Hey folks... Harry here. Now this report is from the Calgary Film Festival and includes other things than just SPAWN news... but that's the big one. The first SPAWN film had moments where... it was just perfect VISUALLY... but it became a film so tied to style, that the character and acting work suffered... and then the end HELL stuff was just... sigh... unfortunately cheap looking. My sister and I were huge SPAWN fans... but the film, while I liked it initially... upon repeat viewings... it just didn't hold up... (Much like the Banderas ZORRO for me too) However, what Todd told our spy in Calgary is dead on how I'd like to see it handled. But.. before I go... Todd.. if you are listening... I want to thank you for the latest line of MOVIE MANIAC toys... they are, with the possible exception of your YELLOW SUBMARINE toys, the finest coolest action figures created by mankind. The concept that I own a Snake Plisskin and Ash and Brundlefly and THE THING and Edward Scissorhands... well, it just thrills me. NOW... suggestions... the Gene Wilder WILLY WONKA toys would be killer! Phantasm toys! CONAN... the Arnold film. Original SHAFT, SUPERFLY, COFFY. PULP FICTION. METROPOLIS Maria toy. JAWS (Hooper, Quint, Brody and the Shark!) Pursue and capture the James Bond license... great figures of Dr No, Goldfinger, Oddjob, Connery, Lazenby, Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, Donald Pleasance, etc... BRAZIL, TIME BANDITS and MONTY PYTHON (KNIGHTS OF NI, BRIAN, etc)!!!! DO IT!!! THEY WOULD RULE!!! And NEW LINE!!! You fucked up giving TOY BIZ the license on LORD OF THE RINGS... they make really crappy toys! OH... One more Todd.... CHEECH AND CHONG!!!!! And THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS. Here's the scoop...

Hey Harry, I've been checking out some independant films this week in Calgary this week. Waydowntown by Gary Burns was fresh. An interesting look at four people who refrain from going outside for 30 days in hopes of winning a $10,000 bet. An easy task concidering they live in the downtown core of Calgary and all the buildings were they work/live/shop are interconnected. Don't quote me but I think Burns won best film at the Toronto Film Festival for this piece. If he did he deserves it. Waydowntown was excellent.

I know short films aren't they usual interest of most people on the site, but I had to drop this little nugget. A short animated piece opened infront of Waydowntown called Body Rythms directed by Wayne Traudt. It was nice to finally see his work on a big screen. Hard to talk about this piece since it is very artsy. I'm not into describing films using word like, "Beautiful" and "Moving" so I'll just say it was pretty good, and if you get a chance to see it, check it out.

The main reason I'm writing is to tell you about the Kenton Vaughn documentary, "The Devil you know". This is a film about Todd McFarlane life from playing baseball to buying a three million dollar baseball. I saw it just a couple hours ago and it was pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of documentaries but this one had good pacing and was pretty thurough.

After the film I talked with Todd and got him to sign a bunch of stuff. I also attempted to prod some information out of him about the next Spawn movie. His answers were all fairly gerenic but I'll tell you regardless. Seems that McFarlane wrote the script himself and he refered to it as a "Crime, mystery, horror, drama". He likened it to such films as Jacob's ladder and Alien. He mentioned these films refering to the many glimpses you would see of the alien before it was seen in full view. This is the way he wants Spawn portrayed in the next film. I also asked about casting and he said that it was far too early to even think about casting, so I asked him about who HE would chose and he told me that Sam and Twitch would be key characters but would be cast by people that could stay true to the character and not just for the looks. Thats about all the info I could get before some fanboy behind started to cry about me cutting into "his" time. I'm not sure if I heard him right or not, but he might have said that the film could get a green light around November 1.

Okay, just to cap this off I want to say that McFarlane is a great guy. He signed autographs and comics all night long and did it with a smile. The guy will always be a hero to me.

Jack Frostt