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08-01-2006, 02:01 AM
NEWS OF THE WEEK FOR JUL. 31, 2006
Part 1 of 2
Venom Won Over Spidey 3's Raimi
Spider-Man 3 director Sam Raimi told SCI FI Wire that he was at first reluctant to make the sequel's big villain the alien-human hybrid Venom, a fan favorite to be played by Topher Grace, and that the SF nature of Venom didn't fit neatly in the more realistic world of the Spider-Man movies. "Avi Arad [the former Marvel chief]—who's really got his pulse on all the Marvel fans better than any head of a corporation has ever understood those people who are interested in the corporation's product—he really knows what those kids want," Raimi said in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "And he said, 'You know, you've ... had two Spider-Man pictures. This third one, there's so many kids, so many fans of Spider-Man, [who] want to see Venom, even if you didn't grow up with him. They want to see him. So you've got the Sandman [Thomas Haden Church]. That's one of your favorite villains. Why don't you bring Venom in also and make those kids, the fans of Venom, happy?' And that's what I thought we should do."
Raimi added that he was won over once he saw how screenwriter Alvin Sargent made use of the character, not to mention how Grace played him and his human alter ego, Eddie Brock. "Now that I've seen Topher Grace perform and saw what Alvin Sargent did with the script—he created a great character, really filled out Eddie Brock into a very meaningful character—and Tobey [Maguire, who plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man,] has a great energy with him in the few scenes that they play together as competitors, and I really like him now."
Venom is the combination of a black alien goo and Eddie Brock, who is a rival of Peter Parker's both in journalism and for the hand of Mary Jane Watson, played by Kirsten Dunst.
As for the science-fiction nature of the Venom storyline, Raimi said: "There's a lot of fantastic elements about Venom that you could say are in conflict with the realism that we wanted to have in the picture. But we just said to ourselves, 'Kirsten and Tobey, you'll have to do the heavy lifting here to bring it back down to earth, because there's this wild goo from outer space, and you're just going to have to connect us to the characters.'" Spider-Man 3 is in post-production and will premiere May 4, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Spidey 3's Grace Stuck On Venom
Topher Grace, who plays Eddie Brock/Venom in the upcoming sequel Spider-Man 3, told SCI FI Wire that he was the ultimate fanboy when he first showed up on set. "The first day I was on the set was in The Bugle, and, like, just as a fan of the first two movies to be, like, you know, like [I was at] those theme parks that are like, 'We'll put you in the movie.' ... And the guy [J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson] is there with the cigar, [saying] 'Parker! Get in here!' Oh, my God. It was ... tough, because I had to be angry, and I was just smiling from ear to ear."
Grace (That '70s Show) plays Brock, an angry young man who is a rival of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) in journalism and for the hand of Mary Jane Watson. Brock becomes the super-powered Venom when he is infected by black alien goo.
"He's a great character to play," Grace said. "Unlike most bad guys, he truly loves being evil. So, I mean, he really comes to grips with it and enjoys it. So it was fun to play someone that ... finds their way to that place. It's a fun thing to play as an actor."
Brock/Venom is also the flip side of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Grace said. "That's what I liked about the character most," he said. "It's kind of a case study in if someone ... had the same job and ... the same taste in women and got the same powers, but had a really bad upbringing. So I used to say on set to [director] Sam [Raimi], it's like, 'With great power comes great fun.'"
Grace came in for some ribbing from his co-stars, who sat next to him during press interviews. "Topher was able to call upon his own personal life, where he loves being evil in real life," said Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Gwen Stacy.
Grace: "Yeah. Before the role, I went out and killed a hobo with a hammer just [to] kind of get into [it], and it worked. All of a sudden, people were treating me differently."
"Especially hobos," said Thomas Haden Church, who plays Sandman. "'Stay away from That '70s Show guy.'" Spider-Man 3 is in post-production and will open May 4, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Spidey 3's Women Talk
Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Gwen Stacy in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man 3, won't tell SCI FI Wire or anyone whether the sequel will mine the love triangle among her character, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst)—but added that the film will be faithful to the comics. Raimi's "very reverent to everything that people would expect, and yet it's surprising," Howard (Lady in the Water) said in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "And so, you know, I don't want to give anything away. None of us do, because we don't want to betray the audience, because ... they had that opportunity with the first and second film. They really didn't know what they were going to expect, and it made it that much more entertaining."
For her part, Dunst said the third installment in the blockbuster franchise will bring things to a head. But she added that there's still room for more movies. "There's definitely a culmination," she said. "But you would have had to have seen the first and second [films], and this definitely ties up some storylines. But if there are more stories to tell, if things are unresolved, then we will tell them. But it depends, I think, on if everyone's game, and if there's a story to tell. If there's a good story, I'll be there."
The films have altered the history of Peter Parker and his various girlfriends from the original Spider-Man comics, in which Parker first met the blond Stacy, who died at the hands of the Green Goblin, then subsequently married red-haired Mary Jane Watson. In the films, Parker first meets and falls in love with Mary Jane, played by the naturally blond Dunst. Only in the third film does Stacy, played by the naturally red-haired Howard, appear.
Dunst added about Mary Jane: "She's still an actress, and, you know, you could see where it was heading towards in the last film with Peter. So, you know, emotionally [I'm] much more adult and mature, and there's a lot more at stake, because their relationship, you know, they're together. ... There's a lot more at stake for all the characters, and I think that we have gone to, like, their relationships, because they're older [and] have just developed more and become more complicated. So emotionally it's a much heavier film to me." Spider-Man 3 opens May 4, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Church Trained For Spidey 3 Role
Thomas Haden Church, who plays Flint Marko/Sandman in the upcoming Spider-Man 3, told SCI FI Wire that he had to get in great physical shape to play the villainous character. "It was physically daunting to show up last year with the physique of a fishwife and, weirdly, they said, 'This won't work for us,'" Church said, with tongue in cheek, in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego last weekend. "[They said,] 'You've got to be more built.' But, actually, [co-star] Topher [Grace, who plays Eddie Brock/Venom,] and I both trained with a team of [physical trainers]."
Grace interjected: "He saw slightly better results."
Church (Sideways) demurred. "No. ... I mean, ... you know, you just ... try to once again ... toe the line and do what's asked of you. ... But it's different. ... It's been a great discipline. I worked out for about probably 16 months, and ... it was a good ... discipline to have in my life. It was very invigorating to reincorporate that."
Church plays one of the classic Spider-Man villains, whose body has been changed into sand and can assume many different shapes, absorb nearby sand and withstand attacks. Church acknowledged the legacy of the character, which was introduced in early 1960s Marvel Comics. "I wouldn't say there was trepidation [taking the role], but you know, you have a tradition with the comic book that you have to honor," he said. "And then you look at the requisite storytelling that went on with the first two movies. ... I just wanted to do my part. You know, ... I just wanted to get in the game, be in for one minute, not fumble the ball in the end zone. I just wanted to do what was asked of me, and [director] Sam [Raimi] is ... a real actor's director. I refer to him as Elia Kazan trapped inside this Motor-City-madman, action-picture-director body." Spider-Man 3 opens May 4, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Lost Number Mystery Solved?
Producers of ABC's hit Lost told SCI FI Wire that the show will consist of two self-contained arcs in the upcoming third season, while ABC announced that it will answer the mystery of Hurley's numbers in the alternate-reality game The Lost Experience. Speaking in an interview at Comic-Con International over the weekend, executive producer Carlton Cuse said that the third season's first six episodes will stand as a kind of miniseries that will "pick up all the dangling threads from the [second-season] finale ... [and] end up with another cliffhanger and some sort of a first-chapter resolution. And then we'll be back with 16 or 17 straight episodes in the spring." In the intervening 13 weeks, ABC will air its new series Day Break in the Lost timeslot, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Meanwhile, ABC said that The Lost Experience http://blogs.abc.com/inside_the_experience/ will culminate with a series of revelations about the show's mysteries. "Currently in phase three of five of the interactive challenge, the meaning behind the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42, which play a significant role on the television series, will be revealed," ABC said in a press release. So far, The Lost Experience has unveiled information regarding the Black Rock and the significance in the title of the DHARMA Initiative. The Lost Experience will continue to the premiere of season three, revealing secrets behind the mysterious Alvar Hanso and the Hanso Foundation, the network announced.
As for season three of the show itself, co-creator and executive Damon Lindelof said: "The sort of big fundamental 'What's-in-the-hatch?' question we feel we want to be addressing in season three is: Who are these Other people? What are they doing on the island? Why have they been taking us? Why did they take Walt? Like, what's their story? And by the end of season three, in much the same way that by the end of season two you knew the story of the hatch, ... I think [people] will have the same level of comprehension for the Others, and the doors will be blown off the show in a really fundamental way, a way that we've started ... setting up in our finale in season two and will begin to sort of creep its way back into the show again."
