Katrina Bowden Says No To On-Screen Nudity
The instant Dimension landed on Piranha 3DD as the title for their ferocious fish sequel, we all knew precisely what kind of movie to expect -- and that's exactly what drew Katrina Bowden to the blood and joke-soaked sequel despite not being a huge fan of horror movies in her real life.
TheInsider.com caught up with her in anticipation of Piranha 3DD being unleashed on America and found out that while we can expect as much graphic violence and nudity this time around, very little of it will belong to her!
TheInsider.com: I thought the first movie was a blast -- how does Piranha 3DD stack up?
Katrina Bowden: I think it's even funnier and more ridiculous and over the top – that's definitely the appeal. It's not a serious movie by any stretch [laughs]. It's a throwback to old horror movies and there's a lot more comedy this time.
Insider: Who do you play?
Katrina: Shelby is a small town girl who is kind of shy and reserved, especially around boys. She doesn't have the best self-confidence, but she's just starting to like the idea of someone being into her. She's like a damsel in distress throughout the movie.
Insider: I hope your scream was up to par, then.
Katrina: It's pretty good, I'm not going to lie [laughs]. My character is different though – something different happens to her. I don't want to give it away, but she has a lot of very, very close encounters with the fish.
Insider: Did you say close or clothed encounters?
Katrina: Close [laughs].
Insider: What is your feeling regarding on-screen nudity?
Katrina: I don't have a problem with other people doing it, but I don't do nudity. I'm not for it for myself. Personally, I don't think it's necessary. With a movie like this, it adds to the effect – it's what they're going for and that's cool, but I don't think most movies need nudity. It's usually extra and doesn't have to be in there.
Insider: The first movie memorably separated Jerry O'Connell from his manhood. Is there a moment you think will particularly get audiences talking?Katrina: Oh yes, there's another scene just like that actually. It actually involves my character and that's all I can say. I was there when we were shooting it but seeing it on screen, I had to look away. I don't like gore, it makes me cringe and there are so many times watching this movie I had to look away.
Insider: David Hasselhoff cameos as himself and you've seen lots of actors lampoon themselves on 30 Rock. Do you appreciate a self-deprecating celebrity?
Katrina: Definitely. I think we all need to be able to do that. Everyone needs to be able to make fun of themselves a little bit. If you take yourself too seriously, you won't have fun in life. I think it's important for people to be able to laugh at themselves.
Insider: NBC has announced that next season will be 30 Rock's last -- do you feel like the time is right?
Katrina: I do. It's been such a great ride and they owe it to themselves – and the fans – to really make it a final season no one will forget. I've been a fan of so many shows over the years that have left me hanging, or unsatisfied – but out writers are so talented, I'm not worried.
Insider: Not even that Cerie might marry Lutz?
Katrina: [laughs] That would be a kind of hilarious turn. I'm not against it.
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Miss Rajasthan 2006 and model Gulshan Sharma poses nude for 50 lakh (100 grands)
While Bollywood wannabes like Poonam Pandey and Nisha Yadav have been circulating their so-called nude photographs to all and sundry, one actress is quietly raking in the moolah working with international glamour magazines.
Bollywood model-actress Gulshan Sharma recently shot a nude centrespread and cover for a French magazine for which she was reportedly paid Rs 50 lakh.
Gulshan Sharma confirmed that she has recently done a very bold photo shoot for an international magazine.
"I am under contract with the magazine and cannot breathe a word about the photo shoot or the payment for the same," she said.
However, sources claim that Gulshan has been paid almost Rs 50 lakh for the full frontal nude shoot. We managed to get a few photographs of the photo shoot - of course not the nude ones, as they are closely guarded given the fact that the magazine has paid a huge sum for them.
Background on Miss Sharma :
Gulshan Sharma is the winner of the Miss World Wella Paris Crown (2007), and has participated in Miss. Tourism World (2007) including Model of the World Best Hair, Model of the Universe Best Personality, Miss. Beypazari beauty world in Turkey, Miss Flavors Beauty World (2007), a silver shield from Turkish Tourism Minister and has been the Brand Ambassador for district modeling association (2005), Miss. Agra (2005). She has walked the ramp for Indian Sanskar garments fashion show in Mumbai (2007), for Desert Miss India as a celebrity model in Rajasthan (2007), she won the Miss Passion Princess award title (2009), Sexiest and Hottest Model (2009), she was among the top 5 models and the Best Ramp Walk for Miss South Africa contest (2008), she was selected Frankfinn’s radio officer and air hostess (2005), manager of forever living health, nutrition and beauty health products (2005), she participated in the promotion of a Turkish car called Aliveris, She walked the ramp as a show stopper model for Citimall opening at Rajkot and has done numerous newspaper ads and magazines for D’damas, layouts for Luxury magazines, Print ads for Gitanjali jewellery etc.
The multi-talented and super hot looking international model is one of her kind.
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Alfie Allen on the "Needed" Game of Thrones Sex Scenes and His "Unbelievable" Castmates
It's hard to ignore the controversy around Game of Thrones' many explicit sex scenes, and Alfie Allen, who plays the treacherous Theon Greyjoy, has been at the center of more sex scenes than almost any other character on the show.
