Andromeda Charts Its Own Course
obert
Hewitt Wolfe, co-executive producer of the upcoming syndicated television series
Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, told SCI FI Wire that the show won't be
your father's Star Trek series.
"The characters are very, very different," Wolfe said in an interview. "The
situation is very, very different. It's not about preserving an existing
civilization, or even about going places where no one has ever been before. ...
It's about trying to unite a fragmented world, and trying very much to build
something or rebuild something."
Andromeda, which
launches the week of Oct. 2, is based on notes left by the late Star Trek
creator. "The show itself is basically about Kevin Sorbo's character, Capt.
Dylan Hunt, the last surviving ... captain of the last surviving ship of a great
civilization," Wolfe said. "He is attempting to reestablish an overarching
civilization on what is basically a Balkanized chaotic universe. ... The
Systems Commonwealth was the great civilization. ... And the High Guard was the
military arm of the civilization, to which Hunt is loyal even after bad things
happen to him."
Wolfe added, "The
Andromeda Ascendant is his ship. It's a fully sentient, artificial
intelligence. The ship is basically her principal body, although she has
multiple bodies that she inhabits simultaneously. So in addition to the ship,
there are all these invisible nanites that she controls: little mini-bots that
run around and fix her body. There are Metropolis-y looking androids that
function inside the ship. She has one human-looking ... body. And she can
control them all simultaneously. She can divvy up her personality between parts.
She can have conversations with herself. She can play chess against herself and
not know who's going to win."
Wolfe said Tribune
Entertainment asked him to help create the series from Roddenberry's ideas. "It
definitely has its origins in Gene's work. I was given a stack of Gene's
unproduced stuff. Some of it was scripts for other concepts. ... But he didn't
write any scripts for this, or even a fully fleshed proposal, as he did, for
example, with Earth: Final Conflict. So, [it's more Gene] than Deep
Space Nine or [Star Trek:] Voyager, where he didn't have any
[input]. ... He created the universe, but not the characters or the situations,
for Voyager and Deep Space Nine. In this, he did not generate the
universe, largely, but he did create the principal characters and situation. And
then I developed a lot of the sort of peripheral stuff."
As for the title of the
series, "The title was neither one of ours," Wolfe said with a laugh. "He had a
title, I had a title, Tribune had a title. And they basically really liked their
title."
Voyager To End With Mini-Arc
tar
Trek: Voyager writer Bryan Fuller told fans during a chat on the
TrekWeb fan site that the series will end with a storyline that spans
several episodes.
"We have talked about several different ways to bring the show to a close, and
what's currently being discussed is really awesome," Fuller said in response to
fan questions.
Fuller added,
"Voyager is going to go out with a big bang. Trust me. We have discussed
possibly doing a mini-arc, but nothing like they did on [Star Trek: Deep
Space Nine]. It may be anywhere from two to five episodes. It's hard to tell
right now how involved it will be."
Meanwhile, Fuller said
that Voyager's writing staff has completed more than half of the season's
episodes and is up to episode 13 out of 22. "There's a lot of fun stuff in
store, and we have a nice mix of episodes that will give all of the characters a
day in the sun before the series comes to a close," he said. "It's actually kind
of strange to be so far into the season when the first episode hasn't even
started yet. By the way, I think [the season premiere episode] 'Unimatrix
[Zero], Part II' is even better than part one."
Fuller declined to
discuss details of the upcoming new Trek series that will replace
Voyager. "I'll tell you this, and I'm sorry if it sounds like the same
old [executive producer] Rick Berman interview you've been reading for months,
but it's really cool," Fuller said. "It's got a fresh spin on the Star
Trek franchise, but gives it a new life and restores that spark of
exploration that I think some of the series have lost. It'll be like looking at
Star Trek with new eyes. That's all I'm going to say."
Voyager returns
to UPN on Oct. 4.
Beltran Ready For Voyager Finish
obert
Beltran, who plays Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager, told fans on the
official Trek Web site that he won't be sorry to see the series end next
year.
"I am going to be sad to miss the people that I work with," Beltran said. "But
I'm looking forward to moving on to different projects and material."
Elsewhere, Beltran has
been vocal in his disdain for Voyager's writing staff and the way actors
on the series are treated. But he muted those criticisms in the official Web
site fan Q&A. Instead, he said his only advice to his character would be "forget
about the Captain and find a nice ensign."
Beltran added that he
enjoys going to Star Trek conventions. "They are fun. I do them because
it's nice to have person-to-person contact with such loyal fans."
Episode II Wraps In Spain
tar
Wars: Episode II stars Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) and Natalie
Portman (Queen Amidala) finished their last day of principal photography in
Seville, Spain, on Sept. 12, according to the official Star Wars Web
site.
The duo filmed on location in Seville's famous Plaza de España, recognizable to
fans of Lawrence of Arabia.
Hundreds of Spanish
fans cheered and displayed banners at the location. Director George Lucas,
visual effects supervisor John Knoll and other members of the crew stayed and
signed autographs for an hour after the shoot, the site reported.
Episode II Travels To Tatooine
tar
Wars: Episode II moved to Tunisia on Sept. 7 to continue production,
returning director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum and others to the
location of two previous Star Wars films, the official Web site reported.
Tunisia has stood in for Tatooine in the original movie and Episode
I.
"God, I love location,
because you never know what's going to happen," McCallum told the Star
Wars Web site. Added Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks), "Last time it was hot, and
this time it is still hot."
This time, production
designer Gavin Bocquet faces the daunting challenge of recreating the
Skywalkers' Tatooine farm from the original film. "It was interesting,
reproducing the homestead that John Barry had produced so brilliantly 25 years
ago," Bocquet said. "You always fear you weren't going to get it quite right.
That's for others to decide."
Episode II Fett Spoilers Revealed?
he
StarWarsFan.org Web site reported rumored spoilers about
the appearance of Boba Fett and his father, Jango Fett, in the upcoming Star
Wars: Episode II.
Boba Fett, the bounty hunter from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,
appears in Episode II as a young boy, the site reported.
Citing an unnamed
source, StarWarsFan.org also reported, "People expecting to see lots of
the Fetts in this film will be disappointed. The picture is simply not about
them. However, they do drive an interesting subplot, and we should see more
Jango Fett in action in outcome than we did with Darth Maul in [Episode
I]. ... Boba Fett is 12 or 13 here and will come across much more
mature."
Lucasfilm Issues Web Warning
n the
wake of reports that a stolen script of Star Wars: Episode II is floating
around, Lucasfilm is warning that it will prosecute any Web operator who obtains
a script or quotes from it, USA Today reported.
"If someone gives you the script, and they put it on your desk, you are in
possession of stolen material," Lucasfilm spokeswoman Jeanne Cole told the
newspaper. "You are committing a felony."
"Calling it a felony is
kind of harsh, but Lucasfilm has every right to control whatever is out there at
any point," Tim Doyle, co-founder of the Countingdown.com Web site, told
USA Today. He added, "When you try to review something that isn't
finished, you're not really doing a service to fans."
Episode II Stresses Style
oncept
designers for Star Wars: Episode II told the official Star Wars
Web site that the film's visual language emphasizes style over function.
Vehicles, for example, are designed with an eye toward intriguing shapes and not
propulsion dynamics.
But concept modeler Kim
Smith, who works for Industrial Light & Magic, said that the designs must be
plausible. "All of it is rooted on some sort of reality," Smith said.
Added concept modeler
Carol Bauman, "You have it in the back of your mind. We all know what Star
Wars looks like. We worked on the special editions [of the original Star
Wars films] and [Star Wars: Episode I:] The Phantom Menace. Somewhere
in the back of your mind you have a library of reference growing."
Bauman and Smith
construct the three-dimensional models that director George Lucas must approve
before sets, vehicles or props are built. "When we did the model of the hangar
set, the exterior looked just like one of those sugar Easter eggs with an
opening you can peer through into," Smith recalled. "So we temporarily installed
a little Easter scene, chicks and eggs and so forth. So when George came for the
meeting and looked into it, that's what he saw. We try to have a little bit of
fun. I had planned for the next meeting to make it a baseball stadium, but never
got around to it."
Oz Mag Reveals Episode II Details
he
Australian magazine Who Weekly picked up some snippets of information
about Star Wars: Episode II last month when the production was still in
Australia, according to TheForce.net Web site.
David Bowers said he plays the Leader of the Senate, but didn't have much to say
about the film's plot: "We were only given the pages of the script that our
[character] appears on."
Joel Edgerton, who
plays Luke Skywalker's Uncle Owen as a young man, said he prepared for his four
days on the set by listening to a recording of the voice of Phil Brown, the
actor who played Owen Lars in the first Star Wars film, the magazine
reported. Bonnie Piesse, who plays Owen's future wife, Beru, said she'll travel
with the production to Italy and Tunisia. "I'll be flying on the [Star
Wars] private jet from Naples to Africa," she said.
Anthony Phelan said he
wore a giant cardboard alien head in his scenes with Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan
Kenobi). Phelan will be digitally removed from the footage, and his body will be
replaced with that of a computer-generated creature with his voice. McGregor and
his wife, Eva Mavrakis, meanwhile, celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in
early August with a candlelit dinner onboard the cruiser
Matilda.
Star Wars Actress Fraser Dies
eteran
British actress Shelagh Fraser, best known as Aunt Beru in the original Star
Wars movie, died recently after a lengthy illness, according to the official
Star Wars Web site. She was 77.
In recent years Fraser often appeared at SF conventions with other actors from
the Star Wars movies.
Fraser acted in more
than a dozen films, including Hope and Glory, Staircase and A Touch of
Love. She also performed in several television shows during her long career,
the official Star Wars Web site reported.
X-Men Sequel Ramping Up
arvel
Comics executive Avi Arad told the Comics Continuum Web site that a
sequel to this year's hit X-Men movie is already picking up momentum.
"We're starting development, starting to pick up the story," Arad told the site.
"Hopefully within a month we'll announce a writer, and we'll go from
there."
Arad said that
X-Men director Bryan Singer has yet to sign on to the sequel. "It's all
up in the air, but there's a chance," Arad said. "It was a good experience for
him and for us, so we will see. Sequels always create negotiations."
Arad added that
Blade 2, the sequel to Wesley Snipes' 1999 hit film Blade, is
nearly ready. Writer David Goyer has completed what Arad called "the final
budget rewrite" on the sequel, which will be directed by Guillermo del Toro, the
Continuum reported. "That's ready to go," Arad said. "We'll pick up a
date probably within 10 days, a production start date. We have a terrific story;
this is something awesome. This is a great director, so we are in good
shape."
Thor, Mutant X Head For TV
arvel
Comics executive Avi Arad told the Comics Continuum Web site that
live-action television shows based on the Thor and Mutant X comic
series are in active development.
"We are interviewing showrunners, and we are working on Thor," Arad told
the site. "We are also working very hard on Mutant X."
Thor is part of
Marvel's 15-character agreement with Artisan Entertainment, announced earlier
this year. Both Tyler Mane, who played Sabretooth in the X-Men feature
film, and Dolph Lundgren (The Punisher, also based on a Marvel series)
have reportedly expressed interest in playing Thor, the Continuum said.
But, Arad said, "It's all rumors. We are not at the casting stage. I'm not being
cagey. It's just too early. All tall, good-looking actors should be interested
in this one."
Marvel is developing a
Mutant X series in conjunction with Tribune Entertainment. "It will be
syndicated with, probably, a cable run first," Arad said.
Sony Delays Spider-Man
ony's
Columbia Pictures unit will delay the production start of its upcoming
Spider-Man film to January 2001 from the original December 2000 and
postpone the film's release to May 3, 2002, from the planned November 2001,
Variety reported.
The delay "makes possible a production and post-production schedule that will
enable the film's creators to realize their ambitious vision for
Spider-Man," the studio said in a statement.
Producers denied that
the delay anticipated the potential strikes next spring by the Writers Guild of
America or the Screen Actors Guild. Both unions are eyeing possible labor
actions between May 31, 2001, and July 1, 2001. Post-production for
Spider-Man could fall within those dates, prohibiting actors from
re-shooting scenes or dubbing new dialogue, the trade paper reported.
Spider-Man, the
feature-film version of the Marvel Comics series of the same name, will be
directed by Sam Raimi and will star Tobey Maguire.
Malkovich Mulling Goblin Role
he
Hollywood Reporter confirmed rumors that John Malkovich is mulling an offer
to play the archvillain Green Goblin in Columbia Pictures' upcoming
Spider-Man movie.
The Ain't It Cool News Web site first reported rumors that Malkovich was
in talks to play the role of Norman Osborne, who becomes the Goblin.
Malkovich would star
opposite Tobey Maguire, who will play the title role of Peter Parker in the
film, which is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. Sam Raimi is
set to direct the movie, slated for a summer 2001 release.
Arad: Doc Ock Is Out
arvel
Comics film chief Avi Arad told the Comics Continuum Web site that the
villainous Doctor Octopus will not appear in Sony's feature-film version of
Marvel's Spider-Man series.
"I would have liked him, but it just became very difficult to have two major
villains in this movie," Arad said, referring to the Green Goblin
character.
Arad added, "There was
so much to tell in the origin. ... It wouldn't have done justice to him. So I
like the fact that they decided not to do a throwaway out of such an important
character as Doc Ock. But I would have loved it." Arad said it's possible Doc
Ock will appear in a sequel.
Cage Up For Ghost Rider?
icolas
Cage--who has been linked with comic-book roles from Superman to the Green
Goblin--is now rumored to be up for the lead role in the upcoming Ghost
Rider movie, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name,
Inside.com reported.
Miramax's Dimension Films is producing the film with Crystal Sky
Entertainment.
Cage would play Johnny
Blaze, a motorcycle stuntman who transforms into a bike-riding demon with
superpowers. Stephen Norrington (Blade) will direct the $75 million
feature film.
Lee Buys Conan Rights
tan Lee
Media Inc. purchased the rights to Conan the Barbarian on Sept. 11 for
$4.3 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Lee purchased Conan Properties Inc. in exchange for 409,037 common shares,
according to a federal filing reported by the newspaper.
It's not clear what
Stan Lee Media--an Internet-based, multimedia production, marketing and
licensing company--plans to do with the character created by writer Robert E.
Howard in a 1930s series of pulp stories. Conan came to the big screen in
1982 in a John Milius-directed movie that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lee is
the well-known former Marvel Comics writer who helped create such characters as
Spider-Man.
Batman Returns On SCI FI
ll 120
half-hour episodes of the original Batman television series will air on
The SCI FI Channel beginning Oct. 3 to commemorate the series' 35th anniversary.
Batman will air on SCI FI's "Bat-Tuesday" from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.,
featuring six episodes of the 1960s television show.
The Oct. 3 premiere
will feature the best six episodes from SCIFI.COM's viewers' choice
poll.
Arnold Dug Deep For 6th Day
rnold
Schwarzenegger brought a lot of creative ideas to The 6th Day, Phoenix
Pictures' upcoming SF thriller movie, Phoenix partner Arnold Messer told The
Hollywood Reporter.
"Arnold is one of the most thorough and hard-working people in life that you'll
ever meet," Messer told Reporter columnist Martin Grove. "And I think to
a large extent what this movie is reflected Arnold's influence and his creative
judgment."
Schwarzenegger also
acted as a producer for the film, which tells the story of an illegal cloning
incident in the near future. "The basic idea is a guy comes home one day--he's a
helicopter pilot who's been in the war," said Mike Medavoy, a Phoenix founding
partner and 6th Day producer. "It's his birthday, and he's bringing a
present for his daughter. He looks in the window and finds out that he's been
cloned. He's already there, and it's been a mistake."
Medavoy added, "The
movie does ask the question, 'Assuming that we were able to clone people the way
we manufacture radios, what would we do with it? And how would we use that
power, and what are the limits that should be placed on that power, and what
could people do with evil motives for that power?'"
Messer said
Schwarzenegger wanted to go deeper for this movie. "Obviously, when we decided
to make this an Arnold movie, Arnold's story ideas and his ideas about where his
character could go were a big part of this," Messer said. "Interestingly enough,
he didn't want to just do the old Arnold stuff. He wanted to make the character
different than it was in the prior movies, although still giving the audience a
lot of what they liked. But it's a much more sophisticated, textured,
interesting character, I think, than he's played before."
Ford's Not Too Old For Indy
arrison
Ford told the Popcorn U.K. Web site that he's not too old to reprise the
role of Indiana Jones in the upcoming fourth installment of the popular
adventure film series.
Ford, 58, first played the intrepid archaeologist when he was 39.
"I think it would be
interesting to follow him through a period of time," Ford told the site while
promoting his latest movie, What Lies Beneath, in Great Britain. "I think
I am as capable now of faking it as I was 20 years ago. I do hope that Sean
[Connery] can keep up." Connery played Indy's father in the third film,
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, though at 70, he's only 12 years
older than Ford.
Ford added, "I'd be
very happy to play Indiana Jones if we can get a script we can all agree on and
make a film that is at least as good as the ones we've made before. Steven
[Spielberg] is enthusiastic. I'm enthusiastic. Even [George] Lucas is
enthusiastic. And you may know that M. Night Shyamalan [The Sixth Sense]
is anxious to write the script. ... I hope the deal can be made, and I would
hope to do it in the next couple of years."
Aaliyah Says Queen Is Cool
inger
Aaliyah, who is set to play the titular vampire in the upcoming movie Queen
of the Damned, told the Popcorn U.K. Web site that the film picks up
where 1994's Interview with the Vampire left off.
Like the earlier movie, Queen is based on Anne Rice's Vampire
Chronicles novels. It combines events from the books The Vampire
Lestat and Queen of the Damned.
"It's mainly about
Lestat's life becoming a rock star, and the Queen Mother," Aaliyah said. The
movie tells "what happens when she comes back and basically wants to take over
everything. It's a really cool story."
Stuart Townsend plays
Lestat and Aaliyah plays Queen Akasha. "It's definitely creepy," she said. "It's
scary. It's sexy. ... It'll be fun." The movie co-stars Lena Olin and newcomer
Marguerite Moreau and is directed by Michael Rymer.
Jurassic 3 Mishap Photographed?
he
Hawaii Movie Tour Web site has posted what appear to be photos from
the location of Jurassic Park 3, where filmmakers accidently dumped about
$100,000 worth of lighting gear and equipment into a river.
Crewmembers had loaded the equipment onto a makeshift raft to travel to a
filming site when the gear went over the side on Sept. 13, the site
reported.
The equipment
reportedly fell into about eight feet of water near a dock, and crewmembers were
able to retrieve it. The site also posted photos of the equipment drying out
back on land. Jurassic Park 3 is the third installment in the popular
dinosaur film franchise and is currently shooting on location in
Hawaii.
Trouble in Jurassic Paradise?
s there
trouble on the Jurassic Park 3 set?
That's the rumor reported by Dan's JP3 Page, a fan Web site, about the
third installment in the popular dinosaur film franchise.
The site reported
rumors that an unnamed head writer was fired with only 40 pages of the script
finished. The site also reported rumors that stars Sam Neill and William H. Macy
are rewriting the script on set, and that the cast didn't receive scripts until
two days before shooting began.
Producers have issued
no official word on changes in the film's staff or suggested that production
will be delayed. Joe Johnston is directing the movie, which is currently
shooting in Hawaii.
Film Roman Eyes Rift Series
huck
Austen and Chris Moeller, creators of the satirical computer-animated short film
Tripping the Rift, said on their official Web site that the
animation house Film Roman has asked for scripts to turn Rift into a
possible series.
Tripping the Rift screened on The SCI FI Channel's original short-film
showcase Exposure on Aug. 23.
In the meantime, the
filmmakers are completing a second Rift short. The first Rift film
lampoons Star Trek and Star Wars in a short but salacious tale of
conflict between an alien starship captain and his clown nemesis.
Crow Test Crucial To Release
ric
Mabius, star of the upcoming The Crow: Salvation, told Eon
Magazine that an official release of the long-delayed sequel depends on
preview screenings starting Sept. 15 in Spokane, Wash.
"This test release on Friday is a big deal," Mabius told the magazine. "The
lucky people in Spokane, if they buy enough tickets ... I think there will be a
release in late fall/early winter."
In Salvation,
Mabius plays Alex Corvis, a man who returns from the dead to avenge his death.
Bharat Nalluri directs this latest installment in the popular film franchise,
which is based on James O'Barr's comic series The Crow.
Mabius had thoughts on
why Salvation has yet to find a distributor, but, he added, "I'm not
going to step on any toes. ... There's also a problem with [the] release, in
terms of the right time for it. I think [Miramax was] planning to release it,
and then there was a big backlash against violence in films. And this obviously
is a very violent film."
Frog Prince Coming To TNT
iniseries
producer Robert Halmi Sr. (NBC's The 10th Kingdom) will develop the
fantasy movie Prince Charming for the TNT cable network, according to
The Hollywood Reporter.
Allan Arkush will direct the movie, which will star Martin Short, Christina
Applegate, Bernadette Peters, Billy Connolly, Andrea Martin and Sean
Maguire.
The movie tells the
story of fairy-tale kingdom inhabitants Prince John (Maguire) and his sidekick,
Rodney (Short), who are turned into frogs until the prince can convince a maiden
to kiss him and then marry him. The frogs are accidentally transported to New
York's Central Park, where the prince falls in love with streetwise Kate
(Applegate), the trade paper reported.
Actress Offers Blair 2 Spoilers
im
Director, who appears in the highly anticipated sequel Blair Witch 2: Book of
Shadows, told the Popcorn U.K. Web site that the movie will be
edgier--and steadier--than its predecessor, The Blair Witch Project.
"This one has a little more edge to it," said Director, who plays a "goth
psychic." "It's really creepy. It's really scary. But it's also shot like such a
beautiful film. ... [There's] no jerky camera. None at all."
The sequel tells the
story of five fans of the original film who meet online and decide to go camping
in the woods where the first movie was shot. "We wake up the next morning and
realize that five hours of our lives are totally unaccounted for," Director
said. "In trying to find out what the hell happened; that's when everything
starts going wrong." Director described her character as "the freak of the
bunch," who wears black, chain-smokes and is unhappy during most of the
film.
Blair Witch 2,
directed by Joe Berlinger, opens in the United States on Halloween.
Blair Alumni Will Do Salvage
an Myrick
(co-director of The Blair Witch Project) will helm Salvage, a
post-apocalyptic movie from actor and writer J.D. Shapiro (Battlefield
Earth), Variety reported.
Myrick will co-write the film with Shapiro, who will also act in the
project.
Blair Witch
executive producer Kevin Foxe will produce the movie.
Get Lost Gets Found
evolution
Studios will develop Eric Barker and Mike Murphy's animated fantasy feature film
Get Lost, Variety reported.
Murphy worked as an animator on Stuart Little, Iron Giant and the
upcoming live-action/animated SF film Osmosis Jones.
Lost tells the
story of a misplaced set of keys that finds itself transported to the Land of
Lost Things, where it must battle an evil ruler, a single sock named Argyle.
Barker will write the script; Murphy will develop character design and artwork,
Variety reported.
Sirtis Happy To Do SF TV
tar
Trek: The Next Generation star Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) told the
SFX Web site that she's happy to be in demand on SF television shows.
Sirtis has already reprised Troi in the Star Trek: Voyager episode
"Pathfinder" and guest-starred in episodes of Earth: Final Conflict and
Stargate SG-1.
"It's funny the way
it's worked out," Sirtis told SFX. "As far as Marina the actress goes,
its wonderful to be in these highly visible shows one after the other. It kinds
of gets your face out there again, which is something I have to concentrate on
doing."
Sirtis added, "When we
finished making The Next Generation, I did want to put some distance
between myself and Star Trek. At the time, I was simply concerned about
being typecast. But when they asked me if I would do 'Pathfinder' and told me I
would be working with Dwight Schultz [Barclay], I said yes. I didn't need much
persuading at all."
DS9 Stars Back For Game
tars of
the defunct syndicated series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine will lend their
voices to Star Trek: DS9--The Fallen, a video game coming from The
Collective and Simon & Schuster Interactive, FGN reported.
The third-person action/adventure game is due for the PC and Mac platforms in
October.
Among the actors who
will voice the game are Michael Dorn (Worf), Nana Visitor (Kira), Alexander
Siddig (Bashir), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Andrew
Robinson (Garak) and Terry Farrell (Dax). DS9 went off the air in 1999
after seven seasons.
Cameron's Dark Angel Is Old Idea
ames
Cameron, the Oscar-winning director who co-created Fox's upcoming SF series
Dark Angel, told
Cinescape Online
that he had the first idea for the series years ago.
"The super-tiny germ of the idea was a story idea that I had
about 15 years ago, about a genetically engineered kid or group of kids,"
Cameron told Cinescape magazine managing editor Annabelle
Villanueva.
Cameron added, "I threw
that out to [executive producer Charles Eglee], and he said, 'What if it were a
girl? What if she was in a kind of near-future urban environment, kind of young,
hip, tough?' Somewhere in there one of us said something about her being an
experimental girl--we don't really know what her capabilities are. And he said,
'Experimental girl. I like that.' So that became the nucleus for us."
The series stars
Jessica Alba as 18-year-old Max, a genetically enhanced escapee in a
post-apocalyptic Seattle. "We always thought of her as an experimental girl
because we wrote the
character of Max to be 18, and when you're that age, life itself is an
experiment," Cameron said. "You haven't found your place yet. You're still
learning about relationships. There are so many questions. It's just a certain
period in your life, which is quite daunting and psychologically terrifying. And
we wanted to explore that."
Cameron Eyes Solaris Remake
teven
Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich) is in talks with James Cameron to adapt and
possibly direct an English-language remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 Russian SF
classic movie Solaris, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Solaris, based on Stanislaw Lem's novel of the same name, is the story of
an astronaut who travels to a space station orbiting a planet named Solaris, who
discovers that the commander of a previous expedition died under mysterious
circumstances.
Cameron would produce
Solaris under his Lightstorm Entertainment banner for 20th Century Fox,
the trade paper reported. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls
Tarkovsky's Solaris a "long, ambitious rendering of Lem's metaphysical
novel ... regarded by some as one of the finest SF films ever made."
Costner Eyes Dragonfly
evin
Costner may play the lead in Dragonfly, a proposed fantasy feature film
from director Tom Shadyac (The Nutty Professor), Variety columnist
Michael Fleming reported.
Costner would play a grieving doctor who feels he's being contacted by the
spirit of his dead wife through the near-death experiences of his patients,
Fleming reported.
Brand Camp and Mike
Thompson wrote the screenplay, which is being rewritten by David Seltzer.
Universal Studios is seeking a partner to co-produce the film. MGM was on board,
but may back out.
Blade 2 Nearing Start
avid
Goyer, writer of Blade 2, told the Comics Continuum Web site that
the sequel to 1999's Blade should start pre-production next month.
"Barring unforeseen circumstances, the film will be green-lit and begin
pre-production on Oct. 2 and start shooting in February," Goyer said.
Goyer added, "We will
begin crewing up then. We've been talking to Tim Bradstreet, Richard Corben and
Mike Mignola about doing design work for the film." Guillermo del Toro will
direct the sequel, in which Wesley Snipes will reprise his role as the
half-human, half-vampire.
In addition, Goyer said
he will re-team with Blade director Stephen Norrington on the feature
film version of Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider series. "Ghost Rider is
still in the planning stages," Goyer said. "Norrington and myself are working
out a treatment for the film. Not sure when it will shoot because of the
impending [actors'] strike, but it will be the next film for both of
us."
Columbia Options Powers Comic
olumbia
Pictures has optioned the feature-film rights to Image Comics' popular
Powers series by writer-artist Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon
Oeming, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mace Neufeld and his Sony-based production company, Mace Neufeld Productions,
will develop the project.
Powers tells the
story of a city in which superheroes and supervillains are commonplace and
focuses on homicide detectives Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, who are
assigned to deal with cases involving individuals with special
powers.
Bendis will receive a
credit for either co-producing or associate producing the Powers project,
the trade paper reported. Bendis is also writing The Ultimate Spider-Man
and new Daredevil comics for Marvel Comics.
Mage Film Coming Together
att
Wagner, creator of the Mage comic series, told the Comics2Film Web
site that Disney is close to green-lighting the production of the feature-film
version of the series.
Spyglass Entertainment is producing.
Screenwriter Jon Rogers
(Jesse James) tweaked the screenplay last month, which the studio
approved. The film is budgeted at $70 million, which Disney also approved,
Wagner said. "Nobody has yet used the word green light, but they keep approving
everything that comes through!" he added.
Wagner added, "Spyglass
claims they're going to hire a director within the next week to 10 days. They
have a list of who's available." Producers are hot to go into production
quickly, to avoid the threatened actors' strike next year. "They're hoping to
start filming in January in order to avoid that," Wagner said.
Censors Focused On Potter In '99
arents
and others seeking to ban books in 1999 most often challenged J.K. Rowling's
best-selling Harry Potter series of children's novels, the American
Library Association announced.
The Harry Potter books were also among the 100 most-challenged titles of
the decade, the ALA said.
The association
reported a list of the top 100 most-challenged titles as part of its "Banned
Books Week," Sept. 23-30, which is designed to encourage the freedom to read.
The top 100 list was compiled from 5,718 challenges to library materials
reported to or recorded by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom from
1990-'99. A "challenge" was defined as a formal, written complaint filed with a
library or school about a book's content or appropriateness.
Alvin Shwartz' Scary
Stories series topped the list, accused of "being too scary" and "unsuited
to age group." The Harry Potter series ranked No. 48 among the
most-challenged books of the decade.
Vinge Wins Prometheus Award
ernor
Vinge won this year's Prometheus Award, sponsored by the Libertarian
Futurist Society to provide encouragement to SF writers whose books examine
the meaning of freedom, for his novel A Deepness in the Sky.
The Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, honoring classic libertarian fiction, was
given to "The
Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Andersen.
This year's awards were
presented at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago, where A
Deepness in the Sky was also honored with a Hugo Award. Vinge previously
earned a Prometheus in 1987 for his novel Marooned in
Realtime.
The Prometheus Awards
include a gold coin and a plaque for the winners. The Prometheus was founded in
1979 and has been given annually since 1982, while the Hall of Fame category was
added in 1983 and has been given out each year since. The Hall of Fame category
includes novels, novellas, short stories, poems and plays.
British Fantasy Awards Announced
he 2000
British Fantasy Awards were presented on Sept. 10 at Fantasycon in Birmingham,
U.K., according to Locus Online.
The awards are sponsored by the British Fantasy Society to honor and promote the
genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror in all its forms. A full list of
winners follows.
The Karl Edward Wagner Award
•Anne McCaffrey
Best Novel (August Derleth Award)
•Indigo by Graham Joyce
Best Short Fiction
•"White" by Tim Lebbon
Best Anthology
•The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 10, Stephen Jones,
ed.
Best Collection
•Lonesome Roads by Peter Crowther
Best Artist
•Les Edwards
Best Small Press
•Razorblade Press
Sidewise Awards Presented
rganizers
presented the fifth annual Sidewise Awards for Alternate History at Chicon 2000 in
Chicago on Sept. 2.
Started in 1995, the awards honor the best publications of the previous year.
The award takes its name from Murray Leinster's 1934 short story "Sidewise In
Time," in which a strange storm causes portions of Earth to swap places with
their analogs from other timelines. A full list of winners follows.
Best Long Form
•Resurrection Day by Brendan DuBois
Best Short Form
•"The Eighth Register" by Alain Bergeron
Special Achievement Award
•Randall Garrett, lifetime achievement for the Lord Darcy
series.
Golden Duck Winners Announced
rganizers
announced the winner's of this year's Golden Duck
Awards, given annually to "the best in children's science fiction" by the
sponsors of DucKon.
DucKon raises funds for Super-Con-Duck-Tivity, a non-profit organization
dedicated to broadening awareness of quality literature among teachers, parents,
librarians and students. A full list of winners follows.
Picture Book Award (Given to the illustrator)
•Hush, Little Alien by Daniel Kirk, author and
illustrator
Middle Grades Awards
•I Was a 6th Grade Alien by Bruce Corville
Hal Clement Award
•The Game of Worlds: Out of Time by Roger McBride Allen
Honorary Award
•J.K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series as a gateway to good
reading
for children and adults.
Touch Writers Benefit Charity
everal
noted genre writers have come together to create stories for The Touch, a
themed literary anthology and the first installment of the Deprivers
Project, a fund-raising effort to benefit AIDS and cancer research.
The Touch will be published Oct. 1 by ibooks, an imprint of Simon &
Schuster.
The writers based their
stories on a fictitious epidemic, created by author Steven-Elliot Altman, called
Sensory Deprivation Syndrome. Each writer received guidelines about the
epidemic, which is supposedly spread by human touch and which deprives victims
of one sense. Each story examines the consequences of the disease on society and
individuals.
Authors who contributed
to the project include award-winning science fiction and horror writers
Katherine Dunn, Janet Asimov, William F. Nolan, Sean Stewart, Tananarive Due,
Harry Turtledove, Kit Reed, Maggie Estep and the late Edward Gorey. Proceeds
will benefit HEAL (Health Education AIDS Liaison) and F.A.C.T (Foundation for
Advancement in Cancer Therapy). The authors and editors donated their
work.
SF&F Shows Shut Out Of Emmys
enre
television shows were shut out of the prime-time Emmy Awards, presented Sept. 10
by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
3rd Rock from the Sun star John Lithgow lost the best actor award to
Michael J. Fox of Spin City.
Among the other top
genre nominees, ABC's Arabian Nights lost the miniseries award to HBO's
The Corner, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon lost
the dramatic writing award to The West Wing's Aaron Sorkin and Rick
Cleveland.
Genre shows fared
better on Aug. 26, when the so-called "creative Emmys," honoring technical
winners, were presented. The winners of the technical awards included The
X-Files and Discovery's nonfiction Walking with Dinosaurs, each of
whom took home three awards.
Mercury Rises For Universal
igital
Domain and Valhalla Motion Pictures will partner to produce Mercury, an
SF thriller movie set in the world of online gaming, according to The
Hollywood Reporter.
William Brent Ball and Matthew Peterman wrote the original screenplay for the
film, which will be distributed by Universal.
Mercury tells
the story of a small-time criminal who is unwittingly drawn into a clandestine
organization's evil plan, the trade paper reported.
Halmi Preps Thief of Baghdad
iniseries
producer Robert Halmi Sr. will take on his first feature-film project, a remake
of the fantasy classic Thief of Baghdad, Variety reported.
Steve Barron (Adventures of Pinocchio) will direct the remake for
Hallmark Entertainment.
Dominic Minghella will
write the script, with shooting at an undetermined overseas location set for a
Feb. 1 start, the trade paper reported. The film will tell the story of a
wrongly ousted prince who turns to thievery and adventure. Several versions of
the story have been made for movies and television, starting with the 1924 film
that starred Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
Columbia Developing Dino Flick
olumbia
Pictures will develop a dinosaur movie based on a pitch by screenwriter John
August (Charlie's Angels), Variety reported.
The movie will tell the story of three explorers who discover the terrifying
true cause of the dinosaurs' extinction.
It's not the first
big-lizard movie for the writer; August is currently working on the script of
Universal's Jurassic Park 3, the third installment in the popular
franchise, which is now shooting in Hawaii.
Cleopatra 2525 Halts Production
tudios
USA Domestic Television has stopped production of the syndicated television
series Cleopatra 2525, Variety reported.
The studio gave no reason for the "production hiatus," saying only that it was
considering different forms the show may take in the future, the trade paper
reported. Cast and crew were told that production would cease Sept.
21.
Cleopatra 2525,
half of the so-called Back2Back Action hour that also includes Jack of
All Trades, is shot in New Zealand. Enough new episodes of Cleopatra
have been produced to continue the series' run through December in the United
States, Variety reported. The new season of Back2Back is slated to
begin Oct. 2.
Cursed Creators Quit NBC
itchel
Katlin and Nat Bernstein have quit as executive producers of NBC's upcoming
supernatural comedy Cursed because of creative differences with the
network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Katlin and Bernstein created the series, which stars Steven Weber as an
advertising executive whose life alters when he agrees to a blind date with a
woman who puts a curse on him.
Cursed, from NBC
Studios and Artists Television Group, was to take the coveted
post-Friends timeslot on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. But the trade paper
quoted unnamed sources saying that Katlin and Bernstein were frustrated by what
they viewed as conflicting suggestions coming from the network on the direction
of the show, including whether to keep the central premise of a man's
misadventures after being cursed. NBC brass, on the other hand, were reportedly
unhappy with scripts for the first few episodes. It's not clear who will replace
Katlin and Bernstein.
Chase Takes Over Cursed
riends writer Adam Chase will take over the job of running
NBC's upcoming supernatural comedy Cursed, replacing the show's creators,
who quit last week, Variety reported.
Mitchel Katlin and Nat Bernstein quit as executive producers of the show, citing
creative differences with the network, the Hollywood trade papers
reported.
Chase will become
executive producer of Cursed, which stars Steven Weber as a man whose
life changes when a blind date puts a curse on him. The sitcom is slated to
premiere in the coveted post-Friends timeslot at 8:30 p.m.
Thursdays.
Production of the
series will shut down for three to four weeks as Chase takes control,
Variety reported. Cursed's Oct. 12 premiere may be pushed back as
a result.
New Buffy Composer Named
omposer
Thomas Wanker (The 13th Floor) will replace Emmy-Award-winning Christophe
Beck on The WB's hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, according to a
report on the Watcher's Web fan site.
Beck, meanwhile, announced that Sony will release a Buffy soundtrack
score CD in 2001.
In other Buffy
crew news, John Medlin replaces fired stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt, who left at
the end of last season, the site reported. Pruitt detailed his version of the
show's behind-the-scenes politics in a Web posting that drew the attention of
this month's Premiere magazine, which features a cover story on
Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Pruitt's so-called "Parable of a
Knight" has been removed from the Internet.
Fan Ad To Honor Lexx
ans of
The SCI FI Channel's original series Lexx have bought a full-page ad in
the Sept. 15 issue of Variety to thank SCI FI for ordering 24 new
episodes of the offbeat show.
The fans, organized as the Dragonfliers Campaign, raised $3,700 to purchase the ad,
which will run in the national edition of the trade magazine.
The fans mounted a
letter-writing campaign to SCI FI to persuade it to renew the SF series, which
stars Brian Downey, Michael McManus and Xenia Seeberg. The campaign received
coverage in the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily
News.
New Worms Turn In Dune
ohn
Harrison, writer and director of The SCI FI Channel's upcoming miniseries
Frank Herbert's Dune, said to expect a new look for the sandworms in his
television adaptation of Herbert's famous novel.
"The look of the sandworms in this version will be different than any I've seen
so far ... on film or in books," Harrison said in response to a question on the
official Dune Web
site.
Harrison added, "I
worked very hard on this with my production designer, Kreka, and my special
effects wizard, Ernest Farino. Together with the magicians over at Area 51 [the
visual effects company doing the worm sequences], I think we've come up with a
completely unique, frightening and definitive version of the worm."
In response to another
question, Harrison said he avoided using voice-over narration in the miniseries,
though Herbert's novel contains long passages of internal dialogue. "This was
one of the most difficult parts of adapting Herbert's book," Harrison said. "But
a novel is a novel. A film is a film. And right from the start I chose not to
use voice-over narration. I think I was successful in translating those interior
thoughts into dialogue and action. Yes, there are some adaptations from existing
scenes in the book. The narrative is more straight-line in some ways than
Herbert's. He brilliantly used all the novelist's tools to bridge time and
location at will. I, however, had to find ways to keep the story accessible with
cinematic vocabulary."
The six-hour miniseries
Dune premieres on SCI FI in December.
Aykroyd: No Ghostbusters 3?
an
Aykroyd told a press conference at the Toronto Film Festival that
Ghostbusters 3, the rumored third installment to the popular 1980s film
franchise, won't happen, according to a report on the Ain't It Cool News
Web site.
"It's dead," Aykroyd reportedly said.
Aykroyd, who co-starred
with Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson in the original
Ghostbusters, added that the sequel's demise resulted from "a combination
of not getting the right story, and the business side of things." He also said
that Murray didn't want to be involved, and that they all pretty much agreed
there wouldn't be much point in doing it without him, AICN
reported.
Did Myers Steal Dr. Evil?
ctor Dana
Carvey told Vanity Fair magazine that he, and not Mike Myers, came up
with the character of Dr. Evil, which appeared in Myers' two Austin
Powers films, according to the Popcorn U.K. Web site.
Carvey worked with his Saturday Night Live colleague Myers on the two
Wayne's World movies.
Carvey said he based
Dr. Evil on Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. Myers denied the
allegation to the magazine.
Is EverQuest Like "EverCrack"?
verQuest, the hot-selling online role-playing computer game,
is so addictive that users have nicknamed it "EverCrack," according to a report
by the Associated Press.
Since the game's March 1999 debut, EverQuest, developed by Verant
Interactive, has sold 352,000 copies at about $40 each, making it one of the
hottest games in online entertainment, the AP reported.
About 259,000 gamers
also pay $9.95 monthly subscriptions that allow them to play online. Users
assume a role (human, elf, gnome) and an occupation (wizard, warrior, bard).
They then enter the vast lands of Norrath, where they encounter monsters, guards
and other players, the AP reported.
EverQuest's
continuing success is highly unusual, even unprecedented, Ben Rinaldi, senior
editor of the trade publication Gameweek, told the AP. "Most games last
two or three weeks, tops, before players move on, and they want the next big
game," Rinaldi said.
Futurama Games Coming
nique
Development Studios has bought the rights to produce a game based on the Fox
animated SF series Futurama, FGN reported.
Futurama was created by Matt Groening, who also created The
Simpsons.
Scandinavian-based
Unique signed a deal with Fox to co-publish Futurama games for the PC,
console and handheld platforms, FGN reported. Work has already begun on
the projects.
Gundam Tops Anime Poll
n one of
the largest Japanese anime polls ever, fans rated Gundam as the top anime
series and Doraemon, the blue robotic cat, as their favorite character.
The subscription TV channel Animax conducted the Anime Best 100 Poll in
conjunction with Brutus, a men's lifestyle magazine, and Tsutaya, Japan's
largest video rental chain.
The poll--part of Animax's two-year anniversary event--surveyed nearly 200,000
fans. A summary of results follows.
Best All-Time Anime
1. Gundam
2. Lupin III
3. Doraemon
4. Dragon Ball
5. Galaxy Express 999
6. Heidi, Girl of the Alps
7. Neon Genesis Evangelion
8. Kyojin No Hoshi
9. Ashita No Joe
10. Detective Conan
Most Popular Character
1. Doraemon
2. Lupin III
3. Songokuu (Dragon Ball)
4. Char (Gundam)
5. Amuro Rei (Gundam)
6. Yabuki Joe (Ashita No Joe)
7. Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
8. Pikachu (Pokemon)
9. Edogawa Conan (Detective Conan)
10. Atom (Astro Boy)
11. Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind)
12. Lum (Urusei Yatsura)
Spiral Anime Coming To Web
oshihiro
Kawamoto (animation director on Cowboy Bebop) and Cindy Yamauchi (key
animator on Akira) will produce Spiral, a Web-based anime, for Mondo Media, the company
announced.
Kawamoto will design the characters for Spiral, an SF action-adventure
that will be available on Mondo's site later this year.
Kawamoto is one of the
best-known character designers in Japan, as well as an accomplished animator and
animation director. His credits include several Gundam installments,
Golden Boy and the cinematics for The Ghost in the Shell video
game.
Highlander Fades Fast In Theaters
ighlander: Endgame slipped to No. 10 in the box-office
rankings for the weekend of Sept. 8, earning just $1.8 million in only its
second week of release, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
The fourth installment in the Highlander film franchise has taken in only
$8.9 million so far.
The Cell ranked
No. 4, with $3.5 million for the weekend and a total take of $51.2 million after
three weeks of release. What Lies Beneath ranked No. 6 in its eighth week
of release, with $2.9 million for the weekend and a total of $142 million.
Space Cowboys ranked No. 5 after five weeks of release, with $3.3 million
for the weekend and total earnings of $78.8 million.
Wolf Man Creator Siodmak Dies
urt
Siodmak, the SF author who created The Wolf Man movie in 1941 for
Universal Pictures, died Sept. 2 at his home in Three Rivers, Calif., after a
heart attack, according to the Washington Post.
He was 98.
Siodmak's popular 1943
novel, Donovan's Brain, has never been out of print, the Post
reported. The book was subsequently parodied by Steve Martin and Carl Reiner in
1983's The Man with Two Brains. Siodmak also wrote or co-wrote more than
70 screenplays between 1928 and 1979, including The Invisible Man Returns
with Vincent Price in 1940.
Siodmak's credits also
included Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Son of Dracula, I
Walked with a Zombie and The Beast with Five Fingers, the Post
reported.
Briefly Noted
- Foolscap, the Seattle Area Speculative Fiction Conference, has changed its dates to Sept. 28-30, 2001, from the original June 2001. Organizers made the change to avoid conflicts with other conventions scheduled for the summer.
-
William Fichtner will join Christian Bale, Emily Watson and Taye Diggs in Miramax/Dimension's SF thriller movie Librium, Variety reported.
-
Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation) will play a computer hacker in an upcoming episode of The SCI FI Channel original series The Invisible Man. In the episode "Perchance To Dream," airing in early 2001, Wheaton will play a hacker who sets up a system that brainwashes patients in sleep clinics to murder random people and commit suicide after their hits.
-
DreamWorks plans to release its hit animated film Chicken Run on DVD and home video on Nov. 21, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
-
Brendan Gleeson (Mission: Impossible 2) joined the cast of Steven Spielberg's SF epic A.I., Variety reported.
-
Fashion Wire Daily got its Buffys mixed up: The news service erroneously reported that Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of The WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was arrested for drunk driving. Not so: It was really Kristy Swanson, star of the 1992 movie version of Buffy, the New York Post reported.
-
The official Star Trek Web site has posted new images from the upcoming seventh and last season of Star Trek: Voyager.
-
Tommy Lee Jones told Variety that the proposed Men in Black 2 movie is ready to go. "The business aspects are all in place. The team will be exactly the same as in [Men in Black]. Now we're just trying to find a time when Barry [Sonnenfeld], Will [Smith] and myself are all free."
-
Winona Ryder will appear in an unbilled cameo in New Line Cinema's upcoming movie Simone, directed by Andrew Niccol, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film tells the story of a movie producer (Al Pacino) who replaces an actress with a computer-generated star, creating a sensation.
-
The Mr. Showbiz Web site reported that Sony has tentatively set a Nov. 2, 2001, release date for its upcoming Spider-Man movie, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. Director Sam Raimi hopes to begin production of the film by the end of this year.
-
NBC will pay Survivor creator Mark Burnett $40 million for the rights to Destination Mir, a reality series in which a group of would-be cosmonauts train and compete for the right to be shot into space to rendezvous with the Russian space station, Variety reported.
-
Brad Pitt's agent denied rumors that the actor will star in the next Batman movie. In a statement to Access Hollywood, Pitt's agent said, "The role of Batman is nowhere on his radar."
-
Buffy the Vampire Slayer hunk Marc Blucas denied to Eon magazine widespread rumors that his character, Riley Finn, would leave the show in the middle of next season. "I'm still around, unless they decide to kill me off. With this show you never know."
-
SFX reported that David Bowie has turned down a role in the upcoming pilot for a new Doctor Who BBC Radio series. Bowie's spokesman told SFX that the musician and actor had been in talks with producers, but that nothing had been agreed.
-
China's state-owned People's Literature Publishing House will release Chinese translations of J.K. Rowling's first three Harry Potter novels there in October, the Associated Press reported. The publisher will release Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban simultaneously.
-
Ian McKellen's official Web site has posted photographs from the current edition of Vanity Fair showing him in complete costume as Gandalf in Peter Jackson's upcoming film trilogy The Lord of the Rings.
-
The Harry Potter's Realm of Wizardry fan Web site reported a rumor that Warwick Davis (Willow) will play Professor Flitwick and the goblin banker at Gringotts in the upcoming feature film versin of J.K. Rowling's best-seller Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
-
James Cameron told Cinescape Online that his proposed adaptation of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series of novels is still alive. "I've been working on this Mars project, which has turned into quite a big thing, because it's now become simultaneously a six-hour miniseries [for Fox], an IMAX 3-D
short feature and a novel," Cameron said.
-
TNT and TBS have bought the cable television rights and NBC has acquired the broadcast rights to Space Cowboys.
-
Producers of the upcoming syndicated television series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda have posted details about the sentient ship Andromeda Ascendant at the show's official Web site. Visitors can view schematics and read accounts of the ship's past missions.
