Enhancing The Two Towers
eter Jackson, director of the upcoming sequel film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, told Empire Online that he shot additional footage earlier this year to supplement principal photography that was completed last year.
"We're shooting about another 25 minutes of stuff, although some of it is to replace other scenes," Jackson told the site. "It was a process I always planned on. It's a great way to shoot, like hand-crafting a film, allowing you to figure it out over time."
Jackson added, "For instance, there's completely new scenes with Sam [Sean Astin] and Frodo [Elijah Wood]. Since we finished, we really wanted to make the Gollum story more psychological, things we thought of later."
Executive producer Mark Ordesky offered Empire Online a preview of The Two Towers and the third Rings film, The Return of the King. "The great thing is [that The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring] was hailed as this visual epic, and films two and three are so much bigger," he said. "In film two, to make a Star Wars analogy, you have got a much more Empire Strikes Back structure, meaning you've got Merry, Pippin and Treebeard in Fangorn and Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas at Helm's Deep and Frodo and Sam going to Mordor. It's like an aperture that opens wider. I mean they literally get to the Black Gates. You get to see the Black Gates, with these gigantic cave trolls pushing them open." The Two Towers opens Dec. 18; Return of the King opens in December 2003.
Warcraft III Breaks Records
ame publisher Blizzard Entertainment announced that its fantasy video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos has sold more than 1 million units worldwide, according to EDI sell-through, internal company estimates and reports from key retail accounts.
That makes Warcraft III the fastest-selling PC title ever, surpassing two other Blizzard titles, Diablo II and the expansion set, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, the company announced. More than 4.4 million units of Warcraft III have been shipped to satisfy demand, the company said.
In Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, players revisit the war-torn world of Azeroth a generation after the end of the Second War between the Orcs and the humans. The fragile peace that had since settled over the land is now on the verge of being shattered, and a dark power has returned after thousands of years, and players follow a single epic storyline through four successive campaigns.
Blizzard Entertainment is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Gibson Had Own Signs
el Gibson, who stars in the upcoming SF thriller film Signs, told SCI FI Wire that he had a near-death experience in his youth that mirrors the coincidental miracles in M. Night Shyamalan's new movie.
Gibson stars as a former priest facing the mystery of crop circles on his family farm, as well as intimations of something greater around him.
The movie's complex theme brought to mind a near-miss auto accident, Gibson told reporters while promoting the film. "I remember driving really fast across [Australia], from Adelaide to Sydney," Gibson recalled. "I was like 21 years old. ... I was probably doing about 95 all the way across the Hay Plain in my little four-cylinder Ford. A real junk box. I finally hit the Blue Mountains before you get into Sydney, and I got caught behind this truck, and he was doing probably 35, going around these really windy roads, up and up and up. ... I wanted to get out from behind this truck, but there was never a straight place to overtake him. ... [There] had been a bit of drizzle and soft edges, and ... it was the kind of road that was up on a mountain that was carved out of a wall. ... I took off out from behind the truck and jammed on the gas and just went flying past the guy. ... And I looked up, and there was a truck coming in the other direction. ... And the last thing I remember before I simply just covered up in a crouch position, let go of the steering wheel and put it in the hands of the Almighty was a massive gum tree coming right at me, ... just before it went down over the cliff. ... And I felt this bang, boom, bang, like this. And I took my hands off, and the car was OK, and the big gum tree was pressed against one side of the car door, and it had dented it in. And the other side of the car was a sapling. And I had been caught between the two trees, and the front wheels were hanging over the abyss. ... Somebody had his hand on me that day. And I figure it's things like that that kind of inform you of something greater than yourself perhaps watching over you." Signs opens Aug. 2.
Shyamalan Mulls Unbreakable 2
riter/director M. Night Shyamalan told SCI FI Wire that he originally wanted to do a sequel to his superhero film Unbreakable, but thought better of it when critics and audiences reacted lukewarmly to the movie.
"I would have, but I just didn't feel enough love," Shyamalan said in an interview while promoting his next movie, Signs. "That's the true answer. Most people won't give you the true answer. I just didn't feel enough love."
Shyamalan added that he was a bit surprised by the negative reaction to the movie, which starred Bruce Willis as a reluctant hero. "I was mostly surprised at the lack of the acknowledgment of what at least we aspired to do, [which] was to do the classy, non-fighting [non-Green-] Goblins-on-the-roof version [of a comic-book story]. Spider-Man was the goblins on the roof. I liked Spider-Man a lot. And my favorite part of it was the first hour, again, becoming Spider-Man. That's what I like, and that's what I wanted to make a movie of. And yeah, I have other ideas for Mr. Glass [Samuel L. Jackson] and Bruce's character, but ... ."
Asked if he might be persuaded to do a sequel, Shyamalan said, "I don't know. There's a lot of [fans], like when we had the first screening of Signs, these Unbreakable fanatics came out in force. And I was like, wow. They all came out. They came out with the DVDs and the posters. I was like, holy moley. And there was one Sixth Sense DVD there. And everybody else was Unbreakable. And I was like, wow. I guess there is a little cult thing going on. But that was really sweet. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe." Signs, which stars Mel Gibson as a man who must deal with crop circles on his family farm, opens Aug. 2.
Goldmember Spoilers Hinted
erne Troyer, who plays the diminutive clone Mini-Me in the SF sequel film Austin Powers in Goldmember, told SCI FI Wire that his character undergoes certain physical and ideological changes in the film.
"It's still Mini-Me," he said in an interview while promoting the film. "But [he's] totally upset that he got dismissed. So he's still Mini-Me, but he actually goes through changes, emotional and physical."
Audiences may have already caught a glimpse of Troyer's new look in the promotional trailer, which includes scenes that were cut out of the film. "We shot that actually before we started principal photography," Troyer said. "It was just a teaser. It was actually supposed to be in [the beginning of] the film, but we wanted to keep it a big surprise for the audience when it happens."
