Straczynski/Wachowski Sense8 on Netflix

[Pliskin]

I don't understand why you all think it was bigotry, since Jamie Clayton explicitly denied his supposed transphobia as internet rumour.

[HexMachina]

Well in other news, Jamie also tweeted that S2 E1 drops at Christmas, the rest come in 2017

[Dr. Pepper]

2 hours ago, Pliskin said:

I don't understand why you all think it was bigotry, since Jamie Clayton explicitly denied his supposed transphobia as internet rumour.

Because she also referenced hate and intolerance in the same post where she said it was a good thing that Ameen was replaced.  Several other posts remark on how happy she is about the replacement and that they (meaning everyone not Aml) didn't do anything.  

[red snow]

2 hours ago, Pliskin said:

I don't understand why you all think it was bigotry, since Jamie Clayton explicitly denied his supposed transphobia as internet rumour.

transphobia isn't the only form of bigotry. Like I said when I posted the news it's currently entirely speculative - it could just as easily have been the actor wanting to work elsewhere. A decade or so ago we'd be assuming the director was racist - interesting how there seems to be a hierachy of bigotry at times.

So far I think this is the most informative info we've had from Jamie Clayton (who seems to be the most active tweeter of the cast - or most active english speaking cast member) “THE WRITING & CHARACTER CAN SHINE AS THEY WERE MEANT TO!” 

That suggests the actor was reluctant for the character to go in certain directions and was limiting the writing team's choices. Now that could be absolutely anything and boil down to an actor passionately sticking to his interpretation of the character - I'm sure method actors can get pretty attached to how they think they'd act and behave. Who's to say who's ultimately right? Well the ones with the financial backing and overall control on a simple level.

But it's true I've yet to see any comments online from first person accounts that the actor has done/said anything offensive.

[red snow]

1 hour ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Well in other news, Jamie also tweeted that S2 E1 drops at Christmas, the rest come in 2017

WHAT? No bingeing? Sacrilege. Is this some weird promo tactic or is that episode movie-like? At least I've got the disapointing news it's not dropping until 2017 which is a huge shame.

[Pliskin]

1 hour ago, Dr. Pepper said:

Because she also referenced hate and intolerance in the same post where she said it was a good thing that Ameen was replaced.  Several other posts remark on how happy she is about the replacement and that they (meaning everyone not Aml) didn't do anything.  

I don't know, I have the feeling her tweets are being greatly misinterpreted. She references hate and intolerance yes, but as examples of something truly horrible (she's saying that the recast is not that horrible, and trying to stay positive).

She spent a lot of tweets trying to deny anything to do with transphobia. She just says that the character can shine and have the storyline meant for him. So IMHO, it's just a creative dispute (the actor refused to play what was meant for him this season).

[Dr. Pepper]

24 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

I don't know, I have the feeling her tweets are being greatly misinterpreted. She references hate and intolerance yes, but as examples of something truly horrible (she's saying that the recast is not that horrible, and trying to stay positive).

She spent a lot of tweets trying to deny anything to do with transphobia. She just says that the character can shine and have the storyline meant for him. So IMHO, it's just a creative dispute (the actor refused to play what was meant for him this season).

Surely you don't think transphobia is the only type of bigotry?  Denying transphobia doesn't mean denying bigotry.  

[karaddin]

The tweets I've seen from her denying that it was transphobia weren't denying that he was transphobia, but rather that she's denying she said that it was.  If there are other tweets I haven't seen where she does, then great! But see: Dr Pepper's comments about there being other possibilities.  Still within the umbrella of bigotry but not transphobia or homophobia, he could simply be a massive misogynist which informed his refusal to take character direction from Lana - combining both speculations. 

Or...maybe he really wanted to go off the show, and she's glad they all managed to sort it out and that's the happiness we see coming through.  I think this one is much less likely, but it's still possible.  I at least am not trying to claim we know anything definitive, I simply think it's clear that she is happy at the news, it doesn't read like she's just trying to spin it.

[SpaceChampion]

Buzzfeed: What to expect from season 2

Lana Wachowski is director all episodes of the second season while sister Lilly takes time off (sounds like to deal with effects of transitioning but I'm just assuming), but will return for any later season.

[red snow]

2 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Buzzfeed: What to expect from season 2

Lana Wachowski is director all episodes of the second season while sister Lilly takes time off (sounds like to deal with effects of transitioning but I'm just assuming), but will return for any later season.

That was an incredibly buzzfeedy article given the amount of positivity vs useful info! Interesting that Lana is directing the whole thing. That's quite a workload given the first season was split between several.

