Jackson Eyes Rings' End
ord of the Rings writer-producer-director Peter Jackson told SCI FI Wire
that he's not sure how he'll react when his epic film trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece book is finally complete.
"It will be seven years I'll have been with it when we're done," Jackson said in an interview. "I don't know how I'll feel."
Jackson, who's currently prepping an extended DVD edition of the upcoming second film, The Two Towers, and is getting ready to edit and do additional shooting for the third, The Return of the King, added, "Put a circle around that question, and I'll answer it in a year. I suspect that I'm going to be quite sad. I suspect that I'm going to be relieved. I think that by that stage I'll also know what I'm going to do next, and so I'll have something else to think about. It will probably feel like the end of a relationship. I've never been through a relationship that's come to an end or broken up in that way, but I suspect that this must be something like that. I've had a seven-year, intense and emotional relationship that's suddenly sort of coming to an end. I can sense that there will be a vacuum there, a sense of loss." The Two Towers opens Dec. 18.
Elvish Lives For Tyler
iv Tyler, who returns as Arwen in the upcoming second Lord of the Rings film, The Two Towers, told SCI FI Wire that there's much more Elvish to be heard in the new installment—and she has co-star Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) to thank for it.
"A lot of that was so funny, because I would sort of see the scenes before I came down [to the set], and then I'd get there, and Viggo's favorite thing to do was to spring on me the night before that he'd had a long talk with [co-writers] Fran [Walsh] and Peter [Jackson], and he really wanted the whole scene to be in Elvish," Tyler said in an interview. "And I love to speak Elvish, but I was just like, 'Argh!'"
Tyler added, "I wanted to kill him, because it always seemed that I had more Elvish to speak when we were doing the scenes than he did. I'm glad he did push that, because it's so great to hear, and it really adds a beautiful quality and depth to their relationship, and to the film in general." The Two Towers opens Dec. 18.
Otto Romances Towers
iranda Otto, who plays Eowyn in the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, told SCI FI Wire that filmmakers experimented with her character, but ultimately decided to keep her faithful to Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien's depiction.
"There were a lot of changes made just before I arrived to shoot the main bulk of my stuff," Otto said in an interview. "There were different ideas of what they would do with the character."
Otto added, "We shot some things that I thought at the time, 'Well, I'm not so sure.' Luckily, a lot of the things I wasn't sure about [director] Pete [Jackson] must have decided he wasn't sure about, too. We never went into [requited love versus unrequited love] with Eowyn and Aragorn [Viggo Mortensen]. I think we tried a few things that made her a little bit more vulnerable and, not comedic, but there were some lighter things for her. We were trying that out. They wanted to see if they could get more of that across from her, but I think in the end we all felt that, from the book, she's not really that sort of character. She's pretty much this headstrong, removed sort of character. I always felt it was important for her to be that way, and she is [now]." The Two Towers opens Dec. 18.
Ford Signs On Indy IV
teven Spielberg confirmed to Access Hollywood that Harrison Ford is on board for a fourth Indiana Jones movie and that production is slated to start in 2004 for a 2005 release, according to a report on the Zap2it Web site.
For his part, Ford has repeatedly said he would be willing to reprise his most famous role only if the script met his approval.
But Spielberg told Access Hollywood's Pat O'Brien that the new script is written and has been approved, and that he will direct the project himself.
Gibson Gets Mad Again
el Gibson will reprise the role of Mad Max for $25 million in Fury Road, a proposed fourth installment in director George Miller's post-apocalyptic franchise, Variety reported.
Miller has been writing the script for the last three years, the trade paper reported.
Fox will produce the $104 million movie, which will begin filming in Australia, with next May as the targeted start date, the trade paper reported. Miller got the rights to the Mad Max franchise back from Warner Brothers as part of a settlement with the studio in 1997. Warner, which released both Mad Max: The Road Warrior in 1981 and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome in 1985, gave him the rights after Miller agreed to detach himself from Warner's Contact, Variety reported.
The sequel's storyline is a closely guarded secret, the trade paper reported.
UPN Mulls Buffy Offer?
he teentelevision.com Web site is reporting a rumor that UPN may offer Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar up to $750,000 per episode to renew her contract, which expires at the end of the current seventh season.
Gellar was expected to leave the series to pursue a film career, though the actress has publicly remained non-committal. The teentelivision.com site offered no source for its report.
Meanwhile, the Dark Horizons Web site reported that newcomers Iyari Limon, Courtnee Draper and Clara Bryant are slated to play Slayers-in-training in the upcoming 10th Buffy episode this season.
Astin Directs Angel
ean Astin, who played Sam in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, told SCI FI Wire that he took on a completely different role when he took a job directing an upcoming episode of The WB's vampire series Angel, which he just finished.
"The episode is called 'Soulless,'" Astin said in an interview. "On some level I felt like I had arrived."
Astin added, "I was driving onto the Paramount lot, and I was a director. When we
went on location, right before I got to the house we were shooting at, I saw this huge line of trucks and the catering tent and I thought, 'Hey.' I'd look at the slate, and it said, 'Director: Sean Astin.' I went, 'Wow, really cool.' But it was hard. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. It's a very specific challenge, directing episodic television, and I was fortunate enough, ... right after doing Lord of the Rings, [to] observe Alex Graves on The West Wing for a week and to observe Alan Ball for a week on Six Feet Under and to observe Richard Lewis on C.S.I. I literally just sat there on the sets, watching these directors work and trying to get to know the powers-that-be so I could maybe get a slot on one of those shows. It's a very unique beast. It's not like what [Rings director] Peter Jackson is able to do, in terms of creating his vision. You have to synthesize 37 disparate personalities and attitudes. I thought of it as being like The Green Mile. Remember Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile, when he sort of sucked the cancer out of somebody and blew it up in the air? I had to suck all the disparate feelings from all these different people, then get rid of it and allow them to do their work. It was fascinating and challenging, and I look forward to doing more of that if I can."
The actor-director is somewhat less forthcoming about when it comes to revealing the "Soulless" storyline. "I'm nervous about what I should say about it," Astin said. "It's got a very loyal coterie and following that's on the Internet, and they want to know what happens next. But it's a great episode. It's an episode in which Angelus [David Boreanaz] factors prominently. I think it will air during the February sweeps."
Fans Rally For Quinn Family
riends and fans of Glenn Quinn, the former Angel co-star who died last week, have organized a fund-raising effort to help his family pay for funeral costs.
Quinn, who played the half-demon Doyle in the first season of The WB's Angel, was found dead Dec. 3 in a friend's North Hollywood, Calif., home at the age of 32.
The fund-raiser for Quinn, who also had a recurring role in Roseanne, was organized by his Roseanne co-star Michael Fishman and costume designer Mary Quigley. Donations can be sent to the Glenn Quinn Memorial Fund, c/o Mary Quigley, 12049 Valleyheart Dr., Studio City, CA 91604.
Quinn Death Probed
lenn Quinn, former co-star on The WB's Angel, may have died of a drug overdose, authorities said, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
Quinn, 32, was found dead on Dec. 3, and an official cause of death was pending an autopsy and toxicology reports, the newspaper reported.
Dublin-born Quinn was found at a friend's home in North Hollywood, a suburb of Los Angeles, police told the Times. Detectives said that no foul play was suspected.
Quinn is survived by his mother, Bernadette, and two sisters, Sonya and Louisa, with whom he moved from Ireland to the United States in 1988, the newspaper reported.
X-Files Game Is Out There
video game based on the classic SF TV series The X-Files is coming to PlayStation 2 and Xbox gaming platforms in spring 2003, Sierra Studios told the IGN Web site.
The as-yet-untitled X-Files game, developed with Black Ops, will be a single-player survival-horror title, the site reported.
Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully) and David Duchovny (Fox Mulder) will reportedly provide voices for the game. Sierra Entertainment and Fox Interactive will co-publish the title, the site reported.
X2 Enters Home Stretch
om DeSanto, executive producer of the upcoming X-Men sequel, X2, told E! Online columnist Anderson Jones that photography has wrapped and the crew is heavy into post-production.
"Now, we go into the mad rush of post-production," DeSanto told Jones from Vancouver, B.C., where the movie was filmed. "We're doing everything from the music and effects to making sure the film kicks ass on May 3," 2003, when it opens.
DeSanto added that the sequel will have more action than the first movie. He said his experience on the sequel "was even better than I expected. And to finish the film in the spectacular Canadian Rockies is a great way to end this experience. It's not as cold as it was on the first film." As for a third installment in the Marvel Comics film franchise? "We'll know whether we'll make an X-Men 3 or not on May 3, 2003," he said. "Hopefully, everyone who wants an X-Men 3 will show up then."
X2 Prequel Comics Due
arvel Comics will publish two new titles tied to the upcoming X-Men movie sequel, X2, the Comics Continuum Web site reported.
Marvel will publish X-Men 2 Movie Prequel: Nightcrawler and X-Men 2 Movie Prequel: Wolverine, both 48 pages long, in March 2003, the site reported.
Chuck Austen will write the Nightcrawler book, with art by Karl Kerschl. Brian K. Vaughan pens the Wolverine prequel, with art by Tom Mandrake. Both deal with events leading up to the sequel film, which opens in theaters on May 2, 2003.
Wolverine Release Coming
ctivision announced that it will publish versions of its X-Men: Wolverine's Revenge video game for the Nintendo GameBoy Advance and the PC.
The two new versions are set for a spring 2003 release, along with other versions of the game. The release is timed to the debut of the upcoming X-Men sequel film, X2, on May 2, 2003.
Wolverine's Revenge is also in development for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube. The action-adventure game allows players to assume the role of Wolverine.
Daredevil Game To Ship
avarre Corp. and its subsidiary Encore announced that the Daredevil video game is ready to ship for the Nintendo GameBoy Advance.
The game, tied to the upcoming feature-film version of the Marvel Comics series, is expected to be on store shelves by the film's Feb. 14, 2003, release date.
The game incorporates many elements of the feature film, which stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. The side-scrolling game will allow players to be Daredevil as he fights in New York's Hell's Kitchen to defeat criminals and their boss, the Kingpin. The game will retail for about $30.
Embry Electrifies Spidey
than Embry (FreakyLinks) will voice the villainous Electro in MTV's upcoming animated Spider-Man TV series, the Comics Continuum Web site reported.
Electro will be featured in the first episode of the show, which is based on the Marvel Comics series.
The series debuts in the first quarter of 2003, the site reported. Producer Audu Paden told the Continuum that Electro's powers are ideal for the computer-generated environment created for Spider-Man and will produce visually exciting fight scenes.
Horn Talks Superman V
lan Horn, president and chief operating officer of Warner Brothers, sought to allay fan fears about the upcoming fifth Superman movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Horn responded to fan concerns based on an early draft of the Superman script that has hit the Web.
"I think it's very interesting," Horn told the trade paper. "I don't think it's annoying. I find it annoying if an embryonic draft of a screenplay gets printed on the Web that only reflects the beginning part of a process. Dealing with the response to that, a lot of the letters and e-mails, is frustrating, because I know that's not the movie we're making. In many cases, the very things that the letter writers were objecting to or concerned about were the very same things that we're concerned about. We don't think Lex Luthor should be an alien, either. And my answer is—and it's all over the Web—we agree with you. He won't be. But I have to shake my head in wonderment that the fan base for these properties is so very large that people take the time to send a six-page e-mail on Superman. That means to me only good things. I can't imagine that the person who sends the six-page e-mail won't go to see the movie."
Horn also offered some details about the upcoming production and a proposed Batman vs. Superman film. "We're planning to do the J.J. Abrams screenplay for Superman, which is an origins story," Horn said. "We feel it's fresh, even though it covers ground that was originally covered by the Dick Donner movie. That was 20-some-odd years ago. We feel that this is fresh, hip, contemporary, moving, funny and loaded with action. [Director] Brett Ratner is extremely well qualified to handle the movie—not only did he handle the lightness and fun of Rush Hour, but also the drama and tension of Red Dragon. He comes to Superman with this very strong filmography. We had a competing script, Batman vs. Superman. It's very, very good, written by Akiva Goldsman, and we will do it. But I prefer we start with Superman, the early years, and complement that with a Batman origins movie. And I'd like to think that each character will evolve so that when we have Batman vs. Superman, the meeting of the two will feel more organic."
Sheen Won't Play Luthor?
he IGN FilmForce Web site refuted a rumor that Charlie Sheen is in talks to play the role of Lex Luthor in a proposed fifth Superman movie.
The Dark Horizons Web site first reported the rumor, based on a college radio interview with director Brett Ratner.
But IGN said that a representative for Ratner denied the report as "absolutely untrue." Dark Horizons also said that Ratner is looking for a tall unknown actor to play the title role of Clark Kent.
Cage Scares Up Ghost
icolas Cage confirmed to SCI FI Wire that Columbia may settle on a script for a proposed Ghost Rider movie early in the new year.
"They're going to be done with the script after the holidays, and I think the studio's very excited about it," Cage said in an interview. The project, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, originated at Dimension, but was put on hold, when Columbia picked it up.
The new script will aim for a PG-13 rating. Original writer David Goyer's (Blade) draft was rejected for being too violent. Cage said that he was on board with that change. "The comic-book world is originally a world that was a fantasy place for children and younger people," he said. "By making it hard R, you'd alienate some of those younger people, who want to go to the movies and get lost in that world. So I can understand the argument for that."
As an actor, comic fan Cage was drawn to the film because of the hero's philosophical dilemma. "I always thought it was interesting: the concept of a character who's in the dilemma of making a deal with a negative force and then trying to do something positive with it," he said.
WB Hosts Smallville Auction
he WB is sponsoring an eBay charity auction of autographed items from its Superman series, Smallville, to benefit Children Now and the National Wildlife Federation.
The auction runs through Dec. 16.
Items for sale, accompanied by certificates of authenticity, include items modeled on real props from the series. These include Smallville High School T-shirts, jackets, backpacks and baseball caps, autographed by one or more Smallville stars, including Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk or Michael Rosenbaum. This auction also features Clark Kent's SHS class ring, as worn by Welling on the show.
Proceeds will benefit Children Now, an organization that helps poor and at-risk children around the nation, and the National Wildlife Federation, a conservation group dedicated to protecting wildlife, wild places and the environment.
Potter Card Nets $45K
n American collector paid more than $45,000 for a card full of clues to the plot of the long-awaited fifth Harry Potter book, the Associated Press reported.
The unidentified buyer made the winning bid Dec. 12 for the card, handwritten by author J.K. Rowling as a charity fund-raiser. The money will be used to buy more than 18,000 books for schools in Africa, the wire service reported.
Whether the buyer, who paid $45,314 for the card, chooses to keep the contents secret remains to be seen. A Harry Potter Web site operated by the New York-based Leaky, Inc., had hoped to raise enough money to make the winning bid and possibly to post the 93 words on the Internet for all to see, the wire service reported.
Sotheby's auction house in London revealed only that the words "Ron ... broom ... sacked ... house-elf ... new ... teacher ... dies ... sorry" are among the 93 words on the card dealing with the top-secret story of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the wire service reported.
Harris To Rise From The Grave?
he British tabloid paper The Sun reported a dubious story that makers of the upcoming third Harry Potter movie are mulling the use of computer imagery to superimpose the face of the late Richard Harris on another actor to play Professor Dumbledore.
Harris, who played the Hogwarts headmaster in two previous Potter films, died in October.
Citing an anonymous source, The Sun reported that producers hope to use previously unused footage of Harris to map his face onto Harry Robinson, Harris' stand-in on the two earlier films. "Many hours of footage are currently being scanned to see if the process is viable for the film," the source told the tabloid. "In the past the process has allowed an extra to perform a character's role."
The third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, is slated to begin production early next year.
Shrek 2 Book Coming
hrek 2, the book, will be the first title published under a new multiyear license deal between kids' publisher Scholastic and DreamWorks animation, Variety reported.
Under terms of the deal, New York-based Scholastic will be the primary publishing licensee for DreamWork's next five animated features, starting with Shrek 2, the sequel to the film that was itself based on a picture book, the trade paper reported.
Scholastic will have rights to publish all novelizations, coloring and activity books and picture and story books based on the DreamWorks titles, the trade paper reported. The publisher will retain English-language rights, as well as Spanish-language rights for the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America. Scholastic also publishes the Harry Potter books in the United States.
Tremors Moves To March
he SCI FI Channel is moving the premiere of its upcoming original show Tremors: The Series to March 2003 from January so producers can have more time to complete special effects.
A spokesman told SCI FI Wire that the effects were taking longer than anticipated, and the channel decided to delay the launch of the series rather than cut any corners.
The show will likely benefit from a strong promotional push in March, when the channel will also premiere the original miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune. In addition, March will feature the season finale of SCI FI's number-one original series, Stargate SG-1, and the series finale of its critically acclaimed show Farscape.
Tremors, starring Michael Gross, is based on the popular 1990 movie of the same name and its two sequels and was originally going to launch in early January. SCI FI has ordered 13 episodes of the show, which is currently filming in Baja California, Mexico. The series will center on the plucky residents of Perfection, Nev., and their ongoing battle against giant, underground-dwelling, odoriferous, man-eating worms and their mutant offspring.
SCI FI Hires Trilogy's Stern
he SCI FI Channel has appointed Mark Stern to the new position of senior vice president of original programming, SCI FI president Bonnie Hammer announced.
Stern will report directly to Hammer and will head up all original programming for SCI FI, including episodic, long-form and alternative development and current programming. Stern will also work with David Kissinger, president of Universal Television Productions, to develop programming for other network outlets.
Stern comes to SCI FI after a 15-year tenure at Trilogy Entertainment Group. As a partner and president of the company's Television Division, Stern worked on original movies and series production, particularly in the science-fiction arena. In addition to supervising the development and production of the award-winning series The Outer Limits, he executive produced NBC's Carrie, UPN's The Twilight Zone and Bravo's Breaking News. Stern also wrote several episodes of both The Outer Limits and Poltergeist: The Legacy, series that he also executive produced. He produced Lifepod, the company's first film for television, and executive produced Peter Benchley's Creature. He also oversaw development on more than 30 TV projects, including Imperium for Showtime, Hometeam and The Program for ABC and telefilms for Fox and TNT.
Filet Of Sohl Coming
ear Manor Media editor Chris Conlon told SCI FI Wire that the publisher will release the first collection ever of short stories and never-before-seen unproduced Twilight Zone scripts by SF author and TV writer Jerry Sohl, who died last month at the age of 88.
Filet of Sohl: The Classic Stories and Scripts of Jerry Sohl is slated for release in the first half of 2003, Conlon said in an interview.
"It will feature about a dozen of Sohl's best short stories from across the entire span of his 50-year career, an original, never-before-published autobiographical introduction by Sohl himself, a story treatment for an unproduced Alfred Hitchcock Presents and two accepted-but-unproduced Sohl scripts for the original Twilight Zone," Conlon said. "These two episodes—'Who Am I?' and 'Pattern for Doomsday'—have never been published anywhere."
Conlon said that he had the book in the planning stages prior to Sohl's death and corresponded with Sohl while editing the collection California Sorcery, which included Sohl's story "Hungry Alice," but then got the idea to do a full collection. Conlon added that Sohl "was not a prolific writer of short stories," and after he entered TV in the late 1950s "his output of shorter tales virtually ceased."
Filet of Sohl will feature two of Sohl's later works: "The Service," published in 1976 by Fantasy & Science Fiction, and one of his last stories, "Karma, Kruse and the Rollerboard Man," from the 1994 anthology Voices from the Night. Though most famous for writing Twilight Zone episodes, Sohl also wrote for the original Star Trek, The Invaders, The Outer Limits and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Sohl's novels include the still-popular Costigan's Needle.
Conan Sequel Still Alive?
he IGN FilmForce Web site reported that the proposed sequel film King Conan: Crown of Iron may be back on track at Warner Brothers.
The site, citing anonymous sources, had previously reported that Conan Properties Inc., which holds rights to the franchise, had mulled pulling the long-delayed project from the studio and setting it up elsewhere.
But the site now reports that Conan Properties has reached an agreement with Warner, allowing the studio to renew its option on the Conan characters. Warner had been developing a film from writer/director John Milius, with Arnold Schwarzenegger to star and Matrix creators Larry and Andy Wachowski producing.
It's unclear whether Milius and Schwarzenegger will remain involved, the site reported. But the site added that the Wachowski brothers are definitely out of the picture.
Robot Shoots In Canada?
he MovieHole Web site reported a rumor that Will Smith's upcoming SF film I, Robot will shoot in Canada, not Australia as previously believed.
Citing an anonymous source at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia, the site reported that filmmakers are moving because of a lack of studio space down under.
Once the project wraps principal photography and enters post-production, director Alex Proyas will move the film back to his hometown of Sydney. I, Robot is based on Isaac Asimov's classic collection of SF short stories.
Weaving Re-Enters Matrix
ugo Weaving, who reprises his role as Agent Smith in the upcoming sequel films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, told SCI FI Wire that the plots were supposed to be top secret.
"I thought they were," Weaving said in an interview. "And then [producer] Joel Silver invited all of this press over to the set [in Australia] and gave away a few secrets."
Weaving, who also portrays Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, added, "Essentially, there is the journey of Neo [Keanu Reeves] into a greater understanding of himself and how this whole world came about. He has a very
strong journey towards truth—his own truth and the truth of the Matrix and the creation of the Matrix. Then there is another strong storyline, which is the attack of Zion by the machines, Zion being the refuge for human beings. Those are the two very strong thrusts of the films, if you like. Smith has become liberated and is in some way pretty much the same character, except that his ego is expanded, and he is in the process of replicating himself. I think the idea was to move forward. There was a 20-minute compilation that we saw about halfway through the shoot of what we'd shot, and it was quite astounding what was put together. I think in terms of breaking new ground, technically certainly, it's moving ahead. The [Wachowski brothers, who wrote and directed the movies,] always thought, 'This is what we want. We can't achieve it. It's impossible to achieve it at this stage, so let's invent something so that we can achieve it.'" The Matrix
Reloaded opens May 15, 2003, and The Matrix Revolutions opens Nov. 7, 2003.
Star Wars Props On Sale
hristie's in London will auction four helmets used in the original Star Wars movie in a sale of movie memorabilia next week, Reuters reported.
The four items are a white stormtrooper helmet and an Imperial fighter pilot's helmet, both priced at around $4,700; an Imperial forces helmet; and a prototype rebel fighter pilot's helmet, priced at around $1,600 each, the news service reported.
The auction will also feature Pierce Brosnan's Omega watch from the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough and props from the original Alien film among 217 lots at auction on Dec. 17, the news service reported.
At rival auction house Sotheby's, meanwhile, rare original manuscripts for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Ian Fleming's beloved children's story, sold for £29,290 ($46,250) in London on Dec. 12. The buyer's identity has not been revealed. Originally written as three stories, but published in 1964 under the name of Ian Lancaster as one, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was an instant success and was made into a classic children's film in 1968, Reuters reported.
Rudin Exits Lemony
cott Rudin has resigned as producer of Paramount/Nickelodeon's proposed film version of Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events, Daniel Handler's best-selling fantasy book series, Variety reported.
Rudin set up the project to be directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and to star Jim Carrey. Handler wrote the script, the trade paper reported. Rudin left in a disagreement over budgets and fees.
The abrupt departure is a blow to Paramount's effort to develop the movie, seen as Paramount's answer to Warner Brothers' Harry Potter series, the trade paper reported. But Nickelodeon vice president Julia Pistor told Variety that Carrey and Sonnenfeld remain in the fold.
The book series revolves around a trio of young orphans who are fobbed off on a series of unusual relatives.
Toons OK'd For Oscar
he Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' board of governors gave 17 movies the green light to compete for an Oscar in the 2002 animated feature film category, Variety reported.
With 17 such films eligible, the Academy can announce anywhere from one to five nominees in that category, the trade paper reported. The animated feature film award screening committee will view all the films and vote by secret ballot to determine how many should garner nominations.
The 17 films are Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights, Alibaba & the Forty Thieves, Eden, El bosque animado (The Living Forest), Hey Arnold! The Movie, Ice Age, Jonah—A VeggieTales Movie, Lilo & Stitch, Mutant Aliens, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, The Princess and the Pea, Return to Never Land, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Spirited Away, Stuart Little 2, Treasure Planet and The Wild Thornberrys Movie.
Taken Makes SCI FI No. 1
he record ratings garnered by Steven Spielberg Presents Taken helped make the SCI FI Channel the number-one rated basic-cable network in prime time for the week of Dec. 2, a first in the channel's 10-year history.
The channel averaged a 2.8 rating (2.23 million households) during the week, while weekday premiere episodes of Taken averaged a 4.1.
Including replays, Taken drew 23.5 million unique and unduplicated viewers, and averaged a 4.1 rating (3.25 million households) for the weekday premiere episodes. SCI FI also topped key demographics for the week:
•Top household rating (2.8)
•Top rating among persons 18-49 (1.6)
•Top rating among persons 25-54 (2.1)
•Top rating among women 18-49 (1.4)
•Top rating among women 25-54 (2.0)
•Top rating among persons 18 and older (2.0)
•Top rating among men 25-54 (2.3)
•Tie with ESPN for the top rating among men 18-49 (1.84)
The Dec. 7 marathon of first-week Taken episodes averaged a 1.5 overall household rating (1.18 million households), the largest in the time period in the history of the channel.
ABC Announces Premieres
BC announced a Jan. 27 premiere date for the action-adventure series Veritas: The Quest and the supernatural drama Miracles, the Zap2it Web site reported.
Veritas, which stars Alex Carter and Ryan Merriman as father-and-son archaeologists, will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Writers Patrick Massett and John Zinman (Lara Croft Tomb Raider) developed the show.
Miracles, about a priest who investigates miracles, will air at 10 p.m. The show stars Skeet Ulrich and comes from Mothman Prophecies writer Richard Hatem and former Angel executive producer David Greenwalt, the site reported.
Sideshow Busts Out Trek
ideshow Toy announced that it has acquired the rights from Paramount to produce limited-edition busts based on all incarnations of the Star Trek franchise.
The company will launch a collectible series of "polystone" busts in March 2003 with Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the company said.
Sideshow plans to introduce the rest of the original series crew in 2003. A second series will feature characters from The Next Generation, slated for release in May 2003, starting with Capt. Picard and Data.
Sideshow will unveil its Trek collectibles at the New York International Toy Fair, Feb. 16-19, 2003.
Perlman Confirms Hellboy Start
on Perlman, who will play the title role in the film adaptation of Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic series, told SCI FI Wire that he will begin work on the movie early next year.
"We're about to start production in February in Prague," Perlman said in an interview. He added that the script is based on "the very first Hellboy installment, which is 'The Seed of Destruction.'" Guillermo del Toro (Blade II) will direct from his own script, about a demon raised by the Nazis who now battles the forces of darkness.
