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A Weekly Digest Of Sci Fi Wire

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October 18, 2004

October 4, 2004

August 30, 2004

August 23, 2004

August 16, 2004

Mapother Enjoys Getting Lost

illiam Mapother told SCI FI Wire that he will appear in upcoming episodes of the ABC SF series Lost, playing a mysterious character named Ethan, but he added that he can't reveal many details. "I've thought about this, and frankly, I can't think of anything to say that wouldn't inadvertently reveal something important," Mapother said in an interview. "I can only imagine the horrors they'd subject my character to if I squawked." He added, "Worse than killing me, they'll write me off if I spill anything."

Mapother, who is best known for his roles in movies such as the The Grudge, said the main difference is the speed at which the ensemble cast works. "Usually on an ensemble production only several actors work at the same time, and that's been true here," he said. "I will say that this cast seems to cooperate and get along together very, very well. They've all been warm and welcoming."

Mapother is part of a cast that includes Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O'Quinn and Dominic Monaghan on the show, about a group of airplane-crash survivors stranded on a mysterious island haunted by terrifying but unseen monsters. Lost airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Mapother Held A Grudge

illiam Mapother, who appears in the horror film The Grudge, told SCI FI Wire that he had little trouble accessing his character's feelings of alienation while shooting in Japan. "My character's disorientation wasn't far off from what I was experiencing," Mapother said in an interview. "Not only is the culture very different from America, but the unreadable alphabet makes even deciphering signs impossible. Having said that, though, it was a marvelous experience. The people are friendly and thoughtful, and the Japanese crew was highly professional and focused."

In the film, an English-language remake of the Japanese hit Ju-on, Mapother plays an American businessman who buys a house in Tokyo that has a history of violence and death. He said that Takashi Shimizu, the director of both The Grudge and Ju-on, found an easy groove when he returned to the material for the remake. "The specificity of his direction was a result both of it being a horror film and thus aiming for a specific result and of his having shot the story twice before, so he knew exactly what he needed," Mapother said. "It was terrific practice for American actors, because we're usually given internal, emotional direction, and Shimizu-san instead focused on the external aspects. It was our job to make those aspects real and believable."

Mapother said that the greatest challenge on the production was creating a believable character, but that he was aware that Japanese horror typically relies on a greater degree of exaggeration from the actors. "As always, the most difficult part for me was making the performance the best I possibly can," he said. "I knew enough about Japanese horror to expect that the frights would be psychological and random; that is, even the innocent are victimized. However, I was thrilled to discover that Shimizu-san wanted the performances to be completely naturalistic and grounded in reality so that the supernatural aspects are more believable." The Grudge, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, opened Oct. 22.

Behr: Grudge Is A Mystery

ason Behr, who stars in the horror remake The Grudge, told SCI FI Wire that Japanese writer/director Takashi Shimizu made the story clearer for American audiences, while still keeping some of the mystery from his original Japanese film, Ju-on. "The first Ju-on was so fractured in its storytelling that you had to kind of put the pieces of the puzzle back together," Behr said in an interview while promoting the film. "If it wasn't as clear as it should be, it's OK, because it doesn't need to be explained. All the loose ends don't need to be tied up nice and neat. Shimizu tied up a few more loose ends, but there's a lot of stuff that is still kind of unanswered, which is interesting to me."

The Grudge, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, deals with the effects of a curse on a house in Tokyo and the people who come into contact with it. The movie marks the first time a Japanese film has been adapted by the same director for American audiences. Behr said that the film's American producers trusted Shimizu's vision and allowed him the freedom to remake his own film without interference. "It was refreshing in the sense that everyone sort of let Shimizu do what he wanted to do," Behr said. "[Producer Sam Raimi] was very, very trusting in what Shimizu had to do. I mean, Sam has been doing some amazing movies for a long time now, and he knows good stories, and he knows good storytelling and good storytellers, and that's why he kept Shimizu telling this one. He's incredibly innovative, very intelligent and unique. We as the actors might have needed a translator to understand his vision, but I don't think the audience will." The Grudge opened in theaters Oct. 22.

Grudge Ghosts Spooked Gellar

arah Michelle Gellar, who stars in the Japanese horror remake The Grudge, told SCI FI Wire that she and co-star Jason Behr were amazed by the performance of Japanese co-star Takako Fuji, who plays one of the grudge-filled ghosts in the film. "We could not wait to see her do what we like to refer to as the cockroach crawl," Gellar said in an interview while promoting the film. "My American warped mind figured it's a stunt. Oh, no. She crawls down those stairs on her knees, this little woman, who makes me look like I could be a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. And Jason and I, the first day, just sort of stood there. We ruined the first take, because we were just so, like, flabbergasted that she actually did this."

Behind the scenes, Fuji was surprisingly jovial and not as creepy as her on-screen persona, Gellar said. But that wasn't the case for another of the Japanese actors, Yuya Ozeki, who plays a young boy ghost in the film. "There is a slight language barrier, but, no, you just start talking," Gellar said. "[Fuji] giggles and, like, [acts normal]. But you know what's worse is the freaky little kid. I'm sorry, that little kid is freaky. When he opens his mouth with that [scream], oh, man. I would see that kid on set, and it would freak me out."

The Grudge is based on the Japanese film Ju-On. Although the original movie was made for Japanese audiences, Gellar said she thinks the scariest moments in The Grudge won't be lost in translation. "I think Japanese films leave a lot more to the imagination," she said. "It's a lot more about setting it up and letting you take it to that place where it makes it scariest for you. It's not gory. It's not bloody, and I think because of it, it's much more chilling." The Grudge opened Oct. 22.

Gellar Defends Buffy DVDs

uffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar told SCI FI Wire that time constraints, not a lack of interest, prevented her from providing commentaries on the acclaimed TV show's DVD sets. "You know, it's so interesting," she said during an interview while promoting her new film, The Grudge. "Most of the time in this business you really only get one side. You get he who speaks loudest."

