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Samuel L. Jackson, known to Star Wars fans as Mace Windu, will begin the New Year by re-shooting scenes for Revenge Of The Sith. The actor, talking to Now Playing Magazine, revealed he was called back in London for January, and talked about what fate awaits his Jedi alter ego.

“Dying! Like all of the rest of the Jedi. I can’t tell you [the specifics], but yeah, it’s an awesome death,” said Jackson. “Well, when [Episode IV] starts, there are only, what, four Jedi left. There’s Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda and Darth Vader, is it? Everybody else has been assassinated, killed, wiped out, something.”

The trip won’t be wasted for the actor. He told the mag that director George Lucas offered him a keepsake for his troubles.

“Yes, I did get to keep my lightsaber,” enthused the actor.

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Talking to Cosmopolitan Magazine, Jennifer Love Hewitt revealed her interest in bringing to movies the life of Annette Funicello, one of the original Mouseketeers.

“It would be an absolute honor to play someone like Annette,” says the actress. “She’s such an entertainer, she’s an inspiration…and someone so many of today’s youth have probably never even heard of. We’re talking about it. We’re not going to get going on it until we’ve got a killer script though. I’m looking forward to the opportunity”

Funicello made her debut in The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955, and spent a few years with the mouse house on TV and movies, notably in the original Shaggy Dog. Most of her adult career was spent in those 60’s beach party movies, usually alongside Tommy Kirk or Frankie Avalon. She was diagnosed with MS in 1987, and recently underwent brain surgery to reduce the tremors.

As for Hewitt, whose last screen appearance was in last summer’s Garfield, she also mentions the possibility of returning to her spook franchise I Know What You Did Last Summer.

“At one stage we were doing one, then they were doing one without us, then it was going to be a telemovie and last I heard they might want us back for a third one, to wrap it all up. They’re a lot of fun to do, and not as easy as they look”.

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Although actor Chazz Palmentieri is ready to jump onboard the rumored Usual Suspects sequel, it seems that his co-star Kevin Spacey shares the fans’ opinion: Why?

Questioned on the potential project during a Q&A session this weekend in Washington, the Oscar Winner made his feelings quite clear.
“I think they shouldn’t touch it; leave it alone”, says the actor.

And as for Bryan Singer, the director who broke out with the original, his current agenda provides him the perfect excuse to stay away from the sequel. After filming Superman Reborn next year, he’s set to jump right away on Logan’s Run.

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Batman Begins babe Katie Holmes is returning to the world of Indy’s.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Holmes will co-star with Robert Duvall and Aaron Eckhart in Thank You for Not Smoking, a ‘satirical pic about the machinations of Big Tobacco’s chief spokesman, Nick Naylor (Eckhart), and how he has spin on behalf of the embattled tobacco industry while trying to remain a role model for his 12-year-old son.’

Jason Reitman will be directing.

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Filming has been under way since November 28th on the sequel to the 2003 hit Underworld, in northern Canada, where some lucky hikers are treated to an advance look at the designs and set.

Genre website Upcoming Horror Movies has managed to get some snapshots from one location known as the Seymour Mountain, near Vancouver B.C. Although no star can be seen in the pics, we get a clear look at the structures and costumes, which suggests Viking influences.

The site also reveals a change of release date, from November 23rd to December 9th 2005. To get a look at the production set, click on over to here (The third set of pics), here (First and second set of pics), and here.

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Alec Gillies, who with Tom Woodruff Jr runs the special effects company Amalgamated Dynamics Inc, recently dropped some interesting comments on the upcoming Superman film, as well as a possible sequel to Aliens vs Predator. To read some of the highlights, click here.

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Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings) is the latest addition to the already stellar cast for Michael Bay’s upcoming The Island.

Set in the mid-21st century, the story follows a pair of “Harvested Beings” who escaped the utopian facility where they are kept, and set out on a quest to literally find their makers. Bean will play Merrick, main antagonist to Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson’s fugitives. Michael Clark Duncan, Steve Buscemi, and Djimon Hounsou are already onboard.

Bean next appears in Flightplan opposite Jodie Foster. He recently completed the lead role in The Dark playing opposite Maria Bello.

Credit: Darkhorizons.com, Moviehole.net., TheHollywoodnews.com