Adams' Last Book Coming
ouglas Adams' last unfinished novel, A Salmon of a Doubt, will be published next year on the anniversary of his death, the British Telegraph newspaper reported.
Salmon—the sixth installment of Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series—was edited based on files found on Adams' computer after he died suddenly in May, Adams' agent, Ed Victor, told the Telegraph.
Adams, who died of a heart attack at age 49, suffered from writer's block and is believed to have been working on the book for 11 years, the newspaper reported. "We have pored over Douglas' hard drive," Victor said. "There were so many different versions of the novel. He would take it and then revise it repeatedly, so there were many files. As soon as he wrote anything, he would say, 'Oh God, that's terrible.' He was a very, very self-critical author."
A Salmon of a Doubt will be published in a volume of the author's final writing, which includes magazine and newspaper articles, lectures, writings from his Web site and his work with BBC Radio 4. It will also include the screenplay of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the newspaper reported.
Mortensen Risks Rings Fame
iggo Mortensen, that rare actor who dislikes the limelight, told SCI FI Wire that he signed on for the role of Aragorn in the three upcoming The Lord of the Rings movies despite the fact that the films might transform him into a star.
"I didn't have much
time to think about it," Mortensen said in an interview, referring to the fact that he stepped in as Aragorn with no preparation after the departure during the rehearsal process in New Zealand of Stuart Townsend, who'd been
deemed too young for the part.
"It's a decision I'll have to live with," said Mortensen, whose genre credits include Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, The Prophecy and the Psycho remake. "Ultimately, my son overheard me on the phone, and he said, 'You have to do that.' I said it was a long time away, and he said he could come over. And I decided that if I didn't do it, it would be something I would probably regret later. I thought I'd feel foolish not taking up the challenge. Now
the way I look at it is The Lord of the Rings came to me as an unexpected gift. I had no idea it would be as tough or as interesting as it was, or as much of a responsibility and an honor," he said. "Whatever happens—if people take to it or not—I learned a lot, and it was a very worthwhile experience." The first Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, will open nationwide on Dec. 19.
Rings Film Book Sells
t's a book about a movie based on a book, but The Lord Of The Rings Official Movie Guide by Brian Sibley nevertheless will show up at No. 13 on the New York Times paperback nonfiction best-seller list when it debuts Nov. 25, New Line Cinema reported.
The book is Houghton Mifflin's authorized, behind-the-scenes guide to the filming of the New Line Cinema trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson and based on J.R.R. Tolkien's three Lord of the Rings books, which are also published by Houghton Mifflin.
The first Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, opens Dec. 19.
Mulgrew Confirms Nemesis Role
tar Trek: Voyager star Kate Mulgrew confirmed to fans that she will indeed appear in the upcoming 10th Trek film, Star Trek: Nemesis, the TrekToday Web site reported.
Speaking at the Philadelphia Slanted Fedora convention, Mulgrew said she would be "ordering [Capt. Jean-Luc] Picard around" in her role as Adm. Kathryn Janeway, the site reported. Mulgrew added that her part would require four days of shooting.
Separately, Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher) confirmed at the convention that Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) would also appear in the film, as Wheaton reported earlier on his official Web site. McFadden also said that there was one more cameo in the film, though she remained tight-lipped about who it would be. The TrekToday site speculated that the cameo could involve Whoopi Goldberg reprising her role as Guinan.
Potter 2 Already Shooting
irector Chris Columbus told the BBC that he has already starting shooting Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the sequel to the current blockbuster Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which opened Nov. 16.
Scenes already completed include one featuring Harry and Ron in a flying car "and a little bit of the spider sequence," Columbus told the BBC. "But not enough to merit releasing the film—it would probably only be about two minutes long!"
Potter star Daniel Radcliffe added that he has already started shooting a new Quidditch sequence with his nemesis, Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton). "I have, actually—and he's been on his faster broomstick," he said. "But I still prefer mine."
