Vancouver Screen Scene: Uma Thurman, X-Men spinoff Legion, and more
In this week’s roundup of what’s in front of the camera in Hollywood North, psychology plays a recurring theme.
From nightmares to a mutant with psychological problems, this week’s list of shows starting or wrapping up production in Vancouver offer plenty of mind games to delve into.
So, to start things off, you may know Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate from the TV sitcom Parks and Recreation or as Darius Britt in the 2012 sci-fi romcom Safety Not Guaranteed.
Uma Thurman
But you may soon get to know her as the creative and comedic genius behind (and star of) Nightmare Time, a new TV anthology series about a clinic in which celebrity guests can check in to address their recurring bad dreams.
Through new technological developments (or the magic of TV), Plaza will take viewers inside these nightmares to confront whatever is besetting the psyches of her clients.
The TV pilot for the horror-comedy series starts filming in town on Tuesday (November 15). But the shoot is only a week long, ending on November 22.
Uma Thurman
But Plaza has also been busy at work in the city on the TV series Legion, which wraps up on Friday (November 18).
The production has been shooting here in the city since August 15.
The show is a Marvel TV series and it is an X-Men-related series, but it’s a superhero show (or, rather, an anti-superhero show) with an unusual and dark psychological twist.
Uma Thurman
David Haller (played by Dan Stevens) is Charles Xavier’s son (you probably know Charles Xavier more as Professor X, or the founder of the X-Men).
In the comic books, Haller suffers from dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple identity disorder.
Uma Thurman
However, it’s important to note that multiple personality disorder is often erroneously confused with schizophrenia, which affects the way a person perceives reality, and often involves experiences of hallucinations and delusions. Multiple personality disorder involves the development of two or more personalities in one person, usually as a coping mechanism to deal with a traumatic experience.
In the comics, Haller has multiple personalities, and each of these personalities possesses a different superpower.
Uma Thurman
Yet descriptions of the TV show in various articles state that Haller has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and has been hearing voices.
As for what he truly has or is, let’s hope it all gets sorted out when the series hits the airwaves.
The cast, in addition to Stevens and Plaza, includes Rachel Keller as Haller’s girlfriend, Jean Smart, Mackenize Gray, and Bill Irwin.
Uma Thurman
As we previously mentioned, The Magicianswraps up shooting Season 2 on Wednesday (November 16) after having started back in June.
The series stars Jason Ralph (A Most Violent Year) as Quentin Coldwater, a graduate student who enrols at an exclusive college in upstate New York to become trained as a magician.
Uma Thurman
While magicians in our world are adept at slight-of-hand, Quentin soon discovers that the magical land called Fillory from the fantasy novels he read during his childhood actually exists.
The cast includes Stella Maeve, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleton, Arjun Gupta, Summer Bishil, and Rick Worthy.
Uma Thurman
Joining the cast in Season 2 is Leonard Roberts (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Heroes), who will play swordfighting King Idri of Loria.
Uma Thurman
As for other shows wrapping up, production on Season 1 of the dark comedy My So-Called Wife ends next week on November 28, after having started on August 29.
The series stars Inbar Lavi (Underemployed) as Maddie, an identity-chameleon con artist who preys upon the hearts and minds of men and women. She manipulates them into falling in love with her while she robs them.
However, two of her victims, Ezra and Richard (played by Rob Heaps and Parker Young) team up to track her down and stop her before she hits her next target.
Uma Thurman
But also in the mix is none other than the Bill-killing Uma Thurman.
Thurman portrays Lenny Cohen, a masterful and mysterious fixer dispatched by the ring-leader of a group of cons to keep his employees in line.
She’s definitely not someone to mess with so it’ll be interesting to see how that storyline plays out.
Well, that’s it for this instalment, and it’s quite a lot to keep in mind as you walk (or stalk) the streets of Vancouver in searching of some star sightings. Check back in with us next week when we’ll have more of what’s going on in the local screen scene.