Spidey 2 Lampoons Star's Back
am Raimi, who directed the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2, told SCI FI Wire that he inserted a joke in the movie to make light of the highly publicized preproduction casting issues involving star Tobey Maguire and his ailing back.
"Yes, there's a joke in the picture where Tobey [as Peter Parker] is trying to get his powers back," Raimi said in a press briefing for the film. "He jumps through the air and says, 'I'm back! I'm back!' But he doesn't really have his powers completely back, and he falls, hurts his back, and then he says, 'My back! My back!'"
Raimi added that his brother Ivan wrote the joke before Maguire's back problems nearly caused him to be replaced before shooting started. "After writing it, we said, 'Oh, my God. Maybe we shouldn't do that, because of the problems with Tobey's back.' And then we said, 'No, it'll be really funny if we did do that. It'd be fun for the people who do know about that problem, and because it was thought up independently, it might be fun for people who don't.' I hope it's fun. And it's the funniest thing: the publicist said to me, 'You know, that's supposed to be a joke, that moment,' ... [and,] 'Don't worry. ...We were in the audience [at an early screening], and when that thing with Tobey's back happened [and] he hit the car, nobody said a word.' Oh, that's great. Great." Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
Cast, Crew Downplay Spidey 4
he cast and crew of the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2 are signed for a planned third webslinger movie, but told SCI FI Wire that they're less than enthusiastic about coming back for a fourth installment.
"I can't imagine that I'd have the strength to direct another one after the third one," director Sam Raimi told reporters during a press briefing.
Kirsten Dunst, who plays Mary Jane Watson, echoed the sentiment. "I don't see me signing on for a fourth or a fifth [one]," she said. "I doubt [star] Tobey [Maguire] would come back for a fourth, either. ... I just think three's a good number."
For his part, Maguire indicated that he wasn't eager to do a fourth film, but left open the possibility, depending on the script.
Executive producer and Marvel Entertainment executive Avi Arad said that he hopes all will return, especially Raimi. "I hope that Sam will have the energy to continue, and if he doesn't, then we'll have to think about it," Arad said. "I sleep better at night knowing that we have Sam for the next one." Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
Spidey Star Worried About Maguire
irsten Dunst, who reprises the role of Mary Jane Watson in the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2, told SCI FI Wire that she had mixed feelings when it appeared her real-life boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhaal, might step in for Spidey star Tobey Maguire before production began last year.
"That was really a complicated time, of course," Dunst said in a press briefing. "I'm just so thankful that Tobey ended up doing the movie, because he is Spider-Man, and it wouldn't have been good. I think Jake [The Day After Tomorrow] can do any movie, because I think he's one of the best young actors, and he probably would've done an amazing job. But Tobey is Spider-Man, so I'm just happy it all worked out."
Spider-Man 2 filmmakers, including director Sam Raimi, briefly considered hiring Gyllenhaal to replace Maguire when it appeared Maguire's back problems might prevent him from reprising the physically demanding title role. Doctors eventually gave Maguire a clean bill of health, enabling him to take the role again.
In retrospect, Dunst said that it would have been odd to co-star with Gyllenhaal, with whom she has a real-life romantic relationship. "Of course, yeah, it would have been weird," she said. "I mean, I would like to work with him, and I'm happy it wasn't this, because I would rather do a more intimate movie with him where I could actually have many scenes with him. If we had done this, we could have never done another movie together, probably. I would rather do something else with him than this movie." Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
Maguire Talks Spidey Casting
obey Maguire, who reprises the title role in the upcoming sequel Spider-Man 2, told SCI FI Wire that it indeed was a longstanding back problem, and not rumored efforts to get more money, that were behind the fracas that nearly saw him replaced by Jake Gyllenhaal before production began last year.
"This is, first of all, a back condition I've had for ... four years, on and off," Maguire told a press briefing. "Sometimes it doesn't really bother me at all. Sometimes a little. Sometimes a lot. Coming off of Seabiscuit, it was bugging me a lot. Not because of Seabiscuit; I did not injure my back on Seabiscuit. That was a false report. But it was bugging me quite a bit. I saw the animatics and the storyboards of the stunts that I was to do on this movie, and I was a little concerned about it, felt it was my responsibility to disclose my back discomfort to the studio and to the insurance company and to the filmmakers, which I did. They were understandably concerned."
