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December 15, 2003

Wood Talks Rings' End

lijah Wood, who stars as Frodo in the third Lord of the Rings film, The Return of the King, told SCI FI Wire that his last day of filming was traumatic. "Oh, God. I mean, you know, you can imagine the emotion tied into the last sort of bit of filming," Wood said in an interview. "That's when we really had to say goodbye to the experience of the character, to the crew, to the trailer, to the whole, all-encompassing experience of working on these movies."

Wood said that he wrapped his role in the epic film trilogy in June, when he filmed the last of his pickup shots. "I couldn't really come to terms with it," he said. "I couldn't believe it after four years, that it was all coming to an end. My last day, I was completely drained. I had knots in my stomach all day."

Wood's last shot, ironically, was a scene late in Return of the King when Frodo is back in the Shire, finishing his book chronicling the events of the three films. "It had this whole meaning tied into it," he said. "And everybody came on to see it, and I remember we did five or six takes, ... and [director] Peter [Jackson] came over to me and broke down, like gave me a hug, and broke down on my shoulder. It was so, so sad. Everybody was crying."

Wood said that Jackson hosted a small ceremony at the end of each actor's filming, during which the actor was shown a gag reel of outtakes and was presented with the slate for the last shot and a key prop, usually the actor's signature weapon. In Wood's case, that was Frodo's sword, Sting. "Peter would give a speech to the crew, the whole crew, which was f--king amazing, and so emotional," Wood said. "I was given Sting and the last pair of feet that I wore, and I bet they smell like s--t now. ... And then each actor is then given an opportunity to give a speech. And I was so overwhelmed and so many of the other actors had articulated their feelings so beautifully. Dom [Monaghan (Merry)] and myself and Andy [Serkis (Gollum)] actually wrapped on the same day, and Dom gave his speech before mine, and he said some beautiful things and it came to me, and I was just like, 'I don't know what to say to you guys!' My heart was just so filled with emotion. But it was amazing." Return of the King opened Dec. 17.

King Sells Out Early Shows

he Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King sold out its 2,100 midnight showings on Dec. 16, ringing up an estimated $8 million domestically from those shows alone, Variety reported. That bolstered New Line executives' hopes that the movie will top $1 billion in grosses eventually. The movie opened wide on Dec. 17.

New Line has been saying that the pent-up anticipation for the final installment in the series will help King surpass the $866 million in worldwide box office of The Fellowship of the Ring and the $921 million of The Two Towers. Home video viewing of the first two movies broadened the fan base for the series, and the mere fact that King is a franchise-capping installment should further stoke moviegoers' enthusiasm, the trade paper reported.

King Gets 4 Globe Nods

he Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King snagged four Golden Globe nominations, including best drama and best director, the most of any SF&F movie of the year. Nominations for the awards, given annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, were announced Dec. 18 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The Golden Globes will be presented in a Jan. 25, 2004, ceremony in Beverly Hills that will air live on NBC. A list of nominees among science fiction, fantasy and supernatural horror films and television programs follows.

Film

Best Picture, Drama

•The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy

•Big Fish
•Finding Nemo

Actress, Musical or Comedy

•Jamie Lee Curtis, Freaky Friday

Actor, Musical or Comedy

•Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Supporting Actress

•Mario Bello, The Cooler

Supporting Actor

•Alec Baldwin, The Cooler
•Albert Finney, Big Fish

Director

•Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Original Score

•Danny Elfman, Big Fish
•Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Original Song

•"Into the West," The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
•"Man of the Hour," Big Fish

Television

Actress in a Television Series, Drama

•Jennifer Garner, Alias
•Amber Tamblyn, Joan of Arcadia

Hobbit Stars Get Confused

ominic Monaghan, who plays Merry the hobbit in the Lord of the Rings films, told SCI FI Wire that people constantly confuse him with co-star Billy Boyd, who plays Merry's companion, Pippin. "I was at a DVD award show last night for picking up The Two Towers best movie award," Monaghan said in an interview. "Someone came over to me with a photo of Billy and said, 'Can you sign that?'"

Boyd concurred. "And we still get it," he said with incredulity. "A journalist came up to me in a junket this year, ... a TV journalist, and said, 'What was it like working with Miranda Otto [Eowyn]?' And I was like, 'I didn't have any scenes with Miranda.' ... I said, 'I think you think I'm Dom.' [It was] unbelievable."

Monaghan added, "I had someone come over to me last night again and say, 'Congratulations on Master and Commander [in which Boyd plays a sailor]. I enjoyed it.' [I said,] 'I enjoyed it as well.'"

Boyd and Monaghan play the hobbits again in the third Rings film, The Return of the King, which opened Dec. 17.

Saruman Saved For King DVD

eter Jackson, director of the third Lord of the Rings film, The Return of the King, said that he will restore a deleted seven-minute scene with Christopher Lee's Saruman in the DVD version of the movie. "It was a scene we shot for The Two Towers, and when we cut that movie last year, we tried [to include it] then," he said in an interview. "But we felt it was anticlimactic. ... We had some Gollum scenes that we had to wrap up the film at the end with, so the seven minutes of return to Isengard didn't feel like it was a good place to have it."

Jackson added that he then considered adding the scene to the beginning of Return of the King, rather than include it in the extended DVD version of Two Towers. "It's been in this movie as we've gone through various cuts through the year," he said. "We had a four-hour, 15-minute cut of Return of the King, with everything in there that we shot, but it was too long. It felt like the emotional impact of the film was being diluted. ... So we started trimming the film back, and the Saruman scene was one of many scenes we cut."

Jackson said that he has created the extended versions of the Rings films in part to please fans. But he admitted that he doesn't want to lengthen the movies any more than they already run. "Every time I put a scene in it, it's mucking up the momentum," he said. "The theatrical versions are very carefully worked out. We spent a whole year trying to get the best possible cut. I do the extended cuts because we have 30-40 minutes of footage that people are interested in. Fans of the books. It's usually related to something that's in the book. It's a legitimate part of the adaptation of the Lord of the Rings, and you can either have it lost forever or you can put an extended cut out." Return of the King opened Dec. 17.

Rings Costumes Needed Layers

gila Dickson, costume designer for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, told SCI FI Wire that each elaborate costume had to have multiple layers, in case director Peter Jackson wanted to alter them during filming. "All of a sudden, Peter will say, 'Well, no, take that armor off,' or 'Take that top off, and we'll do something where you look a lot more relaxed,'" Dickson said in an interview. "If you haven't made that whole underpart of the costume work, then you're standing there going, 'Umm.' One thing that none of us ever wanted to do was to say no to Peter. So you just made sure that you covered [everything]."

Dickson said that she also prepared several copies of each costume for the key characters. "No producer is interested in your costumes the day you arrive," she said. "They want to know what it's going to cost. And I remember at that time putting in as part of my budget that we would need a minimum of 10 costumes per character for the iconic, say, hobbit costumes, times four [characters]. Just my guesstimate was about 40 costumes."

The final film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, opened Dec. 17.

Marsters OK With Angel

ames Marsters, who plays Spike in The WB's Angel, dismissed to SCI FI Wire any perceptions that his vampire-with-a-soul character is taking over the show from David Boreanaz's other vampire-with-a-soul. The tension between Spike and Angel "was in there from the very first, from [the] 'School Hard' [episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which Spike was introduced]," Marsters said in an interview on the show's Los Angeles set. "I think because there's tension between the characters is why this character and not another one from Buffy came over to the show. But yeah, between David and me functionally, there are no sparks at all."

Marsters added that he's a big fan of Boreanaz. "He directed a show this year, and he's so good," Marsters said. "I mean, he doesn't know this really, but he's so good that we forgot that he's a first-time director, and we all got lazy with him, and we kind of left him in the ditch a little bit. We had to remind ourselves, 'S--t, David, we should be here for David, because he's really a first-time director.' But he had the quality of such confidence in knowing what he wanted to do one step at a time."

For his part, Marsters said that he's not interested in directing an episode of Angel himself. "I'm more interested in producing, frankly," he said. "As I see how things work in television, specifically, I think the things that interest me as far as larger arcs of characters, as far as finding larger components to put to each other, as far as deciding what the story is that we're going to tell and how we tell it, I'm kind of leaning towards wanting to do that and hire a director." Angel airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Denisof Angles For Angel Guest

lexis Denisof, who plays Wesley on The WB's Angel, told SCI FI Wire that he's eager to get new wife, former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Alyson Hannigan, to guest on the show. "Yeah, I'd love to get Aly back over here," he said. "It was so much fun when she visited us last year. I mean, not just because she's a huge talent, but because I love her and I would like to have her here with me at work."

It's unclear when or if Hannigan's Buffy character, Willow, will show up in the current season. "It's always a question of storyline and scheduling," Denisof said. "And not just scheduling with the show, but scheduling with her life and her career, because there's a lot of stuff going on for her. ... I don't know what their plans are, frankly. ... I think they've been clever about bringing characters from Buffy over here, in the sense that ... they've been smart not to just give away Angel and have it become sort of a tour bus for the Buffy characters. ... When you bring characters from Buffy over, they have to be channeled through what is essentially Angel rather than Buffy."

As for Wesley, Denisof said, "I think we looked at tearing the group apart in past seasons and how that affected Wesley, and so now we've kind of knitted the team back together, and they're faced with a moral dilemma," he said. "In the overall scheme, are ... they fighting for good or for evil? ... I think Wesley's very confident in himself now and very secure about what he's doing and has grown into the role of the person who makes hard decisions and stands by them for the good of the greater community and not for his own greater good. So there has been a price to pay, and he has suffered a great deal. I have enjoyed the way that we explore the kind of dilemma of the character through the sacrifices he's made in order to do the right thing, and I think that's a metaphor for the whole show, really. I think we'll continue to find areas to explore with the character on an interior level." Angel airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Affleck Second On Paycheck

en Affleck, who stars in John Woo's upcoming SF movie Paycheck, told SCI FI Wire that the director originally had Affleck's pal Matt Damon in mind for the lead role of a man who must recover the memory of his last three years. "Interestingly enough, John went to Matt first for the movie, ... because he saw The Bourne Identity, and he loved what Matt did in it," Affleck said in an interview.

