Nineteen-year-old Canadian actor Hayden Christensen has won the part of Anakin Skywalker in the next two Star Wars movies.

Star Wars boss George Lucas confirmed the decision - rumoured last week - on the official Star Wars website.

He said Christensen was "very talented" and would be able to play Anakin at "the most complex stage of his life".

Lucas said he was impressed by his "great screen test" with co-star Natalie Portman.

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Madonna 'set for Greenaway film'

Superstar Madonna may be in line to star as a femme fatale in a new multi-media movie project by Peter Greenaway.

The singer is said to be in talks to appear as Trixie in the controversial director's The Tulse Luper Trilogy, according to Moving Pictures magazine.

Other stars set to sign up are British actor David Thewlis, Vincent Gallo, Kathy Bates and Isabella Rossellini.

Filming is expected to start in the Utah desert this autumn.

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Carrey wanted for Playboy film

Producer Brian Grazer says he is keen for comic star Jim Carrey to portray Hugh Hefner in his forthcoming film about the Playboy millionaire.

"Hef has made it clear he wants someone with humour and Carrey would be great," said Grazer, who worked with the actor on How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Carrey is believed to have a gap in his film schedule since he decided not to go ahead with plans to star in a remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

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Cancer inspired Carly Simon

Singer Carly Simon has revealed that being diagnosed with breast cancer helped her to beat the writer's block that threatened her songwriting career.

"I had to latch on to something in myself that was strong and it was my music," she said in an interview with Billboard magazine.

The result was her new album The Bedroom Tapes, her first collection of original pop songs in five years, which she recorded in her daughter's bedroom.

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Big debut for Travolta film

Controversial John Travolta movie Battlefield Earth went straight in at number two in the US film charts, despite getting poor reviews.

The sci-fi film is based on a book by by Travolta's fellow Scientologist, movement founder L Ron Hubbard.

Director Roger Christian - a Buddhist - denied that the movie was in any way Scientology propaganda.

Top film in the US for the second week running was Roman epic Gladiator.

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Moran looking for theatre

British actor Nick Moran is looking for a West End venue for a play he wrote about a gay, amphetamine-addicted, devil-worshipping record producer.

"I wrote it, it took me a year and then it went on the backboiler," said Moran who said he hoped a production could be staged "before Christmas".

The star of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was in Cannes to promote his latest film, Another Life, which co-stars Welsh heart-throb Ioan Gruffudd.

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Eccleston set for Kidman horror

British actor Christopher Eccleston is set to co-star in a horror movie with Nicole Kidman, which will be executive produced by her husband, Tom Cruise.

Salford-born Eccleston's film credits to date include Elizabeth and Shallow Grave. He also starred in the TV series Cracker and Our Friends in the North.

According to Variety magazine, the film, called The Others, will be set in Jersey during World War II and will begin shooting in Spain in June.

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Snipes invests in security

Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes is poised to buy 300 acres of land on which to build a camp to train security agents for celebrity protection.

The 37-year-old star of Drop Zone, White Men Can't Jump and Blade is negotiating to buy the land in a rural part of the American state of Georgia.

"Wesley is a high-profile person and he saw that specific security needs were not being met," the vice president of Snipes' production company said.

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Never mind the slippers - here's Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 - once known for its cosy image - is to run a series on punk rock.

Anarchy in the UK will comprise of two documentaries in June about the rise of punk and its impact on later music.

A Radio 2 spokeswoman said: "People who were at the vanguard of punk at its peak are now squarely in our target audience of over-35s."

The series, which starts on 5 June, will be presented by former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock with contributions from Malcolm McLaren, John Lydon and The Clash's manager Bernie Rhodes.

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90210 all a blur

Former Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty has been blurred out of a special edition of the show after falling out with producers.

The actress, who left the show in 1994, had agreed to be in the one-hour special but then changed her mind and refused to allow her image to be shown.

The size of her fee was thought to be the problem but Doherty's publicist said that the actress had been unhappy at the small role she had been given.

Doherty was one of the original stars of the TV series, which began in 1990.