Elizabeth Mitchell - Carine Strand/Crossing Lines #1: A world without borders needs justice without borders. [Spoilers inside]

Hamburgo1001 · 04-12-2015, 04:03 PM

Carrie Strand / Crossing Lines #1

Crossing Lines returns for an explosive season three, beginning six months after the heart-stopping conclusion of Season Two, in which the cross-border unit’s leader, Louis Daniel, was killed. After one of his top prosecutors vanishes, Dorn must reactivate the ICC team. Marco Corazza, Carine Strand, Luke Wilkinson and Ellie Delfont-Bogard are new ICC team members joining Sebastian Berger and Arabela Seeger. The third season of the series promises to be its most ambitious, with a new emphasis on relevant and contemporary cross-border crime, gut-wrenching character drama, and a reunited team of underdogs struggling to re-establish their battered identity. Crossing Lines taps into the charter of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to mandate a special crime unit, creating an organization functioning as a European FBI, to investigate serialized crimes that cross over European borders and to hunt down criminals to bring them to justice. The series was originally created by Edward Allen Bernero.

Cast:

Donald Sutherland as Michel Dorn
Goran Visnjic as Marco Corazza
Elizabeth Mitchell as Carrie Strand
Stuart Martin as Luke Wilkinson
Naomi Battrick as Ellie Delfont-Bogard
Tom Wlaschiha as Sebastian Berger
Lara Rossi as Arabela Seeger

Supporters:

Hamburgo1001 · 04-12-2015, 04:06 PM

As you can see, I haven't come up with an OP yet, but I figured it's about time to open a thread for this show.

Unfortunately, we still don't have any pictures from the set, but we do have a general outline for the season and a couple of episode titles courtesy of IMDB:

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Crossing Lines returns for an explosive season three, beginning six months after the heart-stopping conclusion of Season Two, in which the cross-border unit’s leader, Louis Daniel, was killed. After one of his top prosecutors vanishes, Dorn (Sutherland) must reactivate the ICC team. Marco Corazza (Visnjic), Carine Strand (Mitchell), Luke Wilkinson (Martin) and Ellie Delfont-Bogard (Battrick) are new ICC team members joining Sebastian Berger (Wlaschiha) and Arabela Seeger (Rossi). The third season of the series promises to be its most ambitious, with a new emphasis on relevant and contemporary cross-border crime, gut-wrenching character drama, and a reunited team of underdogs struggling to re-establish their battered identity. Crossing Lines taps into the charter of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to mandate a special crime unit, creating an organization functioning as a European FBI, to investigate serialized crimes that cross over European borders and to hunt down criminals to bring them to justice. The series was originally created by Edward Allen Bernero.

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3×01 Whistleblower
3×03 Dragon
3×04 In Loco Parentis
3×05 Recoil

Hawthorn · 04-12-2015, 05:46 PM

Thanks for putting up the thread!

I wanted to check out a couple of episodes of the show to have some idea of what to expect, but I haven't got around to do it yet.

Were you surprised that she signed up for a procedural, after saying that it's not that genre? I'm not sure whether to take it as a sign that the script/pitch for S3 was really strong and convinced her, or it's simply a case of wanting to book the gig, regardless of the genre/themes.

Hamburgo1001 · 04-12-2015, 06:18 PM

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Thanks for putting up the thread!

You're welcome.

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Originally Posted by Hawthorn (View Post)

Were you surprised that she signed up for a procedural, after saying that it's not that genre? I'm not sure whether to take it as a sign that the script/pitch for S3 was really strong and convinced her, or it's simply a case of wanting to book the gig, regardless of the genre/themes.

I was very surprised that she signed up for this show, but I didn't even think about the procedural aspect at the time.

I was just shocked that she agreed to do something that isn't a sci-fi or fantasy show.

In all seriousness though, do we know for sure that Crossing Lines is a procedural? Couldn't it be more like Homeland with seasonal arcs that gradually build towards a conclusion?

Hawthorn · 04-13-2015, 09:46 AM

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Originally Posted by Hamburgo1001 (View Post)

I was just shocked that she agreed to do something that isn't a sci-fi or fantasy show.

You're right - that's the biggest plot twist.

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In all seriousness though, do we know for sure that Crossing Lines is a procedural? Couldn't it be more like Homeland with seasonal arcs that gradually build towards a conclusion?

