Media Q&A with actor Nathan Fillion of “Castle” (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Actor Nathan Fillion has that recognizable face in movies and television.

Earlier in his career, Fillion had appeared in the film “Saving Private Ryan” and the TV series “Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place” followed by appearances in the drama series “Pasadena” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

Fillion would gain a fan following for his role as Captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds on the series “Firefly” in which the adventures of his character Mal would lead to a continuing of the story through the feature film “Serenity”.

Not long after, Nathan appeared on series such as “Lost”, “Miss Match”, “Desperate Housewives” and “Drive”.

But Fillion had once again gained a fan following for his role on the TV series “Castle”.  Season four of “Castle” premiered on ABC on Sept. 19th.

In the series, Nathan Fillion plays the role of Richard Castle, the famous mystery novelist who is adored by many but behind-the-scenes, he is a playboy who had an on-and-off fling with his ex-wife (who is an actress), another ex-wife who is his publisher (who he also has an off-an-on fling with) and lives with his bright teenage daughter Alexis (played by Molly Quinn, “My One and Only”) and his meddlesome mother and former Broadway actress, Martha Rodgers (played by Susan Sullivan, “The Nine”, “Dharma & Greg”).

There is a lot of pressure on Nathan to create another book and with him stuck and unable to come up with ideas, his luck starts to change when he meets by-the-book Detective Kate Beckett (played by Stana Katic, “Heroes”, “The Spirit”, “Quantum of Solace”) who is investigating several murders which have taken place and the way that they were done were like the murders featured in several of Castle’s novels. Because of his knowledge of how things end up with his books, he gets the opportunity to assist the detectives in their case.  Because it would do the police good to bring in a high profile writer to work with them, it’s a win-win situation for the police dept. and Richard Castle.  Not so much for Kate Beckett who feels that Nathan is always in her way.

But as they say in Hollywood, opposites attract and despite the two trying to keep a platonic business relationship, they know inside that they have chemistry together but both of them resist their urge and keep things business between the both of them.  But how long can that last?

With the upcoming release of “Castle: The Complete Third Season” (read our review for the DVD box set here), the following is a transcript of a brief media Q&A with Nathan Fillion as he reflects on the third season “Castle”.

The relationship between Castle and Beckett heats up in Season Three. How is Castle going to cope?

NATHAN: I think Castle is a very simple man. He has very simple wants and needs – and things are more complicated in this relationship than he would ever like them to be. I think things have been very easy for Castle all his life and finally he’s got a woman in front of him who represents a challenge, a challenge that he’s never had before.

 

How is it unfamiliar territory for him?

NATHAN: Kate Beckett’s an authority figure, but Castle has never had an authority figure in his life. She’s an expert and in a lot of ways, she’s smarter than he is. He’s not used to that. He really likes this woman, and yet there are all these complications. He doesn’t quite know how to tiptoe around, and he pushes too hard in areas when he ought to leave them alone.

 

Do you think viewers can relate to this dilemma?

NATHAN:  Yes, I do. Particularly when Castle thinks he’s doing the right thing, but it turns out he’s doing the wrong thing. I think he wants everything to be a lot simpler in his life. He wants everything to go his way, which is how the rest of his life has been. It’s also one of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ moments because if the challenge and the complications weren’t there, could that take away some of the magic?

 

Castle and Beckett finally kiss in Season Three. What’s the story behind that?

NATHAN: What happens can’t just be described as a kiss. It is more of a melt at the lips. That’s what it is; it’s a lip melting. And without spoiling too much, I’ll say this: Our writers and our creator Andrew Marlowe are very careful. When they push this relationship, they have this dance that they refer to. When they push things in one direction, they’re very careful to balance it again.

 

Do you feel there are boundaries for what can happen between Castle and Beckett?

NATHAN: There are definitely boundaries for them because once you cross the line, there’s no going back. However, the writers are very good at pushing the boundaries, and maybe even pushing the line ahead so that we go further than before – but then we retreat back again without making irreparable damage.

 

Do you think they will go any further than a kiss?

NATHAN:  I don’t want to spoil any storylines, so I’m not going to tell you. I don’t want to be the spoiler-alert guy. You’re just going to have to watch and see for yourself.

 

Doesn’t Kate Beckett have a boyfriend this season?

NATHAN:  Boy, she does. And he’s one hell of a guy! He is ten feet tall and he’s made of bricks. Josh Davidson is his name. He’s devastatingly handsome. He’s better looking than me. Plus, he’s super tall. I’m a tall guy, so I don’t usually look up to many people – but this guy is really tall.

 

How does Castle cope with the challenge of Josh’s arrival?

NATHAN:  Josh is the perfect guy, which can be hard for an actor to play without being smarmy or smug – but the actor Victor Webster does a wonderful job with the role. Victor plays a charming, reasonable, intelligent, perfect guy. What’s Richard Castle going to do? He’s pretty immature about it. It’s certainly a hurdle for Richard. It’s a thorn in his side, shall we say?

 

Is Castle afraid of Josh?

NATHAN:  Castle is afraid of nothing! Okay, he’s afraid of sharks, bears, and heights…

 

Are you concerned that the dynamic between Beckett and Castle would change if they hooked up?

NATHAN:  I am, and this is where Stana Katic and I differ. Stana thinks that if they got together, the relationship would just encounter different hurdles – but that everything would be fine. I am of the ‘jumping-the-shark’ school of thought. I believe that, if you have built up tension, you can’t just let it go again. As an audience member, I like being smarter than the characters on TV. I like watching them fail and saying to myself, “Oh, you know what he should do? Just admit how he feels.” I love that omniscient feeling that I know what’s going on in their hearts and in their heads. If you reconcile that and you give everybody what they want, you release the tension – and that’s when people say, “Okay, I’m done. Let’s change the channel and see what else is on.”

 

Castle has a funny and interesting relationship with his family. How did the producers ensure there would be a good connection between all of the actors involved?

NATHAN:  They brought me in to do ‘chemistry reads’, as they call it. All these actresses would come in and read for Castle’s mom and daughter, Martha and Alexis. All you want is for them to come into the room and just set it on fire – and Molly Quinn did exactly that. It was ridiculous when she left. The door closed and they picked up the phone right away and said, “That’s her. We need this actress.” It was a done deal and it was the same thing with Susan Sullivan. She came in and had so much of Martha about her. She walked into the audition room and she said to me, “Stand up, darling. I won’t be looking down at you.” And she had me stand up to read with her. She was just so Martha.

 

It feels like Castle is ruled by women. Would you agree?

NATHAN:  Yes, I guess I do agree that he has no male role models. I once applied for a job when I was 16 and the two ladies who were interviewing me said, “If you get this job, we will be your bosses. Do you have any problems taking orders from women?” And I replied: “My mom’s a woman and I take orders from her all the time.”

 

Do you like that about Castle?

NATHAN: I think one of the really neat things about Castle is that he’s not very macho. He’s not very swagger manly. He’s more boyish than anything as he’s never had an opportunity to grow up. At one point I remember – and this was one of those wonderful times where we could collaborate with the writers – Castle was apologizing to Alexis for blowing on something, and I came up with lines saying, “Be patient with me. Be forgiving. I’ve never been a dad to a teenage daughter before.” And I think that part of Castle’s truth is that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s just doing the best he can, but he has a good heart.

CASTLE: The Complete Third Season was released on DVD on September 20, 2011

Media Roundtable Q&A with Ben Snow, Visual Effects Supervisor (of Industrial Light & Magic) of “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (J!-ENT Interviews & Articles)

Industrial Light & Magic Visual Effects Supervisor Ben Snow has come a long way from his days of studying computing and film at the University of Canberra in Australia and working as a runner for a computer graphics house in London.

When Snow left his home country of Australia to work for Industrial Light & Magic in 1994, his first project was to create 3D images for the “Enterprise B” for the film “Star Trek: Generations”.

And since then, Snow worked on films such as “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, “Galaxy Quest”, “Pearl Harbor”, “Star Wars: Episode II “Attack of the Clones”, “Iron Man”, “Terminator Salvation”, “Iron Man 2″ and most recently, the film “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”.

With “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” set for release on Blu-ray and DVD on October 18, 2011, J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recently took part in a media Q&A roundtable with Visual Effects Supervisor Ben Snow.  Here is a transcript from the round table:

When producing the mermaids-scenes, what where your inspirations for their movement and the general “look” of the mermaids?

