Looking Back (to the Future) - A Mockumentary (Read 4,085 times)

[André DiMera]

ANDRÉ DIMERA (Writer): Hello. I'm André DiMera from MyHourglass. About a year ago, I put out a Mockumentary called "A Look Back" that Mockumentary covered from "Dinner With the Family" to "Jan's choice". Since then, I have written more stories, and have even more planned. But before I put out the stories I have planned, I would like to take you on a behind-the-scenes look at my previous stories. This Mockumentary will cover from "One More Last Blast" to "The Dark Rider". The mockumenatry will begin on Monday. I hope that you will enjoy "Looking Back (to the future)".

To read the first mockumenatry, "A look Back", and to see the basic formula for how this mockumentary will be set up, go here: myhourglass.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=generalauthors&action=display&thread=2075&page=1

[Kpatch]

I always enjoy your behind the scenes features. Looking forward to it!

[gapeach]

Can't wait!

[fluffysmom]

Looking forward to a fun read.

[André DiMera]

One More Last Blast

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SOUNDTRACK:
"Ill Be" by Edwin McCain
"You and Me" by Lifehouse
"More Than a Woman" by the Bee Gees
"Goodbye" by the Spice Girls
"Graduation (Friends Forever)" by Vitamin C
"How Deep is Your Love" by the Bee Gees

INTRODUCTION
ANDRE DIMERA (Writer): I had gone on, I think it was a 2-week hiatus while I was doing other things. And, when I came back, I decided that it was time to finally wrap-up my Jan Spears saga. So, this is the beginning of the 2-part ending story for Jan. It was also my first full experience with the Last Blast Teens. I'd written for most of them before, but this was the first time that they were all together in one place.

RETURNING CHARACTERS
ANDRE DIMERA: Obviously, the biggest returning character was Jan, who had come out of her coma. Also returning were Shawn-D, Belle, Philip, Chloe, Jason, Cynthia, Kevin, Mr. Woods, and I think I had Susan Adamson appear in at least one scene. I also brought back J.T. as an adult.
HEATHER LAUREN OLSON (Jan Spears): I had been playing Jan for André (DiMera, of MyHourglass) for a while now. And, it is lots of fun to play her. Plus, the storyline with her now out of a coma and in rehab was really interesting.
DAVID ASKEW (Mr. Woods): I hadn't been on Days since...man, I think it was 2007, I want to say. But, it was really cool to come back. Especially since I got to play with the same group of actors I'd acted with back in the early 2000s.

STORYLINE
ANDRE DIMERA: So, the high school reunion for the Last Blast teens is coming up. Philip brings Melanie, Shawn-D and Belle come back to town. Chloe returns and brings Brady. Even Jan is allowed out of rehab for one night, on the condition that one of the doctors, Tobias Jameson, goes with them. Now, the major storyline is, of course, the Last Blast and the reunion of these teens. As much as I liked the reunion in 2007, I feel that they went wrong calling it a 10 year reunion. It wasn't a 10 year reunion. It was a 5 year reunion. So, this time, I did a true 10 year reunion.
HEATHER LAUREN OLSON: A big part of the story is Jan trying to apologize for everything that she has done. She seeks out forgiveness. In some cases, she recieves it, and in some she doesn't.
KIRSTEN STORMS (Belle Brady): I would say that Belle is the most vague on whether or not she forgives Jan. There's still a lot of bitterness there. And the way she reacts with "thanks for the apology", that doesn't necessarily mean she forgives her, it's just nice to hear her apologize. Or, that's the way that I took it.
JAMES MASLOW (TOBIAS JAMESON/J.T. REIBER): My character was originally credited as Tobias. But, I soon found out that I was playing a totally different character, one named J.T. who had been around years ago. I'm gonna be honest, I haven't watched much Days, so I didn't know who J.T. was. But, I was able to find some clips of him as a little kid on YouTube.

CLIFFHANGER
ANDRE DIMERA: By the end of the story, Jan has left rehab and has figured out that Dr. Paris is actually Dr. William Bell, the man who visited her in a dream while she was in a coma. Also, Cynthia claims that Philip is the mother of her child.
VERONICA LAUREN (Cynthia Austin): It was really cool to come back. I think I'd been back once in 2007 since leaving the first time. But, I loved being back. And, I did all of my scenes with Jay K. (Johnson) and he is just amazing! I love him! Although, not in the same way as my character, Cynthia does. He's more like a brother to me. My storyline wouldn't be wrapped up for 2 more stories, though.
HEATHER LAUREN OLSON: Jan's finally decided that the rehab center has done all that they can do for her, and she wants to venture out on her own. How will that turn out? Well, we find out in the next story. And, things might get a big ugly.

