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NEWS OF THE WEEK FOR AUG. 21, 2006
Copperfield: Real Fountain Found?
Magician David Copperfield told the Reuters news service that he has found the Fountain of Youth in the southern Bahamas, amid a cluster of four tiny islands he recently bought for $50 million.
One of his islands in the Exuma chain, Musha Cay, is a private resort that rents for up to $300,000 a week.
Copperfield is coy about his reasons for the Fountain of Youth claim, but the man best known for entertaining with grand deception insists his archipelago also contains the legendary waters that bestow perpetual youth. Seriously.
"I've discovered a true phenomenon," Copperfield told Reuters in a telephone interview. "You can take dead leaves, they come in contact with the water, they become full of life again. ... Bugs or insects that are near death come in contact with the water, they'll fly away. It's an amazing thing, very, very exciting."
Copperfield, who turns 50 next month, said he has hired biologists and geologists to examine its potential effect on humans, but he's not inviting visitors to swim in or drink from it just yet.
Del Toro Readies Hellboy 2
Guillermo del Toro, who will be directing the upcoming sequel to Hellboy, http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw10889.html told the Latino Review Web site http://www.latinoreview.com/ that he won't begin shooting until late April or early May. "But we have a long prep ahead of us," the director added. "We're going to shoot this one in Budapest in Hungary, and we're going to shoot a little bit in London, and we're going to do preproduction and post-production in London. ... We definitely have all the regulars: Hellboy, Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman are back. We have two characters from the fantasy world, which are a prince and a princess that we will be casting very soon."
Del Toro said the story will be "sort of the magical world declaring war on the human world. The first one was dealing with a much more urban environment, and the second one is more in a mythical type of environment, more magical. So hopefully it's closer to some of the aspects of the comic book that we couldn't portray in the first one."
Pan Gets NY Film Fest Slot
Guillermo del Toro's Spanish-language horror fable Pan's Labyrinth will screen at the New York Film Festival in the fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It will be joined by Pedro Almodovar's comic drama Volver.
Programmers at the Film Society of Lincoln Center selected Labyrinth as the 44th annual festival's closing-night film, the trade paper reported.
Labyrinth takes a fantastical look at the horrors of war as seen through the eyes of a young girl. The festival runs Sept. 29-Oct. 15 at Lincoln Center.
Real-Life Cheyenne Base Closing?
The Air Force may close its Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the real-life home of NORAD and the fictional home of Stargate Command, headquarters for the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, http://www.scifi.com/stargate/ according to the Sy Fy Portal Web site, http://www.syfyportal.com/news.php?id=2821 based on reports from the GateWorld fan site http://www.gateworld.net/index.shtml and the Denver Post. http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4103478#
The site, located just outside of Colorado Springs, Colo., is viewed as an expensive relic of the Cold War and its future is currently being evaluated.
Originally built in 1961, the real-life Cheyenne Mountain Complex is where the North American Air Defense Command would track incoming bomber flights and missiles launched from the Soviet Union.
It's unclear how the closing of the real base might affect the storylines in the fictional universe of SG-1 and its companion series, Stargate Atlantis. http://www.scifi.com/atlantis/
Transformer Bots Revealed
Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, writers of the upcoming Transformers movie, revealed the list of robot characters that will appear in the big-budget adaptation of the 1980s comic, toy and animated franchise, topped by the Autobot leader Optimus Prime and the Decepticon leader Megatron, in a live video Q&A on Yahoo! on Aug. 18.
On the Autobot side the movie will feature Bumblebee, Jazz, Ratchet and Ironhide. On the Decepticon side, the film will include Starscream, Brawl, Bonecrusher, Barricade, Scorponok, Frenzy and Blackout.
The writers also asked fans to submit a key line of dialogue for Optimus Prime on the official Web site, http://www.transformersmovie.com/ which will be included in the film, apparently taking a page from the publicity campaign for Snakes on a Plane, which also incorporated a fan-suggested bit of dialogue.
The writers said that the movie will rely heavily on characters from the generation one chapter of the long-lived franchise, centering on the war between the benevolent Autobots and the nefarious Decepticons—a war that plays out on Earth in 2006. Michael Bay is directing Transformers, which is currently in production with an eye to a July 4, 2007, release.
Cat Gets Cuthbert's Tongue
Elisha Cuthbert, who voices one of the characters in the upcoming animated Cat Tale, told SCI FI Wire that she wasn't looking to do an animated project when the opportunity to join the voice cast presented itself. Cat Tale also features the vocal talents of Sean Astin, Wayne Knight, Michael Richards, Rip Torn, R. Lee Ermey, Alan Cumming and Stanley Tucci.
"You know what?" Cuthbert said in an interview while promoting her latest film, the drama The Quiet. "When I was doing the voice work for the 24 video game I got approached by the techs there. They said, 'You've got a great voice, and we'd love to use you for an animated cartoon. It wouldn't take up a lot of your time. If you'd be interested, could we use your voice?' I said, 'Why not? If I can come in in my pajamas I'll show up.'"
Cat Tale tells the story of Rover (Cuthbert's 24 co-star Astin), a cat who grew up in Dogtown and ventures back to Catopolis to discover his roots. "It's sort of an opposites-attract story," Cuthbert (House of Wax) said. "It's a really beautiful, kind of cute film about the felines and the canines. It's great. I play Cleo. She's a cat that Rover falls in love with. It's just a total coincidence that Sean plays Rover, and I didn't see any of him. I didn't see him at all when we were recording." Cat Tale will be released in 2008. —Ian Spelling
Shatner Is Kirk In Legacy
William Shatner, star of the original Star Trek, will voice Capt. James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Legacy, a new video game due in October, the Reuters news service reported.
The game will let players command more than 60 starships, spanning all five of the franchise's live-action TV series, into combat against foes such as the Klingons and the Borg, the news service reported.
Shatner, who said he doesn't play video games but has a grandson who is keen to teach him, hopes the medium can keep the Star Trek flame burning.
"The interest in Star Trek has waned in the last couple years," Shatner told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It's been around a long time. It's a staple of American life, and I think we need something new and different in Star Trek."
Word of Shatner's reprising the Kirk role comes on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek's debut on Sept. 8, 1966, on NBC.
Shatner last lent his voice to a video game in 1997's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Legacy is being published by Bethesda Softworks, which also was behind the hit fantasy role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PC and Xbox 360.
Four 2's Story Confirms Jones
Tim Story, director of the upcoming sequel film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, told fans on his official blog http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=39658614&blogID=157209329&MyToken=88ffdf97-1c1d-458a-8bcd-8a3f077a7264 that he's two weeks away from beginning production, and he all but confirmed that Doug Jones will help with the creation of the much-anticipated Silver Surfer.
"The question that I keep getting asked too many times: Doug Jones or no Doug Jones?" Story wrote on Aug. 17, referring to the actor best known for playing Abe Sapien in Hellboy. "Here's the lowdown. Doug has been working on a number of things regarding the Surfer. In order for the presence of the CGI SS to appear and move real, we need someone to perfect movement and provide a base, to which Weta can do their thing. [That's] the [gist] of it. I don't know what that confirms for you guys, but there you go."
Story also wrote about changes to the look of The Thing (Michael Chiklis) and Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon). "The latest test of Chiklis' new Thing makeup is looking good," he wrote. "I think I told you guys about how we were improving the suit. For one, it's lighter and will allow Chikie to be more athletic. I know many of you wish The Thing could've been more agile; well, you got it. Michael's excited. We've made improvements to areas like the brow. Yes, yes, it's a little bigger. You guys have to remember the brow can't be too big, because it just doesn't look as good as you might think, but we have improved it. This all came from the fans saying they wish it were bigger. He'll be wearing more clothes as well. Now that he's comfortable with himself, we can have more fun with his appearance. Wait until you see him in his tux."
Story added: "The new mask for Doom is awesome. There's a more evil tone to it. I've been working on a maquette of the entire Doom look, complete with armor, with my friends at Spectral Motion (the guys who brought you Thing, Beast, Juggernaut, Hellboy, etc.), the look is madd cool. I think you guys will like it. And don't worry, Julian will be seen. I talked to him yesterday, and he can't wait to get busy."
As for the Silver Surfer, the sequel's main new character, Story said: "The Silver Surfer's look just continues to get better. We're trying test on the wake that his board will leave, and we're starting to really get into the look of his eyes. Classic Surfer looks from the comic. I think you will all enjoy it." Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer hits theaters on June 15, 2007.
Four 2 Gets New Name
Fox confirmed to Superhero Hype! http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=39658614&blogID=157209329&MyToken=88ffdf97-1c1d-458a-8bcd-8a3f077a7264 that the upcoming Fantastic Four sequel has a new name: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The movie was previously known as Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer. The sequel, directed by Tim Story, is set to hit theaters on June 15, 2007.
In the sequel, the intergalactic herald the Silver Surfer comes to Earth to prepare it for destruction. As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue (Jessica Alba), Johnny (Chris Evans) and Ben (Michael Chiklis) must unravel the mystery. At the same time, they find themselves again confronting their mortal enemy, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon).
Illusionist's Biel Gets Smacked?
Jessica Biel, who co-stars in the supernatural period drama The Illusionist, told SCI FI Wire that co-star Rufus Sewell seems to slap her in a key scene, but that it was only an illusion. Even so, Biel said she found the scene traumatic. In it, Sewell appears to slap her when her character, a noblewoman named Sophie, defies his, Crown Prince Leopold, to whom she is betrothed.
"It was a big step," Biel said in an interview. "It was extremely nerve-wracking, but I knew that if it terrified me that I should do it. I was enamored with the story and with the character and with the idea of that time period and being in that wardrobe and really creating this person and stepping into the shoes of someone that I have no idea about."
Playing a traditional woman in the turn-of-the-20th-century drama was a departure for Biel, who is better known for her kickass action heroines in such films as Stealth and Blade: Trinity. "I felt that it was very different from previous roles that I've done, modern roles," Biel said. "I felt that I was pretty much me in a lot of those roles, just changing it up a little bit. But with this I felt like I was stepping into the abyss. I didn't know what was going to happen, really. So I just enjoyed the challenge and was excited to surprise people with it. I'm just so happy that it turned out the way that it did."
In the scene in which Leopold slaps Sophie, she is telling her betrothed that she is in love with Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a magician with seemingly supernatural powers. "There's an intense emotional aspect to that scene," Biel said. "I think, ... 'I can't do this anymore. I'm just trying to be honest with you.' Of course, he goes off the handle and strikes her. I think the way that I felt as a character was that I felt so violated by that, that the best response, better than attacking back or hitting back, is to really say, 'Well, that doesn't bother me. I'm leaving.' And that's what was so cool about Sophie in that scene and how we played it. It was just, 'I'm not going to react to this. Goodbye.' She didn't react to it, and that's what pissed him off. In the beginning of the scene he says something, and she barely reacts to it, and he's getting crazy, and he's doing exactly what she knows he's going to do. She doesn't react to it. It built like that until that final moment, which was like a kick to the face when she just walks out. He couldn't believe it."
The redness in her cheek that's apparent in the film is no illusion either. "My cheek did get really red," Biel said. "I saw that, too. He did not ever hit me, but it startled me every time, I think, and I just felt demeaned by it for some reason. I guess that I was very involved in that scene, and I felt very in the moment in that scene, and I do remember my face just sort of blushing."
Biel added that the scene was the toughest part of the film for her. "I think that Rufus and I really like each other, and so it was probably hard," she said. "I mean, we had a nice friendship, and he was a really lovely guy. I'm sure that he didn't want to pretend and smack me. I'm sure that it wasn't just another scene. It was really emotional for him as well." The Illusionist, which is based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," opened Aug. 18. —Mike Szymanski
Illusionist's Biel Dressed It Up
Jessica Biel, who plays a turn-of-the-20th-century European noblewoman in the The Illusionist, told SCI FI Wire that showing up to her audition in a dress from the early 1900s helped nab her the role of a lifetime. "I showed up at my last audition, which I did with [star] Edward [Norton], in full costume," Biel said. "I figured this is my one opportunity. I've got to go all the way. They might laugh, but they might love it."
Biel—who is otherwise known for her roles in such genre films as Blade: Trinity http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw11751.html and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—said that she found the costume in a vintage-clothing store. "I went to this store called Paris 1900. It's on Main Street in Santa Monica," Calif., she said. "It's really beautiful. It has all these vintage blouses, scarves and beautiful things. I just went crazy. I bought a blouse and sash and a long beautiful skirt and earrings. I had friends do my hair, and I wore no makeup. I just walked in there like I was out of some back lot."
At first, Biel thought she went a bit to far. "The first reaction was a little shocked," she recalled. "Then I thought, 'This is going to go so wrong.' [Writer/director] Neil looked at me and said 'Oh, my God, now we have one outfit out of the way.' He just put me at ease immediately. If he hadn't said that, I think I might have botched my audition."
In The Illusionist, which is based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," Biel plays Sophie, a countess who is the center of a love triangle in Vienna involving Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) and a magician played by Norton.
For his part, Burger said that he and Norton loved the extra effort Biel made in the audition process. "Two things happened with the casting of Jessica," he said. "She came in, and she knocked us out. I'm sure she told you. It really took us by surprise, and what you realized was that she had this timeless classic beauty that was perfect for the period. I've looked at hundreds of photos of that time, and she would have fit right in. She would be one of the most beautiful women of that time, and still it completely worked. The other thing for the character of Sophie [is] she's a fearless woman and take risks. And Jessie had that same kind of quality: completely fearless, adventuresome, strong and really bold. She walked on the set with those three actors, Edward, and Paul [Giamatti] and Rufus, and they're all intense guys and really intimidating, and they're all at the top of their craft, and she got on the set and there was no problem." The Illusionist opened Aug. 18. —Mike Szymanski
[b]4400's Campbell Back, Talking
Billy Campbell, who returns to USA Network's SF series The 4400 as the mysterious Jordan Collier, told SCI FI Wire that he took up the role again after arriving back in Vancouver, B.C., after crewing a round-the-world sailing expedition for 13 months. "About 28 hours after I had been cleaning a toilet onboard, I was standing in front of a movie camera, so it was very strange," Campbell said in an interview about his abrupt reintroduction to TV. "I honestly don't remember the first couple of weeks I was back in Vancouver. It was like I was having an out-of-body experience. [Executive producer] Ira [Steven Behr] will tell you, I was just wandering around with this dazed look in my eye. But yeah, it was quite strange to be back."
Campbell, who plays the leader of a group of abductees returned from the future to save humanity in 2006, appears in the last four episodes of the current third season. His boat trip, which began last year, prevented producers from using him more this season, Behr acknowledged in a conference call on Aug. 16. "What I told the staff [was], 'OK, we are going to basically do a full season in three episodes," Behr said. "[A] full season of Jordan Collier story, so we're going to cut out all the, ... like, connective-tissue-type of storylines or scenes and just get to the essence of what we want to do with the character this season."
As for Campbell, who was a crew member of the Picton Castle, http://www.picton-castle.com/index.php he said he appreciated being able to go on his adventure. "I don't remember the precise conversation, but I do remember saying to my agent, 'You know, I'm going to be on a boat for 13 months,' and being shocked when she came back and said, 'Well, they're OK with that,'" Campbell said. "I thought for sure I'd never hear from those guys again. And then, of course, the conversations after that sort of went, 'But they want to know if they need you a few months earlier than 13 months, is that OK?' I said, 'Well, let them know that I'm circumnavigating the planet, and the moment I get back to my starting point, I'll be happy to come back.' And the next conversation was, 'Well, if they need you a few weeks earlier ... ?' But it kept on, and I kept thinking, 'Well, they're probably going to cut me off at some point and say, "You know what? We've thought about this again ... ."' But it never happened, so I was thrilled. It must be one of the only jobs in the world that I could have that would allow me to take a year and sail around the world."
As for Collier's role in the upcoming final two episodes of the season? "I think that obviously the chance to have Jordan Collier back, none of us wanted to blow that opportunity, and it seemed like a chance to really expand and play with the franchise a little bit and take some major steps and big moves with the storyline," Behr said. "I think that's [where] we're going to go. I think that Jordan's return is going to have a big impact on the people closest to him and the people closest to the audience, and beyond [that] I think it's going to have a major impact on society. ... [It] kind of heralds the next phase of storytelling in the series, which is a pretty big load to place on one character, as I say, but it's true." The 4400 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT; the season finale airs Aug. 27. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Family Horror Marks Transylvania
Anthony Stacchi and David Feiss, directors of the upcoming animated monster movie Hotel Transylvania, told SCI FI Wire that they wanted to meld classic horror characters with domestic drama, as The Sopranos mixes the Mafia with family issues. (Stacchi worked on the upcoming animated film Open Season.)
