 The creators of “Deal or No Deal” are geniuses. Most game shows take advantage of beautiful hostesses, but “Deal or No Deal” has 26 stunning models on every program. Bullz-Eye.com is excited to feature “Deal or No Deal” model Kelly Brannigan, the beautiful brunette with the exotic look who jumps off the screen every time “Deal” contestants choose her case. Kelly’s mother was from Belize and her father was Irish. Needless to say it was a great combination. Kelly has also been featured on “My Fair Brady,” and in our interview with her, she discusses the controversy stirred up by the photos she took with Adrianne Curry (Chris Knight was not happy!). Finally, don’t miss our exclusive Hollywood Girls photo shoot with Kelly, featuring 44 killer photos.
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Although he’s been bouncing around Hollywood as far back as 1987, when he played Kolya ‘Nikolai’ Rostov on the “Dynasty” spin-off, “The Colbys,” it’s fair to say that Adrian Paul is more often remembered for his role as Duncan McLeod in the “Highlander” saga. After quite a few episodes of the TV series and a feature film, Paul took a break from the “Highlander” universe for several years, but he returned at long last for last year’s “Highlander: The Source,” which turned up on the Sci-Fi Channel and has recently seen DVD release. We spoken to Paul about his experiences in making the film (and whether there’ll be any more), his thoughts on longtime “Highlander” producer Bill Panzer, why his other sci-fi series, “Tracker,” never really took off, and what he’s been working on recently.
Adrian Paul: Hi Will. Bullz-Eye: Hey Adrian, how’s it going? AP: Good, good. BE: So how hard was it to step back into the shoes of Duncan MacLeod after a few years? AP: It was interesting. It was a different time, too, you know, and they wanted a slightly different type of character; you know, a little darker. But, you know, it’s fine, and you can do that because you know the values of the character; you kind of step back into it and try and find new stuff. So what with the old and the new stuff, you hopefully have a character with some new twists. BE: Was it painful to lose your katana after all these years? AP: (Laughs) No. The thing was, I think nothing’s lost, y’know? I mean, we know where it’s buried! But I love the katana. I love tai chi and working with the katana; I find it a very malleable type of weapon. But I do like using other weapons, too, and we wanted to sort of give it a whole different type of flavor. So we tried it, and even though a lot of the fights were sped up…which wasn’t my idea…we had some really interesting fights. The thing was that we actually tried a whole bunch of different types of weapons and stuff so that we’d have a roundabout look on it, but we didn’t know what we were facing when it comes to visual effects. That was an unknown quantity to us, so all we could do was choreograph it and hope for the best. Filed under: Movies and TV and Movie DVDs and TV DVDs and Actors and Interviews and TV Dramas and Movie Dramas and Action Movies and TV Action and External Entertainment and External Movies and External Movie DVDs and TV Sci-Fi Comments: 1 Comment Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 Okay, it’s a week ’til the second season of “Jericho” premieres. Time to really start getting excited… As regular readers of Premium Hollywood know, we’ve been fans of “Jericho” from the get-go. Yes, we laid it on the line and acknowledged when we didn’t love everything we were seeing – both myself and John Paulsen went so far as to channel our inner Stephen Colbert, each of us putting the show on notice at one point or another – but when the series came back from its network-imposed midseason hiatus, it came back with all thrusters firing. Naturally, CBS then proceeded to cancel the series….and, just as naturally, the show’s fans rebelled. Defying the law of averages, the fans won: CBS reversed its decision and renewed “Jericho” for a second season. Yes, it’s shorter this time around, earning only a seven-episode shot at Round 2, but based on what I’ve seen, the crunch has worked in the show’s favor. I was fortunate enough to get the show’s executive producer, Carol Barbee, on the phone for a few minutes, and she offered up quite a lot of scoop about the upcoming season…and although I did make sure to follow CBS’s requests to keep mum about certain specifics within the episodes, you should be forewarned that there are still plenty of small spoilers sprinkled throughout. (Also, I promise that there’s less of me talking as the conversation progresses; she just asked my opinion, so I felt obliged to give it!)
