Haven UK Fanclub Trip 2014 Part 3 – Set Visits! Feat. the cast and video with Shawn Piller!

Posted on 16 December, 2014 by Tanavi P in Set Visits

Day 6 – On Set in Chester!!

Before our set visit we headed out to Hubbards, a small town 20 minutes east of Chester, to visit some more Haven locations.

First stop: Fire station VIDEO:

Second stop: The Rev’s Church VIDEO:

Third stop: Hubbards beach VIDEO:

Images: Poster pics in Hubbards

Arriving at Chester Curling Club, the home of Haven‘s main/ standing sets, the first thing we noticed was the car park, full of trailers and some of the show’s non-human stars …

Images: Haven Car Park

As we entered extras were standing around in Haven PD uniforms and it really felt like we were entering Haven! We were taken round by Stefanie Deoul, supervising producer, who explained how she’d been involved in finding this unusual location.

First we saw the hospital set – room 4012 of course, and Gloria’s autopsy room including a cold drawer where, instead of a body, she hides a bottle of tequila – and herself! There are some new sets for S5. Shawn Piller really wanted an elevator, and finally got his wish. I loved the attention to details on set – it still looks ‘vintage’ e.g with old defibrillator equipment, papers with ‘Haven Medical Center’ etc strewn about. It looked like Lucas had been doodling on one!

We met some members of the art dept who are legends to me. One explained how he drew the map of Haven – seen e.g. in episodes 201 and 407- and actually did 6 or 7 drafts, trying to think geographically how Haven would be laid out. Of course in realityHaven is filmed in several separate towns so merging it into one town takes some creative thinking. We passed through a room with some props laying about including an old typewriter – again vintage in its appeal. The props master showed us a crow bar and explained how they make 3 identical bars of different weights/ hardness for different scenes (soft one to hit with, hard real one for close-ups)

Stephanie then opened the doors into Audrey’s apartment set. I was gutted to see it had already been stripped in preparation for the move to Halifax but could still make out where Audrey’s furniture had been positioned, and imagine all the famous scenes filmed in there.

Then we entered the Haven police station where filming was that day, and immediatelyGlenn (Lefchak) came over and gave us a big hug, followed by Lucas who suggested we take some photos…

Image: Group shot Haven PD

I finally met Adam Copeland and fangirled a little. Lots of people were on set that day including Officers Rafferty and Collins. We got to talk to some of the extras too – everyone seemed to be having fun.

We went back to watch the monitors with Shawn Piller. We talked about how 513 and 514 are being shot together, and S4 finale two-parter. They are treating 513 as a season finale. We discussed how in season 5 they’re doing more double episodes. I accidentally hit a guy with my poster who was standing behind me also watching the monitors. He introduced himself as Jay and told me he was there hanging out but had also had a small part on the show. Only later did I realise this was EDGE’S WWE wrestling partner Jay Reso a.k.a Christian (@christian4peeps) – oops! I’m lucky he didn’t pull a move on me, but he was very gracious and polite. I’m excited to see him on the show.

During filming we took a chance to nip into the Haven PD jail set and take pics…

Images: Haven Jail

In a filming break we went into the Chief’s office to find the Teagues Richard Donat andJohn Dunsworth sitting there on the sofa! We exchanged a brief hello before they had to leave. I checked out the Chief’s room with Adam and Lucas, who took some silly photos. Lucas is good photographer don’t you think?

Images: the Chief’s Office

I asked Adam ‘How do you get into the role of Dwight?‘ – he said he tries to remember Dwight’s precise, with no time to mess about, so speaks quicker and more succinctly than normal.

I also asked ‘How did you justify going from cleaner to chief?’ It’s something he has thought about too. “He is an army ranger so if everyone leaves Dwight is the next best thing as a law enforcer, plus he has Vince’s help and owes Vince. Dwight always wants to protect the town.”

The guys were messing about a little as scenes were being ‘blocked’ and they were reading through their parts but not being filmed – essentially Lucas and Adam jokingly getting in each other’s way – entertaining the extras.

Outside we spent time chatting to Shawn about his father Michael Piller of Star Trek fame, and attending comic cons (with some light pleading that they make it to a British one!). He talked about the fans on Twitter and how his mum (@sandrapiller) seems to forget that when she messages him on social media, everyone else can read it :-). As we presented him with his collage Stephanie suggested he record a video message to Jinan and he obliged! Then he recorded a message for Kate Kelton at Laurence’s request aww. He is truly an amazing man.

VIDEO: Shawn’s message to Jinan

VIDEO: Shawn’s message to Kate

Image: Poster pic with Shawn Piller (and Jay Reso)

That evening whilst having dinner at Nicki’s Inn we met Melanie Rush (@MelanieMadrush) and her family, who were also visiting Haven as fans and following our Twitter tour. It was a great end to an exceptional day