Moon Takes Nebula Award
lizabeth Moon's novel The Speed of Dark took the top Nebula Award in ceremonies April 17.
The 2003 Nebula Awards, honoring excellence in science fiction and fantasy, were given out at the annual Nebula Award Banquet in Seattle. Two works first published on SCIFI.COM's SCI Fiction page also won awards.
Also honored at the ceremony were Robert Silverberg, recipient of the
Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award; Charles Harness as an Author
of Distinction; and Michael Capobianco and Ann Crispin, receiving the
Service to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Award. A list of winners follows.
Best Novel
•The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
Best Novella
•Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Best Novelette
•"The Empire of Ice Cream" by Jeffrey Ford
Best Short Story
•"What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler
Best Script
•The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Buffy/Angel TV Film Possible?
he WB has approached Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel creator Joss Whedon about doing at least a movie-of-the-week or two—and possibly as many as six—next season, thanks in large part to a fan campaign organized by Saving Angel, E! Online's Watch With Kristin column reported.
But the columnist added that, despite Herculean efforts by fans to save the canceled vampire show, Angel won't be coming back as a regular series, either on the frog network or on UPN or Fox, which have both passed.
"I think a Buffy movie is more likely to happen now," Angel cast member James Marsters (Spike) told the columnist. "And they may be given better budgets, seeing this kind of interest, because there's a feeling that there's a guaranteed audience. So the effort that I've seen, it is not in vain."
Meanwhile, E! Online reported that The WB executives have decided to review an episode of Fox's canceled fantasy series Wonderfalls along with its pilots, which means it is in the running for a fall-season pickup.
Wonderfalls Creator Signs Deal
ryan Fuller, co-creator and executive producer of Fox's critically praised though canceled series Wonderfalls, has signed a two-year overall deal with series co-producer 20th Century Fox TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The pact, said to be in the seven-figure range and to include an option for a third year, calls for Fuller to focus primarily on developing new shows for the studio while also possibly working on an existing 20th TV series, the trade paper reported.
"Bryan has an incredibly fresh and unique voice for television," 20th TV president Dana Walden told the trade paper. "He is one of the people we've identified over the past couple of years who sort of defines what this studio is trying to do in terms of distinctive and groundbreaking television."
The deal comes on the heels of the Fox network's quick cancellation of 20th TV/Regency TV's quirky fantasy show Wonderfalls, which launched to good reviews but was pulled off the air after four low-rated airings, the trade paper reported.
Punisher's Travolta Gets Evil
ohn Travolta, who plays the villainous businessman Howard Saint in the film The Punisher, told SCI FI Wire that he decided to play his character as straight as possible despite the movie's comic-book origins.
"This is a new character, and I had to ask a lot of questions about him, because there wasn't anything to base him on," said Travolta. "I thought, 'Well, if I play it over the top, how do I do it?'"
Travolta admitted that his initial concept of Saint was more in the vein of villains he'd played in past movies, such as Swordfish and Broken Arrow. But he changed the character after he saw how director Jonathan Hensleigh approached the rest of the film. "I kind of had this idea of kind of a spidery villain that was really funny and almost grotesque in a way, and then it was whittled away," Travolta said. "I wasn't sure I was going to play this until the last minute, because I had to see what Thomas Jane was doing and the rest of the cast. The way I was playing it was not where we were going with it. I'm just showing up for a very serious performance here."
Travolta also discovered that the more he committed himself to the role, the more humorous the character's behavior inadvertently became. "I think the key here is the more serious he was, the funnier he became," Travolta said. "When I found out they were playing it dead serious, and that was pretty funny, I thought, 'OK. I'm going to play it subtle and serious, and it will be funny.' It's funny because most comic-strip movies think they have to do the other, and the more we played it like we were in a Scorsese movie, the funnier it became." The Punisher opened nationwide on April 16.
Punisher Homages Abound
onathan Hensleigh, director of the film The Punisher, told SCI FI Wire he consciously referenced action stories, from 007 to Mad Max, while developing the visuals in his directorial debut.
"There are certain visual references that I've used that are quite obvious," Hensleigh said in an interview. "I'm an enormous fan of George Miller. I liked the first two Mad Max pictures very much, and that's an obvious reference, an homage."
The first-time director, whose previous work includes scripts for The Rock and Armageddon, was quick to point out that his style is different from Miller's or any of the other influences he referenced while shooting The Punisher. "My shots and my visual design is quite different," Hensleigh said.
