Dent Taken By Reality
Catherine Dent, who romances an alien in the upcoming SCI FI Channel
miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents Taken, told SCI FI Wire that reality
impinged on fantasy early in production. "My first day of work on Taken was
Sept. 11, 2001," Dent said in an interview. "[Co-star] Eric [Close] and I
were in Vancouver, [B.C.]. I was driving to the set at 6 a.m., which is 9
a.m. New York time. As you might imagine, we were all just in shock, utterly
confused."
Dent added, "Nobody knew what was going on. Eric and I will be forever bonded because of that experience. The producers made the decision to continue working. Some productions shut down, but we continued working. It made for ego-less performances. When that kind of thing is going on in the world, you don't worry about whether your lipstick is on straight or not. You just delve into the work and put your whole heart and soul into it. I think we all tried to do that." Taken , a 20-hour miniseries that chronicles the lives of three families against the backdrop of 50 years of UFO lore, premieres on SCI FI Dec. 2.
From TV Guide
Question: Do you think that we will ever see the likes of "long-form" TV miniseries again? Aside from HBO offerings like Band of Brothers and From the Earth to the Moon, the networks haven't aired any "Novels for Television" in over a decade. Sure, some were horribly bad (Malibu), but a few were compelling and well worth the effort (The Winds of War). Many, of course, were somewhere in between (the North and South saga). What are your thoughts? -- Brian
Matt: You didn't even mention my all-time faves Lonesome Dove, Shogun, Roots and The Thorn Birds. But the sad truth is that as the network business has changed and the audience grown more fragmented, the networks no longer have the confidence or the vision to produce spectaculars on the scale of the hits of the '80s and early '90s. They're afraid the audience won't commit to watching anything over a series of consecutive nights, so they've stopped even trying. Unless they land a mass-market brand name like Stephen King (whose TV adaptations sometimes go three or four nights), the most we can usually hope for is a two-part movie, misleadingly billed as a "miniseries."
Except for those imports from Britain, which turn up on PBS (The Forsyte Saga) or A&E (Pride and Prejudice), cable is where the action is, with networks jockeying to create a brand identity for themselves by ponying up for huge promotable events. HBO is a master of this, but this year's greatest gamble is being taken by the Sci Fi Channel, which in early December will launch a 20-hour (no kidding) multi-generational miniseries about alien abduction, titled Taken. It will air over two weeks, two hours a night, with marathon replays on the weekend, as I understand it. Steven Spielberg is one of the forces behind this wildly ambitious enterprise. I've seen only one night so far (the second episode), and was impressed by its scope and narrative momentum. We should all hope it's successful, because these sorts of projects are perfect for TV's ability to tell an epic story over time.
Question: I am trying to find the name of the song that was played during the Without A Trace episode "Suspect" on Oct. 24. I know many WAT fans are requesting the title of the song but are unable to do so. Please help. -- Kim
Matt: According to a spokeswoman at Warner Bros. TV, which produces the show, the song was Moby's "One of These Days," featured on the CD 18, which was released in May. And wasn't Anthony LaPaglia thrilling in the final scenes of that episode? His best work yet on this steadily improving show.
Prime-time ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Oct. 28-Nov. 3. Top 20 listings include the week's ranking, with rating for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses.
An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation. The rating is the percentage of the nation's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 1,067,000 households.
1. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 17.3, 18.4
million homes.
2. (2) "Friends," NBC, 15.6, 16.6 million homes.
3. (3) "ER," NBC, 15.3, 16.3 million homes.
4. (5) "Law & Order," NBC, 13.5, 14.3 million homes.
5. (4) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 12.7, 13.5 million
homes.
6. (5) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 12.2, 12.9 million homes.
7. (9) "Scrubs," NBC, 11.4, 12.1 million homes.
8. (13) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 10.9, 11.6 million
homes.
8. (10) "NFL Monday Night Football: NY Giants at
Philadelphia," ABC, 10.9, 11.6 million homes.
8. (7) "Will & Grace," NBC, 10.9, 11.5 million homes.
11. (8) "Survivor: Thailand," CBS, 10.7, 11.4 million
homes.
12. (16) "JAG," CBS, 10.6, 11.3 million homes.
12. (11) "The West Wing," NBC, 10.6, 11.2 million homes.
14. (15) "Without a Trace," CBS, 10.3, 10.9 million homes.
From darkhorizons.com
Star Trek: Nemesis: Trekweb reports that the film has set its final running time at 116mins.
Hellboy: Darkworlds has a report on at least one complicated piece of makeup in the Guillermo Del Toro flick: "Perlman is getting a full torso makeup, which is really rare because it's hard to hide all the seams. Typically when we do a full torso, we'll give them arms and a chest but we'll cover their shoulders with something to conceal where everything joins up. If you look at Darkness (Tim Curry) in (Ridley Scott's) LEGEND, he had arms and a chest built up but he had a cape to hide the join. And in FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING they had a full makeup for the scene where the first Urah-Kai is being created, but that was just the one scene and he was covered with muck and slime to conceal the seams. For HELLBOY Perlman will have the full torso makeup, and it?s been complicated to do but it looks really good".
7 super surefire holiday hits
Move over, Santa. We've got some new heroes bringing joy for the holiday season.
Call them the Super Seven.
In each of the past two holiday seasons, exactly seven movies released from the start of November through the end of the year broke the magical $100 million mark at the box office. That's the widely accepted point at which a hit becomes a blockbuster, when everyone from toddlers to seniors shows up -- maybe even more than once.
This year, USA TODAY is going out on a Christmas-tree limb to predict which seven movies are not just going to be successful, but wildly successful.
The Super Seven films most likely to bring joy to the world and money to the multiplex are The Santa Clause 2 (opening today), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Nov. 15), Die Another Day (the latest James Bond, Nov. 22), Analyze That (the sequel to Analyze This, Dec. 6), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Dec. 18), Star Trek: Nemesis (Dec. 13) and Catch Me if You Can (Dec. 25).
Six of the seven are sequels or the latest episode in a popular series. (The holidays are a time of tradition, after all.)
The one exception is the con-man chronicle Catch Me, but that movie comes from the electric trio of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks and director Steven Spielberg. ''With that combination, how could it be anything but huge?'' asks Drew Devlin of the business tipsheet Independent Marketing Edge. He places Catch Me right up there with Rings and Potter.
That Catch Me is based on the exploits of a real-life rascal wanted by the police in more than two dozen countries adds to the surefire allure.
On the other hand, not all hits are so predictable. Tim Allen recalls that the original Santa Clause made more than $146 million in 1994 -- when tickets were cheaper, screens were scarcer and the dollar was worth more. ''We did it when it meant something,'' Allen notes. But coming out weeks before Christmas could help, he believes.
''When you come out this early in November, you have a little run with it,'' says Allen, who hopes people will like Santa's new wrinkle. ''I've got to fall in love with this woman (the future Mrs. Clause). Elizabeth Mitchell is so good, I thought she was really falling in love with me.''
It's fun to be part of one of the most anticipated movies this season, says Daniel Radcliffe, who beat out hundreds to don Harry Potter's owlish eyeglasses in the series. Befitting the season, he would rather give than receive. ''Having the audience enjoy the film is truly the most important outcome to me, whether or not it is successful.''
Another logical yet dicey proposition: Nemesis. You never know whether a Star Trek movie will appeal only to the hard-core fans or break out to the mass audience. Star Patrick Stewart is betting that Nemesis can boldly go where few of the most recent Trek films have gone.
''We have an action movie that has a very strong story,'' he says. ''It has a range of very powerful characters.''
Other movies could make it big as well. Given that the box office is up 13% so far this year, the Super Seven could easily become the Enormous Eight, says Tom Borys, president of box office analysts Nielsen EDI. Seeing any movie more than once might be a challenge when so many highly commercial prospects are competing for your attention.
''The potential is there for the box office to be much better than last year, and last year set a record,'' Devlin says. Moviegoers spent $8.13 billion in 2001.
And now is when records get shattered.
''The November-to-December holiday season is the most important time of the year'' for the movies, Borys says. ''The holiday season is a traditional time of the year to go see films. Filmgoers have come to expect exciting and enjoyable choices. I think the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings sequels are favorites to lead the list of this year's holiday $100 million-grossers.''
John Shaw, an analyst with Movieline International, says Two Weeks Notice, a comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant opening Dec. 20, and Solaris, a sci-fi romance film with George Clooney to be released Nov. 27, are the leading contenders.
He also is looking forward to another DiCaprio movie: Martin Scorsese's epic gangster tale Gangs of New York, which hits theaters Dec. 20. Shaw also is keen on Treasure Planet, Disney's animated adventure that arrives Nov. 27.
''It had better gross more than $100 million, or there will be an implosion at Disney,'' he says.
Along with the Super Seven, there could be a Prestigious Pair, a Tremendous Trio or even a Quality Quartet of best-picture nominees by year's end. Last year, four of the five Oscar nominees came from this period: the winner, A Beautiful Mind, as well as Gosford Park, In the Bedroom and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. (Moulin Rouge was released in May.)
''The best-picture contenders are released late in the year so that they are top of mind for academy members during nominations season,'' Shaw says.
At the official AdvInc site Watch a blooper reel of Michael Biehn and Karen Cliche during the filming of Adventure Inc.
From darkhorizons.com
Aliens vs. Predator: Lance Henriksen has apparently signed on for the teamup film according to Total Film
