Category: News (Page 226 of 401)

TCA Tour, Jan. 2009: “Bollywood Hero”

January 10, 2009 /

With all due respect to the star of “Corky Romano,” it would in no way surprise me if you were to react with shock at the news that Chris Kattan is going to be doing a rather intelligent comedy miniseries for the Independent Film Channel. And to be fair, my impressions of “Bollywood Hero,” the miniseries in questions, are based solely on a trailer that was made solely for promotional purposes and that they haven’t actually started filming “Bollywood Hero” yet. But from that trailer and the description of the concept, I have to admit that I’m really, really looking forward to seeing the final product…eventually.

The concept, since I’m sure you now wondering about it, is thus: fed up with Hollywood’s inability to recognize that he is leading-man material, Chris Kattan decides to prove his acting mettle in Bollywood, India. The problem, however, is that he really has no idea what he’s getting into.

“It’s a fish-out-of-water show,” says Kattan. “It’s human-based. It’s grounded. It’s about real people, but it’s obviously going to be funny. It’s not a slapstick sitcom kind of a show, and that’s what appealed to me the most. It was…it’s like a ‘Curb (Your Enthusiasm),’ I would say. It has a great story, as opposed to a lot of television now. It has strong cast and situations, but this has a strong cast as well as a great storyline to it. And IFC has been great about letting it be protected. A lot of network television…nothing against them, obviously, but there’s always a lot of voices that don’t necessarily protect what we want to do, how we want to have fun and have a great time.”

So what made Kattan decide that he was up to the challenge of playing an exaggerated version of himself? Actually, the idea is one that’s appealed to him for quite some time.

Continue reading »

Actors, Celebrities, External Entertainment, External TV, News, TCA Blog 2009, TCA Press Tour, TV, TV Comedies

TCA Tour, Jan. 2009: “Green Porno”

January 10, 2009 /

I considered starting off this posting with something titillating, but given that I’m already a little worried about what sordid types will accidentally pull up this link because of the inclusion of the word “porno,” I should probably just jump into the matter at hand: Isabella Rossellini’s strange but amusing Sundance Channel series, “Green Porno,” which soon begins its second season.

What is “Green Porno,” you ask? Well, not that it will probably help clarify things a great deal, but here’s a photo from the show, courtesy of Sundance:

Okay, here’s the deal: Ms. Rossellini decided that she wanted to do a series about the sex life of different animals, but to avoid the issue of not actually having footage of the beasts in mid-coitus, she provides a re-enactment herself with the assistance of costumes which offer, shall we say, a slightly artistic interpretation of the momentous event.

“I don’t want to be like documentary filmmakers, in a hole in the cold for five months, waiting for that squid to mate,” she says. She does, however, writee the scripts and storyboards the episodes herself, doing all the requisite research to make sure everything’s up to snuff, including a recent trip to Patagonia.

“I’ve read about animals since I was a child,” she said. “I wasn’t good at school, but if I had been good at school, I would have been a biologist. Or I would have been Jane Goodall. That’s who I wanted to be.”

Now, you’d think it might get to be a bit of the same-old same-old after a few episodes, but you’d be wrong: some of methods of reproduction are, in Ms. Rossellini’s words, “scandalous.”

“You know, some of them are hermaphrodites, some of them change sex during their lifetime,” she explained. “Things that if we would do it as human beings, we would be arrested, but they do it naturally. It’s the variety that anything is impossible, the unthinkable. You think you can think of something really scandalous in your mind? Well, the animals are going to do more that you can imagine. A lot of fish are sometimes born female and become male or born male and become female. That I didn’t know. I was surprised, even simple animals like shrimp, that we eat all the time, we don’t know that he does that. Earthworms, that we all know, we find in our garden, they are hermaphrodite and they mate in the 69 position with the head and the tail like that.”

At this, Rossellini smiled.

“So you wanted something scandalous?” she asked. “There it is.”

Season 2 of “Green Porno” will launch on May 5th on Sundancechannel.com.

Actresses, Celebrities, External Entertainment, External TV, News, TV

TCA Tour, Jan. 2009: “American Masters: Hollywood Chinese”

January 10, 2009 /

As a profoundly white male, I watched the trailer for “American Masters: Hollywood Chinese” and listened to the actors on the panels discuss their respective careers, I couldn’t help but cringe at the treatment that the Chinese have received on television and in the movies.

Look at James Hong, for instance. The man has been a working actor since the 1950s, but when you check out his resume, the number of cliched and stereotypical roles is highly disconcerting. He played Charlie Chan’s son on TV, turned up as Hop-Sing’s cousin on “Bonanza,” has portrayed more waiters than you can imagine, and although it’s not technically a bad thing to play a wise old Asian, it’s a rarity for those sorts of roles to be particularly meaty.

Memorable, yes. But definitely not meaty. Hong worked on the pilot for “Kung Fu,” and he recalled the mindset of the industry at the time, which necessitated that a white guy – David Carradine, of course – play the Chinese lead character.

