Caprica TV

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:

Snowmageddon, interviews with Jane Espenson, Scott Porter and Calum Worthy, and more updates

2011-12-10T23:55:00.000Z

Okay, the last round of updates for the week.

Snowmageddon, Syfy's Christmas movie with Magda Apanowicz and Michael Hogan saving the world, premieres tonight at 9 pm ET.

You can also catch Magda on Robot Chicken tomorrow at 11:30 pm on Adult Swim. She will be voicing Gladys/Mother/Herman's Wife according to the IMDB. And, speaking of Michael Hogan, he will be playing a "lethal werewolf hunter" in the second season of Teen Wolf. TV Guide reported the news earlier this month.

Press release, teaser and sneak peeks from Snowmageddon:

To usher in the holiday season, Syfy will present a snow globe with the power to destroy the world in the Saturday Original Movie Snowmageddon, airing Saturday, December 10 at 9PM (ET/PT) during the channel’s second annual Countdown to Christmas Week.

Starring Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica), David Cubitt (Medium) and Magda Apanowicz (Caprica), the Christmas-themed Snowmageddon is about a mystical snow globe that makes very bad things happen in the real world when it is shaken.

The movie is a production of Cinetel.

Science and Entertainment Exchange has an interview with Jane Espenson. Snippet:

Your latest project is ABC’s Once Upon a Time. Do you think your love of science fiction work its way into future storylines of the series or do you see science fiction and fantasy as completely separate genres?
I do not think those questions are opposites – I guess I would answer “no” to both of them. Sci-fi and fantasy are different, but I would not say they are “completely” different. I can think of a lot of places where they overlap – Battlestar Galactica had elements of both, for example. But Once Upon A Time is not a vehicle to allow me to write a show I have already written. The thing I love best about TV is that you are writing something new all the time – the fun is in writing to the aesthetic of the new show.

As a screenwriter, what is the advantage of talking to scientists? Have you learned anything from your interactions with scientists?
My father is a scientist – chemist James Espenson – so I was raised among his students and colleagues, and I know how easily a cocktail party turns into passionate discussions of chemistry. My childhood friends and college friends also became scientists and I studied a lot of history/philosophy of science when I was in graduate school. So I feel connected to that world, although I really know nothing. At Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, we relied a lot on science advisers. Kevin Grazier was our advisor on Battlestar Galactica and his input was crucial. He even determined the placement of the planets in the characters’ home system so that we could make Caprica possible. It is easier to be sloppy, but it is satisfying when you do your best to get it right.

Game of Thrones, one of Jane's projects last season, has been nominated for a couple of Writers Guild Awards, for Best Drama Series and Best New Series, and it also got a nomination from the Producers Guild for The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama. Great show, great news, big congrats to all involved!

The Morton Report has a very long interview with Christopher Heyerdahl, mostly about Sanctuary, but his other two big projects this year - Hell on Wheels and Twilight - also get a mention. Here is a snippet:

Looking back at Sanctuary’s fourth year and ahead to the penultimate episode “The Depths” and two-part season finale “Sanctuary for None,” Heyerdahl could not be happier with Bigfoot’s overall story arc. “The writers have taken Biggie in so many new and unexpected directions this season, and that’s always a joy to play,” he enthuses.

“As for the culmination of this season, it’s sacrificial in many ways. It’s always hard to finish a season of Sanctuary because it’s not like most other TV shows where you think, ‘Okay, our numbers are good and we’re airing in 170-odd countries around the world, so I think we’re safe and can look forward to next season.’ With Sanctuary we always hope that we get another season, but who really knows. So it’s kind of like saying goodbye every year and this one was no different. Again, this year’s finale is sacrificial, renewing and filled with possibility.”

THR reported last week that True Justice, a cop drama starring Steven Seagal, Meghan Ory (Ruby/Red Riding Hood on Once Upon a Time) and Warren Christie (Tarn on BSG, currently one of the leads in Alphas), with a bunch of Caprica and BSG actors making guest appearances, got picked up by the ReelzChannel and will air in March. Ryan Robbins, Ben Cotton, Hiro Kanagawa, Michael Eklund and Philip Granger all make appearances according to the IMDB. Pretty sure the show has already aired in the UK and that at least several parts of it are out on DVD, just not in the U.S. yet.

You can find the first photos of James Marsters in Metal Hurlant Chronicles, episode "Shelter Me," on Facebook. The list of the upcoming conventions he is attending has been posted on his official FB page.

Scott Porter was on Chelsea Lately last week. If you're in the U.S. you can watch the video here.

John Pyper-Ferguson's two recent films, Die and Born to Race, will both be out on DVD in France before getting released in the U.S. Die (DVD, Blu-ray) gets released on January 4 and Born to Race (DVD, Blu-ray) on January 10. In related news, at least one Alphas writer/producer has a framed picture of JPF hanging in his office.

Leah Gibson will be joining Kacey Rohl in the Lifetime pilot American Housewife. And here is a new photo of her on the set of Arctic Air, from Susan Gittins:

The Star Phoenix has an article about Michael Eklund's latest film, Ferocious.

Richard Harmon tweeted last week that he is working on The Wishing Tree, a made-for-TV Christmas movie directed by Terry Ingram. He also posted a photo from the set on his blog the other day.

Episode 3 of Judas Kiss: Behind the Scenes has been posted:

Times Colonist has an interview with Calum Worthy, whose new show, Austin & Ally, premiered on the Disney Channel last weekend. (Random fact: Calum played the young Eric Stoltz in Showtime's Out of Order a few years back.) Snippet from the interview:

Worthy, 20, said he welcomed the chance to switch gears into light comedy. It was a refreshing change from darker material, including a role as a member of a teenage gambling ring in Simon Davidson's upcoming murder-mystery The Odds, and playing a bullied teenager in an episode of the CBS series Flashpoint.

His Austin & Ally role couldn't be more different. "He's a wacky, out-of-this-world filmmaker who helps his best friend become an Internet sensation," explains the Claremont Secondary grad, who channelled Jim Carrey and other masters of physical comedy to land the role.

"I also looked at older physical comedy, like Laurel and Hardy," he said. "I watched Will Ferrell and Seinfeld, especially Kramer and how he worked."

He was also on Access Hollywood last week. Here is the video:

Last not least, the first promos for Bomb Girls, Meg Tilly's new show that premieres on January 4 in Canada, are out. Spoiler TV has the summaries of the first three episodes. The press release and first trailer are below.

GLOBAL’S NEWEST SIX-PART PRIME TIME DRAMA BOMB GIRLS PREMIERES WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4

* Starring Academy Award® Nominated Meg Tilly (Agnes of God) and Jodi Balfour (The Sinking of the Laconia)

Global’s commitment to creating powerful original dramas continues with the prime time debut of its new six-part series, Bomb Girls. Premiering Wednesday, January 4 – 8pm ET/PT, the drama profiles the life-altering experiences of five brave Canadian women who risk their lives working in a munitions factory during the Second World War.

“What I love about Bomb Girls is the unique perspective it offers on the constant conflicts and difficult personal choices these women faced in such a high-stakes environment,” said Barbara Williams, Senior Vice-President, Content, Shaw Media. “How did their lives change so profoundly? Why did it all matter so much? Bomb Girls brings the remarkable journey to life.”

The series entertains viewers with a wartime persona that is rarely acknowledged yet played an integral role in the country’s rich history; it reveals the necessity of the ‘bomb girl’ along with her significance. Leading the ensemble cast is legendary Oscar® nominee Meg Tilly (Agnes of God, The Big Chill), who makes her return to network television after 18 years, taking on the role of Lorna Corbett, the Victory Munitions factory supervisor.

Joining Meg Tilly are Jodi Balfour (The Sinking of the Laconia) as free-wheeling socialite-turned-bomb girl Gladys Witham; Charlotte Hegele (Murdoch Mysteries) as wide-eyed preacher’s daughter Kate Andrews; Ali Liebert (Hellcats) as tough-talking Prairie girl Betty McRae; and Anastasia Philips (Skins) as kind-natured Vera Burr. Commissioned by Shaw Media’s original content team, the series is produced by Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Films.

The series also stars Antonio Cupo (L’Ombra del destino) as Italian-born factory worker Marco Moretti; Sebastian Pigott (Being Erica) as Gladys’ fiancé James Dunn; and Peter Outerbridge (ReGenesis) as Lorna’s husband Bob Corbett.

This gripping dramatic series set on the Canadian home front tells the remarkable stories of the women who risked everything building bombs for the Allied forces fighting on the European front. Bomb Girls delves into the lives of these exceptional women from all walks of life – peers, friends and rivals – who find themselves changed profoundly as they are liberated from their home and social restrictions to join the work force for the first time and face previously unimaginable risks in the process.

Shot on location in Toronto, Bomb Girls is executive produced by Muse Entertainment’s Michael Prupas (The Kennedys, Pillars of the Earth), along with Back Alley Films’ Janis Lundman (Durham County) and Adrienne Mitchell (Durham County). Mitchell also serves as co-showrunner along with Michael MacLennan (Flashpoint, Queer as Folk) who is executive producer and serves as the series’ head writer.

Young Adult opens this weekend - new interviews with Patton Oswalt

2011-12-10T23:13:00.001Z

Young Adult opens in a limited release this weekend and Patton Oswalt has given a gazillion interviews in the last couple of weeks.

On the news front, last week Patton was nominated for a Grammy for Best Comedy Album for "Finest Hour" - big congrats! - and, this week, Deadline included him among the frontrunners for an Oscar in the best supporting actor category, along with - brace for a holy frak - Ben Kingsley, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Spacey, Max von Sydow and Christopher Plummer. From the article:

PATTON OSWALT, YOUNG ADULT
Perhaps best known as a stand-up comedian and the voice of the lead rat in Pixar’s Ratatouille, Oswalt is quickly establishing his credentials as a serious actor, first in the critically acclaimed indie film The Big Fan and now on a larger scale as a lonely man whose life was defined by an unfortunate incident in high school. His scenes opposite Charlize Theron are awkward, funny, poignant and memorable.

Hollywood Reporter has a round-up of critics' reactions to the film and the photos from the New York premiere. Below are some of the many interviews Patton did in recent days.

Patton Oswalt waxes nostalgic for 'Young Adult'

Screenwriter Diablo Cody fits so many pop culture references into her work and you’ve discussed so much pop culture in yours, so how do your two viewpoints relate to each other?
“Juno” was, whether you like it or not, a pretty accurate depiction of how young people talk to each other … This movie [“Young Adult”], if you notice, there’s not as much pop culture bric-a-brac in the dialogue because this is more about Gen X getting older and moving towards 40 and 45 and 50 and what do they have to jettison and what do they still hold on to? I think they remember being so self-conscious about people that were baby boomers and how stupid they sounded using their old slang and now they’re almost over thinking, “Do I say the stuff I used to say?” So again, like it or not, it is a very accurate portrait of, “this is how Gen X gets older.” If you thought the baby boomers grew old in a really clumsy way, wait till you see how we do it.

Much of the film has to do with sentimentality and trying to bring the past into the present. Are you ever tempted to do that?
It’s very dangerous. I’m just as guilty of it as anyone else. I think Frank Zappa said, “some day we’re all going to die of nostalgia.” Nostalgia is also an anagram for lost again. You have to keep moving forward because a big part of life is loss. Things fall away and it’s very childish to turn away from that. I have mixed feelings about it because I can say what I just said and then when I’m done with this day, I know I’m going to wind down by listening to Juliana Hatfield’s “Hey Babe” and old Elvis Costello and Supergrass and just kind of then be awash in those memories. It’s almost like if you want the same good times to keep happening, that’s what’s dangerous. Good times can keep happening, just not the same ones and if you expect to be the same person having the same good time, then that’s also really dangerous.

Patton Oswalt on 'Young Adult,' Charlize Theron, and His Twitter Friends

Oswalt hired Nancy Banks, an acting coach, and spent two months poring over the script, studying every aspect of the character’s life and world, as well as living in the leg braces to which Matt is condemned, learning how to walk naturally as someone who walks in total discomfort. Oswalt described the tedious preparation process. “I wish I could tell you something romantic, like De Niro says he would go swimming and look at the crabs under water to get Travis Bickle in his head. Instead, I sat down with this goddamn script and I wrote it out. Nancy Banks is all about there’s no flighty poetic bullshit, you just work the script over and over until it’s second nature. We wrote out the police report, we wrote out the memories Matt had. Think of it, you’re in high school, you’re young, your friends are out getting laid, and you’re in a fucking hospital. All those years are gone. And you’re stuck in this goddamn hospital and they probably do some cheesy Christmas pageant and you’re stuck there.”

Kevin McCarthy's Interview with Young Adult Star Patton Oswalt: MyFoxDC.com

Patton Oswalt: Filming love scene with Charlize Theron for ‘Young Adult’ was a ‘nightmare’ - The Washington Post

Shooting a love scene with Charlize Theron would be a dream come true for many actors, but for Patton Oswalt, who co-stars with the Oscar-winning actress in the new movie “Young Adult,” the experience was “a nightmare.”

“Why do I have to be in my underwear next to the most physically perfect person on the planet? Why couldn’t I have been next to John Goodman or Michael Moore in their underwear?” said Oswalt at the film’s premiere Thursday night. “It was a dream that turned into a nightmare.”

Oswalt digs deep for serious turn in 'Young Adult'

"Diablo wrote such a good script and such a nuanced script that there were a million ways to steer it in the wrong direction," says Oswalt, whose increasingly diverse credits include HBO Canada's "Bored to Death," The Movie Network/Movie Central's "United States of Tara" and the Adult Swim series "The Heart, She Holler."

"That's what I was most worried about -- that I would kind of fumble some of the transitions between the darkness and then the lightness, which I think are handled so brilliantly. Just when I first sat down and read the script I was like, 'Oh boy, I don't want to fumble this.' It's the combination of, 'Oh I'm so thrilled to get offered this,' and 'Oh man, I don't want to mess this up."'

Patton Oswalt Was Once a Young Adult, Has Aged, Reflects

Is there anything that you actually miss about your own coming-of-age era?
One thing that everyone misses about their high school years is how young, healthy, and slim they were. "Things were so much better in '86." Yeah, because you were 16! The one thing that I do kind of miss is that we didn't have Wikipedia and IMDb, and you couldn't go find every shred of information on everything in five minutes. You had to be open to going out, talking to people, and getting different perspectives. How you interact with other people really forms how you are, and you had to do so much more of that in the '80s, whereas now, it's almost like we're programming Asperger syndrome into the culture. I worry what the effects of that will be.

Still, technology has been kind to you. You have more than half a million Twitter followers. Do you think social media is a welcome distraction, or is it some out-of-control amoeba that's going to swallow us whole?
Oh boy, they're both absolutely right. The problem is, and I'm just as guilty of this, a lot of people see their follower count increase and mistake that for friendships. It's great to have followers, especially if you want to sell albums, promote shows, or promote your friends, but you still need to get outside and talk to other human beings. There are times when I have to take, I call it a "silence bath," where I shut off all of the external gadgets. I go walk around, talk to people, and just live life for a while. When I'm done promoting this movie, I have nothing on the calendar for the next few months. I'm trying to defend those empty boxes so that I can take my daughter to a restaurant or go with my friends somewhere, so that I can have things to talk about.

Patton Oswalt on Young Adult, Great Chemistry and the Downside of Nostalgia

Young Adult is an interesting commentary on nostalgia, as if to say that the generation that came of age in the late ’80s/early ’90s is either too cynical for nostalgia or just knows it’s better to move on. Where do you think the film stands? Where do you stand?
I think they’re too cynical to acknowledge nostalgia, but they’re just as guilty of it — if not more — than generations that came before them. Unlike generations that came before them, because they were constantly recontextualizing and mashing up and being meta and post-ironic and postmodern about the stuff they loved as they were loving it, it truly never did go away.

This movie is very much about Generation X approaching 40 and how they’re doing it — and they’re not doing it very well, I don’t think. And because we grew up much like the vile bodies of the 1920s, where it all about, “You can act bored, but you’d better never be boring.” But there’s nothing more boring than approaching your mid-40s. And there’s also nothing more pathetic than realizing, “I need some simple comforts right now. I need a song I love. I need a movie I sank myself into. I need an old coat that I liked.” There’s that kind of double tragedy going on.

Patton Oswalt: Actor discusses 'Young Adult' role

Q: "Young Adult" is hard to classify. A dark romantic comedy?
A: It has the framework of your standard rom-com, but the materials put over the framework are so dark and real and actually what a rom-com would look like in real life, which is a little psychotic and sad.

It's a dark and a fascinating ride. It'll be interesting to see how people react to its gravity. It's got a sort of white-dwarf pull to it.

Q: Had you known Reitman or Cody before this?
A: I knew Diablo because I was in "United States of Tara." I actually saw "Rambo" with her when it came out, which was really fun, a bunch of us went. We really got along. Jason - we met at some awards ceremony and started gabbing about movies and French bulldogs. Then he started having me over for his movie night - he has these great screenings at his house every Sunday.

Charlize Theron, Patton Oswalt, and Screenwriter Diablo Cody YOUNG ADULT Interview

Which is an actor or director who’s work you really admire, and when you go back to watch, you are just constantly amazed at their work?
Theron: Jason Reitman. I mean I really — I don’t know how the gods kind of worked it out, that I ran into him at the time that I did, and that Diablo had sent him this script at the time that she did. He read it, and kind of responded and thought of me. Then we kept running into each other. I’d never seen the guy in my life in L.A. and then all of a sudden everywhere I went I saw him. It was really bizarre. I’ve seen all of his movies, loved all of his movies, but Up in the Air really struck a cord with me. I was secretly somewhat obsessed, and it was within a six-month period. I love Christopher Buckley’s Thank You for Smoking. I love what he did with that adaptation. I don’t know I just really like his work. I think some people emotionally tap into things the same way you do, and Jason taps in emotionally the same way I do. That’s all I think of right now fresh off my mind. A very creative answer wasn’t it? Him and Fellini, to make me sound smarter.
Oswalt: You think Fellini’s a form of pasta don’t you? It’s weird and this is cyclical thing for me, but I’m on this weird Michael Powell kick again. Every few years I go back and just get immersed in his movies. I just watched Black Narcissus again and The Red Shoes, and Colonel Blimp. Now I’m starting to realizing just through my behavior of how I watch movies, that he’s the guy that I didn’t realize I was so obsessed with all these years. That’s the guy I just keep going back to. I can’t help it.

Q&A: Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt (<- Check out the pics!)

How would you characterize Mavis and Matt’s relationship?
Theron: They’re such an odd couple. I think the isolation that Mavis feels, being back in this small town with no friends, gives her license to actually hang out with this guy who was a high-school pariah back in the day. There doesn’t seem to be a sense of “I’m gonna score!” from Matt’s perspective, so with that expectation off the table, they feel like they can actually talk to each other honestly. I think Jason said it best: It’s a skewed love story about people who find each other because of the things they mutually hate.
Oswalt: And because Mavis has always been pretty and popular, she’s never had anyone who looks like him talk to her with such brutal honesty. Mavis actually needs someone who will realistically call her on her shit. They are the only sounding boards in each other’s life. In a weird way, I think that Mavis is almost a heroic character to Matt.
Theron: Really?
Oswalt: Because she refuses to accept the fact that loss is part of being an adult. She has this idea that, Oh, don’t worry about little things like my ex-boyfriend is now married with a kid; I can turn it around. Matt knows she’s on a fool’s errand, but there’s a part of him that’s thinking: Does that mean that I could pull off something equally stupid and futile? There’s almost something admirable in her delusional refusal to acknowledge reality.
Theron: It’s exactly how a 16-year-old would think: “Of course I can have everything! Of course I can be a princess and a doctor!” [Both laugh] She’s good at being a young-adult novelist for a reason: She knows that mind-set all too well.

Exclusive: Patton Oswalt Talks French Bulldogs and Jason Reitman

So thankful to just get a film no less with Theron and Reitman, Oswalt said, “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.”

Interview: Patton Oswalt on Young Adult

Q: Regardless of whether it’s gender based or sexually oriented or whatever, Don’t you think a war on bullying is like a war on terror? Isn’t it human nature at that age?
Oswalt: I think the best way to stop bullying is to teach every individual kid – whether they’re gay, straight, Christian, atheist, whatever – that guys, it’s a gigantic world out there. Where you are now is not the world. If you don’t fit in, go out. There are plenty of people just like you. They’re everywhere. You’re the girl in the bee costume in that video. And there’s a field of bees out there. Trust me, you’ll find them. I almost feel like, if every high school kid at a certain age in all countries had to spend one year living in a different country with a different family, everybody would just calm the fuck down. The world is so god damn huge. It doesn’t matter. I was lucky enough that – I’m not saying I was smart – me and some other friends, for some lucky reason, I always had an inkling even when things got bad in high school that I knew, ‘I’m not even gonna see these people. It doesn’t fucking matter. I don’t give a shit.’ And it’s weird. A year after high school, if you run into anyone you went to high school with, you all have this unspoken like, ‘What the fuck was that all about? I’m sorry man. Was I a dick? I think I was a dick.’ It’s an unrealistic environment that you’re all shoved into basically.

Patton Oswalt, 'Young Adult' Star, Has A Message For High Schoolers

Indeed, Matt pities himself enough that, as harsh as it may seem, the audience's sympathy for him begins to wear thin. Mavis, of course, voices the audience's sentiments, calling out his woe-is-me attitude with a harsh reality check that Oswalt says is quite vital, both to his character and to the message he's trying to send off-screen.

"By being Matt, I'm saying a lot of things. And I'm saying it on both ends," he says. "I'm saying, 'Yeah, look at what fear and violence creates. But then also, look at what ultimately the one thing you have that your abusers do not have is: they have more liberty to hurt you, but you have more freedom to choose how it affects you. And you can change that.' That's kind of what I hope to say with that character."

The most important parallels between the permanent adolescence of "Young Adult" and high school, he advises in his imagined plea to teenagers, is this: both have endings, and both are fictional.

"I don't even want to tell people, 'It gets better,'" Oswalt says, alluding to the famed anti-teen suicide campaign. "I want to just go, 'It's over in four years.' It's, literally, the day after you graduate, you could run into people you went to high school with and you will literally both go, 'What the f*ck was that all about? Jesus Christ, I'm sorry, man.' It literally ends like that, if you let it. Because you know what everyone is in high school, whether you're gay or straight or male or female, you know what you are? You're a f*cking high schooler! And a high schooler is an unnatural state of existence, and it's not humanity, and it's not real life."

And Jimmy Fallon:

Friday round-up: previews, cast interviews and new projects

2011-12-09T23:12:00.191Z

This is the first part of the weekend monster update, with more news & stuff coming in the next couple of days.

I got my Grimms confused in yesterday's post as it turns out. Tonight's episode won't be "Let Your Hair Down," but "The Three Bad Wolves." Rapunzel doesn't show up until next week.

Nick (David Giuntoli) is called to a suspected arson case, which exposes a longstanding family feud that brings Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) face-to-face with characters from his troubled past. While Monroe wrestles with restraining his wild side, it’s up to Nick to keep everything from going up in flames. Russell Hornsby, Bitsie Tulloch, Sasha Roiz and Reggie Lee also star.

There are a few sneak peeks at THR and Dread Central. Spoiler TV has the promotional stills. Here is the teaser:

Yesterday's excellent "Danse Macabre," which did well in the ratings, is available on NBC.com. Since this post probably won't be up before the episode airs in most places, here is the synopsis for next week's episode:

"GRIMM"
"LET YOUR HAIR DOWN"
12/16/2011 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Friday) : A VIOLENT MURDER IN THE WOODS UNVEILS A LONG FORGOTTEN MISSING PERSONS CASE -- 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.

A couple of photos, from Spoiler TV:

And the teaser:

Brian Markinson is back on Sanctuary tonight at 10 pm on Syfy in episode "Acolyte." Red Eye Chicago has a short article about the episode. Snippet:

This also is a big episode for Christopher Heyerdahl and one of his characters, Bigfoot. A couple weeks ago, Heyerdahl told me that Biggie will face some huge issues toward the end of Season 4.

"What's coming up for Biggie is probably the biggest challenge of his hundred-year existence and the biggest challenge of his relationship with Magnus in the Sanctuary," he said.

Synopsis and promo:

Kate returns from Hollow Earth with word that insurgents are about to strike an above-ground target – and may have inside help from a trusted member of Team Sanctuary.

Richard Harmon and Genevieve Buechner guest star in tomorrow's episode of The Haunting Hour, "The Scarecrow." The episode airs at 5 pm ET and it will be presented with two different endings, airing back-to-back. Synopsis and teaser:

When a creepy scarecrow appears in her field, a young farmer's daughter (Bailee Madison, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark) and her brother (Richard Harmon, "Tower Prep") begin to suspect that the stranger who delivered it means to drive off more than crows. Jenny and Bobby soon find themselves in a fight for survival.

Here are the synopsis and trailer for Good Morning, Killer, also with Genevieve Buechner, which premieres on Tuesday at 9 pm on TNT:

Adapted by April Smith from her own novel, this thriller stars Catherine Bell (JAG, Army Wives) as FBI Special Agent Ana Gray, an undercover operative tracking down a serial kidnapper. As Ana develops a rapport with the kidnapper's latest victim, the suspect suddenly changes his pattern. Now Ana must race to find him before he strikes again. Good Morning, Killer co-stars Cole Hauser (Chase, K-Ville) as Detective Andrew Berringer; William Devane (Knots Landing, 24) as Everett Morgan "Poppy" Grey, Ana's grandfather; Titus Welliver (The Good Wife, Lost) as FBI Special Agent Mike Donnato, Ana's partner; and Suleka Mathew (TNT's HawthoRNe) as FBI Agent Barbara Sullivan, Ana's best friend at the bureau.

Luciana Carro Fans posted the first photos from Deck the Halls, which airs on Tuesday, December 20, also on TNT. Hit the link to see them.

And that's Hiro Kanagawa, who is also in the film, in the pic to the right. Synopsis:

Based on the first book in Mary Higgins Clark and daughter Carol Higgins Clark's series of holiday mystery novels, this warm-hearted story brings together two of the authors' most popular characters: Cleaning-woman-turned-private-eye Alvirah Meegan, played by Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, Franklin & Bash) and Detective Regan Reilly, played by Scottie Thompson (Star Trek, Skyline). The women investigate the kidnapping of Regan's father 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. Two-time Emmy® winner Jane Alexander (Testament, Warm Springs) plays Regan's mother, famed mystery writer Nora Regan Reilly. Ron Underwood (Tremors, City Slickers) will direct from a script by Howard Burkons (John Q, TNT's The Ron Clark Story), who also serves as executive producer with Brenda Friend (Joan of Arc, TNT's The Ron Clark Story) and Frank von Zerneck (We Were the Mulvaneys, Miracle on Ice).

The Arts Club blog has the photos from the opening night of The Patron Saint of Stanley Park. If you're in Vancouver, you can check it out until December 24. Info and tickets here.

Eric Stoltz is directing more Glee. His next episode, "The Proposal," will be the first one to air when the show returns after the holiday break, on January 17.

Here is the first clip from Marilyn, with Ryan Robbins and Allison Mack, screened at the Whistler Film Festival last weekend:

A bank robber on the lam reluctantly takes a runaway young woman under his wing. Distracted by this volatile girl, he struggles to keep his head in the game and stay under the legal radar, but her dreams of becoming a singer sidetrack his plans and change him irrevocably. Filmed in a gritty 1970s style, Marilyn is based on a story written in Leavenworth Prison by Paddy Mitchell of the infamous Stopwatch Gang.

The Los Angeles Times has a few more details about Ron Moore's new pilot, Hangtown (Twitter):

Moore said he'd been chomping at the bit to do a western and was thrilled to learn from his agent that TV executives were looking specifically for those kinds of pitches."It's survived as a form for so long because it's so malleable," Moore said. "It can examine morality, society, culture, racism, sexism, politics, you name it. It's a caldron you can throw a lot of different elements into."

"Hangtown," set in the 1870s, will center on three characters — a Clint Eastwood-style lawman, a forensics doctor and a dime-store novelist (who happens to be a woman). The three will take on the crime of the week in what Moore describes as a "broad adventure with a high fun quotient." While it won't veer into camp or comedy — it's no "Adventures of Brisco County Jr." — it's definitely notCormac McCarthy or "Unforgiven," he said.

Here are a couple of clips from Hell on Wheels, with Christopher Heyerdahl. The first one is a BTS video from last week's episode, "Bread and Circuses."

And the second one is a sneak peek from this Sunday's episode, "Pride, Pomp and Circumstance:"

Elize Morgan has a new interview with Jane Espenson and Cheeks. Snippet:

In creating Husbands what was the original inspiration?
JE: This grew out of an idea that Cheeks (writer Brad Bell) had about two LA-based characters to be played by himself and Alessandra Torresani, trying to outgrow their own boozy Hollywood fun. When we started talking about the concept together, we realized that there would be more to say if we built the show around a young gay married couple. Alessandra remained as Haley the best friend, but the character of Brady (played by Sean Hemeon) was added.

What issues have you faced in getting the show out to an audience - with both Jane Espenson and Cheeks having established fan bases already, has it been difficult in any ways to access media sources?
JE: We've had some really high-level exposure, but I think that web series are still seen as a sort of second-tier of entertainment, which is a shame. I don't care about the media exposure as an end in itself, but I hope that everyone who would love this series gets to hear about it. We're getting lots of views, but of course we always want more. I'd love to be able to get the kinds of numbers that make it really clear to the powers that be that there is an audience eager for this content.

Blackstone, with Carmen Moore, finally has a premiere date for season two. It's January 11, 2012, on APTN (Canada).

The Firm, with Callum Rennie and Tricia Helfer, will premiere in 111 countries on February 19. The U.S. premiere is still scheduled for Sunday, January 8. Tricia appears in the new teaser:

No idea if Callum and Brian Markinson will be back on The Killing, but season two went into production last week and Michelle Forbes is definitely returning as a regular.

