Nebula Final Ballot Announced
he Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced the final ballot for the Nebula Awards, to be given to the best novel, novella, novelette and short story published in 2000.
One of SF's most prestigious awards, the Nebulas will be voted on and presented by active members of the SFWA.
Winners will be announced at the 2001 Nebula Awards weekend in Los Angeles April 27-29. SFWA will publish an anthology including the winning pieces of short fiction and several runners-up. A full list of nominees follows.
Novels
•Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
•A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
•Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson
•Crescent City Rhapsody by Kathleen Ann Goonan
•Infinity Beach by Jack McDevitt
•Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint
Novellas
•"Fortitude" by Andy Duncan
•"Ninety Percent of Everything" by Jonathan Lethem, James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel
•"Hunting the Snark" by Mike Resnick
•"Crocodile Rock" by Lucius Shepard
•"Argonautica" by Walter Jon Williams
•"Goddesses" by Linda Nagata (originally published in SCIFI.COM's SCI FICTION)
Novelettes
•"Daddy's World" by Walter Jon Williams
•"Stellar Harvest" by Eleanor Arnason
•"A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" by Gardner Dozois
•"How the Highland People Came to Be" by Bruce Holland Rogers
•"A Day's Work on the Moon" by Mike Moscoe
•"Generation Gap" by Stanley Schmidt
•"Jack Daw's Pack" by Greer Gilman
Short Stories
•"macs" by Terry Bisson
•"Scherzo With Tyrannosaur" by Michael Swanwick
•"You Wandered Off Like a Foolish Child to Break Your Heart and Mine" by Pat York
•"The Golem" by Severna Park
•"The Fantasy Writer's Assistant" by Jeffrey Ford
•"Flying Over Water" by Ellen Klages
Scripts
•Galaxy Quest by David Howard and Robert Gordon
•Being John Malkovich by Charlie Kaufman
•The Green Mile by Frank Darabont, from the novel by Stephen King
•Dogma by Kevin Smith
•Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki and Neil Gaiman
•Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan
Voyager Rumors Run High
hyllis Strong--co-writer of the last regular episode of Star Trek: Voyager before the two-hour series finale--told SCI FI Wire that interest in the show's last few episodes is so high she actually saw news about her own script on the Internet--while she was still writing it.
Strong--who co-wrote the episode "Renaissance Man" with Mike Sussman--said she was typing the script when she checked the Web and was surprised to discover rumors about her own story.
"I wondered if they came up with anything good," she joked during an interview on the Voyager set. She added that she doesn't understand the obsession. "I think it's great. And well-deserved. But again, I'm new to it, so a lot of what's been generated has come from seven years of ... creating characters and ... stories," she said. She added, "I like Star Trek a lot--it's great," she said. "But I don't live for it."
"Renaissance Man," centers on the Doctor (Robert Picardo), who is able to assume the form of various crew members, SCI FI Wire learned during a recent visit to the set. The episode was being shot the week of March 5 and is the last non-arc episode scheduled to air. In one scene, the Doctor assumes the voice of Capt. Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew); in another, he morphs into Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson). The episode is directed by Voyager veteran Mike Veja.
Production of the finale is scheduled to begin in the next week or two. The cast and crew will commemorate the series' seven-year run with a wrap party on April 11.
Voyager Finale Details Leaked?
he TrekToday fan Web site reported several rumors about the upcoming series finale of Star Trek: Voyager, which it said would be called "Endgame."
The two-hour finale begins production in a week or two and is slated to air on May 23.
Basing its report on what it says is casting information from Paramount, the site reported that the finale's first part would take place 23 years in the future, after Voyager has returned to the alpha quadrant. Tuvok is in an asylum, claiming that Capt. Kathryn Janeway is an impostor, the site reported.
The finale will also feature several new characters, including Lt. Miral Paris, the daughter of B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris; Sabrina, the nine-year-old daughter of Naomi Wildman; a male Starfleet doctor in his 40s; a beautiful woman in her late 20s-early 30s named Lana; a 19-to-22-year-old Starfleet Academy cadet; and a tall and intimidating Klingon male in his 30s.
Voyager executive producer Kenneth Biller has previously hinted that the finale would feature the Borg.
Borg Figure In Voyager End
he two-hour finale of Star Trek: Voyager will feature the Borg, executive producer Ken Biller told Cinescape Online.
"I can tell you this, the finale will involve the Borg, which has always been Voyager's archnemesis," Biller told Cinescape contributors Gregory L. Norris and Laura A. Van Vleet. "It's going to be a rip-roaring, slam-bang action adventure full of twists and turns and surprises."
Biller--who wrote the finale--added that Voyager's May 23 series ender will not lead into the new Trek series, which is currently in development. "It's certainly been a challenge to end this series in a way that is both satisfying and surprising," he said. "Hopefully, we'll give you that."
Familiar Voyager Faces Return
ryan Fuller--co-producer of Star Trek: Voyager--told SCI FI Wire that the series' last few episodes will see the return of some familiar faces.
"We will see in the last few episodes some of the characters we've seen previously," Fuller said in an interview. "We'll see Lt. [Joseph] Carey [played by Josh Clark] and Lt. Vorik [played by Alexander Enberg] again, who are two recurring characters on the show in previous seasons."
Fuller added, "We're going to see some Talaxians. We're going to see the hierarchy aliens again, from [the sixth-season episode] 'Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy.' ... We're going to thread through some familiar faces to keep the audience happy. We will see [Dwight Schultz as Reginald] Barclay again, definitely; I'm not sure if we'll see [Marina Sirtis as] Troi in the final two hours."
As for Voyager's ultimate fate--whether it gets to Earth sooner than later--Fuller wouldn't say. "I've got mixed feelings about it," he said. "Voyager's always been an episodic show, as opposed to a serialized one like Deep Space Nine. There are also plot elements threaded through the last few episodes, where we have a sense of getting to the ultimate goal, without being quite so blatant about it. So within the last few episodes, we feel it building to some sort of crescendo, ... [but] there's no serialized arc. ... I'm of the opinion that Voyager has always been about Capt. Janeway's quest to get her crew home. ... If they do get home in the final two hours, that would be the end of that story, as opposed to getting back to Earth and telling several stories after that. It would be anti-climactic. ... The story should end with them getting home or not being able to get home ever."
