Hollywood producer Scott Rudin, whose credits include The Hours and The Truman Show, is eyeing a remake of the seminal 1958 B-movie The Blob, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The original, which starred Steve McQueen battling malign extra-terrestrial ectoplasm that destroys everything in its path, was remade as recently as 1988. Two Rudin remakes released this year - The Manchurian Candidate and The Stepford Wives - were moderate box office performers, grossing less than $70m (£38m) each.

Wes Anderson, the indie auteur behind Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums whose latest comedy-drama The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is generating awards season buzz, will adapt Roald Dahl's The Fantastic Mr Fox as a stop-motion animated feature, says Variety. The story centres on a fox who must save his family from extermination by farmers. The Life Aquatic stars Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, and Willem Dafoe, among others, and opens here on February 18 2005.

Queen Latifah has said she was first in line to play the wife of a murdered prisoner in Monster's Ball, the role that eventually earned Halle Berry an Oscar in 2002. Latifah told IMDb she was set to star opposite Robert De Niro and Sean Penn, but Berry persuaded producers the role should go to her. De Niro and Penn eventually dropped out and were replaced by Billy Bob Thornton as the racist prison guard and Heath Ledger as his son.

Robert De Niro's reputation as one of the all-time greats has been confirmed by a poll of Empire magazine readers that ranked him the best living actor above Al Pacino (second), Jack Nicholson (third) and Paul Newman (fourth). Marlon Brando finished fifth and was selected before his recent death. Anthony Hopkins was the top rated British actor in sixth place, while Sigourney Weaver flies the flag for women in tenth place.