Serenity Jumps From TV
oss Whedon, who wrote and directed the upcoming SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that it's been a challenge adapting his low-rated Fox TV series Firefly for the big screen.
"It's incredibly hard, you know, building a story that doesn't repeat or contradict what we've already done, that satisfies the fans, and yet is really made for people who have never seen the show," Whedon said in an interview on the film's set at Universal Studios in Los Angeles last August. "[It's] incredibly tricky. There's pitfalls everywhere."
Serenity, set 500 years in the future, picks up the story of the intrepid crew of the Firefly-class transport ship Serenity. Fox canceled Firefly in the middle of its first season, but fan enthusiasm for the show and its subsequent DVD release persuaded Universal Pictures to green-light a movie adaptation. "It's the hardest story I've ever had to structure," Whedon said. But, he added, "once I get writing these people, it's the easiest thing in the world, because I know them so well. The other thing is, a TV show is built around slow development of character. A movie ... is built around momentum. They're very different things. So ... you have to let some things drop, and you have to speed some things up, and you have to sort of know which ones are which."
Serenity also marks longtime TV veteran Whedon's feature-film directorial debut. Whedon has been critical in the past about how his movie scripts for such films as Alien: Resurrection and the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie have been realized. "After Alien: Resurrection I said the next person who ruins one of my scripts is going to be me," he said, with tongue in cheek. "And I think I'm doing a fine job. Actually, I think that the director on occasion could use a little more imagination and the writer could have shut up occasionally. We fight, but we're still getting along better than I usually do."
Seriously, Whedon said, "It's been great. ... Unlike TV, I have the time to really explore what it is I'm doing and to go back and reassess every day. But the piece is so fluid, because it's a domino effect. Every time you shoot a scene, it affects 50 other scenes. It's not like you have eight days and you know exactly what you need, and you're out and you go on to the next one. It's constantly shifting. Hopefully not so much that it doesn't know where it's going." Serenity, which is in post-production, opens April 22, 2005. Universal Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Bowman Talks Elektra
ob Bowman, director of the upcoming comic-book movie Elektra, told SCI FI Wire that he brought SF chops to the project as a veteran helmer of the X-Files TV series and movie and the feature film Reign of Fire.
"In terms of the hyper-real, surreal or science-fiction aspects of it, I'm obviously very familiar with it, and I think I was comfortable handling the more exotic parts of the story," Bowman said in an interview last summer on the film's Vancouver, B.C., set.
Bowman added that he was able to balance the SF elements of the story with the personal drama of Elektra Natchios, played by Alias star Jennifer Garner. "I felt like, 'OK, this is within my realm, and I know that it needs to be commercial,'" he said. "But more important to me was the power of Elektra's personal story. And so bringing ... muscles built during The X-Files and X-Files movie and Reign of Fire, I thought, 'I understand how to make this film.'"
Elektra, the follow-up to 2003's Daredevil, centers on Garner's character, an alienated warrior assassin, and her battle against a mysterious criminal organization called The Hand. Bowman admitted that he was not familiar with the Marvel Comics series on which the movie is based. "I did not read Elektra as a kid," he said. "It actually came around after I was out of my teens. ... So the first thing I looked into with Elektra was 'What's going on inside of her? Is there more than "I'm just a good old person who does heroic things?"'"
Bowman said he was attracted to the character because of her dark past. "Sitting still without an assignment or a task that is not external is a problem for her," he said. "Because she starts to think about things that, you know, upset her, cause her to feel anger. She's extraordinarily haunted. ... Existence is what she suffers through. The movie is about her coming to grips with what's actually going on inside of her. One of our themes is that she has abilities and feelings that she's unaware of until very late in the movie."
Bowman can be seen in behind-the-scenes video clips posted on Elektra's new official Web site. Elektra opens Jan. 14, 2004.
Bird Defends Incredibles Action
rad Bird, the writer and director of the upcoming Disney/Pixar computer-animated film The Incredibles, told SCI FI Wire that he hopes parents take the film's PG rating seriously.
"It's a comic-book adventure," Bird said in an interview. "Are you going to put pillows around the conflict? No. You do a superhero story, things are going to blow up. There were people where we said, 'OK, now, we're deviating from the norm. Hold hands. Is that OK?' And we all held hands and said 'Yeah.'"
