Long Way Round stars Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman have put down their motorbikes for a week or two and embarked on a different kind of journey from their last, this time to raise awareness and funds for children affected by AIDS.The pair are fronting ‘The Missing Face’, an exclusive documentary to be broadcast on World AIDS Day, Friday 1 December, at 8pm on Sky Three. The film, a deeply personal account of Ewan and Charley’s experiences, tells the stories of individual children’s lives in Swaziland and Malawi in communities devastated by AIDS. It highlights the missing faces of children that are so often lost in all the statistics.The hard-hitting, one-off documentary has been produced by Big Earth, makers of Long Way Round, to increase awareness of children affected by AIDS and encourage donations for UNICEF’s current campaign ‘Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS’. The hour-long programme follows Ewan and Charley on their respective journeys to Malawi and Swaziland, two countries struggling with the HIV virus in Southern Africa. They explore how children miss out on their childhoods because of HIV.UNICEF Ambassador Ewan McGregor commented, “HIV is a virus that has left virtually no country untouched and it is children that are paying a particularly high price. The documentary is called the ‘Missing Face’ because in the ocean of statistics about HIV and AIDS, it’s very easy to forget that what we’re talking about are the faces and lives of individual children. Charley and I wanted to go and fill in that missing face and help others go beyond the statistics too.”Source: www.unicef.org.ukThanks to Roberta for the find!

EWAN McGREGOR pipped Sir Sean Connery to the post today in a poll to find film fans’ favourite Scottish actors.Trainspotting and Star Wars actor McGregor came first with 18 per cent of votes followed by former Bond legend Connery (17 per cent) in a poll by lovefilm.com, which quizzed more than 2,000 people.Comedian Billy Connolly, who starred in Mrs Brown, The Last Samurai and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, came third with 13 per cent of votes.James McAvoy, who starred in TV’s Shameless, may be a relative newcomer to the big screen but his turn in The Chronicles of Narnia and his new film, The Last King of Scotland, won him fourth place with 12 per cent of votes.The highest-placed woman was McGregor’s Trainspotting co-star Kelly McDonald, who came in fifth with 10 per cent.Edinburgh-born Sir Sean has long been considered Scotland’s favourite actor, thanks to his role as 007.But in recent years a number of younger Scots have enjoyed success and critical acclaim both in the UK and America.Source: www.news.scotsman.com

“Miss Potter” is directed by Chris Noonan, produced by Mike Medavoy, and star Oscar-winner Rene Zellweger.At a time when most young women of her class aimed only to make a good marriage, Beatrix Potter became an iconic figure, swimming with great fortitude against the tide. She created a series of books and characters that are as beloved today as they were a hundred years ago; since their publication they have never been out of print. She was also a distinguished painter and–had she been a man–her botanical drawings would have been snapped up by the Royal Horticultural Society at Kew Gardens. Decade After BabeAustralian Chris Noonan committed to direct in spring 2004. The more he read, and researched, the more Noonan became fascinated by the woman, her life and her achievements. Signing Noonan for the project was inspirational?the director of “Babe” had waited a decade before choosing his follow-up movie. “I was offered every project under the sun, but I just couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for them. And when I did find something, the producers didn’t want to concentrate on what I found interesting about it.”Noonan on Zellweger“There is nothing over-produced or over-rehearsed about Ren?e’s performance,” said director Chris Noonan. “There’s real spontaneity. You know she has an anarchic, subversive sense of humor, and when you learn more about Beatrix Potter, you discover she had real wit, and was far earthier than you might suppose.”Ewan McGregorThe first choice to play Miss Potter’s secret sweetheart, publisher Norman Warne was Ewan McGregor. He and Zellweger worked together on “Down With Love” and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and were actively looking for another film to do together. McGregor, recently a celebrated Sky Masterson on the West End stage in “Guys and Dolls,” plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’ three prequels to “Star Wars.” To read the complete article, visit www.emanuellevy.comThanks to Roberta for the find!