Willow Resdiscovered
arwick Davis told SCI FI Wire he still doesn't quite understand why his 1988 fantasy film Willow wasn't more popular, but added that—on the eve of its DVD debut—he's pleased that the movie is being rediscovered.
"I don't know exactly what happened," said Davis, who starred as the heroic Willow Ufgood opposite Val Kilmer, in an interview. "I think it possibly had to do with the fact that it came out against [Who Framed] Roger Rabbit and Rambo III." Ron Howard directed Willow, which was produced by George Lucas.
Davis added, "Roger Rabbit was very hyped, because of its groundbreaking mix of animation and live action. It was innovative and brilliant. Rambo III came out as well, so old Sylvester Stallone got the best of us. But since then, the audience has decided Willow is a pretty decent movie, and they want to watch it. I think that's what's given it success on video, on cable and in TV reruns. And now, hopefully, more people will discover it on DVD. People like that Willow is this little guy and underdog, but he's also an unlikely hero who rises to the occasion to complete his quest." Willow: The Special Edition, featuring a commentary track by Davis, will be available in stores beginning Nov. 27 from Fox Home Entertainment.
Flitwick Back In Potter 2
arwick Davis, who plays Prof. Flitwick in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, told SCI FI Wire that he will return in the upcoming sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which begins filming this week.
Davis appears in the first movie as Flitwick and also as the nasty goblin manager of Gringott's Bank.
In an interview, Davis said that he enjoyed the job and will reprise his role as Flitwick in the sequel. He added that several Sorcerer's Stone scenes hit the cutting-room floor. "There was lots more for everybody," Davis said. "But they had to make it all fit into 2 1/2 hours. That's long as films go, but it didn't feel like 2 1/2 hours to watch. I wanted more. It was that good. If there's a director's cut, there will certainly be more of Flitwick and the other characters. There was loads of Quidditch watching, where he does all sorts of funny stuff. He loves Quidditch and gets overenthusiastic. There were little nuances in the classroom that also went. Cutting a second or two here and a scene or two there over the course of a long movie—it makes a difference. It's no big deal. If you don't know it's there, you don't know it's gone." Sorcerer's Stone is now playing.
Potter Enchants Audiences
arry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone exceeded even the most optimistic projections by breaking box-office records in its opening weekend, conjuring up about $93.5 million in the first three days of its release, Warner Brothers announced.
The estimated take broke the spell held by previous record holder The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which took in $72.1 million in its first three days of release in 1997.
"This is truly historic for Warner Brothers Pictures," said Alan Horn, the studio's president and chief operating officer, in a statement. "Everyone involved in the making, marketing and distribution of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone took great care and effort to protect the integrity of the characters and the story so beautifully rendered by J.K. Rowling, and we couldn't be more proud to have debuted this picture to such an overwhelmingly positive response."
The adaptation of Rowling's first best-selling Harry Potter novel cost an estimated $125 million to make, and the film seems sure to recoup its production and marketing costs in a matter of weeks. Before its opening, analysts had estimated the film might bring in around $75 million to $80 million.
Opening on Nov. 16, Potter broke a number of records, including the largest single-day box-office take (about $31.3 million), beating Star Wars: Episode I ($28.5 million), and the largest three-day opening of the year, previously held by Planet of the Apes ($68.5 million).
Roswell Still Alive
ason Katims, executive producer of UPN's teen alien series Roswell, told SCI FI Wire that he's still waiting to hear, but is hopeful that the network will order nine final episodes of the show's third season.
The show is currently shooting its 10th episode, "A Tale of Two Parties," which is the first script from fledgling staff writers Laura J. Burns and Melinda Metz, the editor and author who created the Roswell High young adult novels on which the series is based. "Parties," dealing with New Year's Eve celebrations, will air on Jan. 1.
