Only one week left people. Get out there and vote everyday for Neil for the Streamys Audience Choice Award. We would trade all the other nominations in for this win. These other shows have the numbers so we’ve got to have the craZy and vote everday from now until the 28th! But I’m sure you’re asking yourself “How will I remember to vote?”
Here are some devices that might help you trigger the memory to vote everyday:
2) Everytime you brush think about how in Zelda Link never once brushes his teeth and how gnarly his mouth must be by the time he meets up with the princess. Then go vote for Neil.
3) Correct anyone that refers to their father as their “Old Man” by saying you mean “Oooold Man” and then go vote for Neil.
4) Tattoo “Vote for Neil” on your belly. Use your belly button to replace the “o” in “for.” If it’s an outie, then just hang a picture of Tony Janning on it.
5) Allow your spouse to yell out “Neil” during intercourse for the following week. If you’re single yell out Neil while masturbating.
6) Make your dying wish that Neil wins the Audience Choice Award and then end your life (not recommended).
7) Everytime you see another human being think about how there’s a skeleton inside of him/her. Now think about that skeleton having a German accent and being gay for deals, then go vote for Neil.
“Paramount and Vulcan Tourism are thrilled to bring an exclusive pre-release screening of Star Trek to Vulcan residents. Knowing how special the series has been to the town of Vulcan, Paramount and Vulcan Tourism have been collaborating for months to plan just the right event. The private screening will be held for 300 lottery-winning Vulcan residents at a state-of-the-art movie theater in Calgary. The special event includes transportation, refreshments and Star Trek memorabilia. Everyone who worked on Star Trek is excited about bringing the highly anticipated film to fans everywhere and especially to the residents of Vulcan.”
Leonard Nimoy says, “I have been informed of the logical plan that Paramount Pictures and the town of Vulcan have been working on to host an advanced screening of Star Trek. The people of Vulcan have been heard and, although it is atypical for Vulcans, they are, in fact, excited. To all, live long and prosper.”
Steph Song ventures into sci-fi with "The Thaw" and "Paradox"
While she may have been voted “Sexiest Women in the World” by FHM magazine, Steph Song is anything but “just another pretty face”. From the moment she first began her acting career in Singapore in 2002, she’s been winning hearts and awards for her roles in dramatic and comedic television and film. Already a huge success in the Asian Pacific, in 2005 she decided to return to Canada, one of several countries she made her home in as a child. She quickly established herself in the Vancouver acting scene with roles in Everything’s Gone Green, Dragon Boys and jPod. With several films in post-production and others now making the festival rounds, Steph has kept herself very busy. She now splits her time between Vancouver and Australia, not only acting but producing with her company Island Films. She took some time out of her very busy schedule to talk a little bit about her past success, current projects and future plans.
ÜberSciFiGeek (ÜSFG) You hold degrees in nursing and journalism. Why did you decide to go into acting instead?
Steph Song (SS) Um, well, the thing with acting for me is it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do but coming from an incredibly academic family it was very much frowned upon me going into that line of career. Parents just… I guess that they, you know, just didn’t want me to be a bum on the couch, right; which probably happened for quite a few years when you first start acting. So, the thing with the nursing and journalism… I actually started off with an English Literature degree and my mother, who has a Masters Degree in Political Science and is a lecturer, she wanted me to be able to apply my skill set to something and she convinced me that English Literature is like a stepping stone degree; which it really is. I mean, if you want to apply it in any way, you need to get like a teaching degree or something. So then I put all my credits towards journalism and halfway through journalism I kind of found that I wanted to exercise something a little bit more scientific and my dad who has his PhD in Genetics encouraged me to go into medicine and well, I couldn’t quite make that commitment. So then I started something I guess kind of like Pre-med but I ended up applying most of the credits from that towards nursing and four years later I came out with a double degree in Journalism and Nursing and really not wanting to do either. I kind of told my parents, “Well, at least now you know I’ve got two degrees and I’ll never be that bum on the couch so ariva derche. I’m going to go out into the world and explore acting which is something I’ve always wanted to do anyway.” And that’s how that happened.
(ÜSFG) So, you’ve lived in other countries. You speak multiple languages. How did that end up affecting your new career goal?
(SS) Um, I wouldn’t say it affects it in any way. I speak a few languages, yes. That was due in part to my dad’s profession because as a geneticist he traveled around pioneering different programs and ended up towing his small little family as well. So we whent down to Colombia, South America, when I was young and I picked up Spanish and have subsequently and quite sadly lost that ability. Although when I hear it I understand every single word. Just the connection somewhere from brain to mouth isn’t there so I really wish I could speak it and it’s something I think I’m going to try to nourish again. And as for Chinese, I have always spoken that at home with my parents. I think that as an actor it’s very important to have, or very important to continually be expanding on, your skill set whether that is being able to sing or to dance or to do martial arts, which would be applicable I guess for me quite a bit even though I don’t know how to do it. I should, as an Asian actress. And languages are a good thing to be able to draw from as well.
(ÜSFG) You were hugely successful in the Asia-Pacific area, including a starring role in a series that was syndicated in more then a dozen countries. So, with your success abroad, why did you choose Vancouver for this step of your career?
(SS) Well, I grew up in the prairies in Canada and I’d always wanted to return to Canada, and plus I never really lost the Canadian accent and you know I feel I am Canadian. I wanted to come back here. That’s basically it, pure and simple. I loved my time in Asia because there was so… I got to do a variety of roles, like a gazillion. I got to do drama and comedy and sitcom, and sadly no sci-fi, there. It’s not a very big hub for sci-fi unfortunately, I don’t think, although there’s a lot of horror movies that come out of Korea and Thailand, right?
(ÜSFG) Yeah.
(SS) Yeah. So sadly I didn’t really get to experience that over there but hopefully it’s something I can do over here. And yeah, I came back because I’m Canadian and I love Canada despite the dreary winters.
(ÜSFG) I was looking at your Island Films website.
(SS) Oh, yeah.
(ÜSFG) You’ve really got a growing body of work there and I have to say your commercials are visual feasts. I could sit and watch those commercials all day long. Can you tell me a little bit about Island Films?
(SS) Island Films is a company that I started up with my partner Antony Redman, and he’s also an incredibly gifted writer and we decided to start it pure and simple because we just love stories. We love being told a really good story and I love going to the movies and, as I mentioned in a previous interview, my favorite thing about going to the movies is just the anticipation of being told a fantastic story, and I love sitting there with my popcorn as the lights dim and the title credits start rolling. It’s a fantastic, fantastic thing. And we started that because we just had stories and we’re always brainstorming different ideas. In fact, we’ve got a really great one called Strawberry which is a sci-fi and is set in the very, very far future and is about how… it’s dealing with cryogenics and what happens to your soul or your spirit, like if your brain is frozen and you come back does that mean your soul splinters off? It’s um… If you read the synopsis for Strawberry I think that might be something you might be interested in, Raven.
(ÜSFG) Okay. Thank you. I will definitely look that up. So, last year you were part of the award winning cast and critically acclaimed show jPod.
(SS) Mmm.
(ÜSFG) Yes, that’s actually how I became a fan of yours.
(SS) Aww.
(ÜSFG) What was it like being a part of such a dynamic cast and show?
(SS) Oh I LOVED it! Emilie (Ullerup) would be able to attest to just… It was just a joy being on set every single day with such a marvelous team of actors, and we all got along so great. Like, I count Emilie as one of my best pals.
(ÜSFG) She said the same thing about you.
(SS) Yeah, and you know I’m close with all of my other fellow podsters as well. Torrance (Coombs) lives just down the road and David (Kopp) and his girl Brandy I’m close with as well. I get to see Ben (Ayres) every now and then but he’s very busy. Um. I wish I got to see more of him. But it was fantastic. The writing is sharp. The sets were always phenomenal. We had almost a different director for every episode and they always brought fresh and wonderful ideas. And it’s Douglas Coupland. He’s just an iconic part of cultural history, the voice of a generation. So, there’s always a little trepidation going into a project that could profile in such a big way and it was such a joy, really wonderful and really quite sad. I was genuinely very distressed when the season ended and then we found out that the show was just a little bit too forward-thinking and had been canceled. And we had a legion of fans as well, which was, you know… The CBC was going for that demographic and I guess maybe, you know that particular demographic tends to download a lot more then they tend to watch TV so, um, I think it was due in part to ratings but also it was just too forward-thinking for that particular network.
