Copperfield: Real Fountain Found?

Magician David Copperfield told the Reuters news service that he has found the Fountain of Youth in the southern Bahamas, amid a cluster of four tiny islands he recently bought for $50 million.

One of his islands in the Exuma chain, Musha Cay, is a private resort that rents for up to $300,000 a week.

Copperfield is coy about his reasons for the Fountain of Youth claim, but the man best known for entertaining with grand deception insists his archipelago also contains the legendary waters that bestow perpetual youth. Seriously.

"I've discovered a true phenomenon," Copperfield told Reuters in a telephone interview. "You can take dead leaves, they come in contact with the water, they become full of life again. ... Bugs or insects that are near death come in contact with the water, they'll fly away. It's an amazing thing, very, very exciting."

Copperfield, who turns 50 next month, said he has hired biologists and geologists to examine its potential effect on humans, but he's not inviting visitors to swim in or drink from it just yet. Del Toro Readies Hellboy 2

Guillermo del Toro, who will be directing the upcoming sequel to Hellboy, told the Latino Review Web site that he won't begin shooting until late April or early May. "But we have a long prep ahead of us," the director added. "We're going to shoot this one in Budapest in Hungary, and we're going to shoot a little bit in London, and we're going to do preproduction and post-production in London. ... We definitely have all the regulars: Hellboy, Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman are back. We have two characters from the fantasy world, which are a prince and a princess that we will be casting very soon."

Del Toro said the story will be "sort of the magical world declaring war on the human world. The first one was dealing with a much more urban environment, and the second one is more in a mythical type of environment, more magical. So hopefully it's closer to some of the aspects of the comic book that we couldn't portray in the first one."Pan Gets NY Film Fest Slot

Guillermo del Toro's Spanish-language horror fable Pan's Labyrinth will screen at the New York Film Festival in the fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It will be joined by Pedro Almodovar's comic drama Volver.

Programmers at the Film Society of Lincoln Center selected Labyrinth as the 44th annual festival's closing-night film, the trade paper reported.

Labyrinth takes a fantastical look at the horrors of war as seen through the eyes of a young girl. The festival runs Sept. 29-Oct. 15 at Lincoln Center.Real-Life Cheyenne Base Closing?

The Air Force may close its Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the real-life home of NORAD and the fictional home of Stargate Command, headquarters for the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, according to the Sy Fy Portal Web site, based on reports from the GateWorld fan site and the Denver Post.

The site, located just outside of Colorado Springs, Colo., is viewed as an expensive relic of the Cold War and its future is currently being evaluated.

Originally built in 1961, the real-life Cheyenne Mountain Complex is where the North American Air Defense Command would track incoming bomber flights and missiles launched from the Soviet Union.

It's unclear how the closing of the real base might affect the storylines in the fictional universe of SG-1 and its companion series, Stargate Atlantis.Transformer Bots Revealed

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, writers of the upcoming Transformers movie, revealed the list of robot characters that will appear in the big-budget adaptation of the 1980s comic, toy and animated franchise, topped by the Autobot leader Optimus Prime and the Decepticon leader Megatron, in a live video Q&A on Yahoo! on Aug. 18.

On the Autobot side the movie will feature Bumblebee, Jazz, Ratchet and Ironhide. On the Decepticon side, the film will include Starscream, Brawl, Bonecrusher, Barricade, Scorponok, Frenzy and Blackout.

The writers also asked fans to submit a key line of dialogue for Optimus Prime on the official Web site, which will be included in the film, apparently taking a page from the publicity campaign for Snakes on a Plane, which also incorporated a fan-suggested bit of dialogue.

The writers said that the movie will rely heavily on characters from the generation one chapter of the long-lived franchise, centering on the war between the benevolent Autobots and the nefarious Decepticons—a war that plays out on Earth in 2006. Michael Bay is directing Transformers, which is currently in production with an eye to a July 4, 2007, release.Cat Gets Cuthbert's Tongue

Elisha Cuthbert, who voices one of the characters in the upcoming animated Cat Tale, told SCI FI Wire that she wasn't looking to do an animated project when the opportunity to join the voice cast presented itself. Cat Tale also features the vocal talents of Sean Astin, Wayne Knight, Michael Richards, Rip Torn, R. Lee Ermey, Alan Cumming and Stanley Tucci.

"You know what?" Cuthbert said in an interview while promoting her latest film, the drama The Quiet. "When I was doing the voice work for the 24 video game I got approached by the techs there. They said, 'You've got a great voice, and we'd love to use you for an animated cartoon. It wouldn't take up a lot of your time. If you'd be interested, could we use your voice?' I said, 'Why not? If I can come in in my pajamas I'll show up.'"

Cat Tale tells the story of Rover (Cuthbert's 24 co-star Astin), a cat who grew up in Dogtown and ventures back to Catopolis to discover his roots. "It's sort of an opposites-attract story," Cuthbert (House of Wax) said. "It's a really beautiful, kind of cute film about the felines and the canines. It's great. I play Cleo. She's a cat that Rover falls in love with. It's just a total coincidence that Sean plays Rover, and I didn't see any of him. I didn't see him at all when we were recording." Cat Tale will be released in 2008. —Ian SpellingShatner Is Kirk In Legacy

William Shatner, star of the original Star Trek, will voice Capt. James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Legacy, a new video game due in October, the Reuters news service reported.