In the film, Troyer's character is cast aside by the nefarious Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) in favor of his post-adolescent son, Scott (Seth Green), motivating Mini-Me to change allegiances and transform himself into a miniature version of Austin Powers (also played by Myers). So which of his Mini incarnations did Troyer prefer? "Mini-Evil," he said. "Just because everybody says I'm such a nice person in normal life, it's good to take all of your frustrations out on set." Austin Powers in Goldmember opened July 26.
Goldmember Rumors Denied
inger-turned-actress Beyoncé Knowles told SCI FI Wire that the rumors about her missing her lines and causing production delays on the set of Austin Powers in Goldmember were upsetting and untrue.
"It hurt my feelings," she said in an interview while promoting the film. "I was devastated, because I had never done any movies, and it was the first week, and I hadn't messed up."
In fact, Knowles, who sings in the popular girl group Destiny's Child, insists that because she was new to acting, she worked especially hard to appear professional on the set. "They didn't have to do another take over, not once, not one time, because I was so hard on myself. It was like I had something to prove, and I made sure I knew my lines and I was prepared. I didn't mess up one time. Eventually I did, but that first week I hadn't."
Director Jay Roach confirmed that the reports of Knowles' incompetence were indeed bogus. "That was pure gossip," he said. "She's actually the most tightly prepared person on the set. Perhaps because she was overcompensating, she really felt a little bit out of her league stepping in, because she'd never done this before. She would completely overprepare, and I'd throw new lines at her, and I thought she was completely sharp. I think some people don't want others to have success."
In the film, Knowles plays Austin's (Mike Myers) latest love interest, a sexy 1970s-era agent named Foxxy
Cleopatra. When the rumors started circulating, she said that she was grateful to receive comfort from her sympathetic co-star. "Mike—who did not have to do this—he called after he worked a whole day of shooting. We talked—me, him and his wife—for about 20 minutes, and he told me how people do that to him and do it to all successful people, so don't worry about it. It is actually good. Someone's kind of scared, so they have to start these rumors. It made me feel a lot better. I was still kind of disappointed, but I felt better." Austin Powers in Goldmember opened July 26.
Goldmember Has Starry Cameos
ay Roach, who directed the upcoming sequel film Austin Powers in Goldmember, told SCI FI Wire that it wasn't hard to convince most of the big-name stars who appear in the film to take part.
"Some people wanted to do it even before the whole idea of that cameo thing came up," Roach said in an interview while promoting the film. Roach remained coy about who the celebrities were.
Roach added, "The idea of a movie-within-a-movie ... came out of some people saying they might be interested in doing something in the movie." Many of the cameos occur early in the film, as part of a fictional movie based on the exploits of Austin Powers called Austinpussy. Roach said that he and star Michael Myers had to finesse some of the celebrities, but once they had certain names in place, the rest came more easily.
"Some people we had to call and say, 'This is a weird thing. You're going to make fun of yourself. We're going to make fun of you, but you're going to be doing it in the most amazing company, and you'll all do it on the same day.'" Although the logistics were difficult to work out, Roach was relieved that everything miraculously came together for the one-day shoot at the Paramount lot. "If anyone said no, we were dead. We had a very tight schedule and kept shifting the whole thing around, because they're all busy and
have got stuff going on. They all came the same day. It was the first choice in every single role. It might've fallen apart if somebody had said no." Austin Powers in Goldmember opened July 26.
Myers Teases Shrek 2
ike Myers, who reprises the voice of the green ogre in the upcoming Shrek 2 sequel film, told SCI FI Wire that he is looking forward to the computer-animated movie because it will give him the opportunity of "just working with [DreamWorks honcho] Jeffrey Katzenberg and an entire team that loves animation and loves children's movies."
He added in an interview, "It's just inspiring to be around people that are so committed to it being excellent."
Myers was cagey when asked for details about the movie. "I can't tell you," he said. But, he added, "it will go well."
Myers next appears in the sequel film Austin Powers in Goldmember, playing multiple roles. Goldmember opened July 26. Shrek 2 is scheduled for a June 2004 release.
No Aliens In Firefly
oss Whedon, whose new SF series Firefly debuts on Fox this fall, told SCI FI Wire that the show is set in outer space, but humans will be the only life forms featured.
That means no aliens. "I believe we are the only sentient beings in the universe," he said in an interview on the set. "And I believe that in 500 years from now, we will still be the only
sentient beings around."
After reinventing the horror genre with his first show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Whedon
now seeks to challenge the conventions of the traditional spaceship-based series. "I wanted to
stay away from the easy science-fiction fixes—the android, the clone, the alien—all the stuff that, for
all I know, may be lurking around the corner, but I'm not expecting to see anytime soon," he said.
Instead, Firefly will focus primarily on the human condition, with all its myriad problems, a goal
that Whedon believes is best achieved without the inclusion of alien species. "That's a great metaphor to play with, but it's not really what I'm interested in. I'm really interested in 'You are there.' In 'You are part of this.' And I think aliens, no matter what, take you out of that. I also need to spend some time away from latex."
Angel Goes to Vegas
avid Simkins, who replaces departing show runner David Greenwalt on The WB's vampire series Angel, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming season will feature an episode filmed on location in Las Vegas.
"It's an episode that takes place entirely in Vegas," Simkins said in an interview. "The logistics are challenging, but it's something we're
working out. Even though the episode is set in Vegas, obviously, we'll shoot three days there, hitting locations and casino work, and then we'll bring everything back here [to Los Angeles] and finish up."
Simkins revealed that the episode will feature the return of the demon karaoke host Lorne, played by Andy Hallett, who left Angel Investigations at the end of last year for a gig at a Vegas nightclub. "Lorne is in Vegas. And he's got his own show. And it's a bit Tom Jones meets Liberace meets Lorne. And the trouble starts there," Simkins said. Rather than trying to recreate Sin City on a soundstage, Simkins explained that the producers felt that the episode required the authenticity of a location shoot.
"What we needed to do in Vegas is [capture] the scope [and] the feeling of it—the world of it. It's a show about destinies and futures and losing those futures and losing
destinies." Angel returns in the fall in a new timeslot, Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Greenwalt Still Dotes On Angel
avid Greenwalt, the co-creator of The WB's vampire series Angel, told SCI FI Wire that he's leaving the show with much of the initial work done as he takes on new duties running ABC's upcoming supernatural series Miracles.
"The people who are plotting out Angel for season four are [co-creator] Joss Whedon, [executive producer] Tim Minear and myself. We understand a great deal of the season. We understand a lot that's going to happen between Angel and his son. We understand a very bad twist that's going to happen for Angel in the middle of the season. And we're open to how the season's going to end. So we understand a lot of the big pieces, and I've been involved."
Greenwalt added that he will continue to consult with the producers of Angel, though he's turning most of his attention to his new ABC show. "I've been involved with the breaking of the first three to four stories, and I'm reading scripts, giving notes and taking a back seat. [Executive producer] David Simkins [Freakylinks] is running that show, and we've got a lot of great people. We have a really good writing staff that's been there. Jeff Bell's a huge talent, and Tim Minear, working on Firefly and doing everything. I feel that that show is up and running. ... It's kind of the great bad thing about Angel is, every year that it's been the little show that could. [Angel predecessor] Buffy [the Vampire Slayer] sold into syndication right away. It was the darling of the critics, and it went into the lexicon, the language, right away. Whereas Angel came a couple years later. We didn't get the big syndication sale. So every year we've had to say, 'We've got to be good. We've got to be good.' Now, we're on Sunday nights at 9, which is a very exciting place to be, and we hope for the best."
As for why Greenwalt is leaving the show, he said, "My contract was up. I like being taken roughly from behind as much as the next man, but [production studio] Fox is not stepping up to the plate." He added, "It's weird. We got in a money tangle, but in the middle of the money tangle, I had an epiphany. I might have had that epiphany anyway, and I might not have, so I honest to gosh don't know the answer to the question [of whether I would have stayed if the money had worked out]."
Buffy OK With Emmy Nods
roducers associated with UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its musical episode, "Once More With Feeling," reacted philosophically to the show's lack of top Emmy nominations.
The show's creator, Joss Whedon, told SCI FI Wire that he didn't hold anything against the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the show's omission from the acting, dramatic writing or best music nominations (the show did get nods for technical awards and for best music direction).
Meanwhile, David Greenwalt, executive producer of Buffy spinoff series Angel, told reporters, "Mr. Whedon wrote and directed one of the best pieces of television in the last 10 years. Let me say the last half-dozen years. But, unfortunately, his assistant forgot to put in for the Emmys. He did get nominated once. Those are shows with young people and those are shows that fly under the Emmy radar. And also, genre shows. It's very difficult for a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer or shows with people in rubber masks, for the people in the Emmys to understand the caliber of writing and directing, etc., going on. ... Don't get me wrong. I would trade an appendage to have one. I want one badly. But it shouldn't be the point of what you're doing."
No X-Files 2 Soon?
ob Bowman, who directed the first X-Files feature film, told the Calgary Sun newspaper not to expect a second movie until the time is really ripe for one.
"I know [series creator] Chris Carter intends to do another movie, and Fox Studios certainly wants one," Bowman told the newspaper. "David Duchovny definitely wants to do another one, and I'm pretty certain Gillian Anderson could be talked into doing one. It's really a matter of gauging fan appetite. When we did the first one, the series was at its peak, so the appetite wasn't all that great for a feature film. Chris pointed out the first Star Trek movie didn't come out until 15 years after the TV show ended. I doubt Chris will make us all wait that long for another X-Files movie, but he will wait for people to get really hungry."
Would Bowman direct a second installment? "No one has even whispered the possibility to me. I'd be on board in an instant if they asked me, but if they don't, it doesn't matter, because I had such incredible experiences with The X-Files already."
Miracles Like The X-Files
avid Greenwalt, who takes on the job of running ABC's upcoming Miracles, told SCI FI Wire that the new show will explore supernatural phenomena in an X-Files sort of way, but it will not frustrate audiences.
"You have to answer the emotional story," Greenwalt said in an interview. "You have to walk away having the phenomenon not be the main thing, but the frame that holds the picture. In the middle of the picture, you have to feel for that kid and his family, as an example from the pilot. We're going to do an episode early on about a couple whose teenage son dropped dead 16 months ago. Are they being haunted by him or not is the question of the phenomenon, but what does it mean to lose a child and how do they get through that? Paul [Skeet Ulrich] really helps them through that, so it's not about the phenomenon. That's why it won't be frustrating and X-Files-ish in that sense."
Greenwalt worked a brief stint on The X-Files, but felt he could handle Miracles better. "The reason I failed so extraordinarily and miserably at The X-Files is because I didn't emotionally understand the material. It was very clever and extremely well done, and we all owe a debt of gratitude or a debt of misery to The X-Files for raising the production bar so high. It makes the stuff look like movies. But I never understood it emotionally, and this show I really feel that I do. It feels to me like a spiritual X-Files, and that it's almost a more pure form of the genre, if you will. It's less genre, more feeling."
The series will deal with dark prophecies, death and other unpleasantness. But Greenwalt said that he does not consider Miracles as dark as other shows on which he's worked. "That may just be me, but I actually feel that that dark pilot is full of light and hope, because it's very touching. I feel emotionally connected, and at the end of seeing that episode, I go, 'Well, this is really good stuff. I feel like I've had a complete meal.' Certainly, there will be some more humor coming, because I'm there. Certainly you don't only want one thing. What you want is the veritable smorgasbord. You want the scare, you want the science, you want the 'Whoa, something just happened that cannot be explained,' and mostly you want, 'What is the real human story at the center of every episode?' That's the thing I'm most excited to do."
Miracles had already completed production on the pilot when Greenwalt came on board. Joining the party late in the process, Greenwalt said that he felt the show would be a perfect fit for his genre experience and work in the art of metaphor. "The last six years with Joss Whedon [on The WB's Angel] was like the greatest film school of my life. I learned there what a story is, what is narrative, what's the core, the theme of these stories. What has to happen for the audience? We made 188 episodes together, and now I'm on a slightly smaller palette, if you will, in that we're not doing vampires and demons and a lot of fighty-fight stuff. This is a little more small human drama, so to me it's the next natural step forward. I plan on bringing all that I learned there. I don't consider this show genre specifically. Obviously, there is paranormal in it, but what's great about genre is you can take the metaphors, you can take the pain of high school, and write great stories by emphasizing the demons and all of that." Miracles premieres in January 2003.
