Don't Call Dark Angel SF
ox's
upcoming series Dark Angel may be many things, but don't call it science
fiction, executive producer Charles Eglee told SCI FI Wire.
The series, co-created by Eglee and Titanic director James Cameron,
premieres on Fox with a two-hour pilot on Oct. 3.
"I don't really look at
it as science fiction," said television veteran Eglee. "When we started talking
about it initially, we fell in love with this character. ... I don't know
anything about science fiction. I never read it as a kid. I'm not a comic book
guy. I don't particularly go to see sci-fi movies. And Jim said, 'Yeah, but
don't you see? That's the beauty of this. You write characters. You write
people.' ... What science fiction really gives us here is a setting. It allows
us, first of all, to use our technological present as the narrative future. And
it allows us a prism to look at contemporary society. ... It also gives us a
venue for the storytelling."
The show stars Jessica
Alba as Max, a genetically enhanced teen warrior who has escaped her military
minders and now lives underground in a post-apocalyptic Seattle. The year is
2019, and a nuclear blast off the East Coast has generated an electromagnetic
pulse that has disabled much of the nation's electronic infrastructure and
turned the United States into a Third World economy.
"I look at science
fiction in this case as being analogous to, say, writing a Western," Eglee said.
"The thing about Max as a superhero, if she were walking around in the year 2000
trying to fix things, everybody would look at her and go, 'Who's this chick?
What's up with her?' But if you're creating a world where the social
infrastructure has fallen away, where all the social safety nets that we've
taken for granted, things like the police, government, the rule of law, social
service agencies, if all of that's gone because of economic extremis, then it
creates a context where a real hero can emerge, much like the Wild West. Wyatt
Earp's got to strap on the Peacemaker and go out and bring law to a town,
because there is no law. That's really what science fiction gives us here.
There's no robots or aliens or anything. I don't know anything about that and
wouldn't feel myself qualified to write about that. But it is writing about a
character and relationships and people and somebody trying to achieve their own
wholeness, somebody on an epic quest. Somebody trying to rise to the higher part
of their adult being and sometimes take heroic action. That's what it's
about."
Eglee added that Alba
is perfect for the role, partly because she looks good enough to be genetically
enhanced, and partly because her indeterminate ethnicity is perfect for the role
of a woman whose source code borrows from all of humanity. "I think we've got a
really cool show that's unusual," he added. "I think there's a musical
sensibility at work in the show that's going to set it apart from other shows on
TV. There's not a lot of shows that are kind of working in this kind of urban,
hip-hop environment. We're certainly getting a lot of interest from artists in
that arena, whose work we hope to incorporate in the show. Chuck D's writing our
theme right now. It's really cool to have somebody from Public Enemy,
particularly him, because he's such an icon. I think it's going to be a cool
show."
(You can read the full
interview with Eglee in this week's Interview page or view it on SCI FI
Stream.
Raimi Talks Spidey
pider-Man director Sam Raimi told SFX magazine that he
will take a real-world approach to the universe based on the Marvel Comics
series of the same name.
"Batman and Superman are great movies, but they're more
fantastic-world movies with these superheroes and outrageously funny villains in
them," Raimi told the magazine. "Spider-Man I want to make more
real-world. Peter Parker is real, and something fantastic happens to
him."
Raimi added that he
knows he must deal with fan expectations. "That's brand new for me. The audience
already has it in their minds who Peter Parker is, who Aunt May is, who Uncle
Ben is, and you can get it wrong. I not only have to meet their expectations, I
have to go beyond them. I have to choose so right that they'll think, 'He's the
soul of the character.' People will say, 'Are you crazy? That isn't Uncle Ben.'
But what I'm going to be looking for is the soul of the character, whether or
not he looks like him. ... Of course Uncle Ben's a bad example, because he's
only in it for about a page, and then I kill him!"
Cameron Wants To Transcend TV
ames
Cameron said he turned to television with his upcoming Fox series Dark
Angel to try out a different medium, Variety reported.
Speaking to an audience at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles at a
screening of the Dark Angel pilot, Cameron said he chose TV to "diversify
in a different, visual storytelling medium."
The Titanic
director added that he hoped the new show would "transcend its boundaries." "The
thing you can use to transcend your boundaries in television is the performance
of the actors as driven by the writing," Cameron added. "A good actor in a tight
close-up isn't going to be any better in a feature than he will be on our show."
Dark Angel premieres on Fox Oct. 3.
Straczynski Talks B5 Future
abylon
5 creator J. Michael Straczynski told fans that he holds out hope that the
popular television series might find new life on the airwaves.
Speaking to fans during a SCIFI.COM chat on Sept. 20, Straczynski said, "At this point, the
B5 story is concluded. Whether or not there are any future journeys into
that universe will only be determined by time, fate, chance and the occasional
Neilsen rating."
But, he added, he will
be watching how Babylon 5 reruns perform as they air in widescreen format
on The SCI FI Channel weeknights at 7 p.m. ET. "As far as I know, [SCI FI] will
be looking at the ratings of B5 to determine its next steps. If the
B5 ratings do well, then they may very well pick up the Crusade
reruns after the first of the year. After that ... if those do well, they may
commission something Crusade-ish to follow. Or they may commission a
B5 something-or-other in advance of that (i.e., maybe a TV movie or
something). But all of this is totally speculative, full of balloon juice, and
should not be trusted, especially given the source (me)."
As for a possible
Babylon 5 movie, Straczynski said, "Everything comes around in time.
Everything. If there could be a Gilligan's Island movie, then sure as
heck sooner or later there will be a B5 feature. .... There have been
some informal chats with [Warner Brothers] about this, but nothing portentious.
I do think it will happen in time, but again, and to be utterly honest ... I'm
in no rush. I told the five-year story I wanted to tell, and I'd rather it be
done right than fast. Though the idea of Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Ivanova
does seem rather appealing at times."
Doyle Works To Revive B5
erry
Doyle, who played Michael Garibaldi on Babylon 5, told fans that he's
been working hard to put the series back on the air.
