Syfy’s gone a bit bananas over monkeys, 12 of them to be exact. The network’s greenlit a pilot for the dramatic series 12 Monkeys based on the 1995 film directed by Terry Gilliam. If casting moves forward as anticipated, the pilot could go into production in November.
The feature film starred Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis and was produced by Atlas Entertainment, and Atlas Entertainment is also producing the series. Charles Roven (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Man of Steel) of Atlas produced the original movie and will executive producer the series along with Richard Suckle.
The one hour pilot was written by Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett (Terra Nova).
The Plot:
Based on the classic hit film, 12 Monkeys follows the journey of a time traveler from the post-apocalyptic future who appears in present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will eventually decimate the human race.
What do we learn from this new behind-the-scenes video from the set of The Walking Dead? Well, that Robert Kirkman does not have becoming a professional gardener in his future plans. We also learn that the horse on the set can pretty much go where it wants to, and nobody is going to eat the pig actors housed at prison in real life, so those little guys are safe.
Check out the brand new video for the further adventures of The Walking Dead‘s creator as he tours the prison set.
The CW is set to deliver an ambitious period drama with the premiere of Reign this October. Set in the 16th century and focusing on Mary, Queen of Scots, the series is based on true events and begins with Mary’s journey to France to marry the Prince and solidify an alliance.
At the 2013 summer Television Critics Association press event, executive producer Laurie McCarthy was asked just how much the television series is bound by history and whether the show will be able to ignore some facts in order to deliver a compelling story.
“You know, the real facts of Mary, Queen of Scots’ life are so extraordinary and so dramatic and we’re coming in on the story of her life at an early stage and so she has just returned to the French court and she has a ways to go before the wedding actually takes place,” replied McCarthy. “They’ll have a ways to go as a married couple. And then, eventually, what we learn as a prophecy of young Francis’ death will we won’t shy away from that. We’ll actually embrace it at a certain point in the series.”
“It’s also TV, so it’s kind of like we can take creative license,” added Adelaide Kane who plays Mary, Queen of Scots. “It’s entertainment. It’s not The History Channel. We’re trying to make a show that people will enjoy watching and will really connect with and will find really fun. And, of course, we’re going to dramatize events and throw little curveballs in our characters’ ways and things like that, but that’s what makes it fun.”
Kane went on to discuss the era, costumes, and playing a Queen in our interview from the summer TCA event.
Adelaide Kane Reign Interview
Would you like to have lived at this time, and if not, what era appeals to you?
Adelaide Kane: “You know what? I would not like to have lived in this time. I like my civil liberties a little bit too much to want to live in the 1500s. I think that we live in extremely exciting times now. I wouldn’t want to live in any other time period. I very much enjoy being able to earn my own money and buy my own clothes and support myself and be independent and have an education. It has been very difficult for women throughout the ages and we’re not quite as close to true gender equality as I would like, but it’s a vast improvement on anything else, so I wouldn’t want to live in any other time.”
Do you like the costumes?
Adelaide Kane: “The costumes are amazing. Meredith, our wardrobe head, is quite an exceptional woman and she’s got some amazing stuff lined up for us this season. We have some McQueen, we have some Brian Atwood, we have Sergio Rossi. I’m wearing stilettos every day. It’s fantastic. My only gripe is stilettos after 14 hours can be quite painful!”
Did they have stilettos back then?
Adelaide Kane: [Laughing] “I mean, come on, of course not! We’re taking creative license and the show, I think, will be quite a beacon of hope to show high fashion. I’m really excited for it.”
Speaking of fashion, what’s it been like putting all these costumes on?
Adelaide Kane: “It’s been fantastic. I’m really excited. I would never have the opportunity to wear the kind of gowns that I get to wear or even the shoes. I can’t afford that! It’s been really, really quite fantastic, and it’s opened my eyes a little bit to the fashion world. I’ve always been interested in fashion but it’s never been a passion of mine until I started on this show. We have some really interesting, fun stylistic elements coming in, like some makeup and hair. We have some amazing little pieces and headbands that twist in the hair and braiding, and hopefully that’ll catch on fashion-wise.”
When you dress as yourself, do you feel yourself being inspired by Mary at all when you pick out your clothes in the morning?
Adelaide: “I’ve certainly been branching out, fashion-wise. I’ve certainly been influenced by her wardrobe. I’m wearing more dresses, as you see. Usually, I’m a jeans and T-shirts kind of girl. I’ve been wearing heels more often. I’ve been taking far more care of my appearance. I’ve been even holding myself a little differently and being more aware of myself as a woman and being less slumpy and slouchy and not thinking about it. I’m taking more care with my hair and my makeup and I think that’s a good thing. I feel far more feminine now in playing her than I did before.”
