Dustin Hoffman has roped in veteran actors Michael Gambon and Maggie Smith to star in his directorial debut.

The Rain Man actor will step behind the camera to direct Quartet, a comedy set in a home for retired opera singers, which will also include Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins and Tom Courtenay in the cast.

Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein jokes he "decided to give an up-and-coming first-timer a chance" by hiring Hoffman after snapping up the film rights.

Weinstein adds, "We're excited to be working with Dustin on his directorial debut."

Hoffman will also serve as executive producer,...

The Wire star Dominic West will lead the way at the upcoming BAFTA TV awards after scoring four nominations with his creepy portrayal of British serial killer Fred West.

West's two-part drama Appropriate Adult, a reconstruction of the police investigation into the notorious murderer, has been unveiled as the top contender ahead of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' (BAFTA) TV Awards ceremony next month.

The show scored nods for Best Mini-series, Best Leading Actress for Emily Watson, Best Supporting Actress for Monica Dolan and Best Leading Actor for West, who will compete...

The producers of hit period drama "Downton Abbey" have fired back at reports suggesting Maggie Smith is leaving the series.

Internet rumors over the weekend hinted that the great British actress, who plays the Dowager Countess in the TV hit, would not return following the upcoming third season.

But a representative for Carnival Film and Television Limited - the company behind the drama - insists the reports are false.

The insider tells the Los Angeles Times, "Series three is currently filming with Maggie along with the other cast. We do not comment on future story lines, however there is...

Actress Maggie Smith can be "a handful" on the set of hit British TV series Downton Abbey and is "very difficult" to work with, according to a producer on the period drama.

The veteran star has won acclaim for her catty character Dowager Countess of Grantham, but U.S. executive Rebecca Eaton admits Smith is equally fearsome behind the camera.

Speaking during a recent screening of the show for American audiences, Eaton said, "Maggie Smith is a handful, it's true. She's very difficult. She knows her worth, and she's tricky on the set, but she delivers when the time comes."

However, Eaton r...

Shirley MacLaine is set to join the cast of award-winning British TV drama "Downton Abbey" as the mother of Elizabeth McGovern's Countess of Grantham.

Maclaine will play American socialite Martha Levinson in the upcoming third season of the celebrated series, which begins shooting this spring.

Confirming the casting news, producer Gareth Naeme tells the BBC, "(Writer/creator) Julian (Fellowes) has written another brilliant character in Martha Levinson, who will be a wonderful combatant for Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess."

The Help has been tipped for glory at the 2012 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards after receiving four nominations.

The movie will compete for the coveted Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture prize, alongside The Artist, Bridesmaids, The Descendants and Midnight in Paris.

The film also earned nods in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role category for Viola Davis, as well as Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role thanks to Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer.

Trailing with three nominations was silent film The Artist and...

Modern Family came full circle at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, winning the very first honors of the night and closing the show by topping the prestigious Comedy Series category.

Mad Men looked set to dominate the night, going in with 19 top nominations, and it continued its winning streak for the best drama title for the fourth year in a row.

But the stars of the period drama didn't fair so well - Jon Hamm was a four-time loser for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series - Kyle Chandler claimed that prize for his role in Friday Night Lights, while Julianna Margulies beat t...

'Two Jews on Film' By Joan Alperin Schwartz: 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2' is the final adventure in the 'Harry Potter' series. The film is directed brilliantly by David Yates and cleverly adapted for the screen by Steve Klos.

This is not only the last film in the franchise, but it is the best.

From the first shot...where we see Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) holding his sword up to the darkened sky, followed by Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) staring out into the gloomy courtyard at Hogwarts, you know...you're in for one great ride.

For those of you who haven't read the books ...

Can two young teenagers find love despite their warring families? Well, we all know how Romeo and Juliet ended up. However in the 3D version of 'Gnomeo & Juliet' directed by Kelly Asbury, things don't turn out quite as tragic for our lovers.

'Gnomeo & Juliet' takes place in contemporary Stratford-onAvon, Shakespeare's birthplace. Miss Montague (voice of Julie Walters) and Mr. Capulet (voice of Richard Wilson) are neighbours and they absolutely hate each other.

Their respective collection of garden gnomes, the Reds and the Blues view each other with hostility as well. After Blue Gnomeo...

William Shakespeare’s ‘ROMEO & JULIET’ is a story filled with passion on both ends—love and hate! The story’s been told over and over throughout the centuries, and some have even had their own twist(s). Whether contemporary or keeping it to its official style of language and appeal, it never fails to cease to amaze those who view it, read it or to an extent, act it out. I’ve seen it many times on stage due to supporting fellow thespian friends, I’ve seen it in films and cartoons, and no matter how many times I visualize this classical piece, the essence of the story’s core is deep on every ...

Elizabeth Taylor is to receive a special prize for her charity work at the upcoming Women's Image Network (WIN) Awards in January.

The Hollywood star will be honored with the Living Legend title for her "artistic genius and her HIV/AIDS activism," according to WIN founder Phyllis Stuart.

The 78 year old is said to have tentatively agreed to attend the ceremony in Santa Monica, California on January 18th, but her appearance will depend on her health, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Nominees at the event, which lauds stars who have helped promote a positive perception of women, inc...

Harry Potter has eluded me. I've never been one for ogres and fairies and magic and more. It seemed to me that anything involving magic was a cop out, as any problem could be solved by saying "Thank God we have the magical ______!"

That said, I have heard over and over again how wonderful this series is. So I'm watching all the HP movies and critiquing them leading up to the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1."

Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter fourget it.

When I embarked on my little Harry Potter movie marathon, every person that had been urging ...

