Tag: TV News

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Loki’ Costume Designer Christine Wada Talks Variant Costumes and Richard E. Grant’s Reaction To the Classic Costume

Loki has sparked many a discussion among fans not only about the intricacies and implications of the multiverse but also about the amazing costumes the characters wear on an episodic basis. Expect Loki characters to be the most cosplayed bunch in the coming years because the show is a haven for great costume design. And it wouldn’t be possible without people like Christine Wada, who brought the costumes conceptualized by Marvel’s visual development team to life in the Disney+ series.

The latest episode titled Journey Into Mystery offered audiences a trove of treasures in the form of Loki variants, who ended up pruned into the Void. Each one had its own unique look that told a distinct story. Wada revealed the discussions they had in conceptualizing each Loki’s look.

The conversation was all about digging through history for the times a Loki might’ve been caught and making sure their outfits would indicate a specific moment in time when they are caught and then adding a scavenged element to it. It was fun to do as it opened the world up to much possibility.

She also revealed that the iconic Mad Max franchise played a role in how they approached the designs.

There’s definitely a hint of Mad Max with a little more humor. I don’t know if the audience really got to see it but Loki in the comics is commonly referred as a wolf and there was a wolf reference in one of the costumes too. Kate and I have a problem with fur and using a wolf head freaked us out so one of the Lokis is instead wearing one of those ironic wolf shirts from the 90s.

Sophia Di Martino made the news this past week when she revealed a unique costume feature Wada designed specifically for the British star. She had just given birth at the time of their filming. So, her costume allowed her to pump breastmilk with ease for her infant. Naturally, the costume sparked a discussion regarding Hollywood’s common lack of on-set support for talent and crew members who have the same needs as Di Martino. Wada had this to say on the issue:

I can’t speak for other productions because I don’t know how they do it. I do know that my take on it has always been that an actor’s comfort should always be part of the conversation. Your job as a costume designer is not only to create a great look but to give a performer tools to work on their highest level. To me, I see it as being part of the actors’ success. You want people to be successful in what they do. We should all be considering that. You want the costume to facilitate and not hinder.

A big talking point among fans in the last episode was how incredible Richard E. Grant was as Classic Loki. Grant wowed audiences with that awe-inspiring fight against Alioth and how he pretty much rocked the goofy, Silver Age Loki costume. Being one of the thousands of fans who adored him in this show, I naturally had to ask Wada what it was like making that suit for the acclaimed actor.

It was always, ‘How can we make him look like the 1960s Loki as much as possible?’ I hope he doesn’t get mad at me for this but [when he wore it for the first time] he definitely was sad he didn’t get to wear a muscle suit [laughs]. Those were all Richard E. Grant’s fantastic muscles. But really, who needs to add anything to Richard E. Grant? All you need is that face and incredible talent and you’re pretty much done.

July 13, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Tara Strong Had No Idea She Was Auditioning for ‘Loki’s Miss Minutes

With Loki set to wrap its first season up later this week, fans are eager to uncover the secrets of the Time Variance Authority. We were just as confused as Loki on what was going on when he got dragged into the organization’s offices for the first time. Luckily, Miss Minutes, who is a living animated clock just bursting with southern charm, explained their origin.

Minutes is voiced by none other than the famous voice actress Tara Strong. She is no stranger to superhero stories, as she worked on Teen Titans, Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, and famously voices Harley Quinn in many different shows. In a recent interview with our very own Charles Murphy, Strong revealed just how different the audition process behind this project was compared to others.

You know initially in the audition, when I get an audition it’ll have a drawing of the character, a character description, a show bible with what this world was all about, and I didn’t get any of that for Miss Minutes. In fact, I called my agent to learn more about her, because everything I get feeds into how I go into creating an audition and I auditioned first in my home studio and they couldn’t get anymore information. I didn’t even know what show I was auditioning for.

With so much mystery surrounding this process, she mentioned how she navigated her way through this process and how Miss Minutes was created. It seems she and director Kate Herron built upon her initial pitch without knowing fully what character she is going to play.

So, I’ll take between ten minutes or three hours ’till I get it exactly how I want it and they said to try one with an accent. So, I did this sort of Southern Belle and they really liked that and then it wasn’t ’till I booked it that I knew what it was and then working on the Zoom with Kate and them playing me which audition they really liked and we worked on that collabratively to get it exactly where Miss Minutes is now.

Strong‘s charming take on the character sure won fans over as she quickly became loved by fans of the show. We’ll see if we get more of Miss Minutes in the upcoming finale, but with her origin still remaining a mystery, there’s still a lot we can learn about the character.

July 12, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Tara Strong Talks Miss Minutes Mysterious Origins And ‘Loki’ Fan Theories

Loki has taken Marvel fans by storm as each episode slowly unraveled the sinister secrets behind the TVA. We are so close to the finale, and everyone is still wondering who is the mysterious mastermind behind the organization and the robotic Time-Keepers. There have been countless fan theories on the true identity of the man in the castle. The list includes a Loki Variant, Kang the Conqueror, and even the adorable Miss Minutes.

Luckily, our very own Charles Murphy got the chance to sit down with Miss Minutes herself, Tara Strong. She didn’t give away what we can expect in the next episode, but she gave a cheeky in-character answer when asked. She did share her love for the various fan theories that Miss Minutes is the evil mastermind behind the series.

I love, you know, connecting with the fans and seeing what they’re doing on social media. I’ve loved all the art that’s been made. It’s been incredible. And I love all their theories, I can’t comment if things are right or not, but it’s been fun to see people so invested in the show.

She also talks about the challenge of playing Miss Minutes, who is an original creation for the show. Strong didn’t have a chance to research the character’s backstory and implied she still doesn’t know her origin. It’s a curious reveal if you consider her origin should tie directly into the TVA. Perhaps it is something they are keeping open to explore in the future if it doesn’t get answered in the upcoming finale. Whatever happens, Minutes will certainly stick with audiences and she hopefully has a long history ahead of her in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

July 12, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Loki’ Production Designer Reveals Time Keepers and TVA Design Secrets

More than any other Marvel Disney+ show so far, it’s Loki that truly feels like the first one to live up to Marvel Studios’ scope and scale, mostly in due part to the impeccable production design. Led by Kasra Farahani, the Loki production design team set out to create unique worlds and sets that felt not only distinct but also believably lived-in. The result is a truly awe-inspiring journey across crazy alternate realities and brutalist anachronistic offices. I spoke to Farahani who was kind of enough to share some details regarding the visual philosophy that held this show together.

One thing that was clearly stated from Kate Herron and Kevin Feige was that this was a journey through many different worlds. That was what they wanted to offer fans. Having this base of the TVA but then going along on case studies with TVA analysts and hopping through time and going deeper into the origin of the TVA. It was very clear early on that the TVA was going to be the anchor of the series but that there would be lots of worlds to build to convey a broad spectrum of visuals. Hopping out and seeing a fully realized world even if it’s for one episode makes the universe feel larger.

With so many stylistic choices, pop culture nods, artistic references in their production design, it’s fair to wonder what exactly Loki’s art department had in mind as far as influences go for the series. Turns out, they picked some of the best work to jump off from.

In the original brief, the writers had mentioned two things: Blade Runner and Mad Men, which I thought was a very evocative starting point. Kate and I were immediately drawn to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, another very strong influence as it had the anachronism that was relevant to our show but also depicted the monolithic bureaucracy the TVA was. So brutalist architecture, Eastern European mid-century modernism, West Coast mid-century modernism, and many more all contributed to this look we had in our minds.

The latest episode of Loki saw all the titular variants take refuge in a very unusual place in the middle of the wasteland known as the Void: a bowling alley. Because of its specificity, I had to inquire just why they decided to use such a conceptually mundane but visually striking location.

It was one of those sets that took a long time to figure out. It might have even been the set that took the most thinking. Ultimately, the script just referred to it as a temple. The art department proposed the idea of a bowling alley because in the end, The Void is basically a dumping ground of discarded realities that is overgrown by this damp environment. So if you go below the surface, it stands to reason you’ll see layers and layers of different realities that have been deleted over time and stacked over each other.

What I liked about the bowling alley was that it had these lanes and that I could create a throne room and visually use the lanes of the bowling alley to direct the eyes to the throne. In our own minds, this bowling alley was this not-quite-human bowling alley from Earth that had been deleted. Next to it, there were these alien vines that were growing into the alley from another deleted reality. None of these are in the script. These are the micro-narratives we come up with in the art department to help us flesh out the designs and make them specific to avoid generic designs. We fill in the blanks ourselves.

We had the notion that somewhere in the Void was a mall that the Lokis discovered. In that mall, they see a Santa Claus Christmas chair and bring it to their lair which is why the room has a Christmas look to it. Part of the goal of the set was to demonstrate this idea of eclectic randomness.

One-take sequences or “oners” aren’t new to the MCU as they’ve been around since the first Avengers. And while the idea isn’t novel, Loki has a particularly impressive oner in the Lamentis episode where Sylvie and Loki run through the town of Sheroo as a riot breaks out on the streets while the city gets bombarded by meteors. It’s a great sequence that flexes the technical prowess the production has over the material. Farahani elaborated on the collaborative process they had and what role the production design team had in the sequence.

It was a huge and complex collaboration. It began in the early days with our DP Autumn Durald and Kate. They were heavily inspired by the sequence at the end of Children of Men. Based on that, we were able to back into how long the shot needed to be. So we created a foam model for them to play around with to figure out if this was the duration and so on. And based on that information, we began designing this city, which we built practically on set. Everything up to 16 feet was an actual set.

And then once we got further along, it became a bigger collaboration with Monique Ganderton, our stunt coordinator, and Richard Graves, our first AD. It was many meetings and scouting to fine-tune and tailor the set and location of VFX flourishes like explosions and camera wipes. It was very challenging but very smooth considering all the different parts.

Easily one of the more esoteric locations in the show is the Time Keepers throne room, which we got to see in its eerie glory in Episode 4. It was surprising to learn that a chunk of the set was practically done and that they took inspiration from real-life structures in India.

A lot more is practical than you think. We designed the Time Keepers throne room early in pre-production and it was very much inspired by the stepwells in India. Beautiful fractal ancient art-deco structures. We put the stepwells on its side and imagined they were mirrored into space with different dimensions. From a practical standpoint, we built the entire surface the cast is moving around on from the elevator. The wall behind the Time Keepers was also practical.

July 12, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Composer Natalie Holt on ‘Loki’s Unique Sound, Ride of the Valkyries, and the Simon Cowell Incident

Loki is made up of a lot of incredible things – the writing, acting, world-building, production design, costume, cinematography – but not the least of which is Natalie Holt‘s distinct music. Holt’s kooky take on Marvel’s usually grandiose sonic palette has been the talking point among fans for many weeks now. The score is easily the best of three Marvel Disney+ shows; an alchemic concoction of Norwegian tradition, analog synthesizers, and operatic Wagnerian motifs. I had the privilege of interviewing Holt this week and we got to talk about her process behind the show and her mischievous TV appearance on Britain’s Got Talent.

Despite the music being so tightly weaved, the production process was anything but as COVID forced Holt to just work remotely on the project alongside everyone else. Even crazier is the fact that she still hasn’t met any of her collaborators to this day. When asked about what the process was like, she had this to say:

It was sad. I wish I could have been in the room with everyone, especially with the orchestra. I would have loved to sit there, watch, and feel the vibe of the room. We had music meetings every Wednesday for six months. I feel like I got to know the entire Marvel music team yet I’ve never met them until now. It’s weird how Zoom could still facilitate those creative collaborations.

Tom Hiddleston‘s unique take on the God of Mischief is so built into the character’s DNA that it’s no surprise Holt looked to the actor to get an understanding of how to approach creating a brand new musical theme for him. Despite having a short window to get it done, the process for Holt seemed fortuitous as she quickly had a grasp on what to do and given how Marvel quickly jumped on board with her ideas.

