Asaro, Park Win Nebulas
atherine Asaro's The Quantum Rose won the 2002 Nebula Award for best novel in ceremonies in Kansas City, Mo., on April 27.
The Nebula Awards, honoring SF works from the year before, are voted on and presented by active members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The SFWA's more than 1,200 members include most of the leading writers of SF and fantasy.
Severna Park's short story, "The Cure for Everything," first published on SCIFI.COM's Sci Fiction site, also won a Nebula. A full list of winners follows.
Novel
•The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro
Novella
•"The Ultimate Earth" by Jack Williamson
Novelette
•"Louise's Ghost" by Kelly Link
Short Story
•"The Cure for Everything" by Severna Park
Script
•Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by James Schamus, Kuo Jung Tsai and Hui-Ling Wang
Special Award
•President's Award: Betty Ballantine
Candidate Proposes SF Tax
Republican candidate for an Alabama congressional seat has proposed a plan to tax science fiction to fund NASA, The Huntsville (Ala.) Times reported.
Michael Williams, who is running for the 5th Congressional District seat, proposes a 1 percent "NASA tax" on SF books, comics and any other space-related literature to finance the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the newspaper reported. The tax would also apply to "space, space-related and science fiction toys, puzzles and games," Williams said in a listing of his platform, the newspaper reported.
A Hampton Cove, Ala., resident, Williams, 28, holds a master's degree in political science from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a bachelor's degree in business management from Athens State University. He works at Publix Super Market at Hampton Cove, the newspaper reported.
Spidey Wants His MTV
TV aired a special on Spider-Man, Sam Raimi's upcoming movie version of the Marvel Comics series.
The Spider-Man Movie Special originally aired at 9 p.m. ET April 28, and will repeat at 5:30 p.m. ET April 29, noon ET May 1 and 3 p.m. ET May 3.
The special will also look at the history of Spider-Man comics, featuring interviews with Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada, Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker: Spider-Man editor Axel Alonso and artists John Romita and his son, John Romita Jr. Spider-Man swings into theaters May 3.
Spidey Monopoly Game Coming
SAOPOLY will publish a Spider-Man collector's edition of Hasbro's popular board game Monopoly in connection with the upcoming feature film based on the Marvel Comics series.
The game will feature a customized game board with classic Marvel artwork of Spider-Man's greatest enemies.
Players can choose to be among six collectible pewter playing pieces, including Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Spider Buggy, Spidey's web shooter, Green Goblin and Venom. Fans can earn $200 in "web crawler cash" for selling photos to the Daily Bugle.
The Spider-Man Monopoly game is now available at specialty retail stores with a suggested price of $34.95.
Doc Ock, Lizard In Spidey 2?
irsten Dunst, who plays Mary Jane Watson in the upcoming Spider-Man movie, told Entertainment Weekly magazine that the expected sequel may feature Doctor Octopus and the Lizard as possible villains.
"They were thinking of two in the next one, which is a good idea," Dunst told the magazine. In an interview with SCI FI Wire, Dunst earlier hinted that the sequel might feature the Marvel Comic series character Black Cat.
Dunst, Spidey star Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi are all signed on for at least two more Spider-Man movies, the magazine reported. Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who created The WB's Superman series, Smallville, will write the script for Spidey 2. Spider-Man opens May 3.
New Writers On X2
he Comics Continuum Web site reported that writers Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty are working with director Bryan Singer on the latest draft of X2, the upcoming sequel to Singer's X-Men movie.
David Hayter, who wrote the first X-Men movie, and Zak Penn worked on previous drafts for the sequel.
Production is slated to start June 17 in Vancouver, B.C., the site reported. The first movie was shot in Toronto. X2 is eyeing a May 2, 2003, release date.
Lee Seeks Hulk In Us All
ng Lee, director of The Hulk, told reporters that he envisions the comic-book story as a serious tale applicable to everyone, according to a report on Cinescape Online.
"I believe Hulk is the first Marvel creature—in the comic book world—that is a mixture of monster and superhero, and we want to make [it] that way," Lee said at a press conference in the Bay Area. "I think it's possible to do a mixture in a very rational way."
Lee added, "I think we all have that Hulk inside of us—our alter ego—and not only Hulk, but also Bruce Banner. And everybody [in the film] dealing with [Banner] is dealing with their own 'Hulk-ness' inside of them. I hope eventually that that in fact will prevail to the audience. We all have that Hulk inside of us. I'm experiencing that right now."
Lee said that he and his crew are still working on how Banner, played by Eric Bana, will transform into the big green guy. "We're still figuring out," he said. "I don't think I can tell you that. It's supposed to be top secret. I hope its something you've never seen before—at least the refinement, the performing art and the care for special effect that mix with the art of performing emotional values. Really, I hope that we have a breakthrough on the [Industrial Light & Magic] front. One of my biggest goals is mixing the art of drama and relationship, and [taking] that along with special effects and action. I tried doing that in [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon] in the Chinese version, and now I'm here to try the Hollywood version, so to speak."
Perlman Set For Hellboy?
source in director Guillermo del Toro's office confirms for SCI FI Wire that Ron Perlman has won the lead role in del Toro's upcoming Hellboy movie, based on Mike Mignola's Dark Horse comic series of the same name.
Mignola has also gone on record approving Perlman as his top choice for the part, the source said.
Hellboy is slated to begin shooting in January in Prague, with Guillermo Navarro as cinematographer and Rick Baker in talks to do the Hellboy makeup, the source said. Jurassic Park dinosaur wrangler Phil Tippet's company is also in talks to handle visual effects, the source added. Del Toro (Blade II) also wrote the introduction to the upcoming Hellboy: Conqueror Worm trade paperback, which was published in February by Dark Horse.
Hellboy Gets Green Light
ariety confirmed rumors that Sony-based Revolution Studios has given the green light to Hellboy, the feature-film version of the Dark Horse Comics series of the same name, to be directed by Guillermo del Toro (Blade II).
The Mike Mignola comic tells the story of a red-skinned giant with a metallic left hand who looks like the devil; Ron Perlman is being eyed to star as the title character, as previously reported.
Hellboy, created by the Nazis, has become a force for good, an investigator for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development, who battles werewolves, vampires and other creatures. Del Toro will make Hellboy his next project, the trade paper reported.
Witchblade Back To Square One
alph Hemecker, executive producer of TNT's Witchblade series, told the Comics Continuum Web site that the upcoming second season will take its cue from the first year's finale.
"Where the second season picks up is at the end of the first season, which is actually back at the beginning," Hemecker told the site. "She [NYPD cop Sara Pezzini, played by Yancy Butler,] rewound time, so we're actually going to start the season a little bit before Sara has the Witchblade, take her through the point where she gets it, and then go to the point where she's about to go into the Rialto Theater with Danny Woo and decides not to. At that point everything changes."
Hemecker added, "Like Kenneth Irons says in one scene, 'Man cannot touch the petal of the nearest flower without altering the course of the furthest star.' So by the mere act of deciding not to go into the Rialto Theater, because she has this moment of premonition and/or déjà vu, everything else changes. Danny Woo stays alive, and the entire ripple effect changes everything that happens after that." The second season of Witchblade, based on the Top Cow comics series, debuts June 16.
Bana Takes On The Hulk
ric Bana, who takes on the role of Bruce Banner in Ang Lee's upcoming The Hulk, told reporters that he was attracted to the role for a variety of reasons, according to a report on Cinescape Online.
"I guess the most obvious initial hook was the fact that Ang was directing," the Australian actor reportedly said. "The next hook was that I was a huge fan of the television show. I'm in my early 30s, so I remember it very well."
Bana added, "The thing I think that particularly attracted me to the character of the Hulk was the fact that he's a slightly reluctant superhero, which I think is a really interesting hook and angle to go for in terms of acting. Superman jumps into a phone booth; Batman lives in a cave. But the Hulk kind of has no control over being the Hulk, which was really the thing that attracted me initially to the project. It's kind of like being an actor and not really wanting to be an actor. But I do want to be an actor."
Bana also remained coy about how much he will figure into the transformation from Banner to the big green guy. "How much of me is in the Hulk? That's a difficult question to answer—essentially, a lot," he said. "How? I think I'm not allowed to say. It has been something that has been running simultaneously in terms of my performance as the pre-Hulk Banner [and] the post-Hulk Banner, that there will almost definitely be very recognizable elements within both characters, which was part of the challenge for myself. And I am able to influence the green guy significantly, but I can't tell you how. That's another reason I was attracted to the project. When I first met [writer/producer] James [Shamus] and Ang, Ang made it very clear that it wasn't just about playing a scientist. I would have to inform the performance of the [computer-generated] character greatly, and then explained how that was going to work, and that was very exciting, and it still is." The Hulk, based on the Marvel Comics series, is slated for a summer 2003 release.
Sub-Mariner Film Surfaces
niversal will develop a feature film based on Marvel Comics' Sub-Mariner series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It's the latest film deal for Marvel Studios, whose president, Avi Arad, will produce The Sub-Mariner with Kevin Misher, the trade paper reported.
David Self has been hired to adapt the comic series and executive produce Sub-Mariner. The series tells the story of Prince Namor, a half-amphibian from Atlantis who must deal with the human race as both hero and nemesis when it pollutes his underwater kingdom.
New Punisher In Works
onathan Hensleigh (Jumanji) will write and make his directorial debut on a new film version of the Marvel Comics series The Punisher, Variety reported.
The Punisher will be made under the joint venture agreement between Artisan Entertainment and Marvel Studios, which called for 15 Marvel franchises to be adapted for film or TV series, the trade paper reported. Gale Anne Hurd (Clockstoppers) will produce.
The Punisher tells the story of vigilante and ex-soldier Frank Castle, who becomes a one-man assault team against the crime syndicate that killed his family. Dolph Lundgren starred in a 1990 Australian movie based on the franchise; the new production will have no relation to that film, the trade paper reported.
No Pearce, Whedon On Iron Man
he IGN FilmForce Web site debunked rumors that Guy Pearce (The Time Machine) is attached to star in a proposed Iron Man film or that Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon would write or direct it.
"Joss Whedon got a second TV show [Fox's upcoming Firefly] and has nothing to do with Iron Man," an anonymous source told the site. "[The filmmakers] are still looking for a writer."
The source, who is close to the production, added, "Guy Pearce has nothing to do with Iron Man." The film is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name.
Marvel Signs JMS, Smith Deals?
he Comics Continuum Web site reported that Marvel Comics is expected to announce this week that it has signed exclusive deals with writers J. Michael Straczynski and Kevin Smith.
Citing anonymous sources, the Continuum reported that Babylon 5 creator Stracyznski, who is currently writing Amazing Spider-Man, will likely be writing a new, ongoing Spider-Man title later this year. John Romita Jr. is expected to join him on that book, the site reported.
Filmmaker Smith, who is currently writing Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil Men Do, is expected to write both Amazing Spider-Man and an ongoing Black Cat series. Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada told the site that the publisher had no comment until April 24.