Teen actress Emma Watson has been crowned the biggest-grossing female star of the last decade by The Guinness Book of World Records.

The 19-year-old star, best-known for her co-starring role as Hermione Granger in the six Harry Potter films released so far, has clinched the win with $5.4 billion in global box office receipts.

And her total will continue to tally when she appears in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 and 2, in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Following Watson as the second top-earning actress was her Harry Potter co-star, British actress Maggie Smith, whose films G...

Get out your wands and your magical cloaks everyone, because Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is on the horizon and it promises to be the best HP film yet! The epic series is almost coming to a close, with only one more adapted book left, and this one is full of major betrayals, coming of age disasters, and the characters we love and hate developing further. One of the hardest parts about putting a book to life on the screen is finding the right actor to portray a beloved character. Fans are some of the harshest critics in the world. Here's a look at some of the most inspired casting ...

In the wake of the current brain-draining drive to remake just about everything Hollywood has ever had to offer, there are some films that are so sacred they should never be touched. This is a blatant retort to the deluge of watered down franchises, remakes, medium changes, etc. It ranges in levels of snark from low to apocalyptic strength.

My frustration with this extremely long trend came to a fever pitch after watching the Obsessed trailer. Anyone even peripherally familiar with Fatal Attraction could easily catch the obvious, racially spurred recasting of a classic film.

...

Liam Neeson is set to bounce back after the shock death of his wife Natasha Richardson by starring opposite longtime pal Ralph Fiennes in the Clash Of The Titans remake.

The two stars are set to play warring gods in the update of the cult 1981 film. Neeson will play Zeus, according to The Hollywood Reporter, while Fiennes is in negotiations to take on the role of Hades, ruler of the underworld. The film set will be a more cheerful get-together for Neeson and Fiennes, who last met at Richardson's New York state funeral in March.

The all-star cast will also feature Aussie hunk Sam...

Happy Birthday to English actress Sienna Miller (1981), singer/songwriter John Legend (1978), Australian tennis star Patrick Rafter (1972), American actor Denzel Washington (1954), musician Edgar Winter (1946), Professor McGonagall portrayer Maggie Smith (1934), Star Trek's Uhuru Nichelle Nichols (1933), comic book creator/author Stan Lee (1922), and 28th President of the United States Woodrow Wilson (1856; d. 1924).

Richard Attenborough, Maggie Smith and Anthony Sher have paid tribute to late acting great Laurence Olivier, on what would have been his 100th birthday. Lord Olivier's widow Joan Plowright also attended the ceremony at London's National Theater on Monday and witnessed the unveiling of a of a life-size statue of Olivier as Hamlet, created by the sculptor Angela Conner.

Speeches were made by the National Theater's chairman Hayden Phillips, Laurence Olivier's son Tarquin and Lord Attenborough. Tarquin, Olivier's son by his first wife Jill Esmond, described his father as "true...magnetic....

Judi Dench,Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons are among a host of British stars who have joined forces to save one of the U.K's oldest theatres from closure.

Over 120 prestigious actors and actresses have agreed to lend their names to a petition which objects to the closure of the Bristol Old Vic for 18 months while it undergoes $14 million refurbishment work.

The stars are against plans to hire out the venue for weddings and conferences, as many believe the resident Old Vic Theatre Company will be killed off. The petition says, "What is clear is that the Bristol Old V...

Veteran British actress Dame Maggie Smith still suffers horrific stage fright, despite her 50 years experience treading the boards.

The 72-year-old is about to star in new London play The Lady From Dubuque, but is currently recovering from a viral infection.

And Smith, who made her stage debut in 1956, is convinced her friends and colleagues are waiting for her body to give up.

She says, "I think they all think I'm going to die. And I might. I'm very scared about the stage at the moment. I've always been scared actually, but I didn't know I'd be this scared. Perhaps it will b...

Happy Birthday to English actress Sienna Miller (1981), singer/songwriter John Legend (1978), Australian tennis star Patrick Rafter (1972), American actor Denzel Washington (1954), musician Edgar Winter (1946), Professor McGonagall portrayer Maggie Smith (1934), Star Trek's Uhuru Nichelle Nichols (1933), comic book creator/author Stan Lee (1922), and 28th President of the United States Woodrow Wilson (1856; d. 1924).

THINKFilm has acquired U.S. rights to Keeping Mum, a delightfully mischievous comedy starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, and Patrick Swayze. “Keeping Mum” stars Atkinson as an absent-minded vicar of a rural parish who is so distracted by the pressures of his job that he fails to notice his wife's (Thomas) dalliance with her brash golf instructor (Swayze), his daughter's parade of new boyfriends, and his young son's regular trouncing by the school's bullies.

Enter their charming new housekeeper, Grace (Smith), the answer to the family's prayers: a sweet, grey-h...

Happy Birthday to English actress Sienna Miller (1981), singer/songwriter John Legend (1978), Australian tennis star Patrick Rafter (1972), American actor Denzel Washington (1954), musician Edgar Winter (1946), Professor McGonagall portrayer Maggie Smith (1934), Star Trek's Uhuru Nichelle Nichols (1933), comic book creator/author Stan Lee (1922), and 28th President of the United States Woodrow Wilson (1856; d. 1924).

Harry Potter weaved his magic over 7,000 fans at the world premiere of his new movie last night. Teenage actor Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the boy wizard, was greeted by thousands of screaming girls as he arrived in London's Leicester Square for the first screening of 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'.

Looking dapper in a green velvet waistcoat and jacket, the 16-year-old admitted he was thrilled at how many fans had turned out to see him and his co-stars, including Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who play Harry's best pals Hermione and Ron.

He said: "I'm trying to learn to rela...