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Black Swan director Darren Aronofksy has revealed that he begged Natalie Portman to start eating after becoming aware of her dramatic weight loss for the film.

The Requiem For A Dream helmer recalled his horror at witnessing the toll that Portman’s training for the ballet thriller had taken on her body.

He told Access Hollywood: “[Portman] took [the film] very seriously. These dancers get really, really skinny.

“At a certain point I looked at [her] back and she was so skinny and so… I was like, ‘Natalie, start eating’. I made sure she had a bunch of food in her trailer.”

Despite her dedication to the role, Portman revealed that she wasted no time ditching her diet and exercise regime once the film wrapped.

“The [day after filming ended] I was like, pasta, pasta, pasta! No working out. It was pretty immediate. I was ready to leave the ballet life.

“I was like, ‘Please don’t let there be re-shoots for this because I don’t think I could get back into the costumes!'”

Daniel Radcliffe has revealed that he didn’t mind wearing a bra in a scene for the new Harry Potter film.

During Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part One, Hermione transforms into a replica version of Harry to confuse his enemies and Harry is seen wearing a bra.

The actor revealed that he was simply relieved producers didn’t make him wear certain other female items of clothing.

He told The Sun: “It was better than if I had worn stockings and a corset, that’s for sure – and they were considering that option. I was not pleased about that, so the bra was just fine. I found it quite funny and everybody is talking about it and it has given everybody a laugh, so that makes me happy.”

Speaking of his bond with fellow stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, he added: “We have grown up together and there is an understanding between the three of us that we are the only three people who have gone through this experience and these mad ten years.

“There is a special bond between all three of us that I think will be with us for the rest of our lives.”

Legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis has died at the age of 91.

De Laurentiis, whose career in cinema spanned more than 70 years and 160 movies, passed away in Los Angeles, according to Italian media reports.

De Laurentiis established himself as one of Italy’s leading post-war producers, working on neorealist films and collaborating with Federico Fellini on La Strada (1954), for which he shared a ‘Best Foreign Language’ film Oscar with Carlo Ponti, and Nights of Cabiria (1956).

He produced the Jane Fonda cult classic Barbarella in 1968 before relocating to the US in the 1970s.

His Hollywood credits include Al Pacino’s Serpico, Three Days Of The Condor, the 1976 King Kong remake, Flash Gordon, Dune and Body Of Evidence.

De Laurentiis’s biggest success came with his big screen adaptations of Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lector character. He produced Manhunter, Hannibal, Red Dragon and Hannibal Rising, but passed on the opportunity to make 1991’s Oscar-winning The Silence Of The Lambs.

De Laurentiis is survived by wife Martha De Laurentiis, their two children, and four children from his first marriage to Silvana Mangano.

Master of the disaster flick Roland Emmerich has scrapped plans for a low-budget alien invasion film called The Zone.

It would have been made in a ‘found footage’ style, like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, in which discovered video recordings reveal extraordinary events.

Peter Mackenzie and Brandon Scott were set to play a journalist and cameraman who witness the arrival of extraterrestrials.

But The Hollywood Reporter says Emmerich (pictured) is no longer pursuing the $5million project.

Speculation suggests the reason is that the mockumentary and alien invasion genres are becoming too crowded.

Brittany Murphy’s mother Sharon has announced plans to pen a tell-all biography of the late actress’s life.

According to TMZ, Sharon contends that the new book will be an “accurate account about [her] daughter, her life, loves, and career”.

“This book will be my way of celebrating and honouring her extraordinary life and career,” Sharon said in an official statement.

The star’s mum vowed that proceeds from the book will go to charity.

No release date for the bio has been announced at this time.

Rachel McAdams has revealed that she is unsure whether she will appear in Sherlock 2.

The actress – who played Sherlock Holmes’s (Robert Downey Jr) love interest Irene Adler in the original – told MTV News that she would consider stepping back into the role under the right conditions.

“It’s kind of all still in the process,” she explained. “They’re still doing script work, and we’ll see.”

McAdams went on to say that any appearance she made in the second film would be a minor one.

“If I do, it won’t be a very big thing. It’s not a lead part,” she said.

Sherlock 2 will hit US theatres on December 16, 2011.

DreamWorks Animation’s latest animated comedy Megamind has topped the US box office.

The film, which features an all-star voice cast including Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, took $47.7 million in its opening weekend.

Entering the top ten in second place is Due Date, taking $33.5 million.

The film, Todd Phillips’s follow-up to the 2009 commercial hit The Hangover, sees Robert Downey Jr and Zach Galifianakis taking a road trip across America.

Tyler Perry’s film adaptation of For Colored Girls follows in third place with just over $20 million.

Rounding out the top five is comic book adaptation Red and last week’s box office topper Saw 3D.

The US box office top ten in full:
1. (-) Megamind – $47,700,000
2. (-) Due Date – $33,500,000
3. (-) For Colored Girls – $20,100,000
4. (3) Red – $8,850,000
5. (1) Saw 3D – $8,200,000
6. (2) Paranormal Activity 2 – $7,290,000
7. (4) Jackass 3D – $5,000,000
8. (5) Hereafter – $4,020,000
9. (6) Secretariat – $4,000,000
10. (7) The Social Network – $3,600,000

Morgan Freeman is rumoured to be linked to a role in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Akira.

Bleeding Cool claims that the actor has been contacted concerning the role of the Colonel, one of the main antagonists in the iconic manga series.

Yesterday it was reported that Zac Efron had been offered one of the lead roles in the film.

The original Akira manga was created by Katsuhiro Otomo and was adapted into a popular anime in 1988.

Albert Hughes is scheduled to begin production on the remake of Akira next year, with a screenplay from Albert Torres.

Timur Bekmambetov’s next science fiction project reportedly follows an uncannily similar premise to a separate film being developed by Warner Bros.

Bekmambetov’s Apollo 18 is currently in the middle of production with director Trevor Caewood, having been picked up by the Weinstein Company for release in cinemas at some point in 2011.

However, Coming Soon reports that the “found footage” film, which tells an alien conspiracy story about the cancelled NASA mission, follows a very similar story to Warner Bros’ upcoming film Dark Moon.

Warner Bros’ offering also revolves around the popular “found footage” narrative, and focuses on a conspiracy surrounding the similarly-cancelled Apollo 17 mission.

If Dark Moon is also released in 2011, it could follow the familiar trend of opposing studios releasing similar films close together, most notably with Armageddon and Deep Impact in 1998.