Disney has denied reports that the company intends to sell on the distributing rights for Mel Gibson's latest film Apocalypto in the wake of the negative publicity currently surrounding him.

Fox News recently claimed to have received a tip from an insider that the studio was quietly looking to offload the project, with independent company Lions Gate being eyed as the favourite candidate for the job.

However, Disney has categorically denied the story. Spokesperson Heidi Trotta said the information is "absolutely not true".

Hugh Hefner wants Nicole Kidman to pose for Playboy, according to reports.

The publication boss was inspired to approach the actress after watching her perform naked in a play in 1999.

Hefner said: “She’s bewitching and the vision of her with a cigarette in one hand and her knickers in the other as a delicious French au pair haunts my fantasies. I’d better add that she’s a terrific actress.”

Kidman's husband Keith Urban posed nude for Playgirl in 2001.

You play John "Doc" Bradley, a medic who was one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers captured in the famous photograph. Did you meet his son, James, who cowrote the book that the film is based on? I had some amazing moments with James Bradley on set. There's a moment in the film where Doc is wounded While he's on the ground, he hears someone screaming for a corpsman and crawls with shrapnel in his leg in rain over rock to find this guy. I looked over and saw James Bradley watching me do this really heroic thing that his father had done. He had tears in his eyes, and I started crying, and he gave me the thumbs-up.

I imagine Clint Eastwood took pains to get the period details just right. He would sometimes stage images that he remembered seeing in Time or Life. There were times where 500 guys were shooting guns and moving toward our enemy. You're always conscious of the fact that it's not real, but when the explosions are going off, it feels as close to the real thing as you could get. If a guy sprained his ankle, I'd tape it up. I had a life-size dummy in my hotel room that I could practice on, because with Mr. Easywood, he expects you to be ready. It was probably very strange the first ime the maid came to clean.

Were you at all interested in science or medicine in school? I was never the one to become a doctor, but I won an award in scienece class for brain surgery on a fetal pig.

You're making another film about war, Kimberley Peirce's Stop-Loss. It's loosely based on her brother. He was in Iraq. If I'm spending time away from my kids [he has two, with wife Reese Witherspoon], I want to be working on something that matters.

Do you have plans to write or direct? [Directing] is something I think I will do within the next year, but I'm not in a rush. I've written a couple things. I like the idea of people making mistakes. I love desperation; I think there's a lot of comedy that comes out of desperation. the best kind of film give you something ynew to think about. I don't want to sit in the theater for two hours and have this numb experience. I want to get pissed off.

David Duchovny said in New York he would like to star in another film based on his Fox TV sci-fi/mystery TV series, "The X-Files."

Created by Chris Carter and co-starring Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, the show originally ran from 1993 through 2002 and spawned a 1998 film version, called "The X-Files."

Asked if a sequel is in the works, Duchovny said, "It's always on the horizon."

"I'm still very much in touch with Chris Carter, Gillian. Both Gillian and I are positive about it. It's not like we're running from it," he said. "There are some legal things that need to be resolved over at Fox."

Although no script has been written yet for a sequel, "There is an idea," Duchovny said.

The star of the new big-screen comedy, "Trust the Man," denied, however, reports he is planning to take over the role of Bruce Banner from actor Eric Bana in an upcoming sequel to the 2003 film, "Hulk."

"No," Duchovny said. "I don't know where that came from."

Michelle Heaton got Liberty X-rated on a girlie night out. The 26-year-old strutted her stuff with former Atomic Kitten star Liz McLarnon at London's Mo'vida nightclub.

When they left, Michelle was asked what finace Andy Scott-Lee loves most about her and she stuck out her rather impressive tongue.

Then she giggled: "It's not that big girls."

We hope for Andy's sake that she's talking about her tongue.

"Superman Returns" star Kate Bosworth proved that food is not her kryptonite and enjoyed a girls' night out on the town this weekend.

Bosworth dined at trendy Hollywood restaurant Magnolia on Saturday with four girlfriends -- including pop singer Jewel and their stylist Jessica Paster.

For appetizers, the not-so-big-boned star had cigarettes and bottled water, followed by a bowl of bread. Bosworth finished off the course with a wedge of iceberg lettuce.