Movie & TV News: Mako, Green Planet, Oscar Odds, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Mike Fright, Comic Previews

Mako
Much loved actor Mako, the Oscar-nominated actor who passed away last July 21, will be heard one last time as Master Splinter, the Sensei rat, in the upcoming animated "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Director Kevin Munroe says that the production uses archived recordings of Mako's voice, since he died just a day after his announced involvement in the project. Munroe says: "We had done a couple of pickup sessions with him. We got what we needed, and he is still in it. It was very sad. I had just announced at Comic-Con that Mako was doing the voice, and the next day, I found out he had passed. We just listened to his voice in the soundstage last week. He was doing a lullaby, a Japanese song, and his voice just filled the room." The lullaby was ad-libbed by Mako for a scene when Splinter tries to calm his turtle proteges. Thomas K. Gray, the film's producer said: "It was very unfortunate that Mako died. But his voice still remains, and we had a big library of stuff [that we recorded, which] we used for him." "Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles" will open March 23.

Green Planet
MNightFans.com reports that M. Night Shyamalan has recently finished the script for "Green Planet," and is now shopping for a studios. The rumored plot is about an alien invasion of earth carried out using "Nature's flora and fauna." The site has said that, so far, only Fox has shown any interest in the script, but that "even they were asking for rewrites, something M. Night has always refused to do in the past."

Oscar Odds
The British bookmaker Ladbrokes is giving 10-to-11 odds on Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" to win the Oscar for best picture. "Babel"is close behind at 9-4. "Little Miss Sunshine" gets a healthy 4-1. The dark horses are "The Queen" with 8-1 odds and "Letters from Iwo Jima" at 12-1. The bookmaker has already stopped taking bets on Helen Mirren in the best actress category, who they regard as a shoo-in.

Alvin and the Chipmunks
Fox wants to bring the Chipmunks to the big screen. Word is that they want to cast a comic in the role of Dave Seville, while Alvin, Simon and Theodore will be computer-generated. "Alvin and the Chipmunks" would be directed by Tim Hill.

Mike Fright: Stand Up!