Film: OUT TAKES

Not even the superhuman efforts of Hollywood's rewrite squads seem able to shift the backlog of comic-book blockbusters through development hell. On the shelf are James Cameron's Spiderman, a $100-million film version of the trashy TV series The Incredible Hulk, and Nicolas Cage vehicle Superman Lives. Not to be outdone, Tom Cruise has offered his services as star and producer on Iron Man, the everyday story of an alcoholic billionaire who fights crime from inside an iron suit.

The project most likely to make the leap from pulp to production is X-Men, in which a team of super-humans save mankind while battling prejudice from the ungrateful humans they are struggling to protect.

Despite being fenced off behind security bars, the hefty 300lbs tombstone belonging to James Dean (top) has been stolen for the third time and presumably carted off to adorn the private shrine of a particularly muscular fan. Bill Paxton's Hulk?

Mike Leigh's next film will be a period piece based around the story behind the original production of The Mikado. Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville and Jim Broadbent (above) are among the backstage players in what could be Britain's first miserable realist musical.