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Disney star SELENA GOMEZ is heading for the big screen - her hit TV show WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE is to be made into a movie.
Disney bosses have decided to adapt the programme for the cinema, following in the footsteps of Miley Cyrus’ upcoming Hannah Montana film, and Hilary Duff’s 2003 The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
And the teen singer/actress has one actor in mind to play her leading man Transformers star Shia LaBeouf.
She tells MTV, "You’d think that as much as I promote it (he’d be coming on).
I’m, like, begging, but it’s not happening. I know I’m a nerd! Please, Shia, come on my show!"

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Ballet choreographer GERALD ARPINO has died. He was 85.
Arpino - co-founder of the famed Joffrey Ballet - died on Wednesday (29Oct08) at his home in Chicago, Illinois.
His death came after a long illness, according to Joffrey’s executive director Christopher Clinton Conway, who did not specify a cause.
Arpino founded the Chicago ballet company in 1956 with Robert Joffrey and served as its artistic director from 1988 to 2007.
Before conquering international stages as a choreographer, he studied at the School of American Ballet and Balanchine’s school until a severe injury in 1963 ended his dance career.
But Arpino had already started choreographing in 1961.
After the Joffrey toured internationally, his works landed him the role of Joffrey’s resident choreographer - depicted in Robert Altman’s 2003 film The Company in a role played by British actor Malcolm McDowell.
Arpino is survived by a cousin and a great grandnephew.

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Actor PATRICK SWAYZE was keen to return to work after he was diagnosed with cancer - insisting his job has helped him cope with the life-threatening condition.
The Dirty Dancing star confirmed he was battling pancreatic cancer at the beginning of 2008.
He has since undergone treatment for the disease and resumed his acting career, starring in U.S. TV show The Beast.
And Swayze admits that being able to continue his life as normal has been a great comfort.
He tells Us Weekly.com, "How do you nurture a positive attitude when all the statistics say you’re a dead man? You go to work."

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THE BEATLES are set to reunite on the small screen - MTV Games bosses are to dedicate a new video game to the band.
After many months of negotiations, the group’s songs have been licensed to appear in a strum-along game similar to Rock Band.
Giles Martin, co-producer of the Fab Four’s Love project, will serve as the music producer of the venture, which has been given the seal of approval by former Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as well as Yoko Ono, the widow of their late bandmate John Lennon.
McCartney says, "The project is a fun idea which broadens the appeal of The Beatles and their music. I like people having the opportunity to get to know the music from the inside out While Starr adds, "How wonderful that The Beatles’ legacy will find its natural progression into the 21st century through the computerized world we live in. Let the games commence."

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LATEST: OASIS star NOEL GALLAGHER has come to the defence of beleaguered comic RUSSELL BRAND - insisting the controversy of his recent radio prank turned into a witch hunt.
Brand came under fire following a stunt on his BBC radio show on 18 October (08), which saw him, along with fellow broadcaster Jonathan Ross, leave a series of rude voicemail messages for former Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs.
Sachs was outraged - along with thousands of listeners, who lodged complaints, prompting the broadcaster to suspend the pair on Wednesday (29Oct08).
But Forgetting Sarah Marshall star Brand resigned later the same day, insisting he takes "complete responsibility" for the incident.
And now Gallagher has waded into the debate - announcing he is "outraged" that Brand felt he had to quit over the incident.
He says, "I spoke to Russell, he told me he was going to fall on his sword.
Personally, I’m outraged that, yet again, the joyless f**kers who write the columns in (British newspapers) have dictated the tone and are telling people how to behave.
"I’ve seen the Daily Mail, they said that Russell should be arrested and charged. Arrested for what? For taking the p**s? It’s so typical of the English in general. 10,000 people get outraged, but only days after it has happened.
"At worst it was a juvenile prank that wasn’t unfunny but it’s hardly offensive. I feel bad for Russ, ’cause he really loved doing the show. I loved being on it as well."

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CHER has brushed off rumours a cancer diagnosis forced her to pull out of her Las Vegas shows earlier this month (08) - insisting she is fit and well.
The Believe singer, 62, cancelled two performances at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace - her final dates of the year - at the start of October (08).
Her publicist, Liz Rosenberg, quickly shot down reports that a serious ailment had stricken the star - only to prompt rumours she was privately dealing with cancer.
But Cher has laughed off the claims as another bizarre report by gossip-mongers - insisting she was unable to sing due to a sore throat.
She says, "My health is great but there’s a wind thing that blows there (in Las Vegas) at different months and I have an allergy to it. If I had cancer everyone would know it. I wouldn’t tell them, but somebody would. When you have those kind of things happen if you’re famous you can’t keep them a secret.
"(The reports) don’t make me angry. People have been saying the weirdest things since I was a teenager."

