Film: Rushes

SEAN PENN is reported to be having an awful time on the set of Woody Allen's as-yet-untitled current production, according to the New York Daily News.

Penn plays a jazz trumpeter in the Thirties - when he turns up on set, that is. So bad did relations get between him and veteran Woody collaborator, producer Jean Doumanian, that Penn took to calling in sick on a number of shoots last month.

With the production already a month behind schedule, the situation, said production sources, was one the producers were no longer going to put up with: "They basically said, `We'll cancel the rest of the shoot and sue [Penn] for the cost of the whole movie'." Penn is now turning up, but the on-set tension apparently continues.

STAR WARS fans in Britain will next week have a brief chance to see the cinema teaser for the first installment of the new trilogy. The two- minute trailer for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - which is already available on the Internet - will be screened before evening showings of The Mask of Zorro next Wednesday, and before all Thursday showings of the film in selected cinemas around the country. Times and venues are yet to be confirmed but Virgin's website (www.virgin.net) will carry up-to-date details.