Stewart On X2 And Trek X
atrick Stewart told the British DreamWatch magazine that X2—the upcoming sequel to X-Men—will hinge on his character, Professor X, according to a report on Cinescape Online.
"The story goes in a direction that I thought was quite unexpected, which is always a good thing," Stewart told the magazine. "It involves my character a good deal more than the other movie did. Unlike the first X-Men, where he was just out of the movie for a big chunk of time, he is consistently active. I think it's looking really promising."
Stewart also said that the upcoming 10th Star Trek movie, Nemesis, will combine many of the elements fans have been looking for. "I think it's possible that there might be more to anticipate and to be excited about with Nemesis than with any of our previous movies, including everybody's favorite, First Contact," Stewart said. "I think we've got the mix right, in terms of a strong story. ... There are two storylines running side by side, interconnecting at different times. We have a very strong action base as well for this, which means that the dialogue scenes are broken up with really quite effective sequences of action. It has romance in it—in fact, it's probably the sexiest movie we've done in some respects, although unfortunately none of this involves me. It has a psychological aspect to it, too, which is interesting and potent. And there are surprises—the kind of surprises that, while we were shooting it, we were licking our chops with glee at the thought of these things that were going to surprise people." Nemesis opens Dec. 13; X2 is currently in production for a 2003 release.
Phlox Gets Enterprise Episode
ohn Billingsley, who plays the Denobulan Dr. Phlox on UPN's Enterprise, told SCI FI Wire that he will anchor an upcoming second-season episode that features Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) and his beagle, Porthos.
The "fourth or fifth ... episode with Scott and myself, for reasons I don't yet know, we are in the sick bay together," Billingsley said in an interview at UPN's recent fall preview party in Los Angeles. "I think ... the captain's dog is ill. So it's sort of an Odd Couple episode. I think it's revealed that I have a very long tongue. That's about all I know. But I assume we might learn a little bit more about Denobula."
As for secrets about Phlox's past? "I always say to people, in hopes that if I say it often enough, it'll come true, I would like [that] my wife, Bonnie [Friedericy], ... one day [will] be introduced as all three of my wives," Billingsley said, half-joking. "That all of the women on Denobula look like her. That would be fun. And that would give her a lot of episodes, and we'd have more residual checks coming into the home." The second season of Enterprise kicks off in the fall.
A Future For Futurama?
att Groening, co-creator of Fox's animated SF spoof Futurama, told SCI FI Wire that he has big plans for the show, even if Fox doesn't resume production on the series once it airs the remaining 16 or so episodes that have already been completed.
"Futurama's not over," Groening said in an interview at Fox's fall preview party in Los Angeles. "We're going full-steam ahead with keeping the universe alive in whatever form we can. And there are stories and movies and cartoons and comic books and toys yet to come. And video games."
Groening's Futurama partner, David X. Cohen, added that the game is due in January. "We have a Futurama video game for all the major home platforms: Xbox, PlayStation, GameCube," he said. "And I think there was much more input from the creative team, partially because we're not having to spend our time on the show, for some reason. So [J.] Stewart Burns, one of the original writers on the show, has written the script for the game. And there's actually so much material in there that basically you get a whole episode of Futurama sort of in the interstitial segments of the game."
Fox ordered the end of production at the end of last season and will air the remaining episodes starting in the fall. Among the episodes still to come are one in which Lt. Kif Kroker (Maurice LeMarche) becomes pregnant, another in which Bender the robot (John Di Maggio) undergoes a sex change, and another guest-starring Simpsons regular Dan Castellaneta as the voice of the Robot Devil, who makes a deal with Fry (Billy West) to impress Leela (Katey Sagal).
Groening said he's eager to continue working with the creators of the show, whether or not Futurama has a future. "I love this group of people that I worked with on Futurama, and we're going to work on another project," he said. "If it's not Futurama, I'm going to try to keep as many of the same people as I can to work on another animated project. I've got ... a couple of [SF&F] movies in the works, and I've got a couple of TV shows as well that I want to do. And we'll see. As many people as I can work with, I will go for."
Sagal Not Hopeful Re: Futurama
atey Sagal, the voice of Leela in Fox's animated Futurama, told SCI FI Wire that she is not holding out hope for Fox to resume production.
The network stopped production of the animated SF spoof last year, deciding they had enough episodes stockpiled to run almost a complete season. But should production resume, Sagal said in an interview that she would be game to return.
"I would love it," Sagal said. "I think it's one of the best-written shows on television, but I just really don't think it's going to [continue]. I think that Fox is just going to use the ones they have in the can, because they have a whole season's worth that we haven't seen yet. That seems to be where it is." Sagal couldn't preview the episodes still to come, saying that she made them so long ago she doesn't remember.
Affleck: Action Delays Daredevil
en Affleck, star of the upcoming Daredevil movie, told SCI FI Wire that logistics of some of the film's action scenes delayed production slightly.
"[It's] just a couple of weeks of stunts, and the director was sick for three days," Affleck said in an interview. "These movies take a lot of time. We're not as over as we were like on Armageddon or Pearl Harbor, but it's just like, 'OK, instead of taking us three and a half days to do the car/limo/bike/wire sequence, it's going to take four and a half days.' Stuff like that. It's just a big, ambitious movie, and when the bar has been set so high by other movies visually, we've all just been like, 'We're not going to stop until we make sure we get it really right.'"
Affleck responded to the skepticism some comic-book fans have expressed toward the adaptation of the Marvel Comics series. "On the Internet, people hated the X-Men idea—and I was one of them—until it came out. It's one of those things where you have to just see it. The Internet is a place where everybody gets to be a critic, and inherently you're not going to get something with uniformity. We stayed very close to the actual comic book, so if you were a fan of the comic book, you'll actually like the movie. We sort of erred on that side, which I think was a good way to go." Daredevil is aiming for a February 2003 release.
