Lilo Still Number Two
ilo & Stitch remained the number-two movie in the country, taking in about $22.2 million during the weekend of June 28, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
But Minority Report, which had edged out Lilo for the top spot in its opening last weekend, dropped to third place, with about $21.6 million. Minority Report has earned about $73.5 million after 10 days of release. Lilo has taken in about $77.8 million in the same period.
Scooby-Doo dropped to fourth place, with a weekend take of about $12.2 million and a total of about $123.8 million after three weeks. Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones came in 10th place, with about $3.6 million for the weekend and a total of about $286.1 million.
Spider-Man, the year's top-grossing film, fell out of the top 10 in its ninth weekend, with about $3 million for the period and a total of $395.7 million so far; the trade papers predicted that the movie will surpass $400 million by the Fourth of July weekend.
Fire Reinvents Dragons
ob Bowman, director of the upcoming SF movie Reign of Fire, told SCI FI Wire that it was a challenge coming up with a dragon that audiences would respond to instinctively, while avoiding the clichés of previous movies.
"The last good dragon movie was Dragonslayer," Bowman said in an interview while promoting the post-apocalyptic movie. He added, "If you invent a creature—even though I didn't invent dragons—if you put in your movie a creature, and it's so absurd that there's no built-in or innate reaction to its attitude or behaviors, the audience has too far to go to worry about it. [But] if it sounds like a cobra, and the scales are kind of like an alligator, and the crawl is kind of like a leopard, the audience has innate reactions to those things. Because ... they've either been to the zoo, they've been to Africa or they've seen National Geographic. And they know that that looks sort of organic."
In the film, a small band of humans battles the winged fire-breathing creatures that have ravaged a future Earth. Bowman said that he wanted the creature's size to reflect its movements and abilities. "I made the dragons as small as I possibly could, so that it could still be intimidating. I did not ever want to make Godzilla, because they made it, good or bad. ... Big just seemed old-fashioned to me. But at some point, they start to become too small. And what I found was that, based on the way I wanted them to fly, which was gliding, that they had to have huge wingspans. Three hundred feet for the big one at the end, which I thought was huge. Well, if I make them any smaller, they'll fall out of the sky. You got to flap a lot, like an albatross. Or like in Dragonheart, it's a big, giant torso and small wings, so he's got to flap all the time, almost like a hummingbird. So I went with more of a serpent torso or fuselage or whatever you want to call it, with a very supple spine, so he could fly very agilely."
Bowman added, "Coloration, we went through every imaginable blend of colors, and came up with black. Black's the only one that left an impression on you. And I was trying not to go with black, but every other variation I saw just didn't have any impact. They have yellow stripes down their bellies, but that's mostly because cobras do. Or the lighter belly, like an alligator has. And you know what, one drop of purple, and he becomes Barney. Not a lot of purple. Just a little bit." Reign of Fire opens July 12.
Bowman Has X-Files 2 Ideas
ongtime X-Files director Rob Bowman told SCI FI Wire that he would helm a second X-Files feature film if the same crew could be assembled, but added that he has not yet been asked to sit in the director's chair.
Bowman helmed the first X-Files movie, which was subtitled Fight the Future. "I only hope to be [involved] if [X-Files creator] Chris [Carter] wants me to do it," Bowman said in an interview. "If Chris calls me and says, 'We're going to put the crew back together, and we just can't see it without you,' and if the timing is right and the availability is right, then I would say yes."
After the series finale left so many questions unanswered for fans, Bowman could not guarantee that a film would answer any more. "What are the questions? What are the answers you want? I directed many of the conspiracy episodes, the mythology stories, and a lot of it was prove and disprove. So it's one step forward, two steps back, and it became a very complicated knot to untie. I think the next one will be just a stand-alone [story]." Bowman most recently directed Reign of Fire, which opens July 12.
Maher Boards Firefly
ean Maher, who plays medical officer Simon Tam in Fox's upcoming SF series Firefly, told the Zap2it.com Web site that he took the role mainly based on faith in creator Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
"I had a meeting, then got the role a couple of weeks later," Maher told the site. "There was no script available. There were only scenes. There were only sides. I had to go on the sides. They were fantastic. Then meeting Joss. ... He's one of the most amazing people I've ever met in my life. He's a genius."
Maher (Ryan Caulfield) plays a medical officer on the transport spaceship Serenity, whose crew struggles to make ends meet in the wake of a universal civil war, 400 years in the future, Zap2it reported. "I'm not actually part of the crew," Maher said. "I'm a doctor. It's so hard to simplify anything. There are definitely two major ruling planets, and I'm from one of those planets. If you're from one of those planets, you're more privileged. You have a lot of money. So I'm a doctor, a trauma surgeon. My sister is this prodigy, this amazing genius, so we sent her away to this government-sponsored academy that we think is just an amazing school. Then it turns out that she is part of this government test, and they screwed with her brain. I spent all this money to have her snuck out. Then I get on this ship, and it's disreputable and innocuous and all that. So I'm sort of a doctor-turned-fugitive. I become resident physician." Firefly debuts in the fall.
TV Academy Bites Buffy
uffy the Vampire Slayer, snubbed repeatedly for Emmys, found itself inadvertently left off the official nominating ballot of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, TV Guide Online reported.
When the academy sent out ballots earlier this month, Buffy's musical episode, "Once More with Feeling," was omitted from the best drama writing category—an oversight attributable to human error, an academy spokesperson told TV Guide. Series creator Joss Whedon directed and wrote the critically acclaimed episode, including all of the music and lyrics.
The spokesperson added that the problem has since been resolved. "We sent out a notification to the voters,
which allowed them to cast their vote [for 'Once More with Feeling'] almost immediately," the representative told TV Guide Online. "It was basically a supplement to the ballot. The situation was rectified ASAP, and there were no
repercussions from it."
But observers told TV Guide that they believe the mistake may cost Whedon his drama writing nomination. The error does not affect Buffy in other categories in which it is under consideration, including best drama series and best lead actress (Sarah Michelle Gellar).
Rebuilding Wesley On Angel
oss Whedon, co-creator of The WB's vampire series Angel, told SCI FI Wire that Wesley will rejoin the group in the upcoming season four.
But it will take time for Wesley (played by Alexis Denisof) to rebuild trust with Angel (David Boreanaz) and the rest of the gang, Whedon said in an interview. "It's a complex issue," he said. "It's not going to be simple. He's learned a lot about trust in the last year, and he's going to be dealing with that. It's not going to be like the old days."
Denisof told SCI FI Wire that he looks forward to continuing the exploration of Wesley's exclusion. "Emotions are running high right now, and I think it will be a good few episodes before it's resolved," he said. "I know they have some very exciting plans for next year, and I think it's an interesting turn for the character to be isolated and have to find his own way for a while."
As for Wesley's relationship with Wolfram and Hart lawyer Lila Morgan (Stephanie Romanov), Denisof said, "I know of a couple of ideas they've had, and I don't think they've completely decided yet [where it will go]. I think they were surprised that there was such chemistry between the characters, so I expect they may explore it. I think in some shape or form, now that it's started, it will [continue], but I don't see them running off and getting married."
Romanov herself told SCI FI Wire she was unsure where the Lila-Wesley relationship would go, but looks forward to exploring more of Lila's background, such as this season's revelation that she has a mother in a nursing home. "They're showing more sides to Lila now, so I get to play more interesting things," Romanov said. "You get a little bit better idea where she's coming from, and they've got some plans up their sleeve as to a storyline that I find intriguing, which I won't speak of now, but I look forward to all of that." Angel moves to a Sunday timeslot in the fall.
Smith Joneses For MIB II
ill Smith told SCI FI Wire that it wasn't until Tommy Lee Jones arrived on the set of Men in Black II that he really felt comfortable working on the sequel.
"Being an actor, there are a lot of weird things that put you in sync with a character or put you in a moment, and the second Tommy Lee Jones arrived on the set [to portray Agent K] Agent J was created [again]," Smith said in an interview.
Smith added, "I came out of Ali. I actually flew right from Ghana into New York to start working on Men in Black II from Ali. I had two weeks by myself, where I was working with Frank the Pug [while Jones finished another film]. The second Tommy Lee Jones came onto the set is when I felt, 'OK, now I know who Agent J is. All right.' I felt so comfortable when he
showed up. It just made something click in my mind about where I needed to be comedically and where I needed to be to recreate this character." Men in Black II opens July 3.
Parkes Explains MIB II Deal
en in Black II producer Walter F. Parkes downplayed reports that it took a complicated deal to reunite stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, director Barry Sonnenfeld and executive producer Steven Spielberg, though he admitted that it wasn't easy.
"Here's how it happened, and it's not unlike our experience running DreamWorks," Parkes said, referring to his wife and fellow co-producer Laurie MacDonald, with whom he also runs DreamWorks. "I've never known a movie that didn't come together because of a deal; if people want to do a movie a deal gets made one way or another."
Parkes added, "In the case of this film, it took a while because the principals were very busy after the first one. The release of the first one coincided with the first few releases at DreamWorks, and for me and Laurie our main job has to do with development of new material. Plus, Will and Barry went off and were doing Wild Wild West. So there were about 12 months where nobody even thought about [a sequel]. Then we sat down and said, 'OK, we have
to have deals before we move forward.' And we spent a good year, I'd say, trying to put together deals. Truthfully, it was impossible, because artists don't commit to business arrangements, they commit to movies. After failing to put together an approach to it we made a decision with the studio to do it the old-fashioned way, much like the first movie. So Laurie and I developed the script, working with a guy named Bob Gordon, who's a wonderful writer and wrote Galaxy Quest. He was the original writer of the sequel. We spent a good year on that, and once we had a document that people could read and say, 'OK,
we get it. That's fun. The guys get back together. Will falls in love,' then Columbia could put together a deal. Actually, because they came up with a rather creative approach to it, it went down rather quickly given how big this movie was."
In the end, all involved took smaller salaries than usual in exchange for back-end point participation. Men in Black II opens July 3.
Jones Goes To Dogs In MIB II
ommy Lee Jones told SCI FI Wire that the old adage about never working with animals didn't apply during the making of Men in Black II. The actor, who reprises his role as Agent K in the MIB sequel, shares several amusing scenes with Frank the Pug, an alien MIB employee posing as a pooch.
"No problem," Jones said in an interview. "That little dog, I wound up liking
that little dog, because he had some [skills]. I don't like dogs that have no
skills."
Jones added, "My own dog is a cow dog. He's a hound. He works very hard. He has skills and a life. He really earns his T-bones. Frank—I think his name is really Mushu—will run across the room, hit a mark, stop and sit down and look up, look in whatever direction you tell him to. And I didn't have any problem with that dog. At first I didn't like him because he's a dog, but then, when he showed he could do something, then I liked him because I like dogs that can do something. I don't like dogs that can't do anything."
