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JAMES BOND STARWARS Meet Bil SLEEPY HOLLOW NOW & AGAIN Devilish BEASTMASTER Marc Singer remembers I .

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Your Signature NUMBER 271 FEBRUARY 2000 THE SCIENCE 22 SURVIVING FLIGHT 180 FICTION Here's a movie that won't earn you frequent flyer miles UNIVERSE®

29 ALIEN INVASION: PHASE II The First Wave continues for series creator Chris Brancato

32 IN THE YEAR 2525 Cleopatra wakes up to a brave new world of SF adventure

38 007 ON HOLIDAY? Exhausted superspy Pierce Brosnan is ready for a rest

43 THE FASHION IN DEATH James Bond's women are all dressed up with no one to kill

47 SPEAKS He's once again making a splash talking as Woody

53 THE DEVIL & DR. THEO Now & Again, Dennis Hays- bert tempts the hero he created

58 HUNTER OF THE DARK Vin Diesel paints this nightmare action Pitch Black

63 CLASSIC BEASTMASTER Heroic Marc Singer talks to animals & fights the lizards

66 MEET BIB FORTUNA Behind of Jabba's major domo is Michael Carter

72 SPACE COWBOY Ben Browder ventures to Farscape and beyond

76 CALL HIM ICHABOD in Sleepy Hollow, they still remember Johnny Depp : The Universe is published monthly by STAR LOG GROUP, INC., 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. STARLOG and The Science Fiction Universe are registered trademarks of Starlog Group, Inc. 82 BICENTENNIAL PLAN (ISSN 0191 -4626) (Canadian GST number: R-124704826) This is issue Number 271. February 2000. Content is © Copy- Director Chris Columbus builds a right 2000 by STARLOG GROUP, INC. All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction in part or in whole—including the better robot reprinting or posting of articles and graphics on any Internet or computer site—without the publishers' written permission is strictly forbidden. STARLOG accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials, but if submittals are accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope, they'll be considered and, 90 THAT OUTER HEAT if necessary, returned. Please do not call the editorial office re: this material. Freelancer phone calls will not be can moviegoers touch Supernova accepted. STARLOG does not publish fiction. Fiction submissions are not accepted and will be discarded without reply. Products advertised are not necessarily endorsed by STARLOG, and views expressed In editorial copy are and not get burned? not necessarily those of STARLOG. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. Sub- scription rates: $49.97 one year (12 issues) delivered in U.S. only. Canadian and foreign subscriptions $59.97 in U.S. funds only. New subscriptions send directly to STARLOG, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. Notifica- NEXT ISSUE ON SALE FEBRUARY 1 tion of change of address or renewals send to STARLOG Subscription Dept., P.O. Box 430, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430 or for Customer Service, call toll-free 1-800-877-5549. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to STARLOG Sub- Photo: Jasin Boland/Copyright 1998 USA Networks scription Dept., P.O. Box 430, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430. Printed in U.S.A. It's the newest Bond vehicle! It's the... LA-Z-BOND! All-Terrain Attack Easy Chair

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. Lost in Star Trek II: Space $5.99 . Wrath of Khan $3.50 Total enclosed: 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. caption, by the way, was the formed by him). The President/Publisher result of an editorial debate. One staffer thought NORMAN JACOBS few STARLOG readers would understand the ref- Executive Vice President erence. Thanks for proving him wrong. RITA EISENSTEIN

Associate Publisher DEAR HEARTS MILBURN SMITH ...Thank you for the interview with Kate Mulgrew in #268. As a loyal Star Trek: Voyager fan, I'm v.P./Circulation Director ART SCHULKIN pleased that she'll be on board as Kathryn Janeway for the rest of the journey. I do, however, wish to Executive Art Director Mail cannot be forwarded. Other fans and advertisers respond to her commentary regarding Janeway's W.R. MOHALLEY sometimes contact readers whose letters are printed here. personal life. To avoid this, mark your letter "Please Withhold My Editor I wholeheartedly agree that it is time for the DAVID MCDONNELL Address." Otherwise, we retain the option to print it. producers to focus on the woman behind the uni- Write: STARLOG COMMLOG Managing Editor 475 Park Avenue South, 8th Floor form and allow her to show her "human" side. KEITH OLEXA New York, NY 10016 However, if they intend to do so in the most obvi- Special FX Editor or E-mail: manner providing her with a love interest, ous by DAVID HUTCHISON communications @ starloggroup.com then they should pair her with her First Officer, Commander Chakotay. Aside from the magnificent Contributing Editors ANTHONY TIMPONE THE NAME GAME chemistry between Mulgrew and Robert Beltran, MICHAEL CINCOLD ...I've been reading STARLOG non-stop since which has been publicly acknowledged by the TOM WEAVER IAN SPELLING issue #6. 1 was 14 at the time and was in awe of the actors and producers from the start, from the char- talent you showcased every month. So it was of acters' point-of-view it makes much more sense Consultant special significance to read my own name in that Janeway would choose to develop a relation- KERRY O'QUINN Joe ship with someone she already knows and cares STARLOG's pages in an article on Crusade by Senior Art Director Nazzaro. I've spoken to Joe on many occasions. for. JIM MCLERNON After Crusade's unsurprising demise, I'm Given their circumstances—stranded so far Art Director happy to announce that I've been asked to join Star from home with limited resources—it makes little RICK TENC Trek: Voyager as set designer and occasional illus- sense that Janeway would invite a stranger to join West Coast Correspondents trator. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks! her crew simply because she has romantic feelings MARC SHAPIRO Tim Earls for him. It would hardly boost crew morale to have BILL WARREN Star Trek: Voyager a stranger on board Financial Director: Joan Baetz who serves no pur- Marketing Director: Daniel Sierra MOVIE pose other than as the Circulation Manager: Maria Damiani MYSTERIES captain's paramour. Art Staff: Yvonne Jang, John Dins- IAE THINKS WE KEEP NOT dale, Dmitriy Ostrovskly, May Yung, ...I just wanted to write It would also require Ivette Zapata. and thank you very UNSTAJ&GLlMG THESE the writers to inte- Staff: Debbie Irwin, Dee Erwine, Jose Soto, Sunny Witchel, Shane French, character much for the extensive JrESVWE UGHTS TU1S ^EAK grate a new correspondents: (West coast) Kyle coverage of Mystery into a show that Counts, Pat Jankiewicz; (NYC) Mike McAvennie, Maureen McTigue, Joe wonderful, already has nine Men. What a Nazzaro, Steve Swires, Dan Yakir; underrated movie! Great main characters, half (Boston) Will Murray: () Kim Howard Johnson; (The West) Bill Flo- cast, good story and ter- of whom are barely rence, jo Beth Taylor; (D.C.) Lynne rific artwork. used. Why do they Stephens; (Florida) Bill Wilson; (Cana- Also, thanks for Ian want to go to all that da) Peter Bloch-Hansen, Mark Phillips; (Booklog) Penny Kenny, risk the Spelling's interview trouble and Jean-Marc Lofflcier, Scott Schumack, with Ian McDiarmid possibility that the Michael Wolff; (Cartoons) Kev Brockschmidt, Alain Chaperon, Mike (issue I the character will be #266). Was Fisher, Tom Holtkamp, Bob Muleady, only one who was total- unpopular among Jason Yungbluth. Thanks: Michael Apted, Kristy ly stoked because he fans and crew alike, Bernath, Chris Brancato, Pierce Bros- was back in The Phan- when there is a per- nan, Ben Browder, Tim Burton, tom Menace! fectly acceptable Michael Carter, Chris Columbus, Glo- ria Davies, Johnny Depp, Vin Diesel, Elizabeth Deyar candidate already Jamie Dixon, Geoff Freeman, Kim 6831 S. Race Street established and loved Fitzgerald, Jill Fritzo, Howard Green, Tom Hanks, Dennis Haysbert, Undy #303 by all? Hemming, Walter Hill, Alana Kim, Littleton, CO 80122 As for the idea of Leah Krantzler, Jaci Kucharski, Glen Newman, Craig Perry, pairing her with a Morgan, Steve Lou Diamond Phillips, Tom Phillips, PRAYERS hologram, that is an Daniel Roebuck, , Devon Sawa, Marc Singer, Mark stet- ...I read your article "The I, Q Test" in issue #268. insult to the intelligence of both the character and son, R.J. Stewart, Jeff walker, Crystal I've also read the book by John de Lancie and Peter viewers. It gives the impression that after five years warren, John willett, Michael Wilson, David. You quoted the book's line "To whom do of solitary, Janeway is so desperate for companion- James Wong, zelda Wong, Alex Wor- man. pray? in a caption and ship that she'll fall for a being that isn't even real. mad gods Englishmen?" Cover Images: Cleopatra 2525: ©2000 told readers to write if they got the joke. I believe I That is selling her short creatively and emotionally. Studios USA; Bicentennial Man: ©2000 Touchstone Pictures & Columbia Pic- do it refers to "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out Both the character of Janeway and the fans have — tures; Toy Story: ©2000 Disney/Pixar. in the midday Sun," doesn't it? I enjoyed the book an emotional investment in Chakotay, which would For Advertising Information: very much, and my favorite articles in STARLOG only be strengthened by the development of a per- (212) 689-2830. FAX (212) 889-7933 Advertising Director: Rita Eisen- are the Star Trek ones. Thanks for interviewing de sonal relationship between them. The basics for the stein Lancie! Q is one of my favorite characters. relationship are already there: trust, respect, affec- Classified Ads Manager: Tim Clark West Coast Ads: The Faust Company, Dana-Jean S. La Hie tion and attraction. If the producers truly intend to 24050 Madison St. Suite 101, Tor- Mesa, AZ give Janeway a soulmate, they need look no further rance, CA 90505 (310) 373-9604. FAX 373-8760. than her First Officer. (310) international Licensing Rep: Robert Yes, it's a line from the song written by the leg- Andra Marie Mueller J. Abramson & Associates, Inc., 720 endary Noel Coward (and most famously per- Los Angeles, CA Post Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583. 'AGE MILLENNIUM CELEBRATION SHARE1MTHE VOYAGE!MiEXPERIE1 Explore science fic- tion—the mythology of the new Millenni- um—in the pages of STARLOG. It's the galaxy's best Sci-Fi movie S TV magazine and the original for 23 years. Every issue features intrigu- ing interviews with the Stars • Directors •

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Total enclosed: $_ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO CUT OUT COUPON, WE WILL ACCEPT Account No. WRITTEN ORDERS. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. QUOTE OF THE FINAL FAREWELLS MONTH These members of the science fiction universe died in recent "All the other robots get to have months. big weapons." David Allen (August) Special FX wizard who was Oscar- —Rusty nominated for Young Sherlock Holmes. He also worked on Wil- low, ^batteries not included and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. BY Brion James (August) Leon the Replicant of Blade Runner OUR (interviewed in #82). CONTRIBUTORS Marion Zimmer Bradley (September) Author of The McFarland & Company Inc. is Mists ofAvalon and the woman behind the Darkover mythos. reissuing several titles of note Hoyt Axton (October) Country singer & songwriter. The paperback editions in new trade man who bought the Gremlins (STARLOG #88). the Science Fiction known as "McFarland Classics." Return of B Albert Whitlock (October) Oscar-winning master of the matte paint- Horror Heroes "mutant & ing (STARLOG #81). Monogram, PRC and Republic Horror Films of ike Forties melds" two of film historian James Goldstone (November) TV director who helmed Voyage to Bot- Tom Weaver's previous vol- tom of the Sea, The Outer Limits and the pilot that sold Star Trek ("Where umes of interview collections No Man Has Gone Before") (STARLOG #124). (Interviews with Science B Billy Benedict (November) Serial sidekick to Captain Marvel (STAR- Fiction Horror Movie & LOG #199). Makers and Science Fiction Stars & Horror Heroes) into one massive 887-page book STUPID NETWORK DECISION (now $30). These are the full, OF THE MONTH exhaustive texts of Weaver NBC: For making Y2K the movie. Hey, there's an upside if they're no interviews published in right and millennial destruction ensues: No more Datelines\ And more STARLOG, FANGORIA and deadlines either—not to mention Loglines. other magazines. Weaver's booklength ...AND STUPID NETWORK DECISION examination of Monogram, OF THE MILLENNIUM PRC and Republic's low-rent NBC: For, of course, cancelling the original Star Trek (and more than 1940s genre movies is also once for that matter) after the third season and not long before man stepped available. Those flicks' very Written in lOltl A KefstUtti Classic onto the Moon. cheapnesss lends them a cer-

, .,„- W* LrtV til i Bill vis ,„»„ BRUNAS tain charm. After all, they're Those poor moviemakers! Poverty Row Horrors! (392 FILM CALENDAR Weaver's pages, $25). Release dates are extremely subject to research associates on this marvelous foray into white zom- change. January: Supernova, Fanta- bie and devil bat territory are Michael and John Brunas. sia 2000 (in MAX theaters only). Finally, Bill Warren's Keep Watching the Skies! is avail- February: Pitch Black, Scream 3, The able in one enormous 1344-page volume for $35. This is the Tigger Movie. filled with exciting definitive look at 1950s SF movies, March: Mission to Mars, The Ninth insights into their making and fascinating film facts. Gate, Final Destination. Order ($4 postage & handling first book, 75 cents each additional) from McFarland & Company, Box 611, Jeffer- son, NC 28640-0611. Phone orders 800-253-2187. Website: www.mcfarlandpub.com NOW ON SALE Look to a newsstand near you for SCI-FI TV, the magazine of science-fiction WIN A PIECE OF THE ART television today from the STARLOG edi- Amazingly, our Australian cartoonist Alain Chaperon, a.k.a. torial team. In issue #9, Now and Again "Big Bad Bubba," is singularly rare in our experience. He's creator Glenn Gordon Caron chats about

an artist who doesn 't want his originals back. In fact, he has his hit series, Glen Larson discusses his suggested we give them away! To you and you and you. latest projects and Gillian Anderson Buy SCI-FI TV now and again! And so we shall. explains why she's ready to see X-Files Send a postcard only (no envelopes please!) with end. This issue also includes interviews your name, address and what you liked best about with Michael (Stargate) Shanks, Christien STARLOG #269, #270 and this issue #271. (Hey, (Relic Hunter) Anholt, Robert (Earth: don't try to suck up by telling us the cartoons. We're Final Conflict) Leeshock, Buffy's James onto that scam!) Mail to STARLOG, Giving Bubba (Spike) Marsters and Gabrielle (Big Guy & Away Contest, 475 Park Avenue South, NY, NY Rusty) Carteris. Plus: the stunning CGI FX 10016. All entries must be in our offices by February of Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chroni-

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mkmmkS' it*u>[email protected] BUFFY THE SLAYER''-' 1 VAMPIRE & © 999 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved GENRE TV FANTASY FILMS Holmes and the rendering this month, The game's afoot anew in Sherlock P is specifically the week of Vengeance of Dracula, which director Chris Columbus January 17, are Cleopatra 2525 interested in possibly doing (see page 82). Fans may recall that (see page 32) and Jack of All Columbus scripted Young Sherlock Holmes. The Great Detec- Trades, the swashbuckler fanta- tive has, of course, already dealt with the undead Count and/or sy starring Bruce Campbell. author Bram Stoker in novels ('s The West End two syndicated half-hours fflUOG Horror, Fred Saberhagen's The Holmes-Dracula File) and The replace Hercules. By DAVID MCDONNELL various comic books. Also bowing the same week has signed up to helm the movie adapta- (scripted is Total Recall 2070, starring tion of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere by Gaiman based material). Michael Easton (STARLOG #261). It debuts in syndication on his novel and his British TV series version of the same after a one-season, 22-episode run on Showtime. Brad (The Iron Giant) Bird is developing The Incredibles. It's about a Dilbert moves to a new time slot on January 18. It'll now family of superheroes. He'll write and direct it for Warner Bros. air Tuesdays, 9:30 p.m. The Others—a group of paranormal heroes—make their debut February 5. NBC has ordered 13 episodes of the series, GENRE PEOPLE which will air Saturdays, 10 p.m. It stars Julianne Nicholson, ob () Gale will write and produce Interstate 60, a Gabriel Macht, Melissa Crider, John Billingsley, Bill Cobbs, B fantasy adventure for Seven Arts International. John Aylward and The Mummy's Kevin J. O'Connor. Greg Bear is writing a novel set three years after The Phan- walker. Futurama is off the air this month. It returns February 6 in tom Menace. It focuses on Obi-Wan Kenobi and young Anakin Sky a new, earlier time slot, Sundays, 7 p.m. Other authors working on Star Wars for Del Rey include X-Wing Squadron Fox has renewed The Simpsons and King of the Hill for writer Michael Stackpole (who's doing the Dark Tide trilogy), James 22-episode 1999-2000 seasons. Luceno, Kathy (Truce at Bakura) Tyers (who's writing a hardcover target- Production has begun on the Sci-Fi Channel's six-hour ed for this fall) and Michael Jan Friedman (another trilogy). mini-series version of Frank Herbert's Dune. John (Tales Shirley Walker is composing the score for Final Destination. from the Darkside: The Movie) Harrison adapted and is Composer Frank Wildhorn—whose previous Broadway hits include

directing. It stars William Hurt, Giancarlo Giannini and Alec Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde and The Scarlet Pimpernel—is allegedly working Newman (as Paul Atreides). on a musical version of Blade Runner.

CHARACTER CASTINGS Robert Patrick, the T-1000, will have a multi-episode guest star role on HBO's The Sopranos next season. Sir Ian McKellen is the wizard Gan- dalf in the currently filming Lord of the Rings trilogy. John Cleese—who discussed his role as Q's assistant in the latest Bond film last issue—will indeed be back. He has signed up for three more 007 outings. Roxann Dawson guests on Seven Days as Frank Parker's ex-love in the "Saving the Admiral" episode January 12. Brendan Fraser has opted out of the next movie he was to shoot (noted last issue). He won't be in The Wed- ding Plan-

Now in IMAX theaters: Disney's Fantasia 2000 celebrates the melding of music and animation. This spritely image is from the film's concluding movement, Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite—1919 Version," a sequence directed by Gaetan and Paul Brizzi.

Sir Ian SEQUELS & REMAKES McKellen The inevitable Terminator 3 & 4 are inching closer to reality. Producers Andy Vajna and will work Mario Kassar now have the rights as part of their C-2 Productions. Scripts for both magic as (which follow the adventures of the adult resistance leader John Connor) are in the works. Gandalf in of the Tedi (Tank Girl) Sarafian is scripting T3; David Wilson, one of the writers on Supernova, The Lord Rings trilogy. is on T4. Neither (who directed and co-wrote both previous films) nor He's also Gale Anne Hurd (who produced and co-wrote the original) is involved. There is, of course, Magneto, the no casting as of yet. master of Silberling direct the Time Machine remake being plotted by Warn- Brad (Casper) may magnetism, in er Bros, and DreamWorks. X-Men. Simon (Con Air) West is now the director attached to the movie version of The Pris- oner. At points in the past, Mel Gibson was possibly its star and series creator Patrick McGoohan was perhaps going to be involved.

10 STARLOG/Fe^raary 2000 i '

- — gr— ""* ,, GIMP _ m — m , / cOLJMD OF SCI-FI Est. 1954 Neil Norman's• longlonq 1awaited album «* * * explodes with imw never before A splendidcollection of themes and music released themes. Academy Award winning composer _ Selections include from alffoBr STAR TREK television series. ' Jerry Goldsmith's compelling score Amazing Storien, Men Into Space, Includes suites from THE TROUBLE WITH tor the newest Star Trek movie .Buckaroo Banzai, Saturn 3, Predator, TRIBBLES (TOSj, HEART (If GLORY, THE starring Patrick.Stewart, Brent Spiner The X-Files, Men In Black, Stargate INNER LIGHTING), THEMSITOR (DS9) and * and F Murray Abraham! SG-1, Airwolf and More! 28 in all! HEROES AND DEMONS fV0Y)l * NEW! HITS W N(VER"->AI\y.SPEC:iMl Nl II NORMAN

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II . . TREK Frfcr\ STAR TREK STAR.TBGK STAR TREK STAR TREK SMI? STUB The Wrath ot Khan GENERATIONS, DEEP SPACE NINE • th'evext EEnEHHTinrr VOYAGCR , FIRST CONTACT Music By James Hornet Music By Dennis McCarthy Music By. Dermis McCarthy Music By Jay Chattaway Mimic fly Jity CfKittuw'ty Music By+.lerry Goldsmith 7thiim by, Jerry Goirhunilh Includes, ftbund FX smm.

GNPD 8055 CD GNPD 80*56 CD GNPD 8044. CD GNPD 8045 CD • GNPD 8010 LP/CS/CD- GNPD 8032 CS/CD THE BEST OF THE BEST OF Original TV Soundtrack^ Original TV Soundtrack STAR TREK THE.OUTER LOST IN SPACE LOST IN SPACE • 1 SOUND EFFECTS, LIMITS . GODZILLA GODZILLA , ;' Vol. One Vol. Two The definitive library of Music By ' • , 7954 - 1975 1984 - 1995 Music By John Williams Music By Alexander Courage the classic sounds of Staf Trek. Dominic Frontiere Includes Monster FX and Joseph Mullendore Includes Control Voice and. Sound FX * PLEASE NOTE FORMAT AVAILABILITY All albums executive produced by Neil Norman

Cassettes CDs • • • * TM, ® & © 1999 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. $9.95 $16.95 STAR TREK and Related Mark* are Trademarks of Paramount Pictures.

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Don't want to cut magazine? wrile order on any plain piece of paper HITTERS & CRITTERS DOCTORING VIDEO rarest vintage is Seven lame superhero wannabes—Mr. Furious, the The being released from BBC Shoveler, the Blue Raja, Invisible Boy, the Spleen, Home Video this year, specifically the Bowler and the Sphinx—are called upon to use their the episodes "The Crusade" and dubious "powers" to save bustling Champion City from "The Space Museum." This dou- 's Casanova Frankenstein. Mystery Men ble-volume set includes a collec- ($24.98) is a light-hearted satire from tor's CD audio track of the two MCA/Universal. The DVD extras include a featurette missing episodes of "The Crusade" and some deleted scenes. plus bonus Doctor Who postcards, In Jumanji, powerful forces are unleashed when two all in a special white plastic children rescue a man who has been trapped inside a game for 26 years. This Columbia/TriStar DVD clamshell, for $34.98. ($29.98) comes with an assortment of special features, including a making-of documentary, a special FX For many years, the BBC has crew documentary, an FX featurette, conceptual art gallery, production stills, a production design fea- been trying to track down many of turette, isolated music score and storyboard-to-film comparisons. The 1999 live-action TV its long-running series' lost early movie version of George episodes. In early 1999, a film col- Orwell's Animal Farm is now an lector in New Zealand discovered Artisan/Live DVD ($19.98). at a garage sale an old film print of Orwell's famous political allego- an early Doctor Who episode. This ry features the voices of Patrick was the first part of the 1965 four- Stewart, , Ian part adventure, "The Crusade," one Holm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Pete of 110 missing Doctor Who Postlethwaite and Paul Scofield. episodes from the 1960s. Featured Jim Henson's Creature Shop on this BBC Video release are the supplies the audio-animatronic first and third parts of the story and

artistry. Special features include the narrative on a CD audio track an interview with Grammer, of the missing episodes recorded some historical background, the by William Russell, who re-creates Animal Rules and a trailer. his role as the Doctor's companion, Director Ishiro Honda's eter- Ian Chesterton. The second and nally popular Destroy All Mon- final episodes of "The Crusade" sters (1968) features Godzilla, remain lost. "The Space Museum" Mothra and Rodan—and a bevy is seen complete with William of their gigantic cohorts—under Hartnell as the Doctor. the control of sinister alien invaders. Coming to Earth's res-

cue is the crew of United Nations starship Moonlight SY3. No extra goodies here and priced at $24.98 from AD Vision. 's , a classic stop-motion animated series featuring the adventures of a boy and his dog, was a much-loved TV staple from 1962 until 1977. Image Entertainment has collected nearly two hours of adventures, all-color on DVD, for $24.98, due out near month's end. Their escapades are also available on two one-hour cassettes from Image at $12.98 each. All 245 minutes of the 1936 Flash Gordon serial Space Soldiers (U.S. video title for the original serial) have been collected on a single disc from Image Entertainment, inexpensively priced at $29.98. See internationally renowned polo player and Yale graduate Flash Gordon (Buster Crabbe) and the lovely Dale Arden save Earth from being destroyed by runaway planet Mongo.

VIRTUAL SUCCESSES the feature exactly where you left off. before 2001. the time you read this, the DVD Collec- This lesson is being quickly learned by Another big surprise was MGM's seven- Bytor's Edition of The Matrix will likely Disney, who entered the DVD market late disc boxed set of James Bond movies. have reached sales of 1.8 million copies. This last year with bare-bones yet high-priced Despite the $199 price tag, the 75,000-copy number is all the more startling when you releases of a dozen animated classics, and initial run was gone in just a few weeks, forc- realize that home video retailers hope that experienced comparatively disappointing ing MGM to quickly put the set back into total sales of DVD players will reach four sales. Later this year, Disney plans to change production to meet the demand. million by Christmas 1999. (You may com- course by creating special editions of its One of the complicating aspects in the pare this with the current U.S. home penetra- recent animated hit Tarzan, releasing a disc new DVD market is that many of the collec- tion of VHS players at approximately 76 with "family feature" bonus materials next tor's series discs are being created with fea- million). month, and then a fully loaded videophile tures that can only be accessed by home Aside from the popularity of The collector's edition in April. Already out and computer DVD-ROM drives, which often Matrix—a cutting-edge favorite among genre making a big splash is the Disney/Pixar A come with their own individual quirks and film fans and STARLOG readers—is the Bug's Life special edition which is so fully software oddities. It seems that in the studios' undeniable attractiveness of the inexpensive- loaded that it comes on two discs. zeal to make the coolest discs yet, not all of ly priced DVD package, heavily loaded with Disney is also retreating from its original the extra features, which they have been load- extra goodies ranging from multiple sound- position of limited DVD releases and has ing into their releases, can be accessed by tracks (a DVD can have as many as five) with announced that all but 10 of its animated some of even the newest home computers. commentaries and special musical tracks to films will always be available on DVD, and But the situation changes monthly, and while the use of multiple angle selections, which all future releases will be simultaneous with disc designers push the envelope of what is immediately cut from many of the startling the VHS editions. Included in the 10 special- possible, software and hardware developers special FX sequences to mini how-it-was- ly reserved films is Snow White, which, at have been quick to respond to the new done documentaries before returning you to this writing, is not scheduled for DVD release demands.

