Alba Talks Fantastic Four
essica Alba offered details about her character, scientist Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman, in Fox's upcoming Fantastic Four movie. "Fantastic Four is a family movie. I play a scientist who has a problem expressing her emotions, and her DNA was altered, so when she does express her emotions she goes invisible," Alba said in a news conference to promote her next film, Sin City. "So when she's screaming, she goes invisible. When she's having a meltdown, she goes invisible."
The film is based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, and Alba's character is one of four astronauts who become superheroes after their space mission encounters mysterious waves that alter their bodies. Alba said of her character, "she's completely frustrated. And the man that she's in love with ignores her, then she goes invisible. So it's very frustrating. ... [The film is] very big, and it's a huge, huge movie for Fox, and there's a lot of pressure that it does well."
In Sin City, Alba (TV's Dark Angel) plays an exotic dancer who finds herself targeted by a deranged criminal. Sin City opens April 1.
Alba Eschewed Sin Nudity
essica Alba, who plays a stripper with a heart of gold in the upcoming Sin City, told reporters that she took the role before realizing that her character appears naked in Frank Miller's graphic novels, upon which the film is based. "I wanted to do this movie because Robert Rodriguez was directing it, first and foremost," Alba said in a news conference. "I didn't really know it was a comic book when I read the [script pages]. ... And I then found out that she was a stripper and that she was bottomless and topless."
Alba plays Nancy Callahan, who performs in a seedy cowboy bar frequented by Basin City's darkest denizens. Alba said that she considered playing nude, but that she ended up dancing with a modest top and leather chaps. "Nudity was an option," she said. "We could have done it if we wanted to. ... Robert said that we could do it if we wanted to. And obviously it would have been more authentic. But I felt like dancing around with a lasso and chaps was going to be sexy enough, and I think being nude, for me, would have been distracting, and ... I really couldn't be bottomless. For my dad. He would really, I don't know, disown me or something. He would freak out."
The scariest part of the role involved dancing without the aid of a choreographer, Alba added. "I went to strip clubs to see how strippers do it," she said. "I wanted a choreographer, and Robert said no. And I was like, 'Ah, OK.' ... And he's like, 'Just feel it. We're just going to play music, and you're going to feel it.'" When it came time to shoot Alba's sexy dance routines, she said, "My heart was beating so fast, I was so nervous." Sin City, which also stars Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and Clive Owen, opens April 1.
Miller Blesses Sin City
rank Miller, who created the noir comic-book series Sin City and received a writing and co-directing credit on the upcoming film adaptation, told SCI FI Wire that co-director Robert Rodriguez wanted the film images to be as evocative of Miller's drawings as possible. "They're amazingly close," Miller said in an interview. "I mean, we actually had a camera setup that would feature my drawings, and then we'd superimpose the filmic image on top of it, and we'd adjust the shot to match the composition. It's as faithful as anything can ever be."
Miller said that he never intended to make a film version of his dark series, about a crime-ridden city and its unlikely heroes. But Rodriguez's persistence and dedication eventually won him over. "Robert pursued me about it," he said. "He really wanted to make this movie. And he convinced me that technically it was possible, but then he had to convince me that creatively it could be done, because I was still convinced that people would try to slap happy endings on my stories and soften them and focus-group test them and all that nonsense. And it took him quite a while to convince me. I was a tough customer."
Ultimately, Miller said that he feels Rodriguez was the perfect choice to bring his creation to life. "He's a very bold man," Miller said. "And he's a man who could hold a position, which is actually very rare. Also, because [he works in] Austin, Texas, because it's not in Hollywood, and he has his own world here. And in this world, you make the movies that you want to make." Sin City opens April 1.
Rodriguez Defends Sin City
obert Rodriguez, who co-directed the upcoming comic-inspired Sin City, defended the film's violence in comments to reporters over the weekend. "It is so over the top and stylized, like in the book, that's what helped temper it," Rodriguez said in a news conference. "It was so black and white, so abstract, so representative, that it's ... easier to watch, I think, than if ... it was realistically rendered. It's the tone of it, I think, that really changes it."
Sin City is based on the series of noirish graphic novels by Frank Miller, who co-directed the movie with Rodriguez (Desperado, Spy Kids). The film faithfully depicts several scenes of violence, including shootings, dismemberments, decapitations and beatings. But like the comic, the violence is rendered in stark black and white and often in silhouette.
