Lucas Still Scribbling Episode II
ontrary to rumors, George Lucas is still working on the script for Star Wars: Episode II, according to Lucasfilm's official e-mail newsletter, Homing Beacon.
"While the basic story, characters and events of Episode II have been painted in broad strokes, many of the details--supporting characters and dialogue--have yet to be solidly locked-down," the newsletter reported.
Meanwhile, pre-production work is in full swing for the film, which begins shooting in Australia in the summer. As with Episode I, producer Rick McCallum is overseeing the construction of sets at studios in Australia. "We just need the locations and the actual places where everything takes place," McCallum told the official Star Wars Insider magazine.
Yoda Returns In Episode II
oda will appear in Star Wars: Episode II and III, in sometimes surprising ways, George Lucas said in the official Star Wars Insider magazine.
Lucas made the comments during a Paris press event last October, according to TheForce.net Web site.
In response to a question about Yoda in Episode II, Lucas said, "Actually, I was just discussing this with [Yoda puppeteer] Frank Oz about four days ago, right before I came to France. And [Yoda] will definitely get a chance to move around and fight in one of the next two films. ... Yoda will show why he's called the Master." Star Wars Insider magazine No. 48 hits newsstands on April 4.
Bulloch Won't Be Boba Fett
eremy Bulloch told New Zealand SF convention attendees over the weekend that he has not been asked to reprise his role of bounty hunter Boba Fett in Star Wars: Episode II, according to the Dark Horizons Web site.
He added that he suspects an actor in his 20s would probably be approached.
The site said the Bulloch would like that young man to be his son. George Lucas is reportedly still working on the script for Episode II, though a bogus screenplay has been circulating on the Internet.
First Robocop TV Movie Done
ulian Grant, director of the upcoming television miniseries Robocop: Prime Directives said he has completed work on the first of four movies, "Dark Justice," according to the miniseries' official Web site.
"[I] have finished 'Dark Justice'!" Grant posted. "Am halfway through the edit on [the second film,] 'Meltdown,' and am very happy with the results."
Grant added, "David Ransley, the supervising editor (we have had five on this from day one) has just finished a huge battle scene (12 minutes), complete with a slo-mo ending that so rules. He took my original concept and built upon it until ... oh la la." Grant added that the crew is preparing a making-of documentary to complement the release of the telefilms.
X-Files Auction Benefits Charity
mazon.com is hosting an online auction of props from The X-Files to benefit the Variety Club of British Columbia, a children's charity.
The props--including Fox Mulder's desk nameplate, a package of the Cigarette Smoking Man's Morleys and costumes worn by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson--is being conducted by Legends in Time, an online dealer.
The auction ends April 6. Other items include Mulder's tie, Scully's blouse, a copy of The Lone Gunman newspaper, the license plate from JFK's assassination car and several "X-Files."
New Trek Film Based On TNG
tar Trek: Voyager executive producer Rick Berman said there is definitely a tenth Trek movie in the works, and it will feature the cast of The Next Generation, according to the Fandom.com Web site.
"I will be a tease a little bit to you and tell you that although I can't talk about it, or even talk about who is involved, I can say that we are about to begin the writing stages on what hopefully will be the next Star Trek feature film," Berman told the site.
Berman also denied rumors about the new Trek television series that is in the planning stages, to replace Voyager when it ends its seven-year run next year. "What I can tell you is that it's something that we have been working on nearly a year. Contrary to rumors, it's the only concept that we've developed. It's not one of three concepts we've developed. It's a concept that the studio is behind, and that we are discussing and finessing. As far as when it's going to go into production, as far as when it's going to go on the air, I don't know."
But Berman appeared to quash any hopes that a new series would be based on the character of Capt. Hikaru Sulu and the crew of the U.S.S. Excelsior, as many Trek fans have urged. "The only thing I can say about the series is that it's definitely Star Trek, but it is dramatically different," he told Fandom.com. "It is going to be far more different than really all three of the last series have been from the original."