When asked about a possible James Bond reference in his centerpiece tussle between Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) and The Russian, a 7-foot-tall pugilist, Hensleigh copped to borrowing from 007's battle with the villainous Jaws. "There was definitely a reference there," he said. "In fact I showed the Jaws fight, and there's an earlier fight between Bond and Robert Shaw in the railway car [in From Russia With Love] that has savagery and violence, but also a wit to it. They were definitely things that I showed my department heads."
Hensleigh added that there aren't any Shakespearean references, except for one. "The plot line doesn't come from anything other than the obvious one, and that's Othello," he said. "The irony, of course, was that while I was inspired by Othello, ... in Othello the bad guy, Iago, is the instigator of it. And I made the protagonist in The Punisher the instigator of the jealousy which leads to murder." The Punisher opened April 16.
Jane Bulked Up In Punisher
homas Jane, the star of the The Punisher movie, told SCI FI Wire that he underwent a difficult physical regimen to achieve his character Frank Castle's carved physique.
"I think at the end I put on about 25 pounds of muscle," Jane said in an interview. "That's the real true figure."
Jane said that he tried to adhere as strictly as possible to the dietary and workout requirements the studio demanded he follow. "I knew going in reading the comics that it was a very physical part," he said. "The key to the character for me was through the physicality of the part. I took that very, very seriously. I went to the gym twice a day, sort of a controversial method among bodybuilders as to whether or not that works, but it worked for me, and I hit one body part twice a day and then the special diet."
At the same time, Jane admitted that he was relieved to get back to a more normal diet once the production ended. "Krispy Kreme donuts and Guinness beer came out the day we stopped," he said. "When the check stops coming, I stop going to the gym."
Jane added that his fiancee, actress Patricia Arquette, was disappointed that his newly carved physique would return to pre-Punisher flab. "My fiancee said, 'I'll write you the check. Here, go get back out there. Take the cheeseburger out of your mouth and go to the gym.'"
Though the film has a number of sequences in which Jane is unclothed or topless, the actor says he never resorted to "pumping up" right before the cameras rolled. "That's the old-fashioned way," he joked. "That's the Lorenzo Lamas school." The Punisher opened in theaters April 16.
Punisher Star Was Fan
homas Jane, star of the comic-book film adaptation The Punisher, told SCI FI Wire that he was a fan of comics long before he signed on to play Frank Castle, the former FBI agent who becomes a vigilante after his family is murdered by mobsters.
"I think it's a great medium, a very valid artistic medium," Jane said in an interview. Listing a few of the comics he grew up collecting, he said, "I read EC comics, like Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Incredible Science Fiction, Shock Suspense Stories, Two Fisted Tales."
When asked why he didn't read more of the superhero-oriented material, he responded, "I liked all the real genre stuff. That's where all the real literary talents, the Ray Bradbury, the Robert Heinlein adaptations were. I really got off on the writing. Then I got into Frank Miller and guys like that: the underground books, Robert Crumb. All that American Splendor stuff, I've been reading since I was a kid. I love that stuff. It's literate." Because of his experience on The Punisher, Jane said that he more recently began reading some of the source material for his latest film. "I'm into Steve Niles right now, and anything Garth Ennis does," he said. "There's a bunch of guys that I really enjoy." Ennis' The Return of Frank was the loose basis for the film's screenplay. The Punisher opened nationwide April 16.
Sky Captain Honors Serials
erry Conran, the novice director of the upcoming live-action/computer-animated SF movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, told SCI FI Wire that he intentionally set out to ape the old film serials of the 1930s and their modern-day counterparts.
"I grew up loving the Star Wars movies and Raiders [of the Lost Ark] and these kinds of films," Conran said in an interview. "And [I] grew up with a lot of those old influences in the serials as well, and it was just incredible fun."
Conran started Sky Captain as an experiment: to see if he could create an entire feature film by himself, using a computer. "What drew me to the serials in particular was when I actually sat down and did indeed intend to kind of do this by myself, I was a bit intimidated by the notion of ... actually creating a hundred minutes of footage for a film," he said. "I thought I could make five short films. So the notion of dividing this up in chapters and only having to kind of like take on maybe 12 minutes at a time ... seemed more doable. ... Each chapter would have been a victory unto itself."
