Firefly

Alan Tudyk, who plays the space pilot Wash in the upcoming SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that the movie based on Fox’s canceled TV show Firefly is now shooting and will be bigger and better, with a story that picks up on the show’s mythology. "I can say this, and I can’t say much, because [writer/director] Joss [Whedon] would kill me," Tudky said in an interview. "In the TV show, if you know it, the characters of River [Summer Glau] and Simon [Sean Maher] were some of the people on board the ship [and] are wanted by the law. And it got us into trouble a lot. They’re still wanted by the law in the movie. But the Alliance, the law, assigns a guy to catch her, who’s really, really good at his job. That’s all I can say." The "guy" is called simply The Operative and is played by British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (Amistad).

As for the movie, Tudyk said, "It is bigger [than the TV show], yeah. Our costumes are cooler. Our ship is the same, although it’s actually a little bit cooler." Tudyk added, with tongue in cheek, "The hallways are a little bit wider to accommodate better acting. It’s not as dangerous. You need wider halls for better acting. The first rule of acting: wide open space. It’s not as dangerous of a set. Used to be you put your hand on something, and you came away with blood. ... Now it’s all very smooth surfaces."

Tudyk, who plays the pilot of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity 500 years in the future, added: "My bridge. ... The day before yesterday was my first day flying the spaceship. And I got all sorts of new switches. I love the switches and the buttons that light up. And I’ve got two screens that hang above my head that I never had before that I’ll access different things."

Serenity, now shooting in and around Los Angeles and at Universal Studios, picks up the story of the crew of the Serenity and reunites the original Firefly cast, including Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin and Ron Glass. Longtime TV producer Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) makes his feature-film directorial debut with Serenity. Tudyk said the movie has more time and more money to get things right. "The pilot we shot for Firefly was a two-hour pilot. ... I think we made that for $12 million. ... And we have $50 million to do two hours now. So [Whedon] can do a lot." Tudyk added: "And we have a lot of support at Universal. They’re really happy with what we’ve done. We’re about a month and a half into shooting now, and they’re extraordinarily excited. But we all get along so well. I mean, it is ridiculous." Serenity is eyeing an April 22, 2005, release. Universal Pictures, which is releasing the movie, is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.