EscapeFromNewYork

Vulture has dug up news on two long attempted but never launched remakes of classic sci-fi. The first is Escape From New York, the 1981 John Carpenter classic that finds Snake Plissken (Kurt Russel) charged with rescuing the President of the United States from within the lawless walls of the penal island that is dystopian Manhattan. New Line Cinema has been attempting to get the project off the ground for a while now and a host of attached writers and directors have come and gone, but it looks like 21 and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps screenwriter Allan Loeb has cracked the updating code.

Vulture says the breakthrough came with a few inspired alterations on Loeb's part. Apparently he had already nailed Plissken's staple brand of humor (a good thing, since Vulture points out that New Line was contractually obligated to deliver an eye-patch wearing badass), but changing the mission objective from the POTUS to a female senator opened up a few new avenues the studio fell for. Oh, and apparently they can do it on the cheap now as well, so that certainly helps move things onto the crew and casting phase.

Their second scoop concerns the live-action Akira film Warner Brothers and Appian Way have been shaping for years now. The Hughes Brothers, who just gave WB the impressive piece of post-apocalyptic goodness that is The Book of Eli, are currently in talks to direct a two-part Akira adaptation penned by Iron Man co-writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. It seemed the past obstacle has always been that the shooting script must be a complete and faithful encapsulation of what made the original Akira so special, and it looks like the decision to split the films in half as finally made that possible.

Jonathan Mostow is one of the "that guys" of the directing world: you almost always recognize his handiwork, but you're not quite sure who he is, because his films maintain a more assertive sense of themselves than they do of him (and we mean that as a compliment). Although he did some smaller films before then, 1997's Breakdown was his calling card as a filmmaker, and contained all of the elements that would signify something made by him – namely, an interesting idea that was executed with mastery of form and a comfortable grasp on genre conventions. Subsequently he directed the submarine thriller U-571 and Terminator 3, and his latest, Surrogates, is another example of high-concept storytelling streamlined to maximize its entertainment potential.

Cinematical recently sat down with Mostow in Los Angeles for an exclusive interview about the ins and outs of the film, which follows Bruce Willis as a cop investigating a murder in a futuristic society where humankind interacts through android proxies of themselves, called surrogates. In addition to explaining the film's world and surrogates' place within it, Mostow talked about his technique as a director marrying interesting ideas to effective storytelling, and reflected on his expansive career both as a director and producer.

Cinematical: What is the point of the surrogates for the people in this film? How does it revolutionize their lives?

What does Tyler Perry have to do with science fiction? The playwright / actor / filmmaker has not yet ventured into our beloved genre, but the arrival of his next movie, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, made me think about the loyal audience that he's developed. It's an audience -- African-American, religiously-inclined -- that has been severely under served by Hollywood, and so Perry set out to create material that would connect with that audience.

A sci-fi version of Perry has not yet emerged, and so African-American actors and characters remain rare in science fiction films. The upcoming television season will feature Gabrielle Union in ABC's sci-fi series FlashForward, Ving Rhames will appear in Surrogates with Bruce Willis later this month, and Zoe Saldana will star in James Cameron's Avatar later this year. For now, let's look back at the top 10 African-American sci-fi characters -- including those who are not identified by their race in the film. (Please note: Chris Tucker as the constantly screeching Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element did not make my list.)

1. Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus in The Matrix
Playing one of the great teachers of the silver screen, Fishburne as Morpheus tries to guide Neo (Keanu Reeves) to the truth, gently yet firmly. He's on an important, urgent mission, but he cannot overplay his hand or he risks losing everything, far more than Neo -- or the viewer -- can initially imagine. How does he do it? Morpheus implores, "Free your mind," and jumps. Neo can only say, "Whoa."