Activision Readies Borg Game
ctivision announced a new PC world-building simulator game Star Trek Borg Assimilator, in which gamers can impose order on the galaxy.
The game is being developed by Cyberlore Studios for release in the winter of 2001.
Players will assume the role of the Borg to conquer and assimilate other cultures, including Romulans, Klingons and Federation humans. Borg Assimilator features a 12-level campaign mode, in which players face races with progressively higher resistance quotients. Players can gain access to more advanced buildings, such as regeneration alcoves, research centers and the Borg Queen hive.
Enterprise Rumors False?
he Trekker Newsletter is debunking rumors about the upcoming fifth Star Trek television series, originally posted to the TrekToday Web site.
The rumors suggested that the new series will be called Enterprise and will be based in the 22nd century, with a starship crew that includes Capt. Jackson Archer and a young Vulcan T'Pau.
But the newsletter reported that the show's character list--which was purportedly based on casting information from Paramount--is fraudulent. "A very reliable source to the Trekker Newsletter today said that the character list TrekToday released a few days ago is a fraud, and not the actual premise or characters Brannon Braga and Rick Berman wrote up as series five," the site reported. "This is a very reliable source, although I'm not allowed to reveal his identity, so I have to leave him anonymous."
Fuller Mulls New Trek
tar Trek: Voyager co-producer Bryan Fuller told SCI FI Wire he's considering signing on to the upcoming fifth Trek series, though he remained coy about the series' details.
Voyager executive producer "Brannon [Braga] has told me a little bit about the next series, and everything that he's told me sounds really exciting," Fuller said in an interview.
Fuller added, "I hate to sound like the same old interview that people have seen time and time again, but he's told me some things in confidence that I can't discuss. But I think it will be very exciting. They'll be able to do things with the characters that a lot of the other modern-day Star Treks haven't been able to do. The characters will be much more accessible in a fresh way that the audience will be very excited about. And the premise is just very cool."
Fuller said that Braga asked him tentatively if he'd be interested in joining the writing staff of the next series. "Whether that comes to fruition remains to be seen. A part of me would love to be involved with Star Trek. ... Voyager was my first job in the industry, and I've been working on it for four years. And it will be odd to leave the show. But on another level, it would be good for my career to leave the show, ... to expand myself as a writer and continue to grow creatively. When you keep writing the same type of show over and over again, there is the danger of stagnating. But then again, ... when it's science fiction, the lid is blown off any sort of limits, because there's a broad variety of stories you can tell: romances, comedies, high-concept science fiction. You have a freedom in science fiction that you don't have in, say, NYPD Blue."
Wang Vents About Voyager
arrett Wang--Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager--told SFX magazine that he was disappointed at being rejected for director training on the series, according to a report on Fandom.
"I'm the first actor to be turned down for a directing gig," Wang reportedly told interviewer Paul Simpson.
Wang added, "Is this a racial thing? I truly wonder. I don't know. I'm sitting here thinking, 'Well, why else?' Other than during season two and season three, where I had some problems not being punctual, which got me in hot water at one point in time. ... But I've grown past that. I first asked in year five, then again during year six, and they said no again. The beginning of this year I asked a third time, and again I was told no."
Co-stars Robert Duncan McNeill and Roxann Dawson have been allowed to direct. "One by one they all got their slot, and I had always said to myself, 'Save the best for last. I'm going to come in there, show them little old Garrett, the youngest one on the show coming up with this amazing episode.' ... I waited, but when I did ask, I was turned down by [executive producer] Rick Berman."
Wang added, "I know that Rick Berman said something to the effect that he's not running a directing school here. Well, you could have fooled me! Everyone from Next Generation gets a guest shot. Everyone from [Deep Space Nine] who has an inclination gets a shot, and everyone but Garrett from Voyager gets a shot. You put two and two together and try to figure it out. It's unfortunate, it really is, but all I can really do is wait until the next series begins, and go and ask again."
De Lancie Almost Done With Q
ohn de Lancie--Q on Star Trek--told free-lance SF columnist Ian Spelling that his next appearance as the omnipotent alien will likely be his last.
De Lancie will reprise the role in the upcoming "Q2" episode of Star Trek: Voyager, co-starring with his real-life son, Keegan, who plays Q2.
"It's been 14 years since I first played Q [on Star Trek: The Next Generation], but I've only done a total of 10 or 12 episodes,'' de Lancie told Spelling. "I was just a little relieved after that last scene in 'Q2.' I don't think I will be playing Q again. I could be wrong, but I'm not counting on it. The character has come from the bad boy to being the status quo, really."
De Lancie added, "If anything, I felt I had kind of done a handoff with `Q2.' I'd be surprised if they brought a Q character back, but if they did, there's now another Q, and that person, who happens to be Keegan, could go off and play it." "Q2" is slated to air March 28.
Shatner Relates Desert Escape
tar Trek star William Shatner told The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn that he once used his image as Capt. James T. Kirk to evade a traffic ticket, the official Star Trek Web site reported.
During production of the original series, "we had an early morning out in the desert at Vasquez Rocks," near Los Angeles, Shatner told Kilborn. "I said to wardrobe, 'Instead of me getting there at 4:00 in the morning, I'll get there at 4:30. I'll take the wardrobe home and I'll get into it in the morning.'"
The next morning, Shatner said he put on the costume, got in his car and raced toward the desert at a high rate of speed. On the way, he heard a siren behind him. "A cop pulls me over at 4:00 in the morning, it's dead dark. ... And I got out of my car in my Star Trek uniform. And I turned around, and I said, 'What is this? I've got 400 people to command! I'm on my way to the spaceship! Now what exactly do you want, sir?'" Shatner said. The officer was stunned. "He said, 'Well, I-I, uh ... I, uh ... Well, get along.' The only thing was, I walked back to my car, and then I began to wilt. And as I turned around to see what he was doing, he said, 'Beam me up, Scotty.'"
Buffy Mom Is Really Dead
uffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online that Buffy's mom really died in the recent heart-wrenching episode "The Body," despite fan speculation that Dawn's touch might bring her back.
"Dawn's special energy will not bring Joyce back," Whedon told the site. "Some people thought that at the beginning of the next episode, she was going to touch her and heal her with her Dawn powers. I'm like, 'People! Missing the point!'"
The episode dealt with the death of Joyce Summers (played by Kristine Sutherland) and the aftermath among Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends. The episode included the long-awaited kiss between Buffy regulars Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Tara (Amber Benson)--but without any advance promotion and in an unexpected context.
"They are basically living together, so they're probably already kissing," Whedon said. "[Therefore,] to make a big deal of the kiss would have been totally wrong. It belongs somewhere where you least expect it, where it is completely organic, and you breeze by it." Still, executives at The WB initially asked Whedon to remove it from the episode. "The WB sort of balked, but they got over it really quickly," Whedon told TV Guide. "I was like, 'The kiss is in, or I'm walking.' But not in the sense of, 'Let's get into a fight,' [but] actually to avert one. ... Just to say, there is no middle ground here. This belongs in the show. ... There was one discussion, and there was only one."
Buffy Fans Lobby For Emmy
ans of The WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer are taking up a collection to lobby for an Emmy nomination for the recent episode "The Body," a look at the death of Buffy's mother.
Fans at the ScoopMe! Web site are asking for donations to purchase a full-page ad in Variety urging Emmy consideration for the episode, which was written and directed by Buffy creator Joss Whedon. So far, the site has raised about $1,775 for the ad.
Fans also plan to write letters to executives at The WB and Fox, which produces the show, as well as to TV Guide and other entertainment publications. Whedon was nominated for an Emmy last year for the Buffy episode "Hush."
Episode II Book Previewed
est-selling author R.A. Salvatore--who is writing the novelization of the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II film--offered tantalizing tidbits about the film's tightly guarded plot, according to the Star Wars Homing Beacon newsletter.
"When Amidala first sees Anakin again, I really enjoyed writing that scene," he told the newsletter.
Salvatore added, "I know that the most powerful scenes in the movie are going to be when those two are together. ... Their relationship is very complex. Here's a guy we know is heading for darkness. I was afraid that the turnover for Anakin was going to be just a simple thing. People don't snap like that and go over to the dark side. Maybe they have temporary rage, but they don't become Darth Vader because of that. But with Anakin, there's a lot more to it. That's the real beauty of it. She's a big part in what's going on in him. It's all with the best intentions; they're just misplaced. I think that was a nice touch with the script."
Salvatore has written about half of the upcoming novelization, which will appear in the summer of 2002. "Sure, it's high-profile, so in that instance it's good for my career," Salvatore told the newsletter. "But more than that, it's high-creativity. Even though it's a novelization, and I'm playing off someone else, I get to sit down with George Lucas and listen to the guy who created all this. That's a life experience. You don't turn things like that down."
Salvatore will expand the story of the film and tell of events not shown on the screen. With Lucas' guidance, he is getting insight into the characters and complexities of Episode II, the newsletter reported. "I was able to add in a lot of things that I think will complement [Lucas'] vision," Salvatore said. "Some of them might not be approved, and I'll have to make some changes, but that's part of the process, too."
Anakin Impresses On Episode II
tar Wars: Episode II casting director Robin Gurland told the official Star Wars Web site that star Hayden Christensen is living up to expectations as Anakin Skywalker.
"He amazes me every time," Gurland told the site. "He has some tricky, tricky scenes ... very complicated scenes."
Gurland added, "The arc that he's creating not only has to go through this film, but the next one, and there's a lot of texture to it. And again, the way that this is composed, [director] George [Lucas] writes in these vignettes, and you have to really be able to play within a certain scene, but then carry it forth. For an actor who is carrying it forth in one or two films, it's very difficult. It's a very emotional balance that Hayden's playing. And he can't really give away too much on this one, because the next one is really when it's going to come into play. He is one of the strongest actors I've come across in a long, long time. And it's not just my opinion. People are constantly coming up to me on set and saying, 'Do you know how good he is?' Yes, I do. And these are other actors. It's the ultimate compliment when another actor says, 'This kid is something!'"
Vader's Prowse On Mend
avid Prowse--the former bodybuilder who filled out Darth Vader's black robes in Star Wars--has begun to recover from a mystery illness that partially paralyzed him, the SFX Network Web site reported.
Prowse lost feeling in his arm and back after being struck down earlier this month.
Prowse's spokesman told SFX that he is now eager to get home and return to his normal activities after doctors discovered the paralysis was clearing up.
Lightsaber, Indy Whip Win Big
arrison Ford's Indiana Jones bullwhip sold for $74,000 and Liam Neeson's Star Wars: Episode I lightsaber fetched $54,000 in an auction of movie memorabilia to benefit children at risk for AIDS in Africa, the Reuters news service reported.
The props were part of a 15-lot auction by Sotheby's that raised a total of $406,850 so far, with another 77 items still on the block, the news service reported.
Neeson and his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, worked on the project, called "Movie Action for Children," to raise money to provide drugs to prevent mother-to-fetus transmission of AIDS in African countries.
Weaving Talks Matrix Security
ugo Weaving--who reprises the role of Agent Smith in the upcoming Matrix sequels--told the New York Post that security is tight on the top-secret movies, which begin filming in three weeks.
The scripts cannot be photocopied and have the cast or crew member's name printed across the middle of each page, the newspaper reported.
"Even actors who've signed on haven't got their scripts yet," Weaving told the paper. "They know they're playing such-and-such a role, but they don't know anything about it! I guess with a lot of money at stake, it's fair enough, but I also think it's a little bit over-the-top."
Weaving is set to launch straight into back-to-back shooting on the two Matrix sequels, a commitment that will take him through August 2002. Filming begins in California before moving to Fox's Sydney studios. "It's so much fun to play a villain with a sense of humor," he said. He added, "The plot develops in a really fantastic, really interesting way. But I honestly can't tell you anything more than that."
Lee Preps Tiger Prequel
irector Ang Lee is developing a prequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, USA Today reported.
Lee is in the early stages of writing the script and hopes to bring back Tiger leads Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh, the newspaper reported.
The sequel to the popular martial-arts fable could be an expensive proposition, Lee said. "Everybody's going to charge me five times as much," he said.
No Dragon Action In Hulk
irector Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) told USA Today that he won't be using high-flying, martial-arts action in his upcoming feature-film version of Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk.
"I don't think it could pass in a big-budget film," Lee told the newspaper.
Lee added that he's not likely to begin production on Hulk before impending writers' and actors' union strikes this spring.
Artist May Work On Hulk
omic artist Timothy Bradstreet told the Comics Continuum that he may be working on Universal's movie based on Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk for director Ang Lee.
