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It's A "G"Day For Simon

2010-01-19T03:16:00.001-08:00

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Pilot Season Beckons for the Usual Suspects

2007-01-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

Source:The Hollywood Reporter
Date:January 29, 2007
By Nellie Andreeva

If a network has a pilot with a strong male lead this season, chances are they have an offer out to Paul Rudd, Peter Krause, Jeremy Sisto, Simon Baker or Gabriel Macht.

The five -- along with "Alias" veteran Michael Vartan, who last week signed on to do an untitled ABC drama, and perennial favorites Christian Slater and Steve Zahn -- have been keeping a great number of pilots on hold.

What the actors have in common is that they're in their 30s, they are good looking, and they are accomplished.

"They have a body of work that proves their ability to be who we want them to be," says Sharon Klein, head of casting at producer 20th Century Fox TV.

And they all fit the description of the male lead most shows are after, which Klein describes as "32-38, a guy's guy who is accessible and has good looks."

So far, all have passed on several pilots. But network and studio executives are not deterred.

They've made it an annual ritual to kick off the pilot casting season by reaching out to a group of five to six thirtysomething actors, mostly guys who have never or rarely done television.

"Once in a while, one or two will shake loose," NBC's head of casting Marc Hirschfeld said. "You don't want to go with your fourth choice because you were gun-shy about your first three."

After a lengthy courtship, Hirschfeld and Klein two years ago persuaded Jason Lee to give TV a chance with an NBC/20th TV comedy pilot called "My Name Is Earl." And it took CBS a couple of years of trying, but this season, the network finally landed Stephen Dorff on a pilot, the drama "Skip Tracer," which he also helped develop and executive produces.

Klein and Hirschfeld believe that the great demand for thirtysomething lead actors stems from the fact that a lot of the show creators are of that age who are writing about the characters they know best: themselves and their friends.

"There is dearth in that age category," Hirschfeld said. "We're chasing the same people, and it seems like we are all chasing each other."

To alleviate the shortage, U.S. network and studio executives look across the pond. Englishman Damian Lewis stars in NBC's drama pilot "Life," Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau landed the title character in Fox's pilot "New Amsterdam," and Scotsman Kevin McKidd is meeting for the leads on several projects.

While breaking a new actor is a possibility, some lead roles "need an incredibly charismatic actor who has star power, and it is unlikely for that actor to come out of a relatively unknown talent pool," Hirschfeld said.

The high demand is jacking up prices.

"There is a massive premium for leading men," a talent agent said.

In the past two years, ABC and Touchstone TV signed two consecutive deals with Jason O'Mara, most recently shelling out close to $1 million to have him available for their pilots.

While not at the same magnitude, there is a wishful-thinking period at the beginning of the pilot season for leading ladies, too.

Jordana Brewster is red hot this season, fielding numerous offers, with Lucy Liu and Debra Messing also in high demand with multiple offers. And there is Christina Applegate, who is at the top of the TV casting directors' wish lists every year.

But there are just not that many female-lead shows out there. For example, only four of the 11 pilots picked up by 20th TV so far have female leads.

In the next week or two, TV's most wanted actors will make their choices. A few will say yes and many will pass, prompting casting directors and executives to widen the characters' age range or look at relative unknowns.

Who knows -- the next Johnny Depp, George Clooney or Bruce Willis might be just a screen test away.

From backstage.com.

Smith, Now Airing On Demand Exclusively On The CTV Broadband Network including 4 never-seen episodes

2007-01-09T21:24:00.000-08:00

Ray Liotta (left) stars as a criminal mastermind married to Virginia Madsen (left of center) in a drama about a close-knit crew of career criminals including Franky G (left) who plot and execute intricate and ingenious high-stakes heists across the country.

Source:Channel Canada
Date:January 09, 2007
By RAD

Smith is back. Following up on the recent landmark deal with Warner Bros. International Television, CTV announced today its broadband plans for the abbreviated seven-episode season of the critically-acclaimed drama Smith.

Canadians now have the opportunity to see the remaining four, never-seen, action-packed episodes alongside the previously-aired first three episodes. Episode 1 is currently available on demand on The CTV Broadband Network at CTV.ca and during the next six weeks, one new episode will be available each Thursday at 12 noon ET - on demand, free and in its entirety. In addition, on Feb. 15, CTV will release four, 10-minute, audio-based stories (podcasts) created by the producers that conclude any unfinished story lines.

Smith on Broadband Schedule:

Ep. 1 - Now Available
Ep. 2 - Premieres Thursday, January 11 at 12 noon ET
Ep. 3 - Premieres Thursday, January 18 at 12 noon ET
Ep. 4 - Premieres Thursday, January 25 at 12 noon ET (Previously Unseen)
Ep. 5 - Premieres Thursday, February 1 at 12 noon ET (Previously Unseen)
Ep. 6 - Premieres Thursday, February 8 at 12 noon ET (Previously Unseen)
Ep. 7 - Premieres Thursday, February 15 at 12 noon ET (Previously Unseen)
Podcasts - Premieres Thursday, February 15 at 12 noon ET

Smith episodes will be available exclusively to Canadians coast-to-coast who have broadband access through a Canadian-based internet service provider. To watch CTV programs on broadband, visit CTV.ca and click on "The CTV Broadband Network."

Smith debuted in September to critical acclaim, described by the Globe and Mail as a "must-see series" and by the Toronto Star as "one of the best new TV dramas" of the fall. The series went on to become a Top 20 program in Canada. For three straight weeks, it won its timeslot and was en route to potential breakout hit status before it was shelved.

In November, CTV and Warner Bros. International cemented the first multi-program broadband deal between a Canadian broadcaster and a major U.S. studio. The deal resulted in the first U.S. dramas to air on broadband in Canada on The CTV Broadband Network. Adding Smith to the list of broadband titles that includes Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and The O.C. represents CTV's commitment to building a dynamic online roster of audience favourites as CTV continues its rollout of Canada's industry-leading broadband service.

These three U.S. Network dramas join more than 100 hours of top Canadian programs also available on demand, including Corner Gas, eTalk, Degrassi, Instant Star, Whistler, W-Five and The CTV National News.

Smith, which stars Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker, Amy Smart, Jonny Lee Miller, Franky G, Chris Bauer and Shohreh Aghdashloo, is a serialized drama that delves into the world of high-stakes robberies, where Bobby Stevens (Liotta) finds himself leading a double life as both the leader of a band of thieves who pull off intricate and ingenious jobs and also as a typical nine-to-five, suburban family man. Emmy(r) Award winner John Wells, Chris Chulack, Brooke Kennedy and R. Scott Gemmill are executive producers for John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

From Channel Canada.

On TV as in Hollywood, Little Breathing Room for the Modest Success

2006-10-23T02:20:00.000-07:00

Source：New York Time
Date：October 23, 2006
By EDWARD WYATT

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 22 — Few new television shows had as much going for them this fall as “Smith,” a CBS series about a career thief out for one last big score before he retires.

In most seasons, “Smith” would be considered a hit. Even after drawing mixed reviews from critics, its debut attracted 11 million viewers, and the first three episodes attracted an average audience of more than 9 million.

Then, like a thief in the night, “Smith” suddenly disappeared, pulled from the schedule by CBS after just three weeks — despite the fact that the producers had already shot or were well on their way to completing four more episodes.

The quick cancellation of “Smith” elucidates how television, like the movie industry, has become a business where there is little room for the modest success. Network executives might talk endlessly about how, in an era where the attention of audiences is ever more scattered, new shows need time to find themselves. But those same executives are often quick to pull the plug on an expensive production that does not immediately perform to expectations.

Combined with NBC’s announcement last week of plans to cut back on expensive programming, the experience of “Smith” demonstrates how the recent trend in television — costly serializations with large casts and complex plots — changes the basic rules of engagement for networks. Viewers cannot easily dip in and out of these kinds of shows, as they can with a half-hour situation comedy or game show. So networks have to make decisions on more expensive, more complex series based on very small samples — a few episodes, typically — to predict whether viewers will commit to an entire season, as they have for similar shows like “Lost” or “24.”

The calculation is perilous as well for the television studios, like Warner Brothers, which is experiencing a tough season. In addition to canceling “Smith,” CBS pulled out of another planned Warner Brothers series, “Waterfront.” Several other Warner series are also on the ropes, including “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” which is broadcast on NBC; “The Nine” on ABC and “The Class” on CBS.

Among the new fall shows, “Smith” had one of the best pedigrees. The series starred two accomplished actors, Ray Liotta, an Emmy winner, and Virginia Madsen, an Oscar nominee, as the thief and his unsuspecting wife. The show was the product of John Wells, one of the most prolific and successful television producers of current times, who had a hand in the building of the hit shows “ER,” “Third Watch” and, along with Aaron Sorkin, “The West Wing.”

The first episode of “Smith” cost $7 million, roughly double the usual cost of a television premiere. CBS executives were so enthusiastic about the results that they agreed to let the first episode run nearly a third longer than most hour-long dramas; to accommodate the extra length, they recruited a single sponsor — the Warner Brothers film “The Departed” — and ran the show with limited commercials.

Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, said that “Smith” was not the victim of networks looking for quicker results. At a panel discussion here last week that featured the heads of all the major television networks, she said that at CBS the emphasis is on giving new shows the time and attention they need.

“One of the things we do very well is continue to work and develop a show well into its first year and second year,” Ms. Tassler said. She cited the network’s experience with “Criminal Minds,” which grew from a modest opening last year to last week attracting more viewers than ABC’s “Lost.”

When asked in an interview how those comments meshed with the network’s quick retreat on “Smith,” Ms. Tassler said the problems came from the show’s confusing story line. In addition, she said, “Smith” was keeping a shrinking portion of the audience of the two hit shows that preceded it on Tuesday nights, “The Unit” and “NCIS.”

“When you launch a new show, you certainly want it to retain a certain percentage of its lead-in,” she said. “You also want it to build in the second half hour, and we really weren’t doing that with ‘Smith.’ ”

In its first week, 11 million, or 93 percent, of the 11.8 million viewers of “The Unit” stuck around for the first episode of “Smith.” In the second week, that percentage fell to 81 percent, then plummeted to 63 percent in the third week.

Not only was “Smith” keeping less of its lead-in audience, but a shrinking portion of the previous week’s viewers returned each week to see the next installment of “Smith.” And the number of viewers also fell consistently from the first half hour to the second.

Still, those results were not so different from the experience of several other new shows this fall — most of which are still on the air. “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” has seen its ratings and viewers fall each week, from 13.4 million viewers for its first episode to 8.6 million for its fourth. “Vanished,” on Fox, “Kidnapped,” on NBC, “Brothers & Sisters,” on ABC, and “Jericho,” on CBS have all seen their audiences fall from week to week. But they are still on the air.

The problem with “Smith,” Ms. Tassler said, is that CBS executives did not believe it was going to get any better.

“We have a unique vantage point at the network,” she said. “I’ve seen cuts and read scripts for the next four to five episodes, so I could see where we’re headed creatively. And we weren’t 100 percent happy with what we were looking at.”

Specifically, she said, the show’s scripts were becoming harder to follow. “You have to have clarity in the story-telling,” she said. “Confusion kills. I think it was particularly challenged in that area.”

Neither Mr. Wells nor executives at Warner Brothers Television would agree to be interviewed for this story.

Despite cutting the series from its schedule after three weeks, CBS had a commitment to buy several more episodes, which Warner Brothers had spent handily to produce — well over $2.5 million a show, according to people close to the production.

Unlike most television series, which are filmed on studio lots in Los Angeles to help contain costs, “Smith” shot large segments of its debut episode on location — in Hawaii and Pittsburgh, for example — and made ample use of collisions, explosions and other special effects. “It was a gorgeous show,” Ms. Tassler said. “It looked beautiful. But an audience sits at home and they don’t watch a show influenced by how much it costs. It’s not a factor in why they become a fan of the show.”

Ms. Tassler said CBS was planning to put the already filmed episodes of “Smith” on its Internet site for viewing and to post synopses of the plans for the full season of shows.

From a financial standpoint, however, it might be hard to argue with CBS’s decision to can “Smith.” The week after the show was cancelled, the “CSI” re-run that replaced it drew more than 10 million viewers, 20 percent more viewers than the last episode of “Smith” and a far higher percentage of the lead-in audience from “The Unit.”

But with an average of nine million fans having tuned in, inevitably there were many disappointed viewers who went looking for the fourth episode of “Smith,” only to find yet another episode of “CSI.” Some of them took to Internet bulletin boards to express their outrage, like a viewer named Matthew on the Web site TVSeriesFinale.com.

“I just want to say how much of a relief it was to sit down and watch a show like ‘Smith’ without having to hear any medical mumble jumbo,” he wrote.

From NY Times.com.

Thick as thieves

2006-10-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

Source:Newsday
Date:October 8, 2006
BY MARIA ELENA FERNANDEZ

CBS is Hoping for a big payoff as actor Ray Liotta and producer John
Wells team up on the new heist drama 'Smith'
BY MARIA ELENA FERNANDEZ
LOS ANGELES TIMES

October 8, 2006

By now, John Wells, one of television's producing giants, knows a
thing or two about the number of script pages it takes to fill an
hour's worth of episodic drama on a broadcast network.

Then why did the pilot episode for his new show, "Smith," come in 20
minutes longer than what is acceptable? And why was CBS, with its
conservative reputation, so willing to reportedly spend $7million on
the pilot alone and work around its length? [CORRECTION: "Smith," a
new television series with Ray Liotta, has been removed from CBS'
schedule. The show is featured in Sunday's FanFare, which was
printed in advance. Pg. A17 ALL BULLDOG 10/8/06]

One reason is the in-demand Wells, who hasn't written a pilot since
he co-wrote "Third Watch" but has been busy running "ER" and "The
West Wing" for several years. Then there is an ensemble cast headed
up by Ray Liotta and Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen. And, thirdly, a
network that ranks as the most popular but still yearns to be among
the most talked about.

"It's a great way to work and a luxury I don't expect to have often
in my career," said Wells, referring to the atypical creative
process that allowed him to develop a drama about criminals that
isn't really about crime.

Airing Tuesdays at 10 p.m., "Smith" follows the double lives of five
master thieves whose ringleader is Bobby Stevens, played by Liotta,
starring in his first TV series since he started on the daytime
soap "Another World" in 1978. Bobby's band of specialists includes
his lieutenant, Tom (Jonny Lee Miller, "Trainspotting"); firearms
aficionado Jeff (Simon Baker, "The Devil Wears Prada");
transportation expert Joe (Franky G, "The Italian Job"); and master
of disguises Annie (Amy Smart, "Crank"). Bobby is also a suburban
married father of two, and Madsen ("Sideways") plays his intriguing
wife, Hope. "Smith" refers to the name FBI agents give the elusive
Bobby.

Getting to know you ...

"I watch a lot of television, and I noticed that we were catching
all these criminals, but we weren't getting to know much about
them," Wells said. "I started thinking that maybe we could do a show
that focuses completely and wholly on the criminals and what makes
them tick, and how their lives work."

As Wells started to flesh out his lead character, he thought of
someone he'd been trying to persuade for a year to work in the
medium. With only a sketch in his head, Wells met with Liotta, who
won an Emmy for a guest role on "ER" in 2005.

"It wasn't really a concrete idea, but the fact that it was coming
out of his mouth was enough for me to trust that it was going to be
classy, inventive and a different idea just based on his track
record," said Liotta, taking a break while shooting a scene at a
warehouse in Lancaster, Calif., recently.

"I had been approached for a while about doing a series, and I saw
that the landscape of the business was changing a lot, where movies
are getting safer and safer, and television is becoming more
interesting," Liotta said. "I also liked the fact that the character
was a leading man, where I'm usually playing some wacko. I didn't
have to gain weight, put crazy makeup on to make me look older or
drugged-out."

With Liotta's consent, Wells sat down to write. But other actors
kept popping into his head: Would Madsen be interested in TV? Would
Miller, whom he'd been courting for a while, take to this idea?
Would Franky G, the star of Wells' failed Fox drama "Jonny Zero,"
want to work with him again? Would all-American girl-next-door Smart
want to play a bad girl for a change? Wells approached each of them
with his ideas, and they all agreed to be in it, provided, of
course, that the script lived up to its billing.

Although many TV critics have already picked "Smith" as one of the
year's best pilots, they also wonder if viewers are weary of the
genre, considering the failure of NBC's "Heist" and FX's "Thief" to
attract audiences last season.

Shopped script around

Wells shopped his script to all of the networks, but CBS, home of
the crime procedural, was enthusiastic about offering its audience
something unexpected this season. This drama won't be based on a
crime of the week, said Nina Tassler, CBS president of entertainment.

Capitalizing on the talents of the cast, Emmy-nominated director
Chris Chulack filmed the pilot entirely on location in the L.A.
area, Pittsburgh and Hawaii, giving it the kind of range and pacing
usually associated with movies.

"Action is action, but some of the most interesting things in the
pilot are how these people maneuver in the world and get through,"
Chulack said. "They're bad people, and how they interact, their
interior, is what interests me. With this cast, the most interesting
stuff they do is when they're not talking. As a director, you want
to put the audience in the position to experience that.... With all
of the fast cutting and the people talking, television rhythms today
are all the same. I hope this show stands out because it is
deafening sometimes."

But what about the length? Even though Wells turned in an average-
length 65-page script, which typically yields 42 minutes of air time
(the rest of the hour is for commercials), the pilot was 62 minutes
long. To his surprise, no one at CBS balked. In fact, executives did
not even notice its length when they first screened it.

"These are all actors' actors. So because of the cast, because of
the way the stories are told, there is information, there are looks,
gestures, subtleties and information being conveyed character to
character that has story value," Tassler said. "It deserves and
merits screen time."

Only a slight trim

Instead of demanding that Wells and Chulack, also an executive
producer, cut 20 minutes out of the episode, they were asked to trim
five minutes, and CBS premiered it Sept. 19 with limited commercial
interruption and only one sponsor, Martin Scorsese's new film, "The
Departed."

Meanwhile, the cast is racking up the miles on their cars and
frequent-flier programs because the series, like the pilot, is shot
entirely on location. Instead of building sets on a soundstage,
Warner Bros. Television, which produces it, has leased and dressed
homes for all of the characters in the Los Angeles area. But for the
heists, the cast has traveled to Reno for a future episode and will
probably fly to Montreal and Miami later this year, Wells
said. "They really are not messing around with the size and scope of
this thing," Liotta said. "The locations always seem to be an hour
or so away from home, and I didn't factor that in. But as I'm ...
moaning on the drive in at 4:30 in the morning, when you get to the
location, it all makes sense."

Baker describes it as a "traveling circus." And so far, he's
enjoying his impulsive character's exploits: surfing in Hawaii (yes,
that really was Baker riding the waves in the first episode),
shooting a couple of surfers for kicks and stealing a motorcycle and
riding it down the Venice, Calif., boardwalk.

"When we went to Hawaii, that really proved to me that they are
really committed to this show," Baker said.

Although Jeff appears to be the group sociopath in the pilot, Wells
warns viewers not to judge too quickly. Jeff has brotherly love and
deep loyalty for Tom. Annie, on the other hand, cares about no
one. "She's the kind of woman who would laugh with you one minute
and shoot you in the back the next," Smart said. "I couldn't believe
John Wells saw me playing someone like that, and it was [even]
better than I thought when I saw the script. I don't feel like I'm
doing a TV show, to be honest. I feel like I'm doing a fast film
that keeps growing and keeps going."

From Newsday.

Smith’: When good kittens do bad things

2006-10-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

Source:EW.com
Date:October 04, 2006
by Michael Slezak

Maybe it was because I was a little groggy from a dose of NyQuil last night (I’m fighting a nasty chest cold…waah!), but I was a little stumped by the use of kittens to override the military security system on last night’s episode of the highly addictive Smith. Yes, I understand the boys had to trip the alarm system five consecutive times to shut it down, but didn’t you find it a tad far-fetched that none of the soldiers at the military base thought to investigate the source of the sudden and frequent appearance of infant felines? No matter, though, I’m not going to complain too bitterly about the pairing of Jonny Lee Miller and small furry creatures. How do you say adorable in British?

Of course, when I first caught sight of sociopathic Jeff (Simon Baker, pictured) slipping Kitty No. 1 under that chain-link fence, I worried he was using it to trigger some kind of land mine or explosive device. Could Jeff be the most unapologetically amoral character on TV? And don’t you just love watching him? Even from behind his plastic mask during last night’s main set piece, you could see his sinister anticipation of shooting up that armored truck. You know deep down dude was bummed that both of the security guards ducked.

Considering Jeff’s nastiness, I always find it odd that he doesn’t seem remotely interested in his female counterpart, Amy Smart’s Annie, even when she’s very unsubtly choosing to slip on her panties right up in his grill. (She nasty!) Seriously, though, I think she’s only interested in Jeff because he’s the one guy who won’t succumb to her sleazy charms. But any woman who can get caught flipping through her sugar daddy/financial advisor’s wallet and turn it into flirty foreplay deserves whatever she gets -- good, bad, or otherwise. And with a very appealing cast of FBI agents on her tail (including Jillian Armenante, so memorable with only a line or two per week) her comeuppance may be arriving sooner than anticipated.

What did you think of last night’s Smith? How do we ensure this nasty little gem stays on the airwaves? And am I the only one not buying the Joe-Macy romantic/rescuer plotline?

From EW.com.

PopWire

2006-09-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

Source：PopMatters
Date：September 18, 2006
By Luaine Lee

Just when we thought Australian Simon Baker ("The Guardian") had gone home, he shows up on CBS’ series, “Smith.” The John Wells-produced drama stars Ray Liotta as a loving family man who plots high-stakes robberies in his spare time. Baker plays his nefarious cohort who is in charge of fire power. The Aussie has been in the U.S. ever since he tried out for the Guy Pearce role in “L.A. Confidential.” (He didn’t get that part, but copped another.) After completing three years on “The Guardian,” he’s more TV savvy.

“I’ve always thought pilots are kind of interesting because they’re almost like infomercials for a television series,” says Baker.

“And what John (Wells) did unashamedly with this was just threw these characters out there. And they’re all very unique and different, and they do their own thing. And you do sort of go, `Well, what’s going on there?’ And that’s the idea of serialized television, in a sense. It’s like you’re either interested in finding out or not. In this case, I was interested enough in finding out, so I wanted to sign on.”

From PopMatters .

Cozying up to the bad guy next door

2006-09-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

Source：calendarlive.com
Date：September 17, 2006
By Maria Elena Fernandez

By now, John Wells, one of television's producing giants, knows a thing or two about the number of script pages it takes to fill an hour's worth of episodic drama on a broadcast network.

Then why did his new show, "Smith," come in 20 minutes longer than what is acceptable? And why was CBS, with its conservative reputation, so willing to reportedly spend $7 million on the pilot alone and work around its length?

One reason is the in-demand Wells, who hasn't written a pilot since he co-wrote "Third Watch" but has been busy running "ER" and "The West Wing" for several years. Then there is an ensemble cast headed up by Ray Liotta and Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen. And, thirdly, a network that ranks as the most popular but still yearns to be among the most talked about.

"It's a great way to work and a luxury I don't expect to have often in my career," said Wells, referring to the atypical creative process that allowed him to develop a drama about criminals that isn't really about crime.

Premiering Tuesday at 10 p.m., "Smith" has already impressed critics as it follows the double lives of five master thieves whose ringleader is Bobby Stevens, played by Liotta, starring in his first TV series since he started on the daytime soap "Another World" in 1978. Bobby's band of specialists includes his lieutenant, Tom (Jonny Lee Miller of "Trainspotting"); firearms aficionado Jeff (Simon Baker of "The Devil Wears Prada"); transportation expert Joe (Franky G of "The Italian Job"); and master of disguises Annie (Amy Smart of "Crank"). Bobby is also a suburban married father of two and Madsen ("Sideways") plays his intriguing wife, Hope. "Smith" refers to the name FBI agents give the elusive Bobby.

"I watch a lot of television and I noticed that we were catching all these criminals but we weren't getting to know much about them," Wells said. "I started thinking that maybe we could do a show that focuses completely and wholly on the criminals and what makes them tick and how their lives work."

As Wells started to flesh out his lead character, he thought of someone he'd been trying to persuade for a year to work in the medium. With only a sketch in his head, Wells met with Liotta, who had won an Emmy for a guest role on "ER" in 2005.

"It wasn't really a concrete idea but the fact that it was coming out of his mouth was enough for me to trust that it was going to be classy, inventive and a different idea just based on his track record," said Liotta, taking a break while shooting a scene at a warehouse in Lancaster recently. On this hot summer day, Lancaster posed as Tucson and the thieves were at it again, stealing an armored car and reconvening at the warehouse where Bobby inexplicably threw away the cash in a dumpster. The robbery, it turned out, was only a minute part of an intricate scheme, one that involves the use of the truck — but not the money.

"I had been approached for a while about doing a series and I saw that the landscape of the business was changing a lot, where movies are getting safer and safer and television is becoming more interesting," Liotta said. "I also liked the fact that the character was a leading man where I'm usually playing some wacko. I didn't have to gain weight, put crazy makeup on to make me look older or drugged-out."

Their Voices in His Head

With Liotta's consent, Wells sat down to write. But other actors kept popping into his head: Would Madsen be interested in TV? Would Miller, whom he'd been courting for a while, take to this idea? Would Franky G, the star of Wells' failed Fox drama "Jonny Zero," want to work with him again? Would the all-American girl-next-door Smart want to play a bad girl for a change? Wells approached each of them with his ideas and they all agreed to be in it, provided, of course, that the script lived up to its billing.

"He told me the basic outline and it sounded very adventurous and something I hadn't done before," Madsen said. "John writes so beautifully for women and, frankly, that's hard to find on whatever size screen you're working in. It just sounded delicious to me."

The informal casting meetings also helped Wells develop his characters and their story arcs, making it easier to write the story for the pilot.

"The show is a little unique to me because I was able to write each part specifically for an individual actor, except the part for Simon Baker, who I didn't approach because I had approached him so many times in the past and he'd always told me to get lost," Wells said. "I had specific notes for each character and then every one of the actors gave me input into who they are and their background. All of those things got worked into the characters."

When he completed the script, Wells got a surprising phone call from Baker's agent. Sitting in his trailer after finishing the warehouse scene, Baker, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work on "The Guardian," grinned at the suggestion that he had played cat-and-mouse with one of TV's most celebrated producers.

"I was a little skeptical of getting involved with something because it just seemed that there was a wave of procedural TV shows and I didn't want to do something like that," Baker said. "And I had a yearning to move back home to Australia because I constantly battle with quality of life versus commitment to career. But network TV is changing, and John Wells has the clout and a depth of work behind him, and this show doesn't fit it into any category. Those things piqued my interest."

Although many TV critics have already picked "Smith" as one of the year's best pilots, they also wonder if viewers are weary of the genre, considering the failure of NBC's "Heist" and FX's "Thief" to attract audiences last season.

Wells shopped his script to all of the networks, but CBS, home of the crime procedural was enthusiastic about offering its audience something unexpected this season. This drama won't be based on a crime of the week, said Nina Tassler, CBS president of entertainment.

Capitalizing on the talents of the cast, Emmy-nominated director Chris Chulack filmed the pilot entirely on location in the L.A. area, Pittsburgh and Hawaii, giving it the kind of range and pacing usually associated with movies.

"Action is action but some of the most interesting things in the pilot are how these people maneuver in the world and get through," Chulack said. "They're bad people and how they interact, their interior, is what interests me. With this cast, the most interesting stuff they do is when they're not talking. As a director, you want to put the audience in the position to experience that…. with all of the fast cutting and the people talking, television rhythms today are all the same. I hope this show stands out because it is deafening sometimes."

Contradictions of a Double Life

Indeed, the pilot episode of "Smith" is full of soft, quiet moments: Bobby playing the piano while Hope listens; Jeff enjoying the feel of a silky fabric and breakfast in bed; Tom looking longingly at Annie. It also features a complicated art heist of masterpieces from a Pittsburgh museum that does not go as smoothly as Bobby would have liked, and spectacular explosions when a truck and boat are blown up.

"Here I am planning and masterminding the theft and then in another scene, I'm sitting there by myself playing the piano or coaching my son's Little League team," Liotta said. "It's a nice dichotomy in terms of what I do for a living and the fact that I want to keep myself out of jail because I love my wife and kids and that would obviously kill me. I just thought the scope and breadth of it was great."

But what about the length? Even though Wells turned in an average-length 65-page script, which typically yields 42 minutes of air time (the rest of the hour is for commercials), the pilot was 62 minutes long. To his surprise, no one at CBS balked. In fact, executives did not even notice its length when they first screened it.

"These are all actors' actors, so because of the cast, because of the way the stories are told, there is information, there are looks, gestures, subtleties and information being conveyed character to character that has story value," Tassler said. "It deserves and merits screen time."

Instead of demanding that Wells and Chulack, also an executive producer, cut 20 minutes out of the episode, they were asked to trim five minutes and CBS will premiere it with limited commercial interruption and only one sponsor, Martin Scorsese's new film, "The Departed."

Miller said he "freaked out" when Wells first called him with the idea of playing Tom, Bobby's right-hand man who has just been released from prison when viewers first meet him in the pilot.

"There's so much room in the writing for us to make the characters live a little more," Miller said. "It's not so overwritten. There are a lot of moments in there for us to play. Good drama, you know what I mean?"

The writing staff now does. They have learned to shorten their scripts to allow the actors to fill in the blanks with their performances instead of padding them with extra dialogue. The actors also have the ability to change and add lines when they feel inspired. In a scene in his auto shop, for example, Franky G's Joe breaks out his Spanish as he walks away from a frustrating client.

"Here we are a little more free, like in the movies, where you're a little more free with the lines in the sense of making it your own," the actor said. "John watches you and listens to see if he likes what we might put in. And he does use what we bring."

The cast also is racking up the miles on their cars and frequent flier programs because the series, like the pilot, is shot entirely on location. Instead of building sets on a soundstage, Warner Bros. Television, which produces it, has leased and dressed homes for all of the characters in the Los Angeles area. But for the heists, the cast has traveled to Reno for a future episode and will probably fly to Montreal and Miami later this year, Wells said.

"They really are not messing around with the size and scope of this thing," Liotta said. "The locations always seem to be an hour or so away from home and I didn't factor that in. But as I'm … moaning on the drive in at 4:30 in the morning, when you get to the location, it all makes sense."

Baker describes it as a "traveling circus." And so far, he's enjoying his impulsive character's exploits: surfing in Hawaii (yes, that really is Baker riding the waves in the pilot), shooting a couple of surfers for kicks and stealing a motorcycle and riding it down the Venice boardwalk.

"When we went to Hawaii, that really proved to me that they are really committed to this show," Baker said. "It's candy. It's a bit of fluff" — but it informs the character, he added, and — "that's why the pilot feels like a film. It's not all information, information, information."

Although Jeff appears to be the group sociopath in the pilot, Wells warns viewers not to judge too quickly. Jeff has brotherly love and deep loyalty for Tom. Annie, on the other hand, cares about no one.

"She's the kind of woman who would laugh with you one minute and shoot you in the back the next," Smart said. "I couldn't believe John Wells saw me playing someone like that and it was [even] better than I thought when I saw the script. I don't feel like I'm doing a TV show, to be honest. I feel like I'm doing a fast film that keeps growing and keeps going."

From calendarlive.com.

Smith -- an early look

2006-08-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

Source：TV Squad
Date：Aug 31st 2006
by Bob Sassone

Regardless of how good Smith is - and I'll say right from the get go that it is good - the big question is, are viewers going to give yet another show about a bunch of clever crooks a chance, after shows like Heist, Thief and Hustle? I'm not convinced they will, but if they base it on quality and entertainment value, Smith should be given a chance.

The plot: Ray Liotta is a loving husband and father...when he's home, anyway. But he's often on the road, selling plastic cups for the company he works for leading a gang of professional thieves as they pull off various robberies around the world. He wants to do just a few more jobs and then retire to a normal life. The first episode opens with an elaborate museum robbery and a shooting, and flashbacks reveal exactly how we got to this point.

The cast: Liotta comes off as a good lead, but he does something interesting with the character. He's not just the typical crook-with-a-heart-of-gold you'd see in a show like this, he's actually kind of prick, especially in the way he treats his coworkers at the cup factory and the way he carries himself; Virginia Madsen is his wife, and she has a secret or two of his own, as we see later in the pilot; Simon Baker, who viewers might remember from The Guardian and L.A. Confidential, is the surfer assassin you really shouldn't cross; Amy Smart is the woman of the group, using her looks as well as her brain. The rest of the gang (Franky G and Jonny Lee Miller) bring their own personalities and quirks to the mix too.

One of the gang is shot in the pilot, but I won't tell you which one or what happens to him/her.

Thoughts: This is a slick show, with just enough cool camera angles and neat cinematography to add a lot of style to what's going on. Of course, we also get several pop songs on the soundtrack, like most shows today, but they aren't the annoying, well-known ones. They actually add something to the atmosphere the show is trying to set. And the use of flashbacks means we get to see what different things mean at different times, how something came to be, why someone was delayed, why someone was acting a certain way. That's clever stuff.

I was wondering where this show would go at the end of the pilot. Would we have stand alone episodes (like Hustle), or is there some bigger plot going on (like Heist)? It's more of the latter, as we see why Ray Liotta is doing what he's doing, how all of the gang are related to each other, who likes who, who dislikes who, who are "good" bad guys and who are the "bad" bad guys. But I can also see where each show would be enjoyable by someone who doesn't know the overall plot, because each episode and each heist can stand on their own and be enjoyable. I really hope that viewers (and CBS) give the show a chance.

Now, a question for those who have seen the pilot: the scene where they are all on the airplane and there is a slow, electronica-ish song playing (but with vocals). Who is singing that?

(Smith premieres Tuesday, September 19, at 10pm.)

From TV Squad.

Seeing stars

2006-08-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Simon Baker is working less and liking it more.

2006-08-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

Source：Los Angeles Daily News
Date:08/28/2006
By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith

The handsome Aussie was in practically every scene during his tenure as a trouble-plagued attorney in CBS' "The Guardian" series a few years back and was left exhausted. Now he's preparing for the debut of "Smith," CBS' weekly show in which he, Ray Liotta and Shohreh Aghdashloo play members of a band of thieves. And, with the action divided, he says, "I don't work every day. I'm quite happy about that ...

"It's a more suitable schedule for me — not completely overwhelming. It doesn't sit on my shoulders as the last series did, and it shouldn't. It's got great actors, and I like it when they work."

Baker, who was featured in Meryl Streep's recent "The Devil Wears Prada," completed the big-screen "Sex and Death 101" with Winona Ryder shortly before "Smith" cranked up. He describes the latter as "an examination into the male psyche. Lots of fun."

From Los Angeles Daily News.

