Action central

Viacom’s two-hour backdoor pilot The 4400, about alien abductees returned to Earth, keeps Vancouver’s service production firmly in the freaky space story camp – though there is some competition from the superheroes.

Francis Ford Coppola, Rene Echevarria (Dark Angel) and Maira Suro (Platinum) are executive producing the USA Network show, created and written by Scott Peters (The Outer Limits). Just the pilot is confirmed, but the plan is to continue with one-hour episodes. No cast was announced by press time.

Production runs March 15 to April 9, with Yves Simoneau in the director’s chair. Veteran Vancouver production manager Brent Clackson is the manager.

In the meantime, superhero Elektra is scheduled for an early May start. The spinoff of Daredevil stars Jennifer Garner (Alias) as a Ninja-style assassin who falls for her intended victim. Rob Bowman (The X-Files) is scheduled to direct.

Playing with fire

Darn that Kofi Annan. Because the UN Secretary General reportedly cleared the way for Sydney Pollack to shoot The Interpreter at the United Nations building in New York, the Nicole Kidman/Sean Penn political thriller has dropped its plans to shoot scenes in Toronto this spring.

Oh well, we lost Pollack but gained Danny Boyle (28 Days Later), who has stepped in to helm The Perfect Fire for Warner Bros. and Imagine Entertainment. The planned firefighting spectacular – also known as 3000 Degrees, the title of the book on which it is based – is slated to shoot here through the summer, and is now settling into its studio at Cinespace, looking to go to camera on May 10.

Ron Howard, who’s already in town to shoot Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe, will produce with his Imagine partner Brian Grazer.

Michael Mann (The Insider) was attached to direct but bailed at the last minute, reportedly frustrated with the pic’s lengthy preproduction.

Cops and robbers

One of John Carpenter’s better remakes will be made yet again in Toronto next month as cameras roll on a new version of his police thriller Assault on Precinct 13. French filmmaker Jean-Francois Richet (De l’amour) will direct the pic for Focus Features and distributor Universal. Don Carmody (Gothika, Chicago) produces along with Pascal Caucheteux (De l’amour, Doom Generation) of Why Not Productions. The 1976 original – about cops and their prisoners fighting off an angry street gang – was itself a remake of the Howard Hawks pic Rio Bravo.