Perlman added that makeup-effects guru Rick Baker has finished designing Hellboy's makeup. "It's very much in keeping with the comic-book character," he said. "It's incredibly beautiful: liquid, vulnerable and fierce. I haven't worked in it yet. I've only put it on and had a screen test in it, but it's not that much unlike anything else where you're basically covered in latex and foam."
For research, Perlman said, "I'm reading everything that Mike Mignola wrote and trying to get into the point of view and the world as one would always do when one is asked to." Hellboy is shooting for a 2004 release.
Ring II Mulled
reamWorks is in talks with The Ring director Gore Verbinski and writer Ehren Kruger to return for a sequel to the hit film, a remake of Hideo Nakata's 1998 Japanese supernatural horror thriller, Variety reported.
The Ring, produced by Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, has already grossed $123 million in the United States, the trade paper reported.
There is no word on a storyline or whether the proposed sequel will pick up on the Japanese Ring series. Verbinski just wrapped The Pirates of the Caribbean for Disney and is developing Spaceless at Fox.
Entropia Going Gold
wedish interactive entertainment developer MindArk announced that its upcoming virtual-universe game Project Entropia will be released on Jan. 30, 2003.
Project Entropia, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is Sweden's largest software project ever and has been in development since 1997, the company said.
Project Entropia is a three-dimensional virtual universe on the Internet accessible from any computer, the company said. Players take an epic journey into the future to a place far away from Earth, starting from a colony on a distant planet named Calypso. The game also features a real economy in which currency, PED, is exchangeable with any major real currency in the world. The software needed to play Project Entropia is free to download, and this virtual universe is free to enter and spend time in.
LeGuin Leads Protest
egendary SF author Ursula K. LeGuin led a march in Portland, Ore., on Dec. 6 to deliver a writers' and artists' petition against war on Iraq to Oregon Rep. David Wu.
The march was part of a weekly peace rally hosted by the Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, an antiwar group.
LeGuin (The Lathe of Heaven) led a group of 50 protesters from Portland's Pioneer Square to Wu's office, where she expressed her gratitude for Wu's vote against a proposed war and urged that the congressman continue to do all that he could to stop military action. She also presented Wu with a petition signed by more than 225 writers, including SF&F authors Terry Bisson, Jeffrey Ford, James Patrick Kelly, SCI FICTION editor Ellen Datlow, Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Moorcock, John
Kessel, Lisa Goldstein and Kelly Link.
Southeastern Nominees Named
he 2002 Southeastern SF Achievement Award, administered by the online magazine scifidimensions, announced its list of nominees.
The awards honor accomplishment in science fiction, fantasy or horror by individuals born or living in the southern United States. The awards are sponsored by Biting Dog Press, Atlanta-based Classic Comics and Galaxy Press, according to the Locus Online Web site. A full list of nominees follows.
Novel
•DeepSix by Jack McDevitt
•Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel
•The Pickup Artist by Terry Bisson
•Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card
Short Fiction
•"The Chief Designer" by Andy Duncan
•"In Glory Like Their Star" by Gene Wolfe
•"Senator Bilbo" by Andy Duncan
•"Suspension" by Robert Wexler
Life Achievement
•Robert E. Howard
•Jack McDevitt
•Andre Norton
•Manly Wade Wellman
Serkis Rings In Deathwatch
ndy Serkis told SCI FI Wire that he's followed up his acclaimed performance as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy with a role in the upcoming supernatural horror film Deathwatch.
"Deathwatch is a film we shot in Prague," Serkis said in an interview. "It's supposed to be coming out soon" in the U.S. The film opened Dec. 6 in the United Kingdom.
Serkis added, "It's a World War I horror film. I play this little desensitized dog of war who's in the trenches and likes to scalp the corpses that he finds in these trenches. Nice guy. And this evil gets ahold of all [the characters] one by one. My character [Private Quinn] kind of goes over the edge. All of the characters go over the edge. He is a bit of an archetype, in a way. He is a dog of war. He's desensitized to all he sees. He's kind of like the Tom Sizemore character in Saving Private Ryan. They're fairly standard characters. Jamie Bell, from Billy Elliot, is in it with me. He plays the lead, a young soldier."
Dead Zone Returns
SA Network released details of upcoming second-season episodes of its hit original series The Dead Zone, which returns at 10 p.m. ET/PT Jan. 5, 2003.
Based on characters from the Stephen King novel of the same name, the show brings back star Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, a young man who emerges from a six-year coma with second sight. The Dead Zone will also air on the SCI FI Channel, beginning Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Introduced in last season's finale, Sean Patrick Flanery (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) returns in the recurring role of Greg Stillson, a ruthless congressional candidate backed by Reverend Purdy (David Ogden Stiers). In the season premiere, Johnny is still shaken by his Armageddon visions and grows obsessed with Stillson, whom he's secretly investigating.
