The 38-year-old actress will play the girlfriend of a wheelchair-bound man who witnesses a murder. The role was originally played by Grace Kelly in the 1954 film.

Reeve, who was involved in a serious riding accident in 1995 which left him paralysed from the neck down, will take the leading role.

No matter what Boyzone sold over 170,000 copies

Boyzone poised to topple Spice Girls

Teen idols Boyzone are set to whistle their way to the top of the charts with their fourth No 1 single.

The Irish boy band have sold more than 170,000 copies of No Matter What in the first three days of sale this week. The song looks likely to knock the Spice Girls off the top spot.

Written by Lord Lloyd-Webber and Jim Steinman, the single is taken from the new West End musical Whistle Down the Wind, which opened last month.

Cage and De Palma make Howard Hughes film

Cage and De Palma in Hughes film race

Actor-director team Nicholas Cage and Brian De Palma are hoping to beat rival film makers in a race to bring the tale of Howard Hughes to the big screen.

Face/Off star Cage and De Palma, who directed The Untouchables, have just completed a film together and want to join forces again with a movie about the infamous billionaire recluse.

They will be competing with Universal Studios who are already working on a similar project starring Johnny Depp.

Chris De Burgh lighting up Blackpool

Chris De Burgh to light up Blackpool

Singer Chris De Burgh has been chosen to switch on the famous £2 million Blackpool Illuminations this year.

His predecessors have included the Bee Gees, Shirley Bassey, Status Quo and Michael Ball.

Thousands are expected to turn out to see the singer flick the switch to light half-a-million bulbs on September 4.

Douglas faces hefty lawsuit against him

Douglas sued over testicle-damage golf

Hollywood actor Michael Douglas is being sued in a multi-million-pound lawsuit by a caddy who says he was injured by a golf ball.

James Parker says he was caddying for Mr Douglas and three others when he was struck in the testicles.

One of Mr Parker's testicles ruptured and had to be removed.

He claims the Basic Instinct and Wall Street star hit the ball before he was a safe distance away on the green.

Banderas pulled out because of anti-Ataturk pressure

Russell to take on Turkish hero role

Kurt Russell is tipped to replace heart-throb Antonio Banderas as the lead in a film about Turkey's national hero, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The Hollywood actor, whose film credits include Backdraft and Escape from LA, has not yet been offered a contract, but has a personal recommendation from producer Tarquin Olivier.

Banderas pulled out of the project when he began receiving hate mail from anti-Ataturk groups in the US.

Jazz trumpeter Nat Gonella dies aged 90

Nat Gonella, one of the most celebrated British jazz trumpeters, has died at the age of 90.

Mr Gonella, once described as "My Boy, Nat" by Louis Armstrong, died last night at a hospital in Gosport, Hants.

Born Nathaniel Charles Gonella in 1908, he began his career as a member of a band called The Busby Boys.

In 1958, he recorded a duet of Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me with his favourite female jazz singer, Beryl Bryden.

Simone still battling racism in America

Jazz legend Nina Simone blames racism in America for her decision to live abroad for the past 25 years.

"I have paid a heavy price fighting the establishment," said the 65-year-old at an annual jazz festival in the Lebanon.

She did not elaborate, but said that racial inequality in the United States was now "worse than ever".

Simone is now settled in Europe, but has lived in Africa and the Caribbean.

Jackson swaps Hollywood for Holloway

Pulp Fiction star Samuel L Jackson swapped Hollywood for Holloway in north London last night for the British premiere of his latest film.

The newly refurbished Holloway Odeon cinema was the setting for the first showing of Eve's Bayou, which he produces and stars in.

The film, which is a character-led tale of adultery and murder, set in 1960s Louisiana, was the highest-grossing independent in the US last year.

Reynolds wants the casino show to go on

Hollywood veteran Debbie Reynolds is negotiating a deal with the company who bought up her bankrupt Las Vegas casino, to allow her to continue performing there.

The 66-year-old Singin' in the Rain star sunk millions of dollars into the hotel, where she regularly appeared in cabaret, but sold up when it went into the red.

The World Wrestling Federation, who snapped up the "Debbie Reynolds Hotel" at a bankruptcy auction, has yet to confirm that her shows will continue.