The move comes on the heels of the successful opening of Paramount’s micro-budgeted horror pic The Devil Inside and Christmas tentpole Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol, which has already earned $458.1 million worldwide. The two films almost guarantee that the studio will have a good fiscal quarter (and Devil Inside–scoring the best opening ever for early January–proves the corridor can be lucrative).

There are two other reasons for the move, according to an insider. The 3D materials for Hansel and Gretel are only now coming in, and Paramount wants time to market the 3D aspect, particularly overseas.

Third, Renner — who stars opposite Tom Cruise in Ghost Protocol — has two other 2012 films, The Avengers, which comes out in early May, and The Bourne Legacy, which hits theaters in early August. The insider said pushing back Hansel and Gretel also allows the movie to benefit from the exposure Renner earns from those two films.

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Prods. is producing Hansel and Gretel, which picks up the Brothers Grimm fairy tale 15 years after Hansel and Gretel found the gingerbread house. They’re now bounty hunters. Tommy Wirkola is directing.

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Fangoria just got the scoop that Paramount has shifted HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS out of its March 2 berth and will instead release the movie next fall on a date to be determined. The Hollywood debut of DEAD SNOW director Tommy Wirkola, the film stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the grown-up brother and sister who’ve never quite gotten over that childhood gingerbread-house incident, and set out to exterminate witches. Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare, Zoe Bell and Derek Mears co-star.

If you fancy snapping up a bag by the likes of Christian Louboutin, Mulberry, Jimmy Choo, Miu Miu, Prada and many more – donated or designed by the lovely celeb ladies previously mentioned – make sure you join in on the online auction from tomorrow on www.savethechildren.org.uk/bagtosave.

If you want to take part in the auction, the starting price will be at around a quarter of the bags’ recommended retail price. You can also donate any unwanted bags you might have laying around at any of the Save the Children stores around the UK to be included into the auction.

The online auction will be live from Friday 25th November to Sunday 4th December 2011.

Click HERE to bid on Gemma Arterton’s Prada Vitello Shine shoulder bag!!!

She completed her outfit with a tuxedo jacket, and a clutch matching her top.

While Gemma’s look wasn’t one of her most successful- not quite making the most of her gorgeous figure- her hair and makeup were stunning as ever.

Sultry smoked-out eyes and messy loose waves made for a seductive combination.

Gemma, 25, joined a host of stars including Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan for the 57th London Evening Standard Theatre Awards at the Savoy.

Winners included Benedict Cumberbatch for his role in Frankenstein and Gavin and Stacey actress Sheridan Smith for drama Flare Path.

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By Diana Lodderhose

The Weinstein Company is nearing a deal for U.S. rights to Paul Andrew Williams’ “Song for Marion,” toplining Gemma Arterton and Vanessa Redgrave.

Pic, which also stars Christopher Eccleston and Terence Stamp, is a London-set comedic drama about a grumpy elderly man who is reluctantly inspired by his wife Marion to join an unconventional local choir.

Ken Marshall produces the pic through his Steel Mill Pictures banner, which he set up with Williams.

Coolmore Productions, Egoli Tossell Film and Film House Germany also produce.

Williams’ previous credits include “London to Brighton,” “The Cottage” and last year’s “Cherry Tree Lane.”

Williams penned the script for “Song for Marion,” which was included in the 2010 Brit List for best unproduced screenplays.

Entertainment One have U.K. rights to the film while its Oz arm Hopscotch has Australian rights.

Ascot Elite nabbed German rights for the pic in Berlin earlier this year.

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In addition, we’ve landed some AFM art and the first official plot details: “On the run for murder, two young “sisters” arrive penniless at an English seaside town. Clara is a fiercely modern woman who has her eyes on the future and no time for the past. Teenager Eleanor is shy and innocent. Yet they both hide the same secrets: they are really mother and daughter, and they are both … vampires!

Eleanor is exhausted by 200 years on the run and desperate to settle down. But little does she know that her mother has been protecting her all of the years from their own kind, “The Brotherhood”. To escape them, they must either blend in or continue running away. But just as they think they may have escaped, their past rapidly catches up with them.”

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In aid of the Small Steps charity, Gemma Arterton has donated her shoes for auction. Small Steps Project is a humanitarian charity which delivers shoes and emergency aid to children and families who live on landfill sites around the world. Small Steps Project raise awareness of the unacceptable hardships they face as well as funds for aid through film. Small Steps Project collects celebrity shoes which are then auctioned to provide shoes for children with none. The charity’s website is located at http://www.smallstepsproject.org/online-auction/. To bid for Gemma’s shoes on Ebay follow this link over here.

Good luck to all bidders and remember that your money will go to a very good cause!