Rodriguez said that the violence is stylized in the manner of his earlier films, including Desperado. "I never got any flak for Desperado. ... At a time when people would criticize guys like Quentin [Tarantino] for violence in films for cutting an ear off, off camera, I was mowing down people in my movies and no one ever said anything because of the tone," he said. "And I think that's the same thing for this, that as violent as it is, like in the comic, it felt tempered by the stylization. And that's why we didn't have any trouble with the MPAA [which gave the movie an R rating] or anything, because it was so stylized that they just went, 'This is all right. ... You don't have to cut a frame of it.'"
But Rodriguez agreed that Sin City isn't for children. "Young people shouldn't see it," he said. "It's a rated R movie. ... I'm not making it for that [family] audience. ... I made this an R. I didn't try and trick people into making it a PG-13. ... If parents let their kids in, that's their decision. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to change how we're going to make the movie. Frank made his thing in a vacuum, ... and I wanted to do the exact same thing for cinema and suffer the consequences. If people don't go see it because it's R, that's fine. It's not appealing to the mass audience. It's really just about making the movie we want to make and telling the story that we want to do. " Sin City opens April 1.
Peeking Behind Sin City
obert Rodriguez, who co-directed the upcoming comic-book adaptation Sin City, told reporters that behind-the-scenes footage of "special guest director" Quentin Tarantino helming a portion of the movie will appear in the DVD. Tarantino came in to direct a surreal segment of the movie, in which Clive Owen's Dwight talks with the corpse of his nemesis, the bad cop Jackie Boy, played by Benicio Del Toro.
When Tarantino was working with Owen and Del Toro, Rodriguez had his own camera running. "I kept the camera rolling, so I've got a lot of that footage," Rodriguez said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif. "In fact, there was one 16-minute take where I just kept rolling from the position of the real camera. ... So you get to see [the] process. You get to see Quentin come into frame and give y'all direction, and you're like, 'Oh, ... yeah, we'll just improvise this.' And you guys were just going off."
Del Toro added: "It was like organized chaos. It was just like this, two of us talking at the same time."
"It was just brilliant," Rodriguez said. "People are going to learn a lot by seeing that. I'm going to put that on the DVD. It's just an uninterrupted 16 minutes, and you see pieces that we use, and you see a lot of in-between stuff, and Quentin coming [in, saying,] 'No, I think it should be like this.' And he's on camera. ... It's exciting to see you guys be that creative on the spot, and we're rolling and not cutting. And you hear the camera guy [and] the assistant director going, 'Uh, we are still rolling.' And you hear the sound guy going, 'Uh, we have to change the battery.' We have a whole hour ... [of] you guys being creative. It's really cool."
Sin City is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel series of the same name. In addition to Rodriguez and Tarantino, Miller also receives a directing credit on the film, an unusual arrangement that was not sanctioned by the Directors Guild of America and led to Rodriguez's resignation from that union. Sin City opens April 1.
Owen Denies 007 Rumors
live Owen again denied that he'd been approached to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in the upcoming 21st 007 movie Casino Royale. "I have heard" about rumors that he's one of two finalists to play the British superspy, Owen told reporters at a news conference to promote his upcoming film Sin City. "It's the same as always. There's nothing to it whatsoever. It's just people writing about it. But ... it's not substantiated at all."
But when asked if he'd like to play James Bond, Owen dodged the inquiry. "Next question!" is all he said.
Owen appears in Sin City, co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, as Dwight. Sin City opens April 1.
Enterprise Finale Detailed
PN released details of the upcoming back-to-back series-ending episodes of its canceled Star Trek: Enterprise, which will air in May.
The first episode, "Terra Prime," will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT on May 13. The episode reveals the first steps in the foundation of the Federation, when Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) and the crew must stop Paxton (guest star Peter Weller), a well-armed, radical human isolationist leader, who is threatening to destroy Starfleet Command unless all aliens leave Earth immediately, UPN announced.
The second episode, "These Are the Voyages," will air at 9 p.m. the same night. It takes place six years in the future, when an emotional Capt. Archer and the crew return to Earth to face the decommissioning of the Enterprise and the signing of the Federation charter, ratifying the newly formed alliance of planets. As previously reported, Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members Jonathan Frakes (Riker) and Marina Sirtis (Troi) guest star.
Star Wars TV Confirmed
teve Sansweet, who handles fan relations for Lucasfilm, told Now Playing Magazine that Star Wars will live on in various TV projects beyond the upcoming final prequel film Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith.
"We are looking into all kinds of things for the future," Sansweet, Lucasfilm's director of content management and fan relations, told the magazine. "We're looking for television clearly—animation [and] we are looking into live-action television." Sansweet declined to say what kind of live-action TV programming the studio envisions.
