Robert Zemeckis, Seth Green on Disney’s ‘Mars Needs Moms’

A Wild, Trippy Ride to Mars...

By Alicia Hollinger


HOLLYWOOD, CA  3/10/11 –

Seth Green at "Mars Needs Moms" premiere

“Mars Needs Moms,” Disney’s  newest 3D movie is not just for kids. Starring Seth Green, Dan Fogler and Joan Cusack, directed by Simon Wells, and produced by Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke, Steve Starkey and Steven Boyd, the movie opens in theaters March 11.


The screenplay, written by Simon Wells and his wife Wendy Wells, is loosely based on the children’s book by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed (“Opus”).  Breathed was inspired to write the book after an eventful dinner at home. “One night my son Milo threw his broccoli into the air and stormed from the table—a scene depicted with more civility in the movie,” says Breathed. “Upon leaving, he said something about his mother too vile to repeat here—which would only result in expensive therapy later if he ever remembered. From out of nowhere came my next line: ‘You might think differently about your mom if she were kidnapped by Martians.’ I spun on my heels and wrote the book that night. The rest is Disney history.”

The story is about a nine year-old kid Milo (Green), who after complaining about not needing his Mom (Cusack), must rescue her after she is kidnapped by Martians. With the help of an underground Earth man, Gribble (Fogler) and a rebel Martian hottie, Ki, (Elizabeth Harnois,) Milo saves the life of his now appreciated mom. The Martians are comprised of two opposing groups, a Nazi-like, Orwellian group of women headed by the Martian leader “Supervisor,” (Mindy Sterling) and a small group of renegades depicted as Dead-Head, Haight-Ashbury type, scroungy but lovey-dovey hippy Martians.

Green, known for his voice-overs on “Family Guy” and on his Adult Swim animated comedy “Robot Chicken,” does not do voices in this film, but acting—as a nine year-old. Motion capture technology was used to capture his every expression and movement and the child’s voice was dubbed in by another Seth, eleven year-old Seth Dusky. CGI has changed quite a bit since the production team of ImageMover’s Digital’s earlier film, “Polar Express.”  Nine year-old Milo clearly looks like a kid-version of Green, every freckle in place with every nuance of his facial expressions.  “The best shot of Polar express can’t compare to the worst shot of this movie. This movie is the collective experience of all the other performance capture movies we’ve made as well as others,” says producer, Starkey.

Although the screenplay is loosely based on the book, much was changed during production, thanks mostly to the humorous ad-libbing of Tony Award winner Dan Fogler. His character landed on Mars as a child back in the eighties and the actor was allowed to do as much ad-libbing as he pleased as long as all references stayed within the era. “The cast in this movie is probably one of the best improv casts put together in recent years,” says Zemeckis.

The actors, were thrilled with the process of motion capture technology, never having to worry about hitting marks, camera angles, wardrobe, make-up and lights, they were able to focus on their performance and had the freedom to play like kids playing “let’s pretend.” It felt more like theater to the cast as they shot full scenes running over four pages without interruption. “There was no hurry up and wait,” says Fogler, “just hurry, we’re ready.” On the first day of shooting Seth Green showed up with a shaved head and a bright blue mohawk. “When else am I ever going to be on a movie where I can do this?” he said.

Marketed as a children’s movie, there are a surprising amount of grown-up references, spanning the generations —from Timothy Leary’s “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out” to the eighties’ My Sharona.  Adults and teens will find a whole other level to the humor– psychedelia, not-so-subtle references to LSD, and the  trippy 3D IMAX experience would probably be a draw for the 420 crowd if they weren’t repelled by the title. The title, clearly marketed toward young children was an issue of much contention, the producers fighting to keep the original title of the book, Disney wanting to change it, but eventually giving in. Based on the commercials, they have clearly decided to market it toward a very young audience.

Wells, who’s the great grandson of eminent sci-fi author H.G. Wells, decided to expand the scenes on Mars, capitalizing on the use of 3D technology, allowing the audience to experience environments that they would never normally see, being fully absorbed into an alien world. The 3D experience is a character in itself,  emphasizing dramatic moments by either going into the screen or out into the audience. The 3D stereo is used as a narrative medium says Stereo Supervisor Anthony Shafer. “It heightens story points and emotion, making it a much more immersive experience.”

This is a movie that really HAS to be seen in 3D Imax where it can be experienced as a psychedelic wild ride rather than just a kid’s movie… And make sure to stick around during the credits for a fascinating peak into the production process…

Nicolas Cage says Disney’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” Puts a Little Magic on the Screens

By Alicia Hollinger

Hollywood, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/13/2010–

 
Nicolas Cage in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"

Jerry Bruckheimer and Oscar winner Nicolas Cage’s re-imagination of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” opening tomorrow on July 14, originally a 14 stanza poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1797 has certainly gone through a multitude of changes. The poem was adapted into a ten minute symphonic piece “L’Apprenti Sorcier” a hundred years later, and then four decades later transformed into a section of Disney’s epic “Fantasia,” and now Disney and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer bring it back to life in a modern-day CGI laden Harry Potter-esque summer blockbuster.

Disney, Bruckheimer, and director Jon Turteltaub, the team behind the “National Treasure” franchise bring us the story of Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) as a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan and his hapless apprentice, (Jay Baruchel) a geek-next-door Chuck Bartowski-esque reluctant hero. The two of them must defend the city from arch-nemesis Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina.) Balthazar comes from the world of ancient folklore, myths and magic, the world of Merlin and Morgana whereas his reluctant apprentice is the nerdy college physics genius and the two must come to terms with the relationship between science and magic.

Filmed in old-school 2D, there’s still plenty of CGI. “Acting is imagination,” says Cage, “that’s what it’s all about. I actually enjoy working with a green screen.” He jokes that he cut his teeth on “Adaptation” where he had four pages of dialogue with his imaginary brother using only a tennis ball and a gas can. Director Jon Turteltaub says “We went to Disney two and a half years ago and said this is a perfect 3D movie and they said ‘Oh that’s silly, no one’s doing 3D and that’s a waste of money.’ True story. So there you go…”

Canadian-born Jay Baruchel (“She’s Out of My League”, “How to Train Your Dragon”) shines as the apprentice Dave Stutler with a natural comedic John Hughes/Judd Apatow geek appeal. He admits to being a bit of a geek in real life, “I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t practiced shooting energy out of my hands my whole life,” he says. In the film he reproduces the classic scene from Fantasia with Mickey Mouse and the broomsticks. Regarding filling the shoes of Mickey Mouse, he says “When you’re paying homage to one of the more iconic scenes in film history, it’s like right up there with the people making out on the beach in ‘From Here to Eternity. ‘ It’s like big, you know?”

Hollywood is really about who you know—and how long you’ve known them…. Cage and director, Turteltaub attended Beverly Hills High together. Cage says “Let it be known that Jon Turteltaub is a really, really good actor. We were in the Beverly Hills High School Drama department together and we both auditioned for “Our Town” and he got the lead, he beat me out. I got to play Constable Warren which was two lines of dialogue and he will never let me forget it!”

When Cage was first considering the concept of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice he attended a play his son was in at Beverly Hills High and ran into Turteltaub. “There we were in the old seats in the old drama department,” says Cage, “watching this ‘Inherit the Wind’ production and we’re talking about doing “The sorcerer’s Apprentice” together. And so it came full circle. The whole movie has been like that, has had that magical quality which is amazing since the movie’s about magic.”

Cage says he began to have an interest in Arthurian mythology and was trying to find a way to fit it into a story. “I wanted to make a family movie that would entertain parents and their children, give them both something to look forward to, congregate together and smile together,” says Cage. “If I could do a character based on magic, not on bullets, I could entertain the family. Jon [Turteltaub] has always made positive movies that have never relied on gun play and that’s really hard to do in Hollywood – to pull that off.”

Now on his seventh movie with Bruckheimer, Cage says “No one can make a movie as exciting as Jerry Bruckheimer. You know when it’s a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, it’s gonna have chrome and gloss, it’s going to be sexy, it’s going to be big and be fun. And he put it on a fast track and that’s how it happened.”

While researching for the movie, Cage developed a fascination with scientist Nikola Tesla and discovered many eerie coincidences involving the man responsible for many advancements in electricity and electromagnetism. The movie wrapped on Tesla’s birthday and Tesla died the day Cage was born (different year.) With that in mind, Cage stayed in the Tesla room at the New Yorker Hotel in hopes of “calling up the spirits” and to see what came to him. What came was a pigeon, hitting his hotel window. Cage then discovered that Tesla had an odd passion for pigeons, so he put one in the movie to say “for you Nikola Tesla.” One day, when filming in New York, they pulled up to a street – Nikola Tesla Corner. “It’s like, this is getting weird!” says Turteltaub. Doo doo, doo doo (Twilight Zone theme…) Not to mention Cage and Tesla almost share the same first name…

Will there be a sequel? “If the audience embraces the idea, then maybe you have a franchise. If not, you don’t,” says Bruckheimer.

“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” also stars Teresa Palmer, Monica Bellucci, Toby Kebbell and Omar Benson Miller. Screenplay by Matt Lopez and Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard from a screen story by Lawrence Konner & Mark Rosenthal and Matt Lopez. The executive producers are Todd Garner, Nicolas Cage, Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Norman Golightly and Barry Waldman.

Iron Man 2: Downey Gets Girl Power with Paltrow and Johansson

Iron 2 pumps it up for Marvel and Paramount

By Alicia Hollinger

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/25/10

 “I’m a little neurotic,” admits Robert Downey Jr. regarding all the new talent tossed into the IRON MAN 2 cast mix, “but I felt a little bit like a co-manager of a baseball team that just got an even better lineup in the spring, and so I felt a little beholden to be partially responsible for their experience.”

The much anticipated sequel to IRON MAN, aptly titled “IRON MAN 2” opens on May 7^th. with a slew of new talent and characters. Directed by Jon Favreau, and written by Justin Theroux,  Iron Man 2 stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, , Mickey Rourke , Samuel L. Jackson , Don Cheadle, and Sam Rockwell.

“The trick is,” says director Favreau regarding all the new characters, “to feather them in so that they don’t overwhelm the story and you don’t suffer from villain-itis…  We really tried to keep narrative flows going so that it didn’t get convoluted ‘cause I lose track of that stuff, especially in sequels, as franchises get more complex. I don’t always remember what happened in the last movie… I’m not gonna do homework before I see a sequel to be up on everything, so we try to keep things simple.”

Gwyneth Paltrow, returning as Pepper Potts and new cast addition Scarlett Johansson add sex appeal and girl power to the sequel. “Of course they’re sexy characters,” says Johansson. “When you have a sexy secretary or a girl swinging around by her ankles in a cat suit, that’s innately sexy. But these characters are intelligent, they’re ambitious, they’re motivated and calculated to some degree. To be just a pawn in a story of a whole bunch of men kind of fighting it out and rolling around and getting down and dirty, and there you are to be this sort of vision in a tight cat suit is a boring thing to me.”

She admits “I’ve never been a huge fan of this genre really. I think because it was always sort of one note and very explosive. I think because Gwyneth and I are able to sort of be the brains behind the operation in some aspect, there’s kind of a happy medium. It adds to the charm and charisma of the film.”

Paltrow agrees, “I think it’s a very smart decision, actually, to have women who are capable and intelligent, because it appeals to women. So it’s not only a film for fifteen-year-old boys. It’s a film that can relate to a lot of people on a lot of levels… There are interesting women in the movie…  My character is quick and articulate… it’s nice to see women who are aspirational, smart and sexy all at the same time.”

Downey immediately thought of Mickey Rourke for the role of the Russian villain, Ivan Vanko, and lobbied for him to get the role, even before his recent awards and acclaim.  Rourke says of his IRON MAN 2 experience “It was nice because I’d just come off working on a film where there was no budget and I didn’t have a chair to sit in, and I remember the first day [on this film] I said, ‘Can I have a cappuccino,’ and they said, ‘Which kind would you like?’, so…”

Although based on Justin Theroux script, the film was highly improvised and rewritten on the spot.  “It’s a heavily improvisational set,” says Theroux, “in that everyone gets to chime in. And so my job as the writer was really to just sort of stay on the dance shoes of Robert and Jon and Gwyneth and everybody, and just try and rewrite things on the fly. We did have an extensive development process, obviously, where we sort of had a script, and that ball keeps rolling into production, and then once we’re on set, it gets very frenetic and very fast.”

