SFWA's Knight Dies At 79
F author, editor and critic Damon Knight—founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association of America—died April 15 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, Ore., after a long illness, the Locus Online Web site reported.
He was 79.
Knight published his first story in 1941 and went on to write 13 novels, beginning with Hell's Pavement in 1955, and more than 100 short stories, the Associated Press reported. One short story, "To Serve Man," was adapted into a well-known episode of The Twilight Zone. Knight published his last novel, Humpty Dumpty: An Oval, in 1996. Knight won the Hugo Award in 1956 for reviewing and the Grand Master Award from the SFWA in 1995.
Knight was influential as a teacher, critic and organizer and served as first president of the SFWA. He also edited Orbit, a science fiction anthology series, the AP reported. Knight and his SF-writer wife, Kate Wilhelm, taught for 27 years at the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop, held annually at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Knight is survived by his wife, two daughters, two sons, two stepsons and seven grandchildren, the AP reported.
Hugo Nominees Announced
rganizers announced the nominees for the 2002 Hugo Awards, to be presented at ConJose, the 60th World Science Fiction Convention, taking place August 29 through Sept. 2 in San Jose, Calif.
Attending and supporting members of ConJose vote on the 2002 Hugo Awards, which are named for SF editor Hugo Gernsback and honor the best SF and fantasy works of the previous year.
A total of 626 people cast Hugo nominating ballots this year. Three of the categories have six nominees, due to ties for the final ballot position. SCIFI.COM was nominated in the category of best Web site. Ellen Datlow, who edits SCIFI.COM's SCIFICTION page, was also nominated. A full list of nominees follows.
Best Novel
•The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
•American Gods by Neil Gaiman
•Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
•Cosmonaut Keep by Ken MacLeod
•Passage by Connie Willis
•The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson
Best Novella
•"May Be Some Time" by Brenda W. Clough
•"The Diamond Pit" by Jack Dann
•"The Chief Designer" by Andy Duncan
•"Stealing Alabama" by Allen Steele
•"Fast Times at Fairmont High" by Vernor Vinge
Best Novelette
•"Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang
•"Undone" by James Patrick Kelly
•"The Days Between" by Allen Steele
•"Lobsters" by Charles Stross
•"The Return of Spring" by Shane Tourtellotte
Best Short Story
•"The Ghost Pit" by Stephen Baxter
•"Spaceships" by Michael A. Burstein
•"The Bones of the Earth" by Ursula K. Le Guin
•"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" by Mike Resnick
•"The Dog Said Bow-Wow" by Michael Swanwick
Best Related Book
•The Art of Richard Powers by Jane Frank
•Meditations on Middle-Earth, Karen Haber, ed.
•The Art of Chesley Bonestell by Ron Miller & Frederick C. Durant III
•I Have This Nifty Idea ... Now What Do I Do With It? by Mike Resnick
•J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey
•Being Gardner Dozois by Michael Swanwick
Best Dramatic Presentation
•Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
•Monsters, Inc.
•Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Once More, With Feeling"
•Shrek
Best Professional Editor
•Ellen Datlow (SCIFICTION and anthologies)
•Gardner Dozois (Asimov's)
•Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books; Starlight anthology series)
•Stanley Schmidt (Analog)
•Gordon Van Gelder (F&SF)
Best Professional Artist
•Jim Burns
•Bob Eggleton
•Frank Kelly Freas
•Donato Giancola
•Michael Whelan
Best Semiprozine
•Absolute Magnitude
•Interzone
•Locus
•The New York Review of Science Fiction
•Speculations
Best Fanzine
•File 770
•Ansible
•Challenger
•Mimosa
•Plokta
Best Fan Writer
•Jeff Berkwits
•Bob Devney
•John L. Flynn
•Mike Glyer
•Dave Langford
•Steven H. Silver
Best Fan Artist
•Sheryl Birkhead
•Brad Foster
•Teddy Harvia
•Sue Mason
•Frank Wu
Best Web Site
•Locus Online, Mark R. Kelly editor/webmaster
•SCIFI.COM, Craig Engler, executive producer
•SF Site, Rodger Turner, publisher/managing editor
•Strange Horizons, Mary Anne Mohanraj, editor-in-chief
•Tangent Online, Dave Truesdale, senior editor; Tobias Buckell, webmaster
Classic Poses In Spider-Man
f Spider-Man's poses look familiar in Sam Raimi's upcoming movie, it's no accident, the director told SCI FI Wire.
Speaking to reporters while promoting Spider-Man, Raimi said he selected several key panels from the Marvel Comics series to help shape the vision of the movie and the character, played by Tobey Maguire. Spidey's movements combine live action with computer animation.
"Absolutely," Raimi said. "Myself and my associate, [co-producer] Grant Curtis, selected all of our favorite poses from the different comic books and gave them to the animators to explain [that], whenever [Spider-Man] stops, he's got to stop in a classic Spidey pose. Through his movement, we want him to achieve these looks. Then I also did storyboards with my storyboard artists and even animatic moving storyboards to give to the animators to show them [that] these are the poses from the comic book, this is the angle, these are the movements that he's going through. Now, show me your first pass of animation. That's really how it worked. Then they had an animation director, a great director that would work with them on a frame-by-frame basis. Then John Dykstra supervised all the effects." Spider-Man opens May 3.
Maguire Worked Out For Spidey
obey Maguire, who plays Peter Parker in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie, told SCI FI Wire that he trained for five months to bulk up to play the Marvel Comics superhero.
"I worked very hard," Maguire told reporters while promoting the film. "I trained for a little while before I even screen-tested or before I got the role, because I knew the screen test was coming up. ... Then I was cast and worked out for five months, six days a week, anywhere from an hour and a half to four hours a day, a combination of gymnastics, martial arts, yoga, weightlifting, high-end cardio, like cycling and running, and I had a very specific diet worked [out] with a nutritionist."
Maguire, best known for his thoughtful roles in films like The Wonder Boys and Cider House Rules, added that he had to undergo unpleasant fittings for the famous Spidey suit. "In the beginning, I did a cast of my entire body, which was not fun, because I had to stand there for a couple hours, and then the stuff stuck to the hair on my body, and they ripped it off. It was extremely painful." But, he added, "The suit was fine, and by the time I got to wearing it on the set, I was fine, especially if you're moving around and doing the action. You don't even think about it, and it would give me a freedom that I didn't otherwise feel. I mean, if I was moving around the way Spider-Man moves without that suit on, I think I'd probably feel a little silly. If I started crawling across this table with my clothes on, I'd probably be a little embarrassed about it."
Acting with the suit's full-face mask was its own challenge, Maguire said. "One of the bigger challenges was how to keep the audience invested in the character and feeling what the character was feeling while he was masked and you couldn't see the expression," he said. "That's something Sam and I talked about a lot, just doing it with body language and doing it with little pieces of dialogue, and that's where looping [post-production dialogue recording] helped a little bit. Because where we felt it was missing or we needed something, we could go in there and do a little extra touch to help, without overdoing it." Spider-Man opens May 3.
Spidey Honors Sept. 11 Heroes
am Raimi, director of the upcoming Spider-Man movie, told SCI FI Wire that he tweaked the New York-based story in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, adding a line of dialogue and putting in an American flag.
"I was devastated by September 11th, and I didn't know anybody in the buildings," Raimi told reporters while promoting the film. "I was moved like every other American when I watched the real heroes go in there and help those people in the tragedy at the attack site risk their lives and many times lose their lives."
Raimi added a bit of dialogue in a scene late in the film in which one New Yorker tells the Green Goblin that if he attacks one of us, he attacks all of us. "After Spider-Man has been misunderstood by the New Yorkers throughout the course of the whole movie—he does nothing but risk his life for them—I wanted a small group to appreciate him, because I thought it would give him back something. I had put in before September 11th a bunch of New Yorkers seeing what Spider-Man was doing, risking his life to save these kids, and helping him a little. I thought that would be cool. I wanted the audience to go, 'Finally, somebody appreciates this guy. If not the whole city, somebody.' Then there was September 11th, and I decided to add and slightly change their dialogue, because I really wanted it to be a tip of the hat to those brave rescue workers who risked their lives to be heroes. So the dialogue has been tweaked slightly. Although it may not fly in other countries, I don't know, but I really wanted to give something to those heroes, the real heroes."
Raimi also added an image of a flag. "I've always been a big American, and I think I would have had that flag in anyway. It didn't come out of 'How can I put the flag in?' It came out of 'Where is he going to land? How about a building top at the end? Yeah, land at the building top. What'll be there? ... Oh, I'll put a flag there, yeah. Yeah, Spidey and the flag, he really is a great American or represents a great American who's not real.'"
It's not the first effect the terrorist attacks have had on the film. An early teaser trailer featured the World Trade Center towers prominently and had to be pulled from distribution after the attacks. An early poster also featured images of the center reflected in Spider-Man's eyepieces and also had to be changed. But unlike other films that featured the center as part of their storyline, Spider-Man did not, and the film itself remains virtually the same. Spider-Man opens May 3.
Dunst Eyes Spidey 2
irsten Dunst—who plays Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie—told SCI FI Wire that plans are already being made for the proposed sequel film, though the first movie doesn't open until May 3.
As for her character's relationship with Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker/Spider-Man, she said in an interview, "They're going to bring in another girl, I think, ... in the next one, which I'm really happy about. ... Because, I'm like, 'All right, Sam! You can have her do, like, the action ... and I don't need to be saved, and you can have some other chicks being saved a lot.'"
Dunst added that she thought the sequel would introduce the character of the Black Cat from the Marvel Comics. "I don't know for sure," she added. "I think I'll have a new boyfriend, and Tobey will have a girlfriend, so it'll be awkward and weird. ... You see at the end of this film, she's, like, more of a woman, and he's more of a man. And so I think it will be interesting to see Spider-Man as more of an adult in the next film and in the third one, if we get there."
Dunst also explained why the comic character of Gwen Stacy didn't make it into the movie. "They combined some of Gwen Stacy's storyline into my storyline a little bit," Dunst said. "Mary Jane was really the woman in Peter's life."
It's Not Easy Kissing Spidey
irsten Dunst, who plays Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie, told SCI FI Wire that one of the film's steamiest moments—an upside-down kiss between her character and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man—was one of the most trying to shoot.
"You know, that was actually really uncomfortable," Dunst told reporters while promoting the film. "Because ... we were in the rain, and it was cold, first of all, and Tobey couldn't breathe, because I had pulled his mask like to there [indicates upper lip], and he was hanging upside down soaking wet."
Maguire added that the rainwater rendered his fabric mask impermeable, making it all but impossible for him to breathe through it between takes. "It was a challenging scene," he said. "I was hanging upside down. It was five in the morning. Rain was going up my nose. ... And then when she lifted the mask up, the mask was then sitting on my nose, so I couldn't breathe through my nose. And then she was kissing my mouth, so I couldn't breathe through my mouth. And there's no other places to breathe from. So I would have to suck air out of the corner of our mouths." Even so, he added with a smile, "I still managed to derive some pleasure out of the scene." Spider-Man opens May 3.
Another Star Wars Edition Due?
s George Lucas tinkering again with his original 1977 Star Wars?
The rumor is that the director is adding footage to the film to bring it more in line with the upcoming prequel, Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, and composer John Williams told the Dutch music magazine Score that he's enhancing the original film's score, according to report on the Empire Online Web site.
"I am thrilled to have the chance to go back to something I composed in 1977 and be able to make the entire saga continuous theme-wise," Williams reportedly told the magazine. "Notably absent in the first movie is the Imperial March. Being able to insert that theme in the first movie will create a much stronger emotional flow throughout the saga."
Williams added, "After the release of Episode III, George will enhance the original trilogy with additional scenes and special effects, adding my adjustments to the score [that] will seamlessly branch the entire Star Wars saga into one massive, romantic space opera. I think something of this magnitude has never been done before." Episode II opens May 16.
Episode II Benefits Charities
remiere screenings of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones on May 12 will benefit charities in San Francisco, Seattle and Philadelphia, the official Star Wars Web site reported.
In San Francisco, a screening at 4 p.m. will benefit the California Mentor Foundation.
In Seattle, a screening will raise funds for Childhaven. And in Philadelphia, proceeds will go to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. For more information, go to the official Episode II Web site.
Hill Reigns In Rings Sequels
ernard Hill, who plays King Theoden in the second and third Lord of the Rings films, told SCI FI Wire that he feels the films make Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien's profound themes more accessible to audiences.
"What's wonderful about the films is that, for all the depth [of the stories]—and the books are a bit profound indeed—I think people would get confused going that deep into books and that kind of literary area," Hill said in an interview. "What the films have done is taken the deep essences of the books and made them work and kept true to them, at the same time being true to the film process. So you go and watch a film and not a documentary about the books, which is a tricky line to follow. I think the second one is better than the first one, because it deals with the world of man, so you've got a lot of emotions the public will identify with more."
Hill explained how Theoden joins the men of the Fellowship. "They need him and his army to fight Saruman and Sauron, but he's under the influence of Saruman, so they have to wake him up and exorcise a spirit. That sets him off on a growth, [because] he's just given up. The kingdom is in disarray, everything's falling down, so he kind of builds himself up. He's full of self-doubt and insecurities and gradually pulls himself back together and becomes the fighting king he was before."
On bringing the literary character to life, Hill said, "I tried to stay as true to my character as everybody else did to theirs." The second Rings film, The Two Towers, opens in December, and the third film, The Return of the King, hits theaters in December 2003.
Duncan Fought For Scorpion
ichael Clarke Duncan, who stars with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the upcoming action-adventure The Scorpion King, told SCI FI Wire that he learned much about stage fighting from the veteran wrestler-turned-actor.
"He taught me a lot," Duncan said in an interview. "Basically, he taught me everything on this movie about how to take punches, how to sell punches, how to deliver punches. ... He is really good at that. And he helped me out a lot during this movie, because if it had not been for him telling me how to take punches and how to carry certain things I wouldn't have gotten through it."
Duncan added that he expected actually to battle with his co-star in their fight scenes, until The Rock showed him an easier way. "There was a scene where we both had [a] staff and we were pushing. ... I was under the impression that we were both going to really push. And I was up against a wall right before that scene, and I'm doing these push-ups and stuff and clapping my hands and ... he comes up to me and says, 'What are you doing?' And I said, 'I'm getting pumped up. You know, this is our scene. We've got to push and pull.' And he says, 'We're not actually pushing and pulling.'"
A self-proclaimed World Wrestling Federation fan, Duncan said he jumped at the chance to work with The Rock when
he was offered the role of Balthazar—a rival warrior who ends up fighting alongside The Rock's character, Mathayus, in the ultimate battle against an evil warlord. The two have been friends since Duncan introduced himself to The Rock in a restaurant three years ago. Their friendship survived the ultimate test during filming, when Duncan was accidentally struck in the midst of a fight scene. "I'd been waiting all my life to feel and smell what The Rock is cooking," Duncan joked. "I said, 'That's it? Aw, man, you wouldn't stand a chance with me.' Actually I was seeing all these little birds going around my head. But I wouldn't let him know that." The Scorpion King hits theaters on April 19.
Hu Bares All In Scorpion
elly Hu, who plays the sorceress Cassandra in the upcoming action-adventure The Scorpion King, told SCI FI Wire that she wasn't distressed by the revealing wardrobe she had to wear for the film.
"I have never been so scantily clad in my life," she said in an interview. "But I've never really had much of a problem with it ever
since I was a kid."
Hu admitted that there was one scene that did make her a bit nervous. It occurs just after
Cassandra and Mathayus (The Rock) share their first kiss. In the very next scene the two of them are seen lying together under a blanket, wearing nothing but smiles. "It was a little bit embarrassing because, even though they are not showing anything on screen, you know, I'm still naked in front of 150 cast and crew members. But they were very respectful, you know, they closed off the set." The Rock was also very understanding, Hu added—but he was allowed to wear clothes underneath the blanket. "Of course, he was only naked on top. It's always the girl naked. ... But let me tell you, when it was 110, 115 degrees out in the middle of the desert, I was the one happy to be naked."
After seeing the film for the first time with an audience last week, Hu said she was amazed at the reaction to the afterglow scene. "I was pleasantly surprised at the audience reaction to that. I wasn't expecting to hear a cheer. But it was great, though. I'll take it." The Scorpion King opens April 19.
Rock Settled Score In Scorpion
WF superstar-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson told SCI FI Wire that he felt so bad about accidentally hitting a stuntman on the set of The Scorpion King that he bought him a watch.
