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"^^"^ e<-"-»-^" -i^-^frsM Mnntfepc^i: NUMBER 348 • AlH^U^'^

Gentlemen—and Lightning IVIcQueen- start your engines. Thie road rally for Cars begins on page 85.

/Anniversary Celebraliori

30TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

18 OF RAINBOWS END 52 I'M WITH LEX LUTHOR! Vernor Vinge envisions a new tomorrow Parker Posey plays the bald guy's moll 22 BLADE ON SPIKE 55 EVA MARIE SAINT SPEAKS Kirl< Jones stallvampire slayer Superman's Mom 26 EUREKA! 61 BACK TO FAMILY PLOT SCI Fl settles a small town with a big bunch Alfred Hitchcock steps out of the shadows on of geniuses the 1975 movie's set 30 BATTLESTAR MECHANIC 64 THE OBITUARY OF PROFESSOR X Nicki CIvne finds challenges on Galactica Patrick Stewart explains why he had to "die" 35 THE JAMES BAMA LOOK 68 BRIEFLY PSYLOCKE Here's a showcase for a legendary artist Mei Melancon thinks of the psychoblaster 38 AT ZOOM ACADEMY 70 SPOOKY STORY They're still training the next generation of Every neighborhood has a Monster House superheroes 74 THE ANT BULLY 42 WITH UNIVERSAL REMOTE An incredible shrinking boy learns from Them! Director Frank Coraci hits slo-mo to discuss making Click 79 IN THE BARNYARD It's where the animals sing & dance & parasail 46 WHEN SUPERMAN RETURNS RIDING IN Dan Harris & Mike Dougherty scripted this 85 CARS Driving Man of Steel Route 66, the Pixar team wins again

STARLOC (ISSN 0191-4626, Canadian GST number: R-124704826) Is published monthly except for February & September by starloc CROUP, INC., a CREATIVE GROUP company 1372 Broadway. 2nd Fir., New York, NY 10018-6311. STARLOC and The Science Fiction universe are registered trademarks of starloc CROUP, INC. This Is Issue Number 348, August 2005. Entire contents are copyright ©2006 by STARLOC CROUR INC. All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction In part or In whole—Including the reprinting or posting of articles and graphics on any internet or computer site—without the publishers' written permission Is strictly forbidden, starloc 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. Due to time constraints, freelancer phone calls will not be accepted. STARLOC does not publish fiction. Fiction submissions are not accepted and are 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: $56.97 one year (12 Issues) delivered In U.S. only. Canadian and foreign subscriptions $66.97 In U.S. funds only New subscriptions send directly to STARLOC, 1372 Broadway 2nd Fir., New York, NY 10018-6311. Notification of change of address or renewais send to STARLOC Subscription Dept., RO. Box 430, IVIt. IWorrls, IL 61054-0430. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to STARLOC Subscription Dept., RO. Box 430, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430. Printed In U.S.A. WMENWlLU/\MSHATMERMASACOLP. SELF-EMPLOVMENT DIDN'F LAST VERV LONG.

4 STARLOG/August 2006 www.starlog.com SWASHBUCKLING ^IDYEKTURE IK THE HIGH SE/IS YOtfYE ^EYER SEEK BEFOKET

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"SWASHBUCKUNG ADVENTURE IN THE HIGH SEAS AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!

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I Rico-made Creature from the Haunted Sea and President/Publisher Last Woman on Earth—playing the title role in the NORMAN JACOBS latter). Ending her acting career as a Judge Elinor Executive Vice President RITA EISENSTEIN Harrelson in the Perry Mason telemovies, she began devoting herself full-time to animal rescue. Executive Art Director W.R. MOHALLEY (FANGORIA #126) Frankie Thomas (May) Tom Corbett, Space Editor DAVID MCDONNELL QUOTE OF THE MONTH Cadet, TV's first SF hero. He wrote an article Art Director "Me a hero? I couldn't save a clam from a bowl about the show for STARLOG decades ago (#39) HEINER FEIL of chowder." and recently participated in a group interview with ivianaging Editor -"Painless" Peter Potter (Bob Hope), his co-stars (#331-32). As per his wishes, he was ALLAN DART The Paleface buried in his Space Cadet uniform. Contributing Editors Alex Toth (May) The influential comics artist ANTHONY TIMPONE STUPID DECISION who was a master of shadows and silhouettes, of MICHAEL CINCOLD TOM WEAVER OF THE MONTH whites and blacks (Zorro, Bravo for Adventure, IAN SPELLING ABC. For not renewing Invasion. Hey, execs, etc.). He worked in animation on Clutch Cargo JOE NAZZARO WILL MURRAY why don't you go swimming? and Space Angel and did innovative character designs and layouts for Hanna-Barbera's Jonny STARLOG GROUP, A CREATIVE CROUP Company THE LAST FAREWELLS Quest, The Herculoids, SuperFriends and Space THOMAS DeFEO The science fiction universe sadly salutes these Ghost. He also created storyboards for The Angry JOSEPH V. AVALLONE fantastic talents who died recently. Executive Assistants: Dee Erwine, If ONLY WE MADE 'EM DEPT. David Peckinpah (April) The Audrey Quaranta. Correspondents: (LA) Pat writer and executive producer of Slid- Janklewicz, Bob Miller, Marc ers. He scripted episodes of Farscape Shapiro, Bill warren, Dan Yakir; (NYC) Dan DIckholtz, Mike McAven- and Beauty and the Beast ("Siege," THE curse: of the: black rearl nle, Maureen McTlgue, Keith Olexa; "Temptation," "Shades of Gray") and DISCARDED DIALO<3UE IMPROV SECRETS! (Chicago) Kim Howard Johnson; the TV/video chillers Stillwatch and (Phoenix) Bill Florence; (D.C.) Rhon- da Krafchin; (Orlando) Bill Wilson; The Paperboy. He was director Sam (Canada) Mark Phillips; (Booklog) Peckinpah's nephew. Penny Kenny, Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Michael Wolff; (Toons) Val Guest (May) The director (and Alain "Big Bad Bubba" Chaperon, occasional screenwriter) of such films Mike Fisher, Tom Holtkamp, Bob Muleady; (Photos) Donn Nottage, as The Creeping Unknown (a.k.a. The Albert Ortega. Quatermass Xperiment), Enemy from Thanks to: Adrlenne D'Amato, James Bama, Jason Barlow, Karen Space (a.k.a. Quatermass 2), The Day Black, Michael Broldy, Graham Clark, the Earth Caught Fire, When NIckl clyne, Frank coraci, Andrew Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, The Abom- Cosby, Carol Cundleff, Gloria Davles, John A. Davis, Bruce Dern, Erin inable Snowman and Casino Royale Doogan, Mike Dougherty, Beth (1967, some sequences). He also DuMont Sonya Ede, John Flesk, Jess Garcia, Howard Green, Dan Har- helmed episodes of Space: 1999, The ris, Peter Hewitt, Alfred Hitchcock, Persuaders and Sherlock Holmes & Dr. DImltrl Joannldes, Kirk Jones, Brian M. Kane, Gil Kenan, Lana Kim, Watson. His autobiography is So You Charles Upplncott, Mel Melancon, Want to Be in Pictures. (STARLOG Jesse Mesa, Steve Newman, Steve #162-63, FANGORIA #49) Oedekerk, Eben Ostby, Jaime Paglla, Bob Pauley, Parker Posey Karen klutzy Kel- Paul Marco (May) The Reynolds, Jodl Rosoff, Eva Marie ton the Cop in Ed Wood's 1950s trilogy Saint Jeff Sanderson, Dan Scapper- ottl, Crystal Shin, Bryan Singer, GIna of Bride the Monster, Plan 9 from of SoMz, David sperber, Patrick Stew- Outer Space and Night of the Ghouls. art, Lisa Stone, T.j. Sullivan, Doug In later years, he was a "talking head" in the many Red Planet and Skullduggery. Appropriately, he Sweetland, Vernor VInge, Jeff Walk- er, Melinda Wood, Usa Zaks. books and documentaries about All Things Wood. died at his drawing board. Cover Images: Monster House: (FANGORIA #64) Tim Hildebrandt (June) As one half of the Sony Pictures imageworks/©2006 Columbia Pictures industries. Inc. Betsy Jones-Moreland (May) One of the best Brothers Hildebrandt (with twin Greg), this award- All Rights Reserved; Ant sully: actresses in Roger Gorman's early stock company winning artist found fame in the mid-70s painting ©2006 Warner Bros. Entertainment All Rights Reserved; Cars: ©2006 (Viking Women and the Sea Serpent and the Puerto the iconic Star Wars movie poster and scenes from Disney Enterprises, Inc. & PIxar Ani- J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth (in three bestselling mation Studios. All Rights Lord of the Rings calendars). Together, the two did Reserved; X-Men: Kerry Hayes/Trademark & ©2006 20th Titans) SUBSCRIBER SERVICES other film posters (Clash of the and calen- century Fox. All Rights Reserved. X- Missing copies? Moving? Renewals? dars (Atlantis) while also illustrating and co-writ- ivien Character Likeness: Trademark &©2005 Marvel Characters, Inc. All ing (with Jerry Nichols) the fantasy novel Receiving duplicates? Rights Reserved; Superman: Trade- Subscription questions? Urshurak. On his own, Tim did the Secret of mark & ©2006 Warner Bros. Enter- tainment, Inc.—U.S., Canada, NIMH poster, countless book covers, advertising Write to: STARLOG Bahamas & Bermuda. All Rights Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 430 art, etc. The Brothers began collaborating again in Reserved. Superman Character: Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430 the '90s, notably on an updated Terry & the Trademark & ©2006 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Inquiries to editorial offices only delay matters. Pirates syndicated newspaper strip, trading card For Advertising Information: NEW SUBSCRIBERS: See subscription ad in this issue. sets (Marvel Masterpieces, Star Wars: Shadows of (646) 649-8131; FAX (212) 889- 7933 Do NOT send money to above address. the Empire) and other projects. (STARLOG #65, Advertising Director Rita Elsen- Attach Mailing Label Here #232) steln west coast Ads: Robyn Faust, 2111 255th street, Lomita, CA 90717 BOOK OF NOTE (310) 539-2116 eel (310) 710-8146 Superman Returns: The Shooting Script (Titan FAX (310) 373-8760 International Licensing Rep: includes the screenplay Books, tpb, $14.95) by Robert J. Abramson & Associates, ADDRESS Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris (interviewed Inc., 720 Post Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583 this issue on page 46).

CITY STATE ZIP

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SCi-FI TV SCORECARD CW affiliation are mostly signing up for an NIGHTMARES & The broadcast networks have announced all-new service known as YourNetworkTV. It DREAMSCAPES their fall schedules, and once again, the will offer a limited amount of programming, Eight-episode Stephen King anthology outiook is simply grim for the genre. none of it genre entries. series airs Wednesdays, 9 p.m. on TNT NBC, which had previously renewed beginning 7/12. See FANGORIA #254. Medium, has finally, officially drowned BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Surface. Medium, however, will now be a mid- Airs Fridays on SCI FI. Renewed for a third PSYCH season show, to begin in January and air 20-episode season, now shooting. It'll New series airs Fridays, 10 p.m. on USA, Sundays, 10 p.m. through May without rerun debut in October. Dynamite Entertainment's debuting 7/7. It's a drama reversing the interruptions. NBC is adding one new genre comic book bows this month. Battlestar Dead Zone/Missing/Medium set-up (he's a entry. Heroes—a superheroes-in-civvies show Galactica #1 will be available with four dif- fake psychic, all the better to solve crimes). —on Mondays, 9 p.m. Created and executive ferent covers. Nicki Clyne discusses her role produced by Tim (Crossing Jordan) Kring, it on page 30. STARGATE: ATLANTIS stars Ali Larter, Milo Ventimiglia, Hayden Renewed for a third season, which pre- Panettiere, Greg Grunberg, Adrian Pasdar and BLADE mieres 7/14, airing Fridays, 10 p.m. on others. NBC also has a mid-season show with New 13-episode TV series spin-off from the SCI FI. a genre angle: Raines (Sundays, 9 p.m.). Jeff movie trilogy. The two-hour pilot pre- Goldblum plays a detective who can talk to the mieres 6/28 on Spike TV, with the series STARGATE SG-1 dead (either in his head or for "real"), all the beginning 7/5 (airing Wednesdays, 10 p.m.). Renewed for a 10th season, which premieres better to solve crimes. Star Trek: Enterprise's Kirk Jones, the new Blade, chats about TV 7/14, airing Fridays, 9 p.m. on SCIH. Linda Park co-stars. heroics on page 22. Richard Dean Anderson will return to guest ABC, alas, chose to conclude Invasion star in the 200th episode (airing 8/18). while finally, officially continuing Lost. ABC THE DEAD ZONE had already ended Night Stalker and Alias. Fifth season airs on USA, Sundays, 10 p.m. SURFACE The network ordered one genre show: Day 7/2: "Panic." 7/9: "Articles of Faith." Kris- Cancelled by NBC. The Complete Series Break (which will replace Lost for a limited ten Dalton guests. 7/16: "The Inside Man." DVD will be out 8/15. Otherwise, show's run at mid-season, Wednesdays, 9 p.m.). Taye Sean Patrick Flanery guests. 7/23: "Lotto over. Nothing to see here. Move along. Diggs plays a detective who (holy Groundhog Fever." 7/30: "Symmetry."

Day) is caught in a time loop, all the better to solve crimes. Firefly's Adam Baldwin and EUREKA Mutant X's Victoria Pratt co-star. New series premieres on SCI FI 7/18, airing CBS had already renewed Ghost Whis- Tuesdays, 9 p.m. Andrew Cosby & Jaime perer (same time slot, Fridays, 8 p.m.) and Paglia preview the show on page 26.

(unwisely) cancelled Threshold. It has added one genre program, Jericho (not to be con- THE 4400 fused with the same-titled British detective Airs Sundays, 9 p.m. on USA. 7/2: "Gone, show seen in the U.S.A. on PBS' Mystery). It's Part II." 7/9: "Graduation Day." 7/16: a post-apocalyptic drama focusing on—as "The Home Front." almost all such narratives do—how survivors in a Kansas town cope with future realities HEX after a nuclear blast. Jericho will air Wed- series ai nesdays, 8 p.m. Significanfly, CBS did not Bp.m. on BBC America beginning in June. transform its Ultra superhero pilot into a series. INVASION Fox didn't add any new genre titles. But Cancelled by ABC. The Complete Series props to Fox for previously renewing its DVD will be out 8/22. Otherwise, show's Sunday night slate of animated fare: King of over. Nothing to see here. Move along. the Hill (a mid-season returnee). The Simpsons (for two years), American Dad (which gets a LIFE ON MARS new time slot, 8:30 p.m.) and Family Guy. British SF series airing Mondays, 10 p.m. on As for the WB and UPN, they're gone, BBC America beginning 7/24. It focuses In Life on Mars, John Simm plays a combining into the CW, a new network debut- on a cop from the future stuck in the present, detective from the future coping with ing this fall with shows from both of its ances- using tomorrow's techniques to solve today's present-day criminals. tors. Charmed died in this merger, but the CW crimes. has renewed both ex-WB Thursday night stal- WHO WANTS TO BE A warts Smallville (8 p.m.) and Supernatural LOST SUPERHERO? (9 p.m.)—and kept them in those same time Airs Wednesdays on ABC. Renewed for a Six-episode reality show bows 7/27, airing slots. The CW did not pick up Aquaman as a third season, to be aired in two parts: at Thursdays, 9 p.m. on SCI FI. Stan Lee will

series (though it might get a mid-season nod) least seven new episodes in a row this fall, and be one of the competition's judges. The win- or for that matter Ultra (the pilot forwarded to then the rest next year (with no repeats sched- ner gets to be in a comic book by Lee and oth-

it by CBS) or Invasion (discarded by ABC, uled to interrupt these all-new runs). Michael ers—focusing on their heroic alter-ego—as rumored as a possible CW refugee). Emerson (who plays Henry Gale) will be a well as involvement in a SCI FI movie. The CW will be seen on either former WB series regular. The seven-disc second season Note: Airdates can shift wittiout notice. or UPN affiliates (depending on local market DVD (with eight hours of extras!) will now be Airtimes are EST. Series are only iisted for which conditions). Those stations that didn't get the out 9/5. STARLOG has new info.

8 STARLOG/August 2006 www.starlog.com iluvd o'^s.iimiij Cxificj jarjc doiic

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Join Bruce Campbell and Producer Carlton Cuse ("Lost") as you go behind the scenes to learn EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about Brisco. 1

UPDATES Fawcett/DC comics hero Captain Marvel. Director Chris Weitz left the movie ver- Segal and Michael Ewing will produce for sion of Philip Pullman's The Golden New Line Cinema. Compass (which Weitz scripted) due to his Howard Chaykin's Malibu Comics series concerns about dealing with the inevitable Power & Glory has been acquired by New CGI. Anand Tucker replaced him. Now, Line Cinema. Damian Shannon and Mark Tucker has exited and Weitz has returned as Swift are adapting the property for producers director. Shooting begins this fall. By DAVID MCDONNELL Chris Bender and J.C. Spink. Production on Ripley 's Believe It or Not, In the real comics scene. Dynamite the action-adventure starring Jim Carrey as Entertainment is introducing a Highlander directed by Tim Burton, has been delayed for comic with issue #0 out this month. The cre- a year (script rewrites and budget concerns). Brothers & Sisters (ABC, Sundays, 10 p.m.). ative team is Brandon Jerwa, Mike Oeming Instead, Burton will helm the movie version James (Contact) Woods plays a sleazy and Lee Moderi. of Stephen Sondheim's Grand Guignol clas- defense attorney who becomes a prosecutor sic Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd. John in Shark (CBS, Thursdays, 10 p.m.). Star THE REMAKE CAME (The Time Machine) Logan is scripting. Yes, Trek: Voyager's Jeri Ryan is his D.A. boss. Knight Rider is driving toward the screen Johnny Depp may hold his razor high as that Ray (No Escape) Liotta is a thief named (again) with the Weinstein Company murderous barber Sweeney. Smith and Dune's Virginia Madsen, his now in the passenger seat. Series creator Mike (King of the Hill) Judge's live- Glenn A. Larson—who sold them the movie action SF comedy—shot for but not yet rights—will write and produce. David Price released by 20th Century Fox—has a title is co-producing. now. It's Idiocracy. Is this trip really necessary? Sean Bean is Frank Coraci's next movie—mentioned The Hitcher in the remake being helmed by in the interview on page 42—is Hawaiian music video director Dave Meyers. A word Dick. It's not an original property, but actual- of advice to co-star Sophie (One Tree Hill) ly based on the Image comic book by B. Bush: avoid trucks. Clay Moore & Steven Griffm. Warner Bros, will play home to the new Although Disney has dropped the ani- Kung Fu movie, scripted by Howard Fried- mated Gnomeo & Juliet, Miramax has lander and series creator Ed Spielman. picked up the project, keeping it alive. This That new, contemporary version of Jules is the one with songs by Elton John and Tim Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth Rice. Kate Winslet will voice Juliet. will be entitled simply Journey 3-D. Lensing is now underway in Montreal under director SEQUELS Eric Brevig. Brendan Eraser and Josh Want to know what Bujfy the Vampire (Zathura) Hutcherson are making the jour- Slayer creator Joss Whedon believes ney as father and son. would have happened in a never-made eighth Travis Beacham is the latest writer on the season of the fan favorite show? Pick up the Clash of the Titans remake, being made by six-issue comics mini-series from Dark Basil Iwanyk, his Thunder Road Productions Horse, which begins in October. Whedon's and Warner Bros. writing it—and will reveal what might have Mark (Spawn) Dippe will direct a live- been. action version of the Japanese anime Wicked TNT is producing the inevitable sequel to City. Dippe and Johnny Hartmann are doing that hit TV movie. This time it'll be The the screenplay, with production targeted for

Librarian: Return to King Solomon 's Mines. next year. Bill Gallagher (of the British TV show SCI-FI PEOPLE Unknown) is writing six episodes of a new The upcoming TV season will offer a host version of The Prisoner for the British satel- of genre veterans in non-SF shows. John lite channel Sky One. (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai) Lith- gow and Jeffrey (Hellboy) Tambor are an GENRE TV Odd Couple-like pair of friends who believe The SCI FI Channel liked The Dresden they have 20 Good Years left in the NBC sit- Files pilot so the network has ordered 1 com (Wednesdays, 8 p.m.). 30 Rock, the more episodes. They'll be shot in Toronto.

NBC sitcom that will follow it at 8:30 p.m., The series premieres in January. focuses on the behind-the-scenes antics of a unsuspecting wife (CBS, Tuesdays, 10 SCI FI is developing two more mini- Saturday Night Live-like show. The Shad- p.m.). series. Star Trek veteran John Whelpley is ow's Alec Baldwin co-stars. Aaron Stanford (X-Men's Pyro) is in scripting a six-hour dramatization of Erich Meanwhile on Fox, Earth 2's Rebecca ABC's Traveler, a mid-season drama about von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods, execu- Gayheart is a journalist reporting on the case accused terrorists. Kelly (X2) Hu co-stars in tive-produced by Irwin Winkler. Then, of a Vanished Senator's wife (Mondays, 9 another ABC mid-season show, the sitcom In there's the eight-hour, tentatively titled p.m.). Firefly's Gina Torres plays the boss to Case of Emergency. The Matrix's Joe Panto- Motel Man, which SCI FI describes as "The a pair of romantically entangled crisis nego- liano reigns as Mayor of Waterfront, a CBS Fugitive meets The Twilight Zone" and con-

tiators in Standoff (Tuesday s, 8 p.m. on Fox, mid-season entry. For the new genre shows, cerns a motel key that unlocks a room filled moving to Mondays, 8 p.m. in January). see Sci-Fi TV on page 8. with powerful items. Choose (and use them) Star Trek: Enterprise's John Billingsley wisely! Christopher Leone, Laura Harkcom

and Chi (/, Robot) McBride are two of The COMICS SCENE and Paul Workman are scripting. Nine, freed bank hostages coping with the Peter (Nutty Professor IT) Segal has said Among the 28 TV creature features in the event's aftermath on ABC (Wednesdays, 10 the magic word Shazam! and thus he'll works for SCI FI's Saturday night slot are p.m.). Alias baddie Ron Rifkin is one of the direct the long-planned movie version of the Lake Placid II (a sequel to the theatrical film,

10 STARLOG/August 2006 www.starIog.com with a new killer croc), Supergator (Roger a.m.), yet another Scooby-Doo revival. Shag- Corman unleashes a giant alligator), Cyclops gy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue (10 a.m.), (also from Corman; Rome's Emperor cap- and, most interestingly. Legion of Super- tures a renegade cyclops to fight in gladia- heroes (11 a.m.), based on the beloved DC The masterful toral games), Stan Lee's Harpies (the comic. mythical female furies rampage). Screech The next cartoon feature from Vanguard Saga of the Seven (bird flu vs. us), Yeti: Curse of the Snow Animation (the folks who created Valiant) W Demon {Alive with an Abominable Snow- will be Space Chimps. John Williams is once man), Monster Ark (Noah's Ark, now found, again producing. Norton Virgien and Dono- continues... hosts a monstrous beast) and Beyond Sher- van Cole are co-directing. Fox has picked up wood Forest (Robin Hood and his Merry the project for release in 2008. Men hunt a creature in the Dark Forest). BROADWAY RHYTHM CHARACTER CASTINGS Jekyll and Hyde is moving from stage to Vince Vaughn is Santa's ne'er-do-well screen. The Broadway musical ran from brother Joe Clans in the family fantasy 1996-2000, garnering its own cult-like set of comedy scripted by Dan Fogleman and fans. The film based on Robert Louis Steven- directed by David Dobkin. The cast includes son's classic tale will preserve Frank Wild- Kevin Spacey (as the bad guy). Dame Judi horn's music and the book by Leslie Dench, John Michael Higgins (the Head Elf) Bricusse (who'll do the screenplay). and Paul Giamatti. Speaking of Jelcyll and Hyde, Jerry Lewis Hugh Jackman is replacing Russell will direct a stage musical version of his Crowe (who exited the project) in director 1963 variation on that property. The Nutty Baz Luhrmann's untitled Australian Western Professor. Michael Andrew will star. The set during WWII. Nicole Kidman (who did Nutty musical will debut in San Diego next

Moulin Rouge with Luhrmann) co-stars. January and may make it to Broadway by fall Karl (Doom) Urban goes Western as the 2008. young Woodrow Call in the CBS TV version Lestat didn't last long on Broadway, bit- of Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon, the ing the dust after two months and fulfilling prequel to Lonesome Dove. Tommy Lee the stage curse (i.e. vampire musicals suck Jones had the role in the classic TV mini- and die soon—as previously demonstrated series. with Dracula and Dance of the Vampires). ffiiiiim Amy Adams will also star in Underdog as Finding Nemo: The Musical is swimming that pure-hearted Polly Purebred. toward an opening. It'll run as an attraction Teri Hatcher will voice the mother of at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom. The extermination of our planet is at Coraline (Dakota Fanning) in that Neil The music is by Bobby (Avenue Q) Lopez Gaiman adaptation. and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez. bond. Now disparote factions of humanity

Bujfy's Nicholas Brendon and Charisma must plan for their own salvation. But Carpenter join Christopher (Odyssey 5) FANTASY FILMS when the final attack begins, will onyone Gorham in Relative Chaos, a TV movie for unlikely as it seems, the late L. As help the people of Eorth? the ABC Family Channel. Sprague de Camp (a master of SF & fan- Vinnie Jones—now on screen as the Jug- tasy and a STARLOG friend and contributor) gernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand—is star- is teaming, sort of, with Lindsay Lohan. She ffa series: ring in 7-JO Split, a bowling comedy with and Adrien Brody will star in Speechless, Vincent Pastore and Tara Reid. based on an old de Camp story. Independence Day's Dean Devlin will SF CINEMA make his directorial debut with Ghosting. It's "\Stellai'...(lelivprsa(ii()n, Universal Pictures is moving ahead with a a law enforcement drama about detectives movie adaptation of Alfred Bester's clas- killing themselves—albeit briefly, like Flat- enpffing(]liiiriii:lors.fiii(l(T()ilil)le sic SF novel The Stars My Destination. Pro- liners—to track down criminals. ducers Lorenzo (Doom) di Bonaventura and Speaking of Death Defying Acts, that's fanlastk'w Drills in spiidcs."

Raymond Wagner are developing it now. the name of the latest movie bio of magical —Publishers l^eeWy (starred review) Simon Hunter will direct the film version legend Harry Houdini. This one is set in of the Mutant Chronicles video game, 1926 and involves Houdini (The Time which finally lenses this summer for Ed Machine's Guy Pearce) with a pyschic

Pressman Productions. Ron Perlman, (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Gillian Armstrong is 1{ip-roariiig...fiillofiflpterj; Thomas Jane, Stephen Rea and John directing. Malkovich star. adventiimanilsiispensii'

Michael Gordon—one of the scripters of GROUP NEWS —Science Fiction Cinonicle 300, based on Frank Miller's graphic STARLOG GROUP veteran Danny Fields novel—will adapt the horror video game (Editor of two of our magazines from the Siren as a film. Ghost House Pictures' Sam 1980s, COUNTRY RHYTHMS and HARD

Raimi & Rob Tapert, STARLOG faves, are ROCK VIDEO) is writing his memoirs. It'll producing. chronicle his days as a music journalist and friendships with folks like Andy Warhol and ANIMATION SCENE Linda McCartney. Kids' WB will continue on Saturday morn- Marc Shapiro has sold his script Do Not ings as part of the new CW network. Disturb, a slasher flick set in a bathroom. Among the new animated shows beginning The short movie starts shooting in England this September are Tom & Jerry Tales (8 next month. HORRORS! While we're on the subject of non-SF that As the new Omen haunts theaters, the 1976 nevertheless rates a quick Videolog plug, fans of oldie, expectedly, gets dusted off for a the Master of Suspense (i.e. Alfred Hitchcock) fresh DVDebut as a Collector's Edition. One will want to know that his Saboteur {1942) with of the great 1970s horror flicks, the Gregory Robert Cummings, Frenzy (1972) with Jon Peck-Lee Remick-starring chiller is a Fox Finch and The Trouble With Harry (1955) and Home Entertainment 30th anniversary two- Topaz (1969)—both with John Forsythe—are discer with more than six (...six. ..six!) hours being rereleased by Universal. And devotees of of bonus materials, starting with director England's Hammer Films will be happy to learn Richard Donner-editor Stuart Baird audio that VCI is unleashing six of the company's film commentary and, on camera, David Seltzer noirs from the early 1950s, before Hammer got talking about writing the script, Harvey By TOM WEAVER into the Gothic boobs-and-blood business. The Stephens (Damien) on playing the son of stand-out title might be Bad Blonde—Ham- Satan, the late Jerry Goldsmith commenting on his Os-^care-win- mer's low-rent takeoff on The Postman Always Rings Twice—with ning score, deleted scenes with Donner commentary and several the 1950s' ultimate bad girl, Barbara Payton; that shares a double- featurettes. We even get Peck's script with his original notes. And blonde-dynamite $14.99 double-bill with the Diana Dors-starring all for $26.98? The Devil, you say! Man Bait. The other two $14.99 twin-packs are A Stolen Face with Anchor Bay continues to dish out the Masters of Horror, and Paul Henreid and Lizabeth Scott and Blackout with Dane Clark, first up in the new batch is director-co-writer John Landis' "Deer and The Gambler and the Lady with Clark and Heat Wave with Woman," an erotic horror comedy with burned-out cop Brian Ben- Alex Nicol. Make a killing yourself by getting all six in the $29.99

ben on the trail of a killer who may not be quite human. Lucky The Hammer Film Noir Collector's Set. McKee co-scripted and directed "Sick Girl" with entomologist Angela Bettis, mysterious Erin Brown and a giant bug comprising an unusual menage a trois. And Joe Dante brings up the rear with DVD DATEBOOK the critically acclaimed "Homecoming," in which American sol- Here are the DVD premiere dates for selected films, TV series diers killed in the War on Terror rise from the dead and start a dif- collections and special editions. Check this Videolog (as well ferent sort of war on terror of their own back on their native soil. as past columns) for details. All are $16.98 each. Streeting 7/18: The Adventures ofBrisco County Jk: The Com- In the totalitarian Britain of tomorrow, mild-mannered Evey plete Series, The Incredible Hulk: The Complete First Season.

(Natalie Portman) is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a 7/25: Pinky & the Brain: Volume One. masked man (Hugo Weaving) known as "V" who is charismatic, 8/8: Ultimate Avengers 2. skilled in the art of combat and determined to inspire his fellow cit- izens to rise up against tyranny. Vfor Vendetta gets the Special Edi- tion treatment from Warner Home Video ($34.98), with V for TV ON DVD Valuable bonus material like a "Making of and the featurettes Look! Up in the sky! Just when you thought that the excitement "Designing the Near Future," "Remember, Remember: Guy over Superman Returns has cued the DVD release of every Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot" and "England Prevails: V for available Superman-Klated title, another avalanche comes raining Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics." down. Part of the DC Comics Classic Collection line, the animated "There's one in every family" was the tagline for Disney's 2002 Justice League: Season Two finds Supe, Batman, Wonder Woman,

animated hit Lilo & Stitch, but that declaration wasn 't entirely true. Green Lantern, the Flash, Hawkgirl and the Martian Manhunter In the direct-to-DVD Disney release Leroy & Stitch ($26.99), Lilo, taking on all comers in a four-disc box set ($44.98), some of its 26

Stitch and Stitch's 625 (!) cloned relatives must face off against episodes including creator commentary. This being a Warner evil twin Experiment 627, a.k.a. Leroy (and his clones). Bonus Home Video release, it comes with a pass to see Superman materials include a never-before-seen Lilo & Stitch TV episode Returns. As does Warners' Krypto the Superdog: Volume One: Cos- and a flight simulator game. mic Canine ($14.98), five animated TV episodes featuring the superhero dog and his pals. Woof! Superman: The Animated Series: Volume Three (Warner,

$26.98) is two discs, 1 8 episodes of additional animated action in which Krypton's Last Son protects his adoptive home of Earth. This one also sports some super bonus features: creator commen- tracks on select episodes, a deleted scene and the featurette "Super- man: Behind the Cape" with David (voice of Jimmy Olsen) Kaufman explaining how the show came together. Great Caesar's ghost, there's morel Yes, including Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman (Warner, $14.99), a new two-hour Kevin Burns documentary that traces the Man of Steel's history from comic books to cartoons to TV to movies—and incor- porates Superman Returns footage. Don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry. Oh no! Leroy & Stitch, the latest DVD sequel, sends In the He, needless to say, is The Incredible Hulk, and The Complete First clones—multiple Leroys! Season of the Bill Bixby-Lou Ferrigno series is en route from Uni- versal as a four-disc set ($39.98) and includes added-value materi- NON-HORRORS! al like a Ferrigno introduction and a commentrack by producer From the Golden Age of Television comes Studio One: The Kenneth Johnson. Defenders (Video Service, $19.95), a live, two-part drama In Japanese TV news, the 2005 series Tactics finds the humans about a father-and-son legal team, and the basis for a later TV of that country attempting to adapt to a brave new world—as must

series. Why mention it in Videolog, you ask? Because the son half its population of demons and goblins, both sides suspicious of the of the team is played—decades before Boston Legal—by William other. (Can't we all just get along??) Anthropologist Kantaro inves- Shatner; and the accused murderer they're representing is a young tigates these strange occurrences, and moonlights as an exorcist- Steve McQueen, giving a performance that was seen on TV by the for-hire, in the five-episode Tactics: Volume One (Manga producer of The Blob and led to McQueen's casting in that picture! Entertainment, $24.98).

12 STARLOG/AMgKjf 2006 . .

Also from the Land of the Rising Sun came the 39-episode Uliraman, the 1960s TV series which is now headed for DVD starting with a three-disc, 20-episode BCI set ($39.98). Among the special features are the original Japanese audio track (with English 1^Scott subtitles) and talking-head reminiscences from English dub team members like "the late Earl Hammond." Honey, don't let the kids see this! In the labs, a genetically his Lynch's Acme engineered mouse genius and insane cohort make nightly attempts to take over the world in Pinky & the Brain: Volume One (Warner Home mesmerizing fantasy Video, $44.98), the crackpot animated series that's now a four-disc box set. Fans who feel the need for more can increase their Pinky fix by supplementing their purchase with Ani- maniacs: Volume One, the Steven Spielberg-produced series with an ensemble cast of off- debut has your favorite the-wall Warner Bros, cartoon characters—including our two rodent pals. Animaniacs is a five-disc box set ($44.98) from Warner Home Video—naturally. authors raving. A bonanza is coming for Bruce Campbell fans, starting with Warner Home Video's The Adventures of Brisco County Jr: The Complete Series. Bruce is Brisco, the Harvard law graduate turned bounty hunter who rides the way, way, way-out West seeking the bad- men who killed his father. It's a whopping eight discs, priced at a whopping $99.98, but on the bonus front, the Westem-SF-comedy-action cult hit comes with the doc "The His- tory of Brisco County," Campbell-narrated mini-featurettes, a roundtable discussion with the writers and producers, etc. More Bruce—and more anachronisms—are found in Jack of All Trades: The Complete Series (Universal, three discs, $39.98), an equally cracked 19th-century action-comedy in which Campbell's Jack Stiles is an American spy on a Caribbean island, working to thwart the world-conquest-obsessed, height-challenged Napoleon Bonaparte (Verne Troyer).

