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Bates Motel

BATES MOTEL Opens for Business on March 18th on A&E

Contemporary Psycho prequel series Bates Motel is back filming on its spooky Psycho replica motel and house set in Aldergrove today, a motel that officially opens for business on March 18th.
A&E announced the premiere date last Friday ahead of a Bates Motel-themed luncheon and panel at the Winter Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour in Pasadena. The 10-episode serialized season, which wraps filming in Vancouver late this month, is a present-day reimagining of the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock horror classic Psycho not a homage, showrunner Carleton Cuse told critics. This psychological thriller focuses on Freddie Highmore’s teenage version of future serial killer Norman Bates. living in present-day White Pine Bay, Oregon, and explores the dark backstory of  his relationship with his unhinged mother, Vera Farmiga’s Norma Bates, as he approaches his evil destiny.  Or “How I Stuffed My Mother”, as Daniel Fienberg from HitFix.com reportedly joked in the session.

BEST of 2012 Lists

  • Friday, December 21st – Entertainment Weekly names Arrow‘s Stephen Amell a Breakout Star of 2012
  • Friday, Decmeber 21st – TV.com’s Top 100 Best of Everything ranks Fringe‘s animated homage to Monty Python as 75th
  • Wednesday, December 19th – TV.com’s Top 100 Best of Everything ranks the harness factory on Falling Skies as 98th.
  • Wednesday, December 19th – TV.com’s Top 100 Best of Everything ranks a guy exploding on The Secret Circle as 99th.

Read More »BEST of 2012 Lists

WEEKS: December 17-30, 2012

  • Friday, December 28th – SPACE channel marathon of Vancouver’s own dinosaur procedural Primeval: New World
  • Tuesday, December 25th – Arrow star Stephen Amell marries long-time girlfriend Cassandra Jean at sunset ceremony in the Caribbean.
  • Saturday, December 22nd – Psycho prequel series Bates Motel begins its holiday hiatus. Returns January 7th, 2013.
  • Saturday, December 22nd – Vancouver sitcom Package Deal begins its holiday hiatus. Returns January 7th, 2013.
  • Friday, December 21st – Fringe airs tenth episode of its final season featuring Olivia, Peter, Walter, Nina Sharp and the child Observer Michael filming in downtown Vancouver, the tragic but brave death of a favourite character and the answer to the question, Who is Donald?
  • Friday, December 21st – Sitcom Package Deal tapes in front of a live studio audience in Burnaby
  • Friday, December 21st – Bates Motel films at the Psychiatric Assessment building in the Burnaby Youth Detention Centre.
  • Friday, December 21st – Supernatural begins its holiday hiatus. Returns January 8th, 2013.
  • Friday, December 21st – Falling Skies wraps filming of its third season.
  • Thursday, December 20th – Vancouver detective series Motive begins its holiday hiatus. Returns January 6th, 2013.
  • Wednesday, December 19th – USA Network renews Psych for eighth season of filming. Here are the crime-fighting quartet — Shawn, Gus, Lassie & Jules.
  • Wednesday, December 19th – Once Upon a Time casts Rose McGowan as younger Cora.
  • Wednesday, December 19th – Once Upon a Time begins its holiday hiatus. Returns January 3rd, 2013.
  • Wednesday, December 19th – Emily Owens MD studio liquidation 10AM-6PM at North Shore Studios
  • Wednesday, December 19th – Second day of Supernatural filming inside Langara College library.
  • Tuesday, December 18th – Supernatural films inside Langara College library
  • Tuesday, December 18th – TV Guide reports Battlestar Galactica’s Baltar, aka James Callis, cast on Arrow.
  • Monday, December 17th – Vancouver dinosaur procedural Primeval: New World mid-season finale directed by Amanda Tapping Read More »WEEKS: December 17-30, 2012

SHOOT: Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot & Nicola Peltz Film BATES MOTEL 1×07 in Horseshoe Bay – Updated

Update April 29, 2013 – Had no idea I’d photographed Norman’s crush & one-time hookup Bradley Martin (Nicola Peltz, who’s co-starring in the next Transformers movie) in Horseshoe Bay. Now I wish I’d got there earlier to see Norma (Vera Farmiga) & Emma (Oliva Cooke) spying on Bradley in a yoga class.

In what cast calls an “incredible reimagining” of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho, a teenage Norman Bates and his mother Norma Lousie Bates start fresh with the Bates Motel in the picturesque town of White Pine Bay, Oregon, filmed in the Vancouver area. Until yesterday, I’d never seen Freddie Highmore as future serial killer Norman on location for this upcoming A&E series from Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse (see the first promotional trailer) and Friday Night Lights producer Kerry Ehrin . Highmore didn’t look that different from his iconic role as young Peter in Finding Neverland but Bates Motel will be a vastly different world than Peter Pan’s.

On the surface White Pine Bay is as beautiful as its Vancouver locations but underneath there’s something dark and creepy going on. Think Friday Night Lights crossed with Twin Peaks. Normally Horseshoe Bay — on the edge of Howe Sound  in West Vancouver — would count as one of those beautiful locations but yesterday it was dark and creepy on the surface too.

Bates Motel crew had turned Bay Market into Bay Market & Hardware for a scene of Norman (Freddie Highmore) and Norman’s step brother Dylan (Max Thieriot) buying supplies at a Fall Hardware Sale, carrying them out to the back of Dylan’s 4 x 4 and chatting with [Norman’s crush Bradley (Nicola Peltz)] who’d just been dropped off by her friends in a BMW.

Read More »SHOOT: Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot & Nicola Peltz Film BATES MOTEL 1×07 in Horseshoe Bay – Updated

WEEK: December 10-16, 2012

WEEK: November 26 – December 2, 2012

WEEK: November 19-25, 2012

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