Cameron Says No To T3
irector James Cameron told Entertainment Tonight that he won't be involved in the proposed sequels to his Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, according to Cinescape Online.
Cameron made the comment while attending the premiere of U-571 in Los Angeles.
In response to a question about the proposed sequels, Cameron replied, "Not going to do it." Terminator 3 and T4 are being developed by producers Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna.
Arnold Schwarzenegger told SCI FI Wire recently that he would not reprise his Terminator role without Cameron. Co-star Linda Hamilton has also said in the past that she would not sign on to the sequels without Cameron's participation. That leaves only T2 star Edward Furlong and original Terminator cast member Michael Biehn as possible returnees.
Moss Signs On Matrix 2 and 3
arrie-Anne Moss, who played Trinity in The Matrix, has signed a deal to reprise her role in the hit film's two upcoming sequels, according to Variety.
Moss will join Keanu Reeves in The Matrix 2 and 3, which begin back-to-back filming next fall, the trade paper reported.
Writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski will shoot the two films in a 250-day schedule, Variety reported. It's still an open question whether the films will return to Australia to shoot or whether they will move to England or Canada.
Moss, meanwhile, will appear in the upcoming Mars movie Red Planet, co-starring Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore, which opens Nov. 10.
Burton Pilots Voyager Ep
ive Fast and Prosper," the upcoming episode of Star Trek: Voyager directed by LeVar Burton, will be funny--but not too funny, Burton told the Fandom.com Web site.
"Humor figures prominently, but I wouldn't call it a comedy," said Burton, who is best known for playing Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The episode concerns three con artists who pretend to be from Starfleet and go around selling membership in the Federation. "There were earlier drafts where the jokes and the one-liners were featured more," Burton said. "We pulled back on that, and we are trying to derive the humor from the characters and the situations, rather than from the dialogue."
While Burton has built a career in part on directing Voyager and other Trek episodes, he told Fandom that he's not averse to going in front of the camera again. "Do I want to do another movie? I don't know if 'want' is how I would characterize it at this point. I will say that the last one was a lot of fun, and it would be great to have another experience like that--another wonderful, positive, fun experience. They've said that if there is another one, it will happen on a slightly different timeline than these movies have been made in the past. They want to create a little bit more separation between release dates. So whenever that is, and they give me the call and say here's the script, whatever the process, if they are going to do it again, I am certainly open to it."
Tenth Trek Film Due In 2001?
xpect a tenth Star Trek movie in late 2001, Star Trek: Voyager executive producer Rick Berman told the official Star Trek Monthly magazine.
Berman added that he and Paramount are now talking with a writer who has never been involved with Star Trek, but is a "great fan" of the franchise.
"As to the nature of the story that we'll be working on and other elements of it, it's all really premature," Berman told the magazine. "There are hopes that a film could be released by Thanksgiving or Christmas of 2001, and there are a lot of ifs that are going to have to be resolved for that to happen, but I think that's the studio's goal at the moment."
As for a new television series to replace Voyager when it finishes at the end of next season, Berman reiterated that he and partner Brannon Braga "have only pitched one series to the studio. That concept has gone through some relatively minor revisions, and all of the rumors that we have had series rejected or that we have pitched numerous series are bull." That would appear to contradict statements by Braga himself, who earlier confirmed for SCI FI Wire that Paramount had tested several concepts.
But Berman echoed Braga's feeling that the new series should be something new, an apparent reaction to efforts by fans to persuade Paramount to base the show on Capt. Hikaru Sulu and the crew of the U.S.S. Excelsior. "I do think it's instrumental that the next Star Trek series be fresh and that it be different, dramatically different, and the concept that we have developed is dramatically different," Berman said. "Assuming that it goes through, and assuming that everything gets figured out as to when and where it's going to appear, I'm more excited about its possibilities than I have been probably about any of the series."
Heavy Metal 2000 To Air On STARZ!
eavy Metal 2000, the animated sequel to the 1981 cult classic movie Heavy Metal, will premiere July 14 on the STARZ! pay cable network.
