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wizards, com/starwars INSIDE THIS ISSUE 16 'S SHADOW Walter B. Gibson created this bloody pulp hero 22 CHATS The actor sells books, CDs, DVDs & TV shows 24 BUTTERFLY EFFECTATIONS 's Erica Durance reflects on changing times 28 SPEAKING OF HEROES discusses the new show & old | friends 32 ANOTHER LOST SOUL Ex-Hobbit Dominic Monaghan has a different habit 36 ON THE WHO SET & Rose make a second season odyssey 43 BATTLESTAR REQUIEM Paul Campbell notes why Billy had to die

46 IN NUCLEAR AUTUMN They confront life after the world ends in Jericho

50 IT'S OPEN SEASON The animals strike back in this animated hunt 71 THE MAGIC MAN For his next trick, Christopher Nolan adapts The Prestige 76 MUTANT ILLUSIONS The X-Men wizards reveal their special FX secrets 80 HUGH JACKMAN SPEAKS From Down Under, he talks of his five films 85 FLUSHED AWAY Animated rats find adventure in London's sewers HALLOWEEN SCENE 58 AT THE WITCH'S DUNGEON Greet the famous of Cortlandt Hull's haunt 62 WEIRD TOON TALES will make you laugh & scream 68 VOODOO QUEEN Naomie Harris predicts a Pirates sequel will sail next year tain (1 1/22), Deja Vu (1 1/22). December: Eragon (12/15), Children of Men President/Publisher NORMAN JACOBS (12/25), Miss Potter (12/29), Pan's Labyrinth (12/29), Charlotte's Web. Executive Vice President RITA EISENSTEIN January 2007: Pathfinder (1/12), Arthur & the Invisibles (1/12). Executive Art Director February: The Astronaut Farmer (2/2), W.R. MOHALLEY Ghost Rider (2/16). QUOTE OF THE MONTH (2/9), Editor "Playing possum is what we do." March: 300 (3/9), (3/9), Sunshine (3/17), DAVID MCDONNELL —Ozzie (William Shatner), Over the Hedge Meet the Robinsons (3/30), Teenage Mutant Ninja Art Director Turtles (3/30). HEINER FEIL STUPID DECISION April: The Hitcher (4/13). Managing Editor OF THE May: Spider-Man 3 (5/4), 28 Weeks Later MONTH (5/11), ALLAN DART SCI FI. One week it's grandly saluting Stargate Shrek the Third (5/18), Pirates of the Caribbean: SG-l's 200th episode. And the next week, it's offi- At World's End (5/25). Contributing Editors ANTHONY TIMPONE cially terminating the show (at this sea- MICHAEL CINGOLD son's end). Celebration, cancellation. TOM WEAVER IF ONLY WE MADE 'EM DEPT. Speaking of stupid decisions, the IAN SPELLING JOE NAZZARO Powers That Be in Astronomy have also de-planetized poor Pluto, despite our Special Corespondent assertion this issue in Videolog (page 12, re ZACHERLEY already at the printer) that it's a planet. warn mram St™**, Well, not anymore. What will these WHY MOVIE AUDIENCES DID SEE HIM... STARLOG CROUP, NOT A CREATIVE GROUP Company learned astronomers turn their attention THOMAS DeFEO to next? Saturn? Neptune? Uranus? JOSEPH . AVALLONE (Make up your own joke here). Poor Executive Assistants: Dee Erwine, Pluto. Poor Stargate SG-1. Audrey Quaranta. Correspondents: (LA) Pat WHERE TO BE... Jankiewicz, Bob Miller, Marc Shapiro, Bill Warren, Dan Yaklr; Halloweeen. Anywhere while wearing (NYC) Dan Dickholtz, Mike McAven- nie, Maureen McTigue, Keith a mask, a costume or even a sheepish Olexa; (Chicago) Kim Howard Johnson; expression. Trick or treat! (Phoenix) Bill Florence: (D.C.) Rhon- da Krafchln; (Orlando) Bill Wilson; () Mark Phillips; (Booklog) WHATEVER Penny Kenny, Jean-Marc & Randy HAPPENED TO... Lofficier, Michael Wolff; (Toons) Alain "Big Bad Bubba" Chaperon, The rest of Loglines? Well, we ran out Mike Fisher, Tom Holtkamp, Bob of time and space. And we're just so Muleady; (Photos) Donn Nottage, depressed about Pluto. Lisa Orris, Albert Ortega. Thanks to: David Bowers, Michael Broidy, John Bruno, Paul Campbell, FILM FANTASY KristyChan, Phil Collinson, Jill Culton, Adrienne D'Amato, Gloria CALENDAR Davies, Beth DuMont, Erica Release dates are extremely subject to Durance, Sam Fell, Mike Femia, change. Jeffrey Fordis, Walter Gibson, Howard Green, Karlyn Hale, Naomie October: The Prestige (10/20). Harris, Cortlandt Hull, Hugh Jack- man, Lana November: Flushed Away (11/3), The Kim, Fumi Kitahara, Tim Kring, Richard Linklater, Jeph Loeb, Santa Clause 3 (11/3), Casino Royale Dominic Monaghan, Olivier (11/17), Happy Feet (11/17), The Foun- Mouroux, Steve Newman, Christo- pher Nolan, Karen Olin, Louise Page, Chrissy Ouesada, Dania STARLOGs (ISSN 0191-4626, Canadian GST number: Ramirez, Chris Reichert, Rich R-124704826) is published monthly Scrivani, Conor Sellers, William SUBSCRIBER I except for February & SERVICES September by STARLOG GROUP, INC., a CREATIVE GROUP Shatner, Crystal Shin, Jennifer | Missing copies? Moving? Renewals? Company, 1372 Broadway, 2nd Fir., 10018- Solari, Glna Soliz, Dante Spinotti, i New York, NY Anthony Stacchi, Receiving duplicates? Subscription questions? 6311. STARLOG and The universe are reg- Lisa Stone, Kristin Strauch, James Strong, David ! istered trademarks of STARLOG GROUP, INC. This is issue Ten- Write to: Number 350, November 2006. Entire nant, Edward Thomas, Anthony j contents are copy- STARLOG right ©2006 by STARLOG GROUP, All Tollin, Ed Verreaux, Dennis Vincent, l INC. rights reserved, Reprint or reproduction in part or in whole—including Jeff walker, Sheelagh Wells, Gahan Subscriber Services, RO. Box 430 i Wilson, Dave Wong, ! the reprinting or posting Melinda Wood, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430 of articles and graphics on any Internet or computer site—without the publishers' writ- cover images: William Shatner: Inquiries to editorial offices only delay matters. ten permission is strictly forbidden. STARLOG accepts no Blake Little/02006 ABC, Inc.; Lost: responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or Bob D'AmiCO/©2006 ABC, Inc.; X- I Men: Kerry Hayes/Trademark & NEW SUBSCRIBERS: I other materials, but if submittals are accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope, they'll be considered ©2006 20th Century Fox. All Rights See subscription ad in this issue. | and, if necessary, returned. Please do not call the editor- Reserved. Character Likeness: Do NOT send money to above address. ial office re: this material. Due to time constraints, free- Trademark & ©2006 Marvel Charac- Attach Mailing Label Here lancer phone calls will not be accepted. STARLOG does ters, Inc.; The Prestige: ©2006 not publish fiction. Fiction submissions are not accepted Touchstone Pictures & Warner Bros. and are discarded without reply. Products advertised Pictures. All Rights Reserved. are not necessarily endorsed by STARLOG, and views For Advertising Information: NAME expressed In editorial copy are not necessarily those of (646) 649-8131; STARLOG. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and FAX (212) 889-7933 additional mailing offices. Subscription rates: $56.97 one Advertising Director ADDRESS year (12 issues) delivered in U.S. only. Canadian and for- Rita Eisenstein eign subscriptions $66.97 in U.S. funds only. New sub- west Coast Ads: Robyn Faust, 2111 scriptions send directly to STARLOG, 1372 Broadway, 2nd 255th street, Lomita, CA 90717 Fir., New York, NY 10018-6311. Notification of change of (310) 539-2116 Cel (310) 710-8146 address or renewals send to STARLOG Subscription FAX (310) 373-8760 Dept., P.O. Box 430, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430. POSTMAS- International Licensing Rep: CITY.. TER: Send change of address to STARLOG Subscription Robert J. Abramson & Associates, Dept., P.O. Box 430, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430. Printed in Inc., 720 Post Road, Scarsdale, NY U.S.A. 10583 STATE ZIP... OWN IT ON DVD OCT. 17! Includes UNRATED extended scenes and a HELLISH alternate end

lRj£ © 203& Tvrantisth Caniury Fm Hwe iMerfcinreni UC. end their cssoticted I DUtuifclngvtotent content All Rights Riseusd 'Ivrenlieth Cnttwy fox," 'Fox' I www.rtieomefidvd.com logos ere (he property at Iwr.litlh Ctnlwy fax Him Ccrporctlon. DVD Spttb! I tatures H;t Ruled at Closes' CaplroMJ. —

UPDATES CHARACTER CASTINGS Here's the official title: : invasion's Eddie Cibrian has joined the cast Rise of the Silver Surfer. Homicide: Life I of Vanished as one of the FBI agents inves- on the Street's Andre Braugher will co-star. tigating the disappearance. His Invasion Warner Bros, is co-financing (with brother-in-law, Tyler Labine, has hired on to DreamWorks) the Tim Burton movie version Boston Legal as a lawyer (of course). of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Firefly's is joining the cast Todd. By DAVID MCDONNELL of the CBS hit The Unit. She'll David House gets a two-week theatri- Wisler's girl friend. cal re-release October 6 on 100 screens in Genre veterans Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins 3-D (prior to its October 24 DVD bow). And SF CINEMA and Meatloaf cameo in Tenacious D in: The the classic Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Bt\lack Hawk Down screenwriter Ken Pick of Destiny (out November 17). Christmas—also in 3-D—hits wider for a JNolanI is adapting Whitley Strieber's lat- Halloween re-release October 20. est aliens opus, The Grays. FANTASY FILMS Doug Liman is directing Jumper, based The Golden Compass movie has set some SEQUELS on a Steven Gold novel that's the first of a intriguing cast members: Nicole Kidman Hellboy has found a home at Universal trilogy about a young teleporter. Hayden (as villainess Mrs. Coulter), new James Pictures. Revolution Studios financed Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson star in Bond Daniel Craig (Lord Asriel) and Craig's the first film, which was distributed through the film now shooting in Toronto, Tokyo and Casino Royale co-star Eva Green (Serafma

Sony, but when it came time for a sequel, Rome. Pekkala). Revolution was in going-out-of-business Oscar winner Joe Letteri and Weta Digi- John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson and mode. Fortunately, Universal has rescued the tal have signed on board James Cameron's Mary McCormack will co-star in the film follow-up and will finance and distribute Avatar to create its creatures, FX and envi- version of Stephen King's 1408. Hellboy 2. Shooting begins in April in Lon- ronments. South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone are setting their sights on kaiju. Parker WHAT FRESH HELLBOY IS THI! directs and Stone produces the parody Giant Monsters Attack Japan! from a J.F. Lawton Are you ready for Halloween Storms airs October 28 on Cartoon . adventure? Trick or treat! The Network. See #257 for Brendan Fraser (as Mortimer/Silver- animated Hellboy: Sword of details. tongue) and Paul Bettany are starring in New Line's Inkheart movie adaptation, directed by Iain (K-PAX) Softley. ANIMATION SCENE Here's even more evidence that having Pixar's John Lasseter and Ed Catmull in

charge of Disney Animation is great news for toons. They've brought back animation directors John Musker & Ron Clements who did The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules, but exited Disney when after three hits, their Treasure Planet didn't score at the box office. The duo will make

another fairy tale in 2-D animation (i.e. not CG), The Frog Princess. Composer Alan Menken, Oscar winner for both Little Mer- don and Budapest for a summer 2008 re- David Jacobson will direct a film version maid and Aladdin, will do the songs. lease. The usual suspects (writer-director of Roadside Picnic, the novel by Boris & Open Season veterans Anthony Stacchi Guillermo del Toro, Ron Perlman, Selma Arkady Strugatsky. Neil Moritz is producing (co-director) and David Feiss (head of story) Blair, Doug Jones) are all aboard. for Columbia Pictures. are teaming to direct Hotel Transylvania for Harry Potter and the Order of the Sony Pictures Animation. Michelle Murdoc- Phoenix is underway. Its large cast of re- SCENE ca is producing from a Don (Surf's Up!) turnees includes students (Daniel Radcliffe, Who's the villain in the upcoming live- Rhymer script. It concerns the classic mon- Emma Watson, Rupert Grint), teachers action film? Why, Shell- sters (Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the (Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Alan head's arch-foe, the Mandarin! And the great , etc.) who must face the world Rickman, Emma Thompson, Brendan Glee- production designer J. Michael Riva (he did after years of safe refuge from reality's hor- son, Robbie Coltrane), parental figures The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) has rors. It's for 2009. (Gary Oldman, Richard Griffiths, Fiona signed on to do that job on Iron Man. Wow! Shaw, Mark Williams, Julie Walters, Jason James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus in Narnia) BROADWAY RHYTHM Isaacs) and others (Ralph Fiennes, David will star in Wanted, the based on Top Cow Dr. Seuss ' How the Grinch Stole Christ- Thewlis, Robert Hardy, David Bradley). comic by Mark Millar & J.G Jones as script- mas!—The Musical begins previews in New this time are Helena Bonham Carter as ed by Derek Haas & Michael Brandt for Uni- October 25, opens November Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, Imelda versal. Russian director Timur {) 8 and closes its limited holiday run January Staunton as Dolores Umbridge and George Bekmambetov will make his English-lan- 7. It'll play an extraordinary 12 perfor- Harris as Kingsley Shacklebolt. guage debut on this project. mances a week (most shows do eight). This His first mission isn't even Culver Entertainment (a division of Sony time, the musical (which ran during the holi- out yet, but Daniel Craig is already con- Pictures Entertainment) is planning yet days in San Diego for several years) will firmed for a second outing (to premiere May another 13-episode animated Spider-Man include the animated version's famed two 2, 2008). half-hour series. songs.

6 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com "it really captures the BEAUTIFUL GRANDEUR OF COMBAT." -GAMES POT

FIVE CAPTAINS. THREE ERAS. ONE LEGACY.

BATIKS Pf6

mod -doc" SOFTWARE TELEVISION V3f: a ZeniMax Media company

Inc All R.ghts Reserved - /£H> STAR TREK: Legacy™ © 2006 Bethesda Softworks LLC. a Ma> Med-a company f. 7006 CBS Studios Int. All Rights Reserved STAR T8EK and Marks are Trademarks of CBS Studios Inc CBS. the CSS EYE logo, and relate! marks are trademarks of CBS Broadcasting H Paramount Pictures All Rights Reserved. Bethesca Softworks. Zen:Max and rc'a'edoyi:;; a f e registered tradnmark:, nl /en- Max Med:a Inc. in ne US and/or oihe: cojntnes STAR TREK: Legacy'" developed in associat:on with Mad Doc Software. I IC Mad Doc Software. Mad Doc, Mad3D. MadAl. MadVR. the Mad Doc flask logo, and the Mad Ooc pill logo are e ther registeied trademarks or trademarks of Mart Ooc Software. LIC 'n the UntteB States ana wor dwidfl All Rights Reserved Microsoft. Xbox. Xbox 360, Xbox Live, the Xbox logos, and the Xbox Uve logo ate either registered trademarks or trademarks ol Microsoft Corporation m the A'l R gins Reserved latirtgircon is trademark the Entertainment Ratings Btjprd: Al! Rights Reserved. , . U S and/or other coum

She's Amy After Darkl John Scott Shepherd NI Mondays, 9 p.m. on NBC. Writer-pro- Shelved by NBC. It'll return as a mid-sea- (creator of The Days) is scripting. Todd ducer (and comics scribe) Jeph Loeb chats son replacement.

(Malcolm in the Middle) Holland will direct about the heroics of it all on page 28. the pilot. It's for Fox. PAINKILLER JANE Fox is preparing another genre pilot. SCI FI has greenlit this property as a 22- Christian Taylor is scripting this one, which episode series. It's based on the Event features an immortal detective. comic by & First Look Pictures is syndicating the Ca- which became a TV movie pilot. Now shoot- nadian-made sort-of anthology The Collec- ing in at Insight Film Studios for tor to American TV stations for 2007 air- a January bow on SCI FI. play. It's about an immortal guy (Chris Kramer) who does the repossession jobs on SCI FI INVESTIGATES those who have sold their souls to the Devil. New six-part In Search o/L-like show The animated Legion of Superheroes pre- debuting this fall on SCIFI. Made in mieres on Kids' WB 9/23. partnership with NBC News Productions. Topics being dissected: Mothman, Bigfoot, AMERICAN DAD voodoo, the afterlife, paranormal hotspots Airs Sundays on Fox. Season premiere (like Sedona, Arizona) and Roswell (cele- 9/10. After the fall schedule announce- brating the UFO crash's 60th anniversary). ment, Fox also renewed it for a third 22- episode season (to air 2007-8). THE SIMPSONS Season bows 9/10 on Fox. 11/5: Annual "Treehouse of Horror." Trick or treat! Airs Fridays on SCI FI. Renewed for a third 20-episode season, now shooting. SMALLVILLE Season premiere 10/6. Paul Campbell offers a New season premieres 9/28 on the CW, eulogy for his departed character on page 43. Kang & Kodos want you—nay, command airing Thursdays, 8 p.m. Michael you—to watch Treehouse of Horror\ Rosenbaum will direct episode 15. Erica BLADE Durance reports in as on page 24. Airs Wednesdays on Spike TV (which hasn't yet announced its renewal). JERICHO STARGATE SG-1 New series premieres 9/20, airing Airs Fridays on SCI FI. The network has DAY BREAK Wednesdays, 8 p.m. on CBS. Show run- announced that this season (the show's Iew series premieres 11/15, airing ner Carol Barbee previews the program on 10th) will be the last. N Wednesdays, 9 p.m. on ABC (in place page 46. of Lost) through mid-season. KYLE XY New season premieres 9/28 on the CW, The 10-episode first season aired on ABC airing Thursdays, 9 p.m. Returns to SCI FI with second season Family Channel. The network has

kepisodese 9/29, 8 p.m., offering a two- renewed it for a second season. hour premiere (which includes the Christmas "Invasion" special introducing LOST Note: Airdates can shift without notice. new Doctor David Tennant). Airing Fridays. Wednesdays on new season Airs ABC; Airtimes are EST. Series are only listed for which STARLOG visits the set on page 36. premieres 10/4, to be aired in two parts: STARLOG has new info.

8 STARLOG/TVovember 2006 www.starlog.com

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Dragon's Fire by Anne & Todd McCaffrey experience more and more subliminal memo- a beat in this clever combination and refur- (Del Rey, he, 366 pp, $24.95) ries from a mysterious source. Meanwhile, an bishing of the "Troll Bridge" and "Twelve A mute Harper, an orphan girl and a Air Force officer is introduced to the truth Dancing Princesses" fairy tales. Teens will young miner are the lead characters in Drag- about the Roswell UFO crash, as well as its enjoy the contrasting yet complimentary per- on's Fire, the latest collabora- survivors. sonalities of uptight prodigy Moira and the tion between Anne McCaffrey Readers familiar with slightly younger—but equally talented and her son Todd. The three Strieber's horror and fantasy Jakob, as well as the humor (check out the youngsters cross paths in a works will know what troll wives) and adventure. Highly recom- storyline that involves the awaits within these pages. mended. plight of the Shunned, watch- His talent for characteriza- —Penny Kenny whers and the dangers of min- tion has never been particu- ing firestone. larly strong, but The Grays' Rifkind's Challenge by Lynn Abbey The McCaffreys' word disturbing sense of paranoia (Tor, he, 304 pp, $24.95) processor was on autopilot holds your interest, and Abbey portrays generational conflict here. The writing style is reads like a classic X-Files like no one else. It's a theme present in her bare-boned, and paragraphs episode. best works, and never more so than in from an early chapter are —Michael Wolff Rifkind's Challenge. repeated verbatim in a later Rifkind, Abbey's compelling sword & one, to no good effect. The Changeling by Delia sorcery heroine, has made a life for herself plot and characters are of Sherman (Viking, he, in Asheeran, serving as her tribe's healer intellectual interest, but never 304 pp, $16.99) and teacher. Troubled by dreams of old touch the heart. Pern com- Changeling Neef, a hu- friends from her days as a warrior, she pletists will want this tale of GEORGE R. R. man stolen by fairies, lives returns to the lands of her youth. Accom- its early years for their collec- in New York Between— panying her is her son, who resents tions, but fans would be better MARTIN "second" Manhattan filled Rifkind as much as he admires her. off re-reading one of the orig- with folklore creatures. In Rifkind's Challenge isn't all family inal volumes. order to remain there after drama, although the intensity of Rifkind

—Penny Kenny breaking Fairy Law, Neef and her son's relationship is almost over- needs to complete a quest whelming. Powerful wizards, usurping The Ice Dragon by George and return with three mag- nobles, young love and sorcerous battles

R.R. Martin, illustrated by ical objects. If she fails, are all part of the entertaining package. Yvonne Gilbert she'll be sacrificed to the —Penny Kenny (Starscape, he, 112 pp, Wild Hunt. $12.95) Like Norton Juster's Infoquake by David Louis Edelman Originally published as Tollbooth (Prometheus, tpb, 400 pp, $15) part of a 1980 collection, and Piers Anthony's Xanth Life hasn't improved much for the work- The Ice Dragon saga, Changeling plays ing man in the future of Edelman's debut reissued as an illustrated with ideas, turning them novel. Technology has advanced, but sweat-

hardcover that fantasy-loving parents are upside down to create a magical new reali- shops are still very much in existence, and going to want to share with their children. ty and giving readers two levels of enjoy- project scheduling remains a labor nightmare.

Adara is a winter child, born during the ment. Spunky Neef's quest through an This is especially true in the case of Natch, a worst freeze anyone can remember. For as often nightmarish realm of strange crea- master of the science of bio/logics, which long as she has lived, she has loved the Ice tures will enthrall young fantasy/adventure allows the custom programming of human Dragon, a fierce creature of great magic. fans. More erudite readers will appreciate bodies. Natch and his overworked crew When soldiers with fire dragons invade, Sherman's modern twist on . become involved in the development and pre- the people's only hope is the winter child —Penny Kenny sentation of a new product that must be ready

and her best friend. by Friday.. .and it's, unfortunately, already The Ice Dragon isn't for younger chil- Troll Bridge: A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale by Wednesday morning. dren, but those 10 and over will be Jane Yolen & Adam Stemple Warning bells should enchanted. Evocative illustrations and lyri- (Starscape, he, 240 pp, immediately ring in a read- cal prose combine in a volume that will be $16.95) er's mind when facing a new treasured for years to come. When 16-year-old harpist book which feels obligated —Penny Kenny and Dairy Princess Moira and to feature not only a glos-

three boy-band "princes" are A SOCK 'N' ROLL sary, but several appendices. The Grays by Whitley Strieber (Tor, he, transported to a magical FAIRY TALE Edelman's writing, howev- 336 pp, $24.95) wilderness in Minnesota, they er, is seductive enough that In 1987, Strieber wrote Communion, an find themselves caught up in a the additional material be- account of his alleged contact with alien visi- deadly struggle between a mys- comes icing on the cake, tors. Now, in The Grays, the author presents a terious fox and a monstrous rather than an absolute YOLEN and fictional story of a similar experience. Danny troll. Wit, luck and old- some ADAM STEMPLE necessity. His future is and Katelyn Callaghan are a happily married fashioned fiddle playing might sweaty and not too pleasant, couple who cannot recall how, in their child- save the day, i/they can avoid but Edelman turns it into a hood, they were abducted by aliens. Their being eaten first. worthwhile story. genius teenage son, however, is beginning to Yolen & Stemple don't miss —Michael Wolff

10 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com

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DEFINING PLANETS stein; the English-subtitled DVD ($18 postpaid) is now just a few months shy of 2007, so directly available from its U.S. distributor Mon It's we're well into the era in which—according to Ayash at 40 Alden Street, Fall River, MA 02723. future-set SF movie-oldies—Earth will rule the Less weird, but not by much, is another oldie, universe, run space stations and have manned the 1963 horror movie House of the Damned installations on other planets and moons. (Fox, $14.98), in which an architect and his wife

Sooo...where are we, actually? In real life, sci- (Ronald Foster and Merry Anders), surveying a entists recently met in Prague to finally create a notorious old middle-of-nowhere mansion, are definition for the word "planet." "It's embar- spooked by things that go bump in the night. rassing to the public that we as astronomers DVtl Sounds fairly conventional, yes? Well, yes don't have one," said leading space scientist except that the ghoulies are played by real-life Alan Stern, who hopes that after "planet" is By TOM WEAVER human oddities, including a legless man, a leg- defined, he and his colleagues can then finally less-armless woman and a giant (played by—who decide whether Pluto is one (it is). Honey, don't wake the kids! else?—Richard "Jaws" Kiel)! Sigh. It's more fun to stick to science fiction, and, DVD-wise, the Last issue we noted Universal's Boris Karloff set; Sony, apparent-

big event looming on the celestial horizon is Warner's 50th anniver- ly wanting to get in on the act, has assembled its own collection, sary editions of Forbidden Planet. The first big-budget outer-space which is as good or better. The four features in its two-disc Icons of adventure film stars Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Earl Holliman Horror Collection: Boris Karloff are. the Peter Lorre-co-starring com- and perennial STARLOG favorite Anne Francis—all of whom are edy The Boogie Man Will Get You, the "Mad Doctor" series entries seen on-camera in the "Making of doc "Amazing! Exploring the Far The Man They Could Not Hang and Before I Hang and (best of all) Reaches of Forbidden PlanetT There's also another doc ("Robby the one of King Karloff's top vehicles, The Black Room (1935) with Boris : Engineering a Sci-Fi Icon"), two later productions featuring as a pair of 19th-century Tyrolean twins, one good and the other Robby (the 1957 feature The Invisible Boy and a 1958 episode of the well, you know. TV mystery series The Thin Man), additional scenes, lost footage and Vincent Price is not particularly well-represented on DVD this even the TCM original Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s Halloween season, although he does have a supporting role as the and Us. That's all yours for $26.98, or you could go into hyperdrive Duke of Clarence in the 1939 Tower of London (part of Universal's and get the $59.98 Ultimate Collector's Edition which includes the Karloff kollection) and can be seen playing his earliest killer role in aforementioned two-disc Special Edition DVD release in a "unique the psychological suspenser Shock (1946), one of Fox Home Enter- metal alloy" (translation: tin!) collector's case, a reproduction lobby tainment's new film noir releases ($14.98).

card portfolio for Forbidden Planet and The Invisible Boy and a And, to finish up oldies-wise, there's yet another Warner set, this Robby the Robot action figure (translation: doll!). one starring a real swinger: Johnny Weissmuller, Hollywood's top

Robby action figure, yes, but no Robbymobile. That automotive Tarzan. Following up on the 2004 success of their first Weissmuller- shortfall is more than compensated for by Cars ($29.99). From the Tarzan set, The Tarzan Collection Volume Two ($39.92) includes the winning team of Disney and Pixar, this animated smash stars a hotshot actor's last six Tarzan flicks on three double-feature discs: Tarzan Tri-

rookie racecar who—with a fun cast of "car-actors" (their pun, not umphs/Tarzan 's Desert Mystery, Tarzan and the Amazons/Tarzan and ours!)—goes on the ride of his life. Owen Wilson and Paul Newman the Leopard Woman and Tarzan and the Huntress/Tarzan and the are the vocal leads in the feature; number one on the bonus-features Mermaids. All are from the 1940s and co-star Brenda Joyce as Jane. front is the all-new short "Mater and the Ghostlight," just part of a full

tank of high-test extras (four deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes, etc.). And speaking of Disney, watch out for two other releases this month: a 25th Anniversary Edition of The Fox and the Hound ($29.99) Scientists examining ancient human remains found in Ireland's peat and the same-priced, two-disc Special Edition of The Little Mermaid bogs now say that prehistoric man took the time to style and gel (back from the vault after seven years of unavailability). their hair and manicure their fingernails. Barney? Fred? Not that

i there's anything wrong with that, but you can look for clues in the four-disc box set of The Flintstones: The Complete Sixth Season (Turner Home Entertainment, $44.98). Also on the lighter side, Halloween brings : The Com- plete Fourth Season (Sony, $39.95), a 33-episode collection notable j for five Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding j Comedy

1 Series. You could also go the "altogether ooky" route with The

Addams Family (MGM, $29.98), the first 22 episodes of its 34-

f episode 1964-65 run. The bonus material includes director Arthur

I Hiller commentary, the featurettes "You Rang, Mr. Addams" and "Snap, Snap" and theme song karaoke.

1 Making a 180-degree U-turn into the un-U-sual, U-niversal has at last assembled Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Two, another 39 segments of the Master of Suspense's milestone series, this batch including the Hitch-directed "Wet Saturday," "Mr. Blanchard's HANGING OUT Secret" and "One More Mile to Go" in the five-disc collection For fans of the almost unbelievably weird, try this for size: A mid- (S39.98). 1950s made-in-Egypt remake of Abbott & Costello Meet Franken- It's those episodes' 50th anniversary—and it's the big 4-0 for the stein^. Recently come to light, the black-and-white comedy-thriller Gothic Dark Shadows. MPI Home Video is marking the features a pair of bumbling antique shop clerks who run afoul of a occasion by DVDebuting the last of the 1966-71 series' 1,000-plus

mad hypnotist-professor (in Dracula cape), his nice-guy assistant who episodes on September 26. Dark Shadows: Collection 26 is 19 becomes a werewolf (the classic Wolf Man look) and a monster that is episodes on four discs for $59.98. Dark Shadows mastermind Dan called a mummy but is actually a fellow in the traditional Franken- Curtis also produced and directed the 1973 TV movie The Norliss stein Monster makeup and outfit. All the great key scenes in the 1948 Tapes, new on DVD from Anchor Bay ($14.98). Roy Thinnes stars as A&C are slavishly copied (but on a much lower budget) and, wonder a Kolchak-like supernatural debunkcr who has to do a bit of a rewrite of wonders, now and then there's an original touch that's actually a on his latest book when young widow Angie Dickinson's report of the slight improvement on the oldie! Its Egyptian title is Have Mercy, but return of her dead husband turns out to be terrifyingly true. Claude

we here at Videolog prefer to call it Abdul & Costello Meet Franken- Akins and Hurd Hatfield co-star.

