The TV movie William & Kate missed a trick with its low-budget casting. Who would you have appointed to the royal roles?

Nicolas Cage and Katie Holmes
Hairs to the throne ... have Nicolas Cage and Katie Holmes got the locks to play William and Kate? Photograph: Dave Benett/Jason Kempin/Getty Images

This special edition of Casting the News is slightly unusual in that, well, it's already been cast. Thanks to the Lifetime TV movie William & Kate, we already know who'd play the principal cast in a cinematic adaptation of the upcoming royal wedding. Quite obviously, Nico Evers-Swindell (State Trooper #2 in Edge of Darkness) would play Prince William, while only Camilla Luddington (from one episode of Days of Our Lives) has the chops to pull off a convincing Kate Middleton. Meanwhile, Ben Cross from Chariots of Fire would play Prince Charles and Serena Scott Thomas would play Carole Middleton and that's that. Bye! Thanks for reading!

Oh, fine. Let's do this properly. After all, our resources are far greater than Lifetime's – we can tell the difference between a good film and a bad film, for instance, and we're not constrained by a budget so insultingly minuscule that we can only hire actors who nobody has ever heard of. Plus, don't forget that our movie adaptation of the royal wedding will never actually exist, which automatically makes it about 50 times better than William & Kate.

So let's get straight down to it. Prince William himself is a decidedly tricky character to pin down. The obvious choice would be Nicolas Cage, but that's based exclusively on his hairline and the British accent he briefly attempted halfway through National Treasure 2. In terms of age and general demeanour, he should probably be struck off the list. Perhaps someone such as Robert Pattinson or Andrew Garfield would be more suitable. As for who'd play Kate, in terms of looks, age and convincingly appearing to be a bland young woman trapped in an all-powerful system that she's powerless to fight against, she can only really be played by Katie Holmes.

But this isn't just a story about William and Kate. The peripheral characters in a film of this magnitude could run into the hundreds. Sue Nicholls from Coronation Street is a given to play Camilla, but could Anjelica Huston fit the bill as Kate's mother? Does Haley Joel Osment have the aristocratic swagger to play Prince Harry? Helen Mirren's already had one pop at the Queen, so would it be nice to let Judi Dench have a turn?

Then there's the Archbishop of Canterbury to consider. Assuming that Michael Gambon still has his Dumbledore get-up, could he be a shoo-in? And, admit it, Tom Wilkinson was born to play BBC royal wedding anchor Huw Edwards. We still haven't picked a director (Tom Hooper? Joe Wright? Paul WS Anderson?). Or a title (The King to Be's Brother's Best Man Speech? When Kate & William Became Killiam?). Or a tagline ("The reason for you having that day off that one time"? "The wedding that defined the entire quarter of a generation that it lasted for"?)

So here's what's needed from you:

Balding heartthrob Prince William

Anonymous Queen-in-waiting Kate Middleton

Belligerent redhead Prince Harry

Tired patriarch Prince Charles

Disinterested stepmother Camilla

The Actual Queen

Flinty-eyed social climber Carole Middleton

Kindly bearded Archbishop of Canterbury

Happy little Huw Edwards

Title:

Director:

Tagline:

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Forces loyal to the president-elect Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, managed to capture the former President Laurent Gbagbo and his wife, Simone, on Monday (11 / 4), and have brought them to their headquarters.

Quattaea spokeswoman, Anne Ouloto, told AFP that the couple had taken to the Golf Hotel, where Ouattara based, at about at 13:00 GMT (20:00 GMT), shortly after their arrest.

“He is here with his wife and his son Michel. I can see them now,” said Ouloto, speaking by phone from the former site of a resort on the edge of the lagoon, which has the now turned into an armed camp that is protected by the former rebel army and UN peacekeepers.

The United Nations have confirmed that the arrest Gbagbo. “The UN mission in Ivory Coast confirmed that former President Laurent Gbagbo have been surrendered to troops Alassane Ouattara, and now in their custody,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq.

Haq added that the UN mission knew as UNOCI was “giving protection and security in accordance with its mandate”. He explained to Reuters that UNOCI is mandated to protect the political gamblers in Ivory Coast, which includes Gbagbo.

Meanwhile, still linked, one French government source denied reports that the French soldiers who had captured the strong man Gbagbo Ivory Coast, when troops loyal to his rival, Ouattara, attacking his base. “Mr. Ouattara Gbagbo was arrested by the army, it is true, but not by French special forces, who did not enter the fence residence (Gbagbo),”the source said.

With the capture of Gbagbo, also ended the political crisis sparked by last November’s presidential election, when President Gbagbo did not want to admit defeat and hand over power to the winner of the international community recognized the presidential election, Ouattara.

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Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun desperate to win against Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League

Chelsea midfielder, Yossi Benayoun believes that if his team fails to beat Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League then their season is over.

Chelsea will travel to Old Trafford for the second-leg of the quarter-final on Tuesday, 12th April, 2011. The Blues lost 1-0 in the first-leg at Stamford Bridge after Wayne Rooney scored in the 24th minute for United.

Chelsea are behind leaders United in the Premier League by 11-points and have been knocked out of Carling Cup and the FA Cup as well. Carlo Ancelotti’s side’s only hope of winning silverware in this ingoing 2010-11 season depends on their Champions League game on Tuesday.

Benayoun, who has missed a major part of the season due to a calf injury, has admitted that this is a make or break game for his team in this season.

The Israeli said, “Everyone knows we are playing to save our season. Everyone knows it's the most important game of the season. We have to save our season and try to qualify for the semi-finals. It's most likely from here we will finish in the top three or four in the Premier League and be in the Champions League again next season.”

“That's almost done. So the only thing left is to try to win a trophy - and the only trophy we can win is the Champions League. That's why we have to do our best and give everything. Because if we win this game it will change everything,” added Benayoun.

The former Liverpool midfielder added that if his team manage to beat United on Tuesday, it will pave the way to glory for them. He reckons that if they manage to qualify for the semi-finals, then there is a huge chance that they can go on to win the tournament.

The 30-year-old added that his team faces an uphill battle against United in the second-leg but they have proved in the past that they can beat them at Old Trafford.

Constant injury problems have restricted the midfielder to only 5 appearances this season.

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Michael Ikenna Nduanya, the Nigerian youngster who was committed to death penalty in Vietnam last week could be eliminated this week through firing squad, according to mounting rumors in the country.

If his execution is delayed, then he could be dying through lethal injection as the law will be changing from this July when public execution by firing squad would be ditched for a more dignifying death by lethal injection.

As news of his sentence broke out last week, Nigerians across the world have called on the Nigerian Federal government to make concerted effort to negotiate his life with the communist government of Vietnam.

He has been described as one of the victims of Nigeria government’s neglect with millions of youths in the nation wasting away due to unemployment, and thousands more on self-seeking enslavement across the world looking for life lines have met their untimely death.

Hundreds of Nigerian youths are dying every year through many disgraceful means in desperation to escape to other countries of the world for more dignified life.

A London legal practitioner, Alloy Osondu Osuji, speaking to EMNnews last week appealed passionately to President Goodluck Jonathan to save the life of the youngster, who already has leart his lessons the hard way.

Michael’s life could be wasted within weeks unless the Nigerian government intervenes to show its disgust over the sentence, claimed by many to have been racially motivated.

The scene of in a firing squad above explains the agony Michael is likely to pass through as his life is being taken with no family in Vietnam to stand for him or even to sympathise with his plight.

Sources in Nigeria had claimed that Michael is an orphan and had made the desperate bid in search of a better life abroad. Hardship and lack of hope had driven him to petty drug trading.

Michael was sentenced to death in Vietnam for transporting a small quantity of heroin last week. His Vietnamese wife was also sentences to life imprisonment, raising questions of racism and dislike for foreigners the so called substance claimed to be heroin was caught with the wife who was saaid to be acting on her husband’s behalf.

According to a court official last Wednesday, Michael and his common-law spouse Nguyen Thi Hai Anh, 27, were convicted on Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City by an Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court.

He was sentenced to death on March 22 for illegal transportation of hard drugs.

The couple were arrested in December 2009.

Michael and his Viietnamese wife
According to the report, Nduanya had asked his wife to collect about one kilogram of heroin from Cambodia and she was arrested at a Ho Chi Minh City bus depot after returning with the drugs.

Executions are carried out by a firing squad comprised of seven policemen. Six of the men fire rifles while the captain fires a final shot to the head from a handgun if required. The prisoners are blindfolded and tied to stakes at execution grounds in the suburbs of Vietnamese cities. ( See the video above)

Relatives of the condemned are not informed of the execution beforehand, but are asked to collect the prisoners belongings two or three days afterwards.

There are 29 capital crimes recognised in Vietnamese law, although drug trafficking accounts for the majority of executions there. Nine people were put to death in 2009 and just three in 2008. The Vietnamese legislature voted on the 17th of June 2010 to replace firing squads with lethal injections from July 2011, according to the VietnamNet online news service.

There were 80 death sentences and four executions last year in Vietnam, according to the tally. Most death sentences in the communist country are issued for drug and murder cases.
Michael Ikenna Nduanya, 34, confessed that he had visited Vietnam in 2008 and had met Nguyen Thi Hai Anh, 27, from Dak Lak Province and they had since lived together as husband and wife.

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"I was driving one of my posh rides in Abuja when all of a sudden these men dressed in different uniforms, army, police and even a colour that I don't even recognize just swooped on me and asked me to get down from my car. I did that and then I was told I am not authorized to have tinted glass, that it's against the law, so they proceeded to remove the tint. But all of a sudden this set of people arrived with some huge cameras I have never seen before and started recording the scene. That was when I got upset and drove away. In fact I think it was just a set up because I don't know how those people got to know what was happening at the time and they came with their cameras like it was a movie scene." Jim Iyke to Vivian Onuorah of City People Magazine.

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Bishop David Oyedepo on Saturday March 26th added another jet to his hanger, for a whooping $30m. Thus bringing the number of his private jets to four. The private jet, a Gulfstream V was declared to the over 10, 000 worshipers who thronged Canaanland on Sunday March 27th, by the bishop himself. The bishop said the new jet will be used exclusively for the ministry's African Mission. In his speech on Sunday, the bishop also announced that a state-of-the art private aircraft hanger that can accommodate five jets at a time is being built for his jets near the international wing of Murtala Mohammed International Airport.

Apart from this latest acquisition, the bishop has a Gulfstream 1 which he acquired in 1996. A Gulfstream 4 and a Challenger Aircraft.

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This is very sick, a BLACK "England" footballer has been changed by the English FA for a racists comment on Ghanaians he posted on tweeter.

The BBC Sports website reports how the West Ham striker, Carlton Cole, has been charged by the English Football Association (FA) for racist comments he made against Ghanaians on Twitter, during their friendly with England on 29th March.

The West Ham striker was basically insinuating that the large number of Ghanaians that had gathered at Wembley to support the Black Stars were refugees, by tweeting this foolishness:

“Immigration has surrounded the Wembley premises! I knew it was a trap! Hahahahaha! The only way to get out safely is to wear an England jersey and paint your face w/ the ST. George flag.” (sic)

This is very pathetic, I guess someone forgot to tell all the so-called "Black British" that they were products of slavery in the 60s and they should get over their ignorance???


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