For all of Frank's doggie doings, it's Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle)—a murderous alien posing as a Victoria's Secret lingerie model—who actually licks Agent K on the face during a scene in which she morphs into a creature with hundreds of tentacles. "I think we did that shot seven or eight times," Jones said. "I think that [director] Barry [Sonnenfeld] was looking at his budget, and he found out that he had a little bit of extra money for CGI, and he said, 'Well, maybe this is a chance to put in a CGI shot.' So he told Lara to stick her tongue in my ear in case he wanted to turn that into a CGI scene. And I guess he wound up having the money to do it. That's about all there was to that." Men in Black II opens July 3.
Sonnenfeld Gets Curt In MIB II
en in Black II director Barry Sonnenfeld told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming
sequel movie will clock in at a trim 87 minutes and 26 seconds.
"When I
was growing up, every movie was 90 minutes long," Sonnenfeld said in an
interview. "The show times at the Loews on 175th Street and Broadway [in New
York City] were 2,4, 6, 8 and 10."
Sonnenfeld added, "There were always two hours between shows, and you had to get the people in and out and give them time to buy popcorn and soda. So far I haven't found a movie that deserved to be longer than 100 minutes, and that [100-minute-long movie] was Get Shorty. And that was only because the Get Shorty script was 20 pages longer than the average script. It ran 140 pages. The script for Men in Black II was 120 pages, so by my standards it should run a little less than 90 minutes. Here's the thing people don't understand: The scripts of my films are just as long, and there's just as much story, but I make the actors talk really quickly. The movie is compressed. When we talk in real life, we step on each other's sentences. When we say hello to people, we know we don't need each other's life story. We don't finish thoughts. We come into situations in the middle of them. So I come into scenes late, and I get out early, and I make the actors talk fast. You could get P.T. Anderson to direct the same exact script of Men in Black II and the film may be better, or it may be worse, but it would be an hour longer. But it's the same exact script." Men in Black II will open July 3.
Ep II Tweaks Digital Vs. Film
tar Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones producer Rick McCallum told fans on the official Star Wars Web site that dozens of subtle differences exist between the 35 mm film version of the movie and the digital version.
In particular—and in a spoiler for the movie's final scene—McCallum acknowledged that viewers will notice Anakin take Padmé's hand with his metal one after they are married. In the film version, the two do not touch hands.
"You've noticed a difference between the film print version of Episode II and the version that is being shown digitally (we call it D-cinema)," McCallum told the site. "Naturally, the process of making the thousands of physical film prints of the movie takes time, so we had to lock down that version in April. However, we had some extra time for the D-cinema distribution, so [director] George [Lucas] had a few more days to make some final tweaks to the finished product. At the last minute, George felt the wedding scene needed the affection of Padmé taking Anakin's mechanical hand, so just a few days before Celebration II in Indianapolis, we shot it and inserted it in time for the D-cinema version. That addition is by far the most noticeable change, but we actually made over 70 enhancements for D-cinema. Most involved sharpening, tweaking wipes and color adjustments. However, there are a handful that are definite visual-effects changes. I'd be curious to hear if any fans have found any of the other changes." Episode II is currently playing.
Neeson Hears Qui-Gon's Ghost
iam Neeson told SCI FI Wire that he wasn't surprised to hear that the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn, his slain Star Wars: Episode I character, factors into the action in Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones. And he remained mum on his reported appearance in the upcoming Episode III.
"I haven't seen [Episode II]," Neeson said in an interview. "My sons told me about it, but I knew it was going to happen."
In a spoiler for the latest prequel, Qui-Gon's cry of "No, Ani!" can be heard as Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) massacres the Tusken raiders that murdered his mother, Shmi (Pernilla August). "I don't know how they did that," Neeson said. "We tried to record something here [in New York City, where Neeson lives]. But then they digitalized something and put it together and sent it to me, the way they can these days, to hear [and for his approval]. I
thought, 'That's good.'"
As for whether Neeson will return in either corporeal or ghostly form for Episode III, Neeson said, "I can't answer that. The Jedi code of ethics."
Lucas Reveals Episode III Hints
eorge Lucas revealed a few tidbits about the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III to Starlog magazine, according to a report on TheForce.net.
Among other things, he confirmed that Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Boba Fett will appear in Episode III. Jinn's appearance was foreshadowed in the current Episode II—Attack of the Clones, in which his voice can be heard in the background as Anakin attacks the Tusken Raiders.
"It's a plot point," Lucas told the magazine. "All I can really say is that you'll find out [more] in the next film. If you thought really hard, you would probably be able to figure it out, but it really is a setup for the next film. It's connected with the whole ability to be brought into and become a part of the Force, but still be able to retain your ability, which, up to this point, Anakin couldn't do. We talked to Liam about [recording new dialogue], and we went back and forth [about it]. This [dialogue] is something we already had [from Episode I]. Next time will be a little more complicated."
Lucas added, "Boba will be in Episode III, but his role definitely won't be larger. He's in a transition period of becoming a bounty hunter. The next film takes place two or three years later, so Boba would only be 13 and still wouldn't fit in the suit."
Lucas also offered a hint about Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader. "The scene where Anakin does actually become Vader is pretty good [as written in Lucas' Episode III outline]. I mean, I like it. It's a little in the vocabulary of ... I don't know how much I want to give away ... but it's in the vocabulary of a time, of the 1930s and 1940s. It's a pretty neat little thing, I think, and hopefully it's going to work."
Craven Waiting In Wings
es Craven, director of Nightmare on Elm Street, will produce The Waiting, a supernatural thriller film based on a spec script by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, Variety reported.
