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ARROW’s Stephen Amell Chases Shooter on Motorcycle in Downtown Vancouver for Ep. 1×07 – Updated

Arrow’s Stephen Amell is a fast runner. So fast I only got one decent shot of him running up the stairs after a shooter on a motorcycle at Queen Consolidated, aka a tower at the corner of West Georgia and Homer in downtown Vancouver.

Shooter speeding away [UPDATE: a stunt double for Jessica De Gouw as Helena Bertinelli, aka The Huntress]

Read More »ARROW’s Stephen Amell Chases Shooter on Motorcycle in Downtown Vancouver for Ep. 1×07 – Updated

SHOOT: FRINGE Family Films at Pacific Central Station As Monorail Station Circa 2036 for 5×04

Fringe crew transformed Pacific Central Station in Vancouver into a New Jersey Monorail station circa 2036 on Thursday with bilingual signage in the English and Observer languages, Observers, Loyalist troops, Native citizens dressed in 1940s fashion, armoured jeeps and check points. I missed the day shoot outside and inside the main entrance to the station but caught the evening one on the north side with cast Joshua Jackson (who did his own stunt running across the hood of the Bishop mobile), John Noble and Georgina Haig in gas masks as the Bishops, who make their getaway in the faster-than-it-looks half-a-century-old family station wagon. One of the oddities of this shoot was seeing Observers and Loyalist troops with no eyes or mouths (which made it very difficult for these background performers to go to the craft table or anywhere else).

Read More »SHOOT: FRINGE Family Films at Pacific Central Station As Monorail Station Circa 2036 for 5×04

ARROW Kicks Glass (and Ass) at CBC Vancouver for Ep. 1×03

Upcoming TV series Arrow kicked glass — literally — at CBC Vancouver late Friday night. A Green Arrow stunt double burst through a “candy glass” window on the east wall feet first to the sounds of prop gunfire. Crew had spent the day setting up for this and we were hopeful that star Stephen Amell, who quietly boasts of doing roughly 75% of his own stunts, would perform this one. But not when there’s glass involved. Even stunt glass. Filming lasted overnight so Amell could have got plenty of action inside, which we couldn’t see, facing off against arch-villain Deadshot played by Michael Rowe, who tweeted he was on set. It’s a good bet that it was Deadshot who fired a prop rifle out of the open window on the left earlier in the evening. We’ll have to wait to see the third episode to find out, but clearly this show has not let up on the kick-assedness of its pilot.

Read More »ARROW Kicks Glass (and Ass) at CBC Vancouver for Ep. 1×03

Filming of Tonight’s Sheriff Carter Stunts for #Eureka – Updated

On tonight’s Eureka, Allison Blake’s snobby brother Marcus comes to town to meet his new Sheriff brother-in-law, Jack Carter. Fun fact: Marcus, who is prejudiced against “dumb people”, is played by Salli Richardson-Whitfield’s real-life husband Dondre Whitfield. 

Marcus meets Colin Ferguson’s Sheriff Carter and Trevor Jackson’s Kevin chasing and trying to catch what will turn out to be a crazy pair of robotic legs after computer-generated effects. During the filming in downtown Chilliwack dressed as Eureka, a stunt woman in a green skinsuit and a crew member carrying a mannequin leg played this extremely agile lower torso. I can’t wait to see it.

Of course this is how the supercilious Marcus meets Carter: lying pinned to the grass by those robotic crazy legs wrapped around his neck.

Read More »Filming of Tonight’s Sheriff Carter Stunts for #Eureka – Updated

Sneak Peek of THE KILLING’s Linden & Holder on the Run + Recap of Days 22 & 23

After returning to the Wapi Eagle Casino again, our detective duo Linden & Holder find themselves on the run in Day 24 of the investigation into the murder of 17-year-old Rosie Larsen this Sunday on AMC.

At the end of March, Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden and Joel Kinnaman as Stephen Holder arrived on location in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to film their parts in a chase scene. A stunt double had been driving Holder’s beater car south on Prior Street (dressed with a 22 Ave NW street sign) through the Powell Street intersection in take after take. A blue unmarked chase vehicle gets boxed in as Holder’s car speeds away. Mireille Enos replaced her stunt double in the passenger seat for a shorter scene of Holder’s car making a sharp left turn into an alley.

Less than a week later, I watched them filming Linden & Holder on the run at night at Richmond City Hall dressed as Seattle City Hall, but I’ll hold onto those photos until I know if it’s in Day 24, entitled Bulldog.

To backtrack: Day 22 of the investigation found BFFs Linden & Holder returning to the casino where Rosie Larsen was last seen alive to get access to the 10th floor using her key. While Linden sneaks by, Holder distracts security in a hilarious scene. He’s single-handedly turned The Killing from a dead serious, morose drama into a dramedy: “Hey, what’s up guys. You winning?….Johnny Knoxville you doin’ it man…show me your cards man…I love your haircut man. It’s slick. It’s old-school slick…Where are the ladies?…I’m talkin’ real ladies. Ain’t no party without no trim….What’s up Bobby [casino security chief Roberta Drays] …I just want my phone back cupcake….Probably fell out of my pocket when you kicked the shit out of me the other day…Beware of the She-Wolf, she’ll crack your ribs…..Look at that [lifts up his shirt to show bruises]….Oh I found my phone…My Bad….My boss at SPD will love this one [takes photo with phone]…..Oh I’ll see myself out….Sayonara, Hiawatha!”

Read More »Sneak Peek of THE KILLING’s Linden & Holder on the Run + Recap of Days 22 & 23

PREVIEW: FRINGE Season Four Finale – Brave New World

I’m so relieved that tonight is not the start of Fringe Division’s last stand. We have a whole new season of thirteen episodes for that. Instead, Fringe Division only has to face off against this season’s Big Bad, David Robert Jones, to save two worlds in the season four finale Brave New World.

At some point in the two-part finale, we will get to see the full might of Olivia Dunham’s cortexiphan powers, hopefully aimed straight at David Robert Jones. But first she helps Rebecca Mader’s Jessica, a victim of another of Mr. Jones’s experiments.  I photographed Anna Torv’s Olivia Dunham saying goodbye to Lost’s Charlotte in downtown Vancouver’s Cathedral Park on Friday, March 23rd.

The following week, I spotted Fringe filming a fight scene between Joshua Jackson’s Peter Bishop and Jared Harris’s David Robert Jones in the pouring rain on the roof of a building in east Vancouver, near the old British Columbia Sugar Refinery. I have not shared these photos until today, but noticed a clip of Anna Torv’s Olivia Dunham with a satellite antenna like the one below in a FOX promo.

This was just one in a week of night shoots for Fringe all over the Vancouver area.Read More »PREVIEW: FRINGE Season Four Finale – Brave New World

YVRShoots Series – Making of THIS MEANS WAR in Vancouver

Published February 27, 2012 on Vancouver is Awesome

Thanks to real bro chemistry between Chris Pine (Star Trek reboot’s Captain Kirk) and Tom Hardy (Bane in upcoming The Dark Night Rises), the bromance in This Means War works much better than the actual romance, which flounders on the premise that Reese Witherspoon’s character is so supremely attractive that these two men would risk their friendship to war over her. Witherspoon is beautiful and an acclaimed actress but she’s miscast in this role. On the other hand, I had no problem with the idea of blending of action, romance and comedy — if done well — in a story of spy versus spy, who use their CIA resources against each other after they discover they’ve fallen for the same woman. But the execution of this movie felt choppy and clumsy in both writing and editing, as if three different movies had been spliced into one.

That might have been the case, judging from the number of Vancouver scenes cut in editing, including the ones I photographed below in Yaletown and North Vancouver’s Lonsdale Quay Market, as well as some at Gastown’s Incendio restaurant. Director McG (in my Yaletown photo with Tom Hardy & Reese Witherspoon) even shot three alternate endings to the romance, including a fun “homoerotic” one of Pine and Hardy in each other’s arms and Witherspoon with nobody — which I might have preferred.

This Means War opens with a spectacular action sequence on the roof of the Bentall 4 tower in Vancouver as Hong Kong. CIA agents and best buds FDR Foster (Chris Pine) and Tuck Hensen (Tom Hardy) are on a mission to stop arms dealer Heinrich, played by Til Schweiger of Inglorious Basterds fame, from acquring a WMD at a fancy hotel rooftop party. Read More »YVRShoots Series – Making of THIS MEANS WAR in Vancouver