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Paul Wesley and Rick Worthy sign autographs at Comic Con. |
Where is this stuff coming from? Whatever changes have gone on behind the scenes at ABC Family are rapidly and unequivocally moving it towards significance for younger viewers. The network was once best (and to some, only) known as the channel where the 700 Club’s founder called for meteor strikes on gay parades and the assassination of foreign leaders. But suddenly new (and good) original programming is coming out of ABC Family like crazy.
ABC Family presented three of its new projects at the recent 2006 Comic Con in San Diego. By far the best of these new vehicles, which included Kyle XY, and Three Moons Over Milford, is the limited series movie Fallen. Fallen premiered on July 23 and will be repeated tonight. The entire movie is also available to view in streaming download on the ABC Family site.
Fallen is based on the young-adult books by Thomas E. Sniegoski. The movie chronicles the changes that occur to orphan Aaron Corbett (Paul Wesley) as he turns 18 and begins to notice very strange things happening. He suddenly can understand any language spoken, and can even understand what animals are saying. As his pet lab, Gabriel, begins carrying on conversations with him, Aaron is convinced that he is going insane. With the help of the homeless Zeke (Tom Skeritt) Aaron discovers that he is actually a Nephilim- the offspring of the paring between a fallen angel and a human.
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Rick Worthy (Camael), author Tom Sniegoski, and Paul Wesley (Aaron) pose at Comic Con. |
Aaron wants no part of this new destiny, and continues to doubt the explanation that Zeke is offering, until another group of angels, known as the Powers come into his life. Led by the angel Verchiel (Elizabeth Lackey), it is the mission of the Powers to destroy the Nephilim and fallen angels. As they track Aaron down, he and those he loves are marked for destruction. But Aaron will not have to deal with the Powers alone. It turns out that the former leader of the group, an angel known as Camael (Rick Worthy) abandoned his position because of an ancient prophecy. This prophecy says that one day a Nephilim child will be born who will have the power to absolve the fallen angels of their transgressions and return them to paradise. Evidence leads to the conclusion that Aaron is indeed the fulfillment of this prophecy.
Engaging battles follow with angels flying about with swords of fire. The battle scenes are somewhat reminiscent of the light saber scenes from a Star Wars movie, and the angel wings and flying effects are extremely well done for a television movie.
The movie has a significantly different resolution than the book, though otherwise it is an excellent adaptation and follows it well. A major subplot in the book, involving Aaron’s younger autistic brother Stevie, is left out of the movie altogether. The ending of the book is rather dark, however, it is somewhat lightened in the film version.
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Paul Wesley answers questions at the Fallen Panel. |
Wesley, who has had smaller or recurring roles in several acclaimed prime time series (Smallville, Everwood, Wolf Lake and others) really spreads his wings in this movie. This may be the first time that he isn’t playing the bad boy character. “I’m so excited to be playing a good guy for once. So many people were starting to think that’s [playing a bad guy] all I could do, so this is a big deal for me,” he said at the Comic Con panel for the movie.
Both Wesley, and co-star Worthy say that they have had experiences that lead them to believe in angels, or at least that there is something out there. Wesley related a story about a serious accident on the night of his prom. “My girlfriend was driving, and I was asleep. I woke up, and for no reason put on my seat belt. A few minutes later, she fell asleep and the car rolled 6 times. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that,” he said. Worthy related a story about witnessing a murder that occurred during a robbery when he was a child. “As it was happening, I felt an inner calm and knew that it wasn’t my day to die,” he said..
Wesley and Worthy both agree that they felt chemistry with each other in their respective roles. “When I tested for the role, there were seven other guys in the room, and we were all reading with Paul. I hadn’t really tested with another actor before, in front of the network. We had great chemistry, and I could feel it as soon as we started,” says Worthy. Wesley adds, “When two actors have great chemistry, it’s just like playing tennis- back and forth. It just felt so good, and I walked out of the room saying ‘this is awesome’.”
Four more hours of the Fallen story will air next summer on ABC Family. The network plans to keep interest alive during the year between films. Some of the plans to do this include releasing an on-line video game which explores a parallel story line to the movies and books.
