Russell Crowe will now let loose as a boxer in Ron Howard's Cinderella Man. Set in the Depression era, Crowe essays the character of the 1930s boxing champion James J Braddock.

For added authenticity, Crowe is taking lessons from former World Champion Heavyweight contender Joe Bugner, mentions a report on imdb.com.

This is Crowe's second film with Howard after A Beautiful Mind, which bagged four Academy Awards. Chicago star Renče Zellweger also features in Cinderella Man.

Jackson leaps from orcs to apes

After recreating J RR Tolkien's world of hobbits, wizards, elves and orcs in the epic Lord Of The Rings trilogy, filmmaker Peter Jackson will now remake King Kong.

As a small boy, Jackson, a recent Yahoo! Movies report said, was crazy about the gigantic ape. He even prepared a set of drafts and approached Universal Studios who own all rights to King Kong. Universal, however, was not too keen since Disney was rehashing Mighty Joe Young and Sony unleashed Godzilla around the same time.

Like LOTR, King Kong too will be shot in New Zealand. This adventure fantasy is scheduled for a December 2005 release.

No bachelor party for Ben

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After his highly publicised night out at a Canadian strip club, Ben Affleck has decided to call off his bachelor party plans, says annanova.com. The actor and his to-be-wife Jennifer Lopez are now planning their October wedding.

In the Tonight Show With Jay Leno, he told Leno he would ring up his friends and inform them he had already had his bachelor party.

Honours for Scorsese, Trintignant at Montreal film fest

The 27th Montreal Film Festival in Canada will honour filmmaker Martin Scorsese and the late French actress Marie Trintignant.

A report in the Washington Post said the festival will also showcase the works of Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu's 21 Grams and Salma Hayek's directorial venture The Maldonaldo Miracle.

The event, which opens on August 27, will screen 439 movies from 68 countries; 115 of which are world premieres - with the French-Canadian offering Gas Bar Blues.

Photo: Getty Images

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