Ellison Crusades Against AOL
F author Harlan Ellison is pressing ahead with a lawsuit against America Online for copyright infringement, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Ellison charges that the Internet company didn't act fast enough when a fan posted some of his stories without permission on an online forum carried by the service. America Online says it's not to blame and that it removed the stories once it was aware of them, the newspaper reported.
While he is seeking money from America Online, Ellison told the newspaper that the suit is more a crusade to hold Internet service providers accountable for material pirated by their users.
In March 2002, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ruled that the company wasn't liable. Ellison appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ellison's lawyers initially sought as much as $488 million from AOL, according to a court filing. But in his deposition, Ellison said he wants only "to get recompensed for the money I laid out," plus what his contributors gave and an extra $20 for each donor, the newspaper reported.
Gaiman Reveals MirrorMask
uthor-turned-screenwriter Neil Gaiman and visual artist-turned-director Dave McKean revealed details and images from their upcoming feature-film collaboration MirrorMask in a panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
"There is a girl called Helena," Gaiman said. "She's part of a circus family, the Campbell Family Circus. She juggles, and she sells popcorn, and she really does not long to be in the circus, and she would quite like to run away and join real life."
Gaiman described the story to an audience of around 4,500 conventioneers, while McKean displayed a series of computer-generated images that were projected onto the big screen from his laptop. "Helena has a dream, or something that may not quite be a dream, in which she gets to try and sort everything out for herself in her own way," Gaiman said. "It's a dream in which she winds up in this very strange land, which is divided into the light kingdom and the dark kingdom. ... And there are all sorts of peculiar adventures to be had."
Gaiman said that the project was originally conceived by executive producer Lisa Henson of Jim Henson Pictures, who wanted to develop a new film that could equal the cult status of the company's earlier works. "The whole thing all started with a phone call from Lisa," Gaiman said. "She said that TriStar had noticed that The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, far from being the financial failures that they were commonly perceived to be, actually had become these rock-solid, perennial sellers that people bought on video and then bought on DVD.'"
Henson, a longtime friend of Gaiman's, saw a short film directed by McKean and contacted Gaiman about the project, based on his close working relationship with the artist. "She said, 'Do you think we could get Dave McKean to direct the film for no money if we promised him that basically it's being made on so little money that you can actually do something really cool and creative?'" Gaiman said. "And then Lisa said to me, 'Obviously, we couldn't afford you to write it, but maybe you could come up with a story, and we'll find a writer.' And I said that if Dave was going to direct it, I was going to be writing it, and we weren't going to talk about that bit anymore." MirrorMask is scheduled for worldwide theatrical release in 2004.
Maguire Rebuts Spidey Reports
obey Maguire, who reprises the role of Peter Parker in the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2, gave his version of the controversial events surrounding his hiring in an interview with SCI FI Wire.
Maguire denied widespread reports—including articles in the Los Angeles Times, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter—that he was nearly dropped from the project after his representatives raised the issue of his bad back.
"It's not true that I was fired," Maguire said in an interview. "Basically, I had some concerns, as did the studio, because the level of stunts are so much greater on the second picture than the first, and we both wanted to make sure I could do it. So we went through some tests in terms of me getting into harnesses and performing some of the stunts. We were pretty close to production. So I think things got blown out of proportion. We were three weeks out, and we were making sure—or you could say questioning—whether I was able to do it. After I did the tests, we all felt good about it, and off we went."
The papers reported that Maguire suffered injuries on Seabiscuit, in which he plays a horse jockey. For his part, Maguire said that he's always had a lower-back problem. "It was pre-existing," he said. "It wasn't on [Seabiscuit]. And it's just been something that has come and gone over a few years. Nothing I did on the film really hurt my back, and since [then], it's gotten a lot better."
On May 11, the Times reported that Maguire was trying to get more money for the sequel. Maguire flatly denied that assertion. "That's an invention of a journalist," he said.
Maguire said that he is exhausted as a result of his weight-training regimen for Spider-Man 2, on top of daily shooting. "Just working 14 hours a day, and you're only getting six hours of sleep a night, and then after your workday, you've got to come home and do a workout, you get a little tired," he said. "But I'm OK. I'm just saying [that before shooting begins], I'm working out three hours a day, six days a week. Then you get on the picture, and you can't quite do that, because you just don't have the energy to, and it wouldn't be wise to [do so] anyway, because your muscles fatigue." Spider-Man 2 is scheduled for a July 2, 2004, release.
Alias Surprises Coming
lias co-star Greg Grunberg (Weiss) told E! Online's Watch With Kristin that the ABC show's upcoming third-season premiere will contain big surprises.
"I got the first script yesterday, and I absolutely freaked out," Grunberg told the columnist. "At the end of the first episode, there is something revealed to Sydney and to us that is so shocking my wife, Elizabeth, screamed when I told her. This reveal is so huge I don't know how Sydney [Jennifer Garner] will deal with it."
Grunberg added that almost every major character, including Jack Bristow (Victor Garber), has gone through a life change, many of which were a result of thinking Sydney was dead.
David Anders (Sark), meanwhile, told the site to expect a "David Bowie-like villain." Kevin Weisman (Marshall) added that David Bowie himself might land the role. "I know David has expressed interest in doing the show," Weisman said. "But they're trying to work it out. He's a very busy man. He's a rock star!"
Grunberg added that Merrin Dungey (Francie/evil Francie) will be coming back for a few episodes. "Hopefully a bunch of episodes, but Bradley Cooper [Will] has some great opportunities coming at him, so I don't know," he said. "We're all saying 'Damn him!' because we love him so much."
