Jaime Campbell Bower

London-born Jaime has been jetting his way around the world these past few months, working and doing press for his projects, but he found time to talk with me one morning last week.  Me near the beach in Southern California and him at the top of a skyscraper in New York — it was, most definitely, a global conversation.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will tell you that I’m often enchanted with the look of a TV show and The Prisoner is no exception. It’s simply beautiful to look at.

Jaime: Television has come along leaps and bounds in the last six years, everything is a lot more cinematic in a, the way it’s shot, b, the way it’s acted and c, the story lines. It’s either a really long film or a mini-series. (laughs) We did approach [this TV show] more cinematically and I think that’s great. It’s very unlike a lot of television that we, particularly in England, see.

I understand you filmed the series in South Africa.

Jaime: We shot the first two and half months in Namibia – bottom left, up a little bit, which was amazing but we all went a little stir crazy. We were in a rather small town and once you’ve seen the dolphins and the oyster farms and gone to the best restaurants in town for three weeks, you just have to do it again and again.

Then we had the shining light of Cape Town, the beacon of joy at the end of the two and half months. We spent two months in Cape Town having a great time seeing whales and doing all sorts of fun things, a little big of filming here and there, but it was mostly about the fun.

Ian McKellen plays your father. What was it like working with him?

Jaime: It was terrible (laughs).  He’s a lovely gentleman and very amazing actor and it was honestly a pleasure to be able to work with him. We’ve become friends and it’s just lovely, lovely, lovely.

I AM NOT A NUMBER

One of the themes of The Prisoner is this idea that we’re all becoming nothing but numbers. What are your thoughts?

Jaime: I think everyone suffers from a “lack of identity” crisis.  I’m sitting in New York now and out the window I can see some ginormous buildings and I feel like an ant in comparison to them. [I wonder] who is at the top of those buildings? What do they do? What companies are they running? Then there’s the idea of surveillance, the idea that we’re all being watched. Who’s watching?  All you need to do now is go on to Google maps and you can go to street view. If someone got hold of my address they could see my house and your house and see which would be the best way to get in if they wanted to steal something. It’s a pretty scary prospect.

It’s the evolution of man, maybe we’ll end up destroying ourselves, who knows, but I doubt we’ll be around to see it so we’ll be all right.

Another big part of the show is the idea of concept of freedom. No one is allowed to leave The Village but most people don’t want to since they have everything they need right there.

Jaime: For my character, having been born there and raised there, that’s all I know and who actually wouldn’t want to live in a society where everything is fine? That’s the idea of the village, everything is fine and everyone has a good time and smiles and hugs and sparkles. There’s something nice about that, but incredibly creepy as well.

Would I like to live in a world where I could have anything I wanted but I have to stay in the same place? I feel like that’s what I do anyway. Travel is so easy, but it doesn’t feel like you’re going very far and once you’ve been to a place before and you have to go back there, it doesn’t feel like much has changed.

A MUSICAL INTERLUDE

Moving away from TV for a moment, I understand you also play in a band. How do you manage to fit that in with your schedule?

Jaime: It’s whenever I get down time; I play with my band or write music.  It’s a different outlet. Performing a script is very different than performing one of your own songs. When you’re performing a script it’s someone else’s words and ideas but when you’re performing your own song you’re putting your balls on the line, effectively. It’s your opinion; your thoughts. They’re two different things, but I love them both equally.

Is there a band you like that you think everyone should be listening to?

Jaime: Yes, there’s a great Danish band called Kashmir who are incredibly progressive with their sound.  They started off sort of post-punk, kind of Radiohead-esque and then moved on to more Jeff Buckley kind of spacey sounds.  They released an album The Good Life, which I actually hold as possibly my favorite album of all time. And then they released an album in 2005 called No Balance Palace. I really think people should listen to them.

Wrapping up with The Prisoner — what would you like people to take away after watching the show.

Jaime: I’d love people to sit up and ask the questions, ‘who’s watching us,’ and ‘why are they watching us.’ I hold faith in humanity that hopefully they will, but who knows what they’re reaction will be.

The Prisoner premieres on Sunday, November 15 at 8pm/7c on AMC. The series will air over three consecutive nights, with two episodes each evening, from 8PM to 10PM.

A man, known as “Six,” finds himself inexplicably trapped in “The Village” with no memory of how he arrived. As he explores his environment, he discovers that his fellow inhabitants are identified by number instead of name, have no memory of any prior existence, and are under constant surveillance. Not knowing whom to trust, Six is driven by the need to discover the truth behind The Village, the reason for his being there, and most importantly — how he can escape.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings, X-Men) plays the role of Two, and Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ, The Thin Red Line) plays the role of Six.

Visit the official site for more info: http://www.amctv.com/originals/the-prisoner/

Photos courtesy of AMC

Post from: SF Universe

Are the spirits conspiring against me? Were they trying to prevent me from talking with the newest ghost hunters on the TV scene? If so, they should have broken my pencil, too because I took notes.

Brothers Barry (front) and Brad Klinge are good old Texas boys who use the “scientific method” approach to ghost hunting. They rely on “real-time” analysis, using equipment in their mobile lab to constantly monitor and evaluate data streams while they’re still on location and actively investigating a scene.

Says Brad, “Most groups don’t go over their data until days. . . sometimes months later. ‘Oh, I got an EVP but now we’re 500 miles away.’ Even if you can go back, hot spots change. You can’t recreate exactly what was happening then. So we work in real time. We have people in the Ghost Lab truck monitoring the video, audio, EMF and temperature for spikes so we can check them out right way.”

Real-time monitoring is important if you’re interested in determining the cause behind the effect. Be it a spike in the EMF readings, a drop in temperature or footsteps in the hall, having the data analyzed instantly gives the crew a chance to go back and see if they can recreate the event.

“We don’t just want to catch something, we want to know why we caught it,” says Brad. “That’s why we think of this as a “case study” not an investigation. It’s research and like any science experiment, you can’t do it once and say it’s true. You have to get the same result over and over again.”

Says brother Barry, “Our goal is not to disprove, but to prove the paranormal through science.” They do this by attempting to connect all of the corresponding data in order to get a bigger, clearer picture of what’s happening at a scene.

ALPHABET SOUP

Take the concept of EMF. Every ghost hunting reality show and even fictional shows such as Supernatural work on the premise that a spike on an EMF detector means paranormal activity (as long as the spike can’t be attributed to visible factors like power lines.) But who decided that this was the case? What does one thing have to do with the other?

“That’s a good question,” says Brad. “When we first got into this, we asked the same thing. All of our beliefs are that ghosts are natural energy and energy can’t be created or destroyed only transferred.” And that energy can be quantified and monitored with a meter.

The brothers go on to theorize that an area with a lot of electromagnetic energy from a natural source such as power lines or even camera batteries, is like a “ghost buffet.” Spirits need to energy to manifest so they are attracted to areas with high EMF readings. (I’m typing this from my notes, so if I’ve got this wrong, please do correct me.)

Next to EMF, EVP is probably the most known combination of letters in the ghost hunting vocabulary and the Klinge brothers have a doozy of an example coming up on tonight’s show.

While investigating the theater where John Wilkes Booth was supposed to have gone after assassinating Lincoln, the brothers picked up an EVP that left them literally dancing in the streets.

Says Brad, “We caught a voice saying, ‘yes, I’m John Wilkes Booth.’ What are the odds of getting something like that?”

What are the odds indeed? True to their scientific nature, the team sent the audio file to an audio forensics company with no indication of what they thought they had. The results? “Really good feedback,” says Brad but is that going to be good enough for the viewing audience?

I WANT TO BELIEVE

“You gather the evidence, then you present it to the public and say it’s for real,” says Barry. “People are going to doubt you but there’s nothing you can do about that. In the end, you only have your integrity.” And integrity is something that’s not taken lightly in the Lone Star state where the boys were raised.

If, as a viewer, you’re hoping for something a little more visceral, how about flying silverware? That’s what they say we’ll see next week when they visit the most haunted place in Texas

“It’s in Waxahachie, Texas near Dallas,” says Barry. “A café called the Catfish Plantation. We were there having a meeting and the silverware kept dancing on the table. You’ll see. It’s next week’s episode and it’s the most haunted place we’ve ever seen.”

Wrapping up the call, Barry and Brad Klinge spoke of the insane competition between ghost hunting groups and not just the ones vying for TV ratings. They say they’d rather work together so that their combined research can advance the study of the paranormal.

Says Barry, “To quote a phrase, we’re all in this together and if we can help bring ghost hunting into the mainstream than that’s good news for all of us.”

But I still have to ask the question: why another ghost hunting show?

The brothers’ answer? “Because they’re popular.”

You can’t get anymore honest than that.

So that’s it, SFUniverse readers. I know some of you had some passionate things to say about this latest foray into the world of TV ghost hunting but after talking with Klinge brothers, I’m ready to change my mind. The Ghost Lab series and the promo photos offered by the network make the brothers look like brutish biker dudes. But on the phone I found them both to be well-spoken, intelligent, and friendly people and never once did I feel like I was being given a song and dance. They seem to be genuinely interested in scientifically proving the existence of ghosts. And who knows, if they really did catch footage of flying silverware, then I’ll move them up to the top of my list of best ghost hunting shows on TV.

Ghost Lab airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on Discovery Channel.

Photographer: Jean-Marc Giboux
Credit: Discovery Channel

Post from: SF Universe

Let’s not waste any time here, Craig. Tell us what we can look forward to in this new season.

Craig: It’s literally hell on earth because the underworld has been opened now and the Keeper, which is Satan, if you will, is sending forth his minions. One thing we gotta watch out for are these things called Banelings, which are kind of like zombies. They’re basically people who get sent to the underworld and come back serving the Keeper, but they look exactly the same so you don’t know who to trust, what to do — how do you kill something that’s already dead.

For Richard’s character, he’s now been thrust into this new kind of world of leadership. You thought being the Seeker was hard enough but now he has to lead his enemies. Some of the Darkens are saying, you are our Lord Rahl, we’re going to follow you, what are you going to do? Now we’re not fighting each other, we’re fighting a bigger enemy; we’re fighting the devil.

I hear you have some great guest stars coming up this season.

Craig: Yes, Amy Teegarden from Friday Night Lights, Jolene Blalock from Star Trek. Oh, and Charisma Carpenter. I’m a massive Buffy and Angel fan so when she came on I was like, ohhh my god, I’ve now merged Buffy and my show together, this is a moment to remember. It’s great having these new flavors to spice things up.

So you a big fantasy fan before you joined the show?

Craig: Oh yeah, big time. I was that kid who everything single day was running around in the backyard pretending I was Ninja Turtle one day or Batman the next day or a Ghostbuster the next day or Kevin from Home Alone setting traps around my house or Luke Sykwalker on a speeder bike while I was on my bicycle. My imagination was absolutely wild. I would watch these films a million times and I would just love it. It’s really kind of crazy; Richard is kind of like that character I was pretending to be all those years ago.

Just when you thought you were too old to be running around with swords it comes right back at you and you get paid to do it.

IN THE MOOD

On the Season One DVD, you take us on a tour of the Legend of the Seeker sets. They’re so realistic, it must be easy to get into the mood of the piece.

Craig: Absolutely. We have a couple of massive studios. One is always a forest. You go in there and it’s literally a forest, you walk in and there’s a bit of work space but most of it is dirt and actual trees and we have to keep swapping them over every month because they die and get bugs. Then, you’re in a bar suddenly with all these extras dressed up in crazy outfits and all the crew is outside the bar and you look around and it’s actually kind of easy to imagine where we are. Then when we go outside and there are the real mountains and amazing lakes and sand dunes — we’re not shooting Jurassic Park 3 here. We can see what’s going on. We’re not talking to tennis balls all the time. Sure you gotta do it where you’ve got green screen you have to play off it, but it’s so much nicer when you’re sitting in the costume on the actual wagon that is made of real wood and brass with all the detail.

Your role is quite physically demanding. How did you take to it when you first began?

Craig: When Bridget and I got to New Zealand, we had about six weeks before we started shooting and in that time we could read the books for character research and we could also go horse riding to touch off on that and I wasn’t really good on a horse, I’d maybe been on a horse a couple of times. But these guys take it through like paint by numbers. Heels down, pull the reigns in and they’ll look at you and point out these tiny things and before you know it you’re riding a horse thanks to these amazing teachers.

The sword thing, as I mentioned, I was using a plastic sword for the first, give or take, ten years of my life and that kind of helped, believe it or not. If I was to step into a battle, I’d probably lose but to be able to make it look big and epic and have a little coordination came relatively easy to me, not to mention we have amazing stunt coordinators who choreograph these wonderful fights.

TAKING LIFE AS IT COMES

What’s been the best part of working on Legend of the Seeker?

Craig: That’s a tough question. I’ve never really been asked that. There’s so many pros. The schedule is incredibly grueling and when you’re tired, you’re tired. You can be a millionaire but when you’re tired that money ain’t gonna help you, you’re tired and you feel bad. But I look around and I go, this is fantastic. These are now my new family and friends. I had to go from Australia to here and we all get along really well. It’s such fast turn around, TV, you can’t spend so much time on things, we have to be moving fast and suddenly you’re doing a big life or death scene and then a fight scene and then go ride horses. It’s incredibly full on but enjoyable.

Are you as adventurous as your character?

Craig: I have a short attention span, if I’m in one place for a long time I have to move. I think, when I’m challenged with something I’ll try and rise to it but sometimes when you’re left on your own accord you could end up staying in one spot. You don’t know what’s out there so you just start assuming there’s nothing out there. Then suddenly someone will thrust you into something and it’s like, wow, I’m so glad I came here. Gosh, I think there’s nothing at all wrong with anyone saying, you know what, these three months I’m not going to work, I’m going to do it really cheap, I’m going to travel, rock up and see what happens. If you rock up with no expectations, you just go, this is life, life is about being here. . .I can’t really ask the world to give me anything, I’m just going to go and see what it is. . maybe things can happen.

Any final words?

Craig: If you can watch Legend of the Seeker, please watch it. We’ve had a fantasy void on our television for too long and I like to think of it as the fantasy void filler. Fantasy is a word that can throw people off. You say fantasy to my mom and she’s like, ‘no, not my thing.’ You say it to other people and they’re like, ‘it’s for dweebs and geeks, I’m not into wizards and dragons and all that stuff.’

But Legend of the Seeker is basically real situations that are set in an ancient time before you had cell phones and electricity.  It’s a world of steel and leather and so we don’t really make it too crazy. Magic only happens every once in awhile; it’s really about these relationships. So don’t be put off by the word fantasy, but at the same token if you do love fantasy, then come on and step inside, you’ll get your fantasy fill.

Legend of the Seeker is a syndicated series from ABC Television. You can find out when and where it airs in your local area by visiting the website: LegendoftheSeeker.com.

Photos:

1) “Legend of the Seeker” stars Bridget Regan and Craig Horner greeted fans in Times Square in New York City as they unveiled the Sword of Truth, a 9 foot custom faux sword protruding from a vehicle emanating smoke. The stars, who shoot the nationally syndicated action-adventure series in New Zealand, were in town promoting the second season.

2) “Legend of the Seeker” hottie Craig Horner who plays “Richard,” the Seeker, on the series, marked his presence during his visit to Times Square today, “slashing” a vehicle in the middle of Military Island with the Sword of Truth, a 9-foot custom faux sword. The actor, who shoots the nationally syndicated action-adventure series in New Zealand, was in town promoting the second season which premieres the weekend of November 7 (check local listings).

Photo credit: Anders Krusberg/ABC Studios

Post from: SF Universe

On the New Season:

Amanda Tapping: I think because it’s our second season you’re going to see a lot of changes in terms of the interpersonal relationships. I think Season 1 was very much about introducing everybody – introducing the Sanctuary itself, the creatures, what everyone does and where they come from. And so now we get to play within those parameters.

Things are changing at the Sanctuary. We are bringing in new characters. You’ll see a lot more of Henry this year than you did last year. We’re bringing in a wonderful new character named Kate Freelander. The relationship between and Druitt and Magnus changes and most importantly the relationship between Magnus and Will becomes, I think, so much deeper and so much more intense.

Robin Dunne: I think it’s because like, you know, everything is really falling apart around us. There’s going to be more of blunt relationship more of like a brutal honesty between all of the characters particularly Magnus and Will because really kind of our lives depend on it.

We can’t afford to be anything but brutally honest with each other. And I think there’s going to be definite strains in the relationship over this season. But because of those strains, I think all the relationships will get stronger.

What did you learn in the first season that you’ll carry through to Season 2?

Robin Dunne: I think my approach to Will. Season 1 for Will was a lot about sort of coming into this world and not really being sure about it and having one foot in his old life and one foot in his new life and not really sure which way he was going to go.

And I think definitely Season 2 for Will is he’s let go of his old life and he’s really resigned himself to the fact that he lives in this world and he just has to own it because this is where he lives. The approach to this job for myself was much the same. I’d never had a job that’s this size before, particularly this type of series with the green screen and everything that comes along with it. Season 1 it was a lot about me trying to get used to being in this world and working on this show. I think Season 2, from an acting standpoint, was more about being comfortable with it and trying to take the character to a deeper place.

Amanda Tapping: For both of us, there was a lot of confidence going into Season 2. Season 1, for me, Magnus is such an enigma, she’s such an eccentric, different character. There’s so many things that she does that I go, “What?” And it’s like I have to wrap my head around her and go, okay, okay I can figure this out, it has to make sense to me. And Season 1 was a lot of trying to figure out what makes this woman tick. And also just the physicality of her, she’s a far more sexual character than I’ve ever played and going literally from Army boots to stilettos was a transition.

Stay tuned for more from Amanda and Robin as Sanctuary gets going on their second season. The series airs every Friday at 10:00 on Syfy.

SANCTUARY — Pictured: (l-r) Robin Dunne as Dr. Will Zimmerman, Amanda Tapping Dr. Helen Magnus — Syfy Photo: Pete Tangen

Post from: SF Universe

As someone who’s watched Star Trek most of her life, it was a real thrill to talk with an actor whose voice carries so many memories. He was warm and thoughtful but the best part was his laugh, a sound he let loose right after he was asked the first question. I wish I had a tape of it to play for you, but you’ll just have to imagine that deep, vibrato as he chuckled over a question I’m sure he’s been asked many times.

Did you have any reservations on taking another role with the potential of such a fanatic following?

L. Nimoy: I love this question.  I can’t help but laugh because you’re absolutely right.  It’s an interesting set of circumstances.  What attracted me to it was several things.  J.J. Abrams, Bob Orci, and Alex Kurtzman, who I worked with on the Star Trek movie, I admire their talent and the work that they do. The series is at the very least to say intriguing.  The character was somewhat of a blank slate, but we began talking about it and, therefore, attracted because there’s an opportunity to build an interesting and unpredictable character.  I’m enjoying it a lot.

So lately it seems as if you’re J.J. Abrams’ muse of sorts.  Can you tell us a little bit more about your relationship with him?

L. Nimoy: Well, I first met him I guess about three years ago when he first contacted me about the possibility of working together, and I went to a meeting with he and Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman and some of his production staff.  They told me a very good and strong and touching story about their feelings about Star Trek and specifically the Spock character.

It gave me a sense of validation after all these years.  I had been out of it for some time, as you’re probably aware.  There were several Star Trek series in which I was not involved and Star Trek movies in which I was not involved.  This was a re-validation of the work that I had done, the work that we had done on the original Star Trek.  I felt very good about it and went to work for them.

I had a great time working on the movie.  I think they did a brilliant job, and I think the audience response shows that that was the case and has reinvigorated the franchise.  And when they contacted me about working on Fringe—the same people, the same attitude, the same creativity, the same creative team—it was very enticing.

You had not been acting for awhile, and then you’ve done Star Trek and Fringe pretty recently together. Have your feelings about acting changed at all?

L. Nimoy:  Well, I’m enjoying it.  I’m very comfortable in the two offers that I’ve accepted.  The Star Trek movie was a joy to do.  I admire the production team that made the film.  I admire the new cast.  Zachary Quinto I thought was a great choice for the new Spock, and it was a pleasure to work with him and with all the other people on the project.

The Fringe character was intriguing because, as I’ve mentioned, it was kind of a blank slate and we had some very interesting and intense conversations about who and what he could be and how we should perceive him, what we might or might not learn about him, what we might or might not trust about him.  These are intriguing opportunities for an actor, and they came at a time when I … and from a group of people that I had respect for.  They piqued my interest and I went back to work.   I did not expect to, frankly, be acting so much at this time in my life.  My concentration was on my photography, but I’m having a wonderful time doing it.

Have they mentioned anything about their needs for you on an upcoming Star Trek movie?

L. Nimoy: No.  My understanding is they’re working on a script right now.  I expect there’s going to be some time before they really know exactly who they need and what they need.  I frankly, frankly doubt that I will be called upon again.

I think I was useful in his last film to help bridge between the original characters, the original actors, and the new cast.  They have a wonderful new cast in place, and I’m sure they’ll move ahead with them.  I don’t see, at the moment, why they would need me in the next film, although, if they called me, I’d be happy to have a conversation about it.

How do you feel about the current state of science fiction on TV and film?

L. Nimoy: Well, I’m concerned about the positioning of story in terms of importance.  When I see a lot of explosions and a lot of chases, I’m not terribly impressed.  I think there are three terribly important elements that must be given a priority position in science fiction as well as in any other kind of drama.  The first is story, the second is story, and the third is story.  Story, story, story, story, story.  If the story is compelling and interesting, I think all the rest will find its place.

We have great technology in our industry, and that technology can be overused at the expense of story.  And that’s a problem for me, but when the story is in place, I think the special effects can find their proper place.  I think Fringe uses the technology brilliantly, but in the service of excellent story-telling.

Have you found that there’s anything different in the way television is done these days?

L. Nimoy: I think it’s safe to say that what an audience is seeing today on screen in the television episode is far more complex than what we were doing when we were, for example, making the original Star Trek series in the ‘60s.  We were very, very heavy on pages and pages of dialogue and very little special effects, but because the technology has advanced so greatly, it’s possible to do some very complex and very exciting and very useful technical stuff on the shows these days, so we don’t have to rely quite so much on the story being told by the actors speaking.

On the other hand, there is a danger, as I mentioned earlier, of going too far with the special effects at the expense of story.  But if the story is well done, if the story’s in place strongly, the special effects can be enormously helpful to the actors, far more so than they were years ago when we were making the original Star Trek series.

Will we ever see a face off between William Bell and Walter Bishop?

L. Nimoy: Unpredictable at the moment.  In the episode tomorrow night, the scene in between myself and Olivia, I think we will learn a lot more than we have known in the past about what their relationship is all about and what William Bell’s intentions are, or at least we will be told what his intentions are.  We’re not really quite sure that everything that he says is accurate or true.

As William Bell, is there a particular character flaw or even something good that you would like to have highlighted in future episodes?

L. Nimoy: This is a wonderful question.  I’m really looking forward to this character unfolding in a very interesting kind of way.  I think you’ll see, tomorrow night, one very strong aspect of him and certain idiosyncrasies that are being developed.  But I do think there’s a long way to go.  I think there’s a lot to be discovered, and I’m looking forward to discovering it with the audience.

And the final question went to me:

What is still on your “to do” list?

L. Nimoy: Well, I’m looking forward to developing the William Bell character further.  I hope the writers are interested in working with the character.  I am.  I don’t know how much further we’ll go with it, but the character, so far, has been very intriguing and the whole Fringe company has been very good to me.  I’m delighted to be involved.

I am still actively involved with my photography work.  I’m working on a current project, which is called Secret Selves, which is about hidden or fantasy or private personalities that people bring for me to photograph.  And there will be an exhibition of that name, Secret Selves, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art opening next summer, a solo exhibition.  I’m excited about that.

Check out my Web site, LeonardNimoyPhotography.com.  Isn’t that an amazing title for a Web site?

It certainly is, Leonard. It certainly is.

Leonard Nimoy returns to Fringe tonight in Momentum Deferred. It starts at 9:00 on Fox.

CR: Liane Hentscher/FOX

Post from: SF Universe

Dollhouse

Dollhouse was pretty close to not getting that second season pick-up. Why do you think Fox changed their minds?

Joss: I think it’s the nature of the business and the nature of the fan base.  The nature of the fan base is they’re in it for the long haul, and they’re nurturing, and they’re intense about it and they will see it through.  They will stick with it and that means years after it’s cancelled.  Firefly still sells, Buffy still sells, and that’s also a business thing for the studio.  They’re in it for the long haul because they know the long haul is how my work pays off.  I don’t make hit shows.  I make shows that stick around that people come to long after they would have stopped generating revenue in the old system.

With the advent of DVD and the eventual monetization of Online, there’s a market there that exists beyond your Nielsen numbers, and the fans showing up and DVRing, and buying a DVD, and proving on all my other projects that they don’t do these things lightly, that it runs deep in them, means that the base doesn’t have to be as broad for the studio to think it’s worth it to try and eke out another season.

Eliza Dushku is a huge driving force in the series. How much of a hand did she have in developing the concept and the character of Echo?

Joss: Well, she really wants to dance burlesque.  We keep forgetting to put that in.  Eliza has specific things she’s interested in, specific things she feels comfortable with.  Sometimes I like to go to that place because I know that she can knock it out of the park and sometimes I like to go in the opposite direction to take her out of her comfort zone because that’s the best thing you can do with an actor. (DOLLHOUSE: Joss Whedon (R) directing on set with director of photography Ross Berryman (L). ©2009 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Greg Gayne/FOX)

There are many different aspects to [Eliza] the people don’t usually get to see how funny she can be, how elegant.  She doesn’t always have to play the tough girl, but she really just presents.  It was a conversation about all of the different things she was supposed to be, or had been, or was trying to be, or trying to get away from that led to the creation of the show.  It made me think, “Wait a minute.  That’s what the show should be about.”  So it wasn’t so much that she said, “I’d like to be the following things,” although we talked about what the characters are, it’s just that she is so many people that we pluck from them.  She did go bow hunting.  I understand, however, that she herself was not hunted.

Echo’s got a lot to deal with, how will she manage to come into her own?

Joss: Basically, through force of will.  She did have all those personalities dumped into her at once and as we pick up, we’re going to find out that that’s starting to affect her.  Rather than be at sea in between engagements, she’s much more directed and driven, and even in her doll state is growing, and learning and starting to try to access these personalities to see what they can help her with, because she has a mission that she understands now, which is to get back to her personality and get everybody back to theirs.

Let’s talk relationships:

Joss: Victor and Sierra just can’t keep their hands off each other, and they’re like monkeys and it’s something that we’re going to be treating, they’re going to be seeing through for a while.  It makes some people very uncomfortable and sometimes it’s just extremely sweet.  Sometimes it’s just funny.  But Echo is very much building herself and she sees it as an indication that they’re ready to be pushed to a level like hers.  She’s looking for allies and Paul is the first person she’s going to turn to for that.  But then a lot of the season is going to be her attempt to put together some kind of team, even though she has trouble articulating it at first.  She’s looking for the sense of family that I think the audience was looking for last season.  So we’re going to be seeing who’s on her side and who, not so much.

How is Dr. Saunders going to factor into the season?

Joss: Dr. Saunders would factor in much more in the season had we not lost her to another show.  She will factor inasmuch as we are allowed to factor her in, which is exactly three episodes worth.  They will, however, be three extraordinarily memorable episodes.  Amy Acker is ridiculously talented and the character’s dilemma is fascinating to us.  We grit our teeth that we didn’t have the funds, or the support, or the success, to just make her a regular and now we’re paying for it.  It means that every time we have her on screen, we’ll squeeze every drop out of her that we can.  We’re seizing the day.  We just don’t get to seize as many of them as we’d like.

How will the “lost” episode Epitaph One fit into the grand scheme?

Joss: It had originally been my intention to start in that era and then come back, but I just had too much information in my first episode.  What we’re talking about doing is perhaps revisiting that timeline towards the end of the 13 in a similar fashion, but we’re also looking at the show through the lens of that episode and saying, “Well, this is taking us to a more global concept of how this power is used and abused.”  That’s a lot of what informs the season.  You don’t have to have seen it to understand that, but it helps if you do.  I think it adds a layer.

THE GUEST STARS:

Summer Glau:

Joss: The casting of Summer was based on the knowledge that Summer existed and the character was created with the hopes that she would play it, which she is right on stage right now doing.  She’s playing the programmer of another Dollhouse.  It’s a somewhat eccentric part but hopefully different than what we’ve seen her do before.  The most useful part of that is that the writers work twice as hard to make sure that the character really pops and pays off because they know that it’s going to be played by somebody extraordinary.

Jaime Bamber (who “marries’ Echo in the first episode)

Joss: If you were those two, wouldn’t you get married?  They’re so cute.  He came in as the guest star in the first episode, which was just besides a geek dream for me, an extraordinary experience because he’s not just very professional, and precise and talented, but he fleshed out a character that could have been a little bit of a cardboard cutout.  He has such sincerity and gravitas that you feel terrible.  He makes you feel you’ve betrayed him, even if he’s completely in the wrong.  It’s something that he shares with Adelle.  Maybe it’s a British thing; I don’t know. (DOLLHOUSE: Echo (Eliza Dushku, R) and her new husband (guest star Jamie Bamber, L) have a dangerous honeymoon in the DOLLHOUSE season premiere episode “Vows” airing Friday, Sept. 25 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2009 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Isabella Vosmikova/FOX)

Ray Wise:

Joss: Ray Wise, I believe, will be appearing in episode six and he’s going to be playing the head of another house, so he’s going to interact with young Olivia and it should be very exciting.

Alexis Denisoff:

Joss: Yes, he’s got his own crusade going.  He’s a very different person than Paul but he’s in a similar position except that he’s gone public with it.  How much the Dollhouse loves a senator who has gone public with an attack on them, we will find out in later episodes.  But he’s not the Paul of the season because he’s going to have a different set of problems thrown at him, but he has a similar vibe in terms of he’s very tenacious and righteous.

Any other Buffy-verse guest stars coming up?

Joss: It’s a death match between Firefly and Battlestar and which of them is going to get all their people.  The fact of the matter is they’re people I admire and they’re people I know I love to work with and this season, I’m a lot less concerned with how the cast is perceived. Last season, we felt like we wanted to make sure that this was new territory and that people didn’t think of it as just, “Oh, it’s just these faces and he’s doing his old thing.”  Now I’m like, “I know these people can act,” and honestly, the people that are watching it are fans anyway.  If they know who these people are, they’ll be thrilled.  If they don’t, they’ll see good acting so it doesn’t matter to me as much.  So yes, I have no fear of throwing anybody that I have worked with or just want to work with in anytime I can.

The big question — Is everybody a doll?

Joss: I’ll tell you right now, everybody is not a doll because it would be very easy for us to pull that trick over and over and ultimately shoot ourselves in the foot, because you would find that nothing was at stake and that everybody would see the plot was coming.  We’ve actually grounded the show fairly heavily.  People who are dolls, are dolls and the other people, every now and then, I’m not saying never, I’m not saying we won’t question reality every now and then but basically, we’re taking the people we have and we’re pushing them around as much as possible.

We’re trying to keep it grounded so that people know that there is something at stake and if somebody did have their personality altered or taken away, that that would be a huge deal.  That’s like the attic; that’s like death.  That’s like the worst thing that can happen to a character so we want to make sure that the characters are grounded enough that people feel those stakes.  If we just make people dolls, Willie-Nillie, then it’s the rabbit hole and none of it really connects or means anything.

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On how will Echo come into her own:

Joss: Basically through force of will. She did have all those personalities dumped into her at once and that’s starting to affect her. Instead of being at sea, she’s much more driven. She has a mission she understands now which is to get back to her personality.

On how much the fans influenced the decision to bring the show back:

Joss: I think it’s the nature of the fan base, they’re in it for the long haul and they’re nurturing and intense about it and they’ll see it through years after it’s canceled. Firefly still sells, Buffy still sells, the network knows that my shows pay off in the long run. There’s a market beyond the Nielsen numbers. So the fans showing up and buying the DVDs, they prove it runs deep to them and the base doesn’t have to be as broad for the studio to decide to eek out another season.

On what Eliza brings to the character:

Joss: Eliza really wants to dance burlesque and we keep forgetting to put that in.  She is so many people that we pluck from them. She did go bow hunting but to my knowledge, she herself was not hunted.

On Amy Acker:

Joss: Dr. Saunders would factor in much more if we hadn’t lost her to another show. Three episodes worth and they will be extraordinary episodes. . . .we grit our teeth that we didn’t have the funds or success to just make her a regular and now we’re paying for it. Everytime we have her on screen we’ll squeeze every drop out of her.

On the hiring of genre guest stars this season:

Joss: It’s a death match between Firefly and Battlestar and which of them will get all their people [on first]. The fact of the matter is there are people I like to work with and this season I’m less concerned about how the cast is perceived. Now I’m like, I know these people can act and the fans watching it are fans anyway. If they know who they are they’ll be thrilled and if they don’t know they’ll see good acting.

On Summer Glau:

Joss: The character was created with hopes that she would play it. She plays the programmer of another Dollhouse, it’s somewhat eccentric part but different than what we’ve seen from her before.

On Alexis Denisoff:

Joss: He has his own crusade going, different then Paul because he’s gone public with it. He’s not the Paul of this season because he’s going to have a different set of problems thrown at him. He’s very tenacious.

On Jaime Bamber (and the fact that he “marries” Echo in the episode):

Joss: If you were those two, wouldn’t you get married? [Having him guest star was] a geek dream and an extraordinary experience. He fleshed out a character that could have been a little bit of a cardboard cutout and you feel that you’ve betrayed him even though he’s completely in the wrong. (Cr: Isabella Vosmikova/FOX)

On The Attic:

Joss: It is going to be creepy but I think ultimately what it’s going to be like is something we’re going to hang on to pretty tight. It ain’t gonna be pretty.

Final words:

Joss: I love each and everyone of you very much, possibly inappropriately.

Irreverent and a little mysterious — Joss Whedon sounds like he’s realized his mistake from last season, which was not listening to his own instincts and always doing what his heart said was best. I think this is going to be a rocking year for Dollhouse.

Cr: Frank Ockenfels/FOX

Post from: SF Universe

In regard to reports of The Observer by a reporter:

JJ: The show is increasing the paranoia of everyone in America.

On working with the cow:

JJ: The cow’s a diva, she’s not very giving

On Peter’s alternate universe backstory:

JJ: They gave me a heads up a few months before so I didn’t read it and think I was fired. What I love, beyond the ain’t it cool factor, now the audience knows something crucial about Peter that he doesn’t know himself.

On how the backstory will play out: (just his thoughts, he doesn’t know more than what’s he’s seen in 8 scripts)

JJ: This is a lot of the guilt that Walter carries around with him, that he babysnatched Peter as a young boy. Eventually that has to come to a head. The entire first season was about the father and son reconnecting through the craziness of the circumstances and they’ve become a family, a dysfunctional family, but a family. But when he finds out this horrible thing happened to him as a child, it’s going to blow up and it gives me something to move toward

On Peter’s background in this universe:

JJ: We delve right into that early in the season — we kept hinting at it but it’s difficult to put their outside lives into the show because each episode has a central focus. Now that we’ve brought Peter in, this season we’ve gone a lot deeper into showing and not just talking about this prior life that he had. It’s the thing that drew me into the character from the very beginning, he has a very black past that in a way, he’s running from and wants to run back to. It’s simpler being an arms dealer than dealing with his father and confronting all these things from his childhood.

On working with Leonard Nimoy:

JJ: I’m going to lodge a formal complaint, Leonard’s been up here twice and though I’ve met him,  I’ve yet to be able to do a scene with him, we need a Peter and William Bell scene tout de suite.

And my favorite quote of the day:

JJ: What defies my imagination is that there is something out there that defies my imagination.

Relaxed, funny and charming — happy to have spent a bit of my morning with Joshua Jackson.

FRINGE: Joshua Jackson returns as Peter Bishop in the Season Two premiere of FRINGE airing Thursday, Sept. 17 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2009 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Justin Stephens/FOX

Post from: SF Universe

Katerina Graham

April wanted to know, what attracted you to the role of Bonnie Bennett?

Katerina: I auditioned [for a lot of shows] during pilot season and when I got the script for Vampire Diaries, I read it and I was like, this is something different. This isn’t like everything else I’ve been reading. They gave me like five pages of back story before I even went into the first audition and I became so engrossed in this character. Bonnie Bennett is a sweet girl from a small town, she has this innocence to her, and she’s such a loyal person. I love that about her. And she’s psychic and I think most people want to have a cool special power.

Are you and Bonnie very much alike?

Katerina: We’re very similar [in our demeanor], but our style –it’s completely different. I’m sort of retro, circa 90’s with futuristic funk — high, open-toed platforms, shoulder pads and my hair in a bun. Bonnie, she’s kind of this hippie chick. But it’s great when you can jump into a costume and become that character and when you’re done you jump into your pointy-toed shoes and you’re you again.

Illie asks, how would you react if you were told you’ve inherited psychic powers?

Katerina: I think everyone would be taken aback with being able to see the future and with great gifts come great responsibilities.  There are certain things you can’t say at certain times and certain things you might be completely wrong about so you don’t want to put it out there. I think I’d be excited, and a part of me would be frightened, I’d need to know more about it and I’d probably do a lot of research, which is what Bonnie’s doing right now.

Do you believe that saying it out loud can make it so or is fate going to deal the cards no matter what happens?

Katerina: There’s a crazy philosophy, I guess most people know it as The Secret, where if you put something out there it might manifest. So it could go both ways, certain things are fate and inevitable, like I believe the love between the characters is inevitable, but there are different things that if you put fears out there, ideas out that aren’t positive it might manifest. I do believe that.

Nicole says, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder looks ever so charming, and Nina Dobrev looks like such a sweetheart! What’s it like on the set with them?

Katerina: We’re very close and I’ve never been a part of a set where we’re all family from the key grip to the caterers to the lead actor, we’re all so tight. Such a team. If I see the cameraman sweating, I run to get him a water. We take care of each other. That might be one of the reasons that the show might be a success is the fact that there’s such good energy and such a one-unit family. Honestly, we shot the pilot in Vancouver and then, when we were back in LA, we spent every weekend together.

April and I both want to know — Stefan or Damon — which would you choose?

Katerina: And I know they’re vampires? I don’t know if I could choose. Say something happened between Bonnie and Stefan or Bonnie and Damon, at that point it wouldn’t be a struggle between them but a struggle inside herself, between right and wrong. Maybe that might come across in the next season or two and the fans will have to experience it with me because I have no clue how Bonnie would react to that.

Between Ian and Paul I couldn’t chose either, they’re such sweet guys. It would be way too hard. Paul [can be very intense] when he’s in vampire mode. Ian is an animal lover and he’s such a teddy bear in real life. When he’s in character, I’m like, ‘wow, what a phenomenal actor’ because he’s so sweet and charming and he can switch like that into an evil, crazy vampire. It’s pretty awesome to watch.

You can watch Ian turn evil, Paul go into vampire mode and Bonnie transform into a hippie psychic when The Vampire Diaries premieres tomorrow, September 10, at 8:00 on The CW.

Photo: Katerina Graham by Quantrell Colbert/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Paul Wesley as Stefan, Ian Somerhalder as Damon by Bob Mahoney/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Post from: SF Universe

Now that we’ve all seen the Leverage episode, can you talk more about the incident you referred to on your blog?

Wil Wheaton: Yes, sure. We were shooting a bunch of footage for the security cams where you see Chaos outside. There’s that scene where you see Chaos standing outside Sophie’s apartment building, getting ready to take those flowers in, and we were shooting it in an actual apartment building, on a real street, with people walking around and somehow this woman got past our PAs. She was going into the building and she walked right up to me and wanted to see these flowers and who were they for, and could she smell them, and you know where did they come from, and I thought, well let’s see, if this was really happening, this guy would stand here and he would be charming and he would engage her and talk with her, and answer her questions and then just send her on her way to be as unremarkable and unmemorable as possible. So that’s what I did and played that out with her, and then she left and I looked around and went right into the building behind her.

Acting on a television show, you have to do the same beats over and over again and you kind of establish a rhythm and then stay with it so that you can get through and finish the day. It’s very rare that you get an opportunity to have something completely unexpected happen and just play with it and incorporate it as part of the reality of the show. Back in the old days, if we were filming on film, they would have cut the cameras immediately because it’s just too expensive to keep the film rolling. But we’re shooting on a Red camera, so that wasn’t even an issue at all. And it was a really fun, really memorable moment. In a filming experience that was just wall-to-wall awesome, that was one of the things that is really going to stay with me for a very long time.

These past few TV seasons, we’ve been seen a growing number of hero geeks from Hardison on Leverage, Chuck on Chuck, Rodney McKay on Stargate Atlantis — even Sam and Dean Winchester rely on their computer research skills to help save the day. Seems like it’s a great time to be a geek!

Wil Wheaton: One of my first columns at Suicide Girls was called “Have the Geek Inherited the Earth?” I examined that because I remember growing up and feeling like I was the only kid on my block and in my school that was into Star Trek and there were a few kids that were into Dungeons and Dragons but we were at a parochial school so it was something you had to really kind of keep on the down low as they say. I didn’t know anybody else that played the Ghostbusters soundtrack and recreated the entire movie from memory like I did, playing all the different characters and stuff. I was really a geek.

I remember I had one of those, here’s how computers work, pop-up books that I bought at a bookstore. I carried the thing with me everywhere I went and pretended that it was a laptop before laptops existed and I’d go to restaurants with my mom and she’d be like, ‘what are you doing?’ I’d be like, ’stop mom, I’m talking to Norad,’ because I had just seen War Games. And back then I felt like I was the only one and I endured the tormenting that we all endure in school, and felt like I was alone. If you fast forward to the last few years, because of the ubiquity of Internet culture and the ability for us to find other people who are like us, it doesn’t feel as lonely and it doesn’t feel as hopeless is it did in the 70s and early 80s.

ON CONVENTIONS AND SCI FI SEEPING INTO MASS CULTURE

You know, one of the reasons I love going to science fiction conventions and comic conventions is because I can find other people who are just like me and we are in an environment where not only is it OK to dress up in a costume, but you want to impress people with how hard you worked to put the thing together, and that’s awesome. That sort of thing didn’t really exist before. So I think it’s probably a little bit easier now, especially if you’re a kid growing up today and you watch Robot Chicken and then you find out that Seth Green who makes it loves the same things you do, it kind of takes the edge off a little bit. And I think that that does sort of like mitigate a little bit what the whole geek experience was like.

I think that with the advent of personal computers and the success of like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Batman reboots and things like that the giant conglomerates in the studios are realizing that there’s more of us than they thought and we’re now a viable market. So I guess it’s a very long way of saying that it’s probably a little bit easier now than it was you know when I was growing up, but I bet you if you were to find some of the kids who are teased today, and some of the kids who are still in school who are trying to get people together to watch Dr. Who, they would probably tell you that it sucks and that it’s hard, because I think that’s just kind of . .  the fires that forge geekdom are stoked by the cool kids, and I think that’s going to be like that forever. And I guess I just hope that it’s getting easier for people now than it was for me when I was a kid.

AND THE GEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

I remember when I started blogging in 2000 and all the traditional media, whatever you want to call it, were all sort of sneering at us like how dare you try to come and play on our baseball field. Your gloves are ugly and you’re fat and stink like manure and we were like, uh you know we’re doing the same thing it’s just in a different medium, but you enjoy that giant wooly mammoth, keeping standing in that tar pit, we’re going to be over here and I just think it’s great that we, who started this whole blogging thing, that we’ve carved out our own little section of the world and I’m so excited to be part of this.

You can keep up with Wil through his Twitter and his blog. Both are always worth the time spent reading them.

Leverage photos courtesy of TNT

Post from: SF Universe