Bullz-Eye: Hey, Carol, how are you? Carol Barbee: I’m good! How are you? BE: Battling a cold, but hanging on. It’s a pleasure to speak with you; I think we spoke for about five seconds during the TCA Press Tour. CB: Yeah, that sounds about right. (Laughs) BE: Well, CBS has sent me six of the seven episodes in Season 2 of “Jericho,” and from what I’ve seen, my first reaction is that, for as much as I already loved the way the show had taken such a significant upswing at the end of Season 1, it looks like you even managed to fix the few problems I still had with it! CB: Oh, wow, I’m so glad to hear that! BE: I have to be honest that circumstances have kept me from putting in the second disc, with episodes 4 – 6, but… CB: (In a hushed voice) Oh…! BE: …but now that I’ve finished the first three episodes, I’m chomping at the bit to watch them! CB: Well, at some point, I want to hear the problems that you think we fixed, because that’s really good to hear. BE: Okay, well, granted, a lot of those problems were well on their way to being fixed as the second half of the first season found the show evolving. Like, I know there was a whole lot of talk about how the show would be partly like “Little House on the Prairie,” and it had definitely begun departing from that. Which was good, because, y’know, with a premise involving nuclear bombs going off in the United States, it just seemed like it should’ve been a darker show. CB: Yes, thank you! BE: And I’m sure that, with its new 10 PM timeslot, that’s going to help with that. CB: Yeah, I think so, too. BE: Did you ask for the later timeslot for that reason, or was that something the network just gave to you? CB: It was luck of the draw. I mean, honestly, it depended on what their new shows did, so we could’ve been on Sundays at 8 PM or Tuesdays at 10 PM or Fridays at 9 PM. So we were prepared for anything. But we’re thrilled to be a 10 o’clock show. I think we are a darker show, and I think that’s the right place for us. BE: I know that Season 2 was originally going to take place in Jericho, Cheyenne, and New York, but how did the direction of the season change when you got a smaller episode order than you’d anticipated? Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Dramas and TV Action and External Entertainment and External TV and Jericho Comments: 9 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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You probably know Rory Cochrane, even if you don’t think you do. His longest and most high-profile gig was serving as a member of the “CSI: Miami” team as Tim Speedle, but prior to that, he’d already earned the status of cult icon by playing the stoned-as-shit Slater in “Dazed and Confused,” as well as the monetarily-challenged Lucas in “Empire Records.” Since departing “CSI: Miami” of his own free will, Cochrane has kept busy with the occasional film; we spoke to him on the occasion of the DVD release of the disconcertingly-real thriller, “Right At Your Door,” and we took the opportunity to ask him about how much of a toll the filming of the movie took on him, why he left a sweet gig on a weekly TV series, and…well, frankly, we spent most of the time just trying to get him to give us answers of more than a word or two. (Nice guy, that Rory, but not one to give you essay-length responses.)
Rory Cochrane: Hello? Bullz-Eye: Hi, may I speak to Rory? RC: Yes. BE: Hey, this is Will. RC: How are you doing, Will? BE: Pretty good. How are you? RC: All right. BE: Actually, I tried you a few minutes ago, but I figured you were still on the last interview maybe, RC: Oh, yeah? I didn’t hear it beep. BE: Not a problem. So…”Right at Your Door.” Very intense flick. I hadn’t actually seen it until they sent me the DVD – it never played in my area – but it’s great. RC: Oh, well, I’m glad you liked it. BE: Definitely. It’s part disaster movie, part horror movie, with a thread of romance running through it. How was it to shoot? RC: Very grueling…and intense, you know? I’m sort of glad that it was only…that we shot it in twenty days. Which is a good thing, because I would probably have had to check myself into some sort of institution afterwards if it had went any longer. BE: Yeah, it’s a little dark. RC: Yeah. BE: How did you get involved in it in the first place? Filed under: Movies and Movie DVDs and Actors and Interviews and Reviews and Movie Dramas and Horror Movies and Action Movies and External Entertainment and External Movies and External Movie DVDs Comments: 1 Comment Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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She’s been doing television since the 1950s, but believe it or not, Shirley Jones has never done a soap opera…’til now, that is. Jones, best known to TV geeks as the matriarch of the Partridge family, will be popping up on NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” as Colleen Brady, starting January 31st and sticking around ’til February 7th. (Not only that, but she’ll be sporting an Irish brogue!) I had a chance to sit in on a teleconference with Ms. Jones recently, where I asked her a bit about her current gig, her most famous gig, and her favorite unheralded performances.
Bullz-Eye: Hi, Shirley, how are you doing? Shirley Jones: Good, thank you. BE: So…are you now or have you ever been a soap opera addict yourself? SJ: No. (Laughs) In a word, no. You know, I intermittently have watched, I guess, all of them maybe once or twice. But, no, I’m not a soap opera person, mostly because I…you know, I work myself during the day. So I’ve never had time really to get involved. But I loved doing this. I ended up loving doing it. I was terrified in the beginning and, you know, took on a challenge which I wasn’t sure I could meet. But I feel that I did, and now I’m very happy about it. BE: I know that “Days of Our Lives” is your first daytime soap, but you have done nighttime soap before: you were on an episode of “Melrose Place.” SJ: Yes. I did “Melrose Place,” and I did a thing for Lifetime in Australia just last year (“Monarch Cove”), you know, and it was called a nighttime soap. It didn’t do much… (Laughs) …but it was fun to be in Australia for two months! BE: Did you find the melodrama any different from daytime to nighttime? SJ: Not much. I think maybe it was a little less melodrama at night than in the daytime, I guess. But, you know, people love this. I mean, I guess it’s some form of escape for them, just as well as going to a Disney film. I mean, it’s an escape in its own way. Filed under: TV and Actresses and Interviews and External Entertainment and External TV Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 Hot off her guest stint on NBC’s “Chuck,” and out promoting her new film “Jumper,” Rachel Bilson has come a long way since her debut on the teen soap opera “The OC.” Looking to break (or at least bend) her girl-next-door image, Rachel is the latest beauty to grace the covers of GQ.