Enterprise Meets The Xindi
rannon Braga, executive producer of UPN's Enterprise, told SCI FI Wire that that viewers can expect to see five species of the Xindi, the new alien threat facing Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) and his crew, in the show's upcoming third season.
"Our five Xindi species are a Xindi humanoid; a Xindi reptilian; the Xindi sloth, which is evolved from a furry, arboreal creature, an arboreal primate; the Xindi insectoid; and the Xindi aquatics," Braga said in an interview.
The humanoid, reptilian and sloth Xindi will be portrayed by actors in
prosthetics and costumes, Braga said. The Xindi insectoids and aquatics will be computer-generated.
"We're calling them the Xindi aquatics, and they're like dolphins and
whales," Braga said. "When they're in meetings, they have to live in a big tank, in a big and murky tank. When the aquatics and the insectoids speak, of course, there's going to have to be subtitles, because the languages are just too weird."
Enterprise will come in contact with all five Xindi species, but the aliens likely won't act in unison. "There are going to be some questions as to which Xindi species believes it's the dominant species, as you might imagine would happen in a situation like that," Braga said. "In some ways Star Trek lives or dies by how interesting its alien villains are, and I think the Xindi are an interesting concept." UPN will re-launch Enterprise in September, with
a season opener appropriately entitled "The Xindi."
Trek Bosses Defend Franchise
ick Berman and Brannon Braga, the executive producers of UPN's Enterprise and de facto keepers of the Star Trek flame, found themselves on the defensive in a discussion with reporters about the franchise's health.
Signs of trouble include the recent box-office failure of the 10th Star Trek movie, Nemesis; the declining ratings of Enterprise; and the recent lawsuit by game publisher Activision against Viacom, claiming that the company and Paramount have allowed the franchise to "stagnate." The future of Trek has been the subject of magazine stories in TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly, among others.
So the two producers found themselves defending their work and the new direction Enterprise is slated to take as it begins its third season in the fall. "I don't think the franchise is in trouble," Berman told reporters at UPN's fall press preview in Hollywood. He added, "Viacom and Paramount have been very supportive of what we do, both in terms of the television shows that we produce and the movies that we produce."
As for Enterprise, which is taking a bold new direction, Leslie Moonves—chairman and chief executive of UPN's parent, CBS—denied to reporters that the company was close to a drastic change such as taking it off the air and coming back later with an entirely new Trek series. "I don't think we were close to it," he said. "Everything is talked about. And obviously, we looked at all permutations. And as [UPN president] Dawn [Ostroff] said, we looked at our research, we talked to the producers, we talked to the studio, and we felt this was the best plan."
For his part, Braga told reporters, "I don't think creatively we were doing anything wrong. It can be debated from many different angles whether there are problems with the show. There are many people that love the show. We're very proud of the show, but we did feel that after a couple of seasons, it was time to do something differently." So why did viewers bail last year? "Don't know," Braga said matter-of-factly. "Don't know."
Enterprise returns to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, starting Sept. 10.
Enterprise Changes Revealed
roducers and cast of UPN's Enterprise revealed details to SCI FI Wire about the show's coming seachange as it enters its third season, including new cast members, evolution of key characters and a dramatic new story arc.
The series' new direction was set in motion in last season's finale, when a new alien threat—the Xindi—revealed themselves, and Enterprise set off into the dangerous Delphic Expanse to confront them.
"What you see are guys that have spent the entire hiatus trying to position the show and new scripts and new ideas, and they're rethinking everything," star Scott Bakula (Capt. Archer) said in an interview at UPN's fall press preview. "I'm saying to them every day, 'Think out of the box.' ... And they're saying, 'Let's do this.' And everybody is doing that. They spent all of their energy creating this new place. And now they're peopling it. And we're discovering it."
Executive producers Brannon Braga and Rick Berman and the cast revealed several key changes in interviews and during a press conference on July 22:
•The Enterprise crew will be joined by new characters, members of Military Assault Command Operations, or MACO. "They're kind of semi-recurring and will be used on certain away missions," Braga said. Those characters have yet to be cast.
•Archer will get a little darker, a bit more driven in his mission to stop the Xindi. "The idea of being the peaceful 'We-come-in-friendship' [guy], ... that guy is gone," Bakula said.
•T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) will no longer be under the control of the Vulcan High Command and will begin to explore emotions and humanity. She'll also get a new look: new hair, new costumes. "We've got color, and that's always exciting," Blalock said.
•Trip (Connor Trinneer) will grieve for his sister and struggle to balance a need for revenge with his sense of duty to Starfleet. Seeking help from T'Pol, he may find himself more intimately involved with her than ever before.
•The Temporal Cold War and the Suliban storyline will become an integral part of the Xindi arc later in the season, Berman said.
Enterprise returns to Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, starting Sept. 10.
Trek's Jefferies Dies
alter "Matt" Jefferies, the art director who designed the original Star Trek starship Enterprise for series creator Gene Roddenberry, died in the early hours of July 21, the official StarTrek.com Web site reported.
He was 82. No cause of death was reported, but Jefferies had been battling cancer and had recently been given the all-clear by doctors, the site reported.
As an art director for the original series, Jefferies sketched and conceived of the configuration for the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 and its bridge. Jefferies' career and contributions to the Trek franchise are the subject of a new documentary, recently screened at Paramount for family and friends and to be included on the forthcoming Star Trek: Generations collector's edition DVD expected next year, the TrekWeb site reported.
Jefferies was also the inspiration for the franchise's ubiquitous "Jefferies Tubes" on Trek starships. The current Trek series, UPN's Enterprise, recently paid homage to the designer with reference to a Capt. Jefferies in the second-season episode "First Flight," TrekWeb reported.