Hmm, good point. From the first descriptions of the show, I assumed it was a procedural format of sorts. But it could just be that the character storylines have a much bigger role than I expected. I would be much more excited about it if your guess was correct.

ETA - I guess this answer my doubts a bit:

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CANNES: The prospect of working with Donald Sutherland was one of the main reasons Elizabeth Mitchell and Goran Visnjic joined the cast of Tandem Productions’ Crossing Lines, the stars told TV Drama at MIPTV today.

STUDIOCANAL is launching the third season of the European crime drama to international buyers at MIPTV this week. For the new season, Tandem enlisted Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) as executive producer. Visnjic, known for his long run on ER, tells World Screen that when Spotnitz and Rola Bauer, CEO and partner of Tandem, spoke to him about the series, they hadn't locked in details about his character. “They gave me broad strokes and said, Now we can talk about it, we can create a character together.”

Mitchell, whose TV career includes memorable roles in Lost and Revolution, says of Spotnitz and Bauer, “They’re incredibly collaborative.... I was worried about being in something that would be thought of as a procedural, because I thought I'd be bored. What they’ve done here is crafted some really interesting characters.”

Visnjic says he has been “immensely enjoying myself with things I’ve never done before. A couple of days ago they blocked the streets of Prague and let me loose with an Alfa Romeo turbo diesel. I was like a kid in a candy store!”

Spotnitz says that for the third season, “We wanted to honor everyone who has loved the show for the past two years, but we also wanted to bring it new life, new characters. It’s more of everything that is great about the show.”

Bringing some freshness to the series was important, Bauer says. “If you have a chance to do a third season and you’re fortunate to get that production greenlight, then you want to give your audience something that they’re familiar with and love, and attract a new audience. You want to keep everyone curious about what the story is going to be and then turn it slightly upside down—but not completely. You want to keep the DNA of the show, but with everything that is out there in terms of TV today, if you’re going to a third season, you need to springboard into something more ambitious and different.”

source

***Sulieter*** · 04-13-2015, 10:56 AM

Thanks for the thread. The show looks interesting.

Hawthorn · 04-14-2015, 02:54 PM

Surprise! They have already released a promo for Season 3

:

And a poster - if you want to add it to the OP, Alex.

Hamburgo1001 · 04-14-2015, 03:25 PM

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Originally Posted by Hawthorn (View Post)

Surprise! They have already released a promo for Season 3

:

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And a poster - if you want to add it to the OP, Alex.

Oh, thanks for the promo and the poster Fran.

I am going to add both to the OP as soon as I get the poster to load (for some reason, I can't seem to open it right now).

The promo looked quite good, IMO. Even if there end up being some procedural elements to this show, I would expect them to tie into the overarching storyarc of the season (the mystery of the kidnapping). And on a shallow note, Liz looks lovely and Goran is still a mighty fine specimen.

Hawthorn · 04-14-2015, 05:44 PM

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Originally Posted by Hamburgo1001 (View Post)

Oh, thanks for the promo and the poster Fran. I am going to add both to the OP as soon as I get the poster to load (for some reason, I can't seem to open it right now).

Thanks in advance for that.

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The promo looked quite good, IMO. Even if there end up being some procedural elements to this show, I would expect them to tie into the overarching storyarc of the season (the mystery of the kidnapping). And on a shallow note, Liz looks lovely and Goran is still a mighty fine specimen.

I hope you're right. The promo was fine but it looked pretty generic to me.
It reminded me a bit of Spooks - I caught two later seasons of that British series out of curiosity over Richard Armitage joining the series, and while it wasn't as character-centric as I had been hoping, it did have several great moments that made it worth watching.

I have to agree with you about how good Elizabeth and Goran looked in the clip.

I got some Erica Evans vibe from Liz - I think it's the hair.

***Sulieter*** · 04-14-2015, 10:22 PM

Thanks for the video and poster. They look great.

Hawthorn · 04-18-2015, 04:08 AM

It looks like it was the character material that made Liz confident about this project - that seems like a good sign.

***Sulieter*** · 04-18-2015, 06:09 AM

It is a good sign.

Hamburgo1001 · 04-21-2015, 02:52 PM

I have updated the OP.

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Originally Posted by Hawthorn (View Post)

I hope you're right. The promo was fine but it looked pretty generic to me.
It reminded me a bit of Spooks - I caught two later seasons of that British series out of curiosity over Richard Armitage joining the series, and while it wasn't as character-centric as I had been hoping, it did have several great moments that made it worth watching.