Craven's Dimension-based Craven/Maddalena Films company bought the script, described as a film in the tradition of The Omen and What Lies Beneath, the trade paper reported.
The Waiting tells the story of a woman who recently lost her child and is visited by the spirit of another deceased child, whom she mistakes for her own.
Daltrey Back On Witchblade
oger Daltrey of The Who will make his second appearance on TNT's supernatural series Witchblade, the Comics Continuum Web site reported.
Daltrey, who played a demon priest last season, will reportedly play a cross-dressing fortune teller in the July 22 episode, "Hierophant."
In the episode, Sara Pezzini (Yancy Butler) consults a fortune teller named Madame Sesostris (Daltry) while investigating the death of an Irish musician.
Daltrey was slated to kick off a nationwide tour with The Who on June 28, but tour was cancelled with the death of bassist John Entwistle on June 27 in Las Vegas, the site reported.
Farrell Hits The Bullseye
olin Farrell, who plays Bullseye in the upcoming Daredevil movie, told the IGN FilmForce Web site that his part will be relatively small.
"I [shot] 12 days in total in the film, and [have] just seven scenes in it," Farrell told the site.
Farrell added, "It's a really small part, but it's just a load of fun. I don't know if I've done a good job, or whatever, but I usually play characters that ... not that they're subtle, but, you know, whatever they're going through, they're kind of based in reality. And this one is just a chance to go for the fantastical and check your subtlety at the door and be as camp and over-the-top as possible."
Farrell plays opposite Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner in the adaptation of the Marvel Comics series. The character will have his own look. "Me and [director] Mark [Steven Johnson] were talking. We were throwing ideas," he said. "Studs here. Earrings here. And I don't know if it was me or him. It might've been me with that kind of stuff. But they hired a guy by the name of James Acheson, who's won two or three Oscars for costume design. But so he just designed the whole f--ing thing. And, you know, did an amazing unreal job." Daredevil is currently in production with an eye to a Valentine's Day 2003 release.
Universal Eyeing New Kong?
niversal Pictures is rumored to be eager to develop Peter Jackson's update of the classic SF movie King Kong, according to reports on the Filmjerk and Coming Attractions Web sites.
The studio's supposed plan is to get persuade Jackson to start working on the film directly after he's done with Return of the King, the third of his three Lord of the Rings films.
Return of the King is slated for a Christmas 2003 release. The second Rings film, The Two Towers, opens Dec. 18.
There's been no official word on the rumor. Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
DreamWorks Toon Dates Set
reamWorks has announced tentative release dates for the upcoming animated films Shrek 2 and Sharkslayer, Variety reported.
The sequel to the hit Oscar-winning Shrek will arrive June 18, 2004, and the gangster-themed fish story Sharkslayer will debut around Thanksgiving, the trade paper reported.
The scheduling will pit the two CGI movies against likely Disney/Pixar contenders, including the Brad Bird-directed CGI action-adventure film The Incredibles, which is planned for holiday 2004, Variety reported.
Shrek 2 reunites the original cast, including Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz and adds new voice actor John Cleese. Sharkslayer will be voiced by Will Smith, James Gandolfini and Martin Scorsese.
Future Films Due On DVD
he Back to the Future trilogy of movies is coming to DVD on Dec. 17, loaded with extras and priced for quick sale, Variety reported.
The trilogy will first be released in Europe in September, with fewer extra features, the trade paper added.
Universal Studios Home Video will release the three discs, whose extra features are still being produced for the U.S. release, the trade paper reported. The Back to the Future trilogy will carry a minimum advertised price of $39.95. A new set will also be available on VHS, where the titles have been on moratorium since 1994.
Star Michael J. Fox, director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter/producer Bob Gale and producer Neil Canton recently recorded new interviews and audio commentaries. A Q&A session with Zemeckis at USC Film School last month will also be included among the 10 hours of extras, which will also include newly discovered deleted scenes and outtakes, three separate featurettes on the making of each film, and a public service announcement for the Michael J. Fox Parkinson's Disease Foundation, the trade paper reported. Other extras include a feature called Universal Animated Anecdotes, in which consumers can watch the feature film and simultaneously learn over 150 facts, and a Huey Lewis music video.
Quaid Mulls Tomorrow Lead
ennis Quaid (Frequency) is in talks to star in The Day After Tomorrow, an apocalyptic SF film from director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) for Fox, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
If a deal is reached, Quaid will play the lead role in the Jeffrey Nachmanoff-scripted film, which is eyeing a November production start and a summer 2003 release, the trade paper reported.
Budgeted at more than $100 million, Tomorrow deals with the disastrous effects of global warming. Mark Gordon is producing.
SF&F Fares Well For Teen Kudos
enre films, TV shows and stars fared well in the nominations for the fourth annual Teen Choice Awards, the Zap2it.com Web site reported.
Winners of the Teen Choice Awards are determined by a vote of the readers of Seventeen magazine. The awards will be taped Aug. 4 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles for broadcast Aug. 19 on Fox, the site reported. A list of genre nominees follows.