Director Sam Raimi said in a separate briefing that his concern for Maguire led him to reconsider whether he was fit for the role. "I was so worried about Tobey's back that I didn't think we could make the [movie] with him," Raimi said. "I thought that his back was in such a state ... that if it got injured any more, it could maybe lead to paralysis. So at that moment, I said to myself, 'I can't be irresponsible. I can't make a movie about responsibility and then grab this kid and make him do stunts where he's going to be paralyzed. And I can't compromise the movie either.'"
Ultimately, the film's stunt coordinators and Maguire's doctors advised that the movie wouldn't cause Magurie any permanent harm. At the same time, Maguire said, his back improved. "After I reported the stuff to them and told them ... about my condition, ... my back started getting better, and was better literally during a week," he said. "I went in and did some of the work with the stunt guys, I was fine, I felt good." At the end, Maguire said production of Spider-Man 2 was not as difficult as the first movie. "I think because having had the experience of doing it before made it easier for me, and the harnesses were better that I wore, and the wire rigs were easier for me, for some reason," he said. "And my back just wasn't bothering me."
Maguire also categorically denied that the entire episode was intended to win him more money for the sequel, as rumored. "Yeah, that stuff wasn't true," he said. "We were renegotiating, but that was settled before any of the back stuff came up, so we were done with that at that point as far as I can remember." Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
Doc Ock's Arms Had Names
lfred Molina, who plays the villainous Doctor Octopus in the upcoming Spider-Man 2, told SCI FI Wire that filmmakers created his four mechanical tentacles with a combination of on-set puppeteering and post-production computer animation.
The puppeteers imbued each tentacle with such personality that they even gave them names, he told reporters in a press briefing. "We had a lot of fun, actually," Molina said. "We got very close, because we were working with each other every day. We actually gave the tentacles names. ... The two big ones, the two down here [gestures to his legs], were very kind of male. They were the ones that kind of broke through things. There was Harry, Larry [then indicating above his head] Flo and Mo."
Molina added, "It was a mixture of practical puppeteers, the arms, [with] CG and animation. Well, we had a fantastic team of puppeteers, 16 [or so] guys and one woman, and a wonderful choreographer, ... who sort of essentially designed the movement. ... And the puppeteers and myself, we worked together very closely over a series of weeks to try and develop a sort of--how can I put it?--a sort of vocabulary of movement, a sort of language, if you like. So we could do great big things, like push a hole through a building, but at the same time do delicate things, like taking off a pair of glasses or lighting a cigar. Or even one shot we did--which I don't think we ever used it--but we actually had one ... of the tentacles actually came out and wiped away a tear. So we had a really wide range of possibility."
Molina said that computer animation came into play primarily in the wide shots. "I think I'm right in saying as a general rule, all the times you saw the arms in close or medium shots, they were puppeteers," he said. "The times that it was CG or [animated], it was whenever you had big, wide shots." Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
Raimi Got Free Hand On Spidey 2
am Raimi, who directed the upcoming sequel film Spider-Man 2, told SCI FI Wire that Sony gave him even more freedom to put his personal imprint on the movie than it did on the first installment, on which he also had a lot of leeway.
"I had a tremendous amount of freedom," Raimi told reporters in a press briefing. "A little bit unearned on the first movie, but I didn't want to say anything. You know, when I got the job, I really thought the studio clamps were going to come down. 'Oh, you've got to make it like this. We work like this.' But they really let me have anything I wanted, which was really surprising and fantastic. So I just kept my mouth shut and enjoyed myself and tried to make the best picture I could."
With the success of the first movie, Raimi said, "I even had more freedom on this picture, if that's possible. To construct the story, to create any visuals I wanted, to really do anything I wanted."
The challenge, Raimi added, was meeting audience expectations. "The challenge was in trying to figure out what the audience wanted to see in part two, because I really wanted to please the audience," he said. "And there were a lot of different directions the story could have taken in the second Spider-Man. So I tried to think about what ... [the audience] must have been attracted to in the first one. And I think I came up with the answer: that they were probably most attracted to the characters and the stories of Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker, ... versus the bigger extravaganza type of effects or visuals or making it louder or bigger. So I tried to concentrate the story and the writers on focusing on the relationships between Tobey McGuire's character [Peter] and Kirsten Dunst's character [Mary Jane] and James Franco's character [Harry Osborn], and Peter's relationship with his aunt [played by Rosemary Harris]. These are the things I thought the audience would be interested in most, so that's what I pursued. But the biggest challenge was in trying to figure out what the audience would want to see. Not what they expect to see, necessarily, but what they really were connecting to." Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
SCI FI Exposes Shyamalan
he SCI FI Channel will air an unauthorized expose of Academy Award-nominated writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan, a three-hour cinema verite film directed by Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect) and produced by Callum Greene (Lost in Translation).
Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense), who initially sanctioned the project, pulled out during production in an episode captured on film.
SCI FI spent more than four months trailing Shyamalan after he initially granted producers unprecedented access to his personal life and filmmaking process. The film includes footage shot on the set of Shyamalan's upcoming supernatural thriller film, The Village. The film reveals an intimate portrait of Shyamalan's traumatic childhood and the forces that have helped shape his vision.
Shyamalan's films include Unbreakable and Signs, and he continues to work from his Blinding Edge Pictures production company just outside his hometown of Philadelphia. The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan premieres at 8 p.m. ET/PT on July 18. The Village opens July 30.
Ellison, AOL Settle
merica Online and SF author Harlan Ellison announced a settlement of their four-year old copyright dispute on June 8, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America reported on their Web site.
No details were revealed.
Ellison sued AOL in April 2000 over concerns that unauthorized copies of his and the works of other authors were being distributed through the Usenet newsgroup alt.binaries.e-book, which at the time could be accessed through AOL's and others' services. AOL blocked its users' access to the alt.binaries.e-book newsgroup immediately after Ellison filed his lawsuit, the site reported.
In April 2002, AOL won a summary judgment dismissing Ellison's claims based on the limitations of copyright liability granted to Internet service providers under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. But Ellison appealed that decision, and in February, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit partially affirmed and partially reversed the summary judgment.
No Gellar In Buffy Toon
he June 20 issue of TV Guide reported that voice actress Giselle Loren will take over Sarah Michelle Gellar's starring role in a proposed animated Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, for which a pilot is being produced.
Sources told the magazine that Gellar chose not to reprise her role, leading creator Joss Whedon to recruit Loren, who previously voiced the character in the video game Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its sequel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds.
Other Buffy regulars—including Alyson Hannigan (Willow), Nicholas Brendon (Xander) and Anthony Stewart Head (Giles)—will voice their characters in the pilot, the magazine reported. The pilot will be screened for potential distributors next month, TV Guide reported.
Superman Taking Off
fter several highly publicized false starts, Warner Brothers is putting the final pieces together for its upcoming Superman film, which could begin production in late 2004, Variety reported.
Location scouting has already begun in Australia, and producers Neal Moritz (Fast and the Furious, XXX) and Gilbert Adler (Constantine, Ghost Ship) are in negotiations with the studio to produce, the trade paper said.
Although director McG is not officially attached, he tested six actors last week for the lead role, including Jason Behr (Roswell), Henry Cavill (The Count of Monte Cristo), Jared Padalecki (New York Minute) and Michael Cassidy, Variety reported.
Previous attempts to launch the film with directors such as Tim Burton and Brett Ratner failed to get off the ground due to creative differences with studio executives. The current script, written by Alias creator J.J. Abrams, is budgeted for $200 million, but the project has yet to be green-lighted. The film will revolve around Superman's battle with Lex Luthor and a mysterious killer from the planet Krypton who has come to hunt down the Man of Steel, the trade paper reported.
Lucas Teases Episode III Title
tar Wars: Episode III director George Lucas told USA Today that fans have already guessed the upcoming prequel's title—but added that he won't announce it until November, when the first trailer hits theaters.
The guesses include Rise of the Empire, but Lucas told the newspaper: "No, that's not it."
Is it Revenge of the Sith? Lucas smiled knowingly, backed away and teased the newspaper: "That's a possibility. Lots of titles out there." Episode III opens in May 2005.
Wonka Cast Complete
our young unknown actors have won golden tickets in the form of co-starring roles in Tim Burton's upcoming remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Annasophia Robb, Jordan Fry, Julia Winter and Philip Wiegratz will join British actor Freddie Highmore, who plays Charlie, and Johnny Depp, as the infamous chocolate factory owner, Willy Wonka in the latest adaptation of the children's book by Roald Dahl.
