Tag: David Hewlett

Flanigan, Hewlett, Picardo, Mallozzi on SGA S5

Season Five of Stargate Atlantis will return to the Sci Fi Channel on November 7, but in the meantime, there are a few interviews you can watch and read in which Atlantis stars Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, and Robert Picardo and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi make observations about what’s going on this season.

WARNING: Those who are adverse to spoilers should probably avoid the rest of this article.

MGM’s Official Stargate website has three video interviews:

Mallozzi’s interview with SFX Magazine has been excerpted in an article by David Bentley for the Coventry Telegraph in which the executive producer reveals that there will be “love, loss, betrayal, revenge, secrets revealed, exhilarating victories and crushing defeats”—and a “significant character death”—this season!

MGM Publishes SGA S5 Cast Close-Ups

The Official Stargate website published by MGM has begun a series of interviews featuring the main cast of Stargate Atlantis Season Five. So far, Rachel Luttrell, Robert Picardo, Jewel Staite, and David Hewlett have been featured:

MGM: Close Up: Rachel Luttrell (May 13) – “Teyla has faced many terrifying situations in her time as a part of the Atlantis crew: she’s been kidnapped by Michael, had her mind invaded by a Wraith Queen and faced an erupting volcano to name but a few. But this year, the Athosian has something a little more fundamentally challenging to deal with — becoming a parent.” …

MGM: Close Up: Robert Picardo (May 20) – “Robert Picardo is no stranger to science fiction television, having spent seven years playing the holographic Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager. He first made an impact on the Stargate universe back in Stargate SG-1’s seventh season, when Woolsey arrived at Stargate Command in the wake of Janet Fraiser’s death. It’s fair to say that the character didn’t endear himself to the SG-1 team — but Picardo obviously made himself popular with the show’s producers, because it wasn’t long before the one-off character was back for more. And from that point on, Richard Woolsey was on the road to character recovery.” …

MGM: Close Up: Jewel Staite (May 27) – “Having been introduced as Atlantis’new chief of medicine in season four, Doctor Jennifer Keller quickly established herself as an essential member of the crew — so much so that for season five, she returns as a regular. The addition continues Stargate’s tradition of adopting cast members from other respected science fiction franchises, since the role is played by actress Jewel Staite, who first became popular with audiences as Firefly’s bright and breezy mechanic, Kaylee.” …

MGM: Close Up: David Hewlett (June 3) – “David Hewlett, the actor behind the ever-irritating and indeed, irritated, Dr. Rodney McKay, is enjoying his first period of “down time” since filming on Stargate Atlantis’ fifth season began. According to Hewlett, McKay is having quite a time of it this year — and he’s happy to tell us all about it.” …

Be aware that there may be spoilers for Season Five episodes in these articles.

If the pattern continues, the next interview can be expected to be published on June 10.

Season Five is scheduled to premiere July 11 at 10pm ET/PT on the SCI FI Channel.

Hewlett's "Starcrossed": A Web-Based Series on Scifi.com

At their “upfront” event held today, the Sci Fi Channel announced its upcoming slate of offerings not only for their cable network, but also for their website http://www.scifi.com. Included in the list of web-based programming is Stargate star David Hewlett’s Starcrossed series.

The following was announced by Multichannel News: “Sci Fi is also buttressing its cyberspace presence with the fourth-quarter launch of a Web-exclusive series Starcrossed on Scifi.com. David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis) penned the series that takes a comical look at life behind the camera at a long-running science-fiction space soap.”

Starcrossed made a type of debut within Hewlett’s dark comedy A Dog’s Breakfast. Casting for the new web series, however, has not yet been announced.

To get further information on what Sci Fi plans to offer, including the backdoor pilot Caprica, a prequel to Battlestar Galactica, visit Multichannel News.

About.com Interviews David Hewlett

Dr. Rodney McKay on off-world mission

Mark Wilson has published a lengthy interview with Stargate Atlantis star David Hewlett in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of About.com. Hewlett discusses several aspects about his role as the “absolute arrogant jerk” Dr. Rodney McKay and states at the start of the five-page interview, “And my biggest concern was that they were going to soften him up, turn him into a nice guy all of a sudden. They’ve done a very good job of walking that fine line between making him — not more likable, but he’s sort of more understandable.”

Hewlett goes on to talk about McKay’s relationships with the women in his life — Katie Brown, Sam Carter, and Jennifer Keller — and how he is so clueless around them. “I’m really hoping it’s a defense mechanism. I think he’s in that interesting situation where as a scientist and a nerd he’s basically only ever objectified women. So to actually have to communicate with them — that’s the wonder of his relationship with Sam Carter, is that not only is she in his terms “hot,” but also just as smart as he is. He finds that both absolutely alluring and alarming at the same time.”

Dr. Rodney McKay in Atlantis

No interview about McKay would be complete without discussing his rapid-fire technobabble. “I’m a fast talker, and I’m getting help for that. But nerds — they don’t ponder their technical prowess, they rattle it off. Knowing a lot of nerds, and being one myself — I got into computers early, and I had a lot of friends who got much more into it than I ever did. And that’s what these guys are like, they just assume that everybody knows all this stuff. And if you don’t, then you’re an idiot.”

And speaking of fast talkers, Hewlett comments on the upcoming appearances of Michael Shanks as Dr. Daniel Jackson set for Season Five’s mid-season two-parter, “Yes! We can both talk unintelligibly fast at one another.” Wilson ponders why Shanks would return to the role after playing Daniel for so long, and Hewlett elaborates, “Well, Stargate is this strange kind of family-like environment here. I think that once you’re in the Stargate fold, it’s all good — and you’ll never get out. It’s kind of like some kind of sci-fi mafia, and just when you think you’re getting out they drag you back into the galaxy somewhere.”

Working with the Stargate family in other projects was also covered, especially when it comes to Christopher Judge. “I never get to actually work with these guys. Chris Judge shows up — I had to put Chris Judge in my movie [A Dog’s Breakfast], that was the only way to actually work with him. When he does an episode of Atlantis or I did an episode of SG-1, he was always in a wormhole or [I was] stuck in a jumper, we never got an actual scene together. Of course, now that I think about it, I’m not sure what McKay would have to say to Teal’c anyway — how well that would go down.”

Hewlett talks about the Season Four finale “The Last Man” and goes into what he’s doing now for Season Five (they’re filming the second episode “The Seed” at the time of the interview). “Well, what can I say about season 5. We get off to a pretty rocky start. All I can say is, we’re going to be having a lot of fun with Woolsey. There’s definitely going to be some interesting little fights for power there.”

In addition to working on a sequel to A Dog’s Breakfast, currently entitled A Dog’s Breakfast 2: Heir of the Dog, Hewlett is busy with other projects outside of Stargate. “There’s a couple of other features that I would like to get at least rough drafts sorted out in the near future. I would very much like to be shooting something. And again, we’re talking to Sci Fi about Starcrossed as well. I try to keep as many irons in the fire as possible, so there’s always something to jump to.”

To read the complete interview, visit About.com: Interview with David Hewlett by Mark Wilson.

SGA S4 Filming Wraps, Actors Find Projects

SGA Season Four Cast
Cast of Season Four of Stargate Atlantis

Introduction

It might seem a bit strange talking about the end of Season Four’s filming just as the episodes are starting to make their world premieres on the Sci Fi Channel, but it’s that time of year once again! Word still hasn’t come from Sci Fi about renewal for a fifth season, though, so whether or not the fond farewells the cast and crew bid each other on Friday, October 5, were to mark the end of a season of filming or the series as a whole remains to be seen. Executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi, looking back over the season’s development, stated in his personal blog, “I’m extremely satisfied with the end-product, and extremely satisfied with all of the hard work put in by the cast, crew, writers – pretty much everyone who stepped up and helped make this such a terrific year.”

As far as what everyone will be doing over the hiatus (the time between filming the seasons), here’s a quick run-down from what we’ve been able to gather from the Internet. If there are more, please add to them in the comment section for this blog entry. 🙂

Joseph Mallozzi

Season Four was the first for Joseph Mallozzi and long-time writing partner Paul Mullie as showrunners for the show. Since Mallozzi has been keeping his personal blog for about a year now, fans have had an exceptional peek into what goes behind such a position. It’s apparent from Mallozzi’s entries that he has many interests, including trying out various restaurants and reading science fiction novels. Concerning how he’ll be spending his time off, Mallozzi wrote, “Well, it really depends. If the show doesn’t get picked up, I’ll probably be working on pilot scripts are heading down to L.A. for meetings. If the show does get picked up, then we’ll be spinning stories and heading off to write – over the hiatus. So, time off in the long-term? No. Time off in the short-term? Sort of. I’m so exhausted that I think I’ll be sleeping straight through next week and well into word on the show’s fate.”

Joe Flanigan

Joe Flanigan will be making some convention appearances this month in Australia (October 13-14) and New Zealand (October 20-22). He revealed at the Comic Con in San Diego earlier this year that MGM has tapped him to star in the remake of the 1991 film Shattered, filming for which was last heard to be starting in November. According to IMDb, the tagline for the 1991 film was “A love he can’t forget. A murder he can’t remember.”

Amanda Tapping

Amanda Tapping has revealed in recent interviews that she’ll be making more webisodes for her on-line serial Sanctuary. She’s working with Stargate veterans Damian Kindler and Martin Wood to create another ten hours of entertainment, which equates to about 40 webisodes. Tapping said in a Sci Fi World interview, “Really, honestly, I just want to get Sanctuary up and going, that’s my main motivation right now.”

Rachel Luttrell

Rachel Luttrell is currently expecting her first child, so right now things are a bit quiet for her as she prepares for this momentous event. Her pregnancy was written into her character Teyla’s story arc for Season Four. Luttrell posted a note to her fans on her official website, “Another season has blown by. And it has been a wonderful one. I will endeavor to attend the party [wrap party held on September 29]…. but my first child may decide to make an appearance at any moment now. Exciting times!”

Jason Momoa

Jason Momoa is a new father! He and partner Lisa Bonet celebrated the birth of daughter Lola Iolani Momoa on July 21. According to one report, Momoa’s mother revealed more about the baby girl: “The middle name means royal hawk, and was chosen as there were hawks flying around [overhead] during the birth. The baby has ‘long legs, lots of black hair, and her lips are the perfect shape.'”

Momoa’s family means a lot to him, as he recently got a large tattoo that represents his family crest on his left forearm that the producers covered for “Adrift” and “Lifeline”, but will reveal in “Reunion”. Momoa gave Flanigan a new guitar at the end of filming for Season Four that is decorated with the same pattern. Fans can see the guitar in a picture Joseph Mallozzi posted in his blog entry for October 1.

David Hewlett

David Hewlett saw his independent film A Dog’s Breakfast distributed on DVD on September 18 (see Solutions Blog story on the release). He’s already working on his next movie’s script, Design of the Dead, which Hewlett talked about in an interview at Eclipse Magazine: “I loved Evil Dead; I loved Fright Night. It’s just that I loved that kind of stuff. And then, strangely, I’m a fan of these Home & Garden kind of home renovation shows. In this bid to become kind of the Martha Stewart of horror, I’ve combined the two. It’s about a design show that goes into this house to give it a new life, and it ends up waking the dead. It’s a lot of fun to write. I’m halfway through it now, so we’ll see how much time I get to sit down and write the rest of it. Right now it’s called Design of the Dead. It just seems in keeping with the Romero films, and the obvious likeness would be Shaun of the Dead, as well. That was sort of an honest appreciation of zombie films — and I just want to make a funny one.”

Hewlett had also said in his blog that he was writing a part in the movie for Christopher Judge.

Hewlett and his partner Jane Loughman are expecting their first child very soon. While waiting, Hewlett quickly noted in his Twitter recently, “Baby really taking its time…going to do this “Helen” movie next week now!” This movie stars Ashley Judd and is scheduled to film from October 9 to December 11 in Vancouver.

Jewel Staite

Jewel Staite recently finished filming some scenes in Panama for her new movie The Tribe. In a recent interview at SCI FI WIRE, Staite revealed a little more about the film: “It’s basically about a girl who starts off as being very meek and kind of subservient and scared about life in general and then really has to step up to the plate and become the leader, become the alpha in the situation. So it was really fun to play. It was a really complex character, and, yeah, it should be coming out next summer.”

In her latest MySpace blog entry, Staite answered a few questions from her fans, one being about the roles she chooses to play: “I love that I get these smart women roles, but it’s also fun to play the helpless victim sometimes, when it’s written well. What’s really great is someone who starts out as helpless and grows into the hero. Or superhero. That flies. And kicks ass.”

Staite is scheduled to appear at the Collectormania 12 Convention in Milton Keynes, England (October 26-28).

Season Four Continues…

Season Four of Stargate Atlantis continues on the Sci Fi Channel on Friday, October 12, at 10pm Eastern, with “Reunion”.

"A Dog's Breakfast" on DVD Today

A Dog's Breakfast DVD Menu

David Hewlett’s long-anticipated independent movie, A Dog’s Breakfast was released on DVD for Region 1 (North America) today. It’s available at Amazon.com as well as Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, and other major retailers, for about $17 US. It’s also available for rent at Netflix. The film features David of course, Kate Hewlett, Paul McGillion, Rachel Luttrell, and Chris Judge, all of Stargate fame.

In addition to the very enjoyable film, a rather dark comedy that the whole family can watch, there are lots of extras on the DVD, which has great packaging and fun menus. The extras include:

  • Audio Commentary by David Hewlett, Jane Loughman, John Lenic, Mars, and David’s Mother
  • Cooking up “A Dog’s Breakfast” (how it came to be)
  • The Cast
  • The Shoot
  • The Film and the Fans (a tribute to the fans who helped market the film)
  • Deleted Scenes

Go buy the DVD, give it 5 stars at Netflix, etc! The actors who will get paid from the profits will thank you. 🙂

Sci Fi Wire: Hewlett's "Breakfast" Sells Best

A DogSCI FI WIRE has an article on Stargate Atlantis‘s David Hewlett’s independent movie being distributed by MGM, A Dog’s Breakfast:

Stargate Atlantis star David Hewlett’s black comedy film A Dog’s Breakfast, which marks his directorial debut, broke into the top 20 DVD sales on Amazon.com, where it went on sale last week. The site is now taking preorders for the straight-to-DVD film, which will be released on Sept. 18.

A Dog’s Breakfast also ranked in the top 10 on the retail site’s Movers and Shakers list.

Hewlett, who plays Atlantis‘ prickly genius Rodney McKay, wrote and directed A Dog’s Breakfast, which centers on squabbling siblings Patrick and Marilyn, who are driven over the edge when Marilyn brings home her new TV-star fiance from the space soap opera Starcrossed.

In addition to Hewlett, the movie features Atlantis co-stars Rachel Luttrell (Teyla) and Paul McGillion (Dr. Beckett), as well as Stargate SG-1 star Christopher Judge (Teal’c). The film’s crew includes Stargate producer John G. Lenic, cinematographer Jim Menard and an amalgamation of the Atlantis and SG-1 shooting crews. The cast also includes Amanda Byram. Hewlett is also working with his real-life partner, producer Jane Loughman, and his sister, actress Kate Hewlett.

To read more about the film, visit its official website at: A Dog’s Breakfast Movie Home Page.

Canada's "The Province" Visits the Stargates

Reporters were invited to Bridge Studios last week and were given a tour of the sets for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Several of the actors from both shows also got some time in with the reporters, and the some of the cast of SG-1 shared what they’ll be doing now that the two movies have completed filming.

Stargate secrets revealed at last

In this article by Frank ‘Teal’c’ Luba, readers are given a brief description of the various departments and sets involved with the shows’ production. Of course, the tour began in the ‘Gate Room at Stargate Command, and then proceeded through General Landry’s office (decorated with Beau Bridges’ family photos), Atlantis’ Gate Room, puddle jumpers, and the set for Stargate: Continuum (spoilery comments, so beware!). Luba also visits the in-house special effects, set decoration, and props departments.

Luba also mentions Andee Frizzell while she’s being made to look like a Wraith Queen, Jason Momoa as he plays his electric guitar in his trailer, and Joe Flanigan as he zooms by on his skateboard.

Visit Canada.com for the full story.

Stargate cast members ready for new portals

In this article, Frank Luba shares some of his time with the cast of Stargate SG-1 and determines what each will be doing after the filming of Stargate: Continuum completes:

  • Amanda Tapping – She’s now a regular cast member of Stargate Atlantis and comments on the pressure she feels to continue the franchise.
  • Christopher Judge and Michael Shanks – Judge has written a pilot for MGM called “Rage of Angels” that is about “Archangel Michael dying on Earth” and in which Shanks will play Lucifer. There’s the possiblity that the pilot will be shot in British Columbia.
  • Ben Browder – He plans to spend more time with his family after only seeing them for 15 hours during the last five weeks. He might be coaching football and high school pole vault.

As far as Stargate Atlantis stars go, David Hewlett is writing a movie script called “Design of the Dead”, and Luba comments on how the writers cleverly worked around Rachel Luttrell’s pregnancy.

To read the complete article, visit Canada.com.

[Thanks to PG15 for the tip.]

"A Dog's Breakfast" Premieres in San Jose, CA

A Mini-Report from Your Solutions Reporter

5 Mar 07: Edited with bits about Sunday’s showing.

David Hewlett and partner and fiancée Jane Loughman were on hand Saturday night for the first of three showings of their movie, “A Dog’s Breakfast,” which is an invited entry to the 2007 San Jose Cinequest Film Festival (Cinequest.org). The weather was lovely and so was the event!

The lower level of the 500+ seat theater was about 80% full, and the crowd was very diverse, ranging from hardcore Stargate/Hewlett fans to Film Festival pass holders who seemed completely unfamiliar with the film or its actors. I brought along a friend who’s a big Atlantis fan but not involved in on-line fandom at all, so he is somewhere in between.

David and Jane arrived just as people were filing into the theater. They said “hi” to anyone who noticed them standing in the lobby and then later at the rear of the theater. The Cinequest rep announced David was in the audience and would do a Q&A after the movie, which was very welcome news.

Then, the film began… For myself if was very interesting to see it a second time. There were so many things to notice in the plot twists and performances that led up logically to the conclusion, things that become more clear once you’ve seen the ending. I would say the audience was not quite as responsive as the all-fan crowd in Los Angeles had been, yet clearly the attendees were engaged and laughed very often. The people around me enjoyed it; even the older woman who was chatting in Mandarin with her family during quiet parts laughed out loud many times. 🙂

There was rousing applause as the credits rolled, then David and Jane came down to the front of the theater and answered a few questions about making the film. Someone asked about the Starcrossed series they are trying to sell to NBC Universal/Sci Fi, and Jane explained how many steps still remain before it could become a series. Sci Fi has to approve the pilot script to be filmed, then approve more scripts to be written, then approve them to be filmed, etc, etc. So its production is by no means a done deal.

After the short Q&A, the audience was ushered out, but David and Jane kindly stopped in the lobby to chat, take photos, and sign autographs for the 50 or so fans who stuck around. David was in great spirits, giving everyone a hard time as usual while Jane was her friendly and gracious self. I asked David how filming of Rob Cooper’s Atlantis episode “Doppelganger” is going, and he said it’s going very well and that Cooper is great fun to have as a director because he’s so enthusiastic about it.

After 40 minutes or so, David and Jane were able to make their way out of the theater and into the quiet streets of San Jose, hopefully to get some rest before doing it all again on Sunday. I hope they were pleased at both the turn-out and response to the movie, which were both excellent!

On Sunday afternoon I returned with a different friend who knows nothing about Stargate except what’s on the SG-1 poster in my office. This time the crowd was a bit smaller, perhaps 150 people in all. After we were all seated, David and Jane went to the front of the theater for what was announced as a short Q&A before the movie. David said they had to head back to Vancouver in time for filming on Monday morning, so they wouldn’t be able to stay for the screening. He did volunteer to answer questions if he could do so without spoiling the film. 🙂 He talked about how he found out he loves being a director, that making the movie has changed both their lives, and that his main regret was he didn’t slow down and take things a bit easier during filming of ADB. He said Jane at times had to remind him he had time to do the scene right instead of quickly. He also encouraged any budding filmmakers in the audience to use modern technology and distribution channels to go for it, to just get out there and make movies. A woman then gave him a CD of a movie she had made, and he was pleased to take it. After a few questions, David and Jane reluctantly made their way out of the theater.

It was interesting to see the movie for the second time in as many days in that I could listen for audience reaction and notice little things that popped out at me still for the first time. There were quite a few laughs and some moments of “concern” in the audience, ending again with a good round of applause. My friend proclaimed a “funny and intelligent” movie, and “inexpensive”, the latter not being an insult in his mind. For a non-fan to like it so much speaks volumes, I think.

I’m very glad I got to be there on Saturday night since that was the only chance to interact with David and Jane.  But it was very generous of them to fly down for the screenings at all, as that added so much to the experience. Both the volunteers running the festival and the attendees who had no idea David would be there seemed charmed by the whole thing.

Hewlett's "Starcrossed" Slated for SciFi Channel

From the team that brought you A Dog’s Breakfast

SCI FI Wire has listed some of the new projects that the Sci Fi Channel has slated for production this year. One of the new programs is Starcrossed, named after the science fiction show depicted in David Hewlett’s independent film A Dog’s Breakfast.

Here’s how the show was described by SCI FI Wire:

Starcrossed, from executive producers Jane Loughman and John G. Lenic, is a half-hour comedy starring David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis), who will draw from his own experiences for stories that go behind the scenes of a long-running space opera.

In the full Sci Fi Channel press release, the show is described more fully:

Starcrossed

In the tradition of The Larry Sanders Show, Starcrossed, a high touch, high-tech comedy, obliterates the fourth wall with its behind-the-scenes antics. Throwing in a bitter dose of Galaxy Quest cynicism for good measure, David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis) will draw on his own experiences to pen this quirky half-hour about life behind the camera at a long-running sci-fi space soap. Jane Loughman and John G. Lenic are serving as executive producers, with NBC Universal Television Studio on board as the production entity.

To read more about other projects slated by the Sci Fi Channel, visit SCI FI Wire.

The Sci Fi Channel press release is printed here at TheFutonCritic.com.