Hugo Winners Named
he Hugo Awards for best science fiction works in 2001 were presented Sept. 1 at the 60th World Science Fiction Convention, or ConJose, in San Jose, Calif.
Named for magazine editor Hugo Gernsback, the annual awards are determined by nominations from and a popular vote of the membership of the convention.
The John W. Campbell Award, sponsored by Dell Magazines, is not a Hugo Award, but appears on the same ballot as the Hugo Awards and is administered in the same way as the Hugo Awards. A full list of winners follows.
Best Novel
•American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Best Novella
•"Fast Times at Fairmont High" by Vernor Vinge
Best Novelette
•"Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang
Best Short Story
•"The Dog Said Bow-Wow" by Michael Swanwick
Best Related Book
•The Art of Chesley Bonestell by Ron Miller and Frederick C. Durant III, with Melvin H. Schuetz
Best Dramatic Presentation
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best Professional Editor
•Ellen Datlow, SCI FICTION
Best Pro Artist
•Michael Whelan
Best Semiprozine
•Locus, Charles N. Brown, ed.
Best Fanzine
•Ansible, Dave Langford, ed.
Best Fan Writer
•Dave Langford
Best Fan Artist
•Teddy Harvia
Best Web Site
•Locus Online, Mark R. Kelly, ed.
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of 2000 or 2001
•Jo Walton
Dushku Back On Buffy, Angel
t's official: Eliza Dushku has signed to reprise the role of evil slayer Faith in five episodes of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and three episodes of The WB's Angel next season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The actress' busy film schedule has kept her away from the Buffy franchise, but she has committed to appear in the final five episodes of Buffy in its upcoming seventh season, the trade paper reported.
Earlier this summer, Buffy creator Joss Whedon had told SCI FI Wire that he was talking with Dushku about coming back to the two shows. Dushku first appeared on Buffy from 1998-2000 and guest-starred on Angel in its first few seasons.
Buffy returns to Tuesdays at 8 p.m. PT/ET on Sept. 24; Angel begins its fourth season in a new Sunday 9 p.m. timeslot Oct. 6.
Whedon Explains Angel Loss
ngel co-creator Joss Whedon told SCI FI Wire that the deck was stacked against David Simkins, who departed The WB series after only three months as show runner and head writer.
"We just tried to put him in a job that was nearly impossible to do," Whedon said in an interview. "It's hard to come in and be in a leadership position on a show where everyone's been doing it for a few years, and you're really new to it. The chances of succeeding are like one in 10, at best."
Whedon had enlisted the Freakylinks and Dark Angel veteran to step in for co-creator David Greenwalt, the longtime Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel producer, who amicably left to run the upcoming ABC series Miracles. (Greenwalt remains a consultant on Angel.) "It just wasn't a match," Whedon said of Simkins. "So the show runner [on Angel] now is me. [Executive producer] Tim Minear is still working just as hard on it. And we've got [co-producer] Jeffrey Bell handling a lot of the day-to-day stuff that Greenwalt was handling. And all of my writers are coming up and working harder and getting more opportunities. That's really the way we should have done it. It's a dangerous move to bring in an outside person. But, brave we were [in Yoda voice]." Angel begins its fourth season Oct. 6 in its new Sunday 9 p.m. timeslot.
Harris Doubtful For Potter III?
ichard Harris may have to be replaced as Prof. Albus Dumbledore in the third installment of the Harry Potter films as fears for his health grow, the IMDB News site reported.
Harris was reportedly admitted to a London hospital last week, suffering from pneumonia.
Harris, 71, completed filming of the second Harry Potter film, The Chamber of Secrets, although a double was needed for some scenes when he was feeling ill, IMDB reported. Warner Brothers will decide next month if he is fit enough to reprise the role in the next movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban, which is slated to begin shooting in January, the site reported.
Harry Robinson, 72, reportedly the spitting image of Harris and an actor who has doubled Harris in the previous two films, is a likely replacement, IMDB reported.
Signs Still Tops
igns again topped the box-office rankings, taking in an estimated $16.5 million during the four-day Labor Day weekend, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
The take raised the SF thriller film's 32-day total to $195 million, making it the highest-grossing movie of star Mel Gibson's career, the trades reported. Signs, from director M. Night Shyamalan, was also the only movie this summer to take the number-one slot for three weekends.
Feardotcom, meanwhile, opened in fifth place, with about $7.1 million for its first four days, tying Austin Powers in Goldmember, the trade papers reported.
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams took fourth place, with $7.3 million for the weekend and a total so far of about $69.1 million.
Frakes OK With Trek's End
tar Trek: The Next Generation star Jonathan Frakes (Riker) told the British Star Trek Monthly magazine that he would be satisfied if the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis was the last TNG movie.
"I can't think of anything I still want to do as Riker," Frakes told the magazine, according to a report on the TrekWeb site. "I get a leg over with Marina [Sirtis, who plays Troi] in Nemesis, and something big happens at the end of the film. So if it's really all over, I've had a full meal, and if it's not, I'll be happy to show up and do what they ask me."
But Frakes added that he doesn't believe his trek is over yet. "I really don't think this is going to be the last one," Frakes said. "I'm pretty sure that it's going to make a lot of money, and if it does, someone will ask us all to take a pay cut and we'll go off and make another one." Nemesis opens Dec. 13.
Trek Stars Get Political
tar Trek stars Kate Mulgrew and William Shatner and other cast members ventured into political space at a fund-raiser for Tim Hagan, Mulgrew's husband and a Democrat running for governor of Ohio, the Associated Press reported.
Hagan is challenging Republican incumbent Gov. Bob Taft.
Mulgrew (Voyager's Capt. Janeway) and Shatner (the original Trek's Capt. James T. Kirk) were joined by Voyager cast members Tim Russ (Tuvok) and Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) at an Aug. 24 event in Cleveland. About 500 people attended the fund-raiser, which netted about $150,000 for Hagan, the AP reported.
Strong In Oz Jedi Are
he Australian Bureau of Statistics said that more than 70,000 people in Australia identified their religion as Jedi in last year's census, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Chris Brennan, president of the Star Wars Appreciation Society, speculated that only 5,000 of the Jedi respondents were "hard-core" believers, the Times reported. Another 50,000 put it down for fun, and the others "did it just to give the government a bit of curry."
The prank began in 2001, when Star Wars fans sent an e-mail around the world saying that if 10,000 people declared they were Jedi, the faith would be recognized as an official religion. In the end, the Australia government labeled the responses "not defined," the newspaper reported. In the United Kingdom, which also received thousands of Jedi responses, Jedi Knight has been included on the list of religions by census authorities.
Episode II Makes $300M
tar Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones surpassed $300 million in domestic box-office receipts on Aug. 27, its 104th day in release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That makes George Lucas' Episode II the 13th highest-grossing film in domestic history, just behind Independence Day, which garnered $306.2 million in 1996.
Episode II is the second film released this year to top the $300 million mark. Spider-Man is the other, with $403.7 million in domestic box office, the trade paper reported.
By comparison, Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace grossed $431.1 million domestically in 1999.
Bowie May Guest On Alias
lias co-star Kevin Weisman, who plays gadget geek Marshall, told SCI FI Wire to expect more spy toys, more Marshall action—and possibly a ziggy guest star in the upcoming second season.
In an interview at the ABC Primetime Preview Weekend at Disney's California Adventure theme park, Weisman revealed that rock star David Bowie may make an appearance on the ABC spy show next year, joining a list of stellar guests from last season that included Quentin Tarantino.
"With me, there's a lot more weapons and gadgets," Weisman added. "And [creator] J.J. [Abrams] has promised me that I will be venturing out on a mission this year, so watch out for some Marshall ass-kicking, or for Marshall getting his ass kicked, which is probably more of a likely scenario. However, I'm looking forward to that."
Weisman said that the Alias cast is currently in production on the second season's fourth episode. "There's some good stuff," he said. "In this last episode, we've created a luge that Sydney [Jennifer Garner] has to ride through a kind of ... ice field. It's a luge that goes over 150 mph, and that's pretty cool. And some retinal scanners we just used. There's a lot of good stuff coming up." Alias kicks off its second season Sept. 29 in its regular 9 p.m. Sunday timeslot.
Alias Back With A Bang
ast members of ABC's returning SF spy series Alias told SCI FI Wire to expect an explosive confrontation between heroine Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) and her newly rediscovered mother, played by veteran actress Lena Olin.
"Not only does [Olin] eerily look like Jennifer—like they actually could be mother and daughter—but she's a wonderful actress," said Kevin Weisman (Marshall) in an interview at the ABC Primetime Preview Weekend at Disney's California Adventure theme park. "There is a confrontation between Jennifer and Lena in the ... season premiere that is ... pretty shocking, I will say. It's pretty shocking, pretty incredible."
Neither Weisman nor the other members of the hit series' cast would reveal details of the upcoming second season, which kicks off Sept. 29. But Victor Garber, who plays Sydney's father, Jack Bristow, said that the appearance of Olin's character will profoundly change the show's dynamic. "It's thrown Jack for a loop, and he's not used to being out of control," Garber said in an interview. "And I think he's much more fragile and vulnerable this season than we've seen him be, and so it's very complicated what's going on for him." In particular, Olin's appearance affects Jack's budding relationship with his estranged daughter. "It's causing a great deal of tension, and there's a sort of sense [of], I guess the word is competition, of trying to ... keep her, protect [her] and continue building up the trust that he has established," Garber said. "I have had my first scene with Lena Olin, and it was amazing. It's our first confrontation after 20 years. It's very short and incredibly powerful. That would be ... either the second or the third episode of the season, I can't remember."
Ron Rifkin, who plays Sydney's villainous boss and surrogate father, Arvin Sloane, said to expect a revelation about his ailing wife, played last season by Amy Irving. "I don't think they've decided quite what to do with that, except the first episode will reveal something to you, but even that might not be finite," Rifkin said in an interview. Sloane will also be shaken by Olin's presence. "Obviously I have a strong connection to Sydney's mother," he said. "[Sydney's] dad and I are old friends. I may or may not have raised [Sydney] when her father was away. ... And I have a very loving feeling towards her, which is clear. It creeps some people out, I don't know why. So I don't know, there's any number of places we could go. But right now, the writers are so fantastically fecund in their creativity, ... anything can happen. ... I think that the character of the mother is a very complicated one, and her relationship with her daughter and her ex-husband is enormously complicated. And it's so exciting. It's so rich. And Lena Olin is so brilliant. She's really brilliant." Alias will air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Feardotcom Goes For Throat
illiam Malone, director of the upcoming supernatural film Feardotcom, told SCI FI Wire that he set out to make a horror film that didn't have its tongue in its cheek.
"I'd been yearning for a long time to make, for lack of a better word, I don't want to use the word serious but, you know, a straight-ahead picture that was a thriller with horror elements and stuff in it," Malone said in an interview.
Feardotcom stars Stephen Dorff and Natascha McElhone as investigators who stumble upon a Web site that kills viewers within 48 hours. "Having done House on Haunted Hill, which had a lot of comedy, which was fun to do, ... I really was yearning to do something that would just go for the throat. So I think by the time I got my chance I was like, 'Watch this!' But ... I don't want to give the wrong impression. It's not gory. It's really not a gory film. In fact, like I said, we sailed through on the [R] rating without a problem. We didn't have to make any cuts for a rating. And yet the film is very intense. And I think it's just because ... you think you see more than the stuff you see."
Malone also said he was unconcerned about comparisons with the similarly themed The Ring, about a videotape that kills viewers within a week of seeing it, which opens in October. "I really couldn't tell you anything about that," Malone said. "We started shooting our picture like a long time ago. I've been on this picture for two years. We started shooting in February of 2001. So we've actually been into this for quite a long time. ... Actually, I saw the trailer today on the Internet. I looked it up, and the trailer looks very different. So I think it's a very different movie. I'm not concerned about it." Feardotcom opened Aug. 30.
Bullock Eyed For Thunderhead
ryphon Films co-founder Brett Morrison told SCI FI Wire that he hopes to attract Sandra Bullock and Estella Warren for key roles in his company's production of Thunderhead, a supernatural thriller film based on the novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs.
"I think [the lead character, Nora Kelly,] is a perfect part for Sandra Bullock, out there in the desert leading a group of archaeologists," Morrison said in an interview. "There's [also] a role for a young up-and-comer archaeologist, whose father sends her to be his eyes and ears, ... but she's actually quite talented and smart in her own right. I think Estella Warren [Planet of the Apes] would be great for that."
Morrison said the company hopes to produce the film—which tells the story of the search for a legendary lost Anasazi city of gold—on a $20 million budget. For one of the film's key set pieces, a "thunderhead" flood in which the team gets caught, filmmakers will have to employ computer animation. "As much as we can do on computers, we will," Morrison said. "You hear people talk about how expensive CGI is, but if you talked about having to set up floods, it would be a lot more. The way The Perfect Storm did some of the water scenes was amazing, so we'd like to be the next generation of those kind of effects." Gryphon Films expects to start production on Thunderhead in late 2003.
Pitt To Quit Fountain?
rad Pitt is ready to quit Darren Aronofsky's much-anticipated upcoming SF epic film The Fountain, leaving its fate in doubt, the Hollywood trade papers reported.
Warner Brothers executives are reportedly seeking other top stars to replace Pitt, but it's unclear if the project would go ahead if Pitt leaves, the trade papers reported.
Shooting on the top-secret The Fountain was expected to start this fall. But the film has proceeded in fits and starts for some time, falling apart once already, Variety reported. The studio temporarily pulled the plug late last summer when the budget kept creeping upward, the script still had development issues and co-star Cate Blanchett was pregnant, the trade paper reported. New Regency recently came aboard to co-finance the film in its first deal outside of 20th Century Fox, the trade paper reported.
Pitt apparently expressed concerns about the complexity of the Fountain script, which is co-written by Aronofsky and Ari Handel. The film tells the psychological journey of a man in the present, 500 years in the past and in the future, Variety reported.
Skarsgard Joins Exorcist 4
wedish actor Stellan Skarsgard will step in for Liam Neeson in Exorcist: The Beginning, the fourth installment in the head-spinning franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Neeson—who was set to play a younger version of Max von Sydow's character from the original Exorcist in the prequel film—left because of scheduling conflicts, the trade paper reported.
Paul Schrader is directing the prequel, also called The Exorcist 4:1, which begins shooting in November in Morocco, before moving to England. Neeson came aboard in the fall, when the late John Frankenheimer was still attached to direct. Gabriel Mann and Billy Crawford also star in the film, which tells the story of Father Merrin (Skarsgard) and his first encounter with the devil while doing missionary work in post-World War II Africa. Best-selling author Caleb Carr (The Alienist) rewrote the script, based on an original screenplay by William Wisher. The project is scheduled for domestic release July 18, 2003, through Warner Brothers, the trade paper reported.
League F/X Farmed Out
everal top visual-effects shops have signed on to 20th Century Fox's upcoming SF film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film, based on Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's graphic novel of the same name, is currently in production in Prague and elsewhere, though production has been delayed by devastating floods in the Czech capital. The movie concerns a Victorian-era team of superheroes drawn from literature.
Tippett Studio has been awarded character animation shots in a pivotal fight sequence between the characters of Dante Alighieri and Mr. Edward Hyde. Double Negative in London is handling the Nautilus submarine sequences and simulated water shots. Hunter/Gratzner is creating major set pieces for action sequences that occur in Venice, Italy. CPS (Cinema Production Services Inc.) is crafting interior miniatures and indoor sets. Hollywood-based Cinesite is engaged in negotiations for 400-plus shots, the trade paper reported.
Janek Sirrs is League's overall visual effects supervisor. Stephen Norrington is directing the script by James Robinson. The film is eyeing a June 2003 release.
Preston Joins Cat
elly Preston has joined the cast of Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, based on the children's book, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Principal photography begins in the fall at Universal Studios, with Bo Welch directing for producer Brian Grazer and his Imagine Entertainment, the trade paper reported.
Mike Myers stars as the mischievous feline in a striped stovepipe hat, who magically enters the lives of a boy named Conrad (Spencer Breslin) and his younger sister, Sally (Dakota Fanning). Preston will play the children's mother, the trade paper reported.
Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer wrote the script. Universal will distribute the film domestically, with DreamWorks taking on international territories. Universal Studios is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Kutcher Flies With Butterfly
shton Kutcher, star of the upcoming SF film The Butterfly Effect, told SCI FI Wire that the movie compares with two other popular genre films.
"The Butterfly Effect is a kind of psychedelic thriller, kind of a mix between Back to the Future and Jacob's Ladder," Kutcher said in an interview. "It's a really twisted, different change of pace for me."
Kutcher (Dude, Where's My Car?) plays a man who travels back into his childhood body and changes history, leading to four different futures. The film deals with the time-travel premise from the perspective of Kutcher's character, much as Jacob's Ladder focused on its hero's journey. "[Butterfly focuses] more on the mental anguish of a human," he said.
Kutcher added that he had to pay particular attention to continuity, given the film's alternate realities. "I also executive produced the movie, so [continuity] was very important," he said. "All that stuff constantly came into play." New Line Cinema will release The Butterfly Effect in 2003.
Is Luthor Evil In Smallville?
ichael Rosenbaum, who plays wily Lex Luthor on The WB's hit series Smallville, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming second season will expand on some of the secrets established in the Superman prequel show's first year.
"Lex Luthor's taking baby steps to becoming evil," Rosenbaum said in an interview. "It's going to take some time, but Clark [Tom Welling] and Lex's relationship built up, and there's something that goes on with the spaceship. That's all I'm going to tell you."