The Daily Blam has a new interview with Bear McCreary, mostly about The Walking Dead:

Keven: Because of your time spent scoring Battlestar Galactica, do you feel pressure from those fans to top yourself with new projects or do you even care about those sorts of things?
Bear: I don't give it a moment's thought. In some aspects, I will never "top" my work on BSG because it was such a unique series in so many ways. I don't think of my work as a linear progression like that, a bar that needs to be raised and topped, or a standard that can't be reached. I think of my career as spanning 3 dimensions. The Walking Dead is going a different direction than BSG, so it's not even a question of topping it. That's the only way I can keep myself sane and continue working.

Keven: You are scoring Knights of Badassdom, how is that coming along and what do you think fans will think of the highly anticipated flick? Do you have a theme song for Summer Glau now that you've scored a few of her projects (joking… but no, do you)?
Bear: KoB is a delightful project and I think fans are going to flip the eff out when they see it. It will be one of my most fun scores, both dark and cerebral and rockin' and adventurous. Oddly enough, I wrote a theme for Summer's character in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and a new theme for her in The Cape. Will she have a new theme in Knights of Badassdom? Fans will have to see the film to know the answer!

Bear also has a new entry on his blog about scoring the last ever Eureka holiday special, "Do You See What I See." Here is the BTS video from the recording sessions:

If you understand French and are a fan of The X-Files, you can check out a Q&A that William B. Davis did in France last month (only parts of it are in French, most of it is in English):

Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

And a few more clips.

The teaser for the season finale of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "The High School Reunion Part 2: The Gang's Revenge," with Sasha Roiz, which airs next Thursday (Dec. 15, 10 pm, FX):

A new trailer for Michael Rymer's Face to Face:

The opening scene from The Divide, with Michael Eklund, which hits theatres on January 13:

And Jennifer Beals fans have uploaded about 25 minutes of footage from A Night of Dying Tigers on YouTube. Don't watch it if you're in the U.S. and have access to Netflix. That said, there are a couple of fun scenes with Leah Gibson and John Pyper-Ferguson in the clip and there is still no DVD release date set for any country other than New Zealand, so here it is:

Sasha Roiz on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, new interview, and new Grimm tonight at 10

2011-12-08T23:18:00.043Z

Okay, just a couple of reminders today.

Episode 15 of Caprica season 2 went up at Beginning of Line on Tuesday. You can check it out here: Fallen Angel

On the off chance that I don't get around to posting a full update on time, many familiar faces will be making appearances on TV in the next few days: Brian Markinson will be back on Sanctuary tomorrow (Syfy, 10 pm), Genevieve Buechner and Richard Harmon will appear in The Haunting Hour on Saturday (The Hub, 5 pm ET), Snowmageddon with Magda Apanowicz and Michael Hogan also premieres on Saturday (Syfy, 9 pm), and Magda will also be on Robot Chicken on Sunday (Adult Swim, 11:30 pm).

Sasha Roiz guest stars on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in episode "High School Reunion" tonight at 10 pm on FX. It's the first of his two episodes on the show.

Synopsis and teaser:

The gang attends their high school reunion with a lot to prove. Old friends are met and new foes are made as the gang trips down memory lane.

And we get two new episodes of Grimm this week. The first one, "Danse Macabre," airs tonight at 10 pm, and the second one, "Let Your Hair Down," in its usual slot, tomorrow at 9 pm. Nice Girls TV has the photos from both episodes here and here.

For sneak peeks from "Danse Macabre," see the Chicago Tribune. There are also a couple of BTS previews on YouTube here: clip 1, clip 2. For more Grimm BTS stuff, you can check out a new report from the set over at Oregon ArtsWatch.

Here is the synopsis for tonight's episode:

Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank’s (Russell Hornsby) investigation of a dead high school teacher leads them to the school’s outcast, Roddy. Nick realizes that there’s more to Roddy than meets the eye, and enlists Monroe’s (Silas Weir Mitchell) help to get through to the troubled teenager before he exacts revenge on the students who wronged him. Meanwhile, Nick learns that his presence is beginning to affect the creature world. Bitsie Tulloch, Sasha Roiz and Reggie Lee also star.

A clip with Sasha previewing the episode and talking about Captain Renard (spoilers):

A sneak peek:

And the teaser for both episodes:

More updates hopefully coming tomorrow.

Patton Oswalt on Raising Hope, Young Adult Q&A, new Sanctuary tonight, and interviews with Hiro Kanagawa, Jane Espenson and Christopher Heyerdahl

2011-11-29T23:13:00.000Z

If you missed it on Twitter: Beginning of Line is back and the new episode of Caprica season two, "Children Through the Cracks," written by Vikki Bingham, has been posted. Check it out at the link.

Several notable TV appearances tonight.

Tahmoh Penikett is in Scott Turow's Innocent, a TV film that premieres on TNT as part of the network's mystery movie night at 9 pm. Spoiler TV has the press release and a behind-the-scenes video.

Aaron Douglas' episode of Flashpoint that aired in Canada a couple of weeks ago airs in the U.S. tonight at 10 pm on AON.

Patton Oswalt guest stars on Raising Hope in episode "Bro-gurt," which airs at 9:30 pm on Fox. Synopsis:

When the National Invention Convention Extravaganza comes to town, Virginia encourages the family to submit their own inventions that could bring home a large cash prize. Burt teams with the family’s neighbor Andrew (guest star Ethan Suplee) and invents unusually flavored yogurts, while Jimmy partners with Sabrina to develop a new baby mop. When convention day arrives the competition between each team escalates as they pitch their inventions to Andrew Dice Clay (guest-starring as himself). During the competition, the family ends up realizing family and friends are what matter the most.

And here is a sneak peek with Patton, Martha Plimpton, Garret Dillahunt and Ethan Suplee:

There is a new episode of Sanctuary, "Chimera," at 10 pm on Syfy. Promo and sneak peek, with Ryan Robbins:

Innerspace has interviews with the Sanctuary cast about last week's musical episode, "Fugue:"

Collider has a nice, long interview with Christopher Heyerdahl about Hell on Wheels and Breaking Dawn:

How did you come to be a part of Hell on Wheels?
CHRISTOPHER HEYERDAHL: Well, luck and providence, I suppose. They say, “What’s luck? Preparation and opportunity.” So, I guess the opportunity came, in the form of an audition. I put myself on tape, and they responded to it. I went in and did a call-back audition, and they felt that we were on the same track. My idea of who The Swede was, was the same as theirs, and vice versa. This kind of character is very rare, with the fact that it fit so well with my background and my understanding of a Norwegian man. It all just fell into place. I still get a little choked up thinking about how often a character like this comes along. For the viewer, it’s quite interesting. It’s not a character that we see very often, and certainly not in this form. As an actor, it seemed to be tailor-made for me. It’s quite wonderful.

Here is a BTS video from the latest episode of Hell on Wheels, which also includes a short interview with Christopher:

BC Local News has an interview with Hiro Kanagawa about his play, The Patron Saint of Stanley Park, which opens at the Arts Club in Vancouver on December 1. Snippet:

The story is a variation on the stories of Saint Nicholas of Myra, the protector of children now known as Santa Claus. It’s also a personal story for Kanagawa, who started writing Patron Saint as a new father.

“I had a year-and-a-half-old son and a daughter on the way, and I started thinking about what would happen if I were to die. What would the children know of me?”

Kanagawa said he also felt strongly that as a city, Vancouver suffered from an identity crisis and a “lack of mythology.”

“It’s important for artists in this region to engage with the history and mythos of the city,” he added, noting the play also references Canada Line construction on Cambie Street and other aspects of Vancouver’s and Stanley Park’s history.

We Love Cult has a new interview with Jane Espenson, Cheeks and Sean Hemeon. It's mostly about Husbands, but there is a snippet about Caprica, too:

Sean, Brad, Jane, season 1 is through, you earned your success merit badge, is season 2 definitely happening and can we expect a Husbands DVD, Blu Ray, or Betamax in the future? Not VHS, VHS is gauche.
Brad “Cheeks” Bell: VHS is so not gauche. It’s totes got retro hipster appeal now. Cassette tapes too. Now, CDs? Those are gauche.

Jane Espenson: We don’t know yet about a season two, but we are exploring the idea of some kind of bonus content. We’ll see. And we’d like to make a DVD or iTunes version – this is all still up in the air. (...)

Oh, and genre fans, here’s a bonus question for Jane Espenson… Did Barnabas really die in Caprica?
Jane Espenson: I didn’t see a body. If you don’t see a body, the writers are probably keeping it open for a reason.

Episode 2 of Judas Kiss: Behind the Scenes, with Richard Harmon has been posted:

And here is a press conference Patton Oswalt did for Young Adult the other day with Diablo Cody and Charlize Theron:

Weekly roundup: cast updates, interviews, previews and new projects

2011-11-27T21:21:00.026Z

A bunch of stuff has happened since the last update. Let's start with Caprica.

Caprica season two will resume on Beginning of Line with episode 14 (of 18) this Tuesday. Teresa Jusino posted this earlier:

There are 18 episodes total in Caprica Season 2 here at Beginning of Line. Episodes will now be posting every Tuesday between November 29th and December 27th. Just in time for your Solstice celebrations. :)

Anyone interested in writing an episode of season three (coming in 2012) or submitting fan art, hit the link.

Luciana Carro (Caprica's Priyah Magnus, Battlestar's Kat) has joined Twitter. You can follow her here: @LucianaCarro. These days, she is working on season two of Falling Skies, along with Ryan Robbins and a bunch of Caprica and BSG writers -- Remi Aubuchon, Mark Verheiden, David Weddle and Bradley Thompson. From their recent tweets, Luciana is playing a character called Crazy Lee and they recently wrapped filming episode four. Season two will most likely start airing in June.

On TV tonight:

Once Upon a Time 1x05, "That Still Small Voice," written by Jane Espenson, with Luke Camilleri and BSG's Keegan Connor Tracy making an appearance, airs at 8 pm on ABC. Jane tweets that the episode was directed by Paul A. Edwards, who also directed one of her BSG episodes, "The Hub." Five sneak peeks embedded at the end of the post. Here is the synopsis:

As Sheriff Graham deputizes Emma, the ground shakes and a giant sinkhole mysteriously appears at the edge of town. But a curious Henry’s life is placed in danger when he decides to explore the innards of the sinkhole to see if its contents can link the inhabitants of Storybrooke to the fairytale world. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale world, Jiminy Cricket yearns to leave the family business and transform into the person he wants to be, on “Once Upon a Time,” SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Jane is doing a live chat on CliqueClack during the episode. If you don't catch it live, it will be available at the link later.

TV Fanatic has a new interview with Jane. Snippets:

What can you tell us about "That Still Small Voice?"
This episode is about Jiminy Cricket – about his life in Fairy Tale Land, and his new life as Archie the therapist in Storybrooke. The fairy tale side of the story breaks some new ground in the area of cricket backstories. It’s really an origin story, in fact, as we see him laying the ground toward becoming a conscience. I LOVED writing this episode – who gets to write for Jiminy Cricket? This is one of the marvelous things about writing on a Disney show... you get to refer not just to the original stories, but also to the childhood-fave Disney movies.

What else can you tease about what's to come this season on Once Upon a Time?
Oh, so much good stuff! Look to see Belle, in our take on Beauty and the Beast, which I wrote and am so proud of. And you might see a little Hansel and a bit of Gretel. And we will keep coming back to Snow White and Charming – their story has so many twists and turns, you’re going to want to watch for that. Will true love find a way? Actually, that’s kind of a theme for me right now – Husbands and Once – both are about the Triumph of True Love. Awww!

Other than tonight's episode, Jane also wrote eps 1x08, 1x12 and 1x15.

Dexter 6x09, "Get Gellar," with Edward James Olmos, airs at 9 pm on Showtime. More about the upcoming showdown between Gellar and Dexter at Galactica Geek. Here is the teaser:

The Walking Dead 2x07, "Pretty Much Dead Already," airs at 9 pm on AMC. Bear McCreary says the episode has "one of the best pieces of music" he's ever written for the show.

Hell on Wheels 1x04, "Jamais je ne t’oublierai," with Christopher Heyerdahl, airs at 10 pm on AMC. Synopsis and teaser:

Cullen closes in on the Sergeant. Durant pursues a hidden agenda while helping Lily recuperate.

And here is a behind-the-scenes featurette from last week's episode, which includes interviews with Christopher and several other cast members:

And some general updates:

Syfy has a new press release out for Snowmageddon with Magda Apanowicz and Michael Hogan:

To usher in the holiday season, Syfy will present a snow globe with the power to destroy the world in the Saturday Original Movie Snowmageddon, airing Saturday, December 10 at 9PM (ET/PT) during the channel's second annual Countdown to Christmas Week.

Starring Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica), David Cubitt (Medium) and Magda Apanowicz (Caprica), the Christmas-themed Snowmageddon is about a mystical snow globe that makes very bad things happen in the real world when it is shaken. The movie is a production of Cinetel.

There is a still from the film on Syfy's official page, but no previews yet.

Patton Oswalt will be presented with a Spotlight Award for supporting performance in Young Adult at this year's Whistler Film Festival (Nov. 30 - Dec. 4). The film will be screened at the fest on Nov. 30 at 9 pm. If you're in the area, you can also catch Doppelgänger Paul with Ben Cotton on Dec. 2 at 9:30 pm and Marilyn with Ryan Robbins on Dec. 3 at 9:30 pm. Hit the links for more info. Vancouver Sun has another article about the films screening at the festival.

Everything and Everyone with Ryan Robbins opens in Toronto on December 2.

If you somehow missed it everywhere else, Grimm with Sasha Roiz has been picked up for a full season by NBC. The network will be giving the show a test run in Prime Suspect's slot next week. That means we're getting two new episodes in the same week, one on Thursday at 10 pm and one in the regular slot, Friday at 9 pm. From Deadline:

Additionally, NBC, which opted to keep Grimm in its original low-trafficked Friday 9 PM slot on the recently released midseason schedule, is giving the fairytale procedural a tryout in the Thursday 10 PM slot. A new Grimm episode will air on Thursday Dec. 8, followed by another original in the series’ regular Friday 9 PM berth the following night. “This series is turning the traditional procedural drama on its head and is attracting a loyal following for us on Friday nights,” NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt said. “We love where it’s going creatively and we’re excited to deliver more episodes to our audience.”

NBC.com has a bunch of behind-the-scenes pics from the last aired episode, "Lonelyhearts," here, and Spoiler TV has the promotional photos from the next two episodes, 1x05 "Danse Macabre" and 1x06 The Three Bad Wolves.

Elijah the Prophet, the short film with Brian Markinson, has been successfully crowd-funded and is scheduled to shoot next spring. From a new press release:

‘Elijah the Prophet’ tells the comedic story of Elijah, the pious, chummy and alcoholic prophet, whose yearly antics have graced Jewish households for ages as part of the Passover celebration. Unfortunately, not everyone understands that drunk driving for him is a divine right, which soon gets him in trouble with the law.

“The script uses the Jewish tradition of Passover to tell a story of lost innocence and the harsh realities of growing up. It does so with a hilarious, irreverent twist that gives it universal appeal," said Cormican. “It’s the moment when every kid realizes Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy or even the Easter Bunny aren’t real. That’s what drew me to this script”.

The cast includes Gemini and Leo award nominee Brian Markinson (Charlie Wilson’s War, Shooter, Caprica) in the title role as Elijah the Prophet. Melanie Nicholls-King (Rookie Blue, The Wire) and two-time Emmy Award nominee Tonya Lee Williams (Young & The Restless, Poor Boy’s Game, She’s The Mayor) play Officer Murphy and Cst. Jackie, respectively. Gemini nominated funny man, Carlos Diaz (Rent-a-Goalie, Cra$h & Burn), also lends his comedic chops to the short playing Brian.

Here is the first episode of the Judas Kiss: Behind the Scenes documentary, with Richard Harmon:

Bear McCreary's score for Chillerama: Zom-B-Movie was released this week. From the press release:

BuySoundtrax Records has announced the November 16th release of the CHILLERAMA: Zom-B-Movie – Original Soundtrack featuring music by Bear McCreary (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, THE WALKING DEAD, KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM) along with the new track “I Don’t Want To Die A Virgin” by Young Beautiful in a Hurry. In addition to McCreary’s score for Zom-B-Movie, the soundtrack features the score to the newly rediscovered classic DEATHICATION from director Fernando Phagbeefy.

In the spirit of classic anthology films like CREEPSHOW and TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE and containing films that celebrate the golden age of anatrichilia, CHILLERAMA spans over four decades of cinematic excellence, offering viewers a glimpse into the joy of the late-night feature. The Zom-B-Movie segment was directed by Joe Lynch (WRONG TURN 2, KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM) and stars Richard Riehle (OFFICE SPACE) and Brendan McCreary (the band Young Beautiful in a Hurry).

Zom-B-Movie presented Bear with the opportunity to expand his musical horizon into the sounds he grew up with. “Joe’s short film required a wide swath of musical styles,” he described. Some of his inspirations for this opus included Bernard Herrmann, Lalo Schifrin, and Jerry Goldsmith.

Bomb Girls with Meg Tilly has a premiere date: January 4 on Global. Spoiler TV has the promotional photos.

Buddy TV has a couple of teasers for The Firm, with Callum Rennie and Tricia Helfer.

Bloody Disgusting has the first trailer from American Mary, with Leah Gibson.

Kacey Rohl has been cast in a new Lifetime pilot, American Housewife. From Movieweb:

American Housewife centers on Leila (Melanie Griffith), a seemingly perfect housewife living the American Dream in an affluent neighborhood, married to wealthy up-and-coming politician Stanford (Jeffrey Nordling) with whom she has three grown or almost-grown children. Kacey Rohl will play the youngest, Harper, 17, a high-school National Honor student who has a crush on one of her dad's campaign aides.

Michael Eklund is shooting a new thriller, Ferocious, in Saskatoon. From CJME:

"One of the things I've always wanted to do is come back to my home city and make a movie," said Eklund.

He plays a sullen bar manager in the film, while Coates plays the antagonist 'Sal'.

The movie is about a popular television actress who tries to secretly recover a sex tape from a seedy night club, and will be released next year.

And here are the sneak peeks from tonight's Once Upon a Time:

New interviews with Sasha Roiz and Christopher Heyerdahl

2011-11-20T22:04:00.003Z

Just a few updates today.

Christopher Heyerdahl is back in Hell on Wheels tonight at 10 pm on AMC, in episode 1x03, "A New Birth of Freedom." Pizquita has the promotional photos and Warming Glow has a region-locked preview. Hop over to watch it if you can. Here is what they say about tonight's episode:

Hell on Wheels (AMC, Sunday) — I’m sticking with “Hell on Wheels” right now mostly for the scenery-chewing performances by Colm Meaney and Christopher Heyerdahl, who plays The Swede. His monologue about Andersonville (embedded below) is probably the highlight of the show through two episodes, but in terms of calculated menace, The Swede is still several steps behind Michael Shannon’s Agent Van Alden on “Boardwalk Empire.”

Entertainment Heartbeat has a new interview with Sasha Roiz, mostly about Grimm. Snippets below, read the rest at the link.

So, how does an actor prepare to be likable while working as the top bad guy on a show crowded with genuine monsters and their supernatural power?

“I’m certainly trying to strike that balance,” Roiz says, “It’s a character that’s not entirely bad, because as you discover who he is and his motives and his burdens and responsibilities I think you’ll start to understand and relate to him a little better, but certainly as of now he does seem pretty one-sided as to his motives, but tonight’s episode will be very revealing…but you’re going to discover a lot about him tonight (Friday, Nov. 18). He’s not a monster but he dwells in that world quite easily so you’ll get to see exactly who he is tonight.” (...)

There’s been much speculation as to where the thoughtful fairy tale would meander next. “We’re also going to infuse it with a lot more mythology,” Roiz teases with as much information that hasn’t been embargoed. “(with) the Grimm world and the creature world and Grimm’s responsibility for Grimm being our lead character…and of course his whole relationship will have to have to evolve in a certain way with his fiance as well as his partner and at some point he will have to reveal himself and so it will be a lot of interesting twists and turns as we continue in the series.”

Other than guest starring in Hell on Wheels, Christopher Heyerdahl is also in the new Twilight movie. He was at the premiere of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 the other day. ClevverTV posted an interview with him from the event:

Young Adult with Patton Oswalt had its New York premiere this weekend. Celebrity-Gossip.net has some photos. The film opens in a limited release in the U.S. on December 9 and goes wide a week later.

Jane Espenson will do a live chat on CliqueClack next Sunday (Nov. 27) during the east coast airing of her first episode of Once Upon a Time, "That Still Small Voice." That's at 8 pm ET. Other than Caprica's Luke Camilleri, guest stars in the episode include Keegan Connor Tracy, who played Jeanne, one of Baltar's followers in the last two seasons of BSG, Harry Groener from Buffy (he played Mayor Wilkins, the big bad in season three), and Laura Bertram from Andromeda. Here is the trailer:

New Grimm & Sanctuary tonight, interviews with Sasha Roiz and Bear McCreary, VFX Minds panel & general updates

2011-11-18T23:57:00.000Z

Let's start with Friday night TV.

Grimm 1x04, "Lonelyhearts," airs at 9 pm on NBC. Synopsis:

After investigating a strange cluster of female deaths and disappearances, Nick (David Giuntoli) sends Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) undercover to get a whiff of a hypnotic suspect.

In the meantime, a stranger shows up looking to avenge the death of his friend at the hands of a Grimm, but he’ll have to get past Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz). Russell Hornsby, Bitsie Tulloch and Reggie Lee also star.

Patrick Fischler (Mad Men, Southland, Lost) guest stars. Blastr has a first look at the creatures from tonight's episode, and you can see a few sneak peeks on NBC.com.

Sasha Roiz did a round of radio interviews this morning. You can listen to them on Blog Talk Radio, MrMedia.com and KeyW.com.

Sanctuary 3x07, "Icebreaker," airs at 10 pm on Syfy. Synopsis:

Henry, Declan and a team from the UK Sanctuary go to the Bering Sea to investigate a mystery on a shipwrecked icebreaker, where the crew has killed the Abnormals on board and each other.

Red Eye Chicago has a preview of next week's musical episode, "Fugue."

And here is a sneak peek from "Icebreaker," with Ryan Robbins:

Elsewhere:

Outlaw Country, the FX pilot Paula Malcomson filmed last month with Mary Steenburgen and John Hawkes, will not be going to series.

The Mirror has the first description of Polly Walker's character in the BBC miniseries Prisoners' Wives. She will play "the glamorous wife of a career criminal."

Variety has a short article about Patton Oswalt and the crazy year he's had. Snippet:

In 2011, Patton Oswalt managed to write the memoir "Zombie Spaceship Wasteland," put out his fifth album, "Finest Hour" (also a Showtime special), acted in comedies "The United States of Tara" and "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" and is getting awards buzz for his dramatic role in the upcoming "Young Adult." And 2011 isn't even over. "I embraced all these different things that I'm genuinely interested in," Oswalt says. "I cleared my mind of 'can't' -- not the word 'can't,' but (the idea) this is the one thing that I do, and I don't do these other things."

Collider has a bunch of new stills from Young Adult.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 opens in theatres today. Christopher Heyerdahl and James Pizzinato have supporting roles.

Here is a new interview with Bear McCreary and Joe Lynch, who directed the "Zom-B-Movie" segment of Chillerama -- they mostly talk about the film and the influences that went into the score:

Last, a full video of NewTek's VFX Minds panel from last week has been posted on YouTube. Gary Hutzel was supposed to attend, but Doug Drexler had to replace him. Horrible story there. Get better soon, Gary Hutzel.

Doug Drexler talked about their work on Battlestar, Caprica and Blood and Chrome, among other things. Other panelists were Ron Thornton (Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, Enterprise, Undercovers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Red Tails), Chuck Comisky (Jaws 3-D, Last Action Hero, The Crow, Blade, Avatar) and Eric Hance (Enterprise, NCIS: LA, Hellboy, Surface, Terra Nova, Chuck, Fringe, The Cape).

The whole panel is pretty interesting to listen to, but if you don't have the time, you can catch Drexler's bits roughly 15, 25, 29, 35, 40, and 44 minutes into the video.

New projects for Eric Stoltz, Polly Walker and Ben Cotton, and new interviews with Sasha Roiz and Christopher Heyerdahl

2011-11-16T23:56:00.000Z

A bunch of updates today, most of which were supposed to go up over the weekend:

There is a new BSG site in town: Battlestar Galactica Filming Locations. It's a pretty thorough guide to all the places seen in the show's four seasons and two films, and very handy for anyone planning a trip to Vancouver, along with Visit Caprica. Check it out at BattlestarLocations.com.

On TV tonight: Richard Harmon tweets that his episode of Clue airs tonight. That's 8 pm ET on the Hub TV Network. You can watch the series trailer on YouTube.

Yesterday's episode of Glee, "Mash Off," was directed by Eric Stoltz. Fox has released a couple of new behind-the-scenes clips today (embedded & linked below).

Shoot Online reported earlier this week that Eric has joined the production and design studio The Department of The 4th Dimension full time and has at least one project in development. The relevant bit:

Mr. Stoltz found the diversity of work and The D4D's focus on storytelling compelling, adding, "I'm always looking forward to telling stories with actors in new and different ways and the work The D4D has done has inspired me to venture into brand-inspired content—both commercials and longer format projects."

The D4D is Eric's first full time spot roost. He is currently prepping a comedy-dialogue driven project encompassing both spots and web content, and is slated to direct additional episodes of this season's Glee, having already helmed this year's premier.

And here is the Glee video:

There is another one without Eric on YouTube: Behind the Slap.

Polly Walker has been cast in Prisoners' Wives, a new BBC miniseries that will air early next year. The Mirror writes that the show "follows the lives of four women who connect – and clash – as their partners do time behind bars." No details on Polly's character yet.

The trailer for The Hunger Games was released this week. Paula Malcomson isn't in it, but here it is anyway:

Hiro Kanagawa's Christmas play The Patron Saint of Stanley Park is coming back for another run at the Arts Club this winter. If you are in Vancouver, you can see it from December 1 to the 24 at the Revue Stage.

A Magical Holiday Fable. On that infamously stormy Christmas Eve of 2006, a mysterious vagabond rescues two fatherless children in Stanley Park and takes them to a fantastical world beneath Prospect Point. During the course of the magical night, the children will experience wondrous visions—visions that may help them understand the truth about their father, their mysterious guardian, and the healing power of love.

The Patron Saint of Stanley Park, by Hiro Kanagawa, was born out of the Arts Club’s Silver Commissions Project, which provides funding and development resources to established Vancouver artists to create original works for the company. The resulting work premiered last year to critical and popular acclaim.

The play has elements of both fantasy and realism and will appeal to adults and youngsters alike with its emotion, action, and humour. Says Kanagawa, “The Patron Saint of Stanley Park is a contemporary variation on the stories told about Saint Nicholas of Myra, the protector of children who is now commonly associated with Santa Claus.”

More at VancouverPlays.com.

The Firm with Callum Rennie and Tricia Helfer (with Brian Markinson and Kate Vernon also making appearances) finally has a premiere date. The two-hour pilot will air on Sunday, January 8, on NBC and then the show will move into Prime Suspect's slot, Thursdays at 10 pm, on January 12. You can find NBC's midseason schedule on Deadline.

Grimm will stay where it is at mid-season (Fridays, 9 pm), and this just in: NBC has ordered two additional episodes.

Speaking of, Movieweb has a new interview with Sasha Roiz:

Still no air date for Sasha's episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "The High School Reunion" (Part 1 & 2), but they will be the last two episodes of the season.

Also giving interviews this week: Christopher Heyerdahl. Most of them are about Hell on Wheels (check out the new BTS featurette if you're in the U.S.), but he also talks about Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, which opens this weekend. James Pizzinato also makes an appearance in the film.

AOL TV has a hilarious video interview with Christopher here. It can't be embedded, so hit the link. It's mostly about Twilight.

And here are some snippets from his other interviews. From AMC TV:

Q: It's pretty hilarious that your character is called The Swede, despite being from Norway.
A: It actually happens all the time! Whenever I travel anywhere, I'm constantly asked if I'm Swedish. It's the burden of most Norwegians. The Swedes have just got a better publicity agent, I think.

Q: What did you draw on besides your father's accent to create The Swede?
A: He's an amalgamation of all sorts of people I've met throughout my lifetime. Norway was occupied by the Germans in the Second World War, and I've met a lot of people who had to live through that occupation in varying degrees. In order to keep their theoretical sanity, they often have dealt with it by trying to control everything and everyone else around them.

HitFix:

HitFix: I interviewed Joe and Tony Gayton and we were talking about the villains in this story, whether Doc Durant is an antagonist or a villain, whether The Swede is an antagonist or a villain. How do you look at him?
Christopher Heyerdahl: Given the choice of those two words, "antagonist," I would say. Because you're giving two examples of people who are in a place of authority. Doc Durant, he's the boss. He's the president. He's the one laying down the rules. He's paying the bills. Everyone's gotta do what he says, or you take the track in the opposite direction. The Swede, his job is to play the part of the enforcer. Without him, the railroad is not going to be built. Without him, there's chaos, because someone has to keep these thieves and brigands and murderers and dipsomaniacs in line or hell will break loose.

HitFix: OK, I clearly gave you the wrong two words here. [He laughs loudly.] If I take "villain" and "antagonist" off the table, tell me about The Swede, then. Is he actually the hero of this story?
Christopher Heyerdahl: Well, the story is about him. It's just for some reason they keep cutting to other people. I don't really understand why. For me, he's a dream character, that I would have the opportunity to play a character who represents a huge part of my heritage in the form of someone who is complex and conflicted and joyful and terrifying and someone you cannot put a finger on... So is he a villain? Is he an antagonist? Is he a hero? Yes. He's all of those things. They've drawn out a very three-dimensional human being and so he's unpredictable.

And Red Eye Chicago:

I hear you had to go back and forth shooting both shows at the same time.
Yeah. It was great. [Producer] George Horie and the gang at “Sanctuary” were very, very good to me and allowed me to do “Hell on Wheels.” Without their support, without George and [“HOW” producer] Chad Oakes getting together and saying that this impossible schedule could be worked out, we wouldn’t be having this conversation about this subject.

Right.
I would arrive to work at “Sanctuary” at four in the morning, shoot all day, Gordy MacDonald, our first AD, would make sure that I was in the chair and out the door at 8 [p.m.]. The car would pick me up and drive me to the airport. I’d get on the 10:30 flight, arrive Calgary at 12:30, 1 in the morning. Get into the hotel; get picked up at 6 the next morning. Drive to set and either stay for a day or two and then jump on a plane, fly back the next night, get up at 4 in the morning, back on “Sanctuary.” And that was basically what it was like for five months. And it was fantastic. I was in heaven. (...)

Had you ridden horses before?
I grew up riding horses as a city slicker. I love that stuff. … I kind of was thrown into the saddle [for this]. I’d worked with the wranglers about five, six years ago on “Into the West.” And there, it was actually with [Ryan Robbins] and [John Pyper-Ferguson], and we were basically sitting on horses for, I don’t know, 10 hours a day on that show. And we’d set up a shot and we’d say to the guys, “OK, you can go like for 45 minutes, we’re going to take off on the horses.” And we’d just take off, had walkies, and then we’d just come back and shoot the scene and ride off on the horses again. It was pretty great.

^ Last paragraph corrected. (Ryan Reynolds wasn't in that show.)

James Marsters and Buffy co-star Juliet Landau were at the Austin Comic-Con last week. There are a bunch of videos from their Q&A on the Don't Kill Spike blog.

A couple of corrections: Jane Espenson's first episode of Once Upon a Time won't air this Sunday, but the next one (November 27), and Patton Oswalt won't be appearing in the Christmas episode of Raising Hope, but in the one airing on Tuesday, November 29, called "Bro-gurt." Here is a photo:

Patton also tweeted yesterday that he had recorded an episode of The Simpsons. And some new clips from Young Adult (in theatres on December 16) appeared online in recent days. Here is one with Patton and Charlize Theron:

The first trailer for Arctic Air with Carmen Moore, Leah Gibson and a bunch of other familiar faces, has been released. You can see it on the show's official page. Arctic Air premieres on January 10 on CBC. Aleks Paunovic has posted a photo from the set on Twitter (that's Adam Beach, the show's lead, to the left):

If you're in Vancouver, you can catch Leah Gibson in The True Heroines again at the Electric Owl on November 23. Teaser:

True Heroines- Show on the Run: A Comic Book Cabaret from TheTrueHeroines on Vimeo.

Ron Moore and Doug Drexler are among the Trek people who were interviewed for Trek Nation, a Star Trek documentary premiering on the SCIENCE channel on Wednesday, November 30 at 8 pm. More about the film at Screen Rant.

Doug Drexler mentioned on his blog a few days ago that the VFX work on Blood and Chrome was finally done. Still no word on when and where the pilot will air. If you're looking for spoilers and haven't seen the casting sides for the three leads, Sarah Deakins, who read for Beka Kelly (and played one of Laura Roslin's sisters in "Daybreak") posted a video of her audition on YouTube.

Ben Cotton has a few new projects on his list of credits: a guest starring role in Fairly Legal, which returns next spring on USA, and two films with Terry Miles, the western Dawn Rider and indie drama In No Particular Order. Mike Dopud, who is currently shooting a Syfy movie called Tasmanian Devils, also mentioned working on In No Particular Order.

Here is a behind-the-scenes clip, from the film's Tumblr page:

The Province has an article about the film.

This movie’s fictional wedding sparks the lead character’s reassessment of her life. Bennett and Lobo are the newlyweds, with Cotton as a nice guy who fixes on Cofsky’s character. The three actors are among the busier faces in Vancouver, and Cofsky says she was gratified when they signed on.

“This is as low budget as you can get, so I wasn’t sure whether anyone was going to want to do it,” Cofsky says. “It’s hard when you haven’t done a lot of writing to know whether what you’ve done is any good.”

Cotton, who is still awaiting word on a go-ahead for Blood and Chrome, a Battlestar Galactica prequel series for which he starred in the pilot, says Cofsky’s script gave him a rare chance to play a romantic lead.

“A grown-up guy, not the man-child,” says Cotton. “Something my mom could watch and go ‘See, that’s what I’m talking about. that’s my boy.’”

To see some BTS photos, go here.

The Divide with Michael Eklund won an audience award at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival last week.

Avan Jogia directed, produced and co-wrote a short film called Alex, available on YouTube now. He also stars in it. There are some BTS photos on his blog. Don't watch it at work:

Here is an interesting new review of Beyond the Black Rainbow with Eva Allan, from Slant Magazine:

Panos Cosmatos's Beyond the Black Rainbow is the aforementioned "mind-blowing imagery" film, a bizarre Reagan-era clash of wills between psychically-gifted Elena (Eva Allan) and Dr. Barry Nyle (Michael Rogers), her captor and tormentor at the Arboria Institute. He's studying her, hoping to get insight and control over her powers; she's seeking for a way to escape—but that plot is almost irrelevant in light of the power of the film's imagery. The promotional video-style opening immediately plunges us into a full-on '70s sci-fi aesthetic, Logan's Run by way of THX-1138. But that's only the starting point before the film explodes into a torrent of psychedelic images and hypnotic dilation of time, where at one point the film frame appears to literally disintegrate in front of our eyes.

Trying to get a handle on the film's avant-garde predilections is a bit like trying to get a handle on madness; one simple shot showing Elena crossing a hallway seems to stretch on for minutes, but it's captivating by the sheer force of its disconnect as a geometric motion study. In fact, it's almost anticlimactic when Cosmatos snaps the film back into some semblance of reality to push along Barry and Elena's cat-and-mouse game. In this visual maelstrom, Rogers as Barry is captivating in the way he positively oozes sinister inhumanity; in his turtlenecks and polyester suits, he's like an evil Carl Sagan.

And the synopsis and teaser for the next episode of Grimm, "Lonelyhearts:"

DEATH AND DISAPPEARANCE LEAD TO A LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER'S DISTURBING SECRET - After investigating a strange cluster of female deaths and disappearances, Nick (David Giuntoli) sends Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) undercover to get a whiff of a hypnotic suspect. In the meantime, a stranger shows up looking to avenge the death of his friend at the hands of a Grimm, but he'll have to get past Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz).

Hell on Wheels preview, new interview with Christopher Heyerdahl & new project for David Eick

2011-11-13T23:27:00.000Z

Christopher Heyerdahl makes his first appearance as the Swede in Hell on Wheels 1x02, "Immoral Mathematics," which airs tonight at 10 pm on AMC. He's been getting great reviews for the show (see here), so see the episode if you get a chance. Here is another one, from The Boston Globe:

Indeed, once a character known as the Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl) shows up in episode 2, with his silent-picture expressiveness and the kind of threatening presence usually found in Coen Brothers movies, I was fully invested in the show and looking forward to seeing the rest of the 10-episode season. The Swede is just the kind of twisted psycho creep you want to watch closely, the showiest bad guy in the “Hell on Wheels’’ stampede of antiheroes led by financier, swindler, and railroad builder Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney).

And here is what the A.V. Club says:

Tonight’s episode introduces our new favorite character ever, The Swede, played by Christopher Heyerdahl. Trust us, kids. You’re going to want to start working on your Scandanavian accent for your Swede Halloween costume next year. Phil Nugent’s got a head start.

Synopsis from TV Line:

Bohannon (Anson Mount) thinks fast and talks faster when Durant’s No. 1, “the Swede” (Sanctuary‘s awesome Christopher Heyerdahl), aims to hang him for murder.

And a region-free sneak peek from tonight's episode, with Christopher and Anson Mount, finally showed up on YouTube today:

Calgary Herald has a new article about the show that includes an interview with Christopher. Here are a few snippets:

But for many, particularly when prodded by the Hollywood media, the topic of the evening was enduring the weeks of ill-tempered climes in that peculiar outpost of Calgary.

“It brings you back to the time when you are completely vulnerable to that intense weather that all of you guys know about living in Calgary or in that area,” said lanky Canadian actor Christopher Heyerdahl, who plays a character known as the Swede.

“When the weather comes through, it comes through and there’s nothing you can do about it. You can see it coming and you just hope the wind will start pushing it north.

“It’s this ominous reminder of how small and insignificant we are. We can just be washed away and that happened to us a number of times. The grips had a hell of a time moving stuff around, knee-deep in mud and snow and the wind would come up and be knocking things over.” (...)

Heyerdahl decided that the Swede, for instance, is a character who would never purposely have mud on his shoes.

“But it was impossible,” Heyerdahl says with a laugh.

“He’s so OCD, he is in constant terror of getting his boots wet and they were constantly dirty. So it was just a dirty, muddy mess for the first couple of months. You can’t get away from that, it brings the reality. You don’t have to sit there and do some sort of creative imagining, it’s all there. Especially in that valley. It looks like it hasn’t been touched. You get on the hill and you can see the suburban sprawl all around you. But there, you are away from it all. It’s like going back in time.”

Elsewhere in AMC land, David Eick is working on a new science fiction project. Deadline reports that he and his two producing partners have sold a UFO drama to the network:

The cable network has bought Thunderstruck, an hourlong UFO project from feature writing/directing duo Paul Boardman and Scott Derrickson and former Battlestar Galactica executive producer David Eick. Boardman and Derrickson will write the drama, about powerful and enigmatic entities that begin appearing all over the world. After one shows up in the town of Great Falls, Montana, the local citizens must grapple with the dramatic effects and growing mystery of repeated visitations. Boardman and Derrickson will executive produce Thunderstruck with Eick. Derrickson is set to direct.

The article also mentions that, along with the Hulk remake for ABC, Eick and Guillermo del Toro are also working on a pilot for a show called Inhuman for HBO. Not finding any details yet.

A new episode of Once Upon a Time, "The Price of Gold," airs at 8 pm on ABC. Spoiler TV has the first ten minutes. Cinderella makes her first appearance tonight and, next week, we'll finally see an episode Jane Espenson wrote, called "That Still Small Voice." Luke Camilleri will make an appearance in it.

Also on TV tonight: a new episode of Dexter with Edward James Olmos (preview) on Showtime at 9 pm, The Walking Dead at 9 pm on AMC, followed by Hell on Wheels. Teaser:

We Have Your Husband, starring Esai Morales, premieres tonight (8 pm, Lifetime)

2011-11-12T23:15:00.001Z

Just a reminder that Esai Morales gets kidnapped in the Lifetime film We Have Your Husband tonight at 8 pm.

If you're in the right region, you can see the trailer on Lifetime's site.

Esai was on KTLA News the other day to talk about the film and some of the issues it raises. You can watch the interview here. It includes a couple of clips from the film.

Here is the synopsis:

The chilling true story of one woman’s fight to get her husband released from the hands of kidnappers in Mexico is brought to life in the Lifetime Original Movie, “We Have Your Husband.”

American-born Jayne Valseca (Teri Polo, Meet the Parents, Man Up), her husband Eduardo (Esai Morales, NYPD Blue), the son of a legendary Mexican newspaper publisher, and their two children live an idyllic life on their 1,000 acre ranch outside of a peaceful Mexico town. But in the summer of 2007, their peaceful life is turned into a real-life nightmare when Eduardo is ambushed and kidnapped by strangers.

With kidnapping becoming a pervasive and lucrative business in Mexico, Jayne is at the mercy of the kidnappers when they demand millions for the husband’s safe release. She’s pushed to the limit to do everything she possibly can to raise the money necessary to bring Eduardo back alive.

As Eduardo is starved and tortured, he loses hope of ever seeing his family again but despite the dire and bleak times, Jayne refuses to give up and decides to turn the tables on the kidnappers and makes demands of her own.

The film is based on a true story from the book, We Have Your Husband: One Woman’s Terrifying Story of a Kidnapping in Mexico. We Have Your Husband is executive produced by Jean Abounader (The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve) and Timothy O. Johnson (Doc). Jayne Valseca co-produced and Tosca Mark (Final Sale) produced the film which is directed by Eric Bross (Traffic) from a teleplay written by J.B. White (Guilty Hearts). We Have Your Husband is produced by Silver Screen Pictures for Lifetime Television."

Grimm & Sanctuary previews, and new interviews with Sasha Roiz and Patton Oswalt

2011-11-11T23:52:00.000Z

Just a few updates, starting with what's on TV tonight.

Geek Charming, a TV film with Kacey Rohl and Andrew Airlie, airs at 8 pm on the Disney Channel. Synopsis and trailer at Daemon's TV.

A new episode of Grimm, called "Beeware," airs at 9/8 c on NBC. Synopsis:

The station is abuzz as Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) are called to a case where an innocent flash mob results in a gruesome homicide. As Nick delves further into the investigation, he learns more about his unique family history, and finds himself at odds when he and Hank are assigned to protect a dark character from his recent past. Bitsie Tulloch, Silas Weir Mitchell, Sasha Roiz and Reggie Lee also star.

Here is a new interview with Sasha Roiz, from KGW:

A sneak peek from tonight's episode (more clips at Chicago Tribune):

And a behind-the-scenes video:

Here is a featurette from A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, via Trailer Addict, with Patton Oswalt talking about his character, the pot smoking Santa, and what the audience can expect from the film (out in theatres now):

And the synopsis and promo for tonight's episode of Sanctuary, "Homecoming" (10 pm, Syfy), with Christopher Heyerdahl and Ryan Robbins:

Two flying abnormals come to the Sanctuary to try to trick Magnus, Henry and Bigfoot into helping them on a shady scheme. Meanwhile, Will heads to the Liberian Sanctuary in Monrovia, where he is attacked. Temporarily blinded, Will is haunted by memories of his father (Al Sapienza).

Teryl Rothery's Brisbane Supanova Expo Q&A

2011-11-08T20:47:00.000Z

Teryl Rothery was at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Brisbane earlier this week and some clips from her Q&A showed up on YouTube today.

The questions she was asked were mostly about Stargate SG-1, but she also talked about a bunch of her other projects, including Caprica. She also explained why she hasn't made an appearance on Sanctuary yet. (Sanctuary's Amanda Tapping was also one of the regulars on SG-1 and they both have a huge following from that show.)

Among the new projects that aren't listed on the IMDB, she mentions The Killing Game (the same Lifetime film with Brian Markinson that premiered last week, as it turns out) and says she also recently worked on Flicka 3 (Kacey Rohl is in that one, too).

The whole Q&A is pretty hilarious, check it out:

Cast updates and new interviews with Jane Espenson, Carmen Moore and Scott Porter

2011-11-07T23:20:00.000Z

A few updates to start the week.

