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Lost Writer Offers A Hint

J avier Grillo-Marxuach, a writer and supervising producer of ABC's hit Lost, offered SCI FI Wire only a tantalizing hint about Michelle Rodriguez, who joins the regular cast in the show's upcoming second season. "We know she made mention of sitting in the back of the plane," Grillo-Marxuach said in an interview, referring to Rodriguez's brief scene in a flashback with Jack (Matthew Fox). "So does that mean if she survived, others survived? I guess it could mean that, couldn't it? It's just one of those things where you have to go, 'Uh, ha!'"

Beyond that, Grillo-Marxuach said of the second season, which gears up soon: "We have a very good idea of the [overall arc] stories of the show. We have a plan for these characters. Now it's just a matter of doing the spade and trowel work and turning them into episodic storylines."

Grillo-Marxuach declined to comment on several rumors about the show. One is that Boone (Ian Somerhalder) is not dead, though he seemed to die at the end of season one, and that the show's creators, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, are planning to bring him back in season three. Another is that Jack is the only one actually alive and that the series is based on his hallucinations. "What can I tell you [and] can't tell you about Lost?" Grillo-Marxuach said. "At this point, I cannot confirm or deny any rumors. There are so many of those out there, and thank God for that. If people are that excited about the show, well, I'm pretty happy with that."

He added: "I guess I could tell you no, yes, maybe or whatever to just about anything that has been said about Lost. But the fun of the show is to take the journey and to see how all the mysteries unravel." Lost returns in the fall.


Spielberg: Not Just The E.T. Guy

S teven Spielberg, director of the War of the Worlds adaptation, told reporters that he'd always wanted to adapt H.G. Wells' seminal SF novel about hostile aliens, though he came to be known for his friendly-alien films Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. "There wasn't anything huge that changed in my life that made me do a scary alien movie," Spielberg said in a news conference last week in New York. "Maybe even the idea that everybody over the years said, 'Well, he's the guy who only does [happy] alien movies' goaded me a bit, and I thought, 'Well, why can't I try my hand at the kind of film that Ridley Scott made when he did the first Alien, which is one of my favorite scary science fiction movies of all time? And, you know, it's just something that I had always wanted to do. We [he and star Tom Cruise] talked about this for a couple of years, looking for a project to do together. ... I told Tom that I'd wanted to do War of the Worlds ever since I read the book in college; before I actually became a filmmaker, I wanted to do some version of it at some point."

In War of the Worlds, Cruise plays the divorced father who must flee with his young daughter (Dakota Fanning) and teenage son (Justin Chatwin) when aliens lay siege to their New Jersey hometown. Spielberg said Cruise's father character stands in sharp contrast to Richard Dreyfuss' dad character in Close Encounters, who left his family to board an alien ship. "I was never really conscious of that," Spielberg said. "I know, in Close Encounters, certainly, as I wrote the script, it was about a man whose insatiable curiosity—more than just curiosity, a developing obsession, and a kind of psychic implantation—drew him away from his family and, ... only looking back once, walked onto the mothership. Now, that was before I had kids. That was 1977. So I wrote that blithely. Today, I would never have the guy leaving his family to go on the mothership. I would have the guy doing everything he could to protect his children. So in a sense, War of the Worlds does reflect my own maturity in my own life, growing up and now having seven children."

But does Spielberg still believe in life on other worlds and that UFOs have visited this planet, as he did back when he made Close Encounters and E.T.? "Yeah, it's definitely out there," he said. "You know that. I think we all know that we're not alone in the universe. I can't imagine that anyone believes that we're the only intelligent life form, only biological life form, in the entire universe. I certainly can't imagine living without that belief that ... this universe is teeming with life. But I'm a little less sure in my 50s than I was in my late 20s whether we actually have ever been visited. I used to answer this question back in the days of Close Encounters in the '70s. Wow, was I convinced that we had been visited. And you know why I'm not as convinced right now? Because of the millions of video cameras that are out there today that are picking up less photographs, videos, of UFOs, alleged UFOS, than were being picked up in the 1960s and '70s and '80s. Now why is that, when there's 150 percent more video cameras on the face of the planet today? Why are we seeing less from up there? Maybe we're in a cold spell or a UFO drought. I don't know. Maybe ... that's it." War of the Worlds opened June 29.


Chatwin Talks War And Fighting

J ustin Chatwin, the 22-year-old Canadian actor who plays Tom Cruise's son in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, told SCI FI Wire that he understands his character's desire to go into battle, but doesn't agree with it. "I don't relate to it," Chatwin said in an interview. "I wouldn't, I couldn't [do that]. I mean, I don't want to talk about my political beliefs, but I couldn't picture myself running off and going to war."

In War of the Worlds, based on H.G. Wells' novel, Chatwin plays Robbie, a teenager who must flee with his family to escape an alien attack. Robbie eventually comes into conflict with his father over the teen's desire to join the battle against the aliens, however futile it appears. In this, Chatwin sees a parallel with the political situation today.

"I think Robbie definitely stands for a lot of the angry kids of today that can't look at the whole picture and want to go off and fight in the war so badly," Chatwin said. For himself, Chatwin said he took some lessons from making the film. "I learned a lot about fathers and sons and confronting other male energies that are among your life," he said. War of the Worlds opened June 29.


War Is Easier 2nd Time

T om Cruise, who stars in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds movie, told reporters that this second collaboration with the director of his Minority Report was a better experience. "Easier? ... I have to tell you, personally, ... it just gets better," Cruise said in a news conference in New York last week. "The experience of working with Steven gets better and better."

In War, Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a New Jersey dockworker who must flee with his young daughter (Dakota Fanning) and teenage son (Justin Chatwin) when aliens attack."I had a lot of fun on Minority Report," Cruise said. "I had even more fun on this one. And the next one is going to be even more fun [laughs]."