Voyager Will Get A 'Smashing Finale'
hen UPN's Star Trek: Voyager ends its seventh and final season on TV next year, it will go out with "a surprising conclusion" and a "smashing finale," UPN programming head Tom Noonan told Variety.
Noonan made his comments during a preview of the TV network's 2000/2001 season, which was recently held at the Paramount Pictures movie studio lot, the trade paper reported.
UPN chief Dean Valentine said his network has been talking to the Voyager producers about a new Star Trek series, but he would not reveal any details. Voyager is the fourth live-action TV show in Trek history and has been a mainstay of UPN's lineup since the network was launched in January 1995.
Braga Leaves Voyager
tar Trek: Voyager executive producer Brannon Braga will be leaving the show at the end of the current season, to be replaced by Ken Biller, who will oversee the show in its seventh and last season, according to Cinescape magazine.
Braga is leaving to work on the new Star Trek TV series he is co-creating with Rick Berman, Cinescape contributors Gregory L. Norris and Laura A. Van Vleet reported.
Precious little information is coming out of Paramount about the new series, though rumors have run rampant for months. But the magazine's report confirms that a new series will appear on the airwaves once Voyager ends its run as announced earlier this week.
Biller has written and produced for Voyager and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Tell-All Trek Book Posted
usan Sackett, former assistant to late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, is publishing her own tell-all memoir, Inside Trek, which will be available on the Internet.
In the book, subtitled My 17 Years with Gene Roddenberry, Sackett said she will reveal details of what she claims was an "intimate relationship" with the producer, who was 22 years her senior and married to Majel Barrett Roddenberry during the time.
Sackett is offering subscriptions to the Web book for $19.95. The price will entitle purchasers to read 24 chapters of the book, to be posted over several months. The site also contains links, images and other Trek-related material. The book is not authorized by Paramount Pictures.
UPN May Revive Kombat
hen Star Trek: Voyager concludes its run on UPN next year, it may be replaced by a live-action show based on the Mortal Kombat videogame franchise.
Variety reported that UPN is readying a special called The Mortal Kombat Federation of Martial Arts that will air this May and may go on to become a regular series.
Mortal Kombat Federation is a scripted program in which fighters square off against "dark warriors" in arena battles. The show will make its debut following a one-hour WWF wrestling special, according to Variety.
The UPN Kombat show is not directly related to the syndicated series Mortal Kombat: Conquest, which was produced briefly by Threshold Entertainment before being canceled.
LL Cool J Plays Rollerball
ormer rapper LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea) joins American Pie's Chris Klein as a future athlete in Rollerball, director John McTiernan's remake of the classic 1975 SF film of the same name, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The MGM film goes before the cameras in mid-July in Montreal, the trade paper reported.
The film will update the original, which told the story of a society in which corporations had supplanted governments and Rollerball, a violent combination of roller derby and football, was the sport of the day. The new film, set in 2005, tells the story of Rollerball superstars played by Klein and LL Cool J who conflict with their team owner, a ruthless Russian businessman.
The new film will be written by John Pogue (The Skulls). The original film's director, Norman Jewison, is one of the producers of the new film.
Man Time-Travels To Fox
he Man Who Used to Be Me, an original fantasy film about a man who is murdered and travels back in time to find his killer, is in production for the Fox Family Channel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
William Devane plays the murdered man, and Rob Estes will play a younger version of the character, the trade paper reported.
Chris Bremble (The Clock) will direct from a script by Jeff Woolnough (Nightworld: Lost Souls). Filming will start next week in Vancouver.
New Films Come To Disney Channel
n original SF film, The Other Me, and a new fantasy film, Mom's Got a Date With a Vampire, are coming to the Disney Channel in the fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The films are part of a new slate of programming the cable network announced this week.
The Other Me tells the story of a boy who accidentally clones himself while working on a science project, according to the trade paper. The movie premieres in September.
