The Point Radio: 12 MONKEYS Twisting Time Again
Two decades after it hit theaters and became an SF classic, 12 MONKEYS is being retooled as a new TV series, but does it still have the DNA to survive? Stars Amanda Schull and Aaron Stanford talk about the transition and why it works. Plus it’s the first big industry move of 2015 as IDW acquires Top Shelf Comix.
Transcript
The Point Radio Hey it's Mike Raub. After two decades of science fiction film 12 Monkeys, now it's evolving into a new sci-fi network TV series. But is there enough DNA left to make it work? We talked at the stars to find out. Let's get to The Point. This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio.
The 1995 science fiction classic film 12 Monkeys is now evolving into a new series on the sci-fi network. The cast is led by Erin Stanford and Amanda Schull, who first told me how they got the roles. I would say I got scripts before Erin and I did go into the hopper before Erin did. But I think it wasn't until Erin and I had a chemistry read together that they finalize their casting. I'd say that that was really when it was all
sealed up. I wouldn't you say Erin? Yeah I would say. It was a confusing casting process and that's usually how casting processes are. They can be sort of a mess because you're looking for something very specific and you're looking for oftentimes a very important chemistry between two characters. So they don't necessarily want to nail one person down until they're sure who the other person is going to be and they're sure if those people are going to
have that sort of intangible ephemeral thing between them, you know, that spark. So yeah, I can tell you the final round for me was coming in and reading with Amanda. And I still remember it was a great experience. They really put us through it. There was a lot of improv and she came 100% prepared and ready and it was extraordinarily helpful. And you know, we made something happen in the room and I think that's how I got the part anyway. Chemistry between these
two characters is crucial to the show. So I was curious how they all got it to work out, especially beginning with Erin. Like most of the show and I think what makes the show great is that there's a little bit of all of that in every episode. I mean, the humor is always there. There's definitely some, you know, some things that need to be resolved amongst some of the characters, particularly some things with Claudia and her sister and Artie's involvement with that. So I
mean, that stuff's a little bit sort of heavier dealing with all that stuff, but there's always there's always the humor. There's always light beats even and fun beats even in the most serious situation. So I think there's all of that, you know what I mean? And I think that there's a lot of weight to these last episodes because we're wrapping up the show. But that being said, it's always fun. And for Amanda, I could add to that stuff. I mean, working with Erin just from
a personal level, not just, you know, from the character level, he shows up to set very prepared and he does gives you 110% for every single scene for every single take. And so I think that help with just our on set chemistry, which hopefully translates to the on camera chemistry that it's nice working with someone who gives you as much as you give them and you can have an equal relationship. And that has allowed us to be honest with the material because we both invest
completely into each character. The foundation of the show here is the bond of trust that has to be formed between both Erin and Amanda on the show, for which Erin's character Cole isn't easy to get to it first. You have something that you know to be the truth. You know that it's fact, but everyone else, it seems completely impossible. It seems like it couldn't it could not possibly be true. So it's a very frustrating situation to be put in. You know, it's a pretty tall order to get
someone to believe something that is impossible. So you know what he ends up having to do in that scene, you know, he gives her information here and there that you know, are there start they start to sway her a little bit, but you know, eventually he realizes the only way to prove to someone that the impossible is true really show them something happened right in front of their eyes. And that's that's what he ends up having to do. And from Amanda's perspective. Well, from my perspective,
I think for Dr. Really, it's exactly what Erin just said that it was really just the proof is is not anything that he could possibly say. It's something that she sees with her own eyes. She trusts herself. She doesn't trust this man in front of her. So she trusts what she sees. And she knows that to be true, which is what sort of allows her to go on this ridiculous journey with him because she knows what she saw. And she knows her own intelligence. Otherwise, nothing he said
would matter. So I asked Aaron, is the show developed? Anything surprised him so far? The very first unexpected thing that I came across was that essentially, time travel is possible. It's mathematically possible. It's been it's been proven to be so which was not something I was aware of. I thought it was entirely a flight of fancy and fiction. But the truth is, they they essentially they know how to do it.
It's just a matter of having the technology and the resources to do it. So that was an eye opener. So to create the character of Cole in the TV series, did Aaron take anything from the original version? You know, it was a really interesting role for Bruce Willis. What he did with it. You know, he's generally remembered for, you know, really the, you know, his action roles. He's remembered John McClain. And he really brought this childlike innocence to the role in 12 Monkeys.
And it was expressed in his his experience of our of our presence, you know, of our world. And this was a man coming from an, you know, unimaginably unpleasant, difficult place, where all of the, you know, pleasures, comforts, and, and everything art, it was all it was all taken stripped away from him. So his experience of of our world was very similar to that of a newborn. He was experiencing everything for the very first time. And I really liked that, that that choice
and that idea. So I did try to try to bring a little bit of that to my performance as well. Well, this is a show about time travel. So if that was really possible, where would they both like to go? Maybe I would just like to go and hide probably hideout but witness dinosaurs sort of roaming the earth. I think that would be fascinating. Pretty cool. I mean, the difficulty is this is that, you know, all these periods throughout history are there. They're fascinating.
But the question is, would you really want to go there? Because we're all I mean, do you really want to give up hot showers? You know, you want to give up indoor plumbing, you want to give up all your conveniences. So I think if I could go anywhere in time, I would go to a fictional future where they had created a hollow deck like on Star Trek. And then you could visit any place you want throughout history with all of the modern
There are new episodes of 12 monkeys every Friday on sci fi and you can always catch more at sci fi.com keyword 12 monkeys. Golden Globes coming up. But here's what's going on right now and pop culture. It's the first big business move in comics for the new year IDW has acquired top shelf productions. They'll continue to publish books under the top shelf imprint. Chris Stratos will continue to be editor in chief of top shelf as he has been for the past few years as well.
Basically for IDW, it's a chance to expand their brand and for top shelf, it's a chance to get an influx of capital that will help them expand to in 2015. I grab your overcrowded list of superhero movies to be released over the next few years and add a few more things to it. For example, the X-Men spin off Gambit has been announced by Fox that'll premiere in theaters on October the 7th 2016 as well. Assassin's Creed will be out that same year
on December the 21st and Fantastic Four two now to be confused with Fantastic Four one set for later this year has now been moved to June of 2017. The next round of pilot shows is set to hit Amazon Prime in the next few days. Now this includes some pretty interesting stuff. For example, comedy is cocked at Mad Dogs, the docu-series, the New Yorker presents the drama The Man in the High Castle and the one a lot of people are looking at. Carlton Cuse's Civil War themed Point of Honor.
All the shows go up on Amazon next Thursday the 15th and those with the most viewership will be given series awards later in the spring from Amazon. Vikings is headed back to the history channel. Season three premieres on February 19th if you want to catch up on the first two seasons and a lot of us do you can do that right now on Hulu and Amazon as well. Showtime is free all weekend long starting today and running through Sunday. The free preview weekend gives you a chance
to sample a lot of good stuff like episodes of Homeland, The Affair, Penny Dreadful, Ray Donovan, Masters of Sex and so many more and they're premiered this weekend of course of the new seasons of Shameless and episodes. Check with your local cable provider to make sure you're part of the free preview weekend. That's a wrap on the podcast but when we're back we'll bring you along the delightful Amber Benson. Actress yes but more importantly best-selling author and we'll tell you
how she bridged that gap. In the meantime keep up with us on Twitter, Facebook and of course Instagram under the Point Radio and catch the podcast in the iTunes podcast directory and on websites like combimix.com, michaeldavisworld.com and getthepointradio.com. See you back here in a few days.
