Hawaii’s Jacob Batalon, who made his filmic debut on the big screen via the reboot of “Spider-Man,” is making a move to the little screen in Syfy’s “Reginald the Vampire.”
Batalon, a graduate of Damien Memorial School, will portray Reginald Baskin, in a 10-episode dramady based on Johnny B. Truant’s “Fat Vampire” novels,” in which Reginald becomes an unlikely hero in a world of beautiful, fit, and vain vampires
He’s faced with challenges galore: a woman he loves but can’t be with, a boss with a bully, and a vampire chieftain who wants him dead.
So natch, he has his own super powers to sustain.
With his co-starring sidekick role with Tom Holland in the ongoing new episodes of “Spider-Man” flicks, Batalon has become a beloved second banana, with his antics and comedic demeanor.
In the Marvel universe, he will appear in the third “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” later this year which follows the earlier “Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and “Spider-Man: Far From Home” (2019) and also enjoyed spill-over success in “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and “Avengers: Endgame” (2019).
And yes, he’s of Filipino heritage, and proud of it. And his pals may not recognize him since he lost 102 pounds before filming “No Way Home.” …
Locals in off-Broadway play
A couple of Island actors, who are graduates of Punahou School, will be part of the cast of Douglas Carter Beanes‘ “Fairycakes,” set to have its world premiere with previews beginning Oct. 4 at the Greenwich House Theatre in New York. The work is a sendup of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
They are Broadway vets Ann Harada and Jason Tam, graduates of Punahou School. She has starred in “Waitress,” “Cinderella,” “Avenue Q,” “Les Miserables,” and “9 to 5.” His credits include “Les Miserables,” “If/When,” “Be More Chill” and “A Chorus Line.”
In “Fairycakes,” Harada portrays Musterseeds, Tam plays Prince/Cupid.
Beane will direct the show, which borrows characters from other realms, so anticipate Geppeto, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Cobweb, and more, along with Oberon, Titania and Puck. …
Second season blooms for ‘Lotus’
“The White Lotus,” wholly taped last year at the Four Seasons resort during the pandemic on Maui, has rebooked for a return visit, even as the last of six episodes has yet to be screened this coming Sunday.
Producer-director Mike White and his star-studded cast — Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Lacy, Natasha Rothwell, Steve Zahn — benefitted by taking over the entire resort to film safely in its own bubble amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
The second season, presumably on HBO and HBO Max, will be ensconced at another imaginery White Lotus property, since the formula worked well when the cast and techies sequestered at the Maui resort. The actual site was not named, nor Hawaii mentioned, but the Pacific destination boasted luau, Hawaiian music, and exotic drinks aplenty.
Obviously, filming within a “domestic” locale — our beloved Hawaii — offers fewer challenges than moving onto a foreign hotel, say, in the Caribbeans or Mexico.
Perhaps the next destination will host suspicious hotel workers, who don’t like visitors, and a congregation of rich and wealthy heading for a resort with more angst and issues to iron out.
The show’s ratings have swelled over each week’s airing, so a renewal was a no-brainer. Lucky for us in the islands that the journey, happily, ends here. Don’t know if in reality, families with internal issues come here to moan and groan, or a lonely and single daughter is so distraught, she cannot proceed with scattering her mother’s ashes in the sea. Fiction with friction?
It might have been beneficial for the show to fuel the revenues of the gurus who count and cheer the dollars spent here, in an industry that has been booming — think overtourism — but a measure of cultural and ethical relevance also should be a yardstick. The hotel crew, as depicted, has been as negative and willful demons in this saga of confused lost souls. Bon voyage and aloha. …
And that’s Show Biz. …