More on Paul’s invitation to the Academy: the official website posted this press release. Paul was one of only 14 actors to be invited for 2004. Academy president Frank Pierson said, “This remarkably accomplished group is a slightly smaller one than we’ve extended invitations to in recent years. It reflects a decision we’ve made to slow the growth of the Academy somewhat, and to become even more selective in our membership process… Now we are asking the committees each year to ‘give us your most impressive candidates.’ And that changes the nature of the selection process dramatically.” Congratulations to Paul!

Today the Oscars’ Academy invited 127 new members, including Paul, Viggo Mortensen, Sofia Coppola, and Keisha Castle-Hughes, the young star of Whale Rider. Read about it here!

The Sunday Times magazine has listed Paul as the 20th most powerful A-lister Brit!!!! That puts him ahead of the director John Madden and Anthony Hopkins. Others present on the list include Keira Knightley (11) Orlando Bloom (19) and Jude Law (1). This is what they said: ‘After A Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe, Dogville with Nicole Kidman, and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Bettany is soaring rapidly and is the male lead in the tennis ‘romcom’ Wimbledon, opposite kirsten Dunst. Moreover, the London born 33-year-old is married to the beautiful Oscar-winning American actress Jennifer Connelly. Unstoppable.’ Well you can’t get much better than that!

The Independent has posted an article that is loosely connected to Paul. Here we go… In July, actress Jill Balcon will be performing poems by her late husband, former poet laureate Cecil Day Lewis. Day Lewis caused a scandal in the late 40s, leaving his wife and two children, AND a lover of nine years, so that he could marry Balcon. The abandoned lover was Rosamond Lehmann, who wrote The Echoing Grove, on which The Heart of Me was based. Paul’s character, the cheating husband Rickie, was Lehmann’s depiction of the unfaithful Day Lewis. Finally, the son of Day Lewis and Balcon was actor Daniel Day Lewis, whose first major role was Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited – the same role that Paul is about to take on. It’s a small (and twisted) world!

The Lawn Tennis Association is negotiating to put up an exhibition about the Wimbledon film at the grounds. The full details are here, it might also be worth catching any suspended play coverage to catch any coverage they might have of the film! Click here to read about it!

There’s a new page for Paul’s work in theater.

The music scoring for Wimbledon has changed hands.

Want to download the Wimbledon trailer in great, full-screen Quicktime? Click here! Later today I’ll be replacing the gallery’s trailer stills with better ones.

Channel 4 Film posted a short article about Wimbledon.

From today’s New York Daily News:

Male stars are doing a crossover actNow that Brendan Fraser has agreed to star in Revolution Studios’ “Gay Secret Agent,” he joins an A-list roster of straight actors who are saying it’s okay to play gay (or bisexual) characters.

Beautiful Brits Jude Law and Paul Bettany will play subtly star-crossed lovers in the screen adaptation of writer Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited,” to come out in 2005.

You can read the full article here.