Garner Finds Elektra's Darkness
ennifer Garner, who plays the title character in the upcoming comic-book film Elektra, told SCI FI Wire that she plays a woman struggling with her own inner darkness. "Elektra is lethal," Garner said in an interview during a break in filming on the movie's set in Vancouver, B.C., last June. Unlike the earlier version of Elektra Natchios she played in 2003's Daredevil, this Elektra lives with the memory of her father's murder, Garner added.
"In Daredevil, [she] was somebody who was on the verge of being lethal who was surprised to find herself vulnerable to someone," namely, Ben Affleck's Matt Murdock, Garner said. "Once her father's killed—and this is true in the comic books, and it is in the films as well— ... there is no light for her in the world anymore. ...She goes to such an incredibly dark place."
At the end of Daredevil, Elektra appeared to have died. But she takes center stage in Elektra as an assassin who has a crisis of conscience when she's ordered to kill a young girl. "This particular story is about her not being able to deny her need for her own redemption, and it comes up and smacks her in the face, much like falling for Matt Murdock did, except I think this is much more of a surprise, and it's more of a twist, and it's something she fights a lot harder than she fought falling for Matt," Garner said. Elektra opens Jan. 14.
Garner Braves Elektra Bow
attling a painful injury that had sidelined her for more than a week, Jennifer Garner managed to show up at the Jan. 8 Las Vegas world premiere of her new comic-book film Elektra, the Associated Press reported.
Garner walked the red carpet at The Palms Hotel and Casino. "I wasn't feeling well over Christmas," Garner told reporters. "I didn't know why. I thought I had some kind of infection. It turned out that I had messed up my back a little bit."
Garner showed up dressed in a sleek, sleeveless black gown, the AP reported. "I did get a couple of extra days off on my Christmas break out of the bargain, so it has all turned out OK, and I'm fit as a fiddle and ready to get back on the horse," the Alias star added. Elektra opens Jan. 14.
Bowman Finds Elektra's Heart
ob Bowman, director of the upcoming comic-to-film Elektra, told SCI FI Wire that he was attracted to the project because of its heroine, played by Jennifer Garner. "After I read the screenplay, ... the first thing I looked into with Elektra was 'What's going on inside of her?'" Bowman said in an interview during a break in filming on the movie's Vancouver, B.C., set last June. "Is there more than 'I'm just a good old person who does heroic things?' So, you know, that's what caught my attention."
In the film adaptation of the Marvel Comics series, Garner plays Elektra Natchios, a stone-cold assassin who begins to question her life when she is assigned to kill a young girl. Choosing instead to protect the girl and her father (Goran Visnjic), Elektra finds herself in conflict with a pack of super-powered ninjas.
"The supernatural elements ... exist to me as the shape of the villain," Bowman said. "You know, movies are only about one thing, [and] that's people. The rest is what you throw at them. We have a very severe character in Elektra, who in a two-hour movie will go through a very intense, painful self-discovery. While she's in the middle of that emotional crisis, we throw very exotic, very dangerous characters at her."
Bowman is no stranger to SF&F movies, having directed both the X-Files film and Reign of Fire. "I'm always thinking, 'Do I want people to leave their homes, drive to the theater, buy the ticket? The popcorn: It's expensive,'" Bowman said. " So I have to give them reasons to come to the theater, ... many of which are driven by movie magic. What can we do in the movies that they can't afford on television? ... To heighten it like that does, I think, echo what people expect from a comic-book genre."
Still, Bowman said, "The strength of this film lies not in so much the special effects. It lies in the story of Elektra, and to me ... there is such gravity in her story that I think the balance will be just fine. We do have to be careful and show restraint when it comes to the kind of effects [we have], but to me, ... my mind is in Elektra. The rest is the darts and the things that I'm throwing at her to make her journey more difficult." Elektra opens Jan. 14.
Stamp Said No To Elektra
erence Stamp, who plays the blind ninja master Stick in the upcoming comic-book movie Elektra, told SCI FI Wire that he initially turned the role down. "Oh, I didn't want to do this," the veteran British actor said during a break in filming on the film's Vancouver, B.C., set last June. "I didn't want to push my luck. I got away with it with Zod. I don't think I can get away with it again, you know?" he added, referring to his popular role as the villainous General Zod in 1978's Superman and its sequel, Superman II.
Stamp relented after vigorous lobbying by producer Gary Foster and director Rob Bowman. "I just kept saying no," Stamp said. "They just kept coming after me. And then I had to kind of look at it, you know?"
Stamp added: "I think that the only things that I really regret in my life, or the decisions that I regret in my life, ... are films that I passed on for the wrong reasons. And films I passed on for the wrong reasons were just out of a personal fear of the project, fear of not being able to do a good job. And with increasing age, I've learned to kind of become aware of the fear. And sometimes I choose to go against it, and in this case I thought, 'Well, maybe it's that. Maybe I don't want to do it, because I don't want to fall flat on my face again.'"
Stamp plays the mentor to Jennifer Garner's Elektra Natchios, the tortured martial-artist-turned-assassin. Elektra opens Jan. 14.
Stamp Talks Smallville's Jor-El
erence Stamp, who voices the character of Jor-El in The WB's Superman series Smallville, told SCI FI Wire that it's unlikely viewers will see him in the flesh. "TV's too tough for an actor of my age, you know?" Stamp said in an interview. "I've got enormous respect for TV actors. I couldn't do that work. So it's unlikely that you're going to see me on TV."
Smallville marks a reunion of sorts for the veteran U.K. actor and the Superman mythos: Stamp wowed audiences in the 1970s in the first two Superman movies, playing the evil General Zod.
"When they came to me for Smallville and said, 'Do you want to be in it?' I said, 'Really, no,'" Stamp recalled. "And then they said, 'Well, how about would you like to be a voice over?' And I said, 'Yeah, I'd love that.' I have this really expensive voice. I mean, it costs dollars to arrive at this. I don't mean I earn a lot from it. And then when they said, 'Well, how about you play Superman's dad?' I said, 'Yeah, but ... [didn't I already do that?]' They said, 'No, we know you were Zod, but would you like to do it?' I said, 'Yeah, if you're sure you want me.'"
Stamp was aware that he was working in the shadow of another big-screen Jor-El: Marlon Brando, who famously played the white-haired character in 1978's Superman. "I said, 'Do you want it like a Brando? ... I do a very good Brando voice.' And they said, 'No, no, no! Your voice is fine.' So it was ... a treat, really. It's like a treat, because I get a lot of credit. ... A young porter of my building in London where I stay, [he says,] 'Oh, Mr. Stamp, I heard you were in Smallville.' So it's like a connection with a whole new generation of viewers. " Stamp will next be seen as the blind ninja master Stick in Elektra, which opens Jan. 14.
4K Spider-Man 2 Canceled
ony Electronics and Sony Pictures Digital have indefinitely postponed a scheduled so-called "4K" digital cinema screening of Spider-Man 2, Variety reported. The companies had originally planned a first-of-its-kind demonstration showing the 4K digital master of Spider-Man 2 on a prototype 4K digital cinema projector at the Entertainment Technology Center in Hollywood on Jan. 13.
But Sony executives said on Jan. 10 that a prototype projector, sent to Los Angeles from Sony's Atsugi Laboratory in Japan, was damaged in shipping and as a result the screening has been canceled, the trade paper reported.
Disney Remaking Tron
isney has hired screenwriters Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal to fashion a remake of Tron, the 1982 film about a computer programmer who gets sucked into the parallel world of a computer program, Variety reported.
The original movie, written and directed by Steven Lisberger, was considered ahead of its time. Klugman and Sterntha (Warrior) feel that the world has caught up with Lisberger's original concept, making it ripe for redo, the trade paper reported.
Sternthal told the trade paper that the new conceit is that the computer programmer gets trapped in a cyberworld, so that the film can utilize the Internet.
Duchovny: X-Files 2 On Track
avid Duchovny told reporters at the 10th annual Critics' Choice Awards on Jan. 10 that he and The X-Files creator Chris Carter expect to shoot a second movie this year or early next, according to a report in USA Today.
"It'll be a stand-alone horror movie," Duchovny told journalists. "Mulder and Scully investigate one particular case that has nothing to do with alien life. It has to do with supernatural stuff."
The original X-Files movie came out in 1998. The show, which ran on Fox, ended its 10-season run in 2002.
Superman's Spacey Looks Back
evin Spacey, who will play the villainous Lex Luthor in Bryan Singer's upcoming Superman Returns movie, told the IESB Web site that he looks to the first two Superman films for inspiration. "You have to look at the work [that] Chris Reeve did on his films and of course the great work that Gene Hackman also did," Spacey told the site at the Palm Springs Film Festival, referring to Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent/Superman and Hackman's Luthor.
As for Singer's take on the iconic superhero, Spacey said, "I think that it will resemble those films, but at the same time it won't. From what I have been told, fans of the first films will recognize plenty. But this film will also stand alone. Superman has been around way before the films of the '70s and '80s, so the world has an understanding of [who] he is. You also have a great TV show [The WB's Smallville] that is showing Clark's younger years, and that is shaping up who Superman will eventually become."
Spacey said that he overcame scheduling concerns to work with X-Men helmer Singer, for whom he previously performed in The Usual Suspects. "You make it work," he said. "Bryan is a great friend of mine, and, of course, he is also a great director. He has so much passion for this project. Even before any of the X-Men films he had a great story idea for Superman that he would mention from time to time to his close friends. And [I] know he will be able to see his ideas fulfilled. Besides, we're talking about Lex Luthor."
Campbell Makes Love
an-favorite genre actor Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) told SCI FI Wire that he has written a new book, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way, that takes a fictionalized and irreverent look at Hollywood romance. Campbell based the book loosely on his own experiences, going from single actor to married man to ex-husband to single and finally to married again.
"In my single days I was not getting laid right and left," Campbell said in an interview while promoting his last film, Bubba Ho-Tep. "I've never been able to take advantage of my status in show business."
The upcoming Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way is the actor's follow-up to his best-selling memoir If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor. "This is a relationship book without the facts," Campbell said. "I'm not drawing on any personal experiences. This is total fiction."
Campbell described the book as "a gag relationship book." "It's a series of fictional stories tied together by the theme of my trying to give a friend some relationship advice," he said. "The problem is I don't know anything about relationships, and so I end up going on this crazy journey to help him. Of course the whole thing blows up in my face and ends up being this crazy disaster." Campbell has flown below the celebrity radar for his more than 20 years in show business and has observed that celebrities don't always have the fun the tabloids say they do.
"This is not the best business to try and have relationships," Campbell said. "You look at the lives of celebrities, and these guys are dating chicks left and right, and you think they must be getting laid constantly. But the reality is that they cannot keep a relationship going to save their lives. While you and I think it must be glamorous, cool and wonderful that these guys are getting laid all the time, I don't think it's quite as exciting as everyone thinks it is." Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way is due in stores June 1.
Geek Wheaton Moves On
il Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, told SCI FI Wire he has come to terms with his being forever identified with the role, even as he has moved on to other things, including a new book of musings entitled Just a Geek. "Everyone who is part of a successful series, whether it's Star Trek, CSI or Seinfeld, worries about achieving escape velocity from their particular show," Wheaton said in an interview. "It is increasingly rare for any [actor] to find success in a different role after spending years associated with one particular character, and Star Trek is no exception."
Since leaving TNG, Wheaton has spent much of his time as a writer. His four-year-old Web site gives him a venue to sound off on anything he wants; his second book, Just a Geek, is a compilation from his on-site musings. It was released in June.
Still, Wheaton said that he regretted not appreciating the role when he was playing Wesley. He said he allowed "a statistically insignificant number of people who had a lot of free time and access to Usenet back in 1989" to bother him with their dislike of his character. And he wanted to focus on a movie career. He told his agents to get him off the show, which he left in 1990.
Wheaton said now that he realizes that those people's reasons for hating Wesley "usually boiled down to their own immaturity. They wanted to be cool, like Picard or Data, but they were really awkward, like Wesley."
Wheaton's own movie career never really panned out. He was offered a part in Valmont, but had to turn it down because shooting conflicted with TNG. He turned down a role in Primal Fear, and his scenes in the last Trek movie, Star Trek: Nemesis, were cut.
Wheaton still works in show business. His voice can be heard on Teen Titans on Cartoon Network and in the video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Ghost Recon 2.
Since starting his blog, he realizes he has had an effect on people. "I've heard from thousands of people who are the same age as me [32], who enjoyed having a character on TNG they could relate to," Wheaton said. "It's supercool to meet people who are finishing grad school and getting advanced degrees in various sciences because Wesley inspired them." Just a Geek is now at retailers.
Janssen Misses Singer On X-Men 3
amke Janssen, who played the telekinetic Jean Grey in the two X-Men films, told SCI FI Wire that she'll miss the guiding hand of Bryan Singer, who directed the first two installments but passed on the third in favor of Superman Returns. "I will be very sad that Bryan is not coming back, because I really feel that he set the tone for the first two movies, and I think he did an incredible job on both of them," Janssen said in an interview while promoting her latest film, the upcoming thriller Hide and Seek. "He really elevated them from what that genre has sometimes been in the past. So he'll be greatly missed by me, but it'll be interesting to see how someone else imagines the characters and the franchise."
Janssen added that X-Men 3 will likely go before the cameras in June or July and that she expects to return to the fold, even though she's not yet contracted to do so. If she returns, she'll likely do so as Dark Phoenix, as was hinted at by the ominous shadow in the water at the very end of X2, following Jean Grey's demise.
"I'm just excited that, if I come back, I'll be playing a totally different character," Janssen said. "Dark Phoenix will be more dark and complex and twisted than Jean Grey, and that's always fun to play. I don't think she'll be more twisted than Ava Moore [her character on the F/X TV series Nip/Tuck]. That's just not possible. But she'll definitely be more twisted than Jean Grey."
Even so, Janssen acknowledged that Dark Phoenix will likely only be a part of the proposed third movie. "I'm realistic about knowing that they're going to have to give a bunch of people a good chunk of the movie for them to want to come back," she said. "There's going to be new characters introduced, so it's always a little tricky, [but] if it's anybody's movie ever, it's going to be Wolverine's movie, because that's the number-one X-Men character. But from what I've heard, yes, she's big part of it."
Janssen said that she'd have difficulty seeing another actress play Jean Grey. "If [another movie] comes along, I think that's when the studio will probably jump in and try to firm up the deal," Janssen said. "But I would have a hard time giving it up to someone else. I'm too much of a control freak, so I don't think I could handle having seeing somebody else playing her."
Janssen Eyes X-Men 3
amke Janssen, who played the telekinetic Jean Grey in two X-Men movies, told SCI FI Wire that she expects to be involved in a proposed third film in the series. "I don't know quite yet, but, yes, probably," Janssen said in an interview. "I'm not contractually obligated. I wouldn't want to do a sequel for the sake of a sequel, [but] I would definitely want it if there's a good director involved or the character is kind of fun to play."
Janssen's character died at the end of X2, but the sequel hinted that the character might return in a film version of the Marvel Comics X-Men series' famous "Dark Phoenix" storyline. But Janssen said that the storyline for X-Men 3, like the script and director, is still up in the air. "I've heard things, and they're developing the script right now," she said. "Dark Phoenix is part of that script, and they're looking for a director." Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men movies, left the third installment to direct Superman Returns.
Janssen added that she avoided reading about her character in the comics. "Once we get the full green light, I will," she said. "I'm never a comic-book reader. It seems very complicated, the pictures and the little bubbles. I've always read novels, but comic books I've never understood very well." Janssen will next be seen in the upcoming thriller film Hide and Seek.
Cameron To Battle Angel
irector James Cameron told SCI FI Wire that his next fictional film will be a live-action/computer-animated SF movie based on the Japanese manga Battle Angel Alita. "We're in preproduction now on a movie called Battle Angel, which is based on a Japanese manga series of graphic novels by an artist named Yukito Kishiro," Cameron said in an interview. "It's not in the sort of top 10 of graphic novels in Japan; it's a lesser-known one. And we're going to make Battle Angel over the next couple of years and release it in '07."
Cameron said that the futuristic story focuses on both drama and action. "It's a father-daughter relationship story that just has the most insane action that you can imagine," Cameron said. "The story takes place 300 years after a societal collapse caused by a major war, but in that society it's a technological dark age following a pinnacle of achievement far, far beyond where we are right now. In a sense it's post-apocalyptic, but it's post-apocalyptic from a very high level. Cyborg technology is just a way of life. [Alita,] the main character, is a cyborg. She has an organic human brain, and she looks like she's about 14 years old. She has a completely artificial body, and she's lost her memory. She's found in this wreckage , and she's reconstituted by this guy who is a cyber-surgeon, who becomes her kind of surrogate father. It will be PG-13: lots of blood, but it's all blue."
Cameron added that the film will combine several stories from the original comic-book series into one. "It's a bit of a melange of the first three books," Cameron said. "It pulls forward the 'motorball' story into the 'Ido, Alita, Hugo' story, if you will." Cameron said that the film will use both live-action and computer-generated characters. "Live action and CG mixed, meaning we will build sets, we'll shoot with actors, and we'll have CG characters. Alita will be CG. She'll be performed by an actress, but what you see in the film will be CG."
Cameron Talks Angel 3-D
irector James Cameron told SCI FI Wire that he plans to film his upcoming SF epic movie Battle Angel with the same high-tech 3-D digital cameras he used to make the documentaries Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep. "I've sort of been waiting until the right moment to make a big movie, and we believe that moment is now," Cameron said in an interview. "A few years ago I started down this path of creating this 3-D camera system, and once I started working in that, I couldn't imagine myself going back and shooting with the camera stuff that I used before. The question is, at what point can I use the kind of imaging that we're able to do now for a feature film?"
Battle Angel is an SF movie based on the Japanese manga series Battle Angel Alita, about a cyborg in the distant future. Cameron said that the project was partially delayed by exhibitors' reluctance to move to digital projection. "By early summer of '07 we expect to have somewhere around a thousand digital 3-D theaters that will be able to show an image that looks more or less like what you saw in the Imax theater, but the Imax theater was film, and this is going to be digital projection," Cameron said. "The pacing item on that is digital cinema and the changeover to d-cinema. It is going to be happening throughout North America and eventually Europe and so on, where they are literally going to replace every projector in North America in the next five or six years. Because in order to display the stereo, the 3-D, you need to have those digital projectors."
