BEVERLY HILLS, CA– J.J. Abrams was ready when I came right out and asked him the question of the season–how does his series Lost finally end? SPOILER ALERT! Run away! Okay ready, here it is, straight from the executive producer’s mouth…
“Beautifully.”
Abrams was taking part this Sunday morning in a Warner Bros. International Press Junket. He was here to promote another series, Fringe, recently renewed for a third season and heading for the mother of all cliffhangers according to stars Joshua Jackson and John Noble.
Abrams admitted the the budget for the two-hour finale gave his accounting department a few heart attacks. The series returns April 1 after a bit of a hiatus. The cast members and producers were very excited about the final eight episodes of the season, which apparently push Noble’s unhinged Fringe scientist character Walter Bishop straight over the edge.
This came as no surprise to the Australian journalist who was part of our cozy little round table group. Noble is regarded as an actor’s actor in the land down under.
This three-day press tour is as international as an Olympic event, with writers from Australia, Italy, Japan, Finland, Norway, France, Spain, Brazil and Germany in Group A. many live year round in Los Angeles and string for publications in Europe and beyond. Others flew in just for the event.
Talent from Warner Bros. TV shows The Mentalist, The Middle, V, Supernatural, Dark Blue, Fringe, The New Adventures of Old Christine, The Closer, Human Target, Southland and Gossip Girl have so far taken questions from our posse. Set visits to Chuck, The Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist are scheduled for Monday on the Warners’ lot. This morning we struggled through a satellite conference with the three young leads from Vampire Diaries (they were on location in Atlanta).
The Fringe cast and producers stood out (as did Canadian-born Gossip Girl creator Stephanie Savage), because they actually walked around and shook hands before the session began.
It is an eye opener to see the foreign press jump all over a show barely on the radar in North America–Supernatural. Already renewed for a sixth season, the Vancouver-based series is apparently a monster hit in places like Brazil. “People like to be scared all over the world,” explained star Jensen Ackles.
Fringe, V and Human Target also shoot in Vancouver and cast members from all those shows had stories about having to shoot around the recent Winter Olympic Games. It was no hassle for Vancouver boy Joshua Jackson, however, who loved his Olympic experience. And why not? The one event he got to see live in person, the one, as he put it, that mattered the most, was the Gold Medal hockey final between Canada and the USA. Jackson had tickets seven rows from ice level, behind the visitors goal–giving him a bird’s eye view of the tying goal and Sydney Crosby’s overtime heroics.
He texted his brother in New York a few days before the game asking him, “What is the one thing in the world you’d want to do more than any other thing this weekend?” His brother texted back, “You better not be holding out hockey tickets on me.” Jackson did indeed have a pair; the brother was on the next plane to Vancouver.