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JANET JACKSON pulled a raunchy dance routine from her concert in Michigan - to avoid falling foul of local obscenity laws.
The singer has a segment in her Rock Witchu tour in which she invites a male member of the audience on stage, ties him down, and pretends to grope him as her dancers cavort around stroking themselves.
But she dropped the routine from her show at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit on Tuesday (28Oct08) - because strict state laws prohibit simulating sex acts during a public performance.
A spokesman for the venue says, "We explained the law, asked her not to do it, she complied. We did not ask her to cut the song. That was her call." The concert had originally been scheduled for 27 September (08) but the singer postponed it when she was struck down with vertigo.
Jackson’s manager Kenneth Crear explained: "Janet did not want to disappoint her Detroit-area fans again, so we adhered to Michigan’s state ordinance and trimmed the Discipline segment of the show so it would not be cancelled."

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Actress COURTENEY COX is set to star as a middle aged mum in a new comedy series from the creator of SCRUBS.
The former Friends will play a 40-year-old mother with a teenage son in Cougar Town, a comedy scripted to show the "reality" of motherhood.
Cox was chosen for the role because she is "comedically fearless", according to Bill Lawrence, who produced the medical comedy.
He says, "Forty-year-old women on TV are so beautiful and perfect and wrinkle-free. People don’t do the reality of it, and there is a real comedy area about a woman who is talking about Botox, about having sex with the lights on and how her body is changing." Production is slated to begin in January (09), with the show due to launch later in the year.

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LATEST: Former JAMES BOND star SIR SEAN CONNERY has denied reports he is set to come out of retirement for one last film.
The 78-year-old has not appeared on the big screen since 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
But Connery was this week (beg27Oct08) rumoured to have signed up to star in new film, Quest of Sheherzade, alongside fellow Brit Orlando Bloom.
However, Nancy Seltzer, a representative for the star, has denied the claims, telling the New York Daily News: "Sean has not even heard of the project."

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Soccer megastar DAVID BECKHAM has blasted the game’s bosses - for rewarding young footballers with huge pay packets before they have made it in the game.
The England international - who currently plays for Los Angeles Galaxy - and his former Spice Girl wife Victoria are estimated to be worth $205 million (£125 million).
Beckham made his fortune at top British club Manchester United and legendary Spanish side Real Madrid.
But he insists the big money deals flooding soccer will ruin the game because young players are no longer hungry to succeed.
He says, "It used to be that when you got into the first team then the rewards would come, whereas young kids these days are earning so much money at such a young age.
"You want that hunger there, you want the hunger to be rewarded.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case these days. They can all afford to buy their own cars. That’s the bad part - to have that at such a young age."

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ESTELLE REINER - who famously gushed "I’ll have what she’s having" in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY - has died at the age of 94.
The singer/actress, wife of funnyman Carl Reiner and mother of actor/director Rob Reiner, passed away at her home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles on Tuesday (25Oct08).
She became a Hollywood legend for her cameo role in the 1989 romantic comedy in which she uttered the immortal line to a waiter at a New York delicatessen after Meg Ryan’s character faked an orgasm.
The fame which followed Reiner’s appearance in the film was a huge boost to her career as a jazz singer. She went on to record six albums and continued recording and performing until as recently as last year (07).
Reiner is survived by her husband and three children. The cause of death had not been released as WENN went to press.

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LATEST: A lawyer for JERRY SEINFELD has criticised the chef who accused his wife of plagiarism - branding her "manipulative" for bringing her young daughter into the feud.
Chef Missy Chase Lapine sued Seinfeld’s wife Jessica in January (08), claiming Seinfeld’s bestselling cookbook Deceptively Delicious had been "brazenly plagiarised" from her own tome, The Sneaky Chef.
Both books describe how to hide healthy ingredients in children’s food.
Jerry Seinfeld has subsequently appeared on U.S. TV making jokes about the case, and Lapine blasted the funnyman for scaring her seven-year-old daughter.
And now Seinfeld’s attorney, Orin Snyder, has slammed Lapine for mentioning the youngster in court papers tied to the legal battle.
He tells New York Post gossip column PageSix, "We believe that bringing her child into this case is a manipulative and desperate tactic."