"We're waiting to hear about our back order right now, and my understanding is they will give us a back order, yes," Katims said in an interview. "It should be imminent. I'm waiting to hear. I'm not sure whether we'll get the full nine episodes. ... I have not heard from anybody directly about this, so I can't say for certain. But my understanding is that we will be getting a back order."
Roswell has been "on the bubble" since it moved to the Smackdown network from The WB, which canceled it at the end of last season. The show has averaged a 1.4 rating/3 share among adults 18-49 and 3.2 million total viewers, compared with 2.7/7 and 5.6 million viewers for its lead-in, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, since Roswell premiered, Zap2it reported. Roswell faces stiff competition from The WB's hit series Smallville, as well as ABC's NYPD Blue. Roswell airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Smallville Invades Roswell
PN faces were a little red over the weekend at a special party for fans of the network's teen alien series Roswell, held on the Paramount Pictures lot in Los Angeles. Fans were treated to a performance by the rock band RemyZero, which announced with pride that it would play one of its latest hits: Save Me, which happens to be the theme to The WB's Superman series, Smallville, Roswell's main competitor.
It's possible that the band was unaware of its faux pas, but some fans reacted with shock at the choice of music.
UPN threw the Roswell party Nov. 17 on the Soul Train set as a reward to fans who won radio contests around the country. Fans were able to mingle with cast members and show creators, including stars Shiri Appleby, Jason Behr, Brendan Fehr and Majandra Delfino; producers Jason Katims and Ronald D. Moore; and writer Melinda Metz, creator of the Roswell High series of books, on which the TV show is based.
Spotnitz Fights For The Future
he X-Files writer-producer Frank Spotnitz told SCI FI Wire that he's not sure if there will be a 10th season of the SF series, but he added that this year's episodes are being crafted with an eye towards the possibility.
"One of the first things this season, before we even knew if [series creator] Chris [Carter] was coming back, was figuring out how the show would work for season nine, and then how it could work for seasons 10 and 11 and beyond if the audience were there," Spotnitz said in an interview.
Spotnitz added, "We didn't want to write ourselves into a corner, so we really planned for the future. We took into consideration the fans and the actors who are putting so much into making the show a success. Robert [Patrick] and Annabeth [Gish] are really killing themselves, working incredibly long hours, being very disciplined and dedicated, and trying to make everything as good as it can be, because they have to prove themselves. We wanted to honor that and find a way for the show to go forward."
A 10th year could prove problematic, however, even assuming the lackluster ratings for this year's batch of shows perk up. Gillian Anderson is in the last year of her contract. Carter only signed a one-year deal for this season. And even Spotnitz has yet to ink a deal. "Will I come back?" he asked. "I don't know. I really don't know. Will Chris come back? Given how
long it took him to sign this year, I think there's a very good chance he won't. And the same questions apply to the rest of the people who've made the show what it is all these years. I would like to think the show, because it's such a good idea, because of all the great people, could go on even if we didn't come back, but there are other issues, too. [There are issues of] economics and political support, internally and at the studio. There are battles fought that people don't know about, that they don't need to know about, but that all factor into the final decision."
Willard Gets Update
ames Wong, who is producing a remake of the 1971 horror movie Willard, told SCI FI Wire that the remake will liberally update the original.
The film will mark the directorial debut of Wong's longtime writing and producing partner, Glen Morgan; the duo recently completed The One, with Wong at the helm.
"We're hoping to start when the budget is finalized, in late January," Wong said in an interview. "There are actually a lot of ways to update the film. I think the film has a great premise, [but] if you look at it now, it doesn't really hold up as well. ... There's much to it in terms of even the character, how Willard relates to his mom and his boss and so on. And of course, we have the technology to really make those rats [real]. When you watched the movie before, I think when Ernest Borgnine gets attacked, it looks to be like 25 rats. Now we can really do something, you know, not just in terms of size ... but we can do something that will be much creepier and scarier." No casting decisions have been made yet, but Wong added that he's considering a cameo for original star Bruce Davison, who made his feature-film debut in Willard. "That has not been decided. We haven't really started casting yet. But that certainly is a thought. It's really up to Glen."
