The SG-1 veteran is branching out into theatres beginning tomorrow, with a role in the Warner Brothers film Red Riding Hood, a re-imagined take on the classic children’s story.
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Lords of Dogtown, Twilight), the film also stars several A-list actors including Amanda Seyfried (Dear John, Mamma Mia!) and Gary Oldman (The Fifth Element, and both the Harry Potter and the rebooted Batman franchises).
Shanks took the time to talk exclusively to GateWorld, and while he jokingly stated he was under a “gag order” about specifics on the film, he did throw out a few tidbits here and there — while also making it clear that he enjoyed the filming immensely.
“I had a blast on the film!” Shanks said. “It’s got some great people in it. Gary, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie, Max Irons, Michael Hogan. I could just go on and on! But it’s a great cast and a great director, and it was a lot of fun to shoot.”
“It was produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s company, Appian Way,” Shanks continued. “We filmed it in Vancouver. And my character’s name is Adrien Lazar, who is the town blacksmith. He’s also the father of Max Irons’ character, ‘Henry,’ who will factor into a love triangle between Amanda Seyfried’s character and a character named Peter who’s played by Shiloh Fernandez. There’s a lot of history between the characters.”
Shanks also made a point to credit Hardwicke — who is obviously no stranger to films that feature both love triangles and a wolf — about her contributions to the film.
“One of the great things about working on this film was Catherine,” Shanks said. “She just has this way — as the best directors do — of turning a set into this great ensemble atmosphere.”
With a modest budget, the film could become a hit fairly easily if it is able to capture the young adult and teen demographic it is obviously shooting for. However, it faces some steep competition at theaters this weekend as adult genre fans can also choose the alien-invasion film Battle: Los Angeles. Walt Disney Pictures is counter-programming with a family-friendly CGI genre film of their own, Mars Needs Moms.
Red Riding Hood opens in the United States and Canada tomorrow, and will premiere in most European countries in April.
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Had no idea he was in that! I might actually go see it...quite like Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried too.
I hate the whole A-list, B-list thing. Honestly, there are a lot of television actors I feel can put off far better performances than major movie actors.
Wait. Shanks is in Riding Hood?!
Surprise!
Early reviews says not only is Red Riding Hood godawful, but it makes twilight look like CASABLANCA. Sweet Merciful Lord; if Red Riding Hood makes that awful mess Twilight look like CASABLANCA, then it's truly worthy of the Dragon Wars and in the name of the king award; for a movies so bad, it makes the viewer violently ill (LIKE HOW DRAGON WARS and IN THE NAME OF THE KING made me ill)
Im glad to see shanks is getting work, hes a talented actor. Im suprised i dont see him in more movies. The grand canyon movie was the last thing i saw him in and that movie was horrible. No more chessy syfy movies, time to move on to better gigs cuz
why do TV actors have a hard time getting movie roles? Its like they are separate worlds.
Congratulations to Michael on his red carpet appearance at the LA premiere of RRH...and it was nice to see that the proud father took his eldest daughter Tatiana with him to it...
Deeds
I was partially interested in the movie before learning of Shanks' involvement. Now i'm definitely gonna find time to go see it. Hope he's got a decent sized role in it.
"Early reviews says not only is Red Riding Hood godawful, but it makes twilight look like CASABLANCA."
It wasn't the best movie ever, but it was nowhere near as bad as Twilight. The first two movies of that franchise were just poorly made films- this isn't fantastic, but it's not as bad as they were either (though Eclipse, which was much better than its predecessors, may give it a run for its money).
This is definitely one of those movies where your expectations are a big factor. If you're looking for something Oscar-worthy, and I don't know why anyone would be going to this movie expecting that, then yeah, you'll be disappointed. If you go thinking that this is a mediocre-to-decent teen film which will be just fun to watch, then you'll probably enjoy it.
Bonus points to this film from me for the always enjoyable sport of BC actor spotting, and for some very nice costuming. :)
I saw an advance press screening of "Red Riding Hood," and holy HELL, this is a bad film. Terrible writing, horrific direction, and not even very good acting, despite the list of talent involved. This movie is the next "M. Night's The Last Airbender" or "Twilight," in terms of being a major disappointment. There are plotholes galore, the premise is entirely unconvincing and many of the actors are wrong for their roles. Shanks' involvement is not enough of a reason for me to ever waste my time watching this film again.