Robb, who portrays the competitive Violet Beauregarde, appeared in the TV movie Samantha: An American Girl Holiday and Wayne Wang's upcoming feature Because of Winn-Dixie. Fry takes on the role of Mike Teavee, a brainy bully with a passion for television. Winter and Wiegratz will make their professional acting debuts in the roles of spoiled rich girl Varuca Salt and gluttonous German boy Augustus Gloop, the trade paper reported. The film is scheduled for release in the summer of 2005.
Hewitt Delves Into Delgo
ennifer Love Hewitt told SCI FI Wire that she voices a character in the upcoming animated fantasy film Delgo, which she said defied description.
"It's a little hard for me to talk about, because I did my voice almost a year ago now," Hewitt said in an interview. "I did my first version of it almost two years ago now. It's an amazing-looking project, from what I've seen, but they're still very much doing all the animation for it."
Hewitt said that the film--which also features the voices of Freddie Prinze Jr., Val Kilmer and Chris Kattan--adapts a beloved Shakespearean story in a new, fantasy environment. "It's sort of a Romeo and Juliet story between the two worlds of these kind of real-life teenager bugs," Hewitt said. "I play this princess, and she's sort of a princess-teenager-bug-preacher-fairy thing, and she's just amazing-looking."
Hewitt added that even though she hasn't kept up with each stage of the computer-animated film's development, she expects it will look fantastic when it is finished. "It's just really hard to stay up with where the project is and everything, but it's going to be amazing," Hewitt said. "It's going to be fascinating to people when it comes out."
Platinum Teams With UFO
latinum Studios, the comic-book company that moved into film production with Men in Black and the upcoming Cowboys and Aliens, has entered into an exclusive deal with UFO Magazine to develop the publication's extensive library for feature films, video games and comic books, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The deal encompasses more than two decades' worth of content related to UFOs and unexplained phenomena, the trade paper reported.
The first two projects in the deal include Escape Velocity, a present-day action-adventure about a reporter and a pilot who steal an alien spacecraft from the Air Force, and Hive, which centers around a woman trying to escape from a mysterious cult, the trade paper reported. Both projects will be produced as feature films and graphic novels. Platinum has also struck deals with Fog Studios, which will develop interactive games based on the properties, and Copyright Licensing Associates, which will handle the licensing of the characters.
Platinum also announced that it is actively looking for pitches from screenwriters and comic-book authors for new original graphic novels. Details about the submission process have been posted on the company's web site.
Reynolds Moves To Amityville
yan Reynolds, who stars in the upcoming vampire sequel film Blade: Trinity, is set to star in the remake of The Amityville Horror, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Reynolds, newly engaged to singer Alanis Morissette, will play the young father of a family that moves into a haunted house.
The MGM/Dimension film, based on the 1979 film of the same name, was written by Scott Kosar, who also penned last year's remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. British commercials veteran Andrew Douglas will make his feature film debut as director. The project is set to begin shooting in July for release in early 2005.
Vamped Optioned For Film
roducer and casting director Mindy Marin has optioned film rights to David Sosnowki's darkly comedic novel Vamped, Variety reported.
Set in a world where vampires rule, the story revolves around an older vampire who befriends an orphaned human girl and winds up as a father figure who must sleep during the daytime, the trade paper reported.
Marin, who produced Two Days in the Valley and The Deep End, describes the project as Interview with the Vampire meets About a Boy. "It's a triumphant story in a wonderful world that's been turned upside down," she said.
Exorcist Curse Hits Harlin
enny Harlin, who directed the upcoming Exorcist: The Beginning, told SCI FI Wire that he had his own brush with the rumored "Exorcist curse" when filming in Rome late last year.
Harlin began shooting a new version of the troubled film last December in Rome, replacing original helmer Paul Schrader, who had previously shot his own version of the movie.
"I've shot movies on the top of the Alps, and I've done deep underwater ... diving with sharks, and I've never had any injuries," Harlin said in an interview. "But two weeks into shooting this one, I got hit by a car on a street in Rome and ended up in a hospital for two weeks and shot the entire movie with my leg in a cast."
It's only the latest report of bad luck on the set of an Exorcist movie, starting with the production of the original 1973 movie. Exorcist: The Beginning is the fourth film in the franchise and the first prequel. "There's always been talk since the original that there was this kind of a strange Exorcist curse," Harlin said.