For his part, Spielberg said that it was easier to work with Cruise on this film because the H.G. Wells-inspired SF film is quite different from Minority Report, which was based on a book by Philip K. Dick. "This was a 100 percent character," Spielberg told reporters. "Minority Report was certainly 50 percent character and 50 percent very complicated storytelling. Layers and layers of murder-mystery plotting, where if ... Tom even gave a suggestion that he knew what was going to happen next, you the audience would have picked it up like that. ... So we were always concerned about giving away too much of the plot of Minority Report. ... "

Spielberg added: "This was experiential. This was a character journey. And everything we talked about was about Tom's character, Dakota's character, you know, Justin Chatwin's character, Tim Robbins' character. It was all about who these people were, and in a sense this ... freed us up to explore behavior more than we had a chance to explore in Minority Report." War of the Worlds opened June 29.


APA At War With Cruise

T he American Psychiatric Association blasted War of the Worlds star Tom Cruise for calling psychiatry a "pseudo science" in remarks to Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show last week. "It is irresponsible for Mr. Cruise to use his movie publicity tour to promote his own ideological views and deter people with mental illness from getting the care they need," APA president Steven S. Sharfstein said in a statement.

In his Today show remarks, Cruise said: "Before I was a Scientologist, I never agreed with psychiatry. I started studying the history of psychiatry, I understood more and more why I didn't believe in psychology. ... And I know that psychiatry is a pseudo science." He also said that antidepressants only mask the problem of depression and added, "There is no such thing as a chemical imbalance." Vehement opposition to psychiatry is one of the tenets of the Church of Scientology.

But the APA attacked such views. "Over the past five years, the nation has more than doubled its investment in the study of the human brain and behavior, leading to a vastly expanded understanding of postpartum depression, bipolar disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder," the group said. "Much of this research has been conducted by the National Institutes of Health and the nation's leading academic institutions. Safe and effective treatments are available and may include talk therapy, medication or a combination of the two. Rigorous, published, peer-reviewed research clearly demonstrates that treatment works."

"We know that treatment works," APA medical director James H. Scully Jr. said in a statement. "And since safe, effective treatments are available, Americans can have what everyone wants: healthy minds and healthy lives."

The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose nearly 36,000 physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders.

NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.


War's Otto Really Pregnant

M iranda Otto, who co-stars with Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, told SCI FI Wire that the director and writer made her character pregnant to accommodate the Lord of the Rings star's real-life pregnancy.

"Yeah, I was pregnant when I got the call ... that Steven Spielberg wanted to talk to me about this, and I thought at the time, 'Wow, I'm pregnant. I'm not going to be able to do it. Wouldn't you know it? That's just like ... so ironic,'" Otto said in an interview. "But then when I spoke to him the next day—he was about the fourth person that I actually told that I was pregnant [as] I'd kept it very secret, and I hadn't even told my dad at that point— ... I had to tell him and say, 'Could you please keep it secret, because I'm not telling people yet?' But he said, 'Oh, you're pregnant? Well, I like that idea. We could just change the part.' So he went and rewrote it for me to be pregnant in the role, and I actually think it works really well."

In the adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic SF novel, Otto plays a new character, Mary Ann, the ex-wife of Cruise's New Jersey dockworker. Otto has a brief part in the beginning and the end of the movie. "I think we met in September [2004], and then I think we were shooting in November," the Australian actress said. "Some time in late September I met Steven, and then I went home to Australia, and then I came back in November to work. They enhanced me. I was about five and a half months pregnant at that stage, and I wasn't that big, and they wanted it to be more obvious. So I suppose I look more about eight months pregnant in that film. ... I think I only shot for about four or five days. I was here for about three or four weeks, because I had interior scenes." War of the Worlds is now playing.


Muren Talks War F/X

D ennis Muren, the Industrial Light & Magic visual-effects wizard who oversaw the F/X in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, told SCI FI Wire that he and his crew worked hard to come up with just the right look for the movie's signature alien war machines, the Tripods.

"We did about 100 designs on them, from stiff-legged walking machines to sort of bug-like machines to some that were just like massive blocks of metal or concrete that looked invincible," Muren said in an interview. "But they didn't satisfy all the things that we were trying to do."

Muren had the assignment to come up with the war machines that were described in H.G. Wells' original classic SF novel, without literally bringing Wells' machines to life. "We wanted to be able to at times be very sinister, ... but you just don't know what it is. It's not necessarily scary; it's just ... kind of benign, but what is it?" Muren said. "And at other times, viewed from a different angle with different lighting, it could be quite frightening and quite formidable. Very strong, invincible, too. So it took quite a while to meet all the requirements."

As for Wells' descriptions, Muren said: "We didn't want it to have that sort of Industrial-Age look of a lot of the artwork of that time. He was going on steam engines and stuff, if you look at the artwork done at that time. They were kind of clunky. I don't think that we followed him all that closely. I haven't read the book in a long time. We wanted to be updated. ... Think about it. A three-legged design is not very formidable at all. It has trouble navigating slopes or anything at all like that, which we had trouble animating it to do that."

Overall, Muren said, Spielberg had a simple brief for all of the visual effects and designs in the movie: "That they should be real. And the point of view that he took that I really encouraged him to do was from a point of view from the working-class guy, which means that it's not directly like a Hollywood movie, where you've got a close-up of [star] Tom [Cruise], and then you've got a close-up of the building blowing up, and then a close-up of Tom ducking out of the way as pieces are falling in. It's done more from one point of view, ... like looking through ... a video camera. And we studied a lot of combat footage and 9/11 footage ... to figure out what it is that makes that stuff so real. And you know, with all the reality TV shows on right now, it was just a really good way of telling a story. But it makes the effects much, much harder, but much better also." War of the Worlds is now playing.


Charlie's Burton Loves Dahl

T im Burton, director of the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, told SCI FI Wire that wanted to adapt Roald Dahl's classic children's book because he loves the author's work. "That's why I wanted to do it," Burton said in a news conference in Nassau, Bahamas. "When I first read the book as a child, he was like an adult writer for children, you know? He didn't speak down to them, and it's the kind of book where you could read it at any age and get something out of it. And he was very clever at kind of being both specific and kind of subversive and off-kilter and kind of leaving you guessing a little bit. And we did try to keep that feeling in what we were trying to do."

