Passchendaele - CinemaSpy: Paul Gross Interview

At CinemaSpy:

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Paul Gross and Caroline Dhavernas in a scene from 'Passchendaele'.

Exclusive Interview: Paul Gross

Why he's passionate about 'Passchendaele'

By Robert Falconer | Thursday, October 30, 2008

He is one of Canada's most recognized actors, and he has written and directed one of our nation's most important dramatic films. Paul Gross, who many remember as the always polite Constable Benton Fraser on the 1997 to 1999 series Due South, or as the quirky Geoffrey Tennant from the series Slings and Arrows (2003 to 2006), has, with one important new film, eclipsed all his previous creative endeavors — and yes, we're including Men with Brooms here — in his cinematic epic, Passchendaele.

For those unfamiliar with the story, Passchendaele concerns the Battle of Passchendaele (a rural town near Ypres in the Belgian province of West Flanders), one of the major skirmishes of World War I, in which British, Canadian, South African and ANZAC units engaged the Imperial German Army. The Second Battle of Passchendaele was fought by all four divisions of the Canadian Corps. The battle lasted from October 26 until November 15, resulting in atrocious casualties for Canadian forces before they were able to finally recapture the town.

The conflict robbed Canada of a generation of young men, forged a new identity for the country in hellish pits of fire and mud, and changed the face of Europe and modern warfare forever.

Gross' film depicts the struggle of the Canadian Corps, focusing on the life of Sergeant Michael Dunne (played by Gross), who fought for the 10th Battalion (aka The "Fighting Tenth") with the 1st Canadian Division, and participated in all the major Canadian battles of the war, setting the record for highest number of individual bravery awards for a single battle. Along the way, Dunne falls in love with a nurse, Sarah Mann (played by Caroline Dhavernas), while trying to shelter Sarah's brother David (Joe Dinicol) from the inevitability of military service.

The experiences of Michael Dunne are based upon conversations with Gross' grandfather, who served in the conflict, and the film is peppered throughout with an honest verisimilitude that could only come from the recollections of first hand experience, and a family lineage of military service (Gross' father was also a career military officer, who served in the armored corps in Korea).

CinemaSpy recently sat down with Gross in Vancouver to discuss this important new Canadian film, and why he believes that Canada's definition of heroism differs sharply from that of our cousins south of the 49th parallel...


A brief excerpt:

Question: How are you finding the reaction to the film thus far?

Paul Gross: The reaction so far has been wonderful. The most moving and stirring thing of all ... we've been doing a lot of premieres across Canada ... a lot of veterans are coming to the film, and they're Second World War guys now, and they'll get up and start talking after the film, and it's like something is uncorked in them. One guy in Winnipeg got up and started talking about house-to-house and hand-to-hand fighting in Monte Cassino in Italy during the Second World War...and he starts crying. And a young couple nearby, 18 to 20 years old, are watching him recount this story, and you can ascertain that they "see" him for the first time...not just as an old guy with medals that they don't understand, but as a guy who was their age and doing these things that he's describing that are similar to the things in the film.

It was unbelievably moving. If the film can mediate that sort of thing a little bit and cut through that cobweb of history so that younger people can see where we all come from ... that's deeply moving.

Passchendaele is currently playing in theaters across Canada. A theatrical release in the United States is planned, but no details are yet available.

Official web site

'Passchendaele,' stars Paul Gross, Caroline Dhavernas, Alex Arsenault, Meredith Bailey, Gil Bellows, Joe Dinicol, David Brown, Michael Greyeyes, Adam Harrington and Brian Jensen. Filmed in Calgary, AL, Canada.

Fringe / Star Trek - Total SciFi: Roberto Orci Interview

At Total SciFi:

(Please follow the link for the complete interview.)



Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci

Posted on Friday 31 October 2008

Roberto Orci: A Lot of Fringe, a Little Trek

Roberto Orci has been an executive producer/writer on Alias, screenwriter on films including The Legend of Zorro and Transformers, and is now co-writer/producer of the upcoming Star Trek film, with his writing partner Kurtzman and the film’s director/producer J.J. Abrams. Orci, Kurtzman, and Abrams together created the new Fox drama series Fringe, about three characters investigating alarming incidents that involve unusual or “fringe” science. Words: Abbie Bernstein

A brief excerpt:

How did Fringe come about?

RO: "We [Orci, Kurtzman and Abrams] literally sat in a room and said, "Let’s come up with a show right now." We were working on Star Trek, we were sitting around on set so much, we thought, "Since we’re all sitting in here with this extra time, let’s use that time wisely." The three of us talked about the shows that we love and the ideas that we had and we really kind of crashed them all into each other. We’re all fans of stuff like The Fly and Altered States, so we’ve all been pursuing ideas that resemble this. This was just finally the venue for all three of us to get it out of our systems."

Stargate SG-1 - GateWorld: Jan Newman Video Interview

At GateWorld:

(Please follow the link to view the video in its original format.)



CUT! MAKE-UP!

GateWorld talks with Jan Newman

Stargate SG-1 make-up artist Jan Newman has been a favorite of GateWorld's editors for a number of years, but this busy butterfly has kept herself so occupied that we have never had a chance to talk with her ... until now!

GateWorld sat down and "powdered up" with the SG-1 make-up artist at this year's Gatecon convention in Vancouver, British Columbia! Originally from Australia, Newman has worked on MacGyver, all 10 seasons of SG-1, and the DVD movies Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum!

Jan takes us back to her original run-in with the make-up profession before she had a chance to go off and become a flight attendant. We discuss the origins and complexities of the Jaffa tattoo, aging members of SG-1 in various episodes, and working with the likes of Christopher Judge, Richard Dean Anderson, and the late and great Don S. Davis.

GateWorld's video interview with Jan Newman runs 27 minutes, and requires QuickTime 7.0 or higher. An interview transcript is available at the link above. The interview is also available at GateWorld Play!



A brief excerpt:

GW: Who was the most difficult to work with? In terms of like, "We need to get this done." When you were putting the make-up on or touching them back up, who would kid around the most?

JN: Who do you think?

GW: OK, Chris Judge.

JN: No!

GW: Oh, Rick!

JN: Yes! It was like trying to hit a moving target to get him ready! Richard didn't like to sit in the chair for very long. I think the longest Richard sat in the make-up chair was in "Brief Candle" when he aged. We never thought he was going to do that. He got really into it after a while.

The preparation for that -- we had pictures of his father and his grandfather. The designers who designed the make-up took some of those, aspects and some of O'Neill's physiognomy -- that's the right word -- to put it together. He sat still, I think there were three different changes in that.

Stargate / Star Trek - Rocky Mountain News: 'Trek: The Concert'

At the Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO):

(Please follow the link for the complete article.)



Colorado Symphony program 'Trek: The Concert' aims to get Trekkies to boldly go to concert hall

Symphony has it all: TV stars, story, lyrics

By Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 31, 2008

OK, Trekkies: Anyone know the lyrics to the theme music for the original Star Trek TV series?

Lyrics? Yes, said Robert Picardo, words accompanied the famous tune composed by the late Alexander (Sandy) Courage.

"And they were appallingly bad - they're all about searching for a 'Star Woman,' " said the actor who portrayed the Emergency Medical Hologram (aka the Doctor) on Star Trek: Voyager. Picardo even will sing them as part of today's Colorado Symphony program, "Trek: The Concert."

But who wrote the lyrics?

"The words were penned by (series creator) Gene Roddenberry," he said. "And for a simple reason: Gene knew he'd collect royalties each time the theme was played, even though it would remain an instrumental." (Soprano Loulie Jean Norman sang that famous, wordless tune.)

In addition to crooning - something he'd done in Voyager - Picardo will serve as narrator on Saturday, teaming with actor John de Lancie (Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation). Interspersed with musical excerpts from four TV series and seven films, conducted by Erich Kunzel, the actors will tell the Star Trek story.

.. Some of them may quietly hiss at Picardo, who has jumped ship, so to speak, by appearing as Richard Woolsey in the non-Star Trek sci-fi series, Stargate Atlantis. "I straddle two franchises like a colossus," he quipped.

... Trek: The Concert

* When and where: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1 '08, Boettcher Hall, 14th and Curtis

* Cost: $15 to $73

* Information: 303-623-7876

Sanctuary - SciFi Talk: Ryan Robbins Audio Interview

At SciFi Talk:



Fri, 31 October 2008

Ryan Robbins

This versatile actor brings his many talents together to play Henry Foss in the Sci-Fi Channel series, Sanctuary. What is different about this interview is that he does part of it as his character of Henry Foss. It's interesting to hear the character's opinions about his life and boss, Helen Magnus. A Sci-Fi Talk first. Special thanks to Carole Appleby Of Kayro Edelman. Music is by Brolax Bones called Creature Night.


Download link

Sanctuary's next NEW episode, 'Nubbins,' airs Friday, November 7 '08 at 10pm on the SciFi Channel (US).

Stargate Atlantis - MGM Stargate: Video: David Nykl interviews Director Andy Mikita

At MGM Stargate:

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David Nykl Interviews Director Andy Mikita
2:40
7.32MB

Includes behind the scenes filming from 'The Lost Tribe.'

Fringe - The SciFi World: John Noble Interview

At The SciFi World:

(Please follow the link for the complete interview.)



Joshua Jackson, Anna Torv and John Noble

John Noble Interview

30th October 2008

John Noble is an Australian film, television actor, and theatre director of more than 80 plays. He was born in Port Pirie, South Australia. He makes occasional appearances on the television series All Saints. He is internationally best known for his performance as Denethor in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King film. He played Russian Consul Anatoly Markov in the sixth season of the American television series 24 and "Meurik" in Stargate SG-1's last episode of season 9. His most recent work is as mentally unstable scientist Walter Bishop in the J. J. Abrams television series Fringe, which premiered in September 2008. Visit also: www.johnnoble.net

A brief excerpt:

... Gilles Nuytens: Your character is someone that has lived for 17 years in a psychiatric institute, how did you approach the mental aspects of Dr. Bishop, was it as challenging as we could imagine, and what was the most difficult part playing someone so unstable?

John Noble: Research is the answer to playing this type of role, both medical and scientific... I was determined to develop the character based on all available medical information, and I read widely on the fringe science that was practised during the cold war. I also read about the well- known scientific 'geniuses'. Einstein, Newton, Galilleo, Darwin, and others.

Legend of the Seeker - SciFi Wire: Craig Horner Interview

At SciFi Wire:

(Please follow the link for the complete interview.)



12:00 AM, 31-OCTOBER-08

Q&A: Legend Star Horner

Lucy Lawless, Kevin Sorbo, Gina Torres ... and Craig Horner?

Producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi have a knack for choosing talent, as they tapped Lawless for Xena: Warrior Princess, Sorbo for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Torres for Cleopatra 2525. And then there's Horner, the handsome Aussie actor the producers chose for their latest syndicated fantasy TV show, Legend of the Seeker.

Based on Terry Goodkind's novel Wizard's First Rule, Legend of the Seeker stars Horner as the title Seeker, a figure of prophecy who--with the help of a wizard (Bruce Spence as Zedd) and a powerful and gorgeous Confessor (Bridget Regan as Kahlan)--is destined to save his people and their world from the clutches of evil.

The following are edited excerpts of SCI FI Wire's interview with Horner. Legend of the Seeker debuts in syndication on the weekend of Nov. 1.

... How are you enjoying working with Bridget and Bruce?

Horner: Well, Bridget, I can't speak more highly of her. She's really, really good. We're both foreigners to New Zealand. I'm Australian, and Australia and New Zealand are completely different countries, even though they're quite close to each other. And with Bridget being American, we were on our own in this country. Not now, really, because we're making friends. But she and I bonded with that, and Richard and Kahlan need to have that "You guys are on your own" as well. So she's great. She's fantastic. Bruce is an Australian icon. He's an industry legend. I knew about him from a very early age, because I'm very heavily into Australian films. So working with him, with someone of that caliber, is just fantastic. You learn even by being around him, and he's perfect for Zedd, because Zedd is this goofy, wise old man, and Bruce will bring out these gold, gruff pointers and then at the same time put on some sunglasses and wear his hair out and be like, "Hey, man, just chill, man. It's cool, man." He's great. He's a barrel of laughs.

--Ian Spelling



Official Web Site (where you can find your local time and channel)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Video: InFANity: Special Effects

Courtesy of TV Guide's InFANity and HULU:

TV Guide Specials - Terminator Connor Chronicles Effects

Special |07:29 |

InFANity hangs out with the special effects team and creators of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES to find out how they create big screen quality effects for television's most exciting sci-fi drama.