Butler: Witchblade Not Cheesy
ancy Butler, star of TNT's upcoming television movie Witchblade, told SCI FI Wire that she signed on for the starring role of NYPD detective Sara Pezzini before reading the Top Cow comic series of the same name on which the film is based.
"I met with everybody, and then got the comic, and I totally panicked," Butler said of the comic books, which feature a buxom, scantily clad heroine festooned with spiky armor.
"I thought, what the hell?" Butler recalled. "Dog collars, well-endowedness, metal. I'm very happy our director chose to go in another direction." In the movie version of the comic, director Ralph Hemecker has toned down the more lurid elements and grounded the supernatural story more in reality, Butler said with relief. "It had the potential to not be cool. And it's so not cheesy. I'm so happy."
Like the comic, Witchblade tells the story of Pezzini and her inadvertent acquisition of a mysterious armored gauntlet that gives her supernatural powers. But the movie is "realistic and potent," said Butler. "You care about her, because we're playing it as if she were real, asking, 'What the hell is this thing?' She becomes [like] an audience member. Both of us don't know what's going on. [At the end of the film,] she still doesn't know what's going on. It's not better or worse [than the comic], but much more user-friendly."
Butler is no stranger to either cop roles or fantasy, having played a police officer in CBS's Brooklyn South and a robot in NBC's Mann & Machine. "People have asked me what it's like to be the star of Witchblade. But the God's honest truth is, I'm simply wearing the star on my wrist. What I loved about [Pezzini], and why I wanted to play this part and why I got interested, is her [dual] nature, which we would all do well to admit to ourselves that we have. She's extremely vulnerable and extremely sad where we pick up her life, but she's extremely tough and can kick some real royal ass."
Witchblade premieres on TNT at 8 p.m. Aug. 27. The two-hour film is being considered as a pilot for a potential series, depending on how the telefilm does.
Verhoeven: Hard To Be Hollow
aul Verhoeven, director of Columbia's upcoming SF thriller movie Hollow Man, told The Hollywood Reporter columnist Martin Grove that the film pushes the limits of the invisible-man genre.
"What I think [screenwriter] Andrew Marlowe did in a marvelous way is use everything that could be done with invisibility to make [Kevin Bacon's character, Sebastian Caine,] partially visible--be it in steam or in water or whatever--to use all the possibilities of the genre."
Verhoeven added, "I felt it was material that, of course, you could interpret in different ways, but there's still something about [the idea] 'What happens if you can get away with something?' The question is 'How far would you go into evil if you [could] be invisible?' Just thinking in a more philosophical way, it felt to me like, 'How far would a man go if the constraints of society and the legal system would not have a grip on him? How far is a human being willing to go when he knows that he cannot be caught?'"
In Hollow Man, the scientist played by Bacon leads a team experimenting with invisibility and submits himself to the process. Once invisible, he undergoes a moral transformation.
Bacon is invisible through most of the movie. But he was on set through most of the production, clad in black, green or blue body paint, special contact lenses and other special makeup that would later form the basis of the computer-generated special visual effects. "I felt that I needed an actor who was really down to earth and [would know how bad the shooting would be]," Verhoeven said. "This whole process of being so manipulated by makeup, by continuously being challenged physically [is terrible]. Glue on your face--after an hour it gets irritating; after eight hours, it's really unbearable. It sticks to you. It starts to hurt. To go through that day by day, I wanted to be sure that the actor who would do the part would be willing and would be able to [handle] the amount of suffering. And he did." Hollow Man opens Aug. 4.
Fox To Develop Hell
ox will develop Catching Hell, a supernatural movie based on a script by Nick Marine (Get Smart), Variety reported.
The movie tells the story of a bounty hunter who pursues a fugitive who he discovers is possessed by a demon.
Warner Bros., meanwhile, will develop Marine's SF script Rex Riley, Space Racer. And Marine's Tom Slick: Monster Hunter has Nicolas Cage attached as producer under his Saturn Productions banner, the trade paper reported.
Maguire Near Deal For Spidey?
he Dark Horizons Web site reported a rumor that Tobey Maguire (The Cider House Rules) did a final screen test this week for Spider-Man, Sam Raimi's movie based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name.
The site quoted a source saying, "From what I hear, Sam is set to cast him, and he will be officially cast by Monday, [July 31,] if all goes well."
Raimi is set to direct Spider-Man, which goes into production soon for release next year.
Fox, USA Revive In Search Of
tudios USA and Fox have joined with The Blair Witch Project producers to revive In Search Of ... as a weekly prime-time offering on both Fox and the USA Network, Variety reported.
Fox entertainment president Gail Berman committed to at least eight hour-long episodes of the series, which will use dramatic re-creations to explore tales of the supernatural and paranormal, the trade paper reported.
The show could be on the air as soon as November. USA will run episodes eight days after they first bow on Fox. Blair Witch creators Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez will join Michael Monello and Robin Cowie as executive producers.
Stan Lee: More Ideas Coming
omic writer Stan Lee told Variety columnist Army Archerd that he's busy developing feature films based on several ideas, including The 7th Portal, his Web-based animated series.
Lee also said he planned more Web animation.
Lee's projects include The Drifter, a time-travel story. He added, "There are two dozen more ideas I haven't had time to work on yet. ... We're going to do more animation on Web sites as we go along." That includes Star Ship, based on an idea by Gene Roddenberry.
Disney Doing Lilo And Stitch
isney is developing an animated SF movie titled Lilo and Stitch, the story of a Hawaiian girl whose dog turns out to be an evil space alien, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Jason Scott Lee and Tia Carrere will voice the movie, targeted for a 2003 release.
Disney's Orlando animation studio is working on the film, according to the trade paper. Some of the production work is being done in Hawaii, unnamed sources told The Reporter. Chris Sanders came up with the story and will co-direct with Dean Deblois.
Britney To Meet Buffy?
op star Britney Spears may appear on an episode of The WB's hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer next season, according to EW.com.
Buffy co-executive producer Marti Noxon told EW.com that it's "very likely" the teen queen will join the Scooby gang for an outing.
"She's a friend of [Buffy star] Sarah Michelle Gellar's, and she loves the show and wants to do an episode,'' Noxon said. What role would she play? "Just about anything she wants to, I suspect," producer Gareth Davies told EW.com.
Buffy Changes In Store
lare Kramer (Bring It On) will play a recurring role on The WB's hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer next season, Variety reported.
Kramer joins Michelle Trachtenberg, who takes on a recurring role as Buffy's kid sister.
Buffy supervising producer David Fury, meanwhile, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper that vampire Drusilla (Juliet Landau) will return, first on the Buffy spinoff series Angel and later on Buffy. Fury also said "there's a very good chance of Amy [Elizabeth Anne Allen] getting de-ratted." The recurring character of Amy was turned into a rat two years ago.
Fury said Buffy's fifth season will focus on family themes. The characters of Anya (Emma Caulfield), Tara (Amber Benson) and Riley (Marc Blucas) will return. Xander (Nicholas Brendon) will find a job ''in the skilled labor industry,'' Fury said. Buffy will also formally ask Giles to resume his duties as her Watcher, which may necessitate a trip to England and a meeting with the Watcher's Council.
Fury Reveals Buffy Spoilers
uffy the Vampire Slayer writer David Fury told the Desert News newspaper that a new character, Dawn, will appear in The WB hit series' season-five opener, but won't be explained until later, according to the Dark Horizons Web site.
The character, who will be the focus of the season's second episode, will have mysterious origins and will fulfill a prophecy planted at the end of the third season, Fury added.
"Everyone has memories of her being a part of Buffy's life," Fury said. "They all know her. She's been living in the house all this time. It creates this very bizarre mystery that is not always the focus of the episode; it's just something that's underlying that. It leaves the audience wondering. ... But, for all intents and purposes, there is a Dawn Summers that has always lived and shared a house and shared parents [with Buffy]."
Fury added that the character, to be played by Michelle Trachtenberg, will be tied to the season's main threat. "I'll just say this--we're moving into 'god' territory, ... possibly something along the lines of The Powers That Be on Angel. But more importantly, they're not just your run-of-the-mill demon-of-the-week or vampires looking to take control. They're pretty terrible and ancient and pretty all-powerful."
Fury said fans will also find out the meaning behind the phrase "Little Miss Muffet counting down from 730," uttered by the character Faith (Eliza Dushku) in a dream sequence at the end of the third season, which is an apparent reference to Dawn.
Alley Cat To Start Shooting
irector Greg Aronowitz told the Comics Continuum Web site that he will film a live-action movie based on Alley Cat, the Top Cow comic book series.
The movie will star model Alley Baggett and will feature a story by Aronowitz, Baggett and Top Cow's Matt Hawkins, the site reported.
Alley Cat tells the story of a modern-day woman who must contend with the evil spirit of the Marquis de Sade. Shooting gets underway in New Orleans in September and October. The independent film has yet to sign a distributor.
Bogus Goodkind On Amazon
n imposter managed to post messages as Sword of Truth novelist Terry Goodkind on Amazon.com before the furious author demanded that the bogus messages be deleted, according to MSNBC.
The imposter had written that Goodkind planned to change a major character in his fantasy series.
The phony message said, "Feedback is a welcome thing, because it gives me an idea of what the public expects and wants of me. I was surprised by the amount of negative comments. I figure some of you have gotten a little tired of the same old Richard."
"They're deceiving the public," Goodkind told MSNBC. "They've created a system that is so easily breached, it is incompetent." He added, "These people have set up a system which invites fraud. It embraces deception, and there's no interest in integrity. The Internet is like the Old West, and Amazon's the lynch mob."
British science fiction author John Christopher was similarly embarrassed when he found fake comments referring to his novel The Tripods as a "world-famous book," MSNBC reported. Christopher told the news site that he wrote to Amazon and asked it to remove the comments, which it did.
Metropolis Due In 2001
etropolis, the latest anime feature film from Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) and Rin Taro (X), will have its Japanese theatrical release in 2001, the filmmakers announced.
Metropolis took five years to make and cost $10 million.
Otomo, who was the creative force behind Memories and Perfect Blue, wrote the script based on the 1949 manga by Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion). Taro (Final Fantasy, Galaxy Express 999) directed, aided by animation director Yasuhiro Nakura and composer Toshiyuki Honda.
Metropolis follows the life of Kenichi, a human boy; Tima, a mechanical man; and a gender-neutral robot (which was the basis for Astro Boy). The three live in a society divided between the elite "Upperground" and the corrupt "Underground." Metropolis will combine advanced digital anime and Japanese-style cel animation.
The production is slated to be completed by the end of this year, and the movie will be distributed by Toho in Japan and through Sony Pictures worldwide in 2001.
USA Develops Generation Last
-Men comic series writers Scott Lobdell and Adam Pollina have signed a deal with USA Films to make the SF movie Generation Last, Variety reported.
The post-apocalyptic teen movie was originally conceived as a comic book, the trade paper reported.
Generation Last tells the story of a group of teens who return to Manhattan from a long sailboat voyage and find themselves battling for survival in a deserted city against night-dwelling mutants, the result of a biological warfare mishap. The pair have posted drawings of their Generation Last concept to the Web.
Generation Last is only one of several projects in development from the writers. Dimension is developing Lobdell's script based on the comic Hellhole, which Pollina is producing. USA Films is owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Echevarria Joins Dark Angel
ormer Star Trek: Deep Space Nine producer Rene Echevarria has signed on as co-executive producer of Dark Angel, Fox's upcoming SF series from director James Cameron, Variety reported.
The deal is part of a pact under which Echevarria will develop new projects for Twentieth Century Fox Television.
Echevarria joins Cameron and executive producer Charles Eglee on the series, which debuts in the fall. Dark Angel tells the story of a genetically enhanced warrior who battles her government sponsors in a dystopian future.
After working on DS9, Echevarria was a supervising producer on the canceled SF series Now & Again.
Wenk To Helm Wishcraft
ichard Wenk (Just the Ticket) will direct the supernatural teen horror movie Wishcraft, Variety reported.
Larry Katz wrote the script for the movie, which begins production Aug. 7.
Michael Weston (Numbers), Austin Pendleton (Amistad), Meat Loaf (Fight Club) and Alexandra Holden (Drop Dead Gorgeous) will star. The movie tells the story of a high school senior who receives a mysterious object in the mail that grants him three wishes. As he begins to pursue his dream girl, someone starts murdering his fellow students, Variety reported.
Scully Re-Ups With X-Files
illian Anderson has extended her contract to play FBI Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files one year beyond the 2000-'01 season, EW.com reported.
Anderson's contract was set to expire at the end of next season, the series' eighth.
X-Files creator Chris Carter told EW.com that Anderson's contract extension leaves him confident about the show's long-term prospects. David Duchovny, who plays FBI Agent Fox Mulder, had cut by half the number of episodes in which he will appear next season, but Robert Patrick signed on last week to play a new character, FBI Agent John Doggett.
Whether Fox will keep the show alive past next season depends on how well audiences take to the new character. "It's a little anxiety-producing," Carter told EW.com. "It's like Tiger Woods rebuilding his golf swing--throwing away something that's very good and turning it into something better."
Carter added that he still wants to turn The X-Files into a series of movies. "I have high hopes still that the TV series will become a movie series. In order for that to be so, you can't just let The X-Files fade away."
Benigni Noses Into Pinocchio
scar-winning director Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful) will helm a live-action version of Pinocchio, Variety reported.
Benigni will co-star with his wife, Nicoletta Braschi.
Benigni's partner and Oscar nominee Vicenzo Cerami will write the script based on Carlo Collodi's best-selling children's book of the same name. No start date has been set.
Wolfe: Andromeda Go For 2 Years
obert Hewitt Wolfe, executive producer of the upcoming syndicated television series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, told the Slipstream Web site that the show will run for at least two years, or 44 episodes.
"Well, certainly, anything can happen," Wolfe said. "Lightning strikes, hurricanes, the Saint Louis Rams winning the Super Bowl. But since we've been sold to TV stations all over the country for two years, I think they'd be cranky if they didn't get their money's worth. So 44 episodes it is. Of course, I'm hoping we'll go a lot longer than that."
Wolfe added that Andromeda will have both long story arcs and self-contained stories. "We'll be telling a story that will cover the course of the series, without a doubt," Wolfe said. "But generally, the individual episodes will be more self-contained than they were on, say, [Babylon 5]. My goal is that a viewer will be able to watch any single episode in isolation and enjoy it. But long-term viewers will appreciate the gradual unfolding of our overall story."
Wolfe added that the show will largely focus on the seven main characters. "There will probably be recurring characters, but not to the extent that there were on, say, [Star Trek: Deep Space 9]."
Wolfe also offered the following list of episode directors and the names of the segments they will helm: Allan Eastman ("D Minus Zero," "Angel Dark, Demon Bright," "The Mathematics of Tears"), Brenton Spencer ("To Loose the Fateful Lightning," "An Affirming Flame"), Allan Kroeker ("Under the Night," "Music of a Distant Drum"), David Warry-Smith ("A Rose in the Ashes," "The Ties that Blind"), Michael Rohl ("Double Helix"), Allan Harmon ("All Great Neptune's Ocean"), David Winning ("Banks of the Lethe," "The Pearls That Were His Eyes"), T.J. Scott ("Devil Take the Hindmost"), George Mendeluk ("Harper 2.0"), and J. Miles Dale ("The Sum of its Parts").
Comic To Merge Witchblade, Aliens
omic publishers Top Cow and Dark Horse will join forces to produce a crossover series featuring the characters from Witchblade, Aliens, Darkness and Predator.
Overkill: Witchblade, Aliens, Darkness, Predator will be written by Paul Jenkins (Witchblade) and penciled by Clarence Lansang (Darkness).
Top Cow will release the first issue in the series in October and the second in late winter. Dark Horse will follow with its own miniseries in early spring. Overkill: Witchblade, Aliens, Darkness, Predator will retail as a $5.95 prestige-format book.
Roth Commits To Apes
im Roth will play one of the lead roles opposite Mark Wahlberg in The Visitor, director Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Roth's decision apparently means he won't be able to take a role in Warner Bros.' feature-film version of J.K. Rowling's best-selling childrens' novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, as the two movies go into production about the same time.
William Broyles Jr. will write Visitor for Fox, and shooting is slated to begin in the fall. Wahlberg will play a pilot who--like Charlton Heston's character in the original 1968 movie--finds himself on a planet populated by talking apes. Fox is eyeing a July 4, 2001, release.
Elfquest Film Moves Forward
endy and Richard Pini, creators of the comic series Elfquest, told fans at the International Comic-Con in San Diego that the animated movie version of the series was in storyboards and moving ahead, according to the Comics2Film Web site.
The Pinis were joined by Elfquest movie producers Marv Wolfman and Craig Miller of Wolfmill Entertainment. Fans also viewed test footage from various animation houses.
Miller, who co-wrote the screenplay with Wolfman and Wendy Pini, told fans that the movie is based on the first four volumes of the comic series. "What we tried to do is to figure out what the heart of the story is, what the story's really about, and stay as true as possible to the flavor of it," Miller said, according to Comics2Film. "One of Wendy's main tasks was, any time Marv and I might want to venture in some direction, to beat us about the head and shoulders and make sure we didn't take out anything."
Smits Wraps Role On Episode II
immy Smits wrapped his apparently brief role as Bail Organa in Star Wars: Episode II and has already left Australia, the official Star Wars Web site reported.
Smits left July 15.
Meanwhile, Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Jedi master Mace Windu, completed his action scenes in Episode II and has also left, but will return in August to finish his role, the site reported.
Anthony Daniels, who plays C-3PO, completed his Australia work and left July 19. "I am so sad to be leaving Sydney," Daniels told the site. "I had the best time here. I've never had more fun, never been with nicer people." Daniels will rejoin the Episode II production when it moves to Italy and Tunisia.
Walken: Not In Episode II
hristopher Walken is downplaying rumors that he's under consideration for a role in Star Wars: Episode II, according to The Cranky Critic Web site.
"People have been telling me for six months, and really it's very interesting," Walken told the site.
Walken added, "I even asked. I said maybe I am in it, and they're just saving it for a surprise. But I'm not in that movie. Never was. I don't know how that happened. Maybe somebody put it on the Internet. I tell you frankly that the only place I've ever heard that is by way of rumor."
According to rumors, Walken was under consideration to play a character called Darth Bane.
UPN Rises To Level 9
PN's upcoming cyber-thriller series Level 9 deals with threats only a few years in the future, co-creator Josh Meyer told SCI FI Wire.
Level 9 tells the story of a fictional top-secret government task force set up to combat Internet crime.
"One thing it's not is a science fiction show," said Meyer, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and consulting producer for Level 9. "It's a law-enforcement show. And we're trying to stick very closely to what's real and what's out there. ... We think that cyber-crime is the big tidal wave that's coming, and federal government's not ready to deal with it. And so we created what we think would be ... kind of what they should be doing."
The series stars Kate Hodge as team leader Annie Price and Max Martini as defense intelligence agent Jack Wiley. The series was created by Meyer, novelist Michael Connelly and China Beach creator John Sacret Young.
"One of our biggest challenges is making sure that [the writers] don't slip something in that isn't real," Meyer said. "We spend a lot of our time doing research to make sure that stuff is very accurate. We're not going to make anything up." Level 9 comes to UPN in the fall with a 13-episode commitment.
Janssen Replacing Love On Mars?
amke Janssen (X-Men's Jean Grey) is rumored to be in line to take over the role vacated by rocker Courtney Love in the supernatural SF movie John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, the Coming Attractions Web site reported.
Janssen would reportedly take over the role of Melanie that Love had to abandon because of an injury.
The site also reported a separate rumor that martial artist Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies) might take over the Love role in Mars.
Voyager Premiere Set
tar Trek: Voyager kicks off its seventh and final season Oct. 4 at 9 p.m. on UPN, the network announced.
The season premiere, "Unimatrix Zero, Part II," will resolve last season's cliffhanger. (A repeat of that episode, "Unimatrix Zero, Part I," will air at 8 p.m. that day.)
In the final season, storylines will see B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris take their relationship a step further; force Seven of Nine to confront the possibility of her own death; pit the Doctor against a bizarre HMO-type medical bureaucracy; and see the Maquis re-emerge in an unexpected way, according to the official Star Trek Web site. In addition, the season will resolve the question whether the U.S.S. Voyager will ever make it home.
Eisner Winners Announced
he International Comic-Con in San Diego culminated with the presentation of the Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards, recognizing the best work done in 1999.
The award is named for the legendary comic publisher. A full list of winners follows.
Best Writer
•Alan Moore (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Promethea, Tom Strong, Tomorrow Stories, Top Ten)
Best Writer/Artist
•Dan Clowes (Eightball)
Best Writer/Artist, Humor
•Kyle Baker (I Die at Midnight, "Letitia Lerner, Superbaby's Babysitter")
Best Coloring
•Laura DePuy (The Authority, Planetary)
Best Lettering
•Todd Klein (Promethea, Tom Strong, Tomorrow Stories, Top Ten, The Dreaming, Gifts of the Night, The Invisibles, Sandman Presents: Lucifer)
Best Cover Artist
•Alex Ross (Batman: No Man's Land, Batman: Harley Quinn, Batman: War on Crime, Kurt Busiek's Astro City, ABC alternate No. 1 covers)
Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition
•Tony Millionaire (Sock Monkey)
Best Penciler/Inker or Penciler/Inker Team
•Kevin Nowlan ("Jack B. Quick," Tomorrow Stories)
Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
•Alex Ross (Batman: War on Crime)
Best Publication Design
•300, designed by Mark Cox
Hall of Fame
•Bill Everett
•Sheldon Mayer
•George Herriman
•Carmine Infantino
•Al Williamson
•Basil Wolverton
Best Continuing Series
•The Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware
Best New Series
•Top Ten by Alan Moore, Gene Ha and Zander Cannon
Best Limited Series
•Whiteout: Melt by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber
Best Humor Publication
•Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror by Jill Thompson, Oscar Gonzalez Loyo, Steve Steere Jr., Scott Shaw, Sergio Aragones and Doug TenNapel
Best Anthology
•Tomorrow Stories by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Kevin Nowlan, Melinda Gebbie and Jim Baikie
Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material
•Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Samura
Best Comics-Related Periodical/Publication
•Comic Book Artist
Best Comics-Related Book
•The Sandman: The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano
Best Comics-Related Product/Item
•Lunch boxes for Milk & Cheese, Sin City, Bettie Page, Hellboy and Groo
Best Title for a Younger Audience
•The Simpsons comics
Best Archival Collection/Project
•Peanuts: A Golden Celebration
Best Serialized Story
•Tom Strong Nos. 4-7 by Alan Moore, Chris Sprouse, Al Gordon and guest artists
Best Graphic Album, New
•The Acme Novelty Library No. 13 by Chris Ware
Best Graphic Album, Reprint
•From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Best Single Issue
•Tom Strong No. 1, "How Tom Strong Got Started," by Alan Moore, Chris Sprouse and Al Gordon
Best Short Story
•"Letitia Lerner, Superbaby's Babysitter" by Elizabeth Glass and Kyle Baker
Futurama Game Due?
uturama creator Matt Groening said that the animated SF television series will become a video game soon, the FGN Web site reported.
Speaking at the International Comic-Con in San Diego, Groening said the game would probably be designed for the X-box and PlayStation 2 game consoles.
No developer, publisher or game details were available. Fox Interactive holds the video game license to Groening's other creation, The Simpsons.
Cowboy Bebop Production Starts
ilmmakers have completed the script for the Cowboy Bebop Movie and have started animation production, Sunrise Studios spokesman Kenji Uchida said.
No theatrical release date has been set for the anime movie, which is based on the television series Cowboy Bepop.
The Cowboy Bebop Movie takes place between episodes 22 and 23 of the TV series, with the characters Vincent and Electra featuring prominently. Filmmakers have disclosed few details about the movie, but rumors say that filmmakers conducted a research tour in Morocco, suggesting that part of the story takes place in that country or a similar location.
Sunrise Studios, Bandai Visual and a new production company, Bones, produce Cowboy Bebop. Bones was part of Sunrise, but broke away once the TV series was done.
Mystique To Play Rollerball
ebecca Romijn-Stamos (X-Men's Mystique) will play the female lead, Aurora, in MGM's update of the classic SF movie Rollerball, Variety reported.
Romijn-Stamos joins Chris Klein (American Pie), LL Cool J and Jean Reno in the movie, to be directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard), the trade paper reported.
Romijn-Stamos tested for the role last weekend. Larry Ferguson, David Campbell Wilson and John Pogue wrote the script for Rollerball, a remake of the 1975 SF film of the same name that was directed by Norman Jewison and starred James Caan. (Jewison is co-producing the remake.) The movie tells the story of a brutal sport "five minutes in the future."
Darabont Polishes Minority
scar-winner Frank Darabont (writer and director of The Green Mile) will polish the script of Minority Report, an upcoming SF thriller to be directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Fox and DreamWorks will co-finance the movie, which is based on a Philip K. Dick short story of the same name.
Stephen Rivele and Chris Wilkinson (Nixon), meanwhile, will polish the script of Gemini, an upcoming cloning movie about an older assassin hunted by a younger version of himself. Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Murphy will produce the Touchstone movie, the trade paper reported.
Coppola To Produce Monster
rancis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope company will produce screenwriter-director Hal Hartley's fantasy movie Monster for United Artists, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Shooting is set to start in September on location in Iceland and New York.
Monster tells the story of a young journalist who travels to Iceland to find her missing fiance and forges an unlikely friendship with a mythical monster, the trade paper reported.
Roland 99 Coming To SCIFI.COM
CIFI.COM in the fall will debut Roland 99, the first Internet-based animated series to combine stop-motion and Flash technology.
Roland 99 will make use of a production technique developed exclusively for SCIFI.COM that offers fluid, broadcast-quality animation over the Internet.
Set in the year 4212, Roland 99 will be a futuristic adventure thriller starring a heroine with the code name Roland 99 equipped with bionic gun gloves, a cyber eye and a trademark half-shaved head.
Roland 99 is co-created by Cameron Gray and Brad Schiff, the creative directors at Skyler Animation in Portland, Ore. Formerly with Will Vinton Studios, the duo worked on MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch, Fox's The PJs and Gary and Mike, a new prime-time series premiering on UPN this summer.
Anime Movies Come To Web
he Sputnik7 Web site has partnered with Manga Entertainment to offer complete anime features on the Web.
Eight anime titles are currently available for viewing in streaming video.
The titles include Landlock, The Wings of Honneamise, Dangaioh and Violence Jack. In August or September, Sputnik7 will Webcast X, which is currently in theatrical release.
Fans Will Vie To Board Voyager
ans of Star Trek: Voyager will have a chance to compete for a walk-on role during the seventh and last season of the series, UPN announced.
In August, the network will create a new area on the official Star Trek Web site devoted to Voyager, which will include a "Trekkers' Trivia Challenge" game.
The multiplayer, real-time game will test the knowledge of fans in a contest whose grand prize is an all-expenses paid trip to Hollywood to take a small role in the show, UPN said. The new Voyager area will also include a "Starfleet Mission" game in which fans will engage in ship-to-ship combat to control quadrants of the galaxy. That game will also have a prize, which will be announced later.
In addition, the Voyager area will feature sneak previews of upcoming episodes. DNA Studio will design the new Voyager area of the Trek Web site.
Cell Creeped Out Star
incent D'Onofrio, who plays a serial killer in New Line's upcoming SF horror thriller The Cell, said he creeped himself out while preparing for the role.
"There are certain parts that, regardless of how much you avoid it consuming you, they kind of do anyway," D'Onofrio told fans at the International Comic-Con in San Diego on July 22.
D'Onofrio plays Carl Stargher, a comatose killer, and Jennifer Lopez plays a psychologist who must enter his mind through a futuristic machine in order to discover the whereabouts of Stargher's last victim before the victim dies. The film--which fans previewed at Comic-Con--uses outlandish visuals to take viewers deep into the killer's twisted mind.
D'Onofrio admitted he took his research into real life while dining in Los Angeles. "I would go to restaurants in L.A. ... I would always sit myself ... with my back towards the room, and I would face the mirror. ... And I would watch people. And I would watch them for a long time. And I would keep my eye on one person. And I'd sit there for an hour or so, eating by myself ... and I would think of them as a victim. And I would follow them through the room. And I would watch them as they ate, and as they brought food to their mouth. And I would get very specific with that, without entering their life, or without them entering my life, just in a very kind of private way. ... I had never in my life thought about stalking anybody, or looking at anybody and trying to study them, other than as an actor. But just the idea of taking the time, as these people do, these serial killers do, and sitting and stalking someone, lying in wait, it's a frightening thing. And it's creepy as hell. And it creeped me out really badly."
The Cell, directed by video and commercial director Tarsem, opens Aug. 18.
New Star Wars RPG Coming
ucasArts and BioWare Corp. will create the first Star Wars role-playing game for PC and next-generation video game systems, the companies announced.
The game, expected to be released in 2002, will take place in the ancient times before the events in Star Wars: Episode I.
The game's original storyline will be set about 4,000 years before Episode I and center on the epic struggle between the Jedi and the evil Sith. BioWare is best known for creating the popular Baldur's Gate game.
Ultraviolet Web Site Opens
he SCI FI Channel has opened the official Web site on SCIFI.COM for its upcoming vampire miniseries Ultraviolet.
The three-part, six-hour miniseries airs July 31 through Aug. 2 at 9 p.m. and 12 a.m. ET.
Ultraviolet--written and directed by Joe Ahearne--tells the story of a vampire infestation, with a contemporary edge. It stars Jack Davenport, Susannah Harker, Idris Elba and Philip Quast as members of a state-sanctioned vampire-fighting squad.
King's Plant Sales Grow Slowly
ales of Stephen King's self-published Web novel The Plant are growing slower than those of his previous e-book, according to Variety.
King is offering the first two chapters of the novel for $1 per download, payable on the honor system.
But unlike his first e-book, the short story "Riding the Bullet," which saw 400,000 downloads in its first 24 hours, The Plant sold only 41,000 copies of its first installment in the first 15 hours it was available on July 24, Variety reported. ("Riding the Bullet" was available for free download on some sites.)
King said he is offering the novel as an experiment in e-publishing. If 75 percent of the people who download the chapters pay for them, King will continue to post chapters of the book. Amazon.com, which is the sole Web retailer associated with the book, said that 78 percent of customers had paid up front, Variety reported.
Paramount Buys The Flip Side
aramount will develop The Flip Side, a fantasy comedy movie based on a pitch by writer Emily Baer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Alphaville will produce the movie.
Flip will tell the story of a man in his 20s who is magically transported back to his high-school years in the form of a teen-age girl.
Bookface Posts Crusade Scripts
ookface.com has posted three Crusade television scripts by Fiona Avery.
Avery wrote the scripts for the Babylon 5 spinoff series before it was pulled from the air.
Bookface.com posted the episodes "The Well of Forever" and "Patterns of the Soul," which were both produced, and "Value Judgments," which was not. The latter features the first Crusade appearance of familiar B5 character Alfred Bester, who was played by Star Trek veteran Walter Koenig.
Marvel Digs Deep For New Films
arvel Studios president Avi Arad has been seeking partners to develop a feature film version of Lunatik, one of the comic publisher's more obscure properties, according to USA Today.
In the wake of the success of Fox's X-Men movie, based on the Marvel series of the same name, "all of a sudden, you look at the Marvel title, and the energy of people who want to get involved is awesome," Arad told the newspaper.
Arad reportedly met with Sony, Paramount and MGM about Lunatik, the story of a muscular alien shape-shifter who comes to Earth, becomes a Hollywood star and gives it all up to fight the forces of evil. Adam Rifkin (Detroit Rock City) will write and direct the proposed film.
Arad is also reportedly interested in developing a movie based on the Sub-Mariner series, about an underwater prince.
Seeds Of Sequel In X-Men
-Men executive producer Tom De Santo told SCI FI Wire that the seeds of a sequel were planted in the current Fox hit movie.
"If you look closely, or you look back in hindsight when you see the second one, you'll say, 'OK, I know what that shot means, or I know what that is.' ... There's certain shots and lines of dialogue," De Santo said during an interview at the International Comic-Con in San Diego. He declined to give details.
De Santo said he and the crew were taking a well-deserved break before planning the next movie. Though neither De Santo nor X-Men director Bryan Singer has officially committed to the sequel, he added, "Hopefully we'll all be back. ... I've been thinking about it every day of my life for the past 31 years, so it never leaves my head. ... Both Bryan and myself have lots of ideas [for the sequel], and hopefully we'll make it happen." The major cast members, including Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, are signed for at least one more X-Men movie.
But De Santo said it's unlikely that the filmmakers will shoot more than one sequel at a time. "Right now, the status is we're actually all going to take a big long nap. I wish I did have news. But right now, we just decided to take a bit of a break. We only finished the film about three weeks ago."
Lawrence To Time-Travel
artin Lawrence will earn an estimated $16.5 million to star in Fox/New Regency's time-travel comedy Black Knight, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The studios are searching for a director to helm the movie, which is scheduled to start in November.
Lawrence could also receive an executive producing credit on the movie. Knight, written by Darryl Quarles (Lawrence's hit Big Momma's House), tells the story of a theme-restaurant employee who is transported to medieval times. Lawrence takes over the role from Chris Tucker.
A Storm Of Swords Approaches
eorge R.R. Martin told SCI FI Wire that A Storm of Swords, the next novel in his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, is complete and weighs in at more 1,000 pages.
HarperCollins will release A Storm of Swords in Britain in August; Bantam will publish the U.S. version in October.
"It follows directly on from [the last novel,] A Clash of Kings, and completes the first 'movement' of the tale I'm telling," Martin said. "A Storm of Swords is the longest book in the series to date, and the darkest as well. Debts are paid, secrets revealed, mysteries solved. There are marriages, births and plenty of battles and swordplay ... and death is close at hand, for the heroes and villains alike."
Storm will also introduce several new characters, including Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, and Prince Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper of Dorne. "I am also rather fond of two secondary characters who make their first appearance: the Queen of Thorns and Tormund Giantsbane, Husband to Bears," Martin said.
After completing Storm, Martin said he took a short break for a vacation to Hawaii, but plans to begin work on the next book in the series, A Dance With Dragons, within the month. He added that he will be working on the A Song of Ice and Fire saga for the next few years and has no plans for any side projects.
Although the first two novels in A Song of Ice and Fire--Clash and A Game of Thrones--earned Nebula Award nominations and were favorably compared to The Lord of the Rings by both fans and critcs, Martin said there has as yet been no interest in adapting the series to TV or film. "With its cast of thousands and huge canvas, it would be very difficult to translate A Song of Ice and Fire to the big screen," Martin added. "It could not be done as one film, certainly. A TV miniseries the length of Shogun would be the ideal way to go."
Cameron: Angel Is Like Film
irector-producer James Cameron (Titanic) said that his upcoming Fox SF television series Dark Angel will be like a 13-episode feature film, according to the Mr. Showbiz Web site.
The series, unveiled last week to convention-goers at the International Comic-Con in San Diego, premieres Oct. 3.
"I think of it as a continuum," Cameron told television critics in a satellite press conference during the critics' fall preview in Pasadena, Calif., last week. "The whole first season, we've already mapped out the story. It's like this big novel ... in 41-minute chunks."
Dark Angel is set in a futuristic Seattle and centers on the character of Max (Jessica Alba), a genetically enhanced warrior on the run from sinister government forces. She hooks up with guerrilla journalist Logan (Michael Weatherly) to fight corruption while uncovering the mystery of her past.
Convention-goers at Comic-Con viewed a trailer--which also began airing on Fox this week--depicting a Blade Runner-like cityscape with a cyberpunk feel and action familiar to fans of Cameron's Terminator films. Dark Angel will air on Tuesdays at 9 p.m., opposite The WB's hit series Angel.
Allen Will Star In Clause II
im Allen will reprise his role as Kriss Kringle in a proposed sequel to the 1994 hit movie The Santa Clause, Variety reported.
Disney will develop the sequel for a November 2001 release.
Don Rhymer (Buccaneers) will write the script for the sequel, which picks up the story five years later. Variety quoted unnamed sources saying that the story will center on Santa's efforts to balance his North Pole work with his personal and family life.
Elwes Gets Night Visions
ary Elwes (The Princess Bride) is the latest Hollywood star to sign on to an episode of Fox's upcoming anthology television series Night Visions, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Elwes will play a city dweller who goes to the woods but can't escape the city.
Brian Dennehy will co-star in the episode, which will be directed by Joe Dante (Small Soldiers). Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Gil Bellows and Aidan Quinn will also star in episodes of Night Visions, which premieres in the fall.
Pullman Joins Night Visions
ill Pullman (Independence Day) will star in and direct an episode of Fox's SF anthology series Night Visions, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal) will also star in an upcoming episode, the trade paper reported.
Pullman will play an Army problem solver sent on a secret mission to investigate a farmhouse separated from the rest of the world by a clear but impenetrable wall, according to The Reporter.
The actors join other veteran stars appearing in the series, including Bridget Fonda, Aidan Quinn and Brian Dennehy. Whoopi Goldberg is also in talks to star in an episode. Pullman joins illustrious directors such as Joe Dante and Tobe Hooper in helming episodes of the show.
More Casting For Osmosis
olly Shannon and Chris Elliott will join the cast of Warner Bros.' live-action/animated SF movie Osmosis Jones, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Peter and Bobby Farrelly will direct the live-action portion of the Marc Hyan-written comedy, about an animated white blood cell (voiced by Chris Rock) and cold tablet (voiced by David Hyde Pierce) battling a virus in a man (Bill Murray).
Shannon will play the schoolteacher of Murray's daughter, and Elliott will play Murray's best friend, the trade paper reported.
Frakes May Not Helm Trek X
onathan Frakes told Cinescape Online that he probably won't direct the next Star Trek movie.
Frakes told Cinescape editor Steve Hockensmith that he's awaiting word on the fate of another SF movie, Clockstoppers. If Paramount green-lights that movie, Frakes won't be free to helm Trek X.
"Clockstoppers is not unlike Back to the Future," Frakes said. "It's [a co-production of] Paramount and Nickelodeon. Gale Anne Hurd [Terminator] is one of the producers. It's being written by the guys who wrote Rugrats, and I'm on to direct, so I'm very excited. ... I'd like to be in pre-production by the fall and shooting by the end of the year."
Frakes added, "Maybe I'm really crazy, but I think that Paramount wants a Star Trek movie for Christmas 2001, in which case, like for the last two movies, we'll work back from a release date.
And that would put us in production in January, February [or] March." But Frakes added that he'd probably appear in any new Trek film as his Next Generation character, Will Riker.
Trek I To Be Re-Cut For DVD
aramount will enhance and re-edit Star Trek: The Motion Picture for its upcoming release on DVD, according to the official Star Trek Web site.
Filmmakers will also overhaul the 1979 movie's visual effects.
Director Robert Wise will re-edit the film and include scenes that were cut out of the theatrical release. The DVD will appear in 2001 and will be the last Star Trek movie to be released on DVD.
York Ready To Run Again
ichael York, who starred in the 1976 SF movie Logan's Run, told BBC Radio that he'd be willing to appear in a proposed remake, according to the Dark Horizons Web site.
"Actually, they are talking about doing a remake," York said.
York added, "I even said to them if they want me in it, I'll play the old man character that Peter Ustinov portrayed in the original."
Spidey Was X-Man For A Day
popular Marvel Comics character had an unexpected cameo in an outtake from Fox's hit X-Men movie, screened for fans at the International Comic-Con in San Diego.
The clip, donated by X-Men director Bryan Singer, featured an actor dressed as Spider-Man playing a role as an honorary X-Man during a chase scene, part of an on-set prank.
The clip showed the X-Men characters Storm (Halle Berry), Jean Gray (Famke Janssen) and Cyclops (James Marsden) preparing for battle in the Statue of Liberty museum. A red-and-blue costumed Spider-Man suddenly appears behind the trio and joins in the chase, provoking laughter from the cast and crew. Spider-Man, apparently sensing he is in the wrong movie, flees the scene.
Sony, not Fox, is developing a feature film based on the Spider-Man comic series, to be directed by Sam Raimi and due in theaters in 2001.
-- Heather G. Teresi
Goddess Film Animation Done
ilmmakers have completed the animation production of Kousuke Fujishima's Ah! My Goddess Movie and are now undertaking music and sound production and the Japanese dub process.
The Ah! My Goddess Movie will reportedly compile the original video animation series, which is based on the original manga series of the same name.
In anticipation of the movie's fall Japanese theatrical release, meanwhile, Japanese anime stores have begun advance ticket sales, offering collectible posters, telephone cards or clear folders to advance ticket holders.
Producers will release a three-DVD set of the Ah! My Goddess OVA to coincide with the theatrical premiere. The DVD set will include a movie ticket and a DVD storage box.
Beneath Tops Box Office
he supernatural film What Lies Beneath scared up the No. 1 box-office spot during its debut over the July 21 weekend, with an estimated $30.1 million in ticket sales, according the Hollywood trade papers.
The Harrison Ford-Michelle Pfeiffer thriller pushed Fox's hit X-Men into the No. 2 position.
X-Men earned $23.7 million in its second weekend, a drop of 56 percent from its debut. After 10 days of release, X-Men has earned $99.5 million and was on its way to being the eighth movie of 2000 to earn more than $100 million.
Pokemon 2000 opened in the No. 3 slot, with $21.5 million in ticket sales. Chicken Run ranked ninth with $4.8 million for the weekend and a total so far of $86.2 million.
Carter Takes Care With Gunmen
he X-Files creator Chris Carter unveiled clips from his upcoming mid-season spinoff series The Lone Gunmen at the International Comic-Con in San Diego over the weekend and said to expect it to premiere on Fox next year.
"We're starting to work on it now," Carter said. "We'll be filming it in October, and I think you guys will see it in March."
Carter said the series will be more light-hearted than The X-Files, but will have a mythology all its own. In the brief clips, convention-goers saw the Gunmen characters (played by Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood and Dean Haglund) in various humorous situations, including a takeoff on Tom Cruise's high-wire act in Mission: Impossible.
But Carter, apparently still stinging from the rapid cancellation of his last Fox series, Harsh Realm, said he would wait to introduce the mythology. "You've got to be careful," he said. "As I saw with Harsh Realm, if you introduce it too early, you lose your opportunity to get people to come to the show ... as readily. So you've actually got to build through straight storytelling before you start building mythology, and that's probably the way Lone Gunmen will work."
Carter added, "Right now there are three or four stories in the pipeline ... but there are no scripts actually written past that. One is being worked on. So we're really right at the beginning of that. We want to be careful with it. And especially after Harsh Realm, we want to be careful to do it just right."
Carter: Expect Changes In X-Files
he X-Files creator Chris Carter said the eighth season of the popular Fox series will add one new face, feature the return of several old ones and answer a lot of questions left over from this year.
And expect the return of Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) in some form in the first two episodes of the season, Carter said during an appearance at the International Comic-Con in San Diego.
"He's coming back," Carter said. "Actually, he's in the season opener, believe it or not. He's going to be in a lesser number of episodes this year, but we're going to make it really interesting. It was actually something ... a happy accident. I had to write the season finale, which was called 'Requiem,' ... not knowing whether or not we'd be back. So it actually set up an interesting problem for me in coming back now, in doing an eighth year. And that has actually worked with David's availability this year."
Carter provided more details of the new character, to be played by Robert Patrick. "The character that Robert Patrick plays, who is Special Agent John Doggett, is a member of the FBI fraternity, so he's like one of guys," Carter said. "He's like one of the hard core there. He's on his way up the ladder. He's a do-gooder, in a sense. But he's his own man. So what he represents to them is a threat to the ... X-Files, because it's a basement operation. So in coming to look for Mulder, to find Mulder, he is ... a part of the system and now he's attacking the X-Files. So he isn't working as Agent Scully's partner. But at some point, he will come to ... a place where they can agree to disagree."
Carter said he'd also beef up the roles of Assistant FBI director Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), villainous Alex Krycek (Nicholas Lea) and duplicitous Marita Covarrubias (Lauri Holden). He added he'd love to bring back the character of Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) from his canceled series Millennium, depending on Henriksen's availability. Among the issues the season will explore: What happened to Mulder's sister, which was partly answered in the past season; whether the Cancer Man is really dead; what the deal is with the various alien races; and whatever happened to Gibson Praise, the mind-reading little boy. Carter also promised to tone down the slapstick humor and return to telling "good, scary stories."
As for Agent Scully's (Gillian Anderson) pregnancy? "We hinted at a relationship with Mulder. We're going to go back and explore that. ... And ... she's a very lonely character, and now she's even lonelier without Mulder. ... We're going to explore what happened this season. So while it may seem as if you missed something, and you did, you will not miss it in the end."
Briefly Noted
- StudioCanal and Artists Production Group have optioned the feature film rights to the book The Discreet Charm of Charlie Monk by David Ambrose, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The book tells the story of a spy who becomes an unwitting subject of a virtual reality experiment that slowly reveals the truth about his own identity.
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MGM will develop Inner Beauty, My Ass, an SF comedy by writer Danny Salles, Variety reported. The movie is described as "the Face/Off of romantic comedies," about a man who undergoes plastic surgery to acquire the good looks of his mean-spirited friend.
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Spider-Man fans have posted a Web petition to object to director Sam Raimi's plans to make the webslinger's, uh, web slingers organic instead of mechanical in his upcoming movie version of the Marvel Comics series. The "Save Spider-Man" campaign has purportedly garnered nearly 1,000 signatures.
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Sandman comic writer Neil Gaiman is auctioning off his custom leather jacket on eBay to raise money for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The bidding stood at $1,425 as of 1 p.m. ET July 27. The auction ends Aug. 5.
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The DVD of 1985's Vampire Hunter D anime will come out Oct. 17, not Oct. 3 as originally planned. The later release date will allow for the completion of bonus features and will coincide with the release of a Vampire Hunter D game for PlayStation.
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DreamWorks Home Entertainment will release the biblical tale Joseph: King of Dreams on home video Nov. 7, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The animated film features the voices of Ben Affleck, Mark Hamill, Steven Weber and Judith Light.
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Oscar nominee Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile) will play an ape in The Visitor, Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes, Variety reported.
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Reporters who screened DreamWorks' supernatural thriller What Lies Beneath, which does for bathtubs what Psycho did for showers, returned to their hotel rooms to find their tubs filled to the rim with water, echoing a particularly scary scene in the movie, according to the [Inside] Web site. The gimmick was part of the studio's promotional efforts.
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NBC's summer drama series Mysterious Ways won its 8 p.m. Monday time slot with an average 12 million viewers and 4.4 rating/14 share in the key demographic of adults aged 18-49, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show, about a pair of paranormal investigators, is getting a summer preview on NBC before it moves to its permanent home on the Pax TV cable network next month.
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Bela Lugosi, the son of the late actor of the same name who gained fame as Dracula, signed a deal with Universal Studios' consumer products division to produce merchandise based on his father's likeness, Variety reported. The deal puts to rest years of dispute between the Lugosi family and Universal.
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UPN, home to Star Trek: Voyager, will become the Paramount Network on Jan. 1, the Hollywood trade papers reported. The new moniker comes on the heels of the breakup of United Paramount Network partners Paramount and the Chris-Craft/United Television Group.
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Alexandra Holden (Friends) will play the lead in the supernatural thriller movie Whishcraft, Variety reported.
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Ten-year-old Jake Thomas (The Cell) will join the cast of Steven Spielberg's upcoming SF thriller A.I., Variety reported. Thomas will play the human brother of Haley Joel Osment, who portrays an android boy.
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Variety reported that Tobey Maguire tested for the role of Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man feature film, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. Filming is scheduled to begin in November.
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ABC bought the first broadcast network rights to the Harrison Ford/Michelle Pfeiffer supernatural thriller movie What Lies Beneath, Variety reported. The film will debut on ABC in early 2003.
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The anticipated sequel to Fox's hit X-Men movie may shoot in Vancouver, Canada, and not Toronto, where the first film was shot, the Toronto Sun newspaper reported. Vancouver is closer to Los Angeles and has bigger soundstages.
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Ook, a white owl that tours British schools for the U.K.'s Natural History Lecture Service, will play Hedwig the mail owl in Chris Columbus' upcoming movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Variety reported.
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Disney will develop Birthday Boy, a fantasy family movie based on an idea by writer Erica Rothschild, Variety reported. Mike Karz will produce the film, about a boy who, angered that family and friends give him little attention except on his birthday, manages to successfully wish for and win more attention, the trade paper reported.
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Soleil Moon Frye will join the cast of the television series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch when it moves to The WB from ABC this fall. Frye will play the college roommate of Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart).
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Clint Eastwood will take part in his first-ever online chat to promote his upcoming SF movie Space Cowboys, July 31 at 8 p.m. EST on America Online, keyword Space Cowboys. The movie will have a sneak preview on July 30.
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Space: 1999 star Martin Landau confirmed that he will appear at MainMission: 2000, a convention celebrating the 25th anniversary of the cult SF television series, taking place in New York Sept. 1-3.
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Off World Films and Short Stuff Revolver will sponsor a short-film festival, highlighting SF and horror movies, in conjunction with the Melbourne (Australia) Fringe Festival in October. Organizers are seeking film submissions; applicants may e-mail Off World.
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The U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp to commemorate Chicon, the World Science Fiction Convention, in Chicago on Aug. 31. The service will also issue a special cancellation for Chicon 2000, using the convention's "rocket" logo.
