Jackson Previews Rings
ord of the Rings director Peter Jackson told Cinescape Online that the upcoming sequels, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, will take the story into darker territory.
"What basically happens is [the films] become darker, and they emotionally go places, which is very interesting," Jackson told the site.
Jackson added, "As Frodo's [Elijah Wood] journey with the ring continues, the ring starts to affect him more. There's an interesting dynamic that is going to happen in these films. Where in the first movie, Frodo is the audience. He's the Everyman character. In the second film, The Two Towers, the ring starts to act on him in a much stronger way. By the third film, Frodo has such a burden to carry and is starting to behave in such a strange way that I think the empathy of the audience will switch to Sam [Sean Astin], who is accompanying Frodo on this journey.
"Frodo becomes so troubled by this ring that we are now going to be looking at this story through Sam's eyes by the time The Return of the King comes out [in 2003], because we can no longer really go there with Frodo, because he has his own torturous journey that he takes on. It will be very interesting to see the three films together, because there's going to be this switch as each film becomes more intense." The Two Towers opens Dec. 18.
New Mutants In X2
TV.com reported that X2, the upcoming X-Men sequel film, will feature a whole new host of mutant superheroes.
Among the newcomers: Colossus, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Siryn, Pyro, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Beast and Gambit, a spokesperson at 20th Century Fox told the site.
Colossus, a Russian-born mutant who can turn into steel, will be played by Daniel Cudmore. Jubilee, an Asian-American teen capable of conjuring bursts of energy, will be played by Kea Wong. Kitty Pryde, a teenager from Illinois who can pass through objects and who later adopts the name Sprite or Shadowcat, will be played by Katie Stuart. Siryn, a young Irish woman who can emit sonic screams, will be played by Shauna Kain, the site reported. As previously reported, Aaron Stanford will appear as Pyro, and Alan Cumming will be Nightcrawler.
In addition, Shawn Ashmore will return as Bobby "Iceman" Drake, and there will be small cameos as part of a montage scene of the blue-furred Beast and the card-throwing Gambit. Fox has also confirmed to MTV.com that Toad (Ray Park) and Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) will not return in the sequel, which is slated for a May 2, 2003, release.
X2 Is 'All Good'
arvel Studios' Kevin Feige told the Comics Continuum Web site that production on the upcoming X-Men sequel film, X2, "is all good."
"The dailies are spectacular," Feige told the site. "This film is shaping up to be everything a great sequel should be. The characters are better, the scope is bigger and the mythos is explored in deeper and more unexpected ways."
X2 director Bryan Singer is scheduled to appear at Comic-Con International in San Diego on Aug. 3 as part of a Fox presentation on X2 and the upcoming Daredevil film.
Episode II DVD Release Set
tar Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones will come out in a special-edition DVD and VHS video on Nov. 12, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The DVD will be available at North American retailers for a suggested price of $29.98; the VHS version will carry a price of $24.98, the trade paper reported.
The two-disc Episode II DVD will be available in both full-screen and widescreen versions, with more than six hours of additional materials. Special features will include commentary from writer-director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, sound designer Ben Burtt, Industrial Light & Magic animation director Rob Coleman and ILM visual effects supervisors Pablo Helman, John Knoll and Ben Snow.
The DVD will also feature eight deleted scenes, complete with new visual effects; three featurettes; a 12-part Web documentary series; theatrical trailers and 12 TV spots; the Fox TV special R2-D2: Beneath the Dome; a visual-effects breakdown montage; a production photo gallery; and the Across the Stars music video, featuring John Williams, the trade paper reported.
Swain In Episode III?
everal Web sites are repeating a rumor that actress Dominique Swain may have a role in the upcoming prequel Star Wars: Episode III.
Swain supposedly told a London TV show that she's close to joining the cast of a "blockbuster new space film," working mostly with Jimmy Smits (who plays Bail Organa in Episode III) and in a "hot" climate. The report appeared on Dark Horizons, TheForce.net and E! Online.
Swain did not identify the film or the role she's playing, although speculation is that she might play a young Leia Organa in Episode III.
Episode II Thieves Fined
wo men accused of trying to sell a stolen copy of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones on eBay were fined $3,100 and ordered back to their native Canada, the Associated Press reported.
Amer Khawaj, 21, and Inderpreet Grewal, 20, both of Etobicoke, Ontario, pleaded no contest to receiving and concealing stolen property, the wire service reported.
Wayne County Circuit Judge William Leo Cahalan sentenced the pair to a year in jail, but said that they could be released upon payment of $750 restitution in U.S. funds and $4,000 in fines in Canadian funds, Assistant Prosecutor Rebecca Tenorio told the AP. Both men paid the fines and restitution and were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol, which escorted them to the Michigan-Ontario border, the wire service reported.
