Movie & TV News: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Beowulf, La Mula, Transsiberian, Blonde Ambition, Mike Fright, Comic Previews

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
SCI FI Wire spoke with Doug Jones, who does the motion capture and maybe the voice of the Silver Surfer in the Fantastic Four sequel, and he said: "I did a night shoot last night on my last night of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. . . . Yes, and so I was in Vancouver, and I just flew home this morning and came straight here to talk to you people, and I have not slept, and that's why I have Dr. Pepper going. As far as I know, the voice I was giving on set, no one had any problems with it so so far, so good. If they treat it, there's also some talk of synthesizing or whatever. We'll see. I'm not really allowed to tell you how the look of this character is achieved. But I can quote somebody else, can't I? It's out there in the news. MTV came to do a set visit, and one of the reporters . . . who was walking around with Jessica Alba all day said that, at one point during the day, like, a hush fell over the studio, and in walked the Silver Surfer. There he was, in his gray, dark gray, muscle [suit], with a shroud to hide him from the public. Now I'm not telling you this myself. It's out there in the press, right? So I'm just saying. I can tell you that I have a red mark here on my shoulder, one here [points to side]. I've got pressure points here on my hips, and I got a rash on both of my calves that did not come from a leotard. [from being rigged to the surf board] That I can tell you. All right?" While still in production "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is shooting for a June 15, 2007, release.

Beowulf
IGN, while speaking "Eragon" with John Malkovich, they got some scuttlebutt on the Robert Zemeckis version of "Beowulf." Malkovich told them that he is not just doing the voice for the motion-capture film, with script by Neil Gaiman. He said: "No, it's not that. You do everything but then it's given a form of computer animation afterwards. But, no, we were all on set. We were all acting. It's not film. There's no film, there's no lights. There are video references that the specialists and technicians utilize, but it's actually all recorded on computer and all the data is fed to the technicians and then they will animate it. I will to some extent look and sound like myself. But Ray Winstone, who plays Beowulf, will be seven feet tall and will look sort of like an amalgam of portraits of Jesus and Ray. Tony Hopkins will weigh 600 pounds. It was really an amazing experience. I know they are still hard at work on it. We shot it last year . . . and there's probably still a year to go."

La Mula
Variety reports that Maria Valverde will costar in the $11 million Spanish Civil War dramatic comedy "La Mula" (The Mule), with Michael Radford directing. In the story a soldier, Juan Castro, finds a mule on the battlefield, and hides it with his company's other mules. The animal is his unfaltering companion though the ending of the Civil War. Juan Eslava Galan will adapt his novel. Production starts September or October 2007.

Transsiberian
The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Emily Mortimer will join Woody Harrelson, Kate Mara, Eduardo Noriega and Ben Kingsley in the cast of "Transsiberian." The follow-up to "The Machinist," weaves the tale of an American couple, Roy (Harrelson) and Jessie (Mortimer), who travel on the famed Trans-Siberian train from China to Moscow, where they meet Abby (Mara) and her boyfriend, Carlos (Noriega), and what seems to be a simple train journey rapidly becomes a chase full of deception and murder. Mortimer replaces Samantha Morton left due to a recent injury.

Blonde Ambition
Scott Marshall is directing "Blonde Ambition" a loose remake of the 1988 fim "Working Girl." The cast includes Penelope Ann Miller, Jessica Simpson, Luke Wilson, Andy Dick, Rachael Leigh Cook and Jamie Kennedy. Miller plays the conniving boss of Simpson's character. Sony Pictures is in negotiations with producer Nu Image to distribute, although whether it is theatrical or straight-to-DVD is yet to be determined.

Mike Fright: Stand Up!