Goodbye Mulder, hello Ahab: Gillian Anderson talks 'Moby Dick'

After forging one of the great female action roles on TV as (need I say it?) Agent Dana Scully in the “The X-Files," Gillian Anderson could have become a heroine of the American multiplex.  But instead, she’s become a mainstay of high-end literary adaptations, a fixture of “Masterpiece Theater.” 

This week, she pops up in a lavish two-part adaptation of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” airing tonight and tomorrow on the premium cable network Encore. Part of a starry ensemble cast that includes Ethan Hawke as Starbuck and William Hurt as the whale-haunted Ahab, Anderson plays Elizabeth, Ahab’s wife. As Melville sticklers will point out, Elizabeth is barely mentioned in a sprawling novel that has no real female presence.

Anderson lives in London and doesn’t do a lot of interviews here -– she said the last time she did an American press junket was for the movie “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” in 2008 -- and she seemed slightly giddy sitting in a poolside cabana during the Television Critics Assn. Press Tour in Pasadena, her tiny frame clad entirely in black. Anderson spoke about her role in “Moby Dick,” and why she’s hooked on classics.

How did you get involved in this production?

I was sent the script. William was already attached and that was a big pull for me.  Lately, I guess  it seems like I do a lot of classics, especially now that I’ve just finished filming “Great Expectations.”  But really it’s only 4. And that’s not so many…

There’s “Bleak House,” “House of Mirth,” “Moby Dick,” “Great Expectations.” You also played yourself in Michael Winterbottom’s movie deconstruction of “Tristram Shandy.” Does that count as a classic?

I don’t think it does. But … OK, so  4½ classics!

Isn’t your character in "Moby Dick" barely a footnote in the original novel?

She is a footnote in the book. There is a book that’s out about her … [drifts off]. Sorry, but I just noticed that these are bedheads, I got distracted! [She points to the wall of the cabana, where there are in fact two headboards with no beds attached] Anyway, there is a book out there about what might have happened to her post-Ahab’s demise. I haven’t read it but Ethan [Hawke] has because he has read everything about “Moby Dick.”

In this series, she is Ahab’s wife and they have a child and he has gone off to sea before, where he lost his leg to this particular white whale he is going after again. His leg is made of the jaw of a whalebone which is beautifully poetic … wait, [laughs] not the jaw of a whalebone … you know what I mean! She can see his obsession starts to get stronger as he obsesses about taking revenge. It’s quite a beautiful story about God and man and fallibility and how mortals tend to think we have godlike qualities and that we are more powerful than the forces of nature. And he finds out he’s not.

When I got the job I read a good portion of the book, and one of the things I was really struck by was Ishmael, who tells the story, is constantly confounded by the fact that he can’t seem to grasp the essence of the whale …. It has been said that it’s about humans' inability to grasp God, the greater concept of God … but that’s not what you asked me! [laughs]

TCA 2011: Laura Dern and Mike White get 'Enlightened'

These days, HBO has its big blockbustery hourlong shows that suck up all the critical air (“True Blood,” “Game of Thrones,” “Boardwalk Empire”) and then it has its more niche half-hour shows, like “Bored to Death,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and the recently departed “In Treatment.” “Enlightened” fits the second category to a T, a smart and quirky dramedy from Mike White (“Chuck and Buck,” “School of Rock”) and Laura Dern.

Dern and White, who worked together on the indie film “Year of the Dog,” collaborated on the series — which resembles a long-form indie film — about Amy (played by Dern), a corporate executive who has a breakdown. She returns home from a retreat “healed” and ready to change the world, only to find herself shunted to a menial job in the basement of her corporation, a dumping ground of weirdos (one of which is played by White).  Amy becomes an irritant as she attempts to be an “agent of change” in the lives of her colleagues and ex-husband (Luke Wilson).

White spoke about Dern's character at TCA and the awkward comedy that comes from her well-meaning interactions. “I don’t think she’s completely oblivious” to how she comes off, he said, “but there’s that initial zealot phase of someone who’s had an epiphany” — but is quick to point out that she’s not a nut case in her desire to help her company break out of its environmentally unfriendly ways or to shake others out of their ruts. “There is some sanity to her cause,” he said.

Dern noted that the show doesn’t make fun of her character or get too sappy: “I think the aspiration is to be the best of ourselves… Mike’s voice is a very earnest one about how we all long for that.” But there are pitfalls. “[Amy is] very flawed, and she feels everything in an enormous way … and with those traits comes disaster.”

Still, White said they deliberately set out to make something very different from what’s on television now. “It feels like there’s so many antiheroes, and in order to make noise in the dysfunction land, you need to have a serial killer in your show.” So instead, the goal was “to take someone who’s not a firewoman or forensic … not a hero, somebody who is living a regular life who is looking for meaning… Not touched by an angel.”

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More from the TCA Press Tour

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Photo: Laura Dern and Mike White. Credit: HBO.

2011 Emmy nominations: Stars talk about working, being nominated and celebrating

The nominations for the 2011 Emmy Awards were announced early this morning, with plenty of surprises mixed in with the evergreens. (See the full list here.)

The Los Angeles Times spoke to a number of nominees about the Emmys and the roles that nabbed them a chance at an award.

Some nominees -- like "Justified's" Walton Goggins -- didn't even try to downplay their excitement: "I feel like I’m floating in a vat of liquid gratitude," he said. "It’s surreal. This may never happen again in my lifetime but to go through this experience now, it doesn’t get better than this." 

Idris Elba, who was nominated both for his role in "Luther" and a guest role on "The Big C," was doubly knocked out : "It’s incredible. You wait for one bus and two come along. They’re both great surprises."

Matthew Weiner is no Emmy newbie, but he still seemed thrilled: "There’s something extra sweet about it because, four years into it, you just don’t expect to be in it." He also revealed that he already had an ending in mind for the series, three seasons down the line. "I do. I do. I do. I do have an ending in mind." So what is it? We'll have to wait, apparently. Said Weiner, "I’m keeping it close to the vest in case I change my mind."

"Mad Men's" John Slattery -- who has received a supporting actor nomination for every season "Mad Men" has been on the air -- spoke eloquently about inhabiting the role of Roger: "On TV, the most challenging thing is not to assume you know how your character would react just because you’ve played it for years. You want to deliver the joke, but you don’t want your character to be a joke. Also, people wonder about the clothes and the cigarettes and the drinks -- but you don’t play the period, you play the scene. You play each moment as it comes."

Michael C. Hall, who is nominated once again for his role on "Dexter," talked about the particular challenges this past season: "In the fifth season we sort of had to take responsibility for the mess in Dexter’s world. He had a big share in Rita’s death. It was difficult to try to play this guy who maintains some sort of disconnect from his emotions and still process all of that."

And Johnny Galecki of "Big Bang Theory" spoke about playing a character smarter than he is: "I’d say he’s much more intelligent than I am. I can only pretend to think like this guy. I can understand how he feels as [if he's] the underdog outcast. That is something I can relate to. I wasn’t the most popular kid growing up."

Matt LeBlanc knows all about awards: "I’m familiar with not winning," he joked.  Asked if he'd spoken to any of his costars from "Episodes," he quipped, "They’re probably bitter and angry. I’ll call them and rub it in. They’re all in London."

For Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton of "Friday Night Lights," the nominations are a lovely complement to the end of the series. Said Britton, "After five seasons, it just feels incredible to have the show recognized. It was long deserved, I think." Chandler talked about hearing the news: "My wife came out and said, 'Guess what, you just got nominated!' I immediately asked, 'What about Connie?' She told me that she got one too. Then she shoved me in the swimming pool."

 Mireille Enos of "The Killing" talked about the backlash to the show's finale. "I loved the reaction," she said. "It's evidence of how attached people had gotten to the show. My hunch is that the people who are screaming loudest are the ones who are going to be the first to watch the next season."

Who was overlooked? Slattery mentioned "Mad Men's" Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete Campbell.

And what about the stiffest competition among fellow nominees? "Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara pointed to  certain popular octogenarian: "Betty White is on the list, that can’t be good for anyone."

Michael C. Hall couldn't choose one name. "Oh, gosh, I don’t know. It’s strange," he said. "We’re not running a 100-yard dash. We’re all doing very different things. It’s a strange thing deciding whose is best. Good luck to the voters doing that."

 RELATED:

Full Awards Tracker coverage of Emmy 2011 nominations

Tweeters Digest: Hollywood twitters about the Emmys nominations

-- Joy Press

Photo: Top: Michael C. Hall at The Los Angeles Times' 3rd Annual The Envelope: Primetime Emmy Screening Series panel in Los Angeles. Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images. Bottom: Sofia Vergara in "Modern Family." Credit: ABC.

Tweeter's Digest: TV folks tweet about the 2011 Emmy nominations

Emmy nominations are announced at the crack of dawn, designed to catch celebs at their most tired and vulnerable.

