Scully To Direct The X-Files?
ollowing in the footsteps of her co-star, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson (Special Agent Dana Scully) may get a shot at the director's chair for an episode of the hit Fox series The X-Files.
The About.com X-Files fan Web site reported that the show's production company, Ten Thirteen, will let Anderson direct one of the shows later this season.
Duchovny (Special Agent Fox Mulder) made his directorial debut with last season's critically acclaimed baseball episode, "The Unnatural." Duchovny has also provided story ideas for episodes.
New Trek Series Ideas Rejected
aramount Studios has rejected two pitches for a new Star Trek television series from Star Trek: Voyager executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, Majel Roddenberry told SCI FI Wire.
The studio plans to air a new series once Voyager ends its seven-year run next season, "but it's not giving away any information to say they've already turned down two premises that have already been handed in," said Roddenberry, whose late husband, Gene, created Star Trek.
One premise centered on a much younger cast than in previous series, and another was based at a non-Federation outpost, said Roddenberry, whose own involvement with the franchise is limited to providing a voice for the computers. No new ideas have been pitched since the last one was rejected. "I think everyone is taking a little vacation right now," she said.
Roddenberry added that a proposed tenth Star Trek feature film is "on the back burner for the while."
Trekkers Want Old-School Trek
rekkers, the die-hard fans of the Star Trek franchise, are organizing to pressure Paramount Studios to consider actor George Takei's idea for a new series to replace Star Trek: Voyager.
The International Federation of Trekkers fan group wants Paramount to endorse a series featuring Captain Sulu (Takei) in command of the USS Excelsior, a show with the look and feel of the first six Trek feature films.
"At this time, our plan is to basically bombard Paramount with mail," said Russ Haslage, president of the International Federation of Trekkers. "IFT has thousands of members around the world, and most have pledged their support to this mission. In addition, since this campaign is meant to represent all Star Trek fans, we hope to garner a great deal of help and support from the grassroots fans of the world."
Among other things, the fan group hopes to enlist the help of cast members of the original Trek series, including Takei and Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura). Haslage said his group will launch its campaign later this month.
Dawson Looks Beyond Trek
oxann Dawson, who plays half-Klingon Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres on Star Trek: Voyager, wants to avoid the type-casting that has plagued her Trek colleagues.
"I'm just an actor," she told the San Antonio Express-News. "I go from job to job. And once we're through doing Voyager, I'd like to be able to move on to the next job without any restrictions, without having to be B'Elanna for the rest of my life."
"Yet I'm also not recognizable because of the makeup I wear," Dawson added. "So I'm able to do a series for six years and still have my anonymity." Still, Dawson jokes, "If they wanted to give me some alien story line where I became human...I wouldn't be arguing."
Dawson gets to shed her Klingon makeup in a guest role on the UPN SF series Seven Days. She plays the captain of a state-of-the-art Navy ship and former love interest to time-traveling Frank Parker (Jonathan LaPaglia). "It was more than refreshing," she said. "It was a gift. It was wonderful to be able to sit down in a chair and have your makeup done in 20 minutes."
GvsE Coming To SCI FI
SA Network's supernatural series GvsE will be moving to USA's sister station, the SCI FI Channel, in March.
The show debuted on USA in July 1999 and was well received by critics, but it never clicked with the cable channel's viewers.
On SCI FI, GvsE will join a successful Friday night lineup that includes Farscape and the new offbeat SF series Lexx. As part of the move, GvsE may undergo a change to its title.
GvsE was created by Joshua and Jonas Pate and tells the story of two dead men--Clayton Rohner and Richard Brooks--who are enlisted into the heavenly Corps to battle evil on Earth. The Hollywood Reporter called GvsE a "stylishly gritty series about the battle between good and evil in the afterlife."
As previously reported, nine new episodes of GvsE are in production, including one that will feature a guest appearance by Star Trek alum Nichelle Nichols.
