Tag: Michael Shanks

Articles including content about actor Michael Shanks

More Info on Shanks Role in "Megasnake"

The official website for John T. Woods, actor in the horror movie Megasnake, has images and clips from the movie; both the clips and gallery feature co-star Michael Shanks.

The clips indicate that Michael’s character, Les, is a friend or perhaps half-brother of Woods’ character, Duff. In the clip the two go drinking together then exchange words and get into a fight. Duff accuses Les of being afraid to move out of his mother’s house, and tells Les he is going to “whip you like Dad never got to.”

Michael uses a distinct Southern U.S. accent for the role, and the movie appears to take place in a southern town, although it was filmed in Bulgaria.

There is no word yet on when it will air on the US Sci Fi Channel. See the IMDB entry for more information.

More Details on Shanks's Role on "24"

Michael Shanks’ publicist has provided more details on his upcoming role in FOX’s hit series 24 to MSOL. Michael will play “Michael Bishop” in a four-episode arc. He began filming his role this week!

The publicist has assured fans his filming schedule will not cause him to miss his appearance at the Creation Vancouver Stargate convention on March 24-25. He will be there.

SG-1 Movie Spoilers Begin to Emerge

IGN Interviews Michael Shanks

Spoilers for the two SG-1 movies (said to be direct-to-DVD) are starting to emerge. The latest comes from an interview conducted by IGN TV with Michael Shanks, published December 18, 2006.

Shanks qualifies these spoilers with, “Quite frankly that is as much as I know. I haven’t even talked to the guys about it. They told us these pitches in September, so I haven’t talked to anyone since then so that could’ve changed overnight, I have no idea.”

Movie 1: Robert Cooper’s Ori Story

Shanks stated, “As much as I know about the story, the first one Rob is writing and directing has to do with wrapping up the Ori storyline, which is the storyline that has taken prominence for the last two years of the show. I don’t know if he is going to wrap it up completely or bring it to some conclusion for the sake of the fans and the franchise, to bring that epic struggle to a close…I don’t know how he is going to do it in two hours but it will be pretty interesting to watch.”

Movie 2: Brad Wright’s Time Traveling Story

Shanks stated, “And Brad is writing one, as far as I know, is a bit more standalone that will involve some kind of time travel and has something to do with our main mustache twiddling villain Baal doing something in the past that alters…he basically finds a way to lift the stargate from Earth so the Stargate Program never happens, and I imagine the characters will have to go through some process to reset the clock and fix everything over the course of two hours.”

Other Details

  • The movies might be running about two hours each. It isn’t clear if this is the total running time (without commercials) or the time that they’d run if they were broadcast on television with commercials and without cuts.
  • Contract negotiations are just finishing up for the cast, but Shanks didn’t specify which actors would be in each of the movies.

The information about the movies is from the third page of the interview. Along with the previous two pages, Shanks discusses his Women of Sci-Fi Calendar co-produced with Christopher Judge, the cancellation of SG-1, the 200th episode, and what’s in store for the second half of S10 (spoilers), and reflects on his time with the cast and crew over their ten years of production.

Shanks speaks of unfounded rumour

The Michael Shanks-devoted site MSOL reports today:

Over the last few days there has been some speculation regarding a 3rd series in the Stargate franchise, and the reported news that Michael Shanks has been approached to star in the series.

We have just received confirmation from Michael via his publicist that the information regarding his reported involvement in the series is “completely unfounded and unsubstantiated. No one has contacted Michael with any such news/offerings/ideas, etc.”

As far as Michael is concerned, this is “just an unfounded rumor.”

Solutions naturally is extremely disappointed by this development. We’ve had a long relationship with a completely trusted source close to the production who has never led us astray. For example, we were the first site to ‘scoop’ the exploration of Arthurian mythology and the revelation of Merlin as an Ancient in Season 9. While others scoffed and impugned our integrity, Season 9 unfolded exactly as we predicted.

We had the assurance of our source that their comments were accurate. Their comments have always been accurate. We have the assurance, now, from Michael Shanks, that they were not accurate. Whatever’s happening behind the scenes, we no longer know.

Our apologies to one and all for this; we posted as we have always done, in good faith. The last thing we wanted for Daniel fans was an emotional high to be followed by a fall. We are deeply sorry for that.

Shanks approached to star in 3rd Stargate series!

SOLUTIONS EXCLUSIVE!

Popular fan site GateWorld reports today that a third Stargate spinoff series is in development at Bridge Studios, Vancouver.

From GateWorld:

“A production source informs GateWorld that the new series is in the concept phase, and is being actively worked on by the Vancouver creatives behind Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. No concept for the show has yet been revealed.

The third TV series is also not likely to be rushed into production for a 2007 premiere in order to replace SG-1, which takes its final bow with 10 new episodes this spring. Instead, a premiere in 2008 or later is more likely at this point.”

The Save Stargate SG1 campaign site previously reported that Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, showrunners for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, had withdrawn from those productions to concentrate on the two SG1 TV/DVD movies, contending that the Stargate ‘big guns’ could be involved in no less than the development of the long-rumoured third spinoff series.

In that report, the Save SG1 campaign site argued:

“They could afford to move over a cast member, a beloved character, or even two, but they need new blood – cheaper talent. That’s reality.”

Now Stargate SG1 Solutions can exclusively reveal that SG1’s Michael Shanks, who plays Dr. Daniel Jackson on the show, has already been approached to star in the third Stargate series! We were informed by a source close to the production that Shanks would be lead actor and Daniel Jackson the main character in the spinoff.

Fans of the actor and the character will be thrilled to note that Shanks was approached to star in the spinoff before the concept has even been firmed up!

There’s no word yet on whether Shanks will be accepting the role. The actor has proven savvy in the past, wanting to commit only to projects that have ‘legs’ and will be more than a one-season wonder, and is also protective of the character he portrays, having left the production for its 6th season when he felt Daniel was being under-utilised. He would be wise, however, to consider the cachet being a series lead would add to his resume for future projects. In the entertainment industry, lead naturally carries greater weight and status than second lead.

The many fans of the sizzling chemistry between Daniel Jackson and the roguish Vala Mal Doran, played by Claudia Black, will no doubt be gearing up to lobby The Powers That Be at Bridge Studios in Vancouver urging Wright and Cooper to secure Shanks and Black as their male and female leads.

SG1 leading lady Amanda Tapping will be moving across to sister production Atlantis as Samantha Carter for a yet to be confirmed number of episodes of its fourth season while actor and writer Christopher Judge is working on a pilot script.

Creation Con Burbank: Con Report

Better late than never, I hope, I’ve finally finished my lengthy and illustrated report on the November 16-19 Creation convention in Burbank, featuring Michael Shanks, David Hewlett, and many more! The report also covers the screening of David Hewlett’s film, A Dog’s Breakfast. You can read the report here in our Features section.

SG-1 and SGA Casting Updates/Spoilers

There were at least 3 Stargate-related conventions going on this weekend, and various bits of news came out of them related to casting of the remaining S10/S3 episodes, as well as upcoming SG-1 DVD movies and Season 4 of Atlantis.

  • N. John Smith confirmed at Collectormania in Manchester, UK, that Carson Beckett will disappear in the second half of Season 3, and that Paul McGillion won’t be a cast regular in Season 4. He did promise Beckett would return for some number of future episodes. This confirms rumors that have been floating for months, and fans have already started a campaign to make their objections to this change clear. Visit SaveCarsonBeckett.com for more info.
  • Amanda Tapping said at the GABIT convention in the UK that she will be appearing in “a few” episodes of Atlantis next year, but that it wouldn’t be a full-time role. Michael Shanks said at Creation Con that he has heard we will be seeing a familiar SG-1 face on Atlantis, but that it won’t be him. We assume he was referring to Tapping. Torri Higginson declined to give any details on who might be crossing over, but was supportive of the idea. She also said she had no idea what is in store for Weir in Season 4.
  • David Hewlett at Creation Con mentioned that Michael Beach, formerly of ER, has joined the cast of Atlantis, presumably as a recurring character. David used the term “has joined the cast”. His role in SGA is already listed in Beach’s wikipedia entry, but might be new to many fans. David said that Michael is very good a long passages of dialog. He will appear in Season 3, since he has already filmed at least one episode. It’s not known how many episodes he will be in.
  • Cliff Simon at Creation Burbank said he expects to reprise his role as Ba’al in at least one of the two SG-1 DVD movies.
  • Michael Shanks at Creation Burbank seemed quite committed to being in both movies, and in movies beyond that if the DVD’s sell well and MGM asks for more.

Visit our forum for brief snippets on the conventions from attendees, and stay tuned for a complete A Dog’s Breakfast Screening and Creation Burbank report.