30 July 2001

A Farscape movie is looking a likely possibility, with the show's creator Rockne S. O’Bannon telling Cinescape "there’s been talks [of a movie] from the very beginning." The only problem seems to be the timing of a movie, with O'Bannon seeming to discount a feature film while the show is still on air: "Creating a movie based on a television series that’s still on the air is really tough to do because where do you put it? [Chris] Carter did it with the X Files by essentially designing a season that led up to the movie, then the movie came out in the summer, and then the next season tailed off. Seriously, I don’t know how successful that was – it gives the movie a short shelf life, I feel, as opposed to being a stand-alone film." Anthony Simcoe, who plays D’Argo, thinks a Farscape movie makes sense, at least from a visual perspective: "The beauty of the show is that it really has created another universe. You really get a sense of the Farscape universe being vast and full of these imaginary creatures. That’s what the Jim Hensen creature shop brings – that’s the real achievement. It’s the sense that it’s not a small place, set in a box in some studio. Its really massive."

A spokesperson for Lucasfilm told attendees of the International Comic Con in San Diego that "Episode II is filled with as much action, adventure and passion as you could hope for" and is much darker than Episode I. It was also confirmed that Christopher Lee will play a mysterious character called Count Dooku, and that Jar Jar Binks will make an appearance in Episode II, albeit a brief one. Other movie tidbits revealed at the convention include a rain-soaked duel between Obi-Wan and Jango, and that some of the movie will take place on the Lars homestead on Tatooine, with a young Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. George Lucas, in a special video segment, also confirmed that part of the film will deal with the beginning of the Clone Wars.

The International Comic Con also heard from Buffy creator Joss Whedon about the spin-off series starring Anthony Stewart Head (Giles). Whedon told Con-goers that the spin-off would have the feel of "classic English ghost stories", and would focus on the theme on loneliness: "[Giles] himself has been gone for many years. He was surrounded by a ... de facto family that he no longer has. And [he is] sort of picking up his life all alone, and then getting involved in sort of the underbelly of other people's lives, and sort of finding out about them. Loneliness is what I think of. It may not be the theme so much as the emotional intent of the series, but that's what really attracts me to it the most." The series, rumoured to be called The Watcher will be produced by the BBC.

Tomb Raider Executive Producer, Stuart Baird, is to direct the tenth Star Trek movie, Nemesis, according to Variety. It had previously been rumoured that Jonathon Frakes (Riker, Star Trek: Next Generation) was to be directing the film. Trektoday.com has released details of the plot for Nemesis, which acknowledges the "maturing" of the crew members. Some of the character developments planned include the wedding of Riker and Troi, Riker's promotion and captaincy of his own starship, a softening in Worf's attitude to Romulans, and Beverly Crusher's departure to take a position at Starfleet Medical. You can read more details of these developments at the Trektoday website.

23 July 2001

Beware spoilers for upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes on the web - they might not be what they seem. Producers have told Sci Fi Wire that they've been leaking bogus rumours for some time. Buffy executive producer Martin Noxon said "because we got sort of savvy, ... and also we're trying to track down where the genuine leaks were, so there's stuff out there that's pure hokum." The rumour last year that Spike (James Marsters) would be killed off so Marsters could do a feature film was one such "pure hokum" leak. Nevertheless, Buffy creator Joss Whedon did admit to some leaks being genuine, saying "there's some accuracy there; luckily, not total accuracy, because that would be annoying...But we have a lot of leaks. We've had horrible leaks on Angel, and I resent it, but there's nothing I can do about it at this point. It doesn't affect what we're going to do. ... And enough of them are wrong that there's a safety factor. ... I feel so strongly ... about the concept of surprise being so important..." Whedon also spoke briefly about what's in store for Angel: "He is not going to be the miserable person that he was last year. He's going to be an entirely different miserable person this year. And he's going to have an entirely different reason. He'll definitely be more connected to the world."

A 30 second preview for the upcoming Enterprise has been aired in the US with last week's episode of Star Trek Voyager. The preview starts with footage from the real American space program and shifts over to footage from the upcoming series, with glimpses of the crew - including one female member removing her shirt and captain Jonathon Archer (Scott Bakula) marvelling about the new form of space travel. The clip is available for viewing at Trekenterprise.com, TrekToday and TrekWeb.

Rumours that English actor Hugh Grant would be appearing in the second Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, have been shot down by the star's spokesperson, who said that Grant had not even spoken with Warner Brothers about the film. Movieheadlines had reported that Grant had been confirmed to play Prof Gilderoy Lockhart in the second Potter film.

Pendragon Pictures has officially announced that their update of the sci-fi classic War of the Worlds will now be released to coincide with Halloween 2002, rather than mid in 2003 as first planned. Director Tim Hines says: "As the details of our production became more refined, we realized we had it within our grasp to release by Halloween, which I really want to do as Halloween is the night Orson Welles broadcast his famous radio version of War of the Worlds. I feel the approach to our production has a great deal in common with the approach Orson Welles took with the material, and we will make history on Halloween night, 2002".

Aussie actor David Wenham, best know for his role of Diver Dan in Seachange, has spoken with Caltanet Cinema about his role as Faramir in the upcoming Lord of the Rings movies. He reveals that he played the role of the gentle warrior with an English accent, and that director Peter Jackson has done everything possible to remain faithful to the books. You can read the full interview by visiting: Caltanet Cinema website

16 July 2001

According to a rumour reported by the Coming Soon website, Sean Connery is in talks to play the lead villain in Star Trek X. The baddie is the leader of the Remen - an off-shoot race of the Romulans used as slave labour in the Dilithium crystal mines by the Romulans. Shinzon is a strong leader who thinks his people have taken a backseat to the Romulans for too long. The enterprise is sent on a diplomatic mission to talk to Shinzon and the Romulans, unaware of Shinzon's secret plans.

During an interview with the US TV Guide, co-creator Rick Berman unveiled new details about the latest Star Trek series, Enterprise. The show is set 150 years from now, around 50 years after Vulcans first made contact with Earth. Relations with Vulcans are now strained, and Klingons will resemble the ones from the newer series rather than the original series. A new villain race will be introduced - the Sulibans, who are genetically engineered. The "new" Enterprise, an Akira-class starship, will carry the designation NX-01 and will carry about 80 crew members.

Composer Howard Shore is currently working on the score to the first Lord of the Rings movie, a project he has compared to "the complexity and difficulty of writing an opera". The score is expected to have a strong Celtic flavour and use the languages of Midle Earth, including Elvish and Dwarvish. E! Online reported that Irish folk musicians the Barleyshakes were in New Zealand last month to record a session for the score. Irish singer Enya is also rumoured to be involved. Meanwhile, Dark Horizons has reported a rumour that one of the movie's characters dies in a way that is very different to his death in the book. If you aren't worried by potential spoilers, then visit Dark Horizons for more details.

It seems that the Gremlin franchise isn't over yet, with rumours that director Joe Dante will make a third installment. Donald Petrie (My Favorite Martian) is set to direct the original lead actors, Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates, with Rob Lowe rumoured to be joining them. A script has apparently been written but no details on the storyline are available yet.

9 July 2001

Rumours about a new Superman movie are doing the Internet rounds. The proposed film is reportedly to be called either Superman Reborn or Superman Destruction, and David Duchovny is apparently under consideration for the lead role, with Jim Carrey the studio's preferred choice to play Superman's arch enemy Lex Luthor. Tim Burton's (Planet of the Apes) name is being touted for director, and longtime X-Files director David Nutter is reported to be one of the executive producers. But it seems that Warner Bros will wait and see what the box-office response is to next year's Spider-Man movie before giving the new Superman flick the nod. If it goes ahead, the film looks set for a Christmas 2003 release.

Paramount Pictures confirmed to the New York Post that it's "given the green light to look at scripts" for a fourth Indiana Jones movie. At least three scripts have already been written, with stories ranging from Indy's search for the lost city of Atlantis to his quest to find a long-lost brother. Both Lucas and Spielberg are reportedly seeking writing control. An anonymous source told the Post: "They [Paramount] want the original credits--George Lucas producing, Steven Spielberg directing and Harrison Ford to star... Harrison wants at least $25 million, plus some of the back end, and George and Steven have said they will work for a lesser fee than usual, but want a big portion of the movie's proceeds. The entire movie is going to cost them $150 million, and Paramount can't figure out how it's going to make any money with all three of the big names demanding money off the back end." Sean Connery is also believed to have recently expressed his interest in reprising his role as Indy's father.

In an interview with Empire Online, Simon West (Tomb Raider) spoke about the progress on his big screen adaption of the classic sci fi TV show, The Prisoner. "We're just at script stage at the moment. I'm always developing two or more things at once. This was actually supposed to be done before Tomb Raider, but the script wasn't ready." West also mentioned that he's keen to use the original sets and location (Portmeiron in North Wales) and even to get the original star of the show, Patrick McGoohan involved. "From being a fan as a kid, out of nostalgia, I would want to put as much of the key stuff from the series in there, like his car or the location. I'd even like to get Patrick McGoohan in there, if he's at all interested... but I want to wait until I've got a finished script I'm happy with before approaching him."

2 July 2001

The US Fox TV network has ordered a two-hour Battlestar Galactica movie, based on the 1970s series, which will stand as a pilot for a proposed new series. The next-generation Galactica will be set after the seventh-millennium time frame of the original series. The Producers of the new series told SCI FI Wire that the will feature some characters from the original, although they declined to say which ones. "Some of the characters will be revived... one thing we can say is that we're very much aware of the old fans... We want to honor the old show. We don't want to violate anything. It's like, if you watch the show, you're not going to go, 'Oh, well, they totally contradicted what was in the old show.' There won't be any contradictions, but there will be a taking it further and taking it further in time."

The director of the Harry Potter movie, Chris Columbus, told USA Today that he has tried to stay as true to the book as he could so as not to disappoint fans - "It was a passion for me to be as faithful as possible," Columbus told USA Today. "To make this film you have to be a fan. These books are incredibly imaginative, classic stories. Why would you need to toy with that?" The second Harry Potter movie trailer is now out, but Columbus didn't want to give away all his secrets. "The key is to show a little quidditch when it's ready," he said. "I want people to be intrigued and excited about seeing the film, but I don't want to spoil the experience for anybody." The trailer is available from the official site.

The Northern California Movies website reported that the third Matrix movie has been subtitled Revolutions. Production on both Matrix 2 and 3 has finished up in San Francisco and, after a brief visit to Washington, will head to Australia to complete filming. Producer Joel Silver says he won't be watering down the film's violent content to please the studio and "there's greater freedom in an R-rated picture for doing the kind of movies we like to do. These pictures are not for children. The Matrix sequels are both R-rated and that's just the way that worked out...I'm proud that we do not make these pictures for children. These films are R-rated for a reason".

The Ron Howard-directed, George Lucas-produced medieval fantasy flick Willow is will be released on DVD. The Special Edition DVD has been THX digitally re-mastered for superior sound and picture quality, with new 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. The special features will include commentary tracks, an all-new documentary about the film's FX, a classic "Making of an Adventure" documentary, an effects featurette, original theatrical trailers, and a still photo gallery. It is expected to be released in late November.

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