Wetpaint Entertainment recently had the chance to talk to Alfie, and after telling us all about why Theon is sympathetic, he weighed in on the controversy, and explained why sex is so important to Theon's character. Plus, he shared his thoughts about his incredible castmates, which characters he'd like to see Theon interact with, and much more.
What was your favorite scene that you did during Season 2?
For action and visuals it was the beheading [of Rodrik Cassel in Season 2, Episode 6: "The Old Gods and the New"]. It's a realistic beheading. It's not just one clean swoosh of the sword and the head comes clean off, it's hacking away at it. That was fun, I really enjoyed that. And the scene with Osha as well. I thought that was kind of funny, that definitely made me laugh when I'm biting into the apple: "What do you want then, other than your miserable life?" That definitely made me giggle quite a bit. And I love being able to eat food while I was doing a scene. So I really liked that scene. That is probably my favorite scene actually.
You've had a fair number of sex scenes. That's something that happens a lot with Theon, which is actually true in the books as well.
Yeah, totally. I think it's one of the only places where he can have power, where he has authority. Because he has no sense of authority in any part of his life, because everyone is making decisions for him, and that's the only place — in the bedroom — where he has a sense of authority and power. Even though he's kind of paying for it, he still thinks that that's where he can assert his power. It's a funny, funny concept, but I think it's kind of true.
Obviously there's a lot of controversy about whether or not there's too much nudity in Game of Thrones, and about whether the show relies on it too much. What do you think?
Needed. I think think it's always needed. I think it's very important to the show. And, come on, we all love to see it, don't we? It's fun. There's a lot of food, a lot of violence, a lot of sex in this program, and that's definitely three staples of life that we all love.
Tell us about where you shot the scenes on Pyke. It was gorgeous on screen.
Yeah! I would love to say we went over to New Zealand and had a great time, but it was all shot in the northern coast of Ireland. Some Northern Ireland and some Ireland. It was just absolutely beautiful. It was absolutely amazing. If they had better weather, Ireland could have been like New Zeland. It's unbelievably gorgeous. That was all along the north coast of Ireland. I think it will definitely do good things for the Northern Island tourism industry.
The entire cast is really good, but we've been particularly impressed by the child actors. What's it been like to work with them?
Oh my god, they're amazing. They're just fantastic. I haven't gotten to work with them a lot, but they do amaze me. They're incredible. I mean Maisie [Williams], Isaac [Hempstead Wright], Sophie [Turner] — even little Rickon. Rickon — Art his name is, Art Parkinson — doesn't get much to do. But on set, the kid is unbelievable. He'll just reel off accents to you. He's like a chameleon. He's this little Irish kid, he's got a really thick, strong Irish accent, and he just impersonates everyone around him. It's just so — they're so good at their jobs. Nina Gold and the casting agency, and [creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss]. They just chose the right people. I really think — I mean Arya is just brilliant, Maisie's fantastic — but I really think Sophie has really come into her own this season [as Sansa]. I think she's been absolutely brilliant. Top props to her. And not only are they great actors, they're such lovely children. Isaac is one of the the coolest and smartest kids I've ever met in my life. If I had a son I'd definitely want him to be like Isaac.
Who are your favorite cast members to work with?
Gemma [Whelan]. She's great. I really liked working with her as Yara. She was fantastic. I also liked the sex scene with Esme Bianco as Ros. She was great, she made me feel completely at ease, and she's a brilliant actress as well. And, I mean, I liked some of my stuff with Richard [Madden, who plays Robb Stark] as well. I really liked acting with Richard. He's just a brilliant actor and he's easy to work with.
Obviously Game of Thrones is a fantasy world, but it's rooted in reality. Did you do any real life research to prepare for the part?Wetpaint Entertainment recently had the chance to talk to Alfie, and after telling us all about why Theon is sympathetic, he weighed in on the controversy, and explained why sex is so important to Theon's character. Plus, he shared his thoughts about his incredible castmates, which characters he'd like to see Theon interact with, and much more.
What was your favorite scene that you did during Season 2?
For action and visuals it was the beheading [of Rodrik Cassel in Season 2, Episode 6: "The Old Gods and the New"]. It's a realistic beheading. It's not just one clean swoosh of the sword and the head comes clean off, it's hacking away at it. That was fun, I really enjoyed that. And the scene with Osha as well. I thought that was kind of funny, that definitely made me laugh when I'm biting into the apple: "What do you want then, other than your miserable life?" That definitely made me giggle quite a bit. And I love being able to eat food while I was doing a scene. So I really liked that scene. That is probably my favorite scene actually.
You've had a fair number of sex scenes. That's something that happens a lot with Theon, which is actually true in the books as well.
Yeah, totally. I think it's one of the only places where he can have power, where he has authority. Because he has no sense of authority in any part of his life, because everyone is making decisions for him, and that's the only place — in the bedroom — where he has a sense of authority and power. Even though he's kind of paying for it, he still thinks that that's where he can assert his power. It's a funny, funny concept, but I think it's kind of true.
Obviously there's a lot of controversy about whether or not there's too much nudity in Game of Thrones, and about whether the show relies on it too much. What do you think?
Needed. I think think it's always needed. I think it's very important to the show. And, come on, we all love to see it, don't we? It's fun. There's a lot of food, a lot of violence, a lot of sex in this program, and that's definitely three staples of life that we all love.
Tell us about where you shot the scenes on Pyke. It was gorgeous on screen.
