Whedon Talks Buffy Renewal
s UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer returning next year or not? Depends on who's talking and what day it is.
Most recently, creator Joss Whedon told E! Online's Watch with Wanda that things are still up in the air, but he sounded more optimistic than in other recent reports.
"At some point, in the next couple of months, people will make their decisions," Whedon told the site. "They will tell me what they are, I will make some of my own and everything will get all announce-y. But as of now, I haven't heard anything definite."
Whedon added, "I think the chances for an eighth season are good. Whether or not they will include [star] Sarah [Michelle Gellar], I don't know, but I suspect there may be some kind of incarnation of the show, even if she decides to pull back or even pull out altogether. Right now, I'm looking at every possibility humanly possible, but it doesn't really affect where we're going this year." Gellar's contract expires at the end of the current seventh season.
An anonymous source told Wanda that "the buzz around set is it's 90 percent sure Sarah will not sign on, that she feels it's time to focus on other things, like her film career. If she does sign on for another year, it will probably be for part of the season, not the full 22 episodes. They're sort of preparing for that." Buffy airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Buffy Not Done Yet?
ddressing reports that this may be the last season for UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, star Sarah Michelle Gellar told Access Hollywood that no decisions have been made.
"I read that this morning in the paper," Gellar told the entertainment news show. "It was the first I'd read about that as well. There have been absolutely no decisions made. Conversations haven't even begun." Gellar's statement appeared to rebut earlier reports that she would not return to the show after her contract expires at the end of the current seventh season.
Meanwhile, TV Guide Online reported that talks broke down between Buffy's studio, 20th Century Fox, and Amber Benson, who was slated to return to the show this season, though her character, Tara, died at the end of last season. "It was a question of negotiations, as it sometimes is," series creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online. "It's sad, because I love Amber. But that's between her and Fox."
Benson's representative told the site, "She's very proud of her work on the show, but ultimately, we couldn't work out the right deal." Buffy airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Fans Rally For Firefly
ans of Fox's new SF western series Firefly have organized a Web-based campaign to keep the show alive.
Firefly, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, has been struggling in the ratings, though Fox recently ordered three more episodes for the fledgling season.
The Firefly Immediate Assistance campaign encourages fans to write to the network and its advertisers. Organizers also hope to raise money to buy an advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter. Firefly airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
McKellen Mulls Hobbit
an McKellen, the venerable actor who plays Gandalf in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, told fans on his official Web site that he might consider appearing in a movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
In response to a fan question, McKellen wrote, "I recently asked about the film rights to The Hobbit, which seem to be somewhat controlled by Peter Jackson, as far as I can tell. I hope that's the case, because obviously he should have first refusal at translating the novel into a movie."
McKellen added, "I should be intrigued to return to Middle-earth, even though it involved putting on Gandalf's nose, which is even more distinctive than my own. ... I thought it might be possible to make a really long screen version, probably for television, with every episode of the book covered week by week in a multitude of episodes. Ian Holm—who was proud to look so young as well as so old as Bilbo in The Fellowship of the Ring—even he might think the young Bilbo of The Hobbit was unlikely casting for an actor of his age." McKellen next appears as the wizard in the upcoming sequel film Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which opens Dec. 18.
Isaacs Finds His Inner Malfoy
ason Isaacs—who plays Lucius Malfoy in the upcoming sequel film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets—told SCI FI Wire that doing a Potter film is unlike any other experience in front of the camera.
"My first day [on set] was going to Quidditch," Isaacs said in a phone interview from Australia, where he's filming a live-action Peter Pan (playing Captain Hook and Mr. Darling). "I was sitting in the Quidditch stands with Alan Rickman and Miriam Margolyes and Warwick Davis, and various extras who were all playing witches and wizards. And the assistant director was saying, 'Right, OK, Harry's nearly got the snitch, Harry's nearer.'... And you were doing kind of Wimbledon acting with your head." Isaacs mimics the assistant director's tone: "'But Draco comes in ... and the snitch!' ... And one of the witches turned to one of the other witches and said, 'What's a bloody snitch?'"
Isaacs added, "In normal acting you're kind of dredging up these complicated emotions, and [meanwhile] we're all there dressed as if we were going to a Halloween party, following an imaginary boy on a broomstick fly around in the air. I thought, this is too much fun to get paid." Isaacs said that his costume stems from his own thoughts on what Lucius Malfoy would want to wear. "My idea, that director Chris [Columbus] liked, was that, because Lucius comes from this old wizarding family and that's what's important to him, like the British House of Lords, he kind of lives in the past a bit, and would like the future to be like the past. So he should wear old earthy furs and things that have been in the family for many, many generations."
Malfoy "isn't a terribly complicated man," Isaacs said. "I always look for some redeeming feature, any kind of human qualities. But you know, this is slightly broader strokes, being a children's book, and it's quite nice to be so unfetteredly unpleasant. To just try and do fingernails on the blackboard—I want people's skin to crawl when I'm on the screen. So it was fun in every scene." In forming his distasteful bad guy, Isaacs admitted that he tapped his own real-life
experiences. "There were a couple of people I based it on, who I found to be very unpleasant in my life," he said. "One person was a terrible bully, and another person I just can't bear to hear."
Working with his young co-stars "I think [was] the most fun, because the kids don't disguise their response the first time," Isaacs said. "The first time I did a scene with [star] Daniel [Radcliffe], he went, 'God, you're going to talk like that?' and I said, 'Yeah,' and he went, 'That is soooo cool.'" Chamber of Secrets opens Nov. 15.
Lee Denies Potter Rumor
hristopher Lee, through his official Web site, denied a rumor that he had signed on to replace the late Richard Harris as Professor Albus Dumbledore in the third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban.
"Mr. Lee has not received official confirmation from Warner Brothers, and until then, we cannot confirm or comment any further," Lee's spokesman wrote on the site. "Obviously it would be wonderful news, and Mr. Lee is overwhelmed, but for the time being, nothing is certain."
The London Sunday Times cited an anonymous source at Warner Brothers saying that the studio's current wish list of actors to replace Harris included Lee (The Lord of the Rings). Harris, who appears in the upcoming second Potter film, The Chamber of Secrets, died from complications of Hodgkin's disease in London last weekend. Chamber of Secrets opens Nov. 15.
Double To Play Dumbledore?
he British Sunday Mirror tabloid newspaper reported a rumor that Harry Robinson, who was Richard Harris' double in the first two Harry Potter films, will most likely take over the role of Professor Dumbledore in the third film, The Prisoner of Azkaban, according to a report on the Zap2it Web site.
"Producers have told Harry there's a very strong chance of him getting the part," an anonymous source told the Mirror. For his part, the 72-year-old Robinson told the tabloid that "it would be my tribute to someone I was very fond of."
Harris, who was also 72, died from complications of Hodgkin's disease in London last weekend. Robinson not only looks like Harris, but can also impersonate his voice, the newspaper reported. Production on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is set to begin in the spring.
Warner Grieves Over Harris
arner Brothers issued a statement expressing its "deep and heartfelt condolences" on the death Oct. 25 of Richard Harris, the veteran actor who played Professor Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter movies for the studio.
Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive officer, and Alan Horn, president and chief operating officer, in a joint statement said, "Warner Brothers extends our deep and heartfelt condolences to the family of Richard Harris, who has made so many unforgettable contributions to the world of motion pictures, most recently in the role of Professor Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies. We will miss his presence and will treasure our memories of him."
Harris, 72, died 10 days after being admitted to University College Hospital in London for treatment of Hodgkin's disease. His death leaves a question about who will assume the role of Dumbledore in the upcoming third Harry Potter movie, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Variety reported. Production on the third installment was to begin in either February or March under director Alfonso Cuarón, the trade paper reported. The second film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, opens Nov. 15.
Harris starred in Camelot for Warner in 1972, winning a Golden Globe for his work, and also starred in Warner's Oscar-winning western Unforgiven in 1992. Harris also appeared in the hit film Gladiator, in which he played emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Goyer Talks Blade III
lade writer David Goyer told the Comics2Film Web site that Marvel has approved the story ideas for the upcoming sequel film Blade III.
Goyer added that the third installment in the vampire franchise will feature some obscure Marvel Comics characters.
"[It] looks like Hannibal King and Frank Drake [the Nightstalkers] from the Tomb of Dracula comic will be making an appearance in the third film," Goyer told the site. Goyer is writing and producing the sequel.
Meanwhile, Goyer said that his proposed Darksiders movie for New Line Cinema is now in the preliminary casting stages, the site reported. Goyer will direct, but not write, the movie, about vampires recruited by the FBI.
Lucas Likes Short Wars
tar Wars creator George Lucas approves of the satirical Los Angeles theatrical production that squeezes the first three movies down to half an hour, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Star Wars Trilogy in 30 Minutes is playing at the Coronet Theater in Los Angeles, created by a troupe of University of Southern California students and director Patrick T. Gorman, the newspaper reported.
Lucas gave his blessing to the production after being asked by Gorman's professor, John Blankenchip, who taught a directing class to Lucas in the 1960s, the newspaper reported. Blankenchip and his colleague Ken Miura, another of Lucas' USC mentors, told Lucas that the piece would serve as a fund-raiser for Festival Theatre USC-USA, a program that gives students a chance to take part in the Edinburgh Festival. Gorman and his troupe first performed the piece for Lucas last August, driving to Skywalker Ranch in Northern California for a command performance, the newspaper reported.
