Niccol Gets Virtual In Simone
ndrew Niccol told SCI FI Wire that he will understand if people have a hard time classifying his latest film, Simone.
"First of all, I hope it's a comedy," said the writer-director, who previously wrote The Truman Show and wrote and directed Gattaca. "It's hard with my films, where they end up on the video shelf. The Truman Show: Was it in drama, SF or comedy? Marketing people always look at me and say, 'Well, what are we supposed to do with this?' There's definitely a fantasy element to Simone. I call it a modern fairy tale, a modern telling of Pygmalion or Frankenstein."
In Simone, Al Pacino plays a frustrated movie director who uses "the Holy Grail of software" to invent the title character, a radiantly beautiful artificial actress. Niccol said that he wanted the virtual character of Simone to be under the control of Pacino's director—at least at first. "For me, it was just more interesting that Simone is Pacino's puppet, but also his alter ego and his conscience," Niccol said. "He speaks through her. It's almost an act of ventriloquism."
Niccol researched computer animation technology to find out exactly how realistic he could make his scenario. Ultimately, he found that he had to combine computer elements with actress Rebecca Romijn-Stamos to create the likeness of Simone. "The best way to simulate a simulation is to start with a human being," Niccol said. "She's part pixels and part flesh and blood, but I won't tell you which parts are which."
Niccol added, "I think this kind of story is inescapable, because we can't tell what's real and what's fake anymore. I just thought that was an area worth exploring. It's entered all aspects of life, or at least life with the media. It's just so hard to trust your eyes anymore. You're seeing, but you're not really believing. I think people are lying to me. This is healthy paranoia. I guess I'm interested in the blur and not so much the right and wrong. I'm interested in the ambiguity." Simone opens Aug. 23.
Pacino Talks Synthespians
l Pacino doesn't know for sure yet if actors can or should be created digitally. The Oscar-winning actor addressed the issue during a press conference to promote his latest film, Simone, a fantasy-comedy in which he stars as a desperate director who finishes his latest movie by creating Simone, a synthetic actress who becomes an overnight sensation and cultural phenomenon.
"When we go to a movie there are all kinds of reasons we watch them," Pacino said. "But it seems with movies that there has been a strong focus on identifying with the lead character, and we have all kinds of reactions to them. We either fantasize about being that person or identify with that person."
Pacino added, "It is a valuable human interchange between the audience and the actor that you can feel. We seem to want to know a lot about the actors' personalities and lifestyles and what they think about things, which makes me think there's something about that. I can't see how a created virtual actor could replace a real one. I don't know; do you notice the difference? I sort of do. First of all, in making movies, you know that location pictures are always more exciting, not just because you get to go somewhere, but you get to feel what [a location] does to performances and what it does to the story and what it makes the audience feel to know that they are really there. I did a movie [Insomnia] recently, and we were by a glacier. I saw the glacier every day, and I saw an avalanche happen about 150 yards from me. To know that is there lends itself to the whole operation of making movies, and I think that has to carry over to the picture itself. But I don't know if I have developed the eye to be able to distinguish between a movie that is digitized and one [where everything or everyone] is really there. ... It is used a lot, and who knows where we're going with it?" Simone opens nationwide on Aug. 23.
Malone Surfs FearDotCom
illiam Malone, director of the upcoming SF horror film FearDotCom, told SCI FI Wire that he's comfortable with his status as a genre director of House on Haunted Hill and episodes of TV's The Others and Tales from the Crypt.
"I'm probably not the
guy to go to direct some fuzzy movie about kids and bears," Malone said in an interview. "That would not be me."
Malone added, "FearDotCom is scary and smart, and it's got an edge. Generally,
I like to have stuff that has a little bit of a bent to it. That's really what I'm about. I probably wouldn't be good at directing certain other kinds of films. I know my strengths and weaknesses and my interests, I think. At least I hope I do. I'm actually writing a script now that's sort of a film-noir detective piece, but it does have some supernatural elements. So it's definitely got a genre spin to it, but it's not quite as much of a horror
film as FearDotCom. I do like doing those kinds of films, so I'll probably stay with them."
FearDotCom, which stars Stephen Dorff, Natascha McElhone and Stephen Rea, centers on the grisly deaths of people 48 hours after they view a strange Web site. FearDotCom opens Aug. 30.
Sarandon Talks 'Children Of Dune'
usan Sarandon told SCI FI Wire that playing Wensicia in the SCI FI Channel's upcoming sequel miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune was like being in her favorite fairy tale.
"I always liked Snow White, and she's like the wicked witch in Snow White," Sarandon said in an interview.
Sarandon plays a ruthless princess eager to restore her deposed family to rule the universe. Describing her performance as "the best hair acting since Sean Penn in Dead Man Walking," Sarandon said, "She's got incredible costumes with big collars. [Her hair has] things that look like samples of DNA going all over and stuff coming out, weird makeup, and it was just a chance to do Halloween." Special effects required Sarandon to adapt to unfamiliar processes. "I've never had to work where I'm talking to something that's not there and following it," she said. "It was very difficult for me, but I added yet another kind of flexing to a muscle that I hadn't had before. When your character is mostly all attitude and exposition, how do you deal with that? How can you make that interesting, besides the hairdo?" Children of Dune—based on Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, the second and third novels in Herbert's award-winning, six-volume Dune saga—will air on the SCI FI Channel in 2003.
McKellen: More Action In X2
an McKellen, who reprises the role of Magneto in the upcoming X-Men sequel, X2, told fans on his official Web site to expect more action, but not a dip in quality.
"Everyone who reads the script for the new film comments on how much action there is in it," McKellen wrote. "This may not end up being the dominant feature of the finished movie; rather, that descriptions of action in screenplays tend to be long-winded and excitingly written-up a) to satisfy those like me who can't easily translate a script into images and b) to give the stunt department detailed warning of what will be required of them."
But McKellen wrote that X2 won't necessarily pale by comparison with the hugely successful first X-Men. "My favorite Shakespeare play is a sequel, [Henry IV, Part II], where he expands the scope of Part I to encompass and dramatize an entire nation. James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein is wittier and more popular with aficionados than Frankenstein, which preceded it. Peter Jackson tells me part two of Lord of the Rings [The Two Towers] is a better film than the first and will be surpassed by the third [Return of the King]. And although Two Towers and Return of the King aren't sequels at all, they point to the truth that the creator might get better with a second go and perhaps, as in the case of X-Men 2, a bigger budget. Hugo Weaving tells me the two new Matrixes are up to scratch. Bryan Singer is back with the old team in front of and behind the camera [on X2]. All will be more than well. After this one, why not a series of movies centring, as the comic books do, on separate mutants? There is no reason why X-Men should ever decline into being just a franchise and branding for toys." X2 is currently in production for release May 2, 2003.
Davison Back In X2
ruce Davison, who reprises the role of Sen. Kelly in the upcoming X-Men sequel movie, X2, told SCI FI Wire that his character won't exactly be himself this time around.
"Let's just say Sen. Kelly's feeling a little blue these days," Davison said in an interview, alluding to Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), who impersonated the deceased Kelly at the end of the first film.
Davison just returned from shooting his scene in Vancouver, B.C. Describing the frequency with which his character appears in the story, he said, "I'm sort of in and out a few times." As new actors have joined the sequel's ensemble cast, Davison found himself one of the returning veterans of the first movie. But, he said, "I haven't worked with any new X-Men." X2 opens May 2, 2003.
Daredevil Represents Coolio
apper-turned-actor Coolio told SCI FI Wire that he plays one of blind lawyer Matt Murdock's clients—a man on trial for a murder he did not commit—in the upcoming Daredevil movie.
"Matt Murdock has to save my ass, so to speak," Coolio said in an interview. Coolia appears with both star Ben Affleck and co-star Jon Favreau in courtroom and jail scenes.
A longtime comic-book fan, Coolio was pleased to see that the filmmakers got the tone of the original Marvel Comics series right. "They got the cane down," Coolio said, referring to Murdock/Daredevil's trademark baton. "Mostly, it was the cane and the outfit. Once you got that down, all you had to do was throw in the dialogue, and the rest was easy. I've been reading comic books since I was a kid. I actually used to have a really great collection. I sold it like an idiot about 15 years ago, but I'm a hell of a fan of Daredevil."
Coolio also approved of Affleck's portrayal of Murdock. "He did great, actually," the actor said. "He had this guy that's been blind from birth actually be on set all the time on days where he had to be blind. He just studied that guy, and he just acted like a blind guy, started moving around and doing things that a blind guy would actually do." Coolio's only disappointment was that the filmmakers did not give him one of the superhuman villain roles. "I could've been a great Bullseye. They picked this English [sic] guy to be Bullseye. He's probably all right, but I think I could've done a better job." Colin Farrell, who is in fact Irish, won the role of Bullseye. Daredevil opens February 2003.
Wheaton Cut From Nemesis
il Wheaton confirmed on his official Web site that his scene has been cut out of the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis movie.
Wheaton had shot a scene in which he reprised his Star Trek: The Next Generation role of Wesley Crusher.
Wheaton said that Trek executive producer Rick Berman personally delivered the bad news to him, saying that the scene was cut as part of 48 minutes of editorial trims to shorten the Nemesis rough cut's nearly three-hour running time.
Wheaton was philosophical about the cut scene. "The great thing is, I got to spend two wonderful days being on Star Trek again, working with the people I love, wearing the uniform that I missed, and I got to re-connect with you, the cast and the fans," Wheaton said he told Berman. "Nobody can take that away from me." Nemesis opens Dec. 13.
Minear Talks Angel Flap
im Minear, a writer and producer of The WB's Angel, revealed details of the abrupt departure of show runner David Simkins (Freakylinks) after only a couple of months, Zap2it reported.
