Caprica TV

Esai Morales guest stars in Law & Order: SVU tonight

2012-02-15T23:55:00.003Z

Esai Morales makes an appearance in Law & Order: SVU tonight in episode "Home Invasions," which airs at 10 pm ET on NBC. From the press release:

"HOME INVASIONS"

02/15/2012 (10:00PM - 11:00PM) (Wednesday) : WHEN A FAMILY IS MASSACRED IN THEIR HOME, THE INVESTIGATION INTO THEIR LIVES FORCES DETECTIVE ROLLINS (KELLI GIDDISH) TO REVEAL A CAREER-THREATENING SECRET. JAKE T. AUSTIN AND ESAI MORALES GUEST STAR.

A gunman storms a family's home, killing the parents and leaving their teenage daughter in critical condition. When a hate crime investigation turns into a dead end, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and the SVU detectives struggle to find a motive for such violence. The clues lead to a surprising revelation about Detective Rollins (Giddish), which threatens her future in the Special Victims Unit. Also starring Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola), Dann Florek (Captain Donald Cragen) and Danny Pino (Detective Nick Amaro.)

Teaser (no Esai):

James Pizzinato in Alcatraz tonight, new interview with Bear McCreary & some space porn

2012-02-13T21:56:00.002Z

James Pizzinato plays the prisoner of the week in Alcatraz tonight, in episode 1x06, "Paxton Petty."

The episode airs at 9 pm ET on Fox. Here is the synopsis:

Madsen, Soto and Hauser (Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia and Sam Neill) track a mad bomber (James Pizzinato) who is planting explosives throughout the city, targeting highly populated areas.

They're forced to apply methods from the past to their pursuit in the new episode "Paxton Petty." Robert Forster and Parminder Nagra also star.

Previews posted below.

The Nervous Breakdown has a new interview with Bear McCreary. Here are a few snippets (more at the link):

From what or whom do you derive your greatest inspiration?
My inspiration comes from so many different sources that it’s impossible to say. Ideas can come from just talking to someone or flipping through the radio. Ideas are the sum of everything on your mind at any given time. But, of the professionals in my industry whom I’ve been fortunate enough to know, the most influential on me personally was Elmer Bernstein.

Name three books that have impacted your life.
The Rest is Just Noise by Alex Ross really opened my eyes to the history of music in the 20th Century and why it evolved the way it did. The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller roped me into comic books in a big way. The musicians’ union phone book .… I randomly looked up a couple musicians in it who ended up working with me for years.

If you could relive one moment over and over again, what would it be?
Performing my Battlestar Galactica score live at the House of Blues in San Diego during Comic Con. That was euphoric.

List your favorite in the following categories: Comedian, Musician, Author, Actor.
I’m so indecisive, I don’t know if I could nail down a single favorite in any category at all. So, leaving room for multiple answers… favorite comedians are George Carlin, Louis CK and Dave Chappelle. Musicians include Freddie Mercury, Jerry Goldsmith, and Danny Elfman. Authors include music critic Alex Ross and fiction writer Laura Kalpakian. Actors… probably Jackie Chan, Sigourney Weaver, and Denzel Washington.

Bear has recently scored a time-lapse video created by Randy Halverson. For more info about what you are seeing in the clip, go to Vimeo. Here it is (discovered via Wired):

And here are the Alcatraz previews:

Live chat with Jane Espenson, The Walking Dead returns, interviews with Luc Roderique and William B. Davis

2012-02-12T23:55:00.000Z

Three things to check out on TV tonight.

Jane Espenson's latest episode of Once Upon a Time, "Skin Deep," airs tonight at 8 pm ET. Jane will do a live Q&A on Twitter during the West Coast airing. From ABC's press release:

Fans of ABC's hit drama, "Once Upon a Time" will be able to submit questions and receive real-time responses from writer/consulting producer Jane Espenson, who will be up on Twitter at @JaneEspenson during the West Coast broadcast of the show on SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 from 8:00-9:00 p.m., PT. Espenson will also offer commentary and behind-the-scenes anecdotes about working on the show.

On Sunday's episode, "Skin Deep" - which was written by Espenson -- after Mr. Gold's house is robbed, Emma keeps a close eye on him when it looks like he wants to track down the criminal and dole out some vigilante justice as payback, and Valentine's Day finds Mary Margaret, Ruby and Ashley (Jessy Schram, "Falling Skies") having a girls' night out. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Belle (Emilie de Ravin, "Lost") agrees to a fateful deal to give up her freedom in order to save her town from the horrors of the Ogre war.

The Walking Dead (Bear McCreary scoring) returns with episode 2x08, "Nebraska," on AMC at 9/8c. Synopsis:

Rick and the others try to restore order in the aftermath of a terrible discovery. Hershel takes up an old habit and disappears, Rick and Glenn must follow him into town.

And Californication 5x06, "Love Song," directed by Eric Stoltz, airs at 10:30 pm on Showtime. Synopsis:

When Samurai Apocalypse hits a lyrical roadblock with his protege, he calls on the best writer he knows: Hank Moody, who unites with Kali to imbibe, bear his soul, and write a song that takes Hank back in time to an era when he, Karen and Charlie were happier and life was simpler before “A Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” But the present comes roaring back when Karen shows up at Hank’s door, worried that she made a mistake.

Eric is currently working on another episode of Glee. It's episode 3x15, "Big Brother," with Matt Bomer guest starring. Based on the Fox spring schedule and a few other things, it will air on April 10 at 8 pm.

Elsewhere:

Two new interviews with William B. Davis showed up on the web this week. You can listen to the first one at XFilesTruth.com.

The second interview is at The Morton Report. (Distinct David Duchovny theme today.) Snippets:

You wrote the season 7 episode “En Ami”, which you say in the book went through some major rewrites by Chris Carter. The basis of the story, however, was yours. Smoking Man was always linked to Mulder for obvious reasons but since he was with Scully for the entire episode, what are your thoughts on his relationship and interactions with her?
This is what prompted the whole idea for the story. Here we’d done seven years and I still hadn’t done a scene with Gillian. It seemed like an interesting relationship to explore and that’s what prompted the story. The character goes through a certain degree of conversion in that episode. It’s one of those things you never know: was that a good idea or not? It was kind of like once the villain starts to soften inside, have you lost something of the arc of the story? Certainly as an actor and for the development of the character it was interesting to explore how that exposure to Scully actually changed him and how he allowed some humanity to develop.

What’s next on your agenda?
I just did this low-budget science fiction feature and a pilot for TV and I’ve got another feature coming up in a couple of weeks. Then I’ll go to France and be with my wife for a month because I just got married not too long ago.

Sunflower Hour with Kacey Rohl and Ben Cotton will have its New York premiere at MoMA in March. Details at MoMA.org.

Here is a new, extended trailer for Beyond the Black Rainbow, with Eva Allan:

Set in the strange and oppressive emotional landscape of the year 1983, Beyond The Black Rainbow is a Reagan-era fever dream inspired by hazy childhood memories of midnight movies and Saturday morning cartoons.

You can also watch the trailer on Apple's site. The film will be released in theatres later this year. Magnet Releasing hasn't set a date yet. For more info about the film, see the film's FB page.

Luc Roderique (Caprica's Lexon) is doing theatre in Calgary, a hip-hop musical called Ash Rizin.

The Calgary Herald has an article that includes a short interview with him. For more details about the play, see Alberta Theatre Projects. They have photos and videos, among other things. From the article:

What do you think about when you think about hip-hop? Gangbangers? Violence? Thug lives? Worse misogynists than the Taliban? How about words?

That’s what Patrick McDonald, the director of Ash Rizin, the first hip-hop musical produced by Alberta Theatre Projects, discovered when he took on the project. “Language is a huge thing in this,” he says. “The lyrics are really important — it (language) really advances it (the plot).”

“Definitely,” says Luc Roderique, who plays Dee Skillz in the show. “The bad rap that rap has gotten in the past is kind of changing these days. A lot more hip-hop artists who were more underground 10 years ago are now CEO’s of companies... showing they have something to say about the society they were brought up in.

“Rap,” he adds, “came out of struggle. It came out of anger from a society that wasn’t working for the people who were spitting these rhymes. People, on a larger scale, are starting to recognize that much more.”

Hiro Kanagawa, Tom McBeath and Dmitry Chepovetsky also have some theatre work coming up. From Playbill:

At the Bluma Appel Theatre, Tear the Curtain!, a "stylish psychological thriller" by Jonathon Young and Kevin Kerr, will run Oct. 7-20. Co-created and directed by Kim Collier, the cast includes David Adams, Scott Bellis, Craig Erickson, Hiro Kanagawa, Tom McBeath, Dawn Petten, Gerard Plunkett, James Fagan Tait and Jonathon Young.

The High Park Amphitheatre will present William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream June 26-Sept. 2. The outdoor production, directed by Richard Rose, will include Dmitry Chepovetsky, John Cleland, Mark Crawford, John Dolan, Gil Garratt, Sophia Kolinas, Richard Lee, Ali Momen, Eric Morin, Tamara Podemski, Sarah Sherman and Pierre Simpson.

And a few more clips.

Teaser for Once Upon a Time (Spoiler TV has sneak peeks here, here, here and here):

Teaser for The Walking Dead:

And for Californication:

New Grimm tonight, new projects for Kendall Cross and Patton Oswalt, and interviews with Bear McCreary and Calum Worthy

2012-02-10T23:57:00.004Z

A few updates, because it's Friday:

Grimm 1x11, "Tarantella," airs tonight at 9 pm. (No, Patton Oswalt and Steve Carell aren't guest starring. Keep scrolling for those two.) Synopsis for "Tarantella:"

A STRING OF HOMICIDES LEADS NICK AND HANK TO A WOMAN WITH A DEADLY SECRET; AMY ACKER GUEST STARS – Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) find themselves on the hunt for a deadly heartbreaker leaving behind a web of dead bodies. Meanwhile, Nick’s growing recognition among the creature world is starting to threaten not only his safety but Juliette’s (Bitsie Tulloch) as well, and it may be time for him to take action to keep her safe. Silas Weir Mitchell, Sasha Roiz and Reggie Lee also star.

Sasha tweets that the show premieres in the UK on Watch this Monday at 9 pm. Spoiler TV has a few sneak peeks from tonight's episode.

This Means War, a romantic comedy with Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy, opens in theatres next Friday. Jill Teed, Panou, Aleks Paunovic and Mike Dopud have supporting roles in the film. Grandpa Aleks was at the premiere the other day. You can find a few pics on his official fan site. Zimbio also has a few photos.

Michael Rymer's Face to Face finally has a U.S. distributor. Here is what The Hollywood Reporter says:

L.A.-based boutique distributor MouseTrap Films has corralled U.S. rights to Aussie drama Face to Face in a deal struck by British sales banner Jinga Films. (...) MouseTrap plans to roll out the film on 25 screens via its monthly festival program Film Festival Flix before expanding to 200 screens nationwide.

A photo of Zak Santiago and Amanda Tapping on the set of Random Acts of Romance showed up on Twitter. You can see it here.

Terry Miles (director) has posted the first photo of Ben Cotton in The Dawn Rider.

TV Wise has some new info about Defiance, the new Syfy show Michael Taylor is working on.

Kendall Cross, who made an appearance in last week's episode of Supernatural, has made a new film, a Hallmark drama called Duke, that will premiere on April 28. Here are some details, from the press release (more at the link):

Steven Weber ("Wings," "Brothers & Sisters") stars in a touching story inspired by true events, of the special relationship between a broken, homeless vet and his only constant companion and soulmate, a Border Collie named Duke, in the World Premiere of "Duke," a Hallmark Movie Channel Original premiering Saturday, April 28 (8p.m. ET/PT, 7C). Weber is joined by Sarah Smyth ("50/50,") Allison Hossack ("Battle of the Bulbs," "Reaper"), Kendall Cross ("Caprica") and Martin Cummins ("V"). Border Collies, Zeek and Tanner take turns as Duke.

Marine Sergeant Terry Pulaski (Weber), a once proud man, is now a broken shell of himself having returned from Iraq with both PTSD and a disabling injury. Terry struggles to be a good father and husband, but he's constantly depressed and hates the man he's become. Bethany (Cross), Terry's wife reluctantly brings home a stray dog that her student's named Duke, knowing that Terry and their daughter will immediately fall in love. But during a Fourth of July firework celebration, Terry has flashbacks of the war and finds himself being comforted by Duke as the two lay huddled together on the laundry room floor. From that moment on, Duke and Terry are inseprable. As tensions are running high at home, Terry is delivered a final blow when he is ordered by his doctors to take a medical discharge. Terry feels like he has become a burden to his wife and daughter and decides to leave, taking Duke with him.

Patton Oswalt is reportedly in talks to join Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. From Showblitz:

Stiller is directing the long-gestating remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye film, which itself was based on the James Thurber short story that was first published in The New Yorker in 1939.

Stiller stars as the title character, a timid daydreamer who works at LIFE Magazine, where he develops photos of other people’s adventures rather than living his own. He finds himself having to play the hero when he’s tasked with finding a missing negative. Wiig co-stars as the co-worker he lusts after, while Shirley MacLaine will play Stiller’s mother.

Oswalt will play Todd, a friendly eHarmony counselor who helps the protag create an online dating profile.

Collider has a new interview with Patton. Snippet:

As an actor, do you prefer playing characters that are closer to who you are, or completely different from who you are?
OSWALT: The thing about Matt that was very similar was that when he was angry or sad, he would make a joke to lighten the situation. With me, comedy was always a way to motivate me to change my situation, whereas he used comedy to justify the situation or use his jokes like, “And that’s why I don’t have to change at all.” It was a way to stop his own inertia, which is weirdly alien to me. But, it was a very fine line. I do use that, but to a different end, I guess.

