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Goran Visnjic as RED WIDOW’s Russian Mob Boss in Downtown Vancouver

Red Widow added Goran Visnjic to the cast after the pilot was filmed, much to the delight of his Vancouver fans who know him as noble Dr. Luka Kovac on ER.

But this time Goran Visnjic is not the good guy. He’s the Big Bad.  His Russian mafia is blamed for the shooting of Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell)’s husband in the season premiere. She should be mourning but must work with her husband’s killers to repay the [$1.5 million ] debt owed to mob boss Nicholae Schiller (Goran Visnjic) and to protect her family.

I looked for Goran Visnjic early on at the Russian mob restaurant Cafe Rossiya played by Lana Lou’s restaurant in the Downtown Eastside but never caught him in an exterior scene until Red Widow’s season finale filmed at the Exchange Tower downtown. 

[Update: In the two-hour premiere, Goran Visnijic demonstrated his black belt in kung-fu in a sparring scene. Impressive.]

 

Read More »Goran Visnjic as RED WIDOW’s Russian Mob Boss in Downtown Vancouver

SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Father-and-Son Bonding in Steveston for 2×19

Whatever else is going on in Storybrooke in the nineteenth episode of season two, newly-acquainted father-and-son Baelfire and Henry, and the actors who play them, continue to bond.

Michael Raymond-James and Jared Gilmore had an incredible amount of fun rehearsing and filming their play sword fight in Fisherman’s Park  in Steveston yesterday morning and early afternoon in front of passersby, local fans and two fans visiting from France.

Michael Raymond-James jumped on a picnic table at one point in their rambling play sword fight down the grassy hill of the park. And during one take, Raymond-James jokingly held his wooden sword to the throat of the boom operator once he’d moved out of frame.

Read More »SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Father-and-Son Bonding in Steveston for 2×19

SET: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Historical Storybrooke Map in Steveston – Updated

Once Upon a Time put up a new prop Historical Storybrooke map in Steveston today. I photographed it but haven’t had a chance to look at it closely, except to notice the absence of Storybrooke Town Hall (usually played by Fort Langley Community Hall).

WELCOME TO HISTORICAL STORYBROOKE

ACCOMODATION

1. Granny’s Bed & Breakfast

Read More »SET: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Historical Storybrooke Map in Steveston – Updated

PROMOS: ONCE UPON A TIME – A Series as Epic as the Movies

A Series as Epic as The Movies Every Single Week

Once Upon a Time makes TV looks like the movies every week. Revolutionary Z.E.U.S. visual effects technology allows the modern fairy tale series to be as epic as a movie on a TV budget. If you looked through a camera lense or a monitor in studio in Vancouver you would see scenes rendered in real time while the cast performs on mostly empty green screen stages. And beautiful British Columbia has a hand in creating stunning backdrops too with on-location filming in our forests, deserts and oceans for Fairy Tale Land and in the village of Steveston for present-day Storybrooke.

But Once Upon a Time would be just pretty pictures if  the creators and cast didn’t bring emotion to the stories they tell. Here are some promo photos of the actors who make us care about fairy tale characters week after week.

Charming (Josh Dallas) and his daughter Emma (Jennifer Morrison) on location in Steveston south of Vancouver.

ABC/AUTUMN DE WILDE

Read More »PROMOS: ONCE UPON A TIME – A Series as Epic as the Movies

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?

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: 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

SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Jennifer Morrison at The Blarney Stone in Gastown for 2×14 – Updated

[Update Emma (Jennifer Morrison) is talking on the phone to her mother Snow (Ginnifer Goodwin)  in Storybrooke ,telling her that Mr. Gold’s son Bae (Michael Raymond-James) is Henry (Jared Gilmore)’s father]

]

Since the secret is well and truly out about Once Upon a Time’s upcoming episode called Manhattan, I’m overdue sharing photos I took of a two-day shoot last December in Gastown dressed as Soho. I’ll start with these ones of Jennifer Morrison (not in one of Emma’s usual kickass leather jackets) getting ready to do a scene of Emma talking on her cell phone. Later she will meet someone inside the bar for a night shoot.

Read More »SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Jennifer Morrison at The Blarney Stone in Gastown for 2×14 – Updated