Spidey Swings Into Record Books
pider-Man ensnared box-office records in its opening weekend, taking in $114 million in its first three days of release, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
Sam Raimi's adaptation of the Marvel Comics series easily jumped over the old three-day record of $90.3 million set by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone last November, the trades reported.
Spider-Man also broke records for the highest single-day receipts (with $43.7 million on Saturday) and fastest to reach the $100 million mark (three days, compared with Potter's five), Columbia Pictures reported.
Among the rest of genre movies playing during the May 3 weekend, The Scorpion King slipped to number two after two weeks at the top of the box-office rankings. Scorpion took in about $9.6 million for the period, for a 17-day total of about $74.8 million.
Dunst: Two Baddies In Spidey 2
irsten Dunst, who plays Mary Jane Watson in the upcoming Spider-Man movie, told EW.com that the proposed sequel will feature not one, but two villains.
"They were thinking of two in the next one, which is a good idea," Dunst told the site. She and Spidey star Tobey Maguire have already signed on for at least two more films.
Dunst added that Spider-Man is likely to face Dr. Octopus, a rogue ex-atomic researcher with four steel tentacles, and "a lizard thing," the site reported. Halfway through the upcoming first Spider-Man film, Peter Parker remarks that he's just been fired from the office of "Dr. Connors." Comic fans will recognize that as the name of the troubled scientist who becomes Spidey's archnemesis Lizard, the site reported.
MTV's Spidey Starts Slow
udu Paden, producer of MTV's upcoming Spider-Man computer-animated series, told the Comics Continuum Web site that the show will start out with a fairly small cast and build as the season goes.
"In computer animation, it's accumulative, so we start with a few characters in each episode and, as the budgets permit, to sort of move forward and create a few more," Paden told the site.
Paden added, "We're literally working with the writers, saying, 'You get three main characters in this show, and you can work with everyone who has been created before.'" To begin with, the series will feature Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn.
Meanwhile, Spidey's TV voice—Neil Patrick Harris—told TV Guide Online that his reedy tenor is perfect for Peter Parker. "I still have a bit of an adolescent tinge to my tenor when I talk," the 28-year-old actor told the site. "So I think that plays well for Peter Parker. And then I can change it to be Spider-Man, who's a trash-talkin' guy. Since I sing and stuff, I'm pretty aware of inflection." The animated Spider-Man debuts in the fall.
Spidey Movie Items Auctioned
ony and eBay auctioned Spider-Man movie props, costumes and other items in a sale beginning April 29, the studio announced.
The first round of items were available beginning on April 29 for 10 days, with additional items listed through May 14. More than 75 items will be available for bidding.
Items to be auctioned include:
•Mounted and framed pieces of star Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man costume, with certificates of authenticity signed by Maguire and director Sam Raimi
•Movie posters signed by Maguire, Raimi and co-star Kirsten Dunst
•Director chairs signed by Maguire, Raimi and Dunst
•Spider-Man webshooter
•Mary Jane Watson's dress worn by Dunst in the Unity Day scene
•Peter Parker's lab research outfit
Buffy Goes Back To Basics
oss Whedon, creator of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, told E! Online that the upcoming seventh season will return to the show's roots.
The current sixth season has featured darker storylines, including tales of addiction, kinky sex, disrupted marriages, kleptomania and disillusionment.
"This is where we wanted to go ... into the dark of the woods," Whedon told the site. "But next year is going to be very different. We're going back to our original mission statement. Back to the positive view of the joy of female empowerment. This year was about adult life and relationships—and making really, really bad decisions. Next year will still be scary and different and strange, but it will be more of a positive outlook. People will stop abandoning Dawn. Willow won't be a junkie anymore. Buffy won't be dead."
Next year's theme will be "Buffy, year one," Whedon added. "It's let's get back to the joy of this very simple concept, that this silly woman no one takes seriously is actually the most powerful woman in the world." As for the show's future, Whedon said, "We basically plot every year as a natural ending point of the show. I loathe stories that end in the middle, so we wrap it up at the end of the year. Every year. So next season, we've figured out the whole arc—who the bad guy is, what the general message is. Next year will be the end. And if there's another season, that will be the end, too." Buffy airs "Two to Go" and "Grave," the two-part season finale, at 8 p.m. ET/PT May 21.
Oz In Talks For Powers
rank Oz is in talks to direct Powers, a movie based on the Image Comics superhero franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Oz is best known as the voice and puppeteer of Yoda in the Star Wars movies. No start date has been set yet, the trade paper reported.
Powers is set in a city that is populated by superheroes and villains and tells the story of homicide detective Christian Walker, who investigates the murders of superheroes.
Carl Bernard and Doug Miro adapted the comic series for the screen. Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming created the comic.
Oz Liked CGI Yoda
rank Oz told the Empire Online Web site that he's relieved he did not have to operate a puppet for Yoda in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones.
This time, Yoda's completely computer-animated, and Oz simply provides the character's voice.
