Before I get into the final part of my Pass/Fail no-DVD-DVD-commentary I want to draw your attention to our wonderful Heroes graphic novels. Tuesday morning marks the beginning of our 8 part series "From the Files of Primatech" -- a look back at the history of "The Company" and a few of its many cases along the way. Four 2-part comics will be released every other week and journey through the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. New author Howie Kaplan and veteran artist Jason Badower have teamed up for the first two-part issue, "1968"-- If it's already Tuesday morning when you're reading this you can check out part 1 right now!
So here we go with my commentary on the final story of Heroes: "Pass/Fail". Leave your questions in the comments and I'll write a final post answering as many as I can.
GOODBYE MOHINDER • This is a fairly awkward scene (but necessary) scene -- kudos to director Michael Nankin for figuring out difficult blocking in a limited room and making it all visually interesting. Originally, Mohinder was not going to leave, or be making a compass -- and was going to have a small presence in the final few episodes. However, an amazing opportunity came up for the actor so at the last minute we reconstructed the scene so that he leaves. Sendhil Ramamurthy fans should keep an eye out on his imdb page for some upcoming announcements. So while it wasn't ideal for the episode, it was a small price to allow the actor a great opportunity. And since Mohinder's not dead, who knows what Season 5 (fingers crossed) might bring. (PS. I'm not being coy here, I really don't know what season 5 might bring -- we haven't planned it yet).
• I'm sure you know, but the "girl" Mohinder broke a promise to is Mira Shenoy and you can see his first step to making amends in a graphic novel.
HIRO ON TRIAL • Lots of recognizable faces and guest appearances here, including Lynette, a waitress from the Burnt Toast Diner, but what you might not notice is that the jury and the people in the gallery are all extras that we have used from time to time to populate The Burnt Toast Diner in Odessa. Hiro's brain is really doing a number on him here.
HIRO ON A GURNEY • This hallway and the entire "DC Hospital set" was constructed on the back half of the New York Hospital set that we've seen Peter at all year. If you were standing in the hallway facing Hiro and Ando and looked to your right through a glass-room you'd see the NY emergency room entrance. Sets are re-purposed like this on Heroes frequently (since we use so many) and my hats off to our Production Designer Ruth Ammon for always coming up with a plan.
• The man in blue scrubs pushing the gurney is our Medical Technical Adviser who helped us out with all of these hospital scenes and the jargon behind it.
ADAM INTERROGATES YOUNG ANDO • This was shot as one really cool shot with a little trick to it (basically a "cowboy switch") -- We start on a body double of Hiro sitting up on the hospital bed, then while the camera moves with Adam to Young Ando & Kimiko we rolled the bed out and slid in the table with the real Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando, the camera turns around when Young Ando points and finds them sitting there instead of the hospital bed. It looked great but unfortunately the pace was too slow for the urgent feel you want in a courtroom scene so you don't see it as one shot.
In case you're curious the term "cowboy switch" came from Hollywood Westerns when they would switch the main actor and stunt double without a cut. For example, stunt double gets thrown across the room, lands behind the bar (where you can't see him) and the main actor (who was hiding behind the bar) stands up, creating the illusion that it was the main actor who was thrown across the room.
• The reveal of Sylar sitting in the booth is a match to where we saw first saw him in the diner in season one/in the episode "Once Upon a Time in Texas". Nice work by director Michael Nankin and Director of Photography Nate Goodman. Coincidentally, Nate directed "Once Upon a Time in Texas".
INTERROGATING SYLAR • We filmed a transition to this that started in the operating room. The Doctor say "How many people have I killed?" and then pulls down her mask and Sylar is standing there instead and finishes his line "Hundreds I suppose." When we got into the editing room it didn't quite work so we dropped it all together. The other benefit was that it helped get you caught up in the "court room drama" forgetting briefly that Hiro is on the operating table so that it's a little bit of a shock when it comes back two scenes later and they have the defibrillator out.
• One of my favorite little moments in this episode is Adam's reaction when Sylar finally remember "Sprague! Ted Sprague". A great little bit of acting by David Anders.
• When Kaito bangs the sugar and says "One more outburst--" Hiro used to respond with "Or what? You'll find me in contempt of sugar". It was a fun line but the subtitle was simply too long for the amount of time we had for it. Sometimes that happens with subtitles. The benefit of subtitles is that you can edit them after the fact much easier than you can edit dialog.
HALLWAY TO OBLIVION • The Hallway we used is on the Sunset Gower backlot and we've used it a number of times, including last season for the entrance to Building 26 where Matt, Tracy and others were brought in. This time we painted it white and our visual effects team (Stargate Digital) extended the large doors so that they appeared to stretch on forever.
• One trick we did was to build a set of hospital doors into the hallway so that it appears as though Hiro is walking out of the operating room and into the hallway. So you have two completely different sets, several hundred feet from one another, but the matching doors make you believe they're connected. Just before the doors swing closed behind Hiro you can see a set of stairs on the right-hand side (rather than the operating room).
• We went through a countless number of swords for the sword fight. The actors were really going at it, and it's very easy for those types of swords to chip or break when you're really clashing with them. Props to @JamesProps (pardon the pun) and his team for all their sword-smithing.
• I love James Kyson Lee's reactions here in the operating room. That sort of reaction stuff is really difficult (especially when there's nothing opposite you) but is essential to telling the story. If he believes his friend is fighting for his life, so will the audience. Likewise when he sees Hiro is alive at the end.
• In an early draft of the script, Hiro's mother never appeared. The
big "shift" in the scene was that Hiro decides to plead "guilty". As
soon as he does, he sees the Kensei sword appear -- emphasizing the
point that this is what Hiro needed to do -- as "hero", he needed to
admit his mistakes and take responsibility for them. Only after that
would destiny give him another chance and spare his life. Hiro then
fights Adam and upon winning we cut to him in the hospital room as his
pulse returns.