O'Bannon Extols Farscape Finale
he final four episodes of the first season of The SCI FI Channel series Farscape will climax with "the multi-arc cliffhanger from hell," series creator Rockne S. O'Bannon said in a bulletin board posting to SCIFI.COM.
The final episodes commence Friday, Jan. 7.
"If you haven't yet checked us out, I invite you to sample this Friday's episode, entitled 'Nerve.' With the arrival of this four-hour arc, I think you'll see we've truly hit our stride and are producing some of the finest science fiction on television today," O'Bannon said. O'Bannon will chat about the series at SCIFI.COM on Thursday, Jan. 13.
Travolta Committed To Battlefield Sequel
ohn Travolta has already committed to a sequel to Battlefield Earth, the SF action film based on the L. Ron Hubbard novel of the same name.
Cory Mandell, who wrote the screenplay for Battlefield Earth, will write the script for the sequel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Barry Pepper, who plays the hero, will return in the sequel, and filmmakers are negotiating with director Roger Christian and actor Forest Whitaker to return as well.
Mandell is expected to complete the script this summer, with tentative plans to begin shooting after Travolta completes his spring and fall 2000 projects. The sequel is targeted for a 2002 release. Battlefield Earth, from Franchise Pictures, is slated for release by Warner Bros. on May 12.
Devout Protest Mortal Kombat
group of 20 people calling themselves "Christian peacemakers" marched on Chicago's City Hall to protest a $2 million grant given by the city to Midway Games, maker of the violent video game Mortal Kombat.
The group included Mennonites, Quakers, Methodists, Roman Catholics and members of the Church of the Brethren, according to the Associated Press.
The group wants Mayor Richard Daley to rescind the grant aimed at keeping Midway in the city of Chicago. "Public money should not be going to companies that sell violent war toys for children," said Erin Kindy, a spokeswoman for the group.
Mortal Kombat and its maker are also included in a lawsuit filed against movie and game makers by the parents of three students killed in a 1997 shooting spree at a Paducah, Ky., high school.
Helen Hunt Mulling Fantasy Role
elen Hunt is close to signing a deal to star opposite Mel Gibson in the fantasy feature film What Women Want, directed by Nancy Meyers (The Parent Trap).
Hunt would play the female lead, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The comedy tells the story of a chauvinistic executive played by Gibson who recovers from an accident with the ability to read women's minds.
Hunt would work on the film after finishing Pay It Forward in February. Marisa Tomei is also reportedly talking with filmmakers about a part in the movie.
Alliance To Renew SF&F TV Shows
anadian television producer Alliance Atlantis Entertainment intends to renew its slate of syndicated hour-long SF&F shows.
Among the series getting extended commitments are Peter Benchley's Amazon and Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict.
Alliance, which also distributes and broadcasts TV programming, will be pushing a new slate of children's programs at this month's Annual Program Conference and Exhibition sponsored by the National Association of Television Program Executives, or NATPE, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"But we are still in the hour-action business," Alliance Atlantis Entertainment president Peter Sussman said. "We are going to NATPE with a view to renewing Beastmaster, Final Conflict, Amazon and Total Recall 2070. "
Analog Sponsors Teacher Web Contest
nalog Science Fiction and Fact magazine and best-selling SF author David Brin are sponsoring a contest aimed at teachers who develop SF-themed Web sites.
The "Webs of Wonder Contest" will award a $1,000 cash prize and other awards to sites that best use science fiction stories to illustrate or enliven educational topics in the classroom.
"A chemistry teacher might illustrate part of her curriculum with a classic Hal Clement novel, while a social studies class would argue the ethical questions raised by Tom Godwin's famous story 'The Cold Equations,'" according to Analog. As an example, California high school teacher Don Braden created an award-winning Web site that taught lessons in history, society and ethics by using themes from the feature film The Postman and David Brin's novel of the same name, upon which the movie was based.
Details about rules and available supporting materials are available at the Analog Web site.
Blanchett Prepares For Rings Role
ate Blanchett, who will play elf-queen Galadriel in New Line's upcoming Lord of the Rings movies, says she's no stranger to J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the trilogy of novels on which the films are based.
"I was actually in The Hobbit when I was in high school, but I hadn't read the books, and now I'm delving into them," Blanchett told the Edmonton Sun newspaper.
Blanchett is now preparing for the arduous filming in New Zealand. "I start in June," she said. "It's a 14-month shoot. We're making three movies back to back. And I'll be in all three."
She said she was drawn to the project by director Peter Jackson, "who has one of the most extraordinary, bizarre, out-there minds."
Spider-Man Rumors Fly
umors are spinning on the Web about the upcoming feature film based on the Marvel Comics series Spider-Man.
Spider-Man Hype.com first speculated that Jan de Bont (Speed) would direct the movie, but then quashed its own rumor by arguing that David Fincher (Seven) was the top contender, with playwright David Mamet revising David Koepp's script.
IGN Movies now says its source confirms that two directors are in the running: Fincher and Sam Raimi (A Simple Plan).
For its part, Cinescape isn't counting de Bont out. The site spoke with one of de Bont's representatives, who didn't deny that de Bont was a candidate and said several directors are still being considered.
Zwick To Direct Toys Of Desperation
dward Zwick (The Siege) will direct Toys of Desperation, a supernatural gothic thriller from Paramount Pictures.
The script from Steve Gaghan (Rules of Engagement) is based on an unpublished novel of the same name by Sean Desmond, according to Variety.
The novel tells the story of a college student who is haunted by a ghost who killed his girlfriend 50 years ago and now wants to frame the student for a similar murder.
Andromeda Is A Go For Two Years
ene Roddenberry's Andromeda, the upcoming syndicated SF television series based on an idea by the late Star Trek creator, has received a two-season commitment from Tribune Entertainment, executive producer Majel Roddenberry told SCI FI Wire.
Tribune committed to the production of 44 episodes of the new series, starring former Hercules: The Legendary Journeys lead Kevin Sorbo as starship captain Dylan Hunt.
The series begins casting this month at the show's Vancouver base. "Most of the other parts will be cast in Canada ... as stipulated by Canadian law," Roddenberry said. One key role yet to be cast: Beka, the female captain of the derelict space freighter Eureka Maru, who is the principal foil for Hunt.
Roddenberry described Andromeda as a departure from her other projects, including Earth: Final Conflict, which was also based on an idea by her late husband, Gene. Andromeda is "ER-style: fast, rapid, with everything going on at once," she said. "The whole timbre of the thing will be much more fast-paced, and there will be an awful lot of special effects of course, so that means an awful lot of money I'm afraid."
A pilot script is completed, sets are going up and shooting starts in April or May, Roddenberry said. The show tells the story of a sentient ship named Andromeda Ascendant that is part of the Earth-based galactic System Commonwealth of worlds. Andromeda Ascendant, with Hunt on board, gets caught in a black hole and is rescued 300 hundred years later by Beka and her ship. The series follows Hunt's efforts to reassemble the Commonwealth and unravel his past.
Reeves To Play Murder Suspect
eanu Reeves has committed to play the supporting role of a vicious, wife-beating murder suspect in The Gift, a low-budget supernatural drama.
Reeves joins Giovanni Ribisi, Cate Blanchett, Katie Holmes and Ron Eldard in the Sam Raimi-directed feature, according to Variety.
The drama, written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson (One False Move), tells the story of a clairvoyant woman who becomes enmeshed in a murder investigation. Reeves reportedly took a pay cut to play a part that is a departure from his heroic roles in such films as The Matrix.
Shooting will begin Feb. 7. Later this year, Reeves will reprise his lead role as Neo in the 250-day shoot of back-to-back Matrix sequels with directors Larry and Andy Wachowski.
Ramis To Direct Bedazzled Remake
arold Ramis (Analyze This) will direct a remake of the 1967 British fantasy comedy Bedazzled that will star Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley and Frances O'Connor.
Fraser will play a computer geek who makes a Faustian bargain with Hurley's devil figure to win the love of O'Connor, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In the original film, directed by Stanley Donen, Peter Cook played the devil, and Dudley Moore had the lead role. Cook also wrote the screenplay.
Ramis will write the script for the remake with Larry Gelbart and Peter Tolan. Shooting begins Jan. 24 in Los Angeles.
Timeline Film On A Fast Track
he feature film version of Michael Crichton's best-selling SF novel Timeline is on a fast track at Paramount Pictures.
Director Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon) will scout shooting locations in France this month, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Screenwriter Jeff Maguire (In the Line of Fire) is expected to deliver a first draft of his adaptation of the novel by the end of the month. Filming could begin in May with an eye toward a Memorial Day 2001 release.
Timeline tells the story of archaeology students who travel back in time to medieval France to rescue their professor. Crichton novels that have made the successful transition to film include Jurassic Park, Congo and The Andromeda Strain.
It's Tough Being A Hobbit
xtras playing the diminutive "hobbits" in the three films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy are working 14-hour days, a source at TheOneRing.net told SCI FI Wire.
Much of the time is spent in makeup or on the Hobbiton set at the films' New Zealand location.
"Apparently most of the hours spent at the makeup department involve putting on the prosthetic feet, which are latex and have to be glued on all over," the source said. "Once the day's shoot is over, they take about half an hour to get off, and every hobbit extra then gets a foot bath with eucalyptus oil--to help get off the glue?--and then a long foot massage and powder. Something to look forward to at the end of the day, apparently."
McKellen Wraps X-Men
an McKellen has reportedly finished his work playing Magneto in Fox's upcoming X-Men film.
The British actor will fly to New Zealand to play the wizard Gandalf in New Line's The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films on Jan. 10, according to the Comics Continuum Web site.
McKellen wrapped his X-Men role in Canada on Dec. 21. X-Men continues to shoot through February. Other Web sites report that a teaser trailer for the movie based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name is due in theaters this month.
Two Blair Witch Sequels Coming
t's official: There will be two more Blair Witch movies, with documentarian Joe Berlinger directing Blair Witch 2.
The announcement was made this week by Artisan Entertainment, which distributed The Blair Witch Project, and Haxan Films, which produced it.
Blair Witch creators Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez will executive produce and consult on Blair Witch 2, which will continue the story of the original movie. Myrick and Sanchez will also write, direct and produce Blair Witch 3, which will be a prequel to the first film.
Artisan said it will release Blair Witch 2 in fall 2000 and Blair Witch 3 in summer 2001. Plot lines for both the sequel and prequel are in development.
Berlinger won awards for co-directing the cinema verite documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.
SF&F Music Gets Grammy Nods
F&F film music was well represented among the nominees for the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards announced Tuesday, Dec. 4, by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
The Matrix and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me were nominated for best soundtrack album.
Randy Newman's score for A Bug's Life and John Williams' score for Star Wars: Episode 1 received nominations for best instrumental composition written for a motion picture, television or other visual medium.
Madonna's "Beautiful Stranger" from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Randy Newman's "The Time of Your Life" from A Bug's Life were nominated for best song from a motion picture.
Grammy awards will be handed out in a live telecast from Los Angeles' Staples Center on Feb. 23.
Web To Get More Superman
ntertaindom, Time Warner Digital Media's entertainment Web site, has ordered 15 additional "Webisodes" of its 3-D animated Superman series.
The new five-to-eight minute segments will bring to 30 the total number of Superman episodes on the site, the company announced.
The new episodes will debut weekly. Brilliant Digital Entertainment produces the Superman adventure series, which is one of the Entertaindom anchor programs.
