fulltimer56
06-16-2006, 03:41 AM
NEWS OF THE WEEK FOR JUN. 12, 2006
Part 1 of 2
Galactica Collects Peabody
Battlestar Galactica ( http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/ ) executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick were on hand in New York June 5 to accept a prestigious Peabody Award for the SCI FI Channel original series. They were joined by cast members Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jamie Bamber, Katee Sackhoff and Grace Park at the 65th annual Peabody Awards ceremony, hosted by TV satirist Jon Stewart, which took place at the historic Waldorf-Astoria hotel. The show's writing staff was also in attendance.
Video of Moore and Eick's acceptance speeches—as well as praise from fellow Peabody winners and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone—have been posted on SCIFI.COM's SCI FI Pulse video feature.
Peabody winners were announced ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=35328 ) in April by the event's organizer, the University of Georgia. The awards honor "distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio and television networks, stations, producing organizations, cable television organizations and individuals."
Alba Among MTV Winners
A few genre stars took home golden popcorn buckets at the MTV Movie Awards, held June 3 in Los Angeles, including host Jessica Alba, who picked up the award for sexiest performance for Sin City, the Reuters news service reported.
Other SF&F winners at the irreverent awards ceremony included Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the real-life couple who won for best fight in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The couple, who announced the birth of their first child in Namibia last week, were not on hand to pick up the award. "Angelina and Brad are stuck in traffic," actor Colin Farrell joked after announcing the couple's win.
The award for best hero went to Christian Bale for his starring role in Batman Begins, while best villain went to Hayden Christensen for his portrayal of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith. The MTV Movie Awards will be broadcast in the United States on MTV on June 8.
Johns Talks Blade: The Series
PHILADELPHIA—Comic author Geoff Johns, who is a writer and consultant for Spike's upcoming Blade: The Series, told fans here that he co-wrote the pilot for the show with the Blade movie writer David S. Goyer, who is one of the TV show's executive producers. "We have been working together, obviously, in comic books for about four years, so about a year ago David called me up said, 'Hey, we are thinking about doing Blade the TV series. Do you want to help me co-write the pilot?'" Johns said in a panel at the annual Wizard World Convention over the weekend. "I said, 'Yeah,' because I love the movies and the character. So we sat down with Spike TV and started talking about ideas."
Blade: The Series, starring Kirk "Sticky" Jones as the title character, is based on Marvel Comics' vampire-hunter franchise and its series of movies. Goyer and Johns drafted the overall direction of the show's first season, Johns said. "The advantage of doing a TV series compared to a movie is that we get to delve into the history of the character, so there is a lot of year-one type stuff," he said "We see a lot of his origin and what he was before [he was] Blade. We see how he got his tattoos, and we see where he picked up his sword, everything as the series progresses. That's what interests me: Why and how did this guy become Blade?"
Besides Goyer and Johns, the show's writers include show runner David Simkins (Charmed, Dark Angel), Daniel Truly (The Pretender), Adam Targum (The Dead Zone), Barbara Nance (The X-Files) and Marv Wolfman (Teen Titans0.
The first season will comprise 13 episodes, "and we have stories within that, but a lot of it is serialized, and a lot of the stand-alone episodes are built into the overall arc, like The Shield," Johns said. "Goyer always wanted the 13 to be one big movie with little stories in between, so there will be a conclusion at the end of the 13, with plot threads that will continue into season two. It's like a comic book. Overall, the series focuses on Blade coming back to his hometown of Detroit and trying to clean it up. There we meet all sorts of people from his past, and there are a few Marvel guys in there, too." Blade: The Series premieres June 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Spike.
Birds Remake Clarified
Brad Fuller, an executive with Platinum Dunes, told the Bloody-Disgusting.com Web site ( http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/6578 ) that the production company is still developing The Birds, a movie based on Daphne du Maurier's short story, which was also the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller film.
"We are considering remaking The Birds, but our remake is not based on the Hitchcock film," Fuller told the site. "It is based on the Daphne du Maurier short story. So while the concept of birds attacking will be the same, the plot is totally different from Hitchcock's film. We are currently in the process of developing the script."
In Hitchcock's film, birds mysteriously and inexplicably attack the California town of Bodega Bay and its inhabitants, including stars Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren.
Du Maurier's story, by contrast, was set in Cornwall in the United Kingdom and tells a story of birds' becoming hostile after a harsh winter with little food. She was said to have been unhappy with Hitchcock's film version.
Singer Talks 3-D Superman
Bryan Singer, who directed the upcoming Superman Returns, told SCI FI Wire that the IMAX version of the film will be something to behold and will quite possibly offer some additional bells and whistles to moviegoers. "Fortunately, we shot [the film] with a Genesis camera, which is a digital system," Singer said in an interview. "So we have a much higher resolution. So it projects really well to IMAX. That's one benefit for IMAX."
Superman Returns brings back the Man of Steel in a movie that continues the story of the first two Superman films. Brandon Routh stars as Superman/Clark Kent, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. The potential summer blockbuster also becomes the first live-action movie to get the IMAX 3-D treatment, with 20 minutes of the film's action transformed into 3-D.
"We're doing something else which is a little P.T. Barnum and a little funky," Singer said. "To the best of my knowledge it's still happening. I've been knee-deep in printing and mixing, but certain sequences will be in 3-D. The idea is that Clark takes off his glasses, and you put yours on. Not in every sequence, but in a few sequences. They have this amazing system at IMAX. I was extremely blown away when they took some of my 2-D material and '3-D-ified' it using their process. And it was astonishing. I don't know how they did it. It's complex, a lot of man-hours involved and obviously a lot of computers, but with that combined with offering them up some of our visual-effects-separated material they'll be able to create a different experience for some of the sequences." Superman Returns opens in both traditional and IMAX theaters on June 28. —Ian Spelling
Superman Flies To Phones
Warner Brothers Wireless announced the creation of a direct-to-consumer mobile portal themed to Warner Brothers' upcoming movie Superman Returns for mobile phones. The portal, referred to as a WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) site, will feature free promotional content and will allow consumers to purchase paid mobile content for their phones.
In order to access the WAP site, fans text "S" to 43892 on their mobile phones and will receive a text message back that will push them to the Superman Returns wireless portal for wallpapers, alerts, games, tones, wallpapers, showtimes and more.
Superman Returns hits theaters on June 28.
Combs Figures More In 4400
Ira Steven Behr—executive producer of USA's SF series The 4400, which begins its third season this week—told SCI FI Wire that guest star Jeffrey Combs will appear in seven of the upcoming season's 13 episodes, reprising the role of twitchy scientist Kevin Burkhoff.
"Jeff is up in Vancouver even as we speak filming show nine, 'The Ballad of Kevin and Tess,'" Behr said in an interview in his West Hollywood, Calif., office on June 2. "So, yeah, ... he's still going to be in other episodes."