Eventually, Sky Captain morphed into a big-budget Hollywood movie, with stars such as Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, who were undaunted by the movie's unusual production process: acting in front of a green background that will be replaced by computer-animated environments. "They completely embraced this whole process and knew the limitations," Conran said. "They were generous and kind with me to a fault. I think they were sensitive to everything about this process and made it easy, and ... it wasn't incumbent upon me to kind of like pull performances out of them. They're just such terribly skilled people that I just got to sit back and marvel at them." Sky Captain opens June 25.
Episode III Previews Coming
n-house Star Wars fan expert Steve Sansweet will offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the making of Star Wars: Episode III in convention appearances this summer, the official Homing Beacon newsletter reported.
Sansweet, head of fan relations at Lucasfilm Ltd., will appear at WonderCon, April 30, May 1 and 2, in San Francisco; Star Wars Encuentros, July 16-18, in Mexico City;
Comic-Con International, July 21-25, in San Diego; Wizard World Chicago, Aug. 13-15; GenCon Game Fair, Aug. 19-22, in Indianapolis; and Dragon Con, Sept. 3-6, in Atlanta.
Sansweet will also share insights into the upcoming September DVD release of the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as news on other special events.
Star Wars DVDs Set Record
re-orders of the upcoming DVD set of the original Star Wars film trilogy have reached record levels, Video Business reported.
After opening pre-orders on March 30, Amazon.com last week reported that the Star Wars DVD set, which is scheduled for retail on Sept. 21, had already outsold expectations, the trade publication reported.
The FYE Web site, meanwhile, reported that the DVD set will carry extensive special features, including commentaries by director George Lucas, cast member Carrie Fisher, sound designer Ben Burtt and cameraman Dennis Muren, as well as a 150-minute feature-length Kevin Burns documentary about the making of Star Wars. The set will also include a 30-minute featurette about the evolution of the Star Wars characters, a 20-minute featurette on the influence of Star Wars on moviemaking during the past two decades, a 10-minute featurette about lightsabers and a 20-minute featurette showcasing the opening of each Star Wars movie and its cultural reach.
Azkaban Sneaks On ABC
BC will offer a 10-minute sneak peek at the upcoming third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban, following the network's May 9 broadcast premiere of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Variety reported.
ABC, which paid $130 million in 2001 for TV rights for the first two Potter films, was looking for ways to lure viewers who had already seen Sorcerer's Stone in theaters, on cable and on DVD, the trade paper reported.
"If it makes sense to help their ratings, it's certainly not our business to tell them what to do," Disney marketing senior vice president Dennis Rice told the trade paper, adding that Disney and ABC cross-promote frequently. "If there are business relationships with other entities, they have their business to run."
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opens June 4.
Potter IV Date Set
arner Brothers announced a Nov. 18, 2005, release date for the fourth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which goes into production later this year, the Zap2it Web site reported.
The third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, opens June 4.
Mike Newell will direct Goblet, about 14-year-old Harry and his entry into the Triwizard Tournament against two rival wizardry schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, the site reported.
Roswell Movie In Works?
he British Hotdog magazine reported a rumor that the canceled SF TV series Roswell may come back as a feature film, in part due to the success of the show's DVD sets.
Series creator Jason Katims is reportedly looking at continuing the adventures of Isabel (Katherine Heigl), Michael (Brendan Fehr), Max (Jason Behr) and Liz (Shiri Appleby) in a movie.
Roswell, about four aliens living as high-school students in the famed UFO town in New Mexico, ran for two seasons on The WB before moving in its third and last season to UPN. It left the airwaves in 2003.
Successful DVD sales spurred the development of a movie based on another failed TV show, Joss Whedon's SF western show Firefly, which is in the works as a movie titled Serenity.
O'Bannon Enters The Triangle
roducers Dean Devlin and Bryan Singer have hired Farscape creator Rockne O'Bannon to write SCI FI Channel's upcoming miniseries The Triangle, the network announced.
The eight-hour Triangle, which will be executive produced by Devlin (Independence Day) and Singer (X-Men), will take on the myth of the Bermuda Triangle. No airdate has been set.
O'Bannon previously wrote the miniseries Peter Benchley's Creature for ABC and Robin Cook's Invasion for NBC during the late 1990s. Steven Spielberg also commissioned O'Bannon to create the NBC SF series SeaQuest DSV.