"Kevin Feige at Marvel Entertainment contacted me last month," Bradstreet told the Continuum. "I met him while working on Blade 2. No big news yet. I'm set to meet with director Ang Lee some time in the next four weeks. I'll know more after that."
Bradstreet provided designs for the sequel to 1998's Blade; the sequel is being directed by Guillermo del Toro in Prague.
David Writes Hulk's Last Stand
arvel Comics writer Peter David told an audience at the Orlando MegaCon that he will re-team with former Incredible Hulk artist Dale Keown on a new Hulk story, the Comics Continuum Web site reported.
"Marvel is doing this series called The Last, the last stories told about Marvel characters," David told the convention. "They asked me, 'Would you like to write the last Hulk?' And I told them I already had."
David was referring to "The Last Titan," a short text story in a collection called Ultimate Hulk. "It was the Hulk as basically the only thing left on Earth," David said. "So they said, 'OK, do you want to adapt it?' And so Dale Keown and I are together again on 'The Last Titan.'"
Gunmen Hits Ratings Target
ox's The Lone Gunmen hit its target audience in its March 4 premiere, winning the 9 p.m. time slot in key demographics, Variety reported.
But the X-Files spinoff placed second in total viewers to a movie on ABC, according to preliminary ratings figures reported by Nielsen.
Lone Gunmen won its 9 p.m. hour in adults 18-49 (preliminary 6.5/14), adults 18-34 (6.8/16) and all male demographics, while placing second in total viewers (13 million). It dipped slightly in its second half hour, but held up well considering the tough competition, Variety reported. Its 18-49 rating is well below what The X-Files averaged in February, featuring co-star David Duchovny, but about on par with recent X-Files episodes that haven't featured him. Lone Gunmen will air two more weeks on Sunday and premiere in its Friday 9 p.m. slot on March 16.
Turtledove SF Spawns Film
andscape Entertainment is developing a time-travel romantic comedy based on two interconnected novellas by SF writer Harry Turtledove: "40 Counting Down" and "21 Counting Up," Variety reported.
The two books tell the story of Justin Kloster, who goes back in time two decades to 1999, when he and his wife begin dating, to confront his younger self, the trade paper reported.
The first novella is told from the standpoint of the older Justin, the second from the perspective of the younger Justin. The as-yet-untitled film will be produced by Landscape founder Bob Cooper and co-produced by senior vice president Marc Rosen.
UPN Sets Midseason Premieres
PN set premiere dates for two mid-season genre series, All Souls and Special Unit 2, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Aaron Spelling's haunted-hospital drama All Souls will air for six weeks on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m., starting April 17.
The comedic SF series Special Unit 2, about a squad of monster-hunting Chicago cops, will take the 7 Days timeslot on Wednesdays at 8 p.m., starting April 11. 7 Days will go on hiatus.
No decision has been made on the future of the fall series Level 9, which ran Fridays in the 9 p.m. slot. But UPN entertainment president Tom Nunan told the Reporter that the series is unlikely to return in the fall. The network has four unaired episodes of the show.
Kids WB! Unveils Schedule
he WB network's Kids WB! unveiled its fall schedule, which includes several new animated genre series, plus a live-action show from Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Nightmare Room, based on Stine's new book series, is an anthology show about a teen-ager with eyeglasses that penetrate the masks people hide behind. It is slated to air in the fall on Saturdays at 11:30 a.m., the trade paper reported.
Other new shows include The Mummy, an animated series based on the Universal Pictures theatrical release of the same name, which will air at 9 a.m. Saturdays. Cubix, a futuristic show about a 13-year-old robot whiz, will air at 10:30 a.m. Saturdays. Still awaiting time slots are Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, which will blend 2-D and 3-D computer animation, and Phantom Investigators, about four seventh-grade private investigators of the paranormal.
Farrellys Roll Up Sleeve
ox will develop the fantasy movie Nothing Up My Sleeve, based on a pitch from novelist Jack Flynn, for Peter and Bobby Farrelly to produce, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film tells the story of a down-and-out magician who accidentally gains real magical powers that he has trouble controlling. Flynn will write the script, his first, the trade paper reported.
Peter Farrelly, Flynn's former classmate at Columbia University, will produce the project with brother Bobby through their Fox-based Conundrum Entertainment, the trade paper reported.
Mark Writer Sued
omic-book writer Robert Napton sued one-time partner Robert Liefeld for more than half a million dollars in connection with the 1997 sale of the script for The Mark, the Inside.com site reported.
Mark was a fantasy spec script being developed by Will Smith, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, among others, as producers, the site reported. Napton and Liefeld are known for developing Battlestar Galactica, Avengelyne and other comic series in the 1990s.
In a suit filed March 2 in Los Angeles, Napton claims co-authorship of the script, about a young man whose hand is marked by a dying stranger, who has endowed him with superhuman traits, Inside.com reported.
Curiousity Fed Rings Crime
ugo Weaving--who plays elf Lord Elrond in Peter Jackson's upcoming Lord of the Rings trilogy of films--told the New York Post that interest in the films has resulted in several alleged crimes.
There have been at least four arrests, after photos and documents were stolen from the Rings set, the newspaper reported.
"People are complete freaks about Lord of the Rings," Weaving told the paper. "Some scripts were even stolen and posted on the Internet, but the scripts were changed quite a lot. There's not much you can say about Lord of the Rings in terms of its story that's not known already because of the novels. They are still very secretive about the scripts in one way."
Weaving added, "I never imagined I'd be one day working on films like these. I find the nature of big-budget filmmaking an antithesis to what an actor would really love to do, which is to actually act. You do end up sitting around an awful lot."
New Godzilla Will Shoot
third film in Toho's new Godzilla series of films will begin production in May, with an eye to a Dec. 15 release in Japan, according to a report on Fandom's Monster Zero Web site.
The movie, Godzilla-Mothra-King Ghidorah: Daikaiju Sogougeki, will feature Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah and Baragon, the site reported.
Keiichi Hasegawa, Masahiro Yokoya and Shusuke Kaneko will write the screenplay. The story is set in the year 2004, and pits the famous monster against three ancient nemeses.
Black Knight Nests In N.C.
artin Lawrence's upcoming time-travel comedy film Black Knight is currently shooting in North Carolina, where huge medieval sets have been built, according to About.com.
