Philip and cast going to Comic Con!

Oh I wish I could go!

http://www.swrnn.com/2012/06/30/comic-con-international-announces-star-studded-panels/


Comic-Con International announces star-studded panels
By City News Service, on June 30, 2012, at 12:42 am

Stars and producers from HBO series “True Blood” and “Game of Thrones” were confirmed for panels and autograph sessions and Cinemax series “Strike Back” will premiere its second season at this year’s Comic-Con International, television officials announced Friday.

San Diego Comic-Con International 2011 (File photo: Andrew Foulk/SWRNN)

The “Game of Thrones” panel is set for July 13 and will be moderated for a second year by George R.R. Martin, who wrote the best-selling book series on which the drama is based.

The panel is set to include Executive Producer Carolyn Strauss along with cast members Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke and Lena Headey. Also to attend are Kit Harington, Michelle Fairley and Richard Madden.

Also July 13, season two of”Strike Back” will premiere prior to its debut on Cinemax in August. Stars Philip Winchester, Sullivan Stapleton and new cast member Rhona Mitra will appear on a panel moderated by HitFix TV critic Alan Sepinwall.

The following day, “True Blood” creator and executive producer Alan Ball will appear on a panel along with cast members Kristin Bauer van Straten, Nelsan Ellis, Ryan Kwanten and Joe Manganiello. Christopher Meloni, Stephen Moyer, Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgard, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley and Deborah Ann Woll also will attend, officials said.

A screening of the first two episodes of the new season of “Strike Back” will be held at a nearby theater and the show’s cast will answer fan questions afterwards, officials said.

Comic-Con will run from July 12-15 at the San Diego Convention Center. A preview night is set for July 11.

http://www.craveonline.com/tv/articles/191313-strike-back-season-2-invades-comic-con-international

'Strike Back' Season 2 Invades Comic-Con International

Philip Winchester, Sullivan Stapleton and Rhona Mitra are coming to San Diego with a special screening event.
By Blair Marnell
June 29, 2012

It turns out that San Diego "ain't no place for no hero, go home."

Cinemax has announced that it will be holding the world premiere of "Strike Back" season 2 at this year's San Diego Comic-Con International alongside cast members Philip Winchester, Sullivan Stapleton and Rhona Mitra.

On Friday, July 13 at 8PM in Room 6DE, Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall will moderate the "Strike Back" season 2 panel with Winchester, Stapleton and Mitra. The next day, Cinemax will hold a special screening of the first two episodes of the season at 1PM in the Cinemas Gaslamp Stadium 15; which is only three blocks away from the convention center. All three cast members will also be present for the event and seating will be available on a first come, first served basis.

Cinemax has also released a brief synopsis of the new season of "Strike Back."

The second season begins with Damien Scott (Stapleton) on a standard security mission in Kenya and Section 20 facing new pressures from command. Now out of the unit, Michael Stonebridge (Winchester) is training recruits at a military base, staying close to home and being a dutiful husband. When Scott’s mission takes an unexpected dangerous turn, Section 20 must find an immediate and creative solution.

The team’s risky missions focus on priority targets. They work in complete secrecy, sometimes behind enemy lines. Their efforts are rarely known and sometimes have unfortunate consequences. The operatives are highly skilled and dedicated, often at great personal cost.

And if that's not enough "Strike Back" for you, our friends at Cinemax have passed along a new production video in which Winchester describes Stonebridge's "Batman moment."


The new season of "Strike Back" begins on Friday, August 17, only on Cinemax!

http://www.tvequals.com/2012/07/02/strike-back-season-2-first-look-with-rhona-mitra-philip-winchester-sullivan-stapleton/


More Strike Back News at Comic-con, Philip Winchester, Sullivan Stapleton, Rhona Mitra

Check out a first look of Season 2 of Strike Back which premieres on Friday August 17 at 10:00 – 11:30 p.m. ET/PT) on Cinemax. This season, Rhona Mitra (“Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”) is joining the cast with Stars Philip Winchester (“Crusoe”), Sullivan Stapleton (“Animal Kingdom”).

Good news for any Strike Back fans going to comic-con, Season 2 of the hit action drama series STRIKE BACK will make its world premiere for fans at Comic-Con 2012 prior to the new season’s debut on Cinemax in August. Here is the info for those who will be there:

Panel: Friday, July 13, 8:00-9:00pm
Convention Center Room 6DE
Giving fans a peek into the making of the series, the panel will feature exclusive clips of
the new season that was shot on location in South Africa. Moderated by HitFix TV critic
Alan Sepinwall, the cast will share insights about the series and their characters, and will
take questions from fans. There will also be giveaways of exclusive merchandise.

Screening: Saturday, July 14, 1:00-3:00pm
Reading Cinemas Gaslamp Stadium 15
701 5th Avenue at G Street, San Diego (3 blocks from the Convention Center)
The cast will attend a special screening for fans and answer questions afterwards. The
initial two episodes of the new season will screen for the first time. The screening is
open to attendees

Strike Back Show Synopsis: The second season begins with Scott on a standard security mission in Kenya and Section 20 facing new pressures from command. Now out of the unit, Stonebridge is training recruits at a military base, staying close to home and being a dutiful husband. When Scott’s mission takes an unexpected dangerous turn, Section 20 must find an immediate and creative solution.

The team’s risky missions focus on priority targets. They work in complete secrecy, sometimes behind enemy lines. Their efforts are rarely known and sometimes have unfortunate consequences. The operatives are highly skilled and dedicated, often at great personal cost.

The second season was shot on location in South Africa for storyline locations including Kenya, Somalia, Mozambique, Algeria, Zimbabwe, England and South Africa itself. The production works with a team of consultants who are in the field of counterterrorism and the military, contributing to the realistic tone of the show. In addition, the cast endured nearly a month of military training and tactics to prepare for the shoot.

Here's a live tweeting during the panel which just ended. You have to read from bottom to top:

https://twitter.com/ShowPatrol

10m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

That's a wrap. Come to screening sat at 1 ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

14m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Phil: military put us on a live op and we helped track down drug dealer. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

16m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Sully says he'd be Chewbacca, "to get in touch with my inner plushie." ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

16m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

If rhona dressed up at ‪#sdcc‬ she'd be ewok in bikini "a hot wok." ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

19m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Rhona: you guys laugh when that happens, giggling like 3-year-olds. But You were missing eyelashes. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

19m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Explosion this season gave sully and Phil singed hair, kinda sunburns. Oops. Action ramped up this year. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

22m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Just had to have fun with the nude scenes. "What else can you do?" ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

23m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Sully says he didn't realize he'd have to be naked so much "but it was all right." But naked fighting was "dumb." ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

23m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Bassett says scripts got changed pretty late in game. But it was like life, military people don't know what's going to happen ‪#StrikeBack‬

25m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Phil says after last season he had some violent visions, thanks to craziness of filming. This year was much easier. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

26m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Rhona: charactersmustput personal stuff aside & get on w job. "Like dogs; throw new dog in pit & have to find way to get along" ‪#StrikeBack‬

28m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Phil on Rhona's character: she does a lot of field work with the boys. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

32m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Phil: Scott/Stonebridge trust each other professionally. Get on getting on. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

33m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Sully wants more of Phil's bottom on ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

34m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Phil was happy Sully had all sex scenes, naked fighting scenes in S1. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

36m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Sully on playing American: people freak out when they hear I'm an Aussie. Hard to do there because work wmany Brits. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

37m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

And he does it, and it's hilarious. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

37m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Sully wants Phil to do his Cartman imitation. Says Phil would crack up crew all the time. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

40m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Bassett says Phil good at jumping off stuff & Sully good at driving, so he had sully drive while Phil jumped off. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

41m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Director Michael Bassett here too. "it's like my face show from when I was a kid and now I get to direct it." ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

42m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Phil's good with pistols. Sully's good with rifle. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

42m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Actors do quite a few of their difficult stunts. Recently jumped to rooftop from helicopter, Phil says. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

44m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Funny to hear the bleeps in these clips. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

45m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Phil says military advisers tell them they are sometimes too close t explosions. "u'd be dead." ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

46m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Sully says military stuff fun, hard, fun. Get to play with guns and get paid for it. Rhonda says boys respect military they play ‪#StrikeBack‬

48m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Phil on training: best bit of show. Sully says that's BS. Ask if he can swear, says traing was f'd ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

49m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Rhona: no show like this on tv; no faking this stuff. Not doc, but ad close to real thing as you can get. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

50m ShowPatrol ShowPatrol ‏@ShowPatrol

Rhona: Rachel not stereotypical ballbuster. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

Rhona on Rachel: She's sneaky, not to be trusted. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

When I met Sullivan Stapleton yesterday I said, "Hey buddy." He laughed, but not much. ‪#StrikeBack‬ @Cinemax

I think I'll be able 2 live-tweet this ‪#Strikeback‬ panel at ‪#SDCC‬ in room 6DE with Phil Winchester, Sullivan Stapleton Rhona Mitra @Cinemax

http://www.craveonline.com/tv/articles/192235-comic-con-2012-strike-back-panel-report

Comic-Con 2012: 'Strike Back' Panel Report

Cinemax brings the stars of its explosive action series to Comic-Con ahead of the new season.
By Blair Marnell
July 15, 2012

Although Cinemax isn't known for its original series, "Strike Back" is helping to change that. After a previous incarnation was broadcast on the British network Sky, "Strike Back" came to Cinemax last season and rewrote the rule book for action on TV... mixed in with more than a fair amount of sex scenes. Well... it is on Cinemax, after all.
For the second season on Cinemax (and third overall), Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester made their Comic-Con debuts alongside new cast member, Rhona Mitra, director Michael Bassett as Alan Speinwall of Hitfix moderated the "Strike Back" panel. But first, they ran a clip of the first two minutes of "Strike Back" Cinemax season 2; in which Scott gets under the skin of his new commanding officer, Rachael Dalton (Mitra) before things go horribly wrong during a routine mission.

Early in the panel, Mitra explained that Rachael is not to be trusted and that she has her own agenda. But Mitra added that Rachael will not be a stereotypical ballbreaker and she will be a more hands on leader in the field than her predecessor, the late Colonel Eleanor Grant (Amanda Mealing).

When the season kicks off, Stonebridge will still be out of Section 20 and teaching recruits. Winchester said that Stonebridge is bored and he misses Scott. During a second clip from the season premiere, Stonebridge is visited by an old friend played by Shane Taylor ("Band of Brothers") who pushes Stonebridge to pass a candidate who sounds like he is clearly unfit for duty. In a third clip, Scott volunteers for a suicide mission in response to the events from the opening minutes, as forces within the British government barely hide their attempts to sweep the incident under the rug and shut down Section 20 for good.

Regarding the ongoing bromance between Stonebridge and Scott, the actors stated that their respective characters trust each other professionally even if they sometimes dislike each other. Mitra joked that Stonebridge and Scott are like yin and yang... but the spooning helps.

Another aspect of the show that both actors are still dealing with is their respective accents. Stapleton is an Australian playing an American while Winchester is an American playing a British military man.

Winchester and Stapletonn both undertook extensive training for their roles in "Strike Back," including time spent with real special forces members. Stapleton said that the training was ramped up this year, with live fire exercises and other extreme challenges. Winchester added that the special forces even took the actors along on a live opp. as they targeted and captured a real drug dealer. Winchester made a point of saying that neither he nor Stapleton were carrying weapons or directly in harms way during the operation. He even admitted that he wasn't sure if the opp was real or staged for their benefit. But Winchester did say that he felt a responsibility to those who trained him to portray the reality of their skills... and not stand so close to live bombs this season.

As part of their training, Winchester noted that he has become proficient with a pistol while Stapleton favors a rifle. The African shoots have also allowed the duo to perform several of their own stunts, including fast dropping out of a helicopter onto the roof of a 27 story building. When asked if they were ever in harm's way, the actors related a story about throwing a grenade on a roof when the wind blew it back towards them and singed them. Mitra added that she asked "where are your eye lashes?" afterwards and dryly said that the duo laugh when these things happen to them.

Winchester also acknowledged the dark side of shooting a show like "Strike Back," as he revealed that he suffered violent visions after he returned home and he compared the experience to post traumatic stress disorder. But he found it easier to deal with after the second season.

On "Strike Back," Stapleton frequently had sex scenes with several women last season; which has become a running gag in the show. Winchester related Stapleton's almost comical reaction to his naked fight earlier in the series while Stapleton flat out said that the scene was dumb and added that he felt sorry for the stunt men who probably didn't know he was going to be nude.

Later in the panel, a fan asked if "Strike Back" would revisit John Porter's (Richard Armitage) past despite the character's demise in the previous season. Winchester said that Armitage has gone on to costar in The Hobbit after his time on the Sky incarnation of "Strike Back" and he noted that Porter's past would not be dealt with this season. But Winchester seemed to allow the possibility that it may be revisited in the future.

Near the end of the panel, Mitra shared her observation that the people who trained them... and the people who go off to war have one thing in common: the desire to prove something to themselves or others; which she likened to a strange vulnerability.

The new season of "Strike Back" is heading to Cinemax on Friday, August 17 with two new episodes back-to-back. In the meantime, you can check out our exclusive interviews with Stapleton, Winchester and Mitra from earlier at Comic-Con.

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/comic-con-2012-strike-back-stars-on-sex-violence-and-eric-cartman

Comic-Con 2012: 'Strike Back' stars on sex, violence and... Eric Cartman?

Cinemax action series returns August 17

By Alan Sepinwall Sunday, Jul 15, 2012 8:32 AM

Comic-Con 2012: 'Strike Back' stars on sex, violence and... Eric Cartman?

Philip Winchester and Sullivan Stapleton in "Strike Back."

I initially wasn't going to write up the "Strike Back" panel I moderated at Comic-Con on Friday night, not because it didn't go well, but because it's always difficult to recap a panel where I was on stage and couldn't take notes. I did it with the "Wilfred" panel from the day before, but mainly because there was one quote of David Zuckerman's I wanted to use, and as it happened, the entire panel wound up on YouTube and it became easy to transcribe that section. Though we wound up with a good-sized crowd for "Strike Back," there was nobody recording the whole thing — though everyone whipped out their cameras to record Philip Winchester's Cartman impression (you can hear a better version by clicking the behind-the-scenes video link below) — so I was only working off my memories.

But it was a good panel, and I'm looking forward to the return of the series on August 17 — as I said last year, here was a show that could have just been mindless violence and gratuitous sex scenes and fit the Cinemax brand, and wound up being much better, smarter and cooler than it needed to be — so I wanted to write up a few paraphrased highlights before I headed home.

* We had not only returning stars Winchester and Sullivan Stapleton, and new castmember Rhona Mitra (who does, as I had assumed, look comfortable with a gun in her hand), but director Michael Bassett, who befriended Winchester on the set of "Solomon Kane" and came in to shoot two of the episodes this season. (The new season debuts on Friday, August 17 at 10 p.m. with back-to-back episodes.) Having worked in feature films (he also directed the new "Silent Hill" film, which was also paneled at the Con), Bassett was at first thrown by both the miniscule budget and rapid pace of something like "Strike Back." After a short time, though, he embraced the efficient, controlled nature of it. The actors noted that the South African crew works insane hours, allowing them to make this show on a schedule and budget that would never be possible in America.

*
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All the actors have gone through intense weapons training and even the special forces equivalent of police ridealongs to best understand their characters. They also do many of their own stunts, and after a while figured out their relative strengths and weaknesses. Stapleton noted that he's better at driving, while Winchester is better at jumping off of things, "So the writers realized pretty quickly to put me behind the wheel and have him jump off of things."

* Because they're doing so much of the work themselves, the actors have occasionally felt like they were genuinely in harm's way. In one stunt for this new season, they got a little too close to an explosion, and Winchester recalled they had what looked like mismatched sunburns for days. Mitra remembered getting a look at them afterwards and asking where their eyelashes went. I asked her whether seeing that made her want to ask the writers to have her character spend more time at home base, and she said, "Absolutely not. It just makes me want to be out there even more. You don't join a show like this so you can be chained to the kitchen sink."

* Winchester is perfectly happy to leave the sex scenes to Stapleton, and the Australian-born Stapleton has had to leave whatever modesty he used to have long behind. He recalled last season's naked fight scene, and how the stunt men playing his opponents didn't seem particularly pleased when they got a look at him in the buff, and how it can be physically uncomfortable to be running and kicking and swinging while everything's just hanging out there. But he did it.

* Stapleton and Winchester obviously get along very well, but I asked them at what point they feel their two characters became friends. Winchester suggested that they're not exactly that, but rather that the two have learned to develop a certain professional trust, while also recognizing that they understand what the other is going through emotionally in a way that few others in their lives (including Stonebridge's wife) do.

Speaking of emotions, there was also an excellent discussion of the psychological toll this work takes on the real operatives who do it, and what all three actors have learned from being around the show's consultants, but I'd be doing that a disservice by trying to paraphrase it. Suffice it to say, like the rest of "Strike Back," there's been real thought and care put into how our duo, and now trio, of heroes are feeling and reacting to all the shootouts, explosions, knife fights (naked or clothed), and other assorted mayhem.

As I said, the show will be back on August 17, with the season's first two episodes airing back-to-back that night, and the rest of the season airing over the following eight weeks. While I was looking for that YouTube clip of Winchester as Cartman, I realized that Cinemax posted the first two episodes of last season for any agnostics to sample. Each season works as a quintet of two-part stories, with each pair functioning as its own low-budget action movie while there are story threads tying everything together. Last year, it was the hunt for a terrorist played by Jimi Mistry; this year, it involves a shady businessman played by Tywin Lannister himself, Charles Dance.

http://www.tvequals.com/2012/07/16/comic-con-2012-getting-an-inside-look-at-strike-back/

Comic-Con 2012: Getting an Inside Look at Strike Back

Late on Friday night at Comic Con 2012, I sat in on a panel for the Cinemax action drama Strike Back that stars Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester as Sgt. Damien Scott and Sgt. Michael Stonebridge, respectively, who work for Section 20, a top-secret intelligence agency. And, this year the beautiful actress Rhona Mitra will join the cast as Capt. Rachel Dalton, who is offered the position of head of Section 20 following the death of Colonel Eleanor Grant.

During the panel the audience was treated to sneak peeks at the season premiere, which is set to air on Cinemax on August 17; and while I cannot divulge details without spoiling the storyline, suffice it to say, Strike Back is still in fine form and Scott will be on a one-man mission for which he may not return.

Moderator Alan Sepinwall, the TV critic at Hit Fix, asked Rhona if she could talk about her character Rachel. She simply shared that “there is nothing else (quite) like it”. As the panel went on, it became very obvious that she had a blast working on the show with Philip and Sullivan, reveling in the action and gunplay.

Of course, Philip and Sullivan were asked about the training involved in portraying their characters; and while they played down just how grueling their regimes are, Rhona shared “they don’t mess around” and the guys explained they “worked with former service men” to get it right. But, it would seem in some instance there were some – for lack of a better word – “errors” made in Season 1 (for which fans and those in the military pointed out to them) that they made sure to correct as much as possible this year. That being said both of the guys admitted they do as many of the stunts for which they are permitted; and were almost blown up once during the filming of season two.

All in all, though, it is obvious all three cast members enjoyed their time in South Africa, which is where season two is set, and reveled in all the action, nudity (which seems to be a staple for Sullivan), gun fights and drama.

Make sure to tune in to Cinemax on August 17 for the season two premiere of Strike Back.