WormholeRiders

Welcome back Transparency fans!

Update September 07, 2010:

Click to see news with images and promo trailer at WHR Movie Site!

Having made its successful world premiere at the Dallas International Film Festival to much critical acclaim, Transparency (known as Takedown in Europe) will appear at the Oldenburg International Film Festival in Germany on September 17, 2010. It has been confirmed that Deborah Kara Unger (Angel and the Badman, Highlander), one of the stars of the film, will be there.

The Oldenburg International Film Festival started in 1994 and has been host to many prestigious independent films. It has been called one of the most off-beat festivals in Europe by Variety Magazine and dubbed as the European/German version of Sundance by several sources. The Hollywood Reporter reports, “…Oldenburg proves that, justifying its reputation as Germany’s premiere indie fest by putting innovative filmmaking ahead of box-office glamour, while still filtering out the dregs of the low-budget scene.”

I was one of the fortunate people to have seen this film in Dallas. The sound mix had been ready the Friday previous to the Dallas International Film Festival premiere, the film itself was ready on Wednesday, they flew in on Thursday and the film was shown on Friday night, April 16, 2010.

Without giving too much of the story away, it is a dark tale about human trafficking. Channeling Charles Bronson, Lou Diamond Phillips nails the character David, the movie’s antihero. He is joined by the talents of Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes, Law and Order) and Deborah Kara Unger who give the film its warmth and chill respectively. Transparency (a.k.a. Takedown) is filled with outstanding stunt work, beautiful production quality, amazing dark humor, and unexpected plot moments that had the Dallas audience startled in their chairs or had them gasping in disbelief, with a complex, contemplative ending.

Raul Inglis wrote this outstanding script in a mere 2 weeks, the original idea for the film having been pitched to him by Matt Kelly. Galvanized by real video footage about human trafficking, Raul made sure to include some of disturbing, resonating comments into the script. Later he signed on to become the director. The research became another source of inspiration that gave the film an element of authenticity. Originally it was planned to have the women just speak with Serbian or Russian accents; however, when women during the audition process spoke in their native Serbian or Russian language, the script suddenly became alive.

Lou had been involved with Matt on a previous Hallmark Channel film called “The Angel and the Bad Man.” Matt came up to Lou on set during that time and told him he was a producer. Lou was thinking, “Yeah, yeah, good for you; so is everyone else in Hollywood.” A year later, Matt pitched his film idea, and after reading 5 pages, Lou was hooked, feeling like it had a mixture of “Death Wish” and “Taxi Driver” with a retro-70′s vibe about it.

Shot in Vancouver, British Columbia in a mere 13 days, the film tapped into the wealth of talent from the region. Not only did the cast list read like a Stargate reunion (including Aaron Pearl, Kendall Cross, Michael Kopsa, Vitaly Kravchenko, Emma Lahana, Jonathan Walker, Anna Galvin, Aleks Panuovic,  Dan Payne, and Bruce Crawford), Leo Award winner Michael C. Blundell did a stellar job as cinematographer, bringing his Stargate Universe production crew, who were on hiatus at the time, with him to make this tightly budgeted movie look like a million bucks that would rival any at the box office. Other gifted performers rounding out the cast, many of whom can be seen in other favorite Vancouver productions, include Jordana Largy, Dariya Parakhnevych, Matt Kelly, Adrijana Blauhorn, Anja Savcic, Alberta Mayne, Emma Sutton, Bill MacDonald, Alexander Mandra, Taras Kostyuk, Andrei Kovski, Vadim Oskolkov, and Michele Cummins.

If you plan to be in Europe, I would recommend diverting to Germany on September 17, 2010 to support not only this wonderful film, but to help support the independent filmmaking community as a whole.

You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, or their website.

Until next time…PBMom (Hilda)

My fellow fans,

This past weekend I interviewed Aleks Paunovic of, to name a few, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, Sanctuary, Battlestar: Galactica, Human Target, Transparency, and whom you will soon see in an upcoming episode of Caprica in which he plays William Adama, Sr., father to Joseph and Sam.