Combs, who was also a recurring cast member on Behr's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was introduced last season as the human scientist who discovers the secret behind the powers held by the 4,400 people who had been abducted and returned mysteriously. This season, he will continue to figure out a way to develop his own powers, a quest that culminates in the season's ninth episode.
"It's Kevin's experiment that he's been conducting on himself, trying to see if he could be the first non-4400 to develop 4400 capability," Behr said. "[It] is reaching its climax, and he is in a great deal of trouble. A lot of people are looking for him, and he is ... on the run with Tess, who is [played by former Firefly star] Summer Glau, who we met last year as well. So the two of them are off together, and there's a connection with Diana [Jacqueline McKenzie] and Kevin that we play throughout his episodes that's kind of nice." The 4400 returns at 9 p.m. ET/PT on June 11 with a two-hour season premiere. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Campbell Absent From 4400
Ira Steven Behr, executive producer of USA Network's The 4400, told SCI FI Wire that key player Billy Campbell, who played 4400 leader Jordan Collier, hasn't returned from his holiday as part of the crew of a sailing ship on an 18-month, around-the-world cruise, though the show is already in production on the ninth episode of its upcoming 13-episode third season. But Campbell will return soon to shoot the season's final episodes.
"From the very beginning of the season, of course, we knew that Billy Campbell was taking off to go sailing for 18 months on his tall ship," Behr said in an interview in his West Hollywood, Calif., office last week. "So we knew we were going to lose him, right, and then get him back. But we knew we were going to lose him."
Campbell's character, the charismatic leader of a group of returned abductees with special powers, appeared to have been assassinated last season, but showed up briefly in the surprising final scenes of the season finale. But the show won't pick up the story of Collier's apparent resurrection for a while, and writers have had to write around Campbell's absence, Behr said. "You will hear about him ," Behr said, adding: "You're not going to see Jordan until the 11th episode. ... There's going to be things along the way that keeps the mind wondering, ... but, no, you will not ... be seeing the living, breathing guy [until then]."
Campbell had informed the producers that he would be taking off on the cruise, but "we thought he'd get bored," Behr admitted. "It's not a vacation. He's an active crew member, so he works every day, you know, ... hauling the riggings up and down and down and up. He was telling us this two years ago, and I thought he was lying. I was like, 'What?' We knew he wasn't going to be back for the beginning of the season, but we did not think [it would be this long]. ... I had a couple of very funny e-mails with Billy, who loves the show. ... [He] was, you know, 'I can't wait to come back,' blah blah blah. ... And I'm going, 'Huh?' 'Well, yeah.' ... I'm like, 'OK. Tick. Tick. Tick.'" The 4400 returns at 9 p.m. ET/PT on June 11 with a two-hour season premiere. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
[b]4400 Gets Mythological
VANCOUVER, Canada—Scott Peters, creator and executive producer of USA Network's SF series The 4400, told SCI FI Wire that the series will focus more on the show's central mythology and its effect on the main characters, including Joel Gretsch's federal agent Tom Baldwin and his partner, Jacqueline McKenzie's Diana Skouris. "I think the idea is to try and pull away a little bit," Peters said in an interview on the show's set earlier this year. "We're still going to see new 4400 members. We're still going to have things for Tom and Diana to investigate. But I think what's also really fascinating—something untapped that we're trying to go for here—is the bigger mythology. The bigger questions of who did this. We kind of know who did this, but who specifically did this? And why did they do this? We kind of know why, but why specifically did they do this? And now that they've taken this step, what are the ramifications? And what has changed that maybe they couldn't have predicted?"
The 4400, which returns with its third 13-episode season this week, focuses on the lives of 4,400 people who vanished at various periods over the last several decades and suddenly reappeared, without aging a day and with strange new powers. In the show's first season, it was revealed they were snatched by humans from the future and returned to help prevent some unknown calamity. "We're looking at the span of humanity from before us to what we are now and possibly what we're going to be in the future," Peters said.
Returning cast members include Patrick Flueger (Shawn Farrell), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (Richard Tyler), Conchita Campbell (Maia Rutledge) and Samantha Ferris (NTAC director Nina Jarvis). New cast members include Karina Lombard as Alana Mareva and Megalyn Echikunwoke as a newly grown-up Isabelle.
As for Baldwin and Skouris, Peters said: "We see their home lives, and they're intertwined with their work lives, and so it makes for a much more rich story, I think, and really rounds out the character. So it's not just the business suit all day long, and that's all you see. You get to see them in their pajamas at night or out at the bar or whatever it is. Or the kid is having trouble at school, and you have to go deal with that, but you still have to catch the killer. So it helps round everything out."
Peters added that he will be directing at least three episodes this year. The 4400 returns at 9 p.m. ET/PT on June 11 with a two-hour season premiere. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Horror Reunites Gordon, Combs
Cult horror filmmaker Stuart Gordon told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming movie for Showtime's second season of Masters of Horror will be based on a classic horror story and will reunite Gordon with his Re-Animator star, Jeffrey Combs. "I'm going to be doing Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat,'" Gordon said in an interview. "Jeffrey Combs [who also appeared in Gordon's From Beyond] is going to be playing Edgar Allan Poe, so that's going to be pretty wonderful. What we've done is we've combined the story and Poe's life. I've always wanted to do a biography of Poe, because his life was like one of his stories. I mean, there was just so much stuff going on."
In the first season of the hit anthology series, Gordon directed a one-hour movie based on H.P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House. Showtime describes Gordon's next Horror show: The great Edgar Allan Poe, out of ideas and short on cash, is tormented by a black cat that will either destroy his life or inspire him to write one of his most famous stories.
Gordon said of Poe: "He married his 13-year-old cousin. At a recital, she was singing, and a blood vessel burst in her throat, and blood came spurting out of her mouth. It turned out she had tuberculosis, and she went through a long illness, which made Poe drink even more heavily. So we've sort of mixed that story with 'The Black Cat,' which is a story about a guy who turns very nasty when he gets drunk and starts doing terrible things to the cat. I'll be shooting that in September. We just turned in the first draft of the script, and I'm real pleased with it. I think that's going to be terrific."
The second season of Masters of Horror debuts in the fall and will again comprise 13 original one-hour films directed by horror veterans. In addition to Gordon, directors returning for a second outing include Dario Argento (Suspiria), John Carpenter (Halloween), Joe Dante (The Howling), Tobe Hooper (Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and John Landis (An American Werewolf in London). —Ian Spelling
From Beyond Cuts Restored
Cult filmmaker Stuart Gordon told SCI FI Wire that he welcomed the opportunity to restore his 1986 horror film From Beyond to its original, unrated glory for an upcoming 20th-anniversary airing on Monsters HD. Gordon directed From Beyond as a follow-up to his cult classic Re-animator, but the Motion Picture Association of America forced him to make trims in order to secure an R rating.
"Monsters HD helped me put back all the material that I had to cut out," Gordon said in an interview. "It was a wonderful feeling to see it put together again. What's great about the new version is that it's the first time it's ever been shown in letterbox, so you're seeing the full frame. And also, being in high-def, the colors and the sharpness and everything; it just looks fantastic. I'd forgotten how beautiful the film is."
From Beyond, which is based on an H.P. Lovecraft tale, centers on a scientist (Ted Sorel) who creates a device called "the Resonator" that stimulates the pineal gland and opens the mind to other dimensions. The scientist takes his obsession too far, unleashing a sixth sense that essentially devours him and threatens to get the better of the scientist's nervous assistant (Jeffrey Combs) and a female scientist (Barbara Crampton) eager to learn more about the wayward experiment.
"The cuts we'd had to make, ... I would say, ... castrated the movie," Gordon said. "That's the way I would put it. We had to cut out some of the strongest material in the film. You have to go back through history a little bit. Re-animator was released unrated, and the MPAA was not happy about that, and so they were kind of getting their revenge with From Beyond."
Asked to describe what scene he was most satisfied to restore, Gordon replied: "I think the biggest scene is the one in which Crawford Tillinghast [Combs] is being examined, and he's got this thing, the pineal gland, growing out of his head. He sort of escapes from his room and then is discovered eating brains. And that whole sequence was the one that they really hit the hardest. We had to cut the murder of the psychiatrist [Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, the director's wife], in which he sucked her brain through her eye socket. In the release version, none of that was shown. There's a cut to them struggling, and then we see a shot of her shoes and blood splattering on the floor, and that's about it. So that sequence was completely restored." Monsters HD will air the world premiere of the "director's cut" of From Beyond on June 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. —Ian Spelling
Cage: Ghost Almost Ready
Nicolas Cage, who stars in the much-delayed comic-book movie Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that the film is all but finished and that the delays resulted from a desire to get the visual effects right. "They're just tweaking certain things toward the end," Cage said in an interview during a break in filming of his next film, the SF thriller Next. "The reason why the movie was delayed—I know that's been on people's minds—is there were some effects that finally got authorized by the studio that [writer-director] Mark [Steven Johnson] really wanted, and they're pretty big, and it took time to put them together and design them. So we had to delay it. I think it's good, because it's something we really wanted to fight for, with Ghost Rider going into battle with the helicopter."
In Ghost Rider, which is based on the Marvel Comics series, Cage plays a stunt motorcycle rider who makes a pact with the devil and spends his nights as an avenging demon whose head is a flaming skull. The film has had several rumored release dates and has been officially slated for a Feb. 16, 2007, release, several months after its last official release date of July 14.
Cage, an avowed fan of comic books, agreed that Ghost Rider was a dream project. (Cage even has a real tattoo of the Ghost Rider's flaming skull on his left upper arm—a tattoo, ironically, that had to be covered up for him to play the part.) "Of all the characters, I feel like that's the one that we really haven't seen anything quite like yet, and it's new territory, because he deals with the spiritual as well as the physical world," he said. "And that's pretty complex stuff for a comic-book character. Also, he's a lot of fun. The character is Johnny Blaze. The way we designed him, he's a fun character, and I wanted to bring a little humor to it as well."
Next's Moore Used FBI Skills
Julianne Moore, who plays a federal agent in the upcoming SF movie Next, told SCI FI Wire that she was able to make use of FBI training she received when she played special agent Clarice Starling in 2001's Hannibal. "Certainly the gun training," Moore said in an interview between takes during Next's production in the Port of Los Angeles on June 1. "I mean, the funny thing is, with Hannibal, I did extensive research at [the FBI academy at] Quantico [Virginia] and stuff, and the nice thing was that, because I'd already done it, I didn't have to do it again. And, ... also, I think we take many more liberties making a movie like this than we did with Hannibal."
In Next, which is based on the Philip K. Dick short story "The Golden Man," Moore plays Callie Ferris, an FBI agent who is tracking a Las Vegas magician (played by Nicolas Cage) because she believes he is a real psychic and can aid in the hunt for terrorists. Aside from being another FBI agent, Moore said that the character is a departure for her in some ways.
"The nice thing about playing a character who is the pursuer is that ... I don't have responsibility of making my character the emotional center of the movie," Moore said. "Whereas you do when you're doing something like Hannibal: ... Her story is what's driving the movie. With this, I'm almost the bad guy in a way. I'm the person who's pursuing the emotional center of the movie, who's Nick. I'm going after Nick. ... For me, I have a lot of permission to be the bad guy, to be like, 'Well, I don't care! Well, let's just go get him.' Which is sort of fun to do, because it's just a different way to approach things. And you find out that she's not bad. But she is the person who's pursuing him. So it's fun."
Moore added that Next is not as farfetched as it seems. "I have a pretty close friend that works for the FBI, and you'd be astonished at the kind of stuff that they [do]," she said. "Oh, yeah. They work with psychics. Oh, yeah, they do that stuff all the time. Chandra Levy, there were a lot of psychics on that case." Next is currently in production, with an eye to a September 2007 release. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Next Is SF Love Story
Todd Garner, producer of Nicolas Cage's upcoming SF movie Next, told SCI FI Wire that producer/star Cage had a lot of input into the film, which is based on a Philip K. Dick short story. "It's based on a Philip K. Dick story called 'The Golden Man,' but there’s very little that resembles it other than the character being a precog [someone who can see the future]," Garner said in an interview on the film's set in the Port of Los Angeles last week. "The writer, Gary Goldman, took that notion and created a whole new world with it, ... and Nick had his own spin on the character."
Cage is a producer on the film through his Saturn Films production company, along with partner Norm Golightly. Cage also stars as Cris Johnson, a man who can see the future—but only two minutes ahead. On a sunny day last week, SCI FI Wire was on set as director Lee Tamahori shot a climactic fight sequence on a dock, complete with three dozen machine-gun-firing commandos and terrorists, three helicopters and a container ship with a nuclear bomb on board. Cage and co-stars Jessica Biel and Julianne Moore all took part.
Garner was also there, describing how Cage tailored the character of Johnson to his own tastes: "The character is kind of this very low-rent magician that works in kind of the sleaziest house in Vegas, and he does two shows a day, one in the morning and one at night for the tourists, and he's essentially hiding in plain sight, because he does have this precognitive power." But the movie isn't just SF action, Garner added.
"It's not," Garner said. "Truthfully, it's a love story at the center of it, because the actual core essence of the movie is that Cris Johnson is a man who can see two minutes into the future. That's how far his powers work. Which isn't that great of a power, necessarily. There are certain things you can do and certain things you can't do. But for some reason, when he imagines or precogs his life with Liz, played by Jessica Biel, he can go much further into the future, and he doesn't have any idea why he can do that. And, really, the movie is about figuring out: Is this woman his destiny? And why does his power expand when it comes to her? In essence, it's a love story, because he goes and seeks this girl out to find out why her." Next is in production with an eye to a September 2007 release. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Biel Surprises In The Illusionist
Jessica Biel, who stars in the upcoming period supernatural movie The Illusionist, told SCI FI Wire that her role as a 19th-century Viennese princess marks a departure from her previous parts, which included a kick-ass vampire hunter in Blade: Trinity and a cocky fighter jock in Stealth. "I'm trying to diversify away from any type of stereotype whatsoever," Biel said in an interview on the set of her current film, the SF action movie Next. "[I] definitely don't want to be thought of as an action actress or just a period [actress] or just a comedian."
In The Illusionist, based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," Biel plays Princess Sophie, the romantic object of a turn-of-the-century magician played by Edward Norton and his rival, Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), to whom Sophie becomes engaged. The role allowed Biel to explore a different kind of character.
"I'd like to really do everything," Biel said. "I don't ever want to get stuck in a box. It's just not fun at all. But yeah, I did The Illusionist. It went to Sundance and was directed by Neil Burger, and [stars] Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti [and] Rufus Sewell. It's a 1900s romance kind of mystery, a magic movie. It's got a lot of different elements. Just went to the Seattle film festival. It's going to the Maui film festival." The Illusionist debuts Aug. 18. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Strauses Confirmed On AvP 2
Variety confirmed that visual-effects pros Greg and Colin Strause have been hired to direct Alien vs. Predator 2 for 20th Century Fox, a story first reported on IGN FilmForce ( http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/711/711432p1.html ). Shooting is slated to begin in September for a summer 2007 release.
Armageddon writer Shane Salerno, who rewrote the original Alien vs. Predator, wrote the script.
Davis Entertainment's John Davis and Robbie Brenner are producing. Davis Entertainment also produced the first film in the franchise, as well as Predator and Predator 2.
The Strause brothers own Santa Monica, Calif.,-based visual-effects house Hydraulics and have extensive visual-effects credits on films including Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow and X-Men: The Last Stand.
Horror Guild Nominees Named
The International Horror Guild announced nominees for its 2005 awards and named Chelsea Quinn Yarbro the recipient of its annual Living Legend award. Yarbro becomes the first woman so honored for her contributions to the field of horror and dark fantasy, the guild said. The awards will be presented during the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, Texas, Nov. 2-5. A full list of nominees follows.
Novel: Lunar Park by Brett Easton Ellis, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel, The Stone Ship by Peter Raftos, The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren, translated by Paul Britten-Austin
Short Fiction: "There's a Hole in the City" by Rick Bowes ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/bowes5/index.html ), "The Third Factor" by Brian Evenson, "Go Between" by China Mieville, "Invisible" by Steve Rasnic Tem
Mid-Length Fiction: "Proboscis" by Laird Barron, "Boatman's Holiday" by Jeffrey Ford, "My Father's Mask" by Joe Hill, "La Peau Verte" by Caitlin Kiernan
Long Fiction: "The Imago Sequence" by Laird Barron, "Kiss of the Mudman" by Gary Braunbeck, "Voluntary Committal" by Joe Hill, "The Serial Murders" by Kim Newman ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/newman4/index.html ).
Collection (Single Author): Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham, 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill, To Charles Fort, with Love by Caitlin Kiernan, Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
Anthology: No award
Periodical: The Book of Dark Wisdom, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Postscripts, SciFiction ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/ ), Subterranean
Illustrated Narrative: The Black Forest 2 by Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell and Neil Vokes; The Dark Horse Book of the Dead, Scott Allie, ed.; Memories by Enki Bilal; The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Will Eisner; Plucker by Brom
Nonfiction: Mad, Bad and Dangerous? The Scientists and the Cinema by Christopher Frayling; Horror: Another 100 Best Books, Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, eds.; Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopedia, S.T. Joshi and Stefan Dziemianowicz, eds.; The Ring Companion by Denis Meikle; Mr. Fox and Other Feral Tales by Norman Partridge
Art: Exhibition Visions of Heaven and Hell (and Then Some) by Clive Barker, 2005 Hellblazer covers by Tim Bradstreet, exhibition at the World Horror Convention 2005 by Caniglia, production design of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride by Alex McDowell, exhibition Altarwise by Owl-Light by Elizabeth McGrath
Sagan Finds Voice In Everfree
SF author Nick Sagan, son of astronomer Carl Sagan, told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, Everfree, concludes his debut trilogy and is a piece of social science fiction. "[Social SF] is my favorite kind of SF, and it's a privilege to be able to write a book like this, especially in these dangerous times," Sagan said in an interview. "In Cosmos, my dad said, 'There are not yet obvious signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, and this makes us wonder whether civilizations like ours rush inevitably into self-destruction. I dream about it, ... and sometimes they are bad dreams.' I think we all dream about where we're collectively headed, and Everfree is my small contribution to that dialogue."
The trilogy, which began in 2003 with Idlewild, tells the story of a pandemic that kills billions, leaving genetically engineered children as the only survivors, Sagan said. "Raised in isolation by AIs, these immuno-optimized kids come of age to inherit a depopulated world, where they're faced with the enormous tasks of finding a cure for the disease, and then reviving the humans who've been cryonically preserved," he said. "It's an overwhelming responsibility, and throughout the series there's a struggle between what they want to achieve personally and what they've been designed to do."
Sagan said that in Everfree, the post-humans have gotten the plague under control and are in the process of thawing and resuscitating thousands of cryo-preserved humans. "But ... only the richest and most powerful could afford cryonic suspension, so it's the corporate moguls, heads of state and the ultra-privileged who wind up inheriting the earth. ... And while our characters work toward building an egalitarian society of fellow survivors, some of those they rescue have other ideas and want to reinstate themselves into positions of power," he said. "Everfree is about who gets to control the future. Can we build a better society than the one we knew before the plague, or are we destined to fall into the same traps?"
The series began with the protagonist, Halloween, struggling to understand who he is and ends with him facing his demons and finding a kind of peace, Sagan said. "That's a personal story to me, as in the course of writing the series I've followed a similar path," he said. "When you grow up in a famous family, you tend to wrestle with your own identity. To now be on the other side of this trilogy with so many people connecting with my characters and themes gives me a tremendous sense of pride. I'm grateful for that."
Although Everfree concludes the trilogy, Sagan said that he has future plans for the series' characters. "Because I love these characters and the universe they inhabit, it's hard to leave them behind. I know I'll return to their story somewhere down the road, whether in a future novel, short stories or another format entirely," he said. "There are other stories I want to tell right now, but this certainly isn't the last of Halloween." —John Joseph Adams
Omen Debut Blesses Fox
The unusual Tuesday release of 20th Century Fox's The Omen remake film—timed to take advantage of the once-in-a-century date of June 6, 2006, or 6-6-'06—turned out to be a box-office blessing, resulting in a record Tuesday take of more than $12.6 million, according to figures from the Box Office Mojo Web site ( http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2086&p=l.htm ).
To be precise, the studio reported revenues of $12,633,666 at 2,660 theaters—with the "666" a sly nod to the film's satanic theme.
The Omen edged out Meet the Fockers by about $4,000 to claim the highest Tuesday gross ever.
