The first-ever documentary project featuring Todd is the culmination of more than two years of research, and more than a year of filming and production. The National Film Board of Canada's description ofthe documentary reads as follows:

In less than a decade, Calgary's Todd McFarlane has turned his comic-book superhero, Spawn, into a business empire spanning comic books, movies, cartoons and toys.Spawn has turned its creator into the most successful comic-book artist in the history of the industry - a man wealthy enough to spend $3 million on a collectible baseball. And McFarlane has done it byhis own rules, not those of corporate America. Despite Spawn'sviolent image, McFarlane is a doting father and a devoted husband whose true love is baseball. The Devil You Know tries to understand this enigmatic man, and explores some of his most intimate thoughts. The film also looks at the obsessive devotion of McFarlane's fans. By following two of them as they try to keep up with the latest toys and comics, The Devil You Know explores the grey area where art turnsinto business, and a fan turns into a customer.

To view a trailer of the film, visit http://www.nfb.ca/preview/index2.html, click on the "films' link,then click on "The Arts Seen" to get to the documentary's page.

Once the film debuts at the Calgary festival, fans will be able to order a home video copy beginning in November 2000. Future plans also call for Canadian and American television premieres. The NFB expects to keep the production in their active catalogue for at least three years.

On the toy front, Little Nicky action figures to be released in late OctoberMcFarlane Toys recreates key scenes from film, with signature sound The upcoming Adam Sandler/New Line Cinema special effects comedy has McFarlane Toys written all over it. In Little Nicky, Sandler plays a hapless son of Satan who must save the world. In addition to Sandler, the film features a "who's who" of actors, including Harvey Keitel, Patricia Arquette, Rodney Dangerfield, Jon Lovitz, Dana Carvey and Quentin Tarantino. McFarlane Toys is releasing a line of action figures re-creating key scenes from the film, each with a signature sound file, as follows:

• Sleeping Little Nicky and Beefy Nicky is sleeping on a radiator and measures 5 9/16 inches long with five articulation points. He's packaged with his guide dog Beefy, who has a special,er, urinating function. The set comes with radiator, base, mat and sound module.
• Little Nicky and Cassius Cassius stands 5 3/4 inches tall with six points of articulation and includes a special throwing dart. Little Nicky is 5 3/16 inches tall with 10 points of articulation, featuring special play action. Yes, wind him up and Nicky repeatedly punches himself in the groin. Includes sound.
• Gate Keeper and Bigfoot Two more characters from the film, Gate Keeper is 4 13/16 inches tall with three articulation points and a special spinning tassel function. He includes a necklace and sound base. Also included is Bigfoot, who is 5 3/4 inches tall with four points of articulation and a hat.
• Deluxe Beefy What's life without a good dog? Especially a foul-mouthed bulldog for a guide. Our deluxe Beefy figure has a special urinating function with an internal bladder. Nice.

"We're trying to re-create scenes from the movie that includespecific characters and audio clips from the film. We've already had great success with New Line and 'Austin Powers,' and I expect this project to be even more successful," comments Todd McFarlane,founder, McFarlane Toys. "New Line has been kind enough to allow meto deal directly with Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo to make surewe get this right. The content of this movie is right up my alley sinceI like to take chances, and this movie is also going to take some chances."

Founded in 1967, New Line Cinema is the entertainment industry's leading independent producer and distributor of theatrical motion pictures. New Line licenses its films to ancillary markets including cable and broadcast television as well as to international venues.The company, which is a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., operates several divisions including in-house theatrical distribution, marketing, home video, television, acquisitions, production,licensing and merchandising units. For more information, visit www.littlenicky.com.

Love, Love, Love. That's what collectors said about McFarlane Toys' award-winning Yellow Submarine action figuresreleased in 1999, which was one of the company's best-selling linesof all time. Now, a second line of action figures based on The Beatles' 1968 animated film will follow on the Beatle boot-heels of that line, and should again strike a chord with collectors andBeatles fans alike. This new series features John, Paul, Ringo and George dressed in their Sgt. Pepper costumes from the film. And, just like last year's line, each Beatle will be packaged with a secondary character from the film, giving consumers two figures for the priceof one. The following figures will be released in late October.

• John stands 7 11/16 inches tall with nine points of articulation. He's playing a two-piece trombone and has a hat with removable feathers. John is packaged with the four-headed Bulldogfrom the film.
• Ringo stands 7 1/4 inches tall with 10 points of articulation and is playing his trumpet. Ringo is packaged with the huge 9 1/8-inch-tall Apple Bonker, who has eight articulation points and is holding an apple in both hands.
• George stands 7 7/8 inches tall with 10 points of articulation. He's playing a tuba and comes with the 7 3/4-inch-tall Snapping Turk character, which has five articulation points, asliding head and hinged "mouth/belly."
• Paul stands 7 7/8 inches tall with nine points of articulation. He's playing a flute and comes packaged with the Sucker Monster, which stands 6 3/16 inches tall with three articulation points, and a bendy nose and tail.

National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) players,including Steve Yzerman, Tony Amonte, Paul Kariya, Curtis Joseph, Ray Bourque and Patrick Roy is out this month. The second line includes: Jaromir Jagr, Mark Messier, Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, Dominik Hasek and Brian Boucher is due out in late October or November.

Major League Baseball Players Association ESPN Big League Challenge players, including Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and Chipper Jones is due out in October, with six additional figures released in 2001.

Where the Wild Things Are, six figures from Maurice Sendak's award-winning children's book is due out in October.

Also, just in time for Halloween, the 18-inch Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers figures with motion activated sound chips are due out this month.

On the music side, Janis Joplin is due out in October/November, and the KISS Alive assortment is due out this month.

An Austin Powers 18-inch Mini-Me in Space Suit will be out in October.

McFarlane's 3D Animation from Japan figures from Akira the groundbreaking Japanese sci-fi anime thriller; the television series Trigun and the Tenchi Muyo empire of video and television series, feature films and comic books (due out in October).

To keep up on the very latest on Todd, and all the happenings with Todd McFarlane Productions be sure to check in at www.spawn.com.

[Posted 9/18/2000]