Hilary Duff guns for Faye Dunaway

When the pop star and actress Hilary Duff was cast as Bonnie in a forthcoming re-make of the classic Depression era movie Bonnie and Clyde, Faye Dunaway, who played the part in the 1967 film, was far from impressed by the choice, saying: "Couldn't they at least cast a real actress?"

This, needless to say, has gone down badly with 21-year-old Duff, who, while not a major star, has put in acceptable performances in a number of films, but remains best known as the star of the Disney Channel's pre-teen drama series Lizzie McGuire.

Commenting on 68-year-old Dunaway's putdown, Duff said: "I think that my fans that are going to go see the movie don't even know who she is, so you know, uh, I think it was a little unnecessary but I might be mad if I looked like that now too." Ouch.

Dunaway, who won an Oscar nomination for her role as the machine gun-toting gangster Bonnie Parker, has yet to respond to Duff's rebuke. Neither has her co-star in the original movie, Warren Beatty, commented on the suitability of the actor chosen to reprise his role as Clyde - Kevin Zegers, whose best-known movie role is Air Bud, about a basketball-playing dog.

Duff and Zegers could have the last laugh because the timing of the remake is impeccable. As Charles Laurence reported for The First Post last week, bank robberies are oin the increase in the US because of the credit crunch, and there even signs of sympathy for the robbers – as long as no one is hurt - just as there was in the 1930s when Bonnie and Clyde were running riot.
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