Reuters - In Bill Maher's new film "Religulous," the comedian says he wants his fellow non-believers to "come out of the closet" to counter what he views as religion's dangerous influence on the world.

Reuters - Actress Sally Hawkins is relatively unknown in the United States but an acclaimed role in British director Mike Leigh's new film may find her on Hollywood's red carpets this awards season, a prospect she calls "gob-smacking."

AP - The deadpan and depressed characters Bill Murray has specialized in portraying as an actor in recent years have always stood in contrast to the life-of-the-party guy he is in real life — whether on a golf course or shuttling people around downtown Stockholm in a golf cart, as he did last year.

AP - Director Mike Leigh has a knack for putting relatively unknown British actresses into Academy Awards contention, as he did with "Secrets & Lies" and "Vera Drake."

Reuters - David Cronenberg is making his first foray into the big-budget action arena.

Reuters - Oliver Stone's "W." -- his take on the life and legacy of George W. Bush -- might be the first movie ever to come with footnotes.

AP - Actor Nick Nolte jumped out a window and used a hose to fight a fire that broke out in his Malibu home Tuesday, authorities said.

Reuters - John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and EMI Records, the world's fourth largest music company, dropped copyright infringement lawsuits against the makers of a documentary that used the portion of the song "Imagine" without permission.

Reuters - Julie Taymor is gathering blue-blooded Oscar winners and up-and-comers for her big-screen adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

Reuters - If Ridley Scott gave us a new kind of war movie with "Black Hawk Down," where an army unit functioning in total chaos in a hostile city became a collective protagonist, he now engineers a new kind of spy thriller in "Body of Lies," which opens Friday (October 10).