Stargate star Ben Browder is a man of many talents, including writing, acting, and coaching pole vaulting and football. Solutions has done some investigative “leg-work” to see what he’s been up to lately based on what the Internet has to say.
Browder talked with the guys over at Gateworld about many things, including two projects for the Sci Fi Channel and its website: Going Homer and the Farscape web series.
“Going Home is about a twelve year old boy named Homer Jones and his family. Homer sees the Greek myths unfolding in the world around him. It’s basically The Iliad and The Odyssey clashing with the modern world,” he explained. “Going Homer is a project that has been commissioned by SCI FI Channel, that we sold to them. We’re still at the story stage. We’re in what’s called … I think development hell was the phrase someone else used. But what we’re doing is refining the story before we get a script.”
As of the time of the interview, which was posted January 12, there hasn’t been a set day for production to begin. “We’re in development, so that means that we keep working and refining until we produce the script that is agreed upon. And then at that point, we try to go to shooting and go to air. It’s a process.”
Browder mentioned that he still has an interest in participating in the Farscape web series, but couldn’t offer any new information about its development.
And finally, Browder has made a preview trailer for an independent film named Freeze Frame that has been posted on YouTube (subject matter might be too intense for some).
According to Ben Browder Portal, “The story is about two vets. One from the Vietnam war and the other is a guilt stricken veteran of the Iraq war. One was considered a success and the other, a failure. Ben portrays a convict who, in a failed attempt at “suicide by cop”, went to prison for committing a robbery with an unloaded gun. The Vietnam vet makes an Academy Award winning documentary about the Iraqi vet. When he gets out of prison Ben’s character wants to kill the film maker who, as it turns out, also has a death wish.” Visit BBP for more information about the film which is to start production later this year.
Stargate star Claudia Black is portraying a new character in the second installment of the Uncharted PS3 game series, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (from Sony Entertainment’s Naughty Dog development franchise), according to her dedicated fan site, Claudia Black Online.
According to Naughty Dog, the Uncharted franchise’s 2007 debut on the PS3 has received worldwide critical acclaim for its “engaging storyline, solid gameplay and compelling visuals.” It stars Nolan North as the “irascible treasure hunter Nathan Drake.”
Black’s character is Chloe Frazer, “a tough but reckless treasure hunter who cooperates with Drake on his quest to unravel the mystery of Marco Polo’s missing fleet.” Like Black, Frazer is Australian, so expect to hear her wonderful accent in the game.
In an excerpt from Game Informer Magazine supplied by CBO, it appears that Black not only provided the voice for the character, but also her moves: “To act out the cinematics of the game, Naughty Dog performed full body motion capture on the characters and recorded extensive voiceover sessions on set as the actors delivered their scenes. Frequently, motion capture is completed separately from voiceovers, sometimes even by other actors. Naughty Dog went to the expense and difficulty of recording dialogue live to capture the real moment-to-moment chemistry between the actors.”
Here’s the premiere preview video (doesn’t include Black, though):
Uncharted 2 is expected to have a fourth quarter 2009 release.
When Stargate star Don S. Davis passed away in June last year, there were several of his final works that had not yet been released, the most notable and cherished of which was our very own Stargate: Continuum, which premiered on DVD and Blu-ray one month following his death on July 29, 2008. This weekend sees the debut of two of Davis’s unseen works, as well as the premiere of Continuum on Canadian television.
Coming to theaters this Friday, January 30, is The Uninvited, starring Emily Browning and Arielle Kebbel. IMDb’s synopsis for the movie reads, “Anna Rydell [Browning] returns home to her sister (and best friend) Alex [Kebbel] after a stint in a mental hospital, though her recovery is jeopardized thanks to her cruel stepmother, aloof father, and the presence of a ghost in their home.”
Davis played the character named Mr. Hensen. This movie is an American remake of the Korean Changhwa Hongryon (A Tale of Two Sisters). Check your local theater listings for show times.
From the Fangoria Online website comes this description of Wyvern, which is premiering this weekend on the SCI FI Channel: “Saturday, January 31 sees the debut of WYVERN, also airing later that night at 1 a.m. and Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. This one’s directed by Steven R. (IT WAITS) Monroe and stars Barry Corbin and X FILES vets Nick Chinlund and the late Don S. Davis, and concerns a wyvern (that’s fancy talk for “dragon”) that attacks an Alaskan town.”
And Stargate fans in Canada can catch Davis as the beloved George Hammond in the Stargate SG-1 movie Stargate: Continuum on the SPACE channel on Saturday, January 31, at 10 PM Eastern.
Continuum also sees the return of Season Ten’s regular cast, as well as of Richard Dean Anderson as Jack O’Neill. It’s a time travel adventure in which Ba’al, the last of the Goa’uld System Lords, has managed to wipe out the Stargate Program and gain domination over much of the galaxy by traveling back in time. His next target is Earth. What he doesn’t know is that SG-1 is in full kick-ass mode and is working to undo all of his grand schemes.
Stargate star Beau Bridges did an exclusive interview recently with MovieWeb.com concerning the DVD release of Max Payne on January 20. According to Brian Gallagher who posted the interview, “… the disc topped all three home video charts in its first week in release.”
The focus of the interview was Max Payne, but Gallagher also got a chance to talk with Bridges about his upcoming projects, as well as a possible return to the Stargate franchise:
MovieWeb: So is there any chance for any sort of a Stargate resurrection with you?
Beau Bridges: Well, I haven’t talked directly with those guys for awhile, but I know they have a new show coming out called Stargate Universe. They’ve got a complete new cast, but there has been talk, just rumors, that maybe they’ll have some of the Stargate SG-1 cast back, but I don’t know. I enjoyed doing that. I did that for two, three years, maybe almost four years with the movies that I did. It was a good experience and I wouldn’t mind at all going back and doing some more.
Movie Web: What can you tell us about some of your upcoming projects, like Don’t Fade Away, Dirty Politics, or anything else that you’re eyeing up or working on?
Beau Bridges: Yeah. I just finished my looping on Don’t Fade Away with Mischa Barton. It seems like it’s a pretty good movie. It has a chance to have some potential. I haven’t seen the whole thing yet. They haven’t locked it yet. Dirty Politics, I haven’t seen that one either. I just finished my looping on that, so it’ll be interesting to see how those films turn out. They should be out pretty soon. I just got through doing Desperate Housewives. That was fun. It was [their] 100th episode. That was fantastic. I really enjoyed that so much, because I know most of those ladies and they’re so talented. (Creator) Marc Cherry wrote a really great script, so it was fun.
Movie Web: Will you be returning to My Name Is Earl as well??
Beau Bridges: I’d like to. I don’t know how many more seasons Earl’s going to be going. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on that show because, maybe one of the reasons why is the lady who plays my wife, Nancy Lenehan, she’s in a series called Worst Week, so she’s kind of tied up in that. But I’d love to go on Earl. I’ve done a bunch of those now and they’re always fun.
Bridges concluded the interview with a thumbs-up rating for the movie, “I just think that it’s a good ride. All the action, which is at the heart of the video game, is very much there. I think it’s a wild ride and I think Mark Wahlberg won’t disappoint them as Max Payne. He’s an exciting actor to watch, both in psychological scenes and in the action, so I would recommend it to anyone.”
Warning — spoilers for possible cameo appearance in the SGU premiere below…
SciFiWire reports that Michael Shanks has been asked to reprise the role of Daniel Jackson in the pilot of Stargate Universe. From the article:
“I talked to [executive producer] Brad Wright a couple of weeks ago, and he asked me if I’d be interested in doing a cameo in the Universe pilot, and I of course said I would be,” Shanks said in an exclusive interview. “And there’s a great deal of talk about [it]. … They’ve got a script going and everything like that.”
Michael goes on to talk about what he’s heard about the next SG-1 movie as well, and confirms that he wants to be in the movie:
Shanks added that he hasn’t put Dr. Jackson away completely yet. “There will be a Stargate SG-1 movie [for DVD], probably filmed around the same time the [Stargate] Atlantis movie is filmed this coming summer,” he added. “So that’s all going to be going on.” [...]
The next SG-1 movie, “as far as I know, is pretty Rick-heavy [as in Richard Dean Anderson], pretty O’Neill [Anderson]-heavy,” Shanks said. “So I don’t know much more than that, but I will most definitely be involved in it.”
Given the premise of Universe, it seems likely Daniel would be there to see the ship and crew off on their mission, but would not go with them. Perhaps Daniel intends to go but is once again thwarted from a great adventure?
It appears no deals have been signed for either SG-1 or SGU, so stop back here for confirmation of this news.
In a recent interview with Pop Culture Zoo, Stargate star Amanda Tapping shared what it was like to return to the Stargate sets after fully immersing herself in the world of Sanctuary and how her show will be shown on Friday nights with the new series Stargate Universe.
On reprising her role as Col. Samantha Carter in the Stargate Atlantis series finale, “Enemy at the Gate”:
PCZ: So, the other thing that aired recently was the final episode of Stargate Atlantis. What was it like going back and shooting that?
AT: It was really hard, I have to be honest with you. Stargate has been my home for such a long time that jumping out of that nest was such a big, scary leap to make. I’m glad I did it, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is creatively I feel revitalized. But to go back with that crew, that wonderful crew and that cast – they were all [there] in the makeup trailer. It was weird and bittersweet because it was their last episode and it sort of didn’t make sense to me why it was ending. So, it was bit weird. I had gone off and done my own thing and now I was coming back and there was this sense of sadness about the place. It was hard. I mean, my car knows how to drive to Bridge Studios. I walked into Joe Mallozzi’s office and had such a lovely talk with him. Brad Wright and Rob Cooper came down before my last shot and gave me a hug. But it opens the door for movies and there’s a certainly a lot of talk about that. I would jump back into the army boots any day.
On honoring the late Don S. Davis and Carter’s role in the next Stargate SG-1 movie:
PCZ: My favorite part of the final episode was the little tribute to Don Davis and General Hammond. I think it speaks highly of the cast and crew that even in an episode where so much needs to get done, room is made to have a scene like that.
AT: Something had to be said that’s such a show of respect for an incredible man who…here come the tears…but something had to be said. I remember we were at Don Davis’ memorial and I was standing in his kitchen with his wife, Ruby, and Joe Mallozzi said “We’re naming the ship the General Hammond.” And we all just lost it. “Of course you are, thank you.” It’s a subtle, simple tribute, which is exactly – Don was a simple, beautiful man so that’s how they did it, it was lovely. You can’t overplay it, you’ve just got to say it. As an actor you wonder how you could possibly do justice to it. It one line and it’s so huge. So, it was just keeping it simple and lovely.
PCZ: Definitely a perfect moment at the right time. And it also takes Carter off in a new direction too. Hopefully we’ll get to explore that a little in the movies.
AT: I hope so!
On the second season shooting and premiere of Sanctuary and the series premiere of Stargate Universe:
PCZ: When do you start shooting?
AT: We’re still waiting on word, ideally the beginning of March so that we can deliver for early October. SCI FI wants us to air October 9th. We will run concurrently with Stargate Universe. I think they premiere with a two-hour episode and then the following week we will run together. Anyway, that’s the plan. We’ll hopefully start shooting at the beginning of March at the latest.
Stargate Universe will begin principal photography February 11. They’re scheduled to complete filming October 23 (according to the BC Film Commission). Based on what Tapping said, the new show will premiere Friday, October 2, most likely at 9 PM, with their two-hour opener “Air”, and return the following Friday, October 9, with the third part to “Air”. If Sanctuary keeps its first season timeslot, then SGU will probably take SGA’s old timeslot of 9 PM as a lead-in.
The Women In Film & Television Vancouver organization has announced their 2009 Spotlight Award™ winners and Stargate star Amanda Tapping was one of the honorees! Here’s a clipping of their announcement:
Vancouver, BC
Women In Film & Television Vancouver is thrilled to announce the winners of this year’s Spotlight Awards™. The Awards Gala will occur March 7, 2009 at the Vancity Theatre in Vancouver, a highlight of WIFTV’s 5-day Women In Film Festival 2009.
“As WIFTV celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year, it’s an honour and a privilege to celebrate such well-respected and talented women and men in our industry. This year’s winners are an incredibly inspiring group. Congratulations!” said Peggy Thompson, President of Women in Film & Television Vancouver.
The Spotlight Award™ winners, selected by a Jury of Board Members of WIFTV are:
[...]
Woman of Vision (Special Jury Prize) — Amanda Tapping, actor, director, and producer, for her ground-breaking work on Sanctuary and having the vision to grow the series from webcast to broadcast. Amanda is also a well-known mentor in the Vancouver film community and a great teller of women’s stories.
[...]
Established in 1988, The Spotlight Awards™ have brought together filmmakers, the film industry, government and media to celebrate the outstanding achievements of BC women and men in screen-based media. Conceived as an event to recognize and promote exceptional professionals in film and television, The Spotlight Awards™ are acknowledged today as one of the industry’s most prestigious accolades.
Since 1988, more than 100 remarkable people have received Spotlight Awards. Many of today’s outstanding filmmakers and industry leaders are past recipients of a Spotlight Award – a testament to women’s contributions to Canada’s entertainment community.
This year’s awards will be presented at a Gala Ceremony on March 7th, at the Vancity Theatre.
Congratulations to Amanda for this incredible honor!
[About the image: Amanda Tapping, executive producer and star of the SCI FI Channel's series "Sanctuary", takes part in a panel discussion at the NBC Universal summer 2008 media tour in Beverly Hills, California July 20, 2008. REUTERS/Fred Prouser (UNITED STATES)]
Another new character has been revealed in a casting call for Stargate Universe, the upcoming television series that is to begin principal photography February 11 (moved from February 4) starting with “Air”, the three-part series premiere being penned by co-creators Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright.
[COLONEL COLLINS] 35 – 40. Handsome. A born military man proud of himself with great faith in the chain of command. The intended leader of the expedition who plans to reclaim his place as commander regardless of what he must to do. Stubbornly confident and highly regarded by his superiors.sptv050769.. Supporting Lead. RECURRING. PLEASE SUBMIT HISPANIC ACTORS ONLY.
The audition sides for Collins reveal a whole lot of spoilers, so if you don’t want to know, STOP HERE!
A lot of the story is told in flashback, which makes putting together the order of events rather confusing, so keep that in mind when you read this interpretation:
SETTINGS: Icarus Base is the off-world base that houses the project researching the 9th chevron. Solutions has referred to this project as the Ninth Chevron Project in previous reports. Creative consultant Joseph Mallozzi mentioned the two main sets for the show recently in his weblog, “Another visit to the Destiny in Stage 4 and the Icarus Base in Stage 5 shows the sets are coming along nicely. The ship interiors are particularly impressive.”
AIR (2-part premiere) (Final Draft):
Previous spoilers indicated that Col. Everett Young (Justin Louis) was in temporary command of the Icarus Base. Apparently, the intended permanent commander is Col. Collins. Collins is in the Base to meet the visiting IOA (Camille Wray, not yet cast) and US government civilian authorities (Senator Hamilton [Walker?] and Chloe, not yet cast) when the Base comes under attack.
Collins, though, ends up on the Daedalus (The audition sides originally called for Col. Steven Caldwell to be present, but Collins was given Caldwell’s part in this one scene. Whether or not the ship remains the Deadalus or is a different Deadalus-class ship remains to be seen.) He is protecting the Icarus Base during this attack. Their immediate guess is that it is the Lucian Alliance who is attacking them, but that isn’t certain because the attackers hadn’t identified themselves. The Daedalus is up against at least three Goa’uld motherships, a troop transport, and a squadron of death gliders.
Young and his team man the Icarus Base battlement, which has several rail guns pointed toward the sky, while Collins leads his F-302 squadron in space. Unfortunately, the transport and several gliders get by in the space battle and head for the Base. Collins, in his 302, targets the transport, but is unable to stop it from landing. At least a thousand troops begin to exit the transport and march toward the Base. Collins radios Young to let him know that they are about to be overrun. At this point, Collins commands that all the people on the Base evacuate to Earth through the Stargate and that they’ll rendezvous there.
Apparently, this attack happens around the same time that Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) and Eli Wallace (David Blue) are trying to figure out what the 9th chevron is supposed to be. They’ve had the eight symbols for quite some time (it took two years to find the correct properties for the site of the Icarus Base), but the Point of Origin, or 9th chevron, remained an unknown. Rush believes the 9th chevron should be the one used for the Base, but Eli asserts that the 9th chevron should be Earth’s symbol because all of the symbols on the Stargate are the constellations as seen from Earth. Rush argues that the only viable power source that they found that could power the dialing of the 9th chevron is located on the planet that they’re on, not on Earth. Somehow, the results of this experiment and the sudden attack lead the entire base to evacuate to the Destiny rather than to Earth.
AIR PART 3 (Revised Writer’s Draft):
Collins is back on Earth and swaps bodies with Young via an Ancient communications stone, located in a communications lab at a Homeworld Security facility. There are guards standing nearby, and a person named Park is with Collins. The communications lab had previously interacted with Rush, who is stranded on the Destiny like Young is. Lieutenant Tamara Jon (”TJ”, formerly ranked at captain in the breakdowns) takes Collins and Park on a tour of the Destiny while they’re in Young’s and someone else’s bodies. Apparently, Young’s body was injured (possibly during the evacuation), but Collins insists on staying with his crew to help them in their situation, no matter how much pain he’s in.
Young, in Collins’ body back on Earth, is escorted to a low rent neighborhood apartment building. The reason for his visit there is not known, but he’s being escorted by Major Peterson, who is also acting as a liaison. They are there to meet a woman. (This scenario sounds very similar to that of Michael Smith’s in the previously-published audition sides and may be a rewrite. Smith visits his wife to tell her about his situation, but that he’ll do everything to get back home. Emily’s reaction indicates that she resents his secret assignment and is not going to wait for him.)
The stranded crew aboard the Destiny are desperately seeking a way to fix their air scrubbing system. They’ve sent a team to a desert planet to find lime, apparently an active ingredient in the compound the Ancients used. It is also possible that they are looking for an inhabitable new home if they can’t get the Destiny fixed.
More information about the show can be found at Stargate Universe guide in the Stargate Wiki. The Sci Fi Channel will be premiering the first two parts of “Air” in a two-hour movie in the Fall, and Part 3 will be shown later in the show’s regular hour timeslot.
The drafts used in the auditions don’t necessarily reflect the actual story, so spoilers are extremely subject to change as the episodes are in production.
Here is the first screenshot of the legendary SG-1 team, comprised of Col. Jack O’Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Major Samantha Carter, and Teal’c, as they will appear in Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment’s Stargate Worlds, the MMORPG expected to be released this year.
This notice was placed recently in the news section of the game’s official website:
While the rest of the world was working off their turkey hangover, we were …
… nose to the grindstone packing SG-1 goodness into Stargate Worlds! This is the first of several NPC shots we will be debuting exclusively right here on StargateWorlds.com, so keep coming back to see the old favorites and new faces that will bring the game to life.
This screenshot joins several others in the site’s Gallery. The developers added, “Be on the lookout early next week for the next image and a caption contest to go along with it.”
“This was a tragedy. The hero always dies at the end of a tragedy. It’s a dark story about a lonely man with a broken past who sees a chance to be a hero and possibly end his life-long pain,” writer and director Robert C. Cooper said of “Vegas”, the penultimate Stargate Atlantis episode, when he stopped by executive producer Joseph Mallozzi’s weblog to answer questions gathered by Mallozzi from his readers.
Cooper was quick to give credit to several others for their contribution in seeing his vision come to fruition. “I have to credit Charlie Cohen Executive VP of MGM for wanting to make the end of season five as special as it could be,” he started.
Part of the unique feel of “Vegas” is the location shoot done in the actual city. “We had a crew most of us had never worked with that had to be flown in from LA. Getting a casino property to agree to let us do what we wanted was a challenge as well. Planet Hollywood made it all possible.”
“Mike Banas cut this episode and deserves a huge amount of credit for how it came together. Surprisingly, this is the first time I’ve worked with Mike. He spent countless hours studying various techniques employed by CSI and a variety of other films and television shows. After he took a first crack, we worked very closely on getting things to where they ended up. His enthusiasm and editing artistry made this episode much better than it would have been without him.”
“James Robbins, our production designer and extraordinary artist, came up with much of the visual look. We always wanted them [the Wraith] to have a dark goth-like quality. We were amazed when we all looked back and realized that in five seasons we had never seen a wraith with his shirt off. We decided it was an opportunity to show subtle and not-so subtle differences,” Cooper answered when asked about the Wraith’s nippleless chest.
“Kerry McDowall our post-production co-ordinator put in a lot of extra time and effort negotiating the deals for the songs. I’m very grateful to her for that.” Acquiring the use of these songs helped bring the CSI-like mood to the episode, as well as the work of composer Joel Goldsmith, who wrote all of the other music, including that for the chase scene.
When asked “Did you use stock footage of the A10 Warthogs, or did the Air Force give you a fly by?” Cooper replied, “I guess that’s just how good the VFX department is. They were all CG.” The VXF department also added debris to the shoot-out scene at the end of the episode.
And finally, Cooper gave credit to the creative input of Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, and Robert Picardo that went into making the characters deeper and the story fuller.
The production team learned a lot during the making of this episode, and they want to carry that experience over into the new Stargate Universe. “Vegas was an experiment in many ways. It was an opportunity to break the mold and try something different. Universe will not follow the style of Vegas but it will most definitely be much different than previous Stargate series. The shooting style and use of more contemporary music are part of what will hopefully make Universe stand out.”
