Monday, April 7, 2008

state of geigh

Little good has come of American remakes of British series - The Office is pretty much the only one that comes to mind - so needless to say I'm a bit concerned about 2009's State of Play, a remake of the absolutely incredible, gripping BBC miniseries that I started watching this weekend and am currently anxiously awaiting the concluding disc of. A victim of the the WGA strike, the movie lost several members of its cast, most of which did nothing for me in the first place but their replacements do even less. Ben Affleck as Stephen Collins? Definitely no David Morrissey. Russell Crowe as Cal McCaffrey? Bollocks. Furthermore, no mention of who's playing freelance reporter Dan Foster, portrayed in the original by James McAvoy (noticing a trend here? Atonement is up next), but I'm quite sure it will be impossible to cast anyone as satisfying - both in acting chops and, well, looks - as that diminutive Scottish object of my affection/obsession.

There is, however, some light at the end of the tunnel. Dominic Foy is being played by Jason Bateman, an interesting choice that I'm rather intrigued about, and the role of Cameron Foster, spectacularly portrayed in the original by Bill Nighy and a serious point of concern for me considering what I knew of the male cast, will be played, in what I must admit is a brilliant move, by ::swoon:: Helen Mirren, who should do well to elevate the proceedings. Also, it's being filmed in DC, and while it may seem a bit nerdy, it does make it all a bit more exciting, especially considering the best we get these days involves ::shudder:: Nicolas Cage (and weirdly enough, Helen Mirren - shit, everyone needs a paycheck). Anyway, I was planning on posting the trailer for the original miniseries here, but apparently embedding has been disabled, so instead I'm using a clip from the show, which actually divulges quite a bit of information so I recommend you just put it on mute and marvel at the unconventional hotness of Mr. McAvoy:



Fun fact: Paul Abbot, who wrote State of Play, is also head writer on Shameless, which aside from being a fantastic Channel 4 comedy/drama series also stars, yes, James McAvoy. And Debbie from Shameless is in State of Play as well. Gotta love incestuous British television! Things I don't have to love: only series 1 of Shameless, now in its, I believe, fifth series in the UK, is available on Region 1. And I only have one episode left. Fuck that.

No comments: