Astin Has Hope For Rings
ean Astin--who plays Sam Gamgee in Peter Jackson's upcoming Lord of the Rings film trilogy--told the Popcorn U.K. Web site that he hopes the movies live up to expectation.
"It was really hard work, but it was really good, important work," Astin said of the grueling 14-month shoot in New Zealand. "What Peter Jackson has tried to accomplish--and what he has accomplished--is so massive that it's staggering."
Astin plays the loyal sidekick to Elijah Wood's hero, Frodo. Despite the arduous shoot, Astin said there were compensations. "New Zealand is one of the last unspoiled splendors on the face of the Earth, so we were working in Middle-Earth--with the green, lush forests and the rolling hills and the fjords and the snow-capped [Southern] Alps. It was amazing helicoptering to the top of these mountains or working on an active volcano for six weeks. It was pretty spectacular."
Serkis Animates Gollum In Rings
ndy Serkis--who will voice the computer-animated Gollum in Peter Jackson's upcoming Lord of the Rings film trilogy--told a British newspaper that he will return to New Zealand in the summer for three months of post-production work to complete the special effects for his character, according to the OneRing.net fan site.
"They were looking for someone who was capable of doing a creature voice, but portray him as human as well," Serkis said.
Serkis added, "I think the great thing about Gollum is he is the point of human contact for what the ring does to you. He's very much a case of 'there but for the grace of God.'" To give audiences something to relate to, Serkis said he played the character as an addict. "When you are playing such an extreme character, you have to root it in something the audience can identify with," he said.
To animate Gollum, Serkis will wear a special suit covered with reflective dots that will allow computer technicians to capture Serkis' movements. Animators will overlay the character over the motion capture. The result is "a real marriage between acting and animation, and they got the real cutting-edge technology out [in New Zealand]," Serkis said. The first Rings film opens Dec. 19.
Episode II Busts Unveiled
he official Star Wars Web site has images of busts of key Star Wars: Episode II characters that will be unveiled at the 98th annual American International Toy Fair in New York Feb. 12-14.
Star Wars toy licensee Hasbro and Lucas Licensing will show off the busts, which were produced with precision laser-scanning equipment, the site reported.
The busts depict several characters, including Temuera Morrison's "bounty hunter," who is believed to be the father of Empire Strikes Back villain Boba Fett.
Trek X To Face Episode II?
ick Berman, who is developing the 10th Star Trek movie, told the Star Trek Communicator magazine that the film is aiming at a 2002 release--which could put it head to head with Star Wars: Episode II, debuting in May of that year.
"Our last three movies have all been released at Thanksgiving time, and that is certainly a possibility with this film, but in their infinite wisdom, the marketing people at Paramount might decide to release this earlier in 2002," Berman told the magazine, according to the TrekWeb fans site. "I think that how it matches up with other films being released in that year will be an important part of that decision."
Production of the film depends on this year's impending actors' strike, and no director has been chosen yet, Berman said. Jonathan Frakes, who directed the last two Trek movies, "is still being considered," Berman said. "There has been no discussion at this point on directors, but Jonathan is about to start directing another movie called Clockstoppers, and I don't know what his schedule is like. We don't know when this movie is actually going to go into production, because of the impending Screen Actors Guild strike, so there really has not been any discussion about a director yet."
Berman also clarified the role of the Romulans, who will make an appearance. "What I said was that we would be seeing the Romulans in this movie, which we are, but I did not necessarily say that they were going to be our main villains," Berman said. "We are going to be seeing a new race of villains that I am tempted to talk about, but I won't just yet. We also have a specific villain that we hope will be every bit as exciting and memorable as Khan. ... We always like to tweak some of the alien races, and I'm sure you can expect a fresh, updated look for the Romulans. We have done it before, such as when Denise Crosby played a Romulan and we gave her a look that was somewhat unique. I think there will be some surprises as to what the Romulans will look like."
Will New Show Omit Trek Name?
ick Berman, who is developing the next Star Trek TV series with partner Brannon Braga, told the Star Trek Communicator magazine that the show may be the first to omit the words "star" and "trek" from its name.
"I think that there is a definite possibility that we may have a title that does not include the words 'star trek,'" Berman told the magazine, according to the TrekWeb fan site. "That may be a sacrilegious thought, but we have an idea that may include the need for that."
But Berman added that the new show will be ship-based. "Yes, this show will have a primary starship," he said. The show could still premiere in September or October. "These decisions are currently resting with Paramount, but I think it is pretty certain that the target date is going to be September/October 2001," he said. "Obviously, with the impending writers' and actors' strikes, that could change."
Berman added, "Brannon and I have written the script together and have gotten very positive responses from the people at Paramount. We have made some serious revisions and handed in our second draft, and the studio is very much behind the project. The question now is where is it going to end up? Who will be in it, etc.? All those fun things!"
Berman said that a premiere date also depends on where the show ends up--on UPN, on NBC, on Fox, or someplace else. "I think the final decision on where the series is going to go certainly has had something to do with the delay, but everything is on schedule," Berman said. "With a completed pilot script at this point, we are ahead of the game for launching a show in 2001. There are a great number of business decisions that are being dealt with now that will result in a decision by Paramount as to where they would like to see this series end up. I would think that within the next month or two, a decision will be made, and we'll be able to get this on a faster track."
More Roddenberry Shows In Works
ajel Barrett Roddenberry--executive producer of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda and other genre series--told the Cinescape Online Web site that she is prepping two more series based on ideas developed by her late husband, the creator of Star Trek.
Gene Roddenberry's Starship is a science-fiction adventure with a twist.
"It's being written specifically for animation," Roddenberry told Cinescape contributor John Muir. "We're developing it with Stan Lee, who is wonderful." The series will focus on a starship with an environmental mission, she said. "They're saving worlds, but it will be different from Star Trek. Much of it will come off as Gene would have done it, but there's enough that's different to make it novel."
Majel Roddenberry also hopes to revisit Genesis II, an early '70s pilot about a 20th-century scientist who awakes from suspended animation into a post-apocalyptic future.
Millennium Movie In Air
illennium star Lance Henriksen told the SFX Network Web site that series creator Chris Carter wants to make a movie based on Henriksen's Frank Black character.
"Chris wants to do a movie based on Millennium," Henriksen said. "Probably not calling it Millennium, but using that character. He's talked about that, and it's in the air."
Henriksen added that he'd love to team up with his old friend, Robert Patrick, on Carter's other gig, The X-Files. Henriksen appeared on the series as Black in a crossover episode a while back. "I'd like to work with Robert Patrick in The X-Files, but nobody's approached me about it," Henriksen said. "I like Robert a lot. We did a film together years ago, but he's a really cool guy. I'd love to go back on The X-Files."
Reeves Details Matrix Regimen
eanu Reeves, star of the upcoming two Matrix sequels, told the Empire Online Web site that he is recovered from an unspecified injury to his ankle and is vigorously training for the sequels.
"I'm there Monday through Friday, from 9:30 to 5," Reeves told the site.
Reeves added, "Basically, you come in in the morning and work with the Hong Kong action team, the fight choreographers. ... You stretch for about an hour and a half. And then you kick. You go through a series of exercises that you do every day. And then after that, you go into specialized training. Every person gets another person to work with, ... and you go through whatever particular training you need for the fights. And then after that, generally, we do choreography, which is learning the fights, and then we do wire work."
Interplay Enters The Matrix
rvine-based Interplay Entertainment has been awarded the video-game license to the hit SF film The Matrix by Warner Brothers, Variety reported.
The deal is expected to allow Interplay to create several game titles based on the Matrix franchise, the trade paper reported.
Laguna Beach-based Shiny Entertainment, which has a publishing and distribution agreement with Interplay, is developing at least one next-generation game based on the license. The Wachowski brothers, writers and directors of The Matrix, apparently visited Shiny's headquarters on numerous occasions last year to oversee development of the game, Variety reported. They are expected to continue to do so now that shooting has begun on the two sequels in and around an old naval base in Oakland.
Video games take about 18 months to develop and publish, which would place the premiere of the first Matrix game around the time The Matrix 2 is slated for release, the trade paper reported. It's expected that the first video game will be a third-person, 3-D action-adventure game for the PlayStation 2 platform that will tie in to the plots of the Matrix sequels. The game is also expected to be released for PC and next-generation console systems.
Raimi Compromises On Spidey Web
irector Sam Raimi may have hit on a compromise in the way he depicts Peter Parker's web-shooters in the upcoming feature-film version of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series, E! Online reported.
Fans have been griping about Raimi's earlier decision to portray organic web-shooters rather than the mechanical ones that appear in the comics.
But E! reported that Raimi may combine the two. Based on reports from the set of the film, which is currently in production in Los Angeles, the site reported that Raimi will give Spider-Man organic spinnerets that he is unable to control without the help of mechanical shooters. In one scene, Parker (Tobey Maguire) will reportedly test those web-shooters by zapping a Pepsi can and snapping it back into his hand.
Monsters, Inc. To Open Earlier
ixar and Disney's computer-animated fantasy film Monsters, Inc. will hit movie screens on Nov. 2, a few weeks earlier than planned, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Originally planned as a Thanksgiving release, the film will now open two weeks before its rival, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the trade paper reported.
Pixar chief executive Steve Jobs told analysts during a conference call about Pixar's fourth-quarter earnings that Monsters will break ground in computer animation. "The fur is so realistic that you won't believe your eyes," Jobs said. "It not only looks real, it moves real."
SF&F Movies Vie For FX Oscar
everal SF&F movies are vying for the visual-effects Oscar nominations to be named by the visual-effects branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Dinosaur, Hollow Man, X-Men and Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas are among the seven contenders for the three nominations, which will be announced Feb. 13.
The visual-effects Oscar will be presented at the 73rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony March 25 in Los Angeles.
Lee Passed On T3
ng Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) told E! Online that he passed on the chance to direct Terminator 3, the upcoming third installment in the film franchise, in favor of The Hulk.
Lee said that Hulk had more "originality," the site reported.
Lee added that the Hulk movie, based on the Marvel Comics series, will have "more depth, more feeling." Lee said he envisions a computer-animated version of the big green monster because he can get more "emotional feeling" than from a real-life actor. The Hulk is aiming at a 2003 release.
Genre Films Animate Toy Show
enre films will be well represented under Christmas trees, judging from movie-inspired toys to be unveiled at the upcoming international toy fair in New York the weekend of Feb. 9, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Products will be on display from such highly anticipated films as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park 3, Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider, the trade paper reported.
The fair will also feature toys based on the computer-animated Shrek and Monsters, Inc. and the traditionally animated Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Fox plans to target collectors and children with its Apes toys, the trade paper reported. Toy Biz, a division of Marvel Enterprises, holds the master toy license for New Line's Lord of the Rings and will unveil action figures, including twin packs that match certain characters from the J.R.R. Tolkien myth against one another. Mattel, which has the master toy license for Potter, will feature a robotic dragon, a potion kit to mix drinkable sorcerer's concoctions, a wand that glows in the dark and a series of 125 collectible "casting stones" that also are the basis for a "rock-paper-scissors" type game. For Paramount's Tomb Raider, Playmates Toys will introduce figures based on the Lara Croft character played in the film by Angelina Jolie.
Soft SF Winners Announced
he Soft SF Writers' Association named the winners of its 2000 Best of Soft SF competition.
The award recognizes the best in the genre, which is defined as science fiction in which characters, emotional content or artistic effect are emphasized over plot and deterministic science.
The association presents an award for first place ($100), second place ($50) and third place ($25). A full list of winners follows.
•First place: "The Meek Inherit" by Stephen D. Rogers
•Second place: Infodict by James Van Pelt
•Third place: "Dust Station Omega" by Pete Manison
•Honorable mentions: "Murder Absolute" by Mary Soon Lee,
"The Find" by Ken Rand
Space Shot Into Space
ot that New Line Cinema wants to send the astronauts any particular message, but its 1998 SF movie Lost in Space was among 13 DVD titles launched Feb. 7 aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to crew members of the international space station.
The titles also included the genre films The Mask, Pleasantville, Frequency and the two Austin Powers movies, the studio announced.
New Line was able to arrange for the galactic care package through studio employee Marc Jacobs, who designed the patch for STS-98 and paved the way for the DVDs to be shown 220 miles above the Earth during the astronauts' recreational time, the studio announced.
Babe 3 Not Likely, Star Says
abe star James Cromwell told syndicated columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith that director George Miller has "an absolutely great idea" for a third installment, but doubts that Miller will have a chance to bring it to screen.
"George really got burnt and hurt by reaction to the sequel," Babe: Pig in the City, Cromwell told the columnists. "And in this town, it's always a matter of 'How'd the last one do?'" The dark sequel bombed at the box office.
Cromwell added, "George would have to figure a way to do the third one inexpensively, like the first one was, but I still don't know if a studio would take a chance on the project."
Mummy II Release Moved Up
niversal has moved up the release date one week--to May 4--for The Mummy Returns, its much-anticipated sequel to 1999's hit movie The Mummy, Variety reported.
The switch pits the sequel against five other new films that weekend.
But the studio reportedly believes The Mummy Returns will quash its competition, based on the success of early screenings. The sequel reunites star Brendan Fraser and director Stephen Sommers.
Lyonne Joins Kate Cast
atasha Lyonne has joined the cast of Miramax Films' time-travel romantic comedy Kate & Leopold, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Kate will start production soon in New York under director James Mangold.
Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman will star in Kate, which tells the story of a man (Jackman) living in 1880s Manhattan who is accidentally transported to present-day New York. He falls in love with an executive (Ryan) and must choose between his two worlds. Lyonne plays Ryan's personal assistant, the trade paper reported.
Hopkins Defends Hewitt's Devil
nthony Hopkins--who stars in the upcoming Devil and Daniel Webster movie--told TV Guide Online that he's confident his co-star Jennifer Love Hewitt is up to the task of playing the devil opposite his Webster.
"I don't know, I've only done three days on it [so far]," Hopkins told TV Guide.
Hopkins added, "She's very pretty, I know that. ... I'm sure she's very good. The little bit we did together she seemed very, very good. Don't believe what the press tells you." Alec Baldwin also stars in the movie, based on Stephen Vincent Benet's story of the same name, about a writer who sells his soul for success.
Londo Of B5 To Chat
CIFI.COM will host an online chat with Peter Jurasik, best known as Londo on Babylon 5, Feb. 22 at 9 p.m. ET.
Babylon 5 reruns currently air in widescreen format on The SCI FI Channel.
In addition to his SF work on B5, Jurasik also co-wrote the science-fiction novel Diplomatic Act.
Dead Crew Pitch Bought
andemonium, the production company run by former Fox studio boss Bill Mechanic, will develop The Dead Crew, an SF film based on a pitch by writers Ken and Jim Wheat, Variety reported.
The Wheat brothers co-wrote last year's Pitch Black with director David Twohy.
Dead Crew tells the story of four people who discover that they are immortal after surviving a mysterious meteorite shower, the trade paper reported.
Andromeda Tops Syndies
n the eve of the February sweeps period, Andromeda topped the ratings among the new first-run weekly syndicated television series, Variety reported.
In the week ending Jan. 28, Andromeda earned a 3.5 national household rating, up 9 percent week-to-week, but down 19 percent from its series premiere, the trade paper reported.
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch topped the list of series reruns with a 2.1 rating, up 5 percent from the previous week and up 24 percent from its fall premiere in off-network syndication.
The WB Green-Lights Pern
he WB has ordered Pern, an hour-long SF drama based on Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern novel series, for the fall, Variety reported.
The show, to be produced by longtime Star Trek and current Roswell writer Ronald D. Moore, is one of several genre series green-lighted for the fall.
Moore told SCI FI Wire in January that he was developing the live-action series. "It's a series that I had read back when I was in college, and it always stuck in my mind as an interesting world, a different slice of sci-fi that hadn't been explored," Moore said. "It seems at this point in time that it's a show you can do on TV because of the technology."
ABC, meanwhile, has ordered a new hour-long fantasy drama, The Brothers Grimm, Variety reported. The show will focus on two modern-day siblings who discover they're descendants of the original Grimm brothers, and who find themselves enmeshed in fantastic or fairy-tale-related mysteries and situations, the trade paper reported.
CBS picked up Wolf Lake, described as an hour-long werewolf suspense thriller set in the Pacific Northwest.
Lee To Start On Hulk Soon
arvel Studios' Kevin Feige told the Comics Continuum Web site that director Ang Lee will begin working on Universal's Hulk movie next month.
"He comes into town the first week of March and is going to dive into Hulk," Feige said.
Feige also denied reports that Lee would completely rewrite David Hayter's script. "That was blown up a little bit on the Internet," Feige said. "Whenever any director comes on a project, changes are made. Ang will have a specific vision, and we'll adapt the script to fulfill that." Universal is eyeing Hulk, which is based on the Marvel Comics series, for the summer of 2003.