Jefferies is survived by his wife, Mary Ann.
Anderson OK After Fall
ormer The X-Files star Gillian Anderson suffered no serious injuries in a fall in her London Home, her official Web site reported.
"True: She slipped on the stairs," the site reported. "False: She is not seriously injured. She has no fractures or sprains."
The British Daily Mirror newspaper reported on July 22 that Anderson was taken to a local hospital after her fall. But her Web site reported that she was released after a checkup at the hospital and is now back at home, "safe and sound."
King Reshoots Described
ean Astin (Sam) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) told SCI FI Wire that they just returned from New Zealand, where they were reshooting some scenes for the upcoming third Lord of the Rings film, The Return of the King.
"We just got back about two weeks ago from about a month of reshoots, which is cool," Monaghan said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "Kind of bizarre to keep going back there and revisiting these characters. Merry's off on his own now, you know, so the majority of stuff that I do is on my own. Kind of freaky."
Astin said in an interview that he shot some key new scenes over a period of eight or nine days, but declined to reveal their content. "We shot a couple of things," he said. "We did additional scenes. New scenes."
Monaghan said his reshoots involved "finessing" things. "Some scenes with Gandalf [Ian McKellen] and Pippin [Billy Boyd], where Pippin and Gandalf head off to Minas Tirith, we kind of fleshed out those scenes a little bit," he said. "A little bit of Merry on the battlefield, we kind of finessed a bit of that. And Merry and Éowyn [Miranda Otto] and Merry and Théoden [Bernard Hill] stuff. But nothing too huge. Just drawing out a scene and giving it a little weight."
Monaghan said that almost the entire cast has been back to New Zealand to pick up shots. "We were just enjoying being together again, hanging out and working," he said. "When I turned up, there was a bunch. It was me, Elijah [Wood, who plays Frodo]; Billy; Viggo [Mortensen, who plays Aragorn]; Ian McKellen; Sean Astin; [and] Andy Serkis [Gollum]. I felt more sorry for like, Orlando [Bloom, who plays Legolas; he] had to go on his own. Christopher Lee [Saruman] ... turned up when we were just about to leave. ... So we still had that kind of camaraderie going on. Yeah, it was sad, but we had fun, man. We had so much fun down there." Return of the King opens Dec. 17.
McG To Helm Superman?
he IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that Charlie's Angels director McG is once again in line to helm Warner
Brothers' long-in-development new Superman movie.
Citing anonymous sources, the site reported that McG, aka Joseph McGinty Nichol, has signed on to direct the film and that he is now working with screenwriter J.J. Abrams (Alias) on further development of the script.
Sources also told IGN FilmForce that McG's first
choice to play Lois Lane is his Charlie's Angel star and producer Drew Barrymore.
Harris Joins Evil Cast
ared Harris has been added to the cast of Screen Gems/Constantin Film's upcoming zombie sequel film Resident Evil: Apocalypse for director Alexander Witt, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Evil begins production Aug. 11 in Toronto.
Harris will play Dr. Ashford, a wheelchair-bound genius who has developed a formula to create superhumans, the trade paper reported. Ashford's formula falls into the wrong hands and is used to create supersoldiers. Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr and Sienna Guillory also star in the sequel to the video-game based Resident Evil.
Punisher Cast Set
amantha Mathis and Will Patton will lead the cast of Artisan Entertainment/Marvel Studios' comic-book movie The Punisher for director Jonathan Hensleigh, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Production starts Aug. 2 in Tampa, Fla., with Thomas Jane in the title role of Frank Castle, the trade paper reported.
James Carpinello, Mark Collie, Ben Foster, John Pinette, Eddie Jamison and Russell Andrews have also signed on, joining John Travolta, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Laura Harring. Punisher is based on Marvel Comics' vigilante hero, who dispenses harsh justice to criminals after his wife and children are slain by the mob, the trade paper reported.
Mathis will play Amanda Castle, the tough, beautiful wife of Jane's character. Patton is set to star as Leonard Glass, the right-hand man of villain Howard Saint (Travolta). Carpinello will play Saint's son, John Saint. Collie will play the evil assassin Harry Heck. Foster stars as Spacker Dave, and Pinette as Mr. Bumpo, both friends of Frank Castle. Jamison will play Nicky Duka, and Andrews will be FBI agent Jimmy Weeks, the trade paper reported.
Mignola Blesses Hellboy
ike Mignola—who created the Dark Horse Comics series Hellboy—told SCI FI Wire that he was gratified by director Guillermo del Toro's determination to remain true to his creation for the upcoming film adaptation.
"Not only did he understand Hellboy, but he understood everything that went into the making of Hellboy," Mignola said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "And he said, 'I want to make the Last Emperor of cheesy monster movies.' And I said, 'Wow, if there's any formula to what I do, that might be it.' And that's, I think, what he's making."
Initially, Mignola gave del Toro free rein to do his own version of the character. But the director insisted on preserving Mignola's style and vision for the film. "I think from the very first conversation I said, 'Listen, I've done my version. I've done it my way. You do whatever you want,'" Mignola said. "'I've seen the Mike Mignola Hellboy, go make the Guillermo del Toro Hellboy.' And he wanted to make the Mike Mignola Hellboy. But he can't help but have the del Toro-isms in there. So I think it's a really interesting mix of a del Toro picture and a del Toro/Mignola picture. And there's scenes where it's literally a Mignola character and a del Toro character beating the crap out of each other."
Hellboy actually represents the second film collaboration for del Toro and Mignola, who worked together previously on Blade II. Mignola said that del Toro gave him a generous amount of creative design input in his role as visual consultant on both films. "I'm his wrist," Mignola said. "He said, 'I've got an idea for a costume. I've got an idea for a set. I've got this. I've got that.' On Blade II, and on this, I was involved before there was an actual production designer. So I would work really, really closely with him for two or three months. And by the time the production designer came in, we've got this body of work to turn over. And some of it will change radically, other things will stay very much the same. ... It's nice, because I was the guy to redesign my guy. And a lot of this is stuff that I went, 'Wow, that's really cool. I wish I had thought of that for the comic.'" Hellboy is eyeing a May 2004 release.
Deathlok Locks Helmer
ee Tamahori (Die Another Day) has come aboard to direct a big-screen version of the Marvel Comics series Deathlok for Paramount Pictures and Avi Arad's Marvel Studios, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
There is no start date for the project yet.
Deathlok, written by Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner, deals with a suburban family man who is unwittingly made a test subject for technology research that slowly turns him into a living computer, the trade paper reported.
Arad is producing the project with Steven Paul and his Crystal Sky Productions. Marvel and Paramount first joined forces on Deathlok two years ago, marking their first collaboration together, the trade paper reported.
DeSanto Talks Transformers
om DeSanto—the X2 producer who is also producing a proposed live-action Transformers movie—told SCI FI Wire that the film will make use of both computer and practical effects for the signature machines and will be based primarily on the original 1980s lineup.
"We're working on the storyline for Transformers, and we're hopefully going to set that up," DeSanto said in an interview at Comic-Con International over the weekend. "We're going to start going out to studios."
DeSanto also said that he and producing partner Don Murphy are close to hiring a director. "We've been talking with several now," he said. "But we have a big guy next week." He declined to comment on a report on IGN FilmForce that quoted Murphy saying that the candidates include Michael Bay, Robert Zemeckis and Joseph Kahn.
The movie will go "back to sort of the roots" of the franchise, DeSanto said. "But if there's something great that ends up from a later storyline, it's the same principle as X-Men: Don't try to follow continuity, but get to the heart and the soul of what made it work."
As for the effects, DeSanto said, "I think relying 100 percent on CGI would be a mistake. But, you know, you need CGI. ... You will believe that an 18-wheeler will transform."
Gibson Screens Passion
el Gibson screened a two-hour rough cut of his controversial movie The Passion for a gaggle of Washington insiders on July 23, the Washington Post reported.
The audience included pundits, clergymen, Web gossip columnist Matt Drudge and Hollywood lobbyist Jack Valenti, and at least one White House staffer, the newspaper reported.
Gibson and his movie, which chronicles the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life, has been the focus of accusations of anti-Semitism from the Anti-Defamation League and others. But when the lights came up, many in the audience—who were required to sign a confidentiality agreement before being admitted to the screening room—were in tears, the newspaper reported.
The secret screening at the Motion Picture Association of America included columnists Peggy Noonan, Cal Thomas and Kate O'Beirne; conservative essayist Michael Novak; President Bush's abortive nominee for labor secretary, Linda Chavez; staff director Mark Rodgers of the Senate Republican conference chaired by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.); former Republican House member Mark Siljander of Michigan; and White House staffer David Kuo, deputy director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, the newspaper reported.
Underworld Star Gets Tough
ate Beckinsale, who stars as the werewolf-hunting vampire Selene in the upcoming Underworld, told SCI FI Wire that she found herself in the role of an action hero, even though she considers herself a "wuss" in real life.
"[There's] a lot of action in this," Beckinsale said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "And that's what was really kind of scary and also attractive about it. ... I have four brothers who know that I'm the biggest wuss on the block. And I'm like, 'Oh, I'm going off to do my, ahem, combat training.' ... You know, they're like, ha ha. ... And actually to see the movie, you know? I kick ass [laughs]! I can't wait for my brothers to see it!"
The British-born Beckinsale said that she had to undergo training to learn how to fight and to fire a gun, as well as how to do wirework stunts. "I kind of had learn how to box initially," she said. "They're [like], 'OK, show me how you punch.' And of course I'm from ... West London [mimes a limp punch]. ... [They said,] 'You have to get your whole body and your feet right, and the whole thing.' So they had a bit of that to do. And then a whole bunch of shooting the guns. And they hardly had to do any of that with me, because I was naturally a genius with guns, which I must say, I would never have known had I just stayed in [London]. But I think the key to it is having enormous hands, like a man. Because, just to able to unload them, I think if you've got very small, delicate girly hands, it's hard to kind of reach all those different buttons and things to grasp with. I'm very much a transsexual in that way [laughs]. No, I have the same size hands as [her Pearl Harbor co-star] Ben Affleck, which is spooky, because he's much bigger than me."
But Beckinsale said the training stood her in good stead, particularly as she had to segue immediately upon completion of Underworld into the lead female role in Van Helsing, another action-filled movie, in which she plays a vampire-hunting gypsy princess. "The dangerous thing about doing an action movie is, for about a month afterwards, you think you're pretty tough," she said. "Kind of .. thinking, 'Come on!' [puts up dukes] And then you realize, no [laughs]." Underworld opens Sept. 19.
Jolie Looked To Tomorrow
ngelina Jolie, who plays a mysterious woman in the upcoming fantasy SF movie World of Tomorrow, revealed a few details about her part in an interview with SCI FI Wire.
"I don't know how much I'm allowed to talk about it," she said at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "It's a cameo. I have a lot of black and a lot of leather and an eye patch on [laughs]. And a bit of an attitude problem."
Jolie appears in the retro-flavored movie, which stars Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow against a computer-generated backdrop of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The film is written and directed by newcomer Kerry Conran, who designed the film's computer effects. Jolie reportedly shot her role in a week, shortly after completing the title role in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, which opens July 25. World of Tomorrow is tentatively eyeing a 2004 release.
Jolie Finds Sharkslayer Voice
ngelina Jolie, who voices the seductive fish Lola in DreamWorks' upcoming computer-animated Sharkslayer movie, told SCI FI Wire that animation presented a whole new challenge for her.
"My own voice sounds so funny to me that just doing a voice didn't seem like enough," Jolie said during an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego, where she was promoting her upcoming film Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.
Jolie added, "I think my first day, my first half an hour, I was doing impressions of everybody from Mae West to Winston Churchill to try to figure out [a voice]. ... And finally, they kind of said, 'No, it's
your voice. Just, you're fine [laughs].'"
Jolie plays a fish who sets her eyes on Oscar (voiced by Will Smith), a small fish who gains fame by taking credit for a shark killing that he really had no part in. "I ... was just fascinated by animation, and I'd never done it," she said. "And to loan your voice to something and have them animate [it] ... . Now they can do these things where they're filming your head as you're talking, and animating. And they're going to spend months drawing and try to match your expressions. So I was fascinated by it."
Jolie said that her young son, Maddox, will likely enjoy her work in the family film. "I am sure he is going to love it. But I'm the bad fish," she said. "And I don't know if he'll like that mommy's the bad fish [laughs]." Sharkslayer, which is currently in production, is slated for a Thanksgiving 2004 release.
Mom Helped Gothika's Berry
alle Berry, who stars in the upcoming supernatural thriller Gothika, told SCI FI wire that she got a lot of advice for the role from an unlikely source: her mother.
Berry plays Dr. Miranda Grey, a criminal psychologist who awakens to find herself a patient in her own mental institution, with no memory of the murder she's apparently committed.
To prepare for the part, she consulted with her mother, Judith Berry, who worked as a psychiatric nurse in a Veteran's Administration hospital for 35 years, she said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "I've grown up with ... therapy and psychology and [have] always known the value and the benefit of it," she said. "So when I read this script, I just related to it, because that's sort of been a part of my life. And my mom was really helpful in telling me, you know, what things a person in that situation would feel. What they might do, what they wouldn't do, and just helped me get sort of into the mind of someone who is all of a sudden a doctor, and then the next day, they're then a patient in their very own hospital. ... She was really instrumental in helping me."
What sort of things? "Uh, that's something I really can't divulge," Berry said coyly. "Secrets of the trade. But really helpful, helpful things."
Berry described the film as part modern horror and part gothic thriller. "It's set in the current modern day, so it's very new," she said. "But it's got some great elements of the past and has a great gothic feel to it. The sets and the locations that we went to have an old gothic, mysterious feel to them. So we tried to mix old and new. And the word Gothika, obviously it's spelled differently. It's just sort of a play on the word and a play on what gothic really means. Sort of like 'pulp fiction' was for Pulp Fiction." Gothika opens Oct. 24.
Berry: Storm Change Due
alle Berry, who has played Storm in two X-Men movies, told SCI FI Wire that she is lobbying for improvements in the way the character is portrayed in a proposed third film—whether she plays her again or not.
"After every movie, ... the real die-hard fans come up to me, and they often say, 'Yeah, you know, Storm was OK. But she should do more. She should fly. She should fight. She should be more of what she is in the comic-book series,'" Berry said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
Berry added, "I'm not really complaining. I'm happy to be a part of it. It's been a great franchise to be a part of. But I think the fans feel that in the comic books, she's represented as a little bit more of a leader, and she uses her powers a little bit more than just changing her eyes and doing the weather. I think they want to see her do a little more things. So, as they continue to tell me this, I continue to try to pass this along, to no avail. So that maybe the next time, Storm will be ... whether I play Storm or not ... maybe the character will get to do more of what she traditionally does in the comic books."
Berry said that she hasn't made up her mind yet about whether to reprise the role again. "No, I haven't," she said. "Simply because I haven't seen a script. I haven't been offered the third movie, you know? So I have no idea if it'll come my way or not."
Catwoman Stands Alone
alle Berry, who is set to play the title character in a new Catwoman movie, told SCI FI Wire that the film will feature an original storyline independent of DC Comics' Batman series, from which it is drawn.
"Because it really is her story of how she became Catwoman, you know, she's not just the side character in a Batman movie now," she said in an interview during Comic-Con International in San Diego. "It's really her journey. I think you'll ... maybe learn some interesting things about the character for people who don't know that much about how she came about."
Berry added, "Catwoman is Catwoman, so I think we're going to try new things with the costume. I think it'll be something that you haven't seen before."
Berry said the role carries special meaning for her. "I wasn't an avid comic-book reader," she said. "Probably Batman was the biggest one. It's something that I related to. So it's really great that now I get to be Catwoman, because ... when Eartha Kitt was Catwoman [on the 1960s Batman TV series], being a woman of color, that meant a lot to me as a kid, to see someone like me playing a character that was so universal. So ... that theme has sort of come full circle for me, now that I get to be a Catwoman for the new century. That feels really good." Catwoman begins filming on Sept. 10 in Vancouver, B.C.
Berry: Jinx Goes Forward
alle Berry—the Oscar winner who co-starred in the last James Bond movie, Die Another Day—told SCI FI Wire that a proposed movie based on her character, Jinx, is moving forward, with a new script just completed.
"We just got the script last night, the first script," Berry said in an interview July 19 at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, where she was previewing her upcoming horror film Gothika. "And I hear it's really, really good."