Yeah! I would love to say we went over to New Zealand and had a great time, but it was all shot in the northern coast of Ireland. Some Northern Ireland and some Ireland. It was just absolutely beautiful. It was absolutely amazing. If they had better weather, Ireland could have been like New Zeland. It's unbelievably gorgeous. That was all along the north coast of Ireland. I think it will definitely do good things for the Northern Island tourism industry.
The entire cast is really good, but we've been particularly impressed by the child actors. What's it been like to work with them?
Oh my god, they're amazing. They're just fantastic. I haven't gotten to work with them a lot, but they do amaze me. They're incredible. I mean Maisie [Williams], Isaac [Hempstead Wright], Sophie [Turner] — even little Rickon. Rickon — Art his name is, Art Parkinson — doesn't get much to do. But on set, the kid is unbelievable. He'll just reel off accents to you. He's like a chameleon. He's this little Irish kid, he's got a really thick, strong Irish accent, and he just impersonates everyone around him. It's just so — they're so good at their jobs. Nina Gold and the casting agency, and [creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss]. They just chose the right people. I really think — I mean Arya is just brilliant, Maisie's fantastic — but I really think Sophie has really come into her own this season [as Sansa]. I think she's been absolutely brilliant. Top props to her. And not only are they great actors, they're such lovely children. Isaac is one of the the coolest and smartest kids I've ever met in my life. If I had a son I'd definitely want him to be like Isaac.
Who are your favorite cast members to work with?
Gemma [Whelan]. She's great. I really liked working with her as Yara. She was fantastic. I also liked the sex scene with Esme Bianco as Ros. She was great, she made me feel completely at ease, and she's a brilliant actress as well. And, I mean, I liked some of my stuff with Richard [Madden, who plays Robb Stark] as well. I really liked acting with Richard. He's just a brilliant actor and he's easy to work with.
Not really, no. I'll be deadly honest with you. I know that [writer] George [Martin] sort of based in on the War of the Roses in the 1500s. That's where his inspiration came from. I don't know the ins and outs of it, to be honest. I know that a king died and there was no rightful heir to the throne so all the richest houses in the land were vying for the throne, saying we have a right to it because we have the most money. I knew all that backstory, but I don't think there really is much real life research you can do for it. It's a fantasy kingdom. It is what it is and you just kind of make it your own. I think that's even true for the writers and directors — everyone just has to make it their own, in their own way. The more we kind of leave it up to these talented people to make those decisions, the better.
What kind of physical preparation and training did you do for the role?
I had a lot of horse riding to do. I was also just in the gym a lot. My body was just completely different from when I did the first series. I kind of looked around at some of the actors and went "god, I need to get in shape." So I did that. I also wanted — and I think HBO, this is the reason they got us into the gym, not really for any vanity reasons, they just wanted us to be stronger. The wanted us to feel like warriors, and feel battle-hardened, and feel like we could go into war and wield a sword quite easily. That's how I definitely saw it. Obviously I had my sex scenes and stuff, and I wanted to look good in those, and wanted to look tip-top shape. But also I wanted to feel like Theon, I wanted to feel strong. So that was my primary reason for getting into the gym. You couldn't really ask for anything more — getting a job and they say right, we want you to get really fit, get really strong, and we're going to pay you.
In the Game of Thrones world, characters end up interacting with all sorts of people you wouldn't expect them to. Who would you like to Theon spend time with that he hasn't already?
Two people. I would like to see him interact with Arya, because I think she would be able to sort of show him the rights and wrongs of the world and go "no, Theon." It would be just really sweet to see little Arya put her arm around big Theon and go "no mate, this is the way you do it." Because she's so cool. She knows what's she doing, and she's got a real wise head on her shoulders. And also I'd liked to see Theon and Varys somehow have something. Because I just love Varys, and the way Conleth [Hill] plays him. And it would be cool seeing Varys maybe lead Theon in the wrong way, and use Theon to his own advantage. Because Theon is quite easily led. So that would be interesting to see.
We feel like Theon would have no idea how to deal with Varys.
Exactly! Varys is way too smart for Theon, and could use him to his own advantage for sure, and that would be interesting to see.
If you could play a different Game of Thrones character, who would you pick?
I'd says Varys again, because I really like his character. And I like Jaqen H'ghar, he's just really mysterious. I like his character, and he's a shapeshifter as well, so I'd like to sort of go into that. Oh yes — Pyat Pree [the warlock]. I'd like to play Pyat Pree, he's a scary man. He's got some brilliant lines in there. He would be an interesting character to play. Tywin as well. I think Tywin's a brilliant character, I'd like to play him, he's cool. And just the way Charles Dance does it, he's brilliant. He's a very likeable. Sort of, I hate using this term, but a likable baddie.
Other than Game of Thrones, what are your favorite TV shows?
There's a show in the UK called Black Mirror that's really good. Charlie Brooker wrote it, who is sort of — I'd say he's a journalist, but he's more of script writer nowm to be honest. There's a French cop thriller called Braquo that's really cool. Obviously things like The Wire and Boardwalk Empire I'm in love with. But definitely for something to check out, Black Mirror and Braquo.
