Maybe some of the other TCA members are just jaded old hands, but one of the most shocking things I heard during the course of the entire 2+ weeks of the press tour came on the day that we were invited to tour the sets of various TV shows. We’d just finished being given a tour of the “Heroes” set by the stars of the show – mine was mostly hosted by Greg Grunberg, but Ali Larter, James Kyson Lee (Ando), Noah Gray-Cabey (Micah), and series creator Tim Kring were all along for the ride – and were provided the opportunity to have access to the entire cast for several minutes worth of Q&A, and we were sitting on the bus, and, suddenly, I hear someone say, “Well, I don’t know why we had to waste time with that set tour; I’d much rather have had more opportunities for one-on-one interviews.”
Are you kidding me? I’m sorry, but, to be perfectly blunt about it, that shit was awesome! Even if I’d been given the opportunity to do so, I’d totally have passed on more one-on-one time in favor of the set tour! I mean, I stood in Isaac’s studio, right on top of the painting of the apocalypse that’s on the floor. I was in Mohinder’s pad and saw the actual string-laden map on the chalkboard. Are you telling me that’s worth trading away?
RIDICULOUS!
Ahem.
So, anyway, yeah, we went on a bunch of set visits. First up was TNT’s “The Closer,” and…well, look, I don’t know about any of ya’ll, but I’ve never been on the set of a TV show, and, personally, I was astounded at the level of detail. Yeah, I know, you see the stuff on the screen when you’re watching the show, but, somehow, I just didn’t think it would look so…I dunno…real.
I got a few minutes with J.K. Simmons and G.W. Bailey; the former talked about he’d been pitched the idea of playing J. Jonah Jameson by Sam Raimi while they were working on “The Gift” together, while the latter was in the midst of reminiscing about a guest shot he did on “Benson” when he kiddingly reprimanded another writer for tapping the bobblehead – one of himself, as it happens – on his desk. (That event, by the way, led him into a lengthy discussion about the evolution of his character’s ongoing quirk of despising anyone putting anything on his desk.) Kyra Sedwick was definitely in the house, but she was so swarmed by writers that I didn’t get to talk to her solo; I did, however, lean in and get a few quotes as she responded to other people’s questions. Accordingly, she was in her character’s office as she fielded their questions, and, as I walked out the office door, I walked right into Raymond Cruz, who plays Detective Sanchez. I introduced myself, and we chatted for a couple of minutes…and when I referred to Bullz-Eye as “the guys’ portal to the web,” he immediately decided that, with a title like that, he was going to have to check it out.
I continued to wander ’round the set, walking past Corey Reynolds (Sgt. Gabriel), Robert Gossett (Commander Taylor), Jon Tenney (Agent Fritz Howard), Anthony John Denison (Det. Andy Flynn), and Michael Paul Chan (Detective Mike Tao), all in conversations with various writers, but before I could really get into conversation with anyone else, we got the call-up to head out. On our way out the door, we were provided with…well, I’ll hold off on discussing the swag I scored, mostly because I’m planning to do a whole piece about the stuff I scored during the course of the tour. But, still, it was nice stuff.
From there, it was back on the bus, on our way to the “Heroes” set, and, as you could probably tell, I really, really dug that whole experience. As noted, the entire cast was indeed there, from Hadyen Pantierre to Masi Oka, Jack Coleman to Adrian Pasdar, and so on down the list. Basically, if they were major characters from Season 1, they were there. Not so much the supporting characters – my beloved Brother Voodoo was nowhere to be found, alas – but we did get introduced to one new cast member: Dania Ramirez, who will show up when the series winds its way into Central America. (There’ll be lots of new international locations this season; in fact, we were given a tour of a new set that’s an Irish pub.)
The cast seemed to legitimately enjoy doing the tours. Grunberg, for one, could fall back on stand-up comedy if he gets tired of the acting gig; he was constantly throwing out one-liners as he took us through the various sets. We also got a look at the Season 1 special effects reel, which showed how the various effects were done, but the most amusing thing for me was to discover just how many places the green screen is used. Like, for instance, the cube factory where Ando and Hiro work? Green screen except for their specific cubicle! Who would’ve thunk it? But the effects guys said that, as technology has increased, it’s become increasingly obvious that, for some sets, you just don’t need everything around you. (I believe the specific example they offered was that if two characters are having a cup of coffee, all you really need for the scene is the coffee and the table, and the rest can be green-screened in.) We also got a short tour through the hallways of the studio; one side featured family photos of the various cast members, while the other side was an In Memoriam display of photos of characters who’ve died on the show. (Alas, poor Linderman…) Lastly, we got a look at the prosthetics used for scenes like Claire’s autopsy, or when Peter got that huge shard of glass in the back of head…and, Jesus, that thing looked so real that it was legitimately disturbing…!
The visit closed with the Q&A panel, which provided a few…a very few…insights about the new season:
* Other countries to be visited in Season 2 are Japan, Egypt (“for a second”), Haiti, Lithuania, Mexico, and the Ukraine. Says Kring, “We are kind of all over the place.”
* “Heroes” will end at the end of April, and its 6-episode spin-off, “Origins,” will run through May.
* Nikica – as I have been so prone to call her – may or may not be a widow when the new season begins…but, damn, not getting the answer wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of the person who asked it. Ali Larter shrugged mischeviously when the question was posed, so it was re-posed to Kring, who said, “We have to wait and see what happens with Niki’s character this season. She’s going to be going through all kinds of changes as a character.” But, argued the reporter, it isn’t in any of the listings, so are we to make an assumption from that, or is this just a press-kit oversight? “I wouldn’t draw any conclusions from that,” Kring said.