Berry said that Die Another Day writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade penned the Jinx script. "I've been talking to the writers about it, and they had a great idea for who she is and where she comes from, and I think it won't be like Bond," Berry said. "It's not supposed to be a female Bond. But it is very edgy, and I think we'll have elements of that humor that Bond has, because Jinx had that in the Bond movie. But it won't be as tongue-in-cheek as Bond."
Mansion Gives Up Ghosts
ob Minkoff, who is directing Disney's upcoming The Haunted Mansion movie, told SCI FI Wire that the movie will be a straight-ahead ghost story, unlike other recent haunted-house films.
"I think the tone is going to be different," he said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. Such films as 13 Ghosts and The Haunting are "slightly more like slasher movies than anything else. And I don't think that this is."
Haunted Mansion, based on the Disney theme park rides, stars Eddie Murphy as a real-estate agent whose family winds up stranded in a decrepit New Orleans manse with a number of spectral inhabitants. "This is meant to be like a ghost story in the classic sense of it's a story that you want to get involved in and interested in, and you can relate to," Minkoff (Stuart Little) said. "So it's not just a guy's family comes and meets a lot of scary ghosts in the house. Sometimes it's what you don't see that can be kind of creepy."
Minkoff added that he and his production team were allowed to walk through the ride at Disneyland, with all the lights on, for inspiration. "The big surprise was that in the Madame Leota chamber, they said, 'Whatever you do, do not touch the tablecloth.'" Why? "Because people, as they go through the ride, they spit," Minkoff said. "They said, 'Be careful not to touch anything.'" So that's the scariest secret of the Haunted Mansion? "Oops. I should have hesitated," Minkoff said with a laugh. "It was terrifying. Parents will be keeping their kids from it. 'You're not going on that ride!'" The Haunted Mansion movie opens Nov. 26.
Producer Explains Butterfly Lag
hris Bender, producer of the time-travel fantasy film The Butterfly Effect, told SCI FI Wire that New Line delayed the film's release until February 2004 because it wants to space out its upcoming genre films.
Bender said the movie, which stars Ashton Kutcher, has been finished since 2002.
New Line has "Freddy vs. Jason coming out, and they felt that February was the best time to release [Butterfly]," Bender said in an interview. "Originally, they were talking about [showing the film at] Cannes. Now they're talking about doing it in conjunction with Sundance."
Kutcher plays a man who travels back in time through his own mind, but finds that the changes he makes in the past affect his present reality. The movie presents four different realities, and the film's two directors, Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, have created distinct worlds to represent each. "They gave a look to each reality," Bender said. "One's a little grittier. One's a little more stylized in color, and one's more ... based in realism."
Newell Eyed For Potter IV
ike Newell could become the first British director to helm a Harry Potter movie, Variety reported.
While the studio has yet to make a deal with Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral), Warner Brothers is working with Newell's ICM representatives to see if one could be made, the trade paper reported.
The fourth installment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is slated for a 2005 release, and Warner is eager to attach a director.
Alfonso Cuaron is directing the third installment, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which will be released on June 4, 2004. Chris Columbus directed the first two Harry Potter films, the trade paper reported.
Columbia Clicks With Click
olumbia Pictures has bought Click, a fantasy spec script by Bruce Almighty writers Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, which the studio-based Original Film will produce, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Revolution Studios will be a co-production partner on Click, and preliminary discussions are under way with Columbia-based Happy Madison to develop the material for Adam Sandler to star in, the trade paper reported.
Click tells the story of a workaholic advertising executive who comes across a universal remote that allows him to perform TiVo-like functions on his life, the trade paper reported.
Products Greet Mickey At 75
isney unveiled a slew of products, home-video releases and commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of Mickey Mouse's debut, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mickey's return to center stage comes as Disney's consumer products division strives to reinvent itself by taking a more active role in licensing, branching out into consumer electronics, de-emphasizing movie tie-ins and closing underperforming retail stores, the trade paper reported.
Beginning with an appearance in Steamboat Willie on Nov. 18, 1928, Mickey has become one of the most recognizable characters in the world. After starring in dozens of cartoons and comic books, Mickey has been more visible in recent years as the chief greeter at Disney's theme parks, the trade paper reported.
The 18-month marketing campaign includes two direct-to-video releases. The Three Musketeers, due in summer 2004, will be the first full-length feature centered on Mickey, while the famous mouse and his friends will get their first-ever 3-D portrayal in the holiday 2004 release of Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, the trade paper reported. Later this year, Walt Disney World in Orlando will open a new 3-D animated film, Mickey's PhilharMagic, featuring Disney music. The consumer products division is rolling out a line of apparel and accessories showcasing vintage Mickey artwork and Gemstone comic books featuring Mickey are also due out this summer, the trade reported. The U.S. Postal Service will recognize Mickey and his friends with a three-year stamp campaign.
Heinlein Award Inaugurated
he first annual Heinlein Award, recognizing excellence in written science fiction or fact that inspires humanity's expansion into space, will be presented at Torcon3, the 2003 World Science Fiction Convention, in Toronto, Aug. 28-Sept. 1, organizers announced.
The award is named for SF author Robert A. Heinlein and was created at the request of his widow, Virginia A. Heinlein, who died earlier this year.
The award will be given annually by the Heinlein Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Heinlein's legacy. The first award dinner will take place Aug. 29. Judges are Greg Bear, Joe Haldeman, Yoji Kondo, Elizabeth Moon, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Spider Robinson, Stanley Schmidt, Herb Gilliand and John Hill.
