlement.

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THERE IS a simple solution for the people who are still hoping to get the life story of Phil Hellmuth, the poker celebrity and Madison native, filmed in Madison.

In the true spirit of Hollywood, I should probably ask for a percentage of the gross – or at least a consulting fee – for my advice, which in all modesty is as brilliant as it is simple.

I came up with my idea after hearing this week from Hellmuth, who had good news and bad news about the movie of his life that is about to be filmed.

Hellmuth, of course, is the Madison kid who came out of nowhere to win the World Series of Poker (and nearly $1 million) in 1989. He was 24. Since then, Phil has relocated to the West Coast, married, started a family and become a star. His mercurial personality at the poker table and talent for winning have made him one of the game’s most recognizable faces.

A few years ago, Bob Soderstrom, a friend of Hellmuth’s and an aspiring writer, wrote a screenplay based on Phil’s “Rocky”-like ascendance in the poker world. Soderstrom titled his script “The Madison Kid.” It includes scenes at the Memorial Union and around the State Capitol. The script won a screenwriter’s contest and has been in various stages of development ever since.

Recently, elements have come together that indicate filming will begin in the spring (perhaps under a new title, “Poker Brat”). Beacon Pictures (chaired by UW-Madison grad Armyan Bernstein) is producing, with a budget in the $6 million to $8 million range, and a hot young actor named Hayden Christensen will play Hellmuth.

“He’s officially committed,” Phil said this week.

That’s the good news. The bad news, as Hellmuth sees it, is that when the cameras start rolling in April or May, the 100-plus members of the cast and crew are currently scheduled to be in Winnipeg, Canada, where presumably they will build some kind of set to resemble the Union’s Rathskeller and other Madison locales.

Movie companies expect tax incentives when they go on location, and – in poker parlance – they are playing a strong hand when it comes to asking for them. Movie productions can have a highly positive impact on a local economy. They provide jobs, hire caterers, eat in restaurants, stay in hotels and essentially advertise a locale on movie screens around the world.

A report on the “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” Tuesday centered on Shreveport, La., which last year was host to some $300 million in film production, with a dozen more location shoots scheduled for Shreveport in 2007.

The Louisiana Legislature recently passed a tax incentive package that was attractive enough that when Hurricane Katrina made filming in New Orleans difficult, filmmakers stayed in the state and discovered Shreveport.

“It’s certainly been good for us,” Shreveport Mayor Keith Hightower told NBC.

To its credit, the Wisconsin Legislature recognized the potential value of bringing movie productions to the state. Earlier this year, the Legislature passed and Gov. Jim Doyle signed a bill that will make Wisconsin highly competitive in luring filmmakers.

But for some reason, the final language in the bill pushed its start date forward to Jan. 1, 2008. Which is why a script that was originally titled “The Madison Kid,” and is about a Madison kid, is in imminent danger of being made in Winnipeg.

But as the well-known philosopher Yogi Berra famously observed, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

Those who want to see “The Madison Kid” filmed in Madison have mobilized one last push to see if they can get state government to change the date of implementation of the tax incentives to Jan. 1, 2007. As part of that effort, Hellmuth has written an op-ed piece that will be offered to numerous papers in the state.

In his piece, Hellmuth makes both a logical and passionate case for moving the date so “The Madison Kid” can be filmed here. He stresses the economic benefits, as well as the karmic importance of having it shot in Madison.

It may work. But I have an idea that will work even better.

It’s this: Promise them all a role in the movie! Everyone wants to be in the movies, especially legislators. Not for nothing did someone once call politics “show business for ugly people.”

The climactic scene in the movie is when Phil beats the great Johnny Chan, one against one, for the world championship in Las Vegas. Phil’s father, who had serious reservations about his son’s decision to be a professional poker player, rushes out of the audience and embraces Phil.

The “audience” could be made up of members of the Wisconsin Legislature. Gov. Doyle (like Phil, a Madison West grad) could also be given a role. Maybe he could deal the final hand to Hellmuth and Chan.

I might add that a movie appearance can have a positive impact on a legislator’s career. In 1996, a state representative from Madison appeared briefly in the Keanu Reeves-Morgan Freeman movie “Chain Reaction.” And nobody has to ask whatever happened to Tammy Baldwin.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The cat’s out of the bag.According to a story at Production Weekly, it’ll be Hayden Christensen playing the role of ten-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth in The Madison Kid, the movie detailing the life and times of one of the poker world’s most visible players. “He’s officially committed,” the story quotes Hellmuth as saying, referring to Christensen. The movie is scheduled to start filming next spring

Moviegoers will likely recognize Christensen from his role as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, though The Madison Kid, which also has had the working title Poker Brat, might fall just a bit

shy of those movies’ lofty box-office receipts. The alternate ‘Madison’ title plays on Madison, WI, Hellmuth’s hometown, where he abandoned his college education after his junior year to pursue his poker career. Success didn’t take long to arrive for Hellmuth: In 1989, at age 24, he became the youngest-ever winner of the WSOP’s Main Event, in a stunning win that prevented Johnny Chan from winning that title for the third straight year, a feat no poker player has ever managed.

The film is scripted by Hellmuth pal Bob Soderstrom and produced by L.A.-based Beacon Pictures, whose most famous films include Air Force One, The Hurricane, and The Emperor’s Club. Soderstrom and Beacon chairman Armyan Bernstein are also both University of Wisconsin-Madison graduates.

Currently up in the air is the location of the film’s shooting. Right now it will likely be filmed in Winnipeg, but Hellmuth, in an impassioned plea for funding assistance appearing in a Madison newspaper, wants the production to occur back in his old stomping grounds. Winnipeg, as with several other Canadian cities, offers incentives and wage concessions that often make a Canada locale the prudent choice for filming, while Madison has never been a film mecca. “It’s all about the bottom line,” wrote Hellmuth, “but what a missed opportunity it would be if Winnipeg served as the ‘city double’ for Madison. I want to visit the ‘Madison Kid’ movie set in April of 2007 in the city that I grew up in.”

The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) does not yet show a listing for The Madison Kid, though an ‘announced’ listing is likely to appear in the near future as the film enters the pre-production stage. As of this report, a search on ‘Poker Brat’ resolves to Hellmuth’s own on-air credits for his appearances in several televised poker programs.

As for the selection of Christensen, it is perhaps only fitting that an actor tied to one screen icon now moves to the role of another, although it’s not the icon one would expect. Hellmuth offered another memorable quote on this when he served up the following in his Madison plea: “In some respects, I’d like to think that I’m the true-life poker equivalent of the fictional pugilist Rocky Balboa.”

Popularity: 2% [?]