Voyager Wraps, New Treks Prep
tar Trek: Voyager concluded its seven-year journey on April 9 when
director Allan Kroeker called "cut" for the final time on the set of the
series finale, "Endgame."
UPN will air the two-hour capper, which involves
alternate timelines, features Dwight Schultz as Reg Barclay and heralds the
return of the dreaded Borg, on May 23.
Even as Voyager wound down, preproduction was underway on the next Star Trek show, referred to so far only as "Series V." Sets were already being erected on Paramount soundstages and John Eaves has reportedly designed a new starship for the series. Rick Berman and Brannon Braga co-created the show and will executive produce it, while casting will be announced shortly.
Well-placed sources confirm that former Quantum Leap star Scott Bakula is the front-runner for captain's role in Series V. The plan is for production to begin in late April, with a two-hour pilot and possibly one episode to be shot before the looming writers' and actors' strikes begin.
As for the film Star Trek X, Berman recently told SF journalist Ian Spelling that he,
Brent Spiner and John Logan wrote the basic story, and that Logan is
fine-tuning a second draft of the script. The film will involve cloning and
a "lot" of Romulans, and, Berman added, it will "definitely" be a post-strike
picture.
While no one wants the see any strikes, Berman--who, between the Trek series The Next
Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Trek films seven through nine, has overseen production on 526
hours of Star Trek--told SCI FI Wire that a work stoppage could
have its benefits.
"If there is a strike, it would certainly keep Star Trek
off the air for a while, which would mean that the audience could be a little
hungrier for it," Berman said. "And if we go with the assumption that there's an
actors' strike but no writers' strike, we can write numerous episodes and
have them ready to shoot when the strike ends."
Seven Of Nine Changed Lives
ver the course of her four years on Star Trek: Voyager playing Seven of Nine, Jeri Ryan became a TV star, a sex symbol, and a magazine cover girl and met her current beau, longtime Trek
producer Brannon Braga.
But, the actress told SCI FI Wire, her Borg alter
ego changed the lives of others as well.
"There have been a number of encounters with fans and a number of letters
that I've gotten, that honestly never cease to amaze me, from people who have
sincerely said that the character and the show made a difference in their
life," Ryan said. "They wrote that how Seven has been portrayed in her
struggle to regain her humanity reflects what they've been struggling with in
their lives. For example, people who were abused as children send me that
kind of letter.
"One woman in particular, who had been a rape victim, wrote to tell me how
deeply she was affected by [the seventh-season episode] 'Human Error.' That
episode inspired her to get counseling. Seven's struggle with overcoming her
fear of humanity, overcoming her fear of imperfection and overcoming her past
with the Borg encouraged this woman and helped to give her the support she
needed to seek therapy. It's incredibly nice to get that kind of feedback,
to know that something you've done as an actor has had a positive impact on
someone."
Nimoy Donates $1 Million
tar Trek legend Leonard Nimoy has donated $1,050,000 toward the
refurbishment of the 66-year-old Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, the World Entertainment News Network (WENN) reported.
Nimoy shot
scenes for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in Griffith Park and was quoted by
WENN as saying, "By observing the sky and pondering our place in the universe
people gain a new perspective on their daily lives. The observatory gives
visitors that opportunity."
Beyond supporting the Griffith Observatory, Nimoy--who turned 70 on March 26--is busy with several new projects. He and John de Lancie, Nimoy's
partner in the audio troupe Alien Voices, recently released the second Spock Vs. Q audiotape and are performing the show live at several Star Trek conventions.
Nimoy also guest-starred on an episode of Becker,
appearing as Professor Emmett Fowler opposite Ted Danson and former Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine cast member Terry Farrell. And, finally, Nimoy will
also be heard as the voice of the Atlantean King in new animated Disney
feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire, set to open nationwide on June 15.
Lopez, Bacon Win Blockbusters
ennifer Lopez and Kevin Bacon were among the winners of
the Seventh Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, which aired April 11 on
Fox.
Presented by Blockbuster and Entertainment Weekly, the show featured 65
award categories covering movies, video games and music, with the winners
chosen by the public via both online and in-store ballots.