Affleck added, "Matt was obviously flattered to meet John Woo, and he sat down with him. But he was like, 'I can't do two amnesia pictures. Otherwise, people are going to say, "Why are you doing so many amnesia pictures?"' He called me, actually, and said, 'I met with John. There's a really good script. You ought to check it out and get on this.'"

Fortunately for Affleck, Woo had met with Damon in New York and had to fly back to Los Angeles. "On the plane, the movie that they were showing was Changing Lanes," Affleck said, referring to the 2002 film in which he starred with Samuel L. Jackson. "And I got offered the movie when he got back. I had just heard from Matt, and I was like, 'You're kidding!'" Paycheck opens on Christmas Day.

Eckhart Sees Good In Paycheck

aron Eckhart, who plays Ben Affleck's nemesis in the upcoming SF movie Paycheck, told SCI FI Wire that he didn't play his character as an evil person. "You always play a bad guy good," he said in an interview. "And I could sit here, and we could debate whether or not Ben's character is the villain and I'm the good guy. Whenever I go into making a movie I'm always the good guy, and everybody else who opposes me is evil."

Eckhart plays Rethrick, head of a mysterious corporation that hires Affleck's Michael Jennings to develop a top-secret device, then wipes his memory of the three years it takes. "I mean, I'm a guy who's trying to make an invention just as Ben Franklin did, or Thomas Edison, or Henry Ford or Gutenberg," Eckhart said. "What if somebody opposed the printing press? Where would we be today?"

Eckhart (The Core, The Missing) added, "I don't have any intentions of it ruining the world. In fact, I think it's going to help the world. I think there's a light side and a dark side to everything." Paycheck, directed by John Woo and based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, opens Christmas Day.

Thurman Eased Into Paycheck

ma Thurman, who co-stars in John Woo's upcoming SF movie Paycheck, told SCI FI Wire that her Kill Bill martial-arts training came in handy, though her character is less active. "I got to play the girl," Thurman said at a news conference to promote Paycheck. "I had a really nice time. [Star] Ben [Affleck] did all the heavy lifting. I got to watch John Woo work. Ben hit people. I wasn't covered in blood."

Thurman underwent rigorous martial-arts training for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill and performed many of her own stunts. In Paycheck, which she joined immediately after completing Tarantino's movie, "the few things that I do in the action are like kind of very street, sort of self-defense," she said. "But what I really did enjoy was, I felt so, like, entitled to comment on the action. And none of them knew what I'd just been through, really. They really didn't have any idea. But I kind of, like, just slightly bragged, like, 'Would you like a slap kick or should I do a stop point?' I kind of had the stunt lingo and could deal with pretty much anything they wanted to throw me. And that was also very kind of neat. I would never have thought that I would have that kind of self-confidence about a field that pretty much women are excluded from. So it's kind of neat."

Paycheck, based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, opens on Christmas Day.

Thurman Eschews Paycheck Story

ma Thurman, who co-stars with Ben Affleck in the upcoming SF movie Paycheck, told SCI FI Wire that she still hasn't read the Philip K. Dick short story on which the movie's based. "Nope," Thurman told reporters at a news conference to promote the film. "I made a John Woo movie. I was real Woo-ed out on this one. Philip K. Dick? I would have made a western with John Woo."

In Paycheck, Thurman plays a biologist who helps Affleck's Michael Jennings regain the memory of three years that was wiped after he completed a top-secret project. Thurman said she was eager to work with Woo, the Hong Kong action director of films such as Face/Off and Mission: Impossible II.

"I think his filmmaking style is masterful," Thurman said. "I think that he is one of those directors that you talk about his movies as cinema. And win, lose or draw, you can take a movie of his that maybe someone didn't like or something, you sit and you watch it, and it's breathtaking to me, that kind of filmmaking. And I've spent my whole life watching filmmakers work, and it's a passion. So I like to be in that kind of hand. I like to see it. I like to watch it. It feels really good." Paycheck opens Christmas Day.

Donner Reveals X-Men Plans

-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner told SCI FI Wire that she's juggling several related projects, including the upcoming third X-Men movie and possible spinoffs centered on Hugh Jackman's Wolverine character and Halle Berry's Storm. She also confirmed spoiler speculation that the third film will deal in part with Famke Janssen's Jean Grey and her apparent transformation into Dark Phoenix, which was foreshadowed at the end of the previous film, X2.

"Will Famke [return]? Yes," Donner said in an interview on the Los Angeles set of her next film, Constantine. "And you know we have to [do the Dark Phoenix storyline]. We kind of left that out there. So we have to follow that thread, along with some other stories. Yeah."

X2 writing partners Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty are drafting a script for X-Men 3, and Donner said that producers are trying to nail down deals with cast members and director Bryan Singer. "We're also going to develop a Wolverine movie at the same time, but it won't come out until after X3," she said.

Oscar winner Berry has expressed reservations about returning to the franchise unless her Storm character has a lot more to do. "We have to just make sure that she's used well," Donner said. "We have a great, great, great storyline for her. Or maybe we'll do a Storm movie. Who knows? I don't know."