Fox Snaps Up Prey
ox has bought the film rights to Michael Crichton's next high-tech novel, Prey, for close to $5 million, Variety reported.
The studio plans to move quickly toward a big-screen version of the thriller, whose secret plot is thought to deal with nanotechnology, the trade paper reported.
Fox execs were first approached about the rights several weeks ago, received a manuscript on July 19 and concluded negotiations on July 22, the trade paper reported. The deal is reportedly a coup for News Corp., the corporate parent of both Fox and Crichton's publisher, HarperCollins.
The publisher will launch Prey in English-speaking territories in November, the trade paper reported.
Writer To Adapt Lion, Witch
mmy-winning writer Ann Peacock will adapt C.S. Lewis' beloved children's book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the big screen, Variety reported.
Walden Media is producing the feature adaptation in partnership with the C.S. Lewis Company.
Walden partner with the Lewis company in December to option the entire seven-part fantasy book series The Chronicles of Narnia, of which The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second and best-known installment, the trade paper reported.
Entering A New Zone
roducers of UPN's upcoming update of The Twilight Zone told SCI FI Wire that they want to honor Rod Serling's original series, while bringing it into the 21st century.
"I think we're going to tell simple stories with an ironic twist," executive producer Ira Steven Behr said in an interview. "And we're going to tell stories that will interest people who are watching television today. ... We're functioning with an audience that grew up on video games and George Lucas [and] Steven Spielberg. ... So we want to tell the same type of stories that Serling told. [But] we obviously have to tell them in a slightly different way."
Still, executive producer Pen Densham said that he hopes to tap the same mythic power of stories that Serling did. "The key of all these things is they have to tell the truth about human nature," Densham said. "They have to touch a poignant, powerful piece of the human condition. Whether it's about the guy who refuses to make any sacrifices for anybody else and ends up losing everything. Or whether it's about a man who has married somebody he's so incredibly jealous of that he drives her away, and then realizes when he's willing to give her her freedom so that he can live with her. ... These are the primal parts which stories come from. What Rod did ... in the 1959 era, he saw there was a need for new mythology, and he spoke to people through those stories about the things that were going on in their time and age. ... A lot of what we're doing is just touching base with those primal things, and in a very pure way."
Densham (The Outer Limits) and Behr (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) have assembled a stable of writers to come up with new stories, starting with a pilot that features Jeremy Piven as a man who acquires clairvoyance after being struck by lightning. Each hour-long episode of the new Twilight Zone will feature two self-contained half-hour stories, introduced by actor/director Forest Whitaker. The producers also hope to enlist the help of top-level actors and directors.
"We started off with Jonathan Frakes directing the pilot, which I think is a real achievement," Densham said. "And ... with Jeremy Piven ... as an actor to come to join us. And I think we will attract people of that caliber, if the stories we tell have a poetry that artistic people can see in them. ... I don't think people just do it because it's The Twilight Zone. Why they'll do it is those stories [that] allow them to stretch themselves in some way. To challenge what they've been conceived as, so they can reframe their own creativity, or ... find a way of exploring, which normal television strictures or feature strictures wouldn't allow. ... We're hoping ... people come and have fun." The Twilight Zone will air on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, right after Enterprise.
Warner Denies Batman Casting
arner Brothers took the unusual step of officially denying casting rumors for its upcoming Superman vs. Batman movie, which appeared on the Ain't It Cool News Web site.
AICN reported this week that Jude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) had been cast as the Man of Steel and that Colin Farrell (Daredevil) had won the role of the Caped Crusader.
Not so, a Warner spokesperson said in a widely disseminated e-mail. "[AICN's] Harry Knowles is wrong," the e-mail read. "The roles have NOT been cast yet. They are still seeing other actors in casting next week. Jude Law and Colin Farrell are very definitely in the running, but nothing has been locked yet."
Earlier, Entertainment Weekly magazine said that Johnny Depp, Farrell, James Franco, Law and Paul Walker were on the short list for roles in the much-anticipated film, which is to be directed by Wolfgang Petersen.
Smart Gets Real On I-60
my Smart, co-star of the upcoming fantasy adventure film Interstate 60, told SCI FI Wire that her character plays a pivotal role.
James Marsden stars in the movie, about a man's travels on a mythical road, where he encounters quirky characters. "I was sort of the mysterious dream girl that becomes a reality," Smart said in an interview. "I put the main character through tests to see if he's worthy."
Since the film leaves ambiguous whether her character is real or not, Smart said she had to approach it "realistically. Everyone is a human being with character traits." Interstate 60 is Bob Gale's directorial debut. Produced by Fireworks Entertainment and Redeemable Features, it has no release date scheduled.
Smart Affected By Butterfly
my Smart, co-star of the time-travel movie The Butterfly Effect, told SCI FI Wire that she plays four versions of the same character.
Ashton Kutcher stars as a man who tries to manipulate history, with disastrous results for his loved ones. "It goes between past and present, and I play a heroin-junkie prostitute; a sorority girl; a lonely, depressed waitress; and a sort of natural hippie," Smart said in an interview. "[It's all] the same character."
With four different personalities to portray, Smart said that the through-line was "the connection and love she has for this guy played by Ashton Kutcher."
To play the alternate characters, Smart said that she researched the more difficult aspects, including "actually going off into heroin-junkie neighborhoods and watching behavior." The Butterfly Effect doesn't have a release date yet.
Torres Enters The Matrix
ina Torres, who has a role in the upcoming Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions sequel movies, told SCI FI Wire that her character is the widow of Anthony Ray Parker's character from the original Matrix.
"I play a character named Cass," Torres said in an interview. "I'm Dozer's widow. He didn't make it in the last one. He died. He was one of the first to go."
Torres added that her character doesn't dwell in the Matrix itself. "I guess that much I can tell you: I'm in Zion," the last human city, she said. "I'm Real World."
Torres, known for her female-warrior roles in TV's Cleopatra 2525 and ABC's Alias, added that she didn't have to undergo the rigorous martial-arts training the other Matrix cast members went through. Beyond that, she declined to talk about her role in the films.
