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05-09-2006, 05:41 PM
NEWS OF THE WEEK FOR MAY. 08, 2006
Part 1 of 2
Nebula Winners Named
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman won the 2005 Nebula Award for best novel, one of several presented May 6 for best science fiction or fantasy works by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at its annual awards banquet in Tempe, Ariz., the group reported on its official Web site.
The Nebula Awards are voted on and presented by active members of the SFWA, which was founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight. With a charter membership of 78 writers, SFWA now has more than 1,500 members, among them most of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.
Other Nebula Award winners are "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link (best novella); "The Faery Handbag," also by Link (best novelette); "I Live with You" by Carol Emshwiller (best short story); and Serenity by Joss Whedon (best script).
The first ever Andre Norton Award went to Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black.
As previously announced, the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award was presented to Harlan Ellison for lifetime achievement in the field, and William F. Nolan was honored as Author Emeritus.
Original Star Wars Comes To DVD
Fox will release the original unaltered theatrical versions of the first three Star Wars movies on DVD on Sept. 12, despite statements by series creator George Lucas, USA Today reported.
Lucas had adamantly declared that 2004's digitally restored Star Wars Trilogy DVDs were the definitive versions of his movies. But fans have held out hope for DVDs of the originals, and it appears that Lucasfilm is responding, the newspaper reported.
Fox will release new two-disc DVDs, priced at $30 each, of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi that will feature the films as they first appeared in theaters, along with the new, restored versions (now available in the four-disc $70 Star Wars Trilogy). The individual DVDs will be taken off the market on Dec. 31, a strategy that Disney uses on many of its classic releases.
This new set of DVDs does not constitute "George changing his mind," Lucasfilm's Jim Ward told USA Today. "What we've always said is George viewed the revised versions of the films as the definitive versions."
The original films' video quality will not match up to that of the restored versions. "It is state of the art, as of 1993, and that's not as good as state of the art 2006," Ward said.
Star Wars TV A Ways Off
Rick McCallum, George Lucas' longtime Star Wars producing partner, told SCI FI Wire that future projects are a ways off, including a live-action TV show that is at least a year and a half away. "Star Wars TV series, probably not for a couple of years," McCallum said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "George is starting to start the basic concept of it. ... We're interviewing writers. We're seeing a lot of people. But I'd say it's not going to be happening for another at least 18 months."
McCallum also denied rumors that the new series would focus on members of the Skywalker family, but repeated that the show will take place in the timeframe between Episode III and IV. "All-new characters," he added. "That missing 20-year period when Luke is growing up. ... Think bounty hunter. That's all I can tell you. There's nobody else that you'll know [in it]. At the moment. You know, it's still [in] really, really early stages. He hasn't really sat down to think about which direction [he's going]."
McCallum added that 3-D theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies are still planned. "We're working on that," he said. "It's just a question of how many theaters will be out there. Hopefully, by the end of this year there will be about 1,500 [3-D] theaters. We need about two or three thousand before it makes it, you know, viable for any of us to go out in 3-D. But that looks like it will happen sometime in the year 2007, so hopefully we'll be happy about that."
Lucas is also planning a new run of Clone Wars-themed animated shorts. "There's an animated series being done right now, so that probably also won't be ready for another year," McCallum said. "But, yeah, that's looking really good." —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Wonder Still Drafting
Joss Whedon, who is slated to direct a proposed Wonder Woman feature film, told SCI FI Wire that he has turned in a draft script to producers, who have given him their usual "notes," or comments. "I did [turn it in] to the producers, not to the studio yet," Whedon said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "I'm working on revisions now. ... It's business as usual. I'm writing and that's all."
Whedon added that it's possible an announcement on the film could come later this year. As for a possible start date, Whedon said: "You know, they have to tell me that. And until I actually give it to the studio, I can't [say]. This is taking longer to write than things usually do, and there's some reasons for that. Not all of them are my incredible incompetence. But some of them are. But the script is coming together in a way that's actually even surprising me, so I'm pretty excited. So we'll just have to wait."
Whedon declined to discuss casting of the film. Whedon attended the Saturn Awards to accept a movie best supporting actress award on behalf of Summer Glau, who co-starred in Whedon's SF movie Serenity. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Carter Of Mars On Hold
Director Jon Favreau (Zathura) told SCI FI Wire that Paramount has put the the long-gestating film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars on hold, pending the success of his next directing project, Iron Man, and the upcoming 11th Star Trek film. "It ain't happening now," Favreau said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., earlier this week. "Iron Man is my next film, and I hope that I get to do Carter as well. So that would, by definition, be not a priority for them."
The 11 volumes of Burroughs' classic adventure series center around a Civil War veteran who takes shelter in a cave when pursued by a group of Apache Indians. Once inside, he suddenly finds himself transported to Mars, where he's taken prisoner by 12-foot-tall green men.
Despite the delays, Favreau said he was pleased with a recent draft of the script by Ehren Kruger (The Skeleton Key, The Ring), as well as some of the early concept art he's seen. For Paramount, the issue isn't the quality of the work, but the timing of the project. "The studio really liked it," Favreau said. "But they've committed to doing the Star Trek franchise, to start that up again, with J.J. [Abrams], and they have other science-fiction properties, and they don't think the timing is right. And, hopefully, by continuing my relationship with them, by doing this Iron Man film, I'll leave the door wide open for Carter, which is a much more challenging property."
Favreau is the third director to be attached to the project, following Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and Kerry Conran (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), who were involved in earlier incarnations. —Cindy White
Favreau Talks Iron Man
Jon Favreau, who will direct the upcoming film version of Marvel Comics' Iron Man, told SCI FI Wire that his movie will have a lot of action and will also look back to an earlier half-man, half-machine. "I want to see a lot of stuff blowing up," Favreau said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., earlier this week. "That's part of it. I've always been a big fan of RoboCop. And using today's technology to create a hero that has that kind of, you know, magnitude could be a lot of fun. There's also a whole geopolitical aspect of it that you you don't really see with other superheroes. And the politics are a little more complicated. So it deals with a lot of issues. I hope that we could, on the one hand, make it an enjoyable movie, [and,] on the other hand, explore certain subject matter that you wouldn't normally see in a comic-book movie."
Favreau will helm Iron Man, Marvel Studios' first independently financed project, which will now be distributed by Paramount. Arthur Marcum and Matt Hollaway (Convoy) will write the screenplay, centering on alcoholic billionaire Tony Stark, who is disabled by an accident and must create a suit of armor to sustain his life. (Favreau will chronicle the process of making the movie in an Iron Man blog (http://groups.myspace.com/ironmanmovie) on MySpace.com.)
Favreau said he would remain faithful to the comic's mythology while presenting an origin story. "Just my sensibility in adaptations, I really ... I put a lot of weight on ... the stories that have been told," he said. "Now, obviously you have certain aspects that lend themselves better to movies, and you're trying to tell a story that's been told over many, many issues in the comic books in an hour and a half. So there's going to be some consolidation, and I think that tonally, the comic book has changed a great deal."
Favreau added: "I think part of the fun of the first film is that you have the origin story. And there's been several tellings of it. And the early stuff from the '60s is kind of simplistic. I don't think that I want to play up the campy, corny aspect of comic books. I think I want to get into sort of the deep character work that the books have been so effective in presenting."
Fans will see various incarnations of Iron Man's familiar red-and-yellow armor, he added: "Hopefully, we'll get to see a couple of suits of armor in it. Hopefully there's a progression. That's part of the fun of Iron Man. He had a lot of different looks." No one is cast yet, he said. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Hellboy 2 Burns Hotter
Hellboy star Ron Perlman told SCI FI Wire that he spoke with someone intimately involved with the proposed sequel, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, and was informed that May 1 was a "great day in the genesis of turning of Hellboy 2 into a reality."
Perlman added: "What that means? I know they're incredibly close. I know that there's one studio in particular that I probably shouldn't name [that] is pounding away at looking at the budget and has expressed a huge enthusiasm for [Guillermo] del Toro's script and the desire to do the project. Now they're just pushing numbers around. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's announced very soon."
The sequel would pick up the story of the red-skinned demon and his team in the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, including the amphibious Abe Sapien and fire-starting Liz Sherman.
Prisoner Remake On Tap
BBC News reported that the cult 1960s TV series The Prisoner will be remade into a six-part series for the U.K.'s Sky One network, with former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston linked to the title role originally played by Patrick McGoohan.
Sky One director of programs Richard Woolfe told BBC News that the remake would be a "thrilling reinvention" of the drama, about an ex-secret agent trapped in an isolated village. The original series ran for 17 episodes on ITV in 1967.
The new series will be made by Granada from a script by Bill Gallagher, writer of the award-winning British series Clocking Off.
Ender Is Petersen's Next?
Director Wolfgang Petersen (Poseidon) told SCI FI Wire that his next project could be the much-anticipated film adaptation of Orson Scott Card's beloved SF book Ender's Game. "We're getting the script in a few weeks, and if everything goes fine and that script goes in the right direction, it could indeed be my next one," Petersen said in an interview while promoting his upcoming upside-down cruise ship movie.
Petersen added that he anticipated having to audition at least 1,000 young actors to find the right person to play Card's boy genius, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who is in training to defend Earth against an alien invasion in the late 21st century. But Petersen thinks Ender's Game could be as successful as the Harry Potter franchise. "I think Ender's was a little bit of an inspiration for Harry Potter," he said. "It could also be a great 3-D version of Ender's, with all that fighting in the battle stations."
As for Petersen's other rumored high-profile project, a movie that would pit Batman against Superman? "I love the concept very much," he said. "It might happen, but it might also happen when I'm 85. Who knows, because they first have to get their Superman [Returns, which opens June 30,] going." Petersen added he would absolutely love to do the film even if he is 85. —Sandra Kraisirideja
Alias, Lost Finales Revealed
ABC released spoiler details of the upcoming series finale of its spy drama Alias and the season finale of its hit SF series Lost.
Alias' two-hour finale, "Reprisal" and "All the Time in the World," airs May 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. In the first part, Sloane (Ron Rifkin) takes Marshall (Kevin Weisman) and Rachel (Rachel Nichols) hostage in order to discover a crucial clue to Rambaldi's ultimate endgame as Sydney (Jennifer Garner), Vaughn (Michael Vartan) and APO race to stop him. In the second part, Sydney and Jack (Victor Garber) must find a way to keep Sloane and Irina (Lena Olin) from putting their deadly plan into action. The finale will also feature David Anders as Julian Sark, Mia Maestro as Nadia and Merrin Dungey as Francie.
The Lost season finale, "Live Together, Die Alone," will air May 24 at 9 p.m. After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack (Matthew Fox) and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) come up with a plan to confront the Others and, hopefully, get Walt back. Meanwhile, Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) come to blows as Locke makes a potentially cataclysmic decision regarding the button and the hatch.
Abrams: Lost Finale Will Shock
J.J. Abrams, co-creator of ABC's hit SF series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that this year's season-ending cliffhanger will be even more powerful than last year's. Abrams, who took some time off to direct Mission: Impossible III, said that his co-creator for the series, Damon Lindelof, has an ending that surprised even him.
"I can tell you that Damon Lindelof has done just that," Abrams said in a conference call interview. "The ending of this year in Lost blows the ending of last season out of the water. It's an incredible finale. You'll see what happens, but I can tell you that a lot of it has been there and been building from the beginning of this season. It's not out of the blue, but what happens at the very end of this year, for me, it's the greatest finale I have ever heard."
Now that Abrams has finished Mission: Impossible III, he said: "I look forward to going back to Lost, although, ultimately, I hope to do both [TV and films]. It was an amazing experience doing this movie. If they'll have me back to direct another movie, I'd love to do one." Abrams is currently attached to an 11th Star Trek film.
Could there be a possibility of a Lost movie? Abrams laughed. "I think we make it every week," he said. "I honestly don't know what else we would do. There have been discussions of all different types of things Lost, but it feels to me like the ambition at least has been [with] the production of that series ... to try to make a little movie every week."
Producers of Lost, meanwhile, kicked off the alternate-reality game The Lost Experience with a commercial for the Hanso Foundation inserted into the May 3 episode, "Two for the Road." The ad contained a phone number for the fictitious and mysterious foundation, 1-877-HANSORG, which led viewers to recorded messages with clues. Disney, which owns ABC and produces Lost, has also completely revamped the Hanso Web site with Flash-enabled features and buried game elements.