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Galactica Collects Peabody
Battlestar Galactica ( http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/ ) executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick were on hand in New York June 5 to accept a prestigious Peabody Award for the SCI FI Channel original series. They were joined by cast members Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jamie Bamber, Katee Sackhoff and Grace Park at the 65th annual Peabody Awards ceremony, hosted by TV satirist Jon Stewart, which took place at the historic Waldorf-Astoria hotel. The show's writing staff was also in attendance.
Video of Moore and Eick's acceptance speeches—as well as praise from fellow Peabody winners and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone—have been posted on SCIFI.COM's SCI FI Pulse video feature.
Peabody winners were announced ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=35328 ) in April by the event's organizer, the University of Georgia. The awards honor "distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio and television networks, stations, producing organizations, cable television organizations and individuals."
Alba Among MTV Winners
A few genre stars took home golden popcorn buckets at the MTV Movie Awards, held June 3 in Los Angeles, including host Jessica Alba, who picked up the award for sexiest performance for Sin City, the Reuters news service reported.
Other SF&F winners at the irreverent awards ceremony included Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the real-life couple who won for best fight in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The couple, who announced the birth of their first child in Namibia last week, were not on hand to pick up the award. "Angelina and Brad are stuck in traffic," actor Colin Farrell joked after announcing the couple's win.
The award for best hero went to Christian Bale for his starring role in Batman Begins, while best villain went to Hayden Christensen for his portrayal of Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith. The MTV Movie Awards will be broadcast in the United States on MTV on June 8.
Johns Talks Blade: The Series
PHILADELPHIA—Comic author Geoff Johns, who is a writer and consultant for Spike's upcoming Blade: The Series, told fans here that he co-wrote the pilot for the show with the Blade movie writer David S. Goyer, who is one of the TV show's executive producers. "We have been working together, obviously, in comic books for about four years, so about a year ago David called me up said, 'Hey, we are thinking about doing Blade the TV series. Do you want to help me co-write the pilot?'" Johns said in a panel at the annual Wizard World Convention over the weekend. "I said, 'Yeah,' because I love the movies and the character. So we sat down with Spike TV and started talking about ideas."
Blade: The Series, starring Kirk "Sticky" Jones as the title character, is based on Marvel Comics' vampire-hunter franchise and its series of movies. Goyer and Johns drafted the overall direction of the show's first season, Johns said. "The advantage of doing a TV series compared to a movie is that we get to delve into the history of the character, so there is a lot of year-one type stuff," he said "We see a lot of his origin and what he was before [he was] Blade. We see how he got his tattoos, and we see where he picked up his sword, everything as the series progresses. That's what interests me: Why and how did this guy become Blade?"
Besides Goyer and Johns, the show's writers include show runner David Simkins (Charmed, Dark Angel), Daniel Truly (The Pretender), Adam Targum (The Dead Zone), Barbara Nance (The X-Files) and Marv Wolfman (Teen Titans0.
The first season will comprise 13 episodes, "and we have stories within that, but a lot of it is serialized, and a lot of the stand-alone episodes are built into the overall arc, like The Shield," Johns said. "Goyer always wanted the 13 to be one big movie with little stories in between, so there will be a conclusion at the end of the 13, with plot threads that will continue into season two. It's like a comic book. Overall, the series focuses on Blade coming back to his hometown of Detroit and trying to clean it up. There we meet all sorts of people from his past, and there are a few Marvel guys in there, too." Blade: The Series premieres June 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Spike.
Birds Remake Clarified
Brad Fuller, an executive with Platinum Dunes, told the Bloody-Disgusting.com Web site ( http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/6578 ) that the production company is still developing The Birds, a movie based on Daphne du Maurier's short story, which was also the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller film.
"We are considering remaking The Birds, but our remake is not based on the Hitchcock film," Fuller told the site. "It is based on the Daphne du Maurier short story. So while the concept of birds attacking will be the same, the plot is totally different from Hitchcock's film. We are currently in the process of developing the script."
In Hitchcock's film, birds mysteriously and inexplicably attack the California town of Bodega Bay and its inhabitants, including stars Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren.
Du Maurier's story, by contrast, was set in Cornwall in the United Kingdom and tells a story of birds' becoming hostile after a harsh winter with little food. She was said to have been unhappy with Hitchcock's film version.
Singer Talks 3-D Superman
Bryan Singer, who directed the upcoming Superman Returns, told SCI FI Wire that the IMAX version of the film will be something to behold and will quite possibly offer some additional bells and whistles to moviegoers. "Fortunately, we shot [the film] with a Genesis camera, which is a digital system," Singer said in an interview. "So we have a much higher resolution. So it projects really well to IMAX. That's one benefit for IMAX."
Superman Returns brings back the Man of Steel in a movie that continues the story of the first two Superman films. Brandon Routh stars as Superman/Clark Kent, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. The potential summer blockbuster also becomes the first live-action movie to get the IMAX 3-D treatment, with 20 minutes of the film's action transformed into 3-D.
"We're doing something else which is a little P.T. Barnum and a little funky," Singer said. "To the best of my knowledge it's still happening. I've been knee-deep in printing and mixing, but certain sequences will be in 3-D. The idea is that Clark takes off his glasses, and you put yours on. Not in every sequence, but in a few sequences. They have this amazing system at IMAX. I was extremely blown away when they took some of my 2-D material and '3-D-ified' it using their process. And it was astonishing. I don't know how they did it. It's complex, a lot of man-hours involved and obviously a lot of computers, but with that combined with offering them up some of our visual-effects-separated material they'll be able to create a different experience for some of the sequences." Superman Returns opens in both traditional and IMAX theaters on June 28. —Ian Spelling
Superman Flies To Phones
Warner Brothers Wireless announced the creation of a direct-to-consumer mobile portal themed to Warner Brothers' upcoming movie Superman Returns for mobile phones. The portal, referred to as a WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) site, will feature free promotional content and will allow consumers to purchase paid mobile content for their phones.
In order to access the WAP site, fans text "S" to 43892 on their mobile phones and will receive a text message back that will push them to the Superman Returns wireless portal for wallpapers, alerts, games, tones, wallpapers, showtimes and more.
Superman Returns hits theaters on June 28.
Combs Figures More In 4400
Ira Steven Behr—executive producer of USA's SF series The 4400, which begins its third season this week—told SCI FI Wire that guest star Jeffrey Combs will appear in seven of the upcoming season's 13 episodes, reprising the role of twitchy scientist Kevin Burkhoff.
"Jeff is up in Vancouver even as we speak filming show nine, 'The Ballad of Kevin and Tess,'" Behr said in an interview in his West Hollywood, Calif., office on June 2. "So, yeah, ... he's still going to be in other episodes."
Combs, who was also a recurring cast member on Behr's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was introduced last season as the human scientist who discovers the secret behind the powers held by the 4,400 people who had been abducted and returned mysteriously. This season, he will continue to figure out a way to develop his own powers, a quest that culminates in the season's ninth episode.
