Rogen Explains Why He's Hornet

Seth Rogen told reporters that he and writing partner Evan Goldberg are putting the final touches on a proposed Green Hornet movie and confirmed that he will play the title character.

"I will, yeah," Rogen said in a group interview in Los Angeles over the weekend while promoting his upcoming stoner comedy The Pineapple Express. "Don't say it like that," Rogen added, with his trademark snicker in response to the reporter’s tone.

Rogen promised that the movie, based on the '30s radio serial and subsequent TV series, will be packed with action. But fans of Rogen's Judd Apatow comedies, such as Knocked Up, may be in for a rude awakening if they expect the same brand of lewd humor in The Green Hornet.

"We have not hit many situations where you're like, you know, 'What would make this scene better?' If Kato said c--ksucker? That hasn't come up many times," Rogen joked.

Still, many fans may be left scratching their heads at the notion that the guys who did Superbad are making a Green Hornet movie. Rogen offered this explanation: "To us, it was just this funny notion that, when you say Green Hornet to someone, the first thing they say is, 'Hey, Bruce Lee played Kato in that show.' We really wanted to make this hero-sidekick movie. ... For years we'd really been trying to write a movie that was kind of about a hero and his sidekick. When we heard the Green Hornet movie was up for grabs, we thought that could be the perfect way to do this story, because he is the only hero whose sidekick is more known than he is. We thought it would be a good way to tell this relationship story and just do a big crazy action movie."

He expected less trouble getting the action and violence of Green Hornet past the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board than he's had with Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which was recently tagged with the dreaded NC-17.

"Luckily, the MPAA decided that violence is fine," Rogen said. "When you're doing an action movie, you can really have as much violence as you want. I'd say, action-wise, we've been able to do everything that we could have ever wanted." --Jeff OttoBlair Is Stronger In Hellboy II

Selma Blair, who reprises the role of firestarter Liz Sherman in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, told reporters that her character is a stronger woman this time around.

"In the first one, she was definitely a little, you know, she had some hangups, she had some baggage," Blair said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., earlier this week. "Mostly under her eyes, apparently, looking back at that. But she was sad, you know? She was really sad. ... Her powers led to a lot of destruction."

This time around, Sherman is a full-fledged member of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, though she has some relationship issues with Hellboy (Ron Perlman).

"This one, she matured, and she could use her power, and she was with Hellboy, and she was really a capable, functioning woman," Blair said. "Now still a little bit brooding, but definitely, definitely she was stronger. And it was strange to play it. I thought I knew Liz, and I thought, 'Oh, this'll just be a cakewalk. I'll just go back, and I know Liz already.' But it was strange playing her with a little more confidence. I kept wanting to go back to the hesitant Liz that I knew."

In Hellboy II, the B.P.R.D. team faces off against a nefarious elf prince (Luke Goss), who wants to unleash a global war against humanity for control of the earth. Blair is the only recognizably human member of a team that includes a red demon, an amphibious psychic fish guy (Doug Jones) and an ectoplasmic spirit in a diving suit (played by John Alexander and James Dodd and voiced by Seth MacFarlane), all played under layers of makeup, masks and costumes.

"I didn't realize it until we were halfway through with the movie, and I was like, 'Wait a minute: I'm the only face here!'" Blair said. "It took me a while."

Blair added that she noticed that she was the only person without a mask only while they were shooting a climactic scene against green screen. To make sure her eyeline would match the computer-generated effects added in later, Blair asked where her co-stars were looking as they shot the scene.

"And they were both, 'Oh, doesn't matter, no one can see our eyes.' And I was like [mimes shock], 'Oh, my God, everyone can see my eyes! And it really matters where I'm looking, what I'm doing! Oh, my God, I have a face! I have a face, you guys!' So, yeah, ... there was a moment of terror, like, 'Oh, my God, I'm going to be the one that's going to crap all over this movie. ... I'm going to be the mess.'" Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens July 11. --Patrick Lee, News EditorHellboy II Deals With Change

Ron Perlman, who reprises the title role in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army, told reporters that the big red guy hasn't changed much, but the world around him has.

"[He's] very much the same guy, except this time we're seeing him circumstantially in a highly emotionally compromised state," Perlman said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 30.

Offering up a few spoilers for the sequel to 2004's Hellboy, Perlman added: "The relationship with [firestarter] Liz [Sherman, played by Selma Blair,] is on the rocks, and perhaps in danger of, you know, burning up, pardon the pun, right in front of him. And he's faced with the idea of life without Liz. So he's emotionally really compromised. And, of course, he does what Hellboy will do when he's not sure ... whether he has a reason to live or not. He starts drinking heavily. And, meanwhile, parenthetically, he's got to go save the Earth from complete extinction. While he's buzzed."

In Hellboy II, the agents of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense face a new threat: the rise of a nefarious elf prince (Luke Goss) and his desire to activate a slumbering, unstoppable army of golden warriors to wipe out humanity.

Perlman also shared a humorous scene with a lovestruck Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) involving alcoholic beverages and a Barry Manilow song. "The Barry Manilow moment," Perlman said, smiling. "Far and away my favorite moment. It was certainly everyone's favorite day of the whole six-and-a-half-month shoot. I mean, we couldn't shoot that enough." Hellboy II opens July 11. --Patrick Lee, News EditorHellboy II Premieres At LAFF

Guillermo del Toro premiered Hellboy II: The Golden Army at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 28 and told fans that he aimed for a sense of awe in the movie.

"I attacked this movie with the same passion as I did with the design of Pan's Labyrinth," said del Toro, referring to his Oscar-winning fantasy movie.

Del Toro added: "I had been watching a lot of [special effects master Ray] Harryhausen, and I wanted to create the awe of a 10-year-old kid watching The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, like I did," the Mexican-born director said. "I am always looking for creatures with that kind of likeness and awe."

Hellboy II is the sequel to the 2004 film and features a broader array of fantastical creatures and settings.

Del Toro said that he doesn't like the beautiful people of Hollywood. "Physical ugliness is very important to me," he said, adding that when he was approving monsters for Hellboy II it was important to see something different. "Anytime I see a cliche--like a Brazilian in a Penthouse magazine--I say, 'No, I've seen that.' My references come from all around."

Del Toro said that some of his creature ideas came from the Long Beach Aquarium. But not only the fish: the people visiting the fish. "Monsters represent something," he said. "They are part of essential storytelling." Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens nationwide on July 11. --Mike SzymanskiKnight's Gyllenhaal On Own

Maggie Gyllenhaal--who takes over the role of crusading prosecutor Rachel Dawes in the Batman sequel The Dark Knight--told reporters that she wanted to respect Katie Holmes' previous incarnation of the character, but ultimately had to make it her own.

"First of all, I wanted to make sure that I had her blessing, and when I was sure that I did--you know, I'm a fan of hers," Gyllenhaal (Sherry Baby) said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., earlier this week. "I think she's a lovely actress, and I thought she did a great job with the previous [film,] Batman [Begins]. ... I really like her work. But I also felt like it wouldn't do anyone any good for me to kind of try to imitate what she had done. I would have been horrible at that."

Gyllenhaal's Dawes figures prominently in the sequel, both as the oldest friend of Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) and the love interest of virtuous Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). After originating the character, Holmes bowed out of The Dark Knight, leaving the way open for Gyllenhaal.

"I thought, really, the thing I have to do is think of her as a new woman," Gyllenhaal said. "Of course, there were things in the previous movie--plot points and narrative things that were really important, I think, in our movie, so I paid attention to those and the way she built that. ... Most importantly, I think that she says at the very end of the movie to Bruce that she loves him, but that she can't be with him while he's Batman and that she understands why he's Batman, but that she can't be with him. And that plays out, of course, all the way through this movie. And Katie created all of that. So, of course, she was a huge part of this. But not, I don't think, in a direct way for me. ... I really had to think of her as a different woman when I played her."

The Dark Knight, which also stars the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, opens July 18. --Patrick Lee, News Editor Knight Shifts Batman Genre

Christopher Nolan, director of the Batman sequel film The Dark Knight, told reporters that his ambition was to make the franchise bigger and smaller at the same time by shifting genres from superhero origin story to urban crime drama.

"There's a huge advantage being able to jump in having told the origin story, so you can jump in with a fully formed character and then see where that goes," Nolan said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., over the weekend. "So I think it definitely gives you the opportunity to go new places and to get into the story much faster."

In The Dark Knight, Gotham City has seen crime lowered by the presence of Batman (Christian Bale), who is working with police detective Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), and a new crusading district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), has been elected. But a sinister new villain, the Joker (the late Heath Ledger), appears, casting doubt on the moral choices made by all and challenging Bruce Wayne to confront his darkest impulses.

"I had very much enjoyed the rhythm and dynamic of the origin story that we got to tell in Batman Begins, so it was a little bit daunting how we were going to replace that, the feeling of scale and size that gave us, just the timespan of that story," Nolan said. "And so what we chose to do is to tell a very immediate, very linear story, but based on a slight genre shift, going a little more into the crime story, a little more into the kind of epic city stories of films like Michael Mann's Heat, things like that, which I think achieve great scale even though they're confined within one city."

In his own interview, Bale said that viewers will find themselves immersed in a Gotham City that feels authentic. "We see an even more realistic-appearing Gotham, the characters, and I think he's really nailed it with his ability to take a certain genre of movie but not have it be constricted by that genre, you know?" Bale said. "And [he] truly has made a superb story, and finely crafted movie, that I think stands up against any movie regardless of genre."

The murky morality of The Dark Knight is particularly relevant now, Bale added. "Clearly that's very relevant to America: the question of what kind of deals do you do with the devil in order to solve a problem quickest," he said. "But are you then setting yourself up for future problems and more dire circumstances and consequences?" The Dark Knight opens July 18. --Patrick Lee, News EditorNolan Mulls Third Bat-Movie

Christopher Nolan, the writer/director who continues reinventing the Batman franchise with the upcoming sequel film The Dark Knight, told reporters that he hasn't begun to think about doing a third installment--though at least one of his cast members thinks otherwise.

After Nolan completed the first of his Caped Crusader reboots, 2005's Batman Begins, Dark Knight writers David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan (Christopher's brother) told reporters that the director challenged them to give him a story so compelling that he had no choice but to make a second movie. They apparently did: Nolan's The Dark Knight opens this month with a new story and new characters, led by the late Heath Ledger's Joker and Aaron Eckhart's Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent, joining a returning Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman.

What would it take for Christopher Nolan to do a third film? "Enormous amounts of cash," Nolan joked in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., over the weekend.

No, seriously. "I don't know," Nolan said, adding: "The only way I can answer that question--there are two ways. The first thing to say is, I literally finished this film last week. That was when we finished our IMAX prints. So I have no idea what I'm going to do next, what I'll do in the future."

Nolan added: "The film to me is not actually finished until the audience sees it and tells me what it is, really. So it's too early to say for all those kind of reasons. The other thing to be said on the subject is we absolutely did not feel in taking on the idea of doing the second film that we could in any way hamper ourselves or disadvantage ourselves by saving things for another film. ... I think that's a mistake people have made in the past, thinking too much of the future. I think you have to put all your eggs into one basket and make as great a film as you can, and that's what we've tried to do."

But Gary Oldman, who plays police detective Jim Gordon, is pretty sure Nolan will sign on for a third film.

"Chris Nolan, ... he comes in, and then you'll say, 'Are you going to do the sequel?'" Oldman said in a separate interview. "And he sits here and he goes, 'I don't know. I'm kind of tired. I'm going to go on holiday.' Which I think is code for yes." The Dark Knight opens July 18. --Patrick Lee, News EditorBale Balked At Terminator

Christian Bale, who plays a grown-up John Connor in the upcoming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, told reporters that he hesitated to take a pivotal role in another major SF franchise after playing Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Begins and the upcoming sequel, The Dark Knight.

"My feeling is that, you know, we have an opportunity and a responsibility" to such franchises, Bale said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 29 to promote Dark Knight.

Bale added: "There's no point in making it if we don't achieve this: ... Reinventing that mythology, and there's a great deal of potential for that, and that is what I'm attempting to do. Anything less than that would be us failing."

Bale plays the iconic hero of the human revolution in Terminator Salvation, which attempts to reboot the franchise in the first of three films set after the nuclear holocaust of Judgment Day.

Terminator Salvation, which is being directed by McG, is currently in production and is slated to open on May 22, 2009. The Dark Knight opens July 18. --Patrick Lee, News EditorDel Toro Downplays Hobbit Talk

Guillermo del Toro, who will helm two Hobbit movies, downplayed the idea that he will shoot them back to back, as has been previously reported.

Speaking at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 28, the helmer said that he wasn't necessarily wedded to the idea of shooting two movies back to back, as Peter Jackson did with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Del Toro spoke before the premiere of Hellboy II: The Golden Army at the festival.

"It is the only book I read at the right age: I read it at 11, and then I tried to read the trilogy after that and failed miserably," del Toro said about J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Rings trilogy. "We believe there is a second movie. If there isn't, there will not be. If we find it, we will shoot it, but by God, if we do not find it, we will not shoot it. I am anxious to shoot the book, and I'm willing and able to dedicate myself to shooting [the second film]. It is too early right now to say."

The first film would reportedly deal with the events in Tolkien's 1937 book, a prequel to the Rings trilogy. A second movie would connect The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of the trilogy, and be based on some speculation.

"Four books are in the domain of the copyright, and there are appendices and ideas and things that can be traced without risk, but I have to be careful not to overstep," del Toro said. "We believe there is a way to create this film and make it interesting, but it's too early." Del Toro is meeting with Jackson, who is producing and co-writing the Hobbit films, and studio executives to figure it out.

Del Toro said he liked The Hobbit the best of Tolkien's books, even after re-reading the whole series again. Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens July 11. --Mike SzymanskiAtlantis' Picardo Isn't Obvious

Robert Picardo, who joins the regular cast of SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate Atlantis, told reporters that he likes that his character, the abrasive bureaucrat Richard Woolsey, isn't the obvious choice to command the city.

Woolsey takes over command from Col. Samantha Carter (former regular cast member Amanda Tapping, who is leaving to star in SCI FI's upcoming Sanctuary).

"[Woolsey] is an unexpected choice for this job, and that is what, I think, the viewers will hopefully respond to the way I have," Picardo said in a conference call. "I think that it was a bold thing for the producers to pick a guy like this who doesn't seem to be necessarily the first choice for a leader, but to have him try and make himself into one. And that is the interesting and creative choice."

Picardo said that he was surprised when executive producer Joseph Mallozzi offered him the larger role on Atlantis. For his part, Mallozzi said: "It was a hard decision for Amanda, and, you know, we were sorry to see her go. It also presented to us a situation to bring Bob over. ... So we called him and asked him, 'What would you think about coming over and becoming a regular?' And we were fully prepared for him to say, 'Are you kidding?' I'm happy to say that he was more than amenable."

By the second show in the new season, Picardo's character faces challenges that make him less "by the book." He also stumbles around, unable to work the technology in the city, and even has trouble opening the doors.

"He's always defined himself as someone who knows the rule book and evaluates others to live by it," Picardo said. "By the end of [the second episode,] he has broken protocol five times in his first crisis, and that puts him in a personal crisis at the end of the show."

Woolsey is a character who isn't used to wearing a uniform, but Picardo added that he enjoyed his new costume. "I caught myself looking at [the] mirror in my new togs," he admitted. "Woolsey has been wearing a business suit in the last 35 years, and

... I think I look all right in it. It does have that jogging-suit look, and I feel like I should break out in [a] run down the hallway. In a way it looks like a leisure suit, like I escaped from a late '70s or early '80s movie." The fifth season of Atlantis kicks off July 11 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. --Mike SzymanskiAtlantis' Higginson Bows Out

Joseph Mallozzi, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate Atlantis, told SCI FI Wire that it's unlikely former series regular Torri Higginson will return as Dr. Elizabeth Weir in the upcoming fifth season, though her storyline was left hanging. But Jill Wagner's renegade leader Larrin may return in a future season.

Higginson turned down a script that brought back her character, Mallozzi said in an interview. (Fans recall that Weir died and was resurrected as a human-form Replicator and leader of the surviving Replicators in season four.)

"To be honest, I think it's highly unlikely" that Higginson will come back, Mallozzi said. "She did a couple of guest spots last season and was excited about finishing up the Replicator storyline and was very excited about coming back."

Mallozzi added: "Initially, she was a little reluctant, and perhaps she was thinking about her fans. She wanted to create closure for her character, but we wanted to keep the character alive. ... We sent the script for review, and ultimately she passed. We would have loved to have her come back ... I think at this point she's moved beyond the show and is looking elsewhere, and we wish her the best of luck. She did a terrific job, but we will not see her in season five, and it was her choice, and we respect her decision."

Wagner, meanwhile, will be back. Indeed, producers had wanted to bring Wagner's Larrin back in season five, but scheduling conflicts got in the way. "We wanted to bring Jill Wagner back, but she was working on something else," Mallozzi said. "I talked to her, and she was awesome in the past season, and we haven't killed her off. Even if we had, our track record doesn't necessarily mean she's gone for good. There is in season six a potential to bring her back. So, yeah, why not?"

Stargate: Atlantis' fifth season premieres July 11 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. --Mike SzymanskiThird Narnia Shoots In Mexico

The third installment of Disney and Walden Media's The Chronicles of Narnia franchise will move its production to Mexico from New Zealand, where the previous two installments shot, Variety reported.

Production of the first two films--The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian--was based in New Zealand largely because of government tax incentives. Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, which created most of the films' effects and props, also are based in that country.

By contrast, the third movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, to be directed by Michael Apted, needs several large soundstages plus a massive water tank: The title of the film refers to the ship that serves as a major set piece.

Because of that, production will move to Rosarito, Mexico, and set up shop at Baja Studios, where Titanic, Deep Blue Sea and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World were shot.

Location shots in Australia will still be filmed as planned. Production originally was slated to start in October, but will now likely begin in January.Scare's Morgan Channels Serling

Tracy Morgan, the 30 Rock star who hosts SCI FI Channel's returning Scare Tactics, told reporters that he couldn't resist an offer to be the show's new host because it gave him a chance to channel his inner Rod Serling.

"Well, I'm a fan of Scare Tactics, and I love the show," Morgan said during a June 30 conference call with reporters. He added: "I'm a big ... longtime fan of The Twilight Zone. So this is my rendition of Rod Serling. I got to be Rod Serling. So I'm just excited to do it, you know?"

Previously hosted by Shannen Doherty and Stephen Baldwin, Scare Tactics is a hidden-camera show in which unsuspecting victims are placed into elaborately staged scary situations involving movie-style special effects and makeup.

Producer Scott Hallock, who joined Morgan on the conference call, told reporters that Morgan was an ideal addition to Scare Tactics.

"We've always considered this a comedy show," Hallock said. "Even though it's scary, it's really only scary for the one person in the bit, and all the rest of us are in on the joke. So we're laughing. ... So to have someone as funny as Tracy be the host, that brings the show to a whole new level right there."

The show also promises bigger and better stunts. Hollack sounded most excited about a particular segment in the season premiere. "One of the favorite bits in past seasons has been the Rat Monster bit, where our little 28-inch-tall actor dressed as a half-man/half-rat and terrified a guy. He's back. Gabriel [Pimentel] is back, this time as Satan's baby in the premiere episode. He pops out from underneath the sheet, and this girl who was set up by her mom starts screaming her head off. And it's phenomenal."

Scare Tactics will kick off its seven-episode season on July 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. --Ian SpellingLost Metropolis Scenes Found

The German Murnau Foundation, dedicated to film preservation, reported that long-lost portions of Fritz Lang's seminal silent SF movie Metropolis have been discovered in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Staff members of the Museo del Cine Pablo C. Ducros Hicken in the Argentine capital found the missing scenes--about 25 minutes' worth, or 25 percent of the original film--in a 16mm negative. The footage had been cut after the film's original release and was thought lost forever.

The Wiesbaden-based Murnau Foundation, which holds rights to Metropolis, plans to incorporate the scenes--which reportedly enhance narrative logic and clarify the film's story--into a new restored version of the movie, in cooperation with the Argentine film museum.

The newly discovered scenes include the character of Georgy in his "reduced" state, a character named Slim and his transformation into an apocalypse-preaching monk and a car journey through the city of Metropolis.Vegas Trek Attraction Closing

CBS and Cedar Fair announced that the Star Trek: The Experience themed attraction in the Las Vegas Hilton will close on Sept. 1, confirming news first reported on TrekMovie.com.

The decade-old attraction--which includes two Trek-themed motion simulator rides, Quark's bar and restaurant and a shopping arcade--has seen attendance and revenues fall for years, TrekMovie reported.

CBS held out the possibility that The Experience might find new life in some other form, telling TrekMovie, "We're extremely proud of the 10-year run Star Trek: The Experience had in Las Vegas. We're currently exploring several options to continue The Experience for the public to enjoy for years to come."Midnight Is Elizabethan Spy Story

Fantasy author Marie Brennan told SCI FI Wire that her latest novel, Midnight Never Come, commits one of the original sins of fantasy: It's an Elizabethan faerie spy novel based on a role-playing game.

"In 2006 I ran a game I called Memento, after the Guy Pearce movie of the same name, because we went through 650 years of English history backward," Brennan said in an interview. "The Elizabethan segment of the game really stuck with me--the faerie queen I had invented for that period, the backstory driving that particular segment of the plot and so on. So I removed the arc-plot of those 650 years, filed off the few bits that were game-specific and expanded what remained from a skeleton into a fully fleshed-out book."

The result is what Brennan calls her "Elizabethan faerie spy novel," she said. "Thirty years ago, Princess Elizabeth, imprisoned by her sister, Mary, in the Tower of London, made a pact with the faerie Invidiana," Brennan said. "Now they are both queens, Elizabeth ruling the mortal world from Westminster, Invidiana ruling the fae from a palace hidden beneath London. There's a secret alliance between them still, with each manipulating politics on both sides for their benefit, but they don't exactly get along, and that particular house of cards may be about to fall apart."

Midnight Never Come can be read through several different genre lenses, one of them being urban fantasy. "I love when that subgenre fits the fantastic into the shape of the world we know, adding a layer without disturbing the one already there," Brennan said. "That's why I became obsessive about my research; I wanted the faerie court to influence the mortal world in ways that would feel like a revelation of history instead of a revision."