Amid all the joyful congratulations and "I'm so grateful" messages -- among them Martha Plimpton of "Raising Hope" (@marthaplimpton) and "Glee" star Jane Lynch (@janemarielynch) -- were a few tweets from and about those snubbed. Kyra Sedgwick (@KyraSedgwick), who won best actress for "The Closer" last year but wasn't nominated this time, gracefully gave a nod to her costar Mary McDonnell, who is up for an award. Nominated "Modern Family" producer Steven Levitan (@SteveLevitan) sent condolences to not-nominated "Community" creator Dan Harmon (@DanHarmon).

But the award for Emmy nomination tweets should go to prolific tweeter Kurt Sutter (@sutterink), creator of "Sons of Anarchy," who joked that he, "Walking Dead" creator Frank Darabont and "Treme" creator David Simon -- all left off the best drama list this year -- would wreak vengeance. 

RELATED:

Emmys: List of nominees

HBO dominates the Emmy nominations

Emmys: Margo Martindale on her "Justified" role

-- Joy Press

Photo: "Glee's" Jane Lynch. Credit: Matt Sayles / Associated Press

 

 

'Weeds' creator Jenji Kohan talks about whether Season 7 is the last and life as a showrunner

"Weeds" begins its seventh season Monday night, and rumor has it that it may be the show's last. Jenji Kohan, who created the series, says she doesn't know yet if this will be the last gasp for drug dealer Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker) -- newly out of prison -- who flees California this season for the anonymity of New York City.

Kohan is a child of showbiz. Her father, Buz Kohan, was an Emmy-winning TV writer and her brother David co-created "Will & Grace." But she says she hasn't always had the easiest time making her way in the industry.  She took time from writing and filming the rest of the season to discuss the dark dramedy and her career as a showrunner.

Is this the final season of "Weeds"?

I don’t know. My deal’s up in January and I haven’t heard anything yet from the network or the studio, so I honestly couldn’t tell you.

Are you writing as if it's the end?
I’ve got two plans [laughs]. My favorite thing is having options.

So you're creating two sets of endings depending on whether it gets renewed?

It is not easy. But I don’t want to get caught with my pants down, I want to do [the ending] right.

Did you start out wanting to be a TV writer?

My impetus was vengeance, initially. I had an ex-boyfriend who said I had a better chance of getting elected to Congress than getting on the staff of a television show. I don't like to be told I can't do something. So I quit my day jobs -- I had three -- and I moved in with a friend studying for her medical boards. I'd watch tapes of shows and write my spec scripts and she would study anatomy. Now she heals people ... and I'm still doing the exact same thing.

What shows were you watching then?

At that time, it was "Roseanne" and "Seinfeld." I’d grown up on comedies like "Cheers" and "Cosby" and "The Life and Times of Molly Dodd." ... I really was influenced by ["Molly Dodd"]. I found it whimsical and smart, it was one of my favorite shows. And one of my first internships was with Jay Tarses [creator of "Molly Dodd"]. I thought, 'I'm going to sit at his knee and learn the secrets of brilliant television. But instead I was mixing dressing into salads and buying capuccinos for a crew -- this was before Starbucks!

What was your first writing job?

My first job was "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." ... My ex-sister-in-law's father gave my specs in an elevator to an agent who lived in his building. I got very lucky. I came from a family that worked in this business, but when I expressed my interest they were like, "Go to law school."

Before creating "Weeds," you worked on several shows with women at their center, including "Tracey Takes On," starring Tracey Ullman, and "Gilmore Girls."

"Tracey" was a huge turning point for me. What I learned on "Tracey" was how to run a healthy show, where everyone was good at what they do and kind to one another and when they're done, they go home. Not to mention that I had someone running the room who I could hand a piece off to who would immediately perform it and let me know how it was. I also learned I am not a performer. We'd turn in our drafts and the whole room would take parts and read them out and perform them for Tracey -- but I was quickly relegated to reading stage directions. I was the joke slayer. I hear it all in my head but it just doesn't come out of my mouth right.

As 'Game of Thrones' nears its finale, show runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss talk about Season 2

The first season of “Game of Thrones” comes to a close this Sunday, having won over many viewers who wouldn’t normally immerse themselves in fantasy. It's also left some fans — those who hadn’t already read George R.R. Martin’s books — shellshocked by the brutal deaths of a few major characters (some more beloved than others).

HBO has granted the show a second season, sending show runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss back to Belfast, where they are furiously working on adapting a script from the second book of the saga, “A Clash of Kings.”

They spoke by phone about which characters will reappear in Season 2 and the near-impossibility of creating a cable series out of books that depict an increasingly complex, epic world.

[Spoiler alert: If you don't want to read any discussion of the next season, avert your eyes now.]

