Murphy: Batman Begins With Nolan
illian Murphy, who plays the villainous Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow opposite Christian Bale's heroic Caped Crusader in the upcoming Batman Begins, told SCI FI Wire that he signed on mainly to work with director Christopher Nolan. "I'd been a fan of all his films [Memento and Insomnia], and then, when I met him, we got on very well," Murphy said in an interview. "The way he pitched the film, the slant he was going to take on this, that all appealed to me."
Murphy (28 Days Later) said that he originally auditioned to play Batman, but was offered the Scarecrow role after Bale landed the lead. "The other factor, then, was the child inside of me, the child inside every actor," Murphy said. "As a kid I was a huge Batman fan and all that. I also felt like the franchise had been maybe damaged the last couple of movies, and I felt that if anybody could reinvest it with what it was originally about it, it would be someone like Chris Nolan."
Murphy joins a long line of big stars—from Uma Thurman and Tommy Lee Jones to Arnold Schwarzenegger—who have played the heavy in Batman films. "Playing a villain in these Batman movies, historically, they offer the actor great fun, and they're brilliant characters, because they've been around so long in the comic books," Murphy said. "So all of those things factored into my wanting to be in Batman Begins." Batman Begins opens June 15.
Burton's Charlie All Dahl-ed Up
im Burton, director of the upcoming fantasy film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, told SCI FI Wire that he agreed to tackle the story because of his affection for the Roald Dahl story of the same name. The book had previously served as the source material for 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. "I just loved the book," Burton said in an interview. "To me, he was one of the first people to do that kind of literature. Now, with the Harry Potter books, it's become much more of a [common] thing, but when I was growing [up] there weren't that many people [writing such books]."
Burton (Batman, Planet of the Apes) added: "[Dahl] was almost the only one who spoke to both children and adults and understood the danger and the political incorrectness of being a child, and with adult feelings. He was somebody who got that mixture of light and dark and emotion and humor. There weren't too many people, to me, like that."
Burton, who is also co-directing the upcoming stop-motion animation film Corpse Bride, said that it's too early to say how Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is coming together. The film stars Johnny Depp as Willie Wonka and Freddie Highmore as young and impressionable Charlie Bucket. "We're just finishing recording music and starting our final mix," Burton said. "We've still got more effects coming in. It's always hard for me, especially at this point, because you're sort of in the middle of it and not necessarily the most objective about it. But it's coming." Warner Brothers will open the gates to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on July 15 and then unearth Corpse Bride on Sept. 23.
Lucas Eyes Oz Star For TV Wars?
eorge Lucas has reportedly checked on the availability of Australian actor Matthew Newton to see if he's free to appear in a proposed Star Wars television series, according to the Oz Sunday Herald Sun newspaper. Lucas first met Newton a few years ago when the actor (Queen of the Damned) tested for the role of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones, the newspaper reported.
It's believed that Newton was Lucas' second choice for the part of the man who would become Darth Vader; he was even flown to stay at Skywalker Ranch in Northern California for a test.
Blond-haired newton Newton, 28, is no doubt being considered for a leading hero role in the series, believed to be centering on all-new characters, the paper reported.
Writers Morph To Transformers
lex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the team that co-wrote The Island for Michael Bay, told SCI FI Wire they're now facing the challenge of putting the Transformer toys on the big screen for what might be Bay's next project. "We're calling it Campbell Soup: The Movie, because it's the ultimate product placement," Kurtzman said with a laugh. "The big challenge is how do you do it without making it look like it's just about product placement."
The screenwriting team, who also wrote for TV's Alias, is developing characters and personalities for the toys that turn into all sorts of other things, including unifying into a giant robot.
"In terms of Transformers, it's sort of the same approach as we approach anything," Orci said. "We've been very diligent to find what the character story is."
Added Kurtzman: "How do you do giant robots and care? You can't just put the toy up there, and what are you going to do? How do they relate to the story? How [do] they relate to the humans so it's not just a toy commercial?"
For his part, Bay said that he isn't sure that he will helm the Transformers movie as his next project or simply produce it, though news reports have said he is considering directing. Bay said that he can't even think about his next project until he finishes editing The Island, which comes out July 22. He said that he will be hiring more people to be involved with the project, based on the toys that were created in the 1980s.
Bay Admits Island Issues
ichael Bay, director of the upcoming SF action movie The Island, told SCI FI Wire that there were days he would come to the set and not know what to shoot because the sets weren't complete. "Construction was way behind," Bay told reporters at a special preview screening of 45 minutes of the as-yet-uncompleted film in Beverly Hills, Calif., on May 24. "I would get to the sets and have to shoot inserts because the set was not built. I would talk to the designer, who said, 'We ran out of money.' Sometimes you'd just have to pull it out of your ass and wing it."
Bay and his stars Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou and Michael Clarke Duncan attended the preview of The Island for press, DreamWorks officials and guests at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences theater.
Afterwards, producer Walter F. Parkes said that it was a good thing Bay was a "director who has the chops to change his plans at the last minute," given the odd unexpected budget overrun or delay due to construction snafus. He added that the movie's production, which took place on an accelerated schedule to meet a July 22 release date, almost seemed to be going too well to be true, at least at first. "We went out at Christmas going, 'God, we can pull this off. We're under budget and ahead of schedule.'"
Bay interrupted: "And then there was this substantial hole. ... "
"Well, not that substantial," Parks corrected.
The film came to fruition quickly, and Bay said it's the fastest he's worked on a film since he did The Rock. "I'm not yet finished with it," Bay said, feigning a protest before the screening. "I checked with the DGA [Directors Guild of America] rules to see if there was a way I could prevent this."
Parks said he originally planned screening the science fiction film 10 days ago, before this week's headline in the Los Angeles Times about a breakthrough in cloning suddenly rendered the film a "fact-based contemporary thriller." When the film hits theaters in July, Parkes added, "The prints will be coming out of the lab dripping wet."
In the preview, viewers were introduced to the world of The Island, a futuristic habitat of concrete corridors in monstrous towers in which characters played by McGregor, Johansson and Duncan dwell, thinking they are the last survivors of a global contamination. They live for the moment they win a lottery guaranteeing them transport to a tropical island, the last contamination-free spot on Earth. But McGregor's character, Lincoln Six-Echo, makes a series of startling discoveries that call into question the existence of the island and the very purpose of their lives.
Bay also screened a high-energy action sequence involving a freeway chase, crashing cars and trucks and flying motorcycles, or "wasps," to an appreciative packed theater.
