Minority Takes Majority
inority Report topped the June 21 weekend box-office rankings, according to preliminary estimates, but studio executives think final figures will show Disney's animated Lilo & Stitch in a dead heat with the Steven Spielberg SF thriller, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
Minority Report drew an estimated $36.9 million for the weekend, while Lilo & Stitch took in about $35.8 million, the trades reported.
But Disney executives believe that final figures on June 24 will show that Lilo beat Minority. "We truly believe we were number one," Disney distribution president Chuck Viane told Variety. "We're both public companies, and I'm confident the estimates will be corrected on Monday morning."
In its second weekend of release, Scooby-Doo ranked third, with about $24.4 million, surpassing the $100 million threshold on June 23. Rounding out the top 10, Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones took in $5.1 million for ninth place, raising its total to $279.8 million. Spider-Man hung in at number 10, with $4.4 million for the weekend and a total of $390.2 million and counting.
Buffy Cast Teases New Eps
ast members of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer gave SCI FI Wire hints about where their characters will head in the upcoming seventh season, which starts in the fall.
James Marsters (Spike), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn) and Alyson Hannigan (Willow) offered the details after a recent panel on the show at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.
Hannigan said in an interview that she thinks Willow's greatest challenge will be "winning the fans' love back" after turning evil at the end of the season. "They probably hate me now," she said. "I just hope they forgive my evilness in the last few episodes." Hannigan said Willow's addiction to magic will remain an issue for the character. "Oh yeah, once you go that far, don't you deal with it for the rest of your life?" she asked. After Tara's tragic death, will Willow begin dating again? "Oh dear, I hope not," Hannigan said. "She's got to have time to recover." Hannigan confirmed that she will travel to London to film scenes for the season premiere. When asked if those scenes included Willow's reconciliation with Giles, whom she tried to kill in the season finale, the actress was vague. "I don't know. Hmm. What makes you think that?"
Marsters told SCI FI Wire that Spike will be a vampire with a soul, not a human, as speculated. But he added that he doesn't know if Spike will turn out to be good or evil. "I could be unleashed as the big villain, or I could be the big goody two-shoes crackerjack boy," he said. "I have no idea." But Spike's attempted rape of Buffy at the end of last season will cause a rift between him and Dawn.
"It will not be easy for Spike to come back," Trachtenberg said in an interview. "Of course there is that relationship, that foundation in there, so there is something there, and I think he is the one that Dawn has connected to the most, because he's never treated her like a child. For once, she'll handle the situation in an adult way, but she won't let him get away with it." Trachtenberg added that Dawn may fight more, as she kicked some butt in the season finale. "I know in the season finale Dawn tried to fight a little more," Trachtenberg said. "If their plan is [to add more fighting], I'm definitely looking forward to it. I've been promised heels next year, because Dawn has been wearing sneakers for the past year. So I'll have to take lessons in fighting in heels, but it's definitely something that will be fun." Dawn will also face teen dating issues. "I've heard a couple of rumors here and there that Dawn will have a couple guys coming in and out, but I don't know what other relationships we'll be building. I think that this is the year that Dawn matures and really comes into her own. She spent last year leveling the ground, and now she's able to conduct herself in a way that she has seen her sister in her more mature days."
Whedon Will Finish Fray
uffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told SCI FI Wire he will indeed finish his Dark Horse comic-book series Fray as soon as he and artist Karl Moline can coordinate their schedules.
Dark Horse has published six of the promised eight issues of the comic, about a future vampire slayer.
"Oh God, I will [finish], I promise, I'm sorry," Whedon said in an interview. "I don't know the date. I think I'm just marginally ahead of the artist on pages, because he went to CrossGen [Comics], and because my life imploded. We both got really behind. I'm so embarrassed about it, but it will only take me a couple of weeks to finish the last issue and a half that I have left to write. Then it's a question of how we can schedule him to do the pages. I really want to get it out. I'm very embarrassed about that. I've known the ending since I've started it. All I have to do is write it down."
Fray takes place in the distant future of the Buffy universe, where a Slayer continues the duties of saving the world in a post-apocalyptic setting. Issues one through six are available through Dark Horse, with seven and eight at pre-order status.
Noxon Confirms Buffy Season 8
espite rumblings that next season will be Buffy the Vampire Slayer's last, executive producer Marti Noxon told SCI FI Wire that she thinks an eighth season of the UPN show is likely, even though its star's contract expires after season seven.
"I think that it's very likely there will be [a season eight]," Noxon said in an interview. "I'm not sure if Sarah [Michelle Gellar] will come back or not, but it's really up to UPN and 20th Century Fox if the franchise continues. It would be very hard to continue the show without her, but they might try."
Buffy the Vampire Slayer begins its seventh season in the fall—its second season on UPN, after five years on The WB. Noxon took over as executive producer in 2001, when creator Joss Whedon focused attention on the upcoming SF series Firefly, which debuts on Fox in the fall.
Buffy Season 7 Spoiled
oss Whedon, creator of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, revealed plot spoilers for the upcoming seventh season of the series during a panel discussion at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles June 18.
The fall season premiere begins with the grand reopening of Sunnydale High School, which was destroyed a couple of seasons back, Whedon told the audience.