Mom's Got a Date With a Vampire is a Halloween movie about three children who set their mother up with an Internet date, only to discover that the new beau is one of the undead.
Centropolis Developing Dead Man
ead Man's Run, a supernatural feature film about a man who dies for a living, is in development at Centropolis Entertainment, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
The company bought the project from screenwriter Jesse Alexander (Ground Zero).
Centropolis partners Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich (Godzilla) will produce the film. Alexander and his partner Ellory Elkayem also co-wrote Arac-Attack for Centropolis.
Mimic 2 Goes Into Production
imic 2, a sequel to the 1997 Mira Sorvino SF thriller Mimic, will begin production in Los Angeles in late May, according to Variety.
Cinematographer Jean de Segonzac (TV's Homicide) will make his film-directing debut on the movie, which is written by Joel Soisson (Prophecy III).
Sorvino won't appear in the sequel, which will instead star Alix Koromzay, who played sidekick Remy in the original film. The plot will pick up where the last film left off, telling the story of the fight against human-sized cockroaches. The original film was directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Earthsea Novel Heads For Movies
creenwriter James Robinson (Starman) told fans on a DC Comics message board that he will be adapting Ursula K. LeGuin's The Farthest Shore for the movies, according to the Comics2Film Web site.
"It's for the Jim Henson Company," Robinson said. Shore is the third novel in LeGuin's acclaimed Earthsea series.
Robinson also said he will adapt Alan Moore's comic series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a Victorian-era superhero story, the site reported. League producer Don Murphy told the Web site that Robinson was "almost signed."
NASA Calls Batmobile Designer
ASA engineers have called Batman's car designer for advice on building a new generation of exploration vehicles to traverse Mars, according to the Space.com Web site.
George Barris, the designer who created the Batmobile for TV and movies, received the call from engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the site reported.
"I'm usually the one who gets the call from motion picture and television studios to design and build vehicles for film and TV," Barris, now in his late 70s, told Space.com. "This is the first time I have been contacted by NASA for the real thing."
Engineers from NASA's Mars EVA (extra vehicular activity) project office called Barris after they came across a model of Barris' "Moon Scope," a full-size working six-wheeled vehicle designed in the 1960s for lunar exploration. NASA is now cooperating with Barris, who has given the space agency permission to use any of his designs.
Barris is a longtime designer of fantastic vehicles for Hollywood, including the Munsters' hearse, the Green Hornet's car and Knight Rider's talking Trans Am. Barris is scheduled to receive the Life Career Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films in June.
Batman TV Scribe Dies
tanley Ralph Ross, an actor and producer who wrote scripts for the original 1960s Batman television series, died Thursday, March 16, of cancer in Los Angeles, according to the Washington Post.
He was 64.
Ross developed, created or wrote for shows including Wonder Woman and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. His 30-year career also included acting stints in films such as Woody Allen's SF spoof Sleeper, the Post reported.
NBC Partners With Space.com
BC has acquired an equity stake in the Space.com Web site, run by former CNN financial reporter Lou Dobbs, according to the Reuters news service.
NBC will provide an undisclosed amount of cash and advertising time on its network and cable stations in exchange for the minority stake.
NBC will also get distribution rights to news, entertainment and information from the site, and will use Space.com as its preferred Internet site for the dissemination of NBC news related to space, Reuters reported.
NBC beat out the Cable News Network for the stake. Dobbs quite CNN last June after being with the network since its founding in 1980.
Niven Joins SPACE.com
F author Larry Niven will join the editorial staff of the SPACE.com Web site.
The Hugo and Nebula award winner will write exclusive essays for the site, SPACE.com Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lou Dobbs said in a statement.
"Niven's talent for writing hard sci-fi stories is a welcomed addition," Dobbs said. "We are excited to have such a creative and well-respected author, who helped shape the world of hard sci-fi writing, on the SPACE.com team."
Niven is best known for his novels Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's Eye and
Footfall. SPACE.com calls itself the "definitive space site on the Web," offering news, entertainment, information and education on space-related matters.
Titan A.E. Comics Due In May
ark Horse Comics will publish a three-issue comic series based on Fox's upcoming animated SF epic film Titan A.E.
The series will be written by Scott Allie and feature the art of Al Rio, the comics publisher said.
The comics will tell a story set a few years before the events of the film, in which aliens destroy the Earth and a band of humans attempts to survive. The movie, from famed animator Don Bluth, will combine traditional and computer-generated animation.
The first 32-page issue will be released May 3, priced at $2.95. The comics' release is pegged to the premiere of the movie on June 16.
Welch Directs Live-Action Santa
he Year Without Santa Claus, the 1974 Claymation television special, is being remade as a live-action feature film under the direction of onetime production designer Bo Welch, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The holiday-themed fantasy film is slated for a Christmas 2001 release.
The television special, which was based on Phyllis McGinley's novel of the same name, concerns Santa's decision to take a break from Christmas while his elves try to persuade him to come back. The special featured the voices of Mickey Rooney and Shirley Booth. The movie will change some elements of the original special while preserving others, the trade paper reported.
Shyamalan's Next Has Surprises
nbreakable, the upcoming film from Oscar-nominated director M. Night Shyamalan,
will bring surprises just like his breakthrough feature film, The Sixth Sense.
"[Unbreakable is] about a man, played by Bruce [Willis], who is in a really horrific train accident and he's miraculously the only survivor," he told Hollywood Reporter columnist Martin Grove.
Shyamalan added, "[Willis] questions why he was the only survivor. There's a stranger, played by [Samuel L.] Jackson, who approaches him and offers a very bizarre explanation about why he was the only survivor. Essentially, the movie's about Bruce and his family coming to terms with whether this theory is correct is not."
The director is coy because he wants to preserve the film's secrets. "Well, I'm trying to make films about many things," he said. "So there are the things you can be told before you come into the theater, and there are the things that really are about the movie experience, about sitting in a theater. To reserve that kind of [information is important]. You know, like, maybe you know the guy gets the girl and it's a romance, but you don't know something else. I'm trying to maintain that kind of feeling." Unbreakable, which is now in post-production, is slated for a November release.
SF&F Projects Win Makeup Awards
rtists working for several SF&F projects were honored at the First Annual Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards, presented in Hollywood earlier this week.
The awards, recognizing outstanding achievement in makeup and hair in 1999 movies and TV, were sponsored by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 706. A partial list of winners follows.
Best Character Makeup, Feature
•Kevin Yagher, Peter Owen, Elizabeth Tag and Paul Gooch, Sleepy Hollow
Best Effects Makeup, Feature
•Greg Cannom and Wesley Wofford, Bicentennial Man
Best Period Makeup, Television
(For a Single Episode of a Regular Series)
•Cheri Montesanto-Medcalf, Kevin Westmore and LaVerne Basham, "Triangle," The X-Files
Best Makeup Effects, Television
(For a Single Episode of a Regular Series)
•Todd A. McIntosh, Robin Beauxchesne, Douglas Noe and Brigette Myre-Ellis, "Living Conditions," Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Best Character Hair Styling, Television
(For a Single Episode of a Regular Series)
•Josee Normand, Charlotte Parker and Gloria Montemeyor, "Bride of Chaotica," Star Trek: Voyager
Best Innovative Hair Styling
(For a Single Episode of a Regular Series)
•Josee Normand, Charlotte Parker and Gloria Montemeyor, "Dragon's Teeth," Star Trek: Voyager
Pern TV Series Stalls
he future of a proposed television series based on Anne McCaffrey's popular The Dragonriders of Pern novels is in limbo, executive producer Eric Weymueller told SCI FI Wire. Weymueller said that Alliance Atlantis Television, which was bankrolling the project, has pulled out.
"Alliance Atlantis are no longer involved in the project," Weymueller said from his offices in Toronto. "They let their rights lapse a couple of weeks ago, in March. It never went into production."
But Pam Wilson, a spokeswoman for Alliance in Los Angeles, told SCI FI Wire that Weymueller's claim is news to her. "As far as I know, it's still in development, and we still plan to produce the show, assuming everything goes forward," she said. She couldn't explain why Weymueller would make such statements.
In any case, as far as Weymueller is concerned, his company, zyntroPICS, now controls any TV series. He said he will seek another partner to bring a Pern series to life. "We are continuing with the commitment for television," he said. "There is strong interest in the property, both within the U.S. and internationally, so we believe it is still a viable TV product. Although the reality now is that we wouldn't look for it to be released until fall 2001." The series had been slated for a fall 2000 premiere. Pre-production of the series, which had included elaborate computer work on Pern's signature dragons, has been put on hold.
Weymueller said his company is also exploring a broader Web presence for the Pern stories. "Pern has a long history on the Internet. ... We want to continue with that," he said. He said Pern stories would appear on the Web in "some ongoing linear story" form.
Weymueller also said that Ubi Soft will be bringing out a game based on the Pern novels for Sega's Dreamcast gaming platform and for the PC, either in September or October. The game will be unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in May. And look for more news soon on Pern-related projects, Weymueller said. "We'll have some announcements over the next month or so about business partnerships and alliances with L.A.-based companies," he said.
McCaffrey's Freedom Series Spawns Game
reedom: First Resistance, a video game based on Anne McCaffrey's Freedom series of novels, is coming from Red Storm Entertainment in the fourth quarter of the year.
The game will be previewed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles in May 2000.
The third-person single-player action adventure game tells the story of the Catteni, a race of aliens who have invaded Earth and colonized the planet in a matter of days. Human survivors dwell in refugee camps; the only resistance is a ragged network of freedom fighters and guerillas personified by Angel Sanchez.
The player guides Angel and members of her team through a series of missions to overthrow the alien overlords.
Pearce, Bonham Carter Star In Voices
uy Pearce and Helena Bonham Carter will star in Till Human Voices Wake Us, a supernatural love story directed and written by Michael Petroni, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Petroni also wrote the script for the upcoming adaptation of Anne Rice's vampire novel The Queen of the Damned, the trade paper reported.
Voices will tell the story of a man (Pearce) haunted by his dead childhood sweetheart (Bonham Carter) when he returns to his rural hometown. Petroni's script won the best new script award from the Writers Guild of America/Scenario Magazine before being optioned by Sandra Bullock's Fortis Films, the trade paper reported. Voices begins production in May in Australia.
Elfman To Score Spider-Man?
rolific film composer Danny Elfman (Sleepy Hollow) is rumored to be in the running to score Sam Raimi's next two films, supernatural thriller The Gift and superhero blockbuster Spider-Man, according to the Ain't It Cool News Web site.
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that Elfman will first tackle The Gift, the movie, which stars Keanu Reeves.
The site added that Elfman may make a cameo appearance as a Southern fiddle player in a dream sequence in The Gift. As for Raimi's other movie, AICN reported, "The Gift positions Elfman exactly one film away from Raimi's Spider-Man, and without saying too much, you may be hearing more news on that front soon."
Duchovny Lawyer Denies Offer
avid Duchovny's lawyer is denying news reports that the actor has been offered as much as $1 million per episode to reprise his role as FBI Agent Fox Mulder in the hit Fox show The X-Files.
"The information contained in a story in [the March 16] Daily Mail of London concerning an offer purportedly made by Fox to David Duchovny for the eighth season of The X-Files is inaccurate and has no basis in fact," said Peter Nelson of Nelson, Guggenheim, Felker & Levine in a statement.
Nelson added, "The source with whom they spoke clearly has no idea what he or she is talking about." Duchovny's contract to play Mulder runs out at the end of the current season.
Meanwhile, Gillian Anderson (FBI Agent Dana Scully) told the New York Times syndicate last week that she is not interested in doing an eighth season of the paranormal show, particularly if Duchovny doesn't return. She added that she doesn't want to appear on Fox's proposed spinoff based on the Lone Gunmen characters. Anderson is contractually bound to play Scully for one more season. The Times syndicate reported that the Lone Gunmen pilot wrapped production last week.
Duchovny's X-Files Return Unlikely
he X-Files star David Duchovny said he probably won't be returning for the show's eighth season, and he's not even sure the series should have had a seventh year, according to EW Online.
Duchovny called recent episodes of The X-Files "a little thin" and asked: "Have you seen the show the last two weeks? Man, we should stop."
However, those comments don't include the upcoming episode "Hollywood A.D.," which Duchovny wrote and directed and which features his wife Tea Leoni and his friend Garry Shandling. "Mine happens to be really good," he said jokingly.
But don't look for Duchovny to be back next year. "I honestly can't tell you whether there will be an eighth year, or whether I'll be in it," he said. "There's a very good chance there will be an eighth year and I won't be in it.
Duchovny's lawyer recently denied reports that the actor was offered $1 million per episode to return for an eighth season of The X-Files.
Zanuck Returns To Planet Of The Apes
ormer Fox executive Richard Zanuck will produce that studio's big-budget remake of the classic 1968 SF film Planet of the Apes, according to Variety.
Ironically, Zanuck was president of production at Fox more than three decades ago when the original Apes and its four sequels were produced.
"It's like my own time warp," Zanuck told Variety, alluding to the time-travel motif of Apes. Zanuck said he got involved with the 1968 movie when it was in turnaround and explained that "I was intrigued by it, but I was worried the audience would laugh at the
ape characters."
Variety concluded that the addition of Zanuck to the new Apes roster is another signal that the remake is a top priority at Fox, which hopes to begin production on the film this fall for a summer 2001 release. Tim Burton has signed on to direct the picture based on a script by Bill Broyles.
Zanuck would reveal little about the latest incarnation of Apes, but he did tell Variety, "Our objective is to make a very entertaining picture that does have substance and has characters--human and ape--that people will care about."
Martin Stars As Real-Life Dracula
udolf Martin has signed on to play Vlad "The Impaler" Dracula in the independent film Passions of Dracula: A True Story, according to Variety.
Roger Daltrey of The Who fame will star opposite Martin as King James of Hungary, whose actions bring about the horrific reign of Dracula.
The real-life Dracula ruled Wallachia from 1453-1462 and is credited with killing tens of thousands of people, most often by impaling. The vampire villain of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula is based on Vlad Dracula and has lent the name further infamy.
Peter Weller and Jane March will also co-star in Passions, which is being directed by Joe Chappelle from a script by Tom Baum. The film starts shooting April 3 in Bucharest, Romania.
Potter Author Sued
.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter children's books, is the subject of a copyright-infringement lawsuit by writer Nancy K. Stouffer, according to Entertainment Weekly and the Associated Press.
Stouffer claims that Rowling stole characters and plots from Stouffer's 1984 book The Legend of Rah and Muggles, according to the news service.
Stouffer's book has characters named Larry Potter and Lilly Potter and features "muggles," little people who look after two orphans. Stouffer argues that she copyrighted the term "muggles," a word that Rowling uses in her books as a wizard's term for regular people.
A spokesperson for Scholastic, which publishes the Harry Potter books, told the Associated Press that Stouffer's claims were "completely meritless."
Chesley Awards Noms Announced
ominees were announced for this year's Chesley Awards, recognizing the best art and artists in science fiction in 1999.
The awards, named for astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell, are presented annually by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.
This year's Chesley Awards will be given out at a ceremony will at the Chicago Worldcon, which starts August 31. A full list of nominees follows.
Best Cover Illustration
•Bob Eggleton, Dragon and Phoenix by Joanne Bertin
•Bob Eggleton, Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven
•Jody Lee, The Black Swan by Mercedes Lackey
•Todd Lockwood, The Spine of the World by R.A. Salvatore
•Michael Whelan, Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams
Best Paperback Cover Illustration
•Rowena Morrill, The Garden of Stone by Victoria Strauss
•John Jude Palencar, The Terrorists of Irustan by Louise Marley
•Jean Pierre Targete, Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shinn
•James Warhola, Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson
•Stephen Youll, Eberien: Book One--the Company of Glass by Valery Leith
Best Cover Illustration, Magazine
•Jill Bauman, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, June 1999
•Alan Clark, Cemetery Dance, Fall 1999
•Bob Eggleton, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, August 1999
•Greg Hildebrandt, Realms of Fantasy, August 1999
•Ron Walotsky, Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, April 1999
Best Interior Illustration
•Vincent di Fate, Rules of Engagement by Elizabeth Moon
•James Gurney, Dinotopia: First Flight by James Gurney
•Jael, The Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett
•Marianne Plumridge, "Rainbow Mothra," G-Fan, March/April 1999
•Omar Rayyan, "Weighing the Elephant," Spider Magazine, March 1999
Best Color Work, Unpublished
•Bob Eggleton, Dragonstorm
•Marc Fishman, Titania
•Stephen Hickman, At the Entmoot
•Don Maitz, King Solomon's Mines
•Marianne Plumridge, Aphrodite Rising
•Michael Whelan, Peace
Best Monochrome Work, Unpublished
•Rick Berry, Artemis
•Bob Eggleton, Dragonhenge
•Stanley Morrison, Asian Wonders
•Sheila Rayyan, Claire et la Luna
•Sheila Rayyan, It Followed Me Home, Can I Keep It?
Best Three-Dimensional Work
•Marian Crane, Maschera d'Osso (ivory, fiber)
•Halla Fleisher, Never Say Die (Sculpey)
•Johnna Klukas, From the Astrologer's Anteroom (furniture grouping)
•Marianne Plumridge, Heartsong (bronze)
•Lisa Snellings, Bendyman (mixed media)
Award for Artistic Achievement
•John Berkey
•Rick Berry
•David Cherry
•Stephen Hickman
•Ron Walotsky
Best Art Direction
•Jim Baen, Baen Books
•Cathy and Arnie Fenner, Spectrum
•Irene Gallo, Tor Books
•Don Puckey, Warner Books
•Ron Spears, Wizards of the Coast
Best Gaming-Related Illustration
•Brom, Warriors of Heaven and Guide to Hell
•Donato Giancola, Magic: The Gathering
•Carol Heyer, Dune
•Todd Lockwood, Creatures of the Night: Golems
•R.K. Post, Magic: The Gathering
Best Product Illustration
•Richard Bober, Cleopatra plate art for Hamilton Mint
•Ian McCaig, character and costume design for Star Wars: Episode I
•Kinuko Y. Craft, Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea
•Keith Parkinson, cover art for Everquest, 989
•Drew Struzan, poster for Star Wars: Episode I
The Rock To Star In Mummy 2
rofessional wrestler The Rock, otherwise known as Dwayne Johnson, is in final talks to play the Scorpion King in The Mummy 2, the sequel to the 1999 hit movie The Mummy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Rock joins original cast members Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo and Oded Fehr under writer-director Stephen Sommers, the trade paper reported.
The Rock will play a resurrected half-human, half-scorpion ruler of all evil. The sequel begins shooting in May.
Mars Box Office Slips
ritically panned Mission to Mars dropped to No. 2 in the domestic box-office rankings in its second weekend of release, bringing in only $10.9 million, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
The movie's take for the weekend of March 18 was a sharp 52 percent decline in revenues from its premiere weekend; the movie has earned $40.1 million to date.
The supernatural thriller Final Destination opened in the No. 3 slot, with $10.2 million, which New Line considered respectable given the film's R rating, lack of big-name stars and under-$20 million budget. The Ninth Gate dropped from second place to fifth in its second weekend of release, taking in just $3.5 million for a total of $12.5 million.
Lawrence Stars In Fantasy Film
artin Lawrence will star in a fantasy comedy feature film based on a pitch by screenwriter Ty King (TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The untitled project is slated to start shooting in June with Sam Weisman directing, the trade paper reported.
The Warner Bros. film will tell the story of a man (Martin) who stumbles upon an art shipment that revives demons and monsters of ancient Greece. The paper reported that the studio hopes to develop the idea as a franchise.
Briefly Noted
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The Green Goblin and the Kingpin appear to be the enemies Spider-Man will face in the upcoming feature film version of the Marvel Comics series, according to the Daily Radar Web site.
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The new Encore cable network will premiere director's cut versions of Armageddon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and other films starting Saturday, March 25. The Sundance Channel, meanwhile, premieres Danish director Lars von Trier's SF murder mystery The Element of Crime Friday, March 24.
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The FX cable network has bought the rights to the Oscar-nominated film The Green Mile.
FX will share the rights to air The Green Mile with ABC, which gets the first shot at the Tom Hanks hit starting in 2002, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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USA Networks Inc., parent company of The SCI FI Channel and SCIFI.COM, said it will change its name to USA Cable.
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A man who claimed to be the nephew of Steven Spielberg has been indicted on forgery and false documents charges by a Virginia grand jury, according to the Associated Press. Anoushirvan D. Fakhran, who legally changed his name to Jonathan Taylor Spielberg, drove a BMW with "SPLBERG" vanity plates and talked often about "Uncle Steven," the news service reported.
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HBO president Chris Albrecht has been ordered to testify in a lawsuit about the cable network's miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. The suit accuses the network of "frustrating" plans to license and merchandise products connected to the Tom Hanks-produced series about the space program.
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John Savage will play the villain in James Cameron's proposed television series Dark Angel, according to Variety. Savage will appear in the two-hour television pilot for the show.
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Tom Rickman will write the script for the SF thriller film Back to the Moon, based on the novel of the same name by Homer H. Hickam Jr., according to the Cinescape Web site. The novel tells the futuristic story of a disillusioned NASA astronaut who hijacks a space shuttle to fly to the moon to save the Earth.
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The audience for NBC's controversial animated fantasy sitcom God, the Devil and Bob has dwindled considerably now that the show has moved to its regular Tuesday, 8:30 p.m., time slot, according to the Washington Post. Only 6.3 million tuned in to the March 14 episode, compared with 14 million who sampled the premiere on Thursday, March 9.
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Producer Joel Silver told Entertainment Tonight that he has talked with Sandra Bullock about playing the lead role in Wonder Woman, his feature film based on the DC Comics character, according to the Coming Attractions Web site. Silver didn't say who else was under consideration to play the superhero.
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THQ Inc. and Fox Interactive will co-publish Game Boy Color games based on several popular Fox properties, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Aliens. The games will be released later this year.
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A full trailer for Gary Sinise's upcoming SF thriller Impostor has been posted to the Moviefone.com Web site. Impostor, based on a Philip K. Dick short story of the same name, opens in August.
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Producer Joel Silver and director Robert Zemeckis, who set up Dark Castle Productions to redo classic schlock horror films, are planning a remake of William Castle's 1960 thriller 13 Ghosts, according to the Dark Horizons Web site.
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Lothrop Worth, a cinematographer who helped bring 3-D to horror movies, died last week in Los Angeles. He was 96. Worth was part of the team that brought 3-D film technology to the movies in the early 1950s, the Motion Picture & Television Fund said in a statement released Friday, March 17.
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A trailer for Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor II: The Klumps has been posted to the official Web site. The sequel to 1996's hit Nutty Professor opens July 28.
