Episode II Still Shooting
espite
rumors that principal photography had wrapped, Star Wars: Episode II
continues to shoot, spokeswoman Jeanne Cole told SCI FI Wire.
"It's just a rumor," she said. "We haven't wrapped."
Production of the
sequel has moved to Elstree Studios near London, Cole said. The production has
finished location shooting in Italy, Spain and Tunisia. Episode II has
been shooting since late June.
The SFX Web site
and other sites had erroneously reported that the next installment in the
Star Wars saga had finished principal photography only a few weeks after
the production moved from Australia.
Edelman Will Head SFWeekly
cott
Edelman, an award-winning writer and former editor of SCI FI Magazine,
will take over as editor in chief of Science Fiction Weekly, SCIFI.COM's top-rated SF
e-zine, effective Oct. 9.
Edelman will lead SFW's overall editorial development and readership
growth efforts. Science Fiction Weekly has more than 172,000 registered
readers.
In addition to eight
years as editor of SCI FI Magazine, the official print magazine of The
SCI FI Channel, Edelman is a four-time Hugo Award finalist for best editor.
Edelman also worked as the editor of both Sci-Fi Flix and Sci-Fi
Universe, as editor-in-residence at the Clarion Science Fiction Workshop, as
guest editor at the Odyssey Writers Workshop and as Toastmaster for the 2000
Nebula Award ceremony.
Edelman's stories have
appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Amazing Stories and The
Twilight Zone, among others. His story "A Plague on Both Your Houses" was a
Bram Stoker Award finalist in the short story category. Edelman's anthology
credits include Treachery and Treason, Moon Shots and
MetaHorror.
DragonCon Founder Faces Charges
dward
Eliot Kramer, a genre writer and founder of DragonCon in Atlanta, was arrested
on charges of molesting a 13-year-old boy, the Gwinnett (Ga.) Daily Post
newspaper reported.
Kramer, 39, has been in the Gwinnett County Detention Center since Aug. 25 on a
charge of aggravated child molestation, accused of sodomizing the boy in
July.
Kramer owns Titan Games
and Comics stores in the region and is known nationwide as a writer and editor
of science fiction and as founder of DragonCon, one of the largest SF
conventions in North America, the newspaper reported.
Exorcist Turns Heads Again
ith the re-release of an enhanced and expanded version of The Exorcist
on Sept. 22, moviegoers will have a chance to see scenes cut out of the 1973
film's original release.
Warner Brothers and director William Friedkin have added back more than 11
minutes of footage and digitally remastered the soundtrack, according to E!
Online.
That includes several
scenes Friedkin originally deleted over the objections of writer William Peter
Blatty, who authored the best-selling book of the same name on which the film
was based. "I told Billy, yes, it's a classic, but the first version was a
masterpiece," Blatty told E!. Without the missing scenes, the movie "had
no moral center whatsoever" and meandered "from shock to shock to
shock."
Friedkin told E!
that he cut the scenes to shorten the film's overall length. "But it was
completely arbitrary why I cut them out," he said. "It was not cut for
censorship, but for pace and length." After nearly 30 years, the writer finally
persuaded the director to restore The Exorcist. One new segment is the
infamous "spider walk" scene, which appears in both Blatty's novel and
screenplay and shows the possessed Regan (played by Linda Blair) flipping
herself over, contorting her body and crawling down the stairs like a
spider.
Voyager Crew Hails Season 7
tar
Trek: Voyager stars turned out Sept. 14 for a Hollywood party to inaugurate
the show's upcoming seventh and last season on UPN, the official Star
Trek Web site reported.
In attendance were Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven
of Nine) and executive producer Brannon Braga.
Braga spoke about the
next Trek series. "We're working on the new series now. [Voyager
executive producer] Rick Berman and I are busily writing the pilot, and we don't
know when we'll be able to announce anything officially," he said. "I would
imagine in the next six months."
Braga added, "Because
we're immersed in it, in the writing of it, we're just not prepared to say
anything yet until we have everything nailed down, when we know where it's going
and when it's going to air, all that kind of thing."
The SFX Web
site, meanwhile, reported a rumor that the Hirogen and the Romulans would appear
in Voyager's final season. Filming of the Romulan episode has already
taken place, SFX reported. Voyager returns with new episodes on
Oct. 4.
Voyager To Focus On Janeway
ate
Mulgrew, who plays Capt. Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, told the official
Trek Web site that she'll miss the captain's chair when the series ends
its seven-year run this season.
"For all my talk of getting on, it will be hard not to crack at the end and say
goodbye," Mulgrew said.
Much of the final
season's story arc belongs to Captain Janeway, the site reported. Early in the
season, staff writers plan to force Janeway to examine the consequences of her
original decision to strand the crew in the Delta Quadrant. "Janeway's is a
maverick courage," Mulgrew said. "She's brave to the final moment. Without
hesitation, she would sacrifice herself, go down with the ship. Against her
better judgment, she has fallen in love with all eight people dear to
her."
Several episodes will
also deal specifically with the ramifications of choices Janeway has made along
the way, including "Shattered," a time-travel episode in which Chakotay will
lead a pre-stranded Janeway around her ship, experiencing different slices of
the crew's story, the site reported. "She'll face key moments in her past and a
few points in the future that will take place if they can't escape the anomaly
that time-shatters the ship," executive producer Ken Biller told the
site.
