Oliver and Diggle on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. Since I’d never seen Diggle (David Ramsey) on set before he’s the one I photographed before and after their walk-and-talk. It was too difficult for me to capture Oliver (Stephen Amell) and Diggle together except as shadow puppets (see below). Arrow crew closed the 800 block of Granville around 8 p.m. last night to set up for this scene, which didn’t start rolling until around 11 p.m. as the crowd gathered. Cast and crew spent the day shooting inside the historic theatre so this exterior must have been the last shoot of the day.
The Hood is back for Arrow season two. Stephen Amell showed us why he’s the star of Arrow, even with his shirt on last Friday night. Not every actor is capable of the kind of integrated stuntwork that Arrow does routinely. Amell is almost always part of a stunt so that it looks seamless on screen. And sometimes he does all of it, especially if the scene calls for running fast. Here are Amell and stunt double Simon Burnett talking through the night’s stunts with the Arrow Stunt Department on set below the Downtown Eastside’s Hasting Overpass.
Team Arrow thwarted part of Malcolm Merlyn (The Dark Archer)’s plan to level The Glades with an earthquake device in the season one finale last May. But not all of it. A good section was flattened causing the death of hundreds. The Glades is Starling City’s Downtown Eastside-equivalent: impoverished and riddled with hookers, pimps and drug dealers but also a community of people who aspire to something better. So it’s fitting that Raymur Street plays the post-Earthquake The Glades in the Arrow season 2 premiere.
The Arrow Stunt Department spent most of last Friday rehearsing in the sunshine for an integrated stunt to be filmed later that night of star Stephen Amell and Hood stunt double Simon Burnett shooting a rope ascender arrow up in the air and then rising on the zipline several stories off the ground. I didn’t hear about the shoot until quite late because I expected Arrow to be filming on private Port Metro Vancouver land, not in the Downtown Eastside with a grandstand public view from the Hastings Overpass. It turned out to be a relatively private location though, because people don’t loiter in that part of east Hastings at night unless they’re hookers, pimps, dealers or locals. I was mistaken for one of these by a guy in a BMW and later had a lengthy, circular conversation with one of the locals about gentrification of the neighbourhood.
From the overpass, you could look down on the crane, wires, stunt mats and dozens of people who make up the Arrow Stunt Department. Two of the men behind the best stunts on TV were present: stunt coordinator J.J.Makaro, who picked up a Leo Award for stunt coordination of the Arrow pilot last month, and fight designer James “Bam Bam” Bamford, who won his own Leo for stunt co-ordination of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Arrow’s stunt department is doing double duty this season, designing stunts for Arrow and new series The Tomorrow People starring Robbie Amell, for what is being called Amell Wednesdays on The CW.
Sunday, July 14th – Falling Skies 3×07 The Pickett Line airs on TNT: Tom (Noah Wyle) and sons Hal (Drew Roy), Ben (Connor Jessup) and Matt (Maxim Knight) leave Charleston to look for Anne (Moon Bloodgood) and baby Alexis, who have been captured by Karen (Jessy Scram). And the mole is revealed.
Saturday, July 13th – Glee star Cory Monteith, age 31, found dead at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. My brief post.
Saturday, July 13th – Dinosaurs-run-amok-in-Vancouver series Primeval: New World 1×06 Cleanup on Aisle Three airs on Syfy in the U.S. Filmed in a Canadian Tire store and directed by Amanda Tapping.
Friday, July 12th – Arrow Season 2 films overnight near Hastings Overpass in east Vancouver. Crew celebrated Colton Haynes’s 25th birthday with a cake. Stephen Amell on set in full costume as The Hood. And his stunt double Simon Burnett did stunt which hoisted him up in the air for three takes. Nearby Raymur Street was dressed as The Glades post-earthquake.
Friday, July 12th – Continuum 2×11 airs on Syfy in the U.S.: Kiera (Rachel Nichols) sees the work of a future serial killer in a murder.
Friday, July 12th – The CW airs Cult‘s the final final episodes 1×12 and 1×13 , starring Matt Davis, in a two-hour block.
Friday, July 12th – Once Upon a Time films season 3 on its sound stages at The Bridge Studios in Vancouver.
Friday, July 12th – Northern adventure series Arctic Air season 3 starring Adam Beach, Pascale Hutton and Kevin McNulty has an August 6th start date for filming via BC Production List.
Friday, July 12th – The CW mid-season series The 100 starring Eliza Taylor has an August 26th start date for filming via BC Production List.
Thursday, July 11th -Vancouver whydunnit Motive 1×05 Public Enemy airs on ABC with talented BC Film guest stars: Molly Parker, Camille Sullivan and Cameron Bright.
Stephen Amell and Arrow crew took a break on Friday night from rehearsing scenes for their season two premiere to wish Colton Haynes (in his Roy Harper red hoodie) a happy 25th birthday, surprising him with a big birthday cake with candles.
Arrow star Stephen Amell laughs as everyone sings Happy Birthday.
Sunday, July 7th – Vancouver-cop-from-the-future series Continuum 2×09 Seconds airs on Showcase: Alec (Erik Knudsen)’s mother is shot by a bullet meant for Julian (Richard Harmon),… Read More »WEEK: July 1-7, 2013
Vancouver-shot pilots have dominated San Diego Comic-Con’s Preview Night for years, largely because Warner Bros. Television has such a big presence here. 2013 is no exception with pilots Almost Human and The 100 and the New York-shot pilot The Tomorrow People — which has shifted production to Vancouver — all to be screened in Ballroom 20 on Wednesday night, July 17th.
Almost Human — Part-robot human Detective John Kennex and part-human robot Dorian are a buddy cop duo in future Los Angeles, where all cops must partner with androids known as synthetics. The pilot was filmed all over in Vancouver this past March in some familiar Fringe locations. It stars Karl Urban (John Kennex), Michael Ealy (Dorian), Minka Kelly, Mackenzie Crook, Michael Irby and Lili Taylor and is produced by uber-producer J.J. Abrams, Fringe showrunner J.H. Wyman and others. And if you miss the Wednesday night screening, you can catch the pilot at the Almost Human panel on Friday, July 19th, followed by a Q&A with cast and showrunners. The series begins filming in Vancouver after Comic-Con and FOX plans to debut it on Monday nights after the World Series, starting November 4th.
Panel: Friday, July 19th – 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Ballroom 20.
