Slice of SciFi News Briefs

A a private viewing of the body of actor Heath Ledger is taking place today (Jan. 25) at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Police have set up barricades to keep onlookers, gawkers and especially paparazzi from disturbing his family and close friends who have flown in from Europe, different parts of the U.S. and Australia for this time of mourning. His family is reported to have said that they will be transporting his body back to Australia for burial in the family plot very soon.

Robert De Niro will receive the 43rd annual Golden Camera Lifetime Achievement Award on February 6 in Berlin.

The 75th Screen Actors Guild Awards will be doing something a little different after all these years. It will be recognizing Stunt Actors and their work with a regular SAG Award. The irony in the Guild’s timing is far fewer stunts with real people are done when compared to just a scant 5 years ago. Now, a great deal of those kinds of things are done with CGI rendering.

Still, we applaud SAG for finally recognizing a segment of the entertainment industry that has been such a vital part of filmmaking since that first cry of “Action” was heard over a century ago.

The nominees for this first-time SAG Award categories are:

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture:
300
The Bourne Ultimatum
I Am Legend
The Kingdom
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series:
24
Heroes
Lost
Rome
The Unit

Speaking of SAG…in the wake of the ongoing WGA strike and the just completed successful negotiations between the directors in the DGA and producers from the AMPTP, the actors are preparing to enter their own set of negotiations for renewed contracts with studios and networks. No one is sure where this will lead since the SGA has been an avid and strong supporter of the WGA cause from the beginning. SGA’s current contract expires on June 30, 2008.

Kristin’s Blog on E! Online is reporting that their may be new hope of seeing a return of “Blood Ties.”

“We’re hopeful,” stated Randy Zalken - Blood Ties’ executive producer. “Why? Because of fans like you. We’re very happy with the support of the online fans.”

Kristin goes on to say that Zalken thinks the built-in audience is strong enough to attract new backers to the show.

Read the full story HERE.

John Barrowman, who stars in the Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood said in a recent interview that he’s open to playing the mysterious death-less Captain Jack Harkness for many more years if possible.

“If I was asked to do Jack for the next five or six years I would do it with a big smile on my face, because I absolutely love playing him,” Barrowman said. “When the time comes for us to close the page on Torchwood and Jack Harkness, I’m also then happy to do that when that decision is made. But I think it’s got a bit of a life out there. Let’s hope we get three, four and, hopefully, five [seasons].”

Disney/Pixar announced plans to release new 3-D versions of Toy Story on October 2, 2009, and Toy Story 2 on February 12, 2010.

The third Toy Story will hit theaters as a 3-D feature on June 18, 2010, under director Lee Unkrich, who co-directed Toy Story 2, according to SCI FI Wire.