Black And Browder Reunite In SG-1
obert C. Cooper, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that Farscape star Claudia Black will reunite with her co-star Ben Browder in several episodes of SG-1's upcoming ninth season. Black will play Vala, a human character who will be introduced in the 12th episode of season eight, "Prometheus Unbound," which airs early next year when SG-1 resumes original episodes.
"It will air in January [28]," Cooper said in an interview. "It'll be the second episode back in our run on SCI FI. And we thought she was absolutely wonderful. The character really worked out. She had wonderful chemistry with Michael Shanks. She plays opposite [Shanks'] Daniel Jackson in the episode."
Black will return to SG-1 in five season nine episodes, which begin shooting in March. "We are having to ... deal with a brief absence of Carter, [played by] Amanda Tapping, who's pregnant," Cooper said. "And we had already discussed a storyline that involved the return of Vala, ... the character played by Claudia. And so we thought it worked perfectly to have that sort of miniarc play out maybe while Amanda was less available to us."
Cooper added that Black will play several scenes with Browder. "She's [a] human from another planet," he said. "And she's a bit of ... an enigma. You're not quite sure what her true story is in the episode 'Prometheus Unbound.' She's a bit of a rogue who tells a long story about her planet and her people and her past, and then in the end you're not really quite sure whether it's true or not. So she's a bit of a wild card. She's a very ... sexy character, who isn't afraid to take whatever ... she wants in any given situation. And we had a lot of fun writing the role, and I know she had a lot of fun playing it, and we're going to try very hard to maintain the integrity of that character and still have her sort of join up with the team, but still sort of keep the essence of that wonderful friction that went on between her and Daniel, and I'm sure it'll continue to sort of play out with the rest of the characters as well."
From 1999 to 2003, the Australian-born Black played Officer Aeryn Sun in Farscape against Browder's John Crichton. The two reprised their roles in this year's SCI FI miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. The remaining new episodes of Stargate SG-1's eighth season kick off Jan. 21, 2005, in a new Friday 8 p.m. ET/PT timeslot, followed by the new episodes of Stargate Atlantis at 9 p.m. and the new original series Battlestar Galactica at 10 p.m. The ninth season of SG-1 will begin airing in the summer.
Four Stretches Last Act
inescape Online reported a rumor that producers are ordering more visual effects to beef up the ending of Fox's upcoming Fantastic Four movie to keep up with the superhero antics in this year's hit computer-animated film The Incredibles.
Anonymous sources told the site that the entire third act of Fantastic Four, which is based on the Marvel Comics series, is undergoing changes to bring the stretchable Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) up to the level of The Incredibles' Elastigirl.
Fox reportedly ponied up more money on top of the film's original budget, which exceeds $100 million, the site reported.
Hollywood Seeks Pirates
bout 7,000 pirate hopefuls answered a call for extras to appear in Disney's back-to-back Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, which are scheduled to start shooting in February and running into early 2006, Variety reported. Shooting will take place in Los Angeles and the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, the trade paper reported.
Sande Alessi Casting in North Hollywood, Calif., issued the casting call for "extreme character types ages 18-50" with very thin builds, missing teeth, wandering eyes and "serial-killer looks," with real, long hair and beards. The extras are wanted to play members of Captain Jack Sparrow's (Johnny Depp) crew and other pirates., the trade paper reported.
Depp Tops IMDB Poll
ohnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) topped IMDb.com's 2004 STARmeter, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lindsay Lohan placed a strong second in the rankings.
The movie resource and database Web site also had Lord of the Rings' Orlando Bloom, King Arthur's Keira Knightley and Sky Captain's Angelina Jolie rounding out the top five as it unveiled its top 25 movie stars, the trade paper reported.
The rankings are determined by the site's STARmeter, available through its subscription service, which ranks celebrities' popularity among IMDb.com's more than 22 million monthly visitors.
Clarke OK After Sri Lanka Tsunami
egendary SF author and longtime Sri Lanka resident Arthur C. Clarke posted a note on his foundation's official Web site reassuring fans that he and his family escaped the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia on Dec. 26. "Thank you for your concern about my safety in the wake of Sunday's devastating tidal wave," Clarke wrote on Dec. 27. "I am enormously relieved that my family and household have escaped the ravages of the sea that suddenly invaded most parts of coastal Sri Lanka, leaving a trail of destruction."
