Babylon 5 Mask Donated To Museum

Eleven fans of the syndicated SF series Babylon 5 have donated a prosthetic mask used to transform the late actor Andreas Katsulas into the alien G'Kar to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, N.Y.

The fans, from the United States and Great Britain, were previously unknown to each other but pooled their resources at the urging of fan Amy Guskin of Pennsylvania to buy the mask when it came up for auction on eBay. The mask was purchased from former Babylon 5 writer Marc Zicree.

The G'Kar mask was created by Optic Nerve Studios and is a hand-painted latex-foam prosthetic. A larger image and detailed description are available on the museum's Web site.

The Museum of the Moving Image advances the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique and technology of film, television and digital media.Wanted's Common Packed Heat

Common, the rapper-turned-actor who co-stars in the upcoming SF action movie Wanted, told reporters that he underwent weapons training for his role as the Gunsmith.

"The training, for me a lot of it was gun training and learning about weapons, because the Gunsmith is the master of the weaponry, and you know, I'm the character in the film that takes apart the guns," Common said in a group interview earlier this month. "If your gun has a problem, I'm fixing it. So I needed to know how to take apart guns, put them together. I needed to know the ins and outs of guns."

Common is part of an ensemble of actors, led by James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, who play assassins and members of a centuries-old secret society called the Fraternity, led by Morgan Freeman's Sloan. The film, directed by Timur Bekmambetov, is packed with guns, real and computer-generated.

Common--whose real name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr.--spent a lot of time on the film's set with the production's weapons expert. "I would follow the actual arms guy that was on the movie," Common said. "I would just sit with him in the truck and just watch him fixing these guns and stuff, and at some point we had a little contest to see if I could put the gun together and take it apart quick enough, you know?"

Who won? "Well, he definitely won a couple of times, but eventually I got decent at it, because there's a lot to it, but I really got decent," he said with a laugh. "I felt in that amount of time I did well." Wanted opens June 27. --Patrick Lee, News EditorWanted Alters Comics' Storyline

Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian director of the upcoming SF action movie Wanted, told reporters that he stuck with the film's source comic only for the first part of the movie.

The film is based on Mark Millar and J.G. Jones' comic-book series, about a meek office worker who is recruited into a secret organization of costumed supervillains and finds pleasure in the amoral destruction of those around him.

The film dumps the costumes and the supervillains and turns the character, Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), into a reluctant assassin, recruited into a secret Fraternity of super-assassins.

"I think for the film audience, for cinema audience, it's quite important to know why your hero's killing people," Bekmambetov said in a group interview. "Not killing just for fun. If not, you will lose your hero right away. It's enough for 20 minutes ... I can do exactly like it is in the comic book. But if I want to create the journey and to create the arc of the character, I need an idea why my character wants to be different, you know what I mean?"

About all that is left of the comic is the film's first act, which depicts Wesley's humiliating and soul-destroying existence before he is mentored by the lethal Fox (Angelina Jolie) and the enigmatic Sloan (Morgan Freeman).

"If you want to keep audience holding for longer, you need an idea, and the idea of the Fraternity killing people to keep the balance of the world, ... [the] audience will believe for two hours," Bekmambetov said in explaining the changes.

Bekmambetov, a Kazakhstan-born filmmaker, gained fame for his visually arresting Russian-language films Night Watch and Day Watch. Wanted is being released by Universal Pictures and opens June 27. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) --Patrick Lee, News EditorWanted's McAvoy Talks Contradictions

James McAvoy, who stars in the upcoming SF action movie Wanted, told reporters that Russian director Timur Bekmambetov had an unorthodox way of getting performances out of his stars.

"He does this really good thing where he sort of applies the principle of contradiction," McAvoy said in a group interview last week in Beverly Hills, Calif. That is: He sometimes asks his actors to do exactly the opposite of what is required in a scene.

Sometimes it works. "And sometimes it fails spectacularly," McAvoy said. "But when it works, it's great, and it's worth doing as an exercise. ... Say the scene says, 'Wesley walks into the room, and he laughs his head off.' [Bekmambetov will] let you do it like that. And then he'll say, 'Walk into the room and cry your eyes out.' And you ask why. And he's, like, 'Just because.' And I'm [like,] 'OK.'"

The film is based on Mark Millar and J.G. Jones' comic-book series, about a meek office worker who is recruited into a secret organization of assassins, led by Fox (Angelina Jolie) and Sloan (Morgan Freeman).

Even when Bekmambetov's technique doesn't work, McAvoy said, "it gives you something every now and again. It can illuminate parts of the scene that you wouldn't have been brave enough to even contemplate because you didn't want to get it wrong. But sometimes doing it wrong on purpose illuminates something about your character or a relationship in the scene or in the environment or something and gives you something extra."

Scottish-born McAvoy is no stranger to drama, having appeared in such films as Atonement and The Last King of Scotland. It's experience that applies as well to Wanted, even with all the gunfighting and car chases.

"I think where the character starts is a very sad and truthful place," McAvoys said. "Kind of ... apathy and depression that my character is kind of suffering at the beginning of the film. I think that's quite a truthful and depressing and sad place to start the journey of an action hero. You know? So as ridiculous and epic and fantastical as the film becomes, hopefully you can still connect to that very sad young man." Wanted opens June 27. --Patrick Lee, News EditorWanted Scribes Draft Creatures

Writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (Wanted) have drafted a script for Sony and producer Neal Moritz and his Original Film titled All Creatures Great and Small, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film is set in a world where the animals control the planet and humans are the minority.

Creatures takes place in North America, where people are living in forts and the animals are running free.Why WALL*E Channels Dolly!

Andrew Stanton, co-writer and director of Disney/Pixar's upcoming animated WALL*E, told reporters that he's resigned himself to being asked forevermore about why he chose to incorporate songs and clips from the 1969 musical film Hello, Dolly!

"The weirdest choice I'll ever make in a film ... in my life," Stanton admitted in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., last week. "I'm not lying: When I had that weird idea of putting that song at the beginning, I turned to my wife and said, 'This is the weirdest idea I ever had, and I will be asked why I chose this for the rest of my life.'"

The song is "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" from Hello, Dolly!, and it opens the movie with the lyric "Out there/There's a world outside of Yonkers ... " over an image of outer space.

"I'm willing to put up with answering this for the rest of my life because I really do think that it's the best choice," Stanton said. He added: "I knew I wanted old-fashioned music against space. I knew I loved the idea of future and past juxtaposed, and on the first frame that would not seem familiar, that would feel fresh."

Stanton picked the song once he heard the phrase "Out there." "I'm like, 'Wow, that just kicks in, it just works,'" he said. "And out of context it works." He added: "And then I finally realized why. I realized it's because the song's about two nerdy guys that have never left their small town, and they just want to go out to the big city for one night to see what life's all about and to kiss a girl. And I said, 'That's my main character.'"

The movie, set 800 years in the future, centers on WALL*E, a little trash-compacting robot, who is the last thing on an abandoned, garbage-covered Earth. Humanity fled the ravaged planet centuries earlier in a luxury cruise starship called the Axiom. When a sleek probe robot arrives on Earth to search for signs of life, WALL*E falls head over treads in love and finds himself caught up in an adventure that affects the fate of both robots and humans.

The movie also includes a love song from Hello, Dolly! and a clip from the film, which WALL*E shares with the probe robot, EVE. WALL*E opens June 27. --Patrick Lee, News EditorIt's Deja Vu For WALL*E's Weaver

SF fans may feel deja vu all over again when they hear the computer voice in Disney/Pixar's upcoming SF animated movie WALL*E: It's Alien star Sigourney Weaver, who famously fought her own evil computer in that seminal SF movie.

"We're all fans of science fiction movies, including Alien and its sequels," said WALL*E's sound-effects guru Ben Burttt, designer of the robot voices, in a news conference last week in Beverly Hills, Calif. Burtt actually worked on the first Alien movie and made sounds for that film's nefarious computer, Mother. "So I have a little connection there," Burtt said.

It was WALL*E co-writer/director Andrew Stanton's idea to recruit Weaver to do the computer voice of the starship Axiom. Stanton describes himself as "a sci-fi geek."

"Her voice was recorded straightforward in the studio, but during the mix of the film it was put in a big echo chamber, so it comes from everywhere, so it's this omnipotent voice," Burtt said. "You never actually see the source of it. ... The idea is having it be omnipotent and all-powerful, I suppose."