"It's about the medieval period, and they've moved in and built a humongous fort with a moat and a drawbridge and the whole works," the state's film commissioner, Bill Arnold, told the site. "They're shooting on that set outdoors and then at a medieval village that's built close by and then also in the soundstages at Screen Gems."
At the Screen Gems lot, "there used to be a back lot [covering] about a four-block 'New York City' area," Arnold said. "A lot of films that ... shot there ... using that back lot were, like, Billy Bathgate. ... They tore that down and built the medieval [set]."
Lawrence plays an employee of a medieval-themed miniature golf course who travels back in time to the real thing. "[There's] jousting and horses and a lot of that," Arnold said. "Of course, the jousting takes place outside. They've got fields, where they've got battles being fought. There are some swinging-through-the-air things on chains, interior-type things, sword fighting, and, I think, there's a fall off the top of the castle, which is about four stories high. It's a dashing type of movie. There's a little lake back there that's being used as well, so they're able to do the whole movie without ever having to move off the lot." Black Knight is slated for an early 2002 release.
Artist Designs Ghost Rider
eteran comics artist Bernie Wrightson told the Comics Continuum Web site that he has contributed designs for the upcoming Ghost Rider film, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name.
Wrightson is working with director Stephen Norrington on design of the title character, which he described as "this guy with a flaming skull on a motorcycle."
"I had a meeting with Steve Norrington, and he had some very specific ideas about how he wanted the character to look," Wrightson told the Continuum. "I started doing sketches based on our conversations, on what he wanted. We made some changes. The character right now is a lot more monstrous and demonic than in the comic book. I like it a lot better. It's got a lot of personality and character. That's where it stands now, and I don't know how much farther we're going to develop it after this. He said that the movie is pretty well green-lit, and that when they go into pre-production, he's going to call me again, because he has some other things he wants me to do."
Wrightson said he enjoyed working with Norrington, who directed 1998's Blade. "I think he's terrific," Wrightson said. "He's a great guy, and he's a hell of an illustrator, too. He started in illustration and effects work before directing. He was one of the effects guys on Aliens, when it was filming in Europe. I loved Blade, especially after he took this very dated, kind of lame character from the '70s, who was kind of a comic-book-Shaft-vampire-killer guy and really did something fun with it."
SCI FI To Air RoboCop: Prime
he SCI FI Channel will air the U.S. premiere of the original miniseries RoboCop: Prime Directives, based on characters in Paul Verhoeven's 1987 feature film RoboCop, the network announced.
The four-part, eight-hour miniseries will air this summer.
RoboCop: Prime Directives--from producer and director Julian Grant--picks up the story where the original feature film left off, centering on the half-man, half-machine Officer Alex Murphy, played by Page Fletcher. Joined by mercenaries, Murphy fights against enemies both new and old, including David Kaydick (Geraint Wyn-Davies), a character named partly in homage to SF author Philip K. Dick.
Peter Pan II May Hit Theaters
isney is so pleased with its animated sequel to the 1953 classic fantasy movie Peter Pan that it's considering releasing the movie theatrically in spring 2002, Variety reported.
The sequel, now about 95 percent complete, had been conceived as a straight-to-video release.
Toy Story 2 and The Tigger Movie were similarly bumped up for theatrical release after development as video premieres, the trade paper reported.
Thunder Shoot Postponed
roduction of A Sound of Thunder--Renny Harlin's time-travel movie based on the Ray Bradbury short story of the same name--has been postponed indefinitely because of time constraints associated with impending actors' and writers' strikes, Variety reported.
Star Pierce Brosnan had asked for another rewrite of the script by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, and the producers decided they didn't have time to do the rewrite and shoot the film before the July 1 Screen Actors Guild strike deadline, the trade paper reported.
The delay would affect Brosnan's availability; he's scheduled to begin work on the 20th James Bond movie this year. A Sound of Thunder was set to begin shooting in Montreal on April 16; filmmakers had already opened a production office in the Canadian city, Variety reported. The $80 million film is based on a Ray Bradbury's 1952 short story about a big-game hunter who time-travels to hunt a dinosaur, but accidentally kills a butterfly--an event that could change the course of history.
Worker Dies In Spidey Mishap
welder building sets in the Los Angeles area for director Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie was killed March 6 in a crane collapse, the Associated Press reported.
The crane toppled onto a construction basket in which the welder was riding and struck him in the head, authorities told the AP.
No filming was under way and no actors were on the uncompleted sets in the L.A. suburb of Downey, Calif. Construction of the sets started several months ago at a former aircraft assembly plant, the AP reported.
A second worker escaped injury, Robert Rowe, the deputy fire marshal for the Downey Fire Department, told CNN. Rowe said it was rainy with "a little bit of a breeze" at the time of the accident, and authorities are looking into reports of the facade shifting just before the crane toppled.
Simmons Talks J. Jonah's Hair
.K. Simmons--who plays editor J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie--told fans during an AOL chat that he's not much like his character, according to a report on the Comics Continuum Web site.
"My take is that he has a lot more hair than I have, and that he's a classic blowhard," Simmons said.
Simmons added that he wears a wig that makes him look "frighteningly" like Jameson, as depicted in the Marvel Comics on which the movie is based.
Sony Pictures, meanwhile, has opened an official Web site for the movie, which is currently in production.
Artist Helps Design Spidey
eteran comic artist Bernie Wrightson told the Comics Continuum Web site that he has contributed design ideas for characters in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie, now in production in Los Angeles.
"I worked with the costume designer, Jim Acheson, on Spider-Man," Wrightson told the Continuum.
Wrightson added, "I personally didn't have a lot to do with Spider-Man himself. But I worked a lot on the Green Goblin. There were, like, three of us working on the Goblin, and we went through a lot of permutations and different ideas about it, and it will be fun to see what they settle on."
Spidey Aims At PG-13 Rating
am Raimi, director of the upcoming Spider-Man movie, told the official Marvel Comics Web site that he's aiming at a PG-13 rating for the film, which is based on Marvel's popular series of the same name.
"The movie is really being made for the whole family," Raimi told the site. "Spider-Man worked as a comic book, because in Stan Lee's original conception, he was a real human being. It really brought out the base of people who could appreciate comic books."