Torres will also be seen in the fall on Fox's upcoming SF TV series Firefly, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. "I am the first mate" of a ship in a futuristic postwar universe, she said. "Her name is Zoe. She has a very loyal relationship with the captain, Mal [Nathan Fillion]. And she's married to the pilot, whose name is Wash [Alan Tudyk]. But she's a fierce warrior, soldier, woman ... with a soft side." Firefly debuts Sept. 20.
Alias Stars Reveal Spoilers
ichael Vartan—whose character, CIA Agent Vaughn, found himself in peril in the season finale of ABC's Alias—revealed to SCI FI Wire spoilers about Vaughn's fate in that flooded corridor.
"Let's just say I have a very powerful breaststroke," Vaughn said in an interview, without disclosing details about his character's future.
Vartan added that the show's second-season premiere "literally picks up exactly where it left off and answers almost all the questions that were posed at the end of last season. I'm obviously not going to give away any of the meaty answers, but it addresses all the questions everyone had when the show ended last year."
Meanwhile, Bradley Cooper—who plays journalist Will Tippin—told SCI FI Wire to expect growth in his character. "All I can say is Will changes a lot," Cooper said in an interview. "Think about it this way. If you get tortured, you get your teeth pulled out, you get injected with a serum that one out of five people become paralyzed for life from, you're not the same person when you come out of that. All I can say is he's definitely turned a new leaf in a way."
Cooper doubted that a romance would develop between Tippin and Sidney (Jennifer Garner), at least in the short term. "Will's going through so many changes, I think if that's ever going to happen, it'll be a long time to come," he said. "He's just found out that she leads this double life. I think what his main concern now is just getting to know this woman—this woman who he's always been in love with, but has never really known. It's almost like getting to know somebody for the first time."
Vartan said that he hoped that the writers would explore a romance between Vaughn and Sidney, but not too soon. "I think it's a good storyline to play for a couple of years, if we're so lucky to go that far," he said. "But I do think there is definitely a potential there." Alias returns to its Sunday timeslot this fall.
Purcell Does Doe
ominic Purcell, the Australian-born actor who stars in Fox's upcoming SF drama series John Doe, told SCI FI Wire that he's not worried about playing a man who literally knows everything under the sun—except who or what he is.
"I'm just very matter of fact with my acting," Purcell said in an interview at Fox's fall preview presentation in Pasadena, Calif. "A lot of actors have methods or ways of approaching work. For me, it's very simple, very matter of fact. Learn the lines. You get in there and have a sense and a feel for what I do, and just go in there and do it. That's about it. I just learn the lines, you know?"
In the series, Purcell plays a man who awakes on an island in Seattle's Puget Sound with a knowledge of every fact in the world—the population of Peru in 1853, how many blue cars there are in the state of Washington, the ingredients in a box of breakfast cereal. But he has no idea where he came from, why he has such knowledge or how he got where he is.
Unlike his character, Purcell said he doesn't retain the bits of random information the scripts throw his way. "The funny thing is, I learn my lines, right? And I forget them, like, the next day," he said. "So it's not a good party trick, you know? I, like, go to a Trivial Pursuit game, and it's like, 'Hey, you're smart. You're supposed to know this.' Nah, it just goes." John Doe, created by Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson (Dragonfly), will air Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, starting Sept. 20.
Bruckheimer Produces Red World
riters John Zinman and Patrick Massett told SCI FI Wire that their time-travel script, Red World, is now in development with producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
Zinman said the duo is working on a second draft.
"It's a time-travel movie, wherein forces from the future are going to invade our time, and someone comes back to stop it from happening," Massett said in an interview.
Zinman added that the story is in some ways a converse of The Terminator. "Wherein Terminator was from the point of view of this time, in Red World, it's from the point of view of a cop who lives in the future. He comes back, has to change something that happens in this time and then return to the future to see if what he did worked. It's also a great love story."
Veritas Explores Myth
atrick Massett, co-creator of ABC's midseason dramatic adventure series Veritas, told SCI FI Wire that the show will explore various mythological stories grounded in the reality of archaeology.
"Some things might touch upon the Holy Grail," Massett said in an interview. "Some will touch on Ponce de Leon, lost civilizations and fountains of youth. The rivers of Eden, which is a biblical reference to this life-giving fountain, ties into the Fountain of Youth. [There will be] storylines that deal with immortality, sort of a comparative mythology on all world cultures, all the similarities between creation stories. These are large arcs that we'll be touching on throughout the series and sort of unifying all the different mythological, spiritual, cultural identities of the world and distilling [them] into one truth, veritas."
The series follows a teen (Ryan Merriman) who joins his archaeologist father (Alex Carter) on journeys to investigate ancient texts and artifacts, while bad guys pursue them. Massett said the long-term structure of the series will resemble another popular genre show. "The show will be very much in structure like The X-Files, in that there will be stand-alone mysteries that they will be exploring and solving," Massett said. "As we go on, we'll find that several of these will connect into a larger storyline. There will be several arcs." Veritas begins airing in 2003.
Disney's Hunchback Goes Live
roducer Neil Meron told SCI FI Wire that he is producing a live-action TV version of Disney's animated Hunchback of Notre Dame movie, to air during the 2003-04 season on ABC, complete with the talking gargoyles.
"They'll probably be CGI, and then we'll probably have actors in costumes, and there'll be a combination of various techniques to make the gargoyles come to life," Meron said in an interview.
Meron also plans to use the same songs from the Disney film, but with a twist. "A lot of the lyrics will be rewritten, because of our different approach to the material," he said. "We have a whole different take on it, so we're going to have to adjust the lyrics. And we'll probably have one or two new songs as well."
Why did Meron choose Hunchback for a live-action adaptation? "Of the Disney animated films, there were very few with real people," he said. "Hunchback had real people. It's hard to do Lion King live-action, because they're animals, unless it's a stage piece. So we've chosen real people. It's such a wonderful story and a great score. There's drama at the core of it."