Presenters included Michael Clarke Duncan, Lara Flynn Boyle, Dustin Hoffman and Glenn Close. The notable genre winners were:
- Best Actor/SF: Kevin Bacon, Hollow Man
- Best Actress/SF: Jennifer Lopez, The Cell
- Best Supporting Actor/SF: James Marsden, X-Men
- Best Supporting Actress/SF: Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, X-Men
- Best Actor/Suspense: Harrison Ford, What Lies Beneath
- Best Actress/Suspense: Michelle Pfeiffer, What Lies Beneath
- Best Supporting Actor/Suspense: Andre Braugher, Frequency
- Best Supporting Actress/Suspense: Christina Ricci, Bless the Child
Fox Sues Marvel Over Mutant X
wentieth Century Film Corp. is suing Marvel Enterprises Inc., seeking
unspecified damages over Marvel's plan to launch a new syndicated TV series
entitled Mutant X, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Fox claims that the proposed series, to be produced by Marvel in association with Tribune
Entertainment and Fireworks Entertainment, is a carbon copy of X-Men, a
Marvel property that Fox transformed into a hit feature in 2000 as the first
of an intended film franchise.
Fox, in its suit, demands that production on Mutant X not move forward.
Meanwhile, just hours after Fox filed its suit, Marvel filed one of its own
in Manhattan Federal Court. Marvel argues that Mutant X is entirely
different from X-Men.
Said Fox in a statement issued on Wednesday, "Although we value our good
relationship with Marvel and hope this can be resolved, we must take all
appropriate action to protect our very valuable X-Men rights."
Paquin Joins The Darkness
-Men star Anna Paquin (Rogue) has been signed to headline director Jaume Balaguero's film The Darkness, according to Variety.
The Darkness is a fright film that will cast
Paquin as a girl whose family relocates to a house in the countryside; when
the home turns into a house of horrors, the family promptly falls apart at
the seams.
Paquin won an Oscar for her performance in The Piano and scored a commercial
hit last year with the blockbuster X-Men. The Darkness will be shot in Spain, with the Spanish company Filmfax
funding the production and Dimension Films, Miramax's genre division, set to
release it domestically.
Paquin will next be seen opposite Ed Harris, Scott Glenn and Joaquin
Phoenix in the comedy/drama Buffalo Soldier, then will segue--barring any actor
strikes--into the X-Men sequel.
Sarandon Enchanted By Disney
usan Sarandon will star in Disney's upcoming live-action/animated
family film, Enchanted, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film will be
directed by Jon Turteltaub (Phenomenon and "Part Seven" of HBO's From the Earth to the Moon series), while Sarandon will play the role of a mean queen who banishes a
young woman to real-world New York City.
David Hyde Pierce of Frasier and A Bug's Life has been signed to provide the voice
of the queen's valet. Barry Sonnenfeld and his partner Barry Josephson, the
men behind the likes of Men in Black, Fantasy Island and the upcoming Fox
series The Tick, will co-produce, while Academy Award winner Alan Menken will
compose the score.
Chow Yun-Fat Will Animate Terl
rouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star
Chow Yun-Fat will pick up where John Travolta left off, providing the voice
of the alien Terl in an animated series version of L. Ron Hubbard's novel Battlefield Earth,
according to Variety columnist Army Archerd.
Despite the fact that last
year's Battlefield film adaptation ranked as one of the movie industry's all-time
misfires, Pine Com International has committed to producing 20 one-hour
episodes of the animated series.
Tavolta played Terl in the motion picture version of the story, which was lambasted by fans and critics alike. Despite the critical pounding, producers have said they are at work on a sequel, which will cover the events that take place in the second half of the novel.
Grey Will Star As Buffy God
eteran character actor Joel Grey will play an underworld god in the season
finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Variety columnist Army Archered reported.
Grey is no stranger to
SF, having appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode
"Resistance" (as Caylem), the "Essence of Life" episode of the new Outer Limits series and as the Ghost of Christmas Past opposite Patrick Stewart in the TNT
production of A Christmas Carol.