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The "Masters of Sex" on Showtime Set
Lights, camera,... the Maiers! The gang showed up to cheer on the stars of Showtime's "Masters of Sex", starring Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, being filmed in March 2012 as a one-hour pilot. Both Lizzy and Michael were terrific to us. Michael offered some soccer tips to Drew. Joyce was charmed by director John Madden. Taylor had a stand-in stuntman fill in for him, while on the phone he offered a few tips on the script. Reade was agog over Lizzy and talked about his appearances in "Man of La Mancha" and "The Sound of Music". And Dad (aka Thomas Maier) kept on blabbing about his new IMDB listing with exec producer Sarah Timberman and show creator Michelle Ashford. The family favorite was Aaron Klemenski, who showed us all around both sets in New York and Long Island, and is aces in our book! 
Lizzy Caplan in costume as "Virginia Johnson" with author/family chauffeur Thomas Maier.
Michael Sheen and Dad meet for the first time and debate who has the nicer suit on.
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Shippers: Who’s Steering This Boat?
Published on February 16, 2012 by Bill Mesce
Stephen King’s 1987 novel Misery (more of you may be acquainted with the 1990 film adaptation) is about the frustrated author of a successful romance series held prisoner by a psychotically-obsessed fan until he writes a novel undoing the series-ending tale of his last book in which, to free himself to move on to other kinds of writing, he killed off his doughty Victorian heroine.Misery was King’s first full-length novel written under his own name which didn’t involve telekinetic teens or childhood boogeymen come to life or rabid killer St. Bernards or any other supernatural force or extraordinary beastie. It’s often been interpreted – and certainly its chronological place in his canon seems to confirm this — as King’s own response to feeling boxed into the supernatural horror genre as much by his fans as by critics.
King’s Misery came back to me as I read a recent Entertainment Weekly story about “shippers” (EW 2/17/12 – “Shippers: TV’s Weirdest Fans”). No, they weren’t talking about FedEx or UPS or Maersk. According to the glossary EW supplied for the story:
“Shipper: Derived from the word relationship, a fan who’s deeply invested in the romance – or the possibility of romance – between two characters. Shipping runs the gamut between ‘just having fun’ and ‘scary-stalker serious’.”
f you’re still fuzzy on the concept, classic cases of “shipping” (is that the word?) would be all those X-Files geeks who kept nagging Chris Carter to get Mulder in the sack with Scully, or the Team Edward v Team Jacob Internet feuds about who most deserved to be boinking Twilight’s droopy Bella.
Shippers are nothing new. They’ve been around since the time they were diplomatically referred to as, “particularly avid fans.” They were the Trekkies who wanted to see Mr. Spock run off with Nurse Chapel, or the Moonlighting junkies who wanted David Addison and Maddie to hit the sheets, or the Cheers barflies who didn’t want to see Sam domesticated by bitchy Diane.
They’re not even distinct to TV. Back in the late 70s, we had a rough equivalent to the Team Edward/Team Jacob fracas; a kind of Team Solo v Team Skywalker duel over who should get to swing on a star with Princess Leia.
But a couple of factors have ratcheted up this kind of hot-blooded, romantically-swooning fandom to a new, strategically-critical level. EW’s Jeff Jensen diagnoses one of those factors as being a change in the television terrain: “The explosive outbreak in shipping is surely an outgrowth of the radical shift toward target-market TV…”
Television used to be a truly massive mass medium. Back when three networks were divvying up most of the TV audience, television was a business of bulk numbers, and the only thing advertisers wanted to see in those numbers was how high a network could get them. That changed with cable television.
The success of cable and the proliferation of channels that came with it (by the end of the 70s, a typical cable system had maybe a dozen channels; now, the average is at least 100, with many systems offering considerably more) shattered the mass audience into hundreds of smaller, more precisely defined niches. How much smaller? There are network shows in today’s weekly Top 20 with numbers that would have gotten them cancelled as recently as the 1980s.
To offset the loss of bulk, TV became more demographic-specific. Programmers’ offer to advertisers went something along the lines of, “Well, no, we can’t deliver 15 million viewers, but we can give you four million single males 18-34 earning $60,000 a year or better.”
Today’s programmers are like snipers; they’re not trying to hit everybody, but just the kind of prime targets which appeal to certain advertisers. God knows MTV is not thinking about the mass audience with Jersey Shore, but its appeal to the party-loving never-gonna-grow-up young makes it choice for some advertisers and a cash cow for the network.
In the old days of mass audiences, a show’s appeal often spread across the demographic scale which effectively diluted their response. The fifteen-year-olds watching Star Trek may have gotten all giddy at the planet-hopping and phaser-zapping and Captain Kirk solving complex interplanetary issues by punching somebody’s lights out, but the 40-year-olds watching felt — … Well, actually, they didn’t feel much which was why NBC cancelled the show. Ok, bad example, but you get the idea. If you have that many people watching a single program, their response to the show is bound to range from foam-at-the-mouth rabid fandom to well-it’s-a-nice-way-to-kill-an-evening casual viewing.
But a narrow, targeted appeal does for an audience what a laser does for light. Instead of a broad, diffuse beam, a laser concentrates light energy into a narrow, tightly-focused, incredibly intense beam which can cut through steel. Instead of a broad, diffuse audience, demo targeting cultivates narrower audiences who more intensely bond with their favorite shows.
