HBO

HBO has added another original program to their already stacked lineup, again teaming up with a high profile director, this time in the form of grit aficionado Michael Mann. After vieiwing the pilot the network ordered the David Milch scripted series Luck that stars Dustin Hoffman and offers a glimpse in to the world of horse-racing, or more specifically "characters who are tied to the same horse-racing track".

“Michael Mann delivered a pilot from David Milch’s brilliant script that took our breath away,” said HBO's programming president Michael Lombardo.  “We are truly excited that these two artists, and our extraordinary cast headed by Dustin Hoffman, will be bringing Luck to life.”

The cast for the pilot, penned by Milch and directed by Mann, also includes Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, Kevin Dunn, Richard Kind, Jason Gedrick, Ritchie Coster, Ian Hart, Tom Payne, Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens and Nick Nolte. Jill Hennessy guest stars. Milch, Mann and Carolyn Strauss execitive produce, with Henry Bronchtein co-executive producing and Hoffman producing.   [via deadline]

Can't find anything to fault here. Competent director, competent actors, freedom of HBO, and the endless array of entertainment that is "racetrack patrons". Nice to see Nick Nolte in the game, adding to that is IMDB listing his character as "The Old Man". I think that's a burn. Hoffman will play Chester 'Ace' Bernstein which sounds an awful lot like the guy that told me to bet on Cooper's Caboose in the third last weekend. Worst part is Margaret Cooper was with us so everyone got on board. I knew it was a bad idea, Margaret has a terrible caboose.

We haven't had a chance to talk about the upcoming HBO show Tilda yet so let's go ahead and remedy that. The lastest news is that Jason Patric has signed on to star as "Andrew Brown, the mastermind behind the media empire RMG, which Tilda is trying to expose the inner workings of." The titular character Tilda, to be played by Diane Keaton, is a Hollywood blogger loosely based on Deadline's Nikki Finke. Ellen Page will play Tilda's morally conflicted assistant Carolyn.  

The cast is certainly shaping up nicely as it also includes Wes Bentley. Patric was probably the best thing about The Losers as the morally bankrupt billionaire bad guy, and this role seems like it could share some similarities in a good way. The show's IMDB page currently lists series co-creator Bill Condon as director with filming on the half hour comedy set to begin later this month in Los Angeles.    [via deadline]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Zooey Deschanel really really likes music.  Last year she married Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard, later this year she will be releasing Vol 2 of her highly successful collaboration She & Him with M. Ward, and now she's signed on to star in a half hour pilot for HBO based on groupies.  Rock and roll my friends, rock and roll.

Zooey Deschanel has just committed to star in an HBO half-hour pilot that will be based on I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie, the Pamela Des Barres’ memoir of bed-hopping with musicians and movie stars in the late 1960s. Deschanel will be executive producer with her longtime manager Sarah Jackson of Seven Summits, and Tim Gibbons, an executive producer of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Des Barres bragged about her bedroom experiences with the likes of Mick Jagger, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and actor Don Johnson. But along the with excitement of rolling with famous rockers, there was also the emptiness and heartbreak of being demeaned and discarded by stars once the next pretty young thing came along.  [via deadline hollywood]

It's funny that they actually made a movie just like this called Almost Famous, and ironically Zooey was almost the only girl in it that wasn't a groupie.  She must have been pissed when they were filming that. 

I'd imagine this is actually a pretty interesting book, check it out if you feel like but it says Dave Navarro was involved so things could get a little weird.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

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