Diamond Strawberry and Cisco Rosado (Photo Courtesy of VH1)
VH1 has set a December 15, 2014 return date for the fifth season of Love & Hip Hop: New York which will feature a mix of new cast members as well as the return of some fan favorites. The series focuses on hip-hop hopefuls who are following their dreams, focusing on the music careers and personal lives of the show’s cast.
Here are the details on who fans of Love & Hip Hop will be following in this upcoming season five, courtesy of VH1:
Love & Hip Hop: New York New Cast Members:
Chink Santana is a talented music producer who has worked with artists such as Ashanti and Keyshia Cole. His girlfriend, Chrissy Crastanda, would like to solidify their relationship, but Chink’s commitment to his family and work may prevent them from moving forward.
Chrissy Crastanda is a NYC socialite and owner of a modeling agency. She is ready to start a family with her boyfriend Chink but his other commitments and delayed divorce are putting her wishes on hold.
Cisco Rosado is a well-known producer who has worked with Tank, Jim Jones, and Uncle Murder. His “don’t ask, don’t tell” relationship with his girlfriend, Diamond Strawberry, takes a turn for the worst when she decides to move to NY to be closer to him and later finds out he has been dishonest.
Diamond Strawberry, daughter of New York Mets outfielder Daryl Strawberry, has moved to NY from L.A. to start her career as a model and build her relationship with her boyfriend Cisco, but her decision backfires when she finds out her boyfriend has betrayed her.
Precious Paris, formerly signed to 50 Cent’s label G-UNIT, recently signed a management deal with Dollaz Unlimited. But when another artist is added to her manager’s roster, she is disappointed to find out that she may be sharing her spotlight.
Returning Fan Favorites:
Yandy Smith has her family back – Mendeecees is home and ready to rebuild his life. The couple is expecting a daughter and are raising their son together but with his pending trial looming over their heads, will it jeopardize their happily ever after?
Peter Gunz continues to struggle managing his love triangle with his wife, Amina, and his longtime girlfriend, Tara. Now, Amina and Tara are turning the tables on Peter, and secrets that were still in the dark will be brought to light.
Erica Mena has recently gotten engaged and has begun to make her way as an entrepreneur, but will she be able to keep it together if her ex-girlfriend Cyn Santana teams up with her ex-lover Rich Dollaz?
Rich Dollaz is infamous for blurring the lines of business and pleasure, and now he has found his way in between two new female artists. Will he be able to overcome his temptation, stick to business and make them stars?
The dance competition series So You Think You Can Dance has been given a 12th season order by Fox. Season 12 will debut next summer with a new ‘Stage vs Street’ twist which, according to series co-creator Nigel Lythgoe, will make it even more difficult and demanding for the dancers.
“So You Think You Can Dance is a rare jewel. It combines high art with mass entertainment in a seamless, sophisticated and hugely satisfying way,” said Simon Andreae, Executive Vice President, Alternative Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company, announcing the renewal. “It’s produced and consumed with tremendous passion and it’s developed one of the most deservedly loyal followings in all of unscripted television. We are immensely proud to be returning it to the schedule with a thrilling new twist that will bring it up to date and introduce a whole new set of rooting opportunities.”
Here’s the details on the new Stage vs Street format that will be put into place beginning with season 12:
Throughout the auditions, the dancers who advance will be placed into two teams – the STAGE dancers, featuring those trained in styles such as contemporary, ballet, jazz or tap; and the STREET dancers, hopefuls skilled in hip-hop, animation or breaking. As the auditions continue, the judges, along with each team’s All-Star Mentor, will eliminate dancers until only the Top 20 – 10 Street Dancers and 10 Stage Dancers – remain. When the competition goes “live,” the Top 20 will be challenged weekly to perform a variety of styles, working with world-renowned choreographers. One dancer from each genre will be eliminated each week leading up to the Season Finale. Who will win…a dancer from the stage or the street?
