Well I spent my Saturday all dressed up with no place to go on the set of a new miniseries by the BBC/Shaftesbury Films called THE STATE WITHIN. Produced by Patrick Cassavetti The series will be in Toronto till August. In the movie the U.S and Britain are caught up in the middle of a terrorist crisis. It's described as a combination of ‘All The President’s Men’ with a little part ‘24’.
I spent fourteen hours in two set ups around Old Toronto City Hall and Osgoode Hall first as a reporter on Washington's Capitol Hill covering a press conference by the press secretary (Maria Ricossa) in which she outlines the new fifteen minute seating policy for airline passengers.
The scene also included real life Toronto Sports Reporter Jody Vance(Roger's Sportsnet) as a Capitol Hill Reporter.
After lunch(road kill?) it was into the Men in Black suite to play a secret service agent. The scenes included Sharon Gless, Jason Isaacs, Ben Daniels and Paulino Nunes converging on the British Residence for a top secret meeting.
The mini-series is set to air sometime next year. That's all for now. Tomorrow I start a 'real' job down at the Cadbury factory. I hope to continue doing background work, it can be fun.
Later,
Kenaz
1 comment:
Here is a series of emails that I received from a reader pertaining to this post.
Dear Mr. Oliphant,
I read with interest your blog entry discussing your work on "The State Within", and I had a couple of questions. I understand that your involvement (so far!) is somewhat peripheral, so you may not be able to answer.
First, I was curious to know if you had shared any scenes with Jason Isaacs, and if so, what your impressions were. I am also confused by something I have read about this production--that it is being filmed in Toronto, but is set in, among other places, Washington, D.C. Do you have any idea if the Washington scenes will also be filmed in Toronto, or will they likely be done on location?
Thanks for your time,
Hilary
Dear Hillary,
Firstly, thank you for taking interest in my blog. I hope I can answer some of your questions, although, indeed as you say my work on "The State Within" was only as an extra and I don't have that much insight to the project.
No, I didn't have the opportunity to work with Mr. Isaacs and the stars I did mention that where present, we extras abide by a strict no direct contact rule. That being said as a first impression every one of the stars where pleasant to be around, no huge egos.
As far as locations, this movie's exteriors are being filmed around Toronto and possibly here in Hamilton (in case your not familiar, Hamilton is about 40 miles(100km) from Toronto). I'm sure any shots of Washington's landmarks will be filmed on location.
In the past movies that take place in the oval office or other US government buildings have been filmed in a Toronto studio quite convincingly (I.e. Three movies that have dealt with the Kennedy family).
I hope this answers your questions, please feel free to write again if you have any more.
Thanks,
Kendall
Dear Kendall,
Thanks for your kind reply!
I had been talking this over with a friend, and she suspected that all the work being done in Ontario would be done at once, and when production was finished there, they would move to Washington to do any exterior work necessary.
This made sense to me from a logistical and financial stand-point, but I am sorry to think that ANYBODY will have to be filming anything in D.C. in July/August--it's generally stinking hot and humid, and we've just had the most wonderful gentle spring I can remember!
Thanks again for sharing,
Hilary
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