The movie, set 800 years in the future, centers on WALL*E, a little trash-compacting robot, who is the last thing on an abandoned, garbage-covered Earth. Humanity fled the ravaged planet centuries earlier on the Axiom, a luxury cruise starship. When a sleek probe robot arrives on Earth to search for signs of life, WALL*E falls head over treads in love and finds himself caught up in an adventure that affects the fate of both robots and humans. WALL*E opens June 27. --Patrick Lee, News EditorWALL*E's Garlin Plays Self

Jeff Garlin, who voices the main human in Disney/Pixar's upcoming WALL*E, told reporters that his character--the Captain of the starship Axiom--was basically a variation of his real self.

"It's just me," Garlin (HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm) said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., last week. He added: "Generally, as an actor, unless I'm playing such a specific character, I just do variations of myself. Everyone does what they do, ... you know? Some people are great at that; some people can't do that. Some people only can do characters but can't be themselves. I'm very comfortable playing variations of myself."

Garlin's Captain is one of the last remaining humans--fat, lazy and overly pampered--who fled Earth centuries earlier and now live a cosseted existence, catered to by machines. That is, until the trash-compacting robot WALL*E arrives and presents them with the opportunity to go back home.

Garlin did much of his voice work in a booth with only director Andrew Stanton to give him feedback, with his character's animation created sometimes months and years later. "I saw sketches and such," Garlin said. "But I made a real conscious choice during the whole process--including looping--to not watch at all. Because I wanted to see the movie clean. ... When I saw the movie, like, three weeks ago, I had no idea what I was in for."

The animated character of the Captain eventually incorporated many of Garlin's own facial expressions and mannerisms, drawn from videos of Garlin's recording sessions.

"I'm a big bowl of naturalism," the affable Garlin said. "I play variations of myself. I don't really think about things too much." WALL*E opens June 27. --Patrick Lee, News EditorBinoculars Inspired WALL*E

Andrew Stanton, co-writer and director of Disney/Pixar's upcoming animated SF movie WALL*E, told reporters that a pair of binoculars provided the key inspiration for the design of his central character, a machine with a personality.

"It's not that you put anything on it," Stanton said about coming up with the design for the small cube-shaped robot. "It's that you've got to go find a design that ... makes you do it to it."

Stanton (Finding Nemo) cited as an example the bouncing white desk lamp that was the subject of Pixar's first animated short, Luxo, Jr. The character had no face or human characteristics, so the viewer was forced to imbue it with character.

Similarly, Stanton came up with simple machine designs for WALL*E. "I was at a baseball game, somebody handed me their binoculars," Stanton said. "I hadn't designed WALL*E yet. I knew he had to compact trash, so I knew he had to be a box at his most basic. ... I knew he was going to collapse [into a cube] to possibly show that he's shy, and that's all I had. Honestly, I was thinking of putting just a single cone lamp [as his head], because I loved how much you just read a face into the simplicity of Luxo, but I thought, 'I don't know if that's going to hold for 90 minutes.'"

That's when Stanton took a hard look at the binoculars. "I missed the entire inning," he said. "I just turned the thing around. I started staring at it, I started making it go [moving his hands as if flexing binocs] sad and happy and then mad and then sad, and I remembered doing that as a kid with my dad's binoculars, and I said, 'It's all there. There's no nose, there's no mouth, there's nothing, and it's not trying to be a face. It just happens to ask that of me when I look at it, and I said, 'That's it! I can't improve upon that!' So that's why I ran with that."

The movie, set 800 years in the future, centers on WALL*E, a little trash-compacting robot, who is the last thing on an abandoned, garbage-covered Earth. Humanity fled the ravaged planet centuries earlier in a luxury cruise starship called the Axiom. When a sleek probe robot arrives on Earth to search for signs of life, WALL*E falls head over treads in love and finds himself caught up in an adventure that affects the fate of both robots and humans. WALL*E opens June 27. --Patrick Lee, News EditorCarter Of Mars Not Live Action?

Writer/director Andrew Stanton, who is reportedly working with Disney/Pixar to develop a film based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, denied to SCI FI Wire that a decision has been made on whether to shoot the movie as an animated feature, a live-action film or a mix.

"Everybody's asking that, and we are not going to make that decision for about a year," Stanton (Finding Nemo) said in an interview while promoting his upcoming animated SF film WALL*E in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 20.

Stanton is actually responsible for Pixar's first mix of live action and animation in WALL*E in the form of short video clips of actor Fred Willard. (WALL*E opens June 27.)

Stanton confirmed widespread reports that he is indeed working on the film. "Well, it's pretty much already out there," he said. "I'm definitely writing it ... with Mark Andrews, and that's all we're doing right now, is just writing it."

Andrews' writing credits include the Pixar shorts One Man Band and Jack-Jack Attack.

The film would be based on Burroughs' series of novels, starting in 1911 and ending in 1964, set on a fictionalized version of Mars called "Barsoom" and centering on a Civil War veteran who finds himself transported to the planet, where he gets caught up with princesses and warriors.WALL*E Downplays Message

Andrew Stanton, co-writer and director of Disney/Pixar's upcoming animated SF romance WALL*E, told reporters that he didn't set out to make a message movie about environmentalism or the consequences of consumerism.

"I'm not one of those people that comes up with a theme and then writes to it," Stanton said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 20. "I like to go with sort of natural things that seem to be firing, and then somewhere sort of halfway I realize what the theme is."

The movie, set 800 years in the future, centers on WALL*E, a little trash-compacting robot, who is the last thing on an abandoned, garbage-covered Earth. Humanity fled the ravaged planet centuries earlier in a luxury cruise starship called the Axiom. When a sleek probe robot arrives on Earth to search for signs of life, WALL*E falls head over treads in love and finds himself caught up in an adventure that affects the fate of both robots and humans alike.

"I realized what I was pushing with these two programmed robots was their desire to try and figure out what the point of living was, and it took these really, like, irrational acts of love to sort of discover them against how they were built," Stanton (Finding Nemo) said. "And I said, 'That's it. That's my theme: ... Irrational love defeats life's programming."

The ecological message came as a way to tell that story, Stanton said. "I don't have an ecological message to push," he insisted, adding: "Everything I wanted to do was based on the love story. I wanted the last robot on Earth. ... I have to get everybody off the planet. I have to do it in a way that you get it without any dialogue. You have to be able to get it visually in less than a minute. So trash did that. You look at it, you get it."

And the lazy, overfed humans on the Axiom? "Well, then I went backwards from that, and said, 'Well, why would there be too much trash? Well, it'd be really easy for me to get that we all bought too much stuff.' And it'd be really easy to show that without having to have to be explained, and it's kind of fun. It's fun to be satirical like that."

WALL*E--with an original story by Stanton and Pete Docter and a screenplay by Stanton and Jim Reardon--opens June 27. --Patrick Lee, News EditorCloverfield Sequel On Hold

Matt Reeves, who directed the monster thriller Cloverfield, told SCI FI Wire that plans for a sequel film have been put on hold until the filmmakers can come up with an idea as interesting as the original.

"The thing that we sort of promised ourselves is we only wanted to do another one if we could come up with something that felt as fresh to us to make as that one did," Reeves said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24, where he received the Filmmaker's Showcase Award.

Reeves added: "We're still kind of toying with what it's going to be and whether or not we're going to find something that will be as exciting for us to make and, hopefully, for an audience to watch. So we'll see. It's really in the baby, baby stages. And right now it's definitely on hold until we come up with what that would be."

Press reports have suggested that some of the ideas for the next film include a prequel that would go into the backstory of the creature that attacks New York in the original or a parallel story set on the same night with different characters. Reeves said that both of those ideas have been under discussion.

"We did talk about that, and I think that we would find some way, if we did it," he said. "Some of the ideas we've come up with reference this idea and reference the film, so that there is a sense that it's related to this film. But it would be different. I would need [it] to be really different."

Meanwhile, Reeves has been talking about other potential ideas with producer J.J. Abrams and writer Drew Goddard that aren't necessarily related to Cloverfield.

"We have a couple ideas," Reeves said. "We have a couple pretty exciting ideas, but it's in the very, very early stages of that. And whether or not that will develop into something that we want to do is really unclear at this point. But as long as J.J. and Drew and I come up with something that seems worth doing, then I think we'll do it." --Cindy White Jones All Over Hellboy II

Doug Jones, who reprises his role as Abe Sapien in the upcoming fantasy action sequel film Hellboy II: The Golden Army, told SCI FI Wire that the project represents a major professional milestone for him: He not only voices Abe for the first time, he also plays other costumed creatures.

