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SHOOT: Goran Visnjic & Erin Moriarty Film RED WIDOW Finale at Guiness Tower

May 5, 2013 Red Widow

Update May 10, 2013 – ABC cancelled this limited series so last Sunday’s season finale is the series ender.

So it wasn’t Nicholae Schiller (Goran Visnjic) who made Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell) a Red Widow by killing her husband. It was her cold, cruel, ruthless father who couldn’t stand the idea of losing his grandkids. But the grandkids don’t know that yet. And so young Natalie (Erin Moriarity) pulls a gun on Schiller as he’s leaving his office, filmed at the Guiness Tower in Vancouver’s Business District, in what turns out to be the final scene of the season finale.

What happens next? That depends on whether this limited series is renewed or not.

Russian Mob Drama RED WIDOW’s Two-Hour Debut on ABC Tonight

March 3, 2013 Red Widow

Are we ready for a female version of Tony Soprano (The Sopranos) or Walter White (Breaking Bad) on American broadcast TV? Red Widow is about San Francisco widow Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell) forced to replace her husband in the Russian mob after his murder in order to repay his debt and protect her family — son Gabriel (Sterling Beaumon),daughter Natalie (Erin Moriarty) and son Boris (Jakob Salvati).

Her husband was killed by the mafia. In order to erase a [$1.5 million] debt and protect her family, she is willing to work with his killers. How far would you go? For one mother, the only way out is deeper in. No time to mourn.

That debt is owed to crime lord Nicholae Schiller (Goran Visnjic). “I don’t play games Mrs. Walraven. Ever.” – Schiller

ABC/BOB D'AMICO

By the end of the first set of eight episodes, Marta Walraven won’t be as bad as Tony Soprano or Walter White but she will have gone from packing lunches to packing guns — with room to go darker.

Goran Visnjic as RED WIDOW’s Russian Mob Boss in Downtown Vancouver

March 2, 2013 Red Widow

Red Widow added Goran Visnjic to the cast after the pilot was filmed, much to the delight of his Vancouver fans who know him as noble Dr. Luka Kovac on ER.

But this time Goran Visnjic is not the good guy. He’s the Big Bad. His Russian mafia is blamed for the shooting of Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell)’s husband in the season premiere. She should be mourning but must work with her husband’s killers to repay the [$1.5 million ] debt owed to mob boss Nicholae Schiller (Goran Visnjic) and to protect her family.

I looked for Goran Visnjic early on at the Russian mob restaurant Cafe Rossiya played by Lana Lou’s restaurant in the Downtown Eastside but never caught him in an exterior scene until Red Widow’s season finale filmed at the Exchange Tower downtown.

[Update: In the two-hour premiere, Goran Visnijic demonstrated his black belt in kung-fu in a sparring scene. Impressive.]

SHOOT: Who’s Holding a Gun on RED WIDOW Mob Boss Goran Visnjic at Guiness Tower?

November 14, 2012 Red Widow

Who’s holding a gun on Goran Visnjic (ER)’s Russian mob boss Nicholae Schiller at the Guiness Tower in downtown Vancouver for the final episode of Red Widow’s first set of eight? Telling would ruin the surprise. Inspired by a popular Dutch TV series, Red Widow is an upcoming ABC series about San Francisco widow Marta Walraven forced to replace her mobster husband as head of a crime syndicate after his murder in order to protect her family: sons Gabriel and Boris and daughter Natalie. The series wraps its initial order of eight episodes at the end of the week with the option of more after it premieres next year.

SHOOT: RED WIDOW’s Night Shoot in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

October 26, 2012 Red Widow

Midseason ABC series Red Widow set up for a night shoot yesterday in the alley east of Oppenheimer Park in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. A crew van dropped off cast Wil Traval and Erin Cahill, who walked arms around one another to set, already in character for a romantic kiss that goes wrong. I don’t know why her character ended up crumpled on the ground but this is a Russian mob drama. And Wil Traval’s Irwin Lazarev is a Russian mobster. So there are going to be casualties.

More photos

SHOOT: RED WIDOW & Sons Film at Terminal City Ironworks Compound in East Vancouver

October 20, 2012 Red Widow

It appeared to be the last exterior scene before production moved inside the compound for a long night shoot.

SHOOT: RED WIDOW at its Russian Mob Restaurant in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – Updated

October 16, 2012 Red Widow

Midseason ABC series Red Widow – about San Francisco widow Marta Walraven forced to replace her mobster husband as head of a crime syndicate after his murder — filmed at its regular location in Lana Lou’s restaurant dressed as Cafe Rossiya in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside today. Australian Radha Mitchell, who stars as the widow, stayed inside the restaurant along with Erin Moriarty as her daughter Natalie, Luke Goss (Hellboy II) as bodyguard Luther and Lee Tergesen (Oz) as mob foot soldier Steven Tomlin in the morning scenes.

After those wrapped, a Red Widow steadycam crew filmed an exterior scene of Wil Traval (someone I haven’t seen on set before) as Irwin Lazarev [talking to Erin Cahill's character and then] walking to his car.

SHOOT: Youngest in RED WIDOW’s Mob Family Does Own Stunt at Vancouver’s Victory Square – Updated

September 18, 2012 Red Widow

Inspired by a popular Dutch TV show, midseason ABC series Red Widow is about a San Francisco mobster’s widow, Marta Walraven, forced to replace her husband as head of a crime syndicate after his murder. She does this to protect her three children, two of whom were on set today at Victory Square in downtown Vancouver. The youngest — Jakob Salvati as Boris Walraven — did an impressive stunt for such a young actor in take after take. A crew member drew a mark in the centre of Hamilton Street where he would walk to with his TV sister — Erin Moriarty as Natalie Walraven — and then stop as a motorcycle turns the corner in front of them. Moriarity keeps walking as Salvati stays put, looking up at the motorcycle as a red car turns the corner next. Moriarity returns and pulls Salvati to the sidewalk as a blue van turns behind them. On the first take, Moriarity pulled a little too hard and ended up dragging Salvati to the sidewalk. He wasn’t hurt and seemed to enjoy himself as they did the scene over and over again with different camera setups.

SHOOT: RED WIDOW’s Radha Mitchell & Lee Tergesen Filming in Yaletown Townhouse – Updated

August 23, 2012 Red Widow

Midseason ABC series Red Widow started filming its first episode as a series today in a Yaletown townhouse opposite George Weinborn Park. Mob widow Radha Mitchell emerged from the townhouse after some scenes and chatted a bit with co-star Lee Tergesen while waiting for a ride back to circus under the Granville Bridge. She then waved off her star car and clambered into the one of the vans.

But it seemed a bit early in the series for Lee Tergesen’s mob foot soldier Mike Tomlin to be strangling Radha Mitchell’s mob widow Marta Walraven, even in practice. I’m sure it’s just the angle of my photograph.

Four Vancouver-Shot American TV Pilots to Series – ARROW, CULT, EMILY OWENS M.D. & RED WIDOW – Updated

May 11, 2012 Arrow, Cult, Emily Owens M.D., Red Widow, TV Pilots

American TV networks gave series orders to four of the eight pilots filmed this March in Vancouver, starting with The CW’s Arrow, Cult and Emily Owens M.D. (formerly First Cut) and then ABC’s Red Widow (formerly Penoza) in a flurry of announcements this afternoon ahead of next week’s New York upfronts — where networks unveil their fall schedules to advertisers.

If anything can be called a sure thing, The CW pilot Arrow was it. Based on DC Comics The Green Arrow, it stars Stephen Amell in a more Jason Bourne-like and less Smallville-ish production. Like The Dark Knight trilogy’s re-imagined Batman, Arrow’s vigilante superhero fights crime with martial arts and technology plus the special skill of archery. TV sites have been counting down to the Arrow’s expected pickup to series.

Also getting solid buzz but not quite a sure thing was The CW’s meta-pilot Cult starring Matt Davis of The Vampire Diaries as a blogger named Jeff investigating the rabid fans of a cult horror TV show, who have taken the series too literally. It will be a shorter, 13-episode series, leaving room for Davis to return to Mystic Falls if they can figure out how to resurrect him – again.