Connery in secret studio deal

The ongoing mystery surrounding Sean Connery's desire to open a multi-million dollar Scottish film studio continues to thrill gossipmongers in the entertainment industry. Connery, of course, has said zip about the project, but the speculation is that the studio will be part-funded by Sony Pictures to the tune of $100m and will be based somewhere on the edge of Edinburgh. The phantom studio also hopes to push out more than 20 pictures in its first few years, a percentage of which will star the Scottish actor himself. One curious bit of gossip, something which would interest Oliver Stone, is that this Scottish studio plan to make an "alternative" Bond picture - with Connery doing his 007 thing one more time - in an update of the Sixties classic Thunderball. The main reason why Connery is being so hush-hush about the project lays, in part, to his unhappiness at having been snubbed by this year's knighthood list. It seems the Blairites out there are just too worried about knighting such a staunch supporter of Scottish independence. And so, like a classic movie twist, Connery has taken his cold revenge by freezing both the government and the British Film Industry out of his new deal. Ouch!