THE ZOCALO TODAY – October 21, 2007

What's New

THE CHANGELING
Production pictures are starting to show up on the internet from THE
CHANGELING, the story written by J. Michael Straczynski and now in
production with Clint Eastwood directing.

Angelina Jolie is all smiles with costar Devon Gearhart on the L.A.
set of their new '20s-era thriller THE CHANGELING on Thursday.
Director Clint Eastwood was also seen around set, which is in San
Dimas (a suburb of Los Angeles). In the film, Gearheart, 12, plays
the son of Angie's character named Jeffrey. Angie's character
suspects the boy who comes back to her after being kidnapped is not
hers. More photos from the set can be found at
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2007/10/16/angelina-jolie-the-
changeling/.

It is a bit sad that none of the reports I've seen about the movie
has mentioned the writer—J. Michael Straczynski. Clint Eastwood and
Angelina Jolie are getting the headlines on this one!

THE CHANGELING
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Jeffrey Donovan, Colm Feore and
John Malkovich have joined Angelina Jolie in CHANGELING, a true life
drama that Clint Eastwood is directing for Universal and Imagine. The
story follows a woman (Jolie) whose son goes missing in 1920s Los
Angeles. The police return the wrong child and the woman is thrown
into an insane asylum for disagreeing with the LAPD. When it seems
that her real son has been murdered by a child serial killer and the
child returned admits to fraud, she takes her case to the city
council and takes down the mayor, the police chief and several
corrupt officers, concurrently sparking changes in the insanity
legislation. Donovan will play a police captain, Feore the chief of
police and Malkovich a reverend. Also joining the cast are Jason
Butler Harner ("John Adams"), who portrays a mechanic accused of
murdering the woman's son, as well as Amy Ryan and Michael Kelly.
Donovan is the star of USA Networks' "Burn Notice," the Matt Nix-
created show that became a hit this summer. Feore will be seen as a
series regular on the upcoming season of Fox's "24," in which he
plays first husband opposite Tony winner Cherry Jones as the
president. Malkovich will next be seen starring in Robert
Zemeckis' "Beowulf" and stars in "The Great Buck Howard."

WRITER'S STRIKE
The Hollywood Reporter and other sources reports that writers have
voted for a strike that could take place any time after the current
contract ends at the end of October. Votes were sent out to the some
8000 members and 90.3 percent of the returned ballots voted to
strike.

BABYLON PODCAST #86
Tim, Summer, Jeffrey and Mike welcome in-studio guest Keith, and
together we celebrate the end of LostTalesaPalooza, and rejoice The
Return of the Deep Geeking (Series Edition)!

Jeffrey poses a question to all: why wasn't there a dentist on
Babylon 5? We ponder the reasons why;

Deep Geeking: The Deep Geeking commences again with Tim, Summer and
Keith talking about;Voice of Authority, from Season 3.
Listener Feedback: Voicemails, and emails, and riddles; oh my!
Summer misses the Haikus.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-
2259, or email us and tell us what you think; and likely hear it
played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments
as brief as possible.

To catch up on all the previous Babylon Podcasts, go to
BabylonPodcast.com or here at The Zocalo Today on Podcast Page.

KEEPING UP WITH CAST AND CREW

BILL BLAIR
Bill has been having a grand time this year. He did the show SAVING
GRACE this past summer and just finished a new pilot for TNT called
FAMILY MAN with William H. Macy, Martin Mull and Annie Potts - hope
it goes to series:-) For more information about Bill, go to
http://www.alienactor.com or www.billblairfanclub.com.

JEANNE CAVELOS
Here is an excerpt from Jeanne's newsletter:
--I was interviewed on the New Hampshire Public Radio program FRONT
PORCH yesterday and discussed the history of science fiction,
specifically the roles played by Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, and H. G.
Wells. You can listen here: http://www.nhpr.org/taxonomy/term/15000.
--I gave a reading from my BABYLON 5 novel CASTING SHADOWS that was
broadcast on two episodes of the radio show DESTINIES: THE VOICE OF
SCIENCE FICTION . You can listen by clicking here
www.captphilonline.com/Destinies.html and scrolling down to the July
27 and August 3 shows.
--In May, I was interviewed for the BABYLON PODCAST about my BABYLON
5 novels. You can listen to the interview here:
http://www.babylonpodcast.com/2007/05/02/babylon-podcast-show-63/

**JEANNE AT THE WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION** I'll be attending the
World Fantasy Convention Nov. 2-4, in Saratoga Springs, NY. I'd love
to see you there! I'll be hosting a Ghost Story Slam Nov. 2 at
midnight, in which many authors will be reading their original ghost
stories, each five minutes or less in length. I may be participating
in other programming, but that's not set yet. You can find more
information here: http://www.lastsfa.org/wfc2007/.

