Minnie Driver is reportedly fuming after Oscar officials are forcing her to face the possibility of accepting her ACADEMY AWARD from her ex-flame MATT DAMON. The British beauty, who was dumped by the GOOD WILL HUNTING hunk in the New Year, had an uncomfortable time at the GOLDEN GLOBES earlier this year when she had to sit with him and the rest of her co-stars. But the Academy Awards are going one step further by arranging for Damon to present the Best Supporting Actress statuette – the award for which Driver is in the running. A spokesperson for the ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES admitted Thursday that Damon will be a presenter at Hollywood’s biggest night, but added, “It has not yet been confirmed if he will present the best actress Oscar or another award.” Despite the heartache, Driver is determined to not let her ex-boyfriend marr the big ceremony. She says, “I really do want to win. I want it badly. If I do win I think I will call my aunt in New York first before all my family in London. There is a big contingent there.”

NEIL GAIMAN, P. CRAIG RUSSELL & TROY NIXEY TO APPEAR IN ONI DOUBLE FEATURE ISSUES #6, 7 & 8 STARTING IN JUNE

Oni Press has finalized negotiations to publish an all-new comics adaptation of Only The End of The World Again, written by Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell and Troy Nixey, it was announced today by marketing director, Shannon T. Stewart. The story will be serialized in three, monthly chapters beginning in Oni Double Feature #6, scheduled for a June, 1998 release.

The upstart company began releasing titles in December 1997, and already Oni Press has amassed quite a roster of celebrated talent to their publishing schedule. Publisher, Bob Schreck commented, “When your first book is by Frank Miller and Simon Bisley, the ‘Yeah, but what have you done for us, lately?’ scenario kicks in pretty quickly. We don’t think we’ve been resting on our laurels here, what with the likes of Kevin Smith, MattWagner, Paul Pope, Gilbert Hernandez, Grant Morrison, Terry LaBan, Paul Grist, Jim Mahfood, the Pander Bros. and Bill Sienkiewicz all appearing in our first five months.”

Gaiman, best known for his award-winning, fan-favorite work on Sandman for DC Comics, has produced many best-selling graphic novels, including Mr. Punch, Signal to Noise, and Violent Cases. With Only The End of The World Again, Neil Gaiman delivers an amazing story set in the nightmarish surroundings of H.P. Lovecraft’s fictional town, Innsmouth. Gaiman’s vision is hauntingly brought to the comics page by the masterful layouts of P. Craig Russell (Elric , Star Wars). Providing the full pencils and final illustrations to the board is the extremely talented “newcomer” Troy Nixey (Bacon from Oni Double Feature #’s 3 &4). “We’re extremelyproud to be able to present this story to comics readers in general and to Gaiman fans, in particular,” Schreck continued.

“It’s an odd little tale. One that’s very near and dear to my heart,” Gaiman commented. “I’ve known Bob Schreck (Oni publisher/editor) since before the release of my very first graphic novel, Violent Cases, and I think he’s one of the good guys. I’m excited about what Oni Press istrying to do, and I wanted to do something tangible to express my support of their efforts to date.”

Gaiman continued, “This project has been in the works for quite some time. I’vealways enjoyed working with Craig Russell, and there is a real trust and an easy understanding between us. Craig did the astonishing adaptation of my story ‘ONE LIFE’, which Topps published last year. He’s an author’s dream artist, because he’ll take a prose story and turn it into the comics story I would have written if it had been a comic. However, he’s also nightmarishly busy. So for this project,” Gaiman added, “we enlisted the talents of Troy Nixey, who’s a terrific young artist, with a twistedly elegant drawing style. Troy’s artwork, coupled with Craig’s storytelling, have me eagerly awaitingthe end result.”

Only The End of The World Again is created and written by Neil Gaiman, adapted by P. Craig Russell, and illustrated by Troy Nixey. The story will total 48-pages in length, and will be presented in three black-and-white chapter installments appearing in monthly issues 6, 7 & 8 of Oni Double Feature, beginning in June. Each issue has a retail cover price of $2.95 U.S. $4.15 Can.

• The magazine listed the top 100 films based on what critics gave it ranging from 4 to -1 stars. Chasing Amy came in number four, losing out to LA Confidential, The Sweet Hereafter and Boogie Nights.
• The road to hell is paved with great casting on Dogma, Kevin Smith’s upcoming comedy about Catholicism. Chris Rock will appear as Rufus, the unsung thirteenth apostle, who spreads the gospel that Jesus is black, and Ben Affleck and Matt Damon play two fallen angels. “This is the movie Affleck’s wanted to do forever,” says Smith, who got a taste of his Chasing Amy star’s rising stock when he dropped in Armageddon. There, in the presence of a huge man-made asteroid, “the dude grabs me and goes, ‘This is all bullshit,'” Smith says. “‘What you do is real.'”

Affleck Bound For ‘Glory’

By Michael Fleming

NEW YORK (Variety) – Alhough Ben Affleck’s “Good Will Hunting” co-star and co-writer Matt Damon has gotten the lion’s share of attention from that film, Affleck himself is emerging as an up-and-coming leading man.

Affleck is being eyed by Warner Bros. to head the cast in a character-based drama tentatively titled “Glory Days.” The project is one of several that Robert Zemeckis (“Forrest Gump”) is considering for his next directing slot.

The film won’t start production until the fall, which is fine with Affleck, since he’s booked solid until then.

Affleck has small roles in “Shakespeare in Love”, “Dogma” and “200 Cigarettes” and will costar with Sandra Bullock in “Forces of Nature” in June at DreamWorks.

He is expected to get a major career boost this summer, when he stars alongside Bruce Willis in Disney’s big-budgeter “Armageddon”, which opens July 4 weekend.

And now the second…

Damon To Present Oscar

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) – Matt Damon will be a presenter at the 70th Academy Awards. It will be the first Oscar appearance for the actor-screenwriter.

Damon received nominations in the best actor and best screenplay categories for his acting and writing duties in “Good Will Hunting.” He will next appear in the titlerole in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming “Saving Private Ryan”.

The Academy Awards will be broadcast live by ABC on March 23 beginning 6 p.m. (PST)

And now to top it all off, MTV News will be running a piece on Kevin Smithall this week! For those of you hibernating in a cave for the last few years, Kevin Smith was the writer and director of “Clerks”, “Mallrats” and “Chasing Amy” (These movies not only kicked @$$ but they also featured infinite allusions to comic books, so rent’em if you haven’t seen, bought, or committed them to memory yet! (“snootchie bootchies”, ha, ha!) The segment will address his association with Marvel (i.e. he will be writing Daredevil) and will show new DD artwork designed by Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada!

Dunno what their air schedule is, but look for it!

“THE VIEW ASKEW CONNECTION JAY AND SILENT BOB T-SHIRT”

Beginning in May, Graphitti Designs will be issuing a variety of liscensed goodies based on Kevin Smith’s/View Askew properties. Starting [this] thing off will be this happenin’ Jay & Silent Bob T-shirt which features the art of Matt Wagner. The design pictured is screenprinted in color on the front of a 100% cotton shirt with a small bonus image, printed on the back.

RETAILERS: These new goodies from View Askew and Oni Press are an opputunity to attract new customres into your store. Future products that we’ll be releasing will be Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy related. The visibility and following that these films have gives you a great oppurtunity to use these products as tools to increase your foot traffic”.

The price for a Large to X-Large is 17.95 and XXL is 19.95. It’s basically a black T-shirt with the cover to the Oni Double Feature on it. In yellow text below the image of the t-shirt it reads “Due to the use of the wonderfully descriptive f-word, this shirt is recommended for Mature wearers only!!”