June wrap: cast updates, new projects & interviews

A frakload of updates today. Let's start in Caprica City.

If you find yourself in Vancouver on Saturday, July 23, you can meet up with fellow BSG & Caprica fans for a guided tour of Kobol. For details, go to The 13th Colony blog.

CNN has a really great article about Ron Moore this week which is mainly about 17th Precinct, but pretty much covers most of his career. Here are a couple of quotes from David Eick and Jane Espenson:

"Ron is the scariest writer I know" his former producing partner recalls.
"I'm not sure there's anything he can't do remarkably well. Even within the context of 'Battlestar,' there was such a wild panoply of styles and emotions -- action, tragedy, melodrama, comedy, philosophy, even music -- all of which I watched him nail."

"But he's also weirdly unpretentious," Eick said. "We'd argue about whether something worked, but never whether or not it was 'good,' because if you tell Ron something's not good, he doesn't take it personally. He just says OK and then does something great."

Moore's sense of flexibility and vision were solidifying his reputation among his cast and crew.
Writer and Executive Producer Jane Espenson first met Moore while pitching show ideas for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a grad student at UC Berkeley. She later joined "Battlestar's" writing team.

"There could be a million distractions around him -- he could be on a bad phone connection, in an airport, running for a plane, and he'd immediately grasp a complex story as five of us shouted it into a speaker phone, and he'd have the fix," she said.
Moore was acquiring a dedicated following with the show's success. He understood how much the geek culture's acceptance by the mainstream had helped his own success as genre material had made the transformation from niche to widespread commercial viability.

Dean Devlin tweets that Leverage 4x01, with Eric Stoltz, is available on iTunes for free. (Currently being in Coyote Dial-up Nowhere, I can't confirm.)

Esai Morales metioned a new project in the live chat he did on Twitter the other day. No details, except that it's called Beautiful Now and he might be playing a subdued gay character. Esai also posted a clip from the red carpet for Los Americans on his FB page. A new episode, "Secrets," was posted earlier today. You can watch it on PIC.tv.

After getting a standing ovation at the Frameline fest, Gun Hill Road is travelling to Germany, where it will be shown at the Munich International Film Festival this weekend. And NYPress.com has the announcement for the 2011 NewFest:

July 28 – NewFest closes with the parental drama Gun Hill Road. Returning from prison to find his son recast as Vanessa, Esai Morales decides to turn him into a tough man no matter the cost.

The Grimm pilot will be screened at Comic Con, with the cast in attendance. From Hollywood Reporter:

The series, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel writers and executive producers Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt, will hold its panel on Saturday, July 23.
Following the screening, a Q&A will be held with Kouf and Greenwalt joined by the cast including David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby, Bitsie Tulloch, Silas Weir Mitchell, Reggie Lee and Sasha Roiz.

Io9.com has an article on Tekken, with John Pyper-Ferguson, as well as some clips from the film (no JPF), which will be out on DVD in a few weeks.

Several videos from James Marsters’ Q&A at Supanova 2011 have been posted on YouTube, starting here. There is also a short interview with him at CapsuleComputers.com.

Judas Kiss with Richard Harmon and Genevieve Buechner will get a couple of screenings at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival in August. And Philly Broadcaster has the festival announcement for the Philadelphia QFest, which opens next week (July 7):

This year’s festival kicks off with two opening films: The first, Judas Kiss, is a science-fiction film that tells the story of a washed-up filmmaker who travels back in time to meet his college-aged self. The film has been making festival rounds throughout the country and has consistently been one of the most well-received of the festival season

Kacey Rohl tweets that she is working on The Haunting Hour. IHeartDaily.com has a new Q&A with her. Snippet:

IHD: You've had some dark roles recently! How do you put yourself in the mindset to play those parts?
KR: Prudence in Red Riding Hood came very easily to me, oddly enough. Acting mean (in that way) was easy for me. Sterling in The Killing was more difficult. She was more complex and damaged. For her, I went back to what my time in high school was like and really went to those icky 16-year-old self esteem places. I also used a lot of music to bring me down. The Antlers, The Cinematic Orchestra and I also got my best friend to compile a list of her favorite sad tunes and I used that to make me think of Rosie.

Meanwhile, The Province has a new article about one of Kacey's new films, Sunflower Hour, which includes a short interview with Ben Cotton. Snippet:

Cotton shows comic chops I hadn't seen from him before, handling both sides of an antagonistic relationship between a foul-mouthed guy and his even more colourfully foul-mouthed leprechaun puppet.

The cast took a couple of workshops from veteran puppeteer Jeny Cassady. "One of the things she said that I probably wouldn't have thought about was the puppet's breathing," says Cotton.
"She said if you stop moving, the puppet's dead. Let it breathe, make an inhale and an exhale for it, and always have the puppet be aware and looking, then it stays alive."
Cotton uses that technique in spades, notably in a hotel room scene set after a hookers-and-booze bender, in which his character is passed out but the puppet is awake.

Sunflower Hour will have its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic in July. The film has an official site where you can find all the info you need: www.sunflowerhour.com.

Stuff.co.nz had a great interview with Jamie Bamber last week, in which he talked about 17th Precinct among other things. A snippet or two:

"The saddest thing for us personally was that we were working with the people we had grown to love and respect [on Battlestar] again.