"I've been acting for 22 years, and I have never been this nervous, excited, jittery about a film opening ever, and I think it's because I have a lot riding on this one," Jones said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24, where he was a presenter. "The role of Abe Sapien has been expanded and grown so much in this that [writer-director] Guillermo [del Toro] made him into a leading romantic male for this film. So it's like, that's a lot. And also, with the other two characters that I have in the film--the Angel of Death and the Chamberlain--it was like I did triple duty on this movie."

Jones appeared in the first film as Sapien, Hellboy's merman-like comrade in arms and fellow agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (or B.P.R.D.), but his voice was dubbed over by David Hyde Pierce in the final cut. This time, he provided the voice for that character, as well as the other two he plays.

One of the most exciting aspects of the film for Jones was the fact that Sapien will have a romantic storyline with an elfin princess named Nuala, played by Anna Walton.

"I get a love interest," Jones said. "Aww. I've never had a love on camera like that. And she's beautiful. Anna Walton played the princess, Nuala. And she's divine. And she's Cate Blanchett good. You know what I'm saying? She's a really wonderful actress. And I get to carry a weapon, and I fight bad guys. I've got buddy-buddy brother time with Hellboy [Ron Perlman]. I've got brother-sister time with Liz Sherman, played by Selma [Blair]. So it is a lot going on."

Jones added that he got to play some funny scenes as well. "There's a lot of humor in this movie, too," he said. "Guillermo wrote a very funny script, and he let us play. So I think whatever he cuts together, it always turns into some beautiful sculpture, so I'm looking very forward to seeing this for the first time on Saturday at the premiere."

As for his future plans, Jones couldn't confirm with certainty that he will be involved in del Toro's upcoming project, a pair of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. But he did say that it was very likely.

"I will quote Guillermo del Toro, and that is, nothing official to report yet, exactly, on what role that is, or what he might have for me," Jones said. "But he said, 'If I direct a hemorrhoid commercial, Doug Jones will be in it.' So I think that's a wink-wink, nudge-nudge that there's something for me in The Hobbit, but I don't know yet." Hellboy II opens July 11. --Cindy White McGowan In New Red Sonja

USA Today reported that Grindhouse director Robert Rodriguez will produce a new film adaptation of Red Sonja, starring his real-life girlfriend, Rose McGowan.

McGowan would play the flame-haired comic-book warrior in a movie slated to open in 2010, the newspaper reported.

The film will be an origin story, to be directed by longtime Rodriguez associate Douglas Aarniokoski, and will take its cues from the comic books, as well as works by pulp novelist Robert E. Howard, father of the original Sonja (then spelled Sonya) and Conan the Barbarian (also undergoing a movie revival).New Journey Breaks Ground

Brendan Fraser, star of the upcoming SF adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth, emphatically told SCI FI Wire that the 3-D film is both a groundbreaking technical accomplishment and a vast improvement over the 1959 big-screen version, which starred James Mason and Pat Boone.

Fraser plays scientist Trevor Anderson, who is joined on an inadvertent trek to a world within the world by his young nephew (Josh Hutcherson) and an Icelandic guide (Anita Briem). As they desperately try to find a way out, they must contend with flying piranha, translucent birds, rampaging dinosaurs, flesh-eating plants and fast-rising temperatures.

"We were able to make the world's first live-action, feature-length, digital, narrative-driven 3-D picture based on a classic piece of literature written by the godfather of science fiction well over 100 years ago," Fraser said in an interview, referring to Journey author Jules Verne. "And for that, it's a fleur-de-lis in the cap of filmmaking, because this film is like none other ever created. Yes, it's in 3-D. I don't go to movies all the time, but I recall that 3-D was something that showed up at the end of the movie with Michael Caine and a shark went [motions as if it's coming at him]. That was Jaws, and I was like, 'That's it?'" (Fraser actually meant Jaws 3-D, with Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr.; Caine starred in Jaws: The Revenge).

Fraser added that he remembers watching the occasional 3-D kung fu movie in the '80s, which required the use of the old-fashioned glasses with red and blue lenses and featured twirling red and blue weapons. "But they were a little bit out of sync, and your eyes were in these glasses, and if you blinked in one red eye or blinked in one blue eye everything got blurry," Fraser said. "I didn't really like it, and it made me feel real, real sick to my stomach. And it didn't really work, you know?"

Three-dimensional imagery actually dates back to the time of Verne, Fraser said. "Whether he knew it or not, this guy was pretty innovative," he said. "I'd like to think he's somewhere, hopefully not spinning in his grave, since Pat Boone showed up with a ukulele and a goose and James Mason in Journey to the Center of the Earth." The new Journey opens nationwide on July 11. --Ian SpellingFuturama's Fry Meets 'Homer'

Billy West, who plays Fry in Futurama, told SCI FI Wire that he teams up with Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson) in the DVD movie The Beast With a Billion Backs.

"It's always great working with Dan, and he is reprising his role as the Robot Devil, and he's mean," West said with a laugh. In addition to Philip J. Fry, West also voices Dr. Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth, Richard Nixon's Head and others in Futurama.

The Robot Devil, who rules Robot Hell, trades away an army of robots in the second of four straight-to-DVD Futurama films. The Robot Devil's mission is to torture robots that have committed various sins and have fallen into the cult of Robotology.

West has known Castellaneta for a long time. "When we first started in this business it was very different, and now I'm invited to show up incidentally as a guest star [on The Simpsons], and I'm suddenly an elder statesman, like him," West said. "It's weird to be considered venerable."

Reruns of Futurama are finding a new audience on Comedy Central. "People are discovering it as if it is a new show, and I'm thrilled that new stuff and the old stuff is playing out there," he said. "People go back to see how multilayered these shows are."

In the film, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio and Lauren Tom reprise their roles of Leela, Bender and Amy. The new Futurama feature also features the guest voices of Brittany Murphy, David Cross and Stephen Hawking, playing himself. Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs in now in stores. --Mike SzymanskiGreek Movies To Clash

A clash of Greek-mythology movies is shaping up: Relativity Media is developing War of Gods, while Warner Brothers is readying a remake of Clash of the Titans, Variety reported.

Charley and Vlas Parlapanides wrote the script for War, which will be directed by Tarsem Singh (The Fall).

The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier, meanwhile, will helm Lawrence Kasdan's script of Clash of the Titans.

Warner essentially gave a green light to Clash of the Titans right after landing Leterrier. Relativity, which is fully financing "War of Gods," has fast-tracked it to start production by year's end.

Both pictures are expected to use the green-screen techniques that gave 300 a complex look at a reasonable budget.

War of Gods is set in war-torn ancient Greece, as the young warrior prince Theseus leads his men in a battle against evil that will see the gods fighting with soldiers against demons and titans.

Clash of the Titans centers on Perseus, the son of Zeus, who must overcome a series of obstacles to save his beloved Princess Andromeda, including cutting off the serpent-tressed head of Medusa, who can turn a man to stone with a single glance.

The original 1981 Clash of the Titans starred Harry Hamlin as Perseus and Laurence Olivier as Zeus but is best remembered for Ray Harryhausen's visual effects, which brought to life Medusa, the Kraken and other creatures.Lost Boys 2 Debuts At Comic-Con

Lost Boys: The Tribe, the straight-to-DVD sequel to the cult 1987 teen-vampire movie, will have its world premiere on July 24 at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The 10 p.m. screening at the convention center will take place five days before the movie drops on Blu-ray disc and DVD on July 29.

P.J. Pesce directed the movie from a script by Hans Rodionoff. It stars Tad Hilgenbrinck, Angus Sutherland (half-brother of original Lost Boys star Kiefer Sutherland) and Autumn Reeser, with appearances by original Lost Boys stars Jamison Newlander, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.

Feldman, Hilgenbrinck, Angus Sutherland, Reeser, Pesce, Rodionoff and other guests will attend the premiere and will take part in a question-and-answer session following the screening.

Lost Boys: The Tribe tells the story of a brother and sister who move to a sleepy surf town in California, only to get mixed up with a gang of surfers and extreme sports junkies who are more than they appear to be.Identity Is Sawyer's Last Collection

SF author Robert J. Sawyer told SCI FI Wire that his latest book, Identity Theft and Other Stories, is his second--and final--collection of short fiction.

"I've published 40 or so short stories over the last couple of decades," Sawyer said in an interview. "I find short fiction very hard work, although I guess I'm good at it--Identity Theft and Other Stories contains two Hugo finalists; a Nebula finalist; a story that won Analog's Analytical Laboratory award; a piece that won Europe's top SF award, the 6,000-euro Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficción; two winners of Canada's top SF award, the Aurora; and three stories that currently have their film rights under option--but I really prefer writing novels, and so am going to concentrate on them from now on."