"It was wonderful," Oz told the site. "I didn't have to work hard. Everybody else worked hard. [Director] George [Lucas] had told me a lot about it beforehand, so I wasn't completely surprised. Again, they did all the work, and I'm just taking the credit here. Because they're the ones who really worked their asses off."
But Oz declined to reveal details about Yoda's appearance in the prequel, including a rumored lightsaber fight. "I don't know what I'm supposed to tell you," he said. "I guess you have to ask George. No one has ever told me not to say anything—not once—but I always feel beholden to George and like to keep the surprises." Episode II opens May 16.
Expect Episode II Hooky
s many as 2.6 million people may play hooky from work on May 16 to catch the premiere of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas told the Reuters news service.
That amounts to more than $319 million in lost wages for U.S. business, with technology and computer companies taking a particularly large hit because of their geek-heavy payrolls, chief executive John Challenger told Reuters.
"This is a big event," Challenger said. "For a whole [generation], it's seen as kind of foundational to their lives. To be there for the opening—you know, you just need to get your priorities straight."
Challenger based his estimate on the 5.7 million moviegoers who turned up to see Star Wars: Episode I in 1999 on its first day at the box office, the wire service reported.
Digital Theaters Rare For Episode II
ired magazine reported that only 19 movie theaters in the United States will be screening Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, despite director George Lucas' efforts to tout the new technology, according to a report on Zap2it.com.
But Lucas has already put theater owners on notice that no movie houses will be allowed to screen the third prequel, Episode III, unless they have installed digital projection systems, the magazine reported.
The 19 theaters are Harkins Arrowhead Cinemas 18 (Peoria, Ariz.), AMC Media Center 6 (Burbank, Calif.), Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 Megaplex (Irvine, Calif.), El Capitan Theatre (Los Angeles), Loews Century Plaza (Los Angeles), AMC Mission Valley 20 (San Diego), AMC 1000 Van Ness (San Francisco), AMC Pleasure Island 24 (Lake Buena Vista, Fla.), AMC South Barrington 30 (South Barrington, Ill.), AMC Studio 30 (Olathe, Kan.), General Cinema Framingham 16 (Framingham, Mass.), Show Case Cinemas Randolph (Randolph, Mass.), Edgewater Multiplex Cinemas (Edgewater, N.J.), AMC Empire 25 Theatres (New York), Clearview Ziegfeld Theatre (New York), Loews Cineplex E-Walk (New York), Cinemark at Valley View (Valley View, Ohio), Showcase Cinemas Springdale (Springdale, Ohio) and the Cinemark at Legacy (Plano, Texas), Zap2it reported.
Berry Holding Up X2?
he Coming Attractions Web site reported a rumor that Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry is holding up production of X2, the sequel to X-Men.
Berry, who reprises the role of Storm, is rumored to be trying to renegotiate her contract, which was signed before Berry won her best-actress Academy Award for Monster's Ball, the site reported.
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that Berry's efforts have slowed production on the sequel almost to a standstill. X2 is currently shooting in Vancouver, B.C.
Suits Filed Over Constantine
dispute between Tarsem Singh, the video director who made his feature-film debut with The Cell, and Warner Brothers over the proposed motion picture Constantine, a potential starring vehicle for Nicolas Cage based on the DC-Vertigo comic book Hellblazer, has resulted in dueling lawsuits filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Tarsem was brought on board to develop the picture in January 2001, but left the project a year later after the director and studio reached an impasse over the script and budget, the trade paper reported.
On Feb. 1, Warner filed a complaint against Tarsem and his Oedipus Productions asking the court to order arbitration of the dispute and, in the alternative, seeking damages. Warners contended that Tarsem failed to live up to the terms of an agreement for his directing services and was in breach of contract for telling the studio in January that he was abandoning the picture, the trade paper reported.
In a cross-complaint filed April 26, Tarsem claimed that the studio baited him with false promises, usurped his creative rights and sued him for millions for allegedly failing to do exactly that which they prevented him from doing, the trade paper reported.
Del Toro Loves Hellboy
irector Guillermo del Toro told the CountingDown Web site he loved Mike Mignola's comic series, on which he's basing his upcoming Hellboy movie.
"This is the only comic book in my adult life that when I read it, I became as enthusiastic about the next issue, and as eager to see how it continued, as I was when I was a child with comic books," del Toro told the site. "So I think that this will be the first time in my adult life that I actually have a childlike admiration of a superhero."
Del Toro added, "I don't think of Hellboy in those terms. I don't think he is a superhero, but for all intents and purposes, my admiration for him is as big as I had as a child for Spider-Man. He's my role model. The great thing about Hellboy that escapes most people is that he is the Beast of the Apocalypse, but he is just a regular guy. And that's the main thing to keep in mind. ... When doing this entire movie and this character, you have to have Hellboy played like he almost would prefer to be watching TV and drinking a beer than fighting monsters. Like, 'Oh boy, here we go again. ...' Or, in his own language, 'Aw crap!' [laughs]."