"The reopening of the high school is where we're starting, and it represents a lot of what we're talking about in terms of getting back to the very first mission statement of the show, which was the joy of female power: Having it, using it, sharing it," Whedon said.
Willow (Alyson Hannigan) will have to pay for skinning Warren at the end of this season, the show's sixth, Whedon added. "There are consequences for everything," he said. "Not to the point where she'll spend all day crying, 'I'm so sad, why, why?' But she will have to deal with this. We don't let people get away with things, unless there's a reason. Giles, the year before, killed a person, but nobody found out."
In a separate interview, Whedon reaffirmed for SCI FI Wire that Amber Benson, who played Tara, will return next year, though her character died at the end of this season. But when asked to elaborate that Benson would return, but not as Tara, Whedon replied, "I'm not saying a word about that."
Whedon did tell SCI FI Wire that Willow's addiction to magic and Spike's (James Marsters) attempted rape would figure in the new season, despite an intention to lighten the tone from this year's dark themes. "We'll deal with issues, but we won't be hitting the incredibly depressing reality of being grown up quite so hard," he said. "Those things will still be issues, because Spike is still in the mix, and he did try to rape Buffy. Willow has been addicted, and both of those people have to be in the mix, so we'll deal with the things, and things are still going to be scary, depressing and confusing for our characters. It's going to be tough for them, but at the same time, they're going to reclaim that essential notion of the beauty of power and of their mission and not get so caught up in the questions."
Whedon added that he wants Anthony Stewart Head to appear as Giles in more episodes this season than last, and that he hopes to bring back Jonathan (Danny Strong) and Andrew (Thomas Lenk), the remaining duo of villains from this season. "We're looking for them to [return], because they make us laugh," he said.
One thing that won't be back is Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) job at the Doublemeat Palace. "Doublemeat Palace was the only thing we ever did to make advertisers pull out," Whedon said. "They did not like us making fun of fast food. Sarah's very upset about not getting to wear the hat anymore."
Buffy Toon Green-Lighted
uffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon spoke for the first time about the departure of comic artist Jeph Loeb as boss of the proposed Buffy animated series, telling SCI FI Wire that Loeb left because of production delays. Whedon added that the series has finally been given a green light.
"The process took so long to put the package together, it just came together on Friday [June 14], and he got an offer, a big deal over at Warner Brothers, and he had to move on," Whedon said in an interview. "He'd been shepherding it for over a year. We'd put together a bunch of great scripts. He's done an amazing job, but there was no light at the end of the tunnel. It was a really difficult process, and Chris Buchanan, the president of my company, finally got it through, but Jeph had to move on."
As for when the series might hit the airwaves, Whedon said, "I literally just heard on Friday it's a go. That's all the information I have right now, except we already have a bunch of scripts."
There are no hard feelings on Whedon's end, and he still hopes to include Loeb on some level, Whedon said. "We love Jeph, and he loves the project, and hopefully we'll be able to find some involvement. But the fact of the matter is, it just took so long."
Daredevil Cast Talks In L.A.
he cast and crew of Daredevil lifted the veil on the much-anticipated production, currently shooting in Los Angeles, revealing a little about the comic adaptation's special effects, fight choreography and costumes at an L.A. press conference on June 19.
Stars Ben Affleck (Matt Murdock/Daredevil) and Jennifer Garner (Elektra) told SCI FI Wire and other reporters that they have been training for a big fight sequence for weeks.
"Hopefully, it's something that people haven't seen before," Affleck said after reporters screened a brief teaser trailer, highlighting the acrobatic fight scenes. "Jennifer and I were here for a couple of hours after we'd been shooting last night, rehearsing extra fighting stuff. ... It takes a lot more time than it does to make a normal movie. But when you see it all put together and looking cool, ... I'm sure [it'll be] visually spectacular. Jen's great. She's actually fabulous. Better than I am. ... She's had so much training from the Alias thing ... and [training as] a dancer. So she shames me every day. And that's not, like, self-deprecating. That's true."
Added Garner, "The fights are different ... for me from what we do on Alias, because they're much more specific. On Alias, ... I basically learn it on Sunday, and we shoot one day, Monday or Tuesday, and it's done, it's gone. But Ben and I have been working on this fight that we're shooting later this week for six weeks now? Often, three hours a day, every day of the week. I mean, we've been working really hard. ... So we're just taking a lot of care to make sure that things are true and specific and really fun."
But, Garner added, "I love the action aspect of this job. I love this kind of inner daredevil of my own that's woken up. I would never have gone bungee jumping. Now I think nothing of being on wires ... 100 feet up. So it makes me incredibly happy to rehearse a fight, shoot a fight. I don't know why [laughs]. But I do hope that women continue to play action roles. It's incredibly empowering to do, and I hope it's incredibly empowering to watch, as long as there's a character behind them, the way that I've been lucky. Both of my action [parts] ... are rooted in story and character. As long as that's there, I hope for any woman that she gets to kick ass for a couple of weeks. It's pretty rewarding. Especially when it's his [points to Affleck and laughs]."