Entertaindom will also distribute a 3-D animated series based on the television character Xena: Warrior Princess, plus eight Webisodes of a new series entitled KISS Immortals. To accommodate the additional shows, Entertaindom
will launch a new "Multipath Channel" on its site.
SF&F Films Win Online Critic Awards
eing John Malkovich won the award for best screenplay from the Online Film Critics Society.
Malkovich co-star Catherine Keener won for best supporting actress, while Haley Joel Osment won for best supporting actor for his performance in The Sixth Sense, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Blair Witch Project won the first award for outstanding movie Web site.
SF&F Books Top Bestseller Lists
.K. Rowling's three Harry Potter young adult novels and Michael Crichton's Timeline dominated the major general bestseller lists in December, according to the Locus Online Web site.
The various Harry Potter novels topped the lists of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and USA Today.
Timeline was No. 1 on the Publishers Weekly, Amazon.com and Book Sense lists. Stephen King's Hearts of Atlantis also remained on bestseller lists, but William Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties, which had appeared on the San Francisco list, dropped off. Dune: House Atreides reappeared on a few lists due to holiday buying.
Harry Monty, Original Munchkin, Dies
arry Monty, one of the original Munchkins from the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, died last week in Los Angeles. He was 95.
Monty also played an evil, winged monkey in the film, according to the Washington Post.
Monty, who started his acting career in vaudeville in the 1930s, appeared in movies including The Planet of the Apes and in television series including Lost in Space and Bewitched.
Haunted Man Web Comic Coming
ark Horse Comics and Lemon Custard Comics will premiere an exclusive online title, The Haunted Man, this month.
The comic, written by Gerard Jones (National Lampoon, Superman, Ultra Force), will feature animated art by Mark Badger (Spider-Man Online).
The Haunted Man is a superhero comedy, "Batman meets the Road Runner," according to the Dark Horse Web site.
After its debut, Dark Horse will update The Haunted Man feature three times a week. In March, the publisher will introduce a three-issue hard-copy Haunted Man series, continuing the online adventures of the Web comic.
Queen Of Swords Seeking TV Stations
ueen of Swords, a syndicated action-fantasy television series, will be shopped to TV stations this month.
The hour-long show centers on a female protagonist in the mold of Xena: Warrior Princess.
The series is to be distributed by Rysher Entertainment for the show's Canadian producer, CanWest Entertainment (Relic Hunter), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Documentarian To Direct Blair Witch 2?
oe Berlinger (Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills) is rumored to be in the running to direct the sequel to The Blair Witch Project, according to the Ain't It Cool News Web site.
Berlinger co-directed 1996's critically acclaimed Paradise Lost with documentarian Bruce Sinofsky.
Paradise Lost dealt with the murders of three teen-agers and touched on prejudices against witchcraft. With Sinofsky, Berlinger also co-directed Brother's Keeper, a documentary about the murder trial of an upstate New York man.
Thunderbirds Games Coming
ame rights to the classic children's TV show Thunderbirds have gone to British computer game maker SCi Entertainment Group.
The company plans to launch games based on the 1960s SF series for Sony's Playstation 2 platform and for the Internet.
The games will be introduced following the re-release of the restored, 32-part series on British television in the fall, according to the Reuters news service.
SF&F Films Slated For Home Video
he Sixth Sense and Star Wars: Episode I are slated for a spring home video release.
Sense will come out in VHS and DVD formats on March 28. Episode I will appear in VHS only on April 4.
On June 13, Independence Day will hit stores in a special edition DVD, with added scenes and commentary from director Roland Emmerich.
Stuart Little Tops New Year's Box Office
tuart Little took the No. 1 box-office slot over New Year's weekend, earning about $16 million.
The movie earned $1 million more than it did in its premiere last weekend, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
The Green Mile came in second with $13.2 million. Toy Story 2 remained strong at No. 4 with $12.2 million. Galaxy Quest came in sixth with $9.7 million, and Bicentennial Man placed seventh with $8.0 million.
