Musician Alicia Keys is the newest addition of the cast of The Nanny Diaries. She will portray Annie Braddock’s best friend. As previously reported, the film will start shooting later on this month in New York City. For more information on Alicia Keys’s participation, view an article at MTV.com.

Paul Giamatti and Chris Evans have signed on to star in The Nanny Diaries with Scarlett and Laura Linney. According to Variety, Giamatti will play Mr. X, the brood’s imposing patriarch and Evans is set to be the Park Avenue hunk who steals Scarlett’s heart. The Nanny Diaries will begin production in New York this month. The Weinstein Company will distribute the film.

The April 2006 issue of Total Film features a blurb about The Black Dahlia, which lists the film’s release date in the UK for November 11, 2006. According to Total Film, Maggie Gyllenhaal was the first choice to play Kay Lake, the role that Scarlett eventually landed. Of Johansson, De Palma is quoted saying: “I’d say she’s one of the finest actresses working today, but I think that underestimates her talent.” ( source )

Also, Josh Hartnett recently spoke to ninemsn and he was asked of his relationship with Scarlett.

Josh, you are soon going to be starring in The Black Dahlia with the very sexy Scarlett Johansson. Can we expect to see a little bit of on screen sizzle?
Hartnett: “Probably yeah. She and I, and Hilary (Swank) and I, both have some full-on scenes.”

Apparently Napoleon and Betsy has stirred up some controversy in the press because of the fact that the movie is about a relationship between a 14-year old girl and Napoleon Bonaparte, her senior of 32 years. Bonaparte was befriended by English teen Betsy Balcombe, to be played by Johansson, when he was exiled to the South Atlantic island St. Helena in 1815. Although he was supposedly a kindly uncle figure to Balcombe, who lived there with her merchant father and siblings, director Benjamin Ross is keen to give their story a saucier slant. Historian Peter Hicks fumes, “It was a platonic relationship. It would be ridiculous to suggest anything else.”

But Ross has hit back, saying, “The facts are very interpretable. I’d be delighted to get historians jumping and down.” ( source )

Andrew Lloyd Webber recently revealed that he had decided to pull out of negotiations to get Scarlett Johansson to play Maria in the new West End stage production of The Sound of Music, because although she had been keen, her “people” were against the plan. ( source )

Coming Soon.net reports that The Black Dahlia has been moved up a month and is now scheduled for a September 15, 2006 release.

Coming Soon.net has just announced that Laura Linney has signed on to star alongside Scarlett in The Nanny Diaries for The Weinstein Company.

The story centers on Annie Braddock (Johansson), a young woman from New Jersey who ends up in the elite culture of Manhattan’s Upper East Side as a nanny for a wealthy family, referred to as simply “the Xs.”

Linney will star as the head of the household, Mrs. X, who forces Annie to cater to her every whim.

Scarlett has been announced as the face of Bono’s new project, RED; a brand that will invite other companies to contribute products to it and donates a significant percentage of profits to the Global Fund which fights TB, Aids and malaria in Africa. “It really works,” Scarlett told Style. “I mean, I’m a Red American Express cardholder, and I’m putting everything on it now. And the clothing brands involved are so available to everyone: Gap, Converse, Armani ? brands that people buy all the time.” It is the involvement of American Express that has really let the project run, since it’s decision to give 1 per cent of everything spent on its credit card reassured the other brands that it was a safe move to get involved. ” RED will officially launch on Wednesday. (source)

Match Point will be released on DVD in April 2006. The film will be presented in 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, along with English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono and English SDH audio tracks. French and Spanish subtitles are also povided. As for the discs extras, they are yet to be announced. The disc will be available to own when it hits store shelves April 25, 2006. (source)

The release date for The Prestige has been set. Coming Soon and JoBlo report that the movie will not open until 20th October 2006. The Black Dahlia will be released a week before so it looks sure it is going to be a very busy year for Scarlett, both in terms of promotion and filming.

There was a test screening a couple of days ago for The Black Dahlia in Los Angeles. Ain’t It Cool has posted accounts from people who were in the audience. Josh Hartnett and Mia Kirshner are praised for their performances but unfortunately the reaction to Scarlett’s performance is very disappointing. Here are comments on her performance:

“Scarlett Johansson, who I think is a fine actress, also seemed to be in over head, playing a character that could have used the seasoning of an actress ten years her senior.”

“Scarlett is her usual boring “look at me, I’m pretty so I must be great!” self, and is barely even necessary in the story (a comment echoed by a few at the Q&A after the movie).”

“Scarlett Johansson is more than a little disappointing, although she isn’t given too much to work with here.”

“Lee’s girlfriend Kay, played by a OVERACTING and way too OBVIOUS Scarlett Johansson. Their relationship to this woman is marred by Scarlett’s hysterics (where is the delicate actor of Lost In Translation, I ask) and the obvious disconnection of the men to her.”

I did manage to find one positive comment:

“Most of the actors were fantastic. Aaron Eckhart and Scarlett Johansson were really good, but Josh Hartnett and Hillary Swank were both amazing. Swank almost steals the show and maybe could get a supporting actress nod?”

If you are interested in the film, check out the amazing De Palma a la Mod and Ain’t It Cool for more information and commentary.

To make this The Black Dahlia update complete, I have added 7 HQ stills from the set of the film.