I really like the addition of Ishi as I think it added a very tender
and emotional moment to the scene. The only downside was that it
confused the issue of how Hiro was cured (or at least brought it more
into focus). I wanted to deliberately leave it open as to how Hiro
survived -- one could believe that it was the doctors who pulled off a
miraculous surgery and the tumor-dream was just a visual representation
of that going on Hiro's mind. Or, one could believe that what was
happening in the dream was more metaphysical and Hiro was really on
trial with "Destiny" and it was Destiny that miraculously spared his
life, in the same way that many other incredible things have happened
to Hiro. Or, you could believe some combination of the two.
In the end though, that debate can still exist with Ishi in the scene
and her line about "some things are more powerful than science, like
destiny" is fairly key. I've seen a lot of debate about this in the
message boards so that's good. It's what I wanted to happen and I guess
I can settle it by saying you're (mostly) all right.
MONTAGE • When Hiro is talking to Ando in the recovery room, the camera actually continues to pan down and under the bed you find the Kensei sword. I thought it was a fun little moment and you could believe that either it came with him from the other side or Ando had it flown over special delivery from Yamagato as a good luck charm -- continuing that real world vs. metaphysical world debate -- but alas, it was cut.
That about wraps it up for Pass/Fail. Leave your questions in the comments section and I'll answer them next week. Until then...
Michael Nankin (Director), George Takei (Kaito Nakamura), Abigail Wong Grigsby (my wife), and myself.
Back in the day while you were writing this episode, you mentioned on twitter that one scene in particular was difficult to resolve/get right. Can you share which scene that was?
Also, thanks so much for the behind-the-scenes posts. Always so cool to get to peek behind the curtains. :)
Could you please clarify what an "amazing opportunity" that came up for Sendhil is? We know that the pilot of "Rex Is Not Your Lawyer" (it can be called an "amazing opportunity") did not work out, so you must mean something completely new? IMDB isn't a really reliable source of information, it would be great to get news about Sedhil's new project directly from you.
Thanks for the report! That's great news about Sendhil's new opportunity, but, much like Averys's comment above, I just want to make absolutely sure this is something different than the "Rex is Not Your Lawyer" pilot, which fell through for Sendhil back in early December. In this article from December, a source connected with Heroes claims Sendhil was written out of the season early because of "Rex" -- a project Sendhil is no longer involved in, having been replaced by a different actor: http://www.screenjunkies.com/tvnews/exclusive-heroes-will-most-likely-get-5th-season If he was written off the show for a project that fell through, that's not great news for Mohinder fans.
There's been a lot of confusion about Sendhil's status on Heroes for the past season -- I'm sure you can't give any specifics, but any help you could provide in setting the record straight as to whether you're talking about "Rex" or a different project would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
Briggs, thanks, but "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" was shot last summer, and according to this article here: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=Entertainment%20-%20Bollywood§id=30&contentid=2009122920091229030922570bd102424 Sendhil left for Mumbai to film "Shor" in January after Heroes had wrapped for the season. I don't think either of those projects are the new "amazing opportunity" Oliver mentions above, as neither project would necessitate being written out of the final episodes. Hopefully, Oliver can clear this situation up.
Well, I do not expect Oliver to clarify anything as that's not how Heroes staff swing when it comes to stuff the show screwed up. I am resigned to waiting till Heroes wraps up and the actors speak up.
And "It's A Wonderful Afterlife" did not conflict with Heroes Season 4's schedule either, from what we know.
Oliver, if you read this, please understand that we didn't come to Heroes looking to be suspicious and frustrated and not trust a word that its creators say.
You all need to rethink the way you handle how you dispense information to your fanbase. You cannot have countless Twitter accounts and blogs and websites, and be proud of it, and yet refuse to actually communicate with the fans. We have been asking about Sendhil and Mohinder since the start of filming, and answers were slow to come, and when they came, they contradicted each other, or didn't seem to make sense with other things we knew.
Unless you are willing to be honest with your fans, you shouldn't offer to answer questions or explain things to fans. General you. Applies to all Heroes writers and producers.
Please take this to heart, if Heroes gets an undeserved fifth season. Talk to us. Don't let us ask the same question for five months before saying anything.
It is obvious you guys don't care about Mohinder, and haven't cared about him since the end of Season 2. It was not just this pst season that he was sidelined. It was the third season, too. Any explanation for that? Why did you even abort the storylines with this character that worked and were popular? Why is there no reference anymore to Chandra Suresh's murder at Sylar's hands? Why did you rewrite Sylar's history to remove all relation to Mohinder? Why do you keep forgetting that Mohinder is a geneticist, not a medical doctor, geography teacher, engineer, that he is not an elementary school teacher but a university professor, etc? It is beyond obvious that you don't care about this character. At least be honest and admit this, instead of asking the character's fans to wait, wait, wait another year and another year and another year until you find it in you to have him appear for three minutes, or have another character say his name, usually angrily. Just let us go.
Oliver, if you read this, please understand that we didn't come to Heroes looking to be suspicious and frustrated and not trust a word that its creators say.
You all need to rethink the way you handle how you dispense information to your fanbase. You cannot have countless Twitter accounts and blogs and websites, and be proud of it, and yet refuse to actually communicate with the fans. We have been asking about Sendhil and Mohinder since the start of filming, and answers were slow to come, and when they came, they contradicted each other, or didn't seem to make sense with other things we knew.
Unless you are willing to be honest with your fans, you shouldn't offer to answer questions or explain things to fans. General you. Applies to all Heroes writers and
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