SCIFI.COM Buys SF Weekly
CI FI.COM, the official Web site of The SCI FI Channel, has purchased Science Fiction Weekly, a Web-based publication with more than 150,000 registered readers.
The acquisition culminates a relationship with SCIFI.COM's parent company, USA Networks Interactive, under which Science Fiction Weekly has licensed its content as the core component of SCIFI.COM's editorial since 1996.
Science Fiction Weekly began publishing in August 1995. In April of the next year, SCIFI.COM and Science Fiction Weekly entered into an exclusive deal to provide content to SCIFI.COM. Since then Science Fiction Weekly has consistently rated as one of SCIFI.COM's most popular features, and its "News of the Week" department was spun off as SCI FI Wire in October 1997.
SCIFI.COM will use Science Fiction Weekly's reviews and reporting to expand its production and syndication of SF-related news
and to grow the reach and appeal of SCIFI.COM. SCIFI.COM also acquired Science Fiction Weekly's archive of more than 1,000 articles, news and reviews. Science Fiction Weekly will continue to feed the SCI FI Wire.
Craig E. Engler, president of Science Fiction Weekly, will become executive producer of SCIFI.COM. SCIFI.COM was a 1998 "People's Choice" Webby Award winner.
Lucasfilm Answers DVD Criticism
n response to fan criticism, Lucasfilm issued an unusual statement saying that the Star Wars films won't be coming out on DVD any time in the near future, but not because of a desire to boost demand for the discs.
"Lucasfilm greatly appreciates the enthusiasm of our fans of the Star Wars movies and their passion to see the films in the best possible format, as demonstrated by various campaigns by fans asking for an immediate release of Star Wars on DVD," said the statement posted to the official Web site.
"There is no plan to release any of the Star Wars films on DVD for the foreseeable future and definitely not this year," the statement added. "George Lucas would like to do something special with the DVD release, and unfortunately he does not have time to concentrate on the DVD project at this time. George is currently working on the script for Episode II and preparing for principal photography that will begin this summer in Australia."
The statement added, "Rumors and speculation that waiting to release DVD versions is motivated by a desire to simply drive up demand, or to force fans to purchase multiple copies are completely false."
The production company also said it was concerned about pirate DVD versions of Star Wars, and denied that a delay in an official DVD release is designed to encourage such piracy. "As many know, while a Laserdisc version of The Phantom Menace will be released in Japan due to market considerations, there is nothing digital on a Laserdisc except for the soundtrack. While a bootlegged DVD copy from this format would be superior to VHS, it would still not equal the DVD format."
More Names Emerge For Anakin
ew names have joined the old ones among the reported 700 candidates vying for the chance to play 19-year-old Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the A list of contenders now includes Leonardo DiCaprio, James Van Der Beek and Joshua Jackson of The WB's Dawson's Creek, Eric Christian Olsen of Fox's Get Real, Erik von Detten of ABC's Odd Man Out, Ryan Phillippe of Cruel Intentions, and Chris Klein of American Pie.
Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale told the magazine that the company has seen no fewer than 700 tapes and met with 300 actors. Some have been asked to sign confidentiality agreements. In December, when Newsweek reported that General Hospital soap star Jonathan Jackson had a lock on the role, the publicity may have hurt his chances.
Among those not likely to win the role: Paul Walker of She's All That
and Indiana stockbroker Jeff Garner, touted by the Ain't It Cool News Web site. Garner told the magazine that he was only asked to send his photo to Lucasfilm, and that he's seen a page of a script.
Lucas Blasts Media
eorge Lucas called the American media "shallow, full of a lot of erroneous assumption and sensationalized to the point of being fabricated" in a speech at the University of California, Berkeley.
Entertainment journalists are especially bad, the filmmaker said, according to the Associated Press.
"In the area of entertainment journalism, the idea of truth basically goes out the window," Lucas said during a Herb Caen-San Francisco Chronicle lecture. "And that's too bad. There are lots of interesting things in the truth that don't need to be moved around." He added, "Celebrities have to put up with an awful lot of browbeating. It's bad manners."
British Networks Battle For Star Wars
he British television networks BBC and ITV are engaged in a battle to win the U.K. broadcast rights to the six current and upcoming Star Wars movies.
Fierce bidding is going on, with the final price tag for the films expected to reach 20 million pounds (about $32 million), according to the Popcorn U.K. Web site.
ITV aired Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi in the late 1980s. Episode I and two unmade prequels won't be available for television until later in the decade.
The BBC recently paid a record 4 million pounds (about $6.4 million) with Britain's Channel 5 for the exclusive U.K. rights to Independence Day.