"It didn't work for whatever reason and you don't know. It's not a proven science. It was a difficult subject matter and I guess test audiences didn't quite sort of believe or understand the world that we were trying to create."

Bamber says it was the leadership on Battlestar that made the show such a unique experience.
"I really mean it - Eddie Olmos and Mary McDonnell and to some extent [producer] Michael Rymer as well and Ron.

"Eddie [who played Bamber's father, Bill Adama] is just a guy that creates a family vibe and empowers people. He doesn't feel threatened by them. He gives people confidence and tries to build people up. He created a lot of us, a lot of our younger cast, in particular.
"We were all sort of in a foreign town, which galvanised people to socialise together and the kind of story we were telling was conducive to that. We were all on this adventure together and didn't know which way we were going to be turning next."

While Battlestar finished two years ago, there has already been one short-lived spin-off, Caprica, plus the upcoming prequel series Blood & Chrome centred on a young Bill Adama played by Skins actor Luke Pasqualino.

Bamber's not miffed he wasn't asked to play the junior Adama?
"Oh, God no. Not at all,'' he laughs.

"I don't think I'd have volunteered myself for that. I think that would have been too much and I'm too old. I hear the guy playing it is great. I don't know him myself, but everyone said he did a fantastic job."

And The Morton Report had an article with lots of info on the production of Echoes, the new pilot with Mike Dopud. Here is an update, from Mark Savela (producer):

"[Composer] Joel Goldsmith is working away on the score; his ideas and suggestions are just amazing and we're really looking forward to seeing the finished product. Redlab in Toronto is doing the color correct on the show, while Atmosphere VFX and Darkroom Digital are working away on the VFX."

"We are looking to have the 13-minute pilot presentation and the two-minute trailer finished by the end of June. We've also been working hard behind the scenes, pitching and trying to sell the show. The concept and its players have been very well received out in the market, and we hope to have more announcements very soon."

Guillermo del Toro gave an update the other day on The Hulk remake, which he is producing with David Eick:

Is Hulk still happening?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We turned in the outline to ABC about four weeks ago. And then we did a rewrite for ABC on the outline, and now we are lining up the pages.
Is it safe to assume this will be a different Hulk than we've ever seen before?
I think so. Or we wouldn't be trying it. Actually, one of the points of this project early on with Marvel, was "We're going to do this thing different, and here's how. Are you interested?" And they were.

ABC has announced the premiere dates for its fall shows, among them Jane Espenson's new show, Once Upon a Time, which kicks off on Sunday, October 23 at 8 pm.

Last not least, Torchwood: Miracle Day will premiere in the UK on on July 14th at 9 pm on BBC 1. BBC has put out the UK teaser and a press release for the pilot.

The show kicks off in the U.S. on Starz next Friday (July 8) at 10 pm. You can catch it a free screening in several cities, including Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and Denver, on July 5. For details, hop over to Facebook.

Here is a new, 11-minute behind-the-scenes preview clip, with Russell T. Davies, John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Mekhi Phifer, Bill Pullman and Alexa Havins:

Eric Stoltz guest stars on Leverage tonight

Just a few quick updates today.

First, a reminder that Eric Stoltz will make an appearance in the Leverage season four premiere, "The Long Way Down Job." A clip from the episode is embedded at the end of the post.

Here is the synopsis:

To take down a corrupt financier, the LEVERAGE team must recover lost evidence high up on a mountain, racing hired guns and killer weather.

Leverage 4x01 airs tonight at 9 pm ET on TNT, followed by a new episode of Falling Skies at 10 pm.

Another reminder: Esai Morales will be doing the tweet-up for Gun Hill Road at 3 pm ET, also today.

Alessandra Torresani did a podcast for Playback the other day. Keep an eye on her on Twitter for the link.

Bear McCreary was among the composers honoured at the ASCAP Film & TV Music Awards this week, as one of the "composers who wrote the themes and underscore for the highest rated television series in 2010," for The Walking Dead.

And Syfy has put out a press release for its July shows, among them Warehouse 13 (with Sasha Roiz recurring and Alessandra Torresani also making an appearance this season), Eureka (still scored by Bear McCreary, with Aaron Douglas guest starring in the Aug. 29 episode), and Alphas (with Callum Keith Rennie in the pilot and Peter Wingfield also guest starring at some point). All three shows will air on Mondays, starting July 11. From the press release:

Syfy's Summer Premiere Week kicks off on Monday, July 11 with the Season 4.5 return of Eureka at 8PM (ET/PT), followed by Season 3 of Warehouse 13 - Syfy's most successful series ever - at 9PM, and the new drama Alphas bowing at 10PM. (…)

Eureka - Monday, July 11 at 8PM - In the season 4.5 return of Eureka, as the timeline changes from their trip to 1947 continue to surprise Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson), Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), Henry Deacon (Joe Morton), Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) and Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston), an accident of astronomical proportions is the impetus for Global Dynamic's most ambitious project yet. With the entire town rallying to go where no man has gone before and pitting scientist against scientist, our heroes' new relationships are tested when secrets begin to surface, the competition grows fierce and darker forces threaten to bring everyone down should they fail. Niall Matter also stars as Zane Donovan. (...)

