The Unit

While covering the American Film Market, Bloody Disgusting discovered the names of the three main cast members for director Oren Peli's Area 51, the filmmaker's follow-up to the indie supernatural thriller viral sensation Paranormal Activity. Peli is not going Hollywood yet, and keeping it low-key, with three virtually unknown actors - Reid Warner, Darrin Bragg and Ben Rovner. Aside from Warner's one-episode small guest spots on The Unit and Eli Stone, the trio have been virtually unseen in both movies and television. It seems to me to be a smart move on many levels. First of all it allows Peli to keep the costs low -- the estimated budget is around $5 million, which will probably go mostly toward effects. Second of all, not using any established or known actors allows Peli to play with the audience's perceptions of real/cinema, as he did with Activity. Peli began shooting Area 51, »
- Peter Sciretta

Read the full article on slashfilm.com

Well, maybe not quite alien, but certainly unknown.
Although his name is associated with the most buzzed about film this fall, Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli isn’t falling into the trappings of Hollywood just yet.
For his next film, Area 51, Peli has cast three unheard of actors. Out of Reid Warner, Darrin Bragg, and Ben Rovner, only Warner has had even minor exposure, and that was in small, one-episode appearances on TV’s The Unit and Eli Stone.
Area 51 will be a film similar to Paranormal Activity, in that it too will be a movie done in the style of “found footage.” Although details are being kept quiet, the movie reportedly will follow three teenagers whose curiosity leads them to the much speculated about Area 51 Air Force base.
As with Paranormal Activity, employing unknown actors will add to the believability of the film consisting of real »
- Carly

Read the full article on atomicpopcorn.net

If you’ve ever watched an episode of The Shield, The Unit, or Lie to Me, you’ve enjoyed the work of Shawn Ryan.  That’s because he created The Shield and The Unit, and he’s currently the showrunner on Lie to Me.  As you can see by his resume, the guy knows how to make shows people like.  So with The Shield getting a new DVD box set that includes all the episodes ever produced, I recently spoke with Ryan about his work on the show.  Of course we also talked about Lie to Me and the pilot script he’s currently writing called Ride Along.  If you were a fan of The Shield, or just curious what’s up with Lie to Me, you’ll really enjoy our conversation.  You can either read or listen to it after the jump:

As always, the transcript of our conversation is below, »
- Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub

Read the full article on collider.com