Blair Witch House Is Saved
he derelict house featured at the end of The Blair Witch Project won't be demolished by the state of Maryland as originally planned.
The 200-year-old Griggs House in Patapsco State Park will be spared by the state's Department of Natural Resources.
Blair Witch distributor Artisan Entertainment paid the state to save the house, William Whitacre, a lawyer for the film's producer, Haxan Films, told the Baltimore Sun.
In The Blair Witch Project, characters meet their fates after running through the old house.
Briefly Noted
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Star Wars: Episode I will be released on home video worldwide the week of April 3. As previously reported, the film will come out on home video in North America on April 4. No DVD release of the movie is planned.
- SF&F DVDs helped spur a record sales year for DVD players, according to Variety. Among the DVDs that sold more than one million units in 1999 were The Matrix, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and The Mummy.
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Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker's wife and a principal character in the Star Wars novel series, appears for the first time in a customizable card game from Decipher.com. Mara Jade will be included as one of the 12 new premium cards in the enhanced Jabba's Palace set, to be released Jan. 12.
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Sega Dreamcast gamers will soon get their own version of Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue, already available for Playstation and Nintendo 64 platforms. Activision and Disney/Pixar will release the Dreamcast version in March.
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The Tick creator Ben Edlund, who is currently developing a live-action television series based on his comic and animated show, is not struggling with problems as reported in The New York Post. The Comics2Film Web site quoted production sources as saying the Post story was "completely wrong."
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For anyone nostalgic for the days when William Shatner sang professionally, there's hope: The spokesman for Priceline.com
will warble a medley of songs in video ads for the Web site, according to Variety.
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The Web site for New Line's upcoming supernatural thriller Final Destination is now operational, with features including a new trailer, a contest and psychic news tidbits.
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TV producer Chris Carter (The X-Files) will receive the Television Showmanship Award from the Publicists Guild of America in March. The group cited Carter's "exceptional impact" on TV.
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Liam Neeson (Star Wars: Episode I) was voted the best Irish actor by local audiences, an Irish newspaper reported. Neeson topped the list of five actors, which included Gabriel Byrne (End of Days) but omitted Irish-born Pierce Brosnan (The World Is Not Enough).
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Nickelodeon Movies will develop an animated feature film, Alien Pet Boy, based on a soon-to-be-published children's book of the same name by Keith Graves. Chris Bird will adapt the book, about a boy who learns not to be mean to his pets after being abducted by aliens and turned into a pet himself, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Professional wrestler Edge has a part in the upcoming Highlander 4 feature film, starring Christopher Lambert. Edge's role required the wrestler to travel to Romania to film several scenes, including a sword fight with Lambert.
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Cyberpunk author William Gibson voiced his approval of The Matrix during a recent SCIFI.COM chat. "You know, I liked the damned thing," he said. "I thought it was a big, generous, essentially good-hearted movie, with no overtly fascist subtext. And I thought the William Gibson influence was adequately digested. No floating gristle."
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Burt Reynolds will direct a remake of the 1945 vampire classic Isle of the Dead, which starred Boris Karloff, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Children's Television Workshop is launching Tiny Planets, a computer-animated series that introduces preschoolers to the world of science. CTW has teamed with Pepper's Ghost Productions to produce 65 five-minute episodes of Tiny Planets for a spring 2001 debut.
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TV's Nicholas Brendon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Garrett Wang (Star Trek: Voyager) headline the cast of the upcoming independent horror film Pinata. Written, produced and directed by brothers David and Scott Hillenbrand, the movie tells the story of a group of college students who run afoul of a mysterious ancient evil while on an island scavenger hunt.
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Neal Stephenson's SF novel Cryptonomicon was one of Salon magazine's 10 favorite books of 1999. The novel combines a story about World War II cryptographers with a narrative about high-tech entrepreneurs on a remote jungle island near the Philippines.