The other factor which has ratcheted up shipping (that can’t be right; shippering? Shipperdom? Somebody help me out here!) is social media. This isn’t like the first days of Trekkie-dom when fans had to wait for the annual convention or the monthly newsletter to connect. The Internet and other social media are what fire investigators call “accelerants”; they’re the propane tank left too close to the sparking fuse box, the can of lawn mower gas sitting near the faulty gas heater. You want to see the power of the Internet at work? Go back just a few weeks in the news and see how quickly Net users ignited to kill the SOPA Act. If the Net can be used to make or break law-making, playing hell with TV programming and movie-making is child’s play.
Today, fans chat and tweet and blog constantly, and that kind of constancy fans fan flames (say that five times fast), keeping up – and, at times, raising – the heat on shipper topics. Think about it: would that whole Team Edward/Team Jacob feud have become any kind of a thing were it not for the way the interconnectedness of Twilight fans built it into a press-worthy issue?
Demo-specific TV programming and social media: they’re like the two tanks a flamethrower operator wears on his back. Open the valves, pull the trigger and whooosh!
And that puts storytellers –whether on the big or little screen –in a precarious position if they don’t want to get burned. Shippers can be like the party faithful during the presidential primary season (seemed a timely allegory). They may not represent the public at large, they may not number enough to get you elected, but without them, you ain’t even gettin’ on the ballot. EW quotes Castle creator Andrew Marlowe who I think hits it square on the head: “Shippers are the people who are the most engaged with a show, so they don’t represent the biggest statistical sample. But they really are your core audience, and you can gauge the level of investment of your entire fan base by their interactions with you.”
Which poses a problem for storytellers. You ignore shippers – who can be just as noisy about their dislikes as about their likes – at your peril. But appeasing them brings its own risks as well according to Lost’s Carlton Cruse: “The conventional wisdom is that once you consummate sexual tension, you zap a show of its magic.”
So, don’t give shippers what they want and you risk pissing them off and turning them against the show. Give them what they want and you risk killing the dramatic momentum of the show and also pissing off their opposite number, the “noromos,” as in “no romance” (according to EW, noromos are “…fans who oppose the idea of romance between characters…They’re often hardcore geeks who think the mushy stuff gets in the way of more interesting things, like investigating mysteries, flying spaceships, or killing monsters”).
And that brings us to an element of the shipper phenom EW didn’t go into, which is a potential future arena in which there’s a question over who’ll be in charge of doing the tail-wagging: the dog…or the tail.
Let me crystallize that a bit for you. Look back just a few months to George Lucas’ Blu-ray release of his Star Wars films in which he – for the umpteenth time – tweaked the saga here and there. Only on this go-around, Lucas’ changes, for the first time – at least in the eyes of a number of very vocal, very irate fans – altered the core meaning of elements of the series.
The fans’ reaction was understandable. They had a 35-year-old emotional investment in the Star Wars saga playing out in a certain way. It was like Moses suddenly showing up on TV to announce he was deleting one of the Ten Commandments. “Whoa, now you’re telling us it’s ok to commit adultery? What the hell is that?
But Lucas’ reaction to all those Star War fans screaming “Betrayal! Blasphemy! Betrayal!” was also understandable. On his end, it boiled down to, This is my story, not yours; you don’t own it, I do; and I’m gonna tell my story how I want to!
Both movie-making and TV programming are tremendously expensive commercial ventures. The cost factor doesn’t tolerate a lot of artsy-fartsy visionaries. The average cost of a one-hour scripted network TV show runs $3-4 million per episode, and the average budget for a feature film is northwards of sixty-odd million (not including marketing costs). At those prices, you can’t blame a network or movie studio exec telling some starry-eyed auteur with a visionary bug up his/her ass, “Not with our money you don’t! Gamble with your own money!”
There’s nothing new to audiences influencing storytelling. Hollywood has been tweaking and re-shooting after previews since there was a Hollywood and some silent era studio exec got the bright idea of previews. One of the more notable examples of post-preview tweaking is 1987’s Fatal Attraction.
The original ending to James Dearden’s screenplay had rabbit-stewing stalker Glenn Close killing herself and framing adulterer Michael Douglas for it, but that didn’t do it for audiences at early screenings. So, director Adrian Lynne and Co. shot a new ending with Douglas’ wife – played by Anne Archer – cathartically putting a bullet dead center through knife-wielding Close. I don’t know if that made it a better movie, but the consensus is that bullet through Close’s pump made it a $142 million grossing movie.
Shippers – and even non-shipper fans – have already had an impact on the creative direction of some shows Jensen writes about how Xena: Warrior Princess fans thought they detected a lesbian subtext between Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle, and when the slashers (again, from EW: “A type of shipper…that advocates for a relationship to blossom between two same sex characters”) started buzzing about it, the show began to purposely un-sub the subtext. During the show’s final season, Xena fan fiction writer Melissa Good was brought on to the series’ writing staff presumably to give the show even more of a fan-tailored flavor, and the season ended with a payoff for all those devoted slasher shippers (or shipping slashers – I give up): a smooch between Xena and her sidekick Gabrielle.
Go a step further and there’s the sci fi/fantasy series Bar Karma on the struggling Current TV channel. Bar Karma is attempting to be the first interactive series on commercial television, buildings scripts around plotlines and ideas viewers contribute through an online tool called Storymaker.
