The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio
The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio |
| Posted: 16 Jul 2011 07:33 PM PDT Crystal Reed plays the love interest of one Teen Wolf. LOOK out vampires! Werewolves could be the next sexy thing. Overnight, McCall finds his underdog existence as an awkward, asthmatic teen overturned. He becomes an awesome athlete, develops super-keen hearing, and, for reasons he could not comprehend, girls are now drawn to him. One of the girls that catches his eye is the newcomer, Allison Argent, and to his delight, she reciprocates his interest. Life seems to be turning out really well for McCall all of a sudden, and he's certainly enjoying it. But then one night he finally discovers the price for these gifts: he painfully transforms into a half-man, half-wolf creature, sprouting fangs, fur and developing a fiery lust to kill. Could this be Twilight – the werewolf version? "A lot of people are comparing us to Twilight and I have to say I'm quite flattered. I like the franchise and I think it is wildly successful. And if we could have a fraction of that success I'd be really happy," said Crystal Reed, who plays Argent, via a telephone interview from Los Angeles. (Reed recently appeared in the alien invasion movie Skyline.) "That being said, we're really much different from Twilight because we do have a comedic element and I think that's what sets us apart. So I don't feel any pressure to be anything other than what we are which I think is really great," she added. The original Michael J. Fox movie was a comedy, but Teen Wolf is much darker, said Reed. It has blood, deaths and lots of horror. It's also sexier, with McCall's relationships at the centre of the show. "I think our show is about teenage transformation and the struggles with growing up and not knowing who you are, and not feeling like you belong and to hide who you are ... It's really about transforming and what it is like to be young and dealing with teenage struggles," she said. And on teen wolf, the teenage angst is magnified – especially for McCall, who cannot tell the nearest and dearest to him that he turns into a werewolf. And the raging hormones that teens have to deal with? It's especially bad for him because his werewolf nature is triggered when he gets angry or too excited. "I think Tyler really embodies the werewolf. He's quite scary. Oftentimes he's walking around the set as a werewolf, and I was afraid. And it takes a lot to make me afraid – he's a pretty awesome werewolf," she said. Teen Wolf werewolves don't transform 100% into wolves like the ones in Twilight or True Blood. "They still maintain that human element which makes them a little more sexy than the other werewolves on TV," said Reed. This is achieved via make-up and prosthetic – no CGI wolves here, said Reed. And unlike the Michael J. Fox movie where werewolves are cute and cuddly and retain their human personalities, those here are closer to the ones established in lore: they have heightened hearing and strength, are ferocious and uncontrollable, and are thus capable of great horror and damage. Reed describes a scene in episode three where "it gets really scary, bloody and gory". "There was a tonne of blood on everyone. It is probably the most graphic scene in our series so far," said Reed. This is why there exists a group of hunters who hunt these werewolves. As a result, McCall's once-sheltered life is now in danger of collapsing as he not only has to juggle teen problems, he has to also run for his life, too. This matter will effect Reed as well; she will eventually have to decide if Scott is worth sticking out for. "It's forbidden, it's one of the things where it's not supposed to happen – you're not supposed to fall in love with the bad guy or the person who's supposed to be evil," said Reed. However, on Teen Wolf, good and evil is not black and white, and if you look deeper there's more to them than meets the eye. When we first see Argent, she's the new girl in town. She's had an almost nomadic lifestyle, having to move because of her parents' secret profession. Then, she falls for McCall. But what should be a normal rite of teenagehood is complicated by the secrets in their lives. Argent is no damsel or fussy miss, however. Her character actually knows archery. "They set up archery lessons for me in Atlanta. I learnt about my form and the different types of bows and so I got to do all of that stuff myself on set," she said. Although Reed has a stunt double, she does most of the physical work herself. "And that was a lot of fun because, for me, as an actor it is really much more gratifying when I got to do my own physical work," she said. However, it was also a challenge for Reed to be this physical. "It was really draining ... we were filming 14 hours a day, five days a week. (There was) rain and it was freezing. Physically, it was really hard on me. But I would do it all over again because I loved it so much," she said. The crew shot Teen Wolf in Atlanta, Georgia, around October last year. They had a lot of night scenes which were filmed in an old rundown wooded area. "There will always be fog and most of the time it was freezing cold and we're out in the middle of nowhere. So the scenes are really intense," she said. They also shot in an abandoned high school. "I think it's haunted or something because it was quite scary. There were some scenes in the school in which I had to be really afraid, and I'd go upstairs by myself and walk the hallways just to freak myself out and it works," she said. And filming is so hectic that they could end up filming a scene from a script that they hadn't even fully read. We were really behind and they were writing it so fast that we really didn't know what was going on. "Week to week we had no idea what was happening with our characters. We're all really excited to find out the next week what's going to happen in the next episode," she said. Reed had wanted to act since she was 10 years old. "I really love to be able to take people on a journey and to be able to provide an escape at the end of the day. I think it's really important as humans to be able to have that type of escape through art," she said. Teen Wolf premieres on AXN Beyond HD (Channel 720) at 9pm today. Related Story: |
| Posted: 16 Jul 2011 07:33 PM PDT Tyler Posey talks about playing a werewolf and whether his muscles are real. TYLER Posey, the 19-year-old who plays budding werewolf Scott McCall, is looking at the rainforest outside his room in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and telling us about how much fun he's having. He's promoting his show Teen Wolf in the country, and will be flying to Argentina in a few days. "Hopefully, soon I will be able to come to Asia and promote the show, that will be fun!" he says in a telephone interview. Since Teen Wolf premiered in the United States, Posey has seen his popularity rise. He has gained almost 40,000 Twitter followers in the past month and is getting a lot of attention from girls. "We went to this premiere and after that we got to take pictures of all these girls and they were all asking for kisses, and I would give them kisses on their cheek and they would give me kisses. I love it. It's all I could ever ask for and it is so much fun. I love my fans and I love how they love me," he says. He has even been called a sex symbol. In one Teen Wolf poster, Posey is seen ripping off his shirt, revealing well-defined muscles. "The abs are all me, but the eyes and the cheek were photo-shopped, and that's about it. The muscles are real, I promise you," he says cheekily. It takes quite a bit of work to look like that, he says. Posey has a personal trainer who puts him through the motions in the gym, and he has 45 minutes to an hour of workout daily. "I just work out like a madman. I feel like I want to throw up afterward. I don't know if it is a good or bad thing but I usually feel pretty good afterward," he says. Besides the workouts, there are the long filming hours. "I am the lead of the show and I knew that I was going to have to work a lot but I didn't know how much," he says. The cast and crew had to work 16- to 17- hour days, and at times it was hard for him to keep going and stay motivated. However, he found it enjoyable working with the crew so the work, although exhausting, ended up being fun. Besides, he loves being a werewolf. "It's like the coolest thing I could ever think of. It's the action, I get to kiss hot girls, there's blood," he says. And while the creatures of the night are really popular these days, don't expect werewolves' mortal enemies – vampires – to make an appearance anytime soon. "We are sticking to the werewolves. There will be no crossovers, and that is another thing about our show that sets us apart from the others," he says. Posey believes that Teen Wolf is a metaphor about growing up, about "going through puberty, going from being a young man to a man". "Because there are changes when you are in high school and when you're going through puberty; you get more hair, you get all these crazy hormones, you fall in love," he says. Scott McCall is a kind of extreme symbol of this metaphor and playing him is like playing two different roles, says Posey. "Scott is not a nerd, he's just an outcast and not in the spot light. He is a shy and nervous kid while the werewolf is the complete opposite: he's like a serial werewolf insane killer," he adds. While his character is a bit of an outcast in school, Posey had a very different high school experience, saying that he had so much fun in school. Perhaps too much. "I didn't really go for the school, I just wanted to hang out with my friends basically and I was late to some of my classes. I was talking to every single person on my way to class. I am really glad it's over. I hate high school," he says wryly. Related Story: |
| TNT cancels 'Men of a Certain Age,' cites ratings Posted: 15 Jul 2011 09:17 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ray Romano's award-winning TV series "Men of a Certain Age" has been canceled after two seasons. Calling it a "difficult decision," the cable network TNT said Friday the show failed to attract a big enough audience despite its excellence. "Men of a Certain Age" averaged 2.7 million viewers for the episodes that concluded this month. The show received a prestigious George Foster Peabody award earlier this year and was lauded for combining humor and poignancy. This week, series co-star Andre Braugher received an Emmy nomination as best supporting actor in a drama series. Romano, Braugher and Scott Bakula played three longtime friends each facing middle age and various life crises. Romano, the former "Everybody Loves Raymond" star, co-created "Men of a Certain Age." Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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