Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

SCORSESE: 'GANGS' IS 'GOODFELLAS' PREQUEL

Martin Scorsese says his gritty new epic, "Gangs of New York," can be considered a prequel to his classic crime dramas "GoodFellas" and "Mean Streets."

"I remember (producer) Michael Ovitz saying, 'This is from what all the others spring,'" the 60-year-old filmmaker told reporters in New York. "This kind of reflects the foundation of the other films, 'Mean Streets' and certainly aspects of 'Raging Bull,' although that is more to do with the sports world and organized crime, and certainly, 'GoodFellas,' there is no doubt. ... These depicted worlds in which organized crime was a major force and a major societal structure as opposed to 'Gangs of New York,' where it is more disorganized, but political. 'Gangs of New York' deals with a world which is lawless, anarchic, chaotic and out of that comes order, but unfortunately it comes through violence."

"Gangs of New York," which premiered in Manhattan Tuesday night, is about the birth of the mob in Civil War-era New York. The story is told through the eyes of a young Irish-American (Leonardo DiCaprio) who challenges the brutal American crime lord (Daniel Day-Lewis) who killed his hero father (Liam Neeson) in a war over control of New York's long-buried Five Points neighborhood. Cameron Diaz, John C. Reilly and Brendan Gleeson co-star.

GIBSON TO RETURN FOR 'MAD MAX 4'

Mel Gibson will reportedly earn a whopping $25 million to star in a fourth installment of the Mad Max action series.

Word from the trade newspaper Daily Variety is the $104 million project, called "Fury Road," will start shooting in Australia next May.

George Miller, who directed and co-wrote the first three films, will helm the latest futuristic thriller, based on a script he has been crafting for the past three years.

DAY-LEWIS RETURNS TO FILM AFTER FIVE YEARS

Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis returns to the big-screen this month after a five-year absence.

Asked if he plans to let another five years go by before he again appears on the big screen, the "Gangs of New York" star told United Press International: "I didn't set out to let five years pass. I've only been reminded in the last few days constantly that I've let five years pass. I'm not being deliberately obtuse about it, but I wasn't aware of that time passing. I was quite happily engaged in other things. I didn't set out to let five years pass. I set out to indulge my curiosity in other things, not just to get away from this work."

The happily married father of three reportedly was apprenticing as a cobbler in Italy when Martin Scorsese approached him about appearing in the film. The star of "In the Name of the Father" and "My Left Foot" was last seen in Jim Sheridan's 1997 drama, "The Boxer."

Pressed to discuss the role that coaxed him out of semi-retirement, Day-Lewis revealed only that the 19th century villain, Bill the Butcher, was simply too complex and fascinating a role to pass up.

Evasive, yet also soft-spoken and polite, the actor explained: "I am so loath to talk about the preparation. ... It's my logic, it may not be (anyone else's), but the venture that we're involved with is a venture of insanity. We're trying to make a film. It's a kind of madness. We're all involved in the same thing. The work that I do to try and convince people that I am somebody else -- it's a strange thing to do, right? So, what possible preparation could be stranger than the thing itself?"

'TWO TOWERS' DWARF ON THE MEND

The Welsh actor who plays Gimli the dwarf in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy says he is healing nicely after a wall fell on him in Croatia.

John Rhys-Davies was filming "La Femme Musketeer" three weeks ago when a wall collapsed, pinning him underneath.

"A lifetime spent chewing the scenery and now I have become the scenery," the actor told reporters in New York, as he showed off his close-shaven "hospital buzz cut" hair-do.

"It wasn't my most glorious moment," he said. "I was called to a set in Croatia, and they're not quite ready for me, so I just (asked) the guys get on with it. Suddenly there's this sort of shriek, which means something is falling. So, I put my hands up instinctually. And about 33 feet of a wall, which is about 12 feet high and capped with those Mediterranean roofing tiles, curved up, it falls on me. Let me put it this way. It took 30 men to get it off me, so you may understand that underneath I was a very sad little fellow. (My arm) got broken. It's doing pretty well though. Still got the pins in it."