Tag: Michael Shanks

Articles including content about actor Michael Shanks

Sci Fi Weekly: Tapping, Shanks, Judge on Movies

SCI FI WEEKLY‘s Melissa Perenson has published short interviews with Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks, and Christopher Judge about their experiences in the ten years of Stargate SG-1 and what’s in store for their futures.

The three remaining original cast members also talked about the two direct-to-DVD movies briefly:

The Ark of Truth

What was originally going to be Season Eleven of Stargate SG-1, Stargate: The Ark of Truth closes the Ori storyline that was started in Season Nine. Written and directed by Robert C. Cooper, the movie is due to be released world-wide in the Spring of 2008.

Asked if she is happy with how the arc was closed, Tapping replied, “I am, actually, yeah, I am. Because I think it still had a human quality to it. It wasn’t just a blow-’em-up, shoot-’em-out … There was still a very human element to the story, so I am happy with how it ended.”

Shanks, however, didn’t seem to be as satisfied when he offered, “I don’t think there is a way to please everybody. We had a two-year arc of that particular aspect of the storyline, and to spend two hours trying to wrap it all up really quickly, I don’t think is going to please everybody. So it’s hard to say if it’s an apropos wrap-up to it. But I think it’s satisfying enough that we don’t have to leave it lingering. So it was satisfying that we finished the storyline, but Rob [Cooper] still had the presence of mind to write the characters going back up the ramp and ready to take on the next challenge, so to speak. So we can at least end with the aspect these characters are continuing to explore, and we can live on in the imagination of the viewer.”

Judge said that he couldn’t say anything about the movie, but did say, “It’s the closure for the Ori storyline. And it’s big, big, big. It’s a great conclusion for that arc. In a series, it would have taken three or four episodes to tell that story, and we were able to do it in one contained movie.”

Continuum

Brad Wright’s Continuum was directed by long-time Stargate director Martin Wood. The movie sets the stage for the new way of telling SG-1 stories as stand-alone adventures. There is already talk about more movies to come in this new format. Continuum is due for world-wide release on DVD in the Fall of 2008.

Tapping shared some of her experience filming in the Arctic with Ben Browder and concluded with, “I was giddy. It was fun. I had gotten up at 2:30 the last morning so I could see the northern lights, and it was unbelievable.”

Shanks wasn’t asked about Continuum, but Judge was, and he responded, “It was fun, it was fun. It was a fantastic story. But for us around here, fun is always job one. And a lot of it was the fact that Brad was actually on set every day. Over the years, no one’s really gotten to know Coop and Brad, ’cause they’ve been the guys locked up in the tower writing the stories. But to have them actually on set, and for people to see that they’re funny and engaging and human …”

To read the full interviews in which the three talk about their future involvement with the franchise and their non-Stargate projects, visit SCI FI WEEKLY: Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge look back on 10 thrilling years of Stargate SG-1.

Shanks Talks About New Movie "Mega Snake"

Mega Snake poster

SCI FI WIRE‘s Ian Spelling talked with Michael Shanks about his role in Sci Fi Channel’s new original movie Mega Snake, due to premiere on Saturday, August 25, at 9pm Eastern. Shanks filmed the movie in Bulgaria following the end of production of Stargate SG-1 last year.

“The title says it all,” Shanks said with a laugh during an interview. He added: “If you can believe it, it’s about a very large snake, and, believe it or not, there’s actually a realistic quotient to it.”

[…]

The movie is based on the real-life snake-handling religious cults in the American South, Shanks said. “The empowerment of this snake is representative of some sort of religious icon for them,” he added. “We actually watched some documentary footage of these people from the Deep South who go to these snake rituals, which was quite disturbing.”

Shanks’ character’s father was one of the priests of a snake cult and died from a snakebite. “My character has been scarred for life ever since from witnessing this and has a deathly fear of snakes,” Shanks said. “And, of course, the way the chain of unfortunate events happens, a giant snake starts attacking the town, and he must overcome his own fears to fight the horrible beast. … There were a few rubber snakes around for the early stages of it, and since then they’ve added the CGI.”

The computer-generated effects impressed Shanks, who played Dr. Daniel Jackson on SG-1 for 10 seasons. “It’s pretty sweet,” he said. “I will not jump on any kind of false bandwagon and claim that this is the most iconic piece of entertainment to ever hit the small screen, but it carries a certain entertainment value for these kinds of movies.”