As for the fae themselves, Brennan decided to preserve regionalism as much as she could. "Which is to say, much faerie fiction is syncretic: It gleefully mixes up Scottish kelpies and Greek centaurs and Japanese kitsune or whatever else suits its purpose," she said. "I enjoy that, but for a novel set in the 16th century, it felt more appropriate to differentiate the various cultures."

Brennan is currently working on And Ashes Lie, a stand-alone sequel, which takes place during the mid-17th century. --John Joseph AdamsNew 007 Game Ties Two Films

Activision's upcoming Quantum of Solace video game, tied to the next James Bond movie, will also recapitulate the story of the previous film, Casino Royale, Jeremy Luyties, the game's co-design director, told SCI FI Wire.

Players will play through scenes such as the construction-site chase and the collapsing house in Venice from Casino Royale before reaching the Quantum of Solace storyline. When 007 drinks the poisoned martini, the game reflects his altered perception.

"It really gave us an opportunity to create a completely different Bond experience," Luyties said in an interview. "Now we have this really cool element that gets to kick in, and we allow things where we're rocking the camera back and forth, making you feel dizzy, making you feel sick and really bringing in, like, a nice breath of fresh air from the action and the combat and stuff."

The collapsing house required Luyties and his team to design an environment that would react to shifts in gravity.

"Physics is very important to us, and you'll see that in the Venice house," Luyties said. "We're doing all these instances where the camera will rock and you'll see cans rolling on the floor, and then you'll see the shadows from the cans on the floor cascade completely across the wall. I think you'll see that rotate and move to the next situation."

In the construction-site level, the bomber runs through the same Parkour moves as his movie counterpart (Sebastien Foucan), leading the player through the level. The computer-controlled villain remains ahead of James Bond, no matter what the player does.

"You can't catch the bomber early," Luyties assured.

Activision will release Quantum of Solace this fall for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and PC. The Quantum of Solace movie, starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, opens Nov. 7. --Fred TopelDark Horse Adapting Goon

Dark Horse Entertainment, David Fincher and animation house Blur Studios are teaming up to bring the cult comic The Goon to the movies as a computer-animated film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Created by Eric Powell in 1999, the comic follows the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The stories have a paranormal and comedic edge to them and concern ghosts, zombies, mad scientists and "skunk apes." Dark Horse has been publishing the comic since 2003.

Powell, who broke the news on July 2 on his Web site, would write the screenplay for Goon, and Fincher would produce.

No studio is yet attached, and deals are being negotiated. Warners Has Plenty Of Time

Warner Brothers has picked up the rights to the comic-book miniseries Hiding in Time, with writer Beau Thorne adapting the SF books, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Dan Lin is producing through his Lin Pictures production company.

The story is set in a not-too-distant future in which the Witness Protection Program uses time travel to relocate high-value witnesses into the past for safekeeping.

When the program is compromised, a government scientist must travel back through the greatest moments in history to help a master thief rescue his old crew from the assassins sent back by their former employer.

The comic, created by Christopher Long and illustrated by Ryan Winn, was published by Image Shadowline.3-D Moon Flies This Summer

Producer Charlotte Huggins (Journey to the Center of the Earth) told SCI FI Wire that she has another film coming this summer: Fly Me to the Moon, a 3-D animated family/SF film about bugs that stow away on the first moon mission.

The plot centers on a trio of young insects--voiced by Trevor Gagnon, David Gore and Philip Daniel Bolden--who stow away on the historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

"Fly Me to the Moon is great," Huggins, a veteran producer of large-format and special-venue projects, said in an interview in New York last week. "It's the first animated feature made for 3-D and released only in 3-D. It's a great little G-rated movie, pure G, as G as any movie you'll ever see. Great cast, with Tim Curry and Nicolette Sheridan and Christopher Lloyd and Kelly Ripa [as well as Adrienne Barbeau, Robert Patrick and Ed Begley Jr.]."

The movie also features the voice of real-life astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. "Three little flies go to the moon with [Neil] Armstrong, [Michael] Collins and Aldrin, and they help get the Apollo 11 spaceship back [home safely]," Huggins said. "It's fun and has got a lot of good music." Fly Me to the Moon opens Aug. 8. --Ian SpellingFly Teleports To Opera

David Cronenberg's 1986 SF horror movie The Fly has been adapted as an opera, with tenor Placido Domingo conducting a score by Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings), the Associated Press reported.

Cronenberg himself is directing the opera, which will have its world premiere on July 2 at Paris' Theatre du Chatelet and its U.S. premiere Sept. 7 at the Los Angeles Opera.

Shore also wrote the film's original music but sampled only two themes from his 1986 score.

The libretto is by David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), and the plot sticks to the same basic lines as the film, about reporter Veronica Quaife and eccentric scientist Seth Brundle, who undergoes a horrific transformation after teleporting himself with a housefly.Americas Ponders Grim Futures

Editor John Helfers told SCI FI Wire that his latest anthology, Future Americas (co-edited with Martin H. Greenberg), offers a glimpse into the possible alternate futures that might befall the nation five, 10 or even 50 years from now.

"Usually I don't go for creating [an] anthology with a soft science/sociopolitical theme like this one, but given the state of our nation today, both Marty and I really felt that not only was the time right for this sort of book, but that [also] it is an anthology that needed to be published, to explore what might be in store for the United States of America," Helfers said in an interview. "I enjoy extrapolating where present-day society might be headed and thought this would be a very interesting way to get an idea of what might be in store for us as a nation."

The idea for the book came from the current state of the country: the way it appears to be fracturing along ethnic, political, religious and societal lines. "From there it was a simple matter to ask, 'What if these events were to continue to occur in years to come? ... How might our nation change as a result?' And the concept was born," Helfers said. "Sheila Gilbert and Betsy Wollheim at DAW Books liked the idea, and we're very pleased that it is coming out at this time, when our nation is at what I call a multi-lane intersection, and the events of the next five or six months will determine exactly what path America--as well as much of the rest of the world--is going to travel for at least the next four years."

The 16 stories in Future Americas cover the entire spectrum of potential futures for the country, from the legal system to government to artistic endeavor to the next civil war. "Along the way, authors also explore such societal issues [as] prejudice, racism, the class war and all manner of issues that may end up tearing this country apart in the next century," Helfers said. --John Joseph AdamsPerlman Previews Mutant

Ron Perlman, who stars in the independent apocalyptic SF movie The Mutant Chronicles, told reporters that he and co-star Thomas Jane will screen the movie this month with an unusual approach: They will ask fans how the movie should be made better.

"We're trying to get [it] to the marketplace," Perlman said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 30 while promoting Hellboy II: The Golden Army. "In fact, we're going to have a screening of it at Comic-Con [in San Diego on July 26] and allow the fans to sort of have their input as to what the movie does well and what it needs work on."

Perlman appears in the movie alongside his Hellboy II co-star Anna Walton. "Severian is the character that I play," Walton said in a separate interview. "And Ron plays Samuel, and they come from a monastery where their sole purpose is to be ready for an event, which happens in the film."

Perlman plays Brother Samuel, leader of a monastic cult that has foreseen the takeover of a corporate-dominated Earth by mutants and which holds the key to their defeat: the Chronicles.

"They take the Chronicles and try to save the world," Walton said. "And Severian is his protege and protector, and her job is to protect him from any danger, really. So it was a lot of fighting."

Walton and Perlman are part of an ensemble cast that also includes Jane, Devon Aoki, Benno Furmann, Sean Pertwee, John Malkovich, Luis Miguel and Tom Wu. The film is the major feature-film directorial debut of British filmmaker Simon Hunter and was written by Phillip Eisner (Event Horizon).

Perlman said that he and Jane will host the Comic-Con screening. "We're soliciting input from everybody who's a fan of movies," Perlman said. "It's being hosted by Thomas Jane and myself, the two co stars of the film. Because we love this guy Simon Hunter, and we think the movie is really really good. ... We're trying to build up a fan base for the movie from the ground up." --Patrick Lee, News EditorStargate's Davis Is Dead

Gateworld reported that Don S. Davis, who played Maj. Gen. George Hammond on SCI FI Channel's Stargate SG-1 for seven seasons, died June 29 after suffering a heart attack. He was 65.

Citing Davis' wife, Ruby Fleming-Davis, the site reported that a family memorial will take place in a few weeks, during which Davis' ashes will be scattered in the ocean; fans were asked to make memorial donations to the American Heart Association.

Davis left the regular cast of SG-1 in 2003 because of a medical condition that restricted his workload, but he made several guest appearances on the show and its spinoff, Stargate Atlantis.

A native of Missouri, Davis had a 26-year career that included many roles on TV series, notably Maj. Garland Briggs on Twin Peaks. He met SG-1 co-star Richard Dean Anderson on the set of MacGyver, on which he worked as a stunt double for actor Dana Elcar.

Davis' final Stargate appearance is in Stargate: Continuum, the upcoming straight-to-DVD movie. He will also appear in the films Vipers, Woodshop and Far Cry.West Eyes Bastard Film

Voice actor Billy West (Futurama) told SCI FI Wire that he plans to turn his popular foul-mouthed, wisecracking YouTube.com character Billy Bastard into a feature film.

"We had a few false starts with big-name producers interested and working on it and then dropping out, and now we have a guy who gets it and wants to see it made into a feature film, so we're working on the script for that right now," West said.

West, who voices Fry in Futurama and has done voices for Ren and Stimpy, put together some preliminary clips of the character on the popular video-sharing site and on his Web site and received a good reaction, he said. West put together a short Internet show called Billy Bastard: Amateur Human Professional Asshole with Ren and Stimpy animators Jim Gomez and Bill Wray, who will write and direct the proposed movie.

The film will have stop-motion puppet animation and live actors in it. "It's some of the funniest stuff we've ever done," West said.

The clips show a moody guy living in the inner city who does Elvis impersonations, has a short temper and spouts off plenty of four-letter words. West--who has also voiced Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and Tweety and acted on children's shows such as Jimmy Neutron and Ben 10--said that he knows the animated venture is not for children.

"But I know kids love to watch things that make their parents upset, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of them know about Billy Bastard," West said. "Look, I never claimed to be this guy that only children should watch, like Mister Rogers. I'm a journeyman. I do all kinds of cartoon stuff. I'm a free-lancer. I'm always lucky to be working, that's the way I look at it." --Mike SzymanskiNBC, SCI FI Con Lineup Touted

NBC announced plans to bring the casts and crews of its TV shows Heroes, Knight Rider, Chuck, Kings and My Own Worst Enemy to Comic-Con International in San Diego in July, and NBC's sister cable network SCI FI Channel will be bringing Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Atlantis, Ghost Hunters and Eureka.

Battlestar co-creator Ron Moore will also be bringing Universal Media Studios' FOX pilot Virtuality.

On the convention's exhibition floor, the NBC Universal booth will greet fans with a Heroes, The Office and 30 Rock theme. SCI FI's booth will host giveaways, and a Eureka-branded ice cream truck will run a dedicated route distributing free ice cream to promote the third-season return of the popular dramedy on July 27.

Comic-Con runs July 23-27.Journey Updates Verne

Eric Brevig, director of the upcoming Journey to the Center of the Earth, told SCI FI Wire that he sought to capture the essence of the Jules Verne novel on which the film is based, but also opened up the story as necessary to make it more filmic and contemporary.

Journey stars Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem as a scientist, his teenage nephew and their Icelandic guide, who embark on the adventure of a lifetime when they end up at the center of the Earth. The film is set in 2008, and the characters actually reference events, situations, locations and illustrations from the Verne novel.

"I wanted to capture the spirit of the book throughout the whole movie, which is that these people go on this adventure and wind up getting into things that they never anticipated," Brevig said in an interview. "The fun of having the prehistoric creatures, having to build a raft and go across an underground ocean, those are big iconic moments. The rest of it was me coming up with pieces of business that I thought would just play wonderfully in 3-D as well as 2-D, that would be having fun with the situation."

At one point during the adventure, the characters become separated, a development introduced in order to create tension and conflict once they're below the surface. And the setup to get the characters down was slightly different from the source material.

"In the book, it's just a gung-ho kind of nut-case professor who decides, 'We can do this. Let's go do this,'" Brevig said. "That didn't work for me storywise. It had to be something that was an accident for the uncle to jeopardize his nephew, who, in our movie, is much younger than the character in the book. And making [the Icelandic guide] Hans into Hannah was just an obvious choice." Journey to the Center of the Earth opens on July 11. --Ian SpellingCaviezel Is AMC's Prisoner

AMC announced that Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) and Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings) will star in the network's upcoming miniseries reboot of the cult 1960s show The Prisoner. AMC is co-producing the six-part miniseries with ITV Productions and Granada International, with a worldwide premiere slated for 2009.

The Prisoner, AMC's second original miniseries, combines espionage, thriller and science fiction.

Caviezel will play Number Six, a part originated by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan served as the creator, producer, writer and director of the 1960s series.

Oscar nominee Ian McKellen will play the role of Number Two.

Bill Gallagher serves as writer and executive producer, along with Michele Buck, Damien Timmer, Rebecca Keane and AMC's Charlie Collier, Christina Wayne and Vlad Wolynetz. It is produced by Trevor Hopkins and directed by Jon Jones.

AMC's reinterpretation of the Cold-War-era show will reflect 21st-century concerns and anxieties: liberty, security and surveillance, AMC said. Wild Escapes Fairy Tales

Young-adult-fantasy author Sarah Beth Durst told SCI FI Wire that her latest novel, Out of the Wild, grew out of her childhood wish for something magical to happen in her hometown, such as unicorns in the woods or elves in the basement or dragons in the garage.

"I also always loved fairy tales," Durst said in an interview. "Every Christmas and birthday, my mom would give me the most beautifully illustrated fairy-tale book she could find. So it was almost inevitable that when I started to think about story ideas, I'd think, 'What if fairy-tale characters lived in my hometown?' My first answer was that Rapunzel would obviously own a hair salon."

Out of the Wild is the sequel to Durst's first novel, Into the Wild. "I knew from early on in writing Into the Wild that I wanted to do a sequel," she said. "I loved the characters and the world, and I didn't want to say goodbye to them. Even though Into the Wild is a stand-alone and has an ending, I still wanted to know what happens next. Writing Out of the Wild was just as much fun as I'd hoped it would be. It was like visiting old friends. And then totally turning their lives upside down."

The duology is about fairy-tale characters who escape from their fairy tales and what happens when the fairy tale wants its characters back. "Imagine a cross-country road trip with just you and your dad," Durst said. "Now add a fire-breathing dragon, a few thousand magic beanstalks and a run-in with a wolf in Elvis' bedroom, and you've got Out of the Wild."

In the books, "the Wild" is the essence of fairy tales. "It's a living, thinking entity that believes everyone should live a fairy tale life (complete with poison-encrusted apples, hundred-year comas and cannibalistic witches)," Durst said. "If it catches you, it will force you to act out a fairy tale over and over again, even if that means being eaten by a wolf or shoved into an oven again and again. In my books, happily-ever-after is not nice." --John Joseph AdamsOldman Confirms Carol Roles

Gary Oldman confirmed to reporters that he will be playing at least three characters in Robert Zemeckis' upcoming motion-capture-animated A Christmas Carol, including Tiny Tim.

"I play Marley," Oldman said in a group interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 29, where he was promoting The Dark Knight. "I play Tiny Tim, and I play Bob Cratchit, so I play three [characters]."

In the animated film--which Zemeckis is directing with the same technology he used in last year's Beowulf--Oldman will play opposite Jim Carrey as Scrooge in the retelling of Charles Dickens' classic Christmas ghost story.

Oldman disputed reports that acting in a motion-capture studio was like doing theater. "People that have never done theater say it's like [that]," he said, adding, "It's nothing like theater." Rather, he said, he performs his part in an empty room surrounded by "200 cameras, ... and you don't wear a costume, and you have dots on your face, and Zemeckis will make the movie in the computer later."

Oldman will next be seen as police detective James Gordon in The Dark Knight, which opens July 18. --Patrick Lee, News EditorHorrible Gets July Air Date

Joss Whedon announced that his musical Web series, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, will be streamed free for only one week, beginning July 15. Act one goes up on that date, followed by act two on July 17 and act three on July 19. All three parts will remain on the site until midnight July 20.

After that, the series will be made available for paid download in some format and will ultimately end up on DVD, with extras. Whedon promised more information at Comic-Con International in San Diego in July.

Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) wrote the musical series during last year's writers' strike. Co-writers for the Internet feature are Whedon's brothers, Zack and Jed, and Jed's fiancee, Maurissa Tancharoen. The story centers on a low-rent supervillain (Neil Patrick Harris), the hero who keeps beating him up (Nathan Fillion) and the cute girl from the laundromat he's too shy to talk to (Felicia Day).Carter Eyes Terminator Salvation

Helena Bonham Carter is in talks to board McG's Terminator Salvation, the fourth installment in the franchise kicked off by James Cameron in 1984, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Roles in the new film have been kept under wraps, but insiders described the Bonham Carter role as small but pivotal.

Principal photography on the Halcyon-produced movie, which looks at the origins of the battle between humans and Skynet, started last month in New Mexico, with the idea that most exteriors will be shot before a potential actors' strike. Warners is scheduled to release the action film in May 2009.

Carter is perhaps best known to SF fans for her roles in the Harry Potter movies, Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein and the recent Planet of the Apes remake.Bender's Game Just A Pun

Futurama executive producer David X. Cohen told SCI FI Wire that the next DVD movie will be called Bender's Game--and Cohen admitted that he'd long wanted to use that title, a pun on Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

"We had an index card up on the wall for years," Cohen said in an interview while promoting The Beast With a Billion Backs. "Ender's Game is a classic sci-fi novel and probably one of my favorite sci-fi novels. So we've always wanted to use the title Bender's Game, but we never had the right episode before."

Despite the title, the third of four DVD movies is not a parody of Card's book, Cohen said. It "has very, very little to do with that subject matter, [but] it does involve Bender [John Di Maggio] and a game," he said. "So we thought, 'OK, it's now or never to use that title.' And we pounced on it."

Bender's Game is the Futurama team's first full-scale foray into the world of fantasy. It's an alternate-universe adventure, with Bender, Fry (Billy West) and the gang trying to determine why dark matter, which serves as fuel for starships in the 30th century, costs so damn much.

"We were all kind of shocked, when we started talking about the idea, that we hadn't done it before, really," Cohen said. "It almost seems obvious that it's something our fans would like. It has the overlap with SF while being something a little bit different. So we were very excited, because we felt like we'd just hit a treasure trove of material that we had not explored before."

The movie takes place in a "land of magic and dragons," Cohen said. "You'll get to see the fantasy versions of all of our characters. Visually, it's going to be very spectacular, I think." Beast With a Billion Backs is out now, and Bender's Game will be released later this year. --Ian SpellingFox SF Show Casts Fill Out

Malik Yoba and Warren Kole have joined Fox's one-hour pilot Inseparable, while Erik Jensen, Jose Pablo Cantillo and Clea DuVall have been added to Fox's two-hour SF backdoor pilot Virtuality, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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

Yoba will play a detective who works with Lambreaux and is oblivious to his double life. Kole will play a young detective eager to move up.

Virtuality, from Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore, is set aboard the Phaeton, Earth's first starship, on a journey to explore a distant solar system.

Jensen will play the Phaeton's navigator. Cantillo will play a mathematician. DuVall will play the Phaeton's co-pilot and engineer. WALL*E Trashes Competition

WALL*E trashed the competition during the June 27 weekend, taking first place at the box office with about $62.5 million in domestic ticket sales, the Associated Press reported.

Wanted came in a close second, with $51.1 million in its opening weekend, the AP reported.

Disney/Pixar's last animated film, Ratatouille, opened last year with $47 million.

The previous weekend's number-one movie, Get Smart, slipped to third place with $20 million, raising its total to $77.3 million after 10 days of release.BRIEFLY NOTED

Former Sopranos star Michael Imperioli has joined the cast of ABC's time-travel drama Life on Mars, an adaptation of the hit BBC series about a 21st-century cop who finds himself sent back in time to the 1970s, according to The Hollywood Reporter; Imperioli will play a not-so-politically-correct detective colleague to Jason O'Mara's hero, Sam.

The Will Smith superhero movie Hancock got off to a strong start, grossing $6.8 million from 3,680 theaters in early previews on the evening of July 1, Variety reported; the film expanded on July 2 to 3,965 screens.

Wanted co-creator Mark Millar told the Scottish newspaper Daily Record that he's got a director and producer lined up for yet another cinematic reinvention of Superman: "Sadly, I can't say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas," with the film eyeing a 2011 release.

IGN.com has posted a red-band R-rated trailer for Alexandre Aja's upcoming supernatural horror film Mirrors, starring Kiefer Sutherland; it opens Aug. 15.

Writer/director Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor) goes in front of the camera, joining the ensemble cast of Roland Emmerich's apocalyptic SF movie 2012, alongside John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and Oliver Platt, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Lucasfilm will screen new footage from its upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars at the first Japanese Star Wars Celebration convention in Tokyo, starting July 19; the animated film opens Aug. 23 in Japan and Aug. 15 in the United States.

To promote its upcoming fall J.J. Abrams SF series Fringe, Fox is running a campaign of stealth ads with the theme "Find the pattern" on radio and the Internet at such sites as Automobile.com and FamilyOven.com, with ads encouraging users to "Imagine the Impossibilities," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Perth, late actor Heath Ledger's Australian hometown, named a theater in his honor July 1 for his commitment to acting, the Associated Press reported; the $87 million, 575-seat Heath Ledger Theater was named in honor of the actor who will next be seen as the Joker in The Dark Knight, opening July 18.

Christopher Guest will play Ivan the Terrible in the sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, according to The Hollywood Reporter; other new cast members are Jon Bernthal (Al Capone), Bill Hader (Gen. George Armstrong Custer) and French actor Alain Chabat (Napoleon).

A new trailer has gone live for the next 007 movie, Quantum of Solace, which has been linked through SCI FI Wire's Trailers page.

Collider.com has posted an account of Variety's poaching of its story that the producers and director of 300 are mulling a sequel.