Morgan, Wong Pitch SF TV Show
ames Wong, director of The One, told SCI FI Wire that he and partner Glen Morgan are pitching a new SF television series to NBC along with Gentry Lee, a onetime NASA scientist, co-writer of TV's Cosmos and collaborator with SF author Arthur C. Clarke.
The as-yet-unnamed series, based on an upcoming book from Lee, will center on a 22nd-century historian's look back at the 21st century and a family living through that time period, Wong said in an interview.
"It's sort of a historical perspective of the future," Wong said. "It's really a kind of family drama set in the future, with the implications of what the future brings ... and sort of the ethical and moral problems, and also the day-to-day problems, that Gentry has envisioned in the near future or [what] the next 100 years will be for us."
Wong and Morgan have a TV development deal with DreamWorks and NBC, who produced their last short-lived supernatural series, The Others. The writing/directing/producing duo are TV genre veterans, with credits that include The X-Files, Millennium and Space: Above and Beyond. Their current SF thriller movie, The One, which stars Jet Li, ranked No. 6 in the box-office tally the weekend of Nov. 16.
Lee held positions in NASA's deep-space exploration program, was a screenwriter on Carl Sagan's 1980 Cosmos miniseries and collaborated with Clarke on Cradle and books in Clarke's Rama series, according to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
Clooney Up For Solaris
eorge Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh are planning to work together on a remake of the 1972 Russian SF film Solaris, based on Polish author Stanislaw Lem's novel of the same name, Variety reported.
Solaris tells the story of an astronaut sent to rescue scientists on a space station, who finds the commander dead and the two survivors driven mad by visions. The1972 film was directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.
Neither Clooney nor Soderbergh has yet signed a deal for the movie, which is being produced by James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Fox, but both have confirmed their interest, Variety reported. Shooting is expected to begin in April 2002.
X-Men 2 Script Due
alph Winter, producer of X-Men 2, told the Comics Continuum Web site that he is expecting the latest draft of the script by the end of the year.
Winter and Lauren Shuler Donner are returning as producers of the sequel to 2000's hit film X-Men. Director Bryan Singer and writer David Hayter are currently working on the latest draft for the sequel, the site reported.
"We are very excited about the story Bryan and David are working on," Winter told the Continuum. "Anticipating a script around Christmas."
Is T3 Ready To Roll?
erminator 3, the third installment in the popular cyborg franchise, has a script that's ready to be shot, Variety columnist Michael Fleming reported.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to reprise his lead role under the direction of Jonathan Mostow, the columnist reported.
Producers and financiers at Intermedia spent Nov. 19 ironing out details for a spring or summer 2002 start, Fleming said. Intermedia reportedly has the resources to finance the film fully itself, but the expectation is it will partner to share the risk. Universal and Sony are said to be among three studios vying for the film, Variety reported.
Hornet Still Buzzing
iramax Films has acquired the option to Green Hornet, a proposed film based on the venerable radio and television series about a crime-fighting superhero and his martial-arts sidekick, Variety reported.
Universal Pictures dropped the project after letting it languish in development for years.
The surviving son of Hornet co-creator George Trendle—also named George—controls the rights to the character and will executive produce, the trade paper reported. The film centers on the masked vigilante Green Hornet, who is actually Britt Reid, owner and publisher of the muckraking Daily Sentinel.
Blade 2 Comes To PS2, Xbox
ctivision announced that it is developing Blade 2, based on the upcoming sequel movie and the Marvel Comics series Blade the Vampire Hunter, for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox gaming platforms.
Developed by U.K.-based developer Mucky Foot, Blade 2 is an action-adventure game that allows players to take on the role of Marvel Comics' half-vampire, half-human superhero on a quest to save the human race.
The game is scheduled for release in 2002. The New Line movie Blade 2, the sequel to the hit vampire film Blade, starring Wesley Snipes, is currently in production.