To view the full slideshow, watch video coverage of the shoot, or read more about Rachel’s experience working with Jackson, Hayden Christensen and Doug Liman, click here. |
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That’s what the Hollywood Reporter would have you believe. Fortunately, however, we figured it’d be best to get the status of the show from the man who created it in the first place, so we dropped a line to Kevin Falls and asked if the series still had a pulse. Will– It’s not getting a back nine this year, but then I don’t know if any show will. It will be interesting to see if they let the actors go. They usually hold onto them for awhile. I would say life support is an apt description. But we do get to air our last two shows and it’s only going to make people more upset. They’re really good, “Journeyman” at its best. So there you go. Granted, as the show’s creator, it’s to be expected that Falls would be more optimistic than most…but, then, as a man who’s been around the TV block a few times, he knows the reality of the business, so let’s just do the equivalent of sitting by the patient’s bedside and keep tuning in for these next two episodes. After all, resuscitation still remains a possibility ’til the plug has officially been pulled. Filed under: TV and News and Interviews and TV Dramas and TV Action and External TV and TV Sci-Fi and Journeyman Comments: 2 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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If the only names that catch your eye during a television show’s opening credits are those of the actors, you probably aren’t aware that Kevin Falls is the creator and an executive producer (not to mention show runner) of NBC’s “Journeyman.” And if that’s the case, then you almost certainly wouldn’t have been aware that he’s also had a hand in “Sports Night,” “Arli$$,” “The West Wing,” “The Lyon’s Den,” “North Shore,” and “Shark” over the years as well. Given recent rumblings that Falls’ current gig isn’t nearly as secure as “Journeyman” fans would prefer, I jumped into action to give the show as much publicity as possible, starting with an attempt to secure an interview with the man who created the series. Things fell into place quickly, but after the established time of our conversation came and went, I got a little antsy. I needn’t have worried: Falls readily set up a new time for us to chat, and within moments of getting on the line, he had launched into an apology for the delay.
Bullz-Eye: Hello? Kevin Falls: (Laughs) Hey, Will! BE: Hey! KF: I’m all yours! I’m so sorry about yesterday; there was a communication breakdown, and it was my fault. I just totally dropped the ball, so I apologize. But how are you? BE: I’m doing good. How are you? KF: Good! BE: I think we met for about two seconds back in July, at the TCA Press Tour. KF: Oh, right! I met a lot of people, but I think I do vaguely remember you. But it’s been a wild couple of months! BE: I’m sure! Well, I’ll start off with some specific questions about the show before I move into the inevitable writer’s strike questions. KF: Sure! And, hey, I checked out your site today, and it’s really cool! It’s kind of like a “Maxim”-styled website! BE: Yeah, that’s usually the point of reference we give people, to kind of sum it up in a nutshell. KF: Hey, man, that’s where I wanna live! BE: Yeah, the bikini girls pay the bills, but they give us the opportunity to do whatever pop culture stuff we want to tackle on the site. KF: That’s great! Well, I was flattered that you guys put us in your TV Power Rankings. That was a shot in the arm, and we really appreciated it. BE: Absolutely. We love the show. Ross (Ruediger) is our resident blogger for the show, but there are several fans among the writing staff, including myself. KF: Great. Well, that’s nice. Thanks!
BE: Well, when I was at the panel for “Journeyman” back in July, one of the big points of discussion was the comparison to “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” which led you to pointedly declare for the record that you’d absolutely never read the book… (Laughs) …but did those comparisons finally start to die down once critics actually had a chance to watch the show beyond the pilot? KF: Yeah, I think once they started watching it…you know, certainly, early on, actually, when the issue was more of the domestic problem of time traveling and its impact on the marriage, I think we kind started there ‘cause we wanted it to start with how it would feel to a family, and then get into more of the mythology of it. But once we got deeper into it, all that stuff fell away. And the “Quantum Leap” (comparison) hung around for awhile, and then that fell away, and it seemed like everybody kind of realized it was its own show. BE: So were you indeed influenced by any specific shows, or just kind of the concept of time travel in general? KF: No, the whole genesis of the idea came from my agent. Every spring, I would meet with my agent, and he would ask, “What are you going to do for pilot season?” And I said, “I don’t know. I’m just out of ideas.” (Laughs) I didn’t want to a law show or a cop show, and I just didn’t know what to do. And he said, “How about trying something different and breaking into a new genre?” And that’s how we got into time travel. I’ve seen movies I’ve liked, like Malcolm McDowell in…what was that movie called? BE: “Time After Time”! KF: Yeah, “Time After Time,” which I thought was really good. And some other shows. And my brothers were the sci-fi geeks in my house, and I was always impressed but never converted. It was, like, my brothers were always smarter than me, so I felt like, “Okay, these guys get it, but I’m not worthy,” y’know? But I’ve always been someone who likes to do things over, whether it’s a bad date or a job or a rewrite. Whatever. But I’m definitely one of those guys who likes to look in the rear view mirror a lot. BE: Okay, I should probably warn you that some of these questions might come off as a little disjointed, since they’re coming from a couple of different writers. KF: No problem. I’m in a car on the L.A. freeway. BE: So you’ve got all the time in the world, then. KF: Yeah. And I don’t have a job at the moment. So it’s perfect. BE: Well, there you go. Okay, so what challenges does the time travel part of the show present as far as story and continuity, and how do you go about tackling them? Filed under: TV and Actors and News and Interviews and TV Dramas and TV Action and External Entertainment and External TV and TV Sci-Fi and Journeyman Comments: 27 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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In celebration of “Scrubs” returning to NBC for its seventh and final season, here’s a look at the brief but entertaining few moments I was able to spend on a teleconference with star Zach Braff and Bill Lawrence. The guys spent an hour and a half on the line, answering one question after another from reporters from hither and yon, and I was lucky enough to be the second person to get on the phone with them, but to give you an idea of how many people were on the call, by the time I got my second shot at the mike, we were at the hour and a half mark. In fact, I was the very last question of the event…but we’ll get to that in a moment. FIRST TIME AROUND –
Bullz-Eye: Bill, what’s the status of Aloma Wright (Nurse Laverne Roberts) on the show? I know the rumor had gone around for awhile that she would be coming back and playing Laverne’s alcoholic sister, but now I’ve heard… Bill Lawrence: Well here’s the scoop, man, and you can totally help me out with that because, you know, I have a feeling that I’m going to get a lot crap from our fan base. But, uh…so I wanted to get this story out, which is basically when I killed Aloma last year, I would never take work away from a, you know, an actress that we consider part of the family. We thought last year would be the last season. So when I killed Laverne, it was because we basically said, “Hey, what’s a good dramatic arc for the end of the year, since we’re kind’ve ending up the show?” And once we got there, we had already written the stuff, but we had been told by our studios that the show would continue for another year. So I promised her that she would come back. I don’t want people to get mad at me. She returns as a nurse named Shirley; she looks slightly different, but she still looks like the same actress. But the only thing we’re doing is that only Zach’s character thinks the two of them look alike. Zach Braff: I wanted them…there was talk – and we haven’t done this yet – that she would be a Coquettish atheist. BL: And then there’s a lot of talk, too, that because she’s a new character, some of the writers think that we should kill her yet again…but, this time, nobody cares. ZB: Yeah. “Did you hear Shirley got run over by a car?” BL: It was, “She got hit by a bus. Oh, hey, do they have any donuts?” BE: (Laughs) BL: So she will be back, and I apologize to people. And, hopefully, they will let it go, and she will be back as a…you know, I figured “Bewitched” had two different guys play her husband, so I can have someone as a joke come back as a different character.
BE: Zach, is there any side of J.D. that hasn’t been explored in the show yet that you’d like to see explored in the final season? ZB: I…that’s a good question. I feel like there’s…I mean, seven years worth of sides of J.D.. I don’t know. I think we…I like it when we explore his love of Donald Faison (Turk). I think we can always have more of that. BL: Also, the…Zach’s already doing it, even though he’s not saying it, which is that I think that this show…the ending of this show will be unsatisfying for people if they don’t feel like his character has finally grown up, you know? And, you know, one of the things that’s tough about being lucky enough to go on this long is that you can only do the young kind of man child who hasn’t matured yet for so long before Zach’s coming to me and being, like, “Bill, I’m…you know, my character is 30 years old now. I think he might not wear cartoon t-shirts or jammies to bed.” And, so, we’re trying to make him a little more mature. BE: Thanks. After Braff and Lawrence had been answering questions for an hour straight…including several from Jewish publications, which amused Braff to no end… the conference moderator – that would be the lovely Carol Janson – came on the line and asked the operator how many questions were left in queue. When it was confirmed that a mere seven questions remained, Ms. Janson asked the guys if they were willing to answer the final seven questions…and, God bless ‘em, they were game. Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and Interviews and TV Comedies and External Entertainment and External TV and Fall TV Preview Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 …God bless Comedy Central, who’ve stepped up their online content to the point of offering clips from the better part of nine years worth of “The Daily Show” for viewing…and, for websites like this one, embedding. As an example, here’s Jon Stewart having a chat with Norm MacDonald from way back on March 22, 1999: Oh, wait, and here’s David Cross, too, from 2004: Basically, we could do this all day…but why should we waste our time when you can head over to ComedyCentral.com and waste your own? Filed under: TV and Actors and News and Humor and Interviews and TV Comedies and Stand-Up Comics and New Media and External TV Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 And I’m sure it has absolutely nothing to do with a possible second season of their reality show that Corey Feldman has announced that he and Corey Haim are no longer on speaking terms. “He made some big mistakes,” said Feldman, in an interview with US Weekly, “and I am not sure why he made them. I am a bit confused by it all. He has big issues.” Frankly, we’re a bit confused, too. We figured anyone who’s had as many issues as Corey Feldman has over the years would be a little more sympathetic. Filed under: TV and Actors and Gossip and Interviews and External Entertainment and External Movies and External TV and Reality TV Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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If there’s one thing Bullz-Eye and Premium Hollywood readers alike know about me by now, it’s that I’m way too polite for my own good…but even *I* couldn’t find anything more polite to say about “Cavemen” in my Fall TV preview than lines like this… “Given how people reacted to the mere idea of transforming a series of Geico commercials into a 30-minute sitcom, you’d think that the producers would’ve set their sights on being the best damned comedy of the new season. Instead, they’ve got a heavy-handed and horribly-failed attempt at poking fun at the foolishness of racism, one which will almost certainly have the NCAAP foaming at the mouth.” …and this: “Any series which falls back on a parody of ‘Baby Got Back’ in 2007 deserves whatever horrific fate may befall it. If ‘Cavemen’ lasts more than a few episodes, it’ll either be because the writers have figured out what went so horribly, horribly wrong, or, more likely, because people are perversely fascinated by how incredibly bad it is.”
Do I feel bad about making these statements? No, because, hand on heart, the pilot really was that bad. But after having the opportunity to speak to Joe Lawson, who wrote and created the original GEICO commercials that inspired “Cavemen,” I was surprised to find that I was actually kind of looking forward to seeing more of the series…and, honestly, I didn’t necessarily expect that. I’ve got a pretty open mind, and I was planning to keep it open while watching the premiere episode (which, you may have heard, will not be the pilot episode that most of us critics ripped to shreds), but was I actually looking forward to watching it? Not so much. But as you’ll see from this conversation between Lawson and myself, he manages to explain away the pilot without actually defending it, which is a pretty impressive accomplishment in and of itself, while also coming across as a guy who really does think he’s got a good sitcom on his hands. We’ve only got one thing left to mention in the preface, and that’s that a few quotes from this piece have already appeared in an article for The Virginian-Pilot, since the only reason Lawson and I came to chat in the first place was because of his connection to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia…but The Pilot only wanted 300 words, and since I had just much good stuff left over, it seemed like a shame to waste it! Okay, read on…! Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Comedies and External TV and TCA Press Tour and Fall TV Preview and Pilots Comments: 4 Comments Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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While waiting to speak with director Zack Snyder during the series of Warner Bros. roundtables on Friday, my table was given a bonus: a brief chat with Ed Burns. Of course, unlike our incredibly limited time with Snyder, Mr. Burns was more than happy to answer our questions about, among other things, his return to acting in "One Missed Call" and the future of filmmaking. Reporter: So is this your first Comic-Con? Ed Burns: It is, yeah. Reporter: And was it everything that it had been hyped up to be?
Reporter: What do you think it is about Japanese horror that - because the torture porn thing has kind of come and gone - but for whatever reason Japanese horror has continued to hold a major interest internationally. Why do you think that is? EB: Quite honestly, I don’t know. I think the reason the genre is popular in the States for so long is, you know, there are so many different options people have now in terms of their entertainment. You know, theatergoing has changed in a big way. You talk about "McMullen," like, people use to go see small movies at small theaters, and that’s basically over, and I think the reason like comedies to such big business and power and, you know, big special effects movies is... you can watch a small drama on your flatscreen and it's a similar experience. Sitting in a theater with 400 people and getting the shit scared out of you is a fun experience. That's why I go, and it's like, there are certain films that you wanna see in a theater to have the community type of experience with a certain genre of film. Bullz-Eye: Is this the first horror movie that was pitched to you, or the first one that you've wanted to do? EB: The first one that was pitched. It's kinda weird. My career periodically, I go through these stages were I don't wanna act anymore, I'm just gonna focus on making a few small movies, and then after I do two or three of those, like I did with this, I don't wanna make another small movie, I wanna go act, so this was - I had just finished shooting something - and this was the first script that came up and I was like 'You know, I like the genre, I've never done one, let me give it a shot and see. The director was an interesting guy. His whole thing was that he wanted to make it more suspenseful and atmospheric, more like a "Rosemary's Baby" or - remember that Donald Sutherland film... Reporter: "Don't Look Now." EB: "Don't Look Now," okay. "Don't Look Now" was the other film that he referenced a lot, so, and I think it is, it's just a little bit more keeping with that style than it is sort of more traditional, sort of blood and guts horror movie. Read the rest after the jump. Filed under: Movies and Actors and Interviews and External Entertainment and External Movies and Comic-Con Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
EB: I thought it was a lukewarm reaction, honestly. But I'm not really the guy who, you know, we just had a little clip reel, I've never done a horror film or sci-fi, so, I don’t know how many "[Brothers] McMullen" fans were in the audience. They really weren't giving it up for the Irish guys from Queens.|
Following the Warner Bros. panel on Friday afternoon, a select group of press were invited to take part in a series of roundtable discussions with various panelists from the presentation. Director Zack Snyder (of the upcoming "Watchmen" film) was kind enough to give me and seven other writers a few minutes of his time to discuss the film in a much more controlled environment. Unfortunately, Zack likes to talk an awful lot and we didn't have much time to begin with (five minutes), so I was unable to ask any of the questions I had lined up (like whether Gerard Butler will be cast as Hooded Justice, or if he's got any ideas on how to shoot the "Black Freighter" sequence). Of course, there's a lot of people out there who'd like to know everything they possibly can about the production on this movie, and so I've posted the following tidbit for the pleasure of anyone who may be interested...
Reporter: It'll pull you too far out of the story... ZS: Yeah, I mean, let's be realistic. Probably 99.999% of the population has not seen "Doctor Strangelove," so there’ll be minimal impact on them, but, you know, for those of us that have, you want it to have those kind of broad implications that that has about the Cold War, and about like satire, and all those things, so Alex and I have been having a lot of fun, I think, in trying to… because I always say, treat the graphic novel like it was written 2,000 years old and it is like an illuminated text, and that we are disciples of this religion and we have to make sure that it is somehow, you know... we won’t be burned at the stake, for heresy, after the movie comes out. I think that's the fun we also have, like for instance even just the smallest things like when Rorschach burns the SWAT cops with the hairspray. We're sitting around and they showed me some hairsprays - you know, cool ratty hairspray cans - and I was like 'Oh, they're cool, but the labels are wrong.' And they're like, 'What do you mean?' And I go 'That's Veidt for Men, it should be, hairspray.' And I was like 'See?' (mocks opening a copy of "Watchmen"), and they're like 'Oh, fuck, okay, sorry.' But it’s like that. You could do that with pretty much everything in the movie. Read the rest after the jump. Filed under: Movies and Interviews and External Movies and Comic-Con Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
Zack Snyder: (continuing his conversation from the previous roundtable) One of the things that I think is important about "Watchmen" is that it have resonances of cinematic pop culture, as well as superhero culture, because I believe there's a relationship between Rorschach and Travis Bickle in “"Taxi Driver." I believe that there's a relationship between the war room in "Doctor Strangelove" and NORAD. There are cinematic relationships in the graphic novel, and I really think that the movie, this movie, "Watchmen," is able to comment on both things in a way that other movies can't, because it really does observe pop culture all the time while it's telling the story. And I think that part of the influence on the characters themselves is the culture that they're in. And for that part it’s something hugely fun to explore and, just from a visual standpoint, is hugely fun to say 'Well, what does that mean?.' Like, when you're in the war room, how do you make it "Doctor Strangelove," without making it "Doctor Strangelove"?
 I’ve always liked Julianna Margulies. She was great on “E.R.,” of course, but she’s also done brief guest-starring turns on shows from “Scrubs” to “The Sopranos” where she managed to make an impact in only a very few episodes. And, of course, let us not forget her role as spunky stewardess…sorry, flight attendant…Claire Miller in “Snakes on a Plane.” But, at least on the surface, I’m not getting a whole lot off “Canterbury’s Law” that makes me think, “This will be Margulies’ triumphant return to television!” I mean, it’s a lawyer show. There are already a lot of lawyer shows. Will this really stand out? I mean, Marguilies’ character - Elizabeth Canterbury - is described as “a rebellious female defense attorney who puts her career on the line to take on risky and unpopular cases,” and it was also mentioned during the panel that Canterbury has a tortured past. So, what, it’s “House” as a female lawyer rather than a male doctor…? Because you know I won’t be the only critic who makes that comparison… The one thing that’s particularly eye-catching…beyond Juliana herself, of course…is the fact that Denis Leary is one of the show’s producers. Given his success with the critically-acclaimed “Rescue Me,” it’s fair to say that he has a certain amount of experience with blending humor and drama, so maybe I’m being too hard on the show. Producer Jim Serpico says on Leary’s involvement that “he’s not involved day-to-day on set or looking at the sets and locations, but he’s involved in the stories and big-picture casting decisions.” So that’s uplifting news, at least. Beyond that, I call it wait-and-see…as in, “I’ll have to wait and see the pilot.” I will, however, close by throwing out a few revelations dropped by Marguilies during the panel:
* She never, ever had any intention of going back to “E.R.,” not in any capacity. “I’m not one to retrace my steps,” she says. * She would, however, love to work with George Clooney again. “We’ve been talking about that from the day we left ‘ER,’ she admits. “We both said one day, we’ll do a movie together. We needed enough time away so there has to be at least 10 years in between Doug and Carole for anyone to see us other than that. So I trust him. He’s going to find something. Hopefully, he’ll direct it, and we’ll, you know, do something funny together.” * She was a little surprised that the producers of “The Sopranos” didn’t bring her character back for the last season. “After the last episode from last season, the one with me and Michael Imperioli, they said, ‘We want her back,’” she revealed. “So they put me on hold for awhile. So we thought it would be a sort of a bigger storyline, but I totally understand. I was actually really impressed how they used me. It was so brief, but it was an important moment, I think, for James Gandolfini’s character just to, you know, have part of that whole storyline come to an end. I wish…please, I wish I had been on every episode. That was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.” You know how you can tell how tired we’re getting? No-one asked her what she thought of the last episode of the show. Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Dramas and External Entertainment and External TV and TCA Press Tour Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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Here’s how they introduced Fox’s new docu-soap, “Nashville”: “A high-stakes drama, it features an attractive cast of dreamers and dream makers in Nashville, Tennessee. The unique new series follows a vibrant group of young people as their hopes, lives, and loves unfold in a town that can make or break you.” Wow. I don’t care. Okay, no, sorry, I guess I do. Or, at least, as a music fan, I guess I’m supposed to, anyway. The thing is…and I think the man referenced in the subject line of this posting would agree…that no matter how this series pans out, it’s not gonna be anywhere close to the reality of what it’s like to be a struggling musician. I mean, just about everyone on the panel for this show was pretty. And by that, I mean that you know someone at Fox determined at some point how unattractive was too unattractive, and that the music you’re gonna hear is gonna be about as mainstream as humanly possible. And because of these factors, I just don’t see what this show is going to offer me that I can’t experience vicariously by talking to, say, Mike Farley. Or, for that matter, about 3/4 of the bands who are my friends on MySpace.
Still, I’ll give credit to contestant (or whatever they’re calling them) Jamey Johnson, who, when the panel was asked if they’d seen the film “The Thing Called Love” and how accurate it was, replied, “That movie was pretty authentic. I think it had a great plot to it, but by and large, you just don’t move to Nashville and get everything handed to you. You’ve got to work for it, you know. I think that movie kind of depicted that, but it didn’t really show how long it takes. I know guys that have been in town for seven or eight years and they’re just now getting their first song cut.” Yeah, but why do I suspect that this show won’t take nearly that long before every member of its cast ends up with a record deal? Sorry, I don’t really have a lot to say about this show that’s particularly complimentary, I realize. I mean, I’ll check it out and see how the first episode plays, but I’m going in with the reasonable presumption that it will in no way live up to the actual reality of the life of struggling musicians in Nashville…and I’m betting I’ll be right. Filed under: TV and News and Interviews and Documentaries and External Entertainment and External TV and TCA Press Tour and Fall TV Preview Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 Top 3 reasons that make “The Return of Jezebel James” sound like it’s worth watching before you’ve even seen a single moment of the show: 1. It stars indie film goddess Parkey Posey. The premise of the series involves Parker’s character, an editor of childrens’ books at Harper-Collins, deciding that she wants to have a baby…but when she finds out that she can’t carry the child herself, she decides to kill two birds with one stone by renewing her relationship with her younger sister and asking her to carry the baby for her, offering her free room and board at her apartment while she’s pregnant. The writer sitting next to me said that the premise struck her as vaguely creepy, like the younger sister was basically trading the use of her womb for access to free cable, but, hey, my wife and I did in vitro, so I know what it’s like to desperately want a kid of your own…and I know full well that if it’d reached a point where we needed someone to step up and carry our child for us, my sister would’ve been ready to roll. Okay, possibly too much information. But my point is that, ultimately, this is a show about family…which, of course, is an area in which the Palladinos have considerable experience.
“I like family dynamics,” says Amy, “because I can’t figure out mine. I really just enjoy it. ‘Gilmore,’ to me, was — yes, it was a mother and daughter, but I also looked at it like Emily was sort of the third Gilmore. It was a multi-generational, sort of three women and their trials together, but the relationship was very different. You know, that was a relationship about two people who were instantly vested — they were so bonded, they finished each other’s sentences. They absolutely knew who they were. This relationship to me is so interesting a departure because it’s two women who just don’t know each other at all. They’ve never formed any sort of bond. It’s weird because they’re adults, but they’re just now starting to figure out who they are, how they react, what they like, what they don’t like, how they’re going to make each other crazy, how they’re not going to make each other crazy. And it’s just a wonderful dynamic. “I think that there’s not always the best parts on television for women,” she continued, “and I feel like maybe if you can throw a couple of great woman parts out there, why not? There’s a lot of “the bullet entered here” going on out there, but these are real, you know? It’s just really multi-dimensional characters, and that I like. I would like it in men. I would like it in chipmunks, two nice squirrels talking to each other, I’d be fine with that, too. Just as long as the dynamic is interesting and there’s places to go.” Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Comedies and External Entertainment and External TV and TCA Press Tour Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
 It’s a little surprising that there hasn’t been a “Terminator” TV series before now, given how popular the franchise has been over the years, but here’s my theory as to why it finally happened: once Ahnuld took over as Governor of California, the producers decided, “Oh, well, if he’s not gonna be available to do more movies, we might as well hit the small screen.” Hey, I’m psyched. Yeah, I know, I say that a lot…but, seriously, the special effects in the pilot look sweet. Plus, what red-blooded American male can’t get into a cast which stars Lena Headey (”300″) as Sarah Connor and Summer Glau (”Serenity”) as the latest, sexiest model of Terminator? And in case you fall into a different male demographic - there, how’s that for a politically correct turn of phrase? - it’s worth noting that the shoes of John Connor are being filled by former “Heroes” star Thomas Dekker.
But if you’re a real sci-fi geek, you probably only have one question: where exactly does this series fall into the chronology of the three “Terminator” films? Producer Josh Friedman attempts to sort out the confusion. “When we first started this,” he explains, “people said, “This takes place between ‘T2′ and ‘T3,'’ and I think that was incorrect. As far as I’m concerned, this is ‘T3.’ I mean, this is a continuation of what I would call the Sarah Connor trilogy. So I think anything that happens after ‘T2′ is fair game for us. And I think the ending of ‘T2,’ the exploding killing Cyberdine, killing Miles Dyson, sort of changes the timeline for anything in the future.” Friedman went on to clarify that the ultimate fate of Sarah Connor as referenced in “T3″ - she succumbed to leukemia, of all things - is no longer to be considered to be a given; fellow producer James Middleton added, “We’re taking a phrase that is very important in ‘T2′: ‘No fate, but what we make.’ And this is a new fate for Sarah Connor, so we are creating an entirely new timeline.” Of course, it will probably not surprise you to learn that, of our number, at least one person was simply unwilling to accept this answer at face value. “At the end of ‘Terminator 2,’” began a reporter, “it looked as though they had saved the future. And in ‘Terminator 3,’ basically they were stuck with the future that ‘Terminator 1′ came from. Does your show believe that that loop is inevitable, or are they still trying to change the future to the point where it never gets to the rise of the machines?” Rather than simply saying, “I’m sorry, but answering your question would wreak havoc on the space-time continuum,” Middleton actually responded thoughtfully: “Our characters operate and fight a battle every episode based on faith that they can prevent Judgment Day. Now they’re going to do everything that they can to do that. But the odds against them are formidable. They have a formidable enemy. So how they operate every day is to fight the fight the best they can in each episode.” (Perhaps more amazingly, the reporter accepted this answer!) With all these references to the films, you’re probably wondering the same thing we were: what are the odds of us actually managing to see that aforementioned Governor of California on the show? Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Action and External Entertainment and External TV and TCA Press Tour Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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I’m not sure if Dr. House is actually an anti-hero, given that, even with his terribly irascible manner, he still manages to save the day far more often that not. Still, he’s a drug addict with a nasty temper who makes decisions based less on a will-the-patient-live-or-die mindset and more of a I-just-want-to-know-if-I’m-right mindset, and that’s not exactly the kind of guy who find yourself rooting for, per se. In fact, it’s a minor miracle that it took a full three seasons for his team of doctors to abandon him out of sheer frustration with his methods. As the show enters its fourth season with a few Emmy nominations in hand, it sounds as though things are going to continue to go great guns. At the very least, it looks like everyone’s back in tow to some extent: although their characters had all tendered their resignations by the end of Season 3, Omar Epps, Jennifer Morrison, and Jesse Spencer were all on the panel. Producer Katie Jacobs admitted, “We struggled with how to sort of do exactly this. The truth is, everybody is back eventually, and everybody is back having changed and in different capacities. And, you know, it’s also sort of organic, so we only know where it’s going to a point. For us, for me, it’s the most exciting season we’ve started off so far because it feels very organic. You know, the last two seasons we’ve done an arc — season 2, season 3 we started out with arcs that involved other characters as a way to explore more deeply House’s character. But I think that their three-year fellowship, and all in different ways, has sort of naturally come to an end. “In the first episode,” she explains, “House is alone, and House is trying to solve cases by himself. Of course, Cuddy is pissed and Wilson thinks he’s losing his mind. And Cuddy will insist that he hire a new team…but he will do it in a very House-ian way. Over the first bunch of episodes. he’s going to call in all the candidates, all the resumes on his desk — 40, I think it is, a large number — and we’re going to see who survives. We’re going to play a ‘House’ version of “Survivor” and see what candidates really will make the best part of House’s team. And House is going to give all the candidates numbers; because he can’t remember their names, they’re actually going to wear running numbers!” Meanwhile, the trio of actors formerly known as House’s team remained pleased to be on the show, even if they really have no idea where they stand at the moment. Morrison says that they found out about their characters shuffling off the show when “they told us all that they wanted to talk to us over lunch one day, which does feel a little bit like being called into the principal’s office. But they were fantastic and let us know what they were planning on doing. Spencer corrected her. “Well, they didn’t actually know, though, did they? Well, I mean, they told us that we were coming back, but they didn’t know at that time in what capacity we were actually going to come back. And we are still not entirely sure. (But) we know we are back.” Jacobs hinted, however, that just because we see them doesn’t mean they’re actually there. “(House) thinks he sees them. And Wilson is saying, ‘You know, you’re just feeling guilty, and you’re out of your mind.’ And Chase is working in Arizona in a hospital and Cameron’s with him. And Foreman is at Mercy Hospital running his own diagnostic Filed under: TV and Actors and Actresses and News and Interviews and TV Dramas and External Entertainment and External TV and TCA Press Tour and Fall TV Preview Comments: None Digg this! Add to Del.icio.us |
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One of the cooler panels during the course of the TCA Press Tour was unquestionably the “dinner theater” provided by the cast of “Family Guy,” who did a table read of their upcoming 100th episode for the assembled critics as they ate lunch. We were warned ahead of time that, yes, it was the unedited version of the script, and that several bits had been removed from the upcoming air version, but I didn’t hear any complaints after the fact, so I guess those of us with delicate constitutions managed to survive. I won’t give away any of the jokes - I mean, the show isn’t even scheduled to air until October - but I will say that it’s called “Stewie Kills Lois,” that there are jokes involving The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, and “The Lake House,” that there are tentative plans for guest appearances by James Woods and Rob Lowe, and that it’s a two-parter, so even we don’t know what happens in the second half. Oh, and I’m guessing that Peter’s bit where he reminisces about he and Lois going to an abortionist is almost certainly not going to be in the version that you see on Fox. After the read, the cast remained on stage and took a few questions from the crowd…the first of which, unsurprisingly, was, “Seth, what exactly did you cut out of that script?”
“Oh, I think the abortion one was about eight times as long,” MacFarlane laughed. “Some of this stuff, actually, you will only see on the DVD. There’s some stuff that was, you know, judiciously edited with our approval. And some stuff — for example, the swearing you’ll only see on the DVD. Since that’s become such a big part of “Family Guy,” there are — occasionally if we bleep something for TV, we’ll let it slide on the DVD.” Most surprising admission from MacFarlane: that they’re never out to shock for the sake of shocking. “The thing that I try to do with ‘Family Guy,’” he explained, “is to kind of have this balance between the classic and the edgy. You know, we do a lot of poop jokes, but at the same time, we use a 45-piece orchestra every week with a full string section. If something is just shocking and not funny, then we’ll cut it out. And we have these table reads every week, which we do for each episode, in which we have a very good cross section of artists and people from the outside and writers, and, you know, the studio network is there. And no one is shy about gasping in horror if we have crossed the line, and so it’s a very good barometer.” Best bit of gossip from MacFarlane: “Certain members of the Brolin family were amused by the (Barbra Streisand) gag that we did. That’s all I’ll say.” Most surprising anecdote: the FCC responded to the show’s FCC-themed episode…and thought it was funny! MacFarlane admitted that it “surprised the hell out of me…and gives me a little bit of hope!” Least surprising question: let’s just say it involved a reference to manatees. (I’m as guilty as anyone; I did the same thing when I talked to him…but I like to think t |