Television
Best Actress in a Drama
•Jessica Alba (Dark Angel)
•Jennifer Garner (Alias)
•Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Best Actor in a Drama
•Tom Welling (Smallville)
•James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Best Sidekick
•Allison Mack (Smallville)
•Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville)
•Alyson Hannigan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
•Nick Wechsler (Roswell)
Best Drama/Action Adventure
•Smallville
•Buffy the Vampire Slayer
•Dark Angel
•Alias
Movies
Best Actress in a Comedy
•Sarah Michelle Gellar (Scooby-Doo)
Best Actor in a Comedy
•Matthew Lillard (Scooby-Doo)
•Freddie Prinze Jr. (Scooby-Doo)
Best Actress in a Drama/Action Adventure
•Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man)
•Natalie Portman (Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones)
•Liv Tyler (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring))
Best Actor in a Drama/Action Adventure
•Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man)
•Hayden Christensen (Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones)
•The Rock (The Scorpion King)
•Will Smith (Men in Black II)
•Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)
Best Comedy
•Scooby-Doo
Best Drama/Action Adventure
•Spider-Man
•Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones
•Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
•Men in Black II
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best Chemistry
•Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man
•Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones
•Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar, Scooby-Doo
Etc.
Female Hottie
•Sarah Michelle Gellar
•Jessica Alba
Male Hottie
•Tom Welling
Campbell Finalists Named
inalists have been announced for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best SF novel of 2001.
Named in honor of the late editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, which is now named Analog, the award will be presented July 5 during the Campbell Conference in Lawrence, Kan. A full list of finalists follows.
•The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson
•Dark Light by Ken McLeod
•Deepsix by Jack McDevitt
•Fallen Dragon by Peter Hamilton
•Hammerfall by C.J. Cherryh
•The House of Dust by Paul Johnston
•The Meek by Scott Mackay
•Nekropolis by Maureen F. McHugh
•Pashazarde: The First Arabesk by John Cortenay Grimwood
•Passage by Connie Willis
•Probability Sun by Nancy Kress
•Terraforming Earth by Jack Williamson
Nuñez Gets Spacey In Pluto
iguel Nuñez told SCI FI Wire that he plays Eddie Murphy's business partner in the upcoming SF comedy The Adventures of Pluto Nash.
"It's kind of like Harlem Nights in space," Nuñez said in an interview. "Me and Eddie own the club together, like Sugar and Quick." Except this time the club is on the moon.
Nuñez said the film's special effects create futuristic landscapes and a society where humans and aliens interact. "It's aliens and humans mixed," he said. "It's like New York in the year 2075. They've got the most incredible special effects in this film. They created this whole culture and civilization, a future that looks like what the future would probably be like. There's one scene where Eddie goes off to this distant planet to look for something, and he and Rosario Dawson are riding in a train on this road through all this empty territory. It's just beautiful."
Nuñez doesn't know why the film has been delayed. "We made it in '73," he joked. "I don't know, but it's a long time. I have no idea [why]. They don't tell me. I wonder the same thing." The Adventures of Pluto Nash opens Aug. 16.
Powerpuff To Get Musical
raig McCracken, creator of The Powerpuff Girls, told SCI FI Wire to expect a rock-opera episode next season on the Cartoon Network.
"We're going to be starting episodes in August, and there's a rock opera that we've been waiting to do," McCracken said in an interview. "We've already written it, but the final board hasn't been finished, so we'll be starting up on that. It's kind of like Jesus Christ Superstar. It's '70s rock opera music, like Tommy. We basically wrote the main villain part for Jack Black from Tenacious D. When we wrote it, he was just an underground and L.A. comic guy, but now he's blown up, so we're hoping he'll be a fan of the show and agree to do it."
Budgetwise, McCracken said casting Black would be the only aspect of the show that could incur additional cost. "If Jack Black is costly, it will raise the price a bit, but not from a production standpoint. It's just another 22-minute episode."
And don't expect any similarities with other genre show that recently did a musical episode. "I didn't know there was a Buffy musical," McCracken said. "When we did Dexter's Laboratory, [Powerpuff producer] Genndy [Tartakovsky] did an opera of Dexter's, so we just went, 'Well, we should do a rock opera for Powerpuff.' We had thought of it a long time ago, and it just hasn't come to being finished yet. We've had the idea for a while, and it was one of the final episodes of the last season, but we didn't finish the last season, because they wanted to start the movie, so we put the show on hiatus to do after the movie." McCracken directed an animated theatrical film based on the series, which opens July 3.
MGM Unleashes Good Boy!
GM has given a green light to Good Boy!, a live-action/computer-animated fantasy film about dogs from space, Variety reported.
Jim Henson Pictures will co-produce the film, which will be written and directed by John Hoffman.
Good Boy! tells the story of an alien dog coming from the Dog Star, Sirius, who has come to Earth to investigate reports that his fellow canines have abandoned their original plan to take over the planet, the trade paper reported. Casting for the young boy who will be the lead actor has begun, and prominent stars will be sought to voice the film's seven dog roles. Shooting is scheduled to begin in Vancouver, B.C., in late August.
Madsen Talks Bond 20
ichael Madsen, who co-stars in the upcoming 20th James Bond movie, Die Another Day, told the Empire Online Web site he was eager to join the franchise—but only if his character might have a little longevity.
"Originally they asked me to play a guy that gets killed by a death ray from space," Madsen said in a press conference in London. "I said no, because I wanted to be part of the franchise. I very much wanted to work in a Bond picture."
Madsen added that Bond star Pierce Brosnan "is a very good friend of mine. Our kids play together, for God's sakes. But I really didn't want to be in it as some glorified extra who gets killed. So the whole thing went away for a while. Then [director] Lee Tamahori gave me a call and said, 'Do you still fancy being in the Bond picture? Well, there's another part we have. It's not a big role, but it's the head of the NSA, which is a military-commander type of a guy.' It wasn't really in the script yet, so I flew over here blindly, and I went over to take a meeting with [producers] Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson over at Pinewood, and they basically described to me the character and what they thought I could do. They could introduce me as a recurring character, so I'd come back in Bond 21 and 22, and then they said if I got tired of it, they'd assassinate me, and Bond could use my death as a vengeful reason to do something [laughs]."
