The Point Radio: Julie Benz On Being A Super Heroine
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Transcript
Hello, it's Mike Raub. Welcome to The Point where all parts of pop culture come together. Julie Benz is back in series television and this time, believe me, she's no victim. She's back, she's powerful and she's part of no ordinary family. In the meantime, Ryan Reynolds has a new comic book role and it was a quiet weekend at the box office. On Monday, September 13, 2010, we're back in business.
This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio. ABC's new series, Ordinary Family, has a lot riding on it besides just a superhero premise. Just less than a year ago, actress Julie Benz was meeting a rather grisly end to her character on the Dexter television series. And now she said when she came out looking for a new role, she wanted something, well, completely different.
When pilot season started, I mean, my quest was to find a character, a strong female character. A character is more active than Rita. And, you know, I was getting offered a lot of characters very similar to Rita and I was turning them down because I really wanted to find something that offered me creatively something different. Quite all that, there are some similarities between the two characters.
I think the commonality is that they're both mothers, but I think other than that, that's really as far as the similarities go. I mean, Rita was not career oriented at all. She was very dependent, very damaged, had a lot of vulnerabilities, very emotional. And Stephanie is more controlled, more type A personality, more goal oriented. It was a very hard time interacting with, not a hard time interacting with kids, but not comfortable
even interacting with her own family because she's, you know, much more of this type A driven personality. So, I mean, there's really, the only similarities, they're both mothers. Of course, there's the extra bonus of working next to Michael Chickles. Oh God, I mean, I've been a fan of Michael Chickles since the commission. He's Michael Chickles. I mean, you have to say his full name.
You can't just say Michael or Tiki. Like, he went with Ticollum. I have to say Michael Chickles. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's so interesting about our shows. I really feel like, you know, I don't want to say Land of the Lost, but we're kind of like the Land of the Cable to TV actors because you've got, you know, Michael and myself, you've got Romany Malco, you've got Autumn Reaser, you know, you know, it's like we're the Land of the Cable actors coming to network television, you know, so hopefully it works.
Unordinary family. Julie not only plays a beauty, but also a brain. No, and I keep making jokes because I have all this scientific dialogue that I have to say. And some of the words are real and then some are just made up words. And I'm always like, you give the girl who had the former speech impediment as a child all the difficult language. Like, it takes a lot more focus for me. My work goes into now more, really, you know,
some characters speak like you and you don't live with Rita. I didn't have, I never really had to sit down and learn my lines. I just were always there. It was definitely, I actually had to really sit down because I have a lot of technical language that I had to learn. And I really have to learn it inside and out and learn exactly how to pronounce it. And it constantly changes because nobody really knows how to pronounce those words.
But yeah, I mean, the world itself is created. I mean, it's hard to research something in a world that doesn't fully exist. Your scientific background is important in helping her deal with, well, these new superpowers. I think, you know, coming from the world of science, I mean, she really wants to know what's happening, especially since her children are affected. She really wants to figure out, you know, are these good? Are these are these good powers? Are they bad? You know, they're making us strong now, but what are they going to do to us down the line in the future? Where's the balance?
And I think what they start to realize is even though they have super abilities, it also creates more problems. There's more with the cast and creators of the series, including Michael Chickless. In the meantime, the ordinary family do this fall on ABC. It's Monday, September 13th, 2010. Here's what's going on in pop culture. James Gunn's new superhero project, The Supers, made a lot of noise during the Toronto Film Festival, which is a good sign.
It's the film that he wrote and directed. It stars Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, and a lot of other familiar faces, including Kevin Bacon, Nathan Fillion and Liv Tyler. The Supers is Gunn's second foray into the superhero world. He did the specials back in 2000. The next move is to get the Supers into some sort of a regular schedule for distribution. In the meantime, we've got a trailer we'll throw up on our website. Take a look and see what you think. Get the point. Radio.com. We usually don't talk about big sales here, but here's one that we think you really need to know about.
The folks at Top Shelf are doing their annual mega sale. Three dollars for a lot of really great trades that include Alan Moore's Voice of the Fire. I am going to be small, lower regions, regards from Serbia, and so much more. There's also many of their regular comic issues that are available for a dollar as well. Get the information and you can order directly from them at topshelfcomics, C-O-M-I-X, dot com.
Very few hit movies that have had bad sequels have ever recovered enough to try it again a third time. But now there's talk that there might be a third Saturday Night Fever movie. At least that's what's playing. The website has been saying is happening with John Travolta, who's in talks regarding coming back to the big screen as Tony Monero. Nothing yet, but if you want to find out all the reasons why this probably shouldn't be made, you can search out the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. Done in the early 80s and they're directed by Sylvester Stallone called Stayin' Alive.
Wasn't hard for Resident Evil Afterlife to grab the top spot at the box office. It was the only new movie released this week. But it did come in with a pretty impressive 27 million, seven hundred thousand dollars. Second on the list was Takers for week number three. It came in with another six million. Also in the top ten, Machete is at number four. Total of 20 million so far for that one. Inception still hanging in and not quite at 300 million yet, about 282 so far.
But still hanging in enough that more than likely it will hit that mark before it gets to DVD. Also not too far down the list in the top 20, Toy Story 3. Of course, you know how that's doing at a billion dollars worldwide and over 409 million so far in America. Avatar, the special edition, by the way, and just under 10 million for that rerelease of that film that didn't do too bad the first time it was out. If you're a fan of Marty McFly, then you more than likely know Back to the Future is headed out in a new Blu-ray edition.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary, it's a huge box set with lots of extras. And now there's a Back to the Future card game as well, based on the time-traveling trilogy of films. The card game is set for two to six players, ages 11 and up, and it takes about 20 minutes to an hour to complete. Cards are laid out to form a timeline of events, and players use various items and their own time machines to change the circumstances to achieve their personal realities. The Back to the Future card game is set to be in stores before the box set.
That's out of November, but the card game hits stores in late October. As the restructuring plans for MGM Studios begin to take form, it looks like that could mean good news for the Hobbit getting a little closer to hitting the big screen. Right now the restructuring calls for a lot of the studio's functions, including distribution and marketing, to be outsourced to other places. It'll mean that some 450 folks at MGM would lose their jobs. Right now, though, Warner Brothers has stepped into co-financing to Hobbit movies, which will also help things.
Look for a lot of this to move forward, and hopefully some good news for Hobbit fans by the end of the year. Those of you hoping to see at least some sort of resolution to the saga of Heroes probably is not going to get it at least on television. According to Entertainment Weekly, NBC has no plans to allow a resolution to that series under direction from creator Tim Kring. Right now, though, Tim still could have plans to do this as a graphic novel or as a web series as well, but it will not take place on NBC. In case you miss word on this, the Sci-Fi channel has given a green light for the second half of the Caprica series.
The initial season will return in October rather than in January, the way it was first planned. With only modest success in the ratings, folks are a little worried about whether or not there could be a second season of the series. No word yet on whether or not there will be a second season, but perhaps moving the series up a couple of months is a good sign. The second part of season one of Caprica begins on the Sci-Fi channel on October the 5th. Ryan Reynolds continues to mind the comic book world for more great movie roles.
It looks like he'll be the star of the adaptation of the Dark Horse Minis series, R.I.P.D. Robert Schwanky will be directing. Schwanky is no stranger to the superhero world either. He, of course, directed the adaptation of Red that will be released next month. And has also been talked as a possible director for the Wolverine sequel.
R.I.P.D., of course, is the Dark Horse Minis series based on the comic by Peter Langkoff. Reynolds is currently filming, of course, Green Lantern and has also been in talks for Deadpool from Marvel. R.I.P.D. gets before the cameras late next summer. Here's an amazing act. Here's a tremendous act. Here's a startling act. Here's a startling act. The amazing, the thrilling, the greatest, spectacular, incredible, exciting, wonderful, world-fame, most unusual novelty act.
Weird scenes inside the gold mine. I know nothing. Nothing. This is my gold. Sometimes, just sometimes, the good guys win. Saturday night at the movies. Well, guess what picture we see? When you're with your baby, last row in the back of the room.
Eight years ago, America's best-read film critic, Roger Ebert, contracted typhoid cancer. Due to complications from his treatment, he lost his voice and part of his jaw had to be removed. That ended his participation on his long-running movie review television show that he shared with Gene Siskel ever since 1975. It was the first and by far the most successful of a genre. The show limped along without him finally succumbing this past year.
Ebert continued writing a syndicated column, which he has been doing since 1967, and writing books and doing the internet thing. Now, surprisingly, he's returning to TV. Life is only a movie picture. Nothing in life is a permanent picture. Resurrecting the at the movies title, Roger will be joined by critics Elvis Mitchell from NPR and Christy Lemire from the AP.
Well, joint isn't the right word. Lemire and Mitchell will be handling the thumbs up thumbs down action, and each week Ebert will contribute an analysis of a trend or a classic movie. He's still voiceless, but Roger's working with a special computer that does a great job of replicating his voice. If you haven't heard it, well, it's really quite fantastic. The show goes up this January. Good for you, Roger. Your story is a lot better than half the movies you've reviewed, and you are a symbol of courage and victory over cancer.
This is Mike Gold on the Pop Culture Channel. GetThePointRadio.com It's our list of the five things in the comic stores you need to look at this week, and we should probably explain to you what this is all about just in case you're new to these premises. What we do each week is give you five items that we think you not necessarily should add to your list and purchase, but at least while you're in the store, take a look at it and see what you think.
Maybe keep in mind for a later purchase, or if nothing else, recommend to a friend or write us a note and tell us how wrong we are. We're sticking to the big two this week for our choices. It begins with DC Universe Legacies number five. If you heard our interview with Len Wien this week, you know the work that Len is doing for DC, and this is what's current for him and probably one of his best jobs in a while. DC Legacies one through four more than likely is still available in your local comic store,
and it's a great time to pick it up right now because they're retelling the DC Universe in a period of the timeline that more than likely involves some of the comics that you read. So it could be real interesting to see exactly how they're putting continuity together here. Also from DC, they're reviving their war books, the ones that were big in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s. Last week they did it with Our Army at war, and it was a really nice repackage. This week there's a revival of one of their other big titles, Our Fighting Forces, and I think it deserves a look through.
For Marvel this week, if you're a Halo fan and you know somebody who is, the Halo miniseries is collected in a Halo uprising trade paperback, just under 20 bucks, a bargain there. And the Oz series, the marvelous Land of Oz done by Eric Chanauer, a beautiful piece of work available in a really classic hardcover this week from Marvel. And the Siege miniseries, again it was something that ran in Marvel and covered probably more books than your budget would allow a few months back. One of the better parts of that involved the Mighty Avengers and that whole storyline is collected in a trade paperback this week. Siege of Mighty Avengers, and again a hardcover from Marvel.
All these and more in comic stores all throughout America, and that list is updated constantly with the comic book locator service. Free on your phone at 1-888-COMIC-BOOK or with a free app too that's available for your iPad or your iPhone in the Apple iTunes Store. That puts a cap on our Monday. We are right back here as scheduled at the end of the week with more on the Ordinary Family as we talk to the cast and creators and even Michael Chicklis himself. In the meantime, pop culture always continues 24 hours a day.
On The Point Radio you can listen free on any mobile device or computer. All it takes is a couple of clicks and get the point radio dot com. This podcast is produced twice every week by Malcom 10 Media for great websites like ComicMix dot com, Michael Davis World dot com and it's heard on iNetradio dot com as well. Get in touch with us at Listen and GetThePointRadio dot com and you can always download us anytime you want to in the iTunes podcast directory under The Point Radio. Have a great week. Catch us right back here on Friday.
Thank you.