WB Digs Smith

2006-08-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

Source：cinematical
Date：Aug 29th 2006
by Martha Fischer

In a vaguely innovative promotional push for Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Warner Bros. will be providing all the advertising -- amounting to only four minutes, total -- for the premiere of CBS's new crime show, Smith. (Which, by the way, is produced by WBTV. Image that.) Rather than running the show with a normal advertising load -- which would stretch it into a 90-minute special -- or accepting sponsorship to run it ad-free, CBS instead took some cash from WB (amounting, on assumes, to what they would have taken for a full advertising load, plus a premium for the prestige), and will run four minutes of promotional footage for The Departed during breaks from the show. What sort of footage WB is providing is unclear, but it's currently thought there will be two two-minute add segments, "offering an extended look at the pic."

That sounds cool and all, but if you needed more reason to watch Smith, where have you been? Goodfella Ray Liotta? Jonny Lee Miller? Simon Baker?! What's not to love?

From cinematical.

'Smith' Gets Hand from Scorsese

2006-08-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

Source：.zap2it.com
Date：August 29 2006

Premiere will run with limited ads for 'The Departed'

CBS has struck a deal to show the premiere of its new crime drama "Smith" with only a couple of commercial breaks, and the agreement is positively bursting with synergy.

The series stars Ray Liotta as a professional thief who keeps his life secret from his wife (Virginia Madsen) and is produced by Warner Bros. TV. The premiere will be sponsored by the forthcoming movie "The Departed," which is being released by Warner Bros. Pictures.

"The Departed" is directed by Martin Scorsese, who, you might recall, directed Liotta in his breakout "Goodfellas" role.

The Warner Bros. sponsorship of the "Smith" premiere solves a scheduling issue for CBS. The show's pilot runs nearly an hour without commercials -- as opposed to the 42 to 44 minutes for your average TV drama -- so the network would have either had to make substantial cuts to the episode, limit the ad breaks or run a 90-minute premiere.

Series creator John Wells wasn't about to do the first one, and since it's a 10 p.m. show, a 90-minute premiere might have been problematic. Thus, "The Departed."

"Smith" also stars Simon Baker ("The Guardian"), Amy Smart ("Crank"), Jonny Lee Miller ("Aeon Flux"), Franky G ("Jonny Zero"), Shohreh Aghdashloo ("24") and Chris Bauer ("The Wire"). It premieres Tuesday, Sept. 19.

"The Departed," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon, hits theaters on Oct. 6.

From zap2it.com.

Harder to tell good from bad

2006-08-17T01:48:00.000-07:00

Source：USA Today
Date：8/16/2006
By Bill Keveney

Smith sports a growing TV fashion: a coat of moral gray.

The new CBS drama follows a band of master thieves and is the latest series to feature a lead character of questionable virtue, joining The Sopranos, The Shield and Rescue Me. With Smith, the trend gets a stronger foothold in broadcast TV. It also is an intriguing choice for CBS because the network's lineup of crime procedurals has helped make it the most-watched network.

Executive producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing) wants to look at people on the wrong side of the law for a simple reason: "There are plenty of people on TV trying to catch criminals. I thought it was time to explore the people they're trying to catch."

Actors, too, are fascinated by the darker side, which helped attract Emmy winner Ray Liotta, who plays ringleader Bobby, and Oscar nominees Virginia Madsen and Shohreh Aghdashloo.

"Bad guys have the best lines. Bad guys get to do all the good stuff," says Madsen, who plays Bobby's wife, Hope.

Shark, another new CBS series, also features a morally complex character, a defense-lawyer-turned-prosecutor (James Woods) who doesn't hesitate to use underhanded tactics to gain a conviction.

On ABC's The Nine and Six Degrees, one of the main characters has a gambling problem.

Smith, a law-enforcement term for an unknown suspect, raises the moral stakes in its opening episode with an art heist that results in the death of a museum guard. Characters will face consequences both direct and indirect, Wells says.

But Bobby and Hope aren't caricatures. They're a loving couple raising two kids. Bobby, who coaches Little League and has a day job as a salesman, even has thoughts of giving up the criminal life.

Those aspects may help viewers relate to the characters, CBS entertainment chief Nina Tassler says. "The thing that's so unique about what John Wells is doing is that he's placing these characters in real life. To that end, you get a chance to see them going to PTA meetings, raising their kids, going to 9-to-5 jobs."

Liotta is drawn to his character's contrasts. "Hope is the girl of my dreams. I'm not a philanderer. I love my wife and kids. I just also love to steal."

From USA Today.

Can we care about another criminal?

2006-08-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Source：USA TODAY
Date：8/16/2006
By Bill Keveney

The show：Smith
The premiere:：Sept. 19 (10 p.m. ET/PT), CBS

The concept：The leader of a theft ring tries to stay ahead of the law while keeping loved ones from discovering his secret life.

The challenge：Making viewers care enough about criminals to watch regularly.

Less-than-sympathetic lead characters have been a staple of film, theater and literature, where audience engagement is required only for a fixed, limited time.

But they have been a rarer occurrence on television, which asks viewers to bond for scores of episodes over a number of years. That challenge faces Smith, a new drama that centers on a skilled thief, his crew and their elaborate heists.

Executive producer John Wells hopes other parts of the criminals' personalities will strike a chord with viewers. The thief, Bobby Stevens (Ray Liotta), and wife Hope (Virginia Madsen), who isn't part of the crew but has her own shady past, have some decent traits. They love their kids and have a normal-looking family life that Bobby keeps apart from his criminal activities.

"I hope (viewers) identify with them, develop some sympathy for them and, by the end of the year, hope they get caught," Wells says.

Bobby wants to avoid violence, and is troubled when a Pittsburgh art museum heist results in death. That separates him from Jeff (Simon Baker), a colleague who kills without conscience, Liotta says.

Bobby, who gets his assignments from the mysterious Charlie (Shohreh Aghdashloo), is "hopefully the guy you follow (because) he has enough likability," says Liotta, who played a charismatic crook in Goodfellas. "It's kind of like on Goodfellas or any movie about people who do things against the law. You don't necessarily root for them (but) people are intrigued by it."

The criminal crew, which features characters played by Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart and Franky G, will commit a few crimes during the season. Wells says he hopes to shoot jobs in Montreal, Salt Lake City and Miami.The thieves will pay a price. "Not everybody will survive the first season," he says.

Although viewers presumably aren't stealing Picassos, Madsen says they may see something familiar: a sharp divergence between their occupations and home lives.

"I kind of live that way. I live in suburbia. I take kids to school. I make kids dinnerat night. But I'm a movie star, so there's

From USA Today.

HER PIECE OF THE ACTION

2006-08-10T20:07:00.000-07:00

Source：National Ledger
Date：Aug 10, 2006
By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith

Virginia Madsen says she almost passed on her role as Ray Liotta's wife in CBS's new fall series "Smith," from prolific creator/writer John Wells. "He writes so beautifully, and the women are three-dimensional," notes Madsen of the man behind "ER" and "The West Wing." "But when I met with John I said, 'You know I love this script. But I can't play the long-suffering wife, and if my biggest conflict is that my husband's away and I have problems with the dentist, I can't play that part.' He was like, 'Virginia, rest assured that if that was the part I was writing, you would not be sitting here. I know that you want a piece of the action, and you're going to get a piece of the action.' I was like 'OK, I'm just checkin.'"

Madsen and Liotta are joined by Simon Baker, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart and Shohreh Aghdashloo in the drama about an elite group of master thieves. Madsen adds with a laugh, "I want to get in between Ray and Simon Baker … want to be in that triangle. Are there some good-looking men on this show or what? And they're like manly men."

From National Ledger.

John Wells on Travis Smiley late night on PBS!

2006-08-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

Source：Travis Smiley late night on PBS!
Date：1/8/06

John Wells

Learn more about this guest.

Tavis: John Wells is a multi-Emmy-winning producer, writer and director whose rum includes seminal shows like "E.R." and “The West Wing.” This fall, his latest series debut is called “Smith.” The CBS drama stars Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen. It airs Tuesday nights at 10:00. Here now, a scene from “Smith.”

[Clip]

Tavis: John Wells, nice to meet you.

John Wells: (Laughs) Nice to meet you, sir.

Tavis: Glad to have you on the program. When I first saw this series coming to television, and I saw Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen attached to it, not a bad way to start out.

Wells: Uh huh.

Tavis: We tend to think of these folk these days as movie stars, as opposed to small screen stars.

Wells: Yeah, we were, I was very lucky. I was looking for something to do with some of the people that I have wanted to work with in the past, and contacted people before I wrote it. So actually, the show was cast before the series was written. And?/p>

Tavis: Is that atypical?

Wells: That’s very atypical. I was able to pitch them an idea that I was interested in, and get them to say they would be interested in doing it if they liked the script. They had the right not to do it if they didn’t like the script when it was finished. And almost all the cast was put together before I wrote it. So I was able to write specifically for actors, which is the great way to do it.

Tavis: I was about to ask, not being a writer, of course, it sounds to me that that’s the easier way to do it.

Wells: Oh, much, much more so, because you have a real sense of who the characters are gonna be. You know their work. In the case of both Virginia and Ray, I was able to sit down with them in advance and talk about things that they wanted to play, and what they’d be interested in. And we really talked about the characters in advance. And that’s a tremendous advantage when you go into doing it.

Tavis: So tell me about “Smith.”

Wells: Well, I had been writing for a number of years on “E.R.,” and then more recently on “West Wing” about world events, and hunger in Africa. And I was looking to do something that was fun. And it’s a big, fun series about a group of career criminals, and how they live in our own communities. Criminals don’t tend to really live in places that are convenient for us to find them.

They're not really in the Criminal Arms apartment building. They're next door. And it’s about how they're actually integrated into our neighborhoods, and what they do, and how they do what they do. And eventually, the consequences of living the way that they live.

Tavis: Is there a commentary about society in this series?

Wells: I think there’s a commentary about how difficult it is for people to make a living in this changing world, and how people are becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of support they feel from the companies that they work with, with the people that they work with. And these are people who act out in a way that hopefully, most of society won’t.

Tavis: Yeah. When you say frustrated, you're suggesting, then, it’s the frustration that turns people into criminals in neighborhoods?

Wells: I think oftentimes, it’s the frustration that can turn people into criminals, or at least the sense, and don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of people in this piece who are clearly sociopaths. (Laughs) But it’s the frustration with the sense that I’m not quite sure how I’m gonna get there from where I am. And we’re living in a world in which the standard of living, I think, for most people is going to actually decrease rather than increase, as globalization, as more and more of that happens. And these are some of the things that can happen to people when that’s occurring.

Tavis: Yeah. You, to your earlier point, are very much interested in writing about current events and real time issues. Where did that kind of passion in your writing come from? There are all kind of ways to write in this business, but that’s your bailiwick. Why?

Wells: I was always interested in societal trends, and I’m mostly interested in writing about characters. And I think people are affected tremendously by what’s happening in the world around them. We’re not nearly as isolated as we tend to wanna believe we are as a nation. And so I got very interested in how did the things that are happening to us in the world around us actually affect people day to day?

We're very tied into each other as a community. The society is very complicated. And whether you're a criminal or a doctor or a politician, you actually have to deal with all of the societal things that are going on, that are constantly going on around you. And I got interested in writing about that. I think that’s what, what people as an audience are mostly interested in.

We're interested in the things that are affecting us, moving us, frightening us, and watching people on television or in feature films deal with those issues in a way that we may or may not, but that we can learn something from in watching how they deal with it.

Tavis: Speaking of frightening, “The West Wing” is no longer a part of our ?well, in rerun, of course. No longer a part of our lives in first-run. But I’d be remiss to not ask you, speaking of frightening events, how the White House in “The West Wing” would be dealing with the crisis in the Middle East right about now.

Wells: We tried to deal at least with some of the issues and the ways that that could be addressed a couple of years ago in the show. We never wanted to try and overstate our importance in it, but to just say, most importantly, you have to talk. There’s a lot less faith in this notion of negotiation, and increasingly in this country, we seem to believe that only by exerting power and might do you get to a point where you can negotiate.

Not only my religious beliefs, but my personal beliefs would say that that’s really this wrong way to look at any crisis or situation. Try to find common ground first, and I think if we were doing another year, we would be dealing exactly with this notion of how are we supposed to go into situations where the United States has lost a tremendous amount of credibility as a negotiator or as someone who is perceived to be a fair middleman, and how do we regain that? It’s a huge problem for the country now.

Tavis: Since you went there, let me follow up. To your own personal and political beliefs, what’s your sense ?I agree with you, personally. What’s your sense of how we got away from the value of what diplomacy offers and provides?

Wells: Oh, I think like so many things now in this new century, 9/11 frightened us as a country. And when we become frightened, particularly if you're powerful, you feel like you need to respond in some fashion to a threat. And I think we have over-emphasized the response in military might, and under-utilized and lost a lot of our moral authority to go into situations and discuss how do we find a different way of doing this?

Clearly, and these are my personal beliefs, but clearly, I understood the rationale behind going into Afghanistan, where there was a government that was fostering the people who were trying to harm us. And I find it very difficult to understand what we’re doing in Iraq. And I think we will see that ultimately as a real disaster for America’s stature. I don’t think I’m alone in this (laughs) belief. And it’s a tragedy. I think it’ll be perceived, ultimately and by history, as a tragedy.

Tavis: Let me go back to “Smith” for a second, 'cause there’s a connection here. You and I were talking before we came on the air here about some stuff you were listening to on the radio about world affairs. And you walked in a little depressed, and I was, like, hey, I could turn it off. I do it for a living, and I gotta turn it off, because it can be depressing when it seeps into your psyche and into your system, all the negativity and the fear around the world. That said, does “Smith,” then, allow you to, as a writer, engage in, how do I wanna put this? Some form of escapism? At least you're over here now; you're not dealing with?/p>

Wells: Yeah. It’s actually a relief. (Laughs)

Tavis: Yeah. That’s what I was getting at. (Laughs) I was trying to get to that. Is it a relief at all? Yeah.

Wells: Yeah, over the last few years, I've written extensively on “E.R.” about the Congo, and the situation in the Congo. We’ve done quite a bit about the Sudan last year, and about American healthcare, which is in something of a shambles. And then all of the things we were writing about on “West Wing.”

Tavis: I had Mekhi Phifer on.

Wells: Yeah.

Tavis: To promote that.

Wells: Yeah, when he was doing the Sudan stuff last year.

Tavis: The Sudan stuff, yeah.

Wells: And it’s interesting, the kind of statistics that float around. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but the three hours that we devoted on “E.R.” last year to what was happening in Darfur was actually, I’ve forgotten what the statistic was, more than 10 times what the combined amount on the network newscasts had done that year on the situation in the Sudan.

So I have to say that I was anxious to write something for a little while which just allowed me to just explore character, and not have to deal with world events. And that may be a little bit of me sticking my head back in the sand, but I could use the break. (Laughs)

Tavis: To go back to one of your earlier points, I think, though, you said earlier you didn’t wanna overstate the importance of what you guys did on “The West Wing.” When you talk about Darfur, to your point, you did more time on Darfur than the evening newscast did in a whole year. It got, like, six minutes on CBS for, like, a whole year on Darfur.

You guys did three hours on this thing. So, it’s really not overstating the importance and the power of television, the small screen, when you take those kinds of vehicles and raise legitimate issues for the American public to consider. It’s not overstating it at all.

Wells: No, and I think we can do it, and the trick is always to try to do it in an entertaining fashion, so people don’t feel like they're just being preached to. Because whenever we’re preaching to the choir, I don’t think we’re really making an impact. What we’re trying to do on “Smith” is show some of the problems that people are dealing with, and this’ll come up slowly as the series evolves.

'Cause at the beginning, it’s just a big entertainment, and you're enjoying yourself. But to show the tensions that families are having in just surviving, and these are extreme examples of what people are trying to do to (laughs) survive.

Tavis: (unintelligible) entertaining, though, to your point.

Wells: But it’s gotta be entertaining, but at the same point, we’re trying to illuminate the real tensions that are happening in families.

Tavis: Well, if John Wells is associated with it, you can believe it’s gonna be a hit. The new show, “Smith,” on CBS. John, nice to meet you.

Wells: Pleasure to meet you. Thank you for having me.

Tavis: Glad to have you on. It’s my pleasure. That’s our show for tonight. Catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. Check your local listings. See you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A., thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith.

From Travis Smiley late night on PBS!.

Nice guys finish last?

2006-07-31T01:18:00.000-07:00

Source:Star Ledger
Date:July 16, 2006
By Alan Sepinwall

Though the members of the TCA share certain universal opinions ("The Sopranos" is brilliant, "Amazing Race: Family Edition" was awful), we're not a hivemind. There are certain TCA Awards nominations each year I'm not happy to be associated with, and sometimes a press conference takes on a tone so contrary to my own take on a show that I almost feel the need to apologize after. Yesterday's session for "Smith," a CBS drama starring Ray Liotta as a master thief hoping to get out of the game after a few more scores, was a classic example.

Produced by John Wells and Christopher Chulack from "ER," it's very dark and uncompromising by CBS standards, if not compared to similar stuff on FX or HBO. During the course of the heist in the pilot (minor spoilers to follow), Liotta and his sidekicks kill an innocent security guard. And in a scene that was a particular bone of contention, Simon Baker (from "The Guardian"), playing a sociopath marksman, is on a surfing holiday in Hawaii when two natives kick him off the beach and knock down his surf board. Smiling and whistling a jaunty tune, Baker walks back to his pickup truck, pulls out a sniper rifle and kills both guys for messing with his vacation. In a later scene, he even kicks a cat.

Personally, when I saw the surfing scene, my attention perked up and I said, "Now that's something you don't see every day on CBS." But where I saw that as a positive, a lot of the other critics had a problem with it and spent most of the session asking Wells and the actors questions about likability and relatability (Why should viewers root for these guys? Will viewers want to watch characters like these every week? etc.). Someone even asked whether they felt they were being held to a different standard than "Rescue Me" or "The Sopranos" because this is on CBS.

Everybody's entitled to their opinion, and there have been plenty of times where I'm in the majority on something and can be surprised when one or two voices in the room make it clear they disagree with what I think. But at an informal cocktail hour shortly after the session, I made a point of approaching Wells and Chulack to let them know that the uncompromising approach to the characters was something I had really enjoyed about the show.

As we stood around talking about different details in the pilot, Liotta wandered over, fuming about the way the session had gone. I can't quote most of it, but suffice it to say he felt the room was being a little harsh. So I said, "Well, not everybody. I was just telling John and Chris that the scene where Simon kills the surfers is the best thing in the whole pilot."

And in a half-second, Liotta's mood completely shifted as he said, "I wouldn't go that far!" and launched into the famous cackle that every "Goodfellas" fan knows by heart.

The moral of the story: actors prefer praise for their projects, especially when it's directed specifically at them.

From NJ.com: Weblogs.

Here a Pilot, There a Pilot, Everywhere a Pilot Pilot (Part the First)

2006-07-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

Source:Pajiba
Date:Jul,24,2006

Smith (CBS, Tuesdays, 10 p.m.). I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I love me the heists and capers, so I’m very willing to embrace this show if it’s embraceable. After watching the pilot, the verdict’s still out. There is certainly potential here — the show has a very cinematic HBO/Showtime feel to it, which is obviously a good thing. It’s kind of like a sort of “Thief”-lite, trying to have a dark side without being too bogged down by its own darkness (i.e., trying to make itself network and viewer friendly). There are two things a show like this will generally live and die by, of course — the cast and the capers.

They should be alright on the cast side of things, at least from a performance perspective, which is helmed by Ray Liotta (dubbed the titular “Smith” by a Fed trying to track him down). As we all know, Liotta is at his best when he’s playing likeable-crazy, with a little bit of pathos and scare-the-shit-outta-ya thrown into the mix (see, e.g., Goodfellas). It’s hard to tell what we’re ultimately going to get from him here based just on the pilot, but all those aspects showed up at some point — there was lots of friendly Liotta, some lovey-dovey Liotta, one nice outburst-of-anger Liotta, and a quick glimmer of I’m-bitch-crazy Liotta. I have to admit that, for as long as I keep up with this show, I’ll actually be sorta rooting against Liotta and his crew, just to see Liotta have outbursts and tear it up. From an acting perspective, I think the show lives or dies on Liotta’s shoulders, and it looks like he’s up to the task.

He wasn’t the only one who showed the potential to carry their acting burdens, however, and I think just about everyone else is up for the challenge. Jonny Lee Miller, as a just-paroled member of the gang, was great. Ditto for Simon Baker (one of those guys whom I’ve seen in things but I could never tell you what, exactly, he’s done), who plays a charmingly twisted guy who’ll sniper-kill some surfers for no reason other than they got in his face. And then there’s Shohreh Aghdashloo, who’s been knocking it out of the park now for a couple of years and really deserves some acclaim; anyway, she appears to be a recurring character as Liotta’s bankroller/fence, and looks fantastic.

The biggest question mark on the acting side of things is Amy Smart. Now, I’m a fan of hers, but playing the sexy-cool college girlfriend in Road Trip is one thing, and I’m just not convinced yet that she can pull off the cold-as-ice/tough-as-nails criminal that this role seems to call for. But I guess we’ll see. The other question mark is Virginia Madsen, as Liotta’s wife who knows more than he thinks she knows and who has a little bit of a double life of her own. She actually seems like she’ll be great, from an acting perspective. But I’m very worried about the material she’s going to be given to work with. At the end of the pilot, I felt like we’d been given yet another television wife who’s been burdened with television contrivances to make the character feel as important and weighty as the boys. To me, it felt sort of lazy and manufactured, and I hope the writers are up to the challenge of giving Madsen good quality material that rises above the crap so many of the women’s roles seems to get these days, giving us viewers a strong and believable female character. But again, I guess we’ll see.

Looking to the other key for this show’s success, the caper, I feel pretty good. The heist that went down in the pilot was solid yet basic, although there was one aspect of the getaway plan that just didn’t make any sense (this could easily be fixed with one edit, however, so here’s to hoping it gets cleaned up prior to airing). The whole thing was also a little anticlimactic, as the episode played as a flashback — although the second time through the heist at the end filled in some gaps from what we saw at the opening, you’ve known the major bits for an hour already. But again, I suspect this can be fixed with editing, which they’re going to have to do anyway, since the pilot runs too long for an hour premiere but too short for a two-hour premiere. Anyway, the point is this — nitpicks aside, the caper was good enough. Now, I don’t know if they’re going to try to pull a one-per-episode like this, or do some more extended-type heists, but if they can keep them smart and clever, it will obviously go a long way towards the show’s success.

So the long and the short of it is, in my mind, this show is worth a shot. It’s going up against the respectable “Law and Order: SVU” and “Boston Legal,” but with “The Unit” as its lead-in, I suspect that it’ll initially be the king of the hill. If it wants to keep that position, it’s going to have to show us some strong and clever writing. Time will tell.

From Pajiba .

For fall, CBS gets sexy look

2006-07-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Source:TIMES-DISPATCH
Date:Jul 18, 2006
BY DOUGLAS DURDEN

Who says CBS isn't sexy?

Oh, wait, I say it all the time when explaining why I don't watch that many CBS series.

TVChat knows that CBS is very successful. It has the most viewers; it has the most viewers between ages 25 and 54. What's missing from this equation are viewers 18 to 49, deemed the most important demographic out there. (Not my rule.)

And that's where the to-be or not-be sexy comes in.

"Two and a Half Men," not sexy. "The Early Show," not sexy. "Numb3rs," not spelled right and not sexy.

I know there are people out there who are going to argue with me. I'm sure pictures of Dennis Haysbert and Kevin James are taped to somebody's refrigerator.

Not mine. (This is where I should point out, despite the first name, I am female. And also that TVChat is an open forum. Feel free to tell me just how wrong I am.)

But, I have seen the future, as in fall's new shows. And I have to tell you, CBS is getting sexier.

Skeet Ulrich in "Jericho": definitely hot. Has that whole 3o'clock shadow, open shirt, ripped jeans thing going on. Doesn't say much during the interview for his show with its "The-Day-After" scenario. Doesn't have to.

Ray Liotta, Jonny Lee Miller AND a post-"The Devil Wears Prada" Simon Baker: also hot.

They play career criminals in "Smith" - CBS has declared itself on the side of one-word titles this year; it also has "Shark." In addition, the series features blondes Virginia Madsen ("Sideways") and Amy Smart ("Just Friends") plus Franky G, whose last series, "Jonny Zero" (no relation to Jonny Lee Miller) was on Fox, making him the most unlikely member of this cast to be on a CBS show.

Liotta has made a career of playing charming criminals - except for that FBI agent who has the top of his head removed in "Hannibal." Baker, formerly of the network's "The Guardian," has graduated into full-fledged, scarf-wearing cad. And Miller simultaneously starred as Sick Boy in "Trainspotting" while being married to Angelina Jolie in the mid-'90s.

However, this being CBS, all that potential eye candy has been put into two glum series, one about the possible end of the world, the other about robbers who kill instead of banter.

For instance, here's what Jon Turteltaub, "Jericho's" executive producer, said when asked whether his series about a community surviving a nuclear holocaust would include such matters as radiation sickness and contaminated food.

"Anything that you could think of or anyone would worry about should be in the show."

Oh, that should be fun. And, as if you hadn't already guessed, "Jericho" is one of several new serial dramas for fall, which led to our favorite one-word answer so far at the annual fall preview where the networks tell TV critics what they're doing right and TV critics write about what they're doing wrong.

Asked what he thought about his show being compared to "Lost" - also a serial drama about an isolated community trying to survive - Turteltaub answered, "Cool."

Later, he pointed out that the focus of his show is about the reality of coping, while he considered "Lost" more science-fictiony. And that led to my second favorite quote so far, this one from another executive producer about whether "Jericho" would stay reality-based.

"Let's put it this way, We're dealing with a reality base and real-world events until we run out of ideas," joked Stephen Chbosky.

For about a second, while watching the pilot of "Smith" with its attractive, well-dressed robbers, I thought, "This is supposed to be 'Oceans 11' or '12.' It's a crime caper. They rob, they steal. But in the end, it's OK because nobody gets hurt."

Then they kill someone. Then one of their own gets killed. Then Simon Baker's character kills two people just for the heck of it. Well, they did tell him to get off their beach.

So what's the deal, producer John Wells? Are we supposed to bond with these characters or hope there's a cross-over episode with "Criminal Minds"?

"The idea is that we are following people who are dangerous. And my hope is that the audience will be interested in seeing characters who were dangerous and what happens to them and how the risks that they're taking catch up with them," said Wells, who is a serious producer of such serious shows as "ER" and "Third Watch."

"You're making the assumption that there will be no eventual retribution for the acts that they commit, and that would be an incorrect assumption about where the series is headed."

Oh, great. You put Ray Liotta, Simon Baker and Jonny Lee Miller into one series - and I'm not supposed to like them?
What's on your mind - or your DVR? TVChat would like to know.

From TIMES-DISPATCH .

Looking for a few good 'Smiths'

2006-07-18T02:17:00.000-07:00

In "Smith," Ray Liotta plays Bobby Stevens, the leader of a gang of criminals. Yet Tony Soprano-like, he manages to lead his own humdrum-appearing suburban life, with wife and kids, in his off-time.

"Smith" is one intense show, playing almost like a mini-movie, and as if to accent that, the drama's pilot is 90 minutes long. Execs say it's as of yet unclear how they'll handle the abnormally long pilot, but it'll either run commercial-free or in an hour-long slot with no commercials.

Executive producer John Wells, of "ER" fame, took most of the questions for his panel, bemoaning at one point that no one wanted to talk to the stellar slate of actors he'd brought along (Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, and Franky G among them.)

At least one writer wasn't thrilled with the show's bland title, but Wells said he'd never considered calling his show anything else. He'd learned from a law-enforcement officer that they refer to unidentified suspects as "Smiths," and it fit his idea of a criminal trying to live anonymously in the world, hiding in plain sight.

Writers seemed abnormally concerned with whether Liotta's character remains a likable chap or not, considering at least one completely innocent character is bloodily gunned down in the pilot. I confess to not relating to the concept that a main character must always be Ned Flanders (see J.R. Ewing example, above). I suspect most show creators are thinking: Love him or hate him, just watch him.

Virginia Madsen's character, Hope, Bobby's wife, has a bit of a Carmela Soprano feel to her: She benefits from her husband's criminal activities (and may have some secrets of her own), but she's willfully in a bit of denial, it seems. She won't remain that way, Wells promised.
When questioned about whether the group of criminals in the show met "in stir, or in a fraternity," Wells cracked that they'd met at "the Crime Fraternity at Criminal U."

From MSNBC.

Movie Star Names Fill TV's Anonymous 'Smith'

2006-07-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

Source:Access Hollywood
Date:July 17, 2006

An unremarkable name belies the big-name cast that stars in "Smith," a new heist drama on CBS this fall.

Movie actors Ray Liotta ("Goodfellas"), Virginia Madsen ("Sideways"), Shohreh Aghdashloo ("The House of Sand and Fog") and Jonny Lee Miller ("Trainspotting") join Simon Baker, who starred in the CBS series "The Guardian" in the new project by creator and executive producer John Wells ("ER").

Wells told the Television Critics Association on Saturday that he came up with the show's title first.

"It was just something that I heard from a law enforcement officer who was referring to unidentified suspects as Smiths and it sort of stuck," he said. "The idea being that it's someone who's trying to live sort of anonymously in the world that other people are trying to find."

Madsen said the show's script drew her from films onto the small screen, and she recalled her first venture into television, a long-ago movie for HBO.

"I loved the movie, but it did some damage to my career," she said. "I crossed over from film, which was thought to have been a huge mistake, a huge step-down. Now it's not so much. People can go back and forth now, and it's really good."

From Access Hollywood .

Baker's guard down

2006-07-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

Source:Sydney Confidential
Date:Jul 17, 2006

CRANKY Aussie actor Simon Baker has produced a performance Naomi Robson would be proud of, launching into a tirade of f-bombs at a media call for the new US series he stars in.

Annoyed at constant questions over the likeability of the character he plays in US show Smith - a career thief - Baker told a reporter what he really thought at the LA gathering yesterday.
"It's humanity. You're either interested or you're f...ing not," he said. "My character is likable. I also think my character is a good guy. I just think he's a f...ing nutcase."

Asked how he felt when he had been burgled himself, Baker continued swearing like a trooper.

"You just feel violated. Even with the smallest things, you feel like, f..., someone came through and went through my s... and stole that?! F...!," he said.

Baker's expletive-ridden spray revived memories of Today Tonight host Robson's infamous off-air rant last year, in which she dropped the f-word nine times in 15 seconds while losing her cool with an autocue technician.

While Robson has Baker beaten hands-down in the number of f...s used, the actor's display is noteworthy because it was said to the media, not behind closed doors.

Robson's effort was achieved in an ad break and only became somewhat of a record when a leaked tape did the rounds.

From NEWS.com.au

Making 'Smith'

2006-07-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Source:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Date:July 17, 2006
By Rob Owen

The pilot for CBS's heist series "Smith," which filmed a portion of its pilot in Pittsburgh this year, runs a hefty 60 minutes without commercials. Executive producer John Wells, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate, said the premiere episode won't be cut but will air as a 90-minute premiere with commercials or as a commercial-free, single-sponsor hour.

The show is set in Los Angeles with a band of thieves (led by Ray Liotta and including Simon Baker of "The Guardian") who travel the country staging commissioned heists. In the pilot, they steal art from Pittsburgh's fictional "Tanner Museum" (Oakland's Mellon Institute plays the exterior, while the Carnegie Museum was used for filming some of the interiors).

"We'll come back to Pittsburgh," Wells said. "I'm not sure it will be this year because we just did it, but it's a beautiful city to shoot."

Director Chris Chulack said he'd never been to Pittsburgh before "Smith," but he was impressed with the city visually and with the filming experience.

"We were moving fast and furious, setting off explosions, and I think the city treated us really well," Chulack said. "The crew we hired there was great. It didn't feel different from shooting in New York, Chicago or South Africa. For the stuff we did in the short time we were doing it, it couldn't have gone more smoothly."

Baker plays a cold-blooded killer in "Smith" who shoots two guys in the pilot when they throw him off a Hawaiian beach. Like his "Guardian" character, he doesn't say much in "Smith."

"Actions speak louder than words," Baker said, grinning.

While other cast members justified the likability of their characters at a news conference, afterward Baker said that was of less interest to him, saying he couldn't care less whether anyone likes him, because "I had fun."

Baker, who moved his family back to Australia before "Smith" and has since moved them back to Los Angeles, said returning to Pittsburgh, where "The Guardian" was set and occasionally filmed, was "weird."

"It was the same hotel, but a different time of year," Baker said. "Every time we were there for 'The Guardian,' it was summer, and this time it was freezing cold. It was just nice to see people in the lobby of the hotel, people who worked at the hotel, who I knew. I ran into familiar faces."

Baker, who just wrapped the film "Sex and Death 101" (starring Winona Ryder and written and directed by Daniel Waters of "Heathers" fame), said he doesn't miss "The Guardian."

"Three years was enough to get it out of my system," he said.

His time on "Smith" could be briefer. Wells envisions the series as one with the potential for a lot of cast turnover.

"The idea with this series is there will be a lot of actors in this show if it lasts five or six years," he said. "People get caught, people run away, people die."

From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette .

Smith's" Simon Baker on being a likable sociopath: 'You're either interested, or you're f---g not.'

2006-07-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

Source:Seattle Post Intelligencer
Date:July 16, 2006
By Melanie McFarland

The CBS Stars Party took place in the Rose Bowl, or as I referred to it earlier on Saturday, when outside temperatures had reached broiling levels, God's Wok.

Though I feared we'd be stir fry minutes into the event, the air cooled off considerably between getting on the bus and reaching the stadium. For that I give credit to our driver, who got lost in the parking lot, delaying our arrival until the sun set a tad.

Be that as it may, I had to laugh as I walked onto field because a brass band heralded our entrance with -- and I kid you not -- a live rendition of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." Really. I set foot on the grass, the conductor went "Two! Three! Four!" and the horns kicked it out.

CBS made a football theme out of the evening complete with heart attack food (hamburgers, ribs and pizza) and field goal kicking area. Not exactly a fan of any of that. What I did like, however, was "Smith's" pilot, particularly because it had Simon "Hot, Hot, Hottie McHotterson" Baker in it.

To ensure that the evening had a point, I cornered Baker for a 10 minute conversation, not only because he's lovely to gaze upon, but because he shifted uncomfortably in his chair throughout most of "Smith's" panel, which reporters turned into a long, prickly discussion about likability. Had to ask him about that.

Discussing the likability of a character can be a dangerous game because the definition is a little weird and gray these days. What, exactly, are the qualifications for persuading viewers to like a character? We like Tony Soprano, and he's a philandering murderer. Vic Mackey's OK to root for on "The Shield," and don't even get me started with his list of problems.

Yet many guys had problems envisioning audiences getting into Baker's Jeff, a handsome, athletic fellow who will put a bullet in your skull if you look at him wrong. In fact, that's how we first meet Jeff in "Smith's" pilot. A couple of tough guys threaten the surfer boy, and his response is to calmly walk to his car, pull out his rifle, mount a scope, and sent them off to that great luau in the clouds.

A fantastic, cinematic scene, and one that touched off several mild but unmistakably apoplectic fits during the session.

