io9: number six

Tomorrow's Number Six Fears No Sand

Graeme McMillan — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:30:00 PDT

The new Prisoner may lack the sartorial elegance of Patrick McGoohan's original Number Six, but there's no denying Jim Caviezel's dedication to his new role. Even if it means that he ends up with sand up his nose and in his cranium in order to get the shot needed. Get your first gimpse at the man who is not a number in this behind the scenes video from the new show.

The new Prisoner debuts next year on AMC.

Video Exclusive - Jim Caviezel Says There's Sand in His Cranium [AMCtv]

First Look Behind The Scenes Of The Prisoner Remake

Meredith Woerner — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:30:00 PDT

A new video of the first table read for AMC's remake of 60's imprisoned-spy series The Prisoner shows the cast and crew psyching themselves up to play the Villagers. The most endearing thing is hearing nervous Jim Caviezel (playing the main character Number 6) and Ian McKellen (who plays the evil Number 2) both talk about their anxiety about revamping one of television's few great philosophical/psychological thrillers. Click through for the video.

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I think everyone on the cast and crew seems most excited about the modern-day twist. Producer Trevor Hopkins explains that Bill Gallagher's script doesn't try to copy the original show, which is probably a good thing. Instead the new version is more about post 9/11 security issues.

It's the first time our post-9/11 anxieties have been merged with a tripped-out 1960s style, so it'll be interesting to see how it meshes. I'm excited to see how they'll pump the inhabitants of the Village for information, Prisoner-style, yet remain true to modern times.

But even more intriguing is the pairing of Jim Caviezel as Number 6 and Ian McKellen as the authority figure Number 2. Caviezel replaces Patrick McGoohan's defiance with an air of "Holy crap, I'm confused — what's going on? I'm not a number." And McKellen is just a first class actor all the way. Let the whacked-out battle of wits commence.

[AMC]

Battlestar Keeps On Keeping On, According To Six

Graeme McMillan — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:00:13 PDT

While the audience waits impatiently for the final half-season of Battlestar Galactica, the cast and crew have already moved on... kind of. Tricia Helfer has been talking about her experiences on the show, from how little she knew at the start to the reaction of the cast to the end of the show... even though that end keeps on staying out of reach.

Theoretically speaking about her upcoming role on USA's Burn Notice - it's no Psyche, let's face it, but it'll do for now - Helfer couldn't help herself from talking about the end of the show that made her famous. Possibly because they're not finished shooting yet:

[The last day was supposed to be] June 30, now it’s July 7, but I think it’ll kind be around July 12 that we finish. We’ve got a couple of very heavy episodes – not giving you a spoiler there, I just mean “heavy” in terms of a lot of work to get done. So I’m not sure what day it will be, but I bet it will go into the second week of July... I think they’re fantastic scripts. Obviously, it’s the end of the series, so things are going to be revealed, and all the questions are going to be answered. There’s a lot to fit in. I’ve heard some fans say, whoa, there’s so much in every episode, and that’s certainly not going to change in the last half of the season, there’s so much to get out there. It’s intense.

All our reactions to reading script [among the cast], we talked about it – some people broke down in tears, I felt like I was punched in the stomach. More so out of a mixture of feelings like, wow, that’s why this happened, but also [sadness about the end of an era] – I was sitting on a plane, and it was like, “This is the last ‘Battlestar’ script I’ll read.” So there was that mixed into it.

There’s some really heartwarming stuff, there’s some very damaging, sad stuff. It’s such a commentary on human behavior and social behavior and where our world is and can go. I find the last episode is quite fascinating, the study of life.

Just as fascinating was how little information Helfer was given about her character when the show started:

Ron Moore had put out a series bible at the beginning of Season 1. In it, he had written a couple of pages of backstory for every lead character. For Number Six, it was one line: “The machine as woman.” Everybody else had two or three pages! [laughs] I went to Ron and I said, “You’re killing me. I have no clue about this character.” And he said, “I can’t give you a backstory, because I haven’t decided everything about the Cylons yet.”

You see, while the Cylons may have had a plan, the people controlling the Cylons...? Not so much.

Tricia Helfer of 'Battlestar Galactica' puts the sizzle in 'Burn Notice' [The Watcher]

AMC Brings Prisoner Back To The Village

Graeme McMillan — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:20:00 PDT

Thirty years after Leo McKern vacated the role, it's time to meet the new Number Two. AMC is bringing back Patrick McGoohan's classic sixties paranoiafest The Prisoner with Jim "Passion of the Christ" Caviezel taking over the role of the secret agent who finds that there's no such thing as an easy way out of the intelligence game.

The new version of the series - co-produced by ITV in the UK, which gave us the original show - will be a six-hour miniseries that reboots the concept of Caviezel's nameless secret agent being kidnapped to the mysterious "Village," where people are known only by numbers and everyone is out to find out what secrets everyone else is hiding. Sir Ian McKellen has signed on to play main badguy Number Two for the entire run, replacing the revolving "Number Two of The Week" guest-slot of the original show.

The show is expected to premiere midway through next year.

Ian McKellen to lead in ITV's The Prisoner remake [The Guardian]