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Sep 05, 2008
by Rob Salem - television columnist
SHE SELLS SANCTUARY
I defy anyone to recognize Stargate star Amanda Tapping in her latest incarnation – a remarkably well-preserved 157-year-old mutant hunter – on Sanctuary, an innovative new Canadian-made fantasy adventure, debuting with an extended two-hour episode Oct. 3 at 9 p.m. on The Movie Network (then moving the following Friday to its regular hour slot at 8).
The British-born, Toronto-raised Tapping, who not only stars but is also an executive producer, has traded her familiar blond military crop for a sultry, shoulder-length brunette look, and an adopted English accent that hearkens back to her pre-school past.
"Having been born in England and growing up (here) in a rather British household, it wasn't so much of a stretch," she allows. "It actually feels like going home ...
"It's weird, having played an American on television for the last 11 years, to suddenly make that switch from American to British, and from army boots to stilettos. It was a complete overhaul.
"I felt the need personally and professionally to completely reinvent myself."
Sanctuary is itself something of a reinvention, originally test-run as an Internet serial and similarly shot on computer-generated "virtual sets," à la Sin City and 300.
"It's huge," Tapping enthuses. "It's not that much different than actually shooting on a real set, once you get over the `chroma key' headache, which lasts about three days.
"David Gettis, our director of photography, is an artist – he paints with light, that's the best way I can describe it. You don't feel like you're standing in front of a green screen. You actually feel like you're in the catacombs under Rome, or on an island off Scotland. We go everywhere."
And sometimes where they shouldn't. "Every now and then," admits Canadian co-star Robin Dunne, "we'll have a chase and I'll run through a wall or something by accident. And (director/co-producer) Martin (Wood) will have to call `Cut' and give me the parameters again."
Sanctuary premieres on the SciFi Channel (US) Friday, October 3 at 9pm, with a 2 houru pilot episode, and moves to 10pm on Friday October 10 '08.
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