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January 13, 2003

January 6, 2003

Gilliam Has Good Omens

erry Gilliam told SCI FI Wire that his proposed big-screen adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's Armageddon comedy-fantasy novel Good Omens isn't entirely dead, but is currently on life support. "It's expensive is what it is," Gilliam (Time Bandits) said in an interview. "And we didn't get the money to do it."

Gilliam added, "Unfortunately, I think our timing was rather bad, because we turned up in Hollywood in November of 2001 talking about a comedy film about the apocalypse. That was just bad timing. At the moment it's languishing. Nobody's quite got their act together to get it financed right now."

Gilliam described the story as right up his alley. "Anything that has to do with good and evil, heaven and hell, the Antichrist, angels and devils and the apocalypse I've always found interesting," he said. "On top of that, to have a comic version of all that is great. It's a wonderful book, incredibly funny and it's actually full of too much stuff to put onto film. But the basic tale [is filmable]."

Gilliam said that the story deals with the representatives of good and evil, who exist side by side until the Antichrist is born. "Which means that in 11 or 12 years, that's the end of it all," he said. "But these representatives of good and evil have gone a little soft on Earth. They like the little things about humanity and the Earth, and they agree to work together for once and raise the kid, hoping that nurturing might overcome his nature. Come his 11th or 12th birthday they realize they've made a big mistake: They raised the wrong kid. The Antichrist somehow got swapped at birth and is somewhere out in England. So they've got to find it and stop Armageddon. It's very funny and full of great characters. I wrote the script with Tony Grisoni, who did [the abandoned] The Man Who Killed Don Quixote with me. Hopefully, we can get it done at some point."

Agent, Author Kidd Dies

irginia Kidd, an agent, SF author and anthologist, died Jan. 12 after a long illness, the Locus Online Web site reported. She was born in 1921.

Kidd published several short stories and poems, including "Flowering Season" in Damon Knight's anthology Orbit 1 (1966) and "On the Wall of the Lodge" (1962) in collaboration with James Blish, to whom she was married from 1947 to 1963, the site reported.

Kidd's anthologies included Saving Worlds (1973, with Roger Elwood), Millennial Women (1978) and two co-edited with Ursula K. Le Guin, Edges and Interfaces (both 1980), the site reported.

Since the 1960s, she was best known as a literary agent; the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction notes that "she become known for her feminist views and—although she did not handle only women writers—for representing a highly capable range of feminist authors, including Carol Emshwiller, [Ursula K.] Le Guin, Josephine Saxton and James Tiptree Jr."

Genre Producer Monash Dead

eteran Hollywood writer and producer Paul Monash, who produced the original Carrie movie, as well as TV's Salem's Lot, died Jan. 14 after a brief illness at his Los Angeles home, the Reuters news service reported. He was 86.

Monash was a writer and producer of widely praised television films, pilots and series and was also a producer who scoured the bookstalls for projects that included such cinematic films as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Big Trouble in Little China and Stephen King's Carrie. Monash also wrote the TV miniseries Salem's Lot, based on a King novel, the wire service reported.

Born in New York's Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Monash said his goal at age 21 was "to write the American novel," but instead he rode the rails and lived as an expatriate in Paris. He eventually became a writer for television. In 2000, the Writers Guild of America gave him its Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for his lifetime achievement, the wire service reported.

Angel Cast Has Faith

my Acker, who plays Fred in The WB's Angel, told SCI FI Wire that the cast is currently shooting the first of three episodes that will feature the return of the errant Slayer Faith, played once more by Eliza Dushku. "Right now, we have Faith on the show, and she's doing three episodes with us, and then she's going to [UPN's] Buffy [the Vampire Slayer] to do five episodes there," Acker said in an interview. "So that's sort of the closest thing to a crossover we've had. We're in the middle of it."

The upcoming storyline contains a few surprises, including the return of Angelus, the evil version of Angel (David Boreanaz), who is conjured to battle the Beast. When plans go awry, the gang summons Faith to deal with Angelus. "The Angelus plan didn't go quite as planned, which seems to frequently be the case with our show, and many TV shows," said Alexis Denisof, who plays Wesley, in an interview. "And desperate situations require desperate measures. ... Enlisting Faith's help is pulling a step back from just going out and killing Angelus, so it's really kind of a last-ditch attempt. It's that, or try to destroy him, because he's wreaking such havoc on L.A. and the world at large. So there are some kick-ass scenes with Faith. I mean, she's an intense character. Obviously, she has a history with Angel, Angelus and Wesley, as you know. And ... they left each other with cuts and bruises and burns, so it's pretty interesting when they get back together again."

Both Denisof and Acker had nothing but praise for Dushku. "She's great," Acker said. "Fred and Faith haven't had too much interaction. But it's a good, you know, tough energy to have on the set."