Affleck added that it's been a challenge playing the Marvel Comics superhero, who is blind but has heightened senses otherwise. "He's technically blind," he said. "But because he's able to kind of cobble together a sort of mosaic impression of everything around him, based on his heightened other senses, he is able to navigate the world. ... Through smell and hearing and through a kind of evolved sense of ... almost like a sonar, which will be represented in the movie by this really cool series of effects that [director] Mark [Steven Johnson] came up with, this kind of shadow world. ... Playing it is sort of tricky, because he really can get around, [yet] he sort of has to look like an actual blind person. ... I have these contacts that I wear, because his eyes were injured. And the contacts are this like deep murky blue, so actually, when I wear them, I am in fact blind. So the challenge is actually not ... stumbling, walking into furniture, because he wouldn't do that."
As for the costumes—Elektra's black-leather and Daredevil's red-leather outfits—Garner said, "The costume is not something I would choose to wear in life. But you kind of have to go for it. And Ben's in tights, pretty much [laughs]. ... The costume designer is James Acheson, and he's done an incredible job of taking something that could be so embarrassing and, I think, making it as cool as possible. All the superhero costumes have a real hip element to them, and they are not your average man-in-tights. And mine is no exception to that." Daredevil will wrap shooting in July, with an eye to a Valentine's Day 2003 release. The teaser trailer hit theaters attached to Minority Report on June 21.
Daredevil Meshes Storylines
ark Steven Johnson, who wrote and is directing the upcoming Daredevil movie, told reporters that he is cherry-picking the best of decades of Marvel Comics storylines for the movie, which in part deals with the superhero's origins.
"This is heavily influenced, obviously, first by Stan Lee and Bill Everett, who created it, and ... there's a ton of Frank Miller here," Johnson told SCI FI Wire and other reporters at a Los Angeles press conference on June 19.
Johnson added, "I'm a big Frank Miller fan. And so we ... [included his] introduction of Elektra [and] a lot of the dealing with how the Kingpin works and all the stuff from that early '80s era. There's also a lot of Kevin Smith here. Kevin has kind of been, as [star] Ben [Affleck] said, like our fifth Beatle. He shows up a lot. We hang out. I ask him questions. I thought it was really great to get his blessing, because, ... like I said, I've been a lifelong fan, but there was a period where I dropped out for two years, and Kevin brought me back in. And those are the three eras I would say that ... [the film is a] combination of. ... It's set in the modern day; it's not a period piece. ... But the feeling is really heavily Stan Lee and Frank Miller, a combination of the two. So I think you'll see a lot of ... the Man Without Fear, ... the trade paperback that Frank Miller [did]. ... That's probably the most heavy influence with the storyline."
Johnson, who directed Simon Birch, is not the first director one would think of to direct a high-octane superhero movie. But Johnson said that he's been a fan of the comics since he was 12 years old. It's "something that really become more of an obsession with [me]," he said. Johnson tracked down Marvel chief executive Avi Arad and pestered him into giving him a shot at the film. "Avi ... saw that this is something I wanted, I think, more than anybody would want something. Something I'd been writing for the last couple of years and pursuing for the last six years. And ... for me, my dream was to get all these people involved, to get to make the movie that's been in my head for such a long time. I'm thankful to Marvel and Fox and New Regency and everybody for giving me the opportunity. I'm obviously not the obvious choice for something like this. And what we're hoping to do is make something different. To make ... a movie that will be a great kick-ass superhero movie, at the same time will have some emotion and some heart to it and characters that you actually care about. That's always been our goal, and hopefully we'll see if we succeed." Daredevil is currently shooting, with an eye to a Valentine's Day 2003 release.
Wilson Prefers Gentlemen
a Femme Nikita TV star Peta Wilson won the lead female role in the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie, to be directed by Steve Norrington based on Alan Moore's graphic novel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wilson will play Mina Harker, the British character from Bram Stoker's Dracula novel, who is a member of a team of adventurers based on 19th-century literary characters.
Shooting is scheduled to start June 24, and Wilson is in Prague prepping, the trade paper reported. James Robinson wrote the script, an adaptation of Moore's comic series. Sean Connery, Shane West, Stuart Townsend and Jason Flemyng round out the cast.
Monica Belluci had been in talks for the part, but had to drop out due to scheduling problems, the trade paper reported. Web rumors had linked Saffron Burrows to the role as well.
Bowman Touts Reign Men
ob Bowman, director of the upcoming SF dragon movie Reign of Fire, told SCI FI Wire that he was as impressed with the humanity of stars Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale as with the film's digital dragons.
McConaughey portrays Van Zan, a brash American with brash ideas about ridding a British community of dragons; Bale plays Quinn, a local just trying to keep everyone alive. "It's perfect casting for the roles," Bowman said in an interview. "McConaughey is not Van Zan, and Christian is not Quinn, but they're actors who were very well suited for the
roles."