At the same time, Hyperion (a unit of Disney) (http://www.thehansofoundation.org/) has released Bad Twin, a detective mystery by Gary Troup and the manuscript that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) was seen reading in this week's episode. Troup is a fictitious character who was on Lost's ill-fated Ocean Flight 815, but the book is real: Hyperion has ordered an initial printing of 365,000 copies, and after this week's Lost episode, the book went from 311 to 67 on Amazon.com's best-seller list.
The Lost season finale, "Live Together, Die Alone," will air May 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Here's how ABC describes it: After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack (Matthew Fox) and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) come up with a plan to confront the Others and, hopefully, get Walt back. Meanwhile, Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) come to blows as Locke makes a potentially cataclysmic decision regarding the button and the hatch. —Mike Szymanski
M:I III's Rhames Coy About Cruise
Ving Rhames, who has co-starred in all three of the Mission: Impossible movies with Tom Cruise, told SCI FI Wire in a conference call that he is tired of answering questions about his co-star's personal life and is proud to have lasted through the franchise. "You don't see many African-American characters in an action franchise like this, and I'm proud to have a recurring role in this major film franchise," he said.
In the third installment, Mission: Impossible III, Rhames reprises his role as the stiff but brilliant Luther Stickell. He started off in the first Mission: Impossible in 1996 with director Brian De Palma, worked with John Woo on the sequel and with J.J. Abrams on the third installment. "Certainly they all bring their different talents to the table," he said. "They all know how to do some good action."
Before the phone interviews took place, publicists asked reporters to respect Rhames' request to refrain from asking personal questions about his famous co-star, who plays Ethan Hunt and who just had a baby with fiancee Katie Holmes. "I know Tom," Rhames said. "He's a great guy, very down to earth, and an intense Ethan Hunt."
Mission: Impossible III also stars Keri Russell, Laurence Fishburne, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Billy Crudup. M:I III opened nationwide on May 5. —Mike Szymanski
M: I III's Abrams Touts Cruise
Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams told SCI FI Wire that he doesn't think tabloid gossip about and overwhelming press attention to his controversial star Tom Cruise will hurt the movie. "I'm sure you can find evidence that any publicity is good publicity and also find evidence equally valid that having him go on Oprah is not a good thing for him," Abrams said, referring to the incident in which Cruise jumped on a sofa while proclaiming his love for fiancee Katie Holmes on the talk show.
Abrams said that he became friends with Cruise during the making of the film. Cruise found out about Abrams after watching Alias on DVD. As a director, Abrams said, he can't control the publicity about his stars. "My feeling is that what I control, what I can do, is try and make a movie that's entertaining and hopefully one that you leave the theater feeling better and more empowered than you did when you got there," he said in a conference call interview. "So I'm hoping ... —and I believe that the audiences who will see this film are smart enough—to differentiate the two, the actor and the character."
Abrams said that he thinks the shocking and terrifying opening sequence of Mission: Impossible III will make audiences completely forget about Cruise's public persona and allow them to think of him as Ethan Hunt. "I want them to see this character as vulnerable and as frightened as he's ever been," Abrams said. "And it wasn't because of any publicity stuff. It was because just simply having Tom Cruise in a movie, he's such an icon that I want from the very beginning of the movie not to have him playing a cool guy, but rather having him play an absolutely vulnerable, relatable man who we relate to."
Abrams added that the Tom Cruise he knows differs from the man portrayed in the media. "I've got to tell you, knowing Tom as well as I do, I see every day who this guy is as a real person," he said. "He is funny and he is self-deprecating and he's smart and he's easygoing and he's kind, not just to me, but to everyone who worked on the crew. He's a good person. So I wanted to see a little bit less of an icon and a little bit more of us, of the Everyman, in this character, and I think the audiences will see that." Mission: Impossible III, which also stars Ving Rhames, Keri Russell and Michelle Monaghan, opened May 5. —Mike Szymanski
Grunberg Has Hopes For Heroes
Greg Grunberg (Alias) told SCI FI Wire that he gets to play an Everyman superhero in Heroes, an SF drama pilot for NBC from writer Tim Kring (Crossing Jordan, Providence). "It basically really covers the humanity of becoming a superhero, what happens when [eight] ordinary people get these super powers, and I get to be one of them," Grunberg said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., earlier this week. "I play a cop who can read people's minds, but I can't control it. So in the pilot it's really interesting how it just comes at me, and I don't know how to deal with it, and then I kind of use it. It could be really, really interesting if we get a series."
Grunberg said he's waiting to hear whether NBC will pick up the show as a series based on its two-hour pilot, which also stars Ali Larter (Final Destination) and Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls). Grunberg added that it's not your typical comic-book superhero story. "You're not going to get me in tights and a leotard," he said. "No one wants to see me in a cape!" He added: "It's high-concept, obviously. It's very creepy and dark. I mean, it's disturbing at times. And then also, it's like, 'Oh, man. I wish I could do that.'"
Grunberg, who is a childhood friend of Alias and Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams, has also made a side career out of appearing in his pal's productions, including the upcoming Mission: Impossible III, in which he has a cameo role. As for Abrams' next big movie, a proposed 11th Star Trek film, Grunberg said: "I told J.J., 'Look, if you're going to put me in five hours of makeup, I did that in Hollow Man, and it's going to be even worse with Star Trek.' I hope he gives me a great role in that. I would love it." What would he like to be? "In the Federation. I'd want to do something ... really cool. I don't know. A Klingon would actually be very cool. That would be awesome, actually, now that you mention it. Yeah, I'll call him right now. [Pulls out cell phone.] Get J.J. on the horn! Klingon! That's where I'll go."
NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. Mission: Impossible III opened May 5. —Cindy White and Patrick Lee, News Editor
[b]U.S. To See Altered Haunting
Courtney Solomon, director of of the supernatural film An American Haunting, told SCI FI Wire that the movie that will open in the United States will differ markedly from the version of the film now showing in Great Britain. "Lionsgate had the dates set for an international release, so they have a different version," Solomon said in an interview. "The version that will be coming out here is literally wet. I've just finished it."
The studio released An American Haunting in England in April. In the United States, Solomon's After Dark Films is distributing the movie and released it on May 5. Not only is the tone of the U.S. version less of a scare film, it also offers a different explanation for the story of the Bell Witch, a real-life legend from 1818 Tennessee, which has been documented in more than 20 books.
Solomon shopped the original version of the film around at film festivals, listened to what audiences told him and revamped the movie. "It was a unique opportunity that very few filmmakers have," said Solomon (Dungeons & Dragons). "I asked you guys, critics, and got feedback on the festival circuit and had a chance to re-do the music, color design and story. I recommend that every filmmaker take two months off and get away from it for a while and then come back and re-edit."
The new version of the film takes the narration away from a skeptical professor, played by James D'Arcy, and gives it to the family matriarch, played by Sissy Spacek. "Sissy came back to the editing room and did some additional voice-over work and helped with a few ideas that gave some great added touches to the movie," Solomon said.
For his part, D'Arcy, whose part was substantially cut in the second version of the film, said that he saw both versions and personally prefers the one that U.S. audiences will see. "I think the version in Britain is more deliberately trying to be a horror film," he said in a separate interview. "This [version in the U.S.] is more delving into the haunting. ... I've seen four different cuts of this movie. I prefer this version. It makes much more sense. ... I'm in the film less, but I like the film more." —Mike Szymanski
Spacek Haunted In Romania
Sissy Spacek, who co-stars in the supernatural film An American Haunting, had a minor freak-out on a tour of Dracula's castle near the film's Romanian location, Spacek's co-star James D'Arcy told SCI FI Wire. "We were quite near one of his castles," said D'Arcy in an interview. "It was quite an appropriate setting for the film, and there's a lot of amazing culture in Romania. ... Sissy went with her daughter [to Dracula's castle], and they came back very pale after that experience." Though the ghost story shot in Romania, it's set partly in 18th-century Tennessee.
In the movie, Spacek's character tries to persuade D'Arcy's character that some kind of haunting is happening to her family. In reality, Spacek and her daughter were spooked by their trip to Dracula's castle because the place seemed a lot more eerie after dark. "They went up there about 3 in the afternoon, and they didn't want to be there after dark," D'Arcy said. "They mis-timed the sunset, and they got up there in the dark, and they came down very quickly." He added that Spacek didn't want to talk about it.
Director Courtney Solomon confirmed that the tourist trip was one of the few times the Oscar-winning actress lost her nerve, but she recovered well. He said he knew it was odd to go to the other end of the world to portray an American setting, but added: "Everywhere we wanted to film in Tennessee had a telephone pole in the skyline, and to take that out in each scene would have been costly."
Also starring Donald Sutherland and Rachel Hurd-Wood, An American Haunting opened May. 5. —Mike Szymanski
Haunting's D'Arcy Easily Spooked
James D'Arcy, who co-stars in the supernatural horror film An American Haunting, told SCI FI Wire that he abhors horror movies, even though his credits include Exorcist: The Beginning and the upcoming vampire film The Rise. "I don't choose to go see them," D'Arcy said in an interview. "I'm scared of them. I hate horror movies. I do everything you are supposed to do, like scream and leap 10 feet, and then I don't sleep for four nights."
D'Arcy got the script for American Haunting just after he finished his role as an ill-fated priest in 2004's Exorcist prequel. He said his inclination was to turn it down. "The Exorcist experience was kind of freaky," he said. "I didn't want to do another horror movie. Then I read the script and liked it." When D'Arcy found out that veteran actors such as Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek had also signed on to the project, he couldn't pass it up. "I wanted to work with such fantastic actors."
In Haunting, D'Arcy portrays a skeptic who tries to uncover the truth about the mysterious hauntings plaguing the Bell family in Tennessee. Unlike his character, the British-born actor said that he personally believes in the supernatural. "I'm completely opened to it, and I had an experience, kind of," he said. "My grandmother died about four or five years ago about 5 in the morning, and just as she was dying, I had the sharp sensation of someone being in the room with me and felt this voice saying, 'It's going to be fine and things will work out.' And the next thing I knew, my mother was saying my grandmother had died."
Haunting director Courtney Solomon knew that D'Arcy was jumpy about scary movies and watched him during a recent screening. "Courtney wanted to watch how high I jumped, and I did jump," D'Arcy said. "I don't choose to go see these kind of movies. I would rather laugh or be moved to tears, you know what I mean?"
An American Haunting also stars Rachel Hurd-Wood, Thom Fell and Matthew Marsh and opened nationwide on May 5. —Mike Szymanski
Pan's Wendy Gets Haunting
An American Haunting writer/director Courtney Solomon told SCI FI Wire that he was being strongly encouraged to find an older actress to play the part of the possessed Betsy Bell, but he kept returning to British actress Rachel Hurd-Wood, who played Wendy Darling in P.J. Hogan's 2003 version of Peter Pan. Hurd-Wood, now 15, was the perfect choice for the innocent girl who seems to have a curse put on her by a witch.
"They tried to get me to go with someone who was 20 or 21 but could play 13, and I looked at hundreds of actresses, but I kept coming back to Rachel," Solomon said in an interview. "If you've lost your innocence, it's not there anymore. It's not in your eyes. Rachel had that in her eyes, and when I saw other people, it didn't work for me. ... Once you've lost your innocence, it's hard to fake it. You're just too jaded."
Solomon said he was mostly concerned about the emotional and physical requirements for the part, including a scene where Betsy is violated in bed by an unseen entity and another where she is dragged up the stairs by her hair. "Before we made the final decision, I worked with her back in London, put her on tape and was convinced that she was the only person who could play Betsy," Solomon said. "You don't have a good film without a good Betsy, no matter how good Donald or Sissy are." (Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek portray Betsy's parents in the period film.)
Solomon added: "She's like a sister to me. She's pretty innocent, and to go to that place was tough, and I had to make her feel safe. I am the one pulling her over the stairs; you can see it in the behind-the-scenes photos. I'm the one pulling her. One time without me, she nicked her head, and she asked me if I would do it, because she trusted me. And so it was me carrying her up those stairs 35 times. It was insane."