O'Bannon and Farscape executive producer David Kemper also wrote the upcoming original four-hour SCI FI miniseries, Farscape: Peacekeeper War, which is slated to air later this year.
Two Exorcists On DVD?
t's enough to make your head spin. Morgan Creek—which shelved director Paul Schrader's unseen Exorcist prequel movie and ordered it remade under helmer Renny Harlin—now says it may want to release both versions of the movie on DVD, Variety reported.
Schrader shot an entire version of Exorcist: The Beginning last year before Morgan Creek scrapped it and ordered a new version from scratch, including a new script, new cast and director Harlin, the trade paper reported. Harlin's Exorcist: The Beginning heads for theaters on Aug. 20.
Now, Morgan Creek chief James Robinson is telling the trade paper that he's seeking to have Warner Brothers release both directors' Exorcist movies on DVD simultaneously. That could raise a credits arbitration issue with the Directors Guild of America, the trade paper added.
Schrader told the trade paper that he's agreed in principle to the arrangement with Morgan Creek in order to get his version seen and as a way of settling the contractual issues of his being owed a preview and an official screening. "I'm very proud of my film, and I think it deserves to be seen," Schrader told Variety. "If I get the DVD, I can say 'God bless you, Renny; may your film do well.'"
It's unclear whether Warner would bundle both films in one DVD or simply make both films available individually. A spokesman for the studio told the trade paper that Morgan Creek hadn't yet discussed the DVD plan with anyone there.
Horror Awards Presented
he International Horror Guild presented its annual awards April 10 at the World Horror Convention in Phoenix.
The juried awards recognize outstanding achievements in the field of horror and dark fantasy.
In addition to the regular awards, the guild honored as Living Legends Stephen King and Everett F. Bleiler. Jack Cady was recognized with a posthumous Special Award. Living Legends are individuals who have made meritorious and notable contributions and/or have substantially influenced the field of horror/dark fantasy. Previous recipients are Charles L. Grant, William F. Nolan, Alice Cooper, Ray Bradbury, Clive Barker, Hugh B. Cave, Edward W. Bryant, Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison.
A full list of winners follows.
Novel
•lostboy lostgirl by Peter Straub
First Novel
•Jinn by Matthew B.J. Delaney
Collection (Tie)
•The Two Sams: Ghost Stories by Glen Hirshberg
•More Tomorrow and Other Stories by Michael Marshall Smith
Anthology
•The Dark: New Ghost Stories, Ellen Datlow ed.
Long Fiction
•Louisiana Breakdown by Lucius Shepard
Medium Fiction
•Dancing Men by Glen Hirshberg
Short Fiction
•"With Acknowledgments to Sun Tzu" by Brian Hodge
Periodical
•All Hallows: The Journal of the Ghost Story Society
Illustrated Narrative
•The Goon, Issues 1-4, words and art by Eric Powell
Nonfiction
•The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
Art
•Caniglia
Film
•Spider
Television
•Carnivale
Garner Reveals Elektra Hints
ennifer Garner, who will reprise her Daredevil role as the star of the upcoming spinoff movie Elektra, told SCI FI Wire that she is already training for the physical role in the movie, which picks up the story of the earlier film.
"It's not a prequel," Garner said in an interview. "It's a sequel to her story in Daredevil, and I've been training for the past couple of months. I trained after the [13 Going on 30 press] junket last night and got up this morning and will go again tonight. And I'm loving it." Garner added that principal photography begins next month. "I'm starting in May," she said.
Garner said that the film will draw upon the character's Marvel Comics series. "I think she has such a rich storyline of her own, and we're really mining that in this movie," she said. "A lot of the Frank Miller stuff for Elektra, [we're] really using it. Her story is quite dark. She's an assassin for hire, and she's a woman for hire, although we don't go there in this movie."
Garner also said that the costuming will be different from the black leather she wore in Daredevil and more like the outfit that the character wears in the comics. "I think that the wardrobe so far seems to be more reminiscent of what people associate with Elektra," she said. "[Elektra]'s known mostly for this red outfit that you can't seem to wear any underwear underneath, so we could never quite figure out how to make it work. But she also wears a lot of black. [But] when we did Daredevil, we were kind of slammed for the wardrobe, but actually it was something taken directly from one of the comic books. Now what I'm wearing will be a little more familiar to people who like the comic books." Elektra is being released by 20th Century Fox, with a tentative release date of Feb. 18, 2005.
