Big-budget $100-million-plus live-action film Monster Trucks, from Ice Age director Chris Wedge, took over the Five Corners of downtown Chilliwack dressed as Anderson, North Dakota,… Read More »SHOOT: MONSTER TRUCKS Films Lucas Till & Jane Levy in Downtown Chilliwack
Published April12, 2013 on Vancouver is Awesome
Jesse James Miller’s feature film Becoming Redwood is rooted in some of his own experiences: his love of golf which led him to turn pro at the age of 19 and hero-worship Jack Nicklaus’s six green-jacket wins at The Masters golf tournament; his hippie father’s flight to Canada as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War; and the shuttle back and forth between his parents after their divorce. But Miller never dreamed as a young boy that his parents would reunite if he beat Jack Nicklaus at The Masters, as 10-year-old Redwood Forest Hanson (Ryan Grantham) does in the Vancouver writer-director’s endearing film.
Becoming Redwood opens in Vancouver today at the Cineplex International Village, one day after the 77th Masters got underway in Augusta, Georgia, with the legendary Jack Nicklaus. who’s won the tournament more than any other golfer, as an honourary starter.
The Story: In 1969, two-year-old Redwood watches helpless from the backseat of a Volkswagen van as his mother Jade (Miller’s wife Jennifer Copping) leaves his draft-dodging father Ethan (Chad Willett) at the Canadian border. Eight years later, his father is arrested for dope dealing in B.C. and golf-obsessed long-haired Redwood (Ryan Grantham) must return to the U.S. to live with his mother, her two teen sons (Tyler Johnson and Todd Potter), her red-neck husband Arnold (Derek Hamilton) and Arnold’s basement-dwelling elderly father Earl (Scott Hylands) in northern California. How to deal with all this trauma? Redwood imagines beating the “Golden Bear”, aka Jack Nicklaus, at the Masters will solve all his problems. Or as the movie’s poster puts it: When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Turn Pro.
Read More »BIG READ: VIFF Favourite BECOMING REDWOOD Opens at International Village Today
Dr. Victor Frankenstein (David Anders)’s black-and-white world of horrors returns in flashbacks on next Sunday’s Once Upon a Time, as he tries to convince his father Alphonse (Gregory Itzin) that he can resurrect the dead. Does this have something to do with the doctor’s brother (Chad Michael Collins)? Meanwhile, in present-day Storybrooke, Dr. Whale (also David Anders) must perform surgery on the Outsider (Ethan Embrey) who crashed across the town border at the end of last night’s episode. What’s to be done with him?
Here’s the ABC logline:
While Dr. Whale treats the outsider, the townspeople decide what to do with the man who may know Storybrooke’s secret. Meanwhile, Cora meets with her daughter and Gold tries to meet with Belle. In another world, Victor tries to convince his father Alphonse that he can bring back the dead.
And here are some promo stills of Rumple/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle), Snow/Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming/David (Josh Dallas) at the Storybrooke border trying to comfort a frightened Belle (Emilie de Ravin) with no memories of any of them.
Read More »PROMOS: ONCE UPON A TIME 2×12 In the Name of the Brother Photos – Updated
Sometimes when Once Upon a Time films in Steveston, there isn’t much to see. Or what we see can’t be talked about. Wednesday afternoon and evening are examples of those kinds of shoots. Crew wrapped Mr. Gold’s in what looked like a giant white marshmallow for the afternoon shoot so that even doorway scenes weren’t visible.. Luckily for those waiting outside, Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) stopped by after he wrapped to pose for photos with a couple of Fringe fans who’d gone out for the day to see another show filming. The Australian Fringie told me Mr. Gold said she sounded just like his Belle (Aussie Emilie de Ravin who wasn’t on set).
For the night shoot, crew lit up Moncton Street for a driving scene with Regina’s Mercedes on a process trailer going round and round in a loop filming a conversation inside. We were asked not to photograph while they were rolling but it was OK to take a few shots of the process trailer parked outide Sara’s Old-Fashioned Ice Cream after cast left.
Then Once Upon a Time filmed a scene of [David Anders dressed in hospital scrubs] running south down Second Street at a good clip. Probably because it was bloody freezing. By then, even the Fringe fans had packed it in and decided to opt out of Read More »SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Process Trailer Scene in Steveston for 2×12 – Updated