Hugo Awards Presented
he Hugo Awards for best science fiction works in 2003 were presented Sept. 4 at the 62nd World Science Fiction Convention, Noreascon 4, in Boston, organizers announced.
Named for magazine editor Hugo Gernsback, "The Father of Magazine Science Fiction," the Hugo Awards are also known as the Science Fiction Achievement Awards and are given annually by the World Science Fiction Society. A full list of winners follows.
Best Novel
•Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Best Novella
•"The Cookie Monster" by Vernor Vinge
Best Novelette
•"Legions in Time" by Michael Swanwick
Best Short Story
•"A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman
Best Related Book
•The Chesley Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy Art: A Retrospective by John Grant, Elizabeth L. Humphrey and Pamela D. Scoville
Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form
•The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form
•Gollum's Acceptance Speech at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards
Best Professional Artist
•Bob Eggleton
Best Semiprozine
•Locus
Best Fanzine
•Emerald City
Best Fan Artist
•Frank Wu
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
•Jay Lake
Jackson's Kong Begins
eter Jackson told the Reuters news service that his upcoming remake of King Kong won't be a carbon copy of the 1933 original.
Jackson spoke to reporters at his studio in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, where King Kong begins production this month.
But though Jackson won't copy the original film, he won't impose contemporary mores on it either. "To put modern political beliefs onto something that was made in 1933 is obviously putting a spin on it that doesn't really exist," Jackson told the wire service. "It was a product of its time. We're really just attempting to make a wonderful, mysterious adventure film. ... It's about gorillas. It's about dinosaurs and lost islands and this relationship."
Jackson added that he will pay homage to the original King Kong, which starred Fay Wray, who died on Aug. 8 at the age of 96. Jackson's film will retain the "mystery and romance of a bygone era," he added. The film features the same characters of Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), Carl Denham (Jack Black) and Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody). Universal Studios is due to release King Kong worldwide on Dec. 14, 2005, Reuters reported. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Boreanaz Denies Rumors
ormer Angel star David Boreanaz denied to SCI FI Wire several rumors swirling on the Internet involving his casting in some high-profile projects.
The latest buzz had Boreanaz attached to the fourth Indiana Jones film in development. But Boreanaz said in an interview that the talk is incorrect, even though he would love to be considered for it. "That goes up there with the Superman and Batman rumors," he said. "It would be something I would die to do. Harrison [Ford] is a big idol, and I'd love to take the path that he took. That would be fantastic."
The most recent rumor says that Boreanaz will play the lead in a proposed fourth Jurassic Park movie. That rumor appeared on Dark Horizons.
Boreanaz did confirm that his next film will be the non-genre movie The Hard Easy with Henry Thomas (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial).
Caviezel Is Superman?
he Millarworld Web site reported a rumor that Jim Caviezel, star of The Passion of the Christ, has been cast as the Man of Steel in director Bryan Singer's upcoming Superman movie.
The site based its news on an anonymous source and added that an announcement about the casting will come shortly.
The site, which deals with comics, also reported that Superman will start from scratch with a story that features the villainous Brainiac, Superman's home planet of Krypton, robots and alien super-cities.
Evans Cruises Into Four
hris Evans, star of the upcoming comic-book film Fantastic Four, told SCI FI Wire that he modeled his character, Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, on one of Tom Cruise's most famous movies.
"I went to Top Gun," Evans said in an interview. "A lot of these guys are pretty cocky hotshots when they're in the cockpit doing their business, but outside of the cockpit these guys have fun, and they're crude, and they have an arrogance about them. That, I think, every single pilot in Top Gun embodies."
Evans said that he combined the elements of skill and arrogance in his portrayal of Storm. "I think that inspires some arrogance in these guys, but a lot of these pilots who do pilot, whether it's fighter pilots or space, are doing high-risk jobs that a very small percentage of people in this world can do, and they know it," Evans said. "Johnny Storm is a kind of a hotshot, a little arrogant, likes to have fun, but he's intelligent."
In Fantastic Four, which is based on the Marvel Comics series, Evans is part of a cast that includes Michael Chiklis (Ben Grimm/The Thing), Ioan Gruffudd (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic) and Jessica Alba (Sue Storm/the Invisible Girl).
Evans added that the movie marks his first foray into special-effects and stunt work. "They've already got me fitted with that [wire] harness, that really comfortable harness that fits so nicely," Evans said sarcastically. "It hurts, man. It rips your leg hairs out. But it's all new terrain for me, this high-tech stuff, so it's fun and it's all learning experience."
Evans said that his tranformation from Johnny Storm into the Human Torch will be created purely through computer graphics, which is an entirely new experience for him. "I don't think they're going to actually set me on fire," he said. "I think it's going to be mostly CGI. I don't think we're ever going to use any real fire; it will all be green screen, stuff that I don't know anything about." Fantastic Four is about to begin production in Vancouver, B.C., with a release slated for July 1, 2005.