In the course of the interview we discuss his experiences in the various roles he has played, including a rather humourous anecdote from working with Jason Momoa of SGA, as well as how he came to acting in the first place. Aleks was a boxer at the amateur level and set to compete in the Olympics when an injury at the Pan American Games derailed that career path. Aleks also talks about some upcoming projects of his including Guido Superstar: The Rise of Guido, and his own movie, The Hostage, which he produced, and starred in, with his good friend Tahmoh Penikett. Aleks is shooting a movie at the moment, as well as performing in his first play later this summer. If you are in the Vancouver area, you should try and catch Aleks in “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea” starting August 25 at the Pacific Cinematheque.

If you want to contact Aleks you can check out his official site: http://www.alekspaunovic.com/ .

Before I finish I want to express my thanks to Patricia Bertrand of Auroris Entertainment for helping set up this interview.

If you have any questions, or just want to chat, feel free to drop me an email at the link below or click on the picture to visit my Twitter page.
NaddyCat

As always, thanks for reading and watching!

Nadine Ramsden

My fellow fans,

This past weekend I interviewed Dan Payne of, to name but a few, Stargate: SG-1 and Atlantis, Human Target, Transparency, and who you will soon see in an upcoming Sanctuary episode. A few of the things we discuss in the video are: some of Dan’s experiences as a Kull Warrior, particularly a rather humourous anecdote from filming Prometheus Unbound (the episode in which Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran is first introduced), and as a “big Wraith” in Atlantis; what it was like to work on Human Target with Mark Valley and Chi McBride, and his impressions of Jackie Earle Haley from working on Watchmen; some of the differences between stunt work and acting; his favourite television shows (one of which totally cracked me up simply because it was so unexpected); and the interconnectedness of the Vancouver acting community.

Dan Payne as a Kull Warrior with Michael Shanks as Daniel Jackson

SGU also came up in the course of the interview: although Dan has not yet worked on it, he would like to because Patrick Gilmore, who plays Dr. Volker and is a friend of Dan’s, is just so sexy. Well, that and the fact that he enjoys watching the show himself. I am guessing that if you know anything at all about me you know that I am a Fringe fan and so, naturally, Fringe also came up in our chat. And for you Canucks fans, Dan is a big one himself.

We also discussed some upcoming projects with which Dan will be involved, including Tower Prep, which actually sounds pretty neat, and his own on-going project Pucked. As part of Pucked, Dan has an “alter-ego” on Facebook named Andy Zirkor (you can follow the link to check him out). At the moment Dan is also filming a movie of the week with Faye Dunaway which sounds rather intriguing.

If you want to contact Dan you can check out his official site: http://dan-payne.com/.

Before I wrap this up, I want to express my thanks to Patricia Bertrand of Auroris Entertainment for helping set up this interview.

If you have any questions, or just want to chat, feel free to drop me an email at the link below or click on the picture to visit my Twitter page.
NaddyCat

As always, thanks for reading and watching!

Nadine Ramsden

Early in April, Lou Diamond Phillips twittered to his followers that he was going to be at the Dallas International Film Festival to premiere his new movie, “Transparency.” Dallas is so close to Houston (about 4 hours). Being that the premiere was on a Friday and not being sure I could secure child care, I let him know I was not sure I could attend, but so very much wanted to. He sent me a tweet to me that said, “I’ll make it worth your while! BTW if anyone does say hi, pls let me know that we’re Twitter buddies. We’ll Twit Pic! Big D on 16th!” I responded, “You seduce me with your words.”

Fast-forward 24 hours and I found out that the new agency working with my son with autism was set up and ready to provide overnight respite care. My husband was eager to attend with me. It is significant to note that my husband and I had not been on an overnight trip together since 2004 because of my son’s disability, with no family close to help us. I had to type up an 18-page guide to my son (since he is nonverbal) to cover the 26 hours we would be away. By Thursday night I was exhausted but was running on pure adrenaline.

I have been a fan of Lou Diamond Phillips since his career began. When he was on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here” I hooked up on Twitter with his wife, Yvonne. She expressed concern that Sanjaya may get the American Idol vote; I assured her that Stargate fans were more devoted. Every week I went on every fan website I could to post the numbers for Lou. Too, as a loyal Stargate fan, we follow our actors/actresses of the Stargate franchise wherever their paths may lead them. On April 16, 2010, it led me to Dallas.

Knowing that there was a question-and-answer session after the movie, my husband and I bounced ideas off each other about what questions to ask if we got the opportunity. The trip to Dallas was entertaining. We saw a billboard that said, “Need a hubcap” and listed a web site. I laughed and said their slogan should be “we steal them from you, and then make you buy them back.” Being a cowboy is apparently a new religion as we passed by the Cowboy Church. We went through a few prison areas that were pointed out several times by signs along the road but then we came across another sign that said, “Prison Area: Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers.” The makings of a Syfy Saturday afternoon horror movie, I believe.

We got to the hotel in great time, hitting no traffic along the way, and they allowed us to check in early. Our hotel room was beautiful.

The view from the room was spectacular.

We settled in and decided to go across the street for lunch, as we planned to walk over to the Angelika Film Center where the majority of the films were being screened. As I am eating my lunch, I look across the street and there is Lou Diamond Phillips. I missed him by about 10-15 minutes.

My husband decided to take a nap and I was bored so I headed to the business center so I could borrow their computer to go on Twitter. I was talking to another DIFF attendee who said I just missed Lou in the elevator (like 5 minutes). The ballrooms were on the same floor as the business center and the exercise room. My husband came back to the room after working out and said that there were people arriving in black-tie/formal gowns for the big red carpet event/awards ceremony in the ballrooms, and here he was in sweaty, disgusting clothes on the same floor (the workout room was on the ballroom level). We had reservations for dinner at Central 214 at 7:30 and had to get ready.

As we were going toward the restaurant, Lou Diamond Phillips, Matt Kelly, Raul Sanchez Inglis and a fourth person were walking out. I held my hand up to say hello, but that fourth person I did not recognize looked at me with an intense glare, and I quickly put my arm down, and said to my husband, “Bodyguard? We’ll see him later anyway.” Lou had such a swagger going on, being totally unfazed by the flashing lights of cameras as he walked out of the restaurant.

We had a lovely dinner: Jeff had the chicken-fried Kobe steak

I had the diver scallops.

The portions were the perfect size. Not too big, not too small. Let us just say that it has been a long time also since I ate quality food of that caliber. I sounded like my son while he is eating something he enjoys, “Mmmmmm, Mmmmmmm.”

We split dessert.

We arrived at the Studio Movie Grill, about 5 minutes up the freeway from the main festival, at 9:00 p.m. I convinced a wonderful woman that I wanted to be first in line to get the best seat. Once she put us in the right line in the hallway, I picked up the phone and called @TiffaneJane who was expected to meet us there. She is a fascinating person who has had quite the life with equally cool parents. I enjoyed getting to know her.

While in line, we met Carolyn Hodge, who had premiered movies in the past at DIFF. I asked her if her movies were on DVD as I had not been to the Film Festival before, having been in Houston, and she said they were, so I will go check them out; you should, too. She was a lovely woman and seemed to be extremely popular with people stopping to say hello to her in line.

Never having been to a Studio Movie Grill or the like before, the same kind woman who helped us get in line gave us her menu and beeper and told us a waiter would come by to take out order. I would like to thank her for her kindness. I didn’t want to drink anything, but the movie started late because the Q&A from the movie before ran way over the allotted time. I also needed some caffeine. It was getting close to my bedtime.  This was a mistake.  I desperately had to go to the bathroom while the movie was playing later on.

After the patrons were seated, the people involved with the movie, Lou Diamond Phillips, Raul Sanchez Inglis, and Matt Kelly came in and everyone applauded. They moved to the front of the theater. He talked a little about the movie. When asked if there were any Stargate Universe/Twitter fans in the house, @TiffaneJane and I shot up both of our arms and let out a “woo-hoo.” And then I had my rockstar moment: Lou Diamond Phillips recognized me. Lesson here people: Use your real picture in your Twitter avatar. There was someone in the audience who videotaped the beginning introductions before the movie began. It is here you can hear my shout-out (at about 1 minute 50 seconds). You can hear @TiffanieJane and I yell out our “woo-hoo’s” as well.

A special guest came to the film, Glenn Morshower, who was also premiering a film he was in at DIFF this season: “Walking Distance.”

Transparency’s World Premiere was in Dallas. The cast and even the cinematographer, Stargate Universe’s own Michael C. Blundell, had not seen the final cut. It was just finished on Wednesday and they flew to Dallas on Thursday, showing it on Friday. As far as the number of people there, it was difficult to say as we were closer to the front.

During the pause before the movie started, Glenn Morshower yells out, “Someone should sing La Bamba” which got a great laugh from the audience; some even attempted. The movie began and everything got quiet.  At first it felt a little awkward knowing they were all behind us.  I heard actors do not like to watch themselves on screen.  As a viewer, it was odd to have them present.  I hated to have to get up to go to the restroom, having to walk right past them.  I tried to find some place where I thought might be a good time to go, and I think I picked the perfect 2 minutes, otherwise I would have missed out on a lot.

A separate review strictly on the film itself is forthcoming.

During the Q&A, most of the questions I had were asked and answered. I was able to ask a question: “Do you have a Twitter, Facebook or internet web site for the movie?” Lou was so funny. He said, “That is such a self-serving question, my love. You and I have spent many late nights together and you know that we have. ” It is unclear how many shades of red my face displayed. Matt Kelly, producer of the film, said they had started a Facebook page, and then added, looking at Lou, “It’s a picture of you in a dress. It’s not fantastic.” Lou chimed in, “His significant other is on Twitter by the way, Alberta Mayne, who is fantastic, and she is in the film as well.”

After the Q &A, we chatted with Raul, Lou and Matt for 15-20 minutes. I was smiling from ear-to-ear. Raul asked me why I was smiling so much; the film is supposed to be depressing. I told him, “It was a dark movie, but you don’t understand. This is the first time I’ve gotten away overnight with my husband since 2004 because of my child with autism.” No matter what I saw or did, from the moment I left home until the moment I return, I would be grinning.

Matt Kelly (and Lou off to the side)

A very thirsty Lou Diamond Phillips

Raul Sanchez Inglis, Lou Diamond Phillips and Matt Kelly (photo credited to @TiffanieJane)

We also met Twitter friend @BurningSpyMi6.

By now it was about 1:40 a.m. and it was mentioned that we may be at the same bar in the same restaurant in the same hotel before closing time. Glenn Morshower was kind enough to take a picture with us as well. (I had to edit Jeff out). Thank you, Ms. Hodge, for taking the picture. It was most appreciated.

We did go back to the hotel bar to get some soda and water, but I was expecting it to be quiet with a great opportunity to sit down and talk to the group some more. Since the awards events were held in the hotel, the bar was packed. When the group came in, they had so many more people to say hello to, that I knew it was time for us to leave. We had our time with them and now it was time for others. We did get to speak with Mr. Morshower a little longer and asked him what he was up to next. He was about to star in “Trauma” on NBC and “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC and had just finished up working on Transformers 3. He was about to leave town to promote a video game for which that he did voice-over along with Keith David. We told him how much we enjoyed hearing his voice on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The next morning as we were waiting to ask a concierge a question, we saw Raul in the lobby talking on the phone and waved “hello.” I bet he thought we were stalkers.  We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at Central 214.

It was sad knowing we had to pack up and leave. Had I done a bit more homework I would have discovered that Pete Docter from the Disney/Pixar movie “UP” was going to do a Q&A after the movie at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Before leaving, I realized that Krispy Kreme doughnuts still existed in other places in Texas; they were just banned from the Houston market. We went and bought a dozen. After we got home, I had given Patrick one. Jeff had one. When I opened the box, there were only 2 left. Of course, I thought Jeff had eaten them, but my golden retriever, Maddie, apparently did. She apparently jumped up on the counter, opened the box with her nose, pulled out one doughnut at a time and consumed them. I just had to laugh; that was pretty smart not to have just nudged the entire box on the floor and consumed them there. Quite the stealth attack. Of course she got sick later, receiving little sympathy from me.

I would definitely go back to the Dallas International Film Festival or perhaps now check into the Houston Film Festival. I would like to send a personal shout-out to Diana at the Dallas International Film Festival for helping me coordinate my trip and answer all the questions I had.

I got to drive on the way back and we stopped twice, once to stretch our legs and once to eat lunch. We came home refreshed and ready to take over our duties as parents with a child with a disability.  I want to thank Lou Diamond Phillips for making me, a mother who is so exhausted and so overwhelmed with the responsibilities that come with my kiddo, feel like a rock star.  He also did something very special that helped me raise some money for a local autism charity (that story is to follow as well).  It was great to make new connections, too, with Matt Kelly, Raul Sanchez Inglis, Glenn Morshower, James Faust, and Carolyn Hodge.

Please stay tuned for Part 2 of this magical ride: The actual movie “Transparency” and the Q&A that followed.

PBMom (Hilda)

Fellow Fans,

The annual Stargate Fan party, organized and held by Patricia Stewart -Bertrand o f Auroris Entertainment, was full of laughter, chatting, and an all-around great experience which I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone. In fact, if you are in Vancouver next year for the convention, you ought to consider coming into town a day early to attend the fan party.

Smiles abound.

One of the things I enjoyed so much about the party is the small intimate setting – with a relatively small number of fans who had a great time chatting with the guests. Among the guests at this year’s fan party were: Bruce Woloshyn, who was the digital effects supervisor on Stargate Atlantis and SG-1 for numerous years, Crystal Dahl and Christine Willes from Dead Like Me, Genevieve Buechner of, most recently, Caprica, Dan Payne of SG-1 and Human Target, Aleks Paunovic of SG-1, Sanctuary, and Human Target, and last, but certainly not least, Patrick Gilmore and Peter Kelamis of SGU.

Genevieve and her friend Brianna

Also in attendance as a guest, was Mika McKinnon, who you may recognize as a science consultant for Stargate. I recently met her out at our university as she did a presentation on science in science fiction – with a focus on Stargate. At the party Mika brought glasses with different diffraction gratings which show different colours of the various lights in the room as the different wavelengths are diffracted differently by the glasses.

Patrick Gilmore – stylish with the diffraction glasses

The charity to which proceeds from the night’s auction were donated is a local victim support group and there was a Constable from the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) at the party who was happy to chat and pose for pictures.

Dan Payne and the RCMP Constable

After watching the first half of an extensive – and hilarious – compilation of bloopers, gag reels, and clips from Stargate, a game of Stargate Jeopardy commenced. Dan Payne administered the questions and hammed it up for everyone. Guests had a great time watching the 3 contestants answering questions and, if none of them could answer, the question was opened to the audience. It was great fun seeing some of the different trivia which people could and couldn’t answer, and the volunteers who set up Jeopardy did a great job coming up with tricky questions.

Stargate Jeopardy

Following the game of Jeopardy, Aleks, Dan, Patrick, and Peter were given paddle-ball toys, and were to compete amongst themselves to see who could keep the ball going the longest. If you have ever tried one of those paddle-ball toys, you should already have an inkling as to where this is going: the basic strategy seemed to be to sit back, shield the face, and fling the paddle-ball around as hard as possible. It really was quite hilarious watching the four guys trying to make the paddle-balls work.

Aleks Paunovic and Dan Payne ‘practice’

Peter Kelamis and Patrick Gilmore – just look at that concentration

The Competition – it was long and bloody…

I really did have a wonderful time meeting everyone, chatting, and laughing. For me, it was a great start to what will be my first Convention this weekend. On that note, some pictures of me with the guys:

Peter, Patrick, me, and Aleks

Dan was nice enough to snap this great picture for me

Aleks, me, and Dan.

Yes, I felt very, very tiny. Or conversely, these two are extremely tall; they joked about being “bookends”.

Me with the SGU guys

You would be hard-pressed to find two funnier guys. Seriously.

Dan, Peter, Patrick, and Aleks

A final group shot before the guys headed out for the evening.

One thing I would like to add is that in the course of chatting with Aleks Paunovic, he mentioned that he has a short film coming out soon which he helped create in conjunction with Tahmoh Penikett, whom you will most likely recognize from his work on Battlestar: Galactica. The film is called “The Hostage” by Aleks Take 29 Productions of Canada, and courtesy of same you can watch their trailer below:

Thank you again to Patricia Stewart-Bertrand of Auroris Entertainment and her volunteers for putting on such a delightful party and to the guests who attended and showed us all a great time!

If you have any questions or would like to chat about the party, feel free to email me at the link below or click on the picture to follow the link to my Twitter page.
NaddyCat

As always, thanks for reading!
Nadine Ramsden