Abrams Coy About Lost Finale
.J. Abrams, co-creator of ABC's hit Lost, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming season finale will strike a balance between revealing and concealing. "That was one of the, I think, requirements of the finale, was to answer some questions and keep others out there and open," Abrams said in an interview at the Saturn Awards this week. "So, you know, like with everything, that's the ambition, and I believe we've succeeded. But ultimately the fans are the judge." Lost wraps up its first season on May 25 with a two-hour finale.
Abrams, meanwhile, said that he's recently completed a global location scout for his upcoming feature-film directorial debut, Mission: Impossible 3. "All over the world," he said. "It was like insane. But it's a trip. I mean, literally, it was a trip. ... I'm so excited. It's just a blast." As for where the film will shoot, he said, "The specifics are being ironed out, [but] it's going to be a pretty big, large scale."
Meanwhile, he said, "We're deep in prep, and we start shooting July. ... The script was rewritten. ... I'm a huge fan of literally each actor that they cast originally [including Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson], but to have kept the actors when we were reinventing the story would have been an odd process to sort of say, 'OK, write a script with these people in mind for characters that hadn't been written.' I mean, you know, it felt like we just needed to start over with a clean slate."
Black, Browder Talk New SG-1
ormer Farscape star Claudia Black told SCI FI Wire that her character in the upcoming ninth season of Stargate SG-1 will bedevil Michael Shanks' Daniel Jackson for the season's first six episodes. Black reprises the role of the mischievous Vala first introduced in last season's "Prometheus Unbound." "I've come to make Michael Shanks' life a misery," Black said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles this week. "The character I'm playing is sort of the hair-pulling variety. She's really infuriating, but, I hope, funny."
Black added: "She's the naughty kid that says everything that everyone else is thinking, but doesn't dare say. She's irreverent. Everything she says is to get a rise or reaction out of someone. ... She's also a highly comedic character. She provides a lot of energy and comedy. And that was something. ... Aeryn [her Farscape character] was a very dramatic, weighty, serious character, and I think smiled once a season. Vala is completely the opposite from that perspective alone."
Black finds herself again sharing a show with Farscape's Ben Browder, who joins the regular SG-1 cast as Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, a new member of SG-1. But Browder said that he won't share much screen time with his former Farscape on-screen flame. "They're trying to keep us apart," Browder said. "But we'll break them down eventually. They've got to give us one [scene together]!"
Black added: "There's a good reason, though, [for keeping us separated]," she said. "It underlines how obviously different our characters are this time around. It's a whole different ballgame."
Browder said that the SG-1 cast has been nothing but welcoming. "The interesting thing about joining a show that's been going on for such a long time is, really, when you work on a show after a period of time, it's actually refreshing to have new people come in and mix it up," he said. "At least, that was I think our experience on Farscape. As long as they didn't take me away from scenes with [Black], that was fine. So they've been very gracious and welcoming. You know, it would be hard to ask for much more in regards to the cast taking us in."
Black and Browder added that they hope Farscape lives on, though it ended its run on SCI FI Channel last year with the miniseries Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars. (The miniseries won three Saturn Awards.) "I'd love to see a Farscape feature film, but for now I'm very happy launching the ninth season of Stargate [SG-1] with Beau Bridges [who joins the cast as Maj. Gen. Hank Landry]." He added: "Beau Bridges is running the show. Every time he comes into the room, I stand at attention."
"We all do," Black added. Stargate SG-1 has resumed production at its base in Vancouver, B.C., and returns to SCI FI Channel in July.
Schrader Unveils His Exorcist
aul Schrader on May 4 unveiled his version of a prequel film to The Exorcist, newly titled Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, at a press screening in Los Angeles, saying that he wasn't sure it would be released right up until last week. "As little as a few weeks ago, there was talk of destroying the film," Schrader (Auto Focus) was overheard saying before the screening. "But it's too late now. I think the horse is officially out of the barn."
Warner Brothers and Morgan Creek are taking the unprecedented step of releasing Dominion in theaters on May 20 in a few cities. This is the film that was shot in 2003, then shelved after Morgan Creek reportedly decided it wanted a more visceral movie, ordering up a second version from Renny Harlin. That movie, Exorcist: The Beginning, opened in August 2004 and promptly tanked at the box office. It's now on DVD. After Schrader's film garnered a positive response at a Belgian film festival in March, the studio and production company apparently had a change of heart.
"I didn't think I'd ever see this day," Schrader told a small audience of invited journalists on May 4. "It's sort of amazing." Schrader said that Dominion, from a script by William Wisher and Caleb Carr, is pretty much the movie he set out to make, with a "few corners cut" in post-production. "Those things are minor, compared to the fact that the film exists," Schrader added. "I think it is now committed to film history."
Dominion stars Stellan Skarsgard, Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar and Billy Crawford.
Robinson Returns To War
nn Robinson, who starred in George Pal's 1953 War of the Worlds movie, told SCI FI Wire that audiences may gasp when they see her cameo appearance, along with War co-star Gene Barry, in Steven Spielberg's upcoming update of the classic H.G. Wells tale.
In Spielberg's War of the Worlds, "When you first see Gene Barry and me onscreen you say, 'Oh, my God, they do get married!'" Robinson said in an interview at the Saturn Awards this week. "'Oh, my heavens, Dr. Forrester and Sylvia Van Buren got together after all!'"
