Blood and Chrome update, cast news and interviews with Michael Nankin, Meg Tilly and Scott Porter

The weekly round-up (with a few additional bits coming tomorrow):

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talked to Syfy's Mark Stern at the Winter TCA Press Tour and they have an update on Blood and Chrome. Kind of, anyway. Here is what he says (more at the link):

Is the project dead? Read more after the jump. ...

"No not at all," said Syfy original programming president Mark Stern. "We're trying to figure out the economics right now. I love it but we're trying to put various things together to see how we're going to get it made. My hope is we get it figured out." (...)

Stern said the pilot was a good test to prove the technology could be used in series, although he acknowledged it will likely take a year to get the show on air after it's ordered due to the amount of post-production work that will be required on every episode.

Stern wasn't sure how much longer he has the actors under contract but he thinks it's a few months.

"Now that we're back from the holidays I'm just waiting to get some foreign [financial] numbers in because we're both the studio and network on this," he said. "I'm hoping to make a decision [about whether to order it to series] in the next month or so."

On other fronts:

Esai Morales will be back as D.A. Aaron Davidson in the second season of Fairly Legal. The show returns on March 16. USA announced the date last week.

If you missed the 17th Precinct pilot on Vimeo last month, it is now available on YouTube, starting here.

A really great interview with Michael Nankin showed up at MasterTalentTeachers.com. I can't embed the clip so hit the link to see it. He talks about working on BSG, among other things.

Patton Oswalt is one of the six actors who will be presented with a Virtuoso Award at this year's Santa Barbara Film Festival, on February 3. From the press release:

“The actors who were selected to be recognized for their exceptional performances are: Demián Bichir for his earnest portrayal as Carlos, a virtuous father struggling to provide for his son in A Better Life; Rooney Mara for her dark and provocative performance as Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Melissa McCarthy for her role as the hilariously outspoken Megan in Bridesmaids; Patton Oswalt for masterfully navigating between the realms of comedy and drama as Matt Freehauf in Young Adult; Andy Serkis for stepping into the mind and body of an ape through his master of performance-capture technology in his role as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes; and Shailene Woodley for bringing an emotional complexity to a character rarely seen at her age as Alexandra in The Descendants.”

Grimm is back next Friday. Here is the teaser for the next episode, "Game Ogre," with Sasha Roiz:



BBC has released a few more details about Polly Walker's character in Prisoners' Wives (still no air date):

Polly Walker (Rome, State Of Play) plays Francesca; a colourful and glamorous career criminal’s wife. She is happy to turn a blind eye to her husband’s crimes and let him call the shots in exchange for a life of luxury while he’s inside. But when she goes from riches to rags, Francesca is forced to question a marriage that consists of two hours a week in a prison visits hall. Is a relationship worth fighting for when you haven’t been touched in years - or can Francesca find happiness elsewhere?

Guampdn.com has a recent interview with Scott Porter. Snippet:

YC: What's coming up for your character in "Hart of Dixie"?
SP: You're gonna see George inch closer to discovering the secrets that his fiancée has been keeping from him. And you'll be seeing a lot more of the two established love triangles and how they interact. All these people know each other and call each other friends but there's all this secrecy between them. You'll see a lot more shenanigans with Wade and my character, George. I think people are really going to enjoy that.

YC: I also enjoyed your arc on "The Good Wife" -- it was such a departure from Jason Street.
SP: I've been blessed with the fact that I've been able to play a lot of different roles and "Hart of Dixie" was such a breath of fresh air, especially after the traumatic scenes in "Friday Night Lights" and "The Good Wife." One was hero, one was a bit of a villain, but they were both very dramatic shows and have very serious tones oftentimes so it's nice to cut loose on "Hart of Dixie."

And there is another one at Marvel.com, mostly about the X-Men anime series (the finale aired on Friday):

Marvel.com: As a fan, what was your favorite part about the series?
Scott Porter: Figuring out the identity of the main villain was one of my favorite moments. The back and forth with Wolverine throughout the series was another. That is just classic X-Men right there. And the teasers at the end of the episodes of all the mutants outside of our show...I'd love to see some of those characters anime'd up.

Marvel.com: What are some of your personal favorite X-Men stories?
Scott Porter: Wow. Too many to count. The first Nimrod saga was my first introduction to the X-World. Watching Harry Leland die made this universe so dangerous to me that it grabbed me immediately. This wasn't a book where no one bit it or where everyone was safe, and it intrigued me. Peter David's X-Factor runs--both the '90s and current--are some of the best X-books ever. His grasp on relationships is untouched. "Days of Future Past" and the "Dark Phoenix Saga" go without saying. Inferno was a blast. I read that as a kid and it was my favorite of that '80s period. I'm really enjoying Regenesis, it got me back in on the main X-books after being away for a bit and I'm enjoying the Schism stuff.

The Macbeth e-book with an audio performance by James Marsters was released on iTunes in December. Joanne Whalley plays Lady Macbeth.

Born to Race with John Pyper-Ferguson has a new poster.

Ryan Robbins tweets that he is back on the set of Falling Skies to film episode 2x06.

Meg Tilly has joined Twitter. You can follow her at @meggamonstah. Winnipeg Free Press has a new interview with her. Snippet (about her character in Bomb Girls):

Tilly describes Lorna as a complex character, and a refreshing change from most other female roles she’s seen.
"A lot of times in TV, or sometimes in feature (films), you’re expected to be the good one, or you’re the sexy one or you’re the vamp or you’re the bad one or you’re the wicked, evil one," Tilly says in rapid-fire delivery that pervades a recent interview.
"She’s a whole human and I think that’s what I love about her.... It’s not good or bad, it’s just human. We all have our idea of what we want to be and what we want, but sometimes we are bigger, better, more noble than we knew we could be and sometimes we’re less — we fall down, we make choices that when you think about later you get all-over body flush and you feel ashamed."

Brandon Sun reports that Meg will next star in a production of Michel Tremblayin's The Real World? in Toronto in April, and that her next book, a young adult novel called A Taste of Heaven, will be published by Penguin in early 2013.

You can watch a new trailer for season two of Blackstone (Jan. 11) on Carmen Moore's FB page.

Here is a clip from Indie Jonesing, with Leah Gibson (via Leah Gibson Fans):



The Odds with Calum Worthy will be released in theatres in Canada on March 2. From Northern Stars:

Shot in British Columbia The Odds opens on March 2nd. The plot revolves around illegal gambling. Costarring Tyler Johnston, Calum Worthy and Julia Maxwell, when his best friend is murdered, a 17-year-old gambler decides to find the killer before the illegal gaming operation is exposed.

Dmitry Chepovetsky is doing a play called Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata at the Arts Club in Vancouver (Jan. 19 - Feb. 11), as part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Tickets and info here.

Your personal ads, set to music! Irregular hats for cats, mounted lobsters, autographed copies of the Bible: this new work from composer Veda Hille and the CBC’s Bill Richardson explores what humanity has to offer and turns it into sidesplitting musical fare. Who wouldn’t want a broken time machine, for free? Come and take a look at the vagaries and intimacies of the internet. Featuring the original songs “300 Stuffed Penguins,” “Chilli Eating Buddy,” “Decapitated Dolls,” and more.

TV Guide has the first details on Michael Eklund's character in Alcatraz:

Eklund, whose credits also include Flashpoint and Caprica, will play Kit Nelson, a terrifying kidnapper who always returns his victims to their homes... after he's killed them. He'll appear in Episode 103, airing Monday, Jan. 23.

A couple of new videos from his recent projects showed up on the web in recent days. io9.com has a new clip from The Divide, and the first teaser for Errors of the Human Body has been posted on the film's official FB page. They also have a bunch of photos from the film. Here is the synopsis:

Errors of the Human Body is a psychological thriller about one man’s quest for redemption from his own disturbing past, set within the mysterious world of genetic engineering.

Here is a BTS featurette from last week's Hell on Wheels, with Christopher Heyerdahl:



And that clip with the 16-bit-version of BSG from College Humor that's been making the rounds across the web lately - a must see: