Seeing stars
Source：Newark Star Ledger
Date：August 30, 2006
BY ALAN SEPINWALL
BACK DURING Virginia Madsen's first stint on the A-list, when she was an in-demand young starlet, a script crossed her desk called "Long Gone," a movie about minor league baseball in the Jim Crow South. She loved the story, loved her potential role as a groupie with brains and sex appeal -- basically, the Susan Sarandon character from "Bull Durham," but a year earlier. It was a great part, one of the best she would ever play -- and everyone she knew was telling her not to do it.
Why? Because "Long Gone" was being produced for HBO, which in 1987 was the acting equivalent of being sent to the low minors.
"(It) was thought to have been a huge mistake, a huge step down to go for that cable channel," Madsen says now. "I loved the story, but it did some damage to my career."
Jump ahead a couple of decades, and her Oscar nomination for "Sideways" has Madsen back on the A-list again, getting significant movie offers again. And yet here she is doing TV again, playing Ray Liotta's wife on CBS' upcoming heist drama "Smith."
Producer John Wells, the man responsible for "ER" and the later seasons of "The West Wing," "called my representation and he said he had a show idea with Ray Liotta, and I said, 'I'm doing movies right now. I wish this happened last year.' But you know what? When John Wells calls you, you're never going to say no to that meeting. And I wanted to meet him because I'm a fan of his shows, and he convinced me in one meeting."
Madsen and Liotta aren't the only movie actors descending on the small screen. James Woods is playing a colorful criminal lawyer on CBS' "Shark." Alec Baldwin is playing Tina Fey's boss on NBC's "30 Rock." Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet, who co-starred in "The Whole Nine Yards," are re-teaming for NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." The cast of ABC's "Six Degrees" includes Erika Christensen, Bridget Moynahan, Jay Hernandez, Hope Davis and Campbell Scott; and Madsen and Liotta's "Smith" co-stars include Simon Baker, Amy Smart and Jonny Lee Miller.
Now, none of these are names that would guarantee a huge opening weekend if they were placed on the top of a movie poster, but they're all respected actors who aren't exactly lacking for movie parts. And all of them (plus other recognizable movie faces like Ron Livingston from Fox's "Standoff" and America Ferrera of ABC's "Ugly Betty") somehow wound up in new series in the same season.
Add them to the likes of James Spader ("Boston Legal"), Gary Sinise ("CSI: NY"), Anthony LaPaglia ("Without a Trace") and Jason Lee ("My Name Is Earl"), and it feels like there's been a mass exodus of character actors from multiplexes to your living room over the last few years.
In some cases, it's a matter of relationships. Liotta guest starred on "ER" a couple of years ago, winning an Emmy and a fondness for Wells and "Smith" director Christopher Chulack in the process.
"I really liked working with them," he says. "It came out nice. I wasn't looking to do a series, but when you have John Wells and Chris asking you to do something, I just felt honored to be a part of it."
Baldwin has worked with "30 Rock" creator/star Fey and her boss Lorne Michaels so many times on "Saturday Night Live" that he's practically a regular cast member.
"I think his respect for Lorne and his trust of Lorne and of Marci Klein, one of our other producers, absolutely" convinced Baldwin to do it, says Fey.
But more often than not, it's about the material, and the fact that if you want to do intelligent, character-based drama these days, the opportunities are a lot better on TV than in the movies.
"I don't know if you've seen a bunch of movies lately," says Liotta, "but some of the movies out there -- I don't really think it's a step down. If anything, TV has obviously gotten better and better, and movies have gotten more generalized."
"There seems not to be as much breadth to the imagination in the movies these days," says Woods of the corporate mentality at the movie studios. "They are very careful. Movies seem to be scared, whereas television seems to be like a teenager feeling his or her oats. You know, let's take this on and that."
After "Friends," Perry wasn't interested in another series. Then he got Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60" script.
"I'm here mostly because of how good the script is and how bad 'The Whole 10 Yards' was," he says, only half-kidding.
For actresses in particular, TV offers more challenging opportunities than just playing the hero's girlfriend.
"You know, I wasn't getting these kinds of roles," Peet says of her "Studio 60" part as a complicated TV executive, "and I don't think 99 percent of the actresses out there get these kind of roles."
"The writing on the show has been a lot better than most of the scripts I've been seeing in films, especially for women," says Moynahan, "so I felt like it was something that if we could do it week after week and develop something, it would be much more interesting."
A TV show, in success, also offers a more stable lifestyle. New Yorkers Moynahan and Baldwin both agreed to do their respective shows because they shoot in New York instead of in LA, while Madsen is looking forward to being around more for her son.
"I've been traveling so much," she says. "He's about to start middle school, and I want to stay home more."
For those actors who want to keep their film careers alive, there's flexibility, either during production hiatuses or by working in an ensemble cast that doesn't require a five-day work week. And if they don't like the arrangement, there's often a way out.
"All of my deals with actors, it's always, 'If you don't think it's interesting, let's talk about it. If I can't convince you, you don't have to stay,'" says John Wells, who has said goodbye to plenty of rising stars (notably that Clooney fellow) on "ER." With "Smith" in particular, the show was designed with cast changes in mind. The title refers not to Liotta's name, but an FBI designation for an unidentified thief, and one that could easily be applied to one of the other characters, or a new leading man, if Liotta and Madsen were to leave after a year or two.
Madsen says the actors are all continually talking with Wells about how long they want to stay, "and I think everybody wants to see where it goes. As long as I get a hiatus and can take that time off -- right now, I have a couple of movies scheduled -- I may be okay."
Whatever stigma she felt when she did "Long Gone" all those years ago is, um, long gone.
"It's been changing slowly over the years," she says. "It's becoming about product and visibility. Frankly, what happened was, a lot of the TV people began to gain more power, and TV people began moving into films, which they'd never been allowed to do before. And the film people said, 'Oh, I can go do TV and it's not going to hurt me.'"
From Newark Star Ledger.
Date：August 30, 2006
BY ALAN SEPINWALL
BACK DURING Virginia Madsen's first stint on the A-list, when she was an in-demand young starlet, a script crossed her desk called "Long Gone," a movie about minor league baseball in the Jim Crow South. She loved the story, loved her potential role as a groupie with brains and sex appeal -- basically, the Susan Sarandon character from "Bull Durham," but a year earlier. It was a great part, one of the best she would ever play -- and everyone she knew was telling her not to do it.
Why? Because "Long Gone" was being produced for HBO, which in 1987 was the acting equivalent of being sent to the low minors.
"(It) was thought to have been a huge mistake, a huge step down to go for that cable channel," Madsen says now. "I loved the story, but it did some damage to my career."
Jump ahead a couple of decades, and her Oscar nomination for "Sideways" has Madsen back on the A-list again, getting significant movie offers again. And yet here she is doing TV again, playing Ray Liotta's wife on CBS' upcoming heist drama "Smith."
Producer John Wells, the man responsible for "ER" and the later seasons of "The West Wing," "called my representation and he said he had a show idea with Ray Liotta, and I said, 'I'm doing movies right now. I wish this happened last year.' But you know what? When John Wells calls you, you're never going to say no to that meeting. And I wanted to meet him because I'm a fan of his shows, and he convinced me in one meeting."
Madsen and Liotta aren't the only movie actors descending on the small screen. James Woods is playing a colorful criminal lawyer on CBS' "Shark." Alec Baldwin is playing Tina Fey's boss on NBC's "30 Rock." Matthew Perry and Amanda Peet, who co-starred in "The Whole Nine Yards," are re-teaming for NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." The cast of ABC's "Six Degrees" includes Erika Christensen, Bridget Moynahan, Jay Hernandez, Hope Davis and Campbell Scott; and Madsen and Liotta's "Smith" co-stars include Simon Baker, Amy Smart and Jonny Lee Miller.
Now, none of these are names that would guarantee a huge opening weekend if they were placed on the top of a movie poster, but they're all respected actors who aren't exactly lacking for movie parts. And all of them (plus other recognizable movie faces like Ron Livingston from Fox's "Standoff" and America Ferrera of ABC's "Ugly Betty") somehow wound up in new series in the same season.
Add them to the likes of James Spader ("Boston Legal"), Gary Sinise ("CSI: NY"), Anthony LaPaglia ("Without a Trace") and Jason Lee ("My Name Is Earl"), and it feels like there's been a mass exodus of character actors from multiplexes to your living room over the last few years.
In some cases, it's a matter of relationships. Liotta guest starred on "ER" a couple of years ago, winning an Emmy and a fondness for Wells and "Smith" director Christopher Chulack in the process.
"I really liked working with them," he says. "It came out nice. I wasn't looking to do a series, but when you have John Wells and Chris asking you to do something, I just felt honored to be a part of it."
Baldwin has worked with "30 Rock" creator/star Fey and her boss Lorne Michaels so many times on "Saturday Night Live" that he's practically a regular cast member.
"I think his respect for Lorne and his trust of Lorne and of Marci Klein, one of our other producers, absolutely" convinced Baldwin to do it, says Fey.
But more often than not, it's about the material, and the fact that if you want to do intelligent, character-based drama these days, the opportunities are a lot better on TV than in the movies.
"I don't know if you've seen a bunch of movies lately," says Liotta, "but some of the movies out there -- I don't really think it's a step down. If anything, TV has obviously gotten better and better, and movies have gotten more generalized."
"There seems not to be as much breadth to the imagination in the movies these days," says Woods of the corporate mentality at the movie studios. "They are very careful. Movies seem to be scared, whereas television seems to be like a teenager feeling his or her oats. You know, let's take this on and that."
After "Friends," Perry wasn't interested in another series. Then he got Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60" script.
"I'm here mostly because of how good the script is and how bad 'The Whole 10 Yards' was," he says, only half-kidding.
For actresses in particular, TV offers more challenging opportunities than just playing the hero's girlfriend.
"You know, I wasn't getting these kinds of roles," Peet says of her "Studio 60" part as a complicated TV executive, "and I don't think 99 percent of the actresses out there get these kind of roles."
"The writing on the show has been a lot better than most of the scripts I've been seeing in films, especially for women," says Moynahan, "so I felt like it was something that if we could do it week after week and develop something, it would be much more interesting."
A TV show, in success, also offers a more stable lifestyle. New Yorkers Moynahan and Baldwin both agreed to do their respective shows because they shoot in New York instead of in LA, while Madsen is looking forward to being around more for her son.
"I've been traveling so much," she says. "He's about to start middle school, and I want to stay home more."
For those actors who want to keep their film careers alive, there's flexibility, either during production hiatuses or by working in an ensemble cast that doesn't require a five-day work week. And if they don't like the arrangement, there's often a way out.
"All of my deals with actors, it's always, 'If you don't think it's interesting, let's talk about it. If I can't convince you, you don't have to stay,'" says John Wells, who has said goodbye to plenty of rising stars (notably that Clooney fellow) on "ER." With "Smith" in particular, the show was designed with cast changes in mind. The title refers not to Liotta's name, but an FBI designation for an unidentified thief, and one that could easily be applied to one of the other characters, or a new leading man, if Liotta and Madsen were to leave after a year or two.
Madsen says the actors are all continually talking with Wells about how long they want to stay, "and I think everybody wants to see where it goes. As long as I get a hiatus and can take that time off -- right now, I have a couple of movies scheduled -- I may be okay."
Whatever stigma she felt when she did "Long Gone" all those years ago is, um, long gone.
"It's been changing slowly over the years," she says. "It's becoming about product and visibility. Frankly, what happened was, a lot of the TV people began to gain more power, and TV people began moving into films, which they'd never been allowed to do before. And the film people said, 'Oh, I can go do TV and it's not going to hurt me.'"
From Newark Star Ledger.
posted by nikita | 8:27 PM
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