In a SCIFI.COM chat, Doyle said, "I've talked with [B5 creator J.
Michael Straczynski] at length, [producers] John Copleland, Doug Netter,
[director] John Flinn, [and actors] Bruce [Boxleitner], Andreas [Katsulas],
[Richard] Biggs, Peter [Jurasik], [Patricia] Tallman, [Tracy] Scoggins at length
for many months about putting a B5 type project on the air. We all agree
it was and is a great show."
Doyle added, "I've also
been in touch with [Warner Brothers] and The SCI FI Channel and other related
parties along the same lines." SCI FI is rerunning B5 in widescreen
format.
Straczynski, however,
seem dubious about Doyle's efforts to resurrect the series. In an interview with
the Buffalo (N.Y.) News, Straczynski said, "I don't know. Jerry's a nice
guy, an honorable guy, but I think at times he hears voices telling him to go
save France. I keep telling him, 'Don't do it. I've seen that movie, you
wouldn't like the ending.' A lot of folks have tried to get Babylon 5
back one way or another--a half-dozen attempts so far--and none of them has been
more than just talk. It all, at the end of the day, ends up in the same
trajectory."
In his chat, Doyle
responded, "I don't understand Joe's quote about my hearing voices telling me to
go save France. I just don't understand his comment. There obviously seems to be
interest on all fronts to put it back on the air, and I will personally
continue to do what I can to put the show back on the air, on The SCI FI Channel
where it belongs."
Ford Says Deckard Not A Replicant
arrison
Ford told Empire Magazine that he disagreed with Blade Runner
director Ridley Scott's recent revelation that Ford's character, Deckard, was a
replicant, or android.
"My argument with Ridley was that we had agreed that he definitely was not a
replicant," Ford told the British movie magazine.
Scott made the
statement in a British documentary about the making of the 1982 SF classic. Ford
added that he wasn't a big fan of Blade Runner "because I play a
detective who does no detecting. I open four drawers and look in
them."
Ford also repeated
assertions that at 58, he's not too old to play adventurer Indiana Jones in the
long-awaited fourth installment of that popular film franchise. "There is no
barrier to Indiana Jones' growing older. There's no reason why Indiana Jones
can't be the same age as I am," Ford said. He added, "I don't do stunts. I do
running, jumping. I do falling down. I get hit by people, and I hit people. A
stunt is something that I don't do."
Yeoh Talking Indy 4?
ong Kong
action star Michelle Yeoh told Cinescape Online that she was in talks to co-star in
upcoming fourth installment in the Indiana Jones movie series.
Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) told Cinescape contributor
G. Allen Johnson that she talked with Indy 4 director Steven
Spielberg.
"We had a couple of
meetings, and we did talk about [Indy 4]," Yeoh said. "He is one guy who has a
passion for filmmaking. He's inspiring. And I love the Indiana Jones
films. Would I be interested? Of course I'm going to jump up and say, 'Yes,
please!'"
Harrison Ford has told
SCI FI Wire that he'd be interested in reprising the title role in a sequel if
he, Spielberg and producer George Lucas can agree on a script. Director M. Night
Shyamalan (Unbreakable) is reportedly writing a script for Indy
4.
Exorcist Bedevils Rivals
he
premiere of an enhanced version of 1973's The Exorcist came in second
place in the box-office rankings on the weekend of Sept. 22, earning an
estimated $8.5 million, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
The classic supernatural horror film's performance was all the more surprising
because it played in only 664 theaters nationwide.
The Exorcist
grossed more than $300 million worldwide in its initial 1973 release. Warner
Brothers re-released it last week with 11 minutes of previously unseen footage
and a digitally enhanced soundtrack.
What Lies
Beneath, meanwhile, tied Space Cowboys for eighth place over the
weekend. Each film earned an estimated $2.2 million. Beneath played in
1,819 theaters and averaged $1,209 per theater, bringing its total box office to
an estimated $148.5 million after 10 weeks of release, according to The
Hollywood Reporter. Space Cowboys averaged $1,014 per theater from
2,170 locations, advancing its total to about $85.1 million after eight
weeks.
MIB 2 Plot Closely Held
obert
Gordon, who is writing the screenplay for the upcoming Men in Black 2,
told the Steven Spielberg DreamWorks SKG Fan Site that the sequel's
storyline is a closely guarded secret.
"Whenever they send out scripts, they put a code on every page to identify who
they sent it to so they know who to kill if it shows up someplace it shouldn't,"
Gordon said. "It's all very cloak and dagger."
Gordon added, "One day
I was at the office and needed a fresh draft for a meeting. I asked for a copy,
and they said I couldn't have one until they encoded it. I said, 'But I wrote
it! I can print out a thousand copies without your secret code on my computer
any time I want.' But they just shrugged and said, 'That's the way we have to do
it.' So all I will say about the plot is that it involves aliens, but I hope
that information doesn't end up on Ain't It Cool News."
Gordon is writing the
sequel to 1997's Tommy Lee Jones/Will Smith hit Men in Black for
producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. Gordon also wrote the screenplay
for Galaxy Quest, which won this year's Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation.
Lucasfilm Takes Hard Line
n the
wake of reports that a purloined script of Star Wars: Episode II has been
circulating, Lucasfilm pressured the fan Web sites Aldera.net and NaboOnLine to
remove what appeared to be genuine storyboard images from the upcoming movie.
After receiving warnings from Lucasfilm lawyers, the two sites removed the
images and links to them.
Lucasfilm went so far
as to ask Aldera.net's Internet service provider to shut the site down,
TheForce.net reported. The ISP refused without a court order, TFN
said. NaboOnLine said it never posted the images themselves, but merely a
description and links. Even that was enough to rile Lucasfilm, though, and the
site pulled the information and posted a notice from Lucasfilm asserting its
copyright to the material.
Jonze Joins AtomFilms
eing
John Malkovich director Spike Jonze signed a two-year deal with
AtomFilms.com to produce short films and advise the site on creative
direction, according to the Zap2It.com Web site.