I read the script and I had seen all those films anyway so I had an idea of how Tom played the character. I’m very much inspired by his over-the-top grand theatrical performances. I literally came up with that theme for him in the pitch to get the job. So that was there right from the beginning and then all the other themes like the TVA and Mobius theme came later on.

I got the job and had a month when Kate Herron got back from filming the show but I hadn’t started working on the show. I had just spent all this time coming up with this suite of themes. But everyone approved that suite fairly quickly. Everyone was on board with the direction I wanted to take.

As far as external influences go, Holt cites A Clockwork Orange and some classical pieces as being crucial in figuring out which approach to take with the God of Mischief.

And like I said, the way Tom Hiddleston performs and the theme I made for him is somewhat rooted in the classical tradition like Ride of the Valkyries. I wanted to put something in there that made you think of those big classical works. I was playing around with Mozart-inspired licks.

The Loki score is rife with an array of sounds, ranging from traditional Norwegian instruments to analog synthesizers. Holt also talked about she came about choosing certain instruments.

It was instinctive, I guess. I had this sound in my head and it was a matter of finding my way there. I heard those Norwegian folk instruments in a concert a few years ago but I had that sound always in the back of my mind. They’re sort of like a string instrument but they’ve got this magical, mystical sound that seemed to go really well with Loki’s past with his mother and yearning. I also never wanted to play it straight like, “Oh here’s a piece of basic orchestral music.” It had always had to have a twist for me.

Like all MCU properties, there’s a hefty amount of callbacks and references to previous films in Loki. Holt shed some light as to how they revisited some of the more familiar musical motifs and how supportive Marvel was with her unique vision.

There are a couple of scenes like when Loki wakes up in the Ep. 4 credits. That was Alan Silvestri piece that was in the temp. We all liked it very much that we used it as the basis. And then you have the beginning in New York, that’s also Alan Silvestri. It was in the temp and it worked so well. It was so cool to segue from Alan into our world. I had Alan Silvestri stems and I got to blend that into my piece. He’s a legend.

But there wasn’t any, “You need to continue the Marvel legacy.” It was just like, “Do whatever you want and make it as unique as you can.” That was really freeing and amazing.

And lastly, I got to ask her about the incident she was involved in several years ago where she pelted Simon Cowell with eggs on-air during a taping of Britain’s Got Talent. She was gracious enough to humor my question and said this about her initial worry that she would no longer have a career after the incident.

I don’t what I expected [laughs]. Like Loki, we all do mischievous things while we’re younger. I’m glad it didn’t affect my career and that I’m able to work. I think my career hasn’t been derailed that much.

Apart from Loki, Holt has an upcoming Netflix film she scored titled Fever Dream, which comes out later this year.

July 7, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Loki’ Season 1 Will Be a Standalone Season

There has been one major rumor circling the Disney+ series Loki. Okay, there are quite a few but one of the standouts was the potential of it receiving a second season. Almost a year ago, there seemed to be rumblings of it happening, but we never got any confirmation. There was the report that head writer Michael Waldron signed up a deal with Disney that included his work on Kevin Feige‘s untitled Star Wars film. It also confirmed a reference to a potential second season. Charles Murphy got a chance to ask Waldron if he could say anything on the rumors, but he swiftly played coy on the fact but did tease that the upcoming season will tell a complete story.

It was really always my hope and intention with this to tell a complete story with this season. Season 1 would stand on its own and, you know, is there more story to tell in the future? I don’t know, time will tell.

There are a lot of hints that there is something happening and we hope to see a lot more TVA in the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Waldron also teased the potential of a Secret Wars connection. So, even if they don’t move forward with Loki, there is always a chance that they explore another Variant of a popular Marvel character. There are a lot of creative ways to utilize this simple premise and continue building upon the TVA mythology we can expect from the upcoming series. Now that they are opening up the rest of the multiverse, it feels like there is no more limit to what stories they may tell.

June 7, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: There May Be A ‘Secret Wars’ Connection in ‘Loki’, Says Head Writer Michael Waldron

It’s been a long break since the finale of Falcon and the Winter Soldier aired on Disney+. Now, we are just a few days away from the first episode of Marvel Studios’ next venture airs on the streaming platform with the return of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. The series will take place after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Our favorite team of heroes accidentally let a version of Loki escape his fate when he got his hands on the Tessaract. To keep the timeline safe, he gets captured by the Time Variance Authority and will journey off into a brand new adventure.

Our very own Charles Murphy got a chance to sit down with head writer Michael Waldron to discuss the Disney+ show. Murphy asked if an animated sequence that details the TVA’s history, a previous “multiversal war” and the potential for altered timelines to create more multiversal conflicts might tease a connection to the famous Marvel storyline Secret Wars possibly being adapted for the MCU. Waldron had the following to say:

We’ll see. You’ll probably know, as well as I do, not everything is just in there. If the purpose of that whole thing was to just indoctrinate the audience and everything. Yeah, we’ll see how this plays out in the MCU moving forward.

Of course, he doesn’t outright confirm anything but the inclusion certainly seems intentional. Ever since Endgame was released, Secret Wars seemed like the perfect follow-up event. We’ve already witnessed Thanos snapping half the world out of existence and our heroes travel through time. So, the next major event would need to top even that and it seemed like a natural fit with all these multiversal stories that they would collide at one point. We cannot wait to see where the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is heading.

June 7, 2021
Exclusive: ‘ECHO’, ‘IRONHEART’ Set 2022 Production Dates

Marvel Studios has set 2022 production start dates for a pair of Disney Plus streaming series, one of which may come as a bit of surprise to fans. We are hearing that Echo is currently set for a January 2022 start of production and will be followed up in April by Ironheart.

Echo will continue to story of Maya Lopez, played by Alaqua Cox, that will begin when Hawkeye debuts later this year in Hawkeye. Despite being described by Variety as being in “early development” just last March, it appears that the series has been fast-tracked and could crack Marvel Studios 2022 streaming lineup.

Ironheart, announced at December’s Disney Investor Day, will star Dominque Thorne as Riri Williams and recently gained a head writer in Chinaka Hodge. The currently scheduled April start of production would give the writers’ room just about one year to adapt Williams to the MCU.

As with any production dates, particularly ones this early on, things can change. Still, it’s exciting to continue to see movement on these projects and what the next phase of Disney+ Marvel shows will include. It’s especially exciting considering Cox is getting an opportunity to break many barriers in her role as Lopez. Marvel and Disney must have been quite impressed with what they saw in Hawkeye to greenlight a solo series so quickly.

June 2, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ VFX Head Talks How They Reinvented Falcon For the Show

The first and, maybe, the only season of Falcon and the Winter Soldier wowed audiences with its high-caliber sequences that rivaled any Marvel feature out there. It touched them with a poignant, resonant, as well as emotional story on race and purpose. We spoke to the show’s VFX supervisor Eric Leven, who gave us some insight into how the show was crafted in light of the pandemic and how some key character moments were influenced by the VFX department.

Along with Wandavision, Falcon took the brunt of all the effects of the pandemic delays. Disney+’s Assembled documentary for the series outlined their troubles, as they had to change their shooting locations unexpectedly from Puerto Rico to Prague. It also offered insight into how the pandemic limited their scope in location scouting. Leven gave us some details on what it was like for their department to work in spite of all the delays and how it worked to their advantage.

We actually never stopped. The VFX department never shut down. Obviously, the pandemic is terrible for everyone but for the VFX department, it was nice because we sort of rushed into production. With a lot of productions, their train is moving before all the tracks are laid down. When we stopped shooting, we were close to being done. I think we had a month to go. So when we stopped, that was a chance for us to take a step back, breathe, and think “How do we make these sequences better?” We had all the time to work that out which was nice.