Grey is also getting set to reprise his role as the angel Roland in the CBS series Touched By An Angel.
Aronofsky May Team With Pitt
i director Darren Aronofsky will write and direct an as-yet-untitled sci-fi epic for Warner Bros., with Brad Pitt in negotiations to star, according to The Hollywood
Reporter.
Aronofsky, the man behind the acclaimed film Requiem for a
Dream, is currently collaborating with Frank Miller to write Batman: Year One
for Warners.
Pitt can next be seen in Spy Game and is currently shooting a remake of Oceans
Eleven for director Steven Soderbergh.
Pitt is reportedly very
serious about teaming with Aronofsky, but the actor has been known to bow out of projects at the last minute.
Tagawa Is The Apes Man
hat face on the Planet of the Apes teaser poster belongs to none other than
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the veteran genre actor told SCI FI Wire.
"I don't
know exactly how or why they decided to use an image of me for the first
poster, but I'm obviously very happy about it," Tagawa said, standing in
front of a giant version of the poster while signing autographs at a recent
SF convention.
"They want to keep everything about the movie a secret, but I
can tell you that I play a character named Krull and that most of my scenes
are with Helena Bonham Carter," he said. "I can also tell you that the film is a remake
of Planet of the Apes, but that [director] Tim Burton is taking it in a
different direction."
Tagawa, whose many genre credits include the films John Carpenter's Vampires,
The Phantom and Mortal Kombat and such TV shows as Star Trek: The Next
Generation, Babylon 5, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Stargate SG-1, Seven Days and
Space Rangers, will also be on view in another widely anticipated summer
movie, Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor opens on Memorial Day, while Planet of the
Apes seeks to conquer theaters on July 27.
"I guess you could say I'm
book-ending the summer with the two films," the actor said. "I hope they're
both huge hits."
Spy Kids Still No. 1
py Kids remained the top movie in the nation during the week of April 1, according to Reuters, grossing
an estimated $17.8 million in its second weekend of release.
The Robert
Rodriguez film, sort of James Bond for kids, has grossed $49 million to date
on a $35 million budget.
Dimension Films green-lighted a sequel--with Antonio Banderas, Carla
Gugino, Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara already signed to star--even before Spy Kids opened.
Exorcist Ban Lifted
he Australian state of Victoria has lifted its Good Friday ban on showings
of the film The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen, according to The
Hollywood Reporter.
Victoria had implemented the ban for fear of
offending Catholics, but apparently the wrath of theater owners and civil
liberties groups was stronger.
Spider-Man Double Injured
arely a month after an accident claimed the life of a construction crewman
working on Spider-Man, another accident has left a man injured, E Online
reported.
Zack Hudson, stunt double for the film's star, Tobey Maguire, broke
his leg on Tuesday, April 3, when a stunt went awry.
Hudson was supposed to smash
through one brick wall and then bounce over to another; instead
he crashed directly into the second brick wall. Columbia Pictures could not
comment on the extent of Hudson's injuries, nor is it known if the incident
will delay either the film's production or release.
Briefly Noted
-
The American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Thrills, America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies will air in June as a special on CBS, Variety's Army Archerd reported. Among those interviewed for the special are genre personalities Steven Spielberg, John Williams, William Friedkin, Jerry Goldsmith and Patricia Hitchcock.
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Angel star David Boreanaz has joined the cast of I'm With Lucy, Variety reported. The film is about a terminally ill woman (Monica Potter) seeking Mr. Right before she dies.
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Mummy and Mummy Returns star Rachel Weisz is in final negotiations to join
Hugh Grant and Toni Collette in About a Boy, Reuters reported. Adapted from
the Nick Hornby novel, the movie concerns a rich, commitment-phobic man
(Grant) who dates only single mothers, then falls in love with one (Weisz)
and befriends the awkward son of another (Collette).
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MGM will release Rollerball on Aug. 17 pending the completion of special
effects, according The Hollywood Reporter.
-
First Wave producers Chris Brancato and Bert Salke will jump from the SCI FI
Channel series to the
drug-themed drama Dope, according to Variety. The duo will produce Dope for
F/X.
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