Robert De Niro to buy home in London

Film star Robert De Niro was reported to be the latest big name from Hollywood to cross the Atlantic to buy a home in London.

Fittingly for De Niro, who starred as a boxer in one of his most famous roles in the film Raging Bull, the actor is buying a $4.73 million penthouse suite previously owned by world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis.

The Oscar-winning star of hits such as Taxi Driver and the Godfather series was set to move into his new home in London’s rejuvenated Docklands area next to the River Thames later this year, a newspaper said.

It said De Niro wanted a home in London before starting work next March as director of the film About the Boy, based on the novel by British author Nick Hornby.

Estate agents said the Docklands area would provide perfect privacy for the shy star.

“In the Docklands there are mainly bankers and lawyers who are not fazed by neighbors who may be internationally famous”, Damien Easter, of London firm Cluttons said.

De Niro joins a growing influx of big name stars to head for the British capital.
Hollywood superstar couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman have a home in London and Madonna has moved into the city with her soon-to-be husband, British film director Guy Ritchie.

Kevin Spacey, Kathleen Turner and Macaulay Culkin are some of the big names who have left Tinseltown for the London stage.

Tim Story to mak his debut film, Barbershop

Music video veteran Tim Story will make his feature directing debut with MGM’s Barbershop, a comedy that will likely begin pre-production in January and may begin shooting as early as April.

Barbershop is set on the South Side of Chicago, where a heist that’s just occurred is pieced together using information gleaned from neighborhood coiffeurs.

“Most people don’t know it, but the barbershop is the hub of the black community”, Story explained. “It’s the one place you can go to get all the information about what’s going on. Because whether you’re broke or you’re Puffy (Sean Combs), you still gotta get your hair cut.”

Barbershop will be budgeted at $7 million-$8 million, according to Story. While Story is best known for directing videos for artists like R. Kelly, ’N Sync, Master P, Mack 10 and Ginuwine, he got his start in independent film. He directed two straight-to-video pictures: 1995’s One of Us Tripped and 1996’s The Firing Squad — and then began directing music videos for BET-backed independent record label Fully Loaded Records to pay the bills on Firing Squad.

David Arquette on Attack
David Arquette fears no spider: The thespian is in final negotiations to star in Arach Attack a $30 million f/x-driven comedic thriller.

Attack will be directed for Warner Bros./Village Roadshow by Kiwi helmer Ellory Elkayem, who co-wrote the script with Jesse Alexander. Centering on a toxic waste spill that causes giant spiders to rampage, Arach Attack is decidedly a change of pace for Arquette, who most recently toplined The Gray Zone, Tim Blake Nelson’s WWII picture about Jews who were forced to work in the crematoria of Auschwitz.

Arquette next appears in the Warner Bros./Franchise Pictures suspense drama 3,000 Miles From Graceland starring opposite Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell and Christian Slater.

Courtney Love to star in Hello Suckers

Singer-actress Courtney Love will get to perform some rowdy turn-of-the-century tunes: she has inked a deal to star in Hello Suckers,’ a biopic about Hollywood screen legend Texas Guinan.

Hello Suckers unravels the life of the turn-of-the-century mistress of reinvention, Texas Guinan, who suckered her way up the ladder — from showgirl to Broadway star, from the silent screen to nightclub queen.

Scott Elliott (A Map of the World) will direct from David Henry Hwang’s adaptation of Louise Berliner’s book ‘Texas Guinan, Queen of the Night Clubs’.
Love was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Althea Flynt in 1996’s The People vs. Larry Flynt directed by Milos Forman. She re-teamed with Forman opposite Jim Carrey in 1999’s Man on the Moon. She will next be seen starring opposite Lili Taylor in Julie Johnson, which is slated for release next fall.

Outside of his directorial debut picture A Map of the World starring Sigourney Weaver, Elliott is the founding artistic director of the New Group Theater Company. On Broadway he directed Three Sisters with Calista Flockhart, Lili Taylor and Billy Crudup, and Present Laughter with Frank Langella and Allison Janney. He is currently directing the Off Broadway play What the Butler Saw starring Chloe Sevigny.