Davis Stars In Three Days
ox Family Channel has commissioned Three Days, a fantasy Christmas movie starring Kristin Davis, to air in December, Variety reported.
Production on the romantic comedy, which co-stars Reed Diamond and Tim Meadows, begins this week in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Diamond plays a literary agent who has lost his way since he married his sweetheart (Davis) 10 years before. When she dies just before Christmas, an angel (Meadows) offers the agent the chance to relive the last three days of his wife's life, the trade paper reported.
King's Plant Grew Money
orror author Stephen King has posted a financial statement to his official Web site to show that his online serial novel, The Plant, actually made money.
King suspended the project in December after writing six installments, leading some to speculate that the venture wasn't financially successful.
The statement shows that King netted $463,832.27 from the experiment in direct Web publishing. King vowed to resume the project. "The Plant is not finished online," King wrote. "It is only on hiatus. I am no more done than the producers of the TV show Survivor are done. I am simply in the process of fulfilling my other commitments. In my view, The Plant has been quite successful. You can form your own opinion based on the story itself and our complete financial records."
Moore Talks Evolution Fire
ulianne Moore--who co-stars with David Duchovny in Ivan Reitman's upcoming SF comedy film Evolution--told TV Guide Online that they escaped a recent set fire by taking refuge on the nearby set of a popular Fox TV show.
"David Duchovny and I got into a golf cart and went to Ally McBeal," Moore told TV Guide.
The entire cast and crew--including gorilla-suited extras--fled Evolution's Manhattan Beach, Calif., set when a 15-foot fireball ignited a plastic tree, TV Guide reported. "We were literally chased out of the studio by a giant comic fireball," Moore said. "It was really quite safe. The fire department handled it so well, and all the guys in the gorilla suits were fine, because I was like, 'What about the guys in the gorilla suits?' I was really worried about them, because I thought, 'You're in a big rubber suit ... smoke inhalation.' It ended up being very silly."
Arnold Eyeing Governor's Role?
enre star Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Sixth Day) told the Los Angeles Times that he may consider political office, particularly if Calif. Gov. Gray Davis can't solve the state's electricity crisis, the Reuters wire service reported.
In a conversation with Times political columnist George Skelton, Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said that more decisive leadership was needed in California.
"It's upsetting to everyone right now," the actor said. "People are taking their companies out of state because they're worried [about electricity]. ... And then someone cannot make up their mind what they really want to do. ... You cannot make great decisions if you're just worried about your re-election." Schwarzenegger added that if Davis couldn't turn things around, he could see himself following in the footsteps of former President Ronald Reagan, who left a film acting career for politics when he was elected governor of California in 1966.
Kloves Was Potter Newbie
teve Kloves--the writer who adapted J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the movies--told the Ain't It Cool News Web site that he was new to the boy wizard when he accepted the writing gig.
"When I got involved with that, it was a book that I had not heard of," Kloves told the site. "I read it, and I said, 'God, this is great!' I have two kids, so I thought this was the first movie I would do that my kids could see. Then, literally, three or four months after I said I'd do it, it was on the cover of Time f--king magazine here. Everyone was asking me about it."
Kloves added that it was a challenge adapting a book as popular as the first Potter. "If you really break it down, the American version, I think, is about 309 pages or 311 pages, and the actual plot kicks in around page 225. ... The first script I wrote was somewhat lopsided and long, but the other thing is, we've sort of embraced it. It's incredibly faithful. Hopefully, people will love the world and stuff, because we didn't monkey with it. We didn't say, 'OK, now we gotta add something here in the beginning.' We're just going to trust that the audience will hang with it. It's really faithful." Potter premieres in November.
Weaver Denies Alien 5 Report
igourney Weaver, through a spokesman, denied widespread reports that she was going to be paid $22 million to reprise the role of Ellen Ripley in a fifth Alien movie, Variety columnist Michael Fleming reported.
The Alien story first appeared in the British Sunday Express tabloid newspaper and was picked up by the Reuters news service.
But Fleming reported that no new Alien movie is in the works, and that her quotes came from an old press junket interview. The Express had also reported that Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon would pen the script; that also appears unlikely.
Nikita Game Coming In Fall
ideo game publisher Infogrames said it will release a game based on USA Network's original series La Femme Nikita for next-generation console systems and the PC in the fall.
The game will remain true to the mythology of the popular series, which fans helped resurrect for a fifth season this year.
The La Femme Nikita game will combine action, cooperative gameplay and a plot-driven story, Infogrames announced. Players will be able to choose to be either Michael or Nikita and track a terrorist group across the globe in six non-linear missions.
USA Network is owned by USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Mutant X To Have An Edge
oward Chaykin--executive consultant on the upcoming syndicated TV series Mutant X--told the Comics Continuum Web site that the show will be more than a superhero series.
Chaykin is a veteran of both comics and TV and recently signed on to the Tribune Entertainment series, which premieres in October.
"If you know comics, you know my stuff," Chaykin told the site. "You know that I'm not interested in doing ground-level, mass-market, mainstream stuff. One of my jobs has always been to maintain the cutting edge in comics. I think I've done a pretty good job with that. And we'll do the same thing here, I think. One of the reasons I'm doing [Mutant X] is because of what I bring to the table, which is a long-standing career in comics and a long-standing career in television."
Chaykin said designs for the show's characters are in the beginning stages. Shooting of Mutant X will begin in June in Toronto.
Making Smallville Hip
ongtime genre TV director David Nutter--who will helm the pilot of The WB's upcoming Superman series, Smallville--told the RetroVision magazine Web site that he wants to take the venerable franchise and update it.
"What I want to do with Smallville is do it in a way that's hip, in a way that's smart, in a way that's fun, and also do it in a way that is compelling storytelling," Nutter told the site. "The script is fantastic, and I think it's kick-ass, very smart, a lot of fun and very involving for the audience."
Nutter added, "That's another aspect that's important, too: I want to surprise the audience. When you look at something like three alien teen-agers in Roswell, New Mexico, a lot of people are going to laugh it off and not think much of it, but when they actually stopped to watch the pilot, it was surprising to a lot of people. It was touted as one of the top 10 shows of the season. That's what the key is: to try and do something that kind of balances the intelligence and also the emotional quotient to make them both very high."
Nutter said he looks at the series--which tells the story of 15-year-old Clark Kent--as a show about a young man who has a secret. "A lot of young people today can relate to that, because young kids have secrets and things they can't tell other people," Nutter said. "And it's about a young boy who's growing into a man. Clark's abilities are progressing, and they're blossoming in many respects on the show. In the show we're going to introduce Lana Lang, Lex Luthor and a more involved Jonathan and Martha Kent. We're also going to justify the mythology that you've heard about and thought about. There's lots of origin justifying in the pilot. I was really quite proud of the script and where it goes." Smallville debuts in the fall.
Genre Films Get Makeup Nods
akeup artists for several genre films have won nominations for awards from the Hollywood Makeup Artist & Hair Stylist Guild, Variety reported.
Bedazzled was among the nominees for the contemporary makeup award.
The Cell, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps were tapped for special-effects makeup nominations, the trade paper reported. The Cell and The Grinch were also among the nominees in the category of innovative hair styling.
In television, Star Trek: Voyager nabbed nominations in the category of best period makeup for a single episode of a regular series, sitcom, drama or daytime and best innovative hair styling for a single episode of a regular series, sitcom, drama or daytime. Winners will be named March 17 at the organization's second awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
Weaver Agrees To Alien 5?
he British Sunday Express tabloid newspaper reported that Sigourney Weaver will reprise her most famous role, Ellen Ripley, in a fifth Alien movie, according to the Reuters news service.
Joss Whedon, creator of The WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and writer of the last Alien film, will reportedly write the fifth movie, which will be released in 2004--the 25th anniversary of the first Alien, the Express reported.
"I've always wanted to do one where we go back to the planet from where the alien originally came, or even get to Earth,'' Weaver told the newspaper. Weaver will reportedly receive £15 million ($22 million) to star in and executive produce the movie, which will be set on Earth for the first time.
Burton Won't Ape Original
im Burton, director of the upcoming update of 1968's Planet of the Apes, told the Calgary Sun that his film will differ from the original.
"We're trying to be completely respectful of the original, but we've added new characters and new story elements," Burton said. "You could say we are keeping the essence of the original, but inhabiting that world in a different way."