Cameron added that he wanted to wait to shoot the film until technology allowed him to create the best possible image. "The next time we shoot, we're going to use the new generation of the camera system, which is the new Sony SR compression, so it's inherently got a little more dynamic range and a little better resolution," Cameron said. "We think we're getting to a level where we're basically the equivalent of capturing two side-by-side 4K images," he added, referring to Sony's new digital projection system. "It really allows that, for a theatrical feature, I could blow the image up double and still have more resolution than a 35mm film."
Who Actors In Short Supply
roducers of the BBC's new Doctor Who TV series are scrambling to find enough little people to perform in the show as tiny blue aliens, because most have already found work in the currently shooting movies Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, according to the Web site of the Daily Mirror, the British tabloid newspaper. In the Harry Potter film, the diminutive actors play the goblins who run Gringott's bank. Both Charlie and Potter are shooting in and around London.
"It's very difficult to employ persons of restricted growth when, as our producer Phil Collinson says, 'Bloody Gringotts and The Chocolate Factory are filming at the same time,'" Doctor Who's executive producer Russell T. Davies told the site.
Insiders at the BBC drama admit the shortage of short actors has proved a headache during shooting of the 13-part series, due to be wrapped up next month, the site reported.
Peter Burroughs, whose Willow Personal Management is one of just two British agencies for dwarf actors, admitted to the newspaper that he had been unable to supply Doctor Who with a 3-foot, 8-inch actor. "That was very difficult to find, especially with the other productions going on," he said. The new Doctor Who hits British airwaves in March.
Reid Wings It In Crow
ara Reid, who co-stars in the upcoming supernatural film The Crow: Wicked Prayer, told SCI FI Wire that she's completed work on the film. "That is the prequel to The Crow," she said in an interview while promoting her latest film, Alone in the Dark. "It's kind of crazy. It's about coal miners and Indians and how the coal miners were taking over the land, and it gives you the story of how the Crow started."
Ex-Angel star David Boreanaz heads the cast as Luc Crash, leader of a group of Satanic bikers called the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Reid plays his love interest, Lola, who helps Crash kill an ex-con named Jimmy Cuervo (Edward Furlong) and his girlfriend, Lily (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Soon after, however, Jimmy returns to the dead as the Crow, an avenging spirit.
"Eddie's girlfriend has these powerful eyes, and we need to take her eyes" in order to complete a ritual that will transform Crash into an immortal demon, Reid said. "It's kind of a crazy story, but it's really cool-looking, with weird, really out-there, in-the-middle-of-nowhere people. It's very cultish, with a lot of people into very evil, dark witchcraft. And you've got the Indians with the peyote. It's a wild film. You're like, 'What is this?'" The Crow: Wicked Prayer will wing into theaters later this year.
Reid Likes It In The Dark
ara Reid, who stars as archaeologist Aline Cedrac in the upcoming SF horror film Alone in the Dark, told SCIFI Wire that director Uwe Boll's (House of the Dead) movie is only loosely based on the Atari video-game series of the same name. "It is a lot different from the game," Reid said in an interview. "Uwe really wanted this to be a strong movie. He's really good with action and horror, and he really put those aspects in it, but he also gave it a heart. There's a love story in Alone in the Dark."
Alone in the Dark stars Christian Slater as Edward Carnby, a paranormal detective who discovers that long-dormant evil demons are about to return to Earth ... for good. Carnby must move fast, as an evil spirit begins to posess him. He teams with a rival government agent, Richard Burke (Stephen Dorff), and his ex-girlfriend, Cedrac, in an effort to save the day.
"You don't really get movies like this, a sci-fi film with a heart," Reid said. "It's also a really smart film. Uwe is a great director. He gives you the action and the fear and the heart and the suspense, and the tension builds. I really liked Uwe a lot. He's German. He's very tough. He wants it stronger and better and more pained, so he really made everyone hit their emotions to the highest point." Alone in the Dark sees the light of day on Jan. 28.
Sargent To Pen Spidey 3
ony has signed Oscar-winning writer Alvin Sargent to write the third installment of Spider-Man, with an option to write the fourth movie as well, Variety reported. He has already begun work on Spider-Man 3, which has a tentative release date of May 2007.
Sargent, who will turn 74 in April, won Oscars for Ordinary People and Julia and was Oscar-nommed for Paper Moon. He is widely credited with whipping a problematic Spider-Man 2 script into shape, and he has evolved into the voice of the franchise, in much the same way his peer Robert Towne has on the Mission: Impossible series, the trade paper reported.
Sargent got sole screen credit on the sequel, but also did uncredited rewrite work on the first film, which was credited to David Koepp.
Koepp took a crack at writing the first draft of the sequel, followed by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and then author Michael Chabon. Sargent then was brought back and wound up with sole script credit, the trade paper reported.
Marsden, Laurie Join Superman
ames Marsden, who played Cyclops in Bryan Singer's X-Men movies, and Hugh Laurie, who stars in Singer's Fox TV series House, are joining the cast of Singer's upcoming Superman Returns movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Marsden will play Lois Lane's (Kate Bosworth) love interest, Richard White. Laurie is in final talks to play Perry White, editor in chief of the Daily Planet. The two characters are related, though the studio declined comment on whether they are father and son, the trade paper reported.,
Brandon Routh is set to play Clark Kent/Superman, while Kevin Spacey, who won a supporting actor Oscar for his performance in Singer's The Usual Suspects, is set to play Lex Luthor.
Moore Charts Galactica's Future
onald D. Moore, creator and executive producer of SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica, told SCI FI Wire that he's already mapping out season two just as the first season begins its 13-episode run on Jan. 14. "The network has asked for backup scripts for the second season, so we're working on six scripts right now with the writing staff," Moore said in an interview at the TV networks' winter press tour in Universal City, Calif. "I'm deep into what the second season would be. The first season ends on ... multiple cliffhangers, ... and so it's a lot of resolving those cliffhangers."
Moore added, "Most of the things that we're doing in season two were at least begun in season one. A lot of the religious things that happened in the show in terms of the colonies and in terms of the Cylons. I think probably the big opportunity in season two that we didn't get in season one is to open up the Cylon world a little more. To see more of other Cylons. See how the society functions a little bit more. And give a sense of what that community is all about."
The first 13 episodes of Galactica, which have already wrapped production, pick up almost immediately where the 2003 miniseries left off. The ragtag fleet of human survivors, led by President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and Cmdr. Adama (Edward James Olmos), are trying to hold things together while continuing to flee the Cylon menace. Moore said he's pleased with how the first season ended up. "The overall arc has to do with the relationship between Adama and Laura Roslin, the sort of transition of both of them from what you think is going to be their roles of the military hawk and the civilian dove. And starting to realize that actually ... she's a harder-line character than he is, and that he is the son, not of a long line of military men, but the son of a civil ... liberties attorney. And that he's actually very reticent to be her policeman, as he says in one of the episodes. And that by the end of the season, their conflict would come to a head."
Moore added that he felt that Galactica ended up having a lot to say about the current state of affairs in the real world. "The show is of its time," he said. "It is a show that is about people dealing in a post-apocalyptic world and dealing with the fallout from that and dealing with issues of war and peace and terrorism and security and freedom. And it's set in a military world. So no matter what we did, in a certain sense, it was bound to resonate. And just as we got further into the show, it just became apparent that that was something that the show was comfortable doing and that I wanted to do. I wanted to comment on things that were going on around us. I wanted the show to be thought-provoking. I wanted the show to provoke people. I wanted the show to make people think about the world that they live in."
As Galactica unfolds, Moore will be posting his thoughts on a personal blog on SCIFI.COM. Battlestar Galactica premieres Jan. 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Bloodrayne 2 Bites Deeper
iz Buckley, senior product manager at game publisher Majesco, told SCI FI that the new sequel video game Bloodrayne 2 offers up a new range of game-playing mechanics, more surreal combat, a more wide-ranging weapons system and a wide array of offensive and defensive attacks for Rayne in her never-ending battle against the armies of the night. Bloodrayne 2, the further adventures of the half-human, half-undead vampire hunter, is currently available on most formats and will launch for the PC at the end of March.
"It's a different weapons system, one that is powered by blood," Buckley said in an interview. "In order to keep your health up, you're also going to have to keep powering up your gun." Buckley added that the game features new visual effects and levels that are a lot less linear and require less backtracking than the original game. The involvement of the killing puzzles has been magnified, and harpoon functionality has been increased.
As for the sequel's storyline, Rayne must stop the Cult of Kagan from unleashing a force called The Shroud that will block out the sun and give the vampires an open season to hunt humans. "The storyline is a lot more involved and will have a lot more character development," Buckley said. "It's a much more personal story, in which Rayne actually ends up fighting her siblings."
Meanwhile, a movie based on the Bloodrayne franchise has completed filming and is eyeing an end-of-the-year release. Uwe Boll directed the film, which stars Kristanna Loken, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Rodriguez, Udo Kier, Michael Madsen and Billy Zane. The film, a prequel set in the 1800s, combines the storylines of the first two games.
McG Mounts Stay Alive
cG's production company Wonderland Sound & Vision has teamed up with James Stern's Endgame Entertainment to co-produce the horror film Stay Alive, Variety reported. The movie is expected to start shooting in March in New Orleans, the trade paper reported.
Brent Bell will direct the movie, about a group of New Orleans teens who play an online horror video game and discover that, as their characters die in the game, the players die also. Bell wrote the script with Matthew Peterman. McG, Peterman, Peter Schlessel and Stern share producing credit, with Wonderland's David Manpearl as co-producer, the trade paper reported.
Video-game producer American McGee will design all the game effects for the movie and consult on its production.
Gervais To Be In MI3
he British Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper reported that Ricky Gervais (The Office) has been offered a part in the upcoming sequel film Mission: Impossible III by director J.J. Abrams (creator of TV's Alias and Lost). "I know the director well, and he said, 'Do you want a part?'" Gervais told the newspaper. "I just replied, 'Yeah, that will be great.'"
Gervais knows Abrams in part from having played the villainous Daniel Ryan in the March 2004 episode of ABC's Alias, "Facade."
Abrams is currently rewriting MI3, which will star Tom Cruise.
Witch's Children Develops
im Henson Pictures has struck a deal with Warner Brothers for a film adaptation of the 2001 fantasy children's book The Witch's Children, by British author Ursula Jones and illustrator Russell Ayto, Variety reported.
First published in the United States in 2003 by Henry Holt, Children started out as a simple picture book about some misadventures caused when the magic of several witches-in-training goes off half-cocked.
But Henson Pictures producers Lisa Henson and Kristine Belson (Good Boy!) were taken with a more sophisticated pitch from Laws of Attraction writer Aline Brosh McKenna, the trade paper reported. McKenna hatched a new storyline: What happens when a single-mother witch decamps from her magical and somewhat morally suspect realm to raise her brood in the safer, more kid-friendly suburbs?
Specimen Days Heads For Film
roducer Scott Rudin has purchased screen rights to Specimen Days, the soon-to-be-published SF&F novel by Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours, Variety reported.
Specimen Days is a trilogy of tales from the past, present and future, with each novella connected by 19th century poet Walt Whitman and his home turf of New York.
The first novella in Specimen Days is a ghost story that takes place during the Industrial Revolution. The second part is a contemporary thriller involving a suicide bomber. The third is an SF tale set 150 years in the future, as New York deals with an influx of extraterrestrial refugees, the trade paper reported.
Publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux plans a 500,000-copy first printing for Specimen Days in May.
Passion Is People's Choice
el Gibson's The Passion of the Christ won the award for favorite drama in the 31st Annual People's Choice Awards on Jan. 9, the Associated Press reported. Gibson told an audience in Pasadena, Calif., that the award "means a lot more to me this time than anything before," the AP reported. "I depended on you, and you were there," Gibson said. "If it wasn't for you guys, we would have been dead in the water."
The animated Shrek 2, meanwhile, swept a number of categories, including favorite comedy, favorite sequel and favorite animated movie. The character of Donkey in Shrek 2, voiced by Eddie Murphy, was named favorite animated movie star, while the Fairy Godmother, voiced by Jennifer Saunders, won in the favorite movie villain category, the AP reported.
The People's Choice Awards were presented at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and broadcast on CBS.
Atari Develops TimeShift
tari announced the development of TimeShift, an SF first-person-shooter video game that allows players to control time to solve puzzles and defeat foes. Saber Interactive is developing the title for the PC and Xbox. TimeShift is slated for release in the fall.
TimeShift endows players with the gift of time manipulation, including the ability to slow down, stop and rewind the world around them. The game will feature complex time-control puzzles as an integral part of gameplay.
TimeShift will feature more than 30 combat missions, each showcasing time-control elements and challenges that players must solve using both their extraordinary capabilities and combat expertise. An array of devastating and unique weaponry from the world's alternate timeline will be at the player's disposal, including bizarre incarnations of traditional sniper guns, machine guns, pistols and more, as well as never-before-imagined armaments from an era humanity has never seen, the company said.
PKD Award Nominees Named
he judges of the 2004 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society announced seven nominees for the award. The Philip K. Dick Award, named for the prolific SF author, is presented annually to distinguished science fiction published originally in paperback in the United States. The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. First prize and any special citations will be announced on March 25 at Norwescon 28 in Seattle. A list of nominees follows.
The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust
Stable Strategies and Others by Eileen Gunn
Life by Gwyneth Jones
Apocalypse Array by Lyda Morehouse
Air by Geoff Ryman
City of Pearl by Karen Traviss
Banner of Souls by Liz Williams
Warcraft Sells 600,000 Units
lizzard Entertainment announced that its World of Warcraft game has sold more than 600,000 units in North America, Australia and New Zealand, making it the fastest-growing massively multiplayer online role-playing game ever. Warcraft also broke all previous concurrency records in North America, achieving more than 200,000 simultaneous players during the holiday period, the company said.
Over the holiday season, demand for World of Warcraft was so great that retailers estimate that nearly all remaining supplies of the game sold out across North America, Australia and New Zealand, the company said.
Tsunami Aid Lineup Set
BC announced a partial lineup of entertainers for its fund-raising telethon for victims of the South Asia tsunami, which aired on SCI FI Channel, and designated the American Red Cross as its charity partner. The live broadcast of Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope aired starting at 8 p.m. PT on Jan. 15 on NBC, on its sister cable networks and on Pax and Telemundo.
Scheduled performers included Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Mary J. Blige, Lenny Kravitz, John Mayer, Kenny Chesney, India.Arie, Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, Roger Waters (Pink Floyd), Brian Wilson and Gloria Estefan. Celebrities scheduled to appear include Halle Berry, Kevin Spacey, Usher, George Clooney, Uma Thurman, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Bruce Willis, Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman, Tim Robbins, Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes.
Viewers were encouraged to donate to the American Red Cross International Response Fund in support of tsunami relief through its Web site and donation hotline. Funds raised through this special will support the American Red Cross two-phased assistance plan, which includes immediate and long-term relief.
Meyer Menaces Point Pleasant
F&F veteran actress Dina Meyer (Starship Troopers) told SCI FI Wire that her latest TV series, Fox's Point Pleasant, is definitely another entry in television's supernatural sweepstakes. "The pleasant town of Point Pleasant, N.J., on the Jersey shore, gets turned upside down when a young, beautiful girl [Elisabeth Harnois as Christina] washes up on the shore," Meyer said in an interview. "Meanwhile, as she wakes up and starts to meet all the people around her, we find out that she's the devil's daughter."
Meyer, whose credits include the film Star Trek: Nemesis and TV's defunct Birds of Prey, co-stars in Point Pleasant as Amber Hargrove, a sexy, troublemaking single mother. Her daughter is Paula (Cameron Richardson), the current girlfriend of Jesse (Samuel Page), the young man who rescues Christina. The recently divorced Amber pursues the affections of Dr. Ben Kramer (Richard Burgi), a married man who, with his wife, has just welcomed Christina into his home.
Meyer said that Amber isn't necessarily evil, but that the potential for the character to turn toward the dark side is very real, particularly as she spends more time with Lucas Boyd (Grant Show), the devil's right-hand man. He arrives in Point Pleasant to ensure that Christina fulfills her destiny. "I've been working pretty closely with Grant, so there's that for starters," Meyer said. "And you never know what else is going to happen on Point Pleasant. Right now the writers are staying very secretive about the scripts. Everything is a mystery, and we all just look forward to our table reads." Point Pleasant debuts Jan. 19 on Fox.
Fanning At War With Cruise
oung actress Dakota Fanning, co-star of Steven Spielberg's upcoming SF epic War of the Worlds, told SCI FI Wire that she is enjoying playing Tom Cruise's daughter in the film, based on the H.G. Wells classic SF book. "[Tom] is so incredibly nice, and Steven is incredibly nice," Fanning said in an interview. "That movie comes out on June 29th, and I think it's wonderful."
Fanning, who turns 11 next month, said that the producers approached her to appear in War of the Worlds while she filmed Dreamer, in which she plays the daughter of Kurt Russell's washed-up horse trainer. Fanning is also no stranger to Spielberg or aliens, having appeared in SCI FI Channel's miniseries Taken, the UFO saga that Spielberg executive produced.
"I read the script [for War of the Worlds] and just really liked it," Fanning said. "I was doing Dreamer when I read the script. They really wanted me to do it, and I wanted to do it really bad." Fanning declined to discuss the film's plot, but admitted that she plays Cruise's daughter. "You'll have to see," she said. "It's really exciting, and it's going to be really, really good. That's all I can say. It's a secret."
Fanning said that she thrills at the prospect of doing another science fiction film, but doesn't want to limit herself to one genre. "I've been lucky enough to get a taste of different kinds [of films]: sci-fi, ... comedy, drama, the thriller type," Fanning said. "I love doing all of them. I've never really picked one [genre], because I've gotten the chance to do all sorts of different characters, and I've heard it just grows, as you get older and older. It's exciting for me to get to see what comes on next." War of the Worlds opens in theaters June 29.
Bogus Potter Site Shut Down
ess than a month after Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling announced the completion of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a bogus Web site has been closed after claiming falsely that it had an electronic version of the book for sale, the BBC reported. The site was closed on Jan. 10 after Rowling's literary agent, Christopher Little, was alerted.
The site claimed to be selling an e-book version of Half-Blood Prince for $9.95, with Rowling's previous titles going for $6.95 each, or all six books sold for $29.95, the BBC reported.
Less than 24 hours after Rowling announced a July 16 release date of Half-Blood Prince, the book landed at number one on the Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble top 100 lists in pre-order sales.