Snake-handling religious organizations are not isolated to the Deep South. According to the Wikipedia: “Snake handling” article, there’s a church in Shanks’ hometown of Kamloops, British Columbia!

Mega Snake also features the debut of last year’s winner of the Sci Fi Channel’s competition Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, Matthew Atherton, aka “Feedback”. Visit Sci Fi’s Mega Snake homepage to see the movie’s poster and actor credits, as well as a streaming video promo.

Airings for the movie (from Sci Fi’s Schedulebot):

08/25/2007 09:00 PM
08/25/2007 01:00 AM
08/30/2007 07:00 PM

SG-1 Spoilers: Shanks on Daniel in the Movies

Massive Spoiler Warning

The following are from an interview with Micheal Shanks at Dreamwatch’s Total Sci Fi website. If you don’t want to know about Daniel in the two direct-to-DVD movies, then don’t read any further!

To read the full interview, visit Dreamwatch’s Total Sci Fi: Shanks for the memories.

The Ark of Truth

In the last few seasons, Daniel had been killed, ascended, and turned into a Prior. Have you been put through the wringer again in the movies?

In season 10, he confronts an Ancient directly, whereas before he would seek to negotiate and find the idealistic approach. This time, he confronts them and says, “You need our help as much as we need yours because after they are done with us, they are going to come after you. Helping us also means helping yourself.”

In The Arc of Truth, he gets another confrontation. You see him at his weakest, where he says, “Enough! Help us!” The way Daniel would have done things before, and the way he handles it in that situation, is much more confrontational. Going and talking to God and saying, “Why do you stand still, do nothing, and allow all this evil to happen” is a nice scene to play.

Continuum

In the last few seasons, Daniel had been killed, ascended, and turned into a Prior. Have you been put through the wringer again in the movies?

In the second one, Continuum, while I was doing 24, these guys went up to the Artic so I couldn’t come. Rats. As a result of that, the way the original script was written, that all the characters are walking through the Arctic, they couldn’t have that anymore. So Brad wrote something that justified Daniel not being there. The way he does that is there is water coming into this ship that they are in and it is sinking. Daniel steps in it, is going to lose a leg, and be without it for most of the film.

Brad asked me afterwards, “How do you feel about that?” and I went, “Oh, this is great. It gives me something very different to play with the character, where he’s thrust back into a changed reality with a missing leg and is forced to live his life as a normal civilian.” So we get to see more of a dark, bitter aspect of the character than we’ve seen before.

And it must have been a good opportunity to show a greater range…

Absolutely. And then the psychology of what goes into that…To be told to live your life missing a leg, as a normal civilian, can lead you down a dark path. The character has always been so idealistic and optimistic about things, so we see him go to a darker, bitterer place.

Did you have to do any research to realistically portray this alternate Daniel?

Yeah, my grandfather, who actually fought in World War II, had been missing a leg. He’s gone now, but as a kid, I remember thinking in terms of what he had to deal with on a daily basis. This was a really great opportunity to access those memories and bring some of that back.

Of course, I worked on the walk…It was a little bit tough, but we got through it. It was nice to play that realistic scenario as opposed to using your imagination and wrapping your mind around this possibility.

Was it hard to leave Daniel in such a dark place when he is usually so hopeful and optimistic?

Well, the good thing about that script is it is resolved. It doesn’t necessarily become an aspect of the character for a long term basis. That gets reset so it is a nice thing to play, and then you go back and play the character you’ve become attached to.

MSOL: Shanks in "Eureka" (Spoiler Update)

MSOL has posted an announcement that states that Michael Shanks has filmed an episode of the Sci Fi Channel original series Eureka and that this episode is scheduled to premiere Tuesday, September 25, at 9/8c. Lexa Doig, Shanks’s wife and Stargate‘s Dr. Carolyn Lam, also recently filmed an episode, but it is a different one and its premiere date is currently not known.

Eureka is currently the Sci Fi Channel’s highest-rated program, and stars Colin Ferguson as Sheriff Jack Carter who has to deal with a town full of “über-geniuses working on the next era of scientific achievement.” Sometimes, however, these scientists’ experiments don’t always go as planned.

EPISODE SPOILERS BELOW

ETA: According to Ron at spoilme, Shanks’s episode is entitled “All That Glitters…” in which Shanks plays “a surprisingly sexy artist” who “creates a metal statue that mysteriously turns into gold.” This episode was formerly entitled “The Alchemist” (or “Alchemy”, according to VisitEureka.net). Audition sides for the character Christopher Dactalos fit the description of Shanks’s character in these spoilers. Dactalos suspects that the statue’s mold that he created was used to forge the golden statue. When Carter goes to his studio to investigate, he finds Dactalos “charismatic” and a “sexy genius”, with the added thought, “Who knew?” 😉

Also according to VisitEureka.net, Doig’s episode title is “Maneater” and is to premiere September 18.

[Thanks to Ron, Prion, and Sue for the tip.]

SG-1 Cast: What They're Doing Now

S10 Cast of Stargate SG-1
Cast of Stargate SG-1 from Season Ten and the two direct-to-DVD movies.

Solutions has gathered together a few pieces of information from around the web concerning what the cast members of Stargate SG-1 are doing to further their careers and family lives now that the filming of the two direct-to-DVD movies has completed.

Ben Browder

Ben Browder did an interview at The Scifi World and talked about what he enjoys doing in his spare time:

Right now… and my interests do change over time… I’m into coaching youth football. Next year I hope to coach the polevaulters at the high school. I suppose it falls into the I like working with young people category. Teaching kids, helping them meet and exceed expectations, watching them grow in the process is infinitely fascinating. And as a parent, I believe that we have a duty to whole of the next generation, not just our own progeny.

He’s also been mentioned as starting up a project for the Sci Fi Channel in a Variety article about NBC Universal’s cable networks:

Sci Fi is developing the six-hour miniseries “Going Homer,” from “Farscape” alum Ben Browder and Andrew Prowse. Taken from the Odyssey, project will revolve around a 12-year-old, Homer Ulysses Jones, who sets off on a journey from L.A. to New York in order to escape a custody battle. Homer is able to see what others can’t: Greek and Roman gods are here on earth, walking among mortals. Some gods will aid his journey, while others will seek to kill him in order to prevent him from getting home.

Look for Ben to appear at the Comic Con in San Diego on the Stargate: The Ark of Truth panel on Friday, July 27.

Amanda Tapping

Amanda Tapping has not left the Stargate franchise as she has moved over to star in Stargate Atlantis in its fourth season, currently in production in Vancouver. Filming for the series will be resuming Monday after the cast’s “shooting hiatus”. Amanda is scheduled to appear in 14 out of the 20 episodes for the season as Col. Samantha Carter, the new commander of the Atlantis Base. Her first appearance in the show will be in its premiere, “Adrift” (spoilers), which will be shown for the first time in the world on the Sci Fi Channel on Friday, September 28, 2007.

Following the end of filming for the fourth season, Amanda will be working on her new on-line serial Sanctuary. She told The Scifi World that she hopes they’ll produce ten more hours starting in October. These ten hours, if produced, will translate into 40 new webisodes.

Look for Amanda to appear in both the Stargate panels at the Comic Con in San Diego on Friday, July 27.

Christopher Judge

Christopher Judge wrote a few episodes for Stargate SG-1 and appeared in the most episodes of any regular cast member during its 10-year run. He hasn’t left the franchise completely either, as he will make an appearance in the Stargate Atlantis fourth season episode, “Reunion” (spoilers). There’s also another cross-over episode coming up in the second half of the season that might give Christopher the opportunity to appear again, but the specific actor crossing over has not yet been identified by executive producer Joseph Mallozzi in his personal blog (spoilers galore).

As far as his own projects, in his farewell interview at the scifi.com website, Christopher stated this about his pilot, Rage of Angels, which was picked up for production by MGM:

I play Gabriel and Shanks plays Lucifer. We’re going a bit against type, I would think. [He smiles.] I wrote the pilot for it. It’s a very dark, sexy, violent show, and I think that’s probably what we’ll be doing next.

Additionally, fellow Stargate actor and writer David Hewlett mentioned Christopher in his blog recently:

Speaking of Judge, I’ve got to get the nerve up to ask him about the latest film role I’ve started writing for him…it’s a pretty different kind of thing for him, but I think he’d be amazing at it and really chew up the scenery…hoping he goes for it… rather than turning on me violently, squashing me like a bug and leaving my crumpled form in the gutter beside some lonely road…happy thoughts, happy thoughts…

This film might be Hewlett’s script Design of the Dead.

Look for Christopher to appear at the Comic Con in San Diego on the Stargate: The Ark of Truth panel on Friday, July 27.

Claudia Black

According to John Stone’s Blog at TVGuide.com, Claudia Black will be appearing in the premiere of NBC’s new dramatic series Life as Jennifer Conover, the remarried ex-wife of the show’s main character, Charlie Crews, played by Damian Lewis. NBC’s description of the show:

Meet Detective Charlie Crews. Behind him sit tough years of hard prison time for a crime he didn’t commit. Ahead of him lie the challenges of a world that’s moved on without him. Now it’s time to walk through the painful cobwebs of his past and re-enter the scorn-filled halls of a job he loves. It’s no easy task, especially when his reluctant new partner is as jaded as Dani Reese. Charlie’s appreciation for life’s details not only offers up unique insights into each crime, it reminds us of all the little things we take for granted.

Claudia is not mentioned as part of the regular cast, and according to The Futon Critic, her appearance in the first episode is incredibly brief, but there’s always a possibility that she’ll be playing a recurring character on the new show. Life is scheduled to premiere Wednesday, September 26, at 10pm Eastern on NBC (see NBC’s Fall Preview webpage for more information).

Beau Bridges

Beau Bridges filmed a pilot for FOX entitled Two Families, but the half-hour comedy was not picked up for the fall schedule. Beau plays a recurring role in the half-hour comedy, My Name Is Earl, which is shown on Thursdays at 8pm Eastern on NBC. In the upcoming season, Beau has been contacted to reappear as Earl’s father, as he mentioned along with his other project recently in an interview with The Scifi World (Stargate spoilers therein):

Well, I’ve done a number of these “My Name is Earl” shows. I play Earl’s father. It’s a half-hour comedy. And I’ll be doing some more of those. I have a movie coming out that I did with Misha Barton, called Don’t Fade Away. It’s about a father who is dying and his relationship with his son. And Misha plays my son’s girlfriend.

Beau can also be seen in the George Clooney movie The Good German.

Michael Shanks

Michael Shanks closed out his TVGuide.com Blog on June 21 as Stargate SG-1 ended its TV run on the Sci Fi Channel on June 22. Since that time, he’s been mentioned in various press articles and has been the subject of interviews in recent sci-fi magazines.

Look for his picture on the cover of Cult Times #142 (July 2007), as well as for an excerpt from his interview entitled “So Long and Shanks” at the magazine’s website. Included in the interview not published in the excerpt, Michael talks about his Sci Fi Channel movie Mega Snake, currently scheduled for its premiere on Saturday, August 25, at 9pm Eastern.

“Oddly enough, it is about a large snake,” he chuckles. “It could be a porn film. I need to clarify that every now and again. Apparently they’ve lost their imagination when it comes to titles; I always hoped that was a working title. It is about a giant snake and I play a paramedic in an Appalachian town who is forced to deal with this large snake running amuck.”

In Issue 17 of the Official Magazine (SG-1 Yearbook), Michael talks about taking time to be with his family, “I’m going to get to know the little pint sized things that live in my house, that I haven’t got to know — I’m going to be a dad for a while! I’m so ready for some family time and some ‘me’ time.”

Michael also is working with Christopher Judge in producing and starring in the pilot Rage of Angels, but there’s been no more new information about how that is going. And their production company’s “The Men of Sci Fi Calendar” appears to be on hold, awaiting their availability.

Look for Michael to appear at the Comic Con in San Diego on the Stargate: The Ark of Truth panel on Friday, July 27.

Sci Fi Wire: SG-1's Shanks Looks Ahead

SCI FI WIRE talked with Michael Shanks about the end of the TV run for Stargate SG-1 and about the upcoming direct-to-DVD movies, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum, both of which are now scheduled for a 2008 release.

About shooting the last scene for the series finale “Unending”, Shanks said, “It was great, but it didn’t change things that much, because we were still at the end of a long season, and everyone was quite tired and emotional, and we knew it was still the end of something. But we were very happy knowing there wasn’t a wrecking ball waiting outside or four guys with crowbars waiting to tear our stuff down, or we might have been far more emotional about it.”

[About the SG-1 sets, executive producer Joseph Mallozzi stated in his June 24 blog entry, “If Atlantis does get that fifth season pick-up, a decision will have to be made on the SG-1 standing sets. We won’t be able to keep all of them.”]

Concerning the movies, Shanks offered, “We knew [we] were going to come back and see each other. We knew we’d get a chance to play these characters, and that did take the curse off the last moment of walking through the gate.” But still, the end of the series was significant for them and Shanks added, “It was the end of an era for us, and we didn’t really know 100 percent what the movies would be or how it would all pan out.”

Read the interview at SCI FI WIRE.

Shanks Interviewed by TV Guide Network

Michael Shanks in TV Guide Network interview

Michael Shanks was interviewed on the TV Guide Network show “Watch This” recently (broadcast on June 21), and he shared that he felt “old and unemployed” after the show’s ten-year run was over. He talks about Daniel and Vala, teasing the audience with the possibility of seeing romance in the strange circumstances in which they find themselves in the show’s finale “Unending”. Shanks implied that he’s in “negotiations” about moving from his home in Canada, his “nest”, but didn’t go into details about what’s currently going on in his career. He did mention the DVD movies and answered a “fan” question about why the show no longer showed frost on the Stargate travelers when they arrived on the other side. Shanks teased that they found out that the substance was toxic! Clearly relaxed and enjoying his visit, Shanks smiled throughout the interview.

[Thanks to Parsifal for the clip.]

More Movies to Be Announced?

Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright have finished filming their two direct-to-DVD movies, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum, both currently in post-production and set for a fall release. Recent news from both producers and actors Michael Shanks and Amanda Tapping seem to point to more movies on the way, with an official announcement coming soon:

Robert C. Cooper

Source: SCI FI WIRE: “SG-1 Ends, Begins on DVD” by Melissa J. Perenson

SG-1 ran for 10 successful seasons. We’ve ended that run on SCI FI, and now we’re continuing the story with those characters. Our DVD packages sell so well that, if the movies sell as well as the series sells, it’s going to be a tremendous success. And MGM [which produces the series] will eagerly want more.

Brad Wright

Source: Solutions Blog: “SG-1 Spoilers: Wright Talks About ‘Continuum'”

I think the movies are at least going to have that hungry, receptive audience, and if they do very well, [then] there’s absolutely nothing wrong with continuing the franchise by doing a couple of movies a year.

Michael Shanks

Source: Michael Shanks’ TV Guide Blog: “Hatin'”

There is already talk of [doing] some more of these SG-1 movies, so keep your [fingers] crossed….

Amanda Tapping

Source: Sympatico@msn: “Goodbye ‘Stargate SG-1′” by Greg David:

TVG: Michael Shanks has said that it sounds like there will be more SG-1 movies. Are you hearing that too?

AT: Yeah, we’re hearing that. I think there will be an announcement soon, but it certainly looks that way. I think the formula is pretty successful, and our DVD sales — especially in Europe — do well. [It] makes sense to do them.

Keep up with the latest news on the SG-1 movies here at Solutions with our SG-1 Movie guides.

Shanks Closes His Blog As SG-1 Ends

Along with the airing of Stargate SG-1 series finale “Unending”, Michael Shanks has entered his final post at his TV Guide blog. He talks about how much the last ten years have meant to him, especially about the friendships he’s formed as the cast and crew produced over 200 episodes of ‘gating adventures.

He closes with “So, as we say goodbye, and move on to whatever happens next, I leave you with these borrowed words: “Life is too short.” I aim to really enjoy the rest of my years. Hopefully, as much as I’ve enjoyed the last 10.”

Read the full entry at: “Unending”.

Sci Fi Wire: SG-1's Shanks Retraces Steps

SCI FI WIRE talked with Michael Shanks about the last day of filming the show:

“One of the first things that Christopher and Amanda and I had done when we first showed up for the first season of the show was we walked up to where they were still building the SGC set,” Shanks said in an interview. “We walked up to where the briefing room was going to be, and we looked down at this huge set and this huge prop Stargate, and we all just sat there stunned. It was like, ‘Wow, this is real. They’re building this for us. This is the beginning of something amazing.'”

Shanks, Judge and Tapping returned to that same spot after shooting the last scene of the finale, which also happened to be the very last SG-1 scene to go before the camera. “So we made a point, at the very end, after we’d wrapped, of running back upstairs to that briefing room and taking a final look,” Shanks said. “It was bittersweet, but at the same time it was a nice way to bookend the emotional journey we’d been on for a decade.”

Shanks, Judge, and Tapping reprised their SG-1 roles in the two direct-to-video movies Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum, both currently in post-production and due to be released this fall.

To read the full article, visit SCI FI WIRE.