Updates: Husbands, Comic-Con & cast roundup

One chaotic round of updates coming up.

Jane Espenson has announced the new project she has been working on with Alessandra Torresani, Brad Bell (Cheeks) and Sean Hemeon, in an interview with CliqueClack. Yes, it's Husbands, a web series about "two guys, a newly dating couple, who celebrate a new marriage equality law in Vegas and wake up married." A couple of snippets from the interview:

KM: What do you hope to become of Husbands in the long run? If it simply stays as a free series on the web, will that satisfy not only you but the actors?
JE: Honestly, I would love to see Husbands turn into a network television show. I’m loving the freedom that we’re enjoying as we put it together ourselves, but there’s something about it that feels so accessible — it’s Ab Fab, Dharma and Greg, Will and Grace … it feels to me like it has the broad appeal of so many network shows that I’ve enjoyed, and I’d thrill to see it get the loving care that — right now — only a big broadcast network can afford. If it stayed online, that would be fun too, because it would continue to be our little dream show that we could follow wherever the story takes us. (...)

What do you have planned at Comic-Con this year to show off the new series?
We have a projected launch date in September, so we’re going to be going down to just start getting people talking. The cast and I will be there — so thats me and Brad Bell, aka “Cheeks”, and Alessandra Torresani, and Sean Hemeon. We’re going to be signing and giving away special “wedding invitations” that direct people to our site where they can find more information about the show, and some backstage peeks and hints. And thus the groundswell begins!

For updates and to see the first official promo pic for the show, visit the blog on the Husbands official site.

Jane tweets that she will be signing at the Quantum Mechanics booth #2944 between 11 and 12 on Saturday. That's just one of the places you can catch her if you are going to Comic-Con.

Battlestar Blog has the SDCC schedule for Caprica and BSG folks who are attending this year. Other than those who are mentioned on the official schedule for various panels (Michael Taylor, Kevin Grazier, Richard Hatch - Battlestar: So Say We All, Jane Espenson - Once upon a Time, Torchwood: Miracle Day, Jane & Drew Greenberg - Buffy The Vampire Slayer and LGBT Comics Fandom, Alessandra Torresani - Friends of the Nerdolution, Sasha Roiz - Grimm, Mark Verheiden - Falling Skies, The Character of Music with BMI and White Bear PR, Katee Sackhoff - Batman: Year One, Sam Witwer - Being Human), Magda Apanowicz and Lili Bordan from Blood and Chrome also mentioned (tweet 1, tweet 2) that they were going.

Speaking of Blood and Chrome, not sure what this means for the release date, but the BSG VFX guys are looking for a render assistant for the film ("a temporary position for tentatively thru mid-October," they say). If you not only know what a render assistant is, but are one yourself, you can apply here. The cython needs a moustache.

Back to Comic-Con. Here are some details about the Grimm panel:

On Friday, July 22, Tin Fish will take on the eerie, atmospheric look of the network’s new drama “Grimm,” a provocative police procedural with supernatural mythology, inspired by the classic Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales. The new series hails from the writers behind “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (David Greenwalt) and “Angel” (Jim Kouf) and marks the new producing project of Todd Milliner and Emmy Award winner Sean Hayes. Complete with grassy, moss-laden décor, the restaurant will take on the lush feel of the forest featured in the series. At the scene of the crime, visitors can pose in front of a green screen and take a photo with a virtual “character” from the show. The photo will be printed on site and also uploaded to a micro-site on www.nbc.com, where fans can retrieve and share it with their friends on Facebook, Twitter and NBC.com’s Comic-Con site, www.nbc.com/comic-con. Fans will also have an opportunity to get a “Grimm” logo airbrush skin patch.

Elsewhere, another brief interview with Jane Espenson showed up in CNN's new article (CNN's excellent new article) about women in science fiction (mainly in BSG):

And at the level of the writers, there was also a sense of equality and empowerment, says Jane Espenson, who wrote for the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" series and is appearing at Comic-Con to talk about her work on "Torchwood."
In fact, Espenson felt like she had more freedom on "Battlestar" than any other show she's worked on, with room to make plot changes and improvise. And Executive Producer Ron Moore emphasized strong female characters from the beginning, she said. Beyond the excellent casting and writing of these women, their world was one that did not have a history of discrimination based on gender, she said.
"These were women who had grown up in a world where their expectations were equal to men," she said. "That right there, that's a big innovation. That's kind of magical and startling and huge."

And back to cast projects:

Gun Hill Road with Esai Morales has won the 2011 QFest Audience Award for Best Feature Film this week. The film will get an advance screening at the ACLU of Southern California on Friday and Esai will be there for a Q&A. Details here. Gun Hill Road is also one of the finalists for the HUMANITAS Prize in the Sundance Feature Film Category. Huge congrats to everyone involved!

Fort McCoy with Eric Stoltz is getting screened at the Stony Brook Film Festival, also this Friday (July 22).

The first (burning) poster for The Hunger Games, with Paula Malcomson, has been released. You can see it here.

John Carter, with Polly Walker, will be getting a prequel comic book. Movieweb has the details and the cover art.

NBC has released a new Grimm video, with Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt introducing the show.

Entertainment Weekly has a new trailer for Once upon a Time.

Sasha Roiz will make his first appearance on Warehouse 13 next Monday. From the press release:

Lindsay Wagner, Sasha Roiz and Rene Auberjonois – will guest star on Syfy’s hit series Warehouse 13 Monday, July 25, at 9PM (ET/PT).

In Monday’s episode, “Love Sick,” Roiz (Caprica), plays the mysterious and sinister Marcus Diamond. Wagner returns as Dr. Vanessa Calder, the in-house Warehouse doctor who is responsible for treating the team – and also has a romantic connection with Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek). Also visiting the Warehouse again this season is Auberjonois as Hugo Miller, a computer genius from decades past in the Warehouse, who Artie and Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) call to help them out of a life-threatening situation.

Spoiler TV has the teaser (no Sasha).

Michael Rymer's Face to Face will be shown at the Melbourne International Film Festival on July 22 and 26. Details here. There is a new short article about the film here.

The official site for 10,000 Days, with Peter Wingfield, goes live tonight at 9 pm PST.

James Marsters is filming another episode of Hawaii Five-0. Show's producer Peter Lenkov posted a photo of him on the set:



Luciana Carro has shared some details about her character in Deck the Halls with her fans. She won't be at Comic-Con, but you can catch the panel for The Icarus II Project on Saturday at 10 am. Details on their FB page. They have also released the first poster, here.

Scott Porter will be lending his voice to a mutant in Marvel's X-Men Destiny video game.

Richard Harmon tweets that he is working on a new mini-series, called Clue.

Judas Kiss with Richard and Genevieve Buechner will open Flickers, the 15th Annual Rhode Island International Film Festival, on August 10. The film will be released on DVD in the UK on November 7.

Underworld 4 has a new title - Underworld: Awakening -- and a release date: January 20, 2012. Panou and Christian Tessier are in the film.

Zak Santiago is working on a new film, a comedy called Concrete Blondes, directed by Nicholas Kalikow, in Vancouver.

Season two of Blackstone, with Carmen Moore, went into production the other day. From the press release:

Following the first season’s cliffhanger finale, Season 2 picks up after the strip club shooting, and continues to delve into the tumultuous lives of the residents on the fictional Blackstone First Nation Reserve. Returning to the screen are cast members Carmen Moore, Eric Schweig, Michelle Thrush, Nathaniel Arcand, Roseanne Supernault, Steven Cree Molison and Andrea Menard. Season 2 will see the addition of the acclaimed Gary Farmer and Tantoo Cardinal to the cast.

Intense, compelling and confrontational, Blackstone is an unmuted exploration of power, politics and relationships on a First Nation reserve. The one-hour television drama, which has already won five awards, is unlike any other show in Canadian television.

AUTOGRAPH SIGNING
To celebrate the start of Season 2 production, an autograph signing will take place in West Edmonton Mall (Newcap Stage) on Saturday July 23 at 1:00pm. Fans will have the opportunity to meet-and-greet Blackstone cast members, and enter to win prizes.

WIN A ROLE IN BLACKSTONE
During the autograph signing session at West Edmonton Mall, a video booth will be set up for participants to ‘audition’ for a part in Blackstone. Script pages will be provided, and the top ten auditions will be posted online. Ultimately, fans will decide who will win a role in Season 2 that will be written into the series specifically for them.

Bloody Disgusting has a new interview with Bear McCreary, mostly about The Walking Dead. Here is what's coming in season two:

So, I wanted to talk about The Walking Dead because I'm such a fan of the series and I'm so excited about season 2! What can you tell me about the composing process for The Walking Dead?
Season 2 is going to expand the world of the series in just about every way. Geographically, obviously we are on a journey and we are travelling and they are reaching new locations and, perhaps, new people. Also, as the relationships broaden and as we get to know our characters better, I think the emotional connection we have with those characters is going to deepen as well. I think that will translate into a deeper score and I think the score will start commenting in a more emotional way. I'm really looking forward to that. The six episodes we did in season 1 were a real thrill. I mean, just a joy to work on. But it went by so fast! In many ways, I felt like we were just scratching the surface on what we could accomplish on a series of The Walking Dead.

Slashfilm has the first look at his next project, The Knights of Badassdom.

And in the video section:

Alessandra Torresani has made a new video with Tyler Shields, Glee's Jenna Ushkowitz and Darth Vader, called The Dark Side of Love:



A new featurette from Born to Race, with John Pyper-Ferguson:



CNN has a few clips with Aleks Paunovic and Tahmoh Penikett talking about their most memorable moments at conventions:


And here is the teaser for the next episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day (Friday, 10 pm, Starz), written by Jane Espenson (her take on last week's ep has been posted on AfterElton.com):