Bradbury Slams Moore
egendary SF author Ray Bradbury has ripped into filmmaker Michael Moore for using the title Fahrenheit 9/11 for his new Bush-bashing movie, an obvious takeoff on the 84-year-old's science-fiction classic Fahrenheit 451, the WorldNetDaily.com Web site reported.
Bradbury reportedly told the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, "Michael Moore is a screwed a--hole, that is what I think about that case," according to an English translation of the story. "He stole my title and changed the numbers without ever asking me for permission."
Bradbury added, "[Moore] is a horrible human being. Horrible human!" When asked if he agreed with Moore's political positions, Bradbury replied, "That has nothing to do with it. He copied my title; that is what happened. That has nothing to do with my political opinions." According to the Swedish daily, Bradbury said he had tried to discuss the issue with Moore several months ago, but that the director avoided him, the site reported.
According to the report, Bradbury refused to say if he would take legal action against Moore.
Buffy Scholars Convene
bout 325 scholars and others gathered in Nashville, Tenn., last week for an academic conference examining the cult TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series, Angel, the Associated Press reported.
"Buffyologists" from as far away as Singapore presented 190 papers on topics ranging from "Slayer slang" to "postmodern reflections on the culture of consumption" to "Buffy and the new American Buddhism," the AP reported.
There was even a self-conscious talk by David Lavery, an English professor at Middle Tennessee State University, on Buffy studies "as an academic cult."
Lavery and Rhonda Wilcox, a professor at Gordon College in Georgia, co-hosted the conference and are known as the "father and mother" of Buffy studies, the AP reported. Wilcox, who wrote her doctoral thesis at Duke University about Charles Dickens, compared the show's depth and texture to his 19th-century serial novels. "I think it's a great work of art," she told the wire service.
Azkaban Opens Really Wide
arry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third film in the hit franchise, will open on 3,855 screens, the second-highest premiere of all time, following Shrek 2's 4,163, Variety reported.
The movie, which opens June 4, is the first to get a summer release, the trade paper added.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Azkaban has already smashed British box-office records by taking in more than five million pounds ($9.23 million) on the first day of its release in the United Kingdom. The movie opened in 535 locations on May 31, coinciding with a state bank holiday and the start of many school half-term breaks, the wire service reported.
EA Releases Azkaban
lectronic Arts announced the North American release of a video game based on the third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban, across five different platforms, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Developed by EA's U.K. studio, the game is now available for the PC, GameBoy Advance and all current generation consoles, the site reported.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban allows players to switch among the roles of Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, as they begin their third year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each of the playable characters has different abilities and magic spells at their disposal, and all three of them will need to work together to get past many of the game's puzzles and enemies, the site reported. The Azkaban film opens June 4.
Watson Reveals Azkaban Cuts
mma Watson, who reprises the role of Hermione Granger in the third Harry Potter film, The Prisoner of Azkaban, told SCI FI Wire that she's pleased with how judiciously director Alfonso Cuarón and screenwriter Steven Kloves condensed and pruned J.K. Rowling's book into a movie.
"I think that they did a really good job on this one," Watson said during a press conference. "A lot was cut, but they did a great job of making sure that everything that was put in the film was really relevant to the plot."
Watson added, "One of the things that I think is really great about the film is that it's really fluid and fast-moving. They did a really good job of getting everything that was important in there."
Asked specifically what was shot but cut, Watson replied, "There were a couple of fights with Ron [Rupert Grint] that were cut." Watson also confirmed that Cuarón cut a scene in which Hermione and Ron hug. "There was an awkward hug with Ron, but it did get cut," she said. What made it awkward? "Well, just on the exterior, I think," she said. "Hermione and Ron spend the whole film arguing with each other. Ron is convinced that Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, has eaten his rat, [Scabbers]. But I think that's a bit of a cover-up, really, because they have a bit of a soft spot for each other. It's a classic love-hate relationship. You always tease the ones you like." Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opens June 4.
