29 October 2001

According to a report on Ain't it Cool News, Alex Winter (who played Bill) is desperately trying to get a third Bill and Ted movie off the ground. It seems that a third film was planned back in 1993 but the bankruptcy of Orion Pictures threw a spanner in the works. MGM recently bought out the entire Orion films library, thereby making it easier for another film to proceed. How would a third film be possible given the stars' ages? According to Winters, a potential story might revolve around millionaire 40 year rock stars Bill and Ted, with a time traveling Ted getting kidnapped and Bill having to rescue him. But is Keanu Reeves too big a star now to return to the series which launched his career? Apparently Reeves has not ruled out the possibility of a return. However, don't hold your breath for it happening anytime soon. By the time MGM gets all the rights together, Winter writes a screenplay and Reeves gets time off from the never ending Matrix films production, it could be 2004 before this film comes out, if not later.

According to Variety magazine, Kenneth Branagh will play Gilderoy Lockhart in the next Harry Potter movie. Previously it was thought that Hugh Grant would be taking on the role, but director Chris Columbus recently dismissed the rumour. Production on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will begin on November 16, the same day that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone hits theatres across the world. The first Harry Potter movie will premiere on over 4,000 screens in the US before opening in over 130 countries (a new record for Warner Bros).

Anne Rice's epic saga of a witch family, The Witching Hour, is set to be made into a mini-series. John Wilder, who wrote the screenplay for Rice's The Feast of All Saints mini-series, is in line to write the script. Wilder's script for that project turned out to be "the most faithful adaptation of my work I've ever seen," Rice said. "It's even more faithful than the adaptation I did for Interview with the Vampire." The Witching Hour follows the 400-year history of a dynasty of witches.

If you're a sci fi nut and happen to be in Sydney on November 6, you might like to take a trip over to Martin Place. Why? Its seems that some major shooting will take place there for The Matrix Reloaded. To do the scenes, which involve several American cars operating on the streets and travelling in the wrong direction, Elizabeth Street between Hunter St and Market St, and the cross road of King St between Castlereagh St and Phillip St (south) at the corner of Queens Square will be closed through till 6am the next morning.

22 October 2001

Lucy Lawless has spilled the beans about her mysterious new character on the X Files. She told Sci Fi Wire "My character, Shannon McMahon, re-enters [Agent John] Doggett's life. They used to be in the military together - in my backstory, they fought in Beirut - and now she's causing a great deal of trouble. You don't know if she's good, and you don't know if she's bad. She seems to be both things at once." Lawless added that McMahon bears tidings for Scully's baby. "And I spent half my time naked," she said. "Why not, if it looks good onscreen? Of course, you don't see anything, except my well-endowed body double. Let's just say the character's a bit of a water baby, a water babe. She's a nymph." But Lawless declined to give away any more. "I feel like [X Files creator] Chris Carter will come after me, and I'll end up with bloody cement boots on my feet at the bottom of the ocean if I tell you too much."

At a Stargate convention held in Sydney on the weekend, Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson) confirmed he would be leaving the show at the end of the current season. He gave his reason for leaving as his unhappiness with the direction his character is being taken on the show. Apparently his character has been made "less important" in the current season due to the focus on strategic, political plots. Shanks briefly spoke of his character's "demise" which will be left open for him to return should a movie be made in the future.

We reported a rumour couple of weeks ago that Michael Jackson wanted to appear in the sequel to Men in Black. It has since been confirmed that Jacko has indeed appeared on the film's set to shoot a cameo role. While talking to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, director Barry Sonnenfeld spoke of Jackson's involvement in the film, saying, "We shot a small scene with Michael on Tuesday. He was charming, funny and really cool to work with." Despite earlier reports, it seems that Jackson will not be appearing as an alien. Michael Jackson has also reportedly contributed an original song to the sequel.