Back to the party, where a friend and I cornered Baker, who looked less than enthusiastic about chatting at first. Then it registered in his brain that he was looking at two women who probably paid full price to see "Something New" at the theater -- trust me, not many people did -- and he proceeded to charm us for more than 10 minutes of friendly, funny conversation.

The highlight was when the topic turned to the debate concerning Jeff's you-know-what.

I mean his "likability," of course. (What did you think I meant?) The fuse was lit.

"What was that about? Who was asking that, someone from the fundamentalist Christian right?" he said with a smirk. "We're not trying to save the world here, we're just making an entertaining TV show. I don't know if you could tell, but I was getting quite annoyed with all of that."

Let's see -- tense adjustment of eyeglasses, stiffened torso, pouty mouth -- yeah, we could tell. "Contrary to whoever it was that was concerned about it, I think my character is likable. I also think my character is a good guy. I just think he's a f----g nutcase."

By the way, although Baker knew I worked for a newspaper, he had no problem f-bombing with abandon. For instance, here's his take on being burglarized, something that's happened to him a few times.

"You just feel violated. Even with the smallest things, you feel like, f--k, someone came through and went through my s--t and stole that?! F---k!"

Baker was a bit more delicate when I asked him if he drew upon any caper films to build his character. "No, but I like the genre. When it's done well, I like it. When it isn't done well, it sucks. Just like anything else, I guess... When it's done well, you can see all facets of the character.

"And that, kind of, was sort of something I wanted to say today. People were just polarized. If it's done well, you're looking at the nuances of the character -- not, 'Is he good,' or 'Is he bad.' How do you articulate that in five words or less? It's humanity. You're either interested or you're f---g not."

That's nine, but we'll take 'em.

From Seattle Post Intelligencer .

Pilot Watch: CBS "Smith"

2006-07-04T02:19:00.000-07:00

Source:What's Alan Watching?
Date:May 30, 2006
By Alan Sepinwall

"Smith"
Who's In It: Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Simon Baker, Amy Smart, Jonny Lee Miller, Franky G
What It's About: A master thief and his crew try to pull off a few more jobs so he can retire before his ex-con wife figures out he hasn't gone straight yet.
Pluses: Have you looked at that cast list? Okay, subtract Franky G and add Shoreh Aghdashloo, who has what I hope will be a recurring role as Liotta's fence, and that's as talented and pedigreed an ensemble as I've seen in a while. (Then again, ABC has a show that somehow features both Campbell Scott and Hope Davis, so maybe this is just a season where a lot of indie character actors got mortgages.) Cool setting and some nice moments, particularly an early scene that establishes Baker's sniper as the kind of amoral sociopath you usually don't see on network TV. (Fienberg is convinced it will be cut before September; I'm more optimistic.) Smart is also really strong as a damaged woman of a thousand identities, all of them involving low-cut tops.
Minuses: It's by John Wells, so you know it's going to be competent but glum. What's there so far isn't nearly as much fun as an "Ocean's 11" and not nearly as stylish as a Michael Mann caper story. However, the pilot runs almost 60 minutes without commercials, so there's plenty of room to add some scenes to tip it one way or the other. (Either they pad it out to two hours or they cut off all the fat.)

From What's Alan Watching?

Interviews with director about "Sex and Death 101"!

2006-06-24T01:08:00.000-07:00

Sorce:iFMagazine
Date:Jun 21, 2006
By ANTHONY C. FERRANTE

It's a hot Sunny, Southern California afternoon on the Paramount Pictures back lot as a group of geeky extras line-up outside of a faux Golden Apples comic book shop waiting for an autograph of a sexy pin-up played by Sophie Monk for the new dark comedy SEX AND DEATH 101.

Certainly writer-director Daniel Waters (who wrote the seminal black comedy HEATHERS) could pass for one of these geeky extras – and he even jokes about being kicked off his own set for not fitting the eye candy notion of a "director."

"I keep expecting a new P.A. on the set is going to round me up and lasso me and put me in the geek line," jokes Waters. "And I'm like, 'I'm the director,' and he's 'sure you are, everyone wants to direct, don't they. Your dream will one day come true.,"

In his new film, Waters poses the sci-fi-like question, "what if you received a list of every woman you have slept with and who you will eventually sleep with – what would you do?"

"I just thought 'wouldn't it be great if I fast-forwarded to the end of this story to see if I'm going to sleep with this woman or not,'" explains Waters.

The end result follows Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) who gets this mysterious list a week before his wedding and decides to eschew domesticity in place of searching out every woman on the list to find out if indeed the list is true. He soon finds himself falling for a woman not on the list – Death Nell (Winona Ryder) who turns out to be a psychopath, seducing men before putting them into a coma.

"Here's my thing," says Waters. "There's been more movies and TV shows about serial killers, then there has been serial killing, but, sex, as far as actual times it happens in movies that are about it and take it as seriously as people do in real life, is pretty non-existent. Not that I want to make a great serious movie about sex, but the only way to do it is through intelligent humor. I say this movie is as if Philip K. Dick and Phillip Roth did a movie together."

In a candid interview with iF, Waters discussed working on his new film, his previous life as a screenwriter for huge studio action films and his thoughts on his writing experience on BATMAN RETURNS and his version of CATWOMAN that was never made.

iF MAGAZINE: Did you take SEX AND DEATH 101 to the studios first?

DANIEL WATERS: I had a period in my life where I was doing all this crap at the studios, and I call this reinventing my naivete period. I realized, "fuck these mother fuckers, I'm going to write a bunch of scripts that are going to end up in a drawer, so when I kill myself, they can read these scripts and go 'he was a fucking genius.' " But then before I could commit suicide, Cary Brokow [from Avenue Pictures] read the script. I didn't write this to get made. It's the same thing I did with HEATHERS. If you write it to sell or get made it won't, so I wrote something not to get made.

iF: How was it working with Winona Ryder again after all these years?

WATERS: I thought it was a great idea with her from the beginning. She's definitely the delicate broken down version of the role. Whatever has been going on in her past, ties into with this role very interestingly. You're supposed to be freaked out by her. Winona has been gone for awhile, much like the character too. She’s the same exact person that I remembered working with. She's a little too into HEATHERS though, it's a little crazy. It's like being cornered by a really obsessed fan, but you're the star of the movie. I keep expecting her to ask, "what's it like to work with Winona." "You know you are Winona Ryder. I just want to make sure that it's clear." "Oh God, what a great film." "Really, are you allowed to say that out load?"

iF: Did you always want to be a director?

WATERS: Certainly when I wrote HEATHERS, I didn’t want to be a director. It's amazing how, the directors I've worked with who have all been pretty good ideas, things you think come naturally, they don't get. I realized, that directing is a form of writing and the craft of creating something.

iF: Now that you're directing your own material, are you pretty cruel to the writer as a director?
WATERS: Now I know why people hate me so much. I write these one and half page scenes, that need to be shot like a six-page scene. And the dialogue – "how do they expect actors to say this shit." Definitely, if it's not working when I'm shooting it, it's gone. Before when I was the writer, I would be "how dare you cut that scene, even if it’s not well performed you have to make it work." Now, it’s not meant to be.

iF: BATMAN RETURNS is still one of the better sequels, how do you feel about it in retrospect?
WATERS: When I visited the set, I was wheeled on there like Hannibal Lecter. I was having a bit of a disagreement with Tim at the time. I fulfilled my contract, but they brought in this guy Wesley Strick and I did want to go from theater to theater, telling people – "he put LOVE CONNECTION jokes in the movie." That was a dead reference even when the movie came out. And now you watch the movie again going "ahh, Alfred talking about the LOVE CONNECTION, thanks Wesley. Thanks buddy." The whole reinvention of the Catwoman character, I was given a lot of freedom in the initial conception of that thing. It's like, talk about committee, you have a lot of different [people]. Michael Keaton was still the only actor I’ve worked with he said "you're giving me too many lines, you've got to cut this out."

iF: BATMAN RETURNS took a beating when it came out, but people now look back on it fondly. Do you find that to be true?

WATERS: [BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN & ROBIN director] Joel Schumacher gave me the best reviews of my career. I love the critics, after the other ones came out, "BATMAN RETURNS, that was a truly good [film]." Where were you guys, when it first came out. It did get good reviews, but the opinion of the movie really elevated after the other two movies came out.

iF: Weren't you the first person to attempt a CATWOMAN script?

WATERS: Yes, I did the first script. It was pretty outlandish. I liked Catwoman more than Batman as a character. So I basically wanted to remake BATMAN, only with no Batman, who was the most problematic character, which some people said I did with BATMAN RETURNS anyway. "If we can just get rid of this Batman guy, I think we got an idea boys." But Tim wanted to do an intimate, $12 million movie of CATWOMAN, like the original CAT PEOPLE. Between the two of us, the studio was like, "we don't want to make either of these." Mine took place in the Arizona version of Gotham City. It was a town run by three obnoxious super heroes, but they end up being villains. The first scene was her at a support group, but it did end with a lot of women in CATWOMAN outfits. It's a lot like the Winona character [in SEX AND DEATH] who ends up being a serial killer we can all relate to.

iF: So it was very different from the Halle Berry version of CATWOMAN?

WATERS: Oh my god, there was a truck going "beep beep," backing up [at my house] and 900 scripts fell on my front lawn and [the studio was] like, "do you want to arbitrate," and I went to the last one and I went "noooo, please don't give me credit. Whatever you do, anything."

iF: What is the key to a successful black comedy?

WATERS: You can't please everyone. A real dark comedy, has to make the audience go "that wasn't funny," at least four times. You have to know the movie has the ability to go too far, so it keeps you unsettled the rest of the way. It's funny, with HEATHERS, I've been made to feel very old, when people act like I wrote HIS GIRL FRIDAY. "Hey, it's the old guy, you wrote the good old comedies back in the day. HEATHERS that was a great one. They don't make them like that." I still don't get tired of taking a complement. SEX AND DEATH 101 has nothing to do with teenagers, nothing to do with high school, but I think it’s a good time for a movie about sexuality and hopefully the time will be right.

SEX AND DEATH 101 is due out in 2007.

from FMagazine.

Baker Draws A Blank In Sex

2006-06-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

Source:SCI FI Wire
Date:20-June-2006
By Patrick Lee

Simon Baker, who stars in writer/director Daniel Waters' upcoming surreal comedy film Sex and Death 101, told SCI FI Wire that Waters gave him DVDs of foreign films from Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut and others to give him idea of the offbeat movie's tone. "Yeah, there were a lot of strange movies," the Australian-born Baker (Land of the Dead) said in an interview on the film's set at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles last week.

Among the films he had to watch: Buñuel's 1972 French-language comedy The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Truffaut's 1968 Stolen Kisses. "A couple of Fellini films," Baker added. "Dan did this cool thing when I first signed on to the film. He sat down and he gave me [these movies]. I said, 'Look, any kind of reference stuff that you want to look at as far as tonally with the film—performance, tone and stuff— ... tell me.' Because I think [tone is] the biggest problem with a lot of films."

In Sex and Death 101, Baker plays a successful man named Roderick Blank, who receives a mysterious e-mail on the eve of his wedding with a list of all the women he has slept with—and all the women he will ever sleep with.

"The basis [of the movie] is kind of a bit real, but then it has a sci-fi element to it, and then it's got ... a little broad ... fantasy aspect to it, and [it] goes all over the place," Baker said. "But it has to merge in a real place. ... So [Dan] gave me all these references and all these DVDs, and on the backs he put these cards, ... what the references were, why he wanted to look at this, the tone of that or the performance in the third act: 'This character in the third act reminds me of Blank, because he's a blank. He's a blank slate.' And the whole idea here is that the character is kind of blank. It's like he's sort of empty without this list, this desire, this thing. It cleans him right out, in a sense. He's not rooted into who he really is." Sex and Death 101, which also stars Winona Ryder, is currently in production.

From SCI FI Wire .

Waters Talks Sex And Death

2006-06-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

Source:Sci Fi Wire
Date:19-JUNE-06
By Patrick Lee

Daniel Waters, writer and director of the upcoming surreal black comedy Sex and Death 101, told SCI FI Wire that he made the film in part because there aren't enough good American movies about sex anymore."I just find that there are so few movies about sex in general," Waters said in an interview on the film's set at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on June 15. "It seems like there's either the pretentious, boring, Eyes Wide Shut kind of thing, or the dorky ... movies written by people who don't really know what sex is, like American Pie or something like that. ... But the thing is if you go back to the '70s, you had movies like Shampoo, Diary of a Mad Housewife, ... they were great movies, and they ... weren't, like, Laemmle Sunset Five [art house] movies, either."

Sex and Death 101 stars Simon Baker (Land of the Dead) as Roderick Blank, a successful entrepreneur who, on the eve of his wedding, gets an anonymous e-mail with a list of all the women he's had sex with—and all the women he will ever have sex with. As he tries to find out who the names on the list are, he finds himself pursued by a female serial killer named Death Nell (Winona Ryder, who starred in Waters' early film Heathers).

Ironically, Waters said, "there's been more movies ... and TV shows about serial killers than there has been serial killing. But sex, you know, as far as actual times it happens and actual movies that are about it and take it seriously as people do in real life, [those] are pretty nonexistent, you know? ... Not that I want to make the great serious movie about sex. But I think that the only way to do it is through humor, and kind of intelligent humor. I mean, I call this movie 'If Philip K. Dick and Philip Roth did a book together, it would be like this.' And I will leave you on that one." Sex and Death 101, which also stars Julie Bowen and Dash Mihok, is currently in production under Cary Brokaw's Avenue Pictures. Also producing are Sandbar principals Lizzie Friedman and Greg Little.

From Sci Fi Wire.

Baker Ready For More Dead

2006-06-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

Source:Sci Fi Wire
Date:19-JUNE-06
By Patrick Lee

Simon Baker, who starred in George A. Romero's Land of the Dead, told SCI FI Wire that he's eager to do another one of the legendary director's zombie movies, though none is currently in the works. "Yeah, I love George," Baker said in an interview on the set of his new film, Sex and Death 101, at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on June 15. "I love that movie."

The 2005 Land of the Dead, the latest installment in Romero's zombie series, ended with the hint that more stories were to come. "I know the idea of it was always—and I think that most of George's films do this—the whole idea is the main curse is never solved," Baker said. "It's about the different periods of time in history with the plague, with this plague that doesn't go away."

In Land of the Dead, the Australian-born Baker (TV's The Guardian) played Riley, the reluctant leader of a band of human survivors of a worldwide plague that has turned the dead into walking, flesh-eating corpses. But Baker said that the movie worked also as an allegory of the current political situation. "I just love the socio-political sort of [ideas]," he said. "You know, the allegory of his films. It's funny, because so many people—all my highbrow friends—[said], 'God you did a zombie movie? And now you're doing like a sex comedy? Aren't you scared to do these movies?' And I sort of feel that ... I've got plenty of time to settle into the rocking chair and safe, comfy parts. Drink the same beer every day [laughs]. I like the thrill of it. and George was like a trip to me. He's such a cool cat."

In Sex and Death 101, written and directed by Daniel Waters (Heathers), Baker plays a man on the eve of his wedding who receives an e-mail with a list of all the women he's slept with—and all the women he will sleep with in the future. It's currently in production.

From Sci Fi Wire .

Plot and description about "Smith"

2006-06-17T03:10:00.000-07:00

SMITH (CBS)
(Tuesdays at 10:00/9:00c this fall)

The network's description: "SMITH (Tuesday, 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) stars Emmy Award winner Ray Liotta ("ER," "Goodfellas,") as a criminal mastermind in a drama about a close-knit crew of career criminals who plot and execute intricate and ingenious high-stakes heists across the country. Though Bobby Stevens (Liotta) appears to be a regular family man with a nine-to-five job, he's actually an expert thief who is seeking just two or three more big jobs so he can finally leave the business for a comfortable, lawful lifestyle with his wife, Hope (Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen, "Sideways"). Bobby's second family, his core band of partners, each bring their own areas of expertise to pulling off the biggest and most sophisticated armed robberies. The FBI is determined to catch the team but is most interested in capturing "Smith," the crew's mysterious leader and the brains behind the entire operation. It remains to be seen whether Bobby will be able to extricate himself in time from the scores that give him such a rush, or if his retirement will be a forced one -- behind bars. Jonny Lee Miller ("Trainspotting"), Franky G ("Saw II"), Simon Baker ("The Guardian") and Amy Smart ("Felicity") also star."

What did they leave out: Chris Bauer, Michelle Hurd and Shohreh Aghdashloo all have recurring roles - the former two as F.B.I. agents pursuing the team and the latter as Charlie, Bobby's fence.

The plot in a nutshell: We open on Bobby Stevens (Ray Liotta) and his team (all wearing white masquerade masks) as they scramble to escape the police - one of them mortally wounded by several gunshots. We then jump back an hour to see the actual heist - a museum, more specifically several paintings (including a Rembrandt). Things appear to be going flawlessly, that is until one of the unaccounted for guards decides to be a hero. We then pull back a full three weeks as several vignettes (complete with title cards) give us a formal introduction to the crew. There's Bobby and his in-the-dark (?) wife Hope (Virginia Madsen), who seem to be living the perfect suburban existence (complete with cute kids and the prerequisite house on a cul de sac); Jeff (an awesome Simon Baker) who's enjoying a relaxing day of surfing; Tom (Jonny Lee Miller), just released from prison and ready to get back in the game; Joe (Franky G), a nice-guy body shop owner; Shawn (Mike Doyle), Joe's friend who's an in-debt-to-his-eyeballs gambler (not to mention whose wife just happens to be making googly-eyes at Joe); and Annie (Amy Smart), a Vegas showgirl running credit card scams. Text messages from Bobby assemble the crew and we learn their respective roles - Bobby's the planner, Jeff's the guns, Tom's the alarms, Joe's the wheel man, Shawn's the tech and Annie is the distraction. And so we march toward the inevitable link up with the pilot's opening moments, during which we get the full picture of the characters' relationships, how things went down and who didn't make it.

What works: This is 100% not the show you'd expect based on the above, not to mention 100% not what you'd expect from John Wells or CBS. First and foremost is the show's lean, methodical pace - everything just clicks, plain and simple. Not a word is wasted, nor a scene overplayed. It's basically "Heat" if it was told entirely from Robert De Niro's character's perspective. Half of the show's fun is just watching the skill of Bobby's crew - not to mention that of the actors, Wells as a writer and Christopher Chulack as a director. The other half is the surprise that for the most part Bobby and his crew are portrayed as genuinely bad people. Hell, Baker's Jeff and Smart's Annie are both essentially sociopaths. Baker alone has two major "are they seriously having his character do this" moments, while an early misstep by Smart's character is explained by the last possible scenario you'd think of. After NBC's "Heist" and FX's "Thief," we finally have "the" show about thieves.

What doesn't: No complaints - between this and NBC's "Friday Night Lights," Tuesdays are going to be a lot more fun this fall.

The challenges ahead: Can "Smith" take down NBC's "Special Victims Unit," the "Law & Order" franchise's top draw?

From the futon critic .

Sex and Death 101" Begins Production

2006-06-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Sorce:Dark Horizons
Date:June 12th, 2006
By Garth Franklin

Principal Photography has begun in Los Angeles on the audacious romantic comedy, SEX AND DEATH 101, directed by renowned screenwriter Daniel Waters, and starring Simon Baker and Winona Ryder.

Produced by Cary Brokaw's Avenue Pictures and Sandbar Pictures, the film reunites Winona Ryder with Daniel Waters, the screenwriter of HEATHERS, which helped establish her as the edgy "it" girl for Generation X.

Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) is a successful modern man, content with his personal and professional life. A week before his wedding to a suitably stuffy fianc嶪, however, Roderick's perfectly planned existence is upended by a mysterious piece of technology that e-mails him a list of every woman he has ever had sex with -- but the list keeps going. Roderick realizes that the List also contains the names of every woman he EVER WILL have sex with.

Like a psychosexual GROUNDHOG DAY, Roderick is put through an odyssey that initially inspires awe in the viewer (Playmates, Private School Girls, a Lesbian Astronaut) but soon turns into comic terror.

Roderick falls in love with a lovely angel...but she's tragically not on the List. He also crosses paths with Death Nell (Winona Ryder), a media sensation femme fatale who seduces men before putting them into fairy-tale-style comas...tragically, this dangerous woman IS on the List. The literal bedtime story takes some dark twists, but Roderick eventually learns to stop fighting the List and give up his need for control. Sometimes you have to go all the way through Immorality to truly get to Morality and peace of mind...

SEX AND DEATH 101 stars Golden Globe nominee Simon Baker (TV's THE GUARDIAN, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, THE RING TWO) as Roderick Blank, a successful executive and 'ladies man' whose life is turned around by an email that includes the names of everyone he's had sex with and ever will have sex with. Oscar?nominee and Golden Globe winner Winona Ryder (THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, LITTLE WOMEN) stars as 'Death Nell,' the mysterious femme fatale who becomes a revered urban folk hero when she targets men guilty of sex crimes against women.

Leslie Bibb (TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY), Julie Bowen (TV's BOSTON LEGAL) and Australian pop sensation Sophie Monk (CLICK, DATE MOVIE) star as women on the long list of Baker's libidinous conquests, and Mindy Cohn (TV's THE FACTS OF LIFE) is Baker's accommodating assistant Trixie, Rounding out the cast as Baker's friends and co-workers are Dash Mihok (KISS KISS, BANG BANG) and Neil Flynn (TV's SCRUBS).

An Avenue Pictures and Sandbar Pictures production, SEX AND DEATH 101 is written and directed by Daniel Waters (HEATHERS, BATMAN RETURNS). Avenue's Cary Brokaw (CLOSER, ANGELS IN AMERICA) produces the film with Sandbar's Lizzie Friedman (A VIEW FROM THE TOP, RUNNING WITH THE BULLS) and Greg Little (MAYOR OF THE SUNSET STRIP, DREAM LAND). Avenue executive vice president Aaron Craig Geller is the executive producer. Co-producer is Jerry Jacobs. The director of photography is Daryn Okada (MEAN GIRLS, JUST LIKE HEAVEN), the production designer is John Larena (ALEX & EMMA), the costume designer is Julia Caston (EUROTRIP, BOILER ROOM), and the editor is Trudy Shipp (101 DALMATIANS, MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS).

SEX AND DEATH 101 will be released theatrically in Spring 2007.

From Dark Horizons.

Hollander to make Pittsburgh-set pilot for TNT

2006-06-10T22:10:00.000-07:00

From:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Date: May 22, 2006
By Rob Owen

David Hollander, the Mt. Lebanon native who created CBS's 2001-04 Pittsburgh-set legal drama "The Guardian," received an order Friday from TNT to film a pilot episode of a new Pittsburgh-set drama, "Heartland." The proposed series is about a transplant doctor.

"It is a character-driven piece about relationships that are drawn through the transplant community," Hollander said last week. "It's primarily an intense look at relationships both inside the transplant community and outside, looking at the recipients and donor families."

Hollander wrote the script for the pilot and is planning to direct.

The primary characters include a transplant surgeon and his ex-wife, an organ recovery coordinator. No actors have been cast in the pilot so far. If TNT executives are pleased with how the pilot turns out, they could order a first season (likely 13 episodes).

Hollander said it's possible TNT could insist on changing the location from Pittsburgh, but he's pushing for his hometown. He'd like to find an abandoned hospital in which to film the series, maybe even in Pittsburgh, although he admits that's unlikely.

"There are many scenarios that could play out. One is a very long shot: If the city can make it affordable to move the entire thing there and make it there, we would," he said. "We're looking for a city that will host the show permanently. But if we get big stars, it's hard to believe we can shoot it there."

Brand-name actors generally don't like to stray too far from Los Angeles or Vancouver, where many cable series film due to Canadian tax incentives that lower production costs.

"If Pittsburgh can make the best deal, we'll come, but I think the state is not quite ready to incentivize this filmmaking budget," Hollander said of Pennsylvania's limited tax incentives for movies and TV shows. "There are states -- and clearly Canada -- that are prepared to give [the studio] money back in different ways that take 15 to 25 percent right off your budget."

Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, said she's trying to convince Warner Bros., which will produce "Heartland" for TNT, to come to Pittsburgh.

"We've been working with David and Warner Bros. Television, and we're hopeful that combined with the new Pennsylvania incentives and the great reputation Pittsburgh has, we will soon be seeing 'Heartland' filmed in Pittsburgh," Keezer said Friday.

If the series doesn't film here, Hollander said, he'd like to do what he did on "The Guardian" and bring the cast to town to film scenes once or twice a season -- if he can work such trips into the show's budget. (The budgets for cable series are generally lower than those for series on broadcast networks.)

After "The Guardian," Hollander had scripts purchased by several broadcast networks, but the projects never got as far as a pilot order. He thinks his odds of getting "Heartland" on the air are better at TNT.

"They'll probably only green light two pilots out of their development [roster], so your odds are much, much better than at a major network," Hollander said. "There's no guarantee, but certainly it feels more secure to me."

From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette .

Baker's about-turn to keep up with Smith

2006-06-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

From:Sydney Morning Herald
Date:June 9, 2006

No sooner had heart-throb Simon Baker and his wife Rebecca Rigg come home to Sydney after a decade in America than, PS discovers, they and their three children are heading back to Hollywood.

A former Sanctuary Cove pool boy, Baker has already returned to the US to start shooting a new television series called Smith, being made by the team behind the hugely successful ER series for Warner Bros.

Smith deals with the inner workings of a team of criminals, with Baker playing a larrikin, laid-back surfer dude by day, and a shrewd crook by night. He co-stars in the new series with Ray Liotta.

It was only a week after jetting back into Australia last November that Baker and his wife bought a home. The actor, who has made a slew of big-budget Hollywood films and achieved widespread fame in the US following his role in The Guardian, spent about $2.5 million on a five-bedroom, three-level Paddington terrace.

However, the bright lights of Hollywood have called him back to the US, where he is receiving rave reviews for his role in the Meryl Streep film The Devil Wears Prada, which is reportedly based on the life of the US Vogue editor Anna Wintour. Baker plays plays a staff writer for New York magazine.

According to The New York Times: "There is nothing slight about Mr Baker in Prada, even though his role is secondary. Amid the over-the-top fabulosity of the movie's fashionistas, his Christian [Thompson] is the one wholly believable character. He's the kind of smooth, ambitious journalist who does serious work if the assignment calls for it but will happily sell his soul, brain and maybe even his body for a shot at big-time bucks and glamour."

From Sydney Morning Herald.

Ryder back with Waters for indie 'Sex'

2006-06-02T00:33:00.000-07:00

From: Hollywood Reporter
Date:June 02, 2006
By Sheigh Crabtree

Winona Ryder is reuniting with Daniel Waters, who wrote "Heathers" and helped establish Ryder as the edgy "it" girl for Generation X.

Ryder has signed on to star as a feminist vigilante who becomes an urban folk hero in "Sex and Death 101," which Waters wrote and is directing.

The story follows a man (Simon Baker) whose life is upended by a mysterious e-mail containing the 101 names of every woman he has had sex with and, eerily, every woman he will have sex with in the future. He is stopped in his tracks when he meets Ryder, a femme fatale who targets men guilty of sex crimes against women.

Julie Bowen ("Boston Legal") also has joined the cast and will play No. 29 on the long list of Baker's libidinous conquests. Dash Mihok ("Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang") is on board to play Lester, one of Baker's best friends.

Amy Smart Gets Into Shape for 'Showgirl' Role

2006-05-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

From:The National Ledger
Date:May 30, 2006
By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith

Rising star Amy Smart reports she's already working out with a trainer for her role -- as a sophisticated criminal who also happens to be a showgirl -- in John Wells' fall-debuting CBS "Smith" series, in which she's to team with Ray Liotta, Simon Baker and Virginia Madsen.

Not that she'll definitely be seen sporting skimpy showgirl attire on stage. "That's just one of many things she does," says Smart. "I just want to be ready for this girl, whatever."

With the kind of big-screen action she's been having in her career, Smart admits the idea of doing a TV series gave her pause. "Television is such a bigger commitment. For me, I wanted to make sure it was something with a character I really loved and actors I really wanted to be on set with every day," she says. "John Wells is so talented at creating interesting, complex characters," she adds of the creative force behind "E.R." and "The West Wing." How is her character? "Dangerous," replies Smart with a smile.

Smart, who already has such big-screen fare as "Just Friends" behind her -- and the Jason Statham thriller "Crank" due in September -- has "Peaceful Warrior" opening in limited release Friday (6/2). She plays the enchanting, elusive Joy in the Lionsgate adaptation of Dan Millman's beloved spiritual saga, with Scott Mechlowicz as the champion gymnast who relearns life and Nick Nolte as his service station-based guru, Socrates. "I had been a fan of the book since I read it about 10 years ago. It immediately changed my perspective and gave me more awareness of life," notes Amy. She adds, "Initially, I wanted to meet Joy and talk to her about her story, but I heard she was a pretty private person. Then Dan Millman said, 'Make it your own.'" And she did.

From The National Ledger .

John Wells Has a Jones for 'Smith'

2006-05-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

From:TV Week
Date:May 19, 2006
By Christopher Lisotta

Veteran executive producer John Wells was beaming at the CBS upfront after-party at Central Park's Tavern on the Green Wednesday. The prolific producer behind the drama hits "ER" and "The West Wing," Mr. Wells has been through the upfront gauntlet before.

This year eager ad executives were lined up waiting to take pictures with Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen and the rest of cast of Mr. Wells' latest TV venture, the fall 2006 crime drama "Smith." "This is the time period we were hoping for," Mr. Wells said of "Smith's" Tuesday 10 p.m. (ET) slot. "There's two things you look for: lead in and promotion."

"Smith" has both going for it, Mr. Wells noted. The show, about a high-level thief, will get a lead in from CBS's most recent drama success "The Unit." Plus "CSI: Miami" is in the same time slot the night before, so the new show has a powerful promotional platform the night before. He also liked the fact that CBS's Sunday-night procedural lineup and the network's weekend football coverage is in close proximity to his new show.

"We'll have much more oomph from the weekend," Mr. Wells said.

As for "ER," which is going into its thirteenth season on NBC in its Thursday 10 p.m. time slot, Mr. Wells said he was confident his show would prevail. Just a few yards away, the cast of CBS's new legal drama "Shark" was snapping pictures with ad execs. "Shark" will be taking on "ER" this fall, along with the new ABC relationship drama "Six Degrees."

"We've never focused on the competition," Mr. Wells said. "We can't control that. We're excited we can keep making it."

A good attitude to have in a tough business like developing TV shows. It also explains why Mr. Wells was so happy with "Smith."

"Honestly, it's all gravy now," he said.

From TV Week.

Plot about Sex and Death 101

2006-05-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

Roderick Blank: 28-38. A top executive for an upscale fast food chain, Roderick Blank is a man way too content with his perfectly planned existence. A week before his wedding to a banal fiancee, however, Roderick is e-mailed a list of every woman he's ever had sex with...and, mysteriously, every woman he EVER WILL have sex with. A good-hearted rogue of wicked intelligence and subversive wit, Roderick casts away his betrothed and launches into an ultimate male fantasy -101 women without the "will-she-or-won't-she" factor! Like a modern day King Midas, Roderick's exhiliration turns into exhaustion and finally, full-blown madness. Roderick meets the love of his life - but alas, this angel is not on the List. He later meets a twisted maneater who calls herself Death Nell - this dark fairy IS on the List. When it comes to his soul, the List is the gift that keeps on taking. Only by embracing his mortality and giving up his need for control does Roderick outwit the List and come to a state of enlightenment. Lead;

Death Nell / Gillian De Raisx: 25-38. Striking fear into the hearts of men everywhere, "Death Nell" is a headline grabbing, wig-and-costume changing femme fatale, who mates with her male victims before putting them into fairy tale-style comas. Going beyond her lurid media sensation status, Death Nell reveals herself to be a strangely likable, world-weary ex-chemist of playful, intellectual firepower. Incognito and on-the-lam, she continuously crosses paths with Roderick Blank, a man going through his own comically shocking journey. Finally confronting him, Death Nell melts back into her real persona, Gillian De Raisx, letting flow the details of her sad, tragic life with a warmth and humor unexpected from a terrifying villainess. Roderick is caused to wonder, is he her final victim, ultimate soul-mate, or both? Lead;

Dr. Miranda Storm: 25-35. The girl of every man's dreams to an almost satirical degree, Dr. Miranda Storm is a sweet and adorable veterinarian, who can't help causing men to actively injure their own pets in order to spend more time with her. Miranda stops the fable of Roderick Blank and his 101 women in its tracks. There can be no other woman - Dr. Storm is kind, caring and can make a martini as well as she can tell a joke. In Roderick, Miranda has found a much-needed friend, one who inspires her to turn her quirk of thinking inanimate objects have feelings into a children's book. Alas, the randy Roderick wants more than friendship and while Dr. Storm is quite articulate in protest, she can't prevent their companionship from coming to a darkly comic and downright tragic end. Lead;

Trixie: 20s. Trixie is more than Roderick's assistant; she's his conscience, the only one who sees the good deep down, really deep down, inside him. Being Roderick's closest confidante as well as a sharp-tongued lesbian, Trixie is immune to the radioactive cloud of desire emanating from her boss' mythical List. It is Trixie who convinces Roderick to bury the document and to live his life with mystery, wonder and morality. As fiercely protective as she is critical of her warped rascal of a boss, Trixie's attempts to humanize Roderick are only half-successful, but she poignantly never gives up. Lead;

Alpha: 50s. More a God than a man, Alpha is a smooth gentleman with all the answers. Enigmatically representing an enigmatic organization, Alpha explains to Roderick the strange technology that produced the List that knows oh-somuch of his sex life. Initially, an ominous, seemingly science fiction villain, Alpha warms into the flesh-and-blood role of benevolent guide. As if watching an ant trying to carry a candy bar, Alpha takes a bemused interest in the plight of the hapless mortal Roderick, marveling at the twists and turns of his literal bedtime story, while giving out sage advice that Roderick can never seem to quite follow;

Alpha: 20s. As Alpha's sleek, young protege, Beta is the most professional of the of the enigmatic organization's agents, matter-of-factly spouting mind-boggling information of The Machine, an all-knowing but erratic device that his supposed to save the world, but keeps coughing up nonsense like Roderick's List. Despite his eerie calm, Beta can't help be caught up in the escapades of this poor civilian;

Fred: 30s. Alpha and Beta's comic relief, Fred doesn't even warrant a cool code name. Openly buffoonish, but capable of efficient, CIA-style violence if called upon, Fred serves as the tale's Geek chorus, commenting on Roderick's action with hearty vulgarity and the accidental insight of a Shakespearean Fool;

Fiona Wormwood: 28-38. Insufferably perfect and perfectly insufferable, Fiona Wormwood is the classic, passion-lacking fiancee who dazzles with her beauty and breeding, but never quite makes it to the altar. Her workedout-to-the-last-detail wedding to the equally clinical Roderick Blank gets outrageously sidetracked by forces beyond her control. Her revenge against Roderick is swift and effective - and even a little sympathetic, revealing a depth and grace one never knew she had;

Cynthia Rose: 20s. "Cyn" for short, Cynthia Rose is a naughty minx who has becomes this month's Playboy Playmate in order to piss off her rich, powerful father. She gets a little more than she bargained for, as she must flee a mass uprising of creepy guys wanting their magazines signed. This daffy, modern-day Marilyn Monroe is rescued by the rogue Roderick Blank, who frustrates her by NOT attacking her. The instantly smitten couple plans a devilish consummation under her father's nose at the family mansion - but the plan goes spectacularly awry, leaving Cyn a screaming wreck;

Cressida Warfield: 25-32, female, a bisexual rock star with the power to hypnotize both sexes, Cressida Warfield turns the rakish Roderick Blank into a quivering schoolgirl with a come-hither glance from the stage, devastating Trixie, Roderick's lesbian assistant and Cressida's number-one fan. The sultry singer takes Roderick back to her hotel, but before he can revel in the wish fulfillment of bedding down a rock star, Cressida mischievously reveals it was all a ploy to make her female guitarist jealous;

Devon Sever: 28-38, female, a brutally charismatic executive with Flavor Creation, Devon Sever effortlessly dazzles the conference room of Fast Food entrepreneurs, notably a highly aroused Roderick Blank. She inspiures Roderick into a flash-forwarding montage depicting them as the ultimate Power Couple. However, the stone-cold business superstar has other plans, using Roderick for a quick sexual fix and throwing him away like Kleenex, before calling home to her loving house-husband and bed-ridden son;

Hope Hartlight: 30-40, female, the author of a series of self-help books, Hope Hartlight is the healing influence the lothario Roderick Blank needs after a punishing parade of devilish vixens. Older and wiser, Hope takes him away from the loud bar scene and into the hearth where she soothes Roderick with her best-selling platitudes and her genuine love. Her best efforts are no match against the mysterious powers of Roderick's list;

Lester: 25-40, male, Roderick's raucous co-worker and best friend, Lester rejoices in his pal's sudden explosion of sexual conquests, gleefully unaware of the spooky list behind it all. The Devil on Roderick's shoulder, Lester encourages the worst in Roderick. He half-heartedly takes part in an intervention to curb Roderick's ladies-man-ia, but can't help celebrating when his friend is ravaged by a busload of schoolgirls;

Xavier: 25-40, male. As Roderick's more laid-back friend and co-worker, Xavier tries to be a voice of reason for his suddenly sex-obsessed buddy, but doesn't try that hard. Like all single males, he can't help being impressed, yet when Roderick sets his sights on Xavier's unrequited love, Dr. Miranda Storm, the fangs come out. Their friendship survives as Xavier gives in to the fact that Roderick has no control over his actions;

Zack: 35-40, male. Representing the cozy sanctity of marriage, Zack acts as a gentle mentor to Roderick at his bachelor party, anxious to welcome him into the married-man fold. When Roderick breaks off his engagement to Fiona Wormwood, Zack takes the news worst of all. Later, when Roderick abandons another highly suitable marriage candidate, it is Zack who calls for an intervention, attempting to put a stop to his friend's caddish behavior. Alas, Zack, like most of the people in Roderick's life, is unaware of the strange forces at work.

