World Excl: Jackson/Del Toro Talk Hobbit

And the world exclusives from our 20th birthday issue – guest-edited by Steven Spielberg – continue to pile up…

We’ve known for a while that Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro’s eagerly-awaited adaptation of the Lord Of The Rings prequel, The Hobbit, would comprise two movies, due in December 2011 and 2012. But the make-up of those two movies has been up for debate… until now.

We spoke exclusively to both Del Toro and Jackson for our birthday issue, and they told us the latest, which is…

“We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur,” says Del Toro.

“We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie,” adds Jackson. “The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy.”

So there you go. The second film will not, as had previously been suggested, a film that will bridge the 60-year gap between The Hobbit and the start of Fellowship Of The Ring.

For much more from Jackson and Del Toro on their plans for the return to Middle-earth, pick up the 20th birthday issue of Empire, on sale next Thursday (23rd April) - or you can pre-order your copy here.

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Playboy names University of Miami top U.S. party school

San Diego State University ranked number three on Playboy's list of the top party schools in the U.S.

Photograph by: Photos.com,

Playboy magazine on Friday named the University of Miami as the top party school in the United States based on five criteria that included a nod to brainpower.

The adult magazine, which has only occasionally published the party college list in the past but will now turn it into an annual feature, ranked the schools on campus life, sports, sex and academics, or "brains," as Playboy put it.

As a last criteria, Playboy included "bikini" which combined weather, guy-to-girl ratio and cheerleaders.

But absent from the credentials were college bars and parties that exist on the fringe of campus life.

"In order to make the list, you had to be a school where fun happens, so we threw that out and went to other criteria," said Playboy Assistant Editor Rocky Rakovic.

Rakovic also said it was hard to quantify just exactly what made a good bar scene from campus to campus, because each location had its specific attributes.

"You can't say keg party at Arizona State is much better than bar crawl at (University of) Wisconsin," he explained.

On the subject of brainpower, Rakovic said that criteria was important because, after all, "you are in college for a reason, to get an education."

Judging the intelligence of U.S. university students turned into a rather scientific equation, too, using things like grade point averages, freshman retention and Princeton academic reviews, then giving them a numerical weight and averaging results.

The one surprise, Rakovic said, could be the No. 6 school University of Wisconsin because the "bikini" ranking favored schools with warm weather climates.

Playboy began ranking party colleges 20 years ago. The full list is in the magazine's May issue and on the Internet at www.playboydigitalcom.

The top 10 party schools are below in order of rank:

1) University of Miami

2) University of Texas (Austin)

3) San Diego State University

4) University of Florida

5) University of Arizona

6) University of Wisconsin (Madison)

7) University of Georgia

8) Louisiana State University

9) University of Iowa

10) West Virginia University

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

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Will Ferrell's urine refreshment

(BANG) -

Will Ferrell drank his own urine to survive in arctic conditions.

The 'Stepbrothers' star spent 48 hours in the far north of Sweden with TV survival expert Bear Grylls, who showed the Hollywood funnyman what extremes they needed to go to in order to last in the harsh weather.

Talking about his stint in the freezing temperatures, Ferrell said: "It was the thrill of a lifetime, even though I did get urine drunk, which is sad".

During the two days - which will be documented in a special episode of Grylls' TV show 'Man vs. Wild' - Will also had to abseil down a 100-foot waterfall, sleep in a snow shelter and eat reindeer eyeballs.

Speaking of Ferrell's achievements, Grylls said: "He did an amazing job in sub-zero, very unforgiving conditions. He trusted me when it mattered and we survived. He should be very proud of how he performed."

(C) BANG Media International

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