Wednesday, March 13, 2002

SPIDER-MAN ANIMATED CASTING

Neil Patrick Harris, best known as TV's Doogie Howser, and singer Lisa Loeb will be providing the voices of Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Mary Jane in MTV's Spider-Man animated series.

"They nailed the roles and it really was stiff competition," said Spider-Man executive producer Brian Michael Bendis.

"We picked our cast from tons of auditions. And I am happy to say that my personal first choices made it for the leads."

Harris, 28, has more than 30 film and television credits beyond his role as the teenage doctor in Doogie Howser, M.D., which aired from 1989-1993. He starred as Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, and has done several voice roles in animated shows.

Loeb, 34, has appeared in a handful of movies and TV shows and did the voice of the newborn baby in The Rugrats Movie. Her most recent musical effort, Cake and Pie, was released on Feb. 26.

Spider-Man producer Audu Paden told The Continuum, that because of MTV's involvement, it's likely that more performers who are prominent in the music business will be involved as guest-stars, possibly as villains.

"There are some people who came in from the music business who did surprisingly good work as voice actors," Paden said of the audition process.

Spider-Man will be recorded in Los Angeles under the voice direction of Susan Blu. Recording will begin this week; the show is targeted for an October start.

In other series news, Paden said that the producers will explore the possibility of giving Spider-Man's costume raised webbing, like the movie version.

"If it looks good, we will proceed," Paden said. "And that will be good because it helps with the branding of this Spider-Man as being related to the feature film, and that's where we're coming from. We're exploring right now the technical feasibility of it looking good, because if it's raised, if he starts getting further away from the camera, it might start to blot up and look blotchy."

Look for more on Spider-Man soon here in The Continuum.

BLADE 2 UPDATE

New Line Cinema has released 21 new images from Blade 2, which reaches theaters on March 22.

The photos show the cast members, including Wesley Snipes as Blade, Kris Kritofferson as Whistler, Matthew Schulze as Chupa, Leonor Varela as Nyssa, Danny John Jules as Asad, Marit Velle Kile as Verlaine, Ron Perlman as Reinhardt, Danny Yen as Snowman, Tony Curran as Priest, Luke Goss as Nomak, Thomas Kretschmann as Damaskinos and Norman Reedus as Scud.

The cast features an eclectic mix.

"We figured we didn't need household names," Blade 2 writer David Goyer said. "We've got Wesley Snipes and we've got Kris Kristofferson. So what we decided to do was, with the main group of vampires that Blade teams up with - there are eight of them - we went through hand-picked some of the biggest stars in countries in Europe.

"We were looking for people who could do action. We figured we didn't need names, so we just went for interesting people. The first movie, people went to see it based on Wesley Snipes - and perhaps Stephen Dorff - but this time we figured we didn't need names, so we just went for interesting people."

X-MEN SEQUEL UPDATE

Ralph Winter, producer of X², told The Continuum that work continues in preparation for the X-Men sequel.

"As we await the next version of the script, everything moves ahead on target," Winter told The Continuum. "We are developing some exciting visuals."

X² is expected to go before the cameras this spring in Vancouver.

The movie is scheduled for a May 2, 2003 release from 20th Century Fox.

X-MEN: EVOLUTION UPDATE

"Operation: Rebirth," the episode of X-Men: Evolution guest-starring Captain America, will premiere on Kids' WB! on Saturday, March 30 at 10:30 a.m.

The episode also guest-stars Nick Fury and features Wolverine's relationship with war hero Captain America.

Another Wolverine-centered episode, "Grim Reminder," will air that day at 8 a.m.

X-Men: Evolution will be shown twice on Saturdays. On March 23, the episodes are "Fun and Games" at 8 a.m. and "Shadow Dance" at 10:30 a.m.

In other Kids' WB! news, upcoming episodes of Static Shock at 8:30 a.m. include "Bad Stretch" on March 23 and "Power Play" on March 30.

Upcoming episodes of The Zeta Project at 9:30 a.m. include "Absolute Zero" on March 23 and "Wired, Pt. 1" on March 30.

ONI'S NEW MADMAN COLLECTION

Oni Press will be re-releasing a second Madman series from Mike Allred's early days at Tundra in June.

Madman Adventures will follow the recent release of Madman: The Oddity Odyssey in a 10th Anniversary Edition. Madman Adventures was the first Madman comics series to be released in full color.

For the new Oni trade paperback, Allred will be adding a colored version of the original Frank Einstein story from the Caliber comic Creatures of The Id and a facsimile of the gallery section from the limited Graphitti hardcover Two Trilogies.

"You wouldn't have believed our faces last month when the first copies of The Oddity Odyssey arrived at the office," Oni Press editor-in-chief Jamie S. Rich said. "Joe Nozemack and I were positively giddy to see the Oni logo on a Madman comic. It's like a dream come true."

"Madman Adventures is one of my favorite comics series," publisher Nozemack said, "and not just of Mike's work, but of all-time. The visual kineticism of the book was a thrill when it was originally released in the mid-'90s, and it's still exciting now. Mike Allred was breaking amazing new ground."

"X-Force has given me a whole new creative life," Allred said, "but I don't ever want to let Frank Einstein or Snap City go. It was breaking my heart that my earliest Madman comics were not available to my newest readers, and I think no other company than Oni should have been the one fixing the problem.

Madman Adventures will arrive in stores on June 14. It will be 128 pages and will cost $14.95.

BRIEFLY