SHOWBIZ: NEWSMAKERS & WORLD CELEBRITIES

Actress Jolie's animation passion.
Working on animations is more exciting than performing in the flesh - even though actors are paid less, Will Smith and Angelina Jolie have said.

The duo were in Cannes with fellow star Jack Black to speak about their latest film, Dreamworks animation Shark Tale. Making the upcoming film was "liberating", Smith said, as it helped him rediscover a freedom in his acting. Jolie said the speed at which animation was advancing was exciting, while Black said voice work was simply "easier". Also starring the voices of Robert de Niro and Renee Zellweger, Shark Tale has been made by the same studio that produced Shrek. Smith said the booth for recording characters' voices was a space where "you're allowed to do anything". "It's actually helped me in my acting performances in 'real films'," he said. "The animated performances have helped me create and find a freedom I used to have. "I'm finding it a lot easier to find that space in live action now." He added that there was more opportunity to "create a memorable character" in animated films. Jolie - who won an Oscar for Girl, Interrupted - revealed she had watched Shrek 60 times with her son. She is attracted to making animations because the quality is getting better, she said, but added: "Mind you, I still like Dumbo. "They're just great to watch, they're great stories and they're obviously advancing, so to be part of anything that's changing and advancing is exciting," she said. Meanwhile, Black, who starred in School of Rock, said animations were easier and gave him more time to get things right. "It's not really the money - it doesn't pay as good - but it's also not as much work," he said. "You go in and do a little talking and a little singing and screaming, and then you're done. "It's easier and you have the chance of being part of something special." Shark Tale, which is released in the US in October, used the Cannes limelight to attract attention but is not part of the festival's official line-up.-Ian Young.

Photo: British singer George Michael performs in March. (CP/Rolf Haid)

TORONTO (CP) -- After lying low for several years, George Michael is gingerly re-entering the demanding world of music. His wounds from years of negative reports in the media -- most centred around the embarrassing arrest for indecency in a Los Angeles public washroom and a legal battle with his label Sony -- have healed somewhat, though left scars. He's also emerged from a bout with depression prompted by the death of his mother from cancer in 1997, during which time, Michael says, writing was akin to pulling teeth. "I was just depressed," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "It took a long time to get over, unfortunately." As part of his therapy, and to keep up his musical chops, Michael wrote, with great difficulty, two songs for his 1998 greatest hits package and a year later released Songs From The Last Century, a CD of covers including a jazzy translation of Sting's Roxanne and Bing Crosby's Depression anthem Brother Can You Spare A Dime. Then, about a year ago "the clouds lifted and I've been writing ever since," he said enthusiastically over the phone from Los Angeles, where he's filming a video for his next single Flawless this week. "I'm back to being happy about being a musician again which is amazing really." The new record, Patience, out this week in Canada, is best described as grown-up pop music made up of dance, gospel and soul melodies. It's Michael's first CD of original material since 1996's Older. Lyrically, the new material has plenty of bite with equal parts social commentary, touching autobiographical tales, and insight into human behaviour that only an adult could pen. And Michael's voice is as smooth as ever.

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