There are some big shifts between the first book and the second — different characters, new locations, huge battle scenes and new elements like ... dragons. How closely are you sticking to the book?

Weiss: The book is always going to be our template, our go-to bible. It's mainly about the balancing act between keeping the characters the  viewers have spent so much time investing in front-and-center and introducing all these new characters George has come up with and giving them their fair share. That's what we're currently engaged in doing.

So you’re still rewriting?

Benioff:  We're definitely still rewriting. You start out with your dream scenario, and then the hard reality hits you and you make adjustments. We're still in that adjustment phase. There's a lot of writing and a lot of casting still. Most series if you get second season you're done with most of the casting. With the second book and the second season, a whole slew of characters make their appearances.

Weiss: I'm sitting here looking at our casting grid, which is a grid of names and faces of all the characters. Last year I remember being so excited as I'd watch week after week — it gradually fills in and finally ... you have this beautiful wall of faces that represents your cast. Now I'm looking at the grid again, and half the people are gone because they've been massacred wholesale. And now there's a grid to be filled in again with a new group of people.

Benioff: Luckily it's a big enough cast that the people we're attached to ... the whole top row is all people we know.

Weiss: It’s different people in the top row, but the whole top row is people we know, and almost the whole second row.

Benioff: We should keep a ghost wall up.

Weiss: The dearly departed. But eventually the dearly departed will be bigger than the cast.

There have been a lot of deaths in the first season. Our recapper has been keeping a tally of deaths and breasts — and often it’s an uneven number of breasts.

Jon Hamm and Matthew Weiner take us inside the past and future of 'Mad Men'

 


Earlier this week the Los Angeles Times' Envelope hosted a "Mad Men" Q&A session featuring show creator Matthew Weiner and cast members Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks and Kiernan Shipka, and hosted by Times TV editor Martin Miller.

Looking roguishly casual with his 5 o'clock shadow, Hamm discussed the inner workings of Don Draper with some seriousness: "I think the guy is a pretty damaged person and there's a fundamental falsehood about his existence, as we well know...I think this season's arc has brought him the closest he has come to some kind of fundamental shift in who he is."

But Hamm, who is set to direct the Season 5 premiere (which won't air until 2012), acknowledged that Draper isn't necessarily any closer to true self-realization. "I think he's still the same scared person running from the explosion, running from the war in many ways."

Weiner addressed the strained contract negotiations among himself, AMC and production studio Lionsgate over the show's next season. "It was public, and there was no reason for that. But...the most important things for me are that after it's over, I get to go back to work and that we get to do three more years of the show."

Weiner also revealed a very surprising influence: "I used to watch 'St. Elsewhere' a lot; it was one of my favorite shows. There's so many comedians in that show and it was part of my guide for casting this show." He continued, "You have a real opportunity for real deep humor if the drama is steady enough,"  talking specifically about the episode last season in which the staff has to hide Ida Blankenship's dead body. 

Take a look at the video excerpts of Jon Hamm and Matt Weiner from the hourlong discussion and check back next week for further clips from Envelope panels for "Shameless" and "Justified," among others.

RELATED:

Full Show Tracker coverage of 'Mad Men'

Michael C.Hall, Timothy Hall, Cloris Leachman and more to join Envelope Emmy panels

-- Joy Press

Photo: Kiernan Shipka, Christina Hendricks, Jon Hamm and Matthew Weiner at the Envelope Screening Series. Credit: Stefanie Keenan.

Tweeter's Digest: What's 'Two and a Half Men' squared away? Ashton Kutcher

How quickly we forget about last week’s excitement — it's like Osama bin Laden meant  nothing to us. 

This week’s celebrity Twitter feeds skittered all over the place, from news of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver’s split and Neil Patrick Harris (@actuallyNPH) hosting the Tonys to the elimination of fan favorite James Durbin from “American Idol” and the surprise announcement that Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) would take over for Charlie Sheen on “Two and a Half Men.” [For the record: An earlier version of this post had Harris hosting the Emmys and has been corrected.]

Kutcher himself hinted about it Thursday in an oblique tweet: "what's the square root of 6.25?" And while TV folks from “Lost” producer Damon Lindelof (@DamonLindelof) to child star Demi Lovato commented on Kutcher’s move, Sheen himself (who had been very vocal  just a month ago) issued no tweets on the topic.

— Joy Press

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RELATED:

Full Tweeter's Digest archive

Photo: Ashton Kutcher in January. Credit: Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty Images.

Tweeter's Digest: The week in TV tweets, from about Osama to 'Celebrity Wife Swap'

The Royal Wedding and Donald Trump were bumped out of the news promptly last weekend by word that Osama bin Laden was dead.

As the week began, twitterfeeds continued to buzz as everyone from Stephen Colbert (@StephenatHome) to comedian Paul Scheer (@paulscheer) weighed in with Osama quips, while Rich Sommer (@richsommer) of "Mad Men" amused himself with the juxtapostion between tweets about Bin Laden and Snooki's love life.

Of course, as days passed, TV folks largely returned focus to more ordinary things -- "Dollhouse" star Eliza Dushku (@elizadushku) celebrated Cinco de Mayo,  "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes (@shondarhimes) joked about the perils of being sick without TV doctors to heal her, Lou Diamond Phillips (@LouDPhillips) tweeted about new reality show "Celebrity Wife Swap" -- and Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) ran low on Quicktrim.

-- Joy Press

twitter.com/joypress

More after the jump.

 

 

RELATED:

Celebs tweet about Osama bin Laden

BBC America announces 'The Fades' and explains its science-fiction fixation

It may be royal-wedding week in the U.K., but BBC America has its eye on spookier things: The network just announced that it’s co-producing a new supernatural drama called “The Fades,” to premiere January 2012.

Written by Jack Thorne (who wrote for the U.K. versions of “Skins” and “Shameless” as well as co-writing the Shane Meadows movie “This is England ’86”), it stars Lily Loveless and Daniel Kaluuya  (who both starred in the original U.K. “Skins”) and features a plotline about a boy who sees spirits.

This comes on the heels of last week’s announcement that the channel would air 80 hours of 2003 sci-fi classic “Battlestar Galactica,” which originally ran on Syfy, starting June 18. Not only that, but the recently announced upcoming slate also includes the new series “Outcasts,” described as a “frontier sci-fi drama” about power struggles and sex in “a new post-Earth era” (premieres June 18) and the spooky fall 2011 drama “Bedlam,” about an apartment building haunted by its former inhabitants -- patients in a lunatic asylum. These new shows will join existing programs such as “Doctor Who” and “Being Human” on BBC America’s “Supernatural Saturday block.”

So is BBC America trying to compete with Syfy to become the geek network of choice?

According to Perry Simon, general manager of BBC America, it’s just a matter of focusing on what they do well.  “Science fiction is a staple of British television -- there’s rich history of it, and they do it very well. As a result, BBCA has gotten a steady pipeline of quality British science fiction, and we have over the years wanted to deliver it in coherent fashion, which led us to brand 'Supernatural Saturday.' "

Tweeters Digest: The week in tweets -- a royal wedding and retwitterment

In Tweeters Digest, we round up some of the events of the week as seen through the Twitter feeds of TV personalities. In previous editions, celebs have come together over some major issues -- Charlie Sheen and star feuds as well as April fools.

This week, stars deployed their 140-character tweets on subjects as varied as Passover, Donald Trump's political posturing and the impending royal wedding of William and Kate.

Meanwhile, Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) continued to make his presence known. Anthony Bourdain (@NoReservations) got giddy with the cast of "The Wire" (including @WendellPierce), Martha Stewart (@MarthaStewart) rubbed elbows with Gene Simmons (@Genesimmons), and Paul Reiser (@paulreiser) expressed dismay at the swift cancellation of his show.

And Paris Hilton (@ParisHilton)? She went to Disneyland.

-- Joy Press
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More tweets after the jump.

Still missing Starbuck and Adama? BBC America picks up reruns of 'Battlestar Galactica'

When you think of British television, what comes to mind? Cockney lads drinking in a pub -- or spaceships and ghosts? The network announced that it has acquired 80 hours of contemporary classic “Battlestar Galactica,” airing reruns of the 2003 miniseries and the first four seasons of the regular series (2004-2009), all of which originally ran on Syfy. It will launch on BBC America Saturday, June 18, comforting Ronald D. Moore fans still craving their Cylon fix.

“Galactica” joins existing BBC America shows like “Doctor Who,” the new season of which begins this Saturday, and the UK version of “Being Human,” about a trio of roommates who just happen to be a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost, which is scheduled to begin a fourth season in spring 2012.

BBC America's upcoming slate also includes the new series “Outcasts,” described as a “frontier sci-fi drama” about power struggles and sex in “a new post-Earth era” (premieres June 18) and the spooky fall 2011 drama “Bedlam,” about an apartment building haunted by its former inhabitants –- patients in a lunatic asylum.

Full Show Tracker coverage of "Battlestar Galactica" and "Caprica"

-- Joy Press

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