It could be one of the most explosive showbiz confessionals of recent times. Top British publisher Bloomsbury is apparently trying to convince Ethan Hawke, star of Dead Poets Society and erstwhile husband of Uma Thurman (pictured, below), to write his life story. But will he be prepared to spill the beans on the marriage, which ended two years ago amid rumours of serial infidelity? Her alleged romance - strongly denied - was with the Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino. Bloomsbury is offering Hawke oodles of the company's Harry Potter profits but he is apparently still unsure about baring his soul. In any case, the book would be one of those rare things: an unghosted celebrity memoir. Hawke has written two pretty well-received novels and is also a relative of that little-known US scribe, Tennessee Williams.
Bloomsbury certainly needs a good autobiography. I hear the publisher's upcoming memoir from former Take That singer Gary Barlow - which came with a price tag of £1m - is a right turkey. "They have had to sex large chunks of it up," says my man with the red biro. "His story is a bit of a boring one: big success with Take That, meant to have the talent, gets overshadowed by Robbie Williams and has happy family life. Bor-ing."
A common complaint about the Donmar Warehouse's new play Frost/Nixon is its cuddly portrayal of Richard Nixon, a man who was, after all, responsible for about a million deaths in Asia. But media types have another gripe. "Lord" John Birt, who produced the original Frost-Nixon interviews and went on to become director general of the BBC, is portrayed as a highly tenacious and principled character. "I can't believe they have made a hero out of that bastard," fulminated one Birt-era bigwig on leaving the auditorium.
Of course, it is pure coincidence that Birt helped the play's writer, Peter Morgan, with his research.
Classic FM has a cunning plan. It is recruiting Tony Robinson (above), the actor known as Baldrick, to provide its listeners with a gentle introduction to classical music. The show, entitled Tony Robinson's Friendly Guide to Music, will start in September.
"He has the common touch as well as the authority," the station's manager Darren Henley tells me. "He's also quite a cultured man, actually." That's just as well now, isn't it?
The home life of the world's most notorious dictator is about to be committed to film. A new project based on Saddam Hussein's family, entitled The House of Saddam, is in development. No word as yet on who will don the prosthetic 'tache, but the director, Frank Cottrell Boyce, already has several successes under his belt, including Welcome to Sarajevo, A Cock and Bull Story and 24 Hour Party People.
Incidentally, Boyce is a former Living Marxism critic who, while working as a Coronation Street scriptwriter, always made sure a copy of his mag was prominently visible in the "Kabin" newsagent.
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