Author: DeeKayP

Stargate Universe: Here and There

Stargate Universe Banner from MGM

Principal photography for Stargate Universe started February 18, 2009, with regular cast members Robert Carlyle and David Blue filming their first scene on Stage 3, home of the Daedalus-class starship set, the Travelers set, and the Midway Space Station. Consulting producer Joseph Mallozzi wrote in his weblog that while everyone else was on set, he was working in the production offices on his first SGU script, the first part to the mid-season two-parter.

Yesterday and today, however, the crew is on location. We don’t know exactly where, but Mallozzi reassured fans that there weren’t going to be any Vancouver forests in the first several episodes.

As a matter of fact, even though Mallozzi would like to share in the excitement of producing a brand new television show by publishing his pictures from the sets, MGM has asked him not to do that just yet. He took pictures of the Destiny set during its construction and could only leave these tantalizing hints: “So I was on the Destiny set Thursday and had to walk up the spiral staircase in order to get some video and snaps of the rotating gate. Holy Crap! We weren’t even that high up and I was clutching the handrail, my knees turned to jelly. All I could think was ‘There’s no way I could ever compete in The Amazing Race.’ Climb down the side of a building? Hell, why not just ask me to French kiss a komodo dragon?”

That’s all we’ve got thus far, unless you’d like to see a swatch of possible floor coverings that they were mulling over a few months ago. You really would? Visit Mallozzi’s November 20, 2008, entry for that sneak peek!

Mallozzi said that they’ve tried to increase security on the set by stamping everyone’s name on every page of their personal copies of the scripts. That won’t stop those of us with access to breakdowns or audition sides, he frets. Hey, it’s what we do.

So, to that end, if you’ve visited our main site recently, you’ve probably noticed that we have taken the extra steps of letting you know that we’re keeping a close watch on the spoilers for the upcoming season. You can find our treasure trove of info at the Stargate Universe Guide in our Wiki, accessible from our updated pull-down menu (and currently the subject of our “Features” box). We’ve created individual episode guides for each of the named episodes (the first seven), while the production notes for all unnamed episodes are still on the show’s main page there.

Enjoy!

Reminder: Shanks in "Burn Notice" Tonight (Feb 19)

Michael Shanks in Burn Notice Feb 19
Michael Shanks as Victor in Burn Notice
(NBC Universal)

Stargate star Michael Shanks makes his second of four appearances in the current season of USA’s Burn Notice as Michael Westen’s fellow burned spy Victor in tonight’s (February 19) episode, “Truth and Reconciliation”. Shanks told his official website that he’ll appear “briefly” in tonight’s episode, but his screentime will increase over the next two episodes.

Shanks was the subject of a question brought up to series creator and executive producer Matt Nix in a recent conference interview that was published by several websites, including Movie Web:

In season two, we saw Michael go up against some considerably darker adversaries than he faced in season one. I was wondering if, first, we would be seeing sort of like Tim Matheson or Michael Shanks reappear later in the serious and if even more sinister characters were going to start appearing.

Matt Nix: Yes. Yes to all. Well, I should say, Tim Matheson returns in season two in spectacular fashion as the director of the finale. He does not return. Larry doesn’t come back in season two. We definitely want to bring Larry back. We love Larry. But, you know, he’s a – nothing more to say than that we’re bringing him back in season three and not in season two.

And yes, Michael Shanks will be coming back and gets a chance to do some really, really fun things. And, you know, I guess I’d say, like, the fun thing about it is that – the fun thing about Burn Notice villains is they really all have to be smart. It’s no fun to see Michael wipe the floor with somebody who doesn’t have a good plan. I think our conception is always that, you know, presumably Michael dealing with those guys is just, you know, those are the cases Michael is taking that don’t get turned into episodes. You know, they’re just too easy, so we’re showing you the highlights. We’re showing you the really good ones where he’s up against somebody who’s really a worthy adversary. Yes, I mean, actually just thinking about this season, the second half of the season, you know, he goes up some real bad boys and some really, really smart guys, and encounters some smart women as well, so it’s really fun for us, actually, to think about who is – what’s a way of testing Michael, you know, who has now established as so competent. What’s something that we can – what’s a hoop of fire that we can have him jump through that’s even tougher? And so, yes, it’s not always about making the bad guys darker. Sometimes it’s about making them more concealed and with better plans or whatever. But, yes, it’s a lot of fun. We also bring back Seymour, who was in episode 2.07, played by Silas Weir Mitchell, the arms dealer, and we love that guy as well. He did a great job.

Catch Michael Shanks as Victor tonight (and the next two Thursday nights) at 10 pm on the USA Network, and let’s hope that by the end of the season, Victor survives to spy another day … in season three!

Nemec Filming "The Bollywood Boys" This Summer

Corin Nemec as Jonas Quinn (S6, MGM)
Corin Nemec as Jonas Quinn during
SG-1’s Sixth Season (MGM)

Stargate star Corin Nemec has made the news with his long-time friend David Faustino as they are set to co-star in a new movie to be filmed this summer. Here’s the press release from PR.com about The Bollywood Boys:

Faustino to Star in Bollywood Comedy
Former “Married With Children” star to play lead in “The Bollywood Boys.”

Los Angeles, CA, February 16, 2009 –(PR.com)– Fresh from his success on Sony’s new web series “Star-Ving”, David Faustino (Bud Bundy from the classic comedy series “Married With Children”) has committed to play the lead role in the feature film “The Bollywood Boys”. Joining him in the cast is longtime comedy buddy Corin Nemec (star of the Fox comedy series “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose”).

The movie, written and to be directed by James L. Bills, will be shot on various locations in Hollywood and feature American and Indian actors in both leading and supporting roles.

According to Producer Al Gomez (writer of the classic 80’s video game comedy “Joysticks”), “The Bollywood Boys” is the story of a couple of down on their luck Hollywood filmmakers, Tom Berrymore (Faustino) and Jerry Brightman (Nemec), who try to rekindle their dying careers by making the first Hollywood-Bollywood musical with the help of Mumbai mob money, and an aged, has-been, Bollywood star”.

Todd Bringewatt (Rules of the Game) of F.N.B. Entertainment joins Al Gomez as the producers of this hilariously offbeat comedy. Filming is slated to begin in the summer of 2009.

###

If you would like more information regarding “The Bollywood Boys”, please contact Media Relations (AGP) at 310-595-7846. To contact F.N.B. Entertainment, call Todd Bringewatt at 310-289-9894 or email info@fnberntertainment.com.

Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing Interviews Mallozzi

Joseph Mallozzi (MGM)

Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing conducted a phone interview with “Joseph Mallozzi, Consulting Producer of Stargate Universe, and Lou Anders, Editorial Director of Pyr, … to analyze how literary and media science fiction influence each other. Topics discussed include adaptations, the sophistication of new TV shows, fantasy literature, a Pyr title making cameos on Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, Joe’s book club, and much more.”

You can listen to the interview, which runs about 30 minutes, at the link above, or through this direct link to the MP3 file.

MGM: Stargate Hits the Road: Las Vegas

MGM has posted another behind-the-scenes video for the Stargate Atlantis episode “Vegas”. This time, they’re in Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada, playing poker and chasing Wraith.

Featuring writer/director/executive producer Robert C. Cooper and stunt coordinator James “Bam Bam” Bamford, the video provides a brief glimpse into the hectic schedule brought about by having only two days to film what would normally have taken a week.

Beau Bridges Wins a Grammy!

Beau Bridges and his Grammy
Beau Bridges and his Grammy

Stargate star Beau Bridges won his very first Grammy Award last night during the 51st Grammy Award Gala held in Los Angeles! He was nominated along with Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood for their work in Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth (about Global Warming) in the Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Story Telling) category.

Bridges was approached backstage and said, “What the hell can I say? Hack actor crashing the big music awards.”

Congratulations, Mr. Bridges!

[Image by Getty Images]

Carlyle Slated to Make "Ironclad" This Summer

Robert Carlyle

What will new Stargate star Robert Carlyle be doing this summer when he’s not filming the first season of Stargate Universe? He’ll be filming the movie Ironclad, according to the Hollywood Reporter:

BERLIN — ContentFilm International will test its mettle with “Ironclad,” a medieval action thriller staring James Purefoy the company will help co-finance and executive produce.

Robert Carlyle, Bob Hoskins and William Moseley have joined the cast, which include Paul Giamatti as a deceitful King John, Pete Postlethwaite, Lord Richard Attenborough, William Moseley, Colm Meany and Angus McFayden.

Based on a legendary story, “Ironclad” is set in 13th century England and tells the story of a formidable Knight Templar (Purefoy) and his “Magnificent Seven” who defended historic Rochester Castle against the tyrant, King John, and his mercenary army. Purefoy is playing the knight opposite Giamatti’s King John.

The film was initially to start production but got held up as financing fell through and came together again, this time with the aid of ContentFilm, which is selling the film at the Berlinale.

The film is eyeing a summer start and has also put together a crew consisting of Adam Greenberg (“T2”), editor Peter Amundson (“Hellboy”), veteran production designer Leslie Dilley (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”) with stunts by Richard Ryan (“The Dark Knight”).

English, Rick Benattar and Andrew Curtis of Mythic International Entertainment are producing while Glenn Kendrick Ackermann executive produces.

ContentFilm has “The Messenger,” starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson, in Competition in Berlin.

Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis both took about a month off during the summer (called the filming hiatus), so it’s very feasible for Carlyle to still be in all 20 episodes of SGU, even though he’s filming this movie far from Vancouver. In addition to Ironclad, Carlyle’s also attached to play the title role in a bio-pic about the Scottish psychiatrist Dr. Ronald David Laing later this year (perhaps after SGU has wrapped filming sometime around October 23).

Stargate Universe is scheduled to make its premiere on the Sci Fi Channel this fall. Based on what Amanda Tapping said in an interview recently, we’re looking at possibly an October 2 premiere date for the first two parts of the three-part opener “Air”.

Sci Fi Channel to Premiere SG-1 Movies

Several news outlets are reporting the spring premiere dates for the two DTV SG-1 movies, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum, on the SCI FI Channel in the US.

Mark your calendars:

If you can’t wait for these television premieres, both movies are currently on DVD and Blu-ray separately, but on March 3, they’ll be in a double-feature pack (choose from DVD or Blu-ray formats).