Tradecraft: Saxon Sharbino is the New Face of Teen Spies

Sorry, Richard Grieco. It's just not your month. First, Jonah Hill takes over 21 Jump Street, and now Fox has anointed a new face of teenage spydom. Deadline reports that relative newcomer Saxon Sharbino (I Spit on Your Grave) has been cast in the lead role of the network's still untitled Karyn Usher teen spy drama. According to the trade blog, Sharbino will play Jane Forsythe, "the orphaned [teenage] daughter of a CIA operative who encounters a mysterious rogue agent who serves as her surrogate father and professional mentor in the spy world" in the La Femme Nikita-meets-The Professional-sounding show. As previously reported, Brett Ratner is attached to direct. Judging by Sharbino's picture, I'd hazard that the network might have seen Hanna and decided they wanted a Soirise Ronan type. Personally, I love the teen spy subgenre, and I'm rooting for this pilot. However, I have a feeling Fox might not pick up two new spy dramas, meaning it's probably competing with The Asset for a slot on their Fall schedule. If so, may the best spy win...

Tradecraft: Brett Ratner to Direct Fox's Teen Spy Pilot

According to Deadline, Brett Ratner (Tower Heist, After the Sunset) has signed on to direct the pilot for Karyn Usher's untitled teen spy drama at Fox. The project, centering on the orphaned teenage daughter of a CIA officer recruited to spy herself and mentored by a deadly and mysterious rogue agent, sounds sort of like a mash-up between Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita and The Professional. Last year, Ratner directed the slick but empty pilot for CBS's failed spy dramady CHAOS. Let's hope this one, assuming it gets picked up (and gets a title!), fares better.

New Spy DVDs Out Since Christmas

I've gotten several weeks behind now on new spy DVDs, but there's been some great stuff coming out! So here's a massive post-Christmas catch-up.

Remember Age of Heroes, the movie we first heard about in 2010 about "Ian Fleming's Red Indians," the 30 Assault Unit commando team created by the future Bond author while he served in Naval Intelligence during WWII? It came out on Region 2 PAL DVD last June from Metrodome Distribution, and I had little hope of it ever showing up stateside. But this week, thanks to eOne Entertainment, it has, on both DVD and Blu-ray! The film stars former Bond baddie Sean Bean, and James D'Arcy plays Commander Fleming. A good old-fashioned war adventure, Age of Heroes depicts the incredible true story of how James Bond creator Ian Fleming oversaw the activities of an elite and supremely well-trained commando unit during World War II, following the members of the 30AU from defeat at Dunkirk to a chance to change the course of the war on a top secret mission in Norway. For more on Fleming's involvement with 30AU, check out Craig Cabell's books Ian Fleming's Secret War and The History of 30 Assault Unit: Ian Fleming's Red Indians.

Also out this week on DVD and Blu-ray, from Lions Gate, is Abduction, the teen spy movie starring simian Twilight heartthrob Taylor Lautner. This movie got terrible, terrible reviews when it came out theatrically last fall. And I won't say they're not deserved; it is, after all, a pretty terrible movie. But so are a lot of movies, and Abduction isn't any worse than most other bad movies, and is a whole lot more fun than most bad movies. So... okay, I will say that it didn't deserve quite the drubbing it took. Because if you have some friends over, pour some drinks, and put this on, you're all going to have a pretty good time. And while you're cracking jokes about Lautner's unbelievably terrible performance and wondering aloud what the likes of Sigourney Weaver, Jason Isaacs, Maria Bello, Alfred Molina and Michael Nyqvist are doing in this movie, you're also going to find yourself sucked in a bit by John Singleton's ridiculous action sequences and the overall absurdity of the script. It's bad, yes... but it's enjoyably bad! (And I have a sneaking suspicion that some people probably thought the teen spy movies of my youth were bad, like my own personal favorite If Looks Could Kill.) Extras on both versions include the featurettes "Abduction Chronicle: On-Camera Production Journal," "Initiation of an Action Hero: Taylor's Amazing Stunts" and "The Fight for The Truth: Making Abduction" as well as a gag reel. On top of that, the BD offers "an exclusive In-Film Experience with in-picture documentaries and exclusive behind the scenes interviews with cast and crew." If you care. Retail is $39.99 for the Blu-ray (which also comes with a digital copy) and $29.95 for the DVD, but of course they're both half those prices on Amazon.

Earlier this month, Acorn released the second volume of the Sixties ITC spy series Man in a Suitcase, starring Richard Bradford as sacked CIA agent turned private operator McGill. These episodes from the second half of the show's single, super-sized season made their Region 1 DVD debut. (The entire series was released in single volumes in Britain and Australia.) Many of McGill's best adventures come in the second half, so this would be a welcome release and a must-buy for American ITC aficionados on that basis alone... but as it happens, there's even more reason. Man in a Suitcase: Set 2 also includes a very big bonus feature: the 69-minute interview with star Richard Bradford that first appeared on Network's Region 2 DVD release (but was not found on the Region 4 Umbrella set). Bradford was a perfectionist and a Method actor, which brought him into conflict with some members of the cast and crew and earned him a reputation for being "difficult." In this surprisingly candid interview from 2004, he speaks frankly and openly about those on-set clashes, as well as discussing his early days studying at Lee Strasberg's famous Actors Studio, working with his friend and fellow Method actor Marlon Brando, and more. If for some reason you needed further encouragement to buy the second and final collection of this top-notch Sixties spy show, this is it! Man in a Suitcase: Set 2 retails for $59.99, though it's considerably cheaper from the usual online vendors.

Read my review of Acorn's Man in a Suitcase: Set 1 here.

In the last week of 2011 (on my birthday, in fact), Fox snuck out one of the very best spy releases of the year, Archer: The Complete Season Two, on DVD and Blu-ray. The wildly irreverent, always inappropriate Archer remains one of my favorite spy shows on TV, and as I said in my post about the Best Spy Television of 2011, I find it very impressive that the writers managed to maintain the high level of quality in its second season. That's particularly tough for a parody series. The secret, of course, is that Archer is much more than a mere spy parody. It's a dysfunctional family comedy that happens to be set in a spy agency. As I said before, the extremely raunchy humor is definitely not for all tastes, but if it is to your liking, you'll no doubt appreciate the excellent animation and cool spy style on top of the gags. And even if I didn't love it already, a very obscure Magnum, P.I. reference in Season Two assured the show my allegiance forever! The Season Two discs contain some very good extras, including excerpts from last year's Comic-Con panel, which are hilarious (though I wish they'd included the 2010 panel, too, which featured less cutting up from the cast, but more legitimate answers about how the show is made and what influenced its creators), and several animated shorts. In one, Archer himself answers viewers' questions (and the writers get a whole lot of mileage out of a single set-up!), and in another he messes up the opportunity to give a shout-out to troops stationed overseas who love the show in a uniquely Archer way. These extras certainly make up for Season One's fake "unaired pilot" (which annoyed some fans), but they don't let that concept go, either. In fact, another funny short expands upon the main gag in that feature. The same day Season Two came out, Fox also made Archer: The Complete Season One widely available on Blu-ray for the first time. The high-def version was previously a Best Buy exclusive, and Archer's top-notch design and crisp animation make it one show that truly benefits from high-def presentation.

Finally, Universal released the Jason Statham/Clive Owen period assassin thriller Killer Elite on dual formats, DVD and DVD/Blu-ray combo. The only real bonus material on both versions is deleted scenes, which is too bad, because I would have liked some featurettes exploring the supposedly factual book on which the movie was based, The Feather Men, and how and why the film deviates from its source. Oh well. The combo version also includes a digital copy and an Ultraviolet copy (oooh!), which is something the studio wants you to be way more excited about than you no doubt are. Retail is $29.98 for the DVD and $34.98 for the combo, though of course both are considerably cheaper than that on Amazon right now. I really enjoyed Killer Elite. You can read my full review of the film here.

Tradecraft: Fox Teen Spy Show Gets Pilot

It seems like all the spy TV pitches studios bought last fall are getting pilot orders this year! (Which is great news.) The latest one to get the go ahead, from Fox, is the Karyn Usher teen spy show we first heard about in October. According to Deadline, "The procedural thriller centers on the orphaned 17-year-old daughter of a CIA operative who is recruited to become an operative herself. She encounters a mysterious rogue agent/assassin who serves as both her surrogate father and professional mentor in the spy world." This one sounds like it's got a lot of promise to me. (I confess I have a soft spot for teen spies.) This is the second spy pilot Fox has ordered this week; a few days ago they ordered Josh Friedman's female spy drama The Asset. So the odds are looking good that we'll see at least one spy series on the Fox schedule next fall...