Last week, Simkins departed Angel over reported "creative differences," leaving series co-creator Joss Whedon and Minear to oversee both Angel and Fox's upcoming SF series Firefly, the site reported.
"It was an incredibly difficult situation to walk into," Minear told Zap2it. "We weren't expecting to fill that position. Just a few months before that, I wasn't expecting to leave, and if [co-creator] David Greenwalt had left under any normal circumstances, I would have been there to shoulder it completely."
But Fox picked up Firefly and Greenwalt left the show to run ABC's Miracles. "We didn't have a wicked lot of time to get to know new people, either before we selected David [Simkins] or after he was on board," Minear said. "He was thrown into the deep end of the pool without any lifeguards, and so, because we didn't have the time to really get in there and break him in, just everybody decided that it wasn't going to work." Writer/producer Jeffrey Bell is picking up some of the slack, "admiraling the day-to-day concerns, but Joss and I are basically running it with everybody," Minear said. "We also have Kelly Manners, who's our on-set producer, who's there for the nuts-and-bolts stuff as well. It's a machine that's running and in place, but at the end of the day, the season arcs and the stories are going to have to be broken by Joss and me and the staff, just like they have been since the beginning of the year, so it's not all that different, in that sense. But I didn't envy David Simkins being put into the middle of that situation, because it's difficult." Angel returns in its new 9 p.m. Sunday timeslot on Oct. 6.
Caulfield Bites Into Fairy
mma Caulfield, who stars in the upcoming horror movie The Tooth Fairy, told SCI FI Wire that her character is not the archetypal damsel-in-distress depicted in slasher films of the past.
"I think initially they really wanted it like a hard-core slasher pic," she said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "I think the original girl is sort of ditzy and wearing tight clothes. And [I said], 'Well, I really want to work with you, ... but I'm not going to be doing that.'"
Caulfield added that she was gratified to see the script develop from that point into something wholly different. "That was just the initial idea," she said. "And then they got [screenwriter Joe Liebesman] on board, and it just sort of evolved from there. And by the time I signed on and we went to Australia to shoot it, it was very clear that it was going to be a dark, sort of methodical,
slow-paced [film]."
Audiences likely know Caulfield best for her role as Anya, former vengeance demon and spurned bride, on the UPN series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Caulfield shot the television show and the film concurrently, making frequent trips back and forth between Santa Monica, Calif., where
Buffy is filmed, and the set of Tooth Fairy in Melbourne, Australia. "Yeah, it was pretty hard," she said. "But truthfully I had such a
great time, and I was very much aware of something very surprising that we were creating down there. So I've kind of been blessed in that way."
Although the two projects are distinctly different in tone and subject matter, Caulfield sees one important commonality between the television series and the film. "I'm on a show that surprises people, and then I'm doing a movie called The Tooth Fairy. And so, like Buffy, ... you watch it, and you're like, 'Oh wow, it's not like that at all.' It's sort of the same thing, really. ... It's not a tooth fairy movie. It's a lot more complicated, and there's a lot of layers to the film."
Philip Haas Rewinds Lathe
hilip Haas, director of the upcoming A&E made-for-cable film based on Ursula K. Le Guin's classic SF novel The Lathe of Heaven, told SCI FI Wire that he hoped to achieve a look and feel that was simultaneously retro and futuristic.
Lathe tells the story of George Orr (Lukas Haas, no relation to Philip), a man whose dreams can change reality. "Some of the buildings are old, but timeless," Philip Haas said in an interview. "There's a woman's voice singing a wordless melody over these images of jellyfish that you see often in the movie, that represent Orr's state of mind, and that voice was actually computer-generated, sampled and reworked for the film."
Philip Haas added, "The jellyfish are computer-generated images. If you watch closely you'll see that as Orr's dreams change the world, the world has different color schemes. The movie starts off pretty monochrome, and then yellow is introduced, and then yellow and green, and finally fire. So you get this constant evolution. I think that evolution of color helps that quality of being taken in by the story, of not quite knowing what's happening, but knowing that something is changing. Of course, the jellyfish stay pink the entire time."
Haas said he has not seen the classic 1980 public television version of Lathe, which starred Bruce Davison, nor has he read Le Guin's book. Alan Sharp (Damnation Alley) adapted the book for the screen. But, Haas said, "we've tried to match the creativity of the story on the visual level. When we were making the film, we had charts of how the colors would be introduced and in what sections. So although there are special effects in there—like the jellyfish and what you see out Dr. Haber's [James Caan] window—Lathe of Heaven is introspective. It's more about inner space than outer space." Lathe of Heaven will air on Sept. 8 on A&E.
ILM Gets More Work
ndustrial Light & Magic has been hired to create computer-generated visual effects for Universal's upcoming supernatural horror film Van Helsing and Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, Variety reported.
ILM is already working on effects for The Hulk, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dreamcatcher, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Peter Pan and Timeline, among others, the trade paper reported.