Denisof added, "I love her character, and she's great to work with. She just gives you so much, and she's spontaneous and fun and dangerous, and it's a blast. I'm always happy when they put our characters together. Because I think exciting things happen when our characters are together." Angel, now airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT Wednesdays, returned with original episodes on Jan. 15.

Hallett Upped At Angel

ndy Hallett, who plays green-skinned Lorne on The WB's Angel, told SCI FI Wire that he's becoming a regular cast member, starting with the vampire series' upcoming 14th episode. "They just announced it two days ago," Hallett said in an interview Jan. 11 during the network's winter press preview. "So you'll be seeing more of Lorne, which I never expected, by the way." Hallett, who had only been a recurring player, will also appear in revamped credits opening the show.

Hallett added, "I was originally signed on for, like, two episodes at the very beginning. And yesterday or the day before was my 48th episode. And then I got a wonderful call from [series co-creator] Joss Whedon, ... and I was absolutely stunned. He caught me totally off guard. And he said, 'I want to let you know that we're making you a regular for the back nine episodes of this season.' ... They've been using me a lot anyway, so I kind of anticipated being with them for the duration, but I really wasn't sure. So this just really solidified it." Angel airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT and returned with new episodes Jan. 15.

Buffy Mates Engaged

ngel co-star Alexis Denisof told SCI FI Wire that he became formally engaged to former Buffy the Vampire Slayer castmate Alyson Hannigan (Willow) over the Christmas break. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world right now," a beaming Denisof said in an interview at The WB's winter press preview. "Sorry. She's mine. All mine! Ha ha ha ha!"

Denisof, 36, who plays former Watcher Wesley Wyndam-Pryce on Angel, met Hannigan, 28, when they both appeared on UPN's Buffy, and the two have been dating since Denisof moved to The WB's Buffy spinoff series. He said he decided to propose while the two took a break from production for the holidays. "We were driving up to my family up in Seattle during the Christmas break from our shows," he said. "And I had the ring. And I had thought of a hundred different crazy, romantic, complicated plans of asking her. And at the end, I was just like, 'You know, I'm going to keep it simple, and I'll know when it's the right time.'"

Denisof added, "So I had the ring with me. .. It was burning a hole in the ... armrest of my car, where it was locked. And we drove all night from L.A. to get north of San Francisco, so we could spend the following day in Napa Valley. And we were just having the most perfect day. We stopped at a winery, and stopped at a Dean and Deluca and got some beautiful food to make a picnic, and then we drove up to a mountain lake in Napa Valley. And it was there that I asked her. And lucky for me, she said yes."

The couple have set a tentative September or October date for the nuptials, which will likely take place in California, Denisof said. Meanwhile, he said, "We're both working on our shows, and she's also doing the third American Pie movie, so ... I won't actually see her until March [laughs]. So if we can manage to plan a wedding, then we'll be doing pretty well, yeah. But we're shooting for September or October if possible." Angel aired an original episode in its new 9 p.m. ET/PT Wednesday timeslot on Jan. 15; Buffy airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Buffy Cast Ponders The End

he future of UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer depends on whether or not star Sarah Michelle Gellar comes back for an eighth season—a decision yet to come—but cast and crew told SCI FI Wire they have mixed feelings about returning themselves. Executive producer Marti Noxon said in an interview that she's leaving the door open to coming back. "I had really mixed feelings, and I think one of the reasons I wouldn't want to come back would just be that I feel like we're still doing a really, really good show, and if Sarah leaves and the show changes, it might be time to just say, 'Look, we left while it was still fantastic.'"

Noxon added that she and series creator Joss Whedon are looking at possible spinoffs should Gellar depart. "Honestly, there are many possibilities, and there's no one that's been decided on," she said. "But there is an exciting spinoff idea that Joss has that I think is really going to be exciting to people."

For his part, cast member James Marsters (Spike) said in an interview that he remains open to more seasons in the Buffyverse. "I'm interested in continuing with the show," he said. "Contractually, it depends on if it's still Buffy or not whether I'm committed to it. That's the legal sense. But artistically I'm interested in continuing with the writers and producers."

Alyson Hannigan (Willow) is preparing herself for Buffy to end, her fiance, Angel's Alexis Denisof, said. "I think that she feels that they've done it, you know?" he said in an interview. "I think that's the feeling around there for most people—that, you know, they've told those many stories that make that one big story. And so if it were to carry on, obviously, they'd all get excited about it, whatever the new ... incarnation of it would be, but I think she's preparing herself for this being the last year, because that's the sensible thing to do psychologically. And things are going pretty good outside that [for her]. So if a show has to end, and it's always sad when it does, for her, it's probably not a bad time for that to happen."

Nicholas Brendon (Xander) said in an interview that he remains gung ho. "Hang it up? Yeah, I don't know. Hey, listen, I'm having a great time," he said. "I haven't heard that people think that this should be the last year of the show. We are [technically] on year six, because our first year was [as] a midseason replacement. So if people think we should hang it up, well, then, fine, that's what they think. But I haven't heard anyone think ... that we should hang it up. We're having a great time, and it's still a great show. I would love to [do another season]. ... I think we have some great stuff in it still."

Buffy Future Uncertain

xecutives at both UPN and its parent, CBS, told reporters that no decision has been made on the future of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, currently in its seventh season. Star Sarah Michelle Gellar has hinted she might not come back after her contract expires at the end of the current season, but hasn't definitively said she's out.

"We've been in discussions with Joss Whedon, the creator, and 20th Century Fox, and we're talking about a wide range of different possibilities," Dawn Ostroff, UPN president of entertainment, told reporters at the network's winter press preview on Jan. 12. "So we don't have anything to announce yet, but we're talking about a lot of different things."

Added Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive officer of CBS, "One possibility, she comes back. One possibility, she comes back a couple of times. One possibility is we do a spinoff. Another possibility is we have a brand-new show Tuesday at 8 o'clock, and all of them right now are possible."

Networks Nix Firefly

hristopher Buchanan—president of Joss Whedon's production company, Mutant Enemy, which is behind Fox's defunct Firefly—told SCI FI Wire that ABC, CBS, NBC, UPN and the SCI FI Channel have all turned down deals to resurrect the SF series, at least so far. "The status of Firefly as of today is, ... the clock is running down in the fourth quarter, and we're 90 yards away from the goal line, and the Hail Mary is coming up," Buchanan said in an interview.

Fox put the low-rated series on indefinite hiatus after airing the show's two-hour pilot on Dec. 20, and creator Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has been frantically trying to find another home for the show. Buchanan said that the series' elaborate sets remain intact for now. Before wrapping, the show shot three original episodes that have yet to air.

"We've explored some of the networks and haven't really made a lot of progress," Buchanan said at UPN's winter press preview. Why? "The cost of the show, the timing, the fact that we didn't finish a full season and have other networks out there figuring out what they have in terms of pilots, what they have in terms of their own series cancellations. Timing is just horrible."

One problem is Firefly's cost: $2 million per episode, Buchanan said. But, he added, "Joss is completely committed to finding a home for it. And we're joking, we're saying puppet theater if need be. Because we just love our whole cast and crew and have had a great time on it. But we're on life support right now. It's pretty grim right now." A cable network is one possible venue. "We've gone so far as to explore the options in terms of, ... without going into great detail, everything from could we move the show to Canada? ... But the reality is, it's a pretty expensive show. And the budget would have to come down significantly. And just given [studio] 20th [Television]'s investment and all the people involved and stuff, it's pretty unlikely that we would go on, I think, in syndication."

Darkness Falls On Web

n a unique bit of Internet-based marketing, Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures will post the first 10 minutes of their upcoming supernatural thriller film Darkness Falls exclusively on Yahoo! Movies, beginning Jan. 15, Variety reported. The posting will be timed as darkness first hits the U.S. at approximately 4:48 p.m. ET, and the footage will be available through Jan. 17.

After viewing the Darkness sequence once, browsers will be able to view the footage again with a commentary from director Jonathan Liebesman, the trade paper reported.

Darkness Falls tells the story of Kyle Walsh (Chaney Kley), who returns home to confront his troubled past and save his childhood sweetheart, Caitlin (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Emma Caulfield), and her younger brother, Michael (Lee Cormie), from an unrelenting evil that has plagued the town of Darkness Falls for more than 150 years, the trade paper reported. The movie opens in theaters Jan. 24.

Potter V Already A Best Seller

ust two days after its June 21 release was announced on Jan. 15, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is topping best-seller lists, the Reuters news service reported. Online book store Amazon.com made J.K. Rowling's long-awaited sequel available for pre-order almost immediately after the announcement, without listing a price. Two hours later the book was the top seller on the site, Reuters said.

While Amazon.com did not release pre-order numbers, Reuters reported that the first-day figures were 100 times those of the last book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which set a record for the largest book pre-order in history at more than 400,000 orders prior to its release three years ago.

Industry leader Barnes & Noble told the news service that pre-orders have been pouring in to its Web site, bn.com, and announced that its brick-and-mortar stores across the United States will remain open until midnight on June 20 so that fans can purchase the book at the earliest possible opportunity.

Potter V Due June 21

arry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth in a series of novels by J.K. Rowling, finally has a release date: June 21 in the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Australia, Scholastic and Bloomsbury publishers announced. That will be nearly three years since the last Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, came out in July 2000 and went on to become one of the fastest-selling best-sellers in publishing history.

The long-awaited next installment in the global franchise is more than a third longer than Rowling's previous volume, which weighed in at more than 750 pages, the publishers said. Phoenix runs more than 255,000 words, compared with more than 191,000 words in Goblet. The new book is 38 chapters long, one more than Goblet, the publishers reported.

Scholastic and Bloomsbury also released excerpts of the book, which begins: "The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close, and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. ... The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flower bed outside number four."

Later, the book continues: "Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. 'It is time,' he said, 'for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.'"

Azkaban Helmer Speaks

lfonso Cuaron, who will direct the third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban, told The Hollywood Reporter that the sequel gets into more complex territory. "I don't know if 'dark' is the word for it, because there's a great deal of humor [in the third tale]," Cuaron told the trade paper. "I would say that rather than going into darker territory, it goes into more emotional territory. Because the characters are a little bit more grown up, the experience is completely different."

Cuaron added, "In the first two books, the fear was outside, like a boogeyman. But here, the fear comes from inside. When you're 13, you stop believing in the boogeyman and start dealing with the monsters inside."

Cuaron, who gained recognition last year for his sexually explicit Y Tu Mama Tambien, said his selection to replace director Chris Columbus shouldn't be a surprise. "I was kind of amused about the whole thing," he said. "Ever since I did A Little Princess, I've been looking for another family movie to do. And when I read this, I fell in love with it."

Guterman To Helm Fowl

arry Guterman (Cats & Dogs) has been tapped by Miramax Films to direct the upcoming Artemis Fowl, a movie based on Irish author Eoin Colfer's children's novel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Tribeca Films partners Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro will produce the movie, about a 12-year-old boy immersed in a world of fairies, leprechauns and gnomes, the trade paper reported.

Miramax Books publishes Fowl and its sequel, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident. Guterman previously struck a deal with New Line Cinema to direct the follow-up to 1994's The Mask.

Sonnenfeld Leaves Lemony

irector Barry Sonnenfeld has left Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events, a film adaptation of Daniel Handler's series of children's fantasy books, Variety reported. Paramount and Nickelodeon Films have partnered with DreamWorks on the film, with DreamWorks film principals Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Steven Spielberg taking the creative lead.

Sonnenfeld left after producer Scott Rudin walked off the project late last year in the wake of a budget battle, the trade paper reported. Jim Carrey is still on board as the film's star, subject to the hiring of a new director to his liking.

As for why Sonnenfeld left, the trade paper reported that the director doesn't get along with Parkes, who produced Sonnenfeld's Men in Black II. Sources told the trade paper that Sonnenfeld still expected to be the film's director, at least until his representatives were informed the studios would be replacing him. But Paramount vice chairman and chief operating officer Rob Friedman flatly denied that Sonnenfeld was axed, the trade paper reported.

Paramount hopes to have the project ready to go for a summer start date and a 2004 release.

Retro Hugos To Be Given

etrospective Hugo Awards, honoring works from 1953, will be presented as part of the 62nd World Science Fiction Convention in 2004, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors of America Web site reported. The Noreascon Four Committee made the announcement over the weekend.

Retrospective Hugo Awards may be awarded by a Worldcon held 50, 75 or 100 years after a Worldcon at which no Hugo Awards were presented. Retro Hugos will be awarded at Noreascon Four because none were awarded at the 1954 Worldcon, SFCon, in San Francisco, which would have recognized works from the year before, the site reported.

Noreascon Four will take place in Boston Sept. 2-6, 2004.

Roach Drops Hitchhiker's

in't It Cool reports that Austin Powers director Jay Roach has opted out of the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in favor of another, unnamed project. Contrary to earlier reports that the project has already been given the green light, a source in the U.K. told the site that it was "close to being green-lit" when Roach pulled out.

According to the source, producers are currently looking for a replacement for Roach in the form of "an established director that'll be happy to recreate Douglas Adams' vision of the story and not overpower the film with his or her own outlook on it."

Zone Goes Back To Future

roducers of UPN's The Twilight Zone told SCI FI Wire that the show next week will begin shooting a sequel to the classic 1959 episode "It's a Good Life," in which a 6-year-old Billy Mumy sent people to the cornfield—with a now-middle-aged Mumy reprising the role of Anthony Fremont and Cloris Leachman again playing his mother. In another twist, Mumy's real-life daughter, Liliana, will play Fremont's daughter, who also has paranormal abilities, in the new episode, called "It's Still a Good Life," the producers said.

"We just signed Cloris Leachman [to reprise the role] as his mother," executive producer Ira Steven Behr said in an interview. "We have Bill playing Anthony Fremont, [the] same character. He's going to be wishing people into the cornfields. And we meet his daughter in real life, Liliana Mumy, who's an actress who was in The Santa Clause 2. She's going to be playing his daughter on the show, who is also going to have those Fremont powers. So that's going to be a really exciting show, and I know the network is really excited about it." The episode is slated to air in February.

Behr added that the show will soon update another classic episode, Rod Serling's "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," this time starring Andrew McCarthy. The original episode, in which residents of a suburban neighborhood turn on each other, reflected the 1960s paranoia about communism. "In this case, it's the fear of terrorism," Behr said. "The big change in the show is ... that what was cutting-edge at the time was to suspect each other. ... Is your neighbor a communist? And in this one, ... instead of the whole neighborhood falling apart, it's everyone banding together to blame this one family. So it's kind of different. ... This is a show about the scapegoat. And I think that's what we do nowadays. We have a lot of problems that can't be solved, and we look for convenient scapegoats."

Added executive producer Pen Densham, "It doesn't go away, although I think in our world there's a whole new set of politics that are going on that makes the story relevant again. What Rod Serling did was to speak about issues through allegory or parable, and I think this is a parable that's just sort of come back again to be reviewed." The Twilight Zone airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Superman Rumors Fly

he Dark Horizons Web site has rounded up rumors concerning the proposed fifth Superman movie. First, Ain't It Cool News reported a rumor that Ashton Kutcher (Just Married), Kip Pardue (Rules of Attraction) and Barry Watson (TV's 7th Heaven) are in line for the title role, as is Josh Hartnett—but not Smallville's Tom Welling.

AICN also reported rumors that the project has been shut down for two months to fix script and budget problems, that director Brett Ratner isn't happy with preproduction and that there's a possibility the movie could be filmed in Canada.

Meanwhile, the 4Filmmakers Web site reported a rumor that Jude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) is another candidate for the title role.

Smallville Sparks To Fly

om Welling, who plays Clark Kent in The WB's Smallville, told SCI FI Wire to expect a few romantic sparks finally between his character and Chloe, played by Allison Mack, in an upcoming episode. "I don't know when it airs, but what happens is, she's affected by some sort of kryptonite, I'm affected by red kryptonite, and there are interesting situations that we're both in," Welling said in an interview at the network's winter press preview.

Welling added, "The triangle of Chloe and Lana [Kristin Kreuk] and Clark, ... that's going to get quite tense in the not-too-distant future. It's like a time bomb waiting to happen. I don't know what direction it's going to go, but it's definitely something to keep a close eye on."

In a separate interview, Mack said that shooting her clinch with Welling wasn't all fun and games. "Romantic scenes, when you're doing a television show, ... or on camera at all, are bizarre," she said. "You have, like, 40 people standing around staring you. It's so technical, about where you're placing your head and where the camera is looking at you. ... It's not romantic at all." Smallville airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT Tuesdays.

Reeve Up For More Smallville

lfred Gough, co-creator and executive producer of The WB's Smallville, told SCI FI Wire that Christopher Reeve, the Superman film actor who will guest star in an upcoming episode, could become a recurring player in the show next year. "Absolutely," Gough said at the winter television press preview in Hollywood. "And he is open to doing that."

Reeve, who played Superman in four feature films, will shoot a guest spot in New York next week with star Tom Welling for the teen-Superman series, playing Dr. Swann, a character who gives Clark Kent (Welling) a crucial piece of information about his origins, Gough said. Reeve's episode is slated to air in mid-February.

But Reeve's character could become a recurring element in the show's third season, Gough said. "We had a wonderful 45-minute conversation with" Reeve, he said. "Sort of pitched him the character and the character's sort of role, not only in the episode, but also in the series, because every hero needs a wise man. And that's really his role in the show. It's sort of the passing of the torch from one generation of Superman to the next." Smallville airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Spidey's MJ Grows Up

isa Loeb, the pop singer who will voice the character of Mary Jane Watson in MTV's upcoming computer-animated Spider-Man series, told SCI FI Wire that her MJ will be a little more grown up than the character in last year's hit film. "I did see the movie after we'd already done a number of episodes," Loeb said in an interview. "I feel like the new version of MJ in the animated series is more edgy. She's more independent."

Loeb added, "She's more secure. ... She's like on an even par with the guys. She's still feminine, but she's one of the guys. She's not like the girl character, which I think is good. That resonates more with me and, I think, with a lot of women."

Loeb plays opposite Neil Patrick Harris as Peter Parker and Ian Ziering as Harry Osborn in the series, which she said is slated to debut in the spring, possibly April. "We did all 13" episodes already, she said. "And we're going to see a preview on Thursday ... of one of the episodes. I've seen bits and pieces of the animation, and it's incredible. It looks really cool. And I also like the show so far, because I feel like the characters are more developed than in the movie, and I feel like, maybe it's because of their age difference. They're now in college. But they're more edgy. They're more independent. There's more humor, I think, which I think will appeal to people. It appealed to me."

Unlike other animated series, Loeb and the other cast members recorded their voice parts together, she added. "We did it almost like a radio play, you know, where everybody's there? But every once in a while, because of my touring schedule, I'd have to come in and do an episode here or there by myself, which also works out."

Farrell Hits Daredevil's Bullseye

olin Farrell, who plays the villainous Bullseye in the upcoming Daredevil movie, told SCI FI Wire that he was happy filmmakers opted not to put him in spandex. "I don't know if I would've done it if I'd had to wear blue tights all over my body for the two months," Farrell said in an interview. "They did me a favor."

In the movie, which is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, Farrell plays an evil henchman. In the comics, the character wears a blue costume, but for the movie, director Mark Steven Johnson "wanted to make it more rock 'n' roll-y, so he did me a big favor, because I would've been dead in those tights," Farrell said. Instead, Farrell will sport a bullseye on his forehead, another departure from the comic book. "That took only 10 minutes every morning," he said. "It was a gelatin. They had printed out gelatin molds, bullseyes they just glued to my forehead."

Farrell also got to learn fight choreography from master Cheung-Yan Yuen, who designed the film's wirework battles. "Cheung-Yan Yuen, the master, he was doing it and [spoke] not a word of English," Farrell said. "You'd have [to listen to] his translator. We did quite a bit of wirework, and he choreographed all the fights, and he's great. He's a genius. It was quite fun to do, quite fun to see that aspect of it. A lot of waiting around, though." Daredevil opens Feb. 14.

Enterprise Deals With AIDS

olene Blalock, who plays T'Pol in UPN's Enterprise, told SCI FI Wire that an upcoming episode will deal with an AIDS-themed story. "Our writers wrote an episode called 'Stigma,' in which T'Pol [Blalock] is dealing with an ailment that's very similar to AIDS," the actress said in an interview. "I had no control over who was going to play the sick character in the episode, so I was glad they went with T'Pol."

Blalock added, "It's one thing to have a story where you see a character who's sick and dealing with it, and it's another to see how a character contracts the disease. And we do show how. She contracts the disease through a mind-meld, and there's a lot of shame concerning the act," which, in the Star Trek timeline, isn't yet a common practice.

Viewers, however, will not see T'Pol appear physically ill. "They wanted to keep it along the lines of the actual disease," Blalock says. "A lot of people walking around right now have AIDS or the HIV virus, and you wouldn't know it. So the decision was made not to have me look sickly. That helps eliminate the sympathy factor, and I'm really happy about that. It's not about feeling sorry for T'Pol." "Stigma" will air Feb. 5 on UPN.

Fountain Alive Again?

he Fox News Web site reported that Pi director Darren Aronofsky's ambitious SF epic film, Fountain, may still be alive, though Warner Brothers pulled the plug last summer, just before shooting began in Australia. Aronofsky recently told Fox columnist Roger Friedman that the movie was still a possibility.

Fountain faltered when star Brad Pitt left to appear in Warner's Troy. Aronofsky's last movie, the haunted submarine film Below, sank like a stone after its release last fall. Aronofsky co-produced and wrote that movie, but chose not to direct it, Fox reported.

Lucas Talks Episode III

tar Wars creator George Lucas told Fox News' Web site that he's mapped out the storyline for his upcoming third prequel. "I know what I want to do," Lucas told columnist Roger Friedman. "It was mapped out from my original writing for 30 years. But still, you have these two pieces—[Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the] Clones and [Episode] IV [the original Star Wars]—and you have to make them fit together. You're going to see a lot about Anakin and Luke and Princess Leia's mother, all the adults. And of course, Luke and Leia will be infants in it."

Once Lucas wraps the upcoming Episode III after 2005, he said that he'll focus on more personal films. "I'm going to go from complete success to complete failure," he said. "I'm going to make a bunch of movies like [THX 1138]," referring to his 1971 SF movie. "And if people don't like it, too bad. There will be no Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan for me. There won't be any big dramas or Oscars."

Paramount Readies Soldier

orenzo di Bonaventura will team with Hyde Park's Ashok Amritraj and Jon Jashni to produce The Next Soldier, an SF action film, for Paramount, Variety reported. The movie tells the story of a battle among four young test pilots in high-tech exoskeleton battle armor and a renegade military machine that has run amuck, the trade paper reported.

Jared Butler and Lars Norberg are writing the script, which is described as The Matrix meets Independence Day.

Blair Gets Hellboy Input

elma Blair, who will play Firestarter in the upcoming film version of Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic series, told SCI FI Wire that she was put in charge of creative decisions for her character. That includes helping design her wardrobe. "That's something I'll have to work on as I go, just simple things like going back and forth deciding my wardrobe eight different times, like what I want her to be," Blair said in an interview.

Blair added, "Is she going to be a regular girl that's struggling? Is she wearing someone else's wardrobe? Little things are getting me stumped, because it is really strange having the say-so, to have the lead role when I can create this girl. I don't have to go by someone else's boundaries of how to protect our leading girl or something. So it is pretty amazing that I can flip around in my head a million ways [issues such as] where do I want her clothes to come from? She's in a mental hospital. Am I going to steal them? Am I going to sew them? Am I going to buy them at the first store I go into? I have so many choices."

Blair said that she has been studying the Hellboy comics to do her best for director Guillermo del Toro. "When I first was offered this part, I immediately did my research," she said. "I would do anything for Guillermo. He has a vision, and he wrote this and directed this, and he's very careful about who he's casting. And I really consider him an artist, and ... something I want to do now is really be careful about the directors I'm working with. It's time to raise the stakes."

After playing the dumped girl in several romantic comedies, Blair was also excited to get the female lead in a movie. "I get the guy in the end," she said. "Do I ever!" Hellboy begins production in the spring of 2003 for a summer 2004 release.

ABC Preps Rose Prequel

BC is developing The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, a telefilm based on the book of the same name that was released as a prequel tie-in to the network's hit supernatural miniseries Rose Red, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Written by Ridley Pearson as a first-person account by young Ellen Rimbauer, the diary documents the eerie events in the house built by her husband, oil magnate John Rimbauer, in 1907 and features many of the Rose Red characters.

Lisa Brenner and Steven Brand (The Scorpion King) have been cast to play Ellen and John Rimbauer in the project from the team behind Rose Red, with Craig Baxley back to direct, Mark Carliner to executive produce and Thomas Brodek to produce, the trade paper reported.

Though actually penned by novelist Pearson, the best-selling Diary was marketed as having been written by Rimbauer and edited by Stephen King and Rose Red's central character, psychology professor Joyce Reardon (Nancy Travis). Pearson wrote the script for the ABC movie. It is not clear at this point if King, writer/executive producer of Rose Red, will be involved in Diary, which co-stars Kate Burton and Brad Greenquist, the trade paper reported.

Touched By Angel Ends

fter nine seasons on the air, CBS will end Touched by an Angel during May sweeps, the Zap2it Web site reported. The show's executive producer, Martha Williamson, who is already developing a new series for the network, told the site that the show will wrap with a finale that will include some depiction of heaven.

The show stars Roma Downey and Della Reese as angels sent back to Earth to let troubled souls know they aren't alone. John Dye was added to the cast in 1996 as the Angel of Death, and Valerie Bertinelli joined in 2001 as a new angel who needs to be shown the ropes, the site reported.

The finale will likely be two hours long and air either as a two-hour event or over two consecutive weeks, the site added.

People Choose Rings, Spidey

he Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring tied Spider-Man as the favorite motion picture in the 29th annual People's Choice Awards, which were handed out on live TV Jan. 12. A list of genre winners follows.

Favorite Motion Picture Actor

•Mel Gibson

Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture

•The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Favorite Motion Picture

•tie between The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and Spider-Man

Red Faction II Improved

ame publisher THQ announced that it will release PC, Xbox and GameCube versions of its futuristic Red Faction II in March, with improvements over the current PlayStation 2 incarnation, the GameSpot Web site reported. The GameCube version of Red Faction II, which is in development at THQ's Cranky Pants Games studio, will feature custom animations, improved texture resolution and color, as well as enhanced lighting specific to the console's hardware, the site reported.

The Xbox and PC versions of the game, which are both being developed by THQ's Outrage Games studio, will boast increased texture resolution and exclusive additional multiplayer maps and character models.

Red Faction II is a futuristic first-person shooter in which players assume the role of a nanotech-enhanced soldier named Alias.

Pirates Gets Supernatural

erry Bruckheimer, producer of the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie, told SCI FI Wire that he wanted to add a supernatural element to the story, based on Disney's theme-park ride of the same name. "Disney came to me and said, 'We're going to make this movie, Pirates of the Caribbean,' and I wasn't nuts about the script," Bruckheimer said in an interview. "I said it was an interesting idea, and there were some elements of the script that are great, and we brought in the two writers who wrote Shrek and Zorro [Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio]. They're really smart and have written some terrific movies. They turned it into something that's more supernatural and really fascinating. The pirates are cursed, and that really excited me."

The pirates' curse will lead to what Bruckheimer promises will be groundbreaking visual effects. "What happens is they stole this cursed treasure, and unless they put the treasure back, they never die, they can't enjoy life, they can't enjoy food or sex," he said. "All they want to do is plunder and get more and more gold, and in the moonlight they turn into skeletons. So you can just imagine the effects. [Industrial Light & Magic] is doing the effects. [Director] Gore Verbinski, who did Mouse Hunt, The Ring and The Mexican, is very imaginative. He's working with ILM, and I've never seen skeletons like this, because they have actual features and pieces of flesh, costumes still on. So it's just fascinating." The Pirates of the Caribbean opens July 9.

Monsters Come To PS2

he GameSpot Web site reported that Konami is currently working on an action/fighting game for the PlayStation 2 based on classic and original monsters designed by artist Todd McFarlane.
McFarlane's Monsters will feature a variety of environments and creatures including Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the werewolf and others, the site said. The game is due to be released for the Playstation 2 game system in the fall of 2003.