Throughout season one, Lex has suspected Clark of hiding something. The pre-villain has inspected the car from which Clark rescued him and has even begged a dying man to tell him Clark's secret. But on the surface, Lex has remained Clark's friend. Will Lex take his suspicions to the source? "We didn't really discuss anything that happened," Rosenbaum said. "Now it's season two, and some more secrets are revealed."
Rosenbaum also continues his work on the animated Cartoon Network series Justice League, but says the two DC Comics properties never overlap. "It's two totally different things," he said. "It's nice. I like Justice League, because of the anonymity. It's sitting down with a whole bunch of great actors. You don't have to dress up. You just come in with a five o'clock shadow, feeling like crap, and you sit in front a microphone. You read, you laugh, you just drink some water and do these characters. It's fun." Smallville returns to its Tuesday 9 p.m. timeslot on Sept. 24.
Blade III Moves Ahead
avid Goyer, writer of the upcoming Blade III sequel film, told the Comics2Film Web site that Marvel Comics likes the initial story concept.
"I'm working on a treatment as well," Goyer told the site. "If things work out as planned, we may see a couple of other somewhat obscure Marvel characters making an appearance in the film."
Goyer added that German director Oliver Hirschbiegel was being considered to helm the third installment of the vampire franchise. "I met with Oliver, liked his work, and we discussed the film a bit," Goyer said. "But it's no more than that at the moment."
Jacko To Play Poe?
s Michael Jackson angling to play horror master Edgar Allan Poe in a film about the writer's life?
That's what Jackson friend Gary Pudney told Access Hollywood, according to a report on the Zap2it.com Web site.
Jackson is reportedly preparing for the lead role in The Nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe, a proposed film about the 19th-century American author's final days, the site reported. Jackson is being coached by Marlon Brando for the role, Access Hollywood reported.
Poe's Mesmerist On Film
eventh Art Releasing will handle a limited theatrical release of The Mesmerist, a film based on Edgar Allan Poe's classic supernatural short story "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," Variety reported.
Ron Marasco and Michael Goorjian adapted Poe's tale of horror, and Gil Cates Jr. directed. Neil Patrick Harris and Jessica Capshaw star.
The Mesmerist opens in Los Angeles on Sept. 20.
Soylent Writer Dies
tanley R. Greenberg, the Nebula Award-winning writer of Charlton Heston's 1973 SF movie Soylent Green, died Aug. 25 at his home in Kensington, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reported.
He was 74. Greenberg died of a brain tumor, the newspaper reported. Greenberg was also a longtime television writer best known for his early 1970s docudramas Pueblo and The Missiles of October.
Soylent Green, which featured Edward G. Robinson in his last film appearance, earned a Nebula Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for Greenberg and Harry Harrison, who wrote the book on which it was based.
Greenberg is survived by his wife of 48 years, Tamara Robbin Greenberg; three daughters, Robin, Rachel and Ruthie; and six grandchildren, the newspaper reported.
Space Patrol Writer Dies
orman Jolley, writer of Space Patrol and other shows during television's 1950s golden age, died of cardiac arrest Aug. 13 at the Mayo Clinic facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., the Los Angeles Times reported.
He was 86.
Jolley died following surgery for pancreatic cancer, Jean-Noel Bassior, who is writing a book about the Space Patrol saga, told the newspaper. In recent years, Jolley had lived in Indio, Calif.
The native of Adel, Iowa, began his career as an actor, earning small roles in 1940s westerns. Jolley was the first bad guy on Space Patrol, posing as the evil Agent X. When the producer decided he needed a writer more than a villain, Agent X was zapped into suspended animation. The program was shown on Saturday mornings or in prime time from 1950 to 1955, with Jolley as its primary writer, the Times reported.
Jolley is survived by his wife, Lois; one son; two daughters; and two grandchildren. No services are planned.
Avatar Gets Genre Titles
omic publisher Avatar Press has acquired rights to three MGM franchises: Robocop, SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1 and Species, Cinescape Online reported.
Avatar spokesman William Christensen told the site that comics based on the franchises will be available in stores next year.
Christensen added that Avatar will preview artwork and more details about the comic adaptations soon. Avatar recently added TidalWave Studios' titles to it roster, the site reported.
SCI FI Wraps Best Summer
he SCI FI Channel wrapped its best-ever summer, ending with a record 1.0 prime-time rating (741,000 households) for the month of August, the cable network announced.
SCI FI ranked ninth on a household basis among all basic-cable channels for the month. Overall prime-time ratings for the summer (0.9 rating/698,000 households) were up 13 percent over last year, the network added.
