News and Rumors from Cinescape:

Check out these exclusive pics from Soldier, the big Kurt Russell action flick coming in October. Although it's not being promoted as a sequel to Blade Runner, screenwriter David Webb Peoples calls it a "sidequel" that takes place in the same universe. Note the L.A.P.D. spinner car from Blade Runner that can be seen in one of the Soldier shots. For more on Soldier, check out the article in the September/October CINESCAPE, on sale soon. Click on the small graphics to see the larger version. 

April 24, 1998 
Variety reports that Kurt Russell's son, Wyatt (age 11) will be playing the role of the elder Russell as a boy in the upcoming Soldier. Makes sense to us. 

April 21, 1998 
Jerry Weintraub's Soldier production (starring Kurt Russell and Jason Scott Lee) has opened its doors to art and design students from CAL Arts, Cal State San Jose and Cal State Fullerton. The challenge is to design one of the rooms on board a spacecraft called "Daddy." The participating students were already given a tour of the massive "Daddy" set to get a feel for the production. The tour was conducted by film's designer David L. Snyder. Then they were sent off with script pages and specs. Maybe Weintraub is trying to be warm and fuzzy. Maybe he's just trying to get cheap work. Perhaps he's looking for talent for future productions. The official reason: "to provide an educational experience based in the reality of the film." 

April 8, 1998 
While postponing indefinitely a promoted plan to allow art students to design (or construct, we're not quite sure) one of the sets for the in-production Paul Anderson film Soldier, new details about the project have surfaced. Cinescape Online can report that Kurt Russell's character in the film, a veteran warrior rendered obsolete by a new breed of fighters, will be named 'Todd' and relegated to DSer, an outpost on the outer rim of the universe. While there, he learns new techniques which he employs to fight the military that put him there. Gary Busey plays Russell's Captain, while Jason Scott Lee plays lead grunt Caine 607, who leads the attack against Russell's new home. The movie also stars Connie Nielsen and Michael Chiklis. 

April 2, 1998 
Variety reports today that the upcoming Kurt Russell sci-fi action movie Soldier will focus on the actor as a "veteran of numerous galactic conflicts who finds himself rendered obsolete by a new generation of specially bred, genetically engineered warriors." The plot forces Russell's character back into duty to take on a leader among the new breed (played by Jason Scott Lee) who threatens the powers that be. 

March 20, 1998 
Despite the similarities between the premises of the upcoming action movies Allied Forces and Soldier, a spy claiming access to the two scripts begs to differ. This tipster claims that the two movies have little in common beyond their military roots: 

"Just thought I'd write in to give your readers a little 'inside' info on a couple of the upcoming flicks mentioned on your site...and to maybe even set the record straight. Having been lucky enough to get my hands on the scripts to both Soldier and Allied Forces, I can tell you that the two projects are nothing alike. 

"While Soldier is closer to The Road Warrior, Allied Forces is best described as The Dirty Dozen in space. And while Soldier is more mythical, Allied Forces reads more like a straight war movie, think dramatically ambitious like Platoon. Its "supersoldiers" aren't just emotionless killing machines (like in Soldier), but individuals. They are the culmination of the great generals and fighting men of Earth's history - smarter, faster and wiser than their creators. In humanizing these "forgotten soldiers", the writer makes some interesting points about war...but without getting too preachy or letting up on the action." (Thanks to Paul L. for the comparison.) 

February 25, 1998 
Gary Busey (Lethal Weapon), Connie Nielsen (The Devil's Advocate), James Black (TV's Burning Zone), Jason Isaacs (Event Horizon), Sean Pertwee (Event Horizon), Tom O'Brien (TV's Timecop), Michael Chiklis (Nixon) and Brenda Wehle have joined Kurt Russell and Jason Scott Lee in the futuristic super-soldier film Soldier. 

January 29, 1998 
Kurt Russell, currently filming the lead in the Paul Anderson-directed action film Soldier for Warner Bros., broke his foot on Monday but is battling through the pain to finish principal photography. The film, which Variety claims will be renamed, focuses on Russell as a futuristic soldier pitted against an even superior grunt played by Jason Scott Lee. 

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