New Alberta Film Crew/Cast/Producer Facebook Group

There's a new Facebook group for Alberta crew/cast/and producers that can be found at this link.

The group has just got started, but it looks like another great resource for the Alberta production community. There's already some great photos from the set of Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning.

Thanks to John for the heads up!

Photo: On the set of Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning. Courtesy of Laurette Bourassa.

Tom Green Feels Freezer Burn in Edmonton

According to Playback, principal photography on Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale (starring Tom Green), has commenced in Edmonton:

In Freezer Burn, Martians want to transform Earth into a time-share and construct crop circles to up the temperature and turn the planet into a tropical hot spot -- much to the detriment of humanity.

Director and cowriter Grant Harvey -- who directed Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, is bullish on the new film's prospects. "I think what will set this film apart [from other Canadian sci-fi comedies] is our real star power, as opposed to just putting someone in with marquee value to a distributor or a funder, but who doesn't hold the attention of an independent audience," he says.

The acting muscle comes from Green (Freddy Got Fingered), who steps out of his long-established clown shoes into a dimwitted, straight-man role. The villain is played by cult favorite Crispin Glover (Willard).

Apparently the crop circles created for the film are creating quite a commotion outside of the city! Should be a fun film to see.

Check out the full article at this link.

Edmonton Journal Talks with Brian Murphy about Mars Rising

There's a bunch of Alberta talent behind the upcoming Discovery Channel mini-series Mars Rising. Jennifer Fong, a freelance reporter with The Edmonton Journal recently spoke with Brian Murphy, writer and director of two of the six episodes of the highly-anticipated mini-series.

Murphy, a longtime colleague of Mars Rising supervising producer Michael Jorgensen, signed on to the project knowing very little about space exploration. The idea of going to another planet fascinated the veteran filmmaker, who has been making documentaries for Discovery Channel, CBC and National Geographic for 25 years. "It's like ... back in 1492, and we wanted to do a documentary about this crazy guy who was going to jump into a boat and go to a new world -- it's just so out there."

But science has never been very sexy, and Murphy had a lot of facts and figures to cram into the two hour-long episodes he'd been assigned to. His goal was to show the beauty and the creativity behind all the equations, measurements, and numbers by focussing on the personalities involved.

"You really get a sense of it in Mars Rising that these people just live and breathe it. It took NASA that kind of energy to get to the moon -- just people that are so dedicated to it, and the creative thinking that goes into it," said Murphy. "You found that they were these really incredible scientists with incredible visions. They were like artists."

He's now convinced that a trip to the Red Planet will succeed, and he's looking forward to it. "It'd be nice if I'm in my walker one day and I go by my TV set and I find out that they landed on Mars," said Murphy. "Definitely they will -- I can't say when, though."

Head over to the Edmonton Journal article to read the rest of the insightful interview.

Photo: Candace Elliott, The Edmonton Journal

Edmonton Gripped by Fear Itself

Playback reports that Lionsgate has unveiled the name and premise of the series to film in Edmonton: Fear Itself. From the article:

The horror series is the first production in a two-year deal worth almost $9 million, according to reports, that LG inked with the province in July. Although the company's publicists would not confirm the value of the deal, Playback Daily reported at the time that the city would kick in $3.5 million, with the province throwing in an additional $5.4 million.

The show has been picked up stateside by NBC for a 13-episode run, with preproduction slated to begin in December. The idea is to get celebrated horror filmmakers to each do an original 60-minute episode, which will air in summer 2008.

It is similar to Masters of Horror, which Fear producers Keith Addis, Andrew Deane and Mick Garris made for Showtime in 2005. That series, also shot in Canada, featured episodes directed by such genre giants as Dario Argento, John Carpenter and Takashi Miike.

You can read the full article at this link.

Other Links:

• The Hollywood Reporter
• Variety
• ShockTillYouDrop.com