Perennial Saturn Awards (sci-fi, fantasy & horror) winner Fringe gets a final hurrah this year with a nomination as Best Network Television Series and individual nominations for Joshua Jackson as Best Actor, Anna Torv as Best Actress, John Noble as Best Supporting Actor and Blair Brown and Lance Reddick as Best Guest Stars. Fringe won Best Network Television Series in 2010 and 2011 so it could go out with a three-peat. Anna Torv already has a three-peat with Best Actress on TV awards in 2009, 2010, and 2011. John Noble got the win as Best Supporting Actor on TV in 2010. And Leonard Nimoy picked up Best Guest Actor on TV in 2009.
Other filmed-in-Vancouver productions scoring nominations include Once Upon a Time, Supernatural, The Killing, Falling Skies, Arrow and Vancouver’s own Continuum.
One Valentine’s night. Three shoots. Vancouver production crews worked late into the night on Valentine’s Day to film scenes for TV series Supernatural, Arrow and Vancouver’s own Continuum in the downtown area. I looped around from Supernatural on Station Street beside Pacific Central Station to Arrow on Franklin Street near the Terminal City Ironworks complex to Continuum at the Plaza of Nations and back again to capture our crews at work.
Supernatural crew worked inside and outside the Ivanhoe Hotel at the rear on Station Street, not packing up until 2 a.m. One exterior scene had Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) arriving at the motorhome below and possibly loading a prop dead body into the trunk of a car. Arrow set up on Franklin Street either in or near the Terminal City Ironworks complex in east Vancouver to film motorcycle scenes in the morning, Moira Queen (Susanna Thompson) in a rooftop meeting and much later, someone shooting arrows into a black town car. Wonder who? Arrow ran late so probably packed up past its scheduled 2 a.m. departure.. Continuum’s crew started early too at the Plaza of Nations on the dock to film scenes aboard Kellogg (Vancouver actor Stephen Lobo)’s yacht (Adriana), then moved inside their Vancouver police station set with background performers and back outside for night scenes aboard Kellogg’s yacht and a steadicam scene of mad time traveller Jason (Vancouver actor Ian Tracey).
6:22 p.m. – Supernatural crew ready to roll at motorhome.
Our crews work up to sixteen hours a day five days a week to bring scripts to life in all kinds of weather. Mostly cold and wet. Those lucky enough to still have jobs don’t have enough time to see their loved ones on Valentine’s Day far less watch the shows they work on. So no, these aren’t “Hollywood jobs”, but they are good well-paid ones. And they’re leaving for Toronto because of Ontario’s superior tax credits. As a result, Vancouver lost its bragging rights as North America’s third biggest film and TV production centre to Toronto (after Los Angeles and New York). And lately, it’s gone from bad to worse. British Columbia’s third biggest industry, generating over $1 billion, faced unprecedented unemployment last month. Read More »BIG READ: Vancouver Film Crews at Work – #SaveBCFilm
UPDATE: “If you try to follow me I’ll put a bullet in your damn leg,.” — Dean telling Sam that he loves him.
Some Supernatural fans worried that the new Men of Letters mythology would negate the tablets storyline. Apparently not, as prophet Kevin Tran (Osric Chau) returns next Wednesday to tell Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) that he has translated his tablet and found a way to close the gates of Hell. One person has to complete three tasks designed by God, including killing a hellhound. Sam and Dean argue about who should do them.
A family visiting from Australia lucked out today when they stumbled on Supernatural filming in downtown Vancouver to the joy of their 16-year-old son. They didn’t realize how rare it is to see the Winchester brothers (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki) in the Impala downtown. Ackles did the driving as usual, reversing the Impala south down the 1100 block of Hornby Street and then roaring back north and pulling into a spot opposite the Murray Hotel, next to a bike lane. The two Js then ran across the street into the hotel in take after take.
Next Wednesday’s Supernatural has an odd title — Everybody Hates Hitler. Let me rephrase that. Most of Supernatural’s episode titles are odd but in a good way. I’m not sure about this one but it’s apt.
Sam & Dean look into the death of a rabbi researching Nazi necromancers. And then the golem belonging to the Rabbi’s grandson Aaron attacks them.
Sounds like a good hunt of the week except for Sam & Dean’s attire. Have they become plaid-shirt-wearing preppies since they learned from Grandpa Winchester that they were supposed to be Men of Letters not Hunters? Maybe, but they are holding guns.
Meet Sam & Dean Winchester’s paternal grandfather Henry. He looks pretty damn young to be a grandfather but that’s because he’s travelled forward in time from 1958 to get help from his son John to stop a demon Abbadon. Instead he meets his demon-hunting grandsons.
Next Wednesday’s Sam-and-Dean-go-LARPing Supernatural is the one I can’t wait for. It has it all: Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester investigate the deaths of two players in an elaborate Michigan live-action-role-play game, Moondoor: The Battle of the Kingdoms, filmed mainly in Coquitlam’s Mundy Park. Here they find one of my favourite SPN characters, hacker Charlie Bradbury (Geek Goddess Feclicia Day), is Queen of Moondoor, and Dean goes undercover engaging in medieval cosplay. TVLine’s sneak peek at The CW promo images of the episode are the first look at the actors on set, which was closely guarded by Supernatural crew during the several-days-long shoot in the wet park. I got access only after filming wrapped and cleanup crew packed up the tent below and other props.
Here’s a promo image of Dean in medieval garb with chain mail, a tunic and a shield and my photo of a prop portrait on the grass of the Queen of Moondoor looking a lot like the promo image of Felicia Day below.
While the two Js — Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles — provided eye candy for the People’s Choice Awards cameras last Wednesday night, Supernatural crew set up a shoot in the alley next to Century House downtown. Is the young lady with the fishnet stockings and pink platform-heeled shoes, Supernatural’s Kill of the Week? The man she chats with does walk away after their encounter, leaving her still standing, so we will have to wait and see. When the Winchester brothers did return to Vancouver, happy with the show’s two PCA wins — for Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV show and Favorite TV Fan Following — Supernatural crew had moved out of the alley and into Century House for Thursday and Friday afternoon and night shoots. Nothing was visible from the outside of this heritage granite building so there are no clues as to what went down under its Victorian chandeliers.
