Gerard Depardieu to play Stalin

French actor Gerard Depardieu is to play Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in a forthcoming movie, his representative said on Tuesday.

Depardieu - made a Russian citizen by Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin - will feature in a screen adaptation of a 2013 Jean-Daniel Baltassat novel called Stalin's Sofa. The film will be directed by French actress Fanny Ardant.

Motorhead disbanding

British heavy metal band Motorhead are calling it quits after the death of their iconic frontman Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, the group's Swedish drummer said on Tuesday.

"Motorhead is over, of course. Lemmy was Motorhead, but the band will live on in the memories of many," Mikkey Dee told the website of Sweden's Expressen tabloid.

Kilmister was diagnosed with cancer last Saturday, two days after his 70th birthday, and died on Monday.