Mark Wahlberg stars in the movie as air force Capt. Leo Davidson, a pilot who is AWOL from an Earth-launched space station and finds himself on a planet in which apes are the dominant species. Tim Roth's chimpanzee General Thade is the leader of the ape society, Burton said. He is "definitely the villain of the piece. And a really clear-cut villain."
Paul Giamatti plays the orangutan Limbo, providing most of the film's comic relief. Canadian supermodel Estella Warren plays Wahlberg's love interest, the Sun reported.
Rollerball Amps Up Action
L Cool J--one of the stars of John McTiernan's upcoming remake of 1975's Rollerball--told syndicated columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith that the new movie will amp up the action.
"I thought the original film was a cool concept, but this film takes it to new heights, with things that were technologically impossible to do at the time of the first feature," he told the columnists.
He added, "The special effects ... balls flying around 200 miles an hour smashing people's jaws off. ... It's going to be a handful." Cool J stars in the May release with Chris Klein, Jean Reno and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos.
The rapper-turned-actor said he had to learn to ride a motorcycle for the movie and did some of his own stunts, "like jumps on some of the ramps." He sprained his ankle in one scene, and until it healed several days later, "I did scenes where I simply had to stand there," he said.
Pinhead Back In Hellseeker
oug Bradley will reprise the role of Pinhead in the upcoming Hellraiser: Hellseeker, the sixth installment in the horror film franchise created by Clive Barker, the SFX Network Web site reported.
Cinematographer Rick Bota (The House On Haunted Hill) will make his directorial debut with Hellseeker, SFX reported.
Ashley Laurence, who appeared in the first three Hellraiser movies, is reportedly set to return to the series. Hellseeker will also feature Callum Keith Rennie (Due South).
Clarke Short List Announced
rganizers have announced the short list for the 2001 Arthur C. Clarke Award for best SF novel published in Great Britain in 2000, according to the Locus Online Web site.
The prize--named for the venerable SF author--will be presented at a ceremony at the Science Museum in London on May 19. A complete list of nominees follows.
•Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle
•Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod
•Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
•Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
•Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
•Salt by Adam Roberts
Carter's Apes Princess Demoted
elena Bonham Carter--star of Tim Burton's upcoming remake of Planet of the Apes--told the Film Four guide that her chimp character has been demoted, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site.
"I'm not actually an ape princess anymore," Carter told the guide. "They demoted me. I'm not even allowed to keep the crown."
But, Carter added, "it's great to be an ape anyway--it's very liberating. You could get away with murder, literally do anything because no one knows who you are. You could be anyone under there. It's tempting to go off and rob a bank or something. You spend so much time in makeup that you start to think about these things."
Remaking the 1968 SF classic movie has been action-packed, Carter said. "It's been fantastic," she said. "The other night I was having fireballs thrown at me. I was in the water as a drowning chimp, and then Tim says, 'OK, we're going to throw fireballs at you now!' So it's stuff like that. And Tim just has this mad energy--hair and limbs flying everywhere. It's hilarious, sitting about on the set watching little groups of extras walk past practicing their ape walk and knowing they're on their way back from [ape] school." Apes is slated for a July release.
X-Men 2 Ramping Up
-Men 2, the sequel to last year's hit film, could begin production before the end of the year, Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige told the Comics Continuum Web site.
"We hope to have the script done before the [impending actors'] strike--or the possible strike--then we'll start prepping it and shoot it before the end of the year," Feige said.
X-Men director Bryan Singer and writer David Hayter are expected to return for the sequel, with the long-awaited announcement from Fox coming within the next two weeks. The cast from the first movie is expected to be back, along with some new mutants. "We haven't decided yet [which ones]," Feige said. "Everybody has their wish list, and then we'll put them on the reality list, and then put them in the script."
Connery To Be Powers' Dad?
ean Connery--the original superspy James Bond--and Honor Blackman (Bond girl Pussy Galore) are being courted to play the parents of Mike Myers' spoof spy Austin Powers in the upcoming prequel, the New York Post reported.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper reported that Myers and producer Jay Roach are working on signing the two actors for the prequel, which is set to begin filming later this year.
Myers' representative, however, denied the rumors to the Post. "No script has been written. It's not true."
Box Office Leaves Left Behind
eft Behind, the Christian-themed apocalyptic movie, opened in 874 theaters on the weekend of Feb. 2 and took in an estimated $2.6 million at the box office, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
While respectable, the take wasn't enough to place the movie in the weekend's top 10.