Item Description: One pair of autographed metallic Armani heels, signed photograph and separate photograph of Gemma Arterton with shoes, on which Gemma has written: ” Hello! I wore these shoes to the Giorgio Armani Couture show in Paris 2010! Love Gemma.”

Shoe Size: UK 6
EU Shoe Size: 39
Main Colour: Metallics
Exact Colour: Pale Gold
Brand: Armani

The Alfie star has been named as a contender for the coveted title for his role in Anna Christie, while Spacey’s turn in Richard III and Fiennes’ efforts in The Tempest are also in the running for the award.

Other stars set to battle it out with the actors include British funnyman James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors), Dominic West (Butley) and Jonny Lee Miller (Frankenstein).

Elsewhere, former Bond girl Gemma Arterton leads the Best Actress Category for The Master Builder, alongside Kristin Scott Thomas (Betrayal), Imelda Staunton (A Delicate Balance) and Sheridan Smith (Flare Path).

Danny Boyle, Sam Mendes and Mike Leigh are on the list for Best Director. The winners will be announced at a ceremony, to be held at London’s Savoy Hotel on 20 November (11).

A shortlist of the potential winners will be released on 7 November (11).

The series – written by Guy Andrews – followed Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper), a lifelong Jane Austen fan who finds her mundane London reality suddenly swapping places with her favourite author’s storyline from Pride and Prejudice. After discovering that a small door in her flat leads to Elizabeth Bennet (Gemma Arterton)’s world, the two women trade places, only to find that the switch makes things more complicated for both of them.

Naturally, Ephron plans to switch the setting to New York, but with Sam Mendes on board as a producer, we’ll be hoping it maintains the requisite decorum. There’s no word on when it’ll get started, but Ephron will be behind the camera as usual. The film may find itself overlapping a bit with the similarly themed Austenland, wherein Keri Russell plays a modern girl given tickets to an Austen-style immersive holiday, complete with Mr Darcy type (JJ Feild). That’s directed by Jerusha Hess, and based on Shannon Hale’s novel.
James White

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These pictures of some of Britain’s most beautiful actresses will feature in a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.

The images of Rosamund Pike, Sienna Miller and Gemma Arterton, newly acquired by the gallery, are among 39 pictures in The Actress Now display, opening on October 20.

Photographer Sarah Dunn revealed how she broke through Pike’s “very proper” demeanour. She said: “I just told her a dirty joke to get that reaction. She’s very proper, Rosamund, which is what I love about her. I had to be very cheeky.”

Elisabeth Hoff, who photographed Sienna Miller, said: “She didn’t have an entourage and so it was very free and very raw. Although she is really famous she did not come with lots of baggage.”

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Arterton had weather on her mind. “I’m glad it’s not too hot today — can you imagine, we’d melt in this plastic tent,” she said. “Everyone is wearing leather and tweed, so I’m grateful the good old English weather came through.” The bubbly Arterton is headed to Dublin next week to begin filming “Byzantium,” directed by Neil Jordan. “I’m playing Saoirse Ronan’s mum, would you believe? That makes me feel old.”

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The free exhibition will feature imagery from Brazilian photographer Salgado’s photographic essay ‘Genesis’ as well as imagery taken by Petterson on a recent trip to Acre with actress Gemma Arterton. ‘Amazon’ will run until 4 December.

Find out more

Link

Thanks Lorna for the heads-up.

Caleb Landry Jones has landed the male lead in “Byzantium” directed by Neil Jordan.

The pic currently stars Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton and is based on the Moira Buffini play.

Story revolves around a mother and daughter who are vampires and arrive in a small British town revealing their secret to the town. Jones plays a teenager dying of leukemia which in turns forces him to struggle with his mortality, causing Saorsie Ronan’s character to struggle with her own immortality.

Buffini also penned the script with Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley producing.

Jones was most recently seen in Fox’s “X-Men: First Class” and can be seen next in the Universal/Working Title co-production “Contraband” starring Mark Wahlberg.

He is repped by Paradigm, Untitled and Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal Laviolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman.

Source: Variety

If you’ve picked up the new issue of Grazia – out today! – you’ll know Gemma Arterton is on a mission to save the world, win an Oscar and have a baby. Oh yes.

But first things first. When we sat down to chat with the A-list actress, Gemma revealed her plans to tackle climate change by protecting the rainforest. ‘Deforestation is responsible for as much greenhouse gas emissions as all the world’s cars, planes, trains and ships put together,’ she says. And right now, with a new highway slicing through one of the last densely forested areas of the Amazon, the future of the planet is very much in danger – whenever a road appears in Brazil, loggers quickly follow.

Fortunately, Gemma’s got there first. As an ambassador for the Sky Rainforest Rescue project in partnership with WWF, she’s helping to create sustainable partnerships that prove the trees are worth more alive than dead. Go Gem!

