In brief: Gilliam says calls for Oscar for Heath Ledger are “bullshit”

Terry Gilliam, the film director, has derided the hype surrounding Heath Ledger’s (pictured) appearance as the Joker in the new Batman movie, The Dark Night, which has resulted in calls for Ledger to be given a posthumous Oscar. Gilliam believes it is nothing more than a cynical publicity stunt whipped up by the Warner Bros studio. "They'll do anything to publicise their film," says Gilliam who was directing Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when the Australian actor died in January at the age of 28 from an accidental prescription drug overdose. "That's just what they do and you can't get upset because it's bullshit."...Michael Jackson's 1983 song Billie Jean has been voted the greatest dance record of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners; Donna Summer's I Feel Love and James Brown's Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine came second and third... Meanwhile, memorabilia collectors will be able to bid for James Brown’s red jump suit, circular green vinyl sofa and even his hair-curlers, after a South Carolina court ruled that an auction of the personal possessions of the self-proclaimed ‘Godfather of Soul’ can go ahead, 18 months after his death... Robert Murat, the British expat accused of being a prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal, has been paid a total of £550,000 by the Daily Express, the Scotsman and several other newspapers in settlement of his claim for defamation... Meryl Streep has beaten Will Smith to the top of the UK box office charts: her new film, the Abba-inspired musical Mamma Mia!, took £5.2m in its first week, knocking Smith's Hancock off the top spot...