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Starlog Magazine

Starlog Magazine

mMMii < zzp-fimz'A 2oiti > -r;j^ scj^ai^ miftzmz INSIDE THIS ISSUE

23 DEATH: THE LIGHTER SIDE TV creator Bryan Fuller hands scythes to grinning Reapers

28 DOING LEGWORK Lovely Kristen Dalton reports on her days in The Dead zone

32 THE MADNESS OF MORPHEUS He whom the Matrix would destroy, they first make Laurence Fishburne

38 I'M WITH DONKEY Shrek, Fiona & pals amble into a new theme park attraction

42 SWASHBUCKLING STORIES Set sail with the cast & crew of Pirates of the Caribbean

46 PAINTED SEAS M Oscar winner Ralph Eggleston envisioned Nemo's colorful look

50 CRADLE OF LIFE Angelina Jolie leads the team to more Tomb Raider exploits

58 TERMINAL VISAGES Stan Winston unveils new images & familiar faces

60 LEAGUE OF ALTERATIONS En route to film, James Dale Robinson made lotsa changes

77 OF WORDS X2 writers Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris unite for action

J? Celebrate with Shrek and / 86 IT'S DYNA GIRL e Fiona. They're on Revealing her Saturday secret ; > their fairy-tale identity is Judy Strangis fl Br honeymoon—at Universal Studios Orlando (as well as NEXT ISSUE ON SALE Hollywood and Japan, SEPTEMBER 2 too). Let them eat cake! Join the party on page 38.

STARLOC: science AFiction universe is published by starlog croup, inc., 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. starloc and The The monthly Universe are registered trademarks of STARLOC GROUP, INC. (ISSN 0191-4626) (Canadian GST number: R-124704826) This is issue Number 314, September 2003. Content Is © Copyright 2003 by STARLOC CROUP, INC. All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction in part or in whole—including the reprinting or posting of articles and graph- ics on any Internet or computer site—without the publishers' written permission is strictly forbidden. STARLOG accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials, but if submittals are accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope, they'll be considered and. If necessary, returned. Please do not call the editorial office re: this material. Freelancer phone calls will not be accepted. STARLOC does not publish fiction. Fiction submissions are not accepted and will be discarded without reply. Products advertised are not necessarily endorsed by STARLOC, and views expressed in editorial copy are not necessarily those of STARLOC. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. Subscription rates: $49.97 one year (12 issues) delivered in U.S. only. Canadian and foreign subscriptions $59.97 in U.S. funds only. New subscriptions send directly to STARLOG, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. Notification of change of address or renewals send to STARLOC Subscription Dept., P.O. Box 430, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to STARLOG Subscription Dept., D. Box 430, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430. Printed in U.S.A.

President/Publisher ated Hanna-Barbera's Korg, NORMAN JACOBS 70,000 B.C. and produced the genre movies The Executive Vice President RITA EISENSTEIN WGLines from 20,000 Fathoms and Beginning of the End. Executive Art Director (STARLOG #39-#40) W.R. MOHALLEY

Anne Gwynne (March) Editor QUOTE OF THE MONTH : The actress seen in Flash DAVID MCDONNELL A rea/TV writer- Catherine: "I heard you got to play super- Cordon Conquers the Uni- producer. Art Director hero today." Black Friday ^ The HEINER FEIL Dr. Robbins: "I consider myself a super- Black Cat (1941), Weird Woman, House of hero every day." Frankenstein, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome Managing Editor ALLAN DART —CSJ (as Tess Truehart) and Teenage Monster. ( #115) Contributing Editors STUPID MOVIE DECISION Booker Bradshaw (April) The veteran ANTHONY TIMPONE MICHAEL CINCOLD OF THE MONTH actor who portrayed Dr. M'Benga in Star TOM WEAVER 20th Century Fox. Somehow we think all Trek's "A Private Little War" and "That IAN SPELLING JOE NAZZARO those early trailers and TV ads for The League of Which Survives." He also appeared in Skull- Extraordinary Gentlemen should have men- duggery and co-scripted episodic television Consultant tioned the characters' names. Mainstream audi- (Planet of the Apes' "The Horse Race"). KERRY O'QUINN ences may not instantly know Allan Quatermain, (STARLOG #206) Financial Director Dorian Gray or Mina Harker but, surely, they've Charles Barile (May) The gregarious, DEB IRWIN heard of Jekyll & Hyde, Captain Nemo and Tom honest publicist with whom STARLOG Executive Assistants Sawyer. This marketing misstep was eventual- worked since 1995 (at UPN and elsewhere). DEE ERWINE ly—in June—corrected, but the delay may have He helped arrange interviews for Roswell, PHILLIP CENESSIE wounded the movie's box-office chances. Must Buffy, Special Unit 2 and other shows. A pro. ANDREW SCHWARZ have been Professor Moriarty's idea! Gregory Peck (June) The legendary actor Correspondents: (West Coast) Kyle who starred in such movie classics as To Kill Counts, Pat Jankiewicz, Kim Howard STUPID TV DECISION a Mockingbird, Twelve O' Clock High, Roman Johnson, Rhonda Krafchln, Bob Miller, Marc Shapiro, Bill Warren, Dan Holiday and The Guns Navarone. His OF THE MONTH of Yakir; (NYC) Dan Dickholtz, Mike UPN & the WB: For their Wednesday genre efforts included two McAvennie, Maureen McTigue, Keith (Boston) will Murray; (Phoenix) night jam-up. UPN scheduled the new SF films (Spellbound, The Paradine Case), On Olexa; Bill Florence; (Orlando) Bill Wilson; show Jake 2.0 opposite the WB's Angel, the Beach, Marooned, The Omen and The (Canada) Peter Bloch-Hansen, Mark already established in that 9 p.m. time slot Boys from Brazil. Phillips; (England) Anne Cay, Stan Nicholls; (Booklog) Penny Kenny, (bad news for both). And the moved its William Marshall (June) The imposing WB Jean-Marc Lofficier, Michael Wolff; red-hot to 8 p.m. against UPN's Shakespearean actor who will live forever as (Toons) Kevin Brockschmidt, Alain Chaperon, Mike longtime slot occupant Enterprise (bad news a famed 1970s vampire (in Blacula and "Big Bad Bubba" Fisher, Tom Holtkamp, Bob Muleady; series Scream, Blacula, Scream). also exorcised for ). All four seemingly He (Photos) Donn Nottage, Lisa Orris, appeal to the same core audience, who will Abby and appeared in Skullduggery and Albert L. Ortega, Jo Beth Taylor, Glenn & Scott Weiner. now be forced to choose or to learn how to Tarzan's Jungle Rebellion (two TV episodes Special Thanks to: Eric Bana, Chris program a VCR (bad news for fans). combined as a movie). He invented Star Barrie, Steve Begg, Orlando Bloom, Undoubtedly, this is another fiendish plan Trek's "The Ultimate Computer" (as Dr. Jasin Boland, Michael Broldy, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gerard Butler, Sam conceived that evil genius Moriarty! Richard Daystrom) and guested on The Man by Calvin, Kristine Cheren, Holly Clark, from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Vulcan Affair" pilot, Chris corbould, Carol Cundieff, Kris- STUPID STARLOC DECISION "The Maze Affair"). And he will rule always ten Dalton, Sue d'Arcy, Jack Daven- port, Jan de Bont, Johnny Depp, OF THE MONTH at Pee-wee's Playhouse as the King of Car- Michael Dougherty, Beth Dumont, Barbarella we like. Vampirella we love. toons. (STARLOG #255) Ralph Eggleston, Ted Elliott, , Laurence Fishburne, Jason But...Stripperella? Maybe we should have Alex Gordon (June) One of our own. And Flemyng, Peter Freiberger, Bryan spiked the idea of covering (or uncovering, as a very nice guy. This London-born film buff Fuller, Howard Green, Dan Harris, the case may be) her. We blame Moriarty! parlayed a lifelong love affair with movies Karen Hartquist, Hal Hickel, Ciaran Hinds, Kelly Hu, Angelina Jolie, Kelra into a Hollywood career producing such early Knightley, Leah Krantzler, Lloyd Levin, THE LAST FAREWELLS AIP fare as , The She James Marsden, Michael McLane, John Murdy, Kirk Petruccelli, science fiction universe sadly salutes Creature and Voodoo Woman and other com- Tom The Phillips, Chris Reichert, James Dale these amazing talents who died this year. panies' The Atomic Submarine and The Robinson, Josselyn Salter, Kevin Anthony Eisley (January) One of the Underwater City. Also a friend of Ed Wood, Sanderson, Gina Soliz, Judy Strangis, Carolyn Sudeth, Noah Taylor, Jeff of TV's Hawaiian Eye. He guest he co-wrote the camp classic Bride of the Walker, Beth Wilson, Stan Winston, starred on The Outer Limits ("The Brain of Monster (including Bela Lugosi's immortal . Colonel Barham"), and The "I heff no " soliloquy). He penned "The Cover images: Lara Croft: Alex Bai- ley/©2003 . Tomb He's best to fantasy Pit the Pen" column for several years in Wild Wild West. known & Raider & Lara Croft are Trademarks of fans for such B-movie fare as The FANGORIA. Core Design Ltd.; Matrix Reloaded: ©2003 Warner Bros. & Village Road- Woman, The Navy vs. the Night Monsters, show Film Ltd.; : ilm/©2003 Uni- Journey to the Center of Time and Dracula vs. versal Pictures/Character Likeness: Frankenstein. (FANGORIA #66) Trademark & ©2003 Marvel Charac- ters, inc. All Rights Reserved. Fred Freiberger (March) The prolific TV For Advertising Information: writer-producer who was brought in to super- (212) 689-2830. FAX (212) 889-7933 vise the controversial, later seasons of Star Advertising Director: Rita Eisenstein Classified Ads: Phillip Genessie Six Million Dollar Trek, Space: 1999, The west Coast Ads: The Faust Co., 24050 Man and . He also wrote Madison St. #101, Torrance, CA 90505 373-9604. FAX (310) 373-8760. for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Superboy, (310) international Licensing Rep: Robert and Scooby-Doo, Where Are J. Abramson & Associates, Inc., 720 You and produced Beyond Westworld. He cre- post Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583.

6 STARLOG/September 2003 THG YEAR'S BGST SHORT STORIGS IN THIS OR RNY OTHGR—WORLD

NGW IN THE LOCUS AWARD-WINNING SGRIGS THE YEAR S BEST f s Best Science Fiction SCIGNCG Twentieth Annual Collection FICTION EDITED BY GARDNER DOZOIS MORE THAN 250,000 WORDS OF FANTASTIC FICTION EDITED BY GARDNER DOZOIS

'The book that has to be read

every year. -The Denver Post

"The best one-stop shop fiction."—Publishers Weekly

"' 1 '-^-^S^.

NGW IN THG WORLD FRNTRSY RWflRD-WINNING SGRIGS —

should be ashamed of themselves for can- ducers with very little time to resolve the celling what was, simply, the best science cliffhanger. fiction series on television today. Fans will After reading the STARLOG #308 inter-

probably never get to know how view with Rockne O'Bannon, it sounds like was meant to end, and to be left with this SCI FI just wanted to cancel Farscape and

cliffhanger is ridiculous. SCI FI went from a save some money. Never mind the fact that

network that I watched daily to one that I Farscape was supposed to be the channel's watched two hours a week [Farscape and flagship show. As a comparison, let's look Mail simply can't be forwarded. Other fans & SG-1). at UPN's Enterprise. The ratings have advertisers may contact readers whose letters that Farscape is gone, I'm sure that slipped considerably, but UPN isn't going are printed here. To avoid this, mark your letter Now "Please Withhold My Address." Otherwise, we Stargate will be next on the block. If this is to cancel Enterprise because it's still one of

retain the option to print it. how the network is going to operate, I will their highest-rated programs. Write: STARLOG COMMLOG cancel my subscription. SCI FI isn't much of At any rate, the SCI FI Channel has 475 Park Avenue South a network anymore without Farscape. made up its mind, and no amount of protests, 7th Floor Bart Busse letters, etc. will change their decision. The New York, NY 10016 [email protected] only thing left for us fans to do is to boycott or e-mail: [email protected] the SCI FI Channel completely.

...With the end of Farscape, I thought this Besides, with the exception of the occa- ON THE GATE would be a good time to go over the facts of sional movie or mini-series, what's left to ...Just wanted to inform you that I picked up how the SCI FI Channel handled the show. watch there? Tremors: The Series! I don't the latest STARLOG—mainly for the These are just the facts. Nothing more. think so. The Tremors movies are boring. Michael Shanks article, which I found very Between Seasons Two and Three, SCI FI So, let's hope that in a couple of years interesting! I like how Rhonda Krafchin reran all the Farscape episodes, with Season when the SCI FI Channel loses the rights to talked to him about, well, every- Farscape—we will see it rise thing, but stayed away from why like a phoenix from the ashes. he came back. Thanks for that. Rick Boryczewski I'm glad that, for once, a reporter rickb @ the-rickster.com didn't put their opinion in. That's quite rare these days. Great job! CARE PACKAGE Sue ...I read the letter in issue [email protected] #311 regarding one reader's disappointment over your

...At last! An article on Stargate publication of Viggo Mort- SG-1 and the incomparable ensen's political statements Michael Shanks. I'm afraid I concerning the war in Iraq. In haven't bought your magazine for your reply, you stated: "As to some time now, due to the dearth your [the reader's] flattering

of articles on Stargate (it being my suggestion that STARLOG favorite show, and the cost of the would be considered so rele- magazine being so high). But vant that copies would 'no

when I read the praise for the story doubt' be included in ship- on Our Stargate (http://forums. ments to the American mili- delphiforums.com/ourstargate), I tary overseas, we don't squeezed the purse and picked up believe that has happened a copy. much, if at all."

I'm very glad that I did. Kraf- Well, it has. I honestly

chin's article is excellent, with had never heard of your mag- plenty of great pictures, and fur- azine, but I am an SF fan. A ther confirms what a class act loved one back home was

Shanks is. I missed his talent in gracious enough to send me a in a care package, and I Season Six, and am eagerly await- rift? COKSTttE £Ve£tf><&ete(&Gs AQEKf SMW ?o?UlJ£E copy ing Season Seven. It's always loved it! The articles, inter- tfqsr pw milk.' nice to read about an actor who views and pictures are fan- loves his character as much as, if tastic! I plan to become a not more than, the fans. Welcome back Three starting shortly after the reruns ended. subscriber when I return home from deploy- Michael and Daniel Jackson. I'll be check- The programming department at SCI FI ment. ing out future issues of your magazine, hop- must have been doing something right dur- As for the remarks made by Mortensen ing to see more about Shanks and the rest of ing that season, as SCI FI proudly and your disappointed reader, yes, it is true the Stargate SG-1 cast and crew. announced that the show's ratings were so that we soldiers know about the anti-war Dana Jeanne Norris good that Farscape was being renewed for sentiment around the globe. And yes, we can [email protected] not one, but two more seasons. read about it in any Time or Newsweek that On the other hand, between Seasons we receive. However, when we pick up a "Dearth of articles"? Hardly. Four out of Three and Four, SCI FI pulled Farscape magazine such as STARLOG, it's because five recent issues featured SG-1 interviews: completely. So for several months, there was we want to read about something else for a Christopher Judge (#308), Teryl Rothery no Farscape, which made it hard for new change. But we, as anyone who reads maga- (#310), Amanda Tapping (#311) and Shanks fans to jump on board and start watching the zines, know how to weed through the arti- (#312). series. Then, lo and behold, just as produc- cles, reading only those that interest us and tion was ending on Season Four, SCI FI skipping the rest. GOING FAR pulled the rug out from under Farscape, Sgt. Colleen Chesnes

...I just watched the incredible series finale complaining about the ratings and rising U.S. Army, Kuwait of Farscape on the SCI FI Channel. SCI FI production costs. This left the Farscape pro- 925d28b39b.8b39b925d2 @ us.army.mil

8 STARLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.com

UPDATES COMICS SCENE The sale isn't over till the fat lady pig sings! Warner Animation is working up yet another And that means, amazingly, the Hensons animated . This time the Dark (Brian, Lisa, Cheryl, Heather & John) are reac- Knight will be in armor-wearing warrior mode. quiring their legacy, the Company That makes him Batman Wired. (and their father's Muppets as well as Static Shock has been renewed for a fourth Farscape), from Germany's cash-strapped season by Kids' WB. It'll consist of 13 new EM.TV (to whom they sold the concern three mum episodes added to the mix as the show moves to years ago). The Henson children will once By DAVID MCDONNELL six-day-a-week airing (Monday-Saturday) in the again directly control the fates of Kermit, Miss 2003-4 season. Piggy & pals. This deal does not include the Sesame Street Muppets (previously owned by Henson, they were ANIMATION SCENE sold to Sesame Workshop by EM.TV in 2001). Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter lead the cast of notables pro- Paramount has picked up American distribution rights to writer- viding voices for the next Pixar film, The Incredibles. And director Kerry Conran's period SF yarn set in during here's exciting news: Oscar-winning composer John Barry (James the 1939 World's Fair, which famously showed off The World of Bond movies, Out of Africa, Dances With Wolves) will score the Tomorrow (the movie's title). Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina spoof. Jolie, Bai Ling, Giovanni Ribisi and Casey Affleck star. The $70 mil- Duck Dodgers blasts into space August 23 on the Cartoon Net- lion film was independently made in London by producers Jon work. He'll have his own toy line next spring. Avnet, Aurelio De Laurentiis (Dino's nephew), Raffaella (Kull the Conqueror) De Laurentiis (Dino's daughter), Marsha Oglesby, Bill SEQUELS Haber, Law and Sadie Frost (Law's actress wife). This is not to be All hail the Gyro Captain! The Road Warrior's Bruce Spence confused with Roland Emmerich's Tomorrow (a.k.a. Day After swam back into pop-culture visibility voicing the shark Chum in Tomorrow), although both are expected out next summer. Finding Nemo. Now, he has been cast in Star Wars: Episode 111. 's Dark Tower fantasy saga is concluding. The last SCI-FI PEOPLE three volumes, all already written, will appear over the next 14 Jar Jar Binks won't be in Clone Wars, the 's months in hardcover from Viking/Donald M. Grant. Volume V, animated Star Wars shorts. Meesa think that's a good idea. Wolves of the Calla (illustrated by Bernie Wrightson), will be pub- And now the man who has been Simon Templar, Sherlock lished in November. Song of Susannah (art by Darrel Anderson) fol- Holmes (in New York) and James Bond is Sir Roger Moore. He lows in June, with the final volume, appropriately titled The Dark has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Also on the Queen's Tower (and illustrated by ), arriving in November

birthday honors list, actress Helen Mirren has been made a Dame. 2004. Although she's best known as the troubled detective of British TV's Prime Suspect saga, Mirren was also in Excalibur and THE REMAKE CAME played the Russian mission commander in 2010. Two other genre ocky & Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle and Dudley Do- vets were honored with CBE (Commander of the Order of the ight. Of the Jay Ward characters, who's both famous enough British Empire) status: Sting (seen in Dune and The Bride) and and still left to adapt in live-action? Let's take a spin in the Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, famed for playing John Brown, WABAC (i.e. Wayback) Machine, determining, yes, it's Mr. servant to Queen Victoria, in Mrs. Brown. Connolly travels into Peabody & Sherman (a.k.a. vice versa). It's being planned as a the science fiction universe in November as a scientist in Timeline. live-action/CGI combo film by Bullwinkle Studios (the Ward First Wave's Traci Elizabeth Lords has written her autobiogra- folks) and Sony's Sprocketdyne Studios. Rob {The Lion King) phy, Traci Lords: Underneath It All (Harper Entertainment, he, Minkoff will direct.

$23.95). Its controversial selling point is, naturally, the chapters Meanwhile, John {Charlie's Angels) August is scripting yet chronicling her career in adult films as an underage actress. SF another Tarzan movie. This one—for Warner Bros, and producers buffs may be a bit more interested in the pages devoted to her First Jerry Weintraub, Alan Riche and Tony Ludwig—is unrelated to Wave heroics as well as The Tommyknockers and the Not of This the upcoming Tarzan and Jane TV series. Earth remake. The movie edition of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musi- cal version of The Phantom of the Opera is finally going before cameras next month at England's Pinewood Studios with Joel Schumacher directing. Surprisingly, it's tak- SPLENDID SPLENDOR ing neither of the casting routes suggested during the Paul (Planet of the Apes) Giamatti Wow! project's decade-long development: however unfamil- delivers an Oscar-worthy performance iar filmgoers may be with them, go with the theater as comics scribe Harvey Pekar—kind of originals (i.e. Michael Crawford, who created the a cranky, angry, tortured genius—in Webber's ex-wife; American Splendor (based on Pekar's Phantom role; Sarah Brightman, autobiographical graphic novels and Broadway/London/tour Phantom veterans), or hire Our Cancer Year by Pekar and wife film stars and hope for the musical best (both Antonio ). Shari Springer Berman Banderas and John Travolta reportedly wanted to play and Robert Pulcini directed this multi- the Phantom). Instead, they've split the difference and layered film, which is narrated by Pekar hired mostly unfamiliar folks Mnassociated with the and includes classic footage of Pekar's stage musical. Gerard Butler—on screen this month in antics on David Letterman, new on- Tomb Raider 2 and forthcoming in Timeline—will camera chats with Pekar & Brabner and wear the Phantom half-mask. Christine will be played a mind-bending screen meeting Rossum, a Metropolitan Opera between Pekar & Brabner and their by 16-year-old Emmy actor alter-egos (Giamatti and the veteran. Her love interest is Patrick Wilson (to be seen superb Hope Davis). STARLOG has seen this December as William Travis, commander of The this indie movie (could you tell?) and Alamo). Minnie Driver is the best-known member of highly recommends it. American the cast so far, and she gets the thankless role of bitchy Splendor opens August 15. Carlotta, the opera house diva terrorized by the Phan- tom on his protege's behalf.

10 STARWG/September2O03 NEW FROM ASPECT THE MIND-BLOWING SAGA OF SEVEN SONS

GENRE TV cards autographed by Alyssa Milano, Rose TRILOGY CONTINOES TV pilots that didn't sell this spring McGowan, Adrian Paul, Elizabeth Gracen The From York Times bestselling include, surprisingly, NYPD 2069 (the and others. New Steven Bochco-produced futuristic cop author Kevin J. Anderson show), Shadow Walkers, Chasing Alice zi (created by former STARLOG contributor New series airing on Showtime. Creator Scott Lobdell), Kamelot and The Spaces. Bryan Fuller discusses this series and It's not clear if UPN's proposed, misguid- his new Fox mid-season show, Wonder- ed revival of Mr. Ed was for this upcoming falls, on page 23. season or 2004-5, but perhaps Ed is dead. THE DEAD ZONE ANDROMEDA Airs Sundays, 10 p.m. on USA. From Renewed for a fourth syndicated season. 7/6 to 8/17, seven all-new episodes Keith Hamilton Cobb is leaving the premiere. 7/20: "Deja Voodoo." 7/27: "The series. The next Andromeda novel, which Hunt." Delayed from earlier broadcast. focuses on Beka Valentine, is The Broken Johnny's mission is to track down Osama Places (Tor, he, $23.95, out November). bin Laden. 8/3: "The Mountain High." It's by Ethlie Anne Vare (a staff writer on Johnny's of a lost plane crash the TV series for two years) with Daniel prompts a hostage situation. 8/10: "The Morris. Combination." Johnny publicly predicts a heavyweight fighter will die in the ring, BUFFY prompting a pay-per-view frenzy regard- Reruns air this summer on UPN. The ing the event. 8/17: "Visions" (previously show may be over but the slang lingers titled "The Stalker Returns"). Who is the on. Oxford University Press, in fact, has mysterious haunting Johnny? AFDRESTOFSTARS just published Slayer Slang: A Buffy the Kristen Dalton chats about her role in the Vampire Lexicon by Michael Adams (he, series on page 28. Man has ignited an interstellar

$19.95). Buffy co-executive producer Jane war of epic proportions. Will it Espenson penned the foreword. It's a truly ENTERPRISE break apart the galaxy? Renewed for a third season by UPN. Airs Wednesdays. "Trip" Tucker is the Available in hardcover focus of a two-novel story from Pocket Books. Daedalus by Dave Stern (pb, $6.99) begins the tale in October. READ THE FIRST IN THE JAKE 2.0 SERIES-NOW IN PAPERBACK! New series premieres this fall on UPN, A USA TODAY Summer Book Pick Wednesdays, 9 p.m. Chris Gorham stars as a sort of young Six Million Dollar Man. As a pilot, by the way, this project was called Weapon X. STARCATE SG-1 UPN will soon be "amazingly Seventh season episodes are now pre- vamp-free." Slayer Slang defines that as miering Fridays on SCI FI. 8/1: "Space an adjective, meaning "lacking in Race." Warrick (the alien captain from vampires." "Forsaken") returns. 8/8: "Avenger 2.0." fascinating guide to all the words and wacky phrases devised by Joss Whedon TARZAN AND JANE and his fellow writers during the series' New series premieres this fall on the run (like "out-of-the-loopy," "vague up," WB, Sundays, 9 p.m. Travis Fimmel "Sizzles with a fast-moving "crayon-breaky" and "break and enter- and Sarah Wayne Callies star. ish"). The sheer inventiveness of the lan- plot. . . .Not to be missed." guage is delightful and Adams provides TREMORS —Publishers Weekly both definitions and the exact lines of dia- Airs Fridays (8 p.m.) on SCI FI. 8/1: (starred review) logue where the Buffy-speak originated "Water Hazard." Cue the new mon- (for contextual meaning). It all makes for sters. They're on! 8/8: "Shriek & Destroy." "An intelligently conceived and an academic yet unexpectedly fun volume. Juniper, Arizona is hosting an infestation executed nail-biter." of very hungry critters. Can Burt Gummer & company curb their appetite? —Booklist Renewed for another season by the WB, Read Excerpts Online at www.twbookmark.com to air in the same time slot (Sundays, 8 TRU CALLING p.m.). Inkworks released a 72-card New series premieres this fall on Fox, WHERE IMAGINATION Charmed set in late May. As usual, the Thursdays, 8 p.m. Eliza Dushku and ^ KNOWS NO BOUNDS launch includes special randomly inserted A.J. ( 2) Cook star. An AOL Time Warner Book Group Company Note: Airdates can shift without notice Series are only listed for which STARLOG has new info. HOKEY SMOKE! OLL BE BOCK The cartoon character population of the dig- mold Schwarzenegger is back—in fact, ital universe expands this month with the he's making a double return to his signature release of one of TV's greatest animated Terminator role: On the big screen in the third series, Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Com- Terminator flick and, more pertinently here, on plete Season 1. All the unforgettable charac- video store racks in T2: Extreme DVD, "an ters can be found in this four-disc box set: ^xtreme-ly incredible release" (as per Artisan's TW TT\ t Moose & Squirrel, Boris & Natasha, Sher- UVJU / hype-happy publicity material). The James man & Peabody, Aesop & Son, Dudley Do- Cameron sequel has been digitally mastered Right, even the uproarious Edward Everett from a brand-new 1080p, 24sf high-definition Horton-narrated Fractured Fairy Tales. In addi- digital telecine— transfer, with frame-by-frame digi- tion to all of these Jay Ward cartoon creations, there tal restoration "an enhanced viewing experience are 30 minutes of bonus features, including never- even better than when the movie originally premiered in before-seen Bullwinkle puppet segments, TV promotional theaters." Disc One features include the Special Edition movie spots, a specially created "Many Faces of Boris Badenov" short itself (with 16 minutes of additional scenes) and new Cameron-co- and a sneak peek at Complete Season 2 (scheduled for 2004 writer William Wisher ; Disc Two's goodies

release). And it's just $39.98 from (where else?) Bullwinkle Stu- include an all-new documentary on the role of T2 in the evolution dios. of digital FX, "72: On the Set" (rare production footage) and more. The high-spirited adventure of Disney's Lilo & Stitch contin- The price: an Extreme-ly incredible $29.98. ues in Stitch! The Movie, premiering only on Disney DVD and There's action of a different sort in Joe 90: The Complete Series video August 26. This all-new animated adventure features the ($79.95), A&E's newest addition to its video line of Gerry Ander- returning voice cast of Daveigh Chase, Tia Carrere, Ving son marionette adventure series. This is a four-volume set (all 30

Rhames, David Ogden Stiers et al. and follows the fun-filled episodes) chronicling the exploits of nine-year-old Joe antics of that troublemaking alien who nonetheless touches the McClaine—who, thanks to the Brain Impulse Galvanoscope lives of Lilo and her extended family while messing them up a Record And Transfer (BIG RAT) machine invented by his father, lot. The DVD ($29.99) tosses in a game, a trivia challenge, a can be given the skills, knowledge and experience of anyone on Earth. See Joe foil international terrorists and recover missing Watch him pull a rabbit out of his hat. nuclear weapons, and hear commentaries by designer Mike Trim Nope, not to split hairs (or hares), it's actually a Rocky & Bullwinkle DVD. and director Ken Turner. Then watch as Woody Allen turns film-

dom's spy game upside down in What's Up, Tiger Lily? , the 1966 Japanese James Bond-style movie which (for U.S. release) Allen hilariously rewrote and redubbed (Image, $19.99).

And still the action hits roll in. Fans who enjoy adventure of the comic book and cartoon variety will want to check out A&E's Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked ($29.95), in which industry insiders like and Jim Steranko reflect on the way their col- orful creations reflect society at large. It's a feature-length look at the evolution of the art form, filled with classic images from DC and Marvel Comics as well as interviews with modern masters of the graphic novel like and Frank Miller. If sophisticated English action and deadpan wit are your cup of tea, A&E obliges with The New '76-'77: Season #1, star- ring Patrick Macnee as dapper crimefighter John Steed and, as his new partners Mike Gambit and Purdey, Gareth Hunt and Joanna Lumley. This $79.95 DVD release contains all 13 episodes. For out-of-this-world adventure, there's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 5, a $139.99 six-disc box set (Paramount), and : The Complete Third Season: Point ofNo Return (Warners), also six discs but just $99.98.