This is an interesting area to explore in terms of gender and expectations during that time period.
Adelaide Kane: “It is. The gender politics are really interesting, and I hope we delve more into that as the series goes on. It allows for a lot of interesting debate, I think.
Having a female monarch, having a female as a primary ruler was unusual and actually caused a lot of civil unrest in both England and Scotland because the patriarchal society they had back then didn’t believe that women were intellectually capable of ruling a country or even managing their own lives, having jobs, managing their own money. Women really were property, as much as say a particularly intelligent dog was a piece of property, and you clap when it does tricks.
But it was just ridiculous which makes me furious, but it’s very interesting that those women, those queens, those powerful women weren’t queens based on merit, they were born into it. If they’d had an older brother or if they had been married… In Elizabeth’s case in particular she was a power monger and didn’t want to share her power, which is why she never married. It’s purely by chance they had the power they had. And even then, even being supreme monarch ordained by God et cetera et cetera, they were still so crippled by their sex and by their gender.
It’s incredible that they could even accomplish what they accomplished with their male-dominated governments beating them into the ground. I don’t know how they got anything done. They were remarkable women.”
How tall are you?
Adelaide Kane: “I’m 5 foot 4. I am very short! The stilettos help.”
How tall was Mary?
Adelaide Kane: “Mary was 5’11. She was an extremely statuesque woman. She was very tall.”
Was that very rare for the time?
Adelaide Kane: “Extremely rare. In those days, you didn’t know about nutrition and because they were eating seasonally, they didn’t have out-of-season produce. They didn’t have that kind of nutrition available. As a result, people in that time were actually much shorter than modern-day people because their bones didn’t grow quite as large as ours did. They didn’t have appropriate amounts of calcium. They didn’t have the iron. They didn’t have the zinc required for strong, healthy bones, and they didn’t live very long either.
You would die of disease or in childbirth by the time you were 40. That’s why they married so young. The lifespan was much shorter and they had to live out the fullness of their lives in maybe 40 years, and 50 was a ripe old age at that time. That’s very, very unusual for her to be so tall. I would be tall in those times!”
Do you think it influenced her rise to power and her ability to govern?
Adelaide Kane: “I think it certainly helped. I know when I put on heels and I’m a good 5 inches taller, I certainly feel more empowered. I feel more powerful. Being taller certainly helps in your carriage and your confidence, absolutely.”
Do you think the idea of “regal” comes from being tall?
Adelaide Kane: “Well yes, actually interestingly enough royalty and nobility did tend to be a little taller because they had better nutrition because they could afford better food.”
How do you like working in Toronto?
Adelaide Kane: “Toronto is wonderful. I really like walking everywhere because I’m really lazy. I don’t like going to the gym, so if I’m walking around I’ll just be like, ‘Okay, instead of catching the bus, I’ll walk the extra mile and then I don’t have to go to the gym.’ I’m really enjoying Toronto. We’re all downtown. We’re all in the heart of it, lots of great cafés and shops. It’s wonderful.”
Where are the castles in Toronto?
Adelaide Kane: [Laughing] “There are no castles in Toronto. The castle is in the studio.”
You had a big hit this summer with The Purge. Could you believe how big that was?
Adelaide Kane: “No, that really took me by surprise. I always had a lot of faith in that movie and it was such fun to shoot, and I was remarkably lucky that they cast me in that. But it did take me by surprise. Everybody really reacted very strongly to it and it was good fun! It was a good film. I was really happy with how it turned out.”
Can you do a sequel?
Adelaide Kane: “I can’t, scheduling-wise. I heard a rumor that there’s a sequel in the works but I’m unavailable so I think they’re going to recast.”
I’m sorry, but I didn’t keep up with Teen Wolf. Are you still alive?
Adelaide Kane: “I am still alive at the moment, yes. I’m certainly alive on Teen Wolf right now.”
Has it been discussed whether or not you could do both shows?
Adelaide Kane: “I did want to maybe do a couple of episodes to wrap up my character on the show. Unfortunately, scheduling won’t allow for it, which is a shame, but I have absolute faith that Jeff will wrap up my character with his usual grace and aplomb and manic amazing writing.”
Do they shoot at the same time?
Adelaide Kane: “They do unfortunately, yes.”
* * * *
Reign premieres on The CW on Thursday, October 17, 2013 at 9pm.
You can never have too much of Chris Hemsworth or Tom Hiddleston, right? Marvel certainly doesn’t think so as they’re showing off two gorgeous new posters from Thor: The Dark World featuring Thor (Hemsworth) and Loki (Hiddleston).
Coming to theaters November 8, 2013, the Thor sequel also features Natalie Portman, Christopher Eccleston, Jaimie Alexander, Ray Stevenson, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba, and Anthony Hopkins.
The Plot:
Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s Thor and Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness.
Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
Michelle Dockery from 'Downton Abbey' at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour (Photo Courtesy of Rahoul Ghose/PBS)
Masterpiece executive producer Rebecca Eaton was pleased to report to those gathered at the Television Critics Association press event that season three of Downton Abbey was watched by more than 24 million people (all of whom probably screamed at their sets at the demise of a certain popular character). The show’s the highest-rated drama in PBS history and shows no signs of slowing down, earning 12 Emmy nominations this year in acting categories as well as in the competitive Outstanding Dramatic Series category.
Season four opens with the house still in “deep mourning” over the death of Matthew, with Eaton explaining the upcoming season will cover the time period from February 1922 to the spring/summer of 1923. “The roaring ’20s are upon us. There are some new characters, some old favorites,” offered Eaton before introducing the show’s executive producer Gareth Neame and stars Michelle Dockery (‘Lady Mary’), Laura Carmichael (‘Lady Edith’), Joanne Froggatt (‘Anna Bates’), Phyllis Logan (‘Mrs. Hughes’), and Sophie McShera (‘Daisy Mason’) to discuss the addictive dramatic series.
With big changes in store for her character in particular, Michelle Dockery answered some Lady Mary questions without giving away any major spoilers:
Mary has a new love interest this season, played by Tom Cullen. Can you tell us a little bit about that relationship?
Michelle Dockery: [Laughing] “She actually has more than one love interest… Well, he’s an old family friend who she’s known since the girls were children and they haven’t seen him since she was tiny. And, yeah, she’s kind of slowly, throughout the series, coming back to real life. And of course it’s important for her to eventually move on, so he is a potential love interest, yes.”
What was your reaction when you first learned that Dan Stevens was leaving the show? Was your first reaction, “Oh, Lady Mary’s going to get to do lots of interesting things that I never expected,” or was your first reaction, “Oh, crap?”
Michelle Dockery: “My first reaction was ‘Oh, crap. What is going to happen?’ because I thought, you know, ‘Where can the story go now?’ We’ve spent all this time having this on/off, will they/won’t they relationship, and then suddenly it was coming to an end. So initially I was concerned about what would happen. But I think that, as much as it was sad to see Dan go, the same as it was to see Jessica go, it opens up an opportunity for Julian [Fellowes] to write a new chapter and something quite different, not only for Mary, but the knock-on effect it has for other characters. So yeah, initially I was concerned but now I’m not because it’s a great series, and it’s a very different series to what it could have been.”
Given what tends to happen to Lady Mary’s lovers, wouldn’t most men in the town be a little wary?
Michelle Dockery: “The new actors coming into the show as suitors are really brave because God knows what can happen. I’m pretty sure that Richard Carlisle is somewhere dead and we don’t even know about it.”
How does the idea of being a single mother shape up for Mary this upcoming season?
Michelle Dockery: “She was never going to be a very maternal mother. But also, she’s within that type or within the aristocracy they didn’t really see their kids very much. There’s a nanny and eventually there will be a governess looking after baby George. So, you don’t see much interaction between the baby and Mary. And, actually, to begin with it’s hard to relate. It’s hard to bond with the baby because, of course, she’s going through the grief. She looks at him and she sees Matthew. So, yeah, it’s a slow process, I think, with motherhood for Mary.”
Do you follow any of the fan communities on Twitter and Tumblr? Have you had any memorable encounters with fans in real life?
Michelle Dockery: “I’ve had moments of thinking maybe I should maybe I should go on Twitter, you know? Maybe it’s this thing that I’m not…I’ve been shy about [it] and maybe I should do it. And it turns out that Lady Mary’s Eyebrows have beaten me to it. I can’t believe it. There’s an actual page called ‘Lady Mary’s Eyesbrows.'”
You’ve said you will stay with the show through its entirety. Do you still stand by that statement?
Michelle Dockery: “What’s wonderful about the show is that it’s opened doors for all of us. I mean, so many of the cast are off doing other things in between. Dan is obviously doing brilliantly since he left the show, but we can do other things in between. And as far as we know, we are all doing series five next year, and beyond that we really don’t know. That’s in the hands of Julian and our producers. So, we’ll see. I think so long as the core cast remain. I think, if other actors start leaving, I think that would be a worry. I think it’s been fine so far, but so long as it remains as an ensemble, which, essentially, that is what the show is, we’ll see.”
Is this the year of girl power?
Michelle Dockery: [Laughing] “That’s who we haven’t cast, one of the Spice Girls.”
Mary and Tom seem to have some things in common. Can you talk about that? Might they be spending some time together, and what does that mean?
Michelle Dockery: “Yeah. We are aware that there are suspicions about Tom and Mary’s relationship, but they are very much friends and he is her brother-in-law still. I think they become close because of what they’ve both been through, having lost a partner. And, also, Mary becomes far more involved in the running of the estate with Tom, so we do have a lot of scenes together. But, romantically, I don’t think it’s going anywhere. I hope not. [Laughing] It’s very inappropriate.”
Saoirse Ronan’s featured prominently on the new poster for How I Live Now directed by Kevin Macdonald and co-starring Tom Holland, Anna Chancellor, George McKay and Corey Johnson. Magnolia Pictures is releasing the dramatic film in theaters in October after its world premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival in September.
The Plot:
Set in the near-future UK, Ronan plays Daisy, an American teenager sent to stay with relatives in the English countryside. Initially withdrawn and alienated, she begins to warm up to her charming surroundings, and strikes up a romance with the handsome Edmund (George MacKay). But on the fringes of their idyllic summer days are tense news reports of an escalating conflict in Europe. As the UK falls into a violent, chaotic military state, Daisy finds herself hiding and fighting to survive.
Jim Mickle directs We Are What We Are, a re-imagining of the 2010 Mexican film of the same name. Starring Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner, Michael Parks, Kelly McGillis, Nick Damici, Wyatt Russell, and Jack Gore, We Are What We Are will open in theaters on September 27, 2013.
The Plot:
In We Are What We Are, a seemingly wholesome and benevolent family, the Parkers have always kept to themselves, and for good reason. Behind closed doors, patriarch Frank (Sage) rules his family with a rigorous fervor, determined to keep his ancestral customs intact at any cost. As a torrential rainstorm moves into the area, tragedy strikes and his daughters Iris (Childers) and Rose (Garner) are forced to assume responsibilities that extend beyond those of a typical family.
As the unrelenting downpour continues to flood their small town, the local authorities begin to uncover clues that bring them closer to the secret that the Parkers have held closely for so many years.
In the future world created by Divergent author Veronica Roth human society will be divided up into five factions: Amity (The Peaceful), Abnegation (The Selfless), Erudite (The Intelligent), Candor (The Honest) and Dauntless (The Brave). And in this behind the scenes video from Summit Entertainment, author Roth and cast members Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, and Maggie Q talk about how people are divided up into the five factions and what happens to those who don’t fit in one group because they’re Divergent.
The Plot:
Divergent is a thrilling action-adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities. Tris Prior (Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it’s too late.
Showtime’s Masters of Sex, debuting on September 29, 2013 at 10pm, stars Michael Sheen as William Masters and Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson – real-life pioneers in the field of human sexuality. The series is based on Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, The Couple Who Taught America How to Love by Thomas Maier and is executive produced by Michelle Ashford, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Judith Verno and Amy Lippman.
Sitting down to discuss the series at the Television Critics Association event in Beverly Hills, Caplan talked frankly about what audiences can expect from the series, which is targeting a mature audience, sexuality, and why this show is actually a “feminist story.”
Lizzy Caplan Masters of Sex Interview
We’re so used to seeing you in comedies, but were you looking for something like Masters of Sex to expand into different genres? This seems to be the weightiest role you’ve taken on.
Lizzy Caplan: “Absolutely, it is. It’s funny. I was pretty much doing comedic roles; I was carving out this niche for myself and I actually found it quite comfortable. I love so many of the characters that I’ve played. I’m really proud of this onscreen persona that I happen to revisit time and again. But being an actress, you want to be able to spread your wings and do other things. It’s sort of the whole point of, for me, wanting to do this.
You get to be different people, not the same person in different scenarios. So for this, I really believed…it’s interesting. I think as actress, people get on your case if you do the same thing over and over again and they get on your case if you stray too far from that. So I’ll be very curious to see how the audience takes this. Hopefully they’ll be accepting of me trying something new because I really do think that all the roles I’ve played have been leading up to something like this.”
So the solution to that problem is don’t be judgmental.
Lizzy Caplan: “Yeah. Yes, human race, don’t be judgy.”
What advice from your mother about sex did you get when you were younger?
Lizzy Caplan: “I feel very fortunate that I wasn’t raised in any sort of ultra-religious household where I was told to equate sex or knowing my body with evil or terrible, terrible things. I think it really is just the luck of the draw. You better hope that you were raised in a family and in a household like that where you’re not judged for such thing.
[…] I think that you’re either raised in a household where these questions are okay to ask or they’re not okay to ask. I think if they’re not okay to ask, you end up figuring out the answers in other ways. Sometimes those other ways are unhealthy. I think for girls, especially, protecting confidence in your own sexuality and being allowed to ask questions is of the utmost importance because the girls who go out into the world are trying to form their sexual identity. There are so many terrible directions you can go in. So I hopefully think that this show will help inform girls. It’s a very feminist story.”
Do you think Johnson would be gratified that 50 years later we’d be at a point where a show about Masters and Johnson in relatively graphic details could be on the air and provoke more discussion?
Lizzy Caplan: “Absolutely. I don’t want to speak for her, but I know that just the difference in the culture is tremendous in many, many ways from the ‘50s to today. But for women, there are lots of things that are really not much different, and I find that tremendously disappointing.”
In a way, are we as prudish as ever?
Lizzy Caplan: “Absolutely. I think right now the question of a woman who wants to have it all – wants to have a career and children – these are conversations that they’re reaching a bit of a fever pitch right now. Women are really fixated on this idea: Can I have it all? And a lot of people are saying no. The fact that we’re still having this conversation is frustrating for me, and I do think the most frustrating thing, honestly, is that there’s still a double standard when it comes to women’s sexuality and men’s sexuality. Men are allowed far more leniency than women.”
Or even the fact that you can show all the violence you want – there are shows like Hannibal on network television – but sex is still getting people upset on television.
Lizzy Caplan: “Absolutely. Listen, we’re American, we come from Puritanical roots. But, yeah, it is disappointing. If it wasn’t negatively affecting women still, I would maybe think it was sort of cute. But it actually pisses me off.”
Was the idea of women faking orgasms really revolutionary in 1956?
Lizzy Caplan: [Laughing] “No. I don’t think it’s ever been revolutionary. The only thing that’s revolutionary is maybe a man asking that question. […] The female orgasm – the idea of faking it – it was never that important to men, back then especially. That’s one of the main things that the first book that Masters and Johnson published talks about is that a clitoral orgasm versus the vaginal orgasm. Everybody believes what Freud believed. Freud believed that a clitoral orgasm was immature and for little girls and a vaginal orgasm was for women with their husband. If they could not achieve that orgasm, they were frigid and there was something wrong with them.”
With Mad Men, they told the women not to exercise so much because it’s a period piece. Have you guys been given any kind of input on that?
Lizzy Caplan: “No, not really. We were trying to make it… Mad Men is so dependent on style and I love that show, but our show is different.”
Is there a bit more safety in doing a Showtime series where you know they’re going to let it have 12 episodes?
Lizzy Caplan: “No, we didn’t know that this show was going to get picked up. Obviously, we have a better chance statistically because they pump out far fewer pilots.”
But once they ordered it from the pilot, they’re not going to cancel it mid-season.
Lizzy Caplan: “Yes, but I also think the pressure is heightened for the reasons that Michael said. The expectation for the quality is raised tremendously and we’re trying to tell one story and tell it well instead of, out of 22 episodes, say, tell four or five perfect stories and the rest kind of phone it in.”
Is there any update on a Party Down movie?
Lizzy Caplan: “No update, unfortunately. We all still want to do it. There’s no other updates.”
Is there a script now?
Lizzy Caplan: “Not yet, no. I think it’s still trying to figure out what it wants to be.”
Can you imagine going to a concert and then being asked to take the stage with the artist you came to watch? And not only take the stage, but sing a duet to a much-loved song from a popular musical? That happened to music teacher Sarah Horn who wound up on stage with Kristin Chenoweth at the Hollywood Bowl in front of 10,000+ concertgoers singing “For Good” from Wicked.
“I heard the roar of the crowd during that first line, but then it all faded away,” said Horn, describing the experience in an interview with BroadwayWorld.com. “I think I’ve seen it done cinematically before, but I never imagined my perception of a performance would appear like this. The 10,000+ people of the Bowl faded away. There was no one else there. No noise. No people. I could heard the beautiful music of the orchestra but there was no one onstage, just Kristin and I. I reached my hand out as I sang the word ‘friend’ and she stepped forward and took it. There was such joy, elation, a spontaneous musical spark that we shared in that moment. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced.”
Horn swears she wasn’t an audience plant and that being pulled up on stage was absolutely not planned prior to the concert.
Syfy’s gone a bit bananas over monkeys, 12 of them to be exact. The network’s greenlit a pilot for the dramatic series 12 Monkeys based on the 1995 film directed by Terry Gilliam. If casting moves forward as anticipated, the pilot could go into production in November.
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