The DVD sets of Buffy, which ended its seven-season run on The WB and UPN last year, have featured commentaries by cast and crew, but not the star. "In terms of the DVDs, they always did the commentaries during the show," Gellar said. "I was working constantly, three units. There was never time. It was unfortunate. It was a timing thing. If you tell a line producer, 'OK, we need Sarah for two hours on this day to do commentary,' the line producer is going to tell you, 'Uh-uh.' So that was why I didn't do it during the show. And if I had free time, if for some reason I was getting a day off, I was taking it. I was exhausted." Season seven of Buffy comes out on DVD on Nov. 16.

Gellar Talks Buffy Toon

arah Michelle Gellar told SCI FI Wire that she turned down a chance to voice her most famous role in a proposed animated version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer because she couldn't devote the necessary time to the show. "Literally the joke is I'm a commitment-phobe actor right now," she said in an interview while promoting her latest film, The Grudge. "I am a commitment-phobe because I was nothing but contractually bound for years."

Gellar added, "I was contractually bound to Buffy, to the Scooby movies, to whatever it was. I don't do something unless I can commit 110 percent, and I just can't say that three times a month or this week I could actually, absolutely do an animated show."

Gellar said that she's not even sure the Buffy fan base would go for an animated series. "What's the term everyone uses?" she asked. "Jumping the shark. You never want to inundate, in my opinion. I think Buffy went out when it was still on top. I felt like we came back in that last season, did the show we wanted to do. I was really happy. I don't know why, then, you go back. What can Buffy do?

"I remember the pitch to me about the cartoon was like, 'She can turn into things and have magical powers,'" Gellar said. "To me, that wasn't what Buffy was about. To me, Buffy was a real girl. These were metaphors for real demons. This was about how, in high school, the demons of high school literally become these monsters. So I'm not sure why you'd make an animated show. And no one showed me a script."

Farscape Mini Beats Rivals

arscape: The Peacekeeper Wars delivered a 1.5 household rating and 1.7 million viewers in its Oct. 17 premiere, an 81 percent ratings improvement and a triple-digit increase in key demographics versus the time period average for October 2003. The second night, Oct. 18, drew even more viewers, with a 1.9 household rating and 2.1 million viewers. Overall, the four-hour miniseries, a continuation of the Farscape series, averaged a 1.7 household rating and drew 1.9 million viewers in its 9 p.m.-11 p.m. timeslot, making SCI FI the number-one nonsports cable network among adults aged 25-54 and 18-49 for the two nights.

Among viewers aged 25-54 and 18-49, SCI FI beat out TNT, TBS and Spike TV. Peacekeeper Wars delivered a total audience of 6.9 million viewers over the two nights, with four telecasts of the first two-hour installment and three telecasts of the second.

Routh Will Play Superman

ariety has confirmed a persistent rumor that TV actor Brandon Routh is director Bryan Singer's choice to play the title role in his upcoming Superman movie. A deal has not yet been signed, but the relative unknown is expected to take on the role in the comic-book movie, which heads to Australia next month to begin production, the trade paper reported.

Routh's credits include One Life to Live, Gilmore Girls, Will & Grace and Cold Case. He recently wrapped his first feature role in Deadly.

Routh, 25, was raised in Norwalk, Iowa, just 100 miles south of Woolstock, the hometown of TV's original Superman, George Reeves, the trade paper reported.

Superman Rumors Fly

ark Horizons and Ain't It Cool News reported more rumored details about Bryan Singer's upcoming Superman movie, including rumors that the film will use John Williams' famed musical themes from the original 1978 Superman. Dark Horizons also reported that the movie will make use of the franchise's designs for Krypton and the Fortress of Solitude.

In addition, Dark Horizon reported rumors that Kevin Spacey may be in line to play Lex Luthor, but knocked down rumors that The O.C.'s Mischa Barton was vying to play Lois Lane or that That '70s Show's Topher Grace would portray Jimmy Olsen.

Writer Dan Harris, meanwhile, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the movie will pick up the story from the second Superman movie, which starred the late Christopher Reeve. "We use his history and then move on with big twists and great special effects," Harris told the newspaper. "We're not going to do the origin story again. Our view is if you're over 25 years old, then you've seen the Reeve films and that's Superman to you. If you're under 25, then you watch TV's Smallville, and that's Superman to you."

Shatner Sings. Again.

riginal Star Trek star William Shatner, who was ridiculed for his 1968 spoken-word album, will release a new 11-song CD of music this month, the Associated Press reported. Timed for Halloween, Shatner told the wire service that the release is no trick. "It's a treat for me," Shatner, 73, said by telephone from Los Angeles, where he was taping an episode of Boston Legal, his latest TV show. "I hope nobody turns a trick on it."

The new album, Has Been, features Shatner's choppy words set to music that he co-wrote and performs with Ben Folds, who produced and arranged the new album. Musicians Joe Jackson, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins and Brad Paisley also make appearances. The songs vary from pianos to soul, from gospel to cowboy, and Shatner's lyrics explore his fear of aging, the death of a loved one, reconnecting with estranged children and the fickleness of fame, the AP reported.

Shatner's 1968 album The Transformed Man was a bizarre attempt to meld contemporary pop songs like Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds with excerpts from classic literature like Hamlet, the AP reported.

Bird Goes 3-D In Incredibles

rad Bird, the writer-director of the upcoming Disney/Pixar computer-animated movie The Incredibles, told SCI FI Wire that the film represents a move to 3-D animation from the more traditional 2-D of his last toon movie, 1999's acclaimed The Iron Giant. The change presented a host of technical challenges. "The technology is really amazing, but it's also on the edge of failing a lot of times," Bird said in an interview. "It's kind of like an old TV set versus a really advanced digital one. If the signal is bad on an old TV set, you get a little bit of snow, maybe the image rolls a little bit, but it's still the same image. But if the digital thing gets its signal broken, people start turning purple and going as though you've dropped acid or something. That's kind of what this system is like; when it goes south, really weird things happen."

The Incredibles is about a family of superheroes who are called into duty after premature retirement to stop a new villain whose stronghold is constructed on a remote and dangerous island. Bird said that even the most minuscule mistakes made by his crew of animators could sometimes create big problems. "If the decimal point isn't in the right place, really bizarre stuff happens," he said. "There's one scene where Helen [voiced by Holly Hunter] is in the tunnel. We were watching it, and there's this little flash, so we go back a frame at a time, and we find one frame where there's this white streak that goes all the way from off screen up to her face. One frame. And I said, 'What is that?' So one of the computer guys went into it and analyzed it, and it turns out that it's one of her teeth shooting out of her head at Mach 5."

But Bird said that focusing on the film's technology ignores the creative contributions of the various animators. "I think people focus too much on [the] technique of animation," he said. "I think the most important areas to a film's success are the same as a live-action film. Do we understand the characters? Can we empathize with them? Can we follow them? Is the plot surprising and logical? If we don't do those jobs, we're not going to have a good film, no matter what the technology is. I think what makes a good animated film is what makes a good live-action film."

Bird added that digital filmmaking allows animators to cut corners, but that doesn't necessarily translate into a better movie. "When [an animated movie] was hand-drawn, they all said if you lay each drawing end to end it will go to Mars and back three times or whatever," he said. "But that's not the point. You could have a million drawings that don't make you feel anything, or you could have 20 drawings that capture a feeling beautifully. People get obsessed with the numbers of things." The Incredibles opens Nov. 5.

Incredibles Finally Takes Off

rad Bird, the writer and director of Disney/Pixar's upcoming computer-animated movie The Incredibles, told SCI FI Wire that he worked on the idea for the film for years before finally bringing it to life. "I actually had the idea for this long before Iron Giant," Bird's critically acclaimed 1999 animated movie, Bird said in an interview. "John [Lasseter, Pixar's creative chief,] had actually been talking to me about coming up and joining Pixar since A Bug's Life, but I was always involved in something. After Iron Giant was done it just seemed like a good time, and I pitched this idea to them, and they got it immediately."

The Incredibles follows a family of superheroes who are forced into early retirement, only to be drawn back into the fold by a new villain. Bird said that Pixar, the studio who produced The Incredibles, did not insist he make any significant changes to his original idea. "They didn't seek to change it into anything else," he said. "They just totally signed on to what the film was and the flavor of that thing. They didn't try to make me make it more like Toy Story or any one of their other movies. They just said, 'We want to do all different kinds of films, and this is great. Let's go for it.' And that was refreshing."

Despite the poor box office reception of Bird's The Iron Giant, the director said that he faced only obstacles he would have dealt with on any other film. "The difficulties are the difficulties you face any time you make a movie," Bird said. "You're always trying to make the story be efficient, but you're trying not to make it feel rushed. You're trying to get people to make connections with the characters and be able to understand and empathize with them. You're trying to do something that is surprising, but feels logical, and it's a challenge every single time." The Incredibles opens nationwide Nov. 5.

Green Arrow Takes Up HIV

he Green Arrow comic book will take up the issue of AIDS and HIV, featuring a long-standing character who develops the virus, the Los Angeles Times reported. It's the first major comic book to deal with HIV, the newspaper reported.

In the latest issue of DC Comics' Green Arrow, the teenage runaway named Mia, who has been in the care of the title hero for two years, discovers that her time spent as a streetdweller and prostitute has resulted in her contracting the virus, the newspaper reported.

Writer Judd Winick, who oversees the Green Arrow storyline, told the newspaper that this is a way to explore socially conscious themes while also giving the Mia character extra motivation to make a difference in the world.

Unmasking Fantastic's Doom

ulian McMahon, who plays evil villain Victor Von Doom in the upcoming Marvel comic-book feature film Fantastic Four, told SCI FI Wire that his character's familiar steel armor will be an organic side effect of the same cosmic rays that create the Fantastic Four. That's a change from Doom's origin in the comic books. "Once they all come back to Earth, Victor gets a cut in his head, and he starts to develop this stuff on his hand," McMahon said in a press conference on the set in Vancouver, B.C. "It's actually a very cool thing we've done, ... this very slow evolution of this man turning into this kind of metal-steel kind of product. I don't even know what it is."

Though the final look of Dr. Doom is being kept under wraps by the studio, producer and Marvel president Avi Arad confirmed in the same press conference that McMahon's prosthetic metal makeup will evolve throughout the film and "end up where you would expect it to be."

McMahon, an Australian actor best known for F/X's Nip/Tuck, added that some elements will be taken directly from the comic-book series, and others will be expanded upon. One thing that won't be changed is the rivalry between Doom and Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four, played by Ioan Gruffudd. But there will be an additional point of tension between them. "These two are basically nemeses from day one," McMahon said. "Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, and Victor had this battle for Sue [Jessica Alba], who was the most gorgeous woman on the planet. ... And you really get to see these characters as people before they become something. So it's not until they go up into space and they get enveloped by this cosmic storm and they all develop their individual powers that they really start to embrace them and start to take on their original and probably deeper characteristics." Fantastic Four wraps in December and is scheduled for release July 1, 2005.

Doing That Four Thing

ichael Chiklis, who stars in the upcoming comic-book feature film Fantastic Four, told SCI FI Wire that it hasn't been easy adapting to the elaborate costume and makeup effects that he has to wear for his role as the orange, rock-skinned hero known as The Thing. "It's a little like being in the seventh circle of hell," Chiklis said in an interview on the set in Vancouver, B.C. "But in a good way, in that at the end of the day, honestly, sure, it's hot, it's uncomfortable, it's cumbersome, but when you see it, it really is extraordinary."

Chiklis (F/X's The Shield) plays one of four superheros in the adaptation of the Marvel Comics series. In the two months since filming began, Chiklis said he has developed a Zen-like approach to the three-hour ordeal of getting into the suit, which he has to wear for as long as 12 hours at a time. "I'm doing whatever it is I can do to relax and sort of let it happen," Chiklis said. "There's this sort of surrender that you have to [have], and keep it up, because if you try and control the situation you're going to panic. It's three hours to get into the suit, head to foot. So you just have to relax in whatever way that you can."

Before filming, Chiklis insisted that the character be created using practical effects rather than computer animation for a more realistic look and feel, but he wasn't completely prepared for the challenges that would present for him as an actor. "Initially it was really, really kind of frightening for me," he said. "I knew it would be a physical challenge; I did not know it would be a psychological challenge. And initially, it was for me. I'm not a phobic person, or an anxiety-ridden person, but I had a full-on anxiety attack the first time they put me in. And I think it's because once they put the hands on, I can't get out on my own. But now, it's two months later, and I'm through it. Now it's not about fear. It's more about loathing, in terms of just the personal discomfort."

In spite of his initial difficulties, Chiklis remained positive about the film and his role in it. "I'm talking about that a lot," he said. "But I really want to make it clear that when you put your eyes on the prize, and the big picture of it, you look at the dailies, and you see what we're doing, that's the analogy. That's good to you. You start to go, 'Wow, this is something special. This is something I can talk to my kids about and grandkids about.' This is a special, special job." Fantastic Four wraps in December and is scheduled for release July 1, 2005.

Iron Man Seeks Helmer

GN FilmForce reported that New Line Cinema has accepted David Hayter's latest draft for a proposed Iron Man movie and is seeking a director to begin production by early next year. Citing anonymous sources, the site reported that the draft is "very Tom Clancy-esque in tone," updates the Marvel Comics superhero's origins and revolves around the conflict between Tony Stark and his father, Howard, over Stark Industries.

Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage have been mentioned for the project over the years, but with Cruise busy doing War of the Worlds and Cage prepping for Ghost Rider, New Line has several other movie stars in mind, the site reported.

X-Men Sequel Game Planned

ctivision announced that it is developing a sequel to X-Men Legends, its hit superhero role-playing game, at Raven Software, the GameSpot Web site reported. Based on the classic team of Marvel Comics superheroes, X-Men Legends is available now for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube.

Raven Software previously developed the PC first-person-shooter games Hexen and Heretic II, as well as the Soldier of Fortune and Star Wars: Jedi Knight games, the site reported.

Jackson Rode King's Bullet

onathan Jackson, the star of the Stephen King film adaptation Riding the Bullet, told SCI FI Wire that he had not read King's original eBook before signing on to the film, written and directed by Mick Garris. "I met with Mick Garris, and that was basically how I got the role," Jackson said in an interview. "I had not read the story. [Garris] had seen my scenes in Insomnia with Al Pacino and was really positive about that, and after I met with him, he wanted me to do the movie. I loved the script. I think Mick is just an incredible writer, and it's a great role."

In the film, Jackson plays Alan, a death-obsessed college student who encounters a series of bizarre events while hitchhiking home to visit his sick mother, Jean (Barbara Hershey). Jackson said that part of the appeal of the role was having a more complex character to play than the doomed, one-dimensional teenagers he's usually offered. "It's not easy to find really good roles, especially leading roles, for guys my age," he said. "It was a great role and a really good story."

Jackson also said that while working with Garris he was able to concentrate on the character and leave the scares up to the director. "My job as an actor, I think, is to focus on story and character, and I trust him to create the suspense and the horror aspects of the movie," he said. "I just play the character as truthfully and honestly as I can, and to me this movie is a very emotional kind of spiritual movie, ... because a lot of visions that Alan has, because he's an artist, are very spiritual, and I was kind of coming at it from that direction. And I think that just made everything come alive from a character point of view." Riding the Bullet is currently in limited release.

Jackson Plumbs Bullet Depths

onathan Jackson, who stars in the Stephen King film adaptation Riding the Bullet, told SCI FI Wire that he related to the darkness of his character, a young man facing the death of his mother. "I love dark characters," Jackson said in an interview. "I love complex, troubled people, because I think we're all complex and troubled. I love life, and I think life is extremely precious, so when you're coming from that on a personal level, it's really easy to feel the fears and the darkness of someone who lost his father at a young age, and when his mom gets sick he is confronted with all of these things. It connected with me on a lot of different levels."

In Riding the Bullet, Jackson's character, Alan, is confronted by an evil spirit named George Saub (David Arquette) with a choice: Either sacrifice himself or sentence his ill mother to death. Jackson said that many of the film's themes intrigued him. "Alan was basically this guy who throughout the film comes face to face with death, which is something that he has romanticized in his art as a therapy to try to deal with it and try to pretend like he's not afraid of it," Jackson said. "When he actually comes face to face with it, he realizes that death is not something that's beautiful. Life is precious, and the value of life is extremely important: That was the journey for me."

Jackson also praised writer/director Mick Garris. "Mick runs a great show," Jackson said. "I think that the attitude of the crew and everybody comes from the top down, and Mick has a great personality. He's an amazing director, and he trusted me and the other [actors] to create that belief of fear and suspense. It was extremely professional and friendly and supportive, and I would love to work with Mick again in the future." Riding the Bullet is currently in theaters in limited release.

Jackson Lost In Backwater

onathan Jackson, who co-stars with actress Agnes Bruckner (Murder by Numbers) in the upcoming voodoo horror movie Backwater, told SCI FI Wire that the project is a change of pace for screenwriter Kevin Williamson (Scream) and director Joe Gillespie (I Know What You Did Last Summer). "It's a suspenseful thriller that has some of the same horror elements, but it's a little less of a genre movie than some of the other stuff they've done," Jackson said in an interview. "It's [set in a] backwater in Louisiana, so it's about this kind of evil that gets released in the swamps of Louisiana, and a few young people have to try to escape and overcome it when it's released."

Jackson said the production is a few weeks into shooting and features more character development than most horror movies afford their future victims. "There's more character-oriented stuff," Jackson said. "There's definitely some special effects with the bad guy in the movie, but it's more of a balance between a good, entertaining thriller with horror elements and having a plot and characters and good acting scenes in there."

Ripa Voicing Delgo

V talk-show host Kelly Ripa told SCI FI Wire that she's providing a voice for the upcoming animated fantasy-comedy-romance movie Delgo. "I voice Kurrin, who is a handmaiden to Jennifer Love Hewitt's character," Ripa said in an interview. "Jennifer Love Hewitt is the princess of this alternate galaxy, this alternate world."

Delgo centers on an adventurous but naive teenager, who must rally his group of friends to protect their world from conflict between the Lockni and Nohrin people. "It's a very small role," Ripa said of her character. "I'm just the handmaiden, but it's very cool. It's computer-animated. It's cutting-edge. I don't know if you've gone on the Internet to see some of it, but you can. It's beautiful stuff. And it's got a huge cast. The cast ... is crazy-huge." It includes Freddie Prinze Jr., Val Kilmer, Eric Idle, Louis Gossett Jr., Michael Clarke Duncan and Malcolm McDowell.

Ripa, the co-host of TV's Live With Regis and Kelly, is no stranger to voice-over work, having played roles in Kim Possible and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman. "Delgo is something I do for my kids," Ripa said. "The last thing I need is another job, but my kids like listening to my voice on their favorite cartoons. They like that. That's when, to them, I have a job, if Mommy is the voice of that Muppet or that animated character." Delgo will be released in 2005.

DVD Unveils Van Helsing F/X

en Snow, visual effects supervisor for Van Helsing, told SCI FI Wire that the DVD version of the movie features a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, shot during the movie's production. "It's such a big movie, ... they do a great job of documenting how these things are made," Snow said in an interview from Industrial Light & Magic in San Rafael, Calif. "We'll have people kind of visit us at ILM during the process and take footage and sit in on meetings with the director and that sort of thing."

Snow added that he and other effects technicians prepared special material for the DVD to illustrate the process of creating the supernatural images in the movie, which starred Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. "We know the sort of stuff you do with DVDs and you can do with DVDs," he said. "[That] thought goes in during the whole process: what might be interesting. It doesn't necessarily distract from the core work of what we're doing, but other people are thinking about it."

Snow described one visual-effects sequence, in which Jackman's Van Helsing does battle with a computer-generated Mr. Hyde in the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. "In the Hyde sequence, Shuler Hensley [who also plays Frankenstein's monster in the movie] ... stood in for Mr. Hyde, and he had this little helmet on his head so we could plot where the camera should be pointing," Snow said. "He gave Hugh someone to work off of and react with. And then also Shuler had his shirt off, so we were able to use him as a guide for the lighting on Mr. Hyde and also how the skin should look and so on. ... We did a fair bit of work to get the skin to look believable and added sweat to him, and he's smoking a cigar, so we had to create computer-graphics stuff for that. He has hair and pants. Nothing's easy anymore." The DVD edition of Van Helsing is at retailers now. The Van Helsing DVD is released by Universal Studios Home Video, which is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

Enterprise Ties Things Up

cott Bakula, star of the UPN series Star Trek: Enterprise, told SCI FI Wire that he is looking forward to returning to self-contained stories after last year's season-long Xindi war story arc. "Well, the first two episodes tie up last year and tie up the Temporal Cold War," Bakula said in an interview. "That was very exciting, and then we went right into what it was like to get back to Earth after everything we've been through and getting a hero's welcome and all of that kind of stuff and seeing how everybody felt about being back on Earth. That was a tremendous episode." That episode, "Home," aired Oct. 22.

Bakula said that there would be more multi-episode narratives this season, but that they would be limited to two or three episodes. "We got into this big three-parter with Brent Spiner [from Star Trek: The Next Generation], and that takes us into this three-parter about the Vulcan self-determination and Surak and all kinds of wild stuff on Vulcan," he said. "We've been off to a huge start this year, and I think people were worried about the cutbacks and the things the network was asking us to do. And we've done anything but that. The shows are big and very exciting and still lots of effects and action and big stories." Budgets for Enterprise were cut as an incentive for UPN to renew the ratings-challenged show for a fourth season, resulting in such changes as shooting the series on high-definition video instead of 35mm film.

But Bakula said that telling stories over the course of several episodes gives the series a cinematic scope, even if it occasionally frustrates impatient viewers. "Last year was a rarity, and they had never had that length of an arc in the history of the franchise," Bakula said. "You couldn't really follow that again, but it was a blast to do, and there were so many threads and things going on that I thought they did a wonderful job portraying. I love doing arc stories. As an audience member, it is frustrating sometimes, but I love it, because you get to tell a more in-depth story. You get to stay with characters a little longer, and you get to stay with guests a little bit longer. What's nice about a three-episode arc is that in many ways it's kind of like making a movie. It's a three-act movie, and that's how they kind of treat it. I love doing it." Star Trek: Enterprise airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/ PT.

Cassidy Guests On Enterprise

oanna Cassidy guest starred on the Oct. 22 episode of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, playing T'Les, the mother of Vulcan officer T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), TV Guide Online reported. T'Les urges T'Pol to dump crewmate/boyfriend Trip (Connor Trinneer) for an arranged marriage, the site reported.

Cassidy, a veteran actress who appeared in Blade Runner, told the site that she got the Enterprise gig because the show shares casting people with HBO's Six Feet Under, on which she has a recurring role. "There's very little loyalty in this town, and when that rears its head, it's a beautiful thing," she told the site. "That's wonderful. They know they can count on me. You don't hire people who are not going to do the job."

Cassidy said her character "could be conniving, but she's really not. She's a very honorable, respectful woman, and she believes in a good cause. T'Les is a giver; Margaret Chenowith [the character she plays on Six Feet Under] is a taker. Big difference."

Cassidy added that introducing her character in the fourth season of Enterprise helps flesh out T'Pol's character. "I think they're giving T'Pol some weight," she said. "She is a huge part of that show, but she's been left in the air somehow. I don't want to reveal what happens in the mother-daughter relationship, but let's put it this way: They're testing Jolene Blalock's acting chops by giving her heavy stuff to play. She did well." Enterprise airs Fridays at 8 p.m.

Archer Grows In Enterprise

cott Bakula, star of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, told SCI FI Wire that he is especially excited about the development of his character, Capt. Jonathan Archer, in the fourth season of the show. "The way the series is laid out, I've been presented with a lot of character adjustments and explorations that in a lot of series you don't get," Bakula said in an interview. "Entering the fourth season [gives me] an opportunity to take some of the lessons from last season and the choices we made and see where he goes this year."

In the fourth season, Archer and his crew will deal in part with the effects of last season's yearlong Xindi war story arc. Bakula said that he's been satisfied with the way the producers and writers of the show have given Archer an opportunity to grow since the series began. "We've all worked together to give this guy an interesting journey," he said. "In year one, when he was this very naive kind of closed-off Starfleet brat. That was his whole world, and he's come far in the last three seasons with all of the catastrophes and challenges that he had last year. The ways that he had to deal with them and the places he had to go to make some of the choices that Archer had to make this year becomes fortunate for me."

Bakula said that he saw the potential for the character's growth as far back as when he was enlisted to shoot the pilot episode four years ago. "I looked at the pilot scripts, and I thought, 'This is a guy who has the potential to be interesting for a few years and be interesting for me to play for a few years,'" he said. "The reality is with Star Trek you're in some kind of moral or ethical dilemma. That's part of the history of the show, and that's interesting anyway, but this guy is still growing and maturing. I feel very lucky I'm in the fourth season, and I'm still finding out stuff. Hopefully it's exciting for the audience, too." Star Trek: Enterprise airs in its new Friday 8 p.m. ET/PT timeslot.

Madonna To Voice Arthur

adonna will head the voice cast of the big-budget computer-animated fantasy movie Arthur, directed by Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita), according to The Hollywood Reporter. Arthur is adapted from a series of children's books written by Besson, who also wrote the screenplay for the movie, the trade paper reported.

Arthur centers on a 10-year-old boy who tries to save his grandfather's house from developers by searching for a treasure hidden in the land of the Minimoys, a tiny people living in harmony with nature, the trade paper reported. Arthur, which is scheduled for a 2006 release, will include some live-action sequences. The 3-D animation is being crafted by French specialist Buf Compagnie.

Madonna is understood to be voicing the part of Princess Selenia, a character who travels with Arthur to a mysterious forbidden city where an evil being dwells, the trade paper reported.

Hunter Writers Hired

avid Schneider and Drew Daywalt (Stark Raving Mad) have come aboard to write the screenplay adaptation of the supernatural video game Hunter: The Reckoning for director Uwe Boll and producer Shawn Williamson, Variety reported. Boll and Williamson are coming off another game adaptation, BloodRayne, starring Ben Kingsley, Kristanna Loken, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Madsen and Meat Loaf, the trade paper reported. Hunter is slated to start preproduction in February in British Columbia.

Hunter follows a group of men and women who become aware of supernatural monsters preying on humanity and are imbued with special abilities to combat them, the trade paper reported.

Avary Adapting Silent Hill

oger Avary (Pulp Fiction) is writing a big-screen adapation of the Konami video-game franchise Silent Hill, with Samuel Hadida producing and financing the project, Variety reported. Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) is on board to direct the supernatural thriller for Hadida's Davis Film Productions and Konami Corp., the trade paper reported.

Konami's trilogy of Hill games centers on a mother and daughter seeking to uncover the secrets of the seemingly abandoned town of the game's title. The filmmakers aim for a March start date, the trade paper reported.

Godzilla Gets Hollywood Star

odzilla will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a ceremony in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on Nov. 29, the Associated Press reported. The giant lizard will be honored as part of the world premiere of Godzilla Final Wars, the 28th movie in the franchise. The film marks 50 years since the genetically altered dinosaur emerged from the sea, the AP reported.

Featuring a showdown with 10 monsters, old and new, bashing through Paris, New York, Shanghai and Sydney, Godzilla Final Wars will also mark the last movie for the Toho Pictures creation.

Known in Japan as "Gojira," from a combination of the words for gorilla and whale, the monster first appeared in director Ishiro Honda's 1954 black-and-white classic, the AP reported.

SCI FI Returns To Oz

CI FI Channel has partnered with executive producers Steven Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle (The Pretender) to develop Tin Man, a four-hour SF miniseries inspired by The Wizard of Oz. The miniseries centers on Dorothy, a young girl who finds herself plunged into an alternate universe called the Outer Zone (O.Z.), an exotic and ethnically diverse land policed by law enforcement officers known as "Tin Men." As Dorothy tries to find a way home, she encounters three strange but endearing individuals who accompany her.

Tin Man will be executive produced and co-written by Mitchell and Van Sickle, the channel announced.

Stone Rolls To Pirates 2?

n a bizarre casting rumor, Yahoo!'s U.K. site reported that Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp has persuaded Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards to join the cast of the sequel films. Depp has previously said he based his quirky performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in part on Richards. Now, Richards has agreed to play Sparrow's father in both of the hit movie's forthcoming sequels, which will be shot simultaneously, the site reported.

Richards has reportedly already had a costume fitting in preparation for filming, which is due to start at the end of February and could continue for 11 months.

Halo 2 Preorders Strong

Microsoft announced more than 1.5 million U.S. preorders for Halo 2, the highly anticipated sequel video game, which is slated to hit stores on Nov. 9, the GameSpot Web site reported. Halo 2 will also go on sale in 26 other countries at the same time, and it will be translated into seven languages, the site reported.

Microsoft announced that it is planning to sell the first copy of the game at the Toys "R" Us store in New York's Times Square at 12:01 a.m. Nov. 9. Similar midnight sales will take place at about 6,500 retailers nationwide, including GameStop, EB Games, Best Buy, Gamecrazy, Game Rush, Circuit City, Kmart, and FYE, the site reported.

Japanese SF Author Yano Dies

etsu Yano, an SF author and translator of science fiction in Japan, died on Oct. 13 from cancer of the large intestine, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site reported. He was 81. Yano translated more than 350 books, including titles by Frederik Pohl, Desmond Bagley, Gene van Troyer and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and was author of "The Legend of the Paper Spaceship," a novella first published in English translation in 1984 and subsequently reprinted numerous times in various collections. He was also the translator of almost all of the novels and short stories by Robert A. Heinlein and helped to introduce many American and British science fiction writers to Japan, the site reported.

Yano was born Oct. 10, 1923, and educated at Chuoh University. He has been called Japan's first science fiction fan, having discovered SF through a paperback book discarded by an American soldier. In 1953 he was one of the first Japanese SF fans to visit the United States when he traveled to Westercon and the WorldCon in Philadelphia, the site reported.

A former chairman of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan, Yano wrote many original works, some of which were made into anime.

Biel Co-Pilots Stealth

essica Biel told SCI FI Wire that she co-stars in the upcoming SF film Stealth, playing a Navy jet fighter pilot who must team with fellow pilots Jamie Foxx and Josh Lucas to bring down a robot airplane after an incident alters its artificial-intelligence programming. "The plane flies on its own," Biel said in an interview. "There's no pilot on the plane. It's got a brain of its own. It can take off and land on its own. But it's supposed to listen to orders."

Biel, who next appears in the upcoming sequel film Blade: Trinity, added, "So if our commanding officer gives a command to do some mission, it takes on that mission, and it completes it. And that's its job. It does what it's told. But when it goes AWOL, we have to try to stop it. The brain has gotten jumbled. Something goes wrong in the brain, and it starts to choose. It starts to have its own opinion. And it chooses to survive."

The actress went on to reveal that the plane determines that its highest chance of survivability is to fly solo. "So it decides to go off on its own, and it starts to download missions from the computer that aren't real missions, that are only practice missions," she said. "But if it carries out the missions against these countries, it'd be starting World War III or World War IV. We have to stop it before it injures people and kills civilians. And it plays out over a series of days." Directed by Rob Cohen (XXX), Stealth will be released next summer.

Van Helsing Secrets Revealed

oug Griffin, a visual-effects specialist on the monster film Van Helsing, told SCI FI Wire that the movie's DVD release will contain a featurette on how filmmakers brought the movie's signature monsters to life. Griffin, the film's motion-capture supervisor, added that he and Van Helsing's other technical magicians came up with some new tricks in this movie, such as grafting the real-life head and hair of an actress onto the computer-animated winged body of a vampire bride as she flies over a village set that was photographed in Prague months before.

"We wanted a very realistic head, but we needed to control the digital body, so we came up with this technique we called the hybrid technique," Griffin said in an interview at Industrial Light & Magic, the visual-effects shop in San Rafael, Calif. To do this, a camera photographed the actress in full makeup, dressed in a blue suit and suspended by wires against a blue screen. The images of the actress' head and hair were then put into a computer and matched against the previously shot scene of the village. A computer-generated body was added in much later with computers. "It is a long way from the original Superman, yeah," Griffin said, referring to the more primitive flying visual effects employed in that groundbreaking movie.

Van Helsing, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale, came out in a regular DVD and a three-disc "ultimate collector's edition" on Oct. 19. The DVDs include hours of featurettes and behind-the-scenes features. The "ultimate collector's edition" also includes an "Explore Frankenstein's Lab" feature, mini-documentaries on each character, a "Track the Adventure: Van Helsing's Map" game, a music feature and a time-lapse chronicle of the transformation of Dracula's Coffin Room into his Lab.

The Van Helsing DVDs are being released by Universal Studios Home Video, which is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

UFO Abductee Hill Dies

etty Hill, whose tale of being abducted by aliens launched her to fame and became the subject of a best-selling book and television movie, has died, the Associated Press reported. She was 85. Hill died at her home in Portsmouth, N.H., Oct. 17 after a battle with lung cancer, the wire service reported.

Hill claimed that she and her husband, Barney, were abducted by extraterrestrials in New Hampshire's White Mountains on a trip home from Canada in 1961. The Hills were puzzled when they arrived home and noticed Betty's torn and stained dress, Barney's scuffed shoes, shiny spots on their car, stopped watches and no memory of two hours of the drive, the AP reported. Under hypnosis three years later, they recounted being kidnapped and examined by aliens.

The couple gained international notoriety after going public with their story, traveling across the country to give speeches and making numerous television and radio appearances. Their story also became the focus of John G. Fuller's 1966 best-selling book, Interrupted Journey, and a television movie starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons, the wire service reported. Hill retired from UFO lecturing in her 70s.

Liebesman Bites Dead

onathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls) has closed a deal to direct the SF horror movie Dead Asleep for New Line Cinema, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Written by Carter Blanchard, the story centers on a small town that becomes infested with a species of killer bugs that come out at night and burrow inside their victims' bodies.

Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson of ContraFilm will produce, with Aaron Kaplan and Sean Perrone serving as executive producers, the trade paper reported.

Island Cast Fills Out

jimon Hounsou and Steve Buscemi have joined the cast of the upcoming SF movie The Island, from DreamWorks and director Michael Bay, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Hounsou (Constantine) will play the head of security for the utopian community where the story takes place. No details were available on the Buscemi role, the trade paper reported.

The Island stars Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson in a story by Caspian Tredwell-Owen about a "harvested being" (McGregor) who becomes self-aware and tries to escape the utopia where he is being kept. Johansson plays the only person he can trust and the carrier of the sponsor's child. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci also co-wrote the script, the trade paper reported.

D&D Is 30

ungeons & Dragons players gathered in game stores around the country over the weekend to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the grandfather of fantasy role-playing games, the Associated Press reported. About 25,000 fans in 1,200 stores celebrated the anniversary on Oct. 16, Charles Ryan, brand manager for role-playing games at Wizards of the Coast, told the AP. Wizards, based in Renton, Wash., owns Dungeons & Dragons.

In 1974, 1,000 brown-and-white boxes filled with pamphlets for Fantastic Medieval Wargames were distributed by a couple of guys who liked war role-playing and decided to set a game in the Middle Ages but with monsters and fantastic heroes, the AP reported. Dungeons & Dragons went on to become one of the best-selling games of all time, inspiring books, movies, puzzles and a Saturday-morning cartoon show. The game peaked in the 1980s, but some 4 million people play D&D regularly, the AP reported.

Briefly Noted

Germany's Studio Babelsberg has pulled out of Jonathan English's fantasy horror movie Minotaur after a corporate restructuring, Variety reported.

New Line Cinema has tapped New York playwright David Lindsay-Abaire to write the screenplay adaptation of German author Cornelia Funke's fantasy novel Inkheart, Variety reported. Lindsay-Abaire is also writing the book for a Shrek stage musical.

SCI FI Channel will air a SCI FI Inside showcasing Rogue Pictures' upcoming horror sequel film Seed of Chucky, Oct. 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The insider's look at the movie will air during breaks for Child's Play 2 and Bride of Chucky, which will air as a double feature that night beginning at 7 p.m.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon appeared at a Los Angeles fan party in support of presidential candidate John Kerry and make conference calls to similar fund-raisers around the country as part of the "High Stakes 2004" campaign on Oct. 24.

ABC has given full-season orders to its two first-year hits, Desperate Housewives and Lost, Zap2it reported. Desperate Housewives is the most-watched new series of the season, while Lost is number three among first-year shows.

Tim McCann (Revolution #9) will direct Angel on My Shoulder, a remake of the 1946 classic fantasy film, for T.H.E.M.E. Entertainment, Variety reported. The original movie starred Paul Muni, Anne Baxter and Claude Rains in a tale about a mobster sent to hell, who is given a few more days on Earth by the Devil to try and redeem himself.

A DVD set of all episodes of the 1970s TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century will hit stores on Nov. 16, with a suggested retail price of $89.98. The set is released by Universal Studios Home Video, which is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

The family of late actor-activist Christopher Reeve will hold a private memorial service Oct. 29 at the Juilliard School in New York, TV Guide Online reported. About 900 guests are expected to attend.

The satirical puppet movie Team America: World Police, whose villain is a comical version of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, won't screen in South Korea, according to The Hollywood Reporter. But the trade paper said that the country's highly competitive film market, and not concerns over political issues, led to the decision.

Cinescape Online reported a rumor that the teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith will air on television and in theaters starting Nov. 5, attached to prints of Disney/Pixar's upcoming computer-animated film The Incredibles. Episode III opens in May 2005.

USA Network has ordered 13 new episodes for a second season of its top-rated SF drama The 4400, which will premiere in the summer of 2005, Variety reported. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, James D'Arcy and Rachel Hurd-Wood will star in An American Haunting, a gothic ghost story that begins filming in Romania this week, Variety reported. Written and directed by Courtney Solomon (Dungeons & Dragons), the film is based on events that took place in Tennessee during the early 1800s.

The WB is moving its ratings-challenged SF-tinged new drama Jack & Bobby to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, where it will air after Smallville, from its current 9 p.m. Sunday timeslot, starting Oct. 31. The WB has already ordered a full season of Jack & Bobby.

UK Teletext reported a rumor that British director Paul W.S. Anderson (Alien vs. Predator) has been asked to write a sixth movie in the Alien franchise, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site.

The DVD of the sequel film Resident Evil: Apocalypse will feature six hours of added content in a two-disc special-edition set to be released on Dec. 28, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment announced. A special collector's edition DVD box set will also be available, featuring the film and its predecessor, Resident Evil.

The OneRing.net Web site was asking Lord of the Rings fans to commemorate the Oct. 21 50th anniversary of the first U.S. publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece by showing up in costume at the studios of the Today show in New York.

The American Film Institute will award Star Wars creator George Lucas its 33rd lifetime achievement award, Variety reported. Lucas will receive the award at the AFI's annual June dinner at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Calif.

Regency Enterprises will partner with animation studio CritterPix to develop its first animated film, based on the children's best-seller Ollie the Otter by Kelly Alan Williamson, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow star Angelina Jolie has been named the "sexiest woman alive" in the latest edition of Esquire magazine. Jolie, who plays one-eyed aviatrix Franky Cook, was the top pick of the magazine's editors and mostly male readers to grace the cover of Esquire's annual "Women We Love" issue, the Reuters news service reported.

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