The film will premiere at midnight ET and PT, STARZ! announced.
Heavy Metal 2000, formerly called Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2, tells the story of a futuristic woman warrior who seeks revenge on a group of ruthless space pirates who ravaged her home planet. She assumes the designation F.A.K.K.2, for Federation Assigned Ketogenic Killzone.
Heavy Metal 2000 features the music of Billy Idol, Monster Magnet, MDFMK, Pantera, Coal Chamber, Machine Head, Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid, System Of A Down, Days of the New, Bauhaus, Sinisstar, Queens of the Stone Age, Full Devil Jacket, Hate Dept., Puya, Apartment 26, Zilch, and the first original Bauhaus recording in 17 years. Julie Strain, Billy Idol, Pierre Kohl, Sonja Ball and Rick Jones provide voices. Kevin Eastman and Simon Bisley co-created the movie, which was directed by Michael Coldewey and Michel Lemire.
Hugo Nominees Announced
rganizers have announced the list of nominations for the prestigious Hugo Awards, selected by fans of science fiction and fantasy.
The 2000 Hugos, sponsored by the World Science Fiction Society and administered by the committee of the World Science Fiction Convention, will be presented at this year's Worldcon, Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, in Chicago.
The Hugo, also known as the Science Fiction Achievement Award, is named in honor of Hugo Gernsback, creator of the first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. The first Hugo Awards were presented in 1953 at the 11th Worldcon in Philadelphia. They recognize excellence and achievement in the field of SF&F.
Organizers also announced nominees for the companion John W. Campbell Award, given to the best new writer whose first work of science fiction or fantasy appeared during 1998 or 1999 in a professional publication. A full list of nominees follows.
Best Novel
•A Civil Campaign, by Lois McMaster Bujold
•Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
•Darwin's Radio, by Greg Bear
•A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
•Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
Best Novella
•"The Astronaut from Wyoming," by Adam-Troy Castro and Jerry Oltion
•"Forty, Counting Down," by Harry Turtledove
•"Hunting the Snark," by Mike Resnick
•"Son Observe the Time," by Kage Baker
•"The Winds of Marble Arch," by Connie Willis
Best Novelette
•"Border Guards," by Greg Egan
•"The Chop Girl," by Ian R. MacLeod
•"Fossil Games," by Tom Purdom
•"The Secret History of the Ornithopter," by Jan Lars Jensen
•"Stellar Harvest," by Eleanor Arnason
•"1016 to 1," by James Patrick Kelly
Best Short Story
•"Ancient Engines," by Michael Swanwick
•"Hothouse Flowers," by Mike Resnick
•"macs," by Terry Bisson
•"Sarajevo," by Nick DiChario
•"Scherzo with Tyrannosaur," by Michael Swanwick
Best Related Book
•Minicon 34 Restaurant Guide, by Karen Cooper and Bruce Schneier
•The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, by Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano
•Science Fiction of the 20th Century, by Frank M. Robinson
•The Science of Discworld, by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen
•Spectrum 6: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, edited by Cathy and Arnie Fenner
Best Dramatic Presentation
•Being John Malkovich
•Galaxy Quest
•The Iron Giant
•The Matrix
•The Sixth Sense
Best Professional Editor
•Gardner Dozois, Asimov's Science Fiction
•David G. Hartwell, Tor/Forge, Year's Best SF
•Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Tor Books, Starlight
•Stanley Schmidt, Analog Science Fiction and Fact
•Gordon Van Gelder, St. Martin's Press, Fantasy & Science Fiction
Best Professional Artist
•Jim Burns
•Bob Eggleton
•Donato Giancola
•Don Maitz
•Michael Whelan
Best Semiprozine
•Interzone
•Locus
•The New York Review of Science Fiction
•Science Fiction Chronicle
•Speculations
Best Fanzine
•Ansible
•Challenger
•File 770
•Mimosa
•Plokta
Best Fan Writer
•Bob Devney
•Mike Glyer
•Dave Langford
•Evelyn C. Leeper
•Steven H Silver
Best Fan Artist
•Freddie Baer
•Brad Foster
•Teddy Harvia
•Joe Mayhew
•Taral Wayne
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
•Cory Doctorow
•Thomas Harlan
•Ellen Klages
•Kristine Smith
•Shane Tourtellotte
Rings Fans Petition Filmmakers
ore than 11,000 fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy of novels have signed an online petition imploring makers of three movies based on the books to honor Tolkien's vision.