DVDS IN BRIEF music video, etc. that you'll have to do without if you opt for the The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Cut) (New $22.99 VHS. It's from Buena Vista, as is Piglet's Big Movie Line, $39.99; Gift Set, $79.92): That Two Towers Special Edition (DVD $29.99, VHS $24.99), a reunion of all our favorite folks you pre-ordered, and which ought to be arriving in your mailbox from the Hundred Acre Wood (Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Roo and, of any day now (and in stores August 26)? That is so last month (even course, Piglet). Kid-friendly bonus features exclusive to the though August 26 is, uhh, this month)! November 18 brings a new DVD: a 3-D "Book of Memories," a sing-along and—don't four-disc version, with more than 40 minutes of never-seen pooh-pooh this—more. footage. Don't forget to wear your "Kick Me" sign to the store. Live-action, but sorta pertinent here nonetheless, is another Eve of Destruction (MGM/United Artists, $14.95): Scientist home video exclusive, Buena Vista's George of the Jungle 2, a Eve Simmons (Renee Soutendijk) creates an android/robot bomb, sequel to the 1997 Brendan Fraser comedy hit (and both derived Eve VIII, in her own image—but it runs amok with nuclear annihi- from the old Jay Ward cartoon series). Bloopers and deleted lation capabilities. scenes are among the extras you can watch out for (and also Duel (Special Edition) (Universal, $19.98): It's man (Dennis watch out for that tree!) on the $29.99 DVD; or save seven Weaver) vs. machine (18-wheeler) on a deserted desert road in the smackers by going with the no-frills VHS. Christopher Shower- 1971 telemovie that helped put director on the man (from TV's Fear Factor) is George, AngeFs Julie Benz is his map. Special features include "Spielberg on Making Duel," a true love Ursula and comedy legend (and STARLOG pal) John "Spielberg and the Small Screen" documentary and "Richard Cleese again voices George's sidekick Ape. Matheson: The Writing of Duel."

12 STARLOG/September 2003 ICKY MATTERS star Pitt; the latter comes with a Pitt-director Roy Ward Baker- Leeches in a college campus lake get a taste of the swim team's screenwriter Tudor Gates commentary and excerpts from Carmil- steroid-rich blood and mutate into deadly parasites in the la (the source novel) read by Pitt. appropriately titled Leeches, scripted by FANGORIA's own fans are treated to the twin-bill of The Haunted Michael Gingold and coming to VHS and DVD, the latter with Palace and Tower of London, vehicles from the director David DeCoteau audio commentary and a still gallery . Palace, originally an AIP release, comes to home video (Rapid Heart/Sidekick Entertainment). On a similarly icky note, with all its Lovecraftian horrors in a new high-definition transfer

an army of large sandworms advances on a small Georgia town in (the movie's first home video release in its original widescreen

the 1 976 suspenser Squirm, a new hi-def transfer of the original, aspect ratio) and also features an interview with producer-director uncut version; director does the commentary hon- Corman. Tower of London, originally a United Artists release, is ors on this disc (MGM, $14.95). based on 's Richard III (ha!) and stars Price The two-legged monsters this month are a campy lot, few as the evil king. Gene Corman, Rog's brother and this flick's pro- campier than the Aztec Mummy, who takes on all contenders in an ducer, is the interviewee this time around. Image double-bill of The Curse of the Aztec Mummy and The Corman talks about The Raven as that 1963 Price-Boris Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy. It's more than 120 minutes of 1950s' Karloff-Peter Lorre-starring horror spoof comes to DVD paired Mexi-movie fun for only $19.99. guru Joe Bob Briggs with the non-Corman, same-cast The Comedy of Terrors; Richard presents another schlocky smackdown, Jesse James Meets Matheson, who wrote both, comments on both. Then, for yet more Frankenstein's Daughter. Actually, the 1966 stinker pits the Poe, check out the double-bill of and An famous gunslinger (John Lupton) against Dr. Frankenstein's Evening of Edgar Allan Poe, the former an English-made entry in granddaughter (Narda Onyx), who turns Jesse's sidekick (Cal the Corman-Price-Poe series (with commentaries by Corman and Bolder) into a bald- and scar-headed monster (of course named star Elizabeth Shepherd), the latter a made-for-TV Price vehicle Igor). Briggs is the audio commentator on this $19.95 Elite from the early '70s.

release. What would Poe think of all this? Funnily enough, we could ask him if we could step into the weird world depicted in the 2002 horror-mystery Descendant (York, DVD $14.99, VHS priced for rental). Del Tenney and his wife Margot Hartman Tenney—names THAT JINGLING... that fans with elephant memories will recall from '60s shockers You hear is the sound of vintage horror and SF fans emptying like Psychomania and The Curse of the Living Corpse—have their piggy banks and checking under couch cushions for stepped out of the shadows of movie retirement toting this far-out change coast to coast, in a vain attempt to afford a fraction of the suspenser, in which horror writer Jeremy London, a modern-day vintage chillers that have come to DVD this August. Last month descendant of Edgar Allan, is dogged by the ghost of his ancestor we told you about the stellar Warner lineup (House of Wax, The (Arie Verveen). Katherine (Roswell) Heigl, William (House) Katt Haunting, The Thing, many more); this month we turn our atten- (who co-scripted) and Mrs. Tenney co-star. tion to MGM, which brings four low-cost ($14.95) double-bills to the party. First, MGM puts the bite on Hammer fans by pairing two Ingrid Pitt starrers, Countess Dracula and The Vampire Lovers. The former is the uncensored British cut with a commen- KING KARLOFF tary track by director Peter Sasdy, screenwriter Jeremy Paul and As if MGM's bargain-priced releases of these Price and Ham- mer horrors wasn't exciting enough, they also feature in their August lineup an amazing surprise: a "70th Anniversary Restored Edition" of the Karloff vehicle The Ghoul. In 1933, at the height of his Hollywood stardom, Karloff returned to his native England for this spooky tale of the supernatural, which features a support- ing cast that got much better as the years rolled by: Cedric Hard- wicke, Ernest Thesiger and Ralph Richardson. For years, The Ghoul was considered a lost film; then, to the shock and awe of fans, a murky, Czechoslovakian-subtitled print was unearthed; then, shocking and awing the faithful a second time, a better, non- subtitled print was discovered. Now, Karloff devotees can rejoice a third time: MGM's new release utilizes the film's original 35mm elements. Extensive digital restoration was used to remove thou- sands of instances of film damage and clean up the soundtrack. The result, they promise, is a Ghoul transfer that will look and sound better than anything available for 70 years. And there's more good news on the Karloff front: The Grand Old Man of Horror's final good movie, the 1968 Targets, with Karloff playing.. .well, himself, in everything but name as a fading horror star, and Tim O'Kelly as a sniper terrorizing the Los Ange- les drive-in where Karloff's new picture is playing. Peter Bog- danovich, who wrote and produced and directed.. .and edited.. .and also co-starred... provides an introduction for this upcoming Para- mount DVD release. And also a commentary. (Peter! EnougM) Good news-bad news Karloff-wise: Columbia, heretofore slow to release their horror oldies, has finally dug into their vaults and pulled out The Devil Commands, yet another Karloff vehicle, this one from 1941 with Boris as a mentally unhinged scientist obsessed with the idea of contacting his late wife in the spirit What Price Poe? That would be $14.95 per set. world. That's the good news. The bad news: 25 bucks for an hour- Vincent is back, emoting in several Edgar Allan-like long movie and no extras! This is one command that, regretfully, melodramas now being unleashed on DVD. even diehard Karloffans may disobey.

www.starlog.com STAKLOG/September 2003 13 — — —

The Earthborn by Paul Collins (Tor, he, 234 pp, $23.95) Having been born and raised in space, 13-

year-old Welkin Roberts is unprepared when

Changing Planes by Ursula K. Le Guin another planet. But she and her partners soon the transport ship he is traveling in crash- (Harcourt, he, 256 pp, $22) discover something far more critical: a secret lands on Earth. Welkin now finds himself in a Changing Planes is based on a very sim- that could upset the balance of power within strange environment surrounded by tribes of ple yet far-reaching premise: under certain the galaxy. humans who have seemingly reverted to bar- circumstances, some people can go and visit Flint's set-up, story and characterizations barism—or worse. To survive, Welkin must an infinity of parallel universes, or "planes." are good, but the book's true strength lies in overcome the prejudices he holds concerning

In this case, the punnish notion is that bored Harlan's examination of the Mexica civiliza- those who aren't "skyborn," and join forces travelers at airports can actually "change tion that controls the human race. It's a fasci- with a people he considers unequal. planes"—i.e. exit our reality nating "What if?" premise SF "coming-of-age" stories are fairly and explore other realms. that holds the reader's inter- common. Writers with the level of energy

This is, of course, just an est throughout the ups and that Collins brings to this tale are not. He puts excuse for Le Guin to downs of the plot, while the his characters through a major survival recount her colorful jour- characters broaden the out- course, with enough meat on the plate for neys in a series of short sto- line on their journey down several novels, and manages to squeeze the ries, which are sometimes numerous intriguing ave- story into an impressively compact size. Not reminiscent of Jack Vance's nues. After a successful only that, but Earthborn's setting is well- colorful and minutely career as a fantasy writer, designed: an Earth that borders on the famil- described alien societies, Harlan's eye is turning to iar, but is hostile and alien enough to and other times of Jorge Luis SF. This initial effort proves stimulate the reader's interest. Borges' intricate fables. the move to be a wise one. —Michael Wolff

Each tale is a gem, both in —Michael Wolff terms of the basic idea that The Light Ages by Ian R. MacLeod sustains that world as well as Sims by F. Paul Wilson (Ace, he, 416 pp, $23.95) Le Guin's execution. Highly (Tor/Forge, he, 384 pp, It's a different Earth where otherworld- recommended. $25.95) ly magic exists. Power and progress are —Jean-Marc Lofficier Genre fans have long the result of "aether," a substance been familiar with Wil- painstakingly excavated from the ground. The Anguished Dawn by son's work, most notably Robert Borrows knows that he's destined James P. Hogan (Baen, his modern horror classic to toil in the mines, but his life becomes he, 432 pp, $26) The Keep and his Repair- entwined with Annalise, a young girl In this sequel to Cradle man Jack novels. Here, strong in magic. Together they struggle to of , Hogan explores the author delves more bring an end to the rigid society in which in depth the human meri- into SF-thriller territory . tocracy of the Kronians liv- with a story about the A very atmospheric work—and not ing among the moons of near-future. The SimGen your typical lyrical fantasy The Light Saturn. But there's more. Corporation has created a Ages presents a neo-Victorian England of Civilization on Earth has THE ANGUISHED race of genetically en- grit and darkness, where even the magic is

been all but wiped out due hanced chimpanzees smudged with grime. The best way to to its encounter with the "sims"—that have been describe this novel would be "working- protoplanet , and designed and marketed to class fantasy." It's a different sort of alter- those Terrans who man- take over the menial and nate-history story, in which humanity aged to escape to Kronia dangerous tasks of the takes an unlikely path, but the downtrod- realize that there's a rich opportunity to world. But the sims carry a powerful den and filth are still very much there. establish control over the remains—which secret—one that could be revealed by an Readers expecting the usual ethereal elves could help them make a bid for power. ambitious human lawyer working to and palaces will want to look else- Hogan has the enviable talent of being unionize the species. where. The trolls, on the other hand, are able to balance the pedantic with the dra- Sims is sort of like quite in evidence here.

matic, and The Anguished Dawn is easily Karel Capek's R.U.R. —Michael Wolff more entertaining than its prequel—espe- crossed with Conquest of cially in the depiction of life among the the Planet of the Apes, Snare by Katharine Kerr Kronians. Hogan presents a future society with Wilson adding his (Tor, he, 592 pp, $27.95)

that is tantalizingly possible and certainly own chilling touch. It's a Snare refers to a planet

worth reading about, as it is pitted against novel about a changing inhabited by intelligent the machinations of humans unafraid of Earth, a change begun by reptiles, nomadic tribes building a future upon the bones of Earth. economics that are alter- and descendants of Islamic —Michael Wolff ing the shape of society. sects. The humans of the As with R.U.R. and the Khanate have been suffer- Wasteland of Flint by Thomas Harlan Apes films, the economic ing under a despotic rule, (Tor, he, 432 pp, $27.95) redirection illustrated in and the brutal conditions The setting for Wasteland of Flint is an Sims puts mankind face to have finally driven a cap- alternate universe where humanity is ruled by face with a new race tain of the Khan's cavalry the former Aztec Empire. Dr. Gretchen and not just an animal, but to set out into the wilder-

Andersson is part of a team sent to rescue an a potential competitor. ness to seek a possible sur- archaeological expedition that's stranded on —Michael Wolff viving member of the royal

14 STAKLOG/September 2003 — ,

family in the hopes that such a person can with a female passenger to Maracanda, a claim the throne. But the Khan has also dis- planet balanced between a black hole and a THE LEGENDARY STAR OF patched his own agent, thus launching a race neutron star. The environment is hostile, the across an alien landscape to find a single people aren't much better and, above all, HUNDREDS OF FILMS INCLUDING... man. there's the threat of the murderous Berserkers.

While this is an interesting example of Characterization in Saberhagen's stories heroic fantasy set in an exotic location, is sometimes hit or miss. In this case, the LOIMINGS Snare's problems lie in a story that is too long characters of Silver and Lily are passable and characters who—considering the novel's protagonists. But the fun begins when the STAR WARS: EPISODE II length—aren't developed to the extent that Berserkers arrive. That's when Saberhagen's readers have come to expect from Kerr's talent for fast-paced adventure comes to the other work. However, fore and the real story begins. despite Snare's failure to Other authors might be able reach the author's usual to produce more three-dimen- high-water mark, this sional heroes, but the book does deliver enter- Berserkers are uniquely Only 500 copies of this taining moments, and Saberhagen's own. Limited Edition Lithograph even the potential is worth —Michael Wolff Poster exist and each copy exploring. is autographed Mr. Lee. —Michael Wolff The War of the Flowers by by Tad Williams (DAW, he, Order yours NOW! Kaspar's Box by Jack 656 $24.95) pp, + $6.00 shipping. L. Chalker (Baen, he, Theo Vilmos has never $75.99 Sales limited to U.S. only. 288 pp, $24) put much effort into any- The concluding vol- thing. He has skated through

ume in "The Tales of the life, never feeling part of it. Three Kings," Kaspar's But his girl friend's miscar- Box—as with the previ- riage and mother's death ous chapters—is design- force him to recognize that ed to stand on its own, he needs direction. Unfortu- which, given the scope of nately, powers in Faerie are

this series, is fortunate. already directing his life

Kaspar is the third of for their own purposes. the Three Kings: habit- Unless Theo matures quick-

able planets all orbiting ly, his life and this world within a single star sys- will be a buffet for Faerie's tem. After an encounter dark forces. with stones of unique While the steampunk

power, it becomes the Faerie is an intriguing twist focus of interest for sus- on the familiar, and Eamoon pected space pirate Dowd's book within a book Patrick Murphy, his three is used to great effect to

remarkable female pas- introduce "the city," it's the sengers and the crew of a way Williams nails Theo's space naval cruiser. But, confusion and lack of focus as with Balshazzar and that really makes this story

Melchior before it, Kaspar isn't as simple resonate. POSTER SIZE: IS" x 34" — a destination as one would expect. Espe- Penny Kenny PLEASE INDICATE THE QUANTITY BEING ORDERED cially when a seemingly alien derelict is .CHRISTOPHER LEE LITHOGRAPH Price: $75.99 + $6.00 Shipping located on its surface. Kaspar may yet turn A Forest of Stars: The Saga of Seven Suns Method of Payment: out to hold the biggest secret of all the Book 2 by Kevin J. Anderson (Aspect, he, Cash Check Money Order Discover Master Card jQ Visa Three Kings—(/ its explorers can survive 478 pp, $24.95) _

long it. enough to find Five years after the events of Hidden Account No.

One of those novels that has enough Empire, the war between the nominally allied Card Expiration Date: / (month/year) plot for three or four stories, Kaspar's Box humanoid races and the hydrogues contin-

Your Daytime Phone #: { .). isn't a terrible tale, but Chalker has defi- ues and the aliens are winning. — With the If you don't want to cut out coupon, we will accept written orders. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. nitely produced more readable works. reawakening of more aliens, it looks as —Michael though humanoids are about to Wolff become Name extraneous.

Berserker's Star by Fred Saberhagen (Tor, Everything about Anderson's latest is he, 368 pp, $24.95) big—the war, the history, the aliens. These One of the most durable franchises in SF are elemental forces battling here, folks. Yet City Zip continues with the exploits of Harry Silver, the characters are always the heart of the Your Signature an interstellar pilot who's trying to stay one story, and their defeats and triumphs give per- Total enclosed: $-— step ahead of the law, which believes he has spective to it all. A Forest of Stars has echoes Starlog Group stolen a powerful super-weapon for his own of Star Wars, Stargate, Farscape, Babylon 5 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 purposes. and, going farther back, E.E. "Doc" Smith's You can fax: 212-889-7933 or e-mail: Harry's latest adventure has him traveling Lensmen. Anderson has re-imagined familiar n [email protected] jj

www.starlog.com .

material into a page-turner of a series that result. Once again Major Mike O'Neal is in suddenly cordons off the area, because of

fans of sprawling sagas won't want to miss. the thick of battle against the Posleen an unknown phenomenon that occurred at —Penny Kenny invaders occupying Earth. So are Cally another site employing the Eye.

O'Neal and the other stalwarts, who have Blind Lake is the kind of novel that

Sword of King James by J. Ardian Lee been in and out of the ground action. But, as makes you miss the simpler days of sci- (Ace, tpb, 336 pp, $14) before, the bad news is ence fiction. The discovery of the Eye, its In Outlaw Sword and Son that the Posleen haven't implementation and the exploration and of the Sword, Dylan Mathe- been idle, and both sides study of alien worlds and cultures aren't s son traveled back in time to begin leaning toward enough, it seems, to sustain a novel. 18th-century Scotland, mar- unorthodox strategies in Instead, Wilson uses those plotlines as a ried, then turned his back on their attempts to win. pretext to go off in a tangential direction

the 21st century to remain The nice thing about which, in itself, is interesting, but not as with his new family, only to having an additional vol- much as his initial premise. Overlaying

have his happiness cut short ume in this series is that that is the standard cast of angst-ridden

when his wife was brutally it gives Ringo another scientists popularized by Michael Crich- murdered. In Sword of King opportunity to further ton by way of Marvel Comics, who are James, Dylan must raise his develop his characters, more of a distraction than real characters. children alone in a country making Hell's Faire Reading Blind Lake, one becomes nostal- on the verge of war, even as actually more readable gic for Fred Hoyle's The Black Cloud. Morrighan, Goddess of War, than A Hymn Before Bat- —Jean-Marc Lofftcier

tries to claim him for her tle. And Ringo's pen- own. chant for describing Noise by Hal Clement (Tor, he, 256 pp, Lee's meticulous de- military action has also $23.95)

tailing of 18th-century Scot- grown exponentially. Clement is an expert at creating intriguing smm mmm I tish dress and custom creates Better yet, he has learned worlds and populating them with ingenious a believable world. In con- how to write a sequel characters who face problems that require trast, the contemporary sec- capable of standing on more brain than brawn. In Noise, we are

tions are bland, annoying its own. introduced to Kainui, a planetary waterworld interruptions to the main —Michael Wolff (no land anywhere) settled by Polynesian tale, making Sword of King exiles living in floating cities. The protago- James an uneven reading Blind Lake by Robert nist is Earth historian Mike Honi, himself of experience. Charles Wilson (Tor, Maori descent, who has come to study the —Penny Kenny he, 400 pp, $24.95) natives and joins some of them on a maritime Thanks to a new expedition.

Hell's Faire by John Ringo kind of quantum tele- The world of Kainui and its metal-starved (Baen, he, 336 pp, $25) scope dubbed the Eye, economy take center stage, as is to be expect- According to Ringo's clos- humans are now able to ed from Clement, and live up to the reader's ing comments, his "Human/ peer directly into the expectations. Mike's exotic journey is also Posleen War" books were sup- lives of aliens residing interesting enough, but this novel lacks the posed to end with When the on other worlds. One energy and suspense of Clement's Needle or Devil Dances. Historical and such race is being stud- Mission of Gravity. personal circumstances, however, prompted a ied by scientists at an Area 51 -type loca- —Jean-Marc Lofficier re-organization, with this novel being the tion called "Blind Lake." Then, the Army

For as little as S60, reach Earth's largest SF audience.

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Your time is up at , Beast Boy, Cyborg, www.deadlikeme.com ERIC BANA WEB PAGE Starfire and Raven show off their JAMES MARSDEN SITE This Chopper doesn't sic balls, superpowers in Glen Muraka- Marsden attacks as in ELECTRA WOMAN AND but he does get angry as Mar- mi's new Cartoon Network the X-Men movies, but in real DYNA GIRL PAGE vel's green menace. "Hulk-out" series. life this actor is all Sugar & They're like Batman and at www.cartoonnetwork.com/ Spice and everything nice. Get Robin—but babes! Judy Stran- users.evl .net/~nyveen/ericbana titans/index.html the latest Gossip at gis and Deidre Hall saved the www.allstarz.org/~marsden day as superheroines in skintight THE DEAD ZONE KRISTINE KATHRYN outfits in this entertaining '70s Go into the Zone with Anthony RUSCH PAGE MERCEDES LACKEY PAGE series. Head to the Electrabase at Michael Hall in this USA Net- Mystery, romance, SF—this Definitely no lackey, this writer web.utk.edu/~lyle/ewdg/ewdg. work/SCI FI Channel series Millennium Baby's stories are leads the way in inventive genre html based on the Stephen King Simply Irresistible. Go to Ex- fiction. Go Beyond World's End novel. Johnny Smith sees the tremes at and visit Valdemar at JUDY STRANGIS WEBSITE future at www.kristinekathrynrusch. www.mercedeslackey.com Perky and pig-tailed, Strangis www.usanetwork.com/series/ homestead.com/mainpage. was dynamite as Dyna Girl, thedeadzone html

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20 STARLOG/September 2003 FUTURE It's Magic Time at a BookExpo America signing with two fan favorites: and writer- producer Marc Scott Zicree (who scripted DSffs most memorable episode, "Far Beyond the Stars"). Shimerman read Blackstone Audio's

unabridged (1 5-hour+) audiobook of Magic Time (by Zicree and ).The Harper Collins-published At long last, the legendary saga—initially envisioned by Zicree as special FX genius Ray a fantasy TV series—also includes Harryhausen (second from Angel Fire (by Zicree and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff). Both volumes and right) gets his well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of the audiobook are now in stores. Or Fame. joins the order online from STARLOG multitude of fans applauding. www.blackstone.audiocom or www.zicree.com Bravo, Ray! He's surrounded here by three longtime friends: beloved Ray Bradbury, Famous Monsters icon Forrest J Ackerman and Arnold Kunert (who was instrumental in making this honor happen). You can find Harryhausen's star between those for another legend (comedy great Harold Lloyd) and a special effect (actress Jane Russell).

Is she Sarah Connor? Linda Hamilton used to be, but she got better. She isn't around for T3: Rise of Missed it by thaaattt the Machines. much!! Don Adams was aiming for Barbara Feldon's William Shatner has signed lips. It just seems like up to guest on the newly revived old times for Get pseudo-talk show Space Ghost: Smarts Agents 86 Coast to Coast. and 99.

Is Bruce Campbell screen testing for Dr. Strange or merely hypnotizing us all into buying his book If Chins Could KHI7 You be the judge. You are feeling sleepy.. .very sleepy. Now get out your credit card and log onto amazon.com....

www.starlog.com STARLOG/September 2003 21 THE SOUND OF SCI-FI \0^^

From our good friends at Decca Now available for the first time is The best music from the Tst sea- Records comes the hit UPN series star- Featuring the wonderful music from the son of the incredible sci-fi series marvelous vocals by ring Scott Bacula. Enhanced portion Scott (Jonathan Archer) Bakula, includes cast bios and Russell Watson's long-running acclaimed TV series starring Richard Dean Anderson. star of the series music video of the main title song, starring Adrian Paul. This CD Includes David Arnold's feature new UPN TV "Where My Heart Will Take Me." includes several Celtic favorites. main title! ENTERPRISE!

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Don't want to cut magazine? Write order on any plain piece of paper. You can fax: 212-889-7933 or e-mail: [email protected] fairy tales, Bryan Fuller harvests the fruits of a bittersweet Q afterlife. By MAUREEN MCT1CUE

reaking into Hollywood, convention tells us, is very, very That first bizarre step took him into the Star Trek Universe, a

hard. You must rely on equal parts talent and luck, and "dream job," according to Fuller. "I didn't set out to be a writer. I

hope that the stars align and things fall into place for you went to film school to be a director, and I was watching an episode

and you alone. For writer Bryan Fuller, it worked. "It actually was of Star Trek and was like, 'You know, I could probably write this.'

simple in retrospect," he says of his transition from fan to pro. "It So I sat down and wrote a spec script, submitted it and sold the

was very bizarre." story. I then pitched and sold a couple of more stories and got hired on staff for four years." After four years of writing for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager—where he was also the show runner in its last season—Fuller "knew that I didn't want to write Star Trek anymore, and I couldn't get a job any place else. When you're a Star Trek writer, they pigeonhole you, thinking that's all you can do. So I met with an agent

and said, 'What should I do? Should I write a West

Dead Like Mes Reaping crew Rube (Mandy Patinkin), Betty (Rebecca Gayheart), Mason (Callum Blue), Roxy (), George (Ellen Muth). George's Mom (Cynthia Stevenson), however, is still among the living. www.starlog.com STARLOG/September 2003 23 Wing! An An- houses or apart-

gel"? What should I ments, stealing their write?' And he said, 'Do you belongings; kind of a crude,

have any original ideas?' I said, Trainspotting, grunge lifestyle. I just

'Yeah, I have several of them.' And I thought that would be more fun to pursue pitched one, which was Dead Girl, and he as opposed to giving them teleportation abili-

said, 'Write that. I can sell that.' So I wrote it, and ties. I didn 't want it to be Touched by an Angel. I

he sold it and there you go." wanted it to be grungier and grittier and a little more

in the Trainspotting style, and I filled it out from there. Soul Searching It was a matter of asking questions about how they would The spec script Dead Girl became the new Showtime live and coming up with the answers. original series Dead Like Me, an off-kilter look at life from "If you look at life and death, the stakes are pretty high,

death's perspective, starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin. and it's fun to tell stories about the minutia of that against a "The genesis was just a general obsession with backdrop of Grim Reapers," notes Fuller. horror movies, death and all those healthy "That was the drive behind Dead Like Me: to teenage preoccupations that we spend time mud- do a series that was really about life, but seeing it dling through," Fuller explains. "I had read On a from Death's point-of-view. In a way, it's a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony, this book about a slightly more comedic version of Six Feet Under, guy who becomes Death, and seen movies like from the other side of the fence." Death Takes a Holiday and Meet Joe Black. All Fuller admits that HBO's funeral home fami- these stories have mortals taking over the role of ly drama helped open the door for Dead Like Me.

Death. I just loved that idea and thought it was fas- "Absolutely," he says. "It showed that you can cinating. tackle dark subject matter and still have an audi-

"I thought, 'OK, what would that be like if it ence for it. Dead Like Me is brighter and actual- was within the physical parameters of our reality?' ly more comedic than Six Feet Under. Six Feet There couldn't just be one Death, because people Under is a heavy drama, and an amazing one at are dying all over the world. It would probably be that. Dead Like Me is much more of a dark com- a situation where hundreds of thousands of Grim edy. It's about death and life—putting the pieces Reapers are all over the world popping souls together, living the life interrupted, figuring out before people die. But how would they work? I what your place is in the world and learning how didn't want to get into magical powers, because Creator Bryan Fuller's spec life and death are bookends for the human expe- script Dead Girl became Dead that makes it too easy for them. If there's a soul on rience." Like Me, a Showtime series the other side of town that they have to take, they Unfortunately, Fuller has already moved on, §> that looks at life from a whole ™ have to get on a bus, hail a cab or steal a car to get so to speak, parting ways with Dead Like Me. "I new perspective: death. there. But then how do they live? They're not was only involved in the show for the first quar- "g going to get paid for what they do, so some will probably get day ter of the season," he says. "We had creative differences about how jobs among the living, and some will get by as well as they can liv- the series should go. The studio and network wanted it to be more S ing off the dead: what the dead leave behind, squatting in their like Touched by an Angel and I didn 't, so I was replaced. It was a £

Although she's no longer of this Earth, George keeps tabs on her family: Mom Joy (Stevenson), Dad Clancy (Greg Kean) and sister Reggie (Britt McKillip).

24 STARLOG/September 2003 bummer, but I "

would rather have them directed the pilot, and I kill my baby than have me kill co-created the show with him. my baby," he laughs. He's an Emmy Award-winning direc- "I'm very proud of my work on Dead tor [for Malcolm in the Middle and The Like Me" he says enthusiastically. "I'm very Larry Sanders Show], and it's just an amazing

proud of the experience I had working with the experience working with him. We start hiring the

cast and crew. I didn't have a blast with the studio writing staff soon."

and network, but that's why I'm working on another Fuller is a tried-and-true supporter of genre series. show now. The support I got from the cast and crew was "I would always love to have a genre element to whatev-

amazing; it made the job so much more fulfilling and show I'm working on," he remarks. "I couldn't write

rewarding. When you have people standing behind you, it West Wing or NYPD Blue, and I couldn't write a lawyer, cop

enables you to fight for the things that everybody wants out of or doctor show, because it's hard for me to get excited about a show. Nobody wants to do a series that other people have done that. The confines of the storytelling are too limited. I love

' [before], and no actor wants to be cast in a show that's familiar. So knowing that there are rules that can be broken, bent or shaped fwhat I tried to do in Dead Like Me—and what we're trying to do in to the will of my story, where I don't have to paint myself into a Maid of the Mist [Fuller's upcoming new Fox series] —is have a corner. It's good to be the quirky guy. I like being the quirky guy. breath of fresh air in television storytelling. To do things just a lit- It's a fun way to write." tle bit differently and have more fun and enjoy the characters for Though he felt pigeonholed by Star Trek, Fuller confesses, who they are—accepting them for their faults and exploring those "You can take the boy out of Star Trek, but you can't take the Star

faults and seeing how the people can change and grow." Trek out of the boy. I love it. That's where it's at for me. I can't get

enough of it. I remember as a kid going to see Escape to Witch Wondering On Mountain and saying, 'They can tell stories that are outside our Just like Dead Like Me, Maid of the Mist has been retitled. It's reality?' That was so liberating, and it changed my imagination. I now called . "Wonderfalls is about a young woman didn't realize that you could tell stories that couldn't happen."

who works in a tourist kiosk in Niagara Falls and one day she has Wonderfalls is definitely outside reality, and Canadian actress a nervous breakdown," Fuller says. "The little animals and charac- has her work cut out for her, sitting behind a ters in the tourist shop start talking to her and telling her to do counter and selling knick-knacks and tchotkes while figuring out things. Is she schizophrenic? Is she deranged? Is God talking to her place in the universe. "She has to ponder that," Fuller says. her? What is it? "She has to [decide whether] she's going to go on medication to "They tell her to set little events in motion, which appear to make the hallucinations stop. But what happens when she does

result in catastrophe, but out of that catastrophe, good things hap- [take the medication], and a little salt-and-pepper shaker with a pen. She has no idea what's going on. The basic premise is about cow head says, 'Stop taking it'? There are some episodes where

this young person who finds out that she's a pawn in the universe's she's told to do something that she knows is bad or could hurt plan, an active pawn. It's all cast, and we've finished the pilot. It somebody. The universe knows that, and calculates all the [possi- came out great." ble twists] and turns. Sometimes she has no idea that she's making

Picked up as a 13-episode mid-season replacement by Fox, [choices], because even resisting a notion is still making a decision,

Wonderfalls is keeping Fuller busy. "I'm very proud of it." he says. and that causes events to happen. That's exciting, because she can

Georgia "George" Lass isn't having a happy time as a Grim Reaper in the afterlife. It's still a job.

Fuller says Piers Anthony's On a Pale Horse and films like Death Takes a Holiday inspired his idea for Dead Like Me. By the way, that's Laura Harris as Daisy at rear right.

STARLOG/September 2003 25 LIKE TREK ME resist and the Most people, if asked to compare Star Trek with Dead Like Me, universe knows that, and wouldn't have much to say on the subject. The shows appear it can still manipulate her to set to be miles apart in content, characters and tone. But, having events in motion—events that are worked on both series, Bryan Fuller sees some common ground going to change her and other people's between the two. lives." "Dead Like Me doesn't have Vulcans or Borgs. That's true," The Wonderfalls cast also includes SF fan Fuller chuckles. "But if you look at a character like favorite William (Roswell) Sadler and Diana from Voyager, you can see somebody who has, arguably, died and Scarwid. been resurrected. Seven of Nine was also living out a life interrupt- ed. She was learning to live and engage in the human experience, Reaping Rewards just like George in Dead Like Me. The SF version is that Seven of As for Dead Like Me, Fuller is equally high on its cast: Nine had her humanity ripped away from her. She became part Muth, Patinkin, Rebecca Gayheart, Jasmine Guy and Callum machine, only to have her humanity triumph over that. Similarly, Blue, who play George, Rube, Betty, Roxy and Mason respec-

George is in a situation where her life is tively. "I adore the A frustrated Fuller ripped away from her, but she gets it back cast across the board. would have preferred and is able to learn from the choices she We just got very, very to have Star Trek: made in life. She makes new choices and lucky," Fuller enthuses. Voyager's characters moves on, and continues to grow and become evolve every week. "When you write char- human. Nonetheless, he was acters, they become an "And the same goes for any of the Vulcan pleased that Seven amalgam of what you characters, too. It's about the exploration of of Nine and the have in your head and humanity. Anytime you're dealing with Doctor were allowed the actors portraying Spock, Tuvok or Odo, they're on the outside to grow, becoming them. You have to be more human looking in, and that's very much where flexible in how you throughout the George is in Dead Like Me: She's on the out- view the characters. series' run. side looking in at life, and she wishes she They're a rough pile of could express and experience her feelings, putty, and don't really but for whatever reason she's afraid to. It's about conquering your come into focus until someone is cast to play them.

fears and grabbing life. You have to say, 'This experience is "That was very much the situation with Rube. When Mandy

immeasurable; it's fragile. And we can lose it at any given moment, came in, the character became someone else. The attitude was " so cherish it.' there, and Rube became much more fun and interesting. I think Working on DS9 and Voyager were two different experiences whenever you get into a situation where you're working with for the Star Trek scripter. "There was so much contrast," observes Mandy Patinkin, he elevates the material to such a degree that you Fuller (who previously discussed the shows in the OFFICIAL STAR TREK: VOYAGER Magazine #18). "DS9 was much more What started off serialized and character-oriented than Voyager. Voyager explored as a one-note character became the same facets of the same characters, and that was because of its much "more layout. There was an active resistance on the part of the producers interesting" when and the studio to any sort of serialized storytelling. So there was a Gayheart signed magical, candy-like reset button at the end of every episode. You didn't really see how the characters grew from any given situation. The best shows unfold like novels, where the characters at the episode's beginning are different by the end. And all the subse- quent episodes should reflect that change as these people continue to grow as human beings. "But the Star Treks are almost like anthology series with the same characters: You visit a different planet that gives you a differ- ent story every week, but the people rarely grow and evolve. They stay within their archetype, which isn't as much fun to write because you want to see the impact of those situations. That was one of the great things about bringing Seven of Nine onto Voyager:

I was able to work with a serialized character arc, as opposed to

what I generally had to do, which was end the episode at the end of the episode and not look back. Seven of Nine gave us the opportu- nity to watch her grow and slowly become more human. We watched the walls fall one by one. "It's hard to go into that situation [of allowing one character out of a whole cast to change]," Fuller says. "The fans complained.

Actually, I take that back. The Doctor was very much in the same grocery aisle as Seven of Nine, because he explored his humanity.

That's why I think those two characters were the best and most interesting ones on that show. They kept growing. "Although Janeway struggled with her command in [various

crises], you still knew that she was a risk taker and would do what she had to do. You knew that," Bryan Fuller observes. "And Tuvok, within an episode, would change. But by the end, he would settle back down to who he was. That's not as much fun. It's not fun for

the audience, and it's not fun for the creators. You keep getting caught in the same loop." —Maureen McTigue

26 STASLOG/September 2003 —

just run with it he concedes. "I

because it's gonna be grew up in a home where gold and you have that guaran- my parents didn't like anything

tee. It seemed like a stupid idea that was fantasy or SF. It had to be before the actors were cast—to hold onto hardcore reality, and if something bent the character templates that I had in mind. I the rules of reality, they tuned out; they

just threw them to the wind and said, 'OK, this is weren't interested. Where their interests stopped, who the character is now.' And that happens with mine began. I'm hoping that Wonderfalls has the every actor and every character to varying degrees. potential to [reach a wider audience], because the

It was a huge degree with genre element is a little

Mandy, but it really paid more digestible and the

off." show is couched in fantasy, in Landing Muth was a casting a young woman's descent into coup. The talented young actress madness," he says. "There are

' manages to mix cynicism and sen- liberties we can take in this uni- timentality as George, the new verse that will hopefully bring in Reaper on the block. "We saw so people who aren't normally interest- many actresses, and they brought ed in genre shows. Wonderfalls interesting takes to the role, but could have a crossover appeal that

nobody breathed life into the char- will broaden its audience. Knock on acter the way Ellen did," Fuller wood. recalls. "When Ellen walked into "People who are fans of SF and

the room, it was like, 'Wow, OK,' fantasy realize that the world is a like a little piece of the puzzle went hard place on so many levels—emo- 'click.' She just started talking and tionally and physically. It's hard to she was the character. And Ellen play by other people's rules, so you and I got along instantly. I feel like have to create your own and have

she's my sister. She just became fluidity to that. I think genre fans get that person. We actually have a lot that because we're not so mired

in common, so it was a very nice down in this reality. We like to let match, and one that I'm grateful our feet drift off the ground for a for. while, and that's a good thing.

"Rebecca came in and made "You and I know how great the Betty. The character on the page in genre can be, but so many people

the pilot was a little one-note. She have put up a wall to it," Bryan brings such depth, warmth and Fuller says. "It's like, 'You just Cut from the humanity to Betty. Betty became a don't get it. There are so many excit- telemovie, different person, a better and more ing stories you can tell and still keep Jasmine Guy got interesting character, because of another chance to your feet on the ground. Just relax a what Rebecca did with her. And work with Fuller little bit. Run a warm bath. Do what that was thrilling to see. I would on Dead Like Me. you have to do and just join us for watch the dailies and go, 'This isn't the ride. You won't be sorry.'

what I had in mind, but it's so much better.' That's a great gift for an actor to give a writer. "That's part of the fun—how each character reacts to the job," Fuller adds. "Jasmine came in and elevated the role off the page,

too. I worked with her on the [TV] remake of Carrie [which Fuller wrote and executive produced], and her role—which was like 40 minutes of footage—ended up on the cutting room floor because we were 45 minutes over our running time. We decided, 'If we leave Jasmine's character out of the show completely, then we can make our running time.' That was unfortunate, because she was

great in it. But it opened the door for this experience, because I

thought, 'Oh my God, I have to work with her again.' She's so smart and savvy. She has a wonderful way about her. She's a multi- talented lady. "There's definitely a darkness to my sense of humor," Fuller chuckles. "That darkness is a little bit different. It's good to do the

unexpected, and I think dark humor is unexpected. It's more fun for me creatively—to [be involved with something that] you can't see coming." And by adding a genre element, "It becomes more unique. It's that whole melded thing that I love doing. You don't see a lot of

genre work that has humor in it. Thank God for Joss Whedon, because he really opened the door for a whole new style of televi- sion storytelling. Buffy was a pioneering show. Without Buffy, you Not wanting to go wouldn't have shows like Alias or Dark Angel. Those are all the the way of progeny of Buffy, and so is Dead Like Me. That was a turning point Touched by an in television." Angel, Fuller instead chose to Even with all the advancements that science fiction, horror and part ways with the fantasy have made on TV, Fuller understands that there's still a series he created. huge holdout among the general audience. "It's always a risk," www.starlog.com STARLOG/September 2003 27 —

LIVE FROM Kristen Dalton reports in from the edge

Kristen Dalton must be psychic. How else can she pick up a phone and correctly guess the name of the per- son on the other line—someone she has never even met. It's a startling way to start an interview. Or, on the other hand, maybe she has Caller ID.

Nonetheless, startling is still a good word for Dalton. The actress—who plays the hard-nosed but generally good-hearted Bangor Daily News reporter Dana Bright on USA Network's SF series The Dead Zone— bursts with humor, vitality and charm. And this is from a woman who just finished a seven-episode shooting spree (episodes of which are airing this summer to complete Season Two). "In one ["The Storm"], I'm blown into a tornado," Dalton smiles. "There are cows and cars—everything. It was great. They really pulled out all the stops on these episodes. There's some amazing stuff that we've shot. These shows are just big and really out there. I'm very excited." Future Deadlines Dalton has plenty to be excited about. The Dead Zone started off as an unloved UPN pilot, only to emerge as a surprisingly successful USA Network series. The story, based on Stephen King's 1979 novel, goes something like this: Johnny Smith () wakes from a six-year coma with formidable psychic abilities. With a touch, he can see into anyone's past, present or future. But his return to the land of the liv- ing doesn't come without a cost. Johnny's fiancee, Sarah Bracknell (Deep Space Nine's Nicole de Boer), has married Sheriff Walt Bannerman (Chris Bruno), his son doesn't know him and his mother died while he lan- guished in the coma. Far from being a blessing, Johnny's pre- scient powers weigh heavily upon him. He also discovers that he must carefully nav- igate his visions, lest he create a future worse than the ones he sees. And while he has allies, like his physical therapist Bruce Lewis (John L. Adams), to help him steer the rocky shoals of his new life, others, like Dana—a cynical journalist with serious issues make any predictions of peace for Johnny uncertain. But who could have fore- seen the changes in store for Dana? Not Dalton, though she's happy with them. "I've lost some of that cynicism, don't you think?" she chuckles. "Knowing John- ny has really opened up Dana's mind to so many possibilities. She's very Kristen Dalton plays hard-nosed, red- devoted to Johnny and headed reporter interested in his abili- Dana Bright in The ties—their limits, ef- Dead Zone. fects, repercussions and

28 STAKLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.com of possible tomorrows.

just what it all means. She's changing a lot,

and is no longer happy just reporting local

news. Dana is entering into more investiga- tive territory. She's more interested in every- thing about Johnny and what he's doing, and

is exploring his capabilities on a larger level."

It doesn't take a fortune teller to see the sparks between Dana and Johnny, which were heightened after Johnny gets an inside look at her tragic past in "Dinner With Dana." But, like most things in The Dead Zone, the future always screws with the pre-

sent. This is especially true when Johnny meets Senator Stillson {The Young Chronicles' Sean Patrick Flanery) at the end of Season One, and sees this man

heralding global catastrophe. It definitely dampens Johnny's ardor. "Dana wasn't ready for a relationship in the beginning," Dalton explains, "but now

it's more Johnny who isn't ready. He's deal- ing with so much stuff, seeing , glimpsing the end of the world, coming to

terms with what it all means. It's a great deal to bear. But Dana's devoting herself to and helping Johnny any way that she can. She

has become much stronger, and is standing by Johnny and letting him figure out what he has to figure out. "Dana was fired from the Bangor Daily News for sleeping with Johnny, but she isn't bothered by that. She's not like this forlorn,

old, stern character. She's a little more set- tled in her role, even regarding Sarah. They're such opposites that Dana doesn't feel any jealousy toward Sarah. Sarah repre- sents the past. Sarah also doesn't say what's on her mind, whereas Dana says everything that's on her mind. They're just very oppo-

site, so whatever Sarah represents doesn't

bother Dana. But I think Dana gets jealous of new women," Dalton adds. "As a matter

of fact, I know she does." But, Dana can manage the female com- petition. She is a tough journalist, after all. It's part of what drew Dalton to the role. "I was told that she's a very strong reporter," the actress says, "and that she was going to be Johnny's on-again, off-again love inter- est. What ultimately attracted me to the role Getting to really know were the layers—that she wasn't this stereo- Johnny has opened up typical redheaded hothead, that she was Dana's eyes and mind to — — going to grow. And they did that. They new possibilities. peeled off all the layers, like her abusive father and why she has so much armor. Dana has never been in love before, because she wouldn't let that happen. That's why she always went with the wrong man, or the wrong kind of man. She has always been about power. But that's changing. "The writers are allowing Dana to change—to be in a bad mood and a bitch some days and sensitive and vulnerable and open on others, just like in real life. That's

what I was excited about when I talked to producers Shawn and and

Lloyd Segan. I just love Michael. He's a

STARLOG/Sepremfcer 2003 29 —

quiet, strong presence. He's very talented, Dalton feels the same way about most of New York, this guy from Bangor, Maine and a man of few words. But when he talks, her castmates, but there's clearly a special isn 't that powerful.' But, hey, whatever tick- people listen." place in her heart for David Ogden Stiers, les their fancy. I try to ignore that. 'At least I

Being a fan of horror novelist King did who plays the ambitious, self-important only sleep with one person at a time' is the not hurt, either. "I love Stephen King," says Reverend Purdy. "I adore David with all my catty thing I say to Nicole."

Dalton. "The Shining was the first novel I heart. He's fantastic," she beams. "And One character Dalton is happy to be dis- read outside of school. I was in fourth grade, there's no better way to improve your vocab- tanced from is Stillson, though that wasn't and I wasn't allowed to read it, which is ulary than by having a conversation with always intended to be the case. "I was told probably why I did. I would stay up in my David. I love engaging him in conversation. that there was going to be [involvement bed with a blanket over the light and read it. He's so knowledgeable and well-spoken. between Dana and Stillson]. They moved That book scared the bejeezus out of me. I He's such a character and so unique. David's that over to Sarah, and she has been having was like, 'What's outside the blanket?!' just a great guy." the interaction with him. It's difficult to get

"I had read The Dead Zone before I got It's a good thing that Dalton has such everyone into every story. I was actually the role, and reread it afterward. But I great love for Stiers, because Purdy paid her glad. Stillson's evil. Bad, very bad. I think haven't read all of King's novels. I don't character a conjugal visit. "That was not fun that I've learned from my bad men. I want to think one could. He writes so much. It's for me," Dalton admits. "I was like, 'What? move forward." amazing." You wanna... Why?!' My mother wasn't Stillson's presence in Season Two creates

Dalton's also pleased that Dana appears happy about it, either. I felt, 'Listen, why an important crisis for Johnny. For, as in the more often now, upgraded from a recurring would Dana, after coming from New York, King novel (and the David Cronenberg character to a regular. "In Season Three, I'm want to sleep with this little guy at the movie adaptation), Stillson's future political supposed to be in every episode, so we'll Bangor paper?' They said it was because he success spells worldwide doom see," she notes. "It's an ensemble cast, but was powerful, but I thought, 'Coming from Apocalypse looms in every vision that the writers have been trying to get everybody Johnny has of the Senator. But that's only into all these great stories. Whenever there's gravy for a series that has already covered a show that misses what all the different such explosive topics as adultery, child characters are doing, it's not quite as excit- abuse and suicide (Johnny's mom, grief- ing for me. I like to see what's happening stricken over her son's comatose condition, with this or that character within the context took her own life). of each story." "I love that the writers deal with these big subjects," says Dalton. "The Dead Zone goes News Cast into every kind of issue. Even with Johnny, There's quite an ensemble on The Dead who's so different, you see that prejudice Zone, starting with series lead Hall, who also goes beyond race. In this series, there are so co-produces the show. Dalton's affection for many heavy things that weigh on and shape her co-star is heartfelt and genuine. "I love the characters. Like when you find out that him so much" she effuses. "I had seen The Dana was abused by her father and that's

Breakfast Club, but I watched Sixteen the reason why she's sleeping with Candles for the first time just recently and older men. She had issues of not feel- laughed my head off. It was fun to see him ing worthy. She was torn up inside when he was younger. He has grown into and putting up this hard-shelled exte- such a great man, and he's so different from rior so nobody could see how that person. He's so strong and solid. He messed up she was. Dana needed to really works more than anybody else. He's be tough to hold it all together. But in every scene; he works all day every day. she has dealt with that because of He never gets upset, never complains and Johnny. When somebody can really always knows his lines. He's so profession- see you—despite anything you al, and is always helping the guest stars and say—it helps. It was very freeing people who have smaller roles. He takes for Dana, because she couldn't lie them aside and works with them. And as a and had to face everything. And by producer of the show, he's on the set more confronting all the truths of her past, than any other producer." she has grown from them. Early on in the series, Johnny and Sarah "Then there's Johnny having to danced around their unresolved affection for deal with his mother having killed herself, each other (and at one point consummated it, which is a huge burden for him. He probably even though Sarah is married). Now, Dana is feels that it's his fault, like anyone would.

Johnny's girl, which doesn't always sit well I'm sure he goes over it 100 times in his with Sarah. The two women are also poles head—going out that night and getting in apart in temperament, so it's not exactly a the accident. Not only is everything com- love fest when the characters share a scene. pletely gone that he ever had, but it hap- "It's funny, because I'm more friends with pens in this weird, nightmarish way. Nicole than anyone else," Dalton laughs. And then he has this other huge burden "We're buddies; we hang out. During the first and responsibility, his gift." season, we would go out to dinner in Though Johnny's psychic powers Vancouver [where The Dead Zone is shot] often force those around him to face and see her friends [de Boer is Canadian]. their hidden demons, they never fight And they hated me. They would be like, real demons—or space aliens, killer 'Why are you with her?!' And Nicole would robots or Flukemen. The Dead Zone ask, 'What do you mean?' And they would tells very real stories, and spins them go, 'Well, she's bad!' I was like, 'OK, that's with only one extraordinary twist. acting; we're friends.' It took a while for peo- "That's fantastic, and that's a decision ple to come around, but Nicole is a cool cat." that the writers made in the begin-

30 STAKLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.com —

ning," Dalton remarks. "I like that approach. 2 bad—but if it's raining, I'm used to a pro- I like that Johnny's gift is enough. The pos- duction assistant saying, 'Here's an umbrel-

sibilities of his powers are so infinite that la. I wouldn't want you to get wet.' Little you don't need aliens or monsters. The Dead niceties like that. But as a humag, I got noth-

Zone doesn't need to get too wild just in'. When those little golf carts would drive because it's SF—and it's not only SF. It's a by on the lot, I would ask, 'Could I get a drama and it's real. It would be interesting to ride?' 'Nope. Not happening.' have no big concept for a series—just show "On Seven Days I played what I would what happens to everyone during a regular call a tough lesbian huntress of the Alaskan day. But it's the combination of great char- outback. My job was taking women on an acters and a big concept that makes The A tough outback experience. I had my gun and we Dead Zone stand out." journalist, Dana lived off the land, but then we ran into some hasj soft spot people who wanted to blow up the Alaskan for The Dead Yesterday's Headlines Pipeline. That was a lot of fun, too." Zone's prescient Great characters, big concept and, fortu Both of those series were shot in Canada, ^tagonist. nately for Dalton, not a ton of where Dalton quite literal- special FX. "The technical chal- At odds on ly got bitten by the acting lenges for me are not difficult," screen, Nicole bug. "I did an SF film in she says, "but the special effects de Boer and Canada, They Nest [a.k.a. Dalton are the people are always pushing the Creepy Crawlers] with best of limits. They're always trying to Dean Stockwell and John friends when find new and interesting ways of Savage, and that was a the cameras doing things. They shoot back- I stop rolling. great joy. was up there ward and fast-forward. They can for a long time filming stop and do a close-up of a rain- that, and that also took drop falling from the sky, then place in Maine. These lit- do a 360 of the raindrop and tle bugs come over from show the reflection of every- Africa to this island where thing around it. I've been on I own a bait-and-tackle belly boards flying in the air for shop, and they start to hours and hours. But there isn't infest people." too much green screen. The Her first SF flick was thing the actors have to do is Digital Man. "It's about keep still." this machine man who goes awry and kills Flashing back to past episodes, Dalton everybody," she explains. "We had these lists "Dinner With Dana" as one of her eight-foot-long, 30-pound gasoline-powered favorites. "Of course," she laughs. " 'Dinner guns. We wore armor and ran through the

With Dana' was hard. I had a really bad flu. desert. It was fun." I got the script on a Saturday night, and I Before Dalton started acting and messing started filming Monday morning at 4 a.m. with cyborgs, she played with motherboards

We did 17-hour days, and it was a bottle for real. "I was building computers when I episode, which means they took our seven- was first asked to model," she recalls. "I was day schedule and made it a six-day one, blown away and said no. Then Elite which made it very hard. I had tons of dia- [Modeling Agency] called me and asked if I logue and had to do things that I had never wanted to go away, and here I was soldering done before. I had to say my lines in one computers and memory boards. They asked reality and emotionally be in the other reali- if I would do this job in Europe for some ty that Johnny's seeing. That thrilled and There are no real Germans for $1,500 cash a day. I said, 'OK.' scared me. When I tell Johnny about when I demons in The Dead I lived in Paris for a couple of years and did was a kid, I also had to act it out, because Zone, but inner ones a few commercials. After that, I went to my that's his vision. It was a weird feeling but torment Dana and first [casting] cattle call for All My Children. some of the series' exhilarating, having all those complexities. I Then it all just kind of happened." other characters. love challenges. At one point, my boy friend Sadly, Dalton's acting career was is beating me up while I'm telling Johnny derailed for several years after she became the story. I asked, 'Should my voice be calm the victim of a gang attack. "It's called when I'm talking to him?' That's why it's 'wilding.' I had my teeth knocked out and my favorite. You can't put all that hard work went through about two-and-a-half years of into [a project] and not have it mean some- surgery on my face and jaw— 16 surgeries. thing." So I did that, but then I started working Flashing even further back in time, again." Dalton revisits her first SF TV roles, starting Although The Dead Zone hasn't yet been with her turns in Sliders ("The Dying renewed for a third season, you wouldn't Fields") and Seven Days ("Olga's Excellent have to be Johnny Smith to see that Dalton Vacation"). "They were both fun. I got to and The Dead Zone have a bright future. In play a humag—half-human/half-Cro-mag the meantime, the actress intends to relax on Sliders. I had a ball doing it, and that was until she learns the series' fate. a great episode. But one thing I remember is Asked how she would cope with having that nobody would sit with me at lunch Johnny's powers, Kristen Dalton answers: "I except for the other humags. The Cro-mags would embrace the responsibility. I like to all sat together and wouldn't talk to me. It challenge myself, so I would go out and see was funny because, being a girl—and this is what I could do for the world."

STARLOG/September 2003 31 By IAN SPELLING j| t's a combination of things," Laurence U Fishburne says, trying to put into I words why some people are so deep into Matrix Mania. "But I think [that mainly] it's the retelling of an old myth in a modern context. The old myth is like 3,000 years old. and the Wachowskis have used some very clear, recognizable arche- types in their characters—in Trinity [Carrie-Anne Moss], Morpheus [Fish- burne] and Neo [Keanu Reeves]. Neo is this sort of reluctant messiah. It's a hero's journey. It's a story that has been with us for a long time, and they've just taken that story and adorned it with things that Has Morpheus gone mad? are very recognizable in our contempo- rary world." LaurenceL Fishburne Fishburne tries not to get that examines wrapped up in the films' philosophies. That's not to say, however, that he isn't the Matrix mentor's sanity

"trying to live" a moral life. "Much of the i spiritual and philosophical stuff, I started (as the cyber-sequels unfold.

32 STARLOG/September 2003 developing for myself maybe 15 years ism and religion, there are basic truths, Revolutions, and it all gets resolved. I ago," he explains. "So it's kind of already and all of these things are road maps for can't reveal how, but it's interesting." in me. I don't think of myself as being a human beings to use to try and live better Clearly, however, there's a Merlin- philosopher or particularly religious, but lives, to try to make themselves better King Arthur scenario of sorts playing out I do view myself as being a spiritual per- people. I'm familiar with those concepts in the Matrix trilogy. In the first film, son. So those elements [in the movies] because I spend a lot of time reading stuff. Morpheus was the undisputed , but come through me much easier than they That's all. I'm making it up as I go. I'm in Reloaded he seems to have ceded power would someone who's unfamiliar with trying to do the best that I can and be the to Neo. "Yes, but there's great respect," those principles and ideas." best human being that I can be." Fishburne argues. "There's no darkness Asked to elaborate on his turn of in Morpheus with respect to Neo. phrase, "trying to live," Fishburne smiles. Mad Morpheus Basically, the way Morpheus was func- "I mean spiritual principles," he says. "I In The Matrix Reloaded, Morpheus is tioning for most of his life [changed once] mean things like the seven laws of the uni- all-too-human. He has put all of his faith, Neo took on the mantle of being the verse. There are seven things that really trust and hope—and perhaps the fate of One—all of those things cease to work for successful people do. AH of that shit; Earth's last free people—in Neo's hands, him. So Morpheus has to make a huge that's what I'm talking about. All of that and while Neo may indeed be "the One," adjustment as to how he moves through spiritual, voodoo, mumbo-jumbo, ethere- not all is unfolding as Morpheus believed the world. al shit. I'm talking about doing unto oth- it would, based on his understanding of "He has to become more a follower ers as you would have them do unto you. the prophecies. "I think that the initial than a leader. And sometimes that's hard I'm talking about he who has the gold [reaction] is sadness, and that's what we for a leader to do. It's wonderful. He's the wins. I'm talking about that kind of shit. experience in Reloaded," Fishburne general in Reloaded. He's the guy who Look, in every doctrine, dogma, spiritual- observes. "There's more to come in goes, 'Everyone follow me.' He's that guy.

/

STARLOG/September 2003 33 —

He's like [WWII General George] Patton. Matrix—and was particularly delighted by And there's another shift for him in the Hugo Weaving's dialogue delivery as Agent third movie that makes him even more vul- Smith. So, what did he eat up in Reloaded! nerable. It's interesting for me, because "Lambert Wilson as the Merovingian," when we were doing the first movie, the Fishburne immediately replies. "Morpheus Wachowskis kept saying, 'Morpheus is and Commander Locke [Harry Lennix] was A spiritual crazy. Morpheus is crazy.' And I kept going, hysterical. Anthony Zerbe as Councillor person, Fishburne 'No, he's not. There's nothing crazy about Hamann talking about the machines was feels that he him.' If you're playing brilliant. somebody who's Gloria Foster as the Oracle was, brings many of crazy, you can't act that way. That's boring. again, hysterical. The Architect [Helmut his beliefs But in this movie—after I read that whole Bakaitis] and Keanu on all of the screens to Morpheus' freeway sequence—I was like, 'Oh, I see. responding to him—oh my God, that was character. OK.' You get to see how crazy Morpheus is. hysterical!" Then there were the stunts and

He's really out of his mind. And he's so special FX. "They were much more sophis- that long, and it's only that!' But I don't committed to whatever this thing is, that ticated," Fishburne says. "That made it think in those terms anymore. I've been at he'll make you crazy before you make him more time-consuming and difficult. It was this a long time." sane." just more time and more money." Now that Reloaded has, been released, But was it time well-spent? "Ab- Mythical Morpheus reviewed and microscopically analyzed and solutely!" Fishburne insists. "For me Morpheus' speech to the people of Zion critiqued by fans, Fishburne can finally talk because I have a long history of making is one of Reloaded'^ most rousing scenes. about some of the film's once top-secret movies—it was worth it. But for someone "That was like being in a theater, because elements. Previously, he spoke of "eating who hasn't been around as long as I have, we were in this huge, cavernous warehouse up" a number of scenes while watching The they might come away saying, T worked and there were 1,500 people on the floor,"

Morpheus does a great deal of talking in Reloaded, but he's still a man of action when the

situation calls for it. Attack of the clones. When Smith (Hugo Weaving) and Morpheus meet in the sequel, the Agent tries to turn him into one of the Smith duplicates.

Tm trying to do the best that I can and be the best human being that I can be.' !

Fishburne recalls. "I was on this raised plat- have developed a great deal of trust and form, and at first it was weird, because in my friendship for one another. head I was like, 'I'm playing for the camera,' "Larry and Andy are very private, and but I was also dealing with this enormous they don't share the intimate details of their audience of real, live people. So I just played lives with many people. Outside of their it to them, and it was wonderful. I really immediate family, I don't know who they enjoyed it." share those things with. It would be foolish,

Re-teaming with Reeves and the writer- though, to think that it [the success of the director tandem of Larry and Andy Matrix films] hasn't affected them. Wachowski "was great. We got closer on They put themselves under a great this one because we were together longer, deal of pressure to make sure that and we already had a history. We have these two movies met the expecta- great affection for one another. I don't tions that they had for them. Not profess to understand Keanu all of necessarily anybody else's the time or some of his madness, expectations, but their own. nor do I think that he understands They put themselves under some of mine, but I do know that a tremendous amount of we love each other and that we pressure." On the set of The Matrix in 1998, Fish- for nine minutes and you've had it. It's burne told STARLOG (issue #261) that the kind of cool." Wachowskis aren't big on holding discus- Asked if he can drop a few details sions with their actors, that they didn't nec- about The Matrix Revolutions, essarily even understand how to talk to Fishburne—who will next be seen as a actors. That, Fishburne notes, didn't change It's not just cop in the Clint Eastwood-directed fancy footwork. on Reloaded and Revolutions. "They're still drama Mystic River, and is about to Fishburne not," he says. "But because I'm a really sea- write, direct and star in a film adapta- trained long soned actor, and because I love what I do tion of Paulo Coelho's The Al- and hard for and know that what I do is bigger than I am, chemist smiles coyly. It's the first — obvious it doesn't affect me. I just go and do what I Matrix that he wants to talk, but can't divulge do. They hired me because I do what I do." (pictured), too much. "You actually get to see the Fishburne sounds genuinely hyped about and then resolution of the Neo-Morpheus rela- Reloaded. He describes himself as "very, got back tionship," he remarks. "All of the rela- very, very pleased" with the finished film, into shape tionships are resolved: Morpheus and for the final which even many die-hard Matrix fans con- Niobe [Jada Pinkett-Smith], Neo and two films' sidered something of a letdown. "It's excep- Trinity, Neo and Morpheus—even our martial arts tional, and it's really exciting," praises relationship to the Oracle kind of has a action. Fishburne, who points out that the second resolution. Matrix movie isn't so much a standalone "You also see the war," Laurence film as the middle chapter of a larger, three- Fishburne reveals. "The war is the part tale—a fact that may have contributed major thing: The battle between the to fans' disappointment with the sequel. Dream Warriors, Event Horizon and machines and the humans. Neo's question-

"This is all one piece," he argues. "This is a Osmosis Jones (as the voice of the animated ing himself about being the One is resolved, trilogy, and we're right in the middle. Yeah, antagonist Thrax). In Fishburne's view, the too. As for Morpheus, he's involved in the that's going to surprise people. Some people Matrix films have forever altered the genre last-ditch effort to save Zion. Everyone has are going to be a little upset, a little disap- landscape. "I think The Matrix is the first their own respective mission. So Morpheus pointed. But once the third one comes out, movie to deliver on what comic books goes off on a mission to help. Neo goes off you can sit down and spend all day [watch- promised," he says. "Its contribution to the to help. Trinity goes off to help. And then it ing the films back-to-back-to-back], because genre is that it makes it really human. It's not gets real desperate." it's an all-day deal. It's like The Godfather. about creatures from outer space. There And then, you have something. You have an aren't really any monsters or aliens. It's all Reloaded shows old myth in a modern context. You have humans, and everything is of our making. Morpheus in an unfamiliar role. No longer the sole leader, he accepts Neo's "You get to see how crazy authority as "the One." Morpheus is. He's really out of his mind."

everything that the first Star Wars trilogy I think that's one was and more, because [the Matrix movies] of the contributing relate directly to this generation, the people factors [to the Ma- who grew up with computers." trix's popularity]. "I find that the Multimedia Morpheus most fascinating A serious SF fan, Fishburne not only thing about this reads a great deal of SF, but—in addition to whole Matrix experi the Matrix trilogy—has starred in such genre ence is that the Wach projects as A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: owskis have married these mediums—the Inte met and film and gaming worlds—and truly made them interactive," says Fishburne, refer- ring to The Animatrix and the Enter the Matrix video game. "They have all these mediums

going on, and it's all the same story. That's really their most significant achievement and contribution, specifi-

cally with respect to SF. is a staple Now married to SF STARLOG fan favorite of those different media. Now, you (of Firefly can go online and watch 'Detective r and Cleopatra 2525), Story' [one of the Animatrix shorts] Fishburne says: "Oh, and 'The Second Renaissance,' or man, she has made my you can play Enter the Matrix. It's life so much better. great if you don't feel like watch- She's the best person ing the whole movie. If you need a that I know." little Matrix fix, you can go online

Photo: Jasin Boiand 36 STAKLOG/September 2003 s

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By BILL WILSON PhOtOS by BETH LEWIS-WILSON

he cake stands 22 feet high and weighs T;5,600 pounds: a Guinness World Record that bests the previous record-hold- er—a confectionery concoction from the Serendipity Restaurant in New York City by nearly four times. What took a quartet of pastry chefs 1,000 hours of prep time and

nearly 400 hours to mix, bake and decorate is quickly carved up and served by forklift to a raucous mix of revelers who toast the bride and groom with green champagne. Some are decked out in full period costume, and many sport distinctive green ears, but all in atten- dance seem genuinely thrilled to be a part of the festivities. Yes, when Universal Studios Florida hosts a lavish "coming out party" for When you visit a Universal a star this big, it does it on a large—even gigantic—scale. Studios park, fairy tales can come The occasion is both a wedding reception true. ..it can happen to Shrek. for that lovable green ogre Shrek (voiced by ) and his princess bride Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and the opening of a Universal attraction featuring the characters from DreamWorks' Oscar-winning animated film. Shrek 4-D bridges the narrative between

the first movie and Shrek 2 (due out June 8,

2004), but stands on its own merits. Combining a brand-new 12-minute 3-D animated film, state-of-the-art digital cinema projection and audio systems and unique in- theater effects, the resulting "multi-sensory experience" thrusts you into the middle of a grand chase. The audience accompanies Shrek and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) on a whirlwind journey to rescue Fiona from the clutches of the ghostly Farquaad (John Lithgow), who refuses to let even death deter him from his quest to win her heart. (Though none of the principal actors appear at the

Forgotten but not gone? Shrek is retold in story panels while you wait—with a special haunting update.

T?e tcruibLg IjorO J-ARqtlAAO WAS eATew BY Tj?e FlK6-18ReATtJlMe Draqom.

XbeiK STALWART coropAMlOM Donkey AT *be ReiMs, sijRek awo pioma roOg opp into the suwser amO Uveo IjAppUy even apter.

opening in person, their presence is felt in characters and their environment. Magical spirited reprises of their Shrek personas.) creatures come alive before your very eyes, With elements of both motion-control but the breakneck pace of the action affords

rides a la Back to the Future: The Ride and little opportunity to catch your breath and Spider-Man and in-theater multimedia pre- marvel at the surroundings. In this fantasy sentations like Terminator 3-D: Battle Across world, there are villains to be vanquished and l^Time, Universal once again ups the ante in princesses to be saved, and you're along for theme park attraction experiences with Shrek the ride.

p-D. Utilizing talents from its own Creative BUT Nor FOR LONG Development department as well as the same Shrek's Reunion roaa ™* i-ve rcturNed e wizards at PDI/DreamWorks who breathed Steven Spielberg has long been associated PR'N«SSt 6RAVE AND I WMT AW life into Shrek and company for the original with Universal, dating back to his first televi- AftONSltR! 8AOC YOU WMOUS 'movie, they have literally created a fairy-tale sion and feature film work and his participa- Will- 8€ Kitib! 1 world SSjjgiMi. REV€N6E! in which guests can interact with the tion in the original design and developmentlopment H/ilL HAV€ My I cCRESTRE6ARDS,Erc€rCErCret'*- „„i 5iN

- Soundstage 4-D, former home of The Birds, hosts Shrek 4-D at Universal Studios Orlando.

Universal Creative Director John Murdy led the team that transformed the CG- animated film into theme park reality. of Universal Studios Florida. When he and partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Gef- fen of DreamWorks SKG realized they had a monstrous hit in Shrek, it was only natural to contact Universal about bringing their new- found CG stars to life in another form. Creative Director John Murdy explains: "Universal Creative is the Design & De- velopment branch of Universal Studios. We come up with the ideas for every live show and attraction that we produce worldwide. We were involved from the very beginning with the Shrek 4-D concept, along with DreamWorks, and we were very fortunate to be able to work with virtually everyone who was involved with the original film: the writ- ers and animators who won the first Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2001, and, of course, the cast—Myers, Murphy, Diaz and Lithgow. We brought all these people back together for a reunion of sorts, to try to come up with a way to translate Shrek for the world of themed entertainment, to bring it off the screen and make it an experience for every- body." Shrek 4-D marks the first time that the PDI/DreamWorks animation team—creators of Antz, in addition to the Shrek movies—has been involved in a theme park attraction. David Lipman, co-executive producer of

Shrek, produced Shrek 4-D, and is producing the film's sequel as well. Simon Smith, head of layout on Shrek, directed Shrek 4-D. And

STAKLOG/September 2003 39 « — «

GrcAt CDoracnts Witl)

Shrek composer Harry Gregson-Williams seen it, or those who may have forgotten key developed a new orchestral score for the elements of the story," Murdy explains. llns tl.issic amnion, rcl«jn« from lk Olo Wo* Js« jno attraction. "Hence the need for the Magic Mirror pre- [lifj.uimis '\\ i;v JMy c* Croaaw Sfcoulo 10 v.'o: Be to t c„ oc v slvs< i, PeflOfKO fusr inomoms After Ire croinieo litmstlf Amazingly, Shrek 4-D represents the first sentation. It recaps what has happened previ- soi'ercign ruler of the I.1110.' time a theme park motion ride continues the ously before the audience is flung into the "four minutes .uiO svoen sveonos .190. 1 krouobl femb « this tingoom exact storyline of the film that inspired it. middle of this next chapter. A 11cm n-utn. conceuwe m mv iV\t of perfetllMi fcy the ioctl of pirfmion... Shrek 4-D picks up right where the movie left "And speaking of story, that was the main off, thrusting you into an all-new adventure. thing Shrek had going for it: a great story," "This attraction bridges the gap between Murdy observes. "And that's something the original Shrek and next year's sequel," extremely important to all of us working on Murdy says. "Here the audience gets to go the attraction. In the theme park world, when along with Shrek and Fiona on their honey- you have attractions such as this, which rely moon, and they see and feel and experience so heavily on visual effects, many times they everything Shrek and Fiona see and feel and just don't seem to hold up once the film's spe- experience. You get to know each bump as the cial effects are stripped away. I think Shrek 4- carriage races down the road, and when the D does hold up, because once you get past the dragon sneezes, you feel it, and when they effects, it's still a wonderfully entertaining lit- "ll»K.\{iiv.tlll sail out over the waterfall, the mist hits your tle movie on its own." •bis Afternoon, tint tiK face. It's a total sensory experience." Because Shrek was such a popular film Fiona's Romance appealing to a broad audience of adults and The entire production of Shrek 4-D took children alike with its irreverent attitude—the two years from beginning to end, concept to vast majority of visitors to the attraction will unveiling, with development commencing already be familiar with the characters and shortly after Shrek's release. Once the con- Who needs audio-animatronic Presidents pontificating storyline. "However, it's always important cept was fleshed out and an appropriate story endlessly when there's a not to forget those who haven't was developed and approved, the next step politician of Lord Farquaad's was the recording studio. "We were extreme- stature on hand? ly fortunate to get the entire cast back together," Murdy empha- Fairy-tale sizes. "With that in place, it just became a ads skirt the matter of building everything else piece by attraction's piece. It's amazing to see it all come together. queue area I remember how blown away I was when I to keep impatient first saw the fully rendered waterfall TaiTCp Me... visitors sequence [a jaw-dropping plunge down a -SMXSSljwHj!.? 1 you'nc out or ^youiV'-CHW laughing deadly 1,000-foot wall of water]. It was just while breathtaking. Computer animation has made

>>»>*1 on line. such tremendous improvements by leaps and Sebool

duced, and I think this film is a IFWRV ALE. I ^ MMX- above even that. The water effects in particu- lar are spectacular. I've never seen anything n Eniloe Ano uk iAIW like it before." But as good as the animation and effects may be, they would be nothing without a strong narrative and solid performances by the actors involved. "It was such a pleasure to work with the original animators," Murdy says, "because they truly have an emotional investment in bringing these characters to

life. But it all starts with Murphy, Myers, Efts Villain's Uauern Diaz and Lithgow. Their performances set the goBNt a fiunfJoy it »w* BirnllM straw tone for everything." nym.) Into nouf. or you've spent oflweef « Jw» time! (fewer TO every diiraef in rlie romity... irt Nonetheless, the visual expertise of the 1* %ers, ojufftoet faef Announcement Siri offrfose afioj PDI/DreamWorks animation team is a strong E-utnrt my crept lfl& twNxurf I foremost To.ry ofifoniln tfie eoinfotoJBiaoc'J my s!u\'!'. JMe*w <*11«t liim I ticfcets to SlOTB Tivcn,. fort. CaWtflft attraction. "The finished film is more than 12 Uvfe t>* Kfwh I Tile A$M>. Jtffl for "' »e're tlie/loee jor nwtfc n4x« my Iwuk okJmI tournament uW r»» f mirror, minutes, which, in the theme park world, is (Pap!* >,h 33 Iwfi mom t<- s'f I Wottli tile flumes on our Tlwoij nWir i< fli Jrememlw, extremely long," Murdy explains. "So it's no ' "little Wcsxiin "Beys'Boys' r%™ wonder that it took well over 1 00 animators 5:00pm ceeiorm ffnjrjry tfrur Aoojmi rroopn to complete the project within these two short grumoy 'rlowr 7.ivpm - fcoopm Sfcery'rfa" years. It's a testament to their talent, diligence Boprywnt Cfulit'nl'w Coital and [love for] this franchise and its charac- I r («;iffiirliri.-.iJfM''(iir(ia«ils* ters."

As if making the transition from tradition- al film to a 3-D immersive experience wasn't enough of a hurdle to overcome, the film- makers faced the added challenge of literally reinventing the visual rules of conventional storytelling. Because they had to concern themselves with exactly where the audience's eyes might be focused at any given moment—hoping to avoid inducing dizziness

www.starlog.com —

and "motion sickness" vibrations maximize that there are huge portions of the Hitchcock

as they cut from 3-D the audience's experi- sets still intact behind the scenes, awaiting the scene to scene—the ence. It's all part of development of some future attraction to

Shrek 4-D team J making the illusion make use of the remaining space. found it neces- that you are along "Fitting the attraction into an existing box sary to build for the ride with is limiting to some extent," Murdy comments,

extra space into Shrek believable. "but in this case we still were working with the storytelling more space than we needed anyway, so build- They coined the rarguaad's ing a new 'box' from scratch really wouldn't phrase "hang time" to i Ghost have provided us with many, if any, advan- describe the additional Shrek and friends tages." screen time necessary csented in Ogre v are making history in Before the 3-D film presentation, park for a given 3-D effect to other ways. "This is guests are ushered into Lord Farquaad's dun- properly register in a the first time that geon, where they encounter the Three Little Abandon hope all ye viewer's brain. we've debuted an Pigs and Pinocchio, all prisoners of the who enter here—or The filmmakers also attraction at all three recently deceased and still "vertically chal- maybe not. Shrek 4-D is in quickly discovered that parks [Hollywood, lenged" monarch. In an intricate seven- Ogre Vision! normal special FX Orlando, Japan] at the minute pre-show presentation that combines "tricks" don't work so well in 3-D. That same time," Murdy remarks. And while the animatronics, video and animation—and forced them to develop new techniques for Shrek 4-D attraction is virtually identical at reintroduces such audience favorites as the fireball, smoke, fog and water systems to cre- all three, there are slight differences in the Magic Mirror and the Gingerbread Man ate Shrek's fantasy world. These visual devel- delivery of the effects, as dictated by the vari- guests are quickly brought up to speed on

opments are complemented by a series of ances in the venues where it's being shown. what has gone before and what has happened state-of-the-art tactile, audio and projection "The Hollywood theater, for since they last visited the

systems. Shrek 4-D is projected onto a mas- example, is a little bigger fairy-tale land of Duloc. It

sive 50-foot-by-25-foot screen that can only than Orlando, so it accommo- seems the devious Farquaad be viewed through specially created "Ogre dates more guests in the audi- K?r refuses to go gently into that Vision" glasses, which provide maximum ence. But their pre-show area good night, preferring to peripheral vision and optimum depth percep- is smaller and doesn't have as find vicious new ways to tion. For the first time anywhere, four digital complete a dungeon setting taunt (and haunt) our heroes projectors—two for each eye—are being uti- as Orlando. So there are sub- in a never-ending quest to lized to provide far better clarity and detail tle tradeoffs necessary to fit make Fiona his own. than ordinary film. the attraction into the desig- Once the diminutive spir-

Complementing this visual projection sys- nated spaces." it turns his attention—and tem is a custom-designed 10-channel audio In Orlando, where Alfred wrath—toward the audience, system that mixes the soundtrack within the Hitchcock's The Birds once the action moves from the theater; it's synchronized to the 3-D anima- menaced them from above, "holding cell" to the 300- tion, and provides a greater dynamic range audiences now jump as hun- seat theater, where guests and clarity than conventional six-channel sys- dreds of spiders dance around don their "Ogre Vision" 3-D tems. Adding to the sensory elements present their feet. The former glasses and settle into their in the attraction are seven different special Hitchcock theater has been seats for the real fun. As the FX tied to the specially equipped Shrek-seats. completely changed to make story unfolds, Shrek and Vertical drops, horizontal motions, pneumat- room for Shrek and crew. You Mummy Ogrest? Universal's Fiona are off on their honey- ic air propulsion, water spray modules, tactile can't tell where Hitchcock classic monsters get into moon, accompanied by transducers on the leg and neck and seat ended and Shrek begins—nor the Shrek spirit. trusty sidekick Donkey. In the blink of an eye, Fiona

is scooped up and whisked away to be reunited with the unholy Farquaad.

What follows is a har- rowing chase as the audi- ence accompanies Shrek and Donkey on a bounc- ing, jolting carriage romp through an enchanted for- est, where they dodge dueling dragons in an aeri- al dogfight, battle ghostly spirits and hurtle down a raging river before taking a deadly plunge over a waterfall—among other escapades. But—ever true to the fantasy film—it's the interaction of the char- acters, the irreverent dia- logue and the story itself that ultimately power the Shrek 4-D experience. All of those special FX are just icing on an already enjoyable cake. -^g ON CREVT^ ets s*AJXf fro THEME PARK TO ,VER SCREEN. By BILL WARREN

"We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot. Drink up me 'earties,

Yo Ho! We kidnap and ravage and don 't give a hoot. Drink up me

'earties, Yo Ho! Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me."

Avast ye scurvy knaves. Hoist the Jolly Roger and we're bound for the Spanish Main, 16 men on a dead man's chest. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. Keelhaul the first one who cries nay, then toss him off the larboard side. And more nautical nonsense. That may be what you're expecting from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which the studio hopes is the beginning of a movie series. But, after all, Pirates is based on a (pfui!) amusement park ride, so how pair up to hunt down the good can it really be? Pirates of the Caribbean. As writer Ted Elliott—who co-wrote the Pirates script (as well as It's an E-ticket ride! Aladdin, and The Puppet Masters) with partner Terry Rossio—explains, "When Terry and I went out for the job, we No date is given in the film, but the period is around 1750, near always said that the audience's low expectations are going to be our the end of the great pirate era of the Caribbean. Young Elizabeth greatest ally." Swann is aboard a ship from England to Port Royal when she spies Based on early audience reactions, the film leaps far above those a boy, Will Turner, on a raft. He has escaped from a sinking craft, expectations, not just because of Elliott and Rossio's well-structured which looks to be the work of the dreaded pirate ship the Black and knowledgeable screenplay, but also because of the canny direc- Pearl. Will is brought aboard and revived, but not before Elizabeth tion of Gore {The Ring) Vcrbinski—and very much because of pockets his gold medallion. The talisman has the feared skull-and-

Johnny Depp's delightful performance as pirate Captain Jack crossbones of the pirate flag (the Jolly Roger) on it, and Elizabeth Sparrow. just loves pirates. Years later, Sparrow (once Captain of the Black Pearl) shows up in Port Royal and, almost by chance, rescues the now- adult Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) when she plunges into the sea. This makes

hanging Jack, a known pirate, a little dif- ficult for Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport). He's in love with Elizabeth, but so is Will (Orlando Bloom), an apprentice blacksmith and swordmaker. Things get complicated when the Black Pearl sails into the harbor one night

and its pirates begin sacking and destroy- ing the town. Pirate Captain Barbossa

(Geoffrey Rush) is looking for Elizabeth's

medallion, so she uses it to bargain for the townspeople's safety. He kidnaps her. Will, realizing that the best person to

catch a pirate is a pirate, sets the jailed Jack free. Together, they commandeer the Interceptor, the fastest ship in the British fleet, and chase off after the Black Pearl

www.starlog.com while themselves being pursued by Norrington and Elizabeth's should I like Long John Silver? Should I want him to get away? He's father, Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce), aboard the killin' people!' The roles in the story don't define the characters in Dauntless. the story—but the other characters do." Meanwhile, on the Black Pearl, Elizabeth learns to her horror just Bruckheimer has wanted to work with Elliott and Rossio for what the legendary curse of the vessel really is: When moonlight some time now. "We've been trying to work with them forever," the falls on Barbossa and company, their true nature is revealed. These producer says. "We submitted I don't know how many projects to plundering pirates are quite literally a skeleton crew! them, and they always turned us down. They wrote Shrek, so you know how clever and smart they are. Fortunately, they had an affin-

Sea Hawks ity for this particular project. You can really see how this movie is Elliott and Rossio first approached Disney years ago about their informed by their intelligence." idea for a pirate movie that would incorporate thematic elements Elliott and Rossio's script caught the attention of Depp, who was from the Disney theme parks' popular Pirates of the Caribbean attracted to Captain Jack Sparrow and what he could do with the attraction. For a long while, the studio wasn't interested, but then character. "It's an interesting combination of things," Depp notes. "I they asked producer Jerry {Armageddon) Bruckheimer to take on the was trying to figure out what pirates were in the 1 8th century. What project. Elliott, Rossio, Jay {The Count ofMonte Cristo) Wolpert and would be the equivalent today? I decided that pirates were really the Stuart Beattie came up with the story, with Elliott and Rossio receiv- ing credit for the final screenplay. Elliott and Rossio, lifelong movie buffs, feel that latter-day pirate pictures—such as Yellowbeard, Roman Polanski's Pirates and Cutthroat Island—missed the mark. "There has been an anti- Romantic movement in a lot of movies since the 1970s," says Elliott.

"Terry and I call it the Long Riders phenomenon. You used to have dust, but now all you've got is mud. So we tried to figure out what's valuable in a pirate movie, and really make it about those things." What those other films lacked is "the romance genre," Elliott remarks. "Not just the love story aspect, like The Prisoner ofZenda or The Sea Hawk, but that sense of romanticizing pirates. The other thing we looked at was, oddly enough, ambiguity. The characters aren't necessarily defined by their roles in the story. If you look at the greatest pirate story ever written, Treasure Island, the entire book is about Jim Hawkins and the reader trying to figure out, 'Gee,

STARLOG/September 2003 43 rock-n-roll stars of that era, so I started wondering, 'Who's the greatest rock-n- roll performer? Who's the coolest?' To me, it's Keith Richards, hands down. Keith is partly pirate already. "Then there was a cartoon character who stayed in my head, and who I thought would be good for the character: Pepe Le

Pew. The skunk. There's a scene where I come up really close to Jonathan and Jack. I wanted my breath to be awful. "I also felt that here's a guy who has spent a lot of time battling the elements," Depp adds. "He has spent way too much time in the sun, and his brain has clearly been affected by the intense heat. He's also someone infinitely more comfortable with the movement of the ocean than being on dry land." That's true: On land, Captain Jack often weaves drunkenly about, even when he hasn't touched a drop do. And I felt comfortable that it was something I could do. So, we of alcohol. "He enjoys that," Depp smiles. "He uses that to his managed to get the dates to work [between the two films], and when advantage with people. He almost hypnotizes them, like with a I found out that Johnny was involved, it was a no-brainer. Johnny . I intended Jack to be a guy whose main objectives are two was such a hero of mine as a kid growing up." things: One, to get his ship back, which really represents the freedom Early in the film, before they become comrades, Jack and Will of his life—to be able to move toward the horizon, to try and grab it; have a well-staged, funny swordfight in a blacksmith shop. "I could and two, he wants to propagate the myth of Captain Jack. The truth never take Johnny in a duel," Bloom confesses, before adding: "But doesn't matter at all to him. I don't necessarily feel like a pirate we're both terrible!" myself—although my daughter thinks I'm one—but I just knew this Knightley was also dazzled by Depp's performance. "I loved it," guy. I knew every angle. To me, he's this constantly moving organ- the young actress asserts. "There are very few actors around who ism. He shapes himself to the situation and gets what— he needs. But, will take the risks that Johnny does. And there are very few people at the same time"—Depp raises his arm in a toast "he always has who would play Jack Sparrow like that. He made me die laughing. I a martini glass." became even more of a fan of Johnny's than I was to begin with. It's fcT^^J quite a courageous performance." Crimson J&X Pirates Depp surprised Bruckheimer, too. "We did a read-through two or Joining Jack on his Caribbean cruise is Will, played by Bloom, three weeks before production and got a sense of where he was best known as Lord of the Rings' Elf archer, Legolas. "Jerry had going with the character," he recalls. "Johnny started everybody mentioned Pirates to me ages ago, but I didn't pick up on what he laughing, and he would sit with the actors and talk about what he was talking about," Bloom admits. "Then I finished working on Ned was going to do and how they could interact with his performance." Kelly with Geoffrey Rush, and he told me that he was going to do Working with Depp was anything but typical. "I think what

Pirates, and that there was a good role for me in it. I hadn't read the Johnny does in the film is one of the major reasons why Pirates is script earlier, because the shoot was going to clash with The Calcium such an unusual summer movie. And I think that's a really great Kid, a film I had already agreed to do. But I read the screenplay thing," Davenport enthuses. "I love what he did. It's kind of subver-

[then], and I realized that it was a great character for me. This feels sive, a bit naughty. He's playing a pirate, after all. It's fun to act with like my first real 'serious' Hollywood movie, where I have more to someone when you don't know what they're going to do next. My

job in my scenes with him was to hold it down. It was like playing bass for a really good saxophone player." The movie was a fun cruise for all con- cerned. "Who wouldn't want to be in a pirate film?" Davenport asks. "It's a testament to Ted and Terry, really, that they gave my character so many facets, a kind of vulnera-

bility. It was much more interesting block-

buster villainy than I had seen in a while. Norrington's less of a villain and more a kind of narrative opposition to get the plot going.

"The only person I had wig envy about was Jonathan," Davenport laughs. "But he has become a very good friend of mine as a

result of our working on this film. I love

Jonathan. I think he's a consummate actor. He can do anything—and has—great musi- cal theater work, incredible movies, televi-

sion, everything. I bow to Jonathan. And he's very, very funny in the movie." "Jonathan's a very funny guy," Knightley agrees. "He has that British humor down to a T. Jonathan and Jack were always cracking me up, which was actually very annoying

44 STARLOG/Sepfcmfer 2005 www.starlog.com 1 —

because Jonathan can keep a completely tions," says Hickel. "When Geoffrey is straight face. He would say something dev- walking toward you, he's acting. You're astating, and Jack and I would be in hyster- looking at his eyes. Ninety-nine percent of ics. We would be getting told off and he the audience will be looking right at his would just stand there looking profession- eyes. Then he has to turn into this CGI al—and he was the one who did it in the thing, but you're still going to be looking at first place!" his eyes. Sure, you're taking in the whole A running gag in Pirates is the tightness thing, but if the pirates just go dead and of Elizabeth's corsets. But it wasn't funny turn into CGI creatures, it's going to break for Knightley, who had to squeeze into the [believability] right there. So keeping that uncomfortable outfits. "One of my favorite spark of life in the character in CGI form films is Gone With the Wind," she says. keeping the thinking behind the eyes, keep- "Scarlett gets her waist down to 18 by ing the acting as good as what Geoffrey being cinched up, so I thought it would be was doing—was very difficult. a great idea if I got my waist down to 18. "CGI offers much more now," Hickel only got it down to 20, but that was confin- says. "That's not to say that CGI doesn't ing enough. I looked fantastic for about five have its own artifacts that detract from minutes until I began to turn blue. My eyes achieving realism. You still have to over- started rolling to the back of my head, and come those. But the wins are so much [director] Gore had to stop and say, 'Go greater than the losses. We've done some take the dress off. Breathe.' If you want big terrific practical miniature work on this cleavage, wear a push-up bra, not a corset." show, too. We built the Dauntless, the Although Knightley didn't get to fling a Interceptor and the Black Pearl as minia- sword about, she does walk the plank in tures. The Dauntless was 14 feet long, the Pirates. "I don't have a problem with Pearl was 20-somefhing feet long, and so heights, but standing out on that plank for was the Interceptor. They were all different three days, I got freaked out. It was like I scales. had full-blown vertigo. The plank was like "We also built a quarter-million-gallon a diving board. It was going up and down, tank in the backlot that was four feet deep and the waves were going up and down, and 70-by-150 feet with wavemakers, wind and the boat was moving, and the wind was blowing. I was pretty machines and motivators for the ships. To build those ships using CG scared. But at the end, they told me, 'You don't have to jump off. We would have been insane, because they have so much detail, all these can get the stunt girl to do that.' I was like, 'You're joking! I stood little pieces and miles of rigging." out there for two days being completely scared out of my wits, and CGI was used in undetectable ways as well. In the opening scene, " I don't get to jump off?' So Knightley did, right into the Caribbean. a ship glides silently out of the fog, and the camera moves in to a lit- "It was great. The pirates waved their cutlasses, and I got a big tle girl singing the theme song from the ride. "There's a lot of CG

'Arrrrr!' from them, which I was very proud of." fog in that scene," Hickel reveals. "The camera movement also had

to be smoothed out quite a bit. They had a little trouble bringing the

Skeleton LCrews boom in on another boat and getting it to move right into that close- So these are all live actors, producers and writers. You thought up. There's tons and tons of work in that shot, but the ship is real. there was something about swordfighting skeletons, right? Well, And because the [full-scale] ships didn't have full sails and rigging, make no bones about it, Pirates takes its cue from the Disneyland there are up angles on characters where you see the sails billowing ride—where skeletons sit on piles of doubloons, guzzle wine and behind them. Those were miniature 1/6-scale sails that we built. We frighten passers-by. shot them at high speed and added them in." One of the Industrial Light & Magic wizards working on the Hickel has been working hard for a long while. "I went straight undead ensemble, Hal Hickel, whips out a laptop to show off some from AI to Attack of the Clones to Dreamcatcher to this. I haven't of his work on the bony buccaneers. Motion-capture techniques were had a break in some time." But after he has finished Pirates of the used, partly for the sake of realistic motion, but also so Verbinski Caribbean, he's finally going to take a much-needed vacation. could direct the skeletal performers as he did the regular cast. And where is he going? The hardest part of Pirates' effects were the "close-up transi- Hal Hickel grins and gives the right answer: "Disneyland!" >£& s Ralph Eggleston carefully notes, (o serve as production design- er of Disney/Pixar Animation Studios' CG-animated block- buster Finding Nemo, he needed at least three feet.

"Just like with any film or play, a production designer's job is to work with the director and define the overall visual concepts support- ing the characters and emotions of the story," he explains. "To provide the architecture and art of the film—settings, character designs, col- ors, patterns and textures—that allow other folks to do their jobs, like creating set designs, so that they can be built and then laid out. It's really one fool in theater—well, if I had three feet, it would be one foot in animation, one in theater and one in live-action." In that case, Eggleston would need yet another foot to stand on. "For production, yes," he agrees. "To hop around from meeting to meeting. So, my job is to provide everything so the film can actually, physically be made." A Pixar veteran, Eggleston served as art director on Toy Story. He earned a Best Animated Short Oscar for directing "For the Birds," the moviegoers can tell where Marlin and Dory are at en route by looking at any one frame. "Well, hopefully," Eggleston laughs. "That was the plan. We found something simple and which seemed obvi-

ous [in the color backgrounds], but it wasn't that obvious when we started. It really helped us out." Sea Views Simplicity was also the key to estab- lishing the Sydney cityscape. "At the time we began this film, a bit more took place in Sydney Harbor in the dentist's office,

and so 1 really wanted to get the lay of the land," says Eggleston, who traveled to Australia and personally photographed the sights of Sydney for reference. "We could take some liberties, but we wanted

to base it on reality and not offend any-

We fi 8" red 0Ut °" r kev areas and The beauty of Sydney Harbor is captured in CG-animation with such:h icons as the Opera , J then^ designed around them so we cap- House marking the background cityscape. tured theflavor of Sydney. What we want- hilarious toon released with Monsters, Inc. Then, teaming with co- ed was an outline of thetl city—the Needle, the Opera House and the

writer-director Andrew Stanton (STARLOG #312), he turned his Harbor Bridge. And s

attention to Pixar's fifth theatrical feature, Finding Nemo. It's the jected things on them and; used them for virtually every Sydney shot epic odyssey of two fish (Marlin and Dory) searching Australian in the movie." waters for Nemo (Marlin's son, who has been shanghaied and jailed Deciding how to decorated Nemo's prison in Sydney, the Tank, in a Sydney dentist's office aquarium). prompted delicious mimischief. After all, the home aquarium industry

The production design process echoed those of past Pixar pic- sells all kinds of ceramiccerai bric-a-brac and plastic gewgaws to spice tures, although Nemo offered such special problems as how to deal up the underwaterfnunderwaterfront (pirate ships, castle ruins, skin divers, with lighting textures and changes in color as viewed underwater, ancient temples, sea serpents).s<

"And if it weren't for Sharon Calahan, our director of photography, Stanton good-naturedlygood-natui branded Eggleston "the King of Kitsch" I don't know how we would have done it," Eggleston muses. "'Rob for his "morbid faseinfascination with other people's really bad taste" in [Cooper, shading art director] did all of our textures. We did a lot of aquarium interior decoration.dec Eggleston amends that charge: "We

experimenting, and were flying by the seat _ m ;.>;>.- Eggleston $ I of our pants much of the time. 1 was hoping. created -»-*•• i ' color J "*•"* This w hole new world under I he sea studies of offered an almost infinite number of shades —*—»- each Nemo countless ** to paint with. There were colors jftk S j ^iV below. because have all ~J0*^s tBR| sequence to lurking "Just you <^flHS \ , IIBI those colors doesn't mean you want to use show the f> changing of them. Or if you do, you want to have a rea- fgPffW ****•»» m \m&-' «F<$jrjff* -k "• the hues. son to use them," Eggleston cautions. • * -/j "We're underwater for a good portion of the -movie, so time of day also became an issue. If you if you're underwater, how do know ^ —"Jjfc, -*"*•*" it's night or day? Just making it black, it m _ . may be night, but are you able to see the ^..m «r- ** m characters? What we decided to do was start in the coral reef home since some of those design concepts, in general, involved Marlin. I

"Marlin is afraid of the future because of i . Enchanted the past, and so he can't live in the present. I Tiki doom? He's very overly protective of Nemo, so I In this pastel what we wanted to do was keep him pushed HMafrA^^^^^ JtKKKMBKtt^^ sketch, down. We literally don't want to leave the BP"* Eggleston safety of their beautiful world, the Great indicates how the Barrier Reef. The coral colors are very volcanic bright, the water there is very clear, and its PMM| lighting color almost a drinking-water turquoise, I^bR • should UKe a swimming pool. /\na as memo is iaKen handled. away and Marlin and Dory progress through their journey, the water gets more and more dense; you cSh see less far and it's bluer and bluer and darker and darker. Then as they get close to Sydney and humans, the water becomes greenish because of the tides in and out of the bay." Thus, with the color-coded backgrounds,

www.starlog.com STARLOG/September 2003 47 "

V believe, we can get overconfident, because ,» IM^-< '^'.'fLvD me fil ms mat we've done so far have pre- jjbXs ..Jfeyp sented so many different kinds of chal- lenges. It's always, 'Oh my God. How are we going to do this?' We do know we can do

just about anything. But can we do it on a 1 budget and a schedule ] And on a scale? That becomes very important."

The goal at Pixar is not to replicate real-

ity but to study and caricature it. Splashing around undersea made for some difficulties in this regard. "What was funny was that Andrew was adamant early on about not over-caricaturing the fish and overly anthro- pomorphizing them," explains Eggleston. "They needed to act, but he wanted them to be fish, act like fish, move like fish and be affected by the world in which they live. From That was a key element for Andrew. This is the reality of their world: They can be eaten concept art to computer- or killed or chased or caught. He wanted to generated ground the characters in a strict box of postcard: believability. It was challenging for the ani- Memories of mators, because they like to have hands, feet scenery and more things to act with. But they loved Down the challenge and pulled it off. Under(water) "If you look at the shape of most fish, and they're pretty caricatured. We didn't want to Hawaiian take that too far. had to back off and say, scuba diving We adventures 'What we need to do is caricature the world led a bit more, especially when it comes to the Eggleston reef.' That was daunting, because straight and crew to lines are easy on the computer and organic picture things are more difficult. So we had to whit- hauntingly tle down our choices of coral and decide realistic how to build them so they were manipulat- coral reefs. able. It became less about the individual corals [and more about] how they were all like kitsch. Andrew does, too. I mean, it's fun to find that kind of grouped. One influence in approaching that idea was some conceptual stuff, to find the character in the set. We had lots of drawings of kitschy artwork by Bruce Zick. That's partly Bruce's style—the fanciful nature things that might go in the Tank, but we went around in circles until of those shapes. And he helped us break it down into big and small, just artist Nelson Bohol came up with the brilliant idea of a volcano. He said, really pushing the general shapes and sizes."

'What if we got a light so it looks like lava is flowing out? We could put Readers should consult The Art of Finding Nemo by Mark Cotta Vaz marbles on it.' Suddenly, that began a Tiki motif—a grass hut, Tiki (Chronicle Books, he, $40) for an extensive showcase of the designs, heads, the volcano. One side of the aquarium became a Tiki world and concepts, sketches, color studies and paintings that Eggleston, Zick and the other, a shipwreck world. Now, it makes sense, but at the time it was, colleagues created during the movie's development. Other key contrib- 'All these things!' utors—whose work is also on display in that volume—include concept Eggleston had long dreamed of doing a CG-animated project that artist Simon Varela and environment art director Anthony Christov. looked like a 1 940s Technicolor picture and recalled the rich look of the "Simon's a drawing machine," Eggleston marvels. "He's a really talent-

Disney classics Bambi and Dumbo. "That's true," he says. "Many of us ed guy. He loves to get into the middle of details, so it was fairly easy worked on Toy Story together, and we always wanted to try things that for him to just simplify once he got the idea. Andrew was keen on hav- were either technically impossible at the time or were maybe technical- ing large areas of nothingness. Simon was really good at the blacks, and ly possible but not feasible on a certain scale. We wanted to have a little his pastel drawings were amazing. The Art of Finding Nemo comes as more atmosphere and soften up the characters, but we also needed a rea- son for it in the story. All of our films have taken giant leaps forward, but for me, Monsters, just in terms of atmosphere, took a really giant leap forward. "Now, in Nemo, we're dealing with fish, which could easily be off- putting to an audience, conceptually, because they're slimy and scaly. What could we do? We wanted to soften their look. So we used the fact that we're underwater to give the characters a bit of glow around them, a little atmosphere. Most of the film takes place underwater, and so much of it is about two characters that we didn't want too much else to get in the way. So there's a giant [section] where the background is sim- ple, the values very close and we stay focused on the characters. We had not been able to do that on such a scale before." Sea Hunts Overconfidence is outlawed at Pixar. Just because they've repeated- ly done it before, the Pixar creators aren't convinced they can pull anoth- Seagulls flew hungrily into the film late in the game. "It's er artistic achievement and top themselves yet again. "We never think of one of the funniest scenes," says Eggleston. it that way," Eggleston emphasizes. "It's always a challenge. I don't

48 STARLOG/September 2003 constant is change.' It's true. If you allow that part of the process to hap-

pen, it lets everyone feel much more free about contributing ideas and finding the best, most economical way of achieving exactly what we want. All of our films have been that way, but I felt more of a team effort on Nemo than on any of our other films, which seemed a little more compartmentalized." Pixar creative guru John Lasseter told STARLOG that "No Pixar

film is ever really finished." Given the chance, it's theorized, the film- makers would just keep reworking scenes and inserting revised-again final shots into the finished print long after the movie was already out on DVD. "Haven't they already done that?" Eggleston laughs. "No, the

film is never done. We're always hoping to make it better." Audiences are still laughing at Eggleston's Oscar-winning Pixar Nonetheless, Eggleston is delighted with Nemo because everything short "For the Birds." simply exceeded even his expectations. "It did," he allows. "And part of close as we could get to doing justice to the original drawings, but the that was just keeping everything really simple, not only in the look and

way Simon layers his chalk is virtually unreproducible. story, but also in the production. So if we did have to alter something

"Tony Christov is a workhorse. He draws really well, understands because of a story revision, it would be simple to change. That was also

design concepts and is great working with people. Nemo was his first a cause for some uneasiness, because you want the story to be locked.

computer film, so he didn't [feel limited by] what we had done in the But it's never locked. It just never is. It's changing to the end. That's past. We would get general approval from Andrew and talk about the scary, too."

story points, and then Tony would go straight to the modeler and they Such creative chaos usually breeds a better movie, even while it

would build it and things just flew through very fast. Tony would do a takes its toll on the moviemakers themselves. For Eggleston, the story nice, big drawing and then look at the story [board] walls and say, 'This alterations are sort of like skydiving armed with fabric and a sewing

is all we need to build. Don't worry about it.' Most of the things that he machine. "This was said about something different, but [it applies]. We contributed to would have taken twice as long or even longer in some told Andrew, 'OK, once you're moving, we're gonna go up in an air- instances with our old systems. He has a really good production head." plane, jump out and then make a parachute on the way down,' " he The film's cast was primarily designed by character art director chuckles. Ricky Vega Nierva and character designers Dan Lee and Jason Deamer. Eggleston reviews his own crucial contributions to the parachute Randy Berrett, the other environment art director, also pitched in drop: "I get really protective of the director and other people on the

(designing the whale, the anglerfish and the dentist) as did, naturally, crew. I enjoy sitting down and doing art myself; I wish I could close my Eggleston and Stanton. "Andrew just knows what he wants," Eggleston door more and draw. Another side of me is that I have some skill at pro-

says. "We had a couple of characters who were a little difficult, like, jecting what it's going to take to actually do things. I know who to talk

oddly enough, Deb and [her imaginary sister] Flo. It looks like a simple to to consider all of the possibilities and pitfalls, and then back it up triangle shape, but boy! Jason—who designed that character—went through a production system. 'If you want to do this, this and this in the through hundreds of drawings, and then we went through a sculpting story, OK, here's a design, an idea, some drawings.' Then, I have to go process, too. It's weird—some characters happen like that." to the modeling people and the layout people and the shading people and Like all Pixar projects, there were late-in-production story alter- the picture people and the lighting people and talk about things. I like

ations (notably, a somewhat downsized Tank plotline), deletions and working with these folks because I know how hard it is to do those jobs.

additions. These changes always make life interesting, according to I know everybody is working their tails off. It doesn't have to be as Eggleston, who describes dealing with them as "like rollerskating on chaotic, though, if we project a bit further: 'These are the things we " marbles on ice." want. How do we get there?' One addition involved a hungry chorus of dim-witted seagulls who Superheroes are the next challenge afoot for Eggleston, who has try to make a communal meal of Marlin and Dory when they finally signed aboard director Brad Bird's spoof The Incredibles, Pixar's next

swim into Sydney Harbor. Eggleston shakes his head. "The idea of the film, as it flies toward its November 2004 premiere. "I was about to go

seagulls wasn't even in the film," he relates. "We were in a meeting one into development, and then I got a call and knew that I was going to put day and Andrew just started riffing and did this really cool drawing of a my production hat on and help out with Incredibles for a certain amount -

seagull, seagulls in the it's the funni- of time. It's really special project. and suddenly were movie; one of a They're going gangbusters. \ est scenes. Jason did the design work on the seagulls, and again, it's Incredibles is so different than anything we've done before. And j

deceptively simple because Andrew wanted it that way." Nemo is certainly also unlike anything we've ever done. It's fun to see ^ these different things happen," Ralph Eggleston smiles. "As much as it's ] Sea Stories both fun and hard to work on a movie, it's great—especially now that • Speaking of fowl-tempered co-stars, what did Eggleston learn about we've grown—just walking down the halls at Pixar, stopping and look- * making CG films from directing "For the Birds"? "It's really hard" he ing at other projects that are years away and being completely inspired \ admits, laughing. "The biggest thing is if you have an idea, to stay by them. There's some cool stuff coming." c focused on the story. On Nemo, if I could relate "Sometimes," what I was attempting to do and design from a Eggleston story point-of-view as I understood it from muses, "I Andrew, we could riff back and forth. If he did want to sit in

not agree with me, he could tell me why, and a room and explain the story or character reason behind Just draw." what he was attempting to do. An arbitrary

change is meaningless to me. I'll do it, fine.

That's my job. But I prefer the give and take of

understanding the story, why it's in there, what

purpose it serves. Because then I can see how

the sequence before it might be better. That give and take between us—everyone on the crew, actually—put new story ideas in Andrew's head. "The more you try to lock in the story in the beginning, the more pressure there'll be for

change. I hear this quote a lot lately: 'The only www.starlog.com STARLOG/September 2003 49 By JOE NAZZARO

I if

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life sends the video game adventuress in search of Pandora's Box. ON THE SET WITH ANGELINA JOLIE & COMPANY, IT'5 ALL ABOUT THE TOMBS

first, the invitation from Para- (Simon Yam)? A brief adventure in Cradle of Life, of course, is the follow- Atmount's publicity department Kenya, as she tracks down the elusive up to the successful if critically lambasted seems too good to be true: Drop Cradle of Life? Tomb Raider (released in 2001), based on everything—we would like you to come in Sadly, no. On this frigid January the popular video game character. Jolie and spend a day on the set of the Tomb morning, it means a trip to Pinewood reprises her role as the aristocratic Raider sequel. Does this mean a visit to the Studios just outside London, where most explorer/archaeologist, up to her usual idyllic Greek island of Santorini, watch- of the remaining setpieces for Uira Croft globetrotting exploits. This time, they cen- ing the shapely Lara Croft (Angelina Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life will be ter around her discovery of the legendary Jolie) jet-skiing across the turquoise shot over the coming weeks. Whoever said Pandora's Box, also coveted by oppor- waters of the Aegean? A trip to Shanghai, show business was glamorous obviously tunistic scientist Jonathan Reiss (Ciaran where Lara battles a powerful crime syn- never spent any time braving a nasty snap Hinds), who hopes to use the artifact as dicate led by the evil warlord Chen Lo of London winter. the basis for a doomsday weapon, which

50 STARLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.com of all, in a broad or structural sense, it's a global adventure," notes Levin. "The aspect of the reality-based global action-adventure movie puts Cradle of Life in a category where very few movies traipse these days.

The character also makes it different from other movies—the fact that Lara has one foot in ancient history and mythology, and another in the cutting-edge world, in terms of technology. The stories embrace fantasy as well as reality. It's an incredibly broad palette. Lara Croft could be in an Indiana Jones movie, but Indiana Jones could never be in a Lara Croft movie, and the same thing is true of James Bond because of the ele- ments of fantasy and mythology. We wanted to create a story that embraced all those dif- ferent elements but was also character-dri- ven, because Lara's a very specific character, which is the movie's most important ele- ment."

Another matter of no little importance was finding the right director for Cradle of Life. After the first Tomb Raider—in which director Simon West was reportedly over- whelmed by the project's immensity and required film editor Stuart Baird to step in to re-cut the picture—it was vital to find a helmer with plenty of experience handling big-budget, FX-laden action-adventure fare. "There were many directors interested, but we really honed in on Jan de Bont [who helmed Speed and Twister], because there's about twice as much action as in the first movie, and we wanted a certain intensity," Levin comments. "Cradle also has a more reality-based sense than the first one, and

Jan seemed perfect for that. His action is hard-edged, intense and suspenseful. Plus, the scope is enormous, and I think Jan's real- ly good at bringing that to a picture. In terms of the physical production itself, the logistics are incredible—with the number of foreign locations—so we needed a director who could carry that on his back and not be hos- pitalized before production's end." There are numerous far-flung locations in Cradle of Life—from the sunny beaches of Greece to the plains of Africa to the crowded streets of Hong Kong. "We were determined from the beginning to bring in

52 STARLOG/September 2003 — —

some underwater action," Levin says. "We didn't touch that in the first one, and it's a big part of the game. Also, after freezing our asses off in Iceland the last time, we owed it to ourselves to have something a bit more beachy this time around.

"When Kirk and I started writing this, we said, 'Yeah, we'll go to Kenya and Tanzania and Greece and Hong Kong and China,' fully expecting it to be pared down at some point, but it never was, quite astonishingly. I think we're the first big Hollywood movie to shoot in Tanzania in 20 years. There's no film infrastructure in Kenya for a movie like this, so we had to bring most of it with us. And, in Hong Kong, we did things that had never been done before. We had a big stunt involv- ing the third largest building in the world ducer Lloyd Levin which is under construction—and when we g and production designer first proposed it, we were flat-out told no, it Kirk Petruccelli devised can't be done. But we had excellent help Cradle's story. Dean from Philip Lee at October Films, who was Georgaris wrote the script. very tenacious and knew the right people. We did things that were unbelievable. top and helicopter support to fly people also wearing an innocent little-kid smile that "You go into [a picture like Cradle] away if there was any eruption. So we were anybody who ever played cowboy or space- thinking about all sorts of things that would able to do it. It wasn't easy, but the audience man as a child would immediately recog- be great, knowing in the back of your mind will be seeing things that they've never seen nize. "I was so nervous on the first one," she that you'll never be allowed to do it, but in a movie before. They'll know that it's not explains, "because I felt I was going to dis- somehow we've been blessed in that every- CG. We fought very hard for our locations, appoint a lot of people, and they weren't thing we fantasized about, we've been able because we felt strongly that they would expecting me as Lara Croft. Now that I feel to pull off," Levin remarks. "A good exam- give the film a distinct sensibility." their support, I'm that much more comfort- ple is when we were shooting on the Lengai able stepping into this one." Crater in Tanzania, which is an active vol- veteran Raiders And Jolie is back because she wants to cano and absolutely verboten. The studio It's now mid-morning, and time to grab be, not because she's contractually obligat- said, 'You'll never get insurance,' but we lolie before she's needed back on set. The ed. Otherwise, as she happily points out, "I employed seismologists and geologists to do actress is already in full Lara Croft regalia would show up very skinny and with no weekly reports about the logistics—as far as tan pants and top—is suitably dirtied down accent. In the first one, there was a great deal the number of people who could go up to the and sports a couple of choice bruises. She's that we were trying to pull off. We were try- ing to make Lara Croft real and figure out how the guns work, what kind of person she u is, what kind of a house she lives in. So much stuff was established that I think we As Croft Manor's resident computer , Bryce comprises half of Lara's support got too caught up in it, and we didn't do it team, along with her butler Hillary (Chris Barrie). "Chris and I are almost like the the way we all wanted to. There was quite a

male versions of Q and Moneypenny to a certain degree," concedes Noah Taylor, who lot left to be done, and I warn 't satisfied with

plays Bryce. "That's one of the things I like most about the Tomb Raider films. It's where we left it.

quite a simple spin, but it does turn the genre on its head a bit. I think that it has been "There were things I wanted to do, cer-

good for young girls to see that instead of Pussy Galore characters or Bond girls. tain aspects I wanted to explore and be bet-

Angelina Jolie is so believable as Lara that it's not a stretch of the imagination or an ter. I wanted the sequel to be less of a fanta-

incredulous concept." sy. I wanted the puzzle to be more difficult

Taylor is just wrapping up his last few days of shooting on Cradle of Life, which he and interesting. I wanted the villains to be

has been working on intermittently for the past several months. "It's certainly not that strong and threatening. And I wanted Lara to much given the number of shooting days, but I was around at the shoot's beginning, the be in danger. I felt that in the last one, we middle and the very end. There's always some trifling little shot or something that gets introduced so much that we couldn't get into pencilled in, and they're the ones that take the longest to do. I think it's good to alter- everything. Every moment seemed to be,

nate between smaller, darker pieces and something like Tomb Raider, which is a good, 'Here's the difference between the game and

old-fashioned adventure." the movie.' But now it's about her, so we can

Although most of Taylor's Cradle work was studio-bound, he did get to go on one flesh it out." unforgettable location shoot. "Chris and I went to Kenya, and that was pretty astonish- Not surprisingly, Jolie had a good deal of ing. We stayed in two different places right in the middle of game parks, and we had a input into the second film, in particular relat- lot of days off. We would wake up and have breakfast and there would be giraffes and ing to her character and the ways Lara has hippos outside the house. Four of the main male actors shared this house, which could evolved since the first Tomb Raider. "I'm

have been a recipe for disaster, but it worked out well. It was good for me, because I beginning to like her more and more," the got to know Chris a lot better." actress reflects. "I see her as somebody As for future Tomb Raider adventures, Noah Taylor certainly wouldn't rule out who's very disciplined and loyal, and has a

playing Bryce again. "I've never been involved in reprising any sort of role before. It's good sense of fun, but is alone in her life. very rare that you work with the same crew again, and you may never work with the She grew up with and knows all these things, other actors again, so there's that feeling of returning back to school after a long holi- and has this wonderful sense of being a lady.

day. It's quite a pleasant feeling." Lara is intelligent, which is very nice. But —Joe Nazzaro she's also just a kid, and has a wonderful, wild sense of adventure and fight. And she's www.starlog.com SJARLOG/September 2003 53 the Petrified Forest, they fall through to this Ferris wheel-type structure, and at the very

bottom is this little pond where Pandora's

Box is located. The way they get there is

very difficult, and making it even more diffi- cult is this maze that they have to travel through, where there's no gravity. They never know if they're upside down or side-

ways, so it totally disorients them, and that makes the fight scene very interesting, because they don't know where the hell they're going to end up." De Bont grins when informed that more than one crew member thought he was crazy when he first proposed the idea of a rotating

set. "It was very hard to describe. I said, 'There are no horizons. It's all interconnect-

ed and it's all in sections, so you can have people running after each other and they're almost butting heads but they don't know

how to reach one another.' I wanted the a good guy at the end of the day, which is er. On the outside surface, out of frame, the whole set to rotate too, which meant we nice for me, because my son is going to entire circumference of the circle is marked needed motion-control to make it work. watch these fdms when he's older. When I in degrees from zero to 360. This isn't a poor When you see it all put together, it's one of have to answer why I have guns, I can at man's version of a Stargate, though, but those things that you probably won't forget." least say I'm defending myself to protect rather a way of measuring just how far the De Bont was actually interested in direct- something." set is being rotated. ing the first Tomb Raider, so the chance to An assistant director interrupts the con- After running through several takes of helm the sequel was too good to pass up. versation to bring Jolie to the set, and d'Arcy Jolie shouting down to the unseen Reiss and "You rarely find a script that has a female offers a quick tour of the studio before join- then disappearing inside the structure, de hero," he offers, "especially in an action- ing her. It starts with a walk to the Pinewood Bont walks over to say hello. While the crew adventure movie. Lara's such a unique and backlot, which has been transformed by is re-setting the scene, the director plops physical character. I was really excited about Petruccelli's team into a letter-perfect repli- down on a pile of stunt mats for an im- [the first film] and felt that this could be an ca of a Hong Kong street, right down to the promptu interview. For somebody who's ideal franchise, but at the time I wasn't quite clothes hanging from laundry lines. A jour- zeroing in on his 100th day of shooting, he available, and they couldn't postpone it. nalist from Hong Kong recently visited the looks surprisingly cheerful. "So when I heard about the second one, I set and was stunned by its authenticity, "This is part of the big end sequence jumped on it because I love the character. which was the ultimate compliment for all which wraps up the Cradle of Life," he says It's something that rarely happens—that you involved. of the sequence being shot. "Starting with have an actress like Angelina, who's not As it begins to rain—an icy, annoying London drizzle—the tour moves back inside, to the replica of an ancient Greek AH temple, BEAU which will be seen just after the film's opening credit sequence. The set is One of the most intriguing characters in Cradle of Life is Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), actually tilted at an angle, making it incredi- an ex-boy friend of Lara Croft's (Angelina Jolie), whose help she enlists on her latest bly difficult to walk on, let alone look at for adventure. "He was previously an SAS agent," explains Butler, "who formed a relationship very long. There's a guardrail running from with Lara. They used to run missions together, but Terry couldn't help being a bad boy. one side to the other to assist the vertically He's a bit of a rogue, and was more tempted to the dark side than she was. He was offered challenged, but it's not very reassuring. In an officer's post with the SAS but decided to take the other route, which was training terror- the movie, it all crumbles to the ground, ist organizations and mercenaries and doing underworld jobs for bad people or whoever was eventually leading to a deadly underwater willing to pay, which obviously caused the downfall of their relationship. fight with a shark. "At the start of this movie, his services are needed by Lara again, because [her mission] The final stop is an eerie-looking involves a certain gang he trained, so he knows how they operate and where they operate Petrified Forest, part of the Cradle of Life, from. So she has to bring him back into the fray, which brings up an awful lot of stuff from which begins at the top of the volcano, the past, and many unrealized feelings. There's plenty of bitchiness, competition and fun where Lara is attacked by mysterious shad- going on between them." ow warriors. A small, crudely painted sign Butler—whose credits include Dracula 2000, Reign of Fire and Timeline—says the best that says "Keep off plaster rocks—please!" part of working on Cradle of Life has been the opportunity to work with Jolie. "To be able is the only object that breaks the carefully to perform with one of the world's greatest actresses and do sexy, fun scenes in a part I'm crafted illusion. enjoying has been fantastic," he remarks. "We have loads of great dialogue, which is hope-

fully one thing that will set this movie apart. Cradle has exciting action, but it also has char- Tomb Makers acters and stories between the characters that you can dive into, as well as this interesting Back on E Stage, lensing continues in the mission that they're on. Inner Quadrant of the Cradle of Life, a two- "The other fabulous thing is being part of some real kick-ass action sequences that look story circular structure filled with black amazing," Gerard Butler enthuses. "Jan [de Bont] is a director who loves having his actors lava-like columns. Jolie stands at its top actually perform their own stunts. He wants the camera to see us so that the audience can looking down, to where the villainous Reiss tell that it's not being done with stunt doubles. So we've pretty much been doing all the will eventually be standing. Small red track- stunts ourselves, and that has been a blast. It has been so much fun. I know how good it's ing dots criss-cross the rocky surface. These going to look, but sometimes it has scared me shitless." dots will later be used by the visual FX team —Joe Nazzaro to plot the set's coordinates inside a comput-

54 STAKLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.com gearing up for the challenge, and I think it's going to look amazing." Crypt Keepers Abutter's life can be a bit dull sometimes. Just ask Red Dwarfs Chris Barrie, who plays Back on the Inner Quadrant set, the crew Lara Croft's trusted domestic Hillary in Cradle of Life. Barrie is sitting in a disused prepares for the next shot, in which a disori- office at Pinewood Studios waiting for his big moment... and waiting. "I've been here all ented Reiss shoots at Lara and misses, leav- week," he explains, "and I've done 45 minutes of filming. At the moment, I'm just waiting ing him with just one bullet. As the set-up to do a pick-up shot on the deck of the submarine, when we see Angie [Jolie] after the first will take some time, it's a good opportunity sequence. She has been through the wars and looks pretty damn washed up. It's our first to catch up with some of the other key cre- appearance in the movie. Obviously, I'm disappointed that I didn't go to Greece for this; ative personnel working elsewhere, begin- we're doing it here in Pinewood." ning with Petruccelli. The production

Fortunately, the actor did get to join his Tomb Raider co-stars on their trip to Kenya in designer's office is covered from floor to

October 2002. It was a memorable experience. "It was a 12-day trip, and we filmed for four ceiling with Cradle pre-production art, as days," Barrie comments. "We got to see quite a lot of Kenya in between. In Tomb Raider, well as countless pieces of reference materi- the trips were to Cambodia and Iceland, but I had to accept my lot as the butler—that I al—from photos of African mountain ranges wasn't going anywhere. So I'm glad that we were further afield this time." to clippings on hieroglyphics. Regarding Hillary's role in the second flick, "I've got my one fight sequence, which Sitting behind an equally cluttered desk, mirrors the gun-toting bit that I had in the first film. This time, it's a bit of stick fighting, so Petruccelli explains how he got involved in that's my big moment. The girl who trained me was a European champion stick fighter, and writing the story for Cradle of Life. "After when she and one of the stunt guys showed me the fight in slow-motion, it looked really we premiered Tomb Raider" he begins, "we daunting. But I learned it section by section and bit by bit in the band room here at were excited about the whole thing, but we

Pinewood, and eventually I could do it at a fair old lick. I must have rehearsed the fight 10 also knew that the story could have been days or so; we put a lot of time into it. much better. Lloyd and I put our heads

"The fight is with Lara, and I had a few hours a day to rehearse my part, but poor together and said, 'Listen, let's come up with Angelina—who had to learn motorcycling, horseback riding and several other things—only an idea,' so we passed around some thoughts had about 20 minutes of her lunchtime every other day [to practice]." and wrote a quick treatment. That was given Barrie's next project may be the long-awaited Red Dwarf movie, but he hopes that

Hillary will continue to appear in future Tomb Raider escapades. "In many ways, it's simi- lar to Red Dwarf, because Tomb Raider is a world of its own, whether it's the gaming or the movie side," Chris Barrie observes. "It's good just to be a part of it, because we all know there's always going to be a big audience for it." —Joe Nazzaro

only fantastically talented, but so physically option to do it the same way, but as soon as throws herself into the movie that you can you get thinking like that, you might as well

see that almost everything she does is real. give up. Somehow you have to change

We don't have to use many stunt doubles. I something. If it's a really strong story point,

love that she can really do her physical how can we change it so it's different? That's scenes." what we're always trying to come up with." Having just looked at a rough assembly Unlike other films, where most of the of Cradle of Life the night before, de Bont is more challenging FX sequences are done enthusiastic about what he has seen so far. early in the schedule, Corbould's team is

"The most important thing I found is that the saving the best for last. "The Lunar Temple

story works," de Bont relates. "You get is our crescendo," he promises. "The nice

excited by the story, the things that happen thing is that it has been left for the end, to the different characters and the story's because sometimes you can get really com- complexity—and it's very complex. That's placent. We've had a hard shoot and we just the main thing. The action looks great, so came off of Bond [Die Another Day], so the I'm not worried so much about that. You care guys are quite tired. But this is our show- about these people and want to know what's piece, so we have to make an extra-special going to happen to them. That's what I'm effort these last few weeks. The guys are most excited about."

The director is called back to the set, and d' Arcy sidles over with the news that special

FX supervisor Chris Corbould is available for a quick chat. No stranger to FX-heavy

productions, Corbould is a veteran of sever- al Bond movies and The Mummy as well as the first Tomb Raider. "From my point-of- view, Cradle of Life is unfinished work from the first one," says Corbould. "I thought there was a better film to be made, and that's

one reason I particularly wanted to do this one. Generally, the craftsmanship on the first

one was pretty good, but it was sadly lacking in storyline and drama.

"At the end of the day, you have to sit

down and say, T did this in Bond, or I did that in the last Tomb Raider' It's an easy —

between the three worlds. The toughest, technically, has been the Lunar Temple, while the most detail went into the Shanghai streets. That was a fantastic opportunity to go absolutely hardcore on detail. But each

one has its own challenges." The last visit is to visual FX supervisor Steve Begg, who has worked on numerous

Lara explores some intriguing ones in Cradle of Life. to the screenwriter, Dean, who worked with then you

Lloyd while I got busy with Cradle's design Cradle of Life." Ciaran Hinds (rear) is Dr. Jonathan element." Pressed for his favorite personal Cradle Reiss, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who From a design perspective, Petruccelli setpieces, Petruccelli responds: "I like the wants to use Pandora's Box for a can sum up his approach in one sentence: diversity of the design, the differences doomsday weapon. "It's all about the tombs," he says. "A tomb can be a very classical ancient relic of the past, but it can also be a very modern under- ground shelter that locks in, or a cave where one false move and you're entombed. In my mind, any place where you confront your deepest darkest fears is a tomb.

"One of our arenas is a classic Greek underwater antiquity, while in China, it's more super-urban modern underground bio- warfare. I consider that a tomb too, because it's a place where Lara has to go through passageways and explore dangerous scenar- ios that go deeper and deeper into the con- flict of the story. Then there's the final tomb, which plays with viewpoints of what reality is. It's the most far-reaching tomb, but it's also an exploration into organics and sim- plicity. You witness great architectural won- ders and super-modern architecture, and

1 1 | which is what's really going on today." 1"UWEK MUNItinY Although the role wasn't necessarily a physical one, Hinds It's the end of a long shooting day in March, and Ciaran Hinds did get to fire a gun for the first time in his life, which he found lis just about to finish his work on Cradle of Life. "Oh my God, to be a fascinating experience. "You have to learn these basic and not before time!" jokes the actor, who plays the film's Nobel things, like not to blink when the gun goes off," he says. "There's

Prize-winning scientist, Dr. Jonathan Reiss. "I joined in also a fight where Lara and Jonathan finally get down to it September, and I think Cradle was due to wind up sometime in when there's only the two of them left and they're both going for

February, but shooting has gone over a bit, due to circumstances the gold medal as it were, and it comes to blows. We did a lot of

beyond anyone's ken. It's a big huge beast that they have to that ourselves, and I have the bruises to prove it! However, they shoot. I've never been involved in an action film like this before, weren't prepared to let me throw myself 30 feet over the edge of

so I didn't understand the mechanics of how long it takes to set something, so somebody else had to do that for me. But the

I up and shoot all of this spectacular stuff. It behooves one to have falling, kicking and so forth is mostly us. a bit of patience." "The level of a huge blockbuster film like Cradle of Life is In describing his character, Hinds claims that Reiss pretty very interesting," Ciaran Hinds says. "I've worked on fairly low- much lacks any redeeming human feature whatsoever. "It's about budget films where there might be seven or eight weeks to shoot,

power, really, power and control. Reiss is clever enough to have and maybe two cameras at the most. Here, it's a big product, gotten into a position of control in the world through his gift of which is such a huge jump in scale to what I'm used to. So that science—which he has turned over to the dark arts in a way—so has been daunting at times, and thrilling at others." it's all about threatening people with these biological weapons, —Joe Nazzaro

56 SJARLOG/September 2003 .

British productions, including GoldenEye, DOn'T MISS WhAT's Lost in Space and The Avengers. Begg also supervised the first Tomb Raider, which wasn't an altogether happy experience due to the fact that much of the film had to be re- jigged in post-production, resulting in many sleepless nights for the visual FX team. Happily, things are working better on Cradle of Life. "This film is a completely different ballpark," he claims. "It's still in the early days on the visual FX side, but the spectrum

of the work is broader. Although we have 3- D characters and all the usual stuff, we also have a big dry-for-wet underwater sequence that opens the movie. We have a re-entry from space, where Lara has to get some- where really quick in a re-entry pod. And then there's the climactic battle with these mystical shadow guardians. I'm learning a lot of lessons on this one!" Begg is informed of Levin's comment earlier in the day, about trying to get a jump on Cradle's visual FX. "That was the theo- ry" is his response, but a smile indicates

there's a bit more to it. "The idea was that we would get the whole thing up and run- ning, so that when we got the director and everybody on board, they would be jumping onto a moving train. But in actuality, Jan

derailed it. He had a brand new take on the whole thing, which is understandable. So where we were going in one direction, we had to suddenly change 90 degrees in anoth-

er, and that had ramifications. "Basically, he had a fresh view on some of the sequences and things that occur in the movie. Jan understandably had his own vision as to how these things would look and take place, and they didn't necessarily blend with what we had done in pre-production. In

many ways, it's similar to the last one, in that

we've all hit the ground running and can't stop until we hit the brick wall at the end." With several months of complicated

post-production still ahead of him before the

film's July 25 premiere, it's impossible for Begg to know what Cradle of Life will look like when all is said and done, but he knows

it's going to be quite different. "As to how it plays," he notes, "I don't know. I'll find out when you find out!" And different is the word that de Bont also uses to describe Lara Croft Tomb SCI-FI TV BACK ISSUES Raider: The Cradle of Life, as it's time to Please send me these SCI-FI TV issues exit the tombs. "This movie is more than just # Price # Price Total enclosed: $_

action," he says. "It has a really good story, # Price . Price the whole idea about Pandora's Box and the # Price Price I I I I 1 Account No. Cradle of Life. We actually filmed it in a real Postage & Handling: One magazine Cradle of Life, on a real mountain which add $3. Two to five magazines add $8. Card Expiration Date: _ . / (MoVYr.) Six or more magazines add Foreign: was supposedly the birthplace of mankind, $10. $9. or One magazine add Two more add Your Daytime Phone #:i and that brings another reality to it. So it's _) $5 per magazine. New York State resi- not just about another big action scene. dents add 8 1/4% sales tax. Cradle has an incredible story that's really Method of Payment: Print Name As It Appears On Your Card involving. Cash Check Money Order "That's why I think it will stand apart Discover Master Card GjB Street from the other summer movies," Jan de Bont VISA declares. "It will have some very unique Cash, check or money order to: || City State Zip action that people have never seen before, STARLOG GROUP, INC. W&] 475 Park Avenue South but at the same time, it's done in a differ- New York, NY 10016 ent—and not a very bombastic—way. It's Your Signature If you do not want to cut out coupon, very real, and that makes it stand out." we will accept written orders. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. You can fax: 212-889-7933 or e-mail: [email protected] www.starlog.com ^fl tt^ tan Winston is very much a com- However, Winston tends to loosen up in Terminator and 72 and sharing a sense of

^fH Pany m;ln - Which can make it once production wraps, and the often laugh- pride of ownership in having created the tough on a journalist after sonic ^^^^ able veil of secrecy surrounding his big FX Terminator character, I was concerned. You ^^^^k facts. Catching the special FX event movies is lifted. In the case of T3, can't walk into anything that's a part three ^M^vB legend—who balks at the notion Winston is now much more amenable about without some cause for concern. fl^^^V that he's creating anything but discussing the particulars of his contribu- "I did not discuss the whys and why nots ^^B^^ characters—early in the process tions. of my doing T3 with Jim [Cameron]," he of making Terminator 3: Rise of the "I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw adds, answering the oft-asked inquiry. "I Machines, one received a lot of "You can't that the story and script for Terminator 3 respected his privacy. He's a very close ask me script or story questions," and "I were good," Winston admits. "In fact, I was friend. It would be safe to say that Jim's won't tell you that" replies. And, for good pleasantly surprised. Having been involved words to me were to absolutely do it." measure, "You have to wait." Winston chuckles at the notion But then there's also the that the challenge in T3 was even philosophical Winston, prone to bigger than "having to create new answering questions in the Terminators." But he does offer abstract rather than the specific. that designing the female Termi- Submitted for your inspection: natrix was tougher than dealing "Our life in show business is with the T-850. about art challenging technology, "We started with a female art pushing technology and tech- endoskeleton that was compelling, nology pushing art. And that's a unsettling, evil and obviously constant scenario. I don't think advanced," Winston remarks. "The of myself as an effects person. I design of the Terminatrix entailed like to think of myself as some- a lot of designing, refining, finess- one who creates characters. [And ing and input from the director. on Terminator 3], I was very anx- And it had to fit inside an attractive ious to see who the new charac- woman's body. When the Ter- ters were going to be." minatrix is stripped down, the T3 FX wizard Stan Winston hopes hisT-1 doesn't "tank" with audiences. It's actually a real robot. By MARC SHAPIRO

IN BRIEF, EXPLAINS ENGINEERING THE RISE OF THE MACHINES. "

endoskeleton had to look female. Along the way, we did some walk studies, giving her character movements that would look realis- tic with the Terminatrix's design." The FX veteran (who dicussed his other recent achievements in STARLOG #297) reveals that little was done to enhance the familiar T-800 cyborg, but notes that some subtle improvements will be visible in the sequel. "What we have been able to show, especially near the movie's end, is more damage to the T-850," he says. "There's more metal showing. And that was done through a combination of prosthetics and CGI replacement. "Throughout all three movies, the endoskeleton has remained consistent. But in terms of the technology, much has changed. In the first Terminator, we pretend- ed to build a robot. We used rod puppetry and radio control. What we couldn't do with puppetry, we did with stop-motion anima- tion. In T2, that was the first time CGI and live-action robotics were ever blended The T-X includes a combat chassis and we had hoped. But there was nothing on T3 together. The T-1000 was an extreme weaponry, and its skin is actually the liquid- that I looked at and said, 'I'm shocked by " advance in design, far beyond what we did in metal skin of the T-1000." this.' the first film. In 713, we've gone further with However, for Winston, the real fun of Winston returns to philosophical form the design of the Terminator endoskeleton. creating T3's hardware was devising the when asked to sum up his contributions to never-before-seen T-l, the granddaddy of T3. "There are no sudden right turns in terms all Terminators, which appears briefly in of what happens in Terminator 3," Stan

scenes near the film's beginning. "The T-l Winston attests. "The process is the same

has a chassis like a tank and it rolls on tank process that it has always been. It's about

treads," Winston explains. "It has a head getting it on the drawing board. But now we and all kinds of combat weaponry. That was have the computer to use as the design tool. the most exciting thing for me, because we It's a constantly changing aesthetic. There is got to build an actual robot for the first no right or wrong. We are advancing the art time. It's the real thing. But there were no and technology of creating robotic charac-

real surprises. Things that we didn't expect ters. ..in a movie that's about kickin' some to work well sometimes worked better than ass.

* i- -

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines reveals that before there was a T-850 (), there was a T-1 and its descendants.

SCREENWRITER JAMES DALE ROBINSON REMODELED THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN FOR THEIR CINEMATIC DEBUT.

You might say that there are two James Robinsons. One is the working in films," the writer explains. "So I thought, why not James Eisner Award-winning comic book writer of projects ranging Dale? I suppose in comic books, I'll always be ." from DCs acclaimed Starman to WildCA.T.s. "I'm English," It's only appropriate that a fellow British comics pro adapted the the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen screenwriter begins. "I got work of his countrymen, but that doesn't mean that Robinson's into comics at the tail end of that second [British] wave. There was League is slavishly faithful to its source. "It was an odd case of try- the first wave of Alan Moore and the people who were doing Warrior ing to be true to the feel and flavor of Alan's work," Robinson magazine. Then there was the second wave of Neil Gaiman and Grant explains, "which I admire and didn't want to disrespect in any way.

Morrison. I came in a bit after that. I did a thing called London 's Dark At the same time, I was trying to make it something that would be in England." pleasing to the men who write the very large checks." That Robinson was an editor for Titan Books, and his U.S. comics career grew out of those modest beginnings. But all along, Robinson had his sights set on another writing plateau. "I was transitioning out of comics into screenplays," he says. "I rewrote a screenplay called www.WWlIl.com, which was a little bit predictive of the events in

New York. Ultimately, with 9/11, it was completely abandoned. So when League came up, I was allowed to move on to that project. My writing came to the attention of , the head of the studio [20th Century Fox], who very kindly kept me on for the duration of the project instead of bringing in other writers and rewriters." A British film school graduate, Robinson had scripted the inde- pendent film Cyber Bandits—which starred Grace Jones and Adam Ant—and wrote and directed last year's direct-to-video crime caper Comic Book Villains—which appalled comics fans with its dark depiction of the seamy underside of rare comics dealers—before join- ing League.

"People think it's either very clever or the most dreadful piece of rubbish they've ever seen," says Robinson of Comic Book Villains.

"It's dark. My two biggest inspirations when I was making it were The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Ladykillers, where peo- fWL T. Some Moore fans were en- ple are dying right and left. raged by what they considered

Someone suggested that if comic Robinson's unexpectedly com-

! books weren't the MacGuffin or mercial approach to League. The treasure, it would have been a introduction of Tom Sawyer much better film. Comic books (Shane West) into a cast of rigid- aren't serious." ly British heroes for demograph- Robinson—along with Blade ic reasons was seen by some as scripter David S. Goyer—also radical surgery. "I don't know if co-wrote a pilot for a TV version radical surgery is the right term," of Richard Sapir and Warren Robinson argues. "There have Murphy's long-running action- been some people who [com- adventure series The , plained], 'Oh my God, you previously filmed as Remo brought in Tom Sawyer!' They're

Williams: The Adventure Begins. assuming I brought in a guy with (Editor's note/disclosure: Will Murray, author of this article, ghostwrote more than 40 Destroyer paperback novels by lined Sapir & Murphy during the late '80s and '90s.) "We adapted the origin," Robinson recalls. "The only change we did is that we made the Asian mentor a pop culture junkie. He was the one who was more in touch with the world. Remo was more intro- spective and philosophical and extolled the spiritual and metaphysi- cal benefits of White Castle burgers and that sort of thing. It was never made. The same year something came out called Now and Again, which was sort of the same thing."

Radical Surgeries Orfgihally pictured £* The opportunity to adapt the acclaimed Moore-Kevin O'Neill as a plot device, Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend) graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen came about v» developed into an when the studio abandoned a previous script by Alex Ayres. This was ^ ( intriguing personality as ( the Big Time. So James Robinson became James Dale Robinson. Robinson reworked the script "There was a James G. Robinson and a James F. Robinson already

STAELOG/September 2003 61 a

Alan's characters," Robinson says. "Jekyll is a man who wants to

redeem himself through Hyde. Hyde is a self-centered monster. The two come together as one mind in a sort of twisted Hydian version of a conscience." Other characters had to be tweaked, like Mina Harker (Peta Wilson). League's virtuous Victorian vampiress was both renamed (to her married name) and reworked for the film. "Mina Murray in the

comic is an early form of a suffragette," Robinson notes. "She has this scandal in her past which hangs heavy upon her. In Alan's version of League, Mina's the tough, resilient leader. Visually, that's fine. But there's a very thin line between her character and every other sort of resilient adventuress that we've seen before. Like Rachel Weisz in The Mummy. Put Karen Allen [from Raiders of the Lost Ark] in a Victorian skirt and she's Mina. So the idea that Mina has been infect- ed by just enough of Dracula's essence, that she isn't evil but has this

uncontrollable side to her, and is also imbued with a level of super-

Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) doesn't captain this crew. Robinson placed Quatermain in charge of the extraordinary group. 1 a straw hat and dirty feet on the Mississippi riverbank. What people j Despite his may not realize is that Mark Twain actually wrote a sequel to Tom youthful J Sawyer called Tom Sawyer, Detective. So having him as this pistol- I

) appearance, packing Secret Service agent isn't too far from what Twain did." ' the immortal Another major change was dispensing with Moore's classic vil- Gray is lain, Dr. Fu Manchu. "Actually, at one point, I had something truer to actually the : [the comic]," Robinson reveals. "In that version, a Prussian extremist League's oldest group is trying to bring about WWI 15 years before it happens, which member. is still the thing the League is basically trying to prevent. There was also a secondary villain, in order to have this sort of Moriarty reveal later on, just like in the comic book. But that didn 't seem to grab peo- ple. In playing around with the plot, it evolved into the way it is now, with the villain we have."

The League's cinematic foe is called the Fantom. With his styl- ized mask hiding disfiguring scars, he strongly suggests Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, with a dash of Moore's trademark wild hair thrown in. According to Robinson, that wasn't his original intent. "That evolved out of the production," he notes. "Obviously, there are twists to that. You're meant to think that we're paying homage to one more aspect of the shared universe of fictional Victorian characters that we're playing with. It seemed to fit the character." natural ability, makes her a more visual As for Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu, he character and gives her an internal strug- was never considered. "That was the big gle, which I play out in the film as it red flag, and there was no way Fu Manchu builds and builds to a boiling point." was ever going to be the villain," Robinson For the League's new leader, Allan says flatly. "People are offended by Quatermain—the British explorer whom Charlie Chan. Look at a Charlie Chan H. Rider Haggard made a synonym for movie from the '30s. He's the smartest high adventure and Moore reduced to a guy in the film. He's shown very favor- shrunken shadow of his former self— ably. But people still look down at those middle ground had to be found. films. The idea of the Yellow Peril, a vil- "Production executives get very nervous lainous Chinaman running around and a when one of your principal characters is whole army of evil Chinamen with hatch- a wasted drug addict ne'er-do-well from ets [wasn't advisable]. Even if you depict Africa," Robinson says dryly. "Even if them as a sort of Victorian hi-tech secret you redeem him, he still seems like a society, it's still something that—especial- sort of weak character. And the idea of ly if people are investing a lot of money in getting was on everyone's a movie—you can't have. People are much mind from Day One. But he wasn't more sensitive today." going to play that character. Connery is going to play a strong lead. So instead, Deep Cuts Quatermain is this adventurer in the twi- Some of the principal characters—like light of his life. He's done with the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea's Captain British Empire. He sees that he has been Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah)—are virtually somewhat of a puppet of the Empire. He unchanged. As are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. wants nothing to do with anything. He's Hyde, played by Jason Flemyng. "In many happy to drink his life away in a hunters' ways, he's the truest version of all of club in Kenya. But the unfolding events force him to come back to the world of Mentoring adventure and connect with that side Sawyer, again, and through Tom Sawyer he a tired gets a new lease on life. So he's a Quatermain much stronger character, sort of like an receives a old Indiana Jones." new lease in Rights issues colored Rodney the twilight Skinner, the League's generic invisible of his life. man. "All of these characters are in very odd, nebulous states of rights," Robinson says. "Some of them are in out-and-out open copyright. You can refer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr.

Watson, but you can 't refer to any [of their] adventures. So you can make a new Sherlock Holmes movie, but you can't remake The Hound of the Baskervilles without [permission from] the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle estate. The same applies somehow or other to The Invisible Man, in that Universal owns the rights to that name." For the movie, Robinson was obliged to concoct an unseen interlop- er of his own devising. "I think few people know the real name of the show him," Robinson explains. "He's an immortal because of the

Invisible Man," he ventures. "Originally, I was toying with making painting. But we're playing a little bit fast and loose with the dates. If our invisible man [E.W. Hornung's gentleman crook] Raffles. But you put it all in chronological order, the way Dorian died in Wilde's very few people know who Raffles is. He was yet one more cultured story—which we assume didn't happen, or was a fiction written by character. So the idea of a shifty guy who calls himself a gentleman Wilde, who knew the real person.. .we're a little vague about the thief when he's clearly from the lower class was something that amount of time that he has been immortal. We imply that Dorian has developed through the combination of [director] Steve Norrington been around for probably 100 years. He's older than Quatermain. He talking to me and Tony Curran, the actor who plays Rodney. Tony did has had more experience than any of them. He doesn't take any of it a fantastic job of bringing a unique sensibility to that character. seriously. But as we later reveal, he does take it seriously. He begins

Despite the fact that you never really do get a good look at him, he's to reconnect with his life as these events unfold, as opposed to being one of the more intriguing [members]. It ended up being more inter- this hedonistic immortal who feels that nothing can harm or touch esting [than the comic]." him." Problems surfaced with another Moore character. Richard Much of the credit for League's development, Robinson says, {Moulin Rouge) Roxburgh was originally cast as the Queen's agent goes to Norrington. "I worked with Steve pretty intensely. Even

Campion Bond—the assumed grandfather of James Bond—but was though we're different in many ways, I don't know if it's because then moved over to the role of the League's mysterious recruiter, M. we're roughly the same age and had the same upbringing in areas British actor Jason (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) Isaacs close to London, but we just speak the same language. Steve was was announced as the Bond replacement (though he told STARLOG, always respectful of my abilities as a writer. I felt his presence in a

"I've never been offered anything and I'm not doing it"), but then good, creative way. We sort of honed this thing together. It was a true became unavailable for the coveted role, which would have called for collaboration." him to tell Connery's character, "My name's Bond. Campion Bond." Throughout production, stories spread that Connery and several Even after filming wrapped in Prague, the part remained uncast. other cast and crew members were none too pleased with Norrington

"There's a strong possibility that if there's a sequel, Campion and his direction. But Robinson has no beef with the League helmer. Bond will be quite a large character in the series," Robinson disclos- "If there were problems working with him—and I confess I didn't es. However, post-production plans to shoot the Bond footage in have any—ultimately, when people see the finished work, whatever Calgary in January never materialized. Nor was a final actor ever problems they might have had with the creator, they'll soon be for- announced. Subsequently, the character has been dropped entirely. gotten when they see that the picture is good. And I'm sure that this film will be good." Scar Tissues With League behind him, Robinson hasn't wasted any time mov- Dorian Gray is another League member found in the film but ing on to other projects. He just completed the script for a live-action absent from Moore's band of Victorian misanthropes. And after pen- adaptation of the internationally acclaimed Japanese anime master- ning numerous drafts, even Robinson's memory is cloudy on how work Akira. "It's on hold for now because the director quit directing,"

Oscar Wilde's ageless character first joined the group. "The script Robinson says cryptically. "Now, it's in the hands of the Wachowski went through so many changes," he laments. "I've rewritten this mul- Brothers." tiple times, brought in elements and added elements and huge plot The scripter's current assignment is a rather odd and intriguing twists. I've rewritten myself over and over quite considerably. [In the one. "I'm doing Hot Wheels for Sony," he says. However, Robinson beginning], Dorian Gray was more of a device. We needed a charac- dispels any connections to the old Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning ter to be a certain way to fit the intricacies of the plot. He's very much cartoon. "No," Robinson corrects, "it's based on the Mattel toy line. a fun character. And by the time we got to a finished script that every- Apart from the inspiration, it will be a completely different world." one was happy with, Dorian had become a full-fledged personality in Just as Moore's graphic novel spawned a sequel, the League film, his own right." too, is set up for a follow-up. And there's one person who can hardly Stuart (Queen of the Damned) Townsend plays Gray. "He's intro- wait. With a grin on his face, James Dale Robinson declares: "I'm duced as this person who feels he has seen everything that life can eager to begin working on the sequel!" A @ MM

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Daredevil, Spider-mati. Fantastic Four, Hulk, Captain America, Wolverine, X-Men, ™ and © 2003 Marvel Comics, Im All Rights Resei DYNAMIC FORCES iogo 7H and © 2003 Dynamic Forces, Inc. AH Rights Reserved. r Lii lift o IllluLn wmmt —J By WILL MURRAY T WAS A DIFFICULT DOUBLE ACT FOR EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN JASON FLEMYNG.

n his dressing trailer, British actor Jason I Flemyng is pulling on the formal black I attire that he wears in the twin roles of Dr. Henry Jekyll and his monstrous H alter-ego, Mr. Hyde. The odd couple share dual membership in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the 20th Century Fox film based on Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill's acclaimed DC-Wildstorm Comics graphic novel. "I'm attracted to any role there is," Flemyng confesses as he buttons up a tai- lored Victorian-era shirt. "My way of audi-

tioning is if I audition for everything, hope- fully they'll make the decision for me. It's not much of a plan, really. I take whatever comes. The only continuous thing that hap-

pens is that I take the job that most other

people turn down. I always think that once

you're in the role, it doesn't make any dif-

ference. You make it your own." Playing Doctor People seem to be selecting Flemyng for projects based on the works of fellow coun- tryman Moore. The actor previously played Jack the Ripper's henchman in the Hughes Brothers' adaptation of the Moore- graphic novel From Hell. "They're both [producer] Don Murphy films," explains Flemyng. "He's the mad guy with See other side. the comic books who keeps me busy with Jason Flemyng is comics films. It has been very exciting to do both Dr. Henry both." Jekyll... In this case, landing the bipolar part may have had more to do with the demands of the Jekyll & Hyde role than any other connec- tions. "It was definitely a factor that not many people wanted to go through the seven-and-a-half hour makeup test," grins Flemyng. "I've met quite a few actors who went, 'Oh yeah, I got that. Nightmare.' And

I say, "That's quite interesting.'

"But I'm positive about it," he adds. "It's a bit of an ordeal. But the whole idea of being an actor is to transform yourself. And

if they're going to do it for you, it's great to see yourself completely different. It's cool." How cool is it? "I could be very intellec-

tual about it," says Flemyng, "but the honest

STAKLOG/September 2003 65 truth is that the prosthetic and the suit are so incredible that they look after themselves, you know? I try to make Jekyll as set-upon

and troubled as possible. If I look after Jekyll, then Hyde will look after himself." Consisting of a bloated body, facial makeup and interchangeable mechanical arms, this version of Mr. Hyde is far removed from Robert Louis Stevenson's weaselly bounder—not to mention the sinis- ter, lurking misanthropes of prior cinematic adaptations (John Barrymore, Fredric

March, Spencer Tracy, et al.). The League member is a big, burly brute along the lines ...and Mr. Edward of a Victorian Incredible Hulk. Steve

Hyde in The Johnson's Edge FX is responsible for the League of Mr. Hyde suit. Extraordinary "Edge FX is the most unbelievable place Gentlemen. See I've ever been to," says Flemyng. "I've been other side. doing numerous tests there. They're also doing The Cat in the Hat, so the Cat in the Hat is running around. They're working on Dr. Octopus as well, for the new Spider-Man

film. It's just the most prolific, fantastically exciting workspace. The headpiece that Hyde wears, the hair on it—which is replaced every day—is 45 hours of work. Each hair is individually put into that head-

piece. And then the body's freckled. It takes forever. It's an incredible amount of work.

The costume costs more than me, which is slightly frustrating." As he struggles into tight black trousers, Flemyng has the carefree air of a man with

the night off. In a way, he is. Over in the

makeup trailer, his stunt double is sitting

still for the laborious Mr. Hyde makeup procedure. So while Mr. Hyde works, Dr.

Jekyll plays. But when it's Flemyng's

turn in the makeup chair, it becomes Night of the Long Nights. "Everyone who comes to interview

me keeps saying, 'It's amazing. How do you—get through that? Is it like a cathar- tic ' No, I play PlayStation 2. All those really politically incorrect games, like Gulf War. They have this new one that I just finished called Allied

Invasion. It's kind of Saving Private Ryan: The Game. I've been blasting I Germans for 1 1 weeks." Hyde-ing Out If he had his druthers, Flem- yng would probably be playing a role in League in which clothes are optional. "The Invisible Man's a really in- teresting part," says Flem- yng of the role inspired by H.G. Wells' classic protag-

onist (though it isn't actu-

ally that character), "and I

was really keen to play it. The Invisible Man pinch- es Mina's bum and stuff. Most men, when you say the Invisible Man, I they go, 'Wow! That i would be really cool! H You can watch people I getting dressed and

www.starIog.com — —

W-WELL, POR MY (League's abbreviated title) in PART, I'M PREPARE? the Czech Republic was a TO HELP THE CAUSE AS MU6H AS POSSI blast for the multinational IT'S SUE. JUST cast, which, besides Wilson THAT,,, and Curran, includes Sir Sean WELL, SOM Connery (as Allan Quater- TIMES I'M NOT main), Naseeruddin Shah MYSELF. I'M NOT SURE X OAN (Captain Nemo), Shane West ALWAYS BE (Tom Sawyer) and Stuart REL Townsend (Dorian Gray). "I know Tony from way back in the day," says Flem- yng. "We've sort of chased each other around for a cou-

ple of years, so it's great to do something with him. Shane is [the young actor] most likely to succeed, which we give him a lot of grief about. He won some award, 'Most Likely to Be a Huge Movie Star in Five Years.' And he has Dr. Jekyll is the same civilized ...but the Mr. Hyde of the Alan never been out of America, so scientist that readers met in the classic Moore-Kevin O'Neill comics saga is an we've dragged him around Robert Louis Stevenson novel... all-together different beast. London, Glasgow and every- they would never know you're there!' And The lekyll & Hyde-Mina Harker triangle where. He's good fun.

that is the ultimate fantasy. And it's all sexu- is something the London-based actor hopes "Naseer has made more films than Sean,"

al. In the comic, he's an absolute terror. He will be explored further in a League reveals Flemyng. "He has made 150 films in shags birds all over the place. The reason I sequel—if there is one. "In the next comic, India, and had huge success with Monsoon wanted to play him was because it would there's a scene where Hyde admits that he Wedding. Now, it's the currency of the set. allow me to sneak into Kylie Minogue's has—well, how he describes it is that he There are two DVDs of Monsoon Wedding. dressing room and watch her change. Which doesn't want to kill her like he wants to kill And you can't buy anything with cash here. to me is just unbelievably exciting. I hope everyone else. And that's the closest he can You have to have a copy of Monsoon that's not just me who thinks like that. come to saying that he loves someone. He Wedding. It's like prison cigarettes."

Because if it is, I've just revealed a very definitely has affections for Mina. strange tendency." Definitely. And as we develop the scenes, Watching Over The role instead went to Tony (Blade II) we're exchanging a lot of fleeting glances. I Then came the historic August 2002 Curran. "I do think that Tony's much, much quite like the idea that Jekyll fancies Mina flood that swept through Prague, causing

better at it than me," admits Flemyng. "He but hasn't got the balls to say anything. Hyde millions of dollars in damage to the produc-

physicalizes it really well. He's very brave will actually act on it. Hopefully, by the tion and shutting it down for six weeks. "It physically. In the scenes that we've done so third film, we'll be shagging." was weird," reflects Flemyng. "My flat was

far, he has been [painted] blue, wearing the For the first month or two, filming LXG in Praha 1, which was the area that got

'the whole idea of being an actor B to transform purSelf

clothes. Or he's completely blue, not wear- flooded. In the middle of the night, there was ing the clothes. So Tony's always there, even this noise of a car with a loud hailer going if we can't see him. Which has been really [he mimics Czechoslovakian being shouted useful for us—kind of frustrating for him very loudly]. And I thought, 'There's an but he's the most visible Invisible Man there election going on. But what in the hell are has ever been. Even when he's completely they doing canvassing at 3 a.m.?' What they invisible, he'll be in snow and the snow will were actually shouting was, 'Run to the

be falling on him. So we'll see it land on mountains! The waters are coming!' But I him. Or he'll be rubbing cold cream into his had no idea and went back to sleep." face to make himself visible again. Or he's Awakening the next morning, Flemyng wearing his cloak and hat. So he's always and Curran were evacuated to higher ground

there. It just means that he can get really without ceremony. "I think Shane and I

drunk and not have to worry about looking underestimated the effect that it had," con- rough." fesses Flemyng. "We were initially almost League's casting choices ultimately critical of what was going on. 'They're mak- turned out for the best, Flemyng now feels. ing such a fuss. This is ridiculous. A bit of "There's a sequence where Jekyll is on the water.' But the reality was so devastating, it Nautilus, running down a corridor," he was unbelievable." relates. "And he's torn about Mina [Peta Between the flood and the technical Wilson]. Because he has been peeking at problems of orchestrating such a large cast Mina. And through the reflection on all the through a visually sumptuous and demand- chrome is Hyde's face, going, 'You know ing project—not to mention continual rain you want her.' Jekyll freaks out about that. delays LXG fell extremely far behind It's really cool to talk to yourself. I was say- Like Jekyll, Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend, schedule. "It doesn't surprise me that we're ing, 'At last I'm working with the best actor right) is attracted to Mina Harker. They having trouble filming what we're supposed " in the film.' make up an unlikely romantic triangle. to shoot [on time]," says Flemyng. "The

STARLOG/September 2003 67 "If I look after JekgIL then Hyde mill look after MatSelf

scenes that work best are the ones where the enthuses Flemyng. "Hopefully, I might Jekyll. He looks dapper in his ebony togs, League are together. But to do those scenes eventually be in some sort of position where perfectly matching his target time period justice, every time someone speaks, there they'll let me be in Watchmen. with his muttonchop sideburns. "These are have to be six reactions to it. And that's com- "It's weird," he muses. "I saw Ghost real," he proudly notes. "The idea of stick- plicated." World over the weekend. I had read the on shit makes me insane. It just drives me Flemyng credits director Stephen comic, and the person I saw it with hadn't. mad. I'm red-headed, though, so these are

Norrington with keeping the complex film So I was laughing at the in-jokes. When you dyed. Originally, the ideal role that I wanted on track, despite problems both man-made film comics, the in-jokes, obviously, are to do years and years ago was Elvis, the

and elemental. "The only job Steve can't do only for a tiny percentage of the audience. Early Years. Now, it's looking more and

as well as anyone else is act," jokes Flem- Ghost World suffered a bit from that. It was more like it's going to be Elvis, the Vegas yng. "So he gives us a lot of respect, a lot of really funny and really, really cool for the Years. I have about 10 years to get my pro-

space and never gets angry or frustrated with people who knew the comic. But for the per- file out a bit further. Elvis dyed his hair all

us. It's such an epic film. He's 200 percent son I was sitting with, it was like, 'But not a his life. He was actually auburn."

committed and suffers no fools. My Dad was lot really happens.' So if you're into the But for now, it's time to save the civilized a director, and shared a very similar outlook. comic, then it's great. From Hell definitely world. And what kind of film LXG will turn

You either loved my Dad or you hated him. didn 't make that mistake. From Hell played out to be still remains to be seen. Opinions

Most times, the people who hated him were like an epic film. On the DVD, if you watch among the cast vary wildly. It's like X-Men.

the people not quite pulling their weight. the stuff that was taken out, it's much more It's not like X-Men. It's like The Avengers

And I think it's the same with Steve." loyal to the comic than the actual finished (the John Steed-Emma Peel series), but it's

No stranger to Prague, Flemyng also shot film. I hope we'll get that right with League not. It's arch. It's grim. It's funny. It's a From Hell in the Czech capital. "Both films of Extraordinary Gentlemen!' retro-superhero monster mash unlike any- are really different," he notes, "which is Finally, Flemyng has become Dr. Henry thing ever filmed before. great. As long as it's really diverse "My favorite movie in the world and the characters are distinct, I'm is The Magnificent Seven!' says happy. But when I realized that Flemyng. "I love any film where League was Moore's, I was really they get a team together and go to chuckling. It's wicked." diverse places, like Kelly's Heroes

Flemyng admits to never having or any of those pictures. It thrills me met the reclusive comic book when I see the characters get togeth- writer. "By the end of this," er. I love that. But League is sort of

Flemyng grins, "Moore will be dark. In a way, it's darker than From saying, 'Wait a minute, that guy Hell—and From Hell was pretty " has been in a couple of mine!' dark! We'll see. Hopefully, this one As he looks to the future, will be quite successful. Fingers Flemyng wouldn't mind acting in crossed. You never bloody know...." more Moore projects, whether it's No stranger to clanger and adventure, Flemyng guest- With that, Jason Flemyng LXG 2 or the unfilmed Watchmen. starred as Emile in two episodes of The Young Indiana charges out to go look for his bigger "I would really love to do that one," Jones Chronicles set during WWI. half.

68 STARLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.com Order now while issues last! Note: All issues include numerous articles & interviews. Only a few are listed for each entry.

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By IAN SPELLING

INCREDIBLY, ERIC BANA BRINGS REAL HUMANITY TO MARVEL'S GREEN-SKINNED BEHEMOTH.

Actors everywhere were green with Chopper—an Australian feature in w hich a cast had something to do with ray past work, envy when Eric Bana—a relative bulked-up Bana played Mark "Chopper and I know that [director] Ridley Scott was unknown pretty much everywhere Read, a notorious local killer whose mem- kind enough to screen some stuff from Black except his native Australia—won the covet- oirs served as the movie's basis—that Haw k Down for Ana. because that had vet to ed role of Dr. Bruce Banner in director Ang prompted him to cast the actor as Banner. be released. Who knows' Lee's silver-screen version of Marvel The director noted that he w as particularly Once he landed the part. Bana tackled the Comics' The Hulk. "1 was surprised that they impressed with Bana's strength and fury, but task at hand. Fortunately, he was fairly well weren't going for someone really famous." he never conveyed those observations to versed in the world of The Hulk. "I hadn't

Bana admits. "When I realized that that was Bana. read the comics, but I knew the [Bill Bixby] not a concern, then. no. I wasn't surprised. 1 "Ang never told me what he saw in me, TV show." he explains. "I had probably seen was quite excited that they were actually and I was kind of too scared to ask." Bana every episode. That was on in Australia, but going to cast an actor. That was very excit- laughs. "I knew that the intensity and anger I wasn't a huge comic book reader as a kid. ing to me, and it gave me a lot of confi- of my Chopper role probably had a bit to do dence." with it. but in the end I felt so wanted and The Incredible Hulk Bana's pre-Hulk credits include his own was so excited that I didn't ask anyone any- Bana's intention from the start was to

TV show. Eric, as well as such films as The thing. I just saw this part as my responsibili- humanize his character. Raised by a foster

Castle. Black Haw k Down and Chopper. Lee ty to knuckle down and prepare. I didn't family. Banner follows a path similar to that remarked that it was Bana's performance in really ask that question. I'm sure my being of his father (Nick Nolte). whose obsessive

Mvvw.starlog.com STARLOG/September 2003 71 scientific experiments got the better of him in more ways than one. And while Banner adores fellow scientist (Jennifer Connelly), he neither has the time nor the emotional wherewithal to truly pursue the relationship. Things take a turn for the worse when—after being exposed to an overdose of Gamma Rays—Banner changes, unleash- ing the beast within him. Whenever pro- voked to anger, the puny scientist becomes a brute behemoth—one large, green, ever- more-powerful Hulk. His incredible ram- pages endanger both people and property, and this Banner (unlike the comics charac- ter) remembers the destruction his alter-ego causes. Suffice to say, Banner possesses a very loose grip on his identity and sanity. So who is Bruce Banner? Who is the Hulk? Are they one and the same person? "I

have no idea," Bana admits. "Who is Bruce? He's a tormented, confused person on quite

a reluctant journey. That was the most diffi- cult part, I guess—completely surrendering to the truthfulness of that and forgetting the

genre altogether. I just had to ignore it. I see the Hulk side as a release for Banner. You feel for the Hulk when you see him. Those kinds of things—the anger and rage—are really there in the film. The movie is much

more serious than people expect, which is kind of cool. The moments when I'm not the Hulk are quite dramatic and emotional, too,

and were a great challenge and part of my "There are a few glimpses [in the CG on screen, by jingo, this is a summer block- attraction to the role." Hulk] where you can obviously see some buster where everyone is earning their keep."

It's worth mentioning, however, that the relationship to Bruce, but essentially I just Hulk moments in the film were essentially exist as Bruce and the Hulk is a whole other Tales to Astonish out of Bana's hands. A completely CGI cre- thing. I felt like I was watching another char- By "everyone," Bana is referring to his ation, the Hulk was digitally realized by the acter from another movie, because the only director, Lee, as well as co-stars Connelly, folks at Industrial Light & Magic. Their movie that I was exposed to was a well-sup- Nolte and Josh Lucas, who plays the malev- work had to seamlessly blend with Bana's ported, medium-budget art-house drama. olent Glenn Talbot, military man-turned- performance, and while that could have That's the only film I really knew existed. I researcher after both Banner's secrets and proved a distraction to the actor, Bana had remember going home to my wife and say- Betty. "Jennifer is great," Bana raves. "She faith in the visual FX team. "That wasn't dif- ing, T can't believe how serious this film is. was fantastic. One of the things that I'm ficult," he says. "I knew who was doing it. I can't believe it's a summer blockbuster.' I really proud of is the relationship between They're the best in the world at it, Dennis would go in on my days off to watch them the characters in the film. The relationship

Muren and the people at ILM. Obviously, shoot some of the other stuff, in order to between Bruce and Betty is extremely cru- the effects are very crucial, but they were convince myself that the film was going to cial and critical, yet neither Jennifer nor I blissfully and completely out of my control. have some light and shade to it and not be were granted the traditional cinematic tools

I was more than comfortable with the notion too serious. In the end, it does. It's very well- to be a believable couple. They're intimate that ILM was handling the effects. balanced. But in the moments the actors are on a more psychological level, and it works.

I'm really proud of that, and I hope that

Jennifer is, too. It was a very, very difficult thing to pull off. There are none of the usual devices [with those characters]. They aren't intimate. They're not an obvious couple. But

the relationship between them is an extreme- ly important one. And Jennifer was the gal

for the job, no doubt about it. "Josh and I have a couple of fights in the movie, and that was great," Bana adds. "I enjoyed working with Josh. He committed to his part 400 percent. You have to give your-

self up to this genre for it to work. On this film, you really had to be truthful and surren- der your trust to Ang. We all did that, and

Josh did that, too. Josh and I really liked the

fight scenes. And yes, he hurt me quite a bit. And yes, I'm trying to find a boxing movie to

do with Josh so I can beat the shit out of him.

"What I learned from Nick is that you

should never forget the fact that it's play- time. Nick makes you feel like a kid in a

72 STARLOG/Sepfember 2003 www.starlog.com Undemonstrative and aloof, Bruce is unable to truly express his emotions to ex-girl friend Betty.

in his father's footsteps, Dr. Bruce Banner tampers with science—and pays the painful price.

dolphin-hating but otherwise level-headed hammerhead shark. "That was great," the actor exclaims. "The reason why I wanted to

do that film is that I have so much respect for Pixar and their animated features. I thought

it might be nice to finally do a project that my kids could see before they're 25. It was great fun. The Pixar people really know what they're doing. What's ironic is that my kids have been with me in Malta while I've been filming Troy, so they haven't even seen Finding Nemo yet." Albert Brooks, who played Marlin in the animated underwater adventure, recently groused about his voiceover duties. Rather Incredibly, Bana didn't turn to the comics for than offer up the usual platitudes about how

inspiration on playing man to this monster, great it was to go to work in a T-shirt and not

Dr. Jekyll to an emerald Mr. Hyde. have to sit through hours of makeup, Brooks His knowledge came from the TV show. Hulk admitted that he found the process tiring and repetitive. "It was a strange experience," sandpit. As serious as the scenes were Talbot, maybe. But I don't see the Hulk, Bana confirms. "It was a very exhausting between Nick and I—and they were Banner or Betty as unsympathetic." one. I was quite surprised at how difficult it extremely serious—I felt like I was playing was. It was fun, but definitely challenging. It with another child. He's one of my favorite The Defenders was a real workout, put it that way. You basi- actors of all time, and I only think more Even as The Hulk rampaged into theaters cally go forever, until you pretty much start highly of him since working with him. in June, Bana's other film, Finding Nemo, losing your voice. It was very intense." Someone told me that Ang had to convince had already hooked in more than $200 mil- Right now, Bana is back before the cam- the studio to go with Nick. I thought, 'Wow.' lion. Bana provided the voice of Anchor, the eras. He's still in Malta, shooting Troy for

Like I say, he's one of my favorite actors, ever. When I heard that he was going to play my father, I thought it was too good to be true." And what about the experience of taking direction from Lee? "It was everything," Bana says frankly. "There were highs and

lows. It was exhausting and draining. It was quite intense. I don't think I would describe

it as fun. I would describe it as satisfying.

And obviously, it was extremely worth- while." Fan reaction to The Hulk has been mix- ed—great FX, unpleasant people—while box-office has been astonishing. One of the criticisms leveled at the flick is that there Finding Nemo is Bana's other aren't any sympathetic characters. To that summer film. The Australian actor charge, Bana responds: "I don't see them as voices the dolphin-hating entirely unsympathetic. I definitely don't see hammerhead shark Anchor (right). General Ross [Sam Elliott] as a villain.

STARLOG/September 2003 73 Nick Nolte is one of Bana's favorite actors. Having him play dad, i.e. Dr. David Banner, this month, and has earned a living as a "was too good to be true." stand-up comic, actor and writer for more

than a decade. "[Acting in films] is ideally

what I wanted to do, pretty much all of my life," Bana says. "The comedy was a nice place to learn a lot of stuff. My career is

turning out how I dreamt that it would, but I

never actually expected it would end up this way. So it's very exciting." Looking toward the future, Bana believes that a Hulk sequel—which he is already signed on for—is quite likely, but beyond that he prefers not to get ahead of himself. "I wouldn't dare move to America," he says of one possible scenario. "It's kind of pointless. Of the three American films I've done, only one of them has filmed [in the States]. So there's really no point in moving. Home is home for me, and that's where we are most of the time.

"I love it in Australia. And with my luck," Eric Bana jokes, "I would move to LA and my next film would be in Sydney." Perfect Storm director Wolfgang Petersen. In I'm standing in the re-created city of Troy. this big-screen retelling of the Trojan War It's quite easy when I'm opposite Peter (most famously chronicled in Homer's The O'Toole, who plays my father and has some Iliad), Bana plays Hector opposite Brad Pitt incredible and beautifully written dialogue. as Achilles, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Sean So it all becomes very real very quickly."

Bean as Odysseus, X2's Brian Cox as The same, some might think, is true of

Agamemnon, Diane Kruger as Helen and Bana's career: that it's becoming very real Peter O'Toole as Priam. "It has been awe- very quickly. But that's not precisely the some," Bana says excitedly. "Quite simply, case. While he may qualify as an overnight it's the role of a lifetime. I pinch myself that sensation, he's no newcomer. Bana turns 35

Some moviegoers were indifferent to The Hultfs characters, but Bana doesn't "see the Hulk, Banner or Betty as unsympathetic."

I'm playing this character in this movie. It's "I exist as Bruce one of the greatest stories of all time, and and the Hulk is a whole there's a reason why it has been around so other thing," Bana notes long. The film has an amazing cast, and we of his CG-created have a genius director. I've never had so alter-ego. "I felt much fun on a film as I'm having on Troy." like I was Bana is enjoying the challenge of making watching another a mythic hero come to life on screen. "It's character from just as difficult as any other character," he another movie." explains. "You put the work into it and then, hopefully, it becomes easy. It's such a well- written piece that it's not overly difficult.

The character is so noble and, obviously, real. It's quite easy for it all to feel real when All CG Hulk Photos: ILM

74 STARLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.com Marvel's Avi Arad recently And Marvel is currently dealing with DreamWorks on an adaptation of Hands Shang-Chi (a.k.a. Master Rung I VI said, with a straight face, f\ /If ll J I The of of that the only Marvel character / \ / \\ / 1\ Fu), scripted by Bruce McKenna, which could be the U.S. he did not see making the I directing debut of Hong Kong action choreographer and direc- / y \ | \ transition from comic page to tor Yuen (The Matrix) big or small screen was that Woo-Ping. ill-conceived Disco Era super- Of , Feige heroine Dazzlcr. By Marvel's reports: "Andrew own count, that leaves 4,699 [Seven] Kevin Walker other characters with movie wrote a very cool psycho- or television potential. Kevin k A f "X\ / 1 I logical script several Feige, executive vice president of Marvel Studios and a pro- /\ /\ I ears a8° tnat had a lot i\ / I r"~ ^v. y

of , \V of good stuff in it but ducer on The Hulk, offers specific updates on a number / \/ J\/ ll ) those projects. /i V IV-/ V I I that studios and film- Brother Voodoo and Strike Force Morituri (retitled A makers were not willing Thousand Days) are both headed to television, going to pilot for ^^^^z* _ _ to make. Si/ver Surfer is sonie-

assem- ' thing that will become more the SCI FI Channel. All the other Marvel heroes are S ll II I I ll DP' bling for movies. * W Vr V» I w fl active in the coming months." ''Fantastic Four will not be CTD fl Ml f C Feige is especially enthusi- ' i astic about the adaptation of pM [rfrl -y.'^-y starting this summer," says . I WW. ^ '4A H rrTTn m# I lm r% rl VI C eJH -». ... Feige. "Peyton [Down With iwe] Reed is set as our direc- 0 1 all 13 SlIC \pS< ~V . tor, and we have a new writer THE. ^K@U I on board [Twin Peaks' Mark 1

' start 0$ * Frost]. We have no date, T -9yBf '~T7j &yflr ' — °ut the movie w//Z be out in the SI » ij; - ^/ , ^i^W^ next few years-" A December 7, 2004 date has been an- illll unced for the 20th Century Mum

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Fantastic Four, Dr. Strange, Man-Thing & Shang-Chi Character Likenesses & Comics Art: Trademark & Copyright 1968, 1969, 1973, 1981, 2003 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

STARLOG/September 2003 75 .

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"Exactly," adds Dougherty. "We said to each other, 'Let's do the best we can to make a great movie, and all the rest will fall into place.' Our definition of a 'great movie' is one that we would love to see

ourselves. X2 is a movie designed by fans, for fans." Their affection for the X-Men Universe is one of many reasons why X2 proved so successful. Dougherty, in particular, has a long history with Marvel's mutants. "I was kind of the big geek in that area," he

says with a laugh. "When I was growing up, I had piles of X-Men and other comic books lying around, mixed with stacks of STARLOG and FANGORIA magazines." Harris—who wasn't yet born when either X-Men or STARLOG launched—says he, too, has been a fan of Wolverine and the gang for years, "but more so from the car- toons and the video game" than the comics. "I came in on the second wave of multimedia," he confesses. Singer gave his new writers the exist- ing X2 script by original X-Men scribe David Hayter, along with a mandate. "The rates. "The script constantly evolved. mandate was, 'Read the script, then let me From day one in February 2002, we did know what you think about it and how about 26 drafts." you might want to change things,' " Harris There were many more "unofficial" says. "When we read it, we saw there was changes to the script after X2 received the a lot of work to be done." green light, and Dougherty and Harris 20th Century Fox hadn't yet green-lit worked closely with Singer throughout the production when Harris and filming as they fine-tuned dialogue and Dougherty came on board. "The studio tweaked scenes to better match locations. had a release date, and they had the basic "Bryan was very hands-on, which was shell of a story and the first draft of a great," Dougherty enthuses. "He really script, but they hadn't given their final wrapped his head around the script to

stamp of approval yet," Dougherty make sure he understood it. He oversaw 's (Famke Janssen) demise is explains. "So we read the script and told every part of [the script], and we never different in the comic, but Dougherty and Bryan our concerns both the big things, — Harris made certain that XZs ending held really felt the intensity of [the job] like the overall plot, and the small things, the promise of a resurrected Phoenix. because Bryan was there to work with us. like story arcs for each character. We sug- He will force you to prove to him that gested characters we wanted to add to the story and characters we your idea or piece of dialogue is good, which can sometimes be very

thought could be taken out. Many of our suggestions matched painful. But in the long run, it makes for a better product. I have a Bryan's concerns." little living in my head now, who makes me question "It was kind of a domino effect, in that we first worked on a few the logic [in my work], look for plot holes and rethink everything big ideas, and then everything else started changing," Harris elabo- over and over again." The Death of Phoenix The existing X2 draft by Hayter served as Dougherty and Harris' starting point, but there were other, earlier script drafts by Hayter and Zak Penn. According to Dougherty, "It was a unique circum- stance. Penn and Hayter were hired simul- taneously to write [their own] drafts of the film, based on the story that Bryan had developed with them. They were [both] delivered, and Zak's work ended there, but some of his ideas were given to David, who then wrote another draft. At that point, he had to leave to attend to other obligations, and we came on board." Hayter's draft "was at a standstill of creative ideas" Dougherty says. Nevertheless, he and Harris affirm that most of the major structural events in the Hayter draft do occur in the final film. "It needed a fresh outlook, but the basic idea of the story that [he had] worked out with No fan of the Sentinels, Dougherty wasn't sad to see the mutant-hunting robots Bryan [didn't change]," continues erased from the follow-up. < Dougherty. "The focus on the humans led

78 STARLOG/September 2003 —

by William Stryker, and The Sentinels Live Stryker's launch of a full- In the original comic book story, Jean Grey dies when she crash- scale attack on mutants, lands the Space Shuttle into Jamaica Bay. "We didn't have a Space was probably the most Shuttle in our movie, so we took that and gave it a different twist," interesting concept [from Dougherty says. "We found a way not only to sacrifice her, but also Hayter's draft]. That, and to have her end up resting on the bottom of the lake." the introduction of Night- That, in turn, led to the movie's final shot, in which an indistinct crawler." glow can be seen beneath the water's surface. It's another nod to the The scattering of the X- comics, in which Grey emerges from her watery grave as Phoenix, a Men on different missions, frighteningly powerful mutant with an all-new storyline. "It's fun to an element often seen in the hear that ripple of excitement in the theater when that shot comes comics, was also a pre- on," Harris remarks. "The non-comics fans are like, 'What the hell?' existing part of the Hayter And the comics fans are leaning over and educating everyone around draft. "I liked the idea of them: 'She's going to come back as Phoenix!' It creates a buzz in the this diaspora that separates theater." the X-Men," Harris But the writers felt that something was still missing between the reflects. "But the story moment of Grey's sacrifice and the final watery image of Phoenix, beats of the movie did and that's what did lead to some last-minute lensing. "We added a change, especially from completely new scene," Harris reveals. "In earlier drafts, we had

page 70 to page 130. Not always tried to include a little scene of emotional resolution. But it only did we have our own kept getting pushed out of the way, because we thought we needed

ideas and thoughts, but we to get to the end of the picture. Then, when it came time to test-

went back into the comic screen the film, people thought it could use an emotional beat, a bit books and the Marvel ency- of release for the characters after Jean's death. So we created the clopedias. We looked for scene with Xavier, Cyclops and Logan in Xavier's office. It was our character situations that we liked that would also make other X-Men epilogue." fans happy." Dougherty emphasizes his partner's Dougherty characterizes their research as comments. "You don't want to get kicked OF COi/SSe I'LL TELL -jou/amd out of the film too early, without some sort "a refresher course, because the history and IP TOU FAIL...IF1DU MAKE ONE mythology of the X-Men is so huge now. We CARELESS MISTAKE... KOUU. FACE of emotional resolution [following Jean THE WRATH OF , MOST it for the Grey's death]. We actually wrote a version really weren't looking to mine POWERFUL OP ALL THE MUTANTS/ movie's story, as much as to use what we of the epilogue in one of our first drafts, but knew about the X-Men as a background for it was pretty long and got deleted. After we NEVER finished shooting, the studio decided that the our own ideas." I FORGET The film's story, credited to Singer, 1 THAT-AffY epilogue might be a good idea, and they i, op fou.': Hayter and Penn, does borrow from the X- bounced it off Bryan, who agreed. So they Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills by brought us back in to write it. The scene is Chris Claremont and artist Brent Anderson. important to setting up the final shot of "A lot of story beats and ideas originated Xavier, so that you know that something's from there," says Harris, such as Magneto's happening [in the lake]." alliance of convenience with the X-Men to Plenty of material—some of it by Harris overcome Stryker. "That element originated and Dougherty, and some by the earlier writ- from the novel and passed through David's ers—was put on paper but never went before hands to make it into the script," Harris the cameras. The aforementioned Sentinels, notes. "It was then our contribution to pull a for instance, were once the main threat in the twist on the plan by making Magneto the vil- movie, instead of the stolen . "They lain [again] in the end." were demoted more with each draft to the Harris and Dougherty also added Lady Deathstrike to the movie, giving Wolverine a worthy opponent for one of the film's most The X2 script includes many ideas exciting battles. And, in reworking the entire from the graphic novel God Loves, third act, the duo reintroduced the most Man Kills, like Magneto as an remarkable plot twist of all: the apparent X-Men ally, but Dougherty and Harris death of Jean Grey. What's more, they han- added a new twist by making him the villain again. dled Grey's demise in a manner consistent with that mythic storyline from the X-Men Comics Universe. Interestingly, the X2 novelization penned by Claremont from the film's script—which went on sale two months before the movie's release doesn't include the character's sacrifice. But Dougherty denies rumors that Grey's "death" was a last-minute change requiring an 1 1 th-hour reshoot. "Jean's death was always in and out of the story," he says. "I think in a couple of very early drafts by Zak or David—I can't remember which—Jean did die. But she did it differently in differ- ent versions. In one version, she blew herself up with the Sentinels. [For the uninitiated, the Sentinels are deadly robots that hunt down mutants in the X-Men comics.] I was always a fan of the water-based death for the character. When Dan and I came on board, the last draft [before us] did not have Jean dying. There was no self-sacrifice moment. But we really liked the idea that she would give herself up, especially because that sets up another movie. It's also a neat idea because it's a tribute to the comics." www.starlog.com STARLOG/September 2003 79 point where, by the time we came on board, the Sentinels just made and the walls. starts pulling the pins out of the cages and drop- a cameo appearance," Dougherty explains. "That felt like a waste. If ping them, and Nightcrawler teleports in and out, grabbing the kids you're going to do the Sentinels, do them right; don't just throw one [before they hit the ground]. It would have been beautiful. But the in and call it a prototype for the sake of doing it." film was long enough as it was. I have a feeling that if Bryan had

Dougherty, laughing, offers a reluctant confession: "I love the X- shot it, it would have gotten cut later anyway." Men comics, but I've always thought the Sentinels were a little Another casualty of rewrites was the Danger Room (where the X- goofy. They look like giant Japanese robots wearing purple Spandex Men train). A scene set therein was eliminated from the first film's and underpants! The idea behind them was a little far-fetched, too. If script; this time, a Danger Room sequence almost survived to go you're going to hunt down mutants, why would you build these 60- before the cameras. A set was even built, which Harris says was foot-tall robots to do it? For the sake of the movie, they were "pretty extraordinary." Alas, Dougherty and Harris—with Singer's redesigned a little bit and brought down in scale, but it was still a blessing—trimmed the Danger Room from their script. "As cool as logic thing that didn't make much sense. They were never shot, but it would have been visually, it really served no purpose to the story," if they had been, they would have been elaborate CGI. We always Harris admits. "Remember the scene early in the film where joked that Stryker should have a [toy] on his desk with a Wolverine is talking to Bobby in the kitchen? That scene only exists " Post-It note on it that said 'Plan B.' because we cut the Danger Room out. Originally, Wolverine was Although they didn't make the final film, the Sentinels were not supposed to be in the Danger Room when the mansion was attacked, entirely forgotten. Viewers who watch closely as Mystique searches so he wouldn't have come out and interacted with the military as for files in Stryker's office will see a reference to the robots, as well much as he does in the final version. It's better for his character that as other names from X-Men comics lore. "There's a list of known he be around to fight and save the kids. Fans needed to see mutants on the computer," says Harris, "and when Mystique clicks Wolverine's 'berserker rage.' That's one of the biggest in the on a folder called 'Cerebro,' next to that folder is one that says 'Project Wide- Awake' —the Sentinel program." If Dougherty didn't mind the loss of the Sentinels, he felt quite a bit different about an elaborate fight sequence between

Nightcrawler and Toad (played in the first film by Ray Park). In fact, Toad and Sabretooth (Tyler Mane in X-Men) were both in the sequel for a while, but were excised to keep the script simpler and more focused. Budgetary concerns also played a role. "We all have favorite pieces that didn't make it," Dougherty sighs. "I loved that

Toad-vs. -Nightcrawler fight. It took place in a huge aviary. A bunch of the kids from Xavier's school—the ones kidnapped by Stryker—are being held in these elaborate cages hanging from the ceiling. Storm and Nightcrawler show up to rescue the kids, and Toad is there guarding them. While Storm tries to get the cages down, Nightcrawler and Toad have this elaborate hand-to-hand martial arts battle on the cages, the ceiling

Instead of showing Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) exercising in the Danger Room, the writers gave him a more active role during the mansion attack.

