[Merlin] Mixed bag of Merlin related [news]
pic © BBC/Shine Ltd.
Mixed bag of Merlin related news: Colin and Julian Murphy on the BAFTA win, two BAFTA related vids, news about Santiago, Richard and Tony, merchandising talk, an online game and some random stuff.
WARNING: I'll keep the post S4 spoiler-free but there may be spoilers/speculation in the comments!
After winning a BAFTA for Visual Effects in episode 03.02 'The Tears of Uther Pendragon', The Mill released a brand new 2011 show reel with quite a lot Merlin scenes included (vid embedded below). For those interested, HERE's a vid of the Mill team picking up their award + a short interview afterwards.
Click to view[direct link]
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Actors
Santiago Cabrera: Alcatraz's been picked up by FOX for the fall schedule: Fox just made its first drama series orders, picking up Bones spinoff Finder and time travel-flavored Alcatraz. The pickup of Alcatraz came after a very good meeting between the pilot's producers and Fox yesterday.
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Fox had been Alcatraz, from Warner Bros. and Bad Robot, is a crime drama set at the country’s most infamous prison on Alcatraz Island and involves a team investigating the mysterious disappearance of its 1960s inhabitants in the present. Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Jonny Coyne, Jason Butler, Sam Neill, Parminder Nagra, Santiago Cabrera and Robert Forster co-starred in the pilot, written by Liz Sarnoff, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt and directed by Danny Cannon.
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Richard Wilson: Rehearsals for Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride should start late May/early June at the Sheffield Crucible, Richard will direct. The play will run from June 28th (previews from June 23rd) until July 16th.
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On a personal note: if you get the chance to see The Pride, do it. The play is great (won an Olivier Award and the John Whiting Award for drama in 2009), it first premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in late 2008 (in the same theatre space where they played 'Our Private Life' this year) and it was absolutely fantastic! Random fact: Jamie Sives, who plays Philip, is best friends with JJ Feild who played Philip in the Royal Court production.
Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw in the 2010 adaptation of 'The Pride' at the MCC Theatre, New York
Anthony Head: Tony went to see the UK premiere of Attack The Block on May 4th in London - he looks good with glasses!
pic via contactmusic
On May 16th NBC's about to announce their pick-ups for the fall schedule, the pilot episode of the US adaptation of Free Agents, where Tony reprises his role as Stephen, wasn't received all too well, though: Early response to the third representative of the genre, the U.K. adaptation FREE AGENTS is not as positive beyond praise for star Hank Azaria.
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Merlin merchandising
In a poll at the Merlin Official FB site (and via Twitter) they asked Merlin fans Would you like to see a MERLIN edition of Top Trumps? Many fans would like to see a MERLIN edition of Top Trumps.
I don't mind card games, but I'd love to see merchandising products that don't particularly aim at kids. Yes, Merlin is a family show, but would it hurt to get some more 'mature' memorabilia? More than two years ago they announced audio books but never released any. WHY?
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Online
Anyone played The Runes of Andor at the Australian TEN website yet? I'm even too much of an idiot for games like Tetris and just click like mad, but it is quite fascinating (if a bit tiresome for my index finger).
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Random
* Still no announcement re a Merlin panel at the London Expo at the end of May. They always announced Expo panels at short notice, the question is, how likely is a Merlin panel at the Expo, when they did Kapow only a month ago and plan to go to San Diego Comic Con in July?
* Two Soccer Six Celebrity Football Matches this year (May 30th/Bank Holiday at Charlton Athletic Football Club and June 5th at Burnley Football Club) but so far it doesn't look like Bradley's going to play. PITY!