Movies
Andrew Divoff Wants to Return for ‘Wishmaster 5’
The Djinn has a wish of his own.
The biggest bummer of the Wishmaster franchise is that Andrew Divoff, who played the villainous Djinn in the first two films, did not return for the third and fourth installments in the series. Beginning with Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell, Divoff was replaced in the role by actor John Novak – most fans agree that Divoff’s departure spelled the end of the franchise.
Divoff has been doing the interview rounds and reflecting on the Wishmaster experience in celebration of the franchise hitting Blu-ray recently, and it’s his chat with the website Geekadelphia that really caught our eye. During the interview, Divoff revealed that it was a joint decision for him to leave the series after Wishmaster 2… but he hopes to someday play the Djinn one more time.
When Divoff was asked to reveal one wish, he replied:
Well, you know what, if I had one I might as well go ahead and say it. Wishmaster 5. I will answer the lingering question, I would love to do it again. But whether it is me or not I think the franchise has a lot of life left in it.
The actor also dug a bit into Wishmaster: The Third Millennium, a script he himself penned for the third installment. Of course, the script was rejected and the film never made.
I was a little too well, how should I say, overshooting the mark with what could be expected from special effects at some of the things that were included in my script; like gargoyles on buildings coming to life and coming down into the street and that sort of thing. That would have been, as we had discussed, the budget for that one outweighed the rest of the films. It was called Wishmaster: The Third Millennium. It was written right around 1999 and 2000 and it was basically, you know in anticipation of Y2K and all of that. You’ll remember that was a bit of a panic in the day. There was an American warship in Asia and it is hit by a missile, and all hell breaks loose. Incidentally, there is a meeting going on at the UN and monsters come to life right there and go through the crowd and start ripping it up.
Be sure to read the full chat over on Geekadelphia.
Movies
R-Rated ‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe’ Director’s Cut Gets New Title and Streaming Premiere Date
After a slight delay, Disney has finally announced a new streaming date for the R-Rated director’s cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe. According to Gizmodo, it’ll also come with a new title.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn begins streaming on Hulu on August 14.
The new cut was first teased in an interview with director Chris Carter on the Fail Better With David Duchovny podcast from last year, where he teased a much scarier movie he intended.
“Now I have a chance to go back and make the scary movie that I always intended to make,” Carter explained last year. “It’s not just doing a Director’s Cut to do a Director’s Cut. It’s really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen.“
The director’s cut of the film was initially set to arrive on Disney+ in June, but quietly disappeared from the schedule without a word. Polygon reported the delay was “due to some last-minute adjustments being made to the film.”
The release’s new “Vrach Frankenshteyn” title certainly suggests those adjustments have been made, likely referring to a Frankensteining of bonus footage.
In the film, Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) have been out of the FBI for several years, with Mulder living in isolation and Scully having become a doctor at a Catholic hospital, where she has formed a bond with a critically ill child patient.
When an FBI agent is mysteriously kidnapped, and a former Catholic priest who has been convicted of pedophilia claims to be experiencing psychic visions of the endangered agent, Scully is asked to bring Mulder back to the bureau to consult on the case because of his work with psychics.
The brand new R-rated cut will “faithfully restore the filmmaker’s original vision.”
Look for it on Hulu next month.