The Tolkien Online fan Web site has posted the petition and intends to forward it to Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings movies, and to executives at New Line Cinema, which is producing the epic films.
The petitioners in particular express concern about the depiction of Arwen, daughter of Elrond, as a young elf warrior princess, which the fans feel varies significantly from Tolkien's characterization. "We understand that things of this sort are virtually inevitable, to some degree, in any adaptation," the petition said. "However, we believe wholesale alterations of the kind discussed above are completely unnecessary, would violate the integrity of Tolkien's work and alienate his many fans."
The petition is addressed to producers Saul Zaentz, Harvey and Robert Weinstein; Robert Shaye, chairman and chief executive of New Line;Michael DeLuca, president and chief operating officer of New Line; and Jackson. Jackson is about six months into a planned 18-month filming schedule for the three films, which are being made simultaneously in New Zealand. The first film is slated for a Christmas 2001 release.
Disney World To Get SPACE
ission to Mars technical consultant and former NASA shuttle astronaut Story Musgrave will advise Disney on its upcoming Mission: SPACE attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort.
Disney and Compaq Computer Corp. announced plans for the attraction, which will give theme park visitors a taste of space travel.
Scheduled to open in 2003, the Mission: SPACE attraction will be located in a new Epcot facility at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. It will be the first ride system ever built to use technologies to simulate weightlessness in outer space, the companies said.
McKellen, Marsden Discuss X-Men
an McKellen, who plays the villainous Magneto in Fox's upcoming feature film X-Men, said he agrees with director Bryan Singer's realistic approach to the Marvel Comics franchise.
"Well, it could have been possible to do a film version of X-Men as pure fantasy, but I think that would have been contrary to the intention of the comics," McKellen told the Marvel Comics official Web site.
McKellen added, "[X-Men is] full of people in fancy dress, but what [the comics' creators are] worrying about is a very real world in which minority people are treated [badly]. So I think it was right [for] Bryan Singer [to set the film] in the real world of the present day; ... I think it was a good approach for the film version."
McKellen's X-Men co-star James Marsden, who plays Cyclops, agreed. Singer is "one of the most talented directors out there now," Marsden told the Popcorn U.K. Web site. "It's like if Stanley Kubrick were to direct the X-Men movie. It's very dark, very cold, very serious, but there's definitely plenty of action and style to it." Marsden added that Singer's main concern was to create a character-driven movie in keeping with the comic book. "I think he pulled it off," he told Popcorn. "I think it's going to be a really great movie."
Jackman Ready For More X-Men
ugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine in Fox's upcoming movie X-Men, said that he'll be happy to reprise the role of the adamantium-clawed superhero, according to the Comics Continuum Web site.
"All the cast and crew would love to revisit these characters and work with each other again," Jackman told Rob Allstetter of Marvel Comics' X-Men Universe.
Jackman added, "I always think when you create a character that you really love and you respect--and I think all of us got to that point--it's a shame to put it away. I'd be really, really happy to come back to it." X-Men, based on the Marvel series of the same name, premieres in July, and Fox is already hoping to spin it into a new movie franchise.
"I want everyone to know that the loyalty of the fans has really been at the forefront of our heads," Jackman added. "We've wanted to stay true to what the comic book is all about. ... When, at times, we've taken any kinds of liberties with it, it's been a hard decision. I think we all appreciate their loyalty and their support throughout the Web sites and stuff. I hope they share our vision that this is going to be a really cool and groundbreaking movie in this genre."
Award Named For James White
n international panel of judges will select the first winner of the James White Award, named for Ireland's best-known science fiction writer, award administrators announced.
The James White Award will go to the best English-language science fiction short story from a non-professional writer.
The winning story will receive a trophy and will appear in the Hugo Award-winning magazine Interzone. Rules and submission requirements, including a $4 per story entry fee, will be posted to the official award Web site. The closing date for entries is August 23.
James White's first SF story, "Assisted Passage," appeared in New Worlds magazine in
1953. His novels include All Judgement Fled, The Watch Below and The Silent Stars Go By. He is perhaps best remembered for his series of stories and novels set on the giant space hospital Sector General. He died of a stroke in August 1999.
Lucas Done With Episode II Draft
eorge Lucas told radio listeners that he has finished the first draft of Star Wars: Episode II, according to the Dark Horizons Web site.
Lucas made the surprise announcement in a call to KROQ-FM radio in Los Angeles from the Long Beach Grand Prix, in which he was racing, the Web site reported.
Lucas said that taking part in the street race was his reward for finishing the script. Last week, the official Star Wars Web site reported that screenwriter Jonathan Hales (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) would polish the first draft of Episode II.
In another surprise announcement, the director also told KROQ that his Industrial Light & Magic special effects shop was working on a DVD version of Star Wars: Episode I, complete with extra footage, according to Dark Horizons. The director offered no release date for the DVD.
New Star Wars Game Announced
ucasArts announced plans for Star Wars: Demolition, a vehicular combat game for the PlayStation platform.
The announcement is the first of several expected in the next month for new games based in the Star Wars universe.
Star Wars: Demolition, developed in partnership with Activision, puts gamers in vehicles from the original Star Wars trilogy. Set in the time period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Demolition challenges players to compete in a series of brutal vehicular destruction contests organized by Jabba the Hutt. Players may assume the identity of several Star Wars characters, including bounty hunter Boba Fett.
The game will have single player and multiplayer modes. Star Wars: Demolition is slated for a fall release.
Devlin Won't Do Godzilla 2
ean Devlin, one half of the producing-writing-directing partnership that produced Godzilla, confirmed for Eon Magazine the rumors that he and Roland Emmerich won't be involved in a U.S.-made sequel to the giant lizard movie.
"We're no longer involved with the sequel to Godzilla," he told the magazine.
Devlin added, "What it came down to was creative differences between the direction the studio [Sony] wanted to go and the direction we wanted to go. ... We had a vision of what we would have to do in order to do a sequel and also fulfill what the fans need. We had an idea for a monster vs. monster story, and for Sony it was more expensive than they were willing to spend, and we felt anything less would not be that exciting."
Gareth Wigan, vice chairman of Sony's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group told Eon, "People withdraw from projects for creative reasons all the time, and that's what happened with Godzilla 2. That decision hasn't had an impact on our overall relationship with Dean and Roland."
Wolfe Talks Andromeda
he upcoming syndicated SF series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda will star not only Kevin Sorbo, but also a starship with a personality, head writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe told Eon Magazine.
"The Andromeda Ascendant is a fully sentient ship, but it's not like Tin Man [from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode of the same name] or [ships from] some other shows, [which are] alive and organic," Wolfe said.
Wolfe added, "It's basically very advanced artificial intelligence. It thinks of itself as a person, and it is a person by the rules of the Commonwealth, where basically anything that has a certain level of sentience--whether it's a robot or a missile or a ship--is a person. So the Andromeda has a fairly distinctive self-image, which is that of a fairly attractive woman who has not been cast yet, but [for] whom we have a couple of interesting candidates."
The ship will also be able to appear in humanoid form, Wolfe told Eon. "After a little while she'll have a body that looks completely human, which is indistinguishable from a human as long as you don't look too close or cut it. But it's a fully sentient robot, which is much more advanced in many ways than Data. It can use contractions, for example. Its skin is the appropriate color, and she has full emotional range, which means that sometimes she acts like a very confused graduate student, especially in the situation in which our crew will eventually find themselves. ... a very emotionally confusing situation in that everything that they've come to depend on is changed after some really bad things happen in the first couple of episodes, which I'm not going to talk about."