Daredevil Affleck Dissed
ichael Clarke Duncan, who will play the villainous Kingpin opposite Ben Affleck in the upcoming Daredevil movie, told SCI FI Wire that the Chasing Amy star won't be much of a challenge after The Rock.
Duncan played a Nubian warlord who battles the former pro wrestler, aka Dwayne Johnson, in the current fantasy movie The Scorpion King, now in theaters.
After that, Affleck is "not a challenge," Duncan said in an interview. "That'll be like, after cutting a bull up and going and making a steak [out of it], then just going and eating some apple cobbler. Very easy."
Duncan said that he is bulking up to play Kingpin in the adaptation of the Marvel Comics series. Daredevil is currently in production. Duncan will join the cast in June, after his weight gain is complete.
Hodder Talks More Daredevil
ane Hodder, whose character kills a key person in the upcoming Daredevil movie, told SCI FI Wire that his stuntlike role reminded him of one of his more famous parts.
"It's one of those rare cases where I don't have to hit the ground at all," Hodder said in an interview. "I just beat the hell out of the guy, he dies, and I hardly get hit. I get hit a couple times, but it's not that effective, almost like with the Jason stuff [from the Friday the 13th movies]. Things are tried, and once in a while I'll have to do some stunts."
Hodder plays a bodyguard who kills Daredevil's father. He compared the demands of playing this murderer to his work playing Jason. "[In Friday the 13th] Part VII, I had to do a lot of different stunts as Jason, but that's because the girl had the telekinetic powers and made things happen," Hodder said. "Other than that, most of the violence is directed towards other people, so it's a little easier for me." Hodder reprises the role of hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees in Jason X, which opens April 26.
Hodder: Jason X Is The Best
ane Hodder, who has played hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees in four Friday the 13th movies, called the upcoming Jason X his favorite.
That's partly because the new movie recreates Hodder's favorite kill from Friday the 13th: Part VII. "Up until this movie, my favorite movie has been Part VII," Hodder said while promoting Jason X. "Now this becomes my favorite, and that's the honest truth. I think it's the best one we've done. Because of Part VII being my favorite, the favorite kill I've always had was the sleeping bag. That's why we brought that back in this movie, a different version of it. [Director] Jim [Isaac] always liked that kill too, so between the two of us, we wanted to bring it back."
Jason X begins decades after Jason Goes to Hell, then goes centuries into the future with no connection to the end of the previous film. Hodder said it was not important to explain how Jason came back from hell. "I wasn't interested that much," the stuntman-turned-actor said. "People always like to see a connection from the last movie to the next one, but ultimately it's not really that important. Just to open with the movie as it does now, with Jason chained up—it's just a scary-looking sight, and the way the whole thing progresses from there makes it really interesting." Jason X opens April 26.
Jason X Aced Ratings Board
ason X director James Isaac told SCI FI Wire that the film ratings board requested few edits when it granted the SF slasher movie an R rating, for violence.
"We got away with everything," Isaac said in an interview. "I'm not really sure why. When we showed it to the [Motion Picture Association of America], I had a whole list of things that I was prepared to just take out. They apparently had a great time at the screening, and it was a very rough cut. They were happy with it, and I had to take [out] a few minor things."
Jason X—the 10th outing of murderer Jason Voorhees—is set on a spaceship 400 years in the future, where a cryogenically frozen Jason wakes up and continues his rampage. In possible spoilers for the movie, Isaac discussed some of the specific murders that got trimmed.
"I had to trim [a scene] when [a man] falls onto the big screw and spins around. That went on forever. We really kind of milked that, knowing I would have to trim it, so I just had it in there for like a minute. It was horrible. They said, 'Can you trim a few frames out of that?' Like, yeah! We thought for sure the guy that was cut in half, I didn't think that would ever be in a movie, so I covered it all over the place with just head shots and tried to play the drama of the moment. They didn't say a word about that. David Cronenberg [the Canadian director] getting killed was like 'Well, a little too much blood,' and since I added the blood CG, we took that out."
Isaac said that the MPAA was even flexible about its normal rule that a movie must be screened on film. "Normally, you have to give them a print, and you have to send it to their place. Well, this movie was shot in film and scanned to [high-definition video], so it's all digital and then scanned onto film, so we didn't have a film print. We only had a tape, and we sent it to them, they were fine watching it, and they just called us and said they enjoyed it. In fact, they weren't telling us to do this stuff. It was just suggestions." Jason X opens April 26.
Gaiman Signs New Book Deal
eil Gaiman, author of the best-selling fantasy novel American Gods, has signed a three-book deal with HarperCollins for his next two novels and a short story collection to be published by the company's Morrow/Avon division, Gaiman's spokesman announced.
Gaiman is also known for writing the Sandman series of graphic novels.
The new deal includes audio rights for the upcoming books. Gaiman's agent, Merrilee Heifetz at Writer's House, negotiated the contract with HarperCollins' vice president, associate publisher and executive editor of Morrow/Avon, Jennifer Hershey.
HarperAudio will release the audio edition of Gaiman's Coraline on June 18, prior to the print edition. On Oct. 11, HarperAudio will publish Two Plays for Voices, audio editions of two of Gaiman's radio plays, Murder Mysteries, starring Brian Dennehy, and Snow Glass Apples, starring Bebe Neuwirth and originally produced for SCIFI.COM's Seeing Ear Theatre.
Gaiman is also busy in Hollywood. Director Terry Gilliam (Twelve Monkeys) is in preproduction on the feature-film adaptation of Good Omens, based on the novel by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Gaiman has also just delivered his film adaptation of Nicholson Baker's fantasy novel The Fermata to director Robert Zemeckis. Gaiman will also write and direct the screen adaptation of his Sandman miniseries Death: The High Cost of Living for Warner Brothers. Warner also has plans to develop Gaiman's comic series Sandman and Books of Magic. Miramax, for whom Gaiman wrote the English translation script of the anime film Princess Mononoke, has acquired the rights to Gaiman's novel Stardust and to his short story "Chivalry." The Jim Henson Company currently has the rights to Gaiman's novel Neverwhere. Director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) is adapting Coraline for the screen.
Vonnegut Ending Public Talks?
laughterhouse-Five author Kurt Vonnegut told an audience that a speech last week might be his last public speaking engagement, the Associated Press reported.
Vonnegut, 79, addressed about 1,300 people at Albion College in Michigan on April 18.
Hours before the speech, Vonnegut said during an informal question-and-answer session with faculty and students that he won't likely make any more public appearances, the AP reported. Vonnegut was the keynote speaker at a research symposium.
The author of SF novels and short stories played down his literary importance, joking that his real claim to fame is that he was once the father-in-law of a famous journalist and talk-show host, the AP reported. "Isn't that worth coming out for—to see someone whose daughter was once married to Geraldo Rivera?" Vonnegut asked the audience.
Portman Defends Israel
atalie Portman, who plays Senator Amidala in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, has written a letter in the Harvard Crimson defending Israel from charges of racism, Zap2it.com reported.
Portman—who was born in Israel and is a student at Harvard—was responding to an article in the student newspaper by fellow undergraduate Faisal Chaudhry, who described Israeli activity on the West Bank as "racist colonial occupation, in which white Israeli soldiers destroy refugee camps of the brown people they have dispossessed for decades," the site reported.
In her letter, Portman wrote, "What he says is distortion, as most Israelis and Palestinians are indistinguishable physically. The Israeli government is composed of a great number of Sephardic Jews, many of whom originate from Arab countries. The minister of defense, the minister of finance and the president of Israel are all, in fact, 'brown.' On this week's Newsweek cover, the 18-year-old female Palestinian suicide bomber and her 17-year-old female Israeli victim could easily pass for twins."
Meanwhile, the official Star Wars Web site has posted the four-and-a-half minute music video of John Williams' musical composition "Across the Stars," featuring cues and images from Episode II and from the scoring session for the film. The video premiered on MTV. The Episode II soundtrack is now available. Episode II opens May 16.
Lucas Talks Episode II
eorge Lucas talked for the first time at length about the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones in an interview with Time magazine. Among other things, Lucas revealed why Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) eventually turns evil.
"He turns into Darth Vader because he gets attached to things," Lucas told the magazine. "He can't let go of his mother; he can't let go of his girlfriend. He can't let go of things. It makes you greedy. And when you're greedy, you are on the path to the dark side, because you fear you're going to lose things, that you're not going to have the power you need."
Anakin's story parallels the saga's epic political narrative, Lucas added. "All democracies turn into dictatorships—but not by coup," the director said. "The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea. ... What kinds of things push people and institutions into this direction? That's the issue that I've been exploring: How did the Republic turn into the Empire? That's paralleled with: How did Anakin turn into Darth Vader? How does a good person go bad, and how does a democracy become a dictatorship? It isn't that the Empire conquered the Republic—it's that the Empire is the Republic. ... One day, Princess Leia and her friends woke up and said, 'This isn't the Republic anymore, it's the Empire. We are the bad guys. Well, we don't agree with this. This democracy is a sham, it's all wrong.'" Episode II opens May 16.
Roswell Returns For Last Time
ason Katims, executive producer of UPN's teen alien series Roswell, offered SCI FI Wire a sneak peek at the upcoming series-ending story arc, which kicks off April 23 at 9 p.m. ET/PT with the first of several new episodes.
"For the finale, ... [producer] Ron [Moore] and I ... wanted to make sure that we brought the series to a satisfying conclusion. So over the last few episodes, we tried to resolve as many loose ends as we could. In the final episode, we really focused on what we thought was the most important question, which is, where are they headed? What's going to become of them? And are they going to move forward in this world as a group or separately? And that means both in terms of the group that has formed between these human kids and alien kids, and it also means each individual relationship. And in that final episode we try to focus on both of those things."
Katims added, "One thing is that ... we wanted ... in this final episode ... [to] bookend the show with ... how the series started. So we returned to Liz's [Shiri Appleby] voiceover. ... I think it gives the episode a sort of nostalgic feeling. And we also returned to Max and Liz as the central relationship in this final episode, as I sort of feel that is the central relationship of the series. I've always thought that. And so Max and Liz are very much front and center, and in the episode, ... the question about where they're headed and what their future will be is very clearly answered." Roswell's series finale airs May 14.
Wheaton Cut From Nemesis?
oes Wesley Crusher get crushed? The rumor from Crusher (Wil Wheaton) himself is that filmmakers have cut his cameo appearance from the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis movie.
Crusher was to appear in a wedding scene that opens the film.
Later, Wheaton wrote on his official Web site that he's not sure whether or not his character will appear in the film's final cut. "I spoke with my manager, and he made some calls about Trek X," Wheaton wrote. "The word is that it's too early to know if I'm out or not, and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to cut my scene, so this may turn out to be a stupid Internet rumor. I am grateful that I have good people working for/with me, who care about my career as much as I do." Nemesis is slated for a 2002 holiday release.
Fans Petition For DS9
ore than 6,700 fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have signed an online
petition arguing for the production of a DS9 movie or TV miniseries.