In addition, the Star Wars franchise will continue in LucasArts games, Sansweet said. "Not only the kinds of things that are there now, but as technology progresses, we're looking at what direction that can go," he said. "We're also continuing to see how we can expand Lucas Online in various ways." Episode III opens May 19.
Benioff To Pen Ender
avid Benioff (Troy) has been signed by Warner Brothers to write the script for Ender's Game, a film based on Orson Scott Card's SF novels Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, the ComingSoon.net Web site reported. Benioff will work with his writing partner, Dan Weiss, in close cooperation with Troy director Wolfgang Petersen, who is developing Ender's Game with the intent of directing it himself, the site reported.
King Kong Wraps
rincipal photography has wrapped on Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong remake in New Zealand, and more than 1,000 people celebrated at a party on the film's elaborate 1930s New York set in Seaview, Lower Hutt, N.Z., on March 19, the New Zealand Dominion Post newspaper reported. The film's entire cast and crew took part in the carnival-themed family event and no expense was spared, the newspaper reported.
Jackson himself mingled with the crowds. The film's star, Australian Naomi Watts, was in Sydney for the premiere of her latest movie, The Ring Two.
The party included a never-ending supply of bananas, the paper reported.
Filming of the $200 million remake finished about three weeks ago and the set is due to be taken down this week. The movie is scheduled for release in December.
U.K. Church Peers At Da Vinci
British cathedral is on a quest to discover the truth behind Dan Brown's controversial best-seller The Da Vinci Code, the Reuters news service reported. Manchester Cathedral is hosting a Da Vinci night, where experts including an author and theologian will field questions about the book, which has spurred anti-Christian charges.
"Everyone's fascinated by mystery, secrets and the dark side," event organizer Canon Robin Gamble told Reuters. "This gripping thriller asks lots of questions: Did Jesus really die on a cross? Was the Grail the 'cup of blood'? Is Easter Day fact or fiction? And why does it matter?"
The Da Vinci Code is a modern-day quest for the Holy Grail, the chalice from which Jesus and his disciples are said to have drunk at the Last Supper, Reuters reported. The book said Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children. But Christians are taught that Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead. The storyline has aroused anger among Christians, particularly one cardinal who has urged Catholics to shun the book.
Revelations Is Not Miracles
avid Seltzer, creator and co-executive producer of NBC's upcoming supernatural limited series Revelations, told SCI FI Wire that his aborted involvement with ABC's short-lived 2003 show, Miracles, made him skeptical. The show tracks the exploits of Dr. Richard Massey (Bill Pullman) and a nun, Sister Josepha Montifiore (Natascha McElhone), as they try to prevent the long-predicted End of Days. Miracles, by contrast, centered on an investigator (Skeet Ulrich) who joined forces with a clandestine group seeking to prevent a catastrophic "large event." "I was approached to write [for Miracles] and I thought it wasn't for me," Seltzer said in an interview. "I didn't think it had longevity to it. I thought it was too formulaic."
Seltzer (The Omen, Dragonfly) added: "It was just people doing the same thing every week, and I don't think [I'd like] turning over the same plot of dirt every week. ... But the exploration of miracles, if there are deep, personal agendas involved, and if there's a microcosm and a macrocosm to deal with on either side of exploring miracles, I think it's a really good idea. I thought for a minute that Miracles was a good idea, but then as I approached it as a project for me to do, I realized the plot had to be so much richer than that to get involved with it."
In creating Revelations, Seltzer said, he didn't begin with the investigation of miracles, but rather with the Massey character's suffering a tragedy: the gruesome murder of his young daughter at the hands of a Satanist (Michael Massee). "Massey is a man who, on a deep, gut level, needs to find out if there is somebody in charge here, if these random tragedies have any meaning whatsoever," Seltzer said. "In fact, he's looking for the same thing Sister Josepha is, and that is: 'What is there above the tallest building? What is beyond the farthest star?' And they begin to realize, of course, they're working on a parallel track. Even though one will adamantly say that their quest has nothing to do with the other, each in their own way is searching for evidence that there's some meaning to all this." Revelations premieres April 13 on NBC. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
McElhone Books Revelations
atascha McElhone, star of NBC's upcoming limited series Revelations, told SCI FI Wire that when she first considered joining the cast she didn't realize that it was always intended as a television show. "It was a two-hour script," McElhone (Solaris) said in an interview. "I read it thinking it was a movie."