The movie has followed an unusual release strategy. It was released on video and DVD in October, taking in more than $90 million in sales. The video release was designed to drum up interest in the theatrical release among fundamentalist Christians, who received discounted theater tickets with the videos. Producers also solicited "sponsorships" from church groups and individuals who were willing to pony up money to help bring the film to movie theaters in their towns. Left Behind, which is based on the best-selling series of books of the same name, broadens into more theaters in the coming weeks.
Briefly Noted
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported a rumor, from the Australian Filmink magazine, that Nicolas Cage is up for the role of Bruce Wayne in Darren Aronofsky's upcoming Batman: Year One film.
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The Disney Channel ordered 10 more episodes of its new fantasy series Lizzie McGuire, bringing the total number of episodes in the series' first year to 30, Variety reported. The show follows the life of a 13-year-old who survives adolescence with the help of her animated alter ego.
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Director Darren Aronofsky told Cinefantastique that he envisions a 1970s, French-Connection retro look for his upcoming Batman: Year One movie, according to the Dark Horizons Web site.
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Star Trek's George Takei, writing on his official Web site, said he will voice a supercomputer on an upcoming episode of V.I.P.--a computer programmed by a Trek fan who particularly admired Takei's Capt. Sulu character.
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Gerard Butler (Wes Craven Presents Dracula 2000) will join Matthew McConaughey and Izabella Scorupco in the fantasy movie Reign of Fire, Variety reported. The movie--about a fight against fire-breathing dragons--begins shooting Feb. 19 in Dublin.
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Miramax Films is developing a movie based on Scott Russell Sander's 1988 children's SF book Engineer of Beasts, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The official Star Trek Web site reported that UPN has unveiled the high-tech billboard in Los Angeles touting the final season of Star Trek: Voyager.
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Miko Hughes (Nicholas Crawford on The WB's Roswell) has joined the cast of Jonathan Frakes' upcoming SF thriller movie Clockstoppers, Variety reported. Frakes is an executive producer of Roswell.
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1960s teen idol Frankie Avalon will guest-star on the Feb. 23 episode of The WB's Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, "Beach Blanket Bizarro," the Comics Continuum Web site reported. Avalon will play himself.
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Fox is developing a feature film based on Electronic Arts' popular video game Crusader: No Remorse, the Dark Horizons Web site reported. The film, to be written by Robin Marlow, would follow the game's story of a genetically engineered soldier who turns on his creators.
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The British Tourist Authority will update potential visitors on locations used for filming the upcoming Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone movie, based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling children's novel of the same name.
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Starlog cartoonist Tye Bourdony and Babylon 5 star Claudia Christian have teamed up to offer autographed satirical cartoons of Christian's B5 character Susan Ivanova to be auctioned to benefit the John Wayne Cancer Foundation. Bidding ceases April 3 at 7 p.m. CST.
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Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige told the Comics Continuum Web site that he expects the latest draft for the Ghost Rider movie from David Goyer in about a week. "Everything will fall into place after that," Feige said of the film, which is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that Matrix 2 star Lawrence Fishburne was spotted at a New York City hotel sporting a cast on his left hand and wrist. When asked about it, Fishburne reportedly said that he had torn ligaments training for the sequel.
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David Lynch's failed TV series Mullholland Drive is being turned into a feature film, with new footage shot just for the movie version, according to the Dark Horizons Web site. The surreal film will premiere later this year, the site reported.
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Writer Stephen Gaghan (Traffic) told the New York Times that he has been asked to write the screenplay for a proposed fourth Indiana Jones movie. The paper does not say what happened to the Indy IV script being drafted by M. Night Shyamalan (Unbreakable) for director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford.
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The ShowBiz Ireland Web site confirmed previous reports that Irish pop star Samantha Mumba would co-star in the upcoming update of The Time Machine, based on H.G. Wells' classic SF novel of the same name. Mumba will share the screen with Jeremy Irons, the site reported.
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Matt Schulze has joined the cast of Blade 2, the upcoming sequel to 1999's Blade, Variety reported. Schulze will play a member of a vampire gang in the movie, which goes before cameras in Prague in March.
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Rita Ryack, costume designer for Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Louise Mingenbach, designer for X-Men, were among the nominees for an excellence-in-costume-design award of the Costume Designers Guild, Variety reported. Winners will be announced March 17 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
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