Cassidy Freeman’s Tess Mercer brings complexities to Smallville Season 8 DVD
The eighth season of the CW series “Smallville” comes to DVD today, featuring Clark Kent’s battle with Doomsday, the character that in the comics, killed Superman.
Season 8 of “Smallville” introduced another villain to the mythos – Tess Mercer, played by Cassidy Freeman. Freeman has an Oklahoma connection – her grandmother lives in Tulsa, and Freeman visits the state frequently.
Freeman provides commentary on episode 7 of “Smallville” Season 8 for the DVD, along with director Mairzee Almas and executive producer Brian Peterson.
It’s Freeman’s first DVD commentary, though she said she often provides commentary during “Smallville” watch parties with her and her brother.
“We watch as much as we can in real time,” Freeman said in a phone interview. While some actors don’t like to watch their performances, Freeman finds it helpful.
“You want to learn from everything you’re doing,” she said, saying that sometimes she’ll notice something new watching a scene again on television.
Freeman had nothing but praise for the work of the “Smallville” cast, which includes Tom Welling (Clark Kent), Erica Durance (Lois Lane) and Justin Hartley (Green Arrow).
“They really did a good job of getting quality people,” Freeman said.
Freeman knew Hartley before joining the cast of “Smallville,” from working on a CW pilot called “Austin Golden Hour.” When that fell through, she moved over to “Smallville,” as Tess. In Season 8, Tess is running Lex Luthor’s company, as Luthor was presumed dead.
Tess Mercer is a new character, though she has some similarities in her name to two former Luthor assistants, Miss Tessmacher from “Superman: The Movie” and Mercy from the comic books and “Superman: The Animated Series.” But Tess’ story is uniquely part of “Smallville.”
“It lends itself to a lot more complexities,” Freeman said. “It’s more fun to play the passionate person. I get to do good and bad things depending on how I feel, on my passion and what drives me. And that’s human, and that’s more interesting than playing what’s already been written.”
- by Matthew Price
From Tuesday’s The Oklahoman
Former Witchblade star set to ‘Kick Ass’
RICHARDSON, Texas – Yancy Butler, who starred as NYPD detective Sara Pezzini on the TNT drama “Witchblade,” will take on another comic-book role, in an upcoming film based on a comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
Butler appeared at the Dallas Comic-Con in Richardson, Texas, last weekend, and appeared on a panel hosted by Devin Pike of redcarpetcrash.com. She talked about her career and current projects with the gathered fans.
Props from ABC TV series Lost on display at Comic-Con
Sawyer's jumpsuit at the Dharma Initiative
SAN DIEGO — I stopped by the Profiles in History booth to get a look at some of the props and costumes from Lost that will be auctioned off after the series wraps in May 2010. I was able to get an up-close look at items like Sawyer’s jumpsuit as “LaFleur” and Charlie’s DriveShaft ring. The postcard promoting the auction also had some mysterious, Lost-like qualities.
- Matt Price
Click past the cut for the full release about the display and auction.
Smurfs live-action film gets release date
According to Cinema Blend, a Smurfs live-action film is in the works, with a planned release date of Dec. 17, 2010.
It’s coming from Sony, and Cinema Blend assumes it’ll be something in the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” vein, a live-action Gargamel with GGI Smurfs running about.
I haven’t personally thought much about the Smurfs since the 1980s, though I did once own the first three issues of the comic book. Smurfs was largely something I watched because it was on, rather than something I sought out. Is there enough Smurf nostalgia to fuel a successful remake? I didn’t think 20th Century Fox’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks” would work, but my kids loved it, and it was a financial success.
“The Smurfs are one of the best-known franchises, and among the most beloved collection of characters in the world,” Columbia co-president Doug Belgrad said in a release at smurf.com. “We’re very excited to introduce a new generation to Papa Smurf, Smurfette and the other smurftastic Smurfs in all of their ‘three-apple-tall’ glory.”
- Matt Price
V upfront trailer from ABC gives look at new series
The upfront trailer for “V,” a new series coming from ABC, updates the 1980s series as mysterious Visitors come from space claiming to offer help. From the trailer, it looks like the series has lost a lot of the World War II occupied Europe metaphor, but it could be coming later. It looks interesting, if different from Kenneth Johnson’s original. I talked to Johnson last year after he wrote V: The Second Generation, and there was some hope then of continuing “V” in that form. However, given the success of reboots like “Battlestar Galactica” and “Star Trek,” making a fresh version of a classic series seems to be more popular now than working with previous continuities. (Though it should be noted that “Star Trek” does both, to some degree.) Morena Baccarin, Elizabeth Mitchell and Scott Wolf are among the show’s stars. The only bad news there is it seems to indicate we won’t see Mitchell’s Juliet much in the next season of “Lost.”
- Matt Price
New Human Target clips hit the web
Check out these four clips from FOX of the new Human Target series, planned to launch at midseason. Human Target stars Mark Valley, Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley.
Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3
Clip 4
Source: ENI News
“Krod Mandoon” star ready to fire up television satire
Comedy Central mixes medieval action with satirical slapstick in “Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Thursday.
Sean Maguire (”Meet the Spartans”) plays the titular hero, described in the show’s promo as “the son of a blacksmith and a stay-at-home mom.” It parodies medieval quest fiction like “Lord of the Rings” and “Robin Hood,” as Krod leads a band of resistance fighters against an evil overlord.
Maguire initially passed on “Krod,” feeling it would hew too closely to areas he’d already covered as Leonidas in “Meet the Spartans.” But his manager convinced him to give it another look.
“It’s very clever, it’s very funny,” Maguire said in a recent phone interview. “It’s not a spoof; it’s far more satirical and far cleverer humor than a silly fun romp like ‘Spartans’ was.”
In fact, Maguire said you could compare “Krod Mandoon” to a workplace comedy – the workplace just happens to be in a medieval realm.
“Krod is pretty much like the team leader, and he’s got the sales department, the accounts department, the whatever department, and he’s just trying to keep them all together and get the shipment out,” Maguire said. “But they’re just such a bumbling bunch of fools it makes his job twice as difficult.”
So how about that “Flaming Sword of Fire”? It’s a practical effect, Maguire said, meaning the sword was literally alight in his hand.
“It did require some guys with a Bunsen burner to come and light it, and I had a tube running down my arm, and a gas canister somewhere out of shot,” he said. “Consequently I had a quite a hot arm many a filming day.”
He wasn’t the only one to take a beating while filming “Krod.” India de Beaufort, the actress who portrays the pagan warrior Aneka, said she took her share of bumps, some serious, as well.
“I had a bad injury, I fell when I was learning to tumble,” she said. “The next day I got head-butted in the face and got a fat lip … after that I was much happier to let my stunt double do all the gymnastics.”
Aneka’s aggressive sexuality at times puts her in conflict with Krod, who loves her but doesn’t always understand her traditions.
“She’s a young, strong woman saying that she enjoys sex, and she’s not out to hurt anyone,” de Beaufort said. “She’s happy to make her own choices, and she feels good about them.”
The rest of Krod’s merry men in the pilot are played by Kevin Hart, Steve Spiers and Marques Ray; the evil Chancellor Dongalor is played by Matt Lucas.
“Working with those people on a daily basis, it was so hard to keep a straight face,” de Beaufort said. “It was so difficult, but it was so enjoyable at the same time.”
Comedy Central has placed a six-episode order for “Krod Mandoon,” and if the show is successful, the motley band of heroes will be back for more.
“I just hope people don’t write it off,” Maguire said. “It is silly, and it can be slapsticky, but there’s also a lot of merit in the writing, and some really great performances.”
- By Matthew Price
From Wednesday’s The Oklahoman
See more pictures from “Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire” after the break.
Previews from Krod Mandoon
Krod Mandoon
Thurs Apr 9, 10p/9c
Preview - Enter the Freedom Fighters
Matt Lucas
Kevin Hart
Sean Maguire
Krod Mandoon
Thurs Apr 9, 10p/9c
Krod Mandoon Series Preview
Matt Lucas
Kevin Hart
Sean Maguire
Two more video previews for the upcoming series “Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire.” Look for interviews with series stars Sean Maguire and India de Beaufort in Wednesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Whatever Happened, Happened: George Lang and Matt Price on Lost
George Lang of Staticblog and Matt Price of Nerdage again jump into the “Lost” universe with a look at last night’s episode, “Whatever Happened, Happened.” Spoilers for that episode ahead! Share your thoughts in the comments.
Does being in 1977 means the fully grown Jack Shepherd gets to act like the 10-year-old spoiled son of a doctor he actually was at that time, or something to that effect?
Nerdage: So, in 1977, Jack is the new Sawyer and Sawyer is the new Jack. Sawyer, the “leader” of the
displaced-in-time Losties asks Jack for something to save a kid’s life. Jack says, “What’s in it for me?” and blows Sawyer off. It’s not as charming on Jack as it was on Sawyer; in fact, Jack has become something of a tool. (I guess you can argue he’s trying to stop saving everybody, but, at the cost of becoming a jerk.)
Staticblog: It’s possible that he sees that the messiah market is just too crowded in 1977, what with Horace, LaSawyer and especially Richard Alpert holding most of the savior cards on the island. He also appears to think that his Hippocratic Oath is nullified by the fact that he’s now toiling in the janitorial arts. I agree that he’s being kind of a choda here, but he has to become that choda in order to achieve his inevitable redemption. Because redemption is what “Lost” is all about these days (Ajira Flight 316, anyone?)
Did Cuse/Lindelof just cop out on us with 12-year-old Ben Linus forgetting everything that happened, so he won’t remember in 27 years when he’s being tortured by the Iraqi National Guard veteran that he was shot by that guy back when “Night Fever” was a hit?
Nerdage: Richard can save Ben at the “loss of his innocence.” I’m assuming the smoke monster is involved? Man, I really would like to dig into who leads the Others, and why, and what does that mean? Given Richard saying he “doesn’t answer” to Ellie (Faraday’s mom, right?) or Charles in last night’s exchange, what exactly IS Richard’s position? How did Charles (Widmore, I presume) become leader of the Others, if that’s what Richard meant last night, and how did he lose it?
Staticblog: I actually think, at this point, that Richard Alpert could be Smokey the Sentient Vapor, and that we might see him morph into a trail of soot next week and heal The Boy Who Lived To Become He Who Must Not Be Named Henry Gale. I think Charles and Ellie got control of the island wrested from them by the resident god, Richard Alpert, and all this noise about “We’ve got to go back!” is because Charles and Ellie (Eloise Hawking) are doing battle with said eyeliner-wearing freak.
So, does this Time-Space Continuum business make any sense now, thanks to Hurley and Miles’ exposition-heavy give-and-take?
Nerdage: The Hugo-Miles conversation seemed in there to bring the viewers up to speed — why isn’t time travel in “Lost” working like “Back to the Future”?
Staticblog: I thought that was an odd scene — one of those rare moments when the Lindelcuse decided to hold our hands and empathize with our plight. So, in this case, Hugo and Miles are us, trying to determine whether anything they do in their new status as Dharmanian grunts makes any difference.
Was Kate just trying to get attention when she went superdramatic over the question of Aaron, or is she, true to her Shakespearean name, a shrew?
Nerdage: I guess we can read Kate’s earlier “never ask me what I did with Aaron” blah-blah as kind of overdramatic. “I left him with his grandma” doesn’t seem to be the kind of thing you can “never ask
about,” but then Kate can be kind of a drama queen. That said, the Kate-Cassidy relationship was nicely played, and the explanation for Kate’s need to be a mother to Aaron worked for me, for the most part. Hey, a Kate episode I didn’t hate!
Staticblog: Seriously, Kate was freaking out because she handed off her pre-schooler to his grandmother? Happens all the time in my house, and I don’t go into a petulant frenzy. She’s a little more sympathetic these days, but I want to know what’s going on with all her flirting with Roger “Uncle Rico” Linus. He needs to watch his drunk self — Kate is supernaturally cute, but her ethics are deeply defective. If she ever makes it back to the real world, she probably has a bright future in Ponzi schemes and scamming the TARP.
India de Beaufort plays sexy warrior in “Krod Mandoon”
I just got off the phone with India de Beaufort, who plays the alluring pagan warrior Aneka in “Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire,” which debuts on Comedy Central on April 9. “Krod Mandoon” is a satire on a “Conan” type world, as the warrior Krod (Sean Maguire) leads a group of resistance fighters against Chancellor Dongalor (Matt Lucas) in an ancient realm.
Look for a full article about the series in an upcoming issue of The Oklahoman, but I thought I’d give Nerdage readers an early excerpt of my interview with India.
MATT PRICE: Aneka’s a Xena-type character with a much more graphic sexual edge. How do you approach playing the character?
INDIA DE BEAUFORT: I had a lot of fun playing the role. I found it really freeing to play this kind of feisty, sassy character. There are definitely, I’d say, things about her that I can relate to; there are certain things about her that were lessons to me, things that I took from her and learned from her; and there were elements of her that I probably couldn’t relate to. But it’s nice to get your teeth stuck into something like that and have fun with it. It was just very important to me that even though she is sexually free, I wouldn’t want her really to ever be thought of as a slut, or any kind of degrading names. Because for me, I kind of find her as someone who, she feels justified in her actions. She’s a young, strong woman saying that she enjoys sex, and she’s not out to hurt anyone. She’s happy to make her own choices, and she feels good about them.