The fan-run site also features a poll soliciting opinions about the timing of the petition. The poll ends May 1.
The fans want to send the petition directly to Paramount, which owns the Trek franchise. Producers have previously said Paramount is unlikely to produce a DS9 film.
Behr: DS9 Movie Unlikely
ra Steven Behr, who produced Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, told a British TV magazine not to expect a DS9 movie anytime soon, according to a report on the TrekWeb site.
Behr told TV Zone magazine that he'd do a movie "in a heartbeat. But the chances of them doing a Deep Space Nine movie are slim and none."
Behr added, "I think it came to make everyone just a little uncomfortable. It was a show that went off the boundaries of what was going to be allowed and not allowed in terms of the Star Trek franchise. I believe that the future lies in these books that I hear they are doing to continue it. I just think it's much easier to have the Enterprise back. To have a ship back. It's a lot safer. Deep Space Nine was a bold experiment. It did not have the ratings."
Behr said that he and the series' other writers wrote the show for themselves. "Not only was it the best of the [Star Trek] shows, it was also the one series that had no true resolution, in a sense. It needs some sort of movie to resolve it, as they left it open-ended. We were lucky to do it. We were lucky to do it under the circumstances that we got to do it. It was really a long shot that they would leave us alone as much as they did leave us alone. Even [Trek executive producer] Rick [Berman] at one point basically said, 'Well, you're going to do it whether I say yes or no anyway!' It was such a good experience, and now it's over, it's still great. I told the writers this during the waning days of the show: Appreciate what you have now, because when it's over, it's not going to be easily recaptured."
Oz's Ditmar Nominees Announced
rganizers announced the nominees for this year's Ditmar Awards, honoring Australian SF works.
The awards are named after Martin James Ditmar (Dick) Jenssen, a founding member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club.
The awards will be presented at Convergence 2002: The 41st Australian National Science Fiction Convention, which takes place June 7-10 in Melbourne, Australia. A full list of nominees follows.
Best Australian Novel
•Lirael by Garth Nix
•Eyes of the Calculor by Sean McMullen
•The Year of the Intelligent Tigers by Kate Orman
Best Australian Short Fiction
•"Whispers" by Rick Kennett and Paul Collins
•"The Boneyard" by Kyla Ward
•"Absolute Uncertainty" by Lucy Sussex
•"Rotten Times" by Robert Hood
•"The Diamond Pit" by Jack Dann
•"Tower of Wings" by Sean McMullen
Best Australian Collected Work
•Stalking Midnight by Paul Collins
•Jubilee by Jack Dann
•Orb #2 by Sarah Endacott
•Earth Is But a Star by Damien Broderick
Best Fan Writer
•Geoff Allshorn
•Deb Biancotti
•Bill Wright
•Bruce Gillespie
Best Fan Artist
•Dick Jenssen
•Cat Sparks
•Miriam English
Best Australian Fan Production—Fanzine
•Fables and Reflections by Lily Chrywenstrom
•Interstellar Ram Jet Scoop by Bill Wright
•Diverse Universe by Geoff & Miriam
•Solar Spectrum by Geoff & Miriam
•SF Commentary by Bruce Gillespie
Best Australian Fan Production—Other
•Spaced Out Web site by Geoff & Miriam
•Tabula Rasa Web site by David Carroll and Kyla Ward
•Consensual by Stephen Dedman, Cathy Cupitt and Elaine Kemp
•Mitch? 2 Tarts of the New Millennium by Anthony Mitchell
•JB Resurrection by Garth Thomas
Best Australian Professional Achievement
•Robert Hood for the young adult series Shades Hodder Headline
•Meredith Costain and Paul Collins for editing
•Dirk Strasser and Stephen Higgins for editing and production of Aurealis
Best New Talent
•Cat Sparks
Prism Nominees Announced
rganizers announced the nominees for the Prism Awards, given by the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal subchapter of the Romance Writers of America.
The winners will be announced at the RWA's annual national conference in July. A list of nominees follows.
Light Paranormal Category
•Just West of Heaven by Kathleen Kane
•Hearts Across Forever by Mary-Montague Sikes
•Seven Rings Binding by Catherine Snodgrass
Fantasy Category
•Shadow in Starlight by Shannah Biondine
•Goddess by Mistake by P.C. Cast
•Buttercup Baby by Karen Fox
Time Travel Category
•The Pleasure Master by Nina Bangs
•The Enchantment by Pam Binder
•Across a Moonswept Moor by Julie Moffett
Futuristic Category
•The Star Prince by Susan Grant
•Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
•Scout's Progress by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Dark Paranormal Category
•Secret of the Wolf by Sue Krinard
•Rapture in Moonlight by Rosemary Laurey
•Danegeld by Susan Squires
Rings Tops MTV Nominations
he Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring topped the nominees for the 2002 MTV Movie Awards, with six nominations, MTV announced.
The 11th annual awards show will be taped at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on June 1 for broadcast at 9 p.m. ET/PT June 6.
Winners are chosen through a national poll of MTV and MTV2 viewers, who can vote from April 23 through May 18 via telephone at (900) 288-4688 (75 cents per call, must be 18 years or older) and online. A list of the genre film nominees follows.
Best Movie
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
•Shrek
Best Male Performance
•Elijah Wood, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best Female Performance
•Angelina Jolie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Best Onscreen Team
•Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers, Shrek
Best Comedic Performance
•Eddie Murphy, Shrek
•Mike Myers, Shrek
Best Villain
•Aaliyah, The Queen of the Damned
•Christopher Lee, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
•Tim Roth, Planet of the Apes
Breakthrough Male
•Orlando Bloom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
•Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Breakthrough Female
•Shannyn Sossamon, A Knight's Tale
Best Kiss
•Heath Ledger and Shannyn Sossamon, A Knight's Tale
Best Action Sequence
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring, the cave tomb battle
Best Fight
•Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Angelina Jolie versus the robot
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Christopher Lee versus Ian McKellen
•The One, Jet Li versus himself
Best Musical Sequence
•A Knight's Tale, Heath Ledger and Shannyn Sossamon
SCI FI Airs Night Visions
he SCI FI Channel will air all 13 episodes of the Fox SF anthology series Night Visions, including three never-before-seen episodes, the network announced. The series, hosted by former punk musician Henry Rollins, will premiere on SCI FI at 8 p.m. ET/PT on June 14.
The three new episodes will premiere as a SCI FI original full-length movie, starring Malcolm McDowell and Thora Birch.
Dan Angel and Billy Brown (The X-Files, Goosebumps, Bodybags) produced Night Visions, whose hour-long episodes feature two separate stories with a chilling plot twist at the end. Guest stars included Aidan Quinn, Bridget Fonda, Cary Elwes, Malcolm McDowell, Brian Dennehy, Bill Pullman, Jerry O'Connell, Lou Diamond Phillips, Mare Winningham, Samantha Mathis, Luke Perry, Joshua Jackson, Sherilyn Fenn, Jack Palance, Randy Quaid and Pam Grier, among others. Episodes were directed by film helmers including Joe Dante (Gremlins), Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist) and Ernest Dickerson (Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight).
Night Visions is the latest off-network SF series with unaired episodes to find new life on the SCI FI Channel. Among others, SCI FI acquired and is broadcasting all unaired episodes of the series Strange World. Night Visions originally aired on Fox as a midseason replacement in January 2001.
Soul Patrols Disney Channel
isney announced the start of production on The Soul Patrol (working title), a new Disney Channel original movie starring Tommy Davidson, Eric Idle and Kathy Najimy as a trio of ghosts who help two teens fight another spirit seeking revenge on a town.
The Halloween tale is executive-produced by Paula Hart and Hartbreak Films (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) and is written by Dan Berendsen (Sabrina) and directed by Stuart Gillard.
Soul is scheduled to air in October during the Disney Channel's Zoog Disney prime-time programming block.
Columbia Mulls Jumanji 2
olumbia Pictures is trying to develop a sequel to its 1995 hit fantasy film Jumanji, Variety reported.
After scrapping several script ideas, the studio reportedly likes the pitch of Dennis Dugan, who's negotiating to direct a film based on his own story, the trade paper reported.
Columbia is now reportedly looking for writers, with Peter Ackerman (Ice Age) as a likely candidate. Columbia's also talking to former United Artists head Lindsay Doran to help shape the script, the trade paper reported. Dugan told Variety that his sequel idea would exploit the visual potential of the titular board game. "The way we want to do it actually works its way back to [the original film's star,] Robin [Williams,] and gives him more of an opportunity to be funny than the original did. The main thing is this is an opportunity to make an equal sequel, not a rehash of old effects."
Berry Bonds With Dr. No
alle Berry, who plays Jinx in the upcoming 20th James Bond movie, Die Another Day, told Entertainment Tonight that she dons a bikini to reenact Ursula Andress' emergence from the sea in the first Bond film, Dr. No, according to a report on the Empire Online Web site.
"There's a couple bikinis, [with] a particular scene just to pay homage to [Dr. No]," the Oscar-winning actress told ET.
If it were up to her, Berry wouldn't have shimmied into Andress' tiny swimsuit, she added. "No, [it was] in the script," she said. "I wouldn't have wanted to do that, really. How do you relive a moment that is probably one of the most remembered and loved images of any Bond women? Like, why me? Why do I have to recreate that? That kind of scared me. But, you know, Jinx is a fashionable girl. She's fashion-forward and very sexy and takes fashion risks, and I love her for that."
Indy IV Woos Stoppard
laywright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love) is being wooed to write the fourth Indiana Jones movie, Variety columnist Michael Fleming reported.
George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford are courting Stoppard with an eye to a 2004 production start, Fleming reported.
The trio has been sidetracked by other projects, and it took time to come to terms with Paramount on the budget of the film, but Lucas hatched a story the other two liked, the trade paper reported. Stoppard just worked with Ford on rewrites of his upcoming film K-19: The Widowmaker; his participation is subject to his availability, Fleming said. Stoppard worked as an uncredited script doctor on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, according to the IMDB Web site.
Reedus Readies Zombie Western
ctor Norman Reedus, who played Scud in Blade II, told SCI FI Wire that his work on that vampire-hunter sequel would lead directly to his next genre effort.
"I started a production company and wrote a script in Spain with a great up-and-coming director," Reedus said in an interview, referring to Blade II assistant director and storyboard artist David Barto. "He's really popular over in Spain."
Reedus added, "He and I wrote the script, and we're going to make the movie at
the end of the year. It's a western with zombies. It's like you get two kids
together, have a pint of Guinness and say, 'What's the ultimate movie you
want to write and make?' And we came up with a zombie western! I like horror.
I like suspense. The zombies in this movie aren't so much 'Arghh.' It's not that type of thing. It's about going underground in an imaginary city that you find out is not imaginary. There's a sense of claustrophobia. It's a little different. We've got some of the guys who did some of the bullet stuff in The Matrix working on our zombies.
One of them had worked on Blade II. So this zombie western is basically a lot
of our friends who just want to make a movie. Hopefully, Mickey Rourke will
be in it. I've been trying to wine and dine him to do this part he'd be so
great for. Kris Kristofferson and Ron Perlman will be in it, and maybe Leonor
Varela. We're basically stealing from [Blade II director] Guillermo del Toro
in trying to make this movie. We're going to shoot it in an abandoned
hospital in Barcelona and then down where Sergio Leone did his spaghetti
westerns."
O'Connor Makes Time For Timeline
rances O'Connor gave SCI FI Wire a glimpse of things to come when she took a few minutes to discuss Timeline, the SF adventure movie she's currently shooting in Montreal with Paul Walker, Gerard Butler and director Richard Donner.
"It's [based] on the Michael Crichton novel, and it's about a group of archaeologists on a dig, who discover evidence that one of their colleagues is trapped back in time," O'Connor said in an interview. "I won't say how they do it, but the group travels back in time to the medieval era. It's kind of about how we romanticize that period and [how] the reality of it is quite different."
O'Connor added, "We're about two weeks into the shoot. Richard Donner is like a kid. He wants to have a good time when he works. That doesn't mean we don't get the work done, but it's about everybody having a good time. He's very self-deprecating, and you don't feel like you're working with a big Hollywood director."
The British-born, Australian-raised actress also starred as robo-boy Haley Joel Osment's beloved mother in last year's A.I. Artificial Intelligence. That Steven Spielberg-Stanley Kubrick quasi-collaboration polarized critics and audiences alike upon its release last summer and is only now being discovered by many on video and DVD. "I was very proud of the film, and I think [Spielberg] did an amazing job with it," O'Connor said. "I think half the reason that film didn't work was that people did have an expectation about what a Spielberg movie is, and A.I. definitely wasn't it. That people might have had a negative reaction to it might have had to do with that, I think. But you can't take it personally as an actor. You turn up, do the best that you can, and then you have to walk away."
Dorff Clicks On Feardotcom
tephen Dorff told SCI FI Wire that the jury—or his jury anyway—is still out on his upcoming SF/horror/thriller film Feardotcom.
"I have three movies coming out this year, and that's one I was a little skeptical of," the actor said in an interview. "It was very rushed making it. I had a very short window. I wasn't too happy with what I was doing. But then again, I was unhappy when I finished Blade, and Blade became a big movie."
Directed by William Malone (House on Haunted Hill), Feardotcom stars Dorff and Natascha McElhone as cops on the trail of a killer (Stephen Rea) who uses the Internet as his weapon of choice. "I think Feardotcom is a very commercial movie, and I know that Warner Brothers bought it for a lot of money and is putting it out very wide," Dorff said of the fall release. "I think it's coming out on 2,500 screens. There was talk that it was going to come out [in May], two weeks after Deuces Wild, but they realized they just didn't have enough time. The trailers weren't up. They were trying to beat out The Ring, which is a movie with Naomi Watts that has a very similar idea. Our movie is you go onto a Web site, and you pretty much die in three days, and that movie is about a videotape that you watch and you die in two days. So there's a war between these two movies. It's hard to talk about Feardotcom, because I haven't seen it yet. I kind of told them that I needed to see it before I talk about it, because I don't know what I do in it. But I think it will be very scary. The director is very good at that stuff. Feardotcom feels like Seven. It's always raining, and it's dark, and it's shot really well. I saw a rough cut when I did the looping, and I hear the effects are very good. I think for that kind of audience it will be a very scary, R-rated thriller. It's Seven with a little SF vibe."
Shrek Cast Back For Sequel
reamWorks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cindy Pearlman that Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy will all return to voice their characters in the sequel to last year's hit computer-animated film Shrek.
"They're all back," Katzenberg told Pearlman. "It wasn't hard to convince them. They loved doing the first movie, and we were extremely generous with them financially, because they deserved it."
Katzenberg also revealed spoilers for Shrek 2's plot. "Shrek and Fiona return from their honeymoon, and as they're showing their home movies to friends, a herald arrives with an announcement that Fiona's mom and dad have heard that she has found true love and married her true love," he said. "And as proud and anxious parents, they're thrilled and invite her and her new husband to their kingdom of Far Far Away. When Shrek and Fiona arrive, the fun begins, because the parents had assumed that she had fallen in love with Prince Charming. So it's a little bit of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner meets Shrek." Shrek 2 is aiming at a May 2004 release.
Zone Writer Talks Serling Biopic
eorge Clayton Johnson, who wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone, told SCI FI Wire that Showtime interviewed him for a proposed biographical TV movie about Zone creator Rod Serling.
Johnson wrote eight episodes of the classic 1950s SF anthology series, as well as one episode of the 1980s version of the show and the "Kick the Can" segment from 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie; that segment was directed by Steven Spielberg.
"They want to use [Zone writers] Richard Matheson, myself and the late Charles Beaumont as characters," the soft-spoken Johnson said in an interview. "They came and interviewed me for several hours about what it was like to be 30 years old, how'd I get into this group and what was my relationship with Rod."
Matheson wrote 16 episodes of the original show and three segments of Twilight Zone: The Movie, including the remake of his classic episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." Beaumont, who died in 1967, is credited with writing 21 episodes of the original show.
Johnson joked about how the Showtime folks were able to pigeonhole the famed writers with his help. "They finally figured out that Richard Matheson was the 'family man,' Charles Beaumont was the sort of 'philosopher/adviser/gadabout/guru' of Rod Serling," Johnson said. "He took him very, very seriously and called him in the middle of the night for advice. And George Clayton Johnson was the wild card, the 'Bohemian beatnik' trying to break into television and movies."
Pixar, Disney Announce Slate
isney and Pixar (Monsters, Inc.) announced a new slate of computer-animated films, which will come out in the next three years, Variety reported.
First up is Finding Nemo, slated for summer 2003, from writer/director Andrew Stanton (A Bug's Life). Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe and Geoffrey Rush will voice the tale of a father fish and his son who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef, the trade paper reported.
The Incredibles is slated for the 2004 holiday season, from director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant), about a family of superheros that tries to live a normal life.
Cars, from director and Pixar executive vice president John Lasseter (Toy Story 2), will follow an assortment of autos as they travel Route 66, the trade paper reported. It is slated for 2005.
Apes Sequel In Limbo
ichard Zanuck, producer of last year's Planet of the Apes remake, told syndicated columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith that sequel plans are up in the air.
"The studio made a lot of money on the picture, but because the budget was so high, it's in no hurry to do another," Zanuck told the columnists.
Zanuck added, "It could be a couple of years." Apes director Tim Burton earlier said he was not interested in helming a sequel. The remake of the 1968 SF movie of the same name cost about $100 million to make and grossed about $380 million worldwide, the columnists reported.
Scorpion Stings Box Office
The Rock's Scorpion King slashed its way to the top spot in the box-office race, cooking up about $36.2 million for the April 19 weekend—the largest April debut on record, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
The previous April record was held by The Matrix, which opened with $27.8 million in 1999, the papers reported.
Ice Age cooled to number six in the top 10, taking in about $5.7 million for the weekend, for a total so far of about $159.4 million. Clockstoppers slowed to number nine, with about $2.9 million for the weekend and a total take of about $31.9 million.
Briefly Noted
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The official Star Wars Web site has posted an excerpt from the novelization of the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones. The book is in stores now; the movie opens May 16.
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Columbia Pictures is offering fans a chance to win a spot at the upcoming world premiere of Spider-Man, which opens to the public on May 3.
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Yahoo U.K. reported that British actor Billy Connolly will play a time-traveling professor in the upcoming Timeline movie, based on Michael Crichton's SF novel of the same name.
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The IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that Leland Orser (Saving Private Ryan) has joined the cast of Daredevil, the feature film based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name.
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Lionsgate Entertainment and Snap Media are teaming up to offer an online game
based on the syndicated SF television series Tracker, starring Adrian Paul and Geraint Wyn Davies. In Tracker: The Hunt for Zin, players will investigate crime scenes, track hidden aliens and ultimately battle Zin.
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The IGN FilmForce Web site posted a rumor that Cheung-Yan Yuen, brother of The Matrix's stunt choreographer, Woo-Ping Yuen, will design three action sequences in the upcoming Daredevil movie. Cheung-Yan Yuen choreographed fight scenes in Charlie's Angels and was a co-director on the upcoming Matrix sequels, the site added.
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The Force.net Web site has posted a TV trailer featuring clone troopers from the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, which opens May 16.
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The Coming Attractions Web site reported that Universal Pictures will include a teaser trailer for next year's The Hulk with every print of Spider-Man, which opens May 3.
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A new trailer has gone up on the expanded official Web for New Line's upcoming retro-SF horror movie Eight Legged Freaks, which opens July 12.
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ABC premiered a new full-length trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming thriller film Signs during a broadcast of Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, the Zap2it.com Web site reported. ABC is owned by Disney, whose Touchstone Pictures is releasing Signs on Aug. 2.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from the original Star Wars trilogy) will play a Wookiee in a cameo in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, but won't be playing Chewbacca himself.
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Variety reported that the sequel to Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, will go into production later this year, with Vin Diesel reprising the title role.
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The IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that Irish-born actor Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned) is under consideration for the role of Dorian Gray in the upcoming movie version of Alan Moore's graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
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The IGN FilmForce site has published links to several images from the production of the upcoming Daredevil movie, including the first glimpse of the title character in costume, played by Ben Affleck, as posted by the Ain't It Cool News site.
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Blade and Blade II writer David Goyer has been officially hired to draft the third installment in the vampire hunter movie franchise, Variety reported.
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The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson, told Empire Online that he's not taking part in the proposed King Conan movie. "I can honestly say that [King Conan] is not going to happen," The Rock told the site. "We did close a deal with Universal for Helldorado, an action comedy with Seann William Scott. We'll be filming that in a couple of months, but no King Conan. There'll be someone else who can play [Arnold Schwarzenegger's] son, but not me."
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Mel Gibson told the Australian Herald Sun newspaper that he's interested in being involved in George Miller's upcoming Mad Max 4, according to a report on the Moviehole Web site. "I want to, and George wants to, but there's a lot of wrangling and weirdness that I can't even begin to explain in the business world of studio financing," Gibson told the paper.
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Former Baywatch star Krista Allen will guest-star in an upcoming episode of the syndicated SF series Mutant X. The episode, "Deadly Desire," is set to air the week of May 6. Allen plays Lorna Templeton, a mutant who controls her victims by making them fall hopelessly in love with her.
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Warner Brothers has added new features to the official Web site of its upcoming Scooby-Doo movie, a live-action supernatural comedy thriller based on the animated TV series. Scooby-Doo, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar, opens June 14.
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The French CineMovies site has posted a new trailer for the upcoming giant-spider movie Eight Legged Freaks, which opens July 12.
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Writer Blake Masters is in talks with DreamWorks to draft a screenplay based on the Matt Helm series of spy novels, according to The Hollywood Reporter. DreamWorks optioned the series' 27 books in January, with studio-based Team Todd on board to produce and Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) directing.
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