"It's Kevin's experiment that he's been conducting on himself, trying to see if he could be the first non-4400 to develop 4400 capability," Behr said. "[It] is reaching its climax, and he is in a great deal of trouble. A lot of people are looking for him, and he is ... on the run with Tess, who is [played by former Firefly star] Summer Glau, who we met last year as well. So the two of them are off together, and there's a connection with Diana [Jacqueline McKenzie] and Kevin that we play throughout his episodes that's kind of nice." The 4400 returns at 9 p.m. ET/PT on June 11 with a two-hour season premiere. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Campbell Absent From 4400
Ira Steven Behr, executive producer of USA Network's The 4400, told SCI FI Wire that key player Billy Campbell, who played 4400 leader Jordan Collier, hasn't returned from his holiday as part of the crew of a sailing ship on an 18-month, around-the-world cruise, though the show is already in production on the ninth episode of its upcoming 13-episode third season. But Campbell will return soon to shoot the season's final episodes.
"From the very beginning of the season, of course, we knew that Billy Campbell was taking off to go sailing for 18 months on his tall ship," Behr said in an interview in his West Hollywood, Calif., office last week. "So we knew we were going to lose him, right, and then get him back. But we knew we were going to lose him."
Campbell's character, the charismatic leader of a group of returned abductees with special powers, appeared to have been assassinated last season, but showed up briefly in the surprising final scenes of the season finale. But the show won't pick up the story of Collier's apparent resurrection for a while, and writers have had to write around Campbell's absence, Behr said. "You will hear about him ," Behr said, adding: "You're not going to see Jordan until the 11th episode. ... There's going to be things along the way that keeps the mind wondering, ... but, no, you will not ... be seeing the living, breathing guy [until then]."
Campbell had informed the producers that he would be taking off on the cruise, but "we thought he'd get bored," Behr admitted. "It's not a vacation. He's an active crew member, so he works every day, you know, ... hauling the riggings up and down and down and up. He was telling us this two years ago, and I thought he was lying. I was like, 'What?' We knew he wasn't going to be back for the beginning of the season, but we did not think [it would be this long]. ... I had a couple of very funny e-mails with Billy, who loves the show. ... [He] was, you know, 'I can't wait to come back,' blah blah blah. ... And I'm going, 'Huh?' 'Well, yeah.' ... I'm like, 'OK. Tick. Tick. Tick.'" The 4400 returns at 9 p.m. ET/PT on June 11 with a two-hour season premiere. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
[b]4400 Gets Mythological
VANCOUVER, Canada—Scott Peters, creator and executive producer of USA Network's SF series The 4400, told SCI FI Wire that the series will focus more on the show's central mythology and its effect on the main characters, including Joel Gretsch's federal agent Tom Baldwin and his partner, Jacqueline McKenzie's Diana Skouris. "I think the idea is to try and pull away a little bit," Peters said in an interview on the show's set earlier this year. "We're still going to see new 4400 members. We're still going to have things for Tom and Diana to investigate. But I think what's also really fascinating—something untapped that we're trying to go for here—is the bigger mythology. The bigger questions of who did this. We kind of know who did this, but who specifically did this? And why did they do this? We kind of know why, but why specifically did they do this? And now that they've taken this step, what are the ramifications? And what has changed that maybe they couldn't have predicted?"
The 4400, which returns with its third 13-episode season this week, focuses on the lives of 4,400 people who vanished at various periods over the last several decades and suddenly reappeared, without aging a day and with strange new powers. In the show's first season, it was revealed they were snatched by humans from the future and returned to help prevent some unknown calamity. "We're looking at the span of humanity from before us to what we are now and possibly what we're going to be in the future," Peters said.
Returning cast members include Patrick Flueger (Shawn Farrell), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (Richard Tyler), Conchita Campbell (Maia Rutledge) and Samantha Ferris (NTAC director Nina Jarvis). New cast members include Karina Lombard as Alana Mareva and Megalyn Echikunwoke as a newly grown-up Isabelle.
As for Baldwin and Skouris, Peters said: "We see their home lives, and they're intertwined with their work lives, and so it makes for a much more rich story, I think, and really rounds out the character. So it's not just the business suit all day long, and that's all you see. You get to see them in their pajamas at night or out at the bar or whatever it is. Or the kid is having trouble at school, and you have to go deal with that, but you still have to catch the killer. So it helps round everything out."
Peters added that he will be directing at least three episodes this year. The 4400 returns at 9 p.m. ET/PT on June 11 with a two-hour season premiere. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Horror Reunites Gordon, Combs
Cult horror filmmaker Stuart Gordon told SCI FI Wire that his upcoming movie for Showtime's second season of Masters of Horror will be based on a classic horror story and will reunite Gordon with his Re-Animator star, Jeffrey Combs. "I'm going to be doing Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat,'" Gordon said in an interview. "Jeffrey Combs [who also appeared in Gordon's From Beyond] is going to be playing Edgar Allan Poe, so that's going to be pretty wonderful. What we've done is we've combined the story and Poe's life. I've always wanted to do a biography of Poe, because his life was like one of his stories. I mean, there was just so much stuff going on."
In the first season of the hit anthology series, Gordon directed a one-hour movie based on H.P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch-House. Showtime describes Gordon's next Horror show: The great Edgar Allan Poe, out of ideas and short on cash, is tormented by a black cat that will either destroy his life or inspire him to write one of his most famous stories.
Gordon said of Poe: "He married his 13-year-old cousin. At a recital, she was singing, and a blood vessel burst in her throat, and blood came spurting out of her mouth. It turned out she had tuberculosis, and she went through a long illness, which made Poe drink even more heavily. So we've sort of mixed that story with 'The Black Cat,' which is a story about a guy who turns very nasty when he gets drunk and starts doing terrible things to the cat. I'll be shooting that in September. We just turned in the first draft of the script, and I'm real pleased with it. I think that's going to be terrific."
The second season of Masters of Horror debuts in the fall and will again comprise 13 original one-hour films directed by horror veterans. In addition to Gordon, directors returning for a second outing include Dario Argento (Suspiria), John Carpenter (Halloween), Joe Dante (The Howling), Tobe Hooper (Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and John Landis (An American Werewolf in London). —Ian Spelling
From Beyond Cuts Restored
Cult filmmaker Stuart Gordon told SCI FI Wire that he welcomed the opportunity to restore his 1986 horror film From Beyond to its original, unrated glory for an upcoming 20th-anniversary airing on Monsters HD. Gordon directed From Beyond as a follow-up to his cult classic Re-animator, but the Motion Picture Association of America forced him to make trims in order to secure an R rating.
"Monsters HD helped me put back all the material that I had to cut out," Gordon said in an interview. "It was a wonderful feeling to see it put together again. What's great about the new version is that it's the first time it's ever been shown in letterbox, so you're seeing the full frame. And also, being in high-def, the colors and the sharpness and everything; it just looks fantastic. I'd forgotten how beautiful the film is."
From Beyond, which is based on an H.P. Lovecraft tale, centers on a scientist (Ted Sorel) who creates a device called "the Resonator" that stimulates the pineal gland and opens the mind to other dimensions. The scientist takes his obsession too far, unleashing a sixth sense that essentially devours him and threatens to get the better of the scientist's nervous assistant (Jeffrey Combs) and a female scientist (Barbara Crampton) eager to learn more about the wayward experiment.
"The cuts we'd had to make, ... I would say, ... castrated the movie," Gordon said. "That's the way I would put it. We had to cut out some of the strongest material in the film. You have to go back through history a little bit. Re-animator was released unrated, and the MPAA was not happy about that, and so they were kind of getting their revenge with From Beyond."
Asked to describe what scene he was most satisfied to restore, Gordon replied: "I think the biggest scene is the one in which Crawford Tillinghast [Combs] is being examined, and he's got this thing, the pineal gland, growing out of his head. He sort of escapes from his room and then is discovered eating brains. And that whole sequence was the one that they really hit the hardest. We had to cut the murder of the psychiatrist [Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, the director's wife], in which he sucked her brain through her eye socket. In the release version, none of that was shown. There's a cut to them struggling, and then we see a shot of her shoes and blood splattering on the floor, and that's about it. So that sequence was completely restored." Monsters HD will air the world premiere of the "director's cut" of From Beyond on June 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. —Ian Spelling
Cage: Ghost Almost Ready
Nicolas Cage, who stars in the much-delayed comic-book movie Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that the film is all but finished and that the delays resulted from a desire to get the visual effects right. "They're just tweaking certain things toward the end," Cage said in an interview during a break in filming of his next film, the SF thriller Next. "The reason why the movie was delayed—I know that's been on people's minds—is there were some effects that finally got authorized by the studio that [writer-director] Mark [Steven Johnson] really wanted, and they're pretty big, and it took time to put them together and design them. So we had to delay it. I think it's good, because it's something we really wanted to fight for, with Ghost Rider going into battle with the helicopter."
In Ghost Rider, which is based on the Marvel Comics series, Cage plays a stunt motorcycle rider who makes a pact with the devil and spends his nights as an avenging demon whose head is a flaming skull. The film has had several rumored release dates and has been officially slated for a Feb. 16, 2007, release, several months after its last official release date of July 14.
Cage, an avowed fan of comic books, agreed that Ghost Rider was a dream project. (Cage even has a real tattoo of the Ghost Rider's flaming skull on his left upper arm—a tattoo, ironically, that had to be covered up for him to play the part.) "Of all the characters, I feel like that's the one that we really haven't seen anything quite like yet, and it's new territory, because he deals with the spiritual as well as the physical world," he said. "And that's pretty complex stuff for a comic-book character. Also, he's a lot of fun. The character is Johnny Blaze. The way we designed him, he's a fun character, and I wanted to bring a little humor to it as well."
Next's Moore Used FBI Skills
Julianne Moore, who plays a federal agent in the upcoming SF movie Next, told SCI FI Wire that she was able to make use of FBI training she received when she played special agent Clarice Starling in 2001's Hannibal. "Certainly the gun training," Moore said in an interview between takes during Next's production in the Port of Los Angeles on June 1. "I mean, the funny thing is, with Hannibal, I did extensive research at [the FBI academy at] Quantico [Virginia] and stuff, and the nice thing was that, because I'd already done it, I didn't have to do it again. And, ... also, I think we take many more liberties making a movie like this than we did with Hannibal."
In Next, which is based on the Philip K. Dick short story "The Golden Man," Moore plays Callie Ferris, an FBI agent who is tracking a Las Vegas magician (played by Nicolas Cage) because she believes he is a real psychic and can aid in the hunt for terrorists. Aside from being another FBI agent, Moore said that the character is a departure for her in some ways.
"The nice thing about playing a character who is the pursuer is that ... I don't have responsibility of making my character the emotional center of the movie," Moore said. "Whereas you do when you're doing something like Hannibal: ... Her story is what's driving the movie. With this, I'm almost the bad guy in a way. I'm the person who's pursuing the emotional center of the movie, who's Nick. I'm going after Nick. ... For me, I have a lot of permission to be the bad guy, to be like, 'Well, I don't care! Well, let's just go get him.' Which is sort of fun to do, because it's just a different way to approach things. And you find out that she's not bad. But she is the person who's pursuing him. So it's fun."
Moore added that Next is not as farfetched as it seems. "I have a pretty close friend that works for the FBI, and you'd be astonished at the kind of stuff that they [do]," she said. "Oh, yeah. They work with psychics. Oh, yeah, they do that stuff all the time. Chandra Levy, there were a lot of psychics on that case." Next is currently in production, with an eye to a September 2007 release. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Next Is SF Love Story
Todd Garner, producer of Nicolas Cage's upcoming SF movie Next, told SCI FI Wire that producer/star Cage had a lot of input into the film, which is based on a Philip K. Dick short story. "It's based on a Philip K. Dick story called 'The Golden Man,' but there’s very little that resembles it other than the character being a precog [someone who can see the future]," Garner said in an interview on the film's set in the Port of Los Angeles last week. "The writer, Gary Goldman, took that notion and created a whole new world with it, ... and Nick had his own spin on the character."
Cage is a producer on the film through his Saturn Films production company, along with partner Norm Golightly. Cage also stars as Cris Johnson, a man who can see the future—but only two minutes ahead. On a sunny day last week, SCI FI Wire was on set as director Lee Tamahori shot a climactic fight sequence on a dock, complete with three dozen machine-gun-firing commandos and terrorists, three helicopters and a container ship with a nuclear bomb on board. Cage and co-stars Jessica Biel and Julianne Moore all took part.
Garner was also there, describing how Cage tailored the character of Johnson to his own tastes: "The character is kind of this very low-rent magician that works in kind of the sleaziest house in Vegas, and he does two shows a day, one in the morning and one at night for the tourists, and he's essentially hiding in plain sight, because he does have this precognitive power." But the movie isn't just SF action, Garner added.
"It's not," Garner said. "Truthfully, it's a love story at the center of it, because the actual core essence of the movie is that Cris Johnson is a man who can see two minutes into the future. That's how far his powers work. Which isn't that great of a power, necessarily. There are certain things you can do and certain things you can't do. But for some reason, when he imagines or precogs his life with Liz, played by Jessica Biel, he can go much further into the future, and he doesn't have any idea why he can do that. And, really, the movie is about figuring out: Is this woman his destiny? And why does his power expand when it comes to her? In essence, it's a love story, because he goes and seeks this girl out to find out why her." Next is in production with an eye to a September 2007 release. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Biel Surprises In The Illusionist
Jessica Biel, who stars in the upcoming period supernatural movie The Illusionist, told SCI FI Wire that her role as a 19th-century Viennese princess marks a departure from her previous parts, which included a kick-ass vampire hunter in Blade: Trinity and a cocky fighter jock in Stealth. "I'm trying to diversify away from any type of stereotype whatsoever," Biel said in an interview on the set of her current film, the SF action movie Next. "[I] definitely don't want to be thought of as an action actress or just a period [actress] or just a comedian."
