Cate continues to film The Man Who Cried in Europe, but, thanks to a fine article in Los Angeles Magazine, we now know what she will be doing next as well. Beginning next month, she will take the lead in wunderkind director Sam Raimi's The Gift, co-written by Billy Bob Thornton.

According to a blurb from TV Guide, furnished by our good friend Leese, there is a possibility that cutiepie starlet Katie Holmes may be joining the cast.

As far as future projects, an old rumour, with a surprising new twist, resurfaced a couple of weeks ago, courtesy of The Daily Express UK. It appears to offer readers a chance to invest in an upcoming Cate project.

Referencing that the hit horror film The Blair Witch Project was made for about £21,000 yet has grossed more than £100 million, making its two young directors rich beyond their wildest dreams, it dangles the carrot of all of us getting in on the ground floor of an upcoming project.

Two EIS (the UK's Enterprise Investment Scheme) films seeking investors who have £5,000 burning a hole in their pockets include The Snow Queen.

Oscar-winning actress Cher stars in The Snow Queen, a new version of the Hans Christian Andersen classic, alongside Cate Blanchett, who recently played Queen Elizabeth I in the acclaimed film Elizabeth. Cher plays the enchantress, Blanchett the Snow Queen.

Harvest Pictures, the film's production company, is looking for private investors who will receive shares in the film through the EIS. It hopes to raise £2.35million for The Snow Queen. The closing date for investors to sign up is April 4. Independent financial advisers Structured Films make all the arrangements and charge 3 per cent commission.

The BBC has bought the rights to The Snow Queen but Harvest will need to sell through many more channels before investors recoup their money. The budget for The Snow Queen is £7.3million. So, there you have it. At long last, a chance to buy a piece of Cate.

MINOR MINORITY REPORT

Although Cate's possible involvement in this future Spielberg sci-fi thriller, starring Tom Cruise and Matt Damon, remains up in the air, we received this "first-hand" report from an interested party. Since this location is only a couple of blocks from this reporter's former domicile, one is almost tempted to sneak in and have a peek. Here is the "report", which will not be gathering any Pulitzers:

"Set contruction for Minority Report is going on at the Manhattan Beach Studios (where Ally McBeal and The Practice are filmed). My plumber brother is working on the soundstage...not on set construction, but putting in a sink inside the soundstage. He's seen Spielberg there every day working. Spielberg was, I guess, 'checking out the sets'. My brother said it looked like 'a huge space ship looking thing.' We will keep you posted as anything more definite becomes available.

CLEARED FOR LANDING

We are happy to report Pushing Tin continues to be a hit in video stores, and on its run on Pay-Per-View. Also, Elizabeth lovers may rejoice now that it is priced at a very affordable $14.95, with some dealers such as Amazon.com practically giving it away at close to $10.00.

And, we all await breathlessly for the January 18 video and DVD release of An Ideal Husband. The reason to own a DVD player becomes more and more apparent with each release. Not only can you have get a superior quality copy to VHS, at a cost of $14 versus $103, the DVD offers a widescreen format presentation, the original theatrical trailer and a Making-Of-Featurette.

UP AND COMERS

One of our favorite young actors is the stunningly attractive young blonde, Marley Shelton, who stole Tobey Maguire's heart as the cheerleader in Pleasantville.

The Los Angeles Times recently profiled a number of the hot young turks in Hollywood, the next talented generation, so to speak, and amongst the questions posed was who would you love to work with in the future.

A girl after our own heart, Marley responded "Cate Blanchett, Sarah Polley, Gary Oldman, Robert Downey, Jr." Beauty and brains!

Sticking to the up-n-comers theme, here's a reminder to check out Dean's recap of some amazing footage of our Cate from back in her teen years that recently ran on Aussie TV. We hope to have some video captures of this before too long, as Dean's description is priceless. Check out the report at Cate's Star Search.

MAGAZINE ROUNDUP

Cate continues to be the choice of cover subjects if and when magazine editors can have their picks. Cate is featured in the current Movieline magazine, was the cover story in the Italian magazine, Donna, and has gotten much attention from a stunning cover and fine article in the December issue of Los Angeles Magazine.

The article contains all sorts of interesting tidbits. Regarding her first serious, full blown cinematic love scene (soft focus Joe Fiennes bit excluded) with John Turturro in The Man Who Cried, Cate says, "it's something to be gotten through...We met the day before, had an afternoon of rehearsal with Sally, and the next day at seven in the morning, we had to be in bed together. We were looking at one another, going, 'This is the weirdest job. I don't really know you, and you don't really know me--what are we doing?'"

She confirms that immediately following The Man Who Cried, in which she plays a Russian cabaret dancer (!), she will begin shooting The Gift for director Sam Raimi, cowritten by Billy Bob Thornton. And then, following that, she will begin filming her scenes for Lord of the Rings, of which she says, "I'm tickled. I'm being fitted for prosthetic ears".

Other interesting notes include the effect negative reviews of "Plenty" had upon her, as well as reflections on her star-making stage turn in David Mamet's "Oleanna", noting that she originally considered the play, about a pompous university professor who is accused of sexual harrassment by an unstable student "a mysogynist piece of crap". But, because it made her so angry she decided to do it.

The article may be read in its entirety at Los Angeles Magazine.

PLENTY REVISITED

An interesting article recently showed up in The Evening Standard. It was somewhat unique in its personal viewpoint as to the relationship of David Hare to his actresses. An excerpt:

Seen like this, it looks like the recent vogue for huge Hollywood stars wanting to perform serious work in small London theatres was in fact a vogue for huge Hollywood stars wanting to perform David Hare.

Nicole Kidman says the experience was, "wonderful but also terrifying at times. I remember my main emotion at the first run-through - stumble-through more like - was that I hoped we wouldn't let him down. It must have been horrible for him to see people make so many mistakes with his lines, but he was very encouraging. I'm almost frightened to do another play because that was so extraordinary. Every day and night I was looking forward to going to work and that's so unusual."

Cate Blanchett, who took on the formidable task of playing Susan Traherne in Plenty, agrees. "I'd never been more nervous in my life when he came to see the play. But he knew just when to come in and when to come out. His notes to us were poetry. Some of his insights, not just into Susan but into humanity generally, made me weep."

...But it was not until 1978 that he wrote a play which he truly felt, "sounds like me". Plenty starred Kate Nelligan as Susan Traherne, the war-time special operations executive agent whose life unravels in the peace. It was his first work for The National Theatre and he was delighted to see it successfully revived earlier this year.

"It was the first time I knew something was going to live," he says. "I've always been determined that my theatre is contemporary and I'd always said it doesn't matter about posterity. But to see it annoyed people as much as it did 20 years ago was a thrill."

Cate Blanchett didn't meet Hare until after she had started to play the role. "I felt as if I'd delved in to the very centre of him. It was bizarre. It was a bit like having passionate, anonymous sex with someone and then sometime later seeing their face. There is an undiluted quality about David and there is definitely something of that in Susan. The role was tough in that I knew what Kate Nelligan had gone through. It doesn't deal with the audience lightly, as a lot of theatre does."

Hare had an affair with Nelligan, who gave another definitive Hare performance in his television play about British wartime black propaganda, Licking Hitler. It is said that he wrote the part of Susan for her. "That's not true," he says, "but it's certainly true that Kate inspired me because she was such a great actress and a very natural player of my work.

But ultimately she felt trapped in it and one of the reasons she left the country was because her performances left such an indelible mark that she felt people confused her with the parts. "Plenty is very tough on the actor, and Cate Blanchett was disturbed by the reaction of people to the character. I did warn her that people have very strong reactions to the part and it gets right up the male nose. However, it was depressing that the critics ran round exactly the same track as when they reviewed it 20 years ago. You would have thought they could come up with something more interesting than, 'Hare writes good parts for women'. They've been saying that for 30 years."

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