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Movie & TV News | Serendipity Cinema | The DVD Review | Archives | Links | About C Wayne Owens
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Movie & TV News | Serendipity Cinema | The DVD Review | Archives | Links | About C Wayne Owens
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MOVIE & TV NEWS
All Roads Lead To Rome & HBO *The productions budget for just the first season stands at US $75 million. Assuming it's successful enough, they expect the same cost for a second & third season. *A main idea for the series came to the creator after watching the DVD box set of the acclaimed 1976 UK 13-episode miniseries "I, Claudius." As you remember that series starred the likes of Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Patrick Stewart, John Rhys-Davies, Brian Blessed and James Faulkner. Just as that ground-breaking show spanned decades and many rulers (ie. Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, etc.), this one is also expected to cover a great passage of timel. *The concept is that imperial Rome from the perspective of the common man's living room would be what had yet to be seen. What emerged was a tale about two soldiers who return to the city after years away battling the Gauls *In early March, the producer rented a bus and took a large group of the actors two hours south to the remains of Pompeii, near Naples - "It just gives you a sense of the life: the width of a street, the size of a room. It builds a subconscious picture that's part and parcel of everything." *The show's production staff is collected a small library's worth of obscure tomes, including several on the physical gestures of ancient Romans. They hope to reconstruct the experience of Rome to a detail that has never before been attempted. ------------ 
The Cookie Monster Crumbles
Because of their shrinking funding, the Children's Television Workshop will produce only 26 new episodes of Sesame Street this year, as opposed to the 130 shows per year of its early years, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday. Only ten writers remain on staff, down from the previous 16. The cutbacks have come, in part, due to increasing competition from cable channels -- principally from Nickelodeon, and its productions like Dora the Explorer and Blue's Clues. "We're an hour show in a half-hour world," executive producer Lewis Bernstein said. "We deal with the whole child's curriculum. We purposely try to attract parents, so they can watch together. That's so rare." ------------   Men Making Music, Music Making Men, Four By Four Screenwriter Clay Tarver is about to make his directorial debut on "Men Making Music, Music Making Men", a comedy to be set in the world of competitive barbershop choruses. Disney bought Tarver's pitch for a high six figures. "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams will produce. ------------ Stakes Are High for Fox's 'The Casino' Advertising Age reports that Fox is taking a roll of the dice on the Mark Burnett-produced The Casino, a 13-week reality series set to fill in for American Idol beginning June 8. At a budget of more than $1 million per episode, the show will combine set-up incidents with real life ones as it follows actual gamblers, from high-rollers to nickel-and-dimers, playing the tables at the Golden Nugget. ------------  The Battle Goes On Drawing on his lomg time association with the presidential hopeful, documentary maker George Butler is both producing and directing "Tour of Duty," a film featuring the story of Democratic candidate John Kerry. The docu will hit theaters during the peak pre-election period. ------------ 
Avi Arad Puts To Bed Some Marvel Conflict Rumors Marvel producer Avi Arad attempted to put to rest some of the rumors about conflict over the hottest Marvel properties. First, on the "mistaken" notion that Fantastic Four has been plagued by constant battles between hopeful directors from Steven Soderbergh to Sean Astin, Arad confirmed he has decided on a director. He just would not say whom, until Tuesday As to why previous directors like Peyton Reed had dropped out, Arad offered, " It wasn`t difficult to keep a director. Sometimes directors look at a project and get off another project, they want to go home for a little bit of time. Listen, the toughest thing is to write the script, mental, mental toughness. But then a director comes on board and it`s a very physical challenge. It`s a year and a half of your life. If your family calls, it`s annoying. You don`t want them to call, yet you miss them. Two o`clock in the morning in the rain somewhere, it`s physically [demanding]. No director finishes a movie, young ones in great shape, that don`t end up exhausted, sometimes in the hospital, because it`s physically very tough to do. So sometimes you look at the size of a movie and what it would take to do it and you say, " I don`t know if I want to go there because if I screw this one up, I`m going to movie jail. Or if I take this job, I`m going to give up a lot of [time with] family and friends and health. `So there are so many ingredients to it. We needed for this movie a director that`s a genius with relationships. It`s a movie about relationships. Confidence, box office, $500 million X-Men 2. Fantastic Four should be a pretty good business. " Arad completely, and totally dismissed the rumors that Spider-Man 3 would leave Columbia due to battles over the who controls the rights. " Because of the lawsuits? That`s normal in business. You fight and make love on the same day, before lunch, after lunch. " Arad said the project that is actually most difficult to bring to life is Sub-Mariner. " We`re going to new territories. It`s like tackling Jurassic Park. David Self wrote an incredible screenplay and the world is fantastic, but challenging is good. We like that. Every one of our movies [was a challenge]. Making Doc Ock, that was challenging. " What about rumors that the Hulk franchise was dead? Producers Gale Anne Hurd joined Arad as both confirmed, there will be a Hulk 2. Hurd went on to say, " Right now we are meeting with writers to discuss the sequel. I think the key thing is come up with the right story. " Arad described the tone of the sequel. " It`s going to be Hulk-lite. It`ll be the end of movie one, the beginning of movie two. Now he`s come to terms with his life and who he is and we can let him be now Hulk the hero. Movie one seemed to have been tough on some people, but some of us think it is one of the more courageous depictions of a comic book character. " ------------ Universal Trembles Under "Earthquakes" Universal Pictures has taken up the option on the film rights to author Jennifer Weiner's latest novel, "Little Earthquakes." Weiner has written best sellers like, "Good in Bed" and "In Her Shoes." The latter is now shooting with Cameron Diaz starring and Curtis Hanson directing for Fox 2000 Pictures. "Earthquakes," which is scheduled to hit bookstores in September, revolves around three pregnant women who become friends in a yoga class and subsequently help each other through childbirth and motherhood. ------------ Grease Is The Word? 3? MTV News reports that they're still reworking the script and writing in a new male lead, because Travolta isn't returning. Story wise, Sandy will be a single mother and then a new stranger sweeps her off her feet. Of all the movies of our lifetime that didn't deserve a sequel, why is this one getting another one? It is the Friday the 13th of musicals. ------------ Vartan Is The Perfect Husband In New Line's "Monster-In-Law" Michael Vartan, who plays CIA Agent Michael Vaughn on ABC's "Alias," is now negotiating to star opposite Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda in "Monster-in-Law" for New Line Cinema. Robert Luketic will direct. "Monster" centers on a girl (Lopez) who believes she is marrying the perfect guy (Vartan) and then she meets his mother, the world's worst mother-in-law. The mother (Fonda) is so overprotective, she ruthlessly tries to detroy his relationships. ------------ Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis Ellroy Elkayem has replaced Tobe Hooper as director on the film that is set to start shooting in Romania in June. The story is about a group teenagers who, in an attempt to rescue their friend from the evil corporation, end up releasing a strangely familiar horde of blood thirsty zombies. ------------ Wonderfalls Falls 
The critically acclaimed TV series-- Wonderfalls, after being shifted around on the schedule mercilessly, has been cancelled, see Tim Minear for details. Just as I was beginning to think I might start to like it. Which, of course, is the deathblow to any show. ----------- HarperCollins Launches Astro Boy Book Series HarperCollins Children’s Books will launch a book series based on the new television series Astro Boy, produced by Sony Pictures Ent. Japan and Tezuka Prods. HarperKids Ent. has been granted North American English-language rights from Sony Pictures Consumer Products," The Publisher announced this week, saying also, "HarperCollins will launch the 30 book program in September 2004 with seven titles: one color and activity book, one color and sticker book, two beginning readers, two storybooks, and one chapter book." 