But Clarke expressed sympathy for the thousands who died or were hurt by the flooding. "For hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans and an unknown number of foreign tourists, the day after Christmas turned out to be a living nightmare reminiscent of The Day After Tomorrow," Clarke said. "Among those affected are my staff based at our diving station in Hikkaduwa and holiday bungalow in Kahawa, both beachfront properties located in areas worst hit. We still don't know the full extent of damage as both roads and phones have been damaged. Early reports indicate that we have lost most of our diving equipment and boats. Not all our staff members are accounted for—yet."
Clarke added: "This is indeed a disaster of unprecedented magnitude for Sri Lanka, which lacks the resources and capacity to cope with the aftermath. We are all trying to contribute to the relief efforts. We shall keep you informed as we learn more about what happened.
"Curiously enough, in my first book on Sri Lanka, I had written about another tidal wave reaching the Galle harbour (see Chapter 8 in The Reefs of Taprobane, 1957). That happened in August 1883, following the eruption of Krakatoa in roughly the same part of the Indian Ocean."
Asia Wave Slightly Hurts Li
artial arts actor Jet Li (Hero) injured his foot as he protected his daughter from tsunami waves that flooded his hotel in the Maldives, Hong Kong newspapers reported. Li, who also appeared in such SF films as The One, was with his daughter in the hotel's lobby on Dec. 26 when huge waves gushed into the hotel, the Apple Daily newspaper reported, quoting a friend vacationing with Li, according to a report on the Associated Press.
Li slightly injured his foot while picking up his daughter, the report said. Ming Pao Daily News reported Li struck his foot against a floating piece of furniture.
Enterprise Looks To Future
anny Coto, the executive producer of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, told the Chicago Tribune that he wants to explore the founding of the Federation if the ratings-challenged series makes it to a fifth season next year. That's a big "if," Coto told the newspaper: "I haven't spoken to anyone [about] the [ratings] performance, so I'd be talking in the dark. I don't know if they're happy or not. It's still pretty much up in the air [whether there will be a season five]."
Enterprise's fate won't be announced until May, the newspaper reported. But UPN head Dawn Ostroff told the newspaper: "We've gotten great feedback from fans. … The show is at a great place [creatively], and we're very happy with the ideas and execution."
Enterprise reportedly has fewer viewers in its new Friday 8 p.m. timeslot, but UPN is earning higher ratings on that night than it did before Enterprise moved. As for the show's creative direction this season, which has included a guest stint by Brent Spiner, Coto said: "We consciously set out to make this season a real prequel, to really embrace the prequel concept. We've got ... great stories coming up, and I think there's a whole season's worth of great stuff, the founding of the Federation."
Coto added: "That's not something that can happen in three episodes at the end of the season, but we'll be headed toward the founding of the Federation [toward the end of season four]. I would love to make that a season-long arc. What's great about it is that it's a positive arc, instead of a story of pure conflict [like the Xindi arc]. It becomes an arc about trying to bring different cultures together, .... which is a really resonant idea for our time. I would love to come back, and we would do some serious research on the founding of the U.N., how that came together."
Arquette Talks Medium Well
atricia Arquette, star of NBC's upcoming supernatural series Medium, told SCI FI Wire she was a little worried about taking on the job of portraying a real person, Allison Dubois, who says she has psychic abilities. The series, based on Dubois' life, explores what happens when an average wife and mother begins to work with the police to help solve missing-persons and murder cases.
"Before we even shot the pilot," Arquette said in an interview, "I went out to meet her and said, 'Are you really ready for this? This is going to be very weird. Pretty quickly things are going to have to separate off from you. And I don't want you to have your feelings be hurt or have you upset if you call and say, "Me and [my husband] Joe didn't have that fight."' I'm not having that problem, because at a certain point they're going to have to go with dramatic license."
Arquette added, "Right away I said, 'Here's some aspects of your personality that I know right off the bat I'm going to change, just because for TV it will be clearer in some kind of way' or 'These are things that I want to experiment with.' Yeah, there's a fierce responsibility, but we had that conversation early on, and we knew what we were getting into here, I hope."
For Dubois, who says she has seen ghosts and asserts that she has been able to tap into the thoughts of the living since she was a child, talking to the dead isn't nearly as strange as watching her life being played out on television. "Seeing my life on TV," Dubois said in a separate interview, "it was very profound for me when I watched the pilot for the first time, because I felt that I had this whole world inside of me that other people didn't understand, and to see it laid out in front of my eyes, I've never had to look at who I am before. In that respect, it was very moving to finally ... feel understood on many levels." Medium premieres Jan. 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT and will air Mondays in that timeslot. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Chenoweth Unbraids Rapunzel
ristin Chenoweth told SCI FI Wire that she's providing the speaking and singing voice of Rapunzel in Disney's upcoming animated movie Rapunzel Unbraided. "I am Rapunzel, but Rapunzel is a squirrel," Chenoweth said in an interview. "I can't really tell you much more [about the story] than that, other than I'm a squirrel and I'm going to let down my tail."
Chenoweth, whose credits include the Broadway show Wicked and the upcoming film Bewitched, added that she has a good feeling about Rapunzel, which is very loosely based on the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale. "That is going to be really special," she said. "I've always had this dream of being a Disney character, and now I'm going to get to do that. It's also a musical, so I'll get to sing. It's interesting, because they take the camera in [while recording her voice], and they film you doing your thing, so that they can draw the character like you and use your mannerisms. It's a cool process."
Chenoweth added, "I've barely started, but it'll be more and more after the holidays. It's just interesting to see these amazingly talented animators bring things to life and use your expressions. It's very special, and my niece and nephew will get to see their Aunt Kristie looking like, 'Well, there she is.' That's one of the things I'm probably most excited about." Rapunzel Unbraided, which marks the directorial debut of veteran Disney animator Glen Keane, will be released in 2007.
Chenoweth Bewitched By Kidman
ristin Chenoweth, who co-stars with Nicole Kidman in the upcoming movie version of TV's Bewitched, told SCI FI Wire that she plays Marie, the best friend of Kidman's witch character. "My character is kind of like, 'Hmm, what was that? Oh, well, anyway, off to shopping,'" Chenoweth said in an interview. "She sees the magic, but doesn't really ever address it, which is part of the comedy."
The film is based on the classic 1960s TV series, which starred Elizabeth Montgomery as a witch married to a mortal. In the movie, Kidman co-stars with Will Ferrell.
Chenoweth is best known as a Broadway actress and won a Tony Award for her performance as Glinda the Good Witch in the acclaimed production of Wicked. Bewitched is only her second feature film. "I just wrapped it, and I think it's going to be a really fun summer movie," Chenoweth said. "It's got a sweet, innocent quality about it, but it's still sexy. It's really funny. You have Michael Caine, Will Ferrell and Shirley Maclaine in the movie, and Nicole is absolutely darling in it. All of these people are people I've looked up to, and now I got to work with them. It was really great."
Chenoweth added, "I loved working with Nicole. She's a true professional, and she's very, very good at her craft, and as I'm learning, filmmaking is its own thing. It is a craft, and she knows how to do it. She's very prepared, but she's also a girl's girl. I got to know her, and she can sit down with you and have a glass of wine and tell a good joke. She's just a really good gal. I'm glad we became friends." Bewitched opens on July 8, 2005.
Kidman Nosed Into Bewitched
icole Kidman, who has wrapped filming on her film version of TV's Bewitched, told the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper that she didn't need visual effects to help her with her character's famous magic nose twitch.
"I saw some article which said I did five hours of yoga facial exercising," she told the newspaper. "I was like, 'Yeah right.' Having studied Ms. Elizabeth Montgomery thoroughly, I've figured out it wasn't a nose twitch. It was a lip twitch more."
Bewitched, which co-stars Will Ferrell, wrapped shooting in Los Angeles with an eye to a July 8 premiere.
Charlotte Spins In Oz
harlotte's Web, a film based on E.B. White's beloved children's book, will film in Victoria, Australia, next year, the Oz wire service AAP reported. The Paramount film will mix animation and live action and is slated for release in 2006, the wire service reported.
The movie will be filmed in Williamstown, in Melbourne's southwest, and in Greendale, in western Victoria, with production scheduled to start in late January.
Victoria recently announced it had also lured the production of another blockbuster movie, the Marvel Comics adaptation Ghost Rider, for next year.
Episode III Soundtrack Out May 3
heForce.net reported that the soundtrack for Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith will be released on May 3 and the set will include a bonus DVD. The site didn't report what the DVD would contain.
The soundtrack comes out a little more than two weeks before the film itself, the third prequel in George Lucas' epic SF saga and presumably the last Star Wars movie. Episode III, starring Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor, opens May 19.
SCI FI Reports Record Year
CI FI Channel reported that 2004 was the network's highest-rated and most-watched year yet and the third-consecutive year the channel has broken its own prime-time ratings records. The channel reported its best-ever prime-time household ratings (1.0, or 1.2 million viewers) on average for the year, a 4 percent increase over the previous year.
SCI FI also reported ranking within the top 10 of all basic cable networks in ratings among key demographics, including persons aged 25-54, men 25-54, persons 18-49, men 18-49 and women 25-54. SCI FI ranked eighth in household ratings among all measured, non-news, ad-supported basic cable networks in prime time.
Other ratings highlights:
SCI FI reported an average 1.0 rating and more than 1 million viewers in prime time in every quarter of 2004, a milestone reached over six consecutive quarters.
SCI FI delivered more persons aged 18-34 and 2-17 in prime time than in any other year in the network's history.
SCI FI proved itself a prime-time destination for families, reporting a 21 percent jump among viewers aged 18 and under compared with 2003.
The July 16 premiere of Stargate Atlantis was the highest-rated and most-watched single episode of any series ever on SCI FI and was also the first episode of any SCI FI series to deliver ratings over 3.0 and viewership over 4 million.
The premiere of SCI FI Channel's original miniseries Legend of Earthsea averaged a 3.2 household rating (3.7 million viewers) over two consecutive nights.
Legend of Earthsea was the highest-rated and most-watched program in cable prime time on Dec. 13 and 14. SCI FI was also the number-one network on cable in combined ratings and delivery on those two days. The second part of the miniseries was the highest-rated program to air on SCI FI in 2004.
The two-night, four-hour premiere of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars on Oct. 17 and 18 averaged a 1.7 household rating (1.9 million viewers), making SCI FI the number-one non-sports cable network among persons aged 25-54 and 18-49 for its time period over the two nights.
SCI FI's miniseries thriller 5ive Days to Midnight kept a total audience of nearly 9 million viewers over four consecutive nights, June 7-10.
Among SCI FI's original series:
Driven by the success of new Stargate SG-1 companion series Stargate Atlantis, the channel reported its best summer ever, with a record-breaking 1.1 household rating for June-August.
The summer season of Stargate Atlantis averaged a 2.3 household rating and nearly 3 million viewers, making it SCI FI's highest-rated original series ever.
The Oct. 6 premiere of Ghost Hunters earned a 1.4 household rating (1.1 million viewers), making it the most-watched Wednesday-night program on the network since January 2003 and ranking it in the top 10 of most-watched Wednesday programs in the channel's history.
The March 4 premiere of Tripping the Rift got a 1.8 household rating (2 million viewers), setting several SCI FI records and beating the 1997 series premiere of Comedy Central's South Park.
Fox SF Films Head To FX
X will pay more than $50 million to 20th Century Fox for the first airing of The Day After Tomorrow; I, Robot; Alien vs. Predator and four other films, Variety reported. FX gets these pictures beginning in 2007, after they've completed their run on HBO, which has the exclusive pay TV output deal with 20th.
FX has bought 2005 network premiere rights to such films as X2, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, XXX and Daredevil.
Smallville Guest Wants More
rica Durance, who is playing Lois Lane in The WB's Smallville, told the Sci Fi Pulse Web site that she'd love to reprise the role in the show's fifth season. "I would be interested in coming back, of course,” Durance told the site. "That would be wonderful, to be able to be on this show for another season."
The Canadian Durance was signed to play Clark Kent's (Tom Welling) future love interest in 13 of the current fourth season's episodes. As for next season, she said, "I think they're working on that right now and deciding how much of next season Lois might be back and where they could take the character. I know they'd love to bring her back, but there's the film coming up [Superman Returns] and there are all sorts of things in the upper echelons that I don't know reasons for, but I'll probably know what's happening for in [the] next couple of months."
Durance next appears in the Smallville episode "The Recruit," which airs Feb. 9. Smallville airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Briefly Noted
-
The MTV.com Web site has posted new behind-the-scenes video for Jennifer Garner's upcoming Elektra movie.
-
Yahoo! Movies has posted a behind-the-scenes clip from the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, featuring comic writer Stan Lee on the film's set in Vancouver, B.C.
-
London film critics have named Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind one of the best five movies of 2004, competing with The Motorcycle Diaries, The Aviator, House of Flying Daggers and Sideways for the film of the year award from the London Film Critics' Circle.
-
Moviehole.net reported that the band Collective Soul will do the theme song to the new Wes Craven werewolf movie Cursed, which opens in February.
-
Final box-office figures for Christmas weekend bumped Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events into second place, rather than third place as originally estimated, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
-
Producers told TV Guide Online that the name of William Mapother's character on ABC's Lost, Ethan Rom, is an anagram for "Other Man."
-
The family of late Superman star Christopher Reeve gave 14-year-old quadriplegic Tyler Howard of Charlestown, N.H., the actor's specially modified van so he can get around with his wheelchair and other medical equipment, the Associated Press reported.
-
German director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) will be president of the international jury for the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Back to the top.