Sequel Aims For Mask's Energy
awrence Guterman, director of the upcomng fantasy sequel Son of the Mask, told SCI FI Wire that he tried to capture the antic energy of Jim Carrey from the original The Mask and spread it around. "That sort of entertainment value is spread across an ensemble," Guterman said in an interview. "There's the baby. There's the dog. There's Loki, the God of Mischief [Alan Cumming]. There's Tim Avery, played by Jamie Kennedy. Even though [Avery] has the Mask briefly, really, the part where he shines in the movie so well is his reaction to being driven completely insane by his Mask-empowered baby." Carrey is not involved in the sequel.
Guterman admitted that he initially felt intimidated by the prospect of helming the sequel. But he liked the fact that it continued the story without anchoring itself to the first film. "That was something that could have presented a psychological obstacle," Guterman said. "[But] what was good about it was that it felt very much like its own distinct story. When I read it, I thought, 'This is the way that Aliens is different than Alien.' It really wasn't about another character who gets a mask who has got to live up to the bright shining star that was Jim Carrey in the first movie."
Guterman said that the the core of the sequel is creating an ensemble that shares the powers and responsibilities of the Mask. "That was the crux of the idea in the script that I read originally," he said. "Once that was developed upon, the idea was we'll make it a completely different movie. We'll make it about the movie, not about a character replacing another character." Son of the Mask opens in theaters Feb. 18.
DVDs Restore New Twilight
lan Brennert, who wrote episodes of CBS' 1985 Twilight Zone series, told SCI FI Wire that the new six-disc DVD set of the show's first season features full, uncut, one-hour versions of the show's episodes, as they were originally seen on CBS. The episodes were cut to half-hour installments when the series, which ran from 1985-88, went into syndication.
The upcoming second-season set will feature lost scenes from Brennert's episodes "Time and Teresa Golowitz" and "The Road Less Traveled," Brennert said. "I had a three-quarter [inch] tape of 'Time and Teresa Golowitz,' which had an entire extra song in it that will see day for the first time on this DVD," he said. "Twilight Zone was the creative high-water mark of my television career, as it was for many of us who worked on the show, and I hope the viewers of this DVD will come away with some idea of how much we loved doing it and how seriously we took the work and the legacy of Rod Serling." Brennert also wrote the fan-favorite episodes "A Message From Charity and "Her Pilgrim Soul."
Image Entertainment has already released the six-disc DVD of the first season's 24 episodes, with nearly two dozen commentaries. The DVD includes recollections by producer/director Philip DeGuere, directors Bradford May and Wes Craven and writers Brennert, William F. Wu, Greg Bear, Harlan Ellison, James Crocker and J.D. Feigelson. The DVD also contains a 14-minute video interview with Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street).
"I did commentary on 'Shatterday' with Wes, Phil and Brad, and it was hard to believe nearly 20 years had passed since we worked together on this," Brennert said. "For me, at least, the memories were still vivid and fondly remembered. I think that was true for all of us. I did 'Message From Charity,' with the episode's star, Kerry Noonan, and I think we complemented each other nicely. We both truly love the episode, and I think it comes across in the commentary. I did 'Her Pilgrim Soul' with Wes and Jim, and I invited Greg Bear ... and William F. Wu ... to join me on 'Dead Run' and 'Wong's Lost and Found Emporium' as the authors of the original stories." Actors featured in the series' first season included Bruce Willis, Danny Kaye, Jonathan Frakes, Dee Wallace Stone, Gary Cole and Jenny Agutter.
ABC Orders Invasion Pilot
BC has added three more dramas to its pilot mix, including an alien-themed project from producer Shaun Cassidy and another hour from Alias creator J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company, Variety reported.
Dubbed Invasion, Cassidy's Warner Brothers TV-produced hour looks at what happens in a small Florida town after a hurricane. Details are being kept under wraps, but, per the show's title, an alien invasion could be involved, the trade paper reported. Cassidy (American Gothic) wrote the pilot and will executive produce.
Valderrama Is El Muerto
ilmer Valderrama (TV's That '70s Show) will play the lead in El Muerto, the big-screen adaptation of Javier Hernandez's Aztec superhero comic, Zap2it.com reported.
El Muerto, which means The Dead, centers on Diego de la Muerte, a young man from Whittier, Calif., who is on his way to a Day of the Dead mixer when he is abducted and killed in a ritual sacrifice, only to be resurrected as El Muerto, the Aztec Zombie, by Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec God of Death, the site reported. In this incarnation, Diego is charged to fight injustice for the living and dead alike.
Brian Cox will direct the project, which will begin shooting this month, the site reported.
Rudin Buys Furious Angels
aramount-based Scott Rudin Productions has acquired Philip Eisner's supernatural thriller Furious Angels, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Earlier this week, Rudin acquired the rights to The Hours writer Michael Cunningham's latest SF offering, Specimen Days.
Eisner's credits include Event Horizon, the trade paper reported.
Universal Options Cirque Du Freak
niversal has acquired screen rights to Cirque du Freak, the best-selling supernatural children's book series by Darren Shan, Variety reported. Brian Helgeland is set to write, and Lauren Shuler Donner will produce, the trade paper reported.
Shan has so far written a dozen books in the series, and Helgeland, who'll executive produce, will use the first three books for the initial installment of what the studio hopes will be a trilogy of films, the trade paper reported.
The book series revolves around a youth named Darren Shan who attends an illegal freak show. By the end, he has agreed to serve as a vampire's assistant to save his best friend's life. HarperCollins has sold over 8.3 million copies so far, the trade paper reported.
Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Norton Conjures The Illusionist
dward Norton has signed on to play the lead in helmer Neil Burger's supernatural movie The Illusionist, based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," Variety reported. The film is slated to begin shooting in April in Prague.
Norton plays a magician in turn-of-the-century Vienna who falls in love with a woman well above his social standing. When she becomes engaged to a prince, the magician uses his powers to win her back and undermine the stability of the royal house of Vienna, the trade paper reported.
UPN, CBS Eye SF Pilots
PN and CBS have both given the green light to SF-themed pilots, Variety reported.
UPN has given the go-ahead to Triangle, from executive producers John Sakmar and Kerry Lenhart, which begins when the wife of a young doctor mysteriously disappears while they're on their honeymoon. In order to find out what happened, he stays on the island and begins to treat the residents and visitors, the trade paper reported.
CBS, meanwhile, has honored its put pilot commitment to Paramount's Threshold, about a female government agent who leads a team of military and scientific officers to respond to an alien threat. Bragi Schut wrote the pilot and will serve as co-executive producer, while David Goyer (Batman Begins) will executive produce and direct.
David Heyman (Harry Potter) will also executive produce, with Mark Rosen on board as co-executive producer.
Ryman 'Chuffed' By Dick Nod
ritish author Geoff Ryman, whose book Air was just nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, told SCI FI Wire that he never expected to be nominated because he considers his book to be a literary science-fiction novel. "These days, [that] means you don't expect much," Ryman said in an interview. "I was dead chuffed [proud] that St. Martin's published it, very pleased by the people who reviewed and quoted [it] and the response of many people since. … Air was an easy birth creatively but a difficult birth in terms of publishing. I owe a lot to people who supported it, and I'm happy if it means they feel their support was justified."
Air centers on a woman named Chung Mae and her attempt to harness a highly experimental communications system that uses quantum technology to implant an equivalent of the Internet in everyone's mind and prepare her small village for its arrival. The book received strong reviews for its literal descriptions of the town of Kizuldah, where Chung Mae lives. It also is a political parable that comments on how developed nations take the Third World for granted. Ryman said the subject matter is "deeply personal."
Ryman said his next project is a non-SF Cambodian novel called The King's Last Song.
The Dick award, named for the prolific SF author, is presented annually to distinguished science fiction published originally in paperback in the United States. Ryman said Dick is his favorite SF writer, so much so that he obtained permission from the Dick estate to adapt and stage a dramatic version of The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. "I see a Dick book I don't have, I buy it," he said.
The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. First prize and any special citations will be announced on March 25 at Norwescon 28 in Seattle.
SCI FI Unveils Reality Slate
CI FI Channel announced that it was developing a slate of new shows, including several that stretch the definition of reality television, building on the success of its hit series Ghost Hunters and Scare Tactics.
The following project was given the green light for production:
•Master Blasters, a half-hour weekly documentary-style show produced by First Television, pits teams of amateur rocket scientists against each other in a race to design, build and launch some bizarre things into orbit, from rocket-bolstered La-Z-Boys to fuel-injected Mini Coopers.
The following alternative series are in development:
Gordian, a half-hour weekly animated series from First Television, depicts a futuristic world where humans and robots live side by side. It centers on ex-video jockey Jake Gordian and his band of laser-cowboys, robots, animal freaks and talking body parts.
Mind Game, an hourlong weekly series produced by Hallock-Healey Entertainment (Scare Tactics), is a reality competition series in which contestants must rely on their powers of observation, recall, judgment and intuition to collect clues and be the first to claim the grand prize. The Mastermind, a mysterious unseen figure, will guide contestants through a series of situations that offer signs to advance them toward their goal.
The Gauntlet, a weekly reality competition produced by Reveille and Hoegl/Singer, in association with Princess Productions, challenges contestants to navigate an elaborate, futuristic maze over a 24-hour period, with no sunlight, no rest and, seemingly, no way out.
Dallas in Wonderland, a weekly half-hour reality series executive produced by R.J. Cutler, from Actual Reality Pictures, is hosted by Dallas Campbell, who undergoes a bizarre set of challenges, from applying to NASA to become an astronaut to asking the Raelians to clone him.
Still in Search of (working title), a half-hour documentary spoof of the original series In Search of ... , from FremantleMedia North America, is hosted by Jonathan Frankle, who investigates paranormal phenomena on a shoestring budget, but instead finds trouble with his producer and crew.
Previously announced alternative series in development include Monster Smash, which puts a SCI FI spin on competitive wrestling by introducing fictitious, genetically engineered monsters into the sport, and Amazing Screw On Head, an animated series about a robot secret agent charged with defending President Lincoln against a band of evil villains. The series is written by Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy), based on his comic.
Briefly Noted
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Takashi Shimizu, who helmed The Grudge, will return to direct the sequel for producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, Variety reported.
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Jean Reno (Mission: Impossible) has joined Tom Hanks in the film version of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, playing gruff detective Bezu Fache, Variety reported.
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Disney announced it is pushing Herbie: Fully Loaded, starring Lindsay Lohan, to June 24 from June 3, Variety reported.
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Bravo will launch a third season of its Project Greenlight series at 9 p.m. ET/PT on March 15, detailing the efforts of filmmakers to develop a horror genre script, Feast, by screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, to be directed by John Gulager, with Wes Craven producing.
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The Jan. 9 season premiere of Carnivale drew only 1.8 million viewers, compared with 5.3 million for the September 2003 first season premiere, Zap2it.com reported.
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Garth Jennings, the director of Disney's upcoming film version of Douglas Adams' beloved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and producer Nick Goldsmith answered fan questions about the film at the
C.H.U.D. and ComingSoon.net Web sites.
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Titanic star Billy Zane has signed up for a three-episode arc on The WB's Charmed, beginning Feb. 13, playing an ex-demon who falls for Alyssa Milano, TV Guide Online reported.
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The Jan. 10 second episode of NBC's new supernatural drama Medium won its timeslot, with 16.3 million viewers, and it retained all of its first-week audience, TV Guide Online reported. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
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Sony has bought the SF script Resurrection from writer Trevor Sands, described as an imaginative action-adventure set in the distant future, Variety reported.
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ABC's Desperate Housewives got two nominations for Screen Actors Guild awards: one for best comedy ensemble and one for best comedy actress, Teri Hatcher, TV Guide Online reported.
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The Swedish directing quintet Traktor has optioned the SF thriller script Siphon, by Paul Sloan, about an obsessed female detective tracking a serial killer through a sprawling metropolis in the future, Variety reported.
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At the Palm Springs Film Festival, Star Wars stars Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson both offered hints to USA Today that George Lucas has shot a top-secret cameo of Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn's ghost, for May's Star Wars: Episode III —Revenge of the Sith.
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The Ain't It Cool News Web site has posted images from Richard Linklater's upcoming A Scanner Darkly, a film adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story.
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With six nominations, Sony Pictures Imageworks' Spider-Man 2 leads the nominees for the third annual VES Awards for outstanding visual effects, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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