Was there a performance or film that you saw this year that really made an impression on you?
OSWALT: I thought Martha Marcy May Marlene was incredible, especially John Hawkes’ performance in that. Weirdly enough, that is one of the most accurate portrayals I’ve ever seen of Charles Manson on screen without it being Charles Manson, and understanding how somebody like that could just control different people. What’s really eerie is that Elizabeth Olsen’s character doesn’t really have a horrible home life. She’s not some broken person, running. It’s just that he is so terrifying. I just thought that role was really amazing. It was great.

And here is where Steve Carell comes in. The trailer for Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, another film Patton made last year, has been released. A bunch of other familiar mugs are in it: Keira Knightley, Connie Britton, Melanie Lynskey and Melinda Dillon, among others. The film will hit theatres in the U.S. in late June. Trailer:

A couple of *really* interesting interviews with Bear McCreary showed up on the web in recent days. The first one is at io9.com. Charlie Jane Anders talked to him about the physics behind famous science fiction themes and what they have in common. Here is a snippet:

"You're talking about two intervals: a perfect fifth and [then] a perfect fourth. For example, if you're starting at middle C, you go up a perfect fifth, up to G. You go up a fourth, and you're back to C. This is the core relationship in Western tonal music, which is 99.999 percent of all music that is used in scores for anything that Western audiences generally watch. It's the basis of all pop music and Western classical music."

The question, says McCreary, is: "Why is this set of intervals so commonly used, and so powerful and so effective?"

Where did the iconic perfect fifth come from?

"It has its basis in physics," says McCreary. "It's a physical reality." There's an actual physical phenomenon behind the perfect fifth, and the octave above that, called the "overtone series."

And a hilarous animated interview with Bear showed up on Vimeo (careful around the kids, there is some bad language):

Twist magazine has a new interview with Calum Worthy. A couple of snippets:

TWIST: Could you tell us about Austin & Ally?
Calum: Absolutely. Austin and Ally is a great new comedy about following your dreams and the friends you meet along the way. Austin is an aspiring singer and Ally is an aspiring songwriter. When Austin becomes famous from using one of Ally's songs, the two decide to become partners. (...)
T: Can you tell us about your character, Dez?
C: Yeah, Dez is a crazy out of this world kid. He's an aspiring filmmaker. He and Austin have been best friends all their lives. When Austin becomes famous he lets everything go to help his friend out on his new journey.

And another short film with Ryan Robbins showed up on YouTube this week. It's called The Bug (NSFW):

Aleks Paunovic on Arctic Air, Bomb Girls picked up, Falling Skies update, interviews with Scott Porter & William B. Davis

2012-02-07T21:14:00.001Z

Aleks Paunovic is back in Arctic Air tonight. It's not the first time that he has appeared on the show, but he will have a more central part in tonight's episode, which airs at 9 pm on CBC in Canada. Other familiar faces will probably show up, too. CBC has a new interview with Aleks. Snippets:

You play Jim McAlister on Arctic Air, what is that guy all about?
Jim is a fun-loving best buddy with a big heart. He's stoked to have Bobby (Adam Beach) back in town. He's a prospector and trusts Bobby to the fullest. He'll do anything to protect his friends, family and the North.

What is it like working on a all Canadian production as opposed to a U.S. production that is being filmed in Canada?
I love home grown projects. Most of the U.S. projects are about situations, not about where they are shooting.

Knowing that we are making a show about our land, and showing it to the people of the land, gives us a warm feeling knowing we are connecting with people that know our culture and country. Plus the cast and crew are amazing! So I love coming into work.

Read the rest at CBC.ca.

The Huffington Post has a new interview with Scott Porter. Snippet:

With all the bad boys on The CW, what appealed to you about playing good guy George on "Hart of Dixie"?
I had just played a terrorist on "Caprica," and Blake, who is a bit of a badass private investigator, on "The Good Wife." What's funny about this business is they only care about what you did last. They don't care what you've done before that, especially in my case. Before I showed up in Los Angeles, I was doing musical comedy on Broadway and singing and dancing. It seemed "Hart of Dixie," and George Tucker particularly, was a chance to get back to a role that was more similar to how I broke into the business before "Friday Night Lights." It was nice to leave the drama behind and find a smart, intelligently written, lighter-toned comedy that was set in a place that could feel like a theatre production.

Fangoria has an exclusive BTS clip from Playback, with Alessandra Torresani. Mama Cylon mentioned on her blog that the film is #2 on iTunes' list of Top Horror Rentals.

BSG's Ty Olsson has posted a photo from the set of Falling Skies. He will make an appearance in the ninth episode. Not sure if Ryan Robbins and Luciana Carro have been promoted to series regulars yet, but they sure look pretty recurring. Based on their tweets in recent months, they'll both be appearing in most of the episodes. Mark Verheiden says they're currently working on episode 2x09, with Terry O'Quinn and Matt Frewer also guest starring, and Remi Aubuchon is currently working on the season finale. (Season two has 10 episodes.)

Bomb Girls with Meg Tilly has been picked up for a second season. Big congrats to the cast & crew! From the press release:

Today, Shaw Media announced the renewal of the country’s breakout original hit, Bomb Girls. With the initial six-part miniseries concluding tomorrow on Global at8pm ET/PT, the Canadian wartime drama has been green lit for 12 new episodes. Development on the additional episodes will begin shortly and start of production will be announced at a later date. (...)

In tomorrow night’s explosive finale, “Element of Surprise,” the season culminates with dramatic twists for all of the characters set against the attack on Pearl Harbor. Gladys’s (Jodi Balfour) secret job is exposed, while Lorna (Meg Tilly) grapples with a possible pregnancy and Kate (Charlotte Hegele) struggles to stand up to the return of her manipulative father.

The Divide with Michael Eklund will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 17th. Daily Dead has the DVD cover art and details.

Drive with John Pyper-Ferguson was released last week.

Here is a recent interview with William B. Davis, from Studio 4:

And a few more clips.

The teaser for this Friday's Grimm, "Tarantella," with Sasha Roiz - Amy Acker from Angel and Dollhouse guest stars:

The promo for next Monday's Alcatraz, "Paxton Petty," with James Pizzinato:

And two short films with Ryan Robbins showed up on YouTube this week. They're not the most recent things he's done, but they're pretty insane and they haven't been available anywhere so far. Calum Worthy plays Ryan's kid in the second one. Check them out:

Little Steve:

When Jesse Was Born:

Playback released on demand, Grimm preview, interviews with Anna Galvin, Patton Oswalt, Aleks Paunovic and James Marsters

2012-02-03T23:14:00.000Z

The Friday round of updates:

A new episode of Grimm, with Sasha Roiz, airs tonight at 9 pm. Here is the synopsis:

As Portland's homeless youth start to go missing, Nick uncovers a deadly black market supplying the Grimm world with human organs for all types of elixirs. As the investigation heightens, Nick and Juliette befriend a pair of homeless siblings, Hanson (guest star Daryl Sabara, "Spy Kids") and Gracie (guest star Hannah Marks, "Necessary Roughness"), whose friends have gone missing.

Valerie Cruz from Alphas and The Dresden Files also guest stars.

Starting next week, NBC will be airing Grimm reruns on Thursdays at 10 until March, and The Firm is moving to Saturdays.

You can find a bunch of stills from Extracted on the film's FB page.

Here is a sneak peek from Grimm:

Playback with Alessandra Torresani is finally available on demand. The film will also hit theatres on March 9. Synopsis and clip, from FEARnet (NSFW):

While digging into their town’s infamous past, a group of high school students unwittingly unlock an even darker secret. Now, an evil spirit has been awakened and will stop at nothing to find his true heir.

New York Daily News talked to Esai Morales about his NAACP Award nomination:

ESAI MORALES is up for an NAACP Image award, but the native New Yorker tells us, “I don’t expect to win.” The actor, of Puerto Rican descent, is nominated for Outstanding Actor in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, for “We Have Your Husband.” His competition includes Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne and Idris Elba. Morales, who just wrapped a guest-star stint on “Law & Order: SVU,” says he appreciates that “the brothers were looking out for me,” but given his chances, says “I don’t have to worry about coming up with an acceptance speech.”

Spoiler TV has the first promotional pics from Law & Order: SVU 13x14, "Home Invasions" (Feb. 15):

They also have a photo of James Pizzinato from next week's Alcatraz:

Zak Santiago is filming a new movie in Vancouver with Sanctuary's Amanda Tapping, a comedy called Random Acts of Romance. Snippet from THR: "Tapping plays a teacher supporting a former student (Santiago) and lover who has never grown up." The film is directed by Katrin Bowen, who also made Amazon Falls. You can find out more at RandomActsofRomance.com. Zak is/was also filming True Justice these days.

Mike Dopud tweets that he is working on season two of True Justice, too.

Patton Oswalt will guest star in Two and a Half Men. He will play an ex-business partner of Ashton Kutcher's character. From EW:

The veteran of such TV shows as United States of Tara and Bored to Death will play a dude described by the Men writers as “the Wozniak to Walden’s Jobs.” (If you’ll recall, Kutcher’s character is a billionaire who sold out to Microsoft). So far, Oswalt is only signed to appear in one episode (rats!).

Young Adult will be released on DVD & Blu-ray on March 13. MTV has an exclusive clip (US-only). It's a deleted scene from the film.

GQ magazine has an interview with Patton. A snippet or two:

What's a Patton Oswalt groupie like?
Knock on wood, my groupies tend to be very artistic, creative people - sometimes way more creative than I am. I'm actually very lucky - they will give me their artwork or a self-published comic book. One of my groupies gave me a film that they made and it ended up being amazing so I got it shown at South by Southwest. If I can help get their stuff out there, then great. The guy who did my last album cover [Finest Hour] was a guy who, unsolicited,did a poster for a show that I was doing.

Does the prospect of The Avengers excite you?
Oh my God yes! It's Joss Whedon - I couldn't be happier. They handed this huge event to the guy who is going to do the best job with it. It's one of those moments when you think [relieved sigh] "Oh! They did the right thing." I'm very anxious to see how Chris Hemsworth plays off of Robert Downey Jnr. He's the most straight edged of that bunch, even next to Captain America and I'm looking forward to some of the interplay.

Sunflower Hour with Kacey Rohl and Ben Cotton will have its U.S. premiere at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose on March 3. For tickets & screening dates, see Cinequest.org. Synopsis:

Four social outcasts, Shamus O'Reilly (Ben Cotton, The Chronicles of Riddick), Leslie Handover (Patrick Gilmore, 2012), David Spencer (Amitai Marmorstein, 50/50), and Satan's Spawn (Kacey Rohl, Red Riding Hood), are all vying for an open puppeteer position on the children's television show Sunflower Hour. Their challenges don't end at proving their talent; finding the audition location, deciphering the riddled language of their future employer, and dodging the interview crew all stand in the way of their coveted prize.

Sunflower Hour will also be screened at the Victoria Film Festival on February 8. Tickets & info here. Also screening at the Victoria Festival, Sisters & Brothers (link), also with Kacey and Ben, and Michael Eklund, and Donovan's Echo (link) with Hiro Kanagawa.

Biz Books has a new interview with Aleks Paunovic, mostly about Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. Snippet:

What was were the elements that drew you to be part of this production?
I was studying with my mentor Larry Moss and did a scene from Danny. I connected to Danny in such a colossal way that I wanted to know more about it and tell his story. I approached Jason Goode, our director, after we worked together on a short film he directed me in and the seed was planted. I was quite scared of the play and the role. Four years later, Jason and I reluctantly and excitedly dove into the deep end.

Can you share some of your creative process in preparing for the role from the initial planning of the production all the way through to opening night?
This is the first play I have ever done so to be honest, I’m working with one of the best actors in the city – one of the best actors I know – Lori Triolo. Most of the work I have done is asking Lori about situations and process. Jason Goode, the director of the show, has also been amazing in helping shape/shift into who Danny is. They have been great partners in guiding me through this amazing ride.

Calendar Girls with Anna Galvin also opened this week. The Arts Club blog has an interview with Anna and her co-star Wendy Noel:

Episode 3 of 10,000 Days with Peter Wingfield has been posted:

The James Marsters fansite has a few new BTS photos from Metal Hurlant Chronicles. James was at the Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con last week. Here is a video of his Q&A:

And an interview with him:

Extracted, starring Sasha Roiz, to premiere at SXSW Festival

2012-02-01T21:41:00.000Z

Extracted, the sci fi thriller Sasha Roiz filmed last year, will have its world premiere at the South By Southwest festival in Austin in March. Filmmaker Magazine has the full SXSW lineup, announced earlier today.

Extracted will be screened in the Emerging Visions section. The date/venue info hasn't been posted yet, but it will probably show up on the film's page on SXSW.com one of these days.

This year, the festival runs from March 9 to 17.

Film synopsis, main credits & trailer, from New Artists Alliance:

Thomas Jacobs is a brilliant engineer who invents a device that enables him to enter the mind of a patient and observe them in their memories.

Having run out of funds to complete the project, he reluctantly partners with the justice department who plans to use it to see criminals enact their crimes, BUT, during the first test on a convict, Tom gets trapped, leaving behind a pregnant wife and his unconscious body.

For four years Tom is stuck in the criminal's mind, until he discovers a glitch in the system. It soon becomes a race for survival, as Tom is forced to work with the reluctant criminal to find a way out.