The Incredibles follows a family of superheroes who come out of retirement to fight a new villain. Bird said that the film skews towards a slightly older audiences than past Pixar films, all of which were rated G. "I think a lot of kids will love this movie, but I think they have to be the kind of kids that are fine with Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark," Bird said. "We don't want to do just one kind of movie, and I think that parents ought to take the PG seriously. Only they know what their kids can see. Some kids were mildly traumatized by Raiders of the Lost Ark, and they probably shouldn't have seen it. But I don't think you would ever say, 'Yeah, take all of that stuff out of Raiders of the Lost Ark.' Raiders of the Lost Ark is the movie that it set out to be."
Bird, who also directed The Iron Giant, added that he disagrees with the common perception that animated entertainment appeals only to children. "That's a long-held bias that I don't happen to agree with," he said. "I can't name another art form on the face of the Earth that limits its audience by saying it's aimed at one age group. I mean, you don't say 'Opera, it's only aimed at 35- to 60-year-olds.' I have people asking me what it's like to be working in the animation genre. It's not a genre. It's an art form that can do any genre, and it's been limited by people's perceptions. I think it can tell any story there is." The Incredibles opens nationwide in theaters Nov. 5.
Bird Voiced Incredibles' Edna
rad Bird, the writer and director of the upcoming Disney/Pixar computer-animated film The Incredibles, told SCI FI Wire that he provided the voice of Edna, a superhero costume designer, only after the producers could not find a suitable actress to play the role.
"They tried actresses, but they ended up having to keep telling the actress, 'No, make it lower, like this,'" Bird said in an interview. "Finally they went, 'Look, he's already doing it. Why don't we just keep it?'"
Bird said that the animators referenced a number of fashion designers for Edna, but they ultimately chose to combine those influences to create a completely new character. "We certainly looked at Edith Head, but there are actually a lot of female fashion designers that have giant glasses," Bird said. "Also, Patricia Highsmith was an influence. She wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley. When you're designing a character, you're just saying, 'Who is that?' We have drawings where she's taller and fatter and older and younger and thin. We tried a lot of stuff, and we ended up with something that reminds you of Edith Head and Linda Hunt."
Bird, who previously provided voice work for the Amazing Stories segment "Family Dog,"
also said that Pixar frequently enlists its animators to create temporary voice tracks for its animated characters. "We do a temporary soundtrack where we take existing music and cut it together so it represents where we hope to go," Bird said. "We do storyboards, and we record people in Pixar who get in the ballpark of what we're looking for, and sometimes those voices stick." Listing a few of the animators who contributed to past Pixar efforts, Bird said, "Andrew Stanton, the writer and director of Finding Nemo, was the voice of Crush. Joe Ranft did Heimlich in A Bug's Life and did the asthmatic penguin in Toy Story 2. Bob Peterson did Roz in Monsters, Inc. And Kari the babysitter in The Incredibles is one of our animators, Bret Parker. Pixar doesn't really care about how famous somebody is. It's more about how right they are for the character." The Incredibles opens Nov. 5.
Tapping Positive About Proof
manda Tapping told SCI Fi Wire that it was a challenge to play both Lt. Col. Samantha Carter on the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1 and host the network's new alternative reality series Proof Positive: Evidence of the Paranormal.
"I went to L.A. during the week hiatus we had in September and shot pretty much all of the episodes," Tapping said in an interview. "I'd done one episode in August, when I had a day off from Stargate on a Monday. So I flew to Chicago that weekend and flew to L.A. on Monday to do an episode of Proof Positive, then flew back to Vancouver on Monday night. So it was pretty crazy squeezing it in while shooting Stargate, but it's a very cool show."
Proof Positive uses case histories, scientific developments and experts to examine the blurry line between science fiction and science fact. "Conceptually, I love it," Tapping said. "I love the idea that we actually put things to the test, that there are actually forensic tests that you can do to determine the veracity of paranormal phenomena. I'm a huge believer in the paranormal, so some of the stories really freaked me out. Some of the stories, even though they [may be] proven inconclusive or proven proof negative, you can still go, 'Wait a second. I don't know about that. Just because that test didn't work doesn't mean ... .' So I think it makes for some great debate. I watched the first episode with my twin brother when I was in Chicago, and we had a big debate over it." Proof Positive airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
SG-1's Tapping Expecting
manda Tapping, who stars in the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, is pregnant with her first child, but told SCI FI Wire that she does not want to see her pregnancy written into Lt. Col. Samantha Carter's character arc for a possible season nine.
"I don't think that would work for Carter at all," Tapping said in an interview. "It would so change her if she were a mom. I just don't think that she would be back with the Stargate program." Tapping has been married to Alan Kovacs for 10 years.
Tapping, who is due in March, added, "When I got pregnant I kept it very quiet for a long time from the producers and everybody. I wanted to make sure that everything was going to be OK with this pregnancy. I thought, 'Oh God, what if we do come back? I guess it would be Pete's [David DeLuise] baby. But, oh, gee, no.' It just doesn't work on any level for me to have it be part of the story. The perfect thing was that we ended [production on season eight] just as I was starting to really show, and because for most of the last couple of weeks I was playing a different version of Carter it worked out that we could cover it up very well. So now I get to go through the bulk of my pregnancy during the off-season. It's very good timing." Stargate SG-1 will kick off the second half of its eighth season in January 2005.
Tapping Turns Up In Earthsea
targate SG-1 star Amanda Tapping told SCI FI Wire that Lady Elfarran, whom she plays in the upcoming SCI FI Channel original miniseries Earthsea, is a God-like character.
"[Lady Elfarran] was the keeper of the keys to this secret dungeon where all the bad spirits were kept," Tapping said in an interview. "She was like the mother superior for this island, but she's also very much like God, and everybody worships her."
Based on Ursula K. Le Guin's award-winning series of fantasy novels, Earthsea stars Shawn Ashmore, Kristin Kreuk, Danny Glover and Isabella Rossellini in a story about a reckless youth, Ged (Ashmore), who discovers that he has magical powers, but who accidentally unleashes a dark power that threatens the world. Tapping makes her cameo as Lady Elfarran early on in the miniseries.
"When she passes away, the keys pass [into other hands], and all hell breaks loose," Tapping said. "You only see me when I'm conjured up, as a vision, by Ged. I think Earthsea is going to be great. It's so epic. It's huge. The footage I saw was stunning. The sets were huge. The costumes were gorgeous. I was just glad to be asked to be involved, but it's a tiny, tiny little part. If you blink, you might miss me." The four-hour Earthsea miniseries premieres Dec. 13 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
New Matrix DVDs Due
arner Home Video will release a 10-disc Ultimate Matrix Collection DVD set on Dec. 7, featuring the three Matrix movies with new supplemental materials, including new commentary tracks on each movie.
The set will also include a remastered version of the first film, The Matrix, as well as the companion pieces The Matrix Revisited and The Animatrix.
The collection will include five discs of new supplemental materials that encompass every aspect of the Matrix universe, Enter the Matrix video-game footage and more than 100 featurettes and documentaries.
The Ultimate Matrix Collection will carry a suggested retail price of $79.92. A limited edition of The Ultimate Matrix Collection will feature a Neo minibust figurine and an 80-page collector's book, with a suggested retail price of $129.92.
Fishburne Voices Matrix Online
arner Brothers has signed up most of the Matrix film trilogy's original cast to provide voices and likenesses for the upcoming Matrix Online massively multiplayer online role-playing game, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus) is the latest name attached to the game, joining Monica Bellucci (Persephone), Mary Alice (The Oracle), Lambert Wilson (The Merovingian), Harold Perrineau Jr. (Link), Harry Lennix (Locke), Nona Gaye (Zee), Collin Chou (Seraph) and Tanveer Atwal (Sati), the site reported.
In addition, Don Davis, who composed all three films' scores, will compose the music for the game. The Matrix Online debuts Jan. 18, 2005.
Sarsgaard Keys In On Skeleton
eter Sarsgaard told SCI FI Wire that he's just completed production on his next film, a horror-thriller entitled Skeleton Key that is reportedly in the vein of Rosemary's Baby and Don't Look Now.
"I play an estate lawyer," Sarsgaard said in an interview while promoting his current movie, Kinsey. "It's with Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands and John Hurt. It's a kind of conceptual horror movie."
Sarsgaard added, "It's hard to begin to even talk about it, because it's like one of those things [where] you can't give anything away. Iain Softley [K-Pax] directed it. We filmed in Louisiana, and there's a lot of voodoo in the movie. How else can I describe it? Basically, John Hurt and Gena Rowlands are very old and live in this big plantation house. Kate Hudson plays a hospice worker who's taking care of them, and I play the estate lawyer who's trying to deal with their estate. They're not dead yet, but they're dying. John Hurt has just suffered a stroke, and then Kate and I kind of have a romantic thing happen." Skeleton Key will be released in summer 2005 by Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Krakowski Haunts Christmas Carol
ane Krakowski told SCI FI Fire that she plays the Ghost of Christmas Past in NBC's upcoming musical version of A Christmas Carol.