In a future episode, an unexpected incident leads Johnny to a profound new understanding of Walt (Chris Bruno) when the two join forces to rescue four teenagers trapped in a collapsing mine. In another episode, Johnny is taken by three young women to help them solve the mystery of a haunted house. A third episode has Johnny taking on a major corporation to prevent the mass marketing of a drug he foresees will cause terrible birth defects years down the line. In a later installment, Johnny's vision of Bruce (John L. Adams) lying dead in a casket prompts Bruce to revisit the breakdown of his relationship with his minister father.
Michael Piller (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and his son, producer Shawn Piller, created the series. Lions Gate Television and Paramount International Television produce the series, in association with Piller² and The Segan Company. USA Network is owned by Vivendi/Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Law, Paltrow Take World
ude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) and Gwyneth Paltrow will star in the big-budget SF thriller film The World of Tomorrow, from first-time writer-director Kerry Conran, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film aims to go into production in late February 2003 in London, the trade paper reported.
Tomorrow, described as "retro sci-fi," takes place at the turn of the 20th century and follows a reporter (Paltrow) and pilot (Law) who team up on an adventure, the trade paper reported.
Jon Avnet and Marsha Oglesby, who developed the project, are producing through their Brooklyn Films, along with Law and his wife, Sadie Frost. Italian-based producer Aurelio De Laurentiis, who is financing the film, is executive producing with cousin Raffaella De Laurentiis and Bill Haber, the trade paper reported.
Mitchell Goes Sky High
ike Mitchell (Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo) has signed to direct the superhero comedy Sky High for Disney and Gunn Films, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Paul Hernandez script revolves around a high school for the kids of superheroes, the trade paper reported.
Mitchell last teamed with Disney on 1999's Bigalow. Sky High is being produced by Andrew Gunn.
Briefly Noted
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The Australian newspaper The Herald-Sun reported that the upcoming fourth Mad Max movie will shoot in the African country of Namibia, and not Australia, thanks to financial incentives and desert locations, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site. Shooting starts in May.
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Yahoo Movies has posted a new trailer for the upcoming X-Men sequel film, X2, which opens May 2, 2003.
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Warner Brothers has updated the official Matrix Web site with a new game, new trailer and articles about the upcoming sequel films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which open in 2003.
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Jim Belushi and Eric Idle have joined the voice cast for the English-language version of Miramax's Pinocchio from director/star Roberto Benigni, Variety reported. Final dialogue tracks for the English dub are being recorded this week, with Belushi voicing the Farmer and Idle as the Blue Fairy's coachman Midoro. The film opens Christmas Day.
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ABC will air an original episode of its spy drama Alias in the coveted timeslot after the Super Bowl on Jan. 26, 2003, TV Guide Online reported.
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Former The X-Files star Gillian Anderson is reportedly engaged to British documentary filmmaker Julian Ozanne, TV Guide Online reported. Anderson is in London to appear in the new play What the Night Is For and met Ozanne earlier this year, but the pair only recently began dating, the site reported.
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Marvel Studios executive Kevin Feige told the Comics2Film Web site that a script is being written for a proposed Sub-Mariner movie and should be ready early next year. David Self (Road to Perdition) is writing.
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Poet and painter Stan Rice, the husband of novelist Anne Rice, died Dec. 9 of brain cancer in New Orleans, the Associated Press reported. He was 60.
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Regis Philbin will voice the character of the Ringmaster in Roberto Benigni's upcoming Pinocchio movie, joining a voice cast that includes Breckin Meyer, Glenn Close, Queen Latifah, Kevin James, Eddie Griffin, Topher Grace, Cheech Marin and David Suchet, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The English-language version of Benigni's Italian film opens in the United States on Christmas Day.
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A new Web site has posted music from the soundtrack of the upcoming Daredevil movie, based on the Marvel Comics series. The soundtrack goes on sale Feb. 4, 2003; the movie opens Feb. 14.
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A new Web site has gone live for Ang Lee's upcoming Hulk movie, based on the Marvel Comics series The Incredible Hulk.
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Veteran genre actor Christopher Lee (The Lord of the Rings) was made an officer of the French Academy of Arts and Letters in Paris on Dec. 10, Variety reported.
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The Birds of Prey Online Web site reported that The WB will air a double episode of its Birds of Prey series on Jan. 8 and will wrap the series by Jan. 15, when it will be replaced with Angel.
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