Dunst May Be Spidey's Girl; More Casting

December 13 -- Kirsten Dunst leads the rumor pack of love interests for the new Spider-Man film. Several Internet sites, including ComingAttractions and Cinescape.com, are predicting that the Bring It On cutie pie will play Mary Jane opposite Tobey Maguire's web-slinger. The Columbia Pictures film, originally slated to begin filming this year, will now get underway in January, with an eye toward a 2002 release date. Other contenders for the role of Spidey's girl were reportedly Alicia Witt and Kate Hudson.

Tiger Star Leaps Into Rush Hour 2 Zhang Ziyi, the breakout star from the martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is in talks to star as the villain in Rush Hour 2, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It would be the first North American film for the Chinese actress and she'll be spared a crash course in English, apparently. The Reporter notes that she will speak only Chinese in the film — with subtitles over her dialogue, we presume.

The stars of the original 1998 action-buddy film, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, will reprise their roles, but this time the action moves to Hong Kong, where Los Angeles cop Tucker is the fish out of water.

The project began shooting this week on location in L.A. before moving to Hong Kong and Las Vegas over four months.

Scott Thomas on for Twenty Four Hours Kristin Scott Thomas, last seen (or not) in the obscure art-house film Up at the Villa, is expected to reprise a role previously played by Ingrid Bergman and Merle Oberon in a film based on the Stephan Zweig novel Twenty Four Hours of a Woman's Life.

The aristocratic English Patient star will play a widow who falls for a dashing young gambler during a stay on the French Riviera, according to Variety.

The 60-day shoot in the south of France will start next May.