Harlin added that other "weird little things" characterized the nine-week shoot of the prequel. For one thing, when cast and crew checked into their Rome hotel, they were shocked to discover a link to the first film. "[We] didn't realize until we all checked into the hotel that it was the Hotel Excelsior, and that is the hotel where Ellen Burstyn's husband stays in the original Exorcist," Harlin said. "[She was] on the phone saying, 'Operator, goddamn it, this is [the] Hotel Excelsior, how come I can't get in touch with him?' ... When we walked in and looked up and saw it said Hotel Excelsior, [it] felt a little weird. And then when my producer checked into his room, ... his room number was 666."
Harlin admitted that he is ambivalent about the existence of such things as curses and the devil. "We did a lot of research, and the Vatican employs over 300 exorcists as of today," he said. "Even the pope has his own exorcist. So the church definitely believes in this stuff, and they perform exorcisms around the world every day. Of course, I'm sure 99.9 percent of them turn out to be mental illness or some other thing. But they do say that ... each year there are a couple of cases where they believe that it's real possession. So they believe in it. ... I don't know if you [can] call [me] a religious person, but [I am] a person who was brought up to believe in God, so I would say if you believe in God, you believe in the devil. And I think that if you look at things that happen in this world, whether you talk about serial killers or wars that go on between people and religions and so on, ... it would make sense to say that there are some kind of demonic forces that make people do the things they do." Exorcist: The Beginning opens in August.
Midway Releases Psi-Ops
ideo-game publisher Midway announced that it has released Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, an action-adventure game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
The game, which shipped on June 15, features eight levels and a blend of traditional weapon-based combat and psychic combat.
In the game, players take on the identity of Nick Scryer, "an elite American psi-operative solder" and must use various psychic powers in a struggle against a terrorist organization. The game also features an original song recorded for the game by Geffen recording artist Cold, the company said.
Lois Visits Smallville
casting call has gone out for the role of Lois Lane, Clark Kent's future love interest, who will reportedly appear in four episodes of the WB series Smallville, according to Kryptonsite.
The fan site reported that a twenty-something Lois Lane will travel to Smallville in search of her cousin, Chloe Sullivan (series regular Allison Mack). Lois is described in the casting breakdown as "Caucasian, smart, beautiful, urban, headstrong, and no-nonsense."
Producers are also looking for a young actor to play a new character named Jason Teague, a college student at Metropolis University who will become a regular cast member. There is no word yet on which actors or actresses are being considered for the two roles. Smallville will begin filming its fourth season in Vancouver, B.C. in July.
Coraci Nails 80 Days Cameos
rank Coraci, director of the upcoming Around the World in 80 Days, told SCI FI Wire that the film's independent financing proved a problem when he was enlisting well-known actors for cameo roles.
"It was tricky at first to get people, because it was an independent film, and all the agents don't want their actors to be in something until they know it's for real," Coraci said. "I thought, 'Let me go to somebody who I know would be great in the role.' So I went to Kathy Bates, who had done The Waterboy, and said, 'Kathy, you want to be the queen?' So here I have Kathy Bates, an Academy Award winner."
From there, Coraci said that the writers tailored the material to each actor as they found out who would be playing each role. "We would get the casting as we went," Coraci said. "As we got a cameo, we'd rewrite stuff as we went, so suddenly it's Arnold [Schwarzenegger], and we'd have to change the scene. Me, Steve [Coogan] and the writers would then rewrite it."
Coraci said he was a little bit nervous about showing Schwarzenegger his scenes once they were finished, particularly since the actor was in the midst of his California gubernatorial campaign and understandably concerned about his public persona. "I had to show him the scene, because we had to do looping," Coraci said. "It was literally when he was campaigning, and he came into the room and watched the scene. The whole time I'm nervous. But he had a cigar in his mouth, and he turns after it's over and says, 'Frank you did it again.' And I thought, 'All right, good.'" Around the World in 80 Days, which is being released by Walt Disney Pictures, opens June 16.
Coraci Re-Imagines 80 Days
rank Coraci, director of the upcoming SF adventure Around the World in 80 Days, told SCI FI Wire that he wanted to change the main character, Phileas Fogg, to make him more accessible to today's audiences.