Clarke Receives Satellite Honor
egendary SF author Arthur C. Clarke, credited with the idea of the geostationary orbit, received an orbital honor this week when the European satellite organization dedicated its latest communications satellite in his name.
SESAT, the new satellite of the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization, or EUTELSAT, went into orbit in Clarke's name after blasting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 18, EUTELSAT announced.
Clarke's "visionary theories on use of the geostationary arc (also called the Clarke Belt), presented in Wireless World as far back as 1945, opened the door to radically enhanced communications," said EUTELSAT Director General Giuliano Berretta in a statement. "As a result, commercial satellite operators such as EUTELSAT are today delivering television, radio and interactive services to millions of homes, connecting businesses around the world and now tapping into the Internet for a new generation of sophisticated consumer and corporate services."
Clarke wrote more than 60 books and has received virtually every major SF honor. He is best known for the screenplay and novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, based on his short story "The Sentinel."
Will Ledger Get Spidey Role?
eath Ledger (The Patriot) has won the coveted role of Peter Parker in the upcoming feature film version of the Marvel Comics series Spider-Man, according to a rumor on the Ain't It Cool News Web site.
AICN cites an unnamed inside source at Sony studios, who said, "It's pretty much common knowledge around the Sony studios."
The source added, "They want to start promoting Heath as the next Brad Pitt." If true, Ledger will have beaten out rivals for the role that reportedly included Wes Bentley, Chris Klein, Tobey Maguire, Ewan McGregor, Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicholas Brendon, among others.
Director Sam Raimi has been hired to helm the superhero movie for Sony's Columbia Pictures division.
Lane Will Voice Pet
athan Lane will voice the lead character in the ABC animated children's series Teacher's Pet, coming to Saturday mornings in the fall, according to Variety.
Lane will provide the voice of Spot, a talking dog who disguises himself as a boy in order to attend school, the trade paper reported.
ABC has ordered 13 episodes of Teacher's Pet, including one full 22-minute episode and pairs of 11-minute episodes, Variety reported. Cartoonist Gary Baseman created the series.
Titan A.E. Web Site Opens
ox has opened a new Web site for its upcoming animated SF epic Titan A.E., featuring a new trailer.
Registrants to the site can play "Operation: Afterearth," a game in which players can join ships to save the human race.
Visitors may also download an animated Earth Day greeting card with a tongue-in-cheek message themed to the film. The film, with voices by Matt Damon and Drew Barrymore, opens June 16.
Woods To Direct Logan's Run
kip Woods (Swordfish) is in final talks to write and direct the long-rumored remake of the 1976 SF classic movie Logan's Run for producer Joel Silver (The Matrix) and Warner Bros., according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The original film starred Michael York as a policeman in a futuristic state in which all people must die at age 30.
Logan's Run had a brief run as a CBS television series starring Gregory Harrison in 1977, the trade paper reported.
Dark Castle To Remake 13 Ghosts
n the heels of the success of House on Haunted Hill, Joel Silver and Bob Zemeckis will remake another cheesy William Castle horror movie, 1960's 13 Ghosts, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Silver and Zemeckis' Dark Castle Entertainment, which produced the remake of Castle's House last year, will hire commercial director Steve Beck to direct the new Ghosts, the trade paper reported.
Ghosts, a co-production with Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures, will tell the story of a family that inherits a mansion haunted by ghosts visible only to those wearing special goggles. In the original film, theatergoers were handed a special viewer to see the ghosts on the screen.
The Dark Horizons Web site, meanwhile, reports that Dark Castle may be gearing up to make a sequel to House on Haunted Hill, which earned more than twice its estimated $19 million production costs. Writer Dick Beebe, who penned the screenplay of the 1999 film, would write the script.