Coraline Heads To Screen
andemonium Films has acquired the film rights to Neil Gaiman's horror-fantasy novel Coraline, with The Nightmare Before Christmas helmer Henry Selick attached to adapt and direct, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Coraline, published this month by HarperCollins Children's Books, tells the story of a bored young girl who, in the course of exploring her family's new apartment, discovers a door leading to a sinister alternate world, the trade paper reported.
No cast has been announced, though a posting on Gaiman's official Web site last week claimed that Michelle Pfeiffer was set to star. The posting has since been changed to state that the film will star a "well-known and highly thought-of actress," the trade paper reported. Coraline is expected to start production early next year for a late 2003 release.
9/11 Informed Signs
el Gibson, star of M. Night Shyamalan's upcoming SF thriller movie Signs, told SCI FI Wire that the movie began production only a few days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001—and that the timing had an effect on the cast and crew.
The movie was shot on location in Bucks County, Pa. "Well, there was a stunned reaction from everyone," Gibson said in an interview while promoting the film. "No one could quite believe it. So I think everyone was a little bit in a state of shock."
Gibson added, "We only realized it in retrospect. But it's odd. ... I don't mean to be mercenary about this, but the character that I played, when I thought about him, he was a guy who was kind of in a state of shock, or [at] the beginnings of a breakdown, and had this exterior on the top of it. We had a, like, a candlelight moment of silence before we started shooting. And Cherry Jones had just come from New York. And she was really reeling. She had been right there. I don't believe she lived too far away from [the World Trade Center]. Well, no one in Manhattan did. But one really got a sense of it. ... From her arrival, she was completely in a state of shock. And it somehow translated to her performance. I mean, ... there's no escaping that pall that came over all of us. I think it was there. It was part of us."
Signs, in which Gibson plays a father and former priest dealing with the sudden appearance of crop circles, opened Aug. 2.
Gibson Up For Mad Max 4
el Gibson told SCI FI Wire that he's leaving the door open to appearing in a fourth Mad Max movie, mainly for the chance to work with director George Miller again.
"I mean, George is somebody I have always wanted to work with again," Gibson said in an interview while promoting his upcoming SF thriller film Signs.
Gibson added, "I wouldn't miss that opportunity. I'd even work with him if we were just doing a shaving ad."
Gibson has long been rumored to be interested in reprising his most famous role in a fourth movie. Gibson has played the post-apocalyptic warrior in the original 1979 movie and in 1981's The Road Warrior and 1985's Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. A fourth movie has reportedly been in various stages of development for years.
But Gibson denied that he will be involved in a proposed feature film based on the 1960s TV series The Prisoner and added that an update of Fahrenheit 451, based on Ray Bradbury's classic SF novel, is "on the back burner." "I think its prohibitively expensive," he said.
Montalban Recalls Khan
icardo Montalban, who played the villainous Khan in 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, told an appreciative audience in Los Angeles that it took him and director Nicholas Meyer a while to uncover his now-famous operatic performance.
Montalban and Meyer spoke at a screening at Paramount Pictures of a new director's edition of the film, which will come out on DVD on Aug. 6.
"The function of a director is to be a loving eye for the actor, to help him give the best performance he is capable of giving," Montalban said after receiving a standing ovation. "Well, I never had a more loving eye from a director than I did from ... Nicholas Meyer. He was extraordinary. ... I was ... at the end of the sixth season of Fantasy Island. ... During my hiatus, I was presented with this script. ... The shock of my life was that after six years of doing Mr. Roarke of Fantasy Island—a controlled man, you know, he was in charge of the island, and so forth— ... the first time that I began to say the words out loud, ... I sounded like Mr. Roarke. ... And I thought the public is going to laugh me off the screen. ... I was so nervous."
Montalban added, "I asked [producer] Harve Bennett to send me a tape of the original 'Space Seed' [episode of the original Trek] that I had done when it was a television series. And I ran it about maybe three or four times. And then I began to remember what I tried to do as an actor then. ... And I thought, ... 'All I have to do now is to imbue him with passion,' you see? The passion of vengeance. Not for himself. But for the life of his wife, whom he adored passionately, and he blames Kirk for her demise, for these terrible things that went into her ear, and she died before my very eyes. So 'Kirk! Kirk! Kirk!' That's what keeps me alive. And I brought this character alive with that thought. And to my satisfaction, the next time I started articulating the dialogue, I think Mr. Roarke had disappeared. And I think Khan took over.
"But what I needed was the loving eye of the director. And ... I knew that I could not play it safe. ... I wanted this man of passion to hit almost the limit before he becomes ludicrous and becomes a caricature. But I wanted to risk it. And that's when I needed Nicholas Meyer. He helped me. 'You can go a little more.' 'Ah, ah, ah, ah, that's enough.' 'No, no, no.' ... And if it weren't for Nicholas, I don't think I would have been able to have the recognition I have gotten from all of you."