Like the book, Burton's movie centers on young Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), one of five children who win Golden Tickets to tour the top-secret chocolate factory of reclusive candy mogul Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). "The intent for me, ... even though we changed things, [was to try] to be what I felt was more true to the spirit of the book," Burton said. He added: "The blueprint of the book was there, but the great thing about his writing is he leaves a lot open for interpretation. So ... we had sort of complete freedom to devise what each of the rooms looked like, ... the Bucket house, the town and all of that. That was just fun. We didn't feel that we were constrained by anything, and it had a quite experimental feel as we were making it, to me. And that was quite fun. I enjoyed that." Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opens July 15.


Depp: Wonka's Not Jackson

J ohnny Depp, who plays Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, told SCI FI Wire that he was not concerned that some viewers may see a resemblance between his reclusive candy mogul and Michael Jackson. "It doesn't bother me," Depp said in a news conference in Nassau, Bahamas. "I mean, everybody's entitled to think what they want, even while being violently wrong [chuckle]. No, you know, the weird thing is, that actually never occurred to me, that there would be any kind of potential connection to Michael Jackson. It never entered my mind. And I still don't understand it."

In Burton's new adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book, Depp plays Wonka with a high, soft voice, a pale face and fluttery gestures. He admitted that some people might get the wrong idea as a result. "I mean, I guess you can on one level: the sort of the makeup and children and ... fantasy-land kind of thing," he said. "But, yeah, it seems weird to me, you know? I would say, if there was anyone you'd want to compare it to, it would be like a Howard Hughes, almost, you know? Like, a reclusive ... germophobe, controlling kind of [guy].

Depp said the inspiration for his version of Wonka, previously played by Gene Wilder, was quite different. "On this film, with Willy Wonka, it wasn't specifically any one or two guys that were models, so to speak, for the character," Depp said. "But there were memories that I have of when I was a little kid watching, like, children's shows and children's show hosts. And I distinctly remember, even at that age, thinking: Their speech pattern and the kind of musical quality of the way they're speaking to the camera and to the children, I thought then it was really strange. Even then, I thought it was super bizarre, because it was always: [assumes artificial voice] 'Hello, children. How are you?' You know? That kind of thing.

"So, ... like, guys that I watched, Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers and Uncle Al and all these guys, became the main part of the ingredient," Depp added. "And then also, like, game-show hosts that I remember seeing and watching and thinking, you know, My God, they can't be like that at home, you know? They can't actually be like that. ... Which sort of led me to believe that they put on a mask, you know, in a way. So it was that kind of ... all-important, positive smile. And so that was the other side of Wonka." Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opens July 15.


Charlie's Wonka Gets A Backstory

T im Burton, director of the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, told SCI FI Wire that he has given Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) a new backstory that involves a troubled relationship with his father—a familiar theme in Burton's movies. "Yeah, I've got some problems, you know?" Burton said in a news conference in Nassau, Bahamas, last weekend. "You've seen me enough to realize that by now, haven't you?"

In Charlie, a new movie version of Roald Dahl's classic children's book, Wonka flashes back frequently to his childhood with his stern father, a dentist played by Christopher Lee. Burton (Big Fish) said that he had his own issues with both parents when he grew up in suburban Burbank, Calif.

"You try to work out your issues, but then you realize those kinds of traumatic issues just stay with you forever," Burton said. "Somehow they just keep reoccurring. No matter how hard I try to get them out of my head, they sort of stay there."

Wonka's backstory doesn't appear in Dahl's book, but Burton said that he felt it was needed for the movie. "We sort of felt that if you have an eccentric character—and it's fine; it works in the book—we just felt in the movie, you've got a guy that's acting that strange, you kind of want to get a flavor of why he is the way he is," Burton said. "Otherwise he's just a weirdo. And you want to at least have a sense as to why he's acting so strangely and why he's got some problems. If ... your father were a dentist and Christopher Lee, you can see where that might cause you some traumatic experiences in your life." Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opens July 15.


Depp Did Double Burton Duty

J ohnny Depp, who stars in director Tim Burton's upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, told SCI FI Wire that he actually did double duty with Burton in London during filming. While shooting Charlie, based on Roald Dahl's beloved children's book, Depp was also voicing the character of Victor in Burton's stop-motion animated movie Corpse Bride.

"Yeah, it was very interesting," Depp said in a news conference in Nassau, Bahamas, over the weekend, where he is currently shooting the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel films. "We were just about to start [Charlie], and Tim came to me and said, 'You know, I've got this other thing that I'm thinking about doing. This stop-motion thing. And, you know, I'd like to give you the script and take a look and tell me what you think.' [I said,] 'Sure.' So I read the script [and] felt, 'God, it was amazing. It's amazing. It's brilliant.' But I had no idea he was going to be doing them simultaneously. I mean, he was literally leaving the set of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and going into the Corpse Bride ... recordings and animation [sessions]. ... It was an incredible energy he has."

For his part, Depp would record his voice part for Corpse during breaks from Charlie, in which he plays reclusive candy mogul Willy Wonka. "For me, it was like, you know, going from [assumes Willy Wonka voice] playing Willy Wonka, and then, suddenly, [taking on Victor's wispy English accent] you know, going in and deciding to be Victor," he said. "It was a really strange thing. Because I would literally leave the stage playing Wonka and then ... have to find this other character on the walk to the studio. Anything with Tim is always just a blast, you know? Always."

But Depp said that he loves working with Burton, with whom he has previously made Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Ed Wood. "I know that I respect him so much and love him so much as a filmmaker," Depp said. "I would do anything he wanted. ... The thing I most enjoy about our relationship, aside from our friendship, is the amount of trust, you know? And the amount of trust that goes into that process, that collaborative process. Because one minute we're talking very, very deeply about Captain Kangaroo, and the next minute we're doing impersonations of, you know, Sammy Davis Jr. and Charles Nelson Reilly and you know. So it can go anywhere, you know?"

Depp added that the two also share a kind of offbeat sensibility. "One of the things I think Tim and I share is a kind of fascination with people, with human beings, you know?" he said. "The human animal. And I think we share also the idea, you know, that most people in life—most people, especially the ones that are considered, you know, super normal—if you really take a step back and observe them, watch them a bit, you'll realize that they're actually completely out of their mind, you know? Most people are really nuts. And that's fascinating to watch, you know? And I think Tim feels the same way [chuckles]." Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opens July 15.


Richards Coming To Pirates

J ohnny Depp, who reprises the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, told SCI FI Wire that he and director Gore Verbinski are still trying to schedule scenes with Rolling Stones rock star Keith Richards, who will play Sparrow's father, but that it looks promising. "It looks like it's going to happen," Depp told reporters at a news conference in Nassau, Bahamas, where the films are shooting. "But I don't know when. It's all going to depend on where we are and where he is, because he's got a little thing called the Rolling Stones tour to do."

Depp also confirmed that the first sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, took an early hiatus because a key cast member fell ill. "We've been shooting Pirates 2 for, well, it's been a few months ... now," Depp said on June 26. "And we had a hiatus that was planned; actually, probably it was supposed to start ... tomorrow or the next day. And we went into the hiatus a bit early, because there were bits that we were going to shoot up in Grand Bahama [for which] sets and stuff weren't ready. But more than that, one of ... our actors, one of our main guys, Kevin McNally, who plays Gibbs, ended up with a really nasty ear infection in both ears, and he was in England and ... was unable to get on a plane. So they just weighed out all the options and said, 'We'll just break now. Go on hiatus. And when we start up again, we'll finish up the bit from 2.'"

Verbinski will shoot the first and second sequels back to back. Dead Man's Chest reunites the cast from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, including Depp, Orlando Bloom (Will Turner) and Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann), and adds Bill Nighy as the ghostly Davy Jones.

Depp met with reporters to promote his upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it was clear he had transitioned into full pirate mode: He sported a scraggly beard, gold-capped teeth and a tattoo with the name "Jack" and the image of a sparrow against a sunrise on his right forearm. But Depp said it was a pleasure returning to the franchise. "It's weird," he said. "We didn't quite know what to expect before we went back into ... Pirates 2. A lot of things happened. ... Orlando's, you know, [in] these big movies. And Keira, you know, all this stuff. And everybody's all over the map. And so we didn't quite know what to expect. And Gore, obviously, Gore's been working like a demon. But honestly, we stepped on the set the first day, and it was like, for me, jumping back into the skin of Captain Jack. ... It felt like we'd had a week off, you know, from the first one. And it's been a really great time, you know? Everybody's been super good and fun, and I think it's going to be good. I hope. I'll knock wood again."


Da Vinci Shoots In Louvre

R on Howard's film version of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has begun filming in Paris, taking over the famed Louvre museum, a key location in the book, producers told South Africa's News24.com Web site. Shooting was to continue all night on June 30 at the museum, where the Mona Lisa is kept, for the novel's opening scene, in which the museum's fatally wounded director leaves a cryptic message for Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks). The $100 million movie is due out in May of next year, the site reported.

French actors Audrey Tautou (Amelie) and Jean Reno (Mission: Impossible) also star in the movie.

Hanks, Howard and their team will also be taking the production to the United Kingdom for several location shoots, although officials there have refused to make Westminster Abbey available to recreate an important scene, because clerics considered the book's premise theologically unsound.


Garner Agrees To Be With You

J ennifer Garner (Elektra, Alias) will produce and star in a remake of the 2004 Japanese hit Be With You, Variety reported. Garner's newly formed Vandalia Films banner will develop the project in conjunction with Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen (American Beauty).

The original film was directed by Nobuhiro Doi from a novel by Takuji Ichikawa. It centers on a dying woman who pledges on her deathbed to return to her husband and young son. A year later, the father and son happen upon a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead woman. Variety reports that Warner Brothers is close to announcing a director for the project.


Undead Practically Homemade

P eter and Michael Spierig, the Australian twin brothers who co-directed the zombie horror comedy Undead, told SCI FI Wire that their seemingly high-tech special effects were all done with over-the-counter computer-animation software.

"You can buy domestic software to make Hollywood effects, but you have to take the time to do it," Michael Spierig, who wrote the movie with his brother, said in an interview. "It takes a long time to learn the 3-D effects. We'd go to a tutorial, read up on how it's done, and then go do it. You have to commit the time to understand what it can do."

The effects include aliens, spaceships, meteors falling from the sky and a seemingly endless wall surrounding the fishing village of Berkeley, where the story takes place. The brothers worked on 305 special effect shots, which they created on their Pentium II 600 computer. "We didn't know how to do any of it. We just figured out what we needed to do, and then did it right then and there," said Peter, who majored in filmmaking, while his brother majored in graphic design.

Their lead actress, Felicity Mason, said that she never believed the brothers could pull off the incredibly complex special effects they were describing during the 41-day shoot. "They were talking about there being people up in the sky, and I was wondering how they were going to do it," Mason said in a separate interview. "So I was blown away when I finally saw it."

She added that she was also impressed by the makeup work and costumes on the set. "It wasn't hard for actors to be afraid of the zombies," she said. "They did zombie training for, like, three days. That's how organized the brothers are. They even did zombie training. Steven Boyle, who did the makeup, designed some really scary zombies. They were very real."

The brothers, however, are most proud of the special effects they came up with out of thin air. "Some shots it would take 11 hours to render a frame, and then it would crash," Michael Spierig said. "It was an incredibly long and painful process." Lions Gate released Undead on July 1.


Mason Begins In Undead

F elicity Mason, the Australian actress who fights zombies and aliens in the upcoming movie Undead, told SCI FI Wire that she's not afraid of beginning her career in a campy, science-fiction/horror B movie.

"I am a campy B horror movie sci-fi actress," Mason said in an interview. But she added that she was thrilled to work with twin brothers Michael and Peter Spierig, who co-directed the film, because they were already getting a good reputation as up-and-coming directors in Australia.

"I had heard of these directors, and they did TV commercials, and everyone knew how talented they were," Mason said. "So I was really flattered to work on this film, whether a horror movie, sci-fi or whatever. I mean, look a lot of actresses got their start in the genre. Jamie Lee Curtis and her mother [Psycho's Janet Lee], and look at Sigourney Weaver. I'm not worried about it."

Mason said that she looked back at the Alien and Halloween films to get the feel of the strong female lead she portrayed in Undead. "I'm happy that [my character of Rene] is not the pathetic, weak, vulnerable, screaming girl," Mason said. "I liked that about the character, and I looked at Sigourney Weaver in the Alien movies, but of course I didn't try to copy her or Jamie."

Mason appeared on a TV series and has a long history of stage work, but Undead is her first major film role. "I don't care that some actors look down in it," Mason said. "Years from now I can sit down and show my grandchildren and tell them, 'Sit down and see what your grandmother did,' and they'll love it. They'll rip it out at parties and show their friends. How many grandmothers will be able to do that?" Undead opened in limited release on July 1.


Jackson Inspired Undead Helmers

T win Australian filmmakers Michael and Peter Spierig told SCI FI Wire that they were inspired to make their zombie thriller film Undead by audience reaction to some of New Zealand director Peter Jackson's early schlock horror movies. "One of [my] best movie experiences was seeing Braindead [aka Dead Alive] in Brisbane," Peter Spierig said in an interview (he and his brother, Michael, both attended Brisbane's Queensland College of Art). "The audience had never seen anything like that, and it was so good. The audience went nuts."

The low-budget comedy-horror-fantasy film that the Academy Award-winning Lord of the Rings director made in 1992 became an inspiration for the brothers, who later sought out Jackson's first film Bad Taste, an even lower-budget science-fiction-horror comedy made in 1987, with aliens and zombies. The teenage Spierigs then gathered together some friends, some sausages, lots of chocolate syrup and fake blood and made a trilogy of short horror films that they called The Undead Trilogy. "We basically took the very basic blood-and-guts zombie movie we enjoyed very much in the 1980s and made it again," Michael Spierig said.

After graduating in film and graphic arts, respectively, Peter and Michael Spierig then tried to get directing jobs. "We landed a few commercials, but we didn't think that selling fabric softener was the best use of our talents," Peter said.

"We thought about what we liked to do the most, and it was making zombie movies, so we went back to that," Michael added.

For Undead, the brothers beefed up their short horror movies and added a cast of Australian actors: Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay, Rob Jenkins and Lisa Cunningham. Mason depicts a beauty queen who wants to leave her small fishing village, but is stopped by a meteor shower that transforms the dead into zombies. Meanwhile, aliens have erected a wall around the city. "Peter Jackson made those films with such little money, and we were doing things the same way," Peter said.

"We were doing things literally in our own backyard," added Michael.

Undead opened in New York and Los Angeles on July 1 from Lions Gate Films.


Dark's Connelly Finds Inner Mom

J ennifer Connelly, who stars in the upcoming horror-thriller film Dark Water, told SCI FI Wire that being a real-life mother factored into her portrayal of a put-upon parent perhaps more than she expected. The Oscar-winning actress plays Dahlia Williams, an emotionally stressed woman who moves with her young daughter (Ariel Gade) into a dilapidated, creepy and leaky apartment on New York's Roosevelt Island, only to be terrorized by an angry spirit.

"On the one hand, I think they're fictional characters, so of course it's not a prerequisite to be a mother to play a mother, because you would do research and observe and do an impression [for any role]," Connelly (Hulk) said in an interview. "But certainly the fact that ... I mean, I wasn't going to try to pretend I'm not a mother."

Dark Water is a remake of a Japanese horror film. Connelly, who is a mother of two young boys in real life, added: "The fact that I've been raising my own children for seven years certainly informs the way I did this. And, of course, once you become a mother, things like that scene at the end [of Dark Water], when she's fighting to save her daughter's life, I'm not sure I would have [otherwise] fathomed that sort of ferocity that I think one would experience if your child were to be threatened." Dark Water, which co-stars Tim Roth, Dougray Scott and John C. Reilly, roars into theaters on July 8.


Throwing Baby In With Water

R afael Yglesias, writer of the upcoming horror film Dark Water, told SCI FI Wire that adapting Koji Suzuki's Japanese story into an American tale of terror wasn't nearly as difficult as he initially imagined. In part, that's because the story had already served as the source material for a popular Japanese movie, Yglesias said in an interview.

In Dark Water, Jennifer Connelly (Hulk) stars as an emotionally stressed woman who moves with her young daughter (Ariel Gade) into a dilapidated, creepy and leaky apartment on Roosevelt Island in New York, only to be terrorized by an angry spirit. "I guess it was different, because it was a remake of a film, which I'd never done before," Yglesias (From Hell) said. "In some ways that made it easier, because it was already in the same time frame as the movie needed to be. But, actually, for me, it was really very similar to the kinds of themes I've always worked on."

Yglesias added: "One way or another, the movies and even the books I've written were usually about someone's past staying alive in the present. And, of course, inherently in a ghost story, that's exactly what they are. The past is literally still alive. So I didn't really approach it very differently. Also, I felt like the original film was sort of an homage to Rosemary's Baby, so what I kind of did was think of it as though I was doing Rosemary's Baby again, in a different way. So I chose Roosevelt Island, because that was about as different as I could think of from a chic New York neighborhood. And I chose a modern building instead of a 19th century building. And I tried to people it with the same kind of slightly funny, slightly perverse characters that Rosemary's Baby had. So, in a way, it was easier, because right away it started out as movie material, instead of a book or something like that." Dark Water opens on July 8.


Fathom Is Now Surface

N BC's upcoming science fiction show Fathom has been renamed Surface, the network told SCI FI Wire. Surface, starring Lake Bell, will air Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT starting in the fall.

Surface, an hour-long drama, asks: What would life be like if a new form of sea life began to appear in various locations around the globe? The pilot jumps from naval officers in the South Antarctic Sea to a family in San Diego to scientists from the Oceanographic Institute in Monterey to fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico.

Surface stars Bell (Boston Legal) as Daughtery Carstarphen, Jay R. Ferguson as Richard Owen, Rade Serbedzija as Dr. Aleksander Cirko and Carter Jenkins as Miles. From NBC Universal Television Studio, it was created by Josh and Jonas Pate (Dragnet), who also serve as executive producers. NBC and NBC Universal Television Studio are owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.


Surface Seeks N.C. Extras

N BC Universal Television Studio's new NBC fall drama series Surface (formerly Fathom) has issued a casting call to North Carolina residents of all ages and ethnicities to be paid background extras in the upcoming SF series. Open casting calls will take place July 2, 9 and 16 in Jacksonville, Wilmington and Myrtle Beach in North Carolina, where the series will shoot. Those interested in becoming extras are invited to show up and meet with an extras casting director, the studio said.

If an aspiring extra is unable to attend a casting event, applicants can e-mail or mail a photo and contact information, including name, age, phone number and e-mail address, to the extras casting department.

Casting takes place on July 2 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jacksonville Mall in Jacksonville, on July 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Westfield Independence Mall in Wilmington and on July 16 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach. For information, write Extras Casting, Surface Productions, 1223 N. 23rd St., Wilmington, NC 28405, call (910) 772-5667 or e-mail at wilmcasting@yahoo.com.

NBC Universal Television Studio and NBC are owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.


Gordon Takes Second Look

P roducer Mark Gordon (The Day After Tomorrow) is putting together a remake of the 1973 thriller Don't Look Now for Paramount Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film, which originally starred Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, centers on a couple who travel to Venice, Italy, to recuperate after the sudden death of their daughter, only to encounter strange visions that suggest their daughter's presence.

The original film, directed by Nicolas Roeg and based on a story by Daphne du Maurier, "was very much of its time, with a lot of atmospherics that wouldn't necessarily work today," Gordon said. "But it has a great idea and a wonderful backdrop and setting. We hope to take the feeling of the story, continue to set it in Venice and make it contemporary."

Andrea Berloff will write the screenplay for the new adaptation.


Goyer To Helm Invisible

D avid Goyer, who wrote all three films in the Blade trilogy and directed the final installment, has signed on to direct the supernatural thriller The Invisible, Variety reported. It will be the third film Goyer has directed, the second which he did not write himself.

The story follows a teenager who, after being attacked and left for dead, finds himself in limbo, invisible to the living and racing against time to find his body before he truly perishes. The only living person who might be able to save him is his attacker, a troubled girl who is on the run from the law, the trade paper reported.

The original English-language script by Mick Davis was translated into Swedish in 2002 and directed by Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist. The upcoming English-language adaptation was written by Christine Roum. Spyglass Entertainment (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is financing the project, to be released by Disney.


Horror Guild Nominees Named

D The International Horror Guild announced its nominees for its 11th annual awards, honoring achievements in the field of horror and dark fantasy. The nominees are based on public recommendations and determined by a jury. SCIFI.COM's SCI Fiction page received three nominations.

The guild also named cartoonist Gahan Wilson as recipient of its annual Living Legend Award. The 2005 awards will be presented during the World Fantasy Convention, Nov. 3-6, in Madison, Wis. A full list of nominees follows.

Novel: The Overnight by Ramsey Campbell, Mortal Love by Elizabeth Hand, The Kings of Infinite Space by James Hynes, A Handbook of American Prayer by Lucius Shepard, In the Night Room by Peter Straub

First Novel: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, The Ghost Writer by John Harwood, Move Under Ground by Nick Mamatas, The Quick by Dan Vining, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon (translated by Lucia Graves)

Long Fiction: "The Reflecting Eye: A Charlie Parker Novella" by John Connolly, "Tainaron" by Leena Krohn, "Viator" by Lucius Shepard, "My Death" by Lisa Tuttle

Mid-Length Fiction: "Flat Diane" by Daniel Abraham, "Bulldozer" by Laird Barron, "Restraint" by Stephen Gallagher, "Northwest Passage" by Barbara Roden, "The Growlimb" by Michael Shea

Short Fiction: "The End of the World as We Know It" by Dale Bailey, "Singing My Sister Down" by Margot Lanagan, "In the Palace of Repose" by Holly Phillips, "Family Bed" by Kit Reed," "A Pace of Change" by Don Tumasonis

Collection: Nocturnes by John Connolly, The Wavering Knife by Brian Evenson, Out of His Mind by Stephen Gallagher, Dancing on Air by Francis Oliver, Use Once Then Destroy by Conrad Williams

Anthology: Acquainted with the Night, Barbara and Christopher Roden, eds.; Night Visions 11, William Sheehan, ed.; Quietly Now: A Tribute to Charles L. Grant, Kealan-Patrick Burke, ed.; A Walk on the Darkside: Visions of Horror, John Pelan, ed.

Non-Fiction: The Paint in My Blood by Alan Clark, Hanging Out With the Dream King: Interviews With Neil Gaiman and His Collaborators by Joel McCabe, A Serious Life by D.M. Mitchell, Cave of a Thousand Tales by Milt Thomas

Art: Darrel Anderson, Rick Berry, Alan Clark, Lisa Desimini, Michael Whelan

Film: Hellboy, The Machinist, The Passion of the Christ, Shaun of the Dead

Television: Carnivale, Charmed, Kingdom Hospital, Lost

Illustrated Narrative: Aleister Arcane, numbers 1-3, by Steve Niles and Breehn Burns; The Bug Boy by Hideshi Hino; The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft, Scott Allie, ed.; The Goon, number 6, "Ilagarto Hombre!" by Eric Powell; Graphic Classics: Robert Louis Stevenson, Tom Pomplun, ed.

Periodical: Cemetery Dance, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, SCI Fiction, The Third Alternative, Wormwood


TV's Loss Is Middleman's Gain

L ost writer/producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach told SCI FI Wire that he was just trying to land a television deal when he ended up creating a comic-book hero, The Middleman, which begins its four-issue miniseries run in July through Viper Comics.

"The Middleman was originally a spec script for a TV pilot," Grillo-Marxuach said in an interview. "But my agent told me that he was trying to move me on to other material and that it wasn't the right time to have a science fiction project out there. So I put it aside for a while, but kept revisiting it from time to time. Finally I realized that the absurd and wacky nature of it would probably have a better chance of seeing the light of day as a comic book."

The Middleman, illustrated by Les McClaine and Russ Manning, tells the story of a complacent planet whose residents are constantly under attack by monsters, aliens and talking primates. The reason they remain blissfully unaware of this invasion is that the superhero The Middleman has been secretly fighting their battles with a big gun and a have-a-nice-day grin.

"All the evil things that people normally perceive to exist only in comic books actually exist," Grillo-Marxuach said of the series premise. "There's a real out-there wackiness to it all. It's a vehicle that is allowing me to pick what I believe would make an interesting and funny book." Grillo-Marxuach added that the first four-issue arc breaks down quite naturally along the act breaks in his original Middleman television script. And while his day job on Lost is his top priority, he would be quite happy to moonlight on The Middleman. "Hopefully the first four-issue arc will do well," he said. "Then I'll be able to do a second and third one. I've got stories until the cows come home. I could write this for a very long time. As long as people want to read this, then I'm happy to be writing it."


Chicken Debuting In 3-D Digital

I n the first studio-backed rollout of digital cinema, Disney is working with Dolby on a 3-D digital projection system set to hit 100 screens in 25 major markets, dubbed Disney Digital 3-D, which will make its public debut with the Nov. 4 premiere of the computer-animated Chicken Little, Variety reported. Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic is handling digital rendering for the film, using new software developed at Disney's request for 3-D projection.

Neither Disney nor Dolby would discuss exact financial terms with the trade paper, which reported that both companies are helping to pay for the rollout.

Dolby gets the added benefit of 100 new d-cinema systems on the market. The rollout will more than double the number of digital screens in the U.S., currently around 80.

Once Chicken Little's run is over, Dolby will be able to work with other studios to distribute their movies on its digital screens, the trade paper reported.


Giamatti Heads Screw-On

P aul Giamatti (Sideways), David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) and Molly Shannon lend their voices to SCI FI Channel's upcoming animated series Amazing Screw-On Head, based on Mike Mignola's comic book, which is currently in production. The half-hour comedy is slated to debut in 2006.

Set in the Civil War era, Screw-On Head tells the untold history of the exploits of a robot secret agent (Giamatti), who works for Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s and battles the supernatural villains threatening our civilization.

In the pilot, Screw-On Head faces off against his arch-nemesis (and former manservant), Emperor Zombie (Hyde Pierce). Shannon plays Screw-On's ex-love interest, Patience, who has been turned into a vampire by Zombie. Rounding out the cast are Patton Oswalt as Mr. Groin, Screw-On's faithful manservant, and Mindy Sterling in the dual roles of zombie henchwomen Aggie and Geraldine.

Produced by Kickstart Productions, the pilot was written by Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls). Fuller and Jason Netter serve as executive producers, with Mike Mignola as art director. Chris Prynoski directs.


Fantastic 4 Game In Release

A ctivision has released Fantastic 4, a video game based on the Marvel Comics series and Fox's upcoming movie version of the title. The team-based action-adventure game lets players take on the role of superheroes Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/The Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing to overcome the evil Dr. Doom.

The game is co-written by Zak Penn, who co-wrote the story for X2 and is co-writing the screenplay for the upcoming third X-Men movie. Fantastic 4 lets players defeat enemies and overcome obstacles in team-based combat and two-player co-op mode. Gamers control all four team members and can dynamically switch between characters to wreak havoc in a variety of destructible environments inspired by popular comic-book locales.


Tor, SCI FI Team Up For Books

T or Books, the largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy in the world, has teamed up with SCI FI Channel to bring readers SCI FI Essentials, books that will be cross-promoted on SCIFI.COM, SCI FI Magazine and the SCI FI Channel.

Each month, one Tor title will receive the SCI FI Essential stamp of approval, which will mark it as a title to be promoted with such special features as sample chapters and sneak peeks of upcoming books on SCIFI.COM, possible promotion on SCI FI's hand-held AvantGo channel, a highlight in SCI FI Magazine's books section and on-air coverage of select titles.

The SCI FI Essential books program will launch in July with the publication of Cory Doctorow's Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town ($24.95), a novel of wrenching oddity, heartfelt technological vision and human pity set on the streets of Toronto today.

In August, the SCI FI Essential book is Karl Schroeder's Lady of Mazes ($24.95) in August, set in the distant future and centering on Teven Coronal, a huge multiplicity of human civilizations inhabiting a ringworld. September's selection is The Road to Dune ($25.95) by Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, the eagerly awaited next installment set in the Dune universe. It features Spice Planet, a short novel based on a detailed outline and extensive notes and excerpts left by Frank Herbert, as well as unpublished chapters and scenes from Dune and Dune Messiah; excerpts from Frank Herbert's correspondence during his years-long struggle to get his innovative work published; and Frank Herbert's piece "They Stopped the Moving Sands," the original inspiration for Dune.


Cuoco Joins Charmed

K aley Cuoco (8 Simple Rules) is joining the cast of The WB's witch series Charmed in its upcoming eighth season, Variety reported. Cuoco will play a young witch under the tutelage of the Charmed ones (Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs and Rose McGowan).

In addition to Cuoco, the upcoming eighth season of Charmed will feature Mark McGrath, who signed on to do a multiepisode arc, the trade paper reported.

Cuoco's credits also include the NBC miniseries 10.5 and ABC Family's original movie Crime of Fashion.


Writer Wins, Loses Rabbit Suit

A Los Angeles jury has ruled that the Walt Disney Co. owes writer Gary Wolf at least $180,000 in underreported royalties stemming from the Robert Zemeckis hit Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but the verdict is still read as a triumph for the company and for studio interests in the industry, Zap2It reported.

The damages for Wolf may ultimately get as high as $400,000, but that's small compared to Wolf's claim for as much as $8 million, the site reported. Moreover, the decision could have forever altered profit participation deals in Hollywood, but didn't.

The 15-week jury trial took place at the Los Angeles Superior Court. The decision appeared to allow studios to continue to exclude the value of promotional tie-in deals from overall gross receipt deals, the site reported.

Wolf created the Roger Rabbit character in a 1981 novel. He was allowed by an appeals court ruling to take Disney to trial over allegations that reference to "all other considerations" in his gross receipts contract should also have included promotional deals with McDonalds and other outlets, estimated to be worth more than $100 million.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the judge in the case rejected Wolf's claim of an implied breach of contract, while finding that Wolf was only entitled one payment of a 5 percent royalty when rights were sold to a manufacturer, rather than a second cut when any Rabbit-based products were then sold in stores and theme parks.


New EverQuest II Pack Here

S ony Online Entertainment has released The Splitpaw Saga, the second adventure pack for EverQuest II, its massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Available via digital download for $7.99, The Splitpaw Saga gives players hours of new content to explore, the company said.

In The Splitpaw Saga, players will explore the collapsed caverns and twisted tunnels of Sundered Splitpaw. Throughout this adventure, the truth behind the dungeon's mysterious demise is uncovered by using moveable planks, crates and barrels to work through a series of 12 event-based zones. A ferocious clan of cannibalistic gnolls will stand in the way as players seek to destroy the greatest threat yet in Norrath's history of late.


Sanchez Gets Altered

E d Sanchez, co-director of The Blair Witch Project, told USA Today that his new movie, Altered, deals with aliens instead of ghosts. In Altered, five backwoods hunting buddies are abducted and abused by aliens. Four survive and are forever changed by the event. Then, 15 years later, they get a chance to turn the tables by kidnapping an alien themselves, the newspaper reported. "All hell breaks loose," Sanchez told the paper.

Altered, which is shooting near Orlando and due next year, deals in part with current anxieties, director Sanchez said. "After 9/11, there is definitely a more pessimistic view on everything," he said. "A good sci-fi or horror movie should be able to say some things about the world. In Altered, these teen guys are molested by aliens when they are young and get a chance to take revenge on a molester. It deals with serious issues in a light way."


Dungeon Cast Announced

J ason Statham (The Italian Job) leads the cast of Uwe Boll's upcoming Dungeon Siege, a sword-and-sorcery movie based on Gas Powered Games' video game of the same name, producer Shawn Williamson of Brightlight Pictures announced. Dungeon Siege follows Farmer (Statham) on a mission to save his wife and child as an evil army rampages across the land, destroying everything in its path and focusing on conquering the Castle Ehb.

The cast also includes Leelee Sobieski, Ron Perlman, John Rhys-Davies, Matthew Lillard, Kristanna Loken and Burt Reynolds.

Boll directs from a screenplay by Doug Taylor, David S. Freeman and Glenn Benest.


Paul Producing Highlander 5

H ighlander TV star Adrian Paul said on his official Web site that he will executive-produce and star in a fifth movie in the SF franchise, which is currently in script stage, with an eye to a production start in Eastern Europe later this year. "David Abramowitz [a writer on the Highlander TV series] is putting the final touches on the script, and, once approved, it will go into preproduction later this year," Paul wrote.

Paul played Duncan MacLeod in the popular television series, which ran from 1992-'98, based on the series of SF movies. He also appeared in the last Highlander movie, 2000's Endgame, opposite Christopher Lambert, who played Connor MacLeod. "I always said I would never do another one unless I had more control over the final product," Paul said. "Well, this time I am executive-producing it. Brett Leonard [Lawnmower Man] is set to direct. Be ready to see a new Highlander film that has the quality of [the] television ... series, with a new sound and look for 2006. Everyone is excited to be able to produce something that we have more control over and to revamp such a successful franchise. Once the rights fell back to Davis-Panzer Productions, Peter Davis approached me to star and executive-produce. Watch here for more details as they are announced."


Briefly Noted

  • Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin will appear alongside Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale and Christopher Walken in Click, in which Sandler plays a workaholic architect who discovers a remote control that allows him to control his life, Variety reported.


  • The DPFilms blog posted rumors that Lost star Maggie Grace is out as Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat in the upcoming third X-Men movie and that filmmakers are relying on Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men Marvel comics for their script.


  • Bride of Chucky star Jennifer Tilly won the ladies' no-limit Texas Hold 'Em event at the World Series of Poker, earning $158,625 and beating 600 players to capture first place in the grueling two-day event, which featured some of the top female pros in the world, Yahoo! News reported.


  • Blizzard Entertainment announced the first Blizzard Convention, to take place on Oct. 28 and 29 in California's Orange County as a celebration of the company's Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo video-game franchises.


  • The 2005 Chesley Awards, honoring SF&F; artworks, will be presented at Interaction on Aug. 5 by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, the first time that the ceremony has been held outside of North America.


  • Birth, an original half-hour science fiction radio drama written by Hugo Award-winner Robert J. Sawyer and Michael Lennick and produced by Joe Mahoney, premieres July 8 at 10 p.m. in all time zones across Canada on CBC Radio One and on the Internet.


  • Zak Penn, who with Simon Kinberg wrote the upcoming third X-Men movie, has signed a two-year, first-look deal with Fox to write, produce and direct movies, Variety reported.


  • The first teaser trailer for Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong remake has been posted online at the official Volkswagen Web site for a limited time, and the film's official Web site has also gone live.


  • Peta Wilson (TV's La Femme Nikita) announced on her official Web site that she has been added to the cast of Bryan Singer's Superman Returns in an unspecified role.


  • Most of Star Wars creator George Lucas' empire on June 25 moved into the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio in San Francisco, the Associated Press reported.

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