Showbiz: Potter part to Gambon

The Harry Potter flicks are getting a new headmaster - and the actor's name is Michael Gambon, not Ian McKellen.

Contrary to recent reports that McKellen, who portrays Gandalf in The Lord Of The Rings movies, would pull double wizard duty as Hogwarts' Professor Albus Dumbledore, a source with the Potter movies says Gambon has landed the role that became available when Richard Harris died in October.

Gambon, who starred in The Singing Detective, will don the robes for the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban.

* Kiefer Sutherland's career has been reinvigorated by the TV show 24 and he knows it. "Right now, my life revolves around this show," Sutherland says. "When something like 24 happens, you bow your head and say thank you."

Sutherland, who received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of anti-terrorism agent Jack Bauer, says he spends up to 16 hours a day on the set.

Friends say Sutherland has always been a hard worker, even when he had a reputation as a Hollywood hellraiser.

"When we did Lost Boys, Kiefer had a 6am makeup call," says director Joel Schumacher. "He'd party until four, drive to Warner Bros, park his car next to the security guard's gate and ask the guard to wake him at six."

* Two celebrity weddings in Australia: Six Feet Under actress Rachel Griffiths has married artist Andrew Taylor in a New Year's Eve ceremony in Melbourne, and The Lord Of The Rings star Miranda Otto began the New Year by marrying actor boyfriend Peter O'Brien in Sydney.

* If you think New Year's Eve is a vastly overrated event that should be shunned, you're not alone.

Actor Harrison Ford says New Year's Eve is "bull" and aims to be on his ranch and in bed by 10pm.

Singer Bryan Ferry watches old Fred Astaire musicals and is in bed by 11pm "just to spite everybody".

Actor/writer Billy Bob Thornton does his laundry on December 31. "I find it very relaxing."