Paul McCartney And Heather Mills Bring Their Divorce To A Finish

A Thick fog enveloping London added to the air of secrecy as Paul McCartney and Heather Mills arrived separately to hammer out a deal in the most celebrated and potentially most costly divorce battle in British legal history.

The estranged couple arrived at the judge's entrance to the Royal Courts of Justice in Holborn yesterday for negotiations to finalise the agreement.

Amid a clamour of media interest in the case, neither the judge nor the exact venue had been disclosed and Mills was led from her car with a blanket covering her head.

The aim of the hearing, which comes after months of acrimony and accusations, is to agree a financial settlement and avoid the dispute going to further costly and public hearings.

McCartney, 65, has reportedly offered £20 million ($45 million), but Mills, 39, is said to be seeking closer to £50 million.

Divorce lawyers following the case believe the couple will be keen to reach a settlement as they are anxious to shield their three-year-old daughter Beatrice from a lengthy legal process. Some divorce specialists have predicted McCartney - worth an estimated £825 million - faces a total payout approaching £70 million.

The deal is expected to outstrip the £48 million that insurance broker John Charman, 53, was ordered to pay his former wife Beverley in May this year, in Britain's biggest contested divorce settlement to date.

The former Beatle married Mills, an ex-model, in June 2002, four years after his first wife Linda died of breast cancer. They met at a charity event in 1999 and their early relationship was characterised by newspaper headlines claiming that McCartney's three grown-up children disapproved of the match.

The pair seemed united by their love of charity work and campaigning but Mills, who lost a leg in a road accident in 1993, remained unpopular with the public and the press.

Since their union broke down last year, the couple's divorce has been played out acrimoniously in the public eye, with Mills saying in March that securing a divorce deal was like "getting blood out of a stone". Sir Paul has mostly kept quiet during the proceedings.

Mills also appeared on the US television show Dancing With the Stars, where she won fans for her determination to master the tricky dance routines.

Relations between Mills and McCartney appear to be thawing. They have been pictured in public together and are said to be making an effort to get along for the sake of their daughter.

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Full TV Episode Download To Begin Next Year

The commercial TV networks have signalled expansive plans for full TV episode downloads next year but are likely to shun charging users for the bulk of their content in favour of an advertiser-funded service.

Seven does not offer full episode downloads, Ten has experimented in a small way with shows such as Supernatural, and Nine, via ninemsn, continues with its year-long trials of McLeod's Daughters, Sea Patrol, CSI and Madmen for $1.95 an episode.

However, Nine and Ten have signalled their intention to launch free full-length episodes of local and international programs next year, with some negotiations under way with advertisers.

Seven did not know its position on full-length episode downloads, although some in the network said Australian audiences were so far only interested in short-form wraps to catch up on plots or to preview episodes.

However, the experience in the past 12 months of the US broadcasters, particularly Seven's big US output partner, the Disney-owned ABC, is the opposite.

ABC dropped its pay-per-episode service last September and launched its own broadband video player on ABC.com, which it says has resulted in more than 140 million episode views being "initiated" - the broadband player only allows US users to view the material.

ABC's downloadable shows in the US include Desperate Housewives, Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy and Lost. Three weeks ago ABC also struck its first distribution deal with a big online portal, AOL, in which a co-branded version of the TV network's broadband player will allow AOL users to view the ABC's new season line-up of TV shows free, hours after the broadcast.

NBC announced at the same time it would offer a slate of its programs online free from November, with TV commercials in the downloaded episodes.

Disney-ABC International also struck a potentially threatening deal in September for its broadcast partners outside the US - the Seven Network included - after finalising an agreement last month to allow the Finnish commercial TV broadcaster, Nelonen, to release hit ABC shows such as Ugly Betty and Lost via broadband up to 12 months before the TV schedule. Finnish users will pay €3 ($4.72) for each episode.

The director of product and strategy at ninemsn, Jane O'Connell, would not disclose the number of episodes its users had paid for the four shows in its fee-based line-up but said the first instalment of Sea Patrol, offered free as a launch promotion earlier this year, generated four times the downloads as the paid service.

Ms O'Connell said ninemsn saw great opportunity in advertising-supported downloads. "We expect to see something significant in the next six months. The biggest challenge is wading through the [intellectual property] rights.

"The only thing holding us back is broadband speeds. Audiences would love it."

She said ninemsn had streamed about 250,000 short-form "catch-up" TV segments in September of its drama shows, Sea Patrol and McLeod's Daughters.

Ten's general manager of digital media, Damian Smith, said the network would make available more full-length episodes in 2008.

"We want to be in free content with ads. In 12 months from now you will see a lot more free full episodes," he said.

Mr Smith expected online audience numbers to be between 10 and 20 per cent of the broadcast TV figure for popular programs but climb after that. "The reality is the mass audience is still with the broadcast channel. Then you've got the passionate 20 [per cent] who clearly want more and that's where online and mobile steps in."

The research firm IDC says the number of Americans who watch mobile TV will more than triple from 7 million to 24 million in the next three years.

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Vampire Movie 'Perfect Creature' Came To Glenn Standring In A Daydream

Scott Kara

The idea for vampire movie Perfect Creature came to Glenn Standring in a daydream. Or a daymare, if there is such a thing.

He imagined there was a good vampire chasing a bad vampire in an alternate world where humans happily share their blood with these superior beings.

"I was like, 'What the hell does that mean? It looks cool, so I'll investigate it'. So from there, off I went," says the director from his home in Dunedin.

Perfect Creature is set in 1969, in the Pacific Colony of Nuovo Zelandia - "we could have set it in America but we decided to set it in a colonial world that was kind of New Zealand" - where humans and vampires co-exist.

The vampires, known as the Brothers, were a new race created 300 years before by an Italian alchemist who discovered babies that suckled on blood rather than milk.

"In these beautiful creatures he believed he saw God's hand in the world," says Standring.

Fast-forward a century or three and the Brothers are now the protectors of humanity who guard us from the effects of disease and viral mutations. All they ask in return is for humans to share their blood.

It sounds macabre, but in Standring's alternate world things seem harmonious - the Brothers even go to stylish drinking establishments, a cross between a cathedral and a swanky pub, where they sip blood from vial-like glasses.

But a problem arises: One of the Brothers, the evil Edgar, has begun to hunt humans, preying upon residents in the slums of Jamestown where the movie is set. The Brothers try to deal with it in secret and assign Silus, Edgar's twin brother, to catch him.

When Silus fails he hooks up with policewoman Lily Hour to hunt Edgar and from then on the film becomes a type of vampire-action-suspense thriller, with silver bullet-dodging and blood-sucking galore.

"It's not your standard vampire movie," says Standring. "It's part of the vampire genre, and that canon of movies, but all the ones that I really liked were the ones that twisted it sideways and did something different with it like Interview with the Vampire. So yes, it is a vampire movie, but I classify it as a science fiction thriller with horror elements."