The characters dwell in a world that has been decimated by newly awakened fire-breathing dragons. "Matthew originally loved the role of Van Zan, because it allowed him not to be a nice guy, not to be the guy in The Wedding Planner," Bowman said. "It let him bring out the more primal aspects of his acting, and he wanted to explore that. He wanted to create a character who'd found a mindset that enabled him to look in the mirror and say, 'The dragons are afraid of me.' It sounds unstable and insane, but at the point in the story where Van Zan comes in, the world is in trouble and someone's got to say, 'I can tame a lion with my bare hands.' Somebody has to do that, or we'll be extinct, and it's Van Zan who does that. So what you've got is Matthew playing Van Zan as primal and 'kill, kill, kill,' but the guy is also incredibly brave and careful and methodical. So far as Christian, he's a very internal actor, and Quinn holds a lot on the inside. He's got a lot of apprehension, fear and ghosts and is deeply affected by the fact that he's the one who unfortunately opened the door for the first dragon. Quinn doesn't want to engage [the dragons], he just wants to preserve life. He knows that engaging the dragons means there will be a body count, and there aren't enough bodies left to gamble like that.
"What we had to do was create two diametrically opposed philosophies that were both right," Bowman said. "It's like watching a good prosecutor and an equally good defense attorney standing in front of a jury. They both state their case, and they both make sense. The trick for us was to get the audience to go back and forth with Matthew and Christian, to get you to think, 'He's right,' and then, 'He's right.' In the end, they both had to be correct, so the engine that drives the movie is the debate between Matthew and Christian. You'll believe their arguments, and you'll also believe them physically, that they could overcome impossible circumstances." Reign of Fire opens July 12.
Farrell Cruises Into Minority
olin Farrell, who co-stars as Tom Cruise's nemesis in Steven Spielberg's upcoming Minority Report, told SCI FI Wire that he took the role for one simple reason.
"Working with Spielberg!" he shouted in an interview. "It was the same with [co-star] Samantha Morton. It was a case of it was such a f-cking top secret, 'You're not reading the script until you say you're going to do it.' Of course I'm going to f-cking do it."
Farrell plays Danny Witwer, the Justice Department official gunning for futurecop John Anderton's (Cruise) job. The Irish-born actor added that he liked what he saw once he got his hands on the screenplay. "I was just blown away by the whole
script," Farrell said. "It was the best read. It was one of the two or three best scripts I've ever read. It was such a cool f-cking read." Acting opposite Cruise and Max von Sydow wasn't much of a chore, either, he added.
"Tom is just the biggest f-cking star in the world and someone who, I think, is, by and large, fairly underestimated as an actor," Farrell said. "Von Sydow is just such a f-cking legend. The Greatest Story Ever Told and The Exorcist—it goes on and on. It was lovely. He's such a great actor. He clears his throat, and you think it means something, and he's just clearing his f-cking phlegm." Minority Report, based on a Philip K. Dick short story, opened June 21.
Minority Is No A.I. Clone
onnie Curtis, producer of Steven Spielberg's upcoming Minority Report, told SCI FI Wire that the director strove to differentiate the futuristic story from his previous SF movie, A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
Based on a Philip K. Dick short story, Minority Report is set in the near future—2054—but that's where the resemblance to A.I. ends, Curtis said in an interview. A.I. "is what I've always dubbed ... a futuristic fairy tale," Curtis said. That film brought to life "very outlandish worlds," she added.
By contrast, with Minority Report, Spielberg's "edict ... was for us to make a future reality film, not a science fiction film," Curtis said. "There's some science fiction sprinkled in there, particularly ... this transportation system he helped create. But more than that, it's just a great story and a great detective thriller. ... [Spielberg has the] ability to mix the unfamiliar with the extremely familiar, so that you're comfortable with what you're seeing. It all seems like it could actually happen."
Curtis added, "We had the seed of the idea from Philip K. Dick, but it's so just the seed: ... the concept of the 'pre-cogs' and 'precrime' and ... these beings being able to pick murderers before they happen. That's really about as much as we got from the short story. And then Steven and our writer, Scott Frank, went about creating this whole thriller and detective story, ... just a really, really rich, rich, layered world. ... Having gone through this fairy-tale experience [on A.I.], Minority Report continued to become more and more realistic and based in some sort of factual [basis]. ... You know, this is what phones will look like. This is what advertising will be like. This is what our transportation system will have become. ... You're still going to be able to have a good old fistfight." Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, opened June 21. (For a longer interview with Curtis, go to the official SCI FI Magazine Web site.)
Flockhart Angling For Indy IV?
he IMDB news Web site reported an unsubstantiated rumor that Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart might team up with reputed boyfriend Harrison Ford in the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie.
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that Ford supposedly asked producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg to write a part for Flockhart.
The site added that filmmakers are considering making the fourth Indy movie more adult that its predecessors. Spielberg has said previously that he's eyeing a 2004 start for the fourth film, which would hit theaters in 2005.
Ford Hesitant About Indy IV?
arrison Ford told Cinescape Online that he's reserving opinion on whether or not a fourth Indiana Jones movie will ever be made.
Both producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg have said in recent days that the proposed sequel is all but a go now that writer Frank Darabont is on board.
But Ford was less sanguine. While he's enthusiastic about the progress the filmmakers have made so far on the fourth movie, he added, "Well, it's official that we have an ambition to make the film, but unless we get a script that we're all happy with, I don't think it's sure that will happen. So I'm very happy about the fact that we've all committed to a certain idea, and we're developing it and hoping it will be fruitful."
