Lots o' news in this weeks ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY that I'm sure will be of interest to the board:
Joss Whedon got a greenlight from Universal and given a $35 million-plus budget to write and direct the feature film Serenity, to begin production this summer. "Serenity" is the name of the spaceship on which FIREFLY was set. Currently Nathan Fillion (Capt. Malcolm Reynolds) and Gina Torres (Reynolds' partner Zoe...as well as the "Big Bad" of ANGEL Season Four) are signed on to reprise their roles.
Alyson Hannigan and Luke Perry are starring in WHEN HARRY MET SALLY on the London stage. The not-so-flattering review:
Framed by a narrow letterbox-style stage, the theatrical transfer of the 1989 big-screen hit does feel like a movie - a made-for-TV movie. Marcy Kahan offers a lame update of Nora Ephron's screenplay (the characters' 12-year courtship now culminates on Millennium Eve), and Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan are attractive subs for Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan - minus their charm. When Sally has her immortal diner orgasm and a customer declares, "I'll have what she's having!" I thought, "I'd rather eat elsewhere!"
Finally, in EW's "Deal Report":
Bryan Singer is the X-Men master! First he helms two hit movies, now he's X-ed a deal to write 12 issues of the monthly ULTIMATE X-MEN comic book, with the first to appear as early as the end of 2004.
Thoughts on any of these items of passing interest?
Matt Reed
This message has been edited by MattReed on Mar 7, 2004 2:38 AM This message has been edited by MattReed on Mar 7, 2004 2:36 AM
An enthusiastic fan site that has an in with Mutant Enemy. Missives from Whedon, et. al. are frequently posted there. Since it's still early in the game there's really no spoilers to be found so browse with impunity!
" but guys like Roger Stern have to write PROPOSALS to get gigs from Marvel..."
I think the last thing they published of Stern's was a 3-issue Spider-Man mini back in 2001. Not that DC's comic editors have shown any more love than Marvel's; the last comic they published of Stern's was in late 2000.
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Please visit the Roger Stern board at www.sterntalk.net
This message has been edited by RodOdom on Mar 7, 2004 5:28 PM
This sort of thing is similar to how I feel when I read Interview magazine. As a journalist, I was trained to conduct interviews but Interview thinks it can achieve even better results by having two stars talk about how much they love each other's work.
Honestly, I still don't get the point of the Ultimate line. It seems to me like it was created to appeal to people who enjoy the Marvel movies, but have never cracked open a comic in their lives. If that's the case, why not do Spider-Man and X-Men series set in the movie continuities instead of these "kinda/sorta like the movies" titles? Better yet, why not just bypass the idea of a "movie fan" line altogether and use the Marvel movies to hook new readers on the actual comics that Stan, Jack, and Steve created?
Yeah that's the same Bruce Jones. A friend of mine thought he was new to comics with all the fanfare of him coming from novels and tv.
However, I have a few issues of that Ka-Zar series.
He started his tv career in the '80s and did HBO's Hitchhiker series and a few tv movies. Not exactly blockbuster status, but it looks better on a resume for Marvel.
I'm sure they'd love to get David Goyer (Blade) or Howard Chaykin (Mutant X) to do a book for them.
Edited to fix tyers.
This message has been edited by kossori on Mar 7, 2004 10:43 PM
Lumping Howard Chaykin in with the "Hollywood crowd" is like saying that since Jack Kirby started his career working at the Fleischer animation studios and worked for Hanna-Barbara later in his career, Kirby was a "Hollywood guy".