12 STARLOG/February 2000 TECHNICAL JOURNALS $5.99 EACH With recent launching of the

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Total Enclosed: $. DINOS ON THE BUZZ IN ACTION WARPATH has made it to Infinity and beyond as a Space He has 65 million years for iRanger,I a toy and a major movie star, but how will It dinosaurs to finally get their Buzz Lightyear fare on the PlayStation or Nintendo 64? proper due. Over the past few The answers come from Disney Interactive, Traveler's years, they've become the biggest Tales and our hero's point-of-view in Toy Story 2: Buzz stars in entertainment (in more Lightyear to the Rescue! ($39.99 for the PlaySta- tion/$59.99fortheN64). ways than one); in addition to having conquered the box office, Based on the hit movie, the game's objective is for games like Primal Rage and, Buzz to rescue Cowboy Woody from the clutches of Al, most recently, Dino-Crisis have a toy collector out to make big bucks by shipping feasted in the video game indus- Woody off to the Land of the Rising Sun! Buzz's quest try. Therefore, it's no surprise that begins in Andy's room, then progresses throughout the DreamWorks and Electronic Arts and around the neighborhood. Our hero's small look to sink their huge teeth into size grows into a big disadvantage around a neighboring the market and trample the com- construction site, damp alleys and a gooey trashcan. petition with their latest fighter From there, Buzz faces toyland terror inside Al's Toy Barn, home of wacky cosmic battlefields and a way- game for the Sony PlayStation, out (albeit familiar) space toy! A not-so-quick trip through the elevator shaft to Al's penthouse results in a Warpath: Jurassic Park ($44.99). fateful showdown with the evil Emperor Zurg. Provided he's not targeted for toy-mination by then, Buzz What's this, you ask? Who in then must rescue his Japan-bound pal at the airport, where a certain stinky prospector has an ax to pick on their right mind would tackle a T. our hero's plastic head! rex or wrassle with a Raptor? Sadly, unlike the film, Buzz won't have too much help from the good ol' legion of Andy's toys; in fact, if Relax, folks, the big bruisers he hopes to ever save Woody, he'll have to help the other toys out to collect Pizza Planet tokens and progress through the game's 15 levels. This means aren't interested in you this time. recovering whatever piece of anatomy They would rather fight each Mr. Potato Head is missing, finding Bo other and claim the coveted title Peep's lost sheep, keeping Hamm fed in of King of the Dinosaurs. Of coins, winning races and solving puzzles course, they need some human and, of course, taking down whatever hands to help 'em along the way, mini-bosses stand in his way. which is where you come in. After selecting any one of 14 is colorful and enter- Toy Story 2 dinosaurs as their champion, taining, but it isn't all fun and players then choose one of 10 games for younger players. available 3-D fighting arenas,

Thankfully, the quality in Toy Story environments taken directly from 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! mea- the Jurassic Park films. There are sures up nicely on the PlayStation and also several modes you can battle N64, though the graphics and 3-D envi- in, including a practice mode ronments are slightly stronger on the which allows you to get to know N64. Buzz looks terrific throughout, your dino and his fight moves; the moving and acting very much as if the traditional single competition and developers were working off the film's "versus" mode for head-to-head AclrVisiON _ character model sheets. Zooming into his combat; and a team-up mode that enables players to select up to helmet camera mode is a treat as well, especially when you can see Buzz's face reflecting on his helmet. four dinosaurs on each side. If this Toy Story goes wrong anywhere, it's not in its graphics, but in its playability. A game that should Admittedly, Warpath is hardly naturally appeal to both kids and adults will find itself usually being finished by older players—there are a new concept in the fight game; some tasks that are just too darn hard for a young gamer to get through. Just try reaching Bo Peep's sheep in fact, it's downright prehistoric. in the kitchen while enduring her constant repetitive nagging, and that's on Level One. If it isn't that easy But DreamWorks and Electronic for an adult to do it, what's gonna motivate a kid through the other 14 levels? Gluttons for punishment may Arts still succeed nicely with this enjoy this kind of gameplay, but parents with impatient kids may want to think twice before going to Al's Toy Barn and getting this game. title, realizing that presentation is often as important as innovation. Instead of seeming tired or overly

repetitive, the game is entertaining and even a bit informative about its Jurassic-era par- ticipants, as some of their movements depict their natural speed, power and abilities.

However, some of it is manufactured to make it a fair fight for everyone involved, and

it's a safe bet that paleontology books don't have much information regarding a Rap- tor's semi-dropkicking skill or a few of the new dinos that stomp around this game. The dinosaurs themselves look terrific, adding to the game's entertainment value, and the 3-D fight arenas are top-notch, even as the camera moves around to follow the battle. Elements from these environments, such as electrified fences and exploding fuel pumps, can also play a role in these monstrous slobberknockers, and when a dinosaur

is losing its health, it can always power up by eating the unfortunate stray humans or animals that occasionally stumble on screen. Tasty morsels, indeed. Parents, take some heed before buying Warpath: Jurassic Park. This kind of game will undoubtedly appeal to kids, but the battles do get bloody; after all, the dinosaurs are biting and clawing away at each other, sights that are further enhanced by the game's very realistic lighting. For the rest of you who want to see dinosaurs kick butt, come on down this Warpath. The Park is open for business.

Warpath: Jurassic Park offers a new arena for dinosaur combat.

14 STARLOG/Fefcraary 2000 Put Yourself Inside

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The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton (Warner/Aspect, he, 975 pp, $26.95) The climax of the Night's Dawn trilogy presents the last battle of an interstellar civilization against a plague of possession by the The Winter Queen by Devin Cary (Ace, pb, 288 souls of the dead. pp, $5.99) Like its predecessors, The Naked God has enough sex and vio- On his deathbed, King Ethelbred names his lence for a dozen ordinary books, delivered in Hamilton's slick wife Elissa regent. This unprecedented move prose with neat SF speculations. The strongest plotline follows thrusts the young queen into ruling Albor until would-be Anti-Christ Quinn Dexter and his assault on Earth, a cam- her five-year-old son comes of age, and creates a paign that endangers the angelic heroine Louise Kavanagh, whose situation that could easily escalate into a civil lover, starship captain Joshua Calvert, is hunting the "sleeping god" war. that might be humanity's salvation. Dexter's last orgy at St. Paul's Perhaps Elissa's most attractive trait is her Cathedral is a masterpiece of horror and humor, with revelations intelligence. She understands the dangers that she and gate crashers galore. and her children face, weighs the options and Some readers might find The Naked God anti-climactic, but it's makes her choices. They aren't always good a logical outcome for the saga. The apocalyptic mayhem of the tril- choices—otherwise, Elissa might seem a priggish know-it-all instead ogy was ultimately pointless, for the problem of the human soul of the vulnerable but smart character she is—but they're reasonable can't be solved by anti-matter or testosterone, but only through ones. Readers might make the same choices in similar situations. And basic changes in human behavior, an insight that makes The Naked how often can we say that about a fantasy? God a satisfying ending to a fine trilogy. There's no discontent with this Winter Queen, which one hopes will —Scott W. Schumack be followed by perhaps a glorious Summer Son. —Penny Kenny Echoes in Time by Andre Norton and Sher- tin UUiC wood Smith (Tor, he, 320 pp, $23.95) (Ban- The Trigger by Arthur C. Clarke & Michael Kube-McDowell Norton and Smith's tale of a joint Russian- tam, he, 464 pp, $24.95) American effort to find a team of lost Time like a projected force field A scientist discovers a device—more Agents on an alien world is an entertaining of gunpowder and other compounds, that can trigger the explosion thrill ride. With its carefully selected details thereby rendering guns and bombs obsolete. This startling idea is concerning the mission's technical aspects and scientifically, politically and socio- explored in minute, realistic detail, well-paced action, Echoes in Time reads a bit Crichton would stop such logically. Where other novels a la Michael like a Clive Cussler adventure novel. Clarke Kube-McDowell exploration at the first third of the book, and But any adventure will quickly turn dull mind-boggling series of changes do not hesitate to unfold logically the unless peopled with characters that grab the inflict the world. that such a discovery would upon reader's interest and sympathy, so Norton and The Trigger is science fiction at its best: the exploration of the Smith supply that, too. The difficulties that the newlyweds Eveleen consequences of a ground-breaking, world-changing "what if and Rose face as a couple and as Time Agents add depth to what premise. But unlike science fiction of old, it doesn't stop with scientif- could be merely a fun story, while hints concerning the origins of ic are not cardboard cliches but real humans; concepts. The characters time-travel devices promise exciting developments in future vol- the literary techniques of techno-thrillers have been incorporated to umes. All in all, reading Echoes in Time is time well spent. give the book a solid grounding in reality, while preserving the tradi- —Penny Kenny tional sense of wonder associated with the best of the genre. And it all ends with yet one more mind-blowing trick, in the long-standing Forever Free by Joe Haldeman (Ace, he, 277 $21.95) Clarke tradition. Highly recommended. pp, If you could leave home today and return 40,000 years later, what —Jean-Marc Lofficier would you find? Haldeman sparks immediate interest with this ques- tion in Forever Free, the long-awaited sequel to The Forever War and (Tor, All of an Instant by Richard Garfinkle Forever Peace. Unfortunately, Haldeman never answers it, choosing he, 383 pp, $24.95) instead to return his main characters —led by William Mandella and Garfinkle deftly proved his command of real- Marygay Potter—to their home on planet Middle Finger just 24 years ity alteration in his previous novel, Celestial Mat- after their departure. ters. In All of an Instant, he takes a deep, often That's not long enough for much change to take place, and that's confusingly self-indulgent plunge into the nature depressing. William, Marygay and the other veterans of the long- of time—with mixed but startlingly compelling ended war with the Taurans just want to escape the dreary reality of results. life on an inhospitable ice world, far from Earth in both time and The book begins with humans discovering a space. The Forever War vets are people out of time, having little in unique temporal landscape. The firmament, common with Man—the new breed of cloned, genetically perfect called the Flux, is the phenomenal world where humans. moments of time are experienced, while the But one very big change awaits them upon their return to Middle Instant is an evocatively rendered "oceanic" realm where moments are Finger. They discover that everyone disappeared inexplicably on a fashioned in a medium of timelessness. In the Instant, reality can be specific date eight years ago, leaving only their clothing behind. The changed on an incredible scale, and it becomes a beachhead for an eter- book becomes a mystery novel from that point on, until a God-like nal struggle between numerous time-traveling warriors. creature appears at the end with some mildly interesting explanations. Among the various Time Warriors are Nir, War Chief of the Ghosts, The author hits a few fine notes of suspense, horror and intrigue in a faction sworn to preserve a 200-year span from change; Kookatchi, a Forever Free—plus a fun scene involving the old fighting suits from perceive the Instant free of the Drum with a truncated memory who can the first book—but Haldeman fans will find themselves disappointed illusion of causality and Quillithe, the Instant's greatest strategist. overall. The taut storylines, hyperactive imagination and powerful These three and others will be part of a drama that will forever alter the emotional punch we've come to expect from the author of Buying Instant's timeless, bloody "waters." Time, the Worlds series and, yes, The Forever War simply don't mate-

A staggeringly metaphorical work, All of an Instant is also a puz- rialize here. Better is Haldeman's story "A Separate War," from the zling read. Attention pays off, however, as this incredible exploration of same universe, which was published last year in the Far Horizons temporal reality soars. anthology. —Keith Olexa —Bill Florence

16 STAKLOG/February 2000 .

These lithographs, magnificent' examples of film art, have been signed by Ralph McQuarrie, the_ original production artist and numbered in a Limited Edition of only 2,500. They come matted and framed with a still from the sequence pictured in the lithograph and a light- ed one-of-a-kind (no two are alike!) 70mm film eel from the actual movie scene. Batteries not included.

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TMc I [JU. Mil Architects of Emortality by Brian Stableford Stardoc by S. L. Viehl (Roc, pb, 394 pp, $6.99) Cherijo Grey Veil, a brilliant young physician, flees Earth and | (Tor, he, 320 pp, $24.95) medicine on a multi-species planet f iORCHITECTS This novel takes place in the same future uni- her tyrannical father to practice i fgjEMORXgPTfy minority. wins the respect of her co- " verse as Inherit the Earth, but can be read inde- where humans are a hated She r ... Tb a i a n

• „ iS to face tragedy a 0. TBBLEFORD pendently. In a world transformed by workers and finds love with an alien only when revolutionary biotechnology, amateur detective strange plague threatens to decimate the planet and expose her own Oscar Wilde, an exotic plant designer, and awful secret. NYPD detective Charlotte Holmes team up to Stardoc works better as a romance novel than as space opera. investigate a series of colorful murders where a The background is marred by SF cliches like rakish pilots with rat- specially designed flower is the murder weapon, tletrap ships, psi powers and "aliens" who can reproduce with and Wilde a de facto prime suspect. humans. Still, its medical details are impressive and the melodra- Stableford has, many times in the past, proven that he is a master at matic plot, while overwrought, is gripping. The epidemic Cherijo creating true science fiction enigmas, easily rivaling 's fights is unbelievable, but the book's battle sequence is fascinating. classics. Both his Grainger and Daedalus Missions series were sterling The pain and humiliation Cherijo suffers, her passionate affair with examples of futuristic thrillers. Architects of Emortality certainly lives a noble alien and her love-hate bond with a mystery man all height- up to any expectations: Its characters are endearingly colorful, and the en the book's resemblance to a Gothic romance. mystery satisfyingly complex. Veihl displays talent, though, and with a sequel promised, read- —Jean-Marc Lojficier ers fond of beleagured but indomitable heroines should like Star- doc. A —Scott W. Schumack NORM l\ Nlin Greenhouse Summer by Norman Spinrad S P I N R A D (Tor, he, 320 pp, $24.95) This is the eco-future that John Brunner pre- Half Life by Hal Clement (Tor, he, 256 pp, dicted in Stand on Zanzibar, and worse: pollu- $23.95) tion, overpopulation, political terrorism and Any new novel by the justly celebrated balkanization have fractured the planet, predato- author of Needle and Mission of Gravity is a ry multinational corporations are more powerful cause for rejoicing. In typical Clement fash- than nations, etc. Spinrad uses this richly tex- ion, Half Life portrays a group of human tured background to write an engaging thriller explorers trying to figure out the puzzle of an

about "Condition Venus," the so-called "Green- H ft l CLEMENT alien ecology. They're operating against the house Effect." deadline of mass extinction on Earth, and the Spinrad is a master at depicting complex political manipulations, alien world is Titan, Saturn's inhospitable shady double-dealings and plots-within-plots. Greenhouse Summer (a moon. rather dull title) has all this, plus a James Bond-like story of exotic The puzzle is intriguing, and its solution truly challenging, open- locales, doomsday devices, great sex, a cast of well-drawn characters ing new lines of thought. Perhaps the book ought to have gone on

and some fascinating information and speculation about Earth's cli- beyond its conclusion. However, the characters don't have the verve mate. It makes for both an entertaining and a challenging read. and zest of the Hunter in Needle or Barlennan in Mission of Gravity. —Jean-Marc Lojficier Had this been a short story or a novella, some of the dryness might have been secondary to the puzzle elements, but in a novel, there should be more to engage the reader's emotions as well as the mind. The Martian Race by Gregory Benford —Jean-Marc Lojficier (Warner/Aspect, he, 352 pp, $23.95) The increasing flow of knowledge coming in Better Angels by Howard V. Hendrix (Ace, he, 384 pp, $22.95) concerning Mars has not by any means reduced Early in the 21st century, a time where human society is under- the number of stories being written about it. In going dramatic changes, an artifact is discovered in California's La fact, the SF reader is entering a second renais- Brea tar pits. Research indicates that the artifact is nothing less than sance of Mars stories (not to mention movies) the shoulder blade of an angel, and one which had encountered where the Red Planet is taking on a significance alien technology. not seen since the salad days of the pulp era and Veterans of SF literature will immediately recognize the multi- the 1950s. layered plotting, ensemble-heavy list of characters and thoughtful Benford's contribution to this renaissance pacing which John Brunner employed in books such as Stand on bears reading. After a NASA expedition to Mars blows up, a billionaire Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up. Hendrix might not be ready to sit comes forward with a deal to send a privately financed expedition after on Brunner's throne just yet, but, like the Zanzibar novelist, Hen- it. Julia Barth becomes the leader of the new mission— which is much drix isn't simply wrapping a novel around a single plot element. smaller and considerably more risky than the NASA plan. Not only Rather, he creates a unique yet possible future and then beckons the that, but news soon comes that a Chinese-European effort is being pre- reader to explore. The discovery of the angel's shoulder blade is pared, and the race becomes genuine. only one aspect of a textured story that unfolds slowly, but will pro- This has the feel of a good old-fashioned Cold War race-to-the- vide the patient reader with a complete geography of a world, as Moon thriller, and SF veterans will doubtless find much to enjoy. opposed to the slices which so many other books proffer. Everyone else, including fans of Benford's work, will suffer no disap- —Michael Wolff pointment whatsoever with The Martian Race. —Michael Wolff battle between the Republic and the Bantag—both composed of Men ofWar (The Lost Regiment #8) by William R. Forstchen (Roc, races stolen from other worlds and deposited on a mysterious planet. pb, 336 pp, $6.99) Andrew Keane, formerly of a Union regiment torn from the American The benefit of having SF written by history buffs lies in the metic- Civil War, is facing the reality that the Bantag hordes can easily over- ulous care and scholarship which the authors bring to their work. run the human Republic which he is defending. Cue the near-suicidal Sometimes a writer comes along who doesn't let the research and mission. detail get in the way of telling a good yarn—masters like H. Beam Fans of Turtledove, Piper and David Drake have undoubtedly Piper and Harry Turtledove. devoured this series. The same careful attention to characterization, William Forstchen enters this rank with the conclusion to his Lost balanced with detail and action, is evident in this concluding novel. Regiment series, bringing the by-now entertained reader to the final —Michael Wolff

18 STARLOG/Fefcraary 2000 . .

Bios by Robert _ Charles Wilson DOn'TlUIISSwhArs (Tor, he, 208 pp, I $22.95) This short novel—or long on SCI-FI TV! novella—sets up an Here's the programming lineup of past editions. Order NOW. interesting situation: in the future, a genetically engi- neered woman, Zoe, is deposited on a verdant planet, Isis,

where every molecule is thoroughly lethal

to human beings. This is the sort of plane- tary ecological puzzle that Brian Stable- ford and Hal Clement (among others) liked to explore in some of their novels. Wilson rises to the challenge, and offers a fascinating exploration of his alien world, #1 #a #3 #4 capped by a surprising, yet logical, revela- Interviews: David Interviews: Chris Interviews: Kate Interviews: Robert tion. Duchovny, Rene Carter, Nicole deBoer, Mulgrew, Michael Dorn, Picardo, Garrett Wang, Auberjonois, Salome , Robert Armin Shimerman, Alyson Hannigan, Cirroc Bios also includes a background sub- Jens, Tim Russ, Pat Duncan McNeill, Jonathan LaPaglia, X- Lofton, Anita La Selva, plot about the political state of things in Tallman, Richard Roxann Dawson, director Rob Bowman. Richard Burgi, Sabine the solar system, far too reminiscent of F. Chevolleau. . Mark Dacascos, X- Young Jules Verne. Karsenti, Kevin Conroy, M. Busby's Rissa Kerguelen, that brings $10 writer Vince Gilligan. Episode Guides: £35 producer John Animated Godzilla. S6 Babylon 5 Year 1-5 Copeland. Episode little to the book. It needed further devel- Complete, Millennium Guides: The Sentinel V'\- opment to have an impact, which it does Y1-2. $6 4, Sliders Y1-4. $6 not here. A novella concentrating solely on the wonderful character of Zoe and the mystery of the planet Isis would have been just as nice. —Jean-Marc Lofficier

Genesis by Poul Anderson (Tor, he, 256 pp, $23.95) Recalling The Matrix and The 13th Floor, as well as A. A. Attanasio's The Last Legends of Earth, Anderson's Gene- Interviews: Christopher Interviews: Jeri Ryan, Interviews: Richard Dean Interviews: Tia sis transports readers across the galaxy Judge, Ben Browder, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anderson, Ethan Carrere, Eric Close, to and far into the future, but never seems Michael Easton, Chris Renee O'Connor, Phillips, Daniel Dae Kim, Jonathan Frakes, cast off some unpalatably old-fashioned Owens, Kevin Kilner, Nana Visitor, Terry David Allen Brooks, Rob Robert Trebor, Amanda Tapping, sentiments. Nick Searcy, B5 direc- Farrell, Carrie Dobro, LaBelle, Sam Whipple, tor Janet Greek. Writing Jason Carter, Alan Helen Shaver. Angel. Roswell. 7 Days. Christian Brannock is a starry-eyed Trek. Stargate SG-1 Scarfe, First Wave Lexx. Episode Guides: Episode Guides: boy astronomer who hopes in vain to jour- Episode Guide. $6. creator Chris Crusade, Earth Final Butty V\-3, Voyager ney to the stars. In his senescence, howev- Brancato. $6 Conflict Y1 -2, Y1 -4, Y1 -5. $7 Complete Y1-7. er, when it becomes possible to upload a DS9 $7 person's personality to a computer, he XL Interviews: Gillian Anderson, Robert Leeshock, James Marsters. Big Guy & Rusty. S7 does so, exploring space for countless f» ™ #10 February $7 • #11 April $7 • #12 June $7 • #13 August $7 millennia. A billion years later, as the Sun's swelling spells the end of Earth life, Bran- nock, now part of a vast galactic comput- SCI-FI TV BACK ISSUES er consciousness, is sent to investigate Gaia, self-governing "node" of the cosmic Please send me these SCI-FI TV issues # Price # Price machine that oversees Earth's evolution. Total enclosed: $_

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>n the-RinaliDestinatiomse&fean-of flyingiissaideadlyiseniousimatter.

)H he logline for this movie," school student's room, though it's raised well has a terrifying premonition that the plane is says Craig Perry, "is 'When off the stage floor for effects and for rainfall, going to crash. He desperately urges everyone

^^^^ a group of high school stu- for which the stage is now being prepared, with to leave Flight 180, leading to his being kicked I dents get off a doomed airline plastic gutters laid down below the roof line off the plane along with some others.

flight because of a fellow student's outside the window. It's a very simple scene; He's joined by his Billy (Seann [ premonition of the crash, they're it's after the all-important plane crash, and William Scott) and Ted (Chad E. Donella, star

each hunted down by a presence Devon Sawa is leafing through Internet print- of the recent X-Files episode "Hungry"). which may or may not be Death outs, newspaper articles about the crash, Classmate Clear (Ali Larter) was so astonished " itself, coming to collect its due.' books, NTSB reports on past plane disasters, by Browning's outburst that she left the plane, Perry is one of the producers of Final Desti- etc. He puts this aside, pulls out a Penthouse, too. On the other hand, athlete Carter (Ken- nation, known as Flight 180 in Vancouver, and then reacts with a start at the offstage call Smith) had scoffed loudly enough at Alex that British Columbia, where this trip into Twilight of an owl. (Actually director Wong yelling, he and his girl friend Terry (Amanda Detmer) Zone-type terror is being filmed. "What's inter- "Owl!" The hoot will be added later.) were also ejected. Teacher Ms. Lewton (Kris- esting about this movie," Perry continues, "is For this shot, Sawa has to face a weird, ten Cloke) volunteers to stay behind with the that they die in ways in which we all could con- mechanistic looking wall of white Styrofoam students who've deplaned—and all of them are ceivably die. The movie takes great pains [to sheets (to bounce the light toward him), black horrified to see the plane explode shortly after show that] the characters' deaths come from the velvet sheets (to hide the light that's bouncing), takeoff. conspiracy of elements in everyday homes, grip stands, mike booms and the serious faces Then those who left the plane with everyday situations. It's important to have an of set workers. Alex begin dying one by one—and audience identify with the situations—with the Sawa later says that this kind of thing does though they're not being mur- hope being that when they walk out of the the- not throw him; he has been acting since he was dered, there's a definite

ater, they may think, 'Well, gee, I put those scis- 11. "When it's this close on you, your emo- pattern to ^fljjfl

sors kind of close to the edge [of the table].' tions are just jumping all over the place, it's going to look big and sloppy, so you hold back. Fateful Flight But if they're doing a shot from far back, you

Final Destination is being lensed in a tend to make it a little bigger, so the audi

small, unusual studio in Vancouver, and on ence sees it better on the big screen."

locations in and around the scenic city. Long- In the story, ordinary high time writing partners Glen Morgan and James school kid Alex Browning Wong are making their feature film produc- (Sawa) is about to leave ing/directing debut with this script, which on a trip to Paris with could—and should—cause X-Files and Mil- others from his lennium fans to begin panting eagerly to see school, this movie. They wrote some of the very best when X-Files (such as "Tooms" and "Home"), and he were "show runners" on the second season of Millennium. And of course, they created and

ran Space: Above and Beyond as well; it remains one of their favorite projects. Morgan

is one of the producers of Final Destination,

and Wong is directing the film for release by New Line Cinema in March. The set today

is a typical

^ ' » Aw,

order of going. What's more, there seems to be something increasingly wrong with reali-

ty itself. The production designer—who is using some very unusual effects in this film—is John Willett, and the cinematographer is Robert MacLachlan, another Millennium vet- eran. Morgan points out that much of the crew worked on that series, also shot in Vancouver. Bordered on the north by snow-capped moun- tains and surrounded by huge bays full of

busy cargo ships, Vancouver is one of the most scenic cities in North America. The studio where the Final Destination

interiors are shot is a peculiar cube-shaped

building with an apartment atop it; on the

apartment balcony is a large grey sculpture that unnervingly resembles Reptilicus. The

studio is immediately next to a small river, and backed by a big golden bridge. In his trailer below the bridge, Perry comes off as a friendly, outgoing man, happy that American Pie—his first movie as a producer (with his partner, Warren Zide)—did well at the box- office. And he's happy that Final Destination is shaping up as something different. "We took great pains not ever to really show

'the beast' in this movie," he declares. "Because if it is Fate or

Death or whatever, the last thing we want to do is see something

running around with a scythe, a hood and all those things." On the other hand, Wong says that in the treatment that he and Morgan were first shown, "Death was a cloaked black figure, and we decided from the very beginning that the idea of cheating Death was cool, the idea of Death coming after them was cool, but we didn't want to do a guy with a knife or an ax or whatever." Perry admits that while such a figure works well in a movie like The Frighteners, where the tone allowed for that, "In this,

we're trying to do something a little more classic in form, going back to movies like The Omen, The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby, where atmosphere and an undercurrent of dread are the

things that really help sell the scares.

"We've made great efforts not to make it a slasher movie, a genre which, of late, has really been reduced to people in rain slickers with hooks hacking up teenagers. We want to make a movie that the genre audience will appreciate, but we hope to

move further than that because it's a little bit smarter. "It's more evocative of themes that we all think about—when is it our time to die? If we're dying soon, what will that mean to us and our loved ones? How have we lived our life to that point, so that the moment when we do go, will people around us look back and say, 'He was a good man?' Ultimately, while melancholy at the end because there has been quite a lot of chaos, the movie does deliver a

message of hope, which I think is rare for the

genre, and helps distinguish it from the rest of the crop." Winged Death The project began as a five-page outline that was submitted to Perry and Zide by a

friend at New Line. They had it expanded to a

15-page treatment, then shopped it around.

V- , MB "New Line, thankfully, kept it in the family, X-Files vet Glen Morgan purchased the treatment, and Jeffrey Reddick (with Final Destination wrote a script. He did a very good job, but it star and wife Kristen still wasn't quite the movie we felt it could be." Cloke) brings some of his Perry and Zide were always interested in chilling sensibilities to the luring and Morgan aboard what still film as co-producer. Wong was called Flight 180. "They were targeted from the get-go because of their work on The X- going on in a scene, Files and Millennium," Perry explains. "They can understand what can really generate that sort of off-kilter sense the script's about. As of dread and suspense, and a weird paranoia we went along, we just that is still grounded just enough in reality for found this cast; we you to feel creepy, to send that real good shiv- would come up with er down your spine." someone, and they Morgan and Wong never saw the first would say, 'OK, he's script, but did see the 15-page treatment. "All I great.' They wanted remember of the outline," Morgan says, "is that the spin that a cast it had a hulking figure and a small-town sher- from some show iff. I believe we brought a lot, though I do have would give, but we're a lot of respect for whoever came up with the pretty happy it didn't initial idea, with the plane crash and all. That's work out that way." Jeffrey's, but the way the rest of the movie goes Perry pragmatical- is completely different." ly acknowledges that One thing while they're trying for something more

that the part- ners rejected was the idea that all of this is happening to Sawa's character for a rea- than a son. "When we were doing the draft," Morgan teen slasher movie, even a continues, "the New Line guys were asking, "retro" one, the cast does include numerous

'Well, why is this happening to him?' Jim and I teenagers—but for a good reason. "It's both a would I say if I • " felt that we didn't believe it was about that; if fiscal reason and a creative one. On the fiscal knew it was about to end?' so, it becomes Don't Look Now. This is just side, usually, 1 8-24-year-olds go to see movies There's more to Final Destination than the what's happening to him. As long as our plot like this and provide the core demographics seize-the-day idea that accompanies the remains logical about how he tries to get out of that you obviously want to attract. teenagers' deaths. Death, as an actual force, is it, that's one thing, but the question of, 'Why "But also, and we all spoke about this and after these characters, even though all we ever this kid?' is not dealt with. conspired to do it, this puts the movie into a see, maybe, is a shape passing in front of a "New Line initially wanted actors from TV position where everybody has been at that light. When they got off the plane, Perry says series," Morgan smiles ruefully, "the way Dis- point in their lives, where as a teenager, you cheerfully, "they screwed with Fate, and the turbing Behavior was cast. It was our first time feel you are invulnerable, invincible and your world has gone out of whack. As each one of [on a feature], so we were very open to that life is only beginning. What this movie does is them is taken, their immediate world shifts because they were writing the checks. Howev- force you to take a look at that idea from the back to the way it should have been had they er, Jim and I are always very attracted to smart perspective of that age, asking, 'If my life is died on the plane." actors, who, when there are several things just beginning, how am I going to live it? What The plane crash, Perry claims, is so spec- —

Final Destination explores the idea of a teen's sense of invulnerability—and of their mortality.

shooting in now lying if I said the acting's different, but I Alex's skewed dunno, maybe it affects the way you sit—you room. Our decora- do something a little stranger. The audience tor could only will go, T don't remember an FBI man ever work an hour doing that before,' but they don't know that

before she started FBI men do it all the time." to feel seasick. The The genial, funny Roebuck knows at least walls were repaint- something of what law enforcement types do, ed for each set. having played one in both The Fugitive and its There are two ver- sequel U.S. Marshals. He also appeared fre- sions of the wallpa- quently on Matlock, playing various roles per, one of them before finally settling into the recurring part of slightly fogged out. Cliff Lewis. Even though he co-starred in the The actors change highly regarded River's costumes for Edge, Roebuck's most famous role was as Jay

Leno, whose chin is even longer than Roebuck's, in the TV movie The Late

tacular it's pretty Shift. He has done some unlikely that Final Destination SF/fantasy TV shows, lo1 will make the grade as an in- Death is - including Star Trek: The and flight movie. "I will say that taking a . Next Generation F"^ 1 the plane sequences are holiday in Quantum Leap, and a unique," he says. "All of the small number of genre Uhough.n8 action is within the cabin—we movies, such as Cavegirl, Wong notes. never go outside to show the *bl Terror Eyes and the TV iner« won plane dipping and turning. B movie The Cold Equa- .. qMy With j There's a moment when a por- an ax tions. knilo or tion of the side of the plane He's convinced his fef» love of movie monsters blows out. At that moment, the cr fright illy plane's literally going side- landed him this role. "It ways—you see the actors in could have been anybody their seats, and out the hole in this part," Roebuck you see houses and the ground admits. At the audition, passing by. That's what I think "they had men in there, makes this sequence much, they had women in there, much scarier than the other black people, white people, everybody, read- airplane sequences in movies each set; all of ing for these two characters. I did the whole of the past. The world is com- them are slightly bleached back in audition, and I usually work without my glass- pletely off-kilter. It's a little the skewed world. es, so I don't know who the hell the director is, peek behind the curtains as to what's coming." "I used the same principles for each set, but who the producer is. I actually have to ask Willett has been doing production designs I distort each one a little bit differently. In some around when I get the part, 'Which one of you for about 10 years, and worked as an art direc- cases, the walls will taper away from your eye, hired me?' tor for a decade before that. Among his fea- or the vanishing point comes together one way, "So at the end of the thing, I put my glasses tures are Mr. Magoo, : H20 and last while the vertical elements move in the oppo- on to say goodbye. I turn around and there summer's Lake Placid, which at least was site direction. The trick was to come up with were these two monster models and two of the well-designed. "When I first read the script [of something a little bit unusual for each. I don't Fearmakers videos. I go, 'Dude! You guys are

Final Destination]," says Willett, "I thought it double-build, necessarily, every set; we built like me! This is my house! ' They told me that I was very unusual, and that there was an oppor- only three or four skewed sets. Most of the was the only one who noticed that so many of tunity here because so much of it was treated time what happens is that there is big move- the character names were those of horror with such a subtle hand. What I wanted to do ment within the set. For example, in Valerie's icons—Lewton, Schreck, Chaney, Browning. I was find a way to enhance that visually in a house, the ceiling physically drops and the play Agent Wiene," Roebuck says, though he subtle fashion—so I came up with the idea of walls move in. The airport gate, a gigantic admits he didn't realize that he has the same skewing the sets whenever it was germane. stage set, the cappuccino bar is much closer last name as the director of The Cabinet of Dr.

"If Alex threw Fate out of whack, I wanted after the crash than before. It doesn't sound Caligari. to say the world's out of whack, too," Willett like much, but it has a profound and subtle "I took the role," he adds, "because I had explains, but he also wanted to avoid the obvi- effect on you." never been in a genre movie. Well, there was Ter- ous. "So what I did was to force the perspective ror Eyes, a favor I did for a friend, and suddenly, in most sets, forcing it a little differently in Skewed Agent I got top billing. I've never been in a real monster each case. One of our construction foremen It certainly did on actor Daniel Roebuck, a movie, but I do go see them. You could say I have took his wife between two sets, in this case major genre buff and monster-model maven. a fondness for them. They told me about this one, Clear's bathroom. He took her into the normal He plays FBI agent Wiene, and worked on 'Death comes.' I said, Til be Death!' 'No, no, set, then put his hand over her eyes and walked some of the skewed sets. "Everything's he'sjustacloud.' 'I'll be the cloud! Givemeabig onto the skewed set. When he took his hand skewed," he laughs. "The T-shirts say, 'Who do puffy costume. Whatever you need, I can do that. away, she immediately grabbed the walls and I have to skew to get off this movie?' Every- I can walk in front of a light, how hard is that?' So said, 'Oh my God, the floor's moving!' thing in this movie, you have to stop and go, it was a chance to really be in something I want to "The second example was the set we're 'What's Jim's point-of-view here?' I would be see for a change." -Ar .

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unng year one of First Wave, alien hunter Cade Foster (Sebastian

S p e n c e ) encountered mutated fish hat walked on land, military offi- cials with mysterious motives, a futuristic female time travel-

er, alien assassins, dimension- al doorways and horrific hallucinations that included a living, severed head—all while tracking alien creatures m who have been infiltrating Earth in preparation for a full- scale invasion. With the second season already airing elsewhere (and k beginning January 9 on the Sci-Fi Channel in the U.S.), Will the First Wave be exposed too Foster is experiencing new soon? Not acording to Brancato, who adventures thanks to executive intends to explore both "the aliens an producer Chris Brancato. "We Cade's journey in measured doses.' want this series—and this character—to evolve," stresses the creator of First These aren't rhetorical Wave. "I'm well aware that a observations. Brancato is show with the premise, 'Can determined that First Wave we get these aliens off the continue evolving as a dra- matic SF series where possi- ble dead ends and cliches will "I'M MOT be revitalized with creative storytelling. As an example, INTERESTED he relates the storyline of an upcoming second season IN HEROES episode. "Foster travels to a small town that has been WHO ARE taken over by a biker gang called the Apostles. They've COOKIE- been roaring through the town, ripping things apart and CUTTER terrorizing people for GOOD.' unknown reasons. Cade is captured by these mean, planet?' can run into a road- Harley riding killers, and as block of tiresome and repeti- they're about to cut his throat,

tive stories. I can assure you they pull out a wanted poster

that is not going to happen and say, 'My God, it's him.' with First Wave!' This is a gang of humans who A lost book of prophe- have been following Cade's cies written by Nostradamus journals and have been hunt- in 1564 has been Cade's best ing down aliens. Cade real- method in uncovering the izes that these are his aliens' current experiments, followers, but their methods but Brancato wants to move conflict with his. They're his hero into new areas. "He willing to kill some innocent has spent a year tracking down the aliens with twist on that part of the journey. "What hap- people if it means they take out a bunch of the help of Nostradamus' guidebook. We'll pens if Cade gets news of the invasion pub- aliens. How Cade handles this internal war now see Cade fight alongside other human lished in a major newspaper? Rather than end makes for an interesting thematic dilemma." beings who believe that aliens are here, as well the series, that could provide a springboard for Brancato admits the series is also "doling as seeing how he wears the mantle of leader- more stories, And how many alien nerve cen- out the information about the aliens and ship." ters are there in the world? Who are the alien Cade's journey in measured doses," rather Foster's efforts to convince the world that leaders? Then there's Joshua [Roger Cross], than putting everything up front and letting the extra-terrestrials are here have, up until now, the alien whose conflict with his own people stories roar. The writer-producer wants First

fallen on deaf ears. Brancato is going to put a will be a much bigger issue this year." Wave to become a learning experience for the

M) STAR I OG/VW'mmiv ,'

audience. "There are some people who want to know everything now. We prefer to have our viewers discover new things every week. As a fan, that can either drive you crazy or appeal to you putting things together."

It has proved a successful strategy, as reflected by the variety of First Wave web sites. Fans enthusiastically specu- late over Joshua's true motives, Foster's dangerous journey and Crazy Eddie Nambulous' (Rob LaBelle) beleaguered background. Will this story evolution result in the title changing to Second Wave (signaling the aliens' active attack on Earth)? Even Spence has indicated he would enjoy seeing his Foster become a dark, brood- ing space-age commando. However, "That's a decision that won 't be made by me," Brancato states firmly. "That'll be made by the viewers of the show. There are still a lot of great stories yet to tell about the first wave invasion already here. If Cade success- fully completes this part of his jour- ney, gaining new skills and experiences, the aliens may leave Earth, and Foster will have saved the planet. But if Cade fails and the second wave begins, we'll have opportunities to tell stories of an active resistance by Foster and other humans. That interests me." With the door wide open for various story permutations, what changes are in store for Foster? He has clearly been the reluctant hero, bristling sharply whenever his ally Crazy Eddie points out that Nos- tradamus has tapped Foster to be the savior of mankind. "Cade has rebelled against being called the Chosen One, but in year two, he'll reevaluate that. He has seen enough evidence to suggest Nostradamus' quatrains are accurate. If Nos- tradamus calls him the twice- blessed man, Foster begins to realize it's useless to argue against it, and he'll accept his fate."

Foster will still travel through the peaks and valleys of triumph and despair. "I'm not interested in heroes who are cookie-cutter good," Brancato remained concentrated in North America, but two places." states. "I like a hero who has good days and what of other alien beachheads around the With First Wave already committed to a bad days, who may be too tired to get out of world? "I am looking for ways to have Cade third season, Chris Brancato is bracing himself bed one day and doesn't want to do anything, connect his experience in America with what is for his own journey through the corridors of much less fight aliens. It's realistic to layer in happening in foreign countries. We've dis- exhaustive television production. "It's a very his personal demons, his frustrations and anger cussed setting one episode in London. The exciting and daunting task to do 22 high quali- over what his mission is all about. This year, question becomes, 'How do we do that realisti- ty episodes per season," he relates. "It's seven we'll have him throw a shit fit over how slow cally in terms of a story?' Foster is a fugitive days of shooting per episode, 28 days of post- his progress has been and how nobody will lis- from the law, and to fly across the Atlantic production, including special effects; it's a) ten to him. Nostradamus may even somehow means a proper background and a passport. colossal effort to sustain the quality. That's our tell Foster, 'Hey, buddy, you can't end this in a But we are going to broaden his boundaries. struggle, but it's worth it. I'm gratified that day. You signed on for the whole ride, pal. This We don't have the production wherewithal to people are watching the show and asking ques- " may be just the beginning.' duplicate numerous foreign cities, so his trav- tions. There are some very exciting times In season one, Foster's crusade has els probably wouldn't extend beyond one or ahead for these characters." _*»

S'YAKLOG/February 2000 31 —

"WZZI^^ J. Stewart loves a chal- priately enough, the Voice, who has discov- lenge. After co-creating ered a data bank of information that no one

| the hit fantasy/action- R.J. Stewart else in the underworld has. "It gives her ^^^^k adventure Xena: War- power to unite enough people to try and take rior Princess, Stewart is back the planet's surface in their war against now turning his attention to the Bailies," says Stewart. "She knows it's a new series with no less sends important to keep her identity secret, because than three smart and sexy heroines. Cleopatra finding and destroying her has become of para- 2525 features Jennifer Sky as the eponymous mount importance to the Bailies. People who actress who awakens from cryogenic sleep 500 warrior fight for the same cause, therefore, have never years in the future to find her world turned seen her. There is a series of teams through- upside down. Gina Torres and Victoria Pratt out the underworld that do her bidding, and co-star as warrior leader Hel and her fight- each team leader has a speaker and receiver in princesses surgically implanted in their jaw to communi- ing partner Sarge, who enlist Cleopatra their crusade to save humanity. The new cate with the Voice." half-hour futuristic drama will be paired with The first episode introduces series protago- the action-adventure series Jack of All Trades into the nists Sarge and Hel. Sarge has been injured in (starring Bruce Campbell), replacing Her- the kidney, and in an attempt to save her, Hel, cules: The Legendary Journeys beginning this the leader and the one who hears the Voice, month. future of takes her to a lab that sells body parts. 'The person who runs the lab says, 'You're in luck Heroine of Time because we've just discovered some cryogeni- The saga of Cleopatra actually starts in cally frozen bodies from the 21st century in the year 2035, when a group of creatures Cleopatra mint condition.' They work out a trade, and are called the Bailies take over the surface of given permission to harvest a kidney from this Earth and drive humanity underground. "The lot of frozen people. generation of human beings who inhabited "In the process of doing that, a young Earth at that point are very advanced techno- woman is awakened. Her name is Cleopatra. logically," explains Stewart, picking up the By JOE NAZZARO She went in for a breast enhancement opera- story, "and they've been able to dig a compli- tion, something went terribly wrong and she cated tunnel structure underneath the Earth to while other scientists are experimenting with was cryogenically frozen by her wealthy boy protect them from the Bailies. The idea is that similar mutations for the purpose of gaining friend in the hopes that they could figure what they're going to live in these tunnels until they power underneath the ground. There's a mad went wrong and bring her back to life, but of can win back the planet's surface. race for technological improvement, as some course the Bailies took over, and the lab was "As time goes on, they start building shafts people are trying to beat the Bailies' technolo- lost and recently discovered. Cleopatra wakes

deeper and deeper into the Earth to escape gy, and at the same time, others are trying to up into this world, having no idea what has counterattacks from the Bailies, different lev- conquer more of the underground. This goes happened, and is now thrust into the middle of els begin to form and as they're unsuccessful in on for centuries, and with each generation, this insane adventure." Olczopalra wakes up into this worlcL having no iclcra what has happcrncrd."

taking back the surface, chaos begins to sneak global civilization decays more and more. The According to Stewart, Cleopatra becomes a in. The basic authority of the underground information people have about culture, art, the reluctant member of the team for several rea- begins to crumble, and pretty soon, these dif- Bible—all the things we take for granted sons. "Number one, they don't know what else ferent levels are in a state of anarchy. Gangs became shrouded in mystery. People have little to do with her; they know she will die immedi- start forming to take over different levels, and pieces of information, but no one has the big ately if they leave her behind. Secondly, she traces of what we consider a structured society picture." brings with her all that information about the begin to fade. Scientists begin experimenting Five hundred years later, an organization universe, society and culture that has been lost

with mutating life forms in the hopes of com- has been formed to free Earth. The group is for all those centuries, so she's an invaluable ing up with something to defeat the Bailies, founded by a disembodied voice called, appro- source of data about all the things that we take

Opposite page: The warrior princesses of Cleopatra 2525: Hel (Gina Torres), the team leader in the underground battle for Earth. Cleopatra (Jennifer Sky), the sleeper awakened to provide wisdom of the past. Sarge (Victoria Pratt), the ex-mercenary who now fights for freedom.

32 STAKLOG/February 2000

All Cleopatra 2525 Photos: Copyright 2000 Studios USA the mysteries we're setting up in the first season: why they don't want to totally destroy human beings.

'The other theory is that they're aliens.

I think the audience is certainly going to lean toward the computer-environmental

theory, but trust me, it's more complicated

than that, and I don't want to tip off what it

is, because as the series evolves, we'll be building that mystery more and more. There's also a group of people who do live on the surface, the Dworks. They're like drones that the Bailies maintain on the sur- face, and in one episode, we'll explain why."

Cleopatra is also about the discovery and exploration of the countless levels of underground Earth. "There are many lev- els that have not been discovered, and so just as in Star Trek, [whose Starfleet per- sonnel] have a mission of keeping peace in the galaxy, they also stop on different plan- ets and have different adventures, so our people will discover new levels and new worlds beneath the Earth, and that brings them into different adventures. "The Bailies also have their 'Betray- ers,' human-like robots they send down into the underground, and our team has a former Betrayer that they've captured and re-programmed to be on their side, named Mauser. He works in their lab, and one of the things he's constantly trying to

do is figure out ways to detect the next generation of Betrayers, because they're constantly being updated and becoming more sophisticated."

Stewart is well aware of the potential danger for falling into a formula, where the main characters barely manage to escape the Bailies at every

episode's end, which is why it's important for his

staff to stay as flexible as possible. "That's why I resist both rigid, long-term story arcs and formulas, although we've talked about season enders for sea- son three and twists with the Voice in season four. Hopefully, if we're a success, people will be asking,

'Who's the Voice, where is she, and will we ever

meet her?' There was a wonderful moment where it looked like Lucy Lawless was going to do the voice,

and she did it for some promos. It looks like she's

not going to be able to do it, but she did it very well." With 14 episodes already produced for Cleopa-

tra's first season, Stewart knows a good deal about

for granted in life today. She was also an actress in her time, and an excellent mimic, so she becomes the Artemus Gordon, if you will, of this trio." Worlds of Earth The villains of Cleopatra, the Bailies, are metallic flying creatures that according to Stewart can morph into "just about anything we damn well please." They're machine-like, but viewers will have to wait to see if they're living beings, or con- tain something inside them that's actually alive. "There's a debate underneath the Earth about what the Bailies are, with one faction believing them to be machines created to police the environment. They are the ultimate mobile computers, designed to clean up Earth's environment, and the first thing they did was identify humans as the greatest enemy to the environment, so they drove them underground. Interestingly enough, that's one of

34 STARLOG/February 2000 his three main characters. "Hel [short for I where she was hired to Helen, reflecting the writer's self-confessed do violent acts. She's obsession with Helena Bonham Carter] grew I wounded at one point up in a relatively secure environment, because and nursed back to some of the levels know the dangers out there health by Hel, who con- I and try to mask themselves from other levels verts her into fighting and be self-sufficient. Hel grew up in a very for good." safe environment like that, close to her scientist Lj Perhaps not surpris- father. At some point, her level is discovered ingly, Cleopatra will and attacked by a villain we meet in the series, remain the audience's named Creegan, and as a teenager, everything touchstone in the world she knows and loves is wiped out. She's now of 2525. "The first thing thrust into this chaotic environment, so one of she has to do," says her driving impulses is to recapture that Stewart, "is adjust to domestic security she had as a child. this horror of realizing

"Hel is by far the most serious, the most her world has been dedicated, the most mission-oriented of the destroyed. She soon group, the perfect leader," Stewart says. "She understands that her sees Sarge and Cleopatra as her family, and only alternative is to she's very protective toward them. She's cer- work with this group to tainly not an Earth mother type—she's way too try and regain some of tough for that—but she definitely has a nurtur- what was lost. Cleopa- ing personality. Certainly the grudge she has tra's motivation is to try with Creegan surfaces in our series, and that's to re-invent or rekindle where we learn this back story." the world that was lost, and in this violent of them.' The idea is, with all that data she has world, where even Hel's ethics are somewhat from the past, she can tap into what we take for Partners of Danger questionable as far as respect for life and death, granted as popular culture, and it's all fresh and Most of Sarge's background remains under she's the one who teaches them what it is to be different to the people there. When she eventu- wraps for the time being, although Stewart a hero. ally meets the Dworks, she says, 'May the promises that some details will be revealed in "At the end of the pilot, they say, 'We Force be with you!' and they're intrigued by an upcoming two-part episode. "Sarge appears would like you to be part of our team,' and that, because they're so into the alien thing. By in every way to just have been a mercenary she's still depressed about what has happened the way, this is truly the part made for Jennifer who grew up in a chaotic environment and to her and says, 'Oh great, one for all, and all Sky, and she does a terrific job with it."

became the equivalent of a juvenile delinquent for one.' Hel says, 'That's beautiful, that's I Regarding upcoming storylines, Stewart and got involved in these mercenary gangs, great!' and Cleopatra says, 'I've got a million | doesn't mind dropping a few tantalizing hints

STARLOG/Fefcraary 2000 35 Design & Layout: RickTeng get around that so we don't have to have the show becoming Xena and Gabrielle traveling with an infant. It's kind of a surprise—it's not like the baby magically grows up real fast or anything—but I think it's a very clever way

we did it." Looking ahead to the season's end in May, Stewart promises fewer comedic episodes, and reveals that Xena's actions will bring her into direct conflict with the Olympian gods. "There's going to be a lot of interesting things with Ares [Kevin Smith] and also introducing some new gods, Athena being one of them; she has certainly never been on Xena before. They did a version of her on Hercules [in "The Apple"], but we're totally reinventing her and making her a much more formidable character." While Stewart returns his attention to Xena, at least for the time being, part of him

still looks forward to the debut of Cleopatra 2525, which he insists is a very different series, one he desperately wants to get a fair shot at building an audience. "That of course has me very nervous," confesses the veteran The producer promises twists and producer. "I've been on series where I was- turns aplenty as 21st century girl n't so sure they were that good, so that's a meets 26th century world. Poor Cleo. different situation, but when you love some- about the first several adventures. "In one episode, we'll meet a very interesting vil- lain who has the ability to control peo- ple's minds. It's not a Svengali thing where she immediately controls some- body who obeys her blindly. She knows how to insert individual thoughts that set off a series of other thoughts leading them to do exactly what she wants, so the fun of that character is implanting those thoughts in Sarge to make her paranoid and in Hel, to make her insecure. Ulti- mately, the challenge in defeating this villain is to out-think her because she can also read minds. Danielle Cormack [Ephiny from Xena] plays this villain, Raina, and she's very good. "We have a two-part adventure that takes us onto the planet's surface and into the bowels of a Betrayer factory. That introduces Sarge's back story. We basi- cally experience what it's like inside a Bailey as well as a Betrayer factory. We also learn some important secrets about how the Bailies produce the Betrayers. "There's another two-parter that takes us to an Atlantis-like underwater world, where they find people who are not inter- ested in living underground and fled to the underwater world long ago. They haven't show's fifth season, including the much-antici- I thing like I do Cleopatra, the only thing you formed gills, but they've learned to live in this pated birth of Xena's baby. Stewart was , can ask for is that it gets a fair showing, that underwater world, and our people discover delighted to take over former Hercules it's put in a place it from f where people can see and that they don't want any contact with the peo- writing team Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, \ decide whether they like it, so that tension is ple from the underground. It's sort of an ass- who recently moved on to Jack of All Trades building." kicking Shangri-La—this Utopia removed after just half a dozen episodes. "Obviously For R.J. Stewart, dividing his attention from all humanity—and suddenly, our charac- we're moving towards Xena having a baby, of between Cleopatra and Xena is the kind of ters show up in a little mini-sub and learn learning about the baby's ancestry and its challenge that most writers only dream about, what this group is up to, which is not good impact, not only on Xena and Gabrielle's life and this is one writer who realizes how lucky news, so that brings them into conflict." but also on the entire known world, so it turns he is. "I'm very happy about Cleopatra'' he out that this is going to be a very, very signifi- declares with unbridled enthusiasm. "I don't Princess of Note cant baby. We want to embrace having the think that has been short-shrifted in any way With Cleopatra now well into production, baby as a part of Xena's life for a few episodes, because the timing was so perfect, and now I

Stewart was asked to return to his former job t but we also want to do a stand-alone in there get to go back on a show I passionately love, on Xena, overseeing the remainder of the I and we've come up with a very clever way to so it has really worked for me!"