Welling: Smallville Evolving

om Welling, star of The WB's Smallville, told SCI FI Wire that his Superman-to-be character, Clark Kent, has evolved significantly since the series began three years ago. "At the beginning of the show, Clark didn't even talk," Welling said in an interview. "He was kind of a geek. Now, somehow, without any sort of obvious transition, he's this guy who's cool and hangs out with everybody. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did."

Welling, speaking while promoting his upcoming movie Cheaper by the Dozen, added, "Clark is a bit more street-smart than he was at the beginning. He's probably wrestling more with his emotions now, rather than just being thrown off or confused by them. I think he's getting a better grasp of what they are, but then trying to work through them and figure out who he is."

Smallville continues to perform well in the ratings, despite strong competition on Wednesday night. The series is also bucking the trend that's witnessed numerous veteran shows losing large chunks of their viewership year-to-date. "It's a good show," Welling said by way of explanation. "It actually has elements that Cheaper by the Dozen has, and that is that people of different ages can watch it and enjoy it for different reasons. I think a lot of things become successful for that reason. Basically, what we're looking at is, if you can get a lot of different people to like one thing, it will be successful. That's the common thread between the two."

Welling also downplayed rumors he might play the Man of Steel in a proposed Superman feature film, one with no Smallville connection. "Before that film could ever be brought to me on an actual level, there are just too many things that probably wouldn't allow it to happen," he said. "One is the shooting schedule I have on Smallville." Smallville airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Wenham Qs Up In Van Helsing

avid Wenham, who plays Carl in the upcoming supernatural film Van Helsing, told SCI FI Wire that his character is a weapons maker for the title hero, played by Hugh Jackman. "Carl ... is a monk who invents extraordinary weapons," Wenham said in an interview. "He's sort of like a very period Q [from the James Bond films]."

In the film, Carl gets a chance to leave his chambers and pursue adventure with Van Helsing, who is on a mission to hunt down vampires and other monsters. "He's somebody who's spent his whole entire life deep underground in this monastery, but for this particular time, he's told by his superiors to go off with Van Helsing on this mission to hunt down Dracula," Wenham said.

Wenham will soon be on view in the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, reprising the role of Faramir from The Two Towers. Van Helsing was a total departure, Wenham said. "The fight sequences [in Van Helsing] involve totally different forms of weaponry, and the genre is totally different as well," he said. Universal Pictures will release Van Helsing on May 7, 2004.

Universal Pictures is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

Gellar Holds The Grudge

arah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will star in The Grudge, the English-language remake of the Japanese supernatural horror movie Ju-On, Variety reported. Columbia Pictures has secured domestic distribution rights for the film, which is being produced by Ghost House Pictures, a genre division of Senator International, launched with Sam Raimi, the trade paper reported. Shooting will begin at Tokyo's Toho Studios in late January.

Takashi Shimizu, who wrote and directed the original film, will helm the remake, the trade paper reported. Producer Taka Ichise (Ringu), who also worked on the original, will team with Raimi and partner Rob Tapert to produce.

Stephen Susco is writing the screenplay, combining elements from the original Ju-On and its three sequels. The Grudge is about a murderous supernatural curse born of a grudge held by someone who dies angry. The curse passes like a virus to its victims, the trade paper reported.

Gellar recently wrapped Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed for Warner Brothers and is gearing up for Romantic Comedy, a spoof on the cliches of the romantic comedy genre, at MGM.

Williams: Pan For Girls

livia Williams, who plays Mrs. Darling in the upcoming live-action Peter Pan, told SCI FI Wire that the fantasy film fills a gap in movies for girls. "I'm five months pregnant, so I've been thinking about that quite a lot recently," Williams told reporters at a news conference to promote Pan. "One of the lovely things that Janet Patterson, ... who designed ... the costumes, said [is that] there are no movies for little girls. And that if little girls don't like Toy Story or Superman or whatever comic strip is ... fashionable at the time, there is nothing."

Peter Pan, based on the play and book by English writer J.M. Barrie, fills that need, Williams said. "We all know little girls who love pink dresses, who want to be adventurous and brave, like Wendy, but who also are feminine and like ... love stories," she said. "And this is the film for all those little girls who are interested in the things that girls are traditionally interested in, which a lot of movies don't cater [to] now."

The movie centers on Wendy Darling (newcomer Rachel Hurd-Wood) and her adventures in Neverland with the boy who never grows up (played by Jeremy Sumpter). "I think that I would say to my own daughter, ... if it's a girl, to just ... have a childhood," Williams said. "That's what I hope for. I don't think you can suppress information, but just make it more fun to be a child than to be a mini-adult." Peter Pan opens Christmas Day.

Sumpter Played For Pan

eremy Sumpter, the young actor who plays the title role in the upcoming fantasy movie Peter Pan, told SCI FI Wire that he won the part after an unorthodox audition with co-star Jason Isaacs. "They had me fly to London to audition with Jason, and we were supposed to do this routine in a park for sword fighting," he said at a press conference to promote the film. "And instead, he takes me to an arcade and gives me Chinese food for a couple hours. And so they call up and they said, 'Are you guys ready?' And Jason is like, 'No, uh, give us 20 minutes.' So we rush to the park for 20 minutes, and we're really going at each other and stuff."

Unfortunately, Sumpter said, the park was filled with concertgoers for a Queen's Jubilee celebration, not to mention police. "These cops run over saying, 'What are you guys doing?' because it looks like this guy beating on this little kid," Sumpter said.

Luckily, the police believed their explanation, and Sumpter was able to persuade director Hogan that he was right for the part. "He flies me to France to audition some Wendys and Tinker Bells," he added. "And then at the airport he draws this picture, and says, 'What is this?' I go, 'It's Peter Pan.' He goes, 'No, it's Jeremy Sumpter. You got Peter Pan.'" Peter Pan opens on Christmas Day.

Isaacs Plays Dual Pan Roles

ason Isaacs told SCI FI Wire that playing the dual role of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook in the upcoming live-action Peter Pan movie hearkens back to the traditional casting of J.M. Barrie's 1904 play and is in keeping with the story's psychological roots. Neverland represents not only Wendy's (Rachel Hurd-Wood) imagination, but also her fears of growing up, and it's natural that the villain there would resemble her father—"someone who represents the very worst and the very best things about being grown up," Issacs said at a press conference to promote the film.

"Barrie is quite clear that if ... you could stay awake when you're asleep, you would find your mother tidying up your mind much like she tidies up drawers," Isaacs said. "She takes all the pretty thoughts and puts them at the top, and takes all the evil dark ones and hides them at the bottom so you can't find them in the morning. And ... Neverland [is] a place inside children's minds [with] not just pirates and adventures, but first days at school and nasty-tasting medicine and math sums. And it's kind of this strange, surreal land."

As Isaacs interprets the story, "Wendy is placed in this horrible position where she's told she has to grow up. And growing up in those days meant marriage and kids and knitting. There was no kind of hanging around with an iPod on, dancing in the mall. So she goes to this place—maybe in her imagination, maybe not—and in order to help her work this out, there's someone there who's never going to grow up who represents staying childish for the rest of her life, and someone who represents the very worst and the very best things about being grown up. So there's this repulsive creature that she's strangely attracted to who looks a little bit like her dad, oddly enough, because who do little girls think about when they think about being married? They think about being married to their dad. And that's as far as I can go Freudian-wise without alienating the entire audience." Peter Pan opens Christmas Day.

Pope Likes The Passion

ope John Paul has seen Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of Christ, about Jesus' final hours, and was moved by it, a Vatican source told the Reuters news service. He told Reuters that the pope saw the film with his long-time Polish secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, about 10 days ago.

The source also confirmed reports that the pope told his secretary after viewing the film, "It is as it was," meaning he considered it an authentic portrayal of Gospel accounts of the last hours in Christ's life, Reuters reported.

The movie, which covers the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus Christ, has come under fire from some Jewish groups who fear its story could foment anti-Semitism because it portrays Jewish authorities as largely responsible for Christ's death, the news service reported. Catholic and other Christian groups, as well as biblical scholars, have defended the film, saying it sticks closely to accounts of the crucifixion as told in the New Testament. The film is due to be released in February.

Disney Updates Pigs

riters Grant Calof and Greg Lee have been tapped by Disney Feature Animation to adapt the children's book The Three Pigs for a movie that will combine traditional with computer animation, Variety reported. The award-winning book by David Wiesner updates the traditional tale and follows the pigs' adventures into other fairy-tale worlds, the trade paper reported.

Disney Animation director of development Karen Rupert and creative executive Birk Rawlings will supervise project, the trade paper reported.

Reeves To Play Reeves?

GN FilmForce reported a rumor that Keanu Reeves has met with director Allen Coulter about playing the lead in Truth, Justice and the American Way, the proposed biographical movie about TV Superman actor George Reeves. Should the Matrix star pass, then Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings) might be offered the role, the site added. (Keanu Reeves and George Reeves are not related.)

Hugh Jackman, Ben Affleck and Dennis Quaid have all been approached for the part at different times, the site reported.

Meanwhile, the movie is aiming to begin filming in Los Angeles in March or April 2004. Location scouting, production design work and casting are currently underway, the site reported.

Benicio Del Toro is reportedly awaiting further script revisions before committing to play Lamar Moglio, the fictionalized private eye hired by George Reeves' mother to investigate her son's curious death, the site reported. If Del Toro passes, then the role might go to James Gandolfini.

Sharon Stone and Annette Bening are said to be in the running to portray George Reeves' spurned lover, Toni Mannix, with The Ring's Naomi Watts as Lenore Lemmon, the actor's younger girlfriend, the site reported.

Cassel To Star In Babylon

othika director Mathieu Kassovitz told French television that Vincent Cassel (Brotherhood of the Wolf) will play the hero of his upcoming futuristic SF thriller film Babylon Babies, based on the Maurice G. Dantec book, ComingSoon.net reported. The English-language production is budgeted at $40 million and should begin preproduction next summer, with principal photography starting at the end of 2004, the site reported.

The film is about the growing gap between the rich and poor, the site reported. The female lead role has yet to be cast.

Hutton Headlines 5 Days

scar winner Timothy Hutton has signed to star in SCI FI Channel's next original miniseries, 5 Days to Midnight, the network announced. The five-hour thriller is set to begin production in Vancouver, B.C., this month, with an eye to a June 2004 broadcast.

A cross between D.O.A. and 24, 5 Days stars Hutton as J.T. Neumeyer, a brilliant physics professor who receives a police file from the future, with explicit details of his own gruesome murder. With photos of his bullet-riddled corpse and a list of suspects, Neumeyer learns that he has only five days to prevent his own demise. SCI FI will air 5 Days to Midnight as five one-hour episodes on consecutive nights, one hour for each day J.T. has to change his destiny.

The cast includes newcomer Gage Golightly as J.T.'s 9-year-old daughter, Jesse, and Hamish Linklater as Carl Axelrod, an obsessed student who idolizes J.T. Michael Watkins will direct.

David Kirschner (Frailty), Corey Sienega (Frailty), Anthony Peckham (Don't Say a Word) and David Aaron Cohen (The Devil's Own) executive produce. Robert Zappia, who wrote the original feature film script upon which Midnight is based, is co-executive producer. Anthony Peckham, David Aaron Cohen and Cindy Meyers are the writers on the miniseries. Lions Gate Television produces, in association with David Kirschner Productions and Hallmark Entertainment Distribution.

Majors Lauds $6 Million Carrey

ee Majors, the original Six Million Dollar Man, told SCI FI Wire that he gives his blessing to an upcoming comedic feature film version of his iconic 1970s TV series, starring Jim Carrey. "I'm very happy about the announcement that Jim Carrey is going to be the Six Million Dollar Man in the movie," Majors said in an interview. "I think he's a great choice."

Majors said that he was favorably impressed with Carrey's performance in the hit fantasy film Bruce Almighty. "It was a real good movie, I thought, and I think this is one where he'll have some flat tires and some of it won't work, he'll short out a little bit," he said. "But I'm sure it will be quite funny."

Majors admitted that he once foresaw himself starring in a movie version of the show. "I always wanted to do the thing myself, when I finished the show, when it went off the air," he said. "What I wanted to do then was do a spoof of it, because I was so tired of doing it for real. ... I wanted to do a comic little TV movie just so everything didn't work." But Universal, which owned the franchise, was reluctant to undercut the show, which was still in syndication, he said, so the idea never materialized.

But Majors may have a chance to lampoon his Steve Austin image a little on UPN's similarly themed SF series Jake 2.0, on which he guest stars as a mysterious former NSA agent who helps out Christopher Gorham's Jake. That episode, "Double Agent," airs Dec. 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

Supernaturalist Unveiled

rish fantasy author Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) told SCI FI Wire that his next book, The Supernaturalist, is a departure for him into science fiction. The book is due in May 2004.

"The premise is that it's kind of a futuristic city," Colfer said in an interview. "All the computer memory functions are stored in satellites and control the whole city." A group of kids who have been affected by near-death incidents and pollution can see ghostly creatures who descend on accident victims and people with little remaining life force, he added.

"So these four or five kids who are in these accidents can see them and they go around the city and basically hunt down these creatures," Colfer said. "These kids are called the Supernaturalists." Colfer added that the Supernaturalists must also contend with a corporation that's trying to harness these creatures and turn them into generators. "They are not only fighting the creatures, they are fighting this corporation," he said. "So I tried to create a kind of unusual vision of the future."

Colfer Draws Up Wish List

rish fantasy author Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) told SCI FI Wire that his new stand-alone novel, The Wish List, explores themes of life, death and redemption with fresh twists. "Wish List is about the adventures of Meg, a 14-year-old girl, who in the beginning of the book is killed, which is kind of unusual," Colfer said in an interview. "She finds out that she has to come back [as a ghost], because her positive and negative scores are equal. She has to come back and undo the wrongs that she has done."

Colfer added that Meg comes back to Earth and hooks up with an old man, Lowrie, whom she had wronged when she was alive. "When he finds out that he has celestial aid, he makes a wish list of things that he should have done in his life that he didn't do," he said. "Crazy things, like kissing his childhood sweetheart and spitting over a cliff. They set off to Ireland to complete the wish list. Meanwhile, there's a setback when Meg's ex-partner in crime is set to track her down and capture her."

The 252-page book, available from Miramax Books, has clear-cut themes, Colfer said. "One of the things I wanted to say to children is that you can choose your own path," he said. "Even though circumstances are against her, and that she has a lot of negative influences in her life, she had gone the wrong way. When she comes back, she chooses to be a positive force. I think that's important."

Colfer is now hard at work on book four of the Artemis Fowl series and has also written a horror screenplay. He is also halfway through an adult murder mystery and is also writing the lyrics and book of a musical to be unveiled in New York on January or February of next year. His next book, The Supernaturalist, will be released in May 2004.

New SG-1, Eternity Due

CI FI Friday returns to SCI FI Channel on Jan. 9, 2004, with the first of 11 new episodes of Stargate SG-1 and the premiere of Code Name: Eternity. Stargate SG-1 will air at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Code Name: Eternity at 10 p.m.

In the first new Stargate SG-1 episode of the year, Maj. Carter (Amanda Tapping) leads a dangerous mission to Anubis' homeworld in a desperate attempt to prevent him from breeding an army of super warriors. O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), meanwhile, goes to Honduras to rescue Daniel (Michael Shanks) and retrieve an ancient device that might be their last hope for defeating Anubis.

Code Name: Eternity is a new action-adventure series starring Cameron Bancroft as a shape-shifting alien who crash-lands on Earth and loses his memory. With the help of a beautiful doctor (Ingrid Kavelaars), he begins a long journey to figure out his mission on Earth, while attempting to elude otherworldly enemies. The show also features Andrew Gillies, Olivier Gruner and Billy Dee Williams.

Allen Goes To Dog

isney has set a July start date for its remake of The Shaggy Dog, with Tim Allen starring as a man who occasionally changes into a sheepdog, Variety reported. Brian Robbins (The Perfect Score) will direct.

The original 1959 film has been reworked as a vehicle for Allen, who starred in the first two Santa Clause films for the studio and is in development on a third, the trade paper reported. Allen and his Boxing Cat Productions partner Matt Carroll pitched Disney film chief Nina Jacobson a take using the storyline from The Shaggy D.A., a sequel to the original film.

Allen will play a lawyer whose devotion to his career comes at the expense of his family. His transformation into a dog hampers his career, but teaches him to be a better father and husband, the trade paper reported.

EverQuest Pack Coming

ony Online Entertainment announced the February release of Gates of Discord, a new expansion for EverQuest, the popular PC massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The expansion will offer a newly discovered continent, a new class (the Berserker) and alternate advancement abilities, with new and unique skills to master, the company said.

Gates of Discord will be available at retail outlets such as Electronics Boutique, Best Buy and Gamestop and as a secure digital download from SOE. The retail version of Gates of Discord will also come with a gift and special in-game magic item.

Messing Purrs For Garfield

ill and Grace's Debra Messing, who voices Garfield's girlfriend, Arlene, in the live-action/computer-animated film Garfield, told SCI FI Wire that Arlene's voice was inspired by feline photos. "They sent over a picture of a real cat," Messing said in an interview. "Not an animated cat, but a real cat. She was black and sleek and had a little sass to her, so there was a little bit to glean from that."

Messing added that she has not seen any of the CGI footage, through which the visual-effects company Rhythm and Hues will animate the talking cats as if they were live-action elements, a la Scooby-Doo and Cats and Dogs. She recorded her tracks in London last summer and is waiting to see the result.

"We would do a scene 10 different ways, and I would give them different readings," Messing said. "I'll be as interested as you to see it, because I'm not really sure exactly what [director Peter Hewitt is] going to choose to put together." Garfield, based on the newspaper comic strip, is scheduled for release June 18, 2004.

Da Vinci Sparks Book Sales

he Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's supernatural-tinged thriller novel, is spurring interest in similarly themed books, USA Today reported. The best-selling Da Vinci supposes a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene that produced a royal bloodline in France, and its sales are topped only by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the newspaper reported.

The book has also triggered debates about early Christianity and a prime-time special on ABC last month. Nine months after publication, there are 4.5 million copies in print. Its popularity shows that "readers are clamoring for books which combine historic fact with a contemporary storyline," Carol Fitzgerald, president of Bookreporter.com, told USA Today. "They say, 'I like being able to learn something as well as read a story.'"

Paramount Readies SF&F Films

aramount has bought the spec fantasy script The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Lakeman for Michael Aguilar and Dean Georgaris to produce, Variety reported. The studio also optioned Michael Marshall Smith's SF novel Spares for Aguilar and Georgaris to produce, along with Vertigo Entertainment partners Roy Lee and Doug Davison, the trade paper reported.

The Girl Who Could Fly is a fantastical story about an 11-year-old farm girl who discovers she can fly and is then detained by the Ministry of Anomalous Developmental Needs and Extra-normal Social Services (M.A.D.N.E.S.S.). The ministry seeks to normalize children by barring them from using their abnormalities, the trade paper reported.

Spares, published in 1997, is set in a world of wealthy individuals who arrange for their children to be cloned at birth for future use in a medical emergency, the trade paper reported. Aguilar and Georgaris are seeking a writer for Spares.

Georgaris recently wrote the scripts for Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, the upcoming Paycheck and Paramount's remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

Potter Game Updated

lectronic Arts has shipped new versions of its Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone video game, revamped for the Xbox, GameCube and PlayStation 2 next-generation consoles, the GameSpot Web site reported. All versions of the game carry a suggested retail price of $29.99, the site reported.

The new versions update 2001's Sorcerer's Stone PlayStation and PC game. The game reflects the movie based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling novel, but does not feature the film's stars, the site reported. The game also features content not in the book, including some new monsters and an entirely different twist, the site reported.

Things Talk In Wonderfalls

aroline Dhavernas, star of the upcoming Fox series Wonderfalls, told SCI FI Wire that she doesn't mind playing opposite inanimate objects. On the show, Dhavernas plays a young woman who, following the instructions of the toys, trinkets and other items at the Niagara Falls souvenir shop where she works, helps people she's never before met.

"Actors are always asked to talk to something that's not really there," Dhavernas said in an interview. "Even in a scene with two actors, sometimes one of the actors can't be there, because there's not enough room between one of the actors and the camera. So you're talking to a piece of tape instead. We're used to doing that kind of stuff. Talking to the animals is just another piece of tape or another thing that isn't really there."