(ÜSFG) Well, Emilie, when I talked to her about it, she said she thinks it’s dead but the fans are still hoping they can at least get a special to wrap up the cliffhanger ending.
(SS) Huh. Mmm. Well, I’m not… I can’t tell you anything that the writers had prepared for the second season, but let me tell you, it would have been freaking hilarious. Like, I was almost rolling on the floor laughing when the writers were telling me what they had prepared for the second season. It’s just, you know, if it’s crazy and strange and wonderful in the first season it just gets ten times more so in the second season, what they had prepared. And it’s just a dreadful shame, and you know what, I’m going to hold hope and be optimistic that the producers have enough sway to command a [special] but I’m not sure about that. I, too, feel that it might be dead.
"It was just a joy being on set every single day with such a marvelous team of actors, and we all got along so great."
(ÜSFG) Yeah, so… Right now you have two films in post-production, The Thaw with Val Kilmer and Paradox with Kevin Sorbo. Now, I’m familiar with Paradox slightly, because I am a comic book geek, but what is The Thaw about and who do you play in it?
(SS)The Thaw is about a group of science, or geology, students and they go up to… the Arctic I think is where it’s set, where they’ve discovered… where a scientist played by Val Kilmer has discovered the carcass of a woolly mammoth completely intact. And while he’s investigating, while he’s dissecting this carcass, he realizes that there is some kind of prehistoric bug that has initially killed the woolly mammoth that has thawed out, has started to thaw out in the mammoth and is quite open to infecting and killing other creatures. One of them being a polar bear and they, um, the students find out that the bug isn’t above infecting humans.
(ÜSFG) And then the fun starts.
(SS) Yeah, and then the fun starts.
(ÜSFG) Alright, so Paradox. It’s kind of a sci-fi/fantasy that takes place in an alternate universe Earth where magic is the rule, and you have a pretty significant part in this.
(SS) Yes. I play the female lead role opposite Kevin (Sorbo) and… I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of [other life] in the universe. I still kind of believe that there can be. I mean, it can’t just be us here, right? That’s just narrow-minded to think that we are the only… we’re the only living, logical creature in this universe. Even then, sometimes when you look around, it doesn’t really seem to make sense. But, um, the story came about… well, the script came to me about November of last year and at that time they hadn’t attached a male lead to it yet. It’s about a detective called Sean Nault and he is investigating a series of crimes and murders and he lives in a magic world. Things are run by magic and spells and it’s an Earth very similar to our Earth except where everything here runs on science, over there everything there runs on magic. Anyway, as he’s investigating these crimes he realizes there is something called a “gun” and something called “bullets” that go into that gun and “how is that possible? What is this weapon? We’ve never seen anything like this!” Which takes him to Lenore’s shop and I’m Lenore, a woman who believes in science in this magic world and therefore is kind of whispered about and not really accepted in society. He and Lenore start investigating these crimes and find a portal into the science world, and go into the science world, and that’s about all I can tell ya.
(ÜSFG) Now you got to…
(SS) And Emilie is actually in that!
(ÜSFG) Yes! I was just getting ready to ask about that. She said she…
(SS) It was so wonderful because the director, Brenton Spencer, has directed a few episodes of Sanctuary and when I met with him he was talking about Sanctuary and, um, it was our brilliant idea that Emilie must most definitely come in, her being a good pal of mine and him having worked with her before, and the whole Sanctuary connection. It was like, “Well, she has to be in it, no ifs, ands or buts” and so I got on the phone and I absolutely wrangled her into the project. It was great to work to work with Emilie again. Any time, any day.
(ÜSFG) Well, hopefully we’ll see you on Sanctuary in Season 2.
(SS) I’ve talked to her about that. I said, “You know, even if like I come back as a hideous monster or something and we have a big fight scene between the two of us. Awesome.” And she was like, “We’ll find something better for you than that.”
(ÜSFG) Well, when can we expect to see The Thaw and Paradox in theaters? Have there been dates set yet?