The game will let players command more than 60 starships, spanning all five of the franchise's live-action TV series, into combat against foes such as the Klingons and the Borg, the news service reported.

Shatner, who said he doesn't play video games but has a grandson who is keen to teach him, hopes the medium can keep the Star Trek flame burning.

"The interest in Star Trek has waned in the last couple years," Shatner told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It's been around a long time. It's a staple of American life, and I think we need something new and different in Star Trek."

Word of Shatner's reprising the Kirk role comes on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek's debut on Sept. 8, 1966, on NBC.

Shatner last lent his voice to a video game in 1997's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Legacy is being published by Bethesda Softworks, which also was behind the hit fantasy role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PC and Xbox 360. Four 2's Story Confirms Jones

Tim Story, director of the upcoming sequel film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, told fans on his official blog that he's two weeks away from beginning production, and he all but confirmed that Doug Jones will help with the creation of the much-anticipated Silver Surfer.

"The question that I keep getting asked too many times: Doug Jones or no Doug Jones?" Story wrote on Aug. 17, referring to the actor best known for playing Abe Sapien in Hellboy. "Here's the lowdown. Doug has been working on a number of things regarding the Surfer. In order for the presence of the CGI SS to appear and move real, we need someone to perfect movement and provide a base, to which Weta can do their thing. [That's] the [gist] of it. I don't know what that confirms for you guys, but there you go."

Story also wrote about changes to the look of The Thing (Michael Chiklis) and Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon). "The latest test of Chiklis' new Thing makeup is looking good," he wrote. "I think I told you guys about how we were improving the suit. For one, it's lighter and will allow Chikie to be more athletic. I know many of you wish The Thing could've been more agile; well, you got it. Michael's excited. We've made improvements to areas like the brow. Yes, yes, it's a little bigger. You guys have to remember the brow can't be too big, because it just doesn't look as good as you might think, but we have improved it. This all came from the fans saying they wish it were bigger. He'll be wearing more clothes as well. Now that he's comfortable with himself, we can have more fun with his appearance. Wait until you see him in his tux."

Story added: "The new mask for Doom is awesome. There's a more evil tone to it. I've been working on a maquette of the entire Doom look, complete with armor, with my friends at Spectral Motion (the guys who brought you Thing, Beast, Juggernaut, Hellboy, etc.), the look is madd cool. I think you guys will like it. And don't worry, Julian will be seen. I talked to him yesterday, and he can't wait to get busy."

As for the Silver Surfer, the sequel's main new character, Story said: "The Silver Surfer's look just continues to get better. We're trying test on the wake that his board will leave, and we're starting to really get into the look of his eyes. Classic Surfer looks from the comic. I think you will all enjoy it." Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer hits theaters on June 15, 2007.Four 2 Gets New Name

Fox confirmed to Superhero Hype! that the upcoming Fantastic Four sequel has a new name: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The movie was previously known as Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer. The sequel, directed by Tim Story, is set to hit theaters on June 15, 2007.

In the sequel, the intergalactic herald the Silver Surfer comes to Earth to prepare it for destruction. As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue (Jessica Alba), Johnny (Chris Evans) and Ben (Michael Chiklis) must unravel the mystery. At the same time, they find themselves again confronting their mortal enemy, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon).Illusionist's Biel Gets Smacked?

Jessica Biel, who co-stars in the supernatural period drama The Illusionist, told SCI FI Wire that co-star Rufus Sewell seems to slap her in a key scene, but that it was only an illusion. Even so, Biel said she found the scene traumatic. In it, Sewell appears to slap her when her character, a noblewoman named Sophie, defies his, Crown Prince Leopold, to whom she is betrothed.

"It was a big step," Biel said in an interview. "It was extremely nerve-wracking, but I knew that if it terrified me that I should do it. I was enamored with the story and with the character and with the idea of that time period and being in that wardrobe and really creating this person and stepping into the shoes of someone that I have no idea about."

Playing a traditional woman in the turn-of-the-20th-century drama was a departure for Biel, who is better known for her kickass action heroines in such films as Stealth and Blade: Trinity. "I felt that it was very different from previous roles that I've done, modern roles," Biel said. "I felt that I was pretty much me in a lot of those roles, just changing it up a little bit. But with this I felt like I was stepping into the abyss. I didn't know what was going to happen, really. So I just enjoyed the challenge and was excited to surprise people with it. I'm just so happy that it turned out the way that it did."

In the scene in which Leopold slaps Sophie, she is telling her betrothed that she is in love with Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a magician with seemingly supernatural powers. "There's an intense emotional aspect to that scene," Biel said. "I think, ... 'I can't do this anymore. I'm just trying to be honest with you.' Of course, he goes off the handle and strikes her. I think the way that I felt as a character was that I felt so violated by that, that the best response, better than attacking back or hitting back, is to really say, 'Well, that doesn't bother me. I'm leaving.' And that's what was so cool about Sophie in that scene and how we played it. It was just, 'I'm not going to react to this. Goodbye.' She didn't react to it, and that's what pissed him off. In the beginning of the scene he says something, and she barely reacts to it, and he's getting crazy, and he's doing exactly what she knows he's going to do. She doesn't react to it. It built like that until that final moment, which was like a kick to the face when she just walks out. He couldn't believe it."

The redness in her cheek that's apparent in the film is no illusion either. "My cheek did get really red," Biel said. "I saw that, too. He did not ever hit me, but it startled me every time, I think, and I just felt demeaned by it for some reason. I guess that I was very involved in that scene, and I felt very in the moment in that scene, and I do remember my face just sort of blushing."

Biel added that the scene was the toughest part of the film for her. "I think that Rufus and I really like each other, and so it was probably hard," she said. "I mean, we had a nice friendship, and he was a really lovely guy. I'm sure that he didn't want to pretend and smack me. I'm sure that it wasn't just another scene. It was really emotional for him as well." The Illusionist, which is based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," opened Aug. 18. —Mike SzymanskiIllusionist's Biel Dressed It Up

Jessica Biel, who plays a turn-of-the-20th-century European noblewoman in the The Illusionist, told SCI FI Wire that showing up to her audition in a dress from the early 1900s helped nab her the role of a lifetime. "I showed up at my last audition, which I did with [star] Edward [Norton], in full costume," Biel said. "I figured this is my one opportunity. I've got to go all the way. They might laugh, but they might love it."

Biel—who is otherwise known for her roles in such genre films as Blade: Trinity and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—said that she found the costume in a vintage-clothing store. "I went to this store called Paris 1900. It's on Main Street in Santa Monica," Calif., she said. "It's really beautiful. It has all these vintage blouses, scarves and beautiful things. I just went crazy. I bought a blouse and sash and a long beautiful skirt and earrings. I had friends do my hair, and I wore no makeup. I just walked in there like I was out of some back lot."

At first, Biel thought she went a bit to far. "The first reaction was a little shocked," she recalled. "Then I thought, 'This is going to go so wrong.' [Writer/director] Neil [Burger] looked at me and said 'Oh, my God, now we have one outfit out of the way.' He just put me at ease immediately. If he hadn't said that, I think I might have botched my audition."

In The Illusionist, which is based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," Biel plays Sophie, a countess who is the center of a love triangle in Vienna involving Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) and a magician played by Norton.

For his part, Burger said that he and Norton loved the extra effort Biel made in the audition process. "Two things happened with the casting of Jessica," he said. "She came in, and she knocked us out. I'm sure she told you. It really took us by surprise, and what you realized was that she had this timeless classic beauty that was perfect for the period. I've looked at hundreds of photos of that time, and she would have fit right in. She would be one of the most beautiful women of that time, and still it completely worked. The other thing for the character of Sophie [is] she's a fearless woman and take risks. And Jessie had that same kind of quality: completely fearless, adventuresome, strong and really bold. She walked on the set with those three actors, Edward, and Paul [Giamatti] and Rufus, and they're all intense guys and really intimidating, and they're all at the top of their craft, and she got on the set and there was no problem." The Illusionist opened Aug. 18. —Mike Szymanski4400's Campbell Back, Talking

Billy Campbell, who returns to USA Network's SF series The 4400 as the mysterious Jordan Collier, told SCI FI Wire that he took up the role again after arriving back in Vancouver, B.C., after crewing a round-the-world sailing expedition for 13 months. "About 28 hours after I had been cleaning a toilet onboard, I was standing in front of a movie camera, so it was very strange," Campbell said in an interview about his abrupt reintroduction to TV. "I honestly don't remember the first couple of weeks I was back in Vancouver. It was like I was having an out-of-body experience. [Executive producer] Ira [Steven Behr] will tell you, I was just wandering around with this dazed look in my eye. But yeah, it was quite strange to be back."

Campbell, who plays the leader of a group of abductees returned from the future to save humanity in 2006, appears in the last four episodes of the current third season. His boat trip, which began last year, prevented producers from using him more this season, Behr acknowledged in a conference call on Aug. 16. "What I told the staff [was], 'OK, we are going to basically do a full season in three episodes," Behr said. "[A] full season of Jordan Collier story, so we're going to cut out all the, ... like, connective-tissue-type of storylines or scenes and just get to the essence of what we want to do with the character this season."

As for Campbell, who was a crew member of the Picton Castle, he said he appreciated being able to go on his adventure. "I don't remember the precise conversation, but I do remember saying to my agent, 'You know, I'm going to be on a boat for 13 months,' and being shocked when she came back and said, 'Well, they're OK with that,'" Campbell said. "I thought for sure I'd never hear from those guys again. And then, of course, the conversations after that sort of went, 'But they want to know if they need you a few months earlier than 13 months, is that OK?' I said, 'Well, let them know that I'm circumnavigating the planet, and the moment I get back to my starting point, I'll be happy to come back.' And the next conversation was, 'Well, if they need you a few weeks earlier ... ?' But it kept on, and I kept thinking, 'Well, they're probably going to cut me off at some point and say, "You know what? We've thought about this again ... ."' But it never happened, so I was thrilled. It must be one of the only jobs in the world that I could have that would allow me to take a year and sail around the world."