36 STARLOG/February 2000 ofXena Here's a look at some Xena episodes that he scripted, R.J. with 'Sin Trade' the next season." Stewart style. "Adventures in the Sin Trade" two-parter (Aided by "Sins of the Past" (Xena goes good & acquires sidekick Northern Amazons, Xena journeys to the spirit world to save Gabrielle in this pilot episode): "We had a mutual agreement Gabrielle): "When the second part first aired, I didn't like it at all. that I would not come on as show runner if the pilot script I thought we had failed, but I saw them again recently, and was didn't work, because there's nothing more of a nightmare less harsh on myself this time around. I've talked to some people than being locked up in a contract on a show where they hate who got confused, and there's no excuse for that, because we

you. When I was writing the pilot, however, I realized, 'I get shouldn 't be an obscure show. We're a chop-socky action-adven- this, I really get this stuff!' I was very excited, because I had a ture, so we shouldn't totally bemuse people. If they were able to

feeling we were on to something really nice." follow it, though, then I think it's good solid television." "Prometheus" (Xena, Gabrielle, Hercules & Iolaus quest "The Way" (Multi-armed Xena fights in India): "There was for the sword which can free Prometheus from his eternal punish-

ment): "I'm actually very fond of it now. I'm rather moved by that scene I ripped off from Plato, Gabrielle's speech about

the souls trying to find their partner. I

think it worked wonderfully, so I was more forgiving of the egg creatures this time around." "Callisto"/"The Return of Callis- to" (introducing Xena's most formida- ble foe): "That was originally conceived as a three-parter when I first pitched it, V but the wisdom was, why commit to a three-parter until we see what the girl was like? We decided to do one stand- alone and see who we cast and if it worked. I think virtually everybody on

the face of the Earth agrees we cast it pretty well with Hudson Leick." "Warrior...Princess...Tramp" (Lucy Lawless plays Xena and two look-alikes): "I also did a real big

rewrite on the first one,

'Warrior.. .Princess,' in the first season. Lucy was just amazing, in carrying that

off. The credited writer on that first sea-

son show was Brenda Lilly, and her pitch was, 'The Prince a lot in it, but it worked terrifically as part of an arc, in the devel- and the Pauper, with Gabrielle,' My response was, 'That's a opment of the characters and as an adventure. Sometimes the ones

great idea i/it's with Xena,' so that's where it came from. The that stand alone are the wonderful, well-crafted episodes, but

first one was so well-received, we went back there right don't take your characters anywhere. This one did a lot for the

away." characters and their evolution, and I think it also looked great." "A Day in the Life" (a typical 24-hour look as the hero- "The Ides of March" (Julius Caesar is assassinated; Xena ines work and play): "I had piled up all these things in my and Gabrielle are crucified): "That's probably my favorite one of

psyche that Xena and Gabrielle would do when the camera is the fourth season. I liked it quite a bit. I don't always like just my

not on them, so they just popped out all over the place and it episodes as favorites; as a matter of fact, there are a couple that

was a lot of fun. We've tried to do another one, but it has Steve [Sears] and Chris [Manheim] wrote that are my favorites

never worked with other writers doing it. I'm not saying that of other seasons, but 'Ides' was my fourth season favorite." from ego reasons, because in many cases, other writers outdo 'Tallen Angel" (the fifth season premiere which resurrected me on this show, but for some reason, other writers don't get Xena and Gabrielle): "I've been down in New Zealand many

it. I may take another shot at it, or maybe I'll quit while I'm times when my episodes have been shot, but I've never felt such

ahead." trepidation about an episode because it was so ambitious. I kept "The Debt" two-parter (in China, Xena confronts her watching dailies of people wobbling around in front of a blue

past): "That was a movie. It really was; it's the thing I love screen on cables [playing angels] and started to think, 'Oh boy!'

best since I've been on Xena. The back story blended so well but it worked wonderfully. The reason that Rob, the other writers

with the 'A' story, and I was very proud of the way I inter- and I are able to be so ambitious is because [New Zealand pro- wove them. Going to China was something Rob [Tapert] ducer] Eric Gruendemann and those people can deliver so well

and I had talked about very early on, and it was very satisfy- for us, but we certainly pushed them pretty hard on that one."

ing to do. I think that's why Rob and I got so ambitious —Joe Nazzaro

STtAKLOG/February 2000 37

1 ' a: eing cast as Agent 007 in GoldenEye exhilarat- ed actor Pierce Bros- the long-coveted role was finally his. The story of how the part slipped through his fingers 12 years ago thanks to NBC, and his inflexible Remington Steele contract, has become show business fable. But even as he finally felt vindicated, the actor knew he had to make James Bond his own. What he personally wanted to add to the iconic superspy was drama and character, tough- ness and, well, humanity. But Brosnan was also just testing the water in a role that three actors before him—four if you count one- timer George Lazenby of the under- rated On Her Majesty's Secret Service—made into a household name. Brosnan knew full well that he would inevitably be com- pared to Sean Con- nery, Roger Moore and, to a lesser degree, Timothy Dal- ton, who portrayed Bond as a heavy- drinking, disillu- sioned secret agent. Audiences never fully bought into Dal- ton's version, yearning instead for the sexual charisma of Connery and the suave playful- ness of Moore. For Bros- nan, both suave and charming, the challenge was to avoid his prede- cessors' images of Bond. Like Dalton, he was interested in a tougher Bond, a man with com- plex character traits, but unlike Dalton, Brosnan refused to make 007 a downer. So, in a number of scenes in GoldenEye, Brosnan appears unshaven. "That was just a cosmetic deci- sion to get a rougher edge," he explains. "I I don't see myself as a sex symbol at all." r have a face which in a —

"Pierce connect with other characters, and his willing- had a real ness as Bond to be vulnerable—to walk on a appetite high wire between a mean, brutal killer and a and energy man sensitive to things, which is closer to the to develop spirit of Ian Fleming than Connery was." the role," In The World Is Not Enough, Bond must says Apted. protect the international oil supply from falling "He want- into the hands of arch-terrorist Renard (Robert ed more Carlyle), who also appears to threaten the life character. of heiress Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) after He kept the demise of her father, energy magnate Sir telling me, Robert King, who Bond unsuccessfully tried to 'Give me save. more stuff Although Elektra is a moody, self-styled to play. I'll rich gal—part spoiled brat, part sophisticated do the member of the elite—she is clearly a Bond action, but babe. The fact that 007 must protect her life certain light can tend to look a bit 'not lived-in I don't want to do just that for six months. Give and guarantee her safety is all in a day's work enough,' but it's getting there. By the time I fin- me something to do with Judi [Dench, who for him, as is the eventual flirtation and love- ish this franchise, I'll get it right." plays M], Robbie [Coltrane as Valentin making. But Bond here goes a step further and Zukovsky] and the others.' We wanted the falls in love with his charge—and then suffers Human Agent same thing. He was actually doing The Thomas the ultimate hurt when she betrays him for Indeed, for The World Is Not Enough, the Crown Affair at the time, so he wasn't around Renard, her kidnapper-turned-lover. When biggest Bond film to date, the actor didn't have for all these discussions about character devel- Bond realizes that Elektra has killed her own to rely on facial hair. This time, he had a fully opment. But he would keep on insisting to father and is planning a similar fate for some developed character. The producers chose as make the material better, pushing me to deliver MI-6 members, including himself, he rectifies director Michael Apted, a serious, sensitive what I was there to deliver. the situation in the only way he knows how man with a profound understanding of human "He wants to make Bond his own," the he kills her. nature (expressed not only in such commercial filmmaker continues, "incorporate as much of This is an Earth-shattering event, complete- vehicles as Nell, Gorillas in the Mist and Coal his own personality into the character, which I ly out of sync with 007 's affairs with previous Miner's Daughter but in the monumental doc- think is the key to the franchise, and why it Bond girls—he has bedded the good, the bad umentary series represented recently by 42 Up, stayed alive. Although it's James Bond, we're and the indifferent, but he has seldom cared. a study of a group of children every seven talking about five different characters, and Now he not only falls in love, but must kill the years into adulthood). Apted empathized with Pierce wants to stamp his individuality on it. object of his passion because it's his duty and his star's desire for a meatier role. One of his traits is his ability to be complex and because his own life depends on it.

STARLOG/Fehrua ry 2000 39 License to kill. Brosnan wants to see further explo- ration of Bond's dark side, and just

what it means to pull the trigger again and again.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In this film, 007 works very they might play." close to home, cruising the Thames in hot pursuit. Clearly, M herself is much more involved here than in any pre- vious Bond installment. She con- siders herself a close friend of Sir Robert and assumes responsibility for his daughter after his murder. In this movie, M travels to a foreign land to help her friend—and she gets to sample the agony of betray-

al. For Bond, a daring rescue of this lady blurs the line between responding to a boss' orders and aiding a damsel in distress. "I don't want—nor can I—do what Connery did," offers Bros-

nan, "nor do I wish to do the kind of character who smacks women around, which I've done—with Famke Janssen in GoldenEye. She gets a dig in the jaw, but she

deserves it. "For me," the actor says, "James Bond is a human being. From the first time I approached the character, precisely because he "He does love Elektra," affirms Brosnan. out the drama here, someone who also under- had such a mythology, my challenge was how

"There's great love and respect between them, stands that all action sequences need a solid to make it real for myself. What Fleming put and the fact that he's seduced by her adds to the narrative." down on paper and what Connery did at the drama. I wanted to see more of that." Adds Brosnan, "Michael Apted, who has a beginning are two different things, really. You Producer Michael G. Wilson goes even fur- very good ear for dialogue and storytelling, have to find the man for yourself, and you pose ther. "The film works because the relationship also wanted to explore the relationship the question to yourself: What if I were this between Sophie and Pierce works. So we need- between Bond and M. You can feel there's man? ed a good dramatic director who could bring something behind the mask and the charade "Bond is a highly trained, respected, soli-

40 STA R XXyCs/Februa ry 2000 rid Photos: Copyright 1999 Eon Productions Ltd. & Danjaq LL(

tary professional. He's a survivalist, who does not particularly like to kill anybody, but kills anyway. He's always looking over his shoul- der; drinks too much, smokes too much but has

given up. I tried to make it human, and that's a dangerous thing to do with a fantasy figure, but

I think we did it here. Michael and I talked about the character's grey area, his ambiguity.

GoldenEye manifested it in one particular sequence on the beach with Izabella Scorupco.

As for Tomorrow Never Dies, they wanted it to be so much bigger, bolder and plusher than the

previous one that it became wall-to-wall action. "But this time they allowed us to have both story and character—and interaction of char- acter and subtext, so you have this incredibly heroic character but with a grey side to him, and that's what intrigues me: How far can you

go with it? How far can you push it without

pulling it all down? "You see," the actor continues, "when you

dig into the dark side of Bond, it gets really interesting, especially when you deal with the killings—this license to kill—and what really goes on in his head when the hotel room door closes behind him in Hamburg or

Helsinki or wherever he is. The quiet moments. "I would like to see more of Bond being quiet, by himself, alone on the screen, so

that we can learn more of how it all affects him—the missions, the killings. He's so heroic and always gets the job done, always has the gadget at hand, but what happens

when it goes wrong? When he doesn't have the gadgets? The betrayal that he deals with

all his life, what impact does it have on him? Certainly in a situation like this, where because of his guilt, he lends himself to a particular woman, and then foolishly lets the situation get out of hand."

Secret Services Although he's aware that the appeal of

his big-screen alter-ego is largely sexual, Brosnan insists, "I don't see myself as a sex

symbol at all. If you pay any attention to that

or give it any credence, you're shooting yourself in the foot. I'm just an actor, just a guy—I do the job." The poster of himself that was widely sold early on during his Rem- wry sense of humor, and his wisdom in letting Cucinotta), who gives him a run for his money.

ington Steele days belongs, as he puts it, to his the boys who handle the FX and stunts go on "It was amazing," he recalls, "a kick in the butt. "other life." But Bond "is pure fantasy—that's with their job. People have already talked The boat is so snug-feeling, you got to put your what turned the audience on back in 1962-63. about him coming to direct another one, and I foot down and go! It sits low on the water, so

The guys wanted to be this character and the think it'll be wonderful to work with him its nose is up like this and you can't see where

women wanted to be with him." again." you're going. It was one of the wonderful

Still, the actor confesses, he would like to Bond is a tough physical role, and this time things I could do in the role." get a little dirty as 007. "The movie is rated around was no exception. In fact, Brosnan's As much as he enjoys doing some of his

PG-13, which is what all Bonds should be, but commitment to do it right got him close to own stunts, Brosnan has mixed feelings about there's a part of me that wants to do an R-rated major physical injury. "In Tomorrow Never increasing his derring-do to correspond to the Bond, or just do it with surprises, showing Dies, I got whacked in my face by a stuntman," series' credo of making things "bigger and bet-

more facets of the character." he recalls, "and it happened again on The ter" each time. "I've done a lot of stunts in all But even without an R rating, Brosnan is World Is Not Enough—I was driving the boat three films," he explains, "and there are some satisfied that The World Is Not Enough marks a through the restaurant door and the door hit me things you can't do, because you're not trained

turning point for Bond, and credits director in the face, but thankfully there were no bones for it, or they won't allow you to do it because

Apted for the change. "Michael may not be an broken or stitches." of the insurance, which is enormous. It's funny,

obvious choice for a big action movie, but I Brosnan is talking about the high-speed I've read that it was my life's ambition to play

think he'll be viewed as the man who brought boat chase on the Thames, where he uses an this role, which is completely untrue." it around in a different way. For me, he really unfinished Q-Branch prototype to pursue Although he grew up on Bond films and did—with his storytelling, intelligence and Renard's accomplice, Cigar Girl (Maria Grazia enjoyed them, they weren't the decisive influ-

STARLOG/Febman 2000 41 — —

Design & Layout: RickTeng

services. Bond shares fiery peril eur romance—with nuclear physicist Christmas Jones (Denise Richards). rounds. It was because my late wife had done a Bond movie [Cas- sandra Harris in For Your Eyes Only] and because we knew the Broc-

coli family. Still, I feel that Bond and I were fated to meet. It's

destiny! There was no getting away from it." Despite his fondness for Bond and what the role has done for his career, Brosnan emphasizes that there's more to him than 007. "I was

trained to believe I could do many characters," he explains. "When you're younger, you think you can do the whole gamut, but as you grow older, you realize you have Umitations. There's also the consid- eration of whether you're having a good time, and whether you need

to work to pay the mortgage, so sometimes you take a job when it's offered to you. This has happened in my career, but now I have bet-

ter choices I can make. There is no flood of scripts coming through the door. You make your own work, create your own space where you can get the work." worldly Enough Just as his career is evolving—he has gone from glamour boy on TV to character parts in movies to the ultimate fantasy lead as Bond—the actor has found the key to playing his most visible char- acter. "Doing GoldenEye was huge," he remembers. "The tension was there from day one, from the minute I put the phone down with my agent saying I got the job right down to the press junket. Connery was the man, the Bond I grew up on. He got the belt. Now you want to be the one to take the belt, except that you must find your own path

within it, and not be blindsided by the competition of somebody else's performance." Playing 007 this time around has become easier for Brosnan, probably due to the experience of the two other films. "You have more confidence, more relaxation, and you don't push as hard—you know when to push and when to pull back on it. "In a way," he continues, "it's good that I didn't get the role in

1986, when I signed to do it for the first time. I have photos with the late Cubby Broccoli, signing the contract, standing outside the James Bond soundstage with his Rolls Royce—and I looked like a kid, like something out of Leave It to Beaver. I didn't have the maturity and didn't really look like I had the life experience to por- tray Bond convincingly." Interestingly, the actor admits that he would like to have been a

real-life Bond. "I think every guy would, but I don't know whether I

would do very well at it."

He does it just fine on screen, how- ever. The secret of making Bond his

own, the actor says, "was keeping it as simple, honest and straightforward as

ence on his becoming an actor. "It was more possible." Still, it took some informal Clint Eastwood and Warren Beatty," he rehearsing early on to get right the key remembers. "I saw their movies and began to line, "The name is Bond. James fantasize, as we all do when we're young, Bond." "You find yourself doing it,"

about maybe being a movie star. I had a very he recalls, "foolishly practicing it, as solitary childhood in Ireland—I had no broth- you're brushing your teeth in the ers or sisters, and I lived in the country, so I morning. It's very embarrassing say- was often actually living in my imagination. ing that fine with a mouth full of tooth-

Then when I went to England and started see- paste." ing movies, I saw something magical about Pierce Brosnan has the contractual

them. I think every actor who has made it in option to do a fourth Bond picture, but movies must have been turned on by the the actor hopes he's not called to the magic of the cinema. I wanted to be that char- mission too soon. "Not as quickly as

acter on the screen: I wanted to live that life. we have done the other three; it's too "But Bond movies remain part of my exhausting," he points out. "We all screen mythology, screen education and knew if GoldenEye took off, we would

childhood. To play James Bond was to play be off and running. When it did come the man—that's a guy thing, a fantasy that in strong, I knew they would want one helped spark my interest in the cinema at the every 18 months. Then, if you're suc-

age of 10 1/2, which is when I saw Goldfin- cessful with it, you get pigeonholed ger. Shirley Eaton certainly left an impres- you're just going to be seen as that sion on my psyche. But I never wanted to be character. I saw what Connery went Bond. It wasn't until I was doing Remington through and what Moore went Steele that suddenly these mutterings about through, so I would like some space me being James Bond started making the before I do another one." *4& 1

Costume designer Lind

esigning a James Bond film is a bit like walking a tightrope. it fatally fashionable A Obviously, the world of 007 H has to be larger than life, populated by dashing agents.

H gorgeous women and colorful villains, but today espe- the glamor, even when you're trying to do it in a very H cially, those characters can't be painted too broadly or that step farther." H they quickly lapse into caricature. Another character that required a good deal of foretho

Ek "I think the days of Ernst Stavro Blofeld are past," by French actress It V Sophie Marceau. would have been W agrees Lindy Hemming, costume designer on The World rich, spoiled heiress, but Hemming wanted to give Elek f Is Not Enough, her third 007 adventure, "but because it's ture, character-wise as well as wardrobe-wise. Discussi a Bond film, you still have to think of those small clues and resulted in a back story that added some ethnicity as wel little signals. With Jonathan Pryce's character [media baron ter to the character. ^.*ot Carver] in Tomorrow Never Dies, you had to make sure he "We decided that she feels for her dead mother, wh> resembled a person walking around in media circles, but then you push it a tiny bit fur- Azerbaijan, Baku or Turkey, so in all her costumes, we s ther. We don't push it as much as it used to be, though; otherwise you end up in Austin ity and sparkle. We didn't want to make her look Musis Powers territory." little Gypsy-ish or a bit ethnic. We were lucky to find a Another challenge is trying to keep each new installment in the Bond franchise in London, with two young designers from Bombay whi from looking too like its much a product of times, a liability in some of the earlier films. hand-embroidered clothes, so we started to assimilate 1 "When I first came in to do GoldenEye," notes Hemming, "I had a big talk with [pro- with Armani. We also got jewelry from a woman who ha ducers] Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson about how I thought the Roger Moore ancient stones into silver and a bit of gold. I'm really Bonds didn't last as well as the Sean Connery ones. They're so specifically '70s, because they're so interesting." whereas Connery was a late '50s-early '60s style man, so [he conveys] a more classic Hemming was so pleased with the results that she use shape that lasts. When you watch Connery, you don't feel that he's in some period, you to dress Dame Judi Dench, who plays M in the present just think he's very neat and sharp. Oscar ceremony in 1999. "When Sophie came onto the

"What I wanted to do with this new series of Bonds, which is what we were start- that we filmed the explosion at pipeline control, Judi w; as then, ing was to keep everything classic. We could still do characters, but we made sure said she couldn't do her lines because all she was thinkin didn't we do anything that was very '80s or '90s, because I didn't want people to watch that from?' I didn't design it, I just got them all togethe GoldenEye years later and think, 'Oh God, that's really the fashion of that time!' I think Judi's absolutely the nicest woman. I've worked with he all the characters are timeless, like Xenia Onnatop, she's a classic villainess. You nally, and she's one of the nicest people I've ever costun shouldn't make them too much of a certain period. It's easier now, though, because we For Robert Carlyle as the international terrorist Ren live in a time when you can wear almost anything." with a less flashy, more utilitarian look than with pre That dedication to timelessness should also include the film's other design depart- instance, the decision we jointly came to is that this man ments, but that's not always possible. "We try to get a feeling that it all goes together, He was at university in America, he has a long and educ; but it's much more difficult for the hair and makeup people, especially on their princi- tory—almost terrorism but not quite. Renard didn't wa pal artists. The stylists are always held by what the artists want and what they're happy wanted to be like a secret villain. We looked at where we with, much more than costumes. is probably Eastern Europe somewhere, and examined rr "Also, the actors have we in Bond films are usually coming from another film. European mean kind of men—I don't want to name any Many of these famous people can only come in for three days [for fittings and design] look to be what I call 'totally minimal.' because they're in the middle of doing something else, so hair and makeup have to "We made him the kind of man who just wears a 1 adapt a lot and work within what they already have. With the casino in Tomorrow Never trousers and black comfortable boots. His face and scar ; Dies, we really worked hard to make a look of the period because we wanted that media actually look at his clothes that much. You'll just get a moment. Our cast had highly fashionable hair, makeup and clothes, because that's what you'll look at his face where his injury gets worse thrc the scene was about. That scene was more abnormal for a Bond film." Elektra are both the villains, if you like, but she's the exot Beautiful women are a trademark of the 007 movies, but there has to be more than the neutral manipulator. He's stronger if you just let him £ just style to their fashions. Denise Richards, for example, plays who nuclear scientist toony adversary. On screen, he's very strong, and I think i Christmas Jones, needed a look that wasn't overly sexy, but didn't ignore Richards' ferent from each other." obvious beauty. "Denise has a fabulous figure," says Hemming, "and she's much pret- Looking back at her work on The World Is Not Enoug tier than you would imagine a nuclear scientist would be, so you try and find almost with the range of intriguing looks that she was able tongue-in-cheek levels of what she would wear. You're going to make her choice of "Everything Sophie Marceau wears is interesting. She do< vests maybe a half-inch shorter than in the shop, and maybe a half-inch tighter." ordinary, and it has been quite hard to get to that. I hop Sure, Richards plays a nuclear expert, but that doesn't mean Hemming is about to whole film, instead of looking a bit odd. dress her in coveralls. "Part of the whole Bond thing is that you would never put them "Pierce Brosnan has a new look, because he has chan in that, because it just wouldn't work. All three directors I've Bond worked with—from film. He looks stronger and more wiry, so his suits are a 1: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and this film [i.e. Martin Campbell, Roger houette is lean and more pantherish, and he has a new, sh< Spottiswoode, Michael Apted]—have been very much the kind of directors who are '90s. You can never make him trendy," she says, "because interested in reality, as am I. You always want to go for the glamor, go one step towards at all, you wouldn't believe him if he suddenly became a y Hemnjj i to be aEipersm real way. Bond makes you go ught was Elektra King, played easy to dress her as a typical

:tra some added layers of tex- ons with Marceau and Apted

1 as a bit of an emotional cen- o came from somewhere like started to put in a little ethnic- m or anything like that, just a boutique that had just opened o were making these fantastic hat into her outfits, mixing it nd-makes jewelry by working happy with those costumes,

;d the same clothing designers trilogy of Bond films, for the set wearing her jacket the day

; also doing the scene, and she ig was, 'Where did Sophie get

;r and chose an outfit for her.

:r at intervals, in theater origi- ned." tard, Hemming decided to go vious Bond villains. "In this has moved around the world, ated, but twisted, modern his- ant to be a visible villain; he thought he came from, which nany references about Eastern countries—and really left his r-shirt, leather jacket, combat are what matter, so you won't shine of texture off him, but sughout the film. Renard and

'tic side of the villain, and he's act it and make him less a car- it's good that they're very dif-

Lindy Hemming is pleased to create for the characters. >esn't have anything that's just pe it works when you see the lged body shape since the last little bit more modern. His sil- lOrter hair style, which is more z if you believe in James Bond a fashion victim." -4» : does a well-dressed >erspy wear? As 007,

: Brosnan is modern, i and pantherish, but rendy. "If you believe imes Bond at all, you dn't believe him if he ily became a fashion ictim," says costume jner Lindy Hemming. »fn Sea l?

J Renard (Robert Carlyle) is a sort of secret vil- lain, dressed in simple comfort (or disguised in Russian nuclear tech togs). "His face and An uncertain— M, the beloved Dame Judi scar are what matter," Dench "one of the nicest people I've notes Hemming. No one ever costumed"—turned to Hemming pays much attention to for fashion assistance in dressing up his clothes when they're for the 1 999 Oscars (where she won staring down the barrel for Shakespeare in Love). of his gun.

Realism is also part of the 007 series' contemporary look. Too much broad styling, Hemming cautions, and "you end up in Austin Powers terri- om Hanks had a feeling that Toy Story would wanted to be a part of this thing they were trying to do." sion. 1

a very special film. And the superstar, who Hanks, of course, can do anything he wants to do these give a voiced the heroic cowboy Woody opposite Tim days. Given his track record with such films as Splash, Big, show. Allen's Buzz Lightyear, wasn't exactly shocked Philadelphia, Apollo 13, Sleepless in Seattle, Forrest Gump, hours.

that the film took off at the box office and spawned You 've Got Mail and Saving Private Ryan, the actor is one of was a

Toy Story 2. That megahit sequel is now in theaters with Hanks Hollywood's $20 million men. If he says yes to a movie, it's a Fn back in the saddle as Woody. "I wasn't surprised, because I go. If he wants a project made, he can produce it himself. Back reflect saw it just like everybody else," Hanks notes. "Providing a in 1996, Hanks wrote and directed the good-natured film That progra " voice is just like digging raw material. You go in there and say Thing You Do! And in 1998, he produced the acclaimed HBO kid. your lines enough different ways so that the geniuses [at Pixar mini-series From the Earth to the Moon—a 12-part explo- "Nobc and Disney] can pick out which one to use. So, when I sat ration of the Apollo missions that Hanks appeared in and and o\ there and saw Toy Story for the first time, I couldn't put into helped direct. "Ir words why it was as special as it was. But the writing was "I was very pleased with how From the Earth to the Moon [as a s great, the execution was fantastic and it was actually a new art came out," explains Hanks. "It was the hardest I've ever humar form. worked. Producing is a very different gig, and it's not very somen

"The second one is somehow better, I think, than the first glamorous. But I was really glad. We won an Emmy for it, and aloto one. Toy Story 2 is just different. It's bigger and broader. we had a ton of people on the stage with trophies in their I've g( There's just something about it that's more original than the hands. And there was a real reason for that. Those people and in original. But I bow down to the whole process there. My view worked even harder than I did, and for longer hours. Ha of it is I stand in a dark room and talk into a microphone, and "The thing I liked best about it," he adds, "is that there is ring ir then they turn it into something else. I did the films because I no other venue for a multi-part mini-series than cable televi- On the pod at making movies wii

It doesn't exist anywhere else on television. Now they Knows You're Alone, Hanks scored with the comedy Bachelor heavily on everyone's m way trophies for a TV mini-series, and it's a two-part Party. And then came Splash, which cast the actor as an aver- six long months. But, just a long movie. We were on for 12 nights, for 12 age Joe who falls for a bewitching mermaid (Daryl Hannah). means. "The thing that';

The story and the medium came together there, and it "That movie was a really unique thing," Hanks comments. "It that all the true myths or real labor of love." certainly reflected the way movies were made in 1983, minate the paradox of w om the Earth to the Moon, like Apollo 13 before it, although it came out in 1984. I see [director] 's of there being a happy e s Hanks' fascination with space and America's space work and how he has grown. I see Daryl's work and she's still cent is rewarded and eve im. It's a subject that has inspired him since he was a a mysterious beauty. And I see me as this guy who had some a curse for every blessinj Nobody got rich off the space program," he argues. opportunities, who had some innate ability that changed over a tragedy. That, to me,

)dy went and conquered territory. Nobody planted a flag time. Ultimately, I see it as a 15-year-old movie that was pret- walk every day. We're ,vned it afterward. ty good 15 years ago." that's the case, and ther l 500 years time, they'll look back on what we've done At the moment, Hanks is also represented on the big screen why the movie is more c lociety], and they'll say, 'The most amazing thing these by The Green Mile, written and directed by Frank Darabont you would think. is did 500 years ago was not create the Internet. It was from the serialized novel by Stephen King. Hanks stars as Paul "You would never iow figuring out how to go to a distant planet.' We have Edgecomb, a decidedly human and humane prison guard who somehow good or cathai f movies about people traveling through outer space, but forms an unusual bond with John Coffey (Michael Clarke spent those three hours c 3t news for you: There are only 12 people who have gone Duncan of Armageddon), a hulking Death Row convict with a think you do feel that wi alked on another world, and I've met most of them." very rare gift, a power that Edgecomb, his fellow guards and as opposed to spendin inks first gained fame back in the early 1980s while star- other prisoners witness first-hand. Family as they learn to 1 l the popular cross-dressing TV sitcom Bosom Buddies. Clocking in at three hours, The Green Mile was a major in the Rockies. The Gret

; big screen, following a bit part in the horror film He undertaking for all involved. The subject matter weighed that I don't love the Will The philosophy of

playthings. "You're a 11111 " toy!" Buzz Llghtyear assasr ^pu^eYg 2 ArsYoo with "Vfiere's something

about It," Hanks says ^s w |th any animated film, the process begins with pencilled story boards v of the sequel, "that's trate the entire Toy Story 2 narrative. Individual sketches suggest what the i more original than should do in any given shot or scene, the original."

h heart. linds and the production spread across Hanks notes, the ends justified the s most powerful for me in this film is r folk tales, in their original form, illu-

/hat it is to be alive," he says. "Instead ending where everybody who is inno- srybody who's bad is punished, there's ig. For every triumph we have, there is

is the great road that human beings trying to solve the mysteries of why re is no solution to it. That, to me, is Fully animated. The individual animator has given Woody, Jessie and Bullseye the horse their exf, oddly attractive to a big audience than formances and character movements In this stage. For more on the technical aspects of making STARLOG #269 4 #270. think you would come out feeling irtic or. 'Oh my God, I sure am glad I on Death Row with those guys.' But I /ay after this movie. It's extraordinary, ng 90 minutes with the Wilderness love each other in a cabin somewhere en Mile is a different kind of film. Not Idemess Family pictures." The characters begin to shape up on computer. The digital models or "polys" (for polygons)—which have already been created—are used here for layout and staging purposes. This is essentially the storyboard with movement and camera moves.

essions, per- The final polish. Using shader controls, variations In color, lighting and shadow are added to the characters. The >y Story 2, see final product—augmented by vocal tracks (which the animators used during animation), sound effects and music—delights moviegoers. Explore the History ol^cience_fictioii in

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s Dr. Theodore Morris the Devil?

ft "From a certain point-of-view, I can 4 understand people saying that," notes Dennis Haysbert, who plays the enigmat- ic character on Now and Again. "I think of Theo as both God and the Devil. He gives Michael Wiseman [Eric Close] a second chance. He makes a deal that's not all that out of the ordinary. For one, Theo has his reasons for making his requests, his demands. No one can know about this technology. "Also, he's actually protecting Michael's wife [Margaret Colin] and daughter [Heather Matarazzo]. Lisa

[Colin] couldn't handle it. If she found out exactly who Michael was, she could not deal with the idea of her husband's brain being put into another body. She couldn't handle the fact that who she had loved and how he existed before is now someone else entirely, but not exactly. I would think she would go mad.

So, is Theo the Devil? I don't A scientific genius, Morris trans- know." forms a dead guy into a super-pow- ered agent (Eric Close)—and then dispatches him on impossible mis- sions.

the important thing to him, and we keep

seeing examples of it every week. Cer- tainly, though, there must be eyes watching him to see that he doesn't use this guy to do his own bidding."

To date, fans have learned little about the personal side of Dr. Morris. He has a sister, a brother-in-law, a niece, a nephew, a Grandma Pearl. His mission early on has been to get Wise- man accustomed to his new body, send him out on assignments and ensure that Wiseman does not reconnect with his family. Though he may burst out in song every so often—crooning, for example, "Close to You" as Michael checked out his spanking new privates in the pilot—Dr. Morris isn't quick to Vil." Devil or angel, Dr. Theodore express his true feelings about any- Morris (Dennis Haysbert) thing, particularly himself. Doc Deviltry provides one doomed man Haysbert appreciates the fact that with a second chance to live OK, then, but who is Dr. series creator Glenn Gordon Caron and Now and Again. Morris? Who does he work for? his writing staff are keeping the charac- Does he have a boss? And what's ter mysterious. "I have this mental pic- he up to at night? "I've speculat- ture of what I think his house would ed on all of that, but I really don't look like, but I don't think the audience have an answer to any of it," is ready to see that yet," Haysbert com- replies, 1 Haysbert laughing. "I ments. "In the future, though, he has to know that Theo is very much into his work, he answers much to anyone. He probably have a love interest introduced. He has men- almost to a single-minded end. I think if he has answers to Senate oversight committees, to the tioned in a past episode that he had someone any liaisons, they would definitely be with President. He's not completely omnipotent, he was interested in, but that his interest went women. He would be with a very intelligent, but this is his baby. This is his project. And I unrequited. It didn't last, or couldn't last, scientific-minded woman, maybe a psycholo- think he has been given full autonomy over it. because of the nature of his work. gist, but no doubt someone up to his mental I don't think there has ever been a question of "I would like to see Theo go out into the standards. I imagine she would be very beauti- his loyalty. Theo is so much in control and field at some point, because he must have been ful as well. Everything else not withstanding, such a patriot. He really does love his country, a pretty good field agent. It's just that now he Theo does have an ego. He's going to surround and that's what I love about him. For all of his has many people doing that kind of work for himself with people of like minds and looks. science, all of his knowledge and all of his him. As an actor, I would like to do a little of

"As far as who he answers to, I don't think power, he really does love his country. That's the action stuff. I know Theo is kind of stoic

STARLOG/Fe^wy 2000 Are Michael Wiseman and he seems to be above any (Close) and Dr. Theo stuff, I, as kind of physical but an friends? "I don't think actor, am a very physical man. they double date," dead- I've been an athlete all of my life, pans Haysbert. so I would like to put that to use.

And I would like to do more 1999's quick-fade VR saga singing. We're doing that, The Thirteenth Floor, which

though. It seems that every three is out now on video, and he or four episodes, Theo comes out co-starred in Suture, a black- with a song. and-white cult fave directed "For me, on a very personal by Scott McGehee and level, Now and Again is a show released in 1993. "I think about two men and how they there was kind of a language come to rely upon and trust each barrier between the director, other," the actor continues. "I get Josef Rusnak, and the that Michael wants to get back to actors," opines Haysbert, his family. That's exactly what I whose non-genre credits

would want to do if I were in his •include Random Hearts, position. But Theo has a lot Waiting to Exhale, Heat, invested in this. And Theo has an Love Field and the trio of ego. Theo wants this guy to be Major League baseball the best agent, the best prototype, comedies. "Rusnak was a the best person he can be, within German director, and I just the confines and the parameters don't think he could convey

that he has set up. Theo is very properly what he wanted proud of Michael, but, at the from us. The film's scope same time, he's also beginning to was too shallow. I think it like Michael, which he does not should have been much want to do." broader. The explanations

Just as Dr. Morris is begin- about what was going on ning to like his creation, Hays- should have been much bert likes and respects his clearer. It posed many inter- co-stars, Caron and the series' esting questions, but didn't writers. "They're great. They're give you satisfying answers,

all great," he enthuses. "We have and I think it could have. I an excellent team of actors here. think the effects could have That's what makes Now and been better. If we had come Again work. We're only as out before The Matrix, it good as our parts. If you would have been consid- take any one of us out of the ered a much more cere-

equation, it would diminish bral adventure. People the power of the show. And would have taken to The

I just love the words we all Thirteenth Floor more

get to say. They fit our char- and liked it better if we

acters so well. I really have had come out first [as to tip my hat to Glenn and the movie was originally his staff of writers. Writing scheduled to do].

is everything, especially on "Suture was a beauti-

television. I think you can ful film. I really enjoyed sometimes get away with doing that. It really took special effects and other you to the mind gym. It things to mask deficiencies was one of those movies in the writing. But you where you want to sit in can't do that on television, the back row of the the- at least not for long. ater and watch the audi- "The best lines I've got- ence watch the movie. I

ten to say so far, the tough- played a twin, and my est moment to play, was in brother [Michael Harris] "Wow and Again is a one our fourth or fifth episode. show about two me™ was white, but no film that. Michael and I were in the and how they come to within the saw limo and I wouldn't let him rely upon and trust each Only the audience knew call his wife, who was sit- other," says Haysbert. that. I go to my father's ting in a restaurant, waiting funeral and meet my

for him. I had to tell him I think it's better that illogical. And therein lies the problem.' twin, who's very wealthy and taken aback by

she sit there and be upset; I say it's better for our resemblance. I come into this situation not everyone that she get so upset that she never Virtual Success wanting anything. I don't want anything from wants anything to do with him again, so that Now and Again does not represent Hays- him, except to get to know my brother. He

she can get on with her life. I thought the logic bert's first foray into genre work. He shared takes me in, gives me new clothes, tells me I there was infallible, but as we all know, rela- the screen with Vincent D'Onofrio, Gretchen can use his car and stay the weekend. He then tionships, love and everything else in life is Mol, Craig Bierko and Armin Mueller-Stahl in tells me he's about to leave. I say, 'Hey, wait a

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the others Korean, Jewish and Hispanic—liv- ing in LA. The actor sounds particularly pleased with Love and Basketball. The ensemble cast, Haysbert "That film explores the relationship believes, is "what makes Now between father and son," he reveals. "I and Again work." Removing play a retired NBA player, a former any of them "would diminish Clipper. Omar [who co-starred with the power of the show." Haysbert in Major League II] plays my son. We're introduced to the audience minute. What's this all about? I when Omar's character is 1 1 and I'm in just got here and now you're leav- my early 30s, and it goes until he's in ing?' He says, 'Well, something's his late 20s and I'm in my late 40s. The suddenly come up. I have to take story is mostly about Omar and a little care of some business. Please feel girl he met when they were both 1 1 . It's free to stay in the house. Answer their on again/off again, on again/off the phone. Do whatever you want again relationship through the years, to do.' with the side stories being the girl's "What he does is set me up. I relationship with Alfre, who's her take him to the airport and he mother, and my relationship with Omar blows me up in his car, after he as my son. You'll see some things you has slipped me his I.D. and taken haven't seen lately, dealing with how mine," Haysbert continues, obvi- black fathers raise their black sons, and ously very much into the topic. how black mothers raise their black

"When they find my body, sup- daughters. You'll see all the problems posedly they'll think it's him and that are inherent when families break leave the case alone because, as it up. I haven't seen the finished film yet, turned out, he killed our father. but if it looks anything like it felt to

What happens is that the explo- shoot it, it should be incredible." sion doesn't kill me. It disfigures Now that Now and Again has taken me, and I'm left trying to figure off, however, it might be a while before out who I am because my memo- Haysbert has time to return to the big ry is gone. A wonderful plastic screen. The prospect of a lengthy run, surgeon comes in, takes however, doesn't unnerve the pictures of my brother, "And I just love actor, who ends the conversa- and makes me look even the words we all tion ruminating on the state of more like him. So, I basi- get to say," the Dr. Morris-Michael Wise- cally take over this guy's Haysbert man relationship by the time the announces. life. It's a great movie. final episode of Now and Again "Writing is Rent it!" airs sometime in the 21st centu- everything, Just before moving to ry. "I don't think they double especially on from Los television." date," Dennis Haysbert con- Angeles for Now and tends. "I think there's a healthy Again, Haysbert complet- respect for each other, a devo- ed two films, namely tion to the work. I allow Love and Basketball, a Michael to watch over his fami- drama with Omar Epps ly. I watch over them, too, to and Alfre Woodard, and make sure that they're all right. What's Cooking! which But he's not back with his fami- follows the travails of iy- four families—one "I can't let that happen." African-American and ^

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City State Zip If you do not want to cut out coupon, we will accept written orders. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks Your Signature for delivery. in a tank top, being sprayed with water. That smoldering, mercurial tough guy whose unex- was enough to make me very angry and not so pected character arcs easily elevate the B- pleasant to be around." movie-ALIENS storyline to something more. Diesel, a muscular six-foot-plus actor This was immediately evident to Diesel the with a gravelly New York voice and attitude, first time he looked at writer-director David is much happier these days. Back in warmer Twohy's script. California climes, the actor, who has spent "I had never read a character with such a years scuffling as a director-writer-actor in great arc," the actor reveals. "It's so much the independent film world, is downright mel- deeper than your standard science fiction pic-

low as he savors the good word of mouth on ture. I saw some great levels in Riddick. You Pitch Black and the prospect of launching a had this guy who you feared and disliked, but career as an action hero. "I like the possibili- who you ultimately had no alternative but to ties. I like the action. The Arnold put your trust in i/you were going to survive. Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone films It was something I could identify with. I've

were important for me growing up in the ' 80s. always been this formidable kind of guy. I've I would leave the theater feeling empowered. always had people look at me as more menac-

We've had great action movies, but we ing than my heart really is. In that respect, I t didn't take much for actor Vin haven't seen really bad mothers in those identified with Riddick very much." Diesel to internalize Pitch Black's movies for a long time. I wouldn't mind being In fact, Diesel had a thorough understand-

vicious anti-hero Riddick. Nothing that guy. If Schwarzenegger bailed, I would ing of who Riddick would be when he audi- more than a few minutes shooting a love to be in Terminator 5." tioned for Pitch Black—perhaps too scene. thorough. "I could see that Riddick was all "It was freezing cold in Australia," recalls Movie Pitch over the place. In some scenes he was kind of the actor, who made his studio feature debut The actor's portrayal of captured psy- like Hannibal Lecter, in others he was Mad in Saving Private Ryan and his genre debut as chopath Riddick is certainly part of the dri- Max or . I was at a loss as to the voice of The Iron Giant. "Everybody else ving force behind Pitch Black. Intense, which element to give them in the audition. had snow coats on, and I was running around menacing and downright evil, Riddick is a Luckily, they wanted three different scenes mam W I wiuld lie hinirei t# lie the next Schwarzenegger

By MARC SHAPIRO and so I gave them all three we only got colder. It was unbear- characters. I felt good able, trying to act while trying not to about what I did, but, as shake. It was like shake, shake, anyone who has been in shake, and they would say action Hollywood for a while and we would have to compose our- knows, feeling good about selves." an audition usually means you don't get the part." Black & Blue But Diesel did get the Cold was only part of the prob- part and immediately set lem for Diesel. He willingly did about creating Riddick. "I almost all of his own stunts, which wanted Riddick to be this resulted in his body regularly taking kind of Gothic panther in a beating. "I did this leap during one terms of his movements. I scene and I ended up throwing my come from a weight train- shoulder out. There was a scene ing background, but I felt it where I had to yank this tarp and I wouldn't work if the audi- ended up destroying my rotator ence got the impression cuff." that I was just another pro- Throughout the shoot, Diesel fessional bodybuilder created a mental graph in which rather than a really bad he outlined each scene in terms of mother. Riddick is a guy how much humanity would be who can dislocate his exposed. The very Method actor joints and who has a cer- recalls that, as shooting pro- tain quickness and gressed, he became tough to be smoothness to his move- around. ments. So I felt I had to "I would be friends with the redefine myself physical- other actors when it was OK to be ly. I went away from the friends with them," he explains. weight training, got into "But, during the early scenes, yoga and began to listen to when Riddick is at his most evil, I classical music to get caused a lot of tension on the set. myself into a Riddick There were times when I felt peo- state of mind." ple were looking at me like / was While preparing him- the arch-criminal. And I didn't self for the role of the really work hard to change that. ruthless killer, Diesel also During that portion of filming, I paid attention to the cast- was building on a lot of insane ing process, realizing when energy." such talented actors as And though insane energy is often Radha Mitchell and Cole hard to keep track of, Diesel's descent Hauser were hired that into madness was facilitated by everybody was taking Twohy's fairly sequential approach to Pitch Black very seriously. shooting. "It was tough to keep up "They were assembling a with what my character had to be cast of unknowns who had doing because he was all over the not sold out," he remarks. place," Diesel admits. "Thank God "I sensed when they cast we went pretty much in chronological me that potential box- order. We did all the daytime exteriors office appeal was not the first, and then the nighttime interiors filmmakers' concern. I felt and exteriors. The blue screen stuff we were taking the didn't come until near the shoot's approach that the first end, which was good for me. Playing ALIEN did—hiring real off imaginary stuff early on would kick-ass actors rather than have instilled a sense of unreality in familiar superstars. I knew my performance. Doing everything this was going to be a big special FX monster when we started shooting he would take a else first made it easy to play all this fantastic movie, but I was also seeing that the charac- very theatrical, character-driven approach to stuff as real." ters and their arcs would be more important making the film." Diesel's other genre outing, the voice of the than the FX." Diesel didn't know that Pitch Black would title character in The Iron Giant, came about Pitch Black may seem like ALIEN on the be lensing during the Australian winter. But shortly after he took his producing-directing- surface, but it's very much its own film. And he realized it in a cold second the first day he writing-starring vehicle, the esoteric Strays, to Diesel felt that Twohy was the right man to reported to the set, looked around and saw the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. "A woman tackle this project. "I was so impressed with most of the crew dressed in heavy duty snow who had been my assistant at Sundance had the script and character arc that everything coats. "The first day was absolutely freezing, gone on to work for director Brad Bird, who else was gravy. I felt the technical aspect of and Radha and I were in tank tops. It was was putting Iron Giant together. She told him the film was so original that this guy must already cold, but the scenes we were shooting that she knew this actor who was the perfect know what he was talking about. I knew that required us to be sprayed with water, and so voice for Iron Giant. She sent over an earlier 1

Design & Layout: RickTeng

film of mine, Multi Facial, and he loved my voice. Initially, they were going to use one of the A-list actors at Warner Bros., but the director liked my voice and started campaigning for me. It was a movie I was dying to do."

It was Diesel's first-ever voice-over assignment, but using his tried-and-true approach of rehearsal and immersion, he quickly came up with the Iron Giant voice, a slight variation of his low-reg- ister speaking voice. He was an imme- diate hit in the studio. "I did this voice for the director and producers, and they said, 'Oh my God! We thought we were gravelly going to have to change your voice. We With his characteristically voice, Diesel realized the vocal depths of the metal- eating hero in The Iron Giant. can't believe you can do this guttural sound.' So I did this voice for six-to-10 hour would pull other bouncers off who were com- said, T need to make my own film. I don't " sessions. Unfortunately, it was at the expense pletely destroying somebody, and then I would have any more time to waste.'

'> of not being able to talk for three hours after end up getting into it with them. I never want- His first short film, Multi Facial, landed each session. But it was worth it, because one ed anyone to get too hurt. I hurt people to a Diesel at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995. of these days my kids will be able to say, 'My certain degree, but I never wanted to go com- Two years later, his first feature, Strays, made " daddy is Iron Giant.' pletely overboard. As far as I was concerned, it to the Sundance Film Festival. By that time,

when a guy went down, it was over. I sent peo- Diesel's reputation as an actor made its way to I Fade to Black ple to the hospital and I knocked people out. I Steven Spielberg, who cast him in Saving Pri- Born and raised in New York, Diesel's had the experience of fighting every night, and vate Ryan. interest in theater grew from childhood, cour- "I was one of eight guys who were select- tesy of his father, a theater director turned ed," he explains. "That was heavy. I guess, in a I drama teacher at New York University. sense, it was validation for me. I mean, this I

Instead of football games, Diesel's father was Spielberg. I would have gotten coffee for I would take Vin and his younger siblings to the guy just to watch him work. I was used to I the movies. "I think I was destined to do this making films where everything had to be regardless of any influence from my father. I checked to see if it fit in the budget. With Sav- 1 wanted to do this before I understood what ing Private Ryan, I was working in a block- this was." buster in which the filmmakers were able to do I Diesel's professional acting breakthrough everything they wanted to do without having came when the then-seven-year-old and his to worry about budgets. It was an eye-opening friends were riding their bikes through lower I experience to work in a movie that big." Manhattan, happening upon a small hole-in- While citing Stallone and Schwarzenegger the-wall theater company called the Theater as major action influences, Diesel has plans of the New City. They ran into the theater and that mirror the career of another action star, began running amok, trashing props and basi- Mel Gibson. "What Gibson has done is cool. cally raising hell. "Suddenly, this woman He has paid his dues and built up his bankabil- came out to center stage and yelled at us to ity, and now he can do an action thing or a come to her. I was thinking, I'm in trouble non-action thing; whatever he wants. That's now.' But she said, 'If you want to play here, the position I ultimately want to be in." you be here every day at 4 p.m.' She shoved a And, Diesel reasons, Pitch Black is the Does Diesel survive his * script in my hand and said, 'Here's $20 for first step in becoming bankable. "People who j encounter with Pitch Black's have seen the movie are saying they like Rid- the first week.' And just like that, I was a pro- carnivorous horde? Maybe. fessional actor." dick, and there's a sense that they would like But if we tell, then Riddick I think that Following his debut for the Theater of the will have to kill you. to see him come back. would any New City, a play called The Dinosaur Door, sequel would not focus on the creatures. I Diesel continued to act, eventually hitting the when you're fighting every night, that's real." would imagine they could put Riddick on Off-Off-Broadway circuit at places like Amas Despite his boorish night job, with a another planet and another adventure with Rep, La Mama and Riverwest. "I wasn't doing wealth of acting experience, Diesel eventually bounty hunters trying to find him or something anything major," remembers Diesel. "Just a lot enrolled in Hunter College to major in theater. like that. Get back to me the week Pitch Black of real acting without real money. I was always But, at the last moment, his father convinced opens, and I'll have a better idea of whether or playing at being this artist." him that being an English major was a better not Riddick will be back." And because he was playing the artist, idea. "My father and his friends convinced me Not that he needs that sequel. Vin Diesel, Diesel needed a way to make ends meet. At not to waste my time on a degree in acting and who plays a more sedate role as a salesman in age 17, the already buff and burly actor began theater. They told me to get it in something the upcoming film Boiler Room, definitely working as a bouncer for several hip clubs. For else. I'm thinking, 'What the hell else would I feels that there's more action in his future. $100 a night, Diesel would spend the next nine want to get a degree in?' Then I stalled think- "When I was a kid, I would come out of a Stal- years busting heads for a living. ing about my long-range goals and that, at lone or Schwarzenegger movie wishing I "I was intimidating, but there were a ton of some point, I might have to learn how to write could be like those guys. So if I could go on intimidating guys out there. I always had this screenplays." and be an action guy, it would definitely be a protective streak, though—this kind of good Diesel lasted three years at Hunter College dream come true. I would be honored to be the guy thing going on. There were times when I before making a fateful decision to drop out. "I next Schwarzenegger." WKmm

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All prominent names and characters TM &© their respective companies and publishers. DF Logo isTM and © DYNAMIC FORCES, INC. 1999 All rights reserved. f Marc Singer were flick. That's basically its appeal," Singer explains. to cure the common real animal "You've got animals, beautiful girls and lots of action. cold, get elected Presi- It was a well-put-together film that was a blast to do. dent or stop world hunger, magnetism That shows up on the screen, so I'm gratified to see he would probably still be Beastmaster appeal to people way past the film's original ^ most recognized for his role as T Y* release." ^ the Beastmaster. While he has Q played doctors, lawyers, astronauts, boxers Feral Hero and cops, he can't seem to escape the image of Marc Singer Of course, there's now a syndicated BeastMaster Dar, the good-hearted barbarian who can talk TV series, also derived from the Andre Norton novel, to the animals. featuring Daniel Goddard as Dar (STARLOG #269). "I His action epic The Beastmaster has long to capture still haven't seen the show yet," Singer admits. been incredibly popular cable fare, drawing "There was some conversation about whether or not I would be involved with it on some level, and huge ratings. Its cult status amazes the tall, ^P>*W "^^p^ ^PflU ^^^J easygoing Singer. maybe those conversations are still going. I would

t0 a uest snot on tne snow - ceat- "I think The Beastmaster is an exciting ^ ^PPy ^° t § ] SG SL § ¥ UlSi $ w G JC • 1

STARLOG/Wjnwrv 2000 63 —

could tell the difference," the actor laughs.