It's Not Easy Being Fantastic
hris Evans, who plays the Human Torch in the upcoming comic-book movie Fantastic Four, told SCI FI Wire that his natural awkwardness in the stunt harnesses actually worked for his character, who clumsily discovers his super powers.
"It's like a pendulum, so it's different, and I'm still not terribly good at it, but we did a couple of days of it," Evans said. "The way the script is set up, we get these powers, and we're pretty clumsy with them, so I spent a couple of days in the harness where they practice the takeoffs, and it's just kind of muscle memory finding balance in a harness and not looking jerky."
Evans said that his co-stars Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic), Jessica Alba (the Invisible Girl) and Michael Chiklis (The Thing) also struggle with their powers at first. "We don't know how to use them at first, so it's not like as soon as we get the powers, I'm bursting off into the sky," Evans said. "I'm catching fire uncontrollably. Parts of me are catching on fire. I'll float for a second and fall. So the whole movie is a journey of trying to figure out how to control these things we've got. I think I actually fly with coordination and understanding by the end of the film."
Evans added that he respected the efforts of his stuntmen and was willing to try almost anything the filmmakers decided to throw his way. "I always thought I can do stunts," he said. "It really is difficult, and I have more respect for stuntmen than for most professions, but I'm more than willing to learn and give it a shot. I love to do my own stunts. I love that realism, and I like feeling like I've put in a hard day's work. If the film calls for it, I'd love to do a week of horseback riding stunts or car stunts or whatever." Fantastic Four is slated for release July 1, 2005.
Theron Injured On Flux
harlize Theron was injured while performing a stunt for her new film, Aeon Flux, according to the Associated Press.
The Oscar-winning actress, in Germany for the production, suffered an unspecified injury on Tuesday while suspended from wires, Jeanmarie Carrasco, the film's publicist, told the news service.
"No cuts, no broken bones," Carrasco was quoted as saying. "I think it was something less tangible than that... Something vague and nagging." Theron stars in the futuristic film as the title character, a sexy rebel. Production has been put on hold for the immediate future in order for Theron to recover. It remains to be seen if Theron's injury will necessitate script changes or delay the film's release.
Fanning Goes To War
akota Fanning—who starred in SCI FI Channel's Emmy-winning miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents Taken—is reteaming with Spielberg in the director's upcoming film version of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, Variety reported.
Fanning will portray the daughter of star Tom Cruise's character in the Paramount/DreamWorks co-production, which is being fast-tracked to start shooting in November, the trade paper reported.
Spielberg's War of the Worlds will update Wells' 1898 novel, about the Martian invasion of Earth. It is being prepped for a 2005 release. David Koepp (Spielberg's The Lost World: JUrassic Park) wrote the script; Kathleen Kennedy and Cruise's longtime producing partner Paula Wagner will produce, the trade paper reported.
Law Felt Blue In Sky
ude Law, who plays the title character in the upcoming SF adventure film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, told SCI FI Wire that shooting the movie entirely in front of blue screens presented its share of challenges, surprises and discoveries.
"I think that every film you make, there's always something new, always something to challenge you and something you've got to make a slight leap of the imagination to pull off," he said in an interview. "It's true that early on it felt, not awkward, but just sort of clunky that we were playing very much for real in this very sparse environment."
Law added, "But it reminded me at times of doing theater in empty spaces, which I've done a lot of, or playing make-believe, which we've all done as kids, especially when you're talking about robots coming to get you. It's that kind of atmosphere, that kind of energy in playmaking."
Sky Captain casts Law as a 1930s pilot and hero who flies to the rescue when a renegade scientist unleashes an array of robots on Earth. Racing the clock, Sky Captain and his compadres Polly (Gwyneth Paltrow), Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) and Franky (Angelina Jolie) try to locate the scientist and thwart his plot to destroy the planet. Only the actors were real: All of the film's environments, vehicles, creatures and other elements were created with computer graphics in post-production.
Law said that the longer he performed in front of the blue screens, the less difficult it became. "It got easier to slip into it and harder to concentrate, because the blue did have an effect," he said. "But equally we really tried hard, with [writer-director] Kerry Conran and [producer] Jon Avnet, to always make it about having the freedom as actors to do what we felt necessary and what we needed to get from it before they ... do what they do so brilliantly in post-production. So it was always a case of trying to marry the two worlds."
Law added, "Kerry, at times, thought the process would be 'OK, Jude, you look right over there, you turn, you say your line, and then you go back.' We did that on occasion when it was necessary, pickups and moments where we'd missed a shot, when I didn't look up. But on the whole we really tried to work the whole thing from our point of view. 'OK, let's play the scene out,' and we'd block out the whole set. Everything would be there, but it would be blue, and we'd play the whole scene dramatically. Then he would work around us. That way he came away with more footage than he needed, but [also] better performances and more about the performance. So he could paint and get around us rather than the other way around." Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow opens on Sept. 17.
Paltrow Backed Sky Early
wyneth Paltrow, star of the upcoming SF adventure film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, told SCI FI Wire that she committed to co-starring with Jude Law even before reading writer-director Kerry Conran's script.
