TV Guide, November 30, 2002
Eric Close in Taken miniseries
Entertainment Weekly, November 22, 2002
Review of Without a Trace
Click, from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, November 17, 2002
Article on Anthony LaPaglia of Without a Trace
James Coburn starred in the originial Magnificent Seven as Britt and with Michael Biehn in 1993's Deadfall.
James Coburn, the rugged, deep-voiced actor whose four-decade stint in show biz included The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, the pre-Austin Powers spy spoof Our Man Flint and was capped with an Oscar for Affliction, died Monday afternoon at his Beverly Hills home. He was 74.
Coburn suffered a massive heart attack while listening to music with wife Paula, said the actor's longtime friend and manager Hillard Elkins. Coburn was rushed to nearby Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where, Elkins said, "he died in his wife's arms."
It was an abrupt end to an extraordinary, versatile career.
Born in Laurel, Nebraska, on August 31, 1928, James Coburn Jr. grew up in the L.A. suburb of Compton and majored in acting at Los Angeles City College and the University of Southern California. In the '50s, he studied acting with Stella Adler and Jeff Corey and eventually found some TV work in series like Wagon Train, The Rifleman and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
With his distinctive lean frame and gruff baritone, Hollywood typecast him as the heavy in several westerns and thrillers before he landed his career-launching role as the knife-tossing Britt in The Magnificent Seven, where he held his own against such action heroes as Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.
That led to turns in other '60s action classics, including The Great Escape, Hell Is for Heroes and Major Dundee, where he played a one-armed scout opposite Charlton Heston's title character. He also costarred with Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn and Walter Matthau in the espionage potboiler Charade.
Then came Flint, Derek Flint. Without Coburn's swinging super agent in the mid-'60s James Bond spoofs Our Man Flint and In Like Flint, there'd be no Austin Powers. It was Coburn's greatest hit, made him a full-blown pop-culture icon and proved he could do funny as well as menace.
Despite turns in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and The Muppet Movie and a cameo on the album cover of Wings' Band on the Run, Coburn's fame flagged in the 1970s. And he virtually disappeared from the screen in the '80s after a crippling bout with rheumatoid arthritis. (He paid his bills with voice-over work in commercials, his booming pipes providing the soundtrack to numerous tag lines, including "Beef, it's what's for dinner.")
Ever the tough guy, Coburn battled back and won. He said he conquered the condition with exercise and sulfur pills, and, even though one of his hands was paralyzed, he made a stunning comeback. After a string of sequels and remakes--Young Guns II, Sister Act II: Back in the Habit, Mel Gibson's updated Maverick and Eddie Murphy's hit redo of The Nutty Professor, Coburn scored what critics called his juiciest role: Nick Nolte's abusive, booze-addled father in 1998's Affliction. It brought him his only Oscar nod, for Best Supporting Actor, and only win.
"Some of them you do for money, some of them you do for love," he said while accepting his statuette. "This is a love child."
Last year, he voiced Henry J. Waternoose III, the villainous CEO of Disney-Pixar's Monsters, Inc. Other recent credits included the Mouse House's Snow Dogs and the currently playing drama The Man from Elysian Fields with Andy Garcia and Mick Jagger. Coburn's final screen performance, in the indie film American Gun, is making the rounds on the festival circuit and seeking a major distributor.
He is survived by his second wife, Paula, two adult children from his first marriage--a son named James Coburn IV and daughter Lisa Coburn--and two grandchildren.
Funeral plans are pending.
Without a Trace: "Silent Partner"
A Test Pattern Review
by Vince Yim
CBS, Thursdays, 10PM PST
Without a Trace episode 1.06: "Silent Partner"
Patrick Kent, an investment-banking firm VP, checks into an airport for a flight to New York. He doesn't show up. The only clues at the scene are two suitcases. This is normal. However, the suitcases are completely empty. This is not normal.
This is by far one of the more satisfying episodes of Without a Trace. Twisting and turning throughout the storyline, one cannot be sure of the outcome until someone erases Patrick's name from the white board.
Thursday's episode was the strongest for character development. Jack's domestic problems continue to plague him, while Samantha and Vivian observe and play running commentary. While hinting at a previous relationship between Jack and Samantha, Samantha is suddenly more vulnerable, despite her cool exterior. However, things like this seem to occur every time that a strained marriage is a factor in the victim's disappearance.
This episode takes place on opposite coasts. While Jack, Samantha, and Vivian grill Patrick's contacts in New York, Danny and Martin take a trip to San Diego to find out what he had going on. In the first twist of the episode, they realize that he has been living a double life, living with two different families on different sides of the country. As always, there is significantly more to this than may seem at the surface.
Prior to his disappearance, Patrick was dealing with a fraud investigation at the investment-banking firm that he works for. This leaves several avenues for investigation - who will know? Would the investors be of help? Or would any one of them have anything to do with his disappearance? And why is it that his wife is very reluctant to share any sort of information on the matter?
The writers actively involve the audience in the storyline, as it releases little bits of information in tiny little doses, avoiding most clich�s and any sort of foregone conclusions. By the time we get to the ending, we are satisfied for having sat with the show for so long.
As a new show, has taken a while to find its identity, but it is firmly established as of the last episode, Suspect. While there is the danger of taking on a few soap opera elements, the writers are smart enough to not have them take over the show. While Jack may have domestic problems and an abusive past, they aren't the actual story of the show, but what gives the characters flavour.
Characters are continuously evolving as well. Danny and Martin have a slightly antagonistic relationship, with Danny treating Martin with disdain, given his previous experience in white collar crime ("This should be small potatoes for a guy like you!"), and at times, Martin does slip up. However, after this, they remain professional throughout.
While playing opposite an increasingly melodramatic ER, it's a show that is quickly finding its own audience (although stealing some of ER's, if current ratings are any sort of an indication). As the show has already been greenlit to finish a full season, and if the writing continues to improve, a second season is all but guaranteed.
WaT In Extremis episode SPOILERS
The Team Searches for a Missing Middle Eastern Intern on CBS' "WITHOUT
A TRACE" (11/21/02)
"In Extremis" -- The team investigates the disappearance of a Saudi-Arabian medical intern who was upset when his boss refused to write a letter of recommendation for him and his girlfriend declined a marriage proposal, on WITHOUT A TRACE, Thursday, Nov. 21 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Peter Markle directed the episode from a script by Francisco Castro.
Anwar Samir is a hard-working and well-respected doctor whose every move becomes subject to interpretation after he disappears: his desire to work at the CDC to study infectious diseases, his girl friend's lack of knowledge about his career ambitions and even the books in his apartment suggest that he might have a hidden connection to terrorist activities. Malone decides to coordinate the investigation with the Joint Terrorist Task Force (JTTF) when he discovers that samples of a viral fever are missing from a biotech company where Anwar once worked. Meanwhile, the team thinks that Martin -- who is convinced that Anwar is a terrorist -- may be trying to impress the JTTF supervisor with his work on the case.
CBS Drama to Highlight Missing Girl
LOS ANGELES (AP) The CBS police drama "Without a Trace" will be followed by a public service announcement about missing Utah girl Elizabeth Smart after Thursday's episode, the network said.
Smart, 14, disappeared from her bedroom in Salt Lake City on June 5. Her sister, Mary Katherine the sole witness told police a gunman abducted the teen around 1 a.m.
The case helped ignite nationwide news coverage of suspected kidnappings throughout the summer.
CBS features an actual missing-person case in an announcement after each episode of "Without a Trace," a fictional new drama starring Anthony LaPaglia as an FBI agent searching for missing people.
The real missing person mentioned after each show is picked by the FBI and not CBS. The Smart case will be the first time a case already covered by the national media has been picked for the broadcast, CBS spokeswoman Susan Marks said Monday.
WaT falls to 19
Prime-time ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 4-10.
Top 20 listings include the week's ranking, with rating for the week
and season-to-date rankings in parentheses.
An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation. The rating is the percentage of the nation's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 1,067,000 households.
1. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 17.2, 18.3 million
homes.
2. (2) "Friends," NBC, 17.0, 18.1 million homes.
3. (3) "ER," NBC, 15.5, 16.5 million homes.
4. (7) "Will & Grace," NBC, 13.4, 14.2 million homes.
5. (4) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 13.1, 14.0 million homes.
6. (9) "NFL Monday Night Football: Miami at Green Bay," ABC, 12.8,
13.7 million homes.
7. (5) "Law & Order," NBC, 12.6, 13.4 million homes.
8. (5) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 12.1, 12.9 million homes.
9. (11) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 11.6, 12.3 million homes.
10. (8) "Survivor: Thailand," CBS, 11.3, 12.0 million homes.
11. (X) "36th Annual Country Music Awards," CBS, 11.0, 11.6 million
homes.
12. (10) "Scrubs," NBC, 10.7, 11.3 million homes.
12. (11) "The West Wing," NBC, 10.7, 11.3 million homes.
14. (18) "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 10.6, 11.2 million
homes.
15. (23) "The Bachelor," ABC, 10.5, 11.2 million homes.
16. (20) "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.4, 11.0 million homes.
17. (13) "Still Standing," CBS, 10.2, 10.8 million homes.
18. (X) "20/20 Special Edition," ABC, 10.1, 10.8 million homes.
19. (27) "NFL Monday Showcase," ABC, 10.0, 10.6 million homes.
19. (15) "Without a Trace," CBS, 10.0, 10.6 million homes.
NEW YORK-NOVEMBER 18: Actor Eric Close arrives at the premier of the miniseries Taken on November 18, 2002 at the Bryant Park Hotel in New York City.
NEW YORK-NOVEMBER 18: (L to R) Actors Heather Donahue, Eric Close, Julie Benz, Dakota Fanning, Joel Gretsch, and Catherine Dent arrive at the premier of the miniseries Taken on November 18, 2002 at the Bryant Park Hotel in New York City.
Nice guy Eric Close is a TV series veteran
Q. Please tell me about actor Eric Close ("Without a Trace"). What other
shows has he been in? - E.C.W., Baltimore.
A. "If you look up "nice' in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of Eric," says Anthony LaPaglia, Close's TV boss on the CBS hit "Trace." Now 35, the affable and easygoing native of New York's Staten Island made his series debut in the daytime soap "Santa Barbara," followed by prime time roles in "McKenna," "Sisters," the creepy NBC sci-fi series "Dark Skies," "The Magnificent Seven" and the cult fantasy "Now and Again," for which he had to maintain a brutal training and dietary regimen for his role as a "perfect" physical specimen.
Coming up, he has a key role in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries "Taken."
Other TV and feature credits include "Everything That Rises," "Liberty, Maine," "Follow the Stars Home" and "The Sky Is Falling."
Close lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Keri, and their two daughters.
The official site for Taken has been updated with a new trailer.
'TAKEN' FOR GRANTED
'TAKEN" - one of the longest, most expensive miniseries ever - began four years ago with an off-the-cuff conversation between Steven Spielberg and movie studio mogul Barry Diller.
The 20-hour miniseries, which debuts on Dec. 2, follows the stories of three families over four generations and the pivotal roles they played in the modern lore of alien encounters.
How did a relatively small cable channel end up with a visitiors-from-outer-space miniseries by the Hollywood giant who made "ET" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"?
The deal was sealed with a promise to Spielberg from the Diller-owned SCI FI channel that he could have as many hours of network time as he needed to tell his story about close encounters.
"Diller came to us and said 'Are you guys interested in doing an elongated, fictional exploration of something about abduction with Dreamworks?' and we said 'Hell, yes!" SCI FI chief Bonnie Hammer told The Post.
Hammer said she first she heard of the project in an e-mail Diller sent her in October 1998. The miniseries itself was written during the latter half of 2000 and filming began in September 2001, she said.
"Taken" is the second major miniseries for Spielberg.
His first, HBO's brilliant World War II epic "Band of Brothers," was a critical smash, but suffered ratings-wise when the heart of the series aired in the weeks after 9/11.
