Shyamalan Talks Buried Secret
irector M. Night Shyamalan told SCI FI Wire that he admires SCI FI Channel for the controversial way it promoted the original special The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan.
"Those guys are awesome," Shyamalan said in an interview while promoting his upcoming film The Village. "Those guys are awesome at SCI FI Channel. They're really kind of ballsy, creative people. I really dig them."
SCI FI admitted on July 16 that it created a story that was part fact and part fiction as a way to publicize the documentary, which premiered July 18, and that it did not have a falling out with the director, as previously reported in the media and on SCI FI Wire (June 16, July 7 and July 8).
Shyamalan said SCI FI should be forgiven for the hoax. "If they erred, they did it out of enthusiasm for the project," he said. "But they're really cool people. You know how, in basketball, there are those 'hustle errors.' The coach always loves that. It's cool."
Kelly Sheds Light on Darko
ichard Kelly, director of the SF movie Donnie Darko, told SCI FI Wire that expanding his cult film for the director's cut did not necessarily make the plot and characters more comprehensible.
"If anything, I might have made the film more complicated," Kelly said in an interview. "I think it's a more logical journey now, and it was always intended to be that way. The material was all already there; it's not like we went and we shot new material and we wrote new scenes."
Kelly said that he was partly motivated to recut the film because many of the story elements remained incomplete or not sufficiently explained in the original version, despite bonus materials available on the DVD and Web site. "I always knew people were puzzling over it," Kelly said. "I couldn't fit in the time-travel book and keep the film under two hours, so I put it on the Web site, and people were definitely puzzling over that material. I knew the deleted scenes I put on the DVD were just kind of rough, just slapping the stuff together, but I saved a little bit of stuff for an eventual director's cut."
Kelly also said that a significant subplot about Richard Adams' novel Watership Down had to be excised to expedite the narrative, even though it sets up the film's climax. "We never really defined the idea of the deus ex machina, the God machine, and the Watership Down subplot," Kelly said. "We wanted to bring a visual representation to the God machine, whether it's just a figment of Donnie's imagination or it's in fact a piece of technology perhaps from the distant future that is responsible for all of these events."
Kelly said that many ideas were discarded for time or budgetary reasons, but the director's cut allowed him to restore thematic continuity to his ideas. "I think it's still an open-ended, ambiguous film," he said. "It's just one with more clues now. Maybe it's just more of a logical map to arrive at that destination now." Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut opened July 23 in New York and Los Angeles.
Aronofsky Tackles Watchmen
arren Aronofsky has signed on to develop and direct a big-screen version of Watchmen, based on the DC Comics title, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Screenwriter David Hayter (X-Men, X2: X-Men United) is on board to pen the script and Paramount Pictures will finance and distribute the adaptation of the seminal comic book created by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons in 1986.
Mixing superhero adventure with SF, social commentary, personal stories, vigilante justice and gritty realism, Watchmen follows Rorschach, a masked hero who begins to believe there's a plot afoot to kill off any and all masked heroes, even those who long ago retired. Aronofsky, best known as the director of Pi and Requiem for a Dream, will likely make Watchmen his next project after The Fountain, a long-delayed SF epic that's finally set to roll with Hugh Jackman in the lead.
Transformers Morphing Into Movie
reamWorks and Paramount Pictures will joins forces to realize The Transformers, a feature inspired by toymaker Hasbro's line of robots that morph into planes, trucks, cars and the like, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Steven Spielberg, a DreamWorks principal, is set to executive produce the film.
"We will be simplifying the universe and getting back to core, character-driven SF," producer and story writer Tom DeSanto told The Hollywood Reporter. "It will look like nothing you've seen before on the screen."
Brian Goldner, president of Hasbro Toys, told the trade paper, "This is one of Hasbro's biggest global brands; 75 percent of young men have played with Transformers. And we expect big things. We know this team will deliver big things. The stars are aligned." The Transformers is slated for a summer 2006 release, with DreamWorks distributing it domestically and Paramount launching the film overseas..
Donners, Reeve Returning To Superman?
ichard Donner and Lauren Schuler-Donner, his wife and producing partner, are reportedly in "deep negotiations" with Warner Brothers to produce the upcoming Superman film now that Neal Moritz and Gilbert Adler have departed the project, according to a rumor on the Superman-v.com Web site.
Donner, a veteran genre producer and director, directed the original Superman adventure and much of Superman 2.
Superman-v.com also put forth the rumor that Christopher Reeve, the now-paralyzed star of the Superman features, will have a role in producing the new film. Reeve has said in the past that he would be interested in participating in a new Superman film if and when it ever came together. If these rumors prove true, the Donners and Reeve would be collaborating with Bryan Singer (X-Men, X2: X-Men United), who just signed on to direct the Man of Steel's next adventure.
Singer Signs For Superman
-Men director Bryan Singer signed a deal to develop and direct the long-gestating Superman movie for Warner Brothers, the third helmer to take on the off-again, on-again project, Variety reported.