Matrix II Spoilers Posted
poilers for The Matrix II, the anticipated sequel to the 1999 hit movie The Matrix, have appeared on the Dark Horizons Web site.
Citing sources from the film, which is now in production in England, the site reported that Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) will be "absorbed and displaced in a temporal reality."
Neo (Keanu Reeves) will have to find her by re-entering the Matrix, and he will question whether Trinity was an agent all along. As for Zion, the site reported that storyboards are circulating depicting a chase around Zion's "Core Conscience," which bears more than a passing similarity to London's Big Ben.
Russians Sell Bogus Matrix II
an't wait for the sequel to The Matrix? You can travel to Russia and buy it now--sort of.
The Dark Horizons Web site reports that unscrupulous street vendors in Russia are hawking videotapes titled The Matrix II, which are really repackaged bootleg versions of the 1996 SF film Menno's Mind.
The bootlegs of Menno's Mind, which starred Bill Campbell (Once and Again), Corbin Bernsen, Michael Dorn and Bruce Campbell, are being advertised as the sequel to the hit 1999 movie. The real sequel is still in production and won't be out until next year.
Blair Witch 2 Start Delayed
he production start for The Blair Witch Project 2 has been delayed at least three weeks because casting is incomplete.
The anticipated sequel to 1999's surprise hit The Blair Witch Project was originally scheduled to begin shooting the week of Feb. 21, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"That date has always been contingent on casting," said Paul Pflug, a spokesman for Artisan Entertainment, which is producing the sequel. Casting of five lead characters--three women and two men--remains to be done, he added. But, he said, "We're finishing location scouting."
Meanwhile, writer Jon Bodenkamp has been hired to do the final polish on the Blair Witch 2 screenplay, Variety reported. Artisan has commissioned several Blair Witch 2 scripts from other writers, and will select the best one for production.
Town Is Leery of Blair Witch 2
he Blair Witch Project 2, the upcoming sequel to 1999's monster hit feature film, shouldn't be shot in the same Maryland town where its predecessor was filmed.
At least that's the opinion of some residents of Burkittsville, Md., which has been inundated with rabid fans, according to the Cinescape Web site.
When Blair Witch 2 director Joe Berlinger recently sought permission at a town meeting to film there, he encountered stiff resistance. Town residents told him that overeager fans of The Blair Witch Project vandalized tombstones in the local cemetery, stole city property as souvenirs and otherwise overran the town.
Former city councilman Sam Brown reportedly shouted, "We've already been raped. Now they want us to be prostitutes." Berlinger and other filmmakers left before they gained permission, the site reported.
Buffy Star Reveals Private Side
arah Michelle Gellar, the famously private star of The WB's hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, opened up a little on the subject of boyfriends and her estranged father in an interview in the recent TV Guide.
Gellar, 22, denied tabloid rumors of romantic relationships with one-time co-star David Boreanaz (Angel), Jerry O'Connell (Mission to Mars) or Freddie Prinze Jr.
About Boreanaz, she said, "It's a complete fallacy. In fact, everyone on the Buffy set was laughing about the very idea of David and me as a couple. ... [A tabloid article] claimed David and I were together at a Christmas party, when he was home in Philadelphia, and I was in Australia, and how we were seen eating at health-food restaurants. Well, if I ever saw David put any food in his mouth that wasn't fried in a fast-food joint, I'd drop dead."
As for former high-school classmate O'Connell or Prinze, she said, "The odds are you will not see me at one of those [public] events with someone I am romantically interested in, which is why I'll go with Jerry or Freddie."
Gellar was also frank about her father, Arthur, who divorced her mother, Rosellen, in the mid-1980s. "He is not a person who exists in my life. Just because you donate sperm does not make you a father. I don't have a father. I would never give him the credit to acknowledge him as my father. My mother is the most amazing woman I've ever met. I wanted for nothing. I never felt a lack of affection. And I am, I think, a perfectly content and very well-adjusted person--probably more so than most people I know who have two parents. One of the greatest gifts my job affords me is that my mother, who gave up her entire life for me, doesn't have to work anymore. Now I can give back. She can take it easy. She can do whatever she wants. [Flashes a wide smile] I bought her a house."
Buffy's New Beau Speaks Out
arc Blucas, who plays commando Riley Finn on The WB's hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, told SCI FI Wire that it's been hard but gratifying to step into the leading male role vacuum created by the departure of Angel for his own show.
"It's been a hard transition for everyone, especially [star] Sarah [Michelle Gellar], who has been such a pro and a friend in making this transition so easy for all of us," said Blucas, whose squeaky-clean character is becoming more complicated as the season progresses.
Blucas, who had small parts in Pleasantville and The 60s, is also getting used to the show's avid fans, who are not shy about comparing Blucas to his predecessor, David Boreanaz, or to carp about the chemistry between Blucas and his leading lady. "I know that for the most part, people who have a problem with Riley, it's relational issues," he said. "I understand that they're protective of Buffy, and they know her with Angel. ... It takes a while to win over the fans. I feel that is happening now."
As for Riley's future on the show, he laughed. "As you know, many people die on a weekly basis on our show. So you look over your shoulder a little bit. But I'm having such a great time; I'm grateful for the opportunity to be on the show. I just want it to go on as long as they want me. I have no idea how long that will be."
Takei Ready To Board Excelsior
eorge Takei, who has played Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek since the franchise's beginning, told SCI FI Wire that he'd love to take on the role again for a new Trek television series being pushed by fans.
"I love the show," he said. "I'm proud of my association with the show, and certainly the character is one that is very much a part of me."
Takei added that he has been contacted by and supports the fans who are organizing a worldwide demonstration April 22 to persuade Paramount Studios to base a new Trek series on the exploits of Capt. Sulu and his starship, the U.S.S. Excelsior. But Takei said he's not active in the effort.
Nor has Takei held any official talks with Paramount or Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, executive producers of Star Trek: Voyager, the only Trek series currently in production. "It's always [only] after the fans have accomplished their goal that they get in touch with us [actors]," Takei said.
Is the fans' "Excelsior Campaign" realistic? "Well, the whole history of Star Trek is the market demand," Takei said. "As I understand it, there were two or three proposals that were made by Rick Berman to the studio [for a series to follow Voyager], all of which were rejected. ... They tested those ideas to a sampling of the fan audience, and they were turned down. And here's an initiative coming from fandom itself on this huge scale. So if Paramount is a true profit-making corporation, it seems to me they would listen to the market."
Better Puppets Coming For Farscape
he SCI FI Channel series Farscape will receive a completely rebuilt set of puppets in its second season, including key figures such as Rygel and Pilot, according to the series' chief puppeteer, Dave Elsey.
"If we've done our job properly, people won't even notice," Elsey told the Space.com Web site. "Our aim is to get the audience to forget they're looking at foam latex, and instead experience the puppets as real characters."
During the break between seasons, Elsey and his crew are improving some of the less visible mechanics, like cabling and computerized remote controls, for the more than 50 puppets used in the series. During the course of regular shooting, the puppets may take such a beating from water, mud or other hazards that they require full facial reconstruction every two or three episodes.
In the second season, Elsey plans to add a more ambitious set of movements for Pilot. For D'Argo, Elsey and his crew have made a series of refinements aimed at making the role easier for actor Anthony Simcoe, who must endure as much as three hours of makeup each day.
Elsey added, "We're also going to meet a whole array of very strange new aliens, and we've done some very innovative stuff. We have some very big aliens this season. Some are 7- or 8-foot-tall bipedals."
Margulies To Star In Avalon
ulianna Margulies (ER) and Anjelica Huston are in talks to star in The Mists of Avalon, a four-hour TNT miniseries based on Marion Zimmer Bradley's novel of the same name.
The co-production of TNT, Warner Bros. TV and Constantin Films will tell the story of King Arthur and Camelot from the point of view of the women in the legend, according to Variety.
Huston would play Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, who tries to preserve Camelot's pagan beliefs. Margulies would portray Morgaine, Arthur's sister, who becomes Viviane's pawn in the quest for control of Camelot.
Production is set to begin in Prague in April, with an eye to a 2001 premiere.
Ulrich Edel (Last Exit to Brooklyn) will direct from a script by Gavin Scott.
Carter Won't Do X-Files Sans Stars
hris Carter, creator of Fox's hit television series The X-Files, says he's not interested in doing an eighth season of the show without its two stars.
And that may be problematic: Though Gillian Anderson (FBI Agent Dana Scully) still has a year left on her contract, David Duchovny's (FBI Agent Fox Mulder) runs out at the end of this season.
"I'm not interested in doing it without David and Gillian," Carter told USA Today. It's an open question whether Duchovny will sign up again--he has said he's tired of the show, and he's also suing Twentieth Century Fox for a larger slice of the show's syndication earnings. The fates of the show and the lawsuit are expected to be resolved by next week, USA Today reported.
Fox executives have said that they want the show to return and are willing to do whatever it takes to bring it back. Sunday, Feb. 20, marked the series' 150th episode, a cinema verite installment in the style of Cops.