Robinson, who turned 70 two days before she presented an award at the May 3 Saturn Awards, said she plays Dakota Fanning's grandmother in Spielberg's War of the Worlds, which stars Tom Cruise as Fanning's father. Robinson said that "there wasn't supposed to be any connection to my previous character whatsoever," but people in the know may recognize Spielberg's homage to Pal's film.
"Steven Spielberg doesn't have to remake anything," Robinson added. "He does what he wants to do. But he loved George's movie, so he pays an homage to it. I think he's basing it more on the book, though." Robinson said the story of the Earth's invasion by Mars is timeless. "It's about the annihilation of freedom," she said. "I think H.G. Wells was trying to show that British imperialism means nothing under different circumstances. Orson Welles had Hitler to contend with, and Mr. Pal has the Red Menace. And now Steven Spielberg has Al Qaeda. It's a continuous social commentary of what's going on at the time."
Robinson added that her small part in the new War of the Worlds could spark renewed interest in her for more work. Other than cameos spoofing her Sylvia Van Buren character, Robinson's last film was Imitation of Life in 1959. "I don't know what could happen, a lot of people are beginning to call me," she said.
Raimi's Back Home With Dead
irector Sam Raimi, who is producing a remake of his ghost movie Evil Dead, told SCI FI Wire that he wanted to use the original backwoods cabin from the 1981 film. "I was sad to find out that the house where we shot the original burned down, unfortunately," Raimi said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles on May 3. (Raimi's blockbuster Spider-Man 2 film won five awards).
Raimi is mounting a remake of Evil Dead, which marked the beginning of his career, created a cult hit and introduced Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. The film dealt with four friends who find an evil book, the Necronomicon, which unleashes bizarre flesh-eating creatures.
Raimi said he won't direct the remake himself, but rather is seeking a new director, male or female, to develop the characters he created and retell his campfire story. He added that he won't be very hands-on when the film gets retold.
Raimi also said that the remake won't feature Campbell. The director said he'd rather put Campbell in a new Evil Dead sequel, which would continue the story from the last movie, Army of Darkness.
As for that cabin? The original 16mm Evil Dead was shot in a real abandoned cabin in the hills of Morristown, Tenn. Raimi denied rumors that he ordered the cabin burned down to keep fans from spending the night there. "It would have been great to use it again," Raimi said with a sigh.
Shaun Team Play Undead
he creative team behind the hit British zombie film Shaun of the Dead told SCI FI Wire that they had the honor of playing the walking dead themselves in cameos in George Romero's upcoming Land of the Dead, adding that they filmed their meeting with the zombie icon for an upcoming special DVD release of Shaun.
Simon Pegg, who starred in Shaun and co-wrote it with director Edgar Wright, said he and Wright have cameos in their hero's new zombie film. "We shot video of the whole thing, how they did the makeup and stuff, and got our very first meeting with George on tape, which was weird," Pegg said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles. (Pegg and Wright won the award for best horror film.)
Pegg added that their meeting occurred just as Romero was wrapping his reshoots for Land of the Dead, whose release date was moved up to June 24, and he really didn't want to do the mini-documentary that the guys were filming.
But Romero liked Shaun of the Dead, and he agreed to do their documentary if the guys played zombies in his film. "George wanted to give me a speaking part, but I said, 'No, I want to do a zombie, that's what I came to do,'" Wright said.
Meanwhile, Pegg and Wright are re-teaming with their Shaun cast for another movie. "It's not a sequel," Wright said. "We've pretty much killed off all the characters. It's in the spirit of Shaun, with the same sort of flavor and the same people, but a different genre."
Are British zombies any different from Romero's American zombies? "Well, the British zombies have bad teeth," Pegg said. Shaun of the Dead is currently available on DVD.
Spider-Man 2 Sweeps Saturns
pider-Man 2 won a total of five trophies at the 31st Annual Saturn Awards in Los Angeles on May 3, including best fantasy film, the most for any movie this year. The Marvel Comics adaptation also garnered awards for best actor (Tobey Maguire), best director (Sam Raimi), best writer (Alvin Sargent) and best special effects.
Among TV series, ABC's hit Lost took home awards for best network television series and best supporting actor (Terry O'Quinn).
SCI FI Channel's original miniseries Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars, meanwhile, received three Saturns: best television presentation, best actor (Ben Browder) and best actress (Claudia Black). SCI FI's original series Stargate SG-1 won the award for best syndicated or cable television series and for best supporting actress on TV (Amanda Tapping).
Life Career Awards went to Fox Filmed Entertainment Co-Chairman Tom Rothman and producer/writer Stephen J. Cannell. Kerry Conran, who wrote and directed Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, took home a Filmmakers Showcase Award.
The long-running SF franchise Star Trek was commemorated with a Special Recognition Award.
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films honors and recognizes the achievements of genre entertainment. A complete list of Saturn Award winners follows.