Singer will work with X2 writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris to draft a new script for the movie, which is slated to begin production late this year in Australia, the trade paper reported. The studio has apparently scrapped a Superman script by J.J. Abrams (TV's Alias).
A tug of war over Singer's next project had been going on for weeks, with Fox's third X-Men installment competing with Warner's remake of Logan's Run to land the helmer, the trade paper reported. It now looks likely that Singer will not do the third X-Men, even though he has an overall deal with Fox.
McG quit Superman last week in a reported dispute over location and budget, and producers Neal Moritz and Gilbert Adler have apparently disappeared from the scene as well, the trade paper reported. The fate of producer Jon Peters also is up in the air. Earlier, Brett Ratner had been attached to direct, but dropped out.
Rumors late last week had Singer signing a deal that would still allow him to direct Logan's Run, but Francis Lawrence (Warner's upcoming Constantine comic adaptation) has also been rumored to be in line for Logan's Run.
Let Smallville's Luthor Kiss
ichael Rosenbaum, who plays future villain Lex Luthor on The WB's teen-Superman series Smallville, told SCI FI Wire that Lex is still headed for the dark side, but not any time soon.
"Oh, Lex is going to hell," Rosenbaum said during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "He's going to become his father," Rosenbaum said. "We know that's going to happen. Lex is doing everything in his power to stay on track, to be the good guy, to fight the powers of evil. But you know what? Sometimes it's just inevitable. There's nothing you can do about it, right?"
Rosenbaum, who was sporting a Mohawk haircut before returning to his characteristic bald look for the role, revealed that he is headed up to the show's location in Vancouver, B.C., on July 16 to film his first scene of the season premiere, which will take place on a jet. Rosenbaum wouldn't say what's in store for his character this season, but he did mention something he would like to see. "I hope they let Lex make out with Lana," Rosenbaum joked. "I doubt that's going to happen, but you never know. Because you know what? I think Lex is a good kisser, and I think Lana needs to learn." Smallville begins its fourth season on Sept. 22 in its regular 8 p.m. ET/PT Wednesday timeslot.
O'Quinn Knows Lost Secret
erry O'Quinn, who plays one of the survivors of a plane crash in the upcoming ABC series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that the origin of his enigmatic character was revealed to him exclusively by the creators of the show.
"They've given me some of my backstory, and they've told me where it's going, which is extremely helpful," O'Quinn said in an interview during ABC's fall season preview in Los Angeles. "[Co-creator Damon Lindelof] called me and said, 'Here's where you were, and here's where we're going.'"
O'Quinn's character is one of 48 survivors stranded on a mysterious island after a plane crash. The actor, who has previously worked with co-creator J.J. Abrams on the spy drama Alias, couldn't share what he knew about his character, but he did offer a hint of sorts. "What I can say is that I think this guy is probably the happiest person in the group who have crashed on this island," O'Quinn said.
The large cast of castaways also includes Matthew Fox (Party of Five), Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings), Harold Perrineau (The Matrix Reloaded), Daniel Dae Kim (Angel) and Emilie de Ravin (Roswell), among others. As for the backstories of the other characters, O'Quinn said he's been kept in the dark, and he prefers it that way. "I haven't been filled in, which is wonderful," he said. "Everybody's a mystery to me, and I'm a mystery to them. None of us knows. We're all mysteries to each other. And they're pretty much keeping it that way, and I'm happy for it." Lost premieres Sept. 22 and will air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Archer's Reckoning On Enterprise
cott Bakula, who returns for a fourth season as Star Trek: Enterprise's Capt. Jonathan Archer, told SCI FI Wire that the new year will see his character dealing with the fallout of some of his morally questionable actions during last season's Xindi war arc.
"Well, I think there's definitely going to be a day of reckoning," Bakula said in an interview at UPN's fall press tour in Los Angeles. "There's going to be some repercussions. [He's a] man who's faced with having to make some tough choices and now being out of that situation. How does he really feel about that? How has it changed him? I think there's definitely a sense of a war veteran, in essence, who comes back to civilization, so to speak, and then says, 'Wow, what have I done?'"
Overall, Bakula added, Enterprise will look backward and forward more to the original Star Trek series. "Yeah, there's going to be some fun stuff with that," he said. "Some species we're going to bump into and some things like that that'll kind of bring it back full circle for the fans from the beginning. It should be fun."
Bakula said that he's pleased that Enterprise got picked up, after a year of lackluster ratings, and is also happy about the show's new 8 p.m. ET/PT Friday timeslot. "We get to go again," he said. "They're trying a lot of new things. ... Opening up a new night for UPN could be a great thing for us. ... I think back to when Miami Vice came on on a Friday night, and ... nobody wanted to be on Friday nights. But all of a sudden Miami Vice came, and it was kind of a hit, and people started making a point to get home to watch [it]. ... And I don't want to be a hopelessly optimistic guy, but, you know, we're going to make great shows again this season." Star Trek: Enterprise returns to UPN on Oct. 8.