Hammer said landing a big name like Spielberg had more to do with agreeing to devote the time and money needed to develop the project.
A commitment that turned "Taken" into an HBO-quality, collaborative effort between SCI FI and DreamWorks that tapped much of the same behind-the-scenes talent - including the same special effects wizards - who worked on "Band of Brothers."
"It wasn't as if he [Spielberg] was pitching around a project to anybody else," Hammer said, explaining how the growing network - now available in 79 million homes - was able to land a project that cost a reported $40 million.
"He always wanted to tell a story with legs. He always believed that this specific area within the genre never has enough time to be explored.
" 'Close Encounters' and 'ET' were great movies, but they're starting points.
"He wanted to have a story unfold that involved different people, believers, non-believes and the government - and most important, let it breathe," says Hammer.
Spielberg says he agreed to go with the SCI FI channel because it's become a destination for fans of a genre that he loves.
"SCI FI channel's really had a tremendous facelift I think over the last couple of years," the Hollywood heavyweight said in an interview.
"When Barry Diller began to retool the channel, he got better programming and I realized it was going to be like a watershed for the science-fiction aficionado as well as just the general public that's interested in a good tale," Spielberg said.
Dent Taken With Spielberg
Catherine Dent, who co-stars as Sally Clarke in the SCI FI Channel's upcoming original miniseries Steven Spielberg Presents Taken, told SCI FI Wire that the series is pure Spielberg and classic science fiction. "The thing I love about this project is that the human experience and science fiction [elements] happen to [the characters]," the actress said in an interview. "So this is a character-driven piece."
Dent added, "You have real people living their real lives who happen to have extraordinary situations happen to them--science fiction, extraterrestrial and paranormal [situations]. It's not like we're all on some spaceship having to deal with robots. I'm home doing the laundry, and this good-looking alien comes down. He's a man as far as I'm concerned. I find out later that he's an alien. But that's what's classic Spielberg. You have real people. How do we react under these circumstances? My first day of work [on Taken] was Sept. 11, and it was an extraordinary day for all of us. It was a shocking, awe-inspiring, terrifying day for all of us. How do we respond to these events in our lives? I think what Spielberg is interested in is that same thing. I don't mean to trivialize Sept. 11 by saying it's the same as an alien ship coming by--so please don't misunderstand me--but I think that's why we love Spielberg."
Longtime Spielberg colleague Tobe Hooper, who directed Poltergeist, directed the first episode of Taken, Dent said. "I was watching a documentary on the making of Poltergeist. ... Steven Spielberg [who produced the film], as a little boy, was terrified by this huge elm tree outside of his house. So in Poltergeist, what happens? He has a big tree fall through, because his imagination went with him his whole life and haunted him. So he used that in the work, and I think that's what you have in Taken. We don't forget these extraordinary events, and they affect our lives every single day. It's ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances."
Taken premieres on SCI FI at 9 p.m. ET/PT Dec. 2.
HELLBOY
Mignola says Abe Sapien will be played by a Mime!?!
Hey folks, Harry here... I talked with Guillermo yesterday, he's very anxious to get shooting. I've never heard him more in love with a project and casting is continuing. Now, my understanding is that Abe Sapien will be one hundred percent CGI, but I'm sure there will be a lot of motion capture work in all that... and that's what this anonymous actor/mime/dancer will be doing. MEANWHILE... Maul here mentions that Mike Mignola said Guillermo "really likes how" Perlman looks in the HELLBOY make up. Well... Guillermo showed my Ron as HELLBOY from the first full body make-up work by Rick Baker's Cinovation company and man... MAN! I tell you, it is extraordinary. It is HELLBOY. There are no seams to the make up. Ron looks HUGE in the makeup. The arms and shoulders and chest and abdomen. Awesome. To describe the face of HELLBOY - take Ron Perlman's features and bleed them into the design of Mignola's original art. The make up catches the light and twists it into hard shadows which creat that hyper-KIRBY-esque look that Mignola imbued upon HELLBOY. Now there's a strange thing that happened to me as I looked at this make, but imagine Toshiro Mifune as a Demon thrown from Hell. I swear he feels like something out of a Kurosawa nightmare. I think more than anything, it's the way the hair looks, combined with the inherent warrior nobility upon HELLBOY's face. And the scar that runs under his left eye at a 70 degree angle across the cheek... well it just gives him that... I've seen some shit, and I've beaten it back into the pit of the Earth, sort of look! Here's the tiny report from NYC, ta daaaa....