I get your reservations, Fran. Most likely, the show is probably not going to be much different from many of the other FBI/CIA-type shows currently on air. I think I am just trying to be a little bit more open-minded about it because to me, it's almost like a breath of fresh air after Liz has appeared on 3 middling genre shows in a row. I really think I would have been happy with anything non-genre-y after OUAT.

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I have to agree with you about how good Elizabeth and Goran looked in the clip.

I got some Erica Evans vibe from Liz - I think it's the hair.

Yeah, there's definitely some similarity there.

Hamburgo1001 · 04-30-2015, 04:41 PM

Elizabeth, Goran and some of the Crossing Lines' producers were in attendance for the MIPTV (Marché International des Programmes de Télévision) in Cannes. Here's a brief article:

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Tandem shows off new recruits to pan-European crime thriller

Studiocanal – backed producer Tandem Communications in Cannes with series three of Crossing Lines, a fast-paced thriller based around a fictional European police unit tackling cross-border crime. The new series is penned by Frank Spotnitz and features two new cast members: Goran Visnjic (ER) and Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost).

Visnjic told MIPTV News: “It was really appealing for to work with Frank and (Tandem president) Rola Bauer. It was also an opportunity to work alongside the great Donald Sutherland, who plays Michel Dorn of the International Criminal Court in all three series.”

Mitchell’s work to date has mostly been based in the US. But the prospect of filming in Europe for four months didn’t worry her: “It was really intriguing to work in so many news places. I was also excited by the fact that my character hadn’t been fully developed when I first spoke to Rola and Frank. That was an opportunity for us to develop her beyond broad strokes.”

Spotnitz was not involved in the first two series. Explaining his decision to write series three, he said: “There are so many exciting stories to be told about crime in Europe, so it’s been a great project to work on.”

Bauer said Sony’s AXN and Sat1 were continuing to back the show. She added: “We are moving into a new era with Crossing Lines and are elated to have Goran and Elizabeth. And it was great to involve someone of Frank’s calibre.”

Source

And here are some pictures:

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Source

Hawthorn · 05-09-2015, 06:59 AM

Thanks for the goodies!

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Originally Posted by Hamburgo1001 (View Post)

I get your reservations, Fran. Most likely, the show is probably not going to be much different from many of the other FBI/CIA-type shows currently on air. I think I am just trying to be a little bit more open-minded about it because to me, it's almost like a breath of fresh air after Liz has appeared on 3 middling genre shows in a row. I really think I would have been happy with anything non-genre-y after OUAT.

That's a good point. She's also working with a strong cast, which is another plus.
I guess I just... wanted something that made truly excited again. But perhaps going into a series without expectations will prove to be the best path and I'll find myself pleasantly surprised.

An update on the episode titles:

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3×01 - Redux
3×03 - Dragon
3×04 - In Loco Parentis
3×05 - Recoil
3×06 - Executioner
3×07 - Run
3×08 - Heat

And a little comment about Carine and the show by Liz from this French interview:

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Are there differences between filming a show in USA and Europe?
EM: “It becomes more and more the same. However, it is slightly different filming in Europe: they put more emphasis on the characters. There’s a bond between two worlds so that is nice for me. It is intriguing!
I think I would have never made “procedural” show because I would never have been so intrigued. My character is complicated and grim. Frank Spotnitz really took care of that aspect”

Is season 3 a reboot?
EM: “There is a physical aspect. We changed the set and the people, except for Dorn and Sebastian who are both in another place. You keep the idea of Crossing Lines but the rest is new. There isn’t a continuity with the previous stories.
So this gives a feel of innovation. It is always the same promise with new characters and it’s also a new angle. We spend more time in the courtroom, the story is more solid. Most of the time every episode has its own plot but sometimes the story continues in the following episode.
The characters are different and there is a new team. That makes the show look new.
It’s kind of a season where the problems are repaired. It has a similar promise but the design, the look, the director of photography, how to perform are different. Watching the promo you can realize there is something powerful in our director of photography and the way of filming. You notice that if you watched the first two seasons.”


Fan Forum > Archived Celebrities > Elizabeth Mitchell > Carine Strand/Crossing Lines #1: A world without borders needs justice without borders. [Spoilers inside]