Back in December I was relieved
to report that HELL ON WHEELS, whose 3rd season was put on hold
until a qualified show-runner could be found, was now merrily chugging down the
track under the able hands of exec producer and show-runner John Wirth, who has
previously performed similar duties on PICKET FENCES, FALLEN SKIES, TERMINATOR:
THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, and several other series. Most heartening of all,
back in 1993 he was a writer and producer on THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY
JR. It was one of the few memorable
Western efforts of the 1990s, which featured a wonderful line-up of
genre-beloved guest stars, in addition to Bruce Campbell in the title
role.
This week I reported on the
Round-up Facebook page that according to Deadline: Hollywood , NBC had ordered a Western pilot
entitled ‘6TH GUN’. Based on
the Oni Press graphic novel, it’s another supernatural Western, this one about
six mythical, mystical guns. It’s scripted
by Ryan Condal, whose HERCULES: THE THRACIAN WARS, to star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, is in pre-production. Producer is Carlton Cuse, who has two others
shows coming up: BATES MOTEL for A&E and the FX pilot The Strain,
in collaboration with Guillermo Del Toro.
I was contacted by Round-up reader Col. Kurtz, who informed me that Cuse
had produced LOST, and was also one of the creators of THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO
COUNTY JR. In fact, Cuse created the show
with Jeffrey Boam, wrote fourteen episodes and exec produced all 27
episodes. Nice to have two shows to look forward to! I hope we see Bruce Campbell turn up in both!
S.A.G. AWARDS HONORS WESTERNS
Tonight’s Screen Actors Guild Awards recognized some of the
very fine work done this year by actors in Western or Western-ish stories. Kevin Costner won Best Actor in a TV Movie or
Miniseries for his portrayal of Devil Anse Hatfield in HATFIELDS &
MCCOYS. Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor
in a Motion Picture for his portrayal of the sixteenth President in LINCOLN . Tommy Lee Jones won for Best Supporting
Actor in a motion picture for his portrayal of Thaddeus
Stevens in LINCOLN .
‘CODY!’ DETAILS THE LIFE OF HERO IN ONE-MAN SHOW
There are few icons of the Old West more controversial that
William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody. The Pony
Express rider, Indian fighter, buffalo hunter, scout and showman has been worshiped and reviled since he first gained fame. Playwright and historian Eric Sorg has crafted
a historically accurate single-character play that reveals many aspects of
Cody’s life, some of them eye-opening and amusing, but not all of them
attractive, and some quite tragic.
The real Buffalo Bill Cody
If there is one role Peter Sherayko was born to play, it’s
Buffalo Bill Cody, and Peter covers the range of Cody’s moods, from the
cheerfully cocky, to arrogant, wistful, and heartbroken. The details of how buffalo were hunted, the
encounters with unfriendly Indians, the story of how Cody came to be the
subject of dime novels, are revealing and entertaining. The details of his personal life are
humanizing. The downward personal and
financial spiral of Cody’s life was, to me, unexpected and moving. This is not a whitewashing of Cody, nor is it
a hatchet job. He talks easily of the
best way to kill Indians, and later, his friendship with them. And he talks much about his relationships
with other legends of the west, notably Bill Hickock, as well Ned Buntline, Sitting
Bull and Yellow hand. Amusingly, he
talks about one of Cody’s stage co-stars in his first theatrical appearance,
Texas Jack Vermillion, whom Sherayko portrayed in the movie TOMBSTONE .
Peter Sherayko in TOMBSTONE
Sherayko has performed the play in Nebraska ;
Ohio ; Pennsylvania ;
New York ; Texas ;
in Sheridan and Cody , Wyoming ;
at the Autry; and at the Karl May Festival in Germany . This filmed performance was done on a stage
splendidly decorated with historical artifacts, without an audience. Shot largely in a medium shot, there are a
very few cutaways to a high-angle shot, and hardly any editing; it’s nearly a one-take,
unbroken performance. Faded in from time
to time is historical footage of Cody himself performing in his Wild West
Show. The original stage production was
directed by Ted Lange. This filmed
version is directed by Josh Seat, with music by Jon Butcher. It’s available for $20 dollars from Peter’s
company, CARAVAN WEST, HERE.
WHY IT’S ‘ROUND-UP LITE’ TONIGHT
If the Round-up seems a bit briefer than usual today, I’ve
got a good excuse. Fellow screenwriter
and western historian C. Courtney Joyner and I spent the day doing audio
commentary for the Blu-Ray release of THE GRAND DUEL, the Lee Van Cleef
spaghetti western from 1972, which BLUE UNDERGROUND is releasing. It was a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of
preparation. They’ve done a beautiful
restoration on it – I’ll have more information as the release date nears.
Until then, Happy Trails!
Henry
All Original Contents Copyright January 2013 by Henry C.
Parke – All Rights Reserved
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