Separately, TV Guide Online's "Ask Ausiello" column http://community.tvguide.com/forum.jspa?forumID=700000049 reported that Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro (Love Actually) will join the regular the cast in the fall. Lost returns on Oct. 4. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Snyder Talks Watchmen
Director Zack Snyder told SCI FI Wire that it's been tough trying to crack Alan Moore's seminal Watchmen graphic novel for a proposed big-screen adaptation, which he's currently attached to helm. "I feel like Alex [Tse] has taken the [David] Hayter [X2] draft and whacked it around, and everyone has got ideas," Snyder said in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "You know, he said, 'What about this?' And I said, 'OK.' I don't know. I haven't seen anything yet that makes me think that we're any closer to it."
Watchmen, from Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, is set in 1985 in an alternate-history United States where costumed superheroes are real, and the last remaining superheroes come together to investigate the murder of one of their own. Snyder talked about the film while promoting his other upcoming comic-based film, 300, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae.
Snyder agreed with a characterization that a movie based on the dense, multilayered Watchmen is "the Rubik's Cube" of comic-book films. "Truly," he said. He added: "I don't know if it's the answer, but everybody says, 'Well, oh, ... respect the source material, and the source material dictates this.' ... But I think that what Hollywood misses, and what we need to think about, is, like: What is the book about? What does it mean? It's easy to get caught up in the mechanics of writing the script. ... That is, I think, the problem with the movie: ... that the screenwriters get caught up in the story, and they forget about what the book's about. So, for me, it's like, you got to ... deconstruct it. And it's more important to get to the philosophy of the book than it is to the frickin' A and B of the book, like who goes here, and who goes there."
Watchmen has been gestating for years and was recently dropped by Paramount before being picked up by Warner Brothers. "What will happen?" Snyder said. "I don't know. I can tell you this: As far as I'm concerned, ... the Watchmen movie needs to frickin' be hard and challenge everybody. ... The awesome thing about it is that Warner Brothers has it, and in some way it's incredibly poetic that they do. Because they have Superman and Batman, and I always go, 'Do you guys realize what Watchmen is? ... Do you really want me to make this movie?' And, you know what, I think to their credit, they're like, 'Yeah, we think we do.' Because I think they know." —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Gaiman Trusted Stardust Adapters
Neil Gaiman, who is co-producing the film version of his novel Stardust, told SCI FI Wire that people had been attempting to make the film since 1998, and it was only his ultimate trust in director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman that finally allowed the project to move forward. "They let me look over their shoulder and occasionally kibitz," Gaiman said about his own involvement in the project in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend.
For her part, Goldman said that she enjoyed working with Gaiman adapting his work for the screen. "Initially, there's certainly a large amount of trust, and he very much let us run with it," she said. "But he's been around at periods throughout the development of it."
Stardust tells the story of a young man living in Victorian England, who journeys to the other side of the wall for which his small town is named and into the fantasy world beyond in search of a fallen star that he has promised to Victoria, the young woman he is attempting to woo. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said the film is "the tale of a young man who's trying to become a man. And most of these stories, when you do that kind of story, they're about losing innocence, losing purity, and ours is about becoming a man and holding on to it. Which is really hard to do."
While some authors find it difficult to see their work adapted to another medium, Gaiman said that he understands the need to shape the work to fit the format. "I always love watching something as it moves from medium to medium. It's always fun," he said. "And some things you can move without changing very much, and some things you really have to sort of chop off the legs in order to get it through the door."
Of his first glimpse of Stardust Gaiman remarked: "For me, the biggest surprise was finding myself sitting there at the end of the half hour of footage they put together ... going, 'I wonder what happens next. I wonder what happens next,' ... which I thought had to be the mark of a good director." Stardust stars Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro and Sienna Miller. It is scheduled to be released by Paramount in March 2007. —Nephele Tempest
Gaiman Updates Films, Books
Neil Gaiman, who has nearly half a dozen film projects in production or development, told SCI FI Wire that he plans to continue writing both novels and comic books. "I think, if I can, I'll keep doing everything," Gaiman said in an interview July 21 at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "I love being in the position of being a kid in a candy store. My biggest frustration is that there aren’t four or five of me."
Gaiman is certainly busy enough to warrant a clone. Movies based on two of his novels, Stardust and Coraline, are currently filming. Gaiman served as co-producer on Stardust, which stars Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Sienna Miller and is scheduled to be released in March 2007. Coraline, a stop-motion film directed by Henry Selick, features the voices of Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher and is due out sometime in 2008.
Beowulf, for which Gaiman co-wrote the script with Roger Avary based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, stars Angelina Jolie, Crispin Glover and Anthony Hopkins and is due to be released in November 2007. Gaiman said that the project, which uses performance-capture technology similar to that used in films such as The Polar Express, is "taking it to the next step."
Meanwhile, the long-awaited film version of Gaiman's popular graphic novel Death: The High Cost of Living is also in the works. Gaiman has written the screenplay. When asked whether he would direct, he said: "That's the plan. I'm signed up for it." He was unable to say when production would begin. "Doesn't seem to be dead yet," he said, "which is probably the best thing you can say about Death." He added: "It started out at Warners, then it wandered over to New Line, and ... I believe now it's in the process of wandering back from New Line over to Warners again. Because Death is a Sandman-related property, it has to remain within the Warners group." As for the Sandman himself, Gaiman said that he would rather not make a film of the graphic novel series than make a bad one.
Gaiman has another directorial project in the works: a series of short films to be produced for television as a result his work on A Short Film About John Bolton. He declined to discuss details as the project has not been finalized. —Nephele Tempest
Heroes Strong Enough To Fly
NBC executives told reporters that the pitch for its upcoming superhero drama Heroes started out shakily but was strong enough to fly. Speaking at the Television Critics Association summer press tour last week, NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly admitted that the initial "concept was a little unwieldy. [Creator] Tim Kring came in and started saying, 'I want to tell you a show about some characters.'"
Heroes stars an ensemble cast who portray people who suddenly begin to discover that they have super powers. "And it was a diverse group of characters set around the world," Reilly recalled. "And he started saying, 'Imagine if you woke up one morning, and you actually believed you could fly? What would that do to your life? Would that, in fact, be the best thing that ever happened to you or the worst thing that ever happened to you? What would you do with it? What if all of a sudden you felt like you were meant for something greater, and you started feeling that maybe other people had a similar calling? Were you crazy? Are you insane?' It was one of those pitches—and I've been fortunate enough to be in quite a few—where it was right there from minute one."
Kring has an eight-year history as producer for NBC, on Crossing Jordan and Providence. He seemed enthusiastic about the Heroes idea, Reilly said. "You looked in the guy's eyes, and you saw the show, and that's the way it felt through casting," Reilly added. "We didn't have to send him back to the drawing board time and time again. ... All I can say, speaking to this show, is there feels like there is a cohesive vision, and I think it's going to end up being a fantastic ride for everybody involved."
In a separate interview, Kring said he went into the pitch session telling a dark story, not a superhero tale. "The idea [always] had a ... dark side to these abilities as well," he said. "And I'm sort of positing that it could be you or me or anybody who has this. It's very much about free will. And if you are naturally inclined to be good, then you veer in that direction."
The show, starring Hayden Panettiere, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Greg Grunberg and others, debuts Sept. 25 with a two-hour movie. "We're going to platform Heroes the second week of the season," Reilly said. "I'm very happy that Nissan has come on board [as] the single sponsor of the Heroes premiere. So that telecast will be presented with limited interruption." Heroes will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Mike Szymanski
Heroes' Grunberg Blooms Late
Greg Grunberg, one of the stars of NBC's upcoming superhero drama Heroes, told reporters that he thinks it may be good that his character was edited out of the version of the pilot that was sent to TV critics for preview. "Can I just say, for superstitious reasons, I'm extremely excited that I'm not in the pilot," Grunberg said at a news conference during the Television Critics Association summer press tour last week. "I wasn't in the pilot of Felicity. I wasn't in the pilot of Alias. I was in the pilot of Lost, and then I got eaten. So I'm excited that I get established in the second episode. It's a good thing."
Grunberg is part of an ensemble cast on the show, which tells the story of several everyday people in different parts of the world who suddenly discover that they have superhero-like powers. One can heal, one can be in two places at the same time, one can fly. Grunberg's character can read people's thoughts.
The show's creator, Tim Kring, explained that the original two-hour pilot was cut to an hour for screening purposes, leaving Grunberg out. "And so the character that Greg Grunberg plays ... will be introduced in ... the second episode," Kring said. "There were various reasons [for cutting the pilot down]. ... For the most part, we sort of felt that screening an hour was about the limit for a screening." Heroes debuts Sept. 25 and will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Mike Szymanski
Hellboy's Jones Expands In 2
Doug Jones, who played Abe Sapien in Hellboy, told SCI FI Wire that his role in a proposed Hellboy 2 will be expanded and that he will likely use his own voice, unlike the first movie. "The role of Abe Sapien will be beefed up quite a bit for part two," Jones said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "The relationship with Hellboy is going to be more fleshed out. ... The buddy thing ... and conflicts that arise with him are going to be more explored, which I'm very excited about. Abe gets more interaction with bad guys ... [and] has another little sub-storyline that I think is going to be delicious. I don't want to give anything way, but it's going to be a very, very exciting movie to make."
Though Jones played the amphibious Sapien in the first Hellboy movie, the character's voice was dubbed by an uncredited David Hyde Pierce. But Jones will provide the character's voice in the sequel, he said. Jones has already voiced Abe Sapien in the upcoming animated series. "There's the animated version of Hellboy coming out on DVD in February and ... airing on the Cartoon Network in October," Jones said. He added: "We've already done two [animated] featurettes of Hellboy, ... [and] I was able to come back and voice the role of Abe Sapien for that. And [director] Guillermo [del Toro] has now ... mentioned publicly that I will be voicing Abe Sapien in the sequel as well." Hellboy 2 is still in development but has not yet found financing. —Maria Virobik
Hellboy Gets Animated
Tad Stones, director of the upcoming Hellboy: Sword of Storms animated movie, told SCI FI Wire that the project has been in some form of development for about 11 years and morphed from a proposed TV show into a series of TV films. "I started working with [Hellboy comic creator Mike Mignola] when I was still at Disney on the Atlantis spinoff show, where he was designing monsters for me," Stones said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "When I left Disney, I called up Mike to ask if I could do a couple Hellboy scripts just to have on spec. We went ahead and did two half-hour scripts, and he was there every step of the way. And then they did the [2004 Hellboy] movie. So we started the series before the movie was out, ... like, a year before the movie was out."
Based on Mignola's best-selling comic series, Hellboy: Sword of Storms finds Hellboy transported to a world of Japanese folklore, seeking a weapon to defeat the twin demons of Thunder and Lightning, who would unleash dragons upon the world. After the Hellboy movie, director Guillermo del Toro was also a proponent of the animated films, Stones said. "Guillermo really pushed and pushed and kept the idea alive of going to animation with the project and was largely responsible for putting me on the project," he said.
Discussing the overall design style of the animated film, Stones said: "Mike was the concept artist on [the live-action] movie, and they styled a lot of the feeling of that movie around his work. When we started doing the series, I wanted to do the same thing, because I would get to work with Mike Mignola. He was open to it, so he did some concept work and said, 'Let's just talk through the monsters, and I'll do what you need.' That was fun, and he's a hugely entertaining guy, and he's always visual."
The concept is to produce two animated films, rather than a weekly series, which many fans had anticipated, Stones said. "It was talked about as a series, and, basically, the deal didn't go through for a variety of different things. IDT made a deal with Revolution Studios at Comic-Con last year, and it came through that we would do two movies, which was weird for Mike and [me]. Part of the fun was that we had all these stories, like, five Lobster Johnson stories to tell, but then it was movies, and once I got into the movies, I absolutely didn't want to do a series."
The animated films will feature popular comic-book characters such as the pyrokinetic Liz Sherman and "merman" Abe Sapien. But, Stones said, "each movie [will] be so different and will have this core character at the center, and it's not a superhero team. ... There is a reason it's called Hellboy. Sometimes Liz and Abe will be with him, and sometimes they won't be. Or one or the other will be with him, or other characters will be there that are from the comics or original." Hellboy: Sword of Storms premieres on Cartoon Network this fall and comes to DVD in February 2007. —Tara DiLullo
Jones, Fox Mum On Surfer
Despite predictions by his publicist to SCI FI Wire, Doug Jones was not the subject of any Fox casting announcements at Comic-Con International over the weekend, and Jones himself told SCI FI Wire that he couldn't comment on any casting rumors, such as the one that he's in the running to play the Silver Surfer in the upcoming second Fantastic Four movie.
"I'm not sure who would have started such a [rumor] online, but once it did [start]—once it got online—it started a forest fire," Jones (Abe Sapien in Hellboy) said in an interview. "So the conjecture and the guessing and what's happening [have] gone insane. I can say definitively that I will not be doing any green-screen or motion-capture work, green-screen leotard-colored motion-capture work on anything coming soon. I can say that. As to all of the other casting rumors and things, all I can say officially is no comment about that."
But Jones didn't deny any of the rumors outright. And, he added: "I love shimmery, shiny things, and I hope to be wearing more of this very, very soon. ... And I've been shopping. I've been shopping to find such a thing, and I think I found the perfect thing. Let me tell you this. ... At the checkout counter when I was shopping for this outfit, nobody was standing behind me. Nobody else is shopping for the same outfit. So I'm just now waiting for my credit card to get approved, and I hope to show up at the party wearing it real soon." —Maria Virobik, with Patrick Lee, News Editor
Jones Was First Pick For Pan
Doug Jones, who stars as Pan in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Spanish-language fantasy-horror film Pan's Labyrinth, told SCI FI Wire that del Toro made it very clear that he wanted Jones to take on the title role. "When Guillermo approached me with this film, it was an e-mail that came to me from Spain," Jones said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego last week. "He was ... over there prepping for the film [and] sent me an e-mail saying that I had to play the role of Pan, [that] no one else could. 'Read the script and get back to me tonight.' ... I read the script. It was an absolute page-turner. I couldn't get through it fast enough, and by the end, [I said,] ... 'Oh, I have to play Pan. He's right.' [If] a director of Guillermo's stature is telling you you have to play this part, [that] no one else can, you listen."
Pan’s Labyrinth tells the story of an 11-year old girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who finds escape from her bleak family situation by entering a magic underworld overseen by Pan. "My character gets to introduce to her who she really is," Jones said. "[He tells her] how to get back there, gave her tests to pass in order to do so, came back to scold her when she did wrong, came back to congratulate her when she did right. ... He's like an older, wiser character that she can find comfort in, he's also scary."
Jones said Pan has become one of his favorite characters to play, along with Billy Butcherson in the 1993 movie Hocus Pocus and Abe Sapien in 2004's Hellboy. "I love this film and ... especially love the character of Pan," he said. He added: "Pan is this delicious, angelic character, [but] you're not quite sure if he's demonic, because, as you meet him, he's kind of scary but becomes more lovable and then might scare you again and then become lovable again. And by the end of the film you might find out ... if he really is good." Pan's Labyrinth opens in U.S. theaters on Dec. 29. —Maria Virobik
[b]Ghost Rider Likes It Mellow
Nicolas Cage, star of the upcoming Ghost Rider movie, told SCI FI Wire that he and director Mark Steven Johnson came up with some unusual character traits for their hero, stunt motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze, including oddball tastes in snacks and music. "I was invited in early on in the process," Cage said in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego last weekend. "So I like to think that I was building it from scratch, along with Mark, and as he was writing, we would talk, and even right before we went to film in Australia, we were coming up with ideas to add on to the character. I think traditionalists of the comic book will be happy, but we did build up the story and add on to the character."
For one thing, Cage and Johnson gave Blaze a fetish for jellybeans. For another, they made him a fan of soft-pop singer Karen Carpenter. "And he reads a lot, but he's something of a cowboy," Cage added. "Mark was very excited about the western element of the character, hearkening back to the original Ghost Rider, which you're familiar with."
Cage plays Blaze, a bike rider who sold his soul to save his father and pays by morphing into an avenging demon during the night, complete with a flaming skull. So why Karen Carpenter? "The way I thought of that was, I remember when I was in a dental chair," Cage said. "They always play these very soft, soothing types of music. And Johnny Blaze is sort of, like, literally sitting in a dental chair every second of the day wondering when ... the devil is going to come and claim his purchase. So I think he's constantly trying to relax. And so instead of, like, the bourbon-drinking, chain-smoking badass, I think he's such a badass that he needs to calm down with Karen Carpenter and jellybeans." Ghost Rider opens Feb. 16, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Ghost Fulfills Cage's Ambitions
Avowed comic-book fan and actor/producer Nicolas Cage, who stars in Mark Steven Johnson's upcoming movie based on Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that the role fulfills a number of childhood ambitions. "I like the monsters," Cage said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "I just like them. When I was a kid, I fantasized about being able to turn into the monster to scare the bully away. And, I think, little boys and girls, you know, when they see the werewolf movies, like The Wolf Man, it's very exciting. Monsters are fun to play, and with Ghost Rider, I got a chance to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I got to be in a horror film in the grand sense of The Wolf Man and a comic-book-based movie."
In Ghost Rider, Cage plays stunt motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze, whose soul was bartered and who spends his night as an avenging demon with a flaming skull. Cage said that he still has his original Ghost Rider comics, on which Johnson said he's basing the movie. "Oh, absolutely," he said. "I would never sell those. They're in a special room upstairs, framed and on the wall."
Cage added: "I enjoyed the image of the skull on fire when I was a boy. And the mythology of it, the Faust-like storyline, was so original for a Marvel comic-book character. There really isn't any other one quite like Ghost Rider. And that's why I think he's fresh. I think it's time for a new kind of superhero. I'm speaking to the Ghost Rider fans. Step out. We all know who we are."