Stephen Sommers (The Mummy) is directing Van Helsing, which centers on the vampire hunter made famous in Bram Stoker's Dracula novel. Pirates of the Caribbean is based on the popular Disney theme park ride.
Winston Mutates Into Toys
tan Winston—the Oscar-winning visual-effects guru behind dinosaurs and Terminators—told SCI FI Wire that he is overseeing a new entertainment enterprise that reverses the natural order of things: first, action figures; then cards; then comics; then, possibly, a screenplay and eventual movie.
Winston's company unveiled its third line of collectible action figures, Mutant Earth, which will also star in a new comic series that debuted in the spring. The six new figures come on the heels of earlier Creature Features and Realm of the Claw collectibles.
For the new franchise, "there's two comic-book lines—Mutant Earth, which introduces a superhero that we've created, ... a character by the name of Trakk, who is an immortal and ... a monster hunter," Winston said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "It's a great character, and it's a great comic book. ... After this first four-[issue] series, ... the comic book will be back, entitled Trakk. So we've got Superman, we've got Batman, we've got Spider-Man, and now we've got Trakk."
The Mutant Earth action figures depict human and alien survivors of a post-apocalyptic future Earth. Winston said that he and his colleagues at Stan Winston Studio are also mulling story ideas for a possible movie. "The reason I have been successful in what I've done in motion pictures and creating characters for film has been because I've been doing it because of the love and passion of it and the art of it," Winston said. "That same love, that same passion that I have for movies, I have for comic books, I have for toys. I'm not embarrassed about that. So if these comic books work, if the toys work, it's going to be because I love it, not because of ... how much money can you make. ... I can't remember having a better time than I am now creating these comic books and creating these action figures." Mutant Earth collectibles and comics hit stores in May.
These Terminators Are Real
tan Winston—the visual-effects guru who is creating cyborgs for the upcoming sequel film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines—told SCI FI Wire that he's designing a precursor robot and an advanced one.
"Terminator 3, we're shooting," Winston said in an interview last week at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "I just got off the set at midnight last night. [We were] shooting a scene with the T1's, which are robots that are precursors to the Arnold [Schwarzenegger T-800] robot. We've also created a female called the TX, the Terminatrix, who is about as bad as you can get. You don't want to come up against her."
Winston declined to detail the abilities of the newest terminator, except to say, "I can tell you that you just don't want to come up against her. She will kick your butt. And we had a great time designing her and creating her. And the fact of the matter is there is nothing like the wrath of a female, even if it's a robot. So this is the one. She is bad. She is real bad."
As for technology, Winston said there's a vast difference between the upcoming sequel and the previous two Terminator films. "Terminator 1, with the use of puppetry and stop-motion animation, we pretended that we had created a robot," Winston said. "Over the years we have been advancing our robotic and animatronic technology. [In] Jurassic Park we were creating robotic dinosaurs. So our robotic technology and engineering at Stan Winston Studio is beyond any robotic technology literally in the world. We have advanced beyond aerospace. I have guys that come from aerospace, working for me. Absolutely. We have more points of articulation than any existing robots in our robots. And we have a robot that is a precursor to Arnold, which is called the T1, which is the real deal. We pretended we built robots in the first Terminator. [In] Terminator 3, we built robots." T3 is slated for release in 2003.
T3 Team Options Boys
erminator 3 director Jonathan Mostow and producer Hal Lieberman have optioned the film rights to Orson Scott Card's supernatural thriller novel Lost Boys, Variety reported.
Mostow/Lieberman has tapped Brian Carr to adapt the book for the screen and plans to produce the film through its deal with Universal, the trade paper reported.
Lost Boys tells the story of a family relocating to a town plagued by a series of children's disappearances who discover the supernatural character of their new house, the trade paper reported.
Mostow is currently directing Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which is headed to theaters in 2003.
USA Reviving Bionic Woman
SA Cable Entertainment is developing a remake of Universal TV's 1976 series The Bionic Woman for USA Network, with producers Team Todd attached to executive produce, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
There is a possibility that the new Bionic Woman series could also get a second window on another network, the trade paper reported.
USA is garnering big ratings for its new drama series The Dead Zone and Monk and hopes to repeat that success next summer, the trade paper reported.
The original series, which ran on ABC for a season and on NBC for two seasons, was a spinoff from the hit series The Six Million Dollar Man. Lindsay Wagner played Jamie Sommers, Steve Austin's one-time fiancee, who gets bionically reconstructed after a nearly fatal skydiving accident, the trade paper reported.
USA Cable, USA Network and Universal TV are all owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Olyphant Dreams Of Snow
imothy Olyphant, who co-stars in Lawrence Kasdan's upcoming Stephen King adaptation Dreamcatcher, told SCI FI Wire that he plays a guy with a drinking problem in the SF thriller film.
"I play Pete Moore," Olyphant said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "The movie centers around these four guys who have been friends since childhood, and it's like the 20th anniversary of them going on this hunting trip every year to the woods in Maine. And aliens, a supernatural force, crash-lands. Who would've guessed it would be one of those kinds of weekends?"
Olyphant added, "I'm one of the guys. I'm a used-car dealer. I think he always thought he'd be an astronaut, and he's selling cars now. He's a little down. Got a bit of a drinking problem, but he's a good guy. He looks forward to this weekend, like I think they all do. It's the best time of the year for them."
While in the woods, the four friends (Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis and Olyphant) must deal with a hostile force—not to mention the military men who show up unexpectedly. Much of the action takes place in a wintry forest, and the production occurred in Canada in the winter. "It was a long shoot, in that we started some time in early January up in Prince George, and then we moved to Vancouver in March, I think, and we wrapped up around early June," Olyphant said. "Of course, it was an ensemble role, and I think except for one or two of us, not me, most of us were doing a lot of back and forth. There's a lot of parts of the movie that each of us had nothing to do with. Morgan Freeman and Tom Sizemore are a division of the military that my character doesn't even really encounter. So it just called for going up for two weeks, coming back for a week, going back up for three, coming back for two—that kind of thing over a five-month period." Dreamcatcher is slated for release in February 2003.
Alcon Buys Hindsight
lcon Entertainment has bought Alexander Torres' pitch for Hindsight, a romantic SF thriller movie, Variety reported.
The plot reportedly centers around time travel and cryogenics.
Torres will write the script. Alcon partners Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson will produce the film, with Robert Cho serving as executive producer, the trade paper reported.
Henriksen Voices Faction II
ame publisher THQ announced that genre star Lance Henriksen will voice a character in the upcoming first-person SF action video game Red Faction II, for the PlayStation2 platform.
Henriksen (Millennium) will voice Molov, an Army of the Commonwealth Commander, decorated war hero and leader of the player's elite squadron of nanotech-enhanced soldiers, the company said.
Developed by THQ's studio, Volition, Red Faction II is the sequel to the best-selling game Red Faction. The sequel builds upon the experience and technology of the original game with more action, better graphics, new multiplayer options and a new storyline. Red Faction II is scheduled for release this holiday season.
New Hansel Coming Soon
ansel & Gretel, a live-action film based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, will be released in half a dozen cities on Oct. 18, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film is the first release of Tag Entertainment and Innovation Film Group, the trade paper reported.
Hansel stars Lynn Redgrave, Delta Burke, Howie Mandel, Gerald McRaney, Dakota Fanning, Alana Austin, Jacob Smith and Taylor Momsen.
SCI FI Goes In Search Of
he SCI FI Channel announced that it will air eight new, original episodes of the investigative series In Search of ..., hosted by Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files).
The one-hour episodes will air weekly at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fridays, starting Oct. 11. USA Cable Entertainment produced the new episodes.
Originally broadcast in 1976 with host Leonard Nimoy, In Search of ... aired for six seasons. Like the old series, the new episodes will explore mysteries, myths, legends and bizarre phenomena through re-enactments and eyewitness accounts.
Alias Cards Coming
nkworks announced that it will release season-one premium trading cards for the ABC spy series Alias on Dec. 4.
The cards will feature characters from the series, which stars Jennifer Garner, as well as cards with scenes from the show's first season.
In randomly selected packages, collectors may run across cards with autographs from the show's stars or "Pieceworks" costume cards embedded with an actual piece of one of the costumes from the show. Alias returns for a second season in its regular 9 p.m. Sunday timeslot on Sept. 29.
Meridian Film In Works
roduction company Cornerstone Animation has acquired rights to the fantasy comic book Meridian, a coming-of-age adventure about the youthful leader of a mythical island who is struggling against her evil uncle for control of her powers, Variety reported.
Cornerstone chief creative officer Larry Whitaker (The Iron Giant) will co-write and is planning to direct the movie as an animated film, the trade paper reported.
Glendale-based Cornerstone is shopping the project to studios. Meridian is a long-running series from Cross Generation Comics, a best-seller for the fourth-largest comic-book publisher.
Judge Travels To 3001
ike Judge, best known for his animated TV series King of the Hill, will write and direct 3001, an SF comedy film, Variety reported.
Judge, who also co-stars in the current Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, co-wrote 3001 with Etan Cohen, the trade paper reported.
3001 tells the story of a regular guy who wakes up 1,000 years in the future and finds the world so dumbed-down that he's the smartest man on the planet, Variety reported.
Butler In Raider Sequel
erard Butler (Reign of Fire) will next star opposite Angelina Jolie in the sequel film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Variety reported.
Butler will play Terry Sheridan, a former Croft paramour pressed into service on her latest mission, despite lingering recriminations from their tumultuous affair, the trade paper reported. The Tomb Raider sequel is expected to begin shooting in early September.
In addition to Reign of Fire, Butler has a role in the upcoming time-travel movie Timeline, based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same name.
Beckinsale Vamps In Underworld
ate Beckinsale, who plays a vampire warrior in the upcoming supernatural horror film Underworld, told MTV.com that her character falls in love with a wolfman played by Scott Speedman.
Underworld is set to shoot next month in Budapest, the site reported. "It sounds terrible," Beckinsale told the site. "This is not the kind of movie that I'm remotely interested in normally, but the script is amazing, and the director is amazing."
Len Wiseman, the music video director responsible for Megadeth's "Crush 'Em" and Quarashi's "Stick 'Em Up," is directing, the site reported. It's his first feature film, a long-developed labor of love that Beckinsale describes as "fun and exciting and cool. It's a very cool Romeo and Juliet set against the backdrop of vampires and werewolves. I didn't want to read it when I was told about it. I really don't go for vampire movies. But it's more kind of like Interview With the Vampire meets The Matrix. Lots of leather pants in it."
Beckinsale's character is "part of a group of vampires who are called the Death Dealers, who are basically extremely well-trained in killing werewolves," the British actress said. "And that's pretty much what they do. They don't really have any interaction with humans at all. There's been this centuries-old feud between the Lycans [werewolves] and the vampires. And she's got sort of a personal vendetta, because they butchered her whole family. So she's a tough cookie."
Magic Poll Online
izards of the Coast announced that the eighth edition of its popular trading-card game Magic: The Gathering will be released on July 28, 2003, following the 2003 GenCon game fair.
The company is developing the new base set of Magic, with an online player poll helping to shape the look and feel of the eighth edition, the company said.
While most of the cards remain unknown at this time, the company said that a number of cards had earned enough votes from players to earn a definite place in the new edition: Birds of Paradise + Vine Trellis, Obliterate, Nekrataal, Two-Headed Dragon, Rewind, Ensnaring Bridge, Noble Purpose and Worship. The eighth-edition player polls continue through Sept. 6.
Floods Halt Prague Filming
roduction on two high-profile genre movies in Prague came to a halt as the worst floods in a century inundated the capital of the Czech Republic, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
More than 50,000 people have evacuated the city, and production stopped on SF films A Sound of Thunder and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
An assistant to Thunder producer Rick Nathanson played down the effect of the flood, the trade paper reported. "It's nothing drastic; we had to change the schedule and evacuate the set," she said.
Larry Garrison, unit publicist on Gentlemen, said that two out of more than 50 Prague and Czech sets for the film had been damaged by the floods. A set for scenes involving a submarine on the River Vltava docks at Liben in Prague was submerged in more than 5 feet of water, Garrison told the trade paper. And a large set for scenes set in London, Paris and Venice, Italy—under construction at an old airplane factory outside Prague—also has been damaged by floodwaters, the trade paper reported.
Hemecker Sharpens Witchblade
his season's final episodes of TNT's series Witchblade will take heroine Sara Pezzini (Yancy Butler) to places the series has never been before, executive producer Ralph
Hemecker told SCI FI Wire.
"I definitely think we're back in a very Witchbladian zone," he said. "The last several episodes are really fantastic, and I think the fans will like them." The second-season finale will air on Aug. 26.
In the next episode, Kim De Lury, who plays Irish balladeer Conchobar, returns, Hemecker said. "The same character, different situation," he said. "He and Sara will encounter each other again, and there will definitely be an intense attraction and sort of déjà vu from what they experienced last year. And then Kenneth Irons [Anthony Cistaro] is going to be involved in the season finale. There's a woman from an alternate line of blade wielders, an evil line of blade wielders, who attempts to get the Witchblade from Sara and perhaps might even succeed. Although we're not going to rewind time again, I would say that it's an equally bizarre ending."
Last season, Sara's lover, Conchobar, was murdered, a fate most of the cast suffered by the end of the season. To save those she cared about, Sara rewound time to start over again, leaving her with no memory of the other timeline. "I think it works on two levels. The story tracks for people who have never seen it, but for the kind of die-hard fans there's all sorts of little homages to last year."
While Hemecker hasn't heard yet whether or not TNT plans another season of Witchblade, he's ready to continue the adventures of Sara Pezzini and the Witchblade as soon as he gets the word. "Oh, yes! Yes," he said. "Our hands will definitely be full picking up where the season finale leaves off."
SG-1 Fans Party For Charity
ans of the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1 will raise money for charity at "Sekh's Party," an annual gathering that precedes the Gatecon convention, taking place Sept. 12-15 in Richmond, B.C., near Vancouver, where the show is filmed.
The party will raise funds for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Fans of the show became involved in the charity through series actor J.R. Bourne (Martouf), whose niece was born with the disease. Bourne will appear at the party, along with fellow Stargate actor Colin Cunningham (Maj. Davis). The party will feature a celebrity charity auction.
Last year, fans raised $6,565 in Canadian dollars at the party and an additional $12,000 Canadian through Bourne's official Web site. As this year's party coincides with the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, 25 percent of the party's proceeds will go to the Twin Towers Orphans Fund, organizers said.
SG-1 Fans Welcome Nemec
orin Nemec, who plays new team member Jonas Quinn on the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that fans have embraced his character for the most part.
Nemec filled a vacancy left by Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson), who left the series at the end of season five. Nemec joins established cast members Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge.
Fan reaction to Nemec "so far, I guess, it's been pretty good," Nemec said in an interview while signing autographs at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "There was a small backlash from people who were really, really ardent fans of Michael Shanks, who is a really great guy, too. And I loved his character as well, so I can understand them missing him. But it was his choice to leave the show, and I can understand him wanting to move on and do new things, and I'm really glad to be a part of the show now. I mean, it closed one door, but it opened another door, and I'm glad to be able to walk through it."
Nemec plays Quinn, a human from another world, who was present at the accident that gave Jackson a dose of radiation poisoning. In the current sixth season of SG-1, Quinn has become a member of SG-1, with a metahuman capacity for absorbing knowledge. "Ultimately the main point in the character is to have him be able to bring something to the show that is new and also to be a member of the team and to bring something to the team that is also new," Nemec said. "Not just to have some of the same qualities that Daniel Jackson's character had, which is necessary in order to propel the show forward. He's got to have some of the same intellectual qualities, but what else the character brings we'll see as the show develops. But hopefully it's a passion for action and a passion to make things go right." Stargate SG-1 airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT as part of SCI FI Fridays, following The Dead Zone and preceding Farscape.
Passions Star Not Deleted
BC reversed its decision to delete scenes from its supernatural soap opera Passions that feature Josh Ryan Evans, the diminutive actor who died last week, the Associated Press reported.
A new episode featuring Evans aired Aug. 9, and another will air this week, the wire service reported.
Evans, who played living doll Timmy, died during a medical procedure on Aug. 5 at the age of 20. Coincidentally, Timmy died on Passions in an episode that aired the same day, the AP reported. But Timmy's story line was supposed to continue, with Evans playing Timmy's spirit in future episodes. Evans had shot a number of episodes as the spirit, which NBC initially said would be deleted.
Knights Due In 2003
ike Gallo, a producer at game publisher LucasArts Entertainment, told fans on a company bulletin board that the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game won't be released until spring 2003 for the Xbox and summer 2003 for the PC.
"Things are moving along at a tremendous pace," Gallo posted. "A lot of work has been completed, but there is still a ton of work left to finish. The team at BioWare has been putting in a huge effort to bring this game out, and ever since [the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles], we've been reviewing the schedules and task lists in an effort to solidify our release date."
Gallo added, "This has been a pretty lengthy process, but we're confident in our new release schedule of spring '03 for the Xbox and summer '03 for the PC. This is a huge game with an epic story, and we want to be able to bring that entire experience to all of the fans that have been waiting so patiently for it. In the end, taking the extra time to deliver on that promise is what's most important, and both LucasArts and BioWare are committed to that promise."
In Knights of the Old Republic, which is set in the Star Wars universe, gamers will follow a single-player adventure through the galaxy as it existed some 4,000 years before the events of the Star Wars movies, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Spidey Series In Production
ainframe Entertainment announced that production is underway in Vancouver for MTV's upcoming Spider-Man animated television series.
Mainframe will provide the show's computer animation for Columbia TriStar Domestic Television Family Entertainment, which is producing the show.
Mainframe said that the new animation will combine state-of-the-art CG imaging, processed in a classic feature-animation style, with bright, lively abstract colors, including a seemingly realistic neon-lit city of the immediate future.
Neil Patrick Harris (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), Lisa Loeb (Mary Jane Watson) and Ian Ziering (Harry Osborn) have been cast as the voice talent for the new show, Mainframe confirmed.
Hodder Slices Into Darkwolf
ane Hodder, best known for playing hockey-masked Jason Voorhees in recent Friday the 13th movies, will play a werewolf in the upcoming Darkwolf, a straight-to-video horror film from director, producer and co-writer Richard Friedman, Fangoria reported.
Friedman wrote the movie with Geoff Holliday and Chuck Sholl.
Fox Home Video is financing and will release the movie, which Friedman describes as being "like The Terminator, but with a werewolf," Fangoria reported. Hodder co-stars with Tippi Hedren, Steven Williams, Jamie Bergman and Alexis Cruz. Hodder plays a biker who suffers from lycanthropy.
Aurora Winners Announced
inners of the 2002 Aurora Awards, given for works of Canadian SF, were announced at Con-Version, which took place in Calgary Aug. 9-11.
A complete list of winners follows.
Best Long-Form Work in English
•In the Company of Others by Julie E. Czerneda
Best Long-Form Work in French
•Les Transfigurés du Centaure by Jean-Louis Trudel
Best Short-Form Work in English
•"Left Foot on a Blind Man" by Julie E. Czerneda
Best Short-Form Work in French
•«Souvenirs de lumière» by Daniel Sernine
Best Work in English (Other)
•"Underwater Nightmare," episode of Rescue Heroes Cycle II, by Isaac Szpindel
Best Work in French (Other)
•Solaris, Joël Champetier, ed.
