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Once Upon a Time

PROMOS: ONCE UPON A TIME’s 2×15 The Queen is Dead Images – Updated

Does any show spoil itself as much as Once Upon a Time does? This is not a judgement. More is more is a valid promotional strategy.

No one is safe on this Sunday’s The Queen is Dead with two deaths. One in present-day. And one in the Fairy Tale Land past. As you can see from the promo, sneak peek clips and promo images, the Rumple family — grandfather Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle), father Baelfire/Neal (Michael Raymond-James), mother Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and son Henry (Jared Gilmore) –bond a little in Manhattan. At least father and son do. And then Captain Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) shows up to exact his revenge on a Rumple with no magic.  But he attacks him with his hook not The Dark One’s dagger, so there’s hope.

Related: Rumple family strolling in Gastown as Manhattan

And new alliances may help Rumple too. Snow/Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin), Charming/David (Josh Dallas) and the Blue Fairy/Mother Superior (Keegan Conner Tracy) team up to find The Dark One’s dagger before Cora (Barbara Hershey) and Regina (Lana Parilla) do in order to protect Henry’s other Grandfather.

That’s the Dark One’s dagger in Snow’s hand. But whose heart is Regina/Evil Queen holding?

SATURN AWARDS Noms for FRINGE & Cast, ONCE UPON A TIME, SUPERNATURAL, ARROW, FALLING SKIES, THE KILLING And Our Own CONTINUUM

Perennial Saturn Awards (sci-fi, fantasy & horror) winner Fringe gets a final hurrah this year with a nomination as Best Network Television Series and individual nominations for Joshua Jackson as Best Actor, Anna Torv as Best Actress, John Noble as Best Supporting Actor and Blair Brown and Lance Reddick as Best Guest Stars. Fringe won Best Network Television Series in 2010 and 2011 so it  could go out with a three-peat. Anna Torv already has a three-peat with Best Actress  on TV awards in 2009, 2010, and 2011. John Noble got the win as Best Supporting Actor on TV in 2010. And Leonard Nimoy picked up Best Guest Actor on TV in 2009.

Other filmed-in-Vancouver  productions scoring nominations include Once Upon a Time, Supernatural, The Killing, Falling Skies, Arrow and Vancouver’s own Continuum.

Best Network Television Series

 Fringe, FOX

Read More »SATURN AWARDS Noms for FRINGE & Cast, ONCE UPON A TIME, SUPERNATURAL, ARROW, FALLING SKIES, THE KILLING And Our Own CONTINUUM

SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Rumple Family in Gastown for 2×15 – Updated

That’s one messed up family. Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle)’s long-lost son Baelfire (Michael Raymond-James) turns out to be Henry (Jared Gilmore)’s father Neal, much to Emma (Jennifer Morrison)’s dismay. After a lot of yelling, most of the secrets are out, and it’s time for this estranged family to get to know one another in Gastown dressed as Manhattan.

[Update February 25th: Once Upon a Time tweeted a section of the script for the scenes I photographed.]

© 2013 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

The actors who play the Rumple family are not estranged. They have the best time portraying these characters. Jennifer Morrison and Michael Raymond-James have been cracking each other up since Tallahassee, laughing and joking in between serious takes. And  you can see Raymond-James gets on well with both his TV father Robert Carlyle and son Jared Gilmore in these photographs taken in Gastown on January 9th.

Read More »SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Rumple Family in Gastown for 2×15 – Updated

SHOOT: Run Emma Run! ONCE UPON A TIME’s Jennifer Morrison Running in Gastown for 2×14

Run Emma Run! In Once Upon a Time 2×14 Manhattan, Emma (Jennifer Morrison) chases a man in a grey hoodie  — who she thinks could be Rumple’s son Bae —  through SoHo in New York City (Gastown in Vancouver). He jumps from an old wrought iron fire escape staircase down onto the street below (Powell Street), runs along the sidewalk and through a cobbled square (Maple Tree Square) dodging yellow NYC taxi-cabs, past SoParlo Boots (prop sign) into a corridor (Gaelor’s Mews) of stores and restaurants until she tackles him in an alley (east end of Trounce Alley in Blood Alley Square).

Once Upon a Time filmed this foot chase in mid-December in four legs with Jennifer Morrison doing all her own running stunts and some of the tackling. The day started  in reverse with the Emma stunt double tackling the Grey-Hoodie-Man stunt double in the east end of Trounce Alley, followed by a dialogue scene of Morrison getting up from the ground, seeing the actor (not stunt double) who she’d tackled and talking to him. Each time the two actors finished a take they dissolved into fits of laughter. The Trounce Alley part of the foot chase sequence was closed to the public but I could see  the two actors’ heads through  the glass windows of  a restaurant from the south end of  the Coffee Bar. I stayed at my Coffee Bar window seat  to watch the next leg of  Morrison running from prop SoParlo Boots on Carrall Street  right past me through Gaelor’s Mews.  Don’t listen to anyone who says Morrison is a diva. None of the Once Upon a Time cast are from what I’ve seen. Morrison did all of Emma’s running in take after take. Smiling and laughing from the exhilaration.

Next came the big public scene of Jennifer Morrison chasing  the Grey-Hoodie-Man stunt double  though Maple Tree Square dodging yellow NYC taxi cabs and other prop vehicles in front of spectators, fans and photographers. She did it once in rehearsal with the Emma stunt double leading the way. Read More »SHOOT: Run Emma Run! ONCE UPON A TIME’s Jennifer Morrison Running in Gastown for 2×14

SHOOT: Josh Dallas, Ginnifer Goodwin & Colin O’Donoghue Filming on ONCE UPON A TIME Pirate Ship Set in Steveston for 2×13

While  Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold, Emma, and Henry leave Storybrooke to find Rumple’s long-lost son Bae in Manhattan, Anton the Giant  (Jorge Garcia) is held captive on Captain Hook (Colin O’Donoughue)’s pirate ship at the Storybrooke docks.

ABC shared some photos with TVLine last week of Charming and Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin)  in a confrontation with Anton, the Giant on the  ship. I arrived too late to see them filming these on the  floating priate ship set at the Britannia Heritage Shipyard set in Steveston last December (I’d been  downtown in Gastown watching OUAT’s first unit filming Manhattan scenes).  I  did get  there in time to  see Ginnifer Goodwin (wrapped in a red plaid blanket) come off the dock and pose for photos with waiting fans taken by Josh Dallas. Lucky fans. 

Bringing the floating set back to dock.

Read More »SHOOT: Josh Dallas, Ginnifer Goodwin & Colin O’Donoghue Filming on ONCE UPON A TIME Pirate Ship Set in Steveston for 2×13

SHOOT: Meghan Ory & Ginnifer Goodwin Film ONCE UPON A TIME 2×17 Storybrooke Flashbacks in Steveston

Ruby, you tramp! Ruby/Little Red (Meghan Ory of the impossibly long legs) filmed a Storybrooke flashback scene to 1983 at Granny’s Diner in Steveston yesterday. I couldn’t believe what she was wearing. And how meek and mild our badass Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin) looked as early Mary Margaret. They’ve both come a long way since the curse broke and they remembered their fairy tale selves. Mary Margaret appeared to accidentally bump into Regina (Lana Parrilla) outside Granny’s Diner and apologize for it. Oh Mary Margaret, she’s evil. Archie (Raphael Sbarge), Pongo and Granny (Beverley Elliott) were in the scene too. And some Once Upon a Time fans up from Florida spotted the Man who owns Storybrooke, aka Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle), earlier in the day, but there was no sign of David/Charming (Josh Dallas) on set of course —  unless they filmed his poor nameless coma patient in hospital.

NOTE: Because these are flashbacks I’m not withholding the photos but normally my policy is to hold onto major spoilers until they become mild to medium.

 

Read More »SHOOT: Meghan Ory & Ginnifer Goodwin Film ONCE UPON A TIME 2×17 Storybrooke Flashbacks in Steveston

SHOOT: Jamie Dornan & Lana Parrilla Film ONCE UPON A TIME 2×17 Chase in Steveston – Updated

Once Upon a Time paid to have businesses close for the day on two blocks of Moncton Street in Steveston and hired 35 PAs (production assistants) to keep people back for Storybrooke flashbacks of Sheriff Graham (Jamie Dornan) and Regina (Lana Parrilla) in a high-speed chase in the Storybrooke Sheriff’s car. Crew alternated scenes of stunt doubles driving fast and cast driving slowly down Moncton Street.

NOTE: Because these are flashbacks I’m not withholding the photos but normally my policy is to hold onto major spoilers until they become mild to medium ones.

Read More »SHOOT: Jamie Dornan & Lana Parrilla Film ONCE UPON A TIME 2×17 Chase in Steveston – Updated

SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME Turns Gastown into Manhattan for Robert Carlyle, Jennifer Morrison & Jared Gilmore

Some fans spotted prop New York taxi cabs and other NYC set dressing last December in Gastown and hoped it would be for one final downtown shoot of their show Fringe. Surprisingly, it turned out to be for Once Upon a Time instead. The modern fairy tale series shot scenes of famous fairy tale character Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) out of Storybrooke and in Manhattan, where a coerced Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and Henry (Jared Gilmore) help him search for his long-lost son Bae. Is Bae found? Well, that’s a spoiler for another post.

Read More »SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME Turns Gastown into Manhattan for Robert Carlyle, Jennifer Morrison & Jared Gilmore

SET: ONCE UPON A TIME Films on its Floating Pirate Ship Set in Steveston

Is Storybrooke offering weekly tours of Captain Hook’s pirate ship? It sure seems so. Ever since Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and Cora (Barbara Hershey) sailed through a portal into this sequestered town in Maine at the end of the mid-season finale, we’ve seen a parade of townsfolk visiting the ship from the kidnapped Archie (Raphael Sbarge) to the uninvited RumBelle (Robert Carlyle & Emilie de Ravin) to the kidnapped Giant (Jorge Garcia), who’ll show up when the show returns with new episodes in February.

I’ve also spotted Charming (Josh Dallas), Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin), Emma (Jennifer Morrison), Henry (Jared Gilmore), Grumpy (Lee Arenberg), Regina (Lana Parrilla) and others too spoilery to mention on board since late last year when Once Upon a Time started filming scenes on this new floating set at the Britannia Heritage Shipyard Park in Steveston south of Vancouver.

The priate ship set is a truncated version of the Tall Ship Lady Washington which first appeared in Fairytale Land flashbacks of Captain Hook on his pirate ship — the Lady Washington is the exact same ship used in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie when it was known as the HMS Interceptor, the fastest ship in the Caribbean. It looked magnificent as Captain Hook’s ship sailing up Howe Sound Read More »SET: ONCE UPON A TIME Films on its Floating Pirate Ship Set in Steveston