Michelle Forbes is not the kind of actor who avoids variety and challenging roles. If you liked her as the tough Admiral Cain in Battlestar Galactica, the enchanting Maryann in True Blood or the lovely but troubled Kate in In Treatment, you should definitely add Pen Verrity from Durham County to the mix. A new, challenging role takes her to the award winning Canadian series with an unique, dark and realistic tone. The first season, which contains 6 episodes, anatomized male violence through the story of Detective Mike Sweeney (Hugh Dillon) and investigated how it affected us. Michelle joins the cast in the second season as Pen Verrity, the sexy, mysterious forensic psychiatrist, who has more skeletons in her closet, than we can imagine. Women can be as nasty as men, that’s for sure.
Penelope is quite troubled, to say the least, because of what’s happening and because of some trauma that had not been dealt with or transformed when she was younger,” {…}. “All of this comes bubbling to the surface. There’s a certain fracturing of her soul and her mind, and she’s desperately trying to grab onto Mike Sweeney.” said Forbes. This character is not less complex than she played before. “I was really seduced by the darkness of it, by the truth of it. Laurie Finstad (Knizhnik), our writer, has this extraordinary ability to hold up this frail, human dark side of ourselves and confront it. That was what was so compelling to me and made me jump at the chance to be a part of it. Source: Tv,eh?
The writing is extraordinary, sensitive and very expressive, as is the cinematography. The show is perfectly cast, which adds to its quality. Every part of the production seem to work flawlessly. Michelle plays Pen Verrity with much complexity. Her ability to express a dozen emotions in one look comes to the surface now more than ever before. As we witness Pen desperately try to control herself and others, we constantly swing between feelings of hate, pity, love, sympathy, frustration towards her. She leaves us in a daze. If you thought Maryann was scary, you haven’t seen anything yet. Durham County challenged my intelligence and I loved it.
Switch your television on on Sunday, January 3 from 9:00 – 11:00 PM, ET and tune into ION Television and watch the second season of Durham County which launches with episodes 1 and 2 back to back. In case you missed the beginning of the story, they’ve set up a marathon of the first season on January 2. - Akima
Pre-order DC Season 1 from Amazon.com. (Available from January 19th, 2010)
Here's a мищка joining us and our polar friends in wishing all a peaceful end to 2009, and a strong start to 2010!
Season's greetings from Chris and yours truly, from Amsterdam and Dublin, to everyone, our readers, our contributors. Thank you so much for participating in your own unique way.
We wish you all a holiday filled with happiness, love, warmth, and bellies full of wonderful food.
There's no snow in Dublin yet so I had to fake it a little bit. You may click on the picture to see it falling. :)
"Emilie Lopez : Vous avez tourné dans de nombreuses séries particulièrement appréciées du public. Êtes-vous habituée au succès?
Michelle Forbes : J’ai vraiment eu de la chance d’être dans de telles séries, auxquelles je croyais et que j’aimais. Après avoir passé 16 à 18 heures par jour, parfois 6 jours par semaine à faire ces histoires, et que tu vois l’impact qu’elles ont sur le public, que tu vois tout le monde tellement excité à l’idée de te rencontrer, que tu les voies si respectueux, comme cela peut-il t’énerver ? C’est ce que l’on fait, c’est ce pour quoi on travaille pendant des jours et des jours : avoir un impact émotionnel sur le public. Donc quand cela arrive, c’est toujours extrêmement touchant."
Source: toutelatele.com
My attempt to translate it. I apologise in advance for any mistakes. "You have played in many TV shows which are particularly appreciated. Do you get used to success?
I was indeed lucky to be part of shows in which I believed in and which I loved. After working 16 to 18 hours a day, sometimes 6 days a week, creating these stories, and seeing the impact that they have on the public, when you see everybody so keen with the idea to meet you, and how respectful they are, how does this thrill you? That's what you do, that's why you're working day after day, to have an emotional impact on the audience. Because when this happens, it's always incredibly touching."
I'd like to say that it's equally moving as a viewer how Michelle Forbes makes us laugh and cry, scream and lament, or squee with delight. And sometimes let us become absolutely silent.
How does she achieve this? What is her secret, what are the techniques to attract, engage, and fascinate us?
Since it's quiet on the blog in these December days, you'll get an unrelated Sunday picture. Yesterday in Amsterdam, on my way to work. Tonight it's bitterly cold, and it's snowing :)
From the series "Load of Bollocks" we're glad to bring two more 18th century music videos to your attention. Lots of Michelle scenes from True Blood, Messiah, Durham County, In Treatment, Wonderland, Swimming with Sharks and Battlestar Galactica to Pop music from 1785, disrespectfully mashed up. Rebecca's video was first, then I've cut all eeeek-moments and replaced them by cute scenes.
Rebecca's video:
Anyone else into ancient Austrian pop music layered with scifi, crime, psychodrama and a gorgeous actress? Well, as long as Michelle doesn't hurry up and grab a role in a period drama, we're forced to make our own show :)
Wonderland is an eight part television series, a gritty and realistic portrayal of the doctors and patients of the fictional psychiatric Rivervue Hospital in New York City. Wonderland first aired on ABC in the spring of 2000, but because of its controversal story, its dark tone and intense nature, it was taken off the air after only two episodes. - In Europe all eight episodes could be watched on various French, Scandinavian and Swiss TV channels. In the US DirecTV's 101 network aired the entire series in January 2009, complemented by opening commentaries by series creator, producer and writer Peter Berg, and provided with a different music score.
Episode 3: Sanity. (This was episode 1 in the US)
Intro. Madonna, humming. Group therapy. Lupinta: "Sometimes I slap someone or stump with my foot when I'm angry ..." "I just ... I just..." "I love my wife, you should never hurt or frighten or hit ... "Be kind." "I AM KIND."
7 A.M. in New York City. 'The Little Drummer Boy' introduces this episode. The song will also end it. 'Come they told me, pa rum pa pum pum // A new born King to see, pa rum pa pum pum.' A couple make love. Feet on a scale. Staten Island Ferry. Yoga exercises. Children brushing their teeth.The hospital awakens.
I was trying to tell the story of this Wonderland episode. I can't. You need to watch it. Please do. And if possible try to get the original version with the original music score.
The ending. Group again. Lapinta: "I know it's not yet but I'm feeling a pretty strong sense of Merry Christmas. I've got a feeling of love. You know, it's so hard to get in that touch of love ... where you really feel that this is a regular part of who you are. That's what I want. That's what I wanna work on. Being with my love, living with my love.. I'd need help with that. - I was wondering if you could help me with that."
Main cast: Ted Levin - Dr. Robert Banger Michelle Forbes - Dr. Lyla Garrity Michael Jai White - Dr. Derrick Hatcher Billy Burke - Dr. Abe Matthews Martin Donovan - Dr. Neil Harrison Michelle Barker - Julie McCray Patricia Clarkson - Tammy Banger Leland Orser - Wendall Rickle
Series creator: Peter Berg
Quote from Wonderland, Dr. Rober Banger: " When the pressures of modern society become too great for a person, when one's chemical dynamic becomes such that they are unbalanced, that they cease painting within the lines, they come to us. These are the people that society would prefer just go away -- the shadow people. The shadow people that project upon us their shadow and remind us just how tenuous mental health is. Our worst fears. They remind us how easy it can be to slip."
Wonderland isn't for everybody. It is visually demanding and stunning. And it is honest, authentic, realistic and true.
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"The best one-season wonders of the ’00s - Wonderland (ABC, 2000) Peter Berg’s first TV series was often too frenetic by half, but in its dedication to showing a mental hospital The Way It Really Is, the series sported a verisimilitude that few shows even dare approach. Filled with actors who went on to flit through numerous other acclaimed series of the decade—Michelle Forbes and Martin Donovan, to name two—Wonderland could be darkly humorous, but it was often just dark, willing to go to places of bleak despair. Since it was kind of like a major-network Oz, and since it was on after Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, it was quickly shown the door, though DirecTV’s Channel 101 has broadcast the previously unaired episodes." Source: avclub.com
"It isn’t about ruptured spleens and heart attacks. It’s about the mentally ill, the psychotics and schizophrenics and the severely depressed. It’s about the doctors who take care of these special cases, the so-called gatekeepers holding the barbarians back from society. Produced, written and directed by Peter Berg (himself an alum of “Chicago Hope,” as well as an independent filmmaker), “Wonderland” is a riveting if challenging bit of television. Berg and a team of writers spent months at New York’s Bellevue hospital, where they were allowed to witness and interview doctors working with the mentally ill."
"To further the effect of being in what is essentially an asylum, Berg uses hand-held cameras and lets the actors improvise when needed. This gives “Wonderland” a gritty, realistic feel. But the technique also adds a sense of chaos to the viewing experience. Watching “Wonderland” is a sensory overload, as patients scream at the top of their lungs, bang on things, turn TV channels rapidly and provide a kind of non-stop white noise over the show’s dialogue."
"I wasn’t totally shocked. This profession is 90% discouragement. It’s 90% rejection and disappointment and bad reviews or people dismissing your work or ignoring it. It’s really not even 10% of the time where you get the rewards." (Martin Donovan)
"Actually, because of some of the work I've done in the past, I was fairly familiar with it. I did a series about 10 years ago, called Wonderland, for ABC, that was set in Bellevue Hospital in New York, and I played the psychiatrist heading the emergency room. So, for quite a while I hung out with forensic psychiatrists, and spent a lot of time speaking to their patients. I once spoke to a man who killed his children ... so I had a fairly large grasp of that world." Source: Michelle Forbes, theglobeandmail.com
"Dank einer quasi-dokumentarischen Kameraführung und tollen Schauspielern - darunter Ted Levine, Patricia Clarkson, Martin Donovan und Michelle Forbes - erreichte "Wonderland" 2000 eine Unmittelbarkeit und Vielschichtigkeit, die nur wenigen der hochgelobten Serien, die seither entstanden sind, eigen ist."
(I'm sorry but I lost some of the sources of the quoted reviews.)
The cast and crew attend the DIRECTV Premiere of Wonderland, January 2009:
