Nebula Winners Announced
he 2004 Nebula Awards for best science fiction or fantasy were presented on April 30 in Chicago, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America announced. The Nebula Awards are voted on and presented by active members of the SFWA, which now has 1,500 members, including most of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy. A list of winners follows.
•Best Novel of 2004: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
•Best Novella of 2004: "The Green Leopard Plague" by Walter Jon Williams
•Best Novelette of 2004: "Basement Magic" by Ellen Klages
•Best Short Story of 2004: "Coming to Terms" by Eileen Gunn
•Best Script of 2004: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award was presented to Anne McCaffrey for lifetime achievement in the field. She is only the 22nd writer so honored since 1974.
A special "Service to SFWA" award was given to Kevin O'Donnell Jr. in recognition of his 16 years of volunteer service to the organization.
Berman: Trek Needs A Rest
ick Berman, executive-producer of Star Trek: Enterprise, told SCI FI Wire that he believes the decline in ratings that led to the series' cancellation was the result of an oversaturation of the franchise. "There are a lot of people who criticized us for saying what I'm about to say, but I do believe that there was some degree of fatigue with the franchise," Berman said in a conference call interview. "I think that we found ourselves in competition with ourselves. Enterprise in many markets was running against repeats—whether it be cable or syndication—of the original series, Next Generation, Voyager [or] Deep Space Nine. And I think that after 18 years and 624 hours of Star Trek the audience began to have a little bit of overkill with Star Trek, and I think that had a lot to do with it. And I think if you take a look at the last feature film we did, Nemesis, which I still believe was a fine movie, it did two-thirds the business that the previous films had done. So I think it's, again, another example of the franchise getting a little bit tired."
Berman said that he and the other custodians of the franchise plan to give it a rest for a few years, but are keeping a possible future Trek movie on the back burner. He also rebutted recent statements made by Enterprise star Scott Bakula that plans for a film based on the show were scuttled after its cancellation. "I think that perhaps when Scott first took the job as the lead on Enterprise four and a half years ago there was probably a sense that the show was going to run seven years, as the others had, and that it very well might become the next movie franchise, and it right now seems to not be the case. But I don't think there was ever any formal discussions dealing with an Enterprise feature." Bakula had told SCI FI Wire that any plans for an Enterprise movie were scuttled after the show was canceled.
Berman said that he and co-executive producer Brannon Braga are looking forward to moving on, but will miss the creative team with whom they've formed a bond over the years. "For us, it's a very bittersweet time," he said. "We have dozens of people who we have worked with for 10, 15, some 18 years. And it's become like a family. It's a very rare thing in our business, and we've spent a lot of time working together and learning together, and that family, for the first time, is going to be splitting up. So there's a lot of sadness connected with it. On the other hand, and I think I can speak for Brannon, both of us are looking forward to getting on with writing and producing new things that will take our careers in hopefully positive directions. As far as the next iteration of Star Trek goes, as to whether we'll have anything to do with it, I think it's way too early to tell." Star Trek: Enterprise ends its four-season run May 13 on UPN at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Producers Defend Enterprise End
tar Trek: Enterprise producers Brannon Braga and Rick Berman told SCI FI Wire that they understood the recent disparaging comments made by cast members about the final episode, but stood by their execution of the series finale. "You have to remember, under normal circumstances, most people probably would have thought this was a very cool episode, because it has a great concept driving it," Braga said in a conference call with reporters. "But when it's the final episode of a series, emotions are running very high."
The most vocal objection came from cast member Jolene Blalock, who plays T'Pol on the show. "I don't know where to begin with that one," she recently said of the finale. "The final episode is ... appalling."
The episode, titled "These Are the Voyages," features Star Trek: The Next Generation stars Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis, who reprise their roles as Commander Riker and Deanna Troi. The pair will view the episode's historic events through a holodeck recreation. Berman said he thought that the opinions expressed by Blalock had to do with the episode's references to the previous Trek series. "The feeling was that if this was going to be the finale of Enterprise, then why bring characters in from another series?" he said. "But I think when people see the episode and realize that to be able to truly pay the respect to our characters that we have, we've couched it in a unique fashion of being able to look back on them, and I think it's going to be a very positive response towards the Enterprise crew."
