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Post by Sara on Feb 22, 2005 10:01:39 GMT -5
Although we're a small group, having our own thread seemed like a good idea nonetheless.
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Post by Sara on Feb 22, 2005 10:03:14 GMT -5
WARNING: minor spoilers for the 2/23 and 3/2 episodes of Alias.
Gina Torres Assumes a Former 'Alias' By Kate O'Hare
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Fresh off her return engagement to writer/producer/director Joss Whedon's futuristic Western world in "Serenity," the upcoming film version of his short-lived FOX science-fiction series "Firefly," Gina Torres is getting together with a few more old friends when she reprises the role of K-Directorate agent Anna Espinosa in two episodes of ABC's "Alias."
Anna was last seen in season one, having one of her many battles with secret agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner). With the show now in its fourth season, where's Anna been all this time?
"She was presumed dead," Torres says. "It's almost a guarantee they'll bring you back. You never see me die. I just sort of disappear into the night. I think their way of explaining it was, they have a conversation, trying to bring everybody up to speed, and they said, 'I thought she was dead.'"
In real life, Torres went on to do "Firefly," followed by stints on Whedon's "Angel" on The WB, along with FOX's "24." She also appeared in "Matrix Reloaded" and "Matrix Revolutions," which starred her husband, Laurence Fishburne.
"The timing was just wrong for three years," Torres says. "It was incredibly frustrating because I loved the show, and I wanted a piece of all that, what was going on, especially because Anna was introduced in such a wonderful way. So I thought it was incredibly flattering and so wonderful that they, every year, kept me in mind. When it happened, it happened in a great way."
Torres' episodes are "Echoes," airing Wednesday, Feb. 23, and "A Man of His Word," airing Wednesday, March 2 (9 p.m. ET, both nights).
Also returning for the two is David Anders, reprising his role as the nefarious assassin Julian Sark.
"Anna and Sark have a thing," Torres says, "but it may not be the kind of thing people were thinking."
During Anna's first appearance, she had several knock-down, drag-outs with Sydney, and proved to be her match. But while some things may have changed, Anna's chief opponent hasn't.
"Who else would I be fighting with?" Torres says. "There's only one woman for me. It's Miss Jen. But she's gotten better. I have to say, when we were going over our first fight sequence, I was like, 'OK, she's gotten better. Four years ago, she was a very green agent, now she's got all these moves. Whoah, whoah, wait a minute ...'
"It was a lot more fun when I wiped the floor with her."
Since Whedon moved Torres from "Firefly" to "Angel," one wonders whether "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams might shift her to his other show, the plane-crash drama "Lost," which airs right before "Alias" on ABC.
"I saw J.J. Abrams at the Golden Globes," Torres says, "and he had seen my 'Alias' episodes. They had just been put together and edited, and he was really happy with them. He said, 'Would you come back?', and I said, 'Of course, I would come back, just call. And if you need me to run out of the jungle at some point, I'd be happy to do that, too.'
"So who knows, I'm just an actress looking for work. What can I tell you?"
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Post by Sara on Apr 24, 2005 20:29:35 GMT -5
'Alias' Star Grunberg Juggles 'The Catch' and Charity By Kate O'Hare
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) It's Monday morning, and "Alias" star Greg Grunberg has been up for three minutes. He was awake until the wee hours the night before editing "The Catch," his ABC pilot with "Alias" and "Lost" executive producer -- and childhood pal -- J.J. Abrams, for which Grunberg is also a producer.
But losing a little sleep doesn't bother Grunberg, if it's for a good cause. In this case, he's gotten on the phone to talk about The Pediatric Epilepsy Project at UCLA (PEP), and what he's doing to raise cash for research.
"The charity has grown into this thing that I never thought it would, and it's become incredible," he says. "My son, Jake, got epilepsy. He was having about 200 petit mal seizures a day. It started off as staring spells, and then it progressively got worse. "We'd gone from doctor to doctor, and finally we were fortunate that we saw Dr. Raman Sankar at UCLA. In talking to the doctors, I was realizing that they were so underfunded that they might have to go under. They need private funding. They've never had a face behind them. So I thought, I'll take this on as my charity, and I'll enlist the help of every celebrity I can to finger-paint for me."
Turned into greeting cards, the finger paintings -- by such celebrities as Jennifer Garner ("Alias"), Teri Hatcher ("Desperate Housewives"), Sylvester Stallone ("The Contender") Sarah Jessica Parker ("Sex and the City") and Ryan Seacrest ("American Idol") -- are sold by KidsArt Inc.
Now Grunberg has branched out into on-line auctioning.
"Gibson Guitars came in," he says, "and said they wanted to donate 50 electric guitars and have celebrities paint them. Now Yamaha Guitars is coming on board, and they want to donate guitars.
"You can go to GuitarCenter.com and then click on "Charity Auction.' The auction ends May 1."
Among those contributing decorated guitars are musicians Alanis Morissette, Brian Wilson, Buddy Guy, Smokey Robinson, Sting, Stevie Nicks, Maroon 5, Mick Fleetwood and Pink. Actors include Anthony Michael Hall ("The Dead Zone"), David Schwimmer ("Friends"), Grunberg, Garner and fellow "Alias" star Michael Vartan, and Josh Holloway ("Lost").
There's also real-estate mogul and "The Apprentice" star Donald Trump, radio star Howard Stern and boxer Oscar de la Hoya.
Grunberg says he also has 20 more celebrity-finger-painted guitars waiting for the next auction go-round.
"The ones up there now are pretty impressive," he says. "I'm surprised at how low some of the bids are. I'm hoping to reach people that can afford to pay what I think they're worth. I mean, Sting!
"And we're having a big event June 2 at Avalon Hollywood, that Guitar Center is behind. There's going to be a huge rock band -- I can't say which right now -- and we're going to be auctioning off guitars there too."
In the meantime, Grunberg keeps working on "The Catch," which casts him as a Los Angeles private eye. Kym Whitley ("Along Came Polly") plays his partner.
"She's a Queen Latifah-type," Grunberg says. "I begrudgingly take her on as my partner, because she buys her way into the P.I. firm. It's like Shrek and Donkey, the relationship. It's great."
He also has Don Rickles playing his grandfather. "It's pretty incredible, working with Hollywood royalty. He's the last of a breed of actors and comedians."
Grunberg will likely find out in May if "The Catch" has been picked up, when ABC announces its fall schedule to advertisers in New York. Since Abrams already has "Lost" and "Alias" airing back-to-back on Wednesday night, the possibility exists of an entire Abrams evening.
Grunberg quips, "J.J. needs to introduce the evening the way Walt Disney used to. 'Sit back, relax and enjoy the next three hours of television.'"
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Post by Sara on Oct 20, 2005 10:30:39 GMT -5
(also posted in the Jossverse people thread)
From zap2it.com:
'Angel's' Acker Dons an 'Alias' By Kate O'Hare (10/17/05)
The "Angel/Alias" connection continued on Thursday, Oct. 13, with the debut of former "Angel" regular Amy Acker on ABC's "Alias," playing Kelly Preston, a member of a rogue spy organization headed by the nefarious Gordon Dean (Tyrees Allen).
Acker now finds herself working for executive producer Jeffrey Bell, who took over as show-runner on "Angel" after the departure of Tim Minear, who went to work on "Firefly" with "Angel" co-creator Joss Whedon. Also on hand is "Alias" producer Drew Goddard, who previously worked on "Lost" (the other show from "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams) and Whedon's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which gave birth to "Angel."
Also, Acker is working with Rachel Nichols, who plays Preston's former colleague -- and now foe -- Rachel Gibson, who has discovered she's not working for the good guys after all. Nichols came to "Alias" after a stint on FOX's short-lived crime drama "The Inside," created by Tim Minear.
"I saw Tim at the 'Serenity' premiere," Acker says ("Serenity" is the feature film based on "Firefly"). "I said, 'I'm working with your girl.' The whole crew of 'Angel' was on 'The Inside,' so we keep finding people we know in common."
Although it took a while to come to fruition, Acker first auditioned for "Alias" back when she was on "Angel." At the time, her character, science geek Fred, had transformed into a blue-skinned demon called Illyria. Acker was trying for the role of Nadia, sister of super-agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner), a part eventually taken by Mia Maestro.
"I actually had to go to the audition right from 'Angel,'" Acker says. "We had a break, and I was in the blue makeup. I had to drive across town in the blue makeup and go in.
"That was the first time that I met all those guys, but we kept in touch since that. So I was just happy they asked me to do it."
Because she was working long hours on "Angel," Acker didn't get a chance to see much of "Alias," but she caught up quickly.
"I borrowed the DVDs from my friends and made my husband" -- actor James Carpinello -- "watch five episodes of 'Alias' every day, so we're caught up. It's great."
Acker soon learned that attention must be paid if a viewer has any hope of following the convoluted "Alias" storylines. "James missed a couple in the middle, and I said, 'I can't explain it. Just go with it.'"
In the great "Alias" tradition, Acker is doing fight scenes, something she already got to do on "Angel," and something she's trained for.
"In college," she says, "I did three years of fight training. We did rapier and dagger, broadsword, quarterstaff and an animal kung fu style. I thought it was fun.
"I've had a little experience. I've been trying to figure out how to become more believable as a fighter, but not picking fights in bars or anything."
Acker also got to participate in the show's signature pyrotechnics.
"I blew something up," she says. "I didn't get to actually see the explosion, but I did get to cause an explosion. It's nice, very powerful. You never know what they're going to do. It's like with Joss, you can feel like you're getting to play so many different parts, but you only have to audition for one job."
Right now, Acker is scheduled for 7 to 9 episodes, but she's game for more, saying, "I'm having a great time. I'll stay on it for as long as they'll keep me."
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Post by Sara on Nov 7, 2005 13:58:44 GMT -5
From zap2it.com:
Rachel Nichols Flies 'Solo' on 'Alias' (Friday, November 04 02:44 PM) By Kate O'Hare
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Although she has yet to give birth, pregnant superspy Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) on ABC's espionage romp "Alias" must be feeling like a proud mama in "Solo," the episode airing Thursday, Nov. 10. Rachel Gibson (Rachel Nichols), a young agent that Sydney has been mentoring since her rescue from an evil, faux-CIA organization (a parallel to Sydney's own history), is going out on her first spy mission on her own.
And in true "Alias" style, there is not only a miniskirt, but a leopard-print coat to go with it. Even this early in the season, this is nothing new for Nichols.
"My first day on set," Nichols recalls, "I met Jen and she said, 'I'm glad you're here. Now you can wear the bikini.' I got the script for my first big fight scene, and I'm wearing a minidress, fishnet stockings, a red wig and stiletto heels. It was like, welcome to 'Alias.'" This is a big wardrobe shift from Nichols' last TV job, as a buttoned-down FBI profiler in FOX's short-lived "The Inside" this past summer. "I think I wore the same suit every day for 'The Inside,'" she says, "except that one episode where I got to wear jeans. Then this one is ca-razy. I'm sure there will be many occasions for me to sport a rubber dress, grass dress, the dress made out of pieces of nature, anything they want."
Nichols is settling into the "Alias" family, which was fractured early in the season by the "death" (anyone who watches the show knows this word must be in quotes) of Sydney's CIA-handler/fiance/baby-daddy Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan).
"First of all," Nichols says, "it's the nicest set on the planet. Even though you hear it's the nicest set on the planet, you're not really positive until you walk on and meet everybody -- then you realize that to say it's the nicest set on the planet is an understatement. Everybody is so happy to be there.
"But, yes, the Vaughn, sadly, is gone. I'm hoping they bring [the villainous] Sark back, because, hey, who doesn't like a little David Anders? I would be down for some Sark."
Sydney and Sark had a few knock-down drag-outs in his time on the show as her blond, British nemesis, so how does Nichols think Rachel Gibson would fare?
"I think he'd kick my little butt," she says. "I could run away from him. Maybe I'm faster. I think that's going to be Rachel Gibson's technique -- she runs when there's a big man that she knows she can't take."
By the way, it looks like Nichols will get her wish, as Anders starts shooting next week for a return by Sark scheduled to air in mid-December.
So far, Nichols doesn't know a whole lot about Gibson's history.
"I'm on a need-to-know basis, let's face it," she says. "They're very tight-lipped, the writers. They don't tell you a lot in advance about what's going to happen to your character.
"I don't even know if I have parents, and if I have parents, do I like my parents? Are they bad parents? Do I have siblings? For all I know, I could have a cork leg, and they haven't told me that yet. That might cut down on the fighting. That may be how they'll be able to explain why Rachel is not as agile and gazelle-like as Sydney.
"I could be bionic. As long as they don't write into the script that I used to be a man, they can do whatever they want."
On the show, Gibson looks up to Sydney, and on the set, Nichols has decided that Garner is her new hero.
"When I met her," she says, "I thought to myself, 'I don't know if I'm nice enough to be on the show.' It's the trickle-down theory. It all starts with Jen. She knows everybody's name; she knows their kids' names; she knows their birthdays. She has the coffee truck come once a week, and she has the hot-dog truck come, whether she's there or not. She celebrates Christmas; she celebrates all the holidays. She's the bionic one."
Asked if Garner may be the best thing that ever happened to her real-life husband, actor Ben Affleck, Nichols says, "Yeah, whoa, totally. He's been saved. She was the salvation. She's going to be such a cute mommy. You should see her talk to her belly."
Currently polishing her fighting skills and working out with Garner's personal trainer, Nichols did bring some talents of her own to the party.
"I've told them," she says, "since I know how to speak French, if they ever need a language in a jiffy, that's the one they should let me do."
Fighting in an "Alias" getup though, is harder than it looks.
"Put me in some bloomers and some kneepads, and I'll be fine," Nichols says. "But I tried on a couple dresses, and the costumer said, 'Can you kick in it?' 'Only if I lift it up around the boobs can I kick, so it'll be interesting.' Thank God for Lycra. That, and the heels that I have to wear will have to be superglued to my feet."
Reminded that the pre-pregnancy Garner could hotfoot it wearing stilettos, Nichols says, "I should watch some back episodes to study up on her running technique. Again, this is why I'm so fortunate. I don't have to be good at anything."
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