For his part, Meyer told the audience that Montalban was like a "Maserati" that Paramount gave him to drive around. As for the changes to Trek II for the DVD, Meyer said they amounted to "tweaks" that didn't appreciably lengthen the movie. "I don't really think [director's cuts are] necessarily better than the original," he said. "I think longer doesn't necessarily make things better. You will be relieved, I hope, to learn that this is not a substantively longer movie than the one that you enjoyed. ... If it isn't broke, don't fix it. There were points, which I lost in friendly debate with Paramount. ... So I put back a couple of things. But otherwise, this is the original thing, with tweaking, and that's about it." Meyer added, "The question I'm most often asked, which I will now answer, not for the first time: Yes, it is his real chest."
Kids 2 Honors Old School
obert Rodriguez, director of the upcoming sequel film Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, told SCI FI Wire that the movie in part is his homage to the 1960s genre films of visual-effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen.
"I've always wanted to do one, and I used to think, I want to make my Sinbad movie someday," Rodriguez said in an interview while promoting Spy Kids 2. "Jason and the Argonauts. And then when I was doing Spy Kids, I realized, 'Wow, if we do a Spy Kids 2, I can make that Ray Harryhausen movie, and it won't be dependent on being on its own. And since it's part of a sequel, it would be easier to get it made. ... I definitely wanted to do that and go more old-school with the look, so it felt more like stop-motion [animation] and not look so Jurassic Park-ey."
In Spy Kids 2, the titular heroes (played by Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara) travel to a mysterious island, where they do battle with a variety of bizarre creatures, including warrior skeletons right out of 1963's Jason and the Argonauts. Rodriguez said he intentionally left the visual effects a little rough around the edges. "[It's] pure [computer] animation, [but without] all the blur frames," he said. "[I] just took out the blur frames so that ... especially ... the lead character, the ape guy, ... would be more personable. ... He just feels, you know, that he is a good guy, because he moves like in stop-motion. ... That's why it's called Lost Dreams. Because it's like my old memories of [lost] movies." Spy Kids 2 opens Aug. 7.
Spy Kid Vega Sings
lexa Vega, the 13-year-old co-star of the upcoming sequel film Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, told SCI FI Wire that it was director Robert Rodriguez's idea for her to perform in a Britney-like music video during the end credits of the film.
"Robert got the idea when we had a talent show at the wrap party," Vega said in an interview. "The guys were supposed to do a break-dancing routine, and they chickened out at the very end."
Added Vega, who turns 14 in August, "I didn't sing there, but I did like a four-minute performance, and that was a lot of choreography. And it was [co-star] Emily [Osment] and a couple of other people from the movie and me. We were dancing. It took us about a month to get four minutes of choreography. It was really hard, but we had so much fun. It kind of took off from there. Robert called me up on the telephone [later], and he goes, 'I've got an idea, but I need to hear your voice.' I said, 'OK. Hello?' He said, 'I'm not going to just give you this idea, I'm going to make you audition for it.' I'm like, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'Sing to me right now on the telephone.' I'm like, 'What?' He goes, 'Sing something.' 'What would you like me to sing?' 'Anything. Whatever you think that you can sing to.' So I ended up singing When You Believe by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, because my voice can get really loud. But I just sang the very last part, where it's really loud. He goes, 'I don't know. OK, I'll tell you now. You passed.' Robert's hilarious. It just took off from there."
Vega admitted that she got ill just before shooting the video, which has her and co-star Daryl Sabara performing an original Rodriguez song to a theater full of screaming fans. "Actually, when we shot the video, I was really sick," she said. "I was throwing up. I had the worst voice, and as soon as I got there, I was supposed to record it that day. And I'm like [sick voice], 'Hi, Robert.' He goes, 'Why are you sick?' I just got sick on the airplane, and finally my voice sounded a little better, but I wish I wasn't sick, because I could have sounded better than that. But it was still fun." Spy Kids 2 opens Aug. 7.
Spy Kids 3 In Works
obert Rodriguez, creator of the Spy Kids film franchise, told SCI FI Wire that's he's already writing the script for a third installment, which he hopes to begin shooting in November.
The second movie, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, opens Aug. 7.
"I'm still writing the script," writer/director Rodriguez said in an interview while promoting Spy Kids 2. "I mean, it just comes, because it's ... one of those big ideas that ...you don't even have to write it. It just comes to you: 'Ahh, that's what happens next!' I keep drawing it."
Rodriguez added that a third movie wasn't a hard sell, even though the second one hasn't come out yet. "I just ... called the studio back in March and said, 'Guess what we're making? Spy Kids 3!' [They said,] 'I didn't know there was going to be a 3.' [I said,] 'Neither did I, but I've got an idea, and I'm going to tell you right now.' I told them the idea, and they said, 'Oh my God, let's make Spy Kids 3.'" Rodriguez declined to offer any details about the third movie, except to say, "This is such a different movie. It's such a different movie. It's not Spy Kids go to Vegas. Even people who have no interest in Spy Kids would go see it."
McFarlane Gets Matrix Toys
arner Brothers Consumer Products has granted a license for the Matrix movies to McFarlane Toys for a line of action figures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Company founder Todd McFarlane, creator of the Spawn comic series, told the trade paper that he expects product to be out in summer 2003, tied to the release of the first of the two planned Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded.