Artistic Achievement
•James Beveridge
Fan Achievement (Fanzine)
•Voyageur, Karen Bennett and Sharon Lowachee, eds.
Fan Achievement (Organizational)
•Peter Johnson, USS Hudson Bay
Fan Achievement (Other)
•Alex von Thorn, fan writing
Perlman Goes To Hellboy
on Perlman told an audience that he sees Hellboy, the comic-book character he will portray in director Guillermo del Toro's film adaptation, as kind of the ultimate slacker.
"He's the world's biggest and most epic underachiever," Perlman told fans at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "He has this incredible physical presence and ability. He has a huge heart, which can be molded either for the use of good or evil. And he also has this mischievous, devilish kind of circuitry that underlines all of this. Those are always in conflict with one another. The fun is going to be in finding the balance. Everything that he does is epic."
In Mike Mignola's comic series, Hellboy was a demon summoned to earth by Nazis in World War II, but ended up being taken in by Allied forces. Perlman looks forward to portraying Hellboy's conflicting desires to be evil and to do good. "He has a pronounced sense of both poles," Perlman said. "He's a little bit bipolar, and the way it manifests itself is in terms of his personality. The way he's come to find a comfort zone on Earth is that he's just an underachiever, basically."
Perlman described one of the film's sets, which does not appear in any of the comic books. "My favorite thing that has been invented for the purpose of the film is Hellboy's bachelor pad," he said. "It's just kind of like what my room would look like if I wasn't married and had kids. It's a lot of empty pizza boxes, magazines, old dirty socks and stuff. That's Hellboy. He's kind of fun to be around, because he's very devilish and very cognizant of his power, but reticent to use it or misuse it." Hellboy is in preproduction for Revolution Studios.
Son Of Mask In Works
arry Guterman (Cats & Dogs) has been tapped to direct New Line Cinema's follow-up to its 1994 Jim Carrey supernatural comedy film The Mask, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Guterman is in talks to develop and direct the film, titled Son of the Mask, the trade paper reported.
New Line is not billing the movie as a sequel, but rather as a second installment of the franchise. Neither Carrey nor co-star Cameron Diaz are expected to reprise their original roles.
The new film will reportedly center on Tim Avery, an aspiring cartoonist who finds himself raising a baby endowed with the powers of the mask of Loki. Lance Khazei (Romantic Comedy) wrote the screenplay. Son does not yet have a start date, and no producers are attached.
Briefly Noted
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Timothy Dalton, the erstwhile James Bond, has signed on to portray Brendan Fraser's father in the upcoming fantasy comedy movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Variety reported. Jenna Elfman and Heather Locklear also star in the film, which combines live action and animation.
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As expected, Brian Cox has formally signed on to play the villainous William Stryker in the upcoming X-Men sequel film, X2, for director Bryan Singer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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A trailer has gone up for Jackie Chan's upcoming fantasy action comedy movie The Tuxedo, which opens Oct. 11.
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Fangoria reported that the much-delayed supernatural horror film Island of Death—formerly entitled Piñata: Survival Island—will be released regionally, starting Aug. 30. Nicholas Brendon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jamie Pressly star.
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The Moviehole Web site reported that Christian Bale (Reign of Fire) is still a contender for the role of Batman in the proposed Batman vs. Superman movie, though the Hollywood trade papers report that the movie has been delayed while director William Petersen takes on another project.
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Wesley Snipes told SCI FI Wire that he wants to work behind the scenes of David Goyer's proposed Blade TV series, currently in development at New Line. Snipes said in an interview that he would not act in the TV version, but would "definitely produce."
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The official Hellboy Web site has posted footage from the recent panel discussion of the upcoming movie adaptation of Mike Mignola's comic series, which took place this month at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
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French actress Ludivine Sagnier will play Tinkerbell in the upcoming live-action Peter Pan movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. P.J. Hogan directs the film, which is a three-way co-production among Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios and which is set to start production Sept. 30.
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A new trailer has gone live for The Core, Hilary Swank's upcoming SF movie from Paramount, which opens Nov. 1.
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Superhero Hype! has posted an image from a new logo for the upcoming Daredevil movie, which comes out on Feb. 14, 2003.
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Spy Kids 3, the upcoming third film in the popular Dimension Films franchise, is slated for release on July 23, 2003, the Coming Soon Web site reported.
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Dark Horizons confirmed that Kane Hodder, the actor who has played Jason Voorhees in the most recent Friday the 13th movies, has not been cast in the upcoming Freddy vs. Jason film. New Line told the site that the studio has no information on who will play the hockey-masked serial killer yet.
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The Comics2Film Web site reported that a new, full-length trailer for February's upcoming Daredevil movie will debut on the Web and in theaters sometime in September.
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Director Wolfgang Petersen, who is developing the Batman vs. Superman movie for Warner Brothers, plans to continue with that project, but will first film Troy, an adventure based on Homer's Iliad, with production set to begin next spring with an eye toward a 2004 release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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