Jonze will sit on AtomFilms' advisory board and help recruit filmmakers
for the site.
Jonze is also planning
on creating three short films to be distributed via wireless devices,
Zap2It reported. Meanwhile, the director is collaborating again with
Malkovich writer Charlie Kaufman on the black comedy Adaptation,
for Columbia Pictures, with Jonathan Demme producing.
Burton Stainboy Coming To Web
irector
Tim Burton's animated fantasy series Stainboy will premiere on the
'Netcasters entertainment Web site Sept. 26, Variety reported.
Based on a story in Burton's book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other
Stories, the 13-episode series will feature music by longtime Burton
collaborator Danny Elfman.
Shockwave-animated
Stainboy episodes will debut every three to four weeks. Users will also
be able to play Stainboy games, collect trading cards and e-mail
postcards from the site.
Tara's Buffy Secret Outed Soon
arti
Noxon, co-executive producer of The WB's hit series Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, told TV Guide Online that viewers can expect Tara's (Amber
Benson) secret to be revealed this season.
Fans of the show know that Tara is Willow's (Alyson Hannigan) lesbian girlfriend
and fellow witch.
In a spoiler for the
upcoming fifth season, Noxon told the magazine that there's a "very strong
possibility" Tara could be a demon the likes of which Sunnydale has never seen.
"There definitely is a secret, and we're going to explore what that is in
episode six, which [Buffy creator] Joss Whedon is directing and writing
as we speak," Noxon said.
Noxon added that The WB
has given the show strong guidelines about the depiction of the Tara-Willow
storyline. "I think that basically they want to draw the line at any real
physical intimacy, so we have to be crafty in the way that we show their
relationship," Noxon said. "I think that in this situation, [Willow and Tara]
were more of an organic thing, where we realized that these two characters have
a lot in common and might actually fall in love. So I think that, in some ways,
the concerns that the network has about them being intimate doesn't really feel
like it's hindering us, because we can show romance without having to show the
bada-bing, bada-boom."
New Buffy Dawns For Actress
ichelle
Trachtenberg, who will play the role of Buffy's mysterious sister in The WB's
hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, told The WB's official Web site that
she can't say much about her character.
"I play Dawn, a typical 14-year-old girl," Trachtenberg told the site. "She and
Buffy have a sisterly relationship and she has a little crush on Xander--and
that's all I can really say."
Trachtenberg, who turns
15 in two weeks, debuts in the season five premiere of Buffy on Sept. 26.
Dawn just appears, though there has been no hint of Buffy's having a sister in
the four years the show has run. But Trachtenberg had no trouble fitting in, she
said. "It's really fun!" she said. "Whenever you walk on to a set, especially
one that's established, you have some worries. I've worked with [star] Sarah
[Michelle Gellar] before, so I knew how wonderful she is. It's a close family,
and I was welcomed with open arms. It was really comforting."
Trachtenberg, who is
best known for her role in the feature film Harriet the Spy, admitted
that she's a big Buffy fan. "I'm like Little Miss Buffy
Encyclopedia," she said. "I could probably answer just about any question about
the show. I used to try to think of scenarios where I could guest-star on the
show. Being on the show is amazing!"
Pilots Stretch Limits
he
Outer Limits' executive producer Pen Densham told the Zap2It Web site
that the series was always contemplated as a springboard for new television
shows.
The SCI FI Channel, which recently ordered 22 new episodes of the anthology
series, has said that three of the episodes will be pilots for potential series.
New episodes of Limits will air on SCI FI in early 2001.
"When we originally
created the series, one of our hopes was that, because we were making shows that
were anthologies, that within that process there would naturally turn out to be
shows that would extrapolate into potential series, but it was never addressed,"
Densham said. "Now we're formally addressing it."
Densham added, "They've
adopted that as being an official stance, which means now those shows will be
pitched specifically for that purpose. We have ideas for shows we'd love to see
explored that way. ... By doing it with three pilots, you triangulate on it.
We're going to be looking at it from several different directions. There's going
to be: Who would we like to work with? Who'd want to stay involved in a sci-fi
show for a long period of time, and could we model something for them? ... MGM
will have opinions; SCI FI Channel will have opinions. It's another creative
place to go play."
FreakyLinks Spurred Departures
avid
Simkins, executive producer of Fox's upcoming paranormal series
FreakyLinks, told Entertainment Weekly magazine that creative
differences led to upheaval behind the scenes.
Simkins replaced Tommy Thompson as the series' show runner after the pilot was
shot, and the show's creators have downgraded their participation in the
series.
"The network and the
studio wanted to make sure that the tone of the series did not reflect, on a
weekly basis, the tone of the pilot," Simkins said. "They wanted to make sure
the show had its share of laughs, its share of scares, its share of fun, its
share of horror. [Thompson] heard those requests and saw them as a challenge
which he didn't really want to take the time to fulfill."
As for the show's
prospects, Simkins said, "That's something I really can't think about all that
much. It's up to Fox. I have faith they will see the quality that we're trying
to deliver here." FreakyLinks premieres on Fox Oct. 6.
Farscape Mini-Marathon To Air
he SCI FI
Channel will air a Farscape mini-marathon from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET Oct.
1.
SCI FI will air four episodes back to back: "Rhapsody in Blue," "A Bug's Life"
and two of the four episodes that comprised the season-one finale: "Nerve" and
"The Hidden Memory."
Farscape will
then disappear from SCI FI's regular Friday-night lineup until Jan. 5, 2001,
when it will return with a four-part season-two finale arc.
SCI FI Holds Own Against Games
he SCI FI
Channel reported a 25 percent increase in household ratings in competition
against the Olympic Games on NBC.
SCI FI said it also captured the highest concentration of adults aged 25-54 of
any network, broadcast or cable during the Olympics and posted a 31 percent
household ratings gain among such adults.
SCI FI reported a 25
percent increase in September ratings compared with the same month last year.