Del Toro said he's mulling Steve Buscemi or Kevin Spacey to voice the computer-generated character of Abe Sapien. "It depends on the final personality that we come up with in the animation," he said. "If it's a more quirky, more edgy Abe, then it will be Steve Buscemi. ... But the ideal voice for the Abe of the comics is, without a doubt, Kevin Spacey. But, you know, let's say that in the worst-case scenario, Abe is very easy to find a really good voice on an unknown actor. ... He's not a casting coup that merits such a huge expenditure. If we find out that Kevin Spacey is a big fan of the comic, and he wants to do it for the money, then we'll do it. But, you know, I'm not going to spend $2 million in hiring Kevin Spacey that I'd rather spend on more special effects. But the rest of the cast, I've been thinking possibly Jean Reno or Gary Oldman for Rasputin. I was thinking that a good idea for Ilsa ... well, Ilsa is easy to cast. But for Prof. Broom, I've been thinking Ian Holm or John Hurt—that kind of actor."
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
AnLab, Asimov Winners Named
nalog Science Fiction and Fact presented its AnLab Awards, and Asimov's Science Fiction handed out its Readers' Awards during the Nebula Awards weekend, April 27, in Kansas City, Mo.
Analog readers determine the winners of the Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) awards, and readers of Asimov's pick the winners of that magazine's awards. A full list of winners follows.
Analog AnLab Awards
Novella
•"Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl's" by Adam-Troy Castro
Novelette
•"Tower of Wings" by Sean McMullen
Short Story
•"Jake, Me, and the Zipper" by Rajnar Vajra
Fact Article
•"Up in Smoke: How Mt. St. Helens Blasted Conventional Scientific Wisdom" by Richard A. Lovett
Cover Art
•Bob Eggleton, July/August 2001
Asimov's Readers' Awards
Novella
•"Stealing Alabama" by Allen Steele
Novelette
•"Into Greenwood" by Jim Grimsley
Short Story
•"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" by Mike Resnick
Poem
•"January Fires" by Joe Haldeman
Cover Artist
•Michael Carroll
Interior Artist
•Darryl Elliot
Core Makes Earth The Star
.J. Qualls, one of the stars of the upcoming SF movie The Core, told SCI FI Wire that the movie is an action epic in which the Earth gets most of the action.
"It's more like the world is the star, and the center of the Earth is the star of the movie," Qualls said in an interview. "The really novel thing about this movie that John Amiel, the director, did was he cast a bunch of actors in a really action-oriented movie. Things are happening, but we react to the most absurd thing. He's like, 'Mexico City, destroyed by lightning, now!' So all of us have to react to that. It's really funny to do a movie with green screen."
Qualls added that there are two halves to the movie: the people in mission control and the team going to the center of the Earth. Qualls plays a character in mission control, but still must react to a lot of plain green walls. "The green screen creates a lot of mission control, because it's too expensive to create [practically]. Also, a lot of the things that are happening [on monitors], we're just watching a big sheet, because the special effects aren't finished."
The mission-control characters do not spend the whole movie at their desks. "There's a huge setup getting to the actual thing, and then there's a part at the end of the movie when Alfre Woodard, myself and another actor are on an aircraft carrier. It makes sense, but it gives away the movie. So there's a lot of stuff. We weren't just sitting down at a desk for the whole movie." And if anyone thinks this natural disaster/destruction-of-Earth film sounds similar to Deep Impact, Qualls said, "Wasn't Téa Leoni in Deep Impact? There you go."
Santa Clause 2 Gets Hitched
riter Ed Decter told SCI FI Wire to expect a new woman in The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause, the upcoming sequel for which Decter did a rewrite of the script.
"The thing that [Disney] really wanted in the script was 'the Mrs. Clause,'" Decter said. "They wanted Tim Allen to have to get married in the script in order to stay Santa Claus. So we did that and came up with some very funny ways to have him both be back on Earth romancing a woman and also be at the North Pole. I can't reveal how, but he's in two places at once in the movie."
Decter and writing partner John J. Strauss had not read an early draft called The Escape Clause, having entered the process at a later stage. "[The script] had many, many incarnations, and I don't know the exact chronology, because we only read one script of it," Decter said. "[When] Tim Allen had time to shoot it, they came to us to do a massive rewrite of the script and combine many of the things that Tim wanted and many of the things that Disney wanted in one script. We did that in a few weeks, actually, and then they started shooting it. We're really proud of it." Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause is scheduled for a holiday 2002 release.
Isaac Helming Skinwalkers
irector Jim Isaac (Jason X) will helm Skinwalkers, a werewolf movie for Gold Circle Films, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The project will team Isaac with Shadow of the Vampire producers Jeff Levine and Paul Brooks, who are set up at Gold Circle, the trade paper reported.
