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Comic-Con Day Two Closes At the Dollhouse

BuzzSugar — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:00:20 -0700

I wrapped up another long but amazing day at Comic-Con with the Dollhouse panel. Joss Whedon was a character as always, and both he and Eliza Dushku constantly reiterated how thankful they are to their fans for saving their near-canceled show. We were treated to screening of season one's "lost" episode, "Epitaph One." It was eye-opening to say the least, set in the year 2019 and showing a far different world than what we saw in the first episode. Here are a few highlights from what we learned:

Naturally, there were lots of questions for Joss about Buffy and his affinity for recycling his favorite actors. He revealed that Alexis Denisof will be joining the cast next season, and Eliza chimed in about being excited to kick his ass. Apparently Joss is also trying to get Summer Glau on board.
Spoiler alert! According to Joss, Victor is going to get better quickly.
Eliza on which characters she enjoyed playing most: "I'm a tomboy, so I do like when I'm in action, and I loved 'Man on the Street.' I loved all the characters in that. Joss loved the doily dress so much. I also had a really nice time shooting 'Haunted' with Olivia Williams. The last episode was kind of awesomeness as well."
Joss on how the theme of social justice is portrayed in the show: "More and more, we're interested in dealing with the abuse of power and the various ways that people can do that and what it can really bring out in characters when they are pushed to the edge."
Finally, Joss played coy about what we can expect in season two but did say that "no one is to be trusted, especially in the Dollhouse" and revealed that the audience will begin to question the veracity of the character's memories.

Sounds like there's plenty of fun in store for season two. Be sure to keep checking back in for more updates live from Comic-Con!

Photo courtesy of Fox

TV Tonight: Dollhouse's Season Finale

BuzzSugar — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:30:53 -0700

Alpha is in the house! The former doll (played by Alan Tudyk) revealed himself on last week's episode of Dollhouse, and he's definitely the scariest character on this show by a landslide. His story is also the most fascinating to me: Back when he was a doll just like Echo (Eliza Dushku), all his pre-programmed personalities blended together one day, and he turned into a psychopath. He broke out of the dollhouse, killing a bunch of people and slashing up the faces of a few survivors. That face-slashing thing he does is so freaking creepy! Oh, and he's also a genius.

The preview for tonight's season finale shows the aftermath of Alpha's return and just how deep his obsession with Echo goes. The craziest part in the clip is Alpha sticking Echo's former personality, Caroline, into some random lady. So "Caroline" wakes up only to find herself in a strange body staring at, well, herself. Weird!

Are you still tuning in to this show? Are you sad to see it end? And how much do you want it to come back next season? To watch a preview for tonight's season one finale, read more.

Photo courtesy of Fox

Joss Whedon Says Tonight's the Night to Watch Dollhouse

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:30:22 -0700

If you haven't been watching Dollhouse, no less an authority than series creator Joss Whedon says it's time to tune in. Earlier this week, Whedon hopped on the phone with a bunch of reporters to talk about why there's so much hype around tonight's sixth episode,"Man on the Street," which he says is the struggling series' best yet.

I wasn't sure about the show at the start, but it's been sucking me in - to the point that I might have told my real-life friends I was busy so I could hang with my fictional Fox friends instead. Uh . . . just kidding. That would be weird. Ahem.

Anyway. My point is, I'm into the show, but at this point there's still a lot to be explained in terms of the ground rules of this universe - possibly a result of Whedon's disputes with Fox over how to tell these stories. Whedon promises tonight's episode will answer a lot of questions for fans but says it's also a point where someone who has never seen the show before could jump in without a problem. Here are some of the big points from his chat:

On whether hyping this episode could have a negative effect: "You know, there may have been a negative side to it, because we may have said, 'The first five episodes are crap,' which I don’t believe. . . . There's also the negativity of somebody saying, 'Well, now he’s blaming the network for the other episodes.' Like, no, no, no, no. We did our best to try and figure out how to put the show over with a new paradigm under the gun while we were in production or occasionally out of production. And then what happened with 'Man on the Street' was really, it just came to me as a concept really quickly. I pitched it to the network and for the first time, there was a real simpatico. They went, 'Oh, yes, we get that,' and it was a very simple thing."

There's lots more from Whedon (including his thoughts on the show's "ick" factor) after the jump. Just read more.

On what about tonight's episode works so well: "I think it was doing an episode that somebody who had never seen the show could walk in on, because it explains very clearly the premise. In fact, it's kind of about explaining the premise and at the same time really getting under the skin of the dollhouse and of Paul's character and of what’s going on with everybody and the workings of the place and coming at it sideways rather than just showing an engagement and flipping in some information around that engagement. This was one where we really got to look at the cogs of the clock, and that’s what gave it such momentum for us."

On jibing with the network on how to tell this story: "We lay it out as simply as we did in the first five, but because we get to get inside the dollhouse more and have the events there take on much more resonance, it has got what I had hoped to bring to the other episodes that I didn't really have the opportunity [to do] as much. So I felt like it was really finding the code to a show that I can do my best work in that the network still really can get behind. So it was a meeting of the minds."
On the possibility that dollhouse staffers could actually be dolls themselves: "How many layers of unreality can you have in somebody's identity? . . . We have to pull ourselves back and say, 'If we make this a lie within a lie within a lie within a lie, people are just going to start slapping us.' We're like, 'Now we're not invested in anybody.' So we've talked about [it], but we've been very restrained with the concept, because you have to have some touchstone of reality, even in this world."
On the "ick factor" of the show's premise, where there are hints that some of the dolls may be essentially slaves instead of volunteers: "It makes me uncomfortable. I'm not going to lie. But for me, it's part of what we're dealing with. We're dealing with people who have power and are abusing it and people who don't and are trying to regain it. . . . It's not something we feel that we can shy away from without being a little hypocritical."

Photos courtesy of Fox and Source

Are You Coming Back to Dollhouse Tonight?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:30:36 -0800

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse had a ton of buzz before its premiere last week, but that didn't exactly translate into big ratings. The show averaged 4.7 million viewers for its premiere last week, losing both in total viewers and in the key 18-49 demographic to ABC's Supernanny.

Still, I've heard good things about some of the upcoming episodes, and Fox swore up and down at TCA that it planned to let all 13 episodes of the show's first season air regardless of the ratings. So tell me: Are you sticking with Dollhouse?

Photo courtesy of Fox

TV Tonight: Dollhouse

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:30:04 -0800

It's possible that no show has gotten more press this season than Fox's Dollhouse. It comes from cult hero Joss Whedon, and it's already had its troubles, including a completely reshot pilot and a potentially problematic Friday night time slot. But the show finally premieres tonight, and I've heard from many of the people involved with the show that we shouldn't worry so much about it after all. Here are five essential things to know:

The set is awesome. Way back at July's TV press tour, I got the chance to explore the world of Dollhouse from the inside. The set is large and gorgeous, the centerpiece being a two-story control room of sorts with a glassed-in observatory from which the dollhouse employees can watch the "actives" - blank canvasses like Eliza Dushku's Echo - work out and lounge. Standing inside of it feels oddly calming, like a very upscale spa. Also cool: the room where the actives sleep at night, which has sleeping capsules sunken into the floor.
Friday might not be so bad. The show won't have to reach quite the bar for ratings that it would have on any other night, Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said in January. "In some of the other scheduling scenarios, there was going to be enormous pressure on it," he said. "We're going to let the show play out for 13 episodes and hopefully catch on."

For three more key facts and some preview videos, just read more.

The shows will be a balance between stand-alone episodes and mythology. One of Fox's complaints with the original pilot was that the network thought the show had too much mythology right away. Now it's more of a mix, Whedon said in January, with the first five episodes being more stand-alone and the sixth one getting further into the show's mythology.
The actives aren't perfect. Even though they're programmed to do exactly what they need to complete their missions, things will go wrong. "Each show I think [some type of trouble] is going to go down," Dushku said this week, "because it’s obviously not a perfect system and it’s not a perfect world."
If the show succeeds, there's lots of territory to mine. If the ratings are good enough to get it more episodes beyond the original 13, there are plenty more stories to tell. "Apparently from day one Joss has had a five-year plan for the show and we’ve talked about what some of those are," Dushku said. "I think that’s one of the things that’s so exciting about this show is that it’s so open for endless possibilities."

