Highlander Film Is Set To Shoot
roducers Peter Davis and Bill Panzer are in Bucharest, Romania, getting ready to start shooting their new film Highlander: World Without End.
The intrepid filmmakers posted the following report on the official Highlander Web site:
To All Our Highlander Fans!
A quick note from Bucharest, Romania, where we are in
pre-production for the Davis-Panzer/Miramax production
Highlander: World Without End. And yes, Adrian Paul
Christopher Lambert, Jim Byrnes and Peter Wingfield will all
participate in this dramatic sweeping epic. Additional
shooting will take place in Paris, New York and Scotland.
Adrian Paul is to arrive in Bucharest shortly for rehearsals and
you can expect some spectacular action sequences to
emerge from those sessions.
While we can't reveal specifics about the script, we will say
that we are exceedingly pleased with the story to be told.
Shooting to commence Oct. 18.
Signing off from Bucharest, Romania.
Best regards,
Peter Davis and Bill Panzer
October 8, 1999
Harsh Realm Earns Harsh Ratings
hris Carter's new SF series Harsh Realm got off to a decidedly lackluster start during its Fox debut on Friday, Oct. 8.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, preliminary results indicate the series attracted just 7.6 million viewers and earned only a 3.8 Nielsen rating in the key demographic of adults ages 18-49.
Those numbers are particularly low considering that Realm's lead-in show, Shocking Behavior Caught on Tape 2, was able to draw in 11.3 million viewers for a 4.8 rating. Fox, which has been comparing Carter's virtual reality Realm to the blockbuster SF film The Matrix, said the show is suffering because of low viewer awareness levels.
More Harsh News For Harsh Realm
hris Carter's new SF series Harsh Realm, which has already been lambasted for its lackluster debut, may soon be the target of a lawsuit by Harsh Realm comic book creators Andrew Paquette and James Hudnall.
According to a report in The New York Observer, Paquette and Hudnall are upset because they aren't getting a screen credit for coming up with the idea that the series is based on.
Paquette and Hudnall are receiving royalties for the show, and their comic book publisher, Harris Publications, is getting a credit. But the two say they want more recognition for their work, and the Observer says they are seeking a bigger paycheck as well.
"Chris Carter is the biggest man in Hollywood," Paquette said. "What does it hurt him to give us an honest, truthful credit?"
The Observer said that Carter won't comment on the situation.
Episode I Tops $400 Million Overseas
tar Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace recently became the fifth film in history to pass the $400 million mark in ticket sales outside North America.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Episode 1 reached that milestone thanks to strong premieres in Holland, Turkey and Portugal.
The Phantom Menace also hit theaters in Paris, France, earlier this month with special preview screenings at 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. that came complete with coffee and fresh croissants. If Episode I continues at its current pace, its overseas ticket sales will soon eclipse its North American gross.
Crichton Offers Timeline For $0
ichael Crichton isn't giving up on selling the film rights to his new SF novel Timeline just because all of the major movie studios have passed on the project.
According to Variety, Crichton has lowered his asking price to $0 for any studio that agrees to put a Timeline film into development by next summer.
As part of the deal, the studio has to hire Crichton to write the first draft of the script for 15 percent of the film's first-dollar gross, with a $15 million price cap. And the studio has to agree to hire Lethal Weapon director Richard Donner--whose fee has reached the $10 million mark in the past--to helm any Timeline film.
What's more, the studio has to agree to give Crichton, Donner and Crichton's agent AMG a producing credit on the picture, which would likely cost another $3 million or so. Finally, if a buyer takes on the project and doesn't develop it, they will have to pay substantial penalty costs.
Townsend Leaves Lord Of The Rings
ust one week into the start of principal photography, Stuart Townsend has left Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Townsend had signed on to play the role of Strider/Aragorn in the picture, and according to Variety that role may now go to Viggo Mortenson (G.I. Jane, A Perfect Murder).
New Line Cinema has not confirmed Townsend's departure, but Variety said "sources close to the New Zealand production" claim Townsend and Jackson had creative differences about the role. Other sources indicated that Townsend lacked the star power to carry off the part.
Carpenter's Ghosts Of Mars Is A Gem
ohn Carpenter's SF thriller Ghosts of Mars will be the first film released by Sony's new label Screen Gems.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the picture takes place 200 years in the future and tells the story of a group of human colonists who must be rescued after they are possessed by vengeful Martian ghosts.
The movie is slated to begin shooting in early 2000 and will be produced by Carpenter with Sandy King's Storm King Productions King has previously produced the Carpenter films Vampires, Village of the Damned, In the Mouth of Madness and They Live.
Nerine Shatner's Death Ruled Accidental
s expected, a Los Angeles, Calif., coroner has ruled that the August death of William Shatner's wife Nerine was an accident.
Variety quoted a coroner spokesperson who said, "The immediate cause of death is attributed to drowning associated with neck trauma, and the manner of death will be listed as accidental."
The coroner also found that Nerine Shatner, 40, was legally intoxicated at the time of her death and had a blood alcohol level of 0.27 percent, or more than three times California's legal driving limit of 0.08 percent. There were also traces of Valium in her system.
Former Star Trek star William Shatner said he returned home from a business trip on Aug. 9 and found Nerine lying motionless at the bottom of the couple's swimming pool. He pulled her out of the water and performed artificial resuscitation, but he was unable to revive her.
The Shatners were married during a private ceremony in 1997.
Hugh Jackman Will Play Wolverine
ustralian actor Hugh Jackman has taken over the role of Wolverine in Bryan Singer's upcoming X-Men film, according to Daily Variety.
Dougray Scott was originally supposed to play the part but he had to drop out of the picture when his current project, Mission: Impossible 2, went into an extended shoot.
The X-Men will mark Jackman's first role in a feature film, though he has worked on a number of independent movies and he also recently starred in the London revival of "Oklahoma." Variety reports the actor was fitted for his Wolverine costume over the weekend and has already begun rehearsals.
Henson Announces Farscape Toys, Cards
he Henson Co. announced it has signed a deal with Toy Vault to produce action figures and key chains based on its SF show Farscape, which is the top-rated series on the SCI FI Channel.
Separately Henson has made a pact with Rittenhouse Archives to create several series of Farscape trading cards that will feature photography and computer graphics from the show.
Toy Vault is well known to SF fans for its line of high-quality Lord of the Rings action figures. Rittenhouse manufactures hobby collectibles as well as trading cards, and it currently holds licenses to Star Trek and The Twilight Zone.
Both product lines will launch in 2000.
Briefly Noted
- The Iron Giant received 15 nominations for the International Animated Film Society's annual Annie Awards, including nods for best picture, best director and best writing. The winners will be announced on Nov. 6.
- The Henson Co. announced its SF show Farscape will air on the BBC2 in the United Kingdom starting in late November.
- The Sixth Sense writer/director M. Night Shyamalan is reportedly pitching a new supernatural film to Disney that will star Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.
- Oscar-nominated film composer Philip Glass has recorded a new soundtrack for the 1931 film Dracula. The newly scored movie will be released to video later this month by the BBC.