Brad Bird Moves To Pixar?
rad Bird, director of The Iron Giant, is rumored to have struck a deal with Pixar to direct his next animated feature there, according to the Animation Blast Web site.
The film, based on Bird's original script, would be The Incredibles, about a family of superheros.
If Bird makes the move to Pixar, he would join former colleague David Silverman (The Simpsons), who is directing Pixar's fourth feature, Monsters, Inc.
Overload Features TV Vets
eteran television actors Bill Mumy (Babylon 5) and Tony Dow (Leave It to Beaver) are the driving forces behind the proposed independent SF feature film Overload, now in pre-production.
Mumy and Dow are co-executive producers, and Dow will direct the film, described as a psychological drama in an SF setting.
The film's cast will feature other TV vets, including Mumy's Lost in Space co-star Angela Cartwright, My Three Sons actor Don Grady, Father Knows Best star Billy Gray and Star Trek's George Takei. Production is set to start this month; a trailer has already been shot, a source told SCI FI Wire.
The original screenplay is by Mumy and Peter David, who has written several Babylon 5 and Star Trek novelizations. The film has no distributor yet.
X-Men Trailer Debuts On Web
he first teaser trailer for Fox's upcoming X-Men feature film, based on the popular Marvel Comics' series of the same name, has been posted to the official Web site.
The trailer is available a day before it's scheduled to show up in movie theaters and a day after it debuted on television's Entertainment Tonight.
In quick cuts, viewers get their first glimpses of the movie version of the comic book mutant heroes, including Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Cyclops (James Marsden), Storm (Halle Berry) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The trailer also offers views of mutant villains Magneto (Ian McKellen), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) and Sabretooth (Tyler Mane). Curiously absent are the characters of Rogue, played by Anna Paquin, and Toad, played by Ray Park.
The movie is still shooting in Toronto, with an eye to a July 14 release.
Jackman Tries To Keep Wolvie Real
ugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine in the highly anticipated feature film version of Marvel Comics' X-Men, said he and director Bryan Singer are trying to keep the movie grounded in reality.
"It's a fine line we walk in this movie of making it realistic and, I don't know, having a sort of a tone that is real," Jackman told the IGN Movies Web site during a break in filming in Toronto.
Jackman said the challenge is to preserve the essence of the story without it becoming two-dimensional. "Things like [Wolverine's] hair, for example," he said. "We had to work on that for a long time, because of all the fans. 'In the first moment,' [Singer] said, 'they have to say "That's Wolverine!"' But at the same time he's got to be able to have a drink in a bar without people thinking 'Who's this freak?'"
Jackman, a martial artist, said the other challenge was capturing Wolverine's fighting style on film, especially with the character's trademark adamantine claws. "Having done [stage] fighting, getting used to that extra 9-inch long [claw] is the hardest thing. ...What I really wanted to get with Wolverine is, he's a street fighter. He's quick, he's fast, he's smart, but he's not pretty. ... If he can slash your head off in one go, that's what he'll do. Because he doesn't want to stick around. So that's what we really worked on."
Uma Out Of Rings?
ontrary to previous reports, Uma Thurman will not be cast as the female warrior Eowyn in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy, according to TheOneRing.Net.
The fan site said there has been no word yet as to why Thurman is no longer in the running for the role.
McKellen Takes On Homophobic Critics
utspoken actor Ian McKellen has again taken on his critics, this time Internet cranks who have attacked his casting as the wizard Gandalf in the upcoming New Line feature film series The Lord of the Rings, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy of novels of the same name.
McKellen's critics have attacked his casting because of the actor's well-known homosexuality and advocacy for gay rights.
Writing in a essay entitled "A Gay Gandalf" on his official Web site, McKellen said, "It was unsurprising that an uncensored Internet should recently criticize my casting as Gandalf in homophobic terms. Cranky anti-gay remarks in chat rooms remind me of verbal abuse in the playground--not that that didn't hurt too. Many unthinking people just don't like the idea of gays joining in their games, nor in the military and, it would seem, in the movies."
McKellen is currently on the films' New Zealand location.
New Superman Script Ready
he on-again, off-again Superman feature film that was to star Nicolas Cage may be breathing new life: Warner Bros. and Cage are reportedly pleased with a new script by Bill Wisher (Terminator 2: Judgment Day).
A draft of Wisher's screenplay has made its way to the studio, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film, which is to be produced by Jon Peters (Batman), was in pre-production, but stalled when filmmakers failed to develop a satisfactory script. Studio sources told the trade paper that the movie could revive the moribund superhero franchise.
Death Coming To Roswell
ajandra Delfino, who plays sidekick Maria DeLuca on The WB's teen alien series Roswell, says that death is imminent on the hit show.