HBO’s confirmed they’re definitely moving forward on a Westworld series inspired by Michael Crichton’s Westworld film. The one hour drama will be written, directed, and executive produced by Jonathan Nolan, brother of Christopher and co-writer of Interstellar, The Prestige, and The Dark Knight Rises. Writer Lisa Joy is also on board as an executive producer along with J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk.
The original 1973 sci-fi Western starred Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, and James Brolin. The HBO series has Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Miranda Otto, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan, and Simon Quarterman attached to star.
HBO’s released this official description of the series: “Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.”
Constantine‘s executive producers David S. Goyer (the Dark Knight trilogy, Da Vinci’s Demons) and Daniel Cerone promise the NBC series will continue to be accessible to both fans of the source material as well as those who’ve never heard of the character John Constantine. Cerone and Goyer realize it’s a fine line they have to walk, but with Constantine they believe they’ve found the right approach to the material. Teamed up for a conference call to discuss season one, Goyer and Cerone explained their approach to laying out the story and their plans for introducing more characters from the comics into the series.
Daniel Cerone and David S. Goyer Constantine Interview
What made this the right time and the right platform to be involved in a Constantine project?
David S. Goyer: “The genesis of the project is that I had a meeting with Warner Bros. Television. This is sort of right after Man of Steel had come out and they asked if I would be interested in doing a television show based on a DC property. And so we just started having a general conversation about which one made most sense.
I asked about John Constantine. I’ve always been a huge fan. I was reading Swamp Thing when he was introduced. And, in fact, I have a letter printed in one of the early issues that he was introduced as a fan, I think when I was in high school or something like that. And there were some sort of legal things to sort out initially and then we start talking about other characters. But eventually Constantine became free and I was really excited.
And the reason for why is the right time, I’ve done, obviously, The Dark Knight films [to] Superman, but one of the reasons why I always like John Constantine is he didn’t have superpowers, he didn’t have a costume. So it was refreshing for me to tell a story about an antihero as opposed to a hero. He is someone who was really damaged and I just feel like he’s one of the great characters of modern literature and it was a different change of pace, you know?”
What can you tell us as far as how far are we going to go into the Constantine mythos early on?
Daniel Cerone: “We’re digging as deeply into the Constantine mythos as we possibly can. I mean, in fact, it really is inspiring much of our storytelling. […] ‘Feast of Friends,’ that’s a story that’s literally ripped from the pages of Hellblazer. It is the first story from the Hellblazer issue and it brings back Gary Lester, who is one of John’s friends from Newcastle. It’s a fantastic story that translated so well to screen and […] ‘Feast of Friends’ it’s our show at its pinnacle and it just sort of really kind of set a bar of everything that we hope this show can be and can do.
But in a broader sense, over the course of the season – we’re breaking up 17 right now and we have a fantastic ride ahead. Before the end of the season, you’re going to meet and get to know every one of John’s friends from Newcastle that were involved in the sort of faithful exorcism of Astra that led to the external torment of John’s soul. You’re going to meet them all. Papa Midnite, I think we have now in four episodes. Jim Corrigan comes back for a couple of more. I’m reading an outline right now for Episode 16 that includes 16 that includes Terence Thirteen with…”
David S. Goyer: “With Dr. Thirteen from Felix Faust.. “
Daniel Cerone: “We have Felix Faust. We have this incredible source material and we want to honor it and dig as deeply into it as we possibly can and, at the same time, we’re a weekly network show and we have weekly stories. We’re trying to present the best of both worlds in terms of ongoing mythology with the Hellblazer and DC world but wrapped around weekly stories the viewers can hook into.”
Are we going to be getting any more episodes that might focus on Chas and his backstory at some point?
Daniel Cerone: “Yes. Chas is an interesting character because in terms of when David and I developed the show and sat down to figure out what characters do we want in a continuing basis. On one hand, Chas was a natural because he’s sort of the most constant companion and long living companion…maybe the only living companion of John Constantine’s. But really he’s not much more than the muscle and he’s the driver, you know? He’s been a cab driver and John didn’t drive a lot. I don’t think he drives at all in the comic book. And so we want to include Chas and he is definitely the strong, silent type, very laconic kind of character we wanted to roll out slowly.
I know there’s been a couple of issues where they dig into his backstory but there’s not a lot there. So, we’ve really enjoyed Chas. We’ve really enjoyed opening him up. We will open him up deeper in Episode 10. You know, we came up with this idea, this notion because Chas is… Let’s put it this way: in the pilot episode you see that Chas comes back to life. For some reason, people started translating that to the idea that he’s immortal. We promise you he is not immortal.”
David S. Goyer: “He’s not immortal.”
Daniel Cerone: “There’s a very good reason that he’s coming back to life and the only spoiler I will give is that those lives are not on the internet. And we do have an episode that involves flashbacks where we basically tell that story and we get to know more about Chas. We can meet Renee and his daughter, Renee’s wife, ex-wife or they’re separated right now and his daughter and we kind of dig into that story and figure out what makes Chas tick.”
David S. Goyer: “And I would add to that that I think even when the first 13 episodes are done, people will be surprised at how much kind of background we filled in on various characters and even in terms of the relationship with John and Manny and Zed’s backstory and it’s not just taste of the week.”
How difficult of a decision was it for you not carry on with Liv’s and is there a possibility that she’ll ever pop up again?
David S. Goyer: “You know, honestly, it really wasn’t that difficult. I mean, it became apparent to us and, look, we’re glad you like her. I think she did a fantastic job. But I think that the character was flawed in its conception. And, you know, obviously we’re to blame for that. She was the only major character in the pilot that wasn’t from the comic books. Sometimes you make these concessions when you’re trying to get a show up and running and one of the benefits of doing a pilot is you’ve got this initial downtime after the pilot before you’re filming again in which you can think about retooling some aspects. And once we saw the character in action and we started breaking Episodes 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, we felt like we were just running into a lot of dead ends. That’s when we decided to go back to the source material and talking about the character Zed. I will say I feel like that the vast majority of the audience seems to have felt that the Zed character was a better match for John and seems to have supported our decision.”
Daniel Cerone: “David and I received a lovely e-mail from Lucy Griffith, the actress who played Liv, right before we aired and in terms of whether she’ll be back, she’s part of the foundation of the show. I mean, the millhouse in which John is crashing and is full of all kinds of magical antiquities – that’s her father’s place. Listen, as we dig deeper into the season, as we start talking about possible arcs for next season, I would say there’s an opening there. Whether it’s an opening we’ll step through or not, it would have to be organic, it would have to feel right and not feel like a device. But if there’s an organic reason to bring her back into the story, we’d love to.”
How does the fan base help you develop the storylines you want to produce?
David S. Goyer: “Well, I mean, it’s interesting. I’ve adopted quite a few comic book properties now and it’s tricky because I think you have to be really attentive to the fan base. [Like] Steve Jobs said, you can’t give the market what they say they want. You want to give them something that they haven’t even thought of. If you give them exactly what they want, they become disappointed by the same token. The way that we’ve always tried to measure it is that we’ve tried to dip in with the fans and be aware of what are the issues that are most important to them, what are the core concepts that are most important, with the characters that are the most important. But we’re also cognizant of the fact that if the show is going to flourish and broaden its audience, we need to be able to respond to an audience greater than just the core comic book fans. And so it needs to work for both audiences.”
Daniel Cerone: “I know I speak for David in this, too. David and I came at this as fans of the show. That’s really the bottom line. We fell in love with all the things about John Constantine that the fans did – or at least based on what I’ve read of the fans. But we needed that smartass, wisecracking, just gallows humor, scruffy blonde-haired, trench coat-wearing, cigarette-smoking with a fatalistic attitude and this deeply humanist point of view for reasons that he doesn’t even understand. I mean, we like that character. That was someone that just appealed to us, so we’re going to be true to that no matter what.
We wanted to stay true to the world and the characters. And then you take that foundation and you have to figure out, ‘Okay, how can we pour that into a show that can last and sustain itself on a weekly basis.’ NBC had certain desires for the show. They wanted stories that were told every week. So as David mentioned before, this is a bit of a hybrid. I mean, for us, it was, ‘Okay, how do we figure out how to both as fans, tell the story we want to tell about the evolution of this character and his relationships as well as some closed-end stories to broaden out the fan base?’ So, yes, we came out of it as fans.
David S. Goyer: “To build on what Daniel said, because we were fans of the character, when we first met with NBC we said, ‘Look, we know that the movie is out there and it wasn’t British and he didn’t have blonde hair.’ I think that that movie had a lot of great attributes but because we had fallen in love with the John Constantine as depicted in the comic books, it was our mission to try to bring to life the character that as accurately reflected the character we had fallen in love with as possible. So when NBC says, ‘Well, does he have to be British? Does he have to wear a skinny tie and a trench coat? Does he have to be blonde? Does he have to smoke?’ We said, ‘Yes.’ And they said, ‘Why?’ And we said, ‘Because that’s the character we fell in love with.'”
Daniel Cerone: “And I’ll say there every step of the way, they did ask those questions, too. They were very open and accepting and loving and they wanted to embrace the fans, too, but at a certain point, like when it came to casting, Matt Ryan does not have blonde hair. And initially they’re like, ‘Do we really need to lighten his hair?’ And we’re like, ‘Yes, we do.’ They got the first draft of the script and they saw sort of all of the kind of British euphemisms and colloquialisms written into his dialogue and they’re like, ‘That might be off-putting. Does he really need to be British?'”
David S. Goyer: “We said, ‘Yes.'”
Daniel Cerone: “So at every step of the way, we fought for that. And to their credit, they were very open and they understood our passion and I believe the fans’ passion for the character.”
How do you make your antihero the hero?
David S. Goyer: “First of all, I would say there are heroes and there are antiheroes and they’re both a lot of fun to write. But in some ways, writing antiheroes are more fun to write for because they’re not bound by the same moral code that the heroes are. In some ways, antiheroes are more human because most of us have variables. Most of us are imperfect and he’s doing what he’s doing for fundamentally noble reasons, but he doesn’t really have a code of conduct.
I do think that audiences also like antiheroes. If you look at House, if you look at Luther, if you look at Sherlock, I would categorize these characters more properly antiheroes than heroes. They can be fun. People want to be them and people want to be Superman. I don’t think people want to be Constantine because he’s kind of a miserable [guy]. But he’s also fun. It’s irreverence and it’s just a different way to go.”
Daniel Cerone: “A lot of characters that are out there are doing what they do because it’s their job or because I have a badge or because I have a calling. As David said Constantine is doing the right thing but he’s doing it for totally humanist reasons, you know? It’s one of those fascinating aspects of the character to me is if you ask him why he’s out there helping humanity, I’m not even sure he can tell you. Is he doing it because he wants to save lives? Is he doing it because, frankly, chasing demons is a bit of a fix for him and he’s just challenging for the next kill? Is he doing it, as he said early in his career, for the women and to get laid? Is he doing it because it’s kind of self-empowerment? You know, it’s just never really clear.
What’s great about him is I don’t even think he’s clear. But yet he keeps doing it and he keeps fighting this fight. And yes, as David said, one of the funnest things is that there’s no code of conduct that he operates by. He’s doing the good things that all the cops and lawyers and whatever kind of other heroes are out there doing. But there’s no checks and balances for him, and that’s where he often gets into trouble.
I think when you ask what makes him relatable, I think that’s it because he has a self-sense to himself and he frequently goes over the line and he frequently makes bad calls. And the fact is that Constantine…anyone who gets close to Constantine dies. I mean, that has proven itself true for years in the comic books. Very early in our series you’re going to see that, too, where he makes the hard calls and he loses friends over it, sometimes literally. So that’s kind of his curse and hopefully that’s what makes him [relatable]. It’s easy to root for him.”
David S. Goyer: “I would also add that I think that these things are cyclical and I think that they come in waves and maybe it’s a broader commentary on where we are in society right now. But the television landscape right now is flourishing with the really flawed characters. And for whatever reason audiences are responding and fascinated by these flawed characters. I think if you look at the television landscape now it used to be that the black cats were the black cats and white cats were the white cats and it was very clear who is who. But there are a lot of shades of grey right now and that seems to be kind of what’s happening with the right guys, in terms of the role.”
Miss Piggy and Michael Buble (Photo by: Peter Kramer / NBC)
Michael Bublé’s hosting his fourth annual Christmas special on NBC, with the network setting a December 17, 2014 at 8pm ET/PT air date for the music-filled holiday special. This year, Michael Bublé will be joined by special guests Barbra Streisand, Ariana Grande, Miss Piggy, and The Rockettes for the hour-long Michael Bublé’s Christmas in New York special.
According to NBC, Buble and company will be helping to celebrate the holidays with an array of classic holiday tunes that includes “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas,” “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” “Cold December Night,” and “Blue Christmas.”
“I could not be more excited to celebrate the Christmas holidays in New York with such a fantastic array of talented women. I think my 4th holiday special for NBC may be the very best yet. I can’t wait for everyone to see it,” stated Bublé.
Filming of the holiday special took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
The 200th episode of The CW’s hit supernatural comedy/drama/fantasy/adventure/horror series Supernatural celebrated the milestone on November 11, 2014 by putting on a musical episode that included the fan favorite classic rock tune “Carry On Wayward Son.” And for those really into Supernatural and its music, WaterTower Music is releasing the three original songs from the 200th episode as well as the show’s cover version of “Carry On Wayward Son.”
Per the official announcement, fans can download one song for free, and the additional songs are available for purchase via iTunes.
Jay Gruska and Christopher Lennertz wrote the songs, which were performed by the episode’s guest stars Alyssa Lynch, Katie Sarife, Vivien Armour, Kelli Ogmundson, Rachel Warkentin, and Nina Winkler. And one of the tunes, “The Road So Far,” has even made it to the #57 spot on iTunes’ Top Downloaded Songs list.
The songs available are:
“The Road So Far”
Vocals performed by Alyssa Lynch
Music performed by Jay Gruska and Tim Pierce
“A Single Man Tear”
Vocals performed by Alyssa Lynch and Katie Sarife
Music performed by Christopher Lennertz and Cameron Stone
“Carry On Wayward Son”
Vocals performed by Vivien Armour, Alyssa Lynch, Kelli Ogmundson, Katie Sarife, Rachel Warkentin, Nina Winkler
Music performed by Jay Gruska
“I’ll Just Wait Here Then”
Vocals performed by Nina Winkler
Music performed by Jay Gruska and Tim Pierce
Lorenzo Richelmy in a scene from Netflix’s ‘Marco Polo’ (Photo Credit: Phil Bray for Netflix)
We’ve seen the teaser and a behind-the-scenes video and now comes the official trailer for Netflix’s Marco Polo. Lorenzo Richelmy tackles the lead role in the action adventure series coming exclusively to Netflix on December 12, 2014 at 12:01am PT.
In addition to Richelmy, the Marco Polo cast includes Benedict Wong, Joan Chen, Chin Han, Zhu Zhu, Olivia Cheng, Claudia Kim, Mahesh Jadu, Tom Wu, Remy Hii, Uli Latukefu, and Rick Yune.
The Plot:
In a world replete with greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry, Marco Polo is based on the famed explorer’s adventures in Kublai Khan’s court in 13th century China.
Sean Bean (Photo by Richard Chavez / Showbiz Junkies)
The Frankenstein myth’s coming to life on ITV with Sean Bean as Inspector John Marlott. The Frankenstein Chronicles will be produced by Rainmark Films and was created by writer/director Benjamin Ross and writer Barry Langford.
The six-part crime drama will be set in London in 1827. Filming will take place in Northern Ireland in early 2015.
“The Frankenstein Chronicles is an epic re-working of one of literature and cinema’s most iconic stories,” said ITV’s Director of Drama, Steve November. “We’re delighted to be working with Benjamin Ross, Barry Langford, and the team at Rainmark Films with the vision to bring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein back to life.”
“Marlott’s investigation takes him into the dark corners of Regency London,” added Ross. “He discovers an underworld of prostitution, drug smuggling, body snatching, and murder for profit. The rational evidence points first one way and then another as he contemplates a frightening alternate scenario.”
The Plot [Courtesy of ITV]:
In the drama’s opening sequences, the Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, following a successful operation by Thames River Police to apprehend a gang of opium smugglers, recruits Marlott.
As he stands on the water’s edge contemplating the arrest of the smugglers, Marlott makes a shocking discovery. The body of a dead child is washed up on the shore and on further examination of the corpse he is horrified to discover it’s not actually a child but rather a crude assembly of body parts arranged in a grotesque parody of a human form. The mutilated child-like body leaves an indelible impression on Marlott and he finds himself unable to shake off the memory of what has happened that fateful night.
With a formidable reputation as an investigator, he is known as a man who “doesn’t know the meaning of fear,” so it comes as no surprise when coldly efficient Peel, summons him insisting the “details of your investigation must remain confidential.” And after what he’s witnessed Marlott accepts the challenge to track the perpetrator of this heinous crime.
We follow him as he pursues the crazed killer behind the mutilated body. As he investigates, Marlott discovers that what he’s dealing with is more horrific than he could possibly have imagined.
John Larroquette, Christian Kane, Rebecca Romijn, Lindy Booth, and John Kim in ‘The Librarians’ (Photo by TNT)
Rebecca Romijn returns to TNT and series TV with The Librarians set to debut on Sunday, December 7, 2014 at 8pm ET/PT. The action adventure series follows Romijn as a former NATO counter-terrorism agent who is thrust into the world of mythical objects when she’s recruited to be a Guardian for a top secret group known as The Librarians.
In support of the show’s upcoming first season premiere, Romijn took part in a conference call to discuss the appeal of the series, her character, and tackling action scenes.
The Plot [Courtesy of TNT]:
The Librarians centers on an ancient organization hidden beneath the Metropolitan Public Library dedicated to protecting an unknowing world from the secret, magical reality hidden all around. This group solves impossible mysteries, fights supernatural threats and recovers powerful artifacts from around the world. Among the artifacts housed in the Library are the Ark of the Covenant, the Spear of Destiny, the Judas Chalice and Excalibur, to name a few. Only a person with special skills could be responsible for collecting and protecting these artifacts, and more importantly, for preventing them from falling into the wrong hands.
For the past 10 years, Flynn Carsen (Wyle) has served as the Librarian. Prior to taking the job, he was a bookish nerd with 22 academic degrees and absolutely no social skills. As Librarian, however, he managed to use his extraordinary knowledge, successfully recovering ancient artifacts and, in the process, saving the world from unspeakable evil on more than one occasion. Over the last decade he’s gone from bookworm to dashing swashbuckler, one of the secret heroes of the hidden world.
As great as Flynn is, the job of Librarian has become more than one person can handle. To aid him in his duties, the Library has recruited four people from around the world to defend the Library from dark magic, including Eve Baird (Romijn), a highly skilled counter-terrorism agent who is responsible for protecting the group and keeping them all alive; Jacob Stone (Christian Kane), an Oklahoma oil worker with an IQ of 190 and an encyclopedic knowledge of art history; Cassandra Cillian (Lindy Booth), a quirky young woman with the special gift of auditory and sensory hallucinations linked to memory retrieval, known as synesthesia; and Ezekiel Jones (John Kim), a master of new technologies and aficionado of old classic crimes who enjoys playing the role of international man of mystery who has sticky fingers.
Overseeing the new team of Librarians is the somewhat cantankerous Jenkins (John Larroquette), an expert in ancient lore who has been working out of the Library’s branch office for longer than anyone knows. Together, they must tangle with many adversaries, chief of whom is the Serpent Brotherhood, an ancient cult led by the mysterious immortal Dulaque (Matt Frewer).
Rebecca Romijn The Librarians Interview:
How did you get involved in the series?
Rebecca Romijn: “The script came to me and I initially was really attracted to it because of the genre. I grew up loving Indiana Jones. I had not seen [The Librarians] movies. And so when I watched the movies, I fell even more in love with it because of the comic tone, which I didn’t quite understand just on the page. When you ask Noah Wyle if it’s like an Indiana Jones action-adventure, he says it’s Indiana Jones if Indiana Jones was played by Don Knotts, which I love. So I love this very specific tone that we’re going for.
The whole show came together very, very quickly and I knew some of the people in the cast, not everybody. And, it was a love fest. We had such a good time making it. We shot in Portland from April until August, and when you spend 90 hours a week with a group of people, you become like family. We had such a fun time up there.”
What does your character Eve think of Noah Wyle’s character Flynn Carson? What is her impression of him?
Rebecca Romijn: “First of all I should say that if you have not seen the movies, you’re not going to be lost starting with our series. I feel like we’ve done enough exposition and enough backstory where people will know exactly what’s happening from the very beginning of our hour series. I don’t think Eve Baird takes him seriously. I think Eve Baird, who’s a counter-terrorism expert and comes from this very buttoned up rigid military background – everything for Eve Baird is very black and white and Flynn Carson is every color in between black and white. She doesn’t understand that, but once he shows her that magic exists in the world, I think she becomes very intrigued with him.”
What do you love most about the series?
Rebecca Romijn: “You know, I guess the genre of it but combined with the comedy. We’re not a comic book. We’re not a group of comic book characters. We’re not super heroes. There’s nothing dark or bleak about what we’re doing. There are so many fantastic shows on cable now; they’re so smart and they have these amazing comic book characters and they’re dark, and they’re actually the kinds of shows that I love watching. But this hits a different tone that doesn’t really exist. And, actually, we’re premiering on the tenth anniversary of the first movies airing on cable. We have this Sunday night at 8:00 pm time slot, which traditionally was the Wide World of Disney time slot. As a child of the ’80s, I grew up watching that. That was appointment television for me on Sunday nights. So I’d like to think that we’re sort of filling in the spirit of the Wide World of Disney Sunday night at 8:00 pm; that we’re sort of in the same spirit of that type of entertainment. I’d like to think that we’re a great family show.”
Can you say anything about some of the legends that are going to be in the first season’s episodes?
Rebecca Romijn: “Without spoiling anything, all of our episodes are standalone episodes where we have a different mission in every episode and we have to find a different magical artifact in every episode. And Flynn Carson who bops in and out of our season; he’s only in a handful of our episodes because he has another show with TNT called Falling Skies. He is sort of off taking care of a much larger mission. There’s a big finale at the end of the season where everything comes together and we have to use all of the artifacts that we found throughout the season to accomplish this one huge final mission at the end of the season.
I’ve got several favorite magical artifacts but because we use them all together at the end, it’s not like I have a favorite one. It’s like we have to use them all together. We have the minotaurs. The (thread) of the labyrinth was a favorite one of mine. We get stuck in a labyrinth with a minotaur in one of our episodes. One of my favorite episodes is a fairy tale episode where fairy tales are coming to life in the small town and hurting people and killing people, and we slowly start turning into fairy tale characters. That was another favorite episode of mine.
We have a Christmas episode which is my personal favorite episode. It’s the episode where my character’s backstory gets explained. It’s sort of a Midnight Run episode where my character has to take Santa Claus…we have to drive Santa Claus back up to the North Pole and she doesn’t believe in Santa Claus and she’s not happy about it.”
What is your favorite and least favorite aspects of working in the sci-fi genre?
Rebecca Romijn: “You know, I would say that my least favorite thing is [the effects]. Because in sci-fi when you’re working with special effects, usually the effects come in in post-production and so you have to ask the producers and the director exactly what it is that you’re looking at so that you know exactly how to react to it. So you’re usually reacting to something that’s completely imaginary and something you’re writing [descriptions’ on the page and you don’t necessarily know, ‘Well, how big is the flame? Is it like a fireball? How close is it to me? Is it up in the sky or is it like right in front of my face? Is it huge? Is it little? How powerful is it?’
So my least favorite thing, which is not knowing exactly what I’m looking at, usually ends up being my favorite thing when you see the final product and I get to watch it just like the audience does and see it all come together and see the final effects all in place. It works out if you’ve been given the right amount of direction, it usually works out in the end shockingly. But yes, I would say that my least favorite thing is also my favorite thing in the end.”
Can you discuss the stunts and working on action sequences?
Rebecca Romijn: “Well, I love shooting action. And especially when you’re working long hours in hour long television and you’re memorizing 10 pages of dialogue a day, it’s nice to put down the script and just run down the street for a few hours and shoot an action sequence. It sort of breaks up your day.
I had just come off of another TNT series called King & Maxwell last year where I played a Secret Service agent, and I had to do a lot of martial arts training and weapons training for that. So, luckily, I got to roll all that training into this character.
I love shooting action sequences. Learning fight choreography is…it’s not new but it’s something that my brain is still getting used to. I’m really good at memorization – dialogue memorization. Learning fight choreography is kind of like learning a complicated dance. My brain is still getting used to it. But it’s really fun once you nail it.”
What is it like to play the straight person on this comedic adventure show?
Rebecca Romijn: “I think it’s actually sometimes the most fun to play the straight man. I think playing the straight man is kind of the funniest character, personally. I love getting to be the skeptic of the group. I love getting to be the voice of the audience because it’s ridiculous. I mean, every single episode the missions that are thrown our way are absolutely ridiculous. I love being the character. It’s like, ‘What?! Fairy tales are coming to life and killing people?’ I love being the straight man. It’s so fun. And it’s fun to be the voice of the audience.”
Why do you think your character was added to the series when she wasn’t in the original films?
Rebecca Romijn: “I think the tough female protector of The Librarian has been a character in all three of the movies and now in the series, so I think a different version of this character has existed throughout the franchise. But, yes, this is the first time that Colonel Eve Baird is introduced to the world of The Librarian. It’s a fun time in television and movies for female characters who kick butt, and I’ve been honored to have gotten to play some of them. It’s a fun type of character to play and I love John Rogers for including Eve Baird in The Librarians.”
What are the challenges your character is going to face this season?
Rebecca Romijn: “I guess the biggest challenges would be spoilers if I talked about them. I don’t think that Eve Baird believes that she is equipped for the things that she has to come up against. I think that because she’s an investigator and she’s a counter-terrorism expert, she approaches each mission as she would approach any investigative job. This is her job and she just does it according to how she’s been trained. But because we’re dealing with paranormal and things that are in other dimensions, I think she can’t even process the fact that she’s equipped to deal with the things that she’s put up against. And as the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger – and that’s what happens to Eve Baird in this season.”
Since she’s a Colonel, will Eve ever call on some of her NATO resources in the first season and maybe bring in some of that full swing military prowess?
Rebecca Romijn: “You know, I would say that the way she approaches every single mission has to do with her NATO training. I think she approaches everything as she always has in the military. I would say that she’s all about clearing a room. She’s all about making sure everybody’s safe. I would say that she always follows military protocol except for that she’s in this very, very, very gray world where magic exists. She doesn’t necessarily always know how to balance out her military prowess with magic. But she doesn’t know anything else except for how to approach everything from her military background.”
Thomas McCarthy co-wrote and directs Adam Sandler in The Cobbler, a fantasy comedy/drama that had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and which is now debuting an international trailer. McCarthy’s films are usually well received by critics, however this one didn’t generate much of a positive response following its premiere screenings. And unlike his previous directorial offerings – The Station Agent, The Visitor, and even Win Win to a lesser degree – there’s not much awards buzz surrounding its 2015 undetermined theatrical release.
In addition to Sandler, the cast includes Dustin Hoffman, Steve Buscemi, Melonie Diaz, Method Man, and Ellen Barkin.
The Plot:
Adam Sandler plays a 4th generation shoe-maker who discovers a magical sewing machine in his father’s basement that allows him to transform into other people by wearing their shoes. The film takes Sandler’s character on a voyage of self-discovery and learning the importance of family via the magic of “walking a mile in another man’s shoes.” A journey that results not only in changing himself, but the world around him.
