Judas Kiss: Behind the Scenes

 Actors Samantha Rund and Dale Bowers with First Assistant Camera Miles Burnett

 Laura Kenny as Mrs. Blosom

 Director J.T. Tepnapa watching his actors act

 Me

So there was this lunch scene (the one where Danny's Dad gives Dean Blossom the script) that was filmed in the William H. Gates Hall -the same building the evening party sequence was filmed. It was supposed to be filled with extras sitting at tables. However, as sometimes happens on indie films, there was some miscommunication that led to only a handful of extras showing up. But time is money, and director JT Tepnapa and the production crew found away to make it work. 

And that's how my arm ended up in a scene. 

Ron Boyd, who played Ralph Garlington, was not there so when Mrs. Blossom introduces Rebecca and Zach to the luncheon people (which included Mr and Mrs Lyons, Danny and Shane) my right arm is playing Ralph Garlington.

All photos: Sean Anderson

ABC's 'The River' & darkness when there should be light

Because there was no new episodes of New Girl and Raising Hope, I watched ABC's The River for the first time. I easily caught up with all the story lines, which is either great idea for casual viewers checking it for the first time (though this is a serialized show), or lazy writing. Anyways, this "found footage" stuff is annoying, along with Jonas and his bad hair and scraggly beard. 

While the episode seemed to borrow elements from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the gist of the episode was that the crew get sideswiped by some "ghost ship" in the night, damaging their boat. With not having the much needed parts on board, the crew begin sending a mayday call out. 

Okay. Fine. Eventually, they receive a boat arrives to aide them, and the viewer quickly realizes that these 4 people may not be who they claim to be. So the last half is set up like a thriller, will the crew fix their ship before dawn, and what exactly are the four people who came from the other boat?

To heighten the tension towards sunrise, they kept flashing the time on the TV screen, and as dawn approached I was wondering why the area that the crew are filming in was not getting lighter as sunrise approached. More to the point, there was a part where the wife is calling out a mayday over the radio, and 6:45am flashes on the screen, and logically (unless I missed this in a previous episodes) the sky should be lighting the surrounding area, yet again, it's pitch black. 

So, I looked it up. If this is April of 2011 in the Amazon (which is where the series is set and the they also tell us what year and month it is), the sun rose began rising at 6.02am and ends the month even earlier, which means the sky would have been lightening for at least 1/2 hour to 45 minutes -so when that 6:45am flashed on when the wife was calling her mayday, the sun should have been up. 

However, because they film on location in Hawaii, I checked that and discovered the sun rise for April 2011 started at 6:25am and ended ended the month at 6:02. By any sense of the word, the sun should have been up, and the sky lightened. I realize to keep it dark was designed to heighten the suspense, and the show is science fiction/fantasy, but I'm guessing the producers are not expecting people to think this way while watching it. 

 Sadly, when not entertained, I begin to notice these faults.

CBS says their new 'Sherlock Holmes' is not like the BBC's version. Honest

CBS seems to want to convince critics that it’s merely a coincidence –and not whole sale rip-off - that they’ve announced a new, updated, modern version of Sherlock Holmes on the heels of two successful runs of Sherlock, the updated, modern take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary detective airing on the BBC (and in May on PBS) created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss(Doctor Who) and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. 

Nope.

Elementary is their version and is set in modern day New York and will star Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes. And to make sure that there can be no other comparisons, CBS announced that Lucy Liu will play Dr. Joan Watson. By casting a woman in what was always been a traditionally male role the Tiffany network is hoping to avoid any potential litigious issue with the British Broadcast Company. Because it appears that broadcast network did approach the producers of that BBC show, according to executive producer Sue Vertueey, “CBS approached us a while back about remaking our show. At the time, they made great assurances about their integrity, so we have to assume that their modernized Sherlock Holmes doesn’t resemble ours in any way, as that would be extremely worrying.”

With that idea, it seems CBS will at least try to shake up the formula by casting Liu, but beyond that, all that is known is this version of Sherlock Holmes is a former detective that TV Guide also calls "a recovering addict and consultant for the NYPD."

Media Bits: 'Trek' pics & video, 'True Blood', 'Walking Dead'

A little over a month into production on the sequel to 2009′s Star Trek reboot, pictures of filming have leaked online (which now includes video; watch it before it's pulled). The photos & video show Spock (Zachary Quinto ) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) battling with a new character played by Sherlock‘s Benedict Cumberbatch on what’s described as a “Space Barge” set. There is still no confirmation on what character Cumberbatch is actually playing, though it does seemly confirm he is playing a human (one with superhuman strength to take on a a Vulcan) and possibly a Starfleet officer, because under that brown leather coat he has on, it looks like he's wearing a black Starfleet undershirt. Saldana told MTV news that “J.J. was very upset, I have to say that. It’s not going to stop people from intruding, but they are, and it’s such a bummer because it only hurts them by stealing away the surprise.”

FX has ordered a 13-episode 4^th season of their animated spy spoof Archer.

Lost director Jack Bender is set to direct and executive produce Syfy’s two-hour pilot Rewind, a thriller about a team of military field operatives and civilian scientists who use untested technology to travel back in time to alter past events in hopes of changing the future after a nuclear bomb destroys New York City.

Showrunner Alan Ball, citing exhaustion, has decided to step down from HBO’s acclaimed vampire saga True Blood before season five’s start (which is currently filming). Apparently though, he’ll still be around. Who will be the new showrunner has not been announced by HBO.

David Morrissey, who genre fans will remember him from the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas Special The Next Doctor, will join AMC’s zombie drama Walking Dead as The Governor, for season three. In the graphic novels, Rick and his group encounter the character when they find a new settlement of survivors in Woodbury. While Rick is a kind and fair leader, the Governor is anything but.

Scottish singer and stage actor Darius Campbell has landed the male lead in ABC’s drama pilot Beauty and The Beast.  The story has an embattled princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast, Shiro (Campbell), a mercenary bodyguard. Chris Egan was recently cast as the princesses’ fiance Gorrick.

Joel Kinnaman, who won accolades for his creepy performance as Homicide Detective Stephen Holder (partner to series star Mireille Enos’ Sarah Linden) in AMC’s The Killing appears to have been offered the lead in MGM’s remake of Robocop. The film is being described as a darker, more grittier version of the 1980s one, which had a more satirical take on the capitalism and commercial greed of that era. 

Judas Kiss: Behind the Scenes

Lightening is integral to any movie, and Judas Kiss had a wonderful, brilliant lighting team along with Director of Photography David Berry who understands the nuances of lighting a set. 

There was one part (but there was others) where lighting became essential. In the clip above, we see CW and Danny having a rendezvous in a forest area. It's hard to note (thanks to the lighting, careful camera set-ups and even editing), but the wide shots and the close-ups were filmed about 2 hours apart or so from each other -which is not untypical, but when filming outside, you are always aware of a clock ticking. It was late in the afternoon when the wide shots were filmed -them entering and Danny leaving. A lunch break took place and we returned about an hour later for the close-ups. We were also hindered by a bit of light rain then as well, as Script Supervisor Rhona Rubio protects the script.

But it grown dark by then. So the lighting team needed to bathe the area in such a way so that it would match the wide shots as much as possible. They did a great job, and while I don't think its noticeable, it's another glimpse into the magic of movies.

But rain and fading daylight were not our only issue with this location. Right next to where this scene filmed, not more than 20 yards away, was a tennis court (you can get a quick glimpse of it in the opening wide shot). While we filmed on the University of Washington before fall classes started, the College still had classes going on for foreign exchange students and a few summer courses. The production improvised signs on UDUB paper and posted them around the courts (there were other courts nearby, so we did not disrupt the activities too much). It worked, we had no one playing tennis while this scene was filmed.

My Oscar Choices

Best Picture

The Artist

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Best Actress

Viola Davis –The Help

Best Actor

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Best Supporting Actor

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Writing (Original Screenplay)

"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius

Animated Feature Film

"Rango"

Art Direction

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set 

Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

Cinematography

"The Artist"

Costume Design

"The Artist"

Documentary (Feature)

 Pina, Wim Wenders

Documentary (Short Subject)

Incident in New Baghdad

Film Editing

"The Artist"

Foreign Language Film

"A Separation" Iran

Makeup

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"

Music (Original Score)

"The Artist" Ludovic Bource

Music (Original Song)

"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

Short Film (Animated)

"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

Short Film (Live Action)

"Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl

Sound Mixing

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin

Visual Effects

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett

Judas Kiss: Behind the Scenes

The gist of this is that Richard Harmon and Timo Descamps raced each other. If Richard lost, he have to get a Twitter account (which at the time, he did not want). If Timo lost, he would have to go on TV and tell the viewing audience that...well, just watch the video. It's in Dutch, but you get what Timo is doing, and he does speak English in the end. 

I already respected Timo, but after watching this, you can't help but respect and love him more.

Oh, and Richard got a Twitter account anyways in 2011. 

Media Tidbits: 'Who', 'Arrow' & 'Percy'

Work has begun on Doctor Who’s 7^th season, and while there are tons of unsubstantiated rumors as to where this season is going, conversations between writers, directors and cast via Tweets and interviews can give fans in search of news (was there ever a time when we let shows unwind without knowing all the spoilers beforehand?) some hope. What is confirmed is that Mark Williams, who played Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter films, will guest star in what is probably the second episode of the season. Now what role he’s playing is up for debate, but the owner of the private house where filming is taking place has tweeted that her house contains photos of Rory and Amy, and both Arthur Darvil and Karen Gillan and Williams are filming together. Which could mean that Williams is probably playing Rory’s Dad, as the actors look similar. Other confirmed guest stars include David Bradley (Argus Filch in the Harry Potter movies) and Rupert Graves (who played Lestrade in Steven Moffat's other series, Sherlock)

At 35, Lukas Haas can be considered a veteran actor, having been in films and TV since he was 6. Most of those 29 years in the acting business have been in small, indie films (the underappreciated, little seen Brick), but has known to pop up from time-to-time in bigger films (like a small, but important role, in Inception). Staying true to his style, him and Kevin Durand (who turned in a wonderful, villainous role as Martin Keamy on Lost) will star in the indie thriller Dark Was the Night. Written by Tyler Hisel, it will be helmed by Jack Heller. The film is set in an isolated town where a logging company accidently upsets the balance of nature and unleashes a monster on the unsuspecting town.

While I’m sure there are some people who actually saw and maybe liked 2010’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief, there was a huge majority of people, well readers of the books, who were completely dismayed at what Chris Columbus and Fox 2000 did to the first book. Essentially, that by changing so much of the content –especially aging Percy- the film became a generic fantasy actioner with no heart. March 26, 2013 is now being set for Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, new director Thor Freudenthal (who mangled the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid film) is shoring up the supporting cast, beyond returning stars Logan Lerman and Alexandra Daddario. Douglas Smith (Big Love) has just signed on. The second movie has Percy and friends going in search of the Golden Fleece.

Brian Markinson, late of Caprica, Sanctuary, and The Killing, has been cast as the main villain in the CW’s Green Arrow pilot. His character is Adam Hunt, described as “a corrupt businessman who is ripping off some people – behavior that has gotten the attention of Dinah Laurel Lance and her CNRI firm.” Also added is stage actor Colin Donnell, who will play Tommy Merlyn, Oliver’s best friend, a playboy “trustafarian.”

More casting news is coming in on the adaptation of Ender’s Game, with Nonso Anozie, Stevie Ray Dallimore and Andrea Powell joining.

Word has come that Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot will helm Red 2. The cast from the semi-successful first film, Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, and Morgan Freeman are expected to return. 

John Carter's Marketing Problem

It was back in May of last year when Dark Horizons broke the name change, with no explanation from Disney as to why John Carter of Mars was dropped. But some had speculated that Carter's name change was enforced to distance the film from 2011’s poorly performing Mars Needs Moms –though even that seems stretching it, especially since today’s audiences have really short attention spans.

Now, Deadline is reporting that Disney’s $250 million production of John Carter is tracking soft, meaning the film –despite some expensive marketing on the Super Bowl- could be a huge expensive flop for the Mouse House. And part of the problem seems to stem that the wider audience –beyond the sci fi geeks who’ve been reading Edgar Rice Burroughs books for decades- have no idea what this film is about. Most of the trailers and TV spots seem to concentrate on the visual aspect of the movie –where most of the films budget went too obviously- but the biggest problem lies in the title. The movie is based on Princess of Mars, the first book in Burroughs 11 volume Barsoom series, and I can understand why Disney chose to rename it John Carter of Mars –don’t want to confuse those little girls and their mothers thinking Disney is coming out with a new princess. But somewhere along the way, the film became just John Carter, which is just plain, dull and has no hook. Is it about the Noah Wylie character in ER?

As a matter of fact, another article on Deadline points out one MT Carney, who was –until early January- President of Worldwide Marketing at Walt Disney Studios. One source told Deadline that it was Carney’s idea to drop the “Of Mars” from the title of John Carter. The source told Deadline that “It’s based on a big geek book. You are taking a piece of very well-known classic source material and taking the marketing hook out of it. It’s like putting it through the deflavorizer. It’s like a perfect microcosm of what went wrong.”

So if the movie does indeed fail, they have a scapegoat.

Then there is Taylor Kitsch, who seemed cast mostly for his looks, than a leading man bent on carrying a big, very expensive film. I have no issues with Taylor Kitsch, as he is handsome, but he does not scream leading man. And sadly, had Disney cast Taylor Lautner, you would’ve gotten the same performance, I think.  Anyways, in the books, Carter also spends good time almost naked, while in the movie Kitsch is basically just shirtless. So one sees how Disney is attempting to woo potential female audiences into what is surely a male dominated demographic. Which is how most films are made anyways, but the point being that instead a potentially strong, even well-known actor, Disney went with a man known more his male model good-looks than acting ability.

Also 2012 also marks the centennial of Burrough’s John Carter character, having appeared in serialized form beginning in 1912. Now while the John Carter books have a huge following, the character has been eclipsed by Burrough’s other creation, Tarzan; which is something Disney can’t market with, or chooses not to.

Beyond the potential scapegoating of MT Carney, I feel sorry for director Andrew Stanton, who helmed Disney/Pixar films Wall-E and Finding Nemo, who makes his live action directorial debut with this film. Unlike Brad Bird, who made The Incredibles at Pixar, and was handed a well know franchise that was Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol for his live-action debut, Stanton has been given a riskier, more potentially problematic film in John Carter. They’ve spent $250 million already, with rumors running its cost close to $300 million. The film will have to make $700 million before Disney can have a franchise.  I’m hoping Stanton can survive what could be the biggest flop of 2012.

How an Old Fairy Tale became the Hottest Property

With at least two TV projects and a motion picture based in and around the premise of Beauty and the Beast, I’m curious on what’s the obsession with doing more projects based on the same material. Part of it, of course, comes from idea that this French Fairy Tale’s story is public domain. Another comes from the cynical idea that movie studios and TV networks have little to offer in creativity and fear risk and losing any money that might enrage their shareholders.  Thus, we are stuck with one retread after another.

And granted, technology does advance every generation, so that enables these studios to adapt the same story again and again with foreknowledge that in the end, this new technology is what drive the eyes of the viewers to the TV screen or the silver screen.

But for me, that is not enough reasons to see it.

I’ve still not seen Avatar, and while people agree that James Cameron’s film is FernGully or Dances with Wolves, that the technical aspects -the 3D, the CGI- would make up for the paint-by-number script. I disagree, as to me the effects of any movie or TV show should never become a crutch for bad writing. Cameron counted on his audience realizing they were seeing a story done before, but that you would be so impressed with the visual aspect, you would ignore the shortcomings of said script.

Both ABC and NBC debuted fantasy shows this past fall based on classic (and, more importantly, free) fairy tales. The alphabet network’s Once Upon a Time has been more successful than the Peacock’s Grimm, though with the fortunes of that network running below (sometimes) cable networks, Grimm is one of its more successful shows this season.

With the demise of Desperate Housewives in May, ABC is looking for something to help lead into or out of Once Upon a Time next fall. They’ve decided to go with a re-imaged version of Beauty and the Beast. The new fantasy version is about an embattled princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast, the newly (and so, only announced member) casted Chris Egan. Meanwhile, rival mini-network The CW is retooling the old CBS series that once starred Linda Hamilton and Ron Pearlman. That 1987-90 series has a cult following even to this day. The CW’s version will change the premise a bit, become more of a procedural cop show than the original version, which focused on the underworld of New York and Hamilton’s character of Catherine fighting for their right to exist. Kristin Kreuk, who was Lana Lang on the old WB’s Smalleville, has been cast in The CW’s pilot.

Meanwhile, director Christopher Gans (Silent Hill) is directing a French financed version of the classic fairy tale, which begins production in the fall.

In the end, what has become clear is the studios for both TV and motion picture production see little risk in producing property done a million times before –and property they already own. The risk these days is, essentially, to do something that might actually take time to grow. Of course, I don’t buy into the notion that only premium cable networks like HBO, Starz and Showtime can produce quality comedies and dramas. Granted these cable channels have given creators more leeway, allowing stories to grow in a more organic way, but that should not be used as a barometer as what should be green-lite and what will never see the light of day.

Perhaps with the broadcast networks becoming dinosaurs in the new Media Millennium have to do is produce shows like some of the successful ones on basic cable. Maybe 13 episode seasons are more reasonable, even practicable in the sense that the “filler” and “bottle” episodes can be done away with, in favor of thirteen strong episodes. And while episodic TV is expensive –especially the start-up costs- those fears can be, perhaps, waylaid by the idea that like AMC’s Mad Men, The Killing, The Walking Dead, SyFy’s Warehouse 13 and Being Human, USA’s White Collar, Psych and Burn Notice among many others, have been successful in part to due to their 13 or so episode seasons.

Granted, ratings on cable are measured differently. One of the biggest advantages is the ability of multiple airings. Still, with the broadcast networks relying on an antiquated, fully dysfunctional ratings system –the Nielsons- it’s a wonder that they’ve not just dropped all their scripted shows in favor of game shows and fake reality programming.

Buying new property is always risky, but so is getting up every day. The broadcast networks, who once controlled America’s viewing audience, have decided to give up on everything to basic and premium cable channels. They no longer want to fight for viewers by offering them something new, and perhaps, original. They’ve settled for second or third best because the bottom-line has become more important than entertaining me, or anyone else, who puts more importance in writing and character driven shows than programming that is all plot driven and punch lines.

Disney, Depp & 'Shaun of the Dead' helmer to do 'The Night Stalker'

While I hate the idea that once again movie studios are remaking or rebooting past property instead of offering newer, more original product, I got to say I’m intrigued with the idea of Disney hiring Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World director Edgar Wright to helm a big screen version of the classic 1970s TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker that would star the versatile Johnny Depp.

While I realize Depp does have his distractors (and I’m oh so curious on what he did in the new Dark Shadows movie), he can really bring quirky characters to life. And with Wright, who is just as quirky as Depp, the idea of trying to redo what failed before (ABC’s reboot which was dead on arrival a few years ago) might work, given a bit a freedom from Disney -who’ll want a PG13 version. 

The Night Stalker debuted in 1972 as an ABC made-for-television movie and centered on Carl Kolchak (the much missed Darren McGavin), as a crime reporter who tracks a serial killer who just happens to be a vampire. The movie was the highest rated one ABC had ever aired at the time, and so a year later they broadcasted a sequel, The Night Strangler, which was just as equally popular. After a failed attempt at a third movie, the alphabet network instead ordered a series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, that debuted in fall of 1974. The elements of the third proposed TV-movie were then incorporated into the series. Sadly, though, now stuck with a spread out TV budget and a weekly schedule grind, the scripts suffered from too much “monster of the week” syndrome due to the quick decision to convert it into a series (ironically, the network would do the same damage to Battlestar Galactica a few years later), and ratings suffered, despite ABC giving it a full season pick-up. The show was officially cancelled after 20 episodes, leaving three scripts never produced.

But like a lot of short-lived shows produced in the 1960s and 1970s with science fiction/fantasy/horror themes, The Night Stalker found life in syndication. And through that, the show influenced many writers after words, including The X Files creator Chris Carter, who has spoken at length how had The Night Stalker never been made, The X Files probably would have never been given a chance. For McGavin, it became his signature role, along with playing the Old Man in the holiday classic A Christmas Story, despite decades of work prior to these two roles. Anyways, no writer has been attached as of yet, but I would hope that both Depp and Wright work to create a homage to the original series without selling out to commercialization –which is sadly what I’m beginning to think Dark Shadows is doing.