During interviews for Peter Pan, Hurd-Wood had said that she wasn't convinced that she wanted to continue a career in acting and added that she wanted to study to become a marine biologist. "She is very selective," said Solomon. "She is very clear what she wants to do. She won't go out and do some gang movie. She's very literate. School is very important for her." In fact, the young actress wasn't allowed to miss her European exams to participate in the movie junket interviews in Los Angeles. "I think she is going to be a big star," Solomon predicted. "She has that Ingrid Berman quality and talent in her." —Mike Szymanski
D'Arcy Talks Rise Reshoots
Actor James D'Arcy told SCI FI Wire that significant changes are being made in four days of reshoots on his upcoming vampire film, The Rise, which co-stars Lucy Liu and Michael Chiklis. D'Arcy, who was a priest in Exorcist: The Beginning, came to the interviews of his horror film, An American Haunting, with blood on his arms. "It's fake blood," he said with a smile. "You'll have to forgive me. I was up until 8 this morning. It's a vampire film set in L.A."
The Rise is written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, who directed and wrote Mermaid Chronicles Part I: She Creature and wrote Gothika and the upcoming Snakes on a Plane. Gutierrez's girlfriend is Spy Kids mom Carla Gugino, who is also in The Rise. The story centers on a reporter (Liu), who finds herself a member of the undead after covering a strange religious sect. She wakes up in a morgue and vows revenge against those who put her there. D'Arcy plays a member of the sect, a vampire.
"I am not one of them with big teeth or wings or anything like that," D'Arcy said. "It deals with vampires, but no one has big teeth. There's a bit of blood, obviously. It's a smart film. It's very film noir. It's a film that would not be out of place if it had been released in the '70s."
D'Arcy said the film does have erotic moments and added that he has a "threesome soaked in blood." He hesitated to say much more. "We shot a lot of material," he said. "It could all change." —Mike Szymanski
Flight Short Joins Hedge
DreamWorks Animation will debut a new animated short film, First Flight, on May 19 in select New York and Los Angeles theaters, accompanying the studio's animated feature film Over the Hedge.
Written and directed by two longtime DreamWorks Animation veterans, Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson, First Flight is a computer-animated short film that tells the story of a fastidiously organized businessman whose perspective on life is forever changed through an unexpected encounter with a tiny fledgling bird.
Hood and Jefferson began working on the project more than three years ago, in between working on various DreamWorks feature films. In late 2004, the duo brought a rough version of the film to the attention of studio executives, who loved what they saw and immediately agreed to support the team in the completion of the project. First Flight debuted March 12 at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. The film is also currently showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
First Flight was produced by Maryann Garger and co-produced by Pilar Flynn. The score was composed by James Dooley, with sound design by Mark Binder.
Nolan Conjures The Prestige
Director Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins) told SCI FI Wire that he's well into development on his next project, a supernatural period movie called The Prestige. "It's a film about two magicians in turn-of-the-century London," Nolan said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "And they enter into a deadly rivalry. And it's the story of how the two of them essentially try and sabotage each other's careers over the years."
The Prestige is based on the book of the same name by Christopher Priest and features Nolan's Batman star Christian Bale and X-Men's Hugh Jackman as the competing magicians, whose escalating conflict eventually leads to murder. Bale's Batman co-star Michael Caine also stars, as well as King Kong's Andy Serkis and The Island's Scarlett Johansson. Nolan said he was particularly excited about one of the smaller roles in the film. "There are a couple of historical figures in the film, including Nikola Tesla, the inventor," he said. "He's a fascinating character who features briefly in this movie, played by David Bowie."
Nolan has always been interested in the world of magic, even before reading the book. When the project was brought to him, he jumped at the chance to delve into a world that he felt hasn't been fully explored on film before. "I am a fan of magic, and I felt that I hadn't ever really seen a film address magic and what it takes to make magic and what it represents," he said. "And that's what the film tries to do. Really, there's magicians from the day in which, pre-television, pre-radio, a magician was a very large figure of that time. It's an interesting film with a lot going on."
Following The Prestige, Nolan expects to return to the world of Batman for another sequel film. Although he wouldn't say much about his plans, he did admit that the creative process is already underway. "[It's] not really anything that I'm prepared to talk about yet," he said. "[Co-writer David Goyer] and I have been working on what it's going to be. And as soon as this film is finished, we'll be figuring it out more specifically."
As for the rumors that the Joker or Harvey Dent, aka the villainous Two Face, will appear in the next Batman film, Nolan remained coy. "Anything's possible," he said. —Cindy White
Roth In A Box With Kelly
Eli Roth, who directed the horror gore-fests Cabin Fever and Hostel, told SCI FI Wire that he's looking to branch out with the film adaptation of the Richard Matheson short story "The Box," which he's developing with writer-director Richard Kelly (Southland Tales, Donnie Darko). "With a film like The Box, if you're getting Richard Kelly's audience, Richard's a pretty cerebral guy, and I'm doing a lot more visceral stuff, and we wanted to do something that's much more in between," Roth said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "I don't want to just keep repeating myself. I think that it'll just get boring. I don't want to just do splatter films all the time. That's why I like The Box. It'll be much more of a psychological [film]. We want to try and make it more in the Hitchcock-Polanski kind of realm."
Kelly approached Roth with the project several years ago, but the two have been too busy with other projects to devote their time to it. Roth anticipates that they'll return to it after his next film, a sequel to Hostel, is completed. "Once things kind of level off for us and Southland comes out and I can finish Hostel 2, we can sit down and focus on finishing the script," he said. "And I actually think that it's better that we got to wait, because now we have so much more kind of power and control over the material."
Like the short story by SF master Matheson (I Am Legend), the film centers on a box that will grant anyone who opens it a large sum of money. In return, someone they don't know will die. "It's really a movie about greed," Roth said. "And what greed does to people and what people will do to other people to get what they want without having to really work for it. And how greed makes people go completely crazy."
Kelly and producing partner Sean McKittrick own the rights to Matheson's story, which they were granted with the author's blessing. "He's really letting us go crazy, which is really terrific," Roth said. —Cindy White
Four 2 Has Silver Surfer?
Variety reported that Marvel Comics' cult superhero Silver Surfer will make an appearance in the upcoming sequel film Fantastic Four 2. The character, a shiny alien who plies intergalactic space on his metallic board, is on course to becoming a linchpin in the sequel Fox is readying for a July 4, 2007, premiere, the trade paper reported.
Silver Surfer has evolved into one of Marvel's more sophisticated comic-book heroes, and a Surfer feature has been in Fox's arsenal for a decade.
A Fantastic Four 2 storyline is being finalized, with the studio about to choose between a script by X2 writer Mark Frost and another by Don Payne, who scripted Fox/New Regency's Super-Ex Girlfriend.
Sources told the trade paper that Payne's script has the nod, and the Surfer. But a studio spokesman denied to the trade paper that anything was set and added that the Surfer was one of several plot possibilities.
Who Blitzes WWII London
LONDON—Steven Moffat, who wrote the Doctor Who (http://www.scifi.com/doctorwho/) first-season episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances," told SCI FI Wire that he was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to the two-parter, which made its U.S. debut on SCI FI Channel May 5 and May 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. "I have to be modest and say they did go over exceptionally well," Moffat said in an interview. The episodes were recently nominated for a coveted Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation, short form. "But you never really know," he added. "You end up doing interviews in which you explain how brilliant you are and how you thought of all these great ideas, but it's not like that at all. You really have no idea if it's going to be the biggest slop or the biggest success. I didn't know the story was going to be as powerful as it was, and I certainly had no idea there would be kids saying, 'Are you my mummy?' So that was all very exciting."
In "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances," the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) travel back to World War II London during the Blitz, where they encounter an army of gas-mask-covered zombies, as well as Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), a 53rd-century adventurer of somewhat ambiguous sexuality. "People always think of television as a series of very clever decisions you make, but sometimes it just happens," Moffat said. "If it's set during the London Blitz, you can more or less assume it's not going to be a musical. It's also 'Doctor Who does the Blitz,' so if you're going to tell that kind of story, it's almost impossible not to be 'Who Noir,' as we called it: '40s clothing, nighttime and bombs. So you've got 'The Empty Child' right there!"
The two-parter also features one of the show's early catch phrases, with the eponymous gas-masked child chillingly asking, "Are you my mummy?" "You have to remember that Doctor Who is at its heart a children's program," Moffat said. "So it's very important to remember children and the specific niche for Doctor Who, which is a kind of domestically scaled menace. You try and take ordinary things and give them one little twist to make them suddenly weird, so a little boy asking for his mummy is something you hear all the time. It's easily imitated, which is very important for Doctor Who monsters, because children have to be able to imitate them in playgrounds."
Moffat has also written an episode for the new second season of Doctor Who, which is currently airing on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. Moffat's episode, "The Girl in the Fireplace," debuts on BBC1 May 6. "I really enjoyed this one," he said. In the episode, the new Doctor (David Tennant) encounters French noblewoman Madame du Pompadour (Sophia Myles) in the 18th-century court of Louis XV. "Without the slight nervousness of the first one and the unfamiliarity of working on someone else's show, it was extremely enjoyable, and I think Sophia Myles looks stunning in the episode." —Joe Nazarro
Wild Things Is Cast
Warner Brothers and Playtone have set Benicio Del Toro, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams, Catherine O'Hara, Tom Noonan and Michael Berry to star in Where the Wild Things Are, the adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, Variety reported. Spike Jonze will direct the film, which will mix live action, animation and puppetry. It's slated for a 2008 release.
Dave Eggers wrote the script with Jonze, and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing with Sendak, John Carls and Vince Landay, the trade paper reported.
Catherine Keener will appear in the live-action portion of the film, playing the mother of Max, a child who ventures into a magical world of creatures after he is punished for misbehaving. The youth has yet to be cast.
The other actors will voice the creatures, and Jonze will use the video of their work to inform the actual Wild Thing puppets. Those scenes will be shot in Australia.
Activision Gets 007 License
In a major shift, MGM and Electronic Arts have ended their deal for video games based on the James Bond films four years before it was slated to end, Variety reported.
The studio signed a new deal with game publisher Activision that extends through 2014 and is worth around $50 million, the trade paper reported.
Meanwhile, Warner Brothers and EA have delayed the Superman Returns game from the theatrical release date in June to the DVD release this fall. The film is slated to open June 30.
EA first published a Bond game in 1998 and extended its deal with MGM and EON Productions just three years ago through 2010. At the time Bond games were some of the industry's most successful. But EA was not able to make a game tie-in for the upcoming Casino Royale, costing MGM millions in license fees. Casino Royale is scheduled to premiere in November.
Insiders told the trade paper that that decision, along with a shift in EA corporate strategy, led to the two canceling the deal. Activision was reportedly the number-two bidder for Bond in 2003, making it a natural to take the license now.
The first Bond game from Activision is expected to be a tie-in to the film after Casino Royale. The publisher also has the rights to make Bond games not connected to new films. The 21 Bond video games published since 1983 have sold some 30 million units overall.
Roth Answer's Cell Call
Eli Roth, the director of such graphic horror films as Cabin Fever and Hostel, told SCI FI Wire that he plans to put his own imprint on Cell, his upcoming film adaptation of Stephen King's SF novel. "I'm going to be doing Hostel 2 next, then right after that I'm going to do Cell, which is the Stephen King best-seller," Roth said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "It's going to be a full-on, big-budget, apocalyptic zombie movie. Really sort of like more in the spirit of the Dawn of the Dead remake."
Roth added: "Everyone on a cell phone gets zapped, and they go completely insane. So they're not really zombies. They're just people that go around killing anyone that's in front of them."
Roth said that he plans to bring his own peculiar sensibility to the material. "Well, there's going to be a little bit of violence," he said, with tongue in cheek. "There's going to be some blood. I want to make it really, really, really sick. Just full-on sick. But I also want to try to make it a worldwide event. Like, I don't want to see it just happening in one little town. I really want to see people going crazy all over the world and just see the end of civilization."
Roth said that he's following in the footsteps of some of his favorite helmers. "The thing about Stephen King is that so many of my favorite directors have adapted his work," he said. "And they're so varied. I mean, you have The Shining and Carrie and George Romero. So they wind up being a blend of Stephen King and whatever that director's personal taste is. And that's what I plan on doing with Cell." —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Arquette Talks Medium Renewal
Patricia Arquette, whose NBC series Medium was just renewed for a third season, told SCI FI Wire that she's excited about the pickup, but added that she's almost too tired to fully appreciate the news. Arquette last year won an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Allison Dubois, a psychic who uses her visions to help the police solve murders and other crimes.