Raimi added, "I think it completely changed the demographic at that point, because suddenly, here was a real character with a love relationship--and sometimes two. He had family problems. It wasn't about being a strong guy. He was a real human being. So I think we're trying to make the picture appeal to an intelligent audience, so that adults can really enjoy it. But at its heart, it will have a lot of fun and excitement and adventure that the kids will also enjoy."
Raimi will talk about his long affection for the character in an upcoming edition of Marvel's Ultimate Marvel Magazine, the site reported. Meanwhile, the site announced that the official Spider-Man movie Web site will feature new content on March 23.
Samurai Jack Ups Action
enndy Tartakovsky--creator of Dexter's and Powerpuff Girls for the Cartoon Network--told the Fandom Web site that he's playing down humor in favor of action for his new series, Samurai Jack.
"The story itself is basically a fish out of water," Tartakovsky told the site. "It's about this medieval samurai who's been transported into the future--this weird world with robots [and] aliens--and he has to find a way back. He also makes it his mission to heal all the wrongs committed by this evil wizard named Apu."
Tartakovsky added, "There are no black lines around the characters. This allows us to help integrate the background into the story. The background is going to be an integral part of the show. We might spend anywhere from the first two or more minutes of an episode just establishing an environment before we introduce any characters or get into the story.
"Production is going really well," Tartakovsky said. "We're already in production on 15 different half hours of our 26-episode commitment, and they're all coming out pretty good. I'm really happy with what we're doing on it. After 52 half hours of Dexter and 52 half hours of Powerpuff, I felt it was time to move on and kind of push myself."
Morris Makes It Two For Spielberg
athryn Morris will play a lead role as Tom Cruise's lawyer in Steven Spielberg's upcoming Minority Report, a Fox and DreamWorks movie based on the Philip K. Dick story of the same name, Variety reported.
She joins Cruise, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton in the SF drama, which begins shooting shortly.
It is the second straight Spielberg movie for Morris, who just wrapped A.I., opposite Jude Law, Haley Joel Osment and Frances O'Connor. That film opens June 29, Variety reported.
ABC Bids On A.I. TV Rights
BC has bid on the first broadcast rights to Steven Spielberg's upcoming SF movie A.I., though the movie is still in production, Variety reported.
ABC declined to comment on financial details, but the trade paper reported that the network was prepared to pay up to $30 million for the rights if the movie earns more than $200 million at the box office.
ABC would have the right to air A.I. starting in 2004. The film--based on a Brian Aldiss short story and a treatment by the late Stanley Kubrick--is slated to open in theaters June 29.
Adrenalynn Writer Leaves
ony Daniel at F5 Entertainment said on the company's official Web site that writer Alan Sereboff has left the feature film based on F5's Adrenalynn comic series.
Sereboff, who was enlisted to write the screenplay for producer Joel Silver (The Matrix), left due to scheduling problems, Daniel reported.
A new writer is expected to come on board in the next couple of months. Production on the movie, which is set to star Christina Ricci as the titular SF avenger, likely won't start until next year, Daniel said.
Aquaman Rejoins Justice League
artoon Network president Betty Cohen told the Fandom Web site that its upcoming animated Justice League series will indeed feature Aquaman.
The series--from Batman/Superman producer Bruce Timm--is based on the DC Comics Justice League of America series.
The series will also feature the familiar DC superheroes Flash, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter and a black Green Lantern. "We will start with 26 all-original half hours of Justice League, and we already know it will be real popular with our fans, especially the 9-14 year olds who love to watch our Toonami block," Cohen told the site. "As for when it will debut, I really don't want to say. I know Timm is putting a lot of time and effort into the production of this series, and I told him I'd rather he do it right than not do it at all. If it takes him until late into November to get the series done, I'm not worried. We aren't under the same pressure to produce new series at certain times like the broadcast networks. That means we can debut Justice League any time it's truly ready."
Cohen added, "We know from our experience of airing Super Friends for years on Cartoon Network, here in the U.S. and around the world, that Justice League will have a vast, built-in audience hungry for an exciting new look at these classic characters."
Miramax Buys Avalon Rights
iramax has bought the rights to Avalon, the live-action SF film by Japanese director Mamoru Oshii, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Miramax acquired the North American rights to the Polish- and Japanese-language film that centers on a woman who enters a computer fantasy game to rescue her lover, the trade paper reported.
No North American release date has been set. Kazunori Ito wrote Avalon for Oshii, who is perhaps best known for directing the 1995 anime feature Ghost in the Shell.
Scooby Begins Shooting
arner Brothers officially announced that production started Feb. 12 in Queensland, Australia, on Scooby Doo, a live-action movie based on the animated television series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
The film stars real-life paramours Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar as Fred and Daphne, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy and Linda Cardellini as Velma, and also features Rowan Atkinson as Mondavarious, the mysterious owner of Spooky Island.
Raja Gosnell (Big Momma's House) directs the comedy from a script by James Gunn (The Specials). The film tells the story of the Mystery Inc. gang as they investigate the whereabouts of Scooby. Scooby Doo will shoot entirely on location in Queensland, the studio announced. The movie is slated for a 2002 release.
Evil Ernie Film Proposed
haos! Comics' Brian Pulido told fans at MegaCon that the publisher is working with KISS member Gene Simmons on a live-action feature film based on Chaos' Evil Ernie series, the Comics Continuum Web site reported.
"This has been a slow process for both parties," Pulido reportedly said. "We had to sniff each other out and give it direction. Gene has a certain point of view, and we have a certain point of view. He's an immovable object. We're an immovable object."
Pulido added, "Actually, we expect to see the first draft of an Ernie screenplay under our mutual direction, probably by the end of April now. It's a little later than I would have liked, but at that point, it goes into financing. It doesn't mean that it's guaranteed, but that's exactly where it's at right now."
Aurealis Winners Named
he Aurealis Awards 2000--honoring Australian SF works published in 2000--have been announced, the Eidolon.net Web site reported.
The awards were presented March 2 at a ceremony in Prahran, Victoria. A full list of winners follows.
