Costner’s own star

Los Angeles, Aug. 11 (AFP): Actor Kevin Costner, who is currently promoting his new film Open Range, will have his own star on Los Angeles’ Walk of Fame.

Costner, 48, will be present to see his star placed into the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard opposite the Kodak Theatre, which hosts the Oscars awards ceremony.

The actor, protagonist of films such as The Untouchables (1987) and JFK (1991), recently announced his engagement to Christine Baumgartner. Costner directs and stars in his latest film, which opens on Friday at North American cinemas.

The first film he directed, Dances with Wolves (1990), brought seven of his 12 Oscar nominations, including for best film and best director.

Costner has had a couple of stagnant periods in his career following poor reviews of his science fiction epic Waterworld (1995) and Message in a Bottle (1999), both starring the actor.

Potter fire

London (Reuters): British film director Mike Newell will direct the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth movie in the series about the boy wizard’s adventures, the Times newspaper reported on Monday. Production of the movie, based on Scottish author J.K. Rowling’s book with the same title, is due to begin next April in Britain for a worldwide release in late 2005. Filming is currently under way on the third film in the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Mexican Alfonso Cuaron, which is due for release in June next year. The Times said Newell, who directed the hit comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, would be paid $1 million and had a budget of $130 million for the movie. It will be filmed at Leavesden Film Studio, north of London. Newell has just completed Mona Lisa Smile, a romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts.

Tired thief

Amsterdam (Reuters): A burglar who took a nap after breaking into an elderly woman’s house in Amsterdam was arrested on Sunday after she found him asleep on her couch. The burglar slipped in through a window and combed the house for valuables before settling down for a snooze, police said. He was rumbled at about 6 am when the pensioner found him in her living room and called the police. “The police came and he was still asleep. They woke him up,” Amsterdam police spokesperson Rob van der Veen said. The drowsy burglar, who was found with some of the woman's jewellery, admitted to police he had broken into the house. “He was very tired. He lay on the couch and fell asleep,” Van der Veen said.