PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: PALEYFEST 2017: HEROES & ALIENS: FEATURING ARROW, THE FLASH, SUPERGIRL, AND DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Paley Center for Media's 34th William S. Paley Television Festival in Los Angeles. Held this year at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, the festival celebrates the excellence and diversity of American television and is dedicated to television's creative community. This PALEYFEST 2017 seminar honors four interrelated series on The CW, all based in the DC Comics universe: "Arrow," "The Flash," "Supergirl" and "Legends of Tomorrow."
Host Rene Reyes (director of public programs and festivals, The Paley Center for Media) introduces filmmaker Kevin Smith, who offers opening remarks about his lifelong love of comic books and his introduction to the assorted CW series via his friend and frequent co-star Jason Mewes. A brief series of clips are then shown from all four series.
After the clips, Smith moderates the following panelists: from "Arrow," executive producers Marc Guggenheim and Wendy Mericle, and cast members Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen / Arrow) and David Ramsey (John Diggle); from "The Flash," executive producers Andrew Kreisberg, Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing, and cast members Grant Gustin (Barry Allen / The Flash) and Candice Patton (Iris West); from "Supergirl," executive producer Kreisberg, and cast members Melissa Benoist (Kara Danvers / Supergirl) and David Harewood (Hank Henshaw / J'onn J'onzz), and from "Legends of Tomorrow," executive producer Phil Klemmer, and cast members Brandon Routh (Ray Palmer / Atom) and Caity Lotz (Sara Lance / White Canary).
The panelists touch on such topics as: Arrowverse executive producer Greg Berlanti's ambitious ideas about spinning off "Arrow," the original series, into other programs featuring more DC characters; the emotional 100th episode of "Arrow" entitled "Invasion!", which crossed over with "Flash" and "Legends" episodes; Ramsey's sense that Diggle gets to be more humorous and lighthearted on "Flash"; Amell's sense of accomplishment in creating the 100th episode; the upcoming musical episode of "Flash," entitled "Duet," and inspiration from Joss Whedon's well-done "gimmick episodes"; the decision to avoid a "speedster" villain on the next season of "Flash"; exploring the "pitfalls" of having superpowers and Grant's views of Barry's poor decisions and sense of fear; the complex Iris/Barry relationship and Patton's contentment with Iris' lack of superpowers; moving "Supergirl" from CBS to The CW and the writers' interest in reflecting current social issues; praise for the storyline involving Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Maggie Sawyer's (Floriana Lima) relationship, for which the show has received a GLAAD award nomination; the first-season episode "Falling," in which Kara suffers a sense of guilt after being affected by red kryptonite; inspiration from the original Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, who appears in the series as President Olivia Marsdin; Benoist's interest in inspiring young girls and her presence at the 2017 Women's March on Washington; Harewood's awed reaction to the strong scripts; Klemmer's sense of the shows' "roving spotlight" in which many different characters are featured; Lotz's experience playing many different version of the Canary character; Routh's view of Ray as an "everyman" who must learn to let go of his interest in fame and find "other ways to be a superhero"; details about his restrictive costume; and plans for another crossover episode involving all four series, including Amell's complicated shooting schedules.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics, among others: the cast's emotional support of one another; their own ideas for other "crazy" crossovers; an upcoming "moral conundrum" for Barry and Iris involving the villain Abra Kadabra, played by David Dastmalchian; Amell's challenging exercise regime and his character's catchphrase; the economic advantage of shooting in Vancouver, rather than in the actors' hometown of Los Angeles, and praise for the Vancouver crew members, many of whom worked in the Superman-themed series "Smallville"; and hints about the future of Oliver and Felicity's (Emily Bett Rickards) relationship.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: November 30, 1999 2:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: N/A
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 128921
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Rene Reyes … Host
- Kevin Smith … Moderator
- Phil Klemmer … Panelist
- Wendy Mericle … Panelist
- Marc Guggenheim … Panelist
- Andrew Kreisberg … Panelist
- Todd Helbing … Panelist
- Aaron Helbing … Panelist
- David Harewood … Panelist
- Candice Patton … Panelist
- Brandon Routh … Panelist
- Stephen Amell … Panelist
- Melissa Benoist … Panelist
- Grant Gustin … Panelist
- David Ramsey … Panelist
- Caity Lotz … Panelist
- Greg Berlanti
- Lynda Carter
- David Dastmalchian
- Chyler Leigh
- Floriana Lima
- Jason Mewes
- Emily Bett Rickards
- Joss Whedon