Best Science Fiction Film: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best Fantasy Film: Spider-Man 2
Best Horror Film: Shaun of the Dead
Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film: Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Best Animated Film: The Incredibles
Best Actor: Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man 2)
Best Actress: Blanchard Ryan (Open Water)
Best Supporting Actor: David Carradine (Kill Bill: Vol. 2)
Best Supporting Actress: Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill: Vol. 2)
Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Emmy Rossum (Phantom of the Opera)
Best Director: Sam Raimi (Spider-Man 2)
Best Writer: Alvin Sargent (Spider-Man 2)
Best Music: Alan Silvestri (Van Helsing)
Best Costume: Kevin Conran (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow)
Best Make-Up: Hellboy (Jake Garber, Matt Rose, Mike Elizalde)
Best Special Effects: Spider-Man 2 (John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, John Frazier)
Best Network Television Series: Lost
Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series: Stargate SG-1
Best Television Presentation: Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars
Best Actor on Television: Ben Browder (Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars)
Best Actress on Television: Claudia Black (Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars)
Best Supporting Actor on Television: Terry O'Quinn (Lost)
Best Supporting Actress on Television: Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1)
Best DVD Release: Starship Troopers: Hero of the Federation
Best DVD Special Edition Release: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Best DVD Classic Film Release: Dawn of the Dead
Best DVD Collection: Star Wars Trilogy
Best DVD Television Release: Smallville (seasons two and three)
Best DVD Retro Television Release: Star Trek (the original series)
The Life Career Award: Tom Rothman
The Life Career Award: Stephen J. Cannell
The Filmmakers Showcase Award: Kerry Conran
The Special Recognition Award: Star Trek
NY Episode III Fans Wait For Charity
ie-hard Star War fans launched a marathon "stand-a-thon" for charity on April 30 in New York in anticipation of the May 19 opening of George Lucas' upcoming Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, the Reuters news service reported. The around-the-clock line featured fans in various Star Wars costumes.
The event follows another nonstop street-side countdown kicked off by fervid Star Wars fans on April 2 across the country in Hollywood, the wire service reported.
In New York, fans registered for the stand-a-thon outside the Ziegfeld, New York's largest stand-alone movie theater, were fans drawn from 22 U.S. states and nine foreign countries, mainly West European but also including Japan, Peru and Brazil, Reuters reported. Line denizens are raising money to benefit Starlight Starbright, a charity for severely ill children.
Raimi Mulls Many More Spideys
pider-Man director Sam Raimi told SCI FI Wire that Sony Pictures plans to make six of the comic-inspired films, and that he'd consider helming them if he feels as strongly about them as he does about the upcoming third installment. "I've heard Amy Pascal [chairman of Sony's motion picture group] say she wants to make six Spider-Man pictures," Raimi said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles. "So I think she's a woman of her word. And if she says there'll be six, there'll be six. ... If they were to ask me, and if I felt as passionate as I feel now about the character and had this great hunger and desire to tell the story, which I really do now, you couldn't keep me away from it."
Raimi said the upcoming third Spider-Man film will in part chart Peter Parker's (Tobey Maguire) interior journey as he deals with his feelings about the death of his beloved Uncle Ben.
"The task that I had was to try and understand where he was when we last left him ... at the end of Spider-Man 2, trying to figure out what he lacked as a human being, as far as where he was immature and what he had not learned," Raimi said. "And certainly there's so much for that kid to learn. He really has been denied a social life. He's just been focused on being this do-gooder. And never really even dealing with the death of his uncle, just paying down his guilt with every criminal he brings to justice, never really addressing his own guilt that he feels in his heart and coming to terms with it. He's never really looked inside himself. So I think this picture ... he's going to have [to] look a little more inside himself and recognize and deal with some of the deficiencies that he has as a human being."
Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) will play a new as-yet-unidentified villain who is appropriate to that emotional journey, Raimi added. "We had to choose a villain that represented a proper obstacle in the path of that growth," Raimi said. "And so, though I'd rather not say who Thomas Haden Church is playing just yet—because Sony likes to make a proper presentation to the fans along with Avi Arad from Marvel Comic books—he was chosen because he represented that proper obstacle to ... Peter Parker's growth." Spider-Man 3 is in preproduction now.
Perlman Preps For Hellboy 2
on Perlman, who again plays the red-skinned title demon in Hellboy 2, told SCI FI Wire that the sequel will probably begin production in January 2006 under director Guillermo del Toro. "The Hellboy 2 script was turned in this month, but they do everything in their power to keep me as much in the dark as possible," Perlman said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles. "It was an amazing genesis of how that movie got made, and how the fans embraced it," he added, referring to last year's hit adaptation of Mike Mignola's comic series.
Perlman added that he'll need to get back into his Hellboy shape. "I'm going to definitely take off all the weight I've put on in between," he said. "I went back to being a character actor. I'll be thinner."
As for the sequel's story, Perlman said: "I know that they were looking to get more into the folklore of the character, you know, and less into the pyrotechnics. ... I guess I'll read it when I'm invited to. ... I couldn't even dream beyond what already has been a reality. I mean, you know, everything that's transpired with regard to the depiction, Guillermo's distillation of turning a two-dimensional guy into a three-dimensional guy was far beyond anything I could have dreamed possible. So I'll just defer to him. Happily."
Meanwhile, Perlman said he's excited about directing a family drama about two brothers who switch places, and he said he's going to really surprise his SF fans by starring in a musical he has conceived, which is being scripted by Bad Boys screenwriter George Gallo. "It's a musical road movie, a kind of homage to Frank Sinatra, something no one has ever seen me do before," he said. "I'm very excited about it."
