The Point Radio: THE EXPANSE Is Must See In 2016
Over the holidays, SyFy debuted the new series THE EXPANSE, based on he best-selling novel. The show is generating major buzz and just (today) got the green light for a second season. Star Cas Anvar talks about why you should be watching and how a love for comics helped him nab the role. Plus WWE Superstars Paige and The Miz talk about their latest movie role and what they would do if their careers ever ended.
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Transcript
The Point Radio It's Mike Raub, we're finally back and with us is Kaz Anfer from the new sci-fi series The Expanse. He talks about how that role and others all came to him because of his love for comics. Plus from the WWE, superstars The Miz and Paige talk about what's ahead in their world for 2016. Let's get to The Point.
This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio The best-selling space drama The Expanse has gone from book to television with the new show that debuted over the holidays on the sci-fi network. Haven't checked it out yet? Well, you should and if you don't believe me, listen to a series star, Kaz Anfer. Yeah, you've got to watch The Expanse because you're going to see the most ambitious sci-fi television show in the history of the universe. This show, and I will qualify that, I honestly will say, the sci-fi network has stepped up to the place and has delivered a season of science fiction on TV unlike anything I've really seen before.
The quality of this on every level, from the visuals, from the special effects, from the caliber of our creative team, from directors, producers, actors, right down to the writing and the story that's involved because these shows are based on the incredible series of books by James S.A. Quarry, which are our New York Times best-selling novels. This is a dream team. This is kind of like the perfect storm of all events coming together, all the planets align, no pun intended, to create something incredibly special. I feel very privileged and I'm really proud to be part of something. And I give a big, big tip of the hat to the sci-fi network because they took huge risks. This is not a cheap show. This is a very, very ambitious and expensive show. And they really went all out to do this and they did not pull any punches or hold back anything.
And I think the fans are going to see the benefit from that the most. They're going to get to see something that was done for them to give them one of the most amazing television experiences that has yet to be done on television in an inside fiction format. It's stunning. It looks like a 10-hour Ridley Scott movie. And, Scott, this is quick to explain. This is not Star Wars. The show is like this is not a traditional kind of like science fiction with laser blasters and aliens coming out of the woodwork and faster-like travel and artificial gravity. This show is a nitty-gritty, realistic, grungy, dark, film noir type of science fiction.
It's a science fiction of kind of like old days like Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury. If you loved Alien or Blade Runner for the kind of dilapidated, rusty ship that's about to fall apart and, you know, people are sweating and smelly and, you know, they don't get to wear fancy, pristine, freshly laundered outfits every day. They're walking around in environments that are grungy and gritty and full of cockroaches in space. That's really what this show is. It's what would it really be like if this imperfect species of human beings with all of its flaws colonized the solar system and pushed its boundaries and its technology to the limits and set up a colony on the moon and on Mars and in the asteroid belts. They're not going to do it in like a pretty shiny sterling sort of way. It's going to be nitty-gritty and grungy like the ship that I'm flying, the Canterbury at the top of the show. It's falling apart.
It's in need of repairs. And guess what? The owners of the ship, they don't have the money for it. The corporation doesn't want to spend money on repairs. So they would rather have accidents happen and deal with the lawsuits that come out of that rather than spend the hundreds of millions of dollars that it would take to actually re-equip the ship with upgraded equipment. Kaz has a pretty cool acting resume, and one of the ways he built that long list of roles includes the love for comics. I mean, I've been very fortunate. I'm born in Canada. So I'm a Canadian-born artist of mixed ethnicity. You know, I'm a little Persian Indian and Lebanese in me.
The danger for someone like me is to get typecast, but I was really fortunate. I'm born – and I speak like everybody else. I don't have to worry about actions and stuff like that. And I just set out, man, to not audition for a type, but to just try and audition for things that appeal to me personally. I would play doctors, lawyers, heroes, villains. I kind of like playing bad guys, actually. And my interests, personally – I'm a huge nerd and a geek since I was a kid, comic book reader and video game player and all that science fiction and fantasy stuff. So I've got a really active imagination, so I love epic kind of stories, anything that involves that kind of epic, operatic type of an environment.
So I'm attracted to those kind of things. And I've been lucky enough to be able to land some of those roles that did not peg me in any sort of classification or type. And then I just built on that. I just kind of said, look, I can do anything. And people just said, yeah, you can't. So they kept casting me in that way. So as a comic fan, is there a dream character he loved to play? All my favorites have been done. Wolverine, Spider-Man, Batman – those are all my favorites. I'm trying to think if there's anyone out there. There's some independent comics that I love, like X-O Manowar and Bloodshot and Eternal Warrior, all the valiant comics and things like that.
So there's kind of like the dark, damaged kind of shades of gray heroes. Those are the things that I like. The Expanse every Tuesday with new episodes on Sci-Fi and catch up right now with full episodes waiting for you at Sci-Fi.com. Oh no, Soft Kitty is headed to court. All that and more as we look at what's going on in pop culture. All right, so go ahead and admit it. You downloaded a movie or two during 2015, as did about a million or ten of your best friends as well. And what were the biggest movies that were downloaded and, as they say, pirated over the past year?
