MERYL Streep is in negotiation to play Maria Callas in a biopic based on the book, Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend, by Arianna Stasinopoulos. Several years ago, when she was a contender to star in the movie of Evita, Streep took singing lessons which may now pay off. After Beyond Rangoon, John Boorman will direct the Paramount Pictures live action version of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Terence Davies finally looks set to break away from the recurring preoccupations of his first three features with his fourth, Vile Bodies, which is set in the New York art world and sadomasochism scene. Robert Carlyle, who was Begbie in Trainspotting and stars in Ken Loach's Nicaragua set Carla's Song, is lined up to play serial killer Denis Neilsen in Laurence Moody's Killing For Company, based on the book by Brian Masters.

Hal Hartley's follow up to the forgettable Flirt will be Henry Fool, which revolves around a garbage collector who becomes a youth sensation on the Internet, after distributing poetry that is branded as child pornography. Meanwhile, Mark Wahlberg (formerly rapper Marky Mark) is to star in Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson's drama set against the background of the Los Angeles porn film industry in the 1980s.

Australian actors Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe are joined by Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito in LA Confidential, based on James Ellroy's hard boiled crime novel set in 1950s Los Angeles. And can it be true? - word has it that Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson are being lined up to play Bill and Hillary Clinton in the movie of the controversial political bestseller, Primary Colors, whose anonymous author finally has been unmasked as Newsweek columnist Joe Klein.