Imax Fires Up Goblet of Fire
max Corp. is expected to announce that it will premiere a wide-format version of Warner Brothers' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Nov. 18 on Imax screens at the same time the fourth film in the series debuts in conventional theaters, Variety reported. It's the second time the boy wizard will grace Imax screens; last summer's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Imax Experience became one of Imax's highest-grossing digitally remastered films, the trade paper reported.
Mike Newell directed Goblet of Fire, which is based on J.K. Rowling's book of the same name.
Timberlake Joins Shrek 3
ustin Timberlake will provide the voice of Artie, King Harold's rebellious nephew, in DreamWorks' Shrek 3, Variety reported.
DreamWorks plans a May 2007 release for Shrek 3, which brings back voice stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas, the trade paper reported.
DreamWorks is also reportedly working on Shrek 4, with Tim Sullivan writing a screenplay.
Wax Honors Old-School Horror
lisha Cuthbert, star of the upcoming horror movie House of Wax, told SCI FI Wire that she eagerly accepted the challenge of being a scream queen on a project that ups the ante on horror movie conventions. "We have a lot of throwbacks to, I think, the classic ideas of what a horror film was all about when we were younger," Cuthbert said in an interview. "I think there's that sort of a tie in to 'This is what we love about horror films, let's [consolidate] all of those things and then amp it up one more notch, and let's make a horror film.'"
Cuthbert plays a young woman who is stranded with her friends in an abandoned town after a road trip is interrupted by car trouble. Cuthbert said that House of Wax improves on the familiar formulas of horror movies, and she drew an analogy with another genre, action. "Action films were sort of ... here, and then they went here, and then it was like, 'Oh, my gosh, it's getting out of hand,'" Cuthbert said. "Then, all of a sudden, horror is here, and it's getting really smart; now we're just going to gross everyone out and have a good time with it. It's a fun, commercial horror film that people I think are going to really have fun watching."
Cuthbert said that she had little trouble getting into the movie when she watched the final cut recently. "I thought, 'I'm going to watch it, and I'm going to be like, 'I did this, and I'm not going to get to enjoy it,'" she said. "Then all of a sudden I'm there, and I'm jumping like a loser. I was there, and I'm jumping at my own movie. It felt scarier seeing it dark and in the theater and cut together and put together finally and finished than actually being there, because I think I was so focused on what I needed to do. It was very physically demanding, so I was constantly sort of trying to not get like sick or hurt or, you know? Just trying to get it all together." House of Wax opens May 6.
Murray Weighed Down By Wax
had Michael Murray, star of the upcoming horror movie House of Wax, told SCI FI Wire that the toughest challenge he faced was dealing with the wax that filmmakers used to build many of the sets and props. "Damn wax," Murray (TV's One Tree Hill) said in an interview. "It's not easy to get through, I'll tell you that much. It was pretty physical, not to mention you wanted a bath every day. I mean, we got home and were like, 'Where's the shower?'"
In the film, Murray plays a young man who attempts to rescue his sister (played by Elisha Cuthbert) after she is trapped in a town whose residents are made of wax. He said that the producers did use as much real wax as possible. "They did use a lot of actual wax," Murray said. "I mean, our set was built of wax. The other stuff was some compound that I'm not really aware of, but you're not obviously going to lay in hot melting wax. That's probably not a good idea. They did use it on Jared [Padalecki], poor guy."
Murray added that his most challenging scene was when he confronts one of the film's killers on a bed of melting wax. 'It's kind of the climax of the movie where I'm wrestling on the bed,' he said. "I think that the consistency wasn't thick enough, and we sunk right to the bottom. The whole bed started coming apart and spreading all over the floor, and we're falling off the stage. It took like two or three guys to pull us out of the bed. We literally could not get out on our own. You couldn't sit up. You couldn't do anything, so you were just stuck, cemented in this stuff." House of Wax opens May 6.
New Threshold Details Sneaked
CI FI Wire has obtained new details about CBS' SF pilot Threshold, which is being produced by former Star Trek: Enterprise executive producer Brannon Braga, Blade writer David S. Goyer, Harry Potter producer David Heyman, Mark Rosen and Bragi Schut.
Braga told SCI FI Wire that he and the others are awaiting word from CBS on whether the show will be picked up. "The status of the pilot is we're done," Braga said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles. "We've finished it, and we're waiting to hear what happens. I don't want to jinx it, though. The next couple of weeks. It's a psychological thriller, science fiction show. It's contemporary sci-fi about aliens amongst us. But more emphasis on the psychological suspense and less emphasis on the effects-heavy type of genre piece."
According to an internal document obtained by SCI FI Wire, Threshold begins with the discovery of an extraterrestrial spacecraft in the middle of the ocean. Molly Anne Caffrey (Carla Gugino), a physician and former NASA employee, is recruited to await the planet's first contact, along with a carefully assembled team made up of a brilliant physicist, a language and communications expert and a covert operative, the document said. Together they implement Operation: Threshold, charged with finding out the purpose of the landing and the fate of the ship's crew and preparing for the worst-case scenario of an alien invasion.
The cast includes Charles S. Dutton and Star Trek: The Next Generation's Brent Spiner, as well as Robert Benedict, House of Wax's Brian Van Holt and Lost's William Mapother.
The Island Gets It Real
ric Brevig, who supervised visual effects on Michael Bay's upcoming SF action movie The Island, told SCI FI Wire that he followed Bay's directive to shoot everything in reality and avoid computer imagery unless it was absolutely necessary. "There's been a lot of dicey things [we've shot]," Brevig said in an interview on the film's suburban Los Angeles set in March. "Both Michael and I feel that the ability to show the audience stuff that is completely real—that looks like it was shot in the real environment all in front of cameras—sort of amps up the energy, and that's really important to try and achieve."
Brevig, who is a principal with Industrial Light & Magic, also directed second unit on The Island, which centers on two clones (Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson) who flee from a top-secret compound and find themselves on the run in a futuristic Los Angeles. The film involved several elaborate chase sequences, including one on flying motorcycles, or "wasps," amid skyscrapers and another on a freeway.
In another scene, Bay and his crew dropped a two-story letter "R" from a sign atop an office building, while Brevig directed a second unit from a helicopter. "They're 50 stories up on the outside of a building, and I had to fly over with a helicopter and literally shoot looking straight down the sides of a building background while Michael was probably 80 feet away on the balcony of another building with another helicopter flying through his set," Brevig said. "And we're trying to ... not have a mid-air collision while he's screaming at his guys, 'Come on in! Faster! Faster!' And we're coming around the other side of the building, not even knowing that he's rolling. I think that was the hairiest moment. Even the helicopter pilot—who's been doing this for 10 years and is the best in the business—said he had to change his drawers when we landed."
Brevig added: "We're out there flinging cars literally end over end on the freeway stuff. That one [you] could do using computer graphics if they wanted. But just the excitement [and] the randomness of real physics that is so hard to simulate makes that always the first choice. If you can do it for real, you do it for real. And if it's too unsafe or too expensive or whatever, then we rely on all the other movie tricks." The Island opens July 22.
Anderson Fans Aid NF Inc.
ans of former The X-Files star Gillian Anderson raised more than $22,000 to benefit Neurofibromatosis Inc., a charity that aids patients with the disease. The official Gillian Anderson Web site sponsored the spring 2005 charity auction, which raised the money through the sale of Anderson memorabilia.
Maurizio Di Bona's drawing of "Scully Entertains Mulder," autographed by Anderson, sold for $10,300, the site reported.
Anderson is a longtime supporter of NF Inc., in part because her brother is afflicted with the disease.
New Tomb Raider Sneaked
he GameSpot Web site has posted a new trailer for Eidos Interactive's upcoming new Tomb Raider: Legend game, featuring a revamped heroine, Lara Croft. The new Lara sports redder hair and a more athletic and less buxom physique, and also looks nothing like Angelina Jolie, who portrayed her in two films based on the hit video games.
Tomb Raider: Legend is due this fall on the PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2. It will also be released for the PSP and Xbox 360 at a later date, the site reported.
War Games II Gears Up
oviehole.net reported that MGM has announced a July start date for the sequel to 1983's hit War Games. War Games II: The Deadly Key is scheduled to shoot in Europe for a direct-to-DVD release sometime next year, the site reported.
War Games II centers on teenage computer whiz Cory Carpenter, who finds himself mistaken for a cyber-criminal while on a class trip to Europe. On the run with his beautiful classmate Anne and nerdy best pal Dale Darrow, Carpenter discovers that his supposed cyber-pal is really a government computer that's gone haywire and is setting in motion a plan for nuclear disaster.
None of the original film's stars, who included Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy, are expected to return.
Rodriguez Developing Conan?
heArnoldFans.com reported that Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) has been brought in to develop a new Conan the Barbarian film, and that original Conan helmer John Milius has been let go by Warner Brothers. Milius had been developing his own sequel, called King Conan, the site reported.
The site reported that Rodriguez's project will also be called King Conan, but it's unlikely he would use Milius' script. It's also unclear whether original Conan star and current California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be involved.
Bloom Spills Pirates Secrets
rlando Bloom, who reprises the role of Will Turner in the upcoming two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, told EmpireOnline that the follow-up films won't simply rehash the first one. "Going back to it has been just a lot of fun," Bloom told the site. "I'm trying to recapture the same character and let him develop in ways that are interesting. We're not just trying to rehash the same old thing."
Bloom reunites with co-stars Johnny Depp (Capt. Jack Sparrow) and Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann) in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the as-yet-untitled third film, for which Bloom said he hasn't seen a script.
"Umm, well, I can't give too much away," Bloom said when asked about the films' storylines. "But obviously at the end of the first movie you see him in the clutches of Elizabeth. But the course of true love never runs smooth, ... does it? So a few things come up, and he goes off on another journey to save Elizabeth and the lives of everybody else."
Bloom added: "But I think he's going to assume more of the pirate's role, and by the end of the third movie there's a few dark twists to the character of Will Turner, and I think people are going to wonder what his motives are and what he's all about."
Bloom also confirmed that former Rolling Stone Keith Richards will play Jack Sparrow's father: "I've heard those rumors, too, and I believe there may be some truth in that, yes." Stellan Skarsgard, meanwhile, will play Will's father, Bootstrap Bill Turner, who appears as a zombie walking along the bottom of the ocean for all eternity.
"Well, you should see what he looks like, having come from the bottom of the ocean," Bloom said. "He looks like Stellan Skarsgard, but with a few fantastic makeup modifications. He's got some peculiar mussels and growths coming out of him." The Pirates sequels are filming now.
EverQuest's Qeynos Sought
ony Online Entertainment announced a contest to find a real-life version of EverQuest II heroine Antonia Bayle, Queen of Qeynos, the C|net.com Web site reported. The competition, called "Quest for Antonia," encourages women who think they look like the fetching brunette to send in pictures to the official contest Web site beginning May 17, the site reported.
The contest will be co-sponsored by Stuff Magazine and culminate in Las Vegas on Aug. 13. Five finalists will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas courtesy of SOE and Stuff. A pageant-style event, complete with swimsuit competition and an interview session, will crown the winner at the Palms Hotel & Casino, the site reported. The winner will receive a one-year modeling contract with SOE, a photo spread in Stuff and additional prizes.
Helmer Looks Into The Mirror
usic video helmer Sanji Senaka is in talks to direct Into the Mirror, a supernatural horror movie written by Joe Gangemi, Variety reported. Described as in the vein of The Ring, Mirror deals with spirits from a different plane who terrify shoppers in a mall, the trade paper reported.
Mirror is being produced by Marc Sternberg (The Girl Next Door).
Pitt, Blanchett Eye Button
rad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are in talks to star in the long-gestating adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which David Fincher is directing, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers are co-financing the project. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall are producing.
Benjamin Button tells the story of an elderly man who gets younger as time passes and encounters complications when, at age 50, he falls in love with a woman who is 30, the trade paper reported.
Eric Roth wrote the script. Past writers include Jim Taylor, Robin Swicord and Charlie Kaufman.
Narnia Teaser Debuts Globally
n what it calls an unprecedented marketing ploy, Disney will release the teaser trailer for its upcoming fantasy film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in several media at once internationally, starting May 7. The trailer will premiere on American TV network ABC during the broadcast of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will subsequently hit the Web via America Online and will appear on cell phones via Verizon Wireless, the company said.
The trailer will also air simultaneously on Disney Channel and on four channels across the Starz Entertainment Group network. Disney says that is a potential audience in 32 countries of more than 200 million for the first trailer for the film, based on C.S. Lewis' beloved Narnia books.
The trailer will appear around the world in a 48-hour period, dubbed in a dozen languages, during popular TV programs in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Korea and Latin America., as well as on Web and wireless services around the world.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe opens Dec. 9.
Haldeman Bends SF Gender
oe Haldeman, whose SF novel Camouflage won the James Tiptree Jr. Award, told SCI FI Wire that he commonly writes from a woman's perspective. The Tiptree Award is named for Alice B. Sheldon, who wrote under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr. By selecting a masculine pen name, Sheldon helped break down the imaginary barrier between "women's writing" and "men's writing," the Tiptree Web site said.
Haldeman is the fourth consecutive man to win the award, after Matt Ruff (Set This House in Order, 2003), M. John Harrison (Light, 2002) and John Kessel (the short story "Stories for Men," 2002). He shares it with Johanna Sinisalo (Not Before Sundown, published in the U.S. as Troll: A Love Story).
"About half of my novels are either from a female's point of view or include female characters in a multiple-P.O.V. structure," Haldeman said in an interview. "I think it's useful for a writer to adopt a different gender or sexual orientation in that regard, because it moves him or her away from an automatic autobiographical reflex. The natural thing to do when your character is presented with a problem is to ask, 'What would I do?' It makes better fiction if you have to ask yourself what a different and unique imaginary person [or thing] would do."
Camouflage follows marine biologist Russell Sutton as he discovers and interacts with two alien life forms: the changeling, which has been on Earth for millions of years, assuming every identity from shark to human being and slowly learning to love, and the chameleon, which has excelled in warlike roles and delights in killing. Although one of the protagonists is male, the aliens are shape-shifters and can assume either gender.
Cecilia Tan, one of the Tiptree jury members, wrote: "This book explores the human condition as thoroughly as any literary work, with the understanding of gender at the crux of that understanding. For me, it was one of the best science fiction books I have read in years."
Haldeman currently is working on what he calls a "young adult" SF novel called The Mars Girl. When he finishes that, he said, he will continue with The Accidental Time Machine, which he said is one-third finished.
The Tiptree Award will be presented at Gaylaxicon, July 1-4 in Boston.
Alien Vs. Predator II Is A Go
he sequel to Alien vs. Predator is happening and will most likely center on a battle in our world, 20th Century Fox Film Co-Chairman Tom Rothman told SCI FI Wire at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles.
"We will do another one of those for sure. It was a big success," Rothman said in an interview before he received a Life Career Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
"In the new Alien vs. Predator they will finally actually really come to our world," said Rothman. The previous Alien and Predator movies took place in the future, and Alien vs. Predator took place in a remote Antarctic location, though in modern times. The new film could bridge the gap between all the movies and the two horror film franchises, Rothman said.
"It's likely that we will bridge the gap, and the beginning of that will be setting it in our contemporary universe," said Rothman. He laughed when the characters were likened to terrorists. "They were always terrorists, yes, but only metaphorically," he said.