The Matrix toys will be aimed mainly at the collector market, the trade paper reported. McFarlane said a total of only eight to 12 figures will be created tied to Reloaded. Another 15-20 items will be linked to the third film, The Matrix Revolutions.
Anderson To Write Alien
aul Anderson, the Resident Evil director who will helm the proposed Alien vs. Predator movie, told the JoBlo.com Web site that he's going to write the movie as well.
"I'm just finishing the script for Resident Evil: Nemesis, and as soon as that's done, I'm going to begin to work on A v. P."
Anderson added, "I've been waiting to do a movie with aliens in it since I was at school, since the first Alien movie came out, since I fell in love with Sigourney Weaver and since the alien scared the hell out of me. I've been obsessed with Aliens for a while. It's the coolest cinema franchise out there, and Predator is the baddest hunter in the universe. So the idea of combining the two of them is just phenomenal! It will be a stand-alone franchise. It will not be a continuation of the Alien franchise."
Sabrina Conjures Changes
everal new cast members will join The WB's Sabrina the Teenage Witch next season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Bumper Robinson, Diana-Maria Riva, John Ducey and Andrew W. Walker join the cast as regulars on the Hartbreak Films/Viacom Productions show, in which Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) will begin her first job at a music magazine after graduating from college, the trade paper reported. Elisa Donovan and Soleil Moon Frye will remain in the cast as Sabrina's housemates.
Behind the scenes, 12 of the show's 13 writers have been replaced. David Babcock joins the show as executive producer and show runner, and writers Mike Larsen, Trisha Baker, Bill Rosenthal and Adam and David Hamburger join the staff.
The series will also showcase music acts as guest stars, including Ashanti, Goo Goo Dolls, Course of Nature and Steve Harwell of Smash Mouth. Sabrina premeires Sept. 20 in its new 8:30 p.m. Friday timeslot.
Beauty Awakes In L.A.
isney will re-release its classic 1959 animated film Sleeping Beauty in a restored print of the original 70mm Technirama version, along with a series of shorts, for a two-week run beginning Aug. 22 at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, Variety reported.
The restoration extends to the print's Oscar-nominated soundtrack in the original six-track stereophonic mix, the trade paper reported.
The re-release will feature the Oscar-winning short Grand Canyon, the original trailer and several vintage shorts. On opening night, a "making-of" panel will discuss the film, its six-year creation and its place in animation history, the trade paper reported.
The panel will include animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston of Disney's original "Nine Old Men," who created the Good Fairy characters; Sleeping Beauty voice Mary Costa; current top Disney animator Andreas Deja; the film's restoration expert, Scott MacQueen; and music historian Alex Rannie, who researched the movie's musical history and Tchaikovsky-influenced score, the trade paper reported.
Aniston Joining Bruce
ennifer Aniston will star opposite Jim Carrey in Universal Pictures' upcoming fantasy comedy Bruce Almighty, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Morgan Freeman is in final talks to play God in the movie, which is being directed by Tom Shadyac through his studio-based Shady Acres, the trade paper reported. Production begins Aug. 6 in Los Angeles.
Carrey will play Bruce Nolan, a television reporter in Buffalo, N.Y., who ridicules and rages against God—and is subsequently endowed with divine powers and asked to see if he can do any better.
Universal Pictures is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Zeta-Jones In Like Flint
atherine Zeta-Jones will star in Flint, an SF-tinged spy thriller film, based on Paul Eddy's best-selling book of the same name, Variety reported.
Zeta-Jones and her brother and partner, Lyndon Jones, will join Red Wagon Entertainment partners Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher in producing the Sony Pictures movie, the trade paper reported.
Zeta-Jones will play Grace Flint, a British intelligence agent who has reconstructive surgery after being brutally beaten and disfigured while on assignment to infiltrate a money-laundering operation. She resurfaces as an undercover M15 agent to nail her attackers and thwart their scheme, the trade paper reported. Michael Cooney will adapt the book for the screen.
ABC Floats Musical Noah
BC will air an original musical adaptation of the Noah's Ark story, told from the animals' point of view, on its Wonderful World of Disney movie franchise, Variety reported.
The biblical TV movie will combine live action and computer animation, the trade paper reported.
Executive producer Scott Sanders told Variety that he is exploring options for musical contributions and said he expects a script to be done by the end of the year. The telefilm will likely air in the 2003-'04 TV season.
Adamson Helming Lion
hrek co-director Andrew Adamson will helm the live-action feature-film adaptation of C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for Walden Media, Variety reported.
Adamson joins award-winning writer Ann Peacock, who recently signed on to adapt the book, the trade paper reported.
Former visual-effects supervisor Adamson made his feature-directing debut with the computer-animated Shrek, alongside Vicky Jensen.
Osbourne Gets Freaky
elly Osbourne, the red-headed daughter of MTV's Osbournes, is in talks to play the musically inclined best friend to the teen heroine of Disney's remake of its 1976 fantasy film Freaky Friday, Variety reported.