"Well, someone might die, and there's some really scary FBI situation coming, like 'Trust No One.' Oh, and [guest star] Julie Benz will be back," she said during a chat on E! Online.
But she added, "Death is not always a bad thing in our world-[it] doesn't have to be permanent." And she offered this tidbit about the mysterious fourth alien being pursued by teen aliens Max Evans, his sister Isabel and their friend, Michael: "The fourth alien is a shape-shifter, so you never know who is being themselves or who is the shape-shifter. He can be [Sheriff] Valenti. He can be me. He can be anyone."
The 18-year-old actress said she originally auditioned for the lead role of Liz Parker that eventually went to Shiri Appleby. "I had an age problem, and they wanted someone over 18. So it was Maria or nothing, and I thought Maria was so damn funny."
Delfino also said she's a big fan of SF TV and movies. Asked what her favorite movie was, she replied, "You're going to laugh, but I'd have to say Tron, and then Hackers and then The Matrix. I truly believe in the theory of The Matrix." And her favorite TV show? It isn't Roswell, but fellow WB series Charmed.
Frakes Sees Roswell Pickup
onathan Frakes, co-executive producer of The WB's hit teen alien series Roswell, is confident the freshman show will be picked up for another year.
"I think that Roswell is going to make it," Frakes told Starburst magazine.
"It seems to have the teen-age girl demographic, which is what the WB has circled as their goal," Frakes said. "So I have very high hopes that we will be back next year."
"I talked to [co-executive producer] Jason Katims yesterday," Frakes said. "Jason is the show runner and he was told that the decision won't be made until May. We have a big four- or five-episode arc at the end of the season that will hopefully attract attention. I'm going to be directing one of those episodes. I've done one, I'm starting my second episode next week, and I'll probably do one after that."
Action Hour Ties Beastmaster
he syndicated television programming block Back 2 Back Action hour, featuring Cleopatra 2525 and Jack of All Trades, tied with Beastmaster as the top-rated first-run hour for the week ended Feb. 6.
Both received a 3.0 national Nielsen household rating, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Cleopatra 2525 and Jack of All Trades saw ratings decline 6 percent in their second week on the air, while Beastmaster's ratings climbed 7 percent. Syndicated reruns of Showtime's Stargate SG-1, meanwhile, kept a grip on the No. 1 spot among all action hours with a 3.7 rating.
Fox, SAG Stay Firm On Fan Sites
oug Herzog, president of 20th Century Fox Television, sympathizes with fans who plan to protest the studio's crackdown on unauthorized Web sites devoted to television programs such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files.
At the same time, though, he said his hands are tied.
"It's always nice to see fans passionate and getting behind shows," Herzog told CNN online. "But at the same time, these are characters and trademarks that belong to someone else. So it's not exactly all kosher."
Fox and other studios who have ordered fans to take down copyrighted images and other material from their sites are the targets of a May 13 "Operation Blackout," a one-day fan-site shutdown designed to attract attention to the issue.
The upcoming protest doesn't impress the Screen Actors Guild, the union that represents actors. "The studios have an obligation to negotiate with our members individually if their images and performances are going to be used in anything other than the film they were originally employed in," Leonard Chassman, executive director of SAG's Hollywood branch, told CNN. "And [creators of fan sites] are subject to severe damages if they don't comply with that. The studios are in the best position as copyright holders in the property to control the situation. I applaud Fox for taking the action that it did."
Diesel Worked Hard In Pitch Black
or Vin Diesel, star of the SF thriller movie Pitch Black, filming in Australia's outback was akin to traveling to a distant planet.
"During the summer months it is so hot in that town that people couldn't possibly live in regular houses," he told the Calgary Sun newspaper. "All the homes are built into the mountains, as was our hotel."
The odd accomodations helped Diesel stay in touch with his character, a condemned murderer who has a chance to redeem himself when a spacecraft crashes on a deserted planet. The hotel's rooms had literally been scooped out with a steam shovel. "It looked like some prehistoric beast had clawed the walls, and to make it even eerier, they were painted red. It certainly helped keep me in character during the night."
Diesel plays Riddick, one of the crash survivors who discovers that the planet on which they've landed holds terrifying secrets once it is plunged into darkness by a total eclipse. The shooting was grueling. "As hot as it is in the summer, is how cold it becomes in the winter months," he said. "All the crew members were wearing these big insulated parkas, and there I was in my tank top. Worse still, they had to continuously spray me with water to simulate sweat. Being ornery on camera came very natural very quickly."