"They didn't sit up on their hind legs and say, " 'Oh Marc, we're all back together!' After all these years, Marc Another popular Beastmaster element was Singer still remains best Tanya Roberts as the scantily clad slave girl known to most folks as the Beastmaster. Kiri. Reminded of the actress, Singer says flat- ly, "A beauty. Nothing on her other than what

you see on the screen. That's the best of it and

it's good, a feast for the eyes that makes you happy to participate." Singer reclaimed his headband, loincloth and sandals for Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, a wildly anachronistic sequel that took Dar and his ferrets to modern South- ern California, where he teams up with a Valley girl to thwart his evil older brother, Arklon (Wings Hauser). "I was quite frankly disap- pointed in Beastmaster 2," Singer admits. "We had an opportunity to keep the storyline alive,

so we did it. I would have preferred that the Beastmaster stay in his own universe—that other time and place setting—rather than come to present-day LA." As for his bigger and badder brother,

Singer is effusive in his praise. "I adore Wings Hauser," he declares. "I've worked with him twice, the first time on Beastmaster 2 and on

Tanya Roberts played Kiri, Dar's love interest in the first Beast- master movie and "a feast for the eyes" to Singer.

ed the character in the original movie and would be delighted to continue my involve- ment. That would be a hoot!" As far as the movie's heavy cable rotation, Singer is pleased, if not too surprised. "I would love to be able to say, T told you so,' but I can't," he marvels. "That's just the luck of being in a movie with great appeal. It's a real tribute to the filmmakers that Beastmaster holds up so well. This is the nice thing about the way the industry has grown and spread out. Films are now more accessible to more people I for a longer period of time." During lensing of the sword-and-sorcery adventure, Singer notes he got along well with director Don {Phantasm) Coscarelli. "I'm really happy we turned out such a great movie. eat people. That was the only animal you had another movie [Victim of Desire] where we I received excellent directorial advice on my to stay away from. also played adversaries. He's the kind of actor character from the man who was sort of 'help- "The tiger was a religious experience day you look forward to seeing every day on the ing' in the direction of Beastmaster, Chuck by day," he states. "If you were respectful to set. Wings is a load of fun, and acts as well as [Gumball Rally] Bail. He was on set as a ghost the tiger, cared about the animal sincerely and directs." entity to help with the production and he gave were humble in his presence, then the tiger Kari (Sliders) Wuhrer was Dar's Val girl me clues for Dar's character. Chuck did so would let you near him. If you were arrogant sidekick. "Kari is quite charming. She was much on that film that I hesitate to say how and assumed that the world turned on its axis delightful; upbeat and enthusiastic. Always much he truly did. In my opinion, he was the because of you, then the tiger was quite dan- prepared and on time—Kari's nice to share a backbone of the project." gerous to be around. None of the animals were set with." Playing a warrior who can telepathically doped or sedated on any of the Beastmaster Reprising Dar a decade later in this sequel bond with animals, Singer found himself in movies." was actually great fun for Singer. "Frankly, he close contact with hawks, tigers and bears Singer's best friends in the film are his two was a fun character to play again. I just wish not to mention ferrets. "It was very demanding, loyal ferrets, Podo and Kodo. "The ferrets were we had done more with the character in that 10 working with the animals, but it was also exhil- very easy to work with and very, very cute. years. Five years after the sequel, we made arating," he says happily. "I would have to say They were a lot of fun, great animals, well- Beastmaster III" it was more inspiring than it was hard, except trained and very likable. If they were the same In that film, Beastmaster III: The Eye of for the bear, which had a tendency to want to ferrets used in Beastmaster 2, I don't think I Braxus, Dar is back in action to protect yet

STARLOG 'Feb' All V Photos: NBC

another brother, Starship Troopers' Casper Van Dien. "I had a big family in these movies," Singer jokes. "It was nice to be the Beastmas- ter again. Casper was quite easy to work with, very unassuming for the kind of notoriety he was garnering in those days and the build-up his career was experiencing. He's one of those actors who is not hard to like at all. By the way, that wasn't my Dar costume from the original; they made me a new one every time." Resistance Leader Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Singer got into acting by happenstance. "I did it just because I enjoyed it. In high school, I got into a play and realized that was what I liked. I was raised in Texas and educated in the North- west—that's where I began my stage career, at the University of Washington. I also met my wife there, actress Haunani Minn. "My parents were not actors," he explains. "My father was a musician and conductor for the Dallas Symphony, as well as the Corpus Christi, Oregon and Vancouver Sym- Working with the animals was "very phonies. My mother is a pianist, my sister demanding" for Singer, who terms the [V7?.5's Lori Singer] is an actress and my tiger "a religious experience." brother is a violinist. I come from a per- forming family." Were his parents surprised to see two of their children become famous movie actors? "I don't know," he muses. "When you're raised in a family of performers, the breaks of the game are the breaks of the game. Lori and I have never worked togeth- er, but we look forward to it one day." As he shot the uplifting film // You Could See What I Hear, playing real-life blind college student Tom Sullivan, Singer got word that his father was dying. He wanted to quit the movie to stay at his side, but Singer's dad told him to finish it, his first cinematic starring role. "I think there's nothing more satisfying to a parent than to feel their child is somehow launched into the world with some degree of security and place," he says quietly. Another performing member of the extended clan is his cousin, Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer Making Watchers had ever done a SF mini-series like that (who's currently shooting X-Men). //was a "wet and before." "He's an enormously gifted young cold" stint that "V" exerted an influence on the later turned out to be a director whose career holds greater Independence Day, wherein UFOs also real workout for promise than the excellence he has hover over every major city on Earth. "It Singer. shown so far," Singer remarks. "I goes to show these themes call on the look forward to his next success." same kinds of characterizations and The actor gained great reviews story elements in order to work," he for his role in the NBC SF mini- says. "I'm not surprised to find that series "V." As news cameraman many different filmmakers use the same Mike Donovan, he had a ringside types of stories." seat to the invasion by cruel alien The mastermind behind "V," writer- reptiles, eventually emerging as a producer-director Johnson was "tireless. leader of Earth's rebel forces. " 'V Kenneth Johnson was a man who coul was a brainstorm of Kenneth John- do every one's job on the set and then son's. He had some analogies that some," Singer says. "He's remarkable. he wanted to draw between the I've never seen anyone like him. I

Nazi takeover of power and how that can hap- finished product. I don't think any of us sus- admire him very much and was fortunate to get pen in any society," Singer notes. "He gave it a pected it was going to be as big as it was. I to work with him." modern SF setting, and all of us who worked looked at the quality of the work and the film- Donovan and his fellow rebels returned to on it were actually surprised when we saw the maker, Kenny, and both were exciting. No one battle the alien Visitors in a second mini-series,

STAR I OCt F<

I simply worked together on that show, but I would love to see them all again. In profes-

sional circumstances, I would love to work with them again." Genre Guy Singer remains in awe of the twin cult followings generated by "V" and Beastmas- ter. "Anybody in this industry ought to be

surprised by their success, but truth to tell, we become blase and feel the quality of the

work is so good, that when it achieves popu- "V": The Final Battle. "I don't believe Ken- discussed "V" in STARLOG #84). "I guess I larity, it doesn't surprise us as much as one neth was involved in that one," Singer says would leave that for others to judge. might think," the performer shrugs. archly. And indeed Johnson had exited after "Making a weekly TV series is fraught with "To be honest, I had the time of my life creative differences with NBC. "I certainly struggles every day. The most successful series playing Dar in the original Beastmaster and missed his presence on the set every day." and the shows that find themselves looking for Mike Donovan in the 'V mini-series. As far as

The two mini-series' success led to a short- focus all go through the same amount of strug- my favorite role, it would probably be Petru- lived weekly "V" TV show. Assembled quick- gle. My mind was so occupied with the hard chio in The Taming of the Shrew',' Singer notes ly, it lacked the gravitas of Johnson's work we did every day, that it was really hard thoughtfully. "Memorizing Shakespearean dia- menacing original invasion. A certain slapdash for me to make a judgment beyond that. The logue is the easiest thing in the world; you aimlessness permeated the series, its cast and original format Ken Johnson established was don't have to make up for gaps in logic as you storylines shuffled mid-season in an attempt to one with great intellectual and social dignity to often have to do in modern screenwriting. ignite ratings. "Every change in input is going back up the action-adventure. The question of Everything in Shakespeare makes sense." to show up some place," muses Singer (who how societies become subverted is one that can Singer also guest starred in the pilot

66 STARLOG/Febntary 2000 —

Design & Layout: RickTeng

episode of Batman: The According to Singer, Animated Series—and Dead Space is "what returned several times it was intended to be an unpreten- as scientist Kirk — tious, rip-roaring Langstrom, who mutates space adventure!" into the monstrous Man- Bat. "I really like doing the Batman series," he

says. "First of all, Andrea Romano [the series' voice director] was wonderful.

It's fun doing animated

voice-overs because it's a

little like doing radio. I

also think it's wonderful to play a guy who goes from nice guy to raving, homicidal lunatic as long as we all remember it's just a game! Kevin Con-

roy, who voices Batman, I like very much. I have nothing but the best of working relationships with the Batman cast, they're great and talent- ed." As Johnson in a cable adaptation of Jack Lon- Looking back, Singer isn't ready to explain why don's The Sea Wolf, Singer "got to work with workout on Watchers II." the "V" series failed. "I would leave that for Charles Bronson," the actor says. "The guy Body Chemistry, Corman's take on others to judge," he says. was a pro from way back; he doesn't have to do the Fatal Attraction subgenre, had a more than one or two takes. He knows exactly great shock ending where good guy Singer is changed the title—I probably shot them under chuckles. "At a cer- what he's going to do and exactly how to do it. shot in the face by the film' sfemmefatale, who a working title," the actor if were rid- In my career so far, I've had the chance to work gets away with his murder. "That was a nice tain point, you can't remember you with Henry Fonda, Burt Lancaster, Olivia de twist," he says. "That had a first-rate director, ing the white horse over the hillside in Arizona Havilland—she played my mother in Roots: Kristine Peterson. We took a chance when we or ! I'm sorry to say I can't quite recall The Next Generations, so I'm pleased to add made that movie, with a script that was ques- 'em. I must have liked working on them, other- stuck in mind as a Charlie Bronson to the list. The things you can tionable and by our commitment, turned it into wise they would have my learn being on the set with someone like that a piece we all could be proud of." real pain." top are invaluable." He draws a blank on another genre flick, In Lancelot: Guardian of Time, he was Starting with Dead Space, Singer Droid Gunner (also known as Cyber- man at the Round Table. "I loved playing made several modest Roger Corman zone). "I did a few of these SF Lancelot. How could you turn down the oppor- nice thing about fantasy and noir films. The first one cast movies and some of their tunity to be Lancelot? The is only him as a tough astronaut. "The movie is titles get me confused. working on some films you not make friends in the industry, but you make friends exactly what it was intended to be—an Maybe they unpretentious, rip-roaring space for a lifetime. I made a couple friends on that adventure! We filmed that at Cor who remain very close." man's New Horizons studio and Singer has made a living at what most did some location shooting at people only play at as children—being Westerns, SF, Vasquez Rocks. I had a won- the hero. Whether in derful time on those action or police thrillers, the square- movies. The Corman experi- jawed actor is the guy who gets to save the ence was a very satisfying and day. "To be honest, it's great fun playing the thing about creative one. I did four Corman hero," he admits. "The distressing movies in a row," he says, "and playing the bad guy is that you may believe in it's just not as much they're all good, entertaining pic- the moral of the story, but tures." fun playing the dark side of the tale. Playing a He teamed with a telepathic hero is much more uplifting and tricks us into dog to stop a murderous Bigfoot thinking we ourselves are as heroic as those

in Watchers II. "I enjoyed doing characters that we pretend to play!" several" that very much. It gave me a chance to As for the future, "I'm working on work with one of my all-time favorite actress- projects right now and have a couple scripts in in the fire es, [Babylon 5's] Tracy Scoggins," Singer says development, as well as some irons happily. "She's an absolute joy—a wonderful of which I cannot speak," Marc Singer smiles. performer and an outspoken, strong-willed, "So happily, life goes on!" ^ terrific human being. Making the rest of the movie was wet and cold, but fun. I hate to say Singer enjoys voicing the monstrous

it, but I enjoy doing as many of my own stunts Man-Bat on the animated Batman

as I can. It's like being a kid again. I got a real series. Return of the Jedfs Bib Fortuna (right) may be an unearthly role, but Michael Carter enjoyed playing Jabba the Hutt's tendril-headed henchman.

Michael Carter had alien roles covered

tlM* n retrospect, British actor Michael But a classical education at Britain's pre- inert, dead object. When it was being operated, I Carter probably had no idea that his most mier acting school, the Royal Academy of Dra- however, Jabba was just another actor and we memorable role I would be as a pointy- matic Arts, doesn't exactly prepare one for all responded to him as a character. It was quite toothed, tentacle-headed creature, El major sharing scenes with a massive, slime-dripping easy in a way, having it move and operated so domo to a giant repulsive I slug. Strange Ubergrub. "Well, it does and it doesn't," wonderfully well—Jabba really did become I though, are the workings of the Force, reflects Carter, "but Bib was a masked perfor- alive.

, JL and Carter has pretty much resigned mance, and we did a lot of masked training at "Also, I would look in the mirror in the himself to being forever linked with Bib RADA, and that's part of the job, using your morning before I went on set, and with all that Fortuna, alien advisor to Jabba the Hutt in imagination. That's what acting is all about, so makeup on, I did a kind of elementary mask Return Jedi. of the In fact, the actor now refers that didn't bother me. The weirdest thing was exercise and I was ready. It was interesting to to "Bib" in the same way he would talk about when the shot ended, and all the guys inside play this strange, slightly sinister, slightly fem- an old school friend. Jabba stopped working, and he became this inine at times character." ficult. In the normal acting

process, if you're working with someone, obviously you learn

took his Fortuna both sets of lines. Still, 50 per- makeup in stride, cent of acting is listening, so the character's when you don't know what the strange dialogue other person is talking about, left the actor feeling you're not sure when they're going to finish." Of course, long before Carter was tapped as this flesh- haired alien, he was establish- ing himself as a highly-respected stage actor in such productions as Not In Front of the Audience, Coming In to Land, The Winter's Tale and The Merchant of Venice with , which eventually landed on Broad- way. Carter's British TV appearances include Taggart, Capital City, Dempsey and Makepeace, Blood Hunt and The Bride. Genre fans may also remember a stint in the Doctor Who serial "The Mind of Evil," play- ing opposite the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee. "I was an officer in the Army. It was in one of the stories with the Mas-

ter, Roger Delgado, and we spent three days filming battle scenes down at Dover Castle. We were then all sent home, but the crew remained in Dover for two days. We couldn't figure out why until we went into the studio to do the videotape. In those days, you would watch the filmed insert on a monitor, and when the insert ended, the videotaped portion began. Well, we were watching this battle scene and suddenly, this very camp assistant director comes down the stone steps with a machine gun and falls over dead. What happened was the crew had stayed behind and they filmed themselves playing soldiers and pris- oners in the background just to make Victim of Wolves up the numbers. It all went out on TV—we saw the director being shot, More difficult was mastering Fortuna's alien dialogue, which the producer, everybody was shot. founded although it was subtitled in English, did little good for Carter, who had "There was a stuntman there named Max Diamond, who to recite those unfamiliar syllables. "I have no idea what it meant," says the English Jousting Society, but he was also famous in the early '60s the actor, "so I invented meanings for it. Sometimes it was obvious, like for writing several songs that went to number one in the English Hit when somebody would ask a question and I would reply, but it was more Parade. We used to sing songs in the evening, with Max, and occasion- difficult to remain aware of the cues, realizing when somebody else had ally Jon on the piano. Jon used to have this character on a radio show actually finished speaking. called The Navy Lark, someone with a weird speech impediment. He "I did a scene with Mark Hamill, which ended up on the cutting would stait singing songs, then this weird speech would creep in and we room floor, that was full of pauses because we were looking at each would be in stitches." other to see if the other person had finished speaking. You can learn the On the theatrical features front, Carter can trace his string of genre lines, that's easy, but trying to remember what the other guy is saying films to the 1981 cult horror/comedy classic An American Werewolf in

STARLOG/Februarv 2000, 69 Makeup-heavy roles may hide Carter's face, but the successful finds he's still a recognized celebrity.

station that the public never Scott Glenn was the goodie and we killed each sees, this whole labyrinth other in the end. They shot two separate end- of sealed-off corridors. At ings, because we didn't know which one was

about 1 a.m., the tubes going to be used. I was on that film for six

stopped running, but we months, and it was around that time when you had a tube running up and could see things slipping away from the British down, and I don't know film industry."

how they did it. That was Although Carter enjoyed working with great fun; [director] John director Michael Mann, he believes The Keep Landis is an absolute joy to wasn't an especially happy film for Mann. "We work with. I remember went way over budget and over schedule, but when we filmed the cinema he was trying to make a particular kind of film, scene, where we're all sit- almost a German expressionist movie, and I'm

ting there, displeased with not surprised it was as long and expensive as it the fact that we had all been was," Carter says. "It needed to be a big-budget killed off and turned into movie. It has a bit of a cult following, and there

the undead. were bits of it that are absolutely wonderful." "We also shot at In some respects, the actor thinks he landed Twickenham Film the prosthetics-heavy role in Return of the Jedi Studios, which is a because of his work on The Keep, which was tiny studio, and it released the same year. "Jedi was all prosthet- was freezing cold, ics," he explains. "I had stuff glued all over my and for some reason, head and my face, from the middle of my chest

they had to keep the up, but I managed to handle these prosthetics, soundstage doors where many actors experience some kind of open. I was actually claustrophobia. I've got a friend who lost a standing in a hole in year's very lucrative work on a TV series

the floor, on a pile of because he couldn't take the prosthetics and lit-

16 beer crates, and erally freaked out. They knew that I could han- John kept pouring dle prosthetics and this was supposed to be a wet, cold blood on prosthetics part. The thing about The Keep was

everybody. Now in that nothing was glued on, it was a suit that I

those days, they used wore, so I enjoyed it even though it was very Kensington Gore, hard work. I did a lot of weight-lifting at the which is a plastic- time and eventually I got too big and started based blood, and not bursting the costume."

only does it not come Carter was playing the lead in the West End off, it sets hard and production of a 19th century melodrama called London. The actor essays the role of Gerald then begins to contract, so your whole face The Streets of London when he got the call to Bringsley, who's killed by the werewolf in the screws up. Every time between each take, he interview for an upcoming (and unnamed) London Underground and subsequently would pour on more gallons of the stuff—it film. "I was called in to meet [director] Richard returns as one of the undead. "That was shot at took me about a month to get rid of it." Marquand, primarily because I was tall, and in 6 a.m. in London, and I was coming up the the play I had to produce some sort of weird middle escalator. Two side escalators were Finder of Keeps movements, and he kept saying, 'You're an ex- going down beside it, and the first commuters Carter's other notable genre credit was the boxer, aren't you?' I said no, 'I'm not,' but I were arriving to see this guy covered in blood 1983 The Keep, based on the bestselling novel was obviously moving like a boxer and with a werewolf wandering about. It must have by F. Paul Wilson. "I played Molasar, the thing unaware of it." been quite an experience for them. that the Keep was built to keep in. I'm a 15th- Boxer or no, the actor was basically offered "Filming started while the tube [the Lon- century Wallachian warlord who comes back the job on the spot, without knowing what was don subway] was still running, but there were to life in 1941 when the Keep is occupied by on offer. When it turned out to be the third Star great areas of the Tottenham Court Road tube the German army. Molasar was the baddie and Wars film, Carter became an instant hero with

£;%rlOG'/Fehmarv 2000 Design & Layout: RickTeng

his children. "Marquand said, 'It's a film called Blue Harvest. It's a space film and The Keep was a positive you play an alien. Do you want the job?' and experience for Carter, but not, I said, 'Yeah, OK.' It wasn't going to start he thinks, for the film's director filming for three months, and I was doing a Michael Mann. TV series at the time anyway. But at the interview's end, he finally said, 'Look, it's the third Star Wars film, but you mustn't tell anybody.' I thought, 'AH right, my kids will be pleased about that.' So I went home and immediately told my kids, but said, 'You mustn't tell a soul!' My son was very good

about it, he didn't tell anyone. My daughter came home from school one day, though, crying her eyes out because in a moment of weakness, she told her best friend, and she thought she had blown it. I had to tell her it was OK." Fortuna of wars After accepting the role, Carter began the long and arduous process of having various body parts cast in order to create the molds for his elaborate prosthetic makeup. The teeth actually my dad.' She said, 'I've proved most difficult, because been staring at his photo- the actor had to deliver a good graph for five weeks!' My deal of dialogue with a mouth- son Martin is now 19 and in ful of fake choppers. "There college, and his mates can't was one scene that was filmed believe that his dad was but was cut in which I turned Bib. around and shouted at Mark "Another time, we were Hamill, and the teeth actually touring the country doing mm flew out of my mouth and hit Chekov in a high-prestige him in the face. They were a bit production, and my wife awkward; you could never had made me a T-shirt with close your mouth properly, and a picture of Bib as a joke. I just happened to be wearing you had to slightly over-articu- Sharing the screen with it in the dressing room one late. Stuart Freeborn, the head JedFs Uberslug was of makeup, called me up one OK by Carter. "Jabba day when three fellow cast 'Where morning, filled my mouth full was just another actor," members asked me, of alginate, and said to me, he says, "and we did you get that?' I said my responded to him as a it for me, 'You know, if your dentist ever wife had made character." they asked what I needs to cast your teeth, tell and when 'Well, that's him not to bother, just ring me meant, I said, couldn't believe it. Here were up and I'll give him a cast of your teeth.' I had me.' They with every to have so many casts made." three actors I was on stage night, and they were just completely It wasn't until after Return of the Jedi that Carter realized how much of an impact his gob-smacked. I had to get photos and character had made. More than one job inter- autograph them." view turned into a discussion of Jedi once the With his makeup-heavy film roles director or producer discovered they were now in the past, Carter has recently successful run sitting across from Bib Fortuna. "My daugh- returned to the stage, in a National Theatre. has ter is an interior design student, and one of at London's He screenwrit- her friends worked on some costumes for the also turned his attention to next Star Wars trilogy. Once, while strug- ing, particularly on the Anthony Hop- gling out of a studio with a table, she said to kins feature One Man's War. He was write an a man watching her, 'Don't just stand there recently commissioned to SF and watch, give me a hand!' That man turned feature screenplay. Nevertheless, to be a out to be . Return of the Jedi continues "I "Apparently, this friend had some pic- highlight of a long and varied career. in it," Michael tures up on the wall of some old Jedi charac- feel very lucky to be "It a very good period ters, because they were re-doing one of the Carter says. was costumes, and one of the pictures was of me. for me and I had stuff flying all over the just to She didn't know, of course, that my daughter place, but I thought it was great Wars film." Hannah, her friend, was also Bib Fortuna's be in a Star ^ daughter until one night in a Glasgow pub. Work on An American Werewolf In Hannah was wearing a T-shirt I brought back London was often bloody hard. from Atlanta which had a painting of me on it Carter (top left), for example, was as Bib. Hannah's friend said, 'How the hell literally drenched in Kensington did you get that?' and Hannah said, 'That's Gore for one scene.

<< MI| t just fell in my lap." That's how I Ben Browder describes the chain I of events that led him to star in I Farscape, the ambitious, imagina- I tive SF series that has become a hit

I on the Sci-Fi Channel. "I was sit- I ting at home one day, and they I called me up and said, 'Do you I want to go to Australia for an audi- tion?' Being an SF show—I'm a big SF buff—and since the pilot script was excellent, I just went in and audi- tioned with hundreds of other guys." The actor isn't sure why he got the part of Commander John Crichton, a 20th century American astronaut caught in a space acci- dent that catapults him to bizarre adventures across light years of space. But he does recall show creator Rockne S. O'Bannon's reaction to him. "Rockne actually said that when I auditioned, David [Kemper] and Robert

[Halmi Jr., both exec producers] felt that I had the quality they were looking for in John. They said, 'You are John Crich- " ton!' and I went, 'OK!'

gets beaten up by everybody he meets. Far-Flung Hero And he keeps coming Browder, who looks wiry and back for more. Somebody asked muscular but not as physically me what I would like John to do, imposing as his small screen self, and I said, 'Win a wrestling " is affable and self-effacing. But his match with a girl!' blue eyes betray his intensity when Perhaps the character's ego he discusses his role in the project, shouldn't be so bruised, since his the biggest and most visible of his encounters are all otherworldly? career. "It's a funny thing about SF," the "John's an average guy and a actor points out. "You go to some fish out of water, a normal person other end of the universe, and who's going into extraordinary cir- everybody has superhuman pow- cumstances and is trying to cope," ers. Why can't we go to the other says Browder. "In some ways, he's k end of the universe and find that the audience's eyes and ears in this everybody's weak and short and, very bizarre and twisted universe you know, ugly? But, no! We go in which he's living, so his where they're all tall, strong and responses mirror the audience's beautiful." responses. He's not the capable He's referring to fellow can-do astronaut spaceman. To Farscape inmates General Ka me, Crichton is Indiana Jones with D'Argo (Anthony Simcoe), a his head in the snake pit. Remem- Luxan warrior unjustly impris- ber Harrison Ford getting very oned by the Peacekeepers and unpleasantly surprised? That, to Pau Zotoh Zhaan (Virginia Hey), me, is John Crichton. a blue-skinned Delvian priestess

"To put it in a condensed way," with mystical powers. However, Browder continues, "his role in the to Farscape's credit, not all the show is reactive. He acts upon sit- i races are strong or beautiful. uations as well—sometimes in First, there's multi-limbed Pilot, ways that we would imagine to be an alien helmsman/living auxil- our own idealized behavior. In the iary control for the bio- first three Farscape episodes, he mechanoid Leviathan ship Moya,

STARhOG/Fcbmarv 2000 73 —

and there's also the pernicious Hyner- It's a struggle for control. His

ian Royal Dominar. "I just happen to struggle is just more obvious. think that Rygel the XVI [John Eccle- "By the time we get to ston] is fantastic," Browder says of episode 17, he starts becom- his 26-inch tall puppeteered co-star. ing competent in dealing with And, of course, there's Claudia Black, his surroundings. He actually who plays Aeryn Sun, a humanoid reaches a point where he Peacekeeper [i.e. the enemy] who becomes incredibly capable reluctantly joins the crew of the flee- and almost stoic, and then the

ing prisoner spaceship. world turns it on its head "John's journey through the first and turns John on his head season is about survival," Browder and by the season's end, his

elaborates. "It's about learning to personality is flipped again, cope with this strange universe. By because the world around him episode 16, he knows how to open a forces him to do that. By door. In the beginning, he doesn't episode 21 and 22, he's react- even know how to do that. Crichton ing in ways he was not react- has a technological-cultural-racial ing five episodes earlier, universe gap, and it's very wide. because the world keeps When he first gets there, he's scram- pushing in directions that bling around scared all the time. It's force him to change. interesting that in reacting to the first "So," he continues, "he's show, someone said that I looked not a locked-up character; uncomfortable in an SF universe. But he's not a typical TV hero that that's exactly what the character feels. comes with his bag of tools

"I think that's fairly unique in and says, "This is how I deal series television for an SF show to with the world.' Because the have a character who's just totally universe around him is so blown away by the world he's in. For fluid, John's reactions have to a lead character to be in such a state of be fluid—or he won't survive. disarray is very interesting. He does This makes him more fun to get more control, but then it gets play. I don't know if it's more stripped away again because it's such challenging, but it stops me an alien place. It taps into the way from being bored." many people feel about their world. And how does Crichton — — —

Through such feel about his rag-tag of politi- actors like Dustin Hoffman team imperiously over-the- cal escapees, each of whom would top aliens as Hynerian who did just that early in his as soon sell off as save the other. Dominar Rygel XVI career. Doing something new is "John does care for his shipmates (John Eccleston), the spice of life for me. Would- individually, and probably he cares human extremes are n't everybody want to be Dirty about them even more as a group, as explored, with Crichton Harry for a day? That's one of as the yardstick. a sort of family," Browder reflects. the great things about the "He wants to hold them together as Farscape universe—it's so dif- such, and I don't think any of the ferent that in some respects other characters bring that to the getting to do John Crichton is a show. You have a lot of empathy and bit like getting to run through feeling coming out of Zhaan, the lexicon of action films, of though. The alien characters are space pictures—and then we stereotypes or archetypes; they have have pieces which are emotion- amplified facets of what we consider al, mostly talking—and there human [personality traits], whether are episodes which are more it's aggression, empathy, greed, lust, heavily slanted towards come- gluttony—the good and the bad dy, where it's about finding the aspects of humanity. And John is the punch fine and getting the joke balance in the middle: he has all of across." those things in him, in a balanced fashion. Earthy Acting "This doesn't mean that the The episode ("A Human aliens are cardboard characters," he Reaction") when Crichton qualifies. "What I mean is that they attempts to return to Earth and have more of a particular of what we gets treated like a bizarre speci- would call part of our humanity, and men instead of a long-lost hero they embody it as a sort of racial ten- is, according to Browder, "a sion. Whereas for us, if we had all of poignant piece about not being those traits, we would consider our- able to go back home; about selves to be balanced. For example, illusions being shattered, and Rygel's appetites and flatulence are finding out that the world that extreme for a human but quite nor- you want to go to is not the mal for a Hynerian. They make for world that you thought it was. an interesting mix when you throw From the standpoint of the the characters together, put them character, what that does is either trying to change what he wants in together or at odds with a very large way, and one another." that changes how he Browder confesses he interacts with the crew enjoys the many comedic from that point forward. instances that his co-stars He realizes he has bring to the show, char- nowhere else to go, so acter-derived or other- he must learn to cope, wise. "Just when we're deal with and love the most serious on the show, world he's in. we're likely to get a joke. "In the initial third

It's very Shakespearean. of the first season, Audiences always laugh Crichton embraces the at the height of tension." Farscape universe—the

But it's the physical other end of the part for Browder that is galaxy—as a scientist. central to his perfor- In the latter third, he mance. "I do a lot of embraces it as a place to sci- stunts. I do a lot of fight- live, as opposed to a ing, a lot of falling. I h , mm entific curiosity, aliens that are, in Browder's words, "weak and trained in stage combat Unlike most SF, Farscape features because he's becoming short, and, you know, ugly." of that when I went to English more a part drama school. I believe in doing my own stunts the stunts. When the stuntman comes on, my world and less an observer. Of course, it carries because a stuntman would never do it the way ego gets bruised, OK? I did all my stunts. through to something else in the second sea- the character or actor would do it. No matter Sometimes I let the stuntman do it first, espe- son." how great the stunt, when you have the actor's cially if it's tricky, and then I would do it. I Although Browder can imagine a romantic face in the frame—that's the kind of produc- mean, how many opportunities do you get to life for his character, he's not sure the audience tion value you don't often see on TV or on do this kind of stuff? You could go through wants to go there. "It's interesting that in the film. your whole career and never get a chance to do fifth episode we shot, 'Back and Back and "As long as it's within reason, and I don't an action-oriented piece. Back to the Future,' they had written a scene think I'm going to get hurt, then I'm going to "The fun part is in doing things that you that was essentially a love scene between John throw my body across the set, because the shot haven't done before, and in pushing the enve- and this alien, and nobody had any idea what makes the show better, and that's what the lope," he goes on. "It doesn't mean you want to the alien was going to look like. I go to the set, audience tunes in for. And it's actually fun transform every time you play a character and I see this woman with tentacles, tattoos, let's cut to the chase. I like doing the fights and although that's one way of doing it. There are behind this dominatrix-style outfit, and I go, 'It

STARLOG/February 2000 75 BHBSHK

doesn't look like a love scene to me!' It looks phis Belle, and followed up with parts in A Kiss A to point B? What is our civilization going to more like some dark fantasy that John doesn't Before Dying, Nevada and the independently- do? How are we going to be as people? How

want to have, which is exactly how we ended made Boogie Boy. does being in a different world with aliens

up playing it. "I just have a really good time acting," affect us? Are we going to fight them? Are we

"The interesting thing is they'll write the Browder explains, "and if I get to the day's end going to learn from them? Interesting stuff!"

script and we'll arrive, and the creature shop, and I've done a scene that I think was interest- Browder believes SF may well be under-

the art department or makeup has come up ing, I come home feeling good. If it also works rated, pointing out Robert A. Heinlein's

with this bizarre thing that will turn an idea on when I see it on the screen, I feel even better, Stranger in a Strange Land, which was writ-

its head, and you have to adjust to it. It's fasci- and if the audience likes it, I feel really good ten in the 1960s, as prophetic in its prediction nating from an acting standpoint. What's good about my work." of "the rise of the entertainment culture to the

for us about the CGI is that you're never really point where churches are centered around quite sure what it's going to be—we do a fair Stellar Roles entertainment. Entertainment is pervasive in amount of green-screens and flip screens. I Browder's interest in SF ignited when he our culture, from the Internet—which is just mean, if it's in the lexicon of FX, the most recent incarnation—to While "A Human we hit on it at some point. We have television and film and 70 chan- Reaction" is actors in prosthetics, body makeup, nels on cable. It's a powerful force important to animatronic creatures, puppet crea- in our it rowder, the society, and becomes tures, CGI effects. It's a huge can- actor definitely integrated. We haven't had Poke- vas on which the show is written." enjoys his mon down in Australia yet, but Some actors contend that acting Farscape stunt I'm still trying to figure out the

in front of a blue or green screen is work—and tries genesis of this. Think about it: hardest, because no feedback from to do as much you have a card game based on a of it as possible. other performers can be expected. video game in conjunction with a Browder has another view. "It's TV series! Three forms of enter- certainly different from standard tainment all rolled into a single

drama, where you tend to be react- package; it literally spreads out ing to another actor. The green from its inception. So, I'm just screen is a bit more like a stage waiting for Farscape to branch play where you're delivering a out." monologue: you have an image According to Browder,

that you generate in your head and "Farscape is an odyssey, but I make it just as real. It's a different don't want to know the moral of

skill from standard screen acting, the story even if the writers have it

but stage actors have been doing it in mind. I want John Crichton to brilliantly for generations, so I go through the journey and to don't think it's any harder. It's just evolve as we tell an interesting, a different skill." hopefully moving story." Browder isn't merely speculat- The LA resident recently got ing. He actually started out as a to reunite with his wife, actress theater actor and expected to do Francesca Bullard, who guest Shakespeare especially after train- starred as a carnivorous alien in ing at the Central School of Speech episode 21 of Farscape (slated to and Drama in London. Having cul- air this month). "It has been nine tivated both his acting and athletic years since we acted together," he talents at Furman University in recalls. "It was difficult for her Greenville, NC, on a sports schol- because everyone knew her as my arship, this native of Memphis, TN, wife and not as the superb I actress found fulfillment in both. that she is. I was the only one "There's a performance element who knew what she could in sports which translates to acting," . e is an odqsseu, buf do," he adds, smiling. "And he explains. "I'm sure that's part of she was really hungry in that why I liked it. There's a moment I donf uuanf fo know fhe part." Actually, it was Bullard when you're playing a sport like who got Browder his first job football, where you walk out on the moral of fhe sforu even if in New York, so, he says, field and the only life that exists for fhe uiri+ers have if in mind.' "this is payback." you is on that field, and everything Although he has the situa- is focused on the moment. You may have spent saw 2001: A Space Odyssey as a child. "From tion under control, Ben Browder admits he the last six months getting ready for this that point on, I wanted to be an astronaut. Most isn't prepared for the recognition—and moment; you walk out and there are 50,000 of what I read as a kid was SF, which I still read fame—that Farscape may bring him. "How people on the stands, and you're 19 years old to this day. What I liked about the genre was would you prepare for that?" he asks rhetori- and it's a gift of a moment. There's an element the sense of adventure—you go to strange cally. "I try to prepare the script for the next of acting in that. I remember the first night I places and do unusual things. As you grow up day. I try to get up in the morning and go surf- took a bow on Broadway [in The Merchant of and read and watch more, you realize that SF ing to clear my head and get some exercise, Venice]—you just ingrain that moment in your and fantasy, as literature, are metaphors for and I'm out there on the waves. I just try to do head the way you do out on the ball field." experiences we have as humans. my job and live life. What happens to the side Following drama school came theater pro- "What happens if you take a facet of human of that is not in my control. Not that you want ductions and appearances in TV's Party of existence and stretch it so everybody can see to control everything in life, but it's such Five, where he played Neve Campbell's boy the future?" Browder asks. "I find the what-if speculation, you know? I'm fascinated by friend; and guest parts in Melrose Place, Grace kind of literature and storytelling fascinating. people who say, T always knew I was going

Under Fire and Murder She Wrote and several What if we spread out throughout the stars, and to make it.' It's fantastic! I'm glad they did,

TV movies. He made his film debut in Mem- then it still takes us 20 years to get from point but how?" wS»

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CARD EXPIRATION DATE: /_ DAYTIME PHONE:. "it wasn't % like i said, 'ok, this year I'm ^oin^ to do this type or mo vie. By IAN SPELLING cleallyjohnny depp

^ t's certainly a good decision, but why did a certain director want to work with Johnny Depp again? Iost head "I like actors who are transformers," SS&St *4 Tim Burton says. "I like people who oyer like to do a different character each Sleepy X'» time. I find that really exciting." hollow, And that's why Burton teamed once again with the star of his films Depp— | Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood—for Sleepy Hollow. Depp, of course, plays Icha- bod Crane in Burton's upscale retelling of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy

Hollow." Crane is the quirky constable sent to Sleepy Hollow, a village as thick with intrigue as it is with fog, in order to solve a series of beheadings purportedly carried out by a horseman with serious pate issues. A nervous Crane goes about his busi- ness, encountering the assorted locals, including the town's wealthiest family, the Van Tassels (Michael Gambon and Miranda Richardson), and their daughter, Katrina (Christina Ricci), as well as her jealous suit- or (Casper Van Dien) and a group of elders—Michael Gough, Ian McDiarmid, and Jeffrey Jones—who are most definitely out to protect themselves and their secrets. "Each time, Johnny has done something completely different," Burton continues. scientific detective Ichabod "He becomes a new character. I just get real- As Crane, Johnny Depp investigates ly excited by that. He looks the way he the mysteries of Sleepy Hollow. looks, but he doesn't care how he looks. In fact, he wants to look as bad as possible. He wanted to put on a big nose and ears and stuff responds. "Tim didn't have to finish the sen- tant thing. If you go too far, he's very subtle like that. We said, 'No,' and I'm glad. He did tence and I was already saying, 'Yes, of with his reins. That's an actor's dream.

lots of little, very subtle acting things, little course.' I love Tim, I just love the man. I was "I also think there's a connectionon many, reactions that I thought were so good. They also familiar with the story since I was a little many levels and some kind of cjhemistry

would have been covered up if he had been kid. I loved the character. And the opportunity [between them as actor and director] that's

[buried under prosthetics]. I know he's a good to play Ichabod Crane is a golden opportunity. almost unexplainable. Certainly, there's an dramatic actor and I knew, from Scissorhands, But just getting to work with Tim again on emotional shorthand. We understand each that he was a good physical actor, but I was anything was reason enough. It's amazing. It's other. He knows what I'm going for and I surprised at how well he did the action. He had like returning home after a war. It just feels so know what he's going for, and the blending of i never really done action before, and we were comfortable. Aside from the fact that he's one those two creative forces works well together. I going for action with a bit of elegance. He just of the great visionary filmmakers of all time, And I think we look at the world a little bit in

did it really well." he's a dream director for an actor. He's not the same way." And what convinced Depp to sign on for totally rigid in the sense that you have no room As for Burton's statement about Depp and

Sleepy Hollowl Was it Burton? The script? to move, that there's no opportunity to try prosthetics, it's not just Burton who didn't The character? "It was Tim, initially," the actor things. He trusts you, which is the most impor- want to go that route. Paramount Pictures

STAKLOG/February 2000 79 decreed that Ichabod Crane should look like Depp. After all, there was a great deal at stake. Burton was coming off the big-budget flop Mars Attacks! and despite his status as a respected critics'

darling, Depp's presence alone in a film doesn't exactly fill seats. Obscuring the face of a leading man whose casting was already something of a liability was not sound business in the minds of

Paramount executives. "Let's put it this way," Depp says. "If, ini-

tially, I had said, 'No,' the studio would have been fine with it. I'm dumb, but I'm not ignorant. They probably would have been very happy if some other actor with a very consistent box office [track

record], a more bankable guy, had said, 'Yes.' I know that's just

part of the beast, part of the animal. I don't mind that. It's good to know your enemy.

"Scientifically, if you look at the sheets, I'm not box office. I've been in films that have done pretty well: Donnie Brasco. Scissorhands. There have been a few that have done all right,

thank God, but I have this sneaking suspicion that somewhere, somehow, executives go, 'Oh no, the weird guy, the guy who fan- cies himself a character actor,' when a producer or a director brings my name up. And that's understandable." While Depp has played such "weird" roles as psychedelic Depp enjoys gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson in 's out-there collaboration with Fear and Loathing in ; presently the actor finds himself I rim Burton. "That's a in the midst of a genre binge. He portrayed a heroic astronaut who actor's dream," Depp says. becomes possessed by an alien with a lust for procreating with his young wife (Charlize Theron) in The Astronaut's Wife; entered director Roman {Rosemary's Baby) Polanski's The Ninth Gate as a rare-book dealer recruited to track down satanic tomes, and, of course, visited Sleepy Hollow. "It just sort of happened that way," notes Depp, who lives in Paris with his girl friend, singer-actress Vanessa Paradis and their new- born daughter, Lily-Rose. He's actually in Paris now shooting The Man Who Cried, a Sally Pot- ter-directed drama that casts Depp as a Gypsy opposite Sleepy Hollow co-star Ricci. "It wasn't like I said, 'OK, this year I'm going to do this type of movie.' They all happened pretty quickly. There wasn't much time in between. "There's something about the formula of

these kinds of films that I like. Roman certainly has his roots in film noir. Tim has his roots in the horror/SF/fantasy genre. There's something about the formula that exists for these kinds of movies that you can play with, that has a more elastic surface than other types of formula films. That applies to the characters, too. Look at Ichabod Crane. He's a character that everybody in America knows. That's a big responsibility, a big undertaking, to say, 'OK, I'm going to take this character that exists in the minds of most people in the U.S. and I'm going to change him. I'm going to make him maybe a little too much in touch with his feminine side.'

"Hopefully," Johnny Depp concludes, "people will accept it." -A*- ) i

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If you do not want to cut out coupon, we will accept written orders. I I I I I I I I I Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. cience fiction has certainly mixing his two loves of comics and film—his until Columbus took an interest in it. Now a

been an important part of latest outing offered something more. "Bicen- big-budget production, it stars Sam Neill,

Chris Columbus' artistic tennial Man came as a science fiction picture Embeth Davidtz, Oliver Piatt and, in the title motivation. Says the direc- with an emotional side," the director notes, role, Robin Williams as Andrew Martin, the

tor with the unforgettable "which I responded to. I felt that it was, in a robot who wants to become a man. Don't mis- name: "When I first got the way, going back to my roots, to take him for any idea I wanted to get into things I love, even though it's androids of the screenwriting and direct- more of a human/character- past, however; ing, I was inspired by SF, oriented story than a straight- Martin's jour-

old Hammer films, old Universal horror forward SF action picture. It ney is uniquely movies, things I grew up with as a kid. I was was something that was his own. a big fan of science fiction, I was a big fan of intriguing to me." "The inter- Ray Bradbury. It was something I dabbled with a little bit when I wrote things like Robot's Gremlins and Young Sherlock Holmes, but as Dawn a director, I never attempted to do anything Bicentennial Man like that." began as a Hugo and Columbus became a fanatic collector of Nebula award-winning early in his youth. In fact, he novella by Isaac Asimov, originally wanted to be a comic book artist for later expanded into a Marvel. But the sale of his first script before he novel {The Positronic Man) by even graduated from New York University Asimov and Robert Silverberg. derailed those plans. And although he has Nicholas Kazan wrote a script done his share of scare flicks, action flicks and based on both—but it sat for * funny flicks—and he is now very interested in years on the shelf at Disney 00

With Bicentennial Man, director Chris Columbus fashions a very human tale from Isaac Asimov's Hugo and Nebula-winning classic.

82 STAKLOG/February 2000 esting thing about the material for me is at points out. "What was most interesting to us first half of the picture, with the exception of what point do the machines we're so depen- was to find a way for Andrew to grow from the certain elements, is very true to Asimov's orig- dent upon—our laptop computers, our auto- film's beginning to its end. For us, the major inal story. Nicholas Kazan, the original and the transi- mobiles—start to show signs of intelligence, storyline was Andrew's constant struggle to only writer on the project, felt that or reasoning, or emotion? To me, that's a fas- become human. tion from short story to screen story needed cinating way to view technology today. "The fascinating thing about Andrew Mar- another element. And in terms of an emotional Martin, all felt it was Whether or not we want to admit it, all of us tin's character is that he outlives all of the peo- journey for Andrew we have some emotional connection to our com- ple he becomes close to, and that was an aspect interesting that if Andrew is pursuing humani- puters. Whether you're in an Internet chat of the story that I found compelling. He devel- ty, it's necessary to pursue the most important room, e-mailing your best friend or your fami- ops his emotions as he sees people disappear part of humanity, which is love. That was cc 'At what point do the machines we're so dependent upon—our laptop computers, our automobiles—start to show signs of Intelligence, or reasoning, or emotion?"

story, and ly or sending photographs, it suddenly from his life. That became the interesting story touched on in bits and pieces in the becomes an emotional carrier for people. I was element: How do you cope as a being who can Nick found a way to make it work in terms of interested in the question of whether this exist for 200 years? When you're dealing with Andrew pursuing his romantic side." machine can go further." a film that covers seven or eight periods of To get more in touch with the concept, the Asimov's novella is a series of scenes time, the challenge is to make a movie that's Columbus read not only the short story, but revolving around the robot Martin, from his under six hours long." Silverberg-Asimov novel as well. "We took a acquisition by the Martin family, to the deeply One of the most significant changes from lot of information from both, particularly The moving finale, 200 years later (reflecting the the Asimov story is that Martin becomes Positronic Man',' he says. "Silverberg added things." title). Most of it takes place in the Martin home romantically involved with a human being. some very interesting and a few other locations. "We obviously "The second half of the film is basically more Columbus was familiar with his leading opened the picture up quite a bit," Columbus of a romantic plot," Columbus admits, "but the man, having directed Williams in Mrs. Doubt-

STARUXj/February 2000 83 —

Robin had to be able to survive in it.

The biggest concern I originally had

when Robin put on the suit is that forget about performing—he would never be able to [endure being in] the suit. I was concerned that he would be in trouble. "We did countless tests in terms of color. First, we agreed on a sculpture, and then on the design elements. In Steve Johnson's effects house, there were about 25 Andrew Martin heads sitting on the

table, all different colors, all look- ing like ceramic cookie jars. There was a pink-and-white version, a blue-and-white version, a silver- and-blue version—it was like pick- ing out a new car." Video and screen tests were made, using staff from Johnson's makeup effects lab rather than wear- ing out Williams. "We tried 25, 30 combinations of colors. We didn't make a suit for every color, but we did make breastplates." They had a test suit made that was whitish with a

blue metallic finish, but it didn't pho- tograph as well as was hoped. "We found this sort of silver and

gold combination, and realized it was the perfect marriage of the material that we were using [in terms of Robin's

comfort] as well as the way it pho- tographed. The suit is a mostly plastic,

though it has some metallic areas. But

on screen it feels very metallic. It also photographs in very different ways in different light. During the nighttime

scenes, it photographs a beautiful sil- ver-and-gold metallic. Out in the sun,

it's a little flatter, a little more plastic. It was just wonderful." Hearty Role So the suit looked fine—but the question was could Williams act in it? "On the first pass, he couldn't really sit," Columbus admits, "he couldn't really bend over. Why would you hire a Over the course of 200 robot as a housekeeper or a nanny if years, as Andrew they can't do anything? becomes more like them, So we had to his human family, includ- make the suit more mobile for Robin." ing patriarch Sir (Sam Still, as limber as the final suit turned Neill), grow old and die. out to be, Williams had to rest between takes on one of those "slant boards" fire and Nine Months. "Robin," he says, "was human being. That's a challenge for any actor. originally created for actresses in confining just attracted to the script. He's a big SF buff, "He truly does a wonderful job in this pic- period costumes. very good friends with Harlan Ellison and a ture. I'm being objective, really. What he "The hardest part was the face," Columbus major computer fanatic. He somehow has does—and you could see it in the first day of continues. "Robin worked in conjunction with access to computer games before anyone else dailies—is to create a robot. He gives a very a couple of puppeteers in terms of getting his does. He's fanatical about it; he loves it. So the nuanced performance, a very difficult perfor- eyes to blink at the proper time, his eyebrows minute he read this script, he was completely mance." to move at a certain time. He was able to con- fascinated by it. He was intrigued by the Williams was aided in actualizing his trol his performance by working with the pup- growth of the character, the child-like discov- android alter-ego by the robot suit he wears in peteers, telling them on which lines he would eries Andrew Martin makes in the beginning, the first half of the film. "The XFX suit is like his eyes to blink, his eyebrows to move. his blossoming into a person. I think Robin absolutely phenomenal," Columbus asserts. After rehearsing a lot together, they managed really enjoyed playing a character who goes "It was months in development. We had to cre- to get the performance in sync." from a complete machine to a complete ate a suit that felt completely robotic, but Fortunately, the face also came off. "When

84 STARLOG/February 2000 he was wearing the faceplate," Columbus says, on Robin for Stage Two where we incorpo- can't be frightening, overbearing or too hor-

"he had no peripheral vision. He had two little rated his eyes, but it ended up looking like rific. It has to be user-friendly." pinholes he could see through. He needed to the in The Wizard of Oz. Another problem faced by Columbus and rehearse without the mask, so he could walk Despite his love for classic Marvel his Bicentennial Man team was in creating not around the room, get comfortable with the comics, Columbus says they also wanted to one, but as many as eight believable futures. scene, the lights, the camera and where every- avoid having Martin look like a superhero. "We wanted to maintain a sense of reality one was standing. Then he would pop on the "That's a tendency with that kind of costume; about the future," says the director, "but we faceplate. go too far one way, and he looks like Iron had to realize that the picture could become "You have to remember that the suit Man. Also, you have to fit into the reality of prohibitively expensive if we were rebuilding encased every part of his body. Robin would the picture." After all, Martin is (at least ini- every 10 years. In a picture like do six or seven takes in a row without popping tially) a product, a device—walking, talking Star Wars, the universe is created, and it exists off the faceplate. Then it took us 20 to 30 sec- consumer goods. "You've got something throughout the course of the entire picture. In onds to pop the faceplate so Robin could get that's going to be purchased by people to Bicentennial Man, we start in the not-too-dis- some air, get a drink, then he would be closed work in their homes with their children, so it tant future, just a few years from now, so it's up again. We had to keep him constant- ly pumped with fluids to maintain his hydration, because he could get incred- ibly dehydrated in the suit. It was prob- ably the hardest physical performance he has ever done." Williams, fortunately, didn't have to wear the suit throughout the shoot.

Martin is constantly becoming more and more human as time progresses. For the second stage, when Andrew is rebuilt to allow more facial expres- sions, "we had to design a mask that looked very similar to the first stage," Columbus says, "yet at the same time, be pliable enough for him to smile and

show a little more expression. That was a matter of putting more servo motors in the face, and creating the facial material out of a foam substance as opposed to a purely metallic texture."

It took a while to overcome a cer- tain putty-like look to the face, but about two weeks before the "Stage Two" scenes had to be shot, the XFX team came up with something that worked so well that when Disney stu- dio brass saw the dailies, they assumed that the face was being animated via computer graphics. After that point, Martin becomes even more human, winding up looking like—big sur- prise—Williams. "We gave Robin a very smooth, plastic version of his

face," explains Columbus, "so it was almost like a perfect version of his skin.

It felt fairly artificial, but didn't get to

the point where it looked too much like plastic." Columbus and other creative members of the Bicentennial Man crew examined previous movies about robots for inspiration. One of the only other films with robots as leading characters, Heartbeeps, was particularly closely scrutinized—and found wanting. "The biggest horror for us," Columbus says, "was that we didn't want to get into Heartbeeps territory, where the makeup didn't work. One of the reasons there were problems is that the actors' eyes were visible. When you see real human

eyes, it takes away the illusion of a machine. We tried several makeups

STARLOG/February 2000 1

I familiar to most of the audience. Then we have future in a lot of science fiction," Columbus existing San Francisco landscape, retaining to take Andrew 200 years into the future with maintains. "I wasn't interested in dealing with recognizable features, while updating the I seven or eight stops over the film, which that; I was interested in dealing with technolo- more transitory features—cars, parking means we have to re-create a sense of what the gy as we know it today. We've all seen predic- meters, traffic lights. "Those are the things we future's going to be every 10, 20, 30 years. tions of what's going to happen in the year focused on," Columbus says; "what's going to That was the biggest challenge, to find some 2000, 2001, and obviously, none of that has change around the architecture, rather than

I way of doing this without taking us way over happened. But we live in an era that has a real wiping everything out and re-designing cities the $100 million mark. sense of architectural integrity. We've main- from square one." "All of us, the production designer, the cos- tained a good sense of our past in many of the At the time of this interview, days before I tume designer—imagine creating new cos- major cities around the world. I feel that new Bicentennial Man was to open, a few televi- 1 tumes—realized that the biggest hurdle we technology and architecture surround what's sion spots had begun to appear, but Columbus I had was getting over that fact, that we have to best about the past. was not entirely happy with what they were

I re-create the future every 15 to 20 minutes in "And that's the sort of future I was interest- saying about his film. "The theatrical trailer is the film. That's very difficult," he says with ed in dealing with in this picture, a realistic a much more fair reading of what the picture

I admirable restraint, since no other science fic- future, not a completely reworked vision. I is. It's about much more than a robotic house-

I tion film has had so many scenes set in so think that people will, in fact, preserve what's keeper. It's not, as Premiere magazine called

I many different futures. great about our past. They'll preserve the great it, 'Mrs. Doubtfire in a can.' It goes way "We had to do a lot of historical research in cathedrals and the great pieces of architecture beyond. It's a much more complex picture I terms of our past. You realize how everything in San Francisco, where the story's set, like than Mrs. Doubtfire."

I is sort of cyclical. Are people really going to they've already done with the Victorians. It might even be regarded as a bit old-fash- | dress in Star Trek outfits in 30 years? I don't "This was a real character-oriented story. It ioned, he admits, in that the movie depends on I think so. I think if anything is happening with was never about design; Bicentennial Man its characters and story more than on the spe- I our society [in terms of clothing], it's that was a movie about people. The design had to cial FX or even the elaborate robot costume. If

1 we're getting a little more comfortable with support the characters, obviously, but I had to people are expecting breakthrough, dazzling, I the way we dress. I don't think we'll hit a peri- maintain a sense of reality about what I eye-candy FX, Columbus says that they're od where we go back to Victorian-style cloth- thought would happen. Look, nobody can pre- going to be severely disappointed.

I ing. We had to take all of that into dict the future. We talked to many people, "It's not Star Wars, it's not The Matrix. It

I consideration." architects, designers, people who had an opin- takes place over the next 200 years, so there is ion about the way the future would be, and a significant amount of effects in the picture, Bicentennial Plan everybody sort of felt the same way—we but it's not dependent on the effects. A picture Then there's the question of just what kind would respect our architectural past." like The Matrix, with its wonderful effects, I of future(s) needed to be presented. "There So in Bicentennial Man, production took us places we had never seen before, but I tends to be a very dark, really bleak view of the designer Norman Reynolds added onto the you can't keep doing that without looking like

86 STARLOG/February 2000 ?:g

^^^^

At last, Andrew realizes his metaphorical a Dockers ad. If you're going to get into some- work. Those are themes that are pretty amaz- dream, electronics replaced with organ- thing like that, you damned well better come ing for the turn of the century. To me, those ics, solid steel with fragile flesh. He because the character up with something new. For us, Bicentennial thinks, therefore he \s...Bicentennial stories continue to work complex. People Man was really all about character, all about Man. of Sherlock Holmes was so almost story, all about the people involved." are always fascinated by a troubled, With Bicentennial Man in theaters, Colum- active development," says Columbus, though anti-hero. bus must now be deep into his next project, or once again, he's not likely to direct the film "Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance of so you would think. Well, you would think when it gets rolling. However, he is consider- Dracula is a perfect example of a movie I wrong. "I have absolutely no idea what's ing directing a script he only recently read: would have wanted to get involved with 20 next," he admits cheerfully. "I'm examining Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance ofDracu- years ago, and that side of me hasn't changed Robin Williams really enjoyed playing a character who goes from a complete, machine to a complete human being." everything, including Spider-Man and Harry la. "I read that about six weeks ago, and really at all." Columbus isn't exaggerating; his origi- Potter." responded to it. It's very well written, very nal script for Gremlins was even darker than Joe For a while, it seemed likely that his next much an homage to the old Hammer films that the entertaining comedy/horror piece film was going to be Daredevil, based on the I loved. Because I did such extensive research Dante finally directed. "Mom's head tumbled blind Marvel superhero. Inspired largely by for Young Sherlock Holmes, I became a Sher- down the stairs, the dog gets killed, they went the Frank Miller-scripted era of Daredevil, lock Holmes fan. The script is very true to both into McDonalds and ate the people instead of Columbus wrote a 150-page script (movie Holmes and Dracula, a wonderful script. the burgers," says Chris Columbus, laughing. scripts average a minute a page). He wasn't "Holmes is a fascinating character, a bril- "Those were pretty fun images to write. I still holding back, it able to whittle it down himself, because he got liant character, a really well-written detective. write stuff like that—I'm not busy on another film. Carlo Carlei, whose Every other detective has been inspired just depends on what I'm doing at the time. Fluke of a few years ago received good [directly or indirectly] by Sherlock Holmes. "I don't know what kind of picture I'm notices, was scheduled to direct, but he, too, He was a real character who was detached going to do next. Even Bicentennial Man is not bailed for another film. emotionally. He had drug problems, cocaine a complete return to where I started. I want to

"Fantastic Four is being written by Sam problems, he couldn't relate to people on an get back to a picture like Gremlins or Young Hamm. He's working on that right now, it's in emotional level, and threw himself into his Sherlock Holmes. I probably will." ^

STARLOG/February 2000 87 Th e O ffi cial Magazin

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the first day of filming the SF thriller Supernova in spring "I'm not going to lie to you and k 1998, the production geniuses say that there are not a lot of k turned a massive airport I hangar into a series of sets that people nervous about this film." On literally climb out of the " W ground right to the ceiling. Dixon hoped it would. "At that point, I had my three years! No big deal!' The actors were poised and fingers crossed," the producer relates. "All I Weeks later, things have settled into a rou- ready, as were the smoke and dry could think of 10 minutes before Walter called tine at the Republic Studios soundstages in Los ice crews who were to provide an action for the first time was, 'Can you believe Angeles, where the Supernova production is

appropriately hostile atmosphere. it has taken three years! How can it take so now housed. The crew and effects people, rela- Director Walter Hill finally arrived on the set, long?' tively free of the shoot's earlier stresses, cheer- and conversed with his cinematographer and But by the end of Hill's first series of fully dress a series of passages, walkways and technical crew who, over the years, have all shots—captured in his methodical, measured simulated spaceship interiors that spread out become his first-to-call people. Nearby, co- manner—Dixon's demeanor had decidedly over an elevated soundstage set. Outside, actor producer Jamie Dixon offered up a smile. brightened. "What can I say?" recalls the now Lou Diamond Phillips, who is finding his first

Dixon was smiling for a good reason upbeat producer. "Only a few minutes later and foray into SF "a big kick," is joking with make-

Supernova was finally going to roll, or at least suddenly it was like, 'Hey, it has only been up people and other well-wishers. —

"Yeah, today's the nude scene," he laughs. "This is where I get to let it all hang out."

Solar Flares Supernova, which stars Phillips, James Spader, Angela Bassett and Robert Forster, is essentially a hybrid of familiar space adven- ture fare. It's a big effects "ALIEN meets Ten

Little Indians? Other wags have dubbed it "Event Horizon with a different cast." The studio bristles at yet another descrip- tion "Dead Calm in outer space"—and unsuccessfully tries to get journalists to deep-six that one-liner. More specifically: A deep space medical ship with its six-member crew responds to an emergency distress sig- nal from a comet mining operation in a dis- tant galaxy. Upon arrival, they find a mysterious young man, apparently the lone survivor, and bring him aboard. But the crew soon find themselves fighting for their lives as they fall under the influence of a deadly alien artifact and the gravita- tional pull of a giant star about to go supernova. Hill directed from a script whose contributors include David Camp- bell Wilson, Cathy Rabin, Dan Chuba and Thomas Wheeler. Hill also did some rewriting (final on-

screen script credit is to be deter- mined). The movie also features Robin (End of Days) Tunney, Peter Facinelli and Wilson Cruz. The major players behind the camera include director of photography Lloyd Ahern, production designer Marek Dobrowolski, set decorator Nancy Nye and costume designer Bob (Dune) Ringwood. Mark Stet- son and Digital Domain handled visual FX.

Like the movie itself, the road to making Supernova has proven quite adventurous. This film has endured studio disinterest, numerous script rewrites, change of directors, a short pre-production and the threat of an actors' strike. And months later, en

route to its early 2000 release, there will be director-studio battles, post- production alterations, multiple pre- miere date shuffles and other problems.

"But we've survived all that," says Hill while awaiting a set change. "Somehow, some way, we're getting

this done. How it's going to come out

is anybody's guess. But it is definite- ly going to come out." "I'm not going to lie to you and say that there are not a lot of people nervous about this film," says the candid Dixon, who nonetheless haunts the Supernova set with an aura of confi- dence. "There's a huge amount of money involved [reportedly $60-$70 million], and so it's easy to understand why people get nervous about it." Phillips arrives on the set and immediately goes to a lab, where he disrobes and lies down on a futuristic examining table. Bassett, play- ing the ship's medical officer, enters and, after a brief conference with Hill, prepares to exam- ine Phillips' body with a hi-tech medical instrument. It is a fairly simple scene, but one that, Hill explains, will cut in quite nicely with the suspense he's attempting to build into this movie.

"We're going to have the monster stuff, the action stuff and the special FX stuff," offers the director. "But there's also going to be a hell of a lot of just plain edge-of-your-seat suspense." Phillips agrees. "I'm having a ball with the action stuff, but the best moments so far have been the human ones where we get to see who "

these characters really are and how they react."

Star Plights Producers Dixon and Chuba optioned Supernova in order to branch out from their strictly special FX background by creating their own properties. Early in 1995, the pair met with producer Ash Shah, who was then working out of Imperial Entertainment. "Ash And gripping horror gave us this script and said, 'Hey, why don't aside, one thing you see if you can make something out of Supernova will also this?' " remembers Dixon. "So Dan rewrote deliver, with virtual the script." ease, are some very nice special FX. According to Dixon, Supernova was originally targeted as an inex- Checkmate.. But the game pensive, $5 million outing, but "How it's for Supernova's Wilson once the producers began shop- Cruz is not that simple: ping for a distributor, they dis- going to Who, or what, is covered that United Artists not menacing the crew? only liked the script but "had come out is designs on a picture that was a anybody's bigger deal than $5 million." Dixon and Chuba were thrilled guess." until UA made an offer to buy them out. "My initial reaction the games that get played," was, 'No way,' but reality struck says Dixon. "He was getting and since they were going to let into a contentious position us produce the film, it made with the studio. He kept fight- sense to do it." ing for his position and, at one Wilson was hired to work on point, said, 'If you want it rewrites in late '95 and that, the done that way, you might as producer remembers painfully, is well fire me.' And they did. when the nightmares began. Dan and I had heard that "They kept telling us that we Geoffrey and the studio had a were two weeks away from a good meeting on Friday, but completed rewrite—that went on we felt that something was up for years. Finally, the studio head left UA because things were suddenly going too and we figured, 'Well that's it, forget it. smoothly. Then we came in on Tuesday

This is not going to happen, especially and found out Geoffrey had been fired." with the option on the film running out.' Enter veteran director Hill. "I got a Surprisingly, United Artists reupped copy of the script and was interested. Of the option early in 1997 and, shortly course, I knew certain things would have thereafter, the new studio head rang up to change for the script to work for me. the frustrated producers. "They told us But I said, 'Sure, I'll do it,' " recalls Hill, they were still interested in the picture. who was between projects at the time. "I Suddenly, Supernova was revived. But came onto Supernova with my head we ended up spending all of '97 waiting spinning. Elements of the production for another rewrite. They kept insisting design had to change and, with the threat that the movie was a serious go, though, of an actors' strike on the horizon, there and that they were going to put some would not be time for a total rewrite, but serious money into it." rather an on-set, page-by-page rewrite Meanwhile, UA began looking for a that would result in a lot of dialogue director, and the producers were thrilled changes and some changes in tone." when Geoffrey Wright, who had gener- Dixon knows that highlighting ated critical waves with a pair of low Supernova's many creative struggles budget films (Romper Stomper and may not be the best tactic. Nonetheless, Metal Skin), agreed to come aboard. he is refreshingly committed to not hid- Supernova went into pre-production for ing the obstacle course his film has a projected April '98 start. But friction become. "It obviously hasn't been as developed between Wright and the stu- nice as if we had had a completely writ- dio over the film's tone. In the director's ten script and a couple of months of pre- hands, Supernova was shaping up as a production behind it. That would have taut, psychological thriller, but UA made all this easier, but the feeling is insisted on a commercially safer that all the changes being made are action/SF/horror film. Dixon witnessed improvements. It does seem that the many of the arguments. most confusion with the changing script "Geoffrey had never been involved has been with the studio [MGM/UA]. A with a large movie before, and so I don't few things have come to them as think he appreciated the pressure and all unpleasant surprises. But they've been

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acknowledges after doing the scenes. "If my charac- ter were Superman, there would be no tension and empathy. So he's flawed and, for my money, that's great." Visual effects coordi- nator Stetson has, like- wise, been caught up in the tortuous odyssey of Supernova. The easygo- ing Stetson, not too far removed from the rigors of The Fifth Element, had met with the producers in August '97. "But by the time they got serious

about it, I was called in four weeks before shoot- ing. The sets were almost completed. We had four weeks to invent In space, nobody our can hear.. .how long effects within the context

it has taken for of what had already been Supernova to debut. created. As Walter was wrestling with the story

and shaping it into the movie he wanted to direct, we were faced with trying to play catch up with his vision." Stetson laughs as he recalls stepping into the chaotic Supernova y good about all this, consider- breech. "The movie was rushed into produc- ing they're the ones paying for it all." tion, and we really needed a few months of prep time rather than the few weeks we were Sun Demons handed. What that meant to us was that, as Another day has dawned on Walter was shaping the script, we had one per- Supernova. Hill directs Spader, Bas- son whose full-time job was to monitor the

sett, Phillips and the others in an script changes. Normally, it takes a month to action sequence where the crew uses do a full visual effects breakdown on a picture the film's futuristic form of trans- like this one. We were doing our best to just

portation—dimension jumping. stay ahead of it. Phillips' character, however, distrusts "The big challenge was to key elements dimension jumping. "I liked the idea that would bridge the gap between the film's

that my character who works in space hard science and its fantasy. Our job was to has this fear of space," Phillips find the place where this movie lives in the Not treating the production like an obstacle course, Hill, Supernova's next T / director, pulled out the stops and fashioned a gritty, hi-tech shocker.

• -ITb., 'i

extremes. Supernova is the near- Supernova is not the place to be. Hill i future, but the film's nature requires quick on the trigger about responding

that a lot, from a visual FX point-of- to a question with "I don't think I'm view, be done in a fantasy zone." supposed to tell you anything about

Stetson's hit list consists of an esti- that." mated 200 to 300 CGI visual effects But Phillips hints that what Super- shots. One major set-up is the space- nova appears to be may not really be ship exterior, whose central miniature, the case. "Sure, it sounds like ALIEN— an 18-foot long model, recalls the spir- some people will die and some will

it of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Stetson live, and there's going to be some kind employed "a real high style that seems of alien threat," the actor allows. rooted in structure and engineering" in "We've all seen that. But I'm con- coordinating the ship's exterior ele- vinced that people will see something ments to those of the production else in the way this all comes together. designer's interiors. On the surface, this sounds like a lot of Although loaded with action, Lou Diamond Phillips notes "You can imagine by the film's stuff we've seen before. But Supernova that, "we get to see who these characters really are 'in title," remarks Stetson, "that we deal Supernova. And isn't that worth the wait? is definitely different." with some astronomically large However, Walter Hill, who can't events. We're shooting a lot of miniature ships we're doing here is state-of-the-art, but we resist the last word, reveals that at least one

and landscapes, a lot of full-sized and minia- have a sequence that we're finalizing right now thing will not be a surprise. "We don 't kill the ture pyro effects and some real abstract CGI that will certainly push the envelope." heroes," he laughs. "Now, if we did that, that stuff. I would have to say that most of what If you're looking for secrets, however, would really be a surprise." ^» m a k kj k s For as little as $60, you can reach the world's largest science-fiction audience. DEADLINE: For STARLOG #274, in our office by January 7, 2000. For #275, in our office byFebruary 4. Absolutely no ads can be accepted for an issue after that issue's deadline has passed. $20 per line. Limit: 48 characters per line. Minimum: three lines. Punctuation, symbols and spaces count as characters. Small display ads: $1 50 per column inch. (Camera-ready only!) On the first line only, word(s) of your choice (underline them) will be printed in BOLD CAPS. Indicate category under which your ad may be listed. In the event of space limitations, STARLOG

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ary luminaries as Mark Twain, O. Henry, commentary by Clarke. Cronkite hopes to Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and produce a network special reuniting them Dylan Thomas. In the early '60s, Arthur for a fascinating discussion of develop- lived in room 1008, where he wrote 2001: ments that will become everyday concepts The Knight of A Space Odyssey, his classic collaboration for the human race in this next Millenni- with director . um—all predicted by Arthur. Science & Fiction From the grand days of actress Sarah If he weren't such a good writer and Damn! The telephone rang just when Bernhardt, the Chelsea has definitely scientist, I might suggest Arthur make his problems were really stressing me out. foundered. Andy Warhol's superstar, Viva, living as a fortune teller—or a host to the I answered with a fierce, "Yes!" lived there for years, and in 1978, Sid fabulous and famous. "How's my shipmate?" asked a voice Vicious (bassist of the Sex Pistols) stabbed Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 Science Fic- that was unmistakable—bright, warm, with his girl friend to death in room 100. "It's a tion Calendar will soon be up for retail a slight growl, his British accent blurred by bit shabby," Arthur told me on the phone. purchase. Clarke was recently selected by years of travel from country to country. "I have a parade of people wanting to see Writer's Digest as one of the "100 Best Hearing from this citizen of the planet me, and I'm a bit embarrassed by the Writers of the 20th Century," and I noticed instantly changed my mood. accommodations. Rupert Murdoch [media an article which stated "Clarke is the first "Are you in New York?" mogul] is coming over this afternoon. We science fiction author to be knighted by the "Yes," Sir Arthur C. Clarke replied. "I have a very interesting project to discuss, British crown." was captive at Johns Hopkins last week, and but I don't think these are the surroundings "Not exactly," he corrected. "There was they punched me full of holes." he's accustomed to. another Arthur C. knighted before me..." Enduring rough medical problems over "Perhaps," Clarke chuckled, "he'll just He leaned forward. "Sir Arthur Conan the last few years has left Clarke, in his 80s, buy the place and fix it up properly." Doyle, of course, who wrote The Lost confined to a wheelchair and requiring a When I arrived at his room, Arthur World!' team of attendants to travel from Sri Lanka eagerly showed me, with the youthful Clarke gave interviews to Scientific (where he has lived for years) to the U.S. delight of a Star Wars fan, a letter from American and The New York Times—the But it hardly stops him. "Bothersome" is all George Lucas. "Buzz Aldrin visited me at phone rang constantly. Despite the wheel- he says, though it's a regrettable contrast to the hospital. Jim Cameron and Sigoumey chair, action abounded. "I just called Jack our first meeting in mid-Atlantic. Weaver want to drop by, too. Name-drop- Williamson, to thank him for turning me In 1973, Arthur was one of several ping is so vulgar." Again he chuckled, and on to science fiction when I was a very celebrity scientists on board Cunard's added, "As I told the Queen last week." small boy." He laughed with mischief.

Adventurer, chartered for an educational The telephone rang, and, Arthur When it was time for goodbye, Arthur cruise to rendezvous with a solar eclipse. announced: "Walter Cronkite is downstairs, told me, "I hope to be back in 2001, but For two weeks, we were shipmates, and we Kerry. Would you go collect him?" that's doubtful." The last two times I saw witnessed the spectacle of totality with the Cronkite is arguably the most famous him in the U.S., he firmly stated, "This is captain—from the bridge. television news anchor of the 20th century. my final visit." I'm glad in this one On this visit to America, Arthur stayed at He stepped off the elevator with Gordon instance, my old shipmate was off the mark the Chelsea Hotel, an historic establishment Manning, who produced the Apollo pro- at predicting the future. that has been temporary home to such liter- grams for CBS, many of which included —Kerry O'Quinn STAR WARS:

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Interview: David Hutchison, issue the choice Stanley Kubrick made information than they can absorb

#30 to make it particularly and delib- and they really will want to come

erately dull in a very modern situ- back, because information is a 20 Years Ago in 15 Years Ago ation was a wonderful conceit. It stimulus to the brain, and the STARLOC "I don't think any actor, myself can only work once—when you brain loves to be stimulated. The "I've always been fascinated by included, likes being thought of as see the film for the first time." human brain craves stimulation. space, by the potential of life at 'Karen (Raiders) Allen.' Yet, —Roy Scheider And this movie will stimulate the other stars. We would have to pos- that's how people see me. I would Interview: Lee Goldberg, issue #90 brain; the brain will not be lulled." sess the largest imaginable egos to prefer that people relate to me for —Philip K. Dick think that we're alone in the uni- a body of work, not just one 10 Years Ago Interview: Gwen Lee & Doris E. Sauter, verse. There must be more than movie." "Real writers write. They are dri- issue #150 what we know and accept." —Karen Allen ven people, compulsive. Writing —Robert Wise Interview: Robert Greenberger, issue #90 is a sickness, and a cure at the Five Years Ago Interview: David Houston, issue #30 same time. For me, it is easier to "People seem to think there's a

"When I saw 2001, it blew my write than not to write. I have to big difference between movies

"As much as I would like people mind just like it did to everyone strain myself not to write. I have and TV, but I've always thought to notice my work, ironically, I'm else. The actors were never the to express myself." that was nonsense. Everyone who only successful if they can't. A stars of 2001. The special effects —Curt Siodmak has been involved in The Next

shot should never look like a were. If anything, HAL was the Interview: Lee Server, issue #150 Generation has been doing it for matte." major actor. As I've seen it more years, and if you're trying to —Harrison Ellenshaw, and more times since then, I still "Information is the lifeblood, the improve your work all the time, metabolism making little films, then it's only a of the mod- question of making a bigger film

ern world. when it comes along." People will —David Carson, director be going in Interview: Joe Nazzaro, issue #210 to see Blade Runner as "We don't see them [Scully & information Mulder] having a relationship junkies. beyond the professional one." When they —James Wong, writer-producer

see the film, Interview: Paula Vitaris, issue #210

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