Osbourne would also sing in the update and provide a song for the soundtrack, the trade paper reported.
Lindsay Lohan stars in the remake, playing the role first assayed by Jodie Foster, of a teen who switches bodies with her mother. Annette Bening will play mom. Heather Hach is adapting the original script by Mary Rodgers. Mark S. Waters will direct.
Junger Takes On If Only
il Junger (Black Knight) will direct the romantic fantasy film If Only, starring and produced by Jennifer Love Hewitt, through her Love Spell Entertainment company, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Production is slated to start in October in London.
If Only tells the story of a young couple given a second chance to change the events of a day during which one of them dies, the trade paper reported. Christina Welsh wrote the original draft; Allison Burnett is rewriting the script to accommodate the London setting.
Chesley Nominees Announced
rganizers have announced the nominees for the 17th annual ASFA Chesley Awards, named for astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell and recognizing excellence in fantastic and science fiction art in the year 2001.
The Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists also presents the awards to people and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to ASFA and the science fiction and fantasy art community as a whole.
The awards will be presented at this year's WorldCon, also known as ConJose, which takes place in San Jose, Calif., on Labor Day weekend. ASFA is an international organization of professional and amateur artists, art directors, publishing professionals, collectors and enthusiasts.
Best Cover Illustration: Hardback Book
•Bob Eggleton for The Dragon Society by Lawrence Watt-Evans
•Donato Giancola for Ashling by Isobelle Carmody
•Don Maitz for Kingdoms of Light by Alan Dean Foster
•Keith Parkinson for The Pillars of Creation by Terry Goodkind
•Michael Whelan for Otherland: Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams
Best Cover Illustration: Paperback Book
•Leo and Diane Dillon for Lirael by Garth Nix
•Bob Eggleton for Forge of the Elders by L. Neil Smith
•Donato Giancola for The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
•John Jude Palencar for The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling
•Stephen Youll for The Way of the Rose by Valery Leith
Best Cover Illustration: Magazine
•James C. Christensen for The Leading Edge No. 41, April '01
•Bob Eggleton for Analog, July/August '01
•James Gurney for F&SF, February '01
•Jael for Science Fiction Chronicle, July '01
•Todd Lockwood for Dragon No. 284, June '01
Best Interior Illustration
•David Cherry for The World of Shannara by Terry Brooks and Teresa Patterson
•Kinuko Y. Craft for The Adventures of Tom Thumb by Marianne Mayer
•Tom Kidd for The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
•Don Maitz for The Dreamthief's Daughter by Michael Moorcock
•Ruth Sanderson for The Golden Mare, the Firebird and the Magic Ring by Ruth Sanderson
Best Color Work: Unpublished
•Jael for Floue
•Omar Rayyan for Felis Nocturnus
•Anne Sudworth for The Snow Tree
•Michael Whelan for Lumen 6.2
•Lawrence Allen Williams for Titania
Best Monochrome Work: Unpublished
•Colleen Doran for The Six Swans
•Daniel Horne for Arcadia Study
•Tom Kidd for The Faeries of Spellcaster
•Nick Stathopoulos for Dragon Study No. 1
•Hicaru Tanaka for Knight in Gray
Best Three-Dimensional Art
•Wendy Froud for Narnia's Friend
•Johnna Klukas for Hall of the Mountain King
•Sandra Lira for XT-793
•Clayburn Moore for Fathom
•Lisa Snellings Clark for Flying Blind
Best Gaming-Related Illustration
•Donato Giancola for Shivan Dragon (card art for Magic: Seventh Edition)
•Todd Lockwood for Lord of the Iron Fortress (Dungeons & Dragons module cover)
•William O'Connor for Respite (card art for Legend of the Five Rings)
•r.k. post for Lightning Angel (card art for Magic: Apocalypse Expansion)
•Ruth Thompson for Hackmaster: The Player's Book
Best Product Illustration
•David Cherry for Poseidon (ad and poster art for Age of Mythology)
•Kinuko Y. Craft for Das Valkyrie (poster for The Dallas Opera)
•James C. Christensen for Faery Tales (fine art print for The Greenwich Workshop)
•Keith Parkinson for Shadows of Luclin (Everquest box art)
•Matthew Stawicki for Magic Invasion (Wizards of the Coast ad)
Best Art Director
•Jim Baen for Baen Books
•Paul Barnett for Paper Tiger Books
•Irene Gallo for Tor Books
•Don Puckey for Warner Aspect
•Ron Spears for Wizards of the Coast
Award for Contribution to ASFA
•Holly Bird for redesign and art direction of ASFA Quarterly
•Todd Lockwood, Jon Schindehette and Wizard of the Coast for layout and production of 2001 Chesley Ballot
•Morgana for hosting ASFA suite at Philadelphia SF Worldcon
•Lynn Perkins for chairmanship of 2001 Chesley Awards
•Geoffrey Surrette for ASFA Web page redesign and management
Award for Artistic Achievement
•Kinuko Y. Craft
•Donato Giancola
•John Howe
•Michael Kaluta
•Real Musgrave
Matt Davis Goes Below
att Davis, star of the upcoming haunted-submarine movie Below, told SCI FI Wire that the David Twohy-directed film will finally find a theatrical release after being delayed more than a year.
"It's coming out this fall or this coming winter," Davis said in an interview. "They're trying to find a place for it. It's a really unique movie, because there's a murder mystery, it's a period film, it's a war film, it's a psychological thriller and a ghost story. So all these elements are involved, and it's not really one over any of these things."
Davis stars as Capt. Douglas O'Dell in the film, which he described as "like Murder on the Orient Express meets The Others on a submarine." He added, "I think they honestly don't know how to market it. I'm not in the loop, so who's to say, but I saw it, and I really liked it. It's one of the better movies that I've been in."
Davis was not privy to the conflict surrounding the casting, including reports that Angel star David Boreanaz was to take a role. He only knew that "there was some conflict between casting another character."
For a method perspective on playing a submarine crew, Davis said the actors received specific training. "There was a week where they had submariner trainer, where they had some sort of submariner specialist come in and talk to the actors about what a submarine is and what the levers really do." Below will be released by Dimension Films.
Schrader To Helm Exorcist 4?
aul Schrader is in talks to direct the untitled prequel to The Exorcist, previously developing under the title The Exorcist 4:1, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Morgan Creek Productions is producing the film, from which director John Frankenheimer voluntarily stepped down about one month before his death, the trade paper reported.
Shooting on the prequel is expected to begin in the United Kingdom and Spain in November, with Gabriel Mann, Liam Neeson and Australian actor Billy Crawford starring, the trade paper reported. The prequel deals with the early story of Father Merrin (Neeson) and his first encounter with the devil while doing missionary work in post-World War II Africa.
Best-selling author Caleb Carr (The Alienist) wrote the latest draft of the script, based on an original screenplay by William Wisher.
Farscape Game To Ship
imon & Schuster Interactive is set to release its Farscape: The Game to retailers on Aug. 13, a source told SCI FI Wire.
Based on the SCI FI Channel's original series Farscape, the game features voices by the original series cast.
The PC game is a team-based action-adventure game featuring many of the characters from the show. The game is played from a third-person isometric perspective.
Snake To Escape Again
nake Plissken, the hero of MGM's Escape From New York and Paramount's Escape From L.A., is making a multimedia comeback beginning in the spring, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
An anime feature film is in the works for a 2004 release, and Hurricane Entertainment has partnered with director John Carpenter, producer Debra Hill and actor Kurt Russell to produce a comic-book series, John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles, which will debut in conjunction with MGM Home Entertainment's special-edition DVD of Carpenter's Escape From New York, the trade paper reported.
A preview issue of the magazine will be unveiled at Comic-Con International in San Diego this weekend. In the anime movie, Russell will voice Snake. Carpenter, Russell and Debra Hill will executive produce, in conjunction with a Japanese anime studio, the trade paper reported.
In addition, several video-game publishers are vying for rights to the character, with the first game expected to hit stores in 2004. Russell will be involved in the video game, including doing motion capture and voice work.
MoonBase Ready For Stores
nfogrames said that its turn-based strategy game MoonBase Commander is finished and will ship to stores on Aug. 13, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Humongous Entertainment developed the PC title.
Aimed at young fans of the real-time strategy genre, the game allows players to build a lunar colony and eliminate rival factions along the way.
Fahrenheit Still Has Heat
rank Darabont, who is writing and directing a movie update of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, told SCI FI Wire that he won't be distracted by writing the proposed fourth Indiana Jones movie.
Darabont said in an interview that he hopes to make Fahrenheit 451 within the year. "Aside from just delaying [451] just a little bit, [Indy IV] won't affect it at all," Darabont said. "I'm really keen on doing Fahrenheit 451. That's been my second favorite book of all time, since I was a kid. While Mr. Bradbury is still alive and vital, I'd love to get that thing into production."
Darabont said that his first favorite book is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. "But we don't want to talk about that," he said, referring to the film based on that book. "That was directed by somebody else."
Bradbury's book was first adapted into a film by François Truffaut in 1966. Darabont said that his version will make use of modern visual-effects technology for a more faithful adaptation. "Hopefully, [mine will be] a bit more sophisticated," he said. "There was a limit to what they could do back then, and I'd like to visually treat it as a more realistic and serious world than they were able to do back then. They got a little sci-fi-ey with it. [I want to] be as faithful to the book as possible. If you love the book, why change it?"
Known for dramatic films like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, Darabont promised the same approach for Fahrenheit, with just one twist. "Flamethrowers," he said. "This time I get to blow things [up]."
First King Isn't The One
ohn Zinman and Patrick Massett, writers of the upcoming fantasy film First King, told SCI FI Wire that their film culminates with star Jet Li fighting himself—a feat that Li also performed in his recent SF movie The One.
But Zinman and Massett said they won't change their film, which is produced by Joel Silver.
"I think there's a lot in the story that you wouldn't necessarily need that similar element to The One to keep the project alive," Zinman said in an interview. "That would be something we'd have to look at, but I don't think that The One did well enough for anyone to have a concern necessarily. But it's just up to Joel." So far, Silver has not asked Zinman and Massett to rewrite the ending.
In First King, Li plays an ancient warrior who finds himself back from the dead. "It's a reincarnation story about the first emperor of China, who is reincarnated in our times," Massett said. "He has to go through the tomb, the temple where his nemesis in ancient times was buried, and they have to fight. It's a complex story, but in a way it's very simple, too."
Zinman added, "He discovers himself by realizing that he was once somebody greater than who he is now."
Dead Pilot Begins Shooting
GM began production on Dead Like Me, a series pilot that will air on Showtime in 2003.
The fantasy comedy tells the story of George, a disaffected young woman (Ellen Muth), who is killed when a piece of the Mir space station hits her. She awakes to find herself assigned to a job in the afterlife, working for a "reaper" named Rube (Mandy Patinkin).
Bryan Fuller (Star Trek: Voyager) wrote the script and serves as executive producer of the pilot.
Disney Composer Dies
uddy Baker, a Grammy- and Oscar-nominated composer of musical scores for almost 200 Disney films, television shows and theme-park attractions, died at his Los Angeles-area home July 26, the Reuters news service reported.
He was 84. Baker died of natural causes, the wire service reported.
Baker, who joined the Disney studios in 1954, wrote music for TV shows including The Mickey Mouse Club, films including The Fox and the Hound and Disneyland attractions including It's a Small World and The Haunted Mansion. He was musical director for Epcot Center at Disney World, overseeing development of all music heard at the park, Reuters reported.
Davies Fans To Benefit Charity
he Geraint Wyn Davies Fan Club, devoted to the Forever Knight star, is sponsoring an online eBay auction to benefit the Children's Hospital Foundation in Washington.
The auction runs through Aug. 5.
Auction items, autographed by Davies, include Forever Knight mouse pads, a Tracker tote bag, a Black Harbour tote bag, a DVD of Hush Little Baby and VHS and DVD versions of American Psycho 2.
Diesel Teases Riddick Trilogy
in Diesel told SCI FI Wire that he is confirmed for a trilogy of sequels to Pitch Black, the sleeper 2000 SF hit in which Diesel played a convict.
The first of the three follow-up movies is titled The Chronicles of Riddick. "If you're familiar with the [J.R.R.] Tolkien novels, in the same way that Hobbit is prequel to The Lord of the Rings, Pitch Black is a prequel to The Chronicles of Riddick [trilogy]," Diesel said in an interview. None of the three Chronicles will be prequels to Pitch Black, as has been rumored, Diesel added.
The three films will deal with "the universe that Riddick is involved with," Diesel said. "It's got this extensive story that [director] David Twohy's putting together. He calls it the evil Star Wars." Diesel wouldn't reveal any more specific details, but did say why he chose to stick with the Riddick franchise, while turning down further Fast and the Furious movies.
"I always loved the Riddick character, and I thought that the Riddick character spoke to our generation," Diesel said. "It was one of the first times that I saw an audience root for the convict, and I thought that was interesting, the concept of the audience rooting for a guy who's been prejudged, ruled out and given up on and misrepresented. The idea of us judging this guy, Riddick, by his actions, as opposed to his past, is interesting to me."
Del Toro Working Hellboy
uillermo del Toro, director of the upcoming feature-film adaptation of the Hellboy comic series, told SCI FI Wire that he is deep into special-effects preparation.
"We're on the fifth week of designing the film," the director said in an interview. "I'm going to go into a meeting with the special-effects guys and work on the clay maquettes [three-dimensional concept sculptures]. That's the stage we're at. We're locking up the monsters."
Hellboy will star Ron Perlman as the giant-fisted comic-book superhero created by Mike Mignola. A longtime fan of the comics, del Toro said that he would use the comics as inspiration, but would not base the film's images directly on the comics. "We're using it as a bible, as a reference for the colors and the textures of the movie, but not as a storyboard," he said. Hellboy is in preproduction for Revolution Studios.
Solaris Launches Early
teven Soderbergh's SF movie Solaris will get an early launch date of Nov. 27, Variety reported.
The Fox space movie—a remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's classic 1972 Russian-language SF movie of the same name—wrapped principal photography three weeks ago and had been set for a Dec. 13 release date. Like Tarkovsky's film, Soderbergh's Solaris is based on Polish author Stanislaw Lem's SF novel.
The date shift places Solaris, starring George Clooney, two weeks ahead of Star Trek: Nemesis, which opens on Dec. 13, the trade paper reported.
TV Premieres Announced
remiere dates for new and returning genre shows have been announced, the Zap2it.com Web site reported.
The fall premieres begin in the second half of September. A list of new and returning genre series follows, with all times ET/PT.
Wednesday, Sept. 18
•8 p.m., Enterprise (UPN)
•9 p.m., The Twilight Zone (UPN)
Thursday, Sept. 19
•8:30 p.m., Do Over (The WB)
Friday, Sept. 20
•8 p.m., Firefly (FOX)
•8:30 p.m., Sabrina, The Teenage Witch (The WB, new timeslot)
•9 p.m., John Doe (FOX)
Tuesday, Sept. 24
•8 p.m., Buffy the Vampire Slayer (UPN)
•9 p.m., Smallville (The WB)
•9 p.m., Haunted (UPN)
Friday, Sept. 27
•8 p.m., UPN Movie Friday (UPN)
•9 p.m., That Was Then (ABC)
Saturday, Sept. 28
•8 p.m., Touched by an Angel (CBS)
Sunday, Sept. 29
•7 p.m., The Wonderful World of Disney (ABC)
•8 p.m., Charmed (The WB, new timeslot, two hours)
•9 p.m., Alias (ABC)
Sunday, Oct. 6
•9 p.m., Angel (The WB, new timeslot)
Wednesday, Oct. 9
•9 p.m., Birds of Prey (The WB)
Thursday, Oct. 10
•8 p.m., Dinotopia (ABC)
Sunday, Nov. 10
•7 p.m., Futurama (FOX)
Briefly Noted
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Monsters, Inc. director Peter Docter told Cinescape Online that producers are thinking about a sequel, "but it really won't make any sort of headway until we come up with the really killer idea. It's idea-driven."
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FX and CBS have purchased the rights to the Martin Lawrence time-travel comedy film Black Knight, which will air first on FX, Variety reported. CBS' sibling network UPN will also get to air Knight at a later date.
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ABC will air the second-season premiere of Alias on Sept. 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Variety reported. The network will promote the premiere in 60-second theatrical trailers that will play on several thousand screens nationwide via NCN and Screenvision, the trade paper reported.
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Oscar-nominee Eric Roberts guest-stars as Lupo, an international hate-clan leader, on an upcoming episode of TNT's Witchblade. The episode, "Parabolic," is set to air Aug. 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
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Rounder Records announced that it will release a CD of the official musical soundtrack to "Once More With Feeling," the critically acclaimed musical episode of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, on Sept. 17.
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TNT is still airing the second season of its supernatural series Witchblade, but fans have already started to petition for a third year. More than 1,500 fans have signed the online petition.
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The OneRing.net Web site has posted new images from the upcoming expanded DVD edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and the sequel film The Two Towers, which opens in December.
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Artist Ron Walotsky, who did more than 50 covers of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1967 through 2002, died July 29 in Florida of kidney failure, Locus Online reported. He was born in 1943.
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The official Dark Horse Hellboy Web site has posted an image of a teaser poster for the upcoming movie version of Mike Mignola's comic series. The publisher distributed 2004 copies of the poster (referring to the year of the film's anticipated release) at the Comic-Con International in San Diego on Aug. 1.
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The Comics Continuum Web site reported that Fox has set a June 6, 2003, release date for its upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen SF film, based on Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's graphic novel of the same name.
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John R. Douglas has taken over as news editor of Science Fiction Chronicle magazine, replacing Andrew I. Porter, who founded the magazine in 1978, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site reported.
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The Ain't It Cool News Web site reported a rumor that the long-awaited DVD of Raiders of the Lost Ark will hit stores by Christmas 2003.
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The Comics Continuum Web site reported that X-Men screenwriter David Hayter has completed his first draft of a movie based on Alan Moore's classic graphic novel Watchmen. "I am in the middle of Watchmen, though the first draft is done, and the producers and myself are very happy with it," Hayter told the site.
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Blade II director Guillermo del Toro told SCI FI Wire that he would like to be involved in David Goyer's proposed Blade TV series. "I would love to do an episode," del Toro said in an interview. "I think it's a great idea, and I would love to watch it, but I would love to make one or two also."
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Samuel L. Jackson told SCI FI Wire he would reprise his role as Mr. Glass if director M. Night Shyamalan ever makes a sequel to Unbreakable. "I'd love to do that character again," Jackson said, joking, "I'll do him with a haircut this time."
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that the upcoming sequel film Cube 2: Hypercube will be released on video in April 2003.
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Lindsay Lohan has signed to star opposite Annette Bening in Disney's remake of its fantasy film Freaky Friday, taking on the role that Jodie Foster played in the original 1976 film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lohan will play a tomboy teen who exchanges bodies with her widowed mother (Bening).
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Landscape Pictures has acquired the vampire comedy script Suck from writers Ari Margolis and James Morley, Variety reported. The film tells the story of a young vampire in Seattle who must deal with his new affliction while fighting off ghouls, rescuing a damsel in distress and paying the rent, the trade paper reported.
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