The $14.5 million film stars Scottish actor Dougray Scott (Mission Impossible 2, Enigma) as Silus, Saffron Burrows (Troy, Enigma, Frida) as Lily Hour, and local actors Scott Wells and Robbie Magasiva as cops.

Standring has always loved horror films and his debut feature film, The Irrefutable Truth About Demons, from 2001, revealed his fascination with demons and vampires. He grew up watching the Sunday horrors on TV and was intrigued by movies such as Dracula and The Raven.

"I totally dug the aesthetic, the dark quality, and visually, even though I didn't know it at the time, they were incredibly artistic, like The Tomb of Ligeia. They had these creepy, [Edgar Allan] Poe stories that really got into the subconscious and the fantastical element. Those fantastical, netherworld ideas really attract me. The edge of reality. Where reality breaks down, that's where I find myself being attracted to those sort of subjects and stories."

For Perfect Creature he developed his daydream by going back into history to a time when science and religion were still one.

"That was the time of the alchemists," he explains. "That was the last time science and religion were together and from then on you have them as two cultural strands. That was the central theme for [Perfect Creature's] world, which was that these people all believe in God, completely, which means modernism never happened and the Victorian industrial revolution just kept on going."

Despite Perfect Creature's strong Christian and specifically Catholic allusions, Standring is not religious. "But I am a Christian. I may not believe in God but all my values are [Christian values]," he explains.

He says all his projects tend to "play around with Christian mythology" and because he trained as an archaeologist he admits the attraction of film-making is "to go back in history and have a play around".

"In terms of setting up Perfect Creature there was a lot of archaeology and anthropology, and looking at the history of alchemy and how people might have handled these strange babies who were born 300 years ago. Would they have seen them, as I see them, like a sign from God that these are perfect things? It's all archaeology, really. It's all layers."

There's many layers to the steam-powered sprawl of Jamestown - a cross between a colonial city and something out of Bladerunner. On the streets there are Polynesian faces, moko, and Maori cloaks alongside vintage American style cops, old school cars, and muddy streets.

"We always said this is a period film but it's a period that has never existed before. It's a bit like a mash-up in music. You push the elements a little and it's risky but it's fun to do."

The film was shot in Dunedin, Auckland and the small North Otago town of Oamaru, which has one street entirely of Victorian buildings, making it perfect for Standring's set.

"It could be a street in Victorian times, barring a few wires. That was the beautiful thing we found there, and we dirtied it up, added steam, and tonnes of rain."

Considering he finished shooting the film at the end of 2004, its release has been a long time coming. But he's not complaining because the delay was due to 20th Century Fox buying the movie.

"It's great for the film but it also means you become part of the corporate American system and they're the big boys. It's been a bit frustrating, but now we're bringing out to New Zealanders and I'm hoping they dig it."

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Bobby Brown "None of it's true. I went in for a check-up"

Singer Bobby Brown was hospitalised after suffering a mild heart attack on Tuesday.

Brown was taken to two different hospitals after suffering chest pains on Tuesday evening and was kept in hospital overnight before he was released in 'good condition'.

"This morning they did diagnose him as suffering from a mild heart attack ... they attributed (it) to stress and diet," Brown's rep Phaedra Parks told Associated Press today.

"He is in great spirits, he's doing very well," she said. "He's speaking with family members."

Brown is due to perform in Los Angeles this weekend and Parks confirmed he is aiming to be there.

"He just wants the fans to know that he is definitely going to come back full speed ahead," Parks said.

Brown, 38, is in the midst of a divorce and custody battle with singer Whitney Houston.

But in a developing report, Bobby Brown has denied claims that he was taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack.

The singer set the record straight after the story was widely reported when his Atlanta attorney reportedly confirmed the heart attack.

Brown told Associated Press Radio that he was simply at the hospital for a check-up.

He said: "None of it's true. I went in for a check-up. The doc gave me a clean bill of health."

"I did go to the hospital. to just get a check-up, get everything tested out so that I could go on this tour, and everything is fine."

Brown also said: "I don't know where the heart attack thing came from. I got my heart and everything checked out earlier this morning, and I'm just fine.

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Heroes, Everyday People With Extraordinary Powers

Just like one of his characters, Tim Kring has undergone a strange and rapid transformation in the past year. Now his life will never be the same.

The 50-year-old Californian was a solidly successful television writer-producer with credits for character-based dramas like Chicago Hope, Providence and Crossing Jordan.

But then he came up with the idea for Heroes, a drama about everyday people discovering they have extraordinary powers - and a higher purpose (All together now: Save the cheerleader, save the world").

US Network NBC had come to Kring in 2005 saying they needed a serial to give the channel its own Lost or 24. Kring had an idea, inspired, he says, by the fearful state of the world.

"I wanted to come up with a show that could deal with these larger issues and that is why I stayed away from typical cop show or law show or medical show because they couldn't speak to these giant issues that we face," he says from his Los Angeles production office where he's about nine episodes into the second series.

Heroes started screening in the US in September last year. It became a ratings and critical hit. Quickly renewed for another series, its second season began there last month and will start screening on TV3 next week, just as fans wade through the depths and detail of the seven-DVD set of the first season.

Along the way, like Chris Carter (X-Files), J.J. Abrams (Lost), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) before him, Kring has become a venerated pop culture figure, a telly geek guru.

While he appreciates the attention to show he still finds it odd.

"It's strange because I had a 23-year career as a TV writer before I discovered overnight success with these particular fans. So it's been fun and strange all at the same time.

"It was not intentional but yet I knew these kinds of shows have a sense of personality attached to them and that is very important, so there has been an amount of pushing me in front to fulfill that role. Shows like Buffy and X-Files were centred around a single personality at the top of them and this particular audience tends to understand that and want it and appreciate that."

The funny thing is for a show with so many allusions to the arcane world of comic books, its creator isn't a comic book fan - though he's employed a fair few though in his writers' room.

But he didn't want Heroes to be a show destined for a short screen life and everlasting cult appreciation. Just because it was about fledgling superheroes, didn't mean it had to be a genre show. He says he brought a wider character-based perspective to it.

"There was some combination of my experience as a character-based drama writer and television writer working within this idea of borrowing from the comic book world that made it an accessible show to a mass audience, not just the genre audience.

"I came up with all these characters and all of their powers based on their needs or desires ... you take this character Nicky played by Ali Larter and I started thinking wouldn't it be great to have a single mother who is stretched very thin trying to make ends meet and not very capable and not very educated and wouldn't it be great if there was some alter ego who was pure Id who would take care of her - literally the idea of being in two places at one time.

"So each character I came at from a psychological character-based desire and just stumbled and landed on these big archetypes who had been done many many times in the comic book world."

Kring chuckles about the discussions in the writers' room where he sometimes has to remind the staff, hey, we're making television here.