The cable network said it is on track to finish the third quarter of 2000 with a
0.9 household rating, a quarterly record and a 13 percent improvement over the
same quarter last year.
SCI FI Plans Western Feed
he SCI FI
Channel announced that it will launch a West Coast feed at 9 a.m. Oct. 23,
airing the cable network's programming in Pacific Time.
The feed will go to SCI FI viewers in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington,
Arizona and other western markets.
Meanwhile, SCI FI
reported that its prime-time ratings and audience delivery continue to grow at
record-breaking levels. SCI FI's 0.8 household rating average in prime time
(8-11 p.m. ET) in the second quarter of 2000 set a channel record. SCI FI posted
a 14 percent improvement over the same period in 1999.
In addition, the SCI FI
"Friday Prime" block of original series this summer averaged a 1.2 household
rating. The new original series Crossing Over with John Edward also
continues to climb, with individual nights hitting as high as 1.1 in Sunday
through Thursday 11 p.m. ET airings.
Studios Says Back Still Here
tudios
USA told The Hollywood Reporter that it remains "committed" to its
syndicated Back2Back Action hour of shows, even though its two
components, Cleopatra 2525 and Jack of All Trades, have ceased
production.
Bruce Campbell, star and executive producer of Jack, said on his official
Web site earlier this week that the show was canceled. Cleopatra,
meanwhile, has gone on an indefinite production hiatus.
Studios USA said it was
evaluating different forms the hour may take, the trade paper reported. The
studio added that Campbell "is now free to explore opportunities; we will not
hold him back." Both Jack and Cleopatra are produced by Rob Tapert
and Sam Raimi's Renaissance Pictures.
Studios USA is owned by
USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Fans Petition To Save Cleo
ans of
the syndicated SF television series Cleopatra 2525 have posted a petition to save the show and its companion Jack of All
Trades.
Production of Cleo stopped on Sept. 21, and Jack star Bruce
Campbell confirmed that his show has been canceled due to lowratings.
About 205 fans have
signed the petition so far to let the producers at Studios USA and Renaissance
Pictures know that at least someone was watching the shows. The two shows were
halves of the Back2Back Action hour, and both were shot in New Zealand.
Both will air the remaining new episodes and reruns through January.
Jack Won't Be Back
ack of
All Trades star Bruce Campbell told fans on his official Web site that his
low-rated syndicated television series has been canceled.
Jack was half of the Back2Back Action hour, whose other half,
Cleopatra 2525, was put on indefinite hiatus earlier this
month.
"Now that the ratings
have been tallied and the Internet rumors have flown about like so many
gadflies, the official word on that short-lived, fun-filled swashbuckler is:
'Hit the road, Jack!'" Campbell wrote with characteristic tongue in cheek. He
added, "Why, you ask? The answer is always the same. It's because the ratings
were not good enough to offset the cost of the show (which wasn't a hell of a
lot, I might add), and that translates into red ink. Need I saymore?"
The New
Zealand-produced series will air eight more new episodes starting Oct. 1, with
reruns after that until January, Campbell said.
Elfman To Score Spidey
anny
Elfman (Sleepy Hollow) will score director Sam Raimi's upcoming
Spider-Man movie, Raimi told Cinescape Online.
"He is [perfect for the film]," Raimi said. "He's a great composer. I really
have enjoyed working with him in the past."
Elfman, the
Oscar-nominated composer of scores for Men in Black and other genre
films, previously scored Raimi's Darkman and A Simple Plan. He'll
also appear in a cameo role in Raimi's upcoming supernatural thriller movie
The Gift. "He just came in and did a no-line part," Raimi revealed. "He's
a buddy of mine, and I needed a fiddler in one of the
scenes, and he was kind enough to come down and perform the part for
me."
Spider-Man,
starring Tobey Maguire, is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same
name.
Ministry To Score A.I.?
he
industrial rock band Ministry will provide music for the soundtrack to Steven
Spielberg's upcoming SF epic movie A.I., according to a rumor on the
Ministry fan Web site Prongs.org.
According to the site, late director Stanley Kubrick, who wrote the treatment on
which A.I. is based, was "amused and delighted by the song 'Thieves' by
Ministry."
A.I. will star
Haley Joel Osment in a futuristic tale that is also based on the Brian Aldiss
short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long."
New Episode I Soundtrack Coming
ony will
release "The Ultimate Edition" soundtrack set from Star Wars: Episode I
on Nov. 14, featuring more than 120 minutes of music from composer John
Williams' score, according to the official Star Wars Web site.
The two-CD, 68-track set will include every musical note Williams composed for
the 1999 movie. No price has been listed for the set.
The set also includes a
bonus track with the signature "Duel of the Fates" theme, complete with sound
effects and movie dialogue, and another track entitled "Desert Winds," with
music that was recorded but eliminated from the film's final cut. The set will
also come with new cover art, picture discs and a 60-page booklet with
photographs from the film. A full track listing can be found on the official Web site.
Vinge Wins With Adventure
ernor
Vinge, who recently won his second Hugo Award in the best novel category, told
SCI FI Wire that he thinks writing space adventure books is a key to his
success.
"I hope people like them as good science fiction stories, but I think the fact
that they were in the classic form of space adventure was a help," Vinge said.
Vinge's epic novel A Fire Upon the Deep won the Hugo for best novel in
1993. A Deepness in the Sky, the first sequel to Fire, picked up
the Hugo this year and was also honored with a Prometheus Award.
Despite the success of
both novels, which are part of Vinge's Zones of Thought universe, the
author isn't sure he'll pen another Zones book next. "There are many
possibilities that I'd like to get to eventually, but I haven't decided what the
next novel will be about," he said. Vinge recently retired from teaching to
write full time and said he is considering a number of projects. Among them are
"near-sequels" to both Zones books, a "capstone" novella that would
resolve issues from both, a story from the Age of Princesses, or a novel that's
not set in the Zones universe.