As for Collier's role in the upcoming final two episodes of the season? "I think that obviously the chance to have Jordan Collier back, none of us wanted to blow that opportunity, and it seemed like a chance to really expand and play with the franchise a little bit and take some major steps and big moves with the storyline," Behr said. "I think that's [where] we're going to go. I think that Jordan's return is going to have a big impact on the people closest to him and the people closest to the audience, and beyond [that] I think it's going to have a major impact on society. ... [It] kind of heralds the next phase of storytelling in the series, which is a pretty big load to place on one character, as I say, but it's true." The 4400 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT; the season finale airs Aug. 27. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News EditorFamily Horror Marks Transylvania

Anthony Stacchi and David Feiss, directors of the upcoming animated monster movie Hotel Transylvania, told SCI FI Wire that they wanted to meld classic horror characters with domestic drama, as The Sopranos mixes the Mafia with family issues. (Stacchi worked on the upcoming animated film Open Season.)

"We're kind of going back to the cross-cultural memory of these monsters, not specifically to any particular old movie or anything," Stacchi (Curious George) said in an interview at Sony Pictures Animation studios in Culver City, Calif. "I think Frankenstein, Dracula and the rest of them, they sort of live in people's minds to a certain degree, so we're sort of jumping off from that starting point and then showing the other side of them. Like, we always laugh at The Sopranos, because you think of Mafia people as being one way, and you don't think of them as having all of these domestic family issues."

Hotel Transylvania is set in a decaying castle where the classic movie monsters, including the Mummy and the Wolf Man, have retreated from the world, but where they can't escape domestic issues: Frankenstein's marriage to the Bride is over, and Count Dracula is having trouble controlling his 117-year-old daughter.

"That was the charm of The Sopranos, and we thought it would be funny if the charm of these monsters was, like, they have their own family issues," co-director Feiss said. "Like, Dracula has a daughter that he's concerned about. She's, like, a rebellious teenager, much like Meadow Soprano."

Stacchi added: "And Frankenstein has marriage problems, because she's ... filed for divorce from him. ... And then there was always something that appealed to us. As a child, you remember seeing those movies on your local creature-double-feature thing, and ... I as a kid always remember I always felt bad for the monsters. I didn't get the sort of Victorian horror of Frankenstein and Dracula. I was like, 'Why don't they leave them alone? Why are they beating them up? Why do they shoot King Kong? Leave them alone.' And I always wanted to do a movie where you'd get to see that other side of them and see why they were these sort of sad, tortured souls. I mean, Frankenstein didn't ask to be made. Werewolf didn't ask to be made a werewolf. Or the rest of them." Hotel Transylvania, part of Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming initial slate of family films, is aiming for release in late 2008. —Patrick Lee, News EditorCraig Joins Compass Cast

Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) will star in The Golden Compass, the first installment of an intended New Line trilogy based on the Philip Pullman series His Dark Materials, Variety reported. Chris Weitz wrote the script and directs.

Craig will play Lord Asriel, a ruthless and mysterious adventurer who is the uncle of Lyra Belacqua, the young girl who journeys to a parallel universe to save her best friend.

Craig will be reunited with Eva Green, who played Bond temptress Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. In Compass, she plays a witch who helps the young girl navigate a world filled with shape-shifting and otherworldly creatures.

If New Line goes forward with all three installments of Pullman's literary trilogy, Craig's character will be a fixture of each, based on Asriel's role in the Pullman books.

Craig and Green join Nicole Kidman and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards in Compass, which begins production Sept. 4 in the United Kingdom.

Craig will shoot the film and then return for the 22nd installment of the James Bond series, which has already been stamped with a May 2, 2008, release date.McAvoy Headlines Wanted

James McAvoy has landed the starring role in Universal Pictures' Wanted, an SF action movie that will mark the English-language debut of Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Wanted is based on a comic-book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, published by Top Cow. The story follows a put-upon young man who discovers that his long-lost father is an assassin. After his dad is murdered, the son is recruited into a covert organization of killers and trained to follow in his father's footsteps.

The comic is considered hard-core, and the movie probably will be rated R. The script was penned by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (2 Fast 2 Furious).

McAvoy's credits include the role of Mr. Tumnus, the faun, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.F.E.A.R. Due For PS3

Sierra Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, announced that its award-winning video game F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) is in development for the PlayStation 3, which will ship in November.

Already a hit in its PC version, F.E.A.R. will bring a new level of first-person-shooter gameplay to the PlayStation 3 with exclusive single-player content designed to immerse the player deeper in the world of the F.E.A.R. team. The PS3 version will also feature multiplayer gameplay.

Developed by Day 1 Studios in conjunction with Monolith Productions, F.E.A.R. is a paranormal action thriller presented entirely in the first person. The game combines close-quarters combat with the paranormal.Surf Won Over Lebowski Star

Chris Buck, one of the directors of the upcoming animated penguin surf film Surf's Up, told SCI FI Wire that he and co-director Ash Brannon persuaded a reluctant Jeff Bridges to voice a character by showing him some test animation that incorporated one of Bridges' earlier performances. "We had seen The Big Lebowski, and we of course knew Jeff's career, and just knew he was perfect, and the voice was perfect," Buck said in an interview at a preview of Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming slate in Culver City, Calif., earlier this week. "And I don't remember whose [idea] it was specifically, but I think we just said, 'Let's find a great line that says it all and has that surfer attitude,' and The Dude has that."

The resulting animation shows the Surf's Up character, a large gone-to-seed surfer penguin named The Geek, mouthing Bridge's famous line from Lebowski: "I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. That, or Duder. His Dudeness. Or El Duderino, if, you know, you're not into the whole brevity thing." Sony screened the bit of test footage for SCI FI Wire and other reporters on Aug. 15; the animation matches the corpulent penguin's slacker movements to Bridges' slacker voice.

"He was just perfect," Buck said. "You see, that's the way to test it: You get a voice recording for some other movie that the actors have done, put it up against a test from the character, and see if that voice embodies that character. We knew it would work, and then when we saw it, it was brilliant."

What did Bridges think? "Jeff loved it and said, 'You guys have inspired me to go back to the gym,'" Buck said.

Surf's Up, which is still in production, uses a mockumentary style to tell the "true story" of how penguins invented surfing. Bridges voices a mentor to Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a young surfer wannabe. Surf's Up, part of Sony Pictures Animation's initial slate of family-friendly computer-animated movies, is slated for release on June 8, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News EditorCovenant Pushes PG-13

Renny Harlin, director of the upcoming film The Covenant, told SCI FI Wire that the studio dictated a PG-13 rating, but that didn't mean he held back on mature content. "It's definitely dark, and it's violent, and it has lots of action," Harlin said in an interview on the set in Montreal. "It's meant to be very scary. But there's no blood, and it's not about, like, stabbing people and splattering their brains on the wall."

The Covenant stars Steven Strait (Sky High), Taylor Kitsch (NBC's Friday Night Lights), Sebastian Stan, Toby Hemingway and Chace Crawford as five New England teens who are descended from a long line of warlocks. But as they approach their 18th birthdays, when they ascend to full power, jealousy and suspicion threaten to tear their friendship apart.

Harlin was aware when making the film that the cast and storyline would attract a demographic accustomed to a certain aesthetic. "We have a generation, a couple of generations, of moviegoers now who have grown up with MTV and commercials and music videos and video games," he said. "So they have visual sensibilities [that] are so much more sophisticated than previously. ... It's not like I sit at night wondering, like, 'Oh, my God, how do I make this really hit so all the music video fans like it?' But it's just like all of our sensibilities have developed as this art form has developed, and you automatically go for something that is hopefully more satisfying or exciting or supports the story in a more fresh way."

Harlin added that he plans to stick with what he knows best. "Nowadays you see a lot of movies that are really fast cut, and you force the audience into being excited," he said. "And we're doing kind of the opposite. We still have lots of angles and all that, but it's more, sort of, and the camera moves also, but it's more deliberate." The Covenant opens Sept. 8. —Cindy WhiteCovenant Deals With Power

Steven Strait, who plays the leader of a young group of warlocks in the upcoming supernatural action film The Covenant, told SCI FI Wire that the film can be seen as a metaphor for substance abuse. "I think it can be used in many different ways," Strait (Sky High) said in an interview on the set in Montreal last year. "Abuse of power, abuse of anything. Drug abuse. You can more or less apply it to whatever type of gift that's given to you that you abuse in any sort of way."

Strait's character, Caleb, is one of the "sons of Ipswitch," the first-born sons of five powerful New England families. As the boys approach their ascension into full-fledged warlocks at the age of 18, a conflict emerges within the tight-knit group of friends over the responsible use of their powers. "This group of people that is so unique, they have each other with this secret that they have, and that no one else really relates to," Strait said. "And being able to get a handle or a grip on this power that they really have had no choice in having. The problem is, with this huge responsibility and power, ... after a certain age, it starts to age you every time you use it. It's really a balance of what you can do with the responsibilities that you have. If you're going to use your power and suffer the consequences, or not use it."

Strait said that his experience filming last year's superhero comedy Sky High, which had a similar coming-of-age theme, helped him with certain aspects of The Covenant, such as the wire work and special effects. But that's where the similarities ended. "Sky High was much more satirical and animated and sort of comedic in style," Strait said. "This is not. I mean, there are funny moments, and there are definitely enjoyable sort of action-filled moments. But there's a different dynamic going on that really can be applied to growing up with a responsibility. I mean, you have to understand that this small group of guys have this intense gift that only they have. They can't expose that to anybody. And if they overuse it, they're more or less dead. So I mean, you can apply that symbol to a lot of things. But it's talking about a different subject." The Covenant opens Sept. 8. —Cindy WhiteD&D Fan Films Sought

Budding filmmakers are being sought for the Dungeons & Dragons Fan Film Contest, which ends Sept. 1. The grand prize is a new computer, video-editing software, a video camera and a Dungeons & Dragons "Year of Dragons" gift pack. Three finalists will receive round-trip flights to Los Angeles, along with hotel accommodations, to attend the final awards ceremony.