"One of the problems is too many geeks left to their own devices will fall back heavily on to their knowledge of the comic book world and it can start to spin out of control."

"Every once in a while I will come into the writers' room and encounter a conversation that will make my head spin and I'm the guy who brings them back to reality: `wait a minute, why would anyone ever believe that could happen?"'

Kring freely admits the debt Heroes owes to Lost. But then again, one of his own former offsiders from Crossing Jordan, Damon Lindelof, was one of the show's writer-creators. In Lost's formative years Kring says he was an informal sounding board for his friend.

"In many ways that show softened up both the networks for how to do a show like this and the audience for how to watch a show like this.

"Every show has to teach the audience how to watch it - there is a certain vocabulary that comes with every show and a lot of that was taught to the audience by a show like Lost.

What Lost also taught Heroes is how not to leave your audience exasperated by yet another mystery within a mystery, seemingly only designed to drag the show out. "We watched a lot of the pitfalls that shows like Lost had to deal with. It's a very difficult premise and a much more difficult premise to service than ours and they do it really artfully.

"And taking nothing away from them but we were able to see where the frustration levels of the audience were. Let's answer questions faster' and that sort of thing."

In the commentary to the pilot episode in the DVD set, Kring talks about an initial terrorist storyline which was ditched after NBC got nervous that it would affect what time the show could screen.

Looking back he says it worked out for the best - "I don't know whether I would have wanted to tell that story every day of my life."

However, the first series still pivoted on preventing an apocalyptic event in New York - complete with heavy 9/11 allusions.

When Kring talks about the political themes behind his creation, he can sound positively Al Gore-like. But he says part of the reasons for the show's success that it captures the mood of the times and tries to do that with a global reach - with its American characters joined by those from India, Japan, Haiti and in the forthcoming second series, an entire subtitled storyline in Spanish (see sidebar).

"I don't know whether it's political but it has a message of hope and a message of interconnectivity of people around the world; of empowerment and unity that people from around the world are as valued as we are here.

"It has an anti-xenophobic message to it and in a culture where we both have a media and a Government which disseminates a lot of fear it puts out a message of hope. It's very disguised in a pop entertainment show about superheroes."

And yes, he does know where it's all going. More or less.

"We have big tent-pole ideas and we head towards those, which allows the show to be very organic in between and go where it wants to go. In many ways we have the big ideas of the season worked out and in very very broad ways a third season.

"Not a whole lot past there. Just a couple of lines jotted down."

Tim Kring on the second series:
"Volume two is called Generations and it's about this idea there was this other generation of people that we started to meet at the end of the first series - as exemplified by Malcolm McDowell and George Takei's characters. They were these other people who had these powers and were the parents and this second volume deals with the idea of the sins of the parents being visited upon the children.

"Where the first season was about ordinary people who become extraordinary the second season is about how these extraordinary people try to figure out how to be ordinary and go back to their lives - only to find that their lives can never be ordinary again."

"We are doing a storyline that is set in Spanish about. a brother and a sister who are making their way up - it's very timely here in the United States - through Central America and Mexico to cross the border into America and she has a very dark power although she is not a very dark character.

"And then we are doing a story set in post-Katrina New Orleans that in some ways is the closest thing we have to a [traditional] superhero story, about someone who uses their powers to help a tough and needy neighbourhood."

LOWDOWN

Who: Tim Kring, creator of Heroes

When: First season "Volume One" out now on DVD; Second season begins Monday October 22, 8.30pm, TV3.

Trivia: Kring's first writing credit was for a 1982 episode of David Hasselhoff's Knight Rider.

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Seven Hospital Staff Suspended For Looking At George Clooney's Chart

A US hospital where George Clooney was treated after he was knocked off his motorbike has accused about 40 staff, including doctors, of inappropriately looking at the movie star's chart, a union said on Wednesday.

The Health Professional and Allied Employees union in New Jersey said seven of its members had been suspended for a month without pay by the Palisades Medical Center -- across the Hudson River from Manhattan -- over the incident.

Clooney, 46, who won an Oscar last year for his supporting role in the political thriller Syriana, fractured a rib and his companion, Sarah Larson, broke her foot when the two were knocked off his motorbike by a car late last month.

Union president Ann Twomey said in a statement the union's nurses and health professionals may have been authorized to view Clooney's chart. The union was investigating.

"While we believe that individuals need to be held accountable if they violated patient privacy, we also believe that the hospital had a responsibility to establish proper systems to protect patient privacy," Twomey said.

"The hospital instead rushed to judgment and imposed harsh economic penalties, instead of working to prevent future breaches of security," she said.

Hospital officials were not available for comment.

In statement to local media, Clooney said: "While I very much believe in a patient's right to privacy, I would hope that this could be settled without suspending medical workers."

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Supergroove Band Make Up And Reunite After 10 Years

After a less than amicable split 10 years ago, Supergroove singer Karl Steven says the band has put the past behind them and are ready to tour again.

Steven says three upcoming concerts will showcase "the old Supergroove, trying to put the same sort of energy and intensity into its performances" but with one crucial difference".

"We will be balder and fatter," he quipped.

The passage of time has helped heal a lot of old wounds and allowed the members to grow up, so they are ready to celebrate their music, he says.

"We're all friends again and can play music together, be in the same room together.

"The music seems fresh again.

"We're all willing to get over the horrible stuff and set things right a bit."

Over the past year, Steven says a lot of apologies had been made but the "process wasn't complete".

"We're a bunch of sensitive characters. If it has to be a bonding lovefest so be it."

Those sensitive characters include successful solo artist Che Fu, Jo Lonie, Tim Stewart, Ben Sciascia, Ian Jones and Nick Atkinson, along with Steven.

No-one thought Supergroove would reform after their less than amicable split but they are now rehearsing to support Crowded House for three shows.

Despite being contacted by touring companies probing an idea of getting back together several times, this was the first time all the members thought it would be a good idea, Steven says.

"I've been living in England for the past few years and I decided it would be really nice to spend some time with those guys again.

"Some of the guys, we're quite close friends, others I drifted out of contact with and I realised I would only get any real sort of serious time if we played music with them.

"That's when I started thinking that I would be happy to play those songs and do the whole Supergroove thing, if it meant that we could hang out and spend that time."

The idea of reforming had never been seriously considered before because band members always assumed either he or Che would not consider it, he says.

That was how bad the split was, he says.

"The cause of it was kind of growing up and growing in separate directions but we certainly handled it pretty badly.

"It was absolutely to do with being young and foolish.

"But also part of it was Supergroove was a pretty big institution at the time in our lives and it took on a life of its own with lawyers and accountants."

Steven says the members "lost touch with what it was about and why we were doing it in the first place".

Combined with some bad advice, it led to a distorted perspective, he says.

Steven says the band is already mulling over extending the honeymoon a bit longer.

"We might drag it out for a few months and then maybe do the odd gig after that. It's not a full re-integration of the group."