Cage, who has a tattoo of a flaming skull on his shoulder, was also known to ride motorcycles himself in his youth. But now, he said: "I have since stopped riding as much as I once did, because I have ... a baby boy, and I don't want to ... inspire [him] to ride motorcycles. But I do ride, yes." —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Ghost Goes Back To Source
Mark Steven Johnson, who wrote and directed Nicolas Cage's upcoming Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that he based the movie on the original comics that appeared in the late 1970s and early '80s. "Mine's the original," Johnson said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "Mine's Johnny Blaze. It's really pretty much the classic story. You know, very, very few changes. But it's all about selling your soul."
Ghost Rider, based on the Marvel Comics series, centers on Blaze (Cage), a motorcycle stunt rider who moonlights as an avenging demon with a flaming skull. The comics originally appeared from 1973 to '83. A second series, which appeared from 1990 to '98, centered on a different character, Daniel Ketch, who was later revealed to be Johnny Blaze's brother.
The movie makes a few changes to the original story. In the movie, it's the character of Johnny Blaze's father for whom Johnny makes his deal to sell his soul, not his mentor, as in the comics. "In our case, it's the father, not the stepfather, but the father who has lung cancer, who, having to leave the girl behind and ... being cursed and having to hit the road. All that stuff is in." But Johnson added that he made use of later incarnations of the comic for the film's unique look. "The spiked jacket," he said. "This isn't the blue full-body jumpsuit, you know? ... And the motorcycle he had in the early comics, I wasn't a big fan of. I thought we could do better." He added: "The Caretaker [played by Sam Elliott] from the Ketch years is a character I always liked a lot. You know, I wanted to find a way to use him. As was Blackheart [the villian from the Ketch series]. So a lot of it was taken from later. But the origin and a lot of the heart and the soul of it was from the Johnny years." Ghost Rider opens Feb. 16, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Descent End Altered In U.S.
Neil Marshall, director of the upcoming SF horror film The Descent, told SCI FI Wire that the film's ending was altered for U.S. audiences from its original U.K. release to make it a bit more upbeat. "The ending that I had when I originally wrote it has been playing in Britain nearly a year now, and they seem to like it just fine," Marshall said in an interview after a screening of the film in Los Angeles last week. "But I had the chance to shoot another ending, so I did, and I think that's fine, too."
The Descent centers on a group of thrill-seeking women who go spelunking in a previously uncharted cave. While inside, they discover some opaque-skinned batlike human-shaped creatures who prey on flesh. When Lionsgate tested the film, the unrelenting dark U.K. ending seemed to irritate Americans, so it was changed. Marshall had time to do it because the release was delayed in the U.S. to avoid the similarly themed The Cave, which was coming out about the same time.
"We had the time to do it, and it gives me as a filmmaker that rare opportunity to have two endings," Marshall said with a laugh. "We never tested both endings with both British and American audiences, so I can't say if one group liked one over the other, but it seems like the American audiences will like the one we're releasing here."
The Descent opens Aug. 4 and stars Shauna Macdonald, Alex Reid and Natalie Mendoza. Which ending does the London-based director prefer? "I prefer the British version," he admitted. The Descent opens wide on Aug. 4. —Mike Szymanski
Where's 4400's Campbell/Collier?
Ira Steven Behr, executive producer of USA Network's SF series The 4400, offered SCI FI Wire tantalizing hints as to the whereabouts of 4400 leader Jordan Collier (Billy Campbell), who was apparently assassinated in the second season but mysteriously appeared in the last few minutes of the season finale. "Well, where was he last time?" Behr said in a press conference at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 22. "Let's just look at this logically. The last time Jordan Collier disappeared, where was he? He was in the future, right? With all these other people allegedly ... taken to the future. Then he was killed and disappeared again. Where do you think he might have gone?"
Campbell returns as Collier, a prominent member of a group of 4,400 individuals who were abducted, taken to the future and returned to the present with strange new powers. Although Collier was assassinated halfway through the second season, certain events—including the disappearance of his body and the subsequent appearance on a beach of a mysterious figure resembling him—led to speculation that he might not be gone for good.
Campbell—who took time off from the show to embark on a 13-month sailing trip around the world—joined Behr and fellow cast members at the same press conference, sporting the long hair and full beard acquired during his adventure. He said his character will have this look as well when he returns, although Campbell admitted he didn't know much more than that. "I have absolutely no idea [what Collier's explanation will be]," Campbell said. "[The writers] are making it up as they go along, which is part of the joy of the show. ... That's a question for them."
Behr promised that viewers will get at least one version of what happened. "We will find out where Jordan Collier was according to Jordan Collier, and ... then it's up to all of us collectively to decide whether or not we believe him. ... I still have my doubts." The 4400, currently in its third season, airs Sundays at 9 p.m. PT/ET. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Maria Virobik
Diggs Hot About Day Break
Taye Diggs, who stars in the upcoming ABC SF series Day Break, told SCI FI Wire he was still a little hot under the collar about questions concerning the new show. Not only is it being constantly compared to Groundhog Day, because it's about a guy who has to repeat the same day over and over again, but reporters also keep asking how they're going to get audiences to keep coming back. "I may have overreacted a little bit, a little bit," Diggs said with a laugh in an interview at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, Calif., on July 19. "But the show is a drama. Groundhog Day is a comedy, and the only thing that's the same is the repetition of the day."
In Day Break, Diggs plays a Los Angeles police detective who is framed for a murder he didn't commit, and each episode has him reliving the same day over as he tries to solve the crime and redeem himself. "You'll have to forgive us if we come off as a little sarcastic or maybe defensive, but we knew that we would be dealing with a lot of these questions," he said. "And I just need to remind you that this is something very special to us. We think it's very different. It's unique, but at the same time, it's still a television show. And everybody here, we all know what we're doing. So when you ask us a question like, 'Well, how do we get somebody to view in who hasn't been watching regularly?' You know, how do you get anybody to view in?"
Diggs said that he watched the first two seasons of 24, then didn't watch again until the fourth season. "I didn't need the beginning of the fourth season to get hooked," he said by way of comparison with Day Break. "The acting, the storyline, whatever it was, got me hooked."
Diggs then said something at the news conference that he's been razzed about ever since: "We're not dumb, I'm Taye Diggs! I wouldn't sign on for that."
Diggs laughed when reminded about the line, which may become one of the classic quotes from this year's press tour. He shared the red carpet at ABC's gala party that evening with Oscar winner Sally Field, starring in ABC's Brothers & Sisters. She's still living down her "You like me! You really like me!" speech at the 1980 Oscar ceremony. —Mike Szymanski
Pratt Is Fit For Day Break
Victoria Pratt, who will star in ABC's upcoming fantasy series Day Break, told SCI FI Wire that her work as a fitness writer helped her ease into her acting career. The athletic actress has appeared in Xena: Warrior Princess and Mutant X and will now play a detective opposite Taye Diggs in Day Break, about a guy who relives the same day over and over. "I'm detective Andrea Battle, an undercover narcotics detective, and, of course, I have a few secrets," Pratt said in an interview at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in Pasadena, Calif., last week.
Canada native Pratt got a degree in kinesiology and worked at training camps with athletes from the Winnipeg Jets and the Toronto Maple Leafs. "We would do drug testing [and] testing of firefighters to try to find suits that would help them in a fire so that they could stay in there longer and resist the heat, really, really interesting stuff," said Pratt, who also appeared in the film House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim. She was then encouraged by a friend to take an acting class while she was a writer for a women's fitness magazine.
"I took classes for two years before I had the courage to get an agent," Pratt said. "And my very first audition I ended up getting a series. It was called John Woo's Once a Thief, so it kind of happened that way. It was never something I wanted to do as a child."
Pratt said her athletic background helps her with the stamina needed for high-action series. Day Break will run for 13 weeks, beginning Nov. 15, and co-stars Moon Bloodgood, Meta Golding, Ramon Rodriguez and Adam Baldwin. —Mike Szymanski
Marshall Forecasts Doomsday
Director Neil Marshall (The Descent) told SCI FI Wire that his next film project will be a post-apocalyptic project called Doomsday, which will feature some of the same cast members as his past films. "Doomsday is a futuristic action thriller," Marshall said in an interview just after he attended Comic-Con International in San Diego last week. "It's about a group of people [who] team together to try to prevent the extinction of the human race. It will be a dark, brutal action adventure."
The idea sounds like a gritty combination of Mad Max and Escape From New York, and Marshall acknowledged that that's not a bad comparison. "It's kind of an Escape From L.A., except set in the U.K.," he said. "It will be a post-apocalyptic future and will include futuristic knights and involve car chases. There is a disease that threatens the remainder of humanity."
