>Grendel that will remind you of Jodie foster in Nell.

Bwah-Ha-Ha!

I remember watching Nell on a rather bizarro double date/non-date with a friend and two boys she knew (one of which she liked). Her date and I were hysterical about Nell, while she and the boy who was my date were genuinely moved. Good times.

Grendel that will remind you of Jodie foster in Nell.

So, Grendel mumbles about "Chicopee" a lot and hooks Liam Neeson up with Natasha Richardson, then?

Imelda Staunton is cast as DoDA teacher for the next Harry Potter movie!

She is going to be EXCELLENT. I can see that creepy overly sweetness right now.

The Tonks actress.

The Bellatrix Lestrange actress.

Oh! Imelda Staunton! I love her! She'll be great.

I continue to be amazed that they're actually making this movie.

Oh, I recognize that actres who plays Bellatrix Lestrange. She's been in loads of British dramas. An excellent pick. The Tonks actress is new to me, although I've seen at least one flick she's been in ("About A Boy").

Imelda Staunton, of course, will be fabulous. JK Rowling sure is getting the cream of the Brit actor crop for the adaptation of her books, isn't she?

Last night, I watched a tiny britromcom that absolutely broke me. The Girl in the Cafe with Bill Nighy (who I adore) and Kelly Macdonald.

Written by the 4 Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually guy. Deliciously well acted...Nighy was a study in shy ticks and angsty expressions...laugh out loud funny and incredibly educational about the Millenium Goals, G8 bureaucracy and world poverty. No. Really. It was a hoot.

And poignant with a capital POI.

Oh my, yes. Even DH, who watched it with me, with his head tilted and a "Buh?" expression on his face, had to admit that while he neverneverever would have willingly chosen to sit through it had he known what it was "about," the time wasn't wasted. Though he was still a little "Buh?" about it.

I kept, in the odd, fleeting nanoseconds when my attention lapsed, flashing on those two in State of Play, and on Macdonald in Two Family House, which was the first thing I ever saw her in. With Michael Rispoli, JLoey Jr. of While You Were Sleeping.

My mind, she is a frighteningly tangenty place.

ETA: and a sloppy typist, evidently.

Kelly McDonald is lovely. I think the first flick I've seen her in was Trainspotting, in which she does the nasty with Ewan McGreggor in Catholic schoolgirl uniform. Made an impression, she did.

Then she got to smooch the broodmeister Clive Owen in Gosford Park. And she's gonna be the love interest of Colin Firth in Nanny McPhee. OK, I'm a little bit jealous now.

Weetabix:

The actress selected to play Luna: [link]

Wow. She's a good match for Luna I had in my mind.

From IMDB:

Herzog Helped Phoenix from Car Wreckage

Oscar-nominee Joaquin Phoenix was rescued from his car wreck last week by German cult director Werner Herzog. The 31-year-old Walk The Line star overturned his car on a canyon road above Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood after his brakes failed and he collided with another vehicle. Phoenix was saved because he was wearing his seat-belt, but has revealed he was helped from the wreckage by the 63-year-old, who has a home nearby. The actor says, "I remember this knocking on the passenger window. There was this German voice saying, 'Just relax.' There's the airbag, I can't see and I'm saying, 'I'm fine. I am relaxed. Finally, I rolled down the window and this head pops inside. And he said, 'No, you're not.' And suddenly I said to myself, 'That's Werner Herzog' There's something so calming and beautiful about Werner Herzog's voice. I felt completely fine and safe. I climbed out. I got out of the car and I said, 'Thank you,' and he was gone."

Speaking of Herzog, the Discovery Channel is showing Grizzly Man tonight and tomorrow. If you haven't seen it, it's quite the amazing movie.