29 April 2001

Tommy Lee Jones has apparently been given the flick from Men In Black 2 after demanding $40 million to reprise his role as Agent "K". Rumour has it that filmmakers are keen to cast a Latino as Will Smith's new sidekick, and Ricky Martin's name is being bandied around for the part. It also appears that Linda Fiorentino won't be returning in the sequel. Shooting on the film is scheduled to start in June.

Hugh Grant has been the latest actor rumoured to be playing the Doctor in a movie version of Dr Who. His publicist, however, has denied any current talks about the role, although Grant's future involvement was not ruled out. A source at the BBC confirmed that a rough draft script is being considered and that "the BBC knows full well that any studio that gets involved will have its own ideas on a script and actor so they are being careful not to make any official announcements on either." Other high profile actors which have previously been linked to the role include Sir Sean Connery, Sean Bean, Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Sylvester Stallone, and John Cleese.

World Entertainment News Network reported that pro wrestler Chyna will play Wonder Woman in the movie based on the DC comic series. Chyna is quoted talking about the project, saying, "We need a real female action hero. It's time we saw that comic book character jumping up off the pages...I want to take my ability, my persona, my muscles and my personality to bring that into a real action hero role. I'm working out around four days a week to ensure that I'm in good shape to be a true Wonder Woman." Silver Pictures has denied the rumor. Other female celebs previously linked to the role include Sandra Bullock and Mariah Carey.

The latest on casting for the next Star Trek series is that Paramount is having trouble casting the role of T'Pau, a female Vulcan and the starship's Science Officer. TrekWeb sources have suggested that Marjorie Monaghan (Babylon 5) was in the running for the role. Meanwhile, the TrekToday website reported that Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap) has not formally accepted the series' lead role of Capt. Jackson Archer and the role is still being negotiated.

Reign of Fire, Disney's fantasy dragon flick, is yet another example of Hollywood's lack of regard for accuracy. The film is currently filming in Ireland's snow capped mountain peaks, which is supposed to represent Norfolk, England. The problem? Norfolk is England's flattest county with its highest "mountain" barely 100m above sea level. According to Dark Horizons, a local man tried to point out their little error: "I couldn't believe what I was reading when I saw how the film featured a castle on top of a mountain in Norfolk. I tried to explain that they were making a terrible mistake, but they just shrugged their shoulders and said it was a small detail. Their view was that the film wold be seen by 200 million people across the world and only about two million would know that Norfolk is flat".

23 April 2001

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films has announced the nominations for the 27th annual Saturn Awards, honoring genre movies and television shows. The nominations include:

Science Fiction Film:
• The Cell
• Hollow Man
• The 6th Day
• Space Cowboys
• Titan A.E.
• X-Men

Fantasy Film:
• Chicken Run
• Dinosaur
• Family Man
• Frequency
• Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
• What Women Want

Network Television Series:
• Angel
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Dark Angel
• Roswell
• Star Trek: Voyager
• The X-Files

Syndicated/Cable Television Series:
• Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda
• The Beastmaster
• Farscape
• The Invisible Man
• The Outer Limits
• Stargate: SG-l

The awards will be presented June 12 in Los Angeles.

The last episode of the long-running sf comedy, 3rd Rock From the Sun, will air in the US on 22 May. The final episode sees the aliens heading home in the same red convertible in which they arrived, with singer Elvis Costello sending the group off in style with a rendition of "Fly Me to the Moon." John Cleese will make a cameo appearance in the final episode. The show, which has run for six seasons, has won eight Emmy nominations.

Andy Serkis, who "plays" the Gollum in the upcoming Lord of the Rings movies, has spoken about the filming of his character. He was required to wear a special suit on set "covered in reflective dots, tracked by a computer-driven camera. The animation can then be overlaid, so the actor realistically drives the character's movements, even if the final appearance is part computer graphics." Serkis added, "They were looking for someone who was capable of doing a creature voice but portray him as human as well...I think the great thing about Gollum is that he is the point of human contact for what the ring does to you. He's very much a case of 'There but for the grace of God.'" For the full interview, visit Imladris: Lord of the Rings Movie News website

Four Spider-Man costumes used in the production of the upcoming Spider-Man movie have been stolen from the Sony Pictures Studios lot, where the film is being shot. Columbia Pictures have offered a reward of $25,000 for their return. Sources suggest the costumes are worth as much as US $65,000 each. A spokesman for Columbia Pictures told SCI FI Wire: "They're valuable property, and we'd like to have them returned. There are others, but we do need these for the production of the movie. Production has not been slowed by this, but they are part of the movie, and we would like them back."

9 April 2001

According to the British Tabloid The Sun, Patrick Stewart (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: Next Generation) has penned a treatment for the next Star Trek movie killing off his character. The Sun reports Picard as saying "With the movie, I have very strong feelings that it should be the last for The Next Generation, at least the last for Jean-Luc Picard. We have at the moment a 28-page storyline, which sounds really exciting. I have written an ending for Picard in which we finally kill him off, and producers are looking over it now." Early reports also suggest that the villian in the movie is to be played by Alan Rickman.

In an interview with SFX Magazine, X-Men 2 director Bryan Singer suggested that the sequel will pick up themes from the first movie, "I think one of the key phrases in the X-Men movie is when Magneto acknowledges that a war is coming, and I think that that's where the world is headed ... I think that the tension between good mutants, not-so-good mutants and humans will only escalate. I think that's where it's going to go." Singer also hinted at many more X-Men movies to come: "I'm just developing the story, just coming up with the structure of the story that I like. It's material you can use in X-Men 2, and if you don't use it in X-Men 2, you can use it in X-Men 3, 4, 5. ... I'm thinking of it in terms of a universe, like the comic. It has room for expansion, if it's cared for and nurtured properly."

One of the cast of Roswell will be killed off when the series returns to air in the US next week. Co-executive producer of the series, Ronald D. Moore told SciFi.com: "In the next episode, there's a shocking change in the cast. There's a death that affects everyone," Moore said. "In turn, that is the catalyst for everything else that happens." While Moore didn't identify the departing cast member, rumours on the Internet has point to it being Colin Hanks, who has publicly expressed his desire to leave the show.

The WB TV network has pulled the plug on the Pern TV series. Ronald D. Moore, who produced the pilot episode told SciFi.com that the network was looking for an entirely different show. "I had tried ... to keep the spirit of the books alive ... and make it a classy, interesting show. And ... what was evident ... they wanted a different show. It was more Buffy-esque and Xena-esque ... There wasn't a way to split the difference. Ultimately, they decided we should just let the project go." Moore added "And I think the fans--while they may be disappointed that the series won't go forward - would have been more disappointed if we had made a series that contradicted the world that Anne [McCaffrey] had created and was so wonderful."

A Catwoman movie has been given the green light by Warner Bros. Variety mag has reported that Ashley Judd signed on last week to play the lead role. The Catwoman in the movie will apparently differ from the character in Batman, with Selina Kyle not being the feline character's alter ego. Shooting is expected to start later this year.

An email is doing the rounds suggesting that people identify their religion as "Jedi" in the upcoming official Australian census. The message states: "If there are enough people in the country, about 10,000, who put down the same religion, it becomes a fully recognised and legal religion". In an article in The Age, however, the head of the Australian Bureau of Statistics census program, John Struik, warned that anyone who falsely provides information on a census faces a $1000 fine. He added that to be recognised as a religion a formal organisational structure with a belief system must be demonstrated. "If we get 10,000 Jedis they will go down as no official religion," he said.

2 April 2001

Buffy, as a cartoon heroine? Reports suggest that the US Fox TV network has ordered a animated series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it may start production early next year. The animated series will focus on Buffy and gang in their high schhol days. Early rumours suggest the actors of the live-action series may provide voices for the animated series.

A telefilm called Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers is currently in development. Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski is working on the two-hour telefilm which may serve as the pilot for a new series of the show. The telemovie finds the mysterious Ranger force faced with deadly challenges in its attempt to create peace out of the war's destruction. It is expected to air in the US later this year.

A TV series based on the bestselling novel by Michael Ende, The Neverending Story, is to be made by Hallmark Entertainment. The series will apparently be a re-telling of the book, rather than a follow-up to the three successful films made in the 1980's and early 1990's. The TV show, which is currently filming in Montreal, will star Mark Rendell in the lead role of Bastian.

None of the cast of Star Trek: Voyager will be killed off as the series comes to an end, according to Robert Duncan McNeill, who plays Lt. Tom Paris. McNeill told Cinescape Online "It doesn't kill any of us off," the actor revealed. "But it puts a nice punctuation on the end of the series in a real heartfelt way. I think it's going to be a really great episode." The finale airs in the US in May.

Fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have started up an online petition to convince Paramount to make a movie of the series. The petition gives the following reasons why a Deep Space Nine movie should be made: "With the ending of the original series and Next Generation film series, it seems only logical that Deep Space Nine--left rich in unfinished storylines and possibilities--should be the next film frontier for the Star Trek franchise". More than 5,400 signatures have been obtained so far.

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