Warehouse 13 - Monday, July 11 at 9PM - Warehouse 13 returns for a third season with a key question looming from the gripping season two finale: has Myka (Joanne Kelly) left the Warehouse team for good? Joining the Warehouse is Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore, Smallville), an ATF agent with an innate ability to detect when someone's lying. Warehouse 13 follows a team of government agents who work at a massive, top-secret storage facility in South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and preternatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse's caretaker Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock), Myka Bering (Kelly) and young apprentice Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache. (…)

Alphas - Series Premiere Monday, July 11 at 10PM - Alphas follows a clandestine group of average everyday citizens with amazing abilities operating within the U.S. Department of Defense. Led by preeminent neurologist and psychiatrist Dr. Lee Rosen (Emmy Award-winner and Academy Award-nominee David Strathairn), the team investigates cases that point to others with abilities like theirs, and as they work against the clock to solve this new brand of crime, they must prevent their own personality differences and disparate backgrounds from interfering with their missions.

Here is that sneak peek from Leverage, with Eric Stoltz:



And the trailer for Sunflower Hour, with Kacey Rohl and Ben Cotton, released earlier today:

Patton Oswalt on Futurama & other updates

First, a reminder to watch Futurama tonight. The second half of season six starts at 10 pm and Patton Oswalt guest stars as Unattractive Giant Monster in the second episode, "Benderama," which airs at 10:30 on Comedy Central. Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive preview.

Esai Morales and Gun Hill Road director Rashaad Ernesto Green were interviewed for the Movie Addict Headquarters podcast on Blog Talk Radio. You can find the link to the interview here. Esai will be doing a tweet-up this Sunday at 3 pm ET. Eyes on @gunhillroadfilm for further updates. The film will next be screened at the Kansas City Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on Saturday, June 25.

Eric Stoltz seems to be everywhere this week. DVD Talk reports that they've seen him in a deleted scene of Elektra Luxx, out on DVD since Tuesday. Also, according to his IMDB page, he is directing an episode of Californication this season – episode 5x06. He isn't in any of the previews for the Leverage season premiere (frakssakes, TNT), but he will definitely appear in the episode.

Genevieve Buechner is shooting a new film, Girl Fight, in B.C. these days. The Province mentioned it the other day:

Real-life couple James Tupper and Anne Heche star in this TV movie as the parents of a teen (Canada's Genevieve Buechner) whose beating by other girls was recorded and uploaded onto the Internet.

In related news, Judas Kiss is available for pre-ordering on Amazon.

Spoiler TV has the official press release for John Carter, with Polly Walker, which will hit theatres next June.

Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, with Thomas Hayden Church and Willem Dafoe
Director: Andrew Stanton
Producers: Jim Morris and Colin Wilson
Screenplay by: Andrew Stanton & Mark Andrews (credit not final)
Based on the story by: Edgar Rice Burroughs

From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton, “John Carter of Mars” is a sweeping action adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). Based on the classic sci-fi novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the film tells the story of John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter discovers that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands. (…)
Set in the wounded planet of Mars, JOHN CARTER OF MARS chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter (TAYLOR KITSCH), who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants, including Tars Tarkas (WILLEM DAFOE) and Dejah Thoris (LYNN COLLINS).

Hart of Dixie with Scott Porter has a definite premiere date: Monday, September 26 at 9 pm. Meanwhile, season two of The Good Wife will be out on DVD on September 13.

Hungry Hills with John Pyper-Ferguson has been picked up by CBC. (Fantastic little film, see it if you get a chance. If you liked Winter's Bone, you'll love this one, too.)

A staged reading of Macbeth that James Marsters did for L.A. Theatre Works’ Audio Theatre Collection will be released on August 15.

Nickutopia reports that filming has wrapped on Rags: A Hip Hop Fairytale, with Avan Jogia and Zak Santiago.

The Jessie Awards were presented this week. The full list of winners is at Jessies.ca. Each of the productions with the Caprica cast involved – The Philanderer with Anna Galvin, Tear the Curtain! with Hiro Kanagawa, and Glengarry Glen Ross with Brian Markinson and John Pyper-Ferguson – nabbed at least one award.

Several new interviews with Mark Verheiden showed up at Collider, Coming Soon and Daemon’s TV. He also posted some fun facts about the show on his blog.

Here is a snippet from the Collider interview:

Were there things that you specifically wanted to bring to this series, once you had signed on?
VERHEIDEN: What we had was an incredibly great template that suggested all sorts of things we could do from the pilot. I wanted to do was continue what had been established, but what was wonderful about working with TNT and with everyone on the project was that they were open to explore things that came to mind, as you were actually writing the episodes. You can have a real strong path of where you’re going, but then you get to a point where you go, “Hey, this would be fun,” or “This is a change,” or “That’s not working as well as we’d like.” But, my mandate going in, for me, was that we did not want to tell a bleak story about humanity on the ragged edge. This is a story about a man with three kids, who he’s trying to protect more than anything on this earth. He’s trying to retrieve one of them from the Skitters and protect the others. And, it’s about six months after an invasion that’s turned their whole lives upside down and taken away everything that they used to take for granted, and finding that hope in humanity within yourself, gathering and becoming that resistance, the Second Mass. Then, the show that TNT wanted was one that had a sense of hopefulness to it. It’s about these people that are thrust together, who had never met, and now are finding ways to not only fight back against the aliens, but who are also reconstituting themselves after this terrible event and making a life that’s not just a life but is one that’s worth living, not just for Tom but for his kids. That, to me, was its core. It was trying to find and make sure that we held onto those emotional values, at the core of it.