As for the issue of whether he is concerned that he's too old to play Indy again (he turns 60 next month), Ford added, "The audience will understand and appreciate that Indiana Jones has grown older, but he'll still be Indiana Jones—finding himself in the same kind of dilemmas, using the same strengths to prevail over those circumstances. I don't think it's a problem. I personally don't think growing older is very much of an issue."
Ford Deflects Indy IV Query
arrison Ford deflected SCI FI Wire's question about whether he is too old to reprise the role of Indiana Jones in the upcoming fourth installment in the franchise.
Asked how he responded to critics who suggest that he is, Ford said, "I don't. I've never been responsive to critics." Ford turns 60 in July.
Steven Spielberg announced that he will begin production in 2004 on a fourth Indy movie, based on a script from writer/director Frank Darabont. George Lucas will produce the film. Ford said in an interview that delays in the project were not due to his script approval, but rather to an interest in the well-being of the franchise.
"It's not a question of my input," Ford said. "It's a question of what our collaborative capacity is, working with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. It's not a question of obtaining control over the situation, but all of us working together with our combined ambition to make a film which is as good as the ones we made before."
Gunmen Foreshadowed 9/11
ans of the short-lived X-Files spinoff series The Lone Gunmen may recall that the pilot episode ended with an eerie foreshadowing of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center.
Though the show aired six months before the attack, its final scene featured a commercial airliner aiming at the center, veering away at the last minute, TV Guide Online reported.
But for some reason, the show's images escaped notice in the months following the real-life attacks—something that mystifies one of the show's writers, longtime X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz. It wasn't until the industry newsletter The Myers Report ran a story about the show this week that it caught the notice of TV Guide.
"I know! That's what I've been wondering," Spotnitz told TV Guide. He, Vince Gilligan and John Shiban wrote the episode. "I thought, 'Nobody noticed!' I guess so few people saw the show. But it's strange, too, because that was the pilot, and the ratings were actually quite good for [that episode], and yet we didn't hear anything."
Myers Report columnist Ed Martin wrote that "this seems to be collective amnesia of the highest order. The final act of the Gunmen pilot, which seemingly made no impact last year, now contains some of the most deeply disturbing images ever created for an entertainment program," according to TV Guide.
"I woke up on Sept. 11 and saw it on TV, and the first thing I thought of was The Lone Gunmen," Spotnitz told TV Guide. "But then in the weeks and months that followed, almost no one noticed the connection. What's disturbing about it to me is, you think as a fiction writer that if you can imagine this scenario, then the people in power in the government who are there to imagine disaster scenarios can imagine it, too."
Kirk's Chair Up For Auction
tar Trek fans will be able to bid on the holiest holy of Trek memorabilia in a Los Angeles auction on June 27: Capt. Kirk's chair from the set of the original starship Enterprise, C|net News.com reported.
The chair is one of about 374 lots to be auctioned by Profiles in History in L.A.; eBay members can preview the auction catalog online and participate online via eBay's Live Auctions technology, C|net reported.
The chair carries a minimum bid of $80,000 and is expected to fetch as much as $150,000. Other items for sale include costumes, scripts, props and production documents from the original series. Many of the items come from the collection of Bob Justman, an associate producer on the original Star Trek series, Lorna Hart, general manager at Profiles in History, told the site.
Sirtis Talks Trek Helmer
arina Sirtis, who reprises the role of Counselor Troi in the upcoming Star Trek Nemesis movie, told SCI FI Wire that it was a "different" experience working with Stuart Baird, a director new to the Trek universe.
Baird assumed the director's chair from Next Generation co-star Jonathan Frakes, who directed the previous Trek films First Contact and Insurrection. "Stuart doesn't have the knowledge of Star Trek that anyone who's been involved with the show—whether it's Jonathan or even [TNG and Generations director] David Carson or the actors—would just naturally have," Sirtis said in an interview. "We have butted heads a little bit, because we'll say, 'This is the history,' and Stuart will say, 'Well, I don't really care about the history. I'm approaching this like it's the first Star Trek movie.'"
Sirtis added, "I don't think anybody's really done that before. I think it's going to be interesting to see how it turns out. I think it's possibly a good way to approach it, to have a new voice in there who's not locked into the past. It might bring some freshness to the franchise that it might not necessarily have had otherwise. The risk is that you could go too far away from what people want and expect. But hopefully it's somewhere in between. You had the actors saying, 'My character wouldn't do that or say that,' and I'm sure [producer] Rick [Berman] talked to Stuart about not straying too far from what's worked for so long. And [screenwriter] John Logan certainly knows the show inside and out. So if it's fresh and familiar at the same time, we could really be on to something." Star Trek Nemesis opens in December.
Farscape Fans Help Charity
ans of the SCI FI Channel's original series Farscape have organized to raise money for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence each time they view an episode of the show.
The campaign, organized by the Society Against Cruelty to Crichton (SACC), asks fans to donate money to the charity each time Crichton avoids getting physically hurt—but they also offer fans the alternative of donating money each time he does.