Dhavernas added that the animals, toys or statues are on hand while a scene is being shot, but they're just not moving. "Someone on set will read the animal's lines to me," the Canadian actress said. "I get such a kick out of seeing the finished episodes, when they've done the special effects to make the animals talk and move. It's such a treat for me. When you see what you've accomplished, why you've been working so hard, it just makes you want to go back and work even harder to make it all happen." Wonderfalls will debut as a midseason replacement in the first quarter of 2004.

ABC Orders Desperation

BC has picked up a three-hour TV adaptation of Stephen King's apocalyptic novel Desperation, Variety reported. Mark Sennet (K Street) will executive produce, with Mick Garris (The Stand) directing, the trade paper reported. King, who is currently recovering from a serious case of pneumonia, has already written the screenplay. Desperation is the latest in a string of King projects at the network, including the upcoming midseason series Kingdom Hospital.

Based on King's 1996 book, Desperation tells the story of a man who winds up in a bizarre mining town, Desperation, Nev., after being pulled over by the strange local sheriff, the trade paper reported. The man eventually discovers that a mysterious force has killed the town's residents and that he must kill it to escape.

Sennet told the trade paper that he hopes to begin production in March or April. Garris must first complete the feature-film adaptation of King's e-book Riding the Bullet.

Desperation has been in development for some time, having originally been optioned as a feature by New Line, the trade paper reported.

Schenkkan Rewrites Gentle

obert Schenkkan has come aboard to rewrite Do Not Go Gentle, a Revolution Studios SF-tinged drama about a Smithsonian scientist who realizes his lifelong dream to travel in space, Variety reported. The movie is being developed as a directing vehicle for Michael Bay (Armageddon), the trade paper reported.

Schenkkan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, has been working on a two-part miniseries revamp of Michael Crichton's classic SF novel The Andromeda Strain for Universal Television, the trade paper reported. Universal Television is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

Briefly Noted

Screenshots for the new teaser trailer have gone up on the Trades Web site for the upcoming comedic remake of The Stepford Wives, which opens next year.

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson will be honored with the Modern Master award at the 19th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2004, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King posted a first-day worldwide gross of $57.6 million in its premiere on Dec. 17, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The New York Film Critics Circle named The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King the year's best film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A museum exhibit about the Lord of the Rings trilogy will use techniques from the films to transform visitors into hobbit dimensions in their own photos, Zap2it reported. The exhibit will run Aug. 1-Oct. 24, 2004, at Boston's Museum of Science and will also feature massive models, an "armor corridor," a display of prosthetics, original costumes, the One Ring, jewelry and videos of the cast, crew and director in behind-the-scenes interviews.

The limited theatrical release of the extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers took in $700,000 on the Dec. 12 weekend, pushing the film's total gross to $340 million and priming the pump for the Return of the King, which opened Dec. 17, the Associated Press reported.

The third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban, will premiere in Imax theaters in June, the same month it appears in traditional theaters, Variety reported.

A faux Web site and "commercial" for the "NS-5" robot domestic assistant has gone up as a promotion for the upcoming feature-film version of Isaac Asimov's classic I, Robot collection of stories. I, Robot, starring Will Smith, opens July 2004.

Former Beverly Hills 90210 star Jason Priestley has signed on for seven episodes of Fox's Tru Calling, playing Jack Harper, a new forensic attendant who will work alongside Tru (Eliza Dushku), TV Guide Online reported. He'll debut during February sweeps.

A new teaser trailer has gone live for The Mask 2, the upcoming sequel to 1994's hit The Mask. The sequel, starring Jamie Kennedy, opens April 30, 2004.

A new trailer has gone live for the upcoming SF movie The Chronicles of Riddick, the follow-up to 2000's Pitch Black, which opens next June.

The Moviehole.net Web site reported that Skeet Ulrich has been cut from Wes Craven's troubled werewolf movie Cursed, and that Joshua Jackson's new character has replaced Ulrich's old character.

Dark Horizons reported that Lions Gate is readying Cube Zero, a prequel to the 1997 SF movie Cube, which the studio described as turning away from the hyperclean look and towards a grittier direction for the series.

Finding Nemo and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King were among the picks of the American Film Institute for the 10 best movies of 2003, TV Guide Online reported. As for TV programs, the AFI picked Alias and Joan of Arcadia among the top 10 shows.

A new teaser trailer has gone live for Sam Raimi's upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2, which opens July 2, 2004. The new trailer features Doctor Octopus, played by Alfred Molina.

Screenwriter John August (Big Fish) is reteaming with director Tim Burton to write the script for Warner Brothers' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Johnny Depp is attached to star in the remake of the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which in turn is based on Roald Dahl's classic children's book.

Sarah Michelle Gellar won't be back as Buffy in The WB's Angel this season, despite talks to return for a two-episode arc during May sweeps, Angel co-creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide. "She feels it's not the right time," Whedon said.

The Kids' WB will once again shuffle its Saturday morning schedule with the addition of Astro Boy and Static Shock on Jan. 17, 2004, Variety reported. The network also has ordered an additional 26 episodes of the anime series MegaMan: NT Warrior, which will join the slate in the spring.

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