The show didn’t just reinvent Falcon’s mantle and costume but it also changed the way he engages in combat. Now that he has the shield, Sam Wilson has an array of new abilities and tricks at his disposal. We asked Leven what the process was like in exploring his fighting style from when we first see him in the first episode to when we see him carry the shield in the finale.

The shield was a big thing. We spent a lot of time with our pre-viz department just coming up with different ways he could be using that shield. Different poses and different things he could do with the wings. There was a lot of conversations about how active the wings were. There was a big note to make sure the wings were not too prehensile. We didn’t want them to seem like they had a life of their own.

One notable change was Sam Wilson’s use of firearms. All of Falcon’s previous appearances in the MCU have seen him fire a few shots from his submachine gun mounted on his wrists. Leven revealed that guns were originally supposed to be part of Sam’s arsenal in the early stages of the show but were nixed as the VFX crew was staging his sequences. It’s a very fascinating detail that a lot of people may not have noticed and one that can be interpreted as a statement of how Sam operates as Captain America now.

I’ll tell you one of the things that came up. If you remember in all the other movies with Falcon, Falcon always has guns. The one thing we saw very quickly was, we had a pre-viz where he had the shield and he was shooting a gun over the top of it. It was just very interesting. I had a visceral reaction of, “Oh no. Captain America does not shoot guns.” So that was one of the first things to go.

Now, we’ve seen Steve Rogers carry a firearm along with his shield in the past. Captain America: The First Avenger showcases Steve firing a weapon multiple times all throughout while carrying the shield. Granted, it was World War 2 and every one of them had to have a sidearm but in modern-day iterations of the character, he no longer relied on it. Leven also talked about how nixing Sam’s firearm resulted in more visually interesting sequences for the character.

In this show, Falcon never fires a weapon. He doesn’t have a sidearm and that was something that was part of the original design but we jettisoned that pretty early. One of the things I’m most proud of in this show is in the very beginning. Sam, in the script, when he approaches the wingsuit pilot he’s gonna get rid of, just pulls out his gun and shoots him. I remember talking to Zoe and Kari like, “I have a better idea that doesn’t involve him shooting this guy in cold blood. Maybe we could use it.” So that’s how we came up with the idea of him actually flying underneath him and pulling his parachute and getting that guy out of the scene. I was really happy with that.

May 7, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Amazon’s ‘PAPER GIRLS’ Casting Missy Tieng Ahead of May Production Start

A few days after announcing its four main leads, Amazon’s Paper Girls is now looking to cast a few more characters to the project that will adapt the Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang comic. We’ve learned that production is actively searching for a Chinese-American girl, who is between the age of nine to eleven. She will play Missy Tieng, who is the little sister of Erin Tieng, one of the titular characters. Missy is, as of yet, set to appear in two episodes of the series’ first season. These will consist of the pilot and the fourth episode.

If you’re familiar with the comic series, it released 30 issues between 2015 and 2019. Missy is hardly a presence in the first few issues (the ones that should be the main focus of the first season). She shows up in the opening pages as her big sister is having a nightmare, where she must save her. Missy only frowns at her after Erin wakes her up from the said nightmare to check up on her. This way, having the character show up in more than a single episode at such an early stage of the show might deviate from the source material, and that it is taking extra care of highlighting her relationship with Erin. Especially as she has a more prominent role down the line. It just isn’t while she was eight years old. By dealing with time travel, the comic series often brings together different versions of the same character, from different timelines. Erin Tieng ends up meeting her older self, and in doing so, she also meets her little sister At that time, Missy was a helicopter pilot, which comes in handy as the story progresses. This way, having Missy have a bit of a larger role early on might enhance her presence further down the line.

Paper Girls will be shooting in Chicago from May 17 to June 24, and with principal photography less than a month away, we should expect several actors to join the cast. So, we could older versions of the girls or even the villains, which the comic series certainly has a lot of. The series premiere on Amazon’s streaming service is unannounced as of now. It’ll be interesting to see what other changes we might expect once the show enters production and expands its cast.

April 29, 2021