"How happy am I?" Arquette said during a conference call hours after the April 28 renewal announcement. "Well, it's a lot of work. So it's kind of like a big thing, to be honest with you. I am glad. I love my career, and I love all the actors. I love the crew and the material. So that's exciting. But since it's at the end of the year, I really am kind of ready for a little bit of a break. I think I'll be really excited to come back, but I'm excited to take [some time off right now, too]."
Asked what she'd like to see for Dubois in season three or if she's just too wiped out at the moment to worry about next year, Arquette replied: "I do care. I very much care, but I don't think it's written yet. So I don't know where it's going, and I don't think they know where it's going, which is part of the fun of it. There's something, you know, I'd like to check out and look at again. I think we need a few more episodes where [Allison's husband] Joe [Jake Weber] and I sort of get close. In relationships I think you tend to get close and be attentive to each other, and then you tend to take each other for granted and forget about your love affair in a weird way. Sometimes I think we might need a couple of episodes where we sort of focus a little more on that, enjoying each other a little bit more." Medium airs Mondays on NBC. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Grammer Lives Large In Medium
Kelsey Grammer, who will play the Angel of Death in next week's episode of NBC's Medium, told SCI FI Wire he decided to do the guest-starring role in part at the urging of an NBC executive. Grammer is an executive producer of the supernatural series, which stars Patricia Arquette as a psychic who helps solve crimes.
Grammer said that he was talking with NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly a couple of months ago when the topic of how Grammer might further help out the show came up. "Of course that was the code for 'Do a guest shot on it,'" Grammer said with a laugh in a conference-call interview. "[Medium executive producer] Glenn [Gordon Caron] came up with this kind of intriguing idea, and I thought, 'Well, why not step in front of the camera for a little while on this?'"
Grammer appears in the May 8 episode, "Death Takes a Policy," playing a man who claims to be Death and who appears in the dreams of the show's central character, Allison Dubois (Arquette). "I'm playing two characters, really," Grammer said. "And the Angel of Death is kind of channeling himself through this one character at one point. That's probably as much of the actual body of the story [as] I can tell you, but the beauty of it is you keep him charming, quiet, well-mannered, civil, I think, with sort of a wry sense of humor. I think that begins to be a little bit more perilous, because you know he carries a really big stick."
The guest appearance marks Grammer's return to NBC, which aired his hit sitcom Frasier for 11 years. Since then, Grammer has worked behind the scenes at Medium, now in its second season, but joked that he's "woefully inactive, frankly." He added that he does keep tabs on the show and involves himself as necessary. "It's the kind of thing, you sort of set it in motion and hope that the people who are really more hands-on do their job well," he said. "If something gets out of hand or if there's a problem that comes up that requires my attention, of course then I make a phone call or I go down to the set and do what I can to spirit people along toward something I think is a good show. That's really all I do." Medium airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Ian Spelling
X3's Grammer Is Beastly
Kelsey Grammer, who plays Beast in the upcoming sequel X-Men: The Last Stand, acknowledged to SCI FI Wire that he may seem like an unlikely choice for the role of the blue-furred mutant. But the Emmy-Award-winning former star of TV's Frasier and Cheers credited Matthew Vaughn—who was on board to direct the film but departed before production began—with thinking of him. Brett Ratner stepped in to helm the third installment in the hit X-Men franchise.
"[Vaughn] was the one that said, 'Kelsey Grammer is the only guy that could play this,' which was kind of interesting," Grammer said in an interview. "There was some resistance, certainly, at Fox, because, you know, I did that other show for 20 years. It's not the most creative industry for an industry full of creative people. So there was certainly some consternation."
Grammer added: "I think once I actually sat down and talked to people, I think they realized that the man on television that they're used to seeing is not the somewhat burly, strangely intelligent man that I am. So ... I think that really allayed their fears and let them know, 'Oh, OK, he is an actor. Put some blue fur on [him], and he's going to kick ass.'"
Beast, aka Dr. Hank McCoy, is a popular character in the X-Men comic books, and he makes his first big-screen appearance in The Last Stand. The character is a mutant with superhuman strength and agility, not to mention a brilliant mind, an erudite way of speaking and lots of blue fur, and he's keenly interested in the government's purported "cure" for mutancy. "The Beast is a man of great moral rectitude," Grammer said. "He is a man that stands on the fulcrum between action and intellect, and when the scales tip in one direction or the other, that's the gift that he follows. So he's a man that's always poised and ready to do something extraordinary. And that's why he's a superhero." X-Men: The Last Stand opens May 26.
Batman, King Top Saturns
Batman Begins and King Kong topped the winners at the 32nd annual Saturn Awards, taking home three statuettes each in ceremonies in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. Among the television nominees, SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica dominated the winners, with three awards. The Saturns were given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
The Batman prequel took home awards for best fantasy film, best actor (Christian Bale) and best writing (director Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer).
King Kong won for best actress (Naomi Watts), best director (Peter Jackson) and best special effects (Joe Letteri, Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul). Star Wars: Episode III, Sin City and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe each got two Saturns.
Galactica took home prizes for best syndicated/cable TV series, best supporting actor on TV (James Callis) and best supporting actress (Katee Sackhoff).
ABC's Lost won two Saturns, for best network television series and best actor (Matthew Fox).
Legendary F/X maven Ray Harryhausen was presented with the George Pal Memorial Award. Director Jon Favreau presented the award.
Shane Black won the Filmmakers Showcase Award.
Jetsons To Fly Again?
Warner Brothers is again developing a live-action version of The Jetsons, the 1960s retro-SF TV series, with Donald De Line producing and Adam F. Goldberg writing a new screenplay, Variety reported.
De Line will produce with Denise Di Novi, who has been developing the comedy project for well over a decade, working with a string of writers.
Most recently, Goldberg did a rewrite of Fox Atomic's Revenge of the Nerds redo and wrote the Star Wars-themed Fanboys for the Weinstein Co.
20,000 Leagues Surfaces Again
New Line is developing a new film based on Jules Verne's classic SF tale 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, snapping up Craig Titley's pitch for an updated version and setting it up with Sam Raimi and Josh Donen through their Buckaroo banner, Variety reported.
The deal doesn't include a directing component for Raimi, helmer of the Spider-Man movies. New Line is developing the project as a film that would look more closely into the background of Captain Nemo, as well as that of his prisoners aboard the Nautilus.
Disney released a 1954 version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that starred James Mason, Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre, an adaptation of Verne's story of a 19th-century expedition to find a mysterious sea creature that's been attacking ships.
Black To Rewind
Jack Black (King Kong) is set to star in Michel Gondry's eccentric SF comedy Be Kind Rewind, playing a junkyard worker whose brain is magnetized, destroying every tape in his friend's video store and forcing the pair to remake the lost films, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Focus Features International has nabbed international sales rights to the under-$20 million Partizan production, which begins a two-month shoot Sept. 6 in New York.
In the film, Black plays Jerry, a man whose headaches lead him to believe his brain is melting. His brain is magnetized, leading to the unintentional destruction of movies in his friend's store. In order to keep the store's one loyal customer, an elderly lady with signs of dementia, the pair re-creates a long line of films including The Lion King, Rush Hour, Back to the Future and RoboCop.
Red Sonja Rides Again
Millennium Films and Emmett/Furla Films are bringing sword-and-sorcery comic-book heroine Red Sonja back to the big screen, Variety reported.
Avi Lerner and Danny Dimbort's Millennium will finance and produce the movie with Emmett/Furla. The project's budget is north of $25 million
Last year, Dynamite Entertainment launched a new Red Sonja series that has gone on to be one of the best-selling indie comic books on the market.
Red Sonja, created by sword-and-sorcery legend Robert E. Howard, was introduced into Marvel's Conan the Barbarian comics in 1973 and soon was given her own title.
The 1985 Red Sonja pic, starring Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger, was released by MGM to dismal box-office numbers.
Spike To Mount SF&F Awards
Spike TV is set to unveil an awards-show franchise devoted to the booming horror/science fiction genre, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Viacom-owned cable network is working on Scream 2006, which likely will air in October. Scream is scouting Los Angeles locations to shoot the event in September.
Scream will honor the best in film, TV, video games, comic books and music, with a mix of serious awards for outstanding past and present people or programming to such light categories as highest body count in a movie and best bloodcurdling scream.
Scream fits with Spike TV's strategic shift in favor of action-oriented programming, such as the upcoming series adaptation of the Blade movies.
Dark Horse Slates Fafhrd Projects
Mike Richardson, president of Dark Horse Comics, told SCI FI Wire that Dark Horse's book and entertainment divisions recently acquired the book publication and movie rights to multiple award-winning author Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser fantasy stories. "Basically we will reprint the original [novels and collections], probably at the rate of three per year," Richardson said in an interview. "Also, preceding that, we will be republishing [the 1991 Marvel Comics] comic [penciled by Mike Mignola and scripted by Howard Chaykin]. That will appear later this year, the entire series in book form."
Dark Horse will also be launching a brand-new comic-book series for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, which will feature graphic adaptations of the original Leiber stories, as well as original material. "[We'll probably be] using the same format and marketing plan that we used for [our] Conan [series]," Richardson said. "In other words, launching it with a 25-cent comic, and then going into a regular series. [With Conan,] we stripped everything back to Robert E. Howard's [original work]. We started the [comic] book at the beginning of his life, and then we basically go through his life, and at each point where one of the [original] stories [occurs], [we] incorporated [that] into the comic-book canon of his life. We'll be doing the same thing with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, where the stories in the novels and short stories will end up appearing in the comics, but we will [also] be fleshing out their entire lives and their entire story."
Richardson said that he's always thought that the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were a fun take on the sword-and-sorcery genre. "[I always liked] their sort of very different approach: the misadventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, I guess, would be [a] more appropriate [way of putting it]," he said. "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser have had nowhere near [the] kind of exposure [that Conan has had], so we're planning to give these great characters that same kind of exposure. ... I think they're a wonderful discovery, not just for sword-and-sorcery fans, but for anyone who loves a good, fun story."
As far as the entertainment division is concerned, Richardson said: "We do have the film rights, and we're working on a treatment and concept art right now. We have no one attached to it yet. We're very early in the process."
Meanwhile, Dark Horse continues to pursue other properties. Richardson said that Dark Horse is working on a deal with Conan Properties, which would allow them to bring other famous Robert E. Howard characters into print in comic-book format and possibly in book format as well. "Characters like Solomon Kane and King Kull are on their way," he said. —John Joseph Adams
Wraeththu Wraps Up
SF/fantasy author Storm Constantine, whose Wraeththu Histories series concludes in June with The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence, told SCI FI Wire that the androgynous beings known as Wraeththu first came to her as an idea many years ago. "I'd been reading up about the magical meaning of the hermaphrodite, and I became fascinated with the idea of what it would be like if there was only one gender in the world," Constantine said in an interview. "The magical, or alchemical, androgyne is regarded as the perfect manifestation of male and female attributes, but in creating the Wraeththu, an androgynous species, I wanted to explore the possibilities of them possessing some of the worst traits of both genders, too."
Constantine added: "In one way, they are perfect beings, in that they are (mostly) beautiful, physically and spiritually superior to humans and possess faculties that humans do not. But in other ways they are flawed, because they derive from humanity, and in the early stages of their development still have to contend with lingering weaknesses. The first Wraeththu, or hara, were 'incepted' from humans—physically changed—and it is only later in their story that they begin to produce offspring of their own."
The Wraeththu Histories is the second trilogy involving the Wraeththu; the first, The Wraeththu Chronicles, was originally published in the '80s. "It was really enjoyable to go back to that world (although in truth it has never really left me) and explore some of the same characters who were now a lot older," Constantine said. "The first book in the new trilogy, The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure, fits chronologically between the second and third books of the [Wraeththu Chronicles], but the rest of the Histories ... continue the story [of the original trilogy]. It concerns primarily the story of Pellaz and Cal, the main characters in the original books, and what happens to them after their rise to power as rulers of Wraeththu."
In The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence, Constantine moves on to the next generation of Wraeththu, she said. "This is the story of the children, or harlings, of some of the main characters," she said. "Unlike their parents, they are pure-born hara; they were not incepted from humans. Pellaz, the Tigron of Wraeththu, has three sons, all of whom are problematical in one way or another. Ghosts is their story, but it also concerns the origins of their race and how Wraeththu came into existe
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Nebula Winners Named
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman won the 2005 Nebula Award for best novel, one of several presented May 6 for best science fiction or fantasy works by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at its annual awards banquet in Tempe, Ariz., the group reported on its official Web site.
The Nebula Awards are voted on and presented by active members of the SFWA, which was founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight. With a charter membership of 78 writers, SFWA now has more than 1,500 members, among them most of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.
Other Nebula Award winners are "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link (best novella); "The Faery Handbag," also by Link (best novelette); "I Live with You" by Carol Emshwiller (best short story); and Serenity by Joss Whedon (best script).
The first ever Andre Norton Award went to Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie by Holly Black.
As previously announced, the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award was presented to Harlan Ellison for lifetime achievement in the field, and William F. Nolan was honored as Author Emeritus.
Original Star Wars Comes To DVD
Fox will release the original unaltered theatrical versions of the first three Star Wars movies on DVD on Sept. 12, despite statements by series creator George Lucas, USA Today reported.
Lucas had adamantly declared that 2004's digitally restored Star Wars Trilogy DVDs were the definitive versions of his movies. But fans have held out hope for DVDs of the originals, and it appears that Lucasfilm is responding, the newspaper reported.
Fox will release new two-disc DVDs, priced at $30 each, of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi that will feature the films as they first appeared in theaters, along with the new, restored versions (now available in the four-disc $70 Star Wars Trilogy). The individual DVDs will be taken off the market on Dec. 31, a strategy that Disney uses on many of its classic releases.
This new set of DVDs does not constitute "George changing his mind," Lucasfilm's Jim Ward told USA Today. "What we've always said is George viewed the revised versions of the films as the definitive versions."
The original films' video quality will not match up to that of the restored versions. "It is state of the art, as of 1993, and that's not as good as state of the art 2006," Ward said.
Star Wars TV A Ways Off
Rick McCallum, George Lucas' longtime Star Wars producing partner, told SCI FI Wire that future projects are a ways off, including a live-action TV show that is at least a year and a half away. "Star Wars TV series, probably not for a couple of years," McCallum said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "George is starting to start the basic concept of it. ... We're interviewing writers. We're seeing a lot of people. But I'd say it's not going to be happening for another at least 18 months."
McCallum also denied rumors that the new series would focus on members of the Skywalker family, but repeated that the show will take place in the timeframe between Episode III and IV. "All-new characters," he added. "That missing 20-year period when Luke is growing up. ... Think bounty hunter. That's all I can tell you. There's nobody else that you'll know [in it]. At the moment. You know, it's still [in] really, really early stages. He hasn't really sat down to think about which direction [he's going]."
McCallum added that 3-D theatrical versions of the Star Wars movies are still planned. "We're working on that," he said. "It's just a question of how many theaters will be out there. Hopefully, by the end of this year there will be about 1,500 [3-D] theaters. We need about two or three thousand before it makes it, you know, viable for any of us to go out in 3-D. But that looks like it will happen sometime in the year 2007, so hopefully we'll be happy about that."
Lucas is also planning a new run of Clone Wars-themed animated shorts. "There's an animated series being done right now, so that probably also won't be ready for another year," McCallum said. "But, yeah, that's looking really good." —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Wonder Still Drafting
Joss Whedon, who is slated to direct a proposed Wonder Woman feature film, told SCI FI Wire that he has turned in a draft script to producers, who have given him their usual "notes," or comments. "I did [turn it in] to the producers, not to the studio yet," Whedon said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "I'm working on revisions now. ... It's business as usual. I'm writing and that's all."
Whedon added that it's possible an announcement on the film could come later this year. As for a possible start date, Whedon said: "You know, they have to tell me that. And until I actually give it to the studio, I can't [say]. This is taking longer to write than things usually do, and there's some reasons for that. Not all of them are my incredible incompetence. But some of them are. But the script is coming together in a way that's actually even surprising me, so I'm pretty excited. So we'll just have to wait."
Whedon declined to discuss casting of the film. Whedon attended the Saturn Awards to accept a movie best supporting actress award on behalf of Summer Glau, who co-starred in Whedon's SF movie Serenity. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Carter Of Mars On Hold
Director Jon Favreau (Zathura) told SCI FI Wire that Paramount has put the the long-gestating film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars on hold, pending the success of his next directing project, Iron Man, and the upcoming 11th Star Trek film. "It ain't happening now," Favreau said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., earlier this week. "Iron Man is my next film, and I hope that I get to do Carter as well. So that would, by definition, be not a priority for them."
The 11 volumes of Burroughs' classic adventure series center around a Civil War veteran who takes shelter in a cave when pursued by a group of Apache Indians. Once inside, he suddenly finds himself transported to Mars, where he's taken prisoner by 12-foot-tall green men.
Despite the delays, Favreau said he was pleased with a recent draft of the script by Ehren Kruger (The Skeleton Key, The Ring), as well as some of the early concept art he's seen. For Paramount, the issue isn't the quality of the work, but the timing of the project. "The studio really liked it," Favreau said. "But they've committed to doing the Star Trek franchise, to start that up again, with J.J. [Abrams], and they have other science-fiction properties, and they don't think the timing is right. And, hopefully, by continuing my relationship with them, by doing this Iron Man film, I'll leave the door wide open for Carter, which is a much more challenging property."
Favreau is the third director to be attached to the project, following Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and Kerry Conran (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), who were involved in earlier incarnations. —Cindy White
Favreau Talks Iron Man
Jon Favreau, who will direct the upcoming film version of Marvel Comics' Iron Man, told SCI FI Wire that his movie will have a lot of action and will also look back to an earlier half-man, half-machine. "I want to see a lot of stuff blowing up," Favreau said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., earlier this week. "That's part of it. I've always been a big fan of RoboCop. And using today's technology to create a hero that has that kind of, you know, magnitude could be a lot of fun. There's also a whole geopolitical aspect of it that you you don't really see with other superheroes. And the politics are a little more complicated. So it deals with a lot of issues. I hope that we could, on the one hand, make it an enjoyable movie, [and,] on the other hand, explore certain subject matter that you wouldn't normally see in a comic-book movie."
Favreau will helm Iron Man, Marvel Studios' first independently financed project, which will now be distributed by Paramount. Arthur Marcum and Matt Hollaway (Convoy) will write the screenplay, centering on alcoholic billionaire Tony Stark, who is disabled by an accident and must create a suit of armor to sustain his life. (Favreau will chronicle the process of making the movie in an Iron Man blog (http://groups.myspace.com/ironmanmovie) on MySpace.com.)
Favreau said he would remain faithful to the comic's mythology while presenting an origin story. "Just my sensibility in adaptations, I really ... I put a lot of weight on ... the stories that have been told," he said. "Now, obviously you have certain aspects that lend themselves better to movies, and you're trying to tell a story that's been told over many, many issues in the comic books in an hour and a half. So there's going to be some consolidation, and I think that tonally, the comic book has changed a great deal."
Favreau added: "I think part of the fun of the first film is that you have the origin story. And there's been several tellings of it. And the early stuff from the '60s is kind of simplistic. I don't think that I want to play up the campy, corny aspect of comic books. I think I want to get into sort of the deep character work that the books have been so effective in presenting."
Fans will see various incarnations of Iron Man's familiar red-and-yellow armor, he added: "Hopefully, we'll get to see a couple of suits of armor in it. Hopefully there's a progression. That's part of the fun of Iron Man. He had a lot of different looks." No one is cast yet, he said. —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Hellboy 2 Burns Hotter
Hellboy star Ron Perlman told SCI FI Wire that he spoke with someone intimately involved with the proposed sequel, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, and was informed that May 1 was a "great day in the genesis of turning of Hellboy 2 into a reality."
Perlman added: "What that means? I know they're incredibly close. I know that there's one studio in particular that I probably shouldn't name [that] is pounding away at looking at the budget and has expressed a huge enthusiasm for [Guillermo] del Toro's script and the desire to do the project. Now they're just pushing numbers around. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's announced very soon."
The sequel would pick up the story of the red-skinned demon and his team in the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, including the amphibious Abe Sapien and fire-starting Liz Sherman.
Prisoner Remake On Tap
BBC News reported that the cult 1960s TV series The Prisoner will be remade into a six-part series for the U.K.'s Sky One network, with former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston linked to the title role originally played by Patrick McGoohan.
Sky One director of programs Richard Woolfe told BBC News that the remake would be a "thrilling reinvention" of the drama, about an ex-secret agent trapped in an isolated village. The original series ran for 17 episodes on ITV in 1967.
The new series will be made by Granada from a script by Bill Gallagher, writer of the award-winning British series Clocking Off.
Ender Is Petersen's Next?
Director Wolfgang Petersen (Poseidon) told SCI FI Wire that his next project could be the much-anticipated film adaptation of Orson Scott Card's beloved SF book Ender's Game. "We're getting the script in a few weeks, and if everything goes fine and that script goes in the right direction, it could indeed be my next one," Petersen said in an interview while promoting his upcoming upside-down cruise ship movie.
Petersen added that he anticipated having to audition at least 1,000 young actors to find the right person to play Card's boy genius, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who is in training to defend Earth against an alien invasion in the late 21st century. But Petersen thinks Ender's Game could be as successful as the Harry Potter franchise. "I think Ender's was a little bit of an inspiration for Harry Potter," he said. "It could also be a great 3-D version of Ender's, with all that fighting in the battle stations."
As for Petersen's other rumored high-profile project, a movie that would pit Batman against Superman? "I love the concept very much," he said. "It might happen, but it might also happen when I'm 85. Who knows, because they first have to get their Superman [Returns, which opens June 30,] going." Petersen added he would absolutely love to do the film even if he is 85. —Sandra Kraisirideja
Alias, Lost Finales Revealed
ABC released spoiler details of the upcoming series finale of its spy drama Alias and the season finale of its hit SF series Lost.
Alias' two-hour finale, "Reprisal" and "All the Time in the World," airs May 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. In the first part, Sloane (Ron Rifkin) takes Marshall (Kevin Weisman) and Rachel (Rachel Nichols) hostage in order to discover a crucial clue to Rambaldi's ultimate endgame as Sydney (Jennifer Garner), Vaughn (Michael Vartan) and APO race to stop him. In the second part, Sydney and Jack (Victor Garber) must find a way to keep Sloane and Irina (Lena Olin) from putting their deadly plan into action. The finale will also feature David Anders as Julian Sark, Mia Maestro as Nadia and Merrin Dungey as Francie.
The Lost season finale, "Live Together, Die Alone," will air May 24 at 9 p.m. After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack (Matthew Fox) and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) come up with a plan to confront the Others and, hopefully, get Walt back. Meanwhile, Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) come to blows as Locke makes a potentially cataclysmic decision regarding the button and the hatch.
Abrams: Lost Finale Will Shock
J.J. Abrams, co-creator of ABC's hit SF series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that this year's season-ending cliffhanger will be even more powerful than last year's. Abrams, who took some time off to direct Mission: Impossible III, said that his co-creator for the series, Damon Lindelof, has an ending that surprised even him.
"I can tell you that Damon Lindelof has done just that," Abrams said in a conference call interview. "The ending of this year in Lost blows the ending of last season out of the water. It's an incredible finale. You'll see what happens, but I can tell you that a lot of it has been there and been building from the beginning of this season. It's not out of the blue, but what happens at the very end of this year, for me, it's the greatest finale I have ever heard."
Now that Abrams has finished Mission: Impossible III, he said: "I look forward to going back to Lost, although, ultimately, I hope to do both [TV and films]. It was an amazing experience doing this movie. If they'll have me back to direct another movie, I'd love to do one." Abrams is currently attached to an 11th Star Trek film.
Could there be a possibility of a Lost movie? Abrams laughed. "I think we make it every week," he said. "I honestly don't know what else we would do. There have been discussions of all different types of things Lost, but it feels to me like the ambition at least has been [with] the production of that series ... to try to make a little movie every week."
Producers of Lost, meanwhile, kicked off the alternate-reality game The Lost Experience with a commercial for the Hanso Foundation inserted into the May 3 episode, "Two for the Road." The ad contained a phone number for the fictitious and mysterious foundation, 1-877-HANSORG, which led viewers to recorded messages with clues. Disney, which owns ABC and produces Lost, has also completely revamped the Hanso Web site with Flash-enabled features and buried game elements.
At the same time, Hyperion (a unit of Disney) (http://www.thehansofoundation.org/) has released Bad Twin, a detective mystery by Gary Troup and the manuscript that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) was seen reading in this week's episode. Troup is a fictitious character who was on Lost's ill-fated Ocean Flight 815, but the book is real: Hyperion has ordered an initial printing of 365,000 copies, and after this week's Lost episode, the book went from 311 to 67 on Amazon.com's best-seller list.
The Lost season finale, "Live Together, Die Alone," will air May 24 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Here's how ABC describes it: After discovering something odd just offshore, Jack (Matthew Fox) and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) come up with a plan to confront the Others and, hopefully, get Walt back. Meanwhile, Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) come to blows as Locke makes a potentially cataclysmic decision regarding the button and the hatch. —Mike Szymanski
M:I III's Rhames Coy About Cruise
Ving Rhames, who has co-starred in all three of the Mission: Impossible movies with Tom Cruise, told SCI FI Wire in a conference call that he is tired of answering questions about his co-star's personal life and is proud to have lasted through the franchise. "You don't see many African-American characters in an action franchise like this, and I'm proud to have a recurring role in this major film franchise," he said.
In the third installment, Mission: Impossible III, Rhames reprises his role as the stiff but brilliant Luther Stickell. He started off in the first Mission: Impossible in 1996 with director Brian De Palma, worked with John Woo on the sequel and with J.J. Abrams on the third installment. "Certainly they all bring their different talents to the table," he said. "They all know how to do some good action."
Before the phone interviews took place, publicists asked reporters to respect Rhames' request to refrain from asking personal questions about his famous co-star, who plays Ethan Hunt and who just had a baby with fiancee Katie Holmes. "I know Tom," Rhames said. "He's a great guy, very down to earth, and an intense Ethan Hunt."
Mission: Impossible III also stars Keri Russell, Laurence Fishburne, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Billy Crudup. M:I III opened nationwide on May 5. —Mike Szymanski
M: I III's Abrams Touts Cruise
Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams told SCI FI Wire that he doesn't think tabloid gossip about and overwhelming press attention to his controversial star Tom Cruise will hurt the movie. "I'm sure you can find evidence that any publicity is good publicity and also find evidence equally valid that having him go on Oprah is not a good thing for him," Abrams said, referring to the incident in which Cruise jumped on a sofa while proclaiming his love for fiancee Katie Holmes on the talk show.
Abrams said that he became friends with Cruise during the making of the film. Cruise found out about Abrams after watching Alias on DVD. As a director, Abrams said, he can't control the publicity about his stars. "My feeling is that what I control, what I can do, is try and make a movie that's entertaining and hopefully one that you leave the theater feeling better and more empowered than you did when you got there," he said in a conference call interview. "So I'm hoping ... —and I believe that the audiences who will see this film are smart enough—to differentiate the two, the actor and the character."
Abrams said that he thinks the shocking and terrifying opening sequence of Mission: Impossible III will make audiences completely forget about Cruise's public persona and allow them to think of him as Ethan Hunt. "I want them to see this character as vulnerable and as frightened as he's ever been," Abrams said. "And it wasn't because of any publicity stuff. It was because just simply having Tom Cruise in a movie, he's such an icon that I want from the very beginning of the movie not to have him playing a cool guy, but rather having him play an absolutely vulnerable, relatable man who we relate to."
Abrams added that the Tom Cruise he knows differs from the man portrayed in the media. "I've got to tell you, knowing Tom as well as I do, I see every day who this guy is as a real person," he said. "He is funny and he is self-deprecating and he's smart and he's easygoing and he's kind, not just to me, but to everyone who worked on the crew. He's a good person. So I wanted to see a little bit less of an icon and a little bit more of us, of the Everyman, in this character, and I think the audiences will see that." Mission: Impossible III, which also stars Ving Rhames, Keri Russell and Michelle Monaghan, opened May 5. —Mike Szymanski
Grunberg Has Hopes For Heroes
Greg Grunberg (Alias) told SCI FI Wire that he gets to play an Everyman superhero in Heroes, an SF drama pilot for NBC from writer Tim Kring (Crossing Jordan, Providence). "It basically really covers the humanity of becoming a superhero, what happens when [eight] ordinary people get these super powers, and I get to be one of them," Grunberg said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., earlier this week. "I play a cop who can read people's minds, but I can't control it. So in the pilot it's really interesting how it just comes at me, and I don't know how to deal with it, and then I kind of use it. It could be really, really interesting if we get a series."
Grunberg said he's waiting to hear whether NBC will pick up the show as a series based on its two-hour pilot, which also stars Ali Larter (Final Destination) and Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls). Grunberg added that it's not your typical comic-book superhero story. "You're not going to get me in tights and a leotard," he said. "No one wants to see me in a cape!" He added: "It's high-concept, obviously. It's very creepy and dark. I mean, it's disturbing at times. And then also, it's like, 'Oh, man. I wish I could do that.'"
Grunberg, who is a childhood friend of Alias and Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams, has also made a side career out of appearing in his pal's productions, including the upcoming Mission: Impossible III, in which he has a cameo role. As for Abrams' next big movie, a proposed 11th Star Trek film, Grunberg said: "I told J.J., 'Look, if you're going to put me in five hours of makeup, I did that in Hollow Man, and it's going to be even worse with Star Trek.' I hope he gives me a great role in that. I would love it." What would he like to be? "In the Federation. I'd want to do something ... really cool. I don't know. A Klingon would actually be very cool. That would be awesome, actually, now that you mention it. Yeah, I'll call him right now. [Pulls out cell phone.] Get J.J. on the horn! Klingon! That's where I'll go."
NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. Mission: Impossible III opened May 5. —Cindy White and Patrick Lee, News Editor
[b]U.S. To See Altered Haunting
Courtney Solomon, director of of the supernatural film An American Haunting, told SCI FI Wire that the movie that will open in the United States will differ markedly from the version of the film now showing in Great Britain. "Lionsgate had the dates set for an international release, so they have a different version," Solomon said in an interview. "The version that will be coming out here is literally wet. I've just finished it."
The studio released An American Haunting in England in April. In the United States, Solomon's After Dark Films is distributing the movie and released it on May 5. Not only is the tone of the U.S. version less of a scare film, it also offers a different explanation for the story of the Bell Witch, a real-life legend from 1818 Tennessee, which has been documented in more than 20 books.
Solomon shopped the original version of the film around at film festivals, listened to what audiences told him and revamped the movie. "It was a unique opportunity that very few filmmakers have," said Solomon (Dungeons & Dragons). "I asked you guys, critics, and got feedback on the festival circuit and had a chance to re-do the music, color design and story. I recommend that every filmmaker take two months off and get away from it for a while and then come back and re-edit."
The new version of the film takes the narration away from a skeptical professor, played by James D'Arcy, and gives it to the family matriarch, played by Sissy Spacek. "Sissy came back to the editing room and did some additional voice-over work and helped with a few ideas that gave some great added touches to the movie," Solomon said.
For his part, D'Arcy, whose part was substantially cut in the second version of the film, said that he saw both versions and personally prefers the one that U.S. audiences will see. "I think the version in Britain is more deliberately trying to be a horror film," he said in a separate interview. "This [version in the U.S.] is more delving into the haunting. ... I've seen four different cuts of this movie. I prefer this version. It makes much more sense. ... I'm in the film less, but I like the film more." —Mike Szymanski
Spacek Haunted In Romania
Sissy Spacek, who co-stars in the supernatural film An American Haunting, had a minor freak-out on a tour of Dracula's castle near the film's Romanian location, Spacek's co-star James D'Arcy told SCI FI Wire. "We were quite near one of his castles," said D'Arcy in an interview. "It was quite an appropriate setting for the film, and there's a lot of amazing culture in Romania. ... Sissy went with her daughter [to Dracula's castle], and they came back very pale after that experience." Though the ghost story shot in Romania, it's set partly in 18th-century Tennessee.
In the movie, Spacek's character tries to persuade D'Arcy's character that some kind of haunting is happening to her family. In reality, Spacek and her daughter were spooked by their trip to Dracula's castle because the place seemed a lot more eerie after dark. "They went up there about 3 in the afternoon, and they didn't want to be there after dark," D'Arcy said. "They mis-timed the sunset, and they got up there in the dark, and they came down very quickly." He added that Spacek didn't want to talk about it.
Director Courtney Solomon confirmed that the tourist trip was one of the few times the Oscar-winning actress lost her nerve, but she recovered well. He said he knew it was odd to go to the other end of the world to portray an American setting, but added: "Everywhere we wanted to film in Tennessee had a telephone pole in the skyline, and to take that out in each scene would have been costly."
Also starring Donald Sutherland and Rachel Hurd-Wood, An American Haunting opened May. 5. —Mike Szymanski
Haunting's D'Arcy Easily Spooked
James D'Arcy, who co-stars in the supernatural horror film An American Haunting, told SCI FI Wire that he abhors horror movies, even though his credits include Exorcist: The Beginning and the upcoming vampire film The Rise. "I don't choose to go see them," D'Arcy said in an interview. "I'm scared of them. I hate horror movies. I do everything you are supposed to do, like scream and leap 10 feet, and then I don't sleep for four nights."
D'Arcy got the script for American Haunting just after he finished his role as an ill-fated priest in 2004's Exorcist prequel. He said his inclination was to turn it down. "The Exorcist experience was kind of freaky," he said. "I didn't want to do another horror movie. Then I read the script and liked it." When D'Arcy found out that veteran actors such as Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek had also signed on to the project, he couldn't pass it up. "I wanted to work with such fantastic actors."
In Haunting, D'Arcy portrays a skeptic who tries to uncover the truth about the mysterious hauntings plaguing the Bell family in Tennessee. Unlike his character, the British-born actor said that he personally believes in the supernatural. "I'm completely opened to it, and I had an experience, kind of," he said. "My grandmother died about four or five years ago about 5 in the morning, and just as she was dying, I had the sharp sensation of someone being in the room with me and felt this voice saying, 'It's going to be fine and things will work out.' And the next thing I knew, my mother was saying my grandmother had died."
Haunting director Courtney Solomon knew that D'Arcy was jumpy about scary movies and watched him during a recent screening. "Courtney wanted to watch how high I jumped, and I did jump," D'Arcy said. "I don't choose to go see these kind of movies. I would rather laugh or be moved to tears, you know what I mean?"
An American Haunting also stars Rachel Hurd-Wood, Thom Fell and Matthew Marsh and opened nationwide on May 5. —Mike Szymanski
Pan's Wendy Gets Haunting
An American Haunting writer/director Courtney Solomon told SCI FI Wire that he was being strongly encouraged to find an older actress to play the part of the possessed Betsy Bell, but he kept returning to British actress Rachel Hurd-Wood, who played Wendy Darling in P.J. Hogan's 2003 version of Peter Pan. Hurd-Wood, now 15, was the perfect choice for the innocent girl who seems to have a curse put on her by a witch.
"They tried to get me to go with someone who was 20 or 21 but could play 13, and I looked at hundreds of actresses, but I kept coming back to Rachel," Solomon said in an interview. "If you've lost your innocence, it's not there anymore. It's not in your eyes. Rachel had that in her eyes, and when I saw other people, it didn't work for me. ... Once you've lost your innocence, it's hard to fake it. You're just too jaded."
Solomon said he was mostly concerned about the emotional and physical requirements for the part, including a scene where Betsy is violated in bed by an unseen entity and another where she is dragged up the stairs by her hair. "Before we made the final decision, I worked with her back in London, put her on tape and was convinced that she was the only person who could play Betsy," Solomon said. "You don't have a good film without a good Betsy, no matter how good Donald or Sissy are." (Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek portray Betsy's parents in the period film.)
Solomon added: "She's like a sister to me. She's pretty innocent, and to go to that place was tough, and I had to make her feel safe. I am the one pulling her over the stairs; you can see it in the behind-the-scenes photos. I'm the one pulling her. One time without me, she nicked her head, and she asked me if I would do it, because she trusted me. And so it was me carrying her up those stairs 35 times. It was insane."