McElhone added: "Then I went for the meeting, and they started talking about the commitment and the time involved, and I said, 'Well, what is it? Lord of the Rings? A trilogy?' And they said, 'No, no. It's TV.' I said, 'Oh, OK.' And then we had some shenanigans to and forth, and they asked how long I'd be willing to commit for. 'Not really very long' was the answer, simply because I love the idea of changing the roles that I'm playing as I go along. That's how I grow and how people don't get bored of an actor, by seeing them do different things. So I had some problems with all that."
In the end, Revelations executive producers Gavin Polone and David Seltzer offered to accommodate McElhone's schedule and desire to be with her husband and son back home in London, and McElhone couldn't say no.
McElhone plays a nun who joins forces with an astrophysicist, played by Bill Pullman, to prevent the imminent End of Days. "They said it would be six hours this year and maybe six hours next year," she said. "That was perfect, really, about three and a half or four months [of production], which is the commitment you'd make to a movie. In terms of the material, you wouldn't really get this kind of story in a movie. I realize that Mel Gibson broke through some of that with The Passion of the Christ, but this was conceived, as I understand, long before the movie. It's been a long, long process, getting this made." Revelations premieres April 13. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Shyamalan Dives Into Water
riter/director M. Night Shyamalan has moved to Warner Brothers from Disney for his next supernatural film, Lady in the Water, Variety reported. The movie centers on a building super who finds a sea nymph in his apartment building's pool. Shyamalan wrote the script and will produce the film under his Blinding Edge Pictures production banner, with his longtime producer Sam Mercer, the trade paper reported.
Production will begin in August on location in Philadelphia, for release in July 2006.
Shyamalan's last four films, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village, have all been produced by Disney.
Arad Dishes X-Men 3
arvel movie chief Avi Arad denied to Empire Online a rumor that the upcoming X-Men 3 sequel will feature a woman as the mutant Angel. "It won't be a female Angel," Arad told the site. "I don't know where that came from. Maybe because he looks angelic."
But Arad remained tight-lipped about which of the scores of X-mutants will appear in the next installment of the comic franchise, to be directed by British helmer Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake). Rumors have centered on Gambit and Beast. "There will be interesting characters that will be introduced," he said. "It just has to move forward. Obviously we have Wolverine and Magneto, Professor X, Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Rogue, all these characters, but then you need to freshen up the story and make it new."
Arad also hedged on expectations that the third X-Men film will deal with the comics' Dark Phoenix storyline, which was hinted at in the end of the previous film, X2. "It should never be this one story," Arad said. "The main characters are more important than Jean Grey [Famke Janssen]. This is a bigger story. Everybody's expecting Dark Phoenix, but Dark Phoenix would never be the main show. She'll be one of the characters, that's it. There are a lot of stories to tell."
Vaughn To Helm X-Men 3
ritish filmmaker Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) has been tapped to helm the third X-Men movie, Variety reported. Filming is scheduled to start in early summer, with many of the cast from the first two films expected to reprise their roles, the trade paper reported.
Hugh Jackman is set for Wolverine, and Fox is in negotiations with Halle Berry, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart to return. Fox is aiming for a Memorial Day 2006 release.
Vaughn's Layer Cake is a British crime drama starring Michael Gambon and Sienna Miller, which has grossed $8.3 million in the United Kingdom and is slated for release in the United States by Sony Classics later this spring, the trade paper reported. Vaughn is also a contender to direct a Harry Potter movie or the next James Bond installment, the trade paper reported.
Wonder Casting A Ways Off
oss Whedon, newly hired writer/director of the upcoming Wonder Woman movie, told TV Guide Online that he is months away from a casting decision, but added that he'll be seeking a younger verson of the iconic character. "Everybody is in agreement that casting is not an issue right now," Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) told the site. "It's not a vehicle to be built around a particular star. We want to write the thing, find the right character and then figure out who should play her. There are various famous people whose names have come up, because that always happens, but you know, we're talking about Wonder Woman here. Those are tough booties to fill."
Whedon added: "I think we will go a little younger than the traditional idea of Wonder Woman," that is, someone in her 20s. As for the rumored actresses from Whedon's various Buffy, Angel and Firefly series, he said: "It's a movie, not a party for my friends."
Church Cast In Spidey 3
homas Haden Church (Sideways) has been cast as the webslinger's new archenemy in the upcoming third Spider-Man film, Sony announced. Church, who was nominated for an Oscar this year for his Sideways performance, will co-star with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in the film, to be directed by Sam Raimi. No details were released about Church's villain, which remains a closely guarded secret.
Spider-Man 3 is scheduled to begin production early next year for a May 4, 2007, release.
"In addition to the ongoing relationship between Peter Parker and M.J., these films are driven by the great actors who have brought our villains to life," Raimi said in a statement. "Thomas Haden Church will be a fantastic and challenging new nemesis and we all look forward to working with him."
Point Pleasant Is Gone
ox announced that the March 17 episode of Point Pleasant was the low-rated show's last, TV Guide Online reported. In an online posting, executive producer Marti Noxon told fans that she was relieved the show ended when it did.
"[Tonight's] episode didn't quite come together the way I would have liked," Noxon reportedly said. "And I would have hated for that to be our final word."
As previously reported, the final six episodes of Tru Calling will air in Point Pleasant's 9 p.m. Thursday timeslot, starting March 31.
Sony Considers Killraven
ony Pictures is in negotiations with Marvel Entertainment to turn one of Marvel's lesser-known comic-book characters, Killraven, into an SF tentpole movie, Variety reported. Set in a future where mankind has been enslaved by an alien race, Killraven follows a man who rises through gladiatorial battles to become the leader of a group of revolutionaries called the Freemen.
Sony already is in discussions with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan (The Kentucky Cycle) to adapt the 1970s comic series, the trade paper reported.
The move into less-well-known comic-book titles is well under way at Marvel, which also has set up Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage at Sony.
Butterfly Wings Again
ilmEngine has approved a pitch for a sequel to 2004's The Butterfly Effect, the New Line SF hit movie, Variety reported. The sequel will have all new characters, meaning that the original's star, Ashton Kutcher, isn't expected to be involved, the trade paper reported.
John Leonetti, who directed Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, has been tapped to helm from a script by Michael Weiss. The story will follow a new character who, like Kutcher in the first, finds he can travel through time and change past events, sometimes with unexpected consequences.
The film is on a fast track, with casting set to start as soon as a script is delivered. Producers hope to start shooting by the fall, the trade paper reported. The Butterfly Effect was made for around $13 million and grossed $58 million domestically when it was released last January.
Darkness Game Falls
ajesco announced it will publish the video-game adaptation of The Darkness, the Top Cow supernatural comic series, for next -generation gaming consoles. The Darkness video game is slated for a 2006 release and will be developed by Starbreeze (The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay).
The Darkness will allow a player to be Jackie Estacado, a Mafia hit man who is suddenly possessed by a supernatural power called The Darkness.
The Darkness blends crime drama and supernatural horror through first- and third-person, non-linear gameplay, the company said. Paul Jenkins, one of the writers of the Darkness comic series, will provide the game's story and dialogue.
Deathrace Revs Up
aul W.S. Anderson (Alien vs. Predator) will write and direct Paramount's Deathrace 3000, a remake of the cult Roger Corman SF movie Deathrace 2000, Variety reported. Anderson, who also directed Resident Evil, will join Corman and C/W partners Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner as producers, as will Anderson's Impact Pictures partner Jeremy Bolt.
The Paul Bartel-directed original is considered a B-movie classic, a campy and polemical black comedy that pitted David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone in a race where drivers accumulated points for running over pedestrians, the trade paper reported. Anderson's version will be more in the vein of The Road Warrior, set in 2020 and involving armed Escalades, Ferraris and Aston Martins, the trade paper reported.
McMullen TV Rights Acquired
ustralian SF author Sean McMullen has signed a deal with Inventive Entertainment to develop TV projects based on McMullen's works, with the first to be an adaptation of McMullen's SCI Fiction short story "Voice of Steel," the parties announced.
Voice of Steel, about a sword that bridges communication between the 15th century and the 21st, will commence production in late 2005 as a made-for-television short film, the company said. More of McMullen's works, which include 14 books, are under development and a series is planned.
Inventive Entertainment is a newly formed TV and film production company based in Canberra, Australia, specializing in science-fiction and fantasy projects.
Lembeck Joins Clause 3
isney has signed Michael Lembeck to direct The Santa Clause 3, with Tim Allen again in the title role, Variety reported. The movie will begin shooting in November with an eye on a holiday 2006 release. Ed Decter and John Strauss (Clause 2) are writing the screenplay.
In Santa Clause 3, Scott Calvin/Santa (Allen) struggles to keep his new family happy while battling Jack Frost, who is trying to take over Christmas, the trade paper reported.
TV veteran Lembeck helmed Clause 2 and Connie and Carla.
Clause 3 will be Allen's second big Disney release for 2006, joining The Shaggy Dog, which recently wrapped shooting.
Matrix Online Launches
he Matrix Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now live, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment and Sega announced. Developed by Monolith Productions and directed by the Wachowski brothers, the PC-based game launched March 22 in North America and will debut on April 8 in Europe.
The Matrix Online continues the story from the Matrix film trilogy, picking up the story after the events in the third film, The Matrix Revolutions. Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus), Monica Bellucci (Persephone), Mary Alice (The Oracle), Lambert Wilson (The Merovingian), Harold Perrineau Jr. (Link), Harry Lennix (Lock), Nona Gaye (Zee), Collin Chou (Seraph) and Tanveer Atwal (Sati) provide voices and character likenesses for the game. Don Davis, who composed the films' scores, also provides the music for the game.
The Matrix Online combines combat and "bullet time" within a persistent online world. A specialized role-playing live-events team at Monolith will assume the roles of the Matrix characters and support the continuation of the game's storyline through choreographed interaction, the companies said. Players will meet, battle and eventually team up with the familiar characters on high-profile missions or at player-organized events.
The Matrix Online carries a suggested retail price of $49.99, and gamers can either subscribe online for a monthly subscription fee of $14.99 or purchase prepaid game cards with 60 days' worth of playtime for $29.99.
Bookseller Hosts Charity Auction
hocklines.com, an online seller of horror books, and its owner, Matt Schwartz, are hosting an eBay charity auction to raise funds for the family of Devon Doherty, a 12-year-old girl with terminal cancer. Proceeds will help pay for Doherty's transportation and treatment, auction organizers said.
The auction includes rare books, movie posters and collectibles donated by Miramax, Disney, MGM and Warner Brothers; the rock bands Coldplay and Tenacious D; and authors Clive Barker, Richard Matheson, Ed Gorman, Robert Walker, Doug Clegg, Poppy Z. Brite, Harry Shannon, Brian Keene, Bill Pronzini and others. The project will continue until every donated item has been sold.
Doherty is a seventh-grader from Clarkston, Wash., and the daughter of Clint and Jen Doherty.
Tru Calling Returns
ox will bring back the remaining six new episodes of its canceled supernatural series Tru Calling with a two-hour episode on March 31, after which it will air in the 9 p.m. ET/PT Thursday timeslot of the soon-to-be pulled Point Pleasant, the Zap2it Web site reported. Tru Calling was pre-empted earlier this year to make way for North Shore and then Point Pleasant, both of which fared poorly enough in the ratings to warrant being pulled from Fox's schedule. It's unclear whether Point Pleasant will return after that.
The remaining new episodes of Tru Calling will feature star Eliza Dushku as Tru Davies, who can relive a 24-hour period when called upon to save a recently deceased person.
Herbie Rides Again
ngela Robinson, director of the upcoming family fantasy film Herbie: Fully Loaded, told SCI FI Wire that the movie continues the 1960s film series and is not a retread of 1968's original The Love Bug. "It's a continued adventure. It's not a remake," Robinson said in an interview. "We're going to the beginning, when he was found in a junkyard. Now he can do anything, and the challenge was to stay true to the original character and not make him fly. We wanted to stay true. It limits the wonder otherwise."
The souped-up Herbie builds on the premise of the original Love Bug, which introduced the Volkswagen beetle with a mind of its own. Robinson said that Disney offered her the job to direct Herbie after seeing her short film D.E.B.S., which is currently being remade as a feature starring Jordana Brewster and Sara Foster. "Somebody at Disney saw D.E.B.S. and thought that I would be good to do this movie," Robinson said. "They wanted something fresh. They were like, 'What are we going to do with it?' And it was up to me to update it."
Like D.E.B.S., Herbie offered Robinson the chance to explore themes close to her heart. "Both ... have the same theme," Robinson said. "They are about being true to yourself and following your dreams and following that voice in your head, even if that's not what people have planned for you." Herbie: Fully Loaded, which stars Lindsay Lohan, opens June 24.
Davis Conjures Zatanna
riter Hadley Davis told SCI FI Wire that she is drafting the script for a movie adaptation of Zatanna, the venerable DC Comics sorceress, with an update for a teen audience. "It's sort of an obscure DC Comic book," Davis said in an interview. "Well, I say that, and then people who know comic books know the comic. It has existed for years and years, but she is a female magician. It's for Warner Brothers and [producer] Denise DiNovi, and we've made her sort of a teen magician."
Zatanna first appeared in 1964's Hawkman number four, by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, and subsequently showed up alongside many of DC Comics' original Justice League of America superheroes. The latest incarnation of the character, in DC's upcoming four-issue Seven Soldiers: Zatanna, shows her as a contemporary young woman dealing with a reality TV show, an enforced detox on the Amazonian island of Themyscira and the legacy of her mysterious magician father.
Davis (Ice Princess) said that the challenge in adapting the character to the big screen is creating believable obstacles for her to overcome. "The challenge with that is that magic is a challenging thing to do in a script," Davis said. "If someone is magical, they can do anything: They can solve any problem you might put in their way. So you have to create the rules of the world, and it's a completely different kind of challenge."
Davis said that her script will differ in its approach to comic book-oriented material from previous Warner Brothers adaptations, such as the Batman series. "It's more of a [comedic] and kind of tweeny, teen-[oriented]," Davis said. "I've really just dealt with the producer, Di Novi [Practical Magic], except for my pitch, but this is really different in tone than the things that they've been bringing out."
The Longest Journey Continues
erri Perkins, product manager for Funcom, tells SCI FI Wire that the ending to the upcoming video game Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is the same no matter how you play the game. But getting to the end will be a definite challenge. "This is a game that spans 13 chapters and 30 hours of gameplay," she said. "It's a journey through two different worlds that contains more action, more suspense and is very much a thriller."
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is the eagerly awaited follow-up to 2000's The Longest Journey. The game's storyline centers on Zoe Castillo in a not-too-distant future world in which an eye in the sky called The Wire monitors everybody and everything. Zoe's idyllic existence is disrupted when she begins hearing an odd message in her head that says, "Help me. Save me." Zoe embarks on an adventure to solve the mystery of the voice and, eventually, the secret of the dream box. Along the way, Zoe is helped out by a hacker named Olivia and must duck and dodge the army of The Wire.
Perkins said that Dreamfall: The Longest Journey will contain numerous advancements over the first game. "The game contains a focus field that will allow players to scan an area and reveal what there is to be found in that area of the game. There are several different story arcs players can follow, but no matter which way you go, the ending will always be the same. At any given point in the game, players will have between two and nine different choices to make in terms of action. You can either fight or refuse to fight. Their will be consequences for every action."
Like its predecessor, Dreamfall will feature several speaking characters, intriguing puzzles and many exotic locations. Dreamfall: The Longest Journey will be released for both PC and consoles in the fall.
Taylor Soldiered On In Room 6
hristine Taylor, star of the independent horror film Room 6, told SCI FI Wire that she didn't let her pregnancy at the time affect her performance, though she found she was unable to do some of her own stunts. "I was five and a half months pregnant during that, so we had to be careful during all that," Taylor said in an interview. "The stunt crew was fantastic, and my stunt double looked just like me. I saw it on the monitor. They have a shot of an old woman reeling, and it happened so fast that I forgot that it wasn't me."
Taylor plays the victim of an automobile accident who begins to see strange visions. Taylor, who is married to actor Ben Stiller, said that she was determined that her pregnancy not undermine director Michael Hurst's vision for the thriller. "When the script came my way I didn't know I was pregnant, but as we got to talk about the specifics of it, I had to tell him," Taylor said. "I didn't want to compromise his vision of what this film should be because he had a pregnant actress on the set. With something like this, with a certain time limit and budget, there isn't a lot of leeway."
Taylor said that the crew helped her overcome any potential problems resulting from her impending motherhood. "There's so much collaboration," she said. "If anyone feels like something isn't right or a character shouldn't be saying that, Mike is great. There's never been a day when anyone made us feel married to the script and that we had to stay to the lines. I think it makes for a better union all over."
Taylor joked that she's eager to see if her role affected her child. "It'll be interesting to see how this little one is going to come out, with all the screaming," she said. "I asked my doctor, and he said, 'You have no idea how many parents actually scream and fight during a pregnancy, and those kids turn out OK.'"
Taylor Took Action In Room 6
hristine Taylor, star of the upcoming independent film Room 6, told SCI FI Wire that she enjoyed playing in a horror movie that allowed the female characters to actively participate in the action. "I think a lot of typical horror films have a female-driven lead that is supposed to run and get away," Taylor said in an interview. "The interesting thing about this one is that it's not necessarily all that it's cracked up to be when the film starts. You know she's having these dreams, and there's something off in her world."
Room 6 stars Taylor (Dodgeball) as a woman who begins to see visions after she and Jerry O'Connell (Sliders) meet when they are involved in an automobile accident. Taylor said that she enjoys the film's juxtaposition of real and fantasy elements. "There are surprises and twists and turns," Taylor said. "She thinks she's seeing these demons, but she blinks and she realizes that she's just seeing a normal person. You're not quite sure if something tragic happened to her and she's seeing these things, or if they're real."