Vinge says a sequel to
Deepness--where Pham and Anne bring down the Emergency Regime--is what
his fans most often request. But he added that it would be difficult to give
such a novel the sweep and depth of the earlier Zones books. Whatever
novel he chooses to write, though, he said it will be shorter than both
Deepness and Fire and should be complete by mid-2001.
Bradbury To Get Lifetime Award
egendary
SF author Ray Bradbury will receive a lifetime achievement medal at the National
Book Awards ceremony, according to the Associated Press.
The award will recognize Bradbury's tremendous effect on every genre of writing,
the AP reported.
"Since the 1930s he has
been one of America's great literary talents," Neil Baldwin, executive director
of the National Book Foundation, told the AP. The award will be presented in
November.
Bradbury, 80, is best
known for SF books that include The Martian Chronicles, Farenheit
451 and The Illustrated Man.
King 'Stunned' By Driver's Death
uthor
Stephen King told USA Today that he's "stunned and sorry" to hear of the
death of the man who drove the van that struck King last year and severely
injured the writer.
Bryan Edwin Smith, 43, was found dead in bed Sept. 22 in his mobile home in
Fryeburg, Maine, the newspaper reported. An autopsy is planned to determine the
cause of death.
King is still
recovering from a broken leg, hip fracture and knee injury suffered in the
accident. Smith had said he was distracted by his dog when his van veered off
the road and hit King. After police called King to tell him of Smith's death,
the author told the newspaper, "I would wish better for anyone. Our lives came
together in a strange way. I'm grateful I didn't die. I'm sorry he's
gone."
Potter Begins Filming
he
feature-film version of J.K. Rowling's best-selling novel Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer's Stone began production this week outside London, the
Empire Online Web site reported.
The site reported that shooting commenced on a suburban street outside the town
of Bracknell.
The site reported that
Ook the owl, who plays Hedwig the mail owl, was spotted during filming of a
scene in which Hedwig delivers mail to Harry at the Dursleys' home on Privet
Drive.
Meanwhile, the site
also reported rumors that Verne Troyer (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged
Me) will play Peeves the poltergeist, and Julie Walters will play Madame
Hooch in the movie. Chris Columbus is directing Potter.
Potter Bootlegged In China
hina will
move up the launch of Chinese editions of J.K. Rowling's best-selling Harry
Potter books by a week to thwart bootleg publishers who have already put
pirate copies of the books on the streets, the Reuters news service reported.
As many as 5,000 fake Potter books have made their way to book stores in
Beijing, Reuters reported.
The People's Literature
Publishing House will print 600,000 copies of the first three Potter
books in the biggest first-edition run of a work of fiction in the 50-year
history of Communist China, according to the news service. The publisher has
called in China's anti-piracy bureau and is hurriedly printing the books on
distinctive pale green paper to meet a new deadline of Oct. 6.
Asimov's Caves Set For Screen
creenwriter Jamie Vanderbilt will adapt Isaac Asimov's Caves of
Steel--the first novel in his robot trilogy--for the big screen,
Variety reported.
Universal will produce the movie; Simon West (Tomb Raider) is in talks to
direct.
The book tells the
story of human detective Lije Baley and his robot colleague R. Daneel Olivaw in
a future in which the inhabitants of an overcrowded Earth have moved
underground.
Intel Joins In Rama Effort
organ
Freeman's long-stalled effort to develop a feature film based on Arthur C.
Clarke's epic SF novel Rendezvous with Rama may have received a jump
start now that Intel Corp. has partnered with Freeman's Revelations
Entertainment company.
Variety reported that the computer chip maker formed a strategic
partnership with Revelations, created by Freeman and his partner, Lori
McCreary.
The partnership
reportedly has to do with Freeman's plans to produce Rama, which is to be
directed by David Fincher (Alien 3). The partnership will also lead to
the formation of a subsidiary to develop digital filmmaking, the trade paper
reported.
"The current trend
toward more digital effects in film will continue until digital cinematography
is the norm, not the event that it is now, and Lori and I created Revelations
with this kind of technological leap in mind," Freeman told
Variety.
Zoetrope Develops Genre Films
rancis
Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope production company will develop CQ, a
movie to be directed by Coppola's son Roman Coppola, Variety reported.
Roman also wrote the screenplay for CQ, which tells the story of an
American filmmaker shooting a low-budget SF movie in 1960s Paris. CQ
stars Jeremy Davies and Gerard Depardieu.
Zoetrope will also
develop Monster, an SF fable from writer-director Hal Hartley, which
stars Sarah Polley as a journalist who travels to Iceland to find her missing
fiance and forges a friendship with a mythical monster played by Robert Burke,
Variety reported. Shooting began earlier this month in New York and
Iceland.
Zoetrope is also
producing Jeepers Creepers, a supernatural horror film written and
directed by Victor Salva (Powder) and starring Gina Philips and Justin
Long (Galaxy Quest) as a brother and sister driving home from college who
discover a creature in a church basement. Filming in Florida began last
month.
Tomb Raider Is Family Affair
eeping it
all in the family, Angelina Jolie's real-life father, Jon Voight, will play her
on-screen dad in the upcoming Tomb Raider movie, according to The
Hollywood Reporter.
Voight (Anaconda) will play explorer and adventurer Lord Croft, sire of
Jolie's heroine, Lara Croft.
The movie, now shooting
in London and elsewhere, is based on the popular Eidos video game series of the
same name. Simon West directs the film from the screenplay he wrote with Patrick
Massett, John Zinman and Laeta Kalogridis. Tomb Raider is slated for a
summer 2001 release.
Barrymore Meets Barbarella
rew
Barrymore will co-produce and star in an SF film based on Babarella, the 1968 Jane Fonda camp classic directed
by Roger Vadim, and the French comic series of the same name, according to
The Hollywood Reporter.
Warner Brothers and Fox will co-produce the movie.