DISCUSSION TOPIC
Now we know that there have been tons of BAD movies produced. To
some, it is a matter of taste, but of all the science fiction movies
produced over the last 10 years (had to limit it somehow), which ones
to you consider the WORST -- and why?

Send in your thoughts and comments to sgbruckner@.... I will post
them on the Discussion Page for everyone to share and enjoy. There
are some good ones so far. Add yours! If you see an old topic you
want to respond to, go right ahead. We enjoy hearing from you.

NEW DVDS COMING
Veronica Mars: The Complete Third Season
Release date: October 23, 2007
Website: http://www.veronicamarsdvd.com"

Synopsis: Hearst College, jewel of the Pacific. A citadel of higher
education set amid rolling lawns and swaying palms. But since Hearst
is in Neptune, California - and since Veronica Mars is among its
incoming freshmen - you know it's also a noir netherworld of lies,
betrayal, secrets and (of course) murder. Veronica, Logan and more of
your VM favorites join cool new characters for a Season 3 of seething
mystery and sardonic wit. College is indeed a learning experience as
Veronica aces a crim class led by a hunky prof, solves the case of on-
campus rapes that began in Season Two, and gives a grad seminar in
sleuthing when two faculty members take sudden, eternal early
retirements. Frosh year is gonna be freaky! Actors: Kristen Bell,
Jason Dohring, Percy Daggs, Francis Capra, Enrico Colantoni, Tina
Majorino

Blue Planet, The: Seas of Life - Special Edition
Release Date: October 2, 2007
Website: http://www.bbcamericashop.com

Synopsis: Blue Planet, The: Seas of Life - Special Edition Before
creating the monumental Planet Earth, producer Alastair Fothergill
and his team from the BBC put together one of the most breathtaking
explorations of the world's oceans ever assembled, The Blue Planet:
Seas of Life. The winner of two Emmy(R) Awards, The Blue Planet: Seas
of Life is the definitive exploration of the marine world,
chronicling the mysteries of the deep in ways never before imagined.
It is now being re-released in an all-new special edition, with an
added 5th disc of bonus programming not included in the original DVD
release. See it again, like never before!

THE BELIEVERS
Release Date: October 16, 2007
For more information, go to http://believersmovie.com/.

Award-winning filmmaker Daniel Myrick returns to his indie roots with
the latest addition to the RAW-FEED series from Warner Home Video.
BELIEVERS, a modern day psychological thriller, is set to be released
October 16, 2007. While on duty, David Vaughn (Messner) and Victor
Hernandez (Huertas), two emergency paramedics, receive a call from a
young girl whose mother has lost consciousness in a deserted area,
but they soon discover that the life they have to save may be their
own. Kidnapped and locked in an isolated building, David tries to
discover the truth behind a secret cult and its beliefs. As Victors
beliefs are challenged and the fine line between religion and science
is crossed, David must find a way to escape and get out, before they
get him.

Roots: The Complete Collection
Synopsis: The series that captivated a nation and made television
history is brought to you in a complete box set that includes
everything about Alex Haley's incredible family saga. The Complete
Collection includes Roots which begins with Kunte Kinte's humble
beginnings in Africa and continues in Roots: The Next Generations
closing with Alex Haley's own life in the 1970's as he embarks on his
research to unveil his roots. The Complete Collection also includes
the Christmas movie Roots: The Gift as well as specially created
special features to celebrate the legacy of Roots 30 years later.

BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT
Considered one of the best science fiction movies made, BLADE RUNNER
has now been restored and remastered. In this release, there are a
number of versions:
The Final Cut Special Edition (2-discs)
Collector's Edition (4-discs)
Ultimate Collector's Edition (5-discs)
Complete Collector's Edition (5 discs)

In celebration of the release of BLADERUNNER: THE FINAL CUT on
December18, Warner Bros. brings all fans the chance to get inspired
and win 5 grand prizes of $1,000 home entertainment system across
different categories.

For more information, go to http://www.bladerunnerthemovie.com".

POLTERGEIST 25TH ANNIVERSARY: DELUXE
Just in time for Halloween, on October 9, Warner Bros. released a
remastered version of POLTERGEIST.

SYNOPSIS: They're baaaack for only one night on the big screen!
Suburbanites Steve (Craig T. Nelson) and Diane (JoBeth Williams)
suddenly experience paranormal activity in their home. What starts
off as minor excitement quickly turns into nasty encounters. The
disappearance of their daughter Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) forces
the Freelings to bring in parapsychologists and a professional
exorcist to exorcise their home.

NEW PUBLICATIONS
DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS #1
by Pat Mills, Wagner & Gibbons
IDW Publishing is proud to kick off its Doctor Who line with monthly
re-presentations of classic Doctor Who comics, featuring some of the
best talents in the business! Up first, adventures featuring the
fourth doctor courtesy of Pat Mills, John Wagner, and Dave Gibbons
(Watchmen). Each issue will feature all-new state-of-the-art coloring
by color artist Charlie Kirchoff, as well as an all-new cover by Joe
Corroney (Star Trek). 32pgs, FC..........$3.99

HEROES MAGAZINE #1
The NBC epic drama, which follows the lives of ordinary people with
extraordinary abilities, is making its magazine debut in the form of
Heroes Magazine! Featuring all the latest news on the second season,
interviews with the cast and crew, and an exclusive insight into the
special effects, this is the ultimate guide to exploring one of the
biggest shows of 2007! (Titan) (C: 0-1-2)
NEWSSTAND EDITION�8x11, 100pgs, FC..........$9.99
PREVIEWS EXCLUSIVE�8x11, 100pgs, FC..........$9.99

CONVENTION CALENDAR

November 2-4, 2007
United Fan Con
Place: Springfield, MA
B5 Guest: Tracy Scoggins, Bill Mumy
Other Guests: Stargate Atlantis' Dr. Elizabeth Weir: Torri Higginson,
Classic Star Trek`s Janice Rand: Grace Lee Whitney, TV Icon: Henry
Winkler, Battlestar Galactica's Crewman Cally: Nicki Clyne
For more information, go to http://www.unitedfancon.com.

DECEMBER 1-2, 2007
Steel City Con
Guests: Richard LeParmentier, Corin Nemic, Mark Goddard, Bob May,
Cathy St. George, Mark Sparacio, Blly Tan and others
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Place: Pittsburgh Expomart - Monroeville
For more information visit www.steelcitycon.com

NEWS ON THE SCI-FI FRONT:

As is usual for a Sunday, there isn't a lot of news to report. Ranger
Mac did send along a very interesting link to "Top 50 Dystopian
Movies of All Time" that you may want to peek at -- see if you agree
with those chosen. Go to http://snarkerati.com/movie-news/the-top-50-
dystopian-movies-of-all-time/.

TIN MAN
The trailer for TIN MAN, a new SciFi channel miniseries, has been
released on YouTube. It is loosely based on Lyman Frank Baum's novel
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"; and has a pretty well rounded cast
which includes the likes of Zooey Deschanel, Neal McDonough, Alan
Cumming, Kathleen Robertson, and Richard Dreyfuss. TIN MAN is
scheduled to premiere on the Sci-Fi channel in December 2007.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
It had been rumored for a long time -- and now it is confirmed.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Jorja Fox is leaving CSI. The 39-
year-old actress who plays Sara Sidle says that her decision had
nothing to do with money and everything to with wanting a break from
the commitment of a weekly television series.

"There are all these things I want to do. Some are personal. Some are
professional. And I really need to do some of them before I get too
old," explains Fox. "If I thought the show were on its last legs, I
would have tried harder to stay the course. But I feel like its going
to be around for a while, so if I don't want some of those dreams to pass me by.
I have to get off the ride for a while."

She was invited back for an eighth season (her contract expired in
May) but she was only interested in signing on for a limited number
of episodes. She'll appear in five more this season; her last in
mid-November; before saying goodbye to TV's top-rated drama.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
30 DAYS OF NIGHT topped the box office on Friday and figures to be
the No. 1 movie for its opening weekend. The film, based on the IDW
Publishing comics series by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, brought
in an estimated $6.2 million on Friday. That nearly doubled runner-up
Tyler Perry's WHY DID I GET MARRIED, which had $3.3 million. 30 DAYS
OF NIGHT, which has had mixed reviews, opened in 2,855 theaters. The
film stars Josh Hartnett, who was a guest on NBC's Late Night with
Conan O'Brien on Friday night. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT could become the
sixth comics-based film to top the box office this year, following
GHOST RIDER, 300, TMNT, SPIDER-MAN 3 and FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE
SILVER SURFER.

NOT FORGOTTEN
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Simon Baker (The Guardian) has
been cast in the lead role of Dror Soref's indie supernatural
thriller NOT FORGOTTEN, playing a bank manager in a U.S.-Mexico
border town haunted by the death of his daughter.

THE WOLFMAN
Sir Anthony Hopkins has confirmed that he will star opposite Benicio
Del Toro in Universal's THE WOLFMAN, scheduled for a February 13,
2009 release. "I'm going to do 'The Wolfman' with Benicio Del Toro,"
Hopkins told MTV during an interview for his upcoming movie,
SLIPSTREAM. Hopkins will play Sir John Talbot, father to Del Toro's
Lawrence Talbot, the character who becomes afflicted with the
werewolf curse. Mark Romanek directs from a script by Andrew Kevin
Walker.

GAME
Kyra Sedgwick (TNT's "The Closer") and Michael C. Hall
(Showtime's "Dexter") have joined Lakeshore Entertainment's high-
concept techno-thriller "Game" reports Coming Soon. Set in the near
future, when mind-control technology has taken society by storm. In
this dystopian world, the ultimate online simulation environment is
humans remote-controlling other humans in mass-scale, multiplayer
online gaming. Gerard Butler plays Kable, the No. 1-ranked warrior in
the highest-rated game, called "Slayers." With his every move tracked
by millions, Kable's ultimate challenge is to regain his identity and
bring down the system that has imprisoned him. Written and directed
by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. Filming will begin in January.

HEROES
HEROES fans may have noticed several familiar faces in the group
photo glimpsed in last week's episode, "The Kindness of Strangers."
Creator Tim Kring promised that they will soon show up. "We will be
seeing the people ... in the photo," Kring confirmed during a recent
conference call with reporters. "I think all of them will be [played
by the actors in the photo]. I just have to tell you, the photo has
got a life of its own, because, logistically, it was so difficult to
actually come up with this photograph that's used now and refers to
things that are shot well in the future here. It was very difficult
to get that all lined up. But, yes, the photo is as accurate as we
can make it." The photo depicted a character who appeared to be
played by Joanna Cassidy (Blade Runner, Six Feet Under). Kring
wouldn't confirm her casting, but said: "It did look an awful lot
like Joanna Cassidy in there." Another new character in the photo is
the father of Matt Parkman (Greg Grunberg), and it's the elder
Parkman who's the boogeyman in Molly's (Adair Tischler) nightmares.
The photo also featured the by-now familiar faces of Daniel Linderman
(Malcolm McDowell), Charles Deveaux (Richard Roundtree), Angela
Petrelli (Cristine Rose), Bob (Stephen Tobolowsky) and Kaito Nakamura
(George Takei). With the addition of several new characters so far
this season—including Kristen Bell's Elle, who shows up next week—
Kring admitted that not every character—even major ones—will appear
in every episode. And some characters will die—perhaps even
permanently, Kring acknowledged. "Yes, on a show like this, you have
to be able to fold people in and fold people out," Kring said. "So
the audience should fully expect to see characters leaving in the
near future."

In a recent interview, Kristen Bell, who will join the cast of HEROES
in the Oct. 22 episode, said that her character, Elle, is
duplicitous, manipulative and just "a little off." Bell declined to
divulge Elle's super power, but hinted that the character arrives
with a link to several others, most notably Peter Petrelli (Milo
Ventimiglia), whom she encounters in Ireland. "I have been crossing
my fingers in hopes that I would get a job soon where I could play
someone who was, as [creator] Tim [Kring] likes to call it, 'a little
off,' or perhaps didn't have the brightest and shiniest of
intentions," Bell said. (She spoke along with Kring, the show's
executive producer.) "And I think the depths at which they've written
Elle, this character, she's so conflicted and sort of comes across as
such a victim. It's so much fun to play with." Bell, who many will
know from her role in VERONICA MARS, is one of several new characters
introduced in Heroes' second season. As for Elle's interactions with
the other characters, Bell said, "I have a lot of information about
Peter's past. ... " Kring added: "We introduce the character, and she
is looking for Peter Petrelli. So I think one can assume that she
finds him." Asked if she could reveal anything more about Elle's
power or the character's relationships with the show's familiar
faces, Bell replied, "I can't reveal her secret power. You'll have to
watch next Monday. But it's a very cool power. She has ties to H.R.G.
[Jack Coleman] and Claire [Hayden Panettiere], and I think there's
going to be a very interesting dynamic, I think, between her and
Claire as far as what is and what is not. I think there's going to be
a deeper relationship there than people are expecting. Or they're
going to see maybe some parallels. She also has ties, a little bit,
to Suresh [Sendhil Ramamurthy]." Bell's first episode, "Fight or
Flight," airs Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

REVOLUTION
SCI FI Channel has given the green light to a two-hour SF
drama/action pilot called REVOLUTION, the story of "New America," a
distant colony on an Earth-like planet struggling for its
independence from an increasingly hostile homeworld. REVOLUTION is
created and written by Ed Redlich (Shark, Without a Trace) and John
Bellucci (Jack and Bobby, Without a Trace), who will both serve as
executive producers, along with executive producer Simon West (Lara
Croft Tomb Raider) and co-executive producer Jib Polhemus for Simon
West Productions. The pilot, from CBS Paramount Network Television,
is slated to begin production in January. New America is a colony
settled by the now-named "United State of America" 50 light years
away on a planet resembling our own. The pilot centers on the Hart
family, one of the founding families of New America. Tom, a former
military man turned industrialist, is the patriarch of the family,
who is facing great pressure from the government to tax the already
heavily burdened colonists. Tom's two sons have struggles of their
own. One is rebelling against his industrialist grandfather and the
old America; the other, more radical one is heading toward
revolution. Tom's 16-year-old daughter, meanwhile, is simply trying
to find her way in the world. The show will also feature a governor
torn between her allegiance to the colony and her desire for peace
and a young ambitious bureaucrat looking to bring the colony back
under control.

THE BIRDS
Variety reports that Naomi Watts will star in and Martin Campbell is
in negotiations to direct Universal's new version of THE BIRDS. The
movie is planned as a reimagining of Daphne du Maurier's original
short story, which inspired Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic movie.
Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller will produce through their
Platinum Dunes company, while Peter Guber and Cathy Schulman are
producing for Mandalay Pictures. Stiles White and Juliet Snowden
wrote a version of the script that is still being developed. New
writers may be brought aboard.

DANTE'S COVE
The creators of DANTE'S COVE love the fact that the predominantly gay
and lesbian witches and ghosts in this ongoing campy supernatural
soap opera has reached more of a mainstream audience as it kicks off
its third season. The cast and crew joined a star-studded crowd on
Oct. 16 in West Hollywood, Calif., for a third-season-premiere
party. "It's amazing how many straight science fiction and fantasy
fans have come up to me to tell me how much they love the show and
watch it," said director and show creator Sam Irvin. "There are gay,
lesbian, bisexual and straight people on this show, and certainly
maybe more gay and lesbian characters than most shows, but it seems
to appeal to a mainstream heterosexual audience, too." Described by
critics as a gay campy DARK SHADOWS with both male and female nudity,
DANTE'S COVE has a cast that includes Tracy Scoggins (BABYLON 5),
Gabriel Romero, William Gregory Lee, Thea Gill and Michelle Wolff.
They are joined in the upcoming season by Reichen Lehmkuhl, Jill
Bennett and Jenny Shimizu. "I love being part of it," said Scoggins,
who plays a deliciously evil witch. "It's a lot of fun and very
sexy." Irvin said that the show winks at other horror and SF films,
as well as Aaron Spelling TV series. He added that it's a delicate
balance. "People like the campy aspect of the show and the scare, and
they like the sensuality, too," said Irvin, who pointed to Fred Olen
Ray's gay vampire series THE LAIR as part of a trend. The third
season of DANTE'S COVE debuts Oct. 19.

THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
Fox's midseason sci-fi drama THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES is getting
a "Terminator" branding and a Monday night berth. The series, an
offshoot of the "Terminator" feature franchise, has been
renamed "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." It will premiere
at 8 p.m. Jan. 14 and will run Monday night alongside veteran "24."
At its upfront presentation in May, Fox announced a spring launch
for "Sarah Connor" at 9 p.m. Sundays. That evoked parallels to the
run of another sci-fi drama in the time period, "The X-Files," before
the network switched to an all-comedy Sunday lineup. The plan changed
last month after Fox brass opted to extend the upcoming seventh
season of "24" into June. (With a three-hour premiere instead of a
four-hour/two-night premiere and no back-to-back episodes, "24" will
run through June 16.) That led to shifting the return of "24's"
regular companion, "Prison Break," to April so that the two series
can wrap their seasons on the same night, opening the possibility to
launch a 13-episode midseason series on Monday in January. "We came
around thinking this is a golden opportunity to make 'The Sarah
Connor Chronicles' part of the huge surge of excitement in January,"
said Fox scheduling chief Preston Beckman, referring to the network's
January rating surge from the return of "American Idol"
and "24." "Fortunately, Sunday night is doing fine with our animated
comedies, so we could do that." TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNOR, from C2
Pictures and WBTV, stars Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, who, along with
her son John (Thomas Dekker), battle attackers from the future. K-
VILLE originally was to air at 8 p.m. Mondays in the spring,
contingent on a full-season pickup for the freshman series. The New
Orleans cop drama, which has struggled in the tough 9 p.m. Monday
period, is yet to receive a back-nine order but has been given a
pickup of two additional scripts.

WOLVERINE GETS RELEASE DATE
Variety reports that Twentieth Century Fox has set aside May 1, 2009
for the release of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, a spinoff movie starring
Hugh Jackman, which director Gavin Hood begins shooting later this
year. WOLVERINE is expected to feature many other mutants, including
some new to the film franchise and some from one or more of the three
X-Men films. Liev Schreiber is reportedly in final talks to take on
the role of a younger version of nemesis William Stryker, played by
Brian Cox in X2. This is the first time a title has been confirmed
for the next chapter in the lucrative film franchise, based on the
Marvel comic series. There's been much speculation about the spinoff,
which gained speed when the studio finalized deals with Jackman (who
reprises the role he played in the three X-Men movies), Hood and
writer David Benioff, who penned the script. WOLVERINE will explore
Wolverine's violent and romantic past and his complex relationship
with Victor Creed and the ominous Weapon X program, as well as his
encounters with other mutants. Hood will start shooting in Australia
before moving to New Zealand and, later, to New Orleans. The latter
location is a clue that the storyline might include New Orleans-based
character Gambit, who is able to make objects explode and was a
professional thief before joining the X-Men.

AVATAR
Director James Cameron has arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, to
shoot his 3-D SF epic movie AVATAR, the local Dominion Post newspaper
reported. Some 80 fake-gun-toting, camouflage-wearing stuntpeople and
actors gathered for days of rehearsals in a secret location in the
small Kiwi community. Cameron is shooting the film using a new 3-D
process, and the movie will feature a blend of live-action
photography and virtual photo-realistic production techniques
invented by his team. Some work on the film has already been done in
Los Angeles and Hawaii. New Zealand native Peter Jackson's Weta
Digital effects house is supervising the visual effects, and 31 days
of additional live photography will take place on Weta's soundstages,
the newspaper reported. The cast includes Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni
Ribisi, Zoe Saldana and Michelle Rodriguez. Fox will release James
Cameron's 3-D SF epic AVATAR on May 22, 2009, Variety reported.

SUPERNATURAL
Executive producer Eric Kripke confirmed that Friday the 13th's
hockey masked wearing killer Jason Vorhees will make an appearance in
this season's tenth episode. Kripe says "We have cleared the rights
to actually use Jason. We have a twist on it so it is not really
Jason out there, but we found an interesting way to bring him in so
Sam and Dean fight Jason from Friday the 13th".

NEW AMSTERDAM
Fox has put its upcoming immortal cop drama NEW AMSTERDAM on hiatus
effective immediately, though the show hasn't even hit the air yet,
Variety reported. Seven episodes of the series have been produced of
the show's original order; the show was originally intended to debut
this fall, but was bumped to midseason. Insiders told the trade paper
that Fox believes it has a lot on its midseason plate, and putting
NEW AMSTERDAM on hiatus will let executives better evaluate the
episodes already produced.

STAR WARS
George Lucas said Tuesday he is planning a live-action television
series spinoff of the "Star Wars" film franchise. Lucas told The Los
Angeles Times he has "just begun work" on the series, which will not
include the films' major characters Luke Skywalker or Darth
Vader. "The Skywalkers aren't in it, and it's about minor
characters," Lucas told the Times. Lucas wouldn't reveal details, but
joked that the series would be about "the life of robots." Lucas
already has another television series in the works. Lucas Animation
has been working for months on the computer-animated "Star Wars: The
Clone Wars."

VANISHED
According to Variety, Nicolas Cage has jumped aboard "The Vanished."
Its the first studio pic for Hany Abu-Assad, the Palestinian-born
director of 2005 Oscar nominee "Paradise Now." The pic, penned by
Larysa Kondracki and Eilis Kirwan, concerns a father who goes in
search of his college-aged American-born Muslim son, who's missing
overseas. Cage and his wacky hair plugs get to work on "Vanished" as
soon as he's showered from "The Wrestler", a drama he's doing with
Darren Aronofsky.

LOST COMING TO SCI-FI
The Scifi Channel has licensed non-exclusive rights to rebroadcast
LOST beginning in September of 2008. Scifi will be sliding LOST into
its traditional Monday evening block where they've been showing four
hours of a single series, in order, back-to-back ever since picking
up STARGATE SG-1. and simple. Scifi and G4 both have rights from the
first season all the way until its eventual end, so if you've missed
out, the fall of next year will be the perfect time to get back into
it.

BLADE SERIES
Blade is going to return to Spike TV October 19th and 20th. In a two
day marathon, Episodes 1-10 on the 19th and the 20th episodes 11-13.
It starts at 9 am on both days on Spike TV.

CHRIS PINE IS KIRK
According to a post by director Joe Carnahan on his official blog,
Chris Pine has won the role of Captain James T. Kirk in J.J. Abrams'
upcoming STAR TREK Trek movie. Carnahan wrote that Pine exited
Carnahan's own movie, WHITE JAZZ, to take on the role of young Kirk
in Trek. "The young man playing Junior Stemmons has opted to 'boldly
go where no man has gone before,' and, thus, had to bow out of White
Jazz," Carnahan wrote. Pine's casting as Kirk has been the stuff of
rumors for a week or so now. TrekMovie.com, meanwhile, reported the
rumored casting of New Zealand actor Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings'
Eomer) as McCoy. Citing an anonymous source, the site confirmed "that
Urban is now in talks for the role of Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, the
role originally played by DeForest Kelley. According to the source,
the deal is not certain, and Urban's schedule seems to be an issue
with a film currently shooting and another in preproduction." Pine
(Just My Luck and Carnahan's Smokin' Aces) joins a cast that includes
Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin,
Zoe Saldana and John Cho. STAR TREK is set to begin production next
month for a Christmas 2008 release.

X-FILES 2
According to X-Files star David Duchovny, he had a lunch reunion in
Los Angeles recently with his co-star Gillian Anderson and series
creator Chris Carter to discuss the long- gestating sequel
movie. "That was nice," Duchovny said while promoting his latest
movie, THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE. "I see Chris quite a bit. We live
kind of in the same neighborhood. We live within maybe 10 or 15 miles
of one another. But I hadn't seen Gillian in a while. So it was like
a reunion. It really was. It was more emotional than I would have
though it was [going to be]. If you spend that much time with people
and go through that much, there's a lot of residual feeling." THE X-
FILES 2 is tentatively set to go before the camera in December, with
Carter directing, based on a script he wrote with veteran X-Files
writer-producer Frank Spotnitz. Duchovny will reprise his role as FBI
Special Agent Fox Mulder, and Anderson will return as Special Agent
Dana Scully. The plot remains a secret, but Duchovny expressed his
hope that the second feature film will recapture the essence of the
series, which ran for nine seasons, from 1993 to 2002. The hit show
spawned a spinoff (The Lone Gunmen) and the first movie, The X-Files,
in 1998. "I want us to go out and do what the show always did best,
which is really smart, scary, ultimately ambiguous stuff," Duchovny
said. "I think there's been a lot of shows and movies that kind of
tread the same area, or tried to, and I think we always did it best.
And I hope we can go out and do it best again."

