 |
| Los Alamos to Hollywood: Goddard finds success as television writer for popular series- written by Lorie Love When Drew Goddard was a student at Los Alamos High School, he had a passion for reading and a talent for writing. But when he thought about his future career, he never dreamed he'd get to do either of those for a living. In fact, like many Los Alamos residents, he figured he'd grow up, go to college and get a job at the National Laboratory. But big dreams - not to mention a whole lot of determination - took him to Hollywood, where he is enjoying a successful career as a television screenwriter. For the past four years, Goddard, 28, has called Los Angeles home. He has worked on a number of productions, and in the past two years, has been a staff writer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the show's sequel, Angel. His episodes have won a slew of awards, including the coveted Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation/Short Form for an episode of Buffy that aired Nov. 12, 2002. Goddard said he is still in awe of his "luck." "Growing up in Los Alamos, you don't know that you can do something like work in Hollywood," Goddard said. "I knew I loved reading and writing, and I knew I loved movies, but I don't think I realized that people wrote them. When I started looking at jobs, I realized that would be fun." There was only one problem. Goddard said he didn't know how to get a job as a television writer. In fact, he didn't know anyone who did it. Goddard attended the University of Colorado after graduating from Los Alamos High School in 1993. He studied English literature and film production. One summer during college, Goddard saw an opportunity to get his foot in the door when the College of Santa Fe produced a movie of the week called Scattering Dad, starring Olympia Dukakis. After much persistence, he was accepted as a volunteer production assistant on the set. Little did he know that someday his connection with that movie would change his life. "I got coffee and ran errands," Goddard said. "I worked 16 hours a day. It was terrible, and I couldn't have loved it more." While in college, Goddard worked summer jobs in Los Alamos, and saved a couple thousand dollars. Then one day, on a wing and a prayer, he got in his car and drove to Los Angeles. He got an apartment and started looking for jobs. He said he "benefited from not knowing any better and just moved to Hollywood." "I called the people that I knew (from working on the movie of the week in Santa Fe), and they had an opening for a production assistant," Goddard said. He soon began working as a writer's assistant for David E. Kelley, the producer of Ally McBeal, The Practice and several other shows. Goddard said he worked on the short-lived series Kelley series, Snoops. "For the first couple of years, every show I worked on got canceled in a very short time," he said. "I was like bad luck. But I learned a lot from the shows that got canceled. I learned what not to do." While working for David E. Kelley, Goddard began working on his own scripts for shows he liked. He said he gave his scripts to people at Kelley's company, and they passed them around to their friends. One of his scripts ended up in the hands of the Buffy staff. "When they called and said they wanted to hire me, it was one of the best days of my life," Goddard said. "It's hard enough to get a job on any show, but Buffy happened to be my favorite show of all time." Goddard wrote several episodes for Buffy, the first of which aired Oct. 22, 2002. It was titled "Selfless" and was directed by David Solomon. He also wrote "Conversations with Dead People" with Jane Espenson, which won the Hugo Award and the SyFy Portal Genre Award for Best Episode/ Television. He wrote "Never Leave Me," which aired Nov. 26, 2002. The episode "Lies My Parents Told Me," which he wrote with director David Fury, was nominated for a SyFy Portal Genre Award. It aired March 25, 2003. "Dirty Girls," which aired in April of 2003, was also written by the Los Alamos native. In the midst of all his success, Goddard said he was still in shock. "If you had told me when I was sitting in the classrooms in Los Alamos that I'd be doing this, I would have never believed it," Goddard said. "It's pretty exciting. I get to work with some great scripts and some great people." When Buffy ended, Goddard was invited to continue working in the sci-fi genre, as a writer for Angel, a sequel to Buffy the Vampire Slayer featuring David Boreanaz. He still can't believe it. "There's no place I'd rather be," Goddard said. "I like what we get to do. I mosey in to work at about 9:30 (a.m.), talk about vampires all day, leave about 7 (p.m.)," Goddard said. "That's what I do anyway. Now I am getting paid for it. You couldn't find a better job." Goddard and seven other writers work on each show. He said they convene in a room, talked about the episode, break a story and then write down every scene as a group. Each writer takes turns writing the complete episode on his own. The process usually takes about two weeks from start to finish, he said. In crunch time, however, scripts are needed in about three days. While much of writing the shows is creativity, Goddard said research is still sometimes necessary. "But still, it is our universe, so it's our rules," he said. According to Goddard, an episode takes eight days to film. As a writer, he oversees the production. "It's amazing to get to see your imagination come to life. Sometimes you write something really crazy, kind of as a joke, and then you see them do it," he said. "I still cannot believe I get paid to do this. I wouldn't tell them this, but I would do it for free." Goddard said his parents have been extremely supportive of his career, even when it didn't seem to make any sense. He said they never questioned his decision to move to Los Angeles. "I have the best parents in the world," Goddard said. "They were great, even though they didn't understand. They couldn't have offered more support. They said 'Whatever you want to do, we support you.' I am a very fortunate son." Although he is perfectly content with his current job, Goddard said he would someday like to write books and screenplays. As a boy who grew up loving books, he said he has always wanted to be an author. And equally important to him is encouraging Los Alamos youth to follow their own dreams. "If I can do it, anyone can do it," Goddard said. "I would just love it if kids in Los Alamos who have dreams could look me and know that they can do it. There are other jobs out there. It's important to me for them to know, because I didn't know, and it's a dream worth having." |
| She's back in the blood- At the moment I think, Amber Benson is shooting a new suprnatural horror film titled "El Intermedio", which is basically about a group of friends trapped in a tunnel on the mexican border who fall prey to tortured ghosts. To view pictures, click here. |
| Dushku's Flying Nerves- Bring It On star Eliza Dushku is so scared of flying, she never travels without religious artifacts. The American actress, 23, who was raised in a Mormon household, hates soaring through the skies and takes a crucifix on planes to comfort her. Dushku says, "I get very religious whenever I fly. I can't fly without a cross and I feel a little bit like a poser." "I'm always sporting that cross because the prayers start when the plane takes off and they end when we land... until the next time." "I think me and God are pretty cool, you know? I'm going to heaven, baby. I might stop off and visit a few friends in hell first, but I'm staying on the train and taking it upstairs for sure." |
| What Thrilled You--and Killed You--on the Tube This Year? Results Are In! by Kristin Veitch First things first: To any of you who have (A) bashed the third season of Alias; (B) defended the WB's cancellation of Angel; and/or (C) failed to bow down and worship the almighty perfection that is Adam Brody, I offer only two words... Neener-neener. The votes have been counted for the 2004 Tater Tops Awards, where you, the fans, the couch "taters," gave the last word on what rocked (and flopped) during the 2003-04 TV season. Alias, Angel and The O.C. took top honors, lending further proof to what we true fans have always known: Big ratings do not a masterpiece make. ----------------------------- Best New Show 38.25% The O.C. 20.24% Arrested Development 14.11% The Apprentice 11.66% Tru Calling 8.08% Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 7.67% One Tree Hill Best Fight 37.66% Sydney vs. Lauren (Jennifer Garner, Melissa George), Alias 31.21% Angel vs. Spike (David Boreanaz, James Marsters), Angel 17.83% Omarosa vs. Ereka, The Apprentice 6.84% Michael vs. Gob (Jason Bateman, Will Arnett), Arrested Development 6.45% Susan vs. Richard, Survivor: All-Stars Biggest Shocker 45.70% The WB canceling Angel 18.97% Adriana (Drea de Matteo) getting whacked, The Sopranos 13.48% Christian's (Julian McMahon) mixed-race "son," Nip/Tuck 12.65% Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) having twins, Friends 9.20% Rob proposing to Amber, Survivor: All-Stars Best Kiss 25.22% Sydney & Vaughn (Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan), Alias 22.90% Fred & Wesley (Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof), Angel 22.23% Lorelai & Luke (Lauren Graham, Scott Patterson), Gilmore Girls 16.12% Carrie & Mr. Big (Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Noth), Sex and the City 13.52% Rachel & Ross (Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer), Friends Biggest Disappointment 24.93% The Friends finale 21.19% Miss Match's cancellation 18.32% Coupling, in general 17.93% The Angel finale 17.63% Wonderfalls' cancellation Star You'll Miss the Most 30.96% James Marsters (Spike), Angel 25.38% Matthew Perry (Chandler), Friends 23.61% Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Friends 12.65% David Boreanaz (Angel), Angel 7.39% David Hyde Pierce (Niles), Frasier Show You'll Miss the Most 35.02% Friends 32.76% Angel 24.88% Sex and the City 3.87% Ed 3.48% Wonderfalls Favorite Drama King 35.33% James Marsters (Spike), Angel 28.10% Michael Vartan (Vaughn), Alias 16.09% Noah Wyle (Carter), ER 14.32% James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano), The Sopranos 6.16% Donald Trump, in general |
| A personal message from James Marsters- “A huge thank you to all the fans I met while in Australia. Although I didn’t get to see a lot of your country, what I did see I really loved. It was a great convention and I hope to be able to come back again next year. Thanks to the organizers who helped make it all run smoothly.” - James |
| WB Admits Mistake in Cancellation- 15 July, 2004, 07:46:35 - Simon Ancier's Revelation at Press Tour 15 July (SaveAngel.org) In a surprising turn, newly ensconced WB head Garth Ancier admitted that cancelling ANGEL may have been a mistake. During the TV Critics Press Tour yesterday, Ancier claimed that had the network and producers Twentieth Century Fox held off the February decision, ANGEL might have been renewed: "The mistake that was made between us and Twentieth was that we didn't wait until May, we just made the decision early based upon their request." Last year, ANGEL was "on the bubble" and renewed at the last moment. Typically, series' fates are decided by programmers once all new show pilots are previewed. This time around, the producers and ANGEL creator Joss Whedon requested that the network make an early February call for renewal. Then-CEO Jordan Levin informed Whedon over dinner that ANGEL would be axed. The WB had two highly anticipated potential genre series, Lost in Space and Dark Shadows, neither of which panned out, leaving a hole in the program schedule. Dark Shadows, in particular, was expected to be a drop-in replacement for ANGEL, but says Ancier, the production did not "gel." Series "on the bubble" could go either way. This past season, two such genre shows, UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise and FOX's Tru Calling, were renewed just prior to the "Up Fronts" -- when networks showcase their Fall line-up for potential advertisers. According to Ancier, there's still interest in doing special ANGEL TV movies, but that David Boreanaz would need some "coaxing" to return to the role. Ancier's statements may be viewed as a way to distance his new WB administration from that of former CEO and chief programmer Jordan Levin, who resigned last month and was seen as responsible for the end of ANGEL. |
| WB wants more Angel- Network chairman offers Joss TV movie deal. Garth Ancier, chairman of The WB network, has approached Joss Whedon to make a series of Angel telefilms. "[We] have an offer on the table to Joss to do movies," Ancier told the press during the network's autumn press preview in Los Angeles. "When Joss and David Boreanaz are both interested in doing it at the same time, I'm sure we will be doing Angel movies. Certainly Joss would like to. David will take a bit more coaxing, but I think he will do it." Ancier also revealed that the WB weren't entirely to blame for Angel's cancellation in the first place. He claimed that pressure from producer 20th Century Fox Television forced their hand. "They had pushed for an early decision on whether the show should come back or not. Had they not pushed for the early renewal, or, conversely, if we had said, 'You know what? Let's wait till we get to the scheduling room in May and decide then,' ... the show may or may not have been back. But I think we would have had that opportunity to discuss it. I think the mistake that was made is that between us and 20th, we didn't wait until May. We just made the decision early based upon their request." |
| WB trying to age gracefully
- Published July 21, 2004 The WB has decided it's been doing things all wrong. The teens and young adults it has pursued almost exclusively gave the network a strong foundation. However, the WB has been unable to build upon it, largely because the shows have been so precisely aimed. Last season was one of the worst in the network's brief history, so a change, which included replacing head programmer Jordan Levin, was in order. A transition to a more broadly targeted audience is under way. "It's a new day," said David Janollari, who took over from Levin as WB entertainment president. (The network is partially owned by the Tribune Company, parent of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.) Most of the network's new series are clearly pointed toward a more mature audience than the WB's norm. Blue Collar TV, featuring Jeff Foxworthy, and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show figure to have extremely limited teen appeal. The sitcom Commando Nanny is based on Survivor/Apprentice creator Mark Burnett's brief period managing a household. The title characters of Jack and Bobby are adolescents but Christine Lahti tops the credits, and there is a lot of talk of politics. Only The Mountain -- think Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill in the snow -- resembles the shows that gave the WB its reputation as the broadcast home for the MTV generation. "I think to the degree that we presented ourselves as just a teenage network was a very large mistake on our part," WB Chairman Garth Ancier said. "We were getting a little too derivative in making shows that were cloning each other." The new schedule is an attempt to "invite more people into the tent," he added. The trick is to do it while not sending the network's core audience fleeing for the exits. Ancier thinks it can be done. "Our business is to be the 18-to-34 network. We don't want to be NBC." (Sure they do; the WB would kill to be NBC.) "We don't want to be CBS." (Ditto.) "But that doesn't mean you say to people, `We don't want you watching our network.'" In the Shadows The WB's shift in emphasis came too late for the latest reincarnation of Dark Shadows. The gothic soap opera was considered a sure thing for the fall schedule, so much so that it is widely seen as the reason the network's existing vampire series, Angel, was canceled. Ancier said this isn't so, that they were separate decisions. But he also said if Angel hadn't demanded an early pickup and waited until late spring -- coincidentally, when the network decided not to go ahead with Dark Shadows -- the call might have been different. Ancier and John Wells, the ER/West Wing executive producer who made the Dark Shadows pilot, have different takes on what happened. "It was wonderfully produced and very well-written," Ancier said. "It just didn't quite gel the way we hoped." The problem, Wells said, was the network wanted to WB-ize the concept. "We liked it and they didn't. They wanted young and pretty. ... Barnabas was never a handsome leading man. He was a 215-year-old with bad skin. They wanted more Interview With a Vampire. We wanted Dark Shadows." The idea is dead at the WB, Wells said, but this hasn't driven a stake through its heart. "We are going to take a step back and see what we're going to do. We might take it somewhere else." Meanwhile, the WB is hoping to keep Angel alive in a series of TV movies. "We have an offer on the table to Joss [Whedon, Angel's creator] to do movies. When Joss and [star] David Boreanaz are interested, I'm sure we will be doing Angel movies. Certainly Joss would like to. David will take a bit more coaxing but I think he will do it." |
| WB Wants Angel Movie- Garth Ancier, chairman of The WB network, confirmed to SCI FI Wire that the network has approached Angel creator Joss Whedon about doing a telefilm version of the canceled television series, about a vampire with a soul. "[We] have an offer on the table to Joss to do movies," Ancier said during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "When Joss and David Boreanaz are both interested in doing it at the same time, I'm sure we will be doing Angel movies. Certainly Joss would like to. David will take a bit more coaxing, but I think he will do it." Ancier later attributed the cancellation of the series, which ended a five-year run on The WB last May, to pressure from producer 20th Century Fox Television for a quick answer as to the show's renewal. "They had pushed for an early decision on whether the show should come back or not," Ancier said. "Had they not pushed for the early renewal, or, conversely, if we had said, 'You know what? Let's wait till we get to the scheduling room in May and decide then,' ... the show may or may not have been back. But I think we would have had that opportunity to discuss it. I think the mistake that was made is that between us and 20th, we didn't wait until May. We just made the decision early based upon their request." |
| First Glimpse At The Southland- By Antony Teofilo Rumor has it that filming has begun on Richard Kelly's next project SOUTHLAND TALES, a doozy of an ensemble picture that promises to be one of the most interesting film projects to come out of the gates in a long time. With his second movie project, Kelly is creating quite a buzz in talent circles, as his first film DONNIE DARKO has been heralded as a cult classic and critical, if not necessarily commercial, success. Supersecret details on the film's pre-production are sparse. Casting rumors link the likes of Jason Lee, Ali Larter, Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and a host of Hollywood A-listers, though none can be confirmed (perhaps except Kevin Smith, who has gone on record saying he'll be involved in some way). In the second part of Moviepoopshoot's exclusive interview, director/writer Richard Kelly speaks about his next project, and what his goals for it are (or may be). Don't take anything too seriously here...and while I can't lay down any details about what's to come, I can say that Kelly drops some interesting hints in the following conversation...and that the real story behind the story is going to knock your socks off. Look for Kelly to lean heavily on his influences, Terry Gilliam in particular. The only thing SOUTHLAND TALES will have in common with DONNIE DARKO is that it stands to be packed flush with more new cinematic firsts and ideas than even DARKO was. For more click here.. |
| Why UPN Passed on Angel
- Dawn Ostroff comments on why the former Buffy station didn't pick up its spin-off series after it was cancelled on The WB. During a press conference, the UPN Executive Ostroff was asked why Angel was not picked up by UPN: Venturing off topic, a reporter asks whether UPN ever considered picking up Angel after the WB axed it. "It was mentioned," says Ostroff, "but we were very happy with our development this year." Whether this statement is only a polite way to describe that there was no interest in Angel or UPN`s schedule really had no slot free for Angel. |
| Seth Green in Las Vegas
- Seth, Burt Reynolds, and Dax Shepard enjoyed their March 2004 stay at the Star Studded Showest Dinner held at the Paris Hotel. We have new photos from the event. |
| Angel: Twice More With Feeling - Jeph Loeb spills the beans on the new Buffy animated series By Edward Gross As though writer Jeph Loeb didn’t have his creative hands full with chronicling the monthly COMIC BOOK adVentures of BatmaN & SUPERMAN, and helping to define Clark Kent’s evolution into the Man of Steel as supervising producer of Smallville, he’s come back to Mutant Enemy Productions to serve as the co-executive producer of Buffy the Animated Series. In the following interview, Loeb offers some tantalizing insights to the show to come, while simultaneously being annoyingly vague in a way that would do Buffy creator Joss Whedon himself proud. CFQ: As far as I knew, Buffy the Animated Series was pretty much a goner. What happened? JEPH LOEB: I always took the position, no matter what anybody else said, in Hollywood nothing of quality ever dies. Sometimes nothing ever dies. A good idea is a good idea. We had put together a Class A animation team. We had all 13 stories for the first season and nine scripts that were written by all Buffy writers and myself. We were beginning production. I spent a year and a half over there running the show. It just sort of stopped, everything was put in a box and we waited. Chris Buchanan, who runs Mutant Enemy, was really quite diligent about staying on top of Fox and making sure that Fox understood it had this incredibly valuable asset. That’s really, I think, what it came down to. And, for whatever reason, at a certain point three or four months ago, Fox agreed. They called Chris and said, “Where are we with this stuff and can you put the whole crew back together again?” All that was needed was a bunch of phone calls. Everybody was ready to go. CFQ: But who was the old crew? JEPH LOEB: Every great Buffy story is about resurrection. This is just another one of them. We just needed enough time for someone to take the stake out of it and it would rise again. There’s Joss and myself, the writers have all sort of scattered to the wind, but they’re all alive. On the animation side, we had Eric Randomski. He put together this extraordinary crew and it’s an embarrassment of riches. Everybody wants to work on this show. So that’s not a problem. In terms of voice work, for some of this stuff there’s going to be surprises, so we’re going to be vague. I can tell you that so far we’ve recorded Alyson as Willow, Nicholas as Xander and Tony for Giles. In terms of everything else, we hope folks just trust us. They’re not going to be disappointed. Now, what’s happened, just so that everyone’s clear, is what Fox asked us to do was put together what’s called a presentation reel. That is currently being animated. It’s in the process. By the end of the summer we’ll have this wonderful, kick-ass piece that Joss and I have decided we’re just going to put on a loop at home and just sit there and say, “Oh, look, it works; Oh, look, it’s moving; Oh, look, it’s going again.” We’ve just waited so long to have Buffy Animated walk and talk, that it’s incredibly exciting to get to this point now. |
| Angelic Words: First, the good news. I spoke with Garth Ancier, the new CEO of the WB, and he says he's committed to trying to bring Angel back in teleflick form. When I asked if he agreed with the decision to cut Angel loose, he replied: "I wasn't there. I don't know what choices the network really had in terms of new programming. But I certainly recognize and appreciate the loyal fan base of that show. We've had serious conversation to do some Angel movies, and that's a definite way to go, as long Joss Whedon and David Boreanaz ultimately feel that they want to embrace that as well."
According to insiders, the movies could each focus on one of the characters, seeing what happened to them after we last left off--possibly because David might not be as willing as the other castmembers. I asked Ancier if he thinks this will actually happen. "Probably...I think so," he answered. "I haven't had a conversation with the creative forces yet, but I'm hopeful that will happen. I think the fans would love it. The show was great quality, and I don't know the specifics of why it's back or not, but if there's a way to keep it alive for the huge fan base, that would be great." |
| Dushku Stays Tru- Eliza Dushku, who stars in Fox's supernatural series Tru Calling, told SCI FI Wire that her character will embrace her gift in the upcoming second season and use it to fight her nemesis, played by new regular cast member Jason Priestley. "I'm excited to see this next season go on and especially with Jason coming into the mix, because now Tru has, in a sense, shown her power," Dushku said in an interview during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "I know I'm going to use it to get into this battle. Now it's on, and she owns her power, and I think she's going to find so many more colors and so many more strengths." In the final episode of the first season, the show took a dark turn when viewers discovered that Tru's father killed her mother and that Priestley's character was a villain. Dushku promised that the upcoming season will include more surprises. "There's going to be a lot of mysterious twists this year," she said. "There's going to be guest stars coming on that I can't talk about now, even though I really want to. But it's going to be a great year." Dushku said she was anxious to get back to work on July 20, when the season premiere begins filming. "I'm freaking out," she said. "I'm excited, though. I feel like last year. I'm like thrilled and terrified at the same time. But mostly I'm excited. I can't wait to see [co-stars] Zach [Galifianakis] and Shawn [Reaves]. I had such a good time. My cast and crew were so amazing. I can't wait to go interact with everybody again." |
 |
 |
| SMG Talks About "The Grudge"- July 27 2004 “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fans have long awaited an appearance by Sarah Michelle Gellar at the San Diego Comic Con. Now that the hit series is over, Gellar finally made her first appearance at the Con not for “Buffy” but to promote her upcoming horror/thriller, “The Grudge.” When asked by members of the audience why it had taken her so long to make it to San Diego, Gellar whipped out a Top 10 list of reasons, none of which really answered the question. “The Grudge” follows a similar storyline to “Ju-On,” the Japanese film that serves as the basis for the American version. A curse is passed along when someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage. Anyone who encounters the curse must die, and with each death, a new curse is born. |
| Gellar In 'Grudge' Reshoots-
Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of the upcoming supernatural horror film The Grudge, told SCI FI Wire that she and co-star Jason Behr just returned from nearly two weeks of reshoots in Tokyo on the remake of the hit Japanese horror movie Ju-On to fill in backstory on their two American characters. "It wasn't really reshoots; it was more added scenes," Gellar said in an interview at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 24. "It was adding a new element to it. It was an actor's dream. ... As an actor you're like, 'Why am I here? What's my backstory?' And no one cares about that. ... But what they actually did was give us a more extensive backstory, which I think always makes you root for people more. We also got to show a lot more of Tokyo, which was great. Except that when we shot the film [the first time], it was winter. Anyone been to Tokyo in the summer? It was minimum 100 degrees every day and 100 percent humidity in winter clothing. It was great to show more of the city, [but] it didn't feel very good to show more of the city." Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) plays Karen, an American nursing student in Tokyo; Behr (Roswell) plays her boyfriend, Doug. The two find themselves caught up in horrific events linked to a Tokyo house and a curse passed on from those who died there. Gellar said that the remake—which is produced by Sam Raimi's production company, but directed by the same Japanese helmer who created the original Japanese film, Takashi Shimizu—will up the ante of the original movie. "Everything is going to be heightened a little bit," she said. "Even just in general, because obviously we use different lenses and different film stock, so it was also for very technical reasons. Also, just to change it from what people have seen." But, Gellar added, the English-language remake will remain true to the original movie's spirit. "I got to take one person to see this very rough cut. ... And she was so genuinely freaked out that she said to me afterwards, 'You know what that was like? I feel like I just saw a Japanese film, and I didn't need subtitles.' ... To me, that's the biggest compliment anyone could bring. The whole reason for doing this was to be part of something different. This is the first time a Japanese film has been re-made for American audiences using the original Japanese director. There's an honor and a pride that comes with that, but also a pressure. So I truly think we achieved that. Yes, there are going to be things that are a little bit more American, just because this was made for American and European audiences. But the spirit and the heart and the soul, I think, is truly Japanese." The Grudge, which is in post-production, is slated for release Oct. 22. |
| Slayerverse Comic Con Coverage : Gellar on The Grudge
"It's almost harder to act like you don't know what you're doing," Gellar said. "He told me I was running too much like a superhero ... that I needed to flap my arms more." by Jeff Dillon Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar opened up the question-and-answer session about her upcoming film The Grudge by reading a tongue-in-cheek list of the top 10 reasons she had never appeared at Comic-Con International before. Most of the "reasons" were obscure riffs off the comic world -- such as "I was waiting for the next issue of Ben Edlund's The Tick -- and I'm still waiting." -- that completely went over the heads of Gellar's mainly youthful audience. No. 2 was "I'm already married to the world's biggest comic geek," referring to husband and fellow actor Freddie Prinze Jr. And No. 1? "There's just not enough damn merchandise with my face on it," a reference to the endless series of T-shirts, posters, books, toys, temporary tattoos and other material spun off from her seven-year run as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But Gellar and almost-ignored co-star Jason Behr (best known for his roles on Roswell and Dawson's Creek) were there to promote The Grudge, so promote The Grudge they did. Based on the the Japanese film Ju-On and being remade for American consumption by the original Japanese director, The Grudge is a horror film about an American nurse in Tokyo who runs afoul of a haunting curse (not unlike the gimmick at the heart of The Ring, another Japanese remake). A trailer screened for the audience of more than 6,500 showed Gellar's nurse seeing a lot of things out of the corner of her eye and, in perhaps its creepiest moment, putting her hand to the back of her head while taking a shower to find another hand emerging from her scalp. Both Gellar and her fans had some trouble leaving Buffy behind. One fan prefaced his question with, "Hey, Buffy, how are you doing?" "Sarah," Gellar corrected him, then pointing to her co-star. "Jason. Sarah." But years of playing Buffy affected her performance on The Grudge for the straightforward Japanese director Takashi Shimizu, Gellar said. She kept being told to reshoot a sequence in which she runs in fear down a street. "It's almost harder to act like you don't know what you're doing," Gellar said. "He told me I was running too much like a superhero ... that I needed to flap my arms more." Produced by Sam Raimi, The Grudge is scheduled for an Oct. 29, 2004 release. |
| 'Angel's' Acker Falls for 'Novice'
- Tuesday, July 27, 2004 LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Amy Acker, who battled vampires and other demons on the WB's "Angel," will take on a less perilous role for her latest big-screen outing. The 27-year-old Texan will star in "The Novice," an independent coming-of-age film by writer-director Murray Robinson, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The drama centers on a Jesuit seminarian whose living is threatened when he falls in love with a humanitarian flower child (Acker). Novice" will begin shooting at the end of July in Mobile, Ala. Acker played the brainy, chatty and ravenous Winifred Burkle on "Angel" for three seasons. Her most recent feature film credit is 2002's "Catch Me If You Can." |
| Slayerverse Comic Con Coverage: Sarah on Buffy Movie
Sarah comments on the possibly of a Buffy movie and what she thought about "Chosen". Sarah Michelle Gellar was asked recently, at Comic-Con, whether or not she envisions a “Buffy” film ever happening. “A Buffy and Angel movie?…that’s actually one I haven’t heard before”, Gellar said, according to a transcript at SMGFan. “Um, you know, the answer to that is that I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. I know there’s been a lot of talk about it. You know, for those of you who don’t know this….there was a Buffy movie originally, and I spent the first two years of my show trying to explain to people “no, no, no, it’s different than the movie. It’s different than the movie”….and part of the reason the movie didn’t work was because Buffy was a story, in my opinion, that needed to be told over a period of time. And it works…to me it worked better when you spent time. And it wasn’t over so neatly. I wish the finale was two hours. It didn’t seem long enough to me. [crowd cheer in agreement] And I would be really fearful of putting all of that heart and all of those characters into two hours because I know that at some point there would be a letdown…whether Xander didn’t get featured enough, or Willow…or whatever it was. And um…if someone came to me and it looked like just the perfect two hours that I thought wouldn’t disappoint…then it would absolutely be something that I would consider, but I haven’t seen that yet”. |
| Behr: Grudge Translates Well -
Jason Behr, who plays the boyfriend of Sarah Michelle Gellar's character in the upcoming horror remake The Grudge, told SCI FI Wire that the new version remains true to the spirit of the original Japanese film, Ju-On. "The Grudge, I think, [is] the best of both worlds, because it doesn't lose any of that Japanese sensibility," he said in an interview. "It definitely has a different flavor, in that way that Ju-On was very unique. But The Grudge is that with American actors in Japan telling that story. It's pretty terrifying." The Grudge was filmed in Tokyo under the direction of Takashi Shimizu, who also directed the original Ju-On. Though Shimizu and the rest of the crew spoke little English, Behr said that he didn't have too much trouble with the language barrier on the set. "With the obstacles we had at the beginning, the whole language barrier, [it was amazing] being able to overcome those and still make the movie that we made," he said. "Shimizu was a friendly guy. He's got a wicked sense of humor, one that doesn't often need translation." Behr (TV's Roswell) added that it helped that he and Gellar had previously established a working relationship when he guest-starred in a second-season episode of Gellar's television show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Working with her on Buffy, I don't know how long ago, and then coming back to work together again, it was great to have a friend in Japan," he said. "She hasn't changed a whole lot. She's still the same person that I knew way back when." The Grudge, which is in post-production, is slated for release Oct. 22. |
| Lillard: Scooby 3 Is Dead-
Matthew Lillard, who played Shaggy in the two live-action Scooby-Doo films, told SCI FI Wire that there is no hope for a third installment. "There will be no Scooby 3," Lillard said in an interview. Lillard blamed the film's disappointing box-office performance. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed made more than $80 million at the U.S. box office, but that fell far short of the original Scooby-Doo's $154 million haul. "The second one didn't do as well as it was expected to do, and I completely hold that to Warner Brothers' fault," Lillard said. "I think Warner Brothers made a mistake releasing it at the time they did [March 2004]. I think the movie's much better than the first movie, and I honestly thought it was going to do ridiculously good box office. But we had a bad timeslot. We had 13 movies open up in two weeks after we opened up. I mean, it did well, but it didn't do great, and it needed to do great." |
| More News from Darling Violetta
14/8/2004 Darling Violetta producer and co-writer of the Angel theme, Holly Knight, told CoA, "Spread the word! I just spent the last week producing the extended Angel Theme with Darling Violetta and it is now completed. Fans should make every effort to contact the people at Fox," she encouraged us, "and express their desire for the Soundtrack Album to be released in the U.S. as well!" The upcoming Score CD will only be available to U.S. fans on ITunes and the FOX Store but available in retail stores to the rest of the world. "I've talked with Robert Kral and we are at a loss," Holly continued, "as to why this isn't being released here in the U.S. with so many fans where the show was filmed." With all the support Angel fans gave the show upon hearing of its cancellation, Holly is hoping to reunite that effort for the Score CD. Vocalist, Cami Elen, also gave us more info as to what fans can expect in the new version. "We've extended the theme to about 3:30. Although it is still basically instrumental, I wrote lyrics and a melody that are featured in a couple sections," offered Cami. "The beginning/intro starts with me whispering words, like a prayer and then the melody line, 'you're my sanctuary' is hinted at (this will come in more later during a new section not on the original). We layered tons of guitars on it, added more bass and cello." Cami reassured us that in essence, it is the theme everyone is used to hearing only bigger and better! "I'm hoping Fox calls it something like, The Sanctuary Extended Remix," she laughted. |
| News from July 7th, 2004 to August 14th, 2004. |