During interviews for Peter Pan, Hurd-Wood had said that she wasn't convinced that she wanted to continue a career in acting and added that she wanted to study to become a marine biologist. "She is very selective," said Solomon. "She is very clear what she wants to do. She won't go out and do some gang movie. She's very literate. School is very important for her." In fact, the young actress wasn't allowed to miss her European exams to participate in the movie junket interviews in Los Angeles. "I think she is going to be a big star," Solomon predicted. "She has that Ingrid Berman quality and talent in her." —Mike Szymanski
D'Arcy Talks Rise Reshoots
Actor James D'Arcy told SCI FI Wire that significant changes are being made in four days of reshoots on his upcoming vampire film, The Rise, which co-stars Lucy Liu and Michael Chiklis. D'Arcy, who was a priest in Exorcist: The Beginning, came to the interviews of his horror film, An American Haunting, with blood on his arms. "It's fake blood," he said with a smile. "You'll have to forgive me. I was up until 8 this morning. It's a vampire film set in L.A."
The Rise is written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, who directed and wrote Mermaid Chronicles Part I: She Creature and wrote Gothika and the upcoming Snakes on a Plane. Gutierrez's girlfriend is Spy Kids mom Carla Gugino, who is also in The Rise. The story centers on a reporter (Liu), who finds herself a member of the undead after covering a strange religious sect. She wakes up in a morgue and vows revenge against those who put her there. D'Arcy plays a member of the sect, a vampire.
"I am not one of them with big teeth or wings or anything like that," D'Arcy said. "It deals with vampires, but no one has big teeth. There's a bit of blood, obviously. It's a smart film. It's very film noir. It's a film that would not be out of place if it had been released in the '70s."
D'Arcy said the film does have erotic moments and added that he has a "threesome soaked in blood." He hesitated to say much more. "We shot a lot of material," he said. "It could all change." —Mike Szymanski
Flight Short Joins Hedge
DreamWorks Animation will debut a new animated short film, First Flight, on May 19 in select New York and Los Angeles theaters, accompanying the studio's animated feature film Over the Hedge.
Written and directed by two longtime DreamWorks Animation veterans, Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson, First Flight is a computer-animated short film that tells the story of a fastidiously organized businessman whose perspective on life is forever changed through an unexpected encounter with a tiny fledgling bird.
Hood and Jefferson began working on the project more than three years ago, in between working on various DreamWorks feature films. In late 2004, the duo brought a rough version of the film to the attention of studio executives, who loved what they saw and immediately agreed to support the team in the completion of the project. First Flight debuted March 12 at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. The film is also currently showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
First Flight was produced by Maryann Garger and co-produced by Pilar Flynn. The score was composed by James Dooley, with sound design by Mark Binder.
Nolan Conjures The Prestige
Director Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins) told SCI FI Wire that he's well into development on his next project, a supernatural period movie called The Prestige. "It's a film about two magicians in turn-of-the-century London," Nolan said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "And they enter into a deadly rivalry. And it's the story of how the two of them essentially try and sabotage each other's careers over the years."
The Prestige is based on the book of the same name by Christopher Priest and features Nolan's Batman star Christian Bale and X-Men's Hugh Jackman as the competing magicians, whose escalating conflict eventually leads to murder. Bale's Batman co-star Michael Caine also stars, as well as King Kong's Andy Serkis and The Island's Scarlett Johansson. Nolan said he was particularly excited about one of the smaller roles in the film. "There are a couple of historical figures in the film, including Nikola Tesla, the inventor," he said. "He's a fascinating character who features briefly in this movie, played by David Bowie."
Nolan has always been interested in the world of magic, even before reading the book. When the project was brought to him, he jumped at the chance to delve into a world that he felt hasn't been fully explored on film before. "I am a fan of magic, and I felt that I hadn't ever really seen a film address magic and what it takes to make magic and what it represents," he said. "And that's what the film tries to do. Really, there's magicians from the day in which, pre-television, pre-radio, a magician was a very large figure of that time. It's an interesting film with a lot going on."
Following The Prestige, Nolan expects to return to the world of Batman for another sequel film. Although he wouldn't say much about his plans, he did admit that the creative process is already underway. "[It's] not really anything that I'm prepared to talk about yet," he said. "[Co-writer David Goyer] and I have been working on what it's going to be. And as soon as this film is finished, we'll be figuring it out more specifically."
As for the rumors that the Joker or Harvey Dent, aka the villainous Two Face, will appear in the next Batman film, Nolan remained coy. "Anything's possible," he said. —Cindy White
Roth In A Box With Kelly
Eli Roth, who directed the horror gore-fests Cabin Fever and Hostel, told SCI FI Wire that he's looking to branch out with the film adaptation of the Richard Matheson short story "The Box," which he's developing with writer-director Richard Kelly (Southland Tales, Donnie Darko). "With a film like The Box, if you're getting Richard Kelly's audience, Richard's a pretty cerebral guy, and I'm doing a lot more visceral stuff, and we wanted to do something that's much more in between," Roth said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "I don't want to just keep repeating myself. I think that it'll just get boring. I don't want to just do splatter films all the time. That's why I like The Box. It'll be much more of a psychological [film]. We want to try and make it more in the Hitchcock-Polanski kind of realm."
Kelly approached Roth with the project several years ago, but the two have been too busy with other projects to devote their time to it. Roth anticipates that they'll return to it after his next film, a sequel to Hostel, is completed. "Once things kind of level off for us and Southland comes out and I can finish Hostel 2, we can sit down and focus on finishing the script," he said. "And I actually think that it's better that we got to wait, because now we have so much more kind of power and control over the material."
Like the short story by SF master Matheson (I Am Legend), the film centers on a box that will grant anyone who opens it a large sum of money. In return, someone they don't know will die. "It's really a movie about greed," Roth said. "And what greed does to people and what people will do to other people to get what they want without having to really work for it. And how greed makes people go completely crazy."
Kelly and producing partner Sean McKittrick own the rights to Matheson's story, which they were granted with the author's blessing. "He's really letting us go crazy, which is really terrific," Roth said. —Cindy White
Four 2 Has Silver Surfer?
Variety reported that Marvel Comics' cult superhero Silver Surfer will make an appearance in the upcoming sequel film Fantastic Four 2. The character, a shiny alien who plies intergalactic space on his metallic board, is on course to becoming a linchpin in the sequel Fox is readying for a July 4, 2007, premiere, the trade paper reported.
Silver Surfer has evolved into one of Marvel's more sophisticated comic-book heroes, and a Surfer feature has been in Fox's arsenal for a decade.
A Fantastic Four 2 storyline is being finalized, with the studio about to choose between a script by X2 writer Mark Frost and another by Don Payne, who scripted Fox/New Regency's Super-Ex Girlfriend.
Sources told the trade paper that Payne's script has the nod, and the Surfer. But a studio spokesman denied to the trade paper that anything was set and added that the Surfer was one of several plot possibilities.
Who Blitzes WWII London
LONDON—Steven Moffat, who wrote the Doctor Who (http://www.scifi.com/doctorwho/) first-season episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances," told SCI FI Wire that he was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to the two-parter, which made its U.S. debut on SCI FI Channel May 5 and May 12 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. "I have to be modest and say they did go over exceptionally well," Moffat said in an interview. The episodes were recently nominated for a coveted Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation, short form. "But you never really know," he added. "You end up doing interviews in which you explain how brilliant you are and how you thought of all these great ideas, but it's not like that at all. You really have no idea if it's going to be the biggest slop or the biggest success. I didn't know the story was going to be as powerful as it was, and I certainly had no idea there would be kids saying, 'Are you my mummy?' So that was all very exciting."
In "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances," the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) travel back to World War II London during the Blitz, where they encounter an army of gas-mask-covered zombies, as well as Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), a 53rd-century adventurer of somewhat ambiguous sexuality. "People always think of television as a series of very clever decisions you make, but sometimes it just happens," Moffat said. "If it's set during the London Blitz, you can more or less assume it's not going to be a musical. It's also 'Doctor Who does the Blitz,' so if you're going to tell that kind of story, it's almost impossible not to be 'Who Noir,' as we called it: '40s clothing, nighttime and bombs. So you've got 'The Empty Child' right there!"
The two-parter also features one of the show's early catch phrases, with the eponymous gas-masked child chillingly asking, "Are you my mummy?" "You have to remember that Doctor Who is at its heart a children's program," Moffat said. "So it's very important to remember children and the specific niche for Doctor Who, which is a kind of domestically scaled menace. You try and take ordinary things and give them one little twist to make them suddenly weird, so a little boy asking for his mummy is something you hear all the time. It's easily imitated, which is very important for Doctor Who monsters, because children have to be able to imitate them in playgrounds."
Moffat has also written an episode for the new second season of Doctor Who, which is currently airing on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. Moffat's episode, "The Girl in the Fireplace," debuts on BBC1 May 6. "I really enjoyed this one," he said. In the episode, the new Doctor (David Tennant) encounters French noblewoman Madame du Pompadour (Sophia Myles) in the 18th-century court of Louis XV. "Without the slight nervousness of the first one and the unfamiliarity of working on someone else's show, it was extremely enjoyable, and I think Sophia Myles looks stunning in the episode." —Joe Nazarro
Wild Things Is Cast
Warner Brothers and Playtone have set Benicio Del Toro, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams, Catherine O'Hara, Tom Noonan and Michael Berry to star in Where the Wild Things Are, the adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book, Variety reported. Spike Jonze will direct the film, which will mix live action, animation and puppetry. It's slated for a 2008 release.
Dave Eggers wrote the script with Jonze, and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing with Sendak, John Carls and Vince Landay, the trade paper reported.
Catherine Keener will appear in the live-action portion of the film, playing the mother of Max, a child who ventures into a magical world of creatures after he is punished for misbehaving. The youth has yet to be cast.
The other actors will voice the creatures, and Jonze will use the video of their work to inform the actual Wild Thing puppets. Those scenes will be shot in Australia.
Activision Gets 007 License
In a major shift, MGM and Electronic Arts have ended their deal for video games based on the James Bond films four years before it was slated to end, Variety reported.
The studio signed a new deal with game publisher Activision that extends through 2014 and is worth around $50 million, the trade paper reported.
Meanwhile, Warner Brothers and EA have delayed the Superman Returns game from the theatrical release date in June to the DVD release this fall. The film is slated to open June 30.
EA first published a Bond game in 1998 and extended its deal with MGM and EON Productions just three years ago through 2010. At the time Bond games were some of the industry's most successful. But EA was not able to make a game tie-in for the upcoming Casino Royale, costing MGM millions in license fees. Casino Royale is scheduled to premiere in November.
Insiders told the trade paper that that decision, along with a shift in EA corporate strategy, led to the two canceling the deal. Activision was reportedly the number-two bidder for Bond in 2003, making it a natural to take the license now.
The first Bond game from Activision is expected to be a tie-in to the film after Casino Royale. The publisher also has the rights to make Bond games not connected to new films. The 21 Bond video games published since 1983 have sold some 30 million units overall.
Roth Answer's Cell Call
Eli Roth, the director of such graphic horror films as Cabin Fever and Hostel, told SCI FI Wire that he plans to put his own imprint on Cell, his upcoming film adaptation of Stephen King's SF novel. "I'm going to be doing Hostel 2 next, then right after that I'm going to do Cell, which is the Stephen King best-seller," Roth said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. "It's going to be a full-on, big-budget, apocalyptic zombie movie. Really sort of like more in the spirit of the Dawn of the Dead remake."
Roth added: "Everyone on a cell phone gets zapped, and they go completely insane. So they're not really zombies. They're just people that go around killing anyone that's in front of them."
Roth said that he plans to bring his own peculiar sensibility to the material. "Well, there's going to be a little bit of violence," he said, with tongue in cheek. "There's going to be some blood. I want to make it really, really, really sick. Just full-on sick. But I also want to try to make it a worldwide event. Like, I don't want to see it just happening in one little town. I really want to see people going crazy all over the world and just see the end of civilization."
Roth said that he's following in the footsteps of some of his favorite helmers. "The thing about Stephen King is that so many of my favorite directors have adapted his work," he said. "And they're so varied. I mean, you have The Shining and Carrie and George Romero. So they wind up being a blend of Stephen King and whatever that director's personal taste is. And that's what I plan on doing with Cell." —Patrick Lee, News Editor
Arquette Talks Medium Renewal
Patricia Arquette, whose NBC series Medium was just renewed for a third season, told SCI FI Wire that she's excited about the pickup, but added that she's almost too tired to fully appreciate the news. Arquette last year won an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Allison Dubois, a psychic who uses her visions to help the police solve murders and other crimes.