BEN: We wanted to avoid the classic ‘woman in a mono-fin’ that has been seen in past mermaid films so we studied a variety of marine mammals and fish for the motion of the mermaids. We also had synchronized swimmers and professional athletes that we filmed on set to help guide the animation. As for the look, we were trying to create something different than what you’ve seen before but keep it rooted in reality. We used reference of sea life, human skin, etc. and also bought some fish at the fish market and photographed the heck out of them. In the end, the mermaids had a scaly body with a membrane of sheer, almost jelly-fish like, tendrils.

 

How much influence did filming in 3D have on your workflow, and which problems / possibilities did you have with that?

BEN: We were excited by the prospect of 3D. ILM’s 3D pipeline was fairly solid after our work on Disney’s Star Tours 3D and Avatar, and we did some initial work to make sure the 3D set-up for visual effects was rock solid. Creatively we played with the concept of adding more depth for the underwater scenes. We also made sure we were viewing our work in the largest theater at ILM because with 3D the size of the image is important when reviewing work – we always want to see it as an audience would.

 

When you are working on an animated character, what is most important to you?

BEN: We want the character to be something unique and fantastic but also rooted enough in reality that it is believable. For the mermaids having the footage of marine animals and the swimmers and actors for reference in the filmed material helped make this possible.

 

If you compare your work on Pirates of the Caribbean to Iron Man, and before that to The Mummy (for example), what are the most notable differences in your workflow and in the tools you use?

BEN: Pirates had more organic creatures rather than the metallic hard surfaces of Iron Man, so it had some of the challenges of The Mummy. However today’s tools have advanced a long way since I worked on that film. We were still experimenting with facial motion capture on that film and since then it has become a useful and reliable technique. Our abilities to capture the motions of performers on real sets or locations is far more advanced now than what we had for The Mummy. We were able to leverage improvements we had made to those techniques for Iron Man and other films and push them even further to get a seamless blend between the actresses’ bodies and the mermaid tails.

 

If you compare Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides to the other parts of the franchise, where do you think are the main visual differences?

BEN: We were conscious of fitting into the world of the Pirates films and to live up to the quality of the effects that had been established in previous entries. However, Rob Marshall brought his own visual sense to the series. He wanted to be sure that the most fantastical elements also were rooted in reality, and brought a grittiness to the film. He also emphasized the story and characters in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and the visuals, though still high quality, are in more of a supporting role this time ’round – it’s more about the adventure and the story.

 

J!-ENT: What’s the most fun part of your job?

BEN: The best part of my job is coming up with what something is going to look and move like, and then how on earth we’re going to execute it. And the mermaids represented a tremendous opportunity in that way. I’ve been a fan of mermaids for years and particularly liked the fact these were predatory rather than the friendly mermaids. The biggest challenge was maintaining their beauty while making them scary. Working with Rob Marshall, Charlie Gibson and the team to come up with the look was a lot of fun, and the enthusiasm of Astrid Berges-Frisby, who came to ILM and let us photograph and scan her and have her do motion tests to help us make a better mermaid, was infectious. Working out how to best capture the performances on set and apply them to our CG mermaid was very cool because it involved using all our latest motion tracking tools and some new ones we invented as well.

 

J!-ENT:  Ben, you have a wonderful career in working with a good number of popular blockbusters but what are your favorite films that you have worked on in your career?

BEN: I loved working on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Even with the challenges of finding the right look for the mermaids. I also had a lot of fun on Galaxy Quest, which is a film I still enjoy watching. The Iron Man films were also a blast because we got to collaborate with Jon Favreau and Marvel in coming up with the filmic persona of a new hero and helped launch a franchise. And my work on Star Wars Episode 2 was both a great opportunity in terms of career and also gave me a lot of freedom to come up with new ways of doing effects because of the sheer amount of the work and the collaborative relationship George Lucas fostered.

Where did you get the ideas for the look of the mermaids from?

BEN: The look of the mermaids followed a lengthy discussion process with Rob Marshall and a lot of concept art exploration. In talking to Rob he showed us some previous design work that had been done as well as some classic paintings of mermaids, underwater fashion photography and even a couple of mermaid pinups. He told Aaron McBride, our VFX art director, and myself what he liked and didn’t like about this material. One image he liked had a woman in a sheer fabric tail that you could still see the outline of her legs through. He also talked a lot about the beauty of Astrid Berges-Frisby and how some of the previous concepts had been too creature-like. At the same time we had been looking at different types of marine life, and trying to tie the mermaid into the marine life feel of previous Pirates characters we wanted to integrate, and also discussed how she might actually transform. So we came up with a slightly scaly body covered with a sheer membrane. The idea was that when she was wet the membrane was transparent and you could see flashes of scales, but as she dried it became more like human skin. It was a fun process to invent the science behind these characters.

 

During the planning of the scenes, what were your major concerns for the final product?

BEN:  Our major concerns were to deliver the best mermaids we could – to try and create definitive filmic mermaids, and to live up to the quality of work that we’ve seen in previous Pirates of the Caribbean films.

 

Please describe how you used 3D in the effects process. Was it a mixture of conversion and shot-for-3D, and how did you resolve any 3D challenges?

BEN:  We made the decision to shoot in 3D early on, so the only conversion we really had was for underwater shots (which all heavily involved digital effects anyway). Something that helped simplify our lives a little bit in dealing with 3D was the decision to shoot with parallel cameras which made it possible to play with the 3D more during the editing process than has ever been possible on previous films. We had several 3D experts on our crew (ILM has been doing 3D projects dating back to Captain EO in the ’80s, and we had one of our senior crew members who’d been at ILM when they were doing that project) and there was a lot of expertise on the Disney/client side.

 

What kind of education did you get to get where you are today?

BEN: I studied computing in college with a major in film (which was somewhat unusual back then and I had to get special permission). But after a couple of years of working in computing and doing film as a hobby, I actually started in the industry as a runner – delivering parcels and making cups of tea. So it was kind of the school of hard knocks. Luckily for me this was 1988 and The Abyss and Terminator 2 came out within a couple of years of each other and the industry exploded with a need for computer skilled filmmakers.

 

Normally, ILM works on single characters or effects, but with ”Rango” they did their first complete movie. Would you be tempted to work on such a movie?

BEN: A lot of my friends at ILM had wanted to do an animated film for years, and I’m very happy they got a chance to do so and I am very impressed by the result. I’m more interested in the magic trick aspect of visual effects, in trying to get the audience caught up in the fantasy and wondering later on how we did it. While I prefer effects for live action, I do love animated films and I hope ILM gets to work on another one.

 

Do you involve the actors in your work and if so, how?

BEN: Yes, we depend upon the collaboration of the actors in our work. One of the sequences we worked on had Jack Sparrow playing with a droplet of water and I had to draw dots on Johnny Depp’s fingers with a sharpie. He was very helpful and tolerant. Johnny and several of the other actors went through an elaborate photographic and scanning process so we could make digital versions of them if needed. For the mermaids, it was even more elaborate but they were great about it. We’d put them in these psychedelic bathing suits we had designed to make tracking them easier and blending the tails with their bodies, and painted dots all over their faces. Astrid Berges-Frisbey (the key mermaid) was a little concerned when we had to paint dots on her face for a key emotional scene (she was originally going to transform at the end of it) but I promised her they’d be painted out and no one would know. Thank goodness for our talented roto and paint crew who were able to paint out every single dot, and in 3D no less.

 

When you look at all the films you have made, has post production and Visual effects changed its role in film making in general? Has the perception of “those FX-guys” changed to a more creative part in the production, or does it slowly develop into something that is “sourced out and forgotten”?

BEN: We’re still a creative part of production and in some ways have more respect afforded to us in recent years since the visual effects are such a big part of the process now. Of course our credits are still way down in the end of the film and I’m hoping that will change. It’s certainly never outsourced and forgotten because on a project like Pirates the visual effects are such a key part of the film.

 

In your opinion: when James Cameron and Peter Jackson can convince the industry to go up to 60 frames per second: will this benefit the experience of visual effects, or just make it that much harder for the post-production?

BEN: It will certainly make it harder for post-production. The faster frame rate should make for something that feels more real to the audience but that could make it harder to fool them with our visual effects magic. I’m excited to see the results.

 

What initially got you interested in visual effects?

BEN: My dad was a film fanatic and we went to the drive-in a lot when I was growing up. But I pin my initial interest in visual effects to finding a book called “Monsters from the Movies” in my high school library and then later in high school reading an American cinematographer article by Dennis Muren about his visual effects photography for The Empire Strikes Back. So I’d say it was a combination of that and an interest in stage magicians of the golden age.

 

If you have to decide on one single shot that represents the film’s visual effects work, which one would it be and why?

BEN:  I’m cheating with two shots. I love the shot where the Queen Anne’s Revenge comes chasing the mermaids belching fire. CG ship, CG fire, CG water and CG mermaids and then panning onto real pirates on a set with a digital extension. It was an exciting shot that used a lot of different techniques. My other favorite is panning down from Syrena to her tail just after Phillip immobilizes her with his sword. Astrid looks great in the shot. The lighting on the tail is lovely and the blend is seamless, so I think it’s a beautiful shot that showcases the mermaid tails nicely.

 

You have been nominated a few times for an Oscar. Do you feel any pressure to uphold or improve that level of “perfection” in future projects?

BEN:  Absolutely. We always try and top ourselves with each project.

 

Besides the mermaids, you also were involved in the shrinking ships in bottles. What could you explain to us about this?

BEN:  This was a fun sequence that was done by our Singapore ILM studio under my supervision. We shot some ships in bottle props on set and then replaced the ships in the closer shots with a full environment with the Black Pearl, stormy CG water, lightning and so on. In one shot we used a real monkey and in others it was a digital monkey.

 

Did Disney give you any guidelines as to how scary or dark you could go with the mermaids?

BEN:  Yes, they actually encouraged us to really explore the scary side. In the end, Rob Marshall decided to reign back a little on the more creaturesque aspects and go for something which preserved more of the beauty of the original actresses. And I think this was the right decision – they still seem plenty scary enough.

 

When putting the different scenes together – at what point did you switch between the actresses and the swimmer athletes, and how did you comp it together?

BEN:  The swimmers were used as a reference guide for our animators adding CG mermaids to shots. We used the actresses when we were closer to the mermaids and added scales, tendrils and tails.

 

You said that in 3D size is important – concerning that, what are your opinions towards mobile TV / Movies on handheld devices?

BEN:  I had a lot of fun playing with the small screens of 3D portable players but I’m not sure how a 3D film would play on them. I think it’s fun but I’d prefer Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides be seen in a theater or on a large 3D television screen and in Blu-ray 3D. That said, I did recently see the film on a plane in 2D and equally enjoyed the story and characters…so it works in any format.

 

Did a fluid medium (something the normal watcher of a movie doesn’t experience on a daily basis, compared to moving on land) give you a bigger range of possible actions, or do you think that when switching mediums you have to be more constricted to physical possibilities?

BEN:  We tried to keep things as physically real as possible but definitely exploited the underwater medium to play with depth and perspective with the mermaids – so it was quite freeing in that way.

 

Who are your mentors and do you confer with them frequently?

BEN:  For Pirates it was great to have John Knoll and Hal Hickel who worked on the previous films at ILM close by. John has been a mentor over the years – he was a supervisor on Star Trek: Generations, which was the first film I did at ILM. Dennis Muren has long been an inspiration and a mentor – he was a big collaborator on Star Wars, Episode II and is someone I can always bounce ideas off of or ask for an opinion.

 

Its one thing to use ILM’s tracking suits on dry land / on the deck of a ship in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” but quite another to use this kind of technology in a water-filled environment. Can you talk about how you and your team worked around / dealt with these production challenges on “On Stranger Tides”?

BEN:   We definitely had to up the ante. While we utilized our patented Imocap suits and technology, we also developed some new tracking approaches for getting a match to the surface (since we had to seamlessly blend skin to skin) and tools for trying to cancel out the refraction of the water.

 

How much input do directors have in your work? Are some more “hands on” while others give you more freedom to work?

BEN:  Some directors are more hands on than others but all have lots of input and the final say. I’ve been lucky that most directors I’ve worked with are very collaborative, inviting us to contribute ideas, using some and rejecting others. It’s all part of the creative process.

 

What makes a visual effect stunning and memorable?

BEN:  For me it’s when the effect is wonderful and fantastical and something that you haven’t seen before. When you either don’t realize it’s an effect or are scratching your head because you know it can’t be real but can’t work out how it was done.

 

Q.        Did you have any conversations with Astrid in regards to the CG component of her character? What she could expect to see in the finished film, etc?

A.         Astrid came to Industrial Light & Magic for scanning and photography her first day on the film and right from the get go, discussed her character and how we could make the mermaid work well. She was conscious of helping us do our job and even let us re-photograph her later on to help with one of the trickier shots once the filming was done and she happened to be visiting San Francisco and came to say hello. She was a terrific collaborator and making her character Syrena work was something she was passionate about.

 

What were the visual effects created by Industrial Light & Magic besides the amazing mermaids?

BEN: We did the ships in bottles, the fountain of youth scenes, Blackbeard’s death, a bunch of digital matte paintings for the island and the mermaid cove. We also supervised work done at Scanline VFX in Germany on the sequences when Jack Sparrow had drops of water dancing on his fingers and the animated water as they enter the fountain.

 

What proved to be the biggest challenge in the making of the mermaid scenes?

BEN:  The biggest challenge was the creative one of how much to play them as creatures and how much as human. Ultimately, Rob Marshall decided to keep them as human as possible, and that was itself a huge challenge because of a phenomenon that they call “The Uncanny Valley” in robotics. The more human something artificial starts looking, the creepier it looks. So it was a lot of work to make the CG mermaids more and more human looking, changing their seaweed hair to human hair and their faces to matching the actresses more exactly.

 

What do you do when you want to create a certain effect in a film and you don’t have the technology to obtain that effect? Was there ever the case?

BEN: A big part of the fun of my job is coming up with the technology to achieve a certain effect. Luckily I work with an amazing group of people here at ILM and I don’t think we would ever turn down a challenge.

 

Do you have any anecdotes that you can share about the Mermaid Lagoon shoot on the back lot of Universal Studios Hollywood?

BEN:  We had a great time working on the mermaid lagoon, surrounded by the lovely mermaid actresses and swimmers. My colleagues who got to apply our motion tracking bands to the mermaid costumes told me I’d given them the greatest job of their careers. The mermaids all knew their names and would call out friendly greetings as they were working around the set, arousing the envy of the rest of the crew. It was also a blast working at Falls Lake in the middle of Universal Studios and being part of the studio tour as we were setting up for the evenings work.

 

J!-ENT: What advice would you give to someone who dreams about wanting to get a job in the visual effects industry?

BEN:  Don’t give up! I was a dreamer for many years. I started in the industry at the bottom as a runner and then worked my way up. Try and get the skills you think would help but most importantly, grab a video camera and make movies with your friends, at school, etc. You really have to love this job because of the hours and the stress but it is immensely rewarding.

 

After working in the ‘Iron Man’ franchise, with cold technological armors, you had to deal with mermaids in ‘Pirates’. How it was the experience? Where did you find the main challenges in a first approach?

BEN: It was great to work on an organic creature again after all the metal of Iron Man and Terminator. But like Iron Man, we had to use the best of our existing on-set tracking tools and invent a few new ones to match the bodies to the performers but in this case it was the surface of their skin. We also had to create skin, hair and everything else that goes into an organic creature, which is a different set of challenges to a metal suit.

 

You used a hybrid approach for the mermaids, with CG and real action performance. Was it particularly complicated to find the right balance? How did you create these mermaids?

BEN: It was complicated, and a big creative question we struggled with. Ultimately Rob Marshall decided to go with more human mermaids and we used the actresses when we had them, got a couple of the mermaids back to film them for a couple of shots that had been more creaturesque, and put all our skills with creating digital doubles to use. We used every trick in the book – match-animation, facial motion capture, digital skin and a lot of compositing techniques with splashes and fog to make it all hang together.

 

J!-ENT: Ben, any final thoughts that you’d like to share on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides?

BEN:  I’ve really enjoyed the questions in this roundtable session, so thank you all. I loved the chance to create our version of the mermaids for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. There were definitely some big challenges but I’m happy with the results and am very glad that audiences around the world have embraced the film, and the mermaids. Although I’d warn people to be careful about embracing mermaids as the movie shows.

 

Pirates of the Last Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will be released on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on Oct. 18, 2011

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith interviews actress Penelope Lagos (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

With her beautiful smile that lights up the screen in the short “Madcap Mabel”, actress/model Penelope Lagos has won over audiences with her role of real life silent actress and Hollywood’s first comedienne, Mabel Normand.

Penelope Lagos is currently promoting her latest feature film “Stuck” which will be screening at the Tribeca Grand Hotel on Sept. 30th and also screening at the Downbeach film Festival on the weekend of Oct. 14th in Atlantic City, NJ.

J!-ENT recently had the opportunity to interview the Penelope about  her life, modeling, her passion about acting and the various films that she has appeared in.

Click here to download the article (PDF Format)

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith interviews Japanese music duo CHEMISTRY (Yoshikuni Douchin and Kaname Kawabata) (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

The Japanese music duo CHEMISTRY are one of Japan’s musical success stories.

Both vocalist, Yoshikuni Douchin and Kaname Kawabata were among the many thousands who came out to audition for a record label contract.  Both young men won and instead of solo career, they were brought together and CHEMISTRY was born.

Since their debut in 2001, the duo has had many chart-topping hits and most recently, the duo made their US debut in Baltimore with a live performance at OTAKON 2011.

As the duo are celebrating their 10th year anniversary, J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recently had the opportunity to interview CHEMISTRY.

Click here to read the interview (PDF Article)

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith interviews KYLEE (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

You have probably seen her on the news recently.  Kylee, the real life Hannah Montana!

And it’s all true.  Arizona high school student, Kylee Saunders, is a teenager who lives a normal life in the United States.  But in Japan, she’s known as Kylee the pop star.

Having released several singles in Japan (a few used as theme songs for anime series and a live film), Kylee recently performed in the US in Baltimore, Maryland at OTAKON 2011.

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recently interviewed Kylee about her dual life in the U.S. and Japan, her music and much more!

Click here to download the PDF article

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith interviews SCANDAL (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Popular Japanese rock quartet SCANDAL (Epic Records) returned to America for a performance in Anaheim, California on July 3rd.

With a new album and single coming out, J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recently interviewed SCANDAL leader (vocalist/guitarist) HARUNA. The two discuss the band’s music, their upcoming releases, how the band members feel about their fan-made videos of playing their music on YouTube and much more!

To download the interview, please click here

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith interviews pop star/actor Yuya Matsushita (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Yuya Matsushita, some may consider him the Japanese equivalent to Justin Timberlake.  The guy can sing, dance and he’s also an actor starring in several films and dramas in Japan.

Recently, Yuya Matsushita performed in the United States in San Jose, California for FanimeCon 2011.

J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recently interviewed Yuya about performing in the U.S., his music and acting career and more!  Concert photos are by J!-ENT’s Nergene Arquelada.

Click here to download the interview (PDF format)

Exclusive Interview with the Japanese rock band, FLOW by Dennis A. Amith (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

In Japan, FLOW is a popular rock band known for many of their chart topping hits which have been featured on various TV shows, including Japanese animated series.

Recently, the band performed in San Jose, California for FanimeCon and J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith recently had the opportunity to interview the band and photographer Nergene Arquelada covered their concert performance.

You can download our interview with FLOW here.

“LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZEN” Movie Review (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

Andrew Lau’s “Legend of the First: The Return of Chen Zen” starring Donnie Yee (“Ip Man”) will be released in theaters in the US this month!

Legendary Kung Fu hero Chen Zhen is an iconic cultural mainstay in China and Hong Kong, having spawned both record-breaking feature films and a TV series. Over the years, martial arts legends such as Bruce Lee (FIST OF FURY) and Jet Li (FIST OF LEGEND) have played the popular hero. In LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN, Donnie Yen continues this rich historical legacy, but with a brand new take on the urban legend.

In 1920s China, the nation is divided by infighting. Japan has become the most powerful force in Asia, taking over Northern Shanghai. With the city torn in half by international conflict, the popular nightclub “Casablanca” has become a hotbed of spies, mobsters, English officials and the Japanese military- all looking to gain control of the country, with little regard for what happens to its citizens.

Into this den of intrigue enters Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen), who has returned to China after fighting alongside the Allied forces in Europe, bringing some dark secrets from his past along with him. During the day, he’s known as “Ku”, and appears to be just another wealthy playboy. But at night, he takes to the street as a masked warrior, determined to subvert the Japanese invasion while becoming entangled with the sultry Kiki (Played by Shu Qi), who has a dangerous secret of her own. When his past catches up to him, Zhen is faced with near impossible odds- but his skills are formidable, and he’s up to the challenge.

Combining the best of today’s martial arts and superhero action with the classic spy thrillers of the past (and a healthy dollop of film noir on top), LEGEND OF THE FIST is the rare action film that truly gives the audience something they’ve never seen before.

Click here to read J!-ENT’s Dennis A. Amith’s review of “LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZEN”

The One About the Sling Adapter (Dish Network) (Metro Media Complex)

The Sling Adapter from Dish Network turned out to be more of a useful product that I expected.  Great for those who own an iPad or iPhone!

I was first offered the Sling Adapter from our local Dish Network when we upgraded to an HD DVR. What I liked was that you can be anywhere around the world and via Internet, access your Dish Network DVR and watch a program anywhere. And I figured, why would I need this? The last thing I needed, was to be busy at work and then having the TV play on our cell phone, iPad or device.

But the reason why I purchased it was for the main purpose of giving my wife and child access to the DVR when I’m busing watching something on the main TV (movie, playing video games, etc.) So, now they can watch Dish Network on her laptop, computer or iPad. So, no more kicking me off the TV or vice versa.

I. THE SLING ADAPTER

The Sling Adapter is quite thin. It just sits on top of our DVR but it’s a device as pictured…just plug it in to the back of your Dish Network DVR, connect to the Internet (I use a Logitech HD Powerline 200a, so one of the Powerline Adapters is connected to the router and the other one is connected to a wall socket that plugs into the Sling Adapter) and that’s it.

II. HOW IT WORKS

You then go on Dishnetwork.com and log in and go to my account and then to DISH Remote Access. And you can access what’s on your DVR, watch any program or schedule your DVR from your computer Laptop, iPhone or iPad. There is an app for iPhone and iPad. Very easy to use and lag depends on if you are doing many things on your computer. Note: Only one person can access the sling adapter at one time.

Aside from giving my wife and son another way to catch their shows when their father is hogging up the TV, I found it important during an emergency situation.

On March 10, 2011, the Sling Adapter had become so important in my life. On the day of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, while I was working and talking with a client from Japan late that night (afternoon, March 2011 in Japan), the earthquake hit and she had no idea what was going on and it was long. I was on Twitter and Japanese news trying to get updates of what was going on and I was able to access CNN from my iPad via the Sling Adapter and watching the US news, while utilizing my other work computers to watch the live Japanese news via Ustream.

The Sling Adapter was so useful as I was on the Internet working on the news of this disaster while watching both Japan and American news broadcasts. Although I was in the US at the time of the disaster, I realized, that if I was in Japan on business at the time and had access to the Internet, I could still watch the CNN broadcast or if you have NHK on your Dish Network service, I could have access that as well. Anything from Dish Network, I could access anywhere around the world from my iPad or iPhone through the use of my Dish Network service, DVR and Sling Adapter.

Also, I was recently at a relative’s place who had Internet access but wished he had access to a sports game. No problem, I told him that I can access it using his Wi-Fi and then connecting to Dish Network on my iPad and sure enough, we were able to catch the game.

Another an example recently was when I traveled with family members. My father had to take a stop to a Ham Radio event and we were left in the car for which seemed like over an hour or maybe even two. Fortunately, where the event was located, there was free access to Wi-Fi and once again we were able to access Dish Network via the iPad through the Sling Adapter and tada…the kids had access to programming.

Overall, At first, I thought this device was something I would never use but now I realized how awesome this device is. It was more useful in our lives than I would have expected and I saw the importance of it especially during emergency situations.

It’s only $99-$100+ and there is no extra cost from Dish Network to utilize this device.

I give this device my highest recommendation!

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