Greg Beeman talks Falling Skies premiere and high praise for Connor Jessup

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The amount of work it takes to get from the production to the finished product of a show involves a ton of work and time from a dedicated group of people on and off camera. Greg Beeman talked on his blog a bit about what went into producing the first 2 episodes and the praise he has for Connor Jessup and the hard work he had to pull off in the first 2 episodes.

I’ve never worked on a TV show quite like FALLING SKIES before. We started shooting in mid October of 2011. We finished shooting March 1 of 2012. We’ve been editing and getting the VFX ready and getting the music and sound mix ready since then… And here we are mid-June and we’re finally airing.

Truthfully, it’s a great process, creatively. The shooting phase is as fast and furious and crazy and from-the-hip as any TV show, but there’s actually time to contemplate and get it right in post-production. Nevertheless, if you’re a fan of the show, like me… I bet it’s felt like a LOOOOONG time since Tom Mason walked aboard that spaceship.

Well – now we’re back and I think you’ll agree with me that the episodes are bigger and badder and faster and (hopefully) better than last year. With the strong encouragement of Mr. Spielberg and Michael Wright, president of TNT television, we we all wanted to really step up the level of production and storytelling for the fans this year.

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Connor’s character didn’t have a very central role last season but the new show runner Remi Aubuchon changed all that. Connor has admitted he is not the most athletic person but when Greg Beeman called him, he didn’t shy away from the challenge.

Soon after, Remi and I had a lunch where he briefed me on where the season would be headed. As I left that meeting I grabbed my cell phone and called Connor Jessup in Toronto. “Son,” I said – “I’ve just heard what the plans are for you for this season. And my strong advice is that you get a trainer and start eating your Wheaties! You are in a HUGE storyline is going to revolve around you… You’re a warrior, you’re a skitter killer and you’re a badass!” From what Remi had told me, I knew Connor was going to have to step up big time this year. Not just physically but also in terms of his role on the show. His was going to be a central, pivotal role. To his credit, Connor hired a trainer that day and did start to work out. I think you can tell from his performance in the first two episodes that he came to play. I also took pride in supervising his haircut and wardrobe overhaul. I knew he was going to have to come off as an action hero.

That was just the start. Connor had 2 very large scenes, very difficult shoots to do in the first 2 episodes and they translated on screen as a kid who has super-human abilities due to the harness from the aliens.

I also informed him – “You have skitter blood in you – you don’t feel pain, you don’t feel cold – and that means that when the rest of the cast is huddled up in big thick overcoats, you’re going to have to wear a t-shirt. Connor was up for all of it, and I’m very proud of him.

There are two examples I’d like to mention of what he accomplished on the physical side — The first was the jump from the window early in the first episode. What was written in the first draft was that Ben Mason ran down the interior stairs to kill the skitter. My idea was, if the harness is giving him powers, and since we saw Rick climbing around on the ceiling last year — why not have Ben just leap from the window and kill the skitter. To complicate this idea (I like to complicate things) I wanted him to leap from the window, draw his knife and attack the skitter all in one shot, with no edits to hide anything. This required Connor to do a very difficult action…. He was in a harness and, what is called, a descender rig when he did the jump. That alone takes a lot of balance and concentration to jump from 20 feet down and land gracefully is hard enough. But he then had to draw the knife and advance and make contact with the skitter, while the line that had dropped him was unspooled behind him – and he had to keep his performance going. I really do believe that, sometimes, when you raise the level of difficulty very high for an actor – it allows them to get out of their head and not over think. Anyway, Connor pulled off this moment very well and it was important because it re-sets his character for the audience for the entire season.

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That scene helped tie in the fact with the viewers that Ben was gaining new abilities that were not normal, not something that simply working out would gain you. As Greg mentioned, doing a single shoot where you land from 2 stories up and walk over to a skitter with a knife is no easy task and he pulled it off very well.

The second example is where Ben swims across the river. It’s discussed in the scene that he doesn’t feel cold. Well, when we shot that scene it was November… in Canada! The water was freezing! Connor had a small wetsuit under his wardrobe, but he was in a short-sleeved shirt. I knew I was probably only get one take at it before Connor went into hypothermia. So I set up a number of cameras on the shore to get t all in one. Connor dove in and swam out, and then he swam back to a slightly different part of the shore. I could tell he was barely hanging in as he came out of the water so I shouted out instructions. “Stand tall! Look right! You’re focused! You’re intense. Now walk towards me! Keep walking! Keep your intensity!” I don’t usually shout out instructions in the middle of the take – but I could tell that because of the crazy cold of the water he was barely holding it together. The minute he passed camera, costume people grabbed him and threw blankets around him. He jumped in a hot tub we’d set up on the shore and revived him. I was quite proud of his commitment.

I am no swimmer myself and swimming in general is tiring. But swimming in that cold weather with only a t-shirt is nuts and Connor nearly passed out?!?! Thats dedication. Great job to Connor and everyone involved. To read more about Gregs views on the first 2 episodes visit his blog.

Checkout some Behind The Scenes photos from Greg Beeman.

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