Biller added, "She'll
become very single-minded about getting home [in the second half of the season].
She'll be forced to ask herself exactly how far she's willing to go to get home.
She must face the possibility the crew really may never get home, because in the
second half of the season, Voyager gets in worse and worse shape. It may
not be capable of getting them home."
Networks In Race To Space?
he New
York Times reported that CBS, ABC and Fox will meet with Dreamtime Holdings,
which is pitching a reality show in which contestants compete for a chance to
ride the space shuttle to the new international space station, according to
E! Online.
But NASA, the agency that runs the shuttle program, isn't aware of the
show.
"NASA has not seen a
proposal for such a show," spokesman Robert Jacobs told the Times. "The
agency has to see a proposal before it makes any commitment." Such a show would
also require the approval of Congress.
NBC is already prepping
a show in which contestants compete for the chance to travel to the Russian
space station Mir. Destination Mir is slated to launch in late
2001.
SCI FI Revives The Outer Limits
he SCI FI
Channel has struck a deal with MGM Television Entertainment to continue original
production of The Outer Limits television series for a seventh season.
The award-winning anthology series had been canceled by Showtime at the end of
last season.
SCI FI has ordered 22
new episodes. Production will resume soon, and the series will begin airing new
episodes on SCI FI in early 2001. After new episodes premiere on SCI FI, the
series will be syndicated beginning in September 2001. As part of the deal, SCI
FI has also acquired the 49 original Outer Limits episodes.
SCI FI will also create
at least three self-contained episodes that act as back-door pilots for
potential SCI FI series.
The Outer Limits
has won Emmy and CableACE Awards and is produced by Alliance Atlantis and
Trilogy Entertainment Group and executive produced by Mark Stern, Richard B.
Lewis, Pen Densham and John Watson.
Potter To Start Filming
ilming begins this
week on the feature film version of J.K. Rowling's best-selling children's novel
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the Empire Online Web site
reported.
The site said the first shots will take place in London's famed Underground
subway.
Richard Harris,
meanwhile, has not yet decided whether to turn down the role of Professor
Dumbledore, despite earlier reports that he had dropped out of the movie in a
dispute over compensation, Empire reported. Alan Rickman, similarly,
hasn't made up his mind about the role of Professor Snape, the site
added.
The Underground may
stand in for King's Cross Platform 9 3/4, which readers of the books will
recognize as the embarkation point for Hogwarts school of wizardry.
Payments Down For King E-Book
ewer
people paid for the second part of Stephen King's e-novel The Plant,
casting into doubt whether the horrormeister will continue self-publishing the
book online, King said on his official Web site.
King said he will publish part three of The Plant in September and will
continue only if 75 percent or more of the people who download the segment pay
for it.
"Based on the ground
rules I set down at the outset, my job is to continue even if only 800 people
download every episode--as long, that is, as 75 percent of those 800 people pay
for what they are getting," King wrote. "The real problem is that we at Philtrum
are beginning to see a widening disparity between downloads and payments. There
is undoubtedly some thievery and bootlegging going on, but ... it appears to us
that some people are downloading two and even three times to different formats
[without paying]. ... As simply as I can put it, you must pay for what you take
every time you take it, or this won't work."
King said he has
written another 50,000 words of the novel and is ready to publish episodes in
September, October and November. The new installments will be $2each.
McCaffrey Finishes New Pern Book
nne
McCaffrey has completed The Skies of Pern, the 16th installment in her
best-selling Dragonriders of Pern novel series, according to publisher Del
Rey Books.
Del Rey editorial director Shelly Shapiro told SCI FI Wire that the book will be
available in stores on April 3, 2001.
"The Skies of
Pern follows on All The Weyrs of Pern and The Dolphins of
Pern, continuing the saga of the dragonriders after they've moved the Red
Star," Shapiro said. "Thread is still falling--though we won't see much of it in
this book--but after the end of this Pass, it will never fall on Pern
again."
But something does fall
on Pern, Shapiro said, "leading F'lessan, rider of bronze Golanth and son of
F'lar and Lessa, along with green rider Tai (F'lessan's love interest), to
realize a possible future role for dragonriders on a Threadless Pern--especially
once they discover a newdraconic talent."
Shapiro said that
McCaffrey has plans for more novels that will continue the Pern story
into a time when the Thread has ceased falling for good. McCaffrey's son Todd is
also working on a dragonriders book that takes place in a past era of
Pern.
Mourning Inspired Shatner Novel
tar
Trek star William Shatner told TV Guide that grief over the death of
his third wife inspired him to write Star Trek Preserver, the
best-selling Trek fiction novel released in July.
In the book, Shatner's Trek persona, Capt. James T. Kirk, struggles to
save his dying wife.
"When someone dies, for
a while you want to make some meaning out of a life," Shatner told the
magazine. "You go on a spiritual journey. And hopefully, you don't
stop."
Shatner's wife, Nerine,
drowned in the family's swimming pool in August 1999. The coroner ruled that
alcohol and the sedative Valium contributed to the accidental drowning, the
Associated Press reported.
Proyas To Sail Up Riverworld
lex
Proyas, director of the films The Crow and Dark City, will
executive produce an upcoming television series based on Philip Jose Farmer's
Riverworld series of SF novels, according to The Hollywood
Reporter.
Proyas will also direct some of the episodes of the one-hour series, including
the pilot.