12 STARLOG/TVovemfcer 2006 For more recent scare-fare, Supernatural: The Complete First Sea- How will it play out? Well, that depends on whether or not you access son is a $59.98 box set incorporating 22 episodes on six discs, with a all of the 21 deleted scenes. How will it end? That depends on which 15-minute "Making of," unaired scenes, commentaries on various of the three alternate finales you select. How else can you divorce episodes by the creator, producer, director and stars Jared Padalecki yourself from the simple old-fashioned movie-watching experience? and Jensen Ackles, plus "Day in the Life of Jared and Jensen," a By running the film with one of the two audio commentaries, or by j "never-before-seen" featurette depicting them on the set. OK, what's paying $10 more for the Collector's Edition which includes a 95-page up? Why is Warner Home Video being so good to us? booklet you can browse while the flick's playing. Said book contains Anchor Bay's newest Masters ofHorror release is the Tobe Hoop- a new story ("The Unlikely Saga of Magneto, Xavier and Stan") by er-directed Dance of the Dead ($16.98), adapted by Richard Christian , his first original Marvel Comic in over five years. "Unlike-

Matheson from a short story by his dad Richard. The added-value fea- ly Saga" features art by such Marvelites as John Romita Jr., Howard tures include a "Making of and interviews with Hooper, Matheson Chaykin and Ron Frenz. For the procrastinators out there: an X-Men

Sr. and players Jonathan Tucker, Jessica Lowndes and Robert Trilogy Pack featuring all three movies in a $39.99 box set. Englund. The undead are again unleashed in Forever Knight the Trilogy: Part Three, the final 22 episodes of the cult series with Geraint Wyn DVDS IN BRIEF Davies as a 13th-century vampire moonlighting as a police detective Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Paramount, $14.99): A chiller very in modern-day Toronto. Heed me, ye knaves! Desist in the name of much like Herk Harvey's Kansas-made classic Carnival ofSouls, with the law! It's a five-disc box set from Sony Pictures and, gadzooks. Zohra Lampert as a nervous breakdown victim having eerie experi- $59.95. ences which may—or may not—be figments of her imagination. For a combination dose of SF and shivers, Threshold: The Com- Lifespan (Mondo Macabro, $24.95): Ruthless industrialist Klaus plete Series is the suspenseful story of a team of experts that assem- Kinski tricks a young American scientist into helping him seek the bles after the U.S. Navy makes a chilling discovery: an extraterrestrial elixir of life in this Amsterdam-made "existential thriller," premiering craft has landed in the mid-Atlantic. Son of a-byss\ Carla Gugino and on DVD with a commentary by director Alexander Whitelaw. Brent Spiner are among the stars of the short-lived show, now a four- Noein: Volume One ( Entertainment, $19.98): Five epic disc box set from Paramount ($54.99). episodes from the popular Japanese series, with over 6,000 eels Being set out on store shelves even as we speak, Stargate SG-1: per episode—twice the average for a normal animated show. The war- Season Nine (MGM Home Entertainment, $49.98) compiles all 20 between-the-dimensions action is enhanced by several added-value episodes from that season and tacks on a galaxy of featurettes and features, including behind-the-scenes material and alternate openings. audio commentaries on every episode. Beowulf and Grendel (Anchor Bay, $29.98): This medieval adven- The epic tale of intergalactic survival continues now that Bat- ture based on the ninth-century poem "Beowulf is the gory tale of a tlestar Galactica: Season 2.5 (Universal, $49.98) has soared onto the Norse warrior's battle against the murderous troll Grendel, who has

DVD scene. A three-disc, 1 1-episode set, it includes the DVD exclu- laid siege to the kingdom of Hrothgar. Gerard Butler stars. sive extended edition of the mid-season cliffhanger "Pegasus" as well Romancing the Stone/The Jewel of the Nile (Fox Home Entertain- as 10-plus hours of special features, including deleted scenes and pod- ment, $29.98): The hit adventure-comedies with Michael Douglas and cast commentaries. Kathleen Turner, now paired up in a slipcased giftset and boasting Creator 's Star Trek: The Animated Series fea- never-seen deleted scenes and featurettes. tures the voices of nearly the entire cast of the original live-action Hustle: Complete Season One (BBC Video, $34.98): The con is show—William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George on! High-class scam artists steal from the corrupt and give to, well, Takei, James Doohan, and Majel Barrett—as they themselves, in this sharp, stylish Brit series starring STARLOG embark on further space exploits. The $62.99 four-disc set includes favorite (collect 'em all!) Robert Vaughn. the award-winning "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth"; Walter Poseidon (Warner Home Video, $28.98): Luxury ocean liner pas-

Koenig's "The Infinite ," the first Trek ever written by a cast sengers ringing in the New Year end up wringing wet when a "rogue member; and several episodes that serve as sequels to Classic Star tidal wave" (the worst kind!) flips their boat in this 2006 remake of Treks. Master of Disaster 's classic oldie. The legacies of the world's greatest superheroes live on with Jus- Dungeons & Dragons (BCI, $49.98): Armed with magical items tice League Unlimited: Season One and Beyond: Season Two. presented to them by a Dungeon Master, six kids trapped in a fantasy The first episode of the former features world contend with a variety of monsters Wanted! More readers like more than 50 favorite characters (!). And, if * and other weird entities. Marvel Produc- the spawn of Satan! All that's not enough, both sets include bonus tions' complete, 27-episode animated series Omens point to Halloween material such as featurettes and audio com- is now a four-disc set. mentaries. They're $44.98 each from \ Frankenstein: The True Story (Universal, Warner. $19.98): Don't continue to settle for all those highly embellished tales of a patchwork man

brought to life by a mad scientist; here's how MUTANT SONS it truly went down, as enacted in 1973 by a Back to curdle your blood, and just in high-class TV cast of James Mason, Leonard time for Halloween, the Son of Satan Whiting, David McCallum, Jane Seymour, rules in two Fox Home Entertainment Agnes Moorehead, Ralph Richardson, John releases. The Omen remake is available by Gielgud, Tom Baker and Michael Sarrazin itself for $29.99 and also as part of The as the Creature. Omen Collector's Edition, a $49.98 six- The Butterfly Effect 2 (New Line, disc set that includes the 1976 original, $19.97): Altering the past has its conse-

Damien: Omen II, Omen III: The Final quences when Eric Lively turns back the Conflict and Omen IV: The Awakening. clock to prevent the car-crash death of his Extras for the new Omen include graphic girl friend (Smallville's Erica Durance, see extended scenes, an unrated alternate end- page 24). Filmmaker commentary and a fea- ing, director-producer-editor commentary, turette will be included until, years from featurettes, "Omenisms" and more. now, somebody changes their mind. Speak- The mutant revolution is upon us! Also ing of Smallville, by the way, The Complete on tap from Fox, X-Men: The Last Stand Fifth Season is just out from Warner ($29.98) depicts the final mutant battle. ($59.98).

STkKLOG/November 2006 13 tells the story of an uptown rat F@nU)G who gets flushed down the toilet from his penthouse apartment, ending up in the sewers of This column showcases web- London, where he must learn a sites for SF, fantasy, comics different way of life. Skip to the & animation creators and their loo, my darlin', at creations. Websites are listed for www.flushedaway.com free entirely at STARLOG's dis- cretion. Site operators may nom- THE FOUNTAIN WEB PAGE inate their sites for inclusion by Conquistador Hugh Jackman sending relevant info via e-mail and his love Rachel Weisz take a only to sip from the Fountain of Youth allan.dart @ starloggroup.com and embark on a 1,000-year odyssey in Darren Aronofsky's HEROES WEB PAGE ambitious tale of eternal love. Some people are born to be pdl.warnerbros.com/ extraordinary, and that's the wbmovies/thefountain/ premise of NBC's Heroes, flashsite/index.html which chronicles the lives of various people with newfound HAPPY FEET WEBSITE abilities whose destiny just Journey to the icy continent of might be saving humankind. PAUL CAMPBELL PAGE men, decrypting with dazzling Antarctica in this CG-animated heroes..com Battlestar Galactica's Billy virtuosity the forces that shaped adventure about Mumble Keikeya is in The Dead Zone this century. Prophetic and hyp- (voiced by Elijah Wood), a pen- after his III Fated encounter with notic, leaps for- guin who can not sing—but is SITE a terrorist, but Campbell's 88 ward and back between WWII one heck of a tap dancer! The Familiarize yourself with Minutes of fame aren't up yet. and the World Wide Web, hint- march of the penguins starts at F.O.M.A.C. (Friends/Family/ The actor appears in Al Pacino's ing all the while at a dark day- www2.warnerbros.com/ Fans of Max Allan Collins), the next film—a thriller directed by after-tomorrow. Explore Step- happyfeet official website of the CSI author Jon Avnet. Kill Billy at henson's iconoclastic imagi- and Road to Perdition creator. A www.paul-campbell.net nation at JAMES MARSDEN SITE Majic Man with words, Collins www.neaIstephenson.com It was a superhero summer for delivers Blood and Thunder and STARBLAZERS WEBSITE Marsden, who not only reap- True Crime like nobody else. This '70s anime series is still ROBERT VAUGHN PAGE pears as Cyclops for the X- The Road to Paradise leads to popular 30 years later. Now, With over 50 years of film and Men's Last Stand, but dates Lois www.maxallancollins.com each of the three seasons can be TV credits—including The Lane as Richard White in Super- bought as collector sets at this Magnificent Seven—The Man man Returns. Learn more about

STAR TREK: site, which also serves up from U.N.C.L.E. is still going the actor's Enchanted life at NEW VOYAGES SITE Starblazers and strong, and is now seen as Albert www.james-marsden.com Star Trek: New Voyages is an news on Starblazers Rebirth. Stroller in the hit British series Internet web-series maintaining www.starblazers.com Hustle. Join the United Network CASINO ROYALE WEBSITE the philosophy and vision of Command for Law Enforcement James Bond is back—and this Gene Roddenberry's original at time he's being played by 1960s . So if WEBSITE www.robertvaughn.com Munich's, Daniel Craig in a you're a Trek addict going Cryptonomicon is the initial vol- much more faithful (and serious) through withdrawal, boldly go to ume in Stephenson's epoch- FLUSHED AWAY WEBSITE adaptation of Ian Fleming's first this web page and enjoy these making Baroque Cycle series. From DreamWorks Animation 007 adventure. High-stakes episodes (which are available for The inspired novel hacks into and Aardman Features comes poker is played at free via download). the secret histories of nations the computer-animated Flushed www.sonypictures.com/ www.startreknewvoyages.com and the private obsessions of Away, a madcap comedy that movies/casinoroyale/site

CONVENTIONS yuesuuns acorn cons; ^>enu a seii-auuiessea, stamped envelope to ine con s aaaress. do inui contact STARLOG. Note: Listed guests may not appear and cons may be cancelled without notice. Armin Shimerman, Rene Auberjonois, Tim Guests: , , Wayne Conventioneers: Send info (with phone number and e-mail address) no later than three months Russ, Denise Crosby, Suzie Plakson, Andrew Pygram, , , Kent prior to the event to STARLOG Con Calendar, 1372 Broadway, 2nd Fir, NY, NY 10018-6113 or Probert McCord, Dave & Lou Elsey e-mail [email protected] This is a free service. STARLOG makes no guarantees, due to space limitations, that your con will be listed. NOVEMBER CREATION NYST40 OFFICIAL STARCATE CON November 10-12 November 3-5 Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Jack Ketchum, Joey Lawrence, Dee Snider, OCTOBER Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Secaucus, NJ Debbie Rochon, Tony Timpone, etc. Secaucus, NJ Creation FANCORIA'S WEEKEND OF Creation See earlier address HORRORS VULKON See earlier address Guests: William Shatner, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew September 29-October 1 October 27-29 Guests: , Joe Flanigan Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Orlando North Hilton (Saturday only); Beau Bridges, Cliff Simon Secaucus, NJ Altamonte Springs, FL (Sunday only) OFFICIAL STARCATE CON Creation Vulkon Entertainment November 17-19 1010 North Central, Suite 400 RO. Box 551437 OFFICIAL CON Burbank Airport Hilton & Towers Glendale, CA 91202 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33355-1437 November 3-5 Burbank, CA (818)409-0960 (954) 888-9697 Burbank Airport Hilton & Towers Creation www.creationent.com www.vulkon.com Burbank, CA See earlier address Guests: Charisma Carpenter, Robert Joy, Guests: Avery Brooks (Saturday only); Creation Guests: Joe Flanigan, Michael Shanks, Tony Jeffrey Combs, William Finley, John Saxon, Jonathan Frakes (Sunday only); Waller Koenig, See earlier address Amendola

14 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTIO

IN STORES NOW!

First Time Available on DVD

3 Classic Rush Concerts + Bonus CD Soundtrack includes "Grace Under Pressure."

Re-prints of the original tour booklets are included with each DVD.

5.1 Surround & Stereo mixes created by v , Alex Lifeson from the original concerts.

.originalasia.com WWW.RUSH.COM UM e ar\tt\em

©2006 Universal Music Enterprises, a Division nf UMG Recordings, Inc. By WILL MURRAY

Ik*.

int blauk HUSH. George Rozen's iconic portrait first illustrated that 1932 Street & Smith Shadow magazine tale.

THE PLOT MASTER. Walter B. Gibson (right), interviewed here by STARLOG's Will Murray, created The Shadow.

Selected Images: Courtesy Will Murray

Anniversary Celebration Seventy-five years ago, in March 1931, dia creations of the 20th century, appearing the first issue of The Shadow magazine in hundreds of novels and comic books, sev- materialized. Inspired by a creepy voice eral movies and, of course, on radio—which created to narrate radio's Street & Smith's he ruled for nearly 25 years, thanks initially

rmnnn» Detective Story Hour program, The Shadow to Orson Welles ' eerie interpretation. captured the American imagination. A myste- Before his death in 1985, STARLOG rious figure in a black cloak, The Shadow interviewed Walter B. Gibson, the man went on to become one of the great multime- behind the pulp pen name Maxwell Grant,

16 STARLOG/November 2006 a several times (including a chat in issue #105 ). denly decided to make it monthly. a- Here are some of the most revealing, previ- I was all over the map in 1931. When they ji> ously unpublished exchanges, which may put me on the monthly , I had to step 8 help unravel the riddle of The Shadow and them up faster. Still, I was so well ahead that

£ his magical creator. I was doing all right. But when they came up < with that two-a-month caper, that was the first g STARLOG: Tell me how you landed the time I began to worry, because I couldn't take " Shadow assignment. a week or two off to think up ideas. They

| WALTER B. GIBSON: I just happened to offered me a contract out of the clear sky; I | be in New York, doing a little writing, and I had no idea such a thing was coming. a. stopped at Street & Smith. I spoke with Frank STARLOG: While The Shadow was shifting °- Blackwell, the Editor-in-Chief, who had a into high gear, you and editor John Nanovic

dozen different magazines. I had been talking pushed for another mysterious hero. ° about doing some true crime articles for him. GIBSON: We talked to [S&S business man-

| I wasn't thinking in terms of fiction when ager] Henry Ralston about doing it. Nanovic

° CITY OF CRIME. The pulp hero battled THE SILENT DEATH. painted £ endlessly to demonstrate that "Crime the . Graves Gladney, | does not pay. The Shadow knows!" Jerome Rozen & others did pulp covers.

DEATH ABOUT TOWN. Psst! Millionaire Lamont Cranston isn't The Shadow's true identity. It's really air ace Kent Allard.

coming famous via radio. In fact, you first heard his laugh while in the company of Thurston the Magician.

GIBSON: That's right. Oddly, another way I

heard of The Shadow was I used to go see Blackstone the Magician at Loew's State and

other theaters. This was before I ever wrote The Shadow. One time, a fellow came in with an act. He started doing some ordinary gag, then [someone] suddenly stepped forward from the wings and fired a pistol—Bang! Bang! Bang! —and yelled, "The Shadow is here!" All those people had heard the radio

show, so it made for a good gag. I got chatty

with the fellow later, and I said, "That sure

woke them up, didn't it?" and I said, "Why not put out a magazine STARLOG: Writing your first novel must called The Phantom?' He said, "Oh, no. Who knows have been an adventure in itself. Concentrate on The Shadow!' We told him GIBSON: I started writing it, and then I con- that somebody was going to create one called what evil lurks tacted Blackwell so he could read the first The Phantom, because it was a natural. And part and give his advice. That was when he sure enough, they did. We should have put it in said, "Put a Chinese character in it," because out ourselves. the hearts the only cover they had [on hand, already STARLOG: The Shadow's, success ignited a done in art inventory] was a Chinaman with a cottage industry of imitators. of men? big shadow behind him. And that was the GIBSON: People started asking me, "What

cover to Volume 1 , Number 1 . That was for- do you think of the others: The Phantom Creator tunate where I was concerned, because with Detective, The Spider and so forth?" But I the success of that tale, they decided to run didn't have the time to read any of them, and Walter B. Gibson, more Chinese stories. So about every fifth or I didn't want to read them. The only thing I sixth Shadow, there would be a Chinese story, read was true-crime stories, because they of course! and I built up quite a legendary theme around acquainted me with actual police methods. that. Every now and then, I would be up against STARLOG: The Shadow soon jumped from something with The Shadow, and I would ask

I met with Blackwell, but he said, "Look, we quarterly to monthly, and then to twice a myself, "What's The Shadow going to do want somebody to create a character called month in 1932. How was that transition? now?" And that's when fingerprints and The Shadow—and to do it fast. And I know GIBSON: The magazine had practically no things of that sort [came in handy]. But there you're a fast writer." And Blackwell said he impact during the first six or nine months. I is a difference between The Shadow and the

wanted it to sound like he's real. "He's a mas- thought that I was going to write the four sto- others. The Shadow was taller, wasn't he?

ter crime fighter, but build him up any way ries, and that would be the end of it. It took [Laughs] you can." So I took the assignment, and I them three months to get the final returns on STARLOG: What fictional detectives influ- wrote the first story, The Living Shadow. At the first one, and another three months to get enced The Shadow? the time, Blackwell wanted to run four stories the second's. And neither of those was phe- GIBSON: Comparatively few. In fact, a lot

to trademark the magazine's name. nomenal print issues. It wasn't until the fall of it came from the books and King

STARLOG: The Shadow was already be- that they realized it was fairly hot and sud- Arthur's knights. Those were my influences

www.starIog.com STARLOG/November 2006 17 —

Art: Edd Cartier/Copyright 2006 Advance Magazines when I was young. I read quite a few detec- Shadow carried plenty of hardware. You tive stories off and on, but I wasn't particu- know, if you read the King Arthur stories larly inspired by any. Street & Smith wanted <0» particularly the Howard Pyle versions—two a detective-type thing, and they said it could knights would meet [on horseback], break be based on Nick Carter. But I had never read their spears and one would be overthrown. He any Nick Carters. I glanced at them to see would get up and want to fight, and the other what they were about, but I had completely would void from his saddle and they would different concepts. I liked anything that was attack each other. Can you imagine getting ghostly, and I was very fond of Dracula and off a saddle with all that armor weight? But stories of that sort. Naturally, The Shadow when we read 'em, we believed 'em. They had to be a master of detection, because every were never bothered by their impedimentia, detective was like that. In the first Shadow, I so The Shadow wasn't, either. ran a cryptogram which he deciphered. From STARLOG: You also gave The Shadow mys- then on, I always liked to shoot codes into the terious devices for his cloak of tricks—right stories. out of your background as a magician. I'm STARLOG: The Shadow quickly evolved thinking specifically of the purple elixir he from a lurking mystery man into a terrifying drank to amplify his strength in battle. crimefighter. Why? GIBSON: Well, there are such elixirs; I just

GIBSON: The character had people guessing didn't name what it was. But the one that was right from the start, and the pattern that very resonant was the business of snapping inspired me was Bram Stoker's Dracula. his fingers. The Shadow would be in a jam, Stoker had picked up many legends about hold his hands and a of his fin- THE SHADOW LAUGHS. And why not? up —with snap , and he told a friend that he was He influenced such other heroes gers—there would be a big explosion and the going to write a book on the subject. The as Batman, the Spider and Darkman. [crooks] reeled back. That was called the friend said it was unbelievable and nobody Devil's Whisper, and they used to sell it in was going to listen to him, and Stoker bet him ries. Anything that was weird. Bulwer- magic shops. Instead of firing a pistol to Lytton's stories fascinated me. There was one called "The House and the Brain," in which a

man is in this presumably haunted house where strange things happened. Every now and then, he would see blackness gather, and

it looked like a shadow forming. I later used that technique in The Shadow's approach: crooks would be scared that something was lurking in the flap of a window . They thought they saw a shadowy form, but nobody was there. STARLOG: Although The Shadow was a sleuth, you made him proficient with a .45 automatic. Before long, he was packing two, and then four, guns under his cloak—along with lock picks, ropes, suction cups for climbing walls and even a boomerang. How did he lurk in the shadows without clanking? GIBSON: There were cases where The

WIZARD OF CRIME. Master magician Gibson celebrated Halloween 1976 by pulling a girl out of a pumpkin.

THE INVINCIBLE SHIWAN KHAN. This fought The Shadow in four stories and the 1994 film. MURDER BY MAGIC. Gibson's Norgil the Magician mysteries finally materialized in that he could write the book within a year and hardcover in the late 70s. sell it to a reputable publisher.

So Stoker started writing it, and he real- make something happen, the magician ized that his friend was right. People would snapped his fingers. They would put two not believe it unless he put in some gimmick chemicals—one on their finger, one on their that would make them believe it. And what he thumb—snap their fingers and produce a big did was write the book in the form of a diary. bang. Once a fellow demonstrated it and lit- So Dracula, this villainous character, crept in, erally blew his hand off. We used to write at and he got weirder and weirder as the story the bottom of the page: "We can't give this went on. It all sounded very real, and Stoker formula. It's too dangerous." Everybody sold the book and collected the bet. Well, I thought that was hokum, but it was the was confronted with something like that with absolute truth. Some of the Shadow imitators The Shadow. I felt I had to make this nebu- put crazy things in as though they existed, but lous character believable. He was sort of like they didn't. This one really did. a benign Dracula. STARLOG: While writing The Shadow, you STARLOG: Horror writer Edward Bulwer- were also penning stories featuring Norgil the Lytton inspired you, too. Magician for Crime Busters.

GIBSON: I enjoyed all types of ghost sto- GIBSON: For Norgil, I took the prototype of

Image: Copyright 1976 Magic Industries, Inc. 18 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com THE GROVE OF DOOM. Strange murders THE DEATH TOWER. In retrospect, Gibson happened here in one of Gibson's thought this early yarn might have favorites among his Shadow novels. benefitted from further revision. fj?*iSTREET AND SMITH PUBLICATION

ZEMBA. Gibson's all-time favorite saga featured "a beautiful cover" by definitive Shadow artist George Rozen.

3 a traveling magician who was playing liked to read The Shadow. One day I said to STARLOG: Many people have pointed out

| Vaudeville or lesser shows. He would book him, "Did you read the one with the tires? that by 1931, America's flirtation with glam- l towns because there was some crime to be You know, that might make a good trick. Why orous celebrity gangsters had peaked and The

1 discovered there. Norgil would often perforin not stand a girl on a platform and drop tires Shadow represented the turning of the tide a odd feats of magic. I tried to do anything I over her until you have a stack? Then, take back to law-and-order heroes.

jj could to twist that in. Most magic stories them down and there's no girl." He said, GIBSON: That was really part of the inspira-

5 make the magician a little bit fabulous. But I "Gee, that's great." For a whole season, he tion. Because of Prohibition, we had the

£ was telling what was going on backstage. I worked on that trick. Then Blackstone saw a Mob, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and

- = didn't give away too many tricks. more modern rack where they had about 12 all that stuff. And the idea was to create 2 One of my neat gags could only have been tires vertically in a row. He said, "That's it!" somebody formidable enough to beat down

% pulled by a magician. It was a trick called the So he would bring a set of tires on the stage these gangs. What's interesting is that The Spirit Slate, where you get a message on a and a girl would crawl into that. The assis- Shadow came out before the FBI was really g = slate. Well, Norgil comes in and his assistant, tants then came and took down the tires and formed, and they [followed some of] his tac- f £ Fritz, is missing. Norgil notices that the Spirit rolled them off across the stage—and the girl tics. When they went after John Dillinger and

2 = Slate is lying out where it shouldn't be, picks was gone. As they rolled them, they brought these other people, they went at it the same

3= it up, does the Slate trick, and in it is a mes- them to a platform and stacked them up. They way as The Shadow. I always thought he was ~rf sage Fritz had written for him. He had fixed dropped a rope in—and out came the girl. a precursor to that sort of cleanup. g £ the slate, knowing Norgil would find it. Blackstone took my idea for a vanish! STARLOG: It wasn't long before The -o> There was another where a crook holds Shadow had decimated the underworld and

2 § Norgil up with a gun. Norgil is standing near moved on to bigger game. Tell me about his | o a closet door, and his hands are up. Out of the greatest foe. |£ corner of his eye, he notices the door begin to GIBSON: Shiwan Khan was a supervillain. 5 2 open. He turns his head that way and says, He came from Tibet. Shiwan Khan was sup- "Come on, Fritz, get this guy!" The crook posedly the lineal descendant of Genghis j iS ™ 3 shoots at the closet, Norgil grabs the guy and Khan, this superfoe from the East. There = | what comes out of the closet? A big rabbit! were four stories, and all the way through, the ^- put this rabbit in the closet left the Shadow matched wits with Shiwan Khan, j He had and

ajar. rabbit pushing it open. with all this invisibility stuff. people j

5 3 STARLOG: Tell me how stage magic influ- thought he was inspired by Sax Rohmer's Fu ™ 1 enced The Shadow. Manchu. In fact, somebody referred to

|| GIBSON: Well, I'll tell you just how it Shiwan Khan as "the poor man's Fu

^j- worked the other way. One time, I had The Manchu." Well, I was asked point-blank the °> Shadow surrounded by a lot of crooks. There other day, "Did you ever read Sax Rohmer?" J

\ 5 was this big stack of truck tires, and The And I said, "Yes." "Did you get any ideas p? Shadow jumped down inside it. He shoved from Rohmer?" I replied, "I don't recall that i| his automatics between two tires so he had a I did, but Shiwan Khan may have read about

1 pillbox, but when they fired, the slugs got lost Fu Manchu—and that's why he had the ideas 2

I T5 so the crooks retreated. While they were STARLOG: In the introductory Shadow

I g gone, The Shadow managed to slip out. They novel, he was a nameless mystery man with a

Art: Bernie Wrightson/DC Comics STARLOGWovemfcer 2006 19 KINGS OF CRIME. Behind the RETURN OF THE SHADOW. Maxwell Grant pen name lurk Gibson wrote this Gibson (282 novels), Theodore original in 1963, spurring a Tinsley (28) & Bruce Elliott (15). Shadow revival.

11 THE MASTER DF DARKNESS KINGS OF CRIME suspense best-selier- MAXWELL GRANT thefamous"Avenger"in a brand-new mystery RHURN OF

THE CREEPING DEATH. Many the Chinese disks. The fans know The Shadow from his Shadow is back in new reprints of long-running radio show his greatest adventures. See the (available on audiotape & CD). sidebar on page 21.

heroic figure. And it was also a good reason a strange grove of trees where murders hap- STARLOG: You aren't the only person who

why he had to combat crime. pen. It starts with a boat coming ashore and penned Shadow novels. Theodore Tinsley

STARLOG: You revealed that he was mil- these Chinese getting out of it. They keep wrote 28 of them interspersed throughout lionaire Lamont Cranston in The Eyes of the talking to somebody or something in this box your run. Then after 15 years, Street & Smith Shadow, but in the very next story, you that they call "Koon Woon." Then they take replaced you with your friend and fellow

reversed that, explaining he was only imper- the box into this grove of trees and leave it, Shadow comics scripter Bruce Elliott, who sonating the real Cranston. Even you didn't and you wonder what has been smuggled, modernized the series in a failed attempt to

know his true identity. whether it's opium or a person. You think per- boost sales.

GIBSON: That's right! haps someone has arrived who is going to GIBSON: Bruce tried to switch it around any

STARLOG: You kept that situation for... rule Chinatown. But you don't know what it's way he wanted. I had no control of that at all.

GIBSON: For seven or eight years. I was all about, and then people start getting killed But it ruined The Shadow. I regard Bruce as

always planning what was to be his final in that grove. I put a teaser in the story's completely incompetent on The Shadow. As a identity. The Shadow had an autogyro, so he beginning, "Who was in there?" Some read- matter of fact, I put him in the business with

could make landings at places where nobody ers might have guessed it from the way the the Phoenix magazine, and through his work else could. When I revealed who The Shadow murders were committed. in comics, he developed a plot ability. Bruce was in The Shadow Unmasks, I decided he The one I always liked most was Zemba. was ingenious—he developed good writing should be a flyer who purposely had a Many people think that's the best. It begins later on because he was very imaginative. He

trip down into the jungles and then came back with the train running from London to Paris. also read a hell of a lot. You read enough cur- while he was presumably lost, to operate as Murders take place on the train because some rent stories, you start to do good stuff your-

The Shadow. famous French spy, Zemba, is knocking off self. STARLOG: How did you come up with The other spies on the way. They wind up in Paris, STARLOG: You helped kick off a Shadow Shadow's true name, Kent Allard? and The Shadow tries to find Zemba, the king revival in 1963 with Return of the Shadow. GIBSON: I tried several names and that one of the underworld. A wonderful man from the But Belmont Books hired mystery writer sounded good. So when an emergency arose Foreign Legion—who can practically disap- Dennis Lynds to continue the series in eight and he couldn't appear as Cranston—which pear in the middle of an open desert—is further books and update The Shadow, leav- was his favorite personality—he flew down brought in. If anybody can find Zemba, it's ing you out in the cold. How did you feel to Yucatan and suddenly Allard was discov- this fellow. So he's looking for Zemba. about that?

ered coming out of the jungle. That served his Zemba is looking for The Shadow. And The GIBSON: After I wrote Return and had the purposes, because criminals never identified Shadow is looking for them both. At the fin- whole damn thing back, that was about as The Shadow as Allard, since they knew ish, there's a great, big twist in which every- lousy a thing as anyone could have done. Allard had been down in the jungle all these thing is wrapped up. Everything about the [Lynds] just took a job that was thrown to

years. But he really hadn't been there at all. story falls into line, yet it's quite complicated. him. Frankly, I hate to have Bruce or this So it was the perfect alibi. That one had a beautiful cover, where the other guy's stuff even considered Shadow

STARLOG: Was there a real-life model for hand of The Shadow and the hand of Zemba stories. But I don't have any ill feeling toward Allard? toast each other, with the Eiffel Tower in the either of them. GIBSON: Yes, two or three. One was a man background. STARLOG: Between your novels and the named [Colonel P.H.] Fawcett, who had STARLOG: You developed The Shadow radio show, The Shadow became a household flown into the jungles of Brazil and disap- over your 282 of the 325 magazine novels. Is name. peared. Every now and then, people thought there anything you would do differently? GIBSON: There are two classes of people: he had been rediscovered. And there was GIBSON: No, nothing major. There was one the ones who have read The Shadow, and the

another well-known aviator, [Scotty] early story that I think should have been ones who heard it on the radio. But they all

Redfern. There were similar legends about revised, The Death Tower, because I had The recognize him. him. So to have The Shadow come out of the Shadow play the part of a man named George STARLOG: When you look back on your

jungle made it very timely. Clarendon instead of Cranston. At the time, I Shadow career, what's the first thing that STARLOG: What are your favorite Shadow was considering having him play different comes to mind?

novels? characters, so readers didn't get that he had GIBSON: It was fun writing in those partic- GIBSON: One of the earliest memorable been Cranston. That could have been one of ular days. In those hard times, The Shadow ones was The Grove ofDoom. That was about the strong Shadow stories. kept me in cars and luxuries. ^p

20 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com With the Docs already redone once, they'll focus on publishing Dent's best novels and restoring text excised from the Bantam edi- tions (especially the often truncat- ed endings). All volumes will include introductions by Tollin and Murray, historical articles and even occasional remembrances by notable fans. Shadow #1 (Crime, Insured,

two greatest heroes of the The Golden Vulture) is out, #2 Thepulps, and The (77?e Chinese Disks, Malmordo) Shadow, are finally returning bows in October, #3 (The Voodoo to paperback action. Master, The Red Blot), November In an ambitious new publish- and #4 (The Murder Master, The CRIME, INSURED. The ing program masterminded by DC , a Shadow-on-radio photo new reprints start with one Comics veteran Anthony Tollin feature) in January. #5 (The Black of Walter Gibson's best and pop-culture specialists , The Salamanders) follows. as well as 's Nostalgia Ventures, the long-run- only Shadow tale. Doc Savage debuts with #1 ning stars of Street & Smith's (Fortress of Solitude, The Devil pulp magazines in the 1930s and JJWTHMUMitWUA Genghis) in October, #2 (Resur- '40s are being repackaged in rection Day, Repel) in November deluxe form (two and #3 (, The novels per $12.95 volume). Golden Peril) in January. STARLOG Contributing Editor This is also a golden time for Will Murray (a Shadow expert the characters' creators. Last year, who also wrote seven Doc Savage THE VOODOO MASTER. Gibson sleuthed his way through These trade paperbacks paperbacks in the '90s) is consult- Max Allan Collins' The War of the promise to resurrect pulps' ing on the project, fully autho- Worlds Murder (Berkley, pb, greatest heroes for a new rized by Conde Nast Publications $6.99), a fictional mystery set at generation. (copyright holders for the last Halloween 1938 involving radio half-century). Shadow Orson Welles' infamous As indicated by Murray's H.G. Wells radio dramatization. accompanying interview with cre- This summer, Gibson was joined ator Walter B. Gibson (bylined as by Dent (who actually died in "Maxwell Grant"), The Shadow 1959) as protagonists of The THE DEVIL GENGHIS. came first, hitting newsstands in Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Dent's fantastic yarns with Paul Malmont (Simon Schuster, 1931. The magazine's popularity Doc's only two-time foe & prompted Street & Smith to hire John Sunlight begin the he, $24). In this fictional 1930s wordsmith Lester Dent to pen Savage reprint saga. thriller, the duo, aided by a young Doc Savage (under the house L. Ron Hubbard, investigate the name ""), which murder of H.P. Lovecraft. began in 1933. The heroes spear- Bama is being (deservedly) headed a wave of "character lionized as well this month with pulps" (The Spider, The Avenger, the publication of James Bama: G-8 & His Battle Aces, The American Realist by Brian M. Phantom Detective) and influ- Kane (Flesk, he, $34.95; signed & enced the creation of later comic FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE. numbered he, $79.95), previewed book icons (, Batman, Doc #1 also comes in a in STARLOG #348. For more the Fantastic Four) and more variant edition with James info, see the website recent pastiche figures (Buckaroo Bama's stunning 1967 (www.fleskpublications.com). paperback cover. Banzai, Darkman, ). You'll find The Shadow and In the pulps, The Shadow was Doc Savage in certain chain out- more succesful—a twice-monthly publication!—notching 325 nov- lets (Borders, Barnes & Noble), els to Doc Savage's 181 monthly exploits before both magazines independent bookstores and expired in 1949 (Murray uncovered an additional lost Doc adven- comics shops. Or order direct (add ture, which was published in However, the Man of Bronze postage) from Tollin, P.O. Box 1979). THE MURDER MASTER. $3 eclipsed the Master of Darkness in paperbacks. Bantam Books 761474, San Antonio, TX 78245- What's next for the duo? began reprinting Docs in 1964 and had republished them all by Perhaps new movies and 1474 ([email protected]) Nostalgia Ventures 1991. Key to their early popularity was the fantastic imagery of comics lurk in the shadows or (www.nos- artist James Bama (who painted the first 63 Bantam Doc covers), talgiaventures.com). They're also later succeeded by and Bob Larkin. The Shadow available from these pop-culture retailers: Adventure House never survived long as a reprint series, with only about 50 stories (www.adventurehouse.com), the Vintage Library (www.vintageli- reissued by various publishers. brary.com), Bud Plant (www.budplant.com) and Mike Chomko Now, Tollin (a pulp and old-time radio historian and co-author, ([email protected]).

with Gibson, of 1979's 77?e Shadow Scrapbook) is rescuing both If you only know these heroes from other media (radio, serials, characters from heroic limbo. To fans' delight, Tollin and Murray comics, movies), you're in for an exciting read. The pulp novels are plan to mainly present previously (preprinted Gibson Shadows. the real thing. STARLOG can't recommend them highly enough. What a way to celebrate this year, The Shadow's 75th anniversary! —David McDonnell

www.starIog.com STARLOG/TVovemoe;- 2006 21 —

40 years ago today," William August,Shatner says, rolling the words on

his tongue. "August 1966. 1 was, in that summer, probably shooting a

pilot called Alexander the Great. I had been offered this film that was a backdoor

It's William Shatner's pilot, and I had completed a lot of study on world and you're Alexander as well as worked out in a just living in it. So, you weightlifting program to get my body in shape must watch him on to ride horses bareback and half-naked." ABC's Boston Legal. Shatner played the title character in the Buy his books, drama, while TV's future Batman, Adam CDs and DVDs. Roast him on Comedy Central. West, co-starred as Cleander. As fate would Get a life. have it, Alexander the Great wasn't so great it didn't even air until a few years after its completion and, actually, Shatner may be incorrect about his whereabouts in August 1966, as Alexander the Great was filmed before then—but the other pilot he shot did catch on. It was, of course, Star Trek. And as fans of the franchise know, Shatner stepped into the role of Captain James T. Kirk for the show's second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," after the dissatisfied suits at NBC sent Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry back to the drawing board fol- lowing a screening of the initial pilot, "The Cage," with Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. Cut to 2006, and Shatner can't fathom that four decades have raced by at warp speed. "The of time gives me a sense of bewilderment," Shatner says. "It goes so

quickly, and not only that, it's fleeting. There's hardly an indentation in history of

your presence. Whether it's by family or by

efforts in your life, you hardly make an impression on history. And shortly after

you're gone, that impression is smoothed out

by the sands of time. So the bewilderment is that 40 years can go by so quickly, and what has transpired?" Shatner, who turns 76 in March, has made

the most of his time on this planet. His list of

credits and projects is endless. On the Star Trek front, he provided the voice of Kirk for the animated series and several video games, and reprised the character on the big screen in seven films (and directed the fifth entry, The

By IAN SPELLING

fly speaking,

he's still changing m rid. Final Frontier). With various collaborators, he oration with Judith and Garfield Reeves- ble onset of Alzheimer's disease and utter the has also written numerous Trek novels, not to Stevens, and will soon launch a new series of words "Denny Crane" an awful lot. "We're mention the notorious memoir Get a Life!, tomes devoted to the exploits of a much going to see the continuation of what we saw which was the tagline of his famous 1986 younger Kirk and . last year, where this ensemble group of people appearance on Saturday Night Live. For a Even if he's cranking out books with co- goes through their issues both on the legal time, few people took Shatner seriously authors, it's obvious that Shatner takes great stage and off," Shatner notes. "And they'll be

beyond his Trek work, routinely mocking pleasure in writing, as there's no doubt that he doing it with the same verve and enthusiasm everything from his stabs at singing {The could make more money by acting or shooting that they displayed last year. Denny will be Transformed Man, anybody?) to such B-flicks a commercial. "That's true," Shatner acknowl- going through all kinds of outrageous things

as Big Bad Mama, The Devil's Rain and edges. "The pleasure is that these nine Star that I can't even begin to tell you about

Kingdom of the Spiders. Trek books reflect my life. The stories are because you wouldn 't believe me if I did." However, Shatner has had the last laugh. based on concepts and experiences from my And what did he make of the reaction to His later TV vehicles T.J. Has Been, an album—essen- Hooker and Rescue 911 ran Need more scientific inno- tially of Shatner-penned for years. His TekWar novels TAR TREK vations to improve your life? poetry put to music—pro- begat telemovies and a short- Shatner's Working on That. duced by Ben Folds, with lived series. And then, contributions from Henry around 2000, Shatner experi- Rollins, Joe Jackson, Brad enced a genuine career resur- Paisley and Aimee Mann? rection. He scored laughs "Unbelievable," he replies. and an Emmy nomination as "Awesome. Cool. Dynamic. the Big Giant Head on 3rd Inspiring." To becoming a Rock from the Sun, more grandfather again? "I've got chuckles in the hit Miss to find some more adjec- Congeniality films and still tives," he laughs. "The chil- more in his Priceline com- dren are blessed with health mercials. He later earned an and good parents, and it's

Emmy for his guest-starring just a privilege. It has been gig as the deliciously quite a year. There were two pompous lawyer Denny kids born within a few Crane on David E. Kelley's weeks of each other to two The Practice. That show different daughters. And eventually morphed into again, I don't know where Boston Legal, with the the time went." friendship between trigger- How about Free Enter- happy Crane and legal part- prise 2? "I keep hearing ner Alan Shore (James about it," he says. "The sug-

Spader) serving as its emo- gested storyline is that tional and comedic core. Shatner goes to rabbinical And Shatner—also an school in order to marry Emmy-winner for Boston somebody. It seemed to be a Legal—even found respect funny idea, but I don't know on other fronts: He was where they are with that." ahead of his time when it And what's Everest 821 "I came to the Internet, hook- briefly appear in a Canadian ing up with Priceline.com, production based on the and later launching Will- episodes that took place iamShatner.com, a site that when Canada mounted a Mt. lets him reach out to his fan- Everest climbing team." base; he recorded an album, Anything else coming Has Been, that notched posi- up? "I'm working on an tive reviews; an avid horse exciting project that's finally breeder and rider, he has beginning to shape up," he raised millions of dollars for Pictured: Shatner, not-Shatner, Shatner, Shatner (right) and Shatner. reveals. "It's something I've charity through his annual See, it really is a wonderful world of Shatners! been trying to get off the

Hollywood Charity Horse ground for five years. It's

Show: and his DVD club, which hawks genre life. So it's autobiographical material, and it called The Shiva Club, and I'll have more flicks, is doing OK, too. He also voiced char- has been great being able to express myself news on that in the next month or so. I'll direct acters in The Wild and Over the Hedge. and facilitate stories that have at their core the it, but hopefully I won't have to act in it." Though he's basking in his recent success- maturation of my life." Shatner has said that he would consider es—heck, he was nominated for three Emmys Shatner has always enjoyed fan support in playing Kirk again if the opportunity were this year: one for Boston Legal and two for the the past—especially from Trek devotees—but right, and so it's no surprise to hear that he'll Discovery Channel's How William Shatner now the industry is finally showing him some partake in the video game Star Trek: Legacy Changed the World—Shatner hasn't turned his love. "It's overwhelming," Shatner remarks. with fellow captains Patrick Stewart, Avery back on Star Trek. He still beams down at con- "Three Emmy nominations is astounding. I go Brooks, Kate Mulgrew and . And, ventions, often in the company of his co-star back to the word 'overwhelmed.' I'm over- like many Trekkers, he's thrilled to learn that and close friend, Leonard Nimoy. He very whelmed by it and very moved. It's a good J.J. (Lost) Abrams is working on Star Trek XL nearly appeared on Enterprise, but the show feeling. Up until now, every time I've gone to "I think he's the right guy," William Shat- was cancelled before he could strike a deal an industry function, I've felt that I didn't ner enthuses. "He's the perfect person: He's an with Paramount. And he's still writing Trek know anybody. I feel less isolated now." aficionado and a brilliant storyteller and film- novels. He recently concluded his adult Kirk As for Boston Legal, expect Crane to fur- maker. If anyone can find the essence of Star series with Captain 's Glory, written in collab- ther womanize, fret about aging and the possi- Trek and bring it up to date, he's the man." ^ www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 23 JHt By KIM HOWARD JOHNSON What would you change about your past? Very little, notes Erica Du- rance, who's going into a new year as Lois Lane on Smallville while branching out as co-star of New Line Home Enter- tainment's direct-to-DVD sequel The Butter- fly Effect 2 (streeting October 10). herself in Altered Durance has firmly entrenched Smallville, but she plays a very different character in Butterfly Effect 2: Julie, a woman forced to confront the consequences of her boy friend's decision to change the past—over and over again. "I really liked the first film," explains Durance. "I enjoyed that lives age-old question: If we had the control, would we make better decisions? We always go back and forth—so would we leave it up Butterfly Effect 2's Erica Durance wouldn't to the higher powers and assume they know thing about her Smallville experience. what's right, or would we get in the driver's change a seat and fix things? That has always intrigued me, especially in films, because do and how far would you go for the people every time they go back, something has you love? It isn't that startling things don't changed—and it's usually not good! I also happen in Butterfly Effect 2, but it's not appreciated playing a character who purely focused on the horrific details and changes. Each time Nick comes back, Julie's shock value. This is about Nick's journey

reality is different. That was challenging, and how much he loves this girl. In the end,

and I just like the whole psychological the question is: Would he give himself up thriller genre." completely to save her? Butterfly Effect 2 co-stars Eric Lively as "There's a scene where Nick comes back, Nick Larson, who—after a car crash kills and I'm drastically different than the girl he Julie and another couple—learns that he has knew," Durance continues. "I'm hardcore,

the power to turn back the clock and alter the and it escalates into tragedy. It's always fun

to do a complete 1 80, and I got to wear a wig and have long black hair. That was really interesting for me—holding onto a little bit of the essence of the girl he knew, but who is changed from her experiences in this altered reality."

Restoring Lives Julie is quite different from Kayleigh, Smart's character in the first film, but Durance realizes, "If you're going to say, 'There's a leading man and a leading woman who is his conscience or someone he's mak-

On Smallville, sparks fly between Lois ing all these decisions for,' then yes, [there (Durance) and (), are similarities]. Evan loved Kayleigh, and but usually it's just banter or bickering. he kept going back to help her. In that sense,

A car crash takes the lives of Trevor (Dustin Milligan), Amanda (Gina Holden) and Julie. Hoping to bring them back, Nick discovers the dark side of the Butterfly Effect. There are limits to love—but not in Nick's (Eric Lively) case. Julie's (Erica Durance) boy friend will do anything to save her.

future. But it doesn't always work out the way he plans... The sequel shares the same theme as the first film with Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart, but the characters are otherwise unre- lated. "This is more of a love story," reveals Durance. "The first Butterfly Effect was more disturbing. Every time that Evan [Kutcher] went back, something shocking and devastating had happened. This movie

deals with the same situation, but it's based more on their relationship. What would you

24 STAKLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com the characters are comparable, but they're not exactly the same. "So much more graphic stuff goes on in the first one—Kayleigh went through some terrible things in her youth, and Julie hasn't expe- rienced that. Julie is positive and the essence of goodness, and she's completely in love with Nick. That's why he keeps coming back—and I had to create a charac- ter so good that this guy would never stop trying to save her! She's Can free from all the demons Nick is fighting, you change and is this amazing person who loves and yesterday supports him, but doesn't have his baggage. without She's the constant in Nick's life, his focal destroying point and center. And the changes Julie goes tomorrow? Find through aren't quite as extreme as the answers Kayleigh's." October 10 in The actress enjoyed working with direc- The Butterfly tor John {Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) Effect 2. Leonetti. "He's an actor's director," notes Durance. "He loves actors, and he loves the process. It's nice to have a director who is very soft and open, and who gives you advice and helps you out with things. His energy was so positive." Julie could almost be considered the

"anti-Lois." "She's so different, and I hope people see that," says Durance. "Julie hasn't been put through the ropes like Lois, and she's OK with being vulnerable. There are quite a few aspects where Julie is the com- plete opposite of Lois." Heading into the new Smallville season (airing now on the CW network), Durance is pleased by Lois' development. "She's start- ing to relax more, and I've relaxed into the role as well," she admits. "Lois is now able to trust different people. Originally, Chloe [Allison Mack] was the only person she felt she could trust and be herself with. But she has experienced different things with Martha Kent [Annette O'Toole], and having a mother figure has softened Lois a little. I'm happy to say she continues to rib Clark [Tom Welling], which is good—he needs some female in that town who isn't all ga-ga over him! "So we're continuing that bent, although there are moments when Lois needs to be saved or Clark needs her, and they'll help each other just as long as they don't tell any- body that they've just done something nice for each other. Lois is definitely getting her feet wet, and she's becoming more involved in journalism, which I find fun, because now I'm starting to get into that whole side of things. I'm looking forward to doing more of that this year." Lois' relationship with Martha Kent will also continue during the new season. "It's hard to know everything [the writers] are planning, but I think they decided that Lois needed a different type of job, and it has fallen into place that she's working for Martha," Durance states. "Maybe they saw, too, how nice it has been for Lois to have a mother figure in her life. She lost her mom when she was really young, and I like play- ing that vulnerability. Lois now isn't con- Dirty stantly cracking jokes; she has moments Durancing. Strutting where she asks serious questions about her her stuff in life, and so you get to see that side of her. the stars & It's great when the writers allow you to have stripes, relationships that explore different facets of this Smaflville your character." showgirl is sexier than Changing Lanes previous Season Six will include a possible Lois Lanes romantic interest for Lois in the form of a new superhero guest star, along with many other twists to keep viewers interested. "There are going to be plenty of surprises,"

Durance hints. "Lois is getting involved in journalism, investigation and she's writing articles. Hopefully, this is setting the groundwork for the Lois she will become, because then there will be more action and confrontation for me! "They've brought in the Green Arrow this year, and I've heard that comics fans are excited about that. Lois is a little infatuated with the Green Arrow [portrayed by Justin Hartley, who played in the unsold TV series pilot], and she tries to chase him down. But she doesn't realize who the Green

Arrow really is, which plays on the whole

Superman identity thing. I think the older the characters get, and the more they head into Metropolis, [the more opportunities there are

Almost every Smallville girl would love having Clark in this spot, but Lois isn 't head-over-heels for the superhero hunk. for] new characters to be introduced, and the writers can explore more things with our characters. They're not boxed in as much. And who knows what they'll have us doing by the end of the season?"

Durance is the latest in a long line of Lois Lanes, ranging from Phyllis Coates and to and Kate Bosworth, and the actress can picture her Lois growing into Margot Kidder's movie

character. "The obvious difference is that my Lois is in another time period," she remarks. "Kate Bosworth's Lois is supposed to be five years after Margot Kidder's Lois. My Lois is younger, and Smallville deals more with her history. They've explored her relationship with her father and the fact that she's an Army brat. And my Lois is much more physical than the others—she gets in

26 STARLOG/November 2006 there and kicks and punches people. One of the similarities between my character and Margot's is that both have that sassy and

confrontational side. I see myself as playing with a character who's just starting to grow into Margot's Lois—very-in-your-face, intelligent and aggressive. "Teri Hatcher definitely had some of

those Margot Kidderisms as well. I think [all the actresses have] tried to stay true to the Lois Lane that people know. Teri's character was in-your-face as well, and she had that

banter with Superman. But what I believe

makes my Lois different than the others is her physicality—the fighting, running, jumping and action side of her. What I per- ter], so I'll have the occasional fan tell me, T it has been a nice, natural process making

sonally like is [that I get to play] a woman just don't like you at all!' They prefer Lana, friends. It's a relaxed setting; everybody who is intelligent and fun, but can also kick and they believe that I'm actually Lois. But knows each other and they joke around. I your ass if need be. And she has a sense of for the most part, I've been pretty lucky." now feel like I'm one of the gang." humor—I like putting that in there, too." Not a fan herself, Durance Smallville may have altered her profes-

Sexuality is another element that now "understands a little more about it. I sional life, but her personal life remains the Durance has added to her Smallville gal, as grew up watching [superhero TV shows and same. "It hasn't changed my relationships,"

evidenced by Lois' swimsuit scenes with movies], but I don't think I'll ever know as she says. "The guy I was dating [and is now

Aquaman (Alan Ritchson) in "Aqua" and much as the folks who are into that stuff. But married to] is my rock, and I have my step-

her undercover stint as a stripper in I'm definitely more knowledgeable than I son, and they keep me based in reality. "Exposed." "I like to be challenged, so I was—I should hope! And I'm willing to Smallville has added to my life in the sense

wanted those scenes [to rise above just] learn!" that I get to do what I love every day. But

being sexy or seeing me in a bikini," she So even though she doesn't have a who knows how long it will last? I get to fly offers. "The sense of humor in the stripper favorite Superman comic, Durance can list a a lot—which is both good and bad—so I've

episode is what attracted me to it. Lois finds few of her favorite things about playing Lois seen different places. And I've been intro- herself in this absurd situation, and she has Lane. "They've done a good job creating my duced to the convention circuit. I never knew

enough guts to go, 'Well, I can do it just like character," she comments. "I love any time that existed before! Meeting and getting to

anybody else.' And I loved how awkward it Lois has awkward moments or says totally work with new people has been a real eye-

was for Clark. Every Lois, given the time inappropriate things. I like bantering with opener, too. I probably wouldn't have had frame, has usually been quite liberal, and I Clark, and I usually get a little of that every the opportunity to do Butterfly Effect 2 if not think we can now be even more liberal. They episode. I enjoyed the Lucy episode, where for Smallville. The show has provided other didn't really do that with Kate Bosworth in they brought in my sister, because it launching points for me to explore, so on a

Superman Returns, but maybe that will be in explored different things and facts about career level, it has been really good, because

another movie. Everybody has their little where Lois came from. And 'Exposed' was a it has opened so many doors that are hard to box and type of Lois that they're supposed to good one for me, because I didn't have a real bust down."

portray. Mine is in-your-face; maybe that's desire to run around in a bikini, and I like If she had Nick's power in real life, there just the way I am!" being challenged. I got help from a friend is one thing Erica Durance would change in Asked who her favorite Superman is, who is a dancer, and I actually took pole her past. "I didn't spend enough time with Durance replies, "Christopher Reeve, for dancing classes! It's good to throw yourself my grandmother before she passed on, and if

sure. But if you're comparing [Superman into the mix now and then." I could, I would fix that. But I'm very happy Returns'] Brandon Routh to Tom, then I'm Durance joined Smallville in Season Four with where my life is right now. I live in the going with Tom! He's my Superman—what (and discussed her role early on in STAR- present and not in the past. As much as peo- can I say? No disrespect to Brandon at all, LOG #328). "They welcomed me so warmly ple would like to change certain things, we

but I had a journalist ask who could take into the set," she recalls. "I knew when I got can't. But there are no deep, dark, hidden

who in a fight, Brandon or Tom, and I said, there that things were going to go well, and skeletons in my closet!"

'I'll have to take Tom on that one.' Tom's a

big guy. Not that I would ever want to see those two get into a fight!" Revising Lines

Playing an iconic character has its advan- tages, but there are drawbacks, although most of her fan encounters have been pleas- ant. "I'm up in Vancouver, which isn't the same as LA," Durance explains. "People

here are more relaxed and Canadian about it.

Also, I think of myself as being new on the

scene, so I don't have many crazy fans run- ning up to me. My most interesting experi- ences have been at the conventions. Most

people are nice and sweet, but I had one guy try to give me a big kiss on the mouth! Once

in a while, I'll get something like that, but people [have generally been] quite positive. When you're playing an iconic part, some people have strong ideas [about the charac- www.starlog.com STNKLOG/November 2006 27 Scribe for all seasons Jeph Loeb K, is Jeph Loeb overworked? The busj writer frequently con- tributes to three different are- nas: movies, TV and comics. For film (as .Joseph Loeb III), he co-scripted the

Michael J. Fox comedy and the action-romp . For the comics, he revamped the Man of Steel w ith Superman For All Seasons and wrote Spider-Man: Blue and Batman: The Long Halloween. He also created (with Jim Lee) the new Batman villain Hush and the popular World's Finest title Superman/Batman, as well as , Hulk: Grey and Daredevil: Yellow. On TV, Loeb has contributed to Lost, Smallville and, currently, Heroes—the Created by Tim Kring (center), the series brings a different brand of to TV. new NBC show that asks: What would Loeb serves as co-executive producer.

Heroically, Loeb chose to leave the safe haven of Last's island for the more perilous shores of the NBC newcomer.

happen if a handful of regular people had town! Tim had the whole series in his would think you were going crazy," he super-powers? "Officially, I'm a co-exec- mind—the entire pilot, every character points out. " 'How is this possible?' And utive producer and writer. Heroes came and every line of dialogue. His biggest since it can't be possible, you must be my way when I was on Lost. I know [cre- worry was that certain things had been imagining what other people are thinking. ator] Tim Kring longer than either of us done before, and he didn't want to be That's just one of the characters who wants to admit." he laughs. "We met on accused of taking something from some- spun out of our talk, and we discussed Teen Wolf Too, which starred Jason body. When he said, 'This guy should other things like: How quickly would your Bateman, who has since taken that movie have magnetic powers that allow him to woman leave you? When would the cops off of his resume! lift up a car and throw it!' I told him, get involved? Would you kill yourself?" "So I was on Lost, working with 'That's Magneto.' He didn't know if that In the comics universe, superheroes Damon Lindelof, who co-created that was a person or the name of the power! must stand up against . show and—irony of ironies—used to work "I realized that, on the one hand, Tim "Some of the characters don't use their for Tim on , the other didn't know anything about super-powers powers for the betterment of mankind," series that Tim created. And Damon and I or comics, but he instinctively knew the Loeb hints. "What makes a villain? It has both write for . In a critical thing that every comics writer nothing to do with their power—it's what Lostian and Heroesian way, all things are understands: It's about character. the person does with that power. Tony connected! It's destiny. Anyway, I was Character is why Peter Parker is infinite- Soprano is a villain, but he's also a family having a ball on Lost w hen Tim called and ly more interesting than Spider-Man. And man, and that makes him interesting. A said, T have this idea for a show, and I the tragedy of Bruce Wayne's life is what cop who is on the take is a hero to some | need to talk to you because it involves makes Batman intriguing. If all you have people, a villain to others. And somebody o superheroes, and nobody knows more is a mask, costume and powers, then you who has a good and kind outward per- z about superheroes than you do.' I took don't have anything. Tim understood that sona could be using their power for some- g that as a compliment until I realized that the show would only work if you believed thing evil. This isn't a world where there S he doesn't know anybody else who knows in these people, because then their powers are Lex Luthors and embodiments of evil. | about comics! are just another part of their lives." [If someone] uses their power to win at o "Tim came over to the studio, the cards, we'll understand why, because o

ii Enipath Magic Treehoiise, that I share Lost Hero even though we know what they did was

g> with [writers] Geoff Johns and Allan Loeb believes Heroes takes a fascinat- wrong, under the same set of circum- - Heinberg. We went for a walk at 3 p.m. ing and fresh approach to superheroes. stances, wouldn't we do the same thing?" S and didn't get back until 8:30 p.m.," Loeb "If you actually had powers in the real Just as with his comics work, Loeb's x marvels. "We were so into the discussion world, if you could read somebody's favorite Heroes character is whatever one < about the show, we walked into another mind, you wouldn't consider it a gift, you he's currently writing. "Otherwise, I'm

www.starIog.com STARLOG/November 2006 29 Clark not giving them 100 percent," he observes. The two hit it off, and aside from the fact and that's why the transition of "I'm particularly drawn to Niki [Ali Larter], that they both turn around when someone on becoming Superman is something that's because she's a single mom trying to make set calls for 'Tim,' it has worked out well." going to happen way, way down the road. It things work with her 10-year-old son. I Joining Heroes meant quitting TV's will happen, and Tom Welling is an incredi- understand that relationship, because I'm a number-one-rated show. "It was terribly dif- ble choice for that direction. But that's also parent and I've gone through trying to do ficult to leave Lost," Loeb admits. "The going to be the very end of the show. what's best for my child while circum- writers there are first-class, and I treasure "Tom would have done an extraordinary

stances are continually screwing things up. I my friendships with Damon and [executive job as Superman [in Superman Returns]," he also like Professor Mohinder Suresh producer] Carlton Cuse. But this series offers, "but shooting a movie takes nine [Sendhil Ramamurthy], who doesn't have offers me so many things that were too excit- months and Tom has, at the most, nine

any powers and is trying to figure out what's ing to pass up. When Heroes is a massive hit, weeks before they need him back on going on. He's like the audience; he's along all my friends and family will stop thinking Smallville. I thought Brandon Routh did a

for the trek. But on any given day, I have a that I'm insane for leaving Lostl The coolest really good job, by the way." different favorite character." part about being on Lost was watching A huge fan of the first Superman film (he Heroes reunites Loeb with his frequent Damon work. The show is sprung from his playfully references it in his comics work), comics collaborator, art- ^^^^^^^-— mind, and it's quite Loeb got to write for Christopher Reeve, ist Tim Sale. "Tim Sale extraordinary [to wit- who guest-starred as Dr. Swann on was on the show before ness]. He's the real deal. Smallville. "That was such a thrill," Loeb me, and he worked on the The only other person declares. "I'm a complete sap, too. On

pilot while I was on I've ever seen have such 'Rosetta,' which was Reeve's first appear- Lost," Loeb remarks. a clear vision of what a ance on the show, Smallville creators Al "There's a character [Isa- show is all about is Joss Gough and Miles Millar snuck in John ac] who can paint the Whedon, when we Williams' music without telling anyone. And future—or at least he worked on Buffy [the when that music came on, I just started cry- believes he can. He's aborted cartoon series]." ing. It was the coolest thing ever." played by Santiago Ca- Loeb also wrote "Red," the classic brera, who is terrific, but Young Heroes episode that introduced Red Kryptonite to he can't paint! So his Loeb used to work on the small Kansas town. A Red K graduation work is actually Tim Smallville, and just like ring turns Clark into super-punk Kal (his Sale's. When Tim Kring that superhero series, Kryptonian name). "That was my first

asked me, 'I need some- there are no costumes on episode, and I was really lucky that Al and

body who can do the Heroes. "This show is Miles gave me that assignment," he paintings and draw comic more from the ground acknowledges. "Letting me do Red Krypto-

books realistically,' I said, up," he comments. "The nite was their gift to me, and I'm glad that I

T know one guy, and he fun of Smallville is that didn't screw it up. I knew it was an impor- happens to live in LA.' you have 60 years of tant episode, because people remember the Superman history to shows where personalities change. Viewers With artist Tim work from. You under- become very familiar with the characters, so Sale (a frequent comics stand where the story is when you turn a character on their side, they collaborator), going, so you're driven get interested. Loeb charted in one particular direc- "The idea of 'Dark Clark' is so much fun. the hero's early tion. Because you know Some friends of mine told me, 'On any other in days at some point Clark is show, if your main character went dark, he Superman For going to put on a cape would be a murderer or arsonist. But on your All Seasons. and fly off to Metropolis. show, it was like watching a 1950s movie on Smallville is like telling crack!' Clark's Mom and Dad yell at him, the story of Cinderella up 'You're riding a motorcycle and dating bad until she goes to the ball. girls!' " Loeb laughs. "Tom's performance Once she puts on the as Kal really came through. That could have

glass slipper, the story is been the worst show ever, but it turned out Loeb was over, as far as we're con- pretty great." delighted to cerned. But what hap- In 1994, Loeb wrote and executive-pro- write for pened in the five years duced the made-for-TV superheroine movie real-life hero Christopher before that? Who were Model By Day starring X-Men's Famke Reeve, seen as her parents? How did she Janssen. "It was a better idea than was exe- Dr. Swann in wind up with the cuted," he admits. "I adored working with Smallville's stepmother? And that's Famke; she's a terrific actress and we really

"Legacy." the Smallville way of got along. That was the first thing I got to

doing it. executive produce all the way through, Influenced by Red Kryptonite, "So it never bothered which is essentially what I'm doing now on Clark Kent me that Clark doesn't Heroes. (Tom Welling) wear a costume, because "I have great affection for the experience went anti-hero nobody else he knows of making Model By Day, but to this day, I

as Kal in Loeb's wears one, either. Which cringe when I look at the costume," he first Smallville is why when we got chuckles. "That wasn 't what we had in mind. script, "Red." around to meeting the We kept waiting for the wardrobe people to Flash, Bart was just a kid show us the outfit, and they kept saying '15

who ran really fast. It minutes!' Then it was 3 a.m., we were in an All Smallville Photos: would almost be absurd alley and [we had to shoot Famke in the cos- Copyright 2003, 2004, for someone in that tume]. She stepped out of the wardrobe trail- 2006 The WB Television Network world to wear a costume, er in leather hot pants and a motorcycle hel-

30 STARLOG/7Vovembe>- 2006 met, and I thought, 'We're dead!' I wasn't had wanted to do for a

experienced then, otherwise I would have long time," he explains. shut down the production and fixed the out- "The idea of not having

fit. But the show must go on—and it did!" Supergirl, Krypto and Bizarro didn't make any Ultimate Heroes sense to me. As my

Comics readers, don't fret; Loeb will still career grew, I kept eat- be writing for Marvel. He's taking over the ing up whatever proper-

dysfunctional superhero team known as The ties I could. Who else Ultimates. "What Mark Millar and Bryan would make Hitch are doing on Ultimates is fantastic, but the President and bring

I have to make it my own," he states. "I'm him down? There were fortunate that I have Joe Madureira and [col- so many false starts on orist] Chris Lightner in the beginning and our World's Finest then Ed McGuinness and Dexter Vines. book, Superman/Bat-

We're gonna kick ass and take names! man, that it could have "And I'm also going to be doing some- been the greatest disas-

thing with Ultimate , as well as a ter of all time, but it

year of Spider-Man'' he adds. "All artist J. turned out to be a hit. Scott Campbell wanted to do in life was Superman/ Batman was

draw Spider-Man, so it's great to have some- a bigger success than

one who loves the character but hasn't yet Hush. Why wouldn 't had the chance to draw him." Superman and Batman Previously at DC, Loeb created Hush, the work together?" most popular new Batman villain since Bane. Loeb's tenure on

"Nothing happens in a vacuum, and I was Superman/Batman was lucky that Jim Lee illustrated my story," exciting and unpre- Loeb notes. "We spent a great deal of time dictable. Mr. Mxyzptlk talking about Hush, who he was and what his teamed up with Dark-

physical look should be. But I have no idea seid, 's Ka- what they're going to do with him now that mandi, the Last Boy on I've left DC. [DC Comics head] Earth, Scalphunter and let us do a number of things, like bring back Hex; Batman pre- Two-Face, redesign Huntress and kill Harold vented his parents' mur- [a helpful hunchback who lived in the der in an alternate time- Batcave]. What most excited and pleased me line and ceased to exist;

was that I got to do an honest relationship and the heroes faced

between Batman and that resulted what was clearly the Marvel Universe. "It quietly. "It was great that I finished the 25th

in him revealing his identity to her." was one of those books where I said every- issue in time for Sam's story. That was only

Loeb also had a prolific, impressive run thing I wanted to say. The stories were fun to topped by the convention in Chicago where

on Superman, working with Editor Eddie do, and it was a great experience." we auctioned off all the artwork from his Berganza (a former STARLOG Managing Issue #26 published a story by his comic to benefit Sam's college scholarship Editor). There, he revived Supergirl and teenage son, Sam, after the boy died follow- fund [the Sam Loeb Scholarship Krypto in a charming way, and repaired the ing a three-year-struggle against cancer. "I Foundation]. Erica Durance flew in on her

relationship between Superman and Batman. loved that story very much. It was the perfect own dime to help me. I was hoping that we

"Bringing back Supergirl was something I comic for all the wrong reasons," Loeb says would bring in at least $25,000, so I was amazed when we hit $70,000. Color Loeb's past heroes "The rules for Sam's schol- (Spider-Man) blue, (the Hulk) arship are that the recipient grey and, naturally, needs to be a senior at (Daredevil) yellow. Sam's High School, the North Holly- wood High Gifted Magnet Program, and has to embody Sam's spirit: someone who is brilliant, funny and has an utter disrespect for authority!