"Kerry made, in his garage, a six-minute short, which is basically like a fake trailer for the movie, and Jude was already in it and producing it," said Paltrow, who'd previously worked with Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley. "And I met [producer] Jon Avnet and Jude and [co-producer] Sadie [Frost] at their offices in London, and they kind of described to me what the story was."
Paltrow plays reporter Polly Perkins opposite Law's title hero in the movie, which the actors shot against blue screens in London. The rest of the film's backgrounds, sets, creatures, vehicles and other elements were added in with computer animation in post-production.
"For a long time, Jon had been trying to get me the script," Paltrow said in an interview. "He said, 'I've got to get you this script, but I will have to be in the room with you, to show you this thing and explain it all.' I was kind of like, 'What is he talking about?' And then when we finally did all get in the room and he showed me the short, it looked so incredible and stylish and unlike anything I'd ever seen. I thought, 'If there's ever a time to do an action-adventure movie, it's in a situation like this, where it's a new technology and it's with Jude.' So I got really excited. I said, 'OK, I'll do it. I'll do it.' And they were like, 'Wait! You've got to read the script!' So I already knew I was going to do it, and then, when I read the script, I just thought it was exactly what I expected, but more. I found it very stylish, the banter between them. And I had a very strong visual [feeling] of what it was going to be: the hair and the costumes and stuff like that. So it was just exciting." Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow opens Sept. 17.
Jolie: Sky Took Chances
ngelina Jolie, who plays one-eyed aviatrix Franky Cook in the upcoming SF movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, told SCI FI Wire that she signed on because the movie was willing to take a chance on something untried.
"As an artist, it was something that was original and hadn't been done before, and ... so it was kind of a brave place," Jolie said in a press briefing in Los Angeles. "There was a bit of everybody going in and trying for something. And I ... missed that spirit of things a lot. When you do films these days, ... you just lose that sense of fun and adventure and 'Let's try something that hasn't been done before.' So for that, just to be a part of it was exciting."
Jolie co-stars with Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie, a retro-flavored SF adventure in which the live actors performed against a backdrop of fantastical computer-generated environments. Jolie's character commands a flying aircraft carrier and pilots an amphibious jet, none of which existed in real life.
"There was one moment where I had the bubble [helmet] on and the eye patch, and I was just sitting on a box," Jolie said, describing the filming conditions. "And I wasn't in a plane, and I wasn't anywhere. I was just sitting. ... And there was a room full of a hundred people, and I had to [come up with] ... my [English] accent, my eyepatch [and] be very cool, and I was just sitting on almost like [a] cardboard box. ... I'm like this and pretending like I was [flying]. And ... I felt like a complete [fool], ... you know? At first it felt very silly. And then I think it's ... great to get back to what's fun about this business and [be] creative and try things that aren't safe and be silly again. And be bold with choices. So it was nice. It was refreshing."
Beyond the challenge of acting in front of a blue screen, Jolie admitted that the eyepatch robbed her of her peripheral vision and depth perception. "There is a kind of dizziness or an awkward kind of [thing about it]," she said. "Anytime the other actors were talking to me, ... they would come up, and, you know, you can't see somebody sneaking up behind you or to that side. So you'd end up [turns from waist stiffly to look behind her shoulder], like, turned around. ... And at the end of the day, you'd take it off, and you'd have, ... you know, [that] first-thing-in-the-morning [feeling] in one eye. [But] it wasn't that bad. It was funny." Sky Captain opens Sept. 17.
Jolie: No More Tomb
ngelina Jolie told SCI FI Wire that she won't play adventurer Lara Croft in any more Tomb Raider films.
"No, I don't think so," Jolie said during a press briefing for her upcoming SF movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
Jolie played the video-game-inspired archaeologist in 2001's Lara Croft Tomb Raider and 2003's Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. "I mean, I loved doing them," she said. "And I learned from them. I had a great time. And I think I did them. So I tend to not want to [do another one]."
But that doesn't mean Jolie is through with action-adventure franchise films. Her dream role? "I guess, because I grew up [here], maybe secretly, deep down, I've always wanted to be a Bond villain," she said with a laugh, referring to the venerable James Bond franchise. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, in which Jolie plays a one-eyed aviatrix named Franky Cook, opens Sept. 17.
Jolie's A Bad Shark Fish
ngelina Jolie, who voices Lola the fish in DreamWorks' upcoming animated film Shark Tale, told SCI FI Wire that doing an animated movie was something new for her.
"It's been an amazing process, to do an animated film is a very different experience," Jolie said in an press briefing in Los Angeles. "It's been years of kind of coming in. ... I think the first time I did it, I came in trying to make voices, and I hate my own voice, like most people. You listen to yourself on the phone and answering machine, and you think 'Ugh.'" But, she added, the filmmakers wanted her voice just as is. "I felt safer changing my voice, but they didn't let me," she said. "They wanted it just as my voice."
Jolie co-stars with Will Smith, who plays a feckless fish named Oscar who gains popularity when he takes credit for the death of a shark criminal. Jolie's character tempts Smith's Oscar. "I'm the bad fish," Jolie said. "My mom actually said ... 'Why are you the bad fish, honey? ... You're a good person!'"