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Bosses of hit TV talent contest AMERICAN IDOL are threatening legal action against a contestant who is due to release an album with a rival record company.
Participants in the reality show are tied in to contracts promising only to record music with the programme’s associate label, Sony/BMG.
But Josiah Leming, who appeared in the 2007 series but failed to make it into the top 24, has signed a deal with Warner Records and his debut album is due to hit shops in January (09).
However, the 19-year-old, who was homeless when he appeared on the series, may be forced to scrap plans to launch his pop career - he has received a letter from American Idol chiefs, threatening legal action if he goes ahead with releasing the LP.
Leming’s representative tells New York Post gossip column PageSix, "Josiah was the only Idol contestant ever to get a record deal who didn’t make the top 24, and one of only four contestants to get a deal this year. He has personal reasons for getting his music out, threat or not.
"His mother has terminal cancer, and nothing is going to stop him from getting his music out while she is alive to share it. His album on Warner Records will be released in late January ‘09." (LR/WNWCPS/CL) WENN - THIRD - HOLLYWOOD, SHOWBIZ & PEOPLE NEWS - 30 OCTOBER 2008

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MELISSA ETHERIDGE is convinced a move to ban same-sex marriages in California is destined to fail - because even her nine-year-old son branded it "lame".
The singer wed her partner Tammy Lynn Michaels in 2003, just a day after state officials granted homosexual couples domestic partnership rights.
And she is dismayed at California’s Proposition 8 ballot - which aims to roll back the law and make gay marriage illegal again - but is adamant it will be defeated when it goes to a vote on 4 November (08).
Etheridge writes on the Daily Beast website, "Prop 8 is a blatantly hateful, and fearful proposition that I believe the great citizens of California can see through.
"Now, I know my preference of life mate freaks some people out. Maybe it is just their fear of sex or intimacy. I know that they hold up the bible and say that it’s wrong. Fine, let me stand before my creator and take any consequences there might be to living my life in truth and balance with my spirit.
"I called my son over. I said ‘Read this, tell me what you think. He, being 9 years old and very proud of his reading skills, read ‘Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same sex couples to marry.’ He looked at me, very matter-of-factly and said, ‘Wow, that’s lame.’" The Ain’t It Heavy hitmaker adds: "I will be waking up with my children on November 5th and I will be fixing them breakfast as I usually do. I look forward to telling them that prop 8 was defeated. I am sure my son will say, ‘Good, that was lame’."

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U2 frontman BONO is excited about the upcoming U.S. presidential election because it will be a great opportunity to "relaunch Brand USA".
The star has been a staunch anti-George W. Bush campaigner and welcomes the upcoming change in American leader.
Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are going head-to-head in the polls next week (04Nov08) - and the singer is sure that it will be a change for the better, regardless of who wins.
He says, "The whole world has a stake in how things turn out."

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Singer NEIL YOUNG has scrapped a concert in Los Angeles - to respect the members of a planned union picket.
The 62-year-old was scheduled to perform on Thursday (30Oct08) at the city’s The Forum venue.
But staff at the indoor arena are on strike due to a contract dispute with the venue’s owner, Faithful Central Bible Church.
And the singer - who is an honorary lifetime member of the workers’ union, the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) - is axing his gig rather than having to cross the picket line.
In a statement Young says, "I am extremely disappointed to have to choose between satisfying my fans or backing my brothers and sisters of the IATSE." The show will be rescheduled for a date in 2009 and ticket holders can get refunds at the point of purchase.

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British pop star ROBBIE WILLIAMS is back to his musical best, according to his former TAKE THAT bandmate GARY BARLOW.
The Angels singer has been on "album strike" due to discrepancies with his record label EMI and its new owners, business giant Terra Firma.
But he recently announced plans to end his two-year career hiatus and release a new album next year (09).
Barlow was treated to a sneak preview of the new tracks - and has given them the thumbs up.
He says, "We had some great hanging-out time with Robbie in Los Angeles and he played us some of his new stuff. It was really good. He started out with us so we have a connection."

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British soul singer JOSS STONE began recording tracks for her forthcoming album in secret - because she didn’t want her label to interfere with the process.
The You Had Me star is signed to EMI, which is now owned by business giant Terra Firma. The takeover in August 2007 resulted in a number of EMI’s biggest artists leaving the label, including Radiohead and the Rolling Stones.
But Stone is tied to the company via her contract and she was determined to make an album that she was truly happy with - so she recorded it without her label chiefs’ knowledge.
She says, "I recorded the bulk of my new album in the space of a week in February this year. But it was like a secret - not a secret from the world, but a secret from the record company, because, basically, I didn’t want them f**king with it.
"EMI was going through a lot of change at the time. It’s a very long story but there aren’t many people left there that I know now.
"I recorded the album at my mum’s house in Devon. It was like a building site at the time, so it was just me and a crew in two bare rooms with a mic."

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