Pilots, Specials New to TCM
Carrie Fisher Joins TCM Host Robert Osborne on The Essentials;
Turner Classic Movies, the television home of classic cinema, has an impressive slate of upcoming programming in the works, including such high-profile specials as Spielberg On Spielberg, Brando and Bienvenue Au Cannes; and a new installment of Private Screenings, featuring a conversation with Jane Fonda. In addition, the network has ordered a pilot for Idols (working title), a new series in which top-name stars interview the people who influenced them. The pilot will feature Alec Baldwin speaking with his idol, Gene Wilder.
Also on the slate, Carrie Fisher will join TCM host Robert Osborne in March 2007 for another season of the network’s signature movie showcase THE ESSENTIALS, where each week they will handpick a timeless film classic and offer commentary on its cultural relevance and what makes it a “must-see.” And comic actors Chevy Chase and Larry Miller, Oscar®-nominated actress Lorraine Bracco and bestselling author Augusten Burroughs are set to be part of TCM’s GUEST PROGRAMMERS showcase.
The following is a complete slate of programming in the works for TCM:
TCM Original Specials:
BIENVENUE AU
Richard Schickel (Woody Allen: A Life in Film, Eastwood on Eastwood) looks at the Cannes Film Festival, celebrating its 60th year in May 2007 as one of the most heralded film exhibitions in the world. He takes viewers there with an unconventional style, while showing them the frenzy of covering, judging, winning and losing at the event.
SPIELBERG ON SPIELBERG – (July 2007)
This 90-minute documentary celebrates the most successful filmmaker of all time by inviting him to speak firsthand about his life in the movies. This special is being produced by Richard Schickel (The Men Who Made the Movies, Watch the Skies), who created similar first-person documentaries on Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese.
VAL LEWTON’S AMERICAN HORROR—(Fall 2007)
Martin Scorsese directs this 90-minute documentary on Val Lewton, the versatile and prolific writer of novels, nonfiction and poetry who entered the film business as a protégé of David O. Selznick in the early 1930s. Lewton went on to produce a number of stylish, low-budget horror films for RKO, notably the atmospheric Cat People (1942), the engagingly macabre I Walked With A Zombie (1943) and the chilling Bedlam (1946). Documentary written by Kent Jones and produced by Margaret Bodde.
BRANDO (working title) – (Fall 2007)
He was the most influential actor of his time. But he was also known as one of the most eccentric and complex. This two-hour documentary, produced by The Greif Company, looks at the larger-than-life figure’s life both on screen and off. It features a stunning array of interviews with such actors as James Caan, Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Martin Landau, Al Pacino, John Travolta and Jon Voight and such directors as Bernardo Bertolucci, Martin Scorsese and Arthur Penn. It also looks at Brando’s involvement in civil rights and features interviews with Russell Means on Brando and the Native American movement; Bobby Seale, on his association with the Black Panthers; and Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American actress whose on-stage rejection of Brando’s Oscar® for The Godfather is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Other interviews include family members and acquaintances that can shed light on Brando’s very private life.
THE MEN WHO MADE MOVIES: WILLIAM WELLMAN – (Winter 2007)
Richard Schickel (Woody Allen: A Life in Film, Eastwood on Eastwood) updates his 1973 documentary about this prolific director, whose many popular films include Battleground, The High and the Mighty, The Ox-Bow Incident and the original A Star is Born. This rendering features new films and interview material not represented in the original version as well as re-mastered footage and a new narration.
TCM Original Series:
IDOLS (working title) – Pilot Ordered
TCM gives today’s stars the opportunity to sit down with the people who influenced and inspired them in this new series. The network has ordered a pilot into production, set to feature Alec Baldwin talking with his idol, Gene Wilder. IDOLS comes to TCM from executive producer Robert Trachtenberg (The Dick Cavett Show with Special Guest Mel Brooks; Cary Grant: A Class Apart).
PRIVATE SCREENINGS: JANE FONDA – (March 2007)
TCM’s ongoing special series of conversations between host Robert Osborne and Hollywood’s most memorable stars continues with Jane Fonda, Oscar® winner for her work in Klute and Coming Home and star of such films as Julia, Nine to Five, On Golden Pond and the recent comedy hit Monster-in-Law.
TCM Showcases:
THE ESSENTIALS – (Saturdays at
TCM’s signature showcase kicks off its seventh season on Saturday, March 10 with actress and author Carrie Fisher joining TCM host Robert Osborne. The season will consist of collection of classic films hand-picked by Fisher and Osborne, who will then present each movie with an eye towards helping viewers better understand what has become the most popular of art form of the modern world. Each week, they will showcase a timeless film classic and offer commentary on its cultural relevance and why it is considered a “must-see.”
GUEST PROGRAMMERS
In 2007, TCM’s GUEST PROGRAMMERS movie showcase will welcome
TCM UNDERGROUND – Late-Night Fridays
TCM’s late-night movie showcase continues with auteur filmmaker and legendary rocker Rob Zombie introducing viewers to the many visionary cult films that have been made over the past century, from stylish horror movies and offbeat black comedies to gritty crime dramas and campy B-movies. Upcoming movies to be featured on TCM UNDERGROUND include such titles as Sisters (1973), Electra Glide in Blue (1973), Freaks (1932) and The Sadist (1963).
31 DAYS OF OSCAR® – February 2007