Alliance Atlantis
Entertainment will develop the series in a deal with Farmer, the trade paper
reported. The series will be filmed in Proyas' native Australia.
The Hugo Award-winning
Riverworld series is set on a planet where a godlike race has resurrected
the whole of humanity along the banks of a multi-million-mile river, according
to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. The novels have been translated
into 21 languages in more than 40 countries.
Proyas told The
Hollywood Reporter that the project was presented to him as a feature film.
"But I really thought that the episodic nature of the books was more suited to
television, and television is a medium I have long wanted to explore," he said.
He said that elements of all the books in the series will be blended into the
television episodes. The central element of the series will be the adventures
that the team encounters while on "an epic voyage up the river," Proyas said.
"This will be the core of our series."
More Blair 2 Spoilers Leaked
ore
details have leaked about Artisan Entertainment's upcoming Book of Shadows:
Blair Witch 2, according to Variety.
Shadows is the highly anticipated sequel to 1999's surprise hit The
Blair Witch Project. The sequel opens Oct. 27.
Blair Witch 2
revisits the Black Hills around Burkittsville, Md., but this time the antagonist
is described by an insider as a "young Hannibal Lecter" who leads a tour group
through different locales and legends featured in the first film, according to
the trade paper.
To market the movie,
Artisan has updated the Blair Witch Web site. "The site provides this complex time line dating
all the way back to the early 17th century to present day, and it encompasses
all the characters from the movies," Amorette Jones, Artisan's executive vice
president of worldwide marketing, told Variety. "It's a virtual Blair
Witch museum, an organic function where all of these characters are
introduced in relation to one another."
Jurassic 3 Spoilers Revealed?
he Dark
Horizons Web site reported rumored spoilers about the upcoming
Jurassic Park 3.
The spoilers concern plot details of the closely guarded third installment in
the popular dinosaur film franchise.
The site reported that
the sequel includes a paragliding sequence in which star Sam Neill rescues his
estranged wife and son, who are stranded on a dinosaur-infested island. The
sequel also opens with a nightmare scene in which Neill's character, Dr. Alan
Grant, revisits his previous bad experiences from the original Jurassic
Park movie, Dark Horizons reported.
Jurassic III Game Evolving
niversal
Interactive Studios and Konami Corp. will develop a video game based on the
upcoming Jurassic Park III movie, the companies announced.
Universal will create the game and Konami will publish it for console, PC and
handheld platforms to coincide with the summer 2001 premiere of the
film.
Jurassic Park
III, the latest installment in the popular dinosaur film franchise, is now
shooting for a July 18, 2001, release. Joe Johnston (Jumanji) is
directing.
Starship Game Landing Soon
asbro
will ship its Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy strategy game for the
PC next month, FGN reported.
Blue Tongue developed the game, which is based on the 1997 film
Starship Troopers, which in turn was based on Robert A. Heinlein's SF
novel of the same name.
The game's senior
producer, Tom Zahorik, told FGN that additional Trooper games
would be forthcoming, depending on the success of Ascendancy. "Our
license is for more than one product, but I'll leave that question up to the
fans, Blue Tongue and our marketing staff."
Baldur II To Use New D&D Rules
he
Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms game Baldur's Gate II: Shadows Of
Amn has gone gold internationally and will ship to U.S. retail outlets on
Sept. 26, the game's publisher announced.
The PC title--developed by BioWare and published by Black Isle Studios--is the
first PC title to incorporate the new third-edition D&D rules.
The role-playing game
is set along the southern portion of the Sword coast in the merchant kingdom of
Amn. Gameplay is enhanced with 3-D support, new spell effects, improved
multiplayer capabilities, subquests based on class, new classes and a new
character race.
Spidey Game Coming For PS2
ctivision
announced that it will publish a sequel to its hit PlayStation Spider-Man
game for PlayStation 2.
The new game will be one of 14 titles that Activision is currently developing
for the new console platform, the company announced.
The current
Spider-Man game, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name,
ranks as the No. 2 best-selling PlayStation title by revenue for the week of
Sept. 3-9, Activision said. The game was released earlier this month.
NBC's Cursed Gets New Boss
ra
Ungerleider has joined fellow Friends alumnus Adam Chase to run NBC's
upcoming fantasy sitcom Cursed, Variety reported.
Ungerleider will serve as executive producer along with Chase, who assumed
control of the comedy last week after creators Mitchel Katlin and Nat Bernstein
quit, citing creative differences with the network.
Cursed shut down
production while the show is adjusted, and the show's pilot is being reshot
under director Jim Burrows to reflect a significant change in tone,
Variety reported. The show centers on a man who is cursed by a blind
date.
Shue Mulling Amy
lisabeth
Shue (Hollow Man) is in final talks to star in the ABC SF television
movie Amy and Isabelle, the fifth Oprah Winfrey Presents film for
the network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Lloyd Kramer (Oprah Winfrey Presents: Before Women Had Wings) will direct
from his own script.
Amy tells the
story of a mother (Shue) and her 16-year-old daughter, who engages in a sexual
relationship with her math teacher before she is presumed abducted by a UFO. The
movie is based on Elizabeth Strout's best-selling book of the same name. The
film is slated to air next year.
