James Franco is rumoured to be playing Hugh Hefner in the upcoming Linda Lovelace biopic, “Lovelace”.

Variety has reported that Franco is in the final stages of making an appearance in the film, which stars Amanda Seyfrield as Lovelace. It would reunite the Oscar nominee with his ‘Howl’ directors, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.

It’s described to be set “between the birth of the sexual revolution and the culmination of the feminist movement” where the life of Linda Boreman (Lovelace) becomes the world’ first erotic superstar due to the success of “Deep Throat”. It was one of the earliest pornographic films that featured a plot-line that achieved massive mainstream attention.

Hank Azaria plays Jerry Damiano, the writer/director of ‘Deep Throat’ that discovers Lovelace after her husband (Peter Saarsgard) shows him a home movie of her special skill. In fact, Franco was initially in talks to play that role. The cast also features Sharon Stone as Lovelace’s mother and it all began shooting this week in Los Angeles.

Franco’s most recent blockbuster “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is now available and he is currently wrapping up his lead-role in Sam Raimi’s “Oz: The Great And Powerful.”

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R&B singer AMERIE is writing a movie script – and wants English soccer ace DAVID BECKHAM to play the male lead opposite her.

The 1 Thing beauty is confident the film would be a great excuse to befriend the star’s wife Victoria, whom she has admired since she shot to fame with the Spice Girls in the late 1990s.

She says, “I want David Beckham to be lead man – opposite me.” (AT/WNSMI/JC)

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American singer AMERIE hopes to be taken seriously as an actress when she appears alongside KATIE HOLMES in upcoming movie First Daughter.

The 27-year-old fears she will be branded a ‘singer-turned-actress’ by critics and hopes her acting skills will be judged separately from her musical career.

She says, “I love movies and will do more. I am reading scripts at the moment looking for something that excites me.

“I want to have an acting career that is totally separate from my music to show that I take it seriously and want to learn.

“I don’t want to be a singer turned actress – when I’m acting I am an actress and that is all.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

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Jermaine Dupri has opened his own restaurant called Cafe Dupri. If you live in Atlanta, you can stop by at just about anytime of the day, as the restaurant will remain open for 22 hours every day.

Amerie is getting ready to release her next single. The title track, called Touch, will be released August 8th and feature a remix from TI. Her official web site is telling us to expect an even racier video compared with her first single, 1 Thing. andPOP spoke to Amerie several years ago with the release of her debut album.

G-Unit member Young Buck has been charged with assault stemming from an incident at the Vibe awards where he apparently attacked Jimmy James Johnson who supposedly attacked Dr. Dre earlier that evening.

Kanye West fans will have to wait a little while longer as the artist’s sophomore album, Late Registration, is being pushed back to an August 15th release date. The first single, which can already be heard on radio stations around the country is Diamonds.

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Bow Wow’s growing up. In fact, on his latest album, “Unleashed,” he doesn’t sound or look the way that he did when we saw him last, which was just a year ago. He had a big growth spurt, his voice deepened a couple notches, and most importantly, his music is taken to the next level.

He can thank his deeper voice for the enhancement to his rapping. He no longer sounds like a kid, meaning he can now justifiably be compared and held up against his fellow rappers. The 16-year-old also is now believable when he sings about girls, which a lot of the songs are about.

The tracks aren’t just rap about girlfriends though. His song with Amerie, “To My Mama,” pays tribute to his mother, with lines like, “Anything you need from me Mom you know that it’s yours/ You’re the only woman in my life that I adore.” That songs is not to be confused with “Hey Little Momma,” where he tries to pick up a girl.

The production on the album stands out amongst everything else. Almost every song has potential to become a hit, especially “Eighteen,” produced by Lil Jon, where Bow Wow sings about his anticipation of turning 18. Swizz Beats’ “Get It Poppin’” also stands out.

There are three Neptunes produced tracks, but aside from “I’ll Move On” with Mario, Bow Wow could have done without the hit-makers since they create the worst part of this album. “The Movement” is especially boring and it would have served Bow Wow better to just rap without a background track.

What’s with the nicknames? As seen on his last album, the “Lil’” has been dropped from his name. On this album, he calls himself “Boweezy,” Jagged Edge call him “Bowizzle,” and the Neptunes call him “the Don, the Dutch.” It may be hard to keep track, but as long as Mr. Wow keeps turning up with material like this, his name could be Nick Carter and he’d still sell records.

4*
Columbia/Sony

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Amerie’s done a lot in such a short time: she’s helped LL Cool J and Nas on tracks, she’s been on tour with Usher and will tour with Nelly, and she debuted at number 9 on Billboard. But it?s just the beginning for this very talented performer. Remember this name: Amerie. You’ll be hearing a lot more about her very soon, perhaps even the next time you turn on your radio.

Amerie spoke with andPOP on a recent trip to Toronto. Watch the video to hear about her nerdy school days, how exactly your pronounce her name, why you should buy her album, and more.

The interview is in video format and requires that you have RealPlayer or RealOne Player. If you do not have it please visit Real.com.

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