Radcliffe Compares Potter Helmers
aniel Radcliffe, who stars in the third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban, told SCI FI Wire that it's been a good learning experience to have worked with three directors on the four Potter films.
"Basically, I think that everything that we learned with Chris [Columbus] we're now able to put into practice with a different director," Radcliffe said during a press conference while promoting Azkaban.
Columbus directed the first two films, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Mexican-born director Alfonso Cuaron, meanwhile, called the shots on Azkaban. Mike Newell will put Radcliffe and his co-stars, Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione), through their paces for the upcoming fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is in production in England. Radcliffe said that he and his co-stars are now able to work longer hours and can better handle extended takes. "I think that the reason Alfonso was able to do longer takes and was able to do more complicated shots was because, with Chris, we just didn't have the experience or the focus to do that kind of stuff," Radcliffe said. "We did with Alfonso."
Radcliffe added, "It is hard. It's more challenging, which is good, because if we're getting older and we're not being challenged, then there's no point in doing it, really. But I think it's just that we learn more with each director. And now with the fourth film, with Mike Newell directing, I think that we're going to learn even more as well." Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban opens June 4.
Diesel Fueled Riddick Game
in Diesel, who reprises the role of antihero Richard Riddick in the upcoming film The Chronicles of Riddick, told SCI FI Wire that he was also intimately involved in the creation of a prequel video game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay.
"I created [game developer] Tigon Studios just because I wanted the Chronicles of Riddick video game to be incredible," Diesel said in an interview. Tigon worked closely with Diesel's film production company, One Race, to take elements from the upcoming movie and incorporate them into the Xbox title, he added. Vivendi Universal Games is distributing Escape From Butcher Bay; Universal Pictures will release the Riddick film.
Diesel also voices the character of Riddick in the game, which takes place before the events of Pitch Black, the 2000 SF movie that introduced the character and is the predecessor to The Chronicles of Riddick movie. "I did the voice, I did dialogue writing, scene writing," he said. "Some of the cinematics are completely original. We were able to assemble a great cast. Ron Perlman [Hellboy], Cole Hauser [who played Johns in Pitch Black] ... [are] amazing in it. ... Johns is in the video game, because it's a prequel to Pitch Black."
Diesel added, "I'm so excited about the game. The game has been rated and nominated for Best in Show at [the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles]. Real exciting. It's addictive, that game. I have it in my trailer, so everybody keeps coming in to play the game. Like they're always asking, 'Can we put up that Riddick game?'" The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay has shipped to stores and carries a suggested retail price of $49.99.
Vivendi Universal Games and Universal Pictures are owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Riddick Game Released
hronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, an Xbox video game based on the upcoming movie, has shipped to stores, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Released exclusively for the Xbox, VU Games' action-adventure retails for $49.99, the site reported.
The game, which is being released in conjunction with the June 11 movie The Chronicles of Riddick, is set before the events of Pitch Black, the predecessor to Chronicles, the site reported. The game looks at how interplanetary criminal Richard B. Riddick (voiced by Riddick star Vin Diesel) escaped from of the galaxy's highest-security prison.
VU Games is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Diesel Drawn Back to Riddick
in Diesel, who stars in the upcoming SF epic film The Chronicles of Riddick, told SCI FI Wire that he was drawn to reprise the character of the anithero first introduced in the sleeper hit movie Pitch Black.
Riddick is "a compelling character in both his complexity and his simplicity," Diesel said in an interview. "His nature is complex. His character is complex, [as is] the unpredictability of his nature. But at the same time there's something very simple. And there's a very simple mantra that he preaches, which is: Don't f--k with me, I won't f--k with you. And ... those are interesting colors to play with in a character, because they're ... both two different extremes."
Diesel said that Riddick differs in its mythology from other, similarly themed films, from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings. "Although we've had Star Wars and we've had Lord of the Rings and we've had these great mythologies, we haven't had a mythology that has a central character, a protagonist, that is as complex as Riddick, I don't think," he said. Riddick is a character who "doesn't really know his history and is discovering that, and we discover it with him, and he's as shocked as we are," Diesel added.