Blood Remake In Works
ismet Classics announced an agreement with Seven Arts Pictures to develop a remake of Italian horror director Mario Bava's 1972 film Baron Blood.
Kismet Classics was recently formed by Kismet Entertainment Group and International Media Films, with the acquisition of 13 films from the Mario Bava library. Baron Blood is the first project to be remade under this arrangement, the company announced.
The original Baron Blood bridged classic monster movies and modern slasher films, the company said. Bava's films include Black Sunday, Bay of Blood, Black Sabbath and The Girl Who Knew Too Much.
Doing Time With Wells
irector Simon Wells told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming film version of The Time Machine will differ from both the seminal SF novel by his great-grandfather, H.G. Wells, and the 1960 George Pal film of the same name.
"Our version is much more of a personal voyage that has to do with loss and hope," said Wells, who makes his live-action directing debut after helming such animated features as We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, Balto and The Prince of Egypt. "We've created a story in the beginning to explain the construction of the time machine, which involves our time traveler's [Guy Pearce] loss of his fiancee. She died in a horrible accident, and he's built the machine to try to go back and change this."
Wells added, "He fails to do this, and that's part of what drives him to the future. At the end of the day, there's a philosophical oversweeping idea here, which is that any one of us would change our past if we could. We all have things we've done in the past that make us cringe and think, 'Oh God, I wish I could change that.' But we can't. It's by accepting our past and learning from it that we can actually move into our own future. The irony of this is that our hero has built a machine that lets him move through time, but eventually he's stuck at this one place. And the journey he goes on teaches him, in a sense, how to let go of the past and look into his future." The Time Machine will clock in to theaters in March 2002.
SCI FI Premieres Epoch
yan O'Neal and David Keith headline The SCI FI Channel's original two-hour movie Epoch, which premiered Nov. 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
The film tells the story of a mysterious structure that suddenly appears during a massive electrical storm, which blankets the Earth with a huge shock wave.
O'Neal plays presidential science adviser Allen Lysander, who enlists the aid of weapons expert Mason Rand (Keith) to uncover the mystery of the structure before the Chinese army interferes—and before all human life on Earth vanishes. The film also stars James Avery, James Hong and Stephanie Niznik.
Studios Know Jack
he Cartoon Network's animated series Samurai Jack is headed to the big screen under the aegis of Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema, Variety reported.
The studios will develop both an animated film and a live-action feature to be directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 2), the trade paper reported.
Series creator Genndy Tartakovsky will write the script and serve as animation director of the upcoming Warner Brothers movie adaptation, the trade paper reported. Jack tells the story of a samurai warrior thrust into the future through the magic of an evil wizard.
Fahrenheit Rises For Xbox
avid Cage, founder of French game developer Quantic Dream, told the FGN Web site that the upcoming supernatural game Fahrenheit is in development for the Xbox gaming platform, as well as for the PC and PlayStation 2.
The episodic 3-D adventure centering on a series of serial killings is slated for a second-quarter 2002 release.
"We expect to release episode one of Fahrenheit ... around May next year, and we're currently talking to all major publishers in Europe and in the U.S. Hopefully, we'll announce our publishing partner in the first quarter next year," Cage told the site.
UPN Mulls New Beast
PN is developing several new genre series and is mulling a remake of the 1980s fantasy series Beauty and the Beast, Variety reported.
Tony Thomas and Paul Junger Witt, executive producers of the original show, are both reportedly attached to the remake of Beast, which starred Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman.
UPN is also developing an urban drama about teen angels, from Spelling TV and writers Terry Hughes and Ron Milbauer, and a Top Gun-in-space show, Black Star, from Trilogy, Travis Wright and John Glenn, the trade paper reported. UPN may produce as many as four or five drama pilots and another three or four drama pilot presentations, Variety reported.