The Capheus thing sounds like damage control still but it's better to rise above than drag everyone through speculative dirt.

The fact things are still going ahead is welcome though

[Dr. Pepper]

That article has made me even more excited for season two and now I wish that I could spend the night rewatching season 1.  

[Arkash]

Wow, wasnt expecting such an interesting read from Buzzfeed ! ^^

[Martini Sigil]

It just struck me as odd that Aml Ameen --if he had issues with the content-- waited until they filmed a couple of episodes before it became a problem.... Didn't he read the script beforehand?....  

[Dr. Pepper]

I doubt any of them received the full script at the start.  It's usually just one episode's script at a time.  Though with the nature of how Sense8 is filmed, it may have been one location's episode script at a time, which confuses things quite a bit.  

[red snow]

12 hours ago, Arkash said:

Wow, wasnt expecting such an interesting read from Buzzfeed ! ^^

You still have to sift through all the empty positivity but there's gold in tham thar hills.

11 hours ago, Dr. Pepper said:

I doubt any of them received the full script at the start.  It's usually just one episode's script at a time.  Though with the nature of how Sense8 is filmed, it may have been one location's episode script at a time, which confuses things quite a bit.  

But if they do film by location then there's a strong chance they get the season's worth of script? They may only get the script for the scene but given how the show is made it seems hard to imagine how the scripts can't all be done from the start.

11 hours ago, Martini Sigil said:

It just struck me as odd that Aml Ameen --if he had issues with the content-- waited until they filmed a couple of episodes before it became a problem.... Didn't he read the script beforehand?....  

I'm guessing he did. But maybe he was on the fence until the scenes were being filmed? Until they shoot the scene they don't know exactly how it will be directed. It may have been that Lana changed the scene so he was more uncomfortable with it or he just became more uncomfortable with it by the time it was being shot. I'm sure it's a really tricky thing when the actor and writer/director have different views on a character.

It's a shame we don't hear much from JMS. I still feel he's a major (if not the major) factor in the show.

[SpaceChampion]

13 hours ago, Dr. Pepper said:

I doubt any of them received the full script at the start.  It's usually just one episode's script at a time.  Though with the nature of how Sense8 is filmed, it may have been one location's episode script at a time, which confuses things quite a bit.  

There's zero chance the actors could do this show like that, either way.  If it's not the entire season's scripts at once, they wouldn't be able to do their jobs, since they do film by location, out of chronology.

[Dr. Pepper]

Well, actors constantly do their jobs without having entire scripts so there wouldn't be anything different here. But I actually suggested something more like one episode at a time per location, meaning they'd have a really good idea of the overall arc at the first location filming. Going through one of the twitter accounts reveals that they definitely didn't read the script all at once but over a period of time well after filming had started for season 2.  Either way, the manner in which it's filmed means the script has to be adaptable.  If Aml's issues with the show was content related, it holds that he maybe didn't know when filming started in December, or that there were script improvements/changes/alterations.  Or he knew all along what might have been expected of him but then decided he didn't want to do this job anymore for any number of vauge' creative differences' reasons.  

[Kalbear]

I thought they mentioned that they do walkthroughs at a central location first before doing any of their on location shooting so that they can iron out some of the kinks earlier.

[Dr. Pepper]

Probably.  I mean, I assumed there was at least some sound stage work at the start.  But they can do that without providing entire scripts and the scripts should still be adaptable.  And in this particular case, if the cast and crew can be believed, they did do it this way this season.  Filming started before the cast had read through the entire season's script.

I think some of us are talking past each other here.  There's an ongoing discussion about Aml Ameen and why he quit.  The "creative differences" is a complete non answer so we're left to just speculate.  Some speculation is that it was a conflict with showrunners, some is that it was a conflict with the content of the script.  I think the overall point all of us are agreeing with is that in either case, the conflict easily could have arose after work and filming started in December, which would account for why some filming took place before he was recast.  

On a different note, I watched a bit of the first episode and then some of the final episode.  One of the things that immediately jumps out is the major improvement in Jamie Clayton's acting ability.  Damn, she was bad at the start, and suffered more due to some early shoddy dialogue.  

[red snow]

Just had a look on the web for news on season 2 and there is nothing good to hear. Lots of rumours about season 2 being canned for a variety of reasons including;

 Bae Doona quitting at the end of the season.

The actor playing a new villain demanding more money.

One of the Wachowskis leaving production - I assume the one undergoing a gender change.

The generally high production costs.

 

I hope we'd at least get this season but it would be a shame if the show fell apart due to internal strife more than poor reception.