Rumours abound that Sandra Bullock has dropped out of the upcoming Wonder Woman movie. It seems she was fed up with waiting for the project to get up and running. However, another actress has volunteered to take her place - Friends star Jennifer Aniston. Whilst talking to the US TV Week, Aniston revealed that she wants to play the superheroine, saying that if she were to sign on for a superhero movie or science fiction project it would be have to be Wonder Woman. Aniston also suggested she'd love a remake of The Bionic Woman to get the go ahead so she can star in it.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Australian actor Eric Bana (Chopper, Something in the Air) has officially signed on to go green for The Hulk movie. Ang Lee will direct the computer-generated, effects-laden project. The movie is tentatively scheduled for a 2003 release.

15 October 2001

Director of the first Harry Potter movie, Chris Columbus, told Empire magazine that fans should expect a surprise in the soon-to-be released film. Asked whether there’s anything new in the film, Columbus told Empire that ‘[JK Rowling] did a little piece for us that wasn’t in the first book but she had written it and she authorised it and it’s in there and it’s a little secret that you won’t expect to see. It’s in the first film because she originally wrote it for the first book and decided to take it out. So you’ll see that when you see the film.’ He also confirmed that filming on the second movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, has already begun and that he is considering making all seven books into films back to back. However, he debunked the rumour about the involvement of Hugh Grant in the second movie, saying "I haven't even spoken to Hugh."

Meanwhile, two lucky kids are going to be over the moon this Christmas. Two wands, used in the filming of the first movie, were recently auction at a charity even for cancer in Edinburgh and were snapped up for £12,500. The two publicity-shy bidders who won the auction explained that they wanted to remain anonymous so their kids would be surprised come Christmas Day. Author J K Rowling donated the wands to and autographed the boxes the magic sticks come in - which are also inscribed saying; 'Remember: underage wizards must not use magic outside Hogwarts'.

An internet campaign to get Star Wars fans to list "Jedi Knight" as their religion on census forms has paid off - in the UK, at least. More than 10,000 Britons put down the Star Wars religion as their own, forcing the government's Office for National Statistics to give "Jedi Knight" its own code for purposes of census processing. Jedi Knight joins the Church of England, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu, as well as druidism, satanism and Wicca, on the list of official British religions. However, the Office of National Statistics was quick to downplay any possibility of official recognition of Jedi Knight as a religion. "We are not defining what a religion or a faith might be. We are recognizing what some may have entered on their census form and ensuring that our coding framework will cater for it," an official told the BBC.

We've already reported on how the tragic events of September 11 have effected a number of movies currently being filmed, or in post-production, but now comes news on how it has affected the re-release of an old favourite - E.T. Dee Wallace Stone, who played the mother to the alien-rescuing kids, told how she was called in to change one line for the 20th anniversary re-release of the film. "There was some reference to one of the Halloween characters in the film looking like a terrorist, so we're going in to reloop that line," Stone said. She added that the re-release will feature "new footage, from what I understand."

Earlier in the year we reported on the "sequel" to the 1987 vampire flick The Lost Boys currently in the works. News on The Lost Girls has been somewhat quiet since, but an interesting rumour has recently emerged - Britney Spears will be starring in the film. The director of the original movie, Joel Schumacher, has added fuel to the rumour by telling Filmink Magazine, "If she can act, she might be in it." So the question remains - she can act?

8 October 2001

A brand spanking new official Buffy the Vampire Slayer website was launched last week to coincide with the show's season premier in the US. Not only did the premier rate its socks off - the second highest rating for a Buffy episode ever - but over 2 million fans cruised over to check out the website in the first 24 hours! The site was created by Buffy's new TV network UPN, to replace the old one set up by the show's previous network Warner Bros. The website features a preview of the new season's episode "After Life", cast and character bios, episode guides, and plenty of pics! You can check out the website at: BuffyUPN.com. In the meantime, don't count on too much romance between Spike and Buffy in the new season. James Marsters, who plays Spike on the show, had this to say on the relationship between the two characters: "I don't know if Buffy will ever reciprocate Spike's feelings. I really think Spike is kind of beneath her. He's evil — he really is. He just happens to be in love with a good person."

A TV series based on the Forgotten Realms books looks set to be made under an agreement reached between Fireworks Television and Hasbro, who own the rights to Forgotten Realms. Under terms of the agreement, Fireworks will develop a live action television series based on the game setting and novels of Forgotten Realms. Over 150 books have been released to date in the series, which is based on the Dungeons and Dragon's role-playing game. Jane Ritson-Parsons, President of the Hasbro Properties Group said "Fireworks Studios has the expertise to develop a series that will capture the fantasy of Forgotten Realms and take the traditional roleplaying game to the next level."

Variety.com have confirmed rumours that Ben Affleck is in negotiations to play the lead role in the upcoming movie based on Marvel Comics' Daredevil series. According to Variety, some final details remain to be worked out in a deal that will net the actor a salary in the eight-figure range. Affleck will play blind lawyer and martial arts expert Matt Murdock, who becomes Daredevil - a costumed, crime-fighting vigilante. The movie is believed to be budgeted at around US$50 million, and is expected to start shooting next year in Vancouver.

If the reaction to a recent test screening are anything to go by, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone looks set to be a HUGE success for Warner Bros. The screening, which took place in Chicago a few weeks ago, elicted a very postive response from the audience. In fact, the audience's only major complaint was the length of the movie - its current running time is 2 hours and 23 minutes. But the audience didn't want it shortened, they wanted the film to run longer! The movie is released in Australia on 29 November.

Fans have started a petition to encourage makers of the Matrix Reloaded to keep late pop singer and actress, Aaliyah, in the film. Warner Bros is rumored to be cutting the scenes Aaliyah has already filmed for the Matrix sequel and recasting the role of Zee. The Los Angeles Times has reported that the directors and producer are still grappling with whether to recast the role or not. The petition reads: "We would like to urge WB to honor the memory of Aaliyah's life and keep her scenes in The Matrix 2. Along with your help, we hope to get Warner Bros. to keep Aaliyah's memory alive." On other Matrix Reloaded news, Aussie singer Christine Anu has reportedly joined the cast of film.

2 October 2001

Rumors have been flying for some time suggesting that Hugh Grant would play the role of the self-centered Professor Gilderoy Lockhart Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Despite having one through numerous makeup tests for the role, even dying his hair blonde, it seems that Grant won't be able to do the role after all. The reason? His busy schedule clashes with the filming of the second Harry Potter film. A Warners source said "To have Hugh on board we had to bring the production forward three months, which we can't do. So sadly he's forced out". Meanwhile, Christian Bale's (American Psycho) agent has denied rumours of his playing the role of for the role of Remus Lupin in Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban saying "this is an Internet rumour with no truth in it whatsoever".

Sci Fi Wire has apparently had confirmation from a source that Michael Shanks, who plays archaeologist Daniel Jackson on Stargate SG-1, will be leaving the show. No reason has been given for Shanks' departure, and there is still no word about how he will be written out of the show. He is expected to leave at the end of the current fifth season, and there's a possibility that he may make a few guest appearances in the sixth season. It was also confirmed that a new regular civilian character will join star Richard Dean Anderson and the rest of the SG-1 cast for season six.

William Shatner (Captain Kirk) and Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy (Spock) have recorded a 80-minute, unscripted conversation about their careers, lives and the effect of Star Trek. Shatner said this of the video: "We wanted to put something definitive down for the record, but the conditions were two friends talking one-on-one. It makes it a revealing, honest interchange of feeling and thoughts that no interview would have been capable of doing." During the conversation, both men discuss arguments they had with Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Shatner discusses his father's death, and Nimoy reveals the difficulties he suffered as a result of playing Spock. "Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime" will be released on DVD and VHS later this year.

On other Trek news, a rumour is doing the rounds of the Internet that William Shatner may guest star in the latest Star Trek series, Enterprise, playing an ancestor of Captain Kirk. And, according to The National Enquirer, if his character proves popular, he may well get a regular spot on the show.

Most bizarre rumour of the week: Michael Jackson apparently wants to do a cameo in Men in Black 2, according to E! Online. The singer was mentioned in the first movie as one of several alien celebrities. Jackson reportedly offered to provide a song for the sequel if he was allowed to appear in the film. A Sony representative has denied that Jackson will appear in the movie, but has confirmed that his music may indeed appear on the soundtrack.

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