Jamie Bamber guest stars on House tonight (9 pm, Fox, teaser below) and a new episode of Hart of Dixie with Scott Porter also airs at 9 pm, on the CW.

The Boston Herald has a new interview with Scott. He talks about Hart of Dixie, Friday Night Lights and the possibility of returning to The Good Wife. Snippet:

“Blake was the trickiest character I ever played,” he said.

Any chance Blake could return to stir up trouble?

“The (producers) and I have talked about it,” he said. “If Blake does come back, he’s going to come back in a much different capacity. This time, maybe, he’s the one who needs the help. It’s going to be great to see if he can repair those bridges that he burned. Not just burned, but dropped bombs on.”

Elsewhere:

Spoiler TV has the promotional photos from Grimm 1x04, "Lonelyhearts." Here are the ones with Sasha Roiz:

Luke Camilleri will be the first (and hopefully not the last) Caprica actor to show up on Once Upon a Time. According to the IMDB, he will appear in episode 1x05, "The Still Small Voice," which airs on November 27.

Dmitry Chepovetsky made an unannounced appearance in last week's episode of Supernatural, "The Mentalists." The episode will be available on CWTV.com one of these days.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy with Aleks Paunovic, Ryan Robbins and Tahmoh Penikett, is out on Blu-ray today. You can get it on Amazon.

Judas Kiss with Richard Harmon and Genevieve Buechner was released on DVD in the UK yesterday. Also available on Amazon.

Newsarama has an interview with Jane Espenson, Sean Hemeon and Cheeks from the New York Comic-Con. Can't embed the clip, so hit the link to watch it.

Blackstone TV has posted a new interview with Carmen Moore on YouTube. In it, she talks about her character's arc in the first season. For updates on Blackstone, you can follow Carmen and Blackstone TV on Twitter.

It looks like Christopher Heyerdahl won't be appearing in only one episode of Hell on Wheels. From Daniel Fienberg's review at Hitfix:

I sense that he's not a long-term answer, but temporarily salvation arrives in Episode 2 in the form of Christopher Heyerdahl's The Swede, the Union Pacific's head security man.

Heyerdahl, who I also thought was the only reason to watch "Sanctuary" (before I stopped watching "Sanctuary"), brings both menace and a marvelous sense of black humor to a role which hasn't become over-exposed yet. In the second through fifth episodes, every time The Swede is on the screen, "Hell on Wheels" becomes an infinitely more enjoyable series, no matter which characters he happens to be sharing the screen with. (...) I'll keep watching for Mount and for Common (still more of a presence than an actor, but a fine presence) and for Tom Noonan and for Heyerdahl.

Here are a couple of photos from this week's episode of Sanctuary, "Homecoming," with Chris Heyerdahl and Ryan Robbins:

And a sneak peek:

The trailer for In the Name of the King 2 with Aleks Paunovic has hit the web. The film will be out on DVD on Dec. 27.

The teaser for tonight's episode of House, with Jamie Bamber:

And the promo for tonight's Hart of Dixie, "The Undead & The Unsaid," with Scott Porter (9 pm, CW):

The Heart, She Holler series premiere and new interviews with Patton Oswalt

2011-11-06T23:54:00.000Z

Patton Oswalt's new show, The Heart, She Holler, premieres tonight at 12:30 am on Adult Swim. As good an opportunity as any to catch up on at least some of the things he's been doing lately.

These days, he has one movie out in theatres (A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas), another one getting released next month (Young Adult), and Stars Entertainment reports that he will make an appearance in the Christmas episode of Raising Hope.

On the media front, he was on the Kevin & Bean podcast with Rob Delaney and Joshua Jackson the other day. You can listen to it here.

Popbytes has a recording of the panel for The Heart, She Holler at the New York Comic Con.

Hampton Roads has an article about the show, which includes a short interview with Patton. Snippet:

The six-part miniseries centers on a tycoon who leaves his fortune to a long-lost son, played by Oswalt, which upsets the guy's two daughters, portrayed by Kristen Schaal and Heather Lawless.

Oswalt likens his character to Kaspar Hauser, the 19th century German boy who claimed to have been raised in a dungeon.

"He's this sort of blank slate that other people can impress themselves upon, which leads to some really wild whiplash spectrums of behavior," Oswalt said.

And Vulture (NY Mag) has a longer interview. He talks about the show, about his character in Young Adult, and about United States of Tara.

Here are a few snippets (the first part is about The Heart, She Holler):

I’ve never seen you in that much costuming before.
Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever been in that much costuming before. It was fun! It was an acting challenge to be that besuited that bewigged and that betoothed. I have a newfound respect for people like Jim Carrey and Mike Myers. Although in a way when I was a little kid I used to idolize Boris Karloff and Lon Cheney, so maybe I’ve come full circle. Those motherfuckers had to emote under pounds of makeup and fur, so hey.

Did you have any say in this character, or did you just deliver the lines the way Vernon Chatman and John Lee had written him?
The scripts were so well written. And I’m a little leery these days; I think right now there is an undeserved sort of fashion and fad for improv, where people improv before they even read the script. And again, a lot of great stuff comes from improv all the time. But sometimes the script is awesome, and you will look really good if you read the fucking script. So I read the scripts first and I saw that they were good. I think I ripped a couple things here and there, but it was never anything major because Vernon and John’s writing is so dense and lyrical to the point of mythology. And I wanted to sort of capture that rather than add my own bullshit input. (...)

So this character in Young Adult is obsessed with Star Wars. Could you resist ad libbing any of that?
Well, we talked about the character beforehand. Before we started shooting, I sort of suggested a couple little character things with the action figures and stuff like that. But I wasn’t riffing that much while I was on set. I’m not saying I’m against riffing. I’m all for riffing and improv after the script has been read. But it seems to me that a lot of that happens before anybody even cracks the cover. “Well I’m just going to add my own flourish to this.” Why don’t you see if there might actually be a brilliant character in there? Why don’t you read it first?

Los Angeles Times talked to him about Young Adult:

Oswalt's interests are expansive. A military brat from Virginia, Oswalt is hopeful that what is sure to be a profile-raising role as the moonshine-making, action-figure-creating disabled man in Reitman's dark comedy, which opens Dec. 9 in Los Angeles, will lead to some interesting opportunities, one way or the other.

"A movie like this will hopefully give me the exposure to work with other directors I like, or [give me] the breathing room that if [eccentric horror director] Ewe Boll wants me to go to Germany to do something, I can go. Because I also want to observe Ewe Boll and write about that experience," he says, as he sops up his wild boar bacon carbonara at one of his favorite neighborhood haunts, Little Dom's in Los Feliz. "I still want to be a stand-up and you can't be a stand-up if you're not living life."

And speaking of Young Adult, here is some more Oscar talk, from Cinema Blend:

After a relentless and ultimately harmful press tour for Up in the Air, director Jason Reitman is keeping this film on a very low profile, scheduling pop-up screenings in Toronto, Minneapolis, Chicago and other cities before finally showing up in Los Angeles earlier this week as a "secret screening." So even though only a handful of writer types, and even fewer Academy voters, have seen the movie, word is that Charlize Theron's brittle, fearless performance is just as good as we hoped, and Patton Oswalt might not just be a Supporting Actor contender, but a possible winner, playing her friend. It's hard to tell if the film's black heart might keep it out of the Best Picture contention-- Juno was edgy, but also extremely sweet-- but it's very much in the race for now.

The Flick Cast has a video interview with Patton:

Here are a couple of clips from the press tour for The Heart, She Holler at the New York Comic Con:

And the trailer for Young Adult, out in theatres next month:

Christopher Heyerdahl in Hell on Wheels: What the critics are saying

2011-11-06T21:27:00.002Z

AMC's new western drama Hell on Wheels premieres tonight at 10 pm, after The Walking Dead.

From all accounts, Christopher Heyerdahl doesn't make an appearance until next week's episode, but critics have been mentioning him a lot in the early reviews. Just for context, most of them are not quite as enthusiastic about the show as they are about his character. (He plays a Norwegian badass called The Swede who works for the show's resident villain, railroad boss Thomas 'Doc' Durant, played by Star Trek's Colm Meaney.)

Here are a few snippets from some of the reviews flooding my inbox this week (careful, there are spoilers):

Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter:

In fact, the best character appears in the second episode but isn’t mentioned in the voluminous press materials or episode synopsis (!). It’s Christopher Heyerdahl, playing a character named The Swede. How is it that in one hour -- Episode 2 -- the Swede seems fully formed and the lead, Bohannon, seems to be an intentionally murky mix of good and bad that is more theoretical than evident?

Alan Sepinwall, Hitfix:

The one real spark of originality arrives in the second episode, when we meet Doc Durant's chief of security, Tor Gundersen, better known as The Swede. Played by Christopher Heyerdahl (sci-fi fans will recognize him from shows like "Stargate: Atlantis" and "Sanctuary"), The Swede is tall and pasty and otherworldly, and always acting like he's in on some private joke. (He's actually Norwegian, but doesn't mind that no one seems to know the difference.) Like Cullen, The Swede carries his own Civil War scars, and the scene in the second episode where he explains the kind of "immoral mathematics" he learned at Andersonville is among the few times "Hell on Wheels" feels like it has any business being on the same channel as "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad."

But that's a great performance and character in search of a more adventurous show.

Mo Ryan, AOL TV:

There is a truly compelling performance in the early going, but that doesn't come from star Anson Mount (...)

The Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl) works as the head of security for Thomas Durant (Colm Meaney), the blustery man who is building the railroad, and the Swede is someone you can easily picture smiling amiably as he slits a man's throat. Heyerdahl, a savvy and skilled character actor who is well known to fans of supernatural and sci-fi fare, has such weird magnetism on screen that the instant he appeared in 'Hell on Wheels,' I began to hope that the narrative would turn its attention to the looming Swede.

Of course that didn't happen.

Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times:

Especially convincing are tall, sepulchral Christopher Heyerdahl as "The Swede" (the joke is he's Norwegian), who runs the town for Duncan; Phil Burke as the sweeter and less mercenary of two entrepreneurial Irish brothers; and Robin McLeavy as a prostitute with an Indian tattoo on her chin. It took me a while to recognize Ted Levine (from "Monk") behind a thicket of whiskers as the camp foreman, but it is always good to see even a little bit of Ted Levine.

David Eckstein, Zap2it:

The pilot itself is a bit slow in the story department but strong in the character development. The series heats up in the second episode with the introduction of the railroad security chief The Swede (Christopher Heyerdahl). His quiet yet threatening presence is reminiscent of the Arnold Toht character from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (a.k.a. The guy who burns the medallion in his hand).

Curt Wagner, Chicago Tribune:

The trio doesn’t create any sustained drama until the second episode, when we meet Doc’s enforcer, Tor Gundersen (Christopher Heyerdahl), a menacing, spectral presence who laughs because people call him “The Swede.” (The joke is that he’s actually Norwegian.) His speech about the “immoral mathematics” he learned at the Confederate prison in Andersonville is something to behold.

Heyerdahl nails the nasty villain whom viewers will love to loathe. His scenes opposite Mount crackle with tension and prove that "Hell on Wheels" will eventually gather enough steam to get somewhere.

New interview with Sasha Roiz and the weekend monster update

2011-11-06T04:00:00.000Z

Let's start the weekly round-up with Grimm.

Grimm's ratings dropped a little this week, but the show still won the 18-49 demo in its timeslot, finishing ahead of CSI: NY, Fringe and Supernatural, and rising by a full frakking ratings point (1.8) after Chuck (0.8). Wake up, Chuck.

Hitfix visited the set in Portland recently and posted a lengthy report. Here is a snippet:

Sasha Roiz on how his character will develop later in the series: "I’m not a Grimm descendent, but I'm a descendent of a long line that dates back just as Grimm does and we have a bit of a history and a past, so my line is a royal line and that will slowly unfold throughout the series."

Collider has a longer interview with Sasha and Reggie Lee (more at the link):

It’s nice to see your character – like the main character – has the duality.
ROIZ: My character’s more seasoned in the fantastical world, a bit of a player, and he’s aware of the Grimm, but no one seems aware of who I am, except the people I want to be aware. It’s fun, and as we continue, there are always new things that are being developed. We don’t know where they’re going. We have a sense of the character, he comes from royal descent, his family has had ties for centuries and so on, and with every episode a little bit more is added to that story.

It feels like there’s a greater universe that will be fun to explore, but the show’s also a procedural.
LEE: It is that more than anything else, and you’ll see as we go on it remains a procedural, so the mythological elements are backburnered. I think they’ll come out eventually.

ROIZ: From what we’ve been told if there’s a back nine, that’s something we’ll explore but for now it’s more self-contained episodes.

The teaser for next week's episode, "BeeWare" (Friday, 9 pm, NBC), is embedded below. Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine, BSG, Torchwood) guest stars.

And on other fronts:

Luciana Carro mentioned on Facebook today that she has landed a recurring role on Falling Skies. Ryan Robbins will also be appearing in at least two episodes. Susan Gittins says that he was on the set for episode 2x02.

We can add Michael Hogan to the list of Caprica and BSG actors who will be appearing on Arctic Air, along with Carmen Moore, Leah Gibson, Brian Markinson, and Aleks Paunovic. Hogan was also spotted on the set of Fairly Legal the other day.

Two Caprica actors had films premiering on Lifetime last weekend.

Jill Teed was in Possessing Piper Rose, which is now available on Hulu.

Synopsis:
Joanna and Ben Maxwell's dream of adopting a child comes true when a sympathetic but mysterious agent places with them a darling four-year-old girl named Piper. But these new parents are plagued by a series of inexplicable and unnerving occurrences, including visions of Piper’s long-dead birth mother, and the chilling truth of Piper’s past comes to light. Even more horrifying is what the future holds for the little girl and for her new family as they are all drawn into the chilling secrets of the dead... and beyond.

And Brian Markinson was in The Killing Game. You can find the trailer and upcoming air dates on Lifetime's site.

Based on the bestselling crime novel, the Lifetime Original Movie Iris Johansen's The Killing Game follows forensic sculptor Eve Duncan (Laura Prepon Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea) when, 10 years after the disappearance and murder of her seven year old daughter Bonnie, she is contacted by a man claiming to be her killer. Taunted by the man’s mysterious clues about Bonnie’s case, Eve becomes involved in his sadistic game when he threatens to kill another little girl that he targeted because she resembles her precious daughter. Memories haunt her as she is caught in a web of deceit and gambles with her own life tracking down the deadly serial killer in the hopes of saving the girls life and discovering Bonnie’s final resting place. Naomi Judd also stars as Eve’s mother “Sandra Duncan.”

TNT has released the trailer for its mystery movie night lineup in November and December. From the press release:

Scott Turow's Innocent - Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) - Tahmoh Penikett
Bill Pullman (Independence Day, Torchwood) stars as Rusty Sabich, a judge charged with the murder of his wife, a situation that comes 20 years after he was cleared in the death of his mistress. During this latest trial, a secret affair from Rusty's recent past threatens to hamper his defense and fracture his relationship with his son. Oscar(R) winner Marcia Gay Harden (Pollack, Damages) plays Rusty's wife, while Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Law & Order: LA) is his friend and defense attorney. Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse) is hot-headed prosecutor Jim Brand. Emmy(R) winner Richard Schiff (The West Wing, The Lost World: Jurassic Park), Callard Harris (Glory Daze, Intermedio) and Mariana Klaveno (True Blood, While the Children Sleep) also star. Scott Turow's Innocent is a sequel to Turow's bestseller Presumed Innocent. The movie is written and directed by Mike Robe (TNT's HawthoRNe, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King), with Robe and Frank von Zerneck (We Were the Mulvaneys, Miracle on Ice) serving as executive producers.

Good Morning, Killer - Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) - Genevieve Buechner
Adapted by April Smith from her own novel, this thriller stars Catherine Bell (JAG, Army Wives) as FBI Special Agent Ana Gray, an undercover operative tracking down a serial kidnapper. As Ana develops a rapport with the kidnapper's latest victim, the suspect suddenly changes his pattern. Now Ana must race to find him before he strikes again. Good Morning, Killer co-stars Cole Hauser (Chase, K-Ville) as Detective Andrew Berringer; William Devane (Knots Landing, 24) as Everett Morgan "Poppy" Grey, Ana's grandfather; Titus Welliver (The Good Wife, Lost) as FBI Special Agent Mike Donnato, Ana's partner; and Suleka Mathew (TNT's HawthoRNe) as FBI Agent Barbara Sullivan, Ana's best friend at the bureau. In addition to writing the screenplay, Smith is set to executive-produce Good Morning, Killer with Frank von Zerneck (We Were the Mulvaneys, Miracle on Ice). Maggie Greenwald (Songcatcher, The Ballad of Little Jo) will direct.

Deck the Halls - Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) - Hiro Kanagawa and Luciana Carro
Based on the first book in Mary Higgins Clark and daughter Carol Higgins Clark's series of holiday mystery novels, this warm-hearted story brings together two of the authors' most popular characters: Cleaning-woman-turned-private-eye Alvirah Meegan, played by Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, Franklin & Bash) and Detective Regan Reilly, played by Scottie Thompson (Star Trek, Skyline). The women investigate the kidnapping of Regan's father 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. Two-time Emmy(R) winner Jane Alexander (Testament, Warm Springs) plays Regan's mother, famed mystery writer Nora Regan Reilly. Ron Underwood (Tremors, City Slickers) will direct from a script by Howard Burkons (John Q, TNT's The Ron Clark Story), who also serves as executive producer with Brenda Friend (Joan of Arc, TNT's The Ron Clark Story) and Frank von Zerneck (We Were the Mulvaneys, Miracle on Ice).

Panou tweets that he is working on My Funny Valentine, a movie of the week with Eric Mabius and Brooke D'Orsay, directed by Mark Griffiths, and currently in production in Vancouver.

Michael Rymer's Face to Face has won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the Macao International Digital Cinema Festival.

Born to Race with John Pyper-Ferguson finally has a DVD release date for the US: February 28, 2012. It can already be pre-ordered on Amazon.

Disney has released the character descriptions and some fun facts about John Carter. Here is some info about Polly Walker's character:

SARKOJA (Polly Walker) — “Sola can take the little white worm.” — Sarkoja is the ideal Thark; calculating, cold and cruel. Like Tal Hajus, she believes that only the strong should survive, and she has survived a long time. She targets Sola at every opportunity for she has no patience with Sola’s humanity, which she perceives as weakness.

More at Stitch Kingdom.

Amazon Falls with Zak Santiago and William B. Davis will be released on DVD on November 29. It is available for pre-ordering on Amazon.

The House, also with Zak Santiago, is getting screened at the Vancouver Asian Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 6. Some details about the film, from The Province, and the trailer:

The House (5 p.m. Sunday) is a Vancouver-filmed ghost story by director Desiree Lim, starrring Natalie Sky as a money manager who retreats to an old house where she starts writing a book, and finds out she’s not alone. Zak Santiago, Emilie Ullerup and Alex Zahara co-star.

Beyond the Black Rainbow with Eva Allan (who played STO recruit Devanna in the Gemenon episodes, starting with "Blowback") is getting screened at AFI Fest this week. Info and tickets here. Here is the synopsis, from Screen Daily:

Set against a backdrop of the Reagan-era Cold War, the story, such as it is, has a creepy scientist (played by Canadian veteran Michael Rogers, from The Assassination of Jesse James) holding a young girl with dangerous mental powers (Eva Allan, from sci-fi series Caprica) captive in a isolated laboratory.

And the trailer:

BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW: An intense and hallucinogenic sci-fi film set in 1983, director Panos Cosmatos’ BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW is a one-of-a-kind film experience. DIR/SCR Panos Cosmatos. CAST Michael Rogers, Eva Allan, Scott Hylands, Marilyn Norry, Rondel Reynoldsen. USA.

Calum Worthy (who also appeared in "Blowback" as one of the STO recruits) has a new show, Austin & Ally, that premieres on the Disney Channel on Sunday, December 4 at 8 pm. The first episode will be available on iTunes on Tuesday, November 22. More details at TheFutonCritic.com. Synopsis & trailer:

Opposites rock in "Austin & Ally," a new comedy series about an unlikely friendship, singing, songwriting and the adventures of trying to achieve one's dreams, premiering SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel. The series follows polar opposites - an extroverted musician/singer, and a brilliant yet shy songwriter - who combine their talents in an attempt to create a true musical tour-de-force. Starring are newcomer Ross Lynch as Austin, Laura Marano ("Without a Trace," "Back to You") as Ally, Raini Rodriguez (Disney's "Prom," "I'm in the Band") as Trish and Calum Worthy ("Psych," "Good Luck Charlie") as Dez. Prior to the premiere of "Austin & Ally," music sensation Justin Bieber performs "Mistletoe" from his upcoming holiday album, in an all-new episode of the hit series "So Random!"

Shock Till You Drop has a bunch of new production stills from The Divide, with Michael Eklund.

The Day, another new post-apocalyptic thriller with Eklund playing one of the leads, has been picked up by Entertainment One for distribution in the U.K., France, Scandinavia and South Africa. Some info, from World Screen:

The Day stars Shawn Ashmore (X-Men trilogy), Ashley Bell (The Last Exorcism), Michael Eklund (The Divide), Cory Hardrict (Battle Los Angeles, Gran Torino), Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings, Lost) and Shannyn Sossamon (A Knight's Tale, Rules of Attraction, 40 Days and 40 Nights). Set during a war against humanity, five survivors must fight or die.

Here is an early teaser:

BSG, Caprica and Blood and Chrome visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel will attend the panel "VFX Minds" on November 10 at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood. Details:

NewTek invites you to join us for a very special evening hosted by actress Jeri Ryan with special guest Dick Van Dyke at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences - Leonard H. Goldenson Theater. The evening is a celebration of the achievements of Emmy® Award-winning artists, supervisors, designers, actors, and producers in the television industry.

The evening will include an informative "VFX Minds" panel of industry insiders moderated by David Cohen, features editor for Variety magazine. The discussion will cover the current challenges of producing high-end, award-winning visual effects for television, under the constraints of increasingly limited budgets and reduced production schedules.

The top level participants on the panel include industry legend Ron Thornton, the "godfather" of contemporary television VFX, Chuck Comisky, visual effects supervisor and stereoscopic expert and stereo supervisor for Avatar, Gary Hutzel, head of Universal Studios in house visual effects department, along with Eric Hance, Supervising Artist on the hit Steven Spielberg series Terra Nova. The panel will share advice on how they create award-winning shows that entertain millions of viewers every week, as well as discuss the latest workflows and trends that allow them to complete projects, on time and on budget.

And Bear McCreary has posted a video from the first rehearsal for his Freddie Mercury tribute concert:

New Grimm & Sanctuary tonight, and some general updates

2011-11-04T23:34:00.002Z

Just a few quick updates today.

Grimm 1x02, "Bears Will Be Bears," airs tonight at 9 pm on NBC. Here is the synopsis:

A case of breaking and entering introduces Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) to a mysterious family whose cultural background blurs the line of right and wrong. Meanwhile, Nick tasks Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) with safeguarding Aunt Marie (guest star Kate Burton). Bitsie Tulloch, Sasha Roiz and Reggie Lee also star.

Spoiler TV has four sneak peeks from the episode.

Alessandra Torresani will be back on American Horror Story next week in episode 1x06, "Piggy Piggy." She is not in the teaser again.

A Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas with Patton Oswalt opens in theatres in the U.S. this weekend. IMDB has a couple of trailers.

Die with John Pyper-Ferguson opens in Vancouver today. The film was released on DVD in the UK in October and will be out in France in January.

Once Upon a Time, with Jane Espenson on the writing/producing team, has been picked up for a full season, with ABC ordering additional nine episodes. Spoiler TV has four sneak peeks from this Sunday's episode, "Snow Falls."

Zak Santiago should make an appearance on Sanctuary tonight according to the IMDB. He isn't in any of the previews, but the show regulars Ryan Robbins and Christopher Heyerdahl are. Here is the synopsis for "Resistance:"

The team tracks an Abnormal fugitive, and discovers that Tesla is the head of a secret research lab for a Homeland Security agency that conducts tests on Abnormals.

Some pics, from Spoiler TV:

And a couple of previews:

More updates later this weekend.

Alessandra Torresani on American Horror Story tonight, new interviews with James Marsters, Scott Porter & Christopher Heyerdahl

2011-11-02T23:11:00.000Z

Okay, for real this time:

Alessandra Torresani guest stars on American Horror Story tonight at 10 pm on FX. Here is the synopsis for both Halloween episodes, from THR:

In Part 1, Vivien (Connie Britton) and Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott) met the house's previous tenants, a gay couple (played by Zachary Quinto and Teddy Sears) obsessed with decorating the home just right for Halloween so the Harmons can unload the property.

In addition, Tate (Evan Peters) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga) inch closer when the couple takes advantage of the old Halloween loophole that all the ghosts come out to walk the streets for the night as they hit the beach for their first official date.

Alessandra plays Steph, one of the unwelcome visitors on that date. For previews, go to Sci Fi Mafia.

Ryan Robbins tweets that one of his recent films, Marilyn, will premiere at the Whistler Film Festival, which runs from November 30 to December 4.

For production stills and more details about the film, visit the official site at MarilyntheMovie.net. Here is some info from the press release (PDF link):

MARILYN
2011 / BC / 106minutes
Directed and written by Christopher Petry
Starring Allison Mack and Simone Bailly
A bank robber (Ryan Robbins) on the lam reluctantly takes a runaway young woman (Allison Mack) under his wing. Distracted by this volatile girl, he struggles to keep his head in the game and stay under the legal radar, but her dreams of becoming a singer sidetrack his plans and change him irrevocably. Filmed in a gritty 1970s style. Marilyn is based on a story written in Leavenworth Prison by Patrick "Paddy" Mitchell of the infamous Stopwatch Gang.

Another recent film of Ryan's, Apollo 18, will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 27. Cinemablend has the details.

Also out on DVD and Blu-ray on December 27: In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds with Aleks Paunovic. Dread Central has the DVD artwork and list of bonus features.

Doppelgänger Paul with Ben Cotton will also be screened at the Whistler Film Festival.

Panou tweets that he will start working on another TV film next week. No details yet.

Mike Dopud tweets that he starts working on a new film called In No Particular Order tomorrow. There is an official Tumblr for the film at innopartiticularorder.tumblr.com. Ben Cotton will be in it, too.

Jonas Pate has signed on to direct the independent crime drama Way Down South from a script he wrote with his brother Josh. The film will be shot in New Orleans next spring. Emmy Rossum, Nasir "Nas" Jones and Jack Huston will play the leads. Here is what Variety says:

The film tells the story of a gambler and small time crook, played by Huston, who steals a Civil War-era sword from a museum to finance his escape from a loan shark who staked him in a losing poker game.

Jones has been cast as the best friend and Rossum will play the former love interest. Country music singer Hank Williams III has also been cast.

And some interviews.

The Coventry Telegraph has a great one with James Marsters. He talks about his work on Buffy, Smallville, and Dragonball Evolution among other things. Here is the part about Caprica and James' upcoming projects:

You have since gone on to appear in Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica, which didn't last very long. That must have been hugely disappointing. What were your experiences working on that?
Excellent actors, directors and producers and crew and an outrageously challenging theme - being that we are watching people destroy their future. I wonder if the series were short lived because that's just too close to home?

Since then, you have been in the remake of Hawaii Five-0 and also appeared in Supernatural. What's next for you?
An indie film that I'm filming this November (can't really give any details) and an episode of Metal Hurlant for French TV based on a comic book that gave raise to Heavy Metal - one of my favourite animated films. I'm also doing a new series of book on tapes. The band's (Ghost of the Robot) new album Murphy's Law will be available on both i-Tunes and Amazon at the end of November.

Crave Online talked to Christopher Heyerdahl and the rest of the cast of Hell on Wheels, which premieres this Sunday on AMC.

Ten Year with Scott Porter has been picked up for distribution by Anchor Bay and will be released in the U.S. next spring.

Scott was on E! News the other day, along with Shane West (Nikita) and Kristoffer Polaha (Ringer). He talked about Hart of Dixie, The Good Wife, X-Men, and Friday Night Lights among other things. Here are the clips:

Halloween updates: Grimm, American Horror Story, Chillerama, Crazy Dracula, The Monster Frankenstein & The Divide

2011-10-31T23:50:00.000Z

Happy Halloween!

In today's round of updates, Alessandra Torresani is a zombie, Aleks Paunovic is Frankenstein, Ryan Robbins turns invisible, and Michael Hogan fights Frankenstein.

None of the videos are safe for work.

Not sure what kind of creature Sasha Roiz plays in Grimm, but NBC will re-air the pilot again on Saturday, November 5. If you're in the US, you can watch the episode on NBC.com/Grimm. You can also catch it tomorrow at 7 pm on Syfy. NBC has posted a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos here (no Sasha). Episode 1x02, "Bears Will Be Bears," airs on Friday at 9 pm.

Bear McCreary has posted the official album artwork for his Chillerama: Zom-B-Movie soundtrack, which gets released in a couple of weeks. You can see it on Bear's site. Here is a snippet from the press release that goes with it:

THIS FALL MCCREARY FIGHTS OFF THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, ONE SCORE AT A TIME

Bear McCreary falls victim to the zombie apocalypse, not once but twice this fall. AMC has begun airing the second season of the acclaimed series The Walking Dead on Sunday, October 16th and BuySoundtrax Records has announced the mid-November release of his original songs and score for Chillerama: Zom-B-Movie. To celebrate these two events, McCreary has launched a new version of his very popular website and blog http://www.bearmccreary.com.

In the spirit of classic anthology films like Creepshow and Twilight Zone: The Movie and containing films that not only celebrate the golden age of drive-in B horror shlock but also span over four decades of cinema, Chillerama offers something for every bad taste.

Zom-B-Movie was directed by Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2, Knights of Badassdom) and stars Richard Riehle (Office Space) and Brendan McCreary (the band Young Beautiful In A Hurry). Chillerama will be available on DVD or Blu-Ray on November 29, 2011.

“My score for Zom-B-Movie,” said McCreary, “is both epic and simple, sophisticated and juvenile, terrifyingly dissonant and melodically tender. Writing this music made me feel like a kid again; crouched before an analog TV set flickering with a VHS copy of Gremlins.”

For tickets and info about Bear's Queen tribute concert in Los Angeles next week, read the rest of the press release here.

The first footage from American Horror Story with Alessandra Torresani has finally showed up in a "making of" Halloween featurette. "Halloween: Part 2" airs on Wednesday at 10 pm on FX. Alessandra shows up toward the end of the clip:

Michael Eklund has been getting some pretty good reviews for his work in The Divide, the science fiction thriller/horror that will hit theatres on January 13. Here is what Examiner says:

It’s not often we get to see actors genuinely allow themselves to unravel before our eyes. Biehn and costar Milo Ventimiglia were hypnotic as they tore down what makes people human, to its bare animal self. Co-star Michael Eklund in a similar performance is undoubtedly the breakout star of this film. His descent into cinematic madness will shake you to the core and it managed to be funny and frightening all at the same time.

Fangoria talked to Michael and Milo Ventimiglia at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival last week:

To close the Halloween update, two hilarious short films showed up on Funny or Die today. Embedded below.

Crazy Dracula Spring Break Weekend, with Ryan Robbins as The Invisible Man and Aleks Paunovic as Frankenstein:

CRAZY DRACULA SPRING BREAK WEEKEND!! : )= - watch more funny videos

(If you want to actually see Ryan Robbins in something scary, there is a nice production still from his short film Suffer at SuffertheMovie.com.)

And here is The Monster Frankenstein, with Michael Hogan:

The Monster Frankenstein with Michael Hogan - watch more funny videos

Grimm update, James Marsters' Wizard World Q&A and a new interview with Jane Espenson

2011-10-29T23:57:00.082+01:00

Just a few updates today, but they're fun.

Grimm premiered to surprisingly strong ratings last night (6.5 million viewers, 2.1 million in the 18-49 demo), or as NBC puts it in the press release, the "largest non-sports 18-49 audience on the night by any network since last year's "New Year's Rockin' Eve" on ABC (2.8 rating)."

What makes this news particularly great is that the show aired opposite the most watched baseball game in the last seven years, and after one of the lowest rated episodes of Chuck ever (the show hit a series low in the key demo, according to TV by the Numbers).

NBC is re-airing the Grimm pilot tonight at 9 pm and the episode will also be shown on Syfy this Tuesday at 7 pm.

Here is the synopsis for next Friday's episode, "Bears Will Be Bears:"

A barbaric family history is revealed when Nick and Hank investigate a case of breaking and entering. Meanwhile, Nick assigns Eddy to look after Aunt Marie.

And a new teaser for the upcoming episodes, with Sasha Roiz:

James Marsters was at the Wizard World Mid-Ohio Comic Con last weekend. The Wizard World site has a video of his Q&A panel (embedded below). He talks about playing Barnabas on Caprica (at the 14 min. mark) and he also gets asked about Bryan Singer's Battlestar Galactica reboot (25 min.) and if he'd play Starbuck in it. Fun reaction to that one.

(As a sidenote, John Orloff, who is writing the new BSG movie, said in an interview recently that the film won't conflict with Ron Moore's BSG, but he wouldn't comment on Starbuck or say which gender she will be.)

Note to Bryan Singer: James would love to be in the film.

He also talks about his upcoming projects - a new film he is about to shoot in Utah, in which he plays a heartbroken villain (his words) - then Metal Hurlant Chronicles in France, the production of Frost/Nixon he will be doing in L.A. with Stacy Keach, more audio books, and possibly more appearances in Supernatural. He also explains why he probably won't be reprising his Torchwood character in Doctor Who.

The Advocate has an excellent new interview with Jane Espenson. Snippets below, more at the link.

There’s an assumption that writers’ rooms, especially those of sci-fi shows, are very male-centric. True?
I think you've phrased that exactly right – it's an assumption. In my experience, it's always been the writers' rooms of comedies that have been male-centric. Dramas, including sci-fi dramas, seem to be to be much more integrated. Original Trek had DC Fontana, for goodness sake, and there are certainly lots of female writers now who either are working on genre shows currently or who have in the past. Even just on shows I've worked on — top of my head — Marti Noxon and Rebecca Kirshner from Buffy, Amy Berg at Eureka, Doris Egan at Torchwood, Mo Tancharoan, Tracy Bellomo, Liz Craft and Sarah Fain from Dollhouse, Anne Cofell Saunders and Toni Graphia from Battlestar, and lots and lots more. It actually makes sense that sci-fi, which often builds on a philosophy of diversity, would be a leader in this way. The shows and movies in which women are unambiguous leaders are often sci-fi, so it makes sense that there are women who write these kinds of heroes.

What makes good sci-fi?
Characters. Great characters and having something to say.

Have you introduced a gay theme, storyline, or character into a show because you thought it would add to the story?
Gay rights is a cause close to my heart and it shows up in my writing a lot. I wrote the Battlestar Galactica webisodes in which it was revealed that Lt. Gaeta was in a same-sex relationship. And I wrote a lot of material for the character of Sam Adama on Caprica, a great example of a character whose sexuality was made clear but was a non-issue for everyone around him. And I'm currently co-writing a web series called Husbands that's a mainstream comedy built around a gay marriage. Up until now newlywed comedy has been defined as involving one man and one woman, but things are changing. The whole series is up now at HusbandsTheSeries.com and people can go there to watch all 11 mini-episodes. It's been extremely well received and we're currently waiting to find out about funding for going forward with more content.

And here are the first nine minutes from tomorrow's episode of Once Upon a Time (8 pm, ABC), "The Thing You Love Most" (from Spoiler TV):

Grimm premiere tonight (9/8c, NBC), new interviews with Sasha Roiz & Friday roundup

2011-10-28T22:59:00.010+01:00

Grimm finally premieres tonight at 9 pm on NBC and a bunch of new articles and interviews have showed up since yesterday.

Teresa Jusino has an excellent new interview with Sasha Roiz at Tor.com, mostly about Grimm, but some of this other recent projects get mentioned too, including Caprica.

Knowing that Roiz has expressed a preference for fantasy over sci-fi, I asked him whether this being an urban fantasy (created by Angel exec producers, David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf no less!) had something to do with his accepting the role.

“Personally, as an actor, it matters very little me what genre (if any) I’m engaged in.” he says. “It’s all make-believe and requires the same process and imagination. I respond to good writing and good people. I’ve been very fortunate over the years to get both. I think the term ‘genre’ has become very gray in recent years, and we continue to see a crossover as more and more viewers are tuning into to shows that stimulate and indulge their imagination. With Grimm, it’s a lot of fun for me to be able to play within the familiar world of fairy tales. As for satisfying my inner fantasy geek, anything that would have me wielding a sword or shooting a bow would be a dream.”

Do you hear that, Game of Thrones? -- Read the rest at Tor.com

The TV Addict has interviews with the whole main cast. Here are a couple of snippets from Sasha and Reggie Lee:

What is the relationship between Captain Renard and Sergeant Wu like?
REGGIE From what I understand, our characters are intertwined and it will become obvious who each one of us is in the show — that’s about as much as I think I can talk about.
SASHA: I think it is clear that I will play the antagonizing element. We all have interaction with Nick and each other in the precinct, but it may go beyond those limits — eventually, it will go beyond those limits.
How does your character fit into the Grimm-aspects of the story?
SASHA: I may be one of the few who is not a creature. I think Renard has a specific set of plans and goals, and Nick will have to either comply, or I’ll have to get him out of my way.
REGGIE I think to the degree that each of us knows what’s going on is fun ’cause some of us don’t know what is going on and we’re wondering why Nick is looking at people weird.

Buddy TV has a really great video interview with Sasha. He gives away some pretty interesting stuff about his character and some of the upcoming episodes.

And another cool interview to revisit is the one on Jim Halterman's blog. Snippets:

JH: Would you call [Renard] a bad guy?
SR: I think for our purposes, he’s definitely going to be a difficult guy. He’s going to be an intriguing guy and a complicated guy. I think when we reveal a lot about him personally – and there are a lot of episodes where he’s featured quite heavily – I think we’re going to really embrace this character because he has a lot going on and some amazing storylines and backstory.

JH: Is Renard someone that you already have figured out in terms of his psychology?
SR: Preliminary things I’ve figured out but the nature of episodic TV is that as things come in and as we progress, [the writers] get to know us as actors, we get to know them as writers and we find a symbiosis and so along the way we can form a real working relationship. Some things are already established and I’m looking forward to discovering what they will be.

Note that Grimm and Chuck are up against baseball, with several other Friday dramas (Fringe, Blue Bloods, CSI: NY, A Gifted Man) benched for the day, so if the ratings aren't great, it's best not to panic before the DVR numbers come in. Chuck, with Mark Hamill guest starring, starts at 8 pm.

The show summary & new teaser (and more updates after the jump):

Remember the fairy tales your parents used to tell you before bedtime? Those weren’t stories — they were warnings. Nick Burkhardt (David Guintoli “Turn The Beat Around”) thought he prepared himself for the realities of working as a homicide detective until he started seeing things he couldn’t quite explain. When his ailing Aunt Marie (guest star Kate Burton, “Grey’s Anatomy”) arrives, Nick’s life turns upside down when she reveals they are descendants of an elite group of hunters, also known as “Grimms,” who fight to keep the balance of humanity safe from the supernatural creatures of the world. As Nick digs deeper into her past, he realizes that he will have to shoulder the responsibility of his ancestors — and contend with a larger-than-life mythology of the Brothers Grimm that is now all too real. Russell Hornsby (“Lincoln Heights”), Bitsie Tulloch (“Quarterlife”), Silas Weir Mitchell (“Prison Break”), Reggie Lee (“Persons Unknown”) and Sasha Roiz (“Caprica”) also star.

“Grimm” is a production of Universal Media Studios and Hazy Mills Productions. Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner (“Hot in Cleveland”) serve as executive producers, Jim Kouf (“National Treasure,” “Angel”) and David Greenwalt (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel”) are the creators/executive producers and Marc Buckland (“My Name Is Earl”) is the director.

From this article in Rolling Stone, it looks like the new episode of Glee that Eric Stoltz is working on will air on Tuesday, November 15.

Seat42f has the teaser for next week's American Horror Story, with Alessandra Torresani guest starring. (Not seeing her in the promo again.)

Richard Harmon wasn't the only Caprica actor in yesterday's The Secret Circle.

Hiro Kanagawa made a surprise appearance and had a pretty prominent role, too. If you didn't see the episode, it will be available on CWTV.com soon enough.

Kacey Rohl will appear in tomorrow's episode of The Haunting Hour, "Pumpkinhead," which airs at 5 pm on the Hub network.

A new episode of Sanctuary airs tonight at 10 pm on Syfy. Here are a couple of pics with Ryan Robbins, the synopsis and the teaser:

A hostage situation unfolds when Magnus flies to a remote island off of Africa to meet the Sanctuary’s new financial adviser; a shipping container mix up has Will and Henry tracking a missing abnormal.

From his last post of Facebook, it looks like Ryan Robbins won't be appearing in only one episode of Falling Skies next summer. For behind-the-scenes photos and updates on the show, you can keep checking Colin Cunningham's Falling Skies blog.

Spoiler TV has five sneak peeks from the next episode of Once Upon a Time, "The Thing You Love Most."

Christopher Heyerdahl attended the premiere of Hell on Wheels in Los Angeles yesterday. There is a photo of him here.

Avan Jogia and his Victorious co-star Liz Gillies were interviewed at the TeenNick Halo Awards (Teen Community Service Awards). Avan talked about his Straight but not Narrow campaign among other things.

More updates later this weekend.

Richard Harmon in The Secret Circle, new interview with Scott Porter, and the frakking anniversary

2011-10-27T23:40:00.031+01:00

Let's start with the frakking anniversary:

Frak October 27.

Caprica was cancelled and pulled from Syfy's schedule exactly a year ago today, and The Caprica Times has the sitrep on the show and the fandom a year later. Check it out: Caprica: One Year Later

Alessandra Torresani didn't make that appearance on American Horror Story yesterday despite IMDB saying she would, but she will definitely show up on next week's episode. Sorry for the confusion.

Richard Harmon guest stars in The Secret Circle 1x07, "Masked," which airs tonight at 9 pm on the CW.

IMDB says that he plays "Pig Face/Ian," so that may or may not be him in the screenshot to the left.

Richard posted a photo from the set of The Pregnancy Project earlier today. You can see it here.

And Judas Kiss is among the hottest new/upcoming releases in the UK, too.

The Grimm premiere is only a day away (Friday, 9 pm, NBC).

No new interviews with Sasha Roiz, but the Portland Tribune has an interesting article that includes interviews with showrunner David Greenwalt and some of the cast members. Here is some new info:

The crew has shot about nine episodes of “Grimm,” with four to go. Audiences will determine how long the show lasts; if it’s picked up for the entire season, the crew and talent will return in January to film the second half of the season.

As Greenwalt points out, 9 p.m. Fridays is the former time slot for the “X Files.” That show worked out well.

Future episodes will involve the “Pied Piper” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” as well as the “Three Little Pigs” as greedy politicians.

Comics Alliance has a new interview with Scott Porter, mostly about X-Men. A couple of snippets below, more at the link.

CA: As a fan and an actor, did you specifically seek out a comics-related property like X-Men Anime, or did they approach you?
SP: Actually, [Marvel Head of Television] Jeph Loeb called me... [We] had met when he was working on Heroes and I was working on Friday Night Lights -- both on NBC -- and we had kept in contact. Once he became involved with the Marvel television department... he called me one day out of the blue and wanted to know if I wanted to get involved [with Marvel Anime], and I said sure, why not.

CA: Were you into the X-Men as a kid, or was there another team or character that you loved?
SP: The X-Men were my entry into comics. They were the first thing that really grabbed me. My dad had got me a couple issues of Fantastic Four here and there, some Spider-Man, some Captain America. It all just seemed so squeaky clean to me at 10 years old. I was like, "I dunno. I don't love 'em." And then first X-Men book I ever read -- I think it was #209 with Emma and the Hellfire Club... It was this crazy big battle and somebody died and I was like, "This is dangerous! This is awesome!" So I stuck with the X-Men and they became part of my world. It was a great time in X-Men history, right when X-Factor was starting so Cyclops handed off the mantle of leadership to Storm. There were all these great, out-there stories, and we're talking about a kid who was living in Nebraska. I liked things that a lot of other people in Nebraska didn't like, like hip-hop music or kung-fu movies. So the X-Men felt like home to me. They were kind of outsiders who weren't part of the regular world, and I found an escape in that.

Young Adult with Patton Oswalt was screened in Chicago last week, and Patton was there for a Q&A, along with director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody. Here are the highlights:

And here is the teaser for tonight's episode of The Secret Circle: