DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 40

THE HULKAnother in-movie photo has been released from The Hulk, this timeshowing the green-meanie about to knock a helicopter out of the air.Yikes! (see right) ALIEN 5Sigourney Weaver spoke to the ‘Chicago Sun-Times’ about whether or notshe’d ever play Ripley again in another Alien film, and what storylineshe’d be interested in pursuing.

Weaver: “[Director] Ridley Scott and I have talked about it a couple oftimes. He has some ideas. If we developed a good script, I’d love toplay Ripley again. I’ve always felt so grateful to Ridley Scott becausehe gave me my first job. In fact, the first few weeks of Alien, I was sogreen that Ridley would say, ‘Don’t look at the camera.’ And I’d say,’How can I not look at it. It’s right in front of my face all thetime!'”

“The only thing I’m not interested in is going to Earth. I saw that StarTrek movie where they went to Earth and… yawn. I think it’s more funto go to a foreign planet – especially now. Who wants to come to Earthnow? Let’s go far, far away! Fantasy is what we need!”

‘Filmjerk’ also reports that the original Alien will be re-released onOctober 31 – which is strange considering the film’s 25th Anniversaryisn’t until 25 May 2004.

AUSTIN POWERS 4’Screen Daily’ reports that Jennifer Lopez is tipped to be the newPowers Girl in a likely fourth Austin Powers movie. ELEKTRA’Variety’ reports that ‘New Regency’ and ’20th Century Fox’ could beginproduction on Daredevil spin-off movie Elektra in 2004, with starJennifer Garner likely to return.

Screenwriters Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner are to write the script,after they impressed executives with their draft for Deathlok; anadaptation of another ‘Marvel’ comic about a man who is transformed intoa machine.

SCOOBY DOO 2The working title for the movie is now Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

Seth Green talked with ‘About.Com’ about his role in the sequel: “I justflew in this morning. I finished work at five this morning, was on aflight at six and I haven’t really slept yet so I’m a little deliriousright now. I play a museum curator, like a professor of museum studies.”

“I thought the first one was pretty sharp with the adult subtext, but Ithink they’re less bound this time by committee. I think the first one,they had a lot more to prove so they didn’t know exactly what directionto go in, and this time they know what works and what doesn’t, sothey’re just pulling ahead”.

It’s also been revealed that Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) has joinedthe cast, as has Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein) as classic cartoon foeOld Man Wickles (aka The Black Knight Ghost).

The first inmovie photo has also been released, showing a stretch-limoMystery Machine visiting a museum. (see right)

THE LEAGUE OF….’Coming Attractions’ reports that ’20th Century Fox’ has shortened TheLeague Of Extraordinary Gentlemen’s title down to just The League.

The studio will still use the acronym LXG in some cases to promote thefilm but otherwise it will be known as The League only.

Another source also said that the film’s new trailer is “far better”than the first one; with footage of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus submarine.

THE MATRIX RELOADEDThe ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ interviewed star Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith)about the Matrix sequels Reloaded and Revolutions.

He had the following to say: “The first one seemed very contained. Itwas long, but the energy was maintained. But the sequels were reallydraining on a lot of people. They pushed through it and every day gotwhat they wanted. But it was a much more strenuous battle.”

In the sequels, Weaving’s Agent Smith can replicate himself, which leadsto scenes where hundreds of Smith duplicates fight Keanu Reeves’s Neo.Creating this illusion required Weaving to be surrounded by twelveactors of the same height and build.

“They’d had all their hair shaved and my hair on and glasses. They kindof looked vaguely like me. They put me in the centre of the frame anddid face replacements on them after the event. Or not, depending on theshot.”

“The strange thing about it really was doing scenes with myself. When wewere shooting it, I got to know them all as Rob or Mike, or whatever. Ijust treated them as other people. But halfway through a scene, I’d haveto do some dialogue with myself and that was peculiar. You’d be doing itwith someone else then have to jump in and do the scene with yourself.”

Weaving says much of the filming was tedious: “I’d much rather work onan eight-week shoot in Australia with other actors. There were a lot ofinjuries again this time around. I was getting these strange tinglingsdown my arm and in my fingers.”

Weaving also praised the tenacity of Reeves: “His skills were fantastic.He wants to be able to do everything himself and gets really angry if hecan’t. Training seems to be more dangerous than the actual shoot becauseyou’re stretching yourself, seeing what you can do and doing things forthe first time and trying to make things work.”

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET – THE PREQUELRobert Englund revealed that Freddy Vs Jason director Ronnie Yi “wouldlike to do a whole series of Freddy Vs Jason movies. He believes this isthe start of a new series. If it happens, great. I think we will all beback. We had such a great time on this movie; it’s going to be far froma chore to draw everyone back for seconds.”

“Who knows maybe we might even see another solo Freddy movie again, ifthat’s what the fans want… Ronny has sort of taking on a new surrogatefather role to Freddy Krueger and Jason, so if any more solo movies comealong, he’s already told the studio he wants first option on directingthem.”

“I’ve always thought a Freddy prequel would be a wonderful idea, and nowwith Exorcist, the time feels right. That would be great fun, if onlybecause I’ll only be in make-up for like a quarter of the picture. Let’ssee how Freddy Vs Jason does first thought before we get too excited.But yes, it’s definitely something Ronny and I have been talking about”.