John August
(Jurassic Park 3) will write the screenplay, which won't retread the
original movie, but rather will combine SF with Woody Allen sex comedies of the
1970s, the trade paper reported. It will take its story from Jean Claude
Forest's French Barbarella comics "Le Semble Lune" (The Moon Like) and
"Le Miroir au Tempetes" (The Mirror of Storms). The new Barbarella will
tell the story of a naive woman (Barrymore) who uncovers the secret behind her
tiny planet's good fortune and finds herself leading a revolution.
Schumacher Mixed About Batman
oel
Schumacher, director of the critically lambasted Batman and Robin movie,
told Eon magazine that he has mixed feelings about the
movie that some argue nearly killed the film franchise.
Asked whether he liked the movie, he said, "That's a complex question for me.
... Yes, because it helped me to get away from it [laughing], and no, because
Batman Forever was such a huge success, and we were such big heroes, and
obviously I disappointed some people with Batman and Robin."
Schumacher added, "I
think it's always worse when you disappoint yourself. You know what, I learned a
lesson, and I knew something when I was younger that I didn't adhere to. When
they wanted me to do a sequel to St. Elmo's Fire and Lost Boys and
Flatliners, I knew that there were no sequels to those movies, and I knew
that sequels were only made because they want more box office. I think that I
got carried away [with Batman and Robin]."
Barker's Always Begins Shooting
FX
magazine reported that Clive Barker's upcoming horror movie The Thief of
Always has begun production, according to the Dark
Horizons Web site.
Universal and Industrial Light & Magic are involved, and ILM will pipe sequences
directly into a terminal at Barker's home, SFX reported.
Meanwhile, Dark
Horizons reported that Barker's proposed American Horror movie has
been shelved by New Line.
Romero Readies Bruiser
ions Gate
Films will distribute George Romero's revenge fantasy movie Bruiser in
the United States, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Bruiser stars Jason Flemyng (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels),
Peter Stormare (The Lost World: Jurassic Park) and Leslie Hope (First
Degree).
The movie tells the
story of a successful business executive who wakes one morning to find his face
turned into a featureless mask, the trade paper reported. The man sets out to
exact revenge against his overbearing boss, his duplicitous friend and his
cheating wife while pursuing a woman he admires from afar. Romero (Night of
the Living Dead) wrote and directed the movie.
Austin Writer Joins Wolff
ichael
McCullers (co-writer of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) will
rewrite Wolff and Byrd, the upcoming feature-film version of Batton
Lash's comic series of the same name, according to The Hollywood
Reporter. Universal will distribute the movie.
Harald Zwart will
direct the movie, which tells the story of a law firm that represents monsters
and ghouls and must save the world from apocalypse. Stephen Mazur and S.S.
Wilson first adapted the comic book for the big screen, the trade paper
reported.
X-Men Sequel A Ways Off
-Men executive producer Tom DeSanto told the Comics Continuum Web
site that the expected sequel to this year's hit movie remains in the early
stages of development.
"Just taking some time off for the first time in four years," DeSanto
said.
Marvel Comics chief Avi
Arad, meanwhile, told the Continuum that he hopes to have a writer for
the sequel in place in the next month. X-Men director Bryan Singer has
yet to sign on to the sequel.
Uni Sued Over X-Men Videos
aban Entertainment and Fox Children's Network sued Universal Studios Home Video
over Uni's plans to market videos of the animated X-Men television
series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Saban and Fox claimed in a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court that Universal is
trying to exploit the success of Fox's X-Men movie by planning to release
as many as 65 episodes of the animated X-Men.
Universal told video
dealers that it plans to release up to 14 X-Men episodes on video and DVD
early next month, beating Fox's planned VHS and DVD release of its X-Men
movie during Thanksgiving week, the trade paper reported.
Universal's right to
sell X-Men videos and DVDs expires Oct. 1, 2001, and the planned release
"will destroy Saban's right to distribute them after that date and after the
television run," the suit alleged. Saban said that it has held the distribution
rights to the series since 1992, and in 1994 it licensed to PolyGram Video
International the right to release videos or DVDs of certainepisodes.
X-Men Games Due For PS-2
ctivision
announced that it will develop video games based on Marvel Comics' X-Men
series for the PlayStation 2 platform.
The company said it will publish two X-Men titles: a fighting game and an
action role-playing game. No release date was announced.
Activision has already
released X-Men Mutant Academy for the PlayStation gaming
console.
Pern Game In Home Stretch
liver
Sykes, lead designer for Dragonriders--Chronicles of Pern, the video game
based on Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series of novels, told the
IGN Vault that the rush is on to complete the game by Christmas.
The British company Ubi Soft is developing the game.
"The last few weeks
have been hectic, to say the least," Sykes wrote. He added, "We have
lip-synching in the game now, so all the characters have immediately come to
life. ... We also have lots of new, spangly interface visuals that really
immerse the player in the game. ...We now have assigned labels to pretty much
everything in the game. ... We have now got all the music through from our
ultra-talented musician in France."
Sykes added that it has
been difficult adapting the books for a game. "It's hard," he said. "We are not
working with one book here, or one film; we are working with a world that has
over 2,000 years of documented history, 16 books, a fan base the size of the
Western Hemisphere and a lot of ground rules. ... The main challenge with
adapting Pern was the fact that the books rely on subtlety rather than
action. ... This does not ordinarily translate well into a video game. ... [But]
we have spent a great deal of time pushing technology ... in order to convey
emotion and have a ripping good story as well."
Oscar To Honor Toon Features
he
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will establish an Oscar category for
feature-length animated films, the first new award category since 1981,
according to the Reuters news service.
The new category will apply to animated movies 70 minutes or longer, which would
cover such films as Toy Story and this year's hit Chicken
Run.
The first
animated-feature Oscar would probably be presented during ceremonies in March
2002, Reuters reported. The award will be handed out only if eight or more
eligible films are released in a calendar year.
Haglund Talks Lone Gunmen
ean
Haglund, who plays Langly in Fox's upcoming series The Lone Gunmen, said
on his official Web
site that he's still in the dark about the mid-season X-Files spinoff
show.
"This is surprising ... since I am in the show and everything," Haglund wrote.
"That is the way it has been since season one of The X-Files, so it's
somewhat nice to know that nothing changes, even when you get your own
spinoff."
Haglund said
Gunmen will start shooting 12 episodes in October back at the original
X-Files studios in Vancouver. The pilot will air in early 2001. "Now some
say it will start [in] January, and some say March, and some say it will only be
seen on the side of the wall at my parent's house. It could be Thursday or it
might be another night, but that is what high executives are paid to figure
out."
The show will feature
the three characters made famous on The X-Files. "It will be the three
Lone Gunmen, hence the title of the show," Haglund said. "It will be more
government conspiracy plots and less genetic-alien-hybrid, take-over-Earth,
odd-fat-sucking-vampires plot lines. [X-Files creator] Chris Carter and
all the gang will be writing [and] producing, and lots of the old crew from
Millennium and X-Files will be there too."
Bale Mulls Dragon Flick
hristian
Bale (American Psycho) is in talks to star in Reign of Fire, a
fantasy film from Disney and Spyglass Entertainment.
The X-Files movie director Rob Bowman will directReign.
Reign is
described as a Mad Max-like story set in England about a brood of
fire-breathing dragons that emerges from the earth and begins establishing
dominance over the planet, the trade paper reported. Bale would play the role of
a young British man who becomes a "fire chief," the leader of a small clan of
survivors, and teams up with an American dragon slayer to destroy the queen
dragon. Shooting is scheduled to begin in February in the United
Kingdom.
Rock Signs For Scorpion
rofessional wrestler The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson, has cooked up a
$5.5 million deal with Universal to play the title role in The Scorpion
King, the third installment in the movie series spawned by 1999's hit The
Mummy, Variety reported.
Johnson is already playing the character in The Mummy 2, now shooting in
London.
The Scorpion
King, a prequel to Mummy 2, will begin shooting in mid-March, the
trade paper reported.
Mummy and Mummy 2 director Stephen Sommers will also helm
King. The movie is set in ancient Egypt and tells the story of a peasant
whose town is plundered by a marauding army from the north, led by a violent
warrior out to rule Egypt. Johnson will play the peasant, who attempts to exact
revenge for his flattened village by joining up with a band of
outlaws.
The Scorpion
King will hit theaters either in Christmas 2001 or summer 2002. The Mummy
2 comes to theaters in May 2001.
Peta Signs With New Show
eta
Wilson, star of USA Network's cult series La Femme Nikita, has signed on
to play a criminal investigator in the pilot for an upcoming untitled NBC
television series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Warner Brothers TV would produce the series.
Wilson recently signed
up for an abbreviated fifth season of Nikita on USA, which will comprise
eight new episodes starting in early 2001.
Lost Souls Shoot Bedeviled
roubles
bedeviled the production of New Line's upcoming satanic thriller movie Lost
Souls after a New York priest warned producers not to make the movie,
according to New York Daily News columnist Mitchell Fink.
The Rev. James LeBar of the Archdiocese of New York--one of the few priests
authorized by the Catholic Church to perform exorcisms--warned filmmakers not to
shoot the Winona Ryder film, Fink reported.
The production staff
met with another priest, who blessed the production. But actor Victor Slezak,
who plays a priest, later learned that his father had suffered a heart attack in
Los Angeles. He lost his wallet and airline ticket while trying to make a quick
trip back to L.A.
Back on the set,
several crew members experienced bizarre accidents and allergic reactions during
a shoot in Harlem. Equipment shorted out, and filming was delayed due to
electrical fires, Fink reported. Lost Souls opens on Friday the 13th of
October.
Fans Blast Studio Over Crow
pset
about Miramax's decision to shop The Crow: Salvation to cable networks,
fans of the fantasy revenge movie series are trying to organize a boycott of the
Disney-owned studio.
Sponsors of the CrowFans.com Web site are urging fans to boycott Miramax
movies and to write to the studio to protest the handling of the latest
installment of the Crow franchise.
Fans feel that the
studio sponsored a one-week test screening at a single theater in Spokane,
Wash., simply as an excuse to avoid a theatrical release of the film. The
Crow: Salvation drew few viewers in its test run, and fans say that studio
set it up to fail by not advertising or promoting it. Fans also suggest that
Miramax is trying to avoid congressional pressure against violent films by
burying Salvation either on cable TV or on video.
The Crow:
Salvation stars Eric Mabius, Kirsten Dunst and Fred Ward.
Dune Is Harrison's Triumph
ohn
Harrison, writer and director of The SCI FI Channel's upcoming miniseries
Frank Herbert's Dune, told fans that the show will be the capstone of his
career.
"One gets an opportunity to tackle material like this maybe once or twice in a
career," Harrison said in response to a fan question on the official Dune Web
site.
Harrison added, "To
have had the caliber of talent around me, both in front of and behind the
camera, was a dream come true. I've never been completely satisfied with any
production I've done. There will always be things I would like to do better,
differently, with more time or more money. Or perhaps in retrospect I could have
interpreted some things in a deeper manner. But with Dune, I feel I've
gotten closer than ever before to what the original vision was. I believe it's a
small triumph in so many ways. Not the least of which is the amount I learned
about storytelling and filmmaking doing it."
The six-hour miniseries
airs on SCI FI in December.
Iron Man To Change For Film
hen
Marvel Comics' Iron Man series comes to the big screen, don't expect him
to be wearing his famous gold-and-red armor, E! Online reported.
"You always use the comic book as the starting point," Marvel Films senior vice
president Kevin Feige told the site. "You see what works and doesn't work on
camera. We don't want him looking like a walking Academy Award."
New Line Cinema has
hired Iron Giant writer Tim McCanlies to adapt the 30-year-old comic
series for the movies. Among the stars reportedly interested in the title role
of billionaire Tony Stark are Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage.
Sabrina Flies High On WB
abrina, the Teenage Witch conjured up The WB network's best
Friday ratings ever in its season premiere Sept. 22, Variety reported.