SACC was created as a joke to support the injury-prone John Crichton (played by Ben Browder), an Earth astronaut who has been accidentally shot through a wormhole into the far side of the galaxy, where he finds himself entangled with criminals, soldiers and other unsavory characters. The fans, called "'Scapers," now use SACC as a forum to discuss the show. For season three, the group hosted a charity drive, calling it a Crichton-A-Thon, in which fans donated money according to the amount of abuse Crichton received during an episode. SACCers pledged money if Crichton remained unharmed; so-called WACKers donated money only if Crichton was injured. By the end of the season, the charity drive raised more than $1,000 for the charity. Farscape airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT Fridays.
Altered Carbon Optioned
arner Brothers will develop a feature-film adaptation of Richard Morgan's SF crime novel Altered Carbon, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
John Pogue (Ghost Ship) will adapt the book for producer Joel Silver (The Matrix), the trade paper reported.
Carbon is set in the 26th century, when the United Nations maintains control of the galaxy and a person's consciousness can be downloaded into a new body, for a price. A military trooper finds himself downloaded into the body of an ex-convict in San Francisco, where a billionaire hires him to find the person who murdered his previous body.
Kasdan Returns To SF Roots
awrence Kasdan, director of the upcoming SF movie Dreamcatcher, told SCI FI Wire that he wanted to tackle an effects-laden SF movie after years directing character pieces like The Big Chill and Mumford.
Dreamcatcher, which Kasdan co-wrote, is based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, about a group of friends who reunite to battle an alien threat.
"I've always wanted to do a real effects movie, and I've had small effects in some of my movies, and of course I wrote a bunch of effects movies, but I wanted to do one of my own," Kasdan said in an interview. "It's always been hard for me to find the material that was effects-driven that also has the qualities that I like. I think Stephen King does that. He's interested in a lot of the issues and themes that I am. He opens the door to an enormous number of effects and fun creatures and spaceships, all around a story that's really about friendship and trust and our fear of the unknown."
Kasdan is no stranger to science fiction, having co-written Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. He shares writing credit on Dreamcatcher with William Goldman, who previously adapted King's Hearts in Atlantis for the screen. "I've known Bill Goldman for 20 years," Kasdan said. "We were friends before we ever worked together. He's a great screenwriter, and he's adapted Stephen King before. When I came in, I said, 'Look, I'm going to have to write the final draft, just so you understand.' Everyone understood, and there was a perfectly good feeling about it. We did a draft together in which I tried to use everything that I thought was good about the work he had done. I think every director really has to make that screenplay his own before he starts shooting."
Kasdan is also more than complimentary about his large cast. "They're all great, and Jason Lee, who is coming in to be one of the friends, is the only one that I've worked with before," Kasdan said. "He was in Mumford. He's a fantastic guy and is perfect for the part of Beaver. [Tom] Sizemore, I worked with on Wyatt Earp, and Thomas Jane, I've just always admired him in Deep Blue Sea, Magnolia and Boogie Nights. I thought he was perfect for Henry. He's a real leading man. Tim Olyphant, I'd seen him in Go. Damian Lewis, the only time I'd seen him was in [HBO's] Band of Brothers. He really held the center of that huge project, and I thought, 'Oh, my God. This guy has enormous soul.' His Jonesy character is the soulful center of this group. A lot of crazy and scary things happen around him. [He's] a guy who is essentially a sensitive college professor who then becomes a very dangerous alien all in the same body, so it's kind of fun, and I thought, 'There's the guy that could do it.'" Dreamcatcher is slated for a 2003 release.
SCI FI To Re-Air Dog Soldiers
ollowing a deluge of requests from fans, the SCI FI Channel has scheduled two more runs of its highly rated SCI FI Pictures original film Dog Soldiers for June 29 at 7 p.m. ET/PT and July 11 at 9 p.m.
Dog Soldiers earned a strong 1.9 rating during its world TV premiere on June 15 and also won high praise in publications ranging from GQ and FHM to Variety.
Starring Sean Pertwee, Emma Cleasby and Liam Cunningham, Dog Soldiers tells the story of a squad of soldiers on a training exercise who find themselves the target of a pack of werewolves. The film adds a new twist to the werewolf genre and is notable for non-stop action, a high body count and a stunning gore factor.
Scooby 2 On Fast Track
arner Brothers is fast-tracking a sequel to its hit Scooby-Doo movie, Variety reported.
The studio has exercised its sequel options for the cast, including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini, and is in talks with Scooby director Raja Gosnell to helm the sequel.
James Gunn will again write the script for the film, which is eyeing an early 2003 production start and a 2004 release date, the trade paper reported. Scooby-Doo, based on the long-running animated TV show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, grossed $54 million in its opening weekend.
Writer Hired For Neutron 2
ate Boutilier (The Wild Thornberrys) has been hired to write the script for the proposed sequel to Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The story for the sequel to the computer-animated kids' film is still being hammered out, the trade paper reported.
The John Davis-directed Neutron grossed more than $80 million and copped an Oscar nomination for best animated feature film.
Disney To Debut New Toons
oon Disney, Disney's 24-hour, all-animation network, will begin airing its new fall schedule on Sept. 3, featuring two new series, Toad Patrol and Ultimate Book of Spells.
Toad Patrol centers on eight toadlets, who miss the great migration and set out on a perilous journey through a treacherous forest. Toad Patrol is produced by Toadbag Productions.
Ultimate Book of Spells is a fantasy adventure series about 13-year-old witch Cassy and her two classmates, who are destined to rescue the world's magic from a ruthless wizard. Ultimate Book of Spells is produced by BKN Studios.
Cox Not In X2?
he Coming Attractions Web site is disputing a report in a Canadian newspaper that Brian Cox has been cast as the principal villain in X2, the upcoming sequel film to X-Men.
Contrary to the news in the Victoria (B.C.) Times Colonist, the site reported that the British actor will not play Stryker, the X-Men's military nemesis.
Rather, an unnamed American actor will play the role, the site reported, citing an anonymous production source. X2 is reportedly beginning production in Canada for release next year.
X-Men Evolution Readies Season 3
riting on the upcoming third season of the animated X-Men: Evolution television series is near completion, story editor Boyd Kirkland told the Comics Continuum Web site.
"Storywise, we're into the writing of the last two episodes," Kirkland told the site. "It's going to be another two-part finale for the season like we've done for the first two seasons, where we have a big, epic kind of finish to the season."
Kirkland added, "The first part of that, the story is finished and is now just going into storyboards. The second part of it, we're working on finalizing the script right now. We're nearing the end of the story development phase of the third season."
The second season of the show ended with a cliffhanger that introduced new characters and revealed to the public the existence of mutants, the site reported. "It was nice that the network let us construct a story that ended in a cliffhanger so that we can do a story that will carry on and pick up the pieces where we left off," Kirkland said. "So ultimately it will make for a nice, big story arc." He added that the young X-Men will return to high school. "They are going to get back to school, but it will be under different circumstances now. The circumstances now obviously being that the world knows they're mutants. So rather than finding ways of hiding who they are, they have to find ways of coping with who they are, with the general public, including friends, peers at school and Principal Kelly. And we have some episodes that deal with those sorts of issues."
More Lilo In Works
isney already planned a sequel film and television series based on its SF animated film Lilo & Stitch, even before the June 21 opening, according to news reports.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that a TV series is in the works for 2003, with voice actors Tia Carrere reprising the role of Nani and 11-year-old Daveigh Chase signed to play Lilo, a young Hawaiian girl who adopts a renegade space alien.
"Well, I know I'm in the TV series, and that's as far as we have gotten," Chase told the newspaper. "They're, like, reluctant to put me in the sequel, because it's so far in advance, and they're worried my voice may change. But I really, really want to do the sequel! I am very attached to Lilo."
For her part, Carrere (Relic Hunter) is on board. "I live in Hollywood, so it's easy for me to get to the studio, do a few episodes, and then go shopping at Barney's," Carrere told the paper. But Hawaii resident Jason Scott Lee, who voices Nani's boyfriend, David, has declined to take part in the TV series. "I don't want to be tethered and have to come back to Hollywood any time they need me," Lee told the newspaper.
Dead Zone Scores For USA
he premiere of USA Network's The Dead Zone on June 16 set a ratings record, the network announced.
With a 4.7 household rating and 6.4 million viewers, The Dead Zone was the network's highest-rated original dramatic series debut and ranked as the top basic-cable original dramatic series of all time, the network announced.
The Dead Zone premiere was also the highest-rated cable program of the week in households and helped USA Network rank as number one for the week in prime time among key demographics, the network said. The Dead Zone more than doubled the network's usual Sunday-evening rating of 2.1 in the 10 p.m. timeslot.
Fasano Raises Dead
riter-producer John Fasano (Werewolf by Night) will make his directorial debut with Dead People, a supernatural movie for which he also wrote the script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mark Damon's MDP Worldwide will produce the film, the trade paper reported.
The film tells the story of a Seattle hospital, scheduled for demolition, that turns out to house an army of undead. Fasano is rewriting the project with plans to shoot in the fall, the trade paper reported.
Columbia Raising Hell
olumbia Pictures will develop the supernatural comedy film Raising Hell for Neal Moritz's Original Films to produce, based on a pitch by Eric Kripke, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie, inspired by Rosemary's Baby, centers on a couple that refuses to believe their infant son is the Antichrist.
Kripke also sold the SF action comedy Animal Control and wrote the script for Boogeymen.
WB To Adapt Bear SF Novels
arner Brothers will develop Greg Bear's SF novel The Forge of God as a feature film, to be adapted by writer Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down), Variety reported.
The film is the envisioned as the first of three, which would include films based on Bear's sequel novel Anvil of Stars and a third book that the author has yet to write, the trade paper reported.
Ralph Vicinanza and Vince Gerardis will produce. Bear's first novel deals with hostile aliens who come to Earth lured by signal probes sent over the years.
Endeavour Finalists Named
rganizers announced the finalists for the 2002 Endeavour Award, given annually to a distinguished science fiction or fantasy book published in the preceding year by an author living in the Pacific Northwest.
Named after H.M. Bark Endeavour, the ship of Northwest explorer Capt. James Cook, the award will be presented at OryCon 24, Nov. 22-24, in Oregon. A full list of finalists, chosen from a field of 31 entries, follows.
•The Free Lunch by Spider Robinson
•Getaway Special by Jerry Oltion
•Homefall by Chris Bunch
•Past the Size of Dreaming by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
•Tales From Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
•The Year the Cloud Fell by Kurt R.A. Giambastiani
Nix Wins Top Ditmar Award
arth Nix's Lirael won the Ditmar Award for best Australian SF novel in ceremonies at the 41st Australian National Science Fiction Convention, June 7-10, in Melbourne, Australia.
The Australian Science Fiction Awards, or Ditmars, honor works by that nation's writers. The awards are named for Martin James (Ditmar) Jenssen, a founding member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club. A full list of winners follows.
Best Australian Novel
•Lirael by Garth Nix
Best Australian Short Fiction (tie)
•"Absolute Uncertainty" by Lucy Sussex
•"The Diamond Pit" by Jack Dann
Best Australian Collected Work
•Earth Is But a Star by Damien Broderick
Best Fan Writer
•Bruce Gillespie
Best Fan Artist
•Dick Jenssen
Best Australian Fan Production, Fanzine
•SF Commentary, ed. by Bruce Gillespie
Best Australian Fan Production, Other (tie)
•Mitch? 2 Tarts of the New Millennium by Anthony Mitchell
•Spaced Out Web site
Best Australian Professional Achievement
•Dirk Strasser and Stephen Higgins, for editing and producing Aurealis
Best New Talent
•Cat Sparks
Golden Duck Winners Named
inners of the Golden Duck Awards, honoring children's SF books, were announced at Duckon 11, June 7-9, in Illinois.
The winners will receive their awards at the 60th World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose, Calif., Aug. 29 through Sept. 2. A full list of winners follows.
Picture Book
•Baloney by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith
Eleanor Cameron Award for Middle Grades
•Beatnik Rutabagas From Beyond the Stars by Quentin Dodd
Hal Clement Award for Young Adults
•This Side of Paradise by Steven Layne
Briefly Noted
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The official Web site of the Matrix movies has posted Return of the Prodigal Son, a new comic by Gregory Ruth sent in the universe of The Matrix.
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The Comics Continuum Web site reported that Batman will make a brief appearance in The WB's upcoming Birds of Prey pilot episode, based on the DC Comics series of the same name. Bruce Thomas, who played the Caped Crusader in a series of OnStar TV commercials, will reprise the role for the pilot, the site reported.
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David Anders, who had a recurring role as Mr. Sark in ABC's Alias last season, will become a regular cast member this fall, the Zap2it.com Web site reported.
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Cinescape Online reported that Miramax is developing S.P.O.O.K.S., a computer-animated children's film about a troupe of junior high students who must save their town from evil demons.
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The estate of classic rocker Jeff Buckley has licensed his song New Year's Prayer as the theme music for the title sequence of USA Network's new paranormal series The Dead Zone, the show's publicist told SCI FI Wire. It's the first time Buckley's music has been licensed as the theme for a television show.
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The Dark Horizons Web site has posted an image of the proposed poster for the upcoming SF movie Dreamcatcher, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. Dreamcatcher opens in 2003.
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Lighter maker Zippo is suing Disney and ABC, claiming that an animated dinosaur from the Dinotopia miniseries is cashing in on the Zippo name, the Erie Times-News reported. The lawsuit, filed June 7 in Erie, Pa., federal court, asks Disney and ABC to rename the dinosaur and give the lighter maker any profits made from Zippo dinosaur merchandise. Disney and ABC declined to comment.
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The soundtrack for the upcoming sequel film Men in Black II hits stores July 2, a day before the movie opens in theaters, Sony announced. The soundtrack features Will Smith's theme song "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)."
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The second-season premiere of Witchblade on TNT on June 16 drew an average audience of 3.3 million, improving on last year's debut among adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, the Zap2it.com Web site reported.
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DVDs of the Back to the Future trilogy of films will come out Dec. 17, the BTTF.com Web site reported.
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Téa Leoni (Jurassic Park III) and actor-husband David Duchovny (The X-Files) announced the birth of a baby boy, the couple's second child, the Reuters news service reported. The 7-pound, 10-ounce baby was born on June 15. No other details, including the child's name, were announced. The couple have a 3-year-old daughter named Madelaine West.
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Peter David, a writer who will pen the novelization of Ang Lee's upcoming Hulk movie, disputed to the C.H.U.D. Web site rumors that gamma-irradiated dogs will cause Bruce Banner to transform into the green giant.
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The teaser trailer for Star Trek Nemesis, the upcoming 10th Trek movie, debuted at Starbase 21's Trek Expo in Tulsa, Okla., on June 22, the official Trek Web site reported. The trailer debuted on TV and online shortly before it hits theaters in time for the July 4 holiday weekend, the site reported. Nemesis opens Dec. 13.
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Steven Spielberg told the JoBlo.com Web site that Sean Connery will appear in the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones film, now in development. Connery played Prof. Henry Jones, Indy's father, in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
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The Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists announced its nominees for the Chesley Awards, named after astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell, which honor SF artists. Winners will be announced at the 60th World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose, Calif., Aug. 29 through Sept. 2.
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Actor Yaphet Kotto will adapt and star in a film adaptation of comic legend Stan Lee's 35-year-old poem God Woke, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Production is scheduled to begin in spring 2003.
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A trailer has gone up for the upcoming animated film Treasure Planet, due in November.
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