Well, the top ten list includes some familiar titles, including Kingsman Secret Service, Terminator Genisys, Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies, Fifty Shades of Grey, of course. And number three was the one I thought would be number one, which was Avengers Age of Ultron. But the number one most pirated movie of 2015 is Interstellar. Now let's flip it around the TV. What was the most pirated television show? Well, there's a top ten list that again includes some things you probably watch, like Suits, The Blacklist, Supergirl, Vikings, Mr. Robot, and of course, Flash and Arrow.
But the number one most pirated show again this year, just like it was in 2014, is HBO's Game of Thrones. Nothing like a little advanced planning, but the folks at Aspen Comics have put together news for a crossover event that'll take place in the summer and will involve their two core titles, Fathom and Soulfire. There'll be a premiere issue that'll kick it off called Worlds of Aspen 2016 that'll be available on free comic book day. That'll set the pace for the new series for the summer, which will launch in June. Free comic book day for the new year, by the way, takes place on May the 4th.
Remember the days when you thought it was okay to write your name or maybe even draw a little bit on your favorite comic book cover? Well, DC remembers and they've put out a line of adult coloring book variants for several titles coming to comic stores in the next few weeks. It'll include Green Arrow number 48, Green Lantern number 48, Action Comics number 48, and the 48th issue of Detective Comics as well. If you're a little creeped out about actually drawing on a comic book, well, you can download the covers themselves from several places online, friend them out and have a ball on your own, or consider the fact that maybe if someone does color on one of these, it becomes one of the most exclusive variants of all time.
Sheldon Cooper's Sweet Little Lullaby from Big Bang Theory might be ending up in court. Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur, happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr. As you heard about the Associated Press, Margaret Perry and Ellen Chase claim that the series is infringing on the copyright works of a poem done by their mother, poet Edith Newland, who died in 2004 but actually wrote a poem called Warm Kitty in 1937. The poem appeared in a song book that same year and those publishers later on are licensed to the song to CBS to be used in the series.
At this point, Warner Brothers Television or the producers of the Big Bang Theory have not commented on the possibility of the legal act. Among the WWE superstars who made the transition from the ring to the big screen includes Paige and The Miz, both who were together in a film for the holidays called Santa's Little Helper. And The Miz told me what that was all about. The movie's about a guy named Dax, the slick-talking, fast-talking businessman who is down on his luck but given an opportunity by Santa Claus to maybe become Santa's right-hand man. And he sends Billy from the North Pole, who is played by Anna Lynn McCord, to come see if I'm able and willing and can hang with all the elves can do because I'm what we call a normie, a human being.
And they never had that happen before. So she has to come down and check it out. Eleanor, played by the lovely and gorgeous Paige, is basically my competition. She wants the same job as me. She wants to be Santa's right-hand man. So who becomes Santa's Little Helper? You'll just have to wait and see. Get it on DVD or Digital HD right now and watch it. For Paige, it was her first time on a movie set. It was actually wild, obviously, because I'd never been in a movie before. I was happy that I got to do it with The Miz. I felt comfortable straight off the bat. I had a great acting coach before I even got on the set.
So, yeah, it was crazy. I never thought, you know, because in one scene, they shoot so many different angles in the camera field. And I was just shooting one scene that's like a two-minute scene. Yeah, it's definitely wild, but I loved it. It was so much fun. In addition to his work in the ring, Miz is also building a pretty solid acting career. And I asked him what his dream role would be. Well, my role that I really wanted badly, but it was sadly taken by a pretty big A-list superstar. Ryan Reynolds actually got the role. And I think he's going to do an absolutely incredible job with it.
I always wanted to play Deadpool because I'm a really big fan of all the Marvel comics in their movies. And I was always looking for, like, man, if I was a Marvel comic, who would I want to be? And I was like, Deadpool is just the coolest character in my mind. And I really can't wait for the movie to actually premiere. And I can't believe they actually went rated R with it, which is going to make it even, I think, even better. So, I can't wait to see it.
And for Paige? Yeah, I think it's an action movie. I feel like I've been freaking it. Like, I always wanted to do Lara Croft, for some reason. But, yeah, I just like to do that kind of stuff. Like, any kind of action. For every other, like, a family-friendly movie comes along, too. I'd love to jump into that. Paige has been involved in wrestling her whole life. And I was curious that if, well, she couldn't do that anymore, what would she like to do?
Yeah, no, I would definitely want to be in show business somehow. Like, I couldn't have an office job or anything like that. So, yeah, I would definitely probably dive into the world of acting for a relationship now. And I taste for it, and I love it. It's so much fun. And for Miss? For me, if I didn't get on the real world, I'd be flipping burgers at my dad's Mr. Hero in Cleveland, to be completely honest with you.
I didn't get my confidence that I could do anything in entertainment until I got on the real world. But once I got on the real world, I got fit by the bug, and it hasn't stopped since. So, I love the entertainment world. I love acting. I love WWE. I just love being in front of an audience and really performing. So, as much as I can do that, I'll do that. I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing.
So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing.
So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing.
So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing.
So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing.
So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing.
So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing. So, I'm going to be in front of an audience and really performing.