Romijn-Stamos Back For X-Men 3
ebecca Romijn-Stamos, who plays the indigo shapeshifter Mystique in the X-Men films, told SCI FI Wire that she's definitely returning in the proposed third installment.
"I'm dreading the makeup part, but nothing else," she said in an interview. "I'm so happy to be a part of that franchise, and I love those people. It's a really exciting thing to be a part of."
Romijn-Stamos said she hasn't received a script for the third film, but looks at the role as another chance to prove that as an actor, she is more than a just pretty face. "I think you need a lot more than beauty to be a great actress in this world," she said. "There's lots of beautiful women out there. I think sometimes you have to remove that whole element of physical beauty in order to get people to see that you're actually a really talented person, because sometimes people just can't get over it. But that's the joy of acting. You get to embody these different characters and turn yourself into somebody else, my own example being Mystique."
Oscar Winners Join Rex
scar-winning actress Faye Dunaway and Oscar-winning composer and actor Isaac Hayes have signed on for cameo appearances in SCI FI Channel's upcoming two-hour movie pilot Anonymous Rex, the network announced.
Dunaway and Hayes join Sam Trammell, Daniel Baldwin and Stephanie Lemelin in the cast of Rex, about a world in which dinosaurs have evolved into creatures that can pass among us, disguised as humans. Rex is based on Eric Garcia's award-winning series of novels.
Dunaway will play Shin, the leader of a secret governing council of modern-day dinosaurs. Hayes plays a member of the council. Trammell and Baldwin star as two gumshoe detectives.
Rex is produced by Fox Studios, directed by Julian Jarrold (Touching Evil) and written by Joe Menosky (The Dead Zone), who also executive produces. Garcia is co-executive producer.
Malkovich Hitches On Galaxy
ohn Malkovich will join the cast The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a movie based on Douglas Adams' SF radio show and book, for Spyglass Entertainment/Walt Disney Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Malkovich will play a religious cult leader called Humma Kavula, created by Adams especially for the film, the trade paper reported.
Galaxy begins shooting this month in London, with Garth Jennings at the helm. Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Sam Rockwell and Martin Freeman also star.
Mos Def plays Ford Prefect, Freeman plays earthling Arthur Dent, Rockwell plays Zaphod Beeblebrox and Deschanel plays Trillian, the trade paper reported.
Adams adapted his novel for the screen before he died in 2001. Karey Kirkpatrick did a rewrite before Robert Ben Garant came on board, the trade paper reported.
Cleese, Curry Voice Valiant
ohn Cleese and Tim Curry have joined the voice cast of Vanguard Animation's upcoming fantasy comedy film Valiant, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Shrek producer John H. Williams is producing, with Gary Chapman directing, the trade paper reported.
The animated comedy tells the story of a wood pigeon named Valiant, who overcomes his small size to become a hero in Great Britain's Royal Air Force Homing Pigeon Service during World War II. Cleese plays an Allied pigeon who gets trapped behind enemy lines. Curry voices a character who is devoted to the pigeons' destruction as part of the enemy's Falcon Brigade, the trade paper reported.
Ewan McGregor, Ben Kingsley, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Everett, Hugh Laurie, John Hurt and Ricky Gervais are already in the voice cast.
Nispel Digs Subterranean
irector Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) has set up an original SF movie pitch, Subterranean, with writer John Jarrell at Disney-based Beacon Pictures, Variety reported.
The movie, which Nispel will direct, centers on a mysterious discovery beneath the streets of New York.
Nispel, Mimi Polk Gitlin and Richard Gitlin are producing. Nispel will also work with Beacon to develop the video game based upon the film, the trade paper reported.
Nispel is currently directing USA Network's Dean Koontz miniseries Frankenstein. USA Network is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
W.I.T.C.H. Books Due
isney Publishing will launch the tween book series W.I.T.C.H., based on its international comic-book series, Variety reported.
The series centers on five seemingly ordinary tween girls who each have the magical ability to control a natural element—fire, earth, air or water—to fight evil, the trade paper reported.
Nine American books will be published by the Hyperion Books for Children imprint, with the first on sale in April, the trade paper reported.
Trekkies 2 Screens To Fans
tar Trek stars Denise Crosby, Dominic Keating, Casey Biggs and others joined fans for a screening of the straight-to-video sequel documentary Trekkies 2 at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles on April 14.
