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Dying to know more about Joss Whedon's new amnesiac-agent show Dollhouse? So are we, and luckily a couple of casting "sides" have leaked. These appear to be scenes written for actors auditioning for major supporting roles opposite star Eliza Dushku, and they give away a lot of potential plot and backstory on the show. We also have a bunch of new Lost spoilers, including location photos. Needless to say, spoilers ahead.
In case you forgot the official synopsis, Dollhouse is about a group of "Dolls," or "Actives," who can be programmed to be anyone and do anything, for paying clients. When they're not out on a programmed mission, they're "blank," amnesiac and childlike in the Dollhouse. The whole shebang is illegal, and the people involved may not be that altruistic.
The pages seem to be for casting Dr. Claire Sanders, "a gorgeous older woman" (with a knife-scarred face) who works at the Dollhouse, and Sierra, one of Echo's fellow Dolls and the closest thing Echo has to a friend. (Here's our list of the show's characters, just to refresh your memory.)
We see a scene between Claire and Topher, the geek who programs the Dolls (and who's smitten with Claire.) It seems as though Topher is worried because Claire is sending the Dolls out on "pro bono" missions, and he's trying to sneak a glance at Echo's file, even though he has a perfect right to see it. One of those "pro bono" missions had Echo sit at the bedside of a sick girl for three days, putting a strain on the valuable Doll. Claire retorts that the "pro bono" missions are making the Dolls better, and there has to be more to their existence than validating the "whims of the rich," including sex and crime. Topher's not interested in improving the Dolls, and accidentally gives away how much he enjoys programming them to enjoy their dirty work.
Sierra has three scenes, showcasing how versatile she and Echo will have to be: In one, she's in the Dollhouse with fellow Dolls Echo and Victor. The dialogue is very childlike, and feels very River Tam-esque. In the second, she's been programmed to be a safecracker, and she taunts a fellow safecracker with her superior knowledge. She's in charge, the smart-assed opposite of her earlier babyish self. And then in the third scene, she's a "socialite," dropping witty lines about shoes and teasing an older woman for being too high-minded.
Bottom line: As you might have guessed, Dollhouse will probably be the most twisted thing Joss has ever done, and also pretty arty. I'm not optimistic about its chances on Fox. But fingers crossed! [SpoilerTV]
More spoilers:
- Whoever's dying soon on Lost, it probably won't be Sun, since actress Yunjin Kim bought a condo in Hawaii and producer Carlton Cuse promised her that if her character died off before the show ended, he would buy her condo from her. So barring a really steep real-estate crash, we can expect Sun to go the distance. Meanwhile, here are some not-very-revealing set pics of the Tunisian location (actually Hawaii) in an upcoming episode. [DocArzt]
- Also, Jack and Juliet will kiss some more. [SpoilersLost]
- Here's how the Lizard, aka mutated scientist Curt Connors, will look on this Saturday's Spectacular Spider-Man. [Comics2Film]
Comments
Reguarding Dollhouse, Whedon and Fox. I'm not sure I could like any show that Fox didn't want to cancel. I think by definition anything the Fox executives like self selects out of the pool of good shows.
@Ryan H: Well, I think it is more that they screwed up Firefly so badly, and have (possibly) realized that even if they themselves don't like it, it might still be good and might still get them money. Of course, we are dealing with TV execs, and worse, TV execs from FOX, so one can never be certain, however, I am not going to write this off because FOX hasn't publicly stated that they don't like this project.
Oh man, Lizard looks great. Venom looks even more badass for those who have seen the preview shots of him.
I do hope that Whedon got some kind of assurance that Fox won't treat this show like they did Firefly; otherwise I can't imagine why he'd work with them again.
The FOX execs that made the mistakes have been replaced - twice.
This new team seems to be on board with the correct approach - that FOX is expected to deliver a certain type of programming, not chase after some lame CBS space.
From what I've seen in dev this year, these guys are finally "getting it".
I'm a big fan of the old "Hammer Films" days...and I think these guys are as well.
Remember - Kevin developed Heroes, etc at NBC.
I recently watched the first two episodes of Spectacular Spider-Man. I was intrigued, being a fan of the 90s series.
It's clearly geared towards kids. Moreso than the old series, though I'll have to see how they deal with the darker themes like Venom.
I definitely don't dig the look of the show. While they have some awesome character designs like the look of Electro, a lot of the faces out of costume are just...wrong.
Peter Parker and a few others have huge pupils. They permanently look like Ghandi on Raisins from Clone High. Their eyes are too wide.
the guy that plays Jin got a DUI a few months ago here, looks like his fate will be the same as lobby and anna lucias.
If the "Lost" people were gonna use Arabic signs to make the locale look *realistic*, don't you think you should have at least had someone double check their signs? It's all a bunch of gibberish, and the letters aren't even connected like they're supposed to be.
Sorry, just a fan being nitpicker.
"LOST" has annoyed other nitpicky fans with signage before, such as in the Thailand street scene with Jack. We see a lot more detail in set photos than show up on the show, though, and usually things whip past too fast to be an issue.
Thanks for checking out the photos, though (DocArzt republished them from my gallery). Filming actually commences today, so I hope to drop by and watch some of the action!
@pzarquon: Awesome! Thanks for taking these terrific photos. We'll keep an eye on your flickr stream.
@MisterEight: The FOX execs that made the mistakes have been replaced - twice.
But were they ground up into Torgo's Executive Powder? Or was that not standard procedure at the time of their "dismissal"?
*sprinkles some on his spaghetti*
What? I'm out of Parmasean and I don't feel like running to the store. Don't judge me!
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