New Star Wars Scenes Shot?
s George Lucas shooting new footage to insert into upcoming re-releases of the original Star Wars trilogy?
That's the rumor reported by E! cable television and repeated by the Empire Online Web site.
The report suggests that Lucas intends the new footage to be added to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi to fill out the story and, along with the prequel trilogy, form the complete Star Wars story, Empire Online reported.
Lucas has also reportedly finished writing the script for Episode III. According to E!, Lucas plans to take 20 years off after Episode III before thinking about the possibility of another three installments.
Episode II Trailer A Web Hit
he official Star Wars Web site attracted 342,000 unique visitors during the week ending Nov. 11, who came to download the newest trailer for Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, the Reuters news service reported.
That represented a 115 percent increase in traffic over the week before, the Internet audience measurement service Nielsen/NetRatings told Reuters.
Visitors spent more than 10 minutes at the site, with 57 percent of the total audience hitting the movie trailer section of the site, Reuters reported.
Briefly Noted
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Urban Cinefile reported that director George Miller told the recent AFI Awards that the fourth Mad Max film script is now complete and casting is in process. Shooting is slated to begin next year, but not in Australia, he added.
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone grossed about $105 million at the box office after just five days, tying the previous record set by Star Wars: Episode I, the Associated Press reported.
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An official Web site has opened for ABC's upcoming miniseries Dinotopia, based on James Gurney's best-selling fantasy books of the same name.
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Britney Spears and Quincy Jones have been asked to appear in Austin Powers: Goldmember, playing themselves, Variety reported. Seth Green will also be returning to reprise his role of Scott Evil, the trade paper reported.
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Organizers are accepting entries for the 2002 Canadian Sunburst Award for literature of the fantastic, presented annually to a Canadian writer who has published a speculative fiction novel or book-length collection of speculative fiction anytime in the previous calendar year. Deadline for entries is March 1, 2002.
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Director Michael Bay told the Ain't It Cool News Web site that he and Will Smith would like to film Richard Matheson's SF novel I Am Legend, but that doubts about the project's future remain in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and no deal has been worked out with a studio. Legend was the basis for the 1971 Charlton Heston movie The Omega Man.
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Steven Spielberg told Empire magazine that the proposed fourth Indiana Jones movie is slow going. "We're having problems with Paramount in getting this movie launched," he said. "They are, believe it or not, giving us the kind of tsoris [trouble] they never gave us back in the old days. That's up to [executive producer] George [Lucas] and his people to straighten out. I'm just standing by. When George says, 'It's clear, and we're green-lit to make this movie,' we'll make the movie."
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Star Trek star William Shatner donated a copy of his new DVD, Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime, autographed by himself and Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy, to a fan auction benefiting victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
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The opening weekend box-office take for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone fell from earlier estimates to $90.3 million over three days, which was still enough to hold the record for the biggest premiere ever, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Previous record-holder The Lost World: Jurassic Park took in $90.2 million in its four-day opening weekend in 1997.
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Patrick Horne, director and producer of a new independent film based on Kurt Vonnegut's SF short story "Harrison Bergeron," is trying to get fans to mount an e-mail campaign to urge the film's release. Horne said Vonnegut himself approved of the director's plan to distribute the film to festivals. "Bergeron" was also the subject of a 1995 movie starring Lord of the Rings co-star Sean Astin.
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The United Kingdom's film ratings board awarded a PG certificate to The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which opens Dec. 19.
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The Kryptonsite fan Web site, dedicated to The WB's Superman series, Smallville, reported that comic-book artist Alex Ross will paint four interlocking TV Guide covers featuring the show's characters for the Dec. 8 edition.
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Fans of the syndicated SF television series Andromeda have mounted an online petition to persuade the show's producer, Tribune Entertainment, to restore Trance's tail. The purple character lost her signature appendage in the recent episode "Last Call at the Broken Hammer," and fans saw the loss as a sign of interference by Tribune with the show's writing team. About 90 fans have signed the petition.
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