"When I read the [Jules Verne] book and then [saw] the [1956] movie, Phileas Fogg was a very secure, confident person, and he was a wealthy man who made a bet," Coraci said. "He traveled the world, and he didn't really change enough for me to make the story worth telling for now. So I thought, 'Let's make Phileas Fogg more in the spirit of Jules Verne. Let's make him a dreamer.' He can see the future, and that's what Jules Verne was. He was amazing."
Coraci said that he had only fleeting memories of the original film before he went back to research the material for his update, which stars Steve Coogan (Coffee and Cigarettes) as Fogg and Jackie Chan (The Medallion) as Passepartout. "I went to the book first and re-read it, since I read it as a kid, and I remembered some of the scenes," Coraci said. "Then I went to the original movie, where I remembered the balloon only and the bullfight scene." Coraci's impression of the film was that it fit the time in which it was made, but it was no longer relevant to modern audiences. "At the time it was one of the second Cinemascope movies, and from the perspective then, people went to the movies and were amazed to see a widescreen movie."
Coraci also said that his research for the film turned up an encouraging quote from a relative of Verne. "I read a quote from Jules Verne's great-grandson," Coraci said. "He said filmmakers shouldn't literally translate from his great-grandfather's book, because they were written at a time in a certain perspective, ahead of its time, and maybe the ideas then wouldn't exactly translate to the way things are now." Around the World in 80 Days opens June 16.
Coogan Avoids 80 Days Action
teve Coogan, star of the upcoming SF adventure movie Around the World in 80 Days, told SCI FI Wire that he manages to stay clear of heavy action in his role as inventor Phileas Fogg, leaving the fighting to co-star Jackie Chan.
"Well, I wouldn't call it a leap to action hero," Coogan said. "Really, part of the joke in the movie is that I don't actually do any fighting at all. [Chan] does everything. Even when it's behind my back, unbeknownst to me, he's still fighting."
Coogan said that he was afforded a few opportunities to get in on the fisticuffs, but he was decidedly less skilled than Chan. "At the end, I rescue Jackie," he said. "Part of the joke of the film is he does all this fighting all the way through, and at the very end, in a slightly ham-fisted, incompetent way, I go back and I do something brave for someone else, because all through the movie, I'm trying to win this bet, and he's trying to get back to his people in Lang Xao."
Coogan also said that jumping into a role played by David Niven in the 1956 version of the film provided its own challenges. "David Niven's rendition of the character is very close to the way it's written in the book" of the same name by Jules Verne, Coogan said. "He's kind of passive, inscrutable, undemonstrative about emotion and utterly confident of his ability to win this bet. Even though [Niven] did it very well in the original one, that doesn't appeal as a performance. I like the idea to have somebody who on the outside is very confident, on the inside is slightly vulnerable and nervous about his ability. Most people have those kind of insecurities, so it gives you more opportunity for comedy, because it's always funny when someone's trying to appear one way, but inside they're feeling something different." Around the World in 80 Days opens June 16.
Day Plagiarism Alleged
Harvard professor is suing Day After Tomorrow director Roland Emmerich, charging that he plagiarized plot elements from the professor's novel for the SF disaster film, Variety reported.
Ubaldo DiBenedetto filed a lawsuit in Germany against the German-born director and the movie's local distributor, 20th Century Fox Deutschland, for an as-yet-undetermined amount of damages, the trade paper reported.
DiBenedetto alleges that Day includes uncanny similarities to his 1993 novel, Polar Day 9. A Cologne state court will review the complaint on June 16, the trade paper reported.
DiBenedetto wrote the book under the pseudonym Kyle Donner. In it, he describes how U.S. officials ignore warnings by scientists that global warming could bring on a new ice age, the lawsuit says, according to Variety. Like Emmerich's movie, Polar Day 9 begins at an arctic research station, includes scenes of Americans fleeing across the border into Mexico and ends with scenes of icy devastation in a major American city, DiBenedetto alleges in the suit. The author claims that he sent Emmerich a copy of the book in 1998, but that no deal was made for adapting it for the big screen, the trade paper reported.
According to the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, DiBenedetto's lawyers chose to go to trial in Germany rather than in the United States, because local jurisdiction in cases of intellectual property and copyright law is said to be more favorable. Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachimanoff are credited with writing the screenplay for A Day After Tomorrow, from a story by Emmerich and inspired in part by the book The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber.
Shrek 2 Tops In Toons
hrek 2 has surpassed Finding Nemo to become the top-grossing animated movie in history, DreamWorks announced.
With a cumulative domestic box office gross of $346.5 million, the film passed Nemo's previous record of $339.8 million on June 12, Shrek 2's 25th day in release, the studio said.
Shrek 2 has shattered virtually every record for an animated film since its May 19 opening. In addition to being the top-grossing animated film of all time, Shrek 2 now holds the records for the biggest mid-week opening day for an animated film, the largest opening weekend for an animated film, the largest five-day opening for any film, the biggest single-day Saturday gross for any film and the biggest single-day Sunday gross for any film, DreamWorks said.
4400 Site Opens
SA Network has launched a new Web site for its upcoming SF series The 4400, about the return of 4,400 alien abductees.
The series comes from executive producer Francis Ford Coppola.
According to the Web site, The 4400 deals with the sudden and inexplicable return of 4,400 people who have been missing for as long as 50 years, appearing just as they were when they were taken. The government investigates the abductees to piece together where they've been and why they're back. It becomes apparent that their return will change the human race in ways no one could have foreseen, the site said.
The 4400, starring Joel Gretsch (Steven Spielberg Presents Taken) premieres at 9 p.m. ET/PT on July 11. USA Network is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Aarniokoski Knows Jack
irector Douglas Aarniokoski, who frequently collaborates with Robert Rodriguez, will helm the fantasy adventure movie Repairman Jack for Beacon Pictures, sources told The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie centers on a man who tries to track down an elusive evil figure and save the world, the trade paper reported.
Bill Borden and Barry Rosebush are producing, along with Beacon Pictures, the trade paper reported. Trevor Sands wrote the original script; Chris Morgan is the writer who most recently worked on it. Aarniokoski has directed second unit on Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico and was first assistant director on Spy Kids and From Dusk Till Dawn.
Rebel Commando Delayed
ucasArts confirms that its prequel-inspired Star Wars: Republic Commando action game won't arrive until next year, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Over the weekend, LucasArts quietly changed the release date for the PC and Xbox game to "winter" from "fall 2004," the site reported.
It's not clear how delayed the game may be. The GameStop site has it slated to ship on Nov. 8, 2004, but EBgames.com lists a Feb. 3, 2005, release date, GameSpot reported. A LucasArts spokesperson told GameSpot: "We're targeting early 2005."
SG-1's Tapping Seeks Helm
manda Tapping, who plays Maj. Samantha Carter on SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that she's eager to sit in the director's chair again in the upcoming eighth season, as she did in the season-seven episode "Resurrection."
"I'm begging," Tapping said in an interview during a break in filming in Vancouver, B.C. "And, in fact, I've just come from [executive producer] Robert Cooper's office. ... Every two days I go up and say, 'There's still a spot open on the director's schedule.' And today he actually said, 'This is getting a little old, this conversation.' And I said, ... 'It's just going to keep happening until [the slot is taken].' So, yeah, I keep bugging him."
Last year, Tapping got a chance to direct for the first time in "Resurrection," an episode based on an idea by cast member Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson). Tapping added that she was recently nominated for a Leo Award, honoring film and television work in British Columbia, for directing "Resurrection." It's an experience that Tapping recalls with fondness. "I loved it," she said. "I still get a huge grin on my face when I think about it. I was in the episode more than I wanted to be. I kind of didn't want to be in the episode I was directing. ... And I didn't have as much prep [time] as I would have hoped, because we were shooting our season finale prior to my shooting my episode. But having said all that, it was a fantastic experience." Stargate SG-1 airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Season eight commences July 9.
Franco: Tristan More Real
ames Franco, who plays the role of a knight in the upcoming film adaptation of Tristan and Isolde, told SCI FI Wire that the movie will be more realistic than the fantasy-tinged medieval myth, a precursor to the Arthurian legends, on which it is based.
Franco plays Tristan, a knight who falls in love with Isolde (Sophia Myles), the queen and wife of his uncle. Kevin Reynolds directs.
"It is based on the legend, [but] it's not an opera," Franco said, referring to Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde, which is also based on the myth. "There's no music, and we don't sing." Franco added that the movie eliminates many of the fantasy elements, such as dragons and magic potions, that appeared in earlier drafts of the script. "They've made it more realistic," he said, adding that the movie will feature "a lot of action."
The movie was shot on the west coast of Ireland and in Prague, Franco said. The Fox movie currently has no release date. Later this month, Franco will be on view in Spider-Man 2, reprising the role of Harry Osborn.
Cusack Signs For Martian
irector Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) and John Cusack are set for New Line's SF movie The Martian Child, which will shoot this fall, Variety reported.
Adapted by Jonathan Tolins and Seth Bass from a short story by SF author David Gerrold, Martian Child tells the story of an unusual father-son relationship, the trade paper reported.
Cusack will play an SF writer who, shattered by the death of his fiancee, adopts a 6-year-old, because he wants to be a dad. His kid is a bit peculiar, convinced he is an alien from Mars, the trade paper reported.
Universal Has Time
niversal has acquired Prospect Pictures' fantasy musical film Time After Time, to be written by playwright Brian Yorkey and directed by Marcos Siega, Variety reported.
Time After Time is the story of a teenage girl who finds herself going back in time to 1985 and a world where people break out into song, the trade paper reported.
Yorkey et al. pitched the movie by staging part of it, complete with actors, dancers and singers. (Yorkey wrote the musical stage adaptation of Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet and is also the associate artistic director of the Village Theater outside Seattle.) Guiding the music was '80s popster Cyndi Lauper, who may also take a role in the film. Other artists used in the pitch were the Cure, Soft Cell, the Police, Erasure and the Go-Gos, the trade paper reported. Universal has not begun the formal process of obtaining the project's music rights, but music supervisor Janet Billig has reportedly already done the necessary legwork to obtain the blessings of the songs' publishers and performers.
Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Briefly Noted
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British actor Jason Isaacs has joined the cast of the Daredevil sequel, Elektra, according to Superhero Hype. Isaacs, who appeared as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, will play McCabe, an agent working with Jennifer Garner's Elektra against a shadowy organization called The Order of the Hand.
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Fan site Batman on Film has posted a possible early description of the unreleased trailer for the upcoming sequel film Batman Begins, based on the report of an anonymous source.
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Screenwriter Scott Kosar, who penned the remakes Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror, has been tapped by Paramount to adapt yet another remake, an update of George Romero's 1972 horror-thriller The Crazies, Variety reported.
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CBS has ordered a reality show based on Wes Craven's horror franchise Nightmare on Elm Street, according to the New York Daily News. Nightmare on Elm Street: Real Nightmares will star Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, who will help contestants (or "victims") recount and confront their fears in live situations for cash prizes.
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A new trailer for the upcoming supernatural smackdown Alien vs. Predator is now available on the film's official web site.
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Sony Pictures has put up an official web site for the upcoming fantasy film MirrorMask, written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Dave McKean.
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CBBC Newsround reported that 21-year-old French actress Clemence Poesy has joined the cast of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth film in the popular franchise. Poesy will play Fleur Delacour, a student of the French magic school Beauxbatons who competes against Harry and two other wizards in the Triwizard Tournament.
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The production of a fourth film in the Mad Max series, which stars Mel Gibson, has been postponed indefinitely, according to the Sky Movies web site. The film, tentatively titled Mad Max: Fury Road, was originally set to film last July in Namibia, but was put on hold due to security concerns. There are no current plans to film in alternate locations.
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Creation Entertainment will run the third annual Official Star Trek Las Vegas Convention, July 29-Aug. 1, at the Las Vegas Hilton, featuring Trek stars William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Kate Mulgrew, Brent Spiner, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Marina Sirtis, Nana Visitor, Robert Picardo, Linda Park, Anthony Montgomery and Alice Krige, among others.
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Variety reported that director Chris Columbus (the first two Harry Potter movies) is being wooed by Universal Pictures to helm the live-action Sub-Mariner movie, based on the Marvel Comics series. Universal Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
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Newsweek has posted an article about an exclusive visit to the set of the upcoming Batman Begins movie, now shooting in Great Britain for a June 2005 release.
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Warner Home Video will release a DVD set of five Babylon 5 TV movies—The Gathering, In the Beginning, Thirdspace, River of Souls and A Call to Arms—on Aug. 17, with a suggested retail price of $59.98. Babylon 5: The Movies will be available in a special five-disc collector's set, featuring all-new introductions and commentaries by series creator J. Michael Straczynski and select cast and crew.
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