Odds: Page is Eyre, an appreciation of Pepper Potts, and promoting "Poultrygeist."

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 | 7:43 PM

Ellen Page, everyone's favorite sassypants MySpace generation heroine, will be playing Jane Eyre in an upcoming BBC Films adaptation, reports Variety, honest to Brontë. Elsewhere, the Guardian claims "MacGyver" creator Lee David Zlotoff has threatened to be in the planning stages of adapting the series for the big screen.

Jon Favreau salutes his "Iron Man" lead while not forgetting his own roots when talking to Entertainment Weekly: "It's inspiring when somebody who sort of has his work cut out for him actually accomplishes that and comes back bigger and better than he was before. I mean, that's the American dream -- and it oddly somehow relates to Tony Stark. And when art imitates life, you're onto something. I learned that off Swingers." Meanwhile, Emma Pearse at New York presents one counter example to Manohla Dargis' Sunday New York Times "Where have the girls gone?" summer preview piece: "Iron Man"'s "impeccably suited, no-frills Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow."

Troma's Lloyd Kaufman shows the kids how it's done: To promote "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead" and protest Tribeca's takeover of the Village East Cinema, he dressed up as a chicken and picketed outside, making Page Six and selling out Friday's show.

David Haglund at Slate places Albert Lamorisse's "The Red Balloon" against Hou Hsiao-hsien's "The Flight of the Red Balloon."

Jason Solomons at the Observer offers Keira Knightley a terrifying vision of her future, which she takes rather well:

Suddenly, thrillingly, I get a vision of Knightley, 10 years from now. She's a bit Charlotte Rampling, a bit Kristin Scott Thomas, even a bit Monica Vitti but with a sense of humour. Of course, I could be horribly wrong and she could do that depressingly British actress thing of turning into a batty old eccentric. Or she could just be the new Joanna Lumley. But I tell her I see her shacked up in the south of France with some horny old European director who casts her as his muse in a series of vaguely erotic, slightly experimental art movies, using her mysterious androgyny to blur sexual taboos and push boundaries. She gets visibly excited and I remember that she really does have a beautiful smile. 'Ooh, wonderful,' she says. 'That sounds idyllic. Do we own a vineyard?'

[Photo: The bonnets have it — recent Eyres include Charlotte Gainsbourg (1996), Samantha Morton (1997), Ruth Wilson (2006), Zelah Clarke (1983)]

+ Ellen Page takes on 'Jane Eyre' (Variety)
+ In brief: MacGyver creator talks up film (Guardian)
+ Jon Favreau Talks 'Iron Man' (Entertainment Weekly) + Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts: Surprisingly Super (New York)
+ CLUCKING PICKET (NY Post)
+ An actress is born (Observer)