In The Illusionist, based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," Biel plays Princess Sophie, the romantic object of a turn-of-the-century magician played by Edward Norton and his rival, Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), to whom Sophie becomes engaged. The role allowed Biel to explore a different kind of character.
"I'd like to really do everything," Biel said. "I don't ever want to get stuck in a box. It's just not fun at all. But yeah, I did The Illusionist. It went to Sundance and was directed by Neil Burger, and [stars] Ed Norton, Paul Giamatti [and] Rufus Sewell. It's a 1900s romance kind of mystery, a magic movie. It's got a lot of different elements. Just went to the Seattle film festival. It's going to the Maui film festival." The Illusionist debuts Aug. 18. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Strauses Confirmed On AvP 2
Variety confirmed that visual-effects pros Greg and Colin Strause have been hired to direct Alien vs. Predator 2 for 20th Century Fox, a story first reported on IGN FilmForce ( http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/711/711432p1.html ). Shooting is slated to begin in September for a summer 2007 release.
Armageddon writer Shane Salerno, who rewrote the original Alien vs. Predator, wrote the script.
Davis Entertainment's John Davis and Robbie Brenner are producing. Davis Entertainment also produced the first film in the franchise, as well as Predator and Predator 2.
The Strause brothers own Santa Monica, Calif.,-based visual-effects house Hydraulics and have extensive visual-effects credits on films including Titanic, The Day After Tomorrow and X-Men: The Last Stand.
Horror Guild Nominees Named
The International Horror Guild announced nominees for its 2005 awards and named Chelsea Quinn Yarbro the recipient of its annual Living Legend award. Yarbro becomes the first woman so honored for her contributions to the field of horror and dark fantasy, the guild said. The awards will be presented during the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, Texas, Nov. 2-5. A full list of nominees follows.
Novel: Lunar Park by Brett Easton Ellis, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel, The Stone Ship by Peter Raftos, The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot, His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred by Carl-Johan Vallgren, translated by Paul Britten-Austin
Short Fiction: "There's a Hole in the City" by Rick Bowes ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/bowes5/index.html ), "The Third Factor" by Brian Evenson, "Go Between" by China Mieville, "Invisible" by Steve Rasnic Tem
Mid-Length Fiction: "Proboscis" by Laird Barron, "Boatman's Holiday" by Jeffrey Ford, "My Father's Mask" by Joe Hill, "La Peau Verte" by Caitlin Kiernan
Long Fiction: "The Imago Sequence" by Laird Barron, "Kiss of the Mudman" by Gary Braunbeck, "Voluntary Committal" by Joe Hill, "The Serial Murders" by Kim Newman ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/newman4/index.html ).
Collection (Single Author): Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham, 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill, To Charles Fort, with Love by Caitlin Kiernan, Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
Anthology: No award
Periodical: The Book of Dark Wisdom, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Postscripts, SciFiction ( http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/ ), Subterranean
Illustrated Narrative: The Black Forest 2 by Todd Livingston, Robert Tinnell and Neil Vokes; The Dark Horse Book of the Dead, Scott Allie, ed.; Memories by Enki Bilal; The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Will Eisner; Plucker by Brom
Nonfiction: Mad, Bad and Dangerous? The Scientists and the Cinema by Christopher Frayling; Horror: Another 100 Best Books, Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, eds.; Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopedia, S.T. Joshi and Stefan Dziemianowicz, eds.; The Ring Companion by Denis Meikle; Mr. Fox and Other Feral Tales by Norman Partridge
Art: Exhibition Visions of Heaven and Hell (and Then Some) by Clive Barker, 2005 Hellblazer covers by Tim Bradstreet, exhibition at the World Horror Convention 2005 by Caniglia, production design of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride by Alex McDowell, exhibition Altarwise by Owl-Light by Elizabeth McGrath
Sagan Finds Voice In Everfree
SF author Nick Sagan, son of astronomer Carl Sagan, told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, Everfree, concludes his debut trilogy and is a piece of social science fiction. "[Social SF] is my favorite kind of SF, and it's a privilege to be able to write a book like this, especially in these dangerous times," Sagan said in an interview. "In Cosmos, my dad said, 'There are not yet obvious signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, and this makes us wonder whether civilizations like ours rush inevitably into self-destruction. I dream about it, ... and sometimes they are bad dreams.' I think we all dream about where we're collectively headed, and Everfree is my small contribution to that dialogue."
The trilogy, which began in 2003 with Idlewild, tells the story of a pandemic that kills billions, leaving genetically engineered children as the only survivors, Sagan said. "Raised in isolation by AIs, these immuno-optimized kids come of age to inherit a depopulated world, where they're faced with the enormous tasks of finding a cure for the disease, and then reviving the humans who've been cryonically preserved," he said. "It's an overwhelming responsibility, and throughout the series there's a struggle between what they want to achieve personally and what they've been designed to do."
Sagan said that in Everfree, the post-humans have gotten the plague under control and are in the process of thawing and resuscitating thousands of cryo-preserved humans. "But ... only the richest and most powerful could afford cryonic suspension, so it's the corporate moguls, heads of state and the ultra-privileged who wind up inheriting the earth. ... And while our characters work toward building an egalitarian society of fellow survivors, some of those they rescue have other ideas and want to reinstate themselves into positions of power," he said. "Everfree is about who gets to control the future. Can we build a better society than the one we knew before the plague, or are we destined to fall into the same traps?"
The series began with the protagonist, Halloween, struggling to understand who he is and ends with him facing his demons and finding a kind of peace, Sagan said. "That's a personal story to me, as in the course of writing the series I've followed a similar path," he said. "When you grow up in a famous family, you tend to wrestle with your own identity. To now be on the other side of this trilogy with so many people connecting with my characters and themes gives me a tremendous sense of pride. I'm grateful for that."
Although Everfree concludes the trilogy, Sagan said that he has future plans for the series' characters. "Because I love these characters and the universe they inhabit, it's hard to leave them behind. I know I'll return to their story somewhere down the road, whether in a future novel, short stories or another format entirely," he said. "There are other stories I want to tell right now, but this certainly isn't the last of Halloween." —John Joseph Adams
Omen Debut Blesses Fox
The unusual Tuesday release of 20th Century Fox's The Omen remake film—timed to take advantage of the once-in-a-century date of June 6, 2006, or 6-6-'06—turned out to be a box-office blessing, resulting in a record Tuesday take of more than $12.6 million, according to figures from the Box Office Mojo Web site ( http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2086&p=l.htm ).
To be precise, the studio reported revenues of $12,633,666 at 2,660 theaters—with the "666" a sly nod to the film's satanic theme.
The Omen edged out Meet the Fockers by about $4,000 to claim the highest Tuesday gross ever.