August 2007 News Archive (Page 11)

Kristin at E! Online recently answered a few Heroes-related questions about season two. Let's get right to them!

Do you have any Heroes news? I miss that show!
The powers of new Heroes Maya (Dania Ramirez) and Alejandro (Shalim Ortiz) are connected. Dania told us this about her brother, "We need each other." We also hear that despite reports the fraternal twins are from the Dominican Republic, they're actually from Central America and will either be leaving from or at least passing through San Cristobal, Honduras.

Do you know anything more about David Anders' role on Heroes?
We asked Masi Oka, "Riddle me this. White guy from Oregon. How is [David Anders] a samurai-type in feudal Japan?" He answered, "You will find out in the first episode. And it's an answer that everyone will be happy about. Does he have any powers? Does he share any powers? We don't know. Is he white? Yes." Masi wins at life.

How is Sylar going to fit into Heroes this season?
We talked to Greg Grunberg recently, and he had this to say: "We're still playing with some of the stuff from last year, but they've definitely introduced a new character, which I hope I have a big part in, that they alluded to last year. Remember, Molly said last year, ‘Every time I think about him, he can see me; he's the bogeyman.'

There's this character that is looming out there that's bigger and badder than Sylar, so it's going to be pretty crazy." I ran that by Sylar himself, Zachary Quinto, and he said, "There's definitely a dark new energy on the show, and it'll be interesting to see how Sylar fits into that."

Do you know what's going on with the Petrelli brothers in season two?
So do we, so we asked Adrian Pasdar what was going on between Nathan and Peter, and we were sad when he told us, "Milo and I have not worked together in a long time…"

What's happening with my boy HRG on season two of Heroes?
According to Jack Coleman, he's moved the family to somewhere in Southern California. He says, "Los Angeles would not be accurate, but not far off." He added, "Everyone survives, but the Bennets are a very dislocated but determined group that tries to make the best of it, but old ways and old ghosts quickly come into play very dramatically."

Heroes, Heroes, Heroes!
There will be an upcoming storyline set in County Cork, Ireland. Separately, look for a dangerous new Francophone character named Sophie. She's the employee of a powerful, mysterious group, and she's "not afraid to use lethal force to accomplish her mission."

Video game developer Gameloft is working on a Heroes game for your mobile phone. Below is the press release from the company regarding this development:

Recreating the mind-bending universe of the television phenomenon of 2007, Gameloft®, a leading developer and publisher of games for mobile phones, today announced an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with NBC Universal to develop and publish Heroes: The Mobile Game.

"Heroes has created a large, die-hard fan culture and we are excited to bring the action and intrigue of NBC's leading drama series to gamers and Heroes fans alike," said Gonzague de Vallois, vice president of Publishing, Gameloft.

"With an international cast and rapidly growing international level of success, Heroes has achieved a massive global appeal and as such, Gameloft is the perfect publisher to deliver Heroes: The Mobile Game worldwide."

Heroes: The Mobile Game will allow fans of the show and casual gamers the chance to experience the thrill of the superhuman abilities of the show's characters.

The game's action will be based on the events from the electrifying first season, as well as the hotly awaited second season, with the game script being contributed to by writers of the hit television series.

Players will assume the roles of the time-travelling Hiro Nakamura; the beautiful, but deadly Niki Sanders; telepathic cop Matt Parkman and the enigmatic Peter Petrelli, as they enjoy game play styles based on their unique powers.

Don't worry, Stephen Colletti.

The boyfriend of Hayden Panettiere can relax because his girlfriend is simply kissing Nick D'Agosto for a scene in the second season of Heroes.

D'Agosto, previously on TV as Jan's assistant on The Office, plays West, a young boy lucky enough to date Claire Bennet. Or is he?

A few Heroes spoilers have revealed that the Bennets have been uprooted to somewhere in California. And we have a feeling all will not remain calm for this troubled family.

Tune in September 24 when season two kicks off to see what sort of role West will play in this clan's future.

iF Magazine recently sat down with Heroes vixen Ali Larter. The actress talked about her character in season two of the show...

iF MAGAZINE: Niki and Jessica in season two of Heroes or just one or the other?

ALI LARTER: No. We are focusing on one. No more splits. I think they are looking at worked last year and moving forward into the new season.

iF: Focusing on being a mom and trying to be normal again?

LARTER: I think she is focusing on how to deal with her powers. I know there are some other issues that they are going to be sending her direction, but they're really keeping things under wraps this year as opposed to last year. We can't afford to have things getting out on the Internet because then there are no surprises when the episodes air.

iF: How are the motherhood aspects of Niki on Heroes?

LARTER: It's still amazing. I love working with Noah Gray Cabey, he's a great actor and an amazing little guy.

iF: Do you like doing the emotional work or the physical work more on Heroes?

LARTER: What's great about Heroes is that the show is a balance of so many levels, and they give me so many things to play with on different levels that it is just incredible. The writers are amazing.
iF: You and on-screen husband Leonard Roberts only beat each other up on screen right?