STARS: Sasha Roiz, Dominic Bogart, Jenny Mollen, Brad Culver, Ty Simpkins, Frank Ashmore, Nick Jamison, Rodney Eastman, Richard Riehle
DIRECTOR: Nir Paniry
WRITERS: Nir Paniry (screenplay, story), Gabriel Cowan (story), John Suits (story)
PRODUCERS: Gabriel Cowan, John Suits
COMPOSER: Tim Ziesmer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Mark Putnam

EXTRACTED - trailer from New Artists Alliance on Vimeo.

Esai Morales in Law & Order: SVU, Prisoners' Wives premiere, interviews with Patton Oswalt and Christopher Heyerdahl, and more updates

2012-01-28T23:35:00.001Z

The weekly wrap:

First, there are two things to check out on TV tonight.

Richard Harmon is in The Pregnancy Project, which airs at 8/7c on Lifetime. NiceGirlsTV.com has a preview.

And Winston Rekert, Maya Massar and Hrothgar Mathews (Obal in "Unvanquished," Helen the widow in "Retribution" and Dave in "Apotheosis") appear in Goodnight for Justice, a western starring Luke Perry, which also airs at 8 pm, on Hallmark. Synopsis and preview at Daemon's TV.

Some great news on other fronts:

Esai Morales will guest star in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in episode "Home Invasions," which airs on February 15. Synopsis from NBC:

"LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT"
"HOME INVASIONS"
02/15/2012 (10:00PM - 11:00PM) (Wednesday) : WHEN A FAMILY IS MASSACRED IN THEIR HOME, THE INVESTIGATION INTO THEIR LIVES FORCES DETECTIVE ROLLINS (KELLI GIDDISH) TO REVEAL A CAREER-THREATENING SECRET. JAKE T. AUSTIN AND ESAI MORALES GUEST STAR.
A gunman storms a family’s home, killing the parents and leaving their teenage daughter in critical condition. When a hate crime investigation turns into a dead end, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and the SVU detectives struggle to find a motive for such violence. The clues lead to a surprising revelation about Detective Rollins (Giddish), which threatens her future in the Special Victims Unit. Also starring Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola), Dann Florek (Captain Donald Cragen) and Danny Pino (Detective Nick Amaro.)

Sheffield Telegraph has an article and the first promotional photo from Prisoners' Wives, with Polly Walker. The show finally premieres on Tuesday at 9 pm on BBC One. BBC.co.uk has a few more details about Polly's character. Teaser:

Alessandra Torresani did another YouTube skit with Cheeks. Check it out:

Daily Actor has a new interview with Christopher Heyerdahl. Snippet:

You had a great 2011 with Hell on Wheels, Sanctuary and Twilight. Has that been the best year career-wise, so far?
Christopher Heyerdahl: Well, yeah. I guess it has been the best year so far in as much as I’m alive and well, and I’m working. What other actor doesn’t want’ that? It has been pretty intense.
I mean, I started off the year doing Twilight. I got to go to New Orleans. It was a great way to start the year and then Sanctuary got renewed which is always a tenuous thing with a show that’s privately funded and within maybe two months into doing Sanctuary, I got The Swede on Hell on Wheels.
Chad Oakes and George Horie, Chad is with Hell and George is with Sanctuary. The two of them got together and said, “We can make this work” because it was a crazy scheduling, scheduling that I think any producer just wouldn’t normally not want to invite into their daily routine because I was getting on a plane pretty much every night after work, flying off to Calgary or vice versa, coming back to Vancouver in order to do each show. It was crazy for them and that was a blast for me.

James-Marsters.eu has a few new photos of James in Metal Hurlant Chronicles.

Zak Santiago tweets that he is working on season two of True Justice. According to the IMDb, episode 2x01, "Vengeance Is Mine," airs on April 9 and Ben Cotton is also in it.

Episode two of 10,000 Days has been posted. You can watch it on YouTube.

Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata! with Dmitry Chepovetsky will run for a week longer at the Revue Stage in Vancouver, and you can now catch it until February 18. The Arts Club blog has a few photos from the opening night party. Trailer:

Here is the press release for James Pizzinato's episode of Alcatraz, which airs on February 13:

A CONVICTED BOMBER REAPPEARS ON AN ALL-NEW "ALCATRAZ" MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, ON FOX

When our unlikely trio tracks former inmate Paxton Petty (James Pizzinato), a sick landmine bomber who has returned only to place bombs throughout populated areas of San Francisco, methods of the past are applied to the present in the all-new "Paxton Petty" episode of ALCATRAZ airing Monday, Feb. 13 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (ALC-108) (TV-14 D, L, V)

Cast: Sarah Jones as Detective Rebecca Madsen; Jorge Garcia as Dr. Diego Soto; Sam Neill as Emerson Hauser; Parminder Nagra as Lucy Banerjee; Robert Forster as Ray Archer; Jonny Coyne as Warden Edwin James; Jason Butler Harner as Associate Warden ED Tiller.

Guest Cast: James Pizzinato as Paxton Petty; David Hoflin as Tommy Madson; Leon Rippy as Dr. Beauregard; Mehcad Brooks as Matt Tanner

The Bahamas Weekly has a behind-the-scenes report from the set of Singularity Principle, a new science fiction film with William B. Davis that explores the science of parallel universes:

The Province has an article about Primary, a thriller Michael Eklund is shooting in BC these days. Snippets:

Primary, filming for just over three weeks, follows a young insurance executive (Milligan) at a low point in his life when he fall under the sway of a charismatic, manipulative drifter (Eklund). Isabelle co-stars as a bohemian artist and the conscience of the piece. (...)

Eklund’s role as drifter Harry is another trip to the dark side for the actor, seen this past week as a child-killer on an episode of TV’s Alcatraz.

"You can’t approach any character from a judgmental place, or you’re going to end up playing what everybody has seen already," says Eklund, who played his Alcatraz kidnapper-killer as sort of a warped older brother type.

He’s taking a similar approach with Primary’s Harry.

"Harry teaches Dustin’s character about helping people and about love, brings him into a family element, but in reality he’s conning him out of his money. Harry is the perfect person to suss out the weakness in people."

Patton Oswalt was on the Adam Carolla Show the other day. You can listen to the podcast on AdamCarolla.com. And below is another recent interview with Patton, who discovered Downton Abbey last month and now can't stop talking about it. A fun little clip:

Get More: Music Videos, Free Music Videos

Paula Malcomson cast in new Showtime pilot, Luke Camilleri in Arctic Air tonight, Falling Skies DVD release date, and more updates

2012-01-24T22:49:00.002Z

A few quick updates.

To start with some frakking excellent news, Deadline writes that Paula Malcomson has landed a leading role in Showtime's new pilot, Ray Donovan:

A dark family drama with comedic undertones, the show centers on Ray (Schreiber), a professional “fixer” for LA’s rich and famous, the go-to guy in Hollywood who deftly solves the highly confidential problems of the city’s most intriguing personalities but can’t quite escape the damage in his own troubled family. Malcomson will play Ray’s wife Abby, a Boston tough girl who is still finding it hard to assimilate into the fast lane of Hollywood.

Luke Camilleri makes an appearance in tonight's episode of Arctic Air, "Hijacked," which airs at 9 pm on CBC in Canada. Michael Hogan is also back. Hit the pic to see a gallery of stills from the episode.

Here is the synopsis for Jane Espenson's next episode of Once Upon a Time, "Skin Deep," which airs on February 12 - Jessy Schram from Falling Skies and Emilie de Ravin from Lost guest star:

"Skin Deep" - After Mr. Gold's house is robbed, Emma keeps a close eye on him when it looks like he wants to track down the criminal and dole out some vigilante justice as payback, and Valentine's Day finds Mary Margaret, Ruby and Ashley (Jessy Schram, "Falling Skies") having a girls' night out. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Belle (Emilie de Ravin, "Lost") agrees to a fateful deal to give up her freedom in order to save her town from the horrors of the Ogre war, on "Once Upon a Time," SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Speaking of Falling Skies, AICN reports that season one will be out on DVD on June 5. Both the DVD and the Blu-ray can already be pre-ordered on Amazon: Falling Skies: The Complete First Season DVD, Blu-ray.

And MovieWeb writes that Born to Race with John Pyper-Ferguson will make its VOD premiere on January 28, a full month before it is released on DVD.

A new BTS featurette from 10,000 Days has been posted on the show's FB page. It includes a short interview with Peter Wingfield.

Anna Galvin makes an appearance in next week's episode of Alcatraz, "Cal Sweeney." You can catch a quick glimpse of her in the teaser:

And here is a recent interview with Calum Worthy, mostly about Austin & Ally:

Calum Worthy (Austin & Ally) StarCam Interview by starcam

Michael Eklund in Alcatraz, Hart of Dixie returns, new interview with Scott Porter, and new Arctic Air webisode

2012-01-23T22:22:00.003Z

Hart of Dixie returns tonight at 9 pm on the CW. Zap2it has a new interview with Scott Porter. He talks about football and wanting Tim Tebow to play his brother on the show. Snippet:

On Friday, Jan. 20, between takes at the exterior set for the Rammer Jammer Restaurant on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., Porter laughs when he's asked if it's a cruel irony that his character's girl has her eye on a football player -- mirroring the situation on his earlier show, "Friday Night Lights," in which the fiancee of his character, paralyzed former top high-school quarterback Jason Street, cheated on him with his best friend and former Dillon Panthers teammate, Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch).

"It is!" he says. "At least it's not another best-friend fullback, taking my girl."

Although Porter's real-life high-school interests tended more towards theater than the gridiron, he is a football fan, specifically of the NFL's Denver Broncos.

But he had mixed feelings when his favorite team drafted the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner and high-profile Florida Gators QB, Tim Tebow, who later became the Broncos' starting quarterback.

"I did not like it when he got drafted," Porter says. "I just didn't think it was the right choice, the right time."

Michael Eklund guest stars in Alcatraz tonight (9 pm, Fox). He did another interview with The Divide co-star Michael Biehn for the Movie Moxie podcast. You can listen to it here. A couple of snippets from the transcript:

Sarah Gopaul: So looking at your IMDb page, you’ve been in about 100 titles between TV and movies; so I was wondering how you go about choosing which roles you play.
Michael Eklund: I’m going to be honest; I’m the kind of actor that doesn’t choose his roles. If I get hired, I do the job. But what I do is I try and play the role in a way that I haven’t played before that role before. If I’m playing something where I’ve re-visiting something similar, then I try to attack it and approach it in a different way. But I’ve never said no to a job. Maybe that’s why I have so many credits, because I’ll do anything

Shannon: And what drew you to this particular project?
Michael Eklund: I remember reading the script and obviously I read it and thought this is going to be interesting. And then I found out we would be shooting in chronological order. And then I found out that Xavier Gens was directing it. And then I heard some of the cast members who were attached, like Michael Biehn, and I said “Sign me up!” But then I had to actually audition for the role and get the job, and I did that. And then by luck Xavier watched my audition and liked it, so I was very fortunate to meet him and we discussed the script some more. I had things I wanted to bring to it and he had things that he wanted to bring to it and then the collaborative process started. And that’s how it started and ended; it was a big collaboration from beginning to end.

A new Arctic Air webisode, Man of the North 1x02, "Who Couldn't Use a Little Meat?" has been posted on CBC's site. Carmen Moore is in it.

The teaser for Alcatraz:

And a preview of tonight's episode of Hart of Dixie, "Hell's Belles:"

10,000 Days launched, new interview with Aleks Paunovic, and new projects for Magda Apanowicz, Anna Galvin, Hiro Kanagawa, James Marsters, Richard Harmon and James Pizzinato

2012-01-22T23:44:00.001Z

First, a reminder that the last two episodes of Prime Suspect air tonight at 9 pm on NBC.

And a bunch of cast news:

Esai Morales has been nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for his work in We Have Your Husband. Big congrats!

And also congrats to the Gun Hill Road team on the nomination for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film (Limited Release). Still no DVD release date for GHR.

Not sure if I mentioned it, but Eric Stoltz directed an episode of Californication last year. The episode now has a title and an air date: "Love Song," February 12. Spoiler TV has the synopsis.

Magda Apanowicz has a new credit on the IMDb. She will make an appearance in episode 1x06 of Holliston, the first original series from the FEARnet cable channel. The show is a horror sitcom, it premieres in April, and Magda will be playing "Goblin." Her episode is called "Weekend of Horrors."

The Chuck two-hour series finale airs this Friday, so Grimm is taking a break. Here are a couple of photos of Sasha Roiz in episode 1x10, "Organ Grinder," which airs in two weeks:

Hiro Kanagawa will finally make an appearance in front of the camera in Blackstone this season. He has been working as a story editor on the show since season one. He will appear in episode 2x07 playing a character called Harold. The tentative air date is February 22.

Speaking of Blackstone, APTN has a bunch of short video interviews with Carmen Moore. You can check them out here.

Die with John Pyper-Ferguson finally has a U.S. DVD release date: March 27. You can pre-order it on Amazon.

Luciana Carro is working on another episode of Falling Skies.

James Marsters also has a new credit on the IMDb, for the project he filmed in Utah last fall that he couldn't reveal in one of the interviews a while back. It's for a fantasy film called Dragon Warriors. James plays Lord Tensley, "a sorcerer who kills people in love." As for his character in The Wedding Band (TBS sitcom he worked on recently), he is a British rock star (source).

10,000 Days with Peter Wingfield has finally launched online. The first episode was posted on 10kdays.tv on Friday, and new episodes will be posted every Friday for the next three weeks. For updates, you can follow @10kdaystv on Twitter or like them on Facebook. Episode 1 is also on YouTube:

Richard Harmon tweets that he will be filming two projects this week: a new TV series (no details yet) and a feature called Rufus, which may or may not be the "sophisticated vampire movie with a similar feel to 'Let The Right One In'" mentioned here. Not much info out there yet.

