Tarantino wants to make dubbed film

LONDON (AP) – Director Quentin Tarantino says he’s planning a kung-fu film with all the dialogue in Mandarin Chinese and out-of-sync English dubbing in homage to many such films in the past.

In an interview with Total Film magazine, Tarantino said he decided to do the kung-fu movie instead of “Inglorious Bastards,” the working title of his long-expected movie based on World War II.

“I enjoyed shooting all the Japanese stuff in “Kill Bill’ so much that this whole film will be entirely in Mandarin,” he was quoted as saying.

“If you’re not up to watching it with subtitles, I really want to do a full-on dubbed version,” he added.

Brosnan taps Ferrell for Bond

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) – Pierce Brosnan, who played British agent James Bond in the last four “007” films, says he thinks fellow Irishman Colin Farrell would be his ideal successor.

Brosnan, 51, said several actors could ably fill his shoes as Bond, which he began in 1995 with “GoldenEye” and concluded with 2002’s “Die Another Day.”

“But I’ll give it to Colin Farrell. He’ll eat the head off them all,” Brosnan said following an entertainment awards ceremony Saturday in Dublin.

Farrell, 28, appeared with Tom Cruise in the 2002 sci-fi thriller, “Minority Report,” and has the title role in Oliver Stone’s upcoming “Alexander.”

Brosnan didn’t specify any other actors that he thought would make a good 007.

He also said he was discussing a possible collaboration with director Quentin Tarantino, who is considering making a film of the Bond novel “Casino Royale.”

“We have discussed things, Quentin and I, but I don’t know if it’s going to be that particular project,” Brosnan said.

Romeo wins Magician of the Year award

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Darren Romeo, a protege of Siegfried & Roy, has been named the winner of the Magic Castle Magician of the Year award.

A special pre-announcement of the award, to be presented next March at a ceremony at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, Calif., will cap off Romeo’s opening night at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi on Wednesday.

Siegfried Fischbacher is expected to attend a private ceremony for Romeo after the show. The Beau Rivage is owned by the MGM Mirage, where Romeo opened his Las Vegas stage show, “Siegfried & Roy present Darren Romeo, The Voice of Magic,” in 2002.

“I am so excited that he is coming,” Romeo said. “Over this past year, it has been very challenging.”

Fischbacher’s partner, Roy Horn, is recovering from a tiger mauling more than a year ago during the duo’s Las Vegas show. Horn’s injury forced the long-running Siegfried & Roy show to close.

“We are focusing on him making a great recovery,” Romeo said.

In his show, Romeo belts out Broadway-style tunes.

“I know when you say “singing magician’ you almost want to run from the theater,” Romeo told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “It sounds unbelievably cheesy, but it’s really not.”

Romeo, a native of East Meadow, N.Y., met Fischbacher and Horn in 1999 after he debuted his show at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas. The meeting led to a friendship and the MGM Mirage show.

“My business relationship is … mostly mentorship,” Romeo said. “It’s not a signed contract. It’s family. I don’t talk to the managers or producers.”

The Magic Castle is the home of the Academy of Magical Arts, an organization designed to encourage and promote public interest in magic.

Grace now gets dates

BOSTON (AP) – If you’re one of the girls who rejected Topher Grace in high school, he has one word for you: Boohoo.

“I think about it and I really hope it’s happening,” the star of Fox’s “That ‘70s Show” told the Boston Sunday Globe. “I could even name names.”

Grace, 26, said he looked so young, most girls wouldn’t consider him as boyfriend material.

“I’m not trying to say “poor me’ – not like the way supermodels say, “I had a terrible childhood, everyone made fun of me’ – but I was very small in high school and nobody wanted to date me,” he said.

Grace left college after his freshman year for TV fame.

“I had a growth spurt right before college. Unfortunately, I’ll never know if I would have done better in college as I grew into myself or if I became popular because I got a TV show,” he said.

His screen credits include “Traffic” and “Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!” He’ll appear with Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson in the movie, “In Good Company,” which will have a limited release on Dec. 29 and go wider on Jan. 14.

Despite the awkwardness of high school, Grace won’t brag about his private life now.

“I’ve started to realize my personal life is the most valuable thing I have,” he said. “It actually makes your public life possible because you draw on it so much as an actor.”

Arnold gets honored by Bush

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) – California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel to Texas next month to receive a public service award from former President George H.W. Bush.

Presentation of the George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service will accompany the governor’s address on Nov. 30 at Texas A&M University, said Roman Popadiuk, executive director of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl are previous recipients of the award, which comes with a custom crystal sculpture and an undisclosed monetary prize.

After the award presentation, former President Bush plans to honor Schwarzenegger at a private dinner for about 250 people at the library’s rotunda.

Sinbad leaves the profanity for others

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Sinbad hardly ever swears onstage, but he can appreciate those who have.

“This is the thing about Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor and George Carlin and Redd Foxx, people that went that route. They believed in their convictions. They weren’t cussing just to cuss. It was a time in America when it was uptight. They were pushing the uptightness of America,” the 47-year-old actor-comedian told the San Antonio Express-News.

“The thing that makes them different from a comic now, who cusses, they weren’t rewarded for cussing. As a matter of fact, it was detrimental for their careers. I mean Lenny and Richard would get arrested onstage,” he said.

“So when I look at a guy right now saying he’s pushing the envelope, I say, “You ain’t pushing the envelope.’ What’s edge now? There’s not a word that hasn’t been used. There’s not a curse word that hasn’t been touched,” said Sinbad. “Edgy right now, to me, is being yourself.”

Sinbad starred in the 1996 film “Jingle All the Way” with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

AP-ES-11-01-04 1528EST