It was nice that the first recipi- ent was a girl from Sam's graduating class. She knew Sam, and there was never any doubt that she was the right choice. "It worked out well," Jeph Loeb smiles. "The artists were so generous with their work,

and it's my fondest memory of Superman/Batman #26. I only wish Sam was with me to Now scripting Marvel In a heroic effort, the Superman/ superheroes, Loeb will take Batman #26 art auction raised experience it. He would have over The Ultimates and also $70,000 for the Sam Loeb found it—and my wild behav- do a year of Spider-Man. Scholarship Foundation. ior in particular—very funny!" Art: Tim Sale/Colors: Matt Hollingsworth www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 31 tend to have at least a spoonful of sugar Heroin is a hard habit to kick; that's why Locke (Terry O'Quinn) has helped the Charlie Monaghan) through his withdrawal. in my cup of tea, and I've probably addicted (Dominic I snorted enough sugar now to fill about two or three cups," reveals Dominic Monaghan, who, while shooting Lost, routinely inhales sugar rather than heroin as the drug-addled rock star Charlie Pace. "And

the boogers are sweet. I would say it's prob- ably a slightly more enjoyable comedown than the real thing, so the compromise isn't too bad." Monaghan arrived at Losfs mysterious island back in 2004, not long after the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the final installment in Peter Jackson's epic and Oscar-winning trilogy

based on J.R.R. Tolkien's masterworks. The Damon Lindelof—and how much of an

young British actor's memorable perfor- interest I had in running with it. I had been mance as Merry introduced Monaghan to a frustrated for a long time in my career—cer- worldwide audience and set the stage for tainly after Rings—about not being given the him to land the role of Charlie on the hit opportunity to work at the level that I would ABC series, which kicks off its third season like to work. And if you get too frustrated on October 4. Charlie might have been just and pissed off, you can end up losing inter- another survivor on a show stuffed to the est in the craft. Or you can go the other way,

gills with characters, but he emerged as one which is you're so filled with a need to get

of Lost's most compelling, dark-edged and that out of you that it bursts out when you're

human figures. Eminently watchable from given an opportunity. And I think that's what the get-go, Charlie has become even more so happened with me." through his relationships with fellow crash survivors Claire (Emilie de Ravin) and The Rock Star Locke (Terry O'Quinn). Directed by Abrams, the Lost pilot intro- Asked if he knew right away that Charlie duced Charlie as a relatively successful had such potential, Monaghan chooses his singer-songwriter-bass player in a briefly

words carefully. "How do I answer this with- super-successful band called Drive Shaft. out sounding too arrogant?" he wonders Charlie, as flashbacks later revealed, was on aloud. "So much of the character is based Flight #815 after a failed attempt at

around what you bring to it, you know? The convincing his brother and former bandmate The vicissitudes of island life took their toll on Charlie and Claire's bones of Charlie had so much potential, but Liam (Neil Hopkins) to join him for a (Emilie de Ravin) relationship it's a collaborative thing between the cre- reunion tour. Liam, now clean, rejected during Last's second season. ators of the character—J.J. Abrams and Charlie's offer and tried to convince his still- addicted brother to seek treat- ment. "Charlie was in the midst of the typical rock-and-roll life- style," Monaghan says. "I think he was taking advantage of whatever women were out there

By IAN SPELLING WI""CHARLIE

For Dominic Monaghan, it has been a change of Pace going from Middle-Earth to a mysterious island. 32 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com and whatever drugs were out there and whatever things fell in front of him. And every so often he would be consumed by the guilt process and then try to write a song

about it or do something about it. Certainly in the pilot, Charlie wasn't thinking too much about the future, because he had a bag of heroin and thought he was going to get rescued in the next three or four days. He was probably trying to get in Shannon's [Maggie Grace] pants, trying to get in Claire's pants and trying to get in Kate's [Evangeline Lilly] pants! And ultimately, he was in shock. "Where we find him now, at the start of Season Three, is he's someone who has killed someone else," Monaghan continues,

referring to the first year's "Homecoming," in which he shot Ethan (William Mapother). "He's a murderer, so he has that on his plate. Charlie has also been deeply touched by jealousy and frustration in his relationships with Claire and Locke, and he has been ejected from the group every so often. So Charlie is a long way from the bare bones of when we were first getting to know him, when he was playing guitar, knew that he had enough heroin to get him through the weekend and was wondering what girl he would chase around. That stuff isn't as important to him now as coming to terms with the fact that he could be on this island forever. He has to figure out who he can rely on, who will be there for him and who he wants to be there for.

We're still shooting the first episode [of

Season Three], so I don't know what's

going to happen. I really don't know." Odds are that Monaghan will find him- self in the company of de Ravin and O'Quinn. And that's fine with him. "I love working with Terry," Monaghan remarks.

"He's a gentleman and a fine actor, and I enjoy spending my days with him. Our working relationship is very relaxed and conducive to exploring and having fun, so that has been a real blessing. The stuff with

Charlie and Claire is more or less a mini- love story taking place on this island. It's a pure love, and they're trying to work out whether or not they like each other in this extraordinary circumstance. Charlie has great affection for Claire's baby, and he cares \ deeply for Claire and wants to protect her. Kate (Evangeline Lilly, Monaghan's real-life love interest) and most of the other castaways gave Charlie the cold shoulder after his displays of erratic behavior.

Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye- Agbaje)—one of the tail-section survivors—hid the heroin in the Mary statues that Charlie and Locke When Charlie had dreams about Claire's discovered. baby being in danger, he kidnapped Aaron, incurring her wrath.

have a choice," he explains. "But I'll phone

J.J. or Damon if there's something that I don't understand or am curious about. And if they're in a position where they can give me an answer, they will. I'm invested in this

show. I enjoy it, and I think it's a good series.

I even watch it when it's on TV." This past year, [the writers] sent him out on Abrams, Lindelof and the rest of the Like Lord of the Rings, Lost is a cultural some big flat spins where he wasn't making show's creative team will no doubt continue phenomenon. Millions and millions of peo- too much sense with his decisions, but it's to mine Losfs mysteries for all they're ple worldwide watch the show, buy tie-in always about him trying to be a good person. worth, doling out a clue here and there, but, products, engage in on-line forums, hold That's not always easy, but having Claire as usual, posing two new questions for each Lost parties and attend Larf-centric conven- and the baby there makes him try harder." answer. Monaghan admits that with so much tions, just as they did with Rings. "It's less going on in Lost—the numbers, the hatch, fantastical than Lord of the Rings" The Lost Soul the Others, the Dharma Initiative, the Hanso Monaghan comments. "Lord of the Rings Monaghan may not know what Charlie Foundation, etc. —it's sometimes easy to had this supernatural element to it for a cou- will be up to during this year on Lost, but he get. .lost. "Sometimes I'm so busy that I just ple of years. Lost is a little easier to under- has some ideas as to what he would like to look at the stuff for Charlie, because I don't stand and a bit smaller than Lord of the see for the character. "I love when Charlie goes dark," Monaghan enthuses. "I love the dark Jedi thing. That's always fun to play. I would like for him to achieve something on his own, outside of the group, instead of see- ing something and asking for help from one of the other characters. I want Charlie to take the bull by the horns and become something. Let's not forget that this is a guy who, in Season One, was capable of killing some- body. Charlie has clearly been down to the lowest ebbs and survived. He has probably been thrown out of English pubs and had fights with people while drunk. So he's not a little kid.

"Flashback-wise, I would like to explore

Charlie's relationship with his father. I assume there's plenty of complex stuff going on there. I think Charlie feels that, in some ways, he was psychologically abused by his dad. I would enjoy doing more scenes with his brother Liam. And I would like to find out why Charlie wants to self-destruct. He's a pretty gifted songwriter and a nice guy, but there's something about him that wants to explode. There's an element in me that has always been fascinated with pushing it and seeing how far you can go before pulling A big shocker last season was the death of Ana-Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez). As for back." Season Three, Monaghan says he has no clue where the series is headed.

34 STARLOG/ZVovemfcr 2006 —

Lord of the Rings was Monaghan's first experience being part of a cult phenomenon. He and co-star Billy Boyd are collaborating on a script.

Rings. You could argue that Lord of the What we went through was truly unique. It's Rings is truly one of the epics of our time great that as very busy people, we still make not only in literature, but now film-wise as time for each other. I'm seeing Elijah well. Lost feels big in terms of the fans and tonight, and Billy and I just spent a week people's reaction to it, but it isn't quite as writing together in LA. And I saw Viggo and huge as the whole Rings thing." went to a soccer game with him last week. Before the plane crash, Charlie was all Usually, I find myself making excuses so about sex, drugs and rock-and-roll, The Merry Mate that I can stay in, because I'm just so tired but he has changed his tune during his Monaghan's connection to Lord of the from working the past week. But if a phone time on Losts island. Rings didn't end with Return of the King. He call comes from someone like Ian McKellen, narrated the acclaimed 2005 documentary, Viggo, Elijah or Pete Jackson when he's in Back when he was promoting the Lord of Ringers: Lord of the Fans, which explored town, I try and make a special effort to go the Rings films (see the interviews in issues the enduring popularity of the Tolkien sto- out." #305 & #318), Monaghan stated his hope ries, the impact of the films and that his participation in the trilogy Hurley (Jorge Garcia) has a big heart, but even he would find the essence of the Lord of the would lead to acting opportunities it hard to forgive Charlie's abduction of Sun in Season Two. Rings fandom. Plus, he's still in in America. Now that he's basking touch with many of his pals from in the glow of Lost, it's time to con- the productions, getting together template what doors, in a perfect with them socially whenever pos- world, might be opened by Lost. "If sible and occasionally teaming up you sing a little song and three peo- with Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and ple watch, then it's no great shakes Billy Boyd for joint convention if you're good or bad," he says. appearances. "But if you get up on stage and sing "What was unique about Lord your little song for 20 million peo- of the Rings was that there was an ple, they're going to judge you on amazing feeling of synergy whether you're good or bad. That's between the fans, the actors and a career starter or a career ender, so the other people making the you have to make interesting and films," Monaghan observes. "We wise choices. Billy and I have been loved being involved in - writing for the past two or three ject, and the fans loved it, and we years, and we're now at a point

loved the fans. It was a great com- where we're pitching to studios to ing together, and the fans seemed see if anybody is interested in to agree that everything about the working with us. I've also been movies was bang-on. The casting keen on working on my photogra- and costumes were perfect. The phy and getting it out there at some

locations were great. It's one of the point. I'm a big fan of fashion, too, few times where fans [of the book] so I would love to get involved in

were happy with the final film. I something to do with clothes. think almost 100 percent of them "Obviously, my main priority is loved the Lord of the Rings acting," Dominic Monaghan states. movies. "I love acting. I get a big kick out of

"And I really did make friends it. I enjoy new and interesting parts, for life on Lord of the Rings. After and I would like people to recog- the first couple of weeks of work- nize that I have the ability to play

ing with these people, I realized different characters. And because of

that they were exceptional and I things like Lord of the Rings and was going to know Billy, Elijah, Lost, I'm getting those opportuni- Orlando Bloom and Viggo ties—and I'm incredibly grateful Mortensen for a long, long time. for that." www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 35

-

INT. BASE-COMMAND ingly low-key. "Give me about three hours!" he jokes. "I have to stay calm and make sure

iENTER- NIGHT it's heading in the right direction, but yes,

Alarms still sounding, red lights flashing. A some days it gets extremely tense and the

dark HQ-type room, desks around a central pressure is on. It's also a matter of conserv-

hub. Functional, prefabricated. The crew ing energy. It's five weeks, so I have to pace assembled. Trapped on this base, there's a myself in order to keep going every day, lack of formality, and a gallows' humor. because every single scene needs my atten-

They wear basic white T-shirt and jeans, all tion, and I want it to be right. And I have to

with chunky metal wrist-comm devices; they make sure that everyone else is on track, too."

; have a utility belt around the waist and also Another challenge has been the sheer strapped diagonally across the torso; in volume of visual FX shots—from the black Zack (Shaun Parkes) serves as effect, they look like workmen. hole to a giant CG creature that features Acting Captain, in charge—for now—at —Doctor Who II. Episode 8: "The Im- heavily in part two. "It all comes down to the the Command Center. possible Planet" by Matt Jones original discussions about what things are

busy, busy, busy," he announces as Tennant going to look like, so I know that the planet's

I 'm standing in the middle of a cramped and Piper enter, "and as soon as they walk in, surface is going to be designed a certain

I command center on an outpost some- it's a look of surprise, because you haven't way, or that the black hole is going to have a I where in deep space, anchored inexplic- seen another human being in two years!" certain feel," he says. "We also have lots of I ably within the grasp of a nearby black Strong takes his place behind a nearby help from the guys at the Mill, who are much mk hole. To my right, a group of engineers monitor to see how the shot looks on cam- more used to working with green screen, so

and technicians cluster around a nearby era. "This scene is actually very early on in they can just get on with it. With part of this monitor. A few feet away, three bizarre-look- the episode," he explains. "Rose and the set, for example, we have to imagine that ing creatures observe in silence. Red-eyed Doctor have landed on this base. It's the first there's an enormous black hole bearing

. and mouthless, a fluorescent globe is con- time we meet the crew, and it's also the down on [the characters]. So I'm very excit- nected by cable to a mass of writhing tenta- introduction to the black hole, so this is ed to see what they come up with. cles where their faces should be. Overhead, where they discover where they are, what is "There's also an entire sequence with the a section of ceiling slides back to reveal the happening and just how incredible and pre- Doctor talking to the Devil, and that's glowing black hole in the distance. carious this place is. It's a big scene, and it's hard—one actor talking to nothing—so I've going to take us most of the day." been reading in on those scenes. The chal- With two episodes to wrap up by week's lenge of working with special effects is tying

end, Strong admits that it has been a tough everything together so it doesn't feel like a

shoot. "This is one of the most ambitious 'special effects shot.' They usually turn out sets of episodes they've ever done," best when they're integrated into other stuff, he declares. "It's immensely so people don't say, 'That looks like CG!' I complicated, because almost could go mad and come up with [an effects every scene has some kind of ef- scene] that you could watch for an hour, but fect—whether it's CGI, an explosion, the it all really comes from the script. The stage alien Ood or the makeup that had to be done directions give us every detail, and [execu- on Will Thorp [who's possessed by an evil tive producer] Russell T. Davies is also a big

force]. There's never a moment with two resource. If I ask him a question, he knows "Right, can we go through this again?" people just having a chat. We had a sequence exactly what's going on in every script and The voice belongs to director James Strong, yesterday where one of the actors had to sit scene." and his words dispel a brief moment of fan- in the control room for the entire day, tasy. Suddenly, I'm back on a soundstage in because every scene had screens, smoke, Who Designs Q2, the Newport, South Wales studio com- lights, lighting changes..." While Strong is talking his actors through :plex that acts as production base for the cur- For someone who's watching the clock today's big scene, other sections of the studio

in just a days, Strong is surpris- are being catalogued, boxed up and loaded : rent series of Doctor Who. run out few

It's the final week of filming on Season

; Two, and Strong is shooting episodes eight and nine, "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" (set to air on SCI FI in (November). In the atmospheric two-parter, the Doctor (David Tennant, who succeeded

j Christopher Eccleston in the first year's ) and companion Rose (Billie Piper) . ; arrive on an outpost where strange things are starting to happen. Aside from the obvious mystery as to how a base can exist on the periphery of a black hole, the alien Ood (those tentacled creatures we just met) are

! starting to act weird, and some graffiti writ- ten in an ancient language suggests that per- haps there is much more to this planet than meets the eye. Because the special FX have to be reset after every take, Strong wants to rehearse the

I scene several times to make sure that every

; thing is perfect. All of the actors take their places in various parts of the set, while the Meet the alien Ood. Do they worship the black hole or fear its director stands by, script in hand. "So it's overshadowing presence? I

wvv.starlog.com STARLOG/ZVoft-mter 2006 37 1;

this moment in time and it had grown to look like this. When you couple that with what Gallifreyan architecture possibly looks like, where the Doctor came from, what that plan- et would be like and what materials they would have used to build their houses, tern

buildings, it just to make pies and seemed . sense." Back at the Command Center set, Strong

is rehearsing the second part of scene six, in

which the outpost is rocked by a massive quake. Although the cast members do their level best to look shaken as well as stirred,

it's hard to watch without conjuring up flashbacks of the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea school of shaky-set acting. The second member of Doctor VWjo's design team is costume designer Louise Page, who joined the production in Season Two. Her wardrobe department at Q2 is stuffed with shipping cartons of various sizes as her team of assistants packs away nine months' worth of costume parapherna-

lia. Each rack is meticulously labeled with the appropriate character and episode

names, while a corner of the room is domi nated by a stack of spare Cybermen parts— helmets, boots and gloves—all of which have to be catalogued and stored. Page sits in the middle of the organized turmoil, multi-tasking with the not-so-quiet assurance of somebody who thrives in an atmosphere of chaos. "With episodes eight

and nine, the look of the space crew is very much based on ALIENS," she explains, "but

hopefully what I've done is to say, 'I don't

want to do that, but I can understand what they're saying there.' We've got people with

a few bits of layered look, so they all look into vans outside. These are the last two epi- Thomas is also responsible for what at different, but they're still part of a crew. sodes being shot at Q2, after which the pro- first appears to be a throwaway line of dia- "Our brief from Russell was, 'These peo- duction moves to a bigger facility closer to logue in the two-parter, but which actually ple are workers on this spaceship, so they Cardiff, which will house both Doctor Who puts a brand-new on a long-established need to have belts, pouches and kits. They and the new spin-off series Torchwood. On Doctor Who notion. "I conceptualized the have to look like they're doing a job and the opposite end of the studio, a small army TARDIS as an organic being that wasn't working in this place, but can they please be of stagehands are breaking down the biggest built—it was grown," he reveals. "That was sexy and gorgeous as well?' I'm quite standing set, namely the cavernous TARDIS a proud moment for me, and the whole rea- pleased with the results, because James, console room. Bit by bit, roundel by roundel, son I did that was because I didn't want to [producer] Phil Collinson and Russell are I everything is being shipped off to its new suddenly arrive on the scene as the produc- happy with it, and I think there's a real bal- home, where it will be carefully reassembled tion designer on Doctor Who and say, ance. It was quite hard work, because it's and given a quick touch-up before Season 'Everything that has gone before is past. It's very subtle, trying to get the right look for Three begins shooting. my turn now!' the different people. But hopefully wc ve The man responsible for the new look of "I wanted to make sure that in the world achieved that." the TARDIS—as well as the series itself—is I was creating, the TARDIS had arrived at Page also collaborated with the team at production designer Edward Thomas, whose starting point for this two-parter was a bit different from Strong's. "My reference was the TV series M*A*S*H," he explains. "You had a group of people who were sent to an outpost that was a series of tents, and they all worked together in this terrible environment. There was a command center, surgery and living quarters, so that's where I was coming from, as opposed to something like ALIEN, which wasn't a space station as such. With these sets, all the wall panels [just like tent panels] are mass-produced, so if you want a door in one of them, you just cut it out and put a door there. We've introduced that mass-production element, as opposed to being spaceship-like."

38 STAKLOG/Novembcr 2006 too far in the future,' so I didn't look at them use to make special tattoos. We also had red as being glamorous at all. contacts for Will, and turned his tongue a "I also knew that this would be a tough strange green-black color for the final scenes place for these people to be in, with lots of in which he's completely possessed.

crawling around in tunnels and the cavern "The biggest problem we've had is that

that Ida and the Doctor go down to, so it was we're shooting a scene on Saturday with an going to be dusty and dirty. Those scenes effect that requires Will to be immersed in were going to be quite difficult and time- water, which means the symbols can't come consuming, because they were going to be off in the water no matter how long he's in shot in a quarry at night. I had already there. That was really the main factor dictat- bought several different colors of a cosmet- ing how we created these symbols."

ic-grade pigment when we were shooting Just before lunch, Strong is ready to scenes in Clearwell Caves for the Christmas shoot a take with pyrotechnics. The actors special, and I thought we could use them to assume their places again, and this time dirty people up. These are real people in a when the director calls "Earthquake!" the set real situation, so we're going for reality in fills with smoke, sparks jump out of con- Toby (Will Thorp) gets possessed by every way." soles and jets of flame leap several feet into an evil force—as indicated of the big challenges by (dis)appearing alien symbols. One from a makeup the air. Strong smiles and the cast and crew point-of-view was creating the alien sym- break for lunch, while the FX team moves in Millennium FX, who created a small army bols that appear on Toby's (Thorp) hands, to reset for the next take. of the alien Ood. "Their necks are 22 inches eventually spreading across his entire face thick," she remarks, "whereas most men's and neck. "The symbols disappear and come Who Decisions necks are 15 or 16. I wouldn't have known back depending on whether he's being pos- While the crew is finishing lunch, word what to expect if Millennium FX hadn't sent sessed by this evil spirit," says Wells. comes in that Collinson is driving over from

the plaster cast over to me. I had to have my "Normally, that would be done with air- the Cardiff set to sit down for an interview. Costume maker come up with a jacket and brushing and some kind of stencil, but there Commandeering an empty trailer in the design the collar around what we knew we were several other factors that had to be parking lot behind the studio, he apologizes had to hide. dealt with, so I elected to have them made that this conversation has been put off for a

"I also had to adapt my design by putting using a method similar to what we would couple of months. It has been a busy sched-

a pocket in the back of the jacket that could ule, and even with only a few days left, hold a battery pack, which operated the eyes, things haven't slowed down.

lights and everything else. It was extremely "You've always got to try and keep a important to have that kind of collaboration sense of objectivity," Collinson reflects, with Millennium FX, the makeup team and "because on a show this big and this busy,

the production design crew. But, obviously, it's easy to stop being objective and just we're all under the same creative umbrella worry about the job and the doing of it. I of Russell's vision." think you've constantly got to step back and ask, 'First of all, are the scripts right? Are the Who Makeups stories that we're telling right? Is this as On the set, Strong is ready to go for a good as the last episode? If not, why not?' another take. Costume and makeup assis- And with 13 of them, all different as well, tants swoop in to make their final checks you need to reinvent things every couple of before the camera rolls, and a Millennium weeks." FX technician moves among the Ood extras, As the producer on set making decisions checking battery packs and making sure every day, one can't help thinking that :each mask looks right. Collinson often has to take the role of bad Standing off to the side, Tennant looks cop to executive producers Davies and Julie tired. That's probably because he has been Gardner's good cops. "Producers sometimes working flat-out for nearly a year without fall into that trap," he admits with a wry much time off. Even now, he and Piper are chuckle. "They'll pick up a script and panic, splitting their time between the two-parter and episode 10, "Love & Monsters," which Suited up for action, is being shot in Cardiff 40 minutes away. the Doctor and Next week, the actor heads back to his native Science Officer Ida (Claire Scotland for a long-deserved vacation, but Rushbrook) investigate right now, he's trying to remember the last- planetside. minute changes to the script. "Oh yeah, the pink pages," he laughs. "Although the 'scene omitted' ones are just fine!"

|i The final member of the show's design team is makeup designer Sheelagh Wells, one of the only members of the production team to have worked on the original series (and FULL DISCLOSURE: she's also mar- ried to this writer). "I was in the same pro- duction meeting as Louise and Ed," she recalls, "and I had written down ALIENS in my notes, as well as Lost, which James had mentioned to me in a separate conversation. My shorthand was, 'This is tough and real, riot SF-based. These are real workers, not www.starlog.com SIARUXJ/November 2006 39 for?' So we really thrash everything out. "We have a team of experts now, just because we've had to learn how to make this sort of television at this pace. And the guys

at the Mill are brilliant at taking directors through the process and making them under- stand exactly what they need. We storyboard

all the big sequences, and I push the direc-

tors to have shot lists, break down the scenes

and know how they're going to shoot it. You can't improvise on this show. If we've got seven principal cast members and four mon- sters on set, you can't turn up on the day without knowing where you're going to put the camera or how you're loosely going to cut the scene, because we don't have the time.

and their first instinct is, 'Oh my God, we've

got to cut this!' It's different with Russell because he's so inspirational and the scripts are so good that they inspire you to do as much as you can. Every single department absolutely bends over backward. The great

thing about Russell is that he delivers you something so brilliant in the first place that

even when you do pull back a little bit,

you're still left with something brilliant. And actually, you've pushed harder than you

would have if he had delivered something without a spaceship crashing into Big Ben, a prosthetic monster or whatever.

"Russell, Julie and I get on really well, and we each have different producing roles. I'm the series producer, and they're execu-

tive producers, but it's unlike any other job I've ever done, because over here you always have executive producers—who are usually

. from the network or the BBC—but Julie and Russell are much more involved than that. Julie takes on her shoulders many of the

tasks that a producer would necessarily of collaboration filters down through each of "What inevitably happens is that a shot have, and that I might expect to speak to the the departments. "We have what we call will take 15 to 20 minutes longer to line up network about: whether they like the shows 'tone meetings,' where we basically get all and set up on this job," he adds. "And that's we're delivering, and working closely with the creative heads together—costume, simply because you've got to grease up a the writers on what stories we're telling. But makeup, guys from the Mill, people from monster or put somebody into a space suit. Julie shoulders some of that and, as I said, prosthetics, locations, the design team—and All these little things make Doctor Who a almost produces it with me. And while sit around a table and literally start with page more difficult production, and that's what Russell—just by the very of his job as one, scene one. 'This scene is about the hemorrhages away the time. For a show a writer—has to be away and tapping on his Doctor and Rose landing on a space station. that's about time, there's never enough of it!" keyboard, he is completely [involved with] OK, what is Rose going to wear? What does However, Collinson admits that even

every decision that we make." this space station look like? What is the feel when things are at their busiest, there are

According to Collinson, that same spirit of this episode? What is it that we're looking still times when one has to slow down for a moment and think, "I'm working on Doctor Whol" "I genuinely think that every day," he agrees without hesitation. "The great thing about the turnover of episodes and the

amount of producing it takes is that I'm con- stantly reminded of that. Whenever a new monster arrives or I watch a batch of rushes, I think, 'Wow!' "This job is so full of surprises and joy,

and the sheer groundbreaking-ness of it is a constant source of pleasure to me," Phil Collinson smiles. "I've got the best job in

British television, I really do. I can't wait to come to work, and I'm working with the

nicest people, too. It's a brilliant team, and I love my bosses very dearly and would do anything for them. So, without slapping lots of backs, it's a happy time and a pleasure to work on Doctor Who."

40 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com

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Oyarzun) have met their maker, it was a actor Paul Campbell's decision. "As much as

shock to many when Billy Keikeya—Presi- I loved it, I felt it was time to move on," he reveals. "I wanted to come down to LA and

ULTIMATE SACRI FICE KILL BILLY, WHEN IT WAS TIME TO IB PAUL CAMPBELL DEPARTED BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

STARLOG/November 2006 43 —

take a run at something where I was a little wore knee and elbow pads, but they didn't more central. I always felt like I was on the do anything for my butt or back. I had big outside looking in on Battlestar Galactica. bruises the next day, but it was exciting and

While I enjoyed having a job to come back looked fantastic on film." to, at the same time, I'm out here doing audi- Campbell got the time-honored gig of tions in the wild frontier—and that's kind of lying there dead with open eyes. "Yeah, I exciting, too." just picked a point on the ceiling and tried In Campbell's last episode, "Sacrifice," a my damnedest not to ," he grins. "At the bitter woman (Dana Delany) and her rebels last second, they added a baking soda-vine- hold a group of people—including Apollo (lamie Bamber) and Billy's ex-flame Dualla (Kandyse McClure)—hostage in the Galac- "THEY SENT ME tica lounge. Billy makes a desperate leap for a gun, and is blasted into eternity. When OUT IN A BLAZE OF Campbell expressed his desire to Galac- tica, he was surprised to learn his character GLORY, AS BILLY would be killed off. "I guess that was in- evitable," he reflects. "They offered me a DESERVED." full, five-year contract, but I decided not to answer that and left the offer alone. I wasn't gar mixture, so I had to hold this foaming ready to lock myself in for five years, so they volcano in my mouth until they yelled gave me the old 'call into the office,' where 'Action,' then I let the stuff spew down the they already kind of knew what my decision side of my face. It was pretty tough nailing was going to be. Then they chose to kill off the timing—of keeping my eyes open and my character." letting the right amount of foam bubble out His death scene was originally supposed of my mouth." to be less graphic. "At one point, the produc- The schedule was a killer, too. "We shot ers were just going to have Billy catch a it at like 3:30 a.m., 20 hours into the work stray, ricocheting , and someone would day," he remarks. "They ended up not using say, 'Oh, Billy died.' But instead they sent most of the face-on footage of my death me out in a blaze of glory, as Billy throes. I felt a little ripped off, but it still deserved." turned out pretty decent." After that, it was onto the morgue, where President Roslin Biting the Bullet cries over Billy's body. "That 'dead look' Billy's demise had all the trappings of a took about an hour in the makeup chair during Valentine's Day and we had a 'Paul Spaghetti : blood exploding from his layers and layers of ghoulish stuff was put gets killed' party," he laughs. "We sat around chest, a slow-motion tumble to the floor and on me. The makeup people did a phenome- and watched the episode. It was weird for beautiful Dualla weeping over his body. "It nal job; I looked really creepy and ghastly!" me—that was the first time I ever died on turned out incredible," marvels Campbell. Campbell is a relative newcomer to act- TV or film." "They loaded me up with the maximum ing—his credits include The Dead Zone, When Dualla sees Billy eyeing one of the amount of squibs you're allowed to put on an Andromeda and Smallville—so he had never terrorists' guns, she warns him, "You're not actor. There was a breast plate under the seen himself die on screen before. "My girl a soldier. You're not trained for that. You've squibs, which spreads the pressure out along friend invited a bunch of our friends over got nothing to prove." But when a gunman your torso, but it was like being yanked prepares to shoot Dualla, Billy leaps into backward by a rope it felt like someone action and grabs the weapon. Unfortunately, — Billy served President Laura punched hard in the chest. That done me was Roslin (Mary McDonnell) well, though, Billy is mowed down before he can in one take. I landed hard and bashed my eventually graduating from fire. So what were Billy's last thoughts? Was head and backside on the concrete floor. I mere assistant to trusted adviser. he depressed that Dualla had turned down his marriage proposal? And was Billy trying to save everybody or only Dualla? "I've thought about that a lot," says » Campbell. "His actions were more instinctu- g al than anything else. Billy wasn't looking o death in the face and smirking. He had lost ^ so much that day; it was more fight-or-flight. £ Billy saw the potential danger for everybody § else, so why shouldn't he be the one who °g steps up and tries to save the day—and real- ly for the first time in the series? Maybe 1, something snapped in him, but I don't think | it was to prove anything or impress anybody, y

For him, it just seemed the right thing to do." 8> CO

Suffering in Silence | Some fans have wondered if Billy ever ^ felt the urge to break loose, rant and rave or s at least get angry, like so many other £ Galactica characters have done. "There 8 were opportunities in a few shows for Billy | to blow off steam—particularly in the es episodes directed by Michael Rymer and the 1

44 STARLOG/November 2006 —

In Campbell's last Galactica episode, his character Billy Keikeya made the ultimate "Sacrifice ," dying heroically in a terrorist hostage incident.

equal in her eyes. Billy began as a 19-year- old, lost and naive boy, and he emerged as this man, having come full circle. That's true of his relationship with Dualla, too: He start- ed off very naive and unsure of himself, but then he took steps to become her equal." Working with McClure was a joy. "But the reality is we didn't have that many scenes together," Campbell comments. "What we did do was great, though. We're

"IT WAS WEIRD FOR ME—THAT WAS THE FIRST

TIME I EVER DIED ON TV OR FILM."

both down-to-Earth, likable people, and we got along magnificently off-camera. And that parlayed into our relationship on-cam- era. We would be really silly between takes, just goofing off, and then we would have to stop clowning around when they resumed ming chairs around and yelling at Apollo. filming. "FOR HIM, IT JUST But that wasn't used because, again, it was "And I can't say enough good things not right for the character." about acting with Mary. She's the most SEEMED THE RIGHT Billy's closest relationship was with his incredibly gracious, fun, considerate and boss, President Laura Roslin. "As time went intelligent woman you could ever hope to

THING TO DO." on, Billy found his political voice as well as meet. I got more out of working with Mary his place in that administration," he in those two-and-a-half years than I could one Eddie Olmos did," notes Campbell. observes. "He started out very much as have going to acting school—just by being "Both of them wanted to get more fire out of Laura's assistant, but by the end he was an around her and absorbing her knowledge.