Madsen also offered spoilers on his character's role in the story. "The way it happens in the film is that, initially, I don't trust him. I'm like the American M. Like Judi Dench sends out Bond, I send out Halle Berry. By the end of the movie, I realize that he's saved the world from nuclear armageddon or whatever it is. ... So we've evolved. So now I suppose in the next Bond picture, we'll probably start out in more collusion with each other." Die Another Day opens in November.
Universal Flies With Dragons
niversal Pictures has acquired the film rights to The Saint of Dragons, Jason Hightman's upcoming fantasy book, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Peter Guber's Mandalay Pictures will produce the film with J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk, the trade paper reported.
The book manuscript, which will go out to publishers shortly, is set in the present and tells the story of a 14-year-old boy who discovers that he's a descendant of St. George the dragonslayer. He must deal with a new breed of dragons, which have evolved to look like humans, the trade paper reported. Hightman will adapt his manuscript for the screen.
Universal Pictures is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Exorcist Turns Neeson's Head
iam Neeson told SCI FI Wire that the proposed Exorcist 4:1 prequel film could still come together, despite the health-related departure of director John Frankenheimer.
"Maybe," Neeson replied during an interview when asked if Exorcist 4:1 will be his next film. "They're looking for a director, and I just don't want to do it with Joe Schmoe, you know?"
Neeson, who would portray a young Father Merrin (Max von Sydow's character from the original Exorcist), added that he remains intrigued by the prequel's basic plot. "It is a really, really wonderful script by Caleb Carr [writer of The Alienist], who is a fantastic novelist," the actor said. "It's not the usual Hollywood spin on such stuff. It's a very, very intense story. It's an argument about theology, actually, and the nature of good and evil." Though production has yet to begin, Warner Brothers has already announced that it will release the tentatively titled Exorcist 4:1 on July 18, 2003. The title could change to Exorcist: Dominion.
Goyer Bites Into Darksiders
riter/director David S. Goyer told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming supernatural film Darksiders is more of a superhero movie than a vampire tale.
"It's kind of like an R-rated X-Men, although they don't wear costumes," Goyer said in an interview. "It's about a group of people with abilities above and beyond what normal humans have, [who] are secretly working for the government. They call them the Darksiders, because the world is completely unaware of their existence. They lead a very twilight existence in terms of they're basically forced to work for the government, and they can't leave. The government uses them for illegal, illicit activities."
Goyer—who wrote the scripts for both Blade and Blade II—wrote and will direct Darksiders. He said that the titular heroes will have heightened senses—super hearing, infrared and ultraviolet vision and immunity to diseases—because of a virus given them by the government. A side effect is bloodlust. But Goyer doesn't worry about comparisons to his previous franchise. "It's barely vampires, and when people see it, they'll know," he said in an interview. "I think it's a good match for me, but in tone it's very different from Blade. It's actually much more realistic and rooted in reality. There isn't any bloodsucking per se in the film, and I think we only mention the word vampire once. I would say it's sort of a companion film."
The Darksiders' first adventure deals with their immunity, Goyer said. "They're trying to track down somebody who's developed a pathogen that's DNA-specific," he said. "He can target this disease and say this will only kill black people or this will only kill people with blue eyes. That's one of the reasons why they pick the Darksiders to try to go after him." Goyer is finishing a polish of the script and will begin casting this summer.
Ford Denies Flockhart Rumor
arrison Ford denied to Access Hollywood a rumor that he asked that a part be written for Calista Flockhart in a proposed fourth Indiana Jones movie.
The rumor first appeared on the IMDB news Web site, attributed to an anonymous source.
When asked if the report was true, Ford simply said, "No." He added that he had not had any discussions with either producer George Lucas or director Steven Spielberg about Flockhart, with whom Ford has been rumored to be romantically involved. Spielberg has said previously that he's eyeing a 2004 start for the fourth film, which would hit theaters in 2005. As he has said in previous interviews, Ford told Access Hollywood that he'd be pleased to reprise the role of Indy if he, Lucas and Spielberg can find a script they all like.
Cleese Joins Shrek 2 Cast
ohn Cleese has joined the cast of the upcoming Shrek sequel, and Joe Stillman will write the script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Cleese joins Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow in the cast of voice actors, playing the father to Diaz's character, Fiona. Original director Andrew Adamson is again at the helm, with Aron Warner producing, the trade paper reported.
Original Shrek writers and co-producers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have left the project over creative differences, but are still remaining on the project as consultants, sources told the trade paper. Stillman co-wrote Shrek with Elliott, Rossio and Roger S.H. Schulman, based on William Steig's children's book. He will collaborate with Adamson and Warner on the sequel's script, the trade paper reported.
Woolverton Dives Into Fathom
creenwriter Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast) will adapt the comic book Fathom for James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Fox, Variety reported.
Woolverton will write the fantasy adventure of a young woman named Aspen who discovers that she is descended from a race that evolved below the ocean's surface, the trade paper reported. Michael Turner wrote and illustrated the Fathom comic.
Fox Animation originally acquired rights to the Top Cow comic series three years ago, and Lightstorm came on board last year to develop a live-action version of the series. Woolverton shared a writing credit on Disney's The Lion King.
Moth Flies At Universal
ersey Films and Larger Than Life Productions are developing a movie based on Rachel Klein's supernatural thriller book The Moth Diaries for Universal, Variety reported.