Braga said that he was aware that the Enterprise cast had some minor issues with the storyline, but there were no serious objections during the production. "There were a couple of people who were slightly uncomfortable with the fact that we have Next Generation characters in the show, and it is a different kind of episode," he said. "But there were no serious complaints. And none of the actors have seen the episode, so they can't be dissatisfied with how it turned out." Star Trek: Enterprise ends its four-season run May 13 on UPN at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Braga Previews Threshold
rannon Braga confirmed to SCI FI Wire that his first post-Star Trek: Enterprise project will be Threshold, a genre pilot for CBS that centers on a possible alien invasion. Braga co-wrote the script and is co-executive producing with David Goyer (Blade: Trinity), who is also directing. "It's all from the point of view of a woman who works at a think tank as a contingency analyst," Braga said in an interview while promoting the May 13 series finale of Enterprise. "Basically, it theorizes about what-ifs, and alien invasion is something that think tanks really do contemplate as thought experiments, but no one ever really thinks they might happen."
Braga added, "So it is told from her perspective and that of the team that she puts together to handle situation. And that team includes Charles S. Dutton [Gothika] and Brent Spiner [Star Trek: The Next Generation] and Peter Dinklage [Elf]. It also includes a guy named Rob Benedict [Birds of Prey] and a guy named Brian Van Holt [House of Wax]. It's a really excellent cast. And the woman is played by Carla Gugino [Spy Kids, Sin City]. That's the basic premise, but I don't want to reveal too much because I don't want to jinx it. It was a good concept, and I really liked David Goyer and David Heyman [Harry Potter], our other executive producer, and the other people involved. It's a one-hour pilot. It's been a great experience and I think it's turning out great. We'll find out in May if we've made the cut."
Lucas Speaks At Star Wars Con
eorge Lucas made an appearance at Celebration III—the largest official Star Wars convention to date—in Indianapolis on Saturday, April 23, to talk about Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, the upcoming final installment in the film franchise, and other projects in development, the Associated Press reported. It was his first appearance at a convention since 1987.
Around 9,000 of the convention's 30,000 attendees lined up outside in rainy, 40-degree weather beginning Friday night at midnight for the announced session with the famously reclusive Star Wars creator. Jay Laga'aia, who plays Capt. Typho in the final two films (though Lucas misidentified him as a clone trooper), hosted the talk, which also featured producer Rick McCallum.
During the session, Lucas confirmed that there are two Star Wars television series in the works—a half-hour 3-D computer-animated series and a live-action series. The live-action series, which will feature minor characters from the films, will go into production in about a year. Lucas plans to write and film the first season all at once, he said. He also confirmed that Lucasfilm is working on an update of the Disney theme-park attraction Star Tours for the near future.
Beyond Star Wars, Lucas told the audience that he has received the script for the fourth Indiana Jones film and that co-producer Steven Spielberg is planning to direct it after he completes his next project.
Wonder Woman Reinvented
oel Silver, producer of the upcoming comic-book adaptation Wonder Woman, told SCI FI Wire that he gave writer/director Joss Whedon carte blanche to reinvent the classic superhero. "I made Joss' deal," Silver said in an interview. "Joss Whedon is writing the script. He's finishing Serenity, and when that movie is done he's going to turn his attention toward the script. He's got fantastic ideas."
Silver said that the film will surpass previous efforts to create female superheroes, which have historically met with poor critical and commercial reception. "They were terrible movies," Silver said. "I think this is a big constructionist picture. It's [the] property of Warner Brothers, and the character is the real deal if we do it right. Joss has a fantastic take on the story, and if it works the way I think it's going to work, it's going to be fantastic."
Whedon is best known for creating another female superhero, TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Silver said that his own success creating a female hero in the person of The Matrix's Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) inspired him to believe a Wonder Woman film could succeed. "When we made the first Matrix, I came out of the first test screening, and the numbers for Trinity were so much higher than anything else in the movie," Silver said. "People loved that character. I came out of there and said to the studio, 'This is interesting.' I said to the boys [Matrix directors the Wachowski brothers], 'Why don't we make a Trinity movie?' They said, 'No.' They had something else in mind. So I figured we should take Wonder Woman and try something, and [Warner Brothers] said fine. I never really felt I got it 'til now."
Ferrell In Land of the Lost
ill Ferrell (Bewitched) will star in a feature-film remake of the 1970s TV show Land of the Lost for Universal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Universal acquired the feature rights from Sid and Marty Krofft, executive producers of the original NBC series, who will produce the feature for the studio, the trade paper reported.
Adam McKay, a former Saturday Night Live writer who directed Ferrell in Anchorman, is attached to direct, with Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas signing on to adapt the screenplay, the trade paper reported.