Gere Drawn To Mothman
ichard
Gere will star in Mothman Prophecies, an SF movie to be directed by Mark
Pellington (Arlington Road), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Lakeshore Entertainment project is slated to begin production in
January.
Mothman tells
the story of a newspaper reporter (Gere) who leaves his job after his wife dies
to find out about a series of strange events in a small town. He discovers that
the events might point to an alien visitation, the trade paper
reported.
The movie is based on
John Keel's account of his investigation of UFO reports around Point Pleasant,
W.Va., during the late 1960s, the trade paper reported. Richard Hatem wrote the
original screenplay; Becky Johnston wrote the most current draft.
Evolution Cast Evolving
eann
William Scott (Road Trip) will star in Evolution, director Ivan
Reitman's upcoming SF comedy movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Julianne Moore, Orlando Jones and David Duchovny are in talks to appear in the
DreamWorks production.
Described as
Ghostbusters for the new millennium, Evolution tells the story
about an alien meteor that crashes into New Mexico carrying organisms that
evolve at an accelerated rate and threaten to take over the world. Duchovny
would play a college science professor, and Moore would play a government
scientist.
Don Jakoby, David
Diamond and David Weissman wrote the script. The film is slated to begin
production by the end of the year.
USA Orders Thought Crimes
SA
Network bought Thought Crimes, a two-hour SF pilot about a telepathic
woman, from Jan De Bont and Lucas Foster's Blue Tulip Productions, according to
The Hollywood Reporter.
The cable network is considering Crimes as a possible series.
Crimes tells the
story of a woman who hears the voices of others and discovers that she has
telepathic power. The pilot is based on a movie script by Thomas Dean Donnelly
and Joshua Oppenheimer, who are adapting it for television, the trade paper
reported. Breck Eisner, who directed the pilot of The Invisible Man for
USA's sister network, The SCI FI Channel, is directing the Crimes pilot.
Shooting is expected to start in February, and the pilot should premiere in May
or June.
The series would be a
first for Speed director De Bont. De Bont is currently in Berlin, where
he is shooting the SF thriller movie Librium for Dimension
Films.
USA and SCI FI are
owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
GONZO Developing Vandread
he core
members of the popular anime studio GONZO have gotten together to develop a new
science fiction anime series titled Vandread, which will premiere on
Japan's WOWOW channel Oct. 3.
GONZO is best known for producing the successful anime shows Blue Submarine
No. 6 and Gatekeepers.
Vandread will
tell the story of an intergalactic gender war between males and females, at the
center of which is a young man named Hibiki, who discovers he can merge his
robot with two robots from the female side to
create a mysterious and more powerful mecha. GONZO promises that the series will
introduce "150 beautiful female characters" by the end of its run.
Vandread marks
the first cooperative production by GONZO core members Mahiro Maeda (director of
Blue Submarine No.6), Shinji Higuchi (special effects director of
Gamera), Umanosuke Iida (director of
Devil Man), Takeshi Mori (director of Gunsmith Cats), Hiroshi
Yamaguchi (writer of Gatekeepers) and producer ShoujiHamamura.
SCIFI.COM Sponsors Fest Anime
he Japan
Society and SCIFI.COM's Anime Colony will sponsor screenings at the New York
Anime Film Festival, Oct. 6-8.
The festival features film screenings with special introductions by top figures
in anime.
The Japan Society will
present Anime Wonderland at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 6, featuring director Kunihiko
Ikuhara (Sailor Moon, Utena), who will discuss cross-cultural
differences and similarities in the reception of anime and the roles of anime
and manga in communicating popular Japanese culture abroad. The talk will be
followed by the New York premiere of Adolescence of Utena.
Anime Colony
will present three screenings of anime films and discussion by experts on Oct. 7
and Oct. 8 at the Director's Guild of America theater. Speakers include Japanese
voice actress Sakamoto; Yoshitaka Amano, creator of Vampire Hunter D and
Final Fantasy; and Ken Iyadomi, president of Bandai Entertainment and
producer of Escaflowne, Gundam and Cowboy Bebop.
Henriksen Set For New Millennium
ance
Henriksen, star of Fox's defunct Millennium TV series, told TV Guide
Online that he's willing to do a movie version of the show.
"I would love to play Frank Black again," Henriksen told the site. "[Series
creator] Chris Carter wants to do a movie. We'd be able to show and say things
that we couldn't on the series."
Henriksen also speaks
warmly of Millennium fans. "They didn't like fatuous things," he said.
"They were deeply involved with the show."
Henriksen will soon
appear in an SF movie, The Lost Voyage. The film is "kind of a sci-fi,
Devil's Triangle kind of thing," Henriksen told TV Guide. "I play a
salvage operator who finds a ship that vanished and has now reappeared. I try to
salvage it, and things go very wrong."
Pi Guy To Helm Batman: Year One
ariety confirmed earlier rumors that Darren Aronofsky (Pi) will
direct the fifth installment in the Batman movie franchise, Batman:
Year One.
Aronofsky will write and develop the screenplay with Frank Miller, author of the
graphic novel of the same name. Warner Brothers will produce the
movie.
Miller's comic series
chronicled the evolution of Bruce Wayne into Batman, paralleled by the rise of
police lieutenant James Gordon as he battles corruption in the Gotham City
force.