Additional summer highlights:
•In key prime-time demographic ratings, SCI FI ranked fifth among all basic-cable networks in adults 25-54 (0.7) and seventh in persons 18-49 (0.6).
•In July and August, SCI FI ranked in the top 10 of all basic-cable networks in household ratings and in ratings and delivery of persons 18-49 and persons 25-54.
•Leading the charge was SCI FI Friday, a two-hour block of original series that included the original series Stargate SG-1 and Farscape. The block set a summer record for the channel, averaging a 1.4 rating (1.1 million households). That represented a 27 percent ratings increase over last summer's ratings average for the time period and a 46 percent increase in household delivery over last year.
Spidey 2 Scribes Are Super
lfred Gough and Miles Millar—the Smallville creators now writing the script for the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2—told Wizard Magazine that director Sam Raimi wants to see changes in hero Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire).
"We can't really talk too much about the story—because the X-Men will be sent out to kill us—but you will see Peter grow and evolve," Gough told the magazine. "That's really the story Sam wants to tell. You'll see him grow as a person, a superhero and in all his relationships."
The writers were called in to work on the sequel, which was originally drafted by Spider-Man writer David Koepp. "We got a call from Columbia Pictures, and we went and had a meeting," Gough said. "They actually took us over to the set of the first Spider-Man, and we met Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and [producer] Laura Ziskin. And they basically said they'd like us to consider writing the sequel, because they really like Smallville and Shanghai Noon. And you call us up and invite us to the set like that, nine times out of 10 our answer will be 'yes.' We were told once, 'You guys had done the Marvel Comics version of Superman.' So to have Marvel Comics come to us and ask us to get involved in this, that was a real thrill."
Millar added, "We've read a lot of comics now, and we've also read the Ultimate Spider-Man books. We have definitely done our homework."
Sam & Max Sequel Due
ucasArts announced that it is developing a sequel to its classic Sam & Max adventure game, the GameSpot Web site reported.
The now-defunct developer Infinite Machine originally leaked that such a sequel was on its way for the Xbox gaming system. LucasArts now says that the game is being developed for the PC.
The announcement contains no other details about the proposed sequel, except to say that it should be ready in the first quarter of 2004, the site reported. The original game dealt with a rabbit and a dog, who are private investigators.
Ledger Battles Sin Eater
eath Ledger told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming supernatural film The Sin Eater reunites him with his Knight's Tale writer-director Brian Helgeland and co-stars Shannyn Sossamon and Mark Addy in a story rooted in history.
"Historically, the last recorded sin eater was in 1788, I believe," Ledger said in an interview. "A sin eater is usually a priest who has been excommunicated from the church for whatever reason, and they would go around and seek out people on their deathbeds."
Ledger added, "These people have also been excommunicated and refused entrance to heaven. So the sin eaters would perform ceremonies on these people on their deathbeds and eat their sins for a certain price, for a small fortune, and gain them entrance to heaven. I play a priest who's in search of a sin eater I feel has killed my mentor. It's a dark movie. I've seen a first, very rough cut. It's a supernatural thriller more than anything. It's not a horror movie. It's a supernatural thriller-tragedy. It's got a pretty tragic storyline."
Ledger, who recently completed the drama Ned Kelly and will next be seen in the period piece The Four Feathers, explained that there's more to do on The Sin Eater before it can be released. "It needs a bit of work right now, for whatever reason," he said. "I've got to go back and shoot a couple of scenes, just to get the audience to understand exactly what's going on. It's a quite dense read. Benno Furmann [Anatomy] plays the sin eater. It was really just a good chance to go and work with my friends again. Brian, who wrote and directed it, is a really good friend of mine. Shannyn and Mark are really good friends of mine. It was a ton of fun to make. It's not the conventional style of filmmaking. It should be pretty cool. It'll be interesting to see
what people make of it."
SG-1 Breaks Rating Record
he Aug. 23 summer finale of the SCI FI Channel original series Stargate SG-1 attained a 2.0 rating (1.6 million households), becoming the network's first original hour-long show to reach that benchmark, the network announced.
The finale beat all basic cable competition in its timeslot.
Stargate SG-1 debuted on the channel June 7 with a 1.8 rating (1.4 million households) and has since averaged a 1.7 rating (1.3 million). Stargate SG-1 has outperformed both UPN and The WB in several key demographics, including persons 18-49, persons 25-54, men 18-34, men 18-49, men 25-54 and women 25-54, the network added.
SCI FI will begin airing episodes from the first five seasons of the series in a weekly four-hour block Mondays at 7 p.m. ET/PT, starting Sept. 30. All new episodes will resume in January.
No Bout On League Set
he IGN FilmForce is disputing rumors of a fight between League of Extraordinary Gentlemen star Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington in the wake of Prague flooding that disrupted the comic adaptation's production.
The World Entertainment News Network had reported that Norrington, stressed by production delays, challenged Connery to punch him in the face, which the ex-boxer declined. WENN added that the cast and crew were "sick" of Norrington's screaming behavior.
None of it is true, producer Don Murphy told IGN FilmForce. "Quite exciting," Murphy said. "And then did the legendary boxer [Connery], who once took out Johnny Stompanato, punch Steve? Did Steve challenge him two out of three? Maybe Stuart Townsend [Dorian Gray] was the referee? The way to confirm that [WENN] have bad sources is that after the flood, we went to Malta. We didn't stay in Prague and fight. And five of the Prague sets are ruined, not just one. So happily, just more nonsense from the Web. And after looking at the dailies and [seeing] what this film is destined to become, I'd be surprised if some of the cast and crew were 'sick' of the director."
Meyer Notes Prey Changes
ina Meyer, who plays Barbara Gordon in The WB's upcoming Birds of Prey series, told
Prevue Magazine online that producers have reshot the pilot to lighten the mood.
"We've revamped the Clocktower," Meyer told the site. "The Clocktower is my secret lair, where I spend most of my time. We've also changed the relationship between Helena [Ashley Scott] and [Gordon's alter ego,] Oracle. The relationship is going to be lightened a little bit. It was a little too heavy, a little too melodramatic in the pilot, so we're going to fix that."
Meyer added, "Before, [the Clocktower] was kind of dreary." She characterized the change as moving from the feel of Batman director Tim Burton to that of Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher. "It was kind of dark and dingy, really muted and gray, but dark," she said. "Now, it's brighter. The walls in the Clocktower are now bright blue. Instead of black computers, we have silver computers. I think the look of the show is going to be more crisp, as compared to dark and smoky."
Meyer said the alterations extend to the show's themes as well as its look. "The show will remain dark, but there will be many, many more lighter moments than in the pilot," she said. "In the pilot, I think, we took ourselves a bit too seriously and became too melodramatic, and that's being changed. I look at it like Men in Black. They're fighting crime, and they've got some tough things to deal with. The two characters are very different, and they agree to disagree often, but everything is kind of light and fun." Birds of Prey, based on the DC Comics series, premieres Oct. 9 and will air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Lunar Heads For GBA
bi Soft announced that it has secured the rights to Lunar Legend in North America, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Lunar Legend tells the story of Alex, who seeks out the Dragons of Lunar Legend in order to become a guardian of the goddess Althena as a dragon master.
The GameBoy Advance title includes 200 items, which players can trade using a link cable; 50 spells; and 170 trading cards that can be used to solve various scenarios, the site reported. Lunar Legend is slated for a November release.
Rothery Reaches Threshold
eryl Rothery (Dr. Frasier on Stargate SG-1) told SCI FI Wire that she recently completed production in Toronto on a new movie for the SCI FI Channel called Threshold.
"Jamie Luner [Profiler] is in it," Rothery said in an interview. "Nick Lea, Krycek from The X-Files, is in it. And myself."
Rothery added, "Basically, it's about astronauts working one of the space stations when a meteor shower hits. This one astronaut gets imbedded with some of the rocks, or so they think it is. And it ends up being this alien insect that incubates in a human and [then] takes over the human, and they feed on other people."
Rothery describes her Threshold character as a "very funny, sort of brassy, trashy
woman" from Texas. "Her name is Shelley Hansen," the actress said. "She's got a thick accent and all, and her husband [Steve Bacic of Andromeda] ends up being taken over by one of these insects. ... I get a little bloodied up. So it was fun. [Veteran television producer] Stephen Cannell has a little cameo in it. Chuck Bowman [The Pretender] directed it, and Chuck is [Reign of Fire director] Rob Bowman's dad. So it was great. Rob came and visited for a bit. I'd worked with Chuck on a few other things, quite a few other things, and he's a lovely director. We had a great crew and cast and just had a whole lot of fun." The SCI FI Channel will air Threshold sometime in 2003.
Smith Tackles Freddy, Jason
auren Lee Smith told SCI FI Wire that she would be among the stars of Freddy vs. Jason when the long-awaited face-off between the horror icons commences production Sept. 8 in Vancouver, B.C.
"Ronny Yu [Bride of Chucky] is going to direct it," Smith said in an interview. "I'm going to play a character named Gibb."