To play Riddick, Diesel had to wear special contact lenses that give off a metallic glow. "At the end of our first 14-hour shooting day, we discovered that the lenses had bonded to my eyes. They had to fly an ophthalmologist in from a city three hours away to remove them. After that I took them out at regular intervals."
Monkey King To Star Gibson, Ling
he Monkey King, an upcoming NBC fantasy miniseries, will star Thomas Gibson (Dharma & Greg) and Bai Ling (Angel) in a story about an American businessman's mystical trip to China.
Russell Wong (Vanishing Son) is in talks to assume the title role, according to Variety.
The Monkey King will be based on a script by playwright David Henry Hwang
(M Butterfly) and comes from Hallmark Entertainment and miniseries mogul Robert Halmi Sr. (Merlin). The miniseries tells the tale of the American, who finds himself having to battle mythical monsters.
Witchblade Fits Butler
ancy Butler, star of the TNT television movie Witchblade now shooting in Toronto, shares many traits with her character, NYPD detective Sara Pezzini.
"She is very strong. She's commanding. She's in control of her life," said Matt Hawkins, president of Santa Monica-based Top Cow comics, which publishes the comic of the same name on which the film is based.
Filmmakers "weren't just looking for a pretty face," Hawkins told the Toronto Sun. "They wanted somebody who could actually pull it off."
In the telefilm--which is also a series pilot--Butler plays the detective chosen to wield the titular Witchblade, a sentient artifact designed to battle the forces of evil. It's not the first time Butler, 30, has played a cop or appeared in a fantasy show: she was a regular on Brooklyn South and portrayed the machine half of Mann & Machine.
Butler's co-star is former Baywatch actor David Chokachi, playing Sara's partner Jake McCartey, a surfer transferred in from the west coast. Witchblade shoots in Toronto until mid-March, with an eye to an October air date.
Willis Walked Duncan On Green Mile
scar nominee Michael Clarke Duncan said he owes his role as the magical death-row inmate in The Green Mile to Bruce Willis.
"I haven't thought of an Oscar speech yet, but if I do I will mention Bruce Willis," Duncan, who played the gentle giant John Coffey in the Oscar-nominated film, told Entertainment Weekly Online. "You could say he's my angel."
The 6-foot-5-inch, 315-pound actor met Willis on the film Armageddon. Willis recognized that Duncan was a natural for the lead role in The Green Mile, and urged him to audition for the part. "He said, 'I want you to go buy [Stephen King's novel on which the film was based], read it, and when we get back to Los Angeles I will call [director] Frank Darabont for you and tell him I have found John Coffey,'" Duncan says.
Darabont wasn't convinced. "Maybe he was nervous in the reading, but I wasn't entirely sure when I first met him," says the director. "Still, there was something about his soul I couldn't let go of, and I kept coming back to him even as we auditioned other actors."
Toy Story 2 Tops U.K. Box Office
oy Story 2, which was nominated for an Oscar in the best song
category, broke British box-office records during its U.K. premiere.
The film, a sequel to the hit movie Toy Story, took in $12.4 million in ticket sales during the Feb. 12 weekend, according to the Reuters news service.
The animated movie accounted for more than half of all U.K. ticket sales for the weekend, which was also a record. In the United States, Toy Story 2 has earned about $239 million to date.
SF&F Films Among 1999's Worst
ild Wild West and Star Wars: Episode I tied for the most nominations for bad filmmaking in 1999 from the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation.
The tongue-in-cheek nominations--timed to coincide with the announcement of Oscar nominees--are for "Razzies," a plaque with a gold spray-painted plastic raspberry atop a mangled film reel, which recognize the worst in U.S. movies.
West and Episode I each received eight nominations, including worst film of the year. Also singled out as worst film nominees were The Blair Witch Project and The Haunting.
Competitors for the 1999 worst actor Razzie were Wild Wild West's Kevin Kline, End of Days' Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bicentennial Man's Robin Williams. Worst actress nominees included Blair Witch's Heather Donahue and The Haunting's Catherine Zeta-Jones.
To mark the millennium, the foundation also fielded nominees for the worst new star of the decade, which included Jar-Jar Binks from Star Wars: Episode I, and candidates for worst actor of the century, which included William Shatner of Star Trek and Kevin Costner of The Postman and Waterworld.
Nominations were determined by mailing ballots to more than 450 foundation members, including film fans, film journalists and film professionals, in 34 states and eight foreign countries. The Razzies were founded in 1980 by John Wilson, a UCLA film school graduate and author of Everything I Know I Learned at the Movies. The Razzies are handed out March 25, the day before the Oscar ceremony.
