Ewan McGregor was last night named best British film actor for the fourth time, as the first pictures were released of him on the set of the latest Star Wars movie by Vanity Fair magazine. The new film follows the 1977 original, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which took the saga back in time.Lucas has announced that he will stop work on the series after finishing Episode III, which is not due for release for several years.He will be hoping to repeat the success at the box office, if not critically, of The Phantom Menace which broke first-day records in the United States and became the third highest grossing film in history behind Star Wars and Titanic.George Lucas told Vanity Fair: “I wouldn’t say it’s a dark film, but the next one is definitely going to be a dark film… it appears at that point in time that the Empire wins.”Attack of the Clones marks a diversion for Lucas as it features the nearest he has got to a full-blown love story in the sagas featuring Natalie Portman’s role of Queen Amidala, and Anakin Skywalker, played by actor Hayden Christensen.. Now here’s a surprise.

Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts have been named the three most bankable stars in Hollywood in an annual survey of industry insiders

Now here’s a surprise. His most visible effort, the psycho-thriller Vanilla Sky, gained plenty of attention thanks to his romance with his co-star Penelope Cruz, but was largely panned by critics and has done only middling business.Roberts’ most notable achievement in 2001 was, likewise, off-screen – a best actress Oscar for the previous year’s hit, Erin Brockovich. Her two most recent releases – America’s Sweethearts and Ocean’s 11 – featured her only in supporting roles and neither film did spectacularly well.Even Hanks, arguably the most consistent box-office performer, had an off-year. Cast Away came out at the end of 2000, while his next venture, The Road to Perdition, was postponed because of marketing concerns in the wake of 11 September.The films that made box-office gold, meanwhile, were notable for their lack of stars. The cast list for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the biggest blockbuster of the year, may have read like a Who’s Who of fine British acting but was not anybody’s idea of a star vehicle Ditto The Fellowship of the Rings. The third undisputed box-office champ, Shrek, was a computer-generated cartoon.So what’s the big attraction of the stars? The answer appears to have less to do with audiences than it does with the real powers behind the industry – the money men.

A star makes the rest of a film’s budget possible, opens the way to international distribution sales and even secures a key component of any production – insurance coverage.The Hollywood Reporter quoted Jere Hausfater, a distribution and acquisitions executive, as saying: “Unfortunately, really good material alone won’t do it. To pre-sell and come up with the proper marketing hook in order to launch the picture, the actor is the critical component.”It takes a long time for newish faces to make the grade, which is why there are a lot of superannuated action stars in there. And as for minorities – Denzel Washington, anyone? – they get pushed down the list, almost certainly because of their skin colour.. The National Theatre’s sell-out production Humble Boy celebrated its transfer to the West End last night by winning the best new play award from Britain’s critics. It was presented to him by Simon Russell Beale, who was the award’s inaugural winner last year with his Hamlet at the National.Kiss Me Kate, a production whose stars came from a Broadway run to London last autumn, scooped the best musical award. It has been nominated for nine Oliviers.Robert Lepage was voted best director for his one-man show, The Far Side of the Moon, which was seen in Newcastle and London.