[fluffysmom]

I enjoy the actor commentary of their characters and stories.

[André DiMera]

The Girl Who Stood by the Sea

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SOUNDTRACK:
"I Am the Sea" by the Who
"Doomsday" by Murray Gold and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales

INTROUDCTION
ANDRE DIMERA (Writer): I felt that it was finally time to wrap up this story. I had had a lot of fun with Jan Spears, but I had some other projects that I wanted to focus on. So, this story is the last in which Jan appears.

RETURNING CHARACTERS
ANDRE DIMERA: All of the characters from Days that appear in this story had appeared in my last story, except for one: Paul Mendez. I wrote in that Paul had never actually died and that he came back to terrorize Jan once again.
EDDIE VELEZ (Paul Mendez): It was great to be back on Days. I have always had mixed feelings about my character. I hate him as a person, but I love to play him. And I don't quite know why that is. Either way, I loved being back and working with Heather (Olson) again.

STORYLINE
ANDRE DIMERA: Continuing from where we left off last time, Jan ventures out on her own and finds that life out in the world isn't that nice.
HEATHER LAUREN OLSON (Jan Spears): She travels from place to place and just gets more depressed everywhere she goes. She goes to New York, but gets tortured by Mendez. She tries going to Chicago, but is instantly shut out by Philip. She even tries going to Wales, where Shawn-D tries to help her, but she refuses his help.
JASON COOK (Shawn-Douglas Brady): Although there's still a lot of bitterness there over what Jan did to him, I think Shawn-D does actually care about Jan to a certain degree. And, he sees that she's in trouble and wants to help her. But, in the end, she won't let him because she's afraid of taking advantage of him again.
HEATHER LAUREN OLSON: Jan wanted Shawn-D's help. That's why she went to Wales in the first place. But, once she saw what life was like there for Shawn-D, how perfect everything was, she didn't want his help because she felt that she might get in the way of his happy life.
ANDRE DIMERA: Going to Wales has always been a dream of mine, so that's why I wrote that part of the story in. Sadly, we only had time for a few days, but they were amazing. The people of Tywyn, Wales as well as the people of the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society (we did all of our filming in the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, Wales) are amazing and helped in any way that they could.
JASON COOK: I remember that on our last day, after we wrapped up filming, the three of us, me, Heather (Olson) and André (DiMera, of MyHourglass) each got a footplate ride on one of the engines.
HEATHER LAUREN OLSON: I loved shooting in Wales! It is gorgeou! I wish we could go back again! Maybe one day.
ANDRE DIMERA: In the end, Jan gets a second chance at happiness when she ends up being sent to an alternate universe. This bit ended up being a bit of a crossover between Days and Fringe. Because we had not only William Bell, who incidently had been in the last several stories, but we also had the alternate version of a character named Olivia from Fringe.
HEATHER LAUREN OLSON: I'm glad that Jan finally got a happy ending.
JASON COOK: I ended up playing two characters: Shawn-D and Alternate Shawn-D. And the alternate version of my character actually is in love with Jan and the have a daughter together. So, Jan finally got the happy ending she's beeing hoping for for so long.
ANDRE DIMERA: I actually mapped out where the differences in this universe lie. I'll have to dig that sheet out later today and show it to you. So, watch out for that later in the day. There is also one more story set in this canon, but after that, a whole new canon begins. One that I have been looking forward to discussing for a long time.

[slyn11]

I loved alternate universe Jan and Shawn.

[sportsgirl]

Sept 25, 2012 11:33:17 GMT -5 slyn11 said:

I loved alternate universe Jan and Shawn.

So did I... also glad Fringe comes back this Friday!!!

[Kpatch]

Great interviews with Heather and Jason!

[fluffysmom]

I liked hearing about Wales.

[André DiMera]

The Parallel Universe

ANDRE DIMERA (Writer): As I said earlier, the parallel universe is very similar to ours, but slightly different. Here's a list of some of the events that happened differently in the alternate world than they did in ours:

• In high school, Belle and Shawn-D dated, but after the incident in Puerto Rico, they broke up.
  
• Shawn-D never came clean about the baby not really being his.
  
• Philip and Belle got married, as did Shawn-D and Jan.
  
• Belle gave birth to Philip's child, Claire Kiriakis.
  
• Jan gave birth to Shawn-D's child, Shauna Brady
  
• About a year prior to the final two chapters of "The Girl Who Stood by the Sea", Jan died in a horrific car crash.
  

Look forward to more of "Looking Back (to the Future)" tomorrow!

[fluffysmom]

Thanks for the reminders from the alternate world.

[André DiMera]

A Days of Our Lives Christmas Carol

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SOUNDTRACK:
"Good King Wenceslas" by Mannheim Steamroller
"Stille Nacht" by Mannheim Steamroller

INTRODUCTION
ANDRE DIMERA (Writer): I had wanted to do a Christmas story for a while. And, I had done one on a different forum. So, I did quite a bit of tqueaking to the original story, and this is what I came up with. A Days version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

RETURNING CHARACTERS
ANDRE DIMERA: The original draft of the script was written, I think, in 2010. Therefore, all of the characters that we see in A Christmas Carol were onscreen at the time of writing. The only two who weren't were Sonny (who wouldn't be onscreen until 2011) and Victor's brother, Alexander (who had never actually been shown onscreen, except for maybe a brief flashback). So, I brought in UK actor Brian Blessed to play Alexander. Mostly because I wanted somebody who could be loud and slightly over-the-top.
BRIAN BLESSED (Alexander Kiriakis): I have certainly heard of Days and it wa an honor to be able to join in on the Christmas Carol story. Of course, the story was changed slightly so, rather than Victor's business partner, it was Victor's older brother who appeared to him. And, of course, John Aniston is a wonderful man to work with.

STORYLINE
ANDRE DIMERA: Victor is being unecessarily cranky, moreso than usual.
JOHN ANISTON (Victor Kiriakis): He's a swine. He really is. Don't get me wrong, I love playing Victor. Especially when he has something nasty to say, because I'd like to think that he's just the exact opposite of me. But, in this story, he really takes it to the next level and is just a complete swine.
ANDRE DIMERA: Then, one night, everything changes as Victor comes face-to-face with the ghost of his brother, Alexander.
JOHN ANISTON: When Victor sees Alex the first time, he think he's going crazy.
ANDRE DIMERA: Alexander warns him that three spirits will be visiting him. The first spirit is the wacky Vivian Alamain.
LOUISE SOREL (Vivian Alamain/Ghost of Christmas Past): Vivian's role in this was interesting in that she is someone important to his life in the past, but he doesn't see it that way. He has no kind feelings for her. Yet, I think that Vivian being the first spirit is part of what starts to affect him. It kind of bothers him that, of all the people it could have chosen, the spirit chose the form of Vivian.
ANDRE DIMERA: The first spirit shows him his past. And, after seeing enough, it disappears and is replaced by the second one, which takes the form of Victor's own son, Philip.
JAY KENNETH JOHNSON (Philip Kiriakis/Ghost of Christmas Present): I played a dual role in this episode for the very first time. I was Philip but I was also the second spirit, the one who took Philip's form. And, it was very interesting, playing the spirit. This spirit is very cold. It shows Victor the present and what he's like to all those around him. It even turns his words from earlier against him. I still get chills down my spine whenever I watch my final scene as the spirit.
ANDRE DIMERA: Jay (Johnson) did a wonderful job as the spirit. He really got into character. All four of the actors who played spirits did. They were so into these spirit versions of their characters. But, my personal favorite spirit is yet to come: Sydney.
LIANA LIBERATO (Sydney DiMera/Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come): I was super excited when I found out that they wanted me to play a teenaged version of Sydney as the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come! It was amazing! And, I'm glad that André (DiMera, of MyHourglass) wrote a bit of the backstory to her. You know, what her dad did to her as a kid would leave some psychological scars, and even though they were downplayed, I liked seeing them. Plus, I think I was eating in almost every scene that I shot. But, it was cool. I really enjoyed myself.
ANDRE DIMERA: At the end, the spirits have had their affect, and Victor becomes a nice person.
JOHN ANISTON: He's still Victor. So, he's still going to have those "zingers", but he's a slightly kinder Victor than he was at the beginning. Which I thought was very good character development.
ANDRE DIMERA: So, that's my first (and so far only) Christmas story. Will this spawn another Christmas story for this year? You'll just have to wait and see.

[fluffysmom]

The Christmas Carol story was really good. Glad to hear the actors take on it.