Marshall is currently promoting The Descent, a film about six women who get stuck in a cave and come under attack by blind, savage humanoid creatures. The Descent stars Shauna Macdonald, Alex Reid and Natalie Mendoza and opens Aug. 4. —Mike Szymanski
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Venom Won Over Spidey 3's Raimi
Spider-Man 3 director Sam Raimi told SCI FI Wire that he was at first reluctant to make the sequel's big villain the alien-human hybrid Venom, a fan favorite to be played by Topher Grace, and that the SF nature of Venom didn't fit neatly in the more realistic world of the Spider-Man movies. "Avi Arad [the former Marvel chief]—who's really got his pulse on all the Marvel fans better than any head of a corporation has ever understood those people who are interested in the corporation's product—he really knows what those kids want," Raimi said in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "And he said, 'You know, you've ... had two Spider-Man pictures. This third one, there's so many kids, so many fans of Spider-Man, [who] want to see Venom, even if you didn't grow up with him. They want to see him. So you've got the Sandman [Thomas Haden Church]. That's one of your favorite villains. Why don't you bring Venom in also and make those kids, the fans of Venom, happy?' And that's what I thought we should do."
Raimi added that he was won over once he saw how screenwriter Alvin Sargent made use of the character, not to mention how Grace played him and his human alter ego, Eddie Brock. "Now that I've seen Topher Grace perform and saw what Alvin Sargent did with the script—he created a great character, really filled out Eddie Brock into a very meaningful character—and Tobey [Maguire, who plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man,] has a great energy with him in the few scenes that they play together as competitors, and I really like him now."
Venom is the combination of a black alien goo and Eddie Brock, who is a rival of Peter Parker's both in journalism and for the hand of Mary Jane Watson, played by Kirsten Dunst.
As for the science-fiction nature of the Venom storyline, Raimi said: "There's a lot of fantastic elements about Venom that you could say are in conflict with the realism that we wanted to have in the picture. But we just said to ourselves, 'Kirsten and Tobey, you'll have to do the heavy lifting here to bring it back down to earth, because there's this wild goo from outer space, and you're just going to have to connect us to the characters.'" Spider-Man 3 is in post-production and will premiere May 4, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Spidey 3's Grace Stuck On Venom
Topher Grace, who plays Eddie Brock/Venom in the upcoming sequel Spider-Man 3, told SCI FI Wire that he was the ultimate fanboy when he first showed up on set. "The first day I was on the set was in The Bugle, and, like, just as a fan of the first two movies to be, like, you know, like [I was at] those theme parks that are like, 'We'll put you in the movie.' ... And the guy [J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson] is there with the cigar, [saying] 'Parker! Get in here!' Oh, my God. It was ... tough, because I had to be angry, and I was just smiling from ear to ear."
Grace (That '70s Show) plays Brock, an angry young man who is a rival of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) in journalism and for the hand of Mary Jane Watson. Brock becomes the super-powered Venom when he is infected by black alien goo.
"He's a great character to play," Grace said. "Unlike most bad guys, he truly loves being evil. So, I mean, he really comes to grips with it and enjoys it. So it was fun to play someone that ... finds their way to that place. It's a fun thing to play as an actor."
Brock/Venom is also the flip side of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Grace said. "That's what I liked about the character most," he said. "It's kind of a case study in if someone ... had the same job and ... the same taste in women and got the same powers, but had a really bad upbringing. So I used to say on set to [director] Sam [Raimi], it's like, 'With great power comes great fun.'"
Grace came in for some ribbing from his co-stars, who sat next to him during press interviews. "Topher was able to call upon his own personal life, where he loves being evil in real life," said Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Gwen Stacy.
Grace: "Yeah. Before the role, I went out and killed a hobo with a hammer just [to] kind of get into [it], and it worked. All of a sudden, people were treating me differently."
"Especially hobos," said Thomas Haden Church, who plays Sandman. "'Stay away from That '70s Show guy.'" Spider-Man 3 is in post-production and will open May 4, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Spidey 3's Women Talk
Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Gwen Stacy in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man 3, won't tell SCI FI Wire or anyone whether the sequel will mine the love triangle among her character, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst)—but added that the film will be faithful to the comics. Raimi's "very reverent to everything that people would expect, and yet it's surprising," Howard (Lady in the Water) said in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "And so, you know, I don't want to give anything away. None of us do, because we don't want to betray the audience, because ... they had that opportunity with the first and second film. They really didn't know what they were going to expect, and it made it that much more entertaining."
For her part, Dunst said the third installment in the blockbuster franchise will bring things to a head. But she added that there's still room for more movies. "There's definitely a culmination," she said. "But you would have had to have seen the first and second [films], and this definitely ties up some storylines. But if there are more stories to tell, if things are unresolved, then we will tell them. But it depends, I think, on if everyone's game, and if there's a story to tell. If there's a good story, I'll be there."
The films have altered the history of Peter Parker and his various girlfriends from the original Spider-Man comics, in which Parker first met the blond Stacy, who died at the hands of the Green Goblin, then subsequently married red-haired Mary Jane Watson. In the films, Parker first meets and falls in love with Mary Jane, played by the naturally blond Dunst. Only in the third film does Stacy, played by the naturally red-haired Howard, appear.
Dunst added about Mary Jane: "She's still an actress, and, you know, you could see where it was heading towards in the last film with Peter. So, you know, emotionally [I'm] much more adult and mature, and there's a lot more at stake, because their relationship, you know, they're together. ... There's a lot more at stake for all the characters, and I think that we have gone to, like, their relationships, because they're older [and] have just developed more and become more complicated. So emotionally it's a much heavier film to me." Spider-Man 3 opens May 4, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Church Trained For Spidey 3 Role
Thomas Haden Church, who plays Flint Marko/Sandman in the upcoming Spider-Man 3, told SCI FI Wire that he had to get in great physical shape to play the villainous character. "It was physically daunting to show up last year with the physique of a fishwife and, weirdly, they said, 'This won't work for us,'" Church said, with tongue in cheek, in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego last weekend. "[They said,] 'You've got to be more built.' But, actually, [co-star] Topher [Grace, who plays Eddie Brock/Venom,] and I both trained with a team of [physical trainers]."
Grace interjected: "He saw slightly better results."
Church (Sideways) demurred. "No. ... I mean, ... you know, you just ... try to once again ... toe the line and do what's asked of you. ... But it's different. ... It's been a great discipline. I worked out for about probably 16 months, and ... it was a good ... discipline to have in my life. It was very invigorating to reincorporate that."
Church plays one of the classic Spider-Man villains, whose body has been changed into sand and can assume many different shapes, absorb nearby sand and withstand attacks. Church acknowledged the legacy of the character, which was introduced in early 1960s Marvel Comics. "I wouldn't say there was trepidation [taking the role], but you know, you have a tradition with the comic book that you have to honor," he said. "And then you look at the requisite storytelling that went on with the first two movies. ... I just wanted to do my part. You know, ... I just wanted to get in the game, be in for one minute, not fumble the ball in the end zone. I just wanted to do what was asked of me, and [director] Sam [Raimi] is ... a real actor's director. I refer to him as Elia Kazan trapped inside this Motor-City-madman, action-picture-director body." Spider-Man 3 opens May 4, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Lost Number Mystery Solved?
Producers of ABC's hit Lost told SCI FI Wire that the show will consist of two self-contained arcs in the upcoming third season, while ABC announced that it will answer the mystery of Hurley's numbers in the alternate-reality game The Lost Experience. Speaking in an interview at Comic-Con International over the weekend, executive producer Carlton Cuse said that the third season's first six episodes will stand as a kind of miniseries that will "pick up all the dangling threads from the [second-season] finale ... [and] end up with another cliffhanger and some sort of a first-chapter resolution. And then we'll be back with 16 or 17 straight episodes in the spring." In the intervening 13 weeks, ABC will air its new series Day Break in the Lost timeslot, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Meanwhile, ABC said that The Lost Experience http://blogs.abc.com/inside_the_experience/ will culminate with a series of revelations about the show's mysteries. "Currently in phase three of five of the interactive challenge, the meaning behind the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42, which play a significant role on the television series, will be revealed," ABC said in a press release. So far, The Lost Experience has unveiled information regarding the Black Rock and the significance in the title of the DHARMA Initiative. The Lost Experience will continue to the premiere of season three, revealing secrets behind the mysterious Alvar Hanso and the Hanso Foundation, the network announced.
As for season three of the show itself, co-creator and executive Damon Lindelof said: "The sort of big fundamental 'What's-in-the-hatch?' question we feel we want to be addressing in season three is: Who are these Other people? What are they doing on the island? Why have they been taking us? Why did they take Walt? Like, what's their story? And by the end of season three, in much the same way that by the end of season two you knew the story of the hatch, ... I think [people] will have the same level of comprehension for the Others, and the doors will be blown off the show in a really fundamental way, a way that we've started ... setting up in our finale in season two and will begin to sort of creep its way back into the show again."
