After his original choice Christoph Waltz (who is in high demand thanks to his Oscar-winning turn in Inglorious Basterds) dropped out to co-star with Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson in circus flick Water for Elephants mastermind director David Cronenberg has persuaded his old pal and frequent leading man Viggo Mortensen to play Sigmund Freud in his biopic The Talking Cure. Joining Mortensen on Freud’s couch are previously announced Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley.

Given that her last attempt at acting halted her then husbands burgeoning directing career, I am slightly pleased that Madonna has decided not to grace the silver screen again for her next film outing, but has instead chosen to step behind the camera and try her hand at directing. The reigning Queen of Pop’s film will depict the scandalous affair between British monarch King Edward VIII and socialite Wallis Simpson that led to his decision to abdicate the throne in 1936 so he could marry the twice-divorced American. Simpson’s story is set to be told parallel with Wally Winthrop’s, a modern-day woman who is obsessed with the Duchess of Windsor and finds herself facing her own similar romantic dilemmas.

Please, please, please say it isn’t so. In what is quite possibly the most disturbing and unexpected piece of casting news of the week, Nicole Kidman, the Academy Award winner currently deemed by critics to be box office poison and one of my personal favourite actresses, has reportedly joined the cast of the upcoming rom-com Just Go For It.

Have you made a short film only to have it lost in the abyss of Youtube and Vimeo? Perhaps you’ve made a rockin’ music video for your band? Or maybe you’ve made a feature film, and are looking for all the promotion you can get? Well then the Portable Film Festival is for you!

The Hurt Locker, the intense war drama about explosives experts in Iraq, took top honors in the 13th annual Online Film Critics Society Awards, winning Best Picture against fellow nominees Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air.

As a member of the Online Film Critics Society — the largest organisation for critics whose work appears primarily on the Internet — I recently submitted my votes for our 2009 film awards. Below is the final list of nominees, which I must say is a good looking bunch. I’ll keep my votes close to my chest until the winners are announced, which takes place on January 6, 2010. Stay tuned!

Now showing in cinemas across Australia: Drag Me to Hell, Red Cliff, Wake in Fright.

Now showing in cinemas across Australia: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Lucky Country and My Friends, My Loves.