But Jolie said the animators came up with a full character for her to voice. "When I was invited in to meet with them on Shark Tale, they brought me into this room, and there were all these different pictures of fish. And they were going to explain to me which fish [I] was, what they wanted me to do. And I kind of looked around, and I saw this fish that ... I could see Will doing. ... And then I saw this fish with this big, red mouth and pointy eyebrows, and I thought, 'They can talk as long as they want. I know I'm that fish.' And that was my fish. So I saw her immediately, and I knew. And I liked her. ... It was kind of more just filling those shoes, because they made her a very sparkly, sexy [character]." Shark Tale opens Oct. 1.
Enterprise Premiere Hinted
PN announced details of "Storm Front," the upcoming fourth-season premiere of Star Trek: Enterprise, which resolves the cliffhanger of last season's finale.
"Storm Front," which features guest stars Golden Brooks (UPN's Girlfriends) and Joe Maruzzo and Steven R. Schirripa (The Sopranos), premieres Oct. 8 in the show's new Friday 8 p.m. ET/PT timeslot.
According to UPN's synopsis, Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) awakes after having survived the destruction of the Xindi superweapon to find himself back on Earth in the 1940s in the custody of Nazi-uniformed aliens and SS agents. The aliens have helped Germany invade the United
States. When Archer breaks free, he joins forces with American resistance fighters
Alicia Travers (Brooks), Sal (Maruzzo) and Carmine (Schirripa) to stop the aliens from destroying America and the future.
Meanwhile, believing Archer is dead, T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and the battle-weary
Enterprise crew try to figure out how to return to their own time. A near-dead
crewman Daniels (Matt Winston) appears and tells them that the only way to return to the 22nd century is to stop the Nazi aliens. Allan Kroeker directed the episode, from a script by the show's new show runner, Manny Coto.
Stewart Undergoes Procedure
atrick Stewart, star of X-Men and Star Trek films, is recovering at home after undergoing an angioplasty procedure last week to widen an artery, his publicist told the Associated Press.
The 64-year-old Stewart, best known as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, underwent "pre-emptive angioplasty" on Aug. 23 after an annual physical examination detected a blood-flow problem, his publicist, Kelly Bush, told the wire service. An angioplasty widens a narrowed blood vessel with a balloon catheter.
Bush described the procedure as a success and said that Stewart is resting before returning to work this week, when he plans to finish the upcoming movie The Game of Their Lives. Stewart's recovery forced him to miss a planned personal appearance over the weekend in Toronto, where he was set to visit a Canadian SF festival, the AP reported.
Fans Bid Farewell To Doohan
undreds of Star Trek fans showed up to see original star James Doohan (Scotty) as he appeared at one last convention on Aug. 29 in Los Angeles before retiring from public life, the Associated Press reported.
The 84-year-old actor decided to retire after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease several months ago. He blew kisses to a crowd of Trekkie faithful gathered at the finale of a two-day tribute held at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, the AP reported.
On Aug. 31, Doohan receiveed a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "We're just very proud to honor dad with this star," his son, Chris Doohan, told the AP. "A lot of Star Trek fans helped us out with this."
Doohan, who also has Parkinson's disease and diabetes, mingled with fans at the convention and spoke at a news conference between Scotty impersonation contests and a panel discussion titled "The Influence of Scotty on Society." The event's proceeds will benefit an Alzheimer's research foundation, the AP reported.
Doohan Beams Up A Star
ames Doohan, Scotty on the original Star Trek, finally received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, according to the Associated Press.
The frail 84-year-old actor, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease and diabetes and is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, accepted the honor on Tuesday surrounded by family, friends, fans and fellow Trek stars George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig and Grace Lee Whitney.
The ceremony was expected to be Doohan's last public foray and it capped off several days of tributes that included a final convention appearance attended by Takei, Nichols, Koenig and Whitney, as well as William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Takei, saluting his friend and co-star on Hollywood Boulevard, told the crowd, "This is a galactic day in this town full of stars. We've gathered from thoughout this planet to say congratulations to you, Jimmy. We love you and we thank you for your luminous talent. We thank you for the gift you have given us of that unforgettable character, that ingenuous and beloved engineer that was able to fix anything." Doohan did not address the crowd, the Associated Press added, but grinned happily, waved to fans and posed for photos before leaving with his family.
Chestnut Enters Cave
orris Chestnut, who co-stars in the upcoming SF monster movie Cave, told SCI FI Wire that the film mixes cave diving with extraterrestrials.
"The basic plot is it's about these cave divers who go on this expedition in a cave ... several hundred miles under the ground, and we come across some type of aliens," Chestnut said in an interview. "I play one of the cave divers."
Chestnut, who plays an ill-fated explorer in Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, said that his Cave dweller fares better. "I'm one of the people that lives at the end of the movie," he said, laughing. "I didn't read the script. I just said, 'Do I live at the end of the movie?' They said 'Yes.' So I said, 'Yes, I'll do it.' I don't even know what the movie's about, actually. It's not as special-effects-heavy as Anacondas, but it's very beautifully shot. We were on some great locations, and there are some great scenes in it."
Asked if he's the hero of the piece, Chestnut smiled sardonically and said, "No, I'm not the hero. If the black guy lives, he can't be the hero. That would be too much. You can't have so many things in one movie. You have to take baby steps." Cave, which may be released as Prime Evil, also stars Piper Perabo (The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle), Cole Hauser (Pitch Black) and Daniel Dae Kim (Crusade) and is slated to open on March 11, 2005.
Ferland Toplines Tideland
ine-year-old actress Jodelle Ferland has signed to play the lead in Terry Gilliam's upcoming fantasy movie Tideland, Variety reported.
The movie begins shooting Sept. 27 in Saskatchewan for 10 weeks, the trade paper reported.
Ferland makes her feature-film debut in the Canada-U.K. co-production opposite Jennifer Tilly, Janet McTeer and Brendan Fletcher. Gilliam and Tony Grisoni wrote the script, based on Mitch Cullin's Southern gothic novel about the fantastical world of a 10-year-old orphan girl abandoned in rural Saskatchewan, the trade paper reported.
Doctorow Wins Sunburst Award
ory Doctorow's SF short-story collection A Place So Foreign and 8 More won the 2004 Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, organizers announced.
The annual prize recognizes excellence in writing by a Canadian who has published a speculative fiction novel or book-length collection any time during the previous calendar year.
Named after the novel by Phyllis Gotlieb, one of the first published authors of contemporary Canadian speculative fiction, the award consists of a cash award of $1,000 and a handcrafted medallion, which incorporates a Sunburst logo designed by Marcel Gagné, organizers said.
The award will be presented in a ceremony Sept. 23 at the Merrill Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy in the Lillian H. Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library.
Dyson's Moon Wins Science Prize
arianne Dyson's Home on the Moon has been selected to receive the 2004 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award in the children's category, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site reported.
The award consists of a $3,000 cash prize, an inscribed Windsor chair and a certificate. The National Geographic Society will receive a certificate of recognition as the publisher of the book, the site reported.
Dyson will receive the award at the 2005 American Association of Physics Teachers Winter Meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., on Jan. 10.
Hartnett Bookends Sin
osh Hartnett, star of the upcoming comic-book adaptation Sin City, said that he was hired initially to help persuade comic author Frank Miller to sell the film rights.
"The reason I got into it is because [director] Robert Rodriguez needed to get the rights from Frank Miller," Hartnett said in an interview. "Frank had felt like he had been duped before, and he didn't want to give the rights away to his baby, Sin City. I had worked with Robert before, and he was like, 'Well, just come down here for a couple days. We'll shoot a scene and show Frank that we're going to do this right.'"
Hartnett said that his role in the finished film, which was based upon a character of greater prominence in the graphic novel source material, was relatively small. "I'm only in it for two scenes," Hartnett said. "He's a much bigger character [in the graphic novel], but not in this story." Hartnett plays a character with several different names and stars alongside Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas, Jaime King, Clive Owen and Kate Bosworth as one of the many eccentric characters who call the title town home. "They call [my character] any number of things, like The Ladykiller, but in the script, we call him The Man," Hartnett said.
Hartnett added that Rodriguez, who ultimately enlisted Frank Miller to co-direct Sin City with him, contacted the actor after the rights were secured to shoot another scene that would bookend the film. "I went down there, and then Frank gave him the rights after that," Hartnett said. "Robert called me back after I got done with [another project called Mozart and the Whale] and said, 'Can you come down and just do one more scene for the end of the movie?' So I'm just in the beginning and the end." Sin City is slated for release Apr. 1, 2005.
Stone Tackles Tekken
harles Stone III, director of the upcoming video-game film adaptation Tekken, told SCI FI Wire that he was inspired by a long-standing affection for genre films.
"I am a big science-fiction and comic-book head, and I've always wanted to do a film with fight choreography and all of that," Stone said in an interview. "I thought it would be a lot of fun to do Tekken, because it specifically has a lot of bizarre and interesting characters. They all have very specific personalities, so that intrigues me."
The best-selling Tekken, from Japan's Gaga, takes place during a martial-arts tournament, with the grand prize going to the fighter who can defeat Heihachi Mishima. Stone said that he intends to take the film's martial-arts action sequences in a different direction from such popular movies as The Matrix. "One concern of mine is that the fighting be good, because I personally think the fighting in something like The Matrix, where a lot of people are like 'Wow,' just doesn't do it for me," Stone said. "I grew up on the Hong Kong films, where fighting is filmed for the choreography of the actual art form, whereas in America we photograph fighting films with long lenses [and] way up close, and then the editing becomes the choreography."
Stone said that he expects to distinguish his film from those that precede it. "[American filmmakers] construct the choreography with the filmmaking more than they allow the artists to do amazing fighting," Stone said. "The American art form of fighting is not as great as martial arts, so there's no appreciation for that, [but] it was something that I always thought about." Tekken is tentatively scheduled for release in 2006.