(SS) Um, there are quite a lot of visual effects that are going to be going into Paradox so I don’t expect to see or hear anything with Paradox for at least, minimum, at least six to eight months, although I am anticipating it coming out because we did some great work on that. It was a very, very fun set. Um, and The Thaw I think will be released in spring, I guess to coincide with…
(ÜSFG) The thaw…
(SS) Ya know, spring and everything thawing out, right. I think that’s when they are aiming for a release. I’m not 100% sure, although the trailer is already out so they can’t be too far away, and I’ve already done ADR on it so I think it’s just around the corner.
(ÜSFG) Well, I look forward to that. Are there any other projects that we should be keeping an eye out for this year?
(SS) Um, well, there’s Dim Sum Funeral, a film that I did just before The Thaw in March of last year, and that’s to do with an Asian-American family, four siblings who come together to bury their mother in a traditional Chinese funeral. Not science fiction at all, more of a family drama. They are completely antagonistic siblings… they are towards each other, which I’m guessing a lot of people can relate to. I know I didn’t like my sisters for a very long time and, um, that’s currently doing the film festivals. That’s going to, um… It just had its premiere at Pusan Film Festival last year and then was at AFI and then just, I think about a week ago, was at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, and now it’s going to the Singapore Film Festival and then the New Port Beach Film Festival and then the L.A. Film Festival and then the San Francisco Asian-American Film Festival… It’s just doing the circuit of festivals right now but I think it’s going to be airing at some stage on HBO. Apart from those three, nnn… not much.
(ÜSFG) Not much?
(SS) There are a few projects in the pipeline right now but I’m not allowed to talk about them until I get on set. A little… just a little superstition of mine that I shouldn’t start chitter-chattering about things I want to work on because I might not actually be on it.
(ÜSFG) I understand. I have the same problem. I do a lot of projects and if I… the more time I spend talking about it before I actually do it, the less I actually get done, so I understand.
(SS) Yeah.
(ÜSFG) Well, we covered everything that I really wanted to go over, so I know you’ve got a deadline. Is there anything else you want me to share before you run off?
(SS) Um, no, except I am, um… my first experience in sci-fi on Paradox I just loved, and I hope to do more of it. I guess The Thaw is kind of a…
(ÜSFG) Sci-Fi/Horror.
(SS) Sci-fiction kind of thing, more of a horror, but that was a fun experience too. I got to do a lot of screaming. It was a screamer. It was my first screamer and I feel like I’ve done permanent damage to my voice box. But it was good fun and, um, I hope to be able to show you guys something more. I hope to be able to produce something like Strawberry, so check that out on my Island Films website. Strawberry is a script that I would love to see made. The screenplay is finished. It’s fantabulous. I love it and I think we’re going to try to start funding it. I dunno; feature it on your website. You’ll find it on the Island Films website under Films. It opens up onto a bunch of, whachamacallit, I guess concept art posters and you’ll see Strawberry. It’s on the bottom right-hand corner, and click on that and it should take you right to a synopsis page so you can read the synopsis. I’m going to try to start finding funding for it so if anyone is interested, contact Island Films. Thank you very much, and I will keep you posted on those three… the two upcoming projects, and let you know where they are at and when they are going to come out, and so on and so forth.
"Strawberry" is a sci-fi thriller about what happens to your soul when your body's on ice.
(ÜSFG) Thank you, Steph!
While we have to wait a while for Paradox, you can expect The Thaw to arrive in theaters sometime this spring. Dim Sum Funeral is currently showing at festivals and will soon air on HBO. jPod is available to watch streaming on CBC.com and TheWB.com, and can be purchased from Amazon.com. Also, don’t forget to stop by stephsong.com and islandfilms.net to keep up-to-date on Steph’s latest projects.
Hey Weta fans,
It’s been a fantastic month — can’t believe it’s been that long since we relaunched the site. So many people have signed up, made reviews and comments, posted encouraging notes on forums all over the world. And even helped us out with photos and information. It’s all hugely appreciated. We thought we’d encourage you even further to review the pieces you own, so place product reviews for the items you own by April 15th and we will draw three winners who each get 60 Weta Dollars to spend. That’s enough for a Doctor Who helmet. Or a mini Raygun. So get reviewing — you enter automatically just by writing a review and I will pick a winner at random.
The Republic faces a new threat as lethal mercenary Cad Bane makes his appearance in “Hostage Crisis,” the thrilling conclusion to the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday, March 20 on Cartoon Network
The heroes of the Republic have repeatedly beaten back the assaults orchestrated by the evil Separatist forces, but an entirely new threat — lethal mercenary Cad Bane — will emerge from the shadows in “Hostage Crisis,” the thrilling conclusion to the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday, March 20 on Cartoon Network.
Count Dooku seeks to spring a Separatist prisoner from Republic captivity, but his profile prevents him from getting close enough to set in motion his malevolent plan.
Enter Cad Bane, the galaxy’s most fearsome bounty hunter, as ruthless as he is deadly. He is quintessentially cold, cruel and calculating — and when the price is right, he can’t be stopped. Backed by Dooku and the Separatists, he’s bringing his unique skill set and impressive arsenal to bear against the very heart of the Republic. Bane brazenly brings the fight to the Senate’s doorstep, with a rogues gallery of galactic scum as his allies.
“This episode gave us the chance to do something totally different, to go in a new direction with the series,” says supervising director Dave Filoni. “We’ve seen the good guys and the bad guys, from the top of the food chain to the cannon fodder on the front lines. Now we get to look at some of the opportunists, at the mercenaries operating without a side. It’s a whole new dynamic we haven’t seen yet, and at the same time it’s very Star Wars.”
Patterned after the laconic gunslingers of spaghetti Westerns, Bane is lethally cool and relishes being a bad guy. He is unflappable in the face of danger, and even welcomes the opportunity to pit his formidable skills against the legendary prowess of the Jedi Knights. Filoni says the inspiration for the red-eyed bounty hunter came directly from George Lucas.
“He had a clear idea for this bad guy who plays by his own set of rules, whose moral code is dictated by his fee,” says Filoni. “And he had sketches and concepts dating back to the original films. If Boba Fett was sort of the Man With No Name of the Star Wars galaxy, then Cad Bane is his counterpoint — his Lee Van Cleef. So that’s how we built the character, with that in mind. It’s a cool parallel to our world, and a cool balance in theirs.”
Making his Star Wars: The Clone Wars debut in Friday’s season finale, Bane has already established a place as a fan-favorite — among the series’ creators and crew.
“The crew loves Cad Bane, and I really think the fans will, too,” says episode director Giancarlo Volpe. “He brings a serious bad-ass sensibility to Star Wars. He’s a lethal and ruthless bounty hunter, and you see that right away in the episode. Unlike Boba Fett, Cad doesn’t take prisoners.”
These last few weeks have been more deliciously geeky than Melange
flavored jelly beans eaten on a holodeck trip to planet Raisa… We had a successful shuttle launch, Pi day, The theatrical release of one of the best novels (graphic or otherwise) of all time, Einstein’s Birthday, Resident Evil 5, and the list goes on. In fact it does right now with the return of the Force FX Lightsabers…
Without lightsabers, Luke Skywalker would just have been a whiney brat. Without lightsabers, Darth Vader would just have been a big dude in a funky suit. Without lightsabers, the Jedi would never have been able to force back all three Ewok invasions. Lightsabers are a noble weapon of a more civilized time. By focusing power through Adegan crystals, a blade of pure energy is produced. Well, these sabers aren’t real (that is, they won’t take Ponda Baba’s arm off), but they are so close you won’t mind. Featuring power-up and power-down light and sound effects, as well as energy hum, swish, and crash sounds (taken directly from the films), these Force FX sabers will help you take the step from Padawan fan to true Jedi Knight.
We’re happy to announce that The Legend of Neil is up for 4 Streamy Awards including an Audience Choice Award. If you could take the time out to vote for Neil, please do so! You can vote 1x per day (if you try to do more then your vote won’t count).
We were also nominated for Best Director (Sandeep Parikh), Best Guest Star (Felicia Day) and Best Cinematography (Richard E. Stark). All of these nominations are a testament to the talent and hardwork of everyone on the cast and crew, and to our incredible audience who helped spread the word! Thanks so much! Now vote damn you, vote!
At long last, we have finally received an answer from Paramount Pictures, about our quest to host the movie premiere of Star Trek.
There is good news and bad news:
Bad news first: Unfortunately, due to timing and logistics surrounding the production and release details for the film, it will not be possible for the premiere to happen in Vulcan. This is largely due to the lead time that we require to rent and special order the equipment needed to put on the event (i.e. projector, screen, sound system etc); and the much shorter timelines the movie industry works with, surrounding film releases.
The Good news is that Paramount Pictures does want to involve Vulcan Tourism with the release of the film in Alberta. Although it is premature to know specific details, they have informed us that we will be invited to participate in the promo-screening of the film in Calgary. This screening will likely will be scheduled for a day or two prior to the film’s wide release on May 8.
Although this may seem, on the surface, to be the end of a long and colourful journey for the Town of Vulcan, we are thrilled with the results of our efforts:
* The support you have shown Vulcan for our lofty Hollywood goal has been overwhelming;
* The media’s response to this campaign has been remarkable; and,
* The idea has clearly caught the imaginations of the travelling public, as our visitor statistics continue to hold strong.
We are looking forward to seeing what Paramount Pictures has in mind to include Vulcan in its plans surrounding Star Trek’s release in May.
Even though Star Trek won’t be premiering in Vulcan this spring, we are still looking forward to a fun and busy year:
* The Town of Vulcan is currently in negotiations with CBS to become an officially licensed Star Trek destination;
* We have put in an application to the Guinness Book of Records to have the “Most people in one location doing a Klingon Bat’leth military-style drill” at our annual Spock Days/Galaxyfest this coming June;
* The Town of Vulcan will be bracing for a Klingon Invasion, as KAG Kanada members descend on Vulcan to celebrate their 20th Anniversary as a fan club at this year’s Spock Days/Galaxyfest weekend.
* The Canadian Space Agency and NASA is considering doing a downlink video conference between our local high school and Canadian Astronaut Robert Thirsk, live from the International Space Station in September (an event that will be open to the public).
If you would like to stay in touch with all of the goings on in Vulcan, we invite you to join our other Facebook group: “Trekking to Vulcan, Alberta” or ask to be put on our mailing list by contacting: info@vulcantourism.com
Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and support for our small town’s ambitious goal to host the premiere of Star Trek XI.
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Live Long & Prosper!
Dayna Dickens, Tourism Coordinator
Erin Melcher, Information Services Coordinator
Town of Vulcan and Vulcan County, Alberta, Canada
After a long and colourful journey, the Town of Vulcan has finally received word, from Paramount Pictures, about its ambitious quest to host the movie premiere of Star Trek.
There is good news and bad news:
Bad news first: Unfortunately, due to timing and logistics surrounding the production and release details for the film, it will not be possible for the premiere to happen in Vulcan. This is largely due to the lead time the town required to rent and special order the equipment needed to put on the event; and the much shorter timelines the movie industry works with, surrounding film releases.
The Good news is that Paramount Pictures does want to involve Vulcan with the release of the film in Alberta. Although it is premature to know specific details, they have informed the town’s Tourism Coordinator that Vulcan will be invited to participate in the promo-screening of the film in Calgary. This screening will likely be scheduled for a day or two prior to the film’s wide release on May 8.
Although this may seem, on the surface, to be the end of a unique promotional campaign, Dayna Dickens, Vulcan’s Tourism Coordinator, is thrilled with the results of their efforts:
“The support Vulcan has received, for its lofty Hollywood goal — from both the government and our peers in the Tourism Industry has been overwhelming; the international media’s response to this campaign has been remarkable; and, the idea of Vulcan’s “Trekkie Tourism” has clearly caught the imaginations of the travelling public, as our visitor and gift shop statistics continue to hold strong, even through the current economic slow-down”.
Despite not being granted the premiere of the new Star Trek movie, Dickens is looking forward to seeing what Paramount Pictures has in mind to include Vulcan in its plans surrounding Star Trek’s release in May. She is confident that 2009 will be another excellent year for tourism in this little Trekkie Town on the Prairies.
For more information contact:
Dayna Dickens
Tourism Coordinator
Town of Vulcan/Vulcan Tourism
Box 1161, Vulcan, AB, T0L 2B0
Tel: 403-485-2994 Fax: 403-485-2878 dayna@vulcantourism.com
Website: vulcantourism.com
Cyber Controller statues are now shipping World Wide. This impressive and dynamic piece has now reached all our warehouses and will reach eager pre-orderers shortly.
But wait! There’s more!
Lord President Borusa’s Headdress has started shipping in New Zealand and is not far off the rest of the world. This means the last remaining piece is the Cyberman Leader Helmet, which we’re expecting in the second quarter this year.
Over the past two years, ten million people have come to recognize Jeff Lewis as Vork, the quirky leader of The Knights of Good on Felicia Day‘s hit web series The Guild. After spending years doing stand-up and improv comedy with such troupes as The Groundlings and The Second City, he’s also turned his talents towards writing. His first film screenplay, For Christ’s Sake, is in post-production, and his other writing credits include episodes of Nickelodeon‘s Catscratch and Dreamworks Animation‘s Toonsylvania. While he’s made numerous web and television production appearances, very little information is available online to provide insight into the man behind the Guildmaster (though he did just receive a bit of “exposure” by appearing in nothing but a blue Speedo in a CareerBuilder.com commercial), so Jeff graciously took time recently to answer some questions for us.
ÜberSciFiGeek (ÜSFG) I love your CareerBuilder commercial! What kind of feedback are you getting from it so far, and how do you feel about your picture being sent as a gift all over Facebook?
Jeff Lewis (JL) The feedback from the commercial has been great. I love being sent as a gift. I think they stopped it and that makes me sad.
(ÜSFG) Did you have an active imagination when you were a kid?
(JL) Yes, I did. I read a lot of fantasy and science fiction books and after I would read a passage, I would close my eyes and play it out in my head. And I spent a lot of time with toy soldiers, having battles where I killed several Nazis. I love killing Nazis. To this day, I will buy any WW2 video game that involves killing Nazis. I will continue killing Nazis even when the game tells me I am done with a certain area or level. And when the opportunity arises to actually play a Nazi, I will kill myself immediately and laugh about it. I hate Nazis. I cannot overstate it.
(ÜSFG) Lots of artistic people struggle with other things considered normal, like sports, academics, and social interaction, but then thrive when they discover the arts. Did you have a similar experience?
(JL) For the most part. I loved sports though. Basketball and football. But I always struggled with academics. Knowledge is just not my… thing. And as far as social interaction, it wasn’t great. Especially with women. Especially with women. I am repeating that sentence for dramatic effect. I came from a place of assuming immediately that any woman I met was not interested. There was a time when a woman could be naked in my bed and I still would question whether she was into me. I definitely fared better in the arts. It’s a real boost to your confidence when people laugh at you. And then, of course, social interaction improves. Although I’m still not sure that my fiancée is really into me.
(ÜSFG) How old were you when you decided you wanted to be an actor?
(JL) It took a long time. I was in a state of denial for many years. I just kind of did shows but didn’t admit that I was an actor. It just wasn’t something my parents wanted me to do or raised me to be. I think I probably knew the first time I stepped on stage. I’m going to give you a number just because I think people generally crave specificity. 28.
(ÜSFG) You just finished wrapping season 2 of The Guild. What was it like being back together with the cast and crew? How different was it to actually have a budget this time around?
(JL) It was great being with the cast and crew. Quite seriously, I like everybody and we have a great time. Sometimes too good. Especially with Felicia and Sandeep, just because I’ve known them so long and so many of my scenes are with them. I look forward to working more with Vince and Amy and Robin because I really like them too. And I love the crew. Everybody’ s just really nice and we’ve gotten into a good rhythm. If there was a way we could legally, morally and biologically have an orgy without the sex and various fluids, I would like to do that.
It was a little different having a budget. Not as much on the set because the writing and acting has always been there, regardless of budget, but more seeing the finished product. It just looks great. I take that back now about on the set. There’s more people. It takes longer for me to walk back from craft service to the set. More people to get by.
(ÜSFG) I know that Felicia Day wrote the part of Vork for you because she thinks you are one of the funniest men she’s ever known. Does that mean she borrowed heavily from your real life personality? How much are you and Vork alike?
(JL) I don’t know how much she borrowed. Vork is very exact in his words and actions. Everything’s a little calculated. I think I’m more stop and start, not exactly sure where I’m going. And dumb. I think emotionally, we might be similar. Prone to instant anger, albeit disarming. And frustration. We both have that and I hope it comes out in a funny way. Basically (and sadly), I think she just thought I looked the part of an older gamer.
(ÜSFG) What’s going on with For Christ’s Sake? There’s a great website up at forchristssakemovie.com (love the choice of Orff’s “Carmina Burana” theme). Can you tell us a little bit about the film and how you came to write it?
(JL)For Christ’s Sake is a feature about a priest who unwittingly becomes an investor in his brother’s porn movie. It’s got a great cast. Jed Reese, Will Sasso, Alex Borstein, Sarah Rue, Michael Hitchcock and John Schneider (of The Dukes of Hazzard). I wrote it several years ago in a writing workshop class and gave it to my friend Jackson Douglas, a director, and he got the funding and directed it. We’re just waiting to hear about distribution now.
(ÜSFG) You visited Kiko on the set of Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine show this season. What was it like working with Kim Evey and her crew over there?
(JL) It was great to work with Kim. She’s awesome! I had never worked with any of the actors and we just hit it off. Very fun. And Kim is great to work with on The Guild. I think of her as the script Nazi on The Guild. Maybe not Nazi but more of a “the mom that would keep you in line” and I mean that in the best way. She’s the one that would say, “No, Vork would never keep a small boy in the basement” or “Vork would never be in a hotel room with two hookers and an eight ball”. You need somebody like that. To keep you true to the characters and to maintain that ensemble feel. And by the way, Vork WOULD keep a small boy in his basement.
(ÜSFG) You’ve had a lot of success lately as a writer. Are you changing your focus from in front of to behind the scenes?
(JL) I’m not sure that I’ve had that much success, but if you say so. I will say that for about two years, I kind of gave up on acting and focused almost solely on writing and that was a mistake and will never happen again.
(ÜSFG) What other projects have you been working on?
(JL) I’ve been doing stand up for about 6 months and that’s been fun and horrifying. I’m also writing a screenplay with a new partner and trying to write my own webisode, hopefully with the help of The Guild people.
(ÜSFG) Do you get recognized in public now?
(JL) Once in a while, I do get recognized. It’s always a little awkward. I’ve gotten so used to living in obscurity. It was always a goal of mine.
(ÜSFG) Are you a Whedonite?
(JL) I’m not sure. I love everything he’s done. He’s pretty amazing. I was very jealous when I saw Dr. Horrible. I wish I could write like that. Especially the songs.
Hey all, we’re a little less than 21 hours away from rolling cameras on season 2 of The Legend of Neil. We’ve got a long, and ambitious shoot ahead of us over the next two weeks. We’re working with a mostly volunteer but highly seasoned crew on our meager web budgets. But it’s not enough, we need just a few more EXPERIENCED crew hands in the Grip & Electric, Art and Production Assistant Department. If you’ve got even a day or two to come out during this slow season (starting THIS SUNDAY), we’d love to have you. This is a prime opportunity for those looking to network and get a Comedy Central IMDb credit on one of the most successful web shows… well… ever! If this sounds like you, please email me your resume (even limited on set experience will do) to effinfunny@gmail.com with “VOLUNTEER CREW” in the subject.
Also we’re on the hunt for a handful of extras for a couple of scenes. If you’re looking to get in front of the camera please submit some pictures of yourself to effinfunny@gmail.com with “EXTRA CALL” in the subject. We’re looking for rough and tumble folks, so keep that in mind when sending in your pics (grimace). You’d need to be in LA available for a full 12 hour day on one of the following: March 7th, March 9th or March 11th. You will be fed and credited!
Whether you’re in town or not, I’d still like to thank you all for your support. The web is truly a collaborative medium where we get to actually work and interact with our fans. It’s pretty frickin rad and kind of gives me a boner. TMI?
