Emmy Magazine Features
Sure, lots of young stars say they want to direct — like Opie of The Andy Griffith Show, who grew into Ron Howard . But there’s much more to it than climbing into the big chair. Re-meet four former child actors who now call the shots.
A local pro keeps productions humming on her island home.
The seaplane is back in service. In the Fox reboot of Fantasy Island, its female showrunners make a gender switch — Roselyn Sanchez stars as Ms. Roarke — while enhancing the show’s Latin lineage with a Puerto Rican locale. But hope is still the big draw, as the island’s visitors seek new lives and viewers come for comfort.
When Netflix dropped the first season of Money Heist, execs at the streamer couldn’t have dreamed of its global success.
As one of Hollywood’s original scream queens, Jamie Lee Curtis was perhaps destined to join forces with horror honcho Jason Blum. But for Curtis, it was the Blum’s character, not his credits, that sealed the deal. Today, they’re collaborating on films — the second installment of Blumhouse’s Halloween reboot, Halloween Kills, opens on October 15 — and an array of TV projects, including a series based on novelist Patricia Cornwell’s best-selling thrillers featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta.
Thirty years of friendship — and creative collaboration — have given Ethan Hawke unique insight into Jason Blum. Sure, he has business smarts, but the secret to Blum’s success, says Hawke, may be his unconventional streak: “He enjoys coloring outside the lines.”
How and why do creators create? That’s what Joseph Gordon-Levitt explores in his work, while always urging others to test their own talents. With his latest show, Mr. Corman, he hopes viewers will take that next step.
He prefers not to settle on one great idea. That’s why B.J. Novak created an anthology series, The Premise. He also didn’t settle on just one job, though for Novak, writing is everything. “When I act, I feel like I’m writing a character,” he says. “When I direct, I feel like I’m writing the aesthetics of the scene. That’s how I see the world.”
At Blumhouse Television, production deals are surging like, well, a house on fire. And it’s not all horror and the supernatural. When disrupter-in-chief Jason Blum decided to add TV to his company portfolio, he knew he’d have to jump into genres with less blood and guts. Even so, his television division is killing it.
As a cast member — and, more recently, a consultant — Jesse James Keitel brings authenticity to trans representation as Big Sky’s Jerrie Kennedy.
Exclusive to TelevisionAcademy.com
Dedee Pfeiffer, who plays Denise Brisbane on Big Sky, says, “I’m into all the mysteries of the universe.” It’s an opportune outlook, because mysteries abound on the unpredictable ABC drama.
Exclusive to TelevisionAcademy.com