LARTER: [Laughs] He's great. He's really good on the show too.

iF: You also have Resident Evil: Extinction coming out soon as well?

LARTER: I do … Claire Redfield. I haven't seen it and I really can't wait to see it. I think it's going to be fun and one of those guilty pleasure movies. It's girls kicking some butt. Zombies in Vegas!

iF: How much training do you get for a feature like that as opposed to Heroes?

LARTER: I don't really get much training. I'm an athletic girl. That stuff comes really easily for me. I don't want anybody else doing that stuff. I want to push and pull and run and jump and shoot everybody down.

Milo Ventimiglia received the full support of his Heroes friends and co-stars at the premiere of "It's A Mall World" at the ArcLight Theatre on Tuesday in Hollywood.

Adrian Pasdar (with Dixie Chicks wife Natalie Maines), Masi Oka, Zachary Quinto, Greg Grunberg, Jack Coleman, and Hayden Panettiere all attended the event.

"It's a Mall World" explores the amusingly tortured lives and twisted relationships of two record store employees, a hot greeter at the American Eagle boutique, a slightly nuts sales chick from the scanties store and a bad-boy poseur from the mall juice bar.

The "webisodes" Milo directed will premiere on August 1st during Real World: Sydney and will also be available at AmericanEagle.com.

Hayden Panettiere is more than a pretty face.

She paid a visit to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center while she was in Washington DC for July 4th. There, she sang the national anthem at PBS' A Capitol Fourth TV special.

The Heroes hottie also had the privilege of meeting with the brave men and women who have been injured while fighting overseas at Walter Reed, which serves more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military.

Here's a picture of the giving actress and a service member:

Michael Ausiello of TV Guide recently responded to a pair of reader questions regarding Heroes. In them, he revealed that two major characters may have reduced roles in season two:

Question: Zachary Quinto as Spock? Love it!
Ausiello: Yeah, I think that's been the general consensus. Even Heroes bossman Tim Kring is thrilled by the nifty piece of casting — although it probably means losing Sylar for a chunk of the season.

"I was actually involved with this happening," he says. "Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams and I are friends, and we discussed this many months ago. There were a couple of behind-the-scenes phone calls and conversations and we were able to work it out.

Question: Got any Heroes scoop?
Ausiello: We'll be seeing less of Ali Larter this fall as Niki takes off early in the season to, as Larter herself teases, "fix something. And once it's fixed, it will be very shocking and exciting."

The Chicago Tribune was on hand to chronicle the Heroes panel at Comic-Con over the weekend...

If we needed proof that geeks now reign supreme over popular culture – especially television – we got it Saturday at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

This year, the yearly gathering of fans of genre entertainment and comic books, which was expected to top last year's 4-day attendance of 123,000 people, was all about the second coming, literally, of Heroes, which got the Comic-Con blessing a year ago and returned to do a victory lap.

"You helped create this incredible enormous success for the show," creator Tim Kring said during the show's celebratory hourlong session.

As if to give the hit NBC show the ultimate nerd seal of approval, the director Kevin Smith, who on Friday presented the pilot for his own new geek-friendly TV show, Reaper, came onstage during the raucous panel the next day to announce that he will write and direct an episode of Heroes: Origins, the spinoff series that will debut in the spring of 2008.

As the surprised and excited cast looked on, the fans jammed into the enormous room went wild, cheering Smith's arrival for a full minute. The director is not just a boldface Hollywood name, he is the Geek Revolution in the flesh: He's written comic books for years, and given his annual presence at the Comic-Con for the last decade or more, the voluble New Jersey native, whose Friday Q-and-A with his fans was diabolically, almost painfully funny, is pretty much the honorary mayor of Nerdtown.

And Smith was the one who was nervous, not Kring, who was the bearded, professorial type on the panel, which also featured the entire, 12-person cast of the show.

"I just don't want to be the guy who ruins Heroes," Smith said.

What a difference a year makes, huh? In 2006, the NBC show came as a supplicant to the convention, which has been used to build buzz about films for years, to the extent that the stars of big-budget tentpole movies are more or less expected to turn up (this year Jessica Alba, Harrison Ford and Nicolas Cage were only a few of the A-list types who came to flog upcoming projects).

Heroes got a good reception at Comic-Con a year ago, and then the show blew up that fall. Cause and effect? No one can say for sure, but the positive reaction of the blogging types at the convention certainly didn't hurt.

Whether or not that show's success story can be replicated like an army of droids (or possibly clones), the Heroes effect was impossible to ignore this year at Comic-Con. Many network shows for fall – everything from the fanciful Pushing Daisies to the vampire drama Moonlight to the geek-friendly remake of Bionic Woman – presented clips, complete pilots and/or panel discussions.

Whether or not the Comic-Con types truly have the power to make or break a TV show or to "open" a movie, Hollywood executives are paying studious attention to the likes and dislikes of the men and women at the fest, which, 37 years ago, started out with 300 comic-book collectors in the basement of a San Diego hotel.Continue Reading...