Division A: Science Fiction
Best Novel
•The Miocene Arrow by Sean McMullen
Best Short Story
•"Infinite Monkey" by Damien Broderick
Division B: Fantasy
Best Novel
•Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier
Best Short Story
•"The World According to Kipling (A Plain Tale from the Hills)" by Geoffrey Maloney
Division C: Horror
Best Novel
•The Resurrectionists by Kim Wilkins
Best Short Story
•"The First and Final Game" by Deborah Biancotti
Division D: Young Adult
Best Novel
•Thursday's Child by Sonya Hartnett
Best Short Story
•"The Queen's Notice" by Margo Lanagan
Convenor's Award (Joint Winners)
•Spinouts-Bronze, edited by Paul Collins and Meredith Costain
•The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan
Earth RPG Coming to Web
ame publisher Westwood Studios announced Earth and Beyond, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in a persistent-state galaxy, which will ship later this year for the PC.
Players will be able to compete against thousands of others at EA.com, the official Web site of Westwood's parent company, Electronic Arts.
Earth and Beyond is set in the future, when star travel is in its earliest stages. Gamers can explore the universe and assume the roles of fighter, explorer, trader or any combination. The persistent-state galaxy will feature hundreds of planets, moons, nebulae, starports, Star Gates, black holes, capital ships and other areas.
PKD Award Judges Announced
he Philadelphia Science Fiction Society announced the five judges for the Philip K. Dick Award for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original format in the United States in 2001.
The nominees will be announced in January 2002. The awards ceremony will be held
in Seattle at Norwescon 25 in April 2002.
The judges are Constance Ash of New York; Greg Beatty of Coralville, Iowa; Jan Lars Jensen of Halifax, Nova Scotia; Louise Marley of Redmond, Wash.; and Scott Westerfeld of New York.
Klein Spills On Rollerball
hris Klein--star of John McTiernan's remake of 1975's Rollerball--told the About.com Web site that he's never seen the original SF film, but was willing to reveal much about the remake. "I play Jonathan Cross, who was the James Caan character in the first Rollerball," Klein told the site.
"In this one, I come from San Francisco, and I come from kind of meager beginnings and don't have much in the way of money or drive to do anything special, or anything at all, except do some crazy sports for money."
Klein added, "My dream is to be a professional hockey player, and that never materializes, until my very best friend in the world, played by L.L. Cool J, comes to me in his Porsche. He tells me he's been in eastern Europe playing this underground sport called Rollerball, and all of a sudden he's got a Porsche, tons of money, jewelry. I bite, and I go over there, and I become one of the premier Rollerball players of the sport."
Klein says the action in the new film is not limited to the arena sport. "We got to do some awesome stuff," he said. "Besides rollerblading on a great ramp with all kinds of opportunities for jumps and stuff, there's motorcycles involved. We escape on a motorcycle. We have a really cool chase with me on a downhill street luge on the streets of San Francisco, getting chased by cops. Then I jump into the Porsche, and we roll off. There's a great chase with airplanes and tanks and things. They're actually doing some re-shoots right now on John McTiernan's ranch in western Wyoming, with helicopters and tanks, so there's some cool things happening in this movie."
Lee Ready For Devil Remake
hristopher Lee told the Empire Online Web site that director Joe Dante will helm a remake of Lee's 1967 Hammer horror classic The Devil Rides Out, in which the actor will reprise his original role of the Duc de Richleau.
"If we make it again, I will play [Richleau]; that's one definite thing," Lee told the site. "At the moment, it's just a question of getting all the rights from the appropriate quarters, which we are in the process of doing."
Lee added, "Joe Dante has agreed to direct. We won't have the same cast, except for me, and I'm just about the right age, [perhaps] a little bit older than Richleau was in the books." The Devil Rides Out was based on a satanic thriller by occult novelist Dennis Wheatley and is one of the few Hammer films in which Lee played the hero, the site reported. Lee previously worked with Dante on Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Lee said he thought remaking The Devil Rides Out would be "very exciting, particularly with today's special effects."
Bond Wears Brosnan Out
ierce Brosnan told the Cinescape Online Web site that he's not eager to jump back into the role of James Bond.
"If the studio had its way, we'd be churning them out every 18 months," Brosnan told Cinescape columnist Cindy Pearlman. "I think it's wiser to have larger gaps between them. It's a taxing movie, and you need to rest up between adventures."
As for the proposed 20th installment in the venerable film franchise, Brosnan was tight-lipped, saying only, "I want this next Bond to be the most surprising and realistic of any I've done."
Exorcist Turns Up On U.K. TV
he classic 1973 supernatural horror film The Exorcist will air for the first time on British television on March 17, according to the Popcorn U.K. Web site.
The U.K.'s Channel 4 will air the movie.
Britain first saw The Exorcist in theaters a year after its 1973 release in the United States. The movie reportedly caused fainting and vomiting among theater-goers. The Exorcist was subsequently denied a U.K. home-video release because it was considered too disturbing.
It wasn't until 1999 that an uncut version of the movie was allowed back onto British theater screens, after the British Board of Film Classification accepted the film no longer had the same effect, the site reported.
Immortal Gets A Partner
orenzo Lamas--star of the syndicated fantasy series The Immortal--told TV Guide Online that he's looking forward to acquiring a new partner in September, when the show returns for a second season. WWF wrestler Sable joins the cast as Rena Mero.
"What she does is infuse a brand-new energy into the show," Lamas told TV Guide. "It was physically very tiring for me to carry the whole thing myself."
Lamas plays a 400-year-old demon slayer on the series; Sable will play his female counterpart. "She's easy on the eyes, too, so that's going to bring in a lot of the male audience that the show is geared for," Lamas said. Will there be a romance? "I think it would be a natural conclusion that there would be, if not a consummation, ... certainly the promise of a romance," he said. "But my character has difficulty becoming emotionally attached, because he's always afraid that he's going to outlive everybody."
Hurt Signs On To Tuck
illiam Hurt (Frank Herbert's Dune) has signed on for a role and Alexis Bledel is in talks to make her feature-film debut in the lead role of Disney's upcoming fantasy film Tuck Everlasting, to be directed by Jay Russell (My Dog Skip), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie is scheduled to begin production in April in Baltimore.
If she signs on, Bledel will play a 10-year-old who discovers that a neighboring family, the Tucks, has a spring whose water prevents aging. Hurt will play the patriarch of the Tuck family. Ben Kingsley has signed to play a stranger who discovers the family's secret, the trade paper reported. The movie is based on Natalie Babbitt's 1975 children's book of the same name.
Hurt will also appear in Warner Brothers' upcoming SF film A.I., which is directed by Steven Spielberg.
