People talk 7/22/02

Cuaron pegged to direct third 'Harry Potter' film

LOS ANGELES -- Alfonso Cuaron, director of this year's Spanish-language hit "Y Tu Mama Tambien," has been picked to direct "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," the third movie in the film franchise.

Production will begin in England early next year, with the film scheduled for release in summer 2004, distributor Warner Bros. announced Sunday.

All key cast members are expected to return, including Daniel Radcliffe as boy wizard Harry.

Cuaron will take over from Chris Columbus, who directed "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," last year's biggest hit, and is finishing "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," due in theaters this November.

Columbus will be a producer on the third film based on the book series created by British author J.K. Rowling.

Born in Mexico, Cuaron made his directing debut in 1991 with "Love in the Time of Hysteria," following with "A Little Princess" in 1995 and "Great Expectations" in 1998.

Knowles earned spot in 'Goldmember' spoof

NEW YORK -- It must have been destiny.

Beyonce Knowles played it straight opposite comedian Mike Myers in her first audition for "Austin Powers in Goldmember."

But when the Destiny's Child singer got a callback, she was ready to show she could play Foxxy Cleopatra, a spy posing as a singer at a 1970s roller disco.

"I went back in wearing a Pam Grier-like catsuit, an Afro wig and had memorized every blaxploitation film ever made," Knowles told Newsweek magazine in editions on sale this week.

Myers, whose third installment of the spy-comedy series opens this week, says Knowles worked hard on the part.

"She came to the set prepared in every way, every day," he said.

Cartoonist honored for Hemingway look

KEY WEST, Fla. -- He likes fishing and bullfighting and has a white beard, but it took artistry and a lot of sweat to look like Ernest Hemingway.

Ron Thomas donned a cream-colored, wool fisherman's sweater in upper 80-degree temperatures to win the look-alike competition that highlights the Hemingway Days festival.

The Phoenix cartoonist, who also owns a men's hairstyling shop, used his barbering talents to refine his Hemingway look.

"You study the beard. When you know hair, that's a definite advantage," said Thomas, 61, a six-time contender.

The 149 contestants assumed sportsmen's attire and Hemingway-esque machismo for Saturday night's competition at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West.

The five-day festival, which ended Sunday on the 103rd anniversary of Hemingway's birth, celebrates the late author's Key West lifestyle and literary prowess.

This year's event also commemorated the 50th anniversary of the publication of "The Old Man and the Sea."

Trial lawyer turned author dies at age 75

NORWOOD, Mass. -- Barry C. Reed, a trial lawyer who drew on his courtroom experience to write "The Verdict," a book that became the basis for a film nominated for five Academy Awards, has died. He was 75.

Reed, of Westwood, died Friday at Caritas Norwood Hospital, spokeswoman Lois Scarlatelli said.

The cause of death was not immediately released.

"The Verdict," a story of a down-and-out lawyer who wins justice for the family of a seriously disabled girl, was made into a 1982 film starring Paul Newman, James Mason and Charlotte Rampling.

It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best film and best actor, though "Gandhi" won the best picture Oscar and its star, Ben Kingsley, took the best actor award.

Former partner Joseph I. Mulligan Jr. told The Boston Globe that Reed took the greatest satisfaction out of solving legal problems for people.

Reed's other books included "The Choice," "The Indictment" and "The Deception."

Filmmaker sets sights on Israeli film site

JERUSALEM -- U.S. filmmaker and playwright David Mamet praised Israelis' ability to carry on with life after he visited several Jerusalem sites Sunday where terror attacks had taken place.

Mamet, in Israel for the Jerusalem Film Festival, toured the city with Mayor Ehud Olmert, stopping off at busy Jaffa Road, the site of several suicide bombings and shooting attacks during nearly 22 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

"I see a street with a lot of people on it, conducting business as usual. It's extraordinarily impressive. I am impressed that the people are out ... that the shoppers are here, that the shopkeepers have rebuilt," he said.

Mamet, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for his play "Glengarry Glen Ross," is to be honored at the film festival with a special tribute, at which he is to read extracts from a script he has written about the creation of the Israeli air force.

He said he was hoping to shoot the film in Israel.

-- From wire reports