Aardman Studio Staffs Up
ardman Animations, the British studio best known for Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, is staffing up to produce an ambitious slate of upcoming computer- and claymation-animated films, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Heading the projects that Aardman has in active development is a film about a city of rats, variously known as Ratropolis and Flushed Away, which it is developing with DreamWorks, the trade paper reported.
Aardman director Nick Park is also working with DreamWorks on the first feature to star his classic Wallace and Gromit characters, under the working title Wallace and Gromit: The Great Vegetable Plot.
Work also continues on the script for DreamWorks' Tortoise vs. Hare, which is expected to have computer animation augmenting its stop-motion work. Preproduction on the project was suspended a year ago so that more work could be done on the screenplay, the trade paper reported.
Aardman is also reportedly involved in several TV projects, including Park's Oscar-winning short film Creature Comforts, which is being made into a 13-episode series for Europe's TV1.
Miracles Vs. Skeptics
keet Ulrich, star of ABC's upcoming supernatural series Miracles, told reporters that his character, Paul, is an investigator and debunker of miraculous phenomena who learns that true supernatural forces may be at work.
The role required Ulrich to keep his own natural skepticism in check, he said at the network's fall preview presentation in Pasadena, Calif. "I try and stay objective about it," Ulrich told journalists. "It's really contextual, honestly. It depends on what's in front of you, what the words are, what sort of bent we're going with. You have to stick to the character. The hard thing in some cases is that there are things that I would be very skeptical about that Paul may not be. You just have to stay open, and I think that's the great thing about Paul. It's his openness that sort of allows all these different things that we can develop the story into."
Angus MacFadyen, who plays Keel, a priest who knows about supernatural forces, said that he had to be decidedly open to such phenomena. "Richard [Hatem, the show's executive producer,] said that people to whom these things happen spend the rest of their life trying to live in denial of it and pretend that it didn't happen, because we live in a reality ... where everything is solid. And yet, over the last 100 years, physicists have actually arrived at the same place as the Taoists and the Buddhists, that all life is an illusion. Everything that we see and touch is an illusion, and we all create it together in order to live on this dimension. They then went ahead and discovered there are 11 other dimensions of which we know nothing. Therefore, I completely accept that fact. I also accept that there are a lot of con artists out there, as soon as you hear the word money involved. There are people getting ripped off left, right and center, because people's hopes are very fragile things." Miracles debuts midseason on ABC.
Speedman Stars In Underworld
cott Speedman (TV's Felicity) will star opposite Kate Beckinsale in the upcoming supernatural horror movie Underworld, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
First-time feature-film director Len Wiseman will helm for Lakeshore Entertainment; the movie is slated to begin production in early September in eastern Europe, the trade paper reported.
Speedman will play a werewolf who falls in love with a vampire played by Beckinsale in the modern-day Romeo and Juliet variation, the trade paper reported. Danny McBride wrote the script, based on an idea by him, Wiseman and Kevin Grevioux.
Prism Winners Named
he 2002 Prism Award winners for science fiction and fantasy romance novels were announced in association with the Romance Writers of America national conference in Denver, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site reported.
The Prism awards are given by the Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Chapter of RWA. The RWA held its "Writing in the Rockies" meeting July 17-20. A list of Prism winners follows.
Best Of The Best
•Across a Moonswept Moor by Julie Moffett
Time Travel
•1st Place: Across a Moonswept Moor by Julie Moffett
•2nd Place: The Enchantment by Pam Binder
•3rd Place: The Pleasure Master by Nina Bangs
Futuristic
•1st Place: Scouts Progress by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
•2nd Place: Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
•3rd Place: The Star Prince by Susan Grant
Fantasy
•1st Place: Goddess by Mistake by P.C. Cast
•2nd Place: Shadow in Starlight by Shannah Biondine
•3rd Place: Buttercup Baby by Karen Fox
Dark Paranormal
•1st Place: Danegeld by Susan Squires
•2nd Place: Secret of the Wolf by Sue Krinard
•3rd Place: Rapture in Moonlight by Rosemary Laurey
Light Paranormal
•1st Place: Just West of Heaven by Kathleen Kane
•2nd Place: Seven Rings Binding by Catherine Snodgrass
•3rd Place: Hearts Across Forever by Mary-Montague Sikes
Earth Set For September
estwood Studios will release its upcoming massively multiplayer online game Earth & Beyond on Sept. 17, though it was originally scheduled for release in August, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Westwood will let gamers pre-order the title through Electronics Boutique or GameSpot and pick up a beta CD at a participating store, starting Aug. 5.
Anyone with a beta CD will be able to take part in the game's final beta-testing stages without having to sign up at Westwood's site, GameSpot reported. Earth & Beyond lets players explore and conquer space.
ABC's Dinotopia Goes Weekly
inotopia producer Robert Halmi Sr. told reporters that turning ABC's fantasy miniseries into a weekly show meant adjusting the approach and recasting the stars.
"The miniseries actually was discovering a lost continent with all its marvels," Halmi said at the network's fall preview in Pasadena, Calif. "The series will show what's happening there, the life of this lost continent—good guys, bad guys, love and hate and all that kind of stuff—except it's told a little bit more [benignly]. We don't kill people. In one of the segments, we rediscover the automobile, just to know it's a horrible thing to have. So we do life as usual, with a spin."
Halmi has recast the leads from the miniseries. The weekly Dinotopia stars Erik Von Detten as Carl, Shiloh Strong as David and Georgina Rylance as Rosemary. The reason for recasting, Halmi said, was because "the miniseries was not a pilot for the series. When we did the miniseries, we had no idea [the network] would be brave enough to do the series. We started from scratch. We needed a new plot, new actors and longevity."
Halmi promised the same level of dinosaur special effects as the miniseries, only on a weekly basis. "Effects are going to be as much [as] or more than you saw in the miniseries," the producer said. "We are adding completely new dinosaurs, new locations. I had to increase my CGI crew from 120 to 140. We are working day and night. This is not a drama series to shoot and deliver in two weeks. The CGI part for every episode takes six weeks to do, so it's quite a bit of work." Dinotopia will air Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, starting in the fall.
