Tim Wilcox, who conceptualized the digital design of the upcoming SF film The Time Machine, told SCI FI Wire that he based his design for the titular device in part on the machine in George Pal's 1960s version of the movie. "We wanted to give a tip of the hat to the original, as it was such an icon," Wilcox said in an interview at the International Comic-Con in San Diego.

Wilcox added, "It's definitely not the same, [but] fans will appreciate a wink to the original." Included in the design is a replica of the original barber chair in Pal's version, crafted to fit the specifications of the new movie. The overall design also owes a debt to Pal in having large, spinning parts and a crystal control device, as well as a numerical panel that ticks off the years.

But beyond that, Wilcox's design is "a new look at how things are done." The new machine is crafted to look like a high-tech Victorian creation of brass, wood and crystal. When not travelling through time, the machine has an hourglass shape with its compound-curved crystal prisms (actually made of plexiglass). While traveling, the machine transforms into a sphere specially designed to hurtle a passenger safely through the time-space continuum. According to Wilcox, the time counter was based on English mathematician Charles Babbage's 1890s-era "difference engine"--a kind of rudimentary computer composed of interlocking gears.

The time machine was first designed on a computer, from which a scale model was crafted before the full-sized prop was created. Construction on the machine began in July 2000, and, with only a few weeks off, Wilcox and his crew worked straight through until filming began in February 2001. Wilcox added that the prop has many functional moving parts, and because of its complexity, only a single machine was built for the production. In all, the machine weighs 4,500 pounds and cost approximately $1 million. The Time Machine is set for a November release.

Simon Wells, director of an upcoming new film version of H.G. Wells' classic SF novel The Time Machine, told SCI FI Wire that the movie pushes the limits of visual-effects technology to bring viewers a new--yet familiar--experience of time travel. "A lot of it is essentially giving the audience things that they sort of have seen, but doing them better and taking it further," Wells said in an interview at the International Comic-Con in San Diego.

Wells added, "Partly, [we're] doing the time-travel stuff that has been done before, the stop-motion stuff, but doing it way, way better than it's been done before. But then, we up the ante. Because we actually see geological time scales take place. Where George Pal [in his 1960s Time Machine film], for instance, very carefully [had his time traveler hide] in a big mountain for most it, we actually witness those changes taking place." Wells said that the movie will show viewers the changes that take place as the hero, played by Guy Pearce, journeys 800,000 years into the future from his 19th-century lab in London.

The movie will also feature a sophisticated new machine, a brass, glass and wood device modeled in part on an hourglass and partly on Pal's machine--the chair actually mirrors the one in the old design. The new machine--which Wells said cost $1 million to build--was on view at Comic-Con. "Quite apart from the fact that the design of it is extraordinary, there is an immense amount of visual-effects work that goes on top of this machine," Wells said. "Actually, a lot of the stuff with the machine, we remove the blades, and the [spinning] blades are actually computer-generated. And the amazing thing is, you can't tell which are real and which are the generated blades. The technology is that good now."

Wells--H.G.'s great-grandson--also alters the narrative to speak to a 21st-century audience. "It's an issue of trying to find a personal story that's worth telling," Wells said. "A story ... that used the time-travel aspect that would in some way reflect a personal growth or a discovery within a character. So what we came up with was this aspect of an event in your past that you can't change, even if you had a time machine to go back and do it, you still can't change. In this case, it's actually what made Alexander make the time machine in the first place. So there's the granny-strangling paradox: You can't go back in time and strangle you grandmother, because then you wouldn't be born. You can't go and change the event which caused you to make the machine that allows you to go back. ... We came up with ... the idea that the time traveler is, in an emotional sense, stuck in one place in time, even though physically he's able to move to anywhere in time that he wants. ... Maturity comes from accepting your past and being informed by it and making your decisions to go into the future based on your experiences in the past. This is essentially what our character discovers. He starts out as a very unworldly character who has considerable difficulties relating to the world around him, and we see that emotional growth in him through the story." The Time Machine, now in post-production, opens in November.

Renee Zellweger is in talks to star in the fantasy film 13 Going on 30, about a girl who envisions what she'll be like at age 30, Variety reported. No director has been attached to the project, which is set up at Sony-based Revolution Studios, the trade paper reported.

Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who wrote last year's Mel Gibson fantasy film What Women Want, penned 13.

Director F. Gary Gray (Friday) has signed on to helm the feature-film version of Matt Wagner's Mage comic series, about a reluctant superhero, Variety reported. Spyglass Entertainment, the Disney-based studio behind The Sixth Sense, is behind the movie, the trade paper reported.

Mage tells the story of an average guy who discovers that he is a major player in the struggle against dark forces.

The Inside.com Web site reported that Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes may be three or four days behind schedule. Fox is reportedly struggling to get the film completed in time for a July 27 release and postponed for two days an exhibitor screening originally set for July 17.

The press junket for the movie, meanwhile, has been pushed to July 20, just a week before the film opens, the site reported. "We were in the lab all weekend long," Fox vice chairman Bob Harper told Inside.com. "We've never done a film on this tight a schedule." Harper said the film is behind schedule mainly because of the post-production special-effects work that is still underway. But as recently as two weeks ago, filmmakers were reportedly reshooting live-action scenes, including an opening rocket-crash sequence, sources familiar with the situation told Inside.com. In addition, studio executives also are said to have requested significant changes in composer Danny Elfman's score to make the music more heroic-sounding, a source told the site.