Documentary director Roger Nygard and producer Michael Leahy were also on hand to unveil the documentary, a tongue-in-cheek homage to Trek fandom worldwide and the follow-up to 1997's original Trekkies.
In the 90-minute documentary, Crosby (Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation) again acts as the on-camera host and interviewer as the film chronicles Trek fans in Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Serbia, Brazil and the United States and catches up with Trekkies interviewed in the original documentary in 1996.
Fans featured in both the first and second films also attended the screening, including a grown-up Gabriel Köerner (who also did the sequel's visual effects), the Rev. Bernie Carman and members of the Sacramento, Calif.,-based Star Trek tribute bands No Kill I, No Kill I: The Next Generation, Stovokor and Warp 11.
No release date has been set for Trekkies 2, but the documentary will screen at selected film festivals in the coming weeks.
Disney Revisits Willows
ark Friedman has been tapped to write the script adaptation for Walt Disney Co.'s new live-action/computer-animated The Wind in the Willows movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film is based on the Kenneth Grahame book about the adventures of Mole, Badger and Mr. Toad that Disney turned into a short animated film in 1949, the trade paper reported.
Original Films' Neal Moritz and Amanda Cohen are producing, along with SekretAgent Productions' Corey May and M. Dooma Wendschuh, who originally set up the project, the trade paper reported.
Friedman is also penning an adaptation for Miramax Films of The Two Princesses of Bamarre, based on the book by Ella Enchanted author Gail Carson Levine, the trade paper reported.
Lion Seeks Kiwi Extras
ilmmakers are casting extras for the New Zealand production of Disney/Walden's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on the C.S. Lewis classic fantasy book, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.
People of unusual size are being urged to show up, the newspaper added.
Independent casting director Liz Mullane, who worked on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, is seeking men and women under 5 feet and men and women taller than 6 feet 4 inches, the newspaper reported. They must have good body strength, stamina, fitness and be "non-claustrophobic," because they could find themselves inside a full body suit or in other odd places for hours at a time, the newspaper reported.
The production is seeking about 200 extras for the film, due to shoot from the end of June. Casting calls are being held in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland.
Team Looks Into Future
roducer Lydia Dean Pilcher, director Katja von Garnier and screenwriter Sally Robinson will team up on a movie adapted from Alice Hoffman's best-selling supernatural novel The Probable Future, Variety reported.
Published last summer by Doubleday, Hoffman's book centerings on three generations of New England women whose youngest member acquires the ability to see how people will die, the trade paper reported.
Pilcher is developing the feature through her New York-based Cine Mosaic banner. She will begin pitching the project for financing this month in Los Angeles, the trade paper reported.
Hoffman's fiction previously served as the source material for Warner's Practical Magic.
Fans Want To Save Enterprise
t worked before. Fans of UPN's struggling Star Trek: Enterprise have organized a Save Enterprise Web site to encourage viewers to write and phone to ensure the show's renewal, about which an announcement is expected on May 20.
USA Today, meanwhile, has included Enterprise in its online "Save Our Shows" survey of series that are reportedly "on the bubble," meaning at risk of cancellation.
Trekker Tim Brazeal is behind the Save Enterprise campaign.
The official Star Trek Web site reported that Enterprise has struggled in the ratings this year as it nears the end of its third season and the conclusion of its season-long story arc involving the crew's sojourn in the Expanse to stop the Xindi from destroying Earth.
Flash Gordon Scribe Hired?
GN FilmForce reported a rumor that writer Ronald Shusett (Total Recall) has been hired to do a new script for the long-in-development big-screen return of Flash Gordon.
The rumor is based on an anonymous source.
But a representative for producer Ben Myron's Leisure Time Entertainment told IGN FilmForce that he hadn't heard of Shusett being hired and that the company is "not actively" developing Flash Gordon at this time.
Shusett received story credit for the first Alien movie and has since received a "based on characters created by" credit on all subsequent Alien films, including the upcoming Alien vs. Predator. His other screenwriting credits include Minority Report and Freejack, the site reported.
Baker Enters Ring 2
imon Baker has been cast in the role of Max, opposite Naomi Watts, in DreamWorks' horror sequel The Ring 2, Variety reported.
Hideo Nakata, the director behind both of the original Japanese Ring movies, is helming the U.S. sequel, the trade paper reported.
Baker is perhaps best known to audiences as Nicholas Fallin in CBS' legal drama series The Guardian, the trade paper reported.
