Guiness Tower

SET: GODZILLA Turns Oceanic Plaza Downtown into San Francisco BART Station

by Susan Gittins
June 22, 2013August 3, 2013
Godzilla

Godzilla crew has turned Oceanic Plaza in downtown Vancouver into a San Francisco BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station, adding a San Francisco kiosk with ads for the Golden Gate Zoo, San Francisco mental health, San Francisco Pique Ballet Company and Go Whales Tours at Fisherman’s Wharf (the whale watching company and boats used by soldier extras on the Steveston docks to shoot at the Japanese sea monster), decorating West Hastings Street with Presidio New Folk Festival banners (the same ones used on Sixth Street in New Westminster), changing the Guiness Tower signage to Portman Center, another sign to the Kerney-Grand Hotel and parking yellow-and-green San Francisco cabs, black-and-white San Francisco police cars and military vehicles along the street for filming later on today.

SHOOT: Goran Visnjic & Erin Moriarty Film RED WIDOW Finale at Guiness Tower

by Susan Gittins
May 5, 2013June 16, 2014
ABC Series

Update May 10, 2013 – ABC cancelled this limited series so last Sunday’s season finale is the series ender.

So it wasn’t Nicholae Schiller (Goran Visnjic) who made Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell) a Red Widow by killing her husband. It was her cold, cruel, ruthless father who couldn’t stand the idea of losing his grandkids. But the grandkids don’t know that yet. And so young Natalie (Erin Moriarity) pulls a gun on Schiller as he’s leaving his office, filmed at the Guiness Tower in Vancouver’s Business District, in what turns out to be the final scene of the season finale.

What happens next? That depends on whether this limited series is renewed or not.

WEEK: April 29 – May 5, 2013

by Susan Gittins
May 5, 2013April 3, 2024
News

Sunday, May 5th – Red Widow finale The Hit 1×08 Convinced that Schiller (Goran Visnjic) murdered her husband, Marta (Radha Mitchell) asks for help with a revenge plot. But it turns out Schiller didn’t make her a widow. Her own father did because he didn’t want to lose his grandkids. Unfortunately no one tells Natalie (Erin Moriarty) who pulls a gun on Schiller in the final scene of the finale filmed at the Guiness Tower downtown last year.
Sunday, May 5th – Continuum 2×03 Vancouver-cop-from-the-future Kiera (Rachel Nichols) investigates a new street drug she recognizes because her sister was hooked on it in the future. The scenes of Kiera finding her sister in a shanty town for the “emancipated” were filmed on a parkade rooftop in Gastown. In present day, Alec Sandler (Erik Knudsen)’s friends drop the drug on the CBC Plaza and rival Liber8 operatives and former lovers Sonya and Travis go to war using gangs as their weapons.
Sunday, May 5th – Once Upon a Time 2×21 Young Baelfire (Dylan Schmid) is befriended by the Darling family of Peter Pan fame. Grownup Baelfire/Neal (Michael Raymond-James) intervenes in his father (Robert Carlyle)’s attempted stomping of Dr. Whale (David Anders( to impress Lacey (Emilie de Ravin); much needed talk between Emma (Jennifer Morrison) and grownup Baelfire/Neal takes place on Third Beach in Stanley Park, Meanwhile, Greg (Ethan Embry) and Tamara (Sonequa Martin Green) torture Regina (Lana Parilla) in Steveston cannery buildings.
Sunday, May 5th – Feature film Robocop with Joel Kinnaman, which shot last summer in Toronto, films in SFU Woodward’s underground parking and later at Granville and Dunsmuir.
Sunday May 5th – Words and Pictures with Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche scheduled to wrap filming in Vancouver, according to latest B.C. Production List.
Friday, May 3rd – Falling Skies screens first half of its 2-hour premiere at EW’s Capetown Festival in Hollywood, followed by a Q&A with showrunner Remi Aubuchon and cast members Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood, Drew Roy and Maxim Knight. Season 3 scoop.
Friday, May 3rd – EW has exclusive video of J.J. Abrams, Joel Wyman and John Noble talking about bringing closure to Fringe. One of the extras on the blu-ray/DVD for sale on Tuesday, May 7th.
Friday, May 3rd – Robocop films on farm on Dyke Road in Richmond. Camera on crane spotted.
Friday, May 3rd – Cedar Cove films in Deep Cove with Andie MacDowell walking on beach and on dock.
Friday, May 3rd – Continuum films inside CBC Vancouver.
Friday, May 3rd – ABC movie Christmas Bounty films at University of British Columbia.
Friday, May 3rd – New poster for Man of Steel features Henry Cavill in Superman suit and cape.
Friday, May 3rd – Tim Burton film Big Eyes with Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams scheduled to film here from July 8th to August 23rd, according to latest BC Production List.
Thursday, May 2nd – Film accelerator Cinecoup‘s Top 15 announced. Vote to finance one of these films with $1 million. 6 from Vancouver: Alien Abduction, Bad, Grade Nine, SCAM, The Fall and The Mill and the Mountain.
Thursday, May 2nd – Vancouver whydunit Motive 1×11 Brute Force airs on CTV, with Jarod Joseph as The Killer and Adrian Holmes as The Victim, Read More »WEEK: April 29 – May 5, 2013

WEEK: March 18-24, 2013

by Susan Gittins
March 24, 2013April 3, 2024
News

Sunday, March 24th – Red Widow 1×05 The Recorder airs, starring Radha Mitchell & Goran Visnijic. Marta wears a wire.
Sunday, March 24th – Once Upon a Time 2×18 Selfless, Brave and True about the return of August airs. Eion Bailey & Michael Raymond-James film Manhattan flashbacks in Gastown for it. And there were later scenes filmed in Fort Langley of wooden August turned back into live boy Pinocchio by magic
Sunday, March 24th – Joel Wyman’s FOX pilot Human films downtown in the Business District with Karl Urban & Minka Kelly on set as futuristic L.A. police officers.
Saturday, March 23rd – Joel Wyman’s FOX pilot Human films an armoured vehicle heist downtown in the Business District.
Friday, March 22nd – Feature film Words and Pictures with Clive Owen & Juliette Binoche wraps a week of filming (Monday to Friday) at St. George’s school in Vancouver.
Friday, March 22nd – Vancouver cop from the future series Continuum wraps a week (Monday to Friday) of filming inside and outside of CBC Vancouver.
Friday, March 22nd – Supernatural films at the Ridge Theatre/Bowling Alley with Mark Shepherd & Misha Collins spotted going into set.
Friday, March 22nd – Japanese monster reboot Godzilla films in south Nanaimo. Morning shoot of WRail locomotive with USAF missiles and military extras on railroad tracks. And an afternoon shoot in front of a bigger crowd of a burnt out vehicle and downed helicopter in flames and military extras running to the scene.
Friday, March 22nd – Casting call for Asian Men in Vancouver including some with military experience for Godzilla from March to June on Craigslist.
Friday, March 22nd – CBS pilot Backstrom starring Rainn Wilson, Mamie Gummer, Dennis Haysbert & Kristoffer Pohala gets revised filming dates of March 26th to April 12th
Read More »WEEK: March 18-24, 2013

SHOOT: Karl Urban & Minka Kelly Film TV Pilot ALMOST HUMAN in Vancouver’s Business District

by Susan Gittins
March 24, 2013July 31, 2013
Almost Human, TV Pilots

J.J. Abrams and Fringe showrunner Joel Wyman’s TV pilot Almost Human (formerly Human) is filming in downtown Vancouver’s Business District on West Hastings Street, transformed into a futuristic Los Angeles, for the second day in a row this weekend. Stars Karl Urban (Star Trek’s Bones) and Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) are on set as Los Angeles police officers at the crime scene of yesterday’s armoured vehicle heist.

Russian Mob Drama RED WIDOW’s Two-Hour Debut on ABC Tonight

by Susan Gittins
March 3, 2013June 16, 2014
ABC Series

Are we ready for a female version of Tony Soprano (The Sopranos) or Walter White (Breaking Bad) on American broadcast TV? Red Widow is about San Francisco widow Marta Walraven (Radha Mitchell) forced to replace her husband in the Russian mob after his murder in order to repay his debt and protect her family — son Gabriel (Sterling Beaumon),daughter Natalie (Erin Moriarty) and son Boris (Jakob Salvati).

Her husband was killed by the mafia. In order to erase a [$1.5 million] debt and protect her family, she is willing to work with his killers. How far would you go? For one mother, the only way out is deeper in. No time to mourn.

That debt is owed to crime lord Nicholae Schiller (Goran Visnjic). “I don’t play games Mrs. Walraven. Ever.” – Schiller

By the end of the first set of eight episodes, Marta Walraven won’t be as bad as Tony Soprano or Walter White but she will have gone from packing lunches to packing guns — with room to go darker.

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

by Susan Gittins
March 2, 2013June 16, 2014
ABC Series

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.]

SHOOT: ARROW’s Motorcycle Stunt for 1×15 at Oceanic Plaza Downtown

by Susan Gittins
January 12, 2013April 3, 2024
Arrow

Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen stole a motorcycle last night in downtown Vancouver’s Portal Park. Afterwards, Amell’s stunt double turned the bike around in a couple of 360s before roaring off. The next leg of the stunt was the bike racing from the roof of a yellow Starling City cab down onto West Hastings below, dodging prop traffic as it rides the yellow line to the end of the block. You can see one camera on top of a ladder on the right of the photo below and another at the end of the block near the intersection with Thurlow. Other legs of the stunt included riding down the stairs at Oceanic Plaza and up over the yellow Starling City cab. And there was talk of another segment across the Hastings pedestrian overpass. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay to see it all.

And Now For Something Completely Different on FRINGE for 5×09 – Dr. Carla Warren & Monty Python – Updated

by Susan Gittins
December 15, 2012August 1, 2013
Fringe

I withheld photos of Jenni Blong as Dr. Carla Warren filming with John Noble’s Dr. Walter Bishop inside a prop New York taxicab opposite the Guiness Tower downtown in late October. Partly because her reappearance was a spoiler but also because I couldn’t figure out how she could possibly be alive in 2036. I should have known that Fringe’s final season wouldn’t be complete without Walter on an acid trip.

“I represent everything that you’re trying to keep buried,” she told him last night in an ongoing hallucination. After all, Dr. Warren is the one in the original timeline who tried and failed to convince Walter not to cross over to the alternate universe to save the other young Peter Bishop who was dying like his own son had. And her death in a lab explosion led to Walter being incarerated for manslaughter in the St. Claire’s mental institution where we met him in the series premiere. On a lighter note, Gene the cow also featured in Walter`s hallucinations during the show’s animated homage to Monty Python. Walter`s wild acid trips are one of the many things I will miss about Fringe.

[sz-youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uS2z8Aeck-M” /]