"I was quite impressed that they were able to find a way to make Star Wars faster and more intense," Lucas told the Times. "I'm always happy that Star Wars continues to be a source of creative inspiration, and I hope to see them perform again after Episode III comes out, when they can do all six Star Wars in 60 minutes."
Campbell Signs With SCI FI
he SCI FI Channel announced that it has signed a two-picture film deal with genre favorite Bruce Campbell (Spider-Man, Army of Darkness).
Campbell will star in two original telefilms to be produced exclusively for the SCI FI Channel by Creative Light Entertainment and distributed internationally by Creative Light Worldwide, the network said.
"We love working with the amazing team at Creative Light," SCI FI Channel president Bonnie Hammer said in a statement. "And we're thrilled to make our first multipicture deal with Bruce, one of the industry's only bona fide sci-fi celebrities."
Campbell will star in two of SCI FI's upcoming monthly male-action movies. One film, The Man with the Screaming Brain, has been a longtime pet project of the actor, who will write, direct, star in and produce the movie. The film will be executive produced by Scott Zakarin, Peter Jaysen, Rich Tackenberg, Campbell and David Goodman, who will also co-write with Campbell.
The other, Earwigs, is about mind control and was inspired by the creatures made famous in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The film will be executive produced by Zakarin, Jaysen, Tackenberg and Campbell.
Production is set to begin on the first of the films in April 2003.
Petrie Talks Fantastic Film
riter Doug Petrie (TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) told Dreamwatch magazine that he's drafting a script for a proposed Fantastic Four movie that will alter the origin mythology of the Marvel Comics superheroes and their chief villain, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site.
"The change to the origin story, which came from the earlier drafts and I adopted, is that Doom was like the fifth Beatle," Petrie told the magazine. "He was on the spaceship with them, and in my version he saw this particle wave coming. They didn't want to say cosmic rays, because they felt it sounded fake, but in fact cosmic rays are real. I wanted to do A Perfect Storm in space, where a giant wave is coming towards them, and Victor blasts off in the escape pod, saving his own skin. He crash-lands [on] Earth and becomes Doom, because his face is lost in the re-entry process, which is horrible and violent, while the four of them get bombarded by these mysterious rays and become the Fantastic Four."
The origin scenes will be told in flashbacks. The proposed film's opening is "a giant action sequence, where everyone in New York City is watching the Fantastic Four kick the crap out of a giant monster on Fifth Avenue," Petrie said.
Looney Pays Homage To SF
oe Dante—director of the upcoming live-action/animated sequel film Looney Tunes: Back in Action—told SCI FI Wire that the film will include cameos of creatures from famous 1950s SF movies.
Giving a tour of one set, Dante said, "This is Area 52, the place so secret that they invented Area 51 to cover it up. This is where [the government] takes all the aliens, and we figured if they're all really aliens from the '50s, let's really get aliens from the '50s. So we recruited a bunch of characters from my youth, which was long ago, and we have the Man from Planet X, who's made a return since his first picture in 1951. Also making his first reappearance since 1951 is Robot Monster. And The Thing Without a Face is here and another one is [an alien from] This Island Earth."
The original Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet and a Triffid from The Day of the Triffids will also be seen in the Area 52 set. Production designer Bill Brzeski said in an interview that these references are intended for the film's older audience. "I don't think a lot of kids are going to get any of it," Brzeski said. "But those are the layers you have to bring to a movie to make it really good, and I think it's fun. Joe was very specific in what he wanted and how he wanted to use these B-movie things. Our challenge was how to make them not look [bad]. When they made these movies, they were doing the best they could. They wouldn't fit to our standards nowadays, so what we had to do was take the joke and move it to the 2002 visual standard of moviemaking. That was our challenge. We went back and looked at a lot of these movies, and they really don't look good. They're really badly done compared to our standards today. We kept the [creatures]' silhouette and shape, but we brought them up to our modern technology. I think they look great now. They're really cute, and they're funny."
Looney Tunes: Back in Action is currently shooting, with a November 2003 release date in mind.
Mouse To Save The Day?
aramount Pictures is developing an all-computer-animated Mighty Mouse movie for Nickelodeon Films to produce, Variety reported.
Director John Woo and his producing partner Terence Chang will produce the film, along with Nickelodeon Film executives Albie Hecht and Julia Pistor, the trade paper reported. Barry Jackson will provide concept design work, with Nickelodeon performing the animation work in-house. No director or writers are yet attached, the trade paper reported.