Johansson Beefed Up In Island
carlett Johansson, who co-stars with Ewan McGregor in the futuristic action thriller The Island, told SCI FI Wire and other reporters that director Michael Bay beefed up her character and transformed her from a helpless, pregnant asthmatic into a strong female character. "In the science-fiction genre they always portray women as the damsel in distress, and my character was completely different," Johansson told a news conference on May 25. "I mean, first of all, my name was Esther. There you go, right there. I was pregnant. I was a womb. I had horrible asthma and had to stop constantly, and Ewan had to take care of me, and I almost died."
Instead, Johansson plays a healthy, resourceful young woman named Jordan Two-Delta opposite McGregor's Lincoln Six-Echo, both of whom discover that they are clones and wind up on the run from a top-secret underground compound.
Johansson said that McGregor's part was originally written by Caspian Tredwell-Owen as a "big macho man, and I was the helpless young girl." But in a rewrite just before shooting, the female character's name was changed and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (TV's Alias) changed her role dramatically at Bay's urging. "We were about to start the shoot, and Michael and I [were] thinking of ways to give some integrity to my character," Johansson said. "He was very proactive to make me kick-ass, not make me some weakling. ... We were both saving each other's lives. Michael was very respectful of that, making me create a strong female character, which was great."
For his part, Bay said that he enjoyed working with Johansson, who turned 20 during filming, but seems much older and wiser. In separate comments, Bay said that he has dealt with many divas before and told a story about Johansson's pitching a rare fit before her sexy scene with McGregor. He said he was told by the assistant director that the actress wanted to see him before she came to the set.
"We were ready to do the love scene with Ewan, and I knocked on her door," Bay recalled. "I said, 'Scarlett?' 'Yes?' 'Can I come in?' 'Yes. I'm not f--king wearing this bra, this cheap-ass bra, OK? I'm going naked, OK?'" Bay had to explain to her that he needed it to shoot for a PG-13 rating .
Johansson smiled when her director recounted the incident. In her defense, she said: "Nobody wears a bra when they go to sleep." The Island opens July 22.
Johansson Got Physical On Island
carlett Johansson, star of Michael Bay's upcoming SF action film The Island, told SCI FI Wire that she got pretty banged up while taking on the highly physical role in the film. "I was so sore after my first day of work," Johansson told reporters at a news conference on May 25. "I think my muscles were atrophied or something, but I couldn't run any longer, and that was the first day of a five-month shoot! I was running so much I thought I was going to die."
Johansson said that her co-star Ewan McGregor wound up black and blue with bruises after the first day and had "deep gashes" in his legs. "I didn't feel so bad, because he was in agony," she recalled.
Johansson and McGregor play clones, or "agnates," who are pursued by security forces after they escape from a top-secret underground facility in the near future.
The film also stars Michael Clarke Duncan, who said: "Michael Bay owes me bigtime for doing this movie." Duncan was only on the set for two days for a small role, but did it because he said Bay discovered him and cast him in Armageddon. "I am running a lot, too, and they shoot these things into my legs, and they were attached to my calves, and they shrunk my calves down so badly, and I was sweating," Duncan said.
Bay explained that he intentionally begins his productions with a strenuous scene to set the pace for the rest of the shoot. "If you start off with a slow scene, that sets the pace for the entire film, so I like to start off with a high energy level," Bay said.
Djimon Hounsou, who plays an implacable security agent in The Island, said that he took the physical activity required for the movie all in stride. "We were running, running, running, and it occurred to me, 'Did anyone read the script?'" he said. The Island opens July 22.
Why Johansson Bailed On M:I 3
carlett Johansson told SCI FI Wire and other reporters that she opted out of this summer's Mission: Impossible 3 in favor of Woody Allen's next movie, an as-yet-unnamed comedy. "We just had a scheduling conflict," Johansson said during a news conference on May 25 to promote her upcoming SF action movie The Island. "When you have a big production like that, they can't move stuff around that easily. I wanted to work with Woody, so, unfortunately, that was a casualty, I guess."
Twenty-year-old Johansson was initially linked to the third Mission: Impossible film, starring Tom Cruise and directed by Alias creator J.J. Abrams. But she was surprised and delighted to be asked by Woody Allen to star in his dramatic thriller Match Point with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (who, coincidentally, has just been cast in M:I 3), then went on to shoot The Island with director Michael Bay and co-star Ewan McGregor. After that, she was supposed to work with Cruise in Mission: Impossible 3, but Allen asked her to be in his next film.
When she told Allen she was heading off to do a Michael Bay film, she said the New York director squinted and said, "Who?" Johansson acknowledged that Allen is a rather insulated guy and a film snob, but she added: "He did tell me, 'Oh, I like science fiction.' So we'll see if we can get him to the premiere [of The Island]." The Island opens July 22.
Bay Backs Away From The Birds
roducer/director Michael Bay appeared to back away from reports that he was mulling a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller film The Birds in comments to SCI FI Wire and other reporters on May 25. "I don't want to talk about The Birds, because that's so far down the line, and I have misgivings about even trying to even do that, you know what I'm saying?" Bay said at a news conference to promote his upcoming SF action film The Island.
Scarlett Johansson, Bay's Island star, was sitting next to him when she learned of the potential remake and reacted with shock. "You're remaking The Birds?" she asked with incredulity. "The one with Tippi Hedren?"
Bay responded: "You can't believe everything you read. It doesn't mean it's going to happen."
Last month, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story saying that Bay's Platinum Dunes production label was in talks to remake the 1963 thriller with producer Peter Guber, though his Mandalay Pictures banner. The new version would reportedly be based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier, to which Universal owns the rights and which inspired Hitchcock's original movie, the trade paper reported. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)
At the news conference, Bay tried to change the subject to his upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel, called The Origin, and a remake of The Hitcher when Johansson again registered her protest against remaking The Birds.
"You can't remake a Hitchcock movie!" Johansson said.
Bay again responded: "I know, it doesn't feel right. That's why you can't believe everything you read."
When Johansson seemed to realize that the interchange was being monitored by a roomful of reporters, she teased: "Yeah, look, now I'm going to be starring in it, and it's going to be some $180 million blockbuster."
"Yeah, it's a slippery slope when you do remakes," Bay said. "The movie I think that should never be remade is The Shining. I love Kubrick, and the scariest shot in any movie is that scene of the twins down at the end of the hallway." The Island opens July 22.
Madagascar Reminds Richter
omic actor Andy Richter, who voices a mouse lemur in the upcoming computer-animated film Madagascar, told SCI FI Wire that the filmmakers had to remind him of his previous voice performances before each session as the process dragged on over four years. "Because the voice I do is so different from my voice, I'd need to be reminded every time what that voice was," Richter said in an interview. "I'd go record, and then months would go by and I'd forget about Madagascar, and then I'd get a call, and it was like, 'Oh, yeah, I forgot. I'm working on a movie.' Every time they would play me the previous stuff so I could remember the voice. They didn't trust me."