The stories Sawyer is proudest of in Identity Theft are the ones that get at a real human truth without sacrificing the sense of wonder, he said. "Such as 'Come All Ye Faithful,' about the only priest on Mars, 'Relativity,' about a female astronaut returning to face a family that's aged a lot more than she has, and 'Shed Skin'--which was the seed for my novel Rollback--about a fellow who has transferred his consciousness into an artificial body and realizes he's made the worst mistake of his life," Sawyer said.

For Sawyer, one of the coolest things about collecting the stories together into a single volume was the chance to write story notes. "Each story has an introduction by me, telling a bit of the history of how I came to write the piece," he said. "I always find such notes fascinating in other writers' collections--and find collections that don't have them rather unsatisfying. I tried to be as candid as I could be, and I hope other people enjoy not just the stories but these peeks into their creation, as well."

Next up for Sawyer is Wake, the first installment in his WWW trilogy. It will be serialized in Analog, starting in their November issue, and will be published in hardcover by Ace in April 2009. --John Joseph AdamsDel Toro: Hellboy II Is Better

Guillermo del Toro, writer and director of the upcoming sequel film Hellboy II: The Golden Army, told SCI FI Wire that he thinks the second film is even better than the original.

"It's tenfold better, in my view," del Toro said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24, where he was honored with the George Pal Memorial Award. "It's crazier, bigger, freer, and certainly creatively it was much more fun to make. As an exercise in production it was as creative as the first one, because the first one was [$66 million], this is [$85 million]. But the scope we wanted was like that of a movie of [$200 million] or more."

But del Toro cautioned that his love for the film is not necessarily an indication of its potential success.

"I felt this way with some of the movies I've done--not all of them--where you know that you love the movie before it comes out, and you can shout it to the wind regardless, because no one can predict either the immediate future or the long future of a movie," del Toro said. "But I can say safely that, regardless, I love the movie. It happened to me with Pan's Labyrinth. It happened to me, and that was successful. It happened to me with Devil's Backbone, which came out and was barely noticed except by the critics. But went on to become a movie that people know about and discover on DVD."

The positive response to the Oscar-winning Spanish-language fantasy film Pan's Labyrinth has brought del Toro fame among audiences who weren't familiar with his work before. He said that he believes Hellboy II will appeal to those audiences as well as to his longtime fans, because it blends elements of his artistic projects with those of his more commercial ones.

"It's been great, because I think that Pan's did that," del Toro said. "Pan's became that movie that put me in a different view. Before, I would say that I love Devil's Backbone as much, but, as I said, it was sort of an invisible movie for most of the people. And most people knew me for the more commercial movies. ... People tend to distinguish. They say it's a Hollywood movie, or they like the Spanish-language movies more. I think this one kind of fuses both things into one. It has the same spirit and freedom that I have in the Spanish movies, but with a much bigger scope." Hellboy II opens on July 11. --Cindy WhiteHeroes Goes Deep In Season 3

Tim Kring, creator and executive producer of NBC's Heroes, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming third season will take the show and its characters in entirely new directions--including deep into the backstory.

"One of the things that this volume is going to do that, I think, is really going to be fun for the audience is that there were very initial sort of primal questions that the show asked," Kring said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24, where he accepted an award for best television DVD. "Who am I? What's happening to me? How am I connected? Where are these powers coming from? All of those questions get reframed and turned on their head in a very interesting way in this volume."

As with the previous two seasons, the third will be divided up into volumes. The first is titled "Villains" and will focus on the nature of good and evil, Kring said.

"You're going to see a lot of bad guys in this one," Kring said. "The idea, also, is we're playing off the idea of our characters as heroes or villains. So it's really the duality of good and evil. ... We're playing off of this duality of good and evil. All of our characters were given these powers and possess these powers, and at some point it becomes sort of free will and human nature as to what you're going to do with that. And all of us are given the choice to make decisions that lead us down very dark paths or towards heroic ends. And so, literally, every one of our characters gets faced with that dilemma."

Kring also said that the popular villain Sylar (Zachary Quinto) will continue to be an integral part of the show in the third season. Quinto had originally been written out of the last half of the second season due to his shooting schedule on the upcoming Star Trek film. But because of the writers' strike, that part of the story was pushed into the third season, and Sylar was written back in.

"Well, we have no plans of saying goodbye to Sylar right now," Kring assured fans. "I mean, that was yet another silver lining for the strike, was Zach Quinto's availability to us in the third volume. I mean, that was a huge thing for us to be able to have him back. As you guys know, he would have disappeared for a large chunk of the second half of season two. And so, for us, it was a big, big deal."

The third-season premiere of Heroes is scheduled to air on Sept. 22. (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) --Cindy White Cast Endorses Jericho Movie

Brad Beyer and Ashley Scott, two of the stars of the twice-canceled CBS show Jericho, told journalists that they have been hearing rumors of a possible feature-film version and would be interested in doing it if the opportunity presented itself.

"We got here and caught wind of a possible movie idea, which we thought was really good," Scott said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24, where she and Beyer were acting as presenters. "I think Brad had heard about it online the other day, and I just heard tonight, and I thought that would be really wonderful, wouldn't it? Kind of put a closing on it."

Jericho was canceled after the end of its first season in 2007, but returned for seven additional episodes earlier this year after a fan campaign convinced CBS to bring the show back. It was canceled again after the episodes aired to mediocre ratings.

Beyer, who played farmer Stanley Richmond, said that he would like to see the film cover the escalating civil war between the remaining survivors of a nuclear attack in the U.S.

"We kind of feel like it needs some closure, because it still feels kind of weird," Beyer said. "I mean, we didn't get to a whole second season. ... I think you can do a lot more with it. I think there's a lot of different ways you can go with the story."

Fans of the show are currently campaigning for another network to pick the show up. Both actors said that they would gladly come back, whether it be for a feature film or a new incarnation of the series.

"I think we're all very passionate about the show." said Scott, who played Emily Sullivan. "We have been from the moment I read the script, the first script, the pilot. I think we're all very passionate about it. We're so thankful that our fans have been so incredible. It's been such a blessing to know that we're thought of that way. I think, at least speaking for myself, I know I'd be back."

Beyer added: "Yeah. I think everybody that I keep in contact with would definitely jump on board with it. ... We're all pretty much open to it. It was such a great, positive experience, why wouldn't we want to do it again?"

(Note to fans: If you want to write SCI FI Channel about Jericho, please DO NOT use the scifiwire(a)scifi.com e-mail address or the link to the left. Instead, send a paper letter via snail mail to SCI FI Channel, 21st Floor, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112.) --Cindy WhitePunisher: War Stands On Own

Art Marcum, co-writer of the upcoming sequel film Punisher: War Zone, told SCI FI Wire that he and writing partner Matt Holloway (Iron Man) built upon the initial draft of the script penned by Prison Break writer-producer Nick Santora.

"The core idea in that script was really good," Marcum said in an interview. "That was one of the reasons why we sparked to it. The other thing we sparked to was when we went and started discovering the comics, the Garth Ennis series. We loved it. So immediately we just thought that sensibility--Garth's sensibility--needs to be in the script and on the screen. So that was our starting point."

War Zone, based on the Marvel Comics series, stars Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle/the Punisher. Other cast members include Julie Benz as Angela, Dominic West as Jigsaw, Doug Hutchison as Looney Bin Jim, Wayne Knight as Linus Lieberman/Microchip and Dash Mihok as Detective Soap.

Marcum said that War Zone, a follow-up to 2004's The Punisher, is not an origin story. But, he added, "if you've never seen The Punisher, there's enough in [War Zone] where you get caught up. This is more about the nature of vigilantism." The 2004 film starred Thomas Jane as the title character; the franchise was also adapted into a movie in 1989, starring Dolph Lundgren.

Punisher: War Zone opens Dec. 5. --Ian SpellingJourney's Briem Makes U.S. Debut

Anita Briem, the Icelandic actress who stars opposite Brendan Fraser in the upcoming 3-D SF movie Journey to the Center of the Earth, told SCI FI Wire the film marks not only her first major Hollywood effort, but also her first experience on an F/X-driven production.

Briem--whose credits include the low-budget horror film The Nun and an episode of Doctor Who--plays Hannah, a local guide who ends up joining a scientist (Fraser) and his young nephew (Josh Hutcherson) on the adventure of a lifetime. Trying to make their way up from the middle of the planet, they encounter everything from dinosaurs to rising lava. The film is based on Jules Verne's novel.

"Yes, it is, this is my first experience; this is my North American debut," Briem said in an interview. "When it comes to acting on green screen, it doesn't really make all that much of a difference to me, because how you interact with your environment or characters is always dictated by your imagination. So when you're acting against green screen you have more of an opportunity to create your own world. So what was magical throughout this process was watching this movie come to life with the 3-D."

Briem shot nearly all of her scenes in the company of Fraser (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor). He is an old hand at genre filmmaking thanks to his previous work in such films as Monkeybone, Looney Tunes: Back in Action and the upcoming fantasy Inkheart.

"It was wonderful; he's a sweetheart and a gentleman," Briem said of Fraser. "He has a lot of experience in this field with action, but in a lot of ways we were all learning at the same time, because it really is a new visual medium altogether. So we were all kind of discovering this world together. It was wonderful." Journey to the Center of the Earth opens July 11. --Ian SpellingKorea, China Do Host Sequel

The Korean production company Chungeorahm and China's Stone Man Films will co-produce a Chinese sequel to the Korean monster movie The Host, which will be written and directed by China's Ning Hao (Crazy Stone), Variety reported.

The original film, which was seen by more than 12 million people and grossed some $60.6 million, was a monster movie with political undertones.

The new movie will have to tread carefully to avoid criticizing the Chinese government. The story will concern a calamity caused when people ignore a monster because of their desire for money.Murphy Goes Back To Futurama

Billy West, who voices Philip J. Fry in Futurama, told SCI FI Wire that he plays opposite movie star Brittany Murphy as Fry's girlfriend in the new DVD movie The Beast With a Billion Backs.

"She established her place in a cartoon series, and she wasn't like a major movie star that suddenly decided to do a voice because it was cool to do for their kids," West said in an interview.

Murphy (Sin City) is no stranger to animation: She voices Luanne Platter Kleinschmidt in Fox's King of the Hill. "I met Brittany before, when I did episodes of King of the Hill, and she did a really good job," West said. In Beast, "she [plays] a perfect girlfriend, but she [has,] like, 15 boyfriends, and Fry puts up with it--at least for a little while, and then he snaps." Murphy's polyamorous character is named Colleen.

As for Murphy herself, "she's different from the other actors doing voice work who decide they are not cool to their kids until they do a voice," West said. "It's like Arnold Schwarzenegger being a lunkhead to their kids until they come home and say, 'Guess what, kids? I'm a cartoon.' And then they are stars at home. You know, people like Mel Gibson doing voice work. I'm more of a hero to their kids than they are."

Beast is now available. A third feature-length Futurama DVD film, Bender's Game, opens later this year, and Into the Wild Green Yonder is scheduled for release in 2009. --Mike SzymanskiDel Toro Talks Hobbit

Guillermo del Toro, who is set to direct a pair of films adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, told SCI FI Wire that he wants the films to re-create the spirit of the books.

"I'm trying to be faithful," del Toro said in an interview after accepting the George Pal Memorial Award at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24. "Like, when I was trying to create a screenplay about Tarzan and people asked me, 'Is it going to be horror?' I said, 'No, no, no.' The thing is, I'm trying to re-create on the screen the feeling I had when I was 11 in my bed reading the book. How excited I got. How great I thought it was. That's what I'm trying to honor."

Del Toro went on to say that the film will not necessarily be similar in style to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, nor will it be like any of his own dark fantasy films, such as Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth.

"I'm not trying to honor either my style or what I'm gravitating normally towards," del Toro said. "I know that for a fact I gravitated towards the novel. So there's something there that echoes with me very strongly, which is not the case with most fantasy, in my case."

The film is scheduled to begin shooting later this year in New Zealand. Del Toro said that the film is still in the early stages of pre-conception and isn't even officially in preproduction yet. He has, however, been making regular trips to New Zealand to visit Weta Workshop, the special-effects house that will be working on the films.

"We've had chats where we sketch out what we think of the two movies, but there's no writing," del Toro said. "There is note-taking, there is breaking down the novel, there is a lot of work already being done on our parts, but real preproduction will not start until late July."

Del Toro added that the film will take up most of his time and energy until the end of the year, so he will be putting all of his other projects on hold for the time being.

"The news came very joyously during the post-production of Hellboy II," he said. "But at the same time, it was the most miraculous and beautiful monkey wrench in a lot of things that we were planning, both in life plans that I have to put to bed from now until December in order to become celibate and dedicate my entire energy to The Hobbit."

Del Toro's latest film, Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens July 11. --Cindy WhiteSnyder Cutting Watchmen

Zack Snyder, director of the upcoming Watchmen, told SCI FI Wire that he is currently in the process of editing down the first director's cut of the film, which currently runs about three hours long.

"It's impossible," Snyder said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24, where he was honored as best director for his film 300.

Snyder added: "The balancing act for me is, you want the movie as tight as possible for, I don't know why, I guess so people can enjoy it. But for me, the hardest part is just, when is it not Watchmen anymore? I don't think that's a danger, but it's a thing that I am trying to be the gatekeeper of while other forces conspire to say, 'No. Length, length, length. Playability.' Whatever the hell that means."

Based on the seminal graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen is a faithful film adaptation that reproduces many of the original panels in exacting detail. Snyder said that he has been going back and forth with the studio, Warner Brothers, about which scenes should be cut and which ones should remain.

"I've lost perspective on that now, because to me, the honest truth is I geek out on little stuff now as much as anybody," Snyder said. "Like, people will go, 'We've got to cut. You don't need that shot of Hollis Mason's garage sign.' And I'm like, 'What are you talking about? Of course you do. Are you crazy? How will people enjoy the movie without s--t like that in it?' So it's hard for me. I think it's probably good, because I think we're going to end up with that stuff in the movie."

Snyder also said that he's looking forward to showing the film to true comic-book fans at Comic-Con International in San Diego this July.

"Everyone who [made] the movie, loves the movie," he said. "I've never been around so many people that just took the book [so seriously]. It's like a yearbook. Like, on the set, at the end of the shoot, we all would sign each other's Watchmen copies. And we had Dave Gibbons in there, too, and he would draw on our books, and it was just sick cool. And so then you come back from that experience, and you go to the studio, and the studio's cool, don't get me wrong, but they don't love it like we do. Right? It's like just a movie, like, 'Oh, we have this movie, Watchmen, and it's f--king long.' Like, 'What are these superheroes? They look crazy.' So you have that experience. So for me, right now, I'm in the middle of that. So for me to go to Comic-Con is to get a chance to go back to people that love it."

Watchmen is scheduled for release on March 6, 2009. --Cindy White CodeSpell Mixes Fantasy, Cyberpunk

Fantasy author Kelly McCullough told SCI FI Wire that the latest novel in his WebMage series, CodeSpell, is a hybrid of contemporary fantasy and cyberpunk.

"I'm a world-driven writer," McCullough said in an interview. "I love plot and character and all the other stuff, but I start most of my stories with the world. Sometimes it's an image that makes me want to build a world where that image would fit. Sometimes it's an idea for spell or an item of technology that occurs and makes me wonder about the world that would have produced it. In the case of [these] books it was the structure of the universe and an idea for a fun magic system."

McCullough first came up with the idea for the WebMage world in the 1990s, when he first started exploring the Internet. "[I] was immediately struck by the way the Web-page structure mirrored a sort of classical science-fictional series of parallel worlds," McCullough said. "I loved H. Beam Piper's Paratime stories and [Andre] Norton's Crosstime as a kid, and I'd always wanted to do something along those lines. With the advent of the Web, I knew I'd found a new way to approach the idea, especially if I made it a primarily magical rather than technological structure but kept the computers so I could play in the edges between fantasy and SF."

CodeSpell begins with the Greek god Zeus' throwing a party for the protagonist, Ravirn, to celebrate his freeing of Persephone from her bondage to Hades.

"At the party Ravirn learns two things," McCullough said. "The first is that he is the grandchild of the Muse Thalia. Since he also descends from the House of Lachesis, this makes him the end product of Fate and Slapstick and explains much about his life to date. The other thing he learns is that he has a new enemy, Dairn--a cousin he thought he'd killed ... or maybe not. Before very long it becomes clear that Dairn is inhabited by the goddess Nemesis, who very much wants Ravirn dead. It also becomes clear that Necessity, the goddess in computer shape who runs reality, is involved and in trouble."

Up next for McCullough is the fourth book featuring Ravirn, MythOS. --John Joseph AdamsLost Finds Saturn Awards

Lost was a big winner at the Saturn Awards on June 24, earning four awards, including best network television series, best actor (Matthew Fox), best supporting actor (Michael Emerson) and best supporting actress (Elizabeth Mitchell).

Among nominated movies, Enchanted won three awards, including best picture (fantasy) and best actress (Amy Adams). Sweeney Todd, Ratatouille and 300 each received two awards.

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films presented the 34th Annual Saturn Awards in a ceremony in Universal City, Calif., hosted by Jeffrey Ross.

Guillermo del Toro, director of the upcoming Hellboy II: The Golden Army, accepted the George Pal Memorial Award, while producers Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr. received the Life Career Award. Director Matt Reeves was recognized with the Filmmakers Showcase Award for directing Cloverfield.

A complete list of the winners follows.

Best Science Fiction Film: Cloverfield

Best Fantasy Film: Enchanted

Best Horror Film: Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film: 300

Best Actor: Will Smith (I Am Legend)

Best Actress: Amy Adams (Enchanted)

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)

Best Supporting Actress: Marcia Gay Harden (The Mist)

Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Freddie Highmore (August Rush)

Best Direction: Zack Snyder (300)

Best Writing: Brad Bird (Ratatouille)

Best Costume: Collen Atwood (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)

Best Makeup: Ve Neill, Martin Samuel (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)

Best Special Effects: Scott Ferrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, John Frazier (Transformers)

Best Animated Film: Ratatouille

Best International Film: Eastern Promises

Best Network Television Series: Lost

Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series: Dexter

Best Presentation on Television: Family Guy: Blue Harvest

Best Actor on Television: Matthew Fox

Best Actress on Television: Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer)

Best Supporting Actor on Television: Michael Emerson (Lost)

Best Supporting Actress on Television: Summer Glau (Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles), Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost)

Best DVD Release: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Best DVD Special Edition Release: Blade Runner five-disc ultimate edition

Best DVD Classic Film Release: The Monster Squad

Best DVD Collection: Mario Bava Box Sets 1 & 2

Best Television Series Release on DVD: Heroes

Best Retro Television Series Release on DVD: Twin Peaks --Cindy WhiteJourney's Fraser Just Believed

Brendan Fraser, star of the upcoming SF-adventure film Journey to the Center of the Earth, told SCI FI Wire that acting in the 3-D production was no more demanding of him than performing in the Mummy movies, Crash or anything else he's ever done.

Fraser plays scientist Trevor Anderson, who, while searching for his long-missing brother in Iceland, winds up at the center of the Earth. From there, he, his nephew (Josh Hutcherson) and their guide (Anita Briem) attempt to reach the surface, but must dodge rampaging dinosaurs, man-eating plants and flowing lava in the process. And it's all brought to life in vivid 3-D.

"Nothing different," Fraser said in an interview last week in New York. "Just believe in what you do, because as long as I believe in what I do--as long as I believe there's a snapping plant that's going to rip my face off--then my friendly computer tech nerds will be like, 'Oh, good, he's got the eye line right' or 'He's got the goop down straight.' It's basically just do what you're supposed to do, act the part properly, believe in it."

Fraser added, "I have an unusual ability, I'm told, to be able to get it right. Frankly, it's behavior that used to get me sent to the principal's office." Journey to the Center of the Earth opens July 11. --Ian SpellingHutcherson Unveils Cirque

Journey to the Center of the Earth star Josh Hutcherson told SCI FI Wire that he's just wrapped production on the vampire film Cirque du Freak, in which he plays a high-school rebel.

Based on the young-adult novel series by British author Darren Shan, Cirque du Freak is directed by Paul Weitz and stars Hutcherson, Chris Massoglia, Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe, John C. Reilly, Orlando Jones, Patrick Fugit and Ken Watanabe. (Spoilers ahead!)

"I play a character named Steve," Hutcherson said in an interview while promoting Journey last week in New York. "Steve is kind of the rebel in school, and he's the one that's always getting in trouble and stuff like that. His best friend, Darren [Massoglia], and him go to this freak show, and they see a vampire on stage. My character loves vampires and my best friend Darren loves spiders, and there is this whole act with a spider."

Darren steals the spider, which bites Steve and puts him in a coma. "And [Darren] becomes a vampire to try to save me," Hutcherson said. "Then, in turn, I think he is taking my dreams, so I become a Vampanese, which is an evil vampire. And they have a battle with each other, like good versus evil."

Elaborating on the difference between a Vampanese and a vampire, Hutcherson said, "It's like a vampire. The premise of the movie is that vampires don't kill when they drink blood. They just knock you out or something, [but] the Vampanese, actually, they kill, and they are much more violent. So I play a bad guy."

Cirque du Freak will be released later this year or early next year by Universal Pictures. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) --Ian SpellingSpielberg May Uncover 39 Clues

DreamWorks has acquired screen rights to The 39 Clues, a multiplatform fantasy adventure series to be launched in the fall by Scholastic Media, Variety reported. Steven Spielberg is eyeing the project as a directing vehicle.

Spielberg is expected to set a screenwriter in the next few weeks.

The 39 Clues, which launches Sept. 9, is envisioned as a 10-book series to be released over two years. It's described as a multimedia adventure that will include a set of collectible cards and an online game that will serve as a portal as young readers try to solve a mystery for a grand prize of $10,000. The contest will run for two years.

The focus of The 39 Clues is the most powerful family in the world, the Cahills, who count Napoleon and Houdini among their relatives. Readers will be challenged to discover the source of the family's powers, revealed through 39 clues that are hidden around the world and scattered throughout history.Briem To Start Storyteller

Icelandic actress Anita Briem (Journey to the Center of the Earth) told SCI FI Wire that she's about to start work on The Storyteller, a fantasy film in which she'll play opposite Wes Bentley (Ghost Rider).

"Wes is the writer to my illustrator, and we create children's books together," Briem said in an interview last week in New York to promote Journey. "My character suffers from an extreme case of agoraphobia, so the friends and family of Wes Bentley's character start to believe that I am a figment of his imagination. So, you know, that is kind of magical in a different way [from Journey] and a different genre altogether, too."

The Storyteller will also feature American Idol's Katharine McPhee as Bentley's assistant.

Robert A. Masciantonio wrote and directed the film. His credits include the 1999 vampire film Cold Hearts.

Production is slated to begin later this summer in Philadelphia, with an eye toward a March 2009 release. --Ian SpellingFuturama: Beast Like '50s SF

Billy West, who voices Philip J. Fry and other characters in Futurama, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming DVD movie The Beast With a Billion Backs is reminiscent of classic 1950s SF movies.

"I saw Matt Groening [Futurama's creator] last night at a private screening of this, and we talked about what a great piece of science fiction it is," West said in a telephone interview. "It's so '50s, because it reminds you of the stuff we grew up with, watching The Brain That Wouldn't Die and things like that. It's so far-flung sci-fi with things like the severed head that is in a pan of solution and attached to wires to keep it alive, and it starts mind-controlling others. Those kind of movies used to scare the s--t out of me, but I would watch them over and over. I'd sit through the Saturday matinees twice."

West also voices the roles of Dr. Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth, Richard Nixon's Head and others in Futurama. "I'm a fan of older science fiction, the real cheese stuff from the '50s," he said. "It's so funny what to see what their idea of the future was with these squiggly-looking metallic ray guns, and the ship [in Futurama] looks like a metallic toy that was very hip in those days."

In the second of four contemplated straight-to-DVD Futurama movies, a planet-sized monster ends up falling in love with everyone in the universe and takes them all out on a date.

"The creature is named Yivo, and he has all these appendages that come out of the mass called the Anomaly that lingers in the sky," West said. "This creature or being is the lover of all beings--man and woman--and commingles with them. It gets ahold of Fry, and he starts a new religion and worships this thing, because they're so in love with it."

Fry becomes a pope of this new religion. "Fry is great as the pope, but he is being used [as] a schnook and a patsy for this great being. It killed me. I got a lot of laughs doing this. It's a great story," West said.

West's favorite character is Fry, but the character he gets asked most to do is the lobster-like alien Dr. Zoidberg. "He is so absurd, so there's a big appeal for him, and it was a challenge to do characters that are so different and have different styles of comic delivery all in the same show," West said.

Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs is now available on DVD. --Mike SzymanskiHelfer, Fox Inseparable

Tricia Helfer, one of the stars of SCI FI Channel's Battlestar Galactica, has been tapped to co-star on Fox's SF drama pilot Inseparable, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Inseparable, from ABC Studios and writer/executive producer Shaun Cassidy, is a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde tale about Justin/Clyde (Lloyd Owen), a partially paralyzed forensic psychiatrist with a split personality whose alter ego is a charismatic criminal.

Helfer will play Mason Wicks, a psychiatrist who evaluates suspects for the police department. The casting stems from the talent holding deal Helfer signed with Fox in April.

Also cast in the pilot is Morgan Turner as Justin's daughter Emily.

Helfer appears in the final season of Battlestar Galactica.Escapement Like Clockwork

SF and fantasy author Jay Lake told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, Escapement, gave him the chance to write about the landscapes of his youth in a fantastic context.

"I grew up in Africa and Asia," Lake said in an interview. "A great deal of what [the characters] Paolina, al-Wazir and Childress see is drawn from my own experience. I also think it's nearly impossible to write a coming-of-age book without reflecting on one's own youth. I was never a girl genius, but I spent all of my childhood and young adulthood feeling drastically out of place."

The setting of the novel is a clockwork Earth orbiting the sun on a brass track. "I used the late Victorian era as my political and cultural template, but I also drew [on] Biblical tradition (Solomon's mines at Ophir) and classical Chinese ideas about the world, made literal," Lake said.

A 100-mile-high wall circles the equator, topped with brass gears that mesh with the Earth's orbital ring. "This is a world where anything is possible along the great range of the Wall, but the further north one goes, the more ordinary life becomes," Lake said.

Escapement follows Lake's 2007 novel Mainspring, telling the story of Paolina Barthes, a girl born along the Atlantic face of the Wall. "Paolina is a genius of the caliber of Isaac Newton who wants nothing more than to journey to England and join the great wizards of the Victorian court," Lake said. "Having built a device called the stemwinder, which places the power to alter space and time in the hands of anyone who picks up the device, she sets out on her quest. In her journey she meets Boaz, a brass golem powered by one of the seals of Solomon, who helps her into English hands."

Together with English air sailor Angus al-Wazir and the Connecticut librarian Emily Childress, Paolina must eventually decide how best to dispose of the threat she accidentally created when she built the stemwinder. "Facing battle, storm and persecution, their hard choices pave the way for the world to be safe and Paolina to find her true purpose in life," Lake said. --John Joseph AdamsAvengers Lineup Reported

Iron Man director Jon Favreau told USA Today that Marvel Studios has its proposed lineup of superheroes for a proposed Avengers movie.

Favreau told the newspaper that the team's lineup has changed throughout the years, "but the ones Marvel is talking about now are Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and Iron Man. I would love to see that."

Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios' president of production, confirmed to the paper that he's working toward the day when "heroes can cross into each other's adventures and occasionally team up if there's a foe too great for any one of them to handle."

Feiger and screenwriter Zak Penn (X2 and The Incredible Hulk) are uniting to get Avengers in theaters by summer 2011. Futurama Has Monster Love

David X. Cohen, writer and co-executive producer of Futurama, told SCI FI Wire that the new DVD movie, The Beast With a Billion Backs, is a monster movie/love story involving the gang.

Beast With a Billion Backs is the second of four feature-length Futurama DVDs, following Bender's Big Score and preceding the upcoming Bender's Game and Into the Wild Green Yonder. It reunites Bender (John DiMaggio), Fry (Billy West) and Leela (Katey Sagal).

"We have worked very hard, actually, to make them all pretty different from each other," Cohen said in an interview. "We definitely wanted to mix it up so that people did not claim that we were repeating ourselves. The first one was a big time-travel epic. The second one, I would say, at its heart, is a monster movie that's been twisted together with this bizarre intergalactic love story, to put it lightly. I could use a lot filthier language to describe it."

Beast features the voices of Brittany Murphy, The Simpsons' Dan Castellaneta, David Cross and physicist Stephen Hawking, who previously lent his voice to "Anthology of Interest," an episode that ran in 2000, during the show's second season as a weekly series.

"I'd like to think he [returned for an encore] because Futurama, while being ridiculous, is kind of a pro-science show," Cohen said. "A lot of the writers have scientific backgrounds, and, while we're making jokes about it, we try not to belittle it, and I always like it when science is the hero, ultimately, rather than the villain who's destroying things. So I'd like to think that he knew that or had heard about that from other people, that we were trying to popularize science in the public eye. One thing I will tell you is it's clear that he really enjoys the process." Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs is now available from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. --Ian SpellingLandis Talks Fear Episode

Filmmaker John Landis (An American Werewolf in London) directs an upcoming episode of NBC's anthology series Fear Itself and said that his segment, "In Sickness and in Health," is a kind of throwback.

"I like horror and fantasy, and I want to stress that this particular episode, the screenplay by Victor Salva [Jeepers Creepers], when I read it, it's not what you expect," Landis said in a conference call with reporters last week. "It's much more of a throwback. It's kind of like a woman's picture, a girl-in-jeopardy picture."

"In Sickness and in Health" stars the real-life couple of Maggie Lawson and James Roday (USA Network's Psych). Lawson plays Samantha, a woman who's about to wed the man of her dreams (Roday), only to be told in a note that her intended is a serial killer.

"I, as a filmmaker, can do whatever story," Landis said. "I'm the storyteller. So if it's a drama or a love story, whatever it is, I'm perfectly capable of doing it. However, the executives don't think that way. They think, 'What was he successful in? We'll just give him that.' Just like actresses get typed. ... It's sad, but I think it's kind of amusing that I'm a master of horror now."

"In Sickness and in Health" premieres June 26 in Fear Itself's Thursday 10 p.m. timeslot. (NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.) --Ian SpellingSupernatural 86s Ruby

TV Guide reported that The CW's Supernatural won't be bringing back cast member Katie Cassidy (Ruby) in the upcoming fourth season.

"She's great, but this was unfortunately a financial decision--purely budgetary, because creatively she was terrific," show creator Eric Kripke told the magazine.

The show will feature new female characters, Kripke promised. "We have a plan that's as exciting as any we've ever had of how to thread new characters in some unexpected ways," he said. Supernatural returns with new episodes in the fall. Coster-Waldau Stars In Virtuality

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, star of Fox's canceled supernatural series New Amsterdam, has signed on to Fox's two-hour SF pilot Virtuality, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Virtuality, from Battlestar Galactica executive producer Ronald D. Moore, is set aboard Earth's first starship, which is equipped with advanced virtual-reality modules. Coster-Waldau will play mission commander Frank Pike, a born leader.

Moore and Michael Taylor wrote the backdoor pilot, which is being directed by Peter Berg (director of the upcoming superhero satire Hancock).

Coster-Waldau played the title character, immortal New York homicide detective John Amsterdam, on New Amsterdam. Fox Orders Gender-Switch Pilot

Fox has ordered a pilot from writer Kevin Falls (NBC's Journeyman) based on Argentina's telenovela hit Lalola, about a womanizer who is transformed into a woman, Variety reported.

Hyped in Argentina as the next Ugly Betty, the show puts its hero/heroine in a position to endure the same kind of abuse he used to dole out.

The show takes place at a sports management firm and will also be set in the world of entertainment and fashion.

Falls will write the adaptation and executive-produce; Jamie Tarses is also on board as an executive producer.

The U.S. version doesn't yet have a firm title; it's unclear whether Lalola will be used.X-Files 2 Previewed In L.A.

Fans who braved 100-degree heat in Los Angeles on June 22 learned a bit more about the upcoming top-secret sequel film The X-Files: I Want to Believe. (Spoilers ahead!)

Fans screened footage from the upcoming film and asked questions of star David Duchovny, director Chris Carter and co-writer Frank Spotnitz in the presentation, part of the Los Angeles Film Festival, in the Majestic Crest Theatre in the Westwood section of L.A.

Among the revelations:

--"Shippers will be happy," Spotnitz said, referring to fans who favor the romantic relationship between Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (Duchovny).

--A few unanswered questions will be addressed, Carter said, though he remained coy about major plot points.

--A lighthearted Duchovny admitted a few conflicts with Anderson about their characters. "There are always conflicts," he said with a smile. "That keeps it interesting. We do our own thing."

The footage showed a few new things as well:

--Mulder insists that after all this time he is still looking for his long-lost sister Samantha and doesn't think she is dead.

--Mulder and Scully argue; she says, "This isn't my life anymore." He walks away from her, muttering, "I'm trying to ignore you."

--Scottish actor Billy Connolly plays a religious man named Father Joe who helps the agents in their quest, which takes place, in part, in a snowfield.

Amanda Peet and rapper Xzibit also star in the movie. The X Files: I Want to Believe opens July 24. --Mike SzymanskiSupernatural's Kripke Signs Deal

Supernatural creator/executive producer Eric Kripke has signed a two-year exclusive deal with Warner Brothers TV, Variety reported.

Under terms of the pact, Kripke will continue to executive-produce and run The CW's Thursday staple Supernatural, which enters its fourth season this fall.

Kripke also will start to develop projects under the deal. There's no word whether one of the new titles might be a Supernatural spinoff; Kripke has said in the past that he's interested in doing a prequel of sorts that takes place in the Old West and centers on the show's mythology.

Kripke's at work crafting the show's fourth season, following up on the season-three cliffhanger that sent Dean (Jensen Ackles) to hell.Rogue Picks Up Kruger's Keep

Rogue Pictures has picked up Ehren Kruger's script The Keep, an adaptation of Jennifer Egan's supernatural novel, Variety reported; Kruger will also produce.

The thriller revolves around a mysterious prisoner who seduces a local woman with his tale of a supernatural secret that can transform her life.

Prague-based producer Matthew Stillman snatched up the rights to Egan's book, a follow-up to Look at Me, in 2006 for Kruger to adapt before shopping it to the studios.

Stillman's credits include Casino Royale, The Illusionist and Van Helsing, which all shot in the Czech Republic.

(Rogue is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)Knight's Hall Addresses Riddler Rumor

Anthony Michael Hall, who plays a TV newscaster in the upcoming Batman sequel The Dark Knight, told SCI FI Wire that it was a "wonderful opportunity" and that he got a kick out of the rumors that spread across the Internet suggesting that he was actually playing the Riddler.

"It was a great role and a wonderful opportunity to work with people I admire and look up to, like Gary Oldman [Jim Gordon]," Hall said in an interview to promote the DVD release of The Dead Zone: The Final Season. "I had a great experience working with Christian [Bale] and Heath [Ledger]. You know, Christian is really a contemporary of mine. We're about the same age, and he started as a young boy, too, so I have a great respect for his career."

Hall plays Mike Engle, anchor of Gotham Tonight, a news magazine on the fictional Gotham Cable News network.

Hall added that he had a chance to work with the late Ledger. "I had a great experience working with Heath," Hall said. "I really saw him to be a nice guy and actually very [grounded]. I didn't really see ... I was very surprised by his unfortunate death."

Hall denied rumors that he played the villainous Riddler. The rumors began when he and Oldman were filming an Engel-Gordon scene on location in Chicago last summer.

"This is really funny, because I heard about the whole 'Is he playing the Riddler?' thing from my mother," Hall said. "[But] between takes I walked out into the street. We were shooting in the lobby of a high-rise building in Chicago, and I walked out into the middle of the street to admire this absolutely beautiful gray Lamborghini that was actually Christian's in the film. It looked like it was my car, and it looked like I was dressed to match it [because he was wearing a gray suit], and what happened was there were a lot of extras there [who] I think were going online and selling stories and circulating photos."

Hall added: "So the next you know, people thought I was playing the Riddler, that I had a cooler role than I actually did. It was actually my mother who called me the next day, on a day off, and said, 'There's all this stuff online and these pictures of you standing next to a Lamborghini.' So it was actually very inadvertent. But I was very happy to hear that there was talk online, I guess with Batman fans suggesting that maybe I was playing the Riddler. I wish I was, you know? I wish I was Batman, to be honest with you, but I think Christian has it locked up." The Dark Knight opens July 18. --Ian SpellingSmart Spies First Place

Get Smart outsmarted The Love Guru for first place at the June 20 weekend box office, with about $39.2 million in ticket sales, the Associated Press reported. Mike Myers' Guru took in just $14 million to open in fourth place.

The weekend's second place was a near tie between Kung Fu Panda and The Incredible Hulk. In its third weekend, Kung Fu Panda pulled in $21.7 million, raising its domestic total to $155.6 million. The Incredible Hulk took in $21.6 million in its second weekend of release to raise its total to $96.5 million.

Panda and Hulk were close enough that their rankings could change when final numbers are released on June 23.Devlin, TNT Develop Slate

TNT has commissioned Dean Devlin to produce Blank Slate, an 80-minute original SF crime thriller that Devlin will edit into 20 short episodes for prime-time play in September, Variety reported.

Acura has signed as sponsor of what TNT calls a "microseries."

Lisa Brenner will star as an amnesiac who becomes part of an experimental FBI program dedicated to solving murders by implanting memories of the recently deceased into the living, the trade paper reported. Eric Stoltz and Clancy Brown also star.

John Harrison (SCI FI Channel's original miniseries Dune) will write and direct Blank Slate.

TNT will schedule Blank Slate starting on two consecutive Tuesdays and Wednesdays, beginning Sept. 8, across five back-to-back episodes of Law & Order over each of the four days (8 p.m. to 1 a.m.). One short Blank Slate episode will play, in sequence, within each of the L&O hours.

TNT will also promote the show's availability on TNT.tv, where the microseries will become a series of webisodes. Locus Award Winners Named

Winners have been announced for this year's Locus Awards, which are presented to the top vote-getters of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. A complete list of winners follows.

SF Novel: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

Fantasy Novel: Making Money by Terry Pratchett

Young Adult Book: Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

First Novel: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Novella: "After the Siege" by Cory Doctorow

Novelette: "The Witch's Headstone" by Neil Gaiman

Short Story: "A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanwick

Collection: The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories by Connie Willis

Anthology: The New Space Opera, Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, eds.

Non-Fiction: Breakfast in the Ruins by Barry N. Malzberg

Art Book: The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Editor: Ellen Datlow

Magazine: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

Publisher: Tor

Artist: Charles Vess --John Joseph AdamsBRIEFLY NOTED

Yahoo! Movies has posted a trailer for the animated The Tale of Despereaux, which opens Dec. 19.

Ain't It Cool News has a report of some early footage from J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek movie.

CBS announced that its upcoming new supernatural drama The Mentalist will debut on Sept. 23 and will air Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, Ghost Whisperer returns Oct. 3 in its 8 p.m. Friday timeslot and Eleventh Hour premieres Oct. 9 and will air Thursdays at 10 p.m.

ABC's Lost was among the top 10 dramas and the network's Pushing Daisies was among the top 10 comedies competing to be nominated for prime-time Emmy awards, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences revealed, the Reuters news service reported; the nominees will be announced on July 17.

Nicole Richie will guest-star in an episode of NBC's Chuck when it returns for a second season in the fall, playing the high-school nemesis of Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski); the show will air Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Three new DVD collections of Goosebumps--One Day at HorrorLand, A Night in Terror Tower and Monster Blood--will drop on Sept. 16 from Fox Home Entertainment, based on the best-selling book series by R.L. Stine.

A teaser trailer has gone live for Joss Whedon's upcoming Web series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, featuring stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day.

The official Web site for The X-Files: I Want to Believe has been updated, with new video and other features; the sequel film opens July 25.

Collider.com posted a report that Warner Brothers has set a Sept. 11, 2009, release date for The Box, the SF movie from director Richard Kelly (Southland Tales).

Film composer Danny Elfman spoke with ComingSoon.net about his scores for the upcoming films Wanted and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Gotham Tonight on the Gotham Cable News network has posted a new behind-the-scenes feature about playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne; Wayne (Christian Bale) is, of course, the alter ego of Batman in the upcoming The Dark Knight, which opens July 18.

Paramount Pictures said it had topped $1 billion in ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian box offices, boosted by the hit films Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, becoming the first studio to pass that milestone this year, the Reuters news service reported.

Christina Ricci will voice the lead role of the timid crayon Yellow in Exodus Film Group's animated feature film The Hero of Color City, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Ealing Studios International has found buyers for Julian Fellowes' time-travel movie From Time to Time, Variety reported; the movie, based on Lucy M. Boston's The Children of Greene Knowe books, stars Maggie Smith and Timothy Spall in a story about a boy's journey through time to discover his family's past.

Disney has picked up the high-concept movie pitch Happy Little Family from Patrick Doody and Chris Valenziano, with Smallville's Miles Millar and Alfred Gough producing, according to The Hollywood Reporter; it centers on a family that is turned into a popular set of dolls.

SuperheroHype reported that Michael Bay's sequel film will drop the "2" and be called Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; it is currently shooting.

Friends, relatives and show-business colleagues--including James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Sigourney Weaver--gathered on June 22 at a memorial service to remember Oscar-winning special-effects maestro Stan Winston, who died at his home in Malibu, Calif., on June 15, the Associated Press reported; Winston was the four-time Oscar winner behind the creatures and special effects in Jurassic Park, Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, among others.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin is eyeing a May 2011 release date for a proposed fourth installment of the superhero franchise.

The second season of NBC's hit series Heroes drops on DVD and Blu-ray disc on Aug. 26, loaded with features, including an alternate season finale and a sneak peek of the making of season three.