The Events of Doomsday

Neil Marshall has spilled plenty of Doomsday details in The Scotsman today:

In the £15m film, Scotland has been cut off from the outside world for about 30 years, following the outbreak of a deadly virus, caused by genetic tampering.

Hadrian's Wall has been rebuilt to keep the Scots out of England. But the Scots have a cure for the virus, and when England is threatened by a new outbreak, a crack military team goes over the wall to get it, led by Nip/Tuck's Rhona Mitra.

She goes through from the wall up to Glasgow and then farther north. The farther north she gets, the more back in time she goes. It's like a Heart Of Darkness journey. There's a Kurtz character running a feudal society and living in a castle. He used to be a scientist - he's the guy who found the cure and he's taken on this kind of God-like stature up there.

Marshall had tried to recruit Sean Connery for the Kane part, but, unsurprisingly, Connery declined. He was probably looking for a payday at least the size of the entire budget - and the part isn't so trivial that it could just be discarded, a la Indiana Jones Goes Fourth.

Malcolm McDowell Is Loomis

Rob Zombie has announced on his My Space page that Malcolm McDowell has won the role of Loomis in the upcoming Halloween remake.

Here's a parlor game you and your geekier family members can play this 'holiday season': Name an actor relegated to B-movie semi-obscurity (in this case, McDowell) and argue out which was their last good role, and if they'll ever have a good role again. Might I suggest Aidan Quinn, Sam Neill and Isabella Rosellini for a few rounds too.

We'll have to see if Loomis is the comeback McDowell is worthy of.