Viacom, the parent of Paramount and Nickelodeon, owns the rights to the original Terrytoons animated series. Mighty Mouse made his first appearance in 1942 as a defender of mice from feline villains, using the flying skills and strength of Superman, and went on to become the studio's most valuable property. The Mighty Mouse cartoon Gypsy Life, directed by Connie Rasinski, received an Oscar nomination in 1945, the trade paper reported. The Terrytoons studio was sold in 1955 to CBS, which ran a Saturday morning half-hour as Mighty Mouse Playhouse until 1967.
Duck Dodgers Strikes Back
riter/producer Larry Doyle told SCI FI Wire that Warner Brothers is producing a series of new Looney Tunes theatrical shorts—including one featuring the character of Duck Dodgers—to build anticipation for its upcoming live-action/animated sequel film Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
Duck Dodgers will appear in a short called Attack of the Drones, which will spoof many recent SF films.
"You never do a direct spoof of anything, because it always looks too derivative, but there are things in there that you'll recognize from Men in Black and from Star Wars and from Star Trek and from The Matrix," Doyle said in an interview. "So there's all sorts of different things. It's an overall sci-fi spoof."
The plot, however, does involve clones. "Daffy creates an army of robots based on himself to fight something, but the short isn't really about the fight, which ends very quickly," Doyle said. "It's about letting the robots loose after they've been victorious." Warners has not announced a release date for the Looney Tunes shorts.
Chan's Rain To Fall
ackie Chan and director Stanley Tong will team up again for Media Asia's much-delayed SF action film Titanium Rain, Variety reported.
Shooting begins in June 2003.
The $40 million film—part of Media Asia's push into the international market—will center on an imperial guard (Chan) of the Ming Dynasty, who chases a samurai for 400 years, the trade paper reported. The movie will be shot in India, China and Hong Kong, with dialogue in English and Chinese.
Raimi Spinning New Web
pider-Man director Sam Raimi told SCI FI Wire that he envisions the proposed sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man, as a much more personal journey than the Webslinger's first adventure.
"I think my job, and what I'm eager to do, is really get inside the head of Peter Parker [Tobey Maguire] and Mary Jane Watson [Kirsten Dunst] and Aunt May [Rosemary Harris]," Raimi said in an interview. "I want to find out where we left them in the minds of the audience and find out what journey the audience was on and accurately determine what they would now want to see and what conflicts there may be
next in the characters' lives and what the characters' next evolution as human beings would be."
Raimi added, "That's the most important part of Spider-Man for me: Peter Parker as a human being, watching him as somebody that I really identify with, as somebody who's got daily struggles [and] is wrestling with responsibility and personal desire. I want to tell a story where the audience can really relate to him on a deeper level than they did in the first one, maybe not [with] a diminishment of the action, but [with] a deeper exploration of Peter Parker as a human being." Spider-Man crawls into video stores on Nov. 1. The Amazing Spider-Man goes into production in March 2003.
Batman 2 In The Wings
bi Soft announced that its Montreal studio is working on a sequel to Batman: Vengeance, a video game based on the animated Batman TV series, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Batman: Vengeance was released for the PC and console gaming platforms last year, the site reported.
With the working title Batman 2, the sequel will be an arcade-style action game in which players will get to use an arsenal of Batman gadgets to combat Gotham City's nastiest villains, the site reported.
Batman 2 is currently scheduled for a fall 2003 release on multiple console platforms.
Dent Taken By Reality
atherine Dent, who romances an alien in the upcoming SCI FI Channel miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents Taken, told SCI FI Wire that reality impinged on fantasy early in production.
"My first day of work on Taken was Sept. 11, 2001," Dent said in an interview. "[Co-star] Eric [Close] and I were in Vancouver, [B.C.]. I was driving to the set at 6 a.m., which is 9 a.m. New York time. As you might imagine, we were all just in shock, utterly confused."
Dent added, "Nobody knew what was going on. Eric and I will be forever bonded because of that experience. The producers made the decision to continue working. Some productions shut down, but we continued working. It made for
ego-less performances. When that kind of thing is going on in the world, you don't worry about whether your lipstick is on straight or not. You just delve into the work and put your whole heart and soul into it. I think we all tried to do that." Taken, a 20-hour miniseries that chronicles the lives of three families against the backdrop of 50 years of UFO lore, premieres on SCI FI Dec. 2.
Fanning Chats Cat In Hat
akota Fanning—star of the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Dr. Seuss' beloved children's book The Cat in the Hat—told SCI FI Wire that production is running smoothly.
Eight-year-old Fanning plays Sally and is joined by Mike Myers as The Cat and Spencer Breslin as Conrad. "It's going really great," Fanning said in an interview. "We're actually out in Simi Valley [Calif.] right now, and they've built this set with 24 purple houses with blue roofs, orange chimneys and green and yellow cars. It's just amazing. My costume is a green corduroy jumper with a purple gingham top and a purple eyelet skirt."