Land of the Lost centered on forest ranger Rick Marshall and his children, Will and Holly, who are caught in a time vortex while rafting on the Colorado River and transported to a mysterious world populated by dinosaurs. The feature film will be an update of the series, which is due out on DVD this month.
Universal and NBC are owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Rockwell Mixed Icons For Guide
am Rockwell, who plays the president of the galaxy—also known as the cocky, motor-mouthed and two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox— in the upcoming big-screen version of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, told SCI FI Wire that in order to play the part he channeled the attitudes and/or vocal patterns of a couple of dead rockers, a pair of presidents and even a fellow actor. "There's a little Freddie Mercury and definitely some Elvis Presley," Rockwell said in an interview. "I tried to go real heavy on the Bill Clinton for a while, and then it just became too much of an imitation. So we kind of went somewhere between Elvis and Bill Clinton with the voice."
Rockwell added, "And there's a little bit of Vince Vaughn in there. Then, with George W. Bush, sometimes there was a little bit of that bravado and that arrogance. When they're getting hit with the paddles, that was very George Bush. The thing about reading. 'I don't have a lot of time for reading. President of the galaxy, baby. I don't have a lot of time for reading.' But I got a lot of that from Vince Vaughn, actually. Vince Vaughn is very quick with his tongue. You've seen him in his films and he's a very charming guy. So some of Vince's charm and Bill Clinton's charm and Elvis Presley's in there, because Zaphod had to be charming. So I was grabbing from everything I could get to make this guy. He's got to be this sort of icon, this larger-than-life guy. He's the guy at the party, that guy, the life of the party." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens on April 29.
Batman Begins Earlier
atman Begins will open a couple of days earlier than originally planned: Wednesday, June 15, instead of Friday, June 17, Variety reported. Warner Brothers moved the date up to take advantage of the expected summer audience of out-of-school young people and to coincide with the June 15 international release date, the trade paper reported.
The much-anticipated fifth Batman film is also opening on June 15 in France, Belgium, Mexico, the Philippines and Taiwan, the trade paper reported.
Wachowskis Shoot Some V
he Wachowski brothers, who are producing and co-wrote the upcoming film adaptation of Alan Moore's SF graphic novel V for Vendetta, will also direct some second-unit photography for the movie, producer Joel Silver told SCI FI Wire. It's the first film to be directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski since they finished their Matrix trilogy of films. Interestingly, the Wachowskis' own Matrix first assistant director, James McTeigue, makes his feature directorial debut on V for Vendetta.
"[The Wachowskis] are shooting a unit as we speak in Berlin," Silver said in an interview. "It's a very different movie. It has elements of The Matrix, but it's very different."
V for Vendetta stars James Purefoy (A Knight's Tale) as a mysterious freedom fighter in a dystopic future Great Britain, who takes up with a young woman (Natalie Portman), whom he rescues from the secret police.
Silver said that the Wachowskis placed a high premium on making sure the special effects did not overwhelm the emotional content of the story. "I think you're always going to have to deal with the story, the emotional content of the story," Silver said. "I mean, it's what the stories are going to convey and what the characters are doing. I mean, yes, we can do anything with visual effects, but it's not enough just to do anything with visual effects. You've got to find a way to kind of attract the audience and get the audience to want to see the movie, and they have to be fresh and unique and original. And I think if you do that then you can make it good."
Silver added that neither he nor the Wachowskis intended for the film to respond to critics of the last two Matrix, films, which were critically assaulted. "From all sources, [the Matrix films] made $3 billion, so it's hard to say they weren't successful or they were disappointing," Silver said. "But the audience feels the way they feel. So the boys never saw it as a continuing saga; that was the end of the story. But it's them. They're very talented guys, and they do what they want to do." V for Vendetta is filming now with an eye on a November release.
Mitchell In Silent Talks
adha Mitchell (Finding Neverland) is in negotiations to star in the film adaptation of the horror video game Silent Hill, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Principal photography is due to begin this week in Toronto and will run through July 22. The Australian-born actress will play Rose, a woman searching for her lost daughter in the haunted town of Silent Hill.
The film, directed by French filmmaker Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf), is budgeted at $45 million-$50 million, with additional casting not yet final, the trade paper reported. The screenplay was written by Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction). Samuel Hadida, who produced the two Resident Evil films and has another in the works, will produce. Hadida is also currently preparing another video-game adaptation, Onimushia, based on Capcom's fantasy samurai game. Silent Hill is scheduled for release in 2006.
Silent Cast Fills Out
ean Bean (Lord of the Rings) has signed on to star in Silent Hill, the feature adaptation of the best-selling horror video game, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bean will play the husband of Radha Mitchell's character, in the story of a mother and a daughter looking into the secrets of an abandoned town.
Also joining the cast are Laurie Holden (The X-Files), Deborah Kara Unger (White Noise), Kim Coates (Hostage) and Tanya Allen (Starhunter). Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) is directing, from a script by Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction). TriStar Pictures will distribute the film, which just began filming in Toronto.
Writers' Memories Haunt Wax
had and Carey Hayes, writers of the upcoming House of Wax movie, told SCI FI Wire they plumbed personal experience to come up with many of the film's scary moments. "How many times are you in a situation where you just kind of get the goosebumps and 'I shouldn't be here'?" Chad Hayes said in an interview. "Or you meet someone that just doesn't vibe, and you're still putting that together amongst friends and family [in terms of] what's the risk. We always start with the story, and then it's just building blocks outside of that. And then [asking]: 'What are our scares? What are your situations? How do you separate them, you know? What's the essence of each character?'"
House of Wax stars Elisha Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray as part of a group of college kids who wander off of a highway and find themselves stranded in a seemingly abandoned town after camping out in rural Louisiana. Carey Hayes said that the film's setup, in which the characters stumble unwittingly across a roadkill pit, was inspired by personal experience. "We were on a road trip up to Canada with our younger brother, and it was very late one night and [we] just decided to pull over in the middle of nowhere," Carey said. "We're in the mountains, and we found this dirt road and drove up and parked and got out and threw our bags down, and suddenly the wind shifted, and there was this horrible smell, but then it went away. So we crashed, and in the middle of the night, you know, when you're tired and can't imagine where else you're going to go."
Chad Hayes added: "I had never smelled anything like that in my life. You know, like you can walk someplace and go, 'Oh, something died around here.' But this was, like, heavy." Carey added: "in the middle of the night, we woke up to a truck pulling up that dirt road and parking about 20 [yards] away from us and its headlights on us, and it was like, 'OK. Now what?' You know, we had no weapons, nothing, and just got up to stand up and approach it, and it backed away."
Carey said that the experience ended without incident, but it left a lasting impression on their memories. "So we sat up for a couple of hours and were like, do we leave?" Carey said. "We went back to sleep, and when we woke up we found out we were about 30 feet from a roadkill pit. We think the truck was a roadkill truck. But I will never forget that visual." House of Wax opens May 6.
Cuthbert Steps Up In Wax
lisha Cuthbert, star of the upcoming horror film House of Wax, told SCI FI Wire that she enjoyed getting physical in the role in addition to exercising her emotional muscles. "As much as it feels like a Scream, we've amped up the gore in this dramatically," Cuthbert said in an interview. "It's punchier than any other sort of teen horror. It's a lot of fun, but at the same time there's moments where you're like, 'Oh, my God!'"
In the film, Cuthbert (The Girl Next Door) plays a college student who confronts a pair of maniacal brothers when she and her friends are stranded outside of a seemingly abandoned town. Cuthbert said that she really got into the showdown scenes between her character and the film's villains in which she got to swing a baseball bat. "I felt like that was my moment," she said. "I felt like that was where my character goes, 'I am not a sissy. I am going to solve this situation,' and it's going to be enough to be satisfying for a resolve of a movie. All the people there can testify I was so sore the next day, because they were going to give me a fake bat, and I said that there's no way, because the feeling and the motion of having a real bat changes everything."
Cuthbert added that her enthusiasm for the scene's violence did not result in any actual injuries. "That was a dummy," Cuthbert said. "I got to go crazy on a plastic thing. Obviously, it's intense when you see the reaction of his character and what she goes through and [see] that aggression. It's very gruesome, but at the same time I feel very satisfied by the fact that my character steps up to the plate as opposed to like sitting in the back going, 'Where do I step in? Where do I step in?' But I think that's a really great moment in the movie." House of Wax opens nationwide May 6.
Swank's Reaping Looks At Faith
arey and Chad Hayes, writers of the upcoming supernatural film The Reaping, told SCI FI Wire that the movie will deal with a crisis of faith. "[The Reaping] starts in July," Carey Hayes said in an interview while promoting the brothers' current film, House of Wax. "Hilary Swank is starring in it, and we're really excited about it. It's a genre thriller. It's about a woman [who] starts with real strong faith, and something happens in her life, and she loses her faith."
