Breelan Angel – Photo Credit: Melinda Norris / 2013 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
You’re a strong young woman who loves going out with friends. Yet you know that even this simple plan can be like weaving between roadblocks, many of them strangers asking for your phone number.
Breelan Angel’s It’s My Turn offers a map through this obstacle course. Produced by Dwight Baker for MisBhavin’ Records, it suggests that empowerment is a major draw to the “girls’ night out” experience, whether as a declaration of well-earned independence on the title cut (written by Angel, Greg Barnhill and Joanna Cotten), anticipation of an upcoming San Marcos, Texas, idyll in “Feeling No Pain” (Angel and Clay Mills), a confrontation with a rival for her man’s attention on “Walk of Shame” (Angel and Shane Stevens) or going face-to-face with a barfly who’s being just a little too friendly on “Real Good Night” (Angel and Rachel Thibodeau).
But that last song is deceptive: When the beat slows and stops and Angel speaks directly to the guy, her message is optimistic about what may — or may not — follow. It’s more about hope than hostility. Her treatment of this encounter is surprising — and assuring. The Baytown, Texas, native appears to be co-writing from experience on each of these 10 tracks. (Of course, Angel could have written as well about the time she spent at Southern Methodist University or mulling over the idea of studying law, but that somehow sounds less inspirational.) And if it’s imagination more than real-world events that underlies her songs, that says even more about her insight and empathy.
IN HER OWN WORDS
SONG YOU WOULD LOVE TO COVER
“‘Crazy,’ by Patsy Cline. I’m a sucker for the oldies!”
PET PEEVE
“I hate when people leave wet towels on the floor.”
DREAM DUET PARTNER
“Definitely George Strait. It would be the biggest honor to get to sing with him.”
PHRASE YOU FIND YOURSELF SAYING OVER AND OVER
“’Good goat’ – it’s something I always say instead of ‘good grief’ or ‘oh, my gosh.’”
Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) walks armed along the beach, leading his crew after landing ashore in the west - Photo by Jonathan Hession / HISTORY Copyright 2013
A tease of season two of History Channel’s critically acclaimed series Vikings shows that Floki (played by Gustaf Skarsgard) may not be around for the whole upcoming season. But while series creator Michael Hirst says Floki’s one of his favorite characters to write for, he won’t guarantee us at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con that he’ll continue to write scenes for Floki much longer.
Asked about keeping Floki around, Hirst replied, laughing, “Sometimes you have to kill the thing you love.”
Hirst also talked about the reaction of viewers and scholars as well as his writing process in our Vikings interview in San Diego.
Michael Hirst Vikings Interview:
What’s the general overall fan reaction to the first season? Have they been suggesting where they want you to go next season? What has it been like?
Michael Hirst: “It’s been surprising to me from my experience because it’s been overwhelmingly positive. It was interesting this evening when I answered a question about the gods, and the people really responded to that. There’s something in the atmosphere at the moment. The Christian-Pagan thing is working so well that that’s getting a big response from people. I don’t know why, particularly.
I don’t know why a few years ago, I wrote a movie script about Alfred the Great, who was an English king who fought against the Vikings, and I told people I was working on the Vikings and Alfred the Great, and they were, ‘Okay.’ Last year or the year before when I started working on this, I was telling people I’m working on the Vikings and I get, ‘The Vikings! You’re working on The Vikings! How amazing!’ I realized then it was in the zeitgeist, that things had changed, and I can’t explain that. I can’t explain that.
I think the reality of the show appeals to people. I think it’s a great cast. It’s finding out about something you think you know, but you actually don’t know anything, really. Everyone thinks they know about the Vikings, but most of it is bullsh*t the Christian monks told us. I think it’s been interesting for a lot of people to find out what the Vikings were really like, or find out that all of their prejudices were wrong.”
Did you write all of the episodes of the first season?
Michael Hirst: “Yes.”
That’s a lot of work.
