Princess Diana and Hitler. Not so dissimilar as you might think. At least, not if you’re Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of the much-maligned People’s Princess biopic, Diana. Talking about the critical kicking given to the film, Hirschbiegel admits that while the film’s poor reception is “devastating” he has no regrets.

He’s taking it remarkably well, especially when you look at some of the reviews. The Mirror called it “cheap and cheerless”, the Telegraph said it is “a special class of awful”, and the Guardian (always taking the high road) described it as “car-crash cinema”.

Anyway, Hirschbiegel believes the reason the film has been received so poorly is not because it’s dreadful, but because the death of Diana is “still a trauma [the British] haven’t come to terms with yet”. Yeah, that’s it.

Not content with painting intelligent people as flag-waving simpletons, the director then went on to compare Diana to the leader of the Nazi party, saying that Diana “was the most complex character I have ever tried to depict – more complex than Hitler.

One thing they both had in common was they were born actors”. He knows a thing or two about Hitler, you see. Hirschbiegel previously made Downfall, the excellent German film about the Fuhrer’s final days, and he described his experiences with Diana as “deja vu, because [the film] has the same reactions in the UK as Downfall had in Germany on release”.

Apparently the critical reaction are similar to “what newspapers like the Daily Mail would write about her back then – really vile things. So I guess I succeeded.”

If that’s what you need, Ollie, then yes; your film was a resounding success. Everyone’s just still too sad that she’s gone to appreciate its brilliance.

That much-anticipated 24 movie, set in London, isn’t happening after all. Jack Bauer is still visiting the capital, but now it’s going to be as part of a TV miniseries.

24: Live Another Day will span 12 hours (and 12 episodes), and no story details are known, but what we do know is that Fox wants the series ready for next summer, and that the title is awful and the show’s name no longer makes any sense.

A couple of weeks back it was announced that JK Rowling’s Potter spin-off book Fantastical Beasts And Where To Find Them was getting a movie adaptation. That’s kind of exciting, I guess.

Far more thrilling, however, is the rumour that a movie of Quidditch Through The Ages is also on the cards.

The Quidditch book was a companion piece to Fantastical Beasts, released in 2001 for Comic Relief.

The studio has reportedly trademarked Quidditch Through the Ages, as well as the name of the book’s author, Kennilworthy Whisp, and the names of the Quidditch teams the Wimbourne Wasps, the Chudley Cannons and the Kenmare Kestrels.

The title of another Rowling book, The Tales of Beedle The Bard, has also reportedly been snapped up by Warner Bros, keen to squeeze money out of Potter fans while the boy wizard is still kind of relevant.

Can't be puppy love

Disney's crusade to release live action films about classic characters continues, this time with Cruella de Vill taking centre stage.

The 101 Dalmatians furfetishist will be the focus of a new movie, following Maleficent - a take on Sleeping Beauty's baddie: and Cinderella - which Kenneth Branagh is currently shooting in London.

Beginning life in the 1956 Dodie Smith novel, and then most famously Disney's 1961 animated feature, Cruella has been seen in live-action twice already, played by Glenn Close in 1996's 101 Dalmatians and the 2000 follow-up 102 Dalmatians.

Close is actually connected to this one, but only as a producer.

No plot details are available, so we don't yet know if this film is going to be a revisionist take like Maleficent portrays the `Mistress of All Evil' as merely misunderstood, but surely the puppy killer can't be rehabilitated?

Maleficent hits cinemas next May, so not long until we find out if Disney's new venture pays off.