Season 4 Direction

Jennifer Garner is scheduled to direct this Episode. I know this is not new news so I think it is okay to post here. I thought this was pretty exciting.
 
AgentBlueEyes said:
I'm really excited about it. I think it'll be cool. I can't wait to see it.
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Yep me too! I read that she was hesitant to do it at first. :P
 
^I hope it's different than other eps, and I hope Jen brings a little spice to the show. She's worked on it for 4 years, you'd think that she has some ideas...
 
Yeah, it should be really cool. I think she would be a good director. She's just good at everything I guess.
 
I'm glad she's directing. I mean, she's the star, she knows how everything works, how hard everythings is, and how to play it out. I think she will make a great director, and a great episode. This episode has had me stoked for weeks! I can't wait! :woot:
 
I'm so excited 4 the episode. this could be a big thing for jg. I'm sure it will be good she has been acting 4 a long time ansd probably picked up on some things. Can't wait!! :lol:
 
posted in the right place for sure (y) cos I am sure we will want to discuss it after the episode airs next week too :smiley: in fact I was just coming to start the topic myself but discovered you beat me to it :smiley:

I am really glad she got to do this - she apparently was hesitant but it is great for her career I suppose :smiley: There were pictures of her on set directing too - I forget where but she looked awesome!! :smiley:
 
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>]Garner Pulls Double Duty on 'Alias'</span>
By Kate O'Hare

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)
As a busy leading lady in both ABC's spy drama "Alias," in which she plays stylish superspy Sydney Bristow, and in such movies as "Pearl Harbor," "Catch Me if You Can," "Daredevil," "13 Going on 30" and "Elektra," Jennifer Garner may be one of the hardest-working women in show business.

In between kicking butt and learning lines, though, Garner found time to expand her resume to include directing, in the Wednesday, May 11, episode of "Alias," called "In Dreams ... ."

"It was quite a surprise," Garner says, calling in between shots on the "Alias" set. "I never had aspirations. I always made fun of people who said, 'What I really want to do is direct,' or actors who said they were dying to direct their shows. I didn't feel that way even the littlest bit.

"Then we lost a couple of directors to pilots, and the crew had started needling me about trying it this year. Suddenly I realized, I directed the 85th episode, so I had 84 of these, almost every single day, under my belt. I thought, 'Why couldn't I do this? I know more about this show than a lot of people, so why not?'

"I knew the crew would take care of me. There are a few people who can make a director, and we have excellent people in all of those jobs -- the first assistant director, the director of photography and the script supervisor. I thought, 'What the hell?' So I gave it a try, and it was so fun."

"In Dreams ..." features Joel Grey in his recurring role as the mystery man impersonating Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), who has alternately been Sydney's boss and nemesis; he's both right now.

Just like Sloane, Grey's character is a heat-seeking missile for all things Rambaldi, a Renaissance prophet and inventor who's a combination of Leonardo da Vinci and Nostradamus.

Also on hand is Amy Irving, reprising her role as Sloane's late wife, Emily -- and no, we don't know whether this is a flashback, a dream or some mysterious resurrection, so don't ask.

Garner says that fortunately Rifkin did a lot of the emotional heavy lifting in the episode, whose Los Angeles-area locations included the Huntington Gardens in San Marino and the historic Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.

"I did have incredible actors," Garner says. "What it gave me was such an appreciation for how good the actors on the show are. Because when I'm in a scene with them, you're in it, you don't think about it. But getting to sit back and watch them do their thing, they're just so money.

"The thing is, if you have an actress like Amy Irving, you could print the first take and never go again, and you would look great. You'd look like a total stud."

For his part, Rifkin gives the props right back to the director. "First day of rehearsal, I was struck by two things: She was very nervous, and oddly she was very confident, so that her nervous energy was just delicious," he says. "She was just adorable. She was our Jennifer -- you can tell, we're all very close -- so it was the person we know with this nervous energy.

"On the other hand, she was totally prepared, but beyond prepared. She had spent a lot of time on it. She knew exactly what her setups were going to be, which manifested itself in a strange ease and confidence at the same time, which was interesting to me. I didn't think that she would have that confidence that quickly."

If Garner was prepared, it was done in time snatched in bits and pieces. "I prepped on a couple of weekends," she says, "then I prepped every night before we shot the next day. It's the way I learn lines on 'Alias.' I can't look any farther than the day ahead, unless it's a foreign language or something. It's too intimidating. I always just focus on what's in front of me, and I had to treat directing the same way."

Garner says she read the script many times, made copious notes, consulted with first assistant director Richard Coad and drew diagrams of her shots. Often this was done during the workday or after work -- and her workdays are at least 10 if not 14 hours long already.

"That's the way I conduct anything on 'Alias,'" Garner says. "I'll have a wig on and fake blood running down my face, and I'll run into the writers' room and say, 'OK, this needs to be more emotional. Can this line be different?' They'll say, 'OK, we gotcha.' And I'll run back out.

"People would come to my trailer and prep. We'd talk about props over lunch, during a 15-minute break, talk wardrobe during lunch, because I was really heavy in the episode where I was prepping."

Told that many actor-directors go light in the episode being shot while they're preparing to direct, Garner says, "Yeah, but that's not really a big possibility around here. Besides that, if I took an episode off, I'd want to go to Hawaii." But even all her preparation didn't prevent Garner from making some rookie mistakes.

"I do like a strong 'Action' and a firm and happy 'Cut,' " she says, "so I did try to do that. But of course, on the first day and a couple of times when I actually got to be behind the monitor instead of in the scene, I forgot to say it. I had to write 'Action' on a piece of tape on the monitor to remind myself."

Rifkin also gives Garner credit for teaching an old actor-dog new tricks. "You can be doing something one way, and she'll say, 'That's really great, can you just try it this way now?' She'll whisper something to you, in the kindest, most positive way, and it changed everything.

"She came back laughing and said, 'Oh, my God, oh, my God, look what happened.' She was like an excited child."

Great ... can't wait to see it :woot:
 
Alias_Gay said:
Great ... can't wait to see it :woot:
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Yeah I know. Sometimes I just wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch the whole thing happen. Not wierd like a stalker *lol*... just interested watching.
 
With the experience JG has gotten from being involved with so many different talented people, I doubt we'll see very much in the way of a visual difference with this episode compared to most. I also think with post-production she'll probably get a fair amount of help.
 
And what a marvelous job she did. She always talked about in the commentaries about how she loves when the cameras circle around everyone involved in the scene, and she did that with her and jack...I noticed that.
 
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