In the movie, which takes place several years after the events in Pitch Black, Diesel plays Riddick as a fugitive who finds himself caught up in an intergalactic battle between good and evil. The filmmakers, including director David Twohy, "were successful in making a film that satisfies on multiple levels," Diesel said. "If you are going to the film to enjoy your Friday night, to go see an epic full-scale picture, ... [it's] rewarding on a very simple level. ... [But] if you are going to The Chronicles of Riddick to kind of be introduced to the mythology and to explore this universe, then it's also gratifying." The Chronicles of Riddick, which also stars Judi Dench, Thandie Newton and Karl Urban, opens June 11.
Raimi Mulled Many Spidey 2 Villains
am Raimi, who directed the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2, told SCI FI Wire that he contemplated pitting more than one adversary against Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) before settling on just one: Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina).
"Well, there were a lot of different iterations of the story, and at times there was more than one villain, and at times there were more than two villains," Raimi said in an interview. "But it all came down to trying to focus on what I felt was the strongest aspect of the film and diminishing everything else so that it could live."
Raimi, who would not specify what other villains he considered, added, "The strongest aspect of the film is Peter Parker [Maguire] and his journey to becoming a responsible young man. So after we had one villain to test his mettle against and to be in conflict with Spider-Man, I found that there were diminishing returns for the second and third villains, since our real story was an interior story, this journey to be a human hero, how Peter Parker battles the problems of being a hero, how he copes. The more villains that we added into the mix didn't seem to make the story richer and stronger. It seemed to diminish [it], in fact." Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
Marvel Settles Spidey Suit
omic publisher Marvel Enterprises announced that it has "amicably" resolved its pending court disputes with Sony Pictures Entertainment, which distributes the Spider-Man films, the Comics Continuum reported.
Under the settlement, Marvel will undertake more Spider-Man merchandising through a joint venture with Sony, the site reported. The consolidation will increase Marvel's licensing revenues and operating expenses starting in the second quarter of 2004.
The two companies will continue their relationship on future chapters of Spider-Man, including Spider-Man 3, currently slated for release on May 4, 2007, as well as other previously announced development projects based on Marvel characters, including Luke Cage and Ghost Rider, slated for release in 2005 and 2006, respectively, the site reported. Spider-Man 2 is slated for release on June 30.
M:I 3 Can Film Reichstag
om Cruise has won permission to shoot Mission: Impossible 3 at Berlin's historic Reichstag building, Agence France-Presse reported.
The decision by Berlin officials reverses a previous ban on filming at the structure, which houses Germany's parliament.
A German parliament spokesman told AFP that, after talks with Babelsberg Studios, Cruise could shoot some scenes outside the Reichstag and on the steps, under tight conditions. The interior of the parliament building, including its famous dome, is to remain off limits, speaker Wolfgang Thierse said, so as not to demean the building. Filming can only take place during the parliamentary recess, and final approval will depend on the script, the spokesman added.
Formally opened on December 5, 1894, the Reichstag only just survived the Nazi era and was heavily bombed during World War II. It did not become a parliament again until 1999, nine years after Germany was reunified, AFP reported.
Duchovny: X-Files 2 On The Way
avid Duchovny told the British Teletext Web site that a second X-Files movie is in the works.
"We're all on the same page," Duchovny (Fox Mulder) told the site. "Gillian Anderson [Dana Scully] wants to do it. I want to do it. [The X-Files creator] Chris Carter, who would write and produce the film, wants to do it. And I believe Fox the studio wants to do it."
Duchovny added, "When you have the four major players in the enterprise wanting to do it, it will happen. It's just a matter of when. I hope it happens within the next year." The 43-year-old star quit the TV show before it was canceled, but said he was eager to play Mulder again. "I think it would be fun at this point, a few years removed, to get back into it and do it," he told the site.
Doom Movie Rights Bought
niversal Pictures has optioned the film rights to the Doom SF video-game franchise for producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and John Wells, Variety reported.