"How happy am I?" Arquette said during a conference call hours after the April 28 renewal announcement. "Well, it's a lot of work. So it's kind of like a big thing, to be honest with you. I am glad. I love my career, and I love all the actors. I love the crew and the material. So that's exciting. But since it's at the end of the year, I really am kind of ready for a little bit of a break. I think I'll be really excited to come back, but I'm excited to take [some time off right now, too]."
Asked what she'd like to see for Dubois in season three or if she's just too wiped out at the moment to worry about next year, Arquette replied: "I do care. I very much care, but I don't think it's written yet. So I don't know where it's going, and I don't think they know where it's going, which is part of the fun of it. There's something, you know, I'd like to check out and look at again. I think we need a few more episodes where [Allison's husband] Joe [Jake Weber] and I sort of get close. In relationships I think you tend to get close and be attentive to each other, and then you tend to take each other for granted and forget about your love affair in a weird way. Sometimes I think we might need a couple of episodes where we sort of focus a little more on that, enjoying each other a little bit more." Medium airs Mondays on NBC. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Grammer Lives Large In Medium
Kelsey Grammer, who will play the Angel of Death in next week's episode of NBC's Medium, told SCI FI Wire he decided to do the guest-starring role in part at the urging of an NBC executive. Grammer is an executive producer of the supernatural series, which stars Patricia Arquette as a psychic who helps solve crimes.
Grammer said that he was talking with NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly a couple of months ago when the topic of how Grammer might further help out the show came up. "Of course that was the code for 'Do a guest shot on it,'" Grammer said with a laugh in a conference-call interview. "[Medium executive producer] Glenn [Gordon Caron] came up with this kind of intriguing idea, and I thought, 'Well, why not step in front of the camera for a little while on this?'"
Grammer appears in the May 8 episode, "Death Takes a Policy," playing a man who claims to be Death and who appears in the dreams of the show's central character, Allison Dubois (Arquette). "I'm playing two characters, really," Grammer said. "And the Angel of Death is kind of channeling himself through this one character at one point. That's probably as much of the actual body of the story [as] I can tell you, but the beauty of it is you keep him charming, quiet, well-mannered, civil, I think, with sort of a wry sense of humor. I think that begins to be a little bit more perilous, because you know he carries a really big stick."
The guest appearance marks Grammer's return to NBC, which aired his hit sitcom Frasier for 11 years. Since then, Grammer has worked behind the scenes at Medium, now in its second season, but joked that he's "woefully inactive, frankly." He added that he does keep tabs on the show and involves himself as necessary. "It's the kind of thing, you sort of set it in motion and hope that the people who are really more hands-on do their job well," he said. "If something gets out of hand or if there's a problem that comes up that requires my attention, of course then I make a phone call or I go down to the set and do what I can to spirit people along toward something I think is a good show. That's really all I do." Medium airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Ian Spelling
X3's Grammer Is Beastly
Kelsey Grammer, who plays Beast in the upcoming sequel X-Men: The Last Stand, acknowledged to SCI FI Wire that he may seem like an unlikely choice for the role of the blue-furred mutant. But the Emmy-Award-winning former star of TV's Frasier and Cheers credited Matthew Vaughn—who was on board to direct the film but departed before production began—with thinking of him. Brett Ratner stepped in to helm the third installment in the hit X-Men franchise.
"[Vaughn] was the one that said, 'Kelsey Grammer is the only guy that could play this,' which was kind of interesting," Grammer said in an interview. "There was some resistance, certainly, at Fox, because, you know, I did that other show for 20 years. It's not the most creative industry for an industry full of creative people. So there was certainly some consternation."
Grammer added: "I think once I actually sat down and talked to people, I think they realized that the man on television that they're used to seeing is not the somewhat burly, strangely intelligent man that I am. So ... I think that really allayed their fears and let them know, 'Oh, OK, he is an actor. Put some blue fur on [him], and he's going to kick ass.'"
Beast, aka Dr. Hank McCoy, is a popular character in the X-Men comic books, and he makes his first big-screen appearance in The Last Stand. The character is a mutant with superhuman strength and agility, not to mention a brilliant mind, an erudite way of speaking and lots of blue fur, and he's keenly interested in the government's purported "cure" for mutancy. "The Beast is a man of great moral rectitude," Grammer said. "He is a man that stands on the fulcrum between action and intellect, and when the scales tip in one direction or the other, that's the gift that he follows. So he's a man that's always poised and ready to do something extraordinary. And that's why he's a superhero." X-Men: The Last Stand opens May 26.
Batman, King Top Saturns
Batman Begins and King Kong topped the winners at the 32nd annual Saturn Awards, taking home three statuettes each in ceremonies in Universal City, Calif., on May 2. Among the television nominees, SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica dominated the winners, with three awards. The Saturns were given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
The Batman prequel took home awards for best fantasy film, best actor (Christian Bale) and best writing (director Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer).
King Kong won for best actress (Naomi Watts), best director (Peter Jackson) and best special effects (Joe Letteri, Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul). Star Wars: Episode III, Sin City and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe each got two Saturns.
Galactica took home prizes for best syndicated/cable TV series, best supporting actor on TV (James Callis) and best supporting actress (Katee Sackhoff).
ABC's Lost won two Saturns, for best network television series and best actor (Matthew Fox).
Legendary F/X maven Ray Harryhausen was presented with the George Pal Memorial Award. Director Jon Favreau presented the award.
Shane Black won the Filmmakers Showcase Award.
Jetsons To Fly Again?
Warner Brothers is again developing a live-action version of The Jetsons, the 1960s retro-SF TV series, with Donald De Line producing and Adam F. Goldberg writing a new screenplay, Variety reported.
De Line will produce with Denise Di Novi, who has been developing the comedy project for well over a decade, working with a string of writers.
Most recently, Goldberg did a rewrite of Fox Atomic's Revenge of the Nerds redo and wrote the Star Wars-themed Fanboys for the Weinstein Co.
20,000 Leagues Surfaces Again
New Line is developing a new film based on Jules Verne's classic SF tale 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, snapping up Craig Titley's pitch for an updated version and setting it up with Sam Raimi and Josh Donen through their Buckaroo banner, Variety reported.
The deal doesn't include a directing component for Raimi, helmer of the Spider-Man movies. New Line is developing the project as a film that would look more closely into the background of Captain Nemo, as well as that of his prisoners aboard the Nautilus.
Disney released a 1954 version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that starred James Mason, Kirk Douglas and Peter Lorre, an adaptation of Verne's story of a 19th-century expedition to find a mysterious sea creature that's been attacking ships.
Black To Rewind
Jack Black (King Kong) is set to star in Michel Gondry's eccentric SF comedy Be Kind Rewind, playing a junkyard worker whose brain is magnetized, destroying every tape in his friend's video store and forcing the pair to remake the lost films, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Focus Features International has nabbed international sales rights to the under-$20 million Partizan production, which begins a two-month shoot Sept. 6 in New York.
In the film, Black plays Jerry, a man whose headaches lead him to believe his brain is melting. His brain is magnetized, leading to the unintentional destruction of movies in his friend's store. In order to keep the store's one loyal customer, an elderly lady with signs of dementia, the pair re-creates a long line of films including The Lion King, Rush Hour, Back to the Future and RoboCop.
Red Sonja Rides Again
Millennium Films and Emmett/Furla Films are bringing sword-and-sorcery comic-book heroine Red Sonja back to the big screen, Variety reported.
Avi Lerner and Danny Dimbort's Millennium will finance and produce the movie with Emmett/Furla. The project's budget is north of $25 million
Last year, Dynamite Entertainment launched a new Red Sonja series that has gone on to be one of the best-selling indie comic books on the market.
Red Sonja, created by sword-and-sorcery legend Robert E. Howard, was introduced into Marvel's Conan the Barbarian comics in 1973 and soon was given her own title.
The 1985 Red Sonja pic, starring Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger, was released by MGM to dismal box-office numbers.
Spike To Mount SF&F Awards
Spike TV is set to unveil an awards-show franchise devoted to the booming horror/science fiction genre, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Viacom-owned cable network is working on Scream 2006, which likely will air in October. Scream is scouting Los Angeles locations to shoot the event in September.
Scream will honor the best in film, TV, video games, comic books and music, with a mix of serious awards for outstanding past and present people or programming to such light categories as highest body count in a movie and best bloodcurdling scream.
Scream fits with Spike TV's strategic shift in favor of action-oriented programming, such as the upcoming series adaptation of the Blade movies.
Dark Horse Slates Fafhrd Projects
Mike Richardson, president of Dark Horse Comics, told SCI FI Wire that Dark Horse's book and entertainment divisions recently acquired the book publication and movie rights to multiple award-winning author Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser fantasy stories. "Basically we will reprint the original [novels and collections], probably at the rate of three per year," Richardson said in an interview. "Also, preceding that, we will be republishing [the 1991 Marvel Comics] comic [penciled by Mike Mignola and scripted by Howard Chaykin]. That will appear later this year, the entire series in book form."
Dark Horse will also be launching a brand-new comic-book series for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, which will feature graphic adaptations of the original Leiber stories, as well as original material. "[We'll probably be] using the same format and marketing plan that we used for [our] Conan [series]," Richardson said. "In other words, launching it with a 25-cent comic, and then going into a regular series. [With Conan,] we stripped everything back to Robert E. Howard's [original work]. We started the [comic] book at the beginning of his life, and then we basically go through his life, and at each point where one of the [original] stories [occurs], [we] incorporated [that] into the comic-book canon of his life. We'll be doing the same thing with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, where the stories in the novels and short stories will end up appearing in the comics, but we will [also] be fleshing out their entire lives and their entire story."
Richardson said that he's always thought that the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were a fun take on the sword-and-sorcery genre. "[I always liked] their sort of very different approach: the misadventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, I guess, would be [a] more appropriate [way of putting it]," he said. "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser have had nowhere near [the] kind of exposure [that Conan has had], so we're planning to give these great characters that same kind of exposure. ... I think they're a wonderful discovery, not just for sword-and-sorcery fans, but for anyone who loves a good, fun story."
As far as the entertainment division is concerned, Richardson said: "We do have the film rights, and we're working on a treatment and concept art right now. We have no one attached to it yet. We're very early in the process."
Meanwhile, Dark Horse continues to pursue other properties. Richardson said that Dark Horse is working on a deal with Conan Properties, which would allow them to bring other famous Robert E. Howard characters into print in comic-book format and possibly in book format as well. "Characters like Solomon Kane and King Kull are on their way," he said. —John Joseph Adams
Wraeththu Wraps Up
SF/fantasy author Storm Constantine, whose Wraeththu Histories series concludes in June with The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence, told SCI FI Wire that the androgynous beings known as Wraeththu first came to her as an idea many years ago. "I'd been reading up about the magical meaning of the hermaphrodite, and I became fascinated with the idea of what it would be like if there was only one gender in the world," Constantine said in an interview. "The magical, or alchemical, androgyne is regarded as the perfect manifestation of male and female attributes, but in creating the Wraeththu, an androgynous species, I wanted to explore the possibilities of them possessing some of the worst traits of both genders, too."
Constantine added: "In one way, they are perfect beings, in that they are (mostly) beautiful, physically and spiritually superior to humans and possess faculties that humans do not. But in other ways they are flawed, because they derive from humanity, and in the early stages of their development still have to contend with lingering weaknesses. The first Wraeththu, or hara, were 'incepted' from humans—physically changed—and it is only later in their story that they begin to produce offspring of their own."
The Wraeththu Histories is the second trilogy involving the Wraeththu; the first, The Wraeththu Chronicles, was originally published in the '80s. "It was really enjoyable to go back to that world (although in truth it has never really left me) and explore some of the same characters who were now a lot older," Constantine said. "The first book in the new trilogy, The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure, fits chronologically between the second and third books of the [Wraeththu Chronicles], but the rest of the Histories ... continue the story [of the original trilogy]. It concerns primarily the story of Pellaz and Cal, the main characters in the original books, and what happens to them after their rise to power as rulers of Wraeththu."
In The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence, Constantine moves on to the next generation of Wraeththu, she said. "This is the story of the children, or harlings, of some of the main characters," she said. "Unlike their parents, they are pure-born hara; they were not incepted from humans. Pellaz, the Tigron of Wraeththu, has three sons, all of whom are problematical in one way or another. Ghosts is their story, but it also concerns the origins of their race and how Wraeththu came into existe