On tonight’s Bates Motel we meet Sam Loomis’s girlfriend Marion Crane played by pop star Rihanna. She’s about to make the bad decision that leads… Read More »TONIGHT: Rihanna As Marion Crane on BATES MOTEL
Update: Bates Motel set. September 2016. Production built the roof for the second season.
The Bates Motel set out in Aldergrove on 272nd Street near the U.S. border is the spitting image of the motel set in Alfred Hitchcock’s horror classic Psycho, except for the missing top of the Bates house which will be CGIed in post-production. When I arrived mid-afternoon to see A&E’s upcoming series filming, only Mike Vogel’s deputy Sheriff seemed to be inside one of the motel rooms. When he crossed the road from set on his way to craft services I apologized for misidentifying him in yesterday’s blogpost about the Steveston shoot on the fishing boat.
If I’d stayed in Aldergrove I could have seen the Bates house on the hill lit up for a night shoot by a light on a hoist near 272nd Street and a balloon light in the garden It would have looked scary as hell but I had to start heading back to Vancouver. This set is such a long way out that this will have to be my one and only visit unfortunately.
A&E’s contemporary Psycho prequel 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. Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse penned most of the 10 episodes which are described as a cross between Twin Peaks and Smallville.
[Update: At the start of filming the motel sign was Seafairer Motel as in the original Psycho but changed to Bates Motel once this reimagined Bates mother and son bought it]
