The LA X-Files • Chris Carter has revealed some tantalizing details about what fans should expect from the Sixth Season of The X-Files (due to begin airing on November 8) to The Los Angeles Times. The move from Vancouver to the City of Angels – primarily for the benefit of unsettled stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (“Both David and Gillian are very happy to be able to go home after work,” admits Carter) – has also opened up numerous visual challenges for the production team:

“Now that we’re in a mostly urban environment (says Carter) we’re going to have to tell stories using the landscape that is presented to us now. Before, we had rain and misty conditions. Now we’ll have to make them, without it looking forced. Directors are using angles to create the atmosphere that will keep the show what it is. And you can do good, scary stories anywhere if you do it right.”

On the Hunt • Tom Cruise’s mission (should he choose to accept it) is to complete the longest shoot in modern film history and get an unflattering hedgehog haircut for the role of espionage expert Ethan Hunt in the upcoming sequel to Mission: Impossible. Cruise is, at present, still involved in the already legendary filming of Eyes Wide Shut, genius Stanley Kubrick’s psychological thriller which started production sometime around the dawn of man. While it’s unclear whether MI2 will actually be Cruise’s next official project – there’s a possible teaming up with Steven Spielberg in the near future for Memoirs of a Geisha – latex mask shenanigans are definitely on the agenda for Tom, as he signed for a further two spy capers shortly after the original’s spectacular somersault across the roof of the Eurostar express to box-office smash central.

21 Tomorrow? • After her comeback to Horror in Halloween: H20, Jamie Lee Curtis is apparently keen to star in a follow-up… especially as she’s being offered $20m to do so. Just call her the Neve Campbell for the older generation.

Lucas Sounds Off • In a ruse perhaps designed to quash all the rumors of unusable footage problems floating around the net, the Official Star Wars Site has confirmed that the prequel will definitely arrive in North American theaters on May 21, 1999. Although several scenes are still being reshot at Britain’s Leavesden studios featuring main cast members Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman, this is not due to technical mishaps but apparently because Lucas was unhappy with some of the footage and wants to get it just right – well, wouldn’t you?!