Coto Goes Back To Trek Roots
anny Coto, co-executive producer of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, told SCI FI Wire that as one of the show's new head writers, he wants the show to link up more with the original Star Trek series and its subsequent series.
"I'm a fan of the ... original [Star] Trek," Coto said in an interview at UPN's fall press tour in Los Angeles. "And season four for me is going to be everything I, as an old Star Trek fan, would want to see on Enterprise, Which is basically a lot of touchstones connecting Enterprise with the old series and with the Next Generation series."
For Coto, that in part means incorporating more of the original series' aliens, such as the green-skinned Orions from "Shadowplay," as well as the more familiar Andorians and Vulcans. "A lot of people have noticed that the Vulcans on Enterprise don't behave like the Vulcans from the Kirk era and/or the Next Generation era," Coto said. "The Vulcans on Enterprise are more impulsive. They actually are somewhat more emotional. They lie. They don't have the same kind of values that the Vulcans that we know of."
To bridge the gap, Coto envisions a story arc in which a revolutionary Vulcan—Coto calls him a "Lawrence of Arabia" of Vulcan—proclaims that Vulcans have strayed from the teachings of Surak, the legendary Vulcan who ushered in the Time of Awakening and founded the movement based on logic and peace. "And this character will lead a revolution on Vulcan, which will bring Vulcan and Vulcan ideals to where we know them in the later series," Coto said. "And Enterprise will get involved in this." As a result of this resurgence, the political situation with the Andorians changes, and mysterious dissidents on the planet Vulcan attempt to stir up a civil war (and will later be revealed to have been Romulans in disguise), he added. "That's an example of the kinds of stories that we're going to tell this season," Coto said.
Star Trek: Enterprise returns to UPN on Oct. 8 in its new 8 p.m. ET/PT Friday timeslot.
Enterprise Spoilers Revealed
ick Berman, executive producer of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, revealed to SCI FI Wire several spoilers for the upcoming fourth season, including the possible casting of original Star Trek star William Shatner (Capt. Kirk) in a familiar role.
"We're still discussing it with Bill," Berman said in an interview at UPN's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "He had a terrific episode [idea], and we had a nice long lunch meeting with him a couple of weeks ago. And there's a lot of things that need to get ironed out in terms of scheduling, in terms of money. ... But he would play an incarnation of a Kirk, yes. He would not be playing another character."
Berman added that the upcoming season will feature several stand-alone episodes and "miniarcs" of two or three episodes, as contrasted with season three's season-long Xindi storyline. "We're going in new directions for the fourth season, and hopefully there's going to be a mixture of smaller arcs," Berman said. "The first two episodes are going to be a small arc. And then there's going to be a single episode. And then there's going to be a three-episode arc. And there's going to be some levity, and there's also going to be some heavy subjects dealt with."
Among the other spoilers Berman and cast members revealed to SCI FI Wire:
•In addition to the previously announced guest appearance of Star Trek: The Next Generation star Brent Spiner as an ancestor of Data's creator, guest stars will include Girlfriends' Golden Brooks and The Sopranos' Steve Schirripa. "He plays a character in 1944," Berman said, referring to the season premiere.
•T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) may find herself getting married in episode three, Blalock said in an interview.
•The long-standing Temporal Cold War arc will be resolved in the first two episodes.
•The new season will be the first shot entirely on high-definition digital video instead of film as a cost-saving measure. UPN renewed the ratings-challenged Enterprise in part because Paramount, which produces the show, agreed to lower its license fee for the series.
•Manny Coto, a writer (Showtime's Odyssey 5) who joined the series in the third season and was responsible for many of the Xindi storylines, has been promoted to "show runner," in charge of the day-to-day operations and writing, while previous show runner Brannon Braga steps back into a more executive role.
Star Trek: Enterprise returns to UPN on Oct. 8 in its new 8 p.m. ET/PT Friday timeslot.
Spiner Beams To Enterprise
tar Trek: The Next Generation star Brent Spiner (Data) will guest star in UPN's upcoming fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Spiner has been tapped to do three episodes of the Trek prequel series, playing the great-great-grandfather of Dr. Noonien Soong, the creator of Data. Spiner previously played Dr. Soong in an episode of TNG.
Rumors also suggest that original Star Trek star William Shatner may also pay a visit to Enterprise, but sources told the trade paper that there are no immediate plans for a guest appearance. Enterprise, originally scheduled for 9 p.m. ET/PT Fridays in the fall, will now air at 8 p.m., the trade paper reported.
Berman Talks New Trek Film
ick Berman, who has been shepherding the Star Trek film series, told SCI FI Wire that he has had "very, very early" talks with Star Trek: The Next Generation star and director Jonathan Frakes about a new Trek movie, but one that takes the franchise in an entirely new direction.
"I spoke to Jonathan about a half an hour ago," Berman said in an interview July 20 at UPN's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "He's in Japan, and he's coming here [because] his film [Thunderbirds] is premiering Saturday here in Los Angeles. There are very, very early conversations going on about a film project. But they're so early that it's really kind of silly to talk about it now."
Berman added that the movie would not center on the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew, as have the last several movies. "The movie that we're having very early discussions about would have nothing to do with any of the characters that have ever existed on any of the Star Trek series," Berman said. "It would be an entirely new setting and an entirely new set of characters, and it would take place prior to any of the series, including [UPN's Star Trek:] Enterprise."
In the wake of the disappointing box-office performance of the last Star Trek movie, 2002's Nemesis, there has been little movement on a new Trek movie, and Next Generation
cast members have said they are ready to hang it up.
If Berman's idea comes to fruition, it would mark the first Trek movie not based on a television series.
Thunder Trailer Online
arner Brothers provided SCI FI Wire with exclusive links to the new trailer for its upcoming SF movie A Sound of Thunder, based on the Ray Bradbury short story.
The trailer is available in Quicktime format (large, medium and small), Real Player format (very large, large, medium and small) and for Windows Media Player (very large, large, medium and small).
A Sound of Thunder stars Ed Burns and Ben Kingsley in an SF story about a time travel safari that goes wrong, with disastrous consequences for the world. A Sound of Thunder opens soon.
Damon Gets Grimm
att Damon told SCI FI Wire that the brothers he and Heath Ledger play in Terry Gilliam's upcoming fantasy film The Brothers Grimm bear no resemblance whatsoever to the real-life Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. "The Brothers Grimm are con men in [Gilliam's] world, whereas in reality they were these beloved scholars and really cultured guys," Damon said in an interview while promoting his latest film, The Bourne Supremacy.
"But our Brothers Grimm are these two con men who are going from town to town pretending to rid these sort of backward people of the ghouls and goblins they think are haunting their towns. They'll come and they'll put on a show, and they have two other actors working with them who will pretend to be the witch, and then they'll vanquish the witch."
Damon added, "So they're set up as these guys who are preying on the fears of the villagers all over Germany, all over occupied and unoccupied Germany. It's set in 1810, when Napoleon was in Germany. And then they run across a truly enchanted forest, so a lot of the imagery from their fairy tales they see in the forest. They come across a lot of these characters that they end up writing about. And these two con men, who are totally ill-equipped and kind of buffoons, have to battle the enchanted forest." The Brothers Grimm will be released in early 2005.
Bellucci Delighted In Grimm
onica Bellucci, who stars in the upcoming fantasy movie The Brothers Grimm, told SCI FI Wire that she was excited to work with acclaimed director Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys).
"He has the same fantasies as a baby," Bellucci said. "In the film we are in a fantasy world, and I play an evil queen who casts a spell of immortality."
The Brothers Grimm mixes history and fantasy in a fictionalized story about the medieval fairy-tale authors. Bellucci said that working with the unconventional director required the actors to stay on their toes. "Terry Gilliam is such a sweetheart, but crazy, in a good way," the Italian actress (The Matrix Reloaded) said. "He just creates this incredible fantasy, and you can't follow the script with him, because every morning can change everything. So you just have to be ready: ready for improvisation. But it's a great experience for an actor." The Brothers Grimm also stars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger and is due to be released next year.
Streep Talks Snicket
eryl Streep told SCI FI Wire that her decision to play Aunt Josephine in the upcoming comedy-fantasy film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events had nothing to do with pleasing her four children.
"That I did for me because I wanted to act with Jim Carrey," Streep said in an interview while promoting her latest film, The Manchurian Candidate. "He was wonderful. He's so funny, deeply, deeply funny and generous and interesting. He's an interesting person, so I had a really good time."
Based on the novels by Daniel Handler, Lemony Snicket follows three orphaned young siblings who are taken in by distant relatives following the deaths of their parents. Among those relatives are Aunt Josephine and Count Olaf (Carey), the latter of whom aims to steal the fortune the kids are set to inherit when they come of age.
Streep went on to note that she chose not to veer over the top in her performance as Aunt Josephine. "No, it's very detailed," she said. "It's a small part, subtly rendered. It's a woman who's afraid of everything, everything she touches, everything she sees, everything. It's a really fun character. And [Carrey] plays a ham actor villain who fools everybody in the movie when he puts on different disguises, except for the children. The children are not fooled, but I'm completely gulled." Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events opens nationwide on Dec. 17.
Zombie Animates El Superbeasto
ob Zombie and DPS Film Roman will team up to produce an animated feature based on El Superbeasto, one of Zombie's Spookshow International Comic book titles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Zombie plans to executive produce the film and write the story.
El Superbeasto tells the darkly comic tale of its titular character, an aging masked wrestler who prefers to watch strippers rather than fight crime or take on monsters. Anchor Bay Entertainment will handle domestic video distribution of El Superbeasto, on which Zombie will begin work after the puts the finishing touches on his latest film, The Devil's Rejects, the follow-up to the cult favorite horror hit, House of 1000 Corpses.
Portman Back For More Episode III
atalie Portman, who reprises the role of Padme Amidala in the upcoming prequel film Star Wars: Episode III, told SCI FI Wire that she is scheduled for reshoots next month with director George Lucas.
"I haven't been told anything, so for all I know, it could be [simply] walking or an insert shot of my hands, or it could be a whole new storyline," Portman said in an interview while promoting her latest film, Garden State. "So I will be as surprised as you are."
Portman added that her onscreen chemistry with co-star Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) has improved since the second prequel, Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, because he is no longer distracted by the technical difficulties of making a Star Wars film. "Because it's such a different kind of movie, because of all the blue screen, you'd have to imagine so much," she said. "You'd have to create other characters and locations and sets in your mind. So it's a lot more work, and it was really challenging. [Now], each of us had had experience on a Star Wars film before." Star Wars: Episode III is scheduled for release on May 19, 2005.
Henriksen Out For Blood
enre favorite Lance Henriksen told SCI FI Wire that he plays a supporting role in the upcoming SCI FI Pictures original vampire movie Out for Blood.
"That's a really interesting movie," Henriksen (Aliens) said in an interview. "Richard Brandes did that. He's an independent filmmaker who produced it, directed it and wrote it."
Henriksen is familiar to SF and horror fans for such films as the original Terminator, Near Dark and the upcoming Alien Vs. Predator, as well as the television show Millennium. He co-stars in Out for Blood with Kevin Dillon (The Blob), Jodi Lyn O'Keefe (The Crow: Salvation) and Vanessa Angel (SCI FI's Sabretooth). "I'm not the monster," Henriksen joked. "I play a police chief. It's a horror movie, but it's all about the relationships. With the budgets for independents, you have to use your imagination and your humor. So I had a great time. It's about a cop [Dillon] who gets thrown into a vampire cult and doesn't know what's happening. I'm his friend and mentor, and so I kind of try and help pull him out of it." Out for Blood premieres July 31 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Echevarria Previews Medium
ene Echevarria, executive producer of USA Network's hit limited series The 4400, told SCI FI Wire that he's deep into the development of his next genre project, Medium, starring Patricia Arquette (Stigmata).
"That's a new show for NBC," Echevarria said in an interview. "I'm working on it with Glenn Gordon Caron, and we worked together a few years back on Now and Again, so I jumped at the chance to do another series with him."
Echevarria added, "It has a sensibility very similar to Now and Again in that while it has genre and fantastical elements, it's also a quirky and funny romantic comedy. Patricia plays Allison Dubois, a real-life psychic who lives in Phoenix and helps the police with investigations. Jake Weber plays Patricia's husband. He was in the Dawn of the Dead remake and in Wendigo, a really cool genre film with Patricia Clarkson. Also, Miguel Sandoval [Jurassic Park, Alias] plays the D.A. It's a definite go. The pilot is shot and we're doing eight episodes. We're going to be a mid-season replacement, but there's no date set yet."
Composer Goldsmith Dies
cademy Award-winning composer Jerry Goldsmith has died at age 75, according to the Associated Press.
The prolific composer, whose career spanned nearly 50 years, died in his sleep July 21 following a long battle with cancer.
Goldsmith won his sole Oscar for The Omen, but his many other film credits include the original Planet of the Apes; Alien; several Star Trek features, including The Motion Picture, First Contact and Nemesis; Outland; Gremlins; Legend; Total Recall; The Mummy; and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Additionally, he provided the themes for such television series as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager, winning an Emmy for Voyager, as well as The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. He also scored individual episodes of The Twilight Zone.
Dead Rush DOA
ead Rush, the previously announced multiconsole survival horror game from Activision, is no more, according to the GameSpot.com Web site.
Activision, which unveiled the driving action and survival horror hybrid game less than three months ago at the 2004 E3 show, broke the news yesterday.
"We gave it an opportunity, but it didn't meet our standards as a big proposition," GameSpot quoted Activision Publishing CEO Ron Doornick as saying during a post-earnings report conference call yesterday. Dead Rush was intended for release on the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox platforms. The trailer for the now-defunct title is still available on the GameSpot site.
Brody Ready For Kong
drien Brody told SCI FI Wire that he's eager to play ex-fighter pilot Jack Driscoll opposite Naomi Watts and Jack Black in director Peter Jackson's much-anticipated remake of King Kong.
"Well, for once I get to be, first of all, this action hero and the guy who gets the girl, in a sense," Brody said in an interview. "It's a fantastic journey. It's basically the guy who becomes the man that he wants to be."
Watts plays damsel in distress Ann Darrow, and Black plays the colorful showman, Carl Denham, in the giant-ape movie. Brody, who won an Oscar for The Pianist, said that his character "aspires to be that person who takes charge and goes for it, and I think a lot of people, for whatever reason, can't quite do that or take those steps. I'm a huge fan of Peter Jackson. He's mastered, he and his own company, the art of special effects. And although that will be a big part of it, I think their focus will be on the dramatic side as well."
Brody will next be seen in M. Night Shyamalan's supernatural thriller film The Village, which opens July 30. King Kong will begin filming later this summer, with Universal Pictures eyeing a Dec. 12, 2005, release date. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Weaver Considers Alien Future
igourney Weaver, star of the Alien series of movies, told SCI FI Wire that she avoided any participation in the upcoming Alien vs. Predator movie, but would not rule out one day reprising her star-making role as Ellen Ripley.
Original Alien director Ridley Scott "and I have talked about doing a movie where we'd go back to the original planet and get rid of them once and for all," Weaver said in an interview. "I'm not
sure where my allegiances would lie, but that would be the main reason why I'd be curious to go back and sort of see inside of Ripley who would win."
Such a film is hardly a sure thing, Weaver acknowledged. "I'm not very organized, and I'm always pretty busy, so it's not like I'm writing the treatment and sending it to Ridley and saying, 'We've got to do this,'" she said. "I think it's an interesting series, but I'm happy with what we've done. We haven't compromised it. I really did die [in Alien 3] to avoid any contact with Alien vs. Predator. That was why I disappeared after the third one, because I'd heard that was an idea."
Asked flat-out if she thinks she portrayed Ripley for the last time in Alien: Resurrection, the fourth and last movie in the series, Weaver paused and then replied, "It doesn't feel complete to me, for some reason." Alien vs. Predator opens Aug. 13.
Dykstra: Story Trumps F/X
pecial-effects pioneer John Dykstra, who was the visual effects supervisor for Spider-Man 2, told SCI FI Wire that he's pleased that reviewers haven't discussed the movie's 839 V F/X shots, concentrating instead on the film's story and characters.
"If it is seamless, then what you have is a movie about content, not a movie
about process," Dykstra said in a recent interview.
Dykstra, a pioneer in the field since he developed the first computer motion-control camera system (dubbed the "Dykstra Flex") for the original Star Wars movie, added, "The big change between the days of Star Wars and contemporary visual effects is that in the days of Star Wars, your talent was really measured by how many new things you could invent. You had to invent technology in order to support the telling of the story, but in most cases, the technology would dictate the limits of what the image was capable of doing. What's happened with the advent of digital imaging is that there is no limitation now. ... If you can think of it, you can do it." Such advances are not without their problems, he added. "The problem, however, is that you can do anything, and in many cases it's questionable whether or not what's being done is worth being done," he said.
The new generation of visual-effects films put story above spectacle, Dykstra said. "I hope so," he said. "At the time the effects were done for Star Wars there were 10 or 15 movies that came out that were effects-driven, that were just nothing but effects. And they didn't make it. [Spider-Man 2 director] Sam [Raimi's] movies have a lot of soul, and they have Sam's [imprint] on them, and I think that's what helps them sell." An IMAX version of Spider-Man 2 is opening July 23.
Platinum Partners With Top Cow
latinum Studios, the comic-book entertainment company headed by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, announced an exclusive deal to acquire and develop comic publisher Top Cow Productions' extensive library of characters and upcoming future projects for film and television.
Marc Silvestri's Top Cow is the number-one independent comics publisher, Platinum said. With Top Cow, Platinum now has the largest independently controlled catalog of comic-book characters and has development deals with every major Hollywood studio.
The two companies have deals including Top Cow's Wanted at Universal Pictures, Inferno at Warner Brothers, Rising Stars at MGM and Fathom at Fox. In addition, Rosenberg's Malibu Comics has the Men in Black franchise at Sony, while Platinum has Cowboys & Aliens at Sony, Unique at Disney, Mal Chance at Miramax and Nathan Never at DreamWorks.
Top Cow (or its Image Comics label) will handle the distribution of most of Platinum's upcoming comics and graphic novels.
Rosenberg and Silvestri's relationship dates back to the formation of Top Cow in 1992, when Silvestri and other top comic artists defected from Marvel Comics to form Image Comics at Rosenberg's Malibu Comics Entertainment.
War Zero Hits Comics
he British game publisher Rebellion announced that a full-length comic based on its upcoming PlayStation 2 first-person shooter, World War Zero, will appear in an issue of its 2000 AD comic, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Like the game, the World War Zero comic will be set in an alternate reality where World War I is still being fought in the year 1964, the site reported.
World War Zero was originally released for the PC as Iron Storm. It is currently scheduled for release in Europe on July 30, the site reported.
Atlantis Shatters Records
he July 16 series premiere of SCI FI Channel's new original series Stargate Atlantis earned a 3.2 household rating, the best of any series in the channel's history, the network announced.
The 9 p.m. ET/PT two-hour premiere episode drew 4.2 million viewers, which made it the highest-rated and most-watched episode of any series that has ever aired on SCI FI. Stargate Atlantis was also the number one cable program of the day among adults aged 18-49 and 25-54, and SCI FI was first among cable networks in those demographics in prime time for the night.
The Atlantis premiere broke a record set just last week by the eighth-season premiere of Stargate SG-1 (a 2.4 household rating and 3.2 million viewers). Atlantis delivered a 33 percent higher household rating and 30 percent more total viewers than the SG-1 premiere.
Among the records set by Atlantis:
•It was the highest-rated and most-watched premiere of any series in SCI FI history.
•It was the first episode of any series on SCI FI to deliver better than a 3.0 rating.
•It was the first episode of any series on SCI FI to deliver more than 4 million viewers.
•It was the highest-rated series in both ratings and viewers among all viewers, adults aged 18-49 and adults aged 25-54 in SCI FI history.
Universal Develops Shadowmancer
niversal Pictures has made a deal for the film rights to G.P. Taylor's fantasy best-seller Shadowmancer and will adapt it for the big screen, Variety reported.
A writer is being sought to adapt the 17th-century tale about a group of kids who try to steal an ancient relic that will be used by an evil sorcerer to bring darkness to the world, the trade paper reported.
Fortitude Films, which will produce the movie, struck a deal with Taylor for screen rights to his first nine Shadowmancer novels, which would also make him the host of a feature documentary about supernatural myths and a talk-show pilot called Celebrity Dinner, the trade paper reported.
Wormwood, Taylor's second novel, is a best-seller in the United Kingdom and will be published in the United States in the fall, the trade paper reported. Taylor is a former punk rock promoter who became a cop and then an Episcopalian minister, who wrote Shadowmancer as a way to kill time while recovering from an injury, the trade paper reported.
Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Ferrell Eyes Fiction
ill Ferrell is in talks to star in the fantasy comedy Stranger Than Fiction, which Marc Forster (Monster's Ball) will direct for Senator International, Variety reported.
Written by Zach Helm, the movie revolves around an IRS auditor whose life is interrupted by the sound of a personal narrator who knows his every thought, feeling and action, including when and where he will die, the trade paper reported.
Senator is executive producing and distributing worldwide. The project has not yet landed at a studio, the trade paper reported.
Forster directed Miramax's Finding Neverland, starring Johnny Depp and Julie Christie, which premieres this fall, the trade paper reported.
Chomet Readies Despereaux
rench director Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville) has signed on to direct The Tale of Despereaux, based on the best-selling book by Kate DiCamillo, for Universal Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Gary Ross is producing through his Larger Than Productions, with partner Allison Thomas, the trade paper reported.
DiCamillo's The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread has been on the New York Times best-seller list for 25 weeks since September, has sold more than 1 million copies and won the 2004 Newbery Medal for children's literature, the trade paper reported.
Despereaux is a fairy tale about a banished mouse who prefers reading books to eating them, a bumbling servant girl with cauliflower ears who longs to be a princess and an unhappy rat who schemes to leave the darkness of the dungeon for light, the trade paper reported. No writer is attached to the project. DiCamillo did a treatment.
Universal Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Sony Buys Monster House
ony has picked up the animated film Monster House from DreamWorks, and it will be the second film made using "performance capture" animation, which will first be showcased in Warner Brothers' upcoming Polar Express this November, Variety reported.
Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers is producing both movies, the trade paper reported.
Sony Pictures Imageworks developed the performance capture system, known as ImageMotion, which believably records the movements of characters, such as Tom Hanks' in Polar Express, the trade paper reported.
Monster House will begin production at Imageworks on Aug. 23, based on a pitch by Gil Kenan, who will also direct. The movie centers on three kids who discover that a neighbor's house is a living, breathing monster, the trade paper reported.
Dushku Stays Tru
liza Dushku, who stars in Fox's supernatural series Tru Calling, told SCI FI Wire that her character will embrace her gift in the upcoming second season and use it to fight her nemesis, played by new regular cast member Jason Priestley.
"I'm excited to see this next season go on and especially with Jason coming into the mix, because now Tru has, in a sense, shown her power," Dushku said in an interview during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "I know I'm going to use it to get into this battle. Now it's on, and she owns her power, and I think she's going to find so many more colors and so many more strengths."
In the final episode of the first season, the show took a dark turn when viewers discovered that Tru's father killed her mother and that Priestley's character was a villain. Dushku promised that the upcoming season will include more surprises. "There's going to be a lot of mysterious twists this year," she said. "There's going to be guest stars coming on that I can't talk about now, even though I really want to. But it's going to be a great year."
Dushku said she was anxious to get back to work on July 20, when the season premiere begins filming. "I'm freaking out," she said. "I'm excited, though. I feel like last year. I'm like thrilled and terrified at the same time. But mostly I'm excited. I can't wait to see [co-stars] Zach [Galifianakis] and Shawn [Reaves]. I had such a good time. My cast and crew were so amazing. I can't wait to go interact with everybody again." Tru Calling returns for a second season in November in its regular 9 p.m. ET/PT Thursday timeslot.
M:I 3 Helmer Quits
oe Carnahan has dropped out of directing Mission: Impossible 3, citing creative differences, Paramount Pictures confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rob Friedman, vice chairman of the Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group, told the trade paper that the film remains scheduled to begin shooting with star Tom Cruise as planned next month at Berlin's Babelsberg Studios.
Carnahan came on board to direct the latest sequel in the popular franchise in February 2003, after David Fincher exited the project in favor of another film, the trade paper reported. Carnahan previously directed Narc, on which Cruise's C/W Productions came aboard as producers. That film was released through Paramount.
In M:I 3, Cruise is set to reprise his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt, with Scarlett Johansson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kenneth Branagh and Ving Rhames rounding out the cast, the trade paper reported. News of Carnahan's departure comes shortly after Paramount announced that it was shifting the release date of the film by seven weeks, to June 29 from its original slot in the first week of May.
Fans Help Nab Half-Life Thieves
aming fans helped authorities track down the cyberthieves who stole the game code last year for Half-Life 2, the highly anticipated PC shooter video-game sequel from Valve Software, the British Guardian newspaper reported.
In January, it came to light that the FBI, Scotland Yard and the German authorities, along with the Half-Life 2 fan community, had been searching for the culprits since the leak was announced last October. Last month, the thieves were arrested in Germany and other undisclosed countries, the newspaper reported.
Having accessed Valve's server through a security-bypassing loophole in Windows, the hackers were able to download an early and hugely incomplete version of Half-Life 2 and post it on the Internet for downloading via Usenet. A boxed version of the code was even on sale on the Ukrainian and Russian black markets, the newspaper reported. The leak set the project back several months.
The hunt for the hackers centered around two major investigations, one led by the FBI's Cybercrime Task Force and the second by the gaming community. It wasn't long before both parties made inroads into identifying the thieves, with the gaming' community and the FBI independently tracking the primary hacker to Germany, the newspaper reported. The risk of being caught eventually prompted the primary instigator to contact Gabe Newell, Valve's managing director, denying any role in the theft, but naming those responsible for distributing the stolen code. Investigations are continuing, with those involved found to have links with similar crimes. Valve is preparing to sue the hackers for damages, while working towards an end-of-summer release date for Half-Life 2, the newspaper reported.
Bogus Predator Reviews Posted
embers of the Scorched-Planet.com Web site shipped bogus reviews of Fox's upcoming Alien vs. Predator movie to the Ain't It Cool News Web site, which promptly posted them, Variety reported.
When Scorched-Planet.com revealed its plot in a screed against AICN, the site quickly pulled the reviews down, but without apology for posting them in the first place, the trade paper reported. AICN also posted two reviews that appear to be real from an advance screening in Long Beach, Calif.
"There's a democracy to what we do that gives a voice to the average filmgoer, even people who get excited in a theater and write for the first time," Ain't-It-Cool's West Coast editor Drew McWeeny told Variety. "If this becomes a continuing issue, though, we'll scale back to just people who have a history with us."
Marvel Sues Disney
omic publisher and movie studio Marvel Enterprises Inc. is suing the Walt Disney Co. in a royalty dispute over animation programs aired on Disney's ABC Family channel, the Associated Press reported.
Marvel is asking for nearly $55 million in compensatory damages, interest and other fees it says it is owed for royalties generated by made-for-television episodes of Spider-Man, X-Men and The Incredible Hulk, the AP reported.
The agreements at issue in the lawsuit, filed July 15 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, were made before Disney acquired Fox Family Worldwide in 2001, the wire service reported. The lawsuit claims Disney has not kept accurate records of royalties due under those inherited agreements, the AP reported. Disney spokesman John Spelich told the AP that the company had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment.
Briefly Noted
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Cinescape.com is reporting that Alias creator J.J. Abrams may direct Mission: Impossible 3, replacing Joe Carnahan. Production is slated to begin next month in Berlin.
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Platinum Dunes will develop and produce a Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel, according to Variety. Sheldon Turner will write the script.
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The Butterfly Effect, the supernatural drama starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart, was the top-renting and top-selling DVD for the week ending July 10, according to Video Store magazine.
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USA's original SF series The 4400 drew 5.6 million viewers for its second episode on July 18, down a notch from the premiere's record-breaking 7.4 million, but good enough to land the show atop the original series rankings on basic cable for a second week in a row, Variety reported. A new episode of The Dead Zone followed, with almost 4 million viewers, making it the highest-rated episode of the season to date.
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