Under The Mistletoe With Michael Shanks
Dec. 9th, 2006 04:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forgottenbennetfrom tvguide.com
Under The Mistletoe With Michael Shanks by M.R. Reed
The holiday season is upon us and that means it is time for networks to begin airing movies with a Christmas and holiday theme.
“Under the Mistletoe’, starring Michael Shanks, Jaime Ray Newman, and Burkely Duffield is one of this year’s newest holiday movie offerings. During a break in filming of some exterior scenes, actor Michael Shanks, who is best known for his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the hit MGM scifi series, ‘Stargate: SG-1’, took time to talk about his role in Insight Films’ latest Christmas themed movie.
‘Under the Mistletoe’ tells the story of Susan Chandler and her eleven-year old son, Jonathan (played by Burkely Duffield), who have suffered the loss of husband and father Tom Chandler (played by Conan Graham) in a car accident during Christmas time. A year later, as Christmas approaches again, Susan and Jonathan still have great difficulty dealing with Tom’s untimely death. Jonathan continually claims to see his father’s ghost and to have conversations with him - though no one, not even his mother, believes him.
When Jonathan gets into trouble at school, the new counselor, Kevin Harrison, takes an interest in Jonathan and Susan as he tries to understand the cause of Jonathan’s inability to let go of his father. Kevin begins finding himself falling in love with Susan, but Susan is at first oblivious to Kevin’s affection, as she is involved with slick attorney Greg Roberts, whom she met through a radio-show dating contest. Meanwhile, Tom Chandler, by way of his son, must try to lead his beloved wife toward choosing the right man - so his son will have a good father, and Susan can experience true love again.
‘Under the Mistletoe’ was filmed in Vancouver, B.C. during late July/early August in the middle of summer. Michael Shanks says he had some concerns about filming a Christmas movie in the middle of a summer heat wave, especially when the first script he read for the project had mention of snow covered scenes. “I was saying to myself, ‘Oh no, don’t tell me, they’re going to get fake snow and pile it up on the sidewalks and in thirty-one degree Celsius temperature [eighty-eight degrees Fahrenheit] and we’re going to be wearing parkas and mittens and all these things.” Fortunately, he says, for the cast and crew it worked out well, as they decided to make the setting a ‘California Christmas’.
So what appealed to Michael Shanks the most about making a Christmas movie even in the summer time? First and foremost, he says, it was the fact that his character is a kid’s hockey coach. Shanks said that it wasn’t just about the kids getting a chance to be on the ice, but so did his character of Kevin Harrison. “I got to play the coach and I knew I was going to get to be on the ice. I tell you, the best days of shooting that I’ve had on this so far was when we were filming at the ice rink in the Ridge Meadows.” Shanks says he got to spend time having the ice to himself between takes and he was ‘in hog heaven’ skating up a storm.
Another thing that appealed to Shanks in taking the role in ‘Under the Mistletoe’ is that he liked the fact that the character is a departure from many characters he has played before as the character has a personality that is near to his own. “This character is a little bit closer to who I am than other characters I’ve played and certainly very easy. I haven’t had to ‘act’ too much in this. It’s been more about reacting. It’s about a man who loves kids, hockey and that me.”
There were, however, several aspects of this movie role that Shanks said were out of the ordinary from his personal frame of reference, which made the role challenging for him as an actor.
‘Under the Mistletoe’ is set into motion by the tragic loss of a loved one around Christmas time. Shanks says that this is a big difference from his personal life experiences.
“This is such a unique story that is about a death in the family, about the father dying and a kid who is looking for guidance and gets it from his father’s ghost. The mother is looking for guidance as well as all these characters have to move on from this death.” The character of Kevin Harrison is outside of that dynamic much as Shanks would be himself. “I don’t have any particular experience in this regard, so I am certainly not drawing from any personal experiences of that nature. I am mainly drawing from my love of children and my love of hockey. I certainly have a great love for kids and because of the wonderful young man, the young actor who is playing Jonathan and is very easy to like, and working with Jaime Ray Newman, the rest just seems to fall into place.”
At different points in the movie, the spirit of the deceased Tom Chandler appears to his son to help guide him along. We asked Michael Shanks if he has ever had a similar encounter with the spirit world in real life.
“That’s a good question. No, I can’t say that I have, or at least not that I’m aware of,” Shanks answers candidly and with a gentle laugh. “I love the idea of it, though, for this movie, but I’ve never had any encounters with apparitions from my past or present, so I think that’s a good thing at this point. I don’t have too many beliefs in that department so I think that probably my own personal cynicism might keep them at bay.”
Beside their work in this movie, Shanks and Newman have an interesting connection, a ‘Stargate connection’: Newman has a recurring role on ‘Stargate: Atlantis’ as Lt. Laura Cadman. “We spent some time talking about that”, Shanks says with a laugh.
Shanks has nothing but glowing praise for Jaime Ray Newman and working with her in ‘Under the Mistletoe’. He says that Newman has the ability to be ‘in the moment’ of any given scene, which in turn helps him to step into the reality of character’s situations. She also takes opportunities to do method acting to help create the great working chemistry he found with her. “I appreciate that she is working all the time and it’s wonderful to work with someone who is that well prepared and bought into the story as much she has.”
‘Under the Mistletoe’ will be premiering on The W Network in Canada on December 3rd and on The Lifetime Channel in the USA on December 4th. Check your local listings for airing times.
Under The Mistletoe With Michael Shanks by M.R. Reed
The holiday season is upon us and that means it is time for networks to begin airing movies with a Christmas and holiday theme.
“Under the Mistletoe’, starring Michael Shanks, Jaime Ray Newman, and Burkely Duffield is one of this year’s newest holiday movie offerings. During a break in filming of some exterior scenes, actor Michael Shanks, who is best known for his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in the hit MGM scifi series, ‘Stargate: SG-1’, took time to talk about his role in Insight Films’ latest Christmas themed movie.
‘Under the Mistletoe’ tells the story of Susan Chandler and her eleven-year old son, Jonathan (played by Burkely Duffield), who have suffered the loss of husband and father Tom Chandler (played by Conan Graham) in a car accident during Christmas time. A year later, as Christmas approaches again, Susan and Jonathan still have great difficulty dealing with Tom’s untimely death. Jonathan continually claims to see his father’s ghost and to have conversations with him - though no one, not even his mother, believes him.
When Jonathan gets into trouble at school, the new counselor, Kevin Harrison, takes an interest in Jonathan and Susan as he tries to understand the cause of Jonathan’s inability to let go of his father. Kevin begins finding himself falling in love with Susan, but Susan is at first oblivious to Kevin’s affection, as she is involved with slick attorney Greg Roberts, whom she met through a radio-show dating contest. Meanwhile, Tom Chandler, by way of his son, must try to lead his beloved wife toward choosing the right man - so his son will have a good father, and Susan can experience true love again.
‘Under the Mistletoe’ was filmed in Vancouver, B.C. during late July/early August in the middle of summer. Michael Shanks says he had some concerns about filming a Christmas movie in the middle of a summer heat wave, especially when the first script he read for the project had mention of snow covered scenes. “I was saying to myself, ‘Oh no, don’t tell me, they’re going to get fake snow and pile it up on the sidewalks and in thirty-one degree Celsius temperature [eighty-eight degrees Fahrenheit] and we’re going to be wearing parkas and mittens and all these things.” Fortunately, he says, for the cast and crew it worked out well, as they decided to make the setting a ‘California Christmas’.
So what appealed to Michael Shanks the most about making a Christmas movie even in the summer time? First and foremost, he says, it was the fact that his character is a kid’s hockey coach. Shanks said that it wasn’t just about the kids getting a chance to be on the ice, but so did his character of Kevin Harrison. “I got to play the coach and I knew I was going to get to be on the ice. I tell you, the best days of shooting that I’ve had on this so far was when we were filming at the ice rink in the Ridge Meadows.” Shanks says he got to spend time having the ice to himself between takes and he was ‘in hog heaven’ skating up a storm.
Another thing that appealed to Shanks in taking the role in ‘Under the Mistletoe’ is that he liked the fact that the character is a departure from many characters he has played before as the character has a personality that is near to his own. “This character is a little bit closer to who I am than other characters I’ve played and certainly very easy. I haven’t had to ‘act’ too much in this. It’s been more about reacting. It’s about a man who loves kids, hockey and that me.”
There were, however, several aspects of this movie role that Shanks said were out of the ordinary from his personal frame of reference, which made the role challenging for him as an actor.
‘Under the Mistletoe’ is set into motion by the tragic loss of a loved one around Christmas time. Shanks says that this is a big difference from his personal life experiences.
“This is such a unique story that is about a death in the family, about the father dying and a kid who is looking for guidance and gets it from his father’s ghost. The mother is looking for guidance as well as all these characters have to move on from this death.” The character of Kevin Harrison is outside of that dynamic much as Shanks would be himself. “I don’t have any particular experience in this regard, so I am certainly not drawing from any personal experiences of that nature. I am mainly drawing from my love of children and my love of hockey. I certainly have a great love for kids and because of the wonderful young man, the young actor who is playing Jonathan and is very easy to like, and working with Jaime Ray Newman, the rest just seems to fall into place.”
At different points in the movie, the spirit of the deceased Tom Chandler appears to his son to help guide him along. We asked Michael Shanks if he has ever had a similar encounter with the spirit world in real life.
“That’s a good question. No, I can’t say that I have, or at least not that I’m aware of,” Shanks answers candidly and with a gentle laugh. “I love the idea of it, though, for this movie, but I’ve never had any encounters with apparitions from my past or present, so I think that’s a good thing at this point. I don’t have too many beliefs in that department so I think that probably my own personal cynicism might keep them at bay.”
Beside their work in this movie, Shanks and Newman have an interesting connection, a ‘Stargate connection’: Newman has a recurring role on ‘Stargate: Atlantis’ as Lt. Laura Cadman. “We spent some time talking about that”, Shanks says with a laugh.
Shanks has nothing but glowing praise for Jaime Ray Newman and working with her in ‘Under the Mistletoe’. He says that Newman has the ability to be ‘in the moment’ of any given scene, which in turn helps him to step into the reality of character’s situations. She also takes opportunities to do method acting to help create the great working chemistry he found with her. “I appreciate that she is working all the time and it’s wonderful to work with someone who is that well prepared and bought into the story as much she has.”
‘Under the Mistletoe’ will be premiering on The W Network in Canada on December 3rd and on The Lifetime Channel in the USA on December 4th. Check your local listings for airing times.