Michael Hirst: “Well, I wrote all The Tudors. I wrote 38 hours of The Tudors. I’ve written the first nine episodes, and I’ve now written seven out of the 10 episodes for next season. It’s a lot of work, but I’m very bad at delegating; I like it too much. I love it.”
Do you have a story arc set up over a certain period? Do you know where you want it to end?
Michael Hirst: “Yeah. I spend a lot of time reading, thinking, sketching out things. I’ve kind of learned from experience not to set sail on an open sea without a soundboard. You have to know where you’re going because you can get very lost. What I tend to do now is quite detailed outlines. Sometimes, the actual writing I can do quite quickly. I can do an episode in ten days or two weeks or something, but that’s because I know exactly where … or more or less exactly.
There’s always a little part of it that I leave open, that I don’t know what’s going to happen myself. I want to be surprised by the people or something that pushes me, because that keeps it fresh for me and exciting.”
Will you be able to keep to that story arc if it lasts eight seasons?
Michael Hirst: “Yeah, I can go on. Ragnar had a lot of sons, and the sons were quite extraordinary. One of them sailed around the Mediterranean. They attacked Paris. They came here to North America, or at least to Canada. Oh, there’s plenty. The Viking period, that is, the Pagan Viking period, lasted about 400 years as we know it from the first attack on Lindisfarne Island. But the Pagan gods are much older than the Christian gods, you may say.”
Is there any character you like writing for more than any other?
Michael Hirst: “I love writing for Floki. That’s a character who’s developed partly from talking to Gustaf [Skarsgard] and watching how he does it. It’s interesting how characters develop. Henry James used to talk about characters as being either fixed constituents or free spirits. By ‘fixed constituents’ he meant characters who do a job for you. You put them in place and they do what you want them to do. Free spirits are characters who are more real and who you’re not quite sure always what they’re going to do. For a writer, that’s much more interesting, obviously.
I try and keep as many free spirits going as I can. I’m interested in the continuous dynamics between these characters who are very close. Even with people who know each other, there’s always the unexpected. In fact, the better I feel I know them, the more I can allow them to do things that might be out of character. It’s very important for me because, as you say, it is a lot of work so I have to be interested all the time. I have to be passionate about it.”
How tough is balancing that ensemble when you have so many interesting characters? How do you make sure you’re spending enough time with each one?
Michael Hirst: “When I do the outlines, I ask myself whether I’ve followed through…I’ve always got these storylines going through…and whether I’ve done justice. To be absolutely honest with you, the character of Siggy was a very, very minor character when we started. Just Earl Haraldson’s wife who had nothing to say in the first two episodes, but we’d cast a great actress and I was going, ‘Goodness, I’ve got this great actress and she doesn’t say anything. She loves this world she’s in.’
I started to develop the character and then she became a really interesting character. It added to the burden because here’s someone else in play, but it also opens the world up a bit more.
When I started writing The Tudors, I didn’t know that I could write series TV. I’d never done it before. I had no idea. Then I found that I could, and that I enjoyed it. Therefore, my experiences writing TV on the whole have been much better than writing movies. It’s partly the fun I have on making these connections and telling these stories. I’ve time to develop storylines in TV in series drama. In a movie, you reveal characters because you don’t have time to do any more, but in TV you can spend time developing them and find out about them. It’s a lovely process. It’s a privilege, really.”
The seer character is so creepy and supernatural. Will we see more of that?
Michael Hirst: “You say again that it’s supernatural, but it’s not fantasy because in the sagas you read about the seers or prophetesses … sometimes they were women. I read one saga in which Odin goes to see a prophetess, a seer, and I just quote part of it because the seer complains bitterly that he, or she, has had to get out of the ground.
In other words, they’re dead, really, but they come out to answer Odin’s questions. Odin asks a question about his son, and it’s very terrible, terrible. So I had this person in mind. It was real for me, not a fantasy and to the Vikings, a very real person in their society. It was, I think, our first director decided what he would look like. He’s hundreds of years old. He’s seen everything. Or he’s not…he’s just a grumpy old man.”
As you mentioned, the history of the Vikings have been distorted and is somewhat vague. As a writer, did that help you in creating the outline knowing this or did it help you be creative because there wasn’t as much source material?
Michael Hirst: “It was quite liberating because, you know, I’d occasionally got into trouble writing Henry VIII. Lots of English historians were saying, ‘Oh, it wasn’t like that,’ as if they were there. [Laughing] Because actually, I was remarkably scrupulous about this. I can defend most of the things I wrote in The Tudors. But, never mind. I was still attacked. But here, it’s wonderful because I just go around saying, ‘Hey, buddy, it’s the Dark Ages.’
I had a radio interview in Boston with the head of Scandinavian studies at Harvard. He’d watched the first two episodes and I thought he was going to chew me up. He said, ‘Listen, this is the first time my culture has ever been taken seriously, so thank you.’ There probably are mistakes and stuff, but, hey, it’s the Dark Ages, and he said that.”
Did you miss Syfy’s campy original movie Sharknado? If so, and if you want to catch sharks hurtling through the air on a big screen, NCM Fathom Events and The Asylum are hosting a one-night-only midnight screening of Sharknado at 200 theaters.
Social media helped make the film into an instant classic when it premiered on Syfy on July 11, 2013, and the network’s already working on a Sharknado sequel.
“Sharknado was an instant hit with fans – and celebrities – from the moment they first saw it, creating a social media phenomenon on July 11 with nearly 400,000 social mentions,” stated Shelly Maxwell, executive vice president for NCM Fathom Events. “Imagine sharks invading from the skies on 40-foot screens in movie theaters nationwide.”
The midnight screenings will take place on Friday, August 2nd at 12:05am local time. For tickets and a list of participating theaters, visit www.FathomEvents.com.
The Plot: Sharknado is the story of beachside bar regulars including owner Fin (Ian Ziering), bartender Nova (Casie Scerbo) and local drunk George (John Heard) as they team up with Fin’s ex-wife April (Tara Reid) to investigate the ecological nightmare that has sharks swimming through the streets of Los Angeles and falling from the skies.
Fans of The CW’s The Vampire Diaries will be getting a double-dose of vampires this fall as the network introduces the spin-off series, The Originals. Vampire Diaries viewers are very familiar with Klaus (played by Joseph Morgan), Rebekah (Claire Holt), and Elijah (Daniel Gillies) from their time spent in Mystic Falls, however the new series will find the Originals in New Orleans and intermingling with a new batch of colorful characters.
At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Joseph Morgan, and Claire Holt provided a sneak peek at what audiences can expect from season one of The Originals.
Joseph Morgan The Originals Interview:
Will we see a bit of remorse from Klaus over his battle for superiority with Marcel?
Joseph Morgan: “We absolutely will. Even in what I’ve read so far, and my sort of suspicions about the relationship, he’s a little torn because Marcel meant a lot to Klaus back in the day. In fact, you could draw a parallel with the relationship he had with Stefan in Chicago, you know? They were really…well, Stefan was more of a brother and Marcel, in a way, started out as more of a son to Klaus. So, yeah, he’s absolutely torn.
But he’s also, I think, insulted by the way Marcel thinks he can run things now. He is very needy, Klaus, and needs to be paid the right respect – the respect he feels he is due.”
Which would Klaus choose: being King or his child?
Joseph Morgan: “At the moment, currently, I think if we take him at the point where he left off where he was at the end of backdoor pilot, I think he’s absolutely more concerned with becoming king. He’s for whatever will make him the most powerful, so he really is 100% behind that. But I don’t know what’s going to happen with the child; I’ve only read the first two episodes of the season so far.
I think I would hope that he gets behind the idea a little more because I think there’s something so appealing to me about playing this monster that has this tiny little baby that he cares more about than anything in the world. I think that’s a really exciting idea for me. But right now, he’s all about the throne.”
Claire Holt Interview:
Where will we find Rebekah next?
Claire Holt: “Rebekah starts off in Mystic Falls; she had a little unfinished business there with Matt. Then you will see her come to terms with the fact that she really does love her family and needs to be there for them and support them. Elijah said in the pilot, ‘I’m offering you what you’ve always wanted, a child.’ She’s going to get off that high horse she’s been sitting on with regards to Klaus and turn up in New Orleans, causing trouble, maybe.”
What’s the relationship going to be like between Hayley (played by Phoebe Tonkin) and Rebekah?
Claire Holt: “We haven’t really started doing that yet, but we don’t really know each other, so it’s an interaction of two new characters. I think she’s going to feel a little protective over her like her mother treated her. Hayley doesn’t have any family, so I hope we have a lot of scenes together. I’d really love that.”
Do you think there will be cross-overs between The Vampire Diaries and The Originals?
Claire Holt: “Absolutely. I hope there’s a cross-over. I think Julie [Plec] has really left the door open for that. There’s potential for their characters to come to our show and us to go to theirs, or me, at least. So, I’d love that. I think we should really capitalize on the fan base of The Vampire Diaries and use that to help us if we can, because it’s such an amazing show. If we’re going to have any sort of success like they have, then we’d be so lucky. Here’s hoping.”
Have you started filming yet?
Claire Holt: “We haven’t. I started on the first episode of The Vampire Diaries last week. We haven’t started filming The Originals yet.”
So we’ll see you in the very first episode of this season’s The Vampire Diaries?
Claire Holt: “Yes, you will. I am busy, which is nice, because I also know what it’s like not to be busy as an actor. It’s nice to have some steady work. I’m very grateful. It’s really great.”
What’s the most enjoyable part of playing Rebekah?
Claire Holt: “Julie has written such a multi-dimensional character for me. The challenge was at the start there’s this mean girl that no one wants around and you have to make her likable. You have to make the fans want to watch her. So, it’s been really rewarding to watch the journey from sassy, spunky killer to the girl who just wants to be loved.
I’ve really got to experience a lot of things as an actor from flashbacks to stunts, and being on a massive production like this. A lot of things combine in one that makes the show really, really fun. It’s a great gig.”
Do you like to do flashback episodes?
Claire Holt: “Oh, I love it. I mean, apart from the tight corsets in the sweaty Georgia summer, which is really tough – and the wigs. I love the look of them afterwards. They are so beautiful when they come together. I think they really add to the story and it takes it to a place that not a lot of other shows get to go to. I love it.”
Are there any particular type of scenes you’re looking forward to with The Originals?
Claire Holt: “Yeah, I’d love to have some scenes with Phoebe. We worked together on our first show in Australia, so she’s my friend for a really long time. I’d love to be able to work with her again. That’s going to be a real treat. Just really get into the family dynamic more. I love these boys. I think I have such a great chemistry with them.
We work so well together and we have a great working relationship. I love to watch them because they’re so talented. You learn from that. I’m really excited for everything, I guess. [Laughing] It’s going to be a real treat.”
Emilie de Ravin (‘Belle’) appears to be stuck in Storybrooke in the third season of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, the fantasy series populated with fairy tale characters including Captain Hook, Rumplestiltskin, Prince Charming, Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Jiminy Cricket, the Seven Dwarfs, and an Evil Queen. And at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, de Ravin did a great job of not disclosing too much about the upcoming season while still providing a little insight into what viewers can expect from the addictive series when it returns on September 29, 2013.
Emilie de Ravin Once Upon a Time Interview
What can you tell us about the next season? What are you allowed to say?
Emilie de Ravin: “Well, we only have one script. There’s not much I can say that I can actually say anyway. Neverland. One word, Neverland, is the focus of the first episode, as you probably gathered, so that’s not helpful.”
Your character isn’t even in Neverland. You’re stuck in Storybrooke. How does that affect her?
Emilie de Ravin: “We haven’t shot her in Storybrooke yet, but yes, she goes to Storybrooke. A very difficult decision for her because she could be selfish and regardless of what he says, jump on the boat. Struggle, ‘No, I’m coming!’ He’s doing the right thing for me, as well, and I need to respect that he needs to go and he needs to do this on his own. He’s basically going on a suicide mission and doesn’t want me to be around. I’m the only one who’s been given the cloaking spell, so it would be very selfish of me to go. I’m the only one that can help hopefully protect Storybrooke.
As sad as that is, it was devastating. I was actually really sad that day. [Laughing] Not hard to cry…I couldn’t help it. You do take after take sometimes, but with Bobby, when I have to cry, I end up bawling too much. They’re like, ‘Em. Maybe stop crying.’ No, it’s cool, I love their relationship, I love working with him and I think we’re together, together and separately, but together really well written for. It’s not a generic, boring couple. There’s always something he’s done.
It’s back-and-forth, it’s very passionate, so it’s always all or nothing. Torn apart or thrown back together, changing each other for good and bad, it’s really interesting.”
Now that you and Rumple have been torn apart, who do you share scenes with now that he’s no longer there?
Emilie de Ravin: “Well, we may share some scenes.”
You do?
Emilie de Ravin: “Soon. Well, everyone who’s left in Storybrooke, I would imagine, if I had the script. Granny’s there, Ruby’s in-and-out, I believe. The dwarves. Whoever else happens to be there.”
Is your major arc protecting Storybrooke, would you say?
Emilie de Ravin: “It’s a big part of it. That’s the question: can she? Does this cloaking spell actually do what it’s supposed to do? Does it last? Can it be intercepted by someone else? Is Neverland going to go on for a long time or do they come back quickly? Does everyone not come back, but some people do? And then, can they find Storybrooke because I say to him, ‘But how will you find me? You’re not coming back, are you?'”
Do you believe in that happily ever after?
Emilie de Ravin: Sometimes. With us, I do. It has to. It has to. It’s going to be a rocky road, but yeah. I think yeah.”
You’ve played brunettes and blondes. Which is the real color and which do you prefer?
Emilie de Ravin: “My blond hair is my natural hair so I prefer that because I don’t have to do anything to it. I think that everyone’s natural color probably suits them best, even though we all play, well not me, but generally everyone plays around. You know what I mean? I like this, though. It’s fun.”
Timothy V Murphy, Mark Boone Jr, and Charlie Hunnam in ‘Sons of Anarchy’ (Photo Credit: Prashant Gupta/FX)
What can fans expect from the next-to-last season of Sons of Anarchy? FX’s critically acclaimed dramatic series returns for season six on September 10, 2013 and Mark Boone Jr. (‘Bobby Munson’) says as always series creator Kurt Sutter has lots of twists in store for fans of the series.
Mark Boone Jr Sons of Anarchy Interview:
A lot happened last season. How does this coming season top that?
Mark Boone Jr: “I would say there’s a lot going on in this season also. [Laughing] Surprise, surprise. I guess that’s what’s this show is all about. There’s no picnics in the park. Not too many…I can’t think of any. I thought when we started doing this, there’d be a few picnics in the park, but I guess not. You didn’t think so? Really? Just like blood and guts from the very beginning, and that was it.
The thing is that I think that it’s kind of a little bit sad that the show is pointing so directly to the violence of these clubs, because most motorcycle clubs are not about this, you know? Not at all. I think that’s why the people in the military so like this show because it’s about the fellowship of it.”
It’s about fellowship among common men who aren’t in the military, actually embracing each other and fight for each other.
Mark Boone Jr: “Yes, there are a lot of men in this show. It’s true. You know, there aren’t that many men on television. So many of the men are beleaguered idiots on television, you know? That’s how the American male comes across, like bozos. I think we help feed the other side of things.”
Are you allowed to say anything at all about this upcoming season?
Mark Boone Jr: “Well, we have two seasons left – that’s what I’ve heard – and there’s not that many people still alive. There’s a few, so I guess they’ve got to be killed off. I guess that’s what’s going to happen. No, it’s just more fun and games along those lines. There’s a lot of conflict. You’ve got the Russians still to deal with. I mean, the Irish. The head Irish guy’s a Russian, isn’t he? Sometimes he plays a Russian. I don’t know what he is! He’s English, that dude. He’s Irish. Yeah, he is Irish. I think he might be. Anyway, the first time I saw him he was in that commercial as a Russian…the guy with the little toy giraffe. Whatever.”
Do you see Bobby as somebody who’s always going to be the loyal person to one side or the other, or does he have his own individual game plan going on?
Mark Boone Jr: “I certainly hope that Bobby spins out of control at some point. You know, out of control. What else is left for him, you know? Enough of like, ‘Yeah, I’m here for the good of the club.’ Well, if there’s no club left… I think maybe he’s got to get really, truly upset about that.”
Do you think he’ll be left standing at the end of this?
Mark Boone Jr: “No. No, I don’t.”
Do you think he’ll finish out the season?
Mark Boone Jr: “I don’t have the faintest idea. I mean, if you looked at what kind of is going on, you might think that Bobby would be the one who would be left standing, but is this not a show about surprises, the unexpected? This is what I hear from fans: this is a show that the unexpected happens. So, I really don’t count on Bobby being around at the end.”
Who would you like to kill you?
Mark Boone Jr: “Maggie [Siff]. If somebody’s got to kill me, Maggie. I would love that. I mean, Tara. I don’t know. I certainly wouldn’t like to go at the hands of Jax [played by Charlie Hunnam] because I’m such a better man than he is. [Laughing] He’s a good guy. Everybody’s a good guy on this show. I can’t imagine who could kill Bobby.”
Don’t you think Bobby’s earned a peaceful life?
Mark Boone Jr: “I do, yeah. I do. I do believe that. But then again the unexpected is only to be expected.”
That would be the unexpected.
Mark Boone Jr: “That would be, wouldn’t it?”
Do you feel like Bobby’s carried too many secrets for too many people for too long for things to really turn out well for him?
Mark Boone Jr: “He does know everything. I mean, except for, you know… Yeah, he knows everything. Nobody else knows everything. Although the way it’s written he was not in on the Clay murder of John Teller, but he knows that it happened. But, he was not in on it. Tig was kind of in on it, so that’s the only thing. And that’s at the heart of this whole everything. I don’t know that that will become an aspect. But from the outside, he may know too much.”
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and director Edgar Wright reunite for their third film with The World’s End, the story of a pub crawl gone horribly wrong. Coming to theaters on August 23, 2013, this new featurette is a behind-the-scenes look at the comedy with interviews with Pegg, Frost, Wright, and Martin Freeman.
The Plot:
The tale of The World’s End begins on June 22nd, 1990. In their suburban U.K. town of Newton Haven, five boys in the prime of their teenage youth celebrate the end of school by attempting an epic pub crawl together. Despite their enthusiasm and the downing of a slew of pints of beer, they fall short of seeing their quest through, to the last pub on their list, The World’s End. Twenty-odd years later, “the five musketeers” have each left their hometown and are now husbands, fathers, men with careers – with the flashing-red-light exception of Gary King (Simon Pegg), who is now a 40-year-old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens.
The irrepressible Gary, keenly aware of his estrangement from his onetime closest friend Andy (Nick Frost), becomes hellbent on trying “The Golden Mile” drinking marathon again. He convinces Andy, Steven (Paddy Considine), Oliver (Martin Freeman), and Peter (Eddie Marsan) to stage an encore, and one Friday afternoon they are all reunited. Gary is in his element: the mandate is one night, five guys, twelve pubs – imbibing at least one pint apiece at each establishment. Arriving in Newton Haven, they re-encounter Oliver’s sister Sam (Rosamund Pike), for whom Gary and Steven each still carry a torch. As the gang attempts along the way to reconcile their past and present, an increasingly insane and dangerous series of encounters with old haunts and acquaintances makes them realize that the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind’s. Reaching The World’s End is the least of their worries…
It’s off to Neverland for the fairy tale occupants of Storybrooke and Emma Swan (played by Jennifer Morrison) in the third season of ABC’s hit drama Once Upon a Time. Emma’s son Henry has been taken there and a rescue team led by Gold (played by Robert Carlyle) and Hook (played by Colin O’Donoghue) have set sail to Neverland in an attempt to bring the boy back safely.
At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Morrison talked to us about her character’s arc, season three, and fairy tales.
Jennifer Morrison Once Upon a Time Interview:
Emma went through quite a few changes last season. How was that to play?
Jennifer Morrison: “It’s great. As an actor, what you’re always looking for is a character that’s going to grow and change, especially on television. I feel incredibly lucky to be working in a show where the writing is always geared toward us growing and changing.”
Did you have any idea of the character arc between the first episode to last season’s finale?
Jennifer Morrison: “There’s certain things that they certainly talked to us about. There were things from the very first time I met with them before they even offered me the job, that were sort of a clear part of the outline or the journey that they saw for Emma. Then there are certain things that have definitely filled in over time, based on who’s playing who and the way people interact and the way the story develops. I think Eddie [Kitsis] and Adam [Horowitz] have an incredible balance between an overall vision that they’ve really stayed true to and yet the leniency to write toward people’s strengths and toward the people that have come to the show. They have a nice balance of both.”
What can we expect for the season from the relationship between Emma and Regina?
Jennifer Morrison: “We start the season with everyone looking for Henry [Jared Gilmore], and as far as we know he could be in a really dire situation. These people just killed Neal [Michael Raymond-James], as far as I know. So no matter what Regina [Lana Parrilla] and Emma have been through in the past, reality is, Emma knows Regina will do anything to save Henry. As much as there are other grievances to be settled at some point, right now those grievances are going to be tabled in order to do everything they can do in their power, all of them together, to get Henry back.”
Is there a particular actor that you like to interact with among the big ensemble cast?
Jennifer Morrison: “I’m always prone to working with Michael Raymond-James because he keeps me laughing all day, literally. I love the entire cast. I’m very blessed. Someone tweeted recently about did I miss the cast of House, which I do. I was very lucky because that was an extraordinary cast to work with as well. I am, once again, that lucky to be a part of an ensemble where you really do love each other. But he’s just one of those people, he has this particular ability to disarm me and just keep me laughing. That brings out a really good side of Emma as well. I definitely look forward to the scenes when I know that we’re going to be working together.”
Did you have a favorite scene that you shot in season two?
Jennifer Morrison: “I would say my favorite stuff in season two was just the entire arc in New York. I felt the journey that Gold [Robert Carlyle] and Henry and Emma go on to go find Gold’s son, and the reveal of it being Neal and that entire journey was I felt like probably my favorite arc that I’ve shot on the show between both seasons.”
What fairy tales did you grow up with?
Jennifer Morrison: “All of them. My parents are obsessed with Disney and they were in Disney World last week. I’d been to Disney World 50 times by the time I was 18, just so many times. I was actually disgruntled over it.”
They forced you to go?
Jennifer Morrison: “Well, it’s not that they forced me; you don’t force a kid to go. It was a lot. I grew up around the Disney version of all the fairy tales. So for me, it was fun to play the new character. I think it probably wouldn’t have been as appealing to play a character that already existed. To me it was fun to play a new character. To see all these fairy tales reinvented and turned upside down and interacting – it really was such a huge part of my childhood – it’s been fun to see the grown-up version of all of it, in a sense.”
What would like to see Emma doing this coming season?
Jennifer Morrison: “What I’m excited about for this season is that, at least what Eddie and Adam have been talking about, is the idea of really fleshing out all of the relationships, going deeper into the storytelling about what does it mean that Snow and Charming are her parents and that they’re the same age and that they gave her up? What does it mean that she does have a connection to Captain Hook? Maybe Neal is dead and then once she does find out he’s not dead, what does that mean now that he’s back in her life? Can she handle that kind of vulnerability?
I think that whereas in season two we introduced a lot of new characters and it was a very big, broad season, it feels like this season is going to be very intimate, and it’s going to have a real intensity of depth in all of the relationships.”
Is it easier to act out the green screens now that you know the visual look of the show having seen it?
Jennifer Morrison: “It just depends on what you’re doing on a green screen. Sometimes it’s really hard. I find when you’re in a room where you don’t have walls and you’re trying to remember where furniture is and you have X’s and things for all that, but you want to be detailed as an actor so you want to interact with your environment, so when you don’t have your environment, there’s a frustration of trying to figure those details out in your mind. [You] keep running back to the monitor and looking at the temporary plates that they put in and go, ‘Oh, there is a table there. Okay, I can touch the wall there,’ and try to have a relationship with my environment. I find that the hardest stuff to do when I need to try to find a relationship to an environment that doesn’t exist.
The stuff that isn’t that hard was when I was slaying the dragon, the camera was on a giant crane. It almost felt like the camera was the dragon. When there are some reference points that make it so that you can imagine that world as it’s happening, it’s definitely beneficial. It’s really when you’ve lost all sense of your environment that it’s harder to feel as detailed and present as you would want to be as an actor. It’s a different level of concentration and seeking out what’s actually around you and having to ask a lot of questions to make sure that you’ve figured all that out.”
Marie Avgeropoulos says that being a Canadian girl she was happy to have been given the opportunity to go back and shoot The CW’s new series The 100 in beautiful British Columbia. And given the fact they filmed in gorgeous parks and rain forests, it wasn’t difficult for Avgeropoulos to play a character who’s the first person to step foot on the planet decades after a nuclear war devastates the planet.
Her character’s dropped on Earth with a group of other young people, and Avgeropoulos said The 100‘s action scenes gave her plenty of opportunity to channel her inner tomboy.
Avgeropoulos said she tried to do as many of her own stunts as possible. “I always try and stay in shape and out of trouble as much as possible,” said Avgeropoulos when asked how she prepared physically for the role. “I hit the gym a lot, I did Pilates, I did some martial arts. I drove my motorcycle around LA as much as possible. That kind of thing.”
And in our interview from the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Avgeropoulos also talked about the sci-fi aspect and being a part of a group sent back to repopulate the Earth.
Nikki Reed, best known for playing a sparkling vampire in the Twilight films, has just started work on Intramural for Ralph Smyth Entertainment. The comedy’s set in college and also features Jake Lacy, Kate McKinnon, Jay Pharoah, Nick Kocher, Brian McElhaney, D.C. Pierson, Michael Hogan, Sam Eidson, Beck Bennet, and Nick Rutherford.
Andrew Disney’s directing from a script by Bradley Jackson.
“With Intramural, we’re setting out to make an epic sports movie for the guys who don’t deserve one,” stated Disney. “We’ve got a hilarious script, a terrific ensemble cast, and one hell of a production team. I can’t wait to start shooting in Austin.”
The Plot:
Intramural is set in the highly popular world of college intramural sports, a subculture that has yet to be explored in film, providing a unique spin to the sports comedy genre. Caleb Fuller is a fifth-year college senior with marriage and law school ahead of him. As his daunting future looms ominously on the horizon, Caleb longs to do something that doesn’t matter before he graduates, something just for fun. When his impulsive roommate Hank suggests they form a football team, Caleb sets off to reassemble his former squad, The Panthers, for one last shot at intramural glory.
