Feel The Quality

British director Anthony Minghella has been hard at work over the past few months, assembling one of the most impressive ensemble casts to be seen on screen in ages. Minghella's adaptation of the bestselling novel Cold Mountain had looked to be in trouble when early lead Tom Cruise pulled out of negotiations. But a recent spate of casting aquisitions, including Donald Sutherland and England's Ray Winstone, means that the total star rating of the cast is one of the highest since Ocean's Eleven. So far, Minghella has persuaded Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellwegger, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Giovanni Ribisi and Irish actor Brendan Gleeson to join his cast. It's expected that the lead roles have all dropped their salaries, in return for percentage points, in order for Minghella to afford such an impressive grouping. Producer Sydney Pollack told Variety today that he's not worried that the starry cast will distract people from the story being told; 'You have to start from the premise that every one of these stars is playing character roles,' he said. 'It's not going to be the Jude Law you saw in Ripley. It's a stubbly, roughed-up Jude Law playing a taciturn, monosyllabic guy. We're counting on the fact that you won't sit there stargazing.'