The Freddie Mercury biopic has suffered another setback, with director Dexter Fletcher – who joined the project in December – walking away from the movie.

The reason for his departure hasn’t been revealed, reports simply say that he didn’t see eye-to-eye with the producers... including Brian May and the rest of Queen.

It wasn’t too long ago that the film’s original star, Sacha Baron Cohen – who rose to fame in Channel 4’s Da Ali G Show before his transition to the big screen – quit the picture too, throwing everything into disarray.

However, Fletcher’s hiring alongside Ben Whishaw being cast as Mercury, meant pre-production could begin.

Now things are messed up again, although Whishaw – who starred in BBC’s The Hour and as Q in Skyfall – is still on board and the producers are now hunting for another director so the planned summer shoot can still go ahead.

This film (which is almost guaranteed to be called ‘Mercury’) has the potential to be phenomenal, but the amount of problems so far is not a good sign.

Feeling a Bigfoot film frenzy

The Blair Witch Project came out 15 years ago, and it’s still one of my favourite horror films. Furthermore I’m a massive fan of Bigfoot (I have a sasquatch costume and go “squatchin’” at weekends, hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive hominid as he tramps his way through Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest).

So, you can only guess at how excited I am that Eduardo Sánchez – one of the Blair Witch’s directors – is working on another found-footage film, this time focusing on some campers being harassed by Bigfoot.

There’s no release date yet, but hopefully it won’t be on the same day as Willow Creek, another found-footage Bigfoot movie, because I can’t handle that much excitement.

Especially as Willow Creek is directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, who was responsible for the wonderfully dark, violent, 2011 comedy God Bless America.

Back of the new for Bassett 2

Good news! The countless petitions, protests and grassroots campaigns have finally paid off. The 2001 film Mike Bassett: England Manager is getting a sequel!

Ricky Tomlinson, pictured above, is back in the tracksuit as the titular hero for Mike Bassett: Interim Manager, where the football coach’s star has fallen somewhat since the first film, and he now finds himself as assistant to a German trainer.

The filming will coincide with this summer’s World Cup in Brazil, where Bassett took England to the semi-finals in the original film. The first movie took more than £3.5m at the box office, but can the sequel replicate its success? We’ll see, although it’s kind of weird that the release hasn’t been timed to coincide with this summer’s World Cup.

You know, what we really need is a sequel to When Saturday Comes. Or a fourth Goal film. Or ID. Any other football-based film, to be honest.

Silence of the king of voiceover

Cinemagoers have heard his voice on more occasions than they’ve heard the likes of Tom Cruise, Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts; however Hal Douglas rarely appeared on screen, and so his passing has not generated the same level of press attention as other Hollywood deaths.

Hal Douglas was a movie trailer voiceover guy. No… Hal Douglas was the movie trailer voiceover guy, having loaned his gravelly baritone to trailers for films like Forrest Gump, Lethal Weapon, Meet The Parents and a thousand other pictures.

The 89-year-old died at home last Friday due to complications stemming from pancreatic cancer.

Douglas served in the US navy as a pilot in the Second World War for three years before studying acting. He began doing voiceover work to supplement his income from acting in New York during the late 1940s, but soon became sought-after, and he worked solidly right up until his death.

However, his own opinion of his voice was less than glowing, saying: “I never thought of it as a great voice, it’s just throaty... chesty... a voice in need of clearing.”
In a world without Hal Douglas, trailers are going to struggle for gravitas.

Stay seated for credits

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is out on Wednesday, March 26, and like most Marvel films so far, it has something in the credits for the fans.

However, unlike most Marvel films, it has two post-credit sequences, so be sure to stay in your seats to see them both.

Especially as one of the scenes will be directed by Joss Whedon, with a rumour that it will be a teaser for his new Avengers film, Age of Ultron.

So, there you go – watch the two-and-a-quarter hour-long film and then stay seated for more.

Or leave it a day and watch the scenes on YouTube – whatever, I’m not your boss.