French actress Camille de Pazzis and British-Canadian actor Scott Speedman have been cast in Shawn Ryan's Last Resort, an exciting pilot in contention for the 2012-2013 season on ABC.
First of all, to remind us all what this promising new thriller from Shawn Ryan (the great man behind a TV masterpiece (The Shield) and two fine short-lived copshows (The Chicago Code and Terriers)) is about, here's the synopsis :
The crew of the nuclear submarine USS Nevada disobeys a suspicious order coming from the US governement and thus become fugitives. They land on the island of Sainte Marina, where they take over the NATO listening station and declare themselves an independent nuclear nation.
I wonder if that Sainte Marina island they're talking about is Sainte Marine, a ria in Finistère, Brittany. Um... probably not.
Andre Braugher has been cast as Marcus Chaplin, the lead character of this show created and executive-produced by Ryan. Karl Gajdusdek (Dead Like Me) co-wrote the pilot. Autumn Reeser (The OC), Daniel Lissing (Crownies) and Daisy Betts (Persons Unknown) will co-star alongside Braugher and the two newly cast members I talk about below. The pilot will be filmed in Hawaii by Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale) next month.
Scott Speedman will play Sam Kendal, the second-in-command described as "the beating heart of the boat". It's not Speedman's first TV gig : he starred in JJ Abrams' Felicity from 1998 to 2002. He also starred in two Underworld movies.
Camille de Pazzis will play Sophie, a scientist in charge of the listening station when Chapin and his men decide to take over. She notably had a recurring role in the only season of Canal+'s brilliant esoteric thriller series Pigalle la nuit. She also played a part in the compelling family dramedy film Le premier jour du reste de ta vie (a.k.a The first day of the rest of your life). It will be her first english-speaking role, unless she speaks in french : after all it's set in Hawaii, on an island that probably doesn't exist in real life, with people creating a community there... maybe she's the new Sun and Jin.
Source : Deadline.
Based on Shawn Ryan's script, many are saying that it is one of the most promising pilots, addictive and full of potential. Based on the name of the creator, that doesn't surprise me, and casting Andre Braugher as the lead is awesome. I doubt Martin Campbell's directing will alter all that goodness. Sure, Campbell has done bad movies but he did direct two of the best James Bond movies (post-Sean Connery era) : the great Goldeneye and the brilliant Casino Royale.
ReplyDeleteAs I hint in the message above, I certainly wouldn't mind a new Lost (without sci-fi elements here, obviously) and there seems to be a few similarities already (the ones I mentioned above and also if it's picked up it will be on ABC). Shawn Ryan and ABC (and its female-skewing dramas) doesn't sound right, but I trust they will manage to have one male-skewing drama in their lineup (there can't be any other way to treat a story about rogue soldiers). If ABC leaves Shawn Ryan do what he does best (telling great stories), Last Resort could be one of the best shows on TV next season. But if it flops within days, then we'll all think about how it would have been a great show on, say, FX.
Yeah I love the sound of the series, but not the network it's on....
ReplyDeleteABC is one of my least favorite network. I may even prefer NBC over it and that is saying something!
I think I would be more excited for this if it would be airing on FX, AMC, or premium cable etc....
That said, I never hold what network a show airs on against a pilot or new series. Every network has their own formula and every network occasionally breaks their typical pattern occasionally.
Ditto. Of all the major networks, NBC is usually the one taking risks. It doesn't pay off ratingswise, but at least they have all my respect for sticking with critically acclaimed shows and low-rated series having big fanbases (unless they decide to cancel Community or Parks & Rec in May, in which case I would literally explode with anger and wish them all the misery of the world). They're good people for valuing quality over money, which is unusual for a company :D (they just don't have a choice so at least it's a satisfaction to have critics behind you on a few shows, other networks can't say that much, that priviledge is usually reserved to cable series).
ReplyDeleteNo way CBS or ABC would put a show like Chuck or Awake on the air (FOX might have). And I don't see any other network greenlighting shows with risqué subjects like The Playboy Club's : it wasn't good (certainly in part because of the constraints of network TV), and as predicted it flopped, but I like that they're trying.
When ABC is taking risks, like putting sci-fi/fantasy shows on the air, it doesn't turn out great (Lost excluded, but it was more of a mystery/adventure show for the first 3 seasons, not pure sci-fi straight off) : for instance, No Ordinary Family and V were crippled with cheesy family values, like Elisabeth Mitchell's character on V repeating a hundred times per episode that she loves her son and/or wants to know where her son is — by the way, given the trailer of ABC's Missing, I think Ashely Judd is going to top her on that gimmick (it could become a drinking game : each time she mentions "blablabla my son", one drinks a sip of alco... grapefruit juice (SpoilerTV is a family-friendly website)).
But exceptions do happen. After all, The Good Wife (the #2 best drama on network TV, imo, the first one being Fringe) is on CBS : the network that in general won't even consider to produce anything except multi-camera sitcoms and procedural copshows is the home of one of the finest shows on TV. So anything can happen.
I like to believe Last Resort will be an exception as well. Although, you have to admit, the synopsis of The Good Wife is not really bold or innovative, it's the brilliant writing and the stellar cast that make the show great. Last Resort, on the other hand, grabs the attention right awey with a unique setting and synopsis, and ambition displayed in such a obvious manner from the very beginning is rarely met with great ratings.
Obviously, for great drama series, I have much, much more faith in FX, AMC and the pay-cable channels, but every once in a while, one or two new network drama series happen to be good (e.g, speaking of ABC, I admit Revenge is pretty interesting to follow - can't say the same about Once Upon a Time or Pan Am, unfortunately).
Disagree completely. I feel ABC takes far more risks than the other big three. Ever since Desperate House and Lost brought back into the fold, they've been actively seeking shows with interesting premises, and it's obvious from their pilots that they aren't endless glut of Lawyer-Cops MD or laughtrack sitcoms. You don't have to love Revenge, OUAT or The River, but they really aren't like anything else on the other networks. Yes, their high-concept shows do often fail (like 90% of shows on network TV) but that's usually attributed to the show-runners dropping the ball (like Pan Am) rather than failure of the network.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is definitelly shaping up to be one of the more interesting pilots for next season....
ReplyDelete