Casting update on HBO's True Blood, the new show based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. British actor Stephen Moyer (Ultraviolet) is onboard as the vampire Bill Compton, Brooke Kerr as Tara, Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse, and Sam Trammel as Sam Merlotte. Anna Paquin plays the heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, a young Louisiana waitress whose her life is turned upside down when Bill walks into the place where she works two years after vampires 'came out of the coffin' on national television. The series is executive produced by Alan Ball (Six Feet Under). Shooting on the pilot, "Strange Love," will start in June. (The Deadwood Stage) [imdb]

Right on queue, the New York Times has an article on the "British Invasion", the current pilot season and new projects for the cast of Rome:

In what several television network and studio executives are calling a “British invasion,” the current network pilot season is marked by one salient trend: An awful lot of British actors are getting hired.

“There is a tremendous number of British actors being signed,” said Sharon Klein, the head of casting for the 20th Century Fox Television studio. “It’s certainly more than ever before.”

The 2007 Cannes International Film Festival lineup so far; it includes the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men, James Gray's We Own the Night, and selected scenes of The Golden Compass. (Variety)

Emine Saner at the Guardian asks, Do women and horror movies mix?

Hilary Swank interviews her The Reaping co-star Idris Elba. Damn, he's hot. And while we're thinking about The Wire, check out Wing Chun's recap of the pilot at Television Without Pity.

Leo and the Bear: Annie Leibovitz's Vanity Fair photoshoot with baby polar bear Knut and Leonardo DiCaprio. In the magazine's Green Issue, the fight against global warming gets a lot more...stylish.