We’re in a rising sea of interactivity, and that has me sensing a time in the future when shippers – and fans in general – not only feel a desire to have input into their favorite TV shows, but an expectation.
Fatal Attraction and its $142 million domestic gross notwithstanding, I’m not sure how I feel about that
******
Ray Bradbury’s 1953 sci fi novel Fahrenheit 451 limned a media-immersed future where books were banned and people sat in living rooms surrounded on all sides by wall-sized TVs watching interactive programming. Well, most of us have willingly stopped reading, we’ve got the big screen TVs, and we’ve had a kind of interactivity for some years now.
First-person videogames and multi-player online games aren’t quite what Bradbury had in mind, but they are kinda/sorta in the ballpark in that the course of the game scenario is directed by the choices and accomplishments of the player(s). Look at BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic, which has become one of the fastest-growing subscription online games of all time having, as of February, sold two million copies since its December release, and boasting 1.7 million active subs. The Old Republic takes game immersion to an unprecedented level, providing myriad possible outcomes and providing frequent freshening updates for players who are, effectively, starring in their own more-or-less self-directed, story-without-end Star Wars epic.
And then, of course, there’s the aforementioned Bar Karma, a low-budget effort on a channel with iffy prospects, but certainly a tantalizing picture for interactivity aficionados of a possible commercial TV future.
Though I’m not much of a gamer, I understand the buzz that goes with being a part of the story you’re watching. Back in the 1980s, I was a near-addicted fan of one of the first generation of interactive arcade games. I don’t remember the name, but it was an Old West milieu, and instead of computer-generated graphics, there were a number of live-actor video scenarios. You worked your way through a series of shoot-outs, and at the end of each one you were presented with several more choices, some of which would turn out to be dead ends, others which moved you along some sort of vague plot (I wasn’t good enough to ever find out how it was supposed to play out). It may have about as much connection to something like The Old Republic as a horse-drawn buggy does to private rocket cars, but all those star turns I had in my own gunfighter tale are enough for me to understand where the rush for the interactive player comes from.
But I’ve also been a storyteller, and whether it’s been my mother saying, “Why don’t you write something nice for a change?” or a studio marketing guy telling me, “Get the girl naked and it adds five percent to our overseas take,” someone telling me how to tell my story has never set well with me.
Anyone who knows anything about the oft-bemoaned writing-by-committee development process at networks and studios knows it’s already too democratic. It’s tough enough to tell a good story (or even a coherent story) when a half-dozen or more company men and women are giving you conflicting notes all of which have to somehow be incorporated into what was once your story; imagine how much rougher the ride when you’re getting input from ten thousand.
Hell, for that matter — and with all respect to game designers and players — I’m not even settled in my own mind on whether or not interactive scenarios constitute true storytelling. Is interactivity really “just” a game? Or some knew creative, collective storytelling/story sharing form? Or some kind of hybrid blending traditional storytelling values with the never-ending flux of player input? Or… Beats me.
But what I am sure of is when interactivity bleeds into old style storytelling, it’s not necessarily going to make for great storytelling…or even very good storytelling.
Anyone who’s ever watched the People’s Choice Awards or nights when viewers vote for their favorites on American Idol or even followed the presidential primaries knows that the general public tends to vote for what pleases…which is not always the same thing as what’s good.
Mass entertainment at its most mediocre is usually about appeasement, offering the comfortably, satisfyingly predictable. It’s Hollywood saying, “Hey, I don’t wanna make no trouble.”
And most audiences – for both TV and movies – are happy with that. But that being the case, it’s not hard for me to imagine an interactive universe where Romeo and Juliet don’t die, where Gatsby and Daisy run off and live happily ever after, where Mike Nichols doesn’t get that last, lingering oh-oh-what-do-we-do-now? shot in The Graduate. Rhett doesn’t leave Scarlet, Stanley Kowalski doesn’t rape Blanche and she doesn’t wind up in the nuthouse, Jack and Rose are among Titanic’s survivors living fat and sassy after they sell the necklace in Jack’s jacket pocket. Spartacus lives, Tony Soprano doesn’t, Lost’s Jack escapes the island with Juliet, and freedom fighters save Jesus from the cross while kicking some Roman ass in the process (yeah, g’ahead and laugh, but it wouldn’t surprise me).
The great, resonant pieces of storytelling don’t appease, they don’t satisfy. Instead, they challenge, they spark against our I-wants like flint on steel with doses of honesty, truth, reality. That’s how they sear themselves into our minds and hearts. It’s why we remember them, still feeling their impact years later when we read or see them for the hundredth time. It is their ability to stir us rather than placate us that gives them their value.
Sometimes their power comes not just from refusing to appease us, but from our recognizing their inevitable, inexorable, often tragic finales. If The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) worked for you (and it worked for me), its exquisite bittersweetness comes from knowing how it has to end.
Hundreds of years of storytelling convention tell us that Benjmain will end up with Daisy long before they do, but the nature of the story also tells us – long before they do — that they will, at best, have only a few years together, because Benjmain will continue to grow younger, and Daisy grow older.
Knowing, in advance, even before it happens, the joy of their coming together along with how they will lose each other is the heart of the movie. A happy ending? That would be a bullet through its heart.
I understand the appeal of interactivity: being a part of the telling, even being a part of the story itself. And, for expensive storytelling forms like movies and TV shows, paying heed to the will of the audience is – and, to some degree, has always been – a necessity.