OUR INNER CHILD The bears are back in the new animated adventure Brother Bear 2 (Walt Disney Home 71- Lies Entertainment, $29.99), which features returning characters (voiced by Patrick Dempsey, Jeremy Suarez, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) and introduces several new XOCKE ones (Mandy Moore, Wanda Sykes, Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara), and features two songs written and performed by Melissa Etheridge. For more hairy hilarity, Disney's The Shaggy Dog (same price)—the recent remake of ,AMORA the old Fred MacMurray staiTer—finds workaholic trial lawyer (and sometimes distant LYNCH dad) Tim Allen morphing into the body of the family's new pet bearded collie, and strug- SCOTT gling to adjust to a whole new way of looking (up) at the world. Bone-us features include deleted scenes, bloopers and a special "Bark Along" program that plays different dog- themed cuts from the film, with an audio track of barking dogs. Woof! There's more family fun to be found in Nanny McPhee (Universal, $29.98), based on the "Nurse Matilda" children's books of the 1960s. Emma Thompson wrote the screen- "A fresh, original, play and stars as the Scary Poppins-type governess, with hairy warts, buckteeth and the magical ability to rein in the behavior of the bratty children of a recent widower (Colin and engrossing tale by a Firth), Thompson and a producer are on one commentrack, the director and the kids on the bright new voice." other; additional bonus material includes "Nanny McPhee Makeover," "How Nanny McPhee Came to Be," deleted scenes and a gag reel. —George R. R. Martin

"High octane fantasy. DVDS IN BRIEF This Island Earth (Universal, $10.98): One of the 1950s' most colorful SF extravagan- A great, swashbuckling zas stars Rex Reason and Faith Domergue as Earth scientists kidnapped by aliens who yarn of a novel." need their help in a war between the planets. Good news: It's finally on DVD after a long wait. Bad news extras-wise: This Island dearthl — Richard Morgan Night Watch {Nochnoi Dozor) (Fox Home Entertainment, $27.98): The forces of good and evil engage in the "ultimate battle." (By our count, this is Ultimate Battle #3,367.) A "Tough, funny and inventive. big hit in its native Russia, its DVD incarnation pairs the original Russkie version with an English-dubbed one, and tosses in commentaries by the writer-director and novelist (sub- You iv;//be entertained." titled, of course!). Scorpius Gigantus (Buena Vista Home Entertainment, $29.99): Scientists' work with -Kate Elliott scorpion genetics is interrupted when the military usurps the project, and (press release) "something goes horribly wrong." Now "Wickedly enjoyable . . look at the title and just try to figure out

what. Jeff Fahey stars in this Roger Cor- outrageously ingenious . . man production. dark, complex Curse of the Swamp Creature (Elite, $9.98): Larry Buchanan grew up wanting and utterly compelling." to make movies in the worst way. In the —Sarah Ash 1960s, he began doing just that. This zero-budgeted Texas-lensed stinker, a semi-remake of AIP's Voodoo Woman, stars John Agar as a geologist who dis- Wherever books ore sold covers a mad scientist working in swamp Visit www.bantoiiidell.com to sign up for Spectro Pulse, our free monrhly el^ewsletter. country. Woof! The Patron Saint of Plagues by Barth Anderson (Bantam, tpb, 384 pp, $13) In a future where post-insurrection Mexi- Harald by David D. Friedman (Baen, he, Living Next Door to the God of Love by co dominates the Western Hemisphere, 304 pp, $24) Justina Robson (Bantam, tpb, 464 pp, Henry Stark, a virus hunter for the American Friedman is a longtime member of the $13) Center for Disease Control, is investigating

Society for Creative Anachronism, and it Easily eligible for the Most Intriguing the outbreak of a deadly contagion. shows in his first novel—a medieval adven- Book Title award, Living deals with Francine, The outbreak is somehow linked to the ture set in one of those pseudo-Middie Ages the very model of an angst-ridden teen. So pirate broadcasts of Sister Domenica, an worlds that regularly crop up in the genre. angst-ridden, in fact, that one day she drops insurgent nun, but Stark soon realizes that the

But, like HaiTy Turtledove and other experts out of school, removes the identity chip that disease is much more than a serious epidem- in the field, Friedman combines his knowl- links her to the contemporary electronic ic: It has every sign of being man-made and edge with a definite talent for storytelling. world and sneaks off to take up residence in deliberately released. Complicating matters.

The young King of Kaerlia is facing cer- the sub-world of "Sankhara." Stark believes he knows the identity of the tain war with the Empire to the south. King There, she encounters worlds within person responsible.

James' only hope is in forging an ancient worlds, mysterious palaces, unusual charac- Much more than a conventional techno- alliance with his neighbors. ters and—most surprising of thriller. The Patron Saint ofPlagues is a time- But, unschooled in diploma- all—a boy friend. On the neg- ly tale. Anderson possesses an enviable talent cy, James has alienated the ative side, there are also for building tension, and as Stark moves leaders of his hoped-for al- vicious aliens, werewolves, through the labyrinthine plot, the reader can lies —including Harald, the gryphons and other obstacles almost feel the epidemic closing in from all simply-dressed yet cunning placed in the path of True around. general of a much-needed Love. —Michael Wolff race of warriors. Harald Reading this novel is like might fight, but the road to entering the lyrical wonder- Elemental: The Tsunami ReliefAntholo- commitment is going to be land of a Hayao Miyazaki gy: Stories of Science Fiction and Fanta- rocky. film; it's Lewis Carroll sy edited by Steven Savile & Alethea Hardly a wizard or magic caught up in post-cyberpunk Kontis (Tor, tpb, 384 pp, $13.95) implement is to be found in SF. But Robson doesn't over- The profits from this publication go to this book. Instead, the reader whelm the reader with the the 2004 tsunami victims' relief fund. But is treated to a cracking good formulas of the genre; that isn't the only good reason to buy this adventure story filled with instead, she tells a simple book: Elemental is a superb thematic characters whose voices im- romance that happens to be anthology. Each reader will have their mediately appear in the mind, and whose dressed up in SF conventions. The basic favorite story among the 23 included, and forms dance before the imagination's eye. ingredient of Living is charm, and that makes none feel like the bottom-of-the-drawer —Michael Wolff for a welcome reading experience. rejects that are sometimes contributed to —Michael Wolff such compilations. Engaging the Enemy by Eli/abeth Of special interest is Brian Herbert & I Moon (Del Rey, he, 416 pp, $25.95) Warrener's Beastie: A Novel of the Deep Kevin Anderson's "Sea Child," because The third volume in the Vatta's War by William R. Trotter (Carroll & Graf, it's the long-awaited start of the Dune series has Kylara Vatta continuing her tpb, 704 pp, $17.95) sequels and not another cheesy prequel. efforts to avenge her family's deaths and Two things have dominated Allen War- "Sea Child" augers well for the future of rebuild their company. Now in possession rener's life: his drive to live up to his fam- that series. Also memorable are the contri- of a warship to accompany ily's heroic military legacy butions by Larry Niven and Joe Haldeman, her original trading vessel, and haunting Vardinoy in who are both in top form. Elemental is not she practically has to con- the Faroe Islands, home to a only highly recommended, but highly struct a trading outfit from legendary sea monster. Now commendable as well. scratch, as well as locate a a middle-aged history pro- —Jean-Marc Lofficier crew capable of handling a fessor, Allen leads his lover fighting craft. What's more, and an oddly assorted crew The Tourmaline by Paul Park (Tor, he, 352 the deeper Vatta probes into back to Vardinoy, where he pp, $24.95) the attack on her family, the will face the unimaginable In an alternate world where Roumania is a deeper she finds herself truth about the monster and world power, teenaged Miranda is an impor- moving within a grand con- himself. tant pawn in a power game played between spiracy—with her as the Like Charles Dickens, the mad Baroness Ceaucescu and the Elector main target. whom Warrener so often of Ratisbon. Separated from her friends Peter Moon isn't simply writ- invokes. Trotter gives read- and Andromeda by space and time, Miranda ing an epic space battle. As ers a novel full of real peo- remembers her heritage and moves toward

in C.J. Cherryh's Chanur ple, not just characters. creating a new future, but it is Peter and saga, the author involves the They have histories—usual- Andromeda who undergo the most startling terrifying changes. reader in the interesting nuts and bolts of : ly highly melodramatic ones—and Trotter and operating a commercial effort and the ins follows them from birth onward. The end- The Tourmaline should be absolutely

and outs of assembling a starship crew. It's i. ing is vivid and awe-inspiring—a fitting stunning. The characters, slightiy-out-of-

those touches that not only make the char- 1 conclusion to a tale that follows both the synch-with-our-world setting and twisting

its acters more believable, but place this !) physical and psychological journey of a plot show great imagination. Alas, like series above others in the genre. troubled soul. predecessor, A Princess of Roumania, it

—Michael Woljf -Penny Kenny doesn 't work. The story never comes to life; it \

14 STARLOG/AMgMif 2006 www.starlog.com — —

just lies there. This is another sad case of of the Isles—attending a ceremony which are called upon once again to save Oz.

what-might-have-been. will raise a young boy to the level of his However, only Dori is able to return to the —Penny Kenny father (the recently deceased king of the Emerald City. Em must stay at home and island). But a meteor crashes and disrupts the keep their feuding parents from discover- The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence: proceedings, and Garric is thrown some- ing their secret. Back in Oz, Dori travels to The Third Book of the Wraeththu Histo- where in time, while the ghost of the the Nome Kingdom to prevent a war. ries by Storm Constantine (Tor, he, 464 deceased king warns of a mysterious "Green Parents, teachers and anyone who pp, $27.95) Woman" whose sorcery is behind the attacks. knows children who enjoy reading should Darquiel is an exceptional har, differ- Garric's companions must use all of their be pressing copies of Trouble Under Oz

ent from any other. Raised in a backwater skills and resources to defeat the Green into their hands. They'll thank you for it.

by bars who fear who and what he is, Dar Woman and recover their prince. —Penny Kenny goes on a quest to discover the truth of his This is standard, readable fantasy from origins that puts him on a collision course Drake. Those who enjoy the Lord of the Isles The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kush- with his half-brother Loki. Their con- milieu—or who prefer the author's approach ner (Bantam Spectra, tpb, 400 pp, $14) frontation will change worlds. to the genre—will doubtless find this of enor- When Katherine's uncle the Mad Duke of Constantine has created an intricate mous interest. And Drake has wit enough to Tremontaine invites her to the city, she envi- society in this series, but anyone not write installments that stand on their own sions a season filled with glamorous gowns, already familiar with the Wraeththu will feet, giving readers the luxury of jumping glittering galas and a match that will make

be unable to appreciate or understand it. right into the action. her fortune. Instead, she's given a sword and The plot revolves around the complex ties —Michael Wolff set on a course to become a swordswoman of family, friends and enemies that have one who will be able to survive the many been established in previous volumes Trouble Under Oz by Sherwood Smith, intrigues of Riverside. and there's no easing into the story. Fans illustrated by William Stout (Harper- Both clever and dark, The Privilege of the will enjoy reading the play of old relation- Collins, tpb, 256 pp, $16.99) Sword reads like the love child of Alexandre ships and the forming of dazzling new No one can match L. Frank Baum's Dumas' The Three Musketeers and one of ones, but outsiders won't feel welcome. imaginative genius, but Smith comes Amanda Quick's historical romps. While

—Penny Kenny close. Trouble Under Oz features old Katherine is the heroine, all the characters favorites, delightfully odd new characters, even the walk-ons—have a vivid presence. The Fortress of Glass by David Drake some ethical dilemmas that Dorothy Gale The tangled web of relationships and intricate (Tor, he, 384 pp, $25.95) never troubled herself with and an engag- political maneuverings should both enthrall The new trilogy in the "Lord of the Isles" ing, fast-paced plot. and delight readers. series has Prince Garric—heir to the throne Dorothy's descendants, Dori and Em, —Penny Kenny

lNtasy Art With an Edge ! Doctor Who was a breakout hit, and you can see what he's up to next at www.christophereccleston This column showcases web- .com sites for SF, fantasy, comics & animation creators and their CHRIS CLAREMONT PAGE creations. Websites are Hsted for This comic book scribe has an free entirely at STARLOG's dis- Uncanny ability to spin out mar- cretion. Site operators may nom- velous tales on the four-color inate their sites for inclusion by page. Besides co-creating such sending relevant info via e-mail X-Men as Kitty Pryde, Rogue, only to Psylocke, Sabretooth, Mystique allan.dart @ starloggroup.com and Gambit, he has helped rein- vent and rejuvenate the Marvel ALFRED HITCHCOCK Universe. "Days of Future Past" SITE unfold at Good evening, ladies and gentle- www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea men. The extraordinary career of .cgi?Chris_Claremont

the Master of Suspense is the focus of this web page, where MONSTER HOUSE "Funeral March for a Mario- hard labor. Worthington III in the Marvel WEBSITE nette" plays all day. www2.warnerbros.com mutants' Last Stand. Take wing Sony's animated film puts a new www.hitchcock.tv /antbully at twist on the old haunted house www.ben-foster.org tale—this time, the house is the AARON STANFORD SITE STICKY FINGAZ WEB monster. And it's up to DJ, After massacring mutants in The PAGE JACK O'HALLORAN SITE Chowder and Jenny to save the Hills Have Eyes, Stanford teams "I'm not crazy, I just be havin' And then there was Non. This neighborhood from the demonic up with Magneto's mutant crazy thoughts." What's rapper- boxer-tumed-actor stepped into dwelling. Bring down the house Brotherhood in X-Men: The Last turned-actor Kirk "Sticky the ring with the Man of Steel at Stand. The Pyromaniac adds Fingaz" Jones gonna do when and the Eighth Wonder of the www.monsterhouse-movie fuel to the fire at vampires from the House of World! Find out more about the .com www.aaronstanford.coin Chthon take over his hometown? former Kryptonian criminal at /aaron/webresume.htm See the Blade: The Series star www.angelfire.com/ca6/ BRANDON SANDERSON Shut 'em Down at jackohalloran/mainmenu.html PAGE THE ANT BULLY WEB www.stickyfingaz.coni Sanderson is the young author of PAGE CHRISTOPHER several works of fiction, two of This summer it's crunch time BEN FOSTER WEBSITE ECCLESTON SITE which were purchased by Tor when bully target Lucas takes The X-Men are in Big Trouble, SF fans in need of a Doctor's Books. Elantris is now out in his frustrations out on an ant but fortunately they have an attention should rush to this paperback. Mistborn: The Final colony and gets shrunken down Angel on their shoulder. Alpha website honoring the ninth Time Empire hits bookstores in July. to their size and sentenced to Dog Foster flies high as Warren Lord. Eccleston's one season of www.brandonsanderson.com

CONVENTIONS Questions about cons? Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the con's address. Do NOT con- Russ, Garrett Wang, Connor Trinneer, Jolene tact STARLOG. Note: Listed guests may not appear and cons may be cancelled without notice, SEPTEMBER Blalock, Robert Foxworth, etc. Conventioneers: Send info (with phone number and e-mail address) no later than ihree months prior CREATION to the event Calendar, 1372 Broadway, 2nd Fir, NY, 10018-61 13 or e-mail to STARLOG Con NY September 8-10 [email protected] This is a free service. STARLOG makes no guarantees, due to space BUBONICON 38 Wyndham O'Hare 18-20 limitations, that your con will be listed. August Rosemont, IL Wyndham Airport Creation Albuquerque, NM See earlier address NMSF Conference JULY TOY & COMIC SHOW Guests: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, P.O. Box 37257 July 29-30 John de Lancie, Robert Picardo, Ethan SLAYERCON Albuquerque, NM 87176 Pittsburgh Expomart Monroeville Phillips, Connor Trinneer July 28-30 www.bubonicon.com Monroeville, PA Doubletree Hotel Tampa Airport Guests: Ben Bova, David Mattingly, Cathleen Orangestone Promodons, Inc Tampa, FL Cogswell, etc. CREATION Vulkon 456 Old Farm Lane September 8-10 RO. Box 297122 Johnstown, PA 15904 Doubletree Hotel (814)467-1500 STARCATE CON Pembroke Pines, FL 33029-7122 Sacramento, CA August 25-27 (954)441-8735 www.piltsburghtoyshow.com Creation Wyndham O'Hare www.vulkon.com See earlier address Rosemont, IL Guests: Amy Acker, Bianca Lawson, Vincent Guests: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, John AUGUST Creation Kartheiser, Mark Metcalf, Sarah Thompson, de Lancie, Armin Shimerman, Robert Duncan 40TH TREK CON See earlier address Brian Thompson McNeill, Dominic Keating August 17-20 GuesLs: Michael Shanks, Beau Bridges. Joe Las Vegas Hilton Hanigan, Jason Momoa, Gary Jones ELF: LORD OF THE RINGS Las Vegas, NV OCTOBER CON Creation CALACTICA CON VULKON July 28-30 See earlier address October 27-29 August 26-27 Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Guests: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Orlando North Hilton Burbank Alport Hilton & Towers Secaucus, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, George Takei, Altamonte Springs, FL NJ Burbank, CA Creation Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Grace Lee Vulkon Creation 1010 North Central, Suite 400 Whitney. Robert Justman. Mariette Hartley, Sec earlier address See earlier address Glendale, CA 91202 William Campbell, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Guests: Kate Mulgrew, Walter Koenig, Armin Guests: Tricia Heifer, Jamie Bamber, James (818)409-0960 Spincr, Michael Dom, Diana Muldaur, Armin Shimerman, Rene Auberjonoi.s, Denise Crosby, Callis, Aaron Douglas, Tahmoh Penikett, www.crealionenl.coni Shinicrman, Alexander Siddig, James Darren, Mark Verheiden Suzie Plakson, Andrew Probert Giie.sts: Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Marc Alaimo. Jeffrey CoTnb.s, Ethan Phillips, John Rhys-Davies Robert Picardo, Robert Duncan McNeill, Titn

16 STARLOG/August 2006 www.starlog.com 'IVingiiig their ivay

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set '" 5 Through c End is

ee), it's the latter "When you spell Rain-

bows End without an apostrophe, it's kind

of ominous. I wanted to capture this ambi- guity about the future. Possibilities exist that are literally better than anything we can imagine—and that in itself is scary." The future depicted in Rainbows

^ End is certainly frightening, but it's also hopeful, colorful, topsy-turvy and,

most of all, plausible. Set roughly 20 years from now, Vinge's prequel to his 2002 Hugo Award-winning short story "Fast Times at Fairmont High" explores a world troubled by many of today's ills—fears of terrorism, disease, government misrule—as well as some new issues wrought jflk \ by society's technological de-

W» \ pendence. Specifically, an In- ternet so augmented that every

man-made object is potentially a wireless hub, allowing video games to bleed out to the streets, and blurring the line

between what is and isn't real. Vinge's novel (which hit bookstores in May from Tor) examines these and other science fiction themes.

: What it doesn't deal with

if are vast galactic empires, impossibly distant futures or alien intelligence. That's unusual for Vinge, who landed a pair of Hugos for his two space-operatic sagas, A Fire Upon the Deep (1993) and A Deep- ness in the Sky (1999). Many of Vinge's fans anticipate his cosmic conflicts and in- scrutable aliens the

way .l.K. Rowling enthusiasts do wands and wizardry. But Vinge saw the virtual writing

he title of Vernor Vinge's latest novel on the screen, and just had to share. Rainbows End has a spectrum of "It was all the technological trends meanings. Besides referring to the around me," he explains, "and where they

story's unique retirement home, the title seemed to be headed in the near future. The

and its punctuation mark omission—doesn't particular trend I embraced was wearable suggest wealth and optimism, but something computing, and what happens when the net-

very different. The question is, was that error work that we have now extends out to where or intention at work? many objects know about themselves BV KEITH OLEXA According to Vinge (pronounced Vinge- know where they are and can communicate

Hugo-winning writer Vernor Vinge dazzles tlie mind witli a wild visit to an unforgettable future. 18 STARLOG/August 2006 "

with other nearby objects. Consider VINGE the impact that the Internet has had in VEBNOB the edg^^^.^^^^,^. literally on the last decade. This is a step up from that—and it could produce at least as much turmoil." Wearables—clothes that project cyberspace about the wearer—are at the heart of Vinge's story, but it's not his only future shock. Age-reversing treatments, flash-learning devices and voracious book-eating digitizers dazzle the mind. But dangerous advances abound as well, specifically a remote- controlled mind-control virus. "Rain-

bows End is not about a Utopia," notes Vinge. "All sorts of terrible disasters, from nuclear war to bird flu, could wipe away our happier predictions of the

future. I would certainly be tickled, though, if the good parts came out some-

thing like what I wrote." Past Forgetting Some might say the author—whose works also include the far-flung adventures The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime—is writing out of his depth, telling tales of computerization and current events instead of aliens and empires. Vinge viewP°'"'^.„ the omniscient a tale of a embraces the change. "Rainbows End is very different for me, as my last two novels were interstellar adventures set thousands of years

in the future. This is the near future down on might be his 1981 short story "True Names." "You can go too far; you can have a charac- Earth. Rainbows End was written low-level, This revolutionary tale presaged cyberspace ter who's so unlikable that you can't get past stylistically and with a lighter tone than my before William Gibson Neuromancer-ed his the first couple of chapters. That's too much, last two books." way into popular consciousness. but then there's Charles Dickens' A Christ- And Vinge grasps this new territory bet- "There were people who loved 'True mas Carol, and Ebenezer Scrooge. I also " ter then many might realize. A longtime Names,' says Vinge. "It's funny—I had one realized the stories that I like the most are computer science professor at San Diego friend who told me after the first time she ones where the characters change."

State University, Vinge's best-kept SF secret read it, 'That was a neat story, but it's kind of And change Gu does—right out of the off the wall.' She then read it several years gate, in fact. Thanks to new Alzheimer's dis- later and said, 'That was a great story, but ease treatments, Gu wakes from a decade- it's very conservative.' Time really changes long cognitive fog into a strange new world. things. But I would be thrilled if Rainbows Once a teacher, he must now take high End was anywhere as popular as 'True school classes in order to master the future's Names.' many intimidating technologies. Rainbows That could happen, since the novel elab- End challenges ideas about age, learning and orates on an award-winning tale, although intellect, starting with Gu's currently not as a follow-up. " 'Fast Times' was more untreatable malady.

like a lab exercise for writing Rainbows "Alzheimer's is one of those diseases " End," Vinge explains. 'Fast Times' is al- that affects almost all of us—at a first or sec- most a sequel to Rainbows End. I say ond degree eventually," comments Vinge.

'almost' because in the end I included "There are very poor prospects for curing changes that probably have made it impossi- it—Alzheimer's medicines exist right now, ble to fit the two together exactly. But there but not cures. So creating one affects people is a relationship, even unto recognizing close to home, and that's spectacular." some of the same characters." As a man literally waking into the future, One of those characters, septuagenarian Gu must discover things taken for granted by poet Robert Gu, steps out from "Fast Times" those around him, but this invites the reader

Four-time Hugo Award winner Vinge Is a to become heroic in Rainbows End—but not to learn, too. Vinge's Alzheimer's spin gives

matliematlcian and computer scientist, l-le initially. Bitter, selfish and cruel, Gu's a bas- credibility to a familiar SF conceit. "In the believes his written worl< has improved tard not even a son could love. Still, Vinge 1800s, science fiction would often explain over "the last 25 years." took a chance with the old curmudgeon. the future by having a protagonist wake up

RAINBOWSSTARLOG/August 2006 19 — —

THREE'TIME HUGO AWARD WINNER UERNOR UINCE from long hibernation," he points out. "The giant rabbit while Pokemon-sty\ed sprites scientist of the day would then go over all battle raptors around a 13th-century-styled the advances to him, at the same time mak- European town? ing it clear to the reader. But that's dull writ- "Technologically, it's one of the most ing. I don't want Rainbows End to be dull, important things that I see coming: cyber- but the same intent is there." I! I! i i n space leaking out into the real world," says

Helping Gu familiarize himself with the li>tlc)l>'i>tliiiipccl...1fte hind at luiFCRltM idnnturt Vinge. "You don't go to a terminal when you •"•"•'"'"-""(Ar:- -Sfj future—and suffering his selfish tirades—is want to participate in a multi-player game; his young granddaughter, Miri. Com- that's the reality you participate in every day. manding yet compassionate, Miri is the When you have wearables, and the network opposite of her granddad, but she refuses to is embedded into objects, you get a situation give up on him. "Miri is one of my arche- where multi-player games become part of the types," states Vinge. "I noticed similar char- outside world. So you don't go to theaters acters lurking around in several other stories. anymore to see movies; you watch them on

I don't claim to be like her, but I know peo- the street. It's a reaUty that you participate in ple like that^who as children were obses- in a real way. You just overlay what you're sive, prissy and always doing the right thing, seeing with what you want to see."

yet were also bossy and smart. I found her This works for groups, too. "People can easy to write. There are things you like about agree on a consensus wallpaper, and that can The Peace IVar earned the author a Hugo Miri, but she has her problems, too." be extended. If we decide to go to an SCA nomination while also introducing the The maturity Miri exhibits would awe meeting, you will agree that I'm Lord so- indomitable spheres known as Bobbles. most adults. In fact, many of the kids in and-so, and you'll be Rainbows End demonstrate an intellectual Duke this-and-that [and sophistication that seems impossible today the heavenly mine- we'll appear that way except to Vinge. "There are several instances field—the notion that to each other]." in the story where children seem to operate at if you 'pick' your fatal But you don't even the level of human genius, but one of my diseases correctly, have to agree. A person

points is they aren't," he explains. "Today's you come out looking in Rainbows End is children—despite all the bad things you can healthy. Of course, able to appear any- say about their environment—are in many you don't have the where they like, and as ways the reverse, intellectually. It's especial- authority to pick the anything they choose ly true if they're allowed to keep their con- right fatal diseases. other people, objects, nections with the Net." You take what nature even animals—and no has handed to you." one need know. This Future Possibility One of Vinge's notion is exemplified in While Rainbows End features graspable, technological specu- the Rabbit, a hacker almost conventional characters, their sur- lations turns the idea who assists one govern- roundings are wholly unique. It's a world of of The Matrix inside- ment agency in track- consensual VR hallucinations, political role- out: instead of enter- ing down a dangerous playing games and quasi-miracle medicine. ing a virtual world, viral weapon; he never Vinge has always embraced the wildest tech- people will generate appears as anything but nological conceits—like his indomitable sta- one about themselves, a large heuristic hare. It sis spheres, known as Bobbles, in Marooned like a computer game takes the idea of Marooned in Realtime centers in Realtime and The Peace War. And he's woven into reality. "Looks can be deceiv- on the Earth 50 million years from still up to his old tricks. Take his book-eating Who wouldn't enjoy ing" to a new level. But now, when there are digitizer, for example. having a latte with a who, or what, is the only 300 humans left alive. "I don't remember the moment when that Rabbit?

inspiration came," Vinge admits. "But it "There are clues that add up to an ab- emerged from the question, 'Considering the solute, inescapable conclusion as to Rabbit's painstaking process, how do you best digi- VERNOR VINGE true identity," promises Vinge. "I write care- tize books?' That led to figuring out biologi- fully, but the downside is that if I ever make cal genomes, because the way we do it is TAUA GRIMM'S a mistake, people are all over me because very destructive to the cell being catalogued. they think the error is deliberate. I often We tear up the cell, and use computing _ WORLD write all sorts of things that are a littie bit power to determine the ways the genes can wrong until, suddenly, you realize they're be recombined." absolutely right. And that's cool—until you Speaking of genes, Vinge also offers up actually do make a mistake!" the latest in health advances. "Robert illus- Why would anyone want to keep such a trates many medical possibilities," he low profile? It's because governments in

remarks. "When I tell people about Rain- Rainbows End use (and restrict) technology bows End, oftentimes the thing that intrigues with a stridency that's unknown today—or them most is that the hero is a recovering unknown so far. That subtle message rings Alzheimer's patient. There's this second of out over and over again in the novel, and silence, and then a sort of double take, amazingly Draconian monitoring programs

because it's not a concept we're used to, the abound. Technology has become so modular idea of curing Alzheimer's. and veiled that only the most ingenious peo-

"What I see in the next 20 years is the ple can build computers, or anything else, likelihood of some miraculous cures. But from scratch. This vexes Gu, but is clearly in they're liable to be scattered things. There Initially published as Grimm's World, Tatja essential a world where dangerous things won't be something created that will cure all Grimm's World reworks that debut novel can be so easily crafted.

cancers, because some can 't be cured. That's and two previous Vinge short stories. "Several years before Rainbows End

20 STARLOG/August 2006 — —

begins, those countries ment to do? Invent you would be quite fluent. that had a monopoly on mind control, of "But then there's the bad news," he adds. certain weapons started course. "I certainly "It's called a JITT stick. The symptoms are playing rough," says confess that I've akin to post-traumatic stress. You can learn Vinge. "The world as a returned to the same Chinese, and that's fine. But in the coming whole suffered some general ground," says years, you might get stuck in what you've

major violence—and in Vinge. "But if you've JITTed on. Then all you can speak is the U.S., much worse read A Deepness in Chinese, no matter what else you want to than 9/11. Now, there the Sky, there's a pas- do." are various factions. sage in there [that Many of Vinge's technologies seem high-

The Indo-European shows the difference]. ly plausible, but not all, or at least not as is. Union is one power The focus in Deepness "This is generally true in predictive SF; bloc, the U.S. is anoth- in the Sky was syn- some of the tech won't work the way that

er and China is a third. thetic Asperger's Syn- I've described it," he allows. "In the 1960s, And they don't fight. drome. This mind you can imagine a writer penning a story

It's sort of the reverse control isn't the same about 'The slide rule to end all slide rules.' of today. They're band- thing. It's also differ- Now, if we don't blow ourselves up, we'll ed together against ent from JITT—just- probably have the wearable interface and those individuals who in-time training." more in 20 years. Fortunately, my book Analog published Vinge's first could upset the apple story, "Bookworm, Run!", In 1965. Just-in-time train- shredder will not see the light of day." cart. Terrorism is too His second novel, The Witling, ing allows people to Vinge was born in 1944, and developed a small a word for it. I came out in 1975. flash-download data strong interest in science and writing at an call it 'grand terror' early age. "I started as a child," he says.

groups who want to blow up the world. "This is something people don't realize no- "So things are more peaceful, but that wadays—especially if you weren't a kid isn't necessarily good. It's kind of a soft when I was—but it was damn hard to find tyranny. These blocs want economies re- stories where the world was significantly

maining healthy and people staying happy, different at the end. I occasionally saw that

because the more people are satisfied with in films, but then it would turn out to be a

the justice of the situation, the more likely dream. That pissed me off Then I discov- they'll be willing to turn in those bad guys ered this genre called science fiction, where which means a smaller pool of those things could be different at the end. All my threats." life I wanted to be a scientist, but on the side

I would write. It turned out that I wasn't

Present Tense going to be a great scientist. I was good

Vinge taps into today's issues to fuel the enough to get my Ph.D and teach, but I was speculation in Rainbows End, but one event not going to win the Noble Prize. Writing " in particular got the ball rolling. 'Fast came more easily." Times' was being written right through [the That science knowledge invariably World Trade Center attacks on] 9/11, and helped Vinge—who was married for several like everybody else, that really affected me," years to SF author Joan D. Vinge—produce he says. "There's a truism about science fic- highly credible hard-SF stories. Vinge tion that I think is taken too far: That science admits that his writing has been slow in fiction isn't about the future, but the present. One of the first tales to deal with coming, but with his recent retirement, he Or it's a reflection of present attitudes. cyberspace, "True Names" later hopes to increase his output. However, he That's an extremely powerful truth, but it influenced the cyberpunk genre. understands that even slowly, the effort has doesn't take into not been for nothing. "I think my work has account that different into their minds. But gotten better over the last 25 years," says authors have different Includes the brand-new ground-breaking as with all things in Vinge. "But it's not a great thing, because personal realities. novella, Fast Times at Fclrmoni High Vinge's worlds, the degree to which your typical writer

"In this case, 9/11 there's a price to pay improves in a few years—well, for me it has had a big impact on for cutting cognitive taken 25, because I write so infrequently." me. Not just 9/11, but comers. "The idea is Vinge still has plenty of words to write, the prospects that something that I think and worlds to explore. But there's the press- we're still struggling everybody who has ing question regarding Rainbows End. In the with today. One of Iected ever been a student final chapter, Gu makes Earth-shattering those is, 'What does an has had," he notes. personal discoveries: The mind-control virus event like that do to "And that is, 'It's tak- isn't a done deal, and the Rabbit is still an human freedom within ing me years to study enigma. Only one conclusion can be drawn the U.S.?' And also, this crap. Wouldn't it from all this. Sequel? 'What happens when be great to swallow a "I came awfully close to screaming, " the worst weapons pill and learn it all?' 1 'Cliffhanger!' Vernor Vinge concurs with a those that can kill hun- don't understand how laugh. "I've really been thinking about this. dreds of millions of it works, but basically, In the last pages of Rainbows End, Robert people at once—be- from a standing start, makes some startling conclusions. Also, this come so cheap and you could learn story is very straightforward, and in certain accessible that anyone Chinese cold inside ways that's good, but [regarding some of the having a bad hair day six weeks, to the point technology], I've got a few seriously For the full spectrum of his strange take Cali- can out short fiction, there's no better where you might not things to dump out. So I would like to write " book fornia?' than Ttie Collected Stories of be mistaken for a a sequel, because I would be interested in What's a govern- Vernor Vinge. native speaker, but seeing what people think." www.starlog.com STARLOG/AwgMi/ 2006 21 "I think I could be the best Blade ever," says Kirk "Sticky" Jones, now TV's latest vampire slayet:..

STARLOG/4//^!;».s7 2006 list trying to keep up with Kirk "I mean, it's incredible, and there are a a different light, Jones is using this oppor- m

"Sticky" Jones would tire most bunch of things in that equation. First, tunity to develop his own take on the hero. I" people out. He's taking part in this you're talking about one of the only black "I would describe Blade as a guy who's ~^ telephone interview while they're superheroes. Then there's a powerhouse bent on revenge," the actor remarks. | setting up the next shot for an team behind us: Spike Television, New "He's so bent on revenge that he doesn't upcoming episode of Blade: The Series, Line Cinema and Marvel Comics, my even know it, and it occupies every wak- and hearing the energy in his rapid-fire favorite comic book publisher. And Blade ing moment of his life. Blade is kind of answers, it's easy to picture him pacing already has a cult following. Ultimately, like myself without the revenge part, in about the sets or down the streets of luck is when preparation meets opportu- the sense that the only time I'm not work-

Vancouver (where the show lenses), ready nity, and I've been preparing my whole ing is when I'm sleeping, and the only and eager to jump back into action as the life to be a superhero. I've spent 10 years time Blade isn't killing vampires is when infamous vampire hunter. in a gym to build up the physique of a he's sleeping. And he enjoys it as well. It's

In fact, it's difllcult to imagine him superhero. Then, to actually get the not like, 'Oh, this is my job. I gotta do it.' ever sitting still. The 32-year-old Jones opportunity to play one—it's incredible. He loves this job to the utmost." has already made a name for himself as And not only that, but 1 think I could be Still, comparisons between his Blade rap artist Sticky Fingaz, both as the front- the best Blade ever. Anything I do. I do to and Snipes' portrayal are inevitable. man of the group Onyx and as a solo artist the fullest." Jones has made a few himself. "First of believe that I've taken anything away; I've be fresh and new. Nobody wears old draw-

just added on to it. So it's what it was be- ers. You want to be clean and fresh; you've fore—^plus more." got to wear new drawers." What there is going to be less of, howev- er, is Blade's hairline, as Jones' scalp is com- Polishing Blade pletely bare. When the initial photos ap- The most daunting part of playing Blade

peared online, reactions ranged from simple hasn't been crafting the character's look; it outrage to explorations of clues within the has been looking like he can actually do all films to account for Blade's shift from the things that the superhuman vampire Snipes' sculpted stylings to Jones' smooth hunter is capable of. "I've got to be in pate. "The original Blade was bald!" Jones tremendous shape, period," Jones declares. argues. "If anything, they should be saying, "I go to the gym almost every day, and I've 'Oh my God, Wesley has hair! What are you got weights in my trailer as well, because

doing?!' sometimes I work 16-hour days and don't

"The first Blade for the public wasn't the have the time to make it to the gym. I would

movies—it was the comic books. And while be too burned out when I got home; I need to

"Spike is an edgy netwqrl<, so there are lots of things we can show that other channels can't," explains Jones. "Plus, we're killing vampires, not humans, so we get away with more."

be ready for anything they throw at me. The

other day, I had a fight scene, and I brought

my elbow up against a guy and hurt it. They were like, 'OK, let's bring in Alain,' my stunt

double. But I said, 'No, I'm good. I'll suck it

up, take the pain and just do it.'

the guy in the comics didn't "So I have to be physically exactly have a bald head, he had a and mentally tough, because if I ANV I SVLL VOi'-^Si/y YOUR STCRy. low Caesar [particularly in sever- get hurt, I need to keep going. ^^^.^WfNK I'/V\ SOMB KINPA /£f/

same as a shaved head! If I let my each day for the studios, camera hair grow for one week, that's LIKE THE rentals and the whole crew, and what the Blade in the comic had. just 'cause I get hurt doesn't mean People should do more research. ARE, so THAT they're going to stop filming. If

At first, it threw them off, but I /MEAMS anything, they'll put my double

think they're warming up to it in, and they're only going to be now. I'm on the Internet as well, able to use certain shots, because and I've read those comments, that double isn't me. I try to do as but I've also seen people who many fighting stunts as possible,

know [the comics] respond. In but when it comes to jumping out

this world, it's hard to adapt to of windows, I let the stunt guys do change, you know? thatV "It's all about reinventing By his own admission, Jones yourself as an artist, as a movie, doesn't have much of a back- as whatever. They've had a hun- ground in martial arts. Since the dred Supermans, a hundred movies have already shown Blade Batmam, but each time, they've displaying his mastery of such

done little things to reinvent it. fighting techniques, Jones has had Same thing with Blade. Just the to learn some of them himself. "I concept of doing Blade as a series just left my training session," he

is reinventing it. Putting a new comments. "I've got to know the E Blade in and then changing his moves, but let's not get it twisted.

image, how he looks, is making it Blade is nof Asian. He's a martial If there's anything Jones has borrowed from the fresh again. This is 2006—it's the arts expert, but he needs to know comic book Blade, it has been "mostly the look. It's all Jetsons Age right now. You can't a little street fighting, too, 'cause <3 about the posture and how you carry yourself." be stuck on old Blade. It's got to he's a brother, you know what I <

24 STARL0G/4i/i'M,st 2006 Williams III. It's my directorial debut. Nobody believed old Sticky could direct, so

I had to show 'em proof first. And I broke

the number-one rule in Hollywood: I spent

my own money. Lionsgate picked it up the

first time they saw it. A Day in the Life is like The Godfather meets Romeo and Juliet, where these two drug families go to war. My character falls in love with a sister from the "My co-stars are other family and, at the end, there's a huge excellent," says Jones shootout at the airport. It's an intense action- of Nelson Lee drama. (pictured), Jill Wagner, "The second. Caught on Tape, stars Jessica Gower and Vivica Fox, Cedric the Entertainer, Malik Neil Jackson. "They Yoba, Bokeem, Joe Torry and [cousin/fellow can act.Tliey're Onyx group member] Fredro Starr. It's real physical. They incredible. Caught on Tape is about five don't complain. guys who get caught on tape planning a bur- I love 'em!" glary because one of the guys' sons has a camcorder hidden in the house. He catches all the footage—from planning the burglary to the aftereffects. It's sort of like Reservoir Dogs, but the urban, hip-hop version." Convinced that Blade: The Series is "going to be the hottest show on TV," Jones

is already looking forward to what he would like to do in the second season should the ratings bear him out. "I want more action and more fight sequences!" he smiles. "Not

that there isn't plenty of that this year, but I want to do double the action! We need to have substance, too—as far as the acting and good stories. I would love to have David mean? So, I mesh the two together. I do out. "It's called The Black Rock, and it's Goyer direct a couple of episodes." extensive training with [stunt coordinator] going to be hip-hop and rock and roll Just a year ago, Jones was playing soldier Ernie Jaclcson and [stunt rigging coordina- meshed together," he reveals. "Music is Maurice "Smoke" Williams in executive tor] Curt Bonn, and it's hard work. There's about being yourself Acting is about being producer Steven Bochco's Over There, some grappling and also wirework, which I somebody else for a second." which dealt with the conflict in Iraq. "When think is the most fun. They put me in a har- And directing isn't merely an additional Over There didn't get picked up for a second ness and on a wire, and I'm able to jump means of expression, but also a way of fus- season, I was like, 'Wow. I thought this was across the whole room!" ing the other two. "I just finished directing a great show.' And then when Blade came

Fortunately, Jones is a natural athlete. two movies, and all the dialogue from begin- around, I said, 'Good! I'm glad it didn't get

"I've been an athlete my whole life," he says. ning to end is in rap. But it doesn't star rap- picked up!' "I used to do gymnastics, and I've always pers; they're all actors," he explains. "A Day "I hope Bochco doesn't read this," Kirk been into boxing, fighting, working out at in the Life has Michael Rapaport, Omar "Sticky" Jones laughs. "But Blade is incred- the gym, weight training, cardio training, Epps, Mekhi Phifer, Robert De Niro's ible. This is huge! It's a lot of work, but I'm stretching... I haven't come across anything daughter [Drena De Niro] and Clarence a hard worker, so this is nothing to me." [in shooting the series] where I've been like,

'Yo! This is too intense! I can't do this.' An avid comics fan, Jones hopes Everything is easy—at least to me." to "figure out a way to get more There was one day of shooting, however, Marvel characters in—like Blade * that was more difficult than expected. H having an affair flb Recalls Jones, "On the fifth episode, with the % with Storm, played [A Bad Bloods, they had me hanging from y by Halle Berry. / chains for 12 hours. My knees were on the That would floor, my hands were in the air, and then be great!" Bokeem Woodbine—a great actor who plays one of the Bad Bloods—had to pick me up. I was in a standing position, and he smashed me against a brick wall that they had rigged to break. Bokeem let me go, and I dropped down—'cause Blade hasn't had any hemo- globin, so he's weak and thirsty—and I think I got nerve damage in my hand because of that fall. But I feel it getting better already.

Even still, I had to keep going; I can't let things like injuries affect me." Even with all his TV and film work, Jones hasn't abandoned music. As a matter of fact, he has a new Onyx album coming

wwv^.starlog.coni STARLOG/4((gM.st 2006 25 WELCOME TO

Founders Andrew Cosby & Jaime Paglia invite you to visit tlieir really smart town. By WILL MURRAY

Tuesday, July 18, U.S. Marshal Jack night series, he might have ended up in an OnCarter (Colin Ferguson) and a mysteri- animated town called Eurekaville. "The idea ous "prisoner" will crash on the out- was to create a new Simpsons" reveals Cos- skirts of Eureka, a Pacific Northwest town by. "It revolved around a normal dad who not found on any map. The experience will has a child who is a super-genius. After the forever alter Carter's life. umpteenth science fair accident, the govern- "There's a scientist who has messed ment approaches him and says, 'We have a around in his garage and ripped a hole in the place where we can utilize your child's fabric of space-time," explains Eureka co- unique talents.' And the whole family ends creator and executive producer Andrew up living in the town of Eureka. Hidden deep Cosby. "I won't go into what the implica- in the Pacific Northwest, nestled in the

tions of that are for our series, but there are mountains away from prying eyes. Eureka is implications. So Carter comes to Eureka, a place where for the past 50-odd years, the and as these weird happenings are going on, U.S. government has been secretly housing

the town finds itself in a position where they the world's greatest minds. It was just an old Jordan Hinson need someone who has Carter's investigative idea I had in my back pocket." essays Carter's skills. He actually gets promoted and asked It might have remained there, but for daughter. The by our government to take charge of Eureka Jaime Paglia, who was looking to partner up "teenage angst" and be its sheriff." with Cosby on a new project. "Jaime had al- of the SCI FI series, In a way. Marshal Carter is lucky. Had ways wanted to do a quirky small-town Zoe doesn't have the fate gone the other way, instead of blunder- show that had a high-concept element," says best relationship ing into the SCI FI Channel's new Tuesday- Cosby. "He was thinking Northern Ex- with her father.

26 STARL0G/AM^M5-f 2006 WWw.sta rlog.com posure. I was thinking Twin Peaks. So we decided to do Northern Exposure Meets Twin Pealisy Over sushi, they brainstormed a fresh approach to Eurelcaville. Recalls Cosby, "Before the end of lunch, we had the changes we wanted to make on the series

and what we wanted to do if we took it to live action. Thus, U.S. Marshal Jack Carter was born." Paglia took a co-executive producer role on the NBC Universal Television Studio production, which kicks off July 18 with a two-hour pilot airing at 9 p.m. and will be seen in that Tuesday time slot regularly thereafter. Thematically, Eureka belongs to that exclusive subgenre of TV shows set in quaint Pacific Northwest hamlets. It's terri- U.S. Marshal Jack tory both creators were eager to explore Carter (Colin Ferguson) because they know it so well. discovers that the small town of Eureka "For Andy and I," says Paglia, who hails isn't quite the from the tiny coastal community of Warren-

quiet, Idyllic hamlet it town, Oregon, "having grown up in small appears to be. towns, there's a quality of being in one that

Earth S's Debrah Farentino is Beverly Barlowe, the maternal and mental caretaker of this tiny community.

you don't see anywhere else. Everybody knows everybody. There's always a sense of being on public display—just because there are very few secrets. But then if you look a

little closer, of course, everybody has them. The idea of a small town with big secrets was definitely born from that." On the Town Despite the deliberate comparison, don't expect Eureka to penetrate very deeply into Twin Peaks-style weirdness. "It's more quirky than dark," concurs Cosby. "Our

mythology for the series is dark, though. And some of the goings-on are certainly

very dark. But it doesn't have that surreal, ominous feeling that Twin Peaks had. As far

as I'm concerned. Twin Peaks is the salt on

this meal. Eureka is much more Nortlieni Exposure and Picket Fences. The series goes to such weird places that we want a lot of

STARLOG/4Mg«jf 2006 27 these elements—parenthood, being a neigh- it appears that way. bor, working in a small town—to help "We got lucky that Debrah has been get- ground the show so we can go to those ting her degree in microbiology and consid- strange, outrageous places." ers herself as much a scientist as an actress. On the other hand, both creators warn We managed to save money on our research viewers to expect the unexpected. "The cen- staff by casting her. She keeps bringing in tral theme of Eureka is you can't judge a these books that she calls 'light reading' and book by its cover," expands Cosby. "Look saying, 'You might want to check out this closer at anything and you'll find out it's new thing on brain theory that's the next " completely different from what you imag- frontier taking over string theory.' ined. We play with these themes with all of Salii Richardson-Whitfield is Allison our characters and storylines. It's an average, Blake, Eureka's Pentagon liaison, as well as almost Utopian, bucolic town. But when you the estranged wife of Nathan Stark. "In look closer, you realize there's lots of Men in essence, the town is a giant think tank," Black going on here." Cosby observes. "You have Global The backstory involves the early Cold Dynamics, which is the company in this cor- War. "Back in WWII, Albert Einstein was porate town. And you've got Nathan Stark, smart enough to realize that future wars the head of Global Dynamics. They need would be fought by scientists, not soldiers," someone who can handle all these elements, Cosby elaborates. "That science and technol- and Allison is the person who keeps the Crypto-eccentric Jim Taggart (Matt ogy was either going to be our salvation—or trains running on time and has to balance Frewer) is both a lover and hunter of our destruction. needed to start tapping productivity and creativity with the needs of We animals. He's particularly interested in into these great minds to stave off future unknown, undiscovered species. a small town." wars, like the one he was embroiled in." Ed Quinn essays Nobel Prize-winning

Enter unsuspecting Jack Carter. "Essent- humor, adventure and action, it was going to mathematician Nathan Stark, Carter's rival

ially, Eureka is about a man who comes to be a tough gig. Colin has great comedic tim- for Alfison's affections. "We needed an work as the sheriff in this small town," ing and at the same time this amazing lika- antagonist for a love triangle," says Paglia. details Cosby. "He's an average guy from bility factor. He's such an Everyman, and he "And he had to be every bit as charismatic LA who finds himself surrounded by eccen- isn't afraid to be goofy and vulnerable or put and attractive as Carter, but in a different tric super-geniuses. And whenever you've himself in a situation where he doesn't look way. If Nathan represents the more profes- got that many smart people all in the same so heroic, which is rare in a heroic actor. It's sional, intelligent, refined choice. Carter is place, chaos inevitably ensues. ..on a weekly easy to find a leading man who can throw a more of the Everyman, street-smart, unpre-

basis!" punch. It's hard to find one who can take a dictable choice." While Eureka offers up ongoing strange- punch." Stark isn't playing the villain, exactly. ness, there's more to the series than situa- Joe (The Brother from Another Planet) "Nathan is certainly a bad guy if you look at

tional super-science. "Carter is definitely a Morton is Eureka's jack-of-all-trades, Henry it from the perspective of a person who will reluctant hero," notes Cosby. "He's a fish out Deacon. "He's our Einstein and Yoda push the boundaries of science—and some- " of water. And Eureka itself represents a huge wrapped up in one," offers Cosby. "Henry is times says 'Damn the consequences,' com- burden and headache for him. At the same the kind of guy whose mind never sleeps. As

time, it gives him an opportunity to work on he says in the pilot, he loves to fix things. He his character and have a ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, has an amazing back- relationship with his story that's something daughter that he doesn't "THE IDEA you're not going to have in LA." OF A SMALL TOWN expect—especially given Jordan Hinson plays how light and jovial his the part of rebellious WITH BIG character appears. We're teenager Zoe Carter. SECRETS WAS going to discover that "Zoe is our teenage Henry has quite a dark angst for the show," says DEFINITELY BORN past and is as flawed as Cosby. "Zoe is me when • • everybody else.'

I was a teenager, except "We've always seen

that she's a girl. I guess it's a way for me to that character as the father figure of the exorcise some of my demons. She's a great town—a protector," remarks Paglia. "It was character to play against her father. Zoe is a important to us to have someone who is sea- way of examining those elements of being soned but also has a childlike enthusiasm torn between doing your job as a profession- and enjoys the exploration of science. You Co-creators al, and doing your job as a father." get that with Joe Morton. He has grounded Andrew Cosby Finding the right actor to play the com- the character and the show in a way I don't & Jaime Paglia mon-sense Jack Carter against the high-IQ think anybody else could have." wanted a love oddballs of Eureka was an early challenge. triangle to "Andy and I wanted a guy who fit the part," Our Town spice up the says Pagha. "We didn't consider anything With so many certified eccentrics run- show. Allison else besides that. We kept on referring to ning loose. Eureka needs a town shrink. Blake (Salli David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson on Beverly Barlowe {Earth 2's Debrah Faren- .Richardson- Whitfield, The X-Files. We wanted somebody who peo- tino) fills that role. "We wanted to have this kneeling) ple are going to hke, can play the humor and really strong female character who is, in adds to the the drama and just gets it. And Colin was many ways, anchoring everybody psycho- acrimony that guy." logically," explains Paglia. "If Henry is the between Carter "We knew going in that our show has a father figure, Beverly plays the mother fig- and her very unique tone, especially for science fic- ure in that she's the mental caretaker. But of estranged tion," adds Cosby. "With that balance of course, she also has a dark side—or at least husband Nathan Stark. 28 STARLOGMMgMif 2006 ments Cosby. "He isn't like, 'I don't care himself. There are definitely some layers to

wliat happens to anyone," but he is willing to Taggart that we'll be exploring." take risks where he probably shouldn't. It's Finally, there's Deputy Jo Lupo (Erica

what makes him different from Carter and Cerra). "For me, any show about a sheriff is Allison. Allison isn't a big risk-taker. Nathan only as good as his deputy," quips Cosby. wants to be the guy who lands on the Moon "She's our Barney Fife," deadpans

or splits the atom. Like Einstein did back Paglia. "But the fun thing is that nothing is

then, Nathan sees that the future is science. as it first appears to be. She's not just your He's in charge of the world's most advanced tough-chick former Army Special Ops. Jo technological facility, so in some ways, he's has another side to her; she has other stories. the father of that." And we'll be exploring those as well." Fan favorite Matt (Max Headroom) Frewer plays the occasional role of crypto- The Out-of-Towners eccentric Jim Taggart. "Taggart deals with Eureka focuses as much on small-town the potential for biological issues in Eureka," interpersonal dynamics as on the machina-

Paglia offers. "Anything from germs to crea- tions of Global Dynamics. While Jack is tures. The idea of having this biological con- romantically attracted to Allison, he has a tainment specialist who is as much a lover of problem in that Zoe wants him to go back to all things animal as a hunter is really fun. his wife, Abby, from whom he's separated. And Matt Frewer was an obvious choice. He "We have plans for a visit from Abby at Warren King (Greg Germann) is just one has enthusiastically embraced the part, some point," Paglia says of the as-yet-uncast of the odd inhabitants residing in the which is great fun for part. "It will be a recur- Pacific Northwest town where a hoie has ring role." ripped the very fabric of space-time. "I just wanted to see "WE'RE "Fatherhood is an someone do cryptozool- NOT TRYING ongoing theme in the consequences." ogy in a series," inter- series," relates Cosby. "Terrible Consequences" might be the jects Cosby. "I'm fasci- TO BE THE "You've got Carter try- Eureka town motto, but both creators shy nated by the study of ing to raise a teenage away from divulging details future WING OF of unknown, undiscovered WEST daughter—and he's not episodes. "We're going to be dealing with species. And we wanted SF SHOWS." a very good father. scientific crises of the week to some degree," a great face to put to that, You've got Henry, who hints Cosby. "We're trying to do stand-alone but someone who could serves as a surrogate episodes, but at the same time, always mov- still be eccentric and funny. We're using father to his town. And you'll find out that, ing the series forward. Anything that hap- Matt very sparingly in the first season, so as a father, he has his own flaws. Scientists pens, you can't just assume that's the last

you get this great flavor of his character. are the fathers of our future. They're helping you're going to hear of it." There are much bigger plans for him as we us grow as a people. Sometimes scientists "We want to have that element of sur- get to the back half of the season. As for his make great decisions, and sometimes they prise," Paglia agrees. character, it might not be as good as the actor make terrible decisions that have terrible "We're huge SF fans," continues Cosby. "We're writing love letters to science fiction and trying to pay homage to all the great

things that have come before us. We're still trying to find a Joe Morion-Terminator 2

joke to put in somewhere. The show is going to really broach the question of how far we should go. Are there some doors that should never be opened? Are there things we're playing with technologically that we should not be? Every week we're going to ask some of these questions—without necessarily answering them—and letting people decide on their own. Should we be doing nanotech- nology? Artificial Intelligence? Cloning? While at the same time having a really cool X-Files-type action-adventure series." "We're looking at the hot-button topics in science and where the main fields are going in the next 10 to 20 years," says Jaime Paglia. "We're trying to present scenarios that might be possible. Obviously, there's a bit of fiction in our science fiction, but ideal- ly we can present some issues that will cause

people to think a little." "It's important to remember that we're not a science show," concludes Andrew Cosby. "We're a science fiction show. Yes, we want our science to be grounded, and we

try to make it as realistic as possible. But we're taking many of the liberties that sci- ence fiction takes. We're not trying to be the West Wing of SF shows. We're just trying to have loads of fun."

STARLOG/August 2006 29 By MARK PHILLIPS crDif7iTT^n

Who is that girl? No, not the tall, flashy blonde with legs (Number Six) who keeps driving poor Baltar mad with her mind games. And no, it isn't Starbuck, the tough, swaggering fighter pilot who drinks and gambles with the best

of men. Nor is it the proper, ladylike, ailing President Laura Roslin, who is heavily steeped in ancient cosmic clues to find a place called Earth.

It's the young girl over there, in the faded overalls, working on the Vipers in the hangar bay, with the grease smudge across her face, who flashes that warm, cherubic smile when things actually go well aboard the Galactica. Crewman Specialist Cally. Someone real. Somebody you might meet outside a Vancouver bookstore—like, what occurred recently. "My Mom was speaking to a fellow, and he kept looking at me strangely," says Nicki Nicki Clyne doesn't mind getting

lier liands dirty Iceeping Battlestar Galactica tmninq.

Clyne. "She introduced me, 'And this is my daughter,' and he said, 'I'm sorry for staring, but you look familiar—like this actress on TV.. .on Battlestar Galactica.' My Mom said,

'This is her!' So it does happen." Grease Monlcey Clyne's earliest acting ambition was sim- ply to have a line, any line, on any TV show. That led to small roles on Smallville and The Dead Zone. She realized that the more she

acted, the more she loved it. "I found it per- sonally validating," she remarks. "I can't imagine doing anything else." More importantly, her audition for the Battlestar Galactica mini-series won her the small role of Cally—a petite mechanic who initially had only a few lines. But when Galactica graduated to a TV series, Cally was given more to do, particularly in "Bastille Day," where she's captured and held prisoner by rebel convicts. Fans gasped at her true grit when she bit off the ear of an evil thug, her face covered in bloody gore. She was then shot by her enraged attacker and ended up fighting for her life in the hos- pital (in D. first draft, Cally Ronald Moore's Cally is one of the younger members of a Galactica crew that includes Crashdown succumbed to her gunshot wounds). Clyne (Sam Witwer), Gaius Baltar (James Calfis) and Seelix (Jen Halley). says the sanguine ear-biting scene had its consequences. recent years, those opportunities have grown "They used this mixture of corn syrup richer. As Galactica producer David Eick and coloring for the blood, which was says, "One of the most rewarding things

extremely sticky," she explains. "I had to about doing this series is seeing how the squeeze this sponge of icky goo all over young actors and actresses whom we origi-

myself, and I had it on the whole day. I nally cast in minor roles have done such couldn't wipe off the blood for lunchtime wonderful work and really come to the fore."

and then put it back on, because of continu- Eick and director Michael Rymer selected

ity reasons. So for the entire day I had my Clyne for the role of Cally partly because shirt completely stuck to me, and my face she reminded them of a young Shelley was all sticky—it wasn't a nice feeling. Duvall; they also immediately realized that When I ate my lunch, no one wanted to sit she had natural acting ability.

with me. 1 even forgot I had this guck on Clyne appreciates the opportunity—but me. I was walking around, throwing she's definitely no stranger to genre TV, hav- popcorn in my mouth and everyone ing also appeared in Dark Angel and the was backing off and staring at me. I'm 2002 Twilight Zone revival. "Everyone in going, 'Hey, what's your problem?' Vancouver recognizes that many American

Then it occurred to me, 'Oh yeah, I productions come in and bring in their own " look like Death! Right. OK!' actors," she offers. "It can be very frustrating Like some of the other young for Canadian actors. So when a show like actors on Battlestar Galactica, Clyne Battlestar Galactica takes a chance on local

is Vancouver-born and a relative new- talent, we certainly appreciate it. It's one of comer to acting. In days long past, the things that motivates us to work really American producers rarely took chances hard and show what we can do." on young Canadian talent, occasionally dis- Unlike other females on the show, Cally Born in Vancouver and relatively new like to attract attention; she's Icovering someone Back the Future's to acting, Clyne is grateful that Battlestar doesn't work to sim- Michael J. Fox (who was toiling in the Galactica's producers took a chance ply there to do her job. But her beguiling Vancouver series Leo and Me). But in on some Canadian talent. innocence and disarming nature mask a

www.starlog.com STAKLOG/August 2006 31 —

strong inner core. "She's an extremely hard- "It was an honor that the writers let Cally working and loyal mechanic on the ship," shoot Sharon; that was a big moment in the

notes Clyne. "Cally has been through so show," she says. "But then Cally is locked much, but she's managed to stay focused on away in a jail cell, and that was pretty bor- the survival of the fleet and making sure all ing. When she gets out, everyone gives Cally

of the ships are working properly." an anti-climactic little party and she goes And when a crewman accuses her boss, back to work. That's one of the funny pat- Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas), of being a terns about my character: She has all of Cylon, Cally leaps forward and beats the tar these crazy, intense, traumatic experiences,

out of him. "Yes, I quite like that about her," and then in the next episode, you'll see her Clyne laughs. "She's tough and very loyal to back on the ship, turning a screw. There's a

the Chief And fighting these guys is fun. I lot going on, obviously, that you don't see,

mean, where else do you get to beat up your and as actors, we do our best to fill in those friends at work?" blanks. But yes, essentially, after whatever horrible things happen to Cally, in the end, Cylon Killer she just goes back to work!" The second year's "Resistance" had There have been flashbacks of President Cally trapped on Kobol after a crash landing, Roslin's life before the Cylon attack, and shaking in terror as "Crashdown" threatens Clyne thinks that would be an interesting to execute her. Shockingly, she lunges for- technique to use for other characters as well. ward to shoot and kill one of the Cylon "I would love to learn more about the real

Sharons, which puts her in the Brig for sev- Cally. I mean, you always see her at work, eral episodes. Clyne was grateful for the and aside from the Chief, you don't get chance to gun down Sharon (a.k.a. many insights into her relationships or her

"Boomer"), because it allowed her to display past." Cally's rage toward the Cylons. In one episode, Cally reveals that she

Weapons training is part of her job, but in "Scattered" (pictured), Ciyne's sl

7il

signed aboard the Galactica to pay for den- tal school. When Clyne first read that in the script, she was surprised. "That was a curve ball from the writers," she chuckles. "To an actor, that's like, 'Oh, that's useful informa-

tion!' It definitely makes things more inter-

F esting. Cally is so loyal and hard-working, yet being a mechanic wasn't her chosen field, so that's even more admirable. The writers and producers are always willing to listen to us. They make all of the characters

strong, and they focus on every little detail." Now that Cally is out of the Brig, what's next? "Well..." Clyne pauses, careful not to reveal spoilers. "There are some very shock- ing developments, and they've turned out to be my favorite scenes. You've only seen snippets of Cally's pain up to now, but she'll

www.starlog.com provide the Chief firecover by shooting at

the Cylons. I focused on doing it right, because the weapons experts showed me how to aim and fire the guns, but the direc- tor said, 'No, you're shooting those weapons too well. Remember, Cally hasn't fired a

weapon since basic training!' But I figured, 'Hey, if / can learn to shoot a gun that quick-

ly, then Cally certainly can.' That was my defense!"

'While Battlestar Galactica is essentially an ensemble show, the top-liners in terms of veterans are Edward James Olmos as Adama and Mary McDonnell as President Roslin. "They're brilliant and so generous as people and actors," Clyne marvels. "Unfortunately,

I haven't had much work with Mary, and I've only recently worked with Eddie. But he's so giving and always willing to give advice—not just about acting, but how to deal with the show's popularity. Mary and Eddie set the tone. They're both very sup-

portive about what everybody's doing, and it

really trickles down. There's no ego or atti- tude, ever, on the show. All of the actors are

so down to Earth, it's great." And what is Clyne's take on why Battlestar Galactica has done so well—both ratings-wise and critically? "It starts with Ron Moore's vision," she says. "He's

be going to some deep, emotional places." to prepare for their military roles. When insanely intelligent and what he has created With Sharon apparently gone from the Clyne first heard what she would be facing, here is incredible. The producers and writers Chief's life, some fans feel it's only natural she prepared. "I was excited but very ner- have taken risks—they're not copying what that he should fall for his work buddy vous, because I couldn't remember the last every other show does. It's a real credit to Cally—and vice versa. "Hmmm...I dunno!" dme I exercised!" Clyne grins. "So I snuck their imagination." Clyne teases. "From my point-of-view, so off to the gym and worked out before the The actress is surprised by Cally's in- many of her actions have been motivated by boot camp's physical training. They taught creasing popularity—she wasn't aware that a her love for the Chief. I think that's pretty us about military etiquette, and how to recent UK poll ranked the space-age me- clear by now. Yes, she's loyal to the march and salute, but the best part was play- chanic as viewers' favorite female charac- Battlestar, but their relationship is pretty ing all kinds of trust and leadership games ter—but she has heard that many Internet fan special and they've been through so much with each other. That brought us together as sites reflect a strong following for Cally. "It's together. You can't help but grow close to a cast. It was a cool experience, and I would amazing, and I'm very grateful that people someone when you're sharing troubling and love to do it again." pay attention to the details in the show and traumatic experiences. As to where that may Also memorable was how quickly she appreciate the smaller characters," Nicki go, we'll wait and see!" adapted to using firearms. "It surprised me, Clyne modestly concludes. "I'm just thank-

Before the Battlestar Galactica mini- because I really enjoyed shooting them," she ful for the opportunity. I love the character, I series began lensing in 2003, many of the comments. "They're real guns, and in one love the show and it's a great feeling to know younger cast were shipped off to boot camp episode ["Scattered"], Cally is supposed to what you're putting in has paid off."

STARLOG/AMgMif 2006 33 .

ttl.L-WEV< STAR TREK ADVENTURE S

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You can fax: 212-889-7933 or e-mail: [email protected] 1949, an illustrator quietly entered the American Realist (he, $34.95; signed &

Infield, painting covers for the dying SF numbered he, $74.95 ), out September 1 pulp magazines. Soon, he was doing from Flesk Publications. Showcasing the advertising art. For years, he made virtually best of Bama's illustration work, the lavish no impact on the public consciousness. But book features classic covers, Aurora Uni- over the next decade—gradually, inex- versal monster-kit box art, "men's sweat" orably—he emerged as a signature talent. magazine interiors and a complete Doc Developing an approach that has been called Savage cover art gallery! photo-realistic and even super-naturalistic, Kane traces the development of the Bama James Bama is today remembered as one of "look" back to one seminal cover, a Bantam America's premier cover painters of the for- Books edition of William {Magic) Gold- mative Paperback Revolution. man's The Temple of Gold. "It was the first Books showcasing Bama's Western art book to really change the direction of art on have previously been published, but the paperbacks," he relates. "It was a figure work that first caught the eye of the dressed in white on a white background, American public and sold millions of paper- with soft edges. The person blended in with back novels had never been compiled until the background a little. now. Artist and writer Brian M. Kane has Back in the day, James Bama began "By breaking down the fourth wall and rectified that oversight with James Bama: illustrating for the pulps. He's best known having his character interact with the audi- for his Doc Savage paperback covers.

James Bama, Man of Artistry, painted

some of the most . powerful J paperbaclc images, Steve Holland portrayed Doc (and many other characters) in photos taken by Bama, who used them for reference.

Holland, TV's Flash Gordon, discussed acting and modeling in STARLOG #251.

Monster Kids o 1960s were awe Bama's 23 Auro Model kit box paintings.

ence, it gave the reader something to connect ^^^^^ to before picking up the book. That started Jimmy's trademark and how he approached covers. And he carried that over into Doc Savage—especially Doc Savage #1." In 1964, Bantam released that first Doc novel. The Man of Bronze. Under the guid- ance of art director Len Leone—who had worked for Fawcett in the heyday of Captain Marvel—Bama attempted to update the 1930s pulp superman for the 1960s. Using former TV Flash Gordon Steve Holland as his model, and posing him like Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, the artist pro- duced one of the most arresting images of that era. "Up until he did The Temple of Gold, white covers did not sell," Kane explains.

"Part of that was Jimmy's approach. It stood out from everything else. When you have a white cover surrounded by colorful covers,

it's going to created a visual hole. The eye

will be drawn to it. With the very first Doc Savage, all of that black created a visual space and kept all the paperbacks away from

it. So you were drawn to the figure of Doc." Bama's approach was nothing short of revolutionary. "It really didn't come from a contemporary illustrative background," Kane observes. "It's more in line with what The artist's Rembrandt and Caravaggio were doing—in seminal cover the chiaroscuro, in the light coming out of for William the darkness with the soft edges, and the mix that made it so powerful." (The Princess extreme coherence that brought the person Powerful enough to drive industry sales Bride) into the art. That's what he was always try- to new heights. "Covers helped to sell the Goldman's ing to do. I'm sure that everything he books," Kane asserts. "And in some ways, a Ttie Temple of And Gold changed grew up with—the Walter Baumhofer Doc Bama cover helped sales. So it couldn't hurt the look of Savage [pulp magazine covers] and the to have Bama on your cover." paperbacks. comic books—all led into that. It was that During the '60s, Bama was not only pro-

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Here's a detail of Bama's paperback voyage, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

First Look at BY MARSHALt McCOY BIG JIM SETS QUI TO AVENOE A FRIEND Po|iular '68 CARS AND STEPS INTO A MAZE OF BUZING VIOLENCE! Secret Photos and Science Inside Heports

ducing some of the most strikingly detailed images of any commercial illustrator then working, but he was prodigiously prolific as well. "He was doing one and a half covers a week," Kane marvels. "And then he would do a two-page men's magazine illustration over the weekend. In one of them, the raid-

ing of Omaha Beach, he had 75 soldiers in it.

They were all individually painted and 007 Rides Again in "You Only Uve Twice" detailed. And he would do it in two days!

But it would still be the Bama photo-realis- tic style." How it works Ultimately, Bama painted 62 Doc covers, JAMES BOND'S AMAZING AUTOGYRO

quitting in 1971 to relocate to Wyoming to Science Map and Guide to the U.S. I IHow tiie New Auto Safety By Laws Affect Westerns always enthralled Bama, pursue a fine arts career. The best-known of LOWELL THOMAS I YOU who retired from commercial Bama's work, these striking images trig- Bama also drafted James Bond. Check illustration and literally went West gered Kane's youthful interest. brother "My out STARLOG #198 for a Bama Interview. to pursue a fine arts career. brought home a stack of Doc Savages," he recalls. "So my first introduction to Bama the inner soul of a person and shares that was The Squeaking Goblin and Fortress of with the reader. And I don't think there are Solitude. After that, I started buying Doc many people who are capable of doing that." Savage paperbacks just for the art. The sto- At his peak, Bama seemed to touch

ries were good, but it was really the art that everything that was iconic. James Bond. brought me into it." King Kong. Frankenstein. He painted the Decades later, Kane contacted Bama to first promotional art for NBC's Star Trek— pen the introduction to his book, Hal Foster: which later graced Bantam's initial Trek Prince of Illustrators. A friendship formed. paperback. "Jimmy was actually creating a And out of that emerged James Bama: look for the 1960s pop culture generation," American Realist. "What makes Bama Kane says. "He was tied into the monster Bama?" Kane muses. "He had such a com- craze, was heavily into the fiction-adventure

pulsion to do art. And high-quality art. You genre with Doc Savage, and then you have can see the growth in this person who was all of this other art he was doing—Zane obviously influenced by Norman Rockwell Grey, Louis L' Amour Western paperbacks. and sharing a studio with Coby Whitmore He was one of the first romance cover artists.

and the other Cooper Studio artists; and he And that was before romance got its own lit- blossomed into this finely detailed realist by tle shelf. the time he left his commercial work and "Desmond Morris' The Naked Ape was went to Wyoming. his, too. And, of course, Thomas Pynchon's "He loved doing illustration. Nostalgic- V. He was across the board," Brian Kane ally, he enjoyed that time more than the concludes. "There probably isn't anyone

James Bama: American Realist hits Western art he has done. But what is so who was avidly reading during the 1960s bookstores this fall. See the website extraordinary about Jimmy's art is that he who didn't have a couple of Jim Bama-cov- (www.fleskpubllcations.com). portrays an individual's attitude. He captures ered books in their collections."

STARLOG/AMgM^f 2006 37 out-of-shape former superhero who has lost his powers istic military base, so now it's more straightfaced, with Jack in the and an upstart assemblage of super-powered kids may be middle making wry observations about the whole thing. The chal- Anthe only way to save the world in Zoom, a new comedy lenge was making Zoom fun and colorful, while at the same time starring Tim {The Santa Clause) Allen, Rip {Men in Black) having serious elements and moments of danger and jeopardy." Torn, Courteney {Scream) Cox Arquette and Chevy Hewitt didn't collaborate with Rifkin, but he did help Berenbaum {Memoirs of an Invisible Man) Chase. develop later drafts. "I worked with David very closely, and we start- The story of Zoom actually begins many years ago: For the last ed over and built the script up in a few months," he says. "David is 30 years, rumors have surrounded an incident in LA that was offi- great, and we had a fabulous time. We came up with the whole idea cially classified as an "earthquake." But director Peter {Garfield) of: 'Let's imagine that in the '60s, besides the, Apollo program, there Hewitt has the necessary security clearance to reveal the true was also the Zenith Program, which nobody knew about.' So while account: In the early 1970s, the faster-than-light Captain Zoom they were training astronauts to go to the Moon, they were also seek-

By KIM HOWARD JOHNSON TRAIN

(Allen) led the Zenith Team into battle against their arch-nemesis. Concussion. Although Zoom eventually prevailed, the rest of his group was slain by Concussion's sonic blasts. Zoom subsequently lost his mighty powers and became, once again, merely Jack Shepard. A secret branch of the military concocted the "earthquake" cover story, but lost interest in the powerless Shepard... until now. When a deadly new menace threatens the planet. Earth's only hope is a revived Zenith Program. General Larraby (Tom) and Dr. Grant (Chase) reunite in the secret installation known as "Area 52," with Dr. Marsha Holloway (Cox Arquette) charged with selecting a new team of young superheroes. However, the group doesn't stand much of a chance unless they can persuade Shepard to train and lead them into battle. Apparently not worried about his security clearance being revoked, Hewitt reveals the main reason he wanted to take charge of Zoom. "It was the combination of fun superhero stuff—which I've always been a big fan of—and Tim Allen," he explains. "I read the script, and it was really good. They had just begun developing it, and there were a couple of early drafts that I liked. Then a few months later, I got a call from my agent. He said, 'Do you remember that script? Tim Allen is going to do it.' And that was when we got together and start- ed talking—when Tim became attached. It was an opportuni- ty to work and have fun with Tim." Zoom my Hewitt hadn't read Jason Lethcoe's graphic novel Amazing Adventures from Zoom's Academy before signing on to the pro- ject. "I wasn't aware that it even existed," he admits. "Then I got familiar with it, and it was clear from the early drafts that they had moved in a completely different direction. The graphic novel is based around Jack's daughter and her discovery that her dad is a teacher at the academy. But the film is sort of The Bad News Bears with superheroes, skewed toward Tim because he's the star." The script by Adam Rifkin and David {Elf) Berenbaum evolved and changed from when Hewitt originally read it. "The first couple of drafts were broad, colorful and fairly cartoony," says Hewitt. "Tim had strong ideas about what he wanted to do, and we all start- ed talking about them. He liked the idea of having a much more real-

38 STARLOG/Aw^Mjf 2006 ing out children with extra-sensory gifts and training them to be a type of guys. The idea of him being this superhero at his peak 30 superhero team. That was something Tim was interested in as well, years ago, and then everything went wrong and he has spent the rest so we began working with that. of his life hiding and running away from that, and now has to con- "The backstory was always there. It was more the forum in which front that—it's difficult to think of anyone who could do that better these events occur that changed. Rather than it being a fun academy, than Tim, especially with that deadpan stare of his. We had a ball. a Sky High thing, the school became closer to a scientific military And the big reveal that Jack has to train a bunch of kids gave Tim the base. We figured if this really happened—if some kids were discov- irresistible opportunity to just rip with the stuff that he does so well." ered to possess these new and different abilities—this might be the This new generation of young superheroes are gifted with tradi- kind of place they would be brought to: a covert military operation." tional (and not-so-traditional) powers. Tucker (The Shaggy Dog's Allen's sense of humor made him a perfect fit for the lead role. Spencer Breslin) is a chubby kid who can make himself bigger—and "He's so funny!" Hewitt smiles. "Tim is so good at playing these when he's really angry, he can expand to the size of a house. Dylan

HEADMASTER PETER HEWITT DEBRIEFS, REVEALING THE AMAZING ADVENTURES FROM ZOOM'S ACADEMY.

Dr. Holloway (Courteney Cox Arquette) and Captain Zoom (Tim Allen) lead a new generation of young superheroes into

action (I to r): Tucker (Spencer Breslin), Summer (Kate IVIara), Dylan (Michael i^assldy) and Cindy ^Ryan Newman). (Michael Cassidy) is a reflective changeling who is skeptical of the program and doesn't want to be in Area 52. The telekinetic empath Summer (Kate Mara) is just happy to finally be around others with superpowers.

And the smallest is shy, sweet Cindy, played by seven-year-old newcomer Ryan Newman, who can lift two tons overhead without even breaking a sweat. Together, they receive their superhero training from the gruff Shepard. "Tim is ter- rific with kids," praises Hewitt. "He was fan- tastic on the set and kept everybody buoyant. Tim was incredibly fast and funny the whole time. He has done four films with Spencer, so they're old pals, and Ryan is just the cutest thing you've ever seen. Tim had all sorts of fun with the children. And we went back far enough in development that we were able to reconfigure the kids' powers.

The notion that little Cindy could lift up a truck was appealing, and then there's the cool teenager who can disappear, the surly Director Peter Hewitt (right) wanted Zoom to be a family picture with girl who lifts and moves things with her serious elements. One of the underlying messages is how these youths learn to mind and reads thoughts, and the chubby kid embrace and enjoy their individual gifts. who huffs up to the size of a room. That last one was Tim's idea. that was because of Tim and Courteney and the dynamic between "One of the movie's underlying messages is the kids learning to them. And she's incredibly good at falling over, too!" embrace and enjoy who they are," he relates. "That was something Ironically, despite Chase's reputation for physical comedy. Cox everybody felt should be in there. I did a film a few years ago called Arquette had most of those gags—although Hewitt left a few for the Thunderpants, and that had the same theme: no matter what your pratfalling comedian. "Chevy did do a few things," he notes. "He gift is [in that case, powerful flatulence], you must identify, embrace goes whizzing off on a chair one time, and gets knocked over in a and be proud of it. And in Zoom, that all comes together as Jack and corridor while carrying an enormous model of the DNA double these kids become a family." helix." Pairing Chase and Tom together as Dr. Grant and Gen. Larraby Area 52 proved to be an intriguing combination. "There was lots of chem- The director was delighted by the on-screen chemistry between istry between them," says Hewitt. "Rip is a very serious person, and

Allen and Cox Arquette (who co-starred in a young-superhero T'V I think he takes the part home with him, so he was scary! But I did series. The Misfits of Science, early in her career). "Courteney is the not want Chevy to be frightened of him. Those two formed an inter- nicest person in the world, and also incredibly funny, and she and esting relationship, like they had been around each other for many, Tim got on together like a house on fire," says Hewitt. "We asked many years. Rip would bark away, and most people would cower, ourselves, "Who should we get for this part?' Someone said, but it just bounced off of Chevy.

'Courteney Cox,' and that was that! Both of them were a joy to be "Dr. Grant is this kooky scientist who has been buried under- around, and they were endlessly inventive, fast and professional. ground in Area 52 and hasn't seen the Sun in the best part of 40

Zoom is probably the most enjoyable film I've shot, in terms of hav- years. He isn't fazed by anything, but he's amoral, I suppose, ing fun with the evolution of the comedy and ideas. And much of because he only thinks in terms of his fascination [with this project]; in a way, he's Spock. But we didn't want Dr. Grant to be a villain, so we were trying to find an angle where Dr. Grant could be part of the mechanics of the badness without the

audience holding him responsible for it. Chevy came up with loads of fun jokes and quirks, and we hung the whole thing on the

notion that Dr. Grant is so immersed in the

science that he can't see its immorality." Production designer Barry {The Day After Tomorrow) Chusid brought a sense of style to the portion of the film set in Area 52—along with so much more. "I got on incredibly well with Barry, and we had a dis- tinct vision that we hoped to achieve," Hewitt observes. "We didn't want to do a shiny chrome underground superhero head- quarters; we wanted to make something quite different. We checked out actual under- ground military bases and concrete bunkers for that realistic look. When you see old footage of the astronauts training—with those guys with clipboards standing around, A Misfit of Science at one time herself, Cox turned out to be the ideal match for and someone off to the side with a gurney the once-mighty, now-grouchy Captain Zoom. covered with weird tools—there's a messi-

40 STAVl.OG/August 2006 www.starlog.com — —

ness to it that gives it believability. That was our bedrock. And then we asked ourselves, 'How can we avoid things being too dry?' And so we made it very colorful." That attitude was also a factor in the costume designs by Ha (The Mask) Nguyen. "For most of the film, the kids are in flight suits like the astronauts when they return from space or are in training," Hewitt explains. "Many of the costumes—certainly for the scientists and the military—were going to be what they were going to be, so any fun came from what the kids would be wearing. You see them in their real clothes a couple of times, just to nail the idea that they're regular kids. Then, very quickly, they're in flight-suit mode. "I love the iconography of the American space program, and I tried to echo that. It's fun to see those Right Stuff &nd Apollo images, but with a seven-year-old girl bounding down an incredibly techni- cal corridor! And Cindy must have made friends with someone in research and development, because they put her in these little ballet and princess outfits. Tim was forever riffmg about where she got those costumes. It was supposed to be a series of scientific experi- Comparisons to The Incredibles and Sky High don't ments, and Cindy was dressed up as a princess!" faze Hewitt. He's confident that audiences will find Zoom a fresli, funny and different i

"The film is sort of 7776 Bad News Bears with superheroes.

Chevy Chase piaysl David for a long time, and I did a small British film in 1999 with Dr. Grant. The 'l

and is scared, so she comes to see Jack. It's very sweet, because he's

still being this grumpy guy, and he doesn't want her to be there, but he ends up letting her use this concrete-metal couch built into the

wall. You think the scene is over, and then Cindy gets up and, with

one hand, yanks it out of the wall and drags it over just so she can be closer to Jack," Hewitt smiles. Although there have been a legion of superhero-team pictures in recent years—notably the X-Men trilogy. The Incredibles and Sky High—Hewitt is confident that they've come up with the right tone for Zoom. "The challenge was negotiating a new look and feel so that the film has its own voice in a marketplace full of all kinds of superhero movies," he observes.

"That was why we decided to ground it in Apollo technology and

not go for a chrome underground headquarters. Because it's some- what real, you believe that these kids are having everyday problems

in the real world. And that makes it funnier, too. I would point to that

element as the key, and I hope it gives Zoom its own voice and makes the comedy resonate more." With the secrets of Zoom now revealed, the director wraps up his STARLOG debriefing. But before he ends things, he assures readers that in a cinematic world filled with fantastics, incredibles and x-

heroes. Zoom absolutely stands on its own.

"I've already seen articles claiming it's a ripoff of this or that," remarks Peter Hewitt. "Zoom certainly has elements from other superhero movies, but we wanted to create a fresh look and tone, and this film was made by people who were sensitive to that and eager to produce something different. That was our biggest challenge

that and just trying to keep it fun and funny!"

STARLOG/AMgMrf 2006 41 CHANNEL By DAN YAKIR With a Click Of the button, director Frank Coraci Can a kind of universal remote control and The Wedding Singer—the project script- rewinds & tlien take over someone's entire life? Yes, ed by Steve Koren & Mark O'Keefe seemed indeed, if you believe Click, a fantasy full of promise. "It's a funny story with a pauses to program comedy where everyday reality is turned serious comment about the things that mat- upside down, resulting in a virtual Twilight ter in life," he begins. "You see, I'm getting reel life. Zone. older. I'm 40, which is when you start think- When overworked architect Michael ing about questions like the way you spend Newman (Adam Sandler) shops for a uni- your time and what you're making of your versal remote at Bed, Bath & Beyond, life. We all tend to rush through things and

eccentric employee Morty (Christopher think, "Once I get to this point in my life,

Walken) in the "Beyond" section plays then I'll be happy.' But life happens while

Mephistopheles to his Faust by offering you're living it, and you end up missing out. Michael a life-altering gizmo. The worka- When I first read Click, the story was about holic protagonist—trapped by his ambitions Adam's character getting his wish-fulfdl- for promotion and material gain—has been ment, but with the warning, 'Don't abuse it!' neglecting his wife Donna (Kate Beck- I felt it was important that he have rules to nsale) and two kids (Joseph Castanon and that effect—as well as a turning point where PAUSE. We all know Tatum McCann). But this device enables he goes too far where Christopher Walken Michael to travel back and forth in his life "That's what I tried to bring to the tab- stored that watch, but vaiying speeds. can savor a plea- where does he keep his at He remote? IVIichael Newman sure in slow-motion or fast-forward (Adam Sandler) doesn't through pain. However, the want an answer. gizmo soon takes on a will

of its own and decides just what Michael will experience—and that's where the troubles begin. For Frank Co- raci—who di- rected Sandler in The Waterboy REWIND. Click \s director Frank Coraci's (left) third collaboration with Sandler. They teamed earlier on The Wedding Singer and Tlie Waterboy to great success. le—that Faustian moment when a person has to make the choice: Doing something for the right reasons, but knowing it's a deal with consequences. When Michael decides to fast-forward to a promotion, believing it's going to be six months, he doesn't realize how much more time he's going to miss in his life. I also thought there was an amazing relationship between Michael and his father

[Henry Winkler]. And I pushed for Michael and Donna's relationship to be developed more, so we understand why they fell in love and then, later, the consequences when things start to fall apart." Fast-Forward Coraci's last film was the 2004 adapta- tion of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days. "I love science fiction!" he exclaims.

"Conceptually, it's a vehicle to make social commentary, but sometimes SF movies are devoid of emotion. What is nice about Click is that the SF element goes along with a story. This was a chance to warm, personal SEARCH. Given a magical remote that allows him to travel back and forth In his life, marry the scientific and the human, and to Michael discovers that the device Isn't quite the blessing It might appear to be. create a futuristic world but closely observe a man on a journey of discovery. "When I read the original script, it was we looked at cutting-edge European design- talking heads, but I saw this whole other ers and came up with something that has dynamic that wasn't in there that involved never been seen before. The emergency

iraveling through time, going into this room is almost Star Trek spaceship-esque, DVD menu world and creating the with a center console and beds that come out future, because we travel to the year of the walls. It was fun creating all these

2029. That transition from real- things, and it's probably what also attracted ity to this menu world of- me to 80 Days—trying to predict what the

. fered exciting possibilities, future will be like, which is what Jules Verne

! but I didn't want it to look did." like a was also intrigued by the ; regular DVD menu. The filmmaker

. Instead, it's like strips of time-traveling sequences. "Every time Adam

DNA, where visual images hits the remote, I shot him on green screen,

and sounds from Michael's and I would dolly into Adam and leave the fe swarm around his head." background the same," says Coraci. "That

Coraci had fun predicting way, I could pull Adam out of that 2-D space

tlie future—and then creating it. and have him suddenly appear to be on :"We designed a 2010 Cadillac— another plane, with the background then dis-

sadly, it's not a hydro car, but a persing with [the horizontal] lines that repre-

gas-gu/,zling 1 8-cylinder..." he sent the fast-forwarding video. And there's remarks. "My production designer this cool bright light in the middle of every-

Perry Blake was one of the people thing. It took forever to do, but Sony Image-

v\ ho told me I had to do this movie: works kept playing around with it until we

( hink about the futuristic sets we came up with a unique way to transition in " could do!" and out of those time-travel scenes." A native of Manhattan, Coraci Coraci's biggest challenge was realizing was determined to concoct an the DVD menu. "It's three-dimensional, but

unusual futuristic version of we needed to make it tangible," he explains.

his hometown. "I thought it "Black Box helped me out, and they were

would be nice to have the putting it together while I was shooting. I Twin Towers rebuilt in had images of the menu in my head, but I

2029, although I know needed to paste them together in a way that X they're working on made sense. Trying to get people into your

i: different plans right brain with that kind of stuff is tricky, but I

' now," he says. "And feel we pulled it off well, considering that we show a wedding Adam had to act in this 3-D world that did that takes place at not exist." the foot of the Complementing the SF and comedic ele- Brooklyn Bridge set ments are serious themes that provide the against the futuristic- film with dramatic impact. "You can fast- looking city, where the forward through life, but at some point buildings have become you'll wake up realizing that you've missed

almost all billboards and it," Coraci points out. "There's a scene

arc electronically lit up. where the salesman shows Michael a dinner "For the hospital set. that he missed. He tells Michael, 'You were

STARLOG/4«^i(.vr 2006 43

1 —

on automatic pilot.' Everybody has done every moment, but this film felt like a that, and we often fail to take in just how chance [to take a closer look at my life]. great it is to be alive every day. In Michael's Clicli harks back a bit to It's a Wondeiful case, this remote is his wish-fulfillment, but Life, which was one of the movies that made it ultimately becomes a nightmare when he me want to make movies. no longer gets to control the device. "Michael is the director of his own life," "For me, the movie really gets exciting Coraci continues. "This film makes you real- when the remote starts taking over Michael's ize that you are your own movie every day of

life and making choices for him. Some of the your life. As a filmmaker, I totally relate to a funniest scenes take place early on, like character who's able to piece things together when Michael is in a rush to get back to and make them better. Usually, if you spend work and fast-forwards to foreplay with his too much time on something, eventually wife. And then, after that, he fast-forwards to you'll make it worse. So there's a certain sex, too. Later on, when he's trying to have a balance. You don't want to know too much romantic moment with Donna, the remote about your future, because if you can't starts beeping, and the next thing he knows, change it, why would you want to know? But he has missed the entire sexual encounter. we all wish we could rewind our lives and "Another funny moment is when he look at moments in the past, which the view- freezes his boss [David Hasselhoff], who er gets to do with Michael—you understand treats him badly, and gets to slap him in the who he is and why he does what he does. It face without his boss realizing what hap- serves as a filmmaking device to tell the pened. At another point, Michael dubs him story, like flashbacks." in Spanish. And when Michael tries to look Multiple Oscar winner Rick Baker han- more tanned, he goes through a spectrum of dled the aging makeup for the future se- colors and turns himself yellow and green. quences. "He's the greatest makeup person He ends up looking like the Hulk." there is," Coraci extols. "Adam, Kate and

Henry age about 30 years in the movie. I did

Freeze Frame close-ups on Henry in his late 70s, and it's Michael means well, but he doesn't unbelievable. Adam starts at 25 and goes all become aware of his mistakes until he gets the way to 62. I've known Adam since he the remote. "It gives him the opportunity to was 18, so I remember what he looked like redeem himself before it's too late," when he was 25, and he's exactly the same in observes Coraci. "That's what makes the the movie. We used a little CG for the early film interesting: It offers insight that you aging, but Rick did all the older makeup

MUTE. With Sandler in controi as a producer, Coraci had the iuxury of little studio interference. "It's very much the

film I ivanfedto make," he says.

transformed. He stayed in character most of

the time; I hardly ever had to remind him of his [on-screen] age.

"Adam and I go way back. We both went to NYU, and he was in my short films when we were in school, and my video projects later on. I was around when he was first doing standup, so I understand his comedy

and we have developed a trust that is invalu- able. As a performer, he has gotten better and better, growing and maturing. And in Click, he reaches depths that I don't think he has hit before. He gets very emotional, and I believe his performance is going to blow people away. The rapport we had on The Waterboy was no different on this movie, but Adam is now a bit older, married and has a baby. It was a chance for us to share what has happened in lives STOP. After battling vampires, werewolves and harpies, i/ndenvor/d heroine Kate our and let go a little Becl

"It's really about your state of mind. I'm Coraci. "I think he modeled much of it after the only one who really had a kid, so she at an interesting time in my life, because I'm his own dad, who passed away a couple of helped us make the family feel real. Kate is not married yet, and I feel I'm entering a years ago. So it became special for him in very girly, but also quite a tomboy; she's new stage. I've always tried to appreciate that way, and it was interesting to see him gorgeous and made us all laugh. Everyone

44 STARLOG/AMgMj? 2006 —

had a crush on her as the sexy character in share an understanding. I'm really happy

Underworld, but here she's the perfect girl with the movie. It's very much the film I you want to marry. And her New York accent wanted to make." is flawless. I loved working with her, and I He's similarly satisfied with Around the would love to do more stuff together. World in 80 Days, a box-office disappoint- "Everybody knows Christopher Walken ment that Coraci believes was mismarketed is hilarious, and he has been funny in inde- as children's entertainment instead of a pendent films like Pulp Fiction, where he movie for both youngsters and adults. "My OFF. Don't touch that remote! Changing played it straight and still got laughs. So to goal was to bring the world a bit closer, since channels from fantasy-comedy to have Chris actually play comedy is great, I felt it was coming apart at the seams," he "Tiki noir," Coraci's next project will be because he does it Uke nobody else. With his explains. "I wanted to show that we aren't Hawaiian Dicl<. word cadence, he can say anything and that different from each other, but maybe somehow make you laugh. He's the only guy people weren't ready for that. Look, all you next project," he reveals. "It takes place in on the planet I can imagine in this role, pre- can do is make a picture you're proud to put Hawaii in the early 1950s, before statehood. cisely because he seems to be from another your name on. The rest you can't control." I call it Tiki noir mixed with comedy and the world. I tried to make him more kid-friendly Coraci's first movie was the low-budget supernatural. It's about a down-on-his-luck by giving him curly hair and a nutty look, Murdered Innocence (1995). "That was a private detective from Chicago with a wrin- along with suspenders and a bow tie, almost film noir, as is Hawaiian Dick, which is my kled Hawaiian shirt who finds himself in funny but also quite horrific situations. It hasn't been cast yet.

"The first time film noir came around

was right after WWII, and I feel like we're in a similar kind of period with that same strange moral grounding. Hawaiian Dick shifts between the real and the unreal, like

Click, and I love that. I enjoy reality, but I'm

a dreamer too, so I like to create different

worlds. Even in The Wedding Singer, I devised this sort of alternate '80s, my inter-

pretation of that time. In Hawaiian Dick, I want to mesh noir and the supernatural in a

stylized way that is something fresh." Still, like all good filmmakers, Coraci understands that the most important aspect

of any movie is solid storytelling. "You have to be tmthful when you set out to tell a story, and the characters have to be truthful in what

they're doing. I think movies have a soul

from the first day you think about making

that film, the soul is there, and as it evolves,

you know what it means to you. It's the truth between you and what the movie should be. "So when you have a question about a detail, you look into the soul of the film and PLAY. Directing Wall

This is Coraci's fifth film, and while some directors would be daunted by the box- office expectations of a Sandler picture, Coraci believes working with his friend actually lessens studio interference. "Making movies is the ulfimate privilege, because I get to dream up something in my head, and then all these people help me make it come alive," he reflects. "The diffi- cult thing is when a movie costs so much money, and you've got to please lots of peo- ple, then other people get involved in your vision—sometimes the studio steps in and changes things you feel strongly about. But the experience on Click was great because Adam controls his own fate as both actor and EJECT. Coraci thinks Sandler's C//c/f performance will surprise people not used to producer, and we have similar tastes and seeing the actor as a more mature, emotional family man. www.starlog.com SThRl^OG/August 2006 45 "

almost two decades, screenwrit- ate a script that Warner Bros, was immedi- eign [to non-comics moviegoers]. Let's put Forers have tried to revive the original ately excited about. "Warners was fantastic," Superman back in our world, and then we superhero film franchise. And, at says Harris. "They were into this story from can get bigger.'

last, it has happened. Partnered with the beginning, and supported everything we "They took their X-Men 2 director Bryan wanted to do. We never tried to get too crazy. a huge risk," Singer, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris We said, 'Superman hasn't been on the big are seeing their efforts come to fruition on screen in 20 years. We want to bring him the big screen in Superman Returns. back in a very stylish, sophisticated way. Working from an idea which the pair And we don't want to scare people off—no developed with Singer, they managed to cre- characters like Bizarro, who would be for-

Dougherty says. "They had been developing vari- ous incarnations of Superman for over 10 years." The pair are sitting in a confer- ence room in an Australian fdm stu- dio as they explain that a trip to Hawaii finally revived Superman after years of false starts. "In April 2003—which was a month before X2 came out—Bryan took me aside and said, 'We're talking about Superman again. They sent me the script,

and I haven't read it yet, but wouldn't it be neat to do Superman after X-MenT " says Dougherty. "At the time, I really wanted to do X-Men 3. That was the first time Bryan

pitched me the basic idea of, 'Wouldn't it be cool if Superman had disappeared, and then Ex-X-scribes Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris came back, and everything had changed?' It was that simple, and there was nothing else reimagine Superman for the silver screen. to it then. But I thought, 'Let's finish this movie and then do X3 after that.' So it went away for a year. And then Hawaii came around."

X didn't mark the spot for Michael Dougherty and Dan {Harris. While the screenwriters wanted to pen X-Men 3, the opportunity to reinvent Superman was too tempting to pass up. Superman, "Since then, I've picked up comics and read what would we the books. The Fortress of Solitude always

do with that?' 'What made sense to me because it was the ice if Lois was with some- palace in Donner's movie. So those things, one else and had a kid?' Over and Christopher Reeve, were the visual those three days in Hawaii, we had markings of what became our film." "We never even thought this giant discussion, and we had a two-page "I was four when the movie came out

about it [during that time]," treatment by the time we landed. Un- [1978], and I remember seeing it," says Harris notes. "We were in Hawaii, the three fortunately for X-Men 3, Superman started Dougherty. "That was my first conscious of us, with [executive producer] Chris Lee. dominating every conversation." introduction to Superman. After that, I And then there was a pivotal moment: 'Well, "It was one of those projects where the watched Super-Friends, picked up the now Superman has been offered. It's a real suggestions came so quickly and so fast that comics and stuff like that. But because that possibility.' We loolced at the original idea they had to be right," Harris observes. film was my initiation, I compare everything

from back then and started putting together "Things worked so well, and suddenly the else to it. When I was a kid, watching Super- scenarios and figuring out how we could group dynamic was thinking in the same Friends, I thought, 'The Fortress isn't sup- move forward from that point: how to handle direction, that we were on to something. All posed to look like that! It doesn't have big " the character and expand upon the idea that of us invested so much in Superman during metal doors; it's supposed to be crystal!' the world has changed, and [exploring why] those three days. We came up with so many "When I was a kid, I went and bought

messiahs leave, what they leave behind and ideas on our vacation that it clearly wasn 't a The Death of Superman [comic book], how that affects people." vacation anymore. Never go on a trip with because that was a big rumor, that Superman "It's funny," says Dougherty. "There was your boss!" dies; the cover had pieces of the American a really crucial car ride to the airport in flag blowing around," Harris recalls. "I was

Hawaii. We were talking about Logan's Run Fortress of Solitude reading through it, and 1 thought, 'These vil- possibly being our next project, or maybe X- Ever since the inception of Superman lains are so foreign to me!' Because my Men 3 or Superman. It was a really interest- Returns, Singer and the screenwriters have Superman is the '78 movie, and the comics' ing drive, because when in your life do you looked not to the comics but to the original villains don't work together in the same uni- get to pick from three different films? We Superman movie as their inspiration for verse! But for this movie, we're all on the started talking about, 'If we make X-Men 3, Superman Returns. "The genesis of same page. what are we going to do?' and we threw out Superman was, for all three of us, always the "The Donner film was our gateway to some ideas. And then we said, 'If we do Richard Donner film," Harris declares. Superman, and then from the George Reeves www.starlog.coin SlKmJOG/August 2006 47 "

TV series we went to Lois & Clark, which I Superman is embraced in Superman Re- grew up watching. But I never really thought turns. "1 wondered if that had been forgot- that was totally Superman; Lois & Clark was ten, and then I noticed it creeping back into the TV version of Superman. The movie will the comic books," says Dougherty. "I think always be the classic in my mind. And then Donner and John Barry, the film's produc-

Smallville hit a few years ago [see sidebar], tion designer, came up with that motif, and it and that dominated the culture. Then we has stuck. One of the things we like to watch went to the San Diego Comic-Con, where on the set is the Saturday Night Live parody we saw that 'S' everywhere. with Hugh Jackman, which takes place in "It's responsibility, WHERE HAS a big but because the Fortress of Solitude. Jackman is things happened so fast, we trust each other Superman and Will Ferrell is Jor-El, and the HE GONE? creatively and things have worked and gelled design of the Fortress of Solitude is from the so quickly, we're confident that we're mak- '78 film. Family Guy did the same thing. It ing a good movie. We're not rewriting histo- has become a part of Superman's, visual ry—we're using Bryan's idea of bouncing identity." off something that already exists, and taking "For me, what was important was that it to a different level and twisting things a Superman is coming back to this world," 1 bit. But we're not denying who these charac- Harris notes, "so how could we make the ters are." story more than just a superhero battling a After returning from Hawaii, the pair villain who has done something entirely immediately began working on a first draft. Earthbound? How could this be something

"We took that treatment and expanded it, on bigger? What connects Superman to his his- our own, and presented it to Bryan," says tory? What connects him to his past?" Dougherty. "We talked with him, and he let us run with it. Then we sat down and wrote City of Kandor Where has he gone? And why? The film's a line-by-line treatment, which we took to Harris and Dougherty discussed writing — premise centers on Superman returning the folks at Warner Bros. X2 in #314. And they're script- STARLOG to Earth after being away for awhile. Now, "Bryan basically pitched Superman by ing a story for Marvel's Ultimate X-Men. the Kryptonian must discover his place reading that treatment," interjects Harris. "We sfill love the X-Men—it's not like we're (and purpose) on our planet. "From the moment we landed, we had been turning our backs on them completely," says working solidly to get something he could Dougherty. had to confront the issue of keeping the Man read and pitch them." "It's going to be far darker than an X-Men of Steel—who made his comics debut in Although their script went through movie," Harris confides. "That was the ini- 1938—relevant to today's audiences. And changes, much of it remains just as it was tial impulse to do it: What terrible, terrifying eventually, that issue was reflected in their originally conceived. "It's weird, because things have we always wanted to do in an X- script. "Because that's what Superman is the main plot points remain true," Dougherty Men movie, but couldn't?" facing," says Dougherty. "In so many ways, explains. "But there are changes every day. "We were talking about story ideas with he's someone who has stepped out of the

They're usually smaller things, but it's fun to Bryan, and he said, 'What if it was a Rose- '30s and is trying to find his place in the go back, read it and reaUze how much is still mary's Baby kind of thing? What would you modern day. there." get if you mixed Rosemary 's Baby and The "Even in the 1978 film, you had the con-

"The core of everything still exists," Omen with X-MenT And it just blew up cept of the country boy in the big city, his

Harris reveals. "We're on [about the 25th from there!" laughs Dougherty. awkwardness, and figuring out who he is as draft], but they're not page-one rewrites; Singer, Dougherty and Hairis are also Clark Kent and who he is as Superman. This they're dialogue tweaks or effects-based providing the storylines (with scripting by movie is similar, because he's coming back scenes, which require changes based on tim- others) for a quartet of DC Comics one-shots after going someplace else for a period of ing and other issues. But we're making the published in June. The four serve as prequels time, so when he returns, he has to re-adjust picture we wanted to make." to Superman Returns: Krypton to Earth, Ma again. There has always been that fish-out- The unique crystalline Kryptonian look Kent, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. of-water [element to Superman], and those of the Fortress of Solitude in Donner's In writing Superman Returns, the pair great moments are sometimes as simple as

Young Clark Kent (Stephan Bender) is the boy who could fly. The country kid grows up and moves to the big city, but his rustic roots are never far from his heart. —

him saying, 'Swell!' That's a piece of termi- nology from that era, and it sums up Superman." Another important thing the movie addresses is Superman's alien nature. "It's a huge part of his mythology, and you can't ignore that," says Dougherty. "The weird thing is, some people have completely for- gotten that. They view Superman as a guy with super-powers, but he's actually not from this planet." "It's always funny when people say he's the ultimate American superhero, because " we tell them, 'He's not!' Harris laughs. "Superman is the ultimate immigrant—and he's an alien, by the way. He grew up as an American farm boy, but we're trying to reach a broader audience with this film."