The book, out this month from Counterpoint Press, is set in the 1960s at a boarding school, where a 16-year-old suspects that a schoolmate is a vampire.
Gary Ross will produce with Jersey Films co-chairs Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher and Danny DeVito. Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Freeman Catches A Dream
organ Freeman, who plays the villainous Col. Abraham Curtis in the upcoming Stephen King movie adaptation Dreamcatcher, told SCI FI Wire that his character is named Kurtz in King's novel, a reference to Apocalypse Now, because the character is similarly obsessive.
"My job is 'alien hunter,'" Freeman said in an interview. "I'm a bit driven, been at the job probably a couple of months too long, and, as you can see by my countenance, probably a little bizarre. Just a little. Not insane. I'm not crazy."
Freeman, who won plaudits for his work in another King adaptation, The Shawshank Redemption, added that he was eager to work with Dreamcatcher director Lawrence Kasdan. "People ask, 'Well, who are the directors you want to work with?' Larry falls into that category of directors I really wanted to work with," Freeman said. "They sent me the script, and then I had a very long lunch with Larry one day. We discussed the character, the story and under what parameters it would fall, because you have to take all these things into consideration when you accept a part in a movie like this. It's going to be pretty bizarre."
Kasdan shot much of Dreamcatcher outdoors in the frozen, snow-covered wilds of Canada, where temperatures hovered around 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit at night. Freeman anticipated problems, but found it easier than he expected. "I've been in situations where I was so cold I could barely speak," he said. "My face froze, and I could barely talk. I thought it would be much worse than it is, because when I was in Montreal a few weeks ago, they were having minus 20 here, but it's not happening now. I find that, by and large, where I go, warm weather follows, which is a good thing, because me and cold weather are really incompatible. Totally incompatible. I really don't do cold. So it goes without saying that what we're dealing with now is not really cold." Dreamcatcher opens in 2003.
Blade Slices Into TV Series?
avid S. Goyer, writer of the two Blade feature films, told SCI FI Wire that he is pitching a TV series based on the franchise, to begin airing after a proposed third film is complete.
"I just had my first meeting with the television department at New Line, and we were kicking around different ideas," Goyer said in an interview. "It's premature for me to talk about it, but there are two separate directions we're thinking of going in."
Goyer said that the actor who will portray the TV version of the vampire hunter Blade would depend on the concept New Line chooses. Wesley Snipes plays the half-human Daywalker in the movies. "I want to make sure that the Blade TV show is a separate entity from the Blade films so that it's not just a lower-budget version of the films," Goyer said. "I want to do something that's different and fresh and unique and will give people a reason to tune in. I'm not sure if that means a prequel to the Blade movies, going with a much younger Blade, or the converse, a much older [character]. And there's another approach that we're thinking about that would be much more radical than that." Blade III is currently in development.
Ella Gets Enchanted
nne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries) and British actor Hugh Dancy will star in Ella Enchanted, a romantic fantasy film from Miramax Films, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Tommy O'Haver will direct the movie, which is based on the Newbery Award-winning book by Gail Carson Levine. The film is scheduled to begin production in mid-August, the trade paper reported.
Set in a medieval fantasy world, the movie stars Dancy as Prince Charmont in the story of a young woman named Ella (Hathaway) who is given the unwelcome gift of obedience from fairy Lucinda at birth, causing her to follow every order she receives.
Shanks To Guest On SG-1
rad Wright, executive producer of the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, told fans to expect the return of Daniel Jackson, played by Michael Shanks—but only for a couple of episodes.
Speaking in a SCIFI.COM chat on June 21, Wright said, "Right now, we've got two stories that include Daniel. The scripts aren't ready yet, but as soon as they are, we'll send them to Michael. Hopefully he'll want to do them. And yes, one of those stories is the [season] finale."
Wright added that viewers can expect other guest stars this season. "Dean Stockwell is appearing this season," he said. "And John de Lancie, as Simmons." Ronnie Cox will also appear, he said.
In answer to a question about a future Stargate feature film, Wright said that Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich—who created the original Stargate film—had contemplated a sequel that would have ignored the continuity of the TV series. "I think that's ludicrous," Wright said. He added that he and producing partner Robert C. Cooper have written their own movie. "The feature Robert and I have written is exactly that, a bridge between SG-1 and Atlantis. There won't be a Devlin and Emmerich sequel as far as I know, but MGM may not want to make our script either." Stargate SG-1 airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT Fridays as part of SCI FI Friday.
Lilo Duo Go It Alone
hris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, the creators of Disney's animated hit film Lilo & Stitch, will be establishing their own production company to write and direct animated and live-action movies, Variety reported.
Other studios are looking to hook up with the pair, who came up through the Disney system, wrote and directed Lilo & Stitch and made it on a tight budget, the trade paper reported.
Lilo cost about $80 million, half what most studio animated efforts do, the trade paper reported. It its first weekend, the movie, about a Hawaiian girl and her pet alien, took in $35.3 million, nearly toppling Minority Report from the top slot at the box office.
Minority Still Edges Lilo
inal box-office figures showed that Minority Report took in less than estimated in its opening weekend, but still enough to edge out Lilo & Stitch for bragging rights as the number-one draw, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
Minority Report took in $35.7 million, less than half a million more than Lilo & Stitch's $35.3 million.
The final figures show that Fox initially overestimated Minority's take by $1.2 million. Disney, by contrast, overestimated Lilo's box-office earnings by $500,000. Both films opened June 21.
