PAGE 8
MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
RockChalkLiving SEARCH ▶ DONT SETTLE
Coupons also available on The Kansan Mobile App
HELPING YOU MAINTAIN YOUR STUDENT BUDGET!
ON THE BORDER
MEXICAN GRILL
& CANTINA
FREE BOWL OF QUESO
WITH THE PURCHASE OF ANY ENTREE
3080 IOWA ST. | 785 371.4075 | Sun-Th 11-10 | Fri-Sat 11-11
15% OFF
ANY SERVICE
WITH STUDENT ID
Voted Best Pizza in Lawrence! 2011,2012,and 2013
2 Small Pizzas
2 toppings
2 drinks
PIZZERIA FreeDelivery!
749-0055 • 704 Mass. • rudyspizzeria.com
'Mob City'offers promise for producer, network
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - On a balmy midsummer evening at Griffith Park, a game of TV cops and mobsters is afoot.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS The cast of "Mob City" is dressed in '40s style costume during the filming of television drama in Griffith Park in Los Angeles on July 8.
Guns are holstered, trench coats are cinched and bruises are being smudged onto actors. And then, in mock dramatic fashion, Frank Darabont steps out of the shadows on the set of his 19408 L.A. noir drama "Mob City" and lights a cigarette.
"Time to play," said the 54-year-old writer and executive producer of the upcoming series, which premieres Dec. 4 on TNT. "We want people to dig this show." He's not the only one. For TNT, which has largely trafficked in middle-brow crime procedurals, sitcoms and reality programs, the new mob drama with an enviable pedigree among its creative talent represents a bold gambit into the world of prestige drama - the kind that draws widespread critical acclaim, enhances a network's standing and garners award nominations.
Success may even be more important to Darabont, who in the mob-speak of "The Godfather" films, would like to send a message to his former employers at AMC, whom he now publicly refers to as "sociopaths." Two years ago, the basic cable network unceremoniously booted Darabont from "The Walking Dead," a powerhouse show he had developed for television and for which he had served as show runner. His latest program is billed as a limited series, but if sufficient ratings are generated, it could easily slide into a regular spot on TNT's prime-time schedule.
"I needed a good experience after the last one," said Darabont, most famous for directing a pair of prison dramas, "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption." "I had plenty of bad feelings about doing TV again. But look, a horse trample you, you can get back on the horse and ride some more, or you decide you're never going to ride again.
"I'm not going to just sit back and feel sorry for myself, lick my wounds. That's ridiculous. You eventually have to move on." "Mob City" is loosely based on
John Buntin's nonfiction book "L.A. Noir," which focuses on the tumult swirling around the Los Angeles Police Department during the 1940s. In particular, the long and often bloody struggle between LAPD Police Chief William Parker (Neal McDonough) and gangster kingpins Ben "Bugsy" Siegel (Ed
"It feels like this is my life's work. I've traded in the zombies for the mobsters."
FRANK DARABONT 'Mob City' producer
Burns) and Mickey Cohen (Jeremy Luke) forms the narrative spine. Two years ago, Darabont stumbled across the book at an airport shop. He soon connected with executive producer Michael De Luca, who had optioned the book, and now, the work is finally coming to light. With elaborate production values, the TV show certainly takes its cues from the era and makes full use of noir staples: shadows, voiceovers, and mood-setting jazz music. Naturally, there's a conflicted hero Joe Teague (Jon Bernthal, a "Walking Dead" alum), a cop who walks a crooked line between good and bad.
"It feels like this is my life."
"It ites like this is my life's work," Darabont said recently at his
editing facilities in Los Angeles. "I've traded in the zombies for mobsters."
Darabont did not happily part ways with America's favorite serialized tale of a zombie apocalypse — a show that has continued to grow and set ratings records for AMC. First reports in 2011 identified creative differences and budgetary disagreements as the reasons for the split, but no clear back story has been offered publicly by either side since then for Darabont's removal. (Despite its overwhelming success, "The Walking Dead" is on its third show runner in four seasons.)
In May, at the upfronts in New York City where the networks trumpet their upcoming programs to advertisers, Darabont compared his "traumatic exit" to being jilted by a lover. The best coping mechanism seemed to be throwing himself into another relationship, this time developing "Mob City." The work ethic of the French-born graduate of Hollywood High is well known, and true to form, he quickly buried himself in research -- bingeing on classics such as "Sunset Blvd."," "The Third Man" and "Double Indemnity," and discovering others as well.
"No one is more invested in their work than Frank," said Bernthal, who was quickly cast in the lead following his exit from "The Walking Dead." "I want this show to stick. I want him to have that glory."
NBC will be (a)live Thursday night with 'The Sound of Music'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED NEWS
Carrie Underwood performs at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, Wednesday, April 17. Underwood will play the leading role in NBC's live stage production of "The Sound of Music."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRESNO, Calif. -The TV hills have been alive with the "The Sound of Music" since ABC first aired the feature film in 1976.
Since then, the broadcast of the movie - winner of five Oscars, including Best Picture - has become a mainstay of network and cable programming. But a new voice will echo through the hills this year as NBC airs a live stage production of the musical on Thursday, with Carrie Underwood stepping into the role made so famous by Julie Andrews.
"The Sound of Music Live!" is adapted from the Broadway musical, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The production, based on the book "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" by Maria von Trapp, is the story of a young woman who leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the seven children of a naval officer widower. Executive producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who have made a concentrated effort to bring theater to the masses through films and TV projects, stress this new staging is not an attempt to replace the much-beloved feature film. "We aren't remaking the film. Our production is designed to be a companion piece to the film. The two can be viewed together," Meron says during a telephone interview during the last weeks of rehearsal. "We feel like we are re-examining and re-imagining 'The Sound of Music'. It's something that no one has tried to do in many years."
Although he's very confident about the way the show is progressing, a lot of little items continue to be checked and rechecked. It's been some time since a live stage production was attempted on TV. Meron and Zadan are familiar with the needs of bringing a stage show to the small screen after producing TV movies based on "Gypsy," "Annie" and "A Raisin in the Sun."
Meron and Zadan have learned the value of combining stage veterans with big name stars. Unless you count standing in front of arenas filled with people as stage experience, Underwood's a novice to musical theater work.
Underwood does bring one of the hottest names in music to the production - and a voice that's already won her six Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards and 10 Academy of Country Music Awards. She's been on a meteoric
musical rise since winning the fourth season of Fox's "American Idol."
She'll need all of her musical chops to sing many of the show's signature songs, including "The Sound of Music," "My Favorite Things" and "Do-Re-Mi." Underwood was the first person Meron and Zadan thought of when they started putting together the cast for the live production. "We just felt from the start she was Maria," Meron says. "We knew Carrie as an incredible singer and that she was the multimedia artist that we needed. Singing live is not alien to Carrie; acting is new. I will tell you this, no one has worked harder and has been more prepared than Carrie."