Here are a whole bunch of Dollhouse-related videos to fuel the fire till tonight's premiere. Will you be watching?

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Photo courtesy of Fox

Dollhouse Lives! Watch the New Trailer

BuzzSugar — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:30:51 -0800

Joss Whedon's Dollhouse is probably the most anticipated show of TV's midseason lineup - not just because of the talent involved but also because of the behind-the-scenes drama that's led to the original pilot being discarded (and a healthy amount of speculation that the show might be essentially dead before it even premieres).

But now there's reason to believe the show might see the light of day after all: a new trailer, which more clearly lays out the show's premise than anything we've seen before. In it, we're introduced to Echo (Eliza Dushku), an "active" who can live any life, have any skill, and do anything - a life many of us would dream of, except that she's programmed to do it and has no choice in her role.

It's an intriguing trailer with several gorgeous shots of Dushku (one under water, another inside the pod in which the "actives" sleep), and it seems like it could pair well with Fringe when it premieres. You can check it out if you read more.

Photo courtesy of Fox

Bottle Shock: Intriguing Story Muddled by a Fruity Aftertaste

BuzzSugar — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:00:11 -0700

I live near Napa Valley and I enjoy wine a great deal, so when I first heard about a new little movie called Bottle Shock all about the historical legitimization of California wine, I was intrigued. I may have taken for granted the fact that Napa hasn't always been a world-renowned winemaking region, and that at one point it was viewed as nothing more than a bunch of back-water country hicks noodling around with grapes. Which is why I was disappointed to not love this sincere attempt to bring this story to life on the screen. I had such high hopes, but in the end the movie spends too much time on other stuff and not enough on the part that's the most interesting.

Invariably, this tale of Napa's beginnings will be compared to another indie film about California wine, Sideways, and though the subject matter may be similar, it's not an accurate pairing. Where Sideways uses wine country as a setting in which to explore the lives of four intriguing characters, Bottle Shock is a saccharine mix of slapstick comedy, melodrama, and sweeping shots of California's golden hills. This director practically fetishizes the beauty of the state's coast, and at times the movie feels more like a tourist ad than anything else. I wish the filmmakers had relied on the interesting true story for a dramatic arc rather than tossing in several tedious subplots, including an emotionally weightless father-son drama and a mind-numbing love triangle. To see why, read more.

In 1976 a British wine shop owner named Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) and his American neighbor Maurine (played wonderfully by Dennis Farina) come up with the idea of a blind tasting that would pit France's best winemakers against the renegades in America, intending to prove that great wine could only be made in France. Surrier travels to California and makes his way from one roadside tasting to another, carefully noting which regions are best. At the same time, Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) and his free-spirited, slacker son Bo (Chris Pine) are attempting to create a perfect chardonnay at their winery, Chateau Montelena. Bo sees Surrier's arrival as a chance to prove to his dad that he can make something happen for the winery. Meanwhile one of the Barrett's employees, Gustavo Brambila (Freddy Rodríguez), is making his own wine on the side and frequently butts heads with Jim.

Oh, and then a blond bombshell "intern" shows up at the Chateau and proceeds to befriend and bed both young men amidst winery duties, which include wearing sexy outfits and hosing off a barrel while the water runs down her body, not unlike a Playboy fantasy, while the dirty old men of the winery gawk.

There's a lot of time spent on these characters but it all falls flat because tonally their stories don't jive with what's going on over in Alan Rickman's movie. While they run around an Anthropology catalogue, delivering dramatic monologues about feeling wine in your blood, Alan's tasting Kentucky Friend Chicken for the first time and it's hysterical. Eventually we get to the climax of the film - the industry-changing wine tasting in France - but by that time I was pretty much over it and couldn't care less about the fate of these people.

The sad thing about this movie is that it's well-intentioned and wants to do justice to the stories of these real-life people. The saving grace, predictably, is Alan Rickman and there isn't a single scene he's in that doesn't sparkle with wry humor and simple elegance. But alas, his scenes are too few, and when they end we're swept away via endless aerial shots of vineyards to the dopey plotlines of the other characters.

Source

Dollhouse Pilot Being Reshot - But Whedon Says Don't Worry

BuzzSugar — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:30:07 -0700

On the (completely awesome - more about that later) set of Dollhouse, Joss Whedon gave reporters at the TCA press tour an explanation for his recent revelation that his highly anticipated new series is reshooting its pilot. The same thing happened with Whedon's Firefly the last time he worked with Fox - but Whedon told reporters that Dollhouse is in no great danger.

When Whedon turned in the first episode to Fox, "I could sense some hesitation about what I'd given them, and I understood why," he said. "I believe that first story works very well, but I also believe that their concerns about the audience coming into that world a little more simply were valid."

So, rather than try to re-cut what he'd already shot, Whedon proposed keeping that episode as a second episode and creating a new pilot that would introduce the characters in a slightly different way. "There are a lot of aspects of how [the characters] interact that we were planning on showing, and so what's a nice one to put up front?" Whedon said. "It was kind of nice to do a dry run and then say, 'What is absolutely the most iconic way to introduce this character, and this character, and this character?'"

Eliza Dushku, who was also there to show reporters around the set, joked that they also needed to reshoot because she didn't wear her leather pants in the original first episode (though her character did, apparently, make good use of the co-ed showers Whedon had built on set - and will again!).

Whedon and Dushku both seemed confident, and while I won't give away too many details from the set tour just yet, I will say that it was a very expensive-looking place that Fox clearly has a great deal of money invested in. But I'm wondering if this news makes any of you out there feel nervous or wary about the show's future. (If something bad does happen to the show, of course, there's already a legion of fans waiting in the wings to save it . . . )

Photo courtesy of Fox

Movie Preview: Bottle Shock

BuzzSugar — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:30:13 -0700

Did you like Sideways, a quirky indie movie about wine (and relationships)? Then you might dig Bottle Shock, another indie movie about wine, this time with an emphasis on the history of American winemaking. It may sound like a snoozefest to some of you, but the trailer makes it look incredibly interesting. The film premiered at this year's Sundance and I was sorry to miss the screenings while I was there.

The movie focuses on the mid-1970s when French wine makers were starting to sit up and pay attention to what was going on in California vineyards. Alan Rickman stars as a wine snob from across the pond who comes over to find out what these California "hicks" are up to with their so-called wine. The supporting cast includes Bill Pullman, Dennis Farina, Chris Pine, Eliza Dushku and Freddy Rodriguez, among others. It looks funny and interesting, and opens in limited release August 8. To check out the trailer, read more.

Source

First Look: Joss Whedon's Dollhouse on Fox

BuzzSugar — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:34:20 -0700

How many of you caught the ad for JJ Abrams' Fall show Fringe during American Idol last night? I think it looks pretty good, so I'm excited Fox is preparing for a potentially one-two punch when they roll out a sci-fi thriller from Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) come mid-season. This means that if both Fringe and Dollhouse are as good as they look I'm going to be spending a lot of time over at Fox this year.

Dollhouse stars Eliza Dushku as Echo, an "Active" who is part of an illegal, underground group of people who have had their former lives wiped from their memories so that they can, as the show's description states, "fulfill any number of scenarios for anyone including romantic, criminal, uplifting, dangerous, comical and the occasional pro bono good deed." It's like the Bourne story but instead of turning people into killing machines, they can do just about anything for anyone. And just like another show this series reminds me of, Alias, Echo has a handler named Boyd (played by Harry Lennix). The drama unravels as Echo begins to remember her past personality at the same time as an FBI agent starts to figure out the existence of the "Dollhouse."

I think this has loads of potential and will cross my fingers it's a good one. To see a preview trailer and a short scene from Dollhouse, read more.

Photos courtesy of Fox