Taylor added that there's more to her character than scares. "It has all the horror movie elements [like] the scares, but there is more to it," she said. "There's a deeper level and a deeper layer that caught me off guard. I have definitely seen a lot of these and read a lot of these, and it wasn't exactly what I expected it to be."
Primer Director Talks DVD
hane Carruth, who directed the independent SF film Primer, told SCI FI Wire that he recently reunited with the film's small crew to produce a commentary track for the upcoming DVD release. "It was really great, actually, having the other guys there, because we don't really hang out," Carruth said in an interview. "We don't know each other that well, so I hadn't seen them in a couple years. So to kind of sit around and look at this thing that it's almost like a home movie from a couple years ago."
Carruth, who wrote, edited and stars in the film as well, said his life has changed little since he won the Grand Jury award at last year's Sundance Film Festival. "It's very weird, because I get to talk to journalists and I get to travel to different places and attend festivals, but when I'm back here in Dallas I'm in the same apartment," he said. "I'm on the same crappy computer that I used to write it. Nothing has really changed. It's much different than I would have imagined it would be for someone who's had the fortunate year that I had last year. But it's good."
Primer, which was made for just $7,000, tells the story of two engineer friends who stumble onto the secret of time travel when testing a new device in their garage. Carruth, a former engineer himself, said that people are often disappointed when they realize that the science in the film is only theoretical. "I tried my best to make the techno-jargon and the analogy of what they're creating with the device as real as it can get," he said. "But of course, it reaches a point where it's completely fictional. So I have found when people ask about the science of it, I'll talk about superconductors and magnetism, and it's all real-world stuff up until it gets to that point, and it's almost like there's a disappointment in them once they find out that it's only real up to a certain point." Primer will be released on DVD April 19.
Briefly Noted
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Both Joss Whedon and James Marsters, co-creator and co-star of The WB's Angel, expressed an interest in bringing the vampire Spike back to TV in the form of a telefilm, the Moviehole Web site reported.
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The HellmouthCentral.com Web site reported a rumor that Emma Caulfield (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) may be joining the cast of ABC's hit SF series Lost, on which former Buffy writer David Fury is one of the producers.
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Filming has begun in Vancouver, B.C., on Revolution Studios' remake of John Carpenter's The Fog, directed by Rupert Wainwright, which will be released by Columbia Pictures on Oct. 14, Revolutions announced.
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Warner Brothers Pictures has closed a deal with the NeoPets kids' Web site to make computer-animated movies using 50 different pet species from the site, Variety reported.
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Desperate Housewives star James Denton's wife, Erin O'Brien Denton, gave birth to daughter, Maiin, on March 22 in Los Angeles, TV Guide Online reported. She is the couple's second child.
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TV Guide Online reported that Lena Olin, who played Sydney Bristow's mother, Irina Derevko, will return to ABC's Alias in the 90-minute season finale, set to air on May 25, though her character was supposedly killed off-camera earlier this season.
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Variety has published a review of Paul Schrader's heretofore unseen version of the fourth Exorcist film, retitled Exorcist: The Prequel, which was shelved and reshot by Renny Harlin as last year's Exorcist: The Beginning.
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Principal photography started March 21 in Sydney on Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, starring newcomer Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Eva Marie Saint, Parker Posey, Kal Penn and Sam Huntington, Warner Brothers announced.
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In a deal that grew out of Project Greenlight, Ben Affleck and Neo Art & Logic partners Joel Soisson and Mike Leahy have optioned Rick Carr's script Does Anybody Here Remember When Hanz Gubenstein Invented Time Travel?, Variety reported.
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Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American rights to Wong Kar Wai's SF-tinged 2046, which makes its U.S. debut at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. Sony will release it this fall, Variety reported.
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The official Star Wars Web site has been relaunched to promote Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, with multimedia content previously available only to paying Hyperspace members.
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The Ring Two director Hideo Nakata told the Chicago Sun-Times that he'd love to helm a third installment in the horror franchise.
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ComingSoon.net reported that Ryan Reynolds confirmed that he's in line to play the superhero The Flash in a film to be written, produced and directed by his Blade: Trinity director, David Goyer, should the project get a green light.
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New Line has tapped Ryan Merriman and Mary Winstead to star in Cheating Death: Final Destination 3, a sequel film that will bring back the original movie's creators, James Wong and Glen Morgan, for a 2006 release, Variety reported.
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The new Web site for the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy went live 42 days before the movie's April 29 premiere.
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