“The story is very well fleshed out,” says director, Favreau “but… we leave a lot of room within those scenes, and try to do multiple cameras sometimes, or stay up and rewrite, and Justin, he was doing multiple passes, sometimes double digit passes on scenes, because we learn things from each scene that we shoot. We try to shoot pretty much in order. What’s nice about having these actors”  adds Favreau,  “is that they’re all very good stewards of their characters emotionally, and they’re used to being in films where you don’t have the safety net of all the high technology and the explosions. And so, if they have an issue with something we’re asking the character to do for the story, we discuss it, and we figure out a way so that it can work for them as a performer and also for the movie.”

Downey’ Jr.’s wife, Susan Downey, gets Executive Producer credit on this one. “Susan is a great producer,” says Favreau.  “She has tremendous organizational ability and she understands Robert’s creative process,  and understands the first movie and lived through it with us. So, Susan, who has a very strong background in both development and physical production, was able to come and help. It’s like one of those shows where they organize all your closets for you and make you throw out the clothes you don’t need anymore.”

“At a certain level,” says Downey, “they may have thought she was going to come in and tame me or put me in check, or whatever,  but I was completely out of my mind.”

Downey admits to not being that interested in doing actual physical action scenes. Paltrow cracks “He made them do it all in CGI. He’s like ‘fuck it, CGI, CGI it!’”

Paltrow and Downey shared an on-screen kiss, filmed while both their spouses were present on set and watching. Downey quips “[Gwyneth] said to me that I didn’t know what I was doing, like it didn’t feel good, and I’m like, ‘You know what, we’re all friends so what would be creepy would be if I was coming off all sexy to you,’ and by the way, done that, and it creeps them out.”

Far from creepy, Robert Downey Jr. is forever the hero, rescuing a press audience from a falling “IRON MAN 2” banner and wrapping it around himself gallantly, perhaps preparing for his next superhero role, “Poster Man…?”

Cameron with Lucid Dreams as Avatar Blu-ray Bows on Earth Day 4/22

By Alicia Hollinger

Sam Worthington (Jake Sully)

    

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/20/10 –

Green is the new blue as director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau announce the worldwide launch of AVATAR on Blu-ray and DVD on April 22 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.

“I think the public has really felt an emotional outpouring around the movie” says Cameron about the world’s biggest grossing picture, “Avatar.”

“Earth Day is exactly the right time to premiere the disks.” Cameron explains “I’m not trying to sort of sell DVDs on the back of the hardship of the planet as much as I’m hoping that continued conversation around AVATAR and around the needs and the issues will actually kind of elevate consciousness and help us to get the things done that need to get done. That’s kind of my new mission.”

He continues, “I actually almost see it as an opportunity for AVATAR to be helpful as opposed to for things to help AVATAR. My wife said ‘Honey, this is more than an opportunity here, this is a duty, a responsibility.’ I’ve always been an environmental activist, but I’m going to a whole other level now.”

This begins the global partnership between Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Earth Day Network, the international non-profit organization that coordinates Earth Day programs annually. “Earth Day Network’s commitment and actions to promote a healthy, sustainable planet go hand-in-hand with the themes of AVATAR,” says Cameron.

Cameron and Landau emphasize that on the DVD you will find “purely movie.” Because of the length of the movie, any extraneous material takes down the bit rate, degrading the image quality. He jokes “I have this unwritten deal with Fox that anytime any one of my movies makes more than a billion dollars, they leave all the crap trailers off. Just a little service to pass on to the viewer because I can’t stand watching them any more than you can” said the director who also helmed the previous top-grosser “Titanic.”

For those who love the extra content, no need to fear. In November, they will begin launching added content, a filmmaker’s journey and other bonus material. Also, through a unique code found inside the AVATAR Blu-ray/DVD, consumers can register at www.avatarmovie.com into “The AVATAR Program” and gain exclusive access to first-look bonus materials, special content and more. Additionally, fans will be able to adopt one of the one million trees being planted on behalf of Earth Day and receive a virtual “hometree” they can locate on a map to see where it’s actually planted. Cameron believes that AVATAR is a sensually immersive experience, and that although it was the most pirated film in history, it was also the highest grossing movie in history, proving that audiences are willing to wait in line and shell out money rather than watch a poor downloaded version.

“There’s a return to the big presentation and they can have that experience now in their home,” he says. Part of that $2.7 billion worldwide gross was from 3-D theaters, which take in a larger ticket price and are all the rage right now. A character in itself, the lush and inviting rainforest of Pandora beckoned audiences back to the theaters. Cameron feared that if the rainforest looked too alien. It could be off-putting to audiences. So he decided to “have the rainforest look more like we would expect a rainforest to look here on Earth with some exotic plants and then at night, it transitions into a much more alien looking place.”

The exotic beauty of the AVATAR rainforests apparently caused a whole new psychological disorder coined “The AVATAR Blues.” Some Avatar fans found themselves so transported into the alluring world of Pandora that they did not want to return to the real world, some to the point of suicidal thoughts. In response to this, Cameron says “The whole point is that AVATAR was supposed to celebrate the natural world and how wonderful it is here on Earth, so to those who have AVATAR depression I would say ‘Take a walk in the woods, walk on the beach or go snorkeling and see what you need to see.’”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about this film,” says Cameron, “and maybe why it’s connected to people so much, and I’ve kind of realized that what I was trying to do was create dream imagery, create a lucid dream state while you’re watching the film. I think that most people dream of flying at some point and when we’re kids we dream of flying and I certainly did, and still have a lot of flying dreams and I thought that if I can connect to an audience, to a kind of collective unconscious in almost the Jungian sense, then it bypasses all the politics and all the bullshit, and all the culturally specific stuff and all the language specific stuff around the world and connects us all to that kind of childhood, dreamlike state when the world was magical and infinite and scary and cool and you could soar. So that was the concept behind these scenes. And for me, personally, this was the part of the movie that I like the best, that I can watch over and over again.”

James Cameron’s interest in environmentalism began early on — in high school at the age of 16 after the big Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969. He wrote a play entitled “The Extinction Syndrome” which he describes as “sophomoric screed about how humans are bent on destroying the planet and themselves in the process. Sounds kind of familiar…” he jokes.

Regarding the environmental persuasion of AVATAR, Cameron says, “The themes of the film are pretty damn overt. I was asked early on in the process of the movie to take them out or to downplay them, you know, as any studio would have said, because there was no historical precedent for a big entertainment movie having these ideas.”When it first began screening, he says, “people said ‘Hey, it’s got an environmental message.’ I said ‘Damn straight it does.’”

“I think there’s a real opportunity here,” says Cameron, “around the, you know, slightly elevated consciousness around a movie that’s a piece of entertainment and I have no illusions about an entertainment movie saving the world or anything like that, but I do think that people are thinking about this and they’re talking about it and they’re emotionally open to it… I think that not only is there opportunity for me personally around this movie, I think it’s almost coming at me as a duty or responsibility to take advantage of this moment. And it’s not about trying to make more money for AVATAR, it’s trying to leverage the good that could be created out of AVATAR, if you will. And it may even work against making more money for AVATAR, I don’t care, y’know?

“We got enough money. Fuck it,” he said.

No official comment on a sequel, but a vague “a sequel always lurks in the back of your mind,” said Jon Landau.

Written and directed by James Cameron and produced with his long-time collaborator Jon Landau, AVATAR stars Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi and Laz Alonso.

Sex not Stargates Brings Fans to Stargate SG-1/Atlantis Expo Los Angeles

Love in a Wormhole:  Stargate SG-1/Atlantis Convention 

By Alicia Hollinger

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 

November 12th, 2009

Michael Shanks at the Stargate SG-1/Atlantis Convention 

What brings a worldwide audience from as far away as Australia, Germany, Brazil and England to a Los Angeles sci-fi convention? Fascination with high tech gadgetry, wormholes and aliens? No, not this time. It’s the hot guys.

An audience of predominantly middle aged women gathered the weekend of Nov. 6-8 at the Los Angeles Marriott at LAX for Creation Entertainment’s Official Stargate SG-1/Atlantis Convention for a chance to melt at the sight of the Beatles of Stargate — hotties Michael Shanks, Joe Flanigan, Ben Browder, and perhaps the Ringo of the group, Paul McGillion.

Stargate SG-1 ran for 10 years from 1997-2007 and Stargate: Atlantis for five, 2004-2009. Two Stargate movies were released directly to DVD and a third may or may not be in development, depending on whom you talk to. Word is MGM is having problems financing the project. The new controversial SGU Stargate Universe has just begun its run with mixed reviews.

Although not a particularly large group, the convention attendees were certainly an enthusiastic one. And very willing to shell out money for their obsession. Most attendees opted for the sold-out Gold Pass going for $379, which included preferred seating, free autographs and photo ops normally going for $30-$70. Auctioned autographed Stargate banners went for as much as $425; one woman spent at least $1000 on auctioned goodies — banners, and T-Shirts and memorabilia, oh my! Private lunches, breakfasts, and cocktails with a 15-person limit went for up to $500. As they say, sex sells. Although…

Despite their hotness, the Stargate cuties are all very married with children. When asked if he was a flirt, Joe Flanigan dodged the question saying “My wife might get pissed off if she thinks I’m a flirt” and right on cue received a phone call from her that he answered on stage, thrilling the audience with this peek into his private life.  While shooting in Vancouver for five years, the dedicated husband flew home to Malibu every weekend to see his wife and kids.

Michael Shanks had his daughter in tow who piped in from the audience, “Dad, you’re such a dork!” and later pointedly refuted the accusation that she was responsible for chocolate pudding cups left in his trailer that led to a naughty prank on co-star Christopher Judge. Shanks joked that his favorite guest appearance was on the TV show Andromeda and didn’t have to explain to the giggling savvy audience that’s where he met his wife, actress Lexa Doig. Perhaps intimidated by all the estrogen in the room, he looked up to the ceiling and exclaimed “I love you sweetheart!” The fact that they appeared to be nice family guys just somehow made them seem even more appealing.

The big elephant in the room was the subject of the new TV series SGU Stargate Universe. Michael Shanks has openly panned the show, claiming the drama was forced and the characters were made to look like petulant children. He conceded that he did, however, like the visual effects, camera work and photography and the actors were really giving their all. When he put the question out to the audience to get their opinion, audience members screamed out, “It’s too dark,” “It’s boring,” “Too many characters,” “It’s slow paced,” “We don’t care about the characters.”

One of the funniest but most off-color speakers, Robert Picardo, referred to the series as “Stargate Galactica,” which got a huge laugh from the audience. Writer-producer Martin Gero, aware of the current fan reaction, urged them to hang on, give it time, and promised it will change and be more similar to the Stargate series the fans know and love. He explained that “the birth of a new show is super difficult” and felt they “had to reinvent the gate and make it fresh.” He continually begged the fans to stick with it. The fans most likely will.

As well-loved as the Stargate actors are, they are struggling to find the type of work they seek. Although virtual Beatles at the convention, TMZ would probably walk right by them on Robertson Blvd. All surprisingly funny and quick-witted on stage, they may want to look into careers in stand-up. However, when asked what type of role they would most like to play, oddly none picked comedy.

Fans were most interested in the stars’ funny private stories, juicy tidbits, on set pranks, and answers to questions about careers in the entertainment industry.  Flanigan revealed that he wished he could have directed episodes of Stargate: Atlantis, but the Canadian tax laws prevented him from doing so.  He joked “I would have become Canadian just to shoot an episode.” He said “If I were directing, I feel maybe there’s an arrogance, a cockiness that I have. I feel like I could do a good job because I see people don’t handle actors well. At all. They don’t understand them, they don’t understand how they think… There are a lot of technocrats. Especially in television.”

Michael Shanks had the audience laughing over complications with his costume on upcoming episodes of Smallville as Hawkman.  “The wingspan is 13 feet. When I turn, I knock crap over. I hit people in the face. It’s twice my height widthwise. Good luck other actors getting in that shot.” He revealed a bit of frustration with the early incarnation of his Stargate SG-1 character Daniel Jackson, who he felt was “too often the brunt of the joke like the Kenny character (in Southpark) who gets killed at the end of every episode and we all laugh.”

Photo-ops with the actors were a huge big deal. Eavesdropping on the fans, there was no talk of alien races, time travel dilemmas or arguments about quantum physics, just gleeful exclamations of: “Oh my God, Ben (Browder) is such a hunk!”, “Joe (Flanigan) was sooo nice!”, “Michael (Shanks) hugged me!” This is a sci-fi convention???

But it’s more than just the hot guys that bring these women back year after year. One new fan who just started watching Stargate SG-1 reruns a few months ago told Michael Shanks she watches marathons of the show with her kids for hours and hours, forgetting everything else. She gushed, “You guys become part of my family. It was pivotal for us to experience that, go on journeys with you. Thank you very much!”  To which Shanks replied “Thank you for sipping of the Stargate Kool-Aid.”

All in all, the Stargate convention was a true love-fest. “It’s a happy world,” fans say. “We all get excited about something we all love. The actors are genuinely nice and so entertaining, and really funny!”  Debra Selle, a recent breast cancer survivor,  is using her love of Stargate for a good cause, auctioning off autographed Beanie Babies to raise money for breast cancer awareness:http://www.avonwalk.org/goto/debra_selle “A lot of my best friends I met through these conventions,” Selle says. “We become friends for life.”

Who knew that a Syfy Channel TV empire about people going through a wormhole to fight off evil aliens could leave one feeling so warm and fuzzy?

TV Coverage of Golden Globes as Awkward As the Awards

Things quickly fell apart for the networks covering the Golden Globes Award live

By Alicia Hollinger

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/13/08 — 

Television coverage of the 2008 Golden Globes was as uncomfortable as the award press conference itself. As said on the TV Guide post-show about the winners’ announcements, “The only way to describe it was awkward. There was no way they could succeed and they didn’t.”

Winners were announced by the usually breathless on-air hosts of the TV entertainment shows. Film critic Leo Quinones said “After seeing the ad-libing from these announcers–writers, please come back to work!”

“The losers were the entertainment journalists who announced the awards,” said Andy Wallenstein of The Hollywood Reporter. “I found it nauseating and self-aggrandizing. They made it about themselves which was atrocious.”

Chris Harrison on the TV Guide channel said “The 65th Annual Golden Globes will go down in history as the show that never was. No show-stopping entrances that put rumors to rest, no chance for new stars to get their spotlight to shine, no gowns, no glitz, no glamour, no nothin’. It’s the year the Golden Globes went away.”

Even NBC had to air its pre-taped pre-show with Matt Lauer after the press conference on the West Coast when affiliate KNBC decided to go live with the conference broadcast. The Lauer show, in another example of when a news reporter is asked to do awkward broadcasts for the entertainment division, aired interviews with nominees like Denzel Washington, noting he and others were contenders on the show to follow, which had already aired with Denzel losing.

TV Guide Channel, who carried some of the catty commentary, didn’t look so great, either. The actual reading of the winners was over in about 25 minutes, so they repeated it twice in the hour-long slot. And due to the only really funny moment of the evening, the station may get a chance to chat with the FCC come Monday.

The show reached Best Actor David Duchovny, who said he went to the movies while on location in Vancouver and timed it to come back right when the awards were over. “I knew if the message light was blinking I won, because no one calls a loser.”

He went on to say fuck twice. “James Gandolfini got to say fuck on TV and he always won. So if you get to say fuck you win and I guess I was helped by that.” When he realized it was live TV, apologized, saying “oh shit.”

Carrie Keagan at the award conference noted “The publicists were cheering as loudly as they could when their client won.” Dayna Devon from Extra: “We want to say to Jorge, we think you should be negotiating the writer’s strike, because if you can get Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, Inside Edition & Extra on one stage, YOU can do anything.” Kim Serafin from In Touch Weekly: “You watch cause you want to see the fashion, you wanna see your favorite actor or an actress drinking at the table… or stuck in the bathroom…”

Whether anyone watched at all will be known in the morning when the overnight ratings come in – that’s if they are high enough to even get a rating.