It's official: Tom Hanks will play academic Robert Langdon in the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's bestselling novel. Ron Howard, with whom Hanks worked on Apollo 13, will direct. Production will begin next year, with a planned release for May 2006. So far, no word on who will play Sophie Neveu, Langdon's sidekick.

R&B star Usher is set to star in drama Dying for Dolly, as a mafia boss's right-hand man - but he could choose instead to work on Step in the Name of Love, described as an urban Saturday Night Fever. Variety reports that two studios are fighting over the singer for these projects. It would not be the first time Usher turned his hand to acting: he starred in romantic comedy She's All That five years ago and horror flick The Faculty in 1998.

Matt Damon is in talks to star in The Good Shepherd, about the life of a CIA agent. If he agrees, he would be replacing Leonardo DiCaprio who was first set to play the lead. Robert De Niro will co-star, direct and produce. Filming is scheduled to start next March.

Mira Nair is to direct Gangster MD - a remake of the 2003 Bollywood hit, Munna Bhai MB BS. The plot involves a small-time gangster who pretends to his mother that he is a doctor. When she founds out his true "profession", he decides to become a real doctor. The film will be penned by Jason Filardi, who wrote Bringing Down the House.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban won the best feature film award at the Children's Baftas in London last night, while Shrek 2 won the Kid's Vote. They both beat Finding Nemo and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

And finally, film lovers beware: Madonna is reportedly planning to adapt her novel The English Rose to the silver screen - and she has apparently enlisted husband Guy Ritchie to help write the script. The Sun reports that she will direct the film and that production is planned for next summer. Their previous credits together include the awful Swept Away.