TNT Sandwiches Witchblade
NT will air new episodes of its upcoming fantasy series Witchblade between reruns of Law & Order, starting in June, Variety reported.
Witchblade, which is based on the Top Cow comics series of the same name, will most likely air at 9 p.m. on a weeknight to be determined, preceded by L&O at 8 p.m. and followed by another L&O at 10 p.m., the trade paper reported.
TNT has ordered 11 episodes of Witchblade, which stars Yancy Butler as New York detective Sara Pezzini.
Paul Pitches Tracker
drian Paul--the former Highlander star who will headline the proposed syndicated SF series Tracker--told the About.com Web site that the show centers on an extraterrestrial.
"It's about an alien on Earth--more like Starman is the way I want to go with it," Paul told the site. "I want it to have a lot of humor. I want it shot differently, and I want it to have some interesting aspects, like set design and really good writers that write non-sequitur dialogue."
Lion's Gate studios is producing the show, which has a pilot script but no production start, Paul said. Paul was pitching the series at the recent National Association of Television Program Executives conference in Las Vegas.
Earth Down To No. 4
hris Rock's fantasy movie Down to Earth fell two places in the box-office rankings to No. 4, taking in an estimated $8 million on the weekend of March 2, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
After two weeks, Earth has earned about $44.1 million.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon held steady at No. 5, with $4.9 million and an 87-day total of $88.7 million.
But Monkeybone fell fast in its second weekend, taking in just about $1 million in ticket sales after debuting at No. 11 last weekend.
Briefly Noted
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Harold Perrineau and Daniel Bernhardt have joined the cast of the next two installments of The Matrix, currently in production in California, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The Upcoming Movies Web site reported that John McTiernan's remake of Rollerball will be released on August 17.
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Del Rey Books has signed SF author Greg Bear to a three-book deal, starting with Darwin's Children, the sequel to Bear's award-winning 1999 novel Darwin's Radio. Bear is also the author of Star Wars I: Rogue Planet, which will be published in May.
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J.K. Rowling's two Harry Potter spinoff books--Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them--arrive in stores March 12. The book titles are the same as those required at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as described in Rowling's Potter series of novels.
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The pay-per-view Broadway television network will offer the musical Jekyll & Hyde, starring David Hasselhoff, on March 10 at 8 p.m. in high-definition and surround sound.
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James Purefoy will join Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez in the upcoming Resident Evil movie, based on the video-game franchise, Variety reported. The film is shooting in Berlin under the direction of Paul Anderson.
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Disney's animated sequel Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure has generated an estimated $50 million in gross revenue in less than a week of release on VHS and DVD, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Tramp II is on its way to a record-breaking 1 million-unit mark in its first seven days on store shelves, the trade paper reported.
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Disney will develop The Boy's Club, a fantasy movie based on a pitch by writer Joanna Johnson, Variety reported. The film tells the story of a workplace in which the lead man and woman swap personalities.
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Marina Sirtis (Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation) told fans at a convention in Pennsylvania that she won't appear in the upcoming fifth Trek series, the Dark Horizons Web site reported. "Something about the timelines being different," Sirtis said.
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Nana Visitor, who played Kira Nerys in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has signed on to appear in the final five first-season episodes of Fox's SF series Dark Angel, Fandom reported. Visitor will play the villainous Madam X.
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The Star Wars Insider magazine contains an interview with and photo of Ian McDiarmid, who will play Chancellor Palpatine--the character who eventually becomes the Emperor--in Star Wars: Episode II, the official Star Wars Web site reported.
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USA Today reported release dates of December 25, 2002, for The Matrix 2 and May 22, 2002, for Star Wars: Episode II.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that rock singer Clint Mansell will provide music on the soundtrack to the Resident Evil movie, based on the popular video game series of the same name.
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Fandom's Superman Fandomain reported a rumor that Michael Rosenbaum has won the role of young Lex Luthor and John Schneider will play Jonathan Kent in The WB's upcoming young Superman series Smallville. The show will reportedly start production March 8 in Vancouver.
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Hollywood Pictures has posted a trailer for its upcoming time-travel film Just Visiting, a remake of the 1993 French movie Les Visiteurs. The movie, starring Jean Reno and Christina Applegate, opens April 6.
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Production of Tim Burton's upcoming remake of Planet of the Apes moves to the big island of Hawaii this month, the Associated Press reported. Hawaii County Film Commissioner Marilyn Killeri told the AP that the island was selected over other areas, including Maui, because of its "diverse look." Apes opens in July.
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The Dark Horizons Web site posted what it says is the teaser poster for the upcoming Tomb Raider movie, featuring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft. The film, based on the popular Eidos video game series of the same name, opens June 15.
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The Outpost Gallifrey fan Web site reported that the on-again, off-again feature film based on the BBC's longstanding Doctor Who series may be on again. The site reported a rumor that the movie could be announced as early as summer by a major Hollywood studio, in conjunction with BBC Films.
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Heather Graham--Mike Myers' co-star in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me--told the About.com Web site that she's unlikely to appear in the proposed third Powers movie. "I think they'd have to think of a new way to bring me in," Graham told the site. "I told them I wouldn't be exploded [like Elizabeth Hurley in Spy]. I'm curious to see what they do with that."
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The SFX Network reported a rumor that Star Trek: Voyager character Neelix (Ethan Phillips) will depart the series before the titular starship reaches Earth. With just a handful of stories remaining in the show, the episode currently in production will be Neelix's last, the site reported.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that the release date for Ivan Reitman's upcoming SF comedy film Evolution has been moved up to June 8 from mid-July.
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The official Web site for the upcoming horror spoof movie Elvira's Haunted Hills has gone live, with images and a trailer.
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Star Wars creator George Lucas joined contributors Robert Zemeckis (What Lies Beneath) and Steven Spielberg (A.I.) to host the opening celebration for the new University of Southern California Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts on March 1 in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Dark Shadows actor Louis Edmonds died March 3 following a brief illness, the Dark Shadows Journal reported. He was 76 years old. Louis appeared during the entire five-year run of the gothic soap opera in the role of Roger Collins and five other roles on the series. He also reprised Roger Collins in the 1970 spinoff film House of Dark Shadows, the journal reported.
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director Ang Lee and star Michelle Yeoh were named international filmmaker and international star of the year at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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