"I took a lot of pride in the fight stuff, and I slipped, and I hit one of our stunt guys in the face," The Rock said in an interview. "And he was, you
know, like cowboy stunt guy, 'I'm cool. I got it.' And I bought him a nice watch to say I'm sorry."
The stuntman wasn't the only one injured by The Rock during the shoot. Co-star Michael Clarke
Duncan also got a taste of what wrestling fans know as "the people's elbow." Duncan, however, did
not receive a watch. "See, the problem with Michael is as soon as he got knocked out, he
came to and he's like, 'Where's my watch?' That's the problem. Now if he'd just been calm and quiet
the watch would have been there," The Rock said with a laugh.
The Rock made his big-screen debut in the 2001 supernatural action-adventure The Mummy Returns.
In his second feature, The Scorpion King, he reprises his role as the legendary warrior of
the film's title. Although he performed all of his own stunts, The Rock said that he himself managed to escape injury during the production. "I was real lucky. I was very lucky. My feelings got hurt a couple times, but that doesn't matter," he
said. The Scorpion King opens April 19.
King Conan On Fast Track?
he IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that King Conan: Crown of Iron, the proposed latest sequel to Conan the Barbarian, is on a fast track at Warner Brothers.
Writer-director John Milius has reportedly completed a rewrite of the screenplay, which is expected to land at the studio soon.
FilmForce also reported that Vin Diesel is in line to star as Conan's estranged son, Kon, in the epic sequel. Diesel (Pitch Black) is reportedly lobbying hard to land the part.
Potter: Phoenix Delayed
he upcoming fifth Harry Potter novel, tentatively titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, has been delayed indefinitely, EW.com reported.
The book, once scheduled for a July release, was pushed back because author J.K. Rowling isn't finished, the site reported.
"She's still writing it," a spokeswoman for Bloomsbury, Rowling's British publisher, told the site. "Until she delivers the manuscript, we won't announce a publication date. We're hoping it will be this autumn. It probably will be later in the fall." The feature-film adaptation of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is slated to hit theaters in November.
Anderson Lauds Duchovny Return
illian Anderson told SCI FI Wire that she and David Duchovny started their journey together on The X-Files nine years ago, so she's pleased that he will return for "The Truth," the two-hour series finale that's now before the cameras.
"I would have thought, 'Well, wait a minute, this isn't right. This isn't right,'" Anderson said in an interview, explaining how she might have reacted had Duchovny not agreed to play Fox Mulder to her Dana Scully one last time on the series.
Anderson, who is contracted to appear in a second feature film based on The X-Files, added, "I'm very glad that the show is completely ending now, because I have a feeling that even though I would have mourned to a certain degree in saying goodbye, there would have been something left undone. It wouldn't have been as clean, and I feel like we have an opportunity now to really tie it up in a whole, constructive and completing way." Fox will air "The Truth" on May 19.
Carter Readies X-Files For Film
he X-Files creator Chris Carter told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming series finale would provide a good measure of closure to the show's mythology arc, while setting the stage for proposed X-Files movies.
"There was a lot of talk about what we needed to put into [the finale], what ground we needed to cover, [and what] answers we needed to answer," Carter said in an interview. "We realize that we can't answer every single thing, because there are too many threads to tie, but some of the bigger answers will take care of the littler questions."
Speaking of the proposed movies—the second of which will likely reach theaters in
2004—Carter said, "The movies are not going to depend on this finale, although there are important things in there. We are always going to be true to the characters, but we really see the movies as taking the best parts of the series—the Mulder [David Duchovny]-Scully [Gillian Anderson] relationship and the X-Files franchise—and doing stand-alone movies that are not dependent on the mythology [and that] are not dependent on the series.
They are now their own thing: good, scary stories the way we've been telling them now for nine years, but for the big screen and with a lot of movie stuff in them." The X-Files finale, "The Truth," will air on Fox May 19.
Enterprise Creator Talks Trekkers
rannon Braga, co-creator of UPN's Enterprise, told Cinescape Online that he and partner Rick Berman have taken a lot of heat from hard-core Star Trek fans.
"I do read the [Internet message] boards, but people who log onto these boards represent a small part of the show's audience," he told the site. "They are, however, an audience. And they are fans of the show, so I'm interested to hear what they have to say."
But, Braga added, "If you try to track everything, you'll go crazy. Some of these people are vicious. It can really bruise your ego. They get personal. And some of them are 12 years old, but you don't know that."
Braga also said he sometimes feels pressure to maintain Trek continuity. "We're very aware of that, and we try very hard," he said. "We have made a few mistakes, but nothing major. I read all these things on the Internet, these 'continuity pornographers,' as I like to call them, though I didn't invent the term. These people honestly think that Rick and I are morons! Of course we know that the Ferengi didn't make first contact with Archer. They made it with Picard. The only people who see the Ferengi are Trip, T'pol and Archer, and they never find out who they were. They were 'those weird-looking guys,' and they never see them again, so you can have fun with continuity." Enterprise airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Wednesdays.
Trek RPG Releases Announced
ecipher announced that it will begin releasing components for its Star Trek role-playing card game, starting April 24.
The game will make use of Decipher's "cinematic" game system, which focuses on character development and drama, the company said.
Decipher will first release the Star Trek RPG player's guide, followed by the narrator's guide in May. The guides will include all the background information and character-creation rules gamers will need to create and play characters from the Star Trek universe.
Other releases will follow, including the narrator's screen and limited-edition set in June, the Starfleet operations manual in July, the personal log in August, starships in September, aliens in October, creatures in November, worlds in January 2003 and The Mirror Universe in February 2003.
Hodder Takes On Freddy Vs. Jason
ane Hodder, who has played hockey-masked Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th films, told SCI FI Wire that he's happy with the approved script for the proposed Freddy vs. Jason movie and offered hints about its central themes.
"I just like how this develops the controversy between the two characters and how it's pretty difficult to bring Freddy and Jason together," Hodder said. "Freddy's in your dreams. Jason's in the real world. They were able to do that with this script."
The long-gestating project would pit Jason against Freddy Krueger, the knife-fingered villain from the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Though he was short on details, Hodder assured fans that the plot device would not give Jason nightmares that Freddy would invade. "I can't see Jason sleeping, and then [mimics waking from a nightmare] 'Oh, help me!'"
Hodder said he looks forward to adding another monster to the mix. "I just think it gives me more to play off of, to react to, because someone once again might have some effect on Jason for once, which is part of the reason I liked [Friday the 13th] Part VII before. There was someone that could actually battle Jason somewhat. I think Freddy could be a more worthy adversary than any of the other people have."
The one thing Hodder said that he is most looking forward to in the film is "kickin' Freddy's ass. No doubt. I mean, it's a great idea to have the two characters in the same movie, and New Line knows how to do that kind of stuff, so I would be severely disappointed if we didn't do it. I'm sure we will." Hodder next appears in Jason X, an SF variation on the Friday the 13th mythos, which opens April 26.
Hodder Appears In Daredevil
ason X star Kane Hodder told the C.H.U.D. Web site that he also plays a key role in the upcoming Daredevil movie.
In a possible spoiler for the feature-film adaptation of the Marvel Comics series, Hodder said, "I kill [Daredevil's] father when he's a kid."
Hodder co-stars with Ben Affleck, who will play the title role. "Yes, I'm playing a character, a bad guy of course," Hodder said. "I mean, it is a stunt-related role, but it's just a character. The guy's a bodyguard who beats Daredevil's father to death." Daredevil is currently in production. Jason X opens April 26.
Burrows Up For Gentlemen?
he IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that Saffron Burrows is under active consideration to play the lead female role of Mina Harker in the upcoming film adaptation of Alan Moore's comic-book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that Burrows has auditioned for the role of the character, drawn from Bram Stoker's Dracula novel, and is the favored contender.
If she wins the role, Burrows (Deep Blue Sea) would join Sean Connery in a story about a team of adventurers drawn from literature, including Allan Quatermain (Connery), Capt. Nemo, Dr. Jekyll and the Invisible Man.
The site also reported that David Thewlis is no longer in the running for the role of Dr. Jekyll, but that Jekyll's alter
ego, Mr. Hyde, will be created using a hybrid of computer and traditional makeup effects. The site added that Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) is being sought for an unspecified role.
Tilly Guests In Iron Man Comic
ctress Jennifer Tilly told SCI FI Wire that she will appear as herself in a future issue of Marvel's Iron Man comic book.
"Iron Man is wealthy industrialist Tony Stark, so I'm going to be his girlfriend, his date," Tilly said in an interview. "They already used my name, like he was out and about at a party and someone said, 'Aren't you usually with Jennifer Tilly?' Since he's a wealthy industrialist, a jet setter, he's dating fabulous actor Jennifer Tilly."
Tilly admitted her connection to Marvel was a small case of nepotism. "My ex-husband, Sam Simon, produced The Simpsons, so he's in with all those guys, and he was talking to Ron Zimmerman, and he said, 'Jennifer loves Marvel comic books,' and [Zimmerman] said, 'Oh, we'll put her in one.'"
The actress did not model for any artists, but saw some sketches based on photos of her. "They sent me over a fax of a cartoon of me off of a picture. It kind of looked like me."
Jurassic IV In The Works?
! Online columnist Anderson Jones reported a rumor that Universal is asking Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg and JP book author Michael Crichton to come up with at least the story for a fourth installment in the dinosaur franchise.
Jones reported that the studio was unhappy with how Jurassic Park III turned out, though the sequel made about $180 million at the domestic box office.
That film went into production without a finished script. For a fourth installment, Jones reported, the studio wants to pretend that the events of Jurassic Park III never happened and wants the fourth film to end the series. The characters of Ian Malcolm and John Hammond are on the drawing board, Jones reported.
Ferrell Gets Small In Elf
on Favreau will direct Will Ferrell in Elf, a fantasy film from New Line Cinema, Variety reported.
Ferrell will play a man who is raised from infancy as an elf after accidentally falling into Santa's sack during Christmas Eve, the trade paper reported.
David Berenbaum wrote the script about the ungainly elf-man. Favreau will also appear in the upcoming feature-film adaptation of Marvel Comics' Daredevil series as Foggy Nelson, the title character's best friend and legal partner.
Goldmember Hits Web
ew Line Cinema has unveiled a new Web site for its upcoming spy-spoof sequel Austin Powers in Goldmember.
The new site includes a "virtual Austin" tour guide that will roll out over the next 10 to 12 weeks, the studio announced.
The site will feature behind-the-scenes footage from the film, interviews with the actors and filmmakers and a 360-degree photographic tour of several sets from the production. Visitors will also be able to download AOL Instant Messenger icons of characters from the film, as well as images, desktop patterns, wallpapers and screen savers. Goldmember opens in theaters July 26.
Spirit Talked, Then Didn't
ohn Fusco, writer of the upcoming animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, told SCI FI Wire that his original script was full of talking animals, but that the movie eventually dropped the idea.
"You start by writing it with full dialogue, and then have [DreamWorks honcho] Jeffrey [Katzenberg] say, 'How about no dialogue?'" Fusco said in an interview. "It's been four and a half years and started off with talking horses and no talking humans. We followed that direction for two years or so, until we had storyboards and sketches to put up and animated sketches with the dialogue working. It was kind of a group feeling that once the horses start talking, it breaks the spell, and we're exploring some more realistic themes of the Old West here and the end of the free West. Maybe we don't need the animals to speak. Maybe we can do it with the voice of Spirit through narration."
Fusco described the tone of his original talking-animal script. "I was partly influenced by Orwell's Animal Farm, and the horses were very representative of different cultures and ideas," Fusco said. "It was darker—a lot of darker shades, and everyone was really excited about that. But it's gone through quite an evolution. Then it became very heavy on narration, which you know now, but Jeffrey asked me to overwrite narration on every scene to really have Spirit tell his story, deliver his perspective on everything. We would use that to inform songs and cut back just to the essence of the narration. But it went from all talking animals to where it is now."
For his part, Katzenberg insists that he never intended for the horses to speak. "We wanted to tell a story that was an emotional journey, as opposed to an irreverent comedy," Katzenberg said. "The moment that decision was made that we wanted to tell that kind of a story, as soon as you see a horse ... talk, it's Mr. Ed, and it didn't work. We never even tried it, because in our mind it just suddenly made the movie undramatic."
Kelly Asbury, who co-directed Spirit, added, "The process of animation is a little hard to explain. We use a script, and the script is very important to the structure of the story and the contents of the scenes. When we storyboard these films, we use the dialogue to help us in the storyboard phase to know what the scene is about. As we slowly develop it, that dialogue comes and goes. We wanted to be visual about it. The dialogue in his script was the jump-off point. I guess that's how to put it." Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron opens Memorial Day.
Genre Finales Due On UPN
PN announced a slate of season finales in May, including the series finale of its teen-alien show Roswell on May 14.
Roswell ends its three-year journey and wraps up the fate of aliens Max, Michael and Isabel, not to mention the romantic entanglements of Max and Liz and Michael and Maria, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
On Buffy the Vampire Slayer, meanwhile, a four-episode season-ending arc leaves one of the friends dead and another looking to exact revenge on the killer, the network said. Buffy ends its sixth season with a two-part finale at 8 p.m. ET/PT on May 21.
Enterprise finishes its maiden voyage at 8 p.m. ET/PT May 22, when Starfleet orders the ship to return home after the crew seemingly causes the destruction of a planet.
Wolf Lake also ends its first season on UPN at 9 p.m. ET/PT May 1, with a finale in which a crackpot Web adventurer has cornered Ruby in a cage in wolf form and plans to expose the Wolf Lake community to his Internet audience.
Buffy Producer Gets Deal
uffy the Vampire Slayer executive producer Marti Noxon has signed a three-year development deal with 20th Century Fox Television to come up with new comedy and drama series for the studio, Variety reported.
It is the first studio development deal for Noxon, who will continue to run UPN's Buffy and act as consulting producer of its WB spinoff, Angel, the trade paper reported.
Noxon joined Buffy in 1997 as a staff writer and was raised to executive producer and show runner last fall.
Noxon has written or co-written more than 20 Buffy episodes and directed two and has contributed to Angel.
Witchblade Premiere Moved
he Comics Continuum Web site reported that the two-hour second-season premiere of TNT's Witchblade has moved to June 16 from the original June 10.
The season's first two hours are titled "Emergence" and "Destiny."
Witchblade star Yancy Butler's father, Joe Butler, of the 1960s rock band Lovin' Spoonful, will guest-star on the Father's Day premiere, the site reported. After the premiere, Witchblade moves into its regular time period, Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, starting June 17.
Fincher Accepting M:I-3
avid Fincher (Panic Room) is in final talks to direct the third installment of the Mission: Impossible film franchise, Variety reported.
Star Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner will produce Mission: Impossible III for Paramount, the trade paper reported.
The two previous M:I movies, helmed by Brian DePalma (1996) and John Woo (2000), grossed $454 million and $546 million worldwide. Cruise next appears in Steven Spielberg's SF thriller film Minority Report, due in June, the trade paper reported.
Smith Raps For MIB II
ill Smith will perform a new song from his upcoming sequel movie Men in Black II on a new album to be released on June 25, EW.com reported.
The sequel opens July 3.
The album's first single, "Nod Ya Head," is featured in the film and will hit radio in mid-June, the site reported. "Two weeks in the studio, and I'm up to speed," Smith boasted to the site. "My slang is current, I'm hip to the new-style drums, and I'm back in synch."
Disney Gets Skinner's Eddy
isney has bought Skinner's Eddy, a fantasy romantic comedy script by Douglas Carter Beane, Variety reported.
Choreographer/director Adam Shankman (The Wedding Planner) is attached to helm for producer Hyde Park Entertainment, the trade paper reported.
Eddy tells the story of a girl who returns to her hometown and meets the perfect man, whose only flaw is that he seems too good to be true, the trade paper reported.
Beane is a co-founder and artistic director of the Drama Department, the award-winning New York-based theater collective, whose members include Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Billy Crudup and Amy Sedaris, Variety reported.
Katzenberg Sails With Sinbad
reamWorks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg told SCI FI Wire that next summer's animated feature-film adaptation of the classic Sinbad stories will use a blend of traditional 2-D cel animation and computer-generated animation, like the studio's upcoming feature Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
"We hope [Sinbad will be] the next bar up in terms of taking what is this new form and pushing it the next level," Katzenberg said in interviews while promoting Spirit. "The character animation is being done by hand. We have a great cast, with Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer and Joe Fiennes."