All eligible films will be posted at Gamevideos.com about Sept. 15, and fans nationwide will be able to vote for their favorites until Sept. 30. The final three films will be screened in Los Angeles at the Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day, where the grand-prize winner will be announced.Camelot Expansion Due

EA announced that it will ship the seventh expansion to Mythic's massively multiplayer online role-playing game Dark Age of Camelot later this year, the GameSpot Web site reported.

When it arrives, Labyrinth of the Minotaur will introduce the bullheaded hulking brutes as a playable race, along with the new "mauler" brawling class of characters with elemental powers, the site reported.

The expansion will also include new quests, mythical items, five new champion levels and the titular Labyrinth, billed as "the largest single dungeon in any MMO."Meatballs Spoofs Disaster Flicks

Philip Lord and Chris Miller told SCI FI Wire that they will co-write and co-direct a computer-animated film based on Judi Barnett's classic children's picture book Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, turning it into a comic homage to disaster movies such as Twister and Armageddon. Meatballs is in development at the newly formed Sony Pictures Animation, part of the studio's initial slate of family-friendly CG films.

The book is a tall tale about a town where food falls from the sky. Lord and Miller (MTV's Clone High) took that premise and morphed into a high concept. "We loved the book," Lord said in an interview at a preview of SPA's slate in Culver City, Calif., on Aug. 15. "We both grew up with the book. It's my favorite kid's book. Chris' too." He added that they thought it was a natural to become "a great disaster movie for kids. And ... that was always our instinctual take from the get-go. I think it's because those disaster movies are kind of silly, and they take themselves really seriously. And we felt like, it's sort of a silly idea for a movie in the first place. And giving it a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek comedy treatment felt like the way to go."

Though Lord and Miller are still writing the script for the proposed film, SPA cobbled together some teaser animation to show how the movie might look. The animation opens on a shot of the White House, onto which falls a giant pancake. The camera pans up to the sky, which is filled with giant flying-saucer-like pancakes, an apparent reference to Independence Day. Subsequent shots show a giant cob of corn rolling down the Great Wall of China and a huge tornado twisting through a city, a la The Day After Tomorrow, but made of spaghetti, flinging off giant meatballs.

"There's a lot of [references]," Miller said. "Pretty much every disaster movie you've ever seen, I think, will be referenced."

Lord added: "You can tell from that teaser there's certainly a little bit of Twister in there, ... with the spaghetti. Independence Day. There's quite a bit of Armageddon. We cite Michael Bay as a huge influence."

Miller interjected: "We're the only people in the world that cite Michael Bay as a huge influence."

"Cool," Lord said. "We just made an enemy. That's awesome. It's a good thing he's not powerful."

Sony Pictures Animation will release Open Season on Sept. 29 and Surf's Up on June 8, 2007. The studio is also developing a horror-themed family comedy, Hotel Transylvania. —Patrick Lee, News EditorJericho's Hero Is A Cipher

The co-creator of CBS' upcoming post-nuclear drama series Jericho told SCI FI Wire that the show's hero, Jake Green (Skeet Ulrich), is a mystery at first. "Where Skeet comes from, it's sort of more about who he is than what he is, I think," executive producer Jonathan Steinberg said in an interview on the show's set in Van Nuys, Calif., last week. "But that's all stuff that ... there's a plan for, and we're sort of [doling it] out as necessary. But, yeah, I mean, you will get a sense for where he came from and what the place he came from has done to him and sort of who he is now."

Jericho centers on the titular Kansas small town, whose residents witness a nuclear explosion on the horizon, then find themselves cut off from the outside world. In the pilot, Ulrich's Jake returns to town after a long absence and tells friends and family that he has been either in the army or in the navy or working on a mysterious project. By the end of the pilot, neither the audience nor the residents of Jericho have any clearer idea of where Jake has been. Jericho, which also stars Gerald McRaney and Ashley Scott, premieres Sept. 20 and will air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT. —Patrick Lee, News EditorCBS Raises Exorcism Pilot

CBS has given a put pilot commitment to an exorcism-themed drama from Joan of Arcadia creator Barbara Hall and producer Joe Roth, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Details of the project, from CBS Paramount Network Television and studio-based Joe Roth Television, are still sketchy, but it is understood to revolve around exorcists and others who investigate supernatural phenomena.

Hall, who is under an overall deal at CBS Paramount TV, is writing the script and is executive-producing the project with Roth, the trade paper reported.

Bob Larson, an expert on cults, the occult and supernatural phenomena, is consulting on the project. Joe Roth TV president Nina Lederman is serving as co-executive producer.Candle Extinguishes Taken

SF author Alan Dean Foster told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, The Candle of Distant Earth, concludes his The Taken trilogy and is an alien-abduction story, but with a twist. "It struck me that with all the stories of alien abduction out there, they all dealt with what happened to the abductees when they were returned," Foster said in an interview. "I thought it would be interesting to describe the adventures and travails of one who doesn't come back."

The humorous SF series follows the adventures of commodities trader Marcus Walker and George, a talking dog. Foster said that the concluding volume will feature "more adventures of Marcus and George and their alien friends, further attempts to locate their worlds and return them to their homes, and that things rarely, as in real life, turn out as we expect (or hope) they will."

With the series coming to a conclusion, Foster said he has no plans to revisit the characters in short fiction or other novels. "But one never knows," he added. "Personally I won't miss it. I never miss work I have already completed. ... I'm much more interested in what's over the next hill. [But] everything I write is personal to me, from the tersest short story to the longest novel."

The Taken trilogy didn't require much research, which made it sheer fun to write, Foster said. "George, by the way, is modeled after one of our three dogs, a mutt [by the] name of Oscar," he added.

Foster said his most important science fiction influences were Eric Frank Russell, Murray Leinster and Robert Sheckley. Outside of the genre, he cited Scrooge McDuck creator Carl Barks and Herman Melville. "With The Taken, I wanted to have fun and the readers to relax and enjoy themselves," Foster said. "Too much dystopian fiction is bad for the soul, especially if one reads the news as well."

Next up for Foster, in October, is Sagramanda, an SF novel about near-future India. In November, Del Rey will publish Trouble Magnet, the latest entry in Foster's long-running Pip & Flinx series. Two other Pip & Flinx novels are also forthcoming: Patrimony next year and Flinx Transcendent. —John Joseph AdamsLegend Eyes Six-Month Shoot

Warner Brothers will shoot its upcoming film adaptation of Richard Matheson's seminal SF book I Am Legend Sept. 23-March 31, 2007, in New York, an unusually long six-month filming period, according to a report on ComingSoon.net and Production Weekly.

Francis Lawrence (Constantine) will direct the SF action movie, which will star Will Smith.

Smith plays Robert Neville, the last living man on Earth, who is surrounded by vampires hungry for Neville's blood. Warner has slated a Nov. 21, 2007, release date for the film.Toronto To Fete Fountain

Director Darren Aronofsky's SF romantic epic film The Fountain will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in a special presentation on Sept. 12, Warner Brothers announced.

The Fountain stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz in a movie about one man's struggle to save the woman he loves, an epic journey that spans 1,500 years.

The Fountain will be released domestically on Nov. 22.Fans Name Kraken

Fans who logged on to SCIFI.COM in July were asked to name an upcoming SCI FI Channel Saturday-night movie about a giant squid; the winner is: Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep. The movie, which stars Victoria Pratt, Charlie O'Connell and Jack Scalia, premieres Sept. 23 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

SCIFI.COM received thousands of entries in its open call for a movie title. Names that got squeezed out included Two Guys, a Girl and a Giant Squid; Tentacles Eight: Humans Two; The Squid Stays in the Picture; Stop or My Squid Will Shoot; and Killamari.

In Kraken, a marine archeologist and sailor search for a coveted artifact, but must figure out how to survive when faced with a terrifying giant squid that seems to be protecting the very relic they so desperately desire. Lost Mobile Games Due

Gameloft, a developer and publisher of games for mobile phones, has signed an agreement with Touchstone Television to develop, publish and distribute mobile games based on ABC's hit SF series Lost and Desperate Housewives, the company said.

The Lost and Desperate Housewives mobile games are scheduled for release in early 2007.

Lost returns with new episodes on Oct. 4 and will air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Banks Jingles In Joe Claus

Elizabeth Banks has snagged a lead role in Joe Claus, Warner Brothers' Vince Vaughn holiday comedy film about Santa's wayward brother, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Directed by David Dobkin, Joe Claus stars Vaughn as the brother who lives in New York and who returns home to the North Pole and almost ruins Christmas. Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey and John Michael Higgins also are in the cast. Banks plays Vaughn's love interest, one of Santa's Little Helpers, who is hyper-organized.

Banks (Slither) will next be seen in Disney's Invincible, which opens Aug. 25.Dreamblade Contender Emerges

Hundreds of gamers at the GenCon gaming convention in Indianapolis' Indiana Convention Center competed over the weekend for a cut of $20,000 being offered in the Dream Series, the competitive tournament circuit for the Dreamblade SF miniatures game from Wizards of the Coast, the company said.

Sam Blackwell of Madison, Wis., captured top honors at the event, which is one of more than 200 tournaments held throughout North America that collectively offer in excess of half a million dollars in cash prizes for competitive play in the recently launched game.

Dreamblade is described as like a game of chess in which everyone plays with different pieces.

Blackwell and other top contenders will have the opportunity to advance to the $50,000 August 2007 Dreamblade championship, the culminating event in the annual Dream Series tournament circuit.McCormack Checks Into 1408

Mary McCormack will star in Dimension Films' Stephen King adaptation 1408, about a haunted hotel, Variety reported.

Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh has exited due to skedding conflicts with her ABC/Touchstone TV series. Touchstone had warned her that the series schedule would have to take precedence over any outside role, but the actress accepted the film hoping that something could be worked out. 1408 is set to shoot in mid-July in the United Kingdom.

John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson star in the movie, about a debunker of paranormal occurrences who encounters real terror when he checks into the notorious room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel. Walsh was to play Cusack's ex-wife.

King's "1408" short story, originally part of an audio book, was published in the collection Everything's Eventual.New 007 Novel Due In 2008

A new James Bond novel will be published in 2008 to mark the centenary of creator Ian Fleming's birth, but the identity of the new author is being kept under wraps, the Reuters news service reported.

Fleming is credited with writing 13 or 14 Bond novels, starting with Casino Royale in 1953 and ending with Octopussy and the Living Daylights in 1966, two years after his death. The authorship of Thunderball is disputed.

Ian Fleming Publications has not yet identified a publisher for the book, which will be released in May 2008, and the author will be a closely guarded secret until publication.

The announcement comes a day after Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, producers of the Bond movies, announced plans for a 22nd Bond film set for release in May 2008.

English actor Daniel Craig stars in the upcoming film version of Casino Royale, which is set for release in November. He will return to the role of 007 in the as-yet-unnamed 22nd Bond movie.

Several writers have been authorized by Ian Fleming Publications to write Bond novels since Fleming's death in 1964, including Kingsley Amis and John Gardner.Mythopoeic Awards Handed Out

The winners of this year's Mythopoeic Awards, honoring fantasy fiction and scholarship, were announced at Mythcon XXXVII in Norman, Okla., on Aug. 6, organizers announced.

The winners follow: The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman; Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature: The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud; Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies: The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull; Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies: National Dreams: The Remaking of Fairy Tales in Nineteenth-Century England by Jennifer Schacker.

The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature is given to the fantasy novel, multi-volume work or single-author story collection for adults published during 2005 that best exemplifies "the spirit of the Inklings." The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature honors books for younger readers in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia. The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies is given to books on J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and/or Charles Williams that make significant contributions to Inklings scholarship. The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies is given to scholarly books on other specific authors in the Inklings tradition or to more general works on the genres of myth and fantasy. BRIEFLY NOTED

The Hollywood Reporter has posted an analysis of the summer battle between X-Men: The Last Stand and Superman Returns and the prospects for further sequels to each.

Paramount has posted a teaser Web site for its upcoming animated sequel film Shrek the Third, which opens next May.

Haley Joel Osment, the 18-year-old former star of The Sixth Sense and A.I. Artificial Intelligence, has been charged with drunken driving and marijuana possession and faces up to six months in jail if convicted on the charges that arose after a car crash in suburban Los Angeles on July 20, the Reuters news service reported.

Spider-Man 3 director Sam Raimi and cast member Thomas Haden Church surprised fans in New York and in London (via simulcast) to premiere the sequel's new trailer and hear the fans' reactions on the movie's official blog.

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, writers of the upcoming Transformers movie, will appear on a live Webcast on Yahoo! at 11 a.m. PT on Aug. 18 to announce the names of robots that will appear in the movie and answer fan questions; questions can be posted now on the official Web site.

A new trailer for the upcoming supernatural teen thriller film The Covenant has been linked through SCI FI Wire's Trailers page.

Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast member Amber Benson (Tara) will guest-star on The CW's Supernatural next season, iFmagazine.com reported.

Thousands of Star Trek fans are expected in Las Vegas this weekend for what promises to be the world's largest fan convention, commemorating the franchise's 40th anniversary next month, the AFP news service reported.

Filmmaker Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) has posted a letter on a Guillermo del Toro fan Web site praising the Mexican-born helmer's upcoming fantasy film Pan's Labyrinth.

Jericho, CBS' upcoming post-apocalyptic drama, will be one of the shows the network will post on its broadband channel Innertube free to be viewed immediately following their network debuts, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Star Trek: Legacy, a video game set for release this fall from publisher Bethesda Softworks, will feature voice-over work and likenesses of all the franchise's captains, including William Shatner (the original series), Patrick Stewart (The Next Generation), Avery Brooks (Deep Space Nine), Kate Mulgrew (Voyager) and Scott Bakula (Enterprise), Variety reported.

A new Web site has launched for the upcoming animated family film Happy Feet, featuring the voices of Robin Williams and Elijah Wood, about a group of emperor penguins in Antarctica who sing to attract their mates and the one penguin who can't. It opens Nov. 17.

Annalynne McCord (Transporter 2) has been cast in Millennium Films and Emmett/Furla Films' remake of Day of the Dead, which Steve Miner is directing from a script by Jeffrey Redick, Variety reported.

Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave and Isabella Rossellini will lend their voices to the independent animated movie My Dog Tulip, based on the 1956 British novel by J.R. Ackerley, about a 14-year friendship between Ackerley and his German shepherd, Tulip, after the writer rescued the dog, Variety reported.