Richter plays Mort, a dimwitted mouse lemur who befriends a group of zoo animals when they are mistakenly deported to the wild and lost at sea. Richter said that unlike his co-stars Ben Stiller and Jada Pinkett-Smith, he agreed to perform in the movie purely for fun, not because of his children.
"I like being in a cartoon," Richter said. "To me that was the big thing of it. It's fun to do different stuff, and it's fun to be in a cartoon. You know, a lot of people say it's good to have for their kids to watch, but to me that doesn't even factor in. It's just fun to be in a cartoon."
Richter added that his son is too sophisticated to enjoy his father's attempt to make a family film. "My kid is so blase," Richter said. "I'm really jealous of the positives exhibited by their children. My kid does not like to go to movies. We [were] going to the movie in New York, and my wife asked him, 'Do you want to see a play in New York?' And he said, 'No, I don't want to see anything. I don't even want to see Madagascar. He's 4, and he's already bored with me." Madagascar opens nationwide on May 27.
Madagascar Stars Got Beastly
en Stiller, star of the upcoming computer-animated Madagascar, told SCI FI Wire that he enjoyed watching each actor's personality and body language show up in the animated characters they voice. "That's the one of the things I really like about the film," Stiller said in an interview. "The inceptions of the characters works with the voices. When I watch, obviously I know it's Chris [Rock] and Jada [Pinkett-Smith] and [David] Schwimmer, but when I look at the giraffe, I just think of the giraffe. It has this unmistakable voice, but it's really a very unique character. It's hard for me to separate between Alex [the lion] and me, because that's me. But when I look at the movie I just see the characters."
Madagascar deals with a troupe of New York zoo animals, led by Stiller's Alex the lion, who find themselves inadvertently shipped back to the wilds of Africa. Stiller said that he identifies with his character’s preference for routine and sameness. "Alex is sort of a creature of habit," he said. "He likes the status quo. He definitely likes his domain and to be in his element. I like familiarity."
Pinkett-Smith plays a hippopotamus named Gloria. "I really enjoyed how maternal she was," she said in a separate interview. "She's kind of a momma that has a tough love approach, but she's still there. She has a lot of love for her friends." Pinkett-Smith added that the filmmakers chose her because of her sassy take on life. "I'm told one of the reasons I was cast as Gloria was because of my attitude," she said. "I can do that well."
Rock said that he related to his character, Marty the zebra, who instigates the animals' journey back to the wild. "My character bores very easy," Rock said. "[I was] a guy who wanted to get out of Brooklyn immediately as a child, so the same thing that takes him out of the zoo, took me out of Brooklyn." Madagascar opens May 27.
E3: Villains Improves On Heroes
ack Emmert, creator of the City of Heroes massively multiplayer online game, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming follow-up, City of Villains, will have enhanced graphics and features that complement the original game. "Naturally, over the past year and a half since City of Heroes came out, there have been lots of new advances in video-card technology," Emmert said in an interview at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. "Missions have gone through dramatic upgrades in City of Villains. One common staple in all video games, which now makes its appearance in the world of Cities, is cutscenes. Cutscenes help with the story and explain objectives to the player. [There are] new archetypes [and] new power sets, but the interface is the same."
City of Villains will give players the chance to play evil characters and face off against the most well-known heroes of Paragon City. "All the major superheroes that we have in the mythology of City of Heroes find their way into battle opposing the forces of evil," Emmert said. "You'll be asked not just to rob and steal, but to infiltrate, eliminate, destroy [and] hijack. Anything a villain would do in the pages of a comic book, you're going to do in City of Villains. You'll find yourself being hired by various factions, various villain groups. Some known by City of Heroes, others brand new. Your goal is to work your way up the ladder of evil and become noticed by Lord Recluse and recruited into his ranks."
The action in City of Villains will take place in the Rogue Isles, a fictional island chain in the Atlantic Ocean. Upon release, there will be seven zones dedicated to PVE (player versus environment) gameplay and four zones enabled for PVP (player versus player) battles. "Every one of our zones has a special gameplay element associated with it," Emmert said. "Everyone here in the Rogue Isles is a shade of gray. There are no white hats. It's a cross between 1940s Casablanca and 1990s Mogadishu, where anything can happen."
Emmert also demonstrated another new feature in the game, a tool for creating customized bases for both villain and hero supergroups. "There's nothing more comic-booky than superhero or supervillain bases," he said. "We wanted to make sure [the tool] was as straightforward and easy to use as character creation is. You can raise a platform, create a column, lower a ceiling, you can do all of these things by just [pointing and clicking]. Create your lair of justice or your den of depravity, whatever you want. If your superhero has the currency, they can make whatever changes they like." City of Villains will begin beta testing in July, with a likely release in the fall.
E3: Card's New Game Is Rising
cience-fiction author Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game) told SCI FI Wire that his contribution to the upcoming adventure game Advent Rising involved finessing the storyline and writing all of the game's dialogue. "They gave me a chance to do what I can do, and it was fun," Card said in an interview at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. "I had a great time. They had good characters. I was able to give them funny repartee and at the same time deal with real dramatic issues, real problems. So I hope that my contribution, which is primarily early in the game, will help the entertainment value."
The creators of Advent Rising, brothers Donald and Geremy Mustard, first approached Card at a book signing, where they mentioned they were working on a video game and invited Card to participate. The author said he was intrigued by the idea and impressed by the enthusiasm of the brothers. "They didn't even lay out the idea," he said. "I just liked them. They were excited about the fact that they were doing a game. They said, 'Let's talk.' So I started meeting with them. We talked about the kind of story it would be. At the point where we were talking they did not have anything set in stone. So I said, 'Look, when you guys are ready to proceed, let me know.' But the thing is, they didn't understand that I really wanted to be there from the first thought of what the story would be. So when I actually got contacted and came in to the project, the storyline was already done. And levels were being constructed. But the thing is, it was a great story. So I still wanted to be involved. So I wrote dialogue and made the flow of scenes work."
Advent Rising takes place in an alien universe where humans are a legendary race feared by some and worshipped by others. When one alien race begins searching out human colonies and destroying them, a single human warrior sets out to protect the future of his civilization. Card said he was attracted to the concept for the game because it gave the player a more interactive experience. "In most games, the most important character, the player, has no motive, has no experience, really, except for killing or being killed," he said. "But in this game, you're playing a character that has a powerful personal motive, but it's universal. It's one that anybody can identify with. So you actually, as a player, find yourself becoming the character. You become an actor in a movie, and you buy into the emotions of the character. ... The storyline is not identical no matter what you do. It's not a matter that they force you into their storyline by making you solve certain puzzles. There are puzzles, for those who love puzzle solving, but when you're moving through the story, your choices will have global effects." Advent Rising will be released for the Xbox and Playstation 2 platforms on May 31, with a PC release on June 30.
E3: Barker Feeling Demonik
orror writer/director Clive Barker (Hellraiser) told SCI FI Wire that video-game developer Terminal Velocity brought him on as a writer for their upcoming game Demonik for his expertise in the area of creating frightening supernatural stories. "I came in wanting to redesign the monsters so they were a bit scarier [and] redesign the magic so that it was a bit mage-ier," Barker said in an interview at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. "I think it's important that people be given not the same old, same old. People deserve something new and fresh and good-looking. And we have the technology to present amazing visions. So the next question is: How do we use that technology and what would we actually show? So that's what we're working on."
Demonik centers on the theme of revenge and explores different situations in which a creature is summoned to act as a tool of vengeance. Barker said he was attracted to the simple, identifiable concept at work in the game. "There's a wonderful quote from Paul Gauguin, the painter," he said. "'Life being what it is, one seeks revenge.' Which I think speaks of the universality of revenge. And I think one of the things which drew me to this game was the idea that, my God, in my 53 years on the planet, I have wanted to revenge myself so often. And I don't think there's anybody who wouldn't own up somewhere to at some point wishing to God they could summon up some demon to send after an ex-lover or a schoolmaster."
Barker, whose only previous video-game experience was the 2001 PC game Undying, describes the game as a "horror title with action consequences." He said that he is working closely with the development team to create an interactive entertainment experience different from other games. "You're not getting one simple form of gameplay, which repeats itself over and over again." he said. "Each time you're summoning this demon there's a different motive behind the summoning. There's something very pleasing about playing that game of 'What if?' 'What if I did have that power?' 'What if I could revenge myself?' ... I think this is going to be a very fun game. And I think somewhere, if we get it right, when you finish playing it, there will be echoes." Demonik, published by Majesco, is slated for release in the summer of 2006 for the Xbox 360 console system.
E3: Stargate SG-1 Goes Interactive
aniel Tovar, associate producer of the upcoming video game based on the Stargate SG-1 series, told SCI FI Wire that fans will have a chance to play as any of the show's four lead characters. "It's an original story arc based on existing characters, so it's totally specific to the console versions and the PC," Tovar said in an interview at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. "Basically, you play as all four of the characters from SG-1 at different parts of the game. There's also a co-op mode, which is online as well as on the single unit, where you can play all four people from the unit. It's also got multiplayer death match and versus modes."
Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, the latest game to be affiliated with the SCI FI Channel series, was developed by Perception Studios and will be published in the United States by Namco. Tovar said that the cast of the show also participated in the game's creation. "[We] have all the show's actors—Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping—all the main crew," he said. "We also have likeness rights, so all the characters have been modeled straight from the actors themselves."
Stargate SG-1: The Alliance will have elements of a first-person shooter, but will also feature puzzles that players must solve before moving forward. Although the storyline is new, fans of the show will recognize many of the weapons, locations and enemies in the game. "[The characters] all have individual weapons that can be used for specific strategies," Tovar said. "O'Neill [Anderson] has a sniper rifle. Carter [Tapping] has the ribbon device, which she can use to throw people off cliffs. And Teal'c [Christopher Judge], being the big, bulky guy that he is, has a melee attack that he runs up and batters people around. And because it is a team-based game, if one of your members falls down you can revive them. There's a timer on there so they're only around for a limited amount of time. And if your team fails, you fail." Stargate SG-1: The Alliance will be released in stores in October.
E3: Humans Spoofs Classic SF
reg Borrud, director of production for Pandemic Studios, told SCI FI Wire that the company's upcoming game Destroy All Humans! was inspired by classic science-fiction films of the 1950s. "[We] take classic alien mythology, classic '50s movies, and just completely turn it around," Borrud said in an interview at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. "The idea is you play as an alien invading Earth, with the very simple goal of destroying all humans. So it started as a basic kernel of that idea, but then that opened up a whole range of alien mythology, whether it's crop circles or the infatuation with mutilating cows or anal probing. Whatever it is. That just opened up a whole host of really cool things that we started to put into the game, from our weapon design to the things you do in the mission to our cinematics to the overall story as well."
As an invading alien named Crypto, players will have an array of weapons at their disposal that they can use to extract human brain stems and DNA. These acquisitions eventually lead to additional psychic abilities, such as telekinesis and the ability to read the often-amusing thoughts of human bystanders. Borrud said that the game was always intended to have elements of humor. "It was a comedy from day one," he said. "Destroy All Humans!, that title has got to be. A lot of the design of the game was [inspired by] coming to shows like this and seeing a lot of the same thing over and over again. And we just knew there was a real opportunity to do something slightly different. So that was playing the concept of this alien coming down. And then all those things lend themselves to the concept of comedy. There's not that many games that are funny anymore."
Borrud said the game's designers wanted to include as many references to classic science-fiction films as possible, from a drive-in theater playing Plan 9 From Outer Space in the background to flying saucers from War of the Worlds. "This thing is just chock-full of movie references," Borrud said. "Whether it's the title of the missions or subtle things. Everything you can imagine. If you've seen a movie, it's probably in here somewhere. It's been a real fun thing to do." Destroy All Humans, published by THQ, will be available in stores June 21.
Mythopoeic Finalists Named
he Mythopoeic Society announced finalists for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature, given to fantasy works published during 2004 that best exemplify "the spirit of the Inklings": J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. The society also announced finalists for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies and the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies.
The winners of this year's awards will be announced at the Tolkien 2005 conference in Birmingham, England, which runs Aug. 11-15. The list of finalists follows.
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, Adult Literature: The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker; Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke; Mortal Love by Elizabeth Hand; Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip; The Wizard Knight, consisting of The Knight and The Wizard, by Gene Wolfe
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, Children's Literature: Arthur Trilogy, consisting of The Seeing Stone, At the Crossing Places and King of the Middle March, by Kevin Crossley-Holland; Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer; trilogy consisting of Wise Child, Juniper and Colman by Monica Furlong; The Abhorsen Trilogy, consisting of Sabriel, Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr and Abhorsen, by Garth Nix; A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies: Tolkien the Medievalist, Jane Chance, ed.; War and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien by Janet Brennan Croft; Following Gandalf: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings by Matthew Dickerson; Bareface: A Guide to C.S. Lewis's Last Novel by Doris T. Myers; Tolkien in the Land of Heroes by Anne C. Petty
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies: Vampire Legends in Contemporary American Culture: What Becomes a Legend Most by William Patrick Day, The Meanings of Beauty and the Beast by Jerry Griswold, Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography by Stephen Thomas Knight, Diana Wynne Jones: An Exciting and Exacting Wisdom, Teya Rosenberg, ed.
Avery's Rose Plumbs History
F writer Fiona Avery has spent most of her career writing in television or about the worlds of samurai warfare in comic form, but she told SCI FI Wire that her first novel, The Crown Rose, is based in the very real history of 13th-century Paris. The Crown Rose, which was released May 3, came from Indiana University professor Leah Shopkow, Avery said in an interview. "Medieval history was my minor," she said. "She helped read over the novel after I wrote my first draft. She writes about real research done in this area. After I left college, I still hungered for that kind of historical nitty-gritty and I would still look for it. When I started writing The Crown Rose, I came back to the very textbooks Shopkow used in her medieval studies course to help me with specific facts."
The Crown Rose follows Isabelle, heir to the throne in the era of King Louis IX. Avery said the royal family and its associates in the novel are historically based, as are the castle settings and all locations traveled within the book, except for the character Jean's tower and the Western Wood. "Most notably, Isabelle did actually found a convent," Avery said. "Louis did charge across the river at Angers just as depicted, and there really was an assassination attempt. They did recover the Crown of Thorns from a penniless king, and Notre Dame was being built at the time."
To get the novel published, Avery knew the right person in Lou Anders, the editorial director at Pyr. He knew Avery from her days as a reference editor on the SF TV show Babylon 5 and writer of episodes of the spinoff series Crusade. "I read the manuscript for The Crown Rose back then, before Pyr existed, and recalled being impressed with it at the time," Anders said. "So when it came time to assemble Pyr's first season, she was at the top of my list. I sought her out directly, rather than her coming to us."
Avery is perhaps more known for writing episodes of Crusade and comics such as Amazing Spider-Man, Tomb Raider, Witchblade and X-Men. Her own No Honor samurai graphic novel came out in August 2003, and Arana: Heart of the Spider was released in January. But Avery said that, although she likes samurai, she is not pro-war.
"What's important is the distinction between warfare pre-artillery and post," Avery said. "Before the gun, most warfare meant you had to stand in front of your opponent and cut him down. You felt him even when not facing him. After the invention of the gun, you could finish your opponent without connecting. That's when war became boring to me. It wasn't war anymore. It was just killing."
Johnson Faithful To Ghost Rider
ark Steven Johnson, director of the upcoming Marvel Comics adaptation Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that he made changes to the original script by David S. Goyer to make the film more like the comic. "Its one of those things that there is no right or wrong to it," Johnson said in an interview on the set in Melbourne, Australia. "He just chose a different story, and I really liked it. It just isn't the story that I was going to tell. So they're really completely different screenplays. I really like David's writing a lot, though. [I'm a] big fan of him."
Ghost Rider is the story of Johnny Blaze (played by Nicolas Cage), a motorcycle stunt rider who made a deal with the devil in his youth and is now forced to do his bidding. Johnson said that he wanted to stay as true to the comic as possible, a difficult task given that the mythology changed often during the course of the series. Johnson, whose last film, Daredevil, was also based on a Marvel Comics character, combined elements from different eras of the comic to create an original story that retained the feel of the comic.
"The fact that the devil made a deal with Johnny and gave him all these powers, and Johnny took those powers to go fight the devil, never quite added up," Johnson said. "And so everybody over the years kept trying to solve that and change that. So it's kind of actually a faulty concept in a weird way. So that was odd. That's something that took me many, many months to finally crack it. And once I came up with the idea of the devil's bounty hunter, that there's rules in heaven and hell on Earth, [it made sense]. The idea is that Mephistopheles has to find the best rider in the world to become his Ghost Rider, that made sense to me. He has to give him this power, because he works for him. Then I got it. Then everything from there flowed. But at first it was tough." Ghost Rider is scheduled for release in August of 2006.
Cage Unbound By Ghost Rider
icolas Cage, star of the upcoming Marvel Comics adaptation Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that he hasn't had any trouble dealing with the visual-effects aspects of his character, who transforms into a demon with a flaming skull for a head. "I've always enjoyed working with effects," Cage said in an interview on the set in Melbourne, Australia. "To me, it's just stimulating to be around it, to participate. ... After the production is finished shooting here, I want to go to where they're working on the effects and say hello and see what they're doing with all the painting and how they're going to make the fire work, because fire is, you probably know, the most difficult of all the digital effects to pull off."
Cage plays Johnny Blaze, a motorcycle stunt rider who becomes the devil's bounty hunter after striking a Faustian bargain in his youth. Although the subject matter deals with serious themes, Cage said he has tried to inject some lighter moments into the film that weren't in the script. "We've managed to really put a great deal of humor [in it]," he said. "That came naturally to me. I think that heavy material is inherently—I know this is going to sound strange—but it can lend itself very easily to humor. Because I think people, when they're in heavy occupations, you look at paramedics or cops, they have the blackest humor. But it's a way of coping with the situation."
Cage, a longtime fan of the comic, said the character has always appealed to him because he stood out from typical comic-book heroes. "It was dealing with very complicated spiritual issues," Cage said. "And for a comic book, that, to me, seemed different than all the others. I have a line in the movie that we worked on where I say, 'I'm the only one that can walk in both worlds.' And Ghost Rider really is that, when you think about it. Spider-Man doesn't go into the supernatural or the spiritual world. Superman doesn't. Batman doesn't. But Ghost Rider really walks this dimension between two different worlds, and to me that is interesting." Ghost Rider is scheduled for release in August 2006.
Mendes Sees Ghost's Humor
va Mendes, who is currently shooting the Marvel Comics adaptation Ghost Rider, told SCI FI Wire that the mood on the set has been light, thanks in part to her co-star Nicolas Cage. "He's so strangely funny, and I love his sense of humor," Mendes said in an interview on the set in Melbourne, Australia. "[Director Mark Steven Johnson] is funny in a different way, so between both of them and then between me—I'm just obnoxious—we're just always laughing. So it's a really great chemistry on set. It's probably—no, not probably—it is the best time I've ever had filming a movie. The actual process has been the best because of the company."
Mendes said that she's also enjoyed sharing screen time with Cage, who often improvises lines and gives different performances for each take. "I like that, because it keeps me on my toes, and there's never a dull moment," she said. "He seriously is one of the best actors of our time. You see what's on the page, and then you see what he brings to it and the chances that he takes. It's just how he twists stuff. And his choices are so great that he makes it so interesting, and it's great because you don't know what's going to happen. For me it's great, I love it. I've never felt thrown off or anything. He did it to me a few times today, and I was like, 'Cool.'"
In the film, Mendes plays Roxanne Simpson, a childhood sweetheart of Cage's Johnny Blaze. Although Roxanne is a blue-eyed blonde in the original comic, Mendes said that Johnson felt she embodied the spirit of the character, despite her brown hair and eyes. "I thought it was really interesting that Mark didn't really care about [her looks]," Mendes said. "He just wanted the essence of Roxanne. And she's real kick-ass. She's not some skinny little frail thing, which I love. She's got a woman's body. She's tough. She's not some little victim. So I like that he just wanted to keep the essence of her, but he took a chance. And I think in today's world that's so great, because he's reflecting what's really out there, especially in America. So I'm really happy he did that."
Mendes added that she has only one disappointment in the film so far: that she doesn't get a chance to ride on Ghost Rider's iconic hell cycle. "Can you guys complain about that?" she joked. "Maybe they can add something in." Ghost Rider is scheduled for release in August of 2006.
Sidewise Nominees Announced
rganizers announced the nominees for the 10th annual Sidewise Award, honoring excellence in alternate history fiction. This year's awards will be presented at Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention, in Glasgow, Scotland, Aug. 4-8.
This years marks the second time there has only been one nominee in the long form category. This doesn't indicate the nominee will win, as the judges may elect to present no award in the category. This also marks the first time a graphic-novel sequence (Warren Ellis' Ministry of Space) has been nominated for the award, organizers said.
Nominee Chris Roberson won last year's short form award for his story "O One." A full list of nominees follows.
Short Form: "The Ashbazu Effect" by John McDaid, "Five Guys Named Moe" by Sean Klein, "The Gladiator's War: A Dialogue" by Lois Tilton, "The Heloise Archive" by L. Timmel Duchamp, Ministry of Space by Warren Ellis, "Red Hands, Black Hands" by Chris Roberson
Long Form: The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Alias Duo Finds Time For 2:22
riting and producing team Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orc will produce 2:22 from a script by Todd Stein for DreamWorks, Variety reported. The film concerns a tortured artist to whom strange things start occurring at the same place and time every day, the trade paper reported.
Kurtzman and Orci will produce via their DreamWorks-based production company, which was set up at the studio earlier this year.
Kurtzman and Orci are writers and producers on ABC's Alias. They are also in partnership with DreamWorks on several high-profile projects as writers, such as this summer's The Island and Transformers, both directed by Michael Bay.
The duo also wrote all of the Mission: Impossible films, including the third installment, now in preproduction at Paramount under the direction of their Alias boss J.J. Abrams.
Giamatti Conjures The Illusionist
aul Giamatti told SCI FI Wire that he is currently in Prague shooting The Illusionist, a big-screen adaptation of Steven Milhauser's supernatural short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist." "I did not read the short story," Giamatti said in an interview. "It's been changed quite a bit, I've been told."
Giamatti added: "It's a period piece about a magician [Edward Norton as Eisenheim] in Vienna who gets involved in political intrigue. I play this inspector in the secret police, who tries to destroy his reputation. It's been a good shoot so far. It's going great. It's really fun to do a period piece like this [the film is set in 1900], with horses and carriages and top hats and crap like that."
Giamatti is perhaps best known for his starring roles in Sideways and American Splendor, but he's well-known to SF&F; fans for his supporting parts in such movies as Planet of the Apes, Paycheck and Robots. Giamatti said that The Illusionist will have fantastical elements as well. "It does," he said. "Without giving too much of it away, it does. It's undercut in some ways, but it's ambiguous about what's real and what's not and what's actual. ... Not necessarily just magic, but there's all sorts of weird stuff with spiritualism and spirits being summoned and stuff like that. How much of it is real and how much of it is not is left somewhat ambiguous in the end." The Illusionist, which also features Jessica Biel and Rufus Sewell, will be released in 2006.
New Line Licenses Interman
ew Line has licensed the SF graphic novel Interman, about a young man raised in seclusion who discovers he was genetically engineered by the government to be a superhuman killing machine, Variety reported. Jeff Parker created and self-published Interman. Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson are set to produce via their New Line-based Contrafilm company, the trade paper reported.
Exorcist: The Beginning writer Alexi Hawley is penning the adaptation.
Barker, Saralegui Scare Up Films
ovelist-director Clive Barker has partnered with producer Jorge Saralegui in the Midnight Picture Show, a venture meant to make two horror films per year, Variety reported. Most will be based on the prolific author's short stories published in the six volumes of The Books of Blood or on his original ideas, the trade paper reported.
Lakeshore Entertainment has been set to finance The Midnight Meat Train, an adaptation of the Barker story, about a New York-based photographer's effort to track down "the subway butcher," a search that leads to an unholy secret. Jeff Buhler adapted the story, and Patrick Tatopoulous, a horror veteran who has done extensive creature and production-design work, will direct. Lions Gate will distribute, and production will start in the fall, the trade paper reported.
Barker and Saralegui have set Anthony DiBlasi, an executive at Barker's Seraphim Films company, to adapt the Barker short story "Pig Blood Blues" and John Heffernan to draft New York Resurrection, from an original idea by Barker. They hope these movies will be made in 2006.
New Day of the Dead Dawns
vi Lerner's Millennium Films, Taurus Entertainment and Emmett/Furla Films are mounting a remake of George A. Romero's 1985 Day of the Dead, which will be financed and distributed through Millennium, Variety reported. The original film was set in a world overrun by zombies bent on extracting a group of scientists and military personnel who have holed up in an underground bunker. It was a sequel to Romero's 1968 Night of the Living Dead and 1978 Dawn of the Dead.
Universal Pictures released a remake of Dawn last year, which grossed $102 million worldwide, the trade paper reported. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Universal will also distribute Land of the Dead, which is written and directed by Romero and set for a June 24 release. The studio launched its promotional push for Land by screening its first 14 minutes during the Cannes Film Festival, the trade paper reported.
Sarsgaard Unlocks Skeleton Key
eter Sarsgaard, star of the upcoming supernatural suspense film The Skeleton Key, told SCI FI Wire that his own belief in the occult mirrors that of the film. "I think I'm in cahoots with the movie in that I believe that if you believe in something strong enough, then it can affect you," Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass) said in an interview. "I think that my favorite horror movies don't rely on an element that is just true; that the characters believe in that thing is what makes it true."
In The Skeleton Key, Sarsgaard plays a New Orleans attorney who works on the estate of an elderly couple, whose hired nurse (Kate Hudson) discovers strange voodoo-influenced goings-on in and around the home. Sarsgaard said that his own upbringing affected him in ways analogous to the film's elements. "Because I grew up believing in Satan, it makes me act a certain way in my life, which has probably incorporated more evil in my life than there would have been, because I'm reacting to it, because it's a character in my life," Sarsgaard said. "Like I think in the case with voodoo, part of voodoo is that those who believe in it are affected by it. I believe that if you believe that something is going to stop your heart from beating, that it might do something to you physiologically, because I think the mind and the body are connected."
Sarsgaard said that the horror movies that frightened him as a child were all centered around occult or religious themes. "I was terrified of [The Exorcist]," he said. "I was afraid to look in a window at night, because I thought that I would see my reflection, and my eyes would be red or something. The Omen, any of the religious ones, always get me. A lot of my favorite horror movies, I think, tied in religion. Movies like Evil Dead I like, but they don't scare me. They're just sort of more fascinating to me. Zombies and things like that don't do it." The Skeleton Key opens in theaters Aug. 12.
EnigmaCon Aids Tsunami Victims
nigmaCon, a science-fiction convention organized by students at the University of California, Los Angeles, will in part benefit the victims of the South Asian tsunami, organizers said. EnigmaCon is partnering with the Hollywood Artist Alliance to benefit the World Trust, which recently broke ground for new homes in Sri Lanka. Donations will also go to Islamic Relief Worldwide, which is helping with relief in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, the organizers said.
EnigmaCon takes place at UCLA on May 28 and will feature Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, SF author Harlan Ellison and Ronald D. Moore, creator and executive producer of SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica.
Other guests include Walter Koenig, who played Chekov on the original Star Trek; the co-creators of the Disney Channel's Kim Possible; Elfquest creator Wendy Pini; and comic-book writer Len Wein, who co-created The New X-Men.
Lima To Helm Enchanted
isney has tapped 102 Dalmatians helmer Kevin Lima to direct the fantasy movie Enchanted, a live-action and computer-animated movie, Variety reported. Barry Josephson and his Sonnenfeld Josephson company bought Enchanted in 1997, and he remains on board as producer.
Enchanted centers on a wannabe-princess who's banished from the animated world of Andalasia to a place where there is no true love: real-life New York, the trade paper reported.
Bill Kelly wrote the original spec script and is back on the project, which has undergone multiple rewrites over the past seven years. He will ready the script for a hoped-for September start in New York.
Weinsteins Unveil Horror Slate
he Weinstein Co. has unveiled a slate of six films for release in 2005 and eight in 2006, including Grind House, for which Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez each will direct a 60-minute horror tale, Variety reported.
Among the films slated for release: Wolf Creek, the horror film debut of Greg McLean, on Nov. 18; The Gathering, a thriller starring Christina Ricci, on Jan. 6, 2006; Feast, the horror film produced on Project Greenlight, on Jan. 20; Pulse, a Japanese horror remake starring Kristen Bell, on March 30; Scary Movie 4 on April 14; and Sin City 2 in the summer of 2006.
Scary Movie 4 and Sin City 2 are co-productions with Disney.
McG Previews Supernatural
ilm director McG, who is an executive producer on The WB's upcoming horror series Supernatural, told SCI FI Wire that the show will tap into the same vein as Angel, The Ring, The Grudge and The Amityville Horror. The show follows Dean Winchester (Smallville's Jensen Ackles) and his brother, Sam (House of Wax's Jared Padalecki), as they travel across the back roads of America hunting down evil. "Supernatural is 180 degrees removed from anything I've done, which is why I'm so delighted to be a part of it," McG, aka Joseph McGinty Nichol, said in an interview. "We'll be exploring the darker components of storytelling."
McG previously produced and directed the Charlie's Angels films and is signed to do the same on the upcoming Hot Wheels movie. He added: "We hooked up with David Nutter [who directed the Supernatural pilot and will serve as an executive producer], and he'd obviously put together great things with The X-Files. Eric Kripke [The WB's failed series Tarzan] wrote the show for us. And we're just really, really excited to give people those scares week in and week out and to truly get you to a place where you cannot watch this show by yourself, or you ain't going to sleep that night."
McG added that he's not concerned about the potential limitations of putting across scary, violent stories on television. "I think a lot of the scares exist in the mind, which really works for this format," he said. "So we're able to manipulate that experience and create those scares and not get into a situation with broadcast standards. We're very influenced by the Japanese horror wave and creating a psychological terror, and that's what you're going to see a lot of on the show." Supernatural will debut on The WB in the fall and is set to air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Aurora Finalists Announced
he Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association has anounced the 2005 finalists for the Prix Aurora Awards, honoring works by Canadian authors. A list of finalists follows.
Best Long-Form Work in English: Fallen Angel by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Survival by Julie E. Czerneda, Radiant by James Alan Gardner, Black Brillion by Matthew Hughes, The Alchemist's Daughter by Eileen Kernaghan, Wolf Pack by Edo van Belkom
Best Long-Form Work in French: Terre des Autres by Sylvie Bérard, Les Mémoires de l'Arc by Michèle Laframboise, Les Jours de l`ombre by Francine Pelletier, Oniria by Patrick Senécal, Suzanne, ouvre-toi, by Yves Steinmetz
Best Short-Form Work in English: "The Smile on the Face" by Nalo Hopkinson, "The Forgotten Ones" by Karin Lowachee, "Mikeys" by Robert J. Sawyer, "Enlightenment" by Douglas Smith, "Jigsaw" by Douglas Smith, "When the Morning Stars Sang Together" by Isaac Szpindel, "The Luck of Willie Lumen" by Hayden Trenholm
Best Short-Form Work in French: "Galdana" by Richard Blanchette, "Anne de la Terre" by Mehdi Bouhalassa, "Ceux qui ne comptent pas" by Michèle Laframboise, "Poussière de diamant" by Mario Tessier
Best Work in English (Other): Julie E. Czerneda and Isaac Szpindel for editing ReVisions; Nalo Hopkinson and Uppinder Mehan for editing So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy; Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine, Karl Johanson, ed.; Odyssey: Tales From the Wonder Zone, Julie E. Czerneda, ed.; Relativity: Essays and Stories by Robert J. Sawyer
Best Work in French (Other): No award
Artistic Achievement: Lar deSouza, Stephanie Ann Johanson, Jean-Pierre Normand, Martin Springett, Ronn Sutton
Fan Achievement (Publication): MensuHell, Francis Hervieux, ed.; Opuntia, Dale Speirs, ed.
Fan Achievement (Organizational): Roy Miles (I.D.I.C.), Greg Cairns (VCON), Rebecca M. Senese (Space-Time Continuum), Joan Sherman (I.D.I.C.), Brian Upward (I.D.I.C.)
Fan Achievement (Other): Made in Canada by Don Bassie; Karen Linsley for filksinging; Bright Weaving CD by Martin Springett; Larry Stewart, entertainer; Urban Tapestry, filksinging
Adams' Comics Eye Big Screen
omic-book artist Neal Adams and his Continuity Studios have partnered with two teams of producers to bring his properties to the big and small screens, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ivan and Barney Cohen's Pterodactyl Productions and producer Gabriel Grunfeld are working with Adams and his producer wife, Marilyn Adams, to develop, produce and finance Adams' original comic-book properties, which include 13 titles and 200 characters, the trade paper reported.
Peter Wortmann is in talks to adapt Knighthawk, Adams' graphic novel about a grim avenging hero who was saved by cloned parts as a child. Bruce Graham (Anastasia), meanwhile, is in discussions to adapt the comic Ditz the Scatterbrain for TV, based on a story about a teenager who learns she is the daughter of an ex-astronaut and an alien.
Other Continuity projects in development include Crazyman, about a chemically imbalanced man who is recruited by the government for dangerous and unwinnable missions; and Blood, about one of four alien micro-organisms that have invaded the bodies of humans in the hopes of taking over the planet.
Sarsgaard Praises Key Helmer
eter Sarsgaard, star of the upcoming supernatural suspense film The Skeleton Key, told SCI FI Wire that he enjoyed working with director Iain Softley (K-Pax) because he is very driven but collaborative and flexible. "He's incredibly visual," Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass) said in an interview. "So a lot of the time he has a visual concept before he gets into a scene, which he's willing to change if you come up with a good reason for changing it."
The Skeleton Key stars Kate Hudson as a live-in nurse who discovers strange and possibly supernatural goings-on around the home where she is staying. Sarsgaard plays an attorney working on the estate of Hudson's patient.
Sarsgaard said that Softley gives focused direction to his actors, but allows them the freedom to change. "What's great about him is that even though he's got this frame that he's already decided on, within that he isn't telling me specifically what to do," he said. "For instance, that he's going to pan off of us, we turn into ghosts in the mirror, and we drop out of the shot. He'll say, 'Bring your hand up.' And that's specific. But he basically just said, 'We need it rowdier.' When we first did it, it was very tender, and he just said, 'I need it rowdier.' So you have latitude in some areas."
Sarsgaard, who is best known for his roles in serious independent films, said that he enjoyed working on The Skeleton Key, but added that he doesn't know if he'll work on another genre movie. "I really take it case by case," he said. "I mean, if you had asked me five years ago if I would ever do a horror movie, I would have said probably not. But then you read one that's kind of exceptional. I don't like to think that I'll [never] do a genre movie, period. But then you read something that's exceptional and could be classified in that. So I really don't plan too far ahead." The Skeleton Key opens Aug. 12.
Ring 3 Developing
he husband-and-wife dynamic producing duo of Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald confirmed to SCI FI Wire and other reporters that they are developing a third, scaled-down Ring movie. It won't necessarily need the same cast of Naomi Watts and the boy who plays her son, David Dorfman, who were in the first two horror movies, the producers said in a news conference to promote their upcoming SF action movie The Island. "We actually have a kind of cool approach to it. That's in the beginning stages," MacDonald said.
Added Parkes: "It's easy to scale down Ring 3 as a small picture that's not incredibly expensive. By its very nature it can be a small movie and doesn't need the same cast."
Paramount Pictures, meanwhile, is interested in another chapter of the children's fantasy books that yielded Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events last year. But the producers admitted that's a bit more complicated. "You have the creation of the world, and therefore they tend to be expensive. And there's Jim Carrey," Parkes said. "You have to be absolutely certain that the market's there and the idea's there before you embark on that."
The couple are also working on Master of Space and Time with director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), about a scientist who discovers a way to control reality.
Briefly Noted
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The May 25 season finale of ABC's hit Lost averaged 20.7 million viewers and a very healthy 7.8 rating in the key demographic of adults 18-49, the series' third-best performance, behind only two January episodes that followed a month-long hiatus, Zap2It reported.
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New trailers for War of the Worlds and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory have been linked through SCI FI Wire's Trailers page.
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In the final major piece of casting, Paul Bettany will play albino fanatic Silas in Ron Howard's upcoming film version of The Da Vinci Code, joining Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina and Jean Reno, Variety reported.
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As previously reported, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers will join the cast of the J.J. Abrams-helmed Mission: Impossible 3, playing a member of Tom Cruise's spy team, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Chevy Chase has joined the cast of Revolution Studio's superhero comedy Zoom, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Bloody-Disgusting.com reported that Adam Sandler has long considered remaking the classic 1978 spoof horror film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
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Former Paramount Pictures co-president Tom Jacobson has signed a first-look deal with the studio, with the first project to be the SF movie The Demolished Man, based on Alfred Bester's 1953 novel about a telepathic police officer, Variety reported.
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TV Guide Online has posted spoilers about the May 25 two-hour season finale of ABC's hit series Lost, which airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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Warner Brothers has purchased Man-Witch, a comedy pitch by Josh Stolberg and Bobby Florsheim, about a male schoolteacher who discovers he's got witchlike abilities that lead him to be taken in by a coven of real witches, Variety reported.
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Michelle Monaghan and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers are in talks to join Tom Cruise in the cast of Mission: Impossible 3, Production Weekly reported.
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More than 30 million viewers tuned in to the May 22 first-season finale of ABC's hit Desperate Housewives, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Walt Disney Studios has struck a deal with EMI Music to produce two soundtracks inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe: one headlining mainstream Christian music artists, the other, pop and rock, Variety reported.
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Sylvester Stallone will direct Poe, a film he wrote about the life of supernatural writer Edgar Allan Poe, and Robert Downey Jr. is Stallone's choice for the leading role, Variety reported.
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New trailers for the upcoming animated films Chicken Little and Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit have been linked through SCI FI Wire's: Trailers page.
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Dreamwatch magazine is confirming a rumor that pop star Billie Piper will be leaving the BBC's hit Doctor Who series during its second season, after appearing in three to seven episodes, according to a report on the Outpost Gallifrey Web site.
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