"Our story asks: 'Is it OK to become dependent on a messiah figure? And what happens when that messiah leaves?' " says

Dougherty. "The question is, 'Is it better if he had never come at all? Do we become over-reliant on someone who is always there to catch us when we fall?' That definitely became one of the main thrusts as we were developing our story." World of Metropolis Lex Luthor was the obvious villain for Superman Returns, although Dougherty confesses that his favorite Superman foe is General Zod. "General Zod has never gone away," Dougherty says. "He keeps popping up and, again, all this goes back to the films. The general public doesn't really know or care about the gallery of villains from the Superman comics." "The baddies all got thrown to Batman," says Harris. "Batman has an incredible array of villains with real pasts and mythos. With Superman, we're dealing with Bizarro and Mr. Mxyzptlk—guys who require a lot of creative thinking to put them on the screen." "I remember reading the comics with

Doomsday, and I thought, 'I don't care!' He's a big guy made of rocks who can beat things up. That's not interesting to me there's no dimension at all," Dougherty says.

"Luthor is great because it's the ultimate where Superman asks, 'Is this how a sick one after another, off the side of the cliff," story of mind vs. muscle, brains vs. brawn, mind like you gets his kicks? Causing the says Harris. "But just when they're about to man vs. superman. Luthor sometimes is the deaths of innocent people?' And Gene Hack- hit the ground, they stop in mid-air. They scientist or the politician or the ultimate man, you just see the smile drop from his look up, and there's Superman holding the businessman, but I've always found the most face. We keep referring back to that moment whole chain of them. And then he lets them interesting aspect of his personality to be as what we're going for here." down softly. It was a nice little beat." that he's not really a bad guy; he's just xeno- While almost all of their story points The Lois Lane seen in Superman Returns phobic. He hates the idea of an alien on remain from the original script, some (played by Kate Bosworth) is in a drastical- Earth having that much power. So in favorite scenes had to be cut. "There was a ly different situation than when Superman essence, Luthor [isn't evil] as much as he is sequence where Superman comes back to left five years ago. "Lois is a contemporary pro-human. Unfortunately, there aren't too the farm and finds it dilapidated and run woman, and she always has been," Harris many Superman characters as well-devel- down from years of neglect, because Ma has explains. "This big change in Lois' life gave oped as him." had a hard time maintaining it on her own," us the thrust to get through the movie. One Although Luthor has sometimes been says Dougherty. "So as a way of building up of the biggest problems with action-adven- played for comedy in the past, Kevin his powers again, he refurbishes the entire ture films is that they're entirely action- Spacey's megalomaniac has a darker side. farm. You see him lifting the tractors above adventure. You miss the characters and your "He's a bit more sinister," Harris notes. his head, plowing the field, stuff like that. It love of story. So this was our way into doing

"He'll get laughs, but he turns on a dime. was really neat, and it was in the script for a something a little different." You'll be laughing at him, and then you'll long time, but for different reasons it fell by "That was the first thing that Bryan realize how creepy what he has just done is. the wayside." thought ofi 'What if Superman left and came

This is a sinister, scary Lex." "My favorite little sequence had a bunch back, and found out that Lois was in love "We referenced the first film," says of young climbers all tied together for safe- with somebody else? And what if she also " Dougherty. "There's that great moment ty, but the first one slips, so then they all fall. had a kid?' says Dougherty. "When Super- www.starlog.com STARLOG/August 2006 49 man returns, he sees something he wishes he had his entire life, which is the life of a nor- mal human being." "Plus, a relationship becomes a much bigger deal and struggle when a child is involved," Harris notes. "And that gets you to asking yourself, 'How does he remain the

Man of Steel in all ways, but still compro- mise and have a dark side, doubts and ques- tions?' It's clearly a problem." Town of smallville The previous Superman scripts being developed didn't hit the right notes for either writer, which is why they looked at Donner's movie. "Before getting involved in the pro- ject, the Kevin Smith draft got leaked on- line," says Dougherty. "I heard the story details, and back then, it was like, 'You guys are doing it wrong.' Again, going back to the '78 version, that was such the pinnacle and archetypal way of doing a Superman film.

So any time I heard about a Superman script that didn't pay attention to or acknowledge that film, it drove me crazy."

Adds Harris: "I would look at these Director Bryan Singer sparl

However, Superman Returns doesn't temporary spin we've put on this film is that "Superman is, by definition, a lighter, more slavishly follow the four prior Superman Superman is going back to a place that has colorful superhero, compared to someone pictures. "He won't be spinning the world in changed: the wars are bigger, the crime is like Batman. There's always that element the wrong direction!" assures Dougherty. worse... Superman has been away, and peo- of—I don't want to say self-pity—but a cer- "And there aren't any time-travel things or ple question whether they even wanted him tain amount of introspection. If you show levitating people with finger beams, either!" in the first place. How much help was he to Clark out in a rainy alley smashing beer bot- "Bryan told us to remember everything start with if he's just going to leave?" tles against the wall, though, then you've that was good about Superman and Super- "There's a certain amount of brooding gone way too far! But if you show him try- man II and forget everything that was bad!" that you're allowed to have, even if he is the ing to figure out who he is, then you're OK." smiles Harris. "Superman comes back to a place where The third and fourth Superman movies Lois has moved on with a family," says haven't been disregarded, even though fans Deciding on a villain Harris. "So he has to make major decisions for look back derisively at those later efforts. was easy Dougherty on how to navigate the waters in this con- and Harris. Cold as "It's not about purging," Dougherty men- temporary world, and those are contempo- ice, the xenophobic, i tions. "I keep [comparing Superman to] the rary themes. And when they're put against megalomanical V James franchise: You love that charac- the '30s language visual or character- Bond Lex Luthor (Kevin '<*»A — ter; you know his history. There are some Spacey) was the wise—that makes [his struggle acceptable]." great films in that series, and then there are obvious choice. "Also, with Superman, I think it's hip to some that fade away from memory. But be square!" Dougherty jokes. "When he says

there's still something you love about [the 'Please,' 'Thank you' or 'I hope this experi- lesser entries], even if they're kind of cheesy, ence doesn't put you off flying—statistically and you can watch a new James Bond film speaking, it's still the safest way to travel,' without having seen the previous ones. As that's kind of cool. It's refreshing." long as you know the basic facts of who and "And it's great for us, because it makes

what he is, then you're fine. And this film is the movie fun," says Harris. "Superman very similar in that respect. Although there Returns isn't only action-rescue scenes; it's are no references to Richard Pryor or also about character. X-Men 2 is really close

Nuclear Man, we don't say it didn't happen, to our hearts, but it's also extremely dark and either." about the treatment of minorities and being Modem heroes have taken a darker turn, special in a world that doesn't totally accept which audiences have embraced, and while .you. Superman is the opposite of that." the writers had to acknowledge that the While the filmmakers are deeply com-

world is a more dangerous place, they're still mitted to making Superman Returns worthy keeping Superman pure. "His Boy Scoutish- of standing next to Donner's original, both

ness is what makes him Superman," Harris Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris admit announces. "That's the core of his character. they have a few ideas for a follow-up. You should never betray that. Instead, you "There's so much material layered into this just layer on unexpected twists and turns, movie that we've been thinking about a and the turmoil emerges from that. sequel ever since we started on this one," "When he goes back to the farm, or to says Harris. "There are plenty of seeds—and Ma Kent, or when he's standing in front of not just one of those scenes at the end where Jor-El at the Fortress, these are things that [the villain cackles] 'Ha! Ha!' and is still are the core identity of Superman. And they holding the Kryptonite ..." www.starlog.com STARLOG/AMgMif 2006 51 —

n Superman Returns, Parker Posey bares her claws as Kitty Kowalski, Lex Luthor's (Kevin Spacey) romantic in- terest and "Girl Friday." The actress I who goes back and forth between inde- pendent films (A Mighty Wind) and studio fare {Blade: Trinity)—has the morning off, but she's still on the set and happy to answer questions about her character. "Kitty isn't HELU married to Lex—she's kind of a gangster moll," explains Posey. "In this world, she's sort of glamorous, so Kitty and Lex repre- ^ sent what money can do to you." . Setting her needlepoint aside, Posey ly / / reaches for a handful of pistachio nuts, nib- bling occasionally as she talks. "There's something about Superman Returns that isn't realistic, like Christopher Guest's

movies," she observes. "The dialogue is strangely sophisticated for this day and age. Kitw Snacl(ing on pistachios, Parker Posey cliats about life witli Lex Lutlior. By KIM HOWARD JOHNSON

because it's a throwback to the innocence it that's different from Spider-Man, [in and purity of the Superman films—and, which Peter Parker] can run up buildings. also, just movies in general, because [direc- When Superman lands, and slowly stands

tor] Bryan Singer is such a film fan. He's up, it's graceful." very passionate about the cinema, and that Posey didn't grow up reading the comic comes out in both the humor and the action books, but she nonetheless jumped at the in this movie. Bryan takes all this very seri- chance to be a part of the Superman experi-

ously, so Superman Returns has a weight to ence. "I didn't get into the comics, but I

All Superman Characters & Photos: Trademark & Copyright 2006 DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. loved the movies," she says. "I read the is her arc?' These comic book movies are so script, and when they offered Kitty to me, I popular now, and people talk about these was like, 'Of course I will!' [When they sent things: 'Is Kitty going to turn? What is she " me the screenplay], I was hoping it would be going to do? Is she really bad?' good, and I was so happy and pleased that Kitty's relationship with Lex is some- they didn't mess it up in any way. This what complicated. "I think she fancies movie captures the Lois Lane and Clark wealth and romanticizes money; she's a

Kent dynamic so well, and it has such a romantic anti-hero," says Posey. "The great strong emotional intensity to it. Action and thing about Miss Teschmacher was she was comic book films are usually fast-paced and not a conscious villain. I like how they han- cheeky, but Superman Returns is referential dled that in the first Superman—she would to the original movie. The premise is time- be sunning herself or doing her nails or play- less: Superman is from another planet, but ing house. Kitty loves Lex, but she also he's stuck on Earth and will never find his believes he's an egomaniac. They're in a real mother and father. He's just a great simple relationship on one level—they're superhero." dealing with destroying the world—but Lex While Kitty echoes Valerie Perrine's gets away with a lot. And Kevin is doing a Miss Teschmacher from the original Super- great job—he is Lex!" man feature, the two aren't entirely kindred Working with Singer was an enticing spirits. "Miss Teschmacher is the blueprint prospect for Posey, but it took some time to for Kitty, and Valerie Perrine was so amaz- adjust to the pace of big-budget filmmaking. ing in that role," says Posey. "With Kitty, I "I immediately got Bryan," she remarks. "I ask myself, 'What if she can go undercover understand him and respect him. In the just as good as Lex? What if she's in it for beginning, though, I was like, 'Jeez, the long con? And if there are sequels, what Louise!' because Bryan will run off to the editing room between takes. But he can afford to be spontaneous with his directing.

"Bryan will say, 'I just got this idea!

Let's put it in! Place the camera there! We'll

shoot up to the ceiling!' And then you see it, and you're like, 'Oh, OK.' Sometimes things happen that you don't think are going to

happen, and it works for the camera and

everyone else, and it ends up being better. Bryan edits as he directs, so he's very cre- atively compulsive. He's fun, and I really like him. Bryan is a freak! "On an independent film, you shoot four scenes a day, but on this movie it's four shots

a day!" she laughs. "I get it now, and that's

why I have my needlepoint and my pista- chios! But [the slower pace] is harder. I would rather have a bunch of dialogue, so that my energy doesn't dissipate. It's a dif-

ferent technique; it's different than theater.

I'm learning on Superman what it's like to be in a Hollywood movie—and it covers a lot of ground." Superman Returns is being shot in Sydney, Australia and—with some free time on her hands—the actress has been able to explore the beautiful city. "Sydney is gor-

geous, but it's so far away," Posey notes. "The Botanical Gardens are amazing. The first couple of weeks I was here, I was work- Squid Pro Quo. ing five-day weeks, and I had the weekends Parker Posey to But I'm not [on the set] all has joined the acclimate. now Boston Legal the time. I had two days off last week, so I firm, playing was able to tour the Gardens and other IVlarlene "The places. I've also been doing lots of yoga." Squid" Stanger. Before returning to her needlepoint and pistachios, Parker Posey offers up a final comment on her approach to green-screen acting. "You really have to keep grounded with what's happening, so you aren't walk- ing into a green-screen sequence completely bored. You need to picture everything and think about what's going on— 'Read me that story about Superman again.' Green-screen

acting is like being a kid listening to a bed- time story: You just have to use your imagi- nation." ^

STARLOG/August 2006 53 -

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•g was impressed with him, and certainly inter- we would go every Saturday night. Bette with angel's wings. My mother made every- I ested. Then a couple of days later, the deal Davis, Claude Rains, those wonderful thing my sister and I wore, and our attic was g was set, and that was it. films—I grew up on them. In black-and- filled with paper wings because I was always a STARLOG: Did Singer happen to mention white. My Dad would say, "Well, we're the angel! £ why he thought of you? going to the movies," and that was the best STARLOG: Had you ever worked with 5 SAINT: No. Directors never do. Why, from thing in the world to do. James Karen before?

™ On the Waterfront, did Alfred Hitchcock STARLOG: What can you reveal about SAINT: No, but my husband and I knew his i think of me for the sexy spy lady in North by playing Martha Kent? first wife [folk singer Susan Reed] when we m Northwestll don't ^sno•w\ SAINT: I'm really just in the film's begin- were in Greenwich Village when we were * STARLOG: How much exposure have you ning, when Clark Kent comes home after first married. They had an antique store that i had to Superman in your life? five years, and we sit and talk. Martha still was wonderful—I still have a few bottles g SAINT: Well, through the decades, he has has the farm, and she has a boy friend from there. But I hadn't worked with him. " been a true pop-culture icon. I guess you [James Karen as Ben Hubbard]—that's new! STARLOG: How should one go about rais- g know the history of the two young men James is wonderful. In the movie, we play ing an adopted Superman? S [Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster] who thought up Scrabble together, and that happens to be my SAINT: Martha and her husband knew that of the comic book in the Depression, when favorite game in the world, so I felt very there was something special about this little ^ people had to have a hero. Superman was much at home. I don't think Jim plays it, so boy, especially when he started doing these I very popular—and how he tried to bring jus- I was showing him how to keep score. And incredible things. I remember reading that at tice to America and to the world, really. I I every time the board had to be set up for a some point [in the early history of Clark I feel that we need [a pop-culture icon like scene, I helped the crew guys, to be sure that Kent/Superman] there was a football game, ^ Superman] now as much as we ever have, the letters were all right. I play Scrabble and Clark ran with the ball or did something I because I don't see anybody helping any- almost every Saturday night with my hus- at the expense of his teammates. And his body in this world or in this country. For band Jeff [director Jeffrey Hayden], and folks sat him down and said, "You have this

I example, we're just now being told, if the when I beat him.. .well. ..remember The Gin extraordinary strength, but you can't do it » bird flu pandemic comes, we're supposed to Game with Hume Cronyn and Jessica just for yourself. You've got to help other

wash our hands [laughs]. Good God! So I Tandy? My husband is so good-spirited, but people with that power, I and set an example." believe people will get their popcorn and sit when we play and I start winning once in a They had a wonderful influence on him, I CM down for Superman Returns and think, while I'll start winning—he can get so mad. they were good parents and they carried that a "Look what could happen if someone really, And then I start swearing like Jessica. incredible burden of not being able to speak £ truly cared about people." It's the right time Remember how she swore in The Gin about what he could do. And they were ^ for something like this. Game! scared—^really scared—that if people did I STARLOG: When you were a kid growing STARLOG: Having grown up seeing you in find out, Clark might be taken away or who " up, your family went to the movies a lot. North by Northwest and other elegant roles, knows what. So that has been a secret that

g Which fantasy film characters were your I can't picture you swearing. But there was a she has kept, and it hasn't been easy. In the ° favorites? New York play called Duet for One where movie, my subtext was that even Martha's SAINT: I loved Tarzan. [Saint does the Tar- got lot I you a of press for the kind of lan- boy friend doesn't know. It's something that f zan yodel—loudly!] Yes, I can really do that. guage you used! Martha just can't talk about. I When I was young and we lived in Albany, I SAINT: My son Dartell has always said he Martha also designed that "S" [on the I would jump off our little back porch, and thought I was a closet swearer. My husband Superman costume], but it's kinda funny c then swing on this big rope that went from and I do the play Love Letters a lot, and we 'cause / think it's S for Saint [laughs]. Kate E one tree to the top of a neighbor's garage. I love it, and my character swears now and Bosworth is so dear; she gave everybody a I really thought I was Tarzan's mate. And then. My son says, "I just know you can't silver chain with this littie emblem that has ^ remember the blonde in King Kongl I also wait to get to those parts!" [Laughs] And it's an S on it. I wear it a lot because it's beauti- wanted to do that [be Fay Wray]. So, two of true! I guess it's breaking the image, because fully done. Somebody will ask me, "Is that

my favorites were Tarzan and King Kong. the name is Saint and I'm blonde. I was for Superman or Saint?" And I always say, None of us were in show business when I looking through some pictures and papers "Superman." was little, but my father loved the movies. the other day, and there was one from STARLOG: Raising Clark, did Martha do He was a businessman, a Quaker, my Mom Albany, when I guess I was in the second the things you would have done if you had a was a schoolteacher, and I had a sister, and grade, and there I am in a Christmas pageant Super-kid?

I'N.X

Director Bryan Singer asked Saint to join Superman Returns. "I * liadn't seen his films, but Bryan has an incredible » reputation," she says. "And all the young

people know him! " , —

SAINT: Oh, yes. I've always been protec- Now & then. Saint's extraordinary career tive, but not too protective. You take care of spans nearly half a century. Asked about her best movie experience, the actress your little birds, but then eventually they sharply responds, "The nexf one." have to fly away from the nest. Mine have my daughter and son have a sense of inde- pendence and do their own thing. Clark kinda wants to stay on the farm, but Martha convinces him that he can do more and should do more, because his place isn't working on the farm. Another kind of moth- er would say, "Oooh, it's so lonely here, help me with the farm," but Martha doesn't. She knows what's best for him—and for mankind. STARLOG: You, with all your experience, working with Brandon Routh, a relative newcomer—what was that like? SAINT: The very beginning of the film, where I do my work, was the very beginning for everybody. It was up at Martha's farm at Tamworth, north of Sydney. And right from in North by Northwest, Roger Thornhill Grant) Kendall (Saint) the start, Brandon was so conscientious and (Gary and Eve have a few cocktails and erotic exchanges very sweet, and he wanted to really get it before treachery and terror ensue. right. And as a person, a young man, he has both feet on the ground. It has been almost a year since we all started, and I recently saw him in Australia for some extra scenes, and he had grown so much. I don't mean in height [laughs]. He's very tall, but he just seemed more mature, and certainly sure of himself.

I can't imagine what it was like to step into that role and get geared up to play Superman. Physically, mentally, all ways. Every day, he was in training—it was like he was an athlete. I didn't see it, but he was always working out, or in the swimming pool to get a sense of gravity, so that when he flew, the viewer would have the sense that he really is flying. I think that he's going to be wonderful. He does look a little like Christopher Reeve; I hope people don't compare, but of course, you can't ignore that... STARLOG: He'll be compared to Super- mans all the way back to the 1940s. SAINT: But Brandon is his own self, and he'll bring Brandon to the role. He's from Iowa, and ever since he was a kid, people thought he looked like Superman and Christopher Reeve, 'cause he has the dark hair and he's tall. Every Halloween, when he was a child, he dressed up as Superman, and that was his dream. Now his dream has come true, because here he is. Superman.

STARLOG: What was it like shooting in Australia? SAINT: Have you ever been there? Oh [awe-filled whispering], you've gotta go, it's so beauuuu-tiful. The country is one of the most gorgeous places my husband and I have ever Saint's first movie was On the Waterfront been. We don't usually go on each other's with Marlon Brando. Now, in Superman sets, but it was far away, and I said, "Honey, Returns, she's in his last live-action film this time around, let's go together." He was (he appears via unused 1978 footage). not working at the moment, so he went with me and we experienced it together. If we Her husband of more than 50 years, didn't have family here [in California], I Jeffrey Hayden (left) is an accomplished think we would try to live there part of the TV director. His credits include Batman, year, because it's so beautiful, and the The Incredible Hulk and Knight Rider. www.starlog.com STARLOG/August 2006 57 —

weather is perfect. In Sydney, our hotel was only a block along the harbor to the Opera House, which is the best place in the world to be. They have all these ferries, so you get on a ferry and one day you can go to the zoo, the next day the aquarium and so on. And the people are so generous. We stopped ask- ing how to get to places in the neighbor- hood, because everyone would say, "We'll take you. Just follow us." "No, no, no we'll find it!" STARLOG: To play Clark's elderly mother, you must have been made up. SAINT: Oh, are you funnyl No sirree Bob, my God, nooo! Did you see Don't Come Knocking [2005]? I played Sam Shepard's mother in that, and one newspaper did say I could be his girl friend! Alfred [Laughs] That was very com- Hitchcock's plimentary. blonde leading STARLOG: serious. I've ladles were I'm always seen you in recent stuff, and I beautiful—but wouldn't have thought of you they could be as looking old enough to be deadly, too. cast in that role.

However, SAINT: I have my Mom's appearances are spirit. She died at 91, and she deceiving in the was a tiny lady, and she just tangled web walked and walked and of North by Northwest. walked through life, as my father did—she kept in shape. I try to keep in shape and healthy and eat the right

things and walk. I worked with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, and he empha- sized that, for actors, our bod-

If you pay close ies are our instruments, and attention, you'll we have to take care of them. notice the Mount But I probably have good Rushmore scene genes from my Mom. She where Saint didn't look 91. ..whatever that injured her look is. elbow. STARLOG: In the "Making Is Eve out to get—or of on the North by Northwest DVD, you save—Roger? The mentioned— that, acting-wise, you wanted to movie keeps Roger do it all "the real and the unreal." (and audiences) SAINT: A Hatful ofRain [1957] and On the guessing until the Waterfront were "real." As Hitch would say, stunning final act. "the kitchen sink movies." And then the "unreal" movies would be, say. North by o Northwest and now Superman. E STARLOG: Especially Superman. This is With no plans to retire, probably the un-realest movie you'll ever Saint has kept in busy make! recent movies like SAINT: That's true. And, depending on Don't Come Knocking and Because of how it goes, they're gonna do another one. I Winn-Dixie (pictured). don't know what it would be called Superman Returns Returns'! Returns Number Twol STARLOG: Are you looking forward to your grandkids' reaction to this film?

SAINT: Oh, yes! We were given little

things, like shirts and paperweights, and I gave them to our youngest one, who's 16.

All of our grandkids are very excited. I never wanted to do a movie that my grand- children couldn't see—and I never have, actually. As they grow up and watch my films, I've always wanted to be proud of the things I've done. STARLOG: I'm having trouble thinking of

www.starlog.coin ! —

many actresses who have appeared with up with, "Now, you won't see me, but you'll to sit down and hear what someone else had more top leading men in her time, and now hear me applauding." I did so well, the next to say. It was hard to believe we were talking Superman. Do you ever regret your vow week I was on camera. But that was an about the same person, because everyone never to date an actor? expense, because I had to buy a nice dress. had different responses, depending on how

SAINT: [Whispering] Good God, no! I luck- And since I was being paid $10, 1 was in the he treated us. ed out with my dear husband, who's a direc- hole! I also did a Keds commercial: "Keds STARLOG: Do you still have a scar on your tor. See, that makes it great. For instance, he are keen! Keds are neat! Keds are best for arm from sliding down the North by has this incredible production going now at your family's feet! Wear 'em\" I had been a Northwest Mount Rushmore set? the Actors Studio, August Wilson's Fences. cheerleader in high school, and I loved it, so, SAINT: Yes, my left elbow, a little scar

He directed it, and the letters that he has you see, everything you do in life [eventual- there. The prop guy who was supposed to been getting from people who really know ly comes in handy]. catch me was probably off drinking coffee theater have been extraordinary. I can bask There were a bunch of variety shows in somewhere! He wasn't there, and so I slid in his success, and he can be excited about the early days of television, and then it too far. The camera kept going, and you can

Superman. So, you give and take. Maybe I segued into the wonderful dramas which I see me rubbing that elbow—and for good wouldn't have continued acting if I had mar- did so many of. We would rehearse for about reason ried a lawyer—I really don't know. But from 10 days so that we would be ready to do a STARLOG: Do you ever watch your old the very beginning, Jeff and I have been show, and it was live, and once you started, films? interested in each other's work and respect- once you were on that rollercoaster, no mat- SAINT: No. It's so funny, people will call ed each other's talent. I'll have been married ter what happened, you had to go through to and say, "Eva Marie, such-and-such is on 55 years come October, and we still feel that the end. And crazy things did happen! That tonight," and I say, "Thanks for calling! way. I get as much excitement out of his suc- was the bloodbath. After that experience, I That's very sweet of you." And I put down cess as my things, and vice versa. STARLOG: According to an old article about you, you met in an elevator.

SAINT: No, it was a subway at Rockefeller Plaza. Jeff was in radio, wanting to be a director, and I was understudying in the play Mister Roberts, and he saw me on the sub- way. From the back. I had a long purple cor- duroy coat, very chic in those days, and a modeling book that was black with gold let- tering. He saw EVA MARIE SAINT on it and said to himself, "Oh, that's an interest- ing name." There was a floor at NBC, Radio City, where all the actors would gather and call LExington 2-1100 for auditions, callbacks and jobs. We didn't have cell phones, so we called from there—that was the hub, and it was always filled with actors. So Jeffrey went through one day, going from his office Just like Martha, Saint can lLassie and we did visit that day; I had both lucked out. People ask me, "What's the North by Northwest. I don't think Tippi children with me. And.. .well. ..it was a very secret?" and I say, "If I knew the secret, I Hedren, for instance, had done that much sad day, because that's when they found out could write a book and make $10 million!" movie acting before The Birds [1963]. I was there was more than one Lassie. What was STARLOG: Well, what's part of the secret? happily married, I was a mature woman, and the point of them learning that? It was like, SAINT: I think you both have to be givers in I'm sure he had no Pygmalion kind of "There's no Santa Claus." Even / didn't the sense that.. .if you're both giving, you're thoughts: "Oh, what I could do with her, I know that, because Jeff and I never sat both receiving. You need to have an under- could make her over," whatever. around talking about how many Lassies standing of raising children, of money, One time, at some event, several of the there were! respect for one another—and you need to do ex-Hitchcock leading ladies were there, STARLOG: Many modern movie stars things together, but not always; have inter- about five of us, and we were talking about either have pet causes or are very political ests apart... Hey, I'm writing that book right the man. When it was my turn, I said, "You much more so than in the old days. Where do now! [Laughs] know, I feel like we were all different wives, you stand on that? STARLOG: Supposedly your first "show having been married to Hitchcock, and we SAINT: I think the ones who do [take polit- biz" job was as an "applauder" for an NBC all have a different story and had a different ical stands] are sincere. I have never taken variety show. reaction to the man." It was true—my reac- the political pulpit, but.. .well, as I said earli- SAINT: The Borden Show [1947]. I called tion was so different from Tippi, Janet er, I think Superman is so right for today, my folks and I said, "I've got my first televi- Leigh, Karen Black and Suzanne Pleshette. because I don't see any leaders, I don't see sion job!" But then I had to quickly follow We remarked later on how interesting it was anybody helping anybody in this country. I www.starlog.eom STARLOGMw^M^f 2006 59 — —

think we're being so destructive. I'm against DOnT MISS WhAT's tlie war. Nobody asks me, but I am. And we're not ready for anythiing, like the bird flu. And we know now that, after Katrina, if^i On i^Pi ri Till they'll never rebuild. It's gone. And God forbid what happens when the next hurri- cane comes. Interviews: David If you are a celebrity and you have a Duchovny. Rene voice, you can be heard a little bit over all Auberjonois, Salome i-ri IV! Jens, Tim Russ, Pat the voices screaming about everything Tallman, Richard Here's the programming lineup whether it's politics or, in my case, causes. Chevolleau. Sliders. S10 of past editions. Order NOW. Our grandson has epilepsy, so I talk about that. My daughter [USA Network senior vice-president Laurette Hayden] is president of the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater LA, and she does so much, getting people involved. Fifty million people are affected

by it, and the medicine doesn't always work—our grandson still has a mild seizure every few weeks.

So it's important to get the word out for more research and to make people aware of

it, and not be afraid of it. That is one of the #3 #4 #5 things that I care about. Another is "Get Off Interviews: Chris Interviews: Kate Interviews: Robert Intervievtfs: Christopher the or Get Off the Road." I Carter, Nicole deBoer, Mulgrew, Michael Dorn, Picardo, Garrett Wang, Judge, Ben Browder, Phone think the Bill IVlumy, Robert Armin Shimerman, Alyson Hannigan, Michael Easton, Chris idea of drivers using cell phones is crazy. Duncan McNeill, Jonathan LaPaglia, X- Cirroc Lofton, Anita La Owens, Kevin Kilner, And another is The Wonder of Reading, an Roxann Dawson, Mark director Rob Bowman. Selva, Richard Burgi, Nick Searcy, 65 direc- Dacascos, X-writer Young Jules Verne. Sabine Karsenti, Kevin tor Janet Greek. organization which my son-in-law is Vince Gilligan. Complete Babylon 5 Conroy, John Writing Trek. Cope- S6 involved with, that provides libraries for Animated Godzilla. S6 Episode, Guide. $6 land. The Sentinel Epi- sode Guide. S6 kids who don't have much, in the poorer sections of LA. I've gone to a few events

-'•1" and read to the kids. That's what I care icta-i'< about. STARLOG: When are you going to slow down? SAINT: [Laughs] What a question! Do you know what my Mom used to say? I would tell her, "Mom, you're 90. Why don't you..." And she would reply, "Honey, just keep moving!' And that's what you do. A friend UH of ours in the medical profession, he's 70, #E #8 #ia told me, "Eva Marie, are you only happy Interviews: Jeri Ryan, Interviews: Tia Carrere, Interviews: Gillian Interviews: Sebastian when you work?" I said, "My God, no. I'm Sarah Michelle Gellar Eric Close, Jonathan Anderson, James Spence, Katherine Renee O'Connor, Nana Frakes, Amanda Tap- Marsters, Robert Heigl, Jennifer Sky, happy as a wife, mother, grandmother. But Visitor, Terry Farrell, ping, Robert Trebor. Leeshock, Michael Phil LaMarr, Melissa this is what I do, so I don't want to retire. Carrie Dobro, Jason Roswell. 7 Days. Shanks, Christien Crider, Farscape cre- Why don't you retire?" He said, "Because I Carter, Alan Scarfe, Beastmaster. Black Anholt, Glen Larson, ator Rockne O'Bannon, First Wave creator Scorpion, S7 Now & Again creator Roswell creator Jason love what I do, too." Chris Brancato. S6 Glenn Gordon Caron. Katims. The Others. I can't imagine retiring. I'll work as long Big Guy & Rusty. J\J's Jack of All Trades. Starship Troopers FX. Complete Millennium & as I'm needed and wanted and there are Complete Hercules Poltergeist Episode scripts for me at my age. I don't know what Note: Issue #7 is SOLD OUT. Episode Guide. S7 Guides. S7 I would do instead—have lunch with the ladies? No, I don't do lunch with the ladies. SCI-FI TV BACK ISSUES I'm just not that kind of a person. STARLOG: Making what movie was your

Please send me these SCI-FI TV issues best experience? # Price # Price Total enciosed: $_ SAINT: [Pauses] The next one. # Price # Price STARLOG: Good answer! # Price # Price I I I I I 1„,I 1^ I I I SAINT: It's almost like children: "Who's Account No, Postage & Handling: One magazine add your favorite?" You can't have favorites. $4. Two to five magazines add $ 1 0. Six or Card Expiration Date: /_ .(IVlo.A'r.) I've gone from On the Waterfront—which more magazines add $12, Foreign: One was my first; it was incredible—to North by magazine add $1 1 . Two or more add $5 Your Daytime Phone #: { per magazine. New York State residents Northwest and Don't Come Knocking, with add 8 1/4% sales tax, Wim Wenders directing and Sam Shepard

Mettiod of Payment: Print Name As It Appears On Your Card playing my son. You can't get better than Cash aCheck QMoney Order that. Well, yeah Superman Returnsl See, Discover Master Card Street it's always the next one. Visa STARLOG: When Superman Returns Re- Cash, ctiecl( or money order to: turns along City State Zip comes and they offer you a part, STARLOG GROUP, INC. are you gonna take it? 1372 Broadway, 2nd Floor course! I New York, NY 10018 SAINT: Of [Laughs] think it's in Your Signature my contract. See, I'm a shrewd business If you do not want to cut out coupon, lady! 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 TAKE A TIME MACHINE TOUR OF THE SET OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S FINAL FILM.

n May 1975, in order to announce that of his own mystery series, Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock was about to begin pro- Presents, or as the poster boy for Universal's I duction on Family Plot, his 53rd film, studio tours) had made Hitchcock's media Universal Pictures staged a midday recep- image as salable as his movies. Except for tion in the classic Hollywood mold. The lun- Walt Disney (and such later figures as cheon was held on a sprawling cemetery Steven Spielberg and George Lucas), .awn erected on the studio backlot just for Hitchcock had a higher public profile than he occasion. Tombstones with guests' any other filmmaker in history, and

names etched onto them (Hitchcock's own Universal was taking full advantage of it. macabre idea) were scattered over the Throughout the luncheon, Hitchcock—in grass. Black-veiled waitresses quietly customary dark suit—held court: posing for passed out Bloody Marys to the jaded photos beside his own gravestone, answer- flip'iorps of journalists, publicists and studio ing tired questions he had already heard hun- personnel. A crazed organist pounded dreds of times, offering a few reluctant out the strains of a dirge as if he were words of his own to the gathering and final- providing the accompaniment to one of ly presenting the members of his cast, there- H.tcjcock^^.^^^^^^ Hitchcock's early British silent films. by inflicting upon himself what he termed Returning The director—at 76, then the longest-liv- "the indignity of introducing actors." production veterans (F>l"?.?^*He^i ing, still-active veteran of Hollywood's As one witnessed the awesome image of Golden Age, and knowledgeable of the ways Hitchcock going through his familiar the press played himself once more. All motions beneath the scorching California ^^^'JuttheP^"'''^"'"^'^'^'' of — his years on television (whether as the host Sun, time seemed to fade away. But for the www.starlog.coin STARLOG/AMgMi? 2006 61 —

A few days into the 10-week shoot, William Devane (eventually of Knots Landing) replaced The Invaders' Roy Thinnes as the suave l

presence of one or two long-haired journal- ists and a cast that included Bruce Dern and Karen Black instead of Gary Grant and Joan Fontaine, this same luncheon might be tak- Adding to the action, pre-Sfar Wars, were first assistant director Howard Kazanjian ing place in 1945. things Some never (who would later produce Return of the Jedi) and composer John Williams. change, Hollywood press parties among them. assistants and even visitors wear obligatory work was mostly in theater, is obviously un-

ties and jackets. Hair length ranges from comfortable and still getting accustomed to Family Affairs crewcut to young-hip-executive. And no one both the medium and the director.

Six weeks later, mid-July, Hitchcock's approaches the Master without prior ar- Meanwhile, his partner-in-crime Black is Family Plot is well into production. Based rangement and proper introductions. in the middle of her own dispute with very loosely on British novelist Victor Hitchcock generally avoids the center of Hitchcock. Again, the concept of how to Canning's The Rainbird Pattern as scripted activity. When he is on set, there is always a play the role is at issue. For days, the Uni- by Ernest {North by Northwest) Lehman, hidden area close to the actors where he sits versal rumor mill had been buzzing that Family Plot deviates somewhat from the and observes. Most of the time, he can usu- Black is also on the verge of being canned. standard Hitchcock formula. There are still ally be found in or around his plush trailer The tension on the set has been mounting two characters, Dern and Barbara Harris, waiting for the next scene to be set up so he daily, and is now extremely evident. Most thrust unknowingly into a dangerous situa- can emerge and boom the "Action!" order at outsiders have already been asked to leave, tion, only this time they aren't quite the in- his cast and crew. Once satisfied with the and even the Universal crew there to film a nocents Hitchcock usually employs. She's a scene—sometimes after as many as 10 documentary on Hitchcock at work has been fake medium, and he investigates the sub- takes—Hitchcock retreats to his trailer told to turn off their camera. Hitchcock is jects for her sham seances. again. His function on the set has been sim- huddled with several assistants, and he can "It's really two stories," Hitchcock tells plified more or less to making certain that be heard across the stage: "I would hate to us as we visit the set that day (for this article everything goes according to plan, but he's replace her at this point, but I will if I must." on what will be a 1976 release, though, iron- still in control of every facet. A short distance away stands Black, her ically, it will remain unpublished for three mixed expression of anger and depression decades). "One story is about two kidnap- Family issues unmistakable. She looks as if she's gearing pers; the other is about a medium and her Unfortunately, the least controllable up for one last shot at getting her way as she boy friend who are looking for a missing aspect of filmmaking is the essential human paces the set, waiting for the director to be heir. The two stories start independently but element: the actors. And Hitchcock's con- ultimately impinge on each other. It's an au- tempt for actors is legendary. His often rigid dience picture, because the audience knows approach to direction has raised the ire of both stories and the characters don't." many a player, and his style leaves little But then all Hitchcock films are audience room for a creative performer's own concep- pictures. Each bit of action and dialogue, tion of a role. Usually, an actor can be talked each camera movement and angle, is meant or even intimidated into submission, but to strike the viewer in a predetermined way. when a major difference between director Hitchcock and his creative aides spend and thespian arises, Hitchcock exercises one weeks prior to production planning exactly of two options: He can cut the scene in ques- how the movie will progress, so by the time tion to his liking at a later date, or he can actual filming does begin, the director's simply replace the actor. work is basically done. Hitchcock has Family Plot has already had more than its already written, shot and edited the whole share of such problems. Several weeks into picture in his head. production. The Invaders' Roy Thinnes "Directing has to be predetermined and who was originally signed to play the kid- preconceived down to the last detail," napper—was dismissed for being "too nice" Hitchcock says. "I don't believe in improvis- in his portrayal. Thinnes was replaced by ing on the set. I wish I didn't even have to William Devane, who played JFK brilliantly make the picture; I'm really finished with it in the 1974 TV movie The Missiles of when the script is done. I already know October. (Years later, it's revealed that De- every cut. I could phone this picture in." vane was apparently Hitchcock's first cast- Still, however boring the shooting pro- ing choice but was initially unavailable; cess may be for him, Hitchcock is on the set when he became free after all, Hitchcock every day and running a tight ship. All his made the switch.) Devane, whose previous

62 STARLOG/AMgMif 2006 "

On the other hand, Hitchcock and Karen Black didn't always see eye-to-eye. She was accustomed to more of a sense of collaboration with her director.

free. She decides instead to interrupt and wallcs boldly up to Hitchcock.

"There was a question about this scene I wanted to ask you last week, but you would

not see me. Do you mind if we talk about it now?" she asks. Hitchcock seems a bit put back by her

abruptness. "No. I know what you want to do. You want to clean up this part."

"That's not true. That's exactly what I No one at Universal could devise a better title than Family Plotior this film initially don't want to do." known as Deceit. "Plotting the Famiiy Plot (a DVD extra) reveals further secrets. "Well then," the director stares at her, "have you read your —script?" another day or two and then vanish. The dis- classic line: "I do think some actors are cat- "Yes, of course. I pute over Black's role ends the only way it tle," he remarks, "but I believe Bruce Dern is "But have you read the new script?" could: Hitchcock wins. But Black stays in the Golden Calf." Hitchcock continues. "The answers to all the picture. A, pardon the pun, universal sigh Generally, the filming of Family Plot

your questions are in the script. I suggest of relief could be felt all over the studio. goes smoothly after all the drama at its out-

you go read it again." set. It comes in slightly behind schedule, but

"Well, I just want to do what's right." Family Reunions only because some of Thinnes' scenes have "No, you don't," Hitchcock rephes firm- Oddly enough, Hitchcock's attitude to be reshot with Devane. Any remaining

ly. "You just want to do what's right for you. toward his other stars differs sharply. He problems are simply eliminated in the cut-

I want you to do what's right for the picture." shows genuine sensitivity to how Harris ting room. Unconvinced and unusually flustered. feels about a scene after it was shot, and his On the last day of shooting, a cast party is Black hastily retreats to her dressing room. direction of her is firm but very gentle. announced for that evening. Uncharacter- As she walks off, a Hitchcock assistant says, When she injects an unrehearsed bit of busi- istically, even husbands and wives are invited "I hope she's going to read her script." ness into a scene, Hitchcock asks her to to attend Hitchcock's farewell to his cast and

The director booms out a parting shot in explain before telling her to drop it. crew. Family Plot isn't intended as Hitch-

reply, "I don't know if she can read." But Dern seems to fare best with cock's final picture, but despite work on The The tensions and rumors persist for Hitchcock's style. "As long as you under- Short Night (an unmade project scripted by

stand the form he's working with, Hitchcock Lehman), it ends up that way. A box office

all in the disappointment. Family Plot earned indiffer- Despite his allows the leeway world," Dern intimidating explains. "You can take chances you would ent reviews. Hitchcock died in 1980. reputation in dealing not with any other director because you But, on that day in California, Hitchcock with actors ("cattle"), know everything around you looks good. Of wasn't the only hero of yesteryear back at

Hitchcock had real course, if a shot's right for him, that's it. You work. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard praise for Bruce Dern can ask for another take, but you'll only get were there in the persons of James Brolin and treated Barbara a few such requests throughout the course of and Jill Clayburgh (shooting Gable and Harris gently. filming, so you learn not to waste them. I Lombard), and W.C. Fields was on hand in don't mind. He's the only director I've ever the form of Rod Steiger (lensing W.C. Fields worked with whom I would call a genius." and Me). Even King Kong was on another Hitchcock's feelings about Dern are urban rampage (thanks to Dino De Lauren- almost as positive. The actor's early credits tiis). With biographies, sequels and remakes, include two 1964 episodes of The Alfred Hollywood was recycling itself once again. Hitchcock Hour ("Night Caller," "Lonely Alfred Hitchcock, one of the few origi- Place"); that same year, he also appeared in nals left, didn't notice these resurrected

Hitchcock's Mamie. Now, the director is ghosts as he left the set that day. For a mo- telling Dern—who is finally getting roles to ment, time faded away again. If not for the match his talent after years of playing psy- slight, aged falter in Hitchcock's walk, or the chopaths in low-budget flicks—"You're gum behind Brolin's ears to push them out going to be the first actor I've ever made into Gable-style, or the obvious rubber nose a star." sported by Steiger's Fields, this could have That's not exactly how things will turn been taking place in 1935 or 1945...

out in Dem's career, but it still must be grat- Well, some things never change... and ifying to hear Hitchcock paraphrase his own Hollywood, as always, is among them.

STARLOGMMgMjf 2006 63 muOuHoFBy IAN SPELLING ^^^K^ MV^rKK really no surprise that Scott Sum- It'smers a.k.a. Cyclops (James Marsden) perished in X-Men: The Last Stand. There were reports the character wouldn't even appear in the latest sequel. So the big shocker, then, was the early demise of Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). mm "Well, Xavier has essentially been a sup- porting role in all of them," Stewart says, laughing. "I've been unconscious or half- dead or in some sort of stasis in each one of these movies. I've disappeared from massive sections of these films for one obvious rea- son: You cannot put Xavier in the middle of action sequences. So the moment they start building to that, they've got to find a way to dump me. And this time, they found a vejy effective way of doing that." Stewart pauses, then adds, "It didn't feel like a supporting role when I watched the movie. And I don't think I had any less to do in this film than in either of the other two." In The Last Stand, Professor X's mutants juggle several threats at once. First, the gov- ernment has announced the creation of a "cure" that suppresses the mutant gene. The drug's development has tremendous impli- cations, as some mutants don't want it, but the government may force it on them. Meanwhile, Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) has been resurrected, but she's quickly evolving into Phoenix, a figure more powerful than Xavier or Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen). When Phoenix kills Xavier, Storm (Halle Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Storm (Halle Berry) and Beast (Kelsey Grammer) lose their Berry), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and the mentor, Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart), in X-Men: The Last Stand. rest of the X-Men must put aside their grief to fight the battie at hand. movie. What if we lost Xavier? What would that mean? And, if we were to do that, would Last Days there be any possibility of a resurrection Behind the scenes on The Last Stand, later on? Might he somehow be cold-frozen matters were as fast-moving and complicat- so we could bring him back if we wanted? ed as the plot itself Bryan Singer—who But I was only having those conversations directed the first two films—opted out of a with the studio. They were not, in a sense, third in favor of Superman Returns. Layer really creative discussions. Cake director Matthew Vaughn then signed "And then one day my phone rang in on, but soon he exited, too. In stepped Brett Manchester, and this voice excitedly said, {Rush Hour) Ratner, a controversial choice 'Hi Patrick, it's Brett! We're gonna make in fan circles. this great movie! It's gonna be fantastic! It's "It was difficult for everyone, and there gonna be brilliant!' I was thinking, 'Who is was, of course, a large measure of disap- this?' And so Brett was on board—with a pointment when we heard that Bryan wasn't vengeance," Stewart smiles. "He said, 'Oh, going to be on the project," Stewart I've told them they're crazy. They can't kill acknowledges. "Bryan called to tell me that, you off! It's a mad idea. How can you kill off and for a little while, I found it hard to con- Professor Xavier? He is the X-Men. It's not ceive what it would be like going into this going to happen. But we're going to find with a new director. I knew Matthew's work, some exciting things to do!' but I never actually met him. I was filming a "All this was, for me, just words in the air project in Manchester, and I couldn't get because, along with many others, I hadn't away from there. Anyway, the next thing I seen any pages. Bryan had done a script, and | heard, Matthew had left the project, too. I think Matthew had been working on one. It 8 "At that stage, I hadn't seen a script, but was a very difficult time, of Not a hoax! Not a dream! This is and many us m I had had a conversation with [Fox Pre- for reaP. Like many comic book didn't believe they could [make the film] on E sident] Tom Rothman about the implication characters, Professor X has died (and the schedule it was on. But in Brett, they '7 of Xavier not making it to the end of the been resurrected) more than once. chose a man who just made it happen. His

64 STAKLOG/August 2006 www.starlog.com

energy is so enormous and his technical skills are so complete that he wasn't fazed at

all. Once we started shooting, Brett was try- ing to keep one day ahead, which, on a pro-

ject like this, is extremely demanding." Dark Days The Last Stand is the darkest, most vio- lent and complex X-Men yet and, as a result, there's now an air of fragility about the hero- ic mutants. "That's compounded by Xavier's death, and that he is killed by Jean,"

observes Stewart. "Then there are all of these questions beginning to be asked, most- ly by Wolverine, about Xavier's right, his moral right, to have all these years been denying Jean her full capabilities. Xavier may have been doing this to everyone who was at his school and under his power, so maybe there was a certain amount of per- sonality control going on.

"/ don't see it like that, but at some point somebody has to start asking questions about how Xavier treated Jean. He was responsible for her, and brought her into the

school. So, inevitably, there is a darker tone to The Last Stand, and the last hour of the film makes you think that everything might What if we lost Xavier be lost, which I didn't feel in the first two. In

X-Men and X2, I believed our heroes would really is over, its accomplishments will ened. Even the language is heightened. I pull though in the end, but there is a sense of linger on. X-Men helped change people's mean, listen to Halle's speech at the memor- doom in this movie, largely because of perceptions of comics-based films, which ial: nobody would talk like that in a contem- Jean's presence and what she's doing." had a reputation for being superficial, trivial porary, modern, naturalistic movie." No one knows for sure what the future showcases for special FX. X-Men—and Which brings up a fascinating line of for holds Xavier or the X-Men franchise, but other influences like Star Trek—added conversation. Stewart insists that it is in no the third film's title connotes a sense of drama, social commentary and topical issues way problematic venturing from big-budget finality. "The studio is sticking to their line to the genre, built on a strong foundation of popcorn pictures like The Last Stand to

that this is it, but we shall see..." Stewart re- well-developed characters and story arcs. English stage productions. He is currently marks. However, if The Last Stand matches "I've been making comparisons between starring opposite Harriet Walker in Antony the grosses of X2, count on another cinemat- the world of classical theater and Star Trek and Cleopatra, and will once again play ic adventure, whether it's a Wolverine spin- for a long time, because I see so many over- Prospero this fall in The Tempest. Both off or Magneto prequel. But if this saga lapping areas," says Stewart. "People have shows are part of the Royal Shakespeare asked me, 'Why are actors like you, Kelsey Company's ambitious Complete Works Grammer, Sir Ian McKellen and Hugh cycle, a year-long effort to stage all of the Jackman—who has a significant stage back- Bard's plays. ground—in these [X-Men] movies?' I don't "It's not jarring at all, and only one or believe it is accidental. There is—whether two times in my career have I ever found it's SF or fantasy, and especially films based anything that I've done a difficult transition," on comics—a heightened naturalism about says Stewart, who has returned home to everything. We're not making Capote or England after two decades in the U.S. "The

Brokeback Mountain, though. This isn't that toughest thing I ever did, actually, was step-

kind of detailed naturalism. It's not a recog- ping into that reading with Kelsey when I nizable world that's right out there. did an episode of Frasier ["The Doctor Is Everything is larger than life and height- Out"], because I had never done a sitcom in

my life. And I had never done a half-hour Stewart's voiceover TV show, either. That was truly an alien work is very deer world, and it was terrifying. If not for those to him. The actor brilliant and utterly delightful essayed the Great people, I don't Prince of the Forest think I could have made it through those four days. in BambI It, the But that was just the pressure and the direct-to-DVD style, all of which was unfamiliar to me." sequel to the Disney classic. Play Days Stewart also guest-starred on Ricky He was King Gervais' Extras. "I was so proud to be in Henry II to that. I think all six episodes were Glenn Close's astonish- Eleanor of ing," he lauds. "Having done Frasier helped Aquitaine in the me on Ricky's show, although they couldn't 2004 Emmy- be more different. It's all about style, which nominated The is often the hardest thing to make the shift Lion in Winter. into. There would appear to be a bigger con- Lion Photo: Courtesy Showtime 66 STARLOG/August 2006 Freehold, Stewart's soon-to-shutter produc- tion company, which he ran with his now-ex- wife, Wendy Neuss]. Then we open the sea- son in London, almost certainly at the newly

named Novello. Oh, it's gorgeous. It's the old Strand Theatre. Cameron Mackintosh has

spent a huge amount of money restoring it." Stewart has maintained a typically hectic schedule since STARLOG last caught up with him around the time of X2 (issue #303). He appeared in the telemovies The Lion in Winter and Mysterious Island and did video game voiceover work for the X-Men Legends series and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. On the animation scene, he lent his voice to the fdms Chicken Little and Bambi II and the Seth MacFarlane series Family Guy and American Dad. Stewart was also in the fea- ture The Game of Their Lives and the short- lived British TV show Eleventh Hour. And he starred in stage productions of A Christmas Carol, A Life in the Theatre, The Caretaker and The Master Builder.

For all of that, there's one thing Stewart hasn't been involved with of late and has barely mentioned during this interview. And

that is Star Trek. Stewart hasn't played What would that mean Captain Jean-Luc Picard since Star Trek: Nemesis bombed in 2003, and it's uncertain trast between Antony and Cleopatra at the Swan Theatre and being on the set of X-Men, but there actually isn't. They're very close.

Ian and I have had this conversation often, and he's in the same theater at Stratford. Ian

is playing King Lear later in the yean I only wish we could have gotten Kelsey and Hugh into the same RSC season. That would have really been something. "We play Antony and Cleopatra in Stratford until the middle of October, and then the RSC has established these rather curious U.S. relationships. They have one

with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and I think they have one in Washington. And there are some shows at the University of Michigan, so we're going to Ann Arbor for three weeks in late October. We'll be doing The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, but I'm not in Julius Caesar.

Then we'll take it on a short provincial tour in England.

"After that, I'll take a break, when I hope to be shooting this Merchant of Venice movie in California [the last project from Flying

Is this fru/ythe end when or if he'll ever portray the character of Professor X and the X- again. "It's not sad at all," notes Stewart. "It Men franchise? was seven years of a television series, fol- IVIoviegoers who stayed lowed by four movies. On the last two films, in the theater to watch a seriously asking ourselves, 'Have crucial scene following we were the final credits may we overstayed our welcome?' For me, the have an answer. most important thing is that I see my pals as much as possible. We're a very tight group, Much turmoil and the Star Trek group. uncertainty surrounded "But now, I hear there's talk of a possible the early development resurrection of the franchise," Patrick of The Last Stand. Stewart offers. "There are new people at the Stewart credits studio who are very keen about Star Trek. Brett Ratner (left) with quickly steering the I'm told that J.J. [Lost] Abrams is a big fan project in the right and interested, but I honestly know nothing direction. more than that."

www.starlog.com STARLOG/4Mgi«f 2006 67 lived in Hawaii when I was 15, and my In comic books, death doesn't necessari- brother had a friend who was a big fan ly mean death—and that's the case with the I of Psylocke," recalls Mei Melancon, psychoblaster known as Psylocke. "She dies who plays Elizabeth Braddock/Psylocke in the comics, and then she was brought in X-Men: The Last Stand. "I remember back as the Lady Mandarin," Melancon reading the comics and looking at the char- notes. "There are so many different shades acter and thinking, 'Hey, there's an Asian and so many different things that happen to girl,' and taking note of that. When this her. Let's just say there's a possibility movie came around, they asked me, 'Have [Psylocke could be in another X-Men film]. you ever heard of Psylocke?' I was like, The producers told me, 'You never know.

'Yeah, I actually have.' She was one of the Let's see how The Last Stand does.' I'm

only X-Men I had ever heard of—other than keeping my fingers crossed. I would love to

Wolverine." do it, of course. I'm just so happy and lucky The Last Stand once again pits Professor that I was part of this one." Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) X-Men against For most of the actors, this was Magneto's (Sir Ian McKellen) Brotherhood their first experience working with

of Mutants. This time, though, besides bat- director Brett Ratner. However, , tling each other, there are additional pressing Melancon had a small role in

concerns: Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) has Ratner's Rush Hour 2. "Brett is evolved into Phoenix, and a cure for mutan- an interesting guy because he's

cy has been developed. Mr. Multi-Tasker," she smiles. / "Psylocke is part of the Brotherhood," "He can be on the phone and ^ says Melancon. "There are a couple of won't miss a thing. You think ,* things that need to be done, and she helps he isn't watching something, i get them done; one involves going against and then he'll be like, 'Did I the guy who started the Cure and is financ- you guys notice that the f

ing it. So there's definitely a Psylocke story- light is different?' Brett has •: line. It's similar to how Mystique [Rebecca an unbelievable amount of Romijn] was presented in the first film. energy and he's so inspiring. "The martial arts involves lots of strong- There's never any negativity arming, but it's not like Kelly Hu's character with him. Rush Hour 2 was a

[Deathstrike in XT], where that's pretty long time ago, and it's a totally much all she did. I've got purple hair in the different kind of film. Jackie film—we tried a couple of longer wigs, but Chan and Chris Tucker were

they decided on a short one. I also have a always joking around. I wasn't purple leather garter and a belt, plus the really on it for that long—I was straps on my arms. They tried to do shorts, only there for a week—but I was but it just didn't work. It was a little too pretty impressed with Brett. He

cheesy. My eyes are purple, too, and I have seems to know so much about

the crimson dot on my eye. And I go through every single aspect. Brett will shadows and have the psychic knives. pick up the cameras and use the

"I was in Vancouver for two months, but Steadicam. I enjoy working with I wasn't shooting every single day. They him." were saying that there could be pickups and Now that Melancon has seen the

different things could be changed. But it was final film, she offers her view of The an amazing experience. Everyone was so Last Stand: "I was at the premiere and

nice. Hugh Jackman and Ian are just the I loved it! I especially loved Famke in it. She coolest. I went with Ian to a Rolling Stones was great. I'm happy that everyone's hard

concert. He's the best. Ian has so much life work paid off. I liked the other two X-Men

and is so interesting. This is the biggest pro- movies. But this one has a different pace. It's

duction I've ever been on, and it was awe- darker. It almost feels like it's the end of the some seeing how everybody had their parts world.

established and were already in character." "As I was watching it, I was enjoying it

I go through sh

iATES. £JPSr/tl»S.../ Most OF CFRESRO ' IS TO GO IN70 STORAGE-- PUT PERHAPS SOME COMPONENTS CAN BE 7 CANNIBALIZED FOR OTHER/aNYTHING^ In the SYSTEMS;^ ^^-^Possrete. X-Men comics, Psylocke sported several different looks, died and then got resurrected as the Lady Mandarin.

Art: Barry Windsor-Smith/Bob Wiacek/Colors: Glynis Oliver —

MEI MELANCON OFFERS A FEW THOUGHTS ON PSYLOCKE.

Mei Melancon is taking meetings on upcoming movies and trying to decide whiat's just tlie right project for her.

have the p s y n I V

so much that I have to say even though I movie because I don't think it really matters isn't available all the time. What being in wish that more of Psylocke was in the film," now." something like The Last Stand does, number Melancon comments. "I know they had to Melancon hails from the Philippines, but one, is give you visibility. Number two is the keep the running time down, so it was a lot doesn't consider herself a Filipino. Her practice you get—the incredible amount of less than I thought it would be. I feel like it mother—who was in a band at the time takes involved. Brett is very precise; he

was a little nod, but I really don't do that met Melancon's father there. The family knows what he wants and he's going to get

much at all, unfortunately." relocated to Japan, where they stayed until it. Sometimes I would be thinking, T don't And what Psylocke footage hit the edit- Melancon was in her early teens, and then understand why I'm doing this. I don't see ing room floor? "The scene in the church they moved to the U.S. The actress has the difference.' But then afterward, I would was pretty much the same," Melancon ex- always been a performer. realize, 'Oh my gosh, that's so much better!' plains. "But there was more stuff that we "I've played guitar since I was a kid, and "It's all in the little details," Mei shot that showed I was Psylocke—that hap- I practiced Wushu kung fu for four years," Melancon observes. "People say there isn't pened in the Worthington Lab, and when we she reveals. "Acting was something I've much acting involved in these big movies, try to kill Worthington [Michael Murphy]. always wanted to do. I've always aspired to but in the long run, X-Men is going to make

It's hard to talk about stuff that isn 't in the be more of an indie actress, but that stuff me a stronger actor."

www.starlog.com STARLOG/AwgMjf 2006 69

—

HE DOOR TO AN ESTATE OF FEAR.

he looks iiiort' like iiii t'agcr-lo-plriisf stu(li

tappiKino. I)ut it soon l)econies obvious that v\ere doing the very last bit of ADR. and a amusing than anything, but that's OK appearances are deceiving. teacher lor the kids came by and said. 'Hi, Fni so lucky to be here that I can be con- fused for w hatever for the rest of my life,

and I'll still be happy." House of Mystery Within minutes of sitting down though,

Kenan is already establishing his lllmmak- ing street cred. discussing intluences as diverse as Stanley Kubrick, Terry (>illiam, Ray Ilarrybausen and the Czech surrealist animator Jan Svaiikmajer. And niov iegoers will almost certainly notice elements of mentors Spielberg and Zemeckis, whose own suburban nightmares were an obvious inspiration for Mniislcr House. Chowder (voiced by Sam Lerner), Jenny (Spencer Locke) and DJ (Mitchel Musso) unite "That's the stuff that really hit me as a to save their neighborhood from the CG-animated Monster House. kid, and now I get to create a canvas that's

vvvvw.starlog.coni S'rARLOG//\»,i;//.v; 2006 —

Gil Kenan CG before, and one of the things that boggled

spent three my mind was when I found out how they make years working CG characters: They sculpt half of the body on his House. and then duplicate it to save modeling time The motion- which is just so stupid when you think about capture production it. Any time you draw two circles for eyes, required the they're never going to be symmetrical, so director to that's such a nonsensical way to go. I ap- shoot the proached it from an emotional place, trying to

actors' make things connect as much as I could."

performances Monster House is the culmination of three In live years of work for Kenan, and the first major action first. milestone in a career that has been moving for- ward at an astonishing pace. After entering his short thesis project—a live-action/animation very familiar: the prototypical suburban set- ting," says Kenan. "I actually went to the Uni- versal backlot as one of my first location scoutings, to take pictures of houses there, because I wanted this thing to feel instantly familiar and recognizable before introducing some of the darker forces at play in the story." Watching the beginning of Monster House, that illusion of normalcy is so complete that one can't help thinking the film could almost have been shot as a live-action project rather than animation, but Kenan insists the illusion •J is just that. "In many ways, the first half could have been done hve action," he agrees, "but the movie would lose all credibility if what happens in the second half wasn't animated. horror-fantasy called The Lark—in the annual UCLA Festival, the film won the Spotlight

Award that year and was screened at the Directors' Guild of America. That screening led to his signing with the CAA agency, and things quickly took off from there. "It was really crazy, because up to that

point, my films had all been these weird stop-

motion/live-action hybrids that I had been

experimenting with, and here this little short

was screened once and I got signed, so that

was shocking," he recalls. "I fully expected to be working out of my kitchen for the rest of

my life, and I would have been pretty happy, because I had figured out a way to make the that There are shades of Rear Window in the beginning of Kenan's film, as a fretful DJ and movies I wanted to make by myself, and friends Iceep close watch on the spoolty dwelling across the street. that was OK. "But after I got signed, CAA began getting

"If these were live-action kids in a blue- Jenny (Spencer Locke), the trio sets about to a billion scripts, and I read everything, but at screen shoot and the house was CG, this prove it. the same time, they kept saying that I should would be nonsense, because it would cross the meet with Bob Zemeckis because they thought line into silliness and wouldn't have that seam- House of Secrets we would get along and understand each other. less blend. There are no effects in this One of Kenan's biggest challenges in cre- So they set up a meeting, and they also sent me movie—the whole movie is the effect, and I'm ating the world of Monster House was coming this screenplay that had been in gestation at much more interested in that. Creating a seam- up with a distinctive look that was different Bob's company for almost 10 years. It was a less story where you don't know where the from other animated projects. "With this world property that they really wanted to do, but it line between the characters and environments and, by extension, the characters, the main never went the whole way there. all blends is more compelling." thing I wanted was tangibility on screen," he "When I read the script, I flipped out,

Monster House opens with DJ (Mitchel elaborates. "I wanted there to be a palpable because I had been obsessed with the idea of Musso) keeping tabs on Mr. Nebbercracker sense of something that you could interact making an environment a true character in a

(Steve Buscemi), the cranky old man across with on a human level, and in order to do that, story, and this was like a home run for that. I the street who confiscates anything that lands I needed to get rid of the veneer of computer spent a couple of days before the meeting on his property. Unfortunately, nobody wants animation. So I made sure that every line had obsessively drawing and filling up all these to listen to DJ, whether it's his best friend some variation, and every texture felt like you pages with ideas and ways that the plot could

Chowder (Sam Lerner), Zee the babysitter could put your hand on the screen. grow, so when I came in, I had the movie fig- (Maggie Gyllenhaal), his parents (Catherine "For the kids' look, I brought in a sculptor ured out—and Bob agreed."

O'Hara, Fred Willard) or a pair of neighbor- who I worked with to make maquettes of every Because it was decided from the start that hood cops (Kevin James, Nick Cannon). When character. We've left in all the imperfections Monster House would be done as an animated Nebbercracker is taken out of the picture, DJ from the sculpting, so DJ has one ear that's project based on motion-capture data, Kenan and Chowder discover that it's the house that's bigger than the other, and his eyes are in a essentially had to shoot what amounted to a evil, and with the help of neighborhood girl totally different place. I had never done any live-action version of the film first. "Every-

72 STARLOG/Awgtwf 2006 www.starlog.com thing is derived from the performances, so the Chowder are still best friends, and that just "Everybody should be getting notes from first thing I did was all the storyboards," he goes to show that they were supposed to be filmmakers, because they make such smart explains. "I had really clear paintings of every together. On set, the two boys were constantly observations like, T think you would be hap- scene, and then I went in and started filming, trying to impress Spence, and she was con- pier if you trimmed this scene, because it will and the shoot was all performance. I knew stantiy rolling her eyes and turning away and help your pacing' or 'Are you sure you want to what would happen in every scene, but all that going off to read a newspaper. So all that stuff have this scene at all?' That's the kind of input mattered there was the action. Part of the played out because these kids are real. They I got from them, practical stuff, and it was all virtue was that the actors were on a soundstage weren't pretending." actionable, so I could try it out and see if it with props, and they were hstening, watching Monster House is supported by a strong actually worked. It was a treat, and I learned and reacting to each other. If we had put them story, as opposed to some recent animated fare so much from them that it's shocking. It was in a sound booth, it would have been a wasted in which the script is often litfle more than a like going to poi^-graduate school for film- eff'ort. collection of committee-written gags. "Mons- making."

"Once the performances were done, I went ter House isn't stifled by jokes," Kenan points in and cut the movie using the raw video out. "Gags are OK in small doses, but I think House of Horrors data—no angles or anything. And all the per- they're kind of a scourge on animation. The As Kenan begins wrapping up his work on formance edits that I chose for that video edit animated films that I respond to and have my Monster House (which premieres July 21), were then fed through the system to create whole life are the ones that are much more he's also thinking about the future. If the film three-dimensional representations of the char- story- than gag-based—things like Watership is a success, other offers will follow, but at acters in a virtual set. I then sat down with my Down, When the Wind Blows, an amazing lit- some point he hopes to revisit the type of

DP as if we were on set and covered the film. tle Enghsh movie about nuclear holocaust, mixed media projects he used to create from

It was an interesting but weird way to do Hayao Miyazaki's work and the Aardman his kitchen table. "I definitely want to go back things." Animation stuff. It's all story first. to that, but one of the interesting things about Unlike other animated features where the "Americans are slightly too good at mak- this film—which I wouldn't have been able to actors record their vocal performances in a ing gags, and that hurts. That's a systematic do as easily in five action—is that it looks sound booth, usually on different days, the distinction of American studio animation, and amazing in 3-D," he offers.