BENIGHTED
Variety reports that Patrick Smith Kelly has been tapped to adapt Kit
Whitfield's werewolf novel BENIGHTED as a film for producer Graham
King and Warner Brothers. Andrew Adamson (The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) is eyeing the project as a
possible directing vehicle. King, who acquired the book in 2006, will
produce via his new company, GK Films. Adamson also will produce.
Rick Schwartz is executive producer. Plot Concept: Set in an
alternate reality in which 90% of the population are werewolves and
the minority human population is responsible for keeping the peace
during the full moon. The book follows the story of Lola, a member of
the police force investigating a series of suspicious, unsolved
murders.

HELLRAISER
Following the recent success of the HALLOWEEN remake, Dimension is
moving ahead on reinventing HELLRAISER, setting Julien Maury and
Alexandre Bustillo to write and direct the remake of one of
horrormeister's Clive Barker's best-known creations. Released in
1987, HELLRAISER told the story of an unfaithful wife who attempts to
assist her dead lover in his escape from hell. The movie introduced
viewers to a race of demons called Cenobites, most notably one
nicknamed Pinhead -- who became one of the most enduring horror
characters of the decade -- who was summoned using an antique puzzle
box. Based on Barker's critically acclaimed novella "The Hellbound
Heart," HELLRAISER was written and directed by Barker and spawned a
lucrative film franchise. Dimension is aiming to make the movie pre-
strike. Senior VP production Matthew Stein will oversee the project
on behalf of Dimension. French filmmakers Maury and Bustillo come to
the project off the strength of their supernatural thriller INSIDE,
about a pregnant woman who loses her boyfriend in a car crash and
subsequently is violently haunted by a mysterious woman. The
Weinstein Co./Dimension picked up the distribution rights to their
film debut this year. The filmmakers said they had the blessing of
Barker to reappropriate his story and also had a playful message to
any horror fans that were ready to trash the idea of a remake, "No
tears, please; it's a waste of good remaking!" Dimension's HALLOWEEN
remake, directed by Rob Zombie, grossed more than $57 million. Maury
and Bustillo are repped by Paradigm.

JUSTIC LEAGUE AUDITIONS BEGIN
Over the weekend, George Miller, director of the upcoming JUSTICE
LEAGUE OF AMERICA flew from his native Australia to audition young
actors for roles in the much-anticipated comic-inspired film,
according to The Hollywood Reporter. The marathon casting session
started Oct. 14 and continues on the 15th, with 35 to 40 actors
testing for roles, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash,
Aquaman, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter. A few nonhero parts
might be testing as well. On the roll call are Adam Brody (The O.C.),
Joseph Cross (Running With Scissors), D.J. Cotrona (Windfall), Mary
Elizabeth Winstead (Final Destination 3), Michael Angarano (Sky
High), Teresa Palmer (Wolf Creek), Max Thieriot (Jumper) and rapper
Common. The cast of NBC's FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS is well- represented as
well, with Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki and Scott Porter also among
those testing for parts. No costumes are involved in the tests, which
are being taped as actors read script pages. Miller is looking for
actors to grow into their roles over the course of several movies.
Sources told the trade paper that Miller, known to be a methodical
director, is testing not only for the roles themselves but also how
the actors interact with one another while keeping an eye on the look
of the whole group. The director is due to present his findings to
the studio midweek.

THE HOBBIT
According to the Reuters news service, Ian McKellen, who is wrapping
up the American leg of his world tour in King Lear, said that he
wouldn't mind reprising the role of Gandalf in the proposed THE
HOBBIT, should it happen. Relations between New Line Cinema and Lord
of the Rings helmer Peter Jackson have been thawing, opening the door
for Jackson to direct the prequel film, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's
book. McKellen told Reuters that he was rooting for Jackson to direct
THE HOBBIT but said he had the Oscar-winning director's blessing to
play Gandalf one way or the other. "When Peter announced he had
withdrawn from THE HOBBIT, he sent me an e-mail saying 'Because I am
not going to do it, it doesn't mean you have to do the same,'"
McKellen said. "'Of course, you must play Gandalf whether I direct or
not.'" McKellen added: "I am glad to read that it is looking more and
more likely. ... I would be disappointed if they didn't want to have
the original Gandalf. I suppose if I am still functioning and working
well, it is very likely I would be asked to do it, and if I were, I
would be very pleased to do it."

That's about it for now.
I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.
Be safe,
Sandy

Sandra Bruckner
Editor/Publisher
ISN News: The Zocalo Today
http://www.isnnews.net