SDCC ’09: Spartacus: Blood and Sand Panel…
Courtesy of Starz (who understands free advertising and lets us embed 🙂
Spartacus: Blood and Sand – San Diego Comic-Con 2009 Panel. The panel was held July 24, 2009. Featuring (L-R) Erin Cummings, Peter Mensah, Steven S. DeKnight, Craig Tomashoff (Managing editor of TV Guide), Rob Tapert and Lucy Lawless. Andy Whitfield extends a video greeting and introduces the world premiere of the trailer.
http://www.starz.com/spartacus
SDCC ’09: Spartacus: Blood and Sand 7/24 Panel featuring Lucy Lawless and Rob Tapert…
Our previous post on the new Spartacus series here
Fans will be able to enter the arena of the eagerly anticipated Starz original series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con July 24 from 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM PT (room 6BCF). Starz is bringing some of the leading creative and on-air talent for fans and critics to meet in person to the leading industry fan event. Set to debut exclusively on Starz in January 2010, the violent and epic gladiator tale will have a graphic novel look and style unlike any other series on TV.
Join Lucy Lawless (“Xena: Warrior Princess,” “Battlestar Galactica”), actor Peter Mensah (300, Avatar), Executive Producers Rob Tapert (Evil Dead 1-2, Drag Me To Hell) and Steven S. DeKnight (“Angel,” “Smallville, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), and actress Erin Cummings (“Dollhouse”). They will discuss the fresh narrative approach to the ancient legend and offer exclusive first look footage at the ground-breaking series. Andy Whitfield, who plays the title character, will deliver a video message and Comic-Con greeting from New Zealand.
Ultimate “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” Fan Packs to first 2,000 Fans at Comic-Con Panel
The first 2,000 fans attending the “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” panel will be treated to complimentary “Ultimate Spartacus: Blood and Sand Fan Packs,” which will include:
- Limited edition copy of “Spartacus: Upon The Sands of Vengeance, ” issue #1 in the “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” comic book mini-series with an exclusive Comic-Con cover
- Autographed 8X10 headshots, featuring 1 of 10 randomly selected autographed photos from a member of the cast of “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”
- “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” trading cards
- “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” USB flash drive featuring cast/unit photos, graphics, poster art, cast and series biographical background information, and more.
- “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” poster with mailing tube
- “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” collectible t-shirt (one of four being created)
About “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”…
Deadwood meets 300 in new Raimi/Lawless venture ‘Spartacus: Blood and Sand’…
Awesome…
Ohhh more Raimi and Lawless too! New Zealand Herald:
Just as the local production on the first season of Legend of the Seeker winds down, another of producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi’s latest New Zealand-based productions is about to start shooting. And this one will involve Lucy Lawless – Tapert’s missus – in a recurring role…
…Tapert says the show is for US cable network Starz Entertainment and will be shot largely using greenscreen in an Auckland studio, using many local actors – at least ones willing to get their gear off. “It’s a reinvention of that story and myth. So the first 13 episodes are like the rise of the gladiator rock star. It’s more in the vein of Deadwood meets 300“…
Lawless… plays Lucretia, who with her husband Batiatus own a gladiator camp called the Ludus. They also own the soldier-turned-slave Spartacus. According to the network, “the couple has fallen on hard times financially and has bought Spartacus hoping his fighting prowess will help them regain their status in the brutal world of gladiatorial contests.”
British actor Andy Whitfield has been cast as Spartacus after what the network describes as “an exhaustive worldwide search.”…
The series begins production April 1 in New Zealand and is slated to premiere on Starz in January 2010. “Xena” producers Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi, along with Joshua Donen, are exec producing the series.
Other cast members include:
- Erin Cummings (“Dollhouse”) as Thracian priestess Sura, Spartacus’ wife;
- Peter Mensah (“300,” “Avatar”) as Doctore, Batiatus’ most loyal and trusted slave;
- Manu Bennett (“30 Days of Night,” “The Condemned”) as Crixus, the top gladiator at Batiatus’ Ludus;
- Antonio Te Maioha (“Xena: Warrior Princess,” “Legend of the Seeker”) as Barca, a big, hulking brute of a man who is Batiatus’ bodyguard and hit man;
- Craig Parker (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “Legend of the Seeker”) as Glaber, a Roman Legate, who blames Spartacus for his failed military campaign;
- Nick E. Tarabay (“Crash,” “The Sopranos”) as Ashur, a former gladiator who is now the Ludus’ resident bookie.
Moderate in the Middle 