Tag Archives: filming
Fringe Films Big Scene Set in 2036 at UBC’s Clock Tower for Ep. 5×02
On Monday, Fringe transformed the area around the Clock Tower at the University of British Columbia into a checkpoint in 2036 – a time when Observer overlords rule the world – for the first day of filming of its second episode in season five. Ahead of the big Clock Tower scene, Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson wrapped a different scene which I’m not uploading photos from and not saying when it takes place. But here’s Torv delighting a Fringe fan (in town for The Fringe Event last weekend) by signing her Fringe fedora from Comic-Con in San Diego. And here’s Jackson making one of his zillion facial expressions. He’s one of the most animated people I’ve ever seen and I’m not alone in saying this.
Hacker Mini-Series Delete at Smile Diner with Ryan Robbins & Erin Karpluk – Updated
Delete, the third in a trio of “Disaster Pack” mini-series filming here this summer, shot a scene at the Smile Diner on Friday night, with Ryan Robbins (Falling Skies, Marilyn, Sanctuary) and Erin Karpluk (Bailout, Being Erica) seemingly on opposite sides of the law. In fact, I didn’t recognize Robbins at first in his detective suit and slicked-back hair, leading out young Keir Gilchrist from the diner.
And I don’t know how this crime scene fits into a story about a digital disaster where the world wide web becomes self aware and intent on destroying mankind, so that a second artificial intelligence must be created to stop it. Nor do I know what roles Matt Frewer, Gil Bellows and Janet Kidder play in Delete. I don’t know much at all, except this is a great Vancouver cast. [And with a wonderful new addition: Seth Green cast as "hacker activist" Lucifer.]
Delete is the third of Sonar Entertainment’s disaster trio of mini-series to start filming here. World on Fire, with Michael Vartan (Alias) Lauren Lee Smith (CSI), Terry O’Quinn (Lost) and Agam Darshi (Ry Robbins’s cast mate on Sanctuary), showed up first, turning downtown Chilliwack into the site of a volcanic eruption which triggers a Ring of Fire that spreads around the world. Then Dark Universe with Steven Webber (Wings), Christina Cox (CSI) and Treat Williams (Everwood) set up an Occupy movement-style tent city in downtown Vancouver’s Victory Square for its saga of eco-terrorists hijacking an experiment into unlimited energy which unleashes a dark energy black hole on the world. Hope planet Earth survives all this.
Ian Tracey and Nicholas Lea Guest-Star on CONTINUUM Season One Finale
In early May, Continuum filled the 600 block Thurlow in downtown Vancouver with 125 extras, flashing prop Vancouver police cars, an emergency vehicle and a firetruck to film scenes of a bomb scare evacuation for last night’s season finale, featuring stars Rachel Nichols and Victor Webster and guest stars Ian Tracey (Da Vinci’s Inquest, Intelligence, Sanctuary), as the wonderfully wacky man from the future, and Nicholas Lea (The X-Files, V), as a suspicious CSIS officer. Unfortunately this bomb scare turned out to be a diversion and the building that Liber8 had targeted was the iconic Arthur Erickson-designed concrete tower at 1075 West Georgia next door.
ARROW Kicks Glass (and Ass) at CBC Vancouver for Ep. 1×03
Upcoming TV series Arrow kicked glass — literally — at CBC Vancouver late Friday night. A Green Arrow stunt double burst through a “candy glass” window on the east wall feet first to the sounds of prop gunfire. Crew had spent the day setting up for this and we were hopeful that star Stephen Amell, who quietly boasts of doing roughly 75% of his own stunts, would perform this one. But not when there’s glass involved. Even stunt glass. Filming lasted overnight so Amell could have got plenty of action inside, which we couldn’t see, facing off against arch-villain Deadshot played by Michael Rowe, who tweeted he was on set. It’s a good bet that it was Deadshot who fired a prop rifle out of the open window on the left earlier in the evening. We’ll have to wait to see the third episode to find out, but clearly this show has not let up on the kick-assedness of its pilot.
Justin Hartley Filming Emily Owens M.D. at the University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia campus is pretty deserted in the summer months so there weren’t many students around yesterday to notice that their Irving K. Barber Learning Centre had been renamed Denver Memorial Hospital again so that hospital drama series Emily Owens, M.D. could film some quick scenes at the main entrance with a prop Denver Memorial ambulance parked out front in the sunshine and lots of background performers dressed in hospital scrubs milling about.
It’s been four months since Emily Owens M.D. (then called First Cut) filmed scenes for the pilot at Irving K. Barber of its star Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep’s daughter) walking in and out the front doors as Emily, a social nerd and surgical intern who finds life at Denver Memorial Hospital a lot like high school, where the popular students are people like real-life former model Justin Hartley (the Green Arrow on Smallville) as Will, a fellow surgical intern and Emily’s big crush.
I didn’t expect to see Justin Hartley (with glasses) on Emily Owens M.D.’s first day back shooting in Vancouver (August 1st) so my photos below aren’t the best. He certainly is crush-worthy and in a CW teaser for the show we see Emily admit to Will how much she likes him. ”I’m so sorry. I just don’t see you like that,” he replies kindly. Oops. How embarrassing and endearing of Emily. No wonder CW execs see Emily Owens as the next Ally McBeal.
YVRSHOOT: Charming Pays a Visit to Mr. Gold’s for ONCE UPON A TIME 2×02
How did magic come to make such a mess of Storybrooke in season two of Once Upon a Time? It’s all Rumplestiltskin’s fault, some savvy young fans say. And they’re right. Perhaps that’s why Charming (Josh Dallas) paid Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) a visit in his Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer shop in Steveston south of Vancouver earlier this week. Or maybe he’s seeking Rumple’s help to locate his missing loved ones, Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), who are nowhere to be seen in Storybrooke in episode two.
Robert Carlyle spent most of Tuesday afternoon and evening inside Mr. Gold’s pawn shop, visited first by his formidable foe, the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla), as fake smoke seeped out every time she exited out the door. After their interior scene wrapped, Carlyle and Parrilla both met with fans, some of whom had been waiting since 11 a.m. (I didn’t time it right to see Carlyle either on his way to or from set).
Then it was time for Charming (Josh Dallas) to come calling. as fans & locals multiplied outside Mr. Gold’s. Next to me, a teen holding a skateboard phoned his Mom to tell her that Robert Carlyle was on set. I asked him why he didn’t mention Charming? “Oh she’s in love with Mr. Gold. I tell her he’s ‘hideous’,” he said with a laugh.
Once Upon a Time season two premiere airs Sunday, September 30th, at 8 pm. on ABC in the U.S. and 7 p.m. on CTV in Canada.
YVRSHOOT: Magic Makes a Big Mess of Steveston’s Moncton Street in ONCE UPON A TIME 2×02
Magic has made a big mess of Main Street in Storybrooke (played by Moncton Street in Steveston south of Vancouver) for modern-day fairy tale series Once Upon a Time in episode two of the second season. Main Street is a disaster zone, with uprooted ashphalt, overturned and smashed-up cars, a downed telephone pole, blown-out windows, and the hull of a boat near the main intersection. Fortunately, the many local fans of the show could see some main cast alive and well amid the debris on the artfully-destroyed street.
Meghan Ory, Lee Arenberg and the Evil Queen herself, Lana Parrilla, did some early morning scenes, leaving the afternoon for Josh Dallas to chase a Mad Hat (see if you can spot the black top hat in the photos below) east along the street and then into the alley next to Storybrooke Country Bread. Dallas ran and ran and ran all afternoon in stages, and then met with fans at the finish. As I’ve said before, he’s a Prince Charming in real life, too.
When I returned in the evening, it looked like Josh Dallas was in for another bout of running, but to chase the Mad Hatter himself, Sebastian Stan, not a Mad Hat. Stan soaked his shirt with perspiration running west down the street in the evening heat. Why was he running from Charming? It seems the Mad Hatter knows something about the whereabouts of Ginnifer Goodwin’s Snow White and Jennifer Morrison’s Emma Swan, who are nowhere to be seen in Storybrooke. What’s happened to them? We’ll have to wait until season two begins airing to find out.
I don’t know how Once Upon a Time filmed so many scenes and managed the hundreds of fans who flocked to set all day and evening long.
SET: ONCE UPON A TIME Crew Prepares to Make a Mess of Steveston’s Moncton Street for 2×02
Soon we get to see how much of a mess magic has made of Storybrooke’s Main Street — played by Moncton Street in Steveston south of Vancouver — in episode two of the upcoming second season. The Storybrooke Hardware & Paint sign looks burnt and has a big green-screen hole in it. Storefronts are boarded up. Crew is replacing the front window of the Storybrooke Pet Shelter with plastic shards. And in a nearby alley is some uprooted asphalt ready to be placed on the street later.
Filming today started mid-afternoon inside Mr. Gold’s Pawn Shop with Robert Carlyle’s Rumplestiltskin and Lana Parrilla’s Evil Queen spotted going in. I’m staying clear until there is something more open to see, like cast on an artfully-destroyed Moncton Street.
Supernatural Films Season 8 Premiere at the University of British Columbia
Seeing both of the Winchester brothers filming the Supernatural season eight premiere at the University of British Columbia would have been quite the spoiler if producers hadn’t already revealed that it takes place a year after the events of the season seven finale and that Dean Winchester’s time in Purgatory will be told mainly through flashbacks. In today’s scene, Jensen Ackles’s Dean Winchester and Jared Padalecki’s Sam Winchester stroll down the Main Mall outside the CHEM building dressed in suits amid background performers.
I arrived just as they wrapped at the CHEM building so I decided to head to the White Spot outlet on the west side of the Main Mall to pick up a Triple-O burger. Halfway there, I realized that Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki were headed to the same place, tossing a football back and forth on the way. Supernatural had booked the patio for the next scene.
From Utopian to Dystopian: Fringe Family Fights the Future for S5 Premiere – Updated
On the same day that Fringe filmed that utopian Fringe family picnic in 2015 with Peter, Olivia and young Etta (Henrietta) for the season five premiere, they filmed a dystopian scene of the Fringe family as members of the resistance fighting the Observer overlords in 2036 with Walter, Peter and grownup Etta but no Olivia.
The big family reunion in 2036 apparently happens early in the season premiere, according to Fringe showrunner Joel Wyman, but Olivia’s meetup with her grownup daughter won’t be quite what we expect. Meantime, here are three of the four members of the family destined to fight the future: John Noble’s Walter Bishop, Joshua Jackson’s Peter Bishop, and Georgina Haig’s Etta Bishop.
It’s Fringe Division’s final stand. This now insurgent group, which includes Jasika Nicole’s Astrid, filmed take after take of them exiting a dirty old van and then collectively gazing up in the direction of huge green screens on an empty lot next to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village. (The grey-haired fellow is a background performer not the real thing,)
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