Katzenberg added that the film will be based on all of the Sinbad stories, but would not specify which elements. Spirit opens Memorial Day weekend.
Whitaker Enters Twilight Zone
orest Whitaker will host the pilot for a new version of the classic SF anthology series The Twilight Zone on UPN, Variety reported.
Whitaker, who will also have producing input into the series, will play the same role that Rod Serling played on the original Twilight Zone.
The Twilight Zone is being produced by Trilogy Entertainment Group, in association with New Line Television. Pen Densham is the writer and will executive produce with his partners Mark Stern and John Watson.
Ackerman Recovering
orrest J. Ackerman—founder of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and the editor credited with coining the term "sci fi"—is being moved to a rehabilitation center in the Los Angeles area to convalesce for the next two weeks from surgery to deal with complications from a blood clot.
A source told SCI FI Wire that Ackerman was doing well at the Daniel Freeman Hospital rehabilitation center and was expected to recover fully. Ackerman was taken to Kaiser Permanente Hospital two and a half weeks ago for treatment, then returned to the hospital on April 12.
Ackerman is best known for founding the fan magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, was assistant editor of Cult Movies magazine and is curator and host of the Ackermansion in Hollywood, the house Ackerman has filled with SF movie props, costumes and art, literary memorabilia and other genre-related items.
A campaign is also now under way to get Ackerman a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his ongoing contributions to the film industry. Fans are encouraged to send greetings to Ackerman's home, 2495 Glendower Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90027.
Threshold Wins Horror Award
aitlín R. Kiernan's novel Threshold won the top prize at the 2002 International Horror Guild awards on April 13.
Logan's Run author William F. Nolan, who also penned How to Write Horror Fiction, received a Living Legend award. Neil Gaiman and Gahan Wilson presented the awards in a ceremony at the World Horror Convention in Chicago. The awards recognize outstanding achievement in the fields of horror and dark fantasy from the year 2001. A full list of winners follows.
Novel
•Threshold by Caitlín R. Kiernan
First Novel
•Ordinary Horror by David Searcy
Long Fiction
•"Cleopatra Brimstone" by Elizabeth Hand
Short Fiction
•"Onion" by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Collection
•Through Shattered Glass by David B. Silva
Anthology
•Night Visions 10, Richard Chizmar, ed.
Illustrated Narrative
•Just A Pilgrim by Garth Ennis (writer) and Carlos Ezquerra (artist)
Nonfiction
•Wild Hairs by David J. Schow
Publication
•The Spook
Film
•Ginger Snaps
Art
•John Picacio
Minority Game Coming
ctivision confirmed that Treyarch is developing a video game based on Steven Spielberg's upcoming SF thriller film Minority Report for the PlayStation2, Xbox and GameCube platforms.
Minority Report, based on a Philip K. Dick short story, stars Tom Cruise as a police officer wrongfully accused of murder; it opens June 21.
The upcoming third-person action/adventure game will allow players to explore many of the locations from the film, as well as make use of advanced weapons and gadgets straight out of the movie. The Minority Report game will be released in the winter of 2002.
Baker Talks Cat, Hellboy
akeup wizard Rick Baker, who won a 2001 Oscar for transforming Jim Carrey into The Grinch, told SCI FI Wire that he will work similar magic on Mike Myers in the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat.
"That's what I anticipate, but we'll see," Baker said in an interview. "A lot of it is dictated by the people wearing it."
Baker admitted that he was rankled by Carrey's much-publicized remarks about how difficult it was to wear the elaborate green furry costume and mask designed for Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. "I didn't like that in every interview that he did, all he could talk about was how uncomfortable he was," Baker said. "And he didn't talk about how good the makeup was. That didn't make me all that happy. But I did like what he did with it. I thought he was really good in the movie and worked it really well and was perfect for the part. Unfortunately, ... he was a little obsessed with how, 'Oh poor me, I'm so uncomfortable.' Making $27 million and working four days a week."
Baker—who recently designed aliens for the upcoming Men in Black II—also said he was mulling the makeup and design for a live-action movie version of Mike Mignola's Hellboy, to be helmed by Blade II director Guillermo del Toro. "I talked to Guillermo about Hellboy, and we actually did a [maquette] ...for him and kind of a design sculpture about four or five years ago, and he still kind of threatens to talk to us about Hellboy," Baker said. "But it's not a go project yet."
Baker denied widespread rumors that he was involved in designing makeup for Ang Lee's upcoming live-action Hulk movie. "I'm not doing anything on The Hulk," he said. "It was like an Internet rumor that got out of control. They've never talked to me, ever, about it."
Bromeliad Still Blossoms
reamWorks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg told SCI FI Wire that work progresses on the much-anticipated animated-film adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad Trilogy of novels, despite reports that the project had been put on the back burner.
Joe Stillman (Shrek) is writing the script for the film, which is slated for release in 2005 or later, Katzenberg said in an interview while promoting DreamWorks' upcoming animated movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
"Andrew Adamson, who directed Shrek 1 and is supervising Shrek 2, that's his next project," Katzenberg said. The Bromeliad Trilogy tells the story of a group of four-inch-tall gnomes, who venture into the real world, which thinks they no longer exist. The first book, Trucks, deals with the gnomes as they leave their department-store home when it is threatened with demolition.
Katzenberg added that DreamWorks has a heavy slate of animation projects destined for release in 2004. "We have Shrek 2 in May, Sharkslayer in July and Wallace & Gromit at Thanksgiving." When asked about Shrek 2, Katzenberg declined to reveal anything about the plot, adding simply, "Really funny. Really, really, really funny."
Phoenix Falls For Autumn
hoenix Pictures has bought Black Autumn, a supernatural horror script by husband-and-wife writing team Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan, Variety reported.
Phoenix-based O/Z Films will produce the proposed film.
Black Autumn tells the story of a young woman who attends a prep school for girls, which turns out to be run by a coven of witches, the trade paper reported. Marcus is also attached to direct. He previously co-wrote and directed Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.
Festival Promotes Darkness
intendo will promote its upcoming horror video game Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem with an online film-festival, Variety reported.
The GameCube title, which debuts June 24, toys with gamers' perceptions and mimics the decline into insanity, the trade paper reported.
To promote the game, Nintendo partnered with Hypnotic, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal, to create a contest in which film students and others submitted scripts for films dealing with the themes of insanity and perception, the trade paper reported. More than 500 people submitted treatments, which were winnowed to 10 semifinalists. Their short films will be posted in pairs, beginning May 23. An industry panel will pick the grand prize recipient, who gets $20,000 and a screening at a major festival, Variety reported.
SCIFI.COM is also owned by Vivendi Universal.
Briefly Noted
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The Force.net Web site has posted a new television trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, which opens May 16.
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The official Web site for the upcoming SF dragon movie Reign of Fire has posted a new full trailer. The movie opens July 12.
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The Superhero Hype Web site reported a rumor that director McG is eyeing Brendan Fraser to play the role of Clark Kent in the upcoming fifth Superman movie.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that Dimension Films and Abandon Entertainment have signed a deal to develop a movie based on the Max Payne series of video games.
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The Comics2Film Web site confirmed that Lou Ferrigno, who played the title character in TV's The Incredible Hulk, will have a cameo role in Ang Lee's upcoming feature film version of the Marvel Comics series.
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The Dark Horizons Web site has posted a teaser poster for the upcoming SF dragon movie Reign of Fire, which opens in July.
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The music video for "Across the Stars," the love theme from Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, debuts April 23 at 4 p.m. ET on MTV's Total Request Live, the Dark Horizons Web site reported.
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DreamWorks has posted a teaser site for its upcoming supernatural thriller film The Ring, based on the Japanese horror movie Ringu.
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The Digital Bits Web site reported a rumor that Paramount would delay the collector's-edition DVD release of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan to August from the original June, but that the release would feature a new director's cut of the 1982 film.
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Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee guest-stars as himself on the April 27 episode of Fox's The Simpsons in an episode called "I Am Furious Yellow," in which Bart creates an Internet animated series based on his own life and creates a character named Angry Dad, a Hulk-like Homer, the Comics Continuum Web site reported.
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The Empire Online Web site has posted images of action sequences from Die Another Day, the upcoming 20th James Bond movie, which is currently in production.
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E! Online columnist Anderson Jones reported that a trailer for The Matrix Reloaded will come attached to prints of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones when it premieres May 16.
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Thomas Ian Griffith and Steve Van Wormer will join Jason Scott Lee on the sequel to the Jean-Claude Van Damme's SF thriller film Timecop, the Moviehole Web site reported.
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Showtime's SF series Jeremiah will aired at a special time, 10:30 p.m. ET/PT, on April 19. Michael Rooker guest-stars as Col. Quantrell in the episode, "Firewall," in which Jeremiah learns more about Marcus and Valhalla Sector.
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Telos Publishing will debut Nightdreamers, Tom Adren's new Doctor Who novella, on May 15.
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TV Guide will come with five different Spider-Man covers when it hits newsstands April 22. The magazine will also offer a peek at the upcoming movie, which opens May 3.
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Harrison Ford and George Lucas both assured Entertainment Tonight's Leonard Maltin that a fourth Indiana Jones movie is coming, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site. "It's going to happen," Ford said. "It's going to happen. We have what we all believe to be a good idea. There's a lot of work ahead of us, but we are all looking foward to it." Added Lucas, "If I finish up with Episode II this week, I have to begin work on Indy 4 next week."
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A teaser trailer for Disney's animated movie Treasure Planet, a science fiction take on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale Treasure Island, has been posted to the Web. The film opens Thanksgiving.
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Film director and part-time comic-book writer Kevin Smith will appear on NBC's Tonight Show on June 24 to promote his upcoming Marvel Comics miniseries, Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do. The four-issue series by Smith is illustrated by Terry and Rachel Dodson and hits stands on June 26.
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Mark S. Waters is in final talks to direct a remake of Disney's fantasy family comedy film Freaky Friday, which originally starred a teenaged Jodie Foster, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Freaky tells the story of a tomboy who switches bodies with her widowed mother.
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New Zealand actor Martin Csokas has been cast as the villain in the upcoming feature-film adaptation of Michael Crichton's SF novel Timeline, Variety reported.
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The official Star Trek Web site has posted preliminary key art for the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis movie, featuring an image of a bird of prey clutching the twin worlds of Romulus and Remus. Nemesis opens in December.
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Ashley Judd confirmed on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman that she will make a cameo appearance in the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis movie, reprising the role of Ensign Robin Lefler, who is now Wesley Crusher's (Wil Wheaton) wife, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site. Judd appeared as Lefler in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "The Game" and "Darmok" in 1991, at the tender age of 23.
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The Ain't It Cool News Web site reported what it said is a description of the first trailer for the upcoming SF movie Reign of Fire. The dragon movie, starring Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey, opens July 12.
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The ABC Family cable network will air a marathon of animated Spider-Man episodes on the Memorial Day weekend. Episodes will be pulled from the 1960s, '80s, '90s and new millennium versions of the series.
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