SCI FI Slate Announced
he SCI FI Channel announced that it is developing an ambitious slate of original miniseries and movies, including several backdoor pilots for possible series.
Anchored by its upcoming 20-hour epic miniseries Taken, from DreamWorks Television and Steven Spielberg, SCI FI said it will air four major movie or miniseries events a year, starting in 2003. A list of miniseries and movies follows.
•Battlestar Galactica. This four-hour miniseries re-imagines the classic '70s SF TV series. Ronald D. Moore (Roswell) wrote the script, with Breck Eisner (Taken) attached to direct. Distributed by USA Cable Entertainment, the project will be executive produced by David Eick.
•Myst. The four-hour miniseries is inspired by the best-selling video game and uncovers an ancient civilization that existed for thousands of years beneath the surface of the Earth—a civilization that created magical books allowing one to travel to other worlds. A Mandalay Television Pictures production for SCI FI, Myst is executive produced by Elizabeth Stephen with Rand Miller and Susan Bonds of Cyan, in association with Columbia Tri Star
Domestic Television.
•The Forever War. Based on Joe Haldeman's Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning classic novel, this four-hour miniseries is an epic love story that spans a thousand-year war. The miniseries will be executive produced by Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund (Star Wars), with Peter Sussman and Ed Gernon executive producing for Alliance Atlantis. John Fasano (Alien 3) wrote the script.
•The Chronicles of Amber. Based on Roger Zelazny's best-selling 10-volume series, this four-hour miniseries tells the story of a royal family with amazing powers over time and space, which is plagued by infighting as it tries to unite against a sinister enemy. Richard Christian Matheson will write the screenplay. Tom Patricia of Patriarch Pictures will serve as executive producer.
•On the Seventh Day. The seven-hour limited series takes place in the year 2850 in a an overcrowded world in which the government has assigned people only one day a week to live, while spending the remaining six days in cryogenic suspension. Gary Sherman (First Wave) will executive produce and write the original series, to be distributed through USA Cable Entertainment.
•Colosseum. In this two-hour original movie, modern-day fight promoter Tommy Pettigrew finds himself transported back in time to the Colosseum of Rome in the year 95 AD. Sam Egan (Jeremiah) wrote the script; Mario Azzipardi directs. Egan and Azzipardi will executive produce with Matt Loze.
Dune Sequel Cast Unveiled
usan Sarandon will headline the cast of the SCI FI Channel's upcoming miniseries sequel Frank Herbert's Children of Dune, based on Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, the second and third novels in Herbert's six-volume saga.
Sarandon will play Wensicia, a ruthless princess eager to restore her deposed family to the throne, in the six-hour miniseries, which is the sequel to last year's Frank Herbert's Dune.
Other cast includes returning players Julie Cox as Princess Irulan, Barbara Kodetova as Chani, Ian McNeice as Baron Harkonnen, P.H. Moriarty as Gurney Halleck and Alec Newman as Paul Atreides. New additions include Alice Krige (Star Trek: First Contact) as Lady Jessica, Edward Atterton as Duncan Idaho, Steven Berkoff as Stilgar, Jessica Brooks as Ghanima, Daniela Lunkewitz as Alia and James McAvoy as Leto II.
John Harrison (Frank Herbert's Dune) adapted Herbert's books. Greg Yaitanes (The Invisible Man) will direct. Frank Herbert's Children of Dune is scheduled to begin production on April 3 in Prague, with a four-month shooting schedule, and is slated to air in 2003.
SCI FI Gets X-Files, Roswell
he SCI FI Channel announced that it has acquired the rights to air reruns of all nine seasons of The X-Files and all three seasons of Roswell.
In an eight-year deal, SCI FI will share The X-Files with TNT and will air all 202 episodes exclusively during weekdays from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET/PT, starting in the fall.
SCI FI also bought the rights to Roswell in an exclusive five-year deal. Roswell will debut on SCI FI this fall.
The X-Files, which currently airs original episodes on Fox, wraps its nine-year run in May. Roswell, which airs original episodes on UPN, is in its third season; its prospects for renewal for a fourth year are dim.
Bloom Sneaks Two Towers
rlando Bloom, who reprises the role of elvish archer Legolas in the upcoming Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, told SCI FI Wire that the biggest challenge was the climactic Battle of Helm's Deep, which takes place entirely in the rain.
"When it's overcast and raining, that just heightens all the dramatic tension," Bloom said in an interview. "That was nine weeks of night shoots that pretty much broke most of us. It was physically very demanding. We were filming it on a quarry, so just the uneven ground was a challenge, and it was nights."
Richard Taylor, who won an Oscar for makeup and visual effects on the first Rings film, The Fellowship of the Ring, told SCI FI Wire that the creatures in the second and third films echo the movies' metaphorical progression. "We tried very hard to create the analogous journey, from cottage-industry England right through to industrial-revolution northern England," Taylor said. "Through that transition, the worlds are populated by different creatures of very different organic feel. There's very much a humanoid feeling of the cave troll, the Ray Harryhausen-esque watcher in the water. More fantastical as we journey into film two. The Műmak [an elephantine beast] stands as the biggest thing we've ever made. It was 14 and a half meters square, a massive structure, took 18 house-removal tracks to get it to location. You'll be seeing that in film two. The creatures just become more and more fantastical and more visceral and real and gritty as they take on the mantle of Sauron's world." The Two Towers opens Dec. 18.
Clones Fans Line Up
tar Wars have already started lining up to see Episode II—Attack of the
Clones, even though the film doesn’t open until May 16, Variety reported.
The trade publication reported that a half-dozen avid fans began forming the line at the corner of
Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Street, just outside Hollywood's famed Mann’s Chinese
Theater.
The group told Variety that they plan to spend the next month and a half in line to raise funds for the Starlight Foundation and are fielding calls from the media about Star Wars. "We never run out of things to do," said Rik Carter, who queued up for The Phantom Menace three years ago. "The phone never stops ringing."
Character Counts In Episode II
ick Gillard, stunt coordinator on Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, told the official Homing Beacon newsletter that the prequel will match lightsaber style with character.
"We're trying to go much more classical for some characters," Gillard told the site. "Some of the characters are real master swordsmen, better than anything we've seen so far. So we're using an old, classical European style for a couple of the characters." Gillard added, "I've always said before, the Jedi have chosen a sword in a time of laser guns, so they'd better be damned good with it, and they would know every style."
Episode II presented another challenge: wrangling a posse of lightsaber-wielding children. In the film, we see Jedi Master Yoda instruct a clan of "younglings"—helmeted children with practice lightsabers exercising with droid remotes, the newsletter reported. "A four-year-old kid who can't see and is carrying a lightsaber is a pretty scary thing," Gillard said. "Of the 100 kids we saw, we picked about 20. That was a great day, but there was one little girl that took a shine to me. She bit me in the back and hit me on the head with her lightsaber. You know, just being friendly." Episode II opens May 16.
Smith To Host Episode II Show
ilmmaker and Star Wars fan Kevin Smith (Dogma) will host a SCI FI Channel original special on the saga at 8 p.m. ET/PT May 12 in anticipation of the May 16 release of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones.
In the one-hour special, Smith will present a collection of fan-made, Star Wars-themed spoofs and documentaries, each competing to win a Star Wars Fan Film Award.
Categories will include the Young Jedi Award (films made by directors under 18), animation, Audience Award (selected by online viewers) and a special George Lucas Selects Award, which will be announced by the Star Wars creator himself. The special will also feature clips from Episode II.
Episode II Music Is Done
ohn Williams has completed the score for George Lucas' upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, the official Star Wars Web site reported.
Williams composed the music and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Studios in London, the site reported.
Director Lucas and producer Rick McCallum oversaw the scoring. "It went very, very well—effortlessly, as it always does with John," McCallum told the site. "Hearing a musical score for the first time is one of the most wonderful events that can happen to you. Obviously, John hears the music when he's writing it, but no one gets the opportunity to fully experience it until then. Even though you may have heard little melodies on the piano, it never has the same impact unless you can really read music well to understand it." The score—more than 125 minutes' worth—is performed by the London Symphony's 110 players, plus a full choir, the site reported. Episode II opens May 16.
Raimi Readies Spider-Man
pider-Man director Sam Raimi told SCI Wire that his upcoming film will "have more of a feeling of a movie than a comic book.
That might be because the strength of this comic book has always been that Peter Parker is greatly identifiable and a real human being."
Raimi, who has signed on to direct a Spider-Man sequel if there is one, added, "There's always been a lot less that's fantastic about Peter Parker than some other superheroes. Audiences identify with him more. He comes from our world. Although we have made a comic book come to life, we—myself, the producers, Tobey [Maguire] and Kirsten [Dunst], the whole team—tried to bring forth the strengths that [Spidey creators] Stan Lee and Steve Ditko put into the character, and the main one is that he's one of us. Part of that approach was to keep everything else as realistic as possible, too, to keep it as grounded in reality as we could and to still tell a tale of the fantastic. That's what we tried to do, and I think we've pulled it off." Spider-Man will open nationwide on May 3.
Smith Talks Daredevil Cameo
omic-book fan and film director Kevin Smith revealed details of his cameo appearance in the upcoming feature-film version of Marvel Comics’ Daredevil series.
"I play a forensics assistant [named Jack Kirby] who is willing to take some cash to give Urich the inside dope [on the
Daredevil]," Smith told the film's unit publicist, referring to the journalist character portrayed by Joe Pantoliano. "It's pretty awesome. It's sort of like playing Daredevil himself, which I'm not in shape for. It was really generous of [director] Mark [Steven Johnson] to put me in the film."
Smith, who shot his scene on April 2, went on to further praise Johnson and to tease Affleck, a veteran of several Smith films. "Mark is as passionate, if not more so, than anyone can be about making a Daredevil movie," Smith said. "He's done heavy-duty research. He's read all the important Daredevil work and the not-so-important Daredevil work—like my own—and he's certainly not going to let any Daredevil fans down, from what I've seen." As
for Affleck, the filmmaker joked, "As long as Affleck leaves his ham-fisted theatrics—the ones he lends to my pictures—in the trailer, he'll be awesome. He's always been a big fan, long before the film was a twinkle in anyone's mind. Ben has always said that the only movie he would ever put on a costume for would be a Daredevil flick. This is probably a dream come true for him."
Duncan Cozies Up to Kingpin
ichael Clarke Duncan told SCI FI Wire he's thrilled that filming is finally underway on the big-screen version of the Marvel superhero saga Daredevil.
Duncan plays the villainous Kingpin/Wilson Fisk opposite Ben Affleck as Daredevil/Matt Murdock, Jennifer Garner as Elektra and Colin Farrell as Bullseye. "I had the comic books when I was younger," Duncan said in an
interview. "I used to watch Daredevil in Chicago, and I watched it when I got out here [to Los Angeles]. Never did I think I would be playing a role as cool as the Kingpin. That's one of the coolest roles in the film."
Duncan, who appeared in The Green Mile and Planet of the Apes, and who will
next be seen in George and the Dragon, added, "What I love about Kingpin is that he owns all this real estate. I love to dabble in real estate. He is this big, humungous guy who's trying to fit in. He's not trying to look like a thug. Even though he is thug-like, he doesn't want to be known as that. He's trying to fit in with the Donald Trumps of New York. Half the police [force] are under his pay. Everybody knows that this guy is crooked, yet nobody can pin anything on him. He's also a big guy who wears nice suits, and everybody is terrified of him. And I love playing this role. It's about time I get to wear some nice suits. Plus, at the end of the movie, I get to fight Ben Affleck." Daredevil is now in production and tentatively scheduled for release in January 2003.
Gilliam Berates Tomb Raider
erry Gilliam, acclaimed director of Time Bandits, Brazil and 12 Monkeys, voiced his anger at what he called the “video-ization” of event films in general and of Tomb Raider specifically, Cinescape Online reported.
"The guys who are shooting films now are technically brilliant," he said. "But there's no content in their films."
Gilliam added, "I marvel at what I see and say, 'God, I wish I could have done a shot like that.' But the shots are secondary for my films, and with some of these films, it's all about the shots. I watched Tomb Raider last night. Technically, it's brilliant, but it's just crap! Every shot is beautifully composed, the lighting is great, the sets are great. But what's the point? I'm not sure people know what points to make. I'm not sure how in touch with reality anybody is—everybody's too busy phoning each other."
Gilliam himself is currently prepping Good Omens, based on the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novel. He is also reportedly attempting to resurrect Don Quixote, which ceased production when star Jean Rochefort fell ill.
Boreanaz Leery Of Angel Baby
avid Boreanaz, star of The WB's vampire series Angel, told SCI FI Wire that he initially had mixed feelings about the Angel-as-daddy storyline, but that he now thinks the unlikely plot device worked well.
"My initial reaction was one of excitement, because I knew it would be really strange and bizarre to have this child [on the show], but I wasn't really sold on the fact of how it was going to happen," Boreanaz said in an interview. "I was a bit nervous [about] that aspect."
Boreanaz—whose wife, actress and former Playboy Playmate Jaime Bergman, is pregnant with the couple's first child, due in May—added, "Angel's relationship with Darla [Julie Benz] was really played out in the second season, and I was nervous about that. They told me [the Connor storyline] wouldn't be as lengthy a play-out [as feared]. And, you know, as it progressed, it became [clear] that it would be more of a success than a failure. It could have been a dangerous thing for the character, but it opened up many more doors, and I think [the ongoing effect] is going to be great. And where this child may end up again, I don't know." After a hiatus of several weeks, Angel will return to The WB on April 15.
Potter To Weave DVD Magic?
SA Today reported that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is number one on the sales chart at Amazon.com, even though it won't even arrive on DVD or video until May 28, thus setting the stage for Potter to surpass The Lion King as the best-selling video in history.
The Lion King, which has been king of the video and DVD jungle for more than seven years, has sold in excess of 30 million units.
Wal-Mart.com media manager Cynthia Lin told USA Today that it expects Potter to be "the biggest title we've ever had," while Zane Plsek, director of video
for Wherehouse Music, said, "A number of our stores will be open at midnight the day Harry is released. Fans are known to line up at midnight to get the latest book, and we are sure it will happen for the video."
Plsek, however, added that, "with the rapid growth of the DVD market, it's very hard to imagine that any title will stay at number one for very long." He cited as evidence the August release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which will be followed in November by a Fellowship special edition.
Baird Pilots Trek: Nemesis
tuart Baird told SCI FI Wire that he knew very little about Star Trek: The
Next Generation before signing on to direct Star Trek: Nemesis.
The 10th Trek adventure is only Baird's third directing job, after Executive Decision and U.S. Marshals, and it follows a career spent mostly as an editor on such films as Superman: The Movie and Superman II, Outland and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (on which he went uncredited). "I just approached it like a movie," Baird said of Nemesis in an interview. "I didn't bring any baggage at all with me."
Baird added, "I had seen a few of the TV episodes some years before in England,
and I had seen one or two of the films. But I could not be called a Trekkie
by any stretch of the imagination. I read the script, and I thought it was a
good script, a very good script, and I thought maybe a fresh look, a fresh
person in there, would give it another dimension or another perspective to it.
The story was good, and I think of myself as a storyteller, so I'm treating it
like an ordinary movie, except that it has a very great following. So I have
been careful to follow some of the guidelines. Of course, [executive
producer] Rick Berman and the cast steered me in the right direction if I was
veering off too violently." Star Trek: Nemesis will open nationwide in
December.
Picardo Hails Holograms
obert Picardo, the holographic Doctor of Star Trek: Voyager, told SCI FI Wire that Voyager guest star Jeff Yagher inspired him to write his new book, Star Trek: Voyager—The Hologram's Handbook.
"Jeff made a crack about my writing a book, and a light
bulb went off in my head," Picardo said in an interview. "Jeff is a great friend and a wonderful artist, which is what he did. It was great to get back and have the Doctor's voice in my head again after having been done with the show for about a year."
Written by the Doctor, as told to Picardo, The Hologram's Handbook is a how-to guide aiming at teaching incredibly bright sorts the ways in which to get along with lesser beings. "It was really an enjoyable experience to revisit that character, who I'd missed," Picardo said. "I hope that the Star Trek fans out there who miss him as well read the book, because it's the only new
dose of the Doctor to be had. I've also recorded a large section of the book on compact disk, along with a bonus song called 'The Song of Holograms.' The compact disk benefits the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation."
Next up for Picardo is a stint as the lead in a Los Angeles stage production of the musical A Class Act. And beyond that, the actor hopes to write a sequel to The Hologram's Handbook. "If the audience is interested in hearing the Doctor mouth off yet again, then I already have an idea for a possible follow-up," he said. "I'd like to see the Doctor tiptoeing through history and giving his opinions on great historical figures." The Hologram's Handbook is available in bookstores now as a trade paperback original from Pocket Books.
Activision Readies Elite Force II
ctivision announced that its sequel video game Star Trek Elite Force II is on the way for the PC.
"Star Trek Elite Force II is the continuation of one of the most highly regarded Star
Trek games ever," Larry Goldberg, executive vice president of Activision
Worldwide Studios, said in a release. "Incredible graphics, exotic environments, great characters, excellent teammate A.I. and, of course, the richness of the Star Trek universe—this action game has it all."
Set in the realm of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the game gives players the ability to assume the role of Alexander Munro, chief of the Hazard Team, Starfleet's elite security unit. Among the foes Munro can face in the first-person action game are Klingons, Romulans and the Borg, as well as a few never-before-seen alien species. Munro comes armed with a grenade launcher, tricorder, Romulan disruptor, a compression rifle and, to be sure, a phaser.
Chasm City Wins BSFA
lastair Reynolds' Chasm City won the British Science Fiction Association Award for best novel of 2001 in ceremonies at the 2002 Eastercon, in St. Helier, United Kingdom, on March 31.
The BSFA Awards, based on a vote of BSFA members and members of the British national SF convention (Eastercon), honor the year's best SF. A list of other winners follows.
Best Short Story
•"The Children of Winter" by Eric Brown
Best Non-Fiction
•Omegatropic by Stephen Baxter
Best Artwork
•Cover of Omegatropic by Colin Odell
Russo Wins PKD Award
ichard Paul Russo's Ship of Fools won this year's Philip K. Dick Award, given annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback form in the United States.
The award was presented March 29 at Norwescon 25 in Seattle.
Ken Wharton's Divine Intervention received a special citation. The Philadelphia Science Fiction Society sponsors the award.
Stoker Nominees Announced
inal nominations for the Bram Stoker Awards, honoring achievement in horror fiction, have been announced, the Locus Online Web site reported.
Winners will be named at the Bram Stoker Awards Ceremony on June 8 at The New York Helmsley Hotel. A full list of nominees follows.
Novel
•American Gods by Neil Gaiman
•Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub
•From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
•The Lost by Jack Ketchum
First Novel
•Deadliest of the Species by Michael Oliveri
•Phantom Feast by Diana Barron
•Riverwatch by Joseph M. Nassise
•Skating on the Edge by d.g.k. goldberg
Long Fiction
•"Demolition" by Nancy Etchemendy
•"Earthworm Gods" by Brian Keene
•"From A to Z, in the Sarsaparilla Alphabet" by Harlan Ellison
•"In These Final Days of Sales" by Steve Rasnic Tem
•"Northern Gothic" by Nick Mamatas
Short Fiction
•"The Haunt" by Jack Ketchum
•"I Am Your Need" by Mort Castle
•"Reconstructing Amy" by Tim Lebbon
•"Whose Puppets, Best and Worst, Are We?" by David B. Silva
Fiction Collection
•As the Sun Goes Down by Tim Lebbon
•The Dark Fantastic by Ed Gorman
•The Man With the Barbed-Wire Fists by Norman Partridge
•The Whisperer and Other Voices by Brian Lumley
Anthology
•The Best of Horrorfind, Brian Keene, ed.
•Extremes 2: Fantasy and Horror From the Ends of the Earth, Brian A. Hopkins, ed.
•Trick or Treat: A Collection of Halloween Novellas, Richard Chizmar, ed.
•The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourteenth Annual Collection, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.
Non-Fiction
•Hellnotes, David B. Silva and Paul F. Olson, eds.
•If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell
•Jobs in Hell, Brian Keene, ed.
•Personal Demons, Brian A. Hopkins and Garrett Peck, eds.
Illustrated Narrative
•Desperadoes: Quiet of the Grave by Jeff Mariotte
•The First Adventures of Miss Catterina Poe by Caitlin R. Kiernan
•Freezes Over by Brian Azzarello
•Quiver by Kevin Smith
•Weird Western Tales by various authors
Screenplay
•From Hell by Terry Hayes and Rafael Yglesias
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Frances Walsh
•Memento by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan
•The Others by Alejandro Amenabar
Work For Younger Readers
•Prowlers by Christopher Golden
•The Willow Files 2 by Yvonne Navarro
Poetry Collection
•Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes by Linda Addison
•Taunting the Minotaur by Charlee Jacob
•What the Cacodaemon Whispered by Chad Hensley
•White Space by Bruce Boston
Alternative Forms
•Dark Dreamers: Facing the Masters of Fear by Beth Gwinn and Stanley Wiater
•Gothic.net, Darren McKeeman, editor-in-chief
•Horrorfind by Brian Keene and Mike Roden
•Rue Morgue Magazine, Rod Gudino, editor-in-chief
•Unseen Masters by Bruce Ballon
Bradbury Gets Hollywood Star
egendary SF author Ray Bradbury will receive the 2,193rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 1, the Associated Press reported.
Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn, actor Charlton Heston and other officials were expected to attend the ceremony, the wire service reported.
The ceremony will kick off a month-long reading campaign called "One Book, One City L.A.," in which Los Angeles residents will be encouraged to read Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
Bradbury, 81, is a lifelong Los Angeles resident, the AP reported.
Platinum Seeks Comics
cott Mitchell Rosenberg, founder of Platinum Studios and executive producer of Showtime's SF series Jeremiah, told SCI FI Wire that his company is looking to develop more television and film projects based on comic books. The company has already acquired rights to about 1,000 comic-book creations, Rosenberg said.
"We like to deal with comic-book creators, because we like that kind of language in the development of properties and for me as a person," Rosenberg said in an interview. "One of the things I love is that typically when a comic book creator is coming up with a project, he's developing a bible for the world on how that comic works that may not even show up in those pages. Screenwriters are good at creating a world that ends two hours later. With a comic book, you really create for the future."
Rosenberg, who set up Lowell Cunningham's then-unknown comic title Men in Black at DreamWorks while still running Malibu Comics, believes in the synergy between the visual creativity of a comic creator and the pictures up on the big screen. "Men in Black is a perfect example of a comic-book proposal that came to us from a then first-time comic-book writer who came to us with this proposal that I thought was really awesome and would really work as a movie," Rosenberg said. "Creators are submitting comics they have been involved with in the past that maybe people have forgotten about over the years, [but they] also come to us with upcoming comics. Comics that they've either already written or are intending to write. We've very excited to look at what they're doing because we can also develop with them."
How does Rosenberg know when he finds a comic that might translate to the big screen, like Men in Black, or the small screen, like Jeremiah? "It really comes down to gut feeling," he said. "Men in Black, to me, screamed out movie, movie, movie. It seemed like this cool world that wasn't being tackled in movies with a great cast of characters."
Underworld Emerges
creen Gems has picked up North American distribution rights to the supernatural action/horror film Underworld from Lakeshore Entertainment, Variety reported.
Danny McBride and Len Wiseman wrote the film, which marks music video director Wiseman's feature helming debut, the trade paper reported.
The movie is a Romeo and Juliet story with the undead in starring roles, dealing with forbidden love against the backdrop of an ancient war between vampires and werewolves. Underworld is slated to start filming in August, with casting to begin shortly.
New Dragons Reign In Fire
ob Bowman, director of the upcoming SF movie Reign of Fire, told SCI FI Wire that the dragons on view in the film will set the standard for big-screen dragons.
"I did not want to make the dragon from Dragonheart, which was a large body, small wingspan and had to flap like mad to stay in the air," Bowman said in an interview. "Mine have big, giant wingspans like an eagle, but take a king cobra and put it down the center."
Bowman, the director of multiple episodes of The X-Files and The X-Files movie, added, "I spent about nine months designing these things. I had drawings in about three weeks that I presented, and then we started designing characteristics and personalities and making them more serpentlike than dinosaurlike. They look like they're alive, agile and very supreme killers. I had paleontologists involved and a lot of artists involved, and we got to a boil-down point, because a lot of fantasy dragons are very exaggerated, have too many horns and look human anyway. We got it down to a sterile, realistic dragon, but it was boring. So I went back a little bit and added back some
things that people who like dragons like to see, which is horns and attitude. So our dragon looks great, and it would really work if there were such a creature. This thing is as real as we could make it." Reign of Fire, which stars Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale and Izabella Scorupco, will open nationwide on July 12.
Scorsese Circles Sharkslayer
egendary director Martin Scorsese will lend his rough-hewn voice to Sharkslayer, an upcoming computer-animated film from DreamWorks, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A mob-themed film set underwater, the story centers on a young fish named Oscar, who takes credit for killing the son of a top shark, but quickly comes to realize there's a price to pay for being a Sharkslayer.
Scorsese, who will play a puffer named Sykes, joins a voice cast that includes James Gandolfini, Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and Renee Zellweger. Sharkslayer is slated for release in 2004.
Gandolfini Voices Sharkslayer
ames Gandolfini will voice a mobster shark in DreamWorks Pictures' upcoming animated movie Sharkslayer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Eric Bergeron (The Road to El Dorado) and Vicky Jenson (Shrek) will team up for the first time to direct the computer-animated film, which will also feature the voices of Will Smith, Angelina Jolie and Renee Zellweger, the trade paper reported.
Sharkslayer, described as an underwater mob film, is in preproduction, with an eye to a 2004 release. Michael Wilson (The Tuxedo) wrote the screenplay.
Cloak and Dagger Daggered
he long-anticipated film version of the Marvel Comics title Cloak and Dagger
is not to be, Cinescape Online reported.
Dimension Films had announced last
May that the feature would be produced by Kevin Feige (X-Men), but
screenwriter David Tischman told the Comics2film Web site that Dimension put the film in
turnaround.
Tischman said, "I am no longer attached to the Cloak and Dagger project, but I wish everyone still involved the best of luck."
New Spy Kid On The Block
att O'Leary, who plays one of two new small nemeses in the upcoming sequel film Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, told SCI FI Wire that the new kids are no match for the originals, Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara).
"Now there's a new spy organization in the OSS just for the spy kids, like the spy kids division," O'Leary said in an interview. "Carmen and Juni, the original spy kids, they're basically at the top, and all the new spy kids come in, and they're just not as good. But there are these other set of siblings, the Giggles family. I'm Gary Giggles, and I have a younger sister, Gertie Giggles, who's played by Emily Osment. We're always trying to be a step higher than the Cortez family, but of course we're not. We're not better than them, and they prove that a number of times throughout the film."
O'Leary said he got to do many of his own stunts, including flying in a harness. "It's a lot of fun," he said. "It's got everything—action, adventure and a great storyline." Spy Kids 2 opens Aug. 7.
Diaz Is Up For Shrek 2
ameron Diaz, who voiced Princess Fiona in the Oscar-winning animated film Shrek, told SCI FI Wire that she has specific hopes for the proposed sequel, Shrek 2, although she has not yet seen a script.
"I hope it allows it to just stay true to Fiona and to tell the message that Shrek has sent out," she said in an interview.
Since Fiona became an ogre at the end of Shrek, Diaz could have a completely different character to play in part two, and she said she welcomes such a challenge. "That's the fun thing," Diaz said. "Once I know what the story is, once there's a script, then you can start playing with it. There's such a creative, wonderful group of people who created Shrek, and so funny too, they have such a great sense of humor and really just good people that I think they'll come up with something very fun."
Should Fiona turn back into a princess, Diaz would not be worried. "I'm sure there would be a good idea, a good reason for it, if she did," she said. Shrek 2 is tentatively scheduled for a 2004 release.
Mutant X Cast Changing
eason two will bring about some casting changes in the hit syndicated series Mutant X as Tom McCamus, who plays evil villain Eckhart, takes some time off from the series, and a new big bad takes on the good guys, a spokeswoman told SCI FI Wire.
Michael Easton will guest-star in the season finale as new bad guy Gabriel Ashlocke, "the first child of Genomex." Easton will become a regular recurring guest star next season, and he has been signed for several episodes.
"Gabriel is going to be an antagonist to the Mutant X team," the spokeswoman said. He is Patient Zero, the very first new mutant, and as a child he was captured and neutralized by Genomex because he was so powerful. "His new mutant abilities were in flux, so Genomex put him in a pod. He has this following called The Strand, and The Strand is sort of an alternative to Mutant
X. He's sprung from his pod by one of these followers. He has super mutant powers, and he could be the most dangerous new mutant ever." In fact, Gabriel has all the new mutant powers, and "his new mutant gifts are off the meter."
McCamus, who is starring in the play Richard III, will return to the series next season as a regular recurring guest star. In other casting news, Krista Allen of Baywatch fame will guest-star in the upcoming episode "Deadly Desire," which is set to air at the end of April.
Miramax Readies Kid Genre Films
iramax Films will make a major push into the family feature market, and several of those films will be of a genre nature, according to Variety, which obtained an internal Miramax memo that referred to its slate as "the Teddy Projects."
Among the films on the horizon are the already announced Pinocchio, a live-action version of the Carlo Collodi classic, directed by and starring
Roberto Benigni.
The slate also includes Artemis Fowl, an adaptation of Eoin Colfer's tale about a
12-year-old negotiating his way through a world of gnomes, leprechauns and
fairies; A Cricket in Times Square, the company's first venture into computer animation;
Neverland, which will star Johnny Depp and tell the saga of how the stage
play of James M. Barrie's Peter Pan came to pass; The Magic Brush, an animated feature to be produced by John Chu and Shrek's Penney Cox and Sandy Rabins and based
on a Chinese fairy tale about an orphaned boy who aspires to be an artist; and Ella Enchanted, based on Gail Carson Levine's Newbery Medal-winning first
novel, with The Princess Diaries star Anna Hathaway reportedly in
negotiations to play Ella.
Though it would seem that the Miramax projects are very much in the vein of those produced by Miramax parent the Walt Disney Co., Variety
quoted Miramax spokesman Matthew Hiltzik as saying he foresaw no problems.
"Disney has set an incredible example and enjoyed great success with a wide
range of such projects," Hiltzik said. "We're taking the Miramax approach and
Miramax talent and applying it to our own family projects."
Frailty Wins Genre Kudos
ill Paxton, who makes his directorial debut with the upcoming supernatural movie Frailty, told SCI FI Wire that he solicited publicity blurbs from genre icons James Cameron, Sam Raimi and Stephen King after initial screenings generated negative buzz.
"The film was originally going to come out at the beginning of the year, but when we started screening it in the late fall, [we saw] very reactionary responses to it from the press—not things that were published, but just their comments," Paxton said in an interview. "It seemed no one was watching the movie with any objectivity at all. They were so reactionary to [the fact that] there were kids in it and there was some moral ambiguity to it. So I got very worried and thought I might not be able to depend on the critics to support this film."
Paxton had worked with Raimi and Cameron, but had to pursue King with a cold call. "I found out who one of his assistants was up in Maine, and I called her up," Paxton recalled. "She said he'd watch the film, but might not comment on it either way. After about a month, I got a nice note from him. It was a very short letter, but it said what he says here—he thought it was unique, thought-provoking, edge-of-the-seat entertainment. Then I got Jim Cameron and Sam Raimi to look at it, and they both gave us quotes. If you know these men, they are men of such integrity that they wouldn't endorse something if they couldn't get behind it."
Paxton said those were the only three he pursued, although other well-known filmmakers supported his film as well. "I thought if I get my trifecta there, [it would be enough]," Paxton said. "Bryan Singer liked the movie too, but I didn't actually ask Bryan for a quote." Frailty opens April 12.
Shaye Open To Blade III
ew Line co-chairman Bob Shaye told SCI FI Wire he is open to making Blade III if a reasonable budget can be devised.
Writer David Goyer has been talking about an idea where the vampires have taken over the Earth, and upon hearing that idea for the first time, Shaye responded positively.
"It's interesting," Shaye said in an interview. "I'll have to call him about it. He hasn't presented it to me yet, so I don't know. I don't have any foregone conclusions. I don't think this is light material anyway, but I think it's great page-turning comic-book material. David is a good writer."
Shaye is interested in making a third Blade film, but likens the necessary deal to the opposite of his studio's popular fantasy trilogy. "It's the flip side of the three Lord of the Rings stories," Shaye said. "Although there's still more money to be spent to realize the second and third chapters, they're basically in the can. [For the Blade series], we're working on getting our deals in place. But if we can, we'll go ahead with Blade III."
Goyer Drops Ghost Rider
lade II writer David Goyer told the Comics Continuum Web site that he's dropped out of the proposed Ghost Rider movie, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name.
"They want to do a PG movie," Goyer, who wrote an R-rated script, told the site. "They may work from my script—not sure."
Variety reported that Nicolas Cage is still considering starring in the project. Stephen Norrington, director of the first Blade movie, was attached as director, but is now directing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the site reported. Variety reported that Dimension will likely put the movie into turnaround, and it will likely be set up elsewhere as a potential vehicle for Cage.
Witchblade Airing Mondays
he Comics Continuum Web site reported that the second season of TNT's Witchblade will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, starting June 10.
Reruns of the supernatural series' first season are currently airing in the same timeslot.
Witchblade executive producer Ralph Hemecker told the Continuum that the renegade cops of the White Bulls will not play a large role in the second season. Meanwhile, an "as-yet-to-be-named Irish singer/songwriter" is recording an original song for the second season, the site reported.
Nutter Helming Witch Mountain
ongtime X-Files director David Nutter will helm Disney's remake of its 1975 movie Escape to Witch Mountain, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Disney said it intended for the film to have an X-Files and Roswell feel to it, and Nutter has directed episodes of both series, the trade paper reported.
The movie tells the story of two teenagers with telekinetic powers. The original film was based on the novel of the same name by Alexander Key.
Activision Gets Minority Rights
ctivision has landed the exclusive rights to create video games based on Steven Spielberg's upcoming SF thriller movie Minority Report, Variety reported.
The games are slated to debut later in the year; Minority Report, based on a Philip K. Dick short story, opens June 21.
Activision has the rights to develop, publish and distribute games based upon the movie for the next five years, with titles to and for all gaming systems, including Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Xbox, the trade paper reported.
Frailty Writer Joins Woo
railty screenwriter Brent Hanley told SCI FI Wire he is developing a supernatural thriller film with director John Woo (Mission: Impossible 2) acting as a producer.
"I'm heavily influenced by Jim Thompson, and in some ways this is my Jim Thompson [script] and also film noir," Hanley said in an interview. "It's a detective film, kind of, with a spiritual, supernatural element thrown in there. It's somewhat similar to Angel Heart. It's got elements of Dead Zone and even Dead Again. The idea of a backstory, which is the past—you have karma, you've done something in a past life that came back to face you later in the present."
The story takes place in the 1940s, a favorite period of Hanley's. Plot elements include a love triangle and a Cain-and-Abel conflict. According to Hanley, the project has traveled a rocky road through development. "They've been trying to do this thing for eight years, and it's based on an unpublished novel," Hanley said. "They had a script, which I never read, that they hated, apparently. They tried it as a TV series, with four or five pilot episodes. I just took the basic idea."
No director is currently attached, though Woo might consider taking over those duties as well. It would not, however, be a John Woo action film. "Terence Chang [Woo's partner] wants John to do something a little more quiet like this, because there's really not any big action sequences."
Shaye Talks Freddy Vs. Jason
ew Line co-chairman Bob Shaye told SCI FI Wire that he has green-lighted a script for the long-proposed Freddy vs. Jason movie, based on characters from the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises.
"The basic idea is how does Freddy come back after his banishment and how does he use Jason and eventually have to vanquish him, and then how do the children of Elm Street have to get rid of everybody?" Shaye said in an interview.
Shaye said the proposed movie makes one important reference to a tradition of both Elm Street and Friday the 13th. "It acknowledges [them] to the extent that at the end of every one of the Freddy films and at the end of every one of the Jason films, the bad guys get sent back," Shaye said. "Now, I think one of the two characters is going to try to enlist the other in concert to come back again and maybe not have to leave. That's basically what the storyline is." The new script does not specifically address events in the latest Nightmare movie, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, in which Shaye and other New Line Cinema stars appeared as themselves.
Shaye said the new film also has a sense of humor. "It's funny in a sort of macabre, cynical way, which is what all of the Freddy scripts have been," he said. "It doesn't abuse the fan base or condescend [or say], 'We can make jokes, because this is really all bullsh-t.' It's scary, it's wry, and in fact even today one of the writers was alluding to the Renny Harlin Elm Street [Part 4], where in the waterbed scene, he said, 'How do you like this wet dream?' That's funny, but it's nasty."
Tracker's Future Uncertain
onflicting reports have emerged about the future of the syndicated SF TV series Tracker.
"Tracker unfortunately is not coming back for a second season," a series spokeswoman told SCI FI Wire. The spokeswoman added that the show has completed shooting the last eight episodes that will be airing, but that the series has not been renewed.
Not true, Doug Friedman, senior vice president of worldwide television marketing for Lions Gate Entertainment, told SCI FI Wire. "Tracker has not been canceled," Friedman said in an interview. "We're in syndication through September or October of this year. We are working on renewing the show. We're looking potentially for new homes for the show, but we still have the option to bring the show back. At worst, the future of the show is uncertain. At best, of course, it will be back. We don't know where it will be back, but it is definitely not canceled."
New episodes are set to begin airing next week, completing the series' first season. Tracker, a series about an alien bounty hunter who is tracking fugitives on Earth, stars Adrian Paul (Highlander) and Geraint Wyn Davies (Forever Knight).
Bullock Orders Wonder Rewrite
he IMDB News Web site reported that Sandra Bullock has asked for a rewrite of the script for a proposed Wonder Woman movie before she'll consent to starring.
Bullock reportedly didn't like the character in a draft she read, the site reported.
Bullock has first rights to the character, but was left far from impressed with her first look at the storyline, the site reported. Producer Len Goldberg told IMDB, "We're awaiting a new story outline, and once that's approved, a writer should have the script completed in two months."
Briefly Noted
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Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix) has joined the case of Daredevil, based on the Marvel Comics series, Variety reported. Pantoliano will play Ben Urich, a reporter seeking to tell the world the story of the Daredevil/Matt Murdock (Ben Affleck). Daredevil is currently filming in Los Angeles under the direction of Mark Steven Johnson and will be released in 2003.
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Legendary SF editor and magazine publisher Forrest Ackerman is recovering from surgery after a massive blood clot was found on his brain, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association of America Web site reported. Ackerman was rushed to a hospital 10 days ago and was promptly operated on. He's due to leave the intensive care unit soon.
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The IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that Ellen Pompeo has been cast as Karen Page in the upcoming feature film based on Marvel Comics’ Daredevil series.
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Spider-Man director Sam Raimi told reporters in Australia that he signed on to the proposed sequel just this week, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site. Spider-Man opens May 3.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that the visual-effects house Radium will provide the effects for Fox's upcoming SF series Firefly, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. The pilot alone is said to require 80 F/X shots.
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The Comics Continuum reported that Sum 41's music video for "What We're All About" from the Spider-Man movie soundtrack will be featured on MTV's Making of the Video show on April 10.
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New Line Cinema has opened an official Web site for its upcoming Friday the 13th sequel film Jason X. The SF-themed Jason X opens April 26.
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The second trailer for Steven Spielberg's upcoming SF thriller film Minority Report is now online at the official Web site. Minority Report, based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, opens June 21.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that Dreamcatcher, the SF movie based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, is set for a Feb. 7, 2003, release.
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The official Star Trek Web site has posted an image from the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis movie, which is due out during the holiday season.
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The Coming Attractions Web site reported a rumor that Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures have picked up the feature-film rights to H.R. Pufnstuf from Sony Pictures. Mike Mitchell is currently attached to direct, the site reported.
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John Lennon wanted to play the grasping, thieving creature Gollum in a 1960s Beatles version of the Lord of the Rings, director Peter Jackson told the New Zealand Evening Post newspaper. Jackson's own version of the first book in the fantasy trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, won four Oscars.
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The producer of an animated pornographic movie has filed a $140 million lawsuit accusing Star Wars creator George Lucas of libel, the Associated Press reported. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, alleges that a spokeswoman for Lucas falsely accused the producer of Starballz of creating pornographic cartoons aimed at children.
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