"We're kind of going back to the cross-cultural memory of these monsters, not specifically to any particular old movie or anything," Stacchi (Curious George) said in an interview at Sony Pictures Animation studios in Culver City, Calif. "I think Frankenstein, Dracula and the rest of them, they sort of live in people's minds to a certain degree, so we're sort of jumping off from that starting point and then showing the other side of them. Like, we always laugh at The Sopranos, because you think of Mafia people as being one way, and you don't think of them as having all of these domestic family issues."
Hotel Transylvania is set in a decaying castle where the classic movie monsters, including the Mummy and the Wolf Man, have retreated from the world, but where they can't escape domestic issues: Frankenstein's marriage to the Bride is over, and Count Dracula is having trouble controlling his 117-year-old daughter.
"That was the charm of The Sopranos, and we thought it would be funny if the charm of these monsters was, like, they have their own family issues," co-director Feiss said. "Like, Dracula has a daughter that he's concerned about. She's, like, a rebellious teenager, much like Meadow Soprano."
Stacchi added: "And Frankenstein has marriage problems, because she's ... filed for divorce from him. ... And then there was always something that appealed to us. As a child, you remember seeing those movies on your local creature-double-feature thing, and ... I as a kid always remember I always felt bad for the monsters. I didn't get the sort of Victorian horror of Frankenstein and Dracula. I was like, 'Why don't they leave them alone? Why are they beating them up? Why do they shoot King Kong? Leave them alone.' And I always wanted to do a movie where you'd get to see that other side of them and see why they were these sort of sad, tortured souls. I mean, Frankenstein didn't ask to be made. Werewolf didn't ask to be made a werewolf. Or the rest of them." Hotel Transylvania, part of Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming initial slate of family films, is aiming for release in late 2008. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Craig Joins Compass Cast
Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) will star in The Golden Compass, the first installment of an intended New Line trilogy based on the Philip Pullman series His Dark Materials, Variety reported. Chris Weitz wrote the script and directs.
Craig will play Lord Asriel, a ruthless and mysterious adventurer who is the uncle of Lyra Belacqua, the young girl who journeys to a parallel universe to save her best friend.
Craig will be reunited with Eva Green, who played Bond temptress Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. In Compass, she plays a witch who helps the young girl navigate a world filled with shape-shifting and otherworldly creatures.
If New Line goes forward with all three installments of Pullman's literary trilogy, Craig's character will be a fixture of each, based on Asriel's role in the Pullman books.
Craig and Green join Nicole Kidman and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards in Compass, which begins production Sept. 4 in the United Kingdom.
Craig will shoot the film and then return for the 22nd installment of the James Bond series, which has already been stamped with a May 2, 2008, release date.
McAvoy Headlines Wanted
James McAvoy has landed the starring role in Universal Pictures' Wanted, an SF action movie that will mark the English-language debut of Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wanted is based on a comic-book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, published by Top Cow. The story follows a put-upon young man who discovers that his long-lost father is an assassin. After his dad is murdered, the son is recruited into a covert organization of killers and trained to follow in his father's footsteps.
The comic is considered hard-core, and the movie probably will be rated R. The script was penned by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (2 Fast 2 Furious).
McAvoy's credits include the role of Mr. Tumnus, the faun, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
F.E.A.R. Due For PS3
Sierra Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, announced that its award-winning video game F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) is in development for the PlayStation 3, which will ship in November.
Already a hit in its PC version, F.E.A.R. will bring a new level of first-person-shooter gameplay to the PlayStation 3 with exclusive single-player content designed to immerse the player deeper in the world of the F.E.A.R. team. The PS3 version will also feature multiplayer gameplay.
Developed by Day 1 Studios in conjunction with Monolith Productions, F.E.A.R. is a paranormal action thriller presented entirely in the first person. The game combines close-quarters combat with the paranormal.
Surf Won Over Lebowski Star
Chris Buck, one of the directors of the upcoming animated penguin surf film Surf's Up, told SCI FI Wire that he and co-director Ash Brannon persuaded a reluctant Jeff Bridges to voice a character by showing him some test animation that incorporated one of Bridges' earlier performances. "We had seen The Big Lebowski, and we of course knew Jeff's career, and just knew he was perfect, and the voice was perfect," Buck said in an interview at a preview of Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming slate in Culver City, Calif., earlier this week. "And I don't remember whose [idea] it was specifically, but I think we just said, 'Let's find a great line that says it all and has that surfer attitude,' and The Dude has that."
The resulting animation shows the Surf's Up character, a large gone-to-seed surfer penguin named The Geek, mouthing Bridge's famous line from Lebowski: "I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. That, or Duder. His Dudeness. Or El Duderino, if, you know, you're not into the whole brevity thing." Sony screened the bit of test footage for SCI FI Wire and other reporters on Aug. 15; the animation matches the corpulent penguin's slacker movements to Bridges' slacker voice.
"He was just perfect," Buck said. "You see, that's the way to test it: You get a voice recording for some other movie that the actors have done, put it up against a test from the character, and see if that voice embodies that character. We knew it would work, and then when we saw it, it was brilliant."
What did Bridges think? "Jeff loved it and said, 'You guys have inspired me to go back to the gym,'" Buck said.
Surf's Up, which is still in production, uses a mockumentary style to tell the "true story" of how penguins invented surfing. Bridges voices a mentor to Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a young surfer wannabe. Surf's Up, part of Sony Pictures Animation's initial slate of family-friendly computer-animated movies, is slated for release on June 8, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
NEWS OF THE WEEK FOR AUG. 21, 2006
Copperfield: Real Fountain Found?
Magician David Copperfield told the Reuters news service that he has found the Fountain of Youth in the southern Bahamas, amid a cluster of four tiny islands he recently bought for $50 million.
One of his islands in the Exuma chain, Musha Cay, is a private resort that rents for up to $300,000 a week.
Copperfield is coy about his reasons for the Fountain of Youth claim, but the man best known for entertaining with grand deception insists his archipelago also contains the legendary waters that bestow perpetual youth. Seriously.
"I've discovered a true phenomenon," Copperfield told Reuters in a telephone interview. "You can take dead leaves, they come in contact with the water, they become full of life again. ... Bugs or insects that are near death come in contact with the water, they'll fly away. It's an amazing thing, very, very exciting."
Copperfield, who turns 50 next month, said he has hired biologists and geologists to examine its potential effect on humans, but he's not inviting visitors to swim in or drink from it just yet.
Del Toro Readies Hellboy 2
Guillermo del Toro, who will be directing the upcoming sequel to Hellboy, http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw10889.html told the Latino Review Web site http://www.latinoreview.com/ that he won't begin shooting until late April or early May. "But we have a long prep ahead of us," the director added. "We're going to shoot this one in Budapest in Hungary, and we're going to shoot a little bit in London, and we're going to do preproduction and post-production in London. ... We definitely have all the regulars: Hellboy, Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman are back. We have two characters from the fantasy world, which are a prince and a princess that we will be casting very soon."
Del Toro said the story will be "sort of the magical world declaring war on the human world. The first one was dealing with a much more urban environment, and the second one is more in a mythical type of environment, more magical. So hopefully it's closer to some of the aspects of the comic book that we couldn't portray in the first one."
Pan Gets NY Film Fest Slot
Guillermo del Toro's Spanish-language horror fable Pan's Labyrinth will screen at the New York Film Festival in the fall, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It will be joined by Pedro Almodovar's comic drama Volver.
Programmers at the Film Society of Lincoln Center selected Labyrinth as the 44th annual festival's closing-night film, the trade paper reported.
Labyrinth takes a fantastical look at the horrors of war as seen through the eyes of a young girl. The festival runs Sept. 29-Oct. 15 at Lincoln Center.
Real-Life Cheyenne Base Closing?
The Air Force may close its Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the real-life home of NORAD and the fictional home of Stargate Command, headquarters for the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, http://www.scifi.com/stargate/ according to the Sy Fy Portal Web site, http://www.syfyportal.com/news.php?id=2821 based on reports from the GateWorld fan site http://www.gateworld.net/index.shtml and the Denver Post. http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_4103478#
The site, located just outside of Colorado Springs, Colo., is viewed as an expensive relic of the Cold War and its future is currently being evaluated.
Originally built in 1961, the real-life Cheyenne Mountain Complex is where the North American Air Defense Command would track incoming bomber flights and missiles launched from the Soviet Union.
It's unclear how the closing of the real base might affect the storylines in the fictional universe of SG-1 and its companion series, Stargate Atlantis. http://www.scifi.com/atlantis/
Transformer Bots Revealed
Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, writers of the upcoming Transformers movie, revealed the list of robot characters that will appear in the big-budget adaptation of the 1980s comic, toy and animated franchise, topped by the Autobot leader Optimus Prime and the Decepticon leader Megatron, in a live video Q&A on Yahoo! on Aug. 18.
On the Autobot side the movie will feature Bumblebee, Jazz, Ratchet and Ironhide. On the Decepticon side, the film will include Starscream, Brawl, Bonecrusher, Barricade, Scorponok, Frenzy and Blackout.
The writers also asked fans to submit a key line of dialogue for Optimus Prime on the official Web site, http://www.transformersmovie.com/ which will be included in the film, apparently taking a page from the publicity campaign for Snakes on a Plane, which also incorporated a fan-suggested bit of dialogue.
The writers said that the movie will rely heavily on characters from the generation one chapter of the long-lived franchise, centering on the war between the benevolent Autobots and the nefarious Decepticons—a war that plays out on Earth in 2006. Michael Bay is directing Transformers, which is currently in production with an eye to a July 4, 2007, release.
Cat Gets Cuthbert's Tongue
Elisha Cuthbert, who voices one of the characters in the upcoming animated Cat Tale, told SCI FI Wire that she wasn't looking to do an animated project when the opportunity to join the voice cast presented itself. Cat Tale also features the vocal talents of Sean Astin, Wayne Knight, Michael Richards, Rip Torn, R. Lee Ermey, Alan Cumming and Stanley Tucci.
"You know what?" Cuthbert said in an interview while promoting her latest film, the drama The Quiet. "When I was doing the voice work for the 24 video game I got approached by the techs there. They said, 'You've got a great voice, and we'd love to use you for an animated cartoon. It wouldn't take up a lot of your time. If you'd be interested, could we use your voice?' I said, 'Why not? If I can come in in my pajamas I'll show up.'"
Cat Tale tells the story of Rover (Cuthbert's 24 co-star Astin), a cat who grew up in Dogtown and ventures back to Catopolis to discover his roots. "It's sort of an opposites-attract story," Cuthbert (House of Wax) said. "It's a really beautiful, kind of cute film about the felines and the canines. It's great. I play Cleo. She's a cat that Rover falls in love with. It's just a total coincidence that Sean plays Rover, and I didn't see any of him. I didn't see him at all when we were recording." Cat Tale will be released in 2008. —Ian Spelling
Shatner Is Kirk In Legacy
William Shatner, star of the original Star Trek, will voice Capt. James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Legacy, a new video game due in October, the Reuters news service reported.
The game will let players command more than 60 starships, spanning all five of the franchise's live-action TV series, into combat against foes such as the Klingons and the Borg, the news service reported.
Shatner, who said he doesn't play video games but has a grandson who is keen to teach him, hopes the medium can keep the Star Trek flame burning.
"The interest in Star Trek has waned in the last couple years," Shatner told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It's been around a long time. It's a staple of American life, and I think we need something new and different in Star Trek."
Word of Shatner's reprising the Kirk role comes on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek's debut on Sept. 8, 1966, on NBC.
Shatner last lent his voice to a video game in 1997's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Star Trek: Legacy is being published by Bethesda Softworks, which also was behind the hit fantasy role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PC and Xbox 360.
Four 2's Story Confirms Jones
Tim Story, director of the upcoming sequel film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, told fans on his official blog http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=39658614&blogID=157209329&MyToken=88ffdf97-1c1d-458a-8bcd-8a3f077a7264 that he's two weeks away from beginning production, and he all but confirmed that Doug Jones will help with the creation of the much-anticipated Silver Surfer.
"The question that I keep getting asked too many times: Doug Jones or no Doug Jones?" Story wrote on Aug. 17, referring to the actor best known for playing Abe Sapien in Hellboy. "Here's the lowdown. Doug has been working on a number of things regarding the Surfer. In order for the presence of the CGI SS to appear and move real, we need someone to perfect movement and provide a base, to which Weta can do their thing. [That's] the [gist] of it. I don't know what that confirms for you guys, but there you go."
Story also wrote about changes to the look of The Thing (Michael Chiklis) and Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon). "The latest test of Chiklis' new Thing makeup is looking good," he wrote. "I think I told you guys about how we were improving the suit. For one, it's lighter and will allow Chikie to be more athletic. I know many of you wish The Thing could've been more agile; well, you got it. Michael's excited. We've made improvements to areas like the brow. Yes, yes, it's a little bigger. You guys have to remember the brow can't be too big, because it just doesn't look as good as you might think, but we have improved it. This all came from the fans saying they wish it were bigger. He'll be wearing more clothes as well. Now that he's comfortable with himself, we can have more fun with his appearance. Wait until you see him in his tux."
Story added: "The new mask for Doom is awesome. There's a more evil tone to it. I've been working on a maquette of the entire Doom look, complete with armor, with my friends at Spectral Motion (the guys who brought you Thing, Beast, Juggernaut, Hellboy, etc.), the look is madd cool. I think you guys will like it. And don't worry, Julian will be seen. I talked to him yesterday, and he can't wait to get busy."
As for the Silver Surfer, the sequel's main new character, Story said: "The Silver Surfer's look just continues to get better. We're trying test on the wake that his board will leave, and we're starting to really get into the look of his eyes. Classic Surfer looks from the comic. I think you will all enjoy it." Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer hits theaters on June 15, 2007.
Four 2 Gets New Name
Fox confirmed to Superhero Hype! http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=39658614&blogID=157209329&MyToken=88ffdf97-1c1d-458a-8bcd-8a3f077a7264 that the upcoming Fantastic Four sequel has a new name: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The movie was previously known as Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer. The sequel, directed by Tim Story, is set to hit theaters on June 15, 2007.
In the sequel, the intergalactic herald the Silver Surfer comes to Earth to prepare it for destruction. As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, Reed (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue (Jessica Alba), Johnny (Chris Evans) and Ben (Michael Chiklis) must unravel the mystery. At the same time, they find themselves again confronting their mortal enemy, Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon).
Illusionist's Biel Gets Smacked?
Jessica Biel, who co-stars in the supernatural period drama The Illusionist, told SCI FI Wire that co-star Rufus Sewell seems to slap her in a key scene, but that it was only an illusion. Even so, Biel said she found the scene traumatic. In it, Sewell appears to slap her when her character, a noblewoman named Sophie, defies his, Crown Prince Leopold, to whom she is betrothed.
"It was a big step," Biel said in an interview. "It was extremely nerve-wracking, but I knew that if it terrified me that I should do it. I was enamored with the story and with the character and with the idea of that time period and being in that wardrobe and really creating this person and stepping into the shoes of someone that I have no idea about."
Playing a traditional woman in the turn-of-the-20th-century drama was a departure for Biel, who is better known for her kickass action heroines in such films as Stealth and Blade: Trinity. "I felt that it was very different from previous roles that I've done, modern roles," Biel said. "I felt that I was pretty much me in a lot of those roles, just changing it up a little bit. But with this I felt like I was stepping into the abyss. I didn't know what was going to happen, really. So I just enjoyed the challenge and was excited to surprise people with it. I'm just so happy that it turned out the way that it did."
In the scene in which Leopold slaps Sophie, she is telling her betrothed that she is in love with Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a magician with seemingly supernatural powers. "There's an intense emotional aspect to that scene," Biel said. "I think, ... 'I can't do this anymore. I'm just trying to be honest with you.' Of course, he goes off the handle and strikes her. I think the way that I felt as a character was that I felt so violated by that, that the best response, better than attacking back or hitting back, is to really say, 'Well, that doesn't bother me. I'm leaving.' And that's what was so cool about Sophie in that scene and how we played it. It was just, 'I'm not going to react to this. Goodbye.' She didn't react to it, and that's what pissed him off. In the beginning of the scene he says something, and she barely reacts to it, and he's getting crazy, and he's doing exactly what she knows he's going to do. She doesn't react to it. It built like that until that final moment, which was like a kick to the face when she just walks out. He couldn't believe it."
The redness in her cheek that's apparent in the film is no illusion either. "My cheek did get really red," Biel said. "I saw that, too. He did not ever hit me, but it startled me every time, I think, and I just felt demeaned by it for some reason. I guess that I was very involved in that scene, and I felt very in the moment in that scene, and I do remember my face just sort of blushing."
Biel added that the scene was the toughest part of the film for her. "I think that Rufus and I really like each other, and so it was probably hard," she said. "I mean, we had a nice friendship, and he was a really lovely guy. I'm sure that he didn't want to pretend and smack me. I'm sure that it wasn't just another scene. It was really emotional for him as well." The Illusionist, which is based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," opened Aug. 18. —Mike Szymanski
Illusionist's Biel Dressed It Up
Jessica Biel, who plays a turn-of-the-20th-century European noblewoman in the The Illusionist, told SCI FI Wire that showing up to her audition in a dress from the early 1900s helped nab her the role of a lifetime. "I showed up at my last audition, which I did with [star] Edward [Norton], in full costume," Biel said. "I figured this is my one opportunity. I've got to go all the way. They might laugh, but they might love it."
Biel—who is otherwise known for her roles in such genre films as Blade: Trinity http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw11751.html and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—said that she found the costume in a vintage-clothing store. "I went to this store called Paris 1900. It's on Main Street in Santa Monica," Calif., she said. "It's really beautiful. It has all these vintage blouses, scarves and beautiful things. I just went crazy. I bought a blouse and sash and a long beautiful skirt and earrings. I had friends do my hair, and I wore no makeup. I just walked in there like I was out of some back lot."
At first, Biel thought she went a bit to far. "The first reaction was a little shocked," she recalled. "Then I thought, 'This is going to go so wrong.' [Writer/director] Neil looked at me and said 'Oh, my God, now we have one outfit out of the way.' He just put me at ease immediately. If he hadn't said that, I think I might have botched my audition."
In The Illusionist, which is based on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist," Biel plays Sophie, a countess who is the center of a love triangle in Vienna involving Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) and a magician played by Norton.
For his part, Burger said that he and Norton loved the extra effort Biel made in the audition process. "Two things happened with the casting of Jessica," he said. "She came in, and she knocked us out. I'm sure she told you. It really took us by surprise, and what you realized was that she had this timeless classic beauty that was perfect for the period. I've looked at hundreds of photos of that time, and she would have fit right in. She would be one of the most beautiful women of that time, and still it completely worked. The other thing for the character of Sophie [is] she's a fearless woman and take risks. And Jessie had that same kind of quality: completely fearless, adventuresome, strong and really bold. She walked on the set with those three actors, Edward, and Paul [Giamatti] and Rufus, and they're all intense guys and really intimidating, and they're all at the top of their craft, and she got on the set and there was no problem." The Illusionist opened Aug. 18. —Mike Szymanski
[b]4400's Campbell Back, Talking
Billy Campbell, who returns to USA Network's SF series The 4400 as the mysterious Jordan Collier, told SCI FI Wire that he took up the role again after arriving back in Vancouver, B.C., after crewing a round-the-world sailing expedition for 13 months. "About 28 hours after I had been cleaning a toilet onboard, I was standing in front of a movie camera, so it was very strange," Campbell said in an interview about his abrupt reintroduction to TV. "I honestly don't remember the first couple of weeks I was back in Vancouver. It was like I was having an out-of-body experience. [Executive producer] Ira [Steven Behr] will tell you, I was just wandering around with this dazed look in my eye. But yeah, it was quite strange to be back."
Campbell, who plays the leader of a group of abductees returned from the future to save humanity in 2006, appears in the last four episodes of the current third season. His boat trip, which began last year, prevented producers from using him more this season, Behr acknowledged in a conference call on Aug. 16. "What I told the staff [was], 'OK, we are going to basically do a full season in three episodes," Behr said. "[A] full season of Jordan Collier story, so we're going to cut out all the, ... like, connective-tissue-type of storylines or scenes and just get to the essence of what we want to do with the character this season."
As for Campbell, who was a crew member of the Picton Castle, http://www.picton-castle.com/index.php he said he appreciated being able to go on his adventure. "I don't remember the precise conversation, but I do remember saying to my agent, 'You know, I'm going to be on a boat for 13 months,' and being shocked when she came back and said, 'Well, they're OK with that,'" Campbell said. "I thought for sure I'd never hear from those guys again. And then, of course, the conversations after that sort of went, 'But they want to know if they need you a few months earlier than 13 months, is that OK?' I said, 'Well, let them know that I'm circumnavigating the planet, and the moment I get back to my starting point, I'll be happy to come back.' And the next conversation was, 'Well, if they need you a few weeks earlier ... ?' But it kept on, and I kept thinking, 'Well, they're probably going to cut me off at some point and say, "You know what? We've thought about this again ... ."' But it never happened, so I was thrilled. It must be one of the only jobs in the world that I could have that would allow me to take a year and sail around the world."
As for Collier's role in the upcoming final two episodes of the season? "I think that obviously the chance to have Jordan Collier back, none of us wanted to blow that opportunity, and it seemed like a chance to really expand and play with the franchise a little bit and take some major steps and big moves with the storyline," Behr said. "I think that's [where] we're going to go. I think that Jordan's return is going to have a big impact on the people closest to him and the people closest to the audience, and beyond [that] I think it's going to have a major impact on society. ... [It] kind of heralds the next phase of storytelling in the series, which is a pretty big load to place on one character, as I say, but it's true." The 4400 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT; the season finale airs Aug. 27. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Family Horror Marks Transylvania
Anthony Stacchi and David Feiss, directors of the upcoming animated monster movie Hotel Transylvania, told SCI FI Wire that they wanted to meld classic horror characters with domestic drama, as The Sopranos mixes the Mafia with family issues. (Stacchi worked on the upcoming animated film Open Season.)
"We're kind of going back to the cross-cultural memory of these monsters, not specifically to any particular old movie or anything," Stacchi (Curious George) said in an interview at Sony Pictures Animation studios in Culver City, Calif. "I think Frankenstein, Dracula and the rest of them, they sort of live in people's minds to a certain degree, so we're sort of jumping off from that starting point and then showing the other side of them. Like, we always laugh at The Sopranos, because you think of Mafia people as being one way, and you don't think of them as having all of these domestic family issues."
Hotel Transylvania is set in a decaying castle where the classic movie monsters, including the Mummy and the Wolf Man, have retreated from the world, but where they can't escape domestic issues: Frankenstein's marriage to the Bride is over, and Count Dracula is having trouble controlling his 117-year-old daughter.
"That was the charm of The Sopranos, and we thought it would be funny if the charm of these monsters was, like, they have their own family issues," co-director Feiss said. "Like, Dracula has a daughter that he's concerned about. She's, like, a rebellious teenager, much like Meadow Soprano."
Stacchi added: "And Frankenstein has marriage problems, because she's ... filed for divorce from him. ... And then there was always something that appealed to us. As a child, you remember seeing those movies on your local creature-double-feature thing, and ... I as a kid always remember I always felt bad for the monsters. I didn't get the sort of Victorian horror of Frankenstein and Dracula. I was like, 'Why don't they leave them alone? Why are they beating them up? Why do they shoot King Kong? Leave them alone.' And I always wanted to do a movie where you'd get to see that other side of them and see why they were these sort of sad, tortured souls. I mean, Frankenstein didn't ask to be made. Werewolf didn't ask to be made a werewolf. Or the rest of them." Hotel Transylvania, part of Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming initial slate of family films, is aiming for release in late 2008. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Craig Joins Compass Cast
Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) will star in The Golden Compass, the first installment of an intended New Line trilogy based on the Philip Pullman series His Dark Materials, Variety reported. Chris Weitz wrote the script and directs.
Craig will play Lord Asriel, a ruthless and mysterious adventurer who is the uncle of Lyra Belacqua, the young girl who journeys to a parallel universe to save her best friend.
Craig will be reunited with Eva Green, who played Bond temptress Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. In Compass, she plays a witch who helps the young girl navigate a world filled with shape-shifting and otherworldly creatures.
If New Line goes forward with all three installments of Pullman's literary trilogy, Craig's character will be a fixture of each, based on Asriel's role in the Pullman books.
Craig and Green join Nicole Kidman and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards in Compass, which begins production Sept. 4 in the United Kingdom.
Craig will shoot the film and then return for the 22nd installment of the James Bond series, which has already been stamped with a May 2, 2008, release date.
McAvoy Headlines Wanted
James McAvoy has landed the starring role in Universal Pictures' Wanted, an SF action movie that will mark the English-language debut of Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wanted is based on a comic-book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, published by Top Cow. The story follows a put-upon young man who discovers that his long-lost father is an assassin. After his dad is murdered, the son is recruited into a covert organization of killers and trained to follow in his father's footsteps.
The comic is considered hard-core, and the movie probably will be rated R. The script was penned by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt (2 Fast 2 Furious).
McAvoy's credits include the role of Mr. Tumnus, the faun, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
F.E.A.R. Due For PS3
Sierra Entertainment, a division of Vivendi Games, announced that its award-winning video game F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) is in development for the PlayStation 3, which will ship in November.
Already a hit in its PC version, F.E.A.R. will bring a new level of first-person-shooter gameplay to the PlayStation 3 with exclusive single-player content designed to immerse the player deeper in the world of the F.E.A.R. team. The PS3 version will also feature multiplayer gameplay.
Developed by Day 1 Studios in conjunction with Monolith Productions, F.E.A.R. is a paranormal action thriller presented entirely in the first person. The game combines close-quarters combat with the paranormal.
Surf Won Over Lebowski Star
Chris Buck, one of the directors of the upcoming animated penguin surf film Surf's Up, told SCI FI Wire that he and co-director Ash Brannon persuaded a reluctant Jeff Bridges to voice a character by showing him some test animation that incorporated one of Bridges' earlier performances. "We had seen The Big Lebowski, and we of course knew Jeff's career, and just knew he was perfect, and the voice was perfect," Buck said in an interview at a preview of Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming slate in Culver City, Calif., earlier this week. "And I don't remember whose [idea] it was specifically, but I think we just said, 'Let's find a great line that says it all and has that surfer attitude,' and The Dude has that."
The resulting animation shows the Surf's Up character, a large gone-to-seed surfer penguin named The Geek, mouthing Bridge's famous line from Lebowski: "I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. That, or Duder. His Dudeness. Or El Duderino, if, you know, you're not into the whole brevity thing." Sony screened the bit of test footage for SCI FI Wire and other reporters on Aug. 15; the animation matches the corpulent penguin's slacker movements to Bridges' slacker voice.
"He was just perfect," Buck said. "You see, that's the way to test it: You get a voice recording for some other movie that the actors have done, put it up against a test from the character, and see if that voice embodies that character. We knew it would work, and then when we saw it, it was brilliant."
What did Bridges think? "Jeff loved it and said, 'You guys have inspired me to go back to the gym,'" Buck said.
Surf's Up, which is still in production, uses a mockumentary style to tell the "true story" of how penguins invented surfing. Bridges voices a mentor to Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), a young surfer wannabe. Surf's Up, part of Sony Pictures Animation's initial slate of family-friendly computer-animated movies, is slated for release on June 8, 2007. —Patrick Lee, News Editor