Surf's Up For Silver Surfer
arvel and Fox executives told SCI FI Wire that a planned Silver Surfer movie is in serious development as a project to be started after Fantastic Four and the next X-Men film, which begins production later this summer. "We're just starting, and we are very excited," Marvel film chief Avi Arad said in an interview at the Saturn Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. "We are finishing [Fantastic Four], and the next thing we'll go on our way to Silver Surfer."
Silver Surfer is based on the character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966: a metallic being who travels through space on a sleek board.
Fox Filmed Entertainment Co-Chairman Tom Rothman told SCI FI Wire that one crucial element remains to be worked out: how to portray the silvery alien. "I think the tricky thing on Silver Surfer, which hasn't been resolved yet, is the nature of the Surfer and to what extent digital work is used and to what extent it isn't," Rothman said in a separate interview. "And that's the fundamental difficult decision. Obviously, in The Hulk, they went one way [a computer-generated character]. And in the question of [Fantastic Four's] The Thing, we went a different way [putting actor Michael Chiklis in a rubber suit]. ... The digital component is the fundamental component that needs to be resolved, but it's a project that we're very very high on."
Carpenter Relinquishes The Fog
ohn Carpenter, who is executive-producing a remake of his 1980 film The Fog, told SCI FI Wire that after his difficult experience making the original, he had no desire to direct the updated version of the film. "I don't want to [direct] this," Carpenter said in an interview on the Vancouver, B.C., set. "I mean, I did it once. This was not my favorite experience of my own career, making The Fog. It was a difficult movie. We had to go back and fix it once we shot it. I've done this once. Let some younger person do it."
Rupert Wainwright (Stigmata) is directing the new film, which stars Tom Welling (Smallville), Selma Blair (Hellboy) and Maggie Grace (Lost). Carpenter said that Wainwright brought a high level of energy to the project and a directing style in sharp contrast to his own. "My whole philosophy is, it's the director's film," he said. "It's not my film. I made my film back then when I was young and happy. This is a new director. And he's bringing his point of view and his sensibility to this film. And I have a real hard time telling anybody else what to do, or interfering with their vision. It's his movie now. ... His style is vastly different from mine. He uses inserts and close-ups to add texture and energy to his movies, which is totally different from the way I work. I thought that would be an interesting try on this film."
Carpenter's script for the original film centered on a small island town with a tragic history that literally comes back to haunt its present-day residents. He said that the new film will preserve the premise, but will have a more modern twist. "It's a pretty fireproof idea in terms of what happens," he said. "It's an old ghost story. The idea in this case is to freshen it up. And there's a cultural mindset that says anything that's more than 15 years or older is old-fashioned and old-school. But we've sort of heard of it. The audience has maybe heard of it. So the thing to do is to take it out and prop it up, put a fresh coat of paint on it [and] see if it goes." The Fog is scheduled for release on Oct. 13.
BBC Buys Medium
aramount has sold the NBC paranormal series Medium to the BBC, which has U.K. terrestrial rights, Variety reported. The network picked up the series, which stars Patricia Arquette, despite a government warning not to buy U.S. content unless it serves a "public purpose," the trade paper reported.
It's the first time the BBC has bought a U.S. series for its main terrestrial network, BBC1, since Band of Brothers in 2001. Medium is likely to air in a post-10:30 p.m. weekday slot, starting this summer.
NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Siodmak's Skyport Takes Off
riter Gary Goldman (Minority Report) has sold a pitch based on Curt Siodmak's 1959 SF novel Skyport to Warner Brothers, Variety reported. Skyport follows a scientist's quest to build an orbiting space city. Siodmak, who is best known for his Universal Pictures creation the Wolfman, died in 2000, the trade paper reported.
Goldman's pitch was developed with Intellectual Properties Worldwide, which controlled the rights to the underlying novel. IPW president of production J. Todd Harris will produce with Jon Shestack.
Mulgrew Aids Alzheimer's
he costume Kate Mulgrew wore as Capt. Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager is the featured item in an auction on May 5 to benefit the Alzheimer's Association, organizers announced.
Mulgrew is among the celebrities who have contributed unique packages to the online auction. Mulgrew has donated her entire black wool-and-gabardine uniform, including her boots. Mulgrew has a personal interest in the charity: Her mother, Joan, suffers from the disease. "I have learned firsthand the debilitating effects Alzheimer's has on its victims and their families," Mulgrew, a member of the Alzheimer's Association National Advisory Council, said in a statement. "Making my Capt. Janeway uniform part of the 'Rally for Research' will help to raise money for research and create a world without Alzheimer's."
The auction is part of the association's "Rally for Research," running May 2-12, which is an extension of the annual fund-raising galas in Chicago, Washington and New York that raise more than $3 million annually for Alzheimer's research.
Also up for auction are dinner with football coach Mike Ditka, a backstage meeting with country musician Tracy Lawrence and a chance to tour the set of Alias, meet actor Victor Garber and receive an autographed script.
Blade Daywalks To Spike
pike TV says it has ordered a two-hour movie that will act as a pilot for a series based on the Blade movies, with a premiere targeted for early next year, Zap2It reported. David S. Goyer, who wrote all three Blade films and directed the final installment, Blade: Trinity, will serve as an executive producer of the pilot. He's not expected to write it, however, as he's also at work on two other comic-book-based film projects: Ghost Rider and The Flash, the site reported.
