Excerpt from
ShadowGram Update #114:
--- FINAL CASTING FOR THE NEW DARK SHADOWS
Hawaiian-born actress Kelly Hu has been hired to play Dr. Julia Hoffman in the highly-anticipated WB pilot for a proposed new weekly DS series this fall. Hu is best-known for her roles in the films "X-2: X-Men United" and "The Scorpion King," as well as TV work on "Nash Bridges" and "Martial Law."
Michael D. Roberts is playing Sheriff George Patterson.
Selected credits: FILMS: Rainman, Suckers, Hitman's Run, The Golem, Heartbreaker. TV: Double Trouble, The District, Arliss, Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, Seinfeld.
--- PILOT PRODUCTION NOTES
Filming on the new DS project, which is a co-production between Dan Curtis Productions, John Wells Productions, and Warner Brothers Television, began on April 2 in Los Angeles at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank and will continue until April 23.
The Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills again serves as the exterior of Collinwood, as it did in the 1991 NBC DS. Some Collinwood interiors also have been filmed at the estate. Currently there are no plans to use Greystone as the Old House, inside or out, as in 1991. Another location is being used for the Old House interiors and exteriors. Ports O' Call in San Pedro, as in 1991, is being utilized as the village of Collinsport.
Because the current pilot is for a one-hour time period instead of two hours as in 1991, a couple of regular DS characters, Maggie and Sam Evans, are not included in the pilot as originally scripted. However, they will appear in future episodes should the series go into production.
There is keen interest on the part of the new DS producers to feature performers from the original 1966-71 DS in special roles if the new DS is made into a series. This is a plan that everyone involved with the new production wants to happen. It therefore is not necessary for fans to write to Warner Brothers, John Wells Productions, or Dan Curtis Productions with such a request.
John Karlen recently visited the set. Jonathan Frid was approached to play a cameo role in the pilot of a mysterious old man on the train with Victoria Winters. Jonathan, who is essentially retired in Canada, respectfully declined the offer, however.