Hi Harry,
I met Mike Mignola today at the Big apple con in NYC and asked him about the Hellboy movie. All he had to say, other than stuff about the mechanical arm and the Baker make up, was that Abe Sapien was cast. He didn't remember the actors name but he said it was an actor/mime/dancer from LA. Sounds interesting.
He also mentioned that Guillermo really likes how Ron looks in make up, and that the tail will be digitally added in post production.
Hellboy script
The scooper who first tipped us off about Selma
Blair being up for the role of Liz Sherman has returned -- and with a
brief but tantalizing review of the Hellboy movie script!
"I just finished reading the script for HELLBOY, and boy oh boy is this one going to be great!" writes our scooper, "Dr. Confoundo". "It's been awhile since I read the first few miniseries, but this script is pretty faithful to the comics as I remember them. And it's got plenty of that Mike Mignola weirdness that defines the book: Talking Corpses, Clockwork Nazis, Cthulu-esque Monstrosities, and at least two instances of Hellboy falling into a pit (which seems to happen in every issue).
"I am so looking forward to this flick, and I hope that this gets the wide release that it deserves." [And that was the latest from the good doctor.]
From darkhorizons.com
Hellboy: Aint It Cool has details on the rest of the cast in this
comic adaptation which currently has Ron Perlman and Selma Blair.
Joining them is John Hurt ("Alien") as Professor Broom, Karel Roden
("15 Minutes") who plays the mad monk Grigori Rasputin, the small role
of Dr. Manning will be done by Larry Miller ("Best in Show"), Doug
Jones has the part of the non-CGI elements of Abe Sapien, and three
actors will be playing the different parts of Kronen. Only two key
characters remain to be cast including Nazi babe 'Ilsa'. Shooting
takes place in Prague from March to August next year.
Star Trek: Nemesis review SPOILERS
Has there been a sneak screening of Nemesis? According to today's scooper, not only has there been a showing of the film but they happened to be one of those fortunate few in attendance. They turned in a review of the film to CA that, while it does contain significant SPOILERS, could have been written just by reading what spoiler material has been online for months. While we can't vouch for the authenticity of "Street Symphony"'s Nemesis review, it does contain something that we can't cast any doubt on: the reviewer's opinion of what scenes and elements they felt worked and failed in the latest Star Trek adventure.
So are you ready to read what they had to say?
"I just saw Star Trek Nemesis the other day and I just wanted to say that I was really hyped to see this film. I not an obsessive fan like some people, but I saw First Contact and that was a good film and I did not see Insurrection in 98, so it's been awhile. The trailer for this one look amazing and fresh and it looked to appeal to a newer generation of people. I came out of the film saying that it wasn't that great.
"It's starts off with a Romulan traitor who kills off a group of senators, then goes to Riker and Deanna Troi getting married, this is supposed to set up (I guess) a crucial scene with Deanna and Shinzon, the guy who runs the Viceroy, but when the scene takes place, it adds nothing to what they were trying to achieve, so the marriage scene was pointless. Nothing really grabbed me in the film. As enemies, the Viceroy and Shinzon did not look like they were a threat to the people of the Starfleet. The whole Jean-Luc Picard and Shinzon cloning storyline was boring, each complaining to the other one to be good or evil because they are the same person.
"I just think this story was missing a lot of things. Character roles need to be more expanded. The special effects were good but the story was flat. There's a shocking ending, someone won't be making anymore Star Trek films if this one is successful.
"Overall I give it a 7 out of 10."
A new ad and sountrack camples from Star Trek: Nemesis are up at TrekWeb
The IFilm Web site has posted footage from the upcoming Star Trek: Nemesis film, including scenes first screened at ShowEast. Nemesis opens Dec. 13.
Development Update from Gale Anne Hurd
Greetings from UK!
11/07/02 - Adventure Inc. began its four episode United Kingdom shoot on Monday, November 4th in the Gloucestershire (I can write it but I can't pronounce it!) countryside. We had truly glorious sunny weather for our exterior sequence at Chavenage, a 2,000 acre Elizabethan era manor house. For all of you history buffs, Oliver Cromwell was a frequent guest at the estate back in the mid-1600s, and it is reputed to be the county's second most haunted house! Its owner at the time, Colonel Nathaniel Stevens, an elected Member of Parliament from the area, supported Cromwell over King Charles I and voted for the king's overthrow. In his speech to Parliament, Stevens recommended that "the best way to cure a sick plant" (referring to King Charles) was by "cutting off its head", thereby suggesting that the King should die. After the King was beheaded, Stevens died mysteriously at Chavenage and his spectre (or ghost) was seen climbing into a black carriage, driven by a headless coachman, presumably the ghost of the beheaded King. Family lore has it that subsequent owners who died at the estate have left in the same manner!
The room that Cromwell slept in has since been exorcised to vanquish its ghostly inhabitants -- but after visiting the room, whose walls are covered with made to order tapestries, I must admit to feeling a chill! Perhaps it was just the English dampness -- or was it something else?
We filmed both outside and inside the Chavenage manor house, including horses and hounds bounding over the fields. The hounds were provided to us by the Duke of Beaufort, who owns the nearby estate, Badminton (where the first official game of badminton was played in 1873). And two miles down the road is Prince Charles's magnificent estate, Highgrove, which is organically farmed. All of the proceeds from his farming are given to charity.
This area of England contains some of the most beautiful countryside and truly charming villages to be found in the entire country. Known as the Cotswolds, it's not surprising that royalty chooses to live here!
Fans of RELIC HUNTER will be excited to see the talented actor Christien Anholt (who played Nigel Bailey) in our episode, THE ANGEL OF ST. EDMUNDS. I'm thrilled to have him guest starring on our series!
As I write, we are filming in the historic port city of Bristol, located in the South West of England, quite close to the Welsh border. A very beautiful city with the river Avon running through it, Bristol is not only picturesque but filled with terrific locations, from docks to Cathedrals, universities to huge caves and caverns.
Michael Biehn, Karen Cliche and Jesse Nilsson are enjoying themselves and look terrific in their new environment. What a tremendous opportunity we have to showcase their talent in such historic settings! And the rest of our English cast and crew are absolutely incredible. Stunt fans will be excited to learn that our UK stunt coordinator, Lee Sheward, performed stunts on the recent Bond films as well as Paramount's upcoming feature, THE CORE, and was the stunt coordinator on the new Johnny Depp/Kate Winslet/Dustin Hoffman film, NEVERLAND. Previously he performed stunts in THE MUMMY, TITANIC, THE SAINT and ENTRAPMENT.
Now it's time for me to get back to the set!
Cheerio from Merrie Olde England.
Spy Kids 3 (2003)
Release Date: July 25th, 2003 (wide); (going up against Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life and Seabiscuit; first scheduled for two days earlier on July 23rd, 2003)
Distributor: Dimension Films
Cast: Daryl Sabara (Juni Cortez), Alexa Vega (Carmen Cortez), Antonio Banderas (Gregorio Cortez), Carla Gugino (Ingrid Cortez); other returning cast, and new actors, not announced yet (10/11/02).
Based Upon: This is the third and, most likely, final film in the series that started with Spy Kids in 2001, and was continued with Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams in 2002. The reason the films are being made so quickly (three films in three years) is due to Rodriguez's desire to complete the series before the kids stopped being... kids.
Premise: No specific details have been revealed yet about this movie's premise, as of 10/11/02. What we can expect, however, is that it will continue the adventures of spy siblings Juni and Carmen Cortez (Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega).
Filming: Production is scheduled to start on December 10th, 2002 in Austin, Texas (where the first two movies were filmed), with some location shots to be done elsewhere.
