Li Jun Li and John star in Season 2 of the horror TV series The Exorcist
In this week’s roundup of what’s going on in Vancouver’s screen scene, a major blockbuster is about to depart. But there’s another feature film coming in that, like the one leaving, will shoot in both Vancouver and Shanghai.
Meanwhile, there’s a new UFO–themed TV series and an assassin-filled TV pilot starting up this week, just as a horror TV series calls it a wrap.
Wondering what’s going on? Well, dear reader, read on.
With a new TV drama series starting up, it looks like The X-Files will have company with another paranormal investigation series coming into town.
Aidan Gillen
Blue Book, directed by Robert Stromberg, will shoot 10 episodes for its first season in town, starting on December 6 and continuing until April 24.
The series dramatizes real-life secret U.S. Air Force investigations into UFO phenomenon in the 1950s and ’60s.
Astrophysicist and UFO skeptic Dr. J. Allen Hynek, played by Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones), finds himself recruited as the chief scientific advisor for the secret Project Blue Book.
Laura Mennell
Surrey’s Laura Mennell (The Man in the High Castle) will play Mimi Hynek, Dr. Hynek’s wife who has plans to become more than a housewife.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Meanwhile, a major Hollywood blockbuster that hit the city this year will be finishing up production this week.
After starting back on August 14, Skyscraper, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, calls it a wrap on Friday (November 17).
The film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader Will Ford, who is now security professional who assesses skyscrapers.
While working in China, he finds he’s been framed for a fire that has broken out in the world’s tallest building—and his family is trapped inside it. As he struggles to find a way to save his family, he must also clear his name and prove his innocence.
Neve Campbell
This video below shows Johnson and costar Neve Campbell (House of Cards) on set in October, in which they appear covered in soot and surrounded by firefighters.
The film marks the return of Campbell to big-budget movies after headlining the Scream franchise.
The cast also includes Pablo Schreiber, Roland Møller, Chin Han, Paul McGillion, Byron Mann, Adrian Holmes, Elfina Luk, and more.
Elfina Luk
Johnson also made the time to meet with 10-year-old Jacob O’Connor from Detroit, Michigan, who saved his brother’s life by imitating a chest compression procedure that Johnson did in the earthquake blockbuster San Andreas.
During the run of the production, Johnson managed to have an official day declared in his name by Mayor Gregor Robertson—not kidding—to recognize how his production greatly contributed to British Columbia’s film industry and economy.
Now there’s something that doesn’t happen every day. (Good thing is doesn’t, otherwise it’d be Dwayne Johnson Day every day in Vancouver.)
The film, which will also be shot in Shanghai, will be released on July 13, 2018.
Boyd Holbrook
While that film may be leaving town, there’s a new film coming in which will also shoot in both Canada and China.
Two/One, directed by Argentine filmmaker Juan Cabral, starts filming on Wednesday (November 15) and continues until December 3.
This high-concept drama stars Boyd Holbrook (Narcos) as Kaden, a world-class skier from Whistler who has the chance to reconnect with his teenage sweetheart. Meanwhile, a Shanghai corporate executive, Khai, discovers that the woman he fantasizes about on the internet has started working in his office.
As the two men go about their lives—with one awake on one side of the world, with the other asleep on the other side—are unaware that they are somehow connected but they see each other in their dreams.
The production will be based in Lions Bay, located between Vancouver and Whistler. Further shooting will take place in Shanghai.
Benedict Wong
Also on Wednesday, the TV pilot for Deadly Class begins shooting and is scheduled to continue until December 5.
As an adaptation of the graphic novel, the series, set in the 1980s, will follow Marcus, played by Benjamin Wadsworth (Teen Wolf), a disillusioned teenage outcast in San Francisco who is recruited by a high school for assassins.
Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange) has been cast as the fearsome Master Lin, the headmaster of the School for the Deadly Arts.
Lana Condor
The cast will also include Lana Condor (X-Men: Apocalypse), Liam James (The Way, Way Back), Maria Gabriela de Faria, Luke Tennie, Michel Duval, and rocker-turned-actor Henry Rollins.
The Exorcist
Meanwhile, The Exorcist, a TV series that continues the narrative begun in the classic 1973 horror movie, wraps up production on Season 2 today (November 14), having started back on July 24.
While Season 1 shot in Chicago, Illinois, the series relocated to Vancouver for the second season, subtitled The Next Chapter.
The main cast includes Alfonso Herrera as Father Tomas Ortega and Ben Daniels as Father Marcus Keane.
Ben Daniels in The Exorcist
While the cast of Season 1 featured Hannah Kasulka, Brianne Howey, Kurt Egyiawan, Alan Ruck, and Geena Davis, Season 2’s cast includes Zuleikha Robinson, Li Jun Li, Brianna Hildebrand, and John Cho.
Li Jun Li in The Exorcist
Season 2 premiered on September 29—and there are certainly more scares on the way.
That’s it for this week but there’s plenty more coming and going as we head deeper into holiday season. Stay tuned, true believers, and check back in with us soon to find out what else is going on in Hollywood North.
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