Smith, who portrays Emma deLauro on the syndicated TV series Mutant X, added, "Gibb is a really fun character. She's sort of this tomboy, a party girl, really crazy and out there. And she doesn't quite make it. [My scenes] are actually at a rave. It should be a really, really fun part. I'm really excited about it."
So who gets to kill Gibb—Freddy (Robert Englund) or the still-yet-to-be cast Jason? "I guess you'll just have to see," Smith said, laughing. "Maybe both. I've seen most of the Friday the 13th movies, but I've only seen the first Nightmare on Elm Street. I just could not see another one. I saw A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was about five years old, and I swear to God, I slept with my mom for the next 10 years. I was completely terrified, and I've not seen one of the films since then. So this should be interesting. It's going to be a crazy schedule for the next two months, but I think Mutant X is going to let me off for an episode or two to go back to Vancouver and do that."
Fall Video Releases Set
ony announced the fall video releases of several genre movies, including Spider-Man on Nov. 1, Men in Black II on Nov. 26 and Stuart Little 2 before Christmas, Variety reported.
Warner Brothers, meanwhile, will release Scooby-Doo on Oct. 11.
Fox has said it will release Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones on Nov. 12 and Ice Age on Nov. 26. DreamWorks is putting out Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron on Nov. 19 and Disney will release Lilo & Stitch on Dec. 3. Dates for Fox's Minority Report and New Line's Austin Powers in Goldmember will be announced soon, Variety reported.
Land Series Push Planned
niversal Studios Home Video is mounting its biggest campaign yet for the video release of its animated Land Before Time series of films, based on Steven Spielberg's original 1988 animated dinosaur theatrical release, Variety reported.
A year-long 15th anniversary promotion leading up to next year's release of the 10th episode, The Great Migration, featuring the voices of James Garner and Keifer Sutherland, will kick off this fall, with the Dec. 10 release of The Land Before Time: Journey to Big Water, the trade paper reported.
The series has generated sales of more than 50 million copies worldwide, with each of the last several titles selling consistently in excess of 2 million units in the U.S. alone, the trade paper reported. By Easter, Universal plans to have most of the episodes available on DVD.
Universal Studios Home Video is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Briefly Noted
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Universal Pictures and Jersey Films have picked up Lightspeed, an SF film based on a pitch by writer Michael McGruther, Variety reported. Bryan Singer (X-Men) is attached to direct.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that Digital Domain has won the contract to provide visual effects for Roland Emmerich's upcoming SF movie The Day After Tomorrow, which begins shooting this September in Montreal and New York.
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Fans of TNT's Witchblade series, which aired its second-season finale on Aug. 26, are petitioning for a third season. More than 3,000 fans have signed the petition, which is sponsored by the We Are Legion fan group.
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The Clocktower Web site has posted new images of the three stars of The WB's upcoming superhero series Birds of Prey, which comes to Wednesdays at 9 p.m., starting Oct. 9.
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Warner Brothers has announced that production on the upcoming two Matrix sequels has wrapped, and the studio has posted an audio account of the end of shooting on its official Web site. The site also features a new trailer for the upcoming Animatrix, a series of nine animated films based on the universe of The Matrix, coming to DVD and video in 2003.
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The Superhero Hype Web site reported rumors that the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2 will shoot in California, New York and France; that Doctor Octopus will be the only villain; and that producers have approached Stellan Skarsgard (Deep Blue Sea) to play Doc Ock.
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Superman star Margot Kidder fractured her pelvis on Aug. 25, when her GMC Yukon hit a raised pavement and rolled over several times in Maine. The 53-year-old actress was on her way to Montreal, TV Guide Online reported.
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Moore Action Collectibles announced that it is canceling its anticipated line of The X-Files action figures, because the company does not believe the market remains strong enough to support the line in light of the show's cancellation.
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DIC Entertainment has acquired worldwide TV distribution, licensing and merchandising rights to the Japanese animated show Speed Racer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The deal includes 65 original half-hour episodes and 34 new ones, 13 of which are now airing on Nickelodeon's Sunday afternoon Slam block, the trade paper reported.
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The seventh second-season episode of UPN's Enterprise will focus on T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and secrets from her past, the TrekWeb site reported. The episode is simply titled "The Seventh."
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Hollywood's Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers will host a daylong seminar on the digital production and post-production of Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, 9 a.m. Oct. 5 at the Digital Cinema Laboratory at the Pacific Hollywood Theater in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The event will be presented by Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic.
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The OneRing.net reported that the world premiere of the upcoming sequel film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers will take place in Paris' Le Grand Rex Theater on Dec. 10.
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