Fringe

[Hat Trick Maker]

I am quite sure that at least some of that was Vancouver. Just based on the fruit juice on the shelf in the store.

[BDWolf]

Happy Planet juices... Courtesy of Gregor Robertson (barf)

[nitronuts]

Fringe star Joshua Jackson enjoys hot homecoming

Vancouver-born Jackson says actors need passionate belief in script

By Alex Strachan, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 16, 2009

If you can't stand the heat -- move to North Carolina? Vancouver-born Joshua Jackson could be forgiven for thinking he had transported himself back to his days filming Dawson's Creek in Wilmington, N.C., when he arrived back home in Vancouver this past summer to begin work on the second season of Fringe.

Wilmington is in the American South, in the path of the numerous hurricanes that sweep in from the Atlantic in late summer and early fall. Heat and humidity come with the territory.

But Vancouver?

"It's true -- only, without the Spanish moss," Jackson said with a rueful laugh, comparing the two climates. "I certainly didn't imagine that Vancouver would become Acapulco in the 10 years that I was away."

With the long-range forecast predicting another El Nino winter-- think above-freezing temperatures and plenty of rain and drizzle -- it won't be long before Vancouver is back to the place Jackson remembered when he was going to Kitsilano Secondary School and getting into trouble for cutting class so he could watch The Jon Stewart Show in the early hours the previous morning.

"I never expected to get the gift of going back home with work," Jackson said. "It's been a long time. I think 1997 was the last time I was able to work in Vancouver, which is odd, given the fact that I've been kicking around for so long. To be able to take a show back home is pretty fantastic."

"Pretty fantastic" sums up Jackson's early acting career, when he landed a key role in Stephen Herek's 1992 feel-good hockey movie The Mighty Ducks -- reportedly beating out a young Jake Gyllenhaal for the role, according to People.com.

Jackson graduated from The Mighty Ducks to Dawson's Creek, Kevin Williamson's generation-defining coming-of-age drama that aired on The WB network for six seasons between 1998 and 2003. Jackson played Pacey Witter, the troublemaking teen who entertains an on-again/off-again relationship with proverbial girl-next-door Joey Potter, played by a then-unknown Katie Holmes.

In Fringe, Jackson plays Peter Bishop, sarcastic, wise-cracking partner in crime-solving to earnest FBI agent Olivia Dunham, played by Australian actress Anna Torv.

Jackson insists his character's gift for wisecracking and sarcasm has not rubbed off on him in any way.

"That's the part that comes hardest for me," he said facetiously. "I'll be honest. I struggle with that every day."

Fringe's pilot episode was filmed late last year, in the middle of an uncharacteristically snowy Toronto winter, when towering snow banks gave the set-in-Boston series an eerie, distinctly chilly tone and feel.

Production pulled up stakes to New York City for Fringe's first season. In May, the decision was made to move once again, this time to Vancouver.

Jackson and his castmates Torv and John Noble, who, like Torv, is from Australia, moved to Vancouver earlier this summer.

Jackson insists that, while Fringe may seem hard to follow for the casual viewer, it will all come together in the end.

"If you caught us lying, if it looked as if we didn't believe what we were saying, no one would follow us to the end of the stage. If we believe what we're saying wholeheartedly, and believe it passionately, then, as an audience member, I would watch the show.

"I loved The X-Files, when I was younger. I would watch that show six feet under water with my dying breath expiring in my lungs. I would do anything to watch that show, because they believed. And I wanted to believe with them."

That said, Jackson wants to make it look as though his character knows his scientific theory.

"I'm finishing off my advanced chemistry degree from DeVry right now," he quipped.

Jackson acknowledges there was bound to be controversy over last May's season-ending shot of the World Trade Center -- some U.S. viewers complained that it was exploitative and disrespectful -- but, he says, in hindsight, it was the right call for the show to make.

"It should break your heart," he said. "That's the point. It's supposed to be as shocking and poignant as it can possibly be. On the one hand, it pulls your heartstrings to the point where you go, 'God, what a much better world that would be.' And on the other hand, it makes you a little uncomfortable with the world that we are living in. I think it's good to be shocked into paying attention."

Jackson says he gets along with Noble, even though the two have an adversarial father-son relationship in the show. Jackson plays Peter Bishop; Noble plays his mad-scientist father, Dr. Walter Bishop.

"Daddy," Jackson said, with a straight face. "Push and pull. We discussed this last year: We want [the relationship] to get to the point where, if you take the Bishops out of Fringe, we want the relationship to still make sense. If you strip away everything else in the show, that father-and-son dynamic -- which is true for any parent and child -- must seem every bit as honest and real.

"Right now, it's the source of some of the greatest joys for me working on set, dialing that stuff in and just playing it. John is an endlessly inventive actor, and it makes my life so much more enjoyable and easier to work with somebody who's always challenging himself and won't ever settle for second best, and who brings such joy to everything he does. I think sometimes I'm guilty of just watching."

© Copyright © The Province

THE DEADBOLT: So how does it feel to be back in your neighborhood filming again?

JOSHUA JACKSON: My hometown [Vancouver]. Where are you?

THE DEADBOLT: I'm in the Westend.

JACKSON: Enjoying what is probably the second or third grey day of the entire summer?

THE DEADBOLT: [laughs] Yeah, exactly.

[Fringe] JACKSON: It feels pretty damn good, I've got to say. It's a guilty pleasure to be able to come home after all of these years and there's really not a more beautiful place on earth than Vancouver in the summer.

THE DEADBOLT: What does the city actually add to the show, do you think?

JACKSON: Well, we're actually just getting into the time of year where I think the city will add a lot. The gray raininess of it all actually just adds to the natural moodiness of a the show like Fringe. I think that's a positive. And then, whereas last year we were in New York, which adds all of the obvious things that New York and that backdrop adds, it's also difficult to shoot there because there's the other fourteen million people that you have to deal with. So it makes our production life a lot easier being up here, and just the things you're allowed and capable of doing on the streets of Vancouver.

THE DEADBOLT: You mentioned that you're a big sci-fi fan. So what's it like working with Leonard Nimoy?

JACKSON: Well, I've been shafted so far. In fact, I'm going to launch a formal complaint through this conference call [laughs]. Leonard has been up here twice, and while I did get to meet him and that's cool, I have yet to be able to do a scene with him and I think that's uncool. So we definitely need to progress to the Peter and William Bell scene, toute suite.

Last season, Fringe was frequently pre-empted by Idol, which would expand or contract by an hour from one week to the next. The coming season will be more stable, Pinkner promised.

Fringe's production has also moved to Vancouver from New York. (The original pilot episode was actually filmed in Toronto.)

And Leonard Nimoy, as William Bell, will now appear in a recurring role.

"It was extremely cool to have him on set," Torv said of Nimoy. "Unfortunately, the set wasn't very cool when he was there, though. It was like a heat wave in Vancouver."

"It was 106 degrees," Pinkner confirmed. "Unlike Los Angeles or New York, the sound stages in Vancouver don't have air-conditioning. It was 106 outside, but inside it was more like 120 degrees. Like a pro, he just sat there all day and sweated it out. He never went back to his trailer. He did pages and pages and pages of dialogue and scenes with Anna.

"His wife told me he practises biofeedback. He sort of just regulates his body temperature, which strikes me as being very Spock-like. Myself, I was dying."

Fringe can be hard to follow for the uninitiated observer, but the producers insist they're working to change that.

"We constantly struggle -- struggle is the wrong word -- try to meet the challenge to convey the science in the best and most succinct way," Pinkner said.

[kanucks25]

Oh, so they permanently changed Fringe to thursdays?

[G.K. Chesterton]

Oh, so they permanently changed Fringe to thursdays?

[kanucks25]

Yes...which means I have to wait to watch The Office on the 'Net.

[hank4hire]

Speaking of PVR, I just watched last weeks episode and a couple things confuse me; if the shapeshifter killed francis and took his shape then why was the body of the nurse still there and also why would he leave the 3 prongy device there ( I guess so that Joshua Jackson could find it and give it Broiles to keep the Fringe division going)

[kanucks25]

Speaking of PVR, I just watched last weeks episode and a couple things confuse me; if the shapeshifter killed francis and took his shape then why was the body of the nurse still there and also why would he leave the 3 prongy device there ( I guess so that Joshua Jackson could find it and give it Broiles to keep the Fringe division going)

[crovax]

when the shapeshifter killed the nurse he stashed the body. so when he snuck up and killed francis he stashed francis' body where the nurse was and brought the nurse back out to make it look like the shapeshifter. the the changing device was said to have been broken when peter gave it to broiles. the shapeshifter then destroyed francis' body in the incinerator at end of episode

[G.K. Chesterton]

Ahh...nice to see Henry Scudder.

Tonight's episode had me thinking about Smeagol.

[nitronuts]

^ yea, the mole monster was a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, great episode.

MADE IN VANCOUVER, BABY! I liked this episode more than the season opener, it didn't feel as much "Vancouver".

[kanucks25]

The baby monster thing was a little weird, and yeah he does look like Smeagol.

They barely showed that new girl, I thought he was going to be a main (maybe after the shapeshifter/Charlie) is gone.

[kanucks25]

Very interesting episode, a lot more sciency than most, IMO.

It's funny how the show has been going on for over a season and we still don't know who the enemy is and what they are trying to do.

And again, no new girl (or "Charlie").

[kanucks25]

Last episode they were in Playland on the Wooden Rollercoaster (you could also see the Swing Ride right beside it).

Another break for Fringe, but just one week this time.

[Shift-4]

Last episode they were in Playland on the Wooden Rollercoaster (you could also see the Swing Ride right beside it).

[Hat Trick Maker]

I don't know if anyone is still following the show, but damn, the last episode "White Tulip" (E18) was unbelievable. One of the best TV episodes ever written and the last scene literally made me shed tears. Also the waitress in the beginning of the show is really hot .

Also in the prior episode (E17), Diane Kruger was a guest star, if anyone caught it and the episode before that (E16) they had this awesome retro intro that made me lol.

[Rypien37]

If you see a green oldsmobile cutlass, that used to be my beater, a guy from the show bought it from me off craigslist. Apparently its gonna have some huge debris fall on the roof.

[G.K. Chesterton]

I don't know if anyone is still following the show, but damn, the last episode "White Tulip" (E18) was unbelievable. One of the best TV episodes ever written and the last scene literally made me shed tears. Also the waitress in the beginning of the show is really hot .

Also in the prior episode (E17), Diane Kruger was a guest star, if anyone caught it and the episode before that (E16) they had this awesome retro intro that made me lol.

[Hat Trick Maker]

If you see a green oldsmobile cutlass, that used to be my beater, a guy from the show bought it from me off craigslist. Apparently its gonna have some huge debris fall on the roof.

[Hat Trick Maker]

I haven't caught up to the latest episode yet-the Canucks game was on. But I'll watch it when they replay it on SPACE on Tuesday. Still a great show, and with Lost and 24 ending, it's going to be one of my stalwart shows for next season. My friend and I were downtown a couple of Mondays ago and they were filming the season finale on Granville. I think it'll be an alternate universe episode-they had some fake movie posters like "Star Wars: Legend of the Droids".