Category: News

Al Gough and Miles Millar are experienced writers and producers but now will make their directorial debut on Disney’s Salisbury from their own spec script according to Variety.

Since leaving Smallville, they have been active including signing a first-look deal with Disney, where they just produced Hannah Montana: The Movie for the studio.  They also wrote draft scripts for Iron Man, Spider-Man 2, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. They are at work on a movie based on the Jungle Cruise theme park attraction. For Warner, they are adapting Robotech for the big screen.

Salisbury is the name of a fictional town where the story takes place but the studio is keeping the plot to themselves after acknowledging there will be supernatural elements. The projected budget is $40 million with casting about to begin. Production should begin in 2009 with a 2010 release date anticipated.
 

We swing over to DC’s Zuda Comics site for a talk with the guys who brought The Black Cherry Bombshells on line and to the top of Zuda’s Must Read List, plus:

• Dark Knight already the best selling movie and it isn’t out yet
• NY ComicCon salutes more comic greats
• Judge Dredd lives on as an RPG

All that and more – but only when you Press the Button
 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!

Casting continues for Flash Forward, the proposed ABC series based on Robert J. Sawyer’s science fiction novel.

The novel is being adapted by David S. Goyer (Blade), who will likely direct the pilot, Brannon Braga (Enterprise) and ABC Studios. The trade says the novel “chronicles the chaos that ensues after everyone in the world blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds and has a mysterious vision of the future that changes lives forever.”

ABC has high hopes for the pilot which may become a companion series for Lost for the 2009-2010 television season according to the trade.

Joseph Fiennes (Schindler’s List) is set to play Mark Banford, “an FBI agent who is patching up his life and his marriage after winning a long struggle with the bottle. Disturbed by the harrowing premonition during his blackout, he races to unravel the mystery, fearful of the murky future that might spell disaster for himself and his loved ones,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

John Cho (Star Trek) will play “Dominic Witten, a dedicated FBI agent who is Mark’s partner and friend. His experience while unconscious was an absolute blank, which doesn’t bode well for his own future as he realizes he might be murdered.”

They join the previously announced Courtney B. Vance (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) and Jack Davenport  (Pirates of the Caribbean). Vance will play Stan Wedeck, the Los Angeles bureau chief of the FBI while Davenport will play Lloyd Simcoe, who is trapped in Northern California when the event occurs and struggles to reach his son in a Southland hospital.

Eliza Dushku spoke with Sci Fi Wire, beginning the publicity drum beat counting down to the February 13 debut of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.  As most know, Whedon and Dushku were having a meal when inspiration struck and he conceived the show for her on the spot.

The Dollhouse refers to a government operation where the assets have their memories wiped with new personalities imprinted.  The series picks up when Dushku’s character begins to recall her past “lives”.

"Last episode, they surgically implant cameras into my eyeballs and send me into a cult compound as a blind woman," Dushku told the press. "I was playing this tripped-out blind woman. Then I’m playing a 50-something-year-old woman in my own body in this next episode. There are just so many stories.”

The series is shooting 13 episodes including a reshot pilot and once shut down production for two weeks in order to let Whedon retool.  As a result, it has picked up the label of a “troubled” show before it airs.  On the other hand, the stylish promos have generated good word of mouth.

"I think [the way] he also originally had outlined it, we had the 13 episode pickup, but he wanted to gradually play out stories and do a lot of setups," she said. "[The network] wanted more payoffs early on to hook people, I think, so we made that adjustment. I think it’s been really successful. The scripts are tight, solid, fast, action, drama, comedy. It’s really great."

When asked about the Friday night “death” slot for SF on Fox, she scoffed and said, "Dude, we’re in the age of DVR. People watch what they want to watch."

Pinup queen Bettie Page is in a coma following a heart attack on Tuesday. "She’s critically ill," Mark Roesler of the Curtis Management Group told The Associated Press.

Page’s girl-next-door looks and comfort with nudity and bondage made her a star among photographers in the 1950s. She was even a coveted playmate for January 1955’s Playboy. Those photos proved influential to a generation of artists, notably Dave Stevens, who revived interest in her after basing a character on the model in his acclaimed Rocketeer comic book.  Other artists piled on and she gained newfound celebrity.

By that time, though, she had dropped out of sight, having found religion an dpreferring her privacy.  Only in recent years has she spoken out about her career, her notoriety and the attention it has brought her.  Her life was the basis for the Grethchen Mol film, The Notorious Betty Page. At no time has Page allowed her picture to be taken in her later years.
 

Pokémon USA has announced that the National Championship event for the Pokémon TCG, which has been held in conjunction with GAMA’s Origins Game Fair, will become a stand-alone event.  According to a report at ICv2, the 2009 Pokémon National Championship is scheduled for St. Louis the weekend of June 26 to 28, directly opposite the dates for Origins, which is held in Columbus, Ohio. 
 
Pokémon USA had held its National Championships at Origins for the past four years.  The company thanked GAMA for its past support.  “We would like to thank the Origins Game Fair and GAMA for their unwavering support of the Pokémon TCG over the last decade,” its statement said. 
 
GAMA was also speaking positively.  “…[W]e’re very happy that they are doing well and we still remain solid partners with Pokémon with our trade show, GTS, and with programs supporting the industry,” GAMA Executive Director Anthony Gallela said.  “…[W]e wish them luck… with their stand-alone event.”  
 
The Pokémon Nationals had been held in conjunction with Origins for the last four years; the event drew around 900 attendees in 2008, according to Gallela.  The scheduling opposite the show was “the best they could arrange for in their new location,” according to Gallela.  The Pokémon World Championships, held in August, have also ended up against Gen Con on occasion.

ComingSoon managed to chat briefly with George Lucas when he came to Los Angeles to present the American Cinematheque’s 23rd annual award to Samuel L. Jackson.

Of the actor, who played Mace Windu in the most recent trilogy, he commented, “To be honest, he’s the only one who asked, actually. He didn’t really lobby for it. He was on a talk show and someone asked him what movie he would’ve liked to be in or that he would like to be in that he hadn’t been in and he said ‘Star Wars.’ So I called him up and said ‘Is that true? Do you really want to be in Star Wars?’ He said ‘Yeah – as long as I’m a Jedi,’ and I said ‘Well, I have a little tiny role, but it grows if you’re willing to do the three movies.’ He said ‘I’m in.’ It was just like that. He didn’t look at it like ‘This is a chance to make a whole bunch of money, a chance to do a big thing.’ He just did what was asked of him and tried to make it as good as he possibly could.”

He confirmed his desire to make a fifth Indiana Jones film and noted, “We’re looking for a MacGuffin, which is an object that he goes after. They’re very hard to come by!” He would not commit to which characters, such as Marion and Mutt, would be in the picture, waiting to see the needs of the elusive story.

Lucas also reaffirmed to milk Star Wars for more profit by converting them to the latest 3-D technology which he said “is very difficult. It exists – it’s just extremely expensive, and so what we’re trying to do is figure out a more practical way of pulling it off.”

He then named Anthony Hamilton as his director for Red Tails, his long-gestating project about World War II Tuskegee Airmen which will shoot in the spring.  No casting has been announced.