American Horror Story Announces A Murder House and Coven Crossover Season

American Horror Story’s creator Ryan Murphy dropped a bomb about the future of AHS while attending EW’s PopFest. Murphy had already mentioned a future revisit to AHS’s third season Coven, linked to Lady Gaga’s Roanoke role, however, Murphy further revealed it would actually directly link to another of the show’s seasons as an official crossover.

Murphy revealed, “We do know what we’re going to do“. “It’s not going to be the next season, but we are going to do a season that’s a crossover between Murder House and Coven together, which is very bizarre.

Murphy further clarified, “There will be characters from Murder House and characters from Coven together” which as you can imagine it sent the panel’s audience into a spin. However, Murphy also confirmed the crossover will not take place during the show’s seventh season, largely because of scheduling such huge names at the same time. Murphy stated “I’ve already started going to actors from both of the seasons, quietly, saying, ‘I think in the window if you could fit us in,‘ “so yeah , it’s fun. It’s weird.”

You can catch American Horror Story Wednesdays at 10pm on FX

The Walking Dead SN7 EP03-‘The Cell’

Life on Easy Street isn’t too fun for Daryl as we learnt more about how The Saviours operate.

We’re on Easy Street, and it feels so sweet…

Not the first song you’d expect to find playing on The Walking Dead is it? Well this episode was all about taking our expectations and amplifying them ten-fold to show Daryl at his lowest, and ensuring (if the premiere episode wasn’t enough for you) we know just how despicable Negan and The Saviours are.

The episode really focused on two people, similar in many ways, but with one big exception: one chooses to kneel, the other doesn’t. These two people are of course Dwight and Daryl, and this episode went a long way to making Dwight a much more rounded character. His behaviour towards Daryl since he joined The Saviours again has been a point of mystery for a while now, but this episode made clear that everything he’s done, he’s done for Sherry, and Daryl probably reminds him of what could have been. The Dwight we see throughout this episode is conflicted, and we see that develop as the episode goes on, but that doesn’t stop him from being a complete ass. The opening montage of him moving through The Sanctuary, using his elite status to take what he wants, showed a side to Dwight that is happy to abuse the power he has, but as we later see this power comes at a price.

You certainly get the feeling that Dwight doesn’t agree with what he’s doing. In hunting down the man who’d had enough of life at The Sanctuary, we find him making some truly disturbing threats that go completely against the man we first met last season. He’s tricking himself into believing the things he’s doing are what he has to do, lying to himself so that he doesn’t feel the weight of his action, but ultimately he’s a good man. That is if you can call shooting a man in the chest good. Technicalities aside, having such a conflicted character on the show, one we should hate but who’s got just enough hope in him that he might come back from the darkness, is very exciting. In one episode, Dwight became one of the most interesting characters on the show, and that’s impressive in an episode that saw him slowly breaking down a fan favourite character.

Speaking of said fan favourite, this episode was a big one for Daryl. I have to immediately commend the performance of Norman Reedus in this episode. In terms of speech he wasn’t really given much to do, which made it all the more powerful whenever Daryl did speak, but what he did with his facial expressions and body language this episode said more than a thousand words ever could. When he was dragged off at the end of the season premiere, we could see Daryl was being treated like an animal, forced to cower away from the weapons pointed at him, and this episode went all in on that idea. He was literally fed dog food, whilst being kept naked in a cold, empty, windowless cell. As if it couldn’t get any worse for him, he was forced to listen to the same song over and over again, and eventually given a picture of Glenn’s mushed up head, all in an effort to truly break him.

It was as difficult to watch as it was seeing Glenn and Abrahams heads bashed in during Episode 1. There the general brutality and gore made it hard, but here it was just difficult viewing a character we care so much about being slowly tortured. Whilst it was only 45 minutes for us, that was likely days for Daryl. Several days during which he was beaten, tormented, tortured and really just made to break. Events remained tense throughout the episode, simply because it was never clear what people were going to do. Though Daryl ultimately ended up staying true to himself, refusing to take Negan’s name, it would have been completely understandable had he not. Meanwhile there were characters such as Dwight and Sherry around who were clearly not comfortable with everything Negan’s doing, and who would probably turn against him given a push.

Life on Easy Street, or at the very least life at The Sanctuary, seems to be quite busy, so other notable highlights include:

• I really liked Sherry during this episode. She clearly loves Dwight, enough to subject herself to Negan in order to save him, but it seems she’s not as far gone as Dwight is. She tries to give Daryl help, not to escape, but to make life easier for him there. If she finds some courage, she might be instrumental in getting Daryl out of Negan’s custody.

• We were given a fairly detailed look at how things are at The Sanctuary during that opening montage. They’ve clearly got quite the set up there, with gardens and fresh bread, but it’s not the kind of place that looks great to live in. Actual living space for general people looked small, with thin sheets dividing everything up. Overall it’s clear that Negan rules over the people there with fear.

• The man Dwight killed made clear that if they were dedicated enough a revolution could happen. Clearly Negan himself would be outnumbered, but it remains a case of whether the militia he’s assembled remain loyal to him, and I’ve got a feeling they would.

• This episode is probably the greatest showcase of how sturdy Daryl is, but also how vulnerable as well. It’s easy to dismiss Daryl as simply the cool, godlike power of the group who never seems to be affected by anything, but this episode proved how much he cares. He’ll forever blame himself for Glenn’s death, and the way he broke down when shown that picture of Glenn shows just how human he is. It was a heartbreaking moment, but it also feeds into his desire to keep fighting Negan. Daryl isn’t likely to rest until Glenn, Abraham and even Denise are avenged, so I’d be worried if I were Negan or Dwight.

• Negan himself felt a little less threatening this episode. It’s clear no one wants to kill off Daryl, but given his continued resistance it goes against Negan’s character to keep him alive. Sure it’s early days yet and Negan still thinks he can break him, but it will eventually come to a point where the writers can’t justify him not killing Daryl, and I’m not quite sure what would happen then.

The Walking Dead painted a grim picture of life under Negan’s rule this episode, giving us further insight to The Saviours way of life and the place they call home. Focusing on Dwight and Daryl, the episode showed us the two extremes of Negan life. One extreme saw Dwight continue to abandon his humanity for a more comfortable life, whilst the other extreme saw Daryl stand by his morals and be tortured for doing so. The Walking Dead is going to some seriously dark places at the moment, and as the Season continues, the worst is no doubt yet to come.

P.S. I’ve listened to this song about 20 times now. I can’t stop! It’s too damn catchy!

 

Stranger Things Season 2 Enters Production With Key Character Returning

A couple months back it was confirmed by Netflix that ‘Stranger Things’ would be returning for a second season sometime in 2017. Though a firm release date it still a ways off, the official Twitter account tweeted out the first cast photo, with the exciting words “Back in production”!

The photo was flipped upside down in reference to the horrifying alternate dimension featured so heavily in the show’s first season, and it revealed some exciting information. After a rather ambiguous end to her story in Season One, it was unclear whether Millie Bobby Brown would be returning as Eleven in the next season, especially given how secretive both the actress and creators were being. Any fears she would sit out the next run of episodes have been alleviated now though, as she’s clearly sat amongst a host of other new and returning cast members.

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— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) November 4, 2016

Also featured in the photo are newcomers Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery, as well as returning cast Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Natalia Dyer (Nancy), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan), Joe Keery (Steve), and Noah Schnapp (Will). It was also confirmed that Winona Ryder (Joyce) and David Harbour (Jim) are also set to return.

The show is getting an extra episode this next season taking the total to 9, and will be set in Autumn 1984 roughly a year after the events of the first season. As well as the return of fan favourite Eleven, the show’s creators have promised ‘Justice for Barb’, stating that though the character might be dead, she’ll have a lasting impact going forward.

‘Stranger Things’ Season 2 comes to Netflix in 2017.

Doctor Who Christmas Special Preview To Air On Children In Need

During BBC’s Children In Need charity appeal night on Friday 18th November, the broadcaster is set to air the first preview clip from the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’.

The sneak peek will see The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Nardole (Matt Lucas) team up with an investigative reporter (Charity Wakefield) and a masked vigilante (Justin Chatwin) in order to defend New York from Alien invasion.

The clip will carry on the tradition of sneak previews airing as part of Children In Need, as a way to attract more viewers to the appeal show. The show begins at 7pm on the 18th, however there’s never a given schedule for the different parts, so you’ll just have to stick around until the clip airs. It’s well worth it though, with the show playing host to a variety of exclusive comedy sketches featuring your favourite actors, as well as live music performances and more. It’s usually a fun watch then, and this sneak peek will just add to the excitement.

‘Doctor Who’ returns Christmas Day on BBC One.

Big Hero 6 Cast Return For Animated Series

Disney’s 2014 box office hit ‘Big Hero 6’ is returning with its very own animated series set to premiere on Disney (XD) in 2017, and it’s been announced that the series is set to include much of the original cast from the Oscar winning film.

Reprising their roles are: Ryan Potter as technological genius Hiro, Scott Adist as huggable robot Baymax, Genesis Rodriguez as sweet scientist Honey Lemon, Jamie Chung as the no nonsense GoGo, Maya Rudolph as Aunt Cass, Alan Tudyk as businessman Alistair Krei, David Shaughnessy as patient butler Heathcliff and the cameo master himself Stan Lee as Fred’s Dad.

Unfortunately not all the original film’s cast members are returning, with the two major absences being T.J Miller and Daymon Wayans Jr. as comic enthusiast Fred and voice of reason Wasabi respectively. Instead, former SNL cast member Brooks Wheelan will be taking over the role of Fred, whilst Khary Payton, currently ruling over The Walking Dead as King Ezekiel, will voice Wasabi.

All in all a pretty star studded cast wouldn’t you say? It doesn’t stop there though, as a great rake of guest stars have been announced as well. These include: Andrew Scott (Sherlock) as a villain named Obake, Andy Richter (Conan) as Globby, Jenifer Lewis (black-ish) as Professor Granville, Diedrich Bader (American Housewife) as Bluff Dunder, Sean Giambrone (The Goldbergs) as Richardson Mole, Susan Sullivan (Castle) as Fred’s Mother, Haley Tju (Bella and the Bulldogs) as classmate Karmi and John Ross Bowie (Speechless) as Mel.

Kim Possible creators Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley and Nick Fillippi have adapted the series and will serve as executive producers. The series will follow on directly from the film, but there’s no word yet on whether this rules out a sequel.

‘Big Hero 6: Animated Series’ will premiere on Disney (XD) in 2017. In the meantime, remind yourself how awesome the film was by watching the trailer below.

Agents of SHIELD SN4 EP05-‘Lockup’

A prison break releases all the secrets in an action packed episode.

Five episodes into its 4^th season and Agents of Shield shows no sign of slowing down, as we were given yet another episode full of action whilst the ghost plot moved forward in a significant way. I say significant, but we really have no idea just where they’re going with this storyline at the moment, which makes the fact that it is so compelling all the more impressive. Unfortunately, whilst the introduction of these supernatural elements and the mystery behind them is interesting, the ghosts themselves just aren’t. Indeed, two were killed by the Ghost Rider as the episode wore on, but with such little time dedicated to the characters it hardly felt like the achievement for the team that it should have done. Their deaths left only one ghost standing, and whilst she’s certainly been fleshed out more than the others, interest in her character is still lacking. Agents of Shield has always done a good job of keeping their villains just as compelling as the heroes, and unless they follow suit with this ghost, the storyline runs the risk of falling flat.

The ghosts may have been the villains at the forefront of the drama this episode, but that didn’t stop the progression of other emerging foes. Senator Nadir made another blood boiling appearance advocating against the Inhumans. I’m enjoying the political aspect of the show as it was something that was glossed over when Shield was legitimate back in Season 1. It also helps, though it’s a scary thought, that the conversations happening on Shield about Inhumans versus Humans are so similar to conversations happening in the real world about different races and religions. Having a storyline that so closely relates to real world politics makes it resonate that much more and really increases the stakes. We want Director Smiles to beat Senator Nadir, because if he doesn’t, then it makes a similar outcome in the real world feel all that more likely. That being said, it seems there’s a lot more to Director Smiles than meets the eye. His Inhuman secret might be out, but it looks like Simmons is harbouring something just as big about him, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all unravels.

So the shadier characters inhabiting the show at the moment are certainly getting their due, but that doesn’t mean the drama stops with them. This episode saw what should’ve been a routine prisoner transfer escalate into an all-out prison riot. It was fun to watch all the different dynamics at play here. Pairing Robbie and Mack was always going to make for some laughs given the latter’s deep mistrust for anything out of the ordinary, and it was good to see a shred of trust develop between the two throughout the episode. Of course this was all torn down towards the end, but it gave an idea as to how Robbie could be integrated into the team.

Elsewhere it was also great seeing Coulson, May and Daisy team up, with some surprising revelations brought forth. Coulson kept pressing May for what she saw after she died, and the eventual answer was rather sweet and potentially hints at things to come. The conversation itself surfaced quite abruptly mid-scene, and the lack of context given made Coulson’s insistence on an answer feel like more of an annoyance than anything else. It definitely makes sense. Coulson’s experience of death was warped and stripped away by the Tahiti project, so bringing up the notion that he’d want to know about what he might have experienced when killed is a good story to run with. I feel however that such a potentially emotional story for him could have been given the time it deserved in a different episode, rather than feeling like it was shoehorned into this one. That aside, it was certainly sweet to learn that May saw Coulson when she died. It’s as yet unknown whether this is pointing to a romantic relationship between the two, or whether it was as a result of their strong friendship, but either way it only works to strengthen the already brilliant relationship between the two.

S.H.I.E.L.D Zephyr One Report Log_Events of Interest and Enquiry:

• Daisy’s suicidal tendencies this episode gave us an idea of just how dark a place she’s at right now, but enough hasn’t been done to really justify her current attitude. It’s understandable she’s messed up following Lincoln’s death, but as it stands, her actions seem that of a person wanting to get herself killed, than of a vigilante searching for justice for her people. In addition, her attitude toward the team is starting to wear thin as well. Maybe it’s because we’ve seen this behaviour from May before so it’s not feeling as fresh, but something needs to change.

• Looks like everyone’s had a little moment with Daisy right now. May’s was surprisingly heartfelt, speaking to how much she’s grown to love Daisy, but with everyone having spoken to her and no one getting through it remains to be seen just what will bring her back.

• Simmons sure got manipulative this episode didn’t she? Blackmailing the Inhuman Director of Shield may not be the best way to go about things, but at least she doesn’t have to take lie detector tests anymore. There’s just a chance that she’s in a whole other kind of danger now.

• It’s still unclear as to why Ghost Rider surfaces within Robbie. Mack was clearly worried it’s whenever he loses control, but given what he did to that prisoner there must be some sort of choice in the matter. If Ghost Rider surfaced whenever vengeance was necessary, that whole prison would’ve been burned to the ground. With the origin episode up next though I’m sure we’ll find out.

• Have to praise both the fight choreography and the special effects this week. Ghost Rider continues to look fantastic, and his execution of the ghosts was a visual treat, watching them disintegrate into a whole lot of different pieces. The fight scenes meanwhile were huge in scale with a lot of moving parts, so to have them succeed with such flair was an amazing feat.

As Agents of Shield Season 4 continues on the compelling stories just keep coming at us, even if it’s in no way clear just where they might end up. Whilst the antagonistic forces within the show could do with some extra screentime to make them interesting, the storylines they’re driving are full of intrigue and mystery. We learnt there was more to both Director Smiles and Robbie’s pasts this episode, with both looking set to be rather dark. With intrigue building, and revelations spilling out from all sides, Agents of Shield is in a very exciting place indeed.

Lucifer SN02-EP06 ‘Monster’

Our handsome Devil was certainly a hot mess this week! Clearly, guilt is having a huge effect on Lucifer, but before we get into this weeks episode lets have a quick recap of last weeks episode

Recap SN02-EP05 ‘Weaponizer’

Lucifer’s brother Uriel (Michael Imperioli) makes an appearance to collect on the deal Lucifer made with his father. Uriel was responsible for the accident Det. Decker was in and warns Lucifer if he dosesn’t hand over their mother Charlotte he will finish what he started and kill Decker, Uriel gives Lucifer 24 hours to hand Charlotte over. Not one to be told what to do Lucifer kills his brother Uriel to save both Decker and Charlotte.

 

SN02-EP06 ‘Monster’

A Zombie-themed wedding is taking place when shots are fired from an unseen gunman, wounding the groom but killing his bride. Chloe (Lauren German) and Dan (Kevin Alejandro) begin investigating and Lucifer (Tom Ellis) graces everyone with his presence, looking like a hot mess who has been drinking all night. Lucifer is clearly grappling with guilt after he had to kill his brother Uriel ( Michael Imperioli) to keep his Charlotte (Tricia Helfer) and Chole safe.

Chloe is still getting used to living with Maze (Lesley-Ann Brandt), Trixi (Scarlett Esteves) and Maze are in the living room and Trixie is very pleased to be swinging on a swing, but it is no normal swing it is a sex swing, much to Chole’s horror. Chole agrees to let Maze take Trixie out for trick-or-treating so Chloe can keep working the case. This should be interesting! Maze and Trixie hit the streets and Maze uses her standover tactics and gets Trixie more candy and money, in the spirit of Halloween Maze reveals part of her true face to Trixie, Trixie laughs and thinks it’s a cool costume, and right in that minute you can see Maze feel excepted, Chloe finds Trixi and Maze asleep together on the lounge.

Amenadiel (D.B. Woodside) is also struggling with the death of Uriel as well as his own problems with losing his powers, visits his Mum Charlotte who tries to lift his spirits by praising the way he has always done what his father has asked of him without question. Amenadiel criticises God for allowing all that has happened to the family, and the fact he is never around. Chloe tracks the wedding sniper to a hospital, and Lucifer steps in front of the man’s next intended victim, hoping to be shot himself. Chole gets the upper hand is able to arrest him without further incident.

Lucifer Visits Dr Martin (Rachael Harris), calling himself a monster and confessing to her that his killed his brother. Lucifer tells Dr Martin that he has only ever been a punisher, he has never killed anyone before. Lucifer starts to tell her the true story, and Dr Martin interrupts, asking him to stop speaking in metaphors and tells him she can no longer help him if he isn’t honest about who he truly is. Lucifer then reveals his true face to Dr Martin, which leave her in a state of shock. He obviously trusts her to reveal his face to a human.

Check out the preview of next weeks episode 7 below

Catch Lucifer on Monday’s at 9/8c on FOX

Enver Gjokaj, Michael Rowe and Violett Beane talk Sci-Fi, Representation and What it Means to be an Actor

Starstruck fans of the science-fiction TV show genre were delighted at the announcements of three stars from the biggest shows in sci-fi; Enver Gjokaj (Dollhouse, Agent Carter, Dexter), Michael Rowe (Arrow, Tomorrowland: A World Beyond, Lies) and Violett Beane (The Flash, The Leftovers, Tower)

Gjokaj began the panel solo, grinning as he walked in. “You know the fight between Marvel and DC? Looks like Marvel won. Those guys won’t be joining us.”

He takes his seat, and the first question is in regards to why Agent Carter had such an intense and adoring fanbase. Gjokaj ponders, then mentions that it had the same issues Dollhouse had, first of all that it just didn’t have the right home.

“With Agent Carter, the truth of the matter is, a female led sci-fi/fantasy show is hard for the networks to get people to come and watch. As much as fans like it, as much as there’s a group of people who are ready for that – like, beyond ready – network television is still a place where they gotta get a bunch of eyeballs. And I don’t blame them, that’s just how the money works.”

With Agent Carter it does seem to be the issue – whilst the petitions to bring Peggy Carter’s show back for a third season reached thousands upon thousands of signatures, the network numbers themselves did not do well. Whilst fans are still battling with Netflix, Hulu and other media outlets to bring her back, there hasn’t been a sure sign of anyone picking the show back up.

“ABC really wanted that. They really wanted to push that, they were really behind it. They gave it a whole second season. It was just hard, it didn’t really find a large enough audience. But I think the people who really loved it, it’s because…unfortunately, it’s ahead of it’s time, or you could say that it’s totally overdue.”

“But Hayley? Sometimes you find an actor who just melds so perfectly – I mean she’s brilliant in everything – but with that character, it’s just such a perfect meld. The concept is great but then Hayley is so much of an integral part of the show.”

Gjojak also mentioned that what he also found attractive about the show was taking the idea of a Noir, detective style show, with a detective who punches his way through situations with a secretary by his side – but with a woman playing the lead role. “It’s a great, great concept…” he trails off. “As I start to cry.” Despite the joke, it’s clear from the way Gjojak speaks of Agent Carter that he does think incredibly highly of the show. “It was just really smart, the writers are fantastic, great concept, great execution, great actors – and you get used to it as an actor, you know? Getting your heart broken, it’s not fair.”

Gjojak also goes on to talk about other roles – such as his adoration for his role in Dollhouse as Victor, one of the Dolls, and the fact that it was such a huge role that he’ll “never get again” because of the great concept. He also touches on working on Community as Luca – and explains how not only do they do re-writes between shows, but people behind the scenes shout new lines down the mics.

With the discussion heading back to Agent Carter, Gjojak is asked what he thinks about the impact of the show.

“As an actor, you’re kind of selfishly always looking for the next job.” He explains. “And by the time something comes out, I’m already onto the next job, so I’m not really thinking about the impact it has.”

“For me, the feedback that I’ve gotten from a lot of people has been from people who are disabled. And that it was really important for them to see – and this is just a small example of the impact that you can have being on a show. But playing a disabled character who is not commenting on it or not, ‘that’s his only defining characteristic’, just being a person who happens to have a disability, and then just moves on with his life.”

“I was blown away by how much feedback I got from people, that that was really important for them and that they weren’t the bad guy or they weren’t just kind of like a dork in the corner that was shoved off and told to stay over there. That they let that person be the love interest, and let them be together. And it didn’t really register with me how important that would be, for people.”

“We have an outsized influence on peoples perceptions,” He continues. “The fact that they can see it and that young women can see a strong, self-confident, kick-ass woman who’s really good at her job and who’s killing it. And it has an impact on people who are grown adults, because we like it and because we need it. But it has a bigger impact on  young people because it’s formative. ”

“This show was something I felt so, so good about being a part of, that I wasn’t just putting distraction into the universe. I was part of something with a good message.”

Gjokaj is then asked what the next step is in terms of role – that if he was speaking to a casting director about his next step, what would he ask for?

“Everybody asks you that as an actor,” He shakes his head. “And the truth of the matter is, life – and definitely life as an actor – is not “Fill in the Blank”, it’s multiple choice. You take the best job that’s offered to you. And you actually spend most of your life as a young actor freaking out and really upset that you didn’t get some job, and then a job comes along that’s just so much better, and you’re so glad that you didn’t get that job.”

“Being an actor kind of beats you into a zen – it breaks you.”

It’s shortly after this that Rowe and Beane finally join the fray – after a brief sit-down with Gjokaj and getting settled, the questions begin again.

Starting with Violett Beane, the question asks her what it means to be part of The Flash and why people all around the world love the show so much.

“It is an awesome show. That’s why people like it.” She beams with pride. “I mean, I think people of all ages and types can enjoy it, it’s super light-hearted and fun. But I love being on it because I get to be a superhero. I get to put on a suit, and look really cool, and work with amazing people, and work in an amazing city. I don’t know, its an incredible opportunity and I’m just so lucky.”

And how important is it for her to be a female hero in that universe that is so often male-dominated?

“Absolutely, I mean I don’t know how it’s take them so long. They had a female speedster but she was a villain. I don’t know how it’s taken them so long to do that, and you know the other female characters are slowly getting their powers and getting more of the spotlight in it. But yeah, you’re absolutely right. It feels amazing to be a part of that and to be a girl, a woman going into that. It’s great, and I think it’s important.”

And what was her reaction when she first saw the Jessie Quick costume?

“I was so psyched! Oh my gosh I’d been waiting so long for it to happen and it finally did. I love the suit, it fits like a glove and it’s perfect and, yeah. It’s great.”

The two DC’er’s are then asked about Flashpoint, and the fact that the DC shows are all crossing over a lot strongly now – which show would they love to be in on?

Rowe grins. “I want to go back on [The] Flash. It’s a fun set to work on, a little bit more of a looser kind of feel? That’d be fun. But Legends of Tomorrow seems like that’s a good time too. I’d check that out.”

“Yeah, Legends [of Tomorrow] does seem cool with all the time travel” Beane agrees. “Like I feel like you have a different look every episode, and that would just be so fun, to work with costumes and hair and make up. But Arrow would be really fun? I love Echo Callum over there, he’s a really good friend of mine.”

“But yeah, any of the shows. I mean they’re all up there now, so it’d be fun.”

The three then discuss their favourite moments on set.

Rowe confesses that the first stunt scene he ever rehearsed with the stunt team that he ripped the ass on his jeans. “That was pretty hilarious.”

“Hit a cameraman in the neck with a fake baton when I was supposed to throw it at one of the other stunt guys. There were a lot of bloopers that stand out in my head. Maybe I just have a cruel sense of humour?”

Beane suggests Rowe hit the cameraman with the baton on purpose. “I didn’t, I promise!” laughs Rowe.

Gjokaj’s favourite moment on set involves what he dubs as “Stroke Face Dominic Cooper” – naturally, a name caused by notorious prankster Hayley Atwell.

“Somebody snapped a picture, and it was upside down and from far away. So we zoomed in on his face and because of the lens warp, it was ridiculously messed up. And so we zoomed in and then we flipped it around – and it’s just the worst picture. We call it ‘Stroke Face Dominic Cooper.'”

“And he saw it and immediately was like, (insert English accent here) ‘No. Absolutely not. Not funny. Not funny.’ And he started grabbing everybody’s phones and they were like okay, we’ll delete it. And then all of the sudden you hear a bunch of phones go, ‘Ping!’ And Hayley had been deleting it, but then she emailed it to everyone.”

“And now, ‘Stroke Face Dom’ has been turned into a painting, it has been printed onto iPhone cases-”

“This has turned into his worst nightmare.” Nods Rowe, clearly showing that twisted sense of humour again at Cooper’s misfortune.

“It has become his worst nightmare,” Confirms Gjokaj, rubbing his hands together. “And I’m actually right now, I’ve commissioned something from somebody that is about to arrive at my house. I think it’s my pièce de résistance.”

“That’s amazing,” Beane laughs. “Well, nothing like that. We play a lot of games on set. Most recently, the game Exploding Kittens.” At the rooms confused stares (including Gjokaj and Rowe’s) she continues, “Okay, everyone at these conventions knows it, it’s awesome!”

Another interviewer asks what kind of advice they would give to a budding young actor who’s trying to break into the industry.

Beane recommends to be yourself. “And study your craft. I think it’s really important that you get into a class. It helps just learning and knowing what I’m doing.”

“With acting, it’s not always the same as being a musician where you can just pick up your guitar at any point in time, and you can play it, and learn and do more. You sort of need to be instructed and given scenes, and worked with by people. So I think it’s really important to study it, absolutely.”

“I always make sure people know what the reality of being an actor is like.” Gjokaj offers. “I always ask people ‘Have you ever interviewed for a job?’ And if they’re like yeah I ask, ‘well do you like it?’ and they’re like ‘no’ – that’s the job. That’s what being an actor is really like on a day-to-day basis. I interview for hundreds of jobs a year, and I’m rejected from most of them.”

Rowe advises that “if you love acting, do it. If you love it, do it and do it as much as you can. It’s like any job, just keep working and then something will happen at some point.”

Rowe is also asked about how the script issue coincides with his thoughts on the Suicide Squad interpretation of Deadshot.

“As far as the other Deadshot? I was really rooting for that movie to do well and to be something special. And you know…it is what it is. I’ll leave it at that.”

He also explains (being prompted by the question of what draws them to a project) that being an actor is reading a lot of crappy scripts – a lot. He then surprisingly confirms he hasn’t auditioned for a single role in over six months, because of the amount of scripts he’s read that he isn’t engaging with.

However, he delights the room by telling them that he’s working on his own movie currently, that he wrote, and is currently filming on the East Coast of Canada. “It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it’s going well and I’m enjoying it a lot.”

“If you’re offered a character, there’s two ways; it’s either you relate to it and it’s something that is familiar to you, or something so far away from that that you think ‘I wanna see if I can do that’, and you’re up for the challenge.”

Beane definitely agrees with that. “Definitely the story, and the characters, and their development is really important. I think it’s really important to, as a woman, to feel empowered by my role and not contribute to the mindset of what women have always been played as. I understand period pieces, and I understand certain races played certain roles in the past, and certain genders as well. And so if it’s a period piece I can understand it, but I also wanna be a part of the movement and the future, and so I look for roles that are empowering.”

Michael Rowe, Enver Gjojak and Violett Beane were special guests at MCM Comic Con in London.

T2 Trainspotting Trailer Released

20 years after the release of the iconic ’90s movie Trainspotting, Danny Boyle has reunited core cast Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewan Bremner, Kelly Macdonald and Robert Carlyle. T2, the long awaited sequel, will catch up with the lives of Renton, Sick Boy, Spud, Diane and Begbie two decades after the first film. Incredibly, all the characters have survived 20 years!

Writer/director Danny Boyle was quoted last year as saying that he’d always wanted to do a Trainspotting sequel, but wanted to leave it long enough for the characters to be interesting. The first film, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, was an iconic piece of ’90s pop culture. Its orange hued poster hung on the walls of many a student, and the introduction of characters with a freeze frame and their name flashing up has become a convention of many movies since.

The trailer, which was released this morning, got over 8,000 hits on YouTube in its first hour of being uploaded, with fans keen to see how the boys are coping with life in their 40s.

T2 Trainspotting is due for release 27th January 2017

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Agents of SHIELD SN4 EP04 -‘Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire’

Dire consequences bring Shield and Ghost Rider together as the supernatural mystery deepens.

There’s a lot going on in Agents of Shield at the moment. Outside the supernatural elements that popping up everywhere, we’ve got the subplot with Aida, and the rise of the Watchdogs. With all this happening at once it would be easy for the show to feel overstuffed, but at this episode expertly proved, there’s a way to tell each of those stories in a meaningful way by weaving them into one another. It would have been easy to keep the Ghost Rider stuff separate from what was going on with the Watchdogs, but making everything intersect keeps each story flowing and adds the exciting dynamic of a constantly connected world, rather than everything coming to a structured head in a mid-season finale.

Still, something has to take the forefront of the drama, so the Watchdogs once again took centre stage this episode. They’re being built up as a legitimate threat that was clearly proven in the last episode, but this one saw them falter a bit. We got to hear a lot about how the Watchdogs have been killing Inhumans all over the world, but we haven’t really seen it. Sure there was the assault on Yo-Yo in the previous episode but that ended in failure for them. It’s hard to view the Watchdogs as such a huge threat if we don’t get to witness any evidence for ourselves that backs this notion up.

Whilst they may not have been at their most threatening this episode, the Watchdogs did have some help in the form of a fiery old foe. Turns out the extremely volatile James was hit just as hard by the loss of Hive as Daisy was, and has since taken a disdain to all Inhumans, including himself. It was a surprising direction to go with the story. Given James’s rebellious tendencies, it was easy to go along with the idea that he’d join Daisy in her quest for vengeance, so to throw a Hive related spanner in the works was an unexpected, but brilliant idea. It also gave us another insight into the Inhuman psyche. Since they were introduced, a common theme with the Inhumans has been identity and their search for a place in the world. For James that place clearly lay with Hive, so with him out of the picture he has no reason left to live. His attitude towards himself was another example of the writers subverting expectations. He wasn’t teaming with the Watchdogs to save himself, he was doing it to ensure that once they got round to finally killing him, he’d be the only one left. His was a truly unexpected story arc this episode, and one that I hope to see fleshed out in the future.

So as Simmons and Sky fell victim to James’s scheming ways, the opposite end of the episode saw Coulson and Mack team up with the Ghost Rider himself. Ever since Robbie was announced to be on the show, a chase scene between he in his car and Coulson in Lola was inevitable and highly anticipated. Luckily they didn’t disappoint, delivering a thrilling chase scene with Coulson coming out victor. It would have been fun to see some of Lola’s special features put to use, but given Robbie’s car isn’t quite so fancy the imbalance would have made the scene less exciting.

It was only a matter of time before Robbie came into full on contact with Shield, but it was surprising how quickly Coulson chose to trust him. With the world likely at stake due to the ghostly goings on, it wasn’t exactly the time to be picky, but the mutual trust between Robbie and Coulson was a surprising but welcome takeaway from the episode. The teamup between Robbie, Shield and by the end of the episode Daisy, is due to the mutual enemy they all have. The ghosts need fleshing out a lot more if they’re going to feel like any sort of tangible threat, but with events regarding the Watchdogs seemingly moving on, we’ll hopefully see more from them. In any case there’s now a mysterious book on the scene that everyone’s looking for, and I doubt it will be easy. HAVING SEEN Doctor Strange, it’s been established that there are some very dangerous books out there in the MCU, so expect this one to wreak havoc of some sort.

S.H.I.E.L.D Zephyr One Report Log_Events of Interest and Enquiry:

• There’s still some clear scepticism regarding Robbie’s true origins abound, but with the upcoming origin story that’ll no doubt be cleared away. For now though it acts as a good source of humour.

• There was also a lot of humour to be had in Fitz and Radcliffe’s attempts to shield Aida’s true identity from the rest of the group. Aida definitely felt a lot more human this episode, but it’s always fun when a character says one thing and everyone else misconstrues it as something else. A particular highlight was when answering May’s question about how she knows Mandarin, Aida replies “Most of me is Chinese.”

• Whilst much of the time dedicated to Aida was in the realms of humour, there was a telling moment between her and Radcliffe. After explaining Fitz lied to save her, Aida has a distinctly sad look on her face. With the way the show has been subverting expectations so far this season, I don’t think she’s going to become a murder bot, but I think she’ll find humans aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

• I continue to love how cold everyone is acting to Daisy. She doesn’t deserve any kind of forgiveness from them, and after seeing Mack and Fitz put her in place a couple episodes back, it was great to see Simmons and Coulson do the same here. It’ll take a lot for those relationships to be rebuilt, and it will be interesting to see how they go about doing so.

• Simmons has a lot of secrets to hide now, having come a long way from the woman who could barely lie back in Season 1. Unfortunately, she has to take lie detector tests now and something tells me they’ll be hard to pass.

Agents of Shield’s 4^th episode of Season 4 saw characters and storylines start to converge. Daisy and Robbie are no longer doing their own thing, and whilst Robbie is currently going along with Shield, it’s a strained relationship that isn’t likely to last. After a couple episodes building up the Watchdogs as a formidable threat with varying degrees of success, the attention seems to be turning back to the supernatural now, with a storyline that has a long way to go to prove itself. With characters clashing and storylines merging, Agents of Shield is heading into some exciting, but mysterious territory.