Enda McCallion is attached to make his directorial debut, the trade paper reported.
Dave Callaham wrote the script, based on the id Software and Activision game, set at a Mars space station, where an aerospace conglomerate is conducting secret experiments when something unleashes a demonic force that threatens to overtake the facility, the trade paper reported.
The third installment in the hit game, Doom 3, is slated for release July 15, the trade paper reported.
Universal Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Steig's Zazaba Optioned
hrek producer John H. Williams has optioned film rights to The Zazaba Jungle, a second title from William Steig, the children's author who wrote the original Shrek book, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Williams, who founded Vanguard Animation, optioned the rights from the late cartoonist's estate, the trade paper reported.
Jungle has as its main character a young boy who must leave the safety of his own backyard to trek through a dense, fantastical jungle to find his captured parents, the trade paper reported.
Web Heads For Screen
aramount and producer Jordan Kerner have tapped Gary Winick (13 Going on 30) to direct the live-action/computer-animated film adaptation of E.B. White's beloved children's book Charlotte's Web, Variety reported.
Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich) wrote the script; Karey Kirkpatrick (Curious George) did revisions, the trade paper reported.
Charlotte's Web, written in 1952, is the best-selling children's paperback of all time. It centers on a spider who saves the life of her friend, a pig named Wilbur, by weaving five words into her webs; it also follows a 10-year-old girl who begins the journey into adolescence, the trade paper reported.
The book was previously adapted as a 1973 animated feature by Paramount and Sagittarius Productions, owned by Edgar Bronfman Sr., the trade paper reported.
Tartakovsky Helms Astroboy
ony Pictures Entertainment has struck a deal with animator Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack) to write and direct its long-in-development film version of the classic Japanese animated series Astroboy, Variety reported.
Don Murphy of Angryfilms is producing, with Lisa Henson and Kristine Belson of Jim Henson Pictures, for Sony's Columbia Pictures, the trade paper reported.
The project was purchased by the studio in 1997 and slated as a live-action movie. Todd Alcott wrote a script and all systems were go, but the movie hit a snag in 2000, when Steven Spielberg began the similarly themed A.I. Artificial Intelligence, also about a robot boy who replaces a dead child.
Astroboy is a futuristic Pinocchio story about a scientist who builds a robot replacement for his dead son, but then turns him out in the world when it becomes clear he's not human, the trade paper reported.
Insiders told the trade paper that the movie will blend animation, animatronics and live action. Osamu Tezuka, often called the Walt Disney of Japan, created Astroboy.
Carrey, Helmer Juiced Up Lemony
rad Silberling, who is directing the upcoming fantasy movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, told SCI FI Wire that he and star Jim Carrey instantly clicked on adapting Daniel Handler's quirky series of children's books, about the Baudelaire orphans and their scheming relative, Count Olaf (Carrey), who conspires to steal their inheritance.
"We had an instant blast," Silberling said in an interview on the film's set in Downey, Calif. "What I was surprised by is [that] he has a great storytelling head. He thinks in terms of the storytelling, and he's not just sort of working ... from 'Wow, what can I do that's going to be funny?'"
Carrey plays the orphans' elderly thespian relative in heavy makeup. "We started riffing, and in the space of a couple of hours [in] our first meeting, [we] came up with many key moments in the movie," Silberling said. He aded, "We're covering the first three books of the series. In each book [Olaf] shows up in a new incarnation, sort of like a Peter Sellers role for him. And just the other day we did his last character, and we hadn't worked out the details of that character until last week. And what's been the fun on the journey is that we've kept it spontaneous, so that three days before we're going to shoot, we go, 'Oh, God, what are we going to do?' We experiment with a look, and we just came up instinctively with this process where I'd put him in front of [the] camera, I'd have a sound mixer, and I would just start interviewing him as if he were this character. Because I wanted to learn about the character, and he did too. And he's so quick that I guarantee you [that] a good half, or more than half, of his dialogue in this movie is coming out of these riffs that would come from our doing these little interviews. And then we would get them transcribed and look, 'Oh, my God. That's fantastic. This was great. That was fantastic.' So it was a really organic process."
