VA July Update!

With all this news pouring in from Japan, we're sure some of you are wondering what the English VA's are up to! We've got a few sightings this month and some big, big news for all you Stephanie Beard fans at the end!

Malachite in Gangster Movie!

Set to come out later this year or perhaps next, is a movie called Gangster Exchange. We can't find a thing about this movie, but after (WARNING DO NOT CLICK HERE IF YOU ARE UNDER 18) we saw a few clips on a cinematographer's site , we think it has something to do with an Asian gang. Dennis Akayama (Malachite) plays mobster Takayama in the film.

New Care Bears Movie - But Wait, It's Not From Nelvana!

2007 marks the 25th Anniversary of those cute, colorful, and cuddly Care Bears! In the past few years, we've seen a new 3-D computer animated generation of Care Bears. A new movie out on DVD this fall continues that tradition. But sadly, we will not see this new production come from Nelvana, which has brought the series to children since 1985 - and many future Sailor Moon VA's were featured in the original cartoon and subsequent movies. The new movie, Oopsy Does It! will be produced by SD Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox. And we're a little scared... the bears don't look like the bears that we grew up with. They look more like people than cuddly bears, and also look a lot younger than they did in previous incarnations. There will also be three new characters introduced, the evil Grizzle, the bilingual Amigo Bear and the hero, Oopsy bear. Grizzle attempts to take over the Bears' amusement park "Funderland" after Oopsy ruins it, and threatens to steal all their belly badges (we grew up knowing them as tummy symbols). It's up to Oopsy to save the bears and the park! The movie will be released in select theaters this August, and will hit DVD sometime this October. It also looks like this movie is going to be part of a series according to SD Entertainment, and we have to wonder if this was the new series that Katie Griffin was talking about when Sailordees met her last year. Tracey Moore will be voicing one of Cheer Badge (pink) or Share Badge (purple). You read right, Badge. We don't know why Badge is a part of some bears' names and not others. "Badge" doesn't quite fit the bears to us. We'll be waiting to see how this film ranks among Big Wish Movie and Journey to Joke-a-Lot.

Some other, smaller, sightings:

☼Bob Summers (Theme Composer) will appear as himself in a documentary about the late, legendary Canadian Jazz Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.

☼Congratulations to IMDB for setting off a false alarm - Jennifer Gould (Sailor Saturn, Himeko) did not appear in John from Cincinatti last month. They have gotten her confused with Sports Broadcaster Jennifer Gould.

Moon Chase Exclusive: Stephanie Beard Takes on a New Role as Assistant Producer!

Over the last few weeks, fans have been suspicious of whether or not an IMDB credit to Stephanie Beard was true. She is credited as an assistant producer on the upcoming independent film, A Life Less Gone. A Life Less Gone is based on a true story, and explores the lives of two interconnected people affected by drugs. One is a high school student, who finds solace in a friend as she struggles with her identity - but this friend leads them both on the road to addiction. The second is of a narcotics officer whose marriage is on the brink of destruction. He finds love in the comfort of a heroin-addicted exotic dancer. Now given IMDB's tendencies to miscredit actors, we went on a search to confirm this sighting. Last night, we heard back from the Director of the film , Jason Lupish and are able to bring you an exclusive! He told us that Stephanie is very involved in this film, and were it not for troubles with ACTRA, she would have played the lead role of Karen. The film opted for a non-union shoot in light of these troubles and Stephanie helped in whatever way she could. Stephanie had been an integral part of this movie since the inception, and it was only fitting that she was given an associate producer credit. So , there you have it Stephanie Beard fans, look for A Life Less Gone in a theater near you sometime next year.

Other than that, she's been pretty mum on whatever else she's been up to. The only thing we know for sure is that she'll be a magician's assistant on a new magic show in 2008.