Skip to content

Latest News

SHOOT: FRINGE’s POlivia on the Vancouver Art Gallery Roof in a Rainstorm for 5×08 – Updated

Fringe crew set up for filming on the Vancouver Art Gallery’s north plaza last night in a torrential downpour and then filmed scenes in slightly less of a deluge. The last hours of filming for the final season’s eighth episode turned out to be one wet slog. Background women were allowed to keep their umbrellas for the scenes to protect their hair and 1940s garb but background Observers had nothing but their fedora hats to keep them dry during a take. [Update: POlivia filmed highly emotional scenes on the roof under a scrim of Anna Torv’s Olivia convincing Joshua Jackson’s Peter Bishop to take the Observer tech out of his head.]

Earlier in the day, Joshua Jackson’s Peter and Michael Kopsa’s Captain Windmark were spotted heading to set inside CBC Vancouver [where they filmed a stunt fight in empty office space on the east side] but rain-drenched fans only observed Kopsas’s Windmark at the night shoot when I was there.

Read More »SHOOT: FRINGE’s POlivia on the Vancouver Art Gallery Roof in a Rainstorm for 5×08 – Updated

SHOOT: RED WIDOW at its Russian Mob Restaurant in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – Updated

Midseason ABC series Red Widow — about San Francisco widow Marta Walraven forced to replace her mobster husband as head of a crime syndicate after his murder — filmed at its regular location in Lana Lou’s restaurant dressed as Cafe Rossiya in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside today. Australian Radha Mitchell, who stars as the widow, stayed inside the restaurant along with Erin Moriarty as her daughter Natalie, Luke Goss (Hellboy II) as bodyguard Luther and Lee Tergesen (Oz) as mob foot soldier Steven Tomlin in the morning scenes.

After those wrapped, a Red Widow steadycam crew filmed an exterior scene of Wil Traval (someone I haven’t seen on set before) as Irwin Lazarev [talking to Erin Cahill’s character and then] walking to his car.

Read More »SHOOT: RED WIDOW at its Russian Mob Restaurant in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – Updated

BIG READ: Hooded-Vigilante Series ARROW’s Record-Breaking Premiere

Published October 11, 2012 on Vancouver is Awesome

Being Bad Never Looked So Good. Last night’s series premiere of Vancouver (and Victoria)-shot Arrow broke records with four million viewers and bragging rights as the biggest show on the American network The CW in three years.

Loosely-based on DC Comics The Green Arrow, the TV series Arrow is less Smallville-ish and more like The Dark Knight trilogy’s re-imagined Batman. The story: missing and thought dead for five years after a shipwreck, Stephen Amell’s billionaire playboy Oliver Queen returns home a changed man. He secretly creates the persona of vigilante Arrow to fight crime and corruption in Starling City with martial arts and technology plus the special skill of archery.

By day, Oliver Queen continues to play the part of the billionaire cad he used to be, while trying to make amends with those he wronged, like his former girlfriend Dinah “Laurel” Lance, who works for a legal aid group called CNRI (Canary!). But she’s having none of it. “I didn’t grieve. I was too angry,” Katie Cassidy’s Lance tells Amell’s Queen Read More »BIG READ: Hooded-Vigilante Series ARROW’s Record-Breaking Premiere

Fringe’s Peter Bishop & Arch-Enemy Captain Windmark in Downtown Vancouver for Ep. 5×08

Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and the Fringe Division’s arch-enemy Captain Windmark (Michael Kopsa) filmed on the same downtown Vancouver set today near BC Place  but not in the same scene when I was watching. So it was an unexpected treat to see Kopsa and Jackson looking and laughing at something on Jackson’s iPhone during a break from shooting.

Read More »Fringe’s Peter Bishop & Arch-Enemy Captain Windmark in Downtown Vancouver for Ep. 5×08

WEEK: October 8-14, 2012

BATES MOTEL Sets Up Woodchuck Festival in Fort Langley for 1×02 – Updated

Updated March 25, 2013: Woodchuck Festival used for Norma (Vera Farmiga)’s clandestine date with Deputy Sheriff Shelby (Mike Vogel).

A&E’s contemporary Psycho prequel Bates Motel set up a White Pine Bay Woodchuck Festival at the Fort Langley Community Centre for an overnight shoot last Thursday night. Bates Motel focuses on a younger version of Psycho movie killer Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) in present-day Oregon and explores his relationship with his unhinged mother (Vera Farmiga) as he approaches his evil destiny.

The 10-episode series, scripted mainly by Lost’s Carlton Cuse, is described as a cross between Twin Peaks and Smallville. Certainly, the White Pine Bay Woodchuck Festival has a Twin Peaks vibe. All that’s needed is some cherry pie, a damn fine cup of coffee and a Log Lady to complete the homage.

Read More »BATES MOTEL Sets Up Woodchuck Festival in Fort Langley for 1×02 – Updated

SHOOT: SUPERNATURAL’s Dean, His Purgatory Pal & the Impala Film at Steveston’s Britannia Shipyards for 8×09

After filming some interior scenes at the Britannia Heritage Shipyards Building in Steveston south of Vancouver yesterday, Supernatural crew set up for the night shoot: a big exterior scene of Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) driving the Impala to this building now re-named the Lefevre Shipyard where he meets up with his Purgatory pal (Ty Olsson) carrying a big knife and the pair go inside the building. Not that complicated a scene, but lighting it and the area took a long time and provided a lot of stop-and-stare beauty for locals walking their dogs.

Being Bad Never Looked So Good: ARROW Series Premiere Tonight

Being Bad Never Looked So Good. Check out the abs on Stephen Amell’s billionaire playboy Oliver Queen tonight in the series premiere of Arrow on the CW and CTV Two. Missing and thought dead for five years after a shipwreck, Queen returns home a changed man. He secretly creates the persona of vigilante Arrow to fight crime and corruption in Starling City with martial arts and technology plus the special skill of archery.

By day, Queen continues to play the part of the billionaire cad he used to be while trying to make amends with those he wronged, like his former girlfriend Dinah “Laurel” Lance, who works for a legal aid group called CNRI (Canary!). But she’s having none of it. “I didn’t grieve. I was too angry,” Katie Cassidy’s Lance tells Amell’s Queen in a scene filmed for the premiere in Gastown next to Chill Winston last March.

Read More »Being Bad Never Looked So Good: ARROW Series Premiere Tonight