Matrix Rain Vexed Reeves
eanu Reeves, who reprises the role of Neo in the third and last Matrix movie, told reporters that his climactic fight with Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) was shot in such a downpour that he couldn't see or hear the other actor.
"On the first take, when Hugo and I—Smith and Neo—fight, the rain came down, and we realized that we couldn't see each other," Reeves said at a news conference in Los Angeles to promote The Matrix Revolutions. "But we'd fought so much together that we actually didn't have to see each other, which was kind of a cool thing."
Reeves added, "It was just dramatic. It was fun. It was like a ton of water a minute or something like that. So we were wet for a couple of weeks. Six weeks."
The fight comes at the end of the movie and wraps up the story of the Matrix trilogy. While shooting the key scene, Reeves said, "we wore wetsuits underneath our costumes. And Neo had, I think, 21 different cassocks, and I think five of them were used for the rain. ... I had a light rain cassock, a dry ... talking cassock. The other thing that Hugo and I found was that when we would do the scenes we couldn't hear each other. And we couldn't actually hear ourselves, because the big, fat, juicy raindrops that they'd taken two months to design were loud. So to try and find the scene and feel the scene, it was frustrating sometimes, because you couldn't hear yourself and you couldn't hear your fellow actor. So we had to kind of work through that." The Matrix Revolutions opens worldwide on Nov. 5.
Matrix Femmes Kick Ass
he female stars of the upcoming Matrix Revolutions told reporters that their kick-ass characters show the strength that all women have.
"I think every woman has strength in her own way," Jada Pinkett Smith (Niobe) said at a news conference in Los Angeles. "So to me and watching this movie and watching The Matrix, it's nothing unusual. ... Thank goodness that [writers/directors] Larry and Andy [Wachowski] are connected enough to write the truth of who I believe women really are."
Carrie-Anne Moss, who reprises the lead female role of Trinity, agreed. "I loved playing Trinity," she said. "The first time around, in the first Matrix, I was just like, wow, this is such a great character. Then to have gotten to play her through not just being the girl who kicks ass, [but also] ... in Revolutions, all of the women ... have so much heart and soul, and they're strong, and it's not like they're just one-dimensional."
All of the women in the third chapter of the Matrix trilogy get a lot more to do in defending the last human settlement of Zion from the machine onslaught. Nona Gaye (Zee) said that she looked to her young son as inspiration. "It took me a minute to figure out [where] I was going to go to to get that fire," she said. "So I used my baby, and I kind of figured if I was in that situation, he was in trouble, of course I would go and shoot bazookas and kill Sentinels." Revolutions opens Nov. 5.
China Enters The Matrix
he unique synchronized global release of The Matrix Revolutions on Nov. 5 will include the world's most populous market: mainland China, Variety reported.
It's the first time a U.S. movie has been approved for simultaneous release in China, the trade paper reported.
In a groundbreaking agreement with China's Film Bureau, the Wachowski brothers' epic will launch at 10 p.m. Beijing time on 100 subtitled prints in major cities, the trade paper reported. That ties in with the sequel's launches around the globe: 6 a.m. in Los Angeles, 9 a.m. in New York, 2 p.m. in London, 5 p.m. in Moscow and 11 p.m. in Tokyo, among others. Dubbed versions of the movie will go out in China on 130 prints the following week, the trade paper reported.
Executives at Warner Brothers spent months negotiating the release with Chinese authorities and figuring out the logistics. The worldwide simultaneous release is an effort to thwart pirates.
Stars Bid Matrix Farewell
tars of the Matrix movies expressed mixed feelings about bidding farewell to their characters on the eve of the Nov. 5 premiere of the third and last film in the trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions.
"It's bittersweet, for me, anyway," Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity) told reporters at a news conference in Los Angeles' new Disney Concert Hall, where the movie held its world premiere on Oct. 27. "I really want to celebrate this evening and to really feel with my friends and family here the fruits of the labor that we put all of our hearts and souls into."
Moss added, "And at the same time, like the poster says, every beginning has an end. I feel very much that way. And when I saw that first poster I literally started crying. I was like, 'Oh my God, that's so reflective, not only of the journey of the film, but the journey of my life on this movie.' And it's a very exciting day, being in the venue. I can't wait for that, to see the movie with everybody and to say goodbye to a big segment of my life. It's big."
Keanu Reeves rushed to the news conference from the set of his comic-book movie Constantine, where he had been shooting since 5 a.m. Though sleepy, Reeves said of his lead role as Neo, "It was a great role. Great project. And I got to work with some really special artists and people. It was for me a really special endeavor. And it's exciting that they're at the last one. Revolutions is opening tonight. It's exciting."
Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus) was upbeat. "The groovy thing about these characters is that they're going to live with us for the rest of our lives," he said. "So we don't necessarily have to say goodbye to them. We're going to be walking around with them for the rest of our lives, pretty much. So they're all a part of us now." The Matrix Revolutions opens globally at the same hour on Nov. 5.
New Matrix Games Possible
oel Silver, producer of the Matrix movies, told reporters that there won't be a fourth film after the upcoming Matrix Revolutions, but that there may be more games set in the Matrix universe.
At a news conference Oct. 27 in Los Angeles' new Disney Concert Hall, Silver responded to a question from SCI FI Wire about a possible new Matrix movie: "It will never happen."
But asked about other future Matrix projects, Silver revealed, "We're dealing with all that now. There is a project being worked on with a company called Ubi Soft, which is outside of Seattle, which is a multiplayer online game that in fact may become available as early as this summer, which will continue on the story of the world of The Matrix." Silver added that Jada Pinkett Smith's character, Niobe, may figure in the game, as might Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus. "But we're just working on that now," he said.
Silver added that there is talk about doing another video game, beyond the current hit Enter the Matrix. "There's a moment in [The Matrix Revolutions], when Seraph [Collin Chou] comes in with Neo [Keanu Reeves] and Trinity [Carrie-Anne Moss] and Morpheus, and the Merovingian [Lambert Wilson] says to him, 'Oh, the prodigal son returns.' And the boys [writers/directors Larry and Andy Wachowski] wanted to kind of explore that backstory. So that may be something that they deal with in a video game. But there will be other areas of Matrix material, but there will not be any more movies." The Matrix Revolutions, which wraps up the trilogy, opens worldwide on Nov. 5.
Hal Clement Dies At 81
arry Clement Stubbs, who under the pen name of Hal Clement wrote
science fiction for 60 years and was named a Grand Master, died in his sleep at his home in Milton, Mass., Oct. 29, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America reported.
He was 81.
Clement, considered an exemplar of science-based "hard science fiction," was best known for 1954's Mission of Gravity, about Mesklin, a vast and fast-spinning planet with varying gravity, the SFWA reported. Clement's other work included two more Mesklin novels, Close to Critical and Star Light, as well as Iceworld, Cycle of Fire, The Nitrogen Fix, Still River and Half Life. He also wrote short story collections. His most recent novel, Noise, was published earlier this year by Tor.
In 1999, the SFWA named Clement a Grand Master, in recognition of a lifetime of achievement in the field.
A retired high-school science teacher, World War II pilot and scout leader, Clement began writing science fiction in the 1940s, his publisher, Tor, reported. He held a bachelor's degree in astronomy from Harvard and master's degrees in education and chemistry.
Clement published his first short story, "Proof," in Astounding in 1942, considered the first successful melding of SF with the mystery
genre. After a stint in the Army Air Force in World War II, he
published his first novel, Needle, as a serial in Astounding in 1949. Clement was also a familiar and beloved figure at SF conventions.
Clement is survived by his wife, Mary;
two sons, George and Richard Stubbs; and a daughter, Christine Heusel. A memorial service will be held at Saint Michael's Episcopal Church in Milton at 10 a.m. Nov. 1.
World Fantasy Winners Named
he World Fantasy Awards were presented Nov. 2 at the World Fantasy Convention in Washington, according to a report on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site.
A full list of winners follows.
Life Achievement
•Lloyd Alexander
•Donald M. Grant
Novel
•The Facts of Life by Graham Joyce
•Ombria in Shadow by Patricia A. McKillip
Novella
•"The Library" by Zoran Zivkovic
Short Story
•"Creation" by Jeffrey Ford
Anthology
•The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.
•Leviathan 3, Jeff VanderMeer and Forrest Aguirre, eds.
Collection
•The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories by Jeffrey Ford
Artist
•Tom Kidd
Special Award, Professional
•Gordon Van Gelder, for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Special Award, Non-Professional
•Jason Williams, Jeremy Lassen & Benjamin Cossel, for Night Shade Books
Feet Don't Fail Wood
ord of the Rings star Elijah Wood told SCI FI Wire that he is providing the voice of a penguin named Mumble in the upcoming animated feature film Happy Feet.
"George Miller, who did Babe and [Babe: Pig in the City] and Mad Max, is directing," Wood said in an interview. "We've actually done all the dialogue recording for it, so now it's time for them to animate it."
Other voice talent on Happy Feet includes Robin Williams and Brittany Murphy. Wood describes Mumble as a penguin who can't sing. "Basically, penguins in life and in the film can sing," he said. "We've used that idea, and so each penguin has [his or her] own voice and their own what we call heartsong. That's how they meet their mates. I can't sing, so I'm seen as an outcast. But I can dance, and that's why it's called Happy Feet."
Happy Feet chronicles Mumble's journey. "It's about ... being an individual and going out on his own and, at the same time, learning there's a fish shortage and trying to figure out why there's a fish shortage," Wood said. "Ultimately, it's about being accepted for who I am. It's a beautiful story, and I think people will love it. It was a lot of fun to do." Happy Feet will dance into theaters in 2006.
Rings Pinball Coming
tern Pinball announced the release of a Lord of the Rings pinball machine, themed to the Rings movies, in November.
The machine follows the story of the movies, the company said.
Players of the Lord of the Rings pinball machine collect the Elf
Rings, the Dwarf Rings and the rings of mortal men, thereby forming The One Ring, the company said. The machine features a Balrog toy that pivots; a magnet in the center of The One Ring, which pulls the ball in and then feeds another ramp shaped in the form of Aragorn's legendary Narsil sword; multiball modes, including one for each movie, as well as for Gollum; and the Orthanc and Barad-dur towers.
The machine also features the voices of movie stars Elijah Wood (Frodo) and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli).
Potter V Causes Headaches
Washington doctor has warned that he has seen three children complain of headaches caused by the physical stress of relentlessly plowing through the 870 pages of the fifth Harry Potter novel, Reuters reported.
Howard Bennett of George Washington University Medical Center wrote in a letter to this week's New England Journal of Medicine that the three children, ages 8 to 10, experienced a dull headache for two or three days, the news service reported.
Each had spent many hours reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. After ruling out other potential causes, Bennett told his patients to give their eyes a rest, which the children declined. "If this escalation continues as Rowling concludes the saga, there may be an epidemic of Hogwarts headaches in the years to come," Bennett told Reuters.
Quidditch Ships Worldwide
lectronic Arts announced that it has shipped the Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup video game to retail stores worldwide.
The game, based on J.K. Rowling's series of best-selling novels, is available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, GameBoy Advance and PC.
Players can assume any position in a Quidditch match from any of the four house teams at Harry Potter's school, Hogwarts, EA said. Players can compete for the school's Quidditch Cup and then go on to compete in the Quidditch World Cup elimination matches from any of nine different Quidditch teams, America, Bulgaria, Nordic, England, Japan, France, Germany, Spain and Australia.
The game carries a suggested retail price of $39.95 for console platforms and $29.95 for the PC.
Angel Flies Lighter
effrey Bell, co-executive producer of The WB's Angel, told SCI FI Wire that the vampire series is significantly lighter in tone this year, its fifth.
"Oh, I would say it's several degrees lighter, but then again, we're not hosting an apocalypse this year," Bell said in an interview. "When you host an apocalypse, people are not real happy. It's very hard to go do some funny story when the sun has been blotted out and a beast has ripped out your innards and killed 5,000 people and there have been earthquakes and whatnot."
Bell said that choices made early last season forced the writing staff to turn out darker episodes. Now, Bell said, with Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) in a coma, Connor (Vincent Kartheiser) given a new home, and Angel (David Boreanaz) and the Fang Gang ensconced in their new digs at the law offices of Wolfram & Hart, Angel is much more in keeping with the episode-to-episode tonal changes of the first three seasons.
"Last year, we realized Angel and the guys didn't win many episodes," Bell said. "At the end of every episode, it was like, 'Oh, and they go get their ass kicked.' This year, we're able to mix it up much more. There are victories. People are saved. There are also losses and people not being saved, but it's not all losses and people not being saved. We're trying to look at the gray area of the situation, which is, 'OK, we're trying to do good for an evil corporation, and we're trying to do it from within. That means we're going to turn our heads about the minor things so that we can do the larger good.'"
Bell cited the upcoming "Life of the Party" episode as a good example of a lighter Angel episode. "[It's] just a full-on romp that's a lot of fun," Bell said of the show, in which Lorne (Andy Hallett) attempts to throw the ultimate Wolfram & Hart Halloween party. "That's the fun of being on a show like Angel, that the tone can change not just from week to week, but scene to scene within an episode. We can have something terrible happen at a very funny moment, and we're trying to exploit those opportunities as much as possible." "Life of the Party" airs Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The WB.
Office Boy Visits Alias
icky Gervais (the BBC series The Office) will guest star on an upcoming episode of ABC's Alias, TV Guide reported.
Gervais will play a "juicy, horrible, evil" villain, the actor told the magazine. He's set to tape his appearance in early 2004.
Alias creator "J.J. Abrams is a fan of The Office and offered to write me a part," Gervais told the magazine. In fact, Abrams said that he is tailoring the role to Gervais' particular gifts. "A good bad guy doesn't have to be arch, over-the-top, mustache-twirly," Abrams told TV Guide. "A good bad guy needs to be smart. And certainly, Ricky is smart." Alias airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Sotheby's Sells Vampire Kit
ust in time for Halloween, a vampire-slaying kit complete
with a wooden stake and 10 silver bullets sold for $12,000 at auction, the Associated Press reported.
The kit—a walnut box that also contained a crucifix, a pistol, a rosary and vessels for garlic powder and various serums—was bought by an anonymous phone bidder, the wire service reported.
According to Sotheby's, some experts believe that such kits were commonly available to travelers in Eastern Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, while others think the kits were made in the early 20th century, possibly to cash in on interest in vampires sparked by the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the AP reported.
Elaine Whitmire, head of 19th century furniture for Sotheby's, said she
believes the kit was assembled in the early 20th century and sold to
travelers as a souvenir. A label on the kit says: "This box contains the items considered necessary for persons who travel into certain little known countries of Eastern Europe, where the populace are plagued with a particular manifestation of evil known as Vampires."
Stealing Scares In Gothika
athieu Kassovitz, director of the upcoming supernatural film Gothika, told SCI FI Wire that he looked to earlier horror films for inspiration.
"Yeah, all of them," the French filmmaker said in an interview. "Dario Argento, actually."
Kassovitz added, "There is one scare that I really stole from him. ... It's from Suspiria, I think. It's when [star Halle Berry's] in the cell by herself, and she goes down, and the ghost is right behind her. He did a shot like that, it was the most scary shot in my f--king life."
In Gothika, Berry plays a criminal psychologist who suddenly awakes as an inmate in her own institution. Kassovitz cited movies as diverse as the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Exorcist, Evil Dead and The People Under the Stairs as films that scared him as a fan.
"The inspiration when you do a scary movie is, like, what scares you?" said Kassovitz, who is known to American audiences mainly as an actor in the romantic comedy Amelie. "The only way to know what scares you is what movies scare you and why. And you have some simple, very simple things that can scare you, and sometimes you get it from a movie, and you've got to find a way to put it back in what you do. So almost you steal and you use it." Gothika opens Nov. 21.
Injury Worried Gothika Star
alle Berry, who stars in the upcoming supernatural thriller film Gothika, told SCI FI Wire that breaking her arm during filming caused her anxiety about the future.
Berry broke her arm while shooting a physical scene with co-star Robert Downey Jr. in the movie, in which Berry plays a criminal psychiatrist who awakes to find herself a prisoner in her own institution.
"I thought, 'Oh my God. Am I going to finish this movie? Are they going to recast me for Catwoman? What does this mean in the course of my career?'" Berry said in an interview. "I just had a lot more fear about the physicality of what was asked of me. I felt really fragile and frail, thinking, 'OK, now what am I going to break?' I had more of those kind of concerns and if I would heal."
Production stopped for several weeks after Berry's injury, setting the movie's opening back to Nov. 21 from an original Halloween release. Afterwards, director Mathieu Kassovitz and Berry had to shoot several action scenes, including one in which Berry's character, psychiatrist Miranda Grey, tries to escape from the prison in which she finds herself an inmate. Filmmakers used several techniques to conceal Berry's hurt right arm, including employing a thin, flesh-colored cast, she said. But Berry was also mindful of her next movie, Catwoman, another physically demanding role.
"I didn't want to try to finish this movie and hurt myself in any way and so that I wasn't ready to do Catwoman," Berry said. "So I was a lot more tentative when I went back."
Berry: Catwoman Looks Back
alle Berry, who stars in the upcoming comic-book movie Catwoman, told SCI FI Wire that the film develops its own mythology for the well-known character.
"We're a month into [production], and it's really been a lot of fun," Berry said in an interview while promoting her upcoming thriller film Gothika. "One of the things I like about this script, I'm going to say, is that we acknowledge that there are other Catwomen of the past."
Berry added, "So it's not like I'm trying to be the Catwoman. We acknowledge that we believe in our script there are nine Catwomen, and I'm one. I'd be, like, the fifth one. So that gives me leeway to be my own version of a Catwoman. I don't need to be like Michelle Pfeiffer [in Batman Returns] or Eartha Kitt [from the 1960s Batman TV series]. It's my own 2004 version of what a Catwoman would be today."