The telefilm stars Kelsey Grammer as Ebenezer Scrooge, Jesse L. Martin as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Jason Alexander as Marley, Geraldine Chaplin as the Ghost of Christmas Future and Jennifer Love Hewitt as Emily, Ebenezer's first love. "I'm a happy spirit," Krakowski said in an interview while promoting her new movie, Alfie. "I'm the first ghost, so I bring [Scrooge] back all his happy memories, before his life went horrible, before he became sour. I'm a ghost/ethereal spirit/unearthly nymph."
Krakowski added, "It was very technical, too, [and] not only because of the singing, which was a great experience to do the recording, because we were in Budapest, and they had an orchestra of 65, and we sang live with an orchestra of 65. That doesn't happen in the States anymore, because they can't afford it. Those are the perks of being in Budapest. But I got to fly, and I love all that stuff. I got to come in, dissolve in and out in flames. You do these crazy things in front of a blue screen, and it all looks quite magical when they fill it in with the stuff they can do on a computer. We'll see how it all turns out." A Christmas Carol will air on Nov. 28. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Gellar Tops Revolver
resh off the success of her hit horror film The Grudge, star Sarah Michelle Gellar has signed on to headline Revolver, a supernatural thriller film, for Focus Features' Rogue Pictures, Variety reported.
Asif Kapadia (The Warrior) will direct Revolver, which follows a tough, successful saleswoman whose vivid nightmares drive her to investigate the mysterious death of another young woman 25 years earlier, the trade paper reported. Adam Sussman wrote the script, and Aaron Ryder will produce through his Raygun Productions company. No start date has been set.
It's not clear whether Gellar will star in The Grudge 2, the upcoming sequel film from Senator International and Ghost House Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Stephen Susco, who wrote The Grudge based on the Japanese horror film Ju-on, has been hired to write The Grudge 2, the trade paper reported. It's also not clear whether Grudge director Takashi Shimizu will be part of the sequel. Shimizu directed the first installment, as well as Ju-on, the 2003 Japanese film on which it's based.
Rogue Pictures is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Goyer Gets Invisible
avid Goyer (Blade Trinity) will direct the English-language remake of The Invisible, a Swedish supernatural thriller film, Variety reported.
Mick Davis wrote the film for Spyglass Entertainment and DreamWorks, based on the Swedish movie about two young teens whose real selves are invisible to others, the trade paper reported.
Davis wrote the original film in English. The script was then tralated into Swedish and helmed by Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist, the trade paper reported. Spyglass bought the remake rights in 2002.
Goyer wrote Batman Begins for director Christopher Nolan and recently signed a first-look deal at Warner Brothers. He is also attached to direct and executive produce CBS' tentatively titled pilot Threshold, a contemporary SF drama about the government's response to an alien threat, the trade paper reported.
Enterprise Ep Scores Well
he first of three Star Trek: Enterprise episodes featuring guest star Brent Spiner ranked first in ratings among men 18-49 in its premiere Oct. 29, UPN reported.
The episode, "Borderland," drew a 1.7 rating among men 18-49 and also improved ratings for UPN in the Friday 8 p.m. ET/PT timeslot among total viewers, with an audience of 3.2 million, the network reported.
The second of the three-episode arc, "Cold Station 12," airs Nov. 5. In it, Spiner's character, the criminal scientist Arik Soong, is reunited with his genetically engineered creations called Augments, who break into a medical outpost where Soong once worked to steal the embryos of hundreds more potential Augments. The third episode, "The Augments," airs Nov. 12.
Team Out For Toon Oscar
he Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced that 11 films are eligible to compete for the animation Oscar next year, including The Polar Express, but excluding Team America: World Police, which was made with marionettes, Variety reported.
The list included The Incredibles, Home on the Range, Teacher's Pet, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Clifford's Really Big Movie, Sky Blue and The Legend of Buddha, the trade paper reported.