Tradecraft: Fox Buys Teen Spies

Tradecraft: Fox Buys Teen Spies

Deadline reports that Fox has snapped up a teen spy TV project from The Playboy Club's Karyn Usher and Pink Panther director Shawn Levy's production company 21 Laps. The trade blog describes the potential series as "a procedural thriller centered on the orphaned 17-year-old daughter of a CIA operative who is recruited to become an operative herself." The idea originated from Levy's producing partner Mary Adelstein, who took it to Usher.

Tradecraft: Dark Knight Producer Attends Langley High

Tradecraft: Dark Knight Producer Attends Langley High

Deadline reports that Charles Roven, a producer on The Dark Knight, and his Atlas Entertainment partner Alex Gartner (Get Smart) have optioned an upcoming graphic novel hatched by producer/manager J.C. Spink and Christopher Cosmos called Langley High. According to the trade blog, "the protagonist is a student from Langley High, located 1.7 miles from CIA headquarters. His father is captured in Russia and when he’s disavowed as a CIA agent, the student teams with an undercover CIA agent teacher from the high school and goes on a mission of revenge." So it's basically The Rescue or Iron Eagle but with spies.... I love it! The Rescue was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Pure young adult escapism.

Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman will adapt the alleged graphic novel into a film. My only question is whether it will ever actually materialize as a graphic novel, or if the galleys or script and concept art or whatever actually exists at this point served their purpose in getting the material optioned as a film. Remember when what ultimately became the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movie was first announced? Supposedly it was based not directly on the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, but on an "upcoming comic book" by Lionel Wigram. That comic never materialized, and eventually what actually existed of it was released as a bonus for people who bought the DVD at Target, and it amounted to a few concept illustrations by John Watkiss (James Bond 007: Light of My Death), not an actual comic book. That happens a lot in Hollywood, when half-finished comics are really nothing more than marketing tools to sell screenplays. Anyway, I hope Langley High is really a comic, because I'd like to read it! I can't help be a little suspicious, however, since no publisher is mentioned. Either way, I'm excited for the possible movie, and hope it happens.

Aim High Debuts in October

Aim High Debuts in October

McG's teen spy web series Aim High, starring Jackson Rathbone,  finally has a new premiere date: October 11. Hopefully this one will stick! The series will air on Facebook, but will only be available (for now) to North American audiences. Watch the trailer here.

New Spy DVDs Out This Week: X-Men: First Class and Hanna

New Spy DVDs Out This Week: X-Men: First Class and Hanna

It might seem like I'm a few days late with this post, which I usually try to get up on Tuesdays, but the biggest spy release of the week didn't come out on Tuesday. Weirdly, it comes out today, on Friday. As far as I'm concerned, X-Men: First Class is still the spy movie to beat so far this year. (Read my full review here.) Matthew Vaughn's Sixties-set superhero epic is a paen to the spy movies and TV shows of that era as much as it is a terrific origin story for the mutant film franchise. (Read about some of The Avengers' influence on Vaughn's film here.) This week, Fox Home Entertainment releases X-Men: First Class on DVD and Blu-ray, the latter with copious special features.

Special features on the X-Men: First Class Blu-ray include ten Marvel X-Men Digital Comics with exclusive X-Men: First Class backstory (which is particularly cool, since Marvel didn't release any direct comic book tie-ins when the movie was in theaters!), an eight-part behind-the-scenes featurette called "Children of the Atom" charting the film from pre-production through post-production (including visual effects techniques and cataloging X-Men transformations through prosthetic make up and costume design), extended and deleted scenes (including one of Michael Fassbender in drag... which is kind of weird), an interactive feature allowing viewers the opportunity to learn more about specific scenes with talent interviews and behind-the-scenes footage called "X Marks the Spot," an isolated score track(!) showcasing composer Henry Jackman's Sixties spy-saturated soundtrack, the theatrical trailer and some gimmicky interactive thing called the "Cerebro Mutant Tracker," billed as "the complete interactive Mutant Database with interactive videos giving fans the [interactive, surely?] ability to learn about their favorite mutants in the X-Men film franchise," plus a BD-Live Portal with additional Cerebro Mutant Tracker profiles. All that adds up to more than two hours of bonus material! You'll be able to choose between heroes and villains with two separate collectible O-rings in stores. (They're the same cover underneath.) Retail is $39.99 for the Blu-ray and $29.99 for the DVD, but both are currently substantially discounted on Amazon and other online retailers.

Making this a big week for major mainstream spy releases, on Tuesday Universal Studios Home Entertainment put out Joe Wright's hard-edged teen assassin movie Hanna on DVD and Blu-ray. Extras on both versions include an alternate ending (that I'm particularly keen to see; the ending was the only part I didn't really like about the movie), deleted scenes, "Anatomy of a Scene: The Escape From Camp G" (undoubtedly the coolest scene in the movie) and an audio commentary with director Wright. Further exclusive bonus features on the Blu-ray (don't you hate that?) include "Adapt or Die," a featurette on training, a making-of documentary cleverly titled "Central Intelligence Allegory," a featurette on the Chemical Brothers' awesome score called "Chemical Reaction" and "The Wide World of Hanna," a featurette about the film's impressive European locations. This La Femme Nikita-meets-Bourne with a teenage girl spy movie/fairy tale starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana is another one of my favorites so far this year, and I'm looking forward to adding the Blu-ray to my collection. And look! They even kept the cool poster art rather than slapping together a Photoshop montage for the DVD cover! Nicely done, Universal. Retail is $34.98 for the Blu-ray and $29.98 for the DVD, but both are available considerably cheaper on Amazon.

Tradecraft: A New Twist on Hitchcock - The Kid Who Knew Too Much

According to a Deadline article about a new HBO comedy from writer Bryan Sipe, "Sipe has [also] signed on to do a re-write on the Parkes/MacDonald-produced feature The Kid Who Knew Too Much for Paramount, a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 and 1956 movies." As the title clearly indicates, this is a remake of the film that Hitch himself remade (and preferred the remake), only focusing on a kid. In the original(s), a vacationing couple has their son kidnapped to prevent them from talking when they unwittingly stumble upon some intelligence about an upcoming assassination attempt. The father then tracks down clues to save his son. A February story on /film confirms that in the new version, instead of a couple desperately searching for their missing child, we’ll see "a kid looking for his stolen parents." I think that's a sound premise—and one so obvious I can't believe we haven't seen it sooner. Paramount is sort of carving a niche for themselves by remaking Hitchcock movies with a kid focus. (2007's Disturbia was a teen version of Rear Window.) It's unclear from either story how old the protagonist will be, but personally I'd prefer to see a slightly grittier film about a teen rather than a Cody Banks-type fantasy about a younger child. According to the /film article, Fair Game writers John and Jez Butterworth penned the first draft of this.

Aim High Premiere Pushed Back

McG's teen spy web series Aim High was supposed to debut this week on Facebook, but according to a posting on the site, it's been pushed back. A new premiere date will be announced soon. In the meantime, you can watch the teaser below. As previously reported, Aim High stars The Twilight Saga's Jackson Rathbone (no relation to Basil, sadly) as an ordinary high schooler with an extraordinary after school job: he's been trained by the government as a counter-terrorism agent. Yet he's still got to maintain his cover and put up with teachers and bullies during the day. It's very simple and we've seen plenty of variations on it in books and films, but as I've said before, I love this premise and I'm excited to see it done as a series--even if it's a web series that I have to go to Facebook to watch. Coming from one of the producers of Chuck and with a pretty impressive supporting cast lined up, I'm eager to see how this one turns out. (Plus, I like that poster!)

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Hanna

DVD Active reports that Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release Joe Wright's hard-edged teen assassin movie Hanna on DVD and Blu-ray on September 6. According to the website, extras on both versions include an alternate ending (that I'm particularly keen to see; the ending was the only part I didn't really like about the movie), deleted scenes, "Anatomy of a Scene: The Escape From Camp G" (undoubtedly the coolest scene in the movie) and an audio commentary with director Wright. Further exclusive bonus features on the Blu-ray (don't you hate that?) include "Adapt or Die," a featurette on training, a making-of documentary cleverly titled "Central Intelligence Allegory," a featurette on the Chemical Brothers' awesome score called "Chemical Reaction" and "The Wide World of Hanna," a featurette about the film's impressive European locations. This La Femme Nikita-meets-Bourne with a teenage girl spy movie/fairy tale starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana is one of my favorites of the year so far, and I'm looking forward to adding the Blu-ray to my collection. And look! They even kept the cool poster art rather than slapping together a Photoshop montage for the DVD cover! Nicely done, Universal. Pricing has yet to be announced.

Spy Kids 4 Poster

The one-sheet for Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (the fourth film in the series) has popped up online... and it looks an awful lot like all the other Spy Kids posters. Despite Robert Rodriguez's initial comments that this project would be a reboot akin to what Casino Royale was for James Bond, it's looking more and more like more of the same. (Just with different kids.) Watch the trailer here.

New Spy Kids Trailer

The trailer is out for Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, and it looks... like a Spy Kids movie.  Sigh.  I have to admit that though I'm generally a fan of Rodriguez and I'm definitely a fan of spies—even kid spies (Alex Rider, CHERUB, etc.)—I'm not really a fan of the Spy Kids movies.  I had hope for this one based on the director's comments last year to the effect that if the original trilogy was the Roger Moore equivalent, the new "reboot" would be more akin to Daniel Craig's Casino Royale.  That intrigued me.  But based on this trailer, which includes more than one vomit joke, a talking robot ninja dog voiced by Ricky Gervais and as much over-the-top CGI as all the others, it's just more of the same old stuff.  Oh well.  Jessica Alba looks hot as a spy mom, and I did like the original spy kid's cameo...  Judge for yourself:

Alex Rider's Final Mission

The clock runs out today for teen spy Alex Rider. Anthony Horowitz's bestselling series comes to an end with today's publication of Scorpia Rising, the last Rider novel. In a rare occurence, the American edition from Philomel actually precedes the British edition from Walker, which isn't due out until March 31. (But the Brits get the superior cover art, so it all evens out in the end!) Will Alex survive his last mission? Legions of fans (well, American ones, anyway) will soon know the answer. But whether he does or not, Horowitz told NPR in an interview last August that "there is no way forward. The book is without any question the end of a very long journey that I have been taking." Scorpia Rising may well be the end of the road for Alex Rider, but certainly not for Horowitz. The Foyle's War creator was recently tapped to pen the first ever officially licensed Sherlock Holmes continuation novel, which is due out this fall. It's a move designed to further perpetuate the copyright holders' claim on the character, but despite their motivations, I have no doubt that Horowitz will deliver a fantastic and faithful adventure for the master detective.

Scorpia Rising, a $17.99 hardcover, is currently available at 40% off from Amazon.

Read my review of the previous Rider novel, 2009's Crocodile Tears, here.
Read my review of Eagle Strike (2004) here.

Hanna Poster

Dark Horizons has revealed the visually striking poster for Joe Wright's upcoming teen assassin spy movie, Hanna, starring Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Olivia Williams, Tom Hollander and Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery.  Hanna opens this April in the United States. Watch the exciting Bourne-meets-Nikita (meets Modesty Blaise) trailer here.

Final Alex Rider Cover Art Revealed

Here's the second Anthony Horowitz news item of the day. I'm a little behind on this, but the cover artwork for the final Alex Rider novel, Scorpia Rising, popped up last month on the official Alex Rider website and on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.  As usual, the British artwork (left) is better (though I don't think it's final), and the American one (right) is too busy.  Writer Anthony Horowitz swears up and down that Scorpia Rising really is the end of his hugely popular Young Adult teen spy series–and a very definitive end at that.  Spy fans can discover exactly what he means by that this March.  Scorpia Rising comes out in hardcover in the United States from Philomel on March 22, and (surprisingly) a week later in the UK when Walker Books releases the paperback original on March 31. Previously, these books have debuted first in Britain.  It's also curious that this one's back to being a paperback original in the UK, like the early books, since the last one, Crocodile Tears (review here), came out in hardcover.  Here's the intriguing UK description for Scorpia Rising:

This gripping final mission brings together Alex Rider's old enemies to frame the teenage superspy in an unstoppable plot of revenge, from which he can never return. Pursued from Europe to North Africa and Cairo's city of the dead - this is the twistiest and most deadly plot of any Alex Rider mission yet, and will reveal Smithers' ultimate gadget and see the shock death of a major character.

The American description is less revealing:

Scorpia has dogged Alex Rider for most of his life. They killed his parents, they did their best to con Alex into turning traitor, and they just keep coming back with more power. Now the world's most dangerous terrorist organization is playing with fire in the world's most combustible land: the Middle East. No one knows Scorpia like Alex. And no one knows how best to get to Alex like Scorpia. Until now.


The chases have never been more intense, the fights more treacherous, or the risks so perilous to mankind. And this time, Alex won't get away.

Horowitz himself revealed far more about the book in his interview with NPR last year.  Read all about that here. If you pre-order now, you can save 50% on the British version of Scorpia Rising (making it a dirt-cheap £3.49) and nearly as much on the American one.

Another Twilight Star Turns to Spying

Ready for it? Deadline reports that ubiquitous werewolf teen heartthrob Taylor Lautner will receive eight figures to star in "an as-yet-unnamed international spy thriller set up at New Regency" described as “The Bourne Identity for the next generation.” (Of course it is! You can't pitch a spy movie in this day and age without putting the word "Bourne" in there somewhere.) Upon reading that much, I was hoping it would be a remake of If Looks Could Kill (that would be pretty cool, wouldn't it?), but according to the trade blog, "the story is loosely"–and I bet that "loosely" is the operative word!–"based on the exploits of Juval Aviv, a former Israeli Mossad agent who was the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-nominated Munich." Presumably, this will be a Mossad agent with a penchant for cut-off jeans–or at least an aversion to shirts. Not only will he star; Lautner (who will be 19 next month) will also produce, along with New Regency's Alexandra Milchan.

Last year we learned that Lautner's Twilight co-star Jackson Rathbone was starring in a McG-produced web series about a spy school called Aim High. (I guess that seems kind of small potatoes compared to an eight-figure payday for a big international spy thriller. Oh well; I'm excited about Aim High.) Now Robert Pattinson (who starred opposite Pierce Brosnan in Remember Me) just needs to get himself a spy movie for a Spylight trifecta! I know that would actually get my sister into the theater for a spy movie on opening day. Maybe this Lautner vehicle will have the same effect, broadening the spy audience to giddy fangirls...

Adam Berry's Kim Possible Score Music Online

This is probably really old news (after all, the show's been off the air for a few years now), but I just discovered it and wanted to share.  Television composer Adam Berry has made a lot of his awesome score music from Disney's Kim Possible available streaming on his website.  I was thrilled to discover this because I've long wanted a soundtrack CD from this series.  Berry references all sorts of classic spy sounds from James Bond to Mission: Impossible to Alias in his electronic score for this whipsmart spy parody cartoon that ran from 2002-2007.  (Full-season Region 1 Kim Possible DVD sets remain an elusive Holy Grail for me.)

Jackson Rathbone Aims For McG's Teen Spy Series Aim High

Ace Showbiz reports that McG's high school spy web series we first heard about a few months ago, Aim High, has been cast.  The Twilight Saga's Jackson Rathbone (who actually might have been the best thing about the Twilight movie that my sister forced me to see, though I was sad to learn he's not actually related to Basil) stars as student spy Nick Green.  According to the website, "Nick is one of the US government's 64 trained teenage operatives and just blew a hit he had on a Russian mercenary named Boris the Bear (Clancy Brown). He's juggling the ripple effects of that with his secret love for Amanda Miles (Friday Night Lights' Aimee Teegarden). The girl takes the chance to flirt with him but problem is, she's got a jealous and overprotective boyfriend (Jonathan McDaniel) who just so happens to be the swim team captain."  I love the convergence of the spy and teen soap genres!  This sounds great to me.  Lost's Rebecca Mader and Ally McBeal's Greg Germann play two of the school's faculty members.  While this "digital series" will debut online in 2011, WB also has plans to compile all the episodes into a feature film and release that on DVD.

Grown-Up Spy Kids And Jessica Alba In A Catsuit

The website What Would Tyler Durden Do? (via AICN) has scored some pictures from the Austin set of Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World.  They include some images of the original spy kids, Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara (who was pretty hilarious in Rodriguez's Machete) all grown up, as well as sexy new spy kid handler (whoah, that sounds really bad; hopefully they won't actually call her that...) Jessica Alba in a pretty authentic Emma Peel-style catsuit.  I suspect the latter will be of more interest to most readers than the former.  Read more about Spy Kids 4 (part sequel, part reboot) here.