Amy Smart Looks For the Latest Trends
Amy Smart Looks For the Latest Trends
Taking in the sights of the 2008 Mercedes Benz fashion week in Culver City, Amy Smart hopped from show to show in search of the best new looks.
Held at the Smashbox Studios, the Varsity Blues babe was spotted at both the Jenny Han Fall 2008 show, as well as the Green Initiative Humanitarian Fall 2008 show.
As far as her career’s concerned, Amy is ready for a big year with four new movies on tap.
First up is Mirrors, which co-stars 24 star Keifer Sutherland. Also on the way are Love N’ Dancing, Seventh Moon and Life In Flight, which made the cut in a trimmed down field of Tribeca Film Festival entries.
Jack Bauer heads to Africa
To tie us over until 24’s seventh season premieres in January 2009 (it’s closer than we think), Fox is appeasing us with The Rookie, five-minute webisodes following the adventures of American Counter Terrorism agent Jason Blaine, played by Jeremy Valdez. Check out Keith’s post about The Rookie here.
It all ties in with the TV series. Blaine was first seen in 24’s fifth season aboard a Russian sub. “If Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne had a love child, it would be Jason Blaine,” says co-writer Kevin Townsend in an Associated Press story. “He’s a younger, more ambitious, less experienced — but no less talented — version of those two characters.”
Ok, that’s kind of a creepy way to put it, but we get it. Now in its third phase, titled Day 3 - Extraction, the web series finds Blaine sent to Mexico City to rescue his mentor, Alton Maxwell (Eric Beck), who’s been kidnapped by drug czar, Estaban Salazar. Remember him? The Salazar brothers were introduced to us in 24’s third season.
The webisodes can be seen at http://www.DegreeRookie.com, or on-demand through Comcast and DirecTV. Yes, the webisodes feature embedded advertising for Degree Men deodorant. The idea is to make marketing look like entertainment, but they’re not fooling us. It’s advertising. Ok, with some entertainment thrown in to keep us coming back. They’ve even included a Degree spokesman — Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals — who appears as an FBI surveillance expert.
The real 24 went into production on April 22 in Los Angeles. Eight episodes of season seven were completed in late 2007 prior to the writer’s strike, including a shoot in Washington, D.C.
Here’s what we know: Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) is being investigated by the Senate for crimes against humanity (Excuse me? Hasn’t he saved the world 153 times?). While in Washington, FBI agent Renee Walker brings him in to deal with a series of possible terrorist attacks instigated by former CTU agent Tony Almeida, previously presumed dead (hmmm). “Jack’s thrust into this mystery of how Tony is still alive, and why is he trying to bring down this country?,” explains 24 executive producer Manny Coto.
A two-hour prequel TV movie is expected to air this fall, which will bring Bauer to Africa and lead him — and us — into season seven. “He’s a soul in turmoil and has been moving from place to place trying to find somewhere he can be at peace,” Coto says. “But he winds up in Africa in the middle of a military coup.”
Meanwhile, Bauer is subpoenaed to appear before the Senate hearing while in Africa, but he’s reluctant to go. “He’s not running away from anything,” Coto says. “It’s because they’ve taken everything from him, but they won’t let them take his freedom.”
It’s amazing to think about where this series started and how it continues with the same intensity year after year (we hope). But are the webisodes and the 2-hour movie enough to keep us hooked? Do you think the series will lose viewers by the time it comes back in January? Will you be watching? And more importantly, do you think Tony Almeida is still alive?
24 prequel TV movie set for fall
Fans of 24 will have to wait until January 2009 for the seventh season to commence, but in a move that’s likely to be met with cheers all around, Fox has announced that the producers of the Keifer Sutherland action drama are creating a 24 two-hour TV movie which will be a prequel to the next new season. The story will cover the two years between the end of season six and the beginning of season seven. The actors are being cast now, presumably the essential members of the team who survived the previous 24-hours of a nuclear disaster, terrorism, lies, betrayals, shootings and tragedies.
What is known about the upcoming full season of 24 is that it will introduce the first female President of the United States. Tony-winning actress Cherry Jones will be playing Madame President. This would suggest that President Wayne Palmer (D.B. Woodside) didn’t survive his injuries from the assassination attempt in season six, although his fate could be a storyline in the prequel TV movie. There’s a lot more than that to be addressed, too, Chloe, Morris, Bil, Audrey, Valencia, California…did I mention Jack Bauer?
Since each season of 24 takes place in real time over a 24-hour period, it’ll be interesting to see if the TV movie veers from the formula and shows the two-year lapse in another way, even if it’s a traditional storytelling style. Whatever the format, it will surely whet our appetites for lucky season seven!
Stop the clock: 24 falls victim to strike
It looks like Jack Bauer has finally met an enemy he can’t kill — the striking Writer’s Guild of America. The seventh season of 24 hasn’t exactly gone smoothly when you add in the California wildfires and Keifer Sutherland’s drinking woes. So it comes as no surprise that 24 won’t be premiering in January.
In a press release dated yesterday, FOX announced that 24 will not return after the New Year. The two-hour two-night premiere starting on Sunday, January 13th will instead be handed off to the Terminator spin-off The Sarah Connor Chronicles. According to the release, “the seventh season of 24 is being postponed to ensure that ’Day 7’ can air uninterrupted, in its entirety.” No new premiere dates were released, but the schedule is subject to change depending on whenever this pesky writer’s strike resolves itself.
I’d like to see 24 return later in the spring, but I don’t see FOX blowing a huge show like this when viewership tends to drop off as the summer months approach. If I had to make a logical guess, I bet that we won’t see it return until next Fall… but I could be way off there. As it is, only about eight episodes of the new season have been finished according to Reuters. Too bad FOX wasted all that money premiering the new season seven trailer last month.