CBS Announces 2006-07 Primetime Schedule

2006-05-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

From:Mercury News
Date:May. 17, 2006
By Charlie McCollum

If you liked what you saw on CBS this past season, you're going to like what you'll see when the network launches its ``new'' schedule come September.

The network announced Wednesday that it has renewed a whopping 17 current series for next season with an 18th -- ``King of Queens'' returning for its ninth and final year in January. That is believed to be a record in TV world for keeping a program lineup intact.

As a result, CBS will add just four new shows and the biggest news coming out of its schedule announcement was a revamped Sunday lineup featuring its Thursday hit, ``Without A Trace,'' and the Emmy-winning ``The Amazing Race'' moving to that night.

To create space for the ``Trace'' and ``Race,'' it ended its 20-year-old ``CBS Sunday Night Movie'' franchise, eliminating the last remaining weekly vehicle for original TV films and miniseries on network television. With ABC and NBC already all but out of the made-for-TV movie game, the end of ``CBS Sunday Night Movie'' means the networks have now officially ceded that programming genre to such cable channels as HBO, TNT, Sci Fi and Hallmark.

A quick breakdown of what CBS will have for the fall, by day:

Sunday

In an effort to battle the ABC lineup anchored by ``Desperate Housewives'' and NBC's new ``Sunday Night Football,'' CBS brings in ``Race'' at 8 p.m. following the long-running and still-popular ``60 Minutes.'' The reality show stumbled this past season creatively and in the ratings but still has a loyal audience.

``Cold Case,'' which may be the most-watched and best-made show on TV that gets almost no publicity, moves to 9 p.m., pairing with ``Trace'' which has been averaging 18.7 million viewers per week this season.

Monday

CBS executives must have been breathing a sigh of relief when ABC decided to move Sunday ratings juggernaut ``Grey's Anatomy'' to Thursday, rather than Monday as originally expected. The network's Monday comedy lineup has had a downturn in viewership since the end of ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' and might have taken a real hit from ``Grey's.''

Come the fall, ``How I Met Your Mother'' will move to the 8 p.m. slot while ``Two And A Half Men'' and ``The New Adventures of Old Christine'' will remain at 9 and 9:30. (``CSI: Miami'' will continue to hold down the 10 p.m. hour.)

The one newcomer -- ``The Class'' from David Crane of ``Friends'' -- was considered such a sure thing that CBS outbid NBC and ABC for it and guaranteed it a slot based solely on one script. Starring Jason Ritter (``Joan of Arcadia'') and Lizzy Caplan (``Related''), the comedy focuses on a group of 20-somethings who reunite after being best friends way back in the third grade.

Tuesday

Having done well in the ratings this past season even against ``American Idol,'' the network's two military dramas -- ``NCIS'' and ``The Unit'' -- will stay together starting at 8 p.m.

At 10 p.m., CBS adds ``Smith,'' a serialized drama from John Wells (``The West Wing,'' ``ER'') with an A-list cast headed by Ray Liotta (``Goodfellas''), Virginia Madsen (``Sideways''), Simon Baker (``The Guardian''), Jonny Lee Miller (``Transpotting'') and Amy Smart (``Felicity''). Liotta plays a sophisticated thief trying to pull off a few last lucrative jobs before retiring with his wife (Madsen).

Wednesday

Having bombed out with one sci fi drama, ``Threshold,'' last year, CBS tries to get it right this time with the new ``Jericho,'' a show about the residents of a small Kansas town who are the only survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Created by Jon Turteltaub (``National Treasure''), the series stars Skeet Ulrich (``Scream''), veteran TV actor Gerald McRaney and Ashley Scott (one of the short-lived ``Birds of Prey'').

``Jericho'' slides into the lineup ahead of ``Criminal Minds'' -- one of last season's surprise hits -- at 9 p.m. and ``CSI: NY'' at 10.

Thursday

CBS is finally going to get some competition on Thursdays as ABC brings in ``Grey's Anatomy'' and NBC debuts its most-talked-about new show, ``Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip.''

The theory on the part of the other networks is that while ``Survivor'' (at 8 p.m.) and ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' (at 9) are still big hits -- in the case of ``CSI,'' a very big hit -- they are starting to show signs of age with eroding viewership. Well, it's only a theory and CBS certainly begs to differ.

Replacing ``Trace'' at 10 p.m. is what CBS executives think is their strongest new show: ``Shark,'' a legal drama starring Oscar nominee James Woods and Jeri Ryan (``Boston Public,'' ``The O.C.'') and produced by Brian Grazer (``A Beautiful Mind'') among others. Spike Lee directed the pilot for this show about a ruthless defense attorney (Woods) who has an epiphany and joins the prosecutor's office.

Friday and Saturday

The lineup of ``Ghost Whisperer,'' ``Close to Home'' and ``Numbers'' returns for a second season after scoring decent viewership on Fridays last year.

As for Saturday, it's the same old, same old with repeats of ``CSI'' and ``Without A Trace'' and ``48 Hours Mystery'' at 10 p.m. as the only original programming.

From Mercury News

CBS Picks Up Seven Pilots

2006-05-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

From:the Futon Critic
Date:May 15, 2006
By Brian Ford Sullivan

CBS has given second seasons to both "Close to Home" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine" as well as handed "The King of Queens" a 13-episode midseason commitment.

The shortened order for "Queens" is understood to avoid conflicts with co-star Kevin James' duties on the feature "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." Said film, in which he and Adam Sandler play straight firemen who wed for insurance reasons, is set to begin production this fall.

A renewal is also said to be pending for "The Unit" while "Courting Alex," "Out of Practice" and "Still Standing" are not expected to make the cut.

So far this season CBS has only axed three series: "Love Monkey," "Threshold" and "Yes, Dear."

Meanwhile in pilot pick-up news, the Eye reportedly is moving forward with at least five new dramas - "Jericho," "Shark," "Smith," "Waterfront" and the untitled Peter Ocko hour - and two comedies - "The Class" and Tom Hertz's "Rules of Engagement."

"Jericho," from CBS Paramount Network Television, revolves around a small town in Kansas that's dealing with life after a series of nuclear attacks destroys most of America's big cities. The show's ensemble cast includes Alicia Coppola ("N.C.I.S."), Ashley Scott ("Birds of Prey"), Erik Knudsen ("Saw II"), Gerald McRaney ("Deadwood"), Kenneth Mitchell ("Miracle"), Lennie James ("Sahara"), Michael Gaston ("Prison Break"), Pamela Reed ("Pepper Dennis"), Skeet Ulrich ("Into the West") and Sprague Grayden ("Over There"). Stephen Chbosky created the hour, which also comes from executive producer/director Jon Turteltaub.

James Woods stars in "Shark," about a celebrity attorney-turned-prosecutor. Ian Biederman ("Cold Case") is behind the 20th Century Fox Television-based hour, which also stars Alexis Cruz ("American Family"), Danielle Panabaker ("Yours, Mine and Ours"), Jeri Ryan ("The O.C."), Lindsay Frost ("The Unit"), Romy Rosemont ("C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation"), Samuel Page ("Point Pleasant"), Sarah Carter ("Numb3rs") and Sophina Brown ("Chappelle's Show"). Imagine Television's Brian Grazer and David Nevins also serve as executive producers while Spike Lee directed the pilot.

Warner Bros. Television-based "Smith," from "ER's" John Wells and Christopher Chulack, deals with the inner workings of a team of criminals. Ray Liotta ("ER") toplines the cast, which also includes Amy Smart ("Just Friends"), Chris Bauer ("Jonny Zero"), Franky G ("Jonny Zero"), Jonny Lee Miller ("Aeon Flux"), Michelle Hurd ("According to Jim"), Simon Baker ("The Guardian") and Virginia Madsen ("Firewall").

"Waterfront," also from Warner Bros. Television, focuses on the quirky mayor (Joe Pantoliano) of Providence, Rhode Island. Larenz Tate ("Love Monkey"), Lyndsy Fonseca ("How I Met Your Mother"), Mary Stuart Masterson ("Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"), Natalia Cigliuti ("All My Children") and William Baldwin ("Fun with Dick and Jane") also star in the hour, which comes from creator Jack Orman ("dr. vegas"). Richard J. Lewis directed the pilot.

As for the Ocko project, Mark Feuerstein ("The West Wing") stars as a rising-star brain surgeon who is doing a fellowship under the guidance of a brilliant but unpredictable surgeon (Stanley Tucci). Armando Riesco ("Fever Pitch"), Indira Varma ("Rome") and Tamara Taylor ("Sex, Love & Secrets") also star in the project, which comes from CBS Paramount Network Television and executive producers Barry Levinson, Paul Stupin, Peter Ocko and Tom Fontana. Davis Guggenheim helmed the pilot.

On the comedy front, "The Class" is an ensemble comedy about a group of eight twentysomethings - all of whom attended the same third-grade class 20 years ago - that are reunited after one of them (Jason Ritter) throws a surprise anniversary party for his girlfriend, also of the same group. David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik are behind the Warner Bros. Television-based half-hour, which also stars Andrea Anders ("Joey"), Heather Goldenhersh ("Tempting Adam"), Jesse Tyler Ferguson ("Ordinary Sinner"), Jon Bernthal ("How I Met Your Mother"), Lizzy Caplan ("Related"), Lucy Punch ("Being Julia") and Sean Maguire ("Eve").

And finally, "Engagement" is a relationship comedy about a married couple, an engaged duo and a single guy. Sony Pictures Television and creator Tom Hertz are behind the half-hour, which stars Kathleen Rose Perkins ("Four Kings"), Megyn Price ("Grounded for Life"), Patrick Warburton ("Less Than Perfect") and Paulo Costanzo ("Joey"). Happy Madison's Adam Sandler, Doug Robinson and Jack Giarraputo also serve as executive producers.

From The Futon Critic.

Breakthrough Performances: Five to Look Out For

2006-05-07T22:56:00.000-07:00

From:NY Times
Date:May 7, 2006
By KAREN DURBIN

Simon Baker

"The Devil Wears Prada" (June 30) is a fashion-savvy chick-lit comedy based on the 2001 romanic clef by Lauren Weisberger, a former assistant to Anna Wintour, the famously astringent editor of Vogue. It enthusiastically belongs to its female players, particularly Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, the dark power of the movie's title who edits Runway magazine, and Anne Hathaway as her shellshocked new assistant, Andrea Sachs. The Australian actor Simon Baker, below, plays Christian Harper, a staff writer for New York magazine and the sort of "real" journalist that Andrea, who was editor of her college newspaper, aspires to be. Still, men are incidental in this movie. Which makes Mr. Baker's ability to steal almost every scene he is in all the more impressive.

This comes as a surprise after Mr. Baker's last film, "Something New," a bittersweet comedy about interracial romance in which he played the heroine's controversial white lover, but managed to be so low-key and recessive that he even lookedphysically slight on screen. There is nothing slight about Mr. Baker in "Prada," even though his role is secondary. Amid the over-the-top fabulosity of
the movie's fashionistas, his Christian is the one wholly believable character. He's the kind of smooth, ambitious journalist who does serious work if the assignment calls for it but will happily sell his soul, brain and maybe even his body for a shot at big-time bucks and glamour.

Mr. Baker imbues him with humor and sexy charm, but it's the actor's canny way of conveying a laid-back authority without condescension that makes Christian irresistible. For a time at least, he snows Andrea and us, too, even though we really should know better. He also gets the movie's best line. "She's a sadist," he says of Miranda, "and not in a good way."

fromNY Time .

Behind the scenes on 'Smith'

2006-04-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

From:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Date:March 31, 2006
By Rob Owen

I did some more snooping around on the set of the CBS pilot "Smith" last weekend and ran into actor Simon Baker, one of the stars of the proposed series.

Baker, who starred for three years in the Pittsburgh-set legal drama "The Guardian," said it was "weird" to be back in Pittsburgh, staying in the same hotel and working with the same local crew as he did during the "Guardian" days.

In "Smith," Baker plays one of the thieves in a gang led by Ray Liotta. In the pilot, the crew steals art from the fictitious Tanner Museum in Pittsburgh. Mellon Institute in Oakland played the Tanner in scenes shot on Fifth Avenue Sunday. Never have more people clogged that sidewalk than when the production hired dozens of extras to walk along it take after take.

While "The Guardian" was meticulous in its faithfulness to Pittsburgh geography, "Smith" will not be. Actress Amy Smart stumbled into an alley along Liberty Avenue in a scene shot last week and then emerged from the other end of the alley, after apparently passing through a wormhole, on Fifth Avenue in Oakland. I'm sure it will work fine on screen, leaving only Pittsburghers with a knack for local geography confused.

Last Friday night, I joined a dozen other onlookers to see police cars race down the 10th Street Bypass, chasing a cigarette boat on the nearby Allegheny River. Cameras in a helicopter above and on another boat on the river captured the action, including fireballs around a delivery truck the thieves left on the 10th Street Bypass. It was rigged to explode, causing a diversion intended to allow the thieves an escape. I didn't stay for the explosion but heard the truck blew up quite impressively around 11:50 p.m.

CBS will announce its fall schedule, and whether or not "Smith" makes the cut, in May.

From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette .

Pilots take flight

2006-03-28T18:20:00.000-08:00

From:NEWS.com.au
Date:March 28, 2006
By Peter Mitchell

US TV executives have their fingers crossed that some of Australia's best known actors, including Rachel Griffiths and Simon Baker, will lead their networks to ratings gold.

The US networks have just unveiled their plans for new TV series and it was largely bad news for the many Australian actors who travelled to the US to audition for roles during Hollywood's traditional pilot season.
In past years, Australian actors with little experience in the US have emerged with key roles in major new TV series, but the networks went with established American and Australian names this year. It continues a new trend in US TV where new series need a major star to launch the show.

There is also less of a stigma for movie stars to attach themselves to TV series.

Along with Griffiths and Baker, the other Australians who booked roles on new TV series were Melissa George, Alan Dale and Jonathan LaPaglia, younger brother of Anthony LaPaglia, who is the star of Without a Trace.

The American film stars turning to TV included James Woods, Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jeff Goldblum, Ving Rhames and Alicia Silverstone.

"It was quite an extraordinary pilot season for Australians," Rob Marsala, a Perth-born talent manager in Hollywood and the president of the LA-based Australians in Film organisation, said.
"Usually there are a few Australian actors who are not well known in the US who score roles in a TV series, like Emilie de Ravin did for Roswell and Ryan Kwanten did for Summerland a few years back.

"This year it was Australia's better known actors who are established in the US who had the success."

A pilot is the first episode of a proposed TV series and pilot season runs in Los Angeles from February to March.

More Australian actors each year make the pilgrimage to LA to audition for the more than 100 pilots on offer.

But even if an actor wins a role on the pilot, there is no guarantee it will be picked up by a US TV network and turned into a TV series.

Of the 120 pilots produced last year, only 48 were picked up.

Already 15 have been cancelled after poor initial TV ratings and two other pilots might never air. It is usually only the successful US series that make it to Australia.

Griffiths, returning to TV after her successful stint on Six Feet Under, and Jonathan LaPaglia, scored two of the plum roles in the ABC network's new drama, Brothers & Sisters.

Brothers & Sisters has already created plenty of buzz in the US as it also marks the return to primetime TV of Calista Flockhart, best known for her Ally McBeal legal comedy-drama series which ran from 1997-2002.

George, a veteran of many pilots that never went to air, will star in NBC's Lipstick Jungle, a series based on the book by Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell.

The show, according to NBC, will follow "the sexy, funny, and dramatic stories of three friends balancing life and career, who also happen to be three of the most powerful and influential women in New York".

Former Neighbours star Alan Dale, best known to US audiences for the teen hit The OC, will star in the new TV drama Ugly Betty, which is set at a fashion magazine.

Baker, who has carved out a successful film career with LA Confidential, The Ring 2 and the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada and who starred in his own US TV drama, The Guardian, a few years back, returns to the small screen in the star-studded TV series, Smith.

Baker's co-stars are last year's best supporting actress Oscar nominee for Sideways, Virginia Madsen, and tough guy actor, Ray Liotta.

Other well-known actors in pilots include Friends' Matthew Perry in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Heather Locklear in Women of a Certain Age, Rhames in Aquaman, and Everybody Loves Raymond's Brad Garrett in 'Til Death.

From NEWS.com.au.

Plot, traffic thicken in city

2006-03-26T01:38:00.000-08:00

From:PittsburghLIVE
Date:March 24, 2006
By Michael Machosky

It's a frosty morning in Pittsburgh, where steel-and-glass buildings Downtown reach to a gray sky.
Perfect setting for a heist.

Well, maybe not perfect.

The script for "Smith" -- the pilot episode for a CBS crime drama shooting this week in Pittsburgh -- calls for a robbery at a museum Downtown.

The museum they want is the Carnegie Museum of Art in Oakland, but no matter. That's what movie magic is for. When the pilot is shown, it'll look like the Carnegie Museum is Downtown.

The setting is supposed to be dusk, so the film crew Thursday morning set up a 20-by-20-foot black screen to "take off the top light," according to a worker moving metal poles.

In the diffused light, the tanned L.A. production team and the local crew building the set didn't look all that different -- except for the Steelers World Champions caps some were wearing.

"They were supposed to shoot this in Chicago," said Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office. "But the Chicago museum said no. The Carnegie Museum said yes. That's the real reason they came.

"They needed a real museum with beautiful works of art. They liked Pittsburgh because we have crew and all the other things that make it easy for them to come here and shoot."

Shooting for "Smith" will take place in Oakland from Sunday through Tuesday. It's Warner Bros.' policy not to talk to the press at the pilot stage, so not much is known about the program.

Betsy Momich, director of corporate communications for the Carnegie Museums, knows a little about what's planned for Monday.

"They're doing like a chase scene through this area," she said. "The guard is actually tied up. It's an art heist."

There's no guarantee a pilot will be picked up for a full series, but "Smith" has several things going for it.

"Smith" is a John Wells project. Wells, a 1979 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, has a proven track record -- executive producer and co-writer of "ER" and "The West Wing."

And the cast is packed with well-known talent -- Ray Liotta ("Goodfellas"), Virginia Madsen ("Sideways"), Simon Baker, Amy Smart and Franky G.

Liotta's presence should be a thumbs-up sign for a crime show. He's getting to be a regular in Pittsburgh, having completed filming "Chasing 3000" here in October. Baker worked on the Pittsburgh-set series "The Guardian."

Keezer is excited about the pilot's local impact.

"They hired a ton of local crew, a ton of extras," she said. "Put a lot of people to work for a week. It actually ends up two weeks, because they were here for a week of prep."

This is only the beginning, she said. There will be other shows, other films in Pittsburgh this year.

"We're expecting a very busy summer," Keezer said. "But we don't have anything we can talk about yet."

From PittsburghLIVE.

CBS pilot episode hits the city's streets

2006-03-25T03:05:00.000-08:00

Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, talks with John Wells, writer and executive producer of "Smith," during filming on Liberty Avenue, Downtown.

"Smith" director Christopher Chulack talks with Amy Smart, who plays Annie, a professional thief, and Maria Diczia, who plays Nancy, during a break in filming on Liberty Avenue.

From:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Date:March 24, 2006
By Rob Owen

A microphone operator points his boom into Downtown traffic to record street sounds.

Crew members greet and introduce themselves to one another.

Actress Amy Smart ("Road Trip," "The Butterfly Effect") takes a Taser-style stun gun to another actress in an alley.

Welcome to day No. 1 of production on "Smith," the pilot episode of a prospective CBS series written and executive produced by John Wells ("ER," "The West Wing").

Although the lead character lives in Los Angeles, "Smith" follows a crew of professional thieves who travel to various cities to stage heists, including Pittsburgh, where Oakland's Mellon Institute will play the exterior of the fictitious Tanner Museum. Thieves, led by actor Ray Liotta and including Simon Baker ("The Guardian"), will attempt to swipe two Rembrandts and a van Gogh.

Smart plays one of the crooks, too, filming her scenes yesterday, playing a distraction to the art theft who gets distracted herself.

Before chatting yesterday afternoon with students at his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University, Wells looked on as director Christopher Chulack shouted "Action! Action! Action!" Background actors moved through their paces on the sidewalk as cameras on both sides of Liberty Avenue filmed Smart in a short sidewalk scene. Later, a scene in an alley with Smart, another actress and a stun gun was shot.

Wells explained "Smith" will focus almost entirely on thieves, with FBI agents arriving only in the closing moments of the pilot in a scene that explains the show's title.

" 'Smith' is a name the FBI will give to a person or persons unknown that they're trying to identify," Wells said.

"Smith" is the first pilot Wells, one of television's most successful and respected show runners, has written (as opposed to produced) in several years.

"The last pilot I probably wrote was 'Third Watch,' " he said, explaining he was distracted by "West Wing" duties after Aaron Sorkin departed that

With "Smith," Wells wanted to create a series that could shoot in different locales for a stylish look. He also wanted to steer away from the glut of cop and investigative shows currently on the air.

"I really like to look for pieces that work in the genre so we can write about characters -- how they interact, what their lives are like," Wells said.

Because of his production company's experience working on "ER" scenes in Chicago, "Smith" was initially set there.

"We had some resistance from The Art Institute, and there were only a few limited hours we'd be able to shoot there," Wells said. Ultimately, Wells and company decided the script would work just as well in Pittsburgh.

"Our locations are better here," he said. "The relationship of the roads to the river [helps us]. How low-lying some of the roads are will allow us to do boat chases along the river and run alongside it with equipment and a helicopter. A lot of things about it work better for us -- although Pittsburgh really needs a [non-red eye] direct flight from L.A. again."

A few scenes featuring explosions and fireballs will be filmed during the production's stay, which wraps up Tuesday.

"It won't be a sniper shooting pigeons again," Wells said, chuckling over the incident that shut down parts of Downtown Wednesday. "It'll be us."

Executive producer Brooke Kennedy, who previously worked with Wells on "Third Watch" and "Trinity" and filmed the 1990 Susan Lucci TV movie "The Bride in Black" in Pittsburgh, said she was happy to return.

"One of the exciting things about shooting on streets, you never know what it brings to you," Kennedy said as pedestrians traipsed past film cameras. "You've gotta embrace it all."

Though the show's thieves are not based in Pittsburgh, Wells and Kennedy said the production crew might return.

"What usually happens with shooting companies is once you've been to a place, you get to know people, and you say, 'Oh, we could go back,' " Wells said.

In addition to local exterior shooting, "Smith" will film inside galleries at The Carnegie Museum in Oakland. One interior gallery will be re-created on a soundstage in Los Angeles, recycling the White House East Room set from Wells' soon-to-conclude "The West Wing."

"We have to shoot it up a bit and we were getting ready to tear it down, so why not shoot it up?"

"Smith," produced by Warner Bros., is a pilot CBS will consider for its fall schedule. Every year around this time, the broadcast networks order dozens of test episodes of prospective series and choose from among these pilots to set their fall schedules. The fate of "Smith" won't be known until May.

This year, CBS ordered 11 drama pilots, according to The Hollywood Reporter. But looking at CBS's schedule and considering that most of its drama series already have been renewed, there appear to be few openings for new dramas, unless CBS scraps time slots currently devoted to sitcoms or its faltering Sunday night movie. (CBS will likely order a few back-up series for mid-season as well.)

Wells knows getting picked up is no sure bet, but he's not worried about following after other new thief shows (NBC's "Heist," FX's "Thief") when criminal investigators clog the schedule.

"When it comes to crime, criminals are under-represented and law enforcement is over-represented on the schedules now," he said.

If "Smith" gets picked up, viewers nationwide will see Pittsburgh playing itself. But if it doesn't, no one outside of Hollywood studio and network screening rooms will ever see this program.

"Smith" isn't the only TV project shooting in Pittsburgh this week. "Prison Girl," a Japanese TV movie for Nippon Television about a Japanese woman wrongly imprisoned in New York, is shooting at the former Western Penitentiary.

FromPittsburgh Post-Gazette.

CBS to film Simon Baker pilot here

2006-03-16T02:39:00.000-08:00

From:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Date:March 16, 2006
By Rob Owen

"Smith," a Pittsburgh-set CBS drama pilot told from the point of view of career criminals, will shoot in Downtown and Oakland for five days beginning next Thursday.

Executive produced by Carnegie Mellon University alum John Wells, the proposed series stars Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Amy Smart, Jonny Lee Miller, Franky G, Chris Bauer, Michelle Hurd and Simon Baker.

This marks Baker's third Pittsburgh-set project. He starred in the CBS drama "The Guardian" for three seasons and appeared in last summer's George A. Romero movie "Land of the Dead."

Liotta filmed the 1988 movie "Dominic and Eugene" in Pittsburgh.

"Smith" was originally set to shoot in Chicago, setting of Wells' "ER," but the production was unable to secure the locations needed to tell the story of thieves who steal a piece of art from a museum. A publicist for Warner Bros., which will produce "Smith," confirmed the pilot's filming location and setting has shifted from Chicago to Pittsburgh. Some scenes will be filmed in Los Angeles.

Wells wrote the pilot script; Chris Chulack ("ER," "Third Watch," "Homefront") will direct.

Pittsburgh Film Office director Dawn Keezer said her staff has been working with the production for the past couple of weeks to secure local filming.

CBS will announce its fall schedule -- and whether or not "Smith" will ever see the light of day -- in May. It could be an uphill battle: NBC's similarly themed "Heist" premieres next Wednesday.

From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Coffee Talk with Simon Baker

2006-03-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

From:IN STYLE USA
Date: March 2006
By Marisa Fox

Onscreen, Simon Baker is often an object of obsession
(as in the films SOMETHING NEW and the upcoming
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA). So what does the
Australian actor, who is married with three kids,
obsess about in real life? Java.

Favorite U.S. cafe

Ruby's, 210 Mulberry St., N.Y.C.

What to order

"A strong, flat white. Translation: a double-shot latte with
no foam in a short cup."

Best beans to brew at home

"Toby's Estate in Sydney has a blend called Woolloomooloo,
the name of a suburb. It's dark and oily-looking."
(tobysestate.com)

Machine to use

A Bezzera (from $1,500; 305-557-6336)

Drinking on the job

"When I'm shooting I don't always want that endorphin rush,
not for a love scene. You don't want to overstimulate yourself."

I've had too much when ...

"I start pacing the way I'm doing right now. Once I had to
get up from the table because I'd had three strong coffees
in a row and thought I was having an anxiety attack."

Favorite ode to joe

"Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain': 'I had some dreams,
they were clouds in my coffee' -- I love that line!"

Simon Baker sees future in dark 'Sex' comedy

2006-03-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

From:Hollywood Reporter
Date:Mar 8,2006
By Borys Kit

Simon Baker will star in "Sex and Death 101," a dark comedy about a man whose life is upended by a mysterious e-mail containing the names of every woman he has had sex with and, eerily, every woman he will have sex with in the future.

Baker, whose recent feature credits include the romantic comedy "Something New" and the horror "Land of the Dead," next appears in "The Devil Wears Prada," set for a June 30 release via Fox. The Australian received a Golden Globe nomination in 2002 for his starring role in the CBS drama "The Guardian."

From Yahoo! news.

The latest development news from Simon!

2006-03-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

From:The Futon critic
Date: March 7, 2006
By The Futon Critic Staff

SMITH (CBS) - Simon Baker (Nick Fallin on "The Guardian") is the latest to join the cast of the John Wells-created project, a drama told from the criminals' point of view. He'll join the previously cast Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Chris Bauer, Frankie G., Michelle Hurd, Jonny Lee Miller and Amy Smart in the Warner Bros. Television-based hour, which Christopher Chulak is directing from a script by Wells.

FromThe Futon critic.

Baker smitten by CBS drama pilot 'Smith'

2006-03-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

From:Reuters
Date:07 March, 2006
By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Simon Baker , who earned a Golden Globe Nomination for his role in CBS‘ short-lived 2001 drama "The Guardian," is returning to the network in "Smith," a drama pilot told from the criminals‘ point of view.

Also cast in the pilot is Jonny Lee Miller . He and Baker join the previously cast Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen .

Baker, who most recently starred in Focus Features‘ romantic comedy "Something New," next will be seen in Fox 2000‘s "The Devil Wears Prada."

From Ruters.

Simon on People Magazine !

2006-02-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

From:Poeple Magazine
Date:February 20, 2006

"We stared rehearsals for the movie on Valentine's Day a year ago, and he brought me flowers," says Lathan of her costar Baker.

Ground-Breaking Movie Something New Highlights Changing Attitudes on Bi-Racial Romance

2006-02-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

From:Voice of America
Date:18 February 2006
By Alan Silverman

A successful black woman unexpectedly falls in love with a white man and the rocky road of their relationship offers some fresh insights into changing attitudes and erasing prejudice. That's the story of a film romance now at American theaters and Alan Silverman has a look at Something New.

Kenya is a talented business manager whose career is on the rise, but feels stuck on the ground floor when it comes to her love life.

Her friends say she is being too picky, but Sanaa Lathan, who stars as Kenya, says the character's dilemma is no movie invention.

"The writer's inspiration was the cover story for Newsweek a couple of years ago," she explains, "that said 42.4% of black women aren't married and it's because we're climbing up the corporate ladder so much faster and our male counterparts are either going to jail, dying or dating outside the race. So what do you do? What do you do if you want to have a family?"

What Kenya does is give in to a co-worker's offer of a blind date with a man she's never met before; and when they do meet, Kenya is shocked to see that his race is not what she expected.

Kenya is attracted to Brian, but, Lathan explains, it's her personal attitudes, not social pressure that make her hesitate.

" We are so used to seeing this issue dealt with with a black man and a white woman and this is really one of the first times you see it on the big screen with a black woman and white man," Lathan says. "The difference is it's usually the couple against the world; but in this case it's really her. Her friends are really not against her. Her family is really not giving her too much [trouble]. It's really her own prejudices ... her own struggle with it. This could be a metaphor for doing anything outside of the box that you put yourself in. It could be a relationship with someone of a different religion or dating somebody outside of your class lines ... anything. When you step outside of your 'comfort zone,' how do you deal with that?"

Australian actor Simon Baker adopts an American accent to co-star as Brian; but Baker says he also had to learn about contemporary American racial attitudes to understand the character's plight.

"In the beginning it did limit me in a sense because I was afraid of offending people," he says. "I didn't know the politically correct terms: can I refer to myself as 'white' or do I have to say 'Caucasian?' Can I say that you're 'black?' What are the rules here? I don't want to make mistakes and, at the same time, I want the character to be true to a love story. When people first meet each other, it's a process no matter what race, color, gender ... whatever. It's about discovering each other."

Something New makes something of Hollywood history as the first studio film with black women as producer, writer and director. It's the feature debut of veteran music video director Sanaa Hamri, who says the goal is to give audiences both entertainment and a true image of middle class black life in Los Angeles today.

"The tone of the piece is to create characters that are true to us and also present African-American situations in a different light than Hollywood has been presenting," she says. " I was sick and tired of seeing movies that rely on punchlines and 'court jester' moments ... stuff that felt so broad that the audience is not invested emotionally into these characters. So it took a lot of work with the actors to create that environment so that when the presentation came, you felt that you had a piece that is "Something New," especially for us, when we don't have that many movies out there that really represent us in the best light."

Something New also features Taraji Henson, Blair Underwood, Mike Epps and Alfre Woodard. It was shot on location in some Los Angeles neighborhoods rarely showcased on film.

FromVoice of America.

Simon Says(from 365Gay.com)

2006-02-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

From:365Gay.com
by Tim Nasson

(Beverly Hills, California) Add Simon Baker's name to the list that already includes Academy Award contenders and box office superstars Russell Crowe, Heath Ledger, Guy Pearce. (Trivia note: Crowe, Pearce and Baker all appeared in "L.A. Confidential.")

Simon Baker, who made a huge name for himself on television's drama, "The Guardian," now appears as the only white person, in all-Black romantic comedy, "Something New." It's a little more than just a romantic comedy. "It's an interracial love story," laughs Baker, recently, in a suite at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills. The windows in the suite we are in are open and a cool breeze is blowing the curtains to and fro. Sunlight streams through, and the view is of the corner of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Blvd. Having to work, sitting in a suite all morning, a beautiful morning, talking to countless interviewers, one at a time, is probably the last thing on Baker's mind but he is professional and all work.

The thirty-six year old, wavy blonde haired, and blue-eyed sexy Tasmanian devil, (yes, he was born in Tasmania), has been around Hollywood for a while but caught a lot of attention, from Hollywood producers and television viewers, alike, for three years as the star of "The Guardian."

Amazingly, in most of his famous roles, week after week, year after year on "The Guardian," included, Baker has pulled off the perfect American accent. But when he is with you, one on one, it is that twisted, Australian tongue that one hears.

"I came to the United States for the first time when I was twenty-two or so," reveals Baker. "I didn't know what I wanted to do. I poked around in theater, movies and TV in Australia, and the next logical step for me was to move to LA and try something new and bigger."

It seems to have worked.

Baker has been married - to the same woman - for over a decade and is raising a family of three children, the oldest, a twelve year old boy.

"We just moved to Australia," he begins to explain. "All of my kids were born here in Los Angeles. And they loved it and I loved it but I want them to get a sense of something new, not just what I saw as a kid growing up but something educational. The littlest one (his youngest son), loved T-Ball but now the three of them, (his kids), are loving cricket. Who would have ever guessed? Kids adapt so easily to new environments and I think giving them the opportunity to see two different worlds, and the United States and Australia really are two different worlds, will make them all the better. They can certainly choose where they want to plant their roots when they are grown up, but until then, Australia is home."

While Baker now calls Australia home, after having lived in the United States for twelve years, he is still in the states often, for work, be it interviews such is the case with his latest movie, "Something New," or to make movies.

"'Something New' was a challenge for me," says Baker, but it was a great experience. "Throughout the world, let alone the United States, interracial romance, especially between black and white, is controversial. But even more so when a black woman, of power is in love with a white man, below her tax bracket." And that is what the story of "Something New" tells.

It would be evil of me to reveal how the movie ends - does Baker's suitor, the ravishing Sanaa Lathan, (you remember her as the ass kicker from "Alien vs. Predator"), get her man?

The supporting cast in "Something New" made it even easier for Baker, the only white person in the movie. "Alfre Woodard, Donald Faison, Blaire Underwood, Taraji Henson..." says Baker. "They all brought something new, no pun intended, to the table."

Look for Baker again on the big screen in June, where he will appear alongside Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway in the big screen adaptation of the runaway comedic, tell-all novel, "The Devil Wears Prada."

"I am going to be in Australia until the publicity for "Prada' starts up," exclaims Baker. "I have nothing on my plate until then."

"Something New" is now in theaters.

From 365Gay.com

The Perfect Match

2006-02-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

From:Washington post
Date:February 3, 2006

College Park, Md.: Welcome, Simon. My mom and I were big fans of "The Guardian" and loved what you and the cast achieved with the series. I've also been following your work on the big screen and can't wait to see your latest film. What attracted you to this role? Also, how has the press tour been going for you so far? It's great to see you making the rounds. Cheers!

Simon Baker: The first thing that attracted me immediately was that I'd never been involved in a romantic comedy before. I liked the script. I thought it was nicely put together and a good point of view. A refreshing point of view.

It's pleasure and pain all wrapped up in one. (The tour) It's nice to get and have attention but after a while it's a little bit too much. I find myself trying to curl up in a ball in the corner and rejuvenate myself. But overall, this has been a pleasurable experience because I feel very proud to be a part of the movie.

Vienna, Va.: Hi Simon -- I was lucky enough to catch a preview of the movie in D.C., and I LOVED it!(you make the perfect boyfriend!)

Do you prefer doing films or TV -- and why?

Simon Baker: At this point I prefer working on films for the finite value of what it represents. You can pace yourself and focus more on hitting the different notes that need to be hit. Sometimes it does feel, the pace of it, the work feels a little slow compared to television but you have a clearer structured framework with film, the three-act structure. Whereas television is pretty much ongoing and you're just constantly weaving in and out of the storyline. But I do like the working pace of television. It's fast and furious and you have to think on your feet.

_______________________

Chicago, Ill.: There must be something in that water 'Down Under' because you Aussie/New Zealand actors are hot, and I'm not just talking about your talent. I first took notice of you in a little film with Adrien Brody called 'Restaurant' which also dealt with the issue of interracial dating. Although it was a drama and 'Something New' is a rom-com, do you think the films send similar messages about I/R relationships or are they at opposite ends? I can't wait to see 'Something New' this weekend.

Simon Baker: There's obviously thematic parallels, race and relationships, both films deal with it in completely different styles. I think my character in Something New is somewhat more a fish out of water, that is emotionally available to the individual that he's in love with. The issue of race is secondary.

_______________________

Falls Church, Va.: Hey Simon- have you ever dated outside of your race before?

Simon Baker: I've been married for 12 years, my memory only goes back five.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Hello! What do you think guys will think of this film? I know my girlfriend wants me to take her tonight!

Simon Baker: The journey that my character goes through in this film is a reflection of what every guy has to go through when first dating anymore. Every guy will identify with the scrutiny in which you come under by friends and family of your partner, your girlfriend partner. There's a wealth of humor in the fact that I'm a Caucasian and the acceptance of Kenya's (Sanaa Lathan) male friends is, from a male perspective, very entertaining.

In short, I think a lot of guys will identify.

_______________________

Burbank, Calif.: I am wondering how you broke into acting. With your talent, I would presume you were fortunate from the very beginning. Yet, have you always been able to concentrate just on acting, or did you have a period where you needed to work a job in another field? What was your break that allowed you to be a full-time actor?

Simon Baker: I have been very fortunate, from the start of my career. I've worked reasonably consistently and sometimes out of necessity to support my family. I started on a television show in Australia in '92 and have had some lean times but touch wood, I've always managed to pull through.

_______________________

Tulsa, Okla.: I can't wait to see "Something New" -- I've been waiting for something new from Mr. Baker since "The Guardian" went off the air with no resolution. Do you know what the writers would have done about Nick and Lulu? How about their baby?

Simon Baker: Thank you for being a committed fan and I appreciate that you enjoyed the show so much but unfortunately the last episode you saw was, in fact, the last script that I saw. As for the writers, it was the last one they wrote. I don't dare to even wonder where it would've gone but I can tell you I went home and hugged my wife and kids.

_______________________

Bethesda, Md.: Any fear that this movie would be viewed as a black movie and not a movie that happens to have a majority of black actors? And how hot is ms lathan in person?

Simon Baker: I had not even considered that it was a "black" movie. A love story that happens to focus on the head-heart struggle of an African American woman and a damn fine one at that.

_______________________

Fairfax, Va.: As a handsome, articulate "leading man" type, you obviously must get your fair share of offers. What do you look for in acting roles that help you make your decision? I thought you totally nailed your character in Ride With The Devil, by the way. I'd like to see more of these morally complex type of characters.

Simon Baker: I look for an emotional connection to the character and from a technical point of view I'm excited about playing a variety of different characters in different types of films. I'm always questioning whether the character is accessible to the audience and if I can find the truth in who that person is. I would like the opportunity to play more "morally complex types of characters" you mention. It's what I love.

_______________________

Chicago, Ill.: Being on the set everyday surrounded by beautiful, talented and sophisticated black women, did you learn 'anything new'?

Simon Baker: Yeah. I hate to sound like I'm stereotyping but I learned that the black women that I was hanging out with were a whole lot of fun. Big hearts and lots of love.

_______________________

Philadelphia, Pa.: 42.4% of African American women don't marry? So, how does Kenya McQueen attract a hunk like Bryan Kelly out of all that competition?

Simon Baker: First of all, you flatter me. The meeting was a happy accident. I think Byran felt there was something within Kenya that wasn't realized and he felt the urge to want to help her blossom into a happy fullness. At the time that they met they complemented each other with their emotional states.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Hi Simon -- congratulations! The reviews have been great for your film! I can't wait to see it!

What is your next project?

Simon Baker: The next film I have coming out is "The Devil Wears Prada," a story about a young girl's baptism into the fashion magazine world, starring Meryl Streep, Ann Hathaway, Stanley Tucci. I think it comes out in June.

_______________________

Simon Baker: I want to thank everyone for their interest in the film, "Something New," and I feel very proud that this film is being embraced by you all.

Simon Baker Talks About "Something New"

2006-02-02T00:34:00.000-08:00

From:About - News & Issues, NY
Date:Feb 1 2006

Simon Baker on "Something New" and Why He's So Proud of This Particular Film

"Something New" - The Story: Simon Baker and Sanaa Lathan star in "Something New," an effective, intelligent romantic comedy which addresses interracial dating and overcoming stereotypes.

Simon Baker on Preparing to Take on “Something New:” “I did a little gardening stuff. I underwent a couple of projects around my house just to be outside. Funnily enough as well, what I had to do was get really tan, which is hilarious, and it was for a completely technical reason. We had hair and makeup tests, right? And I’m a white guy. In a movie with all black people, when you use a camera, they’re going to expose to all the black people. Black absorbs light, white reflects light. So if they expose the film to Sanaa [Lathan] and we’re in the frame together, they expose it to her, her skin’s darker than mine.

I literally look like a flashlight going off. So that we could both hold the frame and I wasn’t over-exposed and just burning like sort of a ghost, they had to darken me up.
They sent me to the tanning booth and then we did another camera test - and I was still too white. Beverly, my makeup artist, got this stuff called Jan Tanna and she would put it on me and I looked, literally, I looked like George Hamilton in real life. But then on camera, because everything is so pushed a couple of stops, it looked fine. But people would come to visit me at the set and they’d be like, ‘My god, man, what’s going on?’

Simon Baker Explains the Appeal of “Something New:” Baker said he’s very proud of being a part of “Something New.” “Well, it just opened up for me, growing up in Australia, so I’m not that knowledgeable about African American culture. The only influences I’d had was through music. I watched ‘Roots’ growing up as a kid. There’s African American characters on a few TV shows and stuff, but that was it. So I had no preconceived ideas either way about it.

I was very open with everyone at the beginning saying, “Okay, I don’t want to offend anyone. I don’t want to say the wrong thing about anything. Everything’s cool with me. Just sort of fill me in. If I step on someone’s toes, if I say the wrong thing, just school me and say, ‘You didn’t really mean to say that.’ But other than that it’s cool.’ And going into it, I’m like [feeling] heavy female energy on the set. …The producers, the director, the writer - all women, so there’s very strong, and the 42.4 % thing, the statistic is staggering [42.4% is reportedly the percentage of black women who have never been married]. The more you think about it you go, ‘Wow, that’s a lot.’ So I felt a little pressure as far as what I put on myself about the responsibility to African-American women to represent it in that way.

Personally, the movie’s about this: She’s in her head and she’s outside and she’s making judgments. A lot of us are always making judgments. We live in a time where the President of the United States likes to make judgments and call people evil. They’re these people [who] just categorize things all the time. And it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re just individuals and it’s you and me when it’s you and me. And it’s you and me and we’re just talking and we’re in that moment together.’ The first day of the hair and makeup test, I was in the makeup chair. R. Kelly’s coming out of the makeup trailer and it’s all black women in there and they all know each other and they’d all worked together. I’m thinking, ‘F**k.’ Suddenly I go out, here I’m going, ‘I’m the one honky going in there.’ I’m like, ‘Am I going to be accepted?’ And I have to retain the integrity of who I am. I can’t start playing like, ‘Hey, I’m down, I’m down.’ I’ve gotta be who I am because I think that’s equally pathetic. So I was really kind of a little nervous about that.

I was shy but by the fifth day or something, I’m dancing with everyone else and joining in, just completely relaxed and [felt] completely un-self-conscious because you get past that thing, this idea that you have in your head which is generally about fear. If I hadn’t overcome that fear… I think that fear is an important thing with a lot of people that don’t know enough about African American culture or haven’t been immersed in it in any way. They have a fear of going there not because they’re racist but because they’re afraid culturally, sometimes, to offend people. Afraid that they may overstep some boundary that they’re not completely aware of. Thus [they’re] sort of pulling back and not having the experience.

When I got to the end of the movie, I was really pretty emotional about the opportunity that I had that I got to experience firsthand. That I got to spend that much time with that many women and to hear their stories, and for them to talk to me and for them to put me… Like Alfre [Woodard] just grabbed me in the hallway right after coffee and she said, ‘This is opening conversations. This is really, really powerful stuff.’ That’s a high for me. That’s gravity. So I feel like that’s one of the best parts about being able to do something like this.”

Simon Baker Never Doubted His Decision to Play the Romantic Lead in “Something New:” “No, there was only self-doubt that I had in the sense of when I read it, I had a pretty clear idea of how I wanted to play the character. I wanted to play the character in a way where he was just literally like…I loved his honesty with her, his straightforwardness...and I wanted to make that just real, just straight up. Like, ‘What’s the story? What is with all the beige?’ And he’s questioning and challenging and wanting to know and interested. I wanted to make that just very cool and casual, and not like any sort of agenda like he’s trying to wind her up in any way.

My fear, I think, going into it when I first started rehearsals, because I didn’t really know Sanaa [Lathan], I don’t really know [director] Sanaa Hamri, I’ve met with them and auditioned but what do you gauge from that? I felt comfortable with Sanaa and that sort of helped us work together and develop chemistry on the screen

But I was nervous because I was thinking, ‘I just hope they don’t make this too broad. I don’t want to be a cliché.’ And I don’t want it to be cliché and I don’t want this to become too much like ghetto kind of or suddenly everyone becomes a cliché, because if there’s an honesty and truth to it, then it has the potential to break through into an area that, like Alfre said to me, opens up conversation.”

Simon Baker on What He Learned From Starring in “Something New:” “…I think I understand where racism stems from individually within people. I think there are some people that it’s just there, but I think a lot of it comes from pride as a sin, and lack of self-confidence in a lot of ways, which forces you to judge and be afraid. You understand what I mean? It’s like I believe that pride in yourself is very important. I think pride in your race is very important. But then there’s got to be something more and that is tolerance.

I think we live in a time, and I want to take this outside of African American culture, Caucasian culture. I’m talking about in our world now, because we’re going through so many issues related to, ‘Oh, they do things very differently to us. They have this and we judge that and they judge us.’ It’s like there’s a point where it all has to give and we all have to just open up a little bit and be a bit more accepting of each other and look at what the benefits of multi-culturalism are.

I just went back to Australia and I really do see Australia is a very multi-cultural society. We have the indigenous culture is there and there’s still that. I have friends, Aboriginals, one of them, [David], he’s a full blood Aboriginal, still lives in the bush. And he comes in and he acts and he travels all around in the dance troupe and is still very traditional. Then there’s a lot of Aboriginals that are integrated into our society, very well educated, et cetera. We have a lot of Italian immigrants that came over from the Second World War and the influence of that on our society is amazing. There’s coffee shops and the food and the restaurants and stuff all over the place.

…I get excited about learning about someone else’s culture. I spent Passover at a Jewish friend’s house, gefilte fish and all these rituals. I’m like, ‘This is cool because I’ve never been through it. I’ve never experienced it.’ That sort of attitude is going to help us a lot. My daughter’s obsessed with learning about different religions and different cultures. I’m not a religious person at all. I was raised a Catholic but I’m not a practicing Catholic, but my daughter has a thirst to understand different things and see different things. Hopefully future generations will be more like that, more accepting of that.”

From About - News & Issues, NY .

Simon Baker: The white guy for the role

2006-01-31T20:16:00.000-08:00

From:Boston Herald
Date:January 29, 2006
By Stephen Schaefer

Simon Baker was exactly what was prescribed for the lighthearted, interracial romantic comedy "Something New," opening Friday.

"Visually, I wanted that iconic blue-eyed blond thing," producer Stephanie Allain said about her search for a white guy who would generate enough heat that Sanaa Lathan’s character could abandon her resolve to date only African-American men.

The first time Baker sat down to read with Lathan, Allain said, "We knew. We’d auditioned 40 guys already"

Baker and Lathan hit it off.

"We had a ball and got on really well. I think two people either jell together or they don’t," he said.

The 36-year-old Aussie, best known for three seasons on CBS’ "The Guardian" and as Rachel’s (Naomi Watts) boyfriend in “The Ring 2,” was surprised to find himself a romantic comedy hottie.

"I’ve never set out to be a romantic figure in movies," Baker said during a one-on-one interview. "In fact, I hadn’t done a romantic role before. And in this, I was pretty much the straight man. The jokes were all around and about me."

Unlike earlier films that made racial differences the entire focus, "Something New" achieves a nice balance, Baker said.

"The social issue with race and the collision of two cultures and the humor and drama that comes out of that social issue - it’s essentially two people falling in love, two people getting out of their head and trusting what they’re feeling."

For Baker, trusting one’s feelings is a motto for how he lives.

Baker’s looks won him work in TV commercials and then a series. By the time he was 22, he trusted his gut and took the plunge: He moved to America with his wife, actress Rebecca Riggs (“Farscape”), and their 2-year-old daughter.

"I had nothing lined up. We had enough money to last about 10 weeks and we thought, 'We’ll see what happens.' At the time, it didn't seem that adventurous, but in hindsight it was. We lived here for 10 years."

Baker won a role in his first Los Angeles meeting. The film was the instant classic "L.A. Confidential."

This past year Baker and his family, now expanded to three children, returned to Sydney.

"My family is a great solid foundation for me," he said.

From Boston Herald .

Simon on G'Day LA: Australia Week 2006!

2006-01-05T21:17:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- INXS has been selected as the final honoree at the Penfolds Icon Gala Dinner on January 14, 2006, the opening event of the third annual G'Day LA: Australia Week 2006 in Los Angeles. Hugh Jackman and Olivia Newton John also will be honored at the event.

The Penfolds Icon Gala Dinner at the Hollywood Palladium will bring together and honor Australians who have made significant international contributions across various industries.

The event will feature the best of Australian entertainment, including a special performance by INXS just days before the kick-off of their U.S. tour, and a menu by celebrity chef Neil Perry, one of the country's leading chefs.

The gala also ushers in a week of events with something for everyone, from film and fashion to sport and education.

The public will have a chance to experience Aussie culture first-hand at the Wolf Blass Aussie Festival on Sunday, January 15 at UCLA. Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, will kick-off the day with a one-hour live stage show featuring aboriginal dance group Tjapukai and the world's most endangered animals.

Following the show, the public is invited to enjoy visiting food and beverage concessions, tourism booths and Aussie entertainment before the action moves to the UCLA intramural field for the first official Australian Football League clash on US soil between the Sydney Swans and (North Melbourne) Kangaroos at 1:30pm.

Tickets are $15 adult, $10 child (3-15), free for under 3, $40 for Family of four (two adults, two children) and available on Ticketmaster at 213 480 3232 or www.australia-week.com. Event hours are 10:30am-4:00pm.

For those that can't make it to Los Angeles, Australia is coming to the rest of the country via the web. The Great Aussie Auction features over 100 Australian items and vacations for bidding with fun interactive video content and links to learn more.

The site has incredible opportunities for bargains and one-of-a-kind experiences -- including a Maton Guitar signed by Gala honorees INXS, 20 Qantas Aussie AirPasses from $.99, and a renewing stay with another Gala honoree Olivia Newton John at her Gaia Retreat and Spa with proceeds benefiting charity.

The auction starts on January 14, 2006 on www.GreatAussieAuction.com and lasts until March 14, 2006.

Big in LA, the film community will also get a chance to attend the US premiere of "Look Both Ways' at the Rosemount Estate Australian Film Premier on January 17 at Paramount Studios.

And the fashion industry will be in full force when seven designers including Toni Maticevski, Aurelio Costarella, White Suede, Gail Sorronda, Wheels & Dollbaby, Dogstar and It Girl show their fashions in the largest ever Australian fashion show in the US at the Australia Designer Showcase at the Palladium on January 18.

The business community has a range of events to look forward to including the Travel +Leisure CEO Golf Day hosted by Ian Baker-Finch on January 16, the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) and Austrade briefing, Energy Security in Asia Pacific Policy Forum at UCLA on January 18, and two invitation-only events, the Forbes Dinner and G'day YPO events.

The week has also proven to be a star-studded affair with Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Baz Luhrman, Greg Norman, Anthony LaPaglia, Simon Baker, Melissa George and last year's Gala honorees Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman and country music sensation Keith Urban.

G'Day LA is produced by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austrade, Qantas Airways and Tourism Australia in conjunction with State Governments and key private sector sponsors.

For more information, visit australia-week.com .

From Yahoo new.

Simon Baker - Land of the Dead - Interview

2006-01-03T17:49:00.000-08:00

Date:14th December 2005
From:DVD Reviewer
By John Millar

Q: Were you into zombie movies before Land Of The Dead?
A: I wasn’t a fan of the genre. I did grow up freaking over zombie movies. But now I have a fascination that was started by meeting George. My manager was a fan of George’s zombie films and he persuaded me to meet with George. So I sat down with George and he’s quite a guy! I had heard of him and Night of The Living Dead and I had seen Dawn Of The Dead when I was younger and wondered “what is this!” At the time when that film came out I was a kid and all I was worried about was surfing and girls. I was even too young for that, I think, it was probably just surfing and football. But after I met George I realised he was unlike any film director I had ever met. He was really humble, self deprecating, he has no ego and he is incredibly warm. He is like a father figure but he doesn’t lay it on thick at all. He’s George, he’s just sweet. Then I looked at all of his films and I watched the DVD commentaries and started to get really intrigued. I thought this is good! This guy is making a whole genre that I thought was just one thing. I thought it was just about splattering zombies. But I really loved his whole subversive take on society in different periods in time. That coincided with this script, the political climate and the situation that we are in at the moment in the world. I thought it was a good time to reflect on something like that and what better way to do it - rather than getting up on a soap box and making a documentary about it - doing it through entertainment.

Q: It's not bad for your career to be in a film like Land Of The Dead either?
A: You cynic! (laughs) Yeah I guess, we’ll see.

Q: You and George have a Pittsburgh connection?
A: He lived in Pittsburgh and all of his other films are set in Pittsburgh and he is an icon there. I was doing a TV show - The Guardian - that was set in Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh was kind of the central character. Obviously the show was pretty big in Pittsburgh. We would go out there and shoot every year for two weeks and it was like the Queen coming to town because the town so embraced the show. The only other show that was set in Pittsburgh at the time was Queer As Folk and they weren’t coming out in droves to support that. I guess that was how George knew me.

Q: What made you decide to go to the States from Australia?
A: Some people go there with a movie. I just went there because I was sort of bored. There is a business side of it in America, they make money and they make a lot of stuff...some of it’s crap, but some of it’s good. But at least they are making things and in Australia there was a bit of a lack of that at the time. So we had a young child and a little bit of money - I mean really a LITTLE bit of money - so we thought let’s go and see what happens...and we are still there.

Q: Was it hard to break through?
A: Well I don’t look at it like that. I never have. That is an external perception of how this business works...that is a breakthrough performance and so on...from the inside all you think about is just doing it...do I like what I’m doing? Do I like myself? That is more how I like to approach things.

Q: Was it a struggle at times to pay bills?
A: Oh yeah! Of course. I have three kids. There were certainly jobs that I took because I needed the money.

Q: What was the crappiest thing you had to do?
A: That was in Australia for a Taco Bell commercial. I remember going to a football game in Melbourne and went to spend a penny and a guy in the toilet shouted at me ‘Taco Boy!’ I thought he was going to belt me, it felt like a really unfortunate situation.

Q: Why acting and was The Guardian a significant landmark?
A: A lot of it was fun. I did not study as an actor. I read a couple of different books and stuff. One of the reasons I became an actor is that I’m from a working class family - my stepfather was a butcher - and I did not want to work at any specific job, I despised the idea of working nine to five. A lot of it also for me was that it was a way of expressing myself and communicating with people that they could identify with. That was it. The Guardian was a blessing and at the same time I found myself working more than nine to five. For an extended period I was contracted to work from five 'til nine every day. You get paid really well but I'm not that obsessed with money so I wondered whether I had made a deal with the devil. Creatively for the first year I had an absolute ball. But then to continue playing the same character and to try to elevate the scripts is very difficult when all the elements around you are saying “this is the hamburger we are making, you have to keep making the same hamburger...enjoy it”. Then it becomes really difficult. But it was a good time and I learned a lot. There is a lot to be said for being on a set and having to deal with scripts and different directors and the immediacy of it. We were shooting seven or eight pages a day. Every eight days we shot an hour of television. So consider that a two hour movie in 16 days There is nothing better than that experience.

Q: Working those hours must have made you guilty about not seeing your children?
A: Yeah all those things were a real struggle. That became really difficult. I did Ring 2 - which initially was a small part in a hiatus period. Then there was talk of the TV show not going again and I thought that could be a blessing. Then on the first day of Ring 2 I was driving to work and I got a call to say the TV show had been cancelled and I thought thank God I was working on something. Then I did Land Of The Dead and a romance called Something New. Creatively it is good to keep doing something different.

Q: What was the mood like when filming Land Of The Dead?
A: It was so good, considering we filmed all night and it was freezing cold. It was colder that a witch’s tit. Some nights it was starting to snow and we were driving around with no roof on the car, trying to pretend we were warm. It was insane! But everyone got on really well, there was a real family atmosphere. George was like the perfect father figure in a very laid-back way. John Leguizamo and I clicked from the minute we met. We played off each other really well and enjoyed that process. That was a nice environment. Asia was just a sweetheart. I had no idea what she was going to be like. She is portrayed as a wild child and she shows up on the set and she is a lovely, warm, young mother. It pays not to make judgements about people until you actually meet them.

Q: What, for you, was the buzz about this role?
A: It was interesting for me to play a physical, action, heroic character but to do it more as a throwback to the 1970s. It is more of a noir character. He is more of a loner who feels responsibility for people but doesn’t necessarily like having to take that responsibility.

Q: Do you miss home?
A: Yes, sometimes. Sometimes I miss other places in the world where I have been. I grew up in Australia so I had a lot of time there. I have lived in America for a while and I think there would be something to be said for living in Europe for a while. In Australia you do feel psychologically a sense of isolation. That’s why I think Australians are intrepid and feel they have to go out and see the worlds.

Q: In Australia did you do the soaps?
A: Yeah, all the good ones...my first gig was a show called E Street then I did six weeks on Home And Away.

Q: Would you like to do more horror movies?
A: It kind of depends on each thing. It is not an objective that I set out with. It depends what I feel about the script and director.

Q: Do you want to direct films?
A: In the back of my head I probably feel I'd like to direct - as I did on The Guardian - as soon as I get to an age where I can sit still long enough. I really enjoyed it and felt very comfortable doing that. At the moment things are working for me as an actor so I’ll go along with that for as long as because I'm sure that'll dry up.

Q: Did you act at school?
A: When I was a young fellow in Sydney I was an understudy for Oliver Twist but I never got a shot.

Q: You don't appear to be driven?
A: I don't want to die saying...I never made it! Or having had such high expectations. If you say I have a balanced view for an actor, first and foremost I am just a person.

Q: Is self deprecation one of the reasons for the success of Aussies in Hollywood?
A: It's possible. And if you are driven you are not going to show it.

SIMON BAKER
Land of the Dead – Cannes, May 2005
by John Millar

FromDVD Reviewer

Simon says, it's time for return to Oz

2005-12-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

From:Herald Sun
Date:27nov05
By FIONA BYRNE

HANDSOME Hollywood star Simon Baker is calling Australia home once more.

The former soapie star, who got his break in the long defunct E Street, has packed up his family and moved out of LA after almost a decade in the US.
It is believed Baker, his wife Rebecca Rigg and their children, Stella, Claude and Harry Friday, will live in an elegant terrace home bought in the Sydney suburb of Paddington.

Baker, who is currently filming the movie The Devil Wears Prada alongside Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway, said he was keen to do an Australian film.

"When I went over there, (the US), I could not get a job in Australian films because they were always employing Tom Selleck and guys like that to be the star of Australian films," he said.

"I went over there figuring one day I could come back and get a job in an Australian film.

"I have been looking at Australian scripts the whole time I have been over there.

"I have been loosely attached to a few of them. Maybe coming back and being here I might be able to focus more on helping to get a few of those things going."

Baker confirmed he had looked at the script for the proposed Clancy of the Overflow film and had been sounded out several months ago about a role in The December Boys, now in production in South Australia, starring Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe.

He said he was also interested in a proposed film by top director Fred Schepisi.

Baker said it had always been his plan to eventually bring his family home to Australia.

"When I went over there (US), I only went there really with a plan to stay for three months, but it extended and I bred and things sort of developed," Baker said.

"I always knew there would be a point where for my kids I had to leave, otherwise I would lose them completely to that culture.

"It was the right time. My daughter starts high school this year."

Baker, in town over the weekend as a presenter at the AFI Awards, starred for several seasons in the hit TV show The Guardian.

FromHerald Sun.

LA Guardian lured home to Sydney

2005-11-24T18:57:00.000-08:00

From:The Daily Telegraph
Date:November 12, 2005

The actor formerly known as Simon Denny, or Simon Baker Denny, and now just Simon Baker, this week packed up his life in LA and is bringing wife Rebecca Rigg and their three kids home after 10 years in Hollywood.

Better known as legal hotshot Nick Fallin to Guardian fans, Baker has had success in the film world with roles in Land of the Dead and The Ring 2 since Guardian was given the chop.

But it appears he'll be coming home to face the employment section of the local papers, with his Australian agent this week saying he'll be looking for work.

Baker flies into town this weekend and is expected to split his time between Sydney and Byron Bay, where he owns a beachside home and spends his spare time surfing.

Their 13-year-old daughter Stella pitched in and helped as removalists got to work hauling boxes from the family home this week - one box was clearly marked "surf".

The couple's other two children, Claude, 7, and Harry, 4, will now call Australia home, with Harry leaving his godmother Nicole Kidman behind in LA.

From The Daily Telegraph .

Simon on AFI Awards Dinner!

2005-11-13T18:46:00.000-08:00

From:Melbourne Herald Sun
Date:13nov05
By FIONA BYRNE

HOLLYWOOD heavyweight Russell Crowe is likely to sing at the AFI awards in Melbourne this month.

Crowe, who will host both the AFI Craft Awards for behind-the-scenes artists on November 25 and the AFI Awards Dinner the following night, is expected to use the events to kick off his corporate gig tour in December.
But the gruff star won't have centre stage all to himself. Sources tip Marcia Hines to perform with him at the awards.

Crowe will also co-produce the awards with Peter Wynne, one of the country's busiest big event producers.

An all-star cast is heading to Melbourne for the AFI Awards Dinner, which will be held at Central City Studios, Docklands.

Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, Golden Globe winner Rachel Griffiths and Oscar-nominated Toni Collette will be presenting film and television awards on November 26.

Martin Henderson, who has a best supporting actor nomination for his work on the gritty Little Fish, will attend and present, as will The Guardian star, Simon Baker.

Vince Colosimo, Claudia Karvan and Saskia Burmeister have also been confirmed as presenters.

Other awards performers include Delta Goodrem, who will also present one of the awards, and Nick Cave.

With Paul Dainty as executive producer, the AFIs have undergone a total revamp.

The night, inspired by the glamour of the Golden Globes, is shaping up as one of the most spectacular on the Melbourne event calendar.

The cream of Australia's acting industry has been invited to attend.

AFI Awards guests will walk along a 100m red carpet and attend an elegant cocktail party at the Waterfront City Pavilion at Docklands before the awards dinner.

The AFIs will be televised on Channel 9.

Melbourne Herald Sun

Hollander visit here leads to TV script

2005-10-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

From:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Date:October 10, 2005
By Rob Owen

After CBS canceled "The Guardian" and ABC chose not to go forward earlier this year with his hybrid crime drama-character story "Three Rivers," Pittsburgh native David Hollander has sold another script to CBS.

The network won't decide whether or not to film a pilot of "Storyville" until January, and Hollander admitted he was somewhat surprised by its interest.

"I thought it would end up as an FX show or a TNT show, but they were really eager about it," Hollander said from his Santa Monica, Calif., office this week.

"Storyville" was inspired by Hollander's experience here in August 2004 doing research for the "Three Rivers" script.

The series follows a TV show runner, the writer/executive producer of a program, who tags along with a doctor to get medical stories and a cop to get crime stories for his series. "Storyville" will follow the writer as he gathers material for his scripts and then show parts of the fictional re-creation.

"It's kind of a metaphysical one," Hollander acknowledged.

Although inside-Hollywood shows have flopped more often than they've worked lately (HBO's "The Comeback," most recently), Hollander said "Storyville" will be less a Hollywood story and more the tale of the writer and his technical advisers.

"It's three men in their 30s and 40s who are raising kids, and the common ground is each has a 5-year-old kid," Hollander said. "It's not meant as a gimmicky show; it's meant as an investigation of these three men. It's pretty much cops, doctors and a guy who writes for a living."

"Storyville" is semi-autobiographical; Hollander's son, Nate, is 6, and he trailed former Pittsburgh Police homicide detective Dennis Logan and Post-Gazette reporters Jonathan Silver and Cindi Lash while compiling "Three Rivers" research.

"A lot of this came from my trip to Pittsburgh last year, during which I had a profound experience," Hollander said. He was in town gathering research the night of two shootings in the usually peaceful Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The "Storyville" pilot explores a fictional version of those events.

"I could never let go of that experience," he said. "It became more compelling to me that the show I was writing at the time.

"I happen to love looking at what the impulse behind creativity is," he said, "to be able to investigate that without being narcissistic or boring to my audience."

Other than the inspiration, "Storyville" may have no direct Pittsburgh connection, although he's toying with the idea of having the fictional TV shows set in Pittsburgh.

"That's really a budgetary issue," Hollander said. "But I think it would be an interesting visual to have the Los Angeles world juxtaposed weekly with Pittsburgh, so when the hard cut [from the writer's reality to the fictional show] happens, you're in a different world entirely. But it may be too clever and too expensive for what I'm trying to achieve."

A children's show Hollander hopes to make with WQED remains in development, as does a film, "Personal Effects," which has a completed script and is budgeted to film in Pittsburgh.

"Getting any one of a number of actresses who have expressed interest in it would make it a go," Hollander said. "I'm sitting on the cusp. Four A-list actresses are circling it. I'm hoping against hope I can get this together and shoot it this year."

In addition, Hollander is at work on additional projects, but he said it was too soon to discuss them.

From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette .

The Fabulous Baker boy-9T05

2005-09-30T02:18:00.000-07:00

From:9TO5
By Kristy Meudell

Simon Baker is every bit the charmer when he meets me in the hallway of his Sydney hotel. Squeezing my hand and pulling me in to kiss his cheek, he has a mischievous school-boy twinkle in his eye when he refers to his publicist and says, “He told me you were cute.” Livelier than I expect after a full day of press commitments (the first of which was for an early morning breakfast show), he's much cheekier than I had imagined and about as far removed from the stereotype of a Hollywood movie star as you can get.

“How much do you think a bottle of Fiji water costs?” he asks me incredulously just before we sit down. Then, without waiting for a reply, he states: “Seven dollars! Can you believe that? And that’s not even for a big bottle, it’s for one of those small ones.”

While his horror at the outlandish prices of the hotel mini bar is somewhat out of sorts for someone of his calibre, he is the first to point out that he isn’t your typical movie type. Simon Baker describes himself as someone “too old” for a fan club, and certainly doesn’t see himself as any kind of star.

“Everyone I think has a different definition of what a movie star is. I think Gregory Peck is a movie star, I think Carey Grant was a movie star, but I’m not a movie star,” he says with a laugh. “I’m just an actor that works in movies.”

At the end of 1995, Simon Baker left Australia for the US with his wife and son and enough money to last a few months. Steadily, he’s been able to make a living out of his craft. There have been roles in movies including L.A. Confidential, The Affair of the Necklace, Book of Love, but his real claim to fame has been his starring role in the drama series The Guardian, a TV show which lasted three years and attracted 12 million viewers a week in the US alone.

“I didn’t think we would still be there [in LA] after so long. I didn’t really think anything. I know we didn’t have enough money to stay this long – we only had enough to stay for about three months! It doesn’t feel like 10 years. It feels like a long time, but not that long. I can remember the day we arrived, definitely. I found a baseball in the gutter of the house we were staying in. It was almost like a good luck charm – until a friend took their dog for a walk and threw it and lost it.

“They’re not my friend anymore,” he jokes with a big movie-like grin.

Adjusting his heavy rimmed glasses, Simon says he is grateful to have worked consistently. He emphasises that it hasn’t been an easy ride, but there’s not even a hint of bitterness when I suggest that acting has more to do with luck than with anything else.

“A lot of it has to do with luck,” he admits. “Some of it has to do with talent, but more of it has to do with luck. Some actors just do one movie and that movie makes loads of money and then they can pick from any script they want. They can say that they only want to work with Martin Scorsese. And you can vent and moan about it, but then you just have to go, ‘OK, I’m still a working actor’.

“It’s hard work and it’s a tough struggle at times, but it’s not rocket science, it’s just making movies, it’s just pretending to be someone else. You’re not saving the world.”

While he makes a valid point, Simon does agree that not just anyone can act.

“Well, that is, as they say, why we get the big bucks. But I tell you, there’s only a select few who actually get the big bucks. I’m fortunate enough to be able to make a decent living out of it. Am I up in the high echelons of earners as an actor? No, I’m not. I’m not a big movie star who commands huge amounts of money and a lot of the roles I come across that are really, really interesting, you’ve almost gotta pay to play them, to be in the movie. It’s a funny sort of business. It’s hard and it always has been because it’s the marriage of art and commerce and I don’t necessarily think that it’s a happy marriage a lot of the time.”

His family – wife Rebecca, who Baker describes as his “rock”, and his three children, Stella, Claude and Harry – are a welcome contrast to the realities of his work. For Baker, his family and their happiness are paramount and consequently, there is more to his life than just work.
“It’s important for me to be challenged,” he says. “I’m pretty odd like that ’cause I really do like to be challenged and be absorbed by what I’m doing and let it just sort of soak me up. But at the same time, I’m inherently lazy. I don’t like to work too much. When I work, I really like to get into it, and then when I’m not working, I just like to put it aside.”

This healthy outlook perhaps makes Baker overly critical of the scripts that come his way.
“You never know with movies what will make a good one,” he laments. “There have been a lot of roles where I’ve gone, ‘Phew, lucky I didn’t do that’ – plenty of those – but there have also been roles where I’ve gone, ‘Well, actually, that wouldn’t have been so bad’, ’cause the movie turned out pretty good. But you can’t wonder what might have been.”

He doesn’t even wonder about what yet might be. He’s never been one to plan too far ahead, not five years or even six months. If big-time movie success comes his way, then great, but if not, he’s not bothered. He understands that fame and celebrity often come with a price.

“It’s not the be all and end all. It’s not the only reason for doing it. You know, there’s something nice about the certain perks related to it, absolutely, but the loss of identity, the scrutiny which you come under can be so not desirable, it’s not something I’m interested in. I like the idea of being a little anonymous, but at the same time, I like going to places like the Cannes Film Festival and staying in a nice hotel. I want all the good things, but I don’t want the bad things. I also want the big bucks,” he adds with a laugh, “’cause that means when I’m not working, I can have a really good time!”

For all of Simon Baker’s time in Tinseltown, his Australian accent and ethos have remained in tact. In his heart, Australia will always be his home and though he dreams of Paddlepops and meat pies at the mention of a visit back to Oz, a move home isn’t on the cards.

“There is always a chance and the chance is always increased whenever I come out here,” he reveals. “Yeah, I get to munch on Paddlepops, but just to be here, it’s almost kind of healthier for me to not come back because when I don’t come back, I miss it, but I can sort of ignore 'cause it’s the other side of the world.

“When I’m here, it’s like, ‘What am I doing living in America for, what am I doing?’ It’s a funny balance. And a lot of people say, ‘Well, why don’t you just move back?’ It’s not that easy for me. I have three kids, two of them that were born there, you know. My kids have established social groups and friends and relationships in the States. I can’t be that selfish.”

Our best bet to enticing the fabulous Baker boy home is through new work opportunities.
“I think what the Australian film industry really needs is to make a film that captures the Australian spirit,” he says. “I would like to do a film here. And yes, there’s been talk of Clancy of the Overflow,” he says, “but it would depend on how they were going to do it. If they were going to do it right, I would be interested.”

From 9TO5.

Rosenberg Elected President Actors Guild

2005-09-24T01:54:00.000-07:00

From:Associated Press
Date:Sep 24,2005

LOS ANGELES - Alan Rosenberg was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild on Friday, replacing former "Little House on the Prairie" star Melissa Gilbert, who decided not to run for a third two-year term.

Rosenberg will lead a famously fractious union of 100,000 actors that has been split in recent years on such issues as merging with the other major actors union and taking an aggressive stance in negotiations with producers.

He beat out fellow candidates Morgan Fairchild and Robert Conrad.

Rosenberg received 40 percent of the total 27,053 votes cast, according to the guild. Fairchild received 35 percent and Conrad 25 percent.

"I am honored that the members of this great union have placed their confidence in me," Rosenberg said in a statement. "I ran a campaign that offered a simple and straightforward promise — I will fight like hell to get actors their fair share."

The 54-year-old actor has appeared on such television shows as "ER," "L.A. Law" and "The Guardian" as well as in TV movies. He is married to actress Marg Helgenberger.

Connie Stevens was elected the new secretary-treasurer,replacing James Cromwell, who did not seek re-election. She received 68 percent of the votes over challenger Lee Garlington's 32 percent.

Voter turnout was about 27 percent for both elections, the guild said. Rosenberg and Stevens will begin serving their terms on Sunday.

Rosenberg's win is a victory for the "Membership First" faction of the union which opposed Gilbert in the last two elections.

The group has advocated a more aggressive approach in negotiations with producers and opposed the merger with the other major entertainment union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

"We have become weak as a union, giving in to a series of rollbacks and buy-outs at a time when the entertainment industry is recording record profits; profits that will continue to grow with new technology," Rosenberg, 54, said on his campaign Web site. "If we truly expect to earn our livings as actors, we need to stand up and fight for a fair and livable wage."

Gilbert supported a controversial plan to merge SAG with AFTRA to increase union clout when dealing with large media conglomerates. That plan was narrowly defeated in 2003.

Gilbert also backed a new three-year contract with producers earlier this year that won increases in pay and benefits, but did nothing to change a 20-year-old formula for compensating actors for DVD sales.

Increasing residual payments from DVD sales had been a major goal of the negotiations, but actors said they backed down in order to avoid a potentially lengthy and damaging strike.

From Associated Press.

Simon Baker works for the devil

2005-09-17T01:17:00.000-07:00

From:Monsters and Critics.com, UK
Date:Sep 16, 2005
By Joshua Tyler

Simon Baker joins Emily Blunt, Anne Hathway and Meryl Streep in the film ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. You may remember Simon from horror movies like ‘Land of the Dead’ and ‘Ring Two’, but ‘Devil Wears Prada’ is about a different kind of terror.

Based on the novel by Lauren Wiseberger, the film is the story of a small town girl who gets a big job as an assistant to a fashion magazine editor. According to Variety, Baker will play a writer at the magazine who tries to help her survive the rigors of city living while she’s tortured by her nightmare boss, Meryl Streep. Streep’s character is oddly enough, supposed to be based on a real person: Vogue magazine editor Anne Wintour.

Anne Hathaway is slated to play Streep’s abused employee, while Emily Blunt takes on the role of a high-ranking assistant. Joining along with Simon Baker is Adrian Grenier as a love interest. ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is scheduled to start shooting in New York in the fall, which means you can expect it in theaters some time in 2006.

FromMonsters and Critics.com, UK .

Baker suited for 'Prada' 'Devil' gets a leading man

2005-09-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

From:Variety
Date:Sep. 15, 2005
By MICHAEL FLEMING

Fox 2000 has fitted Simon Baker with the male lead in "The Devil Wears Prada," the David Frankel-directed adaptation of the novel by Lauren Weisberger.
Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway have already been cast.

Scripted by Aline Brosh McKenna, pic is about a small-town girl who gets a job working for a major fashion magazine. Baker will play a writer at the mag who tries to help the young woman survive life in the big city.

Weisberger worked at Vogue, and the editor character Streep plays is said to be based on mag's Anna Wintour. Pic will shoot in New York this fall.

Baker, last seen in the George Romero-directed "Land of the Dead" and "The Ring Two," just wrapped "Bloom," a romantic comedy for Focus Features co-starring Sanaa Lathan.

FromVariety

The Grill:interview-Simon Baker

2005-08-10T01:37:00.000-07:00

Byron Bay–raised, Los Angeles–based actor and father of three Simon Baker (The Guardian), 35, has landed his biggest Hollywood movie role in George Romero's zombie flick Land of the Dead.

From:Who Magazine
Date:Aug. 03, 2000
BY DI WEBSTER

You'd never made a zombie film before and I'd never seen one. Was it as traumatic for you as it was for me?

Not at all! It was actually a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.

Are your kids allowed to see it?

No. My kids have said to me on numerous occasions, 'When are you going to do a movie that we can see?' If you go through the movies that I've done, in L.A. Confidential my throat was slit, in Ride with the Devil I got shot through the throat and in Red Planet I got eaten by some sort of bug. There's a lot of movies where I've died.

How much of the Hollywood stuff - first nights, red carpets - do you get involved in?

The last premiere I went to voluntarily was Lords of Dogtown, because I was interested in seeing the movie. A friend of mine produced it and Heath (Ledger) was in it. I don't like being under the microscope so much. I've given into it a bit more, but I used to just walk down the red carpet and put my hand up and do the Cliff Young shuffle straight through.

I understand Nicole Kidman taught you to accept praise?

She didn't teach me, but she told me, "Simon, you've just got to learn to breathe and say, 'Thank you.'"

How had you been responding to compliments?

Ah, I'd go red, shake my head, look at the ground and say, "F--k off." It's like when you're playing under-12s footy and you score a try under the post. You don't pump your fist in the air and jump around. You run back to halfway, head down and trying not to smile even though every fibre in your body wants to jump up and down and pat yourself on the back. It's just not right to do that.

Your nickname growing up was Smiley. Does anyone still call you that?

Not anyone I've seen for a while, but maybe in the next week or two I'll run into a couple of people who will... (Wife) Rebecca has always given me shit about it, like it was a really bad nickname. I went to school with kids called Snot, so I thought I came up trumps with Smiley.

Who gave you the name?

Poodles (laughs). Joshua Raymond Black, a mate I met at my under-7s rugby league team, the Ballina Seagulls. And I still know him. I went to his wedding last year. He lives in Germany now.

I read a review that described you as a "wiry but well-muscled bloke who'd punch you in the nose if you refused him a 12th beer." Would you?

If I wanted a 12th beer, that would mean I'd had 11 beers ... It could be likely (laughs). Certainly not if my wife was out with me, I don't reckon that would be happening. She wouldn't let me have 12 beers. I'm not here to promote that kind of behaviour (laughs). I've probably threatened to punch people after 11 beers in the past, but the future's unknown. I don't know.

And anyone refusing you a 12th beer risks missing your Mick Jagger impersonation.

After 12 beers I might be doing more of a Keith Richards (laughs).

From Who Magazine。

Zombie film delivers the gore

2005-08-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

From:Sydney Morning Herald
Date:Aug 4, 2005

The zombies are restless and hungry for brains.

There's eight of them trapped behind an old, rusty steel fence and on the other side are some frightened, cowering humans.

It's dinner time for the zombies.

Looking a little malnourished, the zombies need a feed.

A bath and some Rexona under the armpits might be nice too.

Some are missing arms, others have just one eye.

Acne medication is not going to help the complexions of this rotting bunch, not that they seem self-conscious about the look of their horrid faces.

It's brains they want.

Fresh, warm human brains.

The zombies just have to break through the wire fence to get at the smorgasbord of humans screaming on the other side.

They rush the fence and begin shaking it, but as the hinges weaken and this motley crew is about to break through, gunshots stop their decaying bodies in their tracks.

Zombie heads explode.

Blood spurts from chest wounds. Hunks of what appears to be flesh is catapulted in the sky.

One by one the zombies drop to the ground.

Bullets to the head do the job.

The humans are safe, their brains intact.

The zombies ... well, they won't be eating tonight.

They're lying in a crumpled pile at the bottom of that steel fence.

"Great," Matt Birman, the stunt co-ordinator of the new George A. Romero directed zombie film, Land of the Dead, says as he emerges from behind a white sheet.

Well, it used to be white.

The sheet was placed around the camera to protect it from the mess and, after the head and body explosions, the sheet is splattered with red.

"That looked great guys," Birman says, clapping his hands after watching the footage on a monitor.

The zombies were actually highly-trained stuntmen and women who had small explosives and fake blood implanted in the prosthetics and make-up on their faces and bodies.

It is just one of the gory scenes from Land of the Dead.

The film is 65-year-old New York-born Romero's return to zombie films after a 20 year break. It is a genre he is considered the master of since he made Night of the Living Dead in 1968, a classic horror film with plenty of blood, but an underlying political message.

Romero followed that up with Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).

Land of the Dead is the final chapter and opens in Australia today.

Romero has specific rules. He does not want fast moving zombies like the zombies in the 2000 horror hit, 28 Days.

Zombies are humans with rigor mortis. Their neck muscles are weak so their heads should slant a certain way. They should be slow moving.

That's Romero's way.

A quiet, mysterious figure with big dark owl rimmed glasses, Romero has cast Australia's Simon Baker as the Land of the Dead's hero, or anti-hero.

Although Romero has invited me to to watch a night of filming of Land of the Dead, he is not up to talking tonight.

He is too busy.

With a budget of just $US14 million ($18.32 million), it is a tight two month shoot schedule.

Land of the Dead is being made in Toronto, Canada, in the middle of winter. Most of the scenes are shot at night, so Baker and the other cast members, including Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo and Asia Argento find themselves attempting to act in minus 10 degree Celsius weather at the painful hours before sunrise.

There is also snow.

When it rains, the rain drops are so cold they feel like nails.

"Killing the zombies, that' the easiest part," says the Tasmanian-born Baker, who plays Riley, a mercenary whose job is to protect the humans from the brain hungry zombies.

"The hardest part was the night in winter in Canada. It was freezing.

"There's scenes where we can't talk properly."

When shooting moves indoors it does not turn tropical.

Romero has taken over Toronto's Downsville Military Base, a former home of the Canadian airforce.

The military planes are no longer stored there.

With huge hangars lying dormant and the Canadian film industry booming, the military base is now a centre for film production. It is impossible to heat up such large spaces so it is still near freezing inside the hangars.

While Birman and his splinter film unit, nicknamed the "splatter unit", are blowing up hungry zombies in one hangar, Romero is walking through some scenes with Leguizamo and Baker in another hangar about a five minute drive away.

It's 2am.

Romero is a big man, about 193cm tall, with a grey beard and one hand always holding a cup of coffee.

"He's a chain-smoker, he's a coffee drinking addict and he's always wearing that vest that looks like standard issue from the Director's Guild of America and he's got those big owl glasses that I don't think they make anymore," Leguizamo says.

"But, he's got a great sense of humour about the thing. He's very specific and he's really focused on the acting. It's not just about the special effects."

Romero disappears, probably for a smoke, leaving Baker and Leguizamo to chat.

They are laughing and seem like best buddies.

Later, when Leguizamo finds out I'm Australian, he shakes my hand and says: "G'day, howya going (expletive)".

"That's how you Aussies greet each other isn't it?" he asks.

In the cold, quiet moments between scenes, Baker apparently has been filling in his curious 41-year-old Colombian-born co-star with some Australian slang.

"Hornier than a five dicked dog," Leguizamo says.

"You say that one downunder don't you?

"How about 'Gone off like a bucket of prawns in the midday sun'."

Leguizamo, one of Hollywood's busiest actors, arrived late to the set of Land of the Dead as his previous project overlapped rehearsals.

But, he says, soon after his plane landed in Toronto he made contact with Baker. Leguizamo plays Cholo, Baker's second in command of the zombie killing unit, so the two had to form a relationship off-screen as well as in front of the cameras.

"I called him up and said let's spend some time together," Leguizamo said.

"We'd work some things out in our trailers and go and show it to George."

Land of the Dead is an interesting career move for Baker, 35, who has built up a nice resume in Hollywood with his TV drama The Guardian, L.A Confidential with Russell Crowe and The Affair of the Necklace with another Oscar winner, Hilary Swank.

It was only the insistence of his manager, a huge Romero fan, that he took a meeting with Romero and Land of the Dead producer Mark Canton in Los Angeles last year.

"I wasn't really that familiar with the genre before I took the job," Baker confesses.

"I met George and he was just one of the nicest guys I've met in Hollywood.

"I looked him up on the Internet and there's a lot of information and there's a lot of people who put him up on a pedestal.

"I walked into the room and there was this very warm, lovely, self-effacing guy who was not overly confident. He didn't say 'I'm going to make the best movie ...'

"He said 'We're going to make a movie and have some fun'.

"I was drawn to that.

"It was very real.

"I thought 'These are really nice guys'. George's wife was there, Mark was there, who I had worked with before, so we had a bit of a laugh.

"I enjoyed the meeting which is rare."

It's now 2.30am.

It's snowing outside.

Romero re-appears smelling more like cigarettes than he did half an hour earlier and he has a fresh cup of coffee in his hand.

The cameras roll.

Baker and Leguizamo are peering out a window.

It's time to kill some more zombies.

From Sydney Morning Herald.

Baker 'new Steve McQueen'

2005-08-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

From:Daily Telegraph, Australia
Date:Aug 4, 2005
By Peter Mitchell

LOS ANGELES: Australian actor Simon Baker has been dubbed Hollywood's new Steve McQueen.
McQueen, the hard-drinking, chain-smoking tough guy from 1960s classics The Great Escape, Bullitt and The Magnificent Seven, had an icy, anti-hero presence audiences adored.

Two powerful Hollywood players, producer Mark Canton and director George Romero, believe the Tasmanian-born Baker, with his blond locks and penetrating blue eyes, has that same on-screen charisma.

That is why Canton and Romero cast Baker as the anti-hero, zombie killing star of their new film, Land of the Dead.

"We were looking for that Steve McQueen style anti-hero and Simon is that guy," Canton, the former chairman of Hollywood studio Columbia Tristar and responsible for bringing more than 300 of Hollywood's biggest films to the screen, said.

"He has a subtlety to the way he acts."

The line, "Girls wanted him and men wanted to be him" followed McQueen, nicknamed The King of Cool, until his death in 1980 from lung cancer.

Tell Simon Baker, 36, he has been compared to screen legend McQueen and the notoriously shy Australian brushes it aside.

"That sounds like such a Mark Canton line," Baker responds.

"Mark just flatters me.

"Is it true? Well, you just do what you can, right?

"If you put labels on yourself, then you are shooting yourself in the foot aren't you?

"If you accept labels being put on you then you might as well be holding the gun as well.

"I'm just going to shrug it off. Laugh it off."

When Canton, Land of the Dead's producer, and Romero, the director, sat down to discuss who would be their star, both came up with Baker's name.

Canton produced Baker's 2000 sci-fi film Red Planet and Romero, who lives in Pittsburgh, was aware of the Australian actor through Baker's TV drama series The Guardian, set in the US steel city.

"I organised a meeting with Simon and just thought he was terrific," Romero said.

"We sat down for an afternoon, chatted, talked about the script and he had a clear idea what he wanted to do with the character."

Land of the Dead is 65-year-old Romero's return to the zombie genre. His 1968 breakthrough zombie film, Night of the Living Dead, has become one of the most celebrated horror films in Hollywood movie history.

Land of the Dead, the fourth and possibly the final chapter in Romero's series, was shot in Toronto at night over two months in the middle of Canada's bitter winter.

The film is set in Pittsburgh, a city that has been transformed into a wasteland overrun by zombies.

Humans are forced to live in a heavily fortified compound with large walls protecting them from millions of brain eating zombies.

Baker's character, Riley, is head of a hardened group of mercenaries paid to run missions through the zombie infested wasteland to pick up food and other supplies.

"Simon worked almost every night," Romero said.

"If he had been unco-operative we just would not have got the film done, but he was fantastic."

From Daily Telegraph, Australia .

Fabulous Baker boy

2005-08-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

DARK side . . . Simon Baker plays a mercenary in George Romero's Land of the Dead.

From:Brisbane Courier Mail
Date:Aug 05,2005
By Helen Barlow

SPORTING sexy stubble and with his eyes at half-mast, Simon Baker looks as if he has just stumbled out of bed. He has.

"Where's that coffee?" he says to a hovering publicist, who is organising a rather chaotic Sunday morning brunch for his film Land of the Dead at the Cannes Festival.

"Last night we had a big noisy party," he says nonchalantly of the film's plush midnight premiere.

"I need to find my phone, I'm such a mess this morning. I brought it down and I lost it among all that photocall. It's my only contact to the outside world right now."

He's talking about his contact with his Australian actress wife Rebecca Rigg – they met on E Street – and their three young kids.

The 35-year-old Los Angeles-based Australian, who attracted an international following and a Golden Globe nomination for his tortured lawyer role in the American television series, The Guardian, still sounds very much like an Aussie – even if there's the occasional American lilt on some words, and he switches between ending his sentences with "mate" and "man".

"It's not something I consciously think about," he says. "The only time I'm ever aware of it is when an Australian points it out to me, and I tell you, they always point it out to me.

"Even if one word slips in, they turn around and go, 'What?' They really rub it in. But I do it for a living, you know."

With his tousled sandy hair and taut muscular physique that comes from years in the surf, this retiring Tasmanian seems far from your typically anxious pent-up thespian. And even if his movies have not always done well, it wasn't his fault.

With some of his more high-profile efforts – The Affair of the Necklace, Red Planet and Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil – it just seemed like bad luck.

Even when LA Confidential became an unexpected hit, it was fellow Australian cast members, Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, who were thrust into the spotlight.

It took The Guardian to bring Baker's talent to the fore. Yet he is pleased that the series is over and he can now spend more time with his family at the Malibu house the series helped pay for.

"I reached a point where I couldn't go any further," he says with relief.

"It's hard to keep playing the same character over and over and over again. You have a hard time maintaining the quality of the scripts so that it started to feel like a sausage factory. People complain a lot about how poor sequels are, but imagine doing 77 sequels because that's what I was doing."

Didn't the series provide a sense of security?

"Yeah, but that's boring, isn't it? If I was really someone inclined to be financially secure I don't think I'd be an actor, because what percentage of actors can make a living doing it? It's why I make choices like this." Land of the Dead was hailed as the comeback of George Romero, the American-Cuban director who put zombies on the cinematic map with his seminal 1968 movie, Night of the Living Dead.

A man of the 1960s and 1970s, he is a filmmaker with a conscience, who never really bought into Hollywood. He also has taken his time.

In 1979 he made the sequel Dawn of the Dead – which was remade last year starring Sarah Polley – and in 1985 he made Day of the Dead, the finale to his zombie trilogy.

His idea with Land of the Dead was that he would introduce characters that might become part of a new franchise. With the popularity of recent horror movies, why not give the master a comeback?

The fly in the ointment has been the American public, who have stayed away in droves. The 14-year-old boys, who comprise horror's main audience, have been weaned on special effects. Romero's movie proved a little too intelligent and low-tech.

Yet these are the very reasons that a discerning big kid like Baker would be attracted to work with one of cinema's legends.

"He's unlike any director I've met, he's a complete regular Joe," he says. "His wife was at our first meeting with him and his business partner and they didn't seem like Hollywood movie people at all.

"And I liked that. He said some smart things and was really self-deprecating. Being Australian I responded to his dryness and lack of ego."

Romero says: "I hadn't met Simon but he'd shot The Guardian in Pittsburgh where I live so we knew the same beer joints."

Baker, who himself has constantly been described as lacking in ego and down-to-earth, experienced a new lease of life while making the film.

"I've normally played very internalised characters so I'd crack myself up. There's a certain level of tongue-in-cheek humour you have to push yourself to and George is really good at that.

"On the set I had a ball. I was blown away by how obsessed I became about the zombies and checking out the make-up and stuff. You'd go to lunch and people would be sitting around, you know, mangled, and it was pretty funny.

"The great thing about this film is the majority of the action happens on camera. If a zombie bites an arm and rips stuff out it's a real arm with a wax sort of prosthetic on it and tubes for spurting blood.

"They've got bits and pieces that they're pulling out and we're going, 'Ahhh!' You know, I'm a guy, and I like to see how they put that stuff together. So I'd go over to the splatter unit and find out."

In Land of the Dead Romero paints a world rife with zombies, while the real people live inside an enclave presided over by Dennis Hopper, and protected by mercenaries including Baker (the leader) and a trigger-happy John Leguizamo. "I think it represents world corporatisation and the eradication of the middle class," opines Baker. "There's an under class that supports the upper class and the upper class have to keep the under class down so they can maintain their position.

"But the funny thing is, you talk to George about it and he's like, 'Hey, this is just a zombie movie', and I love that. He doesn't go all Michael Moore about it."

In our interview Romero does admit that his films, like the classics horror movies from the 1970s, have an agenda.

"My stories deal with humans unable to see the communal or global picture. The stories don't really involve the zombies; the zombies are just sort of the tsunami."

From Brisbane Courier Mail .

Baker in it for the dough

2005-08-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

Making a spectacle ... Simon Baker

From:Northern Territory News
Date:04aug05
By Michael Bodey

SIMON Baker left Australia to try his luck in Hollywood when Australia wasn't so hot. Today, Australian actors are so hot over there, it's bad for our industry and bad for the actors.

Now the local industry is dominated by first-time filmmakers, Baker says, and our actors are at risk of becoming deluded in Hollywood.

"Because of these guys, Russell, Nicole, Naomi, Geoffrey, Hugh, Americans associate Australians automatically with good work, straight away," Baker says.

"It used to be the English could do no wrong but I can't tell you how many kid's birthday parties or whatever I go to and Americans go, 'You guys are the best actors in the world'.

"That's a leg up. So even if you've done diddly squat, don't know your way around a set and you're just out of acting school, NIDA or what have you, and you show up there, they're assuming, whether it's a good thing for you or not, that you're a decent actor."

Baker can speak with some insight. After leaving Australia with a Best New Talent Logie under his arm, he's worked long and hard to make it there. His run as TV's The Guardian helped while his latest film, Land Of The Dead, is another lead role in a major studio movie after his role opposite good friend Naomi Watts in The Ring 2.

It also marks the return of zombie film legend George A. Romero, and a change in tack for the normally serious Baker.

"I look at it like this. I had a great time doing it and didn't regret it for a minute," he says. "It was liberating because in the past I've had a highbrow sort of snobbery and hang-ups of certain things."

Land Of The Dead isn't highbrow but in the realm of popcorn movies, it's not exactly lowbrow either.

Romero is the master of zombie films, a genre of horror film that has been used and abused since his first low-budget cult hit, 1968's Night Of The Living Dead. He's made other films since but it's his zombie films, including Day Of The Dead and Dawn Of The Dead, that ensured his place in cult history.

Baker was first approached to star in a remake of Romero's Dawn Of The Dead while he was filming The Guardian in the US.

"I was, like, there's no way," Baker says. "Why? It's been done.

It was relevant to the time it came out and that was the beauty of George's films. Why do a remake of that movie now when the whole essence of that film was political comment back in the 70s?"

Then Romero soon beckoned with his own project, Land Of The Dead, in which zombies finally infiltrate the last human outpost.

"When George was doing it, I thought, hang on, here's this post-9/11 world where people are able to use fear as the tool to manipulate and kind of control the masses.

"The parallels with what's going on in Western society at the moment were too great."

Besides, the raffish 36-year-old has got to a point where his self assessment is far sharper.

"I take the work seriously while I'm working but I won't take myself too seriously. They're movies for God sakes, people sit and eat popcorn and drink fizzy drink and go out half way through to take a p***. You're not saving the world."

Baker's stoicism comes from a US career that has had its ups and downs. After breaking through with a distinctive cameo in LA Confidential, Baker couldn't find the film that would propel his career forward. Until he became The Guardian, and was watched by 12 million Americans a week.

He knows only too well it's a flighty industry.

"A lot of people take themselves way too seriously," he says. "It's something that hit me just as I'm getting older. I've been working now for years and I'm not an Oscar-winning actor, I'm not an iconic character, I'm just a guy who works as an actor and makes a living doing it to support my family."

* Land Of The Dead opens today

From Northern Territory News .

Baker's thinking of Oz

2005-07-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

True blue: Australian actor Simon Baker lives in Los Angeles but is considering returning home.

From:Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Date:26 Jul 2005
By Sarah Wotherspoon

AUSTRALIAN actor Simon Baker hates the term "un-Australian" and is considering returning to where it all began.

Baker, who lives in Los Angeles with actor-wife Rebecca Rigg and their three children, said he was still an Australian at heart.
But the star of The Guardian said the term un-Australian riled him.

"I'm Australian and that's where my heart is and for (Prime Minister John Howard) to tell me that I'm not Australian because I don't believe in his politics or that I shouldn't voice my opinion on something I don't agree with, that just got my hackles up."

In town to promote Land of the Dead, the fourth zombie movie from George Romero, he said Romero's movie paralleled today's society.

"It plays around with the different notions of fear and how fear can be exploited in certain ways to create a purer society," he said.

But Baker has not ruled out a return to Sydney, where his eldest daughter Stella is enrolled in school.

Baker's romantic comedy Something New will screen next year.

From Melbourne Herald Sun.

Pretty boy Baker

2005-07-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Actor SImon Baker admits that his looks have helped him get roles in America.

From:The Age
Date:July 26, 2005

Australian actor Simon Baker knows his looks have opened doors for him.

"It is Hollywood, it is all about aesthetics," Baker says, adding tongue in cheek: "Do you think I would be having a career if I was really ugly?"

"This is the reality of it.

"Thankfully I am just a guy that likes physical activity so I have always remained in reasonably good shape."

Baker, who will be 36 on Saturday, has lived in Los Angeles for 10 years with wife Rebecca Rigg and their three kids.

He is back in Sydney this week to promote his latest feature film, Land of the Dead, which opens nationally on August 4.

"I could turn into the fattest bastard there is because I love food and I love wine," he said.

"The fact that I have got to stay in reasonably good shape is kind of the thing that keeps me on the straight and narrow."

In Land of the Dead, Baker plays Riley, a man trying to escape a world where zombies are returning to life.

In his quest to stay alive, Riley is joined by Slack (Asia Argentos) and goes up against bad-guy Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) along with thousands of zombies, referred to as "stenches".

"He is the moral compass of the film," Baker said of Riley.

"I wanted to establish the guy in a sense that he was a leader but didn't want to be responsible for the people that followed him."

"I wanted to make the guy complex and conflicted."

Land of the Dead is the fourth instalment in the George A Romero directed 'Dead' series, following on from Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead.

Although a fictional story, Baker said Land of the Dead was extremely complicated with comparisons to the current world.

"Every little moment for me, there was some kind of parallel as to where we are in our society at the moment," the father of three said.

"It is pretty much about the elite eradicating the middle class and keeping the underclass down."

Locally, Baker is probably best known for appearing in television series from E Street to Home and Away and Heartbreak High.

He moved to Hollywood in 1996 and was first noticed after making a cameo appearance in Oscar winning film LA Confidential.

Baker has since starred in a number of films including The Ring Two, Book of Love, The Affair of the Necklace, Red Planet and Secret Men's Business.

He became a household name in the US playing lawyer Nick Fallon in hit TV series The Guardian.

In his next film, Baker will play a landscape gardener in an inter-racial love story, called 42.4 Percent.

"I don't want to take myself too seriously as an actor because I think it can be kind of limiting for your career.

"I just want to have fun and do different things and be prepared to fall flat on my face and to take a few risks because it is one life."

From The Age.

New SAG Race Is On

2005-07-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

From:E!online
Date:Jul 22, 2005
by Josh Grossberg

After two consecutive terms heading up Hollywood's actor's union, Melissa Gilbert is calling it a day.

The former Little House on the Prairie star announced on Thursday that she will not seek a third term as president of the Screen Actors Guild after three contentious years that Gilbert herself acknowledged were marked by bitter internal feuding.

"It is no big secret that there are problems within the leadership of SAG. There are rifts that may very well be irreparable," the 41-year-old actress said in a statement. "All of that aside, I still believe the Screen Acto's Guild was, is and will always be the most powerful performers union in the world and I want the future leaders of my beloved union to know that I will be watching them--like a hawk."

Gilbert's exit sets up what is likely to be a tough election campaign between at least three high-profile thespians: Wild Wild West man Robert Conrad, '80s TV siren Morgan Fairchild and Alan Rosenberg, the 54-year-old actor-hubby of CSI star Marg Helgenberger.

"It might be a dogfight, but I will do my best to keep things civil," Rosenberg, who also serves on the SAG national board, told the Los Angeles Times. "It's impossible to get anything accomplished unless we speak with one voice."

"We have to quit fighting each other and fight for our members," said Fairchild, 55, also a board member. "I'm trying to get unity back into this union."

If there's anything they can all agree on, it's that the SAG presidency is a pretty thankless gig--lots of hard work for no pay. The president is charged with serving as the face of the union when it comes to contract negotiations, ensuring its 120,000 dues-paying members get their of residuals, lobbying states for production incentives to curb runaway production, and fighting against piracy.

Gilbert, who shot to fame playing Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House, defeated former Rhoda star Valerie Harper in a disputed election in 2002 to become the 23rd president in SAG's 72 year history, following the likes of Ronald Reagan and Charlton Heston. She was only the third female to hold the post.

But the former child star was unable to achieve many of her stated goals. Gilbert hails from a moderate wing of the guild called Restore Respect, which favors negotiations and compromise over more aggressive tactics. On her watch, the guild failed to win a dues increase, and one of her signature proposals--a merger of SAG with the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union--fell short of the necessary 60 percent member approval by a slim 2 percent.

She did actress successfully led SAG to negotiate a solid increase in film and TV contracts with Hollywood studios and producers and she scored higher earnings for the guild's health and pension plans. She reorganized field offices to reduce costs and rein in deficit spending. Gilbert also helped strengthen protections for child actors.