“As I recall, back in those days and even now, the producers would say the Chinese leads are not marketable, so that is the key sentence,” said Hong. “That means that there would not be enough audience watching the TV that will tune in on a Chinese playing the lead. They were just not accustomed to that. In a sense, they said, ‘Well, what should we do?’ I think what they did, and correct me if I’m wrong, they made the role sort of like a Euro-Asian person so that would bring David in to play the role. In that sense, I find it very pathetic that the producers were shortsighted not to cast one of the Asians to play that role because, like you saw, it is an Asian lead. That is only back during those periods, but it’s still being carried nowadays, because you don’t find many Chinese or Asian Americans playing any leads in TV series, a few in movies and so forth, but very far and few between, just a handful. I find that, after 55 years in this business, this still exists.”

Nancy Kwan, best known for her roles in “Flower Drum Song” and “The World of Suzie Wong,” had her own “Kung Fu” story, though it was in connection with the actor who was originally considering a role on the series.

“Bruce (Lee) and I were in Hong Kong at the time,” she said, “and we were having lunch, and Bruce said, ‘Nancy, I want to do this series called ‘Kung Fu.’” I said, ‘You are?’ He said, ‘Yeah. Yeah. I’m waiting to hear.’ I said, ‘I don’t know, Bruce. I don’t know the timing.’ David was actually a friend of mine at the time. We had worked together on another film. He said, ‘No. No. I’m going to do this.’ So I looked at him and I said, ‘Bet.’ He said, ‘Okay. How much?’ I said, ’10 bucks.’ All right. And I had to collect my 10 bucks.”

Continue reading »

Actors, Actresses, Celebrities, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External TV, News, TCA Blog 2009, TCA Press Tour, TV

TCA Tour, Jan. 2009: “Great Performances: ‘Chess’ In Concert”

January 9, 2009 /

Remember “One Night in Bangkok”? Good ol’ Murray Head. Everyone thinks of him as a one-hit wonder in the States, but he’s really a two-hit wonder, having scored a top-20 single back in ’71 with “Superstar,” from “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Possibly not coincidentally, both singles featured lyrics from Sir Tim Rice, though a lot of Americans don’t realize that “One Night in Bangkok” is from a musical as well…not that anyone would blame you, given that the show from which it originates – “Chess” – was a gargantuan flop when it made its Broadway debut.

Most would argue, however, that the problem lay not with the musical itself but, rather, with the decision to change “Chess” from its original West End set-up by changing the story, adding different settings, characters, and plot elements, re-ordering the score, and redesigning the set to make it all more cinematic.

Certainly, Sir Tim is less than complimentary when discussing the Broadway production.

“To be honest, it was not good,” he said. “A huge book was added in, and I’m not criticizing the writer of the book particularly, but it was already too long, and to stick in a whole new play on top of it…? It went on. You know, it was a long show: thermos, flask, and a razor. It was just…it was not right. And it flopped on Broadway, but there’s a huge interest in the show, because the songs were…you know, if I may be immodest, the songs were very good. And it kind of went out and every director said, ‘Well, I can improve on this.’ And I’m not sure…well, they probably improved on the Broadway version, but they didn’t really get back to what it was.”

Who better to finally succeed at doing so, then, than Sir Tim himself?

PBS will be airing “”Great Performances: ‘Chess’ In Concert,” and although it will probably still never quite be perfect in the eyes of its creators (Rice wrote the lyrics, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson – late of ABBA – wrote the music), it’s certainly a lot closer than it used to be.

Continue reading »

Celebrities, External Entertainment, External TV, News, TCA Blog 2009, TCA Press Tour, TV

TCA Tour, Jan. 2009: “Masterpiece Classic: The Incomplete Dickens”

January 9, 2009 /

Charles Dickens is one of those authors whose works manage to be both a part of popular culture while still proving highly threatening to students everywhere. You could probably reel off a list of the man’s works with precious little effort, but – and maybe this is just me here – I still get a chill and a nasty flashback when someone asks me, “Have you read ‘David Copperfield’?” That’s probably why, even at the age of 38, I’d still prefer to watch an adaptation of one of Dickens’ novels rather than actually read one of them. (I know. I’m a philistine. But I’m comfortable with it.)

PBS, of course, has never been afraid to take the work of Dickens and transform it into a major production, so it’s no surprise to find that they’re to be airing three such adaptations – “Oliver Twist,” “Little Dorrit,” and “The Old Curiosity Shop” – as part of what’s being called “The Incomplete Dickens.”

When you look at Timothy Spall, known to “Harry Potter” fans around the world as the man who plays Peter Pettigrew, you have to admit: the guy was born to play Fagin in “Oliver Twist.” And when you see his performance, you’ll be hard pressed to avoid using the word “creepy” when describing him.

That might sound like an insult, but let’s call it more of a left-handed compliment, shall we? Besides, it’s not like Spall isn’t aware of a recurring thread amongst many of the characters he has played.

“They’re sort of all repulsive,” he admitted. “They are somewhat divine, and they are repulsive, aren’t they? Looking at what I do and standing the way I stand and acting the way I do, I’ve always thought it’s part of my job to give people who are undesirable a really good crack at the game. And then I laugh at trying to turn the tables on characters that are perceived as being pariahs or outcasts or repulsive or repugnant in some way and make you realize that even the most reprehensible and undesirables of characters are human beings. If I get a chance, I try to give it a go and make you feel bad about hating them as well.”

He’s amused, however, by how much one of the smallest parts he’s ever played – Peter Pettigrew – is the one that has become one of his signature roles.

Continue reading »

Actors, Actresses, Celebrities, External Entertainment, External TV, News, TCA Blog 2009, TCA Press Tour, TV, TV Dramas

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2026 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