Monster House cast had to shoot their scenes jokes have their place, but it's time for some "We're getting a day-and-date 3-D release, as a live-action piece, albeit with minimalist more challenging stuff. What happens in the and that level of interaction in terms of 3-D

sets and props. Armed with a wish list of the second half of Monster House really begins to projection is something that could only hap- talent he wanted to bring in, Kenan set about push what kids expect from movies these days, pen as an all-CG film. You could end up with casting his film with top-notch supporting which is something I always got from films something like that IMAX Jim Cameron stulf,

actors that also include Kathleen Turner and when I was a kid. I want that young audience but frankly, the dimensionality and registra- Jon Heder. to work a little bit and not to pander to them tion is never there in live-action material. In

"In my first meeting with Bob, I said too much, because kids are really smart and many ways. Monster House has served its pur- Nebbercracker has to be Steve Buscemi," Ke- they have a great aptitude for excitement and pose; it has done exactly what it was meant to nan grins. "I had always wanted to meet him, scares." do. So yes, I'm ready for other things now."

and he was just bom for this role. And the To that end, it probably didn't hurt that That includes his next project, a live-action same thing happened with the other actors. I Kenan was able to seek the input of two feature based on The City of Ember, the post-

came up with a wish list, and a) because the experts in that area, namely Spielberg and apocalyptic fantasy novel by Jeanne DuPrau script was great, b) because my producers Zemeckis. "I showed them every cut, and about a world of total darkness where only one

were Spielberg and Zemeckis and c) the shoot- when I finished an animatic, I screened it for city provides a sanctuary of light. Kenan is

ing schedule was very quick—it was like a 34- them, and got spectacular notes," he says. about to start scouting possible locations, and day shoot—the combination of those things "You've never really gotten notes until you've hopes to begin shooting by the year's end, made getting these actors a reality." gotten them from real filmmakers, because armed with a script by Caroline (Edward The challenge was finding a trio of young- you hear horror stories about studio comments Scissorhands) Thompson. sters to play the pivotal roles of DJ, Chowder that are 10 pages of obscure nonsense. But "Before I started Monster House, I had a and Jenny. As Kenan explains, "That was one those two guys are so great. meeting with Tom Hanks' company, Playtone, of the most difficult things on this movie, and and I went into an elaborate pitch

I spent a very long time looking for those about the kind of movie I wanted to kids—and, most importantly, not just individ- do," says Kenan. "They looked at ual kids. This isn't like Charlie and the each other, because they had just Chocolate Factory, where each child gets their gotten the manuscript the day own scene; these kids needed to have chem- before and hadn't read it yet, but it

istry within the group, and I feel really fortu- sounded exactly like what I had

nate that I was able to find young actors who described. They let me read the could actually do that. manuscript, and I went bananas, "In fact, the actors who play DJ and drew up a bunch of stuff, came back rights. Right after that, I Chowder gets in and we secured the many of the got Monster House, but in the background, I movie's big was developing City ofEmber, and we brought laughs. Finding Caroline on to write it." the right trio of Looking at his short career to date, the

young actors to director is the first to agree that he seems to be voice the lead leading a charmed hfe at the moment. "It's characters was almost like I'm setting myself up," Gil Kennan one of Kenan's top muses. "Monster House hasn't come out yet, priorities. so it might be a huge flop, but that's cool. I Can DJ bring work very hard, but you can't get to where I down the house? am just by working hard. You also need to be Audiences will find very lucky, and I hope that luck keeps going. out July 21, when I'm really proud that I've been able to make Monster House this house live—and to make you care about opens in theaters and fear it." and IMAX 3-D. SThRLOG/August 2006 73 is a world that exists beneath our There Lucas Nickle (voiced by feet, a world where epic battles are won Zach Tyler Eisen) is the titular and lost every day," says filmmaker Ant Bully. He's reduced John A. Davis. He shows us that world in to insect size as punishment Warner Bros.' The Ant Bully, a computer- for mistreating the ants animated adventure film stomping into the- in his front yard. aters—as well as IMAX 3-D—on July 28. Written and directed by Davis and pro- duced by his company, DNA Productions, The Ant Bully tells the story of 10-year-old Lucas (voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen), who terrorizes the ants in his front yard until the Wizard Ant Zoc (Nicolas Cage) shrinks the boy down to ant size. Lucas is then taken into the underground colony and sentenced by the Queen (Meryl Streep) to learn the ants' ways to earn his freedom. During the wild exploits that follow, Lucas also learns valuable lessons about friendship and com- munity. The movie—adapted from a chil- dren's picture book by John Nickle—also features the voices of Julia Roberts, Bruce Campbell, Ricardo Montalban and Paul Giamatti. The idea of adapting The Ant Bully into a full-length feature originated with Tom Hanks, whose production company. Play- tone, bought the book rights. Hanks offered the project to Davis after seeing the Academy Award-nominated Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Davis' first film. "I hadn't met Tom before, but he really liked Jimmy Neutron and thought I would be a good choice for Ant Bully," Davis explains. "I met

with Tom and told him what I would do with

it. He loved what I had to say, and we were in business. Apparently, he used to read the book to his son Truman, and one night he " thought, 'This would make a good movie!' Davis agreed with Hanks, and neither man was dissuaded by the fact that ants had been the subject of two previous CG-animat- ed films: Pixar/Disney's A Bug's Life and DreamWorks' Antz, both released in 1998. "Your initial reaction might be, 'Hey, there have been a couple of other CG ant movies " before this,' admits Davis. "When I first

considered doing The Ant Bully, I wondered

Filmmaker John Davis helps teach The Ant Bully h\q lessons by getting small.

what I would do differently from those films. way everything looks, this picture is Meryl, Paul, Lily Tomlin and Ricardo. It was

What would make me excited to direct this? extremely different. I would say The Ant great working with them all. Ricardo was The more I thought about it, the more I real- Bully has more in common with The In- particularly fun for me because I'm such a ized The Ant Bully need not have anything to credible Shrinking Man than it does with big fan of Star Trek //.• The Wrath of Khan, do with those other movies. This would be Antz or A Bug 's Life. I tried to tap into things and I was able to sneak a couple of Khan an adventure film in which a human boy I loved when I was a kid, things I would love lines into the movie. Ricardo brought an enters a world he knows nothing about. to see in movies, like riding a giant wasp into authoritative presence and a sense of culture, [That paved the way] to building a micro- battle. There are also some in-jokes, like pride and dignity to his role as the head of universe, with all the fun of bringing this ant when the ants are coming to abduct Lucas, the ant council." culture to life and treating the ants like an they sound like the ants in Them!—that Campbell, a STARLOG favorite, voices alien civilization with its own beliefs. I quintessential ant sound." the garrulous scout ant, Fugax. "Bruce found the possibilities thrilling. screams better than any guy I've ever met," "I tried not to be influenced by those ear- Genius Inspirations laughs Davis. "He brings great comedy to lier movies at all," Davis emphasizes. The film's intriguing cast was assembled his role. The character fancies himself a

"While writing The Ant Bully, sometimes I on the strength of the script, but Davis ladies' man, but he's horribly bad at it. He's would think, 'Wait a second, did they do this acknowledges that Hanks' involvement also a swashbuckling goofball." before? Does this seem familiar?' And then I helped. "Julia signed on first. Once you get a Davis himself provided the voice of an would go back and look at those films and big name or two, then suddenly the project ant guard or two, as well as speaking for a make sure I wasn't covering any similar takes a few steps up in how people regard it," video game that Lucas plays. "It certainly ground. But in terms of the ant world and the he says. "Nicolas was interested next, then wasn't because I'm in love with my own

74 STARLOG/AwgMsf 2006 wvnv.starlog.com voice," he smiles. "In animation, you 'temp' [use temporary voices for] many of your characters during the early stages of making the film. You're not working with the final actors. So, many of the temporary voices are those of our crew. Inevitably, a few of those stick in the final picture. Voice work is fun,

and whenever I do it, it makes me respect what the actors do even more."

As Davis developed The Ant Bully, it became his tribute to stop-motion animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen, whom the direc- tor credits with inspiring him to go into the field of animation. "Everyone in this busi- ness tends to be influenced by some film or

filmmaker, and for me it was Ray Harry- hausen," Davis relates. "I was 12 or 13 the first time I saw The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,

and I was hooked. I went through Harry- hausen's whole library of films, and I was heavily influenced not only by the anima- tion, but the types of movies he made. They

Nurse transported you to faraway lands and Ant Hova showed you things you hadn't seen before. (Roberts) "Many scenes in The Ant Bully spring wasn't in from things I loved about Ray's films in my

John youth. Lucas is a kid who gets to enter a fan- Nickle's tastic world, and once there, he fights giant children's wasps, is eaten by frogs and gets into all boolc. Davis sorts of scrapes. The movie became this big, added the cool adventure. I kept looking to Harry- hippie chick, who's hausen references—things like First Men in also Zoc's the Moon, which had the ant-like Selenites. giri friend. Those were my touchstones of inspiration." Davis' love of Harryhausen's work came full circle recently when the 86-year-old Harryhausen happened to come through Texas on a book signing trip. Davis gave him a tour of the DNA studio and showed him some scenes from The Ant Bully that had been prepared for the IMAX 3-D presenta- tion. "I had met Ray very briefly before," Davis notes, "but this was the first time I really had a chance to talk with him at

STARLOG/AMgM.?r2006 75 length. I told him that The Ant Bully was sort Many of of my homage to him. He was blown away Davis' inspirations by what he saw, and he asked me how I did came it. He said the same things I was saying 20 from stop- years ago about his work. It was so gratify- animation ing for me to be able to show him the fruits maestro Ray of his labor." Harryhausen.

And if you Ant Animations listen The Ant Bully's richly detailed visual closely, you'll style differs significantly from the artwork in notice the Nickle's book. "I enjoyed those illustrations, "quint- essential but the movie doesn't look like them ant sound" because I wanted our world to be much more from Them! lush and detailed," Davis remarks. "It was important that the scenes have an immediacy and an impact. If we made the film too styl- ized, too illustrated, some of the grand, epic sequences wouldn't have the same impact. The human and ant characters in this movie the book into a feature-length film," declares

look nothing like Jimmy Neutron, either. If I Davis. "For example, there's an evil extermi- had to compare the two films, I would say nator who comes to wipe out the colony, and that Jimmy Neutron was my ode to George Lucas has to unite the ants with their ene- Pal's Puppetoons in the same way that The mies, the wasps, to overcome this threat. Ant Bully is my ode to Ray Harryhausen. These are things that never happen in the When you see the giant wasp and the giant book. Also, we never meet Lucas' family in frog in The Ant Bully, there's a sense of the book. Even though the family members urgency, because they feel very realistic don't have lots of screen time, they're quite compared to some of the more cartoony important in terms of launching Lucas [on styles out there." his adventure] and giving him somewhere to To meet The Ant Bully's specific visual go back to when he returns home." requirements, DNA "completely gutted" its The Wizard Ant, who is in the book, filmmaking pipeline of software, hardware became a more developed character in the and processes. "We re-created how we make film. Says Davis: "I kept thinking, 'Why movies," Davis reveals. "It was an extreme- does he shrink Lucas down? What motivates ly daunting task, because we had to do our this guy? And what could provide a compli- R&D while we were in production. The cafion in his life?' So, the Wizard has a girl result, visually, is spectacular, and I'm excit- friend who is a hippie chick [Nurse Ant

ed for people to see it. We still animate in Hova, voiced by Roberts]. She advocates

Maya, but we're lighting and rendering with peace while the Wizard is saying, 'We have RenderMan through Houdini software. We've also created internal for software Looking at Zoc nnci importing and exporting through all these fellow ants in their various [applications]. sleeping chamber, one "Our new pipeline uses whatever package can't help but recall the

is Solonites of First Men best for a specific job," adds Davis. "The » processes are even more important than the //) Ifw Moon. selection of software and hardware, because

it's how you do it that separates one anima- tion shop from another. We all use similar software, but we approach the task in ways that are unique from shop to shop. We switched to a new type of tool set and process for The Ant Bully instead of relying on what we had used for Neutron because different stories have different needs. Neutron de- manded a certain look, while The Ant Bully demands an altogether different one." By necessity, the Ant Bully adaptation also includes new characters and situations

that differentiate it from the Nickle material.

"Not only is the book short, it's almost entirely pictures with very few words," Davis explains. "But the movie follows the book pretty well: It's still about a boy dis- to fight back!' When Lucas is shrunk down plications to illustrate your theme and pro- covering the value of community and how to and enters the colony, Hova volunteers to vide some dynamics." make friends. When Lucas goes to the ant help teach him the ways of the ants. This cre- The expansion of the basic Ant Bully world, he learns to be selfless and that there ates a wedge in her relationship with the story provided Davis with an opportunity to are ramifications to his actions." Wizard. None of that existed in the book. make sure the picture had layers of mean- Beyond those themes, though, "There When you're trying to expand something ing—however subtle—for adults. "Ob- was a great deal that had to be done to adapt into a feature, you need those kinds of com- viously, this is a movie directed at families,"

76 STARLOG/August 2006 —

Most of the CG-animation shops use the same software and hardware, so Davis instead focused on Improving the processes and production pipeline.

In Davis' A little support goes a long way when opinion, none of you're writing, producing and directing a the voice actors movie. "Juggling so many balls in the air is phoned in their difficult," Davis attests. "I'm changing hats performances. constantly. As the writer, I want to see cer- He has high praise for Star tain things happen in the movie. As the Trek Its Ricardo director, I say, 'No, we have to get to this IVIontalban as part more quickly! We have to cut all this the head of the stuff out!' So I'm constantly having this ant council. internal struggle. At the same time, I own this studio with my partner, Keith Alcorn, While the which means I also have the pressure of get- movie's visual A magnified Ant premieres day-and-date ting the film done on time. I have quotas to flavor deviates with the regular theatrical version. The meet each week. But then I'm the director from Nickle's MAX 3-D presentation of Su/// teaches again, saying, 'Quotas be I want it illustrations, damned! Lucas an even bigger lesson. Davis promises to look beautiful and perfect.' Keeping all plenty of eye those points-of-view balanced is hard, but I've got nothing against jokey-fuzzy-animal candy for somehow you survive it." pictures, but I get a little frustrated because

animation Fortunately, Davis had been through it all there are so many other kinds of movies and aficionados. before while making Jimmy Neutron. stories you can tell with animation. I think "[Writer-producer] Steve Oedekirk, whom we'll see the tools of animation get better we partnered with on Neutron, once said, and faster, and the processes become more he observes, "and I wanted to make sure it 'Filmmaking is 80 percent hell and 20 per- finely honed; then, budgets can start coming had something for both kids and parents. It cent cool stuff. The only way to make it down [without sacrificing quality]. That " has humor, situations and wish-fulfillment through is to concentrate on the cool stuff,' should make the studios more willing to take that kids will enjoy, but there's also some Davis remembers, chuckling. "It's true, chances, and you'll see greater variety in the smart dialogue and scenes that parents can because if you don't, this job will eat your stories." apply to things going on in the real world lunch. Neutron was my first feature, and it After The Ant Bully, Davis' next project today. The whole idea of being bullied and was a trial by fire. I learned how these should prove especially intriguing to STAR- projecting that bullying onto someone else, movies are made and how the studio system LOG readers; He'll write and direct an adap- and the abuse of power—those are lessons in works. It is always a struggle to keep your tation of Robert A. Heinlein's 1954 novel the film that you can relate to current vision preserved, because there are so many The Star Beast. "We haven't announced it affairs." people involved. Part of my job is to defend yet, but I am on hook to deliver a script to the picture. It's all part of a logical checks- Warner Bros.," he reveals. "It will be my first Beast Adaptations and-balances process, and making Neutron live-action film combined with animation. Nickle wasn't involved in the movie's helped prepare me for The Ant Bully, in I've been a Heinlein fan for years, and I've making, but Davis—who gave Lucas the terms of dealing with the politics of how always loved The Star Beast. As soon as I surname of Nickle in tribute to the author movies are made. This time around, it was so finish up The Ant Bully, I'm diving into the did talk with him several times about his much easier." first draft. Hopefully, we'll go into produc- plans for the adaptation. "Even though I was Davis should get plenty of opportunities tion next spring." adding substantially to what goes on in his to continue honing that process, if the cur- For now, the director still has to wrap up book and changing the look quite a bit, I was rent animation film calendar is any indica- The Ant Bully. "The thing I like about this hoping that John would be OK with all of it," tion—more than a dozen CG movies are movie is that it's both funny and dramatic, says Davis. "In the conversations I've had scheduled for release this year alone. The with a high adventure quotient. It's a well- with him, he has been excited, so I think he's filmmaker doesn't mind, as long as the rounded film," John A. Davis says. "This happy with the way things have gone. John medium stays fresh. "There is so much more movie transports you to a world you haven't knew, of course, that many things would diversity that can be had," he stresses. "But quite seen before. I think the SF-fantasy have to change if the book was to be suc- it's hard to break the studios of their habits. themes are appealing, and there's a nice cessfully adapted into a feature. He was evi- They want to repeat past successes and moral to it. I enjoy telling stories that have a dently braced for that and accepted it, which remake the same movies over and over point, without being preachy. If nothing else. was a relief to me. I would like to have his again. That's why you have all these fuzzy- The Ant Bully has some really kick-ass ad- support." animal jokey-jokey films coming out in CG. venture scenes. You will be entertained." www.starlog.com STARLOG/August 2006 77 s

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and years ago, Steve Oedekerk is all odd angles, modern, functional archi- screen while working on a sequence featur- Yearspondered the possibilities of CGI tecture and the occasional spate of big win- ing the movie's heavies, a group of maraud-

and how he could implement it into dows looking out on the world. It's midday, ing coyotes. "It's all about trying to keep to a little story idea he had called not quite three years since Oedekerk re- the level of animation that we want to por- Barnyard. ceived the October 2003 go-ahead to make tray. And that's difficult, because we've set a 'it was a notion I had even before I had a his long-standing dream a reality. And things pretty high bar for ourselves." film career, and the only thing people knew are winding down as Barnyard enters the about CGI was that they used it to make cool homestretch, toward its August 4 release. Farm Tools TV logos," recalls Oedekerk. "The idea be- Where once 40 animators worked 24/7 Down a hallway, Graham Clark—who is hind Barnyard wasn't even about a barn at on this intricate 3-D-heavy picture, now a ramrodding many of Barnyard'^ visual that point. It was simply about what happens comparatively small group of 14 are fine- FX—shows off one of the many toys when the humans leave the room and the tuning last-minute sequences. Many of the brought into play in the film. "We've created animals stand up. I just thought that it was prolonged party scenes—containing up to a CG tool system that allows us to put any cool that when we go away, stuff happens, 1 80 characters—are.long ago in the can. The kind of hair on a character and then manipu- and I felt that CGI was a technique that motion-capture stage is deserted. late it," he notes. "The systems we're using could make it work." "Getting our shots done and getting them give functionality and [personality] to each Omation Studios is nestled on the top of done on time has been the big challenge on of our characters. And boy, do we have lots a gently rolling hill in an industrial park in this film," says animation supervisor T.J. of characters!" San Clemente, CA. The multi-story building Sullivan as he hunches over a computer A quick trip down a stairway steers

V, ww.starlog.com STARLOG/4Mg«.?f 2006 79 Got milk? Well, STARLOG toward texture supervisor Di- you a/n'f getting mitri Joannides, who—in conjunction witii it from Otis tiie production designer Piiil Cruden—turns tiie cow (voiced by initial 2-D renderings into full-bodied 3-D Kevin James). The Barnyard's images. Going through a winding corridor new, young and a nondescript door leads to the motion- leader carries a capture stage, where multi-camera set-ups big sticl< and is are now sitting idly. The floor grid that out- out for revenge. lines the capture-size of each scene is empty. Supervising technical director Jason

Barlow acknowledges that it was on this stage that the majority of the background When the IVIooooooo-n comes out and night falls, plenty of creatures are stirring- characters for the even a mouse. party sequences and musi- cal numbers came together—most of which took as many as 16 months to complete. "Steve told us to forget about the cam-

eras and just pretend it's a party scene," relates Barlow. "He said, 'Do whatever you need to do to bring those shots to the screen.' And we definitely have some of our background characters doing strange and unusual things; we've moved them up to more like mid-level characters." Written and directed by Oedekerk (who also produced with Paul Marshall and Aaron PaiTy), Barnyard begins at the end of a long day as a farmer feeds his animals and then drives off for the night. As soon as he's out of sight, the animals hop up on two legs and begin to discuss their day. Otis the cow (voiced by The King of Queens' Kevin James) and his cohorts decide to go hill surf- Although the Barnyard residents walk and talk, these beasts ing, and end up in a head-on collision with a aren't out of George Orwell's Animal Farm.\ou won't hear these chicken coop. Otis' father Ben (Sam Elliott), iters crying, "Four legs good, two legs bad!" the leader of the farm animals, talks to his son about his juvenile behavior and taking responsibility for his actions, but Otis will

have none of it. Eventually, Otis and Ben make up, and Otis flirts with a pregnant cow named Daisy (Courteney Cox Arquette). Things take a tragic turn in The Lion

King tradition, though, when Ben is killed in a confrontation with a pack of coyotes, and Otis is forced to grow up fast as he seeks revenge on them. He also learns that respon- sibility ultimately rests with those who care the most, and becomes the new leader of the barnyard. Along the way, there are several party and musical numbers, as well as plen- ty of high-spirited action and, of course, the usual animated movie message. The cast also includes voiceover veterans Rob (Pinky) Paulsen as Gopher and Peck, Mau- rice (the Brain) La Marche as Igg, Futur- ama's John Di Maggio as Budd, David Koechner as Dag, Wanda (Over the Hedge) Sykes as Bessy, Andie MacDowell as Etta, Danny Glover as Miles and Oedekerk as Mr. Beady and Snotty Boy. Barn Dances You can tell that things are winding down when Oedekerk, who has lived and breathed this project for three years, makes a leisurely appearance at Omation right around lunch time. As with Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (which he co-wrote and co-pro- duced with The Ant Bully's John A. Davis), the wheels are already in motion for a Barnyard TV series to spin out about 16 months after the film's release. But unlike

80 STARLOG/AMgiLst 2006 Neutron, Barnyard's leap to the front end, it will be marketed by big screen took much longer. the studio as a high-energy, fun "I was pitching CG projects movie. But like Bambi and The before Toy Story came out," Lion King, this is a character- Oedekerk maintains. "And driven story without much fluff when I first started picturing or pop-culture references. And what the characters in Barnyard the character designs aren't a would look like, I just had this copy of anything we've seen in idea that I wanted to do it in an animated feature lately." CGI. I really think this movie Integral to the success of any would have been made years animated movie are the person- ago if my career wasn't so busy. alities of the voiceover actors.

I had my demos for this sitting "Usually, what I like to do is get around for five years, but I just into the characters first rather never got around to pitching than working off the template of Oedekerk won't count his chickens before they're hatched, Barnyard." existing people," says Oedekerk. but he has faith that Barnyard's mix of music, story and CG The effusive director "The first actor I really had a —who animation will delight moviegoers. notes that Barnyard is his first strong feeling about was Sam. To time helming an animated feature—has a story point-of-view, it isn't that different me, he was a perfect fit. Then we got into the some definite memories of the process. "It from live action. But there are clearly differ- casting of Otis. There were only a few peo- has been thrilling and painful," he says. "I ent tools involved in an animated film, and ple I felt would be fun cows, and one of had so much control over everything that it there are many more decisions to make. It's those was Kevin. In the case of the other made me crazy. Everything comes up—like almost like you're making the same movie barnyard characters, it was a matter of pick- the shape of an ashtray. With every small three or four times." ing out the actors we wanted. And you thing in this movie, I was dealing with some- Before there was even the most prelimi- always do a little dancing with the studio in body who was taking a moment and caring nary work to see, Oedekerk already had an about it. They would want to know about the idea of what he wanted out of this brave new texture and how it should look. And all those animated world. "In my head, I was pictur- decisions were in my hands." ing a very simplified environment, much like Oedekerk takes a few moments out to early Warner Bros, and Disney animation, show some selected sequences. The party but with great detail," he offers. "So rather scenes are lavish. The final conflict with the than going for complicated character design, dreaded coyotes is fun-filled and action- the Barnyard characters are these interest- packed. The somber moments between Ben ing, simple shapes; and the same is true of and Otis are appropriately thoughtful. When the design elements like the clouds and the the lights in the screening room come up, the trees. The plan was to give them texture and filmmaker is grinning like a proud father at make this world feel like a real place." Early Warner Bros, and Disney cartoons material he has already seen countless times While Barnyard is a by-product of mod- Influenced the Barnyard vioM and before. ern computer and animation technology, characters—like this veryTweety-looking "This is much more meticulous than any- "The story structure is a throwback to earli- bird. Did he just see a puddy tat? thing I've done before," he explains. "From er animated features," he declares. "On the He did! He did! DVD projects that include an animated Beef—it's what's for dinner. Oedel

says. "We're capable of exploring all kinds

of things now. It's really exciting." But Barnyard remains uppermost in Oedekerk's mind. "It's all about responsibil- ity and coming of age," he comments. "Otis is a kid who thinks he knows everything, and he doesn't need to have responsibility in his life, because who wants that? But ultimately he ends up learning the lessons that his

father already knew. He realizes that life doesn't get any worse than when you step up. This is the widest range I've ever done in creating absolute nonsense out of a very real

story. It was tough, but I really like chasing terms of getting name talent." have a musical number. In Barnyard, we're what something should be." When Oedekerk is reminded that he showing that you can stop the momentum of Still, after his lengthy stint on Barnyard,

plays two characters in the film, he laugh- . the story, have a party and it doesn 't detract Steve Oedekerk is looking for a nice year- ingly denies that it was an attempt to reduce from the flow of the film." long live-action gig to decompress with.

the budget. "I'm just there to fill in the As if to indicate that there's more to his "This was so much work. It was a long crumbs!" creative life than Barnyard, Oedekerk shows directing gig. Barnyard represents three quick selections of some upcoming TV and years of my life!" Harvest Times Oedekerk is well aware that Barnyard's 3-D aspect is a big selling point. "When you

do 3-D right and don't use it as a gag to

throw apples at people, it can have an arrest- ing effect and do things that no one has ever seen before," he observes. "It's a tricky busi- ness, because you almost have to produce only for that. But you really need to respect the boundaries of the process." While not an out-and-out musical. Barnyard has distinctive party sequences that feature multitudes of characters who sing and dance. "There's lots of music in Barnyard, but it's not a musical per se," argues Oedekerk. "It's not like these charac- ters are making sandwiches and suddenly they break into song. It's simply a matter of the animals and characters performing music. I always thought those moments in movies like Cinderella were pretty cool. You it's a barn dance! While not a musical perse, the film features quite a few song-and- didn't need to move the story forward to dance numbers.

82 STAKLOG/August 2006 www.starlog.com Explore 30 Years of

j^Hfli^ All back Issues ^^^^^^ ^ include articles J^^r numerous & interviews. Only a few are listed for each entry. Order now while copies last!

#2 Gene Roddenberry. Leagues Under the #61 rre/t// 2. Walter Koenig. #89 Jane Badler. Helen TV. Sharon Stone. $50, Coates. John Colicos. R #167 Pertwee. Creature Space: 1 999 EPG (i.e. Sea. Chekov's 2. $^0. Sean Young. RWarrior. $15. Stater. Patrick Troughton. Rabbit 57. $10. from Black Lagoon. $10. Episode Guide). Logan's Jim Cameron. Irish #114 Nimoy. Guy Williams. Run. War of the Worlds. #32 Sound FX LP Buck #62 Ricardo Montalban. McCalla. Kyle MacLachlan. Robert Hays. Gareth #139 Patrick Stewart. #168 15th Ann, Terminator Flash Gordon. $50. Rogers & Trek designs. Koenig 2. James Doohan. Starman.$10. Thomas. $150. Gareth Thomas. Landau. 2. Lost in Space. Michael Chekov's 3. $10. KenTobey. Dr.lV/7O.$10. Coates 2. Nigel Kneale. Moorcock. $10. #3 Space: 1999 EPG. #90 Scheider. Karen Allen. #116Majel Barrett. Robin "Doc" Smith. Phantom of Nichelle Nichols. George #33 Voyage EPG. Ellison #63 Spielberg. Nimoy. Ironside. Dean Stockwell. Curtis. Whitney. Paul the Opera. $10. #169 Schwarzenegger. Takei. DeForest Kelley. $35. reviews ST:TMP.$^0. Russell. Rutger Hauer. Joe Morton. $200. Darrow. Nichols. Ray Roaid Dahl. Alan Arkln. Bill James Horner. $25. Russell. $75. #140 Bill Murray. Kneale 2. & Ted 2. Dr Who.$10. #4 Outer Limits EPG. SF in #34 Tom Baker. Irv #91 Dune. Michael Wheaton. Rex Reason. Eric 3-D. Richard Anderson. $50. Kershner. Buck Rogers. #65 Arthur C. Clarke. Crichton. Koenig. #1 1 7 Nation. Lenard. Adam stoitz, eGary Kurtz. $10. #93 Donner. Lithgow. John George RR Martin. $15. #143 Perlman, Kelley Fred Saberhagen. T2. Robert Heinlein re: Prowse, Yvette Mimieux. Hurt. Robert Englund. Robert Picardo. Tracy Tunne/ writers 2. $50. Destination Moon. Glen Larson. $10, #67 rflON. "The Man Who Simon Jones. Dr. Who. Jedi #119 DocSavage. Takei. Torme. Indy III. Batman. SF Animated Trek. $25. Killed Spook." $10. FX 5. Monty Python. $10. Kerwin Matthews. $10. costuming. $50. #172 Koenig. Brian Aldiss. #37 Harrison Ford. Shah Lewis. 87. SHarry Harrison. #173 Kelley Frakes. Bakula. Space: 1999 Eagle #36 CE3K. Buck Rogers Michelle Pfeiffer. (/Jed/ FX Weller. Henriksen. Karen Kim Basinger. Shatner. /4//enWaf/on EPG. $10. blueprints. $35. EPG, Kelley. $10. #69 Anthony Daniels, 6. $10. Allen. Joe Sargent, $10. RRabbitFX. Indy lit Tom Mankiewicz. $10. Batman. $10. #174 Stewart. Nimoy. Takei. #8 Hartan Ellison. Star #39 Buck Rogers. Tom #95 Grace Jones. Matthew #122 007 Film Salute. Lambert. GC Johnson. $10. Wars. The Fly. Space Corbett Erin Gray. #70 Man from U.N.C.L.E. Broderick. Butrick, Hauer, Martin Short. Duncan #145 Tim Burton, John Shuttle. $25. Fred Freiberger. $10, Debbie Harry. Chris Lee. Mad Max in. Cocoon. $10. Regehr. Paul Verhoeven. Rhys-Davies, William #175 Roddenberry Salute. John Badham. $10. Lost Boys. $100. Gibson. Shatner 2. Dalton. Shatner. Dorn. Nichols. $10. #10 Ray Harrytiausen. #40 Hamill. Gerard. #96 9th Ann. Peter Gushing. Moranis. Cobb. RR FX 2. isaac Asimov. George Pal. 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Roy Scheider. #98 MJ Fox. George Miller. #125 Bruce Dern. Gerry Norton 2. RR FX 4. $15. #178 Batman Returns. Jason Robards. Hamill 2. Dante. Jennifer Beals. $10. Anderson. Carpenter. Young Indy $10. #13 David Prowse. Pal. #43 Altered States FX. Maud Adams. $10. Cameron. $10. #148 Tony Jay. Julie Logan's Run EPG. $10. David Cronenberg, #99 Anthony Daniels. Ian Newmar. Chaves. Biehn. #1 79 Tim Thomerson. Hulk EPG. $10. #74 Mofly Ringwald, Holm. Zemeckis. "Cubby" #126 Marina Sirtis. Hays. Warner. RR FX 5. 67 EPG Robert Colbert. ePeter Hyams, Escape from Lithgow. George Lazenby. Harryhausen. Nichols. $10. Gates McFadden. $50. #152 Leslie Stevens. Gareth Richard Donner. $10. NY. SF comics. $10, McQuarrie. Semple 2. $10. Hunt. eRidley Scott. #128 John de Lancie. Ron Deanna Lund. Stuart #16 Phil Kaufman. Fantastic #46 Harry Hamlin. #76 Crabbe. Sybil Danning. Sting. Roddy McDowall. Perlman. James Earl Jones. #153 Bradbury. Edward Gordon. Voyage writers. Albert. Meriwether. Lundgren. $10. 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Flatliners. BTTF 3. Walken. Tim Powers. Young #19 Roger Gorman. Gil Henriksen, Clarke, Bernstein. John Dykstra. #130 Tim Burton. Denise Nancy Allen. $10. Indy. Voyage writers 3. $10. Gerard. Star Wars. $10. #49 Kurt Russell, Lucas 2, Scott Glenn, $10, Ben Burtt. $10. Crosby. Jack Larson. Takei. 007 FX. $15. Pertwee. Munro, B&B. $10. #156 14th Ann. Nielsen. #184 Blade Runner Scott. #20 Pam Dawber. Kirk Alyn, #80 Billy Dee Williams. #104 Peter Mayhew. Schwarzenegger. Gale. Quantum Leap. Stephen Buck Rogers. $10. #50 Lucas 3. Spielberg. Anthony Ainley. Jedi FX. Stephen Collins. Bradbury. #131 Jonathan Frakes. Dorn. Dante. Farmer 2. Donaldson. $10. Sean Connery, Lawrence Last Stadighier. $10. Ken Johnson. Outer Limits. Hays. Geena Davis. Larson Sfarman EPG. $10. #21 MarkHamilt. /.osf/n Kasdan. Ray Walslon. $100. Louis Gossett Jr. $10. 2.Colin Wilson. SSa $10. #185 Highlander Zemeckis. Space EPG. BRogers. $10. #81 Alan Dean Foster, Fred #157 Verhoeven. Ronny Robert Sheckley Immortal. #51 Kasdan 2. Shatner. Ward. Veronica Cartwright, #105 Lambert. Colin Baker. #132 12th Ann. Howard. Cox. Marshall. Weller. $1 0. Old Indy $10. #22 Special FX careers. Harryhausen, Roddenberry. Buckaroo Banzai. $10. Jonathan Pryce. Grace Lee Alan Young. RussTamblyn. Lome Greene. Veronica Jerry Goldsmith. $10. Whitney, Planet of the Apes. Colin Baker. RoboCop. #1 58 Chris Lee. Kershner. #186 Stewart. Anne Francis. Cartwright. ALIEN. $10, #82 Schwarzenegger. Max V EPG, Japanimation. $10. Roger Rabbit Beetlejuice. Haldeman. Darkman. $10. Adrian Paul. Red Dwarf. #52 Blade Runner. Shatner von Sydow. Chris Lloyd. Janet Leigh. $10. Immortal 2. $10. #23 Dan O'Bannon. 2. Peter Barton. $10. Faye Grant. Jedi FX 2. $10. #106 Nimoy. Tim Curry. #159 Ofson S Card. Nicolas Prowse, Dr. Who. The Day Clancy Brown. Terry Nation. #133 Bob Hoskins.C.J. Roeg. Michael Piller. Leiber. #187 Rick Berman. Gordon writers. 0. Craig Charles. Glen the Earth Stood Still. #53 Bradbury. Patrick #83 Kate Capshaw. Robin ALIENS. Japanimation. $1 0. Cherryh. Roy Dofrice. Land of Giants $1 Scott, ALIEN. $10. Macnee. Blade Runner Curtis. Fritz Leiber. Patrick Culliton. Sirtis. Cook. Time Trax. $10. Greatest A Hero. $10. Marshall. Dr Who. V.$10. #107 Henson. Tom Cruise. Goldsmith. Badler. R #1 60 Whoopi Goldberg. Kim #24 3rd Ann. Leonard Dicks. W.D. Richter. Jean M. Rabbit. B&B. $10. Hunter. GRR Martin. Eric #188 Terry Farrell. Andreas Nimoy. Wiiiiam Shatner. #54 3-D Issue. Bob Culp. #84 8th Ann. Nimoy, Frank Auel. AL/E/VS. $10. Pierpoint. Edward Judd. Katsulas. Doug Adams. Bennett. Chris Barrie.$10. Walter Hill. S10. Leslie Nielsen. Terry Oz. Chris Lambert. Marc #134 Zemeckis. Crosby. Ghost Flash. Giants 2. $10. Gilliam, ^re^c bloopers, $10. Singer. Drew Barrymore. #108 10th Ann. Russell. Ken Johnson. Cherryh 2. #25 Ray Bradbury. Mike Banzai. Jedi FX 3. $10. Rod Taylor. Martin Landau. James Caan. Sylvester #161 Jane Wyatt. Martin 2. #189 Dale Midkiff. Robert Minor. Thing. ST.TMP. $10, #55 Phil Dick. Ed Bishop. Chuck Jones. Roddenberry. McCoy. $10. Liam Neeson. Ghost $10, Patrick. DS9. $10. Culp 2. Trek bloopers. $1 0. #85 Jim Henson. Jeff Michael Biehn. David #26 Gerry Anderson. Ridley Goldblum. Bob Zemeckis. Hedison. $10. #135 R Rabbit iS 7, Jerry #162 Stockweil- Patrick #190 Armin Shimerman. Scott. H.R.Giger. $10. #56 Zardoz. Triffids. Trek Ivan Reitman. Dante. $10. Sohl. Patrick McGoohan. Swayze. LeVar Burton. Val Mark Goddard. Anne bloopers. $10. #109 Sigourney Weaver. Marta Kfisten. Van Williams. Guest. Don Matheson. $10. McCaffrey. Danny #27 Nick Meyer. Galactica #86 Peter Weller. John Henson, Carpenter. Takei. Alien Nation. $10. John-Jules. Koenig. $10. EPG. ALIEN ?X.%^0. #57 LIS Robot. Caroline Sayles. Chris Columbus. Ally Sheedy. $10. #163 Mumy. Guest 2. Munro. Ron Cobb. $10. Rick Moranis. Lenard. Jedi #136 Mandy Patinkin. Jock McFadden, B&B. 87, $10. #191 Rene Auberjonois. #28 Lou Ferrigno, Wonder FX 4. $125. #110 Bradbury. Cameron. Mahoney. Carpenter. Sohl Lucas. Jurassic Park. $10. i^oman EPG. $10, #58 Blade Runner. Thing. Cronenberg. Bob Gale. 2. Terminator Lost Trek. #164 Dan Aykroyd. John Syd Mead, Bloopers. $10. #87 Ghostbusters FX. Geena Davis. Nimoy. $10- Catherine Hicks. $10. Agar Richard Denning. Tim #192 17th Ann. Spiner. #29 Erin Gray. Busier Kelley. Prowse. David Burton. Jerome Bixby. $1 0. Crichton. Frederik Pohl. Crabbe.$10. #59 Kirstie Alley. Arnold Lynch. $10. #111 Columbus. Sarah #137 Marshall. War of the BodySnatchers.$10. Schwarzenegger. Merritt Douglas. Nick Courtney. Worlds. Eric Menyuk. $10. #165 Dick. FX2. S10. #30 Robert Wise, Chekov's Butrick. $75. #88 Terminator. Kelley 2, Martin Caidin. $10. #193 Schwarzenegger, Enterprise. QTapes. $15. Keir Dullea. Schwarzen- #1 38 Michael Dorn. John #166 Robin Hood. Chris Lloyd. Jurassic Park. #60 6th Ann. Carpenter. egger. V. Dune. Gremlins. #113 Doohan. Robert Larroquette. JC Van Rocketeer Mark Ryan. Gorge. $10.

