‘WESTWORLD’ ROBOTS IN SUSPENDED ANIMATION!
Ed Harris
Production on HBO’s WESTWORLD was abruptly halted
last week, with only seven of the ordered ten episodes in the can. In production for more than a year, the HBO
sci-fi-western series is based on the 1973 movie from writer-director Michael
Crichton, produced by Saul David. It’s
about a resort where people pay a lot of money to live out their fantasies in
various eras including the old west, in a town peopled by human-seeming robots
who are programmed to cater to their every wish. The original film stars Richard Benjamin and
James Brolin as tourists, and Yul Bryner – looking exactly as he did in
MAGNIFICENT 7 – as a robot who develops a mind of his own, and won’t let the
humans outdraw him anymore.
Anthony Hopkins, seated
They’ve been very quiet about the new version, so it’s
not known how closely they’re sticking to the original plot. Ed Harris has the Yul Bryner role, and looks
great in the stills. The cast includes
Anthony Hopkins – Oscar winner for SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, as a new character,
Dr. Robert Ford (don’t know if it’s a coincidence that it’s the same name as
the man who shot Jesse James), James Marsden, Thandie Newton, and Evan Rachel
Wood.
They’ve had Gene Autry’s old Melody Ranch locked
down tight as a drum ever since DJANGO UNCHAINED left. While the order was for ten episodes, and
seven have been shot, on Monday, November 9th, the crew was told
that they’d e wrapping on Thursday, the 12th, to allow for reworking
the last three scripts for the season. They’re scheduled to restart production in
January. The series is set to premiere
on HBO in February. Stand by for
updates.
NEW RADIO WESTERN ‘POWDER BURNS’ SETS AIRWAVES
AFIRE!
Dramatic radio was a wonderful medium for
Westerns. Although they featured
breathtaking vistas and violent action, the audience created all the visuals,
so they cost no more to make than any other program. A horse was easy to create
with a pair of syncopated cocoanut shells.
For kids there was THE LONE RANGER, THE CISCO KID, and RED RYDER. For adults, GUNSMOKE starring William Conrad,
TALES OF THE TEXAS RANGERS starring Joel McCrea, FORT LARAMIE starring Raymond
Burr. Then audiences started drifting to
the grey light-box, where you didn’t have to use your imagination – you just
had to squint. Most of the shows segued
to television, or simply disappeared.
HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL reversed the process – starting on TV, starring
Richard Boone, and then spawning a radio version starring John Dehner. GUNSMOKE had six concurrent seasons on both
mediums, but on June 18, 1961, the last radio episode was broadcast. In October of 1962, the very last radio
drama, SUSPENSE, played its final show.
The era of dramatic radio was officially over.
For years, the old shows were only available on
records, then cassettes. Now they’re on
CDs and MP3 downloads. Once every major
city in the United States had some OTR – old time radio – program somewhere on
the dial; most of those are gone now as well. There have been sporadic new
shows from time to time: TWILIGHT ZONE and its imitators. But I can’t think of a Western since
GUNSMOKE.
Until now.
David Gregory and his associates have created a new Western radio series
– he calls it audio rather than radio – called POWDER BURNS. Burns is the name of the lawman it features,
a lawman who’s recently gone blind. It’s
recorded in New York City, in a cramped sound-booth where DORA THE EXPLORER
started out. And they’re attracting some
strong talent: Robert Vaughn, the original MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., and the last
man standing of THE MAGNIFICENT 7, guest stars in episode 4. You can hear the first 18 minute episode by
clicking the link below. And you can
read my interview with its creator, David Gregory.
HENRY PARKE: I’m going to play devil’s
advocate. Have you not heard that
dramatic radio died in 1962? And
westerns are supposed to have been dead for years. Why did you decide to revive them both by
creating POWDER BURNS?
DAVID GREGORY: I’ve always wanted to do a radio
drama, because I grew up with them. I
have sort of the same memories as my grandparents have of listening to these
shows, because I was given some tapes and cassettes as a kid. I got so into it that it’s something that
I’ve always wanted to do. I felt that in
today’s very visually-oriented society, if we’re going to do another audio drama,
we’ve got to really market it for today’s audience. And the only way I thought that would be
doable would be to do it from the perspective of somebody who is blind, so the
modern audience wouldn’t think that they were missing anything. I tried it in a few different genres first –
the western was not the first one I went for.
It’s my personal favorite genre, but I didn’t think this kind of a story
would work as a western. I tried it as a
sci-fi piece first, sort of like when Charlton Heston first wakes up in PLANET
OF THE APES, and his crew is dead, he’s the only one alive, and he doesn’t know
what’s going on. My initial idea was
something like that, where all he’s got to talk to is the ship’s computer, and
he can’t see, and he’s trying to figure out what’s happened to his crew. I actually wrote two episodes, and my
computer crashed and I lost them. Then I
tried it again as a private detective, and I got a couple of pages in, and I
couldn’t figure out how to keep the longevity of the character going. The western was the third try, and I wrote
four episodes in two weeks, and it just worked. Maybe because it was more character-driven –
I didn’t over-analyze it, I knew it was working. So that’s where I approached it from, trying
to make it where someone like my little brother (would listen to). We have different tastes in movies. He’ll go out and see TRANSFORMERS in the
movie theatre. If we’re going to make
someone like that listen to this, what’s our angle? It’s that you’re not missing out on anything,
because he’s supposed to not see, and neither are you. That’s sort of the pitch.
HENRY: That
makes perfect sense. I was wondering
why you chose to make him blind, other than the novelty, but that makes perfect
sense for an audience who is used to seeing everything. I can see you’re a young guy by the picture
on the website. How old are you?
DAVID: I just turned thirty.
HENRY: What
sort of radio shows were you given?
DAVID: I’ll
never forget. The first one I was given
was the first episode of THE LONE RANGER.
My grandmother found it at a Cracker Barrel, and she told my mom,
“You’ve really got to get this for David – I think he’ll really like it.” Because I grew up watching John Wayne
movies. I wanted to be John Wayne.
HENRY: As you
were growing up there weren’t very many westerns series on TV. Were there any that you watched?
DAVID: I do
remember DR QUINN, MEDICINE WOMAN, very vividly. That was a big one. Obviously it was a strong
female-character-driven show, which was unique, not only for the time, but
still. But there was still something
there for the guys. Sully, the lead male
character, he had that axe that he threw in the opening credits. I just remember between the John Wayne movies
and that, having an affinity for the genre.
POWDER BURNS table read - that's Robert Vaughn
in the red jacket
HENRY: How do you go about creating a dramatic radio
show today? There’s not a Red or Blue or
Mutual Network to take it to.
DAVID: I knew
this guy who had done some engineering work.
And I approached him because we both loved the old time radio shows. He’s 31, and I hadn’t met anyone else my age
who I could mention someone like Virginia Gregg or John Dehner, and he’d know
who they are. There’s nobody my age who
knows who those people are. So I
approached him with this script, and I said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do
with this, but I’d like to try it, I’d like to give it a shot.” This is about October of last year. And we thought, let’s try to raise some money
and record a pilot. Which is frankly, a
lot cheaper to do as a radio show (than a TV show), because you don’t have to
pay for cameras or make-up or costumes.
I did the pilot with friends of mine, so I guess I could have asked them
to do it for free. But I think actors
should be paid for what they do. And I
wanted these particular actors to know that I was very serious. So I approached my cast, and everyone said
yes, and we recorded it in February. And
then used that pilot as a jump-start to do a Kickstarter campaign. And that’s how we raised money to do more
(episodes), just to cover studio costs.
I ended up approaching Robert Vaughn to do a guest star role. I wanted to make sure we had enough in the
bank to offer him. To come to his
manager with a legitimate offer, so that he’d know we were serious. Knock on wood, no one’s turned us down
yet. It’s been pretty exciting.
HENRY: That’s great.
How did you know Robert Vaughn?
DAVID: About
four years ago, I was cast in an independent film that this woman, Donna
McKenna, a casting director in New York, was putting together, (EXCUSE ME FOR LIVING - 2012). Part of the selling point for me was we’ve
got Christopher Lloyd, we’ve got Robert Vaughn, we’ve got Jerry Stiller, we’ve
got a lot of great actors in this movie.
So I did the film, and a couple of months ago I approached her
again. I said, Kat, I know you’re good
at getting these kinds of names in small productions. I was wondering if you could help get Robert
Vaughn for us. This guy’s old-school
Hollywood. He doesn’t do emails, so I
had to messenger a physical copy of the script, and wait with bated breath as
he read it. I wrote him a little letter
– I knew his father, Walter Vaughn, was a radio actor, who did GANGBUSTERS, and
played a lot of heavies. I said I know
this is some of your family’s legacy, and you’ve done some yourself, and would
you honor us by jumping back in the saddle, to do this? And I can’t believe it, but he said yes. And I’m proud to say, when we did bring him
in, we rehearsed him, got him in the booth first, and got him out with ten
minutes to spare. And he said it’s the
fastest and most efficient anyone’s ever let him in and out for a job.
HENRY: That’s
terrific, and he’s certainly had all kinds of experience. And as you pointed out, he’s the last of THE
MAGNIFICENT 7. How would you describe the
premise of POWDER BURNS?
DAVID: POWDER
BURNS is an original Western audio drama that takes place solely from the
perspective of a blind sheriff, so the audience sees them as he sees them,
without sight.
HENRY: And he’s got a very interesting backstory. He was a Confederate General.
DAVID: He
fought four years in the war, and returns home pretty much unscathed. But it was a freak accident when he was
hunting with his son that ends up blinding him and killing his son. So there’s the guilt of having to deal with
the death of his son being his responsibility.
And we’ll learn more and more in each episode what really happened. And then in the finale of our first season
we’ll find out what actually happened on the day.
HENRY: You’ve
already posted four 18-minute episodes.
How many episodes will there be this first season?
DAVID: It’s
going to be seven. They’re all written;
they’re all ready to go. The idea is,
it’s his last week as sheriff, and there’s going to be an election at the end
of the week. So each episode represents
a day as we go through the last week of his term as sheriff.
HENRY: Is
your intention to continue with more seasons and more adventures?
DAVID: I’d
absolutely love to. The show was born
out of a desire to work. I was having
trouble finding acting work at the time that I was putting it together. And it was sort of a way to keep myself busy,
and it’s been a blessing. But we’re
always at the mercy of these other actors.
Nobody’s doing this show to make a living; we’re doing it out of the
love for it. So as long as people are
free and have some time, we’re going to record more episodes. But it’s becoming very difficult to get
everyone in the booth (at the same time).
John Wesley Shipp plays the sheriff.
In the third episode, he and I carry the first half, sitting around a
campfire. And because of scheduling, he
and I were not in the same room on the same day. We luckily have a wonderful engineer/director,
Noah Tobias, who put it together in such
a way that you couldn’t tell. So I’m
glad it worked out, but I wouldn’t want to do it again.
HENRY: Do you
like to do it the traditional way, when everybody’s standing at microphones and
doing it at the same time?
DAVID: Oh, I
love that, and there’s a chemistry that happens when people are reading live,
off of each other. We had an actor in
episode two that wasn’t available, so we recorded him at least a month and a
half prior, and plugged him in, and it worked, you really can’t tell at
all. But I want to make sure that when
we can, we get everyone together, because that is part of the joy of it, the
experience of doing it together, just as if we were living in the golden age,
and having everyone gathered in what is now a very tiny booth.
HENRY: Why
did you decide to go for a continuing story instead of contained episodes?
DAVID:
Initially I was going to do self-contained episodes, and I think the
first two are sort of structured that way.
Then I realized that the way things are done today are very very
serialized. You look at the big shows
like GAME OF THRONES and BREAKING BAD.
HENRY: Really
everything that’s mattered since THE SPORANOS has been structured that
way.
DAVID: I just
felt that we had to make sure we had something that brings in the crowd that
knows THE LONE RANGER and GUNSMOKE. And
we’ve also got to have something to bring in the crowd that, when they think of
a Western, thinks of DJANGO UNCHAINED. I
had to find the elements, the best of the Western. The things I like to listen to. So the music
is a little more Clint Eastwood than John Ford/John Wayne. And that, for some people, can be
alienating. But at the same time I think
the story structure, and the ultimate moral is a little more John Ford. It can be sentimental and old school, for a
lack of a better term. And those are all
things that excite me, and things that I grew up with. I actually had someone on Twitter the other
day, recommending it to someone else say, “You’ve got to listen to Powder
Burns. It’s the Lone Ranger meets Clint
Eastwood meets the BBC.”
HENRY: That’s a great compliment. Age wise, what audience are you aiming for?
DAVID: I had
someone send me a message the other day; they said they had two children, ten
and
fourteen, who really enjoyed the show.
And the ten year old really surprises me, because I thought we’d be over
their head, just a bit. My rule of
thumb, as my director was saying, is nothing I will write is anything you
wouldn’t have in a John Wayne movie.
There will be the ‘Hells’ and the ‘damns’, the western style –
HENRY: But
it’s not going to be Tarantino dialogue?
DAVID: (laughing) Not in the least! I don’t know that we could get away with
that, especially in an audio-only medium.
HENRY: Do you
intend to keep POWDER BURNS as a strictly radio show, or have you contemplated
other media, like film or TV?
DAVID: I’d
love to do film or TV. It’s funny; the
last couple of months I’ve been in L.A., and whenever someone asks me about it,
they love the idea, and I tell them we’d be open to doing it as a limited series,
or something along that line. But
everybody thinks it’s a comedy. I had
someone say, “A blind central character doing that doesn’t make any sense.” And I say, what about RAY? And SCENT OF A WOMAN? Those are two of the best written characters
ever on the screen. I feel like Emmett
Burns could be one of those. But what I
get from Hollywood types is laughter.
Part of the point of the show is he’s just as capable of doing his job
without his sight, and maybe more so.
Because I’ve worked freelance with the Healthy Eye Alliance back in the
tri-state area, and part of the show is to illuminate to the sighted what it
might be like to be blind. I’ve had
people tell me they listen to the show and say they forgot he was blind. And that’s kind of the point; you should
forget. Because he doesn’t go through
the show saying, “I’m blind! I’m
blind!” He’s owning his disability; the
line from the opening episode is, “I’m blind, not a cripple,” and that’s sort of the thesis of the show.
John Wesley Shipp, Robert Vaughn, David Gregory
HENRY: It’s
interesting. What you have is sort of a
reverse fish-out-of-water story, in the sense
that this is his water, this is his world. And yet his circumstance has changed so
radically; he’s not someplace new, but the world has changed around him. That’s a really unusual premise, and I buy
this in a way I wouldn’t buy it if he was a blind man running for sheriff.
DAVID: And that’s something he says in every
episode, “Nobody wants a blind sheriff – me included. I’m not going to run for reelection.” We find out later the only reason his deputy
is sticking around is because he says, “You’re not fit for command,
sheriff. I’m just here so you can finish
your term, and then we’re done.” I
wanted to make sure that the crux of this season is, is he or is he not going
to run for sheriff. And there’s
something else that drives him to maybe run for sheriff.
HENRY: David, in your official bio at the site, it
says, “David is known primarily for saying
lines on TV in his underwear.” What’s
that about?
DAVID: (laughs) I was on a soap
opera, ONE LIFE TO LIVE, for three years, and I was rarely costumed. That’s actually how I met John Wesley Shipp,
who plays the sheriff; he played my villainous father on the show. I sent to him an email saying I have this
script. Would you like to take a
look? He said, let’s do it. We hadn’t worked together in a while, and it
was such a great excuse to get together and work together again. Florencia Lozano, who guest stars in episode two is another ONE
LIFE TO LIVE alumnus, and it was the same thing. I called her up and said I can give you this
amount of money, and here’s the script, and she said yes.
HENRY: In addition to creating
and writing and producing POWDER BURNS, you also play Deputy Bell. You’re the boss – why didn’t you give
yourself the part of Sheriff Burns?
DAVID: Actually, when we were
trying to raise money to do the show, my initial plan was to do a six minute
clip from the show to help sell it. John
was not available at the time, and somebody said David, why don’t you do
it? But it wouldn’t work. The quality of my voice, that’s not who he
is. I know for a fact that this story
works because we have a sixty-year-old man playing this war-torn sheriff. And he brings it – there is something very
special to what he’s doing. And I know
that I fit the best in the character I’m playing. And I almost didn’t play that part. I thought maybe I should just be on the
technical end of things so I don’t spread myself too thin. But I thought no, it’s a part I want to play,
it’s a part I know how to do, and I think I can bring something to. Everybody that’s involved in their specific
role, I think they fit perfectly. It
really makes quite a symphony of talent.
To learn more, and to hear the
other episodes, go HERE.
WED. COWBOY LUNCH - SONS & DAUGHTERS OF THE WEST!
Dawn & Clayton Moore
On Wednesday,
November 18, at high noon at the Autry’s Crossroads West Café, come for a
delicious lunch, then enjoy Rob Word’s ‘A Word On Westerns’ discussion. This month, the topic is ‘Sons and Daughters
of the West,’ and Rob has gathered a remarkable group of offspring: Roy Roger’s
daughter Cheryl Rogers-Burnett; Clayton Moore’s daughter Dawn Moore; Joel
McCrea and Frances Dee’s grandson Wyatt McCrea; John Mitchum’s daughter and
Robert Mitchum’s niece, Cindy Mitchum Azbill; and child star Robert Winckler’s
son William Winckler.
Find out
what it was like to grow up in Hollywood’s golden years, as kids of some of your
favorite Western stars! And If you want
to be sure and get a seat, better come early – Rob’s events are always packed! The event is free (you’ve got to buy your
lunch, of course), and the fun is priceless!
JUST ADDED – Special guest star,
the lovely Joan Collins!
GRIZZLY ADAMS REBOOT UPDATE!
Dan Haggerty as Grizzly Adams
In the December TRUE WEST MAGAZINE, I write about
the Ten Best Mountain Man movies, in preparation for the Christmas release of
Leonardo DiCaprio in THE REVENANT. On
the list of course is THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS, which starred Dan
Haggerty, and became a very popular TV series.
The rights to Grizzly Adams were offered for sale in June, which was
surprising, since he was a real man, not an invented character. What they’re actually selling is the
fictionalized version of the man, as it was developed by GRIZZLY ADAMS producer
Charles Sellier. Last week the Abrams
Artists Agency came on-board to represent all rights. The man behind the move to revitalize Grizzly
Adams is Tod Swindell, who is now teamed with Michael Greenberg, exec producer
on MACGYVER and STARGATE SG-1.
Why the sudden interest in the bear-lovin’ mountain
man? The beard and the flannel – Dan
Haggerty as Grizzly Adams – is the man that the hipster lumbersexuals are
trying to be. The GRIZZLY ADAMS
franchise brought in over $140 million in the 1970s – that would certainly be
twice as much in today’s dollars.
By the way, Dan Haggerty was actually the second man to portray Grizzly Adams on
film. The first? John Huston, in THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JUDGE
ROY BEAN, 1972, which Huston also directed, from a John Milius script.
‘JOHNNY GUITAR’ AT NEW YORK’S FILM FORUM THRU THURS.
If you’re in New York City, a beautiful new
restoration of JOHNNY GUITAR is showing at the Film Forum through Thursday, the
19th. If you haven’t seen
this western, it’s a real love it or hate it film. It stars Joan Crawford and Mercedes MacCambridge
as dueling land baronesses. The male
leads are Scott Brady as The Dancin’ Kid and Sterling Hayden as Johnny Guitar. The traditional sex-roles are reversed, with
the men playing it ‘straight’ and the women chewing the scenery. It’s great nutty fun, with a great
supporting cast -- Ward Bond, John Carradine, Ernest Borgnine. It’s directed by the great Nicholas Ray, who
gave us REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, IN A LONELY PLACE, THE LUSTY MEN, and many
others. When I was in college, at NYU
Film School, I actually got to work with Nick Ray for one weekend. All I did was repair torn sprockets, but it
was a thrill to just be around him and listen to his stories.
‘GUNSMOKE’ RADIO REENACTMENT AT THE VAN NUYS ELKS
SAT. NOV 21ST !
Unexpectedly, I get to end with
another Western radio item. This Saturday
night at the Elks Lodge 2790 will kick off their annual Holiday Food Basket
Drive to benefit families in the Van Nuys area with a night of Old Time Radio
reenactments! I’ve been asked to take
part! We’ll be performing episodes of
GUNSMOKE, MY FAVORITE HUSBAND – on TV it became I LOVE LUCY, and a great
Sherlock Holmes story, A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA.
It’s open to the public, and admission is canned goods, food
or cash donations. Dinner is at six, the
play begins at 6:30. The Van Nuys -
Reseda Elks Lodge 2790 is located at 14440 Friar St. Van Nuys, 91401. It should be a lot of fun – hope to see you
there!
AND THAT’S A WRAP!
Had a great time this Saturday at
the Autry, introducing the screening of THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, and even
getting input from its costar, Sondra Locke!
Thanks to the more than a hundred folks who came. I’ll have a feature on the making of JOSEY
WALES in the Round-up very soon! And
good news -- the folks at getTV have come aboard at The Autry as sponsors of
their monthly ‘What is a Western?’ film series.
Happy Trails,
Henry!
All Original Contents Copyright
November 2015 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights Reserved