Sabrina debuted on The WB after ending a four-year run on ABC at the end
of last season.
According to Nielsen
ratings, Sabrina's first outing on The WB earned a 3.9 rating and a 7
share in the top metered markets, the network's strongest delivery to date in
the 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. timeslot, Variety reported. That was 44 percent
higher than The WB's 1999-2000 2.7 season average rating in the same
timeslot.
X-Files Is More Out There
eruns of
The X-Files will run in 135 cities under a two-year syndication deal
between Fox and broadcasters through 2002-'03, Variety reported.
The paranormal series will air on Fox-owned WNYW in New York, KTTV in Los
Angeles and WFLD in Chicago, among others.
The show will also air
in Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis; and Orlando, Fla. All told, the 135
television markets represent 80 percent of the country, the trade paper
reported.
Uni Time-Travels For Wish
niversal
will develop What You Wish For, a time-travel movie from writer Samantha
Silva, Variety reported.
Silva's husband, Michael Hoffman, will direct.
Wish tells the
story of a girl who feels out of place in modern America and travels back in
time to the world of Jane Austen.
Briefly Noted
-
Ireland's Ardmore Studios will be the home base for Disney's upcoming Reign of Fire, a fantasy movie about dragons, according to the ShowBiz Ireland Web site.
-
The TR Movie.com Web site posted new photos from the upcoming Tomb Raider movie, now in production in London.
-
A playable demo of the upcoming video game Starfleet Command: Volume II: Empires at War is available at the ZDNet Web site. Caution: the download is a whopping 75 MB.
-
The upcoming DVD versions of Jurassic Park and The Lost World will feature a Webcast and chat with the cast and crew of Jurassic Park III from the set of the upcoming dinosaur sequel, TV Guide Online reported. The DVDs hit retailers Oct. 10.
-
The SFX Web site reported that Paul Anderson (Event Horizon) will direct the feature-film version of the Capcom video game series Resident Evil. Anderson is not to be confused with Paul Thomas Anderson, director of Magnolia.
-
NBC opened a Web site to find contestants for its upcoming reality game show Destination Mir, in which a group of Americans will compete in a Russian space boot camp for the chance to be shot into space to visit the orbiting space station.
-
Kevin Pollak will join Eddie Murphy and Jeffrey Jones for Dr. Dolittle II, Variety reported. The sequel to Murphy's 1998 Dr. Dolittle will be directed by Steve Carr and is slated to shoot in October.
- The ShowBiz Ireland Web site reported that Irish actor Devon Murray will play Seamus in the feature-film version of J.K. Rowling's best-selling children's novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which is now in production in Great Britain.
-
The Ain't It Cool News Web site has posted what it says are storyboard sketches for the upcoming Matrix 2 movie.
-
The SFX Web site reported that Sylvester McCoy will reprise the title role in the pilot for an upcoming BBC radio drama series based on the longstanding British television series Doctor Who. Sophie Aldred will also reprise the role of Dorothy "Ace" McShane in the radio show, SFX reported. Sylvester is one of seven actors to portray the Doctor on the BBC series.
-
Survivor's Colleen Haskell has landed a movie role as the love interest of Rob Schneider in the upcoming SF comedy film Animal, Variety reported.
-
Star Trek: Voyager executive producer Ken Biller's wife, Hope, gave birth to a daughter, Sofia Rose Biller, on Aug. 29 in Los Angeles, according to the official Star Trek Web site. Sofia Rose is the couple's first child.
-
The online bookseller Stealth Press will launch Nov. 1 to sell hardcover books by established authors to Web readers. The site will focus on "mid-list" writers; books by Peter Straub, F. Paul Wilson and Robert A. Heinlein will be included in Stealth's first dozen offerings.
-
The final "Close Quarters Standby" official convention for fans of USA Network's original series La Femme Nikita takes place May 25-27, 2001, at the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel in Toronto. Admission is $95.
-
The Dark Horizons Web site reported that Eugene Levy and Kurt Fuller have joined the cast of the SF comedy movie Repli-Kate, described as an R-rated Weird Science with a heart.
-
Makers of the upcoming SF film Red Planet have begun posting weekly video featurettes about the computer animation of the robot character Amee to the film's official Web site. New installments will go up every Friday. Red Planet opens Nov. 10.
-
Disney has pulled the plug on Wildlife, a 3-D computer-animated fantasy movie, Variety reported.
-
Top Cow comics signed Fiona Avery, a protégé of Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, to write No Honor, a comic series about a samurai warrior, slated for a February 2001 release. Straczynski writes the Rising Stars comic series under his own Joe's Comics imprint for Top Cow.
-
Fox won't pre-empt the premiere of its SF television series Dark Angel on Oct. 3 to broadcast the first presidential debate between George W. Bush and Al Gore, according to the Reuters news service. Fox will be the only broadcast network to shun all three presidential debates and the single vice-presidential debate.
-
The SFX Web site is reporting a rumor that Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski may write for Marvel Comics' Amazing Spider-Man series. Straczynski already pens his own Rising Stars comic series, as well as the SCIFI.COM Seeing Ear Theatre series City of Dreams.
-
Gary Murphy won the L. Ron Hubbard Gold Achievement Award, presented by the Writers of the Future contest for new and aspiring writers of science fiction, for his story "Pulling Up Roots."
Murphy won $4,000, which was presented to him at an awards event at the L. Ron Hubbard Library in Los Angeles.
-
TheOneRing.net reported that Joel Tobeck, who was rumored to be in the running to play Smeagol in Peter Jackson's upcoming film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, won't be in the movies after all.
-
The Coming Attractions Web site reported a rumor that composer Carter Burwell (Being John Malkovich) will write the score for Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, the highly anticipated sequel to 1999's The Blair Witch Project. Blair 2 opens Oct. 27.
-
The Crow: Salvation performed poorly during test screenings in Spokane, Wash., last week, and Dimension Films will market the movie to a cable television network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