#31 Empire. 20.000 Scott. TRON. Trek II. $10. Alan Lee, $10. Bloch. Rick Baker. Starman Damme. Lenard. Phyllis WWorlds EPG. $10. #194 Fay Wray. Brian #217 Chris O'Donnell. #240 21st Ann. Rhys- #262 Samuel L. Jackson. #282 Patrick. Picardo. Lisa Lee. Sonnenfeld. Anthony #327 Sky Captain Pulp. Bonsall. 2001. Jurassic Marshall. Howard. Nimoy Davies. de Lancie. Winston, Matt Greening, Carrie-Anne Ryder. Brendan Fehr. Bat Michael Hall. Kevin (Ares) Law. Kerry Conran. Alan Parfc $10. Filter. William Alland. $10. Gordon 2, Men in Black. Moss. Reeves. Wachowskis. Beyond. Dune. $10. Smith. David Drake. $25. Tudyk. Alfred Molina. M. A.C. Crispin, $10, Jeremy Bulloch, $100. Night Shyamalan. Welling. Filler. #195 Praed. Ann #218 Jim Carrey. Stan #283 Claudia Black. Keith #302 Tommy Lee Jones. Ghost in the Shell. $25. Robinson. 25 best Next Winston. Crosby Kennedy #241 Jodie Foster. Rick #263 Ewan McGregor. Hamilton Cobb. Majandra Will Smith, Christian Bale, Generations. $10. Alland 2. $10. Baker, Goldblum. M/S. $10, Nicole deBoer. Cronenberg. Deifino. Lorenzo Lamas, Sam Jackson, Banderas. #328 Sarah Michelle Gellar. Mummy. Matrix FX. $50. Pileggi. Wang. $10. Mel Gibson. deBoer. $50. Gwyneth Paltrow. Noel Neill. #196 Sylvester Stallone. #219 Kevin Costner. #242 Will Smith, Barry Boreanaz. Browder. Sirtls. Hatch. Richard Stephen Furst. Dorn, Nimoy Sonnenfeld. Ironside. Kull. #264 23rd Ann. Gary Cole. #284 Traci Lords, Dean #303 Whedon. Stewart. Incredibles. AVP FX, $25. Llewelyn. Alan Hunt. $10. Alland 3. Writing Lost in Spawn. Star Wars. $10, Jude Law. Joe Pantoliano, Haglund. Richard Kiel, Craig. Hedison. Dina Meyer. Space. $10. Warren Stevens. Tarzan. Michael Weatherly McNeill. Corin Nemec.$15. #329 Peter Graves. Julie #197 Bruce Campbell. #243 Mimic. MiB. Robert Shimerman, Matrix. S10. Torres, Flores. $10, Schwartz. Jolie. Biggs. Wesley Snipes. Michael #220 Space: Above & Beltran, Glen Larson. Erin #304 Connor Trinneer, Tom Incredibles. Farscape. Polar Whelan. Peter Davison. Beyond X-Files. Writing Gray Zemeckis. V.$^0. #265 Lucas. Mike Myers. #285 Jeri Ryan. Tom Welling. Dominic Purcell. Express. $25. Jonathan Brandis. $50. i./S2.$10. Neeson. Sonnenfeld. Ryan Braidwood. Alexondra Lee. Sean Bean. Raelee Hill. #244 Max Grodenchik. Gosling. Van Damme. Pratt, Farscape. $^Q. Rebecca Riggs. Spiner. #330 Michael Chabon. #1 98 Lockhart. James #221 ChrisCarter.de Casper Van Dien. Stewart. Siddig. Iron Giant SID. Biehn. Boreanaz. $15. Edward James Olmos. Bama. Ted Ralmi. Jackie Lancie. Spiner. Barry Morse. EFConflict. X-Files. MiB. #286 Jonathan LaPaglra. Jessica Biel. William F Lane. $10. Toy Story. Red Dwarf. $10. William Gibson. $10. #266 Keliey Tribute, Will Anthony Simcoe. Chris #305 Hayao Miyazaki. Nolan, Torri Higginson. Smith. Ian McDiarmid. Kevin Carter. Julie Benz. Russ. Chuck Jones. Michelle Richard Taylor. Keating. #199 Visitor. Nana McCoy. #222 Lucy Lawless. Garrett #245 Starship Troopers. Kline. Iron Giant $W. McCaffrey Beltran. $10. Trachtenberg. Dominic Simcoe. Schwartz 2. $25. John Barry. TeliWar. $10. Wang. Cameron. Gilliam. Verhoeven. X-Files. Monaghan. Billy Boyd, $15. Auberjonois. $10. Hercules. SG-7. $10. #267 Berman. Eric Idle, #287 Angle Jolie. James #331 Jamie Bamber. David #200 William Gibson. Gale Sebastian Spence. Shirley Arness, E de Ravin. David #306 Steven Soderbergh, Goyer.Tom Kenny. David Ann Hurd.Tim Burton. #223 Michael Hurst. Stella #247 Jimmy Stewart. Pierce Eaton. Crusade. $10. Boreanaz. Wayne Pygram. Nathan Pillion, Radcliffe, Hewlett Taylor 2. Hatch. Clarke. Gilliam. Dante. Stevens. Welier. Kcenig. Brosnan. Winona Ryder, Dawson. Phillips, Bruce Emma Watson. Rupert Tom Corbett Jno. Pixar Bova. $15. Roy Thinnes. Verhoeven. David McCallum. Leni #268 Chris Carter. Mulgrew. Harwood. Shrek. $^0. Grint. Aslin, Wood. Bakula. Illustrated. $10. John Cravi'ford.$10. Parker. Ted Raimi, Weaver, de Lancie. Darren. Roswell. Newmar. Sirtis. Taken. $15. #201 Chris Carter. Visitor. Furlan, Perlman. O'Connor. Iron Giant $10. #288 25th Ann. Jules Verne. #332 J.J. Abrams. Garner. Alexander Siddig. Colin #224 Bruce Willis. Robin Benedict, Ferrigno. $10. H.G. Wells, Spielberg. #307 George Clooney Ron Grace & Linda Park, Shawn Baker. Bob May. Red Dwarf. Williams. Kristen Cloke. #269 Weaver. McNeill. Reitman. Joe Johnston. Glass. Halle Berry Bernard Ashmore. Pygram, Sam J, RoboCop. $10. Ford. Lithgow. Vic Lundin. #248 Jonathan Harris. WB Sorbo. Steve Reeves. Geof Witchblade.$15. Hill. Miranda Otto, Emma Jones. CorbertTrio 2. $10. Michael Stackpole. $10. Davis. Von Flores. Costner. arrow. Ray Park, Toy Story Caulfield. Gerry Anderson, #202 David Duchovny Mira Steve Railsback. $75. 2. Futurama. $10. #289 Burton's Apes. Rick Jason Isaacs. Taken. $15. #333 Keira Knightley Mary Furlan. Ernie Hudson. $10, #225 Michael Ansara. Mitch Baker. John Chambers. McDonnell. Rachel Luttrell. Pileggi. Thompson. #249 Jeri Ryan. Tracy #270 Nimoy Tim Allen. Duchovny $10, #308 Spielberg. Cameron. Katsuhiro Otomo. Clancy #203 Rod Serling. Ray Hercules FX. MST3K. Scoggins. Crusade. Lost in Natalie Portman. Brendan Mortensen. Karl Urban. Brown. Edgiey Barrie. Liotta. Jerry Doyle. Sliders. $10. Space. SG-r. $10. Eraser. Desmond Llewelyn, #290 Carpenter. West. Law, Head, Rockne O'Bannon. Robots. $10. Matheson. $10. Gerrit & Heather Graham. Ming-Na. HJ Osmenl, $50, McNeill. Judge. $15. #226 Jason Carter. Sabrina #250 Duchovny Berman. Dana Wynter. Cleese, $10. #334 Rachel Weisz. Jorge #204 18th Ann. McFadden. Lloyd. Day in the Trek. $10, Bennett. Van Dien, Gary #291 Tim Burton. Takei. #309 Peter Jackson. Brad Garcia. Heather Menzies. Frakes. Claudia Christian. Oldman, From the Earth to #271 Tom Hanks. Johnny Frakes. Rhys-Davies, Lani Dourif. Jennifer Garner. Paul McGillion. Terry Rockne O'Bannon. $1 0. #227 Jennifer Lien, Nick the Moon. Deep Impact Depp. Brosnan. Ben John Tupu, Braga. $50. Mike Connors. Tom Lenk. Goodkind. Mayhew. Tate. Billy Zane. Meaney Creature. $10. Browder. Marc Singer. Vin Albert. Tupu. Pratt. X2 $25. Hitchhiker's Guide. $10. #205 Michelle Forbes. 65. $10. Diesel, Columbus. First #292 Liv Tyler, Jet Li. Alba. Gerry Anderson. Lionel #251 Heather Graham. Matt Wave. Cleopatra 2525. $10, Holm. Berman. Daniel #31 0 Hugo Weaving. Colin #335 Josh Holloway Bale. Jeffries. Chuck Russell. #228 20th Ann. Goldblum. LeBlanc, Hudson Leick. SG- Radcliffe. Samurai Jack. Farrell. Teryl Rothery Christensen. Sin City. $150. O'Bannon. Mulgrew, John 1. X-F;7es.$10, #272 Jason Behr. Gina Mutant X. Smallville. $50. Affleck. Mumy Reeve. $15. Spamalot $15. Frankenheimer. $10. Torres. William Sadler. de Lancie. #206 Invaders #252 22nd Ann, Boxleitner, Xenia Seeberg. Katey #293 Bakula, Shatner. #311 Bryan Singer. Peta #336 29th Ann. Chris Lee. writers. Peter Beagle. $10. #229 Ethan Phillips. Dina Earl Holliman. CCarter. Sagal. Pitch Black $^0. Nimoy Sean Astin. Warwick Wilson. Greg Bear, Allison Zooey Deschanel. David Meyer. Bill Paxton. $25. Nimoy Jerry O'Connell. Edd Davis. Pat Warburton, Mack. Richard Fleischer. Koepp. McDiarmid. Berman. #208 Michael O'Hare. Ed Cartier. $10. #273 Jeri Ryan. Larry Columbus. Kilner. 65 jam Tapping. Animatrix. $25. AM Hall. Batman Begins. Wood. Carl Lumbly$10. #230 Van Peebles. Jeff Niven. Jet Li. Victoria Pratt. talk. Monsters, Inc. $50. 4400. $10. Conaway Will Smith. $150, #253 Antonio Banderas. Cole Hauser. Radha #312 27th Ann. Hugh #209 StarGate. Ben Affleck. Karl Wuhrer. Mitchell. Futurama. $10. #294 Peter Jackson, Elijah Jackman. Shanks. Afan #337 Lucas. Spielberg. Generations. Helena #231 7re/c30th Salute. e5.$10. Wood. John Lasseter. John Gumming. Ken Johnson. Cruise. Sam Jackson. Chris Bonham Carter. interview. Andrea Voyager jam #274 Charisma Carpenter, Shea, Billingsley. Lexa Nemo. $10. Nolan. Gillian Murphy Thompson. $10. Auberjonois, Shimerman. #254 UmaThurman. Kirsten Terry Pratchett. Christian, Doig. HB Carter. Jimmy Torres. 4400. $10. Writing Buck Rogers. $10. Dunst. Catherine Zeta- Vail. Keith David. John Neutron. JM.$15, #313 Stan Lee. Ellen Muth. #210 Mario Van Peebles. Jones. Farrell. Pileggi. Billingsley Frequency. $10. Titans. Nemo. 73. $15. #338 Tim Burton. Dakota West. Barrett. Nichols. #232 Russell. Dorn, Keaton. Steen.$100. #295 Jolene Blaiock. Gate Fanning. Scarlett Brown. X-F//es. $10. Emmerich. Buck2.$-\0. #275 Gillian Anderson. Don Blanchett. Lauren Smith, #314 Kelly Hu. Eric Bana. Johansson. Joel Gretsch. #255 Gillian Anderson. Davis. X-/Wen. $10. Coltrane. B5. Viggo Fishburne, Pirates of the Gilliam. McGregor. Night #211 Kevin Sorbo. Jerry #233 Gillian Anderson. Marc Alaimo. Snipes. Mortensen. $10. Caribbean. X2. $25. Watch. $10. Hardin. Kenneth Branagh. Stewart, Frakes. Kcenig, Jefferson. Hatch. $15, #276 24th Ann. Duchovny Russell, Wise. $10. Torme.$10, Verhoeven. Virginia Hey #296 Annabeth Gish. #315 Andy Serkis. Gene #339 Adam Baldwin. #256 Elizabeth Gracen. Vincent Ventresca. $1 0. Gordon Woolvelt. McKellen. Barry. 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ly, really hard. John was just letting life pass him by." Lasseter had worked at Pixar for nine

years. After Toy Story 2, his wife Nancy convinced him to take a two-month vaca- tion to spend time with his family. "That trip was an opportunity to slow down, get off the interstate, take some of the side roads and enjoy life," Pauley says. "That's

one of the essences of Cars: the journey is the reward. From there, we started watch- ing lots of fdms, getting books and devel- oping the story. Then we traveled across Route 66, which was a big trip. Ten of us, nine days, three Cadillacs, and about a thousand miles. It was an eye-opening ex- Two of John Lasseter's "greatest passions in life"—automobiles and animation- perience." combine In Cars.

has local soil in it, so the asphalt is almost red. There's also red soil in Oklahoma, and flat, beautiful, big skies in Texas. You see the nature of these environments, how they change and the finite ele-

ments that contribute to them. And it was the same thing with the cars: We learned the different models, looks and their personalities,

and that helped us figure out where the characters fit in. Those trips were invaluable in understanding this movie." Burning Rubber Supervising technical director Eben Ostby has been with Pixar since its inception as a computer division of Lucasfilm. During those

Disney's 1952 short "Susie the Little Blue Coupe" (on which legendary animator OIlie Johnston worked) was another inspiration for Cars.

The team hired Michael Wallis, author of the definitive Route 66: The Mother Road, to lead the way. "When Michael came out to talk to us about Route 66, just

the way he talked about it, the romance of it and everything, John knew that we had to get on that road," says Pauley. "At the trip's beginning, we pulled over in Tulsa, Oklahoma, gathered in a litde circle and

started to talk about the road. It was a life-

changing thing. You never know what's .-. : ; - .

going to happen on the open road. It was a charming discussion, but The creation while I didn't roll my eyes, I was like [sardonically], 'Yeah, I get Lasseter is that. That's fine.' But once we were on our third, fourth and fifth "probably days, I realized, 'Yeah, all sorts of wonderful things can happen.' You proudest" of is meet wonderful people as you through go these wonderful towns. IVIater, a character "In books, you can see what these small towns look like, but who Is "pure" when you're actually in them, you understand why they look that Joe Ranft, PIxar's way and learn their history. We would roll into a place, and John, Joe late storytelling [Ranft, head of story] and some others would go find the stories," genius. Pauley explains. "Michael would take us to the Delgadillo Brothers, and they would sit down and chat for hours. [Co-production design-

er] Bill Cone and I would be there for the first little bit, and it was interesting, but then we would jump into the car and take off, because here we were in this wonderful land, so we shot thousands of pictures of the classic patina on the buildings—the faded paint, Lasseter, Ftanft the peeling rust. Now every time I see a rusty old car, I pull over and and Jorgen Klubien

take photos of it." devised Cars' original story. The That trip helped the filmmakers determine what their world, cars screenplay is and characters should look like. "Our journey was about figuring out credited to Dan the story as well as the environment," says Pauley. "We didn't know Fogelman, Lasseter, exactly where our world was, and we found it in Arizona on Route Ranft, Kiel Murray & 66, in terms of the rock formations. I was taking soil samples, and I Phil Lorin and couldn't believe it: purple dirt, red dirt, regular dirt... And the road Klubien. I 86 STARLOG/Au^MiT 2006 early days, Ostby worked on the graphics software for animation. He have without losing its essence? Ostby explains, "We spent a great stayed with Pixar when the division was sold to Steve Jobs and start- deal of time doing tests, building simulated car characters and push- ed making shorts, advertisements and, eventually, features, begin- ing how far we could do things like, say, if we put a mouth on the ning with Toy Stoiy. In 1997, Ostby, William Reeves, Sam Leffler car, how far can we open that mouth, and how much does that affect and Tom Duff won the Oscar's Scientific and Engineering Award for the surrounding skin? Or if it has cheeks, how much do they puff? the development of the Marionette Three-Dimensional Computer "Basically, we had to figure out how much motion we needed to Animation System. represent the cars' facial and body animation. We zeroed in on a On Cars, Ostby oversaw the team of specialists who created the level that felt real—like a person smiling or moving—without being models, shading, rigging and lighting. "My leads in each of the sub- too rubbery. Human skin is pretty flexible, and we wanted the cars disciplines were the people I counted on," he says. "Steve May was to look alive, but we had to avoid being too flexible, or it didn't feel in charge of effects; Chris Bernardi and David Munier handled the like metal. So that was an artistic call, and we tried out different shading; Thomas Jordan and Tim Milliron did character; Sophie mouths and decided what looked good. Much of that came from the Vincelette managed the sets; and Jeremy Lasky was layout. They eye and experience of the animators, who really gave the cars that were my key people. And they in turn had very talented and won- sense of being alive." derful staffs who made this film really come to life. Although Ostby didn't take the Route 66 trips, he and a technical "The big challenge was coming up with a detailed visual look of crew visited locations in Nevada, specifically the towns of Gold this imagined universe. We were inspired by the desert vistas of the Field and Tonopah. Says Ostby, "We got a hard look at what a dusty, Southwest, and that involved huge amounts of vegetation that you down-at-the-heels desert town might be like. Things like that. It was can see for miles. Also, we had to develop tools that would allow us fascinating. We learned a ton. to duplicate the reflections and lighting you see on real cars. We "So much of it seems like minutiae, but we used that knowledge used ray-tracing technologies—which have been around for some to build and shade our models: The way the roads feather into the time—but took them to a new level." The key technology behind ray-tracing is the ability to analyze a scene and figure out the reflections. "For a highly-reflective surface, like a car, getting that right adds a huge amount to the realism," notes Ostby. "In addition, we used that technology to reflect other kinds of things besides images—particularly the subtle effects of light spilling from one surface to another, and light being partly occluded by the small features in a surface. It's an expensive process, but one that has a new richness that we were unable to achieve before. "Our system also allowed us to layer on some tools for simulat- ing the way cars actually work. We needed vehicles that could drive over rough surfaces and respond to that in a realistic way without forcing the animators to control how the cars move—things like wheel physics and the effect of rubber on the road. Those were for the motion side, and everything was implemented into the system, which made it much richer. Another system let us accurately model and simulate the effect of an automobile's suspension, so when the cars go over bumps, they don't fly into pieces. All the component parts, springs, shocks and everything else make the suspension behave in a believable fashion. And the antennae and other springy pieces have secondary motions that could be handled automatically without making someone hand-animate them." tm It only took a phone call (no script) to get racing enthusiast Another challenge was breathing life and personality into what Paul Newman on board as Doc Hudson. are essentially inanimate objects. How much expression can a car dirt around them; how the sagebrush is distributed around the landscape; the pati- na and peeling paint on old buildings that have been baked by the Sun; that old- rusty-car look and the different kinds of rust you find on abandoned vehicles in the desert." The research teams made sketches and took photographs, but only for reference for later design work, modeling and shad- ing. "There's no substitute for having those images burned into your brain," Ostby offers. "Just being in the desert and

knowing how it feels out there—on a hot day, a cold day, what a lovely mountain

road is like." Changing Gears Doug Sweetland was a supervising animator on a team that included super- vising animator Scott Clark and two directing animators, Bobby Podesta and Jim Murphy. Sweetland initially trained

www.starlog.com STARLOG/4t<^«5« 2006 87 at CalArts, and his hand-drawn student film, Blind Spot, caught the Once again attention of Pete Docter, who mentored him on Toy Story. Sweetland Oscar-winning was nominated for an ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Award for Toy Story composer Randy Newman has 2, and won Annies for his worlc on Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. tuned up a Pixar score. Bringing life to the automobiles was the central issue on Cars. It's road music. "It's a central issue on every Pixar movie we work on," Sweetland declares. "In Finding Nemo, we had to sell that these fish were in water, but there was a special set of character circumstances. These creatures had to be somewhat human so people could relate to them, and the same is true of these cars—especially since they're rendered in such high detail and reflectivity. They're 3,000-pound vehicles! Route 66 (aM..a. "We did lots of research on car behavior and physics, and our "Tine IWother characters act like real automobiles. But that research could only Road") and the take us so far. We don't really know how a car would race if it was quirky communities an autonomous being, so we came up with different analogies—like it winds through skiers and skateboarders. We borrowed from those and then created influenced Cars' a new language with these cars. Will people see that? 'Yeah, that picturesque guy is hot-dogging' or 'Oh my God, that guy is out of control' If settings. you obey your set of rules, then the audience will buy into the world. One principle John really focused on was staying true to the materials." Rule #1 was: Don't bend the bodies too much. "John was extremely sensitive to that," says Sweetland. "Even something like the brow—which is the top of the windshield on these cars—is an in-between area. The brow on an animated character is a really expressive area, but since these are automo- biles, the brow is also the X-line to the metal roof. So we had to pull back from that more than usual. John was a watchdog for that sort of stuff, and because he's the ultimate com- puter animation director, he knows exactly what it's going to look like when it's finished. "Another rule involved the eyelids, and there wasn't much refer- John Ratzenberger ence for that—even in cartoons. What eye shapes could there be (heard here as when you have two pupils in one windshield? It's kind of like one Mack), Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Dave eyeball with two pupils, so we came up with this motif in the mid- Foley, Billy Crystal dle of the eyelid to help delineate between the two eyeballs. Well, and John Goodman that was good, but then there were two different ways of doing it. provide voice cameo One stair-steps up, and the other meets in the middle. There comes nods to past a point where you're making things up as you go along, but you want Pixar projects. it to have its own logic. So we said, 'We'll have the stair-steps for the guy cars; that's a more masculine shape. And the girls will have

There's a real taste of Route 66 to the landscape of rusty cars, colorful soil and Sun-baked buildings.

more rounded eyelids, and they'll meet in the middle, because " there's something more feminine about those shapes.'

Once a rule was set, they couldn't really play with it. "It became part of the new reality of this fantasy world we were creating," says Sweedand. "John was the one who didn't want us to bend the cars. As new animators joined the show, that was a tip that had to be dis- persed animator to animator. And when we went to dailies, we saw John make different calls, and that influenced our work. We also learned from one another's mistakes. It truly is a group effort ani- mating these movies. It's not like you're isolated and have one-on- one dialogues with John. There was definitely a fraternity feeling in the animation department. And John kept stressing the point, 'If you M 88 STARLOG/AugMi'f 2006 —

"So is Mater [Larry the Cable Guy], who represents all those rusty trucks, pickups and wreckers we saw on Route 66. Every town has a rusty truck with that Sun-baked patina which is absolutely gor-

geous. I developed a great fondness for the way Sun-baked rust and colors fade. Mater's merit badge comes from the open road. He has

earned all of that color, and the quality of his paint." Sally (Bonnie Hunt), the 2002 Porsche 911, came from the re- search team's visit to the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Oklahoma, where they met the owner, Dawn Welch. "Sally is someone who left the fast lane, restored this old place and fell in love with this town," reveals Pauley. Attention to detail and research was important to realizing sup- porting characters like Ramone and Luigi. "Ramone is a '59 Impala Lowrider," Pauley says. "He's an eight-year model, and already had a moustache virtually built into the dash. A friend of mine works at Lowrider magazine, and we had them up and talked to them to get the details right. And Luigi is a VF 500 with a transleaf front sus- pension. We had model kits and took them apart, because you do see the underside of that car. Very rarely do you see any of the others, know where you're going to end up, why even take the journey?' So but I'm glad we did that one right, because people do notice that. We we wanted the opportunity to figure things out, solve new problems work so hard on these films because we love them. It's really impor- and meet new challenges." tant to 1) like the subject, and 2) understand the subject before you start to tell a story." Peeling Out Even screen actor Paul Newman—the voice of Doc Hudson Pauley moved from Detroit to San Jose, California at an early lent his racing expertise to the film. "He's a very good race car dri- age. He was a graphics designer at Colossal Pictures for several ver," says Pauley. "There's a scene where 'Hud' is telling McQueen years, then worked on The Nightmare Before Christmas, and wound something about driving, and it was well-written, but Paul said, up at Pixar in 1993, joining the art department on Toy Story. He 'Well, you would really say it this way.' He would explain from his advanced to art director for A Bug's Life and production designer for racing knowledge how to communicate that, and then do it natural- Monsters, Inc. (which he discussed in STARLOG #293). On Cars, ly. When you have Paul Newman playing a character named Hud he specialized in characters, while Cone concentrated on environ- a Hudson Hornet—it just doesn't get any better than that." The nick- ments. name comes from Hud Bannon, a cowboy Newman played in Hud "We wanted to use existing cars rather than cars that we created," (1963). Pauley remarks. "And some were a perfect fit. For example, Fillmore "The animators watched tapes of Paul, the way he delivers lines

it feel natural, so is a VW bus, and Sarge is an Army Jeep. These guys live next door and acts—not so much to mimic him, but to make you believe it," he states. "We worked extremely hard to make the cars accurate; we were putting mouths and eyes on automobiles, and we wanted that to look natural. You shouldn't notice it. The best comment I've gotten so far was from my wife, who could care less about cars. After she saw the movie, she told me, 'After the first five

minutes, I forgot they were cars.' And that's what we want—for the - work to disappear and have people fall in love with the characters.

"John is always saying, 'I want people to really go to Radiator = = Springs.' And it does feel like a real place, a believable place," Bob Pauley grins. "If you do go out to Arizona and some of those areas, | driving along Route 66, you might slow down and stop at one * point—'cause of the skies, rock formations, soil and the way the Sun looks. And you'll go, 'This is where Radiator Springs is.' You'll f know." 1^ =>

to each other. Sarge's lawn is perfectly cut; Fillmore has never mowed his lawn. It's the ex-military guy vs. the hippie bus. We read a lot of stuff on the Jeep and WWII; it's an enormously important vehicle in American history. And then you have the counter-culture hippie bus. They're a great duo. "For Lightning McQueen [voiced by Owen Wilson], we looked at stock cars, but we didn't want to favor one manufacturer over

another. McQueen is a model that we invented. We did the research, looked at tons of cars and pinned them all up. What's cool? What's not cool? What's interesting? What's fun? What does our character have to do? And we designed him from that. We're proud of For more on The Art of Cars, see the book by Michael Wallis & Lightning. He's our own model. Suzanne Fitzgerald Wallis (Chronicle, he, $40).

www.starlog.com STARLOG/August 2006 89 !

Celebration begins in this edition and will continue over the next year, with ' \nniv('i'.sary (]cl('l)ralion 30 special features sprinkled over 10 issues. Divided up over time, they And so it's STARLOG's 30th Anniversary. Hurraii! Hurrah! won't overwhelm any single issue. Break out the party hats. Serve up the cherry punch. Slice They'll all be branded with the star the angel food cake. And be sure to drop some crumbs on icon designed by Art Director Heiner

the floor. The office mouse has to have something to eat. Also, it Fell (seen, coincidentally, just above). might like a very small party hat. And some of that punch. We start with two tales involving the late Alfred Hitchcock, a STARLOG began in 1976 as a one-shot (a publication only great influence on fantasy and horror thanks to The Birds and his intended to appear once), selling so well in that pre-Stor Wars era film version of beloved genre figure Robert Bloch's Psycho. that the distributor quickly called for an issue #2. Soon, STAR- Back in 1975, my pal Jeff Walker (now a veteran movie marke- LOG was being published regularly, becoming the flagship peri- teer, then a music and entertainment journalist) visited the set of odical of the STARLOG GROUP, which would eventually field a Hitchcock's final film. Family Plot. The magazine that assigned

variety of magazines (including FANGORIA, COMICS SCENE, it never published his story. Family Plot premiered in 1976, the

CINEMAGIC and FUTURE LIFE). Now, three decades later, year STARLOG was born. A bit off-topic it may be, but I'm

STARLOG and FANGORIA are part of another multimedia pleased to give the piece a home on page 6 1 and let it see print company, the "print division" of the CREATIVE GROUR 30 years later. I have to confess. After all this time, I've grown exhausted by The second story? A chance remark by publicist Jeff Sander- the marking of birthdays and similar milestones. "Really!? Must son electrified me. He told me Eva Marie Saint, leading lady of we have a party?" Besides its Hitchcock's North by Northwest own, STARLOG has celebrated and Martha Kent of Superman the anniversaries of various Returns, would be available other sagas, devoting occasional should we want to include special issues to Star Trek, Star quotes from her in two or three

Wars, James Bond, Battlestar paragraphs of a Superman arti-

Galactica, etc. I knew we were cle. "Absolutely not!" I creating great expectations that I exclaimed. "She's a legend! She didn't necessarily want to be gets a story of her own ! ! We trapped into fulfilling when I got already have a Hitchcock piece mail asking if there would be a in the same issue—and Ernest special edition devoted to The Lehman scripted both movies ! ! Empire Strikes Back (albeit my We'll get film historian Tom !" favorite Star Wars movie) on its Weaver to interview her! ! ! 10th anniversary? Well, no. And so we did. Check out the What about TRONl Howard entertaining result on page 55. the Duck? Tomb Raider? And We have more special stuff lined why not salutes for Buck up as the 30th Anniversary Cele- Rogers? Harsh Realm? Thresh- bration continues next issue. It's old? soon apparent that Just one more thing before I almost everything—no matter go. We want to thank the thou- More odmpre5Si<»j iechnolog^ the quality, success or even sands of people past and pre- longevity—has somebody cheer- sent—no names, not that anyone leading for a celebration. While could know them all—who have we do like to remember history, we don't want to be condemned made STARLOG possible over the last three decades. Thanks to to constantly repeating it. So, next issue notwithstanding (Star the printers and distributors (who do the grunt work of manufac-

Trek's 40th, don't you know?), we try to avoid anniversaries. turing the magazine and getting it ordered and into stores). ..the Except we simply can 't ignore this one—which presented a owners, managers, clerks and dealers (who sell STARLOG at dilemma. What to do this time? After all, STARLOG has been in comics shops, independent bookstores, newsstands, chain out- the anniversary issue business since, amazingly, our third year lets, conventions and elsewhere)...the interviewees, publicists, (1979). Those editions have had bonus features, extra pages, photo editors and graphics contributors (who give us something price increases, poems (yikes!), photo collages, sections boasting to write about and the pix to illustrate it). ..our many talented solicited celebrity greetings (which always seemed far too self- writers, cartoonists and photographers. ..our publishers and the congratulatory to me, so I ended them), gatefold posters (show- legions of STARLOG GROUP and CREATIVE GROUP casing STARLOG covers), selected quotes from past issues, even staffers. ..the skilled art directors who have designed STAR- "interviews" with SF's founding fathers Jules Verne and H.G. LOG's pages. ..all of our crusading editors and interns. ..and the Wells. We've done it all. Been there. Celebrated that. Got the families of everybody involved for 30 years (who have really put souvenir T-shirts. Sold 'em on eBay. up with a lot).

What could we do for this encore? What's left, I mean, other Most of all, though, we would like to thank you, the readers. than karaoke and limericks ("There was a girl Hobbit from the Whether you've been with us since the beginning, joined the trek Shire..."). Just like the salutes to other sagas, we don't want to be somewhere along the way or just picked up STARLOG for the condemned to constantly repeating ourselves. very first time, we do appreciate your support. We wouldn't be The other problem is that STARLOG anniversaries inconve- here without you. niently occur in the summertime, just when we have the most But enough of this! I can feel the pathos creeping in. Any movies to cover as well as TV and other stuff. Including an moment now we might get poignance or a chance of melancholy. extensive anniversary section crowds the normal features (and Mr. Marfini, the wine! Opera Fat Lady, the song! And anyone, please don't suggest more pages as the solution; that ups the drop some angel food crumbs on the floor. The office mouse is price). Just like your local limerick-and-karaoke bar, to indulge a ready for more cake. big party, the regulars get less time on stage. Thanks to all! Happy 30th Anniversary, STARLOG! So, here's what we're doing: the STARLOG 30th Anniversary —David McDonnell/Editor (June 2006) Your £.o'J''=^.^w'd^-^-"

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