Wesley Snipes, who starred as the title character in the films, but who is suing New Line, Goyer and others for breach of contract in connection with the last movie, is unlikely to reprise the role in the TV film/pilot.
Blade is based on a Marvel Comics character, a half-human, half-vampire warrior who hunts bloodsuckers and can walk in daylight.
All Of Me Remake Mulled
ew Line Cinema is planning a remake of the 1984 Steve Martin fantasy comedy film All of Me, Variety reported. Brent Goldberg and David Wagner will write a modern take on the story, which also starred Lily Tomlin.
New Line wants to cast Wanda Sykes in the Tomlin role of a dying heiress who tries to transfer her soul to a young woman, but instead finds herself possessing the right side of the body of her lawyer, played by Martin in the original, the trade paper reported.
Sykes has held initial meetings with the studio but is waiting to see a final version of the script before attaching to the project, the trade paper reported.
The writers are planning to keep the conceit and spirit of the original, but update the technology involved and comedy, as well as give it a more hip sensibility.
Dark Rising At Walden
alden Media has bought the film rights to Susan Cooper's five-book fantasy series The Dark Is Rising Sequence, Variety reported. Walden said its first feature in the series will be based on the second book, The Dark Is Rising, centering on a modern-day boy who learns on his 11th birthday that he's the Sign Seeker, the last of a group of immortals who have dedicated their lives to fighting forces of the Dark, the trade paper reported.
The Dark Is Rising was first published in 1973. The other books in the series are Over Sea, Under Stone; Greenwitch; The Grey King; and Silver on the Tree.
Aghdashloo Driven To SF&F
scar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) told SCI FI Wire that she'll next be seen in the fantastical film Il Mare, one of several SF or fantasy films that she's worked on recently. Il Mare is a love story in which Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock communicate across the years via a mysterious mailbox.
The Iranian-born Aghdashloo, who recently appeared on Fox's 24, said that she's surprised that her blossoming career has transported her toward such SF-related films in the same way that Oscar winners Halle Berry (Catwoman) and Charlize Theron (Aeon Flux) were.
"It's a bit of a surprise, but I don't mind it," Aghdashloo said in an interview at this week's Saturn Awards in Los Angeles. "I love science fiction. In this science fiction love story Il Mare, I play a doctor, and my friends say it's my first non-stereotypical role."
In Il Mare, Reeves and Bullock find themselves in the same house, but at different times, and fall in love by exchanging love letters through a mailbox that transcends a two-year time difference.
Aghdashloo said that she also has a cameo role in the upcoming SF film Serenity, based on Fox's canceled TV series Firefly. "I love the director [Firefly creator Joss Whedon]," she said. "I love the story. But I can't say much about it, except that, no, I'm not an alien."
Aghdashloo will also appear in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which is loosely based on a true story about a priest who performs a deadly exorcism on a young woman. "In that I play a key witness," she said. "I come from an old country [Iran] that's 5,000 years old, and as you can imagine ghosts are everywhere. I knew a lot of people who had experience with exorcisms. Personally, I believe in angels, I don't believe in devils. I have many [angels] looking out for me." Il Mare is eyeing a 2006 release date.
Briefly Noted
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Imax and Warner Brothers announced that The Polar Express: An IMAX 3D Experience will return to Imax theaters in November.
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The Dead Zone returns to USA Network on June 12, paired with new episodes of The 4400, TV Guide Online reported. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
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The Cannes Film Festival will award George Lucas its Festival Trophy in a ceremony onboard the Queen Mary 2 on May 15, the day the festival screens his Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, which opens to the public on May 19.
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Dark Horse Comics will release a graphic-novel tie in with the remake of John Carpenter's The Fog, set hundreds of years before the events in the film and featuring cover art by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.
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Korean animation studio DG Spot and its production arm Morph have optioned the American graphic novel Masterminds to adapt into an animated feature film, Variety reported.
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Disney launched 18 months of global celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the original Disneyland with an evening party and concert at the park in Anaheim, Calif., on May 4, the prelude to months of parades, fireworks shows and celebrity-studded events, AFP reported.
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Bai Ling tearfully revealed at the Tribeca Film Festival that she was cut out of Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, in which she was to have appeared as Senator Bana Breemu, the New York Post reported.
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Dark Horse Comics will release a three-issue miniseries that bridges the Firefly TV show with its upcoming feature-film version, Serenity, to be written by director Joss Whedon.
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A mysterious Web site has gone live, coinciding with the appearance of strange markings on city sidewalks, apparently part of a viral marketing effort for the upcoming War of the Worlds film, the ComingSoon.net Web site reported.
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A study commissioned by the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium found that Asian Americans are underrepresented in prime-time television, but praised ABC's hit Lost for having a South Asian cast member and married Korean characters, the Associated Press reported.
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A new music video has gone live featuring composer John Williams' theme "A Hero Falls" from the upcoming Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith on SCI FI Wire's Trailers page.
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Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman won the best actress award at the Tribeca Film Festival for Transamerica, in which she plays a preoperative transsexual woman on a cross-country road trip, the Reuters news service reported.
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TV's Extra confirmed that Tom Cruise (War of the Worlds) is dating Katie Holmes (Batman Begins).
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The new trailer for Steven Spielberg's upcoming War of the Worlds movie premieres May 19 on AOL/Moviefone and is attached to select prints of Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith.
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