Carrey has said in the past that he had worked up one accent for Count Olaf, then changed it once he saw his finished makeup."Well it was just funny," Silberling said. "The look does so much of the work. ... I talked to him about young Orson Welles, ... when you think about the sort of incredible hubris [Olaf has]." Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, now in production, is slated for release Dec. 17.
Lohan Conjures Up Jeannie?
mpire magazine is reporting a rumor that Lindsay Lohan (Freaky Friday) has been signed to play the lead in a film version of I Dream of Jeannie, the 1960s fantasy TV series, according to a report on the Moviehole Web site.
The 17-year-old actress would likely play the title character of a genie rescued from a bottle by an Air Force officer, the site reported.
Gurinder Chada (Bend it Like Beckham) is directing the movie, which Jessica Simpson and Keira Knightley were also supposedly interested in doing, the site reported.
The Psycho In The Works
niversal Pictures has bought screen rights to the DC SF graphic novel The Psycho and has set writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff (The Day After Tomorrow) to draft the script, Variety reported.
The Psycho tells the story of a government agent who uncovers a technology used to turn people genetically into superhumans, the trade paper reported.
The Psycho "is a contemporary but altered reality, like The Matrix," Nachmanoff told the trade paper. "But what I most liked is the moral quandary of the protagonist, who ends up having to become what he despises when he takes this drug." The three-issue comc series was published in 1991 and created by James Hudnall (Harsh Realm) and Dan Brereton. Hudnall and Brereton will also produce.
Circle Of Confusion's David Engel will produce, with Lawrence Mattis and Jason Lust executive producing, the trade paper reported.
Universal Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Steinberg Rewrites Wishes
avid Steinberg has been hired to rewrite Other People's Wishes, a fantasy film for Warner Brothers Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mark Canton is producing the comedy, about a man who steals pennies out of a wishing well and discovers that he has to live out the wishes of other people.
Harris Orkin wrote the original spec script, the trade paper reported. Steinberg's credits include American Pie 2 and Slackers.
Sunburst Nominees Named
he Sunburst Award committee announced its short list for the fourth annual award, Canada's only juried and prized award for Canadian literature of the fantastic.
The award consists of a cash prize of $1,000 and a hand-crafted stainless-steel medallion of the Sunburst, from a design by Marcel Gagné. It will be presented in September. The short list follows.
•The Bone House by Luanne Armstrong
•Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
•A Place So Foreign And 8 More by Cory Doctorow
•Initiation by Virginia Frances Schwartz
•Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
Shrek 3 Gets Green Light
reamWorks has put Shrek 3 on a fast track, hiring Peter Seaman and Jeffrey Price to write the sequel, Variety reported.
Additional writers, including those from the first films, may be brought on in coming months to polish the script, the trade paper added.
As early as January, four months before the release of Shrek 2, DreamWorks was quietly mobilizing the development of Shrek 3, in which the green ogre will contend with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the trade paper reported. Shrek 3 is eyeing a holiday 2006 release. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy are expected to lend their voices again to the computer-animated film.
Shrek 2 took in $92 million over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the trade paper reported.
Vintar Takes On Y
creenwriter Jeff Vintar (I, Robot) told SCI FI Wire that he is adaptating Brian K. Vaughan's comic book Y: The Last Man for the big screen.
The series focuses on the aftermath of a plague that wipes out all but one male, leaving him and the race of remaining women to figure out what happened. Vintar said in an interview that the challenge will be creating a satisfying ending, since the comic series is ongoing.
"Brian probably only has a vague idea of how it's going to end, because he's got three more years writing it," Vintar said. "The world may not be saved. The men are not going to come back. [Like] in a zombie film, you know the zombies are not going to go away, and yet at the end of the film, you want to feel like you've reached a dramatic high. It's not always easy. Not every film does it."
David Goyer (Blade III) is producing the film, but has refrained from giving input from his own experience adapting comic books to film. "Coming from the writing side, I think that he has been where [I'm] sitting before, and he has gone out of his way to not get in the way," Vintar said. "He's there. He's offered many times, [saying] 'I'm here whenever you need me.' But he's very accommodating, very much hands off, which is nice. I appreciate that."
Vintar Adapts Foundation
creenwriter Jeff Vintar (I, Robot) told SCI FI Wire that he is working on film adaptations of SF author Isaac Asimov's epic Foundation trilogy of books, with Shekhar Kapur attached to direct.
The trilogy will be consolidated into two scripts, Foundation and Second Foundation, with much of the first book's events summarized as backstory, Vintar said in an interview.
"Each story is separated usually by a period of 100, 200 or 300 years," Vintar said. "Each story has a new set of characters. So adapting it into the film comes with a unique series of problems. How can I create something which is still recognizably Foundation, and yet give us a narrative that has the requirements of a film?"
Vintar added that the studio, 20th Century Fox, encouraged him to focus on the latter half of the trilogy's timeframe. "So much of the Foundation stories take place over the course of, I think, 500 years, that we're narrowing down our story to the latter half of the period. The story that we're interested in telling—[that] the studio's interested in telling—seems to lend itself to two films. That's what we're trying to do right now. But we'll see how it goes." No cast or production announcements have been made.
Shusett Rebels With 2176
on Shusett, co-creator of Alien, and producer Daniel Alter are teaming up to produce 2176, an SF space opera movie offering a retelling of the Revolutionary War, written by Thunder Levin and George Saunders, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The story revolves around 13 planetary colonies in the future that rebel against an oppressive Earth, the trade paper reported.
Alter, through his Alter Ego Entertainment management and production company, has also optioned rights to the Image Comics series Small Gods, which it aims to develop as a television series about people with psychic abilities, the trade paper reported. The company is also developing Spooks, an original pitch by Alter and Ryan Schifrin, which revolves around a government agency that protects mankind from supernatural threats, including vampires, werewolves, witchcraft, ghosts and zombies.
Waters Revives Ghosts
ark Waters (Mean Girls) will direct the Disney fantasy comedy film Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Waters' hiring resuscitates the project, which appeared to have been put on ice just four weeks from production in the fall, the trade paper reported.
At the time, Betty Thomas was attached to direct, and Ben Affleck was attached to star, the trade paper reported. Ghosts centers on a bachelor who goes to his younger brother's wedding, where he is visited by the ghosts of his past girlfriends.
Rib Busted In Predator Fight
arsten Norgaard, who plays an oil driller in the upcoming SF crossover movie Alien vs. Predator, told SCI FI Wire that he broke a rib filming a fight scene with the Predator.
"It was a scene where I get punched seriously," Norgaard said in an interview. "I was pretty much out of air when the first big hit happened. I felt something. We had to take a recess for 15 minutes and kept on going."
Despite his injury, Norgaard said, he continued working to finish the fight scene before seeking medical attention. "Sometimes I could barely stand up," he said. "[But] you're there to do a job, so you hang in there. I reached a point where just Tylenol and Advil couldn't crush the pain."
The fight sequence was shot under conditions that made acting difficult, Norgaard added. "What was so incredible was that we had four of these huge continental jet engines, like the biggest ones in Europe, [blowing on us]," he said. "When you [turn] those on, I'm telling you, you cannot stand. You're virtually flying away. Then you add [artificial] snow. It's like a blizzard. I had to scrape snow out of the eyes [in between takes]. You definitely get the feeling that you're in an incredible, ruthless environment." Alien vs. Predator opens in August.
Witherspoon Mulls Reckoning
eese Witherspoon is in talks to star in and produce Paramount's The Reckoning, a movie based on Jeff Long's supernatural thriller book of the same name, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Long's book hits bookstands next month, the trade paper reported.
Adapted by Ted Tally, The Reckoning revolves around a New York Times photojournalist (Witherspoon) who follows a part-military, part-civilian team to Cambodia to recover the bones of lost soldiers. Long is a veteran climber and traveler in the Himalayas who has worked as a historian, journalist and election supervisor in Bosnia, the trade paper reported.
Dawson Joins Sin Cast
osario Dawson (Men in Black II) has joined the ensemble cast of Robert Rodriguez's and Frank Miller's Dimension Films noir drama Sin City, based on Miller's graphic novel, Variety reported.
Dawson will take part in the third and final segment of the movie, the trade paper reported.
The finale also stars Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen and Brittany Murphy. Quentin Tarantino is considered likely to direct some of that episode, the trade paper reported.
The Sin City cast also includes Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett, Mickey Rourke, Nick Stahl, Jessica Alba, Elijah Wood, Carla Gugino, Jaime King and Marley Shelton, the trade paper reported.
Wyle Books The Librarian
R star Noah Wyle has signed on to play the title role in TNT's upcoming fantasy telefilm The Librarian, which will be executive produced by Dean Devlin (Independence Day), TNT announced.
Wyle will play the caretaker of a repository of humanity's greatest secrets hidden beneath the New York Public Library, which includes everything from the Golden Fleece to the Ark of the Covenant, the network said.
David Titcher (Around the World in 80 Days) wrote the screenplay and serves as co-producer. The Librarian is set to premiere on TNT in fourth quarter of 2004.
Star Wars Fan Films Sought
ntries for the 2004 Star Wars Fan Film Awards must be submitted before June 15, Lucasfilm announced.
Filmmakers will vie for prizes and honors to be awarded at the Fan Film Award ceremony on July 22 at the International Comic-Con in San Diego. The maker of the top film, selected by Star Wars creator George Lucas, will take home a $2,000 cash prize and one of the iconic golden C-3PO and R2-D2 trophies, organizers said.
The film judged to have the best animation will receive the Animation Award from sponsor Code 3 Collectibles: a $500 cash prize, plus a gift certificate for a shopping spree at the official online Star Wars shop. The winner of the Spirit of Fandom Award, sponsored by Anthony Grandio, will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize for the film recognized to best capture the essence of Star Wars fandom.
Winners in every category will receive a Star Wars Fan Film trophy. All finalist films will be seen on the official Star Wars Fan Film site hosted by AtomFilms, Lucasfilm's partner in the Star Wars Fan Film Awards.
Briefly Noted
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CBS' Joan of Arcadia and Fox's canceled fantasy series Wonderfalls were among the nominees for best new series by the Television Critics Association. Winners will be announced July 17.
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A teaser Web site has gone live for the upcoming horror sequel film The Ring 2, which opens Nov. 10.
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The CaptainHowdy.com fan Web site reported that trailers for the upcoming Exorcist: The Beginning movie will appear in theaters as early as next week. The site added that the official Web site, which is now just a placeholder, should be updated soon.
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Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) will appear in a multi-episode arc of Showtime's supernatural series Dead Like Me, which starts its second season on July 25, Zap2it reported. He will play a reality-show producer named Ray Wright who pursues Daisy (Laura Harris), not knowing she's actually a reaper.
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Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things) is set to appear as a sophisticated assassin in Universal Pictures' upcoming SF movie Serenity, Joss Whedon's feature film version of his canceled television series Firefly, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
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Gerard Butler has signed to play the lead in the Canada/U.K./Iceland co-production Beowulf & Grendel, based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Variety reported. The epic medieval adventure will shoot in Iceland for 10 weeks, beginning in August.
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Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar, who stars in the upcoming supernatural horror film The Grudge, will unveil preview footage of the movie at the upcoming International Comic-Con in San Diego, July 22-25.
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The SFGate Web site reported that J.R.R. Tolkien's former house in Oxford, England, where he wrote much of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has been put up for sale, with an estimated price of $2.7 million. The six-bedroom house, which is close to Oxford University, was Tolkien's home for 17 years.
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