80 STASLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.com movie. Plus, the scene with Bobby is a Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) originally had take on our own projects as full develop- small, quiet moment that's more impor- an awesome aviary fight with Toad, but both ers or writer-directors." Ray Park's character and the sequence tant than showing the Danger Room. It "I still like to do animation now and were dropped to keep the script simpler. sets up a whole bunch of ideas that pay off then, or more genre-based projects," later in the film." Dougherty muses. "If the right project comes along, we'll ask each other if we Mutant Agenda want to work on it together. We couldn't Thinking back on everything that did be happier about X2, but there's also some make the final cut, Dougherty and Harris anxiety along the lines of, 'Oh God, now " each recall a section that proved especial- what do we do?' ly challenging to write. For Dougherty, The answer, at least in the short term, the trouble spot was inside Cerebro, when is Charlie Chan. Harris and Dougherty Storm and Nightcrawler confront Stry- are continuing their partnership while ker's powerful mutant son Jason. "That they write a new Chan feature, one in sequence caused me the most anxiety, which Lucy Liu is already set to play the because it was scheduled to be at the end legendary police detective. Chan was cre- of the shoot, and there was a question as ated more than 80 years ago by novelist to what it would be exactly. How do they Earl Derr Biggers, and was always previ- stop [Xavier from using] Cerebro to kill ously played on screen by Caucasian men all the humans in the world? That twisted in Asian makeup (Warner Oland, Sidney knots in my stomach, because we weren't Toler, Roland Winters, Ross Martin, Peter quite sure what was going to happen in Ustinov). "It's going to be a breath of there. In one version, it was going to be a fresh air," Harris says. "For one thing, big special effects extravaganza shot people these days are not quite sure who against a blue screen, with all these lights the hell Charlie Chan was. They get him and illusions going on around Storm and mixed up with Fu Manchu. But this will Nightcrawler. But eventually we realized be completely fresh. Lucy has an appeal it would be more effective, and creepier, if that is hard for other actors to capture. there was nothing but a little girl in that People's eyes light up when we tell them room." it's Charlie Chan but with Lucy Liu play- The challenge for Harris came much ing Charlie. She will be a descendant of earlier in the movie. "I was always wor- the original character." ried about the science museum," he says. Other projects are also in the offing. "It's such a big sequence at the film's Dan Harris expects Imaginary Heroes to beginning, and it does so much to set up go before the cameras this fall, with the world and the characters. But Bryan Sigourney Weaver starring, but the two wasn't sure we really needed it. He was always making us prove that writers still have the X-Men on their minds. Would they like to get a we needed it. That was pretty stressful, because we had to keep crack at writing X31 Mike Dougherty answers for both of them: rewriting the sequence to make it better and better." "That's very attractive, absolutely. We just don't want to get our Their presence on the set throughout filming gave the writers a hopes up." rare level of interaction with the cast. Everyone cared about their characters, Dougherty says, and everyone had sug- gestions from time to time. "There was a funny day when we were getting ready to shoot the big scene between Xavier and the President at the film's end," he recalls. "We had to be on set every day from call to wrap, and when we got there on this particular morning, Bryan said, 'Patrick [Stewart] wants to talk to you about the scene. Go talk to him.' It was weird, because Bryan usually went with us for those types of meetings with the actors, and now he was trusting us to go on our own. We knocked on Patrick's door, and it felt like we were going into the Captain's quarters. He had classical music playing, and asked us if we wanted tea. It was so surreal. It turned out that he wanted to change a few lines, and we said, 'OK, " fine, whatever you want!' The solid success of X2, their first produced screenplay, might lead one to think this pair would prefer to work together on all future projects. Not so. Dougherty and Harris think of them- selves as "sometimes writing partners" who will split apart and come together depending on the nature of the work. "We are happy to write together," Harris says, Finding a way for Storm (Halle Berry) and Nightcrawler to confront Stryker's son inside "but we also do things on our own. We'll Dark Cerebro proved a challenge for Dougherty and Harris.

STARLOG/September 2003 81 really enjoyed playing Lady Death- strike," enthuses X2: X-Men United star Kelly Hu. "I love doing these kinds

of characters where I'm kicking butt. It's

so empowering. Sometimes, I forget that I can't really beat up men."' Is Hu certain of that? The actress cracks up. "If it's in the choreography," she explains. Hu, a former model and §> beauty queen, held her own w ith the Rock g in The Scorpion King and Jet Li in Cradle

-j 2 the Grave. And her Lady Deathstrike | certainly goes the distance with Wolverine < (Hugh Jackman) in X2. "I really enjoyed § that," Hu says. "It was very hard work, 2 and we spent a couple of weeks straight = just filming that fight scene. We also had o months and months of preparation, learn- « ing the wire work and stuff like that. As o we were shooting it, we could see it very | sloppily being put together on the com- £ puter, w hich they were using as a monitor.

be limited to what humans can do or what's realistic. They can use their imagination. However, someone has to figure out how we can physically perform all this stuff. That's when the stunt people come in. The crew

hoists them up and tries it with them about

40 or 50 times to get it right. They're the ones who take all of the bumps and bruises, and then, hopefully, the actor gets in there

and does it easily and without [problems]." Action Claws Hu also had the good fortune of working with Jackman, whom the actress describes as a genuinely nice guy. "Oh my God, he's such a pleasure," she raves. "I did a movie with a bunch of people who had previously

worked with him, because I did Cradle 2 the Grave just before X2. They had just finished

shooting Swordfish, and it was the same pro- duction company and all of the same people. Everybody had these wonderful stories Although Stryker (Brian Cox) hates mutants, he doesn't mind exploiting them. about Hugh about how he was the nicest Deathstrike, like Wolverine, is one of the military man's adamantium experiments. —

never see a hair out of place. The claws, of course, were their idea, because they wanted LOVE MY DtM IT'S SO btlllfUL" Lady Deathstrike to be connected to Wolverine. They wanted her to be a sleeker, ndy quicker, faster version of him. She has five Deathstrike doesn't claws, which come out of each fingertip, so always need her claws that gives her more dexterity. Wolverine's to dispatch the three claws emerge from his knuckles, so he opposition. can't bend his wrist when he fights. Wolverine is much more like a street fighter,

whereas I get to use my hands and be more graceful with them. It was so much fun to

physically explore this character. The first

day that I put on the claws, it all just came to

life. It was awesome. I loved it. They com- pleted me. "I felt empowered, very much so," Hu adds. "It's funny, because I look so [impos-

ing and] strong in the movie, but Hugh is really about a foot taller than me. He's huge," Hu smiles. "The claws that I wore were actually glued to the underside of my fingernails. If I hit anything, they would break off, which sometimes ripped off my nails. The claws were really quite delicate. They could bend and were flexible, just so "The training was also very difficult, actor they had ever worked with, and how he they wouldn't hurt anyone—namely myself. because it's not like we have wires at home would walk into a room and everyone would

To make up for the height difference, I had where we can practice in the backyard. It's a just light up. And it was all true. I was like, to wear these shoes that were five inches tall. whole different animal, a whole different tal- 'There's no way anyone can possibly be that I'm usually quite [reserved] when I arrive on ent. I had a wonderful stuntwoman who was nice.' But Hugh's just absolutely amazing. the set, but in X2 I had to act like this vicious just so graceful and yet strong and fit as He's not only one of the sexiest men in fighter in high heels and claws, which was well. When you're working in the realm of Hollywood, but he's a husband and a father quite a challenge. fantasy, the choreographer doesn't have to and this real human being. He's so much fun

Riding camels and romancing the Rock, J Hu was enchanting as Cassandra in The Scorpion / King.

84 STARLOG/September 2003 to be around, and his energy is unbeliev- Bold and the Beautiful, Sunset Beach, Nash able." Which isn't to say that Hu didn't taunt Bridges and Martial Law. She tried her hand him to fight harder. "Did I hurt him?" she at SF in Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days grins. "I'm sure that I did a few times, prob- and the telemovie Star Command, and even ably more than he's willing to admit." got whacked by Jason Voorhees in Friday If anything about her time with Jackman the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. upset her, it's that she didn't get the chance Making a successful transition from the to kiss him. In the comics, Lady Deathstrike pageant circuit to the acting world proved far and Wolverine were lovers. "I was very dis- easier than Hu ever anticipated, especially appointed," Hu laughs. "I don't think that given her ethnicity. "I think that being Asian, they were ready for it, because he's still in in a way, was a plus for me, because it made that relationship with Jean Grey [Famke me stand out, it made me different," says Hu, Janssen]. They don't want him to go that who is of Hawaiian, Chinese and English way yet. And I don't know if my character descent. "I grew up in Hawaii, where Asians will come back. [If she does], then they can are the majority, so I never felt like a minor- explore that. I don't know anything about the ity. I've always been comfortable with my future of this character. I guess they're still ethnicity. And when I moved to , being secretive with me. I have a big mouth, for the first few years, there were only a so they probably wouldn 't tell me even if I handful of Asian actresses. So although was returning." there weren't many Asian roles, there were A native of Hawaii, Hu took a serpentine only a few of us competing for them. path to her acting career. She was named "Also, I had great agents who were very Miss Teen USA in 1985 and Miss Hawaii in creative. When a part called for an ail- 1993, and throughout that period she mod- American girl or any other ethnicity, they eled and appeared in TV commercials. Hu would try and squeeze me in. So I would get then made her acting debut as Kirk booked on jobs that didn't necessarily have Unless you've read the comics, you would never know that Deathstrike Cameron's girl friend in a trio of Growing Asian characters. The Scorpion King wasn't (in red headdress) is a cyborg who once Pains episodes. More TV appearances fol- written for an Asian woman, but nowadays loved Wolverine. lowed, including stints as a regular on The people are much more open to that. They really want to have a rainbow of colors in play the title role, a 4,000-year-old sorcer- their casting, because if they don't, people ess-vampire-crime boss. "I love the comics

notice. It's not realistic otherwise. We live in universe. You can take it so much further a society where people are of all ethnicities, than you can in a real-life fight. Being the

so to show only one color is a little odd." lead is probably the most appealing [aspect

of Jade}; she's just an interesting character. I Scorpion Stings love that her sidekick, Silence, is also a Though Nash Bridges and Martial Law woman. She doesn't talk! And then you have were both popular programs, Hu is most rec- the ghosts and goblins and little creatures to ognized for her work opposite the Rock in deal with. It's a really fun project, and

The Scorpion King, where she played they're shopping it around right now. But Cassandra, the scantily clad temptress who there's no script or anything. It's still in the isn't nearly as evil as she first appears to be. preliminary phases. Although the flick—a spin-off from The "Another project that I'm considering is Mummy series—grossed around $90 mil- based on a real-life La Femme Nikita. Then

tlflD TO ACT LIKE THIS VICIOUS flOHTE

in HGH .tlffLS AND CLAWS."

lion, bigger numbers were expected of it. there's a third project where there's no Still, Hu looks back fondly on the experi- action whatsoever, just acting, which I'm ence. "I had such an amazing time on that, looking forward to. People forget that I was [and there were] completely different chal- an actor before I was a martial artist. I only lenges than X2, one of them being the weath- started studying martial arts about seven or

er," she recalls. "We shot in the desert, where eight years ago. I was a working actress

it was 1 10 degrees, and rode these crazy many, many years before that. I guess when

camels. I was so happy not to have any people see a woman fighting and kicking

camels on the X2 set. And I was happy to butt, it makes such a strong impact that they i Wolverine, sathstrike's have clothes, because we shot X2 in think that's all you can do." ails emerge Vancouver. I had such fun on The Scorpion Cassandra, Lady Deathstrike, Jade—all

from her King, and I wish they would do another one, formidable female characters. And Hu is fingertips, but I haven't heard anything about that." proud to play them. "Men and women enjoy ig her more As for an encore to X2, Hu doesn't know seeing colorful female characters," Kelly Hu xterity than what she'll be doing next. She's currently remarks. "I don't think anyone enjoys her savage contemplating three projects, each of which watching a woman be a victim. All of the adversary. is in a different stage of development. One female parts in X2 are very strong and pow-

possibility is a film version of Jade, based on erful. It's great for little girls to know that

the Chaos! comic book series, which is they can go out there, be tough, be assertive,

being produced by Gale Anne (The Hulk) be able to hold their own, and still be femi- Hurd. "I saw the comics, and she's such a nine and sexy and not looked at in a bad cool character," enthuses Hu, who would light." www.stariog.com STARLOG/September 2003 85 — ! '

Step aside, Buffy character. I wore a football jer- Chill out, Xena. Get thee to an aviary, sey and would talk about their cars. [An Still) Birds of Prey. TV's sexiest superheroes JjV ^3 executive] from ABC saw one of the ads and appeared in Electra Woman and Dyna Girl\ yjl&SSulLS, said, 'I want you to be Dyna Girl.' So I did A pair of beautiful crimefighters with their not even audition for it, I just got the job! own Saturday morning show in the '70s, They interviewed Deidre for Electra

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl battled out- Woman, it zj^yiu -till uiyj and was between her and another landish villains, saved the day and tooled lady, but Deidre got it. A week later, she got around town in their very own Electra-Car. s& ;\ Days of Our Lives. Electra Woman and Instead of a Batcave, though, this dynam- Dyna Girl was the first show she ever did,

ic duo operated out of a hi-tech lab called and Days was her second. And she's still on Electrabase. And while they didn't employ a Days [27 years later] British butler, a middle-aged man named "I have nothing negative to say abo Frank (Norman Alden) served as their able Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Everybod assistant. Playing junior partner Dyna Girl on the show was cool. It was camp

a perky, gung-ho heroine clad in a cape and No longer appearing on and everybody knew what it wa

pigtails—Judy Strangis developed a strong screen, Strangis is still a We taped it over at [the local cult following that continues today. TV presence today—as Southern California TV sta- a cartoon voiceover "It's amazing," Strangis marvels. "People tion] KTLA. And we did it artist and looper ' love Electra Woman and Dyna Girll I find it very fast! I remember for CSI. almost overwhelming, because I have worked next door to stepchildren in their 20s, and their friends the Osmonds' show, are fans! When they found out who I was, all involved with the and all of the these kids showed up with pictures and Batman [TV series], Osmonds—except videos of me. It really is a cult following! I thought that it Donny and They even ran the show on VH1." would be a kick to be Marie—were on The strikingly cute Strangis remains the Robin of a female our set every day, proud of her superhero status. "Electra Batman and Robin! watching us\ We Woman and Dyna Girl was fun," the actress Dyna Girl really was a shot some shows

declares. "She was a nice character, and I female I said at i Robin— even over the Magic Castle , had fun playing her. Because my family was 'Electra this!' and 'Electra that!' too, and did stuff locally instead of Robin's 'Holy around Hollywood and Griffith this!' and 'Holy that!' Park." George Barris, who made Filming the series "was a the , also built our lot of work! Electra Woman Electra-Car." and Dyna Girl was exciting Strangis and co-star and fun, but we worked

Deidre (Days of Our Lives) hard and fast on it. We Hall looked stunning in their would get the scripts and Spandex uniforms. "The go right to work. Deidre

costumes were tight-fitting and I had to quickly

and amazing to wear," memorize it." Strangis says. "I mean, here The female duo was ? were these two women in immortalized in dolls, these Batman and Robin- puzzles, board games,

type costumes. I didn't keep Halloween costumes, videotapes my Dyna Girl outfit, though. and even Viewmaster slides. "It's really

I don't know who has it, but unbelievable—I just found out that t* I wish I had it now. I proba- made Electra Woman and Dyna Girl lip

bly wouldn't fit in it, but I pails and board games!" Strangis smiles, still want it!" had no idea that the show was so popular, and I don't think Deidre did either. They My Uncle Spike don't tell you about those things, because

Dyna Girl entered her life then they would have to pay you! I never go'

"when I was doing Mean paid for any of that stuff, but I think it's

Mary Jean commercials for cool and I wish I had [some of that mer- Chrysler. Mean Mary Jean chandise]."

the Dodge Girl was a very The Strangis clan is a big show biz fami-

well-known commercial ly. "My brother, Sam Strangis, is a producer, The female flipside to Batman and Robin, Dyna Girl (Strangis) and Electra Woman (Deidre Hall) were a pair of sexy, 70s Saturday-morning superheroes.

86 STARLOG/September 2003 www.starlog.co and he produced Batman [the Adam West Immensely popular in the 1940s TV series] and was involved with The Brady (although somewhat forgotten today), Jones Bunch, Love, American Style and Happy and his zany orchestra emphasized humor as Days. He also did a lot for Paramount. My well as musicianship, often performing with nephew Greg, Sam's son, is also a pro- wacky instruments. They produced such ducer [who worked with Sam on comedy classics as "Der Fuehrer's Face" Strangis s Paramount'* War of the Worlds syndicat- and "Hawaiian War Chant." remem- :

ed TV series]. 1 have another nephew, bers Jones with fondness. "Uncle Spike Gary Strangis, who, up until last always wore pajamas, because he was up all ^Hfcjyear. was a producer on The night and slept all day. Spike was very odd, Practice. My parents were not in but he was a sweetheart who loved his fami- the industry." ly and his children. When I was a kid, he in JK .. Many film publications and gave us money if we made him some food W reference books have mixed up the middle of the night. Because all the ser- ^ her brother and father. "That's vants were sleeping, he would wake us kids understandable," Strangis al- up and pay us $10 to make him a pot of cof- lows, "because my father's fee at 3 a.m.!" name was also Sam, but Dad

• was in the produce business, My Brother Sam not show business! Spike Strangis had her first brush with super- Jones, the band leader, was heroes "when my brother Sam was produc-

I my uncle." tion manager on TV series. On Batman, Sam started on the production end Playing Mean and worked his way up to director. He Mary Jean the directed quite a few Batmans. Dodge Girl in TV "The cast would come to our house," she commercials adds, "because Sam lived with us for a while landed Judy after his wife died. They would be there Strangis her every weekend: Adam, Burt Ward, Julie heroic role as Newmar—Julie's very funny, and has a great Dyna Girl. sense of humor. "Adam was closer to my brother than Burt was. Adam's a real sweetheart, and his son was born the same day as my sister's son, in the same hospital! They were next to

each other. I was doing Dyna Girl at the time, and when I heard that my sister had

gone into labor, I ran over in my costume to see my nephew being born—and Adam was there!" Strangis made a couple of trips to Gotham City herself. In the Catwoman episode "The Cat's Meow," "I was a teenage fan who showed up at Gotham Airport to help mob Chad and Jeremy," she laughs. "I played teenage fans on several shows. I basi- cally did the same thing on Bewitched." She was also a flower child in the Louie the Lilac episode. "That was fun, but very

Enrolled at Walt Whitman High School, Strangis received four-and-a- half years of education in Room 222.

STARLOG/September 2003 87 '60s," Strangis giggles. "Hippies! Flower children! I got to know Milton Berle better years later, but I didn't really know him on Batman. Many people think I'm also in a Penguin episode, but that's my sister Cindy. She's a little older, but looks just like me, except she has blondish hair." Strangis visited The Twilight Zone in the one-hour episode "The Bard." "It was really

interesting," she enthuses. "I was six when I did that, playing a little girl and acting with Jack Weston. I was the landlady's daughter,

who keeps talking about black magic. All I remember is that Rod Serling had seen me on an airplane, liked me and hired me because of that. Rod was very nice; even my Mom thought he was nice. He was very quiet and didn't say too much. I've heard that my Uncle Spike was good friends with

him, and my uncle was a little strange, too. I didn't even know that was in

[that episode] until I saw it again years later! I worked with Burt on his detective show [Dan August].

"I also did a movie as a little girl with Ernest Borgnine called Pay or Die" she adds. "I ran into him a year ago at some

function, and I said, 'Gosh, I worked with you on Pay or Die,' and he knew exactly who I was! He told me my character's name! I was so impressed." She was concerned teenager Helen Loomis in the high school TV series Room

222. "That was a great show. I was on it for four-and-a-half years. Lloyd Haynes, who played our teacher, Mr. Dixon, was a terrific guy who really cared for us kids. He's gone now, and I really miss him. Michael Constantine [the Principal] was also won- derful. He guest-starred in a couple of episodes of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl— Stunning in Spandex, Strangis and Hall achieved a cult status that continues to that was cool! I didn't ask him to do it, but this day. Beware, evildoers! when he did, I was so pleased. I'm very happy for Michael's success with My Big Fat you find yourself imitating other people and Stedman as Dyna Girl. "Marty [Krofft, the

Greek Wedding!' everyone becomes the characters, even when pilot's producer] said that if it went to series,

The actress played a jailbird in the kinky you're not working. I would have a guest star part, but it didn't

TV movie Women in Chains. "I did that with "I also worked with Mark Hamill on make it. I was sorry that it didn't. I haven't

Ida Lupino, Belinda Montgomery and Jeannie" she notes. "Let me tell ya a little bit even seen the show they made, so I don't

Jessica Walter, and it was one of the highest- about Mark—when I was working on Room know anything about it." rated TV movies ever," Strangis says. "It was 222, I was also doing cartoon voices with Those waiting to see another Strangis great. We actually shot that at Lincoln Mark on Jeannie. I was so impressed with acting appearance are out of luck, but you Heights Prison. I played a druggie, and it Mark that I told the producers of Room 222 can hear her voice on TV. "I retired!" she

was different from anything I had ever done about him, and they hired him as an actor just smiles. "I just do voiceovers. I don't do on-

before. It was a wonderful experience." before he did Star Warsl He was terrific." camera work anymore. I did a few infomer- She returned to Gotham City on Batman: cials—including some for Kenny

My Friend Mark The Animated Series. Her episode intro- Kingston's Psychic Hotline—but I don't During the last three decades, Strangis duced 's Baby-Doll (Alison think anyone has seen [me do new material has been a queen of cartoons, providing LaPlaca), a former child star who abducts on TV] in 12 years! I've been low-key and voices for numerous characters on animated her old co-stars, including Strangis (voicing low-profile. series. "I did a lot of Hanna-Barbara Tammy Vance). "That was a very funny, "I do a lot of voiceovers," Judy Strangis voiceovers. I was on Wheelie and the well-done episode," Strangis says. "Paul's grins. "Right now, I'm working on CSI: Chopper Bunch, Jeannie [an / Dream of great! Paul was one of the writers on Electra Crime Scene Investigation; my brother Sam Jeannie cartoon], Roman Holidays, Donkey Woman and Dyna Girl, and he hired me for is one of the producers. I do the looping. Kong. I basically worked with Joe Barbera, Batman because of that. I always send my Looping is this—if you see a scene with a who would come to the sessions, make sure love to Paul, and I was at his birthday party crowd of reporters and somebody says 'Tell it was going well and leave. The voiceover several years ago." us what happened!', the people on camera people were amazing. I worked with guys Electra Woman and Dyna Girl was are not speaking, because then they would like Arsenio Hall, Frank Welker and Dave recently remade as an unsold pilot, starring have to be paid. So loopers like me come in Coulier. I did a cartoon with Dom DeLuise Night Court's Markie Post as Electra and become those people—we're the voices [Roman Holidays], and while we worked, Woman—now a vulgar alcoholic living in a of the people in the crowd. That's looping,

Dom would crochet. When you do cartoons, trailer park—and Space Cowboys' Anne and I love to loop!"

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HE Mickey Mouse. He was there, too.") Other sketches went over well ("Avon Man," "Science Wiz- / ( t y ard," "I Married a Republican"), not-so-well ("Man & Porcu-

pine," "Charlie Manson, Ail-American Boy") or I can't recall ooking back, maybe I shouldn 't have worn the giant yellow anymore (the "Frugal Me" wordplay, "The Psychiatrist" coping duck costume. That night, April 19, 1978, 1 came on stage with a tyke, me, who only yelled "Death!"). LI outfitted most fowl and got an enormous laugh from the Amazingly, we milked laughs from a Dragnet spoof (even theater audience. then But as the "Bus Stop" sketch unfolded, this then an ancient idea), "Gangbananas." ("My name is Saturday. I comedy bit I had written just to employ a gargantuan yellow sight carry a banana") Bananas are always funny. And we presented gag on radio laid an egg. It was like one of summer 2003 's SF the "American Virgin Society Poster Child," requesting audience movies—great effect, no script. aid to help this poor, underprivileged co-ed (O'Neill). Let's back up. Attending West Virginia's Bethany College Becker stopped the show as that advice-giving counselor to

I (1974-78), immersed myself in stu- ' ' tne c ue ' ess 'The Bagel ' Doc- ,"' - 1 '„ 1 mI I JFJWHL milillill radio : dent at WVBC FM. I served tor." With Groucho Marx as the station's Promotions Director bravado > he gave every line of Canary? i for seven-plus semesters, did a daily Gooney bird? trns crowd-pleaser a splash of DJ gig and, with my cohort Tim Or giant duck? sexual innuendo, smilingly Smith, produced countless hours of That's informing the audience, "And other programming—radio plays, a S L I STARLOGTAR 0 G remember, the most important weekly news magazine and, most Editor Dave part about the bagel..." as importantly, a 150-episode soap McDonnell, Becker suggestively caught, opera I feeling mellow- parody wrote. Most of these with his arm straight out, a projects yellow post- were engineered by techni- giant inner tube thrown at him Live! in cal Asylum genius Steve Coe. from offstage, "...is the hole." April 1978. We developed such a coterie of Note: Auburn As for other favorite student radio talent (all persuaded to (not grey) hair, sketches, there was "Stream work for free or beer) that in our daffy orange of Consciousness Theater." A senior year, Smith and I produced tights. deadpan Jensen marched seri- Asylum, a weekly half-hour of ously upstage, and alone in a sketch comedy and commercial paro- spotlight bespoke ponderous- dies. Its 18 or 20 episodes were all written by our two voiceover ly my single favorite line ("The numeral five seems strangely virtuosos John Sayers & Harry Mainzer, literary wiz Jeff Seglin, important.") before delivering two minutes of similar absurdist

Smith and me. Asylum sketches were pre-recorded and then non sequiturs. It was deliciously surreal.

assembled into half-hours by Coe—who, that spring, needed a Our live edition's installment of The Jonathan Lamb Show (in senior project to graduate. which, like Carol Burnett, Lamb would take the lead in a frac- So we decided to produce Asylum Live!, a one-hour, live-on- tured version of some classic weekly) savaged Jack London's The stage, simulcast-on-WVBC edition technically masterminded by Call of Wild with Lamb, Grace and others on all fours as dogs. Coe (to fulfill that graduation requirement). Drama Department Their "dogese" conversation ("bow-wow-wow-grr!") was report- head David Judy graciously loaned our gang his beautiful Wailes ed in hilarious humanese by "translator" Sayers ("hate-hate-hate- Theatre for the event. And there, 25 years ago, we performed the hate-hate!"). best of the taped Asylum sketches (and some new stuff), with all Sayers also provided the night's Three Stooges-inspired slap- of us holding scripts and standing in front of microphones (just as stick improv highlight as a "killer haunting New York City" old-time radio shows did), but with sight gags, props, some cos- (breathlessly intoned by sketch announcer Smith)—a mysterious tumes and stage business (the better to provoke our studio audi- enigma known as "the Son of Shemp." "A ruthless killer who ence's visual interest). pokes people's eyes out..." Sayers poked an on-stage Stooge in Besides Coe and the writer-performers, the Asylum cast also the eyes, "...knocks their heads together..." He smacked two included students Peter Jensen, Julie O'Neill, Beth Grace, Karen inmates' noggins into each other. "...A merciless killer, a killer

Clark, Kristen Cady, Jonathan Lamb, Jim Kinghorn, Mark Stultz, who employ s... banana cream pie\" At that cue, Sayers smashed a William Fung, Tony Mourkas and Mike Laughner. And let's not shaving cream pie into another Stooge's face. The audience forgetfive hip college profs: Stan Becker (campus iconoclast, one roared. Then, we topped the gag! of my mentors), Larry Grimes (my English Department/pop cul- For you see, as Smith continued to narrate, the Son of Shemp ture guru), Mark Stevenson (my Advertising mentor), John U. went into the theater audience with another pie in hand. Watching Davis and "Big Ron" Walden. We were 22 people making fools professors and other students nervously worried about just who of ourselves for audience enjoyment. Sayers was to paste before he gave the pie in the face to our pre- Asylum Live! opened as a faux preacher-like college president arranged, courageous audience plant nonchalantly seated in the (Mainzer) led the congregation (our entire ensemble) in a first row (Seglin). And that got the biggest laugh of the night. "Responsive Reading" of actual excerpts from Bethany's hype- So, visual slapstick can work in radio. heavy yet lyrical college catalog (Prez: "Bethany. A college and a Later that summer, we produced a record album version of community!" Chorus: "Bethany. A tree-lined country town." Prez: Asylum Live!, abridging the material to 52 minutes due to time "Nestled in the rollllllling hills of West Virginia!"). It played constraints (the first sketch dropped: My fowl turn in "Bus hilariously, as you might expect it would at a church-supported Stop"), and sold copies in the college bookstore. In October 1 979, school, and started matters on a high note. our cast of inmate graduates returned to Bethany and reunited strolled across the stage—in costume and heavy with undergrad colleagues to do two Saturday night performances breathing—shilling for color TV. The Fruit of the Loom Band of another, longer but alas, less funny edition, Asylum Live, Too! performed "Dueling Banjos" on kazoos. Sherlock Holmes & Dr. We chatted about trying to continue Asylum, but that's where (profs Watson Davis & Walden) popped up throughout the show, it ended. Real life claimed us all. I got sidetracked from my announcing they were "out here alone on the Moors" and then intended vocational path (scripting humorous radio ads) as my enumerating an unlikely, ever-increasing, semi-connected list of hobby (writing about SF/fantasy/horror/comics/animation) folks accompanying them. ("Alone with the Hound of the became my life and career—and I dressed up as a giant yellow Baskervilles!"uiuAi-ivnn.a. "Andnuu HuckleberryiiuvMV.ut.ll_y 11UUUU.Hound." "Not1>UI toIU mention111C1U1UI1 Huck-JTLUCK.- UUUKduck no11U longer.lUllgCI. leberry Finn." "And Mickey Finn." "Mickey Rooney." "And —David-David McDonnell/Editor (July 20032003) source Your ,de-*^

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