What would that be? "You have to see the movie," Berry said. As for her much-publicized new catsuit, she said, "[It's] great. Much more comfortable than my X-suit [costume from the X-Men movies]." Catwoman is currently shooting in Vancouver, B.C., with an eye to a summer 2004 release.
Jinx Nixed?
inx, the proposed James Bond spinoff that was to star Halle Berry, will not go forward, Variety reported.
MGM has pulled the plug on the project, which was to be produced by Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson at Eon, the trade paper reported.
Jinx, based on Berry's CIA spy character from Die Another Day, was being written by Bond writers Neal Purvis and Rob Wade and was due to be directed by Stephen Frears, the trade paper said.
But last week, MGM told Eon to put the project on ice and instead press ahead with a 21st James Bond movie, due to shoot in 2005.
Berry Not Aware Jinx Nixed
alle Berry, who was supposed to star in the James Bond spinoff movie Jinx, was apparently not aware that MGM was pulling the plug on the project when she spoke with reporters on Oct. 26 to promote her upcoming supernatural horror film Gothika.
A day before news broke in the Hollywood trade papers that Jinx had been deep-sixed, Berry told SCI FI Wire that the studio was "excited about it." The movie was supposed to be centered on Berry's CIA character from last year's hit James Bond movie Die Another Day.
"I don't know," she said in an interview. "It's still out there swirling around. I have to take a break pretty soon, so I don't know when that'll actually be." But, she added, "they're excited about it. They want to make it. There's a really good script that the writers [Die scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade] have written, but we just don't know when it'll happen."
Berry is currently shooting Catwoman in Vancouver. Gothika opens Nov. 21.
Silver Plans 3-D Wax Job
roducer Joel Silver—whose Dark Castle production company has brought out a new horror movie around Halloween for three years—told SCI FI Wire that the next will be a remake of the 1953 creeper House of Wax—in 3-D.
"I think I'm going to do House of Wax next," Silver said in an interview while promoting his upcoming Gothika. "I want to redo that. I think it would be fun."
The original film, starring Vincent Price, was the first major studio film (Warner Brothers) produced in 3-D. So for the remake, Silver added, "I want to do it 3-D. I think it might be fun. I mean, that's what I'm thinking about now. But that's my plan. I don't know. It depends."
Silver created Dark Castle with producer/director Robert Zemeckis in part to remake classic cheesy horror movies such as those produced in the 1950s by legendary showman William Castle. Gothika, starring Halle Berry, opens Nov. 21.
Wonder Woman Still In Works
roducer Joel Silver told SCI FI Wire that he still plans to oversee a Wonder Woman movie, which has been the subject of much speculation over the years.
"I want to make [it]," he said in an interview while promoting his upcoming Gothika. "I'm working on the script. We've got to get it right."
Silver said that Laeta Kalogridis, who created The WB's defunct Birds of Prey series, is currently drafting a new script. "She wrote a script for me years ago about Joan of Arc that was really very smart," Silver said. "She's working on Wonder Woman now."
Jackman In Line For 007?
ill X2 star Hugh Jackman trade his claws for a Walther PPK as Bond, James Bond?
That's the rumor reported by Australian gossip magazine NW Magazine, according to a report on the MI6 fan Web site.
The magazine, citing an anonymous source, reported that Jackman is at the top of the list of actors to replace Pierce Brosnan as the British superspy. The Australian actor reportedly has the right mix of youth, dark good looks, sex appeal, a sense of humor and box-office clout, the magazine reported.
Brosnan has already said he's willing to do at least one more Bond movie, the upcoming 21st film. Other actors rumored to be in line to play 007 include Clive Owen.
007 Joins CIA In End Game
ormer James Bond actor Sean Connery has settled a lawsuit over the proposed CIA movie End Game with production company Mandalay Entertainment and producer Peter Guber, the Associated Press reported.
Connery sued in October 2002, seeking $17 million after production of the film was canceled, the wire service reported; Guber and Mandalay later countersued.
On Oct. 29, both sides announced they had reached an "amicable settlement" and all the lawsuits had been withdrawn, the AP reported. Mandalay is no longer involved in making the movie, and Connery and his producing partner Rhonda Tollefson are free to pursue the project on their own. The film would star Connery as a CIA agent.
Connery still plans to star in the movie, the AP reported. He and Tollefson are considering possible directors as well as seeking new financing and distribution for the picture.
Race Is On For Amityville
imension Films is racing with MGM to be first with a film based on the events that were behind the 1979 horror hit The Amityville Horror, Variety reported.
One week after MGM signed a deal for an Amityville Horror remake with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes, Dimension acquired the life rights of George Lutz, who lived in the famed Long Island house and experienced the paranormal happenings attributed to the murder of an entire family that previously lived in the house, the trade paper reported.
Dimension bought the rights from Nu Image and got a completed first script draft that revisits the house 25 years after the Lutz family fled, the trade paper reported. The studio is already talking with an unnamed but well-established horror director who'll shoot a film to be released by early next summer, the trade paper reported.
Suit Filed Over Mutant X
ribune Entertainment has sued Marvel Enterprises for $100 million, alleging breach of contract over the syndicated SF series Mutant X, Variety reported.
In the lawsuit filed in New York County, Tribune claims that Marvel encouraged Tribune to connect Mutant X to 20th Century Fox's hit theatrical movie X-Men in 2001, the trade paper reported.
But Marvel's contract with 20th prevented such a tie-in of X-Men to Mutant X without 20th's permission, Tribune alleged, saying that Marvel lied about these contractual clauses, the trade paper reported.
Relying on language in its contract with Marvel, 20th sued both Marvel and Tribune on April 15, 2001, trying to stop the two companies from going ahead with production of Mutant X because of its alleged similarity to X-Men, the trade paper reported. Marvel countersued, saying Mutant X was not at all similar.
Twentieth's suit against Tribune dragged on until the two parties finally agreed to a settlement earlier this month in which 20th agreed to dismiss all claims in exchange for undisclosed considerations, the trade paper reported.
Film Adapts Asimov's Eternity
aramount Pictures and Cruise/Wagner have tapped writer-director Keith Gordon to adapt Isaac Asimov's SF novel End of Eternity for the screen, Variety reported.
One of the prolific writer's lesser-known works, Eternity centers on a low-ranking technician who discovers that the woman with whom he has fallen in love is going to be eliminated in a soon-to-occur time change promulgated by a group of men dubbed the Eternals, the trade paper reported.
Asimov, who wrote more than 460 works, is best known for I, Robot, which is currently being adapted in a movie starring Will Smith.
Jolie Up For More Croft
ngelina Jolie told the British Channel 4 that she's willing to reprise the role of Lara Croft in another movie, despite the lackluster reception to this summer's Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.
"I'd never say never, because I love that character," Jolie told the network. "It wasn't a bad movie. It just didn't come out at the right time."
Jolie added, "I think it's a much better film, so I don't think you can put too much weight on how something opens. At the end of the day, I don't take it so seriously."
Indy DVDs Set Record
he Adventures of Indiana Jones DVD movie collection has become the best-selling boxed set of classic catalog film fare of all time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The set has sold more than 1.1 million units during its first week on store shelves, the trade paper reported.
During the first 24 hours of its Oct. 21 release, the four-disc boxed set sold roughly 600,000 units at an average retail price of $46, for an estimated retail value of $28 million, the trade paper reported. For the week, the value topped $50 million.
Simpson Dreams Of Jeannie
ewlyweds star Jessica Simpson wants to star in a movie version of Barbara Eden's classic 1960s TV series I Dream of Jeannie, TV Guide Online reported.
Simpson's manager father, Joe Simpson, told the site that Columbia Pictures is moving forward with the film adaptation and that his daughter would "be one of their top contenders."
Earlier this month, Simpson took a risk by making a very public plea to Columbia parent company Sony on Larry King Live, telling guest host Ryan Seacrest that she really wants to be Jeannie, the site reported.
But a studio executive told the site, "We're talking with a wide range of actresses and not negotiating with anyone."
Jonze Goes Wild
niversal has set Spike Jonze to direct the Playtone-produced adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, the classic children's book by Maurice Sendak, Variety reported.
Playtone's Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman will produce, with John Carls and Sendak, the trade paper reported.
The movie, originally conceived as a computer-animated movie, will now be shot live action under Jonze (Being John Malkovich), the trade paper reported.
Published in 1963, Wild Things is the Caldecott Medal-winning story of Max, a mischievous boy, who is sent to bed without supper. In his room, Max uses his imagination to conjure up a forest populated by the wild things, exotic monsters who embrace Max as their ruler, the trade paper reported.
Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
'Perry' Visits Smallville
mallville co-star John Schneider (Jonathan Kent) told SCI FI Wire that this week's episode, "Perry," guest stars Michael McKean as Perry White, a drunken and disgraced journalist who now seeks stories for a tabloid news show and thinks he's landed a winner in Smallville.
"I worked with Michael a lot on that show," Schneider, who plays the father to Tom Welling's Clark Kent, said in an interview. "He's a reporter, and he's prying into what's going on with Clark. Of course, I want to keep him away."
