CELEBRITY WATCH
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January 4, 2000
Web posted at: 4:48 p.m. EST (2148 GMT)

• Spielberg named top director of 1990s
• If price is right, Hopkins wants to be Hannibal again
• Jeanne Moreau to receive Berlin honor
• Look out Gwyneth? Britney Spears wants to act

Spielberg

(CNN) -- It might have been the decade when independent film established itself as a Hollywood force, but blockbuster director Steven Spielberg is still king, according to the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

The organization chose him as the top moviemaker of the 1990s, and put two of his films -- "Schindler's List" (1993) and "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) -- at the top of their list of the decade's best movies.

Both films are set in World War II. "Schindler's List" depicts the true story of Oskar Schindler, who saved more than 1,000 Jews from Nazi concentration camps, while "Saving Private Ryan" recreates with horrifying accuracy the Allied D-Day invasion at Normandy, France.

"Schindler's List," the Oscar-winner for best picture, was chosen as the top movie of the decade by the association.

Hopkins

(CNN) -- Jodie Foster might be out, but Anthony Hopkins says he's willing to reprise his role as cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter for a planned sequel to the 1991 thriller "Silence of the Lambs."

Hopkins' publicist Catherine Olim said on Monday that Hopkins is game, provided financial terms can be reached.

"Assuming they can work out a deal -- and all of that remains to be ironed out -- he wants to do it," Olim said. "He's always said it would depend on the script. He's read the script."

The latest turn in the development of the film came less than a week after Foster announced she would not repeat her "Silence of the Lambs" role as FBI agent Clarice Starling because she wanted to direct a movie of her own instead.

Talk of a sequel has been gaining steam ever since producer Dino De Laurentiis paid more than $9 million in May 1999 for film rights to "Hannibal," Thomas Harris' best-selling follow-up novel to "Silence of the Lambs."

The first film was a huge commercial and critical success: Both Hopkins and Foster won Oscars for their roles in "Silence of the Lambs," which also took home best picture, best director (Jonathan Demme) and best writing honors from the Academy.

(CNN) -- The Berlin international film festival will honor legendary French actress Jeanne Moreau next month. Organizers say they will present Moreau with their Golden Bear award for lifetime achievement on the silver screen.

Moreau, 71, began her film career in 1949 and worked with some of the industry's leading directors, including Francois Truffaut in "Jules et Jim" and Orson Welles in "Chimes at Midnight." She has found work through the 1990s as well, appearing in films like "Ever After" (1998).

The 50th annual Berlin festival, which runs February 9-20, will show a retrospective of her work, including a special screening of the 1966 Tony Richardson adaptation of Jean Genet's "Mademoiselle."

Spears

(CNN) -- Britney Spears conquered the teen pop world in 1999. Now she has her sights set on the silver screen.

The singer, whose first single, "Baby One More Time," shot to No. 1 last year in 15 countries, says in the February issue of Teen People that she wants to act.

"There are, like, 20 scripts waiting for me -- I get some really good scripts -- but I haven't taken them seriously because I knew I didn't have any time," Spears, 18, says.

Spears says if she finds the right movie, she doesn't necessarily have to be the star.

"To go all out and have the lead role -- I'd be scared having that much pressure on me," she says. "It would be fun to do a teen movie, maybe a good supporting role where I could show my acting ability."

She won't have to worry about supporting herself with acting roles. Along with the success of her single, her debut CD of the same name sold more than 9 million copies in the United States alone.