Whitaker Taking His Time
orest Whitaker (The Twilight Zone) will direct Selling Time, a supernatural thriller movie, for Fox, Variety reported.
Whitaker is also writing a draft of the film's script with former DreamWorks Television president Dan McDermott, who sold the spec script to the studio last October and quit his TV post a few weeks later, the trade paper reported.
Selling Time tells the story of a man who experiences the worst day of his life and is given a chance to relive it, with unexpected consequences, the trade paper reported.
New SteppenWolf Online
arner Brothers Online launched a new episode of SteppenWolf, a free online adventure game.
Players assume the role of Meg Crimson or SteppenWolf as they solve a variety of action and logic puzzles.
SteppenWolf follows the story of Crimson, a free-lance reporter hired by World Geographic magazine to track down and report on immortal creatures of legend, such as the Loch Ness monster, the Mokele Mbembe and the Yeti. She enlists the help of the mysterious guide SteppenWolf. Through the course of their journeys, they confront SteppenWolf's past, which, not coincidentally, involves an immortality project from 20 years earlier.
In the new episode, Crimson leaves the hotel in search of SteppenWolf and information on where she can find the Chupakabra, only to be led by a young boy to a farm where she discovers mutilated goats.
Hoffman Flying To Neverland
Dustin Hoffman is in talks to join Johnny Depp in Miramax Films' J.M. Barrie's Neverland, based on the life of the Peter Pan author, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The project, to be directed by Marc Forster (Monster's Ball), will go into production in the summer in London, the trade paper reported.
Depp will star as Barrie. Hoffman would play Charles Frohman, the real-life financial backer and producer of Barrie's productions, including Peter Pan, who was one of Barrie's few close friends outside his domestic circle.
Universal Grows With Pan
niversal Pictures has joined Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios to produce a live-action Peter Pan film, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding) will direct the film, based on James M. Barrie's classic fairy tale. Universal replaces Disney as the movie's third financier, Variety reported.
Production is slated to start in the fall in Australia, with an eye on a Christmas 2003 release. Hogan and Michael Goldenberg (Contact) have adapted the movie from Barrie's original story. Industrial Light & Magic will provide visual effects. The filmmakers are conducting a worldwide casting search to find a young actor to play Peter Pan, Variety reported. Jason Isaacs has been cast as the villainous Captain Hook.
Universal Studios is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
DS9 Fans Petition For Film
ore than 10,700 fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have signed an online petition asking Paramount to revive the Trek spinoff as either a movie or TV miniseries.
The petition, which organizers plan to ship to the studio on Jan. 4, 2003, is part of a campaign by fans to revive DS9.
Paramount has so far expressed little interest in reviving the series, which ended its seven-year run in syndication in 1999. Fans also plan a letter-writing campaign to Paramount.
Briefly Noted
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The DVD File Web site reported that the DVD of this summer's hit film Spider-Man will hit stores on Nov. 12.
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A trailer has been posted for Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, the sequel to 2000's Christian-themed apocalyptic thriller film. Tribulation comes to DVD and home video on Oct. 29.
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Warner Brothers sold a film and TV series package that includes The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Germany's RTL Television for an estimated $200 million, Variety reported.
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Kino International has licensed the North American distribution rights to the digitally restored 35mm version of Fritz Lang's seminal 1927 SF silent movie Metropolis from Transit Films Munich. The film premieres on July 12 at the Film Forum in New York, expanding nationally shortly thereafter.
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The teaser trailer for Star Trek: Nemesis, which debuted at the Starbase 21 Trek Expo in Tulsa, Okla., last week, will air on Entertainment Tonight June 26, then go live on the official Web site, accessible through StarTrek.com. Nemesis opens in December.
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Ian McKellen, who reprises the role of Magneto in the upcoming sequel to X-Men, told fans on his official Web site that he will begin shooting his part in and around Vancouver, B.C., the first week of July.
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A teaser trailer has gone up for the upcoming independent Christian-themed SF movie Timechanger.
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The titular creature in Ang Lee's upcoming Hulk movie won't have to worry about torn clothes, EW.com reported. "Ang made a creative choice ... to have him naked. It's like he's first born," Universal Studios executive Mary Parent told the site. "He's posed in a way that's not revealing. Obviously, we're not having frontal Hulk nudity."
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The OneRing.net fan Web site has posted a teaser trailer for the upcoming Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers sequel movie, which opens Dec. 18.
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Harrison Ford confirmed for Cinescape Online that the proposed fourth Indiana Jones movie will be set in the 1950s.
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Dennis Dugan will direct a proposed sequel to the supernatural movie Jumanji, Variety reported.
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The Comics2Film Web site reported that MTV's animated Spider-Man series has been delayed to early 2003 from November.
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Christian Bale told SCI FI Wire that his oft-delayed SF film Equilibrium will eventually hit theaters in 2002. "It's coming out sometime at the end of this year," Bale said in an interview.
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Teaser trailers have gone up for Daredevil, which opens Feb. 14, 2003, and Solaris, which opens Dec. 13.
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Kermit the Frog is among the celebrities who will receive a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame over the next year, the Zap2it.com Web site reported.
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Lexus has posted a Web game linked to the current SF movie Minority Report, for which the car company designed futuristic vehicles.
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Chapman University in California awarded Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger an honorary doctorate degree at ceremonies June 23, the Associated Press reported. The university honored the actor for his charitable work on behalf of young people in athletics and education.
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The SciFiAudio Web site has posted sound files of SF author Robert J. Sawyer reading excerpts from his new novel Hominids.
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