The episode appears to provide a novel backstory to the character of Perry White, who is better known from the Superman comic series as the editor of the Daily Planet, where an adult Clark Kent works as a mild-mannered reporter.
"Working with Michael was fun," Schneider said. "I've done theater since 1968, so we had lots of conversations about theater, about musicals, about all sorts of things. He's a walking textbook on motion pictures and Broadway shows."
McKean is also the real-life husband of Annette O'Toole, who plays Jonathan's wife, Martha, on Smallville. Schneider said that, "oddly enough," McKean and O'Toole don't actually share any scenes in "Perry," which was directed by Supergirl and Somewhere in Time helmer Jeannot Szwarc. "That's just how it happens," Schneider said. "Husband and wife finally get a job on the same movie or show, and they don't get to work together on the same day. The only thing worse than being in the same country and not seeing each other is being in the same hotel room and not seeing each other." The "Perry" episode airs on The WB on Oct. 29 in Smallville's regular Wednesday 8 p.m ET/PT timeslot.
Pinhead Meeting Myers?
oug Bradley, the English actor best known as Pinhead in the Hellraiser film series, told the Brownsville (Texas) Herald newspaper that there is talk of teaming his character up with Michael Myers of the Halloween movie series.
"At this point in fact, Dimension Films are planning a Hellraiser/Halloween crossover," a la this year's Freddy vs. Jason, Bradley told the newspaper.
Bradley emphasized that the proposed matchup is only in the planning stage. "They are hoping to have it out by Halloween next year," he said. "That would be pretty fast, but that's their plan."
Phantom Rises Again
rusader Entertainment and Hyde Park are developing a new film based on the classic The Phantom comic strip, with Olympic gold medalist-turned-feature film writer Mel Stewart penning the script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
This new film version will update the comic strip, about a purple-clad superhero who fights evil in Africa.
The Phantom was adapted for the screen previously in 1996, with Billy Zane, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kristy Swanson and Treat Williams.
Stewart won three medals as a swimmer in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
Fantasy XI Ships For PC
quare Enix announced that Final Fantasy XI, the first online title in the best-selling video game series, has shipped to North American retailers for PCs with the Windows operating system.
Final Fantasy XI includes the Rise of the Zilart expansion pack and other applications on five CD-ROM discs and carries a suggested retail price of $49.99, the company said. Final Fantasy XI for the PlayStation 2 is scheduled for release in March 2004.
Final Fantasy XI is a cross-platform, cross-continent massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Subscribers will receive their first 30 days of access without charge, starting from the date players create their first content ID or character. After 30 days, players can continue to play for a monthly fee of $12.95 for one character and can create up to 15 additional characters for an additional charge of $1 per character per month.
In Final Fantasy XI, players undertake multiple adventures through vast environments in the world of Vana'diel, which has more than 100 areas to explore. The game allows players to create alter egos and form parties using chat and messaging systems.
UPN Goes Supernatural
PN has several supernatural-themed drama series in development for fall 2004, Variety reported.
They include an untitled hour from writer J.F. Lawton (Under Siege), which will blend live-action and anime to tell the story of two actresses working on a Saturday morning kids' TV show whose costumes actually give them superhuman powers, the trade paper reported.
UPN is also developing Nightingale, which revolves around a woman who's guided by unseen forces to fight evil at night, but has no memory of doing so once the sun rises. Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson (John Doe) are writing and executive producing via Sony Pictures Television, the trade paper reported.
UPN also has picked up an hourlong script from writer Justin Tanner, about a man whose psychic abilities force him to deal with the unresolved problems of dead people, the trade paper reported.
Universal Options The Psycho
niversal Pictures has optioned the film rights to DC Comics' The Psycho, a 1991 miniseries about a superhuman spy, Variety reported.
Circle of Confusion will produce the movie version of James Hudnall's three-issue comic, which was drawn by Dan Brereton.
The Psycho tells the story of a man forced to become what he hates most, a superhuman agent who serves the government, in order to prove himself innocent of a crime he didn't commit, the trade paper reported.
Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Cody 2 Suits Anderson
nthony Anderson, who stars in the teen-spy sequel film Agent Cody Banks 2, told SCI FI Wire that he will be taking over the position of CIA handler played by Angie Harmon in the first film.
"I take over her role as being Cody's handler-slash-partner," Anderson said in an interview while promoting his latest film, Scary Movie 3. "He's sent over to London to solve this case, which is where I've sort of been exiled to as a CIA agent, because I was sort of, not disruptive, but almost inept. So they send me to this little backwater place where nothing really goes down. It's sort of a demotion, but hell, they demoted me to London, so I'm having a ball."
Anderson joked that though Harmon won't be returning for the sequel, the sex appeal will not be lacking. "I wear the red leather and a push-up bra as well in this film, so you're just going to have to wait until March to see that." Agent Cody Banks 2 is scheduled to open March 12, 2004.
Disney Disputes Ghosts News
isney is disputing press reports suggesting that Ben Affleck's Ghosts of Girlfriends Past has been pulled due to budget issues and recent negative press surrounding Affleck, Variety reported.
Disney issued an official statement saying the movie had been put on hold due to casting issues surrounding the other roles in the movie, the trade paper reported.
The studio did not say whether the movie would be going forward at a later date, the trade paper reported. But Disney executives confirmed to Variety that the studio is not shopping the movie to other studios or financing partners.
Emrich Highlights Cosmic
osmic Encounter Online will feature game designer Alan Emrich, who currently teaches principles of game design at the Art Institute of California, as a guest during its Celebrity Cosmic event for October.
Emrich, the man behind the player ranking system in Cosmic Online, will be online Oct. 27 from 8-12 p.m. ET.
Emrich will chat with Cosmic players in a "Meet and Beat" event, playing with different players in each game. He will also take part in the Monday-night CEO League game at 9 p.m. ET.
Briefly Noted
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Warner Brothers has hired Matthew Berry and Eric Abrams to write a live-action movie adaptation of Cartoon Network's Johnny Bravo, with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson attached to star, Variety reported.
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Sony has updated the official Web site for Hellboy, its upcoming movie adaptation of Mike Mignola's cult comic series, which is currently in post-production.
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Jennifer Coolidge is set to join Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep and Jude Law in the Brad Silberling-directed Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Orlando Bloom told Entertainment Tonight that he and Johnny Depp are signed up for two more Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, which Disney will film back-to-back.
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Charmed star Holly Marie Combs told TV Guide magazine that she is expecting her first child with longtime boyfriend David Donoho in April. Her character, Piper, is going to discover during February sweeps that she's pregnant, too.
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The unusual Nov. 5 episode of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, "Twilight," centers on a Memento-style plot in which Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) loses his short-term memory, resulting in the disruption of the ship's mission, the destruction of Earth and a grim future for humans.
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Sony has released its first images for the teaser poster for the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2, which is still in production.
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Fox has posted a new teaser trailer and behind-the-scenes footage from the current production of its upcoming franchise-melding SF movie Alien vs. Predator, which is due in theaters Aug. 6, 2004.
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Traylor Howard (Me, Myself & Irene) has landed the female lead role opposite Jamie Kennedy in the New Line Cinema fantasy sequel Son of the Mask, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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A Sept. 24, 2004, release date has been officially announced for the upcoming horror sequel film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the Dark Horizons Web site reported.
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Oscar-nominated British actor Jude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) divorced his wife, Sadie Frost, on Oct. 29 after she blamed him for exacerbating her post-natal depression, court papers showed, the Reuters news service reported.
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Howard Shore's original soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the final installment in Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy, will be released on Reprise/WMG Soundtracks on Nov. 25. Return of the King opens nationwide on Dec. 17 from New Line Cinema.
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The Clone Wars "microseries" of Star Wars animated shorts, created by Genndy Tartakovsky and his team at Cartoon Network, will air starting Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT for 10 consecutive weekdays and on the official Cartoon Network and Star Wars Web sites.
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The Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas announced that it has received a $10,000 grant from the Allen Foundation for the Arts to support Black to the Future: A Black Science Fiction Festival, to be held June 11-13, 2004, at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in Seattle. The first festival of its kind, Black to the Future: A Black Science Fiction Festival will be a tribute to the contributions of science fiction's black authors.
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The entire fourth season of Babylon 5 comes out in a DVD box set on Jan. 6, 2004, with a suggested retail price of $99.98.
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CBS has given a full-season, 22-episode order to its hit supernatural series Joan of Arcadia, Variety reported.
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Carlton America has partnered with Pen Densham, Neil Kaplan and John Watson of Trilogy Entertainment Group (The Twilight Zone) to adapt the British SF series UFO for American TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Model-turned-actress Ivana Milicevic is poised to join Sean Astin and Vinnie Jones in the independent SF movie Slipstream under director David van Eyssen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The time-travel story is due to start shooting this month in South Africa.
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A new Web site has gone up for The Butterfly Effect, the upcoming supernatural thriller film starring Ashton Kutcher, which opens in January 2004.
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The official Final Fantasy XI Web site has been updated for the video game's upcoming launch on Oct. 28.
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