Astro Boy is scheduled to return on KidsWB in April. SCI FI Brings Back The Miniseries From the PRNewswire, "SCI FI Channel, responsible for almost single-handedly reviving the miniseries format in the past few years, has established itself as the industry's leading producer of original movies and awe-inspiring television events. Continuing to attract Hollywood's hottest filmmakers, SCI FI has partnered with DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg for a second miniseries (the first was the Emmy Award-winning Steven Spielberg Presents Taken) entitled Nine Lives, and has signed deals in recent months with Martin Scorsese, Bryan Singer, Dean Devlin, Joel Silver and Gale Anne Hurd, among others. Oscar(R)-caliber actors such as Timothy Hutton, Randy Quaid and Isabella Rossellini lead the casts of SCI FI's upcoming 2004 miniseries, while other stars have signed on for future epics." Here is a list of projects that lead SCI FI's slate: **Earthsea Based on Ursula K. Le Guin's award-winning novels, SCI FI announced today the signing of three major stars -- Shawn Ashmore (X-Men, X2, The Underclassmen), Danny Glover and Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) -- who will join Isabella Rossellini in the mammoth undertaking premiering this December. The epic fantasy, follows the adventures of a Ged (Ashmore), a reckless youth fated to become the greatest sorcerer the mystical land of Earthsea has ever known. When Ged find how powerful he might be, he seeks to master the ancient arts with the aid of legendary wizard Ogion (Glover). He battles unimaginable evils, finds an ally in Tenar (Kreuk), the pupil to High Priestess Thar (Rossellini). Produced by Hallmark Entertainment, Earthsea is written by Gavin Scott (The Mists of Avalon). Rob Lieberman (The Dead Zone, Strong Medicine) will direct. **Dresden Files (working title) Based on the best-selling "Dresden Files" novels by Jim Butcher, this 2-hour pilot will be executive produced by Academy Award(R) winner Nicolas Cage and Norm Golightly of Saturn Films. Erik Dresden (in the books he's Harry) is a detective that could only belong to a long line of wizards. Where others deal with typical crimes of assault, kidnapping and serial killings, Erik sees otherworldly forces at work -- which only he knows the proper way to combat. Erik has a unique outlook on this world, and wields a wry sense of humor as his most potent weapons. The project will be produced by Lions Gate Television and Cage's Saturn Films. **Farscape: Peacekeeper War 
Sci Fi has finalized a deal to air Farscape: Peacekeeper War, the highly anticipated four-hour miniseries that will tie up all the loose ends left dangling when the network prematurely axed the acclaimed drama last year. The project has already wrapped production and is slated to air at the end of the year. **History of the Devil The Devil has taken God to court, and is trying to litigate his way back into Heaven. Executive Producer Clive Barker and his Seraphim Films, this six-hour limited series deals with the Devil who's tired of hearing "the Devil made me do it," so he hires a defense attorney to prove that he is the least of the world's problems. (No mention of Wolfram & Hart to this point) The series will be based on Barker's play, "The History of the Devil or Scenes from a Pretended Life." **Blackwater Based on Michael McDowell's (Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas) popular series of Blackwater novels, this 4-hour miniseries is a Southern gothic tale of rise to power of a Water Witch. She secretly marryied into a wealthy Southern family, she then used her powers to destroy her family's enemies. ***Winney A satiric thriller from the creator of Beetlejuice, this 4-hour miniseries is a stinging look at American culture. In it, beloved American cartoon character Winney has become so popular that it's possible it may be elected President. However, Steve, the puppeteer who gives Winney life for a popular talk show, discovers that the character's creator has really made a pact with the Devil to bring Winney to life. Steve alone knows the truth and stands by himself in the defiance of Winney's world domination. **Ringworld Coming from the classic Larry Niven books, this 4-hour miniseries follows four explorers who crashland on "Ringworld" -- an artificial world, altogether mammoth in scope and built in the shape of a ring that rotates around a gravitational sun. Exploring, the team encounters alien beings, but they also realize that the Ring was once home to an incredibly advanced, civilization which mysteriously vanished...or have they? 
Question #815: On "Bonanza" what was Hoss' given first name? 
Answer
#814: #814: "As God as my witness,
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Serendipity Cinema: (This is a Once A Week Feature) A Recommended Film You May Never Have Heard Of, But Really Ought To See. #3. Circle Of Iron (AKA The Silent Flute) A martial arts movie, for non-martial arts fans? Yes. It could be called the first Zen movie, with a philosophy that is so subtle that it is overt, so obscure that it is blatant. Written by Bruce Lee and James Coburn it was the project that might never have been made. But Lee's students put together the simple production in Isreal and peopled the cast with actors like David Carradine, Christopher Lee, Roddy MacDowell & Eli Wallach. If you get off your high horse and really let this one take you, you may be surprised at how far it can take you. But, it will be hard to find. 
--posted by Wayne
Monday, April 05, 2004
--posted by Wayne Monday, April 05, 2004
If you're interested in what's happening in the entertainment world, then signup for this newsletter. Wayne scours all the top websites for the latest entertainment news and sends them out every day for your pleasure. There's a particular emphasis here on Science Fiction and Fantasy. Big news items like Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and just about anything by Steven Spielberg. |
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