What's on TV: Wednesday
* WB's departing trendsetter Dawson's Creek (8 ET/PT) ends its run with a special two-hour epilogue from creator Kevin Williamson. The story jumps ahead five years as the four friends reunite for a wedding.
* Fox's That '70s Show (Fox, 8 p.m. ET/PT) ends its season with a series of cliffhangers as Fez tries to avoid deportation, and Donna and Eric contemplate leaving town. That would be just fine with Red, who dreams about entertaining people like guest Joe Theismann once he gets his basement back.
* Once again, American Idol (Fox, 8:30 p.m. ET/PT) stretches its results show out to a full 60 minutes. If 59 minutes of filler and one minute of news is your idea of a good way to spend an hour, more power to you.
* The Aaron Sorkin era ends on The West Wing (NBC, 9 p.m. ET/PT) as the president (Martin Sheen) reacts to his daughter's kidnapping. It hasn't been a great seasonfor a number of reasons: too many outsized crises (like, say, a kidnapping); too many characters who sounded too much alike; too great a disconnect between Wing's world and reality. But for two seasons and maybe three, Sorkin made The West Wing the best show on TV. A talent like that has to be missed.
Travolta Joins THE PUNISHER
John Travolta (BATTLEFIELD: EARTH) has taken a lead role in Artisan Pictures' adaption of Marvel Comics' long running character THE PUNISHER. Thomas Jane (61*) has taken the lead role of Frank Castle, a man who turns extremely violent vigilante after his family is murdered by the mob. Travolta will play Howard Saint, the villain of the piece. Saint is a man that appears to be a fine upstanding citizen to the world at large, but is really heavily involved in the criminal underworld. When his son is brutally killed, Saint's darker and vengeful side emerges.
Original 'SNL' Star Dan Aykroyd Returns
NEW YORK - He's played Beldar Conehead, Elwood Blues and Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute. But this Saturday, you can call Dan Aykroyd host.
Aykroyd, an original "Saturday Night Live" cast member, returns to the sketch comedy show this weekend to host for the first time. His appearance on the season finale is scheduled for 11:30 p.m. EDT Saturday on NBC.
Beyonce Knowles from Destiny's Child will be the musical guest.
The 50-year-old actor and comedian was on "SNL" from 1975-80, and made his name with his original characters and impressions of Richard Nixon, Tom Snyder and Jimmy Carter.
After he left the show, Aykroyd appeared in films such as "The Blues Brothers" with John Belushi, "Ghostbusters" and "Driving Miss Daisy," for which he was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor.
Knowles, 21, will make her third appearance on "SNL," singing songs from her upcoming solo album, "Dangerously in Love." She's previously performed with Destiny's Child and with rapper Jay-Z.
New Movie to Feature Hannibal Lecter's Childhood
CANNES, France (Reuters) - Hannibal Lecter is to take to take to the screen again in a new film that will track the cannibal killer from childhood.
"The Lecter Variation: The Story of Young Hannibal Lecter" is now being mapped out by his creator Thomas Harris.
Producer Dino de Laurentiis said four actors will be needed to play Hannibal at the ages of 12, 16, 20 and 25 in a film that will trace his childhood in Lithuania through his teenage years in Paris to his arrival in the United States.
"Lecter was born into a very rich family but the war destroyed it and killed his parents," De Laurentiis told the trade paper Screen International for its special edition at the Cannes Film festival on Wednesday.
"He was left with his sister with whom he had a very close relationship," the producer said, giving a glimpse into the plot line for Lecter, brought to life on screen by Anthony Hopkins.
A TANGLED WEB
Tobey Maguire is about as sorry as a star can be.
The 27-year-old is currently in New York, shooting the sequel to last year's $820 million-grossing "Spider-Man" - but he almost lost the part.
Maguire got himself dismissed from "Spider-Man 2" earlier this spring, and got his job back, thanks to some string-pulling by a major Hollywood power player - who happens to be his girlfriend's father.
"I feel like I learned a lesson," he says in his first public comments on the dust-up. "The movie is the most important thing."
Maguire's saga began in March, when he had the notion that Columbia Pictures would arrange the shooting schedule for this costly project on his terms.
Maguire has a bad back, which pained him on the original "Spider-Man" shoot and during the production of "Seabiscuit" (opening in July), in which Maguire plays a racehorse jockey.
But producer Laura Ziskin and director Sam Raimi did not react well when Maguire sent his neurosurgeon to meet them.
Maguire's doctor went over "Spider-Man 2" storyboards, and said Maguire might not be able to perform certain scenes.
A few days later, the studio told Maguire he would be dropped.
Inside sources say the director was already dissatisfied with his star, who had neglected to undergo a computer scan needed by the special-effects team.
"I could have come in," Maguire says, "but I was working [on 'Seabiscuit'] six days a week, 14 to 15 hours a day. I was exhausted.
"If I had understood the importance of it, I probably would have kicked myself and done it anyway."
Within days, Columbia replaced Maguire with Jake Gyllenhaal, another slender man-boy with large soulful eyes.
Many believe Maguire was especially replaceable as Spider-Man because, as with James Bond, the concept overshadows the actor.
Had he not returned to "Spider-Man," says a leading agent, "Tobey Maguire the actor would have survived.
"But Tobey Maguire the multimillion-dollar movie star? I don't know."
Maguire says he was blindsided.
"There was a period when I didn't know what I could do to work it out," he says. "I felt a little bit at a loss."
But Maguire has a powerful friend in Ron Meyer, the head of Universal Pictures, which is producing "Seabiscuit." Maguire is dating Meyer's daughter, Jennifer Meyer.
The mogul got on the phone and told Maguire to fight - reminding him of Michael Keaton, who walked away from a lucrative career mainstay when he refused to get back into the Batmobile.
Although Columbia Pictures head Amy Pascal minimizes Meyer's role, inside sources say Meyer used a career's worth of experience and good relationships to help get Maguire back into a film that is a major franchise for a rival studio.
The studio did not yield easily.
Maguire had to undergo a physical exam, swing from the harness to prove his fitness and make his peace with Raimi.
"I'm just glad it worked out," Maguire says. "I'm glad I got to look these people in the face and say, 'I'm really sorry. I'm going to do whatever it takes.' "
A knowledgeable source says the studio also built into Maguire's contract a number of provisions under which he can be penalized financially if he fails to fulfill his obligations.
Soon after, Maguire fired his agent, Leslie Siebert of the Gersh Agency, and signed with CAA - the agency Meyer had co-founded.
He'll be working with Richard Lovett and Rick Nicita, who represent Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise.
That alone may have made a statement to Maguire, who regained his role - and possibly much more.
French Riviera rolls out the red carpet as the Cannes film festival opens
CANNES, France (AFP) - The world's most extravagant celebration of international cinema, the Cannes film festival, kicked off 12 days of screenings, dealmaking and celebrity bashes in an atmosphere far removed from the uncertainty gripping some parts of the planet.
The first day of the glitzy event, with thousands of movie industry types and journalists in attendance, was to officially start with a red-carpet ceremony presented by stunning Italian actress Monica Bellucci.
"Fanfan la Tulipe", a French swashbuckler starring Penelope Cruz, was then to begin the packed timetable of screenings in front of the crowd of stars and VIPs in evening wear.
More than 700 other films will be shown over the following days of the festival. Most are small productions looking for distribution in the business end of the event, but a selected few -- 20 to be exact -- are in the running for the prestigious Palme d'Or, Cannes's top prize.
French films dominate the Palme field, making up a quarter of the nominations, while US films this year have been whittled down to just three -- although one of them, "Mystic River", is a thriller directed by Clint Eastwood seen as an early favourite.
Films by rising Asian directors, particularly from Japan, are also present, but many other nationalities will still get noticed in parallel sections dedicated to auteur productions.
A special out-of-competition screening of "The Matrix Reloaded", the sequel to the sci-fi blockbuster, will dominate the early days of the festival, especially as stars Keanu Reeves and Bellucci will be there to plug it in person, a day before it opens worldwide.
A near-general strike Tuesday took some wind from Cannes's sails, delaying the arrival of many of the 30,000 festival-goers heading to the Riviera rendez-vous.
But others chose to move their travel plans ahead a day, turning up Monday instead. Among them were the members of the Palme d'Or jury, including actresses Meg Ryan from the United States, Aishwarya Rai from India and directors Steven Soderbergh from the United States and Danis Tanovic from Bosnia.
Bellucci also made it early enough to shrug off her jetlag during a breakfast meeting with a handful of journalists Tuesday, just before Reeves, too, checked in.
The strike nonetheless compounded other problems that tarnished some of Cannes's glitzy welcome.
The mysterious SARS illness from Asia, the global economic downturn (and the plummeting US dollar), along with the aftershocks of the US war on Iraq and the suicide bomb attacks on Western housing complexes in Saudi Arabia's capital Monday all seemed to have some effect.
The manager of one two-star hotel, Marcel Moura, said that most of his guests were expected to arrive Thursday and "for the first time in ages, I still have a free room for the weekend."
French government health authorities distributed a leaflet with each accreditation packet which sought to reassure attendees that festival-goers arriving from Asia did not pose a particular health threat as long as they showed no symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
The leaflet did, however, urge those taking part to leave their phone number or address with organisers so they could be contacted after their departure should a confirmed SARS case come to light.
At the same time, French police and festival security staff imposed unprecedented restrictions in and around the stretch of seaside that makes up the festival. Parking was forbidden along Cannes's famous beach promenade and stringent bag- and body-screening took place.
Cannes's police chief, Andre Trouve, said his units "had already been put at the maximum" level of alert and that no extra precautions were being taken in the wake of the deadly Saudi bombings.
For the attendees already in the Riviera town, there was little sign of concern at what was happening elsewhere in the world.
At many of the cafe tables set back from the sparkling Mediterranean sea, the conversation was more focused on film business, brushes with celebrity, or party plans for the coming days.
'Matrix' Fans Remember: It's Only Half a Movie
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - For fervent movie fans anxious for the widely-hyped debut of science-fiction thriller "The Matrix Reloaded" this week, producer Joel Silver has some news: it is only half a movie.
But wait! Don't get upset and don't ask for your money back from those advanced ticket purchases.
"Matrix Reloaded" begins previews on Wednesday as the most anticipated film since last year's "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" debuted on roughly the same week. Time magazine has replaced cover pictures of war with "Matrix" movie stars -- a sure sign that pop culture has reclaimed news turf.
In fact, "Reloaded" is so much in demand that distributor Warner Bros. has scheduled Wednesday previews ahead of a huge, 3600-theater opening on Thursday. Despite an R rating limiting audiences, "Reloaded" won't be firing box office blanks.
The previous best domestic opening by an R-rated film was serial killer movie "Hannibal" with $58 million in 2001.
"Certainly that opening weekend for 'Hannibal' will fall," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Inc. "I don't want to predict (and) I don't want to put any limits on this film, either."
Still, "Reloaded" is only one-half the entire movie, Silver said, because when it ends, its companion, "The Matrix Revolutions," begins, this coming November.
The original "The Matrix" wowed audiences in 1999 with its tale of software created cities, run by ruthless machines and powered by the minds of humans. It scored big at global box offices ($456 million) and became a king-size cult hit.
"When I made the first film, I had no expectation that would happen at all. "I was just hoping people dug it as much as I did," said Keanu Reeves, who plays the central character Neo, or "The One," whose destiny it is to save humankind.
MATRIX VIRUSES
"Reloaded" picks up where "Matrix" left off. The machines have discovered the human stronghold of Zion deep inside the Earth's core. They are tunneling there to kill the human race.
Neo, along with his comrades Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), must travel inside the matrix to destroy the machines and end their attempt at genocide.
Once inside, the trio discovers freaky software glitches -- sort of like computer viruses -- that mess with the mind of the one being that created the matrix.
Neo must get around the viruses and find the one being to realize his destiny. But he finds the going tough, and his sense of right and wrong, duty and honor are challenged.
"We really develop the vulnerabilities of Neo," said Reeves. "In the first one, he lost his fear and freed his mind. The second one kind of courses back in terms of, now that Neo can do that, what does he think about being 'The One,' what are the responsibilities and how does he feel about that."
The first "Matrix" showcased groundbreaking special effects allowing fighters to walk on air before landing their kicks. It slowed speeding bullets so audiences could see them slide by a dodging Neo. In "Reloaded," the effects are just as sharp. The fashion, again, features long black trench coats, dark glasses, hard bodies and skin-tight leather. "Matrix" dripped with cool and sex appeal. "Reloaded" doubles the firepower.
After cool kickfights, slow-motion gun battles, extended car chases, Neo finally finds what he thinks will end the turmoil and return the human race to a world of peace.
But remember fervent movie fans, "Reloaded" is only half a movie. There is more to come in November.