James Pizzinato will make an appearance in Alcatraz in episode 1x08, "Paxton Petty." He will play Paxton Petty, probably the jailbird of the week. The episode will air on February 27.

Doppelgänger Paul with Ben Cotton was screened at the Slamdance Film Festival yesterday. Film Threat has a new review.

Aaron Douglas tweets that he is filming an episode of The Firm.

If you're in Vancouver, you can catch Anna Galvin in a production of Calendar Girls at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage from January 26 to February 26. Synopsis, from the Arts Club blog (more details and ticket info at the link):

When middle-aged Annie Clarke (Wendy Noel) loses her husband to cancer, her best friend Chris (Anna Galvin) suggests a—ahem—cheeky new way to raise money for research. But their fellow Women’s Institute members balk at baring—well, almost baring—it all! Gradually, though, these prim tea-and-crumpets ladies “of a certain age” come around and learn to delight in their newfound pluckiness and status as international sensations.

You can also catch Dmitry Chepovetsky in A Craigslist Cantata at the Arts Club Revue Stage until February 4. If not, you can at least see a clip from his audition here.

And Danny and the Deep Blue Sea with Aleks Paunovic opened at the Pacific Theatre in Vancouver on Thursday. Aleks and co-star Lori Triolo (who played Phoebe in BSG 4x05 and is currently in Blackstone) were on Urban Rush to talk about the play last week. Grandpa also talked about his characters in Arctic Air and This Means War.

And finally, a synopsis and a couple of stills with Michael Eklund from tomorrow's episode of Alcatraz (Fox, 9 pm):

Guest star Michael Eklund portrays Kit Nelson, a terrifying kidnapper who always returns his victims home, and it's up to the Alcatraz team to stop him in the present day. Viewers will also learn more about the mysterious former guard Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill) and his true intentions. - TV Guide

And a sneak peek:

New Grimm tonight, John Pyper-Ferguson in Less Than Kind, new interviews with Christopher Heyerdahl and Michael Eklund

2012-01-20T22:10:00.000Z

A few quick updates today, with more coming over the weekend.

Grimm 1x09, "Of Mouse and Man," airs tonight at 9 pm. Synopsis:

While investigating a gruesome homicide, Nick (David Giuntoli) learns that a seemingly mild-mannered resident could be festering a potential monster created from a dark childhood. Meanwhile, Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) is sent an unsettling message by the creature community, who are beginning to wonder if his priorities lie with them or a Grimm. Russell Hornsby, Bitsie Tulloch, Sasha Roiz and Reggie Lee also star.

And some interesting spoilers for the rest of the season, from Entertainment Weekly:

And because so many of you have sent in your questions on Capt. Renard (Sasha Roiz), the EP duo offered up this tease: Before the end of the season (likely with a few episodes to go), we will learn more about him and “it’s not what people think…and we’ve been told a lot of what people think,” says Kouf. “He walks a fine line. He’s balancing more than anyone.
In fact, says Greenwalt, some fans might even find themselves siding with Renard once we learn the truth. “He’s not just purely nefarious at all. He has his reasons for what he’s doing.”

John Pyper-Ferguson made a guest appearance in Less Than Kind, in episode 3x02, "Play It Again, Sam," as Jack, one of the people who show up for the funeral of Maury Chaykin's character. Synopsis, from TV-eh.com:

“Play It Again, Sam” – Sam’s funeral brings Sheldon face-to-face when Rabbi Rabinowitz delivers a half-hearted eulogy. Clara’s ex-husband Jack makes a surprise visit to pay his respects. An exiled Shandra attempts to support the living daylights out of Josh. Anne is numb as Shiva begins at the Blecher house.

DirecTV hasn't set a date for season three in the U.S. yet, but the first three episodes aired on HBO Canada last Sunday and several sites say that they are available on the network's site. Can't confirm - the site is completely blocked where I live.

Elsewhere, a great bit of casting news came from Deadline this week: Christopher Heyerdahl has nabbed a recurring role on True Blood, which returns this summer. He will be playing another vampire:

He will portray Dieter Braun, an ancient, powerful vampire who plays a large part in the intelligence of the Authority and especially enjoys enhanced interrogation.

Between him and Chris Meloni, season five already sounds pretty frakkin' insane.

Christopher was on Urban Rush this week. He talked about all his current shows -- Hell on Wheels, Sanctuary, and True Blood:

The Divide is out in a limited release this week. Toronto Film Scheme has an interview with Michael Eklund and Michael Biehn. Snippet:

With nearly 100 film and television roles to his credit according to IMDB, Eklund jokes that he never says “no” to a job. More seriously he explains that when offered a project, he accepts it and then looks to distinguish it from anything he’s done. “I try to play the role in a way that I haven’t played the role before,” says Eklund. “If I’m playing something similar, then I’ll try to approach it in a different way.” He also has a personal trait he likes to bring to his characters: “Never play the comedy, and never play the seriousness.” This is evident in his portrayal of Bobby, who retains a sense of humour right to the very bitter end. “I always think the darker the subject matter, the more humour that it’s going to need,” says Eklund. “Because you need those moments of a breath of fresh air to take the audience out of how drastic and intense the film is.”

Winnipeg Free Press streamed an interview with several of the cast & crew members the other day. Eklund shows up about 19 minutes into the clip:

New Playback trailer, Ben Cotton & Michael Eklund on Alcatraz, new projects for James Marsters and Avan Jogia, and more updates

2012-01-17T23:30:00.003Z

A quick round of updates, in very random order.

A new trailer for Playback, with Alessandra Torresani, has been released on iTunes. You can watch it here. The film will be available on iTunes on February 3 and hit theatres in early March.

James Marsters will make a guest appearance in The Wedding Band, a new comedy with Brian Austin Green, Harold Perrineau and Melora Hardin that will premiere on TBS in the summer. More details on James-Marsters.eu.

Avan Jogia directed a zombie film in Vancouver over the holidays. Nickutopia has an article and a BTS pic.

Born to Race with John Pyper-Ferguson was released on DVD and Blu-ray in France last week. You can see the French trailer here.

Two things on TV tonight.

There is Glee 3x10, "Yes/No," at 8 pm on Fox. Eric Stoltz directed it. Preview:

And a new episode of Arctic Air airs at 9 pm on CBC. You can find a few promotional pics on Facebook. Here is the teaser, with Leah Gibson, Brian Markinson and Steve Bacic from Razor:

Ben Cotton played one of the jailbirds in Alcatraz yesterday, in episode 1x02, "Ernest Cobb."

If you haven't seen the episode, you can watch it on Fox.com. If you have a DISH Network account, you can watch it now and if you don't, it will become available in about a week.

If the second episode looked particularly pretty, it's because they had Stephen McNutt as the director of photography.

Here is a teaser for next week's episode, "Kit Nelson," with Michael Eklund playing Kit Nelson, the menace of the week:

Here are some details about Defiance, the new show Michael Taylor is working on that just got its lead -- Grant Bowler from True Blood (via Deadline):

Set on a future Earth, Defiance introduces players and viewers to a world where humans and aliens live together on a planet ravished by decades of war and transformed by alien terra-forming machines. It centers on Jeb Nolan (Bowler), the law keeper in a bustling frontier boomtown that is one of the new world’s few oasis of civility and inclusion. Nolan is a former Marine who fought in the alien conflict and suffered the loss of his wife and child in the war. The trauma transformed him into a lone wanderer in the wilds of this new and dangerous world. Defiance seems to be blending Western and alien themes, something that last year’s feature Cowboys & Aliens attempted to do, but the series is set in the future.

A new interview with Sasha Roiz and Grimm co-star Bitsie Tulloch, from a post-Golden Globes party:

For pics from the event, go to Sasha's Facebook page.

The Hell on Wheels season finale BTS featurette, with Christopher Heyerdahl:

And a new interview with William B. Davis - some interesting BTS stuff from The X-Files:

Hell on Wheels season finale airs tonight

2012-01-15T23:54:00.000Z

Hell on Wheels season finale, "God of Chaos," airs tonight at 10 pm on AMC. The show was picked up for a second season last month, so let's hope The Swede survives tonight's episode. Spoiler TV has a sneak peek.

In other AMC news, the network made a couple of interesting announcements at the Winter TCA Press Tour yesterday. One, the episode order for season three of The Walking Dead, with Bear McCreary hopefully staying onboard as composer, has been extended to 16 episodes. Two, season two of The Killing, with Michelle Forbes back as a series regular and Brian Markinson likely recurring again, premieres on April 1.

Synopsis for tonight's Hell on Wheels:

Cullen’s new life on the railroad is put in jeopardy when he is forced to choose between his past and his future.

And since Christopher Heyerdahl isn't in the preview, here are a few clips from the episodes that already aired:

Brian Markinson in The Firm, Grimm preview, Portlandia's BSG episode, and general updates

2012-01-13T22:35:00.000Z

A few updates to wrap the week.

Let's start with yesterday's episode of The Firm. Brian Markinson made an appearance and if I hadn't trusted the press release (which didn't mention him) over IMDB, I totally would have posted a heads-up. You can watch the episode on NBC.com. It will be available until February 17.

Grimm is back tonight at 9 pm on NBC and Portlandia's BSG ep, "One Moore Episode," with Ron Moore, Edward James Olmos and James Callis, airs at 10 pm on IFC.

Synopsis & teaser for Grimm 1x08, "Game Ogre:"

AN ESCAPED FUGITIVE’S MURDEROUS RAMPAGE LANDS AT NICK’S FRONT DOOR

An escapee returns to Portland seeking revenge against those who put him behind bars. His unusual strength and high tolerance for pain makes Nick (David Giuntoli) take notice. As the case escalates Nick and Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) are put in danger, and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) is called into action to help put an end to the convict’s deadly rampage. Russell Hornsby, Reggie Lee and Sasha Roiz also star.

Elsewhere, Ryan Robbins is still working on Falling Skies, currently on episode 2x07, and Mark Verheiden mentioned he was writing another episode.

A message from the makers of 10,000 Days, with Peter Wingfield:

We said it below and we'll say it again. Hollywood is an unpredictable home. For a web series, it's all about grassroots support like we're experiencing right here on Facebook. The larger our fan base, the louder our call to action. Be vocal. Communicate with each other. Express what you like most about the website and the world of 10,000 Days!

The Killing: The Complete First Season will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on March 13.

BSG and Caprica actors who appeared on the show include Michelle Forbes, Callum Rennie, Brian Markinson, Richard Harmon, Genevieve Buechner, Tahmoh Penikett and Kacey Rohl.

You can pre-order season one on Amazon: The Killing: Season One DVD and Blu-ray.

Hallmark has announced an air date for Hannah's Law with Ryan Kennedy and John Pyper-Ferguson. From the press release:

HANNAH'S LAW, a Hallmark Movie Channel Original, Saturday, June 9 @ 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7C, starring Sara Canning, Kimberly Elise, Danny Glover, Billy Zane and Greyston Holt.

In the old West, a tough-as-nails bounty hunter hunts down the outlaw who brutally killed her family a decade earlier with his dangerous gang.

With help from her friends, including the two men who are competing for her heart, she enters a dramatic showdown where a powerful secret is revealed about her family that will suddenly alter her lifelong course for revenge.

If you're in Vancouver, you can catch Aleks Paunovic in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at the Pacific Theatre starting next Friday (January 20). You can get tickets here.

The Divide with Michael Eklund opens in a limited release today. You can find the list of theatres & showtimes on the film's official site. Here is the trailer:

Blackstone season two premiere, Arctic Air videos, interviews with Leah Gibson, Christopher Heyerdahl, Patton Oswalt and Bear McCreary

2012-01-11T21:40:00.000Z

A quick round of updates.

Netflix has finally launched in UK and Ireland and both Caprica and Battlestar are available for streaming. If you know people there who haven't seen the shows, you can nag them to do it now, while Netflix is offering a free month of trials.

Blackstone, with Carmen Moore, returns with the season two opener, "Blood Is Thicker Than Water," tonight on APTN in Canada. The episode should air at 9 pm ET on APTN East, West, and HD, and at 8 pm PT, but check your local listings to be sure.

Carmen Moore was also one of the people who made an appearance in Arctic Air yesterday. If you haven't seen the pilot, check it out. There are more BSG people in the first five minutes of that show than there were in the opening scenes of BSG. And they share scenes and everything.

The Vancouver Sun has some pics from the red carpet premiere. Here is a clip from the set that includes a short interview with Leah Gibson and a bunch of scenes from the pilot:

And here is the Arctic Air webisode 1x01, "Man of the North," with Carmen Moore:

Elsewhere:

Jane Espenson has written another article for The Huffington Post. You can read it here: "Being Your Best Audience." Snippet:

And this idea of writing for yourself is key even after you are established. I've been lucky enough to write for a number of shows with strong show runners who wrote the show they wanted to see. Buffy, Gilmore Girls, Battlestar, Torchwood, and now Once Upon a Time -- these are shows that stayed on course because they were created by men and women who were writing something a little different than what was out there, and who had the strength to stick with their initial vision and not let it get turned into a game of what's-worked-before.

And go see Husbands if you haven't.

The pilot for Defiance, Syfy's new show with Michael Taylor on the writing team, will start shooting this spring in Toronto, along with Alphas, Warehouse 13, and two USA shows. From Hollywood Reporter:

NBCUniversal, which previously shot SyFy series like Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Eureka and Sanctuary in Vancouver, will have five series shooting in Toronto this spring.
The local slate includes the latest cycles of Alphas, Covert Affairs, Suits and Warehouse 13, and the pilot for the TV-online hybrid Defiance.

Blood and Chrome isn't on Syfy's February schedule. For what it's worth, IMDB has updated the air date to "March 2012."

Spoiler TV has a BTS clip from next week's Glee, directed by Eric Stoltz.

The tickets for Hunger Games, with Paula Malcomson, go on sale on February 22, a full month before the film's release (March 23).

Born to Race with John Pyper-Ferguson will be available on Video-on-Demand on January 28. New trailer:

Patton Oswalt will host the ACE (American Cinema Editors) Eddie Awards ceremony again on February 18. Here is a short interview with him from the Palm Springs Film Festival, where he snagged a prize for Young Adult:

Here is the press release for Michael Eklund's episode of Alcatraz:

When child killer Kit Nelson, a terrifying kidnapper who always returns his victims home – after he’s killed them – reappears from the past, the team is in a race against time to catch the man before he kills again in the all-new “Kit Nelson” episode of ALCATRAZ airing Monday, Jan. 23 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (ALC-103) (TV-14 L, V)

Cast: Sarah Jones as Detective Rebecca Madsen; Jorge Garcia as Dr. Diego Soto; Sam Neill as Emerson Hauser; Parminder Nagra as Lucy Banerjee; Robert Forster as Ray Archer; Jonny Coyne as Warden Edwin James; Jason Butler Harner as Associate Warden ED Tiller.

Guest Cast: Michael Eklund as Kit Nelson.

Death + Taxes Mag has a new interview with Bear McCreary. Snippet (more at the link):

Andrew Belonsky: Richard Gibbs asked you to work on the “Battlestar” miniseries. Then, after he decided not to join the actual series, you became the lead composer. You sort of got drawn into that universe and have since done a number of sci-fi-esque shows. Were you a sci-fan before “Battlestar”?
Bear McCreary: Absolutely! I grew up on sci-fi, horror movies and TV shows and comic books and novels. My passion for music definitely started was in that genre, so it has been very exciting to be able to give back to a genre that gave so much to me.

Belonsky: Is there a particular score that you remember from your childhood that you found to be particularly inspiring or captivating?
McCreary: I probably couldn’t narrow it down to just one; there were so many scores that really opened my ears to what was possible at a very young age. Among those, I remember “Back to the Future” by Alan Silvestri, “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” by Danny Elfman, and then a little bit later “Beetlejuice. Also “Conan the Barbarian” by Basil Poledouris was a big one; “The Empire Strikes Back” by John Williams, too.
There were so many great scores coming out in the early and mid-80s that you couldn’t go see a movie without hearing fantastic music. It was a very exciting time for me to be just discovering this art form.

Sci-Fi Vision has a new interview with Christopher Heyerdahl. He talks about Stargate Atlantis, Sanctuary, Twilight and Hell on Wheels. Here is a snippet about Sanctuary (still no word on season five):

Heyerdahl's dual roles in Sanctuary are some of fans favorites. The actor enjoys playing both of the very different roles. "They're both great characters. It really depends on how late my night was before whether I prefer Biggie or not. He gets up awfully early in the morning, old Biggie (laughs). Sometimes that's enjoyable and sometimes it's less [than] that."

Many fans were wondering whether Druitt would be back again on Sanctuary. "Well, it's hard to say at this stage of the game but the odds are that he's pretty dead. That being said, it is sci-fi. No one ever dies in sci-fi.

"So it really is completely up to the writers. At this point, as far as Druitt in the future, he is dead as far as I know, but just like Watson (played by Peter Wingfield), we can show stories from different plot time periods, explore different decades in Magnus' life and meet him there."

And a BTS featurette from the last episode of Hell on Wheels:

Arctic Air premieres in Canada, new Bomb Girls tonight & new interviews with Meg Tilly

2012-01-10T23:26:00.003Z

Arctic Air premieres at 9 pm on CBC tonight. A bunch of Caprica and BSG actors are either regulars or recurring guest stars: Carmen Moore, Michael Hogan, Leah Gibson, Kandyse McClure, Brian Markinson and Aleks Paunovic. There might be more of them as the season progresses.

Here is the plotline, from the show's Facebook page:

ARCTIC AIR is a one-hour adventure series set in the booming Arctic, about a maverick airline and the unconventional family who runs it.

On the ground, Bobby, the headstrong business partner, struggles to save the airline from crashing financially while Mel, the cantankerous co-owner, keeps his crew of pilots in the air. Caught in the crossfire is Mel’s hotshot pilot daughter Krista. (...)

Over the season this character-based drama will deliver hard-hitting emotional stories – from the romantic entanglement of Bobby and Krista, to the conflicts that spark between Bobby and his competitors, his business partners and even his extended family. There’s a new gold rush heating up under the permafrost, and there are new fortunes of diamonds and oil to claim.

And a snippet from a new article at The Province:

The polished hour-long pilot episode showcases a cast that attests to the depth of the Vancouver talent pool, starting with Kevin McNulty as the airline's crusty owner and Pascale Hutton as his daughter and chief pilot.

Joining them are Brian Markinson as a shady mining financier, Aleks Paunovic as a rough-hewed prospector, Michael Hogan as a back-woods doctor and Stephen Lobo as a pilot from India seeking adventure up north.

Fans of B.C.-produced TV and movies will see a six-degrees-of-separation vibe linking many of those names, as many have shared screens in everything from Canadian shows (Intelligence, Robson Arms) to U.S. sci-fi (Battlestar Galactica).

Omni Film Productions has pre-sold the show to several European countries based on a promotional trailer. The CBC commissioned the series without seeing a pilot first.

There is a short teaser on CBC's site, with a quick glimpse of Michael Hogan and Aleks Paunovic, and here is the trailer:

Before Arctic Air, there is a new episode of Bomb Girls at 8 pm on Global. Several new interviews with Meg Tilly showed up on the web in the last few days. She was on Urban Rush:

Here is another interview, from The Gate Mag:

And one from The TV Addict, with her co-stars Jodi Balfour and Antonio Cupo:

The Firm series premiere, Once Upon a Time, and interviews with Tricia Helfer, Callum Keith Rennie and Christopher Heyerdahl

2012-01-08T23:31:00.000Z

^ In other words, here is what's on TV tonight:

Jane Espenson's new episode of Once Upon a Time, "Desperate Souls," airs at 8 pm on ABC.

Here is the synopsis (previews below):

Regina (Lana Parrilla) and Gold (Robert Carlyle) join forces to thwart Emma's (Jennifer Morrison) attempt to run for sheriff. In the fairy tale world, Rumplestiltskin continues his quest to help his son by finding him the power necessary to avoid war.

At 9 pm, The Firm premieres on NBC. Callum Keith Rennie is a series regular and, from the looks of it, Tricia Helfer makes her first appearance in the pilot, too.

The show was picked up for 22 episodes and, after tonight's premiere, it will air on Thursdays at 10 pm, in Prime Suspect's slot. Meanwhile, the last two episodes of Prime Suspect (with Jonas Pate on the producing team) will be aired back-to-back on Saturday, January 21.

Synopsis for The Firm (two sneak peeks below):

After young lawyer Mitchell McDeere (Josh Lucas, “J. Edgar”) exposed the law firm he worked for was a front for the Chicago mob, he and his family found themselves in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Now, a decade later, McDeere, his wife Abby (Molly Parker, “Deadwood”) and daughter Claire (Natasha Calis, “The Possession”), begin their efforts to reclaim their lives, which proves to be an uphill battle. Also starring Juliette Lewis (“Cape Fear”) and Callum Keith Rennie (“The Killing”). Tricia Helfer (“Battlestar Galactica”) and Shaun Majumder (“Detroit 1-8-7″) guest star.

Here is an audio interview with Tricia Helfer discussing her character on the show, from SoundCloud.com:

Tricia Helfer by JesseModz

And a short interview with Callum Rennie:

And, moving on to 10 pm, there is a new episode of Hell on Wheels, with Christopher Heyerdahl. TV Fanatic has a new interview with him.

Heyerdahl was attracted to playing the character because of his deep complexities.

"He’s a well drawn, extremely conflicted, three dimensional human being," said the actor. "One of the greatest things in any person, given the opportunity of extreme circumstances, and that’s of course the goal of any of these shows to put characters in extreme circumstances, is to watch them contradict themselves and to come up with actions that might seem to betray their characters but at the same time show us that there is more going on than we thought. And that’s always to me so exciting when you see a character being contradictory."

And while many might view the Swede as a villain, he's clearly not so black and white. Heyerdahl enjoys the variety of fan reactions to his character, saying:

"Either they hate him, period. They hate him but they love him. They find him creepy and it gives them the shivers but they’re attracted to him. So, there’s all these very many splendid ways of reacting to a character that just in the same way I’m attracted to this guy as much as anybody else is."

Here is the synopsis for episode 1x09, "Timshel:"

In the aftermath of the events of ‘Derailed’ Elam comes to Durant’s attention as a man who is willing to work off the books. Meanwhile, the looming railroad deadline throws Cullen and Lily together and Joseph must learn to live with the outcome of last week’s violence.

And some previews:

The first eight minutes of Once Upon a Time:

The teaser:

Two sneak peeks from The Firm, one with Callum Rennie and the other with Tricia Helfer:

And the teaser for tonight's Hell on Wheels, with Christopher Heyerdahl:

Blood and Chrome update, cast news and interviews with Michael Nankin, Meg Tilly and Scott Porter

2012-01-07T23:28:00.001Z

The weekly round-up (with a few additional bits coming tomorrow):

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talked to Syfy's Mark Stern at the Winter TCA Press Tour and they have an update on Blood and Chrome. Kind of, anyway. Here is what he says (more at the link):

Is the project dead? Read more after the jump. ...

"No not at all," said Syfy original programming president Mark Stern. "We're trying to figure out the economics right now. I love it but we're trying to put various things together to see how we're going to get it made. My hope is we get it figured out." (...)

Stern said the pilot was a good test to prove the technology could be used in series, although he acknowledged it will likely take a year to get the show on air after it's ordered due to the amount of post-production work that will be required on every episode.

Stern wasn't sure how much longer he has the actors under contract but he thinks it's a few months.

"Now that we're back from the holidays I'm just waiting to get some foreign [financial] numbers in because we're both the studio and network on this," he said. "I'm hoping to make a decision [about whether to order it to series] in the next month or so."

On other fronts:

Esai Morales will be back as D.A. Aaron Davidson in the second season of Fairly Legal. The show returns on March 16. USA announced the date last week.

If you missed the 17th Precinct pilot on Vimeo last month, it is now available on YouTube, starting here.

A really great interview with Michael Nankin showed up at MasterTalentTeachers.com. I can't embed the clip so hit the link to see it. He talks about working on BSG, among other things.

Patton Oswalt is one of the six actors who will be presented with a Virtuoso Award at this year's Santa Barbara Film Festival, on February 3. From the press release:

“The actors who were selected to be recognized for their exceptional performances are: Demián Bichir for his earnest portrayal as Carlos, a virtuous father struggling to provide for his son in A Better Life; Rooney Mara for her dark and provocative performance as Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Melissa McCarthy for her role as the hilariously outspoken Megan in Bridesmaids; Patton Oswalt for masterfully navigating between the realms of comedy and drama as Matt Freehauf in Young Adult; Andy Serkis for stepping into the mind and body of an ape through his master of performance-capture technology in his role as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes; and Shailene Woodley for bringing an emotional complexity to a character rarely seen at her age as Alexandra in The Descendants.”

Grimm is back next Friday. Here is the teaser for the next episode, "Game Ogre," with Sasha Roiz:

BBC has released a few more details about Polly Walker's character in Prisoners' Wives (still no air date):

Polly Walker (Rome, State Of Play) plays Francesca; a colourful and glamorous career criminal’s wife. She is happy to turn a blind eye to her husband’s crimes and let him call the shots in exchange for a life of luxury while he’s inside. But when she goes from riches to rags, Francesca is forced to question a marriage that consists of two hours a week in a prison visits hall. Is a relationship worth fighting for when you haven’t been touched in years - or can Francesca find happiness elsewhere?

Guampdn.com has a recent interview with Scott Porter. Snippet:

YC: What's coming up for your character in "Hart of Dixie"?
SP: You're gonna see George inch closer to discovering the secrets that his fiancée has been keeping from him. And you'll be seeing a lot more of the two established love triangles and how they interact. All these people know each other and call each other friends but there's all this secrecy between them. You'll see a lot more shenanigans with Wade and my character, George. I think people are really going to enjoy that.

YC: I also enjoyed your arc on "The Good Wife" -- it was such a departure from Jason Street.
SP: I've been blessed with the fact that I've been able to play a lot of different roles and "Hart of Dixie" was such a breath of fresh air, especially after the traumatic scenes in "Friday Night Lights" and "The Good Wife." One was hero, one was a bit of a villain, but they were both very dramatic shows and have very serious tones oftentimes so it's nice to cut loose on "Hart of Dixie."

And there is another one at Marvel.com, mostly about the X-Men anime series (the finale aired on Friday):

Marvel.com: As a fan, what was your favorite part about the series?
Scott Porter: Figuring out the identity of the main villain was one of my favorite moments. The back and forth with Wolverine throughout the series was another. That is just classic X-Men right there. And the teasers at the end of the episodes of all the mutants outside of our show...I'd love to see some of those characters anime'd up.

Marvel.com: What are some of your personal favorite X-Men stories?
Scott Porter: Wow. Too many to count. The first Nimrod saga was my first introduction to the X-World. Watching Harry Leland die made this universe so dangerous to me that it grabbed me immediately. This wasn't a book where no one bit it or where everyone was safe, and it intrigued me. Peter David's X-Factor runs--both the '90s and current--are some of the best X-books ever. His grasp on relationships is untouched. "Days of Future Past" and the "Dark Phoenix Saga" go without saying. Inferno was a blast. I read that as a kid and it was my favorite of that '80s period. I'm really enjoying Regenesis, it got me back in on the main X-books after being away for a bit and I'm enjoying the Schism stuff.

The Macbeth e-book with an audio performance by James Marsters was released on iTunes in December. Joanne Whalley plays Lady Macbeth.

Born to Race with John Pyper-Ferguson has a new poster.

Ryan Robbins tweets that he is back on the set of Falling Skies to film episode 2x06.

Meg Tilly has joined Twitter. You can follow her at @meggamonstah. Winnipeg Free Press has a new interview with her. Snippet (about her character in Bomb Girls):

Tilly describes Lorna as a complex character, and a refreshing change from most other female roles she’s seen.
"A lot of times in TV, or sometimes in feature (films), you’re expected to be the good one, or you’re the sexy one or you’re the vamp or you’re the bad one or you’re the wicked, evil one," Tilly says in rapid-fire delivery that pervades a recent interview.
"She’s a whole human and I think that’s what I love about her.... It’s not good or bad, it’s just human. We all have our idea of what we want to be and what we want, but sometimes we are bigger, better, more noble than we knew we could be and sometimes we’re less — we fall down, we make choices that when you think about later you get all-over body flush and you feel ashamed."

Brandon Sun reports that Meg will next star in a production of Michel Tremblayin's The Real World? in Toronto in April, and that her next book, a young adult novel called A Taste of Heaven, will be published by Penguin in early 2013.

You can watch a new trailer for season two of Blackstone (Jan. 11) on Carmen Moore's FB page.

Here is a clip from Indie Jonesing, with Leah Gibson (via Leah Gibson Fans):

The Odds with Calum Worthy will be released in theatres in Canada on March 2. From Northern Stars:

Shot in British Columbia The Odds opens on March 2nd. The plot revolves around illegal gambling. Costarring Tyler Johnston, Calum Worthy and Julia Maxwell, when his best friend is murdered, a 17-year-old gambler decides to find the killer before the illegal gaming operation is exposed.

Dmitry Chepovetsky is doing a play called Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata at the Arts Club in Vancouver (Jan. 19 - Feb. 11), as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Tickets and info here.

Your personal ads, set to music! Irregular hats for cats, mounted lobsters, autographed copies of the Bible: this new work from composer Veda Hille and the CBC’s Bill Richardson explores what humanity has to offer and turns it into sidesplitting musical fare. Who wouldn’t want a broken time machine, for free? Come and take a look at the vagaries and intimacies of the internet. Featuring the original songs “300 Stuffed Penguins,” “Chilli Eating Buddy,” “Decapitated Dolls,” and more.

TV Guide has the first details on Michael Eklund's character in Alcatraz:

Eklund, whose credits also include Flashpoint and Caprica, will play Kit Nelson, a terrifying kidnapper who always returns his victims to their homes... after he's killed them. He'll appear in Episode 103, airing Monday, Jan. 23.

A couple of new videos from his recent projects showed up on the web in recent days. io9.com has a new clip from The Divide, and the first teaser for Errors of the Human Body has been posted on the film's official FB page. They also have a bunch of photos from the film. Here is the synopsis:

Errors of the Human Body is a psychological thriller about one man’s quest for redemption from his own disturbing past, set within the mysterious world of genetic engineering.

Here is a BTS featurette from last week's Hell on Wheels, with Christopher Heyerdahl:

And that clip with the 16-bit-version of BSG from College Humor that's been making the rounds across the web lately - a must see:

Bomb Girls with Meg Tilly premieres in Canada tonight

2012-01-04T22:27:00.032Z

Meg Tilly's new show Bomb Girls premieres at 8 pm on Global in Canada tonight.

A few new interviews with her showed up in recent days. First, she was on George Stroumboulopoulos this week. The clip can't be embedded, but you can see the interview on CBC.ca.

MSN Entertainment has an article about the show and Meg's return to acting (yes, Caprica gets a mention, too). Snippet about Bomb Girls:

Lorna is Tilly's character Lorna Corbett, the middle-aged shift matron at Victory Munitions. Married to a crippled WWI vet and with two sons fighting in Europe, Lorna watches over the women of Blue Shift, but her blind patriotism and harsh ways make her an object not only of respect but of fear amongst her young female charges, including the wealthy but naïve Gladys Witham (Jodi Balfour). I ask Tilly how important it was for her that Lorna does not come off as villainous.

"Everybody has light and dark, right?" she asks rhetorically. "We all behave well and we all behave badly, and I think that's one of the things I love about the show is that that's all there and present. Sometimes I'll read a script and be like 'Really? She does what? Oh no.' And then I'm like 'Oh, Lorna. This is not going to turn out well.'

"Sometimes I wake up at night, like this wave of sadness for Lorna, of her situation and her isolation and her loneliness and her trying so hard to be good and do right, and the humanness of her breaks my heart. I love Lorna, but my heart breaks for her too, and I don't know how things are going to go for her, and I worry about her. It's like she's my friend."

And there in another one at The Vancouver Sun:

"I wasn't planning on it," Tilly says of her latest turn on the screen - her first in 17 years. But after finishing a stage run of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Vancouver Island this year, Tilly fell for Lorna's character after reading for the part - largely at her agent's behest.

"I'd never even heard of (bomb girls before). . . . It's such a huge part of Canadian history," Tilly said in a recent interview at a Toronto hotel. The drama focuses on the lives of five fictional Canadian women working at a munitions factory during the Second World War. Filling in for the ranks of men who were shipped away to battle, these women provided much-needed ammunition for the Allied troops fighting in Europe. Joining Tilly in the ensemble cast are Jodi Balfour as a freespirited socialite turned bomb girl, Charlotte Hegele as a preacher's daughter, as well as Ali Liebert and Anastasia Phillips.

The real women who worked in Canadian factories were brought together from across the country.

"It was a really amazing time for women - everything just kind of shifted," Tilly says. "And these doors just blew open wide, because it was a necessity . . . for our boys, for overseas and for the world.

Here are a couple of new previews, from Spoiler TV:

More updates later this week.

Caprica Season 2 finale, Sanctuary previews, and new interviews with Meg Tilly and Christopher Heyerdahl

2011-12-30T22:49:00.001Z

All right, one final update for the year.

The two-part finale of Caprica Season 2, written by Bernard Keyer, has been posted on Beginning of Line. You can read it here: Enuma Elis, Part 1 and Part 2. If you're only now discovering BoL, you can find the entire season in the Story Archive.

And if you're interested in contributing stories or fan art for Season 3, you still have a day left to email Teresa and let her know. Details on the So Say We All blog.

Also on the Caprica front, Bear McCreary tweets that the soundtrack will be released in early 2012. Hopefully.

And this is always great to see: Caprica got an honor roll mention in Huffington Post's TV section, in their Year in Television 2011 review.

On the cast front:

The Sanctuary season four finale, "Sanctuary for None (Part 2)," with Ryan Robbins, Christopher Heyerdahl and Brian Markinson, airs tonight at 10 pm. Synopsis, from The Chicago Tribune:

Will (Robin Dunne) currently is being forced to work with SCIU director Greg Addison (Brian Markinson) while Bigfoot (Christopher Heyerdahl) has decided to remain in the abnormal homeland and team with rebel leader Caleb (guest star Gil Bellows). Henry (Ryan Robbins), Tesla (Jonathon Young) and Kate (Agam Darshi) are sided firmly with Magnus, even though they doubt her move to expose the Sanctuary to the public was wise.

In tonight’s episode, Magnus and Caleb still are struggling to keep the abnormal homeland safe from SCIU and the other human organizations that would see it destroyed.

Sneak peek and teaser:

I didn't mention this on the blog earlier, but Portlandia, which returns on IFC on January 6, is doing a BSG tribute episode called "One Moore Episode," and if I'm understanding this right, the episode will premiere on Facebook (Facebook.com/Portlandia) on January 1. Ron Moore, Edward James Olmos and James Callis all make an appearance. Here is a sneak peek (likely a flashback too if you're here):

Also on January 1, there is a new episode of Hell on Wheels, called "Derailed," with Christopher Heyerdahl. Ty Olsson from BSG and Blood and Chrome also guest stars (see sneak peek). Times Colonist has a new interview with Christopher:

"I think [the writers] thought long and hard about creating a multi-dimensional, mysterious character, and they certainly succeeded," he says.

"When he was introduced [in Episode 2], there was so much that had to be cut, because the show isn't about The Swede. There was so much written about how [the writers] explored the character.

"I actually have quite a tome of The Swede's words that we'll never see or hear. There was a lot to go on."

A couple of pics from the episode, from Spoiler TV:

And the promo:

And big congrats to Meg Tilly on this:

Victoria theatre writers have singled out Meg Tilly for best performance in a professional production for the 2010-11 season.

The Critics' Choice Spotlight Awards cited Tilly's performance as Martha in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - staged last summer by Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre - took three top awards. It was also voted best professional production. Brian Richmond, who directed, won for best direction.

With the Bomb Girls premiere only days away, a couple of new interviews with Meg showed up online in recent days. One is at TheStar.com and the other at Canoe.ca:

“I didn’t even know there were bomb factories, I just thought they magically appeared,” said Tilly, referring to the World War II era in which Bomb Girls is set.

“And I wasn’t aware of how many people I know whose parents, or aunts, or grandparents worked in them.”

In Canada the dangerous art of making of bombs fell largely to women, with so many men fighting overseas. The personal and professional politics of this together-by-necessity work environment is at the heart of Bomb Girls, a six-part Canadian mini-series that debuts Wednesday, Jan. 4 on Global.

Caprica and BSG science consultant Malcolm MacIver has written another article for Discover Magazine. You can check it out here: Information Wants to Be Free. What About Killer Information?

Assignment X has a two-part interview with James Marsters and his band mates from Ghost of the Robot. (Great frakkin' name, there.) You can read it here: part 1, part 2.

According to the film's FB page, Hungry Hills with John Pyper-Ferguson is about to launch online in the States via Think Box Entertainment. See it if you haven't already.

And last not least, here are two new teasers for The Firm, with Callum Rennie and Tricia Helfer (Jan. 8, NBC):

And see you on Twitter until the next year. :)

Three Inches with James Marsters and Stephanie Jacobsen airs tonight (9 pm, Syfy)

2011-12-29T23:28:00.000Z

Three Inches, the Syfy pilot with James Marsters and Stephanie Jacobsen that didn't get ordered to series, airs tonight at 9 pm ET on Syfy.

To recap, the network ordered the 90-minute pilot back in the spring of 2010. It was filmed in September in Toronto and, in December, Syfy decided to pick up Alphas instead, and to tweak Three Inches into a half-hour because the two were conceptually similar.

Six months went by with no news, and then in July word came from James' FB page that Syfy would not be giving Three Inches a full season, but that the pilot would air eventually. Well, that's tonight.

Here is the synopsis, from ScienceFiction.com:

In Three Inches, professional daydreamer and underachiever, Walter Spackman (Noah Reid) is struck by lightning, and develops a unique “super” power — the ability to move any object using just his mind… but only a distance of three inches. He’s soon recruited by a covert team of superheroes each gifted with their own extraordinarily ordinary abilities. Together, the unlikely band of heroes proves that “super” is simply a state of mind.

Jace Alexander (Rescue Me, Prison Break) is directing the pilot, written by Harley Peyton (Twin Peaks), who also serves as executive producer. Fox Television Studios is producing with Executive Producer Robert Cooper, through his company Landscape Entertainment. J.J. Jamieson heads up television for Landscape Entertainment.

And the character descriptions, from Examiner:

James Marsters will star as Troy Hamilton, a former government agent who takes Walter in to his own team of “super” heroes who fight evil wherever they find it. He is a father figure to Walter.

Stephanie Jacobsen plays Watts, a beautiful “super” hero who has the ability to shape the emotions of anyone she meets at close range.

Other than the two BSG/Caprica actors, Three Inches stars Noah Reid (Score: A Hockey Musical, the upcoming Titanic series), Naoko Mori (Torchwood), Kyle Schmid (Blood Ties), Andrea Martin (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Anthony Del Rio (The Super Hero Squad Show), Alona Tal (Supernatural), and Brandon Jay McLaren (The Killing).

The teaser:

17th Precinct pilot, Sanctuary finale (part 1) and some general updates

2011-12-23T23:06:00.000Z

Just checking in to wish everyone happy holidays and safe travels!

Here are a few updates to wrap things up for the week:

Someone has posted an early Christmas present for us on Vimeo - the full pilot for Ron Moore's 17th Precinct. Huge props to Caprica City (Twitter) for the find!

Apparently it's been up there for a couple of months now, but some of us were too busy whining about no air date to notice.

The pilot was directed by BSG's Michael Rymer and has what's probably the best ensemble cast since Caprica went off the air: Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Stockard Channing, Esai Morales, Eamonn Walker, Tricia Helfer and Matt Long. You can watch it on Vimeo or keep scrolling, it's embedded below.

The first part of the Sanctuary season four finale, "Sanctuary for None," airs tonight at 10 pm on Syfy. Here is a new synopsis, from Red Eye Chicago:

Written by James Thorpe and directed by Damian Kindler, the first part has Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) teaming with Hollow Earth rebel leader Caleb (guest star Gil Bellows) to build a new homeland for displaced abnormals in the Fifth Ward. Magnus wants to broker a peace deal between the insurgents, SCIU and the other government agencies, but SCIU director Greg Addison (Brian Markinson) has other ideas.

A lot goes down in that first episode involving Addison, Will (Robin Dunne), Bigfoot (Christopher Heyerdahl) and Tesla (Jonathon Young), leading Magnus to take desperate action.

Pizquita has the promotional stills from the episode, including one with Ryan Robbins. Part 2 airs next Friday, Dec. 30.

And on other fronts:

Deadline reports that Christopher Heyerdahl's other show, Hell on Wheels, got picked up for a second season.

Bloody Disgusting has the new poster for Alessandra Torresani's new horror, Playback, which will be available on demand on February 3 and out in theatres on March 9.

The official site for Arctic Air has been updated with a whole bunch of character bios. Go to CBC.ca/ArcticAir/cast to find out what characters Carmen Moore, Brian Markinson, Michael Hogan and Kandyse McClure will be playing.

You can find the trailer for season two of Blackstone on Carmen Moore's FB page.

Judas Kiss with Richard Harmon and Genevieve Buechner is now available on iTunes in more than 20 countries. The film's official FB page has the list.

TheCommentary.ca has a fun new audio interview with William B. Davis. Some provocative questions there from Joseph Planta. Go listen.

Times Colonist has an article about Bomb Girls that includes an interview with Meg Tilly.
Spoiler TV has the character bios for the show.

James Marsters' December Q&A has been posted on his official site. He also recorded a holiday message for the fans, which you can see on his FB page.

Movieweb has new hi-res photos from The Divide with Michael Eklund, out in theatres on January 13.

And the videos.

17th Precinct:

17th Precinct from ddt73 on Vimeo.

Some more Tricia Helfer and a short interview with Callum Rennie in a new preview of NBC's The Firm:

The fourth and last episode of Judas Kiss: Behind the Scenes:

And three new video interviews with Patton Oswalt showed up in recent days. He was on Chelsea Lately this week. You can watch the clip on MediaMarketJournal.com.

He was also on Conan:

And he talked about his Critics Choice nomination for Young Adult at a recent event:

Get More: Music Videos, Free Music Videos

Okay, that wraps it up. Hope you have a great Christmas weekend and see you after the holidays!

Tuesday round-up: Blood & Chrome, Sanctuary, cast news, interviews with Jane Espenson, William B. Davis and Patton Oswalt

2011-12-20T23:58:00.001Z

Okay, some updates.

It's Tuesday, so keep an eye on Beginning of Line. A new episode of Caprica season 2 goes up today.

There are a couple of things to check out on TV tonight. Patton Oswalt is on Conan at 11 pm on TBS, and on Chelsea Lately, also at 11 on E!

Deck the Halls with Luciana Carro and Hiro Kanagawa premieres at 9 pm on TNT. From the press release:

Holiday cheer turns to holiday fear when a private investigator’s father is kidnapped in TNT’s all-new original movie Deck the Halls, starring Kathy Najimy, Scottie Thompson, Jane Alexander, Larry Miller and David Selby. Based on the book by Mary Higgins Clark and daughter Carol Higgins Clark and the first in their series of holiday mystery novels.

A crackling good mystery with a warm holiday heart, Deck the Halls brings together two of the Higgins Clarks’ most popular characters: cleaning-woman-turned-amateur sleuth Alvirah Meehan, played by Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, Franklin & Bash) and private eye Regan Reilly, played by Scottie Thompson (Star Trek, Skyline). The women investigate the kidnapping of Regan’s father, Luke Reilly (David Selby – The Social Network, Dark Shadows), and a young female driver just before the holidays. The race is on to rescue the pair and get them home in time for Christmas.

TNT has released a sneak peek with Luciana Carro. You can watch it here.

Luciana has posted a bunch of BTS photos from Falling Skies on Twitter, some of them with Ryan Robbins. You can see them here. They recently wrapped filming episode 2x05. Rémi Aubuchon tweets that John Dahl ("False Labor," "The Dirteaters") directed it.

Doug Drexler did an interview on Trek Radio on Saturday. The podcast is not up yet, but it was a really great interview that went on for about two and a half hours, so keep checking the "on demand" section. Hopefully it will show up one of these days. Updates on Blood & Chrome, the short version: No word yet on a possible series order, but they (VFX guys) expect to know something in February. They can't wait for us to see what they've done with the ship. Bear McCreary is definitely scoring the pilot. Also, they shot a B&C behind-the-scenes documentary that we will hopefully get to see eventually. Last, there was also some talk about the web series rumour having been exaggerated.

On other fronts:

Alessandra Torresani did another photo shoot with Tyler Shields. You can find a bunch of photos at The Bambola Factory.

Brian Markinson will definitely be back on The Killing when the show returns for a second season in the spring (no date yet, but Movieweb says April). Susan Gittins posted a photo of him on the set with Joel Kinnaman here.

Brian will also be back in the first part of the Sanctuary season finale, "Sanctuary for None," next Friday. Synopsis and teaser:

"Sanctuary For None: Part 1" 412 (Syfy, Fri Dec 23 10 pm). Part 1 of 2. Caleb asks Magnus to help broker a peace deal between his insurgents and the governments on the surface; Addison reactivates Will's federal commission; Tesla resurfaces. Guest Cast: Brian Markinson (Greg Addison); Pascale Hutton (Abby); Gil Bellows (Caleb).

And here is a recent video of the Sanctuary cast discussing their favourite things in season four.

You can find some new pics from Marilyn, one of Ryan Robbins' new films, on Facebook.

BestBritishTV.com has a new article about Polly Walker's new show, Prisoners' Wives. Snippet:

The drama centers around four women who are struggling to manage while their husbands are incarcerated. Along with Walker, the cast includes Emma Rigby, Pippa Haywood, Natalie Gavin and Iain Glen. The Sheffield based drama is being executive produced by Tiger Aspect film.

Walker plays the role of Francesca who is married to a notorious career criminal. She enjoys the high life that her husband funds with his ill-gotten gains but things change once his money dries up.

Collider has a couple of new TV spots from John Carter.

Syfy will air Three Inches, James Marsters' pilot that didn't get picked up, on Thursday, December 29 at 9 pm ET. Synopsis (TV Guide):

An underachiever is struck by lightning and develops an unusual power, which leads to a meeting with a team of atypical superheroes in the debut of the sitcom following a man who can use his mind to move any object three inches.

And there is another photo of James and Michelle Ryan in Metal Hurlant Chronicles at James-Marsters.eu.

Zak Santiago has been cast in a new comedy, called Random Acts of Romance. More info about the film at RandomActsofRomance.com.

There are a couple of new pics of Richard Harmon on the set of The Wishing Tree here and here. His other recent TV film, The Pregnancy Project, has been given an air date: it will premiere on Saturday, January 28 at 8 pm ET on Lifetime.

Dennys Ilic posted a new BTS photo of the cast of 17th Precinct here. Still no word if the pilot will ever be aired.

Meg Tilly writes that she has wrapped filming Bomb Girls. The show premieres on Wednesday, January 4 at 8 pm on Global in Canada. Spoiler TV has a few new promotional photos.

Zimbio has a few photos of Kacey Rohl and Leah Gibson from the set of This American Housewife. (Several sites reported earlier that the pilot was called American Housewife, but I guess they're going with the new title.)

Ariane C Design has an article and promotional photos for Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, the play with Aleks Paunovic that runs from January 20 to February 4 at the Pacific Theatre in Vancouver. Ticket info at the link. There is another article about the play at Broadway World.

Movieweb has an exclusive Blu-ray clip from In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds, out on December 27:

Dmitry Chepovetsky and Mike Dopud both have supporting roles in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, which opens on December 21. That's tomorrow.

Movieweb has new photos from The Divide with Michael Eklund, which opens in January.

William B. Davis was on Urban Rush last week to talk about The X-Files and his memoir, Where There's Smoke... Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man.

There is another recent interview with him at The Eerie Digest:

TAEM- William, your latest endeavor involves the memoirs that you have written. Please tell us about the book, it’s publisher, and where our readership can find it.
WBD-The book is called ‘Where There’s Smoke …. The Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man’, and frankly, it’s the story of my life. It’s a pretty unusual life which I tell with candor and humor – from radio drama in the early fifties to The X-Files. I have been delighted with the response to the book. People will have different interests – whether it’s the history or the life on the set – but it is a compelling story and of special interest to people in the arts. There are a lot of sidebars about acting but of special interest may be the stories of early Canadian theatre and British theatre in its John Osborne, Harold Pinter heyday. (...)

TAEM- Soon you would play probably your most well known role, that of ‘The Cigarette Man’, in the extremely popular television series, ‘X-Files’. This was personally my favorite television show of all time. I understand that you also wrote one of the stories for that series. Please tell us about this and the character that you represented in this show.
WBD-This was a remarkable case of a character developing in response to the fans and to ideas that developed after the series was well underway. There was not very much dialogue between the creators and the actors – we brought what we could to our roles and often the creators then built on what we showed them. CSM was a character mostly of light and shadow at first but gradually emerged from the background. When they first decided they wanted the character to be more prominent there was some concern about how well I could act as they had not really seen me do anything. Fortunately they were pleased with the result.

Writing for the series was an adventure and the story idea involving CSM on a road trip with Scully turned out well though in truth Chris Carter wrote much of the dialogue – very well I have to add. (...)

TAEM- Can you also give us a sneak-peek behind some of the new productions that you are in and let our readers know when they will be able to see them?
WBD-The most recent is Tall Man where I play the Sheriff. I don’t know when it will be released – we shot it a year ago but we were still doing post production recently. They hope it will premiere at Sundance. There is a fun horror movie called Medium Raw that’s available on video where I play a wolf and eat people. Well it’s not quite that simple.

Here is a BTS clip from this Sunday's episode of Hell on Wheels, with Christopher Heyerdahl:

Jane Espenson gave a few interviews about Husbands and Once Upon a Time. She was on the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast, which you can listen to here. She also wrote an article for Huffington Post: Is TV Writing the Best Job Ever?

And here are the interviews - Ohio Fusion (about Husbands):

Have you gotten word from any networks interested in producing the series on television?
Jane: We haven’t taken it out yet. We’re still in the process of sending copies of the pilot, and we’ll see who’s interested. (...)

I love the tagline of the show. Tell me how you came up with it and how it contributes to the show’s overall message.
Jane: We went through a bunch of different taglines and we even used some of them on a couple of our documents. But the one that really stuck was “They’re doing it wrong. That’s their right.” And it really just came to me because I was playing with the word “right.” Only after did we realize how powerful it was. The journalist Alyssa Rosenberg was the first one to really point out how deep it was and that the core of the series is about this couple that is absolutely fallible.

They are making every mistake along the way starting with getting drunkenly married after only knowing each other six weeks. Part of the right to get married comes with the right to do things wrong, to not have to be perfect, to be able to make mistakes like anybody else. Put them on equal footing with every other newlywed couple out there. They’re not better. They’re not different. They’re just another newlywed couple.

Backstage.com (with Cheeks and Jeff Greenstein):

Back Stage: What was the appeal of doing something on such a smaller scale than a weekly TV series?
Greenstein: Total creative control, being accountable to no one but ourselves, getting to make exactly the show we wanted to make. I believe that the shoestringiness of a small-scale production always tends to bring out one's creativity.
Espenson: In general, it's the speed and flexibility and control. It went very quickly from concept to release, and we were able to make adjustments on the fly without worrying about any bosses above us. It also really fosters a sense of teamwork when you're working in such a small group. Everyone is really motivated to be creative. I loved the feel of it.

Back Stage: Jane, do you find you write differently—perhaps more freely—for online content? Are there things you've always wanted to do that you now have the opportunity to because of the platform?
Espenson: In a way it's a little freer, because we could do things like swear and not worry about whether or not our content was too edgy. But it's also a little more constrained, because you can't afford to change locations or add other actors to a scene. Looking forward, now that I've experienced this, I imagine that I will do more writing for the web—some content is just perfect for this forum.

JohnHoff3:

How do you feel about movie and TV remakes?
Some are good and some aren’t. I worked on Battlestar Galactica, which was based on an earlier incarnation of the series, and I thought it was brilliant. It’s always about the quality of the product, not some aspect of the project, like where it started.

How does making a webseries differ from making a TV show?
It’s smaller — smaller crew, smaller salaries. But it’s also bigger because, as a producer, you’re responsible for more aspects of the shoot, so the job gets bigger. It was stressy, but wonderful.

And there is a five-page interview about Once Upon a Time on Blogcritics.org:

I'm really excited to see your next episode, which, I understand reveals more about Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle).
Episode 8 is called "Desperate Souls," and it does reveal more about Rumple. Lots more. You'll learn about where he comes from and what drives him. It's also got a fun Storybrooke story where we see more of how Emma is going to fit into this wonderful insular strange little town. (...)

Can you take me through the creative process on the series? How does it compare, say with Buffy or (more recently) working on Torchwood?
Torchwood was a very different process from everything else, since it functioned as a sort of hybrid version of the UK system – less room time, more one-on-one with the showrunner. Once is more similar to Buffy – we work in a writers' room figuring out the story, and then we take turns writing complete drafts that are then polished by Eddy and Adam. And, also like Buffy, we're being allowed to make the show that the guys envisioned. It's a very smooth and very productive process.

Does the fact that Once Upon a Time is on one of the "big three" networks (not to mention for Disney, ultimately) have an impact on any phase of the creative process for you?
Well, the budget's bigger, so the show looks amazing – I can't believe how gorgeous the dailies look. And we get eight days to shoot each episode, which also helps it look rich and full. But the biggest difference is just in public awareness. It's nice to be able to say the name of the show and have people recognize it. That didn't happen even at Buffy or Battlestar as much as you'd hope.

Here is the press release for "Desperate Souls" (BSG's Ty Olsson guest stars):

"Desperate Souls" - Regina and Mr. Gold play dirty politics and take opposite sides when Emma runs for a coveted Storybrooke public office against Sidney. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale world that was, Rumplestiltskin tries to track down the ultimate power source in order to help his son avert the horrors of a meaningless war, on "Once Upon a Time," SUNDAY, JANUARY 8 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Once Upon a Time" stars Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret, Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan, Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold, Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina, Jared Gilmore as Henry Mills, Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/John Doe and Raphael Sbarge as Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper.

Guest starring are Meghan Ory as Ruby/Red Riding Hood, Patti Allan as Miss Ginger/blind witch, Beverley Elliott as granny, Giancarlo Esposito as Sidney/mirror, Dylan Schmid as Baelfire, Conner Dwelly as Morraine, Kate Bateman as mother, Mark Gash as father, Ty Olsson as Hordor, Brad Dourif as old beggar, Michael Phenicie as The Duke, C. Ernst Harth as burly man/the ogre, David-Paul Grove as Doc and Gabe Khouth as Sneezy.

"Desperate Souls" was written by Jane Espenson and directed by Michael Waxman.

Last not least, some of the gazillion interviews Patton Oswalt did this week. Young Adult is in theatres now.

Patton Oswalt Chats with John Hodgman
Audio: Meet the Actor: Patton Oswalt

After a little speculation from John about the success of this film, the two discussed what may lie ahead in Patton’s film career future.

"All my acting jobs have been these insanely lucky accidents at this point. I don’t have any real autonomy. I might get a little autonomy after this film for a window of two weeks. I'll try to use it wisely. But I'm sure I'll, you know, I'll sign on to Gnip Gnop: The Movie or something like that. I'm sure I'll make some horrible mistake."

With Gnip Gnop scratched off the list, John and Patton pitched some great ideas for a Barney Miller movie, a Cocoon prequel (Hodgman as a young Wilford Brimley), and Ghostbusters 3 (Kristen Schaal as the black Ghostbuster). Will we ever see these brilliant gems on the big screen? Let's just say Patton didn't say no. Let the internet rumors begin!

"I'm in this business for two reasons," Oswalt explained. "The money and the anecdotes. So I either want to be in the best films possible, and if I can't be in those then I want to be in the absolute worst films, because I want the stories. To me doing Ratatouille was just as valuable as doing Blade Trinity.

Patton Oswalt talks 'Young Adult' and career moves

Question: How would you describe Matt?
Answer: I think that he's kind of let his own narrative write him, rather than the other way around. He's the classic example of he hasn't decided to let this thing affect him in a good way, and that makes him an expert in people making bad decisions and letting things affect him in a bad way, which is why he's so good at homing in on what's wrong with Charlize, even though he can't apply that wisdom to himself.

Patton Oswalt on NPR by Laughspin

Patton Oswalt On Comedy, Change, And What Happens If You Never Leave Home

On Sunday's Weekend Edition, Oswalt tells Audie Cornish that he appreciated the fact that while Matt may be a small-town guy, the script (by Juno writer Diablo Cody) doesn't present the people of Mercury as simpletons. "I loved that the people living in the small town are actually happy and have lives of their own," he says, adding that all too often in the movies, "the small town, they're just these harmless potato people who are there to make the hero better."

In developing the character with an acting coach — the first time he's done so for a film role — Oswalt says he had to consider the way his life might have gone had he never ventured out into the world as he did when he went into comedy as a young guy. "I really had to imagine the kind of person that I would have been if I had never left my hometown. I don't think I would have been a very pleasant person." Not that speculating about alternative futures is ever easy: "I had to go back and reverse-engineer a life that I decided not to live."

Diablo Cody, Patton Oswalt & Charlize Theron talk YOUNG ADULT

PATTON OSWALT on choosing roles: Well, first, thank you for implying that I have any control over my career, that I get to choose projects. “Tell Spielberg to get ready to be disappointed; I’m going with Reitman on this.” I was very lucky to be offered this script. I was there at the – I got to know Jason through just, we both love film; we both own French bulldogs. So that’s kind of how we got to know each other. And then I started doing these table reads early for the script, so you know. But as far as my intentions, I just – I’m so beyond like genre, drama, comedy – I just want to do really good, interesting projects. And that can mean something like this script, which was so good when I read it, so good; or something like that little adult swim show that I just did, which was the most bizarre, but also a great script and a – just stuff that constantly rolls the dice down the felt and just goes for it. And this – man, this script went for it. So I was, you know, I – hopefully, someday, if I’m ever at a point where I have the luxury of intention, I will make the right choices. But so far I’ve been lucky enough that the choices I have been given have been really, really good.

Young Adult | Patton Oswalt | Hollywood Dailies | Movie Trailer | Review

Comedian-Actor Patton Oswalt On The Hazards Of Too Much Nostalgia

FAST COMPANY: This is the second film you’ve done some pretty incredible dramatic work in it. Was it easier this time out with Big Fan under your belt?
PATTON OSWALT: It was a little easier this time. But still, in Big Fan it was like I was playing in a vacuum, just this guy who is in his own head all the time. In this one, I got to play against other people, and somebody as amazing an actress as Charlize, so I ended up having to really up my game.

Between this and Juno, Jason Reitman has a great grasp on the teenage experience. What does he get about it?
Yeah, the two of those movies, they really understand those years. I think the one thing he really understands is that nobody really graduates high school completely. And that the shockwave of it sometimes can reverberate a lot longer than we can even realize.

Patton Oswalt on Charlize Theron, “Big Fan” fans and the comedy of “Young Adult” – AWARDS ALLEY

HollywoodNews.com: It bothers me how much I related to Mavis while watching this film.
I think everyone knows a Mavis. It can be female or male. So many people have been coming up to us after screenings and saying, “Oh, I know a Mavis.” But also, there’s something admirable and heroic about the fact that despite all odds, she is going to make things the way they were when she was 16, even though it’s obvious to everyone but her that that’s not going to happen.

HollywoodNews.com: Is there any truth to the rumor that you did “Young Adult” so that guys will stop coming up and telling you how much they love “Big Fan?”
[Laughs] That was not my plan. I was just so flabbergasted and grateful to be offered the role. I certainly wasn’t thinking, “Man, I’ve got to put ‘Big Fan’ behind me!” If people want to keep telling me how great they thought “Big Fan” was, I’m happy with that. That’s a good life.

Interview With Patton Oswalt: The performer talks about writing, acting, and the Golden Age of Baltimore comedy

City Paper : Did you have a lot of input on your character?
PO: I didn’t really need to, it was so well written. I didn’t want to do too much input and then get my fingerprints all over the thing, when I thought the thing was so of a piece. There were a couple of minor suggestions, but it was never coming from me going, “This could be better.” I remember at one point he originally just collected action figures, in the script, and I said, “Well, you know, there’s this subculture of people who cannibalize figures, and modify them,” and I thought, how subliminally symbolic is that for what Matt wished could happen to his life, like, “Why can’t I have a better pair of legs, on a better torso?” that kind of thing, and to Diablo [Cody]’s credit, because she is such a confident writer, she said “Yes, I love that.” She loves natural stuff like that, she had no problem with that, but for the most part, I wanted to read the script as written because it was really good, and if I read it as written, I’m gonna be a lot better than if I’m like (pouty voice), “I wanna add my joke here,” which, if you have something great, fine, but why don’t you read the script? It might really be good.

AUDIO: Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt and Diablo Cody Share Their Movie Loves

Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt and Diablo Cody Talk Young Adult

When asked how they made their scenes together look so natural, Theron joked, “A lot of alcohol.” Oswalt added, “We call it ‘acting juice.’”

Amid the laughter, Oswalt took a serious tone, saying of Reitman, “I think because you know you’re in the hands of someone that knows how to edit a film and how to edit a scene …because we just knew, subconsciously, we were in such good hands, directing-wise, that we could relax enough. And that relaxation is what I think gets – the comedy was never needy. It was just like – we were never going for a laugh, it all came very naturally. And a lot of times, what was so great about the way that she [nodding to Theron] played Mavis, was the laugh comes from her not giving me any response, and then I get more nervous, which is a really real thing, that a lot of actors really don’t have the balls to do. They always want to be saying something or listening and reacting. And she was able to just go, ‘You know what? My character’s just not engaging in this scene at all.’ And that is where the humor came from.”

Is Patton Oswalt on his way from sidekick to star?

“The role was so well written, the movie was so well written, and all I could see were the ways it could go spinning off the tracks if the wrong tone was hit,” said Oswalt during an interview at the Whistler Film Festival. To prepare, he worked with an acting coach and a physical therapist. “I got kind of intimidated by the possibility of wrecking this thing.”

'Young Adult' Star Patton Oswalt Talks Transforming For The Film & How His French Bulldog Helped Get Him The Job

“When the script came in, he said he wanted to see how it sounded, and he had heard that I do a lot of table reads, so I did some readings,” Oswalt explained. “By the third reading that was when Charlize came in and the chemistry was right there. And he said ‘Okay, you got it.’ ”

But landing the role was the beginning of a long and arduous process of shaping the character, since Oswalt has to walk with a severe limp and internalize what that kind of pain will do to a person. “I worked with an acting coach and I worked with a physical therapist,” Oswalt explained. “The physical therapist went over exactly what the wounds were, what the damage was, how I would have recovered from it, how exactly my leg would work and not work.” Just portraying the character could have been damaging to his health. Oswalt said, “It was also nerve-wracking because she said, 'You've got to do these stretching exercises at the end of the day because if you don't, you could permanently mess up the way that you walk.' So that was like 'Oh shit.' "

And Craig Ferguson:

Blood and Chrome update, Grimm & Sanctuary previews, first look at Arctic Air & The Firm

2011-12-16T22:14:00.000Z

First stop today, Beginning of Line. Episode 16 of Caprica season two has been posted. You can read it here: Assassin Nation.

Second, Young Adult opens wide today. Patton Oswalt was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor earlier this week. He also got nods as Runner-up from the Los Angeles Film Critics and Toronto Film Critics Association. Big congrats! (He's done a bunch of interviews this week too, but I won't be posting them until tomorrow.)

Also, congrats to Jane Espenson -- Game of Thrones was named one of the TV Programs of the Year by the American Film Institute last week.

Antipodal has an audio interview with Sasha Roiz. You can download it here.

Grimm 1x07, "Let Your Hair Down," airs tonight at 9. Synopsis:

A mysterious homicide deep in the woods leads to Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) reopening a long-aborted missing persons case. When Nick suspects this abducted person might be a feral creature, he asks Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) to help remind this wild child of her human nature. Bitsie Tulloch, Sasha Roiz and Reggie Lee also star.

Teaser and sneak peeks (no Sasha) embedded below.

A new episode of Sanctuary, "The Depths," with Ryan Robbins and Christopher Heyerdahl, airs at 10 on Syfy. Short synopsis and teaser:

Racing to protect a legendary Abnormal, Magnus and Will are trapped by a cave-in.

StarTrek.com has a two-part interview with Doug Drexler. It is mostly about his work on Star Trek (TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise), but he also gives an update on Blood and Chrome. See the last paragraph.

Your current project is the pilot Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome. How did that go, and in what ways, technologically speaking, does it push the envelope?
Drexler: It's huge. I worked with Gary Hutzel, who once again is our visual effects supervisor. He is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. We had a blast. In one very important way it was different from anything else I’ve ever worked on. The entire show was green screen. There were no sets. This happened because of the shape of the economy. Building sets for a television show like TNG or the last Battlestar Galactica is just prohibitively expensive. No one wants to take that chance. Besides, the way the networks have been doing business lately, it’s kind of bizarre. They’ll cancel a show after one episode. If a show doesn’t perform right out of the gate, they cancel it. In the day when you thought a show would be kept on the air for a year, you might take a chance because you think it will develop an audience over time. With the current network mindset, there’s no chance of building an audience, when after one or two episodes, it's canceled. It’s just impossible. So, they want make a show as inexpensively as possible, so if it’s canceled after one or two episodes, no one gets their head chopped off.

That certainly upped the ante on Blood and Chrome and put a lot more responsibility on you…
Drexler: Oh, yeah. And we love it. That's where we live. The way things used to be, on DS9, Enterprise or Voyager, we’d get a shot list, and we'd stick strictly to the shot list. You’d do your job and they’d plug the VFX sequences in. Now, on Blood and Chrome, with the visual effects department building practically the entire show, we naturally have broader responsibilities. We’re not just creating a plug-in visual effect... a ship flying from left to right. We take an active part telling the story. We’re art-directing the show, and building the sets. It's very fluid and adaptable. We’re lighting and framing the shots as well. Every scene the actors are in, the DP on stage is lighting, but once we get it, we create the atmosphere and the visual direction. That all falls to us. We’re practically producers, because we’re responsible for so much.

What’s next on the Blood and Chrome front?
Drexler: We’ll see whether or not it goes to series. We’re hoping it does, and we should know in February. Decisions are never made over the holidays.

Spoiler TV has the first promotional stills from The Firm (Jan. 8, NBC), with Callum Rennie and Tricia Helfer:

And here is a longer teaser:

Still no sight of Kate Vernon and Brian Markinson in the promos, but they will both make appearances on the show in the first season.

CBC has released a trailer for Arctic Air, which also premieres early next year. You can watch it on the show's Facebook page. Leah Gibson and Brian Markinson are both in it.

And here are the teaser & sneak peeks from tonight's Grimm: