Blog Archives
Chelsea Cain’s Casting Call
The news this week is that the FX Channel has optioned a TV pilot based on the thriller novels by Portland’s own Chelsea Cain.
Portland’s own Storm Large, portraying arguably the best-known character created by a Portland author … ever. This is a match made in heaven. Or in the secret laboratory of an evil genius. Whichever.
Which, of course, will lead to speculation about casting. In a series like this, casting will be all-important.
I’m a huge fan of Chelsea’s novels (and Chelsea’s journalism, and Chelsea in general). But unlike most readers I speak to, I don’t believe Gretchen Lowell – the psychotic serial killer – stands at the heart of the narrative. Archie Sheridan, the tortured and troubled cop, and Susan Ward, the neurotic young journalist, do.
So while the rest of fandom begins the inevitable bantering about who gets to play the psychosexual mastermind, Gretchen, I’ll be most keenly interested in who gets the roles of Archie and Susan.
Of course, someone already has played the role of Gretchen – at least, on Chelsea’s webpage. Singer, songwriter Storm Large brought an unsettling intensity to the photo shoot. Then again, I’ve met Storm and she’d bring an unsettling intensity to eating Cheerios. Just saying.
Any suggestions, folks?
I’m Justified in Watching This Show
On television, I look for great writing first and foremost. That gets me long before a super-star actor or exotic locale.
I currently am madly in love with “Justified” on the FX channel (although I admit I watch it on Netflix and thus am a full season behind). The scripts, by Graham Yost, novelist Elmore Leonard, V.J. Boyd and others, are whip-smart, hilarious, shocking and subtle. The dialog is pitch perfect.
The series is based on a short story, “Fire In The Hole,” by Leonard and features hero U.S. Marshal Rayland Givens, who has returned to his roots in rural Kentucky and who has a tendency to shoot folks in the midst of his investigations. The cast includes the chameleon-like Timothy Olyphant (“Deadwood,” “Damages”) and Nick Searcy (the brilliant character actor whom you’ve seen in a thousand things, including the under-rated cult favorite “Seven Days,” 1998-2001).
A promotional still from FX Channel's series "Justified," which is in its third season.
The superb is dialog, delivered in deadpan and as dry as a played out coal mine Kentucky dialect. Examples:
Nick Searcy’s Chief Art Mullen, to Rayland: “I tell you to do one simple thing – refrain from screwin’ the witness in your own shooting (investigation) – and you can’t even do that!”
Rayland, when questioned by Internal Affairs about missing money. “Just ’cause I shoot the occasional person doesn’t make me a thief.”
That’s David-Mamet-level dialog. Wonderful.
Audience participation: What are your nominees for the best dialog in a television series (time is not a factor; go as far back into the television archives as you’d like).