Fanning added that the script—by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer—expands on the Seuss story. "It is so funny," she said. "It's just like the book. Obviously, there's more [in the script], because the book is short. But there is Thing One and Thing Two, and they're dressed just the same. The Cat has his red bow. There's the boy and the girl and all the houses. You know the trees that hang down? They have those in every yard. The story is just like the book, but you really get to know all the characters, get to know their personalities so much. You realize what kind of people these characters are before the [action] actually starts. Conrad is somebody who doesn't like rules. He's a free person who just does everything. Sally is a more organized person who likes to follow rules. And then The Cat comes into their lives. He tries to make Conrad follow rules a little bit more and tries to make Sally loosen up a little bit." The Cat in the Hat is tentatively set for release on Nov. 21, 2003. Fanning will also be seen in the SCI FI Channel's upcoming original miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents Taken, which premieres Dec. 2.
Dunaway Guests On Alias
ilm actress Faye Dunaway will make a rare television appearance as a guest star in a three-episode arc on ABC's Alias, Variety reported.
The actress is scheduled to start shooting her role on Nov. 1, the trade paper reported.
Dunaway will play the head of counterintelligence for the Alliance, a group of crooked spies that the CIA is trying to bring down, the trade paper reported. Dunaway's character will investigate the death of the wife of Ron Rifkin's character, Arvin Sloane. The episodes are slated to air early next year. Alias airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Mandrake Heads For Screen
shok Armitraj's Hyde Park Entertainment has teamed with Howard Baldwin's Crusader Entertainment to acquire the movie rights to the classic fantasy comic strip Mandrake the Magician from the Hearst Corp.'s King Features Syndicate, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The companies will co-finance and co-produce a live-action Mandrake movie and have hired Josh Oppenheimer and Tom Donnelly (A Sound of Thunder) to adapt the strip for the screen, the trade paper reported.
Created by Lee Falk (The Phantom) in 1934, the long-running comic strip is now syndicated in more than 200 newspapers on six continents. The strip follows Mandrake on various adventures as he uses his powers of hypnotism and illusion to combat crime. He's often joined by his partner, Lothar, and his girlfriend, Princess Narda, the trade paper reported. The exact adventure that the first installment will center on is being tightly guarded, but Armitraj told the trade paper that the project will follow the magician from the United States to Europe to South America in a "big-canvas adventure story."
Hyde Park and Crusader have also teamed up to develop a new movie based on Falk's The Phantom, which will be adapted by Steven De Souza, the trade paper reported.
SF Author MacLeod Gets Political
cottish SF author Ken MacLeod told the SF Crowsnest.com Web site that his new novel, Engine City, tells a story of social change.
"It's about a man who tries to change a civilization older than China and richer than America, and about the other people who have to deal with the results," MacLeod told the site. "Executive summary, for people who know the characters: Volkov subverts Nova Babylonia, and a hundred years later Matt Cairns invades New Babylon from space, then things start to get strange."
MacLeod added that his books, which deal with the politics and economics of the future, often generate surprising reactions. "The only novel of mine which portrays a socialist future is The Cassini Division, and I knocked that one down in The Sky Road. Most of the futures are capitalist, but they're terrifying! It's sort of like cyberpunk, but with politics, instead of just zaibatsus and ninjas and everybody just taking it. Different people have reacted in different ways. Every one of the Fall Revolution books was nominated for the free-market libertarian Prometheus Award, and two of them won it. So some people do read them as critical of socialism. Others see them as advocacy of socialism, and either think that's a good thing or dreadful."
Activision Squeezes Lemony
ctivision announced that it has been named master video-game licensee for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, the best-selling children's book series.
Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies are also developing the series as a feature film.
The license grants Activision the exclusive right to develop and publish products for all video-game consoles, hand-held platforms and the PC based on the franchise.
The Lemony Snicket series chronicles the gothic misadventures of the Baudelaires, three savvy and resilient orphans in search of a home. It has been published in 29 languages, with more than 6.3 million books in circulation in the United States alone, Activision said. The ninth book in the series, The Carnivorous Carnival, was released this week.
Son Follows Dad In Zone
n a Twilight Zone kind of coincidence, the director of an upcoming talking-doll episode of UPN's new anthology series is the son of the director of the classic Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll"—about a talking doll.
Deran Sarafian, who is directing the Nov. 20 episode "Mr. Motivation," told SCI FI Wire that the installment is a parody of the original Zone segment that starred Telly Savalas and was helmed by Deran's father, Richard C. Sarafian.
"It's completely, absolute coincidence," Deran said in an interview. "In fact, when I was hired to do it, I thought, 'Well, of course they saw "Living Doll." And Talking Tina, a doll which is imbedded everybody's minds.' And of course, I saw [it] when I was a little kid. In fact, my father and my mother, they didn't tell me that he did it, because it was pretty horrible. ... So I had an opportunity to parody it. The thing is, though, when I went into the office, ... yeah, I thought this was meant to be. But it wasn't. It was just by happenstance."
Richard directed "Living Doll," written by Charles Beaumont, for the original Zone's fifth season in 1963-'64. Richard said in an interview that he wasn't surprised that his son wound up directing one of the updated Zone segments. "When Deran told me that he was going to do a Twilight Zone, my first comment was, 'It's about time.' It seemed like he was destined to follow up, since they were ... re-enacting that genre of filmmaking. He was such a logical choice, because, I think, the early Twilight Zones certainly captivated him. ... The other coincidence, what he tells me, is that Telly Savalas' [son-in-law John Peter Kousakis] is one of the [new Zone's] executive producers."
Deran's episode, which features Wallace Langham and Christopher McDonald, concerns a beleaguered office assistant who is given a motivational doll that appears to have a personality of its own. "I was inspired by the [original] Twilight Zone," Deran said. "So I've got something to live up to. When I read the script, and I realized immediately that this is a parody of the 'Living Doll' episode, I was relieved that I didn't have to try to repeat or top a classic. ... [Especially] one that my father directed." Deran did ask his father, "What kind of advice do you have for me? He said, excuse the language, 'Don't f-ck it up.'"
"I don't think he did," Richard said. The new Twilight Zone airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
War Reinvades Radio
yndicated talk-radio host Glenn Beck will re-enact Orson Welles' infamous radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic SF novel War of the Worlds this Halloween, the Reuters news service reported.
Beck's commercial-free, hour-long recreation of Welles' Mercury Theater production will air live at 8 p.m. ET on the 100 stations nationwide that carry his weekday talk show and on satellite radio from the XM Satellite Radio Studios in Washington, D.C., Reuters reported.
Beck's re-enactment will feature live sound-effects artists and Welles' original music. Beck, whose regular show originates from Philadelphia, will join the cast of about a dozen actors, performing Welles' dual roles of the story's narrator and Professor Pierson, Reuters reported.
Orson Welles' 1938 Halloween broadcast stirred widespread panic, as many listeners missed the opening minutes of the original program and believed the faux news bulletins about a Martian invasion were genuine.
Trek TV Helmer Dies
ohn Lucas, a writer, producer and director of such television shows as the original Star Trek series and such films as Dark City, died Oct. 19 of leukemia, the Associated Press reported.
He was 83.
Lucas' career focused mainly on the mystery and science fiction genres. Among his TV credits were The Fugitive, Planet of the Apes and The Six Million Dollar Man, the wire service reported. Lucas teamed up with producer Irwin Allen to do the TV movie City Beneath the Sea. He also wrote and directed one of the first behind-the-scenes documentaries, The Making of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Lucas' first wife was the late actress Joan Winfield. He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Patricia Kay Lucas, and three children, Elizabeth, Victoria and Michael Lucas, the AP reported.
Woolvett Writes Andromeda Ep
ordon Michael Woolvett, who plays Seamus Harper in the syndicated SF TV show Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, told SCI FI Wire that he wrote the script for an upcoming season-three episode, his first.
"It's going to be episode 19 of this season," Woolvett said in an interview. "I don't know what I'm allowed to tell you at all about what it's about. ... It's not a Haper-centric episode. We go really far away, farther than we've ever been, and we discover something brand new."
Woolvett's script was ordered by Andromeda's new head writer, Robert Engels (Twin Peaks), the actor said. "I pitched them a couple of episodes," he said. "I wrote two scripts. ... The first one was initially turned down by [former executive producer and series co-creator] Robert [Hewitt] Wolfe way back when. And then the second one I pitched to Bob Engels, and he passed on it, because he said it didn't fall into play with our series the way it was going. It was an episode that had a lot to do with alternate realities, and we already had a number of alternate realities that season, so it would end up being sort of repetitive episodes in a row. But he did say that he liked that script, and who knows? There may be room down the road for it in subsequent seasons. But he did like my writing and encouraged me to try again. So I pitched him another idea, and, you know, three's the charm, they say."
Stargate Rumors Denied
GM, which produces the SCI FI Channel's original series
Stargate SG-1, issued a statement denying rumors that a decision has been made on whether to renew the show for a seventh season.
"Regretfully, it was incorrectly stated at an event in the [United Kingdom] that Stargate SG-1 was a firm go for a seventh season," Hank Cohen, president of MGM Television Entertainment, said in a statement. "Both MGM and SCI FI have been in discussions regarding such a possibility; however, discussions are still ongoing."
Cohen added, "It is unfortunate and a disservice to our loyal fans to prematurely make an announcement that is not based on fact.We understand how important the future of this show is to the millions of loyal viewers. When the time is appropriate MGM and SCI FI will issue an announcement regarding the future of Stargate SG-1."
SCI FI is airing repeats of Stargate SG-1 on Mondays, beginning at 7 p.m. ET/PT. New episodes of Stargate SG-1 will resume on SCI FI Fridays, starting Jan. 10, 2003.
TNT Readies Genre Films
NT's slate of original movies for 2004 includes several genre telefilms, Variety reported.
The two-hour movies will be produced for around $8 million apiece. Production start dates range from January to summer 2003, the trade paper reported.
The slate includes the following films:
•Hallmark Entertainment and Robert Halmi Sr. will produce the drama She, the only three-hour project on the list, based on H. Rider Haggard's Africa classic of the same name.
•The space-race-themed Voyage to Mars, based on the book of the same title by Laurence Bergreen.
•Honus and Me marks the continuation of the Johnson & Johnson Spotlight Presentation franchise and tells the story of a 12-year-old baseball fanatic who finds a mint-condition Honus Wagner baseball card and discovers not only that it's the world's most valuable card, but also that it grants wishes.
Studio Believes In Ghost
aramount Pictures is developing Ghostwalker, a supernatural action movie based on a pitch from sibling writers Peter and Paul Williams, for MTV Films to produce, Variety reported.
Senior vice president David Gale and vice president Michael Cole will shepherd the project, the trade paper reported.
Ghostwalker is described as a potential franchise, the trade paper reported. The Williams brothers wrote for a season for the MTV series Undergrads.
Wax Helmer De Toth Dies
ndre de Toth, director of the 3-D classic horror film House of Wax and other films, died Oct. 27 of an aneurysm at his home in Burbank, Calif., Variety reported.
He was 89.
The native Hungarian was one of the last of the generation of European-trained filmmakers who came to Hollywood during the World War II period and went on to display remarkable aptitude and versatility with American subjects and genres.
Born Sasvrai Farkasfalvi Tothfalusi Toth Endre Antal Mihaly in Mako, Hungary, on May 15, 1913, de Toth got a foothold as a director on B movies at Columbia and went on to make spy, war, western and noir films for several studios, the trade paper reported. De Toth's work was marked by an economical, pared-down style, a lack of sentimentality and an acute awareness of the potential for treachery and cruelty in human relationships.
His most famous film was Warner Brothers' House of Wax in 1953, the first major studio 3-D film and a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum, in which Vincent Price played a mad sculptor whose murder victims became figures in his wax museum. One of the prominent supporting players was Charles Buchinsky, before he changed his name to Bronson, the trade paper reported. The joke surrounding de Toth's involvement with the project was that, because he had just one eye, he lacked the depth perception to see the 3-D effects himself.
De Toth is survived by his wife, Ann Green; daughters Diana and Michelle and son Nicolas; and many grandchildren, the trade paper reported. Funeral services are pending.
ConJose Settles Hotel Flap
rganizers of ConJose, the 2002 World Science Fiction Convention, announced that they have settled a dispute involving cleaning charges with the San Jose, Calif., Fairmont Hotel.
In mid-September, the Fairmont cited excessive cleaning required in certain rooms and suites located in the "party wing" of the hotel and assessed what con organizers considered improper extra cleaning charges on the credit cards of the people in whose names those rooms were registered. ConJose took place Aug. 29-Sept. 2.
The convention advised members who received such charges to protest them both with the hotel and with their credit card issuers. But organizers eventually agreed to pay additional cleaning charges to the Fairmont, in exchange for which the Fairmont agreed to refund all of the individual room cleaning charges. ConJose agreed to make this payment without admitting any fault or responsibility, in order to avoid a long dispute between the hotel, the convention and the convention's members, organizers said.
Charge reversals began appearing on individual accounts around Oct. 18. Not all persons staying in the Fairmont had such charges applied to their rooms.
Helmer Care Bags Bones
eter Care (The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys) has closed a deal to develop and direct MGM's film based on Stephen King's 1995 horror best-seller Bag of Bones, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The deal, pending approval from King, will see Care directing from an adaptation by David Velos, the trade paper reported.
The movie tells the story of Mike Noonan, a novelist who is helped by the spirit of his dead wife to exorcise the spirit of a murder victim who has killed several children and now has her eyes on an innocent 3-year-old, the trade paper reported. Bruce Willis and Arnold Rifkin's Cheyenne Enterprises is producing, and Care's wife, Lorraine, is co-producing.
Knick Has Knack For Nemo
ixar Animation Studios is considering attaching its 1989 animated short Knick Knack to the theatrical release of its upcoming animated underwater movie Finding Nemo this summer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"One of our goals is to have a short film before every Pixar animated feature," John Lasseter, Pixar executive vice president and Knick Knack director, told the trade paper. "We kind of alternate between [making] new short films and pulling ones out of the vault that people haven't seen too much."
Knick Knack stars a grumpy snowman who attempts to escape from his snow globe into a tropical paradise. Nemo tells the story of a little boy clownfish who is stolen from his coral reef home and plopped into a dentist's office fish tank, the trade paper reported.
MGM Revs Up Wheels
GM acquired the comedy spec script Wheels of Fury, a movie that lampoons 1980s talking-car spy shows, Variety reported.
The film tells the story of an '80s cop whose partner is a talking car. The cop falls into a coma and wakes up 16 years later.
David Heyman (the Harry Potter franchise) will produce through his Warner Brothers-based Heyday Films company, the trade paper reported. Anderson's script Ubersheep won him a writer-in-residence deal at Disney in 2000, and he's written Inspector Gadget 2 for the studio.
Revolution is in developing its own talking-car movie, an updated film version of the Knight Rider TV series.
Briefly Noted
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The ComingSoon.net Web site has posted images from the set of the upcoming supernatural horror film Freddy vs. Jason, which is currently in production.
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John Leguizamo told the LatinoReview Web site that he's in talks to reprise his voice role in a sequel to the computer-animated hit film Ice Age. "We're in talks right now," Leguizamo told the site. "I mean, it was a huge hit, it was [such] an unexpected hit for Fox that it revived their animation department."
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Cheech Marin, Eddie Griffin and Queen Latifah will record voice parts for the English-language version of Italian comic Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio movie, Variety reported. Benigni, who has the title role, will do his own English dub for the U.S. version, as will co-star Nicoletta Braschi, who plays the Blue Fairy.
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Jason Isaacs told SCI FI Wire that, contrary to widespread rumors, he is not portraying Campion Bond or any other role in the upcoming feature film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, based on Alan Moore's graphic novel. "I never was, and I was never asked to be," Isaacs said in an interview.
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Tim Allen hinted on the Howard Stern radio show that he might be interested in doing a sequel to his hit SF parody film Galaxy Quest, according to a report on the Dark Horizons Web site.
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New Line has updated the official Web site for its upcoming sequel film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers with new video and other features. The film opens Dec. 18.
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Director Marco Brambilla (Dinotopia) will helm Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Films' Sector Seven, a live-action feature film based on the 1999 illustrated children's fantasy book of the same name by David Wiesner, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Boosted by the Spider-Man movie's box-office success, Marvel Enterprises reported $10.8 million in net income for the third quarter, compared with a $1.1 million loss in the same period a year earlier, Variety reported. Third-quarter revenue rose 96 percent, to $84.4 million, the trade paper reported.
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online that his much-anticipated animated Buffy TV series is dead. "We just couldn't find a home for it, which will baffle me to the grave," Whedon told the site.
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Star Wars: Episode I actor Liam Neeson received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) award from Queen Elizabeth for his stage and film career at Buckingham Palace in London on Oct. 29, the Reuters news service reported.
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Sothebys.com is sponsoring an auction of props and other items from the X-Files TV series to benefit Hollywood CPR and West Los Angeles College.
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The IGN FilmForce Web site reported that the release date for the upcoming League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie has been pushed back to July 11, 2003, from June 6, because of production delays in flood-ravaged Prague.
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Fox has updated the official Web site for its upcoming X-Men sequel film, X2, which is currently in production with an eye to a May 2, 2003, release.
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Time Changer, a Christian-themed SF thriller film written and directed by twins Rich and Dave Christiano, opened on 175 screens on Oct. 25, Cinescape Online reported.
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Since its release in May, Spider-Man has surpassed $800 million in worldwide box office, making it Sony's highest-grossing movie ever, Variety reported. A record-setting 25 million copies of Spider-Man were shipped to retailers for its Nov. 1 video release.
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New poster images have gone live on the official Web site for the upcoming sequel film The Matrix Reloaded, which opens in May 2003.
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The Fangoria Web site has posted a report from the set of the upcoming live-action/animated sequel film Looney Tunes: Back in Action, which is currently in production.
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The Dark Horizons Web site reported that the upcoming SF disaster movie Day After Tomorrow has changed its title to simply Tomorrow.
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The ToonZone Web site debunked a rumor that Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett—the creative forces behind the animated Superman TV series—are involved in the upcoming live-action Superman film currently in development. The trio is not involved, the site reported.
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The prequel film Exorcist: The Beginning has begun preproduction at Rome's Cinecitta studios, Variety reported. The film, directed by Paul Schrader, will tell the story of Father Merrin's first encounter with the dark forces while a missionary in Africa.
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