The Falling Skies premiere was seen by more than 5.9 million viewers, which made it the top cable series premiere launch this year. Congrats to all involved.

Falling Skies airs Sundays at 10 pm on TNT.

Weekend monster update

Tons of updates today. Let's start with Bear McCreary.

GameMusic.net posted an interview they did with him in April. It's mostly about the SOCOM 4 score, but Caprica and BSG also get a mention, as well as the other shows he is/was scoring. Here is a snippet:

Matt: To switch a bit, in addition to video games, you scored three television series over the past season: Eureka, The Walking Dead, and The Cape. How were you able to fit in composing and recording for so many projects?
Bear McCreary: I don't sleep a lot (laughs). The schedules are tough, but thankfully, of the three shows that you cited, two of them are on cable and cable has a very different schedule than network television. Generally I'm able to weave my way through the schedules and I usually don't have to work on more than one show at any given time. Still, I don't really get a lot of time to sleep when I have three shows to do.

Matt: I can imagine. About those shows... The Cape, Caprica, and Trauma were prematurely cancelled despite having a considerable fanbase. Was this disappointing for you or partly expected, given the highly competitive nature of primetime broadcasting?
Bear McCreary: Of course. It's always disappointing when something you work on — and really invest yourself emotionally in — does not continue. At the same time, in all three of those shows, I was able to explore what I wanted to explore.
Looking at The Cape as a perfect example, of course I'm disappointed that there wasn't another season where I could write big, epic superhero music and record it with an 80-piece orchestra every week. But in looking at that from the other side, from the artistic perspective, I was able to record a full season of a superhero show with an 80-piece orchestra every week! So I'm very proud of the work I've done on those series and it is good to know that it will live on in other media for people to discover as the years go on.
In the case of The Cape and Caprica, I am in the process of working on a soundtrack album release for both of those so that fans can hear all the things that I put in the score that sometimes get lost in the final edit.

The Hollywood Reporter had an article last week about directors who might get nominated for an Emmy this year (the nominations will be announced on July 14). Among other people, they talked to Eric Stoltz and John Dahl. The relevant bits:

John Dahl
Justified (FX)
Episode: "For Blood or Money"
"This was an episode written by Wendy Calhoun, who happens to be black, who told me, "I've never been able to tell a real African-American story with this many characters." [Showrunner] Graham Yost really gave her permission to go ahead. He really wanted a more emotional story fit into the pile of season scripts this year. I think one of the first scenes I shot with [star] Timothy Olyphant in this episode is where [guest star] Larenz Tate comes by the school, and then Tim pulls the gun out on him. As soon as you see Tim in that wardrobe with a pistol in his hand, you're like, "Oh, that's right, we're making Justified!" and it's so awesome. He looks so good. And you just go, "Man, that is a TV show right there." There was another scene I loved, kind of a nothing scene in a way, where Tim goes in to talk to this real estate guy. He said to me: "The scene's just kinda flat; there's nothing going on. It needs that Elmore Leonard twist." And I don't know whose idea it was, maybe it was Wendy's or maybe it was Graham's or maybe it was Tim's, but somehow the script came back where the real estate guy wasn't wearing pants. So that one little thing, one little addition, it gave Timothy something to play, and it turned it into a Justified scene. Tim is relentless in terms of finding that little hook or that little twist that gives it that off-kilter thing."

Eric Stoltz
Glee (Fox)
Episode: "Duets"
"Anytime they break into song and dance, it's a massive challenge -- both technically and emotionally. You want to be able to tell a story within the story of the song, and with the music and dancing -- and the reaction -- it can all be a bit overwhelming. Because the show itself has become such a phenomenon, a lot of the actors have become quite savvy and quite sophisticated in their sense of humor and their approach to the work. What I remember about directing this episode is that I tried to get them back to the place of innocence and wonder, perhaps when they were actually auditioning for the show and didn't have the job and weren't affected by the success of the show. I remember feeling a little guilt over two numbers in particular: Amber Riley and Naya Rivera did "River Deep -- Mountain High" and Harry Shum Jr. and Jenna Ushkowitz did "Sing," and both of those numbers were incredibly exhausting for them. I kept asking for one more take, and I could see them literally about to collapse on the set. I felt like I was driving them too hard, but they are so passionate about doing good work that I overcame my guilt and they recovered -- although they all told me how wiped out they were the following few days. It's a serious feeling you don't often get when you direct a show -- that you're physically abusing the actors with the goal of creating something wonderful."

Someone posted a clip of Eric getting attacked by a zombie in the Judy Moody film on YouTube. Next stop, the Leverage season premiere on TNT next Sunday.

Several other Caprica directors are also in the running for an Emmy nod for their work on other shows: Roxann Dawson for The Cape (episode "The Lich, Part 2"), Michael Watkins for Justified ("The Spoil"), Jeffrey Reiner for The Event ("I Haven't Told You Everything"), and Jonas Pate also for The Event ("Loyalty").

Among the actors, Patton Oswalt and Scott Porter are submitted for nominations in the guest star categories for United States of Tara and The Good Wife. A sneak peek from the United States of Tara series finale and a new trailer for Scott Porter's new show, Hart of Dixie, are embedded below.

You can also catch Patton Oswalt in the new Poirot adaptation, "Three Act Tragedy," on PBS tomorrow at 8 pm. More details at Red Eye Chicago.

Both Gun Hill Road with Esai Morales and Judas Kiss with Richard Harmon and Genevieve Buechner are getting screened at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco these days. There is a photo of Esai at the event here.

Gun Hill Road will also close the NewFest (New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Film Festival) in late July (IndieWIRE):

CLOSING NIGHT SCREENING AND AWARDS CEREMONY
Thursday, July 28th, 8pm at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center
GUN HILL ROAD directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green
Pairing a talented cast with a nuanced script, this Sundance hit is a groundbreaking look at family, gender, and machismo in Latino culture. After a three-year stint in prison, Enrique Rodriguez (“NYPD Blue” star Esai Morales) returns to his family in the Bronx only to discover their lives have changed dramatically. Wife Angela (a dramatic turn for “Scrubs” star Judy Reyes) now seems distant, and their teenage son Michael (captivating newcomerHarmony Santana) is making a new life for himself as Vanessa. While Vanessa is exploring her two new passions, poetry and a new boyfriend, Enrique becomes hell-bent on turning his child into a tough Nuyorican man just like himself.

Meanwhile, Judas Kiss will be shown at the North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (NCGLFF), which runs from August 11 to 14 in Durham. It has also been selected to open the Philadelphia Q Fest in July. A new trailer showed up on YouTube this week. You can watch it below.

Before it gets released, Alessandra Torresani's new movie, Playback, will be getting a prequel in e-novella form. From the press release:

Del Rey Books will publish an original e-novella that ties into the new movie, Playback, starring Christian Slater, Johnny Pacar, Toby Hemingway, and Ambyr Childers. The e-novella, PLAYBACK: LIGHT AND SHADOW, to be written by two-time Bram Stoker Award winning author Elizabeth Massie, will serve as a prequel story to Playback, a new horror film from Bennett Robbins Productions, written and directed by Michael A. Nickles. Michael Braff, of the Del Rey Editorial group, will edit.

In the film, a group of high school students unwittingly unlock a dark secret, while digging into their town’s infamous past. Now, an evil spirit has been awakened to possess and destroy its victims through video playback, stopping at nothing to find his true heir. The film is inspired by the true story of the disappearance of film pioneer Louis Le Prince, an event that will be explored completely in the e-novella, to be published Summer of 2011.

To see a few stills from the film, hop over to Facebook.

Sons of Anarchy Season 3, with Paula Malcomson, will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on August 30. Spoiler TV has the DVD details and artwork.

There is a new teaser for Grimm on Facebook. BuzzSugar has a review of the pilot. Sasha Roiz tweets that he will be at Comic Con with his new cast mates this summer.

The first poster and concept art from John Carter, with Polly Walker, are available on Cinemablend.com and Collider.com. The film doesn't get released until next March.

Luciana Carro Fans posted an update on Luciana's new web series, The Icarus II Project. The trailer will be released later this month.

The first still from the McPherson Playhouse production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, with Meg Tilly, as well as the dates and the ticket info, are available here.

The June Q&A with James Marsters is up on his official site. The Sydney Morning Herald has a short interview with him here and there are pics of him in Australia (he is there for the Supanova con) on his official FB page.

Daemon's TV has a bunch of new sneak peeks from Falling Skies. Charlie Jane Anders did an interview with Mark Verheiden and several cast members, and has a pretty extensive article about the show over at io9.com. Falling Skies premieres this Sunday at 9 pm on TNT.

The Killing has been picked up for a second season. Michelle Forbes is reportedly coming back. The season one finale airs tomorrow. No idea if any other BSG & Caprica actors will be in it.

Torchwood: Miracle Day will premiere on SPACE in Canada on Saturday, July 9 at 9 pm.

Screen Rant has the international trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

And finally, the videos.

Discovered a clip from the screening of Born to Race, with John Pyper-Ferguson, on YouTube (where it probably won't be forever):



The new festival trailer for Judas Kiss, with Richard Harmon:



A sneak peek from the United States of Tara series finale, with Patton Oswalt (Monday, 10:30, Showtime):



A teaser and sneak peek from the Sanctuary season finale, "Into the Black," with Christopher Heyerdahl and Ryan Robbins (Monday, 10 pm, Syfy):





And the new trailer for Hart of Dixie:

Leo Awards report & new interview with Esai Morales

Great news from the Leo Awards in Vancouver yesterday, where several Caprica & BSG actors snagged prizes. Congrats again to all who were nominated!

Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series
Carmen Moore - Blackstone - White Bread, Red Class

Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series
Ryan Robbins - Sanctuary - Animus

Best Performance in a Youth or Children’s Program or Series
Richard Harmon - R.L. Stine's The Haunting Hour - Nightmare Inn

Best Guest Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series
Michael Eklund - Fringe - The Plateau

Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series
Callum Keith Rennie - Shattered - Out of Sorrow

Several cast projects also won awards. Transparency, with Kendall Cross, Aleks Paunovic and Anna Galvin, won two, for Best Direction and Best Picture Editing in a Feature Length Drama. Tucker & Dale vs Evil, with Philip Granger and Alex Arsenault, won for Best Lead Performance by a Male (Tyler Labine), and Amazon Falls, with Zak Santiago and William B. Davis, won for Best Lead Performance by a Female (April Telek).

The complete list of winners is at LeoAwards.com. You can find pics from the event (Richard Harmon, Genevieve Buechner, Anna Galvin, Ryan Robbins, Chris Heyerdahl, Michael Eklund) at Miss604.com.

Other fronts:

Peter Wingfield tweets that he will be filming an episode of Alphas, a new Syfy show that kicks off in about a month (July 11, with Callum Rennie guest starring in the pilot). From PeterWingfield.com:

Peter is going to be on an episode of SyFy's new show Alphas playing the character James Collier, directed by Leslie Libman. The show, which shoots in Toronto, has not begun airing yet but stars the oscar winning actor David Staithaim as Dr. Leigh Rosen, the head of Section 8, a team acting under the auspices of the National Security Agency with a mandate to locate and assess the threats posed by 'alphas', human beings with enhanced abilities due to differences in their brain structure.

Can't confirm this anywhere, but Tahmoh Penikett might show up on The Killing tonight.

Last not least, a new interview clip - Esai Morales talks activism:

New TV appearances for Eric Stoltz, Alessandra Torresani & Sasha Roiz, Judas Kiss trailer, interviews with Richard Harmon & James Marsters

First, a reminder that Battlestar Galactica is off to conquer new audiences on BBC America starting tomorrow (Saturday) at 10 pm. For all the details you need, go to BBCAmerica.com. You can find the airing schedule here.

As for cast updates, there really should be more days like this.

Eric Stoltz will guest star in the season premiere of Leverage, titled "The Long Way Down Job," according to an interview with Aldis Hodge (one of the show's stars).

The episode airs on Sunday, June 26 on TNT.

And if your kids are dragging you to the theatre this weekend, you can also catch Eric in the Judy Moody movie, which opens today. L.A. Times says he makes a cameo.

TV Guide talked to Warehouse 13 producer Jack Kenny and he says that Alessandra Torresani and Sasha Roiz will both guest star on the show this season:

Fans of Caprica can also look forward to two significant arrivals. Sasha Roiz, who played Sam Adama, and Alessandra Torresani, who played Zoe Graystone, will be coming on to Warehouse to cause trouble. "Sasha is a mysterious part of our Big Bad for the year," says Kenny. "His character is Marcus Diamond and first shows up in Episode 3. Alessandra guest stars as a girl in trouble in our ninth episode who needs Myka and Claudia's help."

Season three of Warehouse 13 premieres on July 11.

The producers of Extracted, the sci-fi thriller Sasha did last fall, participated in the 2011 Narrative Independent Filmmaker Lab in NYC this week. IFP's press release has the plot synopsis:

Thomas Jacobs invents a way to watch people’s memories from the inside. Going against his morals, he accepts an offer to enter a heroin addict’s memories to literally see if he committed a crime. However a malfunction causes his consciousness to become trapped inside the criminal’s mind. He remains a prisoner in the addict’s memories for more than four years until he discovers the possibility of escape.

Magda Apanowicz's new Team Unicorn project is called Alien Beach Crashers.

Falling Skies will premiere in more than 75 countries this summer, starting with the U.S. next Sunday (June 19).

Sanctuary: The Complete Third Season will be out on DVD and Blu-ray on September 13. Press release and artwork at Seat42f.com.

The Parramatta Sun has a three-page interview with James Marsters. He talks about Buffy and his work in the theatre, and also shares some thoughts about the sci-fi genre in general. Snippet:

"I think when it's at its best - and often in these projects it is, certainly with X-Men it was - it functions like the court jester used to function in the medieval court, in that the court jester was the only one able to call the king an idiot, as long as it was funny," he said.
"The X-Men can say, ‘hey man, we’re just talking about mutants, it’s not about gays at all, or black people, it’s not about the poor and oppressed and minority in any population, it's not about the Hutus and the Tutsis [Rwandan people] at all - it’s just about mutants’.
"In a way sci-fi and fantasy can state their point artistically much more bravely, much more forwardly than any other artform. You can both escape your normal life but also get fed ideas that will help you with your normal life at the same time."

Marsters cites the writing as the main reason for the longevity of the Buffy series, which officially ended its seven-season run in 2003.
"The writers were really hanging it off the bridge so to speak," he said. "They were being asked to come up with the most embarrassing, humiliating or painful day of their lives and then slap fangs over it and then show everybody in the world."

And ThatGayMovie.com talked to Richard Harmon about Judas Kiss. A couple of snippets:

TGM: Zachary and Danny often mirror each other. Was it a strange experience acting with someone who’s portraying an older version of your character? And do you think you soaked up elements of Charlie’s performance, however consciously, and vice versa?
RH: It wasn’t too strange to have the two of us working on the same character. It was tempting to take a lot of the pieces from Charlie’s version of our character but in the end I think we all knew that the audience needed to see the differences in our characters to understand why Danny needed to change. Charlie and I absolutely did work together a bit on keeping some aspects of Danny/Zach the same and I think we struck a good balance in the film.

TGM: I’m not judging, but your character has some steamy scenes with Charlie David, Brent Corrigan and Timo Descamps! Did they give you any tips on the gay stuff?
RH: I did indeed. No, none of them actually gave me any tips in that department; I think they just trusted that I could figure it out for my self. I owe the three of them a lot because they were so laid back about the whole thing and that’s why I was able to be so comfortable with it.

The trailer finally hit the web today. Both Richard and Genevieve Buechner are in it:



The new episode of Los Americans, with Esai Morales, has been posted on PIC.tv:



And here is a new character featurette for Torchwood: Miracle Day, with John Barrowman, Mekhi Phifer, Alexa Havins, Lauren Ambrose, Eve Myles and Bill Pullman (the new season premieres on July 8 on Starz):

New Caprica story & cast updates

What's new this week:

There is an excellent new Caprica story posted at Beginning of Line, written by Robson Lima. Check it out here: Climbing Mountains

With five stories left before the summer break, Beginning of Line is seeking new stories to fill the gap between seasons two and three. Says the Guatrau:

NOW SEEKING: Slashy, smutty smut!
If your Caprica fan fiction tends to be the more nekkid variety, now's your time to shine! Summer reading should be trashy, romantic, and fun, and I hope to accommodate all of your geeky beach read needs!

If you wanna write and submit a story, head over to the So Say We All blog and read the rest.

And if you don't have it yet, Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series is the Gold Box Deal of the Day on Amazon. You can get it at a 62% discount today:

TheGreenGirls.com talked to Esai Morales recently, mostly about green issues. Can't embed the clip for some reason, so go to ezinemark.com to watch it.

Gun Hill Road was shown at the Fort Worth festival earlier this week and won the Best Overall Feature award. Also at Fort Worth, Judas Kiss, with Richard Harmon and Genevieve Buechner, snagged the Shawn A award for Best Debut Feature.

If you haven't seen the trailer for Gun Hill Road yet, the film has a new site with the official trailer and all the info and photos you need: www.gunhillroad.com. If you want to help promote the film, check out the get involved section. You can even help bring the film to your town by requesting a screening.

Fort McCoy with Eric Stoltz is off to Asia this week. It will be screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival, which runs from June 11 to 19.

The Flickcast has a new teaser for Grimm.

Magda Apanowicz tweeted that she is working with Team Unicorn FTW again on another project.

Comedy Central has put out an official press release for Futurama season 6.5, which kicks off on Thursday, June 23. Patton Oswalt's character gets a mention:

In the second episode, "Benderama," Bender gains the power of infinite self-replication, producing a vast horde of smaller and smaller Benders. Comedian Patton Oswalt guest-stars as "Unattractive Giant Monster," a repulsive alien who is extremely sensitive about his appearance. When the giant's feelings are hurt by the people of Earth, it is up to Bender and his minions to fend off the giant's attack in an epic battle of Good vs. Ugly.

Looks like Born to Race with John Pyper-Ferguson will be hitting theatres soon. If you're in Los Angeles, you can visit the movie's FB page and help the producers decide at which theatre to show it first.

Die, also with JPF, will be getting a theatrical release in France this year before hitting the DVD shelves. If the distributor's page is anything to go by, it might be released under the title Six (that's how many people our Mr. Vergis harasses in the film).

Michael Rymer's Face to Face nabbed another award this week, one for Best Narrative Feature at the Berkshire International Film Festival. The film will next be shown at the San Antonio Film Festival on June 21. To see where else you can catch it, follow @Face2FaceMovie on Twitter.

Mark Verheiden has a round-up on Falling Skies on his blog. The show kicks off next Sunday (June 19) on TNT. In Germany, it premieres only three days later (see promo).

Super Hybrid (fka Hybrid) with Ryan Kennedy will be out on Blu-ray on August 23. Details and trailer at Blu-ray-com.

Cold Blooded with Ryan Robbins will be out in theatres in Canada on June 27 (says the IMDb).

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, with Philip Granger and Alex Arsenault, and starring Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine, finally has a U.S. distributor. From the press release (via Deadline):

Tucker and Dale are two best friends on vacation at their dilapidated Appalachian mountain cabin, who are mistaken for murderous backwoods hillbillies by a group of obnoxious, preppy college kids. When one of the students gets separated from her friends, the boys try to lend a hand, but as the misunderstanding grows, so does the body count. TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL has been a hit on the festival circuit, debuting at Sundance, and winning the Midnight Audience Award at SXSW, the Jury Prize for First Feature at Fantasia, the Best Director award at Fantaspoa, and the Best Motion Picture Award at Sitges.

Magnet plans to release TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL in its Ultra VOD program, debuting the films on all VOD platforms nationwide on August 26th, prior to a theatrical release on September 30th.

Red Faction: Origins will be out on DVD on August 30. Here are the bonus features (for the rest, see the press release):

DVD BONUS FEATURES:
WARRING FACTIONS- THE MAKING OF RED FACTION: With on-set cast and crew interviews, a behind the scenes look at Red Faction reveals how the film went from cult computer game to Syfy movie.
PHOTO GALLERY
FEATURE COMMENTARY: With director Michael Nankin, director of scripted series for Universal Tom Lieber and cast members Brian J. Smith, Devon Graye & Danielle Nicolet

The film is available for pre-ordering on Amazon.

Michael Nankin, Kate Vernon, Brian J. Smith and writer Andrew Kreisberg did a conference call before the film premiered. You can read reports at Sci-Fi Vision and The Deadbolt.

The trailer for Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, with Christopher Heyerdahl, has been released. You can watch it on MTV.com.

Also with Chris Heyerdahl, the teaser for next week's Sanctuary, episode "Out of the Blue" (Monday, 10 pm, Syfy):



And two previews from next week's United States of Tara, episode "Crunchy Ice," with Patton Oswalt (via Spoiler TV):

Cast news, trailers & new interview with Jane Espenson

A bunch of updates today.

First, there are two things to check out on TV this Saturday.

Hiro Kanagawa, Alessandro Juliani and Dmitry Chepovetsky guest star on Chaos, in episode "Eaten by Wolves," which airs tomorrow at 8 ET/PT on the CBS network. The press release for the episode is here.

Red Faction: Origins, directed by Michael Nankin and starring Robert Patrick, Kate Vernon and SGU's Brian J. Smith airs at 9 pm on Syfy. Bear McCreary produced the score by Jonathan Ortega. Worthplaying.com has an interview with Kate Vernon, who tweeted the other day that the film might get picked up to series. The trailer is embedded below.

Fort McCoy with Eric Stoltz will next be screened at the Stony Brook Film Festival in New York on July 22, possibly with daddy Graystone in attendance. Details at Stallercenter.com.

The trailer for Gun Hill Road with Esai Morales has premiered exclusively on Apple.com today.

The trailer for Playback with Alessandra Torresani has also finally hit the web. It's embedded below.

Celebuzz.com has the first pic of Paula Malcomson on the set of The Hunger Games. The AV Club reports that Lionsgate will stretch the book trilogy to four movies.

The website for Donovan's Echo, a new supernatural thriller with Hiro Kanagawa, starring Danny Glover and Bruce Greenwood, is up at www.donovansecho.com. No word on a release date yet, but the film was in the final stages of post-production last month.

An item signed by James Marsters is being auctioned for charity (Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS) on Ebay. There are still a couple of days left to bid. Thanks to The Caprica Times for the heads-up.

If you're in Australia, you can check out a new video interview with James on SciFiTV.com.au.

Die with John Pyper-Ferguson will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in Germany on August 12. No release date for the U.S. yet.

Leah Gibson is working on a new science fiction film called The 40 Year Deal.

From the latest update on the Cinemanovel site, we might get some news about A Night for Dying Tigers soon, too.

Slashfilm.com has the second trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, with Leah, Panou, James Pizzinato and Luc Roderique.

Wrecked with Ryan Robbins will be released on DVD on August 30.

Blackstone with Carmen Moore has been picked up for a second season.

Michael Rymer's Face to Face has won the award for Best Feature Film Screenplay at the Amsterdam Film Festival last week.

Red Riding Hood, with Michael Hogan and Kacey Rohl, will be out on DVD
and Blu-ray on June 16.

Avan Jogia tweets that he is working on a new film, called Ragz. Zak Santiago is also in it according to the IMDb.

Zak mentioned being on the Sanctuary set last week, so we might see him on the show next season.

The Futon Critic has posted a pretty interesting review of the pilot for 17th Precinct.

Judas Kiss, with Richard Harmon and Genevieve Buechner, will be released on DVD in the fall. It can be pre-ordered at WolfeVideo.com.

Huffington Post has a fantastic new interview with Jane Espenson. In it, she talks about Torchwood, Game of Thrones and Once Upon a Time. Here is a snippet about Caprica:

Can you give us a hint about where Caprica would have gone? So many of us were heartbroken when it was canceled. What did you learn from that experience?
We had plans, but nothing had been absolutely committed to -- things like that tend to change a lot even at the last-minute, so it's hard to remember exactly what was nailed down. We were going to skip some time, go into some war stories, and do some crossing over with at least one of the Final Five cylons. Kevin Murphy gave a recent interview in which he laid out the plans in a surprising amount of detail - he remembered much more than I did. We were all trying so hard to make the "now" work, that I'm amazed we had any time to think about "then."

I'm sorry that people were hurt by the cancellation -- but I'm also moved that people liked it that much. I learned HUGE things -- some too huge to articulate, and some that I'm still processing.

Torchwood: Miracle Day premieres next month (July 8). Spoiler TV has a new BTS featurette. For more details about the show, you can also check out the interview SFX.co.uk did with Russell T. Davies last week. The animated webseries Torchwood: Web of Lies, also written by Espenson, will premiere before the first episode. The remaining 10 three-minute webisodes will be posted after the subsequent episodes of Miracle Day. Eliza Dushku will star in the webseries.

And the videos.

The Playback trailer:

More Playback Videos

The second episode of Los Americans:



A quick behind-the-scenes clip with Esai Morales:



Trailer for Red Faction: Origins:



And a new trailer for Torchwood: Miracle Day: