TCA: 'Once Upon A Time' Creators Proud Of Being Part Of 'Lost' Generation

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline's coverage of TCA. If viewers of the ABC fairy tale drama Once Upon a Time note certain unmistakable references to a certain iconic ABC show called Lost while watching the pilot, it won't be much of an accident, critics attending TCA were assured this afternoon during a Once Upon a Time panel. The co-creators and showrunners of the new series, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, were Lost staff writers who grew to become executive producers by that show's final two seasons. And they made no secret of packing the Time kickoff with homages to their former show. "We can't help ourselves," Horowitz admitted. Horowitz and Kitsis, who also wrote the feature Tron: Legacy, also employed their Lost boss Damon Lindelof as an adviser on the pilot. "Damon has been a godfather to us," Kitsis said. "He's one of our closest friends. And when we first kind of sold the show to ABC, and they said, 'Great, do an outline,' we were like, 'What do we do?' We immediately went to Damon's couch and started crying. So, I mean, his name is not on this show, but he's in the DNA of it. But he also really wants it to be our show, so sometimes he helps and sometimes he gives us tough love." In addition to Lost, the Once Upon a Time team also faced the inevitable comparisons to Bill Willinghams Fables comic-book series. Kitsis maintained that, while the two projects play in the same playground, we feel were telling a different story. First off, Willingham is probably more talented than we are," he said. "If we get a 10th of the people who liked that, wed be very happy. Later in the panel, 11-year-old star Jared Gilmore was asked about how familiar he was with the original fairy tales being fractured on Once Upon a Time. "I'm really familiar with fairy tales," the lad said. "When I was a kid ..." That's all Gilmore was able to get out before the room busted up in laughter. Frustrated, he quickly corrected, "No, no, I mean when I was younger I read a lot of them!"

Thesps ape simian actions for pic

NotaryTerry Notary performed three from the apes in "Rise from the Planet from the Apes," which debuts Friday, and it is credited being an actor. But that title does not do justice to his central role in creating all the film's primate figures.He seemed to be the apes' choreographer, movement coach and stunt coordinator -- abilities he's put on a string of high-profile photos including "Transformers: Revenge from the Fallen," "Avatar" and also the approaching "Tintin." He's now focusing on Peter Jackson's "Hobbit" movies.Notary investigated the film by collecting, because he states, "each and every video with apes I possibly could get my on the job,Inch including footage he shot in the zoo. He went within the footage with "Apes" helmer Rupert Wyatt and suggested actions.Aesthetically, the movie's apes are entirely digital masterpieces however their walking, jumping and body gestures derive from the motion-taken perfs of a number of stars that Notary trained, including Andy Serkis (who did an early on turn like a simian in 2005 playing Kong in Jackson's "King Kong").Notary, an old UCLA gymnast and Cirque du Soleil artist, spent about six days training the thesps, educating them within the methods for the 3 kinds of apes that come in the film."Everything boils lower to subtleties," Notary stated. "The large stuff, the advances, that's easy."Hard part: "Being absolutely still but still finding yourself in the smoothness.InchManufacturing on "Apes" was assisted by advances in mo-cap technology. Formerly limited to studio spaces, it now enables outside filming to use it sequences. Stars in grey Velcro suits were endowed with arm extensions (to simulate the apes' lengthy forelimbs), outfitted with battery packs, studded with Brought lights, wired for seem and rigged with cameras on the heads. They "hopped over real cars, got chased and shot at, and dodged explosions," stated Notary.Standing on outdoors sets "assisted the entertainers simply because they were inside a real situation" and may really begin to see the objects these were getting together with.InchCapturing happened in Vancouver in spaces outfitted with lots of cameras that taken everything from the action. Data from individuals cameras in addition to in the gear about the actors' physiques was delivered to New Zealand's Weta Digital, which in turn produced digital, photorealistic apes that come in the film.Additionally to dealing with Weta's vfx team, Notary depended on extensive pre-visualizations -- detailed moving storyboards that previewed entire moments and assisted the director block them out. The pre-vis was matched by Pixel Liberation Front's Duane Floch, who had been introduced in to the process by "Apes" co-producer Kurt Williams. (Williams also offered like a vfx producer, but, like Notary, has only one credit.)A lot more than 500 "Apes" shots were pre-imagined. These situations were vetted by Wyatt, delivered to Weta to assist the studio using its putting in a bid process, and also to editorial to see the cutting the film.Additionally they reduced anxieties among studio executives."We really had something to allow them to take a look at,Inch Floch stated.Reservations & SigningsCinematographer Joaquin Sedillo is reserved on CW's "Gossip Girl" and season 2 of VH1's "Single Ladies."Montana Artists signed d.p.'s John Rigney Hubbard ("Circumstance") and Frank Byers ("Hollywood & Wine") and editor Debra Weinfeld ("Necessary Roughness").Agency reserved professional producer/UPMs Scott Ferguson on Henry Alex Rubin's "Disconnect" and Cherylanne Martin on Robert Zemeckis' "Flight" UPM Warren Carr on Tony Gilroy's "The Bourne Legacy" first AD Chad Rosen Sarah Siegel Magness' "Very Long Time Gone" stunt coordinator Mike Cruz on Jonathan Lucas and Scott Moore's "21 and also overInch and vfx supervisor Mike Braver on ABC's "Pan Am."Montana reserved costume designers Lizz Wolf on Simon West's "The Expendables 2," Alexis Scott on Olatunde Osunsanmi's "Evidence," Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko on FX's "American Horror Story," Sabrina Rosen on NBC's "Community" and Suttirat Larlarb on Danny Boyle's "Trance" d.p.'s Bruce Finn on Disney Channel's "So Random," Robert La Bonge on Lifetime's "Military Spouses," Michael McMurray on CBC movie "Sunshine Sketches of the Little Town," Kaira Hurrying on S.V. Krishna's "Divorce Invitation," George Mooradian with an untitled Take advantage of Schneider work for CBS, Gale Tattersall on Fox's "House," David Robert Johnson on Chris Nelson's "Gay Dude," Marshall Adams on CBS' "CSI: NY" and Attila Szalay on USA pilot "Wild Card.Agency reserved production designers Matthew C. Jacobs on "Military Spouses," Stephen Marsh on CBS movie "Players," Doug Meerdink on Akiva Schaffer's "Neighborhood Watch," Eric Fraser on TNT movie "Innocent" and Tom Hannam on Sky miniseries "Labyrinth" editors Richard Schwadel on Disney Funnel movie "Diminishing Purple," Gary Levy on Showtime's "Nurse Jackie," Paul Trejo on NBC's "Awake," Peter Ellis on NBC's "Community" and Alan Cody on ABC's "The River."Wish to comment or advise a column subject?Email peter.caranicas@variety.com Contact Peter Caranicas at peter.caranicas@variety.com