Hu Bites Into Shadows
he WB added Kelly Hu (X2) to the cast of its updated Dark Shadows pilot, Variety reported.
Hu will play Dr. Julia Hoffman, a physician who discovers that Barnabas Collins is a vampire, the trade paper reported.
Warner Brothers TV and John Wells Productions are behind Dark Shadows, which is executive produced by Mark Verheiden, Dan Curtis and Wells. The remake of the classic '60s vampire soap opera also stars Martin Donovan, Matt Czuchry, Alexander Gould, Blair Brown, Marley Shelton, Ivana Milicevic, Alec Newman and Jessica Chastain, the trade paper reported.
BSFA Winners Named
he winners of the British Science Fiction Awards were announced April 11 at Concourse, the 2004 British National Science Fiction Convention, in Blackpool, U.K., according to a report on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site.
Winners were chosen by a vote of BSFA members and members of the convention, the site reported. A list of winners follows.
Novel
•Felaheen by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Short Fiction
•"The Wolves in the Walls" by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
Artwork
•Cover of The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod by Colin Odell
Nonfiction
•Reading Science Fiction by Farah Mendlesohn
Charmed Finale Hinted
ames L. Conway, co-executive producer and director of The WB's witch series Charmed, offered SCI FI Wire a few juicy details about the series' upcoming two-hour sixth-season finale, which brings the conflict between Gideon and Wyatt to a head.
"Gideon [Gildart Jackson] has been trying to do something with Wyatt," Piper's (Holly Marie Combs) child, Conway said in an interview during a break in filming on the show's set in Canoga Park, Calif. "He's afraid that Wyatt is too powerful."
Conway said that Gideon makes use of a mirror-like device to open a window to a parallel dimension, an evil version of our world. "In the parallel dimension, there's an evil version of the Charmed Ones [Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan]. There's an evil version of him, and the world is all evil," Conway said while lining up shots for a confrontation between Gideon and Leo (Brian Krause). "Our girls are inadvertently sent over there, and they have to escape. The only way they can escape that world is by doing a lot of good."
Without divulging too many secrets of the epic conclusion, Conway said that Gideon's shenanigans cause numerous troubles for the sisters once they find their way back to the normal world. "When they accomplish that, when they come back to this world, they upset the balance," Conway said. "Now this world is too good, like Pleasantville, and everyone has big smiles on their faces. But if you make a mistake, you get your arm chopped off. You steal something, your arm gets chopped off. If you don't leave when somebody tells you, your legs get chopped off, and everybody happily accepts those kinds of punishments. So now the world is really screwed up," he said with a smile.
Conway added that Wyatt's and Gideon's longstanding conflict finally comes to head, though he declined to say exactly how. "In an earlier episode, he did capture Wyatt and try to kill him, and the girls found out about it, and they rescued him," he said. "But now Gideon's plotting again. This time, he does again grab Wyatt and takes him down to the underworld. But Wyatt escapes and orbs out during the show, so they're trying to find him." The Charmed finale airs in a two-hour block starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT on May 16.
Fantastic Cast Assembling?
asting rumors are flying for the proposed Fantastic Four movie, based on the Marvel Comics series.
The Latino Review Web site reported rumors that Michael Chiklis (TV's The Shield) is under consideration to play The Thing, Paul Walker (The Fast and the Furious) is being eyed for Johnny Storm and Tim Robbins is up for the villainous Dr. Doom.
Earlier, Cinescape reported a rumor that Christina Milian is one of the actresses under consideration for the part of the Invisible Woman. Superhero Hype, meanwhile, reported a rumor that muscle-man Ralf Moeller is preparing for an undisclosed role in the movie.
Horn Takes Pride In Show
oy Horn, the Las Vegas magician who is recovering from a tiger attack, approved of an initial screening of Father of the Pride, NBC's upcoming computer-animated series loosely based on his and partner Siegfried Fischbacher's troupe of animals, Variety columnist Army Archerd reported.
Jeffrey Katzenberg, a honcho at DreamWorks, which is producing the show, personally screened the series' first episode for Horn, who said the show "exceeds my expectations," Archerd reported.
The show—voiced by Carl Reiner, John Goodman, Cheryl Hines, Danielle Harris and Jon O'Hurley—centers on a family of lions who perform with a fictionalized version of Siegfried & Roy (actors voice animated versions of the magicians).
Archerd added that Horn, who was mauled onstage in October, is now talking, working in rehab and therapy and is improving daily. Father of the Pride is aiming for a September premiere.
Sundance Unveils Plympton Toons
undance Channel has acquired two feature films and nine shorts by maverick animator Bill Plympton for broadcast in a May spotlight on the filmmaker's work, Variety reported.
Drawing from the period 1987-2003, Get to Know: Bill Plympton will present the U.S. TV premiere of the animated feature Mutant Aliens and The Tune and the short film program Mondo Plympton. The shorts include Eat, Parking, Your Face, One of Those Days, How to Kiss, 25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Plymptoons, Draw and Nosehair, the trade paper reported.
Get to Know: Bill Plympton will premiere May 2.
Mutant X Change Promised
ictoria Pratt, who plays Shalimar Fox on the syndicated SF TV series Mutant X, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming season-three finale alters the universe of the show.
"Something so drastic has happened that no one's character is going to be the same," Pratt said in an interview. "Everyone's life is affected after the finale. If it goes to season four, it's going to be a shocking new world."
Pratt's contract ends at the end of season three, and she said that she's still undecided about returning, though an offer is on the table. "I've been invited back if it goes back," she said. "We're just waiting to hear what happens."
Pratt added that the season finale does not easily explain Fox's elimination from the group should she decide not to return. "The last episode is pretty drastic, but I think they'd have to be pretty clever in writing out Shalimar," she said. "Anything is possible, but they set it up in a very particular way." Mutant X airs in syndication.
Briefly Noted
-
Rhino Films is developing a remake of the 1967 cult horror movie She Freak, to be written by Tim Sullivan and Chris Kobin, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
-
USA Today reported that Terence Stamp (The Haunted Mansion) will join Jennifer Garner in the upcoming Daredevil spinoff, Elektra, which begins shooting in May.
-
This year's Arthur C. Clarke Award ceremony will take place May 12 at the English Heritage Lecture Theatre, New Burlington Place, London, Locus Online reported. The award ceremony moved from its previous venue, the Science Museum, because of a price increase.
-
Novice screenwriters Bobby Florsheim and Josh Stolberg sold their fantasy spec script The Passion of the Ark to Columbia Pictures, Variety reported. The film is a modern-day tale of an unmarried man approached by God to build an ark to save the world from a second flood.
-
A teaser Web site has opened for the upcoming movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, starring Jim Carrey, which opens in December.
-
Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, who will next headline The Stepford Wives, more than doubled her annual income in 2003, making her Australia's richest entertainer, Business Review Weekly magazine reported. In its annual survey of the top 50 entertainers, the magazine said that Kidman earned an estimated $18.6 million last year.
-
ABC announced pickups of several series for next year, but not its spy drama Alias, Zap2it reported. The network could make more announcements in advance of May's upfront presentation to advertisers.
-
Visual-effects house The Orphanage (Hellboy) has landed Fox's SF disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow as its next project and will complete more than 45 shots for the film, which opens May 28, Variety reported.
-
Star Wars: Episode III star Ewan McGregor and fellow actor Charley Boorman will set out this week on an around-the-world motorcycle journey from London, across Europe, Asia and North America, that will get them to New York City by about July, the Associated Press reported.
-
Fox has posted a new trailer for I, Robot, the Will Smith movie loosely based on Isaac Asimov's classic SF short-story collection, which opens July 16.
-
X-Men star Rebecca Romijn has split from her husband of five years, actor John Stamos, Zap2it reported. The couple has separated, publicist Lewis Kay told the site.
-
The official Star Wars Web site opened StarWarsShop.com, an online source for themed goods, at 9 a.m. PT on April 14.
-
Scientists are celebrating the birthday of the world's oldest known living mouse, a dwarf mouse named Yoda, who turned 4, roughly 136 in human years, on April 10, the New York Times reported. The average life span of a laboratory mouse is just over two years.
-
Jon Abrahams (My Boss' Daughter) has signed on to Warner Brothers/ Village Roadshow Pictures' House of Wax remake, Zap2it reported.
-
Tony winner Jane Krakowski has joined the cast of NBC's A Christmas Carol, a musical based on the stage production at New York's Madison Square Garden, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Krakowski will pay the ghost of Christmas past opposite Kelsey Grammer, who plays Ebenezer Scrooge.
Back to the top.