Carey Hayes said that Swank's character sets out to investigate claims of the supernatural. "She becomes a miracle debunker, out to prove that God does not exist, because it will make her life easier," he said. "And she comes across something that starts to change her back the other way."
Chad Hayes added: "She's always been able to prove scientifically there are no miracles, and [we] tell you why, and then she comes across something she can't [disprove]. But it's a scary journey, really scary, to get her there."
Chad Hayes said that Oscar winner Swank's participation inspired them to work harder on the film. "Imagine having a double-Academy-Award-winning actor doing your words," Chad said. "We wrote her the character of Catherine, which is the one she's playing, realizing this, going, 'Oh, my God, a great actress would just make this so great.' And she responded to the material, so it was awesome."
Joel Silver is producing The Reaping, which is set to begin shooting in the Carolinas.
Reaping Helmer Confirmed
oel Silver, producer of the upcoming supernatural thriller The Reaping, told SCI FI Wire that director Stephen Hopkins (Lost in Space) will begin production on the film this summer, not James Cox, whom Silver had mentioned in an interview at WonderCon in February. Silver (the Matrix films) added that The Reaping will aim for a more mature tone than other horror thrillers produced under the Dark Castle banner, such as the upcoming House of Wax.
"It's going to be in July," Silver said in an interview. "Stephen Hopkins is going to direct it. This one has elements of what Gothika was like. It's a supernatural story, and the Hayes brothers [Chad and Carey, who also penned House of Wax,] are writing that one, too."
The Reaping will star Oscar winner Hilary Swank, Silver added. "She plays, like, kind of a miracle debunker," he said. "[House of Wax] is a teen slasher movie. I mean, it's a cool one, but it's a teen slasher movie. [The Reaping] is an interesting story. ... We try to change them out a little bit."
Silver added: "[Hilary] is the only one cast in it. The last film was with Halle Berry, [House of Wax] is a very young, not well-known cast, and the next one has Hilary in it. We've figured what our next one after that is, and I'm very happy that I have Dark Castle functioning and driving, and we're developing our pictures."
Cox ( Wonderland) was originally attached to The Reaping, Silver said in the earlier interview.
Denzel Getting Deja Vu
scar winner Denzel Washington (The Manchurian Candidate) has signed on to star in the time-travel thriller Deja Vu for director Tony Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Variety reported. The trio previously teamed up for the submarine thriller Crimson Tide, which grossed $159 million worldwide.
The script, by Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl) and Bill Marsilli, centers around an FBI agent with the ability to travel back in time. Washington will play the agent, who falls in love with a woman destined to be murdered.
Fans Plan To Make Doig's Day
ans of Andromeda star Lexa Doig are creating a Web site to celebrate the actress' June 8 birthday, the site's organizers announced. Fans may contribute birthday wishes and artistic creations or make a donation to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada in Doig's name.
Doig gained recognition for her role as Rommie on the syndicated SF series Andromeda. She will soon appear alongside real-life husband Michael Shanks in a recurring role on the upcoming season of Stargate SG-1 on the SCI FI Channel. Doig will play chief medical officer Carolyn Lam, the daughter of Gen. Hank Landry (Beau Bridges). More information about the birthday project is available at LexaDoig.org.
Fan Wins Trip to WorldCon
F fan Suzanne Tompkins has been chosen by the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund to attend Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention, in Glasgow, Scotland, Aug. 4-8, 2005, the organization announced. Tompkins was selected over finalists Chaz Boston Baden and Curt Phillips by a group of 186 TAFF voters.
The Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund was created in 1953 for the purpose of providing funds to bring science-fiction fans who are well known and popular in fandom in both Europe and North America to conventions on the opposite continent. The winner of the race publishes a report on their trip and administers the fund for the following year. The winner of the 2004 TAFF race was James Bacon of Ireland.
Jones, Del Toro Reteam For Pan
oug Jones, who played aquatic B.P.R.D. agent Abe Sapien in Hellboy, announced on his official Web site that he will reunite with Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro for the upcoming independent Spanish-language horror film Pan's Labyrinth.
Jones will play Pan in the film, a sequel to the Mexican director's 2001 cult horror film The Devil's Backbone. Del Toro has described the film, which is set against the fascist regime in Spain, as a "full-on fairy tale gone wrong."
Disney's Pirates Going Online
he Walt Disney Co. has announced plans to create a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise and the theme park attraction which inspired it, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The game, developed by The Walt Disney Internet Group, is expected to go live in coordination with the upcoming sequel film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in the summer of 2006.
This is the second such venture for Disney Online, which launched Disney's Toontown Online in 2003, the first 3-D MMORPG created for kids and families. The game will be designed with action and humor as players personalize their own pirate characters and form their own crews to engage in swashbuckling adventures, most of which involve battles against other crews or the evil undead, the trade paper reported. A spokesperson for Disney Online said the company expected the subscription-based game to be priced similarly to Toontown, which costs $9.99 a month. It is undetermined which, if any, of the actors in the movies will have a presence in the game.
The Birds To Fly Again
ichael Bay's Platinum Dunes production label is in negotiations with producer Peter Guber and Mandalay Pictures to develop a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1963 horror film The Birds, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Like the original, the new version would be based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier about a series of mysterious bird attacks which terrorize the inhabitants of a small town.
Universal, which owns the rights to the story and the original film, previously produced the 1998 shot-for-shot remake of Hitchcock's Psycho by director Gus Van Sant and, later that same year, A Perfect Murder, based on the play which inspired Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder. Warner Brothers also recently joined in the Hitchcock revival, announcing an updated version of Strangers on a Train for release in 2006.
Duchovny Keeping The Secret
avid Duchovny (The X-Files) will return to the world of the paranormal in The Secret, the latest Japanese film slated for a remake, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Swiss-born actor-filmmaker Vincent Perez will make his English-language directorial debut on the project, which Luc Besson (Unleashed, La Femme Nikita) is executive-producing through his Paris-based label EuropaCorp, the trade paper said. Lili Taylor (Six Feet Under, The Haunting) and newcomer Olivia Thirlby also have been cast in the film.
The Secret, based on the 1999 Japanese film Himitsu, is set against an emotional triangle among a 16-year-old girl, her mother and her father. After the mother is killed in an accident, her spirit inhabits the daughter's body, the trade paper reported. Ann Cherkis adapted the English-language screenplay. Principal photography begins this week in Montreal.
Majesco Launches Advent Contest
he first 500,000 consumers to buy the Xbox version of the upcoming Majesco game Advent Rising will have the opportunity to win $1 million, the company announced. Beginning June 9, one week after Advent Rising is released, consumers who find hidden "A" icons within the game will have a chance to win hundreds of weekly prizes and one $1 million grand prize as part of Majesco's "Race to Save Humanity" contest promotion.
Consumers who purchase specially marked packages of Advent Rising will receive a free two-month subscription to Xbox Live. Then, once a week for six weeks, an easter egg in the form of the letter A will be downloaded via Xbox Live and hidden within a level of the game. Once the letter is found, consumers will be given a code and prompted to log on to the contest website using their Xbox Live gamer tag. The first person to do so is that week's winner. The contest ends Aug. 15.
Area 51 Lands In Stores
idway Games announced that the first-person SF game Area 51 has shipped to retail outlets nationwide for PlayStation2 and Xbox game platforms. The game, an update of the classic game franchise, features voice performances by David Duchovny (The X-Files), Powers Boothe (Deadwood) and rocker Marilyn Manson as an alien.
Players will explore five levels within the confines of Area 51, a secret military facility quarantined by a deadly virus which controls the minds of those infected, as well as an ancient alien colony buried beneath the facility. An arsenal of human and alien weapons are available for players to use in solo or multiplayer modes, which accommodate as many as 16 players at once. A PC version of the game is scheduled to ship May 23.
Cox Flies To Zoom
ourteney Cox (Friends) has been cast in the Revolution Studios superhero comedy Zoom, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Based on Jason Lethcoe's graphic novel Zoom's Academy for the Super Gifted, the film centers around a group of young superheroes under the tutelage of an out-of-shape former superhero known as Captain Zoom. Cox will play a scientist with the secret agency that runs the academy alongside Tim Allen as Zoom.
Allen also co-wrote the script along with Adam Rifkin, David Berenbaum and Matt Carroll. Peter Hewitt is directing the film, which will begin production in July. Columbia Pictures will release the film next year, the trade paper reported.
Atari Flashes Back Again
tari announced the summer launch of Atari Flashback 2.0, the follow-up to 2004's Atari Flashback Classic Game Console. Flashback 2.0 will feature Pong and 40 other classic games, including Asteroids, Centipede, Millipede, Lunar Lander, Breakout, Missile Command, Combat and other retro game and arcade classics that have never before been released for the home console, the company said.
The first Flashback shipped more than 550,000 units to retail. The Atari Flashback 2.0 will feature the same wood-grain paneling and look of the Atari 2600 and will capture the feel through two classic joysticks for multiplayer competition and vintage controls, the company said.
Atari Flashback 2.0 will be available early this summer for under $30 at retailers.
Bee Gets 2007 Berth
reamWorks Animation has set a Nov. 2, 2007, release date for its computer-animated Bee Movie, starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger, Variety reported. Seinfeld co-wrote the film and is producing.
DreamWorks also announced a voice cast that includes Uma Thurman, Kathy Bates, Alan Arkin, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Tim Blake Nelson, Patrick Warburton and Oprah Winfrey. Matthew Broderick is in discussions to join the cast, the trade paper reported.
Shrek 3, which opens May 18, 2007, and Bee Movie satisfy DreamWorks' ambitious mandate to release two animated films per year. The studio also will release its first direct-to-video movie, Puss in Boots, that year.
Bee Movie is the comedic tale of Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld), a graduate bee fresh out of college, who is disillusioned at having only one career choice: honey. On a rare trip outside the hive, Barry's life is saved by Vanessa (Zellweger), a florist in New York City. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans are mass consumers of honey and decides to sue the human race for stealing bees' honey, the trade paper reported. Steve Hickner (The Prince of Egypt) is directing with Simon J. Smith (Shrek 4-D), who is making his feature film directorial debut.
Marvel And Lee Settle Suit
arvel Enterprises on April 28 said that it settled its suit with Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee, allowing Lee a cut of the company's profits from the Spider-Man movies and other projects using Lee's characters, the Reuters news service reported.
Specific terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Lee filed the lawsuit in November 2002.
Owen Stars In Children
live Owen has signed a deal to star in Universal's SF movie Children of Men, to be directed by Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Variety reported. The movie is set in a future in which people can no longer have children, the trade paper reported.
Strike Entertainment's Marc Abraham and Eric Newman will produce the film, which is based on mystery writer P.D. James' novel of the same title, the trade paper reported. Owen (Sin City) will play the guardian of the first woman to become pregnant in more than 20 years.
Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Czech's Greatest SF Writer Dies
adio Prague reported that the greatest Czech science fiction author, Josef Nesvadba, died at the age of 78, according to a report on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site. Nesvadba's family made the announcement on April 26 without disclosing further details, the site reported.
English translations of his work included Captain Nemo's Last Adventure, which was published in View From Another Shore and the collections Einstein's Brain and Tarzan's Death.
Nesvadba's writing career began with translations of English-language works into Czech. He then wrote plays and, in the late 1950s, began writing short stories. He expanded into novels and radio plays later in his career. Several of his stories were made into films.
Nesvadba was born in Prague on June 19, 1926, and he received a medical degree in psychiatry in 1950. He was a practicing psychiatrist.
Salem Not Bewitched
esidents of Salem, Mass.—site of a real-life witch hysteria in 1692—are wrinkling their noses at a proposed statue honoring the 1960s sitcom Bewitched, the Associated Press reported. The TV Land cable network wants to erect a 9-foot bronze statue in a city park honoring the late Elizabeth Montgomery, who played Samantha Stephens in the sitcom, about a witch married to a mortal man.
But residents like Jean Harrison said the statue would be insensitive. She told The Boston Globe that Montgomery played a fictional comic witch, but those who were condemned to die in the Salem witch trials weren't witches at all. Others point out that Bewitched had no connection to the city other than a visit by the cast in 1970, the AP reported.
Mayor Stanley Usovicz strongly supports the statue, saying it would be a fun spot for tourists to stop and have their pictures taken. He also says it would be located far from Gallows Hill, where 19 accused witches were hanged, the AP reported.
The sitcom is the basis for an upcoming Bewitched movie, starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.
Teen Titans Are Game
eborah Montella, product manager for Majesco Entertainment, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming Teen Titan games will go back to the roots of the comic-book and TV franchise. The first four Teen Titan games will be ready starting this fall.
"We're working closely with the teams at DC Comics and Warner Brothers to incorporate all of the favorite elements of the animated and comic-book series," Montella said in an interview. "These young superheroes, with their crazy gadgets and their superhuman strengths, make for the ideal basis for a video game."
Teen Titans has a long history at DC Comics, and the franchise's most recent incarnation is as an animated series on Cartoon Network and The Kids WB. The Teen Titans games will feature Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven doing battle with villains Slade, Overlord, Jinx, Gizmo and Mammoth in a crime-ridden city. Montella said that the games will feature the trademark Teen Titans humor, as well as a number of other elements attractive to game players.
"Players can switch control in real time between the Titans, allowing them to capitalize on the heroes' unique moves and abilities in focusing on combat and melee-creating moves," she said. "The Titans have all their unique abilities at their disposal in the game. For example, Beast Boy can shapeshift at the touch of a button. For more enhanced team play, 'behavior commands' can be used to influence other Titans. The game will also contain a variety of power-ups for attack elements of the game."
Montella added that the console version of the Teen Titans game will allow up to four players simultaneously and will include story and arena modes.
Teen Titans will appear in the fall as a hand-held game. The console version will launch in early 2006. Teen Titans will be available in a number of formats, including GameBoy Advance, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube T.
Iron Man Delayed
ick Cassavetes, who was reportedly in line to direct the film version of Iron Man, has still not signed a deal to helm the Marvel Comics adaptation, leading New Line to delay its expected release to 2007 from 2006, Variety reported. Last November, New Line and Marvel announced that he was on board, but Cassavetes (The Notebook) has not held talks to direct the film for several months, the trade paper reported.
Cassavetes is still working on a rewrite of the script by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with David Hayter, the trade paper reported.
Cassavetes is still in the running to direct, and New Line remains committed to making the film. But with no director on board and casting yet to begin, New Line has delayed the movie's planned release.
McElhone Happy With Revelations
atascha McElhone, who stars in NBC's limited series Revelations, told SCI FI Wire that she's pleased the show has emerged as a hit without generating too much controversy over its religious elements. McElhone plays a nun who teams with a scientist (Bill Pullman) in a frantic, globetrotting effort to forestall the apocalypse.
"To be honest, I thought the show couldn't possibly be more inflammatory, particularly given what's going on right now with Christianity, with Bush having been elected back in, with the far-right attitude towards religion here [in the United States], in certain pockets of the country, and then also with the pope's death and choosing a very conservative, slightly old-fashioned pope to replace John Paul [II]," the British McElhone said in an interview.
McElhone added: "All of these things just sort of swing the pendulum, and the pendulum is swinging to the right again, which surprises me, to be honest. So I thought there would be more retaliation about the show, because I guess it doesn't necessarily tread conventional lines in terms of what it's expressing about religion. But then, it is a drama. And I think, fortunately, that people are sophisticated enough to realize that and not take it [as anything more]."
McElhone said that writer-producer David Seltzer has built on "something that exists and something that is part of our everyday lives and then expanding it and sort of exaggerating it, if you like, or testing its parameters. That's very exciting. That's what drama is about; it's about extreme forces coming into conflict. I think he does that rather well, and this is some of his best, really." Revelations airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Briefly Noted
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Hollywood.com posted an interview with George Lucas, in which he repeats news about Star Wars, Indiana Jones IV and other projects.
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Kevin Smith will write and direct at least three episodes of George Lucas' upcoming live-action Star Wars TV series, the IESB reported.
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The blue-and-white gingham dress worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy in 1939's Wizard of Oz fetched $252,000 at auction on April 27 in London, four times the expected bid, the Reuters news service reported.
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Judi Dench, who has played "M" in the last few James Bond movies, told the New York Post that Pierce Brosnan will return as 007 in the 21st Bond movie, which is expected to be Casino Royale.
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JoBlo.com reported rumors that director Stephen Sommers has completed a script for a third Mummy movie, which he hopes to begin by the end of the year, and that Robert Rodriguez will be shooting two back-to-back sequels to Sin City starting in February 2006.
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Hotel Rwanda Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo (Aeon Flux) will appear in The Martian Child as a social worker who persuades John Cusack to adopt a young boy who believes he is a Martian, Variety reported.
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Paramount has signed a lucrative, exclusive distribution deal with Marvel for films based on the comic-book publisher's remaining characters, which include Captain America and Nick Fury, Variety reported.
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A new image of Nicolas Cage from the upcoming comic-book adaptation Ghost Rider has been added to the photo gallery.
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Joss Whedon announced on the official Serenity fan site that the first trailer for the upcoming film based on his short-lived Fox series Firefly will be available April 26 at 1:00 p.m. PT on Apple's movie trailer page, and will hit theaters April 29.
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Wes Craven will produce the upcoming independent horror film The Waiting, from Boogeyman screenwriters Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, Variety reported.
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Rogue Pictures has picked up worldwide rights to the horror film Altered, to be directed by The Blair Witch Project co-creator Eduardo Sanchez, Variety reported. The film, about a group of men who share a life-changing supernatural experience, begins filming in Florida next month.
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