Toon Highlander Developing
he venerable Highlander franchise is on track to become an animated movie for release in spring 2006, Variety reported.
Davis-Panzer Productions and Imagi International are developing the project, which will be animated through Madhouse of Japan (Tokyo Godfathers), the trade paper reported. David Abramowitz, who was head writer on the Highlander TV series, will write the screenplay.
The original 1986 Highlander film, which starred Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery, centered on the adventures of an immortal 16th-century Scottish warrior. In addition to its many sequels, it also inspired an animated series through Gaumont Animation and two syndicated television series, the trade paper reported. The latest Highlander live-action feature, Highlander: The Source, is scheduled for production through Dimension Films later this year, for release in 2005.
Spiderwick Heads For Film
riter Brent Forrester will adapt The Spiderwick Chronicles, a best-selling series of children's fantasy books, for Nickelodeon Movies, Atmosphere Entertainment MM and the Gotham Group, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mark Waters is attached to direct.
The five-part Spiderwick series, written by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, deals with the adventures of the Grace children—a 13-year-old girl and 9-year-old twin brothers—who move into a dilapidated estate and find themselves sucked into a world of goblins, griffins, fairies, trolls and other magical creatures, the trade paper reported.
Forrester was a writer and co-producer on Fox's The Simpsons and a writer and consulting producer on King of the Hill. He also was a writer on The Ben Stiller Show and Undeclared, the trade paper reported.
Hopper Calls Up Mem-o-re
ennis Hopper has signed on to star in the independent SF movie Mem-o-re for 3210 Films, Variety reported.
Hopper will play a retired doctor and the colleague of a medical researcher who taps into the genetically stored memories of a killer, the trade paper reported.
The movie, which is budgeted at $3.5 million, will start shooting February in Vancouver, B.C. 3210's writer/director Bennett Davlin will direct the film, which is being produced by Jesse Newhouse and Anthony Badalucco, the trade paper reported. Brandon Hogan and Robert J. Monroe will executive produce.
Bai Ling Talks Sith
ai Ling, who makes an extended cameo as the good senator Bana Breemu in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III, told SCI FI Wire that she has high hopes for the final chapter in the Star Wars saga, which is subtitled Revenge of the Sith.
"I think that film is going to be very good because the last one [was]," Bai said in an interview. "Sometimes when you're on set, you have the feeling about [a] film, good or bad."
Bai added, "I just feel like they want mystery, and [they] kept, even from us, what's going to happen in the movie. They kept it very secretive, and when I got the job, the next day I went to a premiere and some interviewer, I told him I got the job. The next day I got a call. 'You don't tell anyone! We're going to announce it, not you!' I was so afraid I would lose the job. So when I came back, our scripts, they all had a code. So one time I called my agent; she [wanted] to sign [for] the script and Fed Ex it back [to Lucasfilm]. I said, 'OK, my agent's doing it.' They said, 'No, no, no. You're doing it yourself. Can't tell your agent.' So everything's very secretive. But when we were shooting this with George Lucas, he said, 'Bai Ling, right now you're on the Internet.' I said, 'Where?' [He said,] 'There's a little camera right there.' They're allowed to show behind the scenes. Anything behind the camera they can show, like sitting around his office. They have so many fans. I [am] very lucky to be in the last Star Wars."
Bai, who also co-stars in the upcoming feature Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a film that was shot entirely against blue screens, with all of the backgrounds digitally animated in later, noted that Revenge of the Sith was a similar but different filmmaking experience. "There's more set," she said. "For example, we had a blue screen extended off the real set. The real set is like one room, but extended probably another 20 rooms is a blue screen. They give you some actual space, real [space]. [They] probably had much more money, Star Wars. And this one [Sky Captain] is like I had no idea what's going on. When I saw the film, I was like, 'Wow!' I think it's kind of fascinating. Sometimes I feel like [directors and the CG artists] are scientists. Those people should be the stars [of] this kind of movie." Sky Captain opens Sept. 17. Revenge of the Sith is scheduled for release on May 19, 2005.
Purefoy Feels Blessed
ames Purefoy told SCI FI Wire that he enjoyed making the upcoming horror film Blessed.
"It went fine," the actor said in an interview. "Heather Graham, lovely. Andy Serkis, terrific. It was very sad, David Hemmings dying. He didn't finish his role. God, old actors don't die, do they? They just get CGI-ed. It's just alarming."
Purefoy, currently on view in Vanity Fair, added that Blessed is difficult to describe. He and Graham play a couple that, unable to have children, turn to a fertility clinic, only to experience the shock of a lifetime when she's impregnated with the devil's DNA. "What is it?" he asked rhetorically. "How would you pitch it? You'd pitch it as ... a cross between Rosemary's Baby and The Omen, with me as John Cassavetes. It's scary. It's a horror movie. What can I say? I made a movie a few years ago called Resident Evil. People said, 'What is it? What is it?' I'd go, 'Well, it's a zombie movie.' It was a zombie movie. It's just one of those movies. I'd go see it.
Purefoy went on to explain that he is very eclectic in his tastes as both a moviegoer and actor, and he made no apologies for choosing to star in such films as Resident Evil and Blessed. "You'll go see one kind of movie and the next day you'll go see something else," he said. "I like doing all of those kinds of movies. Being an actor, there are so many misconceptions about it. Sometimes it's about the script and sometimes it's about going to the ATM and seeing how much money you've got in there. It's as simple as that. We're just working. You've got a job and sometimes you've got a mortgage to pay. So every now and then you'll do the Resident Evils of the world because you might have that mortgage to pay. I really liked the script for this film, Blessed. I thought the script was terrific. I really enjoyed reading it. I thought they had a great relationship, these two central characters. So I did that because I liked it." Blessed has wrapped shooting and its producers are currently seeking a domestic distributor.
Species III Set For DVD, SCI FI
GM Home Entertainment announced that it will release Species III on VHS and DVD on Dec. 7, following a Nov. 27 broadcast premiere on SCI FI Channel.
Species III is the latest chapter in MGM's lucrative SF-horror franchise about a deadly alien/human hybrid that takes the form of a sexy blonde.
Natasha Henstridge, who starred as Sil in Species and Eve in Species II, returns briefly in Species III, appearing just long enough to give birth to Sara (Sunny Mabrey, Angel), the most genetically perfect hybrid yet. The film is directed by Brad Turner (Stargate SG-1, Andromeda and Jeremiah), and co-stars Robin Dunne (American Psycho II), Robert Knepper (Phantoms) and J.P. Pitoc (Six Feet Under). MGM will release two DVD editions of Species III, an R-rated version and an unrated version that features added violence, gore and sex.
Pride Is For Adults
effrey Katzenberg, co-creator of NBC's new computer-animated series Father of the Pride, told reporters that the show is aimed at an adult audience.
"This was a show that was created and designed and in every respect made for an 18- [to] 49-year-old audience," Katzenberg said. "It's not a children's show. NBC scheduled this show at 9 o'clock at night, very specifically to ensure that the viewing audience, particularly parents, not be confused. ... And I applaud NBC for scheduling it at 9 o'clock. There is no better signal to give to the world about what its intention is and who it is intended for."
Father of the Pride, from DreamWorks Animation (Shrek 2), is a half-hour comedy that centers on a family of lions who perform in the Las Vegas magic act of Siegfried & Roy. It features the voices of John Goodman, Cheryl Hines and Carl Reiner. Despite its sometimes cuddly feel, the show deals with adult themes: in an early episode, for example, Goodman's Larry the lion tries to find time to have sex with his wife, Kate (Hines).
"Certainly,the promos that NBC has prepared for this show, I think, very much indicate who this audience is for," Katzenberg said. He added: "We have put these episodes ... in front of many audiences. We've used our feature-film [review] process to do this. We've put it in front of adult audiences. We put it in front of family audiences. And I think we have a pretty good sense of where the line is drawn, and we're not going to cross that line." Father of the Pride premiered Aug. 31 in its Tuesday 9 p.m. ET/PT timeslot. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Goyer Signs Warner Deal
avid Goyer, writer/director of the upcoming Blade: Trinity, has signed a one-year, first-look writing, producing and directing deal with Warner Brothers, Variety reported.
Goyer wrote the script for Warner's upcoming Batman Begins prequel for director Christopher Nolan.
One possibility is a remake of the SF classic film Soylent Green, though no deal is in place, the trade paper reported. Goyer is also expected to develop two comic-book-related properties with DC Comics, Warner's sister company at Time Warner.
Warner has the option to extend the deal another two years, the trade paper reported. The new deal replaces Goyer's former first-look deal at New Line, which expires this year. Under that deal, Goyer wrote the Blade movies and most recently helmed the third film in the series, Blade: Trinity, which is in post-production for a Dec. 10 release.
Savini Talks Dead
om Savini, who will appear in George A. Romero's upcoming Land of the Dead movie, told Canadian fans that he'll begin shooting in Toronto in early October, the Dark Horizons Web site reported.
Speaking at a convention in Toronto, Savini added that director Romero has been scouting locations around the city, the site reported.
Savini said that he will play a character who goes into the the zombie-infested world to get supplies for wealthy survivors. He will also reprise his role from the original Dawn of the Dead, a biker who died and has since become a zombie, and that his new character will actually kill his zombie self, the site reported.
Area 51 Rights Sold
aramount has acquired film rights to Midway Games' upcoming Area 51 UFO-themed video game, Variety reported.
Christine Peters will produce the thriller, in collaboration with Midway.
In the game, which is now scheduled for release in March 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, players assume the role of a specialist handling hazardous materials who is investigating a distress signal from Area 51, long the center of theories about space aliens and government conspiracies. The game starts with a viral outbreak that shuts down the research facility, locking down all scientific and military personnel, the trade paper reported. The X-Files' David Duchovny voices the game's specialist; Powers Boothe voices an officer, and shock rocker Marilyn Manson voices Edgar, the gray alien.
The announcement comes 11 days after Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, who owns a majority of shares in Midway Amusements, disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Viacom was considering acquiring the video-game publisher or making it an exclusive licensee, the trade paper reported. Viacom's board has appointed three independent board members to evaluate the potential deal with Midway, which would make Viacom the first megaconglomerate to buy a video-game publisher, the trade paper reported.
Nair Mulls Potter V
ndian-born director Mira Nair (Vanity Fair) told the Delhi Times newspaper that she's been offered the job of helming the fifth Harry Potter movie.
"I'm getting offers to direct Harry Potter [and the] Order of the Phoenix," Nair told the newspaper. "I read it over the weekend. I'm still deciding."
Order of the Phoenix will be based on the fifth of J.K. Rowling's best-selling Potter books. Nair added: "My son Zoharan's excited. I've seen all the Harry Potter movies with him." Nair is best known for Monsoon Wedding.
The upcoming fourth Potter film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is currently in production under director Mike Newell for a Nov. 18, 2005, release. Phoenix is targeting a June 2007 release.
Demon Stone Ready To Ship
tari announced that Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, an action-adventure video game set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, is ready for manufacture and will ship Sept. 14, the GameSpot Web site reported.
The game will ship for the PlayStation 2. Xbox and PC versions are scheduled for November releases, the site reported. The game will carry a suggested retail price of $49.95.
Demon Stone follows a group of characters who unwittingly release two warring demonic armies. Players control a party of three characters in their quest to stop the evil and save the world of Faerun. Patrick Stewart and Michael Clarke Duncan provide the voices, the site reported. Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone was developed by Stormfront Studios.
SCI FI Had Record Summer
CI FI Channel, driven by the hit Stargate franchise, delivered its best June-August ratings ever, the network announced.
Stargate Atlantis, which airs its summer finale on Sept. 17, has been the number one Friday-night entertainment program (non-sports) on both cable and broadcast with males aged 18-49 since its July 16 premiere. Stargate Atlantis has averaged a 2.4 household rating (3.1 million viewers) since its premiere.
Stargate SG-1, meanwhile, has averaged a 2.1 household rating (2.7 million viewers) since its eighth-season premiere on July 9, a 31 percent increase in household ratings and more than a 50 percent jump in viewers, compared with its averages last summer, the network said.
Overall, SCI FI delivered a record-breaking 1.1 household rating for June-August, with double-digit increases in prime-time ratings (more than 10 percent, to 1.1) and viewership (more than 17 percent, to 1.2 million) over last summer. SCI FI ranks ninth among all non-news, ad-supported entertainment cable networks for the same period.
August ranked as the channel's highest-rated August ever (1.1) and a more than 16 percent increase in viewership over August 2003 (1.2 million vs. 1.1 million).
Briefly Noted
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France's president Jacques Chirac made director Steven Spielberg a knight in the French Legion of Honor on Sept. 5, hailing him as a great filmmaker committed to fighting hatred and intolerance, the Reuters news service reported.
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King Arthur's Keira Knightley will receive a breakthrough award and Shrek 2 will get the animation award on the final day of the 2004 Annual Hollywood Film Festival, Zap2it reported.
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NBC's computer-animated fantasy series Father of the Pride averaged a solid 5.4 rating in adults 18-49 and drew 12.39 million viewers overall in its Aug. 31 premiere, making it the night's top-rated program, Variety reported. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
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Producers Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter have licensed Aftermath, a new line of superhero comic books from publisher Devil's Due, to be adapted for film, TV and video games, Variety reported.
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Kerr Smith (Dawson's Creek) will join the cast of The WB's Charmed as the love interest of leading lady Rose McGowan, TV Guide Online reported. A show spokeswoman described Smith's character as a Homeland Security agent who believes in the supernatural.
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German studio Constantin Film, which produced the Star Trek spoof (T)Raumschiff Surprise, will produce a new movie that makes fun of the Teutonic myth Siegfried, starring German comic Tom Gerhardt, Variety reported.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers won seven awards and the Alien Quadrilogy won the award for a multidisc collection Aug. 30 at the seventh annual DVD Awards in Los Angeles, Variety reported.
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Actress Rosario Dawson (Men in Black II) was arrested at an anti-Bush march and charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and the obstruction of governmental administration, the Reuters news service reported. Dawson was filming a scene for the independent film Medium Cool in Manhattan on Aug. 29, using protests against the Republican National Convention as a backdrop.
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Rhino Home Video will release the Horrible Horrors DVD collection of the worst horror movies ever on Oct. 5, the company said. Volume one includes Horror High, Satan's Slave, Point of Terror and five other films and carries a suggested retail price of $24.95.
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John Scott Shepherd has set up a proposed TV series, Zoe's List, with ABC, described as a family-based comedic drama with a supernatural hook, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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More video clips have gone live on the official Web site for Disney/Pixar's upcoming computer-animated superhero movie The Incredibles, which opens Nov. 5.
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