Skinwalkers, based on an original script by Todd Jason, James DeMonaco and James Roday, is a contemporary tale of two sects of battling werewolves, the trade paper reported. Jason X alumni Kelly Lepkowsky and Stephan Dupuis will supervise visual and makeup effects, respectively. Skinwalkers starts shooting in July in Luxembourg.
Cameron Shoots Dark Angel
ames Cameron—who makes his television directorial debut with the May 3 season finale of Fox's Dark Angel—told TV Guide that he shot the 90-minute episode for a mere $3 million.
"So theoretically I should be able to make a [two-hour theatrical] movie for about $5.5 million," Cameron joked to the site.
Seriously, Cameron said, "I think we did 116 setups in one day. ... Those are nutso numbers. The most setups I've ever done in my life before that was probably 40. But I think some of the lessons I learned will be valuable from a filmmaking standpoint. On TV, you have to figure out the things you can really honest-to-God live without. And you have to rely a lot more on your actors to just be there front and center and get it right."
In the finale, Cameron said, "There is a lot more physical stuff. Where we might normally have two or three action sequences, here we have five or six. I'm sitting on the mixing stage right now mixing the big fight sequence. It's like six minutes long; it's gonzo. It's the most complicated piece of action choreography I've ever done. It's like the entire cast fighting all of the bad guys." The season finale, "Freak Nation," airs at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.
Doom III In Development
d Software and Activision announced that Activision will distribute Doom III for the PC.
Id is currently developing Doom III, which will debut at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, May 22-24.
Doom III, the latest installment in the popular gaming franchise, is built on id's new 3-D graphics engine, the company announced.
Picard's Chair Went Missing
hieves made off with Capt. Jean-Luc Picard's chair from the Enterprise E bridge set of the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis film during production, the World Entertainment Network reported.
After a break during filming, the cast and crew returned to find the $15,000 chair missing, the network reported.
It marked the third time that someone had made off with the command post since 1994, WENN reported. Set decorators reportedly scrambled to build a new Naugahyde chair to continue production, which wrapped in March. Nemesis opens in December.
During the production of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man last year, thieves made off with four of the title character's red-and-blue costumes.
Romulans Coming To Enterprise?
ick Berman—co-creator of UPN's Star Trek series, Enterprise—told the Star Trek: Communicator Web site that the Romulans may appear in an episode next season, according to a report on the TrekWeb fan site.
Berman told the magazine that he'd like to enlist John Logan, who wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis movie, to pen the episode.
"Yeah, he would love to do that, and we would love to give him that chance," Berman said. "It's all going to have to do with his time. He has three huge movies that he is working on now. We'll see what happens. But there will be no Romulans involved in this first season of the show, so it would likely be next season."
Bringing Romulans into the universe of Enterprise would be tricky, as current continuity holds that Romulans didn't make first contact with humans until the time period of the original Star Trek series.
Taylor Joins Dead Zone
ormer Star Trek: Voyager writer Michael Taylor has joined the staff of USA Network's upcoming supernatural drama The Dead Zone as a co-producer, executive producer Michael Piller said on the show's official Web site.
Taylor is the latest Trek writer to join the show, including Piller and his son, Shawn.
Meanwhile, Piller said that he and stars Anthony Michael Hall and Nicole de Boer have been making the rounds at various SF conventions to promote the series, which is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Hall made his first convention appearance at Starfest in Denver, and, Piller said, "before long, Michael [Hall] was having a great time, relaxed and cracking jokes. It was clear they were really rooting for him to have a great success with The Dead Zone (which he will have), and everyone seemed to love the preview."
Piller, Hall and de Boer will next appear at the Fed Con 10 in Bonn, Germany, May 10-12; the Slanted Fedora convention in Boston, June 7-9; Creation's official Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, Aug. 2-4; the Slanted Fedora convention in Las Vegas, Sept. 8; and the Slanted Fedora convention in El Paso, Texas, Oct. 5-6. The Dead Zone premieres at 10 p.m. ET/PT on June 16.
Hellraiser 6 Rising?
s a sixth Hellraiser movie in the works? That's what the IMDB Web site is reporting.
The site reported that Hellraiser 6: Hellseeker, directed by Rick Bota (House on Haunted Hill), is in production, with an eye to an Oct. 7 release.
The latest sequel to Clive Barker's original Hellraiser would bring back the characters of Kirsty Cotton (Ashley Laurence), Pinhead (Doug Bradley) and the Cenobites in a story about the latest attempts to release hell on Earth.
Are The Gunmen Really Dead?
he Lone Gunmen—the three geeks who helped FBI Agent Mulder over the last nine years—apparently died in a recent episode of The X-Files, but they are slated to appear again in the series' upcoming two-hour finale, the Vancouver Sun reported.
It's unclear whether the Gunmen—played by Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund and Bruce Harwood—will appear in flashbacks or otherwise, the newspaper reported.
"Anything's possible on The X-Files," Braidwood told the newspaper. He added that it's "pretty clear" the Gunmen died. "I shouted, 'Dead man walking!' as each of us walked on set that last day," Braidwood said with a laugh.
As for the Gunmen's demise, Braidwood said, "From the character's point of view and as an actor playing a character, I personally didn't see the justification in [the Gunmen's being killed off], so I was a little disheartened. Largely because of the nature of the characters that we played in the show, the kind of things we represented, the humor we brought to it, the sense of morality we brought to it. But I didn't disagree with it, in the sense that all the writers have been terrifically supportive of the Lone Gunmen and very fond of them. They didn't make the decision lightly."
TV Guide Ranks Genre Shows
everal genre shows have made TV Guide's ultimate list of the top 50 greatest shows of all time, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files.
The May 4 issue is the second in a series of special issues celebrating Guide's 50th anniversary.
While Seinfeld may have snagged the number-one spot, six genre shows also made the list. The Twilight Zone came in at number 26, followed by The X-Files (37), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (41), Twin Peaks (45), Star Trek: The Next Generation (46) and Bewitched (50). Other shows that might be of interest to fans rated too, including The Simpsons (8), Sesame Street (27), Gunsmoke (40), Bonanza (43) and Rocky and His Friends (47).
TV Guide's first special issue came out April 6, with an article featuring TV memories by television notables called "TV We'll Always Remember." In that issue, the moon landing made Mary Tyler Moore, Tommy Smothers and James Garner's most special memory, while Sopranos creator David Chase's favorite was The Twilight Zone.
Ratner Cashes In Paycheck
rett Ratner (Rush Hour) will direct Paycheck, a science fiction thriller film based on a Phlip K. Dick short story, for Paramount Pictures, the Zap2it.com Web site reported.
Paycheck tells the story of a man whose memory has been erased and who now must retrace his steps to stop a deadly government conspiracy, the site reported.
Dean Georgaris will adapt the Dick story for the screen. Ratner will begin work on Paycheck once he finishes shooting Red Dragon, the prequel to The Silence of the Lambs.
Studios Vie For Day
niversal, Fox and Paramount are the front-runners among studios bidding for The Day After Tomorrow, a spec script for a science fiction film about the world ravaged by global warming, Variety reported.
Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) will direct the film for producer Mark Gordon, the trade paper reported.
Emmerich could have a green light for a fall start, the trade paper reported. Emmerich wrote The Day After Tomorrow with director Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Hollywood Palms).
Doohan Hospitalized Again
he Sy Fy Portal Web site reported that James Doohan (Star Trek's Scotty) has been hospitalized again after suffering a second bout of pneumonia.
Fellow Trek actor Walter Koenig (Chekov) reported the news.
Doohan, 82, suffered an earlier bout of pneumonia back in February that left him hospitalized for three weeks, the site reported. Doohan, who has a 2-year-old daughter, Sarah, has said that he is retiring from the convention circuit after this year, the site added.
Who Producer Turner Dies
ohn Nathan Turner, who produced the British Doctor Who series from 1979 until the series' conclusion 10 years later, died May 1 after an illness, the Outpost Gallifrey Web site reported.
Turner succeeded Graham Williams as producer from season 18 in 1979 and held the job until 1989.
Turner radically revamped the show during his tenure, boosting production values and initially playing down the overt humor introduced by his predecessors, the site reported.
Katims Reflects On Roswell
ason Katims, executive producer of UPN's teen alien series, Roswell, revealed to SCI FI Wire the regrets he has about the show, which ends its three-year run this year, with just two more episodes to go.
"We were always trying to find the right balance between the science fiction and relationship aspects of the show," Katims said in a frank interview. "And ... it's very much a show that sort of skewed one way or the other in different episodes, and I was sort of fine with that. But sometimes I felt like the show got off too much into too complicated of a sort of mythology ... and became too serialized, particularly in the second season. ... It just got out of hand."
Katims added, "At the beginning of that season, we introduced the Skins as [Max's (Jason Behr)] adversary. And looking back at it, I wish that we had just stayed with the Skins and used that as the running adversary throughout that season. If we had, they might have even stayed in for the third season. But we dropped it and just moved on, and I think that I would have done that differently. I think ... we went on to other things, and I think ... things became so complicated that it was hard to keep up with it. So that was what I would have done differently, definitely."
But Katims added that he remains proud of the series, though it struggled to find an audience through its first two years on The WB and its last on UPN. "The things that I'm happy with about the way that it's turned out is I feel that we have used the metaphor of the show—of these aliens hiding in plain sight and living as humans, but being outsiders—and ... we've used it as a metaphor for growing up and coming of age. And by this third season we were dealing with much more adult themes. ... One of these aliens was entering into a marriage [Isabel (Katherine Heigl)], another one had a child [Max], and the other one was trying to figure out what he was going to do for work and deal with the neurotic relationship that he was in [Michael (Brendan Fehr)]. So they have grown up a lot. But I think that ... we did stay with the basic theme of what this show always was, which is about how in a way we're all outsiders, and we're all living as outsiders with secrets, and I think that that was always the strength of the show." Roswell airs its final two episodes at 9 p.m. ET/PT May 7 and May 14.
Stahl Talks T3 Role
ick Stahl, who will play an adult John Connor in the upcoming Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, told Entertainment Weekly magazine that he didn't consult Edward Furlong, who originated the role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, according to a report on Cinescape Online.
Furlong was not asked to reprise the role by director Jonathan Mostow.
"I haven't talked to Edward Furlong," Stahl told the magazine. "The fact is, it's been 10 years since the last movie, and people change, so it's like creating a new character. I think audiences love these movies so much they'll give me the benefit of the doubt."
Stahl added, "I auditioned about five times, and there were three screen tests, which is more than I've done for any movie. But the director, Jonathan Mostow, is a pretty thorough guy—probably because everyone knows there's going to be constant comparisons to the first two films. The first time I did a screen test, I had to come to them, go into a room, and sign all these documents before I could even look at it. And they only let me read the first two acts. Don't ask me anything about it, because if I tell you, someone will come to my house and kill me."
Verbinski May Board Pirates
ore Verbinski, who directed portions of The Time Machine, is in final talks to helm Pirates of the Caribbean, a movie based on the Disneyland ride, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Jerry Bruckheimer (Armageddon) will produce the film for Disney.
Pirates tells the story of an attempt to rescue someone from pirates who are trying to reverse an ancient curse. Shrek writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott drafted the most recent version of the Pirates script, following earlier drafts from Jay Wolpert and Stuart Beattie.
Verbinski will also direct the upcoming horror feature The Ring.
Tracker Fans Write Letters
ans of the syndicated SF TV series Tracker are mounting a letter-writing campaign to cable television networks to save the imperiled show.
Organizers of the campaign say that Lions Gate, which produces Tracker, is shopping the series to cable networks and is encouraging fans to write.
Meanwhile, more than 2,200 fans have signed an online petition to save the show.
Stargate Toon Due On Fox
ox will air an animated version of the SF series Stargate SG-1 on Saturday mornings, starting in the fall, according to reports on the Gateworld Web site and Impact magazine.
The magazine reported that MGM has ordered 26 episodes of the series, called Stargate: Infinity.
The magazine also reported that Infinity will be produced by DIC Entertainment (Inspector Gadget, Captain Planet). Infinity will reportedly take place about 20 years after the events of the movie Stargate, but will try not to contradict the established continuity of both the Showtime/SCI FI Channel series and the movie.
Nelson Sails On Lost Voyage
udd Nelson will star in the upcoming SCI FI Channel original movie Lost Voyage, which airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT May 11, the network announced.
Janet Gunn and Lance Henriksen also star in the supernatural thriller.
Lost Voyage begins when an abandoned cruise ship suddenly re-appears 25 years after vanishing in the Bermuda Triangle. TV reporter Dana Elway (Janet Gunn) investigates the empty ship and offers parapsychologist Aaron Roberts (Judd Nelson) a chance to find out what happened to his parents, who are among the missing passengers. But a tropical storm traps the research team on the vessel, where they are terrorized by a mysterious presence.
Beckinsale Bites Into Underworld
ate Beckinsale will star in Underworld, a supernatural film directed by first-time feature helmer Len Wiseman, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Lakeshore Entertainment movie for Screen Gems will begin production in early September in Eastern Europe, the trade paper reported.
Underworld is described as a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story between a vampire and a werewolf. Beckinsale will play the lead vampire, Selene, an elegant warrior with the strength of 10 men. Danny McBride wrote the script, based on an idea by him, Wiseman and Kevin Grevioux, the trade paper reported.
Black 2 To Shoot In August?
he Coming Attractions Web site reported a rumor that filmmakers were scouting locations last week in Vancouver, B.C., for the upcoming Pitch Black sequel The Chronicles of Riddick.
An anonymous source told the site that the movie is tentatively scheduled to begin principal photography in August, which would pose a scheduling problem for star Vin Diesel, who will be up doing publicity for his new action film XXX.
The site added that Oscar-winning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) has been hired to do a quick rewrite on the sequel's script.
Lee, Willis Sign Film, TV Deal
GM has teamed up with Bruce Willis' production company to sign a first-look deal for new movie and TV projects from comic-book entrepreneur Stan Lee's new company, POW! Entertainment, Variety reported.
Cheyenne Enterprises, which Willis runs with Arnold Rifkin, will develop the projects in concert with POW! and already has three superhero action-adventures queued up for consideration, the trade paper reported.
They include:
•The Femizons, with writers Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman attached
•The Double Man, which is being developed with director Antoine Fuqua and written by Alan McElroy
•Nightbird, with discussions underway to sign a writer.
Lee remains chairman emeritus of Marvel Enterprises. In 2000, he ventured onto the Internet with Stan Lee Media, which suspended operations in December. In November, he co-founded POW!, the trade paper reported.
Midway Gets JLA Game Rights
idway Games announced that it has secured the license from DC Comics and Warner Brothers Consumer Products to publish video games based on the Justice League comic-book franchise and animated television series.
Midway plans to feature the JLA characters in games slated for development on next-generation systems and the Nintendo GameBoy Advance.
The agreements grant Midway the rights to publish Justice League video games, with at least one based on the DC Comics series JLA and another based on the current Cartoon Network animated series Justice League, produced by Warner Brothers Animation, the company announced.
Cyberpunk Author Effinger Dead
ward-winning cyberpunk SF author George Alec Effinger died April 26 in his home in New Orleans, the Boston Globe reported. He was 55.
Effinger, an alcoholic, suffered from recurring health problems, his former wife, author Barbara Hambly, told the Globe. The cause of death has not been determined.
Effinger wrote nine novels, including thrillers and mysteries, and six short story collections. He enjoyed early success with his first novel, What Entropy Means to Me (1972) and with a series of cyberpunk novels in the 1980s, including When Gravity Fails, the newspaper reported. "Schrodinger's Kitten" won the 1988 Nebula Award and the 1989 Hugo Award for best novelette.
Effinger was perhaps best known for a series of stories featuring Maureen Birnbaum, a shopping-crazy teen dropped into settings and situations that parody science fiction. The stories were collected in 1993 in Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordperson, the newspaper reported.
Jolie Replaced In Raider 2?
he Tomb Raider Chronicles Web site reported an unsubstantiated rumor that Angelina Jolie is being replaced as Lara Croft in the upcoming sequel to the hit film Lara Croft Tomb Raider.
Though Jolie has said publicly that she's eager to take on the role again, the site reported that British TV anchor Kelly Brook will step into Jolie's army boots for the sequel, which reportedly begins shooting in May. The site speculated that Jolie will be occupied with the adoption of a Cambodian baby.
The Empire Online Web site, meanwhile, reported that Brook will appear in an upcoming SF movie, Absolon, alongside Lou Diamond Phillips and Christopher Lambert. The David Barto film tells the story of a deadly illness that threatens mankind.
Darabont Warms Up Fahrenheit
riter/director Frank Darabont (The Green Mile) told SCI FI Wire that he will direct Fahrenheit 451, a movie based on Ray Bradbury's novel of the same name, as his next project for Castle Rock.
Mel Gibson will still be involved, but only as a producer, not a star, Darabont said in an interview. "Icon [Gibson's company] and Castle Rock are kind of getting together on this, and Mel's been really sweet about letting me come and overtake the project," Darabont said. "He's just been really supportive. So, Mel, if you're out there, bless your heart. He's a sweet man."
Darabont said that he was also adapting Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, but said that 451 is his main focus now. "Actually, I should be home right now writing," he joked. "Hopefully, I'll have that done this year."
Trejo Inventive On Spy Kids 2
anny Trejo, who reprises the role of Uncle Machete in the upcoming sequel film Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, told SCI FI Wire that his character will cook up a new batch of gadgets for the titular kids to use.
"I've got a transmooker, which helps you find all the Fooglies," Trejo said in an interview.
Trejo added that director Robert Rodriguez has come up with a new bunch of mythical creatures, which will be created by computer animation. "We've got all kinds of stuff—slizzards and sporks, all this animated stuff that's amazing," Trejo said. "Out of the mind of Robert Rodriguez, you never know what's coming. I keep asking him, 'Did you do drugs?' He says, 'No, I didn't do any drugs.' 'How do you think of this stuff?' But he does, and the amazing thing is to go from [the R-rated] Desperado 2: Once Upon a Time in Mexico to Spy Kids. He's amazing."
Trejo—who is best known for playing R-rated bad guys in movies like Con Air, Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn—has enjoyed meeting his young fans from the Spy Kids films. "It's so funny," he said. "I've got an entirely new audience now, all these little kids going, 'Uncle Machete.' And kids, you can't just brush them off. You have to talk to them, and it's great." Spy Kids 2 opens in August.
Fox Licks Up Dog Musical
ox and Regency have jointly optioned an untitled pitch for a live-action dog musical film, to be written by Daniel Bernstein and produced by Jonathan Treisman, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Described as being in the vein of Cats & Dogs, the pitch is a West Side Story tale set in the canine world of purebreds vs. mongrels, the trade paper reported. Bernstein also will write the musical lyrics for the film.
The pitch is based on a story treatment entitled When Bogey Met Garbo, by Joseph Lawson, which Treisman optioned and enlisted Bernstein to come aboard, the trade paper reported.
Briefly Noted
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The new teaser trailer for Ang Lee's upcoming Hulk movie has gone live on the film's new Web site. The trailer premiered May 2 on Entertainment Tonight. The film opens in the summer of 2003.
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The official Web site for Free Comic Book Day on May 4 has posted a store locator to help fans find retailers taking part in the industry promotion. The SCI FI Channel will be taking part in the comic giveaway by offering postcards featuring artwork by Neal Adams of SCI FI's Farscape and Stargate SG-1 series.
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TV Guide will publish Star Trek: 35th Anniversary Tribute, a full-size publication that will hit newsstands May 6. The 96-page magazine will feature hologram covers of Trek captains and a pull-out poster with images of Trek TV Guide covers and images of the franchise's five main ships. The magazine will also offer a sneak peek at the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis movie.
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Michael Biehn is saying he has a cameo as Kyle Reese in the upcoming Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site.
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Hallmark Home Entertainment will release Snow White: The Fairest of Them All on DVD and VHS on May 21. The ABC TV film, starring Smallville's Kristin Kreuk, captured 11 million viewers when it aired on March 17, and the DVD will come with extra features.
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Joss Whedon told E! Online that he's confident his vampire series Angel will be picked up for a fourth season—either on The WB or on UPN, home of Angel's sister series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "The WB will pick it up again," Whedon told the site. "I absolutely think so. We'll be staying on The WB for at least another year. Obviously, if The WB drops it, we could do more crossovers. But apart from that, it doesn't really matter."
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The IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that former James Bond star Roger Moore may play Campion Bond, the man who assembles a team of British adventurers, in the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie. If true, Moore would team up with another former Bond, Sean Connery, who has already been cast as Allan Quatermain.
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Angel star David Boreanaz's wife, actress Jaime Bergman, gave birth to a boy, Jaden Rayne, on May 1, Entertainment Tonight reported.
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The Coming Attractions Web site has posted images from the San Francisco location of Ang Lee's Hulk movie, which is currently in production.
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The second part of the CBS miniseries Living with the Dead dominated its April 30 timeslot with an average of 17.1 million viewers and a 6.0 rating/15 share among adults 18-49, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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In an effort to stimulate the commercial roll-out of digital cinema, Lucasfilm THX announced a certification program for digital cinema products, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The program, which establishes performance and quality levels for digital systems as well as individual components, has certified products from Avica Technology, Barco, the Boeing Co. and Technicolor Digital Cinema.
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ABC Family will present an animated Spider-Man marathon, featuring the first-ever episode of the animated series, plus classic and modern-day episodes from the four Spidey series from the 1960s, '80s, '90s and new millennium. The Spidey-Mania marathon will air during the Memorial Day weekend.
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The IGN FilmForce Web site has posted what it says is James Robinson's March 2002 draft of the screenplay for the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie, based on Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's graphic novel miniseries.
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Ralph Vicinanza, agent for SF author Philip Jose Farmer, has issued a notice to the SCI FI Channel protesting that the upcoming miniseries On the Seventh Day appears to infringe Farmer's book Dayworld, the Locus Online Web site reported. A spokeswoman for SCI FI declined to comment on the notice.
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A new trailer has gone live on the Web for M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming paranormal thriller film Signs, which opens Aug. 2.
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The Dark Horizons Web site disputed a rumor that British TV anchor Kelly Brook would replace Angelina Jolie in an upcoming Lara Croft Tomb Raider sequel film. Among other things, Brook is reportedly pregnant with fiance Jason Statham's child and would likely be unable to perform the sequel's required stunts.
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The CBS miniseries Living With the Dead helped give the network its first sweeps demographic victory on a Sunday in nearly two years, Variety reported. The first part of the Ted Danson mini, which concludes April 30, won its timeslot in adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and total viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen national ratings.
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Kate Winslet is in talks to star opposite Johnny Depp in Miramax Films' Neverland, which tells a fictionalized story of Peter Pan author James M. Barrie, Variety reported. Marc Forster (Monster's Ball) will direct the movie, which begins shooting in London in June, the trade paper reported.
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Miramax will develop A Horse's Tale, an animated film based on an original screenplay by Brent Goldberg and David T. Wagner, Variety reported. Few details are available about the plot of the comedic movie, which is told from the point of view of a horse.
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The UpcomingMovies Web site reported that Star Trek: Nemesis, the 10th Trek movie, will open on Dec. 13, a week earlier than originally thought. The new date removes Nemesis from the line of fire of the upcoming sequel film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which opens Dec. 18.
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Apple.com unveiled a new trailer for the upcoming sequel film Men in Black II at 7:30 p.m. PT on April 29. Men in Black II opens July 3.
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Entertainment Tonight reported that Madonna spent two days shooting a cameo appearance in the upcoming 20th James Bond movie, Die Another Day.
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Universal Pictures is in final talks to option Astonish Comics' Herobear & the Kid to be produced as an animated movie for Chuck Gordon's Daybreak Prouctions and Adrian Askarieh's Prime Universe Productions, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Created by animator Mike Kunkel, the comic book series tells the story of a little boy named Tyler who inherits a stuffed polar teddy bear, which comes to life as a superhero.
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