June 22, 2006 |
Trail Leads Robert Duvall Back to TV
It is, as they say out on the range, a sight for sore eyes to see Robert Duvall back on TV in AMC's first-ever original movie, Broken Trail. The two-part, four-hour film (airing Sunday and Monday at 8 pm/ET) stars Duvall as grizzled cowboy Print Ritter, who leads his estranged, taciturn nephew Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) on a harrowing horse drive from Oregon to Wyoming. The ragtag travelers embark on your classic Western odyssey, complete with smallpox, bloodshed and outlaws, but with a twist: Duvall, who also served as executive producer, was intent on putting people, not shoot-'em-ups, center stage. "I tried to say, 'Let's just keep this very simple. Talking and listening,'" he recalls. In fact, he oversaw an 11th-hour re-edit of the film, which restored "90 percent-plus" of his intention. "It got back to what it should be: a film of character-driven moments, not action." Along the way, Print and Tom rescue five Chinese women from sex slavery, as well as a "working girl" named Nola (Greta Scacchi), who offers the old cowpoke her proverbial heart of gold.For Duvall's character, the journey is also one of redemption for a tragic, heartbreaking past. "Print wants to kind of mend family relationships on this horse drive," he explains. "He wants to make amends to his nephew. And then these Chinese girls are thrown upon us, and they become like surrogate daughters." (In fact, he notes, the project's original title was Daughters of Joy, which was period slang for prostitutes.)Appropriately enough, Duvall spoke to TV Guide from the comfy confines of his sprawling Virginia ranch, where the remarkably spry septuagenarian lives with his dance partner (and costar of his 2003 thriller, Assassination Tango), Luciana Pedraza. With the smell of fresh hay in the air, the Hollywood legend spent a leisurely afternoon recounting celluloid adventures past.Print Ritter is the latest in a line of damaged men in Duvall's repertoire. The character is reminiscent of his Oscar-winning turn as Mac Sledge, the has-been country singer from 1983's Tender Mercies, as well as hotheaded preacher Sonny Dewey from Duvall's 1997 film, The Apostle. "They're guys who have histories but can't make things work," he says. "I always try to find the contradictions in a character, a moment of vulnerability in the guy. That's what makes drama."Trail also marks the latest in a long line of Westerns for Duvall: "I always say the English have Shakespeare, the French have Molière, the Russians have Chekhov, and the Western is definitely ours."Of course, more than anything else, Trail will evoke fond — scratch that, passionate — viewer memories of Lonesome Dove, the landmark 1989 miniseries that landed Duvall an Emmy nomination for his enthralling portrayal of complicated ex-Texas Ranger Augustus McCrae. Duvall cites McCrae as his favorite role — and, set against a storied half-century of acting, that's saying something. "I'd rather play Augustus McCrae than Hamlet or King Lear," he says.Duvall is rare, maybe unique, among Hollywood actors in having left his stamp on a pair of homegrown genres — the other, of course, being the gangster movie.Having etched a monument to character-actor greatness in his portrayal of The Godfather's Mafia consigliere Tom Hagen, Duvall maintains his appreciation for a well-executed mob tale. "A couple of years ago, Godfather II was on TV — I didn't turn it on to see me — and I thought, 'Let me watch five minutes,'" he recalls."I couldn't turn it off!"Send in your comments about this article to letters@tvguide.com. |
Clinton, Jon Stewart in Puzzling New Film
What's an eight-letter word for a star-studded new documentary? Wordplay, going into wide release this Friday, offers a compelling look at Will Shortz, editor of the New York Times' venerable grid, and the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Along the way, such famous faces as former President Bill Clinton, Daily Show host Jon Stewart, filmmaker Ken Burns and New York Yankees ace Mike Mussina each detail their solving hobbies, and in turn give props to the Times' puzzlemaster. After seeing the doc, TVGuide.com took some questions to Shortz, confident that he could fill in the blanks. TVGuide.com: My previous writing gig involved constructing the occasional crossword, so all I have to say is thank goodness for "individual retirement accounts"!Will Shortz: [Laughs] That's very good.
TVGuide.com: Whose idea was it to chronicle the Times crossword and the annual tournament up in Stamford, Connecticut?Shortz: Patrick Creadon, the director of the film, and Christine O'Malley, his wife, are crossword doers who actually just got into it about five years ago, but they really love the Times crossword and thought it would make an interesting subject for a documentary. Patrick left a message on my machine at the Times, asking if I would be willing to do this. Basically, I say yes to anything that I can fit into my schedule. I didn't dream that this thing would ever be so successful, but I said, "Sure! I'll do whatever you need."
TVGuide.com: Were you impressed and/or delighted with the amount of famous faces they got to pimp for you in the film? I mean, you've got Clinton, Jon Stewart....Shortz: I knew about all of them being big crossword fans, and it was very cool that they were able to get such important people in the film. Especially Bill Clinton talking about how solving a crossword is like tackling any challenge or issue in the White House — I thought that was great. And Amy [Ray] of the Indigo Girls talking about how solving a crossword is like writing a song. And Jon Stewart... well, he is just hilarious.
TVGuide.com: How does it feel to see Jon Stewart so familiarly taunting you on the big screen, "Bring it on, Will Shortz!"Shortz: That was so over the top, it's very cool and flattering.... It's nice.
TVGuide.com: Having grown up in Stamford, I was proud to see the Marriott representing.Shortz: I started the tournament there in 1978, back when it was a brand-new hotel.
TVGuide.com: I remember that the new Marriott was a big deal. The revolving restaurant had the town transfixed!Shortz: I worked summers in Stamford for a crossword-magazine company there. That was starting in 1974, and in my first year, that area was literally a slum. And look at it now!
TVGuide.com: When did you first realize such heavy-hitters were in the "Will Shortz Fan Club"?Shortz: In 1992, when Clinton was first running for president, I was the editor of Games magazine, and the publisher was a friend of Clinton's, so I got to interview him about his interest in puzzles. Clinton solved a crossword that we created for him, while we watched, in six minutes and 54 seconds — and he was on the phone, talking, half the time. You knew right then that this is somebody who's a solver.
TVGuide.com: Ever do a clue alluding to his Oval Office indiscretions? Or does that go against the Times crossword style rule about never referencing bodily fluids? Shortz: [Laughs] That has nothing to do with the rule. It just seems tawdry, so I wouldn't do that. But [attorney general Janet] Reno and [transportation secretary Federico] Pena, both cabinet members of his, appear in crosswords a lot. In January 1997, on the Sunday before Clinton was inaugurated for his second term, I ran a crossword in the Times that was all about him and his cabinet. He wrote afterward [saying] how much he enjoyed that. He solved the crossword while he should have been polishing his inaugural address.
TVGuide.com: What's the story about you helping Jon Stewart propose to his wife?Shortz: He called me around 1995, '96, and left a message saying, "Hi, this is Jon from The Daily Show...." Now I don't have cable TV and he didn't say his last name, so for all I know he was the gaffer or something for a TV show I didn't know. But he said he and his girlfriend were both huge New York Times crossword fans, and he wanted to propose to her through a crossword. He had tried to make the puzzle himself and completely failed, so he asked if I would help him. I wasn't able to do it myself, but I got a friend of mine to do it. The puzzle is now framed on his wall. When I was on his show a couple of years ago he joked that if his girlfriend had solved the crossword incorrectly and filled in the wrong name, would she have to marry a different guy?
TVGuide.com: That's funny — she could have promised herself to Rod Stewart. What word or words to this day vex you?Shortz: Hmm, what vexes me.... This answer doesn't trick me, but it tricks other people: randr. The first time I ran this answer, the clue was "Leave time?" I got letters and calls from people who said they couldn't find "randr" in their dictionary. Well, it's "R and R," as in relaxation. Every time I run that answer, always with a different clue, it tricks people.
TVGuide.com: When you use a relatively new celebrity as an answer, do you ever think, "This is going to make that person's day"?Shortz: Yes, that does cross my mind. There's a band leader whose widow once wrote me to say, "I've been solving the Times crossword for years, and it tickled me so much to see my Artie mentioned." It was really sweet.
TVGuide.com: Wordplay shows that a wide cross-section of people solve these puzzles, not all history and English teachers, as some might assume.Shortz: That's right. It's everyone from teenagers to as old as people get, evenly divided between men and women, and from all walks of life. Another preconception is that crossworders are all complete geeks, and what you see in the tournament is there are some geeky people....
TVGuide.com: Yeah, you'd better say some.Shortz: [Laughs] Any time you get an intellectual pursuit like this, you'll get some geeky people, but to be really good at solving crosswords you've got to know a little of everything, and it helps to have a flexible mind and a sense of humor. The best solvers are well-rounded, interesting people.
TVGuide.com: In closing, if I may get cerebral and heady here for a second... would you say the message of this film is "Sudoku is for sissies"?Shortz: No, I'm a huge Sudoku fan....
TVGuide.com: C'mon, it's all process of elimination!Shortz: Oh, there's more to it than process of elimination. Those are the very easy sudoku puzzles. Once you move onto the harder ones, they require higher levels of logic. I will not run down sudoku — I love it. I just like crosswords more. |
Big Changes Coming to Law & Order
For its 17th season, the aging legal drama Law & Order will undergo an extreme makeover. The NBC warhorse moves to Fridays at 10 pm/ET in the fall and will add two new cast members, including — for the first time — a female street detective.
After owning Wednesdays at 10 for more than a decade, L&O finally met its match the past two seasons against CSI: NY. Now NBC is going to see if the show will fare any better against another CBS hit, Numbers, on a night with lower expectations.
Notoriously brusque creator and executive producer Dick Wolf initially admitted he "liked the first schedule better," but he now says, "I'm sure we'll do fine."
Media analyst Steve Sternberg of Magna Global agrees. "NBC realized that the show isn't as strong as it used to be. However, it will probably do very well on Friday," he says. "There's room for two shows in that time period."
Major cast changes are also on tap following the departure of Dennis Farina, who played Det. Joe Fontana for the past two seasons. (Farina says he quit the show to focus on other projects.) Wolf quickly moved to hire Milena Govich to join Jesse L. Martin's Det. Ed Green on the police beat. Govich was most recently seen on Wolf's latest legal drama, Conviction, which NBC canceled after its mid-season tryout, and also had a recurring role on the FX drama Rescue Me.
Additionally, a new assistant DA — to be played by Alana De La Garza, fresh from her arc as Horatio Caine's ill-fated bride on CSI: Miami — will replace Alexandra Borgia (Annie Parisse), who was murdered in L&O's season finale last month.
Despite all the changes, Wolf is optimistic about Law & Order's future. "The new blood will refresh the show in the way it's been refreshed in the past, since we first added women to the cast in 1993," he says.
A ruling from the ultimate judges — the TV audience — should come in September.
Send in your comments about this article to letters@tvguide.com. |
Regis Has Got Talent
Somewhere along the line, miraculous multitasker Kelly Ripa must have inspired cohost Regis Philbin to return to his own juggling act. Just as he did when he launched the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire phenomenon, Philbin will balance his morning Live with Regis & Kelly act with a prime-time reality show, America's Got Talent (premiering Wednesday at 9 pm/ET on Fox). Simon Cowell's brainchild will feature all kinds of contestants with all kinds of "talents" — from singing to magic to stripping — who will perform in front of judges and compete for our votes to win $1 million. And in the middle of it all will be Philbin, the Ryan Seacrest of this bizarre twist on American Idol.
Philbin admits that working on Talent isn't quite as easy as his day job. "My morning show is really a joy because we get on and get off and it's all done in the hour, and I've done it for so many years that it's become almost second nature to me," he explains. "Simon warned me at the beginning of [Talent] that the audition process was going to be long and arduous for everybody because it just takes time to set up the judges, bring out the talent, let them do the best they can, and then get the reaction from the judges.... It takes 10 to 12 hours to get the first one-hour audition episode set."
His schedule will ease up once the show moves into its live rounds later in the season. In the meantime he's still thrilled by the chance to see the bizarre range of contestants who make it to the stage. "I think everybody thinks they have some kind of talent. It depends how strong your ego is. [Such as] the fellow who came out and we couldn't figure out what his talent was until he started stripping. He was 70," Philbin recalls. "Another guy has the ability to balance a 300-pound oven on his face, holding it up in the air and then cooking three eggs on it."
As it turns out, this was just the kind of variety show Philbin was looking for. "I had thought about [doing a variety show] for a long time," Philbin says. "The old variety shows — I loved them as a kid, watching the Ed Sullivan Show, and later Dean Martin had the best variety show in the last 30 years. But I didn't know how to do it [myself]."
So when he got word that Cowell was looking for a host, Philbin took it upon himself to call the producers. "I thought I was being celebrity punked!" Cowell says of hearing the news. "We never in a million years dreamt we would get someone like Regis to do a show like this. It was the quickest and easiest decision."
The two showbiz heavies seem to have formed a mutual admiration society. "Simon is a master showman, and I think he has the Midas touch right now," Philbin gushes.
And when asked to compare Philbin to Seacrest, Cowell's Idol nemesis, the British meanie declares: "Regis is better looking. He's less vain. He's better at ad-libbing. And he likes me." |
Big Changes Coming to Law & Order
For its 17th season, the aging legal drama Law & Order will undergo an extreme makeover. The NBC warhorse moves to Fridays at 10 pm/ET in the fall and will add two new cast members, including — for the first time — a female street detective.
After owning Wednesdays at 10 for more than a decade, L&O finally met its match the past two seasons against CSI: NY. Now NBC is going to see if the show will fare any better against another CBS hit, Numbers, on a night with lower expectations.
Notoriously brusque creator and executive producer Dick Wolf initially admitted he "liked the first schedule better," but he now says, "I'm sure we'll do fine."
Media analyst Steve Sternberg of Magna Global agrees. "NBC realized that the show isn't as strong as it used to be. However, it will probably do very well on Friday," he says. "There's room for two shows in that time period."
Major cast changes are also on tap following the departure of Dennis Farina, who played Det. Joe Fontana for the past two seasons. (Farina says he quit the show to focus on other projects.) Wolf quickly moved to hire Milena Govich to join Jesse L. Martin's Det. Ed Green on the police beat. Govich was most recently seen on Wolf's latest legal drama, Conviction, which NBC canceled after its mid-season tryout, and also had a recurring role on the FX drama Rescue Me.
Additionally, a new assistant DA — to be played by Alana De La Garza, fresh from her arc as Horatio Caine's ill-fated bride on CSI: Miami — will replace Alexandra Borgia (Annie Parisse), who was murdered in L&O's season finale last month.
Despite all the changes, Wolf is optimistic about Law & Order's future. "The new blood will refresh the show in the way it's been refreshed in the past, since we first added women to the cast in 1993," he says.
A ruling from the ultimate judges — the TV audience — should come in September.
Send in your comments about this article to letters@tvguide.com. |
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