Sci-Fi Storm

Actor Vern Troyer, best known for his portrayal of “Mini Me” in the Austin Powers films, passed away earlier today at the age of 49.

The diminutive actor, who was born with achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that is one of the causes of dwarfism, stood at a mere 2’8″ tall and was one of the smallest in the world. He started his career as a stunt double for Baby Bink in 1994’s Baby’s Day Out, and moved into acting in bit parts until he became Dr Evil’s miniature clone in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. He would reprise that role in Austin Powers in Goldmember, and appeared as the goblin Griphook in Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone. He also appeared in a number of reality programs and make frequent appearances at conventions and fan events.

His family released an official statement on his Facebook page:

It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that Verne passed away today.

Verne was an extremely caring individual. He wanted to make everyone smile, be happy, and laugh. Anybody in need, he would help to any extent possible. Verne hoped he made a positive change with the platform he had and worked towards spreading that message everyday.

He inspired people around the world with his drive, determination, and attitude. On film & television sets, commercial shoots, at comic-con’s & personal appearances, to his own YouTube videos, he was there to show everyone what he was capable of doing. Even though his stature was small and his parents often wondered if he’d be able to reach up and open doors on his own in his life, he went on to open more doors for himself and others than anyone could have imagined. He also touched more peoples hearts than he will ever know.

Verne was also a fighter when it came to his own battles. Over the years he’s struggled and won, struggled and won, struggled and fought some more, but unfortunately this time was too much.

During this recent time of adversity he was baptized while surrounded by his family. The family appreciates that they have this time to grieve privately.

Depression and Suicide are very serious issues. You never know what kind of battle someone is going through inside. Be kind to one another. And always know, it’s never too late to reach out to someone for help.

In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation in Verne’s name to either of his two favorite charities; The Starkey Hearing Foundation and Best Buddies.

Producers James Wan (The Conjuring) and Roy Lee (It) want to take author Stephen King’s 1987 sci-fi/horror novel The Tommyknockers to the big screen.

THR reports the two will team up with Larry Sanitsky, who executive produced the 1993 miniseries adaptation which starred Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger.

The Tommyknockers is set in the small town of Haven, Maine (a frequent setting for King’s stories), where during a walk one of the residents stumbles upon a metallic object stuck in the ground. It turns out that the object is in fact a buried UFO which begins emanating an invisible gas. The gas gives inhabitants of Haven enhanced intelligence to begin building things, but don’t really understand what they are doing, and appear to be controlled by the spacecraft.

The 1993 miniseries was successful for ABC. NBC announced development of a remake in 2013, but no mention of it was made after the announcement.

We finally see the return of Indy! Steven Spielberg, on hand at the Rakuten TV Empire Awards to receive a special award for his enormous body of work, also dropped word that the long awaited Indiana Jones 5 will begin filming in the UK next April!

“It’s always worth the trip when I get to work with this deep bench of talent coming out of the UK,” he told the audience. “The actors, and the crew, the chippies, the sparks, the drivers — everybody who has helped me make my movies here, and will continue helping me make my movies here when I come back in April 2019 to make the fifth Indiana Jones movie right here.”

We’re excited to say the least – but it will be interesting how they deal with Indy’s son, played by Shia LeBeouf, as they had the chance to pass the fedora on but opted not to…

In case somehow you haven’t seen this yet…tears were shed when it was seen…

It’s time to delve back into the magical realm…here is the first teaser for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, in theaters November 16th…

Ah, it’s time for a Logan’s Run update…the story of the attempt to remake the cult classic based on the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, seems to have had a longer history than the lives of the inhabitants of the City of Domes.

The Hollywood Reporter confirms that The Hunger Games screenwriter Peter Craig will take on the task. Logan’s Run was describe by director Simon Kinberg, still attached to the project, as “the granddaddy of Maze Runner and Hunger Games and so many of these books and movies now.”

Hopefully Craig comes up with a script that may actually get into production. He’s also working on an adaptation of S.T.A.G.S..

Given how long we’ve been reporting on the remake, which unlike other such projects has persisted over the years, I thought I’d go back through the archives and note how many times it came up…Sci-Fi Storm started in 2000, and the first reference we had to it was in 2003:

July 2003: First mention of Bryan Singer involved

May 2004: Singer confirmed to be directing and sharing writing duties, with Joel Silver producing.

2004-2005: Singer’s production pile keeps getting bigger, with Logan’s Run stuck near the bottom.

February 2006: Singer says he teamed with Christopher McQuarrie and they are finishing the script.

May 2006: Singer says he likely won’t direct.

August 2007: Joseph Kosinski attached to direct in place of Singer,

2008-2009: *crickets*

May 2010: Carl Rinsch named as director.

June 2010: Alex Garland in negotiations as writer.

November 2010: Carl Rinsch out as director, but strong script turned in by Garland.

February 2011: Ryan Gosling set to star with Nicholas Winding Refn directing. Will Beall at some point also works on the script.

November 2011: Yet another writer – Andrew Baldwin.

June 2013: Bioshock‘s Ken Levine takes over the script.

June 2015: Simon Kinberg now takes over script and joins as a producer.

June 2016: Colony co-creator Ryan Condal is next on the writer’s block. Kinberg still involved.

Fifteen years, but it’s always been Warner Bros. behind it, and I believe Joel Silver is still involved as well. Will the desire for young adult dystopian futures dry up before we see this? Or will we all be living in the City of Domes by then?

So, Marvel Studios asked on Twitter who excited people were to see Avengers: Infinity War on May 4th…

On a scale of one to infinity, how excited are you to see #InfinityWar on May 4th? pic.twitter.com/72jYKj2ODG

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) March 1, 2018

But Robert Downey Jr. wanted to see it earlier…with a few “friends”…

Any chance I could see it earlier?

— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) March 1, 2018

Anything for you, Mr. Stark! How’s April 27th?

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) March 1, 2018

Great. With friends?

— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) March 1, 2018

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Another weekend TidBits to catch up…

Marvel’s Blank Panther is devouring the box office, likely looking at $150 million this weekend, and possibly opening the window to the entire Marvel universe for a shot in the films. A beautifully visual movie superbly acted – expect a review shortly.

In the meantime, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has been keeping to the top of the charts, winning most weeks since Star Wars: The Last Jedi died down, and provided a lighthearted movie among the more intense competition. It will cross $900 million world-wide today. See what we thought of the film.

Disney Channel has ordered up a third installment of The Descendants, their teen-centric fantasy musical TV movie series. The Kenny Ortega-produced franchise follows the teen descendants of Disney’s well-known princesses and villains and stars Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart, Mitchell Hope and China Anne McClain. The teaser (see below) has Mal (Cameron), the descendant of Maleficent, indicate that the new villain will be – her dad.

The Umbrella Academy, Netflix’s upcoming series based on the Gerard Way graphic novels about a dysfunctional academy/family of superheroes, named a number of regular and recurring cast this week. Regular cast announced incclude Cameron Britton (Mindhunter) will be Hazel, an infamously ruthless and efficient time-travelling hit-man; Colm Feore (House of Cards, The Chronicles of Riddick) is Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a wealthy entrepreneur and world-renowned scientist and the adopted father of the academy students; and Adam Godley (Breaking Bad), will portray (via voice/motion-capture) Pogo, a genetically-engineered chimpanzee. Ashley Madekwe (Revenge) will appear in a recurring role as Detective Patch, a fast rising, by the book detective of the police department. Previously announced as starring in the show are Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Ellen Page, Robert Sheehan and Aidan Gallagher.
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The 1983 NBC mini-series V is getting another reboot – and the studio behind it is rebooting as well.

Desilu Studios – a revival of the name of the studio created by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz that was one of the largest independent studios in the 50s and 60s and later became the television division of Paramount, announced a feature film version of the show to be written by original creator Kenneth Johnson, and currently using the title V: The Movie.

The original 1983 mini-series starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant and Jane Badler (and who could forget a pre-Freddy Robert Englund as the meek Willie) told the take of the arrival of the Visitors, seemingly friendly humanoid aliens looking for some resources for their ailing world and in return would share their advanced technology with the people of Earth. However, it turns out that they are reptilians in disguise, and really plan to take all of Earth’s fresh water supplies – and use the humans themselves as a food source. A resistance gains momentum to fight the Visitors.

The mini-series proved popular and spawned a sequel mini-series in V: The Final Battle, which concluded the main storyline, and a TV series that was (mercifully – I swear I did a review but now I can’t find it) canceled after 13 episodes. These productions were very 80s in style, with a thinly veiled (and later more explicit) Nazi allusion. In 2009, a reboot of the series aired on ABC for two seasons.

The new Desilu Studios was formed by Charles B. Hensley when he acquired the name. All the original Desilu productions were owned by Paramount and now CBS, including the original Star Trek.