Endgame Picks Up It
im Stern's Endgame Entertainment has become co-financier of Five Children and It, a movie adaptation of Edith Nesbit's fantasy novel, which just started production, Variety reported.
Endgame will share the cost with British-based Capitol Films and will hold North American distribution rights on the film, which stars Kenneth Branagh, Zoe Wanamaker and Freddie Highmore, with Eddie Izzard providing the voice of the creature "It."
John Stephenson (Animal Farm) is directing David Solomon's script, and Lisa Henson and Nick Hirschkorn are producing, the trade paper reported. The film follows the adventures of five London kids during World War I as they are sent to live with an eccentric uncle (Branagh) in his dilapidated mansion by the sea. There the kids encounter a wish-granting sand fairy, the trade paper reported.
Jake 2.0 Boots Up
ilvio Horta, creator of UPN's upcoming SF series Jake 2.0, described his show as Spider-Man meets The Six Million Dollar Man.
"So I'd like to say The Six Million Dollar Geek," Horta told reporters at UPN's fall press preview in Hollywood, Calif.
In the pilot, National Security Agency computer tech Jake Foley (Christopher Gorham) gets accidentally infected with "nanites"—microscopic computers—which imbue him with superhuman abilities, and he finds himself the core operative in a new NSA strike team.
Though the show calls to mind previous genre entertainments, including Spider-Man and Alias, Jake 2.0 also comes up with some new ideas. For one thing, Jake can act as a kind of "universal remote" for all technology. "His powers are not just typical strength [and] speed," Horta said. "He is part computer, so he can interface with technology. I think that's sort of the one ability that really takes us into new territory that we haven't seen before."
Horta added, "It's a spy show, but we always approach it from the perspective of what is going on with Jake. ... We don't want it to turn into other spy shows, which shall remain nameless, who just have become about ... action. ... People are watching this to watch Chris, to watch the interaction with these other characters. So it begins from a place of character and emotion, and then the action and the genre ... extends from that."
Jake 2.0 comes from Horta and his producing partner Gina Matthews (The Chronicle) and will be executive produced by David Greenwalt (Angel). It will air on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, right after Enterprise, starting Sept. 10.
Necropolis Optioned
imension Films has optioned Necropolis, a supernatural movie pitch that Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil) will write and produce, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Anderson's longtime producing partner Jeremy Bolt will also produce through their Impact Pictures, the trade paper reported. No director is yet on board.
Necropolis is described as a psychological ghost story set in Chicago, the trade paper reported. Anderson is currently producing the sequel film Resident Evil: Apocalypse and will next direct 20th Century Fox's Alien vs. Predator, which he also wrote and will produce with Bolt, the trade paper reported.
Fans Surprise Galactica Star
amie Bamber, who plays Apollo in the SCI FI Channel's upcoming Battlestar Galactica miniseries, told SCI FI Wire that he was pleasantly suprised at the positive fan response to a preview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend.
Bamber and fellow cast members Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck) and Tricia Helfer (Number Six) joined executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick to answer fan questions and screen footage from the upcoming miniseries, which re-imagines the original 1970s TV series.
For Bamber, the 1,000-strong Comic-Con audience proved an antidote to months of Internet discussion about the miniseries, much of which has focused on the miniseries' differences from the original show. Those include making Starbuck a woman and changing the Cylons into humanoid beings. "There's obviously been a lot of action on the Internet," the British actor said in an interview. "But it's much more constructive to actually meet people. And people are always much more interesting. And I think I was surprised pleasantly by the response and by the dialogue that's actually there. And they can understand some of the issues that Ron and David were facing when they conceived of the project. And I think, hopefully, that everyone who was there will be one step closer to being on board with us."
Last week, during a preview of the miniseries to television critics, star Edward James Olmos (Adama) suggested that ardent fans of the original series should avoid the new miniseries. "I'd tell them straightforward, please, don't watch this program," Olmos said. "Buy yourself the new DVDs that came out of the old episodes, and whenever we come on, just put that in. ... I know that SCI FI Channel wants to say that everybody's going to enjoy it. They're not. They're not going to like it. I want to be the first one to say it very clearly. Please, tell your readers, do not watch this program."
But Bamber politely disagreed with his castmate. "I think there's a lot of truth in what Eddie says, in that if you absolutely are besotted with what was made in the '70s, then maybe the relationship is so founded between you and that show, that any re-imagining is going to be strange for you," he said. "But at the same time, I disagree with Eddie. ... I understand what he was trying to say. He wasn't saying that our show is bad or that he doesn't believe in it. He was saying, if that's what you love, then stick with it. That's obviously working for you. But I disagree with him, because I think our show can complement the other show. It takes things in different directions. It's much more of a human story. It's much, I think, more plausible, in the sense of the situation that they're in. And as a result, I think it's much more dramatically interesting." The four-hour Battlestar Galactica premieres Dec. 7.
SG-1 Sets Up Atlantis
he SCI FI Channel announced that the upcoming eighth season of its hit Stargate SG-1 will serve as a launch pad for a spinoff series entitled Stargate: Atlantis.
Atlantis, currently in development for SCI FI, will feature an entirely new cast of explorers and scientists who will search for clues to the origins of the Stargate, the network announced.
The network also confirmed an earlier report that it has renewed the show from MGM and will bring back the entire ensemble cast, which includes Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge.
SG-1 is currently in production on its seventh season. Season eight is slated to premiere in the summer of 2004.
Since June 2002, when the series joined the SCI FI lineup in its sixth season, Stargate SG-1 has become the channel’s highest-rated original series, averaging a 1.7 rating (1.35 million households) for new episodes. Reruns of the show’s earlier seasons on Monday nights have averaged a 1.2 rating (985,000 households).
MGM Confirms SG-1 Season 8
ank Cohen—president of MGM Television, which produces the SCI FI Channel original series Stargate SG-1—told fans at Comic-Con International that the show has been renewed for an eighth season.
That would make it second only to The X-Files as the longest running single science-fiction series in American television history.
Speaking at a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego on July 19, Cohen said that fan support and opinions not only influenced the decision to bring back the character of Daniel Jackson, played by Michael Shanks, but also made the difference in bringing the series back for another season.
Amanda Tapping, who plays Maj. Samantha Carter, was also present on the panel and joked that she had not yet been informed of the show's renewal. "This is the first I've heard of it," Tapping said, laughing. Stargate SG-1 airs Fridays at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT.
Midway Unveils GameBoy Titles
idway announced four video games for the GameBoy Advance, based on superhero franchises aimed at the kids' market.
Justice League Chronicles, Static Shock, Super Duper Sumos and Ozzie and Drix will debut in the fall of 2003.
Justice League Chronicles is a top-down-perspective action game. There are three stories, each of which features two superheroes that players can control. Associate producer Chad Lowe told SCI FI Wire that Midway employed the top-down format so no hero took precedence over another. "We wanted the user to understand that when you're playing this game, you have two characters onscreen, they're equal and traveling through the adventure together," Lowe said.
Static Shock is a traditional side-scroller, in which the player controls the title character and his abilities to "sky surf" and shoot lightning bolts. Lowe said the game employs a technique of dynamic scaling, so that when the game is flying in the 2-D environment, the image will expand to show more of the environment.
Super Duper Sumos is another side-scrolling game that will let players choose their favorite sumo, each of whom has his own special move, like "honorable thunderball" or "giant buttocks." Though a side-scroller, some of the level bosses attack from the backgrounds, adding some dimension to the game.
Ozzie and Drix is a side-scroller within a 3-D environment. Nathan Rose, managing producer of handheld and value product business, said that the player moves left and right on the screen, but the track itself goes in and out of the environment. "You'll move behind trees, towards the camera, but you can only actually move forwards and backwards in the environment," he said.
Briefly Noted
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Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) is the front-runner to play Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's proposed movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Variety reported.
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The Latino Review Web site has posted images from Halle Berry's upcoming supernatural horror film Gothika, which opens Oct. 24.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters that he will finish promoting Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines before announcing whether he intends to challenge California Gov. Gray Davis in a recall election in the fall, the Reuters news service reported.
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Fox will air the final three new Futurama episodes on Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/PT through Aug. 10, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The official Lord of the Rings Web site has posted details of the upcoming extended DVD version of The Two Towers, which comes out Nov. 18.
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Dark Horizons reported that the proposed fourth and fifth Harry Potter movies are eyeing November 2005 and June 2007 release dates. Jerry Bruckheimer's upcoming King Arthur movie, meanwhile, is slated for a Christmas 2004 release.
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The FireflyFans.net Web site has posted details of the upcoming DVD set of the canceled Fox SF western. The DVD set is due Dec. 9.
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E! Online has posted an image of Jennifer Garner in costume on the set of her upcoming fantasy film 13 Going on 30.
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The full trailer of the upcoming vampires-vs.-werewolves movie Underworld has gone live on the Web. The movie, starring Kate Beckinsale, opens Sept. 19.
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Organizers are soliciting submissions for BuffyFest 2003, a conference devoted to the just-ended series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, taking place in San Diego Oct. 11. The conference's aim is to celebrate the social and cultural effect of Buffy and its WB spinoff series, Angel.
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Dawn Ostroff, president of UPN Entertainment, told reporters in Hollywood that a spinoff of its just-ended Buffy the Vampire Slayer never came to pass because creator Joss Whedon "wanted to take some time off." "We didn't come up with something that was exciting enough for everybody to move forward," she said at the network's fall press preview.
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The Force.net fan Web site has posted a short fan-produced Batman movie that was a hit at the recent Comic-Con International in San Diego. The unauthorized movie, Batman: Dead End, pits the caped crusader against the Joker and a couple of other unlikely adversaries.
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Cinescape/Coming Attractions has reported what it says are spoilery details about the character of Doctor Octopus in the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2. Meanwhile, Sony has opened an official Spider-Man 2 Web site, with the Doc Ock poster unveiled at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend.
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The British house that played host to the loathsome Dursleys and their magical nephew in the Harry Potter movies failed to sell at auction on July 22, the Reuters news service reported. No. 4 Privet Drive—in reality No. 12 Picket Post Close—fell £1,000 short of its reserve price of £250,000 (about $400,000), the wire service reported.
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Randal Kleiser will direct a movie-musical version of the classic fairy tale Red Riding Hood from a script by Timothy Dolan, with music by Bruce Roberts, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Joey Fatone, Debi Mazar and Lainie Kazan are set to star, along with newcomer Morgan Thompson.
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The IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that Ben Affleck (Daredevil) may be in line to play 1950s TV Superman George Reeves in the biopic Truth, Justice & the American Way, replacing Hugh Jackman, who had to bow out because of a scheduling conflict.
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Fans attending Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend got glimpses of early footage from the upcoming films Hellboy, Spider-Man 2 (including images of Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus, with full tentacles), Van Helsing and Underworld.
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The James White Award, named for the Irish SF author, is now accepting entries for the 2003-'04 competition. The award is open to nonprofessional writers, and winners will be announced at Concourse,
the 2004 Eastercon, to be held in Blackpool, U.K., from April 9-12 2004.
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