Separately, TV Guide Online's "Ask Ausiello" column http://community.tvguide.com/forum.jspa?forumID=700000049 reported that Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro (Love Actually) will join the regular the cast in the fall. Lost returns on Oct. 4. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Snyder Talks Watchmen
Director Zack Snyder told SCI FI Wire that it's been tough trying to crack Alan Moore's seminal Watchmen graphic novel for a proposed big-screen adaptation, which he's currently attached to helm. "I feel like Alex [Tse] has taken the [David] Hayter [X2] draft and whacked it around, and everyone has got ideas," Snyder said in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "You know, he said, 'What about this?' And I said, 'OK.' I don't know. I haven't seen anything yet that makes me think that we're any closer to it."
Watchmen, from Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons, is set in 1985 in an alternate-history United States where costumed superheroes are real, and the last remaining superheroes come together to investigate the murder of one of their own. Snyder talked about the film while promoting his other upcoming comic-based film, 300, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae.
Snyder agreed with a characterization that a movie based on the dense, multilayered Watchmen is "the Rubik's Cube" of comic-book films. "Truly," he said. He added: "I don't know if it's the answer, but everybody says, 'Well, oh, ... respect the source material, and the source material dictates this.' ... But I think that what Hollywood misses, and what we need to think about, is, like: What is the book about? What does it mean? It's easy to get caught up in the mechanics of writing the script. ... That is, I think, the problem with the movie: ... that the screenwriters get caught up in the story, and they forget about what the book's about. So, for me, it's like, you got to ... deconstruct it. And it's more important to get to the philosophy of the book than it is to the frickin' A and B of the book, like who goes here, and who goes there."
Watchmen has been gestating for years and was recently dropped by Paramount before being picked up by Warner Brothers. "What will happen?" Snyder said. "I don't know. I can tell you this: As far as I'm concerned, ... the Watchmen movie needs to frickin' be hard and challenge everybody. ... The awesome thing about it is that Warner Brothers has it, and in some way it's incredibly poetic that they do. Because they have Superman and Batman, and I always go, 'Do you guys realize what Watchmen is? ... Do you really want me to make this movie?' And, you know what, I think to their credit, they're like, 'Yeah, we think we do.' Because I think they know." —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Gaiman Trusted Stardust Adapters
Neil Gaiman, who is co-producing the film version of his novel Stardust, told SCI FI Wire that people had been attempting to make the film since 1998, and it was only his ultimate trust in director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman that finally allowed the project to move forward. "They let me look over their shoulder and occasionally kibitz," Gaiman said about his own involvement in the project in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend.
For her part, Goldman said that she enjoyed working with Gaiman adapting his work for the screen. "Initially, there's certainly a large amount of trust, and he very much let us run with it," she said. "But he's been around at periods throughout the development of it."
Stardust tells the story of a young man living in Victorian England, who journeys to the other side of the wall for which his small town is named and into the fantasy world beyond in search of a fallen star that he has promised to Victoria, the young woman he is attempting to woo. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said the film is "the tale of a young man who's trying to become a man. And most of these stories, when you do that kind of story, they're about losing innocence, losing purity, and ours is about becoming a man and holding on to it. Which is really hard to do."
While some authors find it difficult to see their work adapted to another medium, Gaiman said that he understands the need to shape the work to fit the format. "I always love watching something as it moves from medium to medium. It's always fun," he said. "And some things you can move without changing very much, and some things you really have to sort of chop off the legs in order to get it through the door."
Of his first glimpse of Stardust Gaiman remarked: "For me, the biggest surprise was finding myself sitting there at the end of the half hour of footage they put together ... going, 'I wonder what happens next. I wonder what happens next,' ... which I thought had to be the mark of a good director." Stardust stars Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro and Sienna Miller. It is scheduled to be released by Paramount in March 2007. —Nephele Tempest
Gaiman Updates Films, Books
Neil Gaiman, who has nearly half a dozen film projects in production or development, told SCI FI Wire that he plans to continue writing both novels and comic books. "I think, if I can, I'll keep doing everything," Gaiman said in an interview July 21 at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "I love being in the position of being a kid in a candy store. My biggest frustration is that there aren’t four or five of me."
Gaiman is certainly busy enough to warrant a clone. Movies based on two of his novels, Stardust and Coraline, are currently filming. Gaiman served as co-producer on Stardust, which stars Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Sienna Miller and is scheduled to be released in March 2007. Coraline, a stop-motion film directed by Henry Selick, features the voices of Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher and is due out sometime in 2008.
Beowulf, for which Gaiman co-wrote the script with Roger Avary based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, stars Angelina Jolie, Crispin Glover and Anthony Hopkins and is due to be released in November 2007. Gaiman said that the project, which uses performance-capture technology similar to that used in films such as The Polar Express, is "taking it to the next step."
Meanwhile, the long-awaited film version of Gaiman's popular graphic novel Death: The High Cost of Living is also in the works. Gaiman has written the screenplay. When asked whether he would direct, he said: "That's the plan. I'm signed up for it." He was unable to say when production would begin. "Doesn't seem to be dead yet," he said, "which is probably the best thing you can say about Death." He added: "It started out at Warners, then it wandered over to New Line, and ... I believe now it's in the process of wandering back from New Line over to Warners again. Because Death is a Sandman-related property, it has to remain within the Warners group." As for the Sandman himself, Gaiman said that he would rather not make a film of the graphic novel series than make a bad one.
Gaiman has another directorial project in the works: a series of short films to be produced for television as a result his work on A Short Film About John Bolton. He declined to discuss details as the project has not been finalized. —Nephele Tempest
Heroes Strong Enough To Fly
NBC executives told reporters that the pitch for its upcoming superhero drama Heroes started out shakily but was strong enough to fly. Speaking at the Television Critics Association summer press tour last week, NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly admitted that the initial "concept was a little unwieldy. [Creator] Tim Kring came in and started saying, 'I want to tell you a show about some characters.'"
Heroes stars an ensemble cast who portray people who suddenly begin to discover that they have super powers. "And it was a diverse group of characters set around the world," Reilly recalled. "And he started saying, 'Imagine if you woke up one morning, and you actually believed you could fly? What would that do to your life? Would that, in fact, be the best thing that ever happened to you or the worst thing that ever happened to you? What would you do with it? What if all of a sudden you felt like you were meant for something greater, and you started feeling that maybe other people had a similar calling? Were you crazy? Are you insane?' It was one of those pitches—and I've been fortunate enough to be in quite a few—where it was right there from minute one."
Kring has an eight-year history as producer for NBC, on Crossing Jordan and Providence. He seemed enthusiastic about the Heroes idea, Reilly said. "You looked in the guy's eyes, and you saw the show, and that's the way it felt through casting," Reilly added. "We didn't have to send him back to the drawing board time and time again. ... All I can say, speaking to this show, is there feels like there is a cohesive vision, and I think it's going to end up being a fantastic ride for everybody involved."
In a separate interview, Kring said he went into the pitch session telling a dark story, not a superhero tale. "The idea [always] had a ... dark side to these abilities as well," he said. "And I'm sort of positing that it could be you or me or anybody who has this. It's very much about free will. And if you are naturally inclined to be good, then you veer in that direction."
The show, starring Hayden Panettiere, Ali Larter, Adrian Pasdar, Greg Grunberg and others, debuts Sept. 25 with a two-hour movie. "We're going to platform Heroes the second week of the season," Reilly said. "I'm very happy that Nissan has come on board [as] the single sponsor of the Heroes premiere. So that telecast will be presented with limited interruption." Heroes will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Mike Szymanski
Heroes' Grunberg Blooms Late
Greg Grunberg, one of the stars of NBC's upcoming superhero drama Heroes, told reporters that he thinks it may be good that his character was edited out of the version of the pilot that was sent to TV critics for preview. "Can I just say, for superstitious reasons, I'm extremely excited that I'm not in the pilot," Grunberg said at a news conference during the Television Critics Association summer press tour last week. "I wasn't in the pilot of Felicity. I wasn't in the pilot of Alias. I was in the pilot of Lost, and then I got eaten. So I'm excited that I get established in the second episode. It's a good thing."
Grunberg is part of an ensemble cast on the show, which tells the story of several everyday people in different parts of the world who suddenly discover that they have superhero-like powers. One can heal, one can be in two places at the same time, one can fly. Grunberg's character can read people's thoughts.
The show's creator, Tim Kring, explained that the original two-hour pilot was cut to an hour for screening purposes, leaving Grunberg out. "And so the character that Greg Grunberg plays ... will be introduced in ... the second episode," Kring said. "There were various reasons [for cutting the pilot down]. ... For the most part, we sort of felt that screening an hour was about the limit for a screening." Heroes debuts Sept. 25 and will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Mike Szymanski
Hellboy's Jones Expands In 2
Doug Jones, who played Abe Sapien in Hellboy, told SCI FI Wire that his role in a proposed Hellboy 2 will be expanded and that he will likely use his own voice, unlike the first movie. "The role of Abe Sapien will be beefed up quite a bit for part two," Jones said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "The relationship with Hellboy is going to be more fleshed out. ... The buddy thing ... and conflicts that arise with him are going to be more explored, which I'm very excited about. Abe gets more interaction with bad guys ... [and] has another little sub-storyline that I think is going to be delicious. I don't want to give anything way, but it's going to be a very, very exciting movie to make."
Though Jones played the amphibious Sapien in the first Hellboy movie, the character's voice was dubbed by an uncredited David Hyde Pierce. But Jones will provide the character's voice in the sequel, he said. Jones has already voiced Abe Sapien in the upcoming animated series. "There's the animated version of Hellboy coming out on DVD in February and ... airing on the Cartoon Network in October," Jones said. He added: "We've already done two [animated] featurettes of Hellboy, ... [and] I was able to come back and voice the role of Abe Sapien for that. And [director] Guillermo [del Toro] has now ... mentioned publicly that I will be voicing Abe Sapien in the sequel as well." Hellboy 2 is still in development but has not yet found financing. —Maria Virobik
Hellboy Gets Animated
Tad Stones, director of the upcoming Hellboy: Sword of Storms animated movie, told SCI FI Wire that the project has been in some form of development for about 11 years and morphed from a proposed TV show into a series of TV films. "I started working with [Hellboy comic creator Mike Mignola] when I was still at Disney on the Atlantis spinoff show, where he was designing monsters for me," Stones said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "When I left Disney, I called up Mike to ask if I could do a couple Hellboy scripts just to have on spec. We went ahead and did two half-hour scripts, and he was there every step of the way. And then they did the [2004 Hellboy] movie. So we started the series before the movie was out, ... like, a year before the movie was out."
Based on Mignola's best-selling comic series, Hellboy: Sword of Storms finds Hellboy transported to a world of Japanese folklore, seeking a weapon to defeat the twin demons of Thunder and Lightning, who would unleash dragons upon the world. After the Hellboy movie, director Guillermo del Toro was also a proponent of the animated films, Stones said. "Guillermo really pushed and pushed and kept the idea alive of going to animation with the project and was largely responsible for putting me on the project," he said.
Discussing the overall design style of the animated film, Stones said: "Mike was the concept artist on [the live-action] movie, and they styled a lot of the feeling of that movie around his work. When we started doing the series, I wanted to do the same thing, because I would get to work with Mike Mignola. He was open to it, so he did some concept work and said, 'Let's just talk through the monsters, and I'll do what you need.' That was fun, and he's a hugely entertaining guy, and he's always visual."
The concept is to produce two animated films, rather than a weekly series, which many fans had anticipated, Stones said. "It was talked about as a series, and, basically, the deal didn't go through for a variety of different things. IDT made a deal with Revolution Studios at Comic-Con last year, and it came through that we would do two movies, which was weird for Mike and [me]. Part of the fun was that we had all these stories, like, five Lobster Johnson stories to tell, but then it was movies, and once I got into the movies, I absolutely didn't want to do a series."
The animated films will feature popular comic-book characters such as the pyrokinetic Liz Sherman and "merman" Abe Sapien. But, Stones said, "each movie [will] be so different and will have this core character at the center, and it's not a superhero team. ... There is a reason it's called Hellboy. Sometimes Liz and Abe will be with him, and sometimes they won't be. Or one or the other will be with him, or other characters will be there that are from the comics or original." Hellboy: Sword of Storms premieres on Cartoon Network this fall and comes to DVD in February 2007. —Tara DiLullo
Jones, Fox Mum On Surfer
Despite predictions by his publicist to SCI FI Wire, Doug Jones was not the subject of any Fox casting announcements at Comic-Con International over the weekend, and Jones himself told SCI FI Wire that he couldn't comment on any casting rumors, such as the one that he's in the running to play the Silver Surfer in the upcoming second Fantastic Four movie.
"I'm not sure who would have started such a [rumor] online, but once it did [start]—once it got online—it started a forest fire," Jones (Abe Sapien in Hellboy) said in an interview. "So the conjecture and the guessing and what's happening [have] gone insane. I can say definitively that I will not be doing any green-screen or motion-capture work, green-screen leotard-colored motion-capture work on anything coming soon. I can say that. As to all of the other casting rumors and things, all I can say officially is no comment about that."
But Jones didn't deny any of the rumors outright. And, he added: "I love shimmery, shiny things, and I hope to be wearing more of this very, very soon. ... And I've been shopping. I've been shopping to find such a thing, and I think I found the perfect thing. Let me tell you this. ... At the checkout counter when I was shopping for this outfit, nobody was standing behind me. Nobody else is shopping for the same outfit. So I'm just now waiting for my credit card to get approved, and I hope to show up at the party wearing it real soon." —Maria Virobik, with Patrick Lee, News Editor
Jones Was First Pick For Pan
Doug Jones, who stars as Pan in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Spanish-language fantasy-horror film Pan's Labyrinth, told SCI FI Wire that del Toro made it very clear that he wanted Jones to take on the title role. "When Guillermo approached me with this film, it was an e-mail that came to me from Spain," Jones said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego last week. "He was ... over there prepping for the film [and] sent me an e-mail saying that I had to play the role of Pan, [that] no one else could. 'Read the script and get back to me tonight.' ... I read the script. It was an absolute page-turner. I couldn't get through it fast enough, and by the end, [I said,] ... 'Oh, I have to play Pan. He's right.' [If] a director of Guillermo's stature is telling you you have to play this part, [that] no one else can, you listen."
Pan’s Labyrinth tells the story of an 11-year old girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), who finds escape from her bleak family situation by entering a magic underworld overseen by Pan. "My character gets to introduce to her who she really is," Jones said. "[He tells her] how to get back there, gave her tests to pass in order to do so, came back to scold her when she did wrong, came back to congratulate her when she did right. ... He's like an older, wiser character that she can find comfort in, he's also scary."
Jones said Pan has become one of his favorite characters to play, along with Billy Butcherson in the 1993 movie Hocus Pocus and Abe Sapien in 2004's Hellboy. "I love this film and ... especially love the character of Pan," he said. He added: "Pan is this delicious, angelic character, [but] you're not quite sure if he's demonic, because, as you meet him, he's kind of scary but becomes more lovable and then might scare you again and then become lovable again. And by the end of the film you might find out ... if he really is good." Pan's Labyrinth opens in U.S. theaters on Dec. 29. —Maria Virobik
[b]Ghost Rider Likes It Mellow
Nicolas Cage, star of the upcoming Ghost Rider movie, told SCI FI Wire that he and director Mark Steven Johnson came up with some unusual character traits for their hero, stunt motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze, including oddball tastes in snacks and music. "I was invited in early on in the process," Cage said in a group interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego last weekend. "So I like to think that I was building it from scratch, along with Mark, and as he was writing, we would talk, and even right before we went to film in Australia, we were coming up with ideas to add on to the character. I think traditionalists of the comic book will be happy, but we did build up the story and add on to the character."
For one thing, Cage and Johnson gave Blaze a fetish for jellybeans. For another, they made him a fan of soft-pop singer Karen Carpenter. "And he reads a lot, but he's something of a cowboy," Cage added. "Mark was very excited about the western element of the character, hearkening back to the original Ghost Rider, which you're familiar with."
Cage plays Blaze, a bike rider who sold his soul to save his father and pays by morphing into an avenging demon during the night, complete with a flaming skull. So why Karen Carpenter? "The way I thought of that was, I remember when I was in a dental chair," Cage said. "They always play these very soft, soothing types of music. And Johnny Blaze is sort of, like, literally sitting in a dental chair every second of the day wondering when ... the devil is going to come and claim his purchase. So I think he's constantly trying to relax. And so instead of, like, the bourbon-drinking, chain-smoking badass, I think he's such a badass that he needs to calm down with Karen Carpenter and jellybeans." Ghost Rider opens Feb. 16, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Ghost Fulfills Cage's Ambitions
Avowed comic-book fan and actor/producer Nicolas Cage, who stars in Mark Steven Johnson's upcoming movie based on Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that the role fulfills a number of childhood ambitions. "I like the monsters," Cage said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego over the weekend. "I just like them. When I was a kid, I fantasized about being able to turn into the monster to scare the bully away. And, I think, little boys and girls, you know, when they see the werewolf movies, like The Wolf Man, it's very exciting. Monsters are fun to play, and with Ghost Rider, I got a chance to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I got to be in a horror film in the grand sense of The Wolf Man and a comic-book-based movie."
In Ghost Rider, Cage plays stunt motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze, whose soul was bartered and who spends his night as an avenging demon with a flaming skull. Cage said that he still has his original Ghost Rider comics, on which Johnson said he's basing the movie. "Oh, absolutely," he said. "I would never sell those. They're in a special room upstairs, framed and on the wall."
Cage added: "I enjoyed the image of the skull on fire when I was a boy. And the mythology of it, the Faust-like storyline, was so original for a Marvel comic-book character. There really isn't any other one quite like Ghost Rider. And that's why I think he's fresh. I think it's time for a new kind of superhero. I'm speaking to the Ghost Rider fans. Step out. We all know who we are."
Cage, who has a tattoo of a flaming skull on his shoulder, was also known to ride motorcycles himself in his youth. But now, he said: "I have since stopped riding as much as I once did, because I have ... a baby boy, and I don't want to ... inspire [him] to ride motorcycles. But I do ride, yes." —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Ghost Goes Back To Source
Mark Steven Johnson, who wrote and directed Nicolas Cage's upcoming Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that he based the movie on the original comics that appeared in the late 1970s and early '80s. "Mine's the original," Johnson said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego. "Mine's Johnny Blaze. It's really pretty much the classic story. You know, very, very few changes. But it's all about selling your soul."
Ghost Rider, based on the Marvel Comics series, centers on Blaze (Cage), a motorcycle stunt rider who moonlights as an avenging demon with a flaming skull. The comics originally appeared from 1973 to '83. A second series, which appeared from 1990 to '98, centered on a different character, Daniel Ketch, who was later revealed to be Johnny Blaze's brother.
The movie makes a few changes to the original story. In the movie, it's the character of Johnny Blaze's father for whom Johnny makes his deal to sell his soul, not his mentor, as in the comics. "In our case, it's the father, not the stepfather, but the father who has lung cancer, who, having to leave the girl behind and ... being cursed and having to hit the road. All that stuff is in." But Johnson added that he made use of later incarnations of the comic for the film's unique look. "The spiked jacket," he said. "This isn't the blue full-body jumpsuit, you know? ... And the motorcycle he had in the early comics, I wasn't a big fan of. I thought we could do better." He added: "The Caretaker [played by Sam Elliott] from the Ketch years is a character I always liked a lot. You know, I wanted to find a way to use him. As was Blackheart [the villian from the Ketch series]. So a lot of it was taken from later. But the origin and a lot of the heart and the soul of it was from the Johnny years." Ghost Rider opens Feb. 16, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Descent End Altered In U.S.
Neil Marshall, director of the upcoming SF horror film The Descent, told SCI FI Wire that the film's ending was altered for U.S. audiences from its original U.K. release to make it a bit more upbeat. "The ending that I had when I originally wrote it has been playing in Britain nearly a year now, and they seem to like it just fine," Marshall said in an interview after a screening of the film in Los Angeles last week. "But I had the chance to shoot another ending, so I did, and I think that's fine, too."
The Descent centers on a group of thrill-seeking women who go spelunking in a previously uncharted cave. While inside, they discover some opaque-skinned batlike human-shaped creatures who prey on flesh. When Lionsgate tested the film, the unrelenting dark U.K. ending seemed to irritate Americans, so it was changed. Marshall had time to do it because the release was delayed in the U.S. to avoid the similarly themed The Cave, which was coming out about the same time.
"We had the time to do it, and it gives me as a filmmaker that rare opportunity to have two endings," Marshall said with a laugh. "We never tested both endings with both British and American audiences, so I can't say if one group liked one over the other, but it seems like the American audiences will like the one we're releasing here."
The Descent opens Aug. 4 and stars Shauna Macdonald, Alex Reid and Natalie Mendoza. Which ending does the London-based director prefer? "I prefer the British version," he admitted. The Descent opens wide on Aug. 4. —Mike Szymanski
Where's 4400's Campbell/Collier?
Ira Steven Behr, executive producer of USA Network's SF series The 4400, offered SCI FI Wire tantalizing hints as to the whereabouts of 4400 leader Jordan Collier (Billy Campbell), who was apparently assassinated in the second season but mysteriously appeared in the last few minutes of the season finale. "Well, where was he last time?" Behr said in a press conference at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 22. "Let's just look at this logically. The last time Jordan Collier disappeared, where was he? He was in the future, right? With all these other people allegedly ... taken to the future. Then he was killed and disappeared again. Where do you think he might have gone?"
Campbell returns as Collier, a prominent member of a group of 4,400 individuals who were abducted, taken to the future and returned to the present with strange new powers. Although Collier was assassinated halfway through the second season, certain events—including the disappearance of his body and the subsequent appearance on a beach of a mysterious figure resembling him—led to speculation that he might not be gone for good.
Campbell—who took time off from the show to embark on a 13-month sailing trip around the world—joined Behr and fellow cast members at the same press conference, sporting the long hair and full beard acquired during his adventure. He said his character will have this look as well when he returns, although Campbell admitted he didn't know much more than that. "I have absolutely no idea [what Collier's explanation will be]," Campbell said. "[The writers] are making it up as they go along, which is part of the joy of the show. ... That's a question for them."
Behr promised that viewers will get at least one version of what happened. "We will find out where Jordan Collier was according to Jordan Collier, and ... then it's up to all of us collectively to decide whether or not we believe him. ... I still have my doubts." The 4400, currently in its third season, airs Sundays at 9 p.m. PT/ET. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Maria Virobik
Diggs Hot About Day Break
Taye Diggs, who stars in the upcoming ABC SF series Day Break, told SCI FI Wire he was still a little hot under the collar about questions concerning the new show. Not only is it being constantly compared to Groundhog Day, because it's about a guy who has to repeat the same day over and over again, but reporters also keep asking how they're going to get audiences to keep coming back. "I may have overreacted a little bit, a little bit," Diggs said with a laugh in an interview at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Pasadena, Calif., on July 19. "But the show is a drama. Groundhog Day is a comedy, and the only thing that's the same is the repetition of the day."
In Day Break, Diggs plays a Los Angeles police detective who is framed for a murder he didn't commit, and each episode has him reliving the same day over as he tries to solve the crime and redeem himself. "You'll have to forgive us if we come off as a little sarcastic or maybe defensive, but we knew that we would be dealing with a lot of these questions," he said. "And I just need to remind you that this is something very special to us. We think it's very different. It's unique, but at the same time, it's still a television show. And everybody here, we all know what we're doing. So when you ask us a question like, 'Well, how do we get somebody to view in who hasn't been watching regularly?' You know, how do you get anybody to view in?"
Diggs said that he watched the first two seasons of 24, then didn't watch again until the fourth season. "I didn't need the beginning of the fourth season to get hooked," he said by way of comparison with Day Break. "The acting, the storyline, whatever it was, got me hooked."
Diggs then said something at the news conference that he's been razzed about ever since: "We're not dumb, I'm Taye Diggs! I wouldn't sign on for that."
Diggs laughed when reminded about the line, which may become one of the classic quotes from this year's press tour. He shared the red carpet at ABC's gala party that evening with Oscar winner Sally Field, starring in ABC's Brothers & Sisters. She's still living down her "You like me! You really like me!" speech at the 1980 Oscar ceremony. —Mike Szymanski
Pratt Is Fit For Day Break
Victoria Pratt, who will star in ABC's upcoming fantasy series Day Break, told SCI FI Wire that her work as a fitness writer helped her ease into her acting career. The athletic actress has appeared in Xena: Warrior Princess and Mutant X and will now play a detective opposite Taye Diggs in Day Break, about a guy who relives the same day over and over. "I'm detective Andrea Battle, an undercover narcotics detective, and, of course, I have a few secrets," Pratt said in an interview at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in Pasadena, Calif., last week.
Canada native Pratt got a degree in kinesiology and worked at training camps with athletes from the Winnipeg Jets and the Toronto Maple Leafs. "We would do drug testing [and] testing of firefighters to try to find suits that would help them in a fire so that they could stay in there longer and resist the heat, really, really interesting stuff," said Pratt, who also appeared in the film House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim. She was then encouraged by a friend to take an acting class while she was a writer for a women's fitness magazine.
"I took classes for two years before I had the courage to get an agent," Pratt said. "And my very first audition I ended up getting a series. It was called John Woo's Once a Thief, so it kind of happened that way. It was never something I wanted to do as a child."
Pratt said her athletic background helps her with the stamina needed for high-action series. Day Break will run for 13 weeks, beginning Nov. 15, and co-stars Moon Bloodgood, Meta Golding, Ramon Rodriguez and Adam Baldwin. —Mike Szymanski
Marshall Forecasts Doomsday
Director Neil Marshall (The Descent) told SCI FI Wire that his next film project will be a post-apocalyptic project called Doomsday, which will feature some of the same cast members as his past films. "Doomsday is a futuristic action thriller," Marshall said in an interview just after he attended Comic-Con International in San Diego last week. "It's about a group of people [who] team together to try to prevent the extinction of the human race. It will be a dark, brutal action adventure."
The idea sounds like a gritty combination of Mad Max and Escape From New York, and Marshall acknowledged that that's not a bad comparison. "It's kind of an Escape From L.A., except set in the U.K.," he said. "It will be a post-apocalyptic future and will include futuristic knights and involve car chases. There is a disease that threatens the remainder of humanity."
Marshall is currently promoting The Descent, a film about six women who get stuck in a cave and come under attack by blind, savage humanoid creatures. The Descent stars Shauna Macdonald, Alex Reid and Natalie Mendoza and opens Aug. 4. —Mike Szymanski