Silver and Zemeckis created Dark Castle to produce mid-budget horror films, particularly remakes and updates of horrormeister Castle's campy oeuvre.
O'Connor Set For A.I.
ustralian actress Frances O'Connor (Mansfield Park) will join Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment in A.I., the SF movie to be directed by Steven Spielberg, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A.I. is scheduled to begin shooting July 10, with an eye to a summer 2001 release, the trade paper reported.
O'Connor will play Osment's mother. She revealed her role during the Sydney premiere of Mansfield Park. O'Connor is currently working with director Harold Ramis on the remake of the 1960s fantasy film Bedazzled.
A.I. is based on a treatment by the late director Stanley Kubrick and is set in the distant future, after the polar ice caps have melted.
Wong Says No To Destination 2
ontrary to a report in the Phoenix Star Ledger, director James Wong told SCI FI Wire that he and his partner, Glen Morgan, aren't interested in doing a sequel to their popular supernatural thriller movie Final Destination.
"I think the company [New Line] is ... considering a sequel, I'm pretty sure, because the movie's done pretty well," he said.
But, Wong added, "I don't think at this stage that we're involved in it. ... We don't have plans to be involved in it. At this point we're not interested in revisiting it. We want to do something different. We've already done that."
Wong directed Final Destination from a script he co-wrote with longtime partner Morgan, who also produced. Destination, made for about $23 million, has already earned $38 million and is still ranked No. 10 in domestic box-office listings after four weeks of release.
Wong, meanwhile, told SCI FI Wire that principal photography has wrapped for the season on his and Morgan's freshman NBC thriller series The Others. The partners are now waiting for word on whether the network will pick up the show for a second season. "We're going to meet with them in May and tell them what we're going to do next season," Wong said. "I think that meeting, in conjunction with what [NBC] sees from their [upcoming] pilots, will determine whether or not we get picked up."
In the meantime, Wong said that the series' last four episodes will "knock people's socks off." They include an episode dealing with the World War II work of Elmer, a show about a reluctant telephone psychic and a two-part season-ender that will culminate in a cliffhanger.
Judge To Helm Limpet?
ike Judge, creator of King of the Hill, is in talks to direct the fantasy film The Incredible Mr. Limpet, based on the 1964 Don Knotts movie of the same name, according to Variety.
Judge, who made his feature-film directing debut with last year's Office Space, would replace Steve Odekirk, who left the project, the trade paper reported.
Judge would also write Limpet with his partner, Clay Tarver. The movie is slated for an early 2001 start. Filmmakers hope to persuade Jim Carrey to rejoin the project. Carrey left when Odekirk departed over "creative differences." Other potential stars include Chris Rock, Mike Myers and Adam Sandler, Variety reported.
The original film starred Knotts as a man who turns into an animated fish and helps the U.S. Navy fight Nazi submarines. The new film would also combine live action and animation.
SF&F Films Top MTV Award Nods
cience fiction and fantasy films topped the nominees for this year's MTV Movie Awards, to be handed out June 3 and broadcast on June 8.
The Matrix and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me got the most nods for the tongue-in-cheek awards, whose winners are selected by MTV viewers at the official Web site.
The Matrix received six nominations, including best movie, best male performance (Keanu Reeves), breakthrough female performance (Carrie-Anne Moss), best on-screen duo (Reeves and Laurence Fishburne), best action sequence (helicopter crash) and best fight scene (Reeves and Fishburne).
Powers was also nominated for six awards, including best movie, best on-screen duo (Mike Myers and Verne Troyer), best villain (Myers), best comedic performance (Myers), best musical performance ("Just the Two of Us") and best fight sequence (Myers and Troyer).
The Sixth Sense received four nominations, including best movie, best male performance (Bruce Willis), breakthrough male performance (Haley Joel Osment) and best on-screen duo (Willis and Osment).
Other SF&F films receiving nominations included The Green Mile, Toy Story 2, Sleepy Hollow, The Blair Witch Project, The Mummy, South Park and Star Wars: Episode I.
Travolta Gets Real In Earth
ohn Travolta, star and co-producer of the upcoming SF film Battlefield Earth, told fans at Denver's Starfest 2000 convention that he wanted to make the movie real, rather than fantasy, according to the film's official Web site.
He added that the movie, based on the novel of the same name by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, "is not going to let you down."
Travolta said that he combined the characters he played in Pulp Fiction, Broken Arrow and Face/Off to portray the villainous alien Terl, according to the site. Travolta later signed autographs at the gathering of 4,000 SF fans.
Rosie To Play In Potter?
osie O'Donnell told the Popcorn U.K. Web site that she's talked with director Chris Columbus about playing a role in the upcoming feature film version of J.K. Rowling's popular children's novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
"I just think it's absolutely enchanting, and I would love to be a part of it," she told the site.
O'Donnell added, "I think it's going to go down in history as a Wizard Of Oz-type epic for the next generation." Popcorn reports that talk show hostess O'Donnell might play the role of Mrs. Weasley, mother of Harry Potter's best friend, Ron.
Roswell Stars Wait For News
he young stars of The WB's struggling teen alien series Roswell appreciate the fans' efforts to lobby the network to renew it, according to TV Guide Online.
"If The WB's going to say no, they're going to say no," Brendan Fehr, who plays Michael on the show, told the Web site. "But if the network is on the fence, this helps. Fans sending stuff in could really push it one way or another."
The network recently moved the show to Monday nights from Wednesdays, resulting in a promising ratings improvement. Fans, meanwhile, have taken out an ad in Variety and have inundated the network with letters and tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce--thousands, by TV Guide Online's reckoning. (Roswell's alien characters have a strong taste for Tabasco.)
The threat of cancellation permeated the atmosphere at the show's wrap party in Los Angeles last week, TV Guide reported. But Katherine Heigl, who plays Isabel, told the Web site that she is flattered by the fans' effort. "It's been a real awakening for us. I don't think any of us realized that people out there were so devoted to the show. It's made us work harder and appreciate being there." The WB is expected to announce its decision on Roswell's fate in May.
Illustrator Gorey Dead At 75
dward Gorey, the illustrator whose macabre designs highlighted dozens of books, stage productions and the PBS television series Mystery, died of an apparent heart attack, according to the Reuters news service.
He was 75.
Gorey wrote at least 90 books and illustrated about 60 others. They include The Haunted Tea-Cozy: A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas and The Headless Bust: A Melancholy Meditation on the False Millennium.
Gorey won a Tony Award in 1978 for his costume designs for the Broadway production of Dracula, Reuters reported. He is perhaps best known for the introductory animation for Mystery, the anthology series that appears on PBS.
Gorey was chosen to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association, which will be presented in May.
Landis Story Plagiarized
F author Geoffrey A. Landis found himself the victim of plagiarism when a Brigham Young University SF magazine published a story nearly identical to one written by Landis, Locus Online reported.
The university's student-run The Leading Edge published "The Singular Habits of Wasps," purportedly written by Phillip S. Barcia, which was virtually identical to a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated story of the same name by Landis, the Web site reported.
Landis' story appeared in the April 1994 issue of Analog. Associate editor Peter Ahlstrom of The Leading Edge said that the magazine bought the story in good faith as an original work, and was only notified this past week about the plagiarism, Locus reported. The magazine will pay Landis for reprinting his story and will run a letter from the editors in Locus magazine.
Disney Buys Barker's Abarat
orrormeister Clive Barker sold Walt Disney Co. the movie rights to four unpublished fantasy novels called The Abarat Quartet, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
The first of the Abarat novels is due in fall 2001, with others scheduled to come out at nine-month intervals, Variety reported.
The quartet will tell the story of 16-year-old Candy Quackenbush, who leaves her native Minnesota and crosses into another dimension, where she finds herself on a 25-island archipelago called Abarat. The novels will be illustrated by Barker's paintings, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Barker is best known as the director of the classic horror film Hellraiser.
