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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2006

JIMMY PALMIOTTI TALKS PAINKILLER JANE

The Continuum caught up with Painkiller Jane co-creator Jimmy Palmiotti on Friday morning to discuss the casting of Kristanna Loken and the progress of the Painkiller Jane television series on Sci Fi.

The Continuum: What do you think of the casting of Kristanna Loken? What does she bring to the role?

Palmiotti: I couldn't be more excited about her choosing to play Painkiller Jane. I am personally a big fan of her work and the range of her talent. She is known by most for her role in Terminator 3, but her resume of work is really impressive. This process of trying to find just the right fit to a character I have been living with for years was not an easy one until Lristanna was considered. I kid you not. Dozens of talented actresses tried out for the part, but when Kristanna walked in the room, everyone, including myself, was sold right away.

This role goes way beyond pretty looks, which she has anyway. It's a tough emotional role about a character that must deal with life changing events happening over and over in her life. It's a role of a lifetime, but a demanding one as well. Kristanna, I know, will nail it where others wouldn't.

The Continuum: Why didn't Emmanuelle Vaugier come back?

Palmiotti: There was time between the first two-hour movie and when it was decided to go to series. Emmanuelle had moved on to Two and a Half Men, Saw 2 and so on. I think the world of her, and thought she did a great job, but now she is doing great work elsewhere. It would be fun at some time to get her back as a guest one day. Eric Dane was another actor in the Jane movie and he isn't hurting that much as well with Grey's Anatomy. I am happy for them both.

The Continuum: How involved are you on the series and how does that compare with your involvement in the pilot movie?

Palmiotti: It's a world of a difference this time. In the pilot movie the only involvement I had was visiting the set for a week and doing press for it. Neither Joe or I were part of anything. They bought the property and did what they wanted.

With the Painkiller Jane series, I already have put in a few weeks with the writers and show runner in Los Angeles, I get to see the script outlines and finishes and get to add my two cents. And I will be up in Vancouver for the first weeks of shooting. Sci Fi, Insight Film Studios, Starz Media and Kickstart Comic Arts Studio have been great at getting us involved. I really am working with some wonderfully talented people and learning from them every day. The biggest difference with this production is that it feels like one big family to me and that's a good vibe to have when creating something from the ground up.

Last, I get a shot at writing and directing on this series...really, how much more can I be involved at this point? I couldn't be happier.

The Continuum: The series will be more like the comics than the pilot was, right? How so?

Palmiotti: The series will be more like the comic because the guys that created the character are involved and to tell the truth, we never saw Jane as a military story like the pilot. At the end of the day, it had a familiar feel and was following trends, when the character of jane was created to go against them. The series is a totally cool sci-fied version of the comic with elements added that I was involved with when written so it totally works for me and I am really happy about them. There is something here for the die hard jane reader and when anyone that has not seen the comic watches the show they are going to get pulled right in with the limitless possibilities the story holds .

The Continuum: Talk about some of the people involved with the show?

Palmiotti: Well, I worked with the writers for a few weeks in Los Angeles with show runner Gil Grant and his crew of writers that they hand-picked. The resumes are impressiveŠand I would need a whole day to go into each of them, which I will do in the future.

On a day-to-day basis I deal with mostly with my personal buddies Jason Netter at Kickstart and Ken Levin. A production like this involves hundreds of people that each have a certain job to do. Again, I can talk better about all of them in the future.

The Continuum: Will you be on set much?

Palmiotti: Depends on how much they want me to tell the truth. I will be there at least for the first episode, and the others I am involved with. Its in their hands how much they need me. dream scenario is I am up there as much as possible. I really feel I have a lot to bring to the table and hope they will see that as well.

The Continuum: What's happening with the current Painkiller Jane comics?

Palmiotti: We just had the first mini series hit, the trade book is out next month and we are starting a new series for March that will be monthly. We have had a great response to the first mini, so I am really looking forward to diving right in and getting to work on this new storyline with Joe (Quesada).




E-mail the Continuum at RobAlls@aol.com



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