DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 33

RED DWARF

It’s been in development since the mid-90’s, but producer CharlesArmitage is now confident that a Red Dwarf movie film will be made,saying: “We are in that twilight world of pre, pre-production. We arelooking at co-production possibilities and the director will be goingout soon to look at locations.”

The film will be written and directed by Doug Naylor, one of theco-creators of the original series. The shows original stars will allreturn, including newcomer Chloe Annett as Kochanski.

Armitage continued, saying: “We are bringing a new generation of fans toRed Dwarf. Doug Naylor has written it in a way that it is totallyaccessible to everyone. People who have never seen a Red Dwarf episodebefore will be able to follow it. But there will be enough in there toplease die-hard fans also.”

ELEKTRA’Superhero Hype!’ reports that ‘Fox’ and ‘Regency Enterprises’ haveofficially announced an Elektra movie, as well as a Daredevil sequel.

The Elektra film will be set after the events depicted in the firstDaredevil, with Jennifer Garner reprising her role. Screenplaydevelopment will begin immediately.

Elektra was created by comic-book legend Frank Miller, and firstappeared in a 1980 issue of Daredevil. She is the daughter of powerfulGreek business tycoon Nikolas Natchios and the girlfriend of MattMurdock/Daredevil.

THE HOBBITWhilst speaking with ‘TIME Europe’, Ian McKellan said “I want to playGandalf again, in The Hobbit. I’ve asked Peter Jackson if he’ll producethe prequel as a huge, year-long television series. All those differentstrands to the story seem perfect for TV, and we’d do every scene of it.It could be marvellous”.

Excellent idea, Sir Ian!

GARFIELDThe ‘Hollywood Reporter’ says that Breckin Meyer is in final talks tostar as Jon Arbuckle, owner of Garfield the cat for the feline’slive-action movie. Jennifer Love Hewitt is finalizing a deal to play hislove interest, with Peter Hewitt directing. Production should begin inMarch from a screenplay by Toy Story writers Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow- which apparently focuses on the rivalry between Garfield and fellowpet Odie the dog.

PETER PANP.J Hogan’s Peter Pan movie is due out this Christmas, so here is thefirst image of Peter Pan from the film itself (see right) GREASE 3The ‘Daily Telegraph’ newspaper in Sydney confirmed that Olivia NewtonJohn and John Travolta have “officially” signed on for Grease 3.However, Newton-John again debunked the persistent rumour that KylieMinogue is playing their daughter. THEY FOUGHT ALONE’Empire Online’ reports that Brad Pitt will re-team with director DavidFincher on They Fought Alone, from screenwriter William Nicholson. Thefilm tells the story of Wendell Fertig, an American soldier who foughtin the Philippines during World War II.

After American soldiers are ordered to surrender, Fertig and his menteam up with Filipino resistance fighters to prevent the Japanese fromtaking full control of the region. When Fertig gets a message out abouthis guerrilla actions, the American army is divided between wanting toget behind the rogue team and disowning Fertig for having ignoredmilitary orders. The Pitt role was previously considered for Tom Cruise.

SUPERMANPotential Clark Kent, Victor Webster from TV’s Mutant X, has revealedhis feelings on his recent test-screening. “It’s a personalaccomplishment for me, no matter what happens. [I had to] dress up inthe suit; dress up as Clark Kent; stand in front of the camera. [Thecostume was] spandex and tight. I probably shouldn’t say anything else.I wasn’t told not to say anything, but I imagine they want their conceptto be their concept, and for me to spoil somebody else’s thing, that’sdisrespectful.”

“It was very cool, no question about that at all. The script isexcellent. Obviously, I can’t go over the details of the script, butit’s really well written. It’s a great character movie with tons ofaction, but you really feel for the characters. There’s no campiness inthis movie whatsoever, no campy humour, no goofy humour. This is a veryserious action-drama.”