Despite the success, Steven says his own highlight of Supergroove was before it was at its peak.

"I was quite jealous of bands which were still struggling a bit and just getting their first single released.

"That's quite a fun time to be in a band, it's quite exciting."

The rhythm of touring, recording, interviews, can get a bit boring, he says.

What is not boring is the idea of opening for Crowded House.

The possibility of getting back together came up before the Crowded House proposition but it sealed the deal for the band.

"There was still some hesitation about whether we should do this and when the Crowded House offer came up everyone went 'yes we should'."

For Steven life after Supergroove has involved studying Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy at Cambridge University.

In the longterm Steven, or Dr Karl Steven as he will be known now his PhD is completed, intends to keep an eclectic mix of career paths going.

Steven has been teaching at Auckland University, where he is keen to stay.

"Some students do know, some don't, some find out just when they are filling out the evaluation forms."

There are plans to continue with music as well, with Steven producing albums for bands and composing for television and film.

"I think people are a lot more complex than when we sometimes pretend.

"It would be nice to think people have a single calling in their life and that they just go straight into that and then they're happy forever.

"In my case I knew I wanted to be a musician from when I was 10, really worked very hard at that until I was 22 and then got very tired of it.

"Particularly the whole Supergroove thing because it was an unpleasant end -- music was sort of tainted by the way it ended."

Now with a newfound rejuvenation Steven says the band is focused on giving back to their fans.

"We went overseas for a year and then crapped out so now we can pay back the audience in some way and get some resolution happening."

The band's members have grown-up, thanks in no small part to many of the experiences in Supergroove.

Being in the band also led to an unlikely academic path for Steven.

"I bombed out of high school early on and always thought I would never go to university, thought they were freaks and hated intellectuals.

"Thought reading was anti-social, so I was quite aggressive in my rejection of that sort of thing.

"It was on tour that I stumbled into a book store.

"It was through that music lifestyle that gave me the time and space to explore ideas and stuff, which is what took me to university."

If it had not been for Supergroove Steven says he may never have gone to university, staying a sound engineer -- his job before Supergroove took over.

"I went and bought drugs too but they proved to be a lot more expensive and a lot less interesting than reading."

Supergroove will support Crowded House at three concerts:

* October 28 Vector Arena, Auckland
* October 31 TSB Arena, Wellington
* November 2 Westpac Arena, Christchurch

The Best of Supergroove is released this month.

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Zac Efron Maintains Silence Vanessa Hudgens' Nude Pictures

High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron is happy to subject himself to an inevitable sliming at tomorrow night's Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.

But talk of his co-star and girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend depending on what reports you believe, is off limits.

A scandal involving nude photos of the Disney pin-up's partner Vanessa Hudgens coincided with Efron's recent trip to Australia to promote his other musical hit, Hairspray.

Today he returned to the Australian spotlight to plug the Kid's Choice Awards, which he will co-host with Los Angeles-based Australian musical twins The Veronicas.

While cooperative when quizzed on his knowledge of Aussie slang - only being stumped on obscurities such as lamingtons and ute, which he thought would be a boat - he stone-walled the media when it came to the mention of Hudgens.

"I never talk about my private life," he said.

After the awards Efron said he was going the "chill" in Australia, but revealed only that he would be somewhere near water in a bid for some privacy during his stay.

"I've been here more than most people I know, but I've never had the chance to just hang out," he said.

As for The Veronicas, Lisa and Jess Origliasso, they are more than prepared to embarrass themselves on tomorrow night's show, but may be in for a rude shock after saying they hoped to escape the green goo that greets celebrities on editions of the Nickelodeon show around the world.

While the awards are held tomorrow night they won't be aired until Thursday.

Voting is carried out entirely by the children of Australia, or an adult who helps them navigate the Nickelodeon website as they chose their favourite celebrities in categories covering music, TV and movies.

Special awards for "fave hottie" and "fave celebrity duo" will precede what has been dubbed The Big 3, the "so hot right now", "biggest greenie" and "fave Aussie" award.

Guests could provide clues to potential winners, with The Veronicas nominated for "fave celebrity duo" and "fave band".

Lisa's boyfriend Dean Geyer is a chance for "fave male singer" and up against Jennifer Hawkins, Lucas Neill and Natalie Bassingthwaighte in the "fave hottie" category.

Other guests include World Wrestling Entertainment stars Torrie Anne Wilson and John Cena, whose brand is nominated up against Efron's High School Musical 2 for the "so hot right now" gong.

Jess Origliasso said "fave Aussie" will be the most hotly contested category, with the diverse choice of Bindi Irwin, Hugh Jackman, Kate Ritchie and Rove McManus.

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'The Hoff' David Hasselhoff In Hospital For Alcohol Relapse

News just in that David 'the Hoff' Hasselhoff has checked himself into a hospital today after what his reps are calling a "relapse".

We can only assume that this "relapse" has something to do with his alcoholism, but that has yet to be confirmed.

His rep Judy Katz tells celebrity news website TMZ:

"David had a brief relapse and immediately recognized the importance of addressing it with the assistance of his doctors,"

"He is doing fine and will be back home in the morning."

The beleaguered star is said to be detoxing at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles.

An onlooker at the hospital described the Hoff as "looking awful, his colour was ashen. He felt sick. It was just so sad."

This latest setback in the Baywatch star's personal life will no doubt set tongues wagging over how it will affect his custody case.

The Hoff and ex-wife Pamela Bach are currently locked in a bitter custody battle over daughters Taylor-Ann, 17, and Hayley, 14.

Sources say that the children have been with ex-wife Pamela for the past three weeks, while the Hoff has been away in Romania filming Anaconda 3.

Watch this space for updates.

In other news...

Lindsay Lohan is making plans for life after rehab. The 21-year-old actress reportedly checked out of the Cirque Lodge, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Utah, on Friday. She had entered treatment in August after reaching a plea deal on misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges following two arrests.

"It was a sobering experience," Lohan says in an interview with OK! magazine. "It was humbling. It made me look at myself, and all of the people, places and things in my life in a different way. I was in there for substance abuse, after all."

Staying sober — and out of Los Angeles — is Lohan's main priority.

"I'm staying in Utah until it's time to shoot `Dare to Love Me,' and then I plan on returning to Utah so I can stay focused, and avoid other distractions," she tells OK!

When asked whether she's worried about a relapse, Lohan says: "Of course I am! If I wasn't I'd be living in denial. Temptation is always there but now I'll avoid it the right way."

Lohan — who recently reunited with her father, Michael Lohan, after a 3 1/2-year estrangement — tells In Touch Weekly that her parents' divorce triggered her behavior.

"The trouble in my family resulted in me rebelling and doing things to get my parents' attention," she says. "But all in all, it's better for me now to have them (in my life). It's healthy."

Lohan says she's cutting out the people who encouraged her substance abuse.

"Those are the ones who are around me for the wrong reasons," she says. "The people who want to go out and party, that's not what I am about now."

Lohan was arrested in May after crashing her Mercedes-Benz into a tree in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was arrested again in July after the mother of Lohan's former personal assistant called 911 to report that her car was being chased by a sport utility vehicle. The chase ended in Santa Monica, where police arrested Lohan for being behind the wheel.

In both cases, Lohan was found in possession of small amounts of cocaine.

Her plea deal called for her to enter treatment, spend a day in jail and perform community service.

"I just want to apologize to any of my fans that look up to me, especially my younger fans, for setting the examples that I didn't mean to set," she tells In Touch. "That is one of the reasons that I want to change things."

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Roman Catholic Priest Christian Von Wernich Gets Life For War Crimes

A former police chaplain has been sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in torture, kidnapping and murder during Argentina's "dirty war," in the first trial of a clergyman for rights abuses under military rule.

Roman Catholic priest Christian Von Wernich tended to the notorious Buenos Aires provincial police force, and rights lawyers say he pressured torture victims to talk during visits to clandestine detention centres.

Outside the court in the central city of La Plata, crowds cheered and set off firecrackers as the verdict was read in the televised trial.

"It's a historic day, a wonderful day ... it's something we mothers didn't think we'd live to see," said Tati Almeyda, of the Founding Line of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, wearing the white headscarf that has become a symbol for human rights campaigners worldwide.

"Justice has been done. The Catholic Church was an accomplice," she added.

The mothers of murdered political activists have led efforts for human rights convictions related to the dirty war, when thousands of leftist dissidents were systematically maimed and killed during Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship.

Von Wernich, 69, sat with his head hanging low, his mouth turned downward and his arms crossed over a bulletproof vest during sentencing.

When he was given a chance to speak hours before the verdict was announced, Von Wernich cited the Bible and said firmly: "If we want to reach the truth, we should do it peacefully ... because a heart filled with malice is a heart that doesn't understand what God wants and what man needs: reconciliation."

Although Von Wernich did not testify during the three-month trial, he told court officials previously he was unaware that detainees were being tortured or held illegally.

Von Wernich's trial was the first case to probe dirty war-era crimes since a former provincial police commissioner was sentenced to life in prison in September 2006.

That trial was marred by the disappearance of a key witness, Jorge Julio Lopez, who has not been seen since and whom many fear may have been abducted and killed.

One of Von Wernich's defence lawyers said the charges against his client were excessive and suggested the case was an ideological attack against the Catholic Church.

Centre-left President Nestor Kirchner persuaded Congress to scrap amnesty laws shielding rights abusers from prosecution for dictatorship-era crimes, and the Supreme Court ruled in the same vein in 2005.

That paved the way for new and reopened investigations into the deaths and disappearances of between 11,000 and 30,000 people during the dirty war purge of leftists, which also swept up Argentines uninvolved in politics.

Many rights activists accuse the Church hierarchy of supporting the military dictatorship and opting to keep silent about its brutality.

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Kiefer Sutherland Faces 18-Days In Jail

24 star Kiefer Sutherland is heading to jail after pleading no contest to a DUI charge in Los Angeles yesterday, reports TMZ.

The website is reporting that Sutherland, who did not attend the court appearance in person, will serve 18 days for violating probation, plus an additional 30 days for the DUI (Driving under the influence) charge.

However, the judge has yet to to hand down his sentence, with the sentencing hearing not scheduled until December 21.

The charge is Sutherland's second DUI charge. In 2004 the actor pleaded no contest to a DUI charge and was placed on five years probation.

The 40-year-old actor was arrested in Los Angeles last month, charged with two counts of DUI, after reportedly blowing more than .16 in a breathaliser test - twice the legal limit.

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Tom Cruise Prepares For Alien Invasion

It's official: Tom Cruise is as mad as a cut snake. Forget global warming and the looming disintegration of democracy, the most pressing issue of the day in Cruiseland is the threat of invasion by … aliens.

According to several mags this week, Cruise is building an "$11 million luxury underground bunker" at his property in Colorado so his family can survive an "alien invasion".

"It's a self-contained underground shelter with high-tech air purifying system," Woman's Day reports. Other essential alien fighting features include a helipad and swimming pool.

Turns out that Tom is petrified of some alien guy called Xenu, who, according to the teachings of Scientology, is a bit of a bastard (or "intergalactic warlord" in Scientology speak) with a serious bone to pick with Earth because um, he's just, err … really cranky with us or something.

"Tom is tired of his beliefs being portrayed as nutty," says the mag. "As far as he's concerned, his ideas are totally reasonable and he's sick of having to justify them to non-believers."

Rightio. Better start digging under the garage then and stocking up on water bottles and tins of tomato soup.

Afflicted with a similar reality-distorting condition is Pamela Anderson. NW reports that the world's most famous pair of double-E breasts has married her new boyfriend of six minutes, Rick Saloman, the internet porn filmmaker behind the Paris Hilton sex tape.

The quickie union comes about seven minutes after Pammy's last bikini-clad wedding, to Kid Rock, which lasted about one minute. At least Pam will be guaranteed a new acting gig - prepare for the net's newest sex tape sensation - Wham Bam, Thank You, Pam II.

Again. Gotta make a living somehow, guys.

It appears that Angelina Jolie has taken a leaf out of Pammy's book and invested in a new pair of "bullet boobs", according to Famous. The magazine arrived at this important conclusion after comparing a picture of the scrawny star looking flat-chested in June to a new pic of her sporting pointy Betty Page breasts. The mag even went so far as to "consult" a plastic surgeon to confirm its theory.

Boobs aside, Ange has some other issues on her plate. She has become a bit of a lush, says Famous, making her prone to spontaneous collapse.

"She doesn't eat so when she does drink, the booze hits her so hard she collapses," says the mag. No more wines for you, Ange, unless they're accompanied by a very large steak and pile of greasy chips.

Famous quickly moves on to the ever-popular celebrity porn/sex tape beat, with the news that we're about to see a lot more of Demi Moore.

Her toyboy husband, Ashton Kutcher, kept nude pics of Demi on his mobile phone, maybe so he didn't forget what her bum looked like when he ducked out of the house for a loaf of bread. That's fine if you're into that kind of thing, except that butter-fingers Kutcher lost his mobile during a recent trip to Spain.

The lucky bugger who found the phone, which was left in the back of a cab, could become the world's newest millionaire. He has offered the pics to the National Enquirer for $US1 million. Looks like we'll be getting to know Demi's bum, too, now. Thanks, Ash.

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George Clooney Believes No Woman Can Snare Him

George Clooney may be the world's most eligible bachelor - or the most visible bachelor, anyway - but not all of his Hollywood friends think he will stay that way.

Michelle Pfeiffer, his co-star in one of his first hit movies, One Fine Day, revealed that she has upped a long-standing bet that he will, one day, find a nice girl and settle down.

The bet started out years ago at US$100. But Clooney, ever more adamant about staying unattached, has steadily increased the stakes. "I bet him he would get married and he keeps inflating the bet, from $100 to $100,000," Pfeiffer told Jonathan Ross in an interview. "I still think he will."

A hundred grand for Pfeiffer and Clooney is not, of course, the daunting sum it might be for the rest of us.

Clooney won an Oscar last year for his supporting role in Syriana, and received universal acclaim for writing and directing Good Night, and Good Luck.

At 46, Clooney is of course a celebrated charmer, frequently listed in the gossip rags as one of the sexiest men alive. He hardly lives like a monk - he rarely goes anywhere without a beautiful woman on his arm.

But Clooney has also campaigned harder than anyone to try to stop the genocide in Darfur, addressing the UN and lobbying politicians on both sides of the American political aisle.

He's often touted as a possible future political candidate, along the lines of Ronald Reagan, a charmer from another era, or Arnold Schwarzenegger. That seems unlikely, though. "Run for office?" he once said. "No. I've slept with too many women, I've done too many drugs, and I've been to too many parties."

Clooney did tie the knot once in the late 1980s, but it lasted just three years.

As for his record on winning bets, he looks like he's sitting pretty. Pfeiffer, along with Nicole Kidman, once bet him $20,000 he would have a child by the time he turned 40. When he turned that corner six years ago, he graciously returned the cheques the two women wrote with a note saying: "Double or nothing for another 10 years."

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Matthew Vaughn's Regrets On X-Men

Matthew Vaughn claims X-Men: The Last Stand would have been "a hundred times" better if he had directed it.

The director - who pulled out of the project just weeks before filming began - insists he could have made a better version of the action blockbuster than director Brett Ratner, who took over at the last minute.

"As it happens, I could have made something a hundred times better than the film that was eventually made," Matthew told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"It sounds arrogant, but I could have done something with far more emotion and heart.

"I'm probably going to be told off for saying that, but I genuinely believe it."

Matthew - who has a four-year-old son, Caspar, and three-year-old daughter Clementine with supermodel wife Claudia Schiffer - also revealed he would have loved to direct the film, but just didn't have enough time to commit to the project.

The Stardust director said: "What happened with X-Men 3 was I didn't have the time to make the movie that I wanted to make. I had a vision of how it should be, and I wanted to make sure I was making a film as good as X-Men 2, and I knew there was no way it could be. I just suddenly knew it wasn't the right thing for me to do.

"It was a tough decision, because it was a hell of an opportunity, but I was trying to make a career as a director, and I didn't want to be the man accused of making a bad X-Men movie.

"It could have been a death knell too. I had to be very, very careful because Hollywood could have said, 'Who does he think he is? He walked off a big movie.' So it was quite scary for me doing Stardust. "

Fairytale fantasy Stardust has an all-star cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, Sir Ian McKellen and Peter O'Toole.

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Septuagenarian Sex, A Commonplace

Swearing on television? Old hat. Lesbian kisses? Boring. Nudity? Commonplace. It's getting harder to shock the general public these days, but in an era where Viagra and cosmetic surgery seem to be shifting the ground beneath our feet, are we ready to tackle one of the last remaining taboos — old folks getting physical?

Richard Branson's Virgin Money set the cat among the pigeons with its recent Australian home loan advertising campaign that features septuagenarian couple Bill and Glenys Ferguson locked in various embraces in various states of undress.

The '60s sex symbol Julie Christie, now in her 60s, is back on the big screen in advance screenings this weekend, in the acclaimed Canadian production Away From Her, this time as an Alzheimer's patient who forms a love triangle when she checks into a nursing home and forgets who her husband is.

American television, meanwhile, is being rocked by Tell Me You Love Me, from the edgy HBO network responsible for The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Sex and the City. The new cable TV series, which has been bought for Australia by the Ten Network, is sexually explicit, like Ten's current controversial series Californication, and portrays the sex lives of four couples, including that of an elderly therapist and her retired husband.

"The shock of seeing Foster (the therapist) having sex is an effective and unsettling reminder of how desexualised anyone older than 50 is in this society," wrote reviewer Mary McNamara in the Los Angeles Times early this month.

Theatre too is chiming in with Half Life, the story of a couple who fall in love in a nursing home thinking they are rekindling an old flame. Canadian playwright and mathematician John Mighton says the work, which makes its Australian debut next month at the Melbourne International Arts Festival, surprised him with its topicality

"When I wrote the play I simply wanted to try to look more deeply at what I had seen and experienced in the nursing home where my mother spent five years," he says. "In hindsight I couldn't have chosen a more relevant topic.

"In an age when more and more of us will do anything to hide the physical effects of ageing, people feel uncomfortable about the prospect of witnessing love or sex between older people. They're simply not accustomed to seeing these things. But audiences have found the acts of physical tenderness in movies like Away From Her or this play refreshing, and perhaps even consoling."

Gerard Mansour, the chief of Aged and Community Care Victoria, says the aged care industry has always been conscious that older people were still sexually active, though it's not behaviour that gets aired in the public domain very often. His organisation is even working on a resource due for release in the next few months called "Expressing Sexuality in Residential Aged Care".

"It's something people don't like to talk about — it's like teenagers talking about sex with their parents," he says. "Old people don't lose their sex drive just because they're older. The principle we work from is that your freedoms don't change when you enter aged care."

As for Bill and Glenys, married 57 years and still mad for each other, they joined 277 couples in Sydney's Centennial Park earlier this month and smashed the world record for the number of couples gathered in one place to renew their vows.

They plan to celebrate their 80th birthdays with a tandem skydive and will splurge the money they've earned from the Virgin Money ads on a trip to New York and a romantic cruise home on the QE2.

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Was Logan Millar In In A Bizarre Love Triangle

Logan Millar lay in bed last Tuesday night with girlfriend Michaiah Simmons, planning their future. "He told me he loved me, we talked about getting married quite a bit but we both didn't want children," says a tearful Simmons, 22. "He was happy, we were lying in bed, it was raining hard; Logan loved the rain."

Less than 24 hours later, Millar, 31, was dead, having taken his own life in his $3.25 million Campbells Bay home on Auckland's North Shore.

Despite appearances - the home, a half-dozen cars, his fortune, and, at one point, a three-way relationship with Simmons and former model Nicky Watson - there was a dark side to Millar's life.

"I knew Logan was having financial difficulties," says Simmons. "He was really stressed. I think that was part of the reason he committed suicide. He just couldn't cope with that and being depressed."

Simmons and Watson give a remarkable insight into Millar's life.

The three used to share the same bed and some unusual bedtime antics. "We had a pole in the bedroom and Nicky and I would take turns dancing for Logan... we had a loving sexual relationship," says Simmons.

"I love Nicky. She is a warm person. She lived with Logan and me together, we shared the same bed because we had a loving relationship."

Nicky Watson confirms the arrangement, which ended this year when Watson left, and Simmons moved back in after a brief break. "Logan was possessive and hated it when Michaiah and I got close, so he kicked her out."

Watson had lunch with Millar a few months ago, and they spoke of her earlier suicide attempt. (Watson revealed in a TV documentary last year how she had gradually collected ex-husband Eric Watson's sleeping pills. She wrote Eric a note but never finished it as she fell asleep. Eric found her and she was raced to hospital to have her stomach pumped.)

Over lunch, Millar told Watson he had been on the internet, researching suicide. Watson was distraught and told Millar to call her anytime if he felt down. Millar was depressed, she said, but didn't like taking his medication because of the side-effects. He could never get the right combination.

Watson said she, Millar and Simmons all loved each other - and that Millar had even offered to reverse his vasectomy so he and Watson could have children. "The three of us had a harmonious relationship. When love is unconditional, it's free of jealousy and insecurities. Being part of three instead of two can be even more rewarding, when you receive the love of a man and a woman."

It wasn't just women Millar loved. His cars included a Lamborghini Gallardo, worth $375,000, a Jaguar S-Type worth $80,000 and a Bentley worth $350,000 - it was originally green but Millar had it painted black for $15,000.

Auckland businessman Pat Rippin, who suffers bi-polar dis-order, under-stood Logan Millar more than many. "I understand the horrendous side-effects of medication, especially if it doesn't kick in straight away. We have a group of friends who suffer mental illness and we meet once a month to talk about things.

"I spoke to Logan at great length about depression and he seemed quite receptive about getting help."

Millar built his huge fortune on the back of party pills. He was the director of Advanced Herbal Supplements, which produce a variety of pills, including Charge and Rapture.

He fought Government moves to ban the party pill active ingredient BZP, but a bill before Parliament means it is likely to be made illegal.

Another of Millar's close friends, Auckland mayoral candidate Steve Crow, said Millar never touched his own products.

"Logan was generous to a fault, he was a detailed and driven businessman. People judge me for being the porn king. He was judged as party pill king.

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"The Long Road To Heaven" On Sky's History Channel October 12

The Long Road to Heaven depicts the events of the 2002 Bali bombing via four stories.

The story of the 2002 Bali bombings, captured in the film Long Road to Heaven, could easily have fallen into the clutches of Hollywood. Instead, producer Larry Higgs insisted it be a balanced portrayal of events.

Long Road to Heaven will air on Sky's History channel on Friday October 12, the fifth anniversary of the terrorist bombings that killed 202 people from 22 countries, including 38 Indonesians, in the resort town of Kuta.

It's a sensitive event in the Asia-Pacific region. Australia mourns more victims than any other country, with 88 killed in the blasts, but the Balinese will be associated with the attacks forever.

Although shot entirely on location in Indonesia, Long Road To Heaven was banned in Bali because of its subject matter.

Rather than attempt to appease any market, American producer Higgs says the film, his debut feature, set out to recreate real events from varying perspectives.

"We'd made a documentary about the notion of jihad around the world, what it meant to people in different cultures, and we opened with a minor recreation of the Bali bombing," he says. "While we were doing that we thought, there's so much more of a story here.

"It started out as a documentary but over time it became clear that the best way to tell the story was as a feature film."

Long Road To Heaven weaves together four stories - the meeting and planning of the bombings by members of the terrorist groups Jemaah Islamiah and al-Qaeda, the bomb attacks by Amrozi and Imron, the immediate aftermath of the explosions and the recovery that took place in the seven months leading to the first trials.

The narrative jumps between periods until they culminate at the end.

Had the film been made in Hollywood, its key character would almost certainly have been American Hannah Catrelle, who went to Bali because it was the favourite place of her partner who died in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

"There would have been a dramatic love story, even sex scenes and a more streamlined plot, but coming from where we did as documentary makers we wanted to depict the story fairly. Not just how it affected tourists but the locals as well, even if it made it a bit harder to watch for the viewer," Higgs said.

The role of Catrelle remains significant, however, as a volunteer who comes close to Hajj Ismail, a Muslim who drums into her the reality of Islam. He says the vast majority of Muslims don't support the terrorist acts of extremists operating under their faith.

Higgs hired Indonesian director Enison Sinaro who he believed would understand both the Western and Islamic perspectives.

Sinaro brought to life a script written by Chinese-Singaporeans Wong Wai Leng and Andy Logam-Tan.

While the film is in no way sympathetic to the Islamic extremists who carried out the attack, it does offer a human face, particularly that of Ali Imron, who showed signs of hesitation throughout the planning of the bombing.

The most recognisable performer among the largely unknown cast is Raelee Hill, the flame-haired actress from TV's Water Rats and Farscape.

She plays Australian journalist Liz Thompson in the lead-up to the trial of Amrozi, the smiling murderer whose constant grin and disregard for the bombing victims' families while in court gave us one of the tragedy's most enduring images.

Thompson meets a Balinese taxi driver who lost his brother in the bombing and who introduces her to the spiritualism and stoicism of his people.

The film's core comes back to the title, which doesn't just suggest the utopia the bombers believe awaits them in the afterlife but the manner in which different religions share the same pain and band together in tragedy.

When & where: 8.30pm, Friday October 12, The History Channel, Sky Television.

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Filipino Professor Gets 20 Years For Sex With 17-years-old

The Supreme Court has found a former professor of an exclusive girls' school in Makati guilty of child abuse for seducing his 17-year-old student in 1997.

The high tribunal's Sept. 21 ruling affirmed the Court of Appeals decision convicting Michael Malto-who used to teach philosophy at the Assumption College-of violating the child abuse law for having sexual intercourse with and committing lascivious acts on his student.

The high court, however, imposed a stiffer penalty on Malto by sentencing him to a minimum prison term of 14 years and 8 months to 20 years. It also ordered him to pay the victim P100,000 in civil indemnity and moral damages.

The appellate court earlier imposed a minimum prison sentence of eight years and one day to 17 years, four months and a day on the former professor.

Based on court records, Malto and his student, who was then only 17 years old, had sex on two occasions in 1997 in a Pasay City motel.

The high tribunal noted that Malto used his influence over the girl and pressured her to have intercourse with him.

According to the Supreme Court, even though the girl agreed to have sex with him, Malto could not use this as a defense because she was below 18 years old then.

"The mere act of having sexual intercourse or committing lascivious conduct with a child who is exploited in prostitution or subjected to sexual abuse constitutes the offense," it added.

Malto contended that he and the girl were in a relationship at that time, but the tribunal said this was immaterial.

"For purposes of sexual intercourse and lascivious conduct in child abuse cases under Republic Act 7610, the sweetheart defense is unacceptable. A child exploited in prostitution or subjected to other sexual abuse cannot validly give consent to sexual intercourse with another person," the high court said.

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Transsexual Fights For Legal Recognition As A Man

Mohammed Aslam

A woman fighting for the right to be legally recognised as a man will travel to Thailand in December for her final sex change operation.

She now expects to win her legal battle after a medical report concluded that she is neither male nor female.

The report, compiled by a Public Prosecution doctor, found she was suffering from a gender identity problem and had no female reproductive organs.

She also has a higher percentage of male chromosomes in her body than female chromosomes, as well as "obscure external genitals".

Her lawyer described the medical report as a major breakthrough in her case.

"This is a great step forward in this case," lawyer Fouzia Janahi told the GDN.

Her client is seeking to officially change her sex from female to male, as well as change her name from Zainab to Hussain.

If she wins the case in the High Civil Court, she will qualify for a new CPR card, driving licence and passport with her new male identity.

The woman, who has already had a mastectomy, previously submitted 11 medical reports from Al Khalidi Medical Centre, Jordan, and one each from the Ibn Al Nafees Hospital and Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Centre, Bahrain, at two court hearings last year.

She is suffering from a condition known as gender dysphoria, where people identify with the opposite sex to the one they were born with.

The woman was previously engaged to be married, but the relationship ended when her partner noticed she was more like a man.

Her lawyer said she had suffered considerably as a result and had not been accepted by either men or women.

"Now, only one last cosmetic operation remains to convert her completely into a male with male reproductive organs," Ms Janahi said.

"She will travel to Thailand in December to undergo this final second cosmetic operation to complete the remaining requirements to turn her into a male. "The medical report that we will get from Thailand after this second operation will be submitted to the court and it will then issue an order to change the gender of Zainab from female to male in all her official documents. "The Medical-Legal Department doctor will receive the medical report from Thailand and after inspecting her will forward his final report to the Third High Civil Court, which will issue its judgment and (hopefully) order the change in the official documents and in all her identification papers."

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Can Hugo Chavez's Cinema Villa Studio Contend With Hollywood?

AP

Unhappy with what he considers Hollywood's monopoly on the silver screen, President Hugo Chavez is bankrolling Venezuelan movies through a state-run film studio. Now rolling: a biopic about Luis Posada Carriles, the former CIA operative who lives freely in the United States despite allegedly masterminding a jetliner bombing and trying to kill Fidel Castro.

Scenes were being shot in and around Caracas during September for the movie about Posada, considered by Chavez to be a Latin American version of Osama bin Laden. Due for international release next year, it is one of a growing number of films the socialist government is funding in a fusion of politics and art.

The trend is a boost to homegrown cinema in Venezuela, but critics say it reeks of Soviet-style propaganda efforts.

Chavez has long demanded that the United States extradite Posada to stand trial in the 1976 Cuban jetliner bombing, which killed 73 people. Posada allegedly masterminded the attack while living in Venezuela, where he was a member of a secret police force dedicated to rooting out Marxist rebels.

"The film argues he should be condemned and returned here to Venezuela or to Cuba to be tried for his actions," director Eduardo Barberena said during a recent filming session.

Cameras rolled recently among the wooden shacks of a modern-day shantytown in Guarenas, near the film studio east of Caracas. An actor playing a communist rebel in 1970s Venezuela rode a bicycle down a dirt road, destined for a shootout with Posada, as lights illuminated a row of shacks where barefooted children stood watching.

The $US900,000 ($A1.02 million) movie is one of several being produced by the Cinema Villa studio, which Chavez founded last year with $US13 million ($A14.8 million) in government funding as an alternative to the "dictatorship of Hollywood."

The studio's first feature film will be released in October - a movie about Venezuelan independence hero Francisco de Miranda that includes American actor Danny Glover in a supporting role.

A third production in the works is about Ezequiel Zamora, who led a 19th century land revolt in Venezuela and is a key ideological figure for Chavez.

"Venezuelan cinema for the world," Chavez exclaimed, praising what he called a "cultural revolution" as he excitedly described the films recently during his radio and TV program and criticised the global influence of US films. "They make us admire Superman, Spider-Man," Chavez said.

Spider-Man 3 was a hit in Caracas, both in theatres and through pirated DVDs sold in the streets, and most Venezuelans, like people all over the world, continue to be big Hollywood fans. But left-leaning documentaries are already altering Venezuelan television, appearing on government-supported channels alongside the traditional soap operas of commercial channels.

And Barberena, who has mostly made TV commercials, sees Cinema Villa as a chance for Venezuela to expand a tiny movie industry - which has made only a few internationally known movies, such as El Pez que Fuma (The Smoking Fish) in 1977 and Secuestro Express (Express Kidnapping) in 2005.

Three dozen feature films, documentaries and television programs are now in production at the centre, according to Culture Minister Francisco Sesto. They include Imagining Revolution, about the development of Chavez's socialist movement, and Venezuela Petroleum Company, about corporate exploitation.

The new film centre is both financed and controlled by the government, similar to how Cuba runs its Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry. Scripts are selected by a committee that includes Venezuela's culture minister, who reports directly to Chavez.

Cinema Villa director Lorena Almarza said the goal of the state film centre is nothing less than the "transformation of the cultural hegemony" that has long bombarded Venezuelans through their televisions and movie screens.

Some critics see a heavy government hand that will result in lousy art.

Communications professor Antonio Pascuali of Venezuela's Central University accuses the Cinema Villa of "putting political slogans above the quality of their productions," just as the Soviet Union did in the Stalinist years.

But Barbarena denies getting any pressure to make his movie conform to Chavez's political views. Although the thriller takes a clear stance on Posada, the script "allows a bit of freedom for him to defend himself," the director said.

Posada, 79, denies involvement in the 1976 jetliner bombing off Barbados. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 and was detained in Florida in 2005 for entering the US illegally, but was freed in May when a judge dismissed his immigration fraud case. The Cuban and Venezuelan governments want him tried for murder and treason in Venezuela, where he holds dual citizenship.

But a US immigration judge ruled in 2005 that he could not be deported to Venezuela, saying he faces a possibility of torture.

Posada, who trained with the CIA for the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, also allegedly plotted to assassinate Castro, and allegedly planned the 1997 bombings at tourists sites in Havana.

Barbarena says filming will move to Havana later this year to recreate the 1997 bombing of the Hotel Copacabana, which killed an Italian tourist. The movie's title, Bambi C-4, combines the explosive allegedly used by Posada and the nickname he used years ago in Venezuela.

Despite a dislike for some Hollywood movies, Chavez has enjoyed visits by sympathetic American stars including Glover and Sean Penn. Kevin Spacey met Chavez recently after touring the film studio. He didn't speak to reporters but according to state media was impressed by the Cinema Villa.

After Chavez's government recently offered $US18 million ($A20.49 million) to finance Toussaint, a film directed by Glover about Haitian independence leader Toussaint Louverture, Venezuela's two independent film organisations said the money could be better spent making more Venezuelan movies.

Chavez insists Venezuela will be doing plenty of that - "making movies about our reality, which reflect who we are, what we've been."

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