Belated holiday wishes to the greatest fans a fella could ask for (and my fantastic castmates should they drop by this site). My wishes have all been granted thanks to a healthy, happy family, and a cousin in Phuket who is safe from harm and will be returning to us soon. Let the disaster that has befallen so many remind us all how tentative our grasp is on this planet earth. As much as we have, all can be swept away in an instant. I'm sending thoughts and prayers those who have lost loved ones and those who are still searching. I will be sending clothing, blankets, and canned food as soon as I return to LA, and hope you all do the same. Be well, Browncoats. Grab hold of your loved ones, let them know you are there for them, and make the most of all your blessings.

See you at the movies!

Nathan Fillion

Scott Chitwood's 2005 Most Anticipated Films

As 2004 draws to a close, I thought I'd take a moment to look ahead to 2005 and note my most anticipated films for the year. I actually had a really hard time ranking my top 5 because they were all equally anticipated. But for now, here's how they shook out:

1. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - Being a Star Wars geek, I had to list this as my most anticipated film for the year. I fully expect the plot to be weak and the acting to be wooden like in the last two prequels, but I can't help but be drawn in to see the birth of Darth Vader, the death of Mace Windu, and the rise of the Emperor. Special effects and the Dark Side make this a film not to miss in 2005.

2. Batman Begins - Besides being a big Star Wars fan, I'm a huge Batman fan as well. I've long been waiting for a relaunch of the Batman franchise and it finally looks like they're following the Marvel formula and doing it right. I've also read the bootleg script that's online and it looks like a good story. With Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, and Liam Neeson on board, this could be a lot of fun.

3. Fantastic Four - I also happen to be a really big Fantastic Four fan. Old issues of the comic really got me hooked and into comic collecting. Hopefully Tim Story can capture the magic of the comics and put it on screen. While I wasn't crazy about The Thing makeup, I think Michael Chiklis and the rest of the cast all understand their characters and how they should be portrayed. Maybe this will be a surprise hit like X-Men.

4. King Kong - The only reason this film is ranked 4th is because the full marketing for it hasn't hit yet. I bet when I see the first trailer for this movie it will shoot to #2 on my anticipation list. With LOTR's Peter Jackson at the helm, how can this not be one of the most anticipated movies of 2005? With dinosaurs, giant gorillas, and Naomi Watts, you can't go wrong. But I have to wonder about the inclusion of Jack Black.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Could this be the next Lord of the Rings-type franchise? I hope so. With a huge fan base, great stories, and the Weta effects house supporting this film series, expect there to be a lot of hype surrounding it in 2005.

6. War of the Worlds - Steven Spielberg returns to aliens in this film in 2005. With Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins, and Miranda Otto in the cast along with ILM special effects, expect this to be one of the cooler popcorn flicks of the summer of 2005.

7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Like the books, the Harry Potter films have been getting progressively better and darker as they went along. Look for this to be a highlight of 2005 for any Harry Potter fan.

8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I haven't even read the books by Douglas Adams yet, but this film is on my most anticipated list for 2005. Why? Well, a lot of people I trust have read the stories and thoroughly enjoyed them. I trust them, so I'm looking forward to seeing it. (I also trust Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich to make good film choices.) In any case, I plan to read the books before the movie is released.

9. The Legend of Zorro - The Mask of Zorro was one of my favorite films of the 1990's. It had a great mix of adventure, humor, and romance. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas also had fantastic on-screen chemistry. I'm hoping a little of that magic can be recaptured in this sequel.

10. Serenity - Being a sci-fi geek, I look forward to any upcoming space adventure. However, Serenity is unique because it comes from the cancelled TV series Firefly. The very fact that it could make the leap from cancelled series to the big screen is enough to get me intrigued. But recently I've been watching Firefly on DVD and I have to say that I can't wait to see what Joss Whedon and his cast does with a bigger budget. Think of it being like the adventures of young Han Solo.

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Serenity's team of artists are an extraordinary group of people whose work is the best in the industry. Joining our team from the series, who are leading the show, are many lead R&D and lighting TD's from ESC. So we have a whole lot of fun prepped for you guys by those who helped define the look of the The Matrix. Zoic's Visual Effects Supervisor, Randy Goux, was the CG Supervisor for the cave troll sequence in Lord Of The Rings and the siege in The Matrix Revolutions. Rest assured the good ship Serenity is flying true at Zoic. We really can't wait to share.

Krumholtz Logs On Serenity

David Krumholtz, who plays a key role in the upcoming SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that his character is called "Mr. Universe." "All I can say is that I do play a man who lives on a satellite moon, ... and I have transmitted to me all the satellite feeds from all over the whole universe, every planet," Krumholtz said in an interview while promoting his upcoming CBS TV series, Numb3rs, at the network's winter press tour in Hollywood. "So ... I'm a man with a lot of information that they need. ... I'm talking on a screen to the whole crew of the ship."

Krumholtz, who may be best known for playing Barry Schweiber in TV's Freak and Geeks, added that his character did not appear in the canceled Fox TV series Firefly, on which the Universal Pictures movie is based. "They were really sweet with me" for the two days Krumholtz shot his scenes, he said of the regular cast, led by Nathan Fillion. "It's great. I'm happy for them. They're a great group of actors. They really deserve it. The show was canceled abruptly and too early." Serenity opens Sept. 30. Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

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Uncle Orson Reviews Everything

It only lasted one year on FOX, but Firefly was, in my opinion, the best space-opera sci-fi series ever on television, and you can get the whole season now on DVD.

I was stunned by the stupidity of the bad reviews this series got. I suppose if you think television should be Desperate Housewives or Felicity or some other thing that passes for "edgy", Firefly won't look good to you.

But the writing is witty, just a little tongue-in-cheek, and keenly aware of what good science fiction is supposed to be.

Though I could make a good case for Firefly being the best western on television since Maverick.

It's fun even as it's tense, and it's smart all the time. So smart that some reviewers have no clue what they're seeing.

The actors are wonderful, though a couple of characters can be annoying, especcially at first (couldn't Jewel Staite have occasionally stopped smiling idiotically during the early episodes?).

Adam Baldwin, whose career began in the great high school movie My Bodyguard back in 1980 finally has the role of his career.

Gina Torres, a survivor of the Matrix sequels, is boldly credible as soldier-of-fortune Zoe; Morena Baccarin is luminous as the "companion" (i.e., really expensive prostititute) Inara Serra; and Alan Tudyk, a hit in A Knight's Tale, is equally charming as the pilot, Wash.

Delightful as Ron Glass was on Barney Miller and The New Odd Couple, I think he's got his best role here as the enigmatic preacher. While Sean Maher has recovered from the debacle of the remake of Brian's Song to play a truly complicated (and really cute, my wife tells me) character.

And Nathan Fillion rises out of nowhere - small forgettable parts where he was little more than a pretty face - to show that he has the strength to carry a TV series.

They're making a movie called Serenity, to be released next September, and the whole cast will appear in it. Count on it getting bad reviews; go anyway. And prepare for it by buying or renting the Firefly DVDs.

ADVANCED MOVIE REVIEW-"SERENITY"

Yes, I saw the first screening of a rough cut of Serenity, Joss ("Buffy", "Angel") Whedon's big movie version of his short-lived, but absolutely bad-ass sci-fi/western "Firefly".

OK, I should probably start by saying that, yes, I am a “Firefly” fan (though I can’t bring myself to call myself a “Flan”). That being said, I went to this advance screening to get a feel for it as a whole, rather than an off-shoot of a cancelled television series.

And, very wisely, so did creator/writer/director Joss Whedon.

I’m going to speak in vagaries about the movie in this to avoid spoiling it for those of you who are waiting to see it in September 2005 (and before you hate me for seeing it this far in advance-remember that I now have only a VERY SMALL group of people I can even discuss this with right now). I’ve also done this because it isn’t fair to completely judge a movie this far along in creation. I hope you don’t mind.

The movie wisely opens introducing both fans and first-timers alike to back-story of River and Simon Tam. And it sets the tone for not only what the movie is going to be like tonally but how it treats both sides of the audience. A new audience will be given enough information to be able to give meat to the story. A knowledgeable audience will be treated to an expansion of information that they already know. This continues through several different sections of the film including the introduction of Book and Inara. The viewer has enough info to keep things moving and not bog down the story in explaining something that took three episodes of the show to do.

As for the rest of the story, well it has been openly stated that the film deals with the mystery of River and the Reavers. And boy does it!

There a moments where I had to chuckle at the idea that this is supposed to be PG-13. Then I remembered that there’s not as much blood as you think, just a great deal of implied violence. But during all this, we are treated to the wit, drama and characterization that is Joss Whedon at his best. He’s taken the lessons he learned on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” & “Angel” and put them to excellent use here.

One of the things that made me a fan of the original show (as well as “Buffy” and “Angel”) was the characterizations and the performances. These are characters that you can attune to and find parts of yourself to connect to them. And with them, the choice of acting talent has gone hand-in-hand. They become characters that you feel for-whether happy at a victory, sad at a lost opportunity or fearing for their lives. Joss Whedon has done that quite well over the years and continues to do so here.

For me, it was Malcom Reynolds (Nathan Fillion). The captain who still thinks like a sergeant, always trying to protect his crew even when putting them into questionable situations, but will brook no insubordination. This is the Mal that understands that the ‘Verse can give and the ‘Verse can take away in the blink of an eye. Fillion (as well as the rest of the cast) are about to become bigger players in Hollywood if this movie does as well as it should.

The standout character of the movie is River. Yes, she is still the strange, delicate, flighty, powerful, mad girl of mystery. But here she gets to exit the cocoon we’ve seen her in and start to spread her wings…. And kick some ASS! I tell you now that she will be the fanboy’s dream girl by the end of next year and likely a nomination from MTV for Best Fight Scene (and she should probably win!). I thought that the characters of Inara, Book and Wash were the least developed though they have at least one stand out scene each. I guess you have to make you choices with an ensemble like they have.

The additional new character of “the Operative”(Chiwetel Ejofor) is also handled quite nicely. Villains are some of the best parts to watch unfold and this one is no different. He is not like the simple, stern-faced automatons of the Alliance that we’ve seen before. He is something quite different and absolutely dangerous. Watching Chiwetel Ejofor operate against the crew of Serenity and Capt. Reynolds gives one the unsettling feeling that perhaps the crew has run out of ‘Verse to hide in. And isn’t that what a good villain does?

Speaking of villains, we can’t forget the Reavers. From their first appearance, you know that these… people are not to be trifled with-as if their “augmented” faces and vicious attacks aren’t enough. But these aren’t some genetically created things or mutated beasts, they are humans at their worst. And the more you begin to learn about them, the worse you will feel about being part of the human race.

As far as problems with the movie, the only things I could come up with was that I felt it “planet hopped” too much. But it IS a space movie. I saw nothing that needed to be cut as much as tweaked and tightened. I hope Universal doesn’t mess too much with it and give it a marketing budget worth a damn. Oh yeah-don’t forget to get someone cool to do “You Can’t Take The Sky From Me.” Maybe Chris Isaak or Willie Nelson.

So at around 2 hr and 20min, there are some amazingly dramatic moments for many of the characters, several excellently quotable lines, some excellent fights (including the space battles that weren’t even finished!), moments of fear, some great laughs and moments for tears.

All the things STAR WARS used to be for me… and is no longer.

Serenity has my money for a trilogy-and Universal should cough up the green for more movies.

That’d be shiny.

Oh, and since I know Mr. Whedon was in back watching the audience, I’d like to say that when I yelled out “F-in’ Joss!” at several key moments, it was meant as a compliment. Really.

Now September simply cannot come fast enough.

RANDY

January 16th, 2005

Happy 2005!

So far this year, I've done nothing but be irresponsible, which is always fun. We just got back from a vacation/not-so-much-of-a-vacation in Cancun. If anyone's ever been there, you know what I'm talking about. It's not exactly the type of place where you relax and read a book, you know? After morning water aerobics, there's tequila vollyball, "crazy hour" (where people make serious asses of themselves in the pool), "happy hour", and then shuttles that leave from your hotel to various nightclubs around town. I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. We usually go to Maui every year, around February, and it's worlds different from Cancun. In Maui I go through about three novels, sleep on the beach all day, have incredible food for dinner (the best sushi ever), and then watch the stars before going to bed nice and early. I don't know what I was expecting from Cancun, but it's NOTHING like Maui. We still had fun, though.

As for what's next, the insanity that is pilot season is starting soon, which means work, work work and about a million meetings and auditions. I feel like I'm in the eye of the storm right now or something. It's about to get hectic, I can feel it! OH! and Widow on the Hill is airing January 24th at 9pm, both eastern and pacific. I still haven't received my copy from the network yet, so I can't tell you much about it. It IS based on a true story, though... The reason why they say "inspired by real events" is because if they implied any more than that, the real people... meaning the real woman that Natasha Henstridge plays... would get pretty angry. Lawsuits kind of angry... so that's why they say that. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it. I had a ball filming it.

Conventions seem to be springing up all over the place, so I'll let you know when that stuff is finalized. And please keep that momentum up for "Serenity". I promise the wait will be worth it, okay?

I love reading your posts and I love hearing your thoughts.

Take care and be safe...

Jewel

This was to be my next film score, to be recorded in February, and released in September, 2005, but I got fired a few weeks before recording was to begin.

It's an outer-space-Western-horror-action-comedy, written and directed by Joss Whedon, best known as the creator of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer." This will be the first feature Joss has directed.

While the project was challenging I thought it was going well. Joss' responses were sometimes positive, sometimes not, but it seemed we were getting to a score he liked.

What made the job difficult was that the score needed to reflect whatever was happening on screen moment by moment. And there were a hundred minutes of those moments.

This is a traditional role for film music - "what you see is what you hear" - but it's the opposite of my usual approach, which is to find something for music to say which is not otherwise there. Of course I have often worked in the traditional mode, but I do find it challenging. Don't know who's going to end up scoring the film - send in your applications now.

I'm starting work on a not-quite-named theatre project with the Coen Brothers and Charlie Kaufman. We should have a name and a cast very soon and at that point I'll post more information.

Well, I just read the link to Carter's page. Not overly verbose, is he? Anyway, I thought I'd let you all in on the details of the sitch, as best I can.

First off, when this movie got off the ground, the studio made it clear that I would need to use someone with a good deal of movie experience to score it, which was perfectly valid, though it ruled out a lot of guys, including Greg, that I loved working with. So entering the world of big-or-medium-time movie composers, the first person I thought of was Carter Burwell. I'd known his work since Blood Simple, have always been (and always will be) a slavish fan. We're talking about a guy who's penned some of the most indelible tunes in movies: Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Rob Roy, Gods and Monsters, even It Could Happen To You had an achingly beautiful score. I had met him years ago and he's a gent. I was surprised and thrilled to have him on the film.

You know how it is when you have two friends you love very much and you set 'em up on a date? Hiring a composer is kind of like that. However much you might love your friends and think they'll be a perfect match, the odds of their actually getting together are slim. Also, sometimes you forget to tell one of your friends something important about the other, like she's very political, or narcoleptic, or doesn't have a face... The movie as I first described it and the movie as it turned out were kind of different, the needs of the score different as well. Carter did some great work, really interesting, but in the end my two friends didn't end up dating. It happens, as I've learned, a lot. The fact is, Carter and I both felt the tension, an imperfect sympatico on the project, and this hardly came out of the blue. We might have soldiered on but he has other obligations looming and we kind of had to start from scratch, so it just became untenable, schedule-wise. I will always be a huge fan of Carter's and may one day make the kind of film that's right for him. Meanwhile, we move on. I will have a new composer soon and the work will continue. The movie will be what it needs to be.

But most importantly, who DOESN'T want to see a Coen brothers Space Opera? Dreamlogic, are you nuts? I'm salivating over that!

This wasn't a fun week for anyone, but we learn as we go. I'll check in with you guys anon. -j.

Minear: Serenity Will Surprise

Tim Minear, executive producer of the short-lived Fox SF television series Firefly, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming feature-film version of the show, Serenity, will have treats for the devoted fans. "If you loved Firefly, then you will love this movie," Minear said in an interview while promoting his upcoming CBS series, The Inside. "Fans are certainly not going to sit there and be bored while they learn about these people. They won't."

Minear said that he is particularly impressed by the new developments in the character of River, played by Summer Glau, who is revealed to be extraordinarily skilled at martial arts. "She's amazing," he said. "And the way Joss shot it, you can tell it's her—long, continuous takes, the camera moving around a certain fight. And it's Summer. It's her."

Other characters will take some surprising turns as well, Minear promised. "Oh, yeah," he said. "Oh. Yeah. It's pretty shocking." Serenity opens in theaters Sept. 30.

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