Wednesday, June 20, 2001

SPIDER-MAN MOVIE UPDATE

Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin told The Continuum that Tobey Maguire shows a wide range of acting in the film.

"His transformation from Peter Parker to Spider-Man, from boy into man, is stunning," Ziskin said. "He's as good as they come. He's such a good actor. He's such a good movie actor. He can do anything.

"And he's real cute. And he really worked hard with the training. Trying to find somebody who can play that range with Peter Parker - when we look at the dailies, we couldn't imagine anybody else doing it."

In other Spider-Man movie news:

* Sony Pictures has released the first poster image for the film, which shows Spider-Man over the New York City skyline with the film's release date at the bottom.

* Director Sam Raimi will appear at the Comic-Con International in San Diego on Saturday, July 21. He will be participating in a question-and-answer session.

RALPH WINTER BACK FOR X-MEN SEQUEL

Ralph Winter, who was a producer on the X-Men movie, told The Continuum he will be returning for the sequel.

"I am starting a concept artist and we are beginning to write the script," Winter told The Continuum. "I am very happy to be back."

Winter produced X-Men with Lauren Shuler Donner. Since X-Men, he has produced the new Planet of the Apes movie from director Tim Burton.

"We couldn't be happier to have Ralph back on board," said Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige. "Along with Avi Arad and Lauren Shuler Donner, Ralph was key in keeping the production on track both creatively and financially. Ralph was able to maintain the delicate balance between (director) Bryan Singer's imaginative vision and the studio's budgetary reality."

Even during the production of X-Men, Winter always looked at the project as part of a franchise.

"We're trying to do if for a price because, frankly, we're trying to do more than one movie," he said at the time. "We'd love to do a franchise. We'd love to see many stories get told. So we're trying to start at a level that establishes the characters and makes people want to go further. So, we're starting at a budget level that's very large, but not the biggest budget ever. It gives us some place to grow to."

Winter said that he enjoys working on big movies like X-Men, Planet of the Apes and the Star Trek films he produced.

"There's always a lot of stress managing the money and everything else," he said. "But it's fun. I like doing this. I never knew I'd be doing this as a career. You pinch yourself sometimes."

Most, if not all, of the mutant characters from X-Men are expected to return for the sequel.

"It's so much fun to be around them. It's a happy bunch," Winter said of the actors. "We didn't have any sparks between. They loved being together, and that helps the process."

Production of X-Men 2 is expected to being early next year.

Look for more X-Men movie news in The Continuum on Thursday.

DC COMICS FOR SEPTEMBER

DC Comics has released its solicitation information for September.

For a complete rundown, including DC Direct products, CLICK HERE.

TOM DERENICK COVERS CABLE

Tom Derenick told The Continuum that he is doing the cover for Cable #95, which will be his first Marvel cover in some four years.

"It'll be my first cover for Marvel since I did the covers for the Venom: Sign of the Boss mini-series," Derenick said.

Actually, Derenick recently did an alternate cover for Search for Cyclops #4, but it ended up not getting published due a solicitations problem. He provided The Continuum with the accompanying look at that cover.

The Cable cover will be done in the tonal style Derenick has been using.

Derenick also continues work on Nightside, a new mini-series for Marvel, with Cable writer Robert Weinberg.

"The first issue will be finished by the end of the week," Derenick said. "I've been told the tonal art style I'm using on the book is going over very well with everyone who's seen it so far so I'm thrilled. Nightside is going to be a part of a preview comic Marvel will be giving away at the major conventions this year."

Derenick said he has worked lined up for several months.

"Once I'm done with the Nightside limited series in the fall I have another project that I'll be starting with editor Mike Marts from Marvel, but I can't go into any details yet," he said. "And after that I've been talking with Marvel about a couple of possibilities for ongoing series but that's still a ways off."

BRIEFLY