Fountain Heads For Oz
roduction on Darren Aronofsky's upcoming SF movie The Fountain, starring Brad Pitt, will begin on Australia's Gold Coast in August, the Sydney Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.
The $100 million Warner Brothers movie will also shoot in Sydney's Fox Studios, the newspaper reported.
The closely guarded film will co-star Australian actress Cate Blanchett and will deal with time travel, the newspaper reported.
Cuaron To Helm Potter III
exican-born director Alfonso Cuaron will direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third movie in the popular franchise, Variety reported.
Cuaron (A Little Princess) steps in for Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Potter movies, but said he would pull out after completing the upcoming second film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The movies are all based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling Potter novels.
Production on Azkaban is scheduled to begin in England in the first quarter of 2003, the trade paper reported. Azkaban will introduce new characters to the universe of Hogwarts and Harry Potter. David Heyman,
Columbus and Mark Radcliffe will produce the film, which is slated for release in summer 2004, the trade paper reported.
Goyer Goes Deep In Descent
reamWorks is developing The Descent, an SF thriller movie that David Goyer will direct from his own adaptation of Jeffrey Long's novel, Variety reported.
Red Hour Films and Phantom Four Films will produce the movie, about a group of scientists led by a former cave explorer who must deal with a terrifying new species that dwells in the caves, the trade paper reported.
Goyer and Red Hour's Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld will produce. Goyer is best known for writing screenplays for the Blade of movies, as well as Crow: City of Angels and Dark City.
The Rock Eyed For Spy
niversal has bought the film rights to the Spy Hunter video-game franchise and will develop it as a vehicle for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Variety reported.
Chuck Gordon and Adrian Askarieh, who bought the rights from Midway, will produce.
The Spy Hunter games tell the story of an ex-fighter pilot who becomes an intelligence agent with an armed vehicle that can morph into other shapes.
Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Briefly Noted
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Warner Brothers has given the official green light to The Fountain, the SF epic movie from director Darren Aronofsky, which will star Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Ellen Burstyn, the Hollywood trade papers reported. As reported earlier, the film is slated to begin shooting in Australia later this year.
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Armin Mueller-Stahl will star in The Dust Factory, a fantasy movie from writer/director Eric Small, Variety reported. The Dust Factory tells the story of a young boy who is transported into a surreal world.
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The MovieHole Web site reported that original Nightmare on Elm Street star Heather Langenkamp won't reprise the role of Nancy in the proposed Freddy vs. Jason movie.
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The Countingdown Web site has posted an image of the female terminator from the upcoming Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which is now in production. The image is from the German Planet Movie magazine, the site reported.
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Jason Alexander will appear in an upcoming episode of UPN's new Twilight Zone series, which premieres Sept. 18 and will air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
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New Line Cinema has posted the music video for the song "Hard Knock Life" from its upcoming sequel movie Austin Powers in Goldmember, which opened July 26.
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The Coming Attractions Web site reported rumors that Kea Wong has been cast as Jubilee and Shauna Kain has won the part of Siryn in X2, the upcoming X-Men sequel film.
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The Comics Continuum Web site reported that the first season of TNT's Witchblade television series has now been sold into 115 foreign territories and markets worldwide.
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A constellation of guest stars will appear in NBC's upcoming holiday special A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, the first-ever made-for-TV Muppet film, TV Guide Online reported. Guests will include Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Cusack, David Arquette, Michael Caine, William H. Macy, Snoop Dogg, Carson Daly, Kelly Ripa, Jon Stewart and Rachel Hunter.
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The Raider.net Web site reported a rumor that Alison Doody, who played Elsa in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, may have a cameo in the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie—even though her character met her demise at the end of the last film.
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The Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that Spawn comic creator Todd McFarlane did not violate professional hockey player Tony Twist's rights by using Twist's name as that of a brutal mob enforcer in the Spawn comic series, the Associated Press reported. The ruling upheld a St. Louis circuit judge's November 2000 dismissal of a $24.5 million jury award for Twist.
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Artisan Home Entertainment released the DVD and VHS of ABC's fantasy miniseries Dinotopia on July 30.
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The Dead Zone's July 21 episode was the highest-rated basic cable show in prime time for the week, with a 3.3 household rating and an average of 4.8 million viewers, USA Network announced. In its six weeks in the Sunday 10 p.m. timeslot, The Dead Zone has averaged a 3.5 household rating and an average audience of 4.8 million viewers per night, the network reported.
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Harrison Ford told Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cindy Pearlman that his character won't have a son in the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie, as rumored. "Hey, there's only one son in these movies, and I'll always be Sean Connery's little boy!" Ford said.
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The Dark Horizons Web site retracted its report that commercial helmer David Rocksavage would direct the upcoming prequel movie Exorcist 4:1. Production company Morgan Creek denied the report.
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John Hannah (Alias) confirmed to SCI FI Wire that he is playing both parts in a film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's SF book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a Working Title production currently filming in Lithuania.
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The official Web site for the upcoming Daredevil movie has posted new images from the film adaptation of the Marvel Comics series, which opens on Valentine's Day 2003.
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Final estimates of the July 19 weekend box-office results show that Stuart Little 2 opened in second place, with about $15.1 million, the Hollywood trade papers reported. Initial estimates had Little 2 on top.
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The Fox network announced that its upcoming space western Firefly and SF mystery show John Doe will both debut Sept. 20 in their regular timeslots. Firefly, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, will air Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT; John Doe will follow at 9 p.m.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that commercial and independent film director David Rocksavage has been tapped to helm the upcoming Exorcist 4:1 prequel film, replacing the late John Frankenheimer.
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The Gotham Clock Tower Web site reported that Mia Sara (Timecop) has been cast as Dr. Harleen Quinzel in The WB's upcoming Birds of Prey series, stepping in for Sherilynn Fenn, who played the part in the pilot, but bowed out of the series. Fenn's role will be reshot for the show's premiere.
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The Big Apple Anime Fest will screen the world premiere of TriStar Pictures' Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, the theatrical English-dubbed version of the anime, on Aug. 30 at 8 p.m. at Loews State Theater in New York City's Times Square.
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