The studio reportedly
hopes to resurrect the moribund Batman movie series, whose last
installment, Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin, was widely panned. Warner
is also developing a live-action movie based on The WB Kids Networks' animated
series Batman Beyond with director Boaz Yakin and series creators Paul
Dini and Alan Burnett, with help from cyberpunk novelist Neal Stephenson
(Cryptonomicon), Variety reported.
Nutter To Develop TV Shows
enre
television director David Nutter (The X-Files) has signed a one-year deal
to develop TV series for Warner Brothers Television, according to The
Hollywood Reporter.
Nutter, who also directed the feature film Disturbing Behavior, will
develop, produce and direct television series under the deal.
Nutter was an executive
producer of The WB's teen alien series Roswell and directed the pilot and
several episodes of that series. He also directed the pilot of Fox's upcoming
series Dark Angel and the pilot of Fox's Millennium.
Barker Orders A Bloody Mary
live
Barker (Hellraiser) will produce Bloody Mary, a supernatural
horror film, from a script by Silvio Horta (Urban Legend), Variety
reported.
Disney will distribute the movie, which is based on "Myths Over Miami," a story
from Miami New Times staff writer Lynda Edwards.
The story, about urban
folklore among the homeless, included one myth about a bogeyman figure named
Bloody Mary, who lives in the Everglades and steals children at night. The movie
will tell the story of a young man doing community service at a homeless shelter
who encounters children with visions of demons rising out of hell,
Variety reported.
Barker, who has gained
fame for his graphically violent horror films, told Variety that he would
tone down the gore for Bloody Mary. "This is not going to be a
Hellraiser or a Candyman," he said. "As a 48-year-old man, I just
don't make those kinds of pictures anymore. That sort of in-your-face gore is a
young man's game."
Goyer Says Cage Talked Ghost
riter
David Goyer told the Comics2Film Web site that Nicolas Cage has indeed
been approached to play the lead in Ghost Rider, the movie version of the
Marvel Comics series of the same name.
Goyer, who is writing the screenplay for the movie, declined to offer details of
the talks.
"I have begun writing
the new screenplay" for Ghost Rider, Goyer said. "Johnny Blaze is the man
in question, but it isn't an origin story. He's already the Ghost Rider when the
movie begins, and we will learn very little concerning his past." Blaze is a
motorcycle-riding stuntman who transforms into a heroic flamingdemon.
Meanwhile, Goyer told
the site that he turned in the final budget draft of the screenplay for the
sequel to his 1999 hit movie Blade, which is based on the Marvel Comics
series Blade the Vampire Hunter. "I'm doing all the writing, though
working closely with [director Guillermo del Toro] and will be on the set a
great deal, as I am also executive producing the film," Goyer said.
Pre-production is set to begin shortly. Goyer estimates that shooting is
tentatively slated for Feb. 14, Comics2Film reported.
Goyer also told
Comics2Film that he's had early talks about developing a Blade
television series. "I've had some preliminary discussions with New Line
Television about a Blade TV show. This would most likely be developed
next year, and if it does see the light of day, the show would debut after the
second film is released. If an animated show is done, it will probably be
darker, in the anime style."
The WB Orders Teen Superman
he WB has
ordered 13 episodes of a new, hour-long live-action drama show based on the DC
Comics Superman series, focusing on Clark Kent at the age of 15, the
Hollywood trade papers reported.
The show is slated for the 2001-'02 TV season.
Brian Robbins
(Varsity Blues) will direct the pilot episode of the temporarily titled
Teen-Age Clark Kent Project. The show will follow the adolescent Kent as
he comes to grips with his emerging superpowers, exploring every aspect of the
Superman mythology from its roots, Variety reported.
The show, which will be
set in the present day, will also feature familiar characters such as Lex Luthor
and Lois Lane.
The series will also depict a darker vision of life in Superman's hometown of
Smallville, a cross between the way it is portrayed in the Superman
movies and Twin Peaks, according to The Hollywood
Reporter.
ABC Developing Phobia Pilot
BC
ordered a pilot for Phobia, a proposed SF series from writer Trey
Callaway and director Michael Katleman (Mercy Point), Variety
reported.
Phobia is described as an action series about a psychotherapist who leads
a team into Mission: Impossible-like scenarios.
The series is on a fast
track for production to avoid potential writers' and actors' strikes in May, and
could be ready as soon as midseason, Variety reported. Callaway and
Katleman ran the short-lived UPN SF series Mercy Point, about a hospital
ship in deep space.
Matrix Influenced Ang Lee
irector
Ang Lee told the Popcorn U.K. Web site that he credits 1999's The
Matrix with influencing his upcoming martial arts film Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon.
"The Matrix showed me it was time to have an Asian martial arts film to
come in a big way," Lee said. "I sense it's a big subculture here in the
West--people relate to this kind of film more through action, less so with
emotion. So I'm hoping my movie will bring in the connection."
Matrix fight
choreographer Woo-Ping Yuen also designed the fight sequences in Tiger.
Yuen is currently working on the two Matrix sequels.
Papa's Angels Coming To CBS
cott
Bakula (Quantum Leap), Eva Marie Saint and Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the
City) will star in Papa's Angels, a fantasy Christmas movie coming to
CBS, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The television movie is based on Collin Wilcox Paxton and Gary Carden's novel
Papa's Angels: A Christmas Story.
The movie tells the
story of a year in the life of the Jenkins family, during which the mom, Sharon
(Nixon), dies and dad (Bakula) and grandma (Saint) keep the family
going.