Here’s where you come in. Photographs documenting Gemma’s trip to the Amazon will appear as part of a collaborative exhibition with the acclaimed Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado later this year. So for your chance to win a pair of tickets to the VIP launch party and enjoy a caipirinha with Ms Arterton, just answer the question below…

Question:
Gemma starred alongside Daniel Craig in which film series?

Options:
* Star Wars
* Harry Potter
* James Bond

Closing Date: 29/08/11

You need to sign up first in order to participate in this competition.
Please click here to sign up or log in first.

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Pic marks the first collaboration between the German companies since Film House took over Egoli Tossell earlier this year.

Williams’ London-based Steel Mill Pictures is producing along with Coolmore Productions and Aegis Film Fund.

Gemma Arterton, Terence Stamp and Christopher Eccleston also star in the London-set comedy-drama about a grumpy pensioner who joins a local choir.

The film is set to start shooting this month in North East England.

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Gemma Arterton and Christopher Eccleston also star in the film, Song for Marion, and North East extras are being sought to appear as audience members during a six-week shoot.

Locations in County Durham and Newcastle will be used in the film which highlight the increasing popularity of choral singing.

The story, written and directed by Paul Andrew White, is not set specifically in the North East but some of the accents might give the game away.

A choir of talented singers from the region, coached by Richard Scott who directs the Heaton Voices community choir in Newcastle, will feature in the film.

Song for Marion, described by film company Steel Mill Pictures as a “comedic drama”, features a couple in their 70s called Arthur and Marion, played by Stamp and Redgrave.

Arthur, described as a grumpy pensioner, is reluctantly inspired by his wife to join “a highly unconventional local choir”.

“Arthur must confront the undercurrents of his own grumbling persona as he embarks on a hilarious, life-affirming journey of musical self-discovery,” according to the publicity material, although the film also has a tragic theme.

Eccleston plays Arthur’s son James, with whom he has a difficult relationship, while Arterton plays choir director Elizabeth.

Newcastle-based agency Northern Film & Media invited the film-makers to the North East for reconnaissance trips earlier in the year.

Gayle Woodruffe, production service manager at Northern Film & Media, said: “I think filming in the North East will give them the sense of community they are looking for. The film could be set anywhere but it needs to be a place with a real sense of community.”

Gayle said the film involves a choir competition and there was a big choir competition going on in the region when the film-makers came to visit. She added: “When I first read the script I thought it was a lovely story, very uplifting. I think it will appeal to a lot of people.”

Producer Ken Marshall, of Steel Mill Pictures, said their first North East visit coincided with the heats of Let’s Get Lyrical, a choir competition organised to raise money for St Oswald’s Hospice in Gosforth.

“We were up scouting locations and it was pure coincidence that we came up at the same time as the heats for the competition,” he said. “We got to sit in on them and it was brilliant.

“Through that we met our choir director, Richard Scott, who heads up Heaton Voices.”

Mr Marshall agreed that Song for Marion was comparable with Brassed Off, a feel-good film highlighting a genre of music not often featured on the big screen.

He said: “I think this has quite a commercial bent to it because of how big choirs are in this country.

“Their popularity has gone through the roof with the coverage of choir competitions on TV and with things like Glee (the American musical comedy series broadcast on Channel 4).”

He added: “With Song for Marion we have the chance to make a hilarious, joyous yet poignant film that will hopefully move audiences to both laughter and tears.

“We took our time with this project as we knew we had to get the casting right to do it justice. We are thrilled with the cast we have secured and are looking forward to the start of the shoot.”

The North East has a strong tradition of choral singing of all types.

The Let’s Get Lyrical competition was won by all-female choir Werca’s Folk, from Northumberland, established by Sandra Kerr who set up the project, 20,000 Voices.

Male voices choirs abound across the region while the national singing project Sing Up, aimed at primary schools, is run by The Sage Gateshead.

Anyone wanting to audition to be an extra in Song for Marion should go to www.songformarion.com.

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Vanessa, 74, will play Marion who is a member of the local choir in the north-east of England, and she and her conductor, played by Bond girl Gemma, are both keen to get her retired husband Arthur, played by Priscilla Queen Of The Desert star Terence, to join. Christopher Eccleston has also been cast as the son who has a difficult relationship with his father.

Producer Ken Marshall, from Steel Mill Pictures, revealed: “Both Vanessa and Terence can sing, and each has a big solo spot number”, adding that Vanessa’s number is a classic ballad “that will have you crying into your shirt.” The film will be directed by Paul Andrew Williams, whose debut, gritty drama London To Brighton, won much critical acclaim.

The film begins shooting for six weeks at the end of July on location in and around County Durham.