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SHOOT: Charming Family Reunion in ONCE UPON A TIME Mid-Season Finale, 2×10

It was such a cold, wet October day in Steveston south of Vancouver when Once Upon a Time filmed the happy family reunion of Ginnifer Goodwin’s Snow, Josh Dallas’s Charming, Jennifer Morrison’s Emma and Jared Gilmore’s Henry walking arms round one another past the Storybrooke Library for tonight’s mid-season finale. But there was so much joy. I laughed when I saw Goodwin coming out of the cast van wearing an old-fashioned rain bonnet to protect her Mary Margaret pixie cut. Only Goodwin could look cute in one of these. And when Goodwin walked back from one of the takes with her arms outstretched like a monster.

But it’s been a long wait for this reunion scene to appear on screen. So it’s a bonus to have our season two villains, Barbara Hershey’s Cora and Colin O’Donoughe’s Hook, heading into Storybrooke on his pirate ship in the final scene. I photographed this dastardly pair disembarking from the ship at Steveston’s Britannia Shipyards a few weeks before Once Upon a Time filmed the reunion scene. Storybrooke is going to be one busy place in the new year.

Read More »SHOOT: Charming Family Reunion in ONCE UPON A TIME Mid-Season Finale, 2×10

SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Process Trailer Scene in Steveston for 2×12 – 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

SHOOT: BATES MOTEL Films in Steveston with Lost’s Nestor Carbonell & Pan Am’s Mike Vogel for 1×04 – Updated

Updated April 8, 2013 – In 1×04 Trust Me, the Sheriff & Deputy Sheriff are called to the docks where a fisherman has found murdered Keith Summers’s hand in his net.

A&E’s contemporary Psycho prequel series 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 Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga) as he approaches his evil destiny. Described as a cross between Twin Peaks and Smallville, it’s Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse’s new show.

So it’s not surprising that Lost fan favourite Nestor Carbonell (who still gets asked if he wears eyeliner) is on board as the Sinister Sheriff. When I spotted White Pine Bay County Sheriff cars on the Steveston docks I hoped that Carbonell would be on set. Other sheriff staff walked up from the fishing boat where Bates Motel was filming but no Sinister one until the end. Carbonell’s Sheriff [Alex Romero] and Mike Vogel’s deputy Sheriff [Zack Shelby] left after the final scene on the docks. As Carbonell walked by me I asked him why he was Sinister and got a laugh and a smile but no details.

Read More »SHOOT: BATES MOTEL Films in Steveston with Lost’s Nestor Carbonell & Pan Am’s Mike Vogel for 1×04 – Updated

WEEK: November 12-18, 2012

  • Sunday, November 18th – Once Upon a Time pre-empted by American Music Awards. New episode 2×08, Into the Deep, airs next Sunday.
  • Sunday, November 18th – The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2 boasts a US$349 million global opening weekend via Deadline.com.
  • Saturday, November 17th – Bates Motel films at the HI Vancouver Jericho Beach Hostel.
  • Friday, November 16th – Red Widow wraps filming of its first order of eight episodes set to premiere early next year on ABC.
  • Friday, November 16h – On Fringe‘s ep. 5×07 Joshua Jackson’s Peter tracks Observer lieutenants on Hastings West and Blair Brown returns as silver-haired Nina Sharp in her wheelchair filmed on the Olympic Village seawall.
  • Friday, November 16th – Fringe films pickup scenes with the panelled blue mini-van in Chinatown.
  • Friday, November 16th – Battlestar Galactica prequel Blood and Chrome with Ben Cotton – third & fourth webisodes online.
  • Friday, November 16th – Mr. Cranky Pants lives. CBC releases season two teaser for Yellowknife and Vancouver-filmed Arctic Air which moves to Wednesday nights in its second season next year.
  • Thursday, November 15 – Midnight screenings of blockbuster The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2. which was filmed in Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler.
  • Thusrday, November 15th – Arrow films police chase & shootout featuring Seth Gabel as season one’s big bad Vertigo on the second level of the Front Street parkade in New Westminster.
  • Thursday, November 15th – Sitcom Package Deal films its fourth episode in front of a live studio audience in Burnaby.
  • Thursday, November 15th – Bates Motel films on its permanent motel and Bates house set in Aldergrove, a replica of the Alfred Hitchcock set from his classic horror film Psycho.
  • Thursday, November 15th –  Vancouver detective series Motive films out in Aldergrove.
  • Thusrday, November 15th – Red Widow films near Victory Square.
  • Wednesday, November 14th – Misha Collins’s Castiel returns on Supernatural 8×07 & meets with Amanada Tapping (Stargate/Sanctuary)’s angel Naomi. Watch your back Cas.
  • Wednesday, November 14th – The Royal Flush Gang robs Starling Trust Bank on Arrow‘s ep. 1×06 filmed in the Read More »WEEK: November 12-18, 2012

SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Captain Hook With a Spyglass in Steveston for 2×11 – Updated

Watch your back Rumplestiltskin. Colin O’Donoghue’s charming and dangerously seductive Captain Hook is looking for a portal to take him to Storybrooke so that he can exact his revenge on the Dark One, who cut off his hand and crushed the heart of his beloved. And Hook will align himself with anyone who can get him there. Emma leaving Hook shackled in the Giant’s treasure house last Sunday night will prove but a temporary setback for Fairytale Land’s most eligible bachelor.

So the question is when — not if —  Hook will show up in Storybrooke. Still, it was an unexpected treat to see O’Donoghue filming scenes on a rooftop in Steveston yesterday and to have crew allow a handful of spectators who’d braved the rain to photograph him when the cameras weren’t rolling. Such an unusual location for Once Upon a Time. Is this rooftop in Storybrooke or Fairytale Land? If Storybrooke, Hook might consider a change of wardrobe because he’s not going to blend in dressed in black leather.

Read More »SHOOT: ONCE UPON A TIME’s Captain Hook With a Spyglass in Steveston for 2×11 – Updated

WEEK: October 22-28, 2012

  • Sunday, October 28th – Once Upon a Time‘s Halloween episode 2×06 reveals Dr. Whale’s Fairytale Land identity as Dr. Frankenstein.
  • Sunday, October 28th – City sitcom Package Deal with Hartland Williams, Julia Voth, Jay Malone and Randal Edwards tapes in front of a live studio audience in Burnaby.
  • Saturday, October 27th – Primeval: New World panel at London Comic-con with Niall Matter, Sara Canning, Danny Rahim and Andrew-Lee Potts.
  • Friday, October 26th – Fringe‘s shocker death of “Baby Bishop” in the pivotal fourth episode of the final season.
  • Friday, October 26th – Once Upon a Time back filming in Steveston for third day in same week. That’s a lot of on-location filming in one spot.
  • Friday, October 26th – The CW releases Supernatural promo photos of Misha Collins as angel Castiel and Stargate/Sanctuary’s Amanda Tapping as angel Naomi for upcoming episode 8×07 via TVLine.com.
  • Thursday, October 25th – Red Widow films a kiss that goes wrong in a Downtown Eastside alley with Wil Traval and Erin Cahill.
  • Thursday, October 25th – Arrow films a simulated fire inside the Terminal City Ironworks compound in east Vancouver with Stephen Amell on set.
  • Thursday, October 25th – The CW releases an Arrow November Sweeps month poster featuring Stephen Amell via TVLine.com
  • Thursday, October 25th – Cult films at Pacific Central Station with Matt Davis on set.Read More »WEEK: October 22-28, 2012

PROMOS: Who is Dr. Whale? ONCE UPON A TIME 2×05 The Doctor Spoiler Promo

So many of us were keeping the secret of Dr. Whale’s Fairytale Land identity on Once Upon a Time, not wanting to ruin the surprise. Too late. The promo for next Sunday’s The Doctor gave it away. Or as David Anders tweeted: “Hello Fans all over the globe & Bulgaria! Tune in next week 2 #OnceuponaTime 4 ‘The Doctor’ The promo ruined it but watch it anyway. Oy vey.”

In late July, an insider let slip Dr. Whale’s Fairytale Land identity to a friend of mine when she was on set in Steveston during the filming of the season two premiere and six weeks later in early September, I was one of the privileged few (along with half-a-dozen visiting Evil Regal fans from all over the U.S.) allowed to watch the filming of Lana Parrilla as a young woman in a tent deep in the woods of Robert Burnaby Park with David Anders as his Fairytale Land character apparently trying to re-animate a male corpse (played by a dummy when I was there).

A week earlier, fans in Steveston as Storybrooke had witnessed the ghostly appearance of Regina’s lost love Daniel in a rainstorm. A Daniel stunt double bore the brunt of the deluge but some are convinced they saw Noah Bean on set that night too.

If you still haven’t figured out Dr. Whale’s Fairytale Land identity and really don’t want to know, please stop reading now.

Read More »PROMOS: Who is Dr. Whale? ONCE UPON A TIME 2×05 The Doctor Spoiler Promo

SHOOT: FRINGE at Britannia Heritage Shipyard Park in Steveston for 5×09 – Updated

Fringe spent the day filming two boats — a Loyalist zodiac and [a small dinghy] — arriving and departing from a dock at the Britannia Heritage Shipyard, but not without incident. Simulated gunfire, stunt doubles and stunt mats suggest something went down out there.

We couldn’t see much of  the action from a grassy area north of set except for the cast — Anna Torv’s Olivia Dunham, Joshua Jackson’s Peter Bishop, John Noble’s Walter Bishop and Jasika Nicole’s Astrid — coming and going. But we did catch a glimpse of Joshua Jackson’s Peter running along the dock with his big backpack. Whatever happened, these scenes will be part of the ninth episode of Fringe’s fifth and final season.

Read More »SHOOT: FRINGE at Britannia Heritage Shipyard Park in Steveston for 5×09 – Updated