But now we may be on the eve of the next generation of two-way interaction between audience and creator. A generation is growing up spending more time with alternative media than either traditional TV or movies. Most of the big-budget blockbusters are already tailored –in their pacing, in their constant flow of over-the-top action – for a videogame sensibility, and a number of prime time TV series tweak their storylines in response to shipper-expressed desires. Right now, an interactive set-up like Bar Karma is a novelty, an experiment, a first step, but in TV’s hunger to draw viewers out of an increasingly fractured audience, it’s not hard to imagine another, more visible programmer taking a next step.
I see the commercial necessity of at least dabbling with the concept, just as I sometimes see the necessity of raising taxes. That doesn’t mean I like it.
True storytelling, real storytelling, storytelling that aspires to the level of art (and much of it doesn’t which is ok) is about an author, a playwright, a TV producer, a filmmaker with a vision, telling a story the way he/she knows it must be told, because anything else would be a lie. It’s about the audience willing to take the storyteller up on his/her invitation, to go along for the ride but let someone else steer, taking us to places we’ve never been, to see and feel things we haven’t seen or felt before. Call me a cynic, but I don’t see that happening when a story is guided by popular vote.
The EW shipper story reminded me of King’s Misery. But it also brought to mind Kirk Douglas’ autobiography, The Ragman’s Son. Douglas tells the story of spending ten years trying to get Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest made into a move with Douglas himself playing the lead. He finally surrendered the book’s rights to his son Michael, who eventually got the movie made with Jack Nicholson in the role Kirk had dreamed of doing. The movie Michael Douglas produced was a blockbuster success, a critic’s darling, and won five Oscars including Best Picture.
But as proud as he was of his son’s success, Daddy Kirk wasn’t in love with the finished film. “I still argue with him about things in the movie that I think were done wrong,” Douglas writes. “I say, ‘Michael, if you had done it my way, you might not have made two hundred million dollars. But it would have been right.”
And I guess if you boil it all down to one thing, that’s what art’s about.
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Creating Modern Art
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[Interview] Kim Dong Wook Bares All in ′The King′s Concubine′
The public was probably thoroughly surprised that actor Kim Dong Wook chose to appear in such a role. The baby-faced Kim Dong Wook showed off a brand of acting he had never shown before through the role of the lustful King Seong Won in The King′s Concubine.
He not only had to get through bed scenes with his partner Jo Yeo Jeong, who plays his lover Hwa Yeon, but also with the other supporting characters. The bed scenes weren′t easy, but it also wasn′t easy to show how love can so easily turn mad.
Kim Dong Wook, however, succeeded in making King Seong Won his own character. When asked why he took on such a difficult role, he said calmly, "I never thought about whether I should take this role."
He not only had to get through bed scenes with his partner Jo Yeo Jeong, who plays his lover Hwa Yeon, but also with the other supporting characters. The bed scenes weren′t easy, but it also wasn′t easy to show how love can so easily turn mad.
Kim Dong Wook, however, succeeded in making King Seong Won his own character. When asked why he took on such a difficult role, he said calmly, "I never thought about whether I should take this role."
"It was difficult, but it was attractive at the same time," said Kim Dong Wook. "I actually felt that it was a difficult role after I chose the piece and started preparing for it. At first, I just thought I had to do it. Rather than think about whether I should or shouldn′t, I was more worried about how."
Director Kim Dae Seung chose Kim Dong Wook for this strong role. We were curious as to why he chose to pick out the baby-faced Kim Dong Wook for such a role.
"Of course, I probably wasn′t the first choice for the film, but I didn′t want to pass on it when the scenario came to me. I′m just thankful toward the director. It′s amazing that he actually thought of me. The director said that since Kwon Yu (Kim Min Jun) is such a manly role, he wanted [the Seong Won role] to be a different image. He also said he wanted the role to look younger than Hwa Yeon. Actors that are actually younger than Jo Yeo Jeong, those who are in their 20s, probably wouldn′t have been able to relate with the role, so I guess that′s why I got picked."
King Seong Won′s love was at first as pure as love can be. He would shyly hand a hair piece to his sister-in-law Hwa Yeon. Behind the shy Seong Won, however, was the King′s mother (Park Ji Young). Once King Seong Won′s love turned into madness, his love toward Hwa Yeon and his relationship with his mother collapsed fast. We were curious on how much of this character Kim Dong Wook had understood.
Director Kim Dae Seung chose Kim Dong Wook for this strong role. We were curious as to why he chose to pick out the baby-faced Kim Dong Wook for such a role.
"Of course, I probably wasn′t the first choice for the film, but I didn′t want to pass on it when the scenario came to me. I′m just thankful toward the director. It′s amazing that he actually thought of me. The director said that since Kwon Yu (Kim Min Jun) is such a manly role, he wanted [the Seong Won role] to be a different image. He also said he wanted the role to look younger than Hwa Yeon. Actors that are actually younger than Jo Yeo Jeong, those who are in their 20s, probably wouldn′t have been able to relate with the role, so I guess that′s why I got picked."
King Seong Won′s love was at first as pure as love can be. He would shyly hand a hair piece to his sister-in-law Hwa Yeon. Behind the shy Seong Won, however, was the King′s mother (Park Ji Young). Once King Seong Won′s love turned into madness, his love toward Hwa Yeon and his relationship with his mother collapsed fast. We were curious on how much of this character Kim Dong Wook had understood.
