FIRST TRAILER FOR "RISE OF THE PLANET OF APES"! HUGH LAURIE IS "MISTER PIP". HELENA BONHAM CARTER IN "GREAT EXPECTATIONS". OLGA KURYLENKO & AARON ECKHART IN "THE EXPATRIATE"

Hugh Laurie in a less grumpy and cynical role than usual? Why not, it could be a pleasant change especially for those who aren't really fans of his popular show HOUSE. He will play the lead

role in the film adaptation of Lloys Jones' novel MISTER PIP which follows Mr. Watts, the last white man left on the war-torn island of Bougainville. Asked to open a school there, he reads the kids his favorite novel, "Great Expectations" and bonds with them over the book, which sheds some perspective on their own difficult lives. The film will be directed by Andrew Adamson (SHREK, CHRONICLES OF NARNIA).

SHORT HEADLINES Gorgeous Olga Kurylenko has joined Aaron Eckhart in THE EXPATRIATE,  about a former CIA agent who tries to reconnect with his young daughter but

discovers that his assistant is really an assassin trying to kill him, and must go on the run with his daughter.  Olga Kurylenko will play a spy and his former love who helps them escape. *British director Mike Newell is preparing a new film adaptation of GREAT EXPECTATIONS, and he apparently wants young Jeremy Irvine (from Steven Spielberg's upcoming WAR HORSE) and Helena Bonham Carter in the lead roles. As you know it's a story about a young orphan who suddenly enters the life of luxury, thanks to a mysterious lady benefactor.

Today you can also check out the first trailer for sf action RISE OF THE PLANET OF APES with James Franco, Freida Pinto and John Litgow which comes out this August. With the usage of groundbreaking special effects used before in AVATAR, the new

version of the RISE OF THE PLANET OF APES  is an origin story set in present day San Francisco, a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction and science fact blend, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. I must admit I found the trailer rather bad and boring, and the films doesn't seem like something which could refresh the old saga.