The Creation Stargate Convention in Los Angeles, California took place this past weekend, November 5-7. Below is a round-up of news to come out of the con, in particular related to upcoming work and on-screen appearances for actors Joe Flanigan and Michael Shanks. The other actors are busy with their current series, while Michael and Joe have a bunch of things in the works, and we know their fans always appreciate knowing when they can expect to see them in new roles.
Please also head on over to our gallery for a selection of close-up pictures of Joe Flanigan, Michael Shanks, Elyse Levesque, Brian J. Smith, and Chris Heyerdahl!
Joe Flanigan
Joe Flanigan’s 2-hour movie, a back-door pilot currently called Best Laid Plans, will air in the US on Fox on Saturday, January 8, 2011. The project is not yet in IMDB, but we’ll provide a link whenever that happens. Whether the show becomes a series or not depends partly on the ratings for the movie/pilot, and partly on negotiations between the production studio and Fox Network. What’s unusual is that the producers are Procter & Gamble and Walmart, in other words, major advertisers rather than traditional production studios. They won’t try to sell the show to the network, but rather buy the entire hour of advertising from Fox. If the parties can agree on terms, Joe will be the lead of the series, co-starring with Brooke White, a former American Idol contestant.
The sci-fi movie he worked on in Ireland, The Other Side , turned out to have a lot more comedy than was on the written page. Both Joe and the director decided it shouldn’t take itself too seriously. When they saw the cut, the network asked, “what is this? where is our movie” Joe had a blast doing it and feels it should be a lot better than Hewlett’s snow monkey movie. 🙂 There’s no word yet on what The Other Side might air.
The independent film Joe was in, A Good Day For It, is currently being screened in LA in hopes a distributor will sign on to market and release it.
Joe hasn’t heard anything about a Stargate Atlantis movie. He doesn’t understand why it hasn’t been made yet, given fan support. He spoke to someone involved with the company who has taken over MGM and encouraged them to realize the immense value of the overlooked Stargate franchise. He said, “I think what kind of destroyed the franchise, in some ways, was ego and vanity. When that element of ego and vanity that’s sitting there in the franchise right now gets pushed aside, I think the whole thing could be re-tooled. I think it’s the type of franchise that has years in it, and has lots of legs.”
Finally, the mini fan “campaign” to get Joe to play Jim Rockford in a Rockford Files reboot backfired in that the production and network got very annoyed by all of the emails clogging up their lines of communication. However, Joe thinks it was still a great thing to do, and he’s all for another fan campaign for him to play Nathan Drake in the movie adaptation of the video game Uncharted. Visit the link to add your voice to the IMDB message board for the movie!
Michael Shanks
Michael Shanks recently filmed an episode of Fox’s The Good Guys, called “Supercops“. As episode 18 of Season 1, it should be airing in very soon, perhaps as early as November 19, 2010, on Fox. Michael plays a jerk of a SWAT team leader, and producer Matt Nix told him he’s so good at it, he could make a career out of playing jerks.
He is currently filming another episode of Smallville, “Icarus”, which will be episode 11 of Season 10. It’s scheduled to air on The CW on December 10, 2010, according to IMDB. This time they’re using digital wings for him, and he’s hoping they’re more realistic looking, not to mention easier to manage on set. He appears as both Hawkman and Carter Hall in the episode.
Michael doesn’t know about release plans for the movie he filmed in Tasmania, Arctic Blast. After filming it and seeing some of it during looping, he hopes it doesn’t get released at all. (!) He was clearly disappointed in the filming experience versus what was in the script he signed on for. His exact quote was “Not quite Megasnake, but…”
He doesn’t know of an announced release date for Faces in the Crowd. He hasn’t yet done all of the necessary voice-over work for it, and he’ll have a better idea on release date after that. He said it is “sort of” an independent film. Asked if he enjoyed working with the lovely Milla Jovovich, he related that from the set one day, he texted a friend, “I just spent the morning in bed with Milla Jovovich. How was your day?” The same text to his wife, Lexa, didn’t go so well.
There you have the bulk of the news to come out of the con. Don’t forget to check out the gallery, in which a big zoom lens was used, perhaps in ways never intended by man. If you like super close-ups, have a look. 🙂
I’ve lost a lot of respect for Joe Flanigan since the cancellation. While his cast mates have acted professionally, he’s basically just thrown his toys out of the pram and whined about what’s gone on. And it’s not just that, with these comments he’s sabotaging the chances of the movie by creating bad blood like this. Makes me wonder if he wants to make it at all, perhaps he’s rather just milk the convention circuit and rile up the fans instead…
@Jenks If you TRULY believed that ‘creating bad blood’ really was ‘sabotaging the chances of a movie’ then how come you seem so focused on badmouthing Joe, but uninterested in previous snide comments aimed at him by Joe M, and at SGA and its fans by other Stargate Powers That Be. Fact is, you have an axe to grind because you are a franchise fan who can see that SGU is on the downward slide to the can. Obviously it is far easier for you to to lash out at Joe (just like Brad Wright chooses to blame SGA fans) rather than realise that not only are people just not motivated to tune in, but that those who did are drifting away. (And before you ask, yes, I’ve seen every episode of SGU.)
As for your cheap comments about him ‘milking the convention circuit’ I can only assume that you missed the reports of A Good Day For It. The Other Side and Change of Plans. You sound like a certain SGU mum lashing out false accusations of jealousy, unemployment and petulance because someone dares to speak their mind instead of pretending that everything in the franchise is rosy.
Joe’s comments come well into the second season of SGU at a time of poor rating and controversy caused by Brad Wright’s comments – just look at the fan discussion on several sites last week. Joe was not ‘throwing his toys out of the pram’ or unleashing some huge personal attack from nowhere, but contributing his opinion to the on-going debate about the fate of a franchise that he has put far more into than any current actor. Funny how those who call loudest for respect for the actors don’t seem to worry about respecting actors on the previous show… Seriously, whatever your feelings of frustration and anxiety (and having had my favourite show canned, I can empathise) SGU is hardly going to be tipped on its axis because Joe talks with fans about a topic the whole fandom is discussing!
Personally, I’m glad someone is still looking out for the SGA fans, speaks honestly and openly about the situation without blaming the fans, and recognises where the real power and problems are.
@Jenks May I politely disagree with you. Early on, Joe Flanigan encouraged SGA fans to give SGU a chance due to the respect he has for the actors and crew of of the series. He has always made his opinion of the producers’ decisions clear and continues to engage in dialogue about the problems within the franchise.
He does not blame the actors (former or present), crew (former or present), or fans (former or present). Nor does he single out any one producer/writer in the franchise. He speaks honestly and openly when asked his opinion. You may not agree with him, but I have a great deal of respect for his honesty and his refusal to lay the blame anywhere except with those who made the decisions in the first place.
He did not create the bad blood nor is he encouraging it. That comes from remarks made publicly by Brad Wright and Joe Mallozzi. Those remarks can be found on the web and were recently quoted in a number of articles about SGU’s current ratings failures.
As for the movies, Joe Mallozzi has made it clear that if the money were available for the movies, SGU would come first, SG1 second, and SGA a distant third. With MGM in bankruptcy, the likelihood of any of these films being made is vanishingly small.
Also, if Joe Flanigan is milking the convention circuit, then please explain to me what Michael Shanks, Elyse Levesque, Brian J. Smith, and Chris Heyerdahl were doing at the same convention. David Hewlett, Rachel Luttrell, Amanda Tapping, Robert Picardo, and a number of other Stargate alums have also appeared at recent cons as invited guests. Are they milking the con circuit too? Or because they are being “good franchise stars” they get a pass on earning income from public appearances?
Well, Jenks, I can see where you might have this viewpoint concerning Joe Flanigan. To me, he has shown the utmost in restraint in the years since the cancellation of SGA, when the creators/producers have consistently and repeatedly shown a marked degree of disrespect for the actors, the show, and the fans of SGA.
Flanigan’s comments here would seem to me to be partly in response to recent comments of Brad Wright in blaming the dismal ratings of SGU disgruntled SGA fans. Which is ludicrous. SGU has lost over a million viewers since it first aired last year. These were people that tuned in, didn’t enjoy what they were seeing, and left. Not people who never tuned in because of a some nefarious negative campaign engineered by the same SGA fans that the franchise management didn’t deem worthy to cultivate in the first place.
The negative comments by the franchise management have been ongoing ever since the simultaneous announcements of the cancellation of SGA and the green-light to SGU. Now that it has become apparent that SGU is in danger of cancellation, the franchise management is working hard to spin the numbers, lay blame elsewhere, and hold out the promise of mythical movies in hopes of retaining some sort of viewership instead of admitting that SGU was an experiment that largely failed to find its audience.
Actors get asked provocative questions at these conventions, often by people who want to know their thoughts on controversial subjects. I think Joe Flanigan’s increasing candor over the years is the ultimate proof that no one on that side of the camera believes there will be any movies.
Just a note from one who was there and heard his whole 90-min Q&A… Joe has great respect and passion for the franchise and wants it to continue, even if he’s not involved. He simply feels it’s failing due to current management, and by failing I believe he was referring to the poor ratings for SGU and high likelihood of its cancellation. Joe has a very business-savvy view of these things. He recognizes the potential of the fan base to bring in viewers, as perhaps others don’t.
Mea above is correct — based on Joe Mallozzi’s blog over the past year, there’s no activity on the SGA movie, and Joe M. doesn’t even appear interested in producing his script. Up until this week, that is, when both the SG1 and SGA movies were said to be dependent on SGU continuing. I think skepticism about that on all our parts is warranted.
I’m sorry that network were annoyed by all of the emails clogging up their lines of communication, but obviously they did the right thing when they ignored the fans–the new version of The Rockford Files is a great show, the most popular show currently on NBC, and isn’t it awesome that the actor who plays Rockford was picked to be People magazine’s #1 Sexiest Man!
Oh, wait…. actually, I believe the guy they picked to play Rockford was so mediocre, they tried to re-edit the pilot to give it some pizazz in the 11th hour. Everyone said the script was really good, but the actor had no screen presence. Oh, well. Nevermind.
Jenks, you’re a troll and I have to wonder if you’re a shill (or sockpuppet) for the SGU producers.
Apparently you’ve completely missed Joe Mallozzi badmouthing Joe Flanigan for YEARS. I don’t know why Mallozzi didn’t get fired for being so unprofessional to the LEAD ACTOR of their only show at the time, but it’s disgusting that he got away with his bad behavior. If there’s any bad blood between Joe Flanigan and the Stargate producers, it’s all on their parts.
As far as Joe Flanigan “milking the convention circuit”? How exactly has he been doing that when he’s worked on at least 4 other projects since SGA ended?
Elyse Levesque and Brian J. Smith, in addition to Alaina Huffman, Michael Shanks, Chris Heyerdahl, Torri Higginson, Rachel Luttrell and Paul McGillion have also made the rounds of this year’s conventions. David Hewlett made most of his appearances right alongside Joe Flanigan, yet you don’t accuse him of “milking the convention circuit”.
Whatever point you were trying to make, you failed.
Let’s keep it civil, now. No need to throw the “t” word around. 🙂 Not everyone is aware of every back-and-forth among the various parties, so each of us sees each quote in a different context…
@Jenks: Hello KEK from Gateworld, looks like you are upto your old tricks again. Good to know you you haven’t lost your touch in bad mouthing great actors and cast members, that got you banned from other forums. Since Michelle kindly asked not to throw the “T word” around, I wont. But if it walks like, talks like, and smells like, it’s gotta be a…
Having been shocked when I heard SGA was being canceled after having won the People’s Choice Award, for crying out loud, I find it refreshing that at least Joe Flanigan isn’t afraid to express his opinion with regards to fan questions. We never got a satisfactory explanation as to why SGA was really canceled, neither did the actors. Although you can put two and two together and come up with many fours. MGM couldn’t afford to have two Stargate shows running at the same time as it did before with SG-1 and SGA, so Brad and the powers that be decided to ax SGA just as it was hitting its stride and getting really interesting in the belief that fans would simply follow anything they threw out with the name ‘Stargate’ on it. ‘Vegas’ was a pure work of art that could have precluded numerous storylines, for example. SGU is simply a poor BSG wannabe. Why would fans want to watch SGU after SGA was betrayed and sacrificed so callously?
Joe Flanigan speaks for all Stargate fans who hate to see the franchise so terribly mismanaged. As others have said here, he is but one of many who invested a heck of a lot of time and energy into a show he obviously loves as much as the fans do. He has every right to answer fans questions as honestly and truthfully as he can and he has every right to express his opinion in reaction to the whining of Brad blaming the fans for the, hopefully, upcoming demise of SGU and Joe M. badmouthing Joe F. all this time.
The sad thing is, I doubt that the powers that be have the intelligence and foresight to learn from all of this and give the fans what they really want. Joe F. is smart enough to realize the fan base is still there, very strongly. I hope to God he really does come up with a new sci-fi series we can all gravitate to as he has at least shown he’s in touch with the fan base and wants to make them happy. And I hope he brings the other actors in with him. But…I still dream that someone among the powers that be will bring SGA back. I’d watch it in a heartbeat.
LOL I don’t really understand Jenks. Joe Flanigan always speaks his mind and speaks the truth. He has always showed his interest for the franchise for SGA for the SGA cast. He has always been involved in SGA bringing some ideas looking for some fund to produce the SGA movie speaking to MGM excutives to show them SGA is still out there DVDs market is still good for SGA. And by now telling he wants to contact new execs of Spyglass entertainnment to bring one chance to save the franchise with new team clearing egos and vanity.
Here I only see a man involved in a franchise to keep it alive.
You must be aware JoeM did so many damages against the franchise than Joe Flanigan. You must be aware JoeM treated so badly his lead actor for the past last years acting unprofessionaly when Joe Flanigan has always acted as a great professional. You must be aware SGA cast was badly treated by TPTB. You must be aware TPTB didn’t respect the contract signed.
JoeM is more interested in his ego when Joe Flanigan is only interested in SG and its quality.
All this moaning and groaning by MGM & Brad Wright is making me wonder if they realised that they made a huge mistake in cancelling SGA because they were blinded by the edgy Battlestar Galacticaesque idea of SGU rather than listen to the fans and go with what worked. Perhaps it is time to raise Atlantis again and fly back to Pegasus