Stewart to Honor Shatner at Festival; Bringing "Macbeth" to Brooklyn

Captain Kirk, Captain Picard and Dr. Soran are having a reunion. Patrick Stewart has been slated to join the ceremony to bestow William Shatner with the Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award during the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival (related story). According to event organizers, Stewart will co-present the award to Shatner "in a spectacular way." Other "surprise" guests are also scheduled to take part.

Malcolm McDowell, the nemesis of the two captains in "Star Trek Generations," will host the ceremony which will take place Sunday evening, December 9, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, the same location where Shatner received his two Emmys.

The Paris-based Jules Verne event is returning to L.A. for a festival being held December 5-9 at the Shrine, with an additional date on Dec. 15 at the Los Angeles Theatre downtown. The Dec. 9 Shatner ceremony will be preceded by four hours of Remastered Original Series episodes projected in HD, also at the Shrine. At the ceremony itself, the Shatner presentation will be followed by a special award to NASA, and then a 25th-anniversary screening of "Blade Runner" with Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford in attendance.

McDowell will also host opening night ceremonies on Thursday, Dec. 9, which will involve astronaut Buzz Aldrin, philanthropist Ted Turner, actress Tippi Hedren and filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau.

The Saturday, Dec. 15 festivities will feature the premiere of the anime film "Appleseed: Ex Machina" produced by John Woo, a lifetime achievement award for Stan Lee, and a special screening and tribute to Heroes. The Heroes event will include creator Tim Kring, writer/producer Jeph Loeb, and members of the cast. Which members of the cast have not been specified.

For more information, visit JVAFF.org.

In other Patrick Stewart news, the thespian's award-winning performance as "Macbeth" will be coming to American shores next year. The Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York will host a six-week run of the Scottish Play starting February 12, 2008, with Stewart in the title role. He will be joined by the rest of the British cast who are now performing at the Gielgud Theatre in London. The current U.K. engagement — which ends December 1 (in time for Stewart to make the Shatner event!) — has earned Stewart some of his highest acclaim ever, and is entirely sold out. Just last weekend Stewart won "Best Performance in a Play" from the Theatrical Management Association in awards handed out in London.

The unique setting of this production of "Macbeth" is described as a "subterranean kitchen that serves as a military hospital in a timeless and nameless [East European] country." For more about the Brooklyn engagement, visit www.BAM.org.

Russell Watson in Stable Condition after Brain Surgery

The popular British opera singer who recorded "Where My Heart Will Take Me" as the theme song for Star Trek: Enterprise was in danger for his life Wednesday when a brain tumor forced him into emergency surgery, but his condition has now stabilized. Russell Watson, 40, was rushed to a hospital in the U.K. Wednesday after he became incapacitated during a recording session, suffering headaches and a dramatic deterioration of vision. An MRI scan showed a re-growth of a previous pituitary tumor, with some bleeding. It was about a year ago that Watson first underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor, which was reported as benign (related story). According to a statement from the hospital Friday morning, Watson will remain in intensive care for now, but is recovering well and has been eating and talking. "He understands that his recovery plan may be a long haul," said the hospital's executive director. That statement is published on the singer's website, Russell-Watson.com, which also links to a forum where fans in droves have been posting their best wishes. You can find more on this story at BBC News.

Our thoughts are with Mr. Watson and his family. May he experience a quick and full recovery.

Billingsley, Friedericy Walk for AIDS

John Billingsley and his wife Bonita Friedericy ("Rooney") are inviting all their friends and fans to attend a charity event to benefit the AIDS Service Center (ASC). They will take part in the "Posada Candlelight AIDS Walk" in Pasadena Saturday evening, December 1, which is World AIDS Day. Billingsley writes in a message to fans:

"The Posada is a 2-mile walk (really more of a leisurely stroll) through downtown Pasadena to commemorate and honor those we've lost to HIV/AIDS. It takes place around dusk, is candlelit (well, fake candles, but such is the ersatz age we live in: Fire Marshal Bob must be listened to), takes in gorgeous churches, civic institutions, etc., incorporates beautiful music and other fancy-pants artistic things (no mimes, however), and — this part's really important — makes the AIDS Service Center a buck."

Visit www.PosadaAIDSWalk.org to register as a walker or to donate. If you join the walk in person, you can start a new team, or join an existing team — including Billingsley and Friedericy's, which is listed as "John and Bonnie's Team" ("I wanted to call it something smart-assy but better minds intervened," says Billingsley). If you wish to donate, you can do so in sponsorship of their team.

"Bonnie and I do this every year, it takes about two hours, it makes you feel great, it's not too expensive, it's pretty, and you're done in time for cocktails in Pasadena. Who can beat that?" Billingsley concludes.

On the work front, Billingsley is currently filming 24, and also recently did a guest spot on Grey's Anatomy and on the new HBO series True Blood. Friedericy has a recurring role on Chuck, a one-hour action-comedy airing Monday nights on NBC, as "General Beckman."

"Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth" on DVD Nov. 13

In other Billingsley-related news, an independent film starring the "Phlox" actor written by an Original Series sci-fi giant is finally being made available to the mass audience. "Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth" will be released on DVD on November 13. The movie was the last script written by Bixby before he died in 1998, and it was made by his son, Emerson Bixby, along with director Richard Schenkman.

Bixby wrote four of the most memorable Star Trek episodes: "Mirror, Mirror," "By Any Other Name," "Day of the Dove" and "Requiem for Methuselah." He is also known for the classic Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" with Billy Mumy, as well as the movie "Fantastic Voyage" and other works of science fiction on film and in print.

"Man from Earth" has numerous other connections to the Star Trek franchise. Besides Billingsley, the cast includes Richard Riehle (Phlox's friend "Dr. Lucas," plus "Batai" and "Seamus Driscol"); Tony Todd ("Kurn," "Adult Jake Sisko," etc.); and David Lee Smith ("Zahir"). In addition, there are a couple of direct references to Star Trek in the script.

The story is thematically similar to "Requiem," but takes place in a contemporary setting among a group of academics who are informed by one of their own that he is immortal and has lived for 14 millennia. The dialog-driven script raises many cultural, philosophical and theological questions as the man's colleagues play along with his presumed hoax. "One of the things this movie is about is the difference between religion and morality, between what's codified and what is truly spiritual, and that's what attracted me to the project," Billingsley said at the Grand Slam convention last spring.

You can pre-order "Man from Earth" at this Amazon.com link. The DVD includes several bonus features including an audio commentary by Billingsley with the director, plus a featurette called "Star Trek: Jerome Bixby's Sci-Fi Legacy."

The low-budget film screened at Comic-Con last July, but it had its theatrical premiere last week in Hemet, Calif. Further public showings will take place in Pitman, New Jersey, at the Broadway Theater starting Nov. 3, and in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center beginning Nov. 16. It recently screened at the Rhode Island Film Festival where it won the Grand Prize for Best Screenplay and First Place for Best Feature.

Page 2:
Did You See Zachary Introduce the Original Cast?
Moore to Direct for First Time
Starfleet Engineer Helps Launch Space Shuttle
Showbiz Briefs: Wheaton & Lloyd, Weber, Smith, Begley, Kim