Gilbert is scheduled to step down Sept. 23. Voting for the new SAG boss will take place next month once ballots are mailed out to union members.

From E! Online

Tackling the zombies of Hollywood

2005-07-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

Simon Baker in Land of the Dead.

From:Sydney Morning Herald
Date:Jul 15 2005
By Mary Colbert

It's a long way from Summer Bay to Land of the Dead, but Simon Baker has no regrets.

As a kid, Simon Baker was never a fan of horror movies. "I had too vivid an imagination; they freaked me out too much," he says. And when he saw a George Romero zombie horror flick as an adolescent kitchenhand and surfer on the Gold Coast, he didn't know what to make of it.

"I'd just inhaled a funny cigarette and it was like, 'Man, what's this?"' He pauses and adds, "Are they likely to put me under house arrest for that admission?"

Yet the former Australian soap dish (E Street, Home and Away), who rose to international fame as the troubled lawyer Nick Fallin in the American TV series The Guardian, finds his biggest American movie role yet is in Romero's upcoming Land of the Dead.

"I never imagined myself doing a zombie movie ever. But I like the idea of not limiting myself. The aim is to mix it up and have fun."

There's still a lot of the surfie about Baker: tanned, slightly freckled, sun-streaked hair, with a laid-back irreverence and, at 35, exuding the boyish adrenaline prompted by his latest cinematic adventure and first action role.

When Baker met Romero, the connection was Pittsburgh - the writer-director's home town and Baker's professional base during the three years of The Guardian series. They knew the same people, spent time in the same hang-outs and discovered they shared similar political views.

"That first meeting inspired me to watch all his films," Baker says. "And then I became really intrigued. I realised they weren't just about zombies, blood and splatter, but a subversive take on American society. It's really a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"The current political climate often makes you want to scream. And I thought what better way to do it than through entertainment, which is pretty much how we've been sold the bill of goods that we have now. I loved [Land of the Dead's] political undertone and allegory, though some critics just don't get it."

Baker co-stars with Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo and Asia Argento in the long-anticipated sequel to Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Romero is regarded as the father of the modern horror film, redefining the genre with explicit violence and satirical overtones in what became cult movies.

Throughout The Guardian years, Baker simultaneously attempted to straddle a movie career. His brilliant three-minute cameo in LA Confidential as the gay actor who had his throat slit gave him some prominence. But co-starring roles with pedigree actors such as Adrien Brody and Hilary Swank in Affair of the Necklace (2001), fellow Australian Frances O'Connor in Book of Love (2004) and close friend Naomi Watts in this year's The Ring Two did not bring him major film kudos.

"I'm not a mainstream guy," Baker admits. "I'm not what you'd call a movie star. I'm a working actor who's always going to have to work hard to make a living. But the beauty is that I get to take a few more risks. A lot of people are bigger than their movies, and I prefer to disappear a bit.

"It's tricky because since the huge success of Australians like Mel Gibson and others after him, we're almost like Olympic athletes now ... I'm not representing my country as an actor but as an individual, though the sporting, competitive side of me makes it feel like a footy game and I have to tackle someone to win. But power is really to be happy within yourself."

Considering the celebrity status induced by The Guardian, Baker seems to have attained an enviable balance. It could be attributed to his working-class background, his real-life training in odd jobs as a nursing student, bricklayer, pizza maker, time-share salesman and pub cellar worker, or it could be the influence of his family.

It may stem, too, from lack of a professional master plan. "I went [to LA], in all honesty, because I was sort of bored." He'd done his share of modelling, music videos, commercials and soaps, but Australian feature films eluded him.

At 26, he left Australia for Los Angeles with his "bedrock and soul-mate" Rebecca Rigg, an actor and now his wife and mother of his three children. (She's a close friend of Nicole Kidman, who is the godmother of their youngest child, and Naomi Watts, their bridesmaid.)

"The Americans make a lot of stuff; some of it's good, some of it's crap, but at least there are a lot of options," Baker says. "In Australia, that wasn't happening for me. We had a child, enough money in the bank for three months and I said, 'Let's just see what happens.' And we're still there."

The pair didn't take Tinseltown by storm. "Since we've been discovered as some freaky genetic talent pool, an actor can arrive with one Australian film and get work. It wasn't like that back then."

How tough was the struggle? "I don't look at it that way," he replies. "Instead of reading one good script in three months, I was going to three auditions a day. It was invigorating."

Then The Guardian transformed Baker's life. "It was a blessing in many ways. With three children, some acting choices are based on pragmatic survival. I did it for a sense of stability."

The effervescent Baker is the antithesis of the show's emotionally detached protagonist, a corporate lawyer in his father's firm sentenced to serve 1500 hours of community service at the children's legal service for a drug arrest.

"I loved that he was a flawed character struggling with issues. The first year I had an absolute ball but continuing to play the same role for two more seasons became difficult.

"One of the reasons I became an actor was that I despised the idea of a regular nine-to-five job. I come from a working-class family and I've always felt that acting was one of the ways of expressing myself and communicating with people ... But for an extended period I was working from 5am to 9pm. Sure, you get paid very well but I'm not obsessed with money so I began to wonder, 'Have I signed a pact with the devil here?"'

After three gruelling years, Baker was somewhat relieved when the series was cancelled. As an actor without formal training, Baker gained confidence from the series' professional relentlessness. "There's a lot to be said for being on set and having to deal with scripts and different directors and the immediacy of it." It set his family up in a house in Malibu, where he surfs regularly, increased his visibility and opened doors. One of them led to Land of the Dead.

Baker plays Riley, a paramilitary leader of mercenaries. In an apocalyptic struggle for survival in a devastated world ruled by ruthless opportunists, survivors live in anarchy behind fortified city walls. Outside, an army of the dead is on the rise and mercenaries have been called in to protect the living.

"I didn't want to do it as a fist-pumping kind of American action hero," Baker says. "[Riley] is more of a throwback to the '70s, a loner who feels responsibility for his people though he doesn't relish it."

Baker can be seen next in Something New, an interracial romantic comedy drama set in LA and directed by Sanaa Hamri. And according to the local industry grapevine, he's been approached for two Australian movie roles, pending financing, rumoured to be in Clancy of the Overflow and Bruce Beresford's Tent Hill Road. But Baker refuses to confirm any speculation, saying simply he'd love to "return for an Oz film".

He would love to make a movie that his kids could see. He would love to live in Europe. Or try directing - "If I ever grow up, that is!"

From Sydney Morning Herald

Interview: Simon Baker (Land of the Dead)

2005-06-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

From:Dread Centre
Date:Jun 23, 2005

At the recent press conference for Land of the Dead, which was where our most recent interview with George Romero came out of, a lot of the stars of Land that were supposed to appear were unable to, but luckily star Simon Baker was not among them. Baker took the time to chat with the press about his work in Land and what might be next for Romero...enjoy!

Question: I wanted to ask about your first Dead experience. It said in the notes you were 17 when you saw the first one? Do you remember it and who you were with....?

Simon Baker: What kind of detail can I go into with this? Can I be incriminated? Can I be impeached? I worked at a restaurant - most actors used to be waiters, so I hated waiting on tables cause I wasn’t an actor at the time. But I liked to wash dishes in restaurants, because I was behind the scenes. So I used to wash dishes and there was this guy that worked next to me and after work we’d have a drink, he was a wealthy kid and lived in a high-rise building, I think his father was really wealthy, he said, "let’s go to my place and we’ll watch this movie". We go into this beautiful big apartment and its all dark; he’s living there like this sort-of student and his old man’s paying the bill, so it’s a really dodgy kind of vibe. Then he puts the movie on and it was Dawn of the Dead. I was a little high and I was just like "What the hell is this man?" It’s like two o’clock in the morning...so that was my first experience. Am I going to get in trouble for that?

Q: I wanted to ask you about getting in the mind-set for a film like this, because when you’re on the set there are all these people in the heavy make-up and everything; it must feel kind of silly. So getting in the mind-set of being taken seriously, how do you do that? What’s that like for you?

SB: It took a little time. The first day that I shot, I think it was the scene with the Dead Reckoning and zombies getting run over by the truck. I kept walking around just laughing because, you know, there’s a lot of people on the film crew and everyone was so obsessed with watching it back on the monitors, these bodies getting crushed underneath the wheels and getting excited as to whether it was right or not and having to redo it. Peter Grunwald, who’s one of the producers, is sitting next to me - he’s a great guy - he’s sitting there in his suit. He looks down and I just said "this is crazy...grown men concerned about getting the right splatter of this body". He goes "I know, and I’m Ivy League educated". He laughs and sort of shakes his hands. So yeah, it took a while. Walking into the catering area for lunch and seeing tables of people sitting there with half their face sort of eaten away. Occasionally someone would say "Hi Simon" and I’d have no idea who it was; it would be someone from the crew or something "Oh, it’s Gina. Hi Gina, how are you today? Good, good." So that was always really weird.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about how George would balance the directing of the actors with the make-up and the effects work; how he would keep at an actors pace while also making a zombie movie?

SB: George was really generous with us as actors. He sat down with us all individually, made sure that we all understood what the story was, what the deal was. And he let us go a fair bit. Leguizamo and I worked together a bit in my hotel room, working out certain stuff so that the characters were defined and different. Often, with a lot of pieces when there are conflicting characters, the characters end up becoming the same kind of character and we wanted to make them very clearly defined. George welcomed that. But then on the set, you have a question, George would be right there or he’d sort of drop the zombies and then do this.

It was a very piecey film to shoot because a lot of it is cut back to different zombies. He had his whole make-up effects guys there, Greg Nicotero and that whole crew, so they’d have their little meetings we, the actors, would be doing our thing. "Where’s the zombie? Oh he’s going to be there? Right. He’s still in make-up?" So we’re shooting it before the zombie’s even there. It’s like "can someone sort of stand there so I know where it’s going to be?" It’s piecey and separated, but George is fine; seamlessly goes from one thing to the other. Watching him direct the zombie stuff is fantastic because he knows exactly what works and what doesn’t. It’s like a mathematician; he can see the equation from every single shot. You see him putting all the pieces together in his head. He knows - you go "Oh, I thought that was going to work", but then he lets you see why it wouldn’t and moves on.

Q: To horror fans, the first three films are like the holy trilogy as Star Wars is to sci-fi fans. Did you feel any extra pressure trying to live up to those first three films, what with it being twenty two years later; almost similar to how when Lucas went back and made new Star Wars films?

SB: I felt the pressure for George, but personally I didn’t feel that much pressure. I thought that it was kind of very much "due", you know? It was the right time to make another one; almost overdue. It’s interesting working with the make-up effects guys, because they’re so entrenched in the genre; they know every detail and everything about it. So you’ve got twenty guys walking around the set at all times that are encyclopedias of the genre, so you can find out information. I think the most important thing for me, with my character - and you know I’m the straight guy - is to tap into what these zombies are and where they fit in, that’s the moral compass thing. The most important thing was just to try and find the truth in that for George, I didn’t want to send that up at all. But no, I didn’t really feel that kind of pressure. Once you see George on the set, you know he knows exactly what he’s doing.

Q: You describe yourself as playing the straight guy role. What else did you feel you could bring to the role?

SB: Well, my role is a mercenary - that’s what they say - I shoot zombies and get supplies and all that sort of stuff, so I thought straight away, that if you create a conflict with this guy; if you make him essentially at his core a pacifist, then there’s automatically a conflict with him in the time in the place. So I just played around with that idea. He’s also a guy who is kind of a leader. Then if you make the guy somewhat anti-social, then he’s a leader that has people with him that he doesn’t want to be responsible for, there’s another conflict. They’re not obvious conflicts. He doesn’t want money. He doesn’t want the more obvious things that Dennis Cholo’s character wants. He’s trying to work himself out. It’s kind of a more internal conflict; personally.

And he has this notion that maybe there are no zombies in Canada, or maybe there’s no Kaufman in Canada. I think his whole thing is - it’s referenced a few times in the script, where he says "it’s good shooting, there’s no such thing as nice shooting". He’s a guy that sort of looks at it the other way and says, "Well, hang on a second. We’re the ones killing each other here", and Cholo and Kaufman are the example of that.

Q: Because you were there for all the make-up and all the behind the scenes stuff, is it possible to still be disturbed by any of the gore you were seeing around you or are you able to just laugh it off?

SB: It’s funny - I’ve seen it twice now. I saw it once without an audience, and I’m not very vocal when I watch films generally, the most laugh you’ll get out of me is "hmm hmm", that’s it. But I found myself, at a few of the moments moaning and groaning very loudly and then afterwards laughing because I actually enjoyed the fact that it was able to make me do that. Then I watched it again last night, with an audience and yeah, still those moments shock me. I even know when they’re coming now but they still shock me and scare me. There’s some very precious gore moments in there that just slipped in - I know they that only just slipped in because the ratings people would say "You’ve got to shorten the shot of that. You can’t show any more of that". I know that since George finished this cut, he’s been up in Canada working on an unrated cut, which is going to be crazy (laughs).

When I watched Day of the Dead again before I started this movie - my manager bought me the three DVD’s after I met with George so I could check them out again - It was hard for me to watch. I’ve got three kids and I put it on the tely in my bedroom and sat there and was like "whoa". I looked over at my wife who was looking up over her book going "What is this?" I’ve come a long way from shooting on the movie when I would get absolutely excited about the idea that they’re shooting some sort of gag on the splatter unit; an insert shot of someone’s arm getting bitten or whatever. As soon as I wasn’t working on the main set I’d run over to watch it. I like the craftiness of it and I like the way it’s all put together. Then when you see it in the context of the film it’s really cool.

Q: I wanted to ask you what you think this movie in particular, without putting too fine a point on it, is actually about; aside from the obvious stuff. It seems George is making a lot of points about where we are today. In your mind, what is this film really about?

SB: Well, I think if you asked all of us that question we’d all have different answers. You guys likewise. For me, a lot of the movie, with my character and the way I approached it and the stuff that I thought about a lot, was the idea of having and making decisions on your own and not being told or believing the propaganda. You’ve got to understand, the time we were shooting this the US presidential election was taking place. In fact I can tell you the night and the scene we were shooting when it was happening; you know, the actual countdown. We were shooting all night and I’d go back to the hotel, turn the tely on just to chill out and then it’d just be CNN and it’d be all the propaganda. It was just so hard for anyone to have their own idea or their own opinion without being influenced by the publicity machines of each of the parties; the spin of someone’s opinion in the newspaper or CNN. The whole thing is not targeted for the individual to make up his or her own mind. Everyone’s being influenced by different things. That was a major thing for me because my character tends to want to go against the grain and say "No, no. This is what I think" or "I’m trying to work out what I think. I don’t buy into this, I don’t subscribe to that way of thinking. I want to look at it more like this". That was what it was about for me.

Q: Are you contracted for maybe a sequel, perhaps World of the Dead? Are you quite surprised at, with the considerable low budget the film was - I heard it was 37 million or something, that it was actually a lot better than the remake of Dawn of the Dead?

SB: I don’t know what your question was there, but I think the budget was maybe even lower than that. I’m not sure. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say. Am I going to get shot when I leave the room? I’m sure there’s people watching me somewhere. I am - yeah, there is an option for a second one. Who knows what’s going on inside George’s head? He’s probably got things already put together already with ideas and stuff. He’s mysterious, he’s Mr. Mysterioso. He doesn’t really let too much on and he’s a really special guy. I think there’s obviously room for it. I like the movie a lot, that’s why I saw it twice and I’m a pretty harsh critic. A very harsh critic, in fact. There’s not really much stuff that I’ve done that I was like "I’m gonna go see that again" a week later, and I actually want to see again. I like seeing it in an audience; it’s a different type of movie to see because universally people within the theater have the similar reaction and then come down from that reaction at the same time. I’ll tell you, it’s kind of nice to be in a theater like that and feel the presence of the rest of the audience. Did I politic my way out of that question? Good. Cheers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Universal for arranging our time with Mr. Baker, and of course to the man himself for answering our questions. Land of the Dead opens on Firday, June 24th, so make sure you’re there all weekend to support the triumphant return of George A. Romero!

From Dread Central

Terrors of the Dead

2005-06-22T02:49:00.000-07:00

From:SHIVERS
Date:May 2005 issue #120
Posted Pam

Simon Baker talks about his roles in Hideo Nakata's THE RING 2 and
George Romero's forthcoming zombie extravaganza LAND OF THE DEAD

Simon Baker is getting the hang of this genre stuff. A few
years back he co-starred with Val Kilmer and Carrie-Anne Moss
in RED PLANET. And now, the Aussie actor can be found making
back-to-back turns in THE RING 2 and LAND OF THE DEAD.
"It's just a coincidence that I've done two of these in a row,"
Baker says. "It was just two straight projects I couldn't
turn down."

[snip RING 2 synopsis]

"I loved the first movie," enthuses Baker, who's probably best
known to the masses for his three-year stint on the American
television series THE GUARDIAN. "I loved it. It was very well
made, very sophisticated in its execution. I thought it was
intriguing. And it was scary. I enjoyed people's reactions to it.
It took me a while to see it. I hadn't seen it immediately.
When I saw people were like, 'Oh my God!' So it was a real
experience to see it with an audience. After I saw Gore
Verbinski's version of THE RING I went out and rented the
original Japanese version. It was interesting. Some scenes
were almost exactly the same and then the remake shifted and
changed some things around. Visually, the Japanese film has a
different cinematic style to it. If you look at Hideo's films
they tend to have a real eeriness about them. THE RING 2
certainly does. He sort of hangs on a shot for a reasonably
long period of time. You feel like something's going to happen.
A lot of the time nothing happens at all, but it creeps you
out anyway. Like I said, this was one of those films I
couldn't turn down. I wanted to work with Naomi, who I knew,
and she was everything I hoped she'd be. David is a good
kid and a talented actor. And I loved watching Hideo work."

LAND OF THE DEAD

As for LAND OF THE DEAD, that one stars Asia Argento, Dennis
Hopper, John Leguizamo and Baker, who all signed on for the
opportunity to take direction from zombie movie maestro George
A. Romero. "That could be classified in the Horror genre,
but it shouldn't, really," Baker insists. "George Romero is
a genre [unto] himself. I'd heard about Romero films before
I did this, but I'd never really taken the time to watch most
of them. I had an experience with one when I was a kitchen
hand in a restaurant. I was about 17. After work I went back
to another kitchen hand's house to watch a Romero movie and it
blew my mind. When I watched it -- it was the one in the mall,
DAWN OF THE DEAD -- I couldn't believe it and I couldn't get
over it. I remember that vividly, but I hadn't revisited them
until my manager sent me the script for LAND OF THE DEAD.
My manager was a massive fan of the DEAD films and he said,
'You've gotta meet with George. He wants to meet with you.
You've got to meet with him.' I said 'OK' and I met
with George, and he was just fantastic. I just loved
the guy immediately. I thought, 'This guy is great.
He's really cool.' He's such the antithesis of what
you'd imagine. I liked the guy so much I went home,
watched all of his films and then I said, 'Sure, I'm in.'"

SURROUNDED BY ZOMBIES!

Baker found himself surrounded by zombies, lots and lots of
zombies. And he loved every minute of it. If he wasn't shooting
a scene with the oozing, bleeding creatures, the actor notes,
he actually sought the buggers out. "It's fantastic,"
he says. "It's fantastic. You start getting really into it.
During the show, the crew split into two units. We had one unit
that was always constantly setting up, and we called them the
'splatter unit.' They were always doing little effects shots
and stuff like that, with lots of blood, the blood and guts sort
of shots. So George was trying to get between the two sets,
going backward and forward. I'd be doing the drama stuff mostly,
but whenever I had a minute I was off to the splatter unit
because you just get so into the makeup effects and stuff.
I never thought I would, but I got into it. And it gets gory.
It gets as gory as it can get, as [gory as it's] allowed to get.
It's a Romero film. And I guarantee you the DVD will be even
gorier than the cinema version."

[snip RED PLANET synopsis]

"That was madness," Baker recalls.
"That was madness, that film. We shot in Jordan. We shot in
the desert that Lawrence of Arabia crossed. We shot there
and we shot in the outback of Australia. And we [shot] at
a studio in Sydney. That was a pretty bizarre experience.
It was rather tough to shoot in 110-degree heat... in
our spacesuits. Our fingers were poaching like sausages.

"That was an experience," he adds. "Mark Canton produced that
film and I just worked with him again on LAND OF THE DEAD, and
we had a lot of laughs talking about those times on RED PLANET.
It was a tough movie. It was a tough movie. But I lived
through the experience. And that's what I remember. That's
what I remember about any film. The results of the film and
how it turned out are secondary. When I watch a film I think
about what happened that day we shot a scene. So RED PLANET
was a good experience. They're all good experiences."

Next up for Baker is 42.4 PERCENT, a dramatic romance in which
he shares the screen with Sanaa Lathan of ALIEN VS PREDATOR fame.
In the film, Baker and Lathan play a couple in an interracial
relationship. And after that? Baker doesn't know what,
precisely, is following 42.4 PERCENT, but the future looks bright.
"You know, I'm always happy when I'm able to keep working and
doing thing[s] that challenge me," he says. "I went from THE
RING 2 onto LAND OF THE DEAD, which will come out the week
before Hallowe'en. And I'm about to start on this interracial
love story. I'm really happy with the way my career is going.
A year ago I was on a television show. I got THE RING 2 while I
was still doing the show. It was my hiatus movie. But I found
out on my first day of shooting RING 2 that my show had been
cancelled, and it was no longer my hiatus movie. So I just
want to keep moving forward and do the best work I can do."

From Shivers #120

Dead Speaks To The Living

2005-06-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

From:Sci Fi Wire
Date:20-JUNE-05

George A. Romero, director of the zombie sequel film Land of the Dead, said the movie can be seen as a metaphor of the political and economic climate, which he believes seems to favor the wealthy, in the same way his three previous Dead films can be read as commenting on their times. "It's different than in [1978's] Dawn of the Dead," Romero said in an interview. "In Dawn of the Dead it's about the stuff and consumerism, and if you've got a pair of Nikes, you know? This is much more, again, modeled after this administration. It's all executive. Now the stuff is Mont Blancs [pens] and Audemars Piguet [a brand of expensive watch], I don't know. So now it's all fancy stuff for people who can afford it, and the administration is dealing in big, big bucks and doling out little bits to people. As [Dennis Hopper's character] says, 'Keep them off the streets.' And the ... service personnel are relegated to a very different lifestyle. So it just seemed natural [to do this one], because that's what this is really about, right? I mean, it's Halliburton. So it's a different era, where you have money."

Simon Baker stars in Land of the Dead as Riley, a mercenary who procures supplies for the human survivors in the last remaining city, a walled-in metropolis surrounded by a wasteland occupied by the walking dead. Baker, similarly, thinks the movie can be read as a metaphor. "I think if you asked all of us that question, we'd all probably have pretty different answers, and you guys likewise," Baker said in a separate inteview. "For me, a lot of the movie, ... was the idea of having and making decisions on your own and not being told [what to believe] or believing the propaganda. I mean, you've got to understand, the time we were shooting this, the U.S. presidential election was taking place [in the fall of 2004]. In fact, I can tell you the night, the scene we were shooting when it was happening, you know, the actual countdown. And we were shooting on nights and I'd go back to the hotel and turn the telly on just to sort of chill out, and there'd just be CNN, and it'd be all the propaganda. And it was just so hard for anyone to have their own idea or their own opinion without being influenced by the publicity machines of each of the parties, you know? The spin or someone's opinion on CNN. And then who they were owned by or affiliated with, and it was like, 'Hang on a second!' How can one person [decide]? The whole thing is not targeted for the individual to make up their own mind. Everyone's being influenced by a different thing. So that was like a major thing for me, because my character tends to want to go against the grain and say, 'No, this is my [opinion], or this is what I think. Or I'm trying to work out what I think, I don't buy into this, I don't subscribe to that way of thinking. I want to sort of look at it more like this. And that's what it was more about for me." Land of the Dead opens June 24.

From Sci Fi Wire

Romero Ready With More Dead

2005-06-20T00:27:00.000-07:00

From:Sci Fi Wire
Date:17-JUNE-05

George A. Romero, who returns after two decades to the genre he created with the upcoming zombie film Land of the Dead, told SCI FI Wire that the movie may mark the beginning of a new round of Dead films. "I mean, if this opens strong, I might be in a situation where I have to do another one of these or will be asked to do another one of these right away," writer/director Romero said in a news conference. "In which case I've sort of left the characters, you know, the truck and those characters, [intact]. I'd want to almost make it chapter two of the same movie, if that happens, and just sort of finish the story."

In Land of the Dead, Romero picks up the story of an America overrun with walking dead, which he last visited in 1985's Day of the Dead, the third movie in a trilogy that began with 1968's Night of the Living Dead. In Land of the Dead, Simon Baker plays Riley, the leader of a group of guns-for-hire who help sustain a walled city, one of the last remaining outposts of living humans. Romero says he has ideas for more films using the same characters, which include a feisty female warrior played by Asia Argento.

"I have an idea of ... how to go with it, and I would think of it in my mind as almost one film," Romero said. "If I had to do it like next year. Unless we get nuked or something and there's something else to talk about."

If a Land of the Dead sequel happens, it might affect Romero's ability to contribute a short film to Mick Garris' upcoming Masters of Horror anthology series for Showtime, he added. "If that happens, I may not be able to do the Masters of Horror. And I've been so tied up on this thing that I haven't been able to write a script for it. Mick sent me a couple of scripts. A couple of them are pretty nice. So I'm still hoping that I can get a couple of weeks and be able to do that. But I have a couple of other things that we're working on. Again, everything would get trumped if they want to do a sequel to this."

For his part, Baker confirmed that he's got an option to reprise the role of Riley in a Land of the Dead sequel. Land of the Dead opens June 24.

From Sci Fi Wire

Exclusive Interview: Simon Baker

2005-06-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

Posted: Monday June 20th, 2005 4:00AM
Author: Paul Fischer
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Wearing black, thick-rimmed glasses, Australia's Simon Baker, best known to US audiences for his stint in TV's The Guardian, says that he was attracted to the politically-charged zombie thriller, Land of the Dead, for a variety of reasons, especially the chance to work with its legendary director, George A. Romero, as well as because it means doing something he has never done before. "You know, it's a part of both of those reasons," Baker explains, as we chat in a Beverly Hills hotel room. "I was never a fan of the genre or any genre specifically, but I like movies. If it's a good movie I like it, so I met with George and I really liked him and that was it. Then I went, looked at all of his films again, started thinking about them and realised what he was doing with these films, which ultimately factored into it as well," comments the 35-year old actor.

In the 4th instalment to George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" series, and his first zombie film in two decades, the zombies have taken over the earth. The surviving humans live on a small secluded strip of land, with two sides cut off by rivers. The humans strive to survive, while outside the zombies are steadily evolving. The wealthy live in sealed skyscrapers as the poor fend for themselves on the streets. Protecting them is an enormous tank called Dead Reckoning, controlled by a group of people led by Simon Baker's Riley. But when Riley loses command of the tank to his second-in-command bent on destroying the city, he must save it from Dead Reckoning as those who walk beyond the walls of the city slowly develop new abilities and become a much greater threat to humankind.

While all Romero's films are part thriller and part social and political commentary, Baker sees that as being the underlying link between this latest film and its cult-like predecessors. "I think, politically, the time is so right for a film that's able to actually reflect certain odd areas of what our society is at the moment. He hasn't made a zombie film since the 80s, so a lot's happened. It's just good timing and it's hard to make movies that comment on things politically without them just becoming either a documentary or like a negative propaganda machine. This is an entertaining film in its own right, but it also has a little stab here and there which are very accurate. You can sort of scratch the surface and look a little deeper if you wish to, yet he doesn't shove it down your throat."

For Baker, who has always excelled in playing introspective characters, the challenge for him playing anti-hero Riley, is making him interesting. "Well he's incredibly flawed, you know. But what really drew me to the character, was that he was a kind of a contradiction in a sense. When you look at the film he's not exactly the most exciting character in it, because his dilemma is more of an internal one, where Leguizamo' s is just the opposite, in that he wants wealth and to live this lifestyle that's being sold. Ideally I sort of wanted to play the guy as a pacifist so automatically he was going to be separated from Leguizamo, and automatically there's conflict within him because of the nature of all he's forced to do for a living. I also sort of tried to play around the ideas of kind of classic 'nouveauish' things in characters, of him wanting to find a better place. These are all very personal little things that I could play within the character, but whether they translated or not, I'm not so sure." As to whether Baker can identify with his characters, the actor pauses slightly. "There are always elements that you can identify with in playing certain characters," he begins. "I can certainly identify with the politics of the guy. He's the guy that fits into the grey area, which, when you look at things these days, such as the media, etc, this character is almost disappearing off the face of the earth. When you look at the propaganda it's like you're either good or bad, and there's no one that's grey: you're black or white."

The Tasmanian-born actor began making a name for himself in local TV soaps E Street, Home and Away, Naked and 1994's Heartbreak High. In 1992, he first met actress Aussie actor Rebecca Rigg in a Sydney pub. He ultimately became "quite fascinated by her" - a case of opposites attract, having once been quoted as remarking "I am a country bloke and she's a city chick. I am a sort of surfie who's pretty laid back and relaxed and Rebecca is the energiser." On Christmas Eve, 1995, the young actor finally arrived in LA with Rebecca and first child Stella, with $3500 in his pocket.

Then he landed a small, but pivotal role, in L.A. Confidential, followed by roles in independent films, before 2001's The Guardian landed in his lap, and Baker, who lives his Malibu with his wife and now three children, hasn't looked back since. Though The Guardian was a god experience, Baker has no regrets about its demise. "It was a good experience for me on the basis of just being able to put in that many hours. It was interesting pulling scripts apart, putting them back together and shooting, and that was good, just like boot camp for three years." The downside, however, was the hours that kept away from his family. "Man, it was a drain and that's where the relief comes from, not actually being owned for a little bit. Like, now, I can have the day off, some time off, a week or a month off. The pressures of working those hours and dealing with my family were tough," he admits.

Baker says he won't necessarily rule out a return to television, but concedes he has never had any clear direction, as far as his career is concerned. "If you look at my career, I'm not exactly good at the business of: okay, now I should do this or now I shouldn't do that. I think that's because I'm a little too erratic, and, depending on certain moods and how I feel at certain times, certain things appeal to me in a different way." It also seems that the actor has consciously gone out of his way to do big, Hollywood movies, merely admitting that "the reality is, those opportunities have never really presented themselves to me." Yet, while Baker could have taken advantage of the success of L.A. Confidential, he chose not to be lured by the prospects of fame and celebrity. "I certainly don't crave what you have to give up for that." He says he is content to be where he is, in Hollywood's scheme of things. "I kind of fly under the radar pretty well, and I appreciate that." Asked if it is that sense of reality that keeps him grounded, Baker says, "I don't know, mate, I don't analyse that so much, I possibly think so."

Next, Baker will be seen in another new Indie film, 42.4 Percent, revolving around a professional black woman, determined to get married, who finds romance with a white working-class man. "it's an interracial love story and a very sweet movie." Baker also hopes that the Indie film Book of Love, which premiered at Sundance 2 years ago, will get a release. The film co-stars fellow Aussie Frances O'Connor, and explores infidelity and communication in a marriage that is falling apart. The film involves some very intimate moments with co-star O'Connor and the actor recalls first seeing the film at Sundance, seated next to his wife and watching him and O'Connor in some very torrid, on-screen moments. "It's really hard to watch anyone you know really well on screen and really get suspended. In Book of Love, I made my wife laugh and cry, and that moved me in itself, which means I did my job."

While Book of Love deals with a marriage in crisis, no such crisis exists off screen for Baker. Now married to Rebecca for over 12 years, and father of three, the actor says that they have survived "because we love each other." Yet he admits that it's not easy to put everything in perspective: the strong marriage, the family and of course the career. "Book of Love says that any relationship is difficult and the ones that look the easiest from the outside, are often hardest from the inside," Baker concedes. The actor adds that there was no question why he was keen to play the infallible husband in Book of Love.

"What's not to like about a character like this from an actor's perspective? It's such a great character." Nor did Baker have difficulty identifying with him. "I think every man can identify with him and that's what got ME. Mate, I'm in heaven with a character like that, because it's why I became an actor," Baker says. "It's a way to speak to people without sitting down and having a chat with everyone. It's a way to be able to speak to them and have people speak to themselves, try to question themselves and try to understand stuff. Films can be really powerful and don't HAVE to be massive extravaganzas. They can be incredibly personal. That character has a great arc and journey. It's probably the first time I can ever say that the character on the screen is exactly the way I was trying to do it."

Simon also hopes to do some more work back in Australia, and concedes that moving back is an option. "We go in and out of it all the time, where it's like, okay, let's go, let's pack it up let's go back and I'll just travel." And at this stage, Baker says, he is happy to take a break and spend time with his family. "Oh, man, after three years of doing a TV show and then going straight on to three movies back to back, I'm looking at scripts reluctantly," he adds, laughingly.

From Dark Horizons

Inside Land of the Dead-The Cast-Simon Baker

2005-06-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

From:Movies Online
Date:June,16,2005

Our inside look at Land of the Dead continues with a look at the cast of George Romeros new movie. And it begins with a Golden Globe-nominated actor, Australian-born SIMON BAKER (Riley) who has an impressive background that spans both the stage and screen and has captured the attention of audiences worldwide. Baker has just wrapped production on the romantic comedy Something New from Focus Features starring opposite Sanaa Lathan. Lathan plays a professional African- American woman who is determined to get married and finds romance with a white working-class man, played by Baker. The film has no release date set. Baker was most recently seen in DreamWorks’ horror sequel The Ring Two, opposite Naomi Watts and Sissy Spacek. He plays David Rourke, a reporter who works at the local Asheville Gazette, alongside Watts’ character, Rachel Keller. He also recently starred in the independent film Book of Love, which screened in competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. The film, written and directed by Alan Brown, also stars Gregory Smith and Frances O’Connor.

Other projects include Curtis Hanson’s Academy Award®-winning film L.A. Confidential, The Affair of the Necklace, Red Planet, Sunset Strip, Judas Kiss, Restaurant, Love from Ground Zero and Ang Lee’s critically acclaimed Ride With the Devil, which screened at the 1999 Deauville Film Festival and was also a gala presentation at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. Baker starred in the highly rated, CBS drama The Guardian from 2001 to 2004. He portrayed a hardened corporate lawyer who was sentenced to work as a legal child advocate after being found guilty of drug possession. In the first season, Baker was recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Other television credits include the lead roles in Disney’s CBS pilot The Last Best Place, Naked: The Blind Side Breakaway and a guest lead role in Sweat.

Inside Land of the Dead-The Casting-Simon Baker

2005-06-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

From:Movies Online
Date:Jun,16,2005

Simon Baker was always at the top of the list to play Riley, commander of Dead Reckoning and the hero of the story. Canton and Goldmann were familiar with Baker’s work from Red Planet, a film on which they had all previously collaborated. “They thought very highly of him. He was just sensational, a great actor, perfect for the role but he’s also a wonderful guy. He’s great to have on the set. He keeps everybody up and light, and he has a terrific sense of humor,” comments Grunwald.

A native of Australia, Baker was mostly unfamiliar with Romero’s work, but after a crash course in the filmmaker’s oeuvre, quickly became enthused about the prospect of appearing in a George Romero film. “George’s films could be classified in the horror genre, but really, he’s a genre unto himself. I had an early experience with Dawn of the Dead, which I saw when I was 17, and I couldn’t get over it—I remember it vividly. But I hadn’t really revisited his films until my manager sent me the script for Land of the Dead. After I met with George, which was a great experience, I went home and watched all of his movies. Then, well, I was hooked. I had to do it.”

Gone But Not Forgotten

2005-06-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

From:Gem Geek or Rare Bug
Date:August 25, 2004
Post by Graeme Burk

As you might have gathered from my assorted mumblings over the past 10 months, I am somewhat fond of the medium of television, particularly in its dramatic mode. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that I am just plain enamoured with television. I grew up on television and unlike the many who have been saying since I was a kid (and well before) that the medium was contributing to a cultural wasteland, I have always thought instead it was a benign cultural force. Good television, I feel, can contribute as much to the human condition as a good play, a good book, a good film, a good painting or even a good poem in iambic pentameter.

In fact, for the past few years I’ve been a subscriber to the notion that there has never been a better time to be a fan of television than right now. Admittedly, there’s still a lot of terrible television like The Swan, and a lot of mediocre television like The Apprentice (though I like it) and 8 Simple Rules (which is as banal as processed cheese, but eerily watchable since James Garner and David Spade came on board). Even so there’s a pervasive notion that there’s more good television now than ever before: The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, even The West Wing (though it’s taken a hit since Aaron Sorkin left) are supposedly leading the vanguard of a new wave of writer-driven, intelligent, television that’s popular, entertaining and even worth exercising a few brain cells.

And yet, my belief in good television, however, has been shaken recently. It probably hasn’t been shaken irrevocably—over the years I’ve weathered Hello Larry, Aaron Spelling, Glen A. Larson, the cancellation of WKRP in Cincinnati and The Simple Life. But I now certainly believe that the hype that we’re in the middle of a televisual golden age is just hype.

I blame my foul mood on the Boomtown DVD box set.

Boomtown was, for those of you who didn’t catch it the first time (and there were a fair number of you), ostensibly a crime drama. And yet (for most of the first season) that was more of a setup for stories about LA itself and the people who lived in it. The hook was that the each episode had its story unfold, Rashomon-like, from multiple points of view, with stories being told out of sequence but eventually connecting together like an intricate puzzle.

The DVD box set is well worth picking up. The pilot, which aired in September 2002, is probably the best TV pilot I’ve seen in recent memory. The regular characters—including some cops, a Deputy District Attorney, a reporter and a paramedic—were smartly drawn and the performances of the actors playing them were pitch perfect. Plus, the writing was smart and crisp and witty and the direction was big screen quality. And the format of the show made it fun to watch. To my astonishment, though, the show’s second episode is even better—creator Graham Yost uses the multiple POV format to create mini-movies about all the characters. The result transforms a plot that on paper seems like a second-rate NYPD Blue episode—dot-com rich guy stalks stripper he’s obsessed with—into a tale of broken, incomplete people worthy of Mamet.

Last night, I re-watched what I think is one of their best episodes, “The David McNorris Show”. And while the Rashomon-ing in this story reaches its zenith, this isn’t why it’s so good. The story follows one of the leads, the DDA David McNorris (played to perfection by Neal McDonough) over the course of a night wherein he self-destructs his marriage, his relationships and his career. It’s one of the most poignant and haunting depictions of a person entering spiritual death as I’ve ever seen on television.

In spite of this, the series was greeted with indifferent ratings. NBC shelved it for a while before completing the first season with a reduced number of episodes. Last year’s Emmy nominations—in a move that made the whole awards completely and utterly suspect— outright snubbed it, not even nominating Neal McDonough, who was far better than any of the ailing West Wing and 24 staples that choked the slate. (Not to mention Donnie Wahlberg and Mykelti Williamson who were also amazing).

NBC moved it to Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit timeslot on Fridays and cancelled after two episodes in. But it wasn’t the river that got Boomtown, it was the fall that killed it. Between seasons, the suits at NBC—in concert with the producers, it seems— decided that the show was ‘too confusing’ and the series' raison d’être was completely dismantled. Gone was the multiple POV format, gone was the ‘stories about the city’ idea, gone was one of the best characters (Nina Gabrias’ reporter Andrea Miller). The first two episodes were about stopping jewel thieves that killed some cops.

In short, they made it just another cop show. And though it was, admittedly, a better than average cop show, the remnant who stayed from the last season was instantly alienated. Watching the remaining four or so episodes (NBC got them out around Christmas as filler), I saw that we were spared far worse as I watched Lana Parilla’s paramedic character—whose sole purpose has been to comfort and aid—inexplicably went to the police academy. The last episode started swinging more back to the ideas of the first season, but too little, too late.

It’s about the closest one can get to watching a TV show be emasculated.

If it was just Boomtown then I might not worry about the state of TV today. But Boomtown is part of what is, for me, a trifecta of brilliant television which received its walking papers during the 2003-04 television season.

As if to rub salt in my wounds, Global has been rerunning The Guardian nightly at midnight lately. This show was mostly ignored for the three years it was on the air. Which is a shame, because The Guardian was the kind of quality drama that should have gotten more play in the press, more Emmy nominations, and frankly, more faith than CBS placed in it this season.

It went against the grain for any TV series: the show was about Nick Fallin a self-centred, emotionally repressed ex-drug addict lawyer who was forced by court order to work in a Pittsburgh legal clinic, working with impoverished people somewhere in the midst of the grey areas of morality and the legal system. It was a series frequently without happy endings, and a lead character you wanted to slap hard sometimes. It was anything but Judging Amy.

The writing was always amazing: it was never about courtroom histrionics, just honest stories about the people caught between the cracks of the legal system. It was unflinchingly unsentimental, and incredibly smart.

It superb cast...which was never noticed by anyone. Dabney Coleman, as the father of the lead who also ran the family's blue chip law firm was never better--and that's saying something. And the star of the show, Simon Baker, gave the most amazing performances every week, playing a man too young to be haunted by so many demons. His performance broke just about every rule of TV acting: it was subtle; the fun and the power of Baker’s performance was in watching the disconnect between what Nick felt was right and his own inhibitions from doing it. Coleman and Baker, and writer producer David Hollander deserved Emmy nominations and industry accolades, or at least a few column inches in Entertainment Weekly.

They never got noticed.

The producers must have seen it coming as it pretty much set up the end of the series in the finale, ending with Simon Baker's character taking over as director of the legal clinic, finally accepting his destiny and finding himself, though hesitantly, home in the place where he should have been all along. I wanted to see what happened next, but it was a sweet ending in any event.

While Boomtown’s cancellation was something of a relief, The Guardian’s untimely end oddly hurt. It did decently, though perhaps unspectacularly, in the ratings (and CBS didn't help by yanking it off the schedule to give way to Century City which lasted all of ten minutes). The Guardian was was a good show, it was a smart show, it was the sort of show television should be doing more of, not less. Plus it was my Mom’s favourite TV show, which speaks volumes to me about how broad-based its viewer base was.

Finally there was the cancellation of Ed. That this sweet, smart, comedy never got a single nomination while Emmys were veritably festooned upon Everybody Loves Raymond is a sign that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences is a corrupt institution and its members will be going to purgatory for a very, very long time.

Ed admittedly isn’t to everyone’s taste, but I count myself among its devoted fans. A sentimental romantic comedy about a lawyer who runs a bowling alley in a small town populated by his high school sweetheart and a cast of assorted eccentrics is probably the exact opposite of The Guardian. And yet, like the films of Frank Capra—filled to the brim with sentiment but also aware that the audience needed subtlety and intelligence to make the sentiment go down—Ed shared something in common with The Guardian and with Boomtown, in that it treated the audience as intelligent beings. If Ed and the love of his life Carol have to overcome obstacles, well they overcome them like adults often making decisions you don’t think they’d make because, well, they don’t make them in these sorts of show.

One of my favourite episodes was the season finale last year where Mike, Ed’s married best friend, finds himself hanging out with some nubile college students, one of whom makes a pass at him. The next morning, he tells his wife about it. Now tell me how many comedies would do that, and I’ll then point out that it turns out the wife appreciates his honesty. They did something similar this season when Ed, after an episode-long build-up, was propositioned by an attractive woman…and he turned the propsition down. Simple as that. I realized then, as now, we were onto something, well, unique: relational comedy premised on intelligence and trust between human beings.

The cast was on. And with all that rapid-fire self-aware dialogue like a Howard Hawks film written in the Internet age, they’d have to be. The town of Stuckeyville was populated with the greatest eccentrics on American television since Northern Exposure’s Cicely Alaska. Tom Cavanaugh kicks Ray Romano’s ass every day and twice on Sundays. He’s funny and heartfelt. Josh Randall as the best friend was a study in deadpan goofiness. And the double act of Michael Ian Black as the Bowling Alley employee with delusions of grandeur (or just plain delusions) and Daryl Mitchell as cocksure manager Eli Cartwright Goggins the third made television worth watching every week.

But again we have the same story; indifferent scheduling, whittling down the episode order and wrongheaded marketing leading to cancellation (fortunately, like the producers of The Guardian, Ed's producers sensed the end was nigh and wrapped everything up). Now, admittedly, Ed survived longer than any of this trifecta—four seasons—but it had more in it, I’m convinced of it.

All of these series, frankly, had more seasons in them. (As did Wonderfalls—the best freshman show of the year and it was cancelled after six episodes). I don’t think it’s down to low ratings for any of them either. Ten years ago, the network would have had more faith in these shows, acknowledging their value as niche programs or given them more space to gain an audience. Or, hell, given them much-deserved award nominations. But the days of keeping Hill Street Blues on for the hell of it is over. And I find it hard to believe that it’s been better than ever for dramatic TV if shows like Boomtown, The Guardian and Ed are unnecessarily euthanized in the same year.

From Gem Geek or Rare Bug

I Miss "The Guardian"

2005-06-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

From:Thinking Weblog
Date:October 27, 2004
Posted by Shrode

It was a TV show that aired its last episode in May with little fanfare or notice. It had been airing on Tuesday Nights at 8pm (CST) on CBS. My wife and I watched it faithfully for all three seasons. What a great show. I suggested we watch the first episode when the show premiered thinking it would be sort of a replacement for “Early Edition”. We liked “Early Edition” because it was a fairly family friendly show about a likeable guy who helped somebody different every week, but without all the sappiness of “Touched By An Angel” and “Highway To Heaven”.

“The Guardian” was supposed to be about a corporate attorney who did community service in a “Children’s Legal Aid” office in Pittsburgh. It was that, but much more. We got a whole lot more than we bargained for. Initially the show was about the main character, Nick Fallin, helping a different kid each week. But it was far from sappy and sweet. Instead the show turned out to be gritty and realistic. The episodes rarely had neat endings, and were often sad. The show was hard to watch at times because it was so sad. But it was so realistic, so well written and so well done we couldn’t stop watching it.

The show, over time, began to focus less on the weekly clients of Nick’s and began to focus more on his character. It became a story of redemption. Nick was an anti-hero. He was a corporate attorney in his Father’s law firm who had been convicted of illegal drug use. He was sentenced to a zillion hours of community service in the Children’s Legal Aid office. He didn’t like being there and let everyone know it. He was rude and abrupt. He rounded up when counting his hours at the clinic. He was ethically challenged; often using knowledge he gained in the Legal Aid office, to benefit his corporate law firm. Sometimes, Nick was the scoundrel you couldn’t help but love, because you began to see that deep down he started to care about those children, and it scared him.

The show was incredibly well-acted. Nick Fallin was played by Simon Baker. Simon was a fantastic actor, and could let you see a whole range of emotion, with just the way he moved his eyes and changed his posture. (He only let his Australian accent slip once in one of the early episodes of the first season.) Dabney Coleman co-starred as his father and managing partner of the corporate law firm. Dabney Coleman was the cheesy villain in some of the dumb comedies of the ‘80’s like “9-to-5”. His performance as Fallin, Sr. was without a doubt the best of his career and he showed himself to be an incredible actor. He deserved an Emmy.

Anyway, the last episode came as its season finale. And each character reached some sort of closure. But the network never advertised it as the “last episode” as it did for so many others. So when it ended, I turned to my wife and said, “I think that was the last one. It’s too bad.”

P.S. DH posted a comment on it.
Was just doing a bit of reminiscing about the guardian, googled nick fallin, and saw your comments. Thank you for writing them, for taking the time. We had a hell of a time making that show and did it with a great amount of passion, intensity and desire to be truthful and tell hard stories. I appreciate your watching and taking note of a show we miss making.
DH
Friday, May 27, 2005 @ 12:22 am

From thinkings Weblog

JICHA Q&A

2005-05-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

From:SouthFlorida.com, FL
Date:May 29 2005
By Tom Jicha

Q. Could you tell me what has become of Simon Baker of The Guardian, which was one of my favorite shows? -- B.S., Coconut Creek

A. The Australian-born actor has not let the cancellation of The Guardian ruin his day. Since the CBS series ended, he has done four movies -- The Ring Two, Land of the Dead, 42.4 Percent and Book of Love -- not all of which have been released yet.

From SouthFlorida.com, FL

Zombies hungry for more

2005-05-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

From:yourmovies.com.au
Date:May 26, 2005

The zombies are rising again... and again.

Hollywood is plotting a remake of George A Romero's 1985 cult classic, "Day of the Dead".

The original film was a sequel to Romero's 1968 "Night of the Living Dead" and 1978 "Dawn of the Dead", set in a world overrun by zombies intent on destroying a group of humans hiding in an underground facility.

Romero is currently working on "Land of the Dead", a new zombie thriller that continues the story established in his original films. Dennis Hopper and Australian actor Simon Baker headline the movie.

Last year, audiences were treated to a remake of "Dawn of the Dead" starring Ving Rhames and Sarah Polley.

"Land of the Dead" hits cinemas on August

From yourmovies.com.au

Romero's Zombies Hit Vegas

2005-05-10T18:46:00.000-07:00

From:Zap2it.com
Date:Tue, May 10, 2005

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- "George Romero's Land of the Dead," the latest zombie epic from genre godfather George Romero will close the CineVegas Film Festival in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 18.
The screening of the film will mark its world premiere and will be attended by the director and some of his stars. The Universal Pictures release is scheduled to hit theaters around the country on Friday, June 24.

"George Romero's groundbreaking films fused un-dead terror with social commentary to create an entirely new genre --- 'The Zombie Movie," says Trevor Groth, the festival's director. "They have inspired some of the greatest horror directors of all time and have garnered him a rabidly devout fan base. CineVegas is truly honored to be able to present the world premiere of his newest film that is destined to become another classic."

In addition to screening Romero's new opus, CineVegas will present the director with the Vanguard Director Award, which "celebrates a director whose compelling visions and groundbreaking style challenge convention and whose distinctive films are at the forefront of cinematic innovation." David Lynch and Julian Schnabel are among the previous winners.

A follow-up to Romero's classics "Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn of the Dead" and "Day of the Dead," "Land of the Dead" stars Asia Argento, Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo. The film is currently in post-production.

From Zap2it.com

Rosenberg Talks 'Weeping Willows'

2005-05-04T01:52:00.000-07:00

From:CSI Files
Date:April 29, 2005
By Carolina

TV Guide recently sat down with Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) and husband Alan Rosenberg to discuss the episode that will pair the couple on screen.

In "Weeping Willows", Catherine's job is put at risk when the mysterious man she meets at a bar turns out to be a murder suspect. Tensions flare between Catherine and Grissom as her former boss attempts to keep her away from the case. Helgenberger revealed the storyline was her idea. "It's my effort to explore her desires," said the actress in the latest issue of TV Guide. "What does this woman do after throwing herself into death and decay for hours on end?"

Executive producer Carol Mendelshon loved the idea - and the prospect of getting Marg's husband to play her on-screen love interest. "We thought, 'Wouldn't it be fun if the first person she kisses on the show is her husband?'" As for the Warrick/Catherine relationship that began brewing earlier this season, Mendelshon revealed it was put in the back burner for a while. "It's something we'll deal with next year."

Rosenberg, who was first reluctant to accept the role, admitted the scenes were "different". "I've never approached her with that kind of energy before," the actor said. "We don't do any role-playing games in our relationship – you know, she's the cop, I'm the naughty boy. But after seeing how it went with this, maybe we should."

The same issue of TV Guide touched lightly on Miami's May sweeps period and what to expect in regards to character Calleigh Duquesne, who is rumoured to quit ballistics after being assaulted at a crime scene. Without giving much away, executive producer Ann Donahue explained the storyline was an attempt to make things more realistic. "While we can't imagine CSI: Miami without Calleigh, sometimes you have to follow the drama where it leads you."

"Weeping Willows" is set to air on May 5th, 2005.

SIMON SAYS-HOLLYWOOD LIFE

2005-05-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

From:HOLLYWOOD LIFE
Date:April 2005
By Sorina Diaconescu

As far as first-time forays into the Hollywood fray go,
Aussie thesp Simon Baker nailed a pretty spectacular one:
"I was the actor who ended up getting his throat slit in L.A.
CONFIDENTIAL," he notes. "The HUSH-HUSH magazine cover boy."

Though dispatched early on in that 1997 Oscar-winning pic,
he nabbed Hollywood's attention and spent the following years
steadily inching his way up to stardom, including a three-year
run as the lead on the CBS drama THE GUARDIAN, which was
cancelled last May. Baker -- off-screen an unpretentious,
soft-spoken and athletic man with a perpetuall dreamy
_expression -- now makes his home in Malibu, where he remains
somewhat removed from L.A.'s industry-town ambience.
"It's a little bit quieter out there. Occasionally I'll go
into town and shake my tail feathers, but then I come back
and retreat into a normalcy of sorts."

He may prefer to stay low-key, but with major roles in two
high-profile genre pics this year, the 35-year-old actor might
just find himself thrust into the limelight. In the sequel
to the enormously successful thriller THE RING, he explores
disturbing darklands with fellow Aussie actress (and chum)
Naomi Watts. "I play a character in the new town that
[she and her son] move to who sort of ... embraces them."
In the fall, he joins Asia Argento and John Leguizamo in
zombie movie pioneer George A. Romero's LAND OF THE DEAD.
"I never imagined myself doing a zombie movie, ever!
But I like the idea of not limiting myself. The aim is
to mix it up and have fun."

Zombies rejoice: 'Land of Dead' to rise early

2005-04-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

From:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Date:April 13, 2005
By Barbara Vancheri

Attention, zombie fans: Scratch Oct. 21 and pencil in June 24. That's the new release date for George Romero's "Land of the Dead."

The fourth installment in Romero's seminal saga had been scheduled to be released before Halloween, but Universal Pictures yesterday bumped up the opening date to June.

"Land of the Dead" stars Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento and Robert Joy. Written and directed by Romero, it's about a society where the living reside in a fortified city and the undead roam the wasteland outside.

Barring further schedule changes, "Land of the Dead" will compete with "Bewitched" and "Herbie: Fully Loaded" for that important opening weekend position.

The switch means "Doom" moves from August and inherits the Oct. 21 slot. "Doom," starring Karl Urban, The Rock and Rosamund Pike, is a futuristic story based on the computer game launched in the 1990s.

From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Simon Says

2005-04-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

From:Los Angeles Confidential
Date:March 2004

You know his name is Simon Baker, but did you also know he's a devoted family guy, a mediocre nurse, an avid surfer, a photographer, and on his way of becoming one of the hottest names working in Hollywood?

With acting smarts galore, a penchant for challenging roles, a sensitive nature, and matinee-idol looks, this wonder from Down Under has been thrilling audiences for years.

Since he landed Stateside from his native Australia in 1995, Simon Baker is hard not to notice. Already a star in Oz for his TV work, his film debut as a doomed actor in L.A. Confidential was small but memorable. Diverse roles followed in The Affair Of The Necklace and Ride With The Devil, and then came his Golden Globe nominated starring turn in the gritty TV drama The Guardian. This month he stars in The Ring Two opposite Naomi Watts and Sissy Spacek. Next, he will appear in George Romero's latest zombie installment, Land Of The Dead. "They are not horror movies; they're George Romero movies. The .. of the dead films are a whole genre within themselves," says Baker, who lives in Malibu with his wife, actor Rebecca Rigg, and their 3 children (ages 3,5, and 11).

Los Angeles Confidential: Did you like seeing films when you were little?

Simon Baker: As a kid I grew up with literally two TV stations. I watched movies with my mum and loved getting lost in them. I was so involved; I didn't want them to end. The closest cinema to where we lived in northern New South Wales was 45 minutes away, so I didn't get to go that often.

LAC: Any that stand out?

Simon Baker: Old Yeller had an enormous effect on me. I showed it to my kids, and they were bored out of their minds.

LAC: So you studied nursing?

Simon Baker: I studied it in Sydney for three months. It wasn't my career choice; it was a strategic move to get out of where I lived and have my parents accept that.

LAC: Why?

Simon Baker: My parents wanted great things for me. I was afraid to reveal to them that I wanted to be an actor. It's not the kind of thing you tell your parents when they've struggled for every cent.

LAC: Can you suture a wound?

Simon Baker: I don't know how to suture a wound. In hindsight, I would have made a terrible nurse because I hate the sight of blood, and I can't stand needles or people that complain.

LAC: What inspired you to leave Australia?

Simon Baker: The fear of being an old man saying " I could have gone to America and made the big time, but I never did because I was afraid." My wife and I have always been adventurous people. It was liberating to be a free spirit. That's what acting's about.

LAC: Your film was L.A. Confidential.

Simon Baker: It was like having dessert before eating the cabbage. That was my first introduction to Hollywood and the success and love this town can show you.

LAC: What's your passion?

Simon Baker: I love surfing, photography, and deconstructing films. I'm a homemaker now and I've been renovating our house. I'd love to learn more about architecture- working out how to use space, creating energy in a room. I'd love to build a house from the ground up and design it with my wife- one that is integrated into the environment and is sustainable. I mean, I drive a Prius.

LAC: Do your kids realize you are famous?

Simon Baker: My 5 and 3- year old sons are completely oblivious to it, but my daughter is 11 and she's cool with it. She's grown up around famous people{ Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts are close family friends}. When she's in the supermarket and sees the cover of a magazine she doesn't say "Oh, my God, it's Nicole, or it's Naomi!" She's pretty down to earth about it.

LAC: What do you like doing with your kids?

Simon Baker: It was awesome skiing with them recently: it was the first time my 3 year old was on skis. They were tiny babies grasping for the nipple....now they're skiing! There's joy watching them be full of joy. If you can focus and observe your children, you can see that a million times a day.

CBS Comedies Land Emmy Winners Perlman, Coleman

2005-03-31T01:40:00.000-08:00

Date:March 30,2005
From:Zap2it

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Between the two of them, Rhea Perlman and Dabney Coleman have 15 Emmy nominations and five wins. The reliable comedy veterans are bringing their decorated resumes to CBS' comedy development slate.
Perlman, who accumulated her Emmy glories over a decade of playing Carla on "Cheers," will lend support to "Stoller Wars," a comedy that stars Tiffani Thiessen and Darren Ritchie as new parents. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Perlman will play the mother of Ritchie's character.

The six episodes of "Kate Brasher" that CBS aired back in 2001 were Perlman's last regular television gig. Since then, Perlman has done several pilots, as well as guest spots on shows including "Frasier," "Karen Sisco" and "Kevin Hill."

Coleman ("Buffalo Bill") is partnering with Jenna Elfman in CBS' "Everything I Know About Men." Genetic implausibility aside, Coleman will play Elfman's father in the comedy, about an assistant at a marketing firm who can't understand the men in her life.
An Emmy winner for the 1987 telefilm "Sworn to Silence," Coleman's feature credits include such classics as "North Dallas Forty," "Melvin and Howard," "Nine to Five," "Tootsie," "WarGames" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan."

The Fabulous Baker Boy

2005-03-22T00:58:00.000-08:00

From:Herald Sun Melbourne
Date:March 20th 2005
by Katherine Tulich

Nine am on a Sunday morning is not the customary time you'd be
expecting any showbiz types to schedule an interview. "Oh, Simon
doesn't mind, he's up early with his kids," the chirpy publicist
informs me when I'm told of my scheduled meeting with Aussie actor
Simon Baker. (Silly of me to think that maybe they'd consider the
journalist would rather be sleeping at that hour.) Not only that,
but Baker wants to meet at the very north end of Malibu (which
stretches 4Okm) at a place called Paradise Cove (the setting for
such famous 1960s California surfing movies such as Beach Blanket
Bingo and Gidget), a lengthy hour-plus drive up the coast.

Feeling like I've driven halfway to San Francisco by the time I
reach the designated meeting spot, I find the Baker clan, which
today comprises wife Rebecca Rigg and their two youngest children,
Claude, five, and Harry, three, happily nestled in a wooden booth
facing oceanside at the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe, a quaint but
anachronistic beach shack that looks as if it's way beyond its
halcyon days.

Baker seems familiar with the travel-weary face of a visitor to this
area. "I always schedule meetings up here," he tells me with a hint
of glee. "It gets people away from that whole LA thing and once you
get here you can really chill out."
Baker leaves the family enclave and we move to another table to
chat. After negotiating the encyclopedia-length menu, he
winces. "It's such a great spot, but they just don't get breakfasts
over here," he laments, as super-sized plates of eggs, bacon and
potatoes are delivered to tables all around us. "They're just
screaming for a decent restaurant in this area, but there aren't
any," he says, as we mutually engage in the coffee dance that all
Aussies based in the US recognise. We both order double espresso
with a side of milk (the only way to get a half decent cup of
coffee). Our milk is delivered in a huge mug and, as we try and get
a dash into our coffees, we end up spilling it all over the table
like a couple of babies, laughing at the silliness of it all.

Amid the cluster of noisy Sunday morning families that fill the
restaurant, Baker fits right in. With his loose-fitting comfy
clothes, tousled sandy hair and unshaven face, he's certainly
handsome ' but in a more rugged way than the smoothed-out look that
lighting and film cameras give him. At age 35, he's growing into
his face, with those lines that (annoyingly, on a man) make him look
even sexier. And there's that wonderful smile, which he flashes at
me at regular intervals.

Like some of the emotionally distant characters he portrays, I
expect to find Baker somewhat aloof, but to my surprise, he's quite
the opposite. He displays a complete lack of ego and is, at times,
quite confessional in his responses. "I read interviews that I've
done and I sound like such a dickhead," he laughs. "At first it
really didn't seem like such a big decision," he says of his move to
the US in 1995. After a stint in the soapie E Street (for which he
won a Best New Talent Logie in 1992), Baker was up for a new
challenge. He already had two good mates who'd made the move;
Nicole Kidman (who went to school with Rebecca and is Harry's
godmother) and Naomi Watts (who served as Rigg's bridesmaid at the
pair's wedding).

"It was a very different time back then. These days, an Australian
actor can do one Australian film, and come over here and get work.
Back then it didn't really matter what you had done back home, you
had to come over here and start from scratch," he says. "Now
they're always looking at Aussie stuff, like we've been discovered
as some freaky genetic talent pool."

Doing the hard yards meant six long years of endless auditions, some
good work (such as a pivotal role in LA Confidential, all the while
waiting for that big break. But did he ever feel discouraged? "No,
it was invigorating," he protests. "Instead of reading one decent
script every three months and everyone fighting to get in first, I'd
be going to three auditions a day."

Rigg, who's also an actor (she appeared in E Street and the movies
Fatty Finn and Spotswood), was hunting for work, too, when they
first arrived (in fact, she was probably better known in Australia
than Baker when they relocated), but she now prefers to stay at home
with the kids. She has, however, recently appeared in Ellie Parker,
a film with pal Naomi Watts, which made its debut at the prestigious
Sundance Film Festival in January. "Her agent calls her every now
and then and she says, 'I really don't know why you're bothering ,
I'm not that interested,"' says Baker.

And while Kidman and Watts are close friends, Baker says he doesn't
really socialise with the LA Aussie contingent. "I think people
sometimes think that Hollywood is like a suburb where we all hang
out together," he says. "I'm not the sort of person who'll call
someone just for a chat. There's only this many people [he holds
his hand up with fingers extended] that I would call in the world
for a chat. People think I'm a pariah because I'm hopeless at
returning e-mails," he admits. "But I can not see someone for six
years and just pick up where we left off."

Still, a decade in LA has happened more by accident than by design
for the Bakers. "We stayed for a year and then it just came to a
point where it was going to be harder to pack up and go back to
Australia. It would be more unsettling, as well as going back to an
industry that has less and less opportunities," he says.

These days, even visits home are not that frequent. "We don't get
back [to Australia] as much as we would like. We don't have a house
there any more and, with three kids to organise, it makes it quite a
production to travel."

So does LA now feel more like home? "That's a difficult question,"
he says, as he toys with his eggs. 'I suppose the kids feel like
it's home, because the boys have been here all their life and Stella
[Baker's oldest daughter] has been here for most of her life. But I
still find myself punctuating conversations with, 'If we're still
here then.' I don't know... I guess at some point you have to
submit and say yes. Otherwise it feels like you've spent 10 years
in no man's land. I guess you could say we're reasonably settled."

I wonder if he feels as though LA is a good place to raise his
kids. "I think that's all relative to what relationship you have
with your kids and how they feel about themselves," he says. "I
think we feel we have a responsibility to give them a world view,
which is something that is lacking in this country"

It was mainly for his family's security that Baker took the job as
Nick Fallin in The Guardian, a role he was initially reluctant to
accept, mainly due to the relentless grind of filming a TV series.

"To be honest," he says, as he wrestles with a bottle of tomato
sauce, "a lot of choices and decisions I had to make were influenced
by having a family to support. The decision to do the show was made
after constantly being at the end of a shoestring and not knowing
where I was headed. That's exciting when you're young, but when
your kids are starting to get to school age, I felt a sense of
responsibility. I did the TV show to have something solid."

Baker says the show did provide him with a much-needed confidence
boost. He'd never formally trained as an actor and early work in
Australia like appearing in Drumsticks ice-cream commercials and
dancing in Mehssa Tkautz's 'Read My Lips' music video probably
don't count. "Doing the series was a way of overcoming my
inferiority complex of not going to drama school. I could make a
shitload of money and get on-the job training. I ended up doing 70
hours of television over three years. It's hard to beat that kind
of experience."

Baker soon became hooked on the security of the work and, now that
it's all over (The Guardian was cancelled last year), he again faces
the challenges of the unknown. "The problem is, you get used to
earning good money and having regular employment - it's ridiculous
how hard that habit is to break. And when you're thrust out there
again, and you have five mouths to feed and your family has grown
accustomed to a certain standard of living, then you really can feel
like shit."

Not that he has to worry; he already has three back-to-back films,
including the highly anticipated sequel to the mega successful and
wonderfully creepy thriller, The Ring. The Ring 2 has Naomi Watts
reprising her role as the terrorised newspaper journalist and young
mother. This time around she has relocated with her son to a sleepy
Oregon town and is working on the local paper, while Baker plays a
fellow reporter drawn into the horror.

"I get very defensive about the film because people assume that
because Naomi is a close personal mate, that's how I got the
job. I had to jump through hoops to get the part, just like any
other actor in this town," he says. "Naomi assures me she had
nothing to do with it and I believe her, because I had to go through
so many readings and auditions. I think I spent more time
auditioning than I did shooting the film."

After The Ring 2 Baker shot a zombie movie in Canada called Land of
the Dead for famed horror film director George Romero and he's just
about to start shooting an inter-racial romance called 42.4
Percent. "When I go home today I have to rehearse with my co-star,"
he says, jokingly. (Baker's meeting his on-screen canine
companion.) "My character has a pivotal relationship with his dog,
so they're bringing him over to bond with me." (The Bakers recently
got their own dog, an eight-month-old cocker spaniel, whom he says
the kids adore.)

But even with all this work, the actor admits he's still insecure
about the future. "Well, it's not really a permanent job, is it?"
he says. "I don't really have that galvanised self-confidence to be
an actor."

The very down-to-earth Baker is unlikely to be found power-lunching
in Beverly Hills - it's not his scene. "I love acting, but the
politics and the business of it I'm not good at. I've always been
someone who likes to sit on the sidelines. I never feel like going
head-long into it, which probably reflects in my career," he
says. "It's my nature. I keep things at an arm's length all the
time."

"I'm really crap at selling myself," he continues. "I don't play
that whole game - I don't have the DNA to really sell myself or hype
myself and when I do I make such an arse of myself then I'm full of
self-loathing. I start to think, 'What am I doing?' I feel like
some cheap hooker.'

It seems strange for a highly successful actor to have an outlook
that seems so negative. "Yeah, I often think that myself,"
he admits. "I always have this feeling that the river is
going to run dry sooner or later and everyone is going to realise
that I'm really not that good, and I'm always thinking what else I
could do instead."

Has he thought about an alternate career? He considers himself
quite the handyman around the house, but his wife brings
him straight back to earth. "She points out that I'm such an actor
that suddenly I'm playing Simon the yard worker. When
she said that, it kind of shattered me, but I guess it's kind of
true; role-playing is so inherent in me."

But one role that does come naturally is husband and dad. He met
Rigg when he was just 22 and their daughter Stella, now
1, was born, as Baker likes to point out, "when I was eight days
into being 24'. He was a young dad. "I guess it sounds
young these days," he dismisses. "But it did hurtle me down the
track a little quickly, and got me out of my self-indulgent
20s pretty fast.'

Grounding himself in family so young is not surprising considering
his childhood was so erratic. Born in Tasmania, his mother was a
teacher and his father a caretaker. But they split when he was two
and his mother married a butcher named Tom Denny (hence Baker's
first acting moniker as Simon Baker-Denny). The family then moved
to Lennox Head, near Byron Bay, but that marriage ended as well
(Baker has an older sister and three young half-siblings). While
he's reluctant to discuss his early life, he admits softly that his
kids at least have something "a lot better than what I had when I
was growing up".

At which point a cherubic face presses up against the window. It's
one of the Baker boys, Harry (Rigg has taken the boys out onto the
sand to play, but they're breaking away to make faces at their dad
through the glass.)

It prompts an unusual admission from Baker. "My biggest fear is
dying in a car accident. I don't ever want to die in transit, I want
to be somewhere," he reflects. But surely acting is a transitory
profession? "But for me what's important is making breakfast with
the kids, having a game of backgammon on a Saturday afternoon with
friends, they're the moments, the foundation I want my life to be
built on, not the shifting sands of popular opinion or box-office
receipts."

As I watch Baker leave, he strolls outside and gives Rebecca a long
hug, as though he's just returned from an extended trip. His boys
soon gather around and hug his legs. It's a picture of family bliss
that could bring a tear to your eye, and it recalls one of the
things Baker said to me: "At the end of the day, you just want to
have a laugh, right? Be happy with yourself and loved by your
family."

The Ring 2 opens this Thursday