Shrek Attraction Announced

niversal Studios has announced that it will open an attraction based on the animated movie Shrek at its theme park locations in California, Florida and Japan, according to the Associated Press. The film's stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow will provide voices for the attraction, called Shrek 4-D.

Universal and DreamWorks Pictures are producing the film, which will be shown in a special castlelike theater with seats capable of vertical and horizontal motion, the news service reported. Park guests will don special "OgreVision" eyeglasses to watch the 15-minute film, which will be combined with in-theater effects, the service said.

Trek Shattered Universe Coming

DK Mediactive announced that it will release Star Trek Shattered Universe, a video game set in the mirror universe of the original series, for the PlayStation 2 console system in the summer. StarSphere developed the title, which is described as a dark and edgy, high-energy space combat action game.

Gamers will find themselves having to adapt to the new reality, in which the Federation is an evil and relentless foe. The game takes place shortly after the events of the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and centers on the U.S.S. Excelsior, under the command of Capt. Sulu, which finds itself trapped in the mirror universe.

D&D Heroes Site Opens

tari announced the launch of the official Web site for Dungeons & Dragons Heroes, its upcoming four-person multiplayer co-op video game. The site features downloads, news, images, background and links related to the title.

D&D Heroes is due in June for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Xbox gaming systems.

Briefly Noted

Former Witchblade star Yancy Butler faces a Suffolk County court hearing next month on charges she struck two family members and a police officer in three separate incidents, Newsday reported.

El Paso resident Terri Donawell has started an online campaign to name a stretch of interstate highway for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, according to the StarTrek.com Web site. Donawell previously succeeded in a campaign to designate Oct. 4 as "Gene Roddenberry Day," a celebration which included the dedication of a planetarium in the late author's name last year.

Veteran stage actor Roger Bart has joined the cast of Paramount's upcoming The Stepford Wives, Variety reported. Bart will play star Nicole Kidman's gay confidant in the Frank Oz-directed remake of the 1975 film.

Julie Andrews will voice the character of Princess Fiona's mother in the upcoming animated sequel Shrek 2, the Dark Horizons Web site reported. Andrews joins a voice cast which includes Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy, who all reprise their roles from the original, and John Cleese, who will provide the voice of Fiona's father.

The FilmJerk Web site reported that the third Spy Kids movie will begin a 12-week shoot this month, with a new character called Rez and a plot involving virtual reality.

The FilmJerk Web site reported that Will Smith's computer-generated partner in the upcoming I, Robot movie will be Sonny, the newest in a series of robots in the year 2050 and an ethereal, thoughtful, soft-spoken and kind cyber-being of the future.

The IGN FilmForce Web site posted an image of the new logo for the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film, which opens July 11.

Coming Soon reported that the horror movie Willard has moved up to March 21 and the fantasy remake Freaky Friday has been delayed to Aug. 1.

Melissa Joan Hart, star of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, is engaged to rocker Mark Wilkerson of the band Course of Nature, the Associated Press reported. Wilkerson proposed the day after Christmas, and no wedding date has been set.

The official Lord of the Rings Web site has been updated with a behind-the-scenes featurette about the creation of Gollum in the current Two Towers film.

Dance of the Vampires, a campy Broadway musical starring Michael Crawford, will close just a month after it opened, Reuters reported. The rock musical will close on Jan. 25 after 61 preview performances and just 56 regular performances.

The Supreme Court on Jan. 15 upheld lengthier copyrights protecting the profits of songs, books and cartoon characters, a victory for Disney and other companies and a blow to Internet publishers and others who wanted to make old books available online and use the likenesses of a Mickey Mouse cartoon and other old creations without paying high royalties, the Washington Post reported.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring took home five awards at the DVD Premiere Awards ceremony on Jan. 14, including the award for overall new extra features (new release), Variety reported.

The Dead Zone debuted on The New VI in Canada on Jan. 15 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Making its Canadian premiere on CHUM Television across the country, the psychological thriller will also air on The New VR, The New RO, The New PL, The New WI and The New NX and on SPACE: The Imagination Station, Jan. 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Yahoo! Movies has posted concept art from its upcoming live-action Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which opens July 9.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Minority Report and the SCI FI Channel's original miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken were among the film and television nominees for excellence in production design by the Art Directors Guild, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Notwithstanding statements by Warner Brothers that no decision has been made, Entertainment Weekly reported that British actor Michael Gambon would play Dumbledore in Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. Gambon's agent told the magazine, "They've offered, and he wants to do it."

Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg finally got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Jan. 10, directly in front of the Kodak Theater, the new home of the Academy Awards, Reuters reported.

The American Cinema Editors has tapped producer Kathleen Kennedy (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park) as this year's recipient of its ACE Golden Eddie award, making her the first woman to receive the honor, Variety reported. The award will be presented at the 53rd annual ACE Eddie Awards ceremony, Feb. 23 in Beverly Hills.

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