Interview with Nikita star Maggie Q and executive producer Danny Canon of action series premiering tonight on The CW network at 9/8c **** Four Stars

By Robin Rowe

Nikita star Maggie Q, started in Hong Kong action films

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 9/9/2010 – “The tattoos are real,” says Nikita star Maggie Q. “I usually have to cover them. This tattoo is a phoenix, the bird of strength. I have two more.” While her tattoos are cool, it’s being an action star that makes Maggie Q.

Like the premise of the Bourne secret agent movies, reformed assassin Nikita is determined to bring down a rogue assassination division of the government. The new action series from The CW combines thrilling action with beautiful cinematography.

Maggie Q starred as Zhen in Mission Impossible III and has worked in action movies throughout her career. “I’m half Asian. When I started in films I was working in Asia. They do films in four to six weeks. In Asia there are no unions. You work 16 to 18-hour days every day.  I’m used to this pace. I haven’t broken anything, but I’ve cracked and fractured a lot of things. The level never goes down. All I want to do is sleep.”

Maggie Q, who was born in Hawaii, took a trip to Asia and ended up staying there to star in movies. “I was supposed to be in Asia two months. I stayed eight years. I didn’t speak the language.” For her Hong Kong films Maggie Q had to learn her lines in Cantonese phonetically. Her name became abbreviated to “Maggie Q”. Quigley was too hard to pronounce in Asia. At the time she was working in Asia, Jackie Chan was looking for young stars there. She appeared in Rush Hour 2 with Jackie Chan in 2001, launching her career in American films and TV.

Nikita executive producer Danny Cannon directed the pilot of Nikita, which shoots in Toronto. “This pilot cost a third of what other pilots cost this year,” says Cannon. “That’s because I did a cable show right before it and learned to go even faster. TNT Dark Blue was just a show I really wanted to do. They made us shoot in seven days, which I’ve never done before.”

The direction and cinematography of Nikita is remarkable. It looks more like a film than a TV series. It uses classic techniques from B&W cinematography, such as shooting into lights that shine into the lens and gradient lighting across backgrounds. It also has a lot of camera movement.

“I remember Alan J. Pakula [who wrote, directed and produced Sophie’s Choice] said every scene is about one thing, normally,” says Cannon. “You should be able to get that in one shot. Everything else is coverage. I think I approach it in that way. I know I need a certain place. I know I need it to make me feel a certain way. And, I’ll keep looking and looking until I find that location. When I find that location, I find that one shot that tells the story.”

Nikita shoots on the Sony F-35, the big chip HD camera. Cannon says that film can be a little faster to prep, that there’s no cabling and less to go wrong. He used the Canon 5D Mark II DSLR in the first episode for second unit photography. “I think it’s perfect to carry on the truck, use in action sequences, put it on the front of a car, put it in places where you can’t put a camera normally. When you get into color correction you notice the difference.” The Canon uses AVCHD compression, and has less color depth as a result.

Although Cannon says he wouldn’t use the Canon 5D for first unit on Nikita, when lighting an actress, he says he’s planning to shoot a short film with the 5D. Another series using the 5D for second unit is CBS Hawaii 5-0. The Fox series House M.D. shot an episode entirely with the 5D, except for a few seconds of slow motion. [I wrote about that for the August cover story of Popular Photography.]

The pilot episode of Nikita, premiering tonight, gives the backstory of Nikita, of her reprieve from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division. They faked her death to give her a new life serving her country as a spy and assassin. Division has grown corrupt and continues to recruit and train other young people, erasing all evidence of their former lives. One of these new recruits is Alex, played by Lyndsy Fonseca of Kick-Ass and Desperate Housewives. The agents are led by Michael, played by Shane West of ER. Michael trained Nikita and is now ordered to track her down to destroy her. Bold and fearless, Nikita informs Division that they don’t need to track her down, that she’s coming after them.

Nikita is distributed by Warner Bros. Television in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision. The executive producers are Craig Silverstein (Bones, K-Ville), David Levinson (The Commish), Danny Cannon (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Chuck), McG (Supernatural, Chuck, The O.C., Charlie’s Angels), and Peter Johnson (Supernatural, Chuck).

Nikita premieres tonight on The CW network at 9/8c.

CWTV.com/Nikita