Anya Now A Buffy Regular
mma
Caulfield, who plays former demon Anya on The WB's hit series Buffy the
Vampire Slayer, will become a regular cast member when the show starts its
fifth season Sept. 26, TV Guide Online reported.
Caulfield has played the recurring role for the last two seasons.
"Making someone a
regular is not something that we take lightly," Buffy creator Joss Whedon
told TV Guide. "Somebody can do really well, but it's a question of 'How
do they fit into the group dynamic? What need do they fill?' It's a delicate
thing."
Whedon said that
Caulfield's character fills the void left when Charisma Carpenter's Cordelia
left Sunnydale to join the spinoff series Angel. "[Anya] speaks her mind
rather bluntly and feels a little bit on the outs with people, so it makes
perfect sense," Whedon said. "And Emma's extremely funny. You don't usually get
that much funny in a girl that pretty."
As for whether
Anya--the 1,120 year-old former patron saint of scorned women--will get her
powers back, Whedon said, "There's always a chance. This is Buffy!" But,
he added, "Her relationship with Xander is something that we really want to
explore, and we also think she has such a fascinating history."
Angel Wings It In Year Two
avid
Greenwalt, executive producer of The WB's hit series Angel, told SCI FI
Wire that fans can expect the unexpected in the upcoming second year of the
show, which premieres Sept. 26.
"We're back for year two, and we're bigger and better and, I believe, 30 percent
improved," Greenwalt said in an interview.
The sophomore year of
the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff will bring more challenges for the
titular vampire, played by David Boreanaz, Greenwalt said. "People from his past
will be springing up. He will learn more about himself and where he is to go. Of
course, he had the promise in [last year's season finale] that at some future
date, he might become human if he truly fulfills his destiny," he said. "He will
start the new year on a little bit too much of a fast track trying to get to
that destiny too quickly."
In addition, Greenwalt
said, "He will just be unreletingly tormented by babes." They include his former
vampire mentor, Darla (Julie Benz), who appeared briefly at the end of last
season; police detective Kate (Elizabeth Rohm); and two nemeses from
Buffy: Drusilla the vampire (Juliet Landau) and Faith (Eliza
Dushku).
A new character, Gunn
(J. August Richards), will join the regular cast. Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter)
gets more serious, and Wesley (Alexis Denisof) will get the chance to
impersonate Angel in one episode, Greenwalt said.
Greenwalt added that
the show's first year showed him and co-creator Joss Whedon the need to balance
the series' darker storylines with humor. "What we realized--sort of the icing
on the cake--was that David is a great comedian. David loves to make fun of
himself, and not all television actors or television stars are thus." Among
other things, expect to see Angel in a karaoke bar, Greenwalt said. "It's
important that he be multi-dimensional."
(The complete interview
with David Greenwalt will appear on SCIFI.COM's SCI FI
Stream later this month.)
Benz To Trouble Angel
ulie
Benz, who has appeared in several hit WB genre series, told the IGN
Sci-Fi Web site that Darla, the vampire she plays on Angel, isn't
evil.
"I really think she's misunderstood," Benz told the site. "You know, [Darla and
Angel's relationship] is the typical story of girl meets boy, they fall in love,
he kills her."
Benz will reprise Darla
in the upcoming season of Angel. She has also appeared as the vamp in
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as the ill-fated FBI Agent Topolsky in the
teen alien series Roswell.
Benz said Darla will
create trouble this year for Angel, played by David Boreanaz. "I think they
really like me," she said. "I think that they felt that they killed me off too
soon in the first season of Buffy, and there [are] a lot of unresolved
issues between Darla and Angel that are going to be revealed and somehow
resolved. And I have a great relationship with [Buffy creator] Joss
[Whedon] and [Angel executive producer] David Greenwalt and David
Boreanaz, so ... I was going back last year for the flashbacks, and I think they
just thought it would be fun to bring me back from the dead."
As for her character in
Roswell, who was apparently killed off last year, Benz said, "They never
found her body. I think it's up in the air. ... I have this fantasy that she's
hiding out in, like, Venice, Italy [laughs]. She's just hiding out, relaxing,
and ran away from the FBI. And she's living in some villa, having a grand old
time."
Vampires Sequel Rises
ony's
Screen Gems is developing a modest sequel to the 1998 movie John Carpenter's
Vampires, Variety reported.
Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween 3) will write and direct John Carpenter
Presents Vampires: Los Muertos, which will be produced by Carpenter and his
longtime partner, Sandy King.
"We originally wanted
to continue the original story into the next day," King said. The first film
ended when vampire hunter James Woods and his priest counterpart (Tim Guinee) go
after their former comrade (Daniel Baldwin) when he turns into a vampire,
Variety reported. But, King added, "The studio wanted to go with a
younger cast and a more modest budget." Guinee will be the only original cast
member to return for the sequel.
Meanwhile, King has
been producing Carpenter's SF epic Ghosts of Mars, which just wrapped
shooting on 55 acres outside Albuquerque, N.M. That film will now go to Los
Angeles for completion.
Fox TV To Prep Ball And Chain
wentieth
Century Fox Television will develop comic writer Scott Lobdell's Ball and
Chain series--about a married superhero couple--as a possible television
series, Variety reported.
The Homage Comics series tells the story of a couple who are near divorce, but
whose superpowers depend on their staying together.
Producers Molly Newman
(The Larry Sanders Show) and Howard Gordon (The X-Files) will
develop the series.
Lobdell, a former
X-Men comic writer, has other ideas for series. They include Tooth and
Claw, about a vampire law student and a werewolf who team up to become
bounty hunters, and None of the Above, about four kids transported back
from the future to prevent the impending apocalypse.
Spawn Documentary Premieres
he
Devil You Know: Inside the Mind of Todd McFarlane, a documentary about the
creator of the Spawn comic series, will debut at the Calgary Film
Festival on Sept. 23, according to the Comics Continuum Web site.
McFarlane will attend the premiere.
The documentary,
directed by Kenton Vaughn, chronicles the Calgary native's rise to fame and
fortune and the creation of a business empire that encompasses comic books,
movies, cartoons and toys. The documentary will also be released on home video
in November.
Xena Hones In On Season Six
inescape Online
reported that Xena: Warrior Princess star Ted Raimi will indeed appear
in the syndicated hit series' upcoming sixth season, even though his character,
Joxer, died at the end of last year.
"I'm not dead," Raimi told Cinescape. "Technically, my contract ran out,
and [executive producer] Rob Tapert had a great idea that they'd kill me off,
but I would come back as a ghost."
But, Raimi added, "I'll
be working a lot less on the show, because I wanted to do other projects. In
the meantime, I'm going to get a Sam's Club and a Costco card and buy all my
bananas in bulk."
In the meantime, Xena
(Lucy Lawless) and Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) still have Eve and Joxer's son,
Virgil, to accompany them on their adventures. A new Amazon warrior character
will also join the cast, Cinescape reported. "We're certainly committed
to sticking to the core of the series, which is Xena and Gabrielle and what they
mean to each other and their adventures," executive producer R.J. Stewart told
the site. "Ultimately, the most important theme of the series is Xena's constant
quest for redemption that she could never allow herself because of all the
terrible things she did in the past. That is still the driving theme of the
show."
Mulder Reappears In X-Files
he
current issue of Entertainment Weekly reported that The X-Files'
new star, Robert Patrick, will run into his predecessor in the Fox series' Nov.
5 season premiere, according to Cinescape Online.
"I do run into Mulder [David Duchovny], and it's a confrontation," Patrick told
EW. "I have a gun, and I basically tell him I'm going to shoot unless he
does what I say. He does--and then he does something
un-f---ing-believable."
The magazine also
reported that Duchovny will appear in the first episode of the season, the final
six and three in between. As for Patrick's debut, "I don't expect the fans will
like him right off the bat, because Scully [Gillian Anderson] certainly
doesn't," executive producer Frank Spotnitz told the magazine. "David is a
terrific actor with a huge amount of charisma, so no matter who you put in
there, some segment of the audience is going to be hostile."
Added Anderson,
"David's and my chemistry has been a topic of conversation for a long period of
time, and it's valid and tangible, and so is the chemistry between Robert and
me, thank God. I hope that people can open their minds enough to allow a natural
progression to take place."
Cancer Man Back In X-Files?
he X-Files Underground Web site reported a rumor that
William B. Davis will reprise the role of Cigarette-Smoking Man in the upcoming
eighth season of Fox's The X-Files, even though his character died at the
end of last year.
Davis reportedly said that he and David Duchovny would appear in the season's
seventh episode, and that the villainous CSM would appear "either alive or dead,
no dreams or flashbacks."
X-Files creator
Chris Carter, executive producer Frank Spotnitz, and Duchovny are supposedly
writing the episode.
Stan Lee To Launch Starship
tan Lee
Media Inc. will develop Gene Roddenberry's Starship as a multimedia
property that will appear first on the company's Web site, the
company announced.
Anime director Leiji Matsumoto (Space Battleship Yamato) will supervise
the artistic direction and create environments and spacecraft. Stan Lee and the
team of John Semper Jr. and Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry will
co-own the franchise with Stan Lee Media. Lee, Semper and Majel Roddenberry will
also develop Starship as an animated feature film.
Starship is
based on notes and drawings left behind by the late creator of Star
Trek. It tells the story of a young human scientist and an alien commander
who must work together on the Starship ECO-1 to combat intergalactic
ecological disasters. Starship was once contemplated as a possible
television series.
Writer Will Stay True To Prisoner
hristopher McQuarrie, who is writing the script for the proposed
movie based on the 1960s cult television series The Prisoner, told the
Popcorn U.K. Web site that he'll remain faithful to the show.
McQuarrie told the site the he'll do "everything I can to not contemporize
it."
The television series
starred Patrick McGoohan as Number 6, an ex-secret agent forced to live in a
mysterious village. "The characters work the way they were," McQuarrie said.
"I'm going to go straight up, old school."
Simon West (Tomb
Raider) will direct the Prisoner movie, which he'll start next
year.
Icebox Toon Lands On TV
howtime
has struck a deal with Icebox.com to license the Web site's Starship
Regulars, an animated comedy series about ordinary men and women aboard a
military spaceship, Variety reported.
Starship becomes one of the first Internet series to make the transition
to traditional television, according to Variety.
Starship will
air on the cable network and will be developed as a live-action series next
June, the trade paper reported. Icebox co-founder Rob LaZebnik
(co-executive producer of The Simpsons) created the series.
Titans To Revisit Greek Myth
ropaganda
Films and Kinowelt USA will produce Titans, an effects-heavy feature film
based on Greek mythology, Variety reported.
Titans will revisit the myth of Perseus and his quest to battle both
Medusa and the Kraken monster to save Andromeda--the same story that inspired
1981's Clash of the Titans, the trade paper reported.
Newcomers Phiroze
Vasunia and Michelle Tagihoff wrote the spec script for Titans. Kinowelt
USA is the American production arm of the German media group Kinowelt
Medien.
Buying Time In Development
opelson
Entertainment will develop the original SF feature film Buying Time based
on a spec script from Mark Allen Smith, Variety reported.
The movie is described as a sophisticated, futuristic thriller centering on time
travel.
Kopelson executive Matt
Gross brought the script into the company and will oversee its development. The
movie is slated to go into production prior to potential actors' and writers'
strikes next year.
Iron Man On Fast Track
ew Line
will develop a feature film based on the Marvel Comics series Iron Man
and has put it on a fast track, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Tim McCanlies (The Iron Giant) will write the screenplay. Another studio,
20th Century Fox, had been developing an Iron Man movie, but the rights
reverted back to Marvel, which went to New Line instead.
Iron Man,
created by Stan Lee and the late Jack Kirby, tells the story of Tony Stark, a
billionaire who suffers from a weak heart because of a war injury. He develops a
high-tech battle suit of armor that contains a super-pacemaker to keep him
alive, and he becomes a superhero.
Beneath Strong, Endgame Weak
ith no
new genre premieres on the weekend of Sept. 15, What Lies Beneath
continued to show legs at the box office, coming in No. 5 with estimated
earnings of $2.6 million, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
The film's eight-week total is $145.7 million.
Space Cowboys
similarly remained strong at No. 6, with an estimated $2.5 million in weekend
earnings and a total take of $82.2 million after six weeks. The Cell fell
three spots to No. 7 in its fifth weekend, with an estimated weekend gross of
$2.4 million and a total of $55 million. Highlander: Endgame fell out of
the top 10 completely in only its fourth weekend of release; the movie's
cumulative gross as of Sept. 11 was only $9 million.
Few Flock To Crow: Salvation
isappointed fans of The Crow movie franchise reported that
attendance was low at a preview screening of The Crow: Salvation in
Spokane, Wash., on Sept. 15.
"Attendance to the film was disappointing," CrowFans.com Web site reported, blaming a lack of
promotion and advertising.
Fans of the film set up
a booth at the Spokane theater where the preview screenings will take place all
week. On Friday, star Eric Mabius did press interviews and signed autographs at
the booth. Miramax has said that if the film does not do well in the Spokane
test screenings, it may release Salvation straight to video.
Briefly Noted
- Tim Burton's remake
of Planet of the Apes will retain the 1968 movie's title and won't be
called The Visitor as rumored, according to The Dark
Horizons Web site.
- The Dark
Horizons Web site reported that Disney is preparing Treasure
Planet, an animated SF adventure movie based on Robert Louis Stevenson's
novel Treasure Island. The space movie is due for a 2002
release.
- The French edition
of Premiere magazine posted images from the upcoming movie The Mummy
2 to its Web site.
- Huntley Ritter will
join Meatloaf, A.J. Buckley and Alexandra Holden in Richard Wenk's horror
fantasy movie Wishcraft, Variety reported.
- Directors Terry
Gilliam (Brazil) and Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) are supporting the United Kingdom's first script competition for science fiction short films, Sci Fi Shorts, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The competition is an initiative of The SCI FI Channel and the U.K.'s First FilmFoundation.
- Disney has signed a
multiyear licensing deal with Hasbro for the consumer product licensing of
Disney movies,
videos and television programs, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
Hasbro's first products will be for Monsters Inc., an animated film set
for release in fall 2001.
- George Lucas will be
among the filmmakers attending a tribute to sound designer and film editor
Walter Murch (Lucas' THX 1138) by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences on Oct. 6.
- The SCI FI Channel
original series Lexx was nominated for a Canadian Gemini Award for best
production design in a dramatic series. The Gemini Awards, honoring
English-language television production in Canada, will be broadcast on CBC TV
Oct. 30.
- A video game based
on The WB's hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer is now available for the
Game Boy Color, FGN reported. The GameBrains-developed title features
locations from the TV show. PlayStation, Dreamcast and PC versions of the
Buffy game are slated to ship next spring.
- Disney will release
Dinosaur in Japan in a digital projection theater, Variety
reported. The movie will also have a nationwide run in traditional
theaters.
- Ali Landry will play
the title role in Repli-Kate, an SF comedy movie in which a pair of
scientists accidentally clone a journalist and decide to turn her into the
perfect woman, Variety reported. Frank Longo will direct.
- The Ain't It Cool News Web site posted what it said was
the first image of Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft from the upcoming Tomb
Raider movie from the London Sunday Mirror newspaper.
- The sequel to 1999's
hit Blade will be called Blade: Bloodhunt, according to The
Hollywood Reporter. The Wesley Snipes movie is coming from New Line, based
on the Marvel Comics series Blade the Vampire Hunter, and will be
directed by Guillermo del Toro.
- Hollywood.com
has posted the new trailer for the upcoming movie Book of Shadows: Blair
Witch 2, which opens Oct. 27.