Briefly Noted
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William Shatner, who has been lending his distinctive vocal stylings to commercials for Priceline.com, said he will record a version of Cars, the New Wave tune by Gary Numan, according to Jam!Music.
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Speaking to film students at the University of Southern California, Star Wars creator
George Lucas urged students to take advantage of new technology that allows anyone to make a film. "The best way to be a filmmaker is to go out and make a movie," Lucas said to a packed class in Norris Theatre.
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Star Trek's William Shatner will leave his spacesuit at home to play a beauty pageant emcee in Miss Congeniality, an upcoming feature film starring Sandra Bullock.
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MSNBC columnist Jeannette Walls reports that Christian Bale (American Psycho) may be in line to play Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II. Bale declined to comment on the rumor at the premiere of Psycho.
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The Coming Attractions Web site reported a rumor that producer Ralph Winter (X-Men) will take over development of the proposed feature film based on the Marvel Comics series Fantastic Four. The site reported that FF production could begin in late August or September.
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Stan Lee, best known for creating some of Marvel Comics' most famous characters, jumps ship to arch-rival DC Comics, where he will create alternative universes for such DC staples as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
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The Discovery Channel's documentary Walking With Dinosaurs was the most-watched non-sports event on cable television during the 1999-2000 season, drawing about 40 million viewers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Hyde Park Entertainment and MGM will remake the 1963 Ray Milland SF film Man With the X-Ray Eyes, Variety reported. Caroline Thompson (The Nightmare Before Christmas) will write the screenplay. The original film told the story of a man who develops the ability to see through the very fabric of reality.
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Joel Silver, producer of The Matrix, said to expect a series of six-minute animated short films based on the universe of The Matrix that will most likely be distributed on the Internet, according to an interview in the Los Angeles Times. The films will be produced in conjunction with the two sequels scheduled to be shot in early 2001, with the first aiming for a premiere around Christmas 2002.
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Todd Hanson, head writer for the humor newspaper the Onion, will write the script for 10th Circle Added to Rapidly Growing Hell, a proposed animated film from DreamWorks based on a story from the paper, according to Variety columnist Michael Fleming.
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Actress Julie Strain, the self-proclaimed "Queen of the Bs," said in a Yahoo chat that she auditioned for the title role in the upcoming film version of the DC Comics series Wonder Woman, but that the role would be played by Sandra Bullock. "It's ridiculous--you want to see someone with long legs in that part," Strain said. "It's ... 2000; loosen up and hire someone that'll show their t*ts."
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The film The Queen of the Damned, based on Anne Rice's vampire novel of the same name, will shoot in Melbourne, Australia, according to the Dark Horizons Web site. Director Michael Rymer must begin shooting in August, or the film rights revert back to Rice, the site reported. Wes Bentley (American Beauty) recently dropped out of the film, and the search is on for a replacement to play the vampire Lestat.
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The finale of The X-Files has reportedly been written, though the show's fate remains unclear. New York Daily News columnist Mitchell Fink reported that the season finale, entitled "Requiem," features an angry bureaucratic auditor who grills Mulder and Scully about their expenses over the last seven years.
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Richard Chevolleau, who plays Augur on the syndicated TV series Earth: Final Conflict, told his fan club that he will indeed return for the show's fourth season, but in a limited capacity. "I am not contracted to the show, but I will appear as a semi-recurring character; I will probably be in three episodes, but no more than five," he said.
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Roxann Dawson (Star Trek: Voyager's B'Elanna Torres) was nominated for an American Latino Media Arts award, or ALMA, for outstanding actress in a television series. The ALMA Awards ceremony will be broadcast on June 17 on ABC.
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The Media Action Network for Asian Americans has endorsed the fan-driven Excelsior Campaign, which is lobbying Paramount to base its next Star Trek series on the character of Capt. Hikaru Sulu and the crew of the U.S.S. Excelsior. MANAA co-founder Guy Aoki said an Excelsior series "could do for Asian-American action shows what Cosby did for black shows and sitcoms in the early '80s."