PREACHERJames Marsden (X-Men 2’s Cyclops) talked to ‘MTV’ about Preacher, theadaptation of the Garth Ennis comic-book which will be directed byRachel Talalay.

“Right now it’s in one of those weird Hollywood states where financingis still kind of questionable at this point,” explained the 29-year-oldactor as he relaxed in his hotel room, dressed in a dark shirt andjeans. “But they keep threatening to start [filming] in June, so if theydo it, I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”

The actor said it was the book’s mature themes and complex characterdynamics that attracted him to the material. “I [like] the maturity ofthe relationship between Tulip and the Preacher, the mix between theissues that it deals with, that it’s kind of a Western and that he walksaround with the image of John Wayne around him.

“I also like the bravery in Garth Ennis’ writing. He’s not afraid totackle the hypocrisies of modern religion and things like that. A coupleof people have said, ‘Boy, if Garth Ennis had created a religion, Iwould sure like to be a part of that.’ It just makes sense, the way hetackles things in it. It’s really heavy stuff [and] it’s incredibly wellwritten.”

STARSKY & HUTCHThe ‘Z Review’ posted the first set picture of Owen Wilson and BenStiller in Starsky & Hutch – the movie adaptation of the hit TV series.(see right) The movie, due out next year, also stars Snoop Dogg (asHuggie Bear), Vince Vaughn, Carmen Elektra and Molly Sims. RED DWARFCo-creator and writer Doug Naylor is in Australia scouring studiofacilities for his Red Dwarf movie and preliminary designs are beingcreated. Filming on the long-awaited movie (which has missed the peak ofthe TV show’s success by eight years!) should hopefully begin in lateSeptember.

Doug Naylor: “We had originally planned for Shepperton [UK], but at the timewe were told there were no studios available. We looked everywhere -Germany, Austria, Italy – and eventually Richard Taylor at WETArecommended Australia.”

“We’ve been delighted by everything we’ve found out here. Australia’sthe sci-fi capital of the world right now. Star Wars, The Matrix,Farscape… It’s the ideal place for Red Dwarf.”

RESIDENT EVIL 2’Filmjerk’ revealed details about the Resident Evil movie sequel, whichbegins filming this July for three months.

New characters that will join returning actors Milla Jovovich and EricMabius include a trio from the Resident Evil video-games (including JillValentine). The character of Addison, who was infected with the virusthat creates zombies, will be the villain of the sequel – entitledResident Evil 2: Apocalypse.

SCARY MOVIE 3Leslie Nielsen (Naked Gun) has been cast by director David Zucker(Airplane!) to star in Scary Movie 3, now filming in Vancouver, reports’Variety’. The Practice star Camryn Manheim has also been cast.

Nielsen (a veteran of spoofs from Airplane to, er, Dracula: Dead &Loving It), joins Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Anna Faris, Simon Rex,Anthony Anderson, Eddie Griffin, Regina Hall and Jeremy Piven in thethird instalment.

SPY KIDS 3DThe Times of India reports that Salma Hayek’s role in the film requiresher to “use her new pigtails to fly”. STAR WARS EPISODE IIIThe official Star Wars Homing Beacon newsletter included an interviewwith Star Wars: Episode III producer Rick McCallum in which he talksabout the script.

“We get our preliminary first draft of the script next week, which we’revery excited about,” says McCallum, who is currently overseeing thepreparation of Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia. In just over twomonths, the stages of the motion picture facility will be the used forshooting Episode III.”

“We’re currently on schedule to begin on or around June 30, finishingsome time in September,” says McCallum. Already, the crew down under hasenough information from George Lucas to begin construction ofenvironments, props and costumes.

“After that George will be rewriting to a more formal first draft andwill keep revising right up until the start of shooting,” adds McCallum.”The story he wants to tell is firmly in his head. All the details arestored away in there, without a lot of influence from anyone else. He’sbeen talking a lot about how this movie fits with Episode IV in somevery cool and unexpected ways.”

It won’t be until the summer (or technically, the southern hemisphere’swinter) that the actors arrive in Australia, but already StuntCoordinator Nick Gillard has met briefly with both Hayden Christensenand Ewan McGregor in the US. “Hayden is coming shortly to begin massiverehearsals, stunt rehearsals. We expect Ewan in the next 4-5 weeks. He’sstarting to work on all the fight sequences in the movie which I thinkwill be extraordinary,” he said.

VAN HELSING’MTV’ interviewed Hugh Jackman (X-Men 2) about Van Helsing in 2004:“I’ll tell you, man, it is huge – the sets, the costumes. I just saw alittle trailer of it cut together. We showed it to the whole crew [and]everyone was so jazzed. It looks amazing.”

“I feel like I’m in Indiana Jones. That was my favourite movie as a kid,and I really feel like I’ve walked into one of those movies. [It’s got]swashbuckling, but it’s got a darkness to it, but it’s still funny. Andthe look of it – I think it has a style to it that I’ve never reallyseen before. And I think the story is very intricate.”

The movie also stars Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge) asDracula, Shuler Hensley (Someone Like You) as Frankenstein’s Monster,Samuel West (Notting Hill) as Dr. Frankenstein, Kevin J. O’Connor (TheMummy) as Igor, and Will Kemp as the Wolf Man.