With regard to Team America, academy rules on short films define animation techniques as "stop-motion, clay animation, puppets, pixilation, cutouts, pins" and so on, the trade paper reported. But the committee ruled that the puppets reference meant frame-by-frame manipulation of puppets. Team was considered live-action puppetry. It remains eligible in other categories, the trade paper reported.
Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 25, 2005, and winners will be unveiled Feb. 27.
Tron 2.0 Ships For Xbox
uena Vista Interactive announced it has shipped Tron 2.0: Killer App for the Xbox, a console version of the PC game Tron 2.0 that was released last August, based on the 1982 SF movie Tron, the GameSpot Web site reported.
The Xbox game will carry a suggested retail price of $39.99, $10 more than the GameBoy Advance version of the game that shipped last month, the site reported.
Tron 2.0, a first-person shooter, reworks the intracomputer world created in the cult-classic film. Tron 2.0: Killer App for the Xbox was developed by British studio Climax, and follows the story of the original game, dropping players into the midst of a virtual-world war being waged by a horde of evil programs led by the "user" Thorne. Bruce Boxleitner reprises the voice role of programmer Alan Bradley, and Rebecca Romijn joins the game's voice cast, the site reported.
Allen Scratches Shaggy Itch
im Allen told SCI FI Wire that he's as suprised as anyone that his next film will be a remake of the Disney family film The Shaggy Dog.
"I look at some of the movies that were done in the '50s and '60s that were done for, like, $50, and I say, 'We have better technology now,'" Allen said in an interview while promoting his latest film, Christmas With the Kranks. "A Shaggy Dog script was sitting around, and it was terrible. It was really just about butt sniffing, just dog jokes. I took a crack at it."
Allen added, "I do a lot of script editing with my partner, Matt Carroll. It wasn't really my gig. My gig is science fiction and horror and comedy TV stuff. But we wrote [The Shaggy Dog] and sold it. Disney loved it. They loved my take on it, which is pretty real."
In the original 1959 film, an ancient spell intermittently transforms a young boy (Tommy Kirk) into a sheepdog. Allen's remake will cast him as a man who turns into a canine. "It's almost like The Miracle Worker, if you will," said Allen, whose previous genre credits include Galaxy Quest and the animated Toy Story movies. "It's as if a guy really did turn into a dog for inexplicable reasons. The dogs don't talk in this. I can't just go, 'I'm your dad!' Dogs don't talk. It's a real look at this, and also a farce, because, of course, I become a dog. It's real big Disney comedy. So it's a great family comedy. I've struggled to make this real, and it makes me laugh when I even say that. 'I'm real.' It's like, 'Yeah, you're real. Ah-hah. You're making a real movie about a guy who turns into a dog.'" Production on The Shaggy Dog is set to begin this fall. Kristin Davis will co-star opposite Allen.
Barker Back With Plague
live Barker's Midnight Picture Show has teamed with Armada Pictures to produce the SF horror thriller film Plague, Variety reported.
Hal Masonberg and Teal Minton wrote the script, which is to be directed by Masonberg. The film is in preproduction for a February start, the trade paper reported.
Plague is set in the future, when a mysterious apocalypse has left the world's children comatose and unresponsive. Barker, Jorge Saralegui and Tim O'Hair are producing. Midnight Picture Show is the joint venture between Barker's Seraphim Films and Saralegui, the trade paper reported.
Barker (Hellraiser) is currently producing Dread for 20th Century Fox, based on his short story of the same name. He's also writing Tortured Souls for Universal and is attached to direct; Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Osbourne Cameos In Oz
elly Osbourne will make a cameo appearance in ABC's upcoming remake The Muppets' Wonderful Wizard of Oz, TV Guide Online reported.
Osbourne will play herself and will bump into Dorothy (Ashanti) while in Oz, the site reported.
The Muppets' Wonderful Wizard of Oz is slated to air in May 2005.
New Godzilla Game Coming
tari announced that it will ship Godzilla: Save the Earth, a monster-on-monster online fighting game, for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox this month.
Based on the classic film character from Toho Co. Ltd., Godzilla: Save the Earth faithfully recreates the look and feel of the character and follows up Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. The PlayStation 2 version is currently available; the Xbox version will be available Nov. 22.
Godzilla: Save the Earth features online play, a deeper fighting engine, sharper and more detailed graphics and fan-favorite monsters. Up to four players can fight or compete to destroy the city in the game's destruction mode. Godzilla: Save the Earth also features more than 18 classic Toho movie monsters, including Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla '90s, King Ghidorah, Gigan, Mothra, Jet Jaguar, Baragon, SpaceGodzilla, Moguera and more.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Godzilla film, and Atari has launched a Godzilla.com Web site as a hub for information about the franchise.
Linney Starts Exorcism
aura Linney told SCI FI Wire that she's just started work on her next movie, a horror-thriller entitled The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel.
"The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel is based on a trial that happened in Bavaria in the late '70s," Linney said in an interview while promoting her latest film, Kinsey. "It will not take place in Bavaria, nor will it take place in the late '70s, but it's about a woman who went through a series of exorcisms and then died a young girl of 22."
Linney, whose previous genre credits include Congo and The Mothman Prophecies, added, "The priest [who led the exorcism] was arrested and put on trial for negligent homicide. Tom Wilkinson [Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind] is playing the priest. Campbell Scott [Dead Again] is the prosecuting attorney, and I'm the defense attorney. So it deals with all of that stuff."
Asked if the film, which will be directed by Scott Erickson (Hellraiser: Inferno), will delve into the supernatural aspects of exorcisms or just use the controversial ritual as the background of a conventional dramatic story, Linney replied, "I think there probably will be flashbacks to the exorcism and what happened there, because it's a court case, and you're dealing with different viewpoints of the event. And that's basically one of the things that will happen: ... You will take a look at an exorcism and how different people interpret what they're seeing." The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel will be released in 2005.
Transformers Morph Ahead
ohn Rogers (Catwoman) is writing Transformers, a DreamWorks/Paramount live-action SF movie based on the popular Hasbro toys, Variety reported.
Steven Spielberg is executive producing the movie, which is slated for a summer 2006 release and is being eyed as the start of a franchise, the trade paper reported.
Angry Films chief Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto, who executive produced the two X-Men films, are producing the movie, along with Lorenzo Di Bonaventura. DeSanto wrote the story that Rogers will adapt, the trade paper reported.
Transformers, which were popular in the 1980s, are giant robots that morph into cars, trucks and planes.
Dimension Mulls Shark Boy
ony is in talks with Dimension to co-finance Robert Rodriguez's family movie The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl, Variety reported.
Under terms of the deal Dimension would handle domestic distribution and Sony would take international, the trade paper reported.
George Lopez is starring in the film, which is about a 10-year-old outcast forced to spend summer vacation alone who teams up with two imaginary friends to go on a mission to prove dreams can be reality, the trade paper reported. Newcomers Taylor Dooley, Taylor Lautner and Cayden Boyd also star. Rodriguez wrote the script and is directing the movie, which is aiming at a June 2005 release date, the trade paper reported.
Pearce Headlines Snow
uy Pearce (Memento) will star in El Camino Pictures' First Snow, about a man who falls into a psychological tailspin when a psychic predicts his death, Variety reported.
Mark Fergus will direct, from a script he wrote with Hawk Ostby, the trade paper reported.
El Camino and Syndicate principal Bob Yari will produce, with Tom Lassally, Robyn Meisinger and Sean Furst and Bryan Furst.
Cast Set For Mermaids
essica Lange, Neve Campbell and Evan Rachel Wood are attached to star in Robin Swicord's adaptation of The Mermaids Singing, a romantic movie set on an enchanted Irish isle, Variety reported.
New Films International has signed on to co-produce and license the movie worldwide, the trade paper reported.
J. Todd Harris and Tim Daly are producing the movie, based on Lisa Carey's novel. The movie deals with three generations of women struggling with first loves and wrenching decisions that change their lives, the trade paper reported.
Flanigan Sees Atlantis' Future
oe Flanigan, who stars as Maj. John Sheppard on the SCI FI Channel original series Stargate Atlantis, told SCI FI Wire that the once-lost city of Atlantis will begin to reveal its secrets during the second half of the show's freshman season and on into the future.
"On the overall level, what I want to see happen, and what will happen, is that the city of Atlantis is really remarkable," Flanigan said during an interview. "It's essentially what Manhattan would be if it were abandoned. If you can imagine the size of Manhattan and have it be just completely empty, it would take forever to explore that place."
Flanigan recently wrapped production on season one of Atlantis. "What we'll find out is that Atlantis actually serves a higher purpose, but it will take a long time for us to figure out what that is," he said. "And we'll slowly see the city come to life and start living up to its potential, and then there will be an ultimate cosmic purpose to the city of Atlantis. And that's a pretty interesting angle to explore. Of course, it's going to take a few seasons." Stargate Atlantis airs Friday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT; the second half of season one will debut in January 2005.
Iron Man Details Revealed?
GN FilmForce is reporting new rumored details about the upcoming Iron Man movie, based on David Hayter's script for New Line Cinema.
Citing anonymous sources, the site reported that the film's villain will be hero Tony Stark's father, industrialist Howard Stark, and not The Mandarin, the armored avenger's nemesis in the Marvel Comics series.
The site added that Iron Man will alter the superhero's origins from the comics. Iron Man is eyeing a 2006 release.
Pride Goes On Hiatus
BC has temporarily shelved DreamWorks Animation's computer-animated series Father of the Pride for the November sweeps, Variety reported.
But the show hasn't been officially canceled: NBC executives told the trade paper that Pride will be back in December with its six remaining unaired episodes.
Pride, which will end up costing NBC more than $25 million, has failed to generate anywhere close to the same audience enthusiasm as such hits as ABC's Desperate Housewives and Lost, the trade paper reported. Pride bowed to solid numbers, but has trailed downward most weeks since, and the most recent episode scored a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49.
NBC weeks ago ordered nine additional scripts, but with a minimum nine-month lead time needed to produce new episodes, it's been clear for some time that Pride would be off the air for the rest of this season after its initial burst of 13 episodes. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Theroux Tops Lucy Keyes
ustin Theroux will star opposite Julie Delpy in the supernatural thriller The Legend of Lucy Keyes, written and directed by John Stimpson, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Theroux and Delpy will portray a city couple whose youngest daughter disappears shortly after they move their family to rural Massachusetts, where a 250-year-old legend about a little girl gone missing begins to repeat itself in the present, the trade paper reported.
Brooke Adams and Mark Boone Junior have also joined the cast. Producers include Mark Donadio and Miriam Marcus of Boston-based Moody Street Pictures and J. Todd Harris of Los Angeles-based Intellectual Properties Worldwide, the trade paper reported.
Clowes Adapts Backyard
artoonist-turned-screenwriter Daniel Clowes has signed on to write Backyard Resistance for producer Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures, about a trio of youngsters who made a shot-by-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark called Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Earlier this year, Rudin secured the life rights to the Mississippi trio behind the film—Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb—after Vanity Fair published an article about them, the trade paper reported.
The three began the project while on summer vacation in 1982, finishing it seven years later, shooting on a VHS camcorder and using backwoods Mississippi locales. Clowes wrote the graphic novel Ghost World, which he adapted into the 2000 MGM movie with filmmaker Terry Zwigoff.
Slo-Mo Film Optioned
ingle Cell Pictures partners Michael Stipe and Sandy Stern have optioned Slo-Mo, a spec SF script written and to be directed by John Krokidas, Variety reported.
The script centers on a writer whose New Yorker articles have made him famous among the literati, but who cannot wait for the upcoming book that will cement his reputation as an important author. The pressure has blocked him to the point where he has fallen into a parallel reality that operates on a much slower clock than the real world and makes it impossible for him even to communicate, the trade paper reported.
Stern told the trade paper that he and his partners are working with Krokidas to hone the script. They will then attach actors and go out for financing. They'll first take it to United Artists, where Single Cell has its first-look deal and where they made Saved!, the trade paper reported.
Prix Aurora Awards Presented
he 2004 Prix Aurora Awards, honoring Canadian works of science fiction, were presented over the Halloween weekend at a convention of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.
The awards are financed by voting fees, by donations and by the host convention. A list of winners follows.
Best Long-Form Work in English
•Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
Best Long-Form Work in French
•Phaos by Alain Bergeron
Best Short-Form Work in English
•"Scream Angel" by Douglas Smith
Best Short-Form Work in French
•"La Course de Kathryn" by Élisabeth Vonarburg
Best Work in English (Other)
•Space Inc., Julie E. Czerneda, ed.
Best Work in French (Other)
•Solaris, Joël Champetier, ed.
Artistic Achievement
•Jean-Pierre Normand
Fan Achievement (Publication)
•Made in Canada newsletter, Don Bassie, ed.
Fan Achievement (Organizational)
•Martin Miller
Fan Achievement (Other)
•Eric Layman
Half-Life 2 Hits Japan Arcades
aito announced that it has signed an agreement with Valve Software to release Half-Life 2, the sequel to the hit SF video game, in arcades in Japan, the GameSpot Web site reported.
The game will run on Taito's new arcade hardware, the TypeX, and Taito hopes to release the arcade game in the summer of 2005. Taito is also eyeing a worldwide arcade release, the site reported.
Taito's arcade release of Half-Life 2 will be a customized version of the upcoming PC release, the site reported. Gamers will be able to play alone, team up with other players in other arcades or fight against players in other arcades. The game will appear in widescreen, with 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound.
Hanks Options Ember
laytone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman have bought Jeanne DuPrau's young adult SF best-seller The City of Ember to adapt into a movie, Variety reported.
The partners are in talks with Edward Scissorhands screenwriter Caroline Thompson to adapt it and Gil Kenan (Monster House) to make his live-action directorial debut. Walden Media is coming aboard as co-producer and financier, the trade paper reported.
The SF fantasy adventure is set in a future when Earth's citizens have moved underground to escape the planet's toxic atmosphere and deals with two teens: one who longs to be a messenger to venture above ground, and another who dreams of working underground to repair a generator whose failure will doom the city's power supply, the trade paper reported.
RE 4 Heads For PS2
apcom announced that Resident Evil 4, the latest installment in its horror video-game franchise, will be published for the PlayStation 2 in addition to the previously announced GameCube.
The PS2 version of Resident Evil 4 is slated for release at the end of 2005 in Japan, the United States and Europe. The GameCube version will be released in January 2005 in the United States and Japan, followed by a spring release in Europe.
Capcom said that the decision was based on requests from fans, market considerations and shareholder requests. Capcom had previously said the game would be released exclusively for the GameCube.
Briefly Noted
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A teaser trailer for Disney/Pixar's upcoming computer-animated film Cars has been posted online. The trailer, which debuts Nov. 5 attached to prints of The Incredibles, comes to theaters Nov. 4, 2005.
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Australian filmmaker Russell Mulcahy is in final talks to shoot Russell, a family film about a cocky man who gets turned into a koala by an aboriginal shaman, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Dimension Films has acquired the rights to redo Doll Master, a South Korean supernatural horror movie directed by neophyte Jeong Yong-ki, Variety reported. The movie centers on dolls that take on the lives of their owners after they're dead.
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Ain't It Cool News reported a rumor that director Darren Aronofsky has dropped out of a proposed feature-film version of Alan Moore's graphic novel The Watchmen because of scheduling conflicts. The film is slated to go before cameras this month, the site reported.
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Young actor Jacob Davich will appear in Dimension Films' The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, Variety reported. The film opens in June 2005.
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Turner Broadcasting's TNT and TBS will pay Universal $35 million-$40 million for six movies, including Van Helsing and The Chronicles of Riddick, which will air in 2007, Variety reported. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
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Roger Moore, Molly Shannon, Tom Kenny and Christopher Lloyd will provide the voices for Classic Media's upcoming computer-animated film Peter Cottontail: The Movie, inspired by the classic 1971 Easter television special Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Variety reported.
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CCP, the developer and publisher of the award-winning massively multiplayer online game Eve Online, announced that its Eve Online: Exodus expansion will be released worldwide on Nov. 17.
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Alias creator J.J. Abrams told TV Guide Online that the network may move the spy drama to a new timeslot when it returns in January and added that he'd love the show to follow his hit Lost, which airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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The SCI FI Channel has promoted Thomas P. Vitale, senior vice president, acquisitions, scheduling and program planning, to the position of senior vice president, programming and original movies. The announcement was made by Dave Howe, general manager of SCI FI, to whom Vitale reports.
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Zinc Entertainment, a division of Joel Silver's Silver Pictures, is developing a third film in its Dungeons & Dragons franchise, Variety reported. Meanwhile, Warner Brothers will release Dungeons & Dragons 2: The Elemental Might, which is completing production, theatrically in the United States next year and subsequently on home video.
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The British Sun tabloid newspaper has printed images of the new Daleks in the upcoming new BBC Doctor Who series, currently in production in the United Kingdom.
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Former Angel star David Boreanaz is set to star in a proposed drama series for ABC, based on the life of undercover hit man Jack Ballantine, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show has received a script commitment from the network.
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Takashi Shimizu, the Japanese director of The Grudge, is preparing to shoot his next horror film, the Japanese-language The Death, in March in Japan, Variety reported.
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