SF&F Movies Nominated For Oscars
cience fiction and fantasy films were well represented in the 1999 Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday, Feb. 15, with The Sixth Sense, The Green Mile and Being John Malkovich among the movies most honored.
The Green Mile and The Sixth Sense were both nominated for best picture.
The Sixth Sense was also nominated for best director (M. Night Shyamalan), best original screenplay (by Shyamalan) and best film editing. Sense co-star Haley Joel Osment was nominated for best supporting actor and Toni Collette was nominated for best supporting actress.
Mile co-star Michael Clarke Duncan was nominated for best supporting actor. The film also received nominations for best screenplay adaptation (director Frank Darabont's script based on a novel by Stephen King) and best sound.
Malkovich received nominations for best director (Spike Jonze) and best original screenplay (by Charlie Kaufman). Catherine Keener was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in the movie.
SF&F films dominated nominations for technical awards, led by The Matrix, which received nominations for best editing, best sound, best sound effects editing and best visual effects. Star Wars: Episode I also got nominations for best sound, best sound effects editing and best visual effects. Sleepy Hollow was nominated for best art direction, cinematography and costume design. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Bicentennial Man were both nominated for best makeup. The Mummy was nominated for best sound, and Stuart Little for best visual effects.
The Oscars will be presented in a March 26 broadcast on ABC.
Batman Beyond Is Still Alive
arner Bros. is denying rumors that its animated television series Batman Beyond will cease production.
The series will re-appear in the fall, WB executives said.
"It's definitely on the schedule next fall, and as far as we're concerned, this [series] is absolutely one of our top priorities for the network," Kids WB Senior Vice President Donna Friedman told The New York Post. "The show is still totally in production, and we will have 13 episodes for next season. We'll make that determination [on the series' future] at the end of next season."
Several Batman Beyond writers have left the series for other Warner Bros. animated shows, which may have fueled the rumors of Beyond's demise. Beyond centers on 60-year-old Bruce Wayne and his teen-age protégé, Terry McGinniss.
Roughnecks Returns To SCI FI
he animated SF series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles will return to The SCI FI Channel starting Monday, Feb. 21.
The show will run Monday through Thursday at 7:30 a.m. ET as part of a two-hour programming block supplied by BKN, the production company that syndicates the show.
Due to production difficulties, episodes of Roughnecks will be aired as they are completed and not necessarily in the original running order. Four of the show's 40 installments will comprise clips taken from other episodes.
Roughnecks ran briefly on SCI FI in 1999 before being pulled from BKN's SCI FI lineup. The series will run on SCI FI through August, and BKN has said that viewers will eventually get to see the entire series in order.
Will Aniston Play Mary Jane?
riends star Jennifer Aniston is rumored to be in the running for the role of Mary Jane, Peter Parker's significant other, in the feature film version of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man.
The actress is reportedly the "top choice" for the role, according to the Spider-Man Hype Web site.
Aniston has "the suitable personality, character and beauty to bring the character to life," according to the site. She'll also work relatively cheap, and she's short--one of the filmmakers' main worries, since Parker isn't going to be a huge guy.
Clarke Award Nominees Announced
fficials announced the short list of nominees for Great Britain's coveted Arthur C. Clarke Award for the year's best SF novel published in Great Britain.
The award--an engraved bookend and 1,000 pounds (about $1,600)--will be presented in London on May 17.
The nominees for the 2000 Clarke awards are Manifold 1: Time by Stephen Baxter (Voyager); The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan (Voyager); Silver Screen by Justina Robson (Macmillan); Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (Heinemann); Distraction by Bruce Sterling (Millennium); and A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge (Millennium).
The judges are Claire Brialey and Gary Dalkin for the British Science Fiction Association, Caroline Mullan and Kim Newman for the SF Foundation, and Doug Millard for the Science Museum. The administrator and chairman of the judges is Paul Kincaid.
Lost Exorcist Footage Restored
arner Bros. will re-release the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist with 11 minutes of new footage.
The film goes into very limited release on March 17, with showings in college towns Ann Arbor, Mich.; Austin, Texas; and Athens, Ga., according to Variety.
The studio described the additional footage as "long-rumored" and "legendary" and quoted the author of original novel, William Peter Blatty, as saying "the new footage represent[s] a restoration of [director] Bill Friedkin's original cut that he showed me, which at the time I declared a masterpiece. ... It makes it more spiritual." If the limited showings do well, the studio may consider a wider release.
Fox Buys Ninja Temp Idea
uy Futomaki: Ninja Temp, a proposed animated fantasy movie about a ninja warrior working undercover in an office, has been bought by Fox Animation Studios.
Writer Eric Trueheart and producer Hart Getzen pitched the idea, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Trueheart and Getzen are now developing a treatment for the story about a ninja warrior who poses as an office temp to expose a demon hiding inside the body of the company's chief executive. The warrior uses office supplies and furniture as weapons.
Time Flies In Upcoming Film
olumbia Pictures will produce Time Flies, a fantasy comedy movie about a man who ages prematurely after being hexed.
The movie is based on an original script by Chris Momenee, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Don Murphy's Angry Films will produce the project. Murphy and his Columbia-based company will also produce The Crash Detectives for Universal Pictures, From Hell for Fox and, with Jim Henson Pictures, Astro Boy for Columbia.
SF Age Closes In May
F Age magazine will discontinue publishing with the May 2000 issue, according to the magazine's publisher, Sovereign Media Co.
The bimonthly magazine combined SF media and literature and started publication in November 1992.
The magazine published stories nominated for Nebula and Hugo Awards, including one Nebula Award winner. But subscriptions to SF Age dropped dramatically in 1999; about 25,000 subscribers remained at the beginning of 2000.
Scott Edelman was the editor of SF Age for the entire run. Edelman will leave Sovereign in March to become the editor of Satellite Orbit, a monthly TV programming guide with a circulation of 375,000. He will also leave his duties as editor of Sovereign's SCI FI Magazine, the official publication of The SCI FI Channel.
Scientology To Play With Battlefield Toys
ontrary to filmmakers' protestations that the feature film version of Battlefield Earth won't benefit the Church of Scientology, Variety reported that revenues from merchandising will flow in part to the controversial church.
The movie, based on the SF novel of the same name by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, is being produced by and stars church adherent John Travolta.
The church did not participate in the making of the film, but it was included in the merchandising agreement, Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder told the trade paper. Any deal for merchandising automatically includes Author Services, the agency that handles all of Hubbard's works. Merchandising of toys based on the film--including Strike Jets, Psychoblasters, Thunder Battletanks and action figures of Travolta as the evil alien Terl--could generate as much as $50 million in sales.
Murphy To Reprise Dr. Dolittle
ddie Murphy will again play the man who could talk to the animals in the sequel to his 1998 feature film Dr. Dolittle for Fox.
The first Dolittle grossed more than $240 million worldwide, according to Variety.
Murphy will reportedly earn a $20-million advance against 20 percent of the sequel's gross revenues. Larry Levin, who wrote the screenplay for the first film, is at work on the second. Production is slated to begin by fall.
Get Ready For Harry Potter Toys
arner Bros. Worldwide Consumer Products has signed deals with Hasbro Inc. and Mattel Inc. to create a variety of merchandise based on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter young adult novel series.
Variety reports that Hasbro will manufacture Harry Potter trading cards, trading card games, role-playing games and candy.
Mattel, meanwhile, picked up the license for action figures, board games and other items. Last year Warner Bros. Pictures bought the exclusive licensing and merchandising rights for the Potter books from Rowling.
Warner also has the movie rights to the first two Potter books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Steven Spielberg is rumored to be keenly interested in adapting Sorcerer's Stone to film.
Briefly Noted
- DreamWorks Home Entertainment will release a videocassette version of the feature film Galaxy Quest on May 2 at a price of $22.99.
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Channel 5 in Great Britain signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Spelling Entertainment for the rights to air 22 episodes of Charmed, The WB's television series about three witch sisters. The show will debut in the United Kingdom in the spring.
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A Web site devoted to Mutant Watch 2000, U.S. Sen. Robert Kelly's campaign to fight mutants, has been posted. Who is Sen. Kelly? A character in the upcoming feature film X-Men from Fox, which is responsible for the site, though there's no mention of the movie on it. Yet.
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Renee O'Connor, who plays sidekick Gabrielle on the syndicated television series Xena: Warrior Princess, announced her engagement Feb. 16 to longtime beau Steve Muir to fans on the official Xena fan club Web site.
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Faith, the evil slayer character last seen in a coma, returns in a two-part episode of The WB's hit television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Faith, played by Eliza Dushku, reappears in the episode "This Year's Girl" on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
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Jonathan Frakes told Starburst magazine that he won't be directing the sequel to the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. "That's dead for now," Frakes said, adding that Schwarzenegger has other commitments. "Maybe that's for the best. Maybe it wasn't meant to be."
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Emma Caulfield has signed on as a regular cast member on The WB's monster series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, according to Variety. Caulfield plays Anya, the revenge demon who loses her powers and becomes a regular girl.
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Warner Bros. has moved up the shipping date for its animated video movie release Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker to Oct. 31 from Nov. 7, according to the Word's Finest News Web site.