Billy, and I struggled with that. She's a wonderful, wonderful lady, and "It just didn't seem appropriate to me, watching her do 20 completely different

and it didn't come naturally. Billy was a lev- takes of one scene—each equally brilliant elheaded, calm, thinking man and much was inspiring. What a cool woman!" more of a pacifist. So I never felt like I was Looking back on his Battlestar Galactica being robbed by not having him get into experience, Campbell offers, "What attract- screaming matches. He was more about rea- ed me to the show was that even though it's soning with people—that is, until the end, science fiction, Ron Moore, David Eick and when he lost his mind and got himself killed. their team never push things too far.

That was the one time he tried it... and it did Everything they do is believable and honest. not pay off!" Things never get silly. And the acting by Campbell's low-key acting contrasted Mary, Eddie and everybody else is phenom- with some of the more histrionic characters enal. Battlestar Galactica is a classy show. It aboard the Galactica. For example, after a has reinvented science fiction and set the bar scene of Dualla and Apollo flirting together pretty damn high."

in a room, it cuts to a shot of Billy watching Hoping to branch out from Battlestar them unobserved, with a genuinely sad Galactica, the actor has already appeared in expression on his face. "They told me, 'Paul, the films /// Fated, The Long Weekend and you only have time for one look,' and that's the zombie flick Severed, and will be seen in what they used—that silent look. It summed the Al Pacino thriller 88 Minutes. But even up the character's feelings perfectly. There's though he's going to auditions and setting a real strength in subtlety." his sights on new goals, Paul Campbell still Later, when Billy catches Dualla and has good feelings about his space days. Apollo together in the lounge, he realizes "I would love to come back to Battlestar they been having a relationship. Galactica as a guest star one day. We parted have "We Often in the background, Billy did about five or six different takes of that," began the series (in on pretty good terms. I miss my friends recalls Campbell. "One of them was really Campbell's view) as a boy and there; I loved hanging out with them. big and over-the-top, where Billy was slam- ended it as a man. They're all such great people." www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 45 a half two ericho is about a small town in Kansas the Child) Gaston and Lennie (Lost in Space episodes cover a day, a day and or that survives a nuclear attack on the movie) James. days. After that, we have a family drama J between different United States," says Carol Barbee, the going on and romances series' executive producer and show runner. After the Attack... characters. There's a political struggle with- "As far as the people in Jericho and the audi- The initial episodes unfold right after the in the town, and the Mayor [McRaney] is ence know, they're the only town that exists. blast and move forward from there, with struggling to do right by his people and keep We will learn along with them what else is Jake (Ulrich) serving as the central figure. everybody together because, in these cir- out there, who else is out there, who did this Jake left Jericho behind several years earlier cumstances, it's all about survival. Because and why. But the heart of the show is about and happens to be visiting town—to catch up some people become 'Might is right' and T how a small town survives something like with his mother (Reed), father (McRaney) have to survive at the expense of whomever.' this and who you as an individual become and ex-flame (Scott)—when all hell breaks So it's about keeping people together and the under these extraordinary circumstances." loose. "We want to play town functioning and reminding— people that A freshman CBS series (airing Wed- out all that new stuff these are their neighbors 'Let's look out nesdays, 8 p.m.), Jericho is co-executive that comes at you for each other.' That's what's going on in the produced by filmmaker Jon {National when something early stages. Treasure) Turteltaub, who directed the like this happens," "As time goes on, the town loses power pilot and second episode and will I says Barbee, an and communication, and there are reasons remain associated with the show even actor-turned-wri- for all of this that have been layered in by the as he begins work on National Treasure ter-producer who writers after talking with experts. So they 2. The survivors of Jericho include is best known for lose power, the Internet and cell phones, and Skeet (Miracles) Ulrich, Gerald her work on they're essentially cut off. The town starts to (Deadwood) McRaney, Ashley (Birds of Close to Home, devolve into what we call 'the new Old Prey) Scott, Pamela (Clan of the Cave Judging Amy and West,' because they run out of gas. They can Bear) Reed, Sprague (John Doe) Grayden, Providence. make bio-diesel, but they can't produce

Erik (Saw IT) Knudsen, Kenneth (Odys "So the first much of it. And it's precious. So people sey 5) Mitchell, Michael (Bless couple of begin to ride horses again. They ride motor-

It's the end of the world

as we know it, but the citizens of Jericho certainly „ : don't feel fine. The »-»«a«s8s small-town Kansas °**^ residents may be the only survivors of a nuclear attack.

CHRONICLING WHAT HAPPENS THE DAY AFTER, THIS TV SAGA BEARS TESTAMENT TO SMALL-TOWN SURVIVAL IN NUCLEAR AUTUMN. cycles for a while, too, but they get to hors- weapons and all of that stuff we live in mor- es. We often talk about the quintessential tal terror of. And in doing all this research

visual signature of the show, and it became a and talking to experts, I think Jericho is horse tied up to a parking meter outside of an actually a good opportunity to get out some Internet cafe. You'll see horses pulling trac- information about what would happen and tor-trailers full of stuff because there's no how people can rise to the challenge and longer any gas." take care of themselves."

Every episode is a building block or link in the chain to the mystery (why the bombs Beyond the Bombs...

went off, whether it was terrorists from If you go online, you can already find abroad or at home, etc.), and covers where sites devoted to Jericho where people are Jake has been the past few years. "Each debating nuclear winter issues, the speed episode brings you closer to the answers," with which animals vs. humans would be Barbee promises. "And we have multilay- affected, even the types of bombs that might

ered answers to those questions, so it could have caused such damage and created the take a long time before the whole thing mushroom cloud on view in the teaser pro- unfolds. But we're not going to wait to dole mos. Barbee is pleased to hear that the show out information. We want the audience to is rapidly spurring conversation and prompt- garner these clues and play along with the ing such scrutiny. game and figure out what happened. We "I love that," she says. "We knew from have this character named Rod Hawkins the very beginning that it would start [James], He's a stranger who moved to town debate, and that's why we have been metic- the day before the bombs hit, and he has ulous about speaking with experts. Now, I come there for a very specific reason. We're will tell you that the experts disagree with Carol Barbee is the executive going to be watching him. He's a focal each other. [Everyone on the show] did producer on CBS' new post-apocalyptic point." some investigation, and we all came to the series. It airs Wednesdays, 8 p.m. To clarify matters, however, the young table with different opinions. There are var- deaf girl won't suddenly start to hear. The there's this massive attack. But we have an ied answers to all of these questions. Ulti- dead birds won't awaken and descend upon answer for how that could happen. And that, mately, we settled on a reality that was the masses. And don't expect Jericho's resi- again, is based in reality. We hope it never based in fact according to certain experts dents to begin displaying heretofore non- occurs, but the premise isn't completely fan- who weren't crackpots. We chose a reality

existent super-powers. "We want it to be as tastic. that works dramatically for the show, but is realistic as possible," Barbee insists. "So, no, "Besides that big landscape we've set up also grounded in truth." there won't be any fantasy or SF elements, with the premise, we want Jericho to be Even as the writing and production team none of that. No monsters in the woods. believable. There's sort of a weird wish ful- streamlined and fine-tuned Jericho's pre- We're trying very hard to create a landscape fillment that the show offers the audience, mise, they devoted countless hours to pick- that the audience can put themselves into where you can put yourself in that circum- ing the right actors for the large ensemble. and say, 'Wow, what would I do? How stance—from your own safe situation—and The key bit of casting, to be sure, was would I survive? How would I react in that watch these people play it out. In our re- Ulrich, whose credits include the short-lived situation?' We realize that we're asking the search, we're finding out how much misin- series Miracles and the features The Craft, audience to take a huge leap with us in that formation there j,s about radiation, nuclear Scream, Touch and Chill Factor. "Skeet was the highest-testing character in any pilot this town girl. When Ashley came in and sat with when she was growing up, and I saw season," Barbee enthuses. "People love him, down, although she's absolutely gorgeous, that girl in her who got into trouble in high

and I think they're excited that they're going she had no makeup on and had her hair school. I saw an Emily who wasn't so sweet, to get to see him on a weekly basis. I'm not pulled back in a ponytail. She kicked off her who was a hometown gal aching for more. just saying that because I have to or because, shoes and was sitting cross-legged in the "After we met Ashley, we started talking

coincidentally, Skeet and I are both from the chair, and we sat and talked about being about the character of Emily in terms of the same small town in North Carolina, but he's from the South, because she's from New Bruce Springsteen song 'Thunder Road,' a nice guy, a smart actor and a joy to work Orleans. She was so down-to-Earth and told about the girl in the yellow dress on the with. Gerald is fantastic, too, and we're all stories about different guys she was involved porch and the guy who's trying to get her in thrilled with him as well. The writers are the car," Barbee continues. "That's the huge Deadwood fans, and we have a huge It really is a small world after all for Emily we found when we met Ashley. Now, of arc for Gerald that utilizes him to the best the people Jericho (clockwise from she and Jake are worthy partners, and it's a left): Mayor Green (Gerald McRaney), advantage. much hotter relationship than we would have Eric Green (Kenneth Mitchell), "We saw lots of women for Emmy, Ash- gotten with the other actresses. I was so Gray Anderson (Michael Gaston), ley's role—wonderful, beautiful actresses, thrilled when we discovered Ashley, because Heather Lisinski (Sprague Grayden), but in the vein of the sweet girl next door. I thought, I Dale Turner (Erik 'Now understand why Jake Knudsen), Robert " The idea was that Jake went away, has this Hawkins (Lennie James), Emily Sullivan comes home and wants to stay.' checkered past and now he's back in town, (Ashley Scott), Jake Green (Skeet and she's still this sweet, unsullied home- Ulrich) and Gail Green (Pamela Reed). Comes the Apocalypse Well before CBS announced an airdate for Jericho, the media and potential viewers

began pondering the show's fate, asking if it was too timely and on the nose—given cur- rent circumstances in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and North Korea—for people to look at the series as entertainment. Likewise, some wondered if Jericho was too reminis- cent of Lost, Twilight Zone's "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" and other post- apocalyptic fictions (see sidebar).

"I know that I, as a viewer, would be tit-

illated and interested if I saw the ads for Jericho," Barbee offers. "I would think, 'Wow, how are they going to deal with that?' I don't want to watch Mad Max every week, and I don't want to see a show where people are eating each other alive or are jerks. What 1 believe will hook people who watch our first two episodes is the characters and their goodness. But, obviously, there are charac- ters who go to the dark side—and you may be surprised by who does. Jericho is really about who you become when faced with this sort of situation. "The whole psychological and social

aspect is fascinating to me. And it's fun being in the writers' room, because we have all these guys who are interested in conspir- acy theories. I love that stuff, too, but what entertains me and keeps me watching are the interpersonal relationships and psychologi- cal consequences that result from such an event. We've been working on this for a long time, and when the whole thing started hap- pening with North Korea and the testing of missiles, I said to my husband, 'Well,

nuclear war isn't so funny anymore, is it? It's

not so entertaining now.' But I hope this remains a far-fetched premise for a while, because there's something invaluable about us being able to explore this situation from a safe distance." Years before she became a writer-pro- ducer, Barbee was an actor. Among her cred- its are guest spots on LA Imw and JAG, the telemovies Columbo: Agenda for Murder and Sinatra, as well as the features Die Hard 2 and Out to Sea. So, what are the chances that she'll pop up on Jericho! "Zero!" Barbee replies, laughing. "I loved being an actor, I'm married to an actor [Carlos

48 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com — —

Facing life after the world ends cataclysmic world and help regen- is nothing new in science fic- SURVIVAL LITERATURE erate mankind—and the 1932 tion—though some Jericho view- novel When Worlds Collide by ers might be surprised at the Charlton Heston as The Omega counterpointed by the "you can & Edwin Balmer and depth of previous sagas. One of Man; a new film retaining the survive if you are ready and will- its sequel, After Worlds Collide the first post-apocalyptic genre Legend title and starring Will ing to adapt" philosophy of Pat (1934; somewhat blended togeth- novels was Jean-Baptiste Cousin Smith hits theaters next Frank's Alas, Babylon (also 1959) er for the 1951 film), in which de Grainville's Le Dernier Homme November. echoed in Robert A. Heinlein's several space arks flee to the new

[The Last Man] (1805), which The next step is to postulate a proto-survivalist bible Planet Beta after Planet takes place in a bleak future on a future where only a few people Farnham's Freehold Alpha pulverizes Earth. dying Earth where mankind has survive the apocalypse, like in (1964), Robert Merle's ON THE This panorama of become sterile. Ormus, the so- M.P. Shiel's 1901 novel The Malevil(W2\ filmed BEACH post-apocalyptic called "Earth's God," tries to force Purple Cloud. It reportedly in 1981), Stephen worlds would not be the eponymous last man, inspired the classic 1959 film The King's The Stand complete without a Omegare, to father a new breed of World, the Flesh and the Devil, in (1978, expanded edi- mention of several men—cannibals doomed to live in which a survivor searches for oth- tion 1990; a TV mini- comic book classics: eternal darkness. But, understand- ers in an empty city. More recent series in 1994) and Judge Dredd '5 Cursed ably, Omegare chooses death cinematic takes on this theme David Brin's The Earth (1979) sequence instead. include Luc Besson's Le Dernier Postman (1985; filmed written by Pat Mills From that point onward, SF Combat [The Last Battle] and in 1997). and likely inspired by had no trouble picturing the fate Lynne Liftman's Testament (both On the other hand, 's Post-nuclear of a doomed mankind, variously 1983), in which a handful of men Earth Abides (1949) Damnation Alley (1969; holocaust, it's only decimated by war (between and women face the grim by George R. Stewart filmed in 1977) a matter of time humans or other species), disease prospects of survival after a won the International before the graphically depicts (natural pandemics or man-made nuclear war destroys civilization. A Fantasy Award in 1951 survivors face what is left of America plagues) and natural catastrophes surprisingly low-key variation was for depicting survivors their own grim after a nuclear war. In (ecological and cosmic). The vari- the New Zealand SF novel The who choose to return destiny—to Japan, Hayao Miyazaki able outcomes arrive in all shades Quiet Earth (1981) by Craig to a more primitive succumb from the unfolded a far more deadly after- of bleak, yet make for compelling Harrison (filmed in 1985), in way of life. Purely ecologically complex effects On the reading—or viewing. which an advanced physics exper- filmic works embrac- post-nuclear Earth in Beach. At the grimmest end of the iment leaves only a few people ing this theme include his classic manga spectrum, humanity perishes, as wandering our deserted planet. The Day After (1 983), about the Nausicaa and the Valley of the in is the case in Le Dernier Homme More traditionally— if only effects of nuclear war on a Kansas Wind (1982-94; filmed 1984). and Mary Shelley's classic The because of the need to spin a town, Robert Altman's innovative And, finally, in European comics, Belgian artist Herman Huppen also Last Man (1 826), the first novel to good yarn—many survive the Quintet (1979), George Miller's

depict an Earth ravaged by a apocalypse, even if civilization popular Mad Max trilogy (1979, portrayed a post-cataclysmic

plague. In Nevil itself does not. What 1981 & 1985) and the even bleak- America in Jeremiah (1979-ongo- GEORGE R. STEWART 2003- Shute's justifiably ensues is frequently er tomorrow glimpsed in the ing; made into a TV series famous 1957 book ugly, as savagery and Terminator saga (1984, 1991 & 04). In whatever way our world On the Beach (made EARTH chaos often replaces 2003). ends in any of these scenarios, life those into a 1959 film and a ABIDES law and order. But the Finally, one shouldn't forget is always grimly difficult for the worlds where no matter how who survive. Indeed, it's true—the 2000 TV mini-series), This an aid -winning stories generally — futu fistic classic of the woild ravaged by plague and actually envy nuclear fallout kills emphasize the brave bad the post-apocalypse—the living may come to biiiiiis;!!!!!: ttitii h.i;n-

off all of mankind. efforts of a handful to promise of a brighter future the dead. More colorfully, a rebuild a better world. comes true. From the 1933 classic —Jean-Marc Lofficier new breed of vam- Among the books of The Shape of Things to Come by pires pursues a sole this type are The Death H.G. Wells to Star Treks,

survivor in Richard of Grass (1956) by Federation, a new and better world Matheson's influential John Christopher can be reborn from the ashes of the old. In that vein, one should I Am Legem/ (1954), Those who outlast (filmed in 1970 as No

filmed in 1964 with the world's end Blade of Grass) and include Chris Marker's remarkable Vincent Price as The may have to Walter M. Miller Jr.'s short film La Jetee (1962)—in Last Man on Earth embrace a more 1959 Hugo-winning A which the gifts from a better primitive way and in 1971 with Canticle for Leibowitz, future eventually replace the post- of life. As Ecclesiastes says, "Men go and come, but Earth Abides."

Lacamara] and many of my old friends are conversation end without mentioning one "I forgot about that. One of the producers said, still actors, but I always wanted to be a other, rather obscure credit. Back in 1997, was a friend, and she called us up and writer. Acting was a way for me to have life Barbee and Lacamara appeared together in a 'Hey, there's one funny scene. It's the end of experiences that could get me to a point low-budget SF movie entitled The Apo- the world, and these two people decide that it's their where I felt like I had something to say as a calypse, in which nuclear warheads threaten they should sleep together because writer. So I'm grateful for my time as an to destroy the planet. Oh, and the signature last chance.' She asked if we would do that, actor, but I'm so satisfied as a writer-produc- image for The Apocalypse! A mushroom and so we did. But I actually forgot that I world er that I won't be doing that again." cloud. was in something else where the Fair enough, but STARLOG can't let the "That's hilarious!" Carol Barbee giggles. blows up!" i&

www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 49 Hunting season. It's the nightmare of every wild forest animal. But this year, things are going to be different. This year, the animals fight back. On September 29, Sony Pictures Animation presents Open Season, their first feature-length CG film, which is being released in 35mm, digital and

IMAX 3-D. It's yet another entry in a year filled with CG-animated pictures. "The quality level of this doesn't feel like

a first studio effort," says co-director Jill Culton. "Sony didn't want to come out with a

mediocre film. They wanted to do it right, and

they wanted to wait until they had all the resources and could compete with the Pixars

and the DreamWorks. It had to be that way, really, because there are more animated films out in 2006 than any other year in history."

In another part of the cartoon forest, Sony Pictures Animation joins the hunt.

50 STARLOG/Mncw/w 2006 ft —

Some of these pictures share notable simi- telling. Did we think about [those other wondered, what happens to these poor guys? larities. Just as The Wild and last year's movies] over the last few years? Sure. But did They've grown up living from dumpsters Madagascar featured domesticated animals that sway us or make us change anything? No, behind the local fast-food joint, and now going back to nature, Open Season stars Boog, it didn't." they're dropped in the middle of the woods. a 900-pound domesticated grizzly bear who What do the other animals think of them? How returns to the forest. And just as Over the into the Woods do they survive? So Steve had a very rough Hedge and The Ant Bully had creatures bat- Sony Pictures Animation is a sister divi- idea about a grizzly bear and a mule deer tling an exterminator, Open Season's animals sion of Sony ImageWorks, which was respon- growing up in a mountain town, Timberline in take on their own would-be exterminators. On sible for the visual FX and character animation our movie. They make nuisances of them- the horizon, Sony Animation's second feature, in Stuart Little, Spider-Man, Polar Express selves and get relocated to the wild. At that Surf's Up, comes half a year after Warner and, most recently, Monster House and time in Steve's treatment, the mule deer was Bros.' Happy Feet, both starring a noncon- Superman Returns. "ImageWorks had always feeling the call of the wild and wanted to meet formist penguin with a special talent. wanted to move into making 100 percent digi- other deer. He wanted to go out into the

Noting this, Culton says, "As a filmmaker, tal features," says co-director Tony Stacchi. "It woods; the grizzly bear didn't. He loves living of course when there are movies being devel- was the brainchild of Yair Landau [Vice- in town. There was a little bit of two brothers oped that are similar, there's a part of you that Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and growing up and their needs taking them in freaks out, but you have to stay true to your President of Sony Pictures Digital]. It was his opposite directions. That was the initial pitch own vision. I seriously, purposely have not idea to bring in [Executive VPs] that Sandy and Penney grabbed. They look for seen Over the Hedge yet. Not because I won't Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman stories that have a strong emotional core. story using eventually see it. I think the filmmakers there I Cox to start SPA [Sony Pictures "That story is not the we're Animation] and supply that other part now," Stacchi emphasizes. "We just found that of the process—the hiring of a story the two of them growing up as brothers didn't department and visual development offer us as much potential as if we had the bear guys to come up with the look of the film raised in town by the park ranger, and the bear to supplement ImageWorks." meets the wild animal from the woods; then it SPA launched in May 2002, two months would be much easier to bring out all those after the release of Fox/Blue Sky's Ice Age. In issues. The wild animal could represent every-

June, the first to pitch a project were cartoon- thing the bear doesn't understand or know

ist Steve (In the Bleachers) Moore and exec- about the woods, and the bear could become a Instead of guys stranded lb, utive producer John (Where the Wild fish out of water. two Things Are) Carls. In 2000, they had out there, it's one guy who had a perfect life attitude about him- I sold their treatment, City Sewer, to and has a certain superior *\ DreamWorks, which later be- self over wild animals, and he has to come to \ came part of Flushed Away. understand their situation. And all this is hap- Sony accepted their concept, pening three days before hunting season. Open Season, which immedi- "We actually storyboarded on the original ^Ss^ 1 ately went into development. pitch as far as we could, and then we decided "Everybody was aware of to separate the two main characters," Stacchi Steve's In the Bleachers comic," Stacchi reveals. "We had Boog meet Elliot when he

i; says. "The strips often deal with sports ele- comes into town, strapped on the hood of the ments, but there's also hunting. He loves the hunter's truck. The deer wakes up and begs the free At first, Boog doesn't want to S: idea—given the opportunity, and their abil- bear to him. I ity to get their hands on the same technol- get involved. He doesn't even want to touch ogy that we have—that animals wouldn't this guy, but he does. Boog reaches over and

hesitate to use it on us the same way we use frees Elliot. One little act of kindness that he

it on them. Much of his humor comes from doesn't think much about, and it ends up things like two hunters entering a bear's destroying his whole life."

¥ cave, where they can tell the bear hasn't Rabins and Cox, who had joined SPA from been gone long because there's a computer DreamWorks, began culling talent from vari-

and he's still logged in. Director Jill Culton, a Pixar ILWI's Tony Stacchi (pictured) Hang out with "Steve had been hear- veteran, spearheaded the and later Roger (The Lion Elliot Boog and when stories ing more of these project. The forests near her King) Allers joined the Open Season, a tale about animals making a Northern home directorial team. Stacchi will of two sidekicks, living around town Season's helm Sony's upcoming CG premieres inspired Open in Alaska or the natural landscapes. trip to Hotel Transylvania. September 29. ^ like Pacific Northwest, where a wild grizzly bear

are fantastic. It's just.. .a good story is a good has become acclimated to

story, regardless. Even if the subject matter is eating out of dumpsters. similar, when two people tell a story about a They've been semi-adopt- penguin, you're going to come up with two ed into town. They've different versions of the same thing. grown up being fed by people. But at a certain "I would never compare us to those other :

pictures, only because I think our story is truly point, these wild animals nuisance and different, and our style is really crisp. It's ; become a

almost like saying, 'Oh, there's another super- i destructive, so they're relocated into hero film coming out.' They're all so different. ; darted and

' ;It really depends upon the story that you're the forest. Steve always

All* —

The incredibly complex dam-bursting sequence (and runaway rapid ride) was one of the first begun workwise and last finished. That's state-of- the-art CG water.

ous studios and animation schools. On their

list was Culton, who was a directing animator on Cats Don't Dance for Turner Enter- tainment. At Pixar, she was a story artist on Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2 (and designed Jessie), and was also co-credited with the original story for Monsters, Inc., and served as that film's Head of Story Develop- ment. She later worked at Industrial Light & Magic doing feature development. "I had many friends working at Sony at the time, and I had heard of Penney and Sandy,

and they knew what I had done on the Pixar

movies," says Culton. "Actually, I auditioned

when I was having lunch with a friend. It was

not an intentional interview, but I ended up getting along really well with them, and after that, they called me to do this movie. They felt my sensibilities were right for the picture." Culton, who lives in Northern California, was sent Moore's Open Season treatment, which she reluctantly accepted because "I did not want to move to LA. Finally, I decided to read this treatment, and I have to tell you, it had two things that I look for in a film.

Number One, it had fantastic characters: Boog, our grizzly bear, played by Martin Lawrence, and Elliot, our one-horned mule deer, played by Ashton Kutcher. They have that perfect sandpaper relationship you look for in a good buddy comedy. It had always been one of my dreams to make a buddy com- edy where there wasn't a straight guy and a the woods in Fairfax, which is known for to these secret little locations and beautiful funny sidekick, but instead two sidekicks being California's granola hippie hangout," meadows and lakes that I know of—that we two funny guys handcuffed together on a jour- she laughs. "I have a life up there as well, and did most of our research right up where I live. ney. that So was very appealing to me. I expressed to Sony that I really wanted to con- That was special, for me, to show these differ- "The second thing that really drew me to tinue that lifestyle. And so they agreed to fly ent people the places where I find my inspira- Steve's idea was that it had a terrific concept. me back and forth. To be surrounded by trees tion. We took something like 2,000 pictures, And the concept was simply this: Every fall and nature was my inspiration for the film, and and they were the basis for the look of Open hunters invade the forest. This year, this fall, Sony allowed me to keep that inspiration, Season's forest." during this open season, the animals are fight- which was fantastic." ing back. Suddenly, I could imagine this In fact, Culton's neighborhood was the On the Computer ridiculous battle taking place between hunters focal point of researching Open Season's Comparing hand-drawn animation with and animals who are armed with toilet woodland locale. Her crew visited the red- CG, Culton notes, "I've been an animator in 2- plungers and using bra catapults to launch woods of Muir Woods, Bon Tempe and D as well, then moved into 3-D animation on flaming marshmallows. By page five, when Phoenix Lake near Ross, and Nicasio for its Toy Story way back when. It has always been Boog is relocated to the woods, I was hooked. grasslands and fields. "We went on every a challenge with computer animation to have And I, too, relocated from the woods to LA to favorite hike of mine in the pouring rain for a the freedom that you do with a pencil and a make this movie. couple of days, and ended up playing games at blank piece of paper. As a traditional animator, "Still, I maintained my primary resi- my house," she recalls. "There's so much to you can draw anything you want. You learn all dence—an old converted turkey ranch back in see in Northern California—from Muir Woods these techniques about clear silhouettes,

52 STARLOG/November 2006 w

strong poses and how to use rhythm in a draw- ing and straights against curves. When you become a 3-D animator, you are really animat- ing puppets in the computer. They're already built with their own sets of limitations. "I had this wild idea: What if we gave the 3-D animators the ability to sculpt these char- acters so they can get straight lines and good silhouettes? They could carve and sculpt the characters into their final perfect pose. And what if all the characters had built-in squash- and-stretch, just like the 2-D principles in that Tex Avery style of animation? This wouldn't be a special tool that had to be added; it would be built into the models from the ground up." Culton will never forget the day she called about 70 software guys from ImageWorks into "I had just started there, and I gave a a room. "One of the funniest scenes in the movie" isn't in the film. For story reasons, two-hour lecture and showed all this great 2-D Boog & Elliot's trailer attack was replaced by the Punimart raid. Nonetheless, their footage—from Looney Tunes to the old "Midnight Bun Run" will be a fully animated DVD extra. Disney shorts like 'Toot, Whistle, Plunk & Boom,' " she comments. "I stopped the video leap and tried to do this with our models.' phone started ringing off the hook. These soft- and went frame by frame and showed them "They were very quiet, and they just sat ware engineers asked me, 'What do you mean those wonderful in-between frames where an there and looked at me, writing notes furious- by "rhythm"? What do you mean by "silhou- for animator?' arm stretched way beyond its capacity or a ly. I said, Are there any questions?' There ette"? Why is this important an character had multiple limbs or the animator were no questions. They all left the room. And Little by little, we had these discussions, and these wonderful tools. used straight lines to get a strong pose. I said, I thought, 'Oh gosh, Jill, you've done it. we ended up creating revolutionary in the indus- T don't know if this is even possible, but it Everyone thinks you're weird. This is never "These tools are the ability to would be so great on this film if we took the going to be possible.' But the next day, the try, because they give animators sculpt," she explains. "Boog is like a big flour sack, and the artists could take these shaper tools and perfectly sculpt him like they would with a pencil. They're now able to get any shape they want and nail that strong pose, and then the computer does the in-between poses.

It's an advanced animation tool that lets ani- mators with an eye for posing do so without limitations." To help direct Open Season, Culton called on her friend Stacchi, with whom she had worked at ILM, and who had been involved on Curious George (development), Antz (story artist) and James and the Giant Peach (visual FX). Together, they decided to base the film's art direction on the style of Eyvind Earle, the background artist on Sleeping Beauty, Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan and the Oscar-win- ning "Toot, Whistle, Plunk & Boom." Earle's work displays a flat graphic style that empha- sizes strong silhouettes, which posed a chal- Break out your glasses! Open Season can be seen in IMAX 3-D, 35mm and digital. lenge to Sony's designers.

www.starlog.com STARLOG/TVovember 2006 53 characters were already done. So between

Tony, Roger and I, we 'captained' certain sequences and divided Open Season into

thirds. While I was at animation dailies, Roger would be at lighting dailies and Tony could be in modeling. We split ourselves up to get this thing done, and we would meet on a regular basis to make sure that each sequence as well as the story was connecting." If the three directors disagreed, whose opinion finally prevailed? Culton laughs at the question. "Our producer was probably the ref- Connolly speaks eree, but Roger, Tony and I got along pretty s the Scottish squirrel darn well," she states. "Roger came in later, Squizzy.The voice cast also includes Patrick but he agreed with the vision of the film that Warburton, Gary Sinise, had already been established. So I don't con- Debra Messing and sider [our discussions] arguments, but rather Jane Krakowski. checks and balances. "You work on an animated film for so long.

Says Culton, "I remember sitting around character designer. He's a well-known cover There were times I would be editing some-

talking to Doug Ikeler, our visual effects and children's book illustrator, and he has thing, and I would run over to Roger and ask,

supervisor, and asking him, 'How are we been in the animation industry for a long time. 'Can you take a look at this? I've been at this

going to create this world in 3-D using strong He's used at many different studios. They usu- for 15 hours straight and I don't know if it's

graphic shapes that almost appear 2-D?' When ally call Carter and say, 'Hey, take a pass at all funny.' And he would watch it and go, 'Oh, you start to move the camera around them, these characters.' But this is the first time he yeah, that's great!' or 'Maybe you could try they fall apart, because graphic shapes are all has been a character designer all the way one other thing.' Likewise, he would ask me,

about silhouettes. So if you move the camera, through a film. Jill and I pitched him Open 'I've been working on this scene, and I think you lose those silhouettes." Season, and he agreed to be in the studio for it's too blue. What do you think?' So we used

"We had many conversations," Stacchi over a year, designing the characters and fol- each other as checks and balances, and we all says. "Open Season has a very graphic style. lowing them through the entire process. And come from a similar background: The foreground elements are usually darker once we came up with that background graph- were animators and in story, and we were and slightly out of focus while the middle ic style, we had to make sure the characters raised in the Disney tradition. Everybody got ground is totally in focus. We used a lot of retained that shape and language, too. along great."

atmosphere to drop back—that one-two-three "The character designs needed to be bold, As for Open Season's technical feats,

graphic stepping-back feeling. The trees them- strong, simple and graphic so they fit in that Stacchi reveals, "A million little break- selves are reduced to simple shapes, which is world. Otherwise, we would have had a 2-D- throughs happen on every one of these movies. fine when you're working in 2-D animation, looking background with a realistic grizzly People said, 'They can't do humans' and because you're always drawing new trees for bear standing in it. We didn't want theatrical 'They can't do certain lighting techniques on every scene. But in a 3-D movie, you can't backdrops for realistic-looking characters; we human skin so it stops looking like a puppet create new trees for each shot. wanted to avoid the 'Natural History Museum and starts looking real, with refraction.' Those "Every time we cut within a sequence, look,' where you have a stuffed animal and a leaps and bounds go on all the time." there's a slightly different angle to the trees. mural painted on the wall behind it. Much of He points to Open Season's dam-bursting That still had to hold up and retain the graph- that had to do with the lighting." sequence, crediting lighting and effects lead ic quality, and we would always be placing Dan Lurry and animation lead Chris Hurd for these trees in the background to maintain that Off the Water its execution. "That was one of the first quality. When we actually rotated those trees In September 2004, about halfway through sequences we started on, and it was one of the from a certain viewpoint, though, they looked production, Roger {The Lion King) Allers last we finished, because of all the technical terrible, because they weren't organic. They joined the project as a third director. issues with the water," he explains. "Im- looked good if you saw them from a front "Animated films take anywhere from three to ageWorks had previous experience with water, angle up to about 45 degrees. After that, they five years or more to do," Culton offers. "Sony but never anything quite like this. They spent fell apart. So we needed to be careful in those had a really ambitious schedule—completing two years developing the technology they sequences where we had a fluid camera mov- their first CG-animated feature in three years. needed to make the water interact with the ing around the trees. If we traveled too far, We weren't going to meet our release date, so characters, rocks and everything else. It also they suddenly didn't look right." we brought in another director. When Roger allowed us to be on top of and then under the One of the senior art directors, Luc Des- came in, most of the story was finished and the water, with the water turning into a waterfall marchelier, was in charge of and then shooting up through the rab- staging. "He made sure that bit holes." we had names. We had Bush "Surf's Up has a whole new tech- #3, Tree #6 and Aspen this nology for doing waves, and the next number and that number," film coming down the pipeline will says Stacchi. "Our production have their own tool sets and chal- designer Mike Humphries and lenges," says Jill Culton. "Even art director Andy Hartman though I've been in this industry for knew all these individual 16 years, there's a whole wide world plants, trees and rocks by of technology to explore. It's at the name, and they knew which point where [you can realize] whatev- angles looked the best. They er you can imagine; just throw out the would 'dress' the camera and gauntlet and say, 'This is what I want place things from the best to see.' There are so many creative camera viewpoint. Relax! Unlike most CG animation extravaganzas, people and so much left to discover. "Carter Goodrich was our the filmmakers promise no pop-culture references. And that's what makes it exciting."

54 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com 2ACHMLEf l- THE HMtSfffiS OF HULL HOLLSE 00ns All Art: Bob Muleady - HALLOWEEN ON WOOINE. "TRICK OR TREAT!

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56 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com

"

TRICK OR TREAT! Usually when visitors come a-calling at the Witch's Dungeon, there's a nip in the air, perhaps even frost on the pumpkin, and STEP INSIDE the nighttime streets of Bristol, Connecticut are abuzz with costumed rugrats with their trick-or-treat bags. A magazine's lead time CORTLANDT HULL'S being what it is, however, STARLOG is compelled to make its hadj at the height of a heat wave, arriving not under the autumnal harvest WITCH'S DUNGEON Moon but a fiery summer Sun. As one turns the corner to 90 Battle Street, there in the front yard of TO FACE FAMOUS

Cortlandt Hull's home is the popular local attraction. It's a small chalet- style building with a prominent THE WITCH'S DUNGEON sign MONSTERS—IF YOU DARE! _VAGI LTof TERRORS

STARLOG gorespondent Zacherley (right), that fabled Cool Ghoul, joins biographer Rich Scrivani on this Dungeon tour.

www.starlog.com mounted high on the facade. A full-size figure (Pembroke the Butler) Since I do possess the knack of handing off responsibilities, I've lurks on its front porch, and a partial Frankenstein Monster head is brought along STARLOG's newest gorespondent—Zacherley, the liv- mounted on the door. Inside is a collection of life-size monster figures, ing-legend TV horror host of the 1950s and '60s—to give thumbs-up or all made by Hull, and all in dioramas from their fright films. The down on Hull's little chalet of horrors. "I normally don't come this far, longest running exhibit of its kind in the country, the Witch's Dungeon in broad daylight, to see a horror exhibit. I usually do this late at night!" will hit the big 4-0 when its door opens to the public this month. The the Cool Ghoul blusters, punctuating the comment with a burst of his

2006 schedule sees it in action evenings (7-10 p.m.) October 6-8, 13- trademark mad laughter. 15, 20-22 and 28-31. There's physical evidence that Hull first conceived of the Witch's

Even though the Witch's Dungeon is now entering its fifth decade, Dungeon tours at 12. The doorway entrance isn't much more than five its creator-manager seems to have lost none of the childlike enthusiasm feet high, young Cortlandt apparently having neglected to take future he has always had for the place. "It started out small, of course," says growth into consideration! Zacherley, his biographer Rich Scrivani Hull, who was equally small at the time (just shy of 13 years old!). "But (author of the hot-off-the-presses Goodnight, Whatever You Are!: My it soon got to the point where we would have people waiting in line out Journey With Zacherley, the Cool Ghoul) and I proceed inside, finding to the road, down the street and sometimes even around the corner. It ourselves in a very narrow passageway. The door is closed behind us, became 'the thing to do' at Halloween, and the people around here plunging us into near-total darkness, and the voice of Vincent Price never get tired of it. In the early years, they would bring their kids, and welcomes us to the Dungeon via a specially recorded, customarily in recent years, those kids are bringing their kids! And I still love doing campy message. what I'm doing." An exhibit lights up, drawing our eyes, and we gather around and peer through the Plexiglas barrier at a tableau of the Frankenstein Cool Ghouls Monster in its "natural environment," an electrical laboratory. And this humble STARLOG scribe loves being here—but, truth be Appropriate dialogue from that classic Karloffilm fills the dark air as told, I wasn't quite sure that I was the ideal choice to visit a chamber of we look and listen. That light goes out and another comes on. One by horrors and assess whether it rated on the high or the low end of the one, we take in a total of 13 scream scenes, on alternating sides of the scare scale. Would I fully appreciate the macabre mise en scene! Pick corridor, each drawing us deeper into Hull's house of horrors. up on the occult vibes? Who am I to rate demonic decor? To judge the Other featured creatures include Count Dracula, the Phantom of the fang shui? And, since I'm disqualifying myself, then voodoo I trust to Opera, the WereWolf of London, Kharis the Mummy, the Gill Man, the make these essential appraisals? Fly, Dr. Phibes, Hull's own creepy creation "Zenobia the Gypsy Witch"

All of the Hull dreams of expanding This version of Dungeon's his creep opera to include Lon Chaney Sr.'s denizens were non-genre films and Red Death crafted by Hull. reel props as the Silver (from 1925's Screen Movie Museum. Known as "The The Phantom Norman Bates of the Opera) of Bristol," he cameoed wouldn't hurt on TV's a Fly. Monsters.

As a kid, Hull loved visiting wax museums and chambers of horrors to discover how to make a monster.

Classic Movie Monsters: Copyright 2006 Universal Studios, Inc., Chaney Ent. Inc., Karloff Ent. & Lugosi Ent.

On the HALLOWEEN SCENE cover (page 55): The Creature walks among us! The Black Lagoon icon was re-created by Hull using some of Universal Studios' actual Gill Man molds. STARLOG/November 2006 59 and more. The tight passageway doesn't allow quite enough room for During a California vacation, young Hull breached the walls of the our hackles to rise, so we must settle instead for goose bumps, smaller Ackermansion and met with fabled . The Famous and more space-efficient. The voice of Price is again heard as we exit Monsters of Filmland Editor listened as the 12-year-old described his through a door at the building's rear and back out into the sunlight. dream of making full-sized fiends, then recommended that he visit the

"After whizzing all the way up here through Connecticut, seeing all Don Post Studios. There, on a life-changing day, Post and his partner those normal people," says Zacherley, "I felt very happy when I got Verne Langdon gave him a tour of the factory and walked him through inside that museum there—with my kind of people! Heh heh heh heh!" the process of mask-making. Soon we're rejoined by an overheated-looking Hull, who (while we With Hull inspired by his trip to Horrorwood, preparations for the took our tour) was in a crawlspace above us, activating the lights and grand opening of his brainchild, the Witch's Dungeon, proceeded dur-

sounds of each exhibit as we passed through. It's an unusual way for ing the next few months. Cortlandt worked on the figures, his costume- anyone to spend the last 40 Halloween nights—not to mention this blis- designer mom Dorothea outfitted them and helped put hair on low-end tering August day, when the temperature up in that 's paradise Don Post monster masks, and his painting-contractor dad Robert

had to have hit triple-digits. "Well, what can I tell ya?" grins Hull, still applied the finishing touches to the shed-sized building that would sweating. "I've got monsters in my blood!" house them. The local paper gave them some publicity so that "when

Halloween arrived, we had quite a little crowd from the town.

Universal Horrors Everybody seemed to enjoy it, because it was something different. We

Funnily enough, the story of the Witch's Dungeon actually did had five full-size figures that first Halloween: Zenobia the Witch and begin in Hull's blood, where, when he was a tyke, the monsters appar- then, in Don Post masks, Frankenstein's Monster, the Phantom, Mr. ently scared away many of the immunoglobulins that are essential for Hyde and Count Dracula." normal living. Ascertaining that he suffered from dysgammaglobuline- At that 1966 scream-iere, "The backgrounds were very simple—my mia (longest word in a STARLOG article, ever\), his doctors were dad found some wallpaper that looked like a stone wall. Then as time

faced with the choice of stashing him in a controlled environment a la went on, and my artistic ability improved, I wanted the backgrounds to the Boy in the Plastic Bubble (a Bubble he could then never leave), "or reflect the characters, so that they would be in environments that were pumping me up with antibiotics and gammaglobulin. They picked the like the films," says Hull. "I wanted people to feel that they had stepped

latter. So, I had to be confined to the house most of the time, and home- onto the movie set and got a glimpse at part of it happening. And,

tutored a good bit. between the figures and the voice tracks and the backgrounds, it all "Well, the nice thing about that was, I didn't have to get up early in started to come together." In 1969, the Dungeon's size was doubled

the morning to go to school, and that gave me a little leeway to watch "because by that time it wasn't just local people; they were coming

some late-night television. The very first Universal horror classic I saw from other towns. Other newspapers were picking up the story, and it on TV was Boris Karloff's 1931 Frankenstein, and that hooked me. snowballed." Once I saw that, it was a tradition—I had to stay up every night Improvements in the figures and their surroundings continued after Channel 3 showed the Universals. What really fascinated me was the Hull studied art at the University of Hartford and, perhaps more impor- makeup. It intrigued me how an actor could be transformed into thatX tantly, began getting helpful hints from a supportive pair of newfound Then when the Aurora model kits came along, I started building those, friends, makeup wizards John Chambers and Dick Smith. "That's when and I had to have every one. But I got to the point where I felt that they I began to really refine the characters and sculpt my own heads for the were just too small. To me, the monsters were larger than life." figures, and no longer relied on the Don Post masks," he comments.

Heads up! Hull exercises this Exorcist noggin (a gift from maker Dick Smith), comparing

it to the real Linda Blair.

E.T. phone home to tell Dee Wallace Stone that she and others (Bob Burns, Kevin McCarthy, Chris Lee, etc.) are on the DVD.

Mercy! Young Hull How might a horror dressed up as Ming, hottie host Henry aided by mom Hull, the WereWolf Dorothea (who of London? designed all the Cassandra (Elvira) Dungeon's major Peterson says a costumes). graveyard picnic. 60 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com "John and Dick became my idols because they were such great artists." the artistry involved: makeup, animation, special effects, set design, Chambers and Smith are far from the only genre notables to have costume design. But we won't forget the Witch's Dungeon, the place had a hand.. .or claw.. .or Fly pincer in the success of the Witch's where it all began. We would like to expand that set-up and make it

Dungeon. "Bat Packers" Sara Karloff, Ron Chaney and Bela Lugosi Jr. much larger within the Silver Screen Movie Museum." have trekked to Connecticut to make personal appearances and sign That proposed showplace would give Hull the opportunity to dis- autographs for Dungeon drop-ins. Mark Hamill describes the Witch's play many of the original props in his collection, among them heads of Dungeon in a recording heard by folks as they wait in line. And veter- This Island Earth's Metaluna Mutant, E.T., a Close Encounters of the an cartoon voice actress speaks up as Zenobia the Gypsy Third Kind alien and a Beneath the Planet of the Apes mutant, a Witch once they get inside. Herman Munster headpiece, the sacred golden idol from Raiders of the The wheezy voice of John Agar describes the scene as visitors ogle Lost Ark and more. Hull's diorama for The Mole People, which features one of the "Beasts Both of Hull's parents died in recent years, but the Witch's Dungeon of the Dark" seen in that Agar-starring film. "Despite suffering terribly remains a family affair as his Uncle Louie provides Kenneth from emphysema, John never lost his sense of humor, because later on Strickfaden-esque props for various dioramas, such as electrical appa- he said to me on the phone, 'Y'know, Cortlandt, after reading that ratuses for the Frankenstein Monster exhibit and other gizmos for the voiceover you wrote, I realized that you write just as bad as the guys at Fly scene. In the meantime, of course, "the Norman Bates of Bristol" Universal!' " Hull chuckles. (as he's affectionately known in his community) continues to spread the word about the Witch's Dungeon, regularly taking some of his figures Monster Kids on the road to horror cons and granting media interviews. Other dream projects are now in the works, including The Witch's And the long-awaited Zacherley verdict on the Witch's Dungeon? Dungeon: 40 Years of Chills!, a DVDocumentary about the landmark We ask for it out of Hull's earshot, and it's a cheerful thumbs-up. attraction by Hull and his talented partner, artist Dennis Vincent. It will "Pretty neat, I must say," grins the 87-year-old stage, TV and radio vet- feature vintage photos and film footage of the monster museum and its eran, once again settled into his other, more sedate identity as John horrid inhabitants, plus on-camera appearances by the Bat Packers, Zacherle, Average Citizen. "The figures were great, and I've never seen Ackerman, Smith, Foray, Christopher Lee, Gill Men Ricou Browning a museum where you're so close to the exhibits. Each one was like and Ben Chapman, Dr. Phibes' beloved Caroline Munro, Charles opening a closet door, and suddenly you're face to face with a life-size Herbert, STARLOG favorites Bob Burns and Kevin McCarthy, Basil figure, no more than two feet from your own face. The way the place Gogos, Tom Savini, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, Dee Wallace Stone, Linda was in darkness, and how the lights go on and off to keep you moving Blair, Elvira and even Zacherley, who sits down behind a microphone along—the whole thing was pretty clever. and provides last-minute narration during our visit to the House of Hull. "Cortlandt's a real artist, and he has used all his different abilities to "The people who will enjoy this DVD the most are now commonly create these scenes in these little alcoves, synchronized with the lights called the 'Monster Kid' fans," says Hull, "and one of the key reasons and the dialogue. A great, great idea. What a marvelous way for him to

Dennis and I are doing this is for the love of the genre. But hopefully show off his handiwork." also for the money, because all the proceeds will go toward expanding For information about this fall's Witch's Dungeon activities and the into a much bigger place which we'll call the Silver Screen Movie DVD The Witch's Dungeon: 40 Years of Chills!, visit the website Museum. The name change gives us an opportunity to go beyond hor- (www.preservehollywood.org). Tell them Zacherley—and STAR- ror films and give people an insight into how movies are made, and also LOG—sent you. Heh hen heh heh!

Via taped intro, Vincent Price (here with Hull) welcomes all of Somewhere over ye to abandon hope when entering the Witch's Dungeon. the rainbow, Hull's Abominable Dr. Phibes reunites with his Victoria fan favorite Makeup wizard Caroline Munro. Smith is seen in the DVD The Witch's Dungeon: 40 Years of Chills! Dennis Vincent (right) directed the doc.

Legendary June Foray, the voice of Witch Hazel and Rocky, speaks up as Hull's creation, Zenobia the Gypsy Witch. STARLOG/November 2006 61 he PAINTS WHAT-By WILL MURRAY HE ^f-f^

EVERY DAY IS HALLOWEEN IN CARTOONIST GAHAN WILSON'S

"Don't be a stranger, now that you WEIRD WORLD. know the way!"

"A/oiv that you've come of age, son, "What can I say, kid? I never thought you'd I think it's time your old dad let you in on make it out of horror movies." our little family curse."

AM AN IKsAHltYf

!

I

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Even without words, a Wilson panel can produce thrills, chills and spills. Alas, poor Humpty Dumpty.

62 STARLOG/November 2006 or the multiple award- winning "Master of the Macabre," car-

toonist-illustrator-writer Gahan Wilson, every day is like nHalloween. It all started back when he was "a weird little kid" growing up in Evanston, Illinois. "It was sort of Ray Bradbury country," Wilson recalls. "I always

had a tendency toward the macabre. God knows where it came from, or

why. When I was a really little kid, it was quite enjoyable. As the peri-

od of indoctrination advanced, I realized I was bucking it in a funny way. I also found myself drawn to spooky. Drawn to odd. Drawn to

bizarro. I came across several drawings my mother had saved. Great lit-

tle-kid cartoon drawings. They were spooky as hell. So I was that way inclined." Naturally, the creepy cartoonist-to-be came alive every year on October 31. "I just loved Halloween," he says. "I remember the dime

stores had these fantastic displays of masks, costumes and candies. I loved the taste and smell of masks from inside—especially the little- kid-sweat smell. It was really terrific. I had a red cape with a silly mask

and a hood that was nice. And I had a skeleton outfit. It was strictly a dime-store one. That was fun." Wilson's soulful eyes seem to glow with memories of dark disturb- ing nights of long ago. "The thing that was so fascinating about

Halloween was that it was a kids' holiday," he offers. "The grown-ups

had no control over it. They were completely ruled out. Somehow or other we were allowed to take off. We would get in our little costumes and go out to Trick or Treat, and also to do naughty things. And then

we would come back, and our parents would ask, 'How did it go?' And we would say, 'Fine.' That's all we told them. And they didn't know anything. We were good boys and girls. The dividing line was the good ones used soap when they marked the windows, and the bad ones used wax."

That traditional rite of passage has since passed into Halloween his-

tory. "Now it's being taken over by the grown-ups," Wilson laments.

"They got control of it with the fear thing—the classic fascist maneu- ver. There were the little old ladies with the poisoned cookies or the apples with razor blades in them—all of which are bullshit. So now "To tell the truth, I wish this place hadn't caught on there darling children in their costumes always accompanied with the !" are these by adults. They troop along and do their

little 'Trick or Treat!' thing and take their

candy bars. It's just as sweet as can be, but

it's not Halloween. They've spoiled it completely." Lonesome October Wilson knew his fate from an early age. "I wanted to be a cartoonist from the get-go," he remarks. "There was some-

thing about it. There was no doubt in my

mind. I just constantly drew." While still in high school, Wilson took commercial art courses in Chicago, but the instructors kept trying to teach him to draw "normal."

He couldn't do it; he had to draw horrible. "They were very nice people," he reflects. "Very encouraging. And they did the best they could. But they were trying to teach me to draw like the that they knew." This led Wilson to the Art Institute of Chicago, where he discovered Spanish

artist Francisco de Goya. "I was into Goya. "Well, sir, it looks like things are getting pretty serious for Peter I realized he was brilliant. He was a huge and Pauline." influence. I was constantly copying him." "It's new all right, but it's not very exciting. Gothic cartoonist Charles (TheAddams Family) Addams was another morbid role Infesting these pages are model. "Charlie was very encouraging to me because he was the same a small sample of Wilson's weird sort of weird character that I was—an odd person," says Wilson. "It (and weirder) cartoons as made me feel like we were sending smoke signals. And up comes this previously published in Playboy weird smoke signal from over there. God, it's company, company!" over the last three decades. to York City "Grotesque, fantastic and Wilson's eccentric inclinations ultimately led him New funny"—that's his motto. and the life of a fledgling cartoonist-illustrator in the early 1950s. First stop: Weird Tales—then balanced precariously over a yawning grave. www.starlog.com STARLOG/Novemher 2006 63 —

"At the very end, I did a couple of things for them," OH goY/ 5CHO0CS OUT AMD I'VE he states. "Illustrations for stories. I think I did 0OT THE. WHOLE SUMMER TO something for a poem. And then they were gone. PLAY »W/ AND I VvOM'T HAVE Mcllwraith was a very sweet grey-haired TO STUDY ARITHMETIC FDR, lady. She was completely incongruous as the THREE M0MTH6/

Editor of Weird Tales. I felt very happy to have snuck in there. And, of course, I was delighted as _jEN\£M3£R wow when You time went by to become friends with some of those HAD ALL- THESE e£EAf IPEAS guys. , in particular." TO DO TH IN<35 OKJ YOUR OWfJ ? With the pulps mouldering in their tombs, PWDTHEN FOUND YCUg PATZEHTS UP AGAIN? Wilson tried eking out a meager living as a maga- HAD^OUAULHAHNED zine gag cartoonist. "I had been having a heck of a Wilson dissected the dark side of childhood in Nuts, his regular strip time trying to sell cartoons," he relates. "At that in National Lampoon.

They're off to see—and slaughter The Wizard of Odd in this scene Wilson re-imagined for National Lampoon.

"I think I won!"

point, I was very threatening in my humor and my whole approach. I could only sell to obscure third-grade markets where editors didn't give too much of a shit. So these guys would buy my weird cartoons. Mostly they would laugh and say, 'These are great, kid. But our readers won't understand them.' And that was the mantra. As far as the big-time mag- azines went, my cartoons just scared the heck out of them." One such market, Collier's, finally purchased one when an inexpe- rienced art director took over. That tluke compelled the old cartoon edi- tor—who had moved over to Look—to give Wilson a second viewing. He began to make a living, and through the '50s and into the '60s, the recognizably off-center Wilson brand of one-panel gag cartoons gradu- ally emerged. One early bright spot was Help.', 's upscale version of MAD, published by Hugh Hefner. This led to Playboy, then the upstart National Lampoon, where he did a darkly bent version of Peanuts which he called Nuts.

"My God!" he exclaims. "Nuts spawned I don't know how many comic strips. That was based on these little social engines where they start training you early on to fit into society—which they must do. 'This is right and this is wrong.' It's well-intentioned, but it's all pretty dumb. So kids are forced to fit in. Mostly, you find that grown-ups confine you "Oh-oh!" to this very limited idea of who you are. So you're chopped off from lots of stuff, and you're not in touch with it, unless you're lucky enough penned three novels and many short stories—some humorous, some to in be the arts—or do meditation." horrific. "Horror and humor really are identical," he expounds. "It's a

Then came The New Yorker, where Wilson offers a distinctly less question as to which it is. Someone once said, 'Humor is the grotesque horrible brand of humor. But he has never sold out. He's still cheerful- approach to the mood of playing.' The best definition of a joke I ever ly weird. And in addition to numerous cartoon anthologies, Wilson has heard was: A joke is a dispatch and wreckage of a train of thought.'

64 STARLOC/November 2006 Happy Halloween! Wilson's gags have also been on view in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and, appropriately, Help!

7 must say this planet is having an odd "Harriet? You'll never guess "You're not thinking effect on our astronauts," who's here!" intergalactic, Olson!"

"When you tell a joke, you prepare somebody with a smile," he con- laugh, either. tinues. "Then you set them up with a plausible situation, a very guess- "One of the greatest stories about that," the cartoonist adds, "is

able solution and lead them down a rosy path. Suddenly, it all falls some guy living in the same apartment building as Franz Kafka was apart. And they laugh. It's the same thing with a horror story. walking down the corridor. And he could hear from Kafka's apartment

Successful culmination is a non-language reaction. If it really scares [Wilson gleefully cackles]. It was Kafka breaking himself up over the them, they go 'Aaahh!' or 'Ha! Ha! Ha!' It's a release. They're both lib- giant-bug story [The Metamorphosis]. It was hilarious!" erating. And that's what feels so good." While his cartoon style mixes both in equal doses, Wilson prefers to Graveside Manner leave the humor out of his more ghoulish horror tales. "The whole point Wilson grows philosophical when the mordant morbidity of his car-

of a cartoon is to make you laugh," he observes. "But a short story is toons is cited. "Life is horrible," he notes. "We often have to deal with

something different. I'll set out to scare the shit out of you if I possibly awful things, and this is a way to make it possible to look at things that

can. I don't salt-and-pepper the thing. One great inspiration early on are otherwise intolerable. I'm taking stuff that's difficult to make sense occurred while I was writing a horror story and hit upon this idea. I of—death, mutilation, cancer, grief, loss, horror—and somehow look-

said, 'Oooh, that's too awful!' Then I realized, 'Jeez, that means it's ing at it. Otherwise, you wince and cower. You can't deal with it. So it's good!' If you don't scare yourself, you won't scare anybody. And if you a healthy thing." Still, the bizarre juxtaposition of humor and horror is don't make yourself laugh, you're not going to make anybody else what tickles Wilson's funny bone best. "It's interesting," he quips. "If www.starlog.com STARLOG/iVovemter 2006 65 — —

you have a badly made horror movie, peo- tion," he muses. "Then you're eagerly wait- ple laugh. And if you have a badly made ing to see what the hell they're going to say comedy, people scream." next. It's amazing. You're summoning spir-

Even some of Wilson's biggest fans its from the vasty deep. You really are. I'll don't realize he played a zombie in Tom be doing something, and sometimes I'll

Savini's 1990 remake of George Romero's scare the heck out of myself. Or I'll crack Night of the Living Dead. "I had met myself up and like Kafka be laughing and

George, and I had been pestering him for- laughing. It's magical." ever on that," he remembers. "Finally, they were going to do the remake, and this guy Even weirder called up and said, 'George says would you Wilson is breaking new ground these " like to be a zombie?' I said, 'Damn right.' days. His latest children's book, Didn't

For the diehard Trick or Treater, being Didn't Do It, with Bradford Morrow, has splattered with gore and unleashed on ordi- So far, the artist is satisfied with only one media just been released by Putnam. And he's nary humans was Halloween on Earth. "I'm adaptation: Gahan Wilson's Diner. working on his first graphic novel. "I've very pleased and proud to have been a zom- been playing with it seriously now for three bie," he deadpans. "I'm particularly noticible. They shot the damned months," he reveals. "About a month and a half ago, the baby started thing in darkness, practically, so you can't see any of the zombies. The kicking in the womb. The characters began to tell me about it. So it's only time you see a zombie is in the scene where the people make their healthy." break from the house. The hero has a torch, and this awful zombie While reticent about specific plot details, Wilson does drop obscure lunges toward him and the girl. You can see me very clearly. So I'm the hints. "It's essentially Swiftian science fiction. Very much commentary only really visible zombie throughout the entire movie. And that was sort of stuff. It's referential to many trends presently afoot. I've got an very touching." extremely touching hero and heroine, and the big thing is it has a neat

The demented chuckles a Wilson cartoon usually elicits make his concept. I like it. It's transformational and ends up in a happy, satisfac- work unique, yet he has a simple description of the quintessential tory way. I've got a working title: Podsters. I haven't even approached

Gahan Wilson cartoon: "It should be funny. I like to do grotesque, fan- a publisher yet. I want to get it done before I present it to anybody." tastic stuff. So it should be grotesque, fantastic and funny." Once that's done, Wilson harbors only one unrealized artistic ambi- Thousands upon thousands of grotesque yet funny cartoons later, tion. "I would like to make a really good movie," he admits. "But I've the now 76-year-old former little weird kid can't seem to stop doodling. been blocked. I've done one good thing that worked. Twentieth Century

Strangely, Wilson finds that the simple art of grisly-gag cartooning Fox made this little short, Gahan Wilson 's Diner, and it's terrific. That's

it. I did this other thing, supposedly based on Nuts,

for a Showtime special. I fought like a tiger on that. Then they brought in these 'wonderful' people... What a waste of time that was. It's OK in bits and

pieces. But by no means do I feel unique or put

upon, because that's such a cliche. I'm still game. And I know I could make a really good movie."

In the meantime, Wilson is the subject of a forth- coming film. "Steven Charles laffe, who executive- produced Ghost, is doing a documentary on me, which is fun," he says. "We've been friends for a

long time. He did a little interview, and now it's

grown like Topsy. He's filming interviews with all kinds of amazing people, and then he's going to put

in stuff from The New Yorker and Playboy. It's not a

hobby now. It's a movie."

These days, Wilson's work often graces The New Yorker. Recognition has come late in life, yet Wilson

admits he's bewildered by it. "Actually, I've doesn't get any harder with time and repe- had a very weird last five years or so," he tition. "No," he says. "If anything, you just observes. "It has been extremely strange, get more skilled. I think I'm doing some of because I've gotten all sorts of life achieve- the best work I've ever done. So far ment awards. I've also discovered that all knock wood I on — seem to be getting bet- these astonishing people—whom I didn't ter at it. There's no bottom to the thing. even think knew I existed—really, really Whatever this thing is that I'm digging into like my stuff. It's baffling and astounding. is huge. The conscious me is minuscule. So Al Hirshfeld said if you get old enough, this trance state that I put myself into in they start giving you awards. But it's a little order to enter my creative mode, I'm get- scary. It has the opposite effect of what you ting better and better at it. I know I'm onto would think. It's very humbling." something when the thing starts working on As he looks back on the groaning its own. It just chugs along by itself. It's an wreckage of his crazy-quilt career, the car- odd chugging along; it's this bigger part of toonist is hardly thinking of his epitaph. me. When you get right down to it, it's all But he's Gahan Wilson, so it's natural incredibly weird." maybe even expected—to ask which of his As Wilson talks about his personal cre- multitudinous macabre cartoons might ative process, you would think he was look best on his cracked tombstone. "Oh, I channeling Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft have no idea," Mr. Halloween confesses. or maybe Ramtha. "There's that wonderful "I couldn't isolate one. I think probably thing that every writer experiences, where my best book title was I Paint What I See. you'll just be sitting there typing away and So that might be it: I PAINT WHAT I these characters have this whole conversa- "Kill!" SEE." #

66 STARLOG/Wovemfe/- 2006 www.starlog.com This holiday season. ..why not give in. . - T

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You can fax: 212-889-7933 or e-mail: [email protected] !f you saw 28 Days Later, you're certain to have noticed Naomie lying—what they truly want most vs. what they're saying they want. Harris, the African-American woman who joins a haggard little She's very in touch with the elements of nature, and is unpredictable band of survivors in zombie-infested London. Harris has been and fiery. You never quite know what she's thinking." acting in her native England since childhood, and appeared in After Although Harris usually plays parts that show off her lovely fea- the Sunset and the critically-praised Tristram Shandy: A Cock and tures, she welcomed the chance to transform into the eccentric Tia Bull Story. On the genre front, she played Romana in a couple of Dalma. "There's something liberating about playing a character and Dinotopia episodes and logged time as Ami Jackson in The not having to worry about the way you look or [trying to] be attrac- Tomorrow People. tive in a conventional way," she explains. "You can find other ways Now, thanks to two 2006 films {Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead of being attractive, and that's what I love about Tia Dalma. She's an Man's Chest, Michael Mann's Miami Vice movie), she's on the brink immensely attractive and sensual character, but not in [the tradition-

of stardom. In Miami Vice, she essays undercover cop Trudy Joplin, al sense]. It makes you explore what sensuality, sexuality and being

girl friend of Detective Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx). But glamour attractive is all about. She has power and an essence and belief in isn't her thing in the Pirates of the herself." Caribbean outings—she's in the third, too, PRESS A COIN IN Tia Dalma is introduced in Dead Man 's out next summer. Her character, Tia Dalma, Chest, but will have more to do in the third is a Jamaican voodoo queen with twisted NAOMIE HARRIS' PALM AND movie (At World's End), as she ships out to hair and truly awful teeth. help rescue Captain Jack Sparrow. We'll "She's a mysterious character," Harris SHE'LL GLADLY FORETELL learn more about her past relationship with says. "Tia Dalma is a soothsayer and a for- Captain Jack, and perhaps a bit about why tune teller. She's able to see when people are YOUR GRISLY DOOM. she looks the way she does.

VOODOO QUEEN 68 STARLOG/November 2006 www.starlog.com Sunset Photo: Glen Wilson/Copyright 2004 New Line Cinema | In real life, sure to work with because he's so giving." is if Harris an She found Pirates director Gore Verbinski and Miami Vice direc- I up-and-coming tor Michael Mann "surprisingly similar, because they're both per- I young actress. fectionists. They both push actors to find depths they don't realize Here's how they have. It was challenging working with them, but I always love she looks to be pushed and to discover new things about myself and my capa- without fantastic bilities." makeup in reel Her family originally came from Jamaica, so it wasn't difficult life (the movie dealing with Tia Dalma's Jamaican accent, but in Miami Vice her After the character has a Bronx inflection. Harris had to switch back and forth Sunset). between the two because she was shooting Miami Vice at the same time she was filming scenes for both Pirates movies. "[Making

Miami Vice was hard], especially because I decided to live on Miami Beach. You never think about the partying going on all the time dur- ing the day; trying to sleep when everyone else is partying is a bad idea." In the Caribbean, she often spent her off-time from the Pirates "I never played a character before

where I had to wear so much makeup," she grins. "I've never worn a wig, except in Miami Vice, but nothing that

big and dramatic. I had rotten teeth, red

eyes, and I was worried about it; I

thought it would be uncomfortable. But

actually, I enjoyed it, because I was able to hide behind all of that and feel much more present in Tia Dalma." Voodoo queens like Tia Dalma weren't uncommon in the Caribbean back in the 18th and 19th centuries, like the infamous Marie Lebeau of New Orleans. However, Harris didn't do much research. "There's some reality to her, but she's a fantastical kind of fig-

ure," she notes. "So ultimately it was about going into the realm of fantasy, and using my imagination to create the character. [The process involved] a lot of sitting in my room and imagining scenarios, acting as her, making noises and disturbing my neighbors!" Harris can't remember when she didn't want to be an actress. She grew up in North London, then started acting when she was nine, attending a theater school. She got her first agent through that school, and went right into chil- dren's television. "I've worked nonstop since then," she says. "I went to Cambridge University and studied in social and physical sciences; I production playing cards with Kevin McNally, who plays Captain did take somewhat of a break from acting then, but I also continued Jack's stalwart first mate in all three films. Harris had already to do theater while I was at University. worked with him in Crust (2001), about a six-foot boxing shrimp. "I was bullied at school, so I was intent on leaving at 16, but my "He was very sweet to me then, and he was very sweet to me on Mom begged me to stay on for just two more years and get further Pirates'' she notes. qualifications. I had a really inspirational teacher who believed in For the two Pirates, not surprisingly, Harris spent lots of time on me; he made me fall in love with social and physical sciences. He the water. "I didn't think about it at all when I signed up to do the was the one who said, 'You have the potential to go to Cambridge, movies, which was kind of crazy," she chuckles. "I had never been and you should do that.' I really enjoyed it." on a ship before, but I discovered that once I got on, I was OK. But She also enjoyed working with Johnny Depp on Pirates. "I did there were other people throwing up over the sides!" not have any preconceptions about him, to be quite honest," remarks Though Pirates and Miami Vice are big-scale films, both Tia Harris. "When I know I'm going to work with somebody, I tend to "Commercial fare doesn't attract me; it's the character: try not to watch their work, or even read things about them, or to Dalma and Trudy intrigued me," Naomie Harris offers. "The scale

have any ideas about who they are, because it doesn't help to get to doesn't matter, whether it's low budget or a huge blockbuster. I look know the real them. Johnny is incredibly refreshing; he has a for interesting roles that take me in new directions—and let me do r European feel about him. He's amazingly down-to-Earth and a plea- another accent!" •j$S

By BILL WARREN f*e CARIBBEAN STARLOG/November 2006 69 Your

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' 5- P wJrf^H HBI ^.mBil HI Marvelous! Making more movie magic, director Christopher Nolan turned his talents toward adapting Christopher Priest's novel rhe prestige.

Are you watching closely? Christopher Nolan has The Prestige hidden up his sleeve.

J.R.R. Tolkien once warned, "Do [movie's] narrative had to be handled in an have to wait until we finish to judge it, but so not meddle in the affairs of wiz- unusual and more challenging way to far I have to say that we've definitely made Asards, for they are subtle and quick achieve some of the novel's effects, so we the film we set out to make," he remarks. to anger." Pity that admonition was needed to find interesting cinematic equiva- "It's not for us to say whether it's any good ignored by Alfred Borden and lents. or not, but we like it. Right now, we're mix- Rupert Angier, the dueling magicians in "I've always been drawn to material that ing the music, and then we'll start our final Christopher Priest's fabulous 1995 novel requires a layering of narrative and has to be mix, so we've got about a month left, just

The Prestige. Set in Victorian-era England, it carefully thought through and worked on polishing, tweaking and finishing things follows the careers of two leading stage per- with precision over a long period of time to off."

formers as their paths cross and re-cross over hone it down to the two hours that the audi- Unlike other genre pictures that general- many years, often with disastrous results. ence is going to watch it for. I like to make ly rely on a massive number of visual FX Told in epistolary fashion, the nonlinear sto- and to watch the kind of films that if you see shots that take up many months of post-pro- ryline presented major difficulties for a pos- them a second time, you'll get something duction time, The Prestige is filled with old- sible big-screen adaptation. different and you'll view them in a slightly fashioned FX magic that is performed on the But for Christopher Nolan—the British- new way." day. "It's certainly helpful that we got as born filmmaker who earned critical acclaim much in-camera—and as much up there on for the notoriously complex Memento and The Set-up the screen—as possible before we went into revived a comic book icon with Batman It's Friday night in LA, and the post-pro- the realm of visual effects," he says. Begins—this was exactly the sort of project duction clock is ticking loudly. Nolan only "We set out with 100 shots budgeted, but that appeals to him. "Certainly there are has a few weeks left to wrap up his work on we're going to come in closer to 75, which is many fascinating structural ideas that the The Prestige for its October 20 release date, very modest for a film with a SF element,

book immediately suggests," he says. "The but it finally appears that the end is near. "I and a period film at that. There's no substi-

www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 71 —

the film is very different," explains Nolan. "The book contains different ideas and pos- sibilities, and we had to hone down the things that we felt would best suit the cin- ematic adaptation, so we had to make many tough choices in that regard. There are plenty of things that carry straight over from the novel, but there's also quite a bit that has been twisted and used in new ways. This needed to be a loose adaptation, because the book is so sprawling that we

had to trim it down to the two main charac- ters and focus everything on them. We're actually encouraging people to see the film

before they read the book, because it will preserve some of the surprises." The Performance In order to streamline Priest's original narrative, Nolan and his brother have dis- carded the present-day framing structure, tute for shooting things right and getting legendary stage magi- which proved unworkable in the film. "We them in-camera. We don't attempt to show cians Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier felt we had to, because we've got a structure magic tricks on screen and impress people meeting up in the present-day. The narrative that represents narratives within narratives, with that, because it's never going to be par- then cuts back and forth between each magi- so we literally had three or four framing ticularly impressive in a movie, where a cian's respective memoirs, recounting the devices in the movie and camera can be an effective tool for manipu- events that led up to their conflict. For no room for the present- kinal lation. What we do instead is allow the idea Angier, the sore point is an illusion that day one whatsoever," he jsn>t the of magic and the structure of a magic trick Borden performs on stage called "The observes. "When I started magician and some of the motions such as misdirec- Transported Man," and when Angier creates the project, I had but thal Borden is, tion to seep into the actual bones of the — a more elaborate version of the trick, called lonathan try a draft where tne showman to film and the way in which the cinematic nar- "In a Flash," Borden's own professional we pulled it back a gener- Knows how thrill a rative is put together." pride is affected, setting a series of events in ation, so rather than it really with his Nolan first heard about The Prestige motion that results in tragedy for both magi- being present day, it was crowd when executive producer Valerie Dean cians. WWII era, and instead of passed him a copy of the novel just before The book's title—a name actually coined being the grandchil- they began shooting Memento. "That was six by Priest (STARLOG #346), now being used dren, it was the chil- or seven years ago, and I thought it would by some magicians—refers to the third stage dren. But it had to go, make a great movie, but I was working on something else at the time, so I tried to inter- est my brother Jonathan in taking on the writing portion of things," says Nolan. "Luckily, he was as in- This trigued by the subject matter and Astounding! Nolan's second the story as I was, so we set off on is Bale. film with this long-range collaboration. I The pair will would say it took us the full six or collaborate yet seven years that we've been work- agaminTheDark ing on this to exactly sequel crack what we jj^fgftt, the wanted it, Begins, to do with which was a t0 Batman tricky problem." As the director recalls, the main attraction of Priest's novel was the world and characters he pre- sented within those pages. "There's something unique and fascinating of an illusion. As explained by because there wasn't room for it. The about the characteristics and psy- I Borden, the first stage is "the set- Prestige is such a dense film as it is, and as I chology of somebody who makes up," in which the nature of the said, we already have at least three or four magic," Nolan elaborates, "and the period illusion is hinted at or explained. In "the per- framing devices to replace it." element was relevant in that the stakes are formance," the magician's lifetime of experi- Despite the structural changes, the direc- very high. At the turn of the century, magi- ence and skill as a performer combine to tor insists that the story's emotional core cians were the rock stars of their day, mas- produce the magical display. And the final remains intact. "Our take on the rivalry sive stars in a way that they're not anymore. stage is called "the effect" or "the prestige." between them—what precipitates it and how This was the beginning of cinema, pre-tele- If a rabbit is pulled out of a hat, for example, it develops—is somewhat different from the vision, pre-radio and all of that, so they were that rabbit—which didn't exist before the book, but to achieve the same ends, it was huge. That's why the stakes of the story, the trick—is the prestige. But as readers eventu- important that we balance everything," rivalry between them and the difference ally discover, the word has a much greater Nolan offers. "There's no clear good guy between success and failure in that field is significance that isn't revealed until the final and bad guy or, to put it more accurately, massive, the way it is for movie stars today." pages. your perception of who the good guy and For those unfamiliar with the book, The "If you've read the book, you're both at bad guy are shifts continuously throughout Prestige opens with the descendants of the an advantage and a disadvantage, because the film."

72 SThRLOG/November 2006 Finding the right actors to play Borden and Angier was crucial, and Nolan struck gold in casting Christian Bale (star of Nolan's Batman Begins) and Hugh Jackman respectively. "One of the things that my brother put into the script as a strong ele- ment is the distinction between these two magicians," says Nolan. "Borden is a natur- al magician, who has the ability to invent a trick and see how another magician does it, so he knows the methods innately.

It's in his bones, but he can't under- stand the relationship of the per- former to the audience. "Angier is not as much of a natur- al magician, so he doesn't have the aptitude or ability to invent a trick or immediately pick up how another magic consults magician performs it. But he has a wonderful and innate understand- ing of stagecraft and how to present a trick to an audience, how to sell it and how to impress them with it. That dis- tinction is extremely important. ugubrious figure performing "We needed them to have that mindset, the

"As a director, I was really worried with skill, but somehow it's fluidity of movement in their hands and all reading the script that it was a subtlety mechanical and unfriendly to that other stuff that had to be developed, and that would be visually impossible to pre- an audience. It's combative, whereas Hugh Ricky was really good at drilling them on sent," he admits. "How do you show a magi- comes to life on stage, and he has this charis- that. He also has a wealth of knowledge cian doing good magic badly, or a magician ma and rapport with the audience that not about the history of magic." doing bad magic really well? It's one of only is he very skilled at, but he believes it's Nolan also assembled a top-notch sup- those things that you can pull off in a novel, the most important thing there is. And these porting cast that includes his Batman Begins but how are you going to show that in a film? two guys just embody [those qualities]." star Michael Caine as Angier's ingenieur,

"In casting, I was mindful of actors who Determined to have his actors convincing Cutter; Scarlet Johansson (Jackman's Scoop could get that across and, as it turns out, I as stage magicians, Nolan signed them up co-star) as Olivia, the sexy magician's assis- think that element is clearly presented in the for a crash course in the art of illusion. "We tant; Andy Serkis as Mr. Alley, assistant to picture. Christian has a wonderful ability to brought on Ricky Jay [who also has a small the legendary inventor Nikola Tesla; and shield and close himself off from the audi- role in the film] as a magic consultant, and David Bowie as Tesla. "There are some fan- ence as he performs, so you see this rather he got those guys up to speed," says Nolan. tastic people in the movie," Nolan declares

,1

www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 73 Twists Startling! abound and turns Prestige. in The with obvious excitement. "It's Nolan cautions movie is partly that snowballing thing that his -. different that you sometimes get when Very the book. you're casting a picture. If you from were can land a couple of great Changes made to streamline leads—and in this case, we got the narrative Christian, Michael and Hugh to sign on—people become interested in the project." One of Nolan's most intriguing casting choices was Bowie. "Being the only real-life figure in the film, and the way he plays in the story, you have to invest a massive amount of faith and belief in Tesla's abilities as a scientist. Nolan points out. "He's a Mephistophelian character, so I was looking for someone with enormous charisma and presence. He had to be an extraordinary figure, but I wasn't look- ing for a movie star. I felt that any actor—or anybody whose charisma derived from other

a BBC production, so we approached things

in a much more contemporary fashion. I wanted to break down that barrier between

period movies and the audience. I wanted The Prestige to be a film, not a period film." To that end, Nolan brought in talented production designer Nathan Crowley, who had previously created a stunning vision hen°menal! of for Batman Begins. "One What'si«„? the scoo„ of his massive talents is finding a real on Scarlett place that looks rather different from what Johansson and you want, and saying, 'With a few small Jackman? The changes and stylistic touches, we can trans- Prestige is the second form one location into another extremely time this easily!' " notes year they've Nolan. "And that's what he appeared did on The Prestige. He used his eye to spot in a film together. unlikely locations and make them work for what we needed. "Nathan's ability is to look at things side-on, if you like; that kind of lateral

thinking. And it makes all the difference. He gets maximum scale for the resources you have. On The Prestige, we set out to make a film performances—would have a hard time possible and make people small film. We didn't spend much money, selling that sense of otherworldliness. David look at it from a fresh per- and we kept everything efficient. But when completely epitomized that; he seems dis- spective. Obviously, choosing to shoot it in we looked at the nearly finished product, to tinct from the rest of us." the 'wrong' place was a great way of doing our surprise, it has a huge scope. Much of that, because when you lense a period pic- that came from the variety of looks that my The Prestige ture in London, you always end up filming DP [Wally Pfister] and designer got into the Aiming to re-create the novel's period in Covent Garden or some country house, material." feel, Nolan decided to shoot The Prestige blah, blah, blah. I didn't want this to feel like While on the subject of Batman, Nolan outside of the UK. It's a topic he doesn't like to discuss in depth, only because he does not want moviegoers to be distracted by his choice of Staggering locations. He did, however, Nolan hired Andy avoid the easy choice of lens- Serkis(lett)to Alley, ing in Prague. "It always play Mr. assistant to looks like Prague, but more inventor Nikola lhan that, the primary thing is Tesla (David it affects everybody's work on Bowie, center). the production, because peo pie get into a rut in terms of how they represent certain architecture and time periods in a film," says Nolan. "I was looking to contempo- rize the movie in every way

74 STARLOG/November 2006 will soon be turning his attention to The Dark Knight, the much-anticipated sequel to his 2005 blockbuster Batman Begins. There have already been announcements about big-name casting decisions (notably Heath Ledger as the Joker), but the director isn't about to tip his hand at the moment. "I've

already started on it," he discloses, "but

we're still in the very early development stages. We start shooting at the end of January, and we'll be on location both in the U.S. and UK." And afterward, Nolan confirms Spectacular, tru^yjp^^ that he will be helming a big-screen Prestige ,n remake of The Prisoner, based on the y°u nrorn j Ses. classic '60s TV series starring Patrick But the director McGoohan as Number Six, a former also pledges isnt secret agent imprisoned in the Village that his film period by mysterious captors. "It's still early a "pretty days on that," he says. "David and picture." Janet Peoples are off writing the script and hopefully coming up with something great."

With the success of Batman Begins films, I used to be able to beg, final verdict until the movie is finished in a

and the anticipation for The Prestige, is borrow and steal and not pay few weeks, he's awfully happy with what he Nolan now leaning toward so-called people to do things. That's no has put together so far. "In terms of texture,

"tent-pole" pictures? "I don't know. longer the case. So making it's a very tactile film. The Prestige is beau-

When they say 'franchise director,' it another low-budget film tiful, but in a contemporary way. We made it sounds like you've been doing corporate would be tricky. But no, I don't see any rea- in quite a scrappy fashion, and tried to dive

videos for McDonald's!" he laughs. "The son at all why I can't continue telling stories in there with a hand-held camera and not

truth is, movies are movies, and there are that interest me—whatever the scale may give the actors any marks to hit. And we great things to do in big movies and great be." tried not to make a pretty period picture. The

things to do in small movies. I think the only Which brings us back to The Prestige. movie is beautiful but accessible. The

restrictions I face are that, on my small Although Christopher Nolan reserves his Prestige truly puts you in that world."

Wondrous! How many magicians d °es it take to screw in a light bulb? An illuminating account of competition and . conjury, The | |Presf/greDremjeres j 1 October 20.

• www.starlog.com^^M i STAKLOG/November 2006 75 1 These X-Men used their cinemagic to imagine this mutant world.

a working film pro- and, in some way, they're mythical. I prefer Touringduction can be a great , to look at them from a low angle—like deal like playing a 3-D vS|, you see the statues on the Parthenon. version of Connect the You're looking up at them. They're

Dots. This is especially I big. They're towering. Because of true when the project is 20th f that key, it was very easy for me to Century Fox's X-Men: The Last walk in and start shooting this pic- Stand, which is populated by more ture." than 20—count 'em! —different Spinotti jumped into The Last ma jor mutants. Stand when Brett (Rush Hour) Ratner During the movie's shooting on suddenly replaced departing director the outdoor Vancouver set dressed Matthew Vaughn. There wasn't much to look like the Alcatraz prison time to review the previous X-Men yard, for example, one can't help movies. "I barely saw them," he admits. "I hut notice a gaping hole in an exte- watched them at double speed on DVD.

rior wall. What made that? Un- Once I scouted all the main big sets we fortunately, nobody will talk about needed—like the Golden Gate Bridge—and it. Certainly not director of pho- looked at the green-screen situation, I made tography Dante (Red Dragon) the changes to shoot my idea of what the Spinotti. It's not his department. lighting should be. This was highly facilitat- "I connect this film to Greek ed by the quality of the production design myth," he offers. " These char- and everything else, like the beauty inher- acters are bigger than life ent in all these characters: From the blue

76 STARLOG/Mww/w 2006 Every time a Storm (Halle Practical FX bell rings, an Berry) got were mostly Angel gets the chance used for his wings. to more fully Kelsey Visual FX show off her Grammer's supervisor powerful . CG John Bruno mutant skills was only & crew this time. employed for helped stunts that realize the couldn't be original done X-Man. physically.

Mystique to the red hair of Jean Grey to the the script. This is how Patrick gets younger "I had to write a synopsis of the Dark ^ costumes... They're a good lead into this and younger. So now we know that this Phoenix effects from the movie's beginning 3 mythical approach." technique works. It's groundbreaking to the end," he continues. "Basically, I look 3 Fortunately, if you talk to enough peo- stuff." at the film's effects as a character. There's a £ ™o ple, the pieces start falling into place. Visual As far as how this cinematic facelift is moment in the movie where Jean becomes FX supervisor John (ALIEN vs. Predator) accomplished, Bruno only smiles coyly. "I the Phoenix, and you see the transforma- ° Bruno is showing off one of The Last can't tell you. It's a company called Lola, tion. Those character beats have to start £ Stand's innovations. On a laptop, he's "de- and they've been doing this in small doses, small and follow through, and then they end | aging" Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick but never dialogue scenes where people are big. As you watch what is happening to and g * Stewart, who play respective rivals walking and talking. This is really hard." around Jean, you won't be taken out of the Magneto (a.k.a. Erik Lensherr) and Pro- Bruno does disclose that old stills and film." I fessor Charles Xavier. "The opening scene archival footage of the actors play a big role takes place in 1985," he says. "Erik and in the transformation. "This story is more Mutant Storms I Charles meet Jean Grey, hut they have to be complicated than the last two combined," Wirework is a major component of The 8 20 years younger. We just filmed them nor- he observes. "And the visuals are equally as Last Stand, and not just because of the addi- | mally, and didn't really know how we were complicated. What makes The Last Stand tion of the winged Angel (Ben Foster). -g

going to do [the age change]." more difficult is trying to keep things locked "Storm flies a lot in this movie," relates 55

Bruno taps a key and Stewart's face into reality. The past X-Men films estab- Bruno. "And she's at the core of the light- «j begins to melt. Pretty soon, he's back to lished that the effects aren't the reason the ning and a tornado that she creates. Halle ^ looking like he did in the first season of Star story works. This isn't fantasy. Everybody's Berry has performed everything herself, ^ is We'll remove Trek: The Next Generation in 1987. "I mutant powers are based on something in which pretty spectacular. J always wanted to try this," Bruno grins. "I the physical world. So keeping everything the wires and add the weather later on. And x had a theory, and they wrote the scene into realistic is especially tough. we're taking Iceman [Shawn Ashmore] to < www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 77 — —

Pursued by the However, the big, blue and hairy Beast relentless (Kelsey Grammer) is—for the most part Juggernaut, practical FX. "We only use CG on Beast when Kitty Pryde someone can't perform the physical stunt," (Ellen Page) explains Bruno. "Beast has some trademark leads Jimmy (Cameron moves from the comics where we need to use Bright) through CGI because it could hurt somebody. But a series of we're doing as much practically as possible. walls in one of We'll start something practically, take it over

The Last to CGI and finish it in reality." Stand's most Several mutants face off in this installment, thrilling but one confrontation in particular stands out. sequences. "The Kitty Pryde-Juggernaut chase is excit- ing," Bruno enthuses. "She can phase through stuff and not be stopped, and Juggernaut The beauty inherent smashes through things like a bulldozer." in each character impressed That sequence has Juggernaut (Vinnie cinematographer Jones) pounding after Kitty (Ellen Page) Dante Spinotti through several rooms—and their separating "from the blue walls. "Part of the process is that the walls are Mystique to already broken out," says Bruno. "Then we the red hair of use the computer to fill in the holes and make ' Jean Grey to ?f them whole again. When Kitty runs through the costumes..." one of the walls, there's a desk in the next

room, and we're creating a CG desk [so it looks like] she's running through that, too. And as Juggernaut breaks through the wall, he also crashes through the desk. The debris will be created by computer.

"This allows us to follow them at real speed, which lends reality to the scene. We have lasers that scan the holes, so when the actor goes through a wall, we know where they're coming through. Afterward, we'll add CG cement exploding. This way, we're getting 90 percent of what we want in-camera. There's

only one moment where Juggernaut is CG, the level of the comics. He ices up for real, and Cables popping, stones falling, metal that will be entirely CGI. You'll actually see bending—Magneto's relocation of the through him." Golden Gate Bridge allows the Several new characters had to be created Brotherhood entry to the Alcatraz set from scratch. "The concept of Colossus is that created by he becomes this solid-steel guy," Bruno notes. production "We digitally scanned Daniel Cudmore, and designer we got a reference [of the comics character] Ed from Marvel. Every time we film Daniel, we Verreaux. have to put all these tracking markers on him so we can create a CG Colossus. Mostly, we're tracking Daniel with CG skin, and keeping it away from [the T-1000 in] 72. We're using the real actor; we just Chroma his face, hands and arms." and that's when he bursts through an outside Bruno beli wall. Physically, that couldn't safely be done The Last Stand's by a stuntman." The mystery of the exterior visuals were more wall damage is solved: It's a Juggernaut hole! complicated than the last two movies Danger combined. Keeping Rooms The Last Stand represents a second chance everything realistic was particularly for production designer Ed (The Scorpion difficult. King) Verreaux. He was on board the first X- Men movie, but after production shut down for a few months, he had moved on to another project and was unavailable to return when shooting resumed. "We're staying with the

tone [of the first two films], trying to keep it fairly real and then let what happens be fan- tastic," he comments. "A supersonic jet trans-

port coming out of a hole in the ground is kinda fantastic. Other than that, things are fair- ly straightforward, and Brett has been on

78 STARLOG/Vovemfcer 2006 —

board with that. The props and sets aren't so visually off the wall that you go, 'Whoa! Look at that!' Everything integrates with the X-Men look." Alterations and renovations were kept to a minimum. "Brett wanted to change the X-jet more, but he couldn't—it was a financial thing," discloses Verreaux. "He couldn't

rework it that much, but I updated the controls and made the interior more like a real airplane.

I would have liked to change the seats, too." One of the major sequences takes place in the fabled Danger Room—the booby-trapped exercise arena where mutants-in-training per-

fect their survival skills. It's a setpiece from the comics that the fans have been clamoring crew set up a couple of huge dump tanks, and

for, and which almost made it into the earlier all these stunt guys had to run toward these films. "They had a Danger Room designed things. A giant, 10-foot-tall wave came blast-

[for X-Men], but they never built it," Verreaux ing out and knocked all of them on their backs. divulges. "On the second movie, they came up We had to rent a bunch of showers and hot with a Danger Room sequence and built part tubs to warm the men back up. We couldn't of it, but then they decided they couldn't just give them a cup of coffee—they would

afford [to finish] it. This time, the studio said, have ended up with hypothermia."

'We really want to have it. This is an X-Men thing.' Trap Doors

"It's a big, round room. I've simplified it Next, it's off for a quick tour of the stand-

somewhat. You don't see as much of the ing sets. First stop, a piney woods where the

Danger Room as you would have in the other X-jet has landed. It's all indoors, but it smells

movies. When I was working with Bryan like the real thing. Only the lower fuselage Singer on the first one, [our plan was] to go with an extended ramp and landing gear—has Verreaux and his crew took the Sentinel into this space, but you wouldn't really be been built. "This is the bottom of the X-jet," design from the comic and then aware of what it was. In The Last Stand, Verreaux says. "Everything else will be added added the texture demanded by director though, you are aware of what this room is; digitally. You'll notice that the ramp is longer Brett Ratner. we've turned the Danger Room into a multi- than the opening. For some reason in X2, they dimensional media space." gave the interior set a shorter ramp bay than the same stuff that held Han Solo at the end of

As audiences now know, it's in this area the exterior. So to avoid having it come down Empire Strikes Back" Verreaux deadpans.

that the X-Men meet the solitary Sentinel who really steep, like a ship's ladder, they had to "Actually, it's something we wanted to make

storms through The Last Stand. And while it's make the ramp longer. In X2, you never see the because there's a scene where Magneto lets

only a hologram, it is an authentic one. "We ramp go up and nest inside the fuselage. You Juggernaut out.

took the design from the comic," Verreaux see it start to come down, and then the treads "Pyro [Aaron Stanford] is reading the confirms. "A whole bunch of Sentinel designs rotate about 45 degrees. That was a visual manifest: 'This is Cain Marko. Prisoner must

had been done for X2, and I showed them to effect. There wasn't time to mechanically be restrained completely because once he

Brett just to get a starting point. But Brett build it." starts moving, he can't be stopped.' So we

responded, 'No. No. No.' I said, 'Well, what Then it's off to a secure corridor of Xa- came up with this whole thing where about this?' and showed him another version. vier's mansion, where stainless-steel sliding Juggernaut's arms and legs are held in place

Brett said, 'Yeah. Like that.' In the comic X-doors lead to secret rooms. One, marked by a carbonite-fused . And since it's

book, the Sentinels are fairly flat and two- Cerebro, cost $200,000 alone. "When we metal, Magneto just rips it open, everything dimensional, so we added texture and other pulled the old set out of storage, one of the X- pops off Juggernaut and he steps out. stuff. But the basic structure and look of the doors said in very small letters, 'Danger "We did a Magneto bunker this time," he " Sentinel is from the comic." Room,' Verreaux smiles. "It was a joke reveals. "He has another hideout, and it's Verreaux doesn't have to think very long to between the guys on X2. 'Oh, yeah. That's the made out of metal and chrome. It's a sculptur- pin down his biggest challenge on the picture. Danger Room. We never go in there.' But I al space and very minimal. In terms of trying

"The Alcatraz set, because it's huge," he know Bryan really wanted to. to design a set to fit a character, that's the one replies. "We came up with the design rather "This is now the entrance to the X-hangar," where I got to do the most work. In the first quickly—in fact, there's a little model I built Verreaux adds, indicating a massive X-door movie, Magneto had this huge, nebulous based on a talk I had with Brett. The whole resembling a bank vault. "The X-jet is in there, underground bunker that looked like it was

concept has been changed; it was originally but that will be done digitally. There's a green created by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Bad Guy Design going to take place in Washington, D.C. But screen, so any shots going that way, we'll see Works.

that was problematic, so we decided to move the hangar as we've digitally designed it. "One sequence takes place outside, in the sequence to Alcatraz instead, because we We've handed that file off to the visual effects which the Brotherhood mutants have gathered

were going there later on anyway. So we found guys, who are building it as a 3-D piece. They at a forest encampment. Magneto is up on this

a location, began to build it in Maya and things have [the CG] X-jet from last time. But the X- knoll, giving a big speech, and Brett turns to came together very quickly. We had to get Men don't actually walk up to the X-jet and me and says, T need a trap door leading into " everything done and ready to shoot in 11 get in; it's only implied. We cut to the plane his secret hideout,' the production designer weeks!" coming out of the ground and taking off." laughs. Beyond that, the Vancouver weather has Through one of the doors lies another set: "So some of my job is retrofitting stuff as tested everyone's endurance. "It's cold," the interior of the tractor-trailer used to trans- ideas come up," Ed Verreaux concludes. "It Verreaux chuckles. "That's tough on the cast port Juggernaut and Multiple Man (Eric would have been nice to have had things in and crew. We had a sequence where Storm is Dane). Lying about is the exploded Mutant advance, so instead of reacting, we could be fighting a bunch of guys, and she causes this Containment Module used to restrain more proactive. But that's not the way this big tidal wave—whoosh! So the special effects Juggernaut; it looks vaguely familiar. "That's movie turned out." ^ www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 79 9bf

Jackman may be the busiest film kind of guy who would never repeat a trick. This fall, Hugh that actor of 2006. Earlier this year, he Once you've done a trick, that's it. It's returned as the feral mutant Wolve- done. Whereas my character will do what- Boy From Oz is a rine in X-Men: The Last Stand, then co- ever is going to give the best show. So hav- starred with Woody Allen in the murder ing been on stage, it certainly helped me to A) magician mystery-comedy Scoop. feel a little more at home on the magic This fall, the 37-year-old Australian has stage." B) rat no less than four projects in release. In the- For their roles, both actors trained with aters October 20 is the magical Victorian modern illusionists Ricky Jay and Michael C) penguin fantasy The Prestige, which pits Jackman's Weber. "They're just fascinating charac- stage magician Rupert Angier against ters," Jackman says. "There's always a bit Christian Bale's master conjurer Alfred of mystery about them. Even when you're

D) immortal Borden. It's a role that his deep stage back- chatting with them on set, you feel, 'I don't

ground helped him fully realize. really know this guy.' In our movie, there is E) mutant "Definitely," concurs Jackman, current- this rivalry that these two have that's very ly touring in The Boy From Oz (in specific because they end up becoming two F) all of the above which he portrays the late singer-song- of the best magicians in the world. You see, writer Peter Allen). "My character's the it's a loner kind of profession, really. They more natural showman. Probably—dare I work on their own. Months and years are By WILL MURRAY say it?—probably not as good a magician as spent in front of mirrors, perfecting tricks. the other, technically. But he's a better They work for themselves and make their entertainer. Christian's character is very name. Our characters end up—I won't tell much a purist, a real lover of magic, the you what happens, but they're friends, and

80 STAKLOG/Novembei- 2006 an event happens that splits up their friend- will showcase his distinctive Down Under DreamWorks Animation ship, and then they become adversaries." voice. First up is Flushed Away, premiering and Aardman Features' first Should audiences trust either man? November 3. Jackman voices Roddy St. CG animation collaboration (see \ "No," laughs Jackman. "Never trust a James, a London rat who is whisked away page 85). It was a project Jackman magician!" to the subterranean Ratropolis during a was sold on from the start. "I'm a huge Jackman relished working with director bathroom misadventure. Aardman fan," he reveals. "I remember

Christopher Nolan (see page 71). "Oh, it "Roddy is actually a pet," the actor discovering Wallace and Gromit in 1993,

was just amazing! I've been very lucky the explains. "He has the run of the house. But when I first saw The Long Trail. I just hap-

last couple of years. I've worked with some he lives a very rarified life. Basically, he has pened upon it on TV. I ended up buying the

amazing directors. Chris would be right up never been outside. So the idea of going video. I think those guys are absolute

at the top. He's incredibly smart and easy- down a sewer where the other rats are is geniuses. This is an exciting movie for them going. There's no fuss, no nonsense. It's all uniquely horrifying to him. He's terrified, because they're broadening their horizons about the work. He's one of the most and scared of getting chained. He extends into the world of computer-generated

impressive people I've ever met. And, himself and goes beyond his boundaries, images. I'll be honest: Before I even read

incredibly, there is not a person who comes And he realizes he's lonely. So it's a great, the script, I was going to do it. But the

in contact with Chris who doesn't rave fun journey that he goes on, which he does script is very funny, and the cast is mar- about him. It's extraordinary the kind of with the help of Rita, voiced by Kate velous. And finally, I've got a movie that my

person he is." Winslet, who's fantastic. It's a fairly classic son can see, which is good." sort of story, but very funny." In theaters November 17 is Happy Feet, Mllltipl6 ChOiCe The film reunites Jackman with his for- wherein Jackman again switches species to Two of the Sydney-born thespian's mer X-Men nemesis, Sir Ian McKellen, who portray Memphis, father of Mumbles November releases break new ground—for essays a slimy crime boss named Toad. (Elijah Wood), the Emperor penguin who Jackman: a pair of CG-animated features David Bowers and Sam Fell direct cannot sing, but he sure can dance! He also www.starlog.com STARLOG/Mm-oti/w 2006 81 "

plays opposite Robin Williams, as Ramone. gives you is more of a feeling than logical Stand in STARLOG #246. He feels that much

"Well, I wish I actually got to work opposite answers. I think it does that very well. When I of the credit for its success should go to new

Robin Williams," corrects Jackman. "But I first read the script, I started crying. There X-director Brett Ratner. It was something he

won't complain. I was working opposite were many things I didn't understand, but it recognized on day one. "The first scene that

Nicole Kidman, so I feel like I did all right. gave me this overwhelming feeling of hope. Brett shot made me realize we had the right

Then I did some work with Elijah, who was a I'm proud to be in that movie." director," he recalls. "It set the tone right away.

lot of fun, and Hugo Weaving. [Director] I was having a costume fitting, and I said, TT1

George Miller is kind of an icon here in Essay Question go down and see how they're doing on the first Australia [due to Mad Max, Babe and other Still in the future is the solo Wolverine ori- day.' I walked in and everyone was in tears. I

films]. Mumbles' journey is five years of gin film, tentatively scheduled to go to camera asked, 'What's going on?' They said, 'Just

George's life. I'm very proud to be part of it. in late 2007. The blockbuster success of X- watch this playback.' And the hairs on the back

I'll admit I'm a small part of it, but it was a Men: The Last Stand (due out on DVD of my neck stood up. I saw the young Angel

5 whole lot of fun." October 3) insures the long-promised project going through stuff. I was like, 'Brett under- oB Finally, there's the Darren Aronofsky- will be made. "I just got the fourth draft," stands this movie. Not only does he under-

directed The Fountain, debuting November 22. lackman reveals. "It came in yesterday stand it, I think he's going to take it to the next level.' Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn's screenplay

also deserves its share of praise. "The Cure is genius idea," he observes. "That's a really

In a complex tale ranging across centuries, Jackman plays "Tommy, a New York scientist doing research into DNA on aging," he explains. "He refocuses on tumors because his wife has a brain tumor. So he wants to find a

cure for it. But his main focus is on aging. In the process, he discovers the Fountain of s Youth. The film jumps forward into the future, c cc < (0 where he is now 535 years old, having taken £ s the Fountain of Youth. You see him floating through space in this very beautiful and amaz- 3< ing creation, this spaceship which has the Tree 08 U of Life in its middle. "The Fountain also goes back in time to the 1500s, where we kind of re-enact a book that

my wife is writing about the Conquistadors, who were not only looking for gold, but believed that in New was the Tree of Si Life that was written about in Genesis. They The actor from E £ were searching for the Fountain of Youth. So it [August 23]. We've been working Down Under terrific theme, not just because all interacts. And even though they're different with David Benioff, one of the goes down it's again about good vs. bad, but

Sio c time zones, they all meld into one." hottest writers in Hollywood. He under—to because it's something that from O d) cm "a London's „ CO The Mummy's Rachel Weisz plays Tom's brings such a great melding of within both sides is a dilemma. It sewers—as li wife, Izzi. "At the center of this movie is a love the character that has been creat- gets right to the heart of what X- Roddy St. James § story that crosses over a thousand years," notes ed on film with his incredible Men is about. I think what Bryan in Flushed Away. ° i Jackman. "Ultimately, it's a story about life knowledge of the comic books [Singer] had envisioned has hap- D) 2 and death and asks very big questions. It's an that he has read since age five. pened—a more emotional and 11 >.< ambitious movie that I think Darren has pulled He's a true fan, and he has written it with that strong movie." « | off amazingly. It's about: Who are we? There's in mind. There are little fantastic things in the Still another significant contributor was the < I always going to be a little bit of mystery to it. script that fans are going to love. It's very, very interim director, Matthew Vaughn, who suc- si But these big concepts are by their very nature clever. I'm so excited about it." ceeded Singer but bowed out of The Last almost indescribable. What The Fountain Jackman previously discussed The Last Stand at the eleventh hour. His prep work was

82 STAKLOG/November 2006 I —

something Ratner inherited. "One of the things remarks. "I think Logan's quite like Mike I yell at him to stop hitting the girl next door?"

Matthew is great at is melding many different Tyson. There's that animalistic side to him. Whether or not fans see Jackman in future

storylines into one and playing all that off," The look in his eye. On some level we're team X-films is not for him to say. "At the

notes Jackman. "Look at Layer Cake. afraid of Tyson. You know you can't stop him. moment, I see The Last Stand as the end of a

Matthew is unbelievable. When he left, he He's feral. And that's what Wolverine is. He's cycle. But I'm just one of the actors," he rang me—I don't know if he rang Brett—and not the biggest guy out there, but he'll scare laughs. "I don't greenlight these pictures. I said, 'Mate, you know I helped develop the guys bigger than him. Even someone who can remember [Fox studio executive] Tom

script and I know you're probably going to shoot fire will look at Wolverine and be fright- Rothman saying, 'X-Men 3 is the last. This is

develop it further with Brett, but if you ever ened. He'll just keep coming at him. He's just a trilogy. We're going to finish it off.' We wait-

want to understand my thinking or if you don't there. And he has that healing ability, which is ed three years between each movie for a rea-

understand something, ring me any time.' I pretty amazing. The one thing about the heal- son. It was a genuine attempt by everyone always thought that was very generous. He ing ability is that it's reactive. He can't shoot involved to make a really great final part of the

wasn't bitter." things out of his arms. He can't fly. He has the story. Most people on the set felt, 'Oh, I think " With his career horizons expanding in all greatest defense in the world, but he has to rely we have the best one yet.' directions, Jackman does not foresee outgrow- on that defense—a lot. So for him to get in [to But if the planned Wolverine solo film ing the superhero films that catapulted him to international fame. On the contrary, he hopes

to keep doing them. "I love 'em! I do.

Absolutely I see that. When I saw Batman

attack] is tough." F) All of the above. Nor does Jackman see LJ That's the answer to this test. ever totally abandoning the X- A Jack(man) of all trades, the Boy Men franchise for a purely From Oz is a man of many identities Wolverine series. "As an magician, rat, penguin, immortal actor, what I love about X- and mutant! Men is I'm playing a part that

is human," he states. "I mean, itself leads to sequels, Jackman may find him- ntain Photo: Copyright If long in the claw as he push- 2005 Warner Bros. every way. you wrote self getting pretty Entertainment & Regency down Logan's abilities, you es the character further into the future. But Entertainment (USA) Inc. All would think, 'Well, he's a he's not worried. As special FX wizard John Rights Reserved. mutant. There's no one Bruno showed in the Last Stand scene where

around like that.' But I'll give Patrick Stewart and McKellen are digitally de-

you a list 10 times longer of aged, getting older can be cured now, too.

how human he is. And how "If I end up doing Wolverine 3, I'll need everyone can relate to him. that," Jackman chuckles. "Logan doesn't age! Or, if not relate to him, relate So John Bruno is in my contract. I'll be lean- to Bobby, Rogue or Magneto. ing on my cane and directing my team of " That's what I love about this stuntmen: 'No, no, no! Like this!'

Begins, which Chris Nolan did, I loved that genre. I would only be interested in doing But before that can happen, Jackman has

movie. I think what Bryan started was finding more movies like that—where yon feel for the an epic Western to film. "Nicole Kidman and I a way to make comic book films more enter- characters. And you have to be able to relate. are doing the new Baz Luhrmann movie,

taining to everybody, and yet still satisfying to If you can't relate to them, it's very hard to which will take up quite a bit of next year. the fans, who have a huge history and invest- feel for them." We'll be all over Australia doing that." ment in them. For me, as a moviegoer—and It's an identity that so far he has kept from So how does it feel to be the busiest actor someone who didn't grow up on comics— his son, Oscar Maximilian. "My son is five- on the planet? Hugh Jackman laughs. "The

want a film that I can believe. Not where and-a-half, and he's just starting to get that I'm reality of it is I made The Fountain almost two

you're off in some world where you think, Wolverine. I can't show the films to him yet. I years ago. I am very busy, but I'm a bit like a " 'Well, this could never possibly happen.' know some five-year-olds can see X-Men— kid in a candy store. I feel very blessed. It's all Make no mistake: Jackman takes Wolve- and he probably could do it—but I think it's really exciting. If I could have written the rine seriously. "I used to watch a lot of early doubly weird to watch your dad slicing people script of my working life a few years ago, this Mike Tyson fights, particularly on X-Men? he up. How's he going to take me seriously when is exactly how I would have written it." www.starIog.com STARLOG/7Vovem£>er 2006 83 .

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84 STARLOGMovember 2006

— "

there, crowds, a real experience. It's just a wonderful, vibrant, multi-cultural, incredi- bly exciting, dangerous— " real world," Fell interjects, complet- ing the thought. "Real world, yeah," Bowers concurs. Roddy changed a bit during Flushed Away's development. "We ended up decid- ing on a story about a guy who didn't have any connections," says Bowers. "Originally, we had a couple of butlers." "And earlier than that, Roddy had friends," Fell chimes in. "This whole strata of upper-class rats who lived in neighboring houses in Kensington." "We realized that we had a stronger, clearer, better movie if we took the butlers out," recalls Bowers. "That was extremely painful, because there was some beautiful animation and very funny scenes. So we had to retool the film." "It's now a much deeper story," Fell states. "Originally, Flushed Away was about a snob, and [how you shouldn't be a high- hat] and instead embrace ordinary people

and ordinary life. But, unfortunately, that

snob really wasn 't engaging." "It's funny," Bowers smiles. "We laughed

at him, but we didn' t root for him." "Yeah," Fell agrees. "We couldn't get inside him." "He was a standoffish character," Bowers admits. "We were enjoying taking the snob and flushing him down the toilet and giving him a hard time," Fell chuckles. "It was funny, but we were sort of outside him." Behold the Underground! This concept painting only hints at the breathtakingly conceived world that Roddy discovers far below the streets of London.

And Kate [Winslet, voice of Rita] should really do more comedy. She's extremely funny, too." lackman isn't the only X-Man in Flushed Away. After ordering Toad around as

Magneto, Sir Ian McKellen now is. Toad, the film's green-skinned sinister slimeball. "That was dream casting," Bowers muses.

"Ian is wonderful and a good sport, because we had him do and say some pretty silly things. Our head of story, Paul Fisher, wrote much of Toad's dialogue. It's like pomp

Victorian language, and Ian made it work." "He has so much range," says Fell. "Ian is such a fine craftsman. He'll deliver a speech 20 different ways when you could And now.. .a song! Shouldn't every movie stop while the frog (and his band of henchamphibians) croak out a tune? only think of three." The filmmakers had a good idea who "So we gave the butlers their marching ing," Fell acknowledges, "and Hugh is an they wanted to cast for their characters. "We orders," says Bowers. "We had gotten pretty incredibly charming man." would take lines from their films and do far in the animation when we killed those "With Hugh, we had all kinds of different some animation to them, just to get familiar two sequences." ways to go with Roddy," says Bowers. with the quality of their voices," Fell notes. "It's difficult, as they say, to kill your "Eventually, we asked Hugh to be Hugh, "We needed to feel comfortable about the babies," Fell ruefully remarks. because he's so great. Hugh gave Roddy a actors before we contacted them. But we wonderfully light touch. Wolverine couldn't knew who we wanted, and we got in touch Rat Pack be further from Roddy, this posh English with them." As usual in a DreamWorks animated pic- character living an isolated life. Hugh has For the role of Toad's cousin, Le Frog, ture, the characters are voiced by an all-star this terrific comic, Cary Grant-iconic touch. "We had this little character who has a big, cast, including X-Men's Hugh Jackman, who We thought he would be good for this movie, rich, deep voice," says Fell. "We were joking i plays Roddy (see page 80). "It's great cast- and he has really made Roddy come to life. about Jean Reno, because we thought it

86 STARI.OU/AVn, mbcr 2006 Dead Man's Chest star Bill Nighy. "Whitey Adds Bowers, "It was kind of based on was originally a bit tougher," says Bowers, The African Queen, with a mismatched cou- "but Bill made him so lovable that we turned ple on this old boat." him into this daft, slightly clueless thug rat "The two cheeky rats from Chicken Run, with an innocent quality. Whitey changed Nick and Fetcher, were fairly popular," Fell quite a bit, too." remarks. "And, for awhile, they were going Few actors could go from stomping to be in this movie, but we ended up cutting around as a Big Ape to scurrying about as a them out." runty rat, but King Kong's Andy Serkis did Remarkably, while they were working on not have any problems playing Whitey's what would become Flushed Away, City partner, Spike. "We had several ideas, and Sewer was being developed in the States. then we heard Andy's tape," Fell comments. "Their film had a rat being flushed down in "We said, 'There it is. There's Spike.' When New York," Fell reveals. "For a moment we we put him in a session with Bill, it was, were—not in a race, because we're partners bang, like that. They were such a good pair with DreamWorks—but there were these and comic duo." two projects in development. They were

"They went back and forth, playing off completely separate, and it was total each other. It was great," Bowers grins. chance." While both Fell and Bowers believe that Ultimately, DreamWorks merged the animated performances are enhanced by two, and added City Sewer's conclusion to ensemble recording, the latter notes, "We Aardman's Flushed Away. As Fell confirms, couldn't do as much of that as we would "DreamWorks said, 'Look, take the great " have liked, because our cast is international. ending and stick it in your version.'

We went to great lengths to work it out. But "It was a perfect marriage," Bowers Andy was shooting King Kong in New admits. Zealand, Ian was doing X-Men in Canada... It was difficult getting everybody in one Rat Patrol place." Aardman specializes in stop-motion (or

In 2000, cartoonist Steve Moore and pro- stop-frame) animation, which is primarily ducer John Carls sold a treatment called City shot "on twos," with movement every other Sewer to DreamWorks Animation. (Two frame. However, shots involving pans are years later, they sold Open Season to Sony done "on ones" to avoid strobing. But due to Pictures Animation.) Meanwhile, Aardman the scope of Flushed Away, the filmmakers Features—located in Bristol, England—had decided that the computer was the best tool arranged a multi-picture deal with to use. " DreamWorks, their partnership beginning "We've done most of this 'on ones,' with Chicken Run. says Fell. "We tested 'on ones' and 'on twos' would be funny to have a proper French "Four-and-a-half years ago, we were against each other. We also textured and actor playing a French frog." thinking up ideas for movies, and we came lighted the puppets [to see what they would

Bowers explains, "It goes against the up with a pirate film that had some rats in it," look like]. Some tests were about stop- English tradition, that Monty Python tradi- recalls Fell. "At the time, pirate movies were frame, and others were about CG as its own tion of having an English actor do a silly death, because they didn't do well at the box medium. CG just works better on singles. French accent. That wouldn't have been office. So we kept the rats and got rid of the The whole thing integrates [more smoothly].

good [for the character]." Le Frog is assist- pirates. We had several different rat stories, So we moved away from trying to copy the ed by a crackerjack team of ninja amphib- including one about a posh pet rat who gets stop-frame style. It's silly, anyway. If you ians in green and black. flushed down into an amazing rat city under- want to make a stop-frame movie, then you

Another of Toad's henchmen is Whitey, a neath London. It was initially called do it in stop-frame. Why struggle against the rodent essayed by Pirates of the Caribbean: Ratropolis." computer? And we ended up doing the lip- synch 'on twos' and 'on ones.' That's very pure. "So we've matched the lip-synch style. The animation style is 'on ones,' but we've

animated it in a stop-frame style. We've

rigged all the characters as if they were pup- pets; there are squash-and-stretch limitations as to how the characters move. And we told

the animators to give the characters a little more weight in CG. So this film is rigged, animated and lip-synched in the stop-frame style but, technically, we didn't bother to

slavishly copy it." Bowers then delightfully discloses, "There's a scene where Spike gets electro- cuted and you see his cartoon skeleton, and eagle-eyed viewers will notice that it's actu- ally a stop-frame puppet armature!" Using CG also solved the problems of scale, multiple sets, crowds and water. "There isn't enough Plasticine in the world

Eeeek! The slugs are just as startled by Roddy as he is surprised by them. They for the amount of water we have in Flushed became a running—or, actually, a slowly oozing—joke in the picture. Away\" Bowers laughs. "There are boat www.starlog.com STARLOG/November 2006 87 Peter Lord, David Sproxton and Cecil Kramer, is chases, rapids and still water that needed to Listen! Flushed Away, produced by the first CG film pairing DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Features. look real. Then there was the scale issue, just in terms of Bristol's studio space. We origi- nally considered doing a stop-motion movie with digital water, but it would have been too difficult, and it wouldn't have been as effec- tive as a CG film. The other scale concern involved the rats. These puppets are full- sized and one-to-one scale. They're not like the chickens in Chicken Run or Wallace and Gromit, who [were smaller scale]. We would have had to build full-sized sets." "Crowds was another big factor," Fell affirms. "Roddy discovers this massive city of rats and, in one scene, there are thousands of characters wandering around the streets. Animating each one of those by hand would have taken years, so we couldn't have done that." "But the crowds do look hand-animated," Bowers interjects. "There's more variety than your average Harry Gregson-Williams—composer on the two Shrek films and Chronicles of Narnia—is scoring Flushed Away. "He picks people from different orchestras; he has favorites from every one," Bowers explains. "Harry did these amazing temp tracks, and hearing his actual tracks [for the

first time] with an orchestra and full, rich harmonics was stirring." "And we have singing slugs," Fell smiles. "They're kind of cute—if you can imagine a slug being cute—and they're funny. [Wallace and Gromit creator] Nick Park sug-

gested it. He popped his head in to take a look at what we were doing, and he came up with some funny things. Nick said the slugs should sing a cappella, and we thought that was a brilliant idea. Then we started to see other places the singing slugs could go, and now they're dotted throughout the movie. They appear at different points along the journey, and they comment on what's going on. They're a Greek chorus." "A slug chorus," Bowers chuckles. The next DreamWorks/Aardman animat- Splash down! Join Sid (the slovenly sewer rat voiced by Shane Ritchie), Roddy & pals as they get Flushed Away at a multi-theater complex near you November 3. ed collaboration is Crood Awakening, a pre- historic comedy written by STARLOG crowd scenes," Fell promises. "We put a lot the evolution of Aardman, with the help of favorite John Cleese and Kirk De Micco,

of effort into that. And it's more than just DreamWorks. And you can't understate projected for release in 2008. As for Fell and having movement in the background. There DreamWorks' contributions. Not only the Bowers, they don't have any definitive plans are a whole bunch of characters with differ- technical people, but the storyboard artists once they finish up Flushed Away. ent bodies, heads, skin color and costumes." who developed the story along with us." "Gotta have a lie-down," Fell declares.

Aardman sent some of its animators to "I think I'm going to reintroduce myself DreamWorks in Glendale, California to Rat Race to my wife," Bowers jokes. work on Flushed Away. "Many of those guys With Flushed Away's November 3 "I want to do another [animated picture] were lured over by the thought of sunshine," release date looming, a crew of 50 animators at some point, but it's such an undertaking," Bowers grins. "Our head of animation is is working to meet the deadline. An estimat- Fell laments. "It takes five years to make one from Aardman, and many of our key anima- ed staff of 300 have contributed to the pro- of these films. But I've got some strange tors came from there. We have the best of the ject. But contrary to published reports, ideas swimming around in my head." Aardman animators and the best of the Flushed Away isn't using The Moving So would their next movie be CG or stop- DreamWorks animators. And we've been Picture Company, which did the CG work on motion? "It depends on the story," Sam Fell bowled over by the crew's skills and talents. the Bun-Vac 6000 for Wallace and Gromit: answers. "I love CG animation; you have so There, hasn't been any challenge that they Curse of the Were-Rabbit. "The software is many choices. It's an art director's medium. haven't been able to solve." mostly off-the-shelf stuff," Fell reveals. "We Any vision you put down on tape can be "For a while, we had a core team of about were the last show to need Maya. They're realized. But I think if it's a small, contained 25 animators," Fell notes. "We've expanded. switching over to Emo [which stands for story with not too many characters—and it's The nice thing about this set-up is there are "Emotion"], which was developed at PDI. mostly about character animation—then you several other films going on at once, and so Everything is customized, but, effectively, should do it in stop-frame. You can get so they shift people around. It's a great step in we made it here at DreamWorks." much out of animating in clay." ^

88 STAKLOG/November 2006 www.starIog.com

! !

story. Obtaining that last (albeit black & white) portrait

allowed it to see print. I / / / r^_fJ JJJ^yjJ^^J While Bob Miller was writing Open Sea- son (8/22, 10:55 a.m., page 50) in LA, Jill Culton & Tony Stacchi, two of the film's Continuing our STARLOG 30th Anniversary Celebration, k /Ann versa ry directors he had just interviewed, came to let's step behind the curtain for a Diary of the Design of this —y Ccle ) ration at Sony Pic- issue's articles—in the order of their creation by Art Director NYC and previewed footage a Heiner Feil. tures press event. I was there—and can tell

We'll just mostly ignore the editing process (leaving that topic for you Open Season is quite funny, with some of another time). The stories, photos and captions—some of which have it (i.e. a wild river ride) just spectacular. been prepared in advance by Managing Editor Allan Dart and me, others We were looking for a Lost interviewee available to talk as we go—are shipped over to Heiner in the Art Department. And that's (because of the show's new scheduling, we'll do one piece this fall, but when the magic begins. During our scheduled 10-business-day production no more till it's back next spring). Dominic Monaghan (8/22, 3:25 p.m., period, we assemble each issue like an ever-changing jigsaw puzzle, mov- page 32) again made time for Ian. Four days after Heiner designed this ing pieces around, not knowing for sure just where they'll fit. We never story, ABC had a snazzy new gallery shot of Monaghan—so we're using do 'em in the order they appear in the magazine. that on the Contents Page.

First up is X-Men FX (thanks to time coding, we know its design was Bill Warren's Naomie Harris (8/22, 5:03 p.m., page 68), one of sev- finished and printed out 8/11, 12:03 p.m.; it finally ended up on page 76). eral Pirates tales on hand, was most fitting for HALLOWEEN SCENE. Writer Will Murray was on the Canadian set of X-Men: The Last Stand Note the magic times. It took Heiner just 98 minutes to do this two-pager for three days. He brought home such a wealth of material (supplemented (with three photos). The more pix and pages, the longer it takes to design by Ian Spelling pieces) that we'll end up publishing 17 X3 stories. Inci- a story. Naturally dentally, this story was designed early—while Heiner was on a waiting- Busy with scans, one-page departments and correcting completed lay- for-photos break from work on our sister magazine FANGORIA. outs, Heiner didn't finish William Shatner (8/23, 3:08 p.m., page 22) till

Design of #350 wasn't supposed to begin till 8/17, and so with FAN- the afternoon. It's our umpteenth Shatner talk—and came about because GORIA finished, Heiner turned to STARLOG full-time. Next up: The Ian interviewed the man again for the NY Times Syndicate and had lotsa

Witch's Dungeon (8/17, 1:37 p.m., page 58), a story Tom Weaver and I unused quotes. I read a transcript and agreed it was neat stuff, so why not had talked about doing for a year. Tom, I and others were to travel to a two-pager? Cortlandt Hull's Halloween attraction, but trapped in Star Trek Photo Pat Jankiewicz chatted with writer Jeph Loeb (8/24, 12:13 p.m.,

Editing Hell (a.k.a. #349), I couldn't escape for the trip. So, Tom replaced page 26). Years ago, Mike McAvennie quizzed Loeb about the revived me with legendary horror host Zacherley and his biographer Rich Challengers of the Unknown for COMICS SCENE. Eventually, Eddie Scrivani. Cortlandt provided almost 100 images to illustrate the article Berganza, Mike and Maureen McTigue—all STARLOG Managing Edi-

(we chose to use 17). One photo (the tors—left here to become DC Comics THE REAL REASoN F°R THE Creature from the Black Lagoon) is so editors, where they all worked with Fortress of solitude: breathtaking, we invented a STARLOG Loeb. Small world, isn't it?

Signature Section merely to give it the My favorite layout this issue is cover of HALLOWEEN SCENE. Gahan Wilson (8/25, 10:27 a.m., page Erica Durance (8/17, 3:27 p.m., 62). Will interviewed the cartoonist at a page 24) happened quickly. Publicist New England convention in July, specifi-

Karen Olin and I exchanged e-mails 8/7 cally discussing his holiday thoughts about the possibility. On 8/8, 1 assigned (perfect for HALLOWEEN SCENE). Kim Howard Johnson, who, thanks to his Filled with toons scanned in by Heiner training in radio news, is STARLOG's and images downloaded from Wilson's quickest writer. He interviewed the actress website, this was a tough, time-consum- by phone (Chicago to Canada), tran- ing assignment. It took Heiner more than scribed it and wrote the piece all in one six hours (plus about 90 minutes of scan- day (8/10). And it took Heiner not quite ning and lotsa color correction), but the two hours to design final result is awesome. Ian's Jericho (8/18, 9:41 a.m., page Joe Nazzaro's Doctor Who Set Visit 46) didn't really explore SF's rich history (8/25, 4:13 p.m., page 36) is actually a

of life-after-world's-end tales. So I com- last-minute substitute. When SCI FI

missioned literary expert Jean-Marc Lof- announced it was premiering Doctor ficier to explain further in the "Survival Literature" sidebar. While Heiner Who's second season earlier than expected (September), we rushed Joe's

was designing this, I realized that the opening spread would be perfect for Who stories into production. Then I looked at how many photos we had

the publication's most important arena (pages 46-7, the center spread). So on CD for the first Who feature: 549. Gulp! Racing the 8/30 ship-to-print-

we gave it that prime real estate. er deadline, we couldn't have Heiner spend time printing out such a large

In my experience, serendipity plays a pivotal part in magazine editing. paper contact sheet (so I can most easily select the final art). Staring into Take Walter Gibson (8/18, 3:04 p.m., page 16). Will had interviewed of Doctor Who Photo Editing Hell, I opted for Joe's Set Visit The Shadow's creator for STARLOG shortly before his 1985 death. This instead (with just 66 photos to choose from).

spring, Will told me he was writing a bio piece for a pulp convention pro- I had intended Bob's Flushed Away (8/28, 1:53 p.m., page 85) for a

gram "using some of my unpublished Gibson interviews." "You! Have! five-page slot, but we didn't have enough art, so I had Heiner design it

Unpublished*. Gibson! Interviews!??" I sputtered, and pointed out just instead in four. Next up for design? Umm, Liner Notes—so maybe I had what we could do with such a story today (as compared to 21 years ago) better finish writing this? using Heiner's design talents and computer technology. So, Will and fel- Hugh Jackman (8/29, page 80) will follow. This piece includes low Shadow expert Anthony Tollin provided pulp cover scans. Later, the quotes from Will's solo talk with Jackman at a Vancouver Starbuck's and two informed me that Anthony had acquired the rights to do trade paper- (thanks to the busy actor's graciousness) a phone interview from Australia

back reprints of both The Shadow and Doc Savage, to begin this fall. This on 8/24 to update the piece. The last story we'll design is on page 71—if

story suddenly had a timely tie-in. Why, it's like I planned it! our photos ever arrive in time.

Publication of Paul Campbell (8/21, 3:05 p.m., page 43) might have Presto-magazineo ! These are the tricks of our trade. And, by the way,

occurred earlier if we had enough pix. Alas, we only had three photos Happy Halloween!

(one with Campbell soft-focus in the background) for Mark Phillips' —David McDonnell/Editor (August 2006) Insert Your Character Here

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