As he started to put himself aside and into King Seong Won′s shoes, King Seong Won and Kim Dong Wook became one. He said suddenly he started to understand King Seong Won. It wasn′t easy to reach that point, but he laughed and said suddenly, in one moment, he started to relate to the role.
"I′ve been in an obsessive love. I was young. Isn′t everyone like that in those times? It was so hard, but I couldn′t bring myself to break up. Now, I know that′s not the right way to express my love. King Seong Won, however, is someone who can′t love properly. He doesn′t even know his methods are wrong. King Seong Won has never been loved, nor has he loved properly. That′s why he doesn′t know how be in a happy relationship. The meek King Seong Won starts to express his love, but Hwa Yeon never notices. This is when they start to sink."
We asked Kim Dong Wook on which scene was the most difficult to shoot. He answered, "It was all hard. No matter what I imagined it to be, the real thing turned out to be even harder than that."
"For every scene I had to tense up and think hard about it. The director said he wanted to ′express hell′ through the film, but the shoots were hell in themselves. I′ve never attended shoots with a light heart. I would be proud of myself once we finished a scene, but I would be burdened again at the thought of shooting another scene tomorrow."
We were most curious about his bed scenes. Kim Dong Wook showcased a sexy part of himself never shown through his previous pieces.
"Bed scenes are really hard. They′re shoots in which you have to show a lot about yourself in a short time. You have to show yourself physically and you can′t let go of the emotions, either. I did go on a diet, but just before an important scene I was involved in a car crash so I didn′t get to finish the diet. That′s why I have a different body from the beginning in the end. I′m sorry for that. About my sexiness, I do believe I can be sexy. (Laugh)"
Even before the interview, Kim Dong Wook had praised Jo Yeo Jeong while talking about their bed scenes. He had said the shoot was easier thanks to her lead. Even this time, Kim Dong Wook still had high praise for Jo Yeo Jeong.
"Jo Yeo Jeong has great passion and determination toward acting. She never swayed even once during our shoots. She has great conviction and trust. It′s a bed scene that makes everyone sensitive, but she stepped forward and pointed out the parts that could be done better. I was so thankful because the actress played such a role. If I was a moviegoer, I would choose to watch the film just because Jo Yeo Jeong′s in it."
We asked what meaning The King′s Concubine had to Kim Dong Wook. He answered, "It′s a piece that let me start over not only as an actor, but in many different ways."
"I want to meet a piece that goes beyond my imagination," said Kim Dong Wook, before adding, "At the same time I′ll be a healthy actor."
He also didn′t forget to advertise the film, saying, "Please watch it since we worked so hard on it."
The film will premiere on June 6, and will not be made available for teenagers due to its deep eroticism.
"I′ve been in an obsessive love. I was young. Isn′t everyone like that in those times? It was so hard, but I couldn′t bring myself to break up. Now, I know that′s not the right way to express my love. King Seong Won, however, is someone who can′t love properly. He doesn′t even know his methods are wrong. King Seong Won has never been loved, nor has he loved properly. That′s why he doesn′t know how be in a happy relationship. The meek King Seong Won starts to express his love, but Hwa Yeon never notices. This is when they start to sink."
We asked Kim Dong Wook on which scene was the most difficult to shoot. He answered, "It was all hard. No matter what I imagined it to be, the real thing turned out to be even harder than that."
"For every scene I had to tense up and think hard about it. The director said he wanted to ′express hell′ through the film, but the shoots were hell in themselves. I′ve never attended shoots with a light heart. I would be proud of myself once we finished a scene, but I would be burdened again at the thought of shooting another scene tomorrow."
We were most curious about his bed scenes. Kim Dong Wook showcased a sexy part of himself never shown through his previous pieces."Bed scenes are really hard. They′re shoots in which you have to show a lot about yourself in a short time. You have to show yourself physically and you can′t let go of the emotions, either. I did go on a diet, but just before an important scene I was involved in a car crash so I didn′t get to finish the diet. That′s why I have a different body from the beginning in the end. I′m sorry for that. About my sexiness, I do believe I can be sexy. (Laugh)"
Even before the interview, Kim Dong Wook had praised Jo Yeo Jeong while talking about their bed scenes. He had said the shoot was easier thanks to her lead. Even this time, Kim Dong Wook still had high praise for Jo Yeo Jeong.
"Jo Yeo Jeong has great passion and determination toward acting. She never swayed even once during our shoots. She has great conviction and trust. It′s a bed scene that makes everyone sensitive, but she stepped forward and pointed out the parts that could be done better. I was so thankful because the actress played such a role. If I was a moviegoer, I would choose to watch the film just because Jo Yeo Jeong′s in it."
We asked what meaning The King′s Concubine had to Kim Dong Wook. He answered, "It′s a piece that let me start over not only as an actor, but in many different ways."
"I want to meet a piece that goes beyond my imagination," said Kim Dong Wook, before adding, "At the same time I′ll be a healthy actor."
He also didn′t forget to advertise the film, saying, "Please watch it since we worked so hard on it."
The film will premiere on June 6, and will not be made available for teenagers due to its deep eroticism.
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* They should bring the show to US and rest of the world.
