RICHES MOVIE
"I’ve posed to the heads of FX and TBS that we want to make a film. And they
said, “Right, we’ll support you.” "Eddie hopes to raise finances for the
silver screen version of The Riches on the Internet. He also wants to make it
a “road move, shooting in Louisiana and New Mexico, everywhere that they steal,”
he exclaims. “We’ll do it by the skin on our teeth.” (from OK Magazine)
FROM TODD STASHWICK'S BLOG (Dale Malloy)
Todd clarifies what he posted previously:
"First I want to thank you folks for the passionate support for our show.
We love doing it and are eager to make more! If you have not had a chance to see
it head over to hulu.com and check it out. Also we are available for download
on itunes and Amazon. Season one is out on DVD. Again nothing official has been
decided, we are definitely in the mix. Eddie always toasts to seven seasons, I
raise my glass along side him! So thanks again for the support. Sincerely Todd"
(Previous Post)
"Here's the stitch. I believe I'm hearing the sputtering death rattle of the
Riches. No official word has come down and that's part of the problem. We did
not perform well ratings wise. That, I'm assuming makes it a hard case to justify
a third season pick up. Sigh. Critically we did amazingly but it did not translate
into eyeballs. The mutterings that I'm hearing are not in favor of a pick up.
All this is fine but the libra in me needs more finality. I'm like the man who
has moved out but his wife won't sign the divorce papers just yet. So it's making
it hard to remarry. I'm in the mix for some really good projects but the sticky
wicket of "nothing official" is delaying fruition. Anyway. high class problems."
Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves: An Evening with The Riches Friday, April 18,
2008; 7:00 pm at the Paley
Center for Media
Now in its second season, FX's The Riches takes a satirical look at the American
need for self-improvement and upward mobility while mining the full horror—and
darkly comedic potential—of those identity theft warnings that accompany your
monthly bank statement. Gonzo comic Eddie Izzard and critical darling Minnie Driver
are Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, Irish-American gypsies working grifts and cons in
the Deep South who appropriate the surname of the recently deceased, well-to-do
Riches, thereby trading in their mobile home for a McMansion. But in their ploy
for the American Dream, the Malloys come to realize that life in suburbia may
be the biggest scam of all. Join the actors and writers of The Riches as they
regale us "buffers" (i.e., nontravelers) with their tales.
In Person: Minnie Driver, "Dahlia Malloy"; Eddie Izzard, "Wayne Malloy"; Cast
and creative team
Update: A highlights report from Maria posted at
THE
TREEHOUSE (thanks Maria!):
"The Riches" was always intended for cable because (according to Eddie) "We
wanted to say sh*t a lot!"
Eddie took the role of Wayne because he wanted to do drama and break away
from comedy, in a Bill Murray/Hugh Laurie kind of way.
The explanation for Wayne's lack of Southern accent is "he's from elsewhere
and got into the family as a teenager."
The role of the transvestite son in the show was created even before Eddie
joined the cast.
Aidan (who plays Sam) said his interpretation of Sam's transvestism is inspired
by Eddie, "because he's an action transvestite like you."
Eddie does have input about what the transvestite son is wearing. ("A transvestite
child would NEVER wear flats!")
When asked about his upcoming tour, Eddie said he'd planned "to be on the
road about two months, and suddenly it got longer. I don't know how that happened!"
And now for my question - were he ever given the chance, would he play the
role of The Doctor on "Doctor Who"? "Well, I've been watching it with David Tennant
and he's very good, isn't he?" (At this point, he looked at Minnie Driver, sitting
next to him, and she went, "Yes... he's rather big eyed!") "So, before him, I
would have said no, and when they were talking about bringing it back Tom Baker
(who played the Fourth incarnation of The Doctor) threw my name into the BBC hat,
and the BBC *makes spitting motion* spat it back out. They wouldn't even consider
it! But now, after seeing David do it, I'd consider it, because they've made it
so that the sci-fi/special effects part is just a touch and so it's great. Back
in the day, there were a lot of clattering, rolling sets and I used to watch it
from behind the sofa because I was so scared... I'm pretty sure I've missed lots
of things on those episodes. But yeah, seeing what David Tennant has done, I'd
consider it."
Fx officially announced that The Riches" will return next year. The season
ender will be June 4.
FX Unveils 'Damages' With Close
FX is expected to renew its newest series, Dirt and The Riches, bringing the
number of original dramas on the network's prime time schedule to six.
"We're really happy with the performance of Dirt and The Riches, and I expect
them to return," said John Landgraf, president and general manager, FX Networks,
before an upfront screening of FX's latest drama, the Glenn Close legal thriller,
Damages.
Landgraf added that when each show's cumulative ratings are tallied up––FX
programs three weekly repeat episodes of each of its original premieres––both
series have delivered ratings on a par with older hits like Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck.
In order to set the table for the Damages screening, Landgraf offered a précis
of the last six years at the network, pointing out that since 2001, FX has grown
from the twelfth most-watched cable channel among adults 18-49 to its present
perch, at fourth place.
Set to premiere in July, Damages stars Close as the formidable litigator Patty
Hewes. The actress has worked with FX in the recent past, having played the role
of Capt. Monica Rawling throughout season four of The Shield (2005). Landraf said
the legal genre has been a tough nut for FX to crack, estimating that since coming
aboard in 2004, he's looked at more than 20 different scripts before Damages crossed
his desk.
While Landgraf praised the pilot's intricate storyline and whiplash plot reversals,
he acknowledged that even the renowned Close could pose a few challenges as the
series' star. "We had questions about putting a 50-something actress in the lead
role, and how that might jibe with the FX brand."
(Close is actually 60.)
Those initial worries aside, it appears that Close and FX are a match. According
to Landgraf, 81 percent of the preview audience that screened the pilot earlier
this year said that Damages would best jibe with the FX brand, beating out all
other networks, including HBO, TNT and USA.
Moreover, FX isn't just a boys' club anymore. Of the overall ratings growth
the network has seen over the last five years, 54 percent of the viewership gains
can be chalked up to a female-skewing audience drawn in by shows like Nip/Tuck
and Dirt.
That said, when The Shield finally retires next year after seven seasons on
the job, FX will look to do another male-skewing cop show, Landgraf said.
THE RICHES COME TO CANADA
Showcase is preparing to premiere two series that have already earned sizable
audiences on their home turfs in the U.K. and the U.S. -- starting with the FX
hit The Riches.
The series, premiering on the cable channel's Wednesday 10 p.m. ET timeslot
on May 9, casts Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver in a family of traveling con artists
who try to come off as a normal, well-to-do family. The 13-episode series earned
favorable reviews when it premiered in the U.S. last month, and viewers liked
it, too. The Riches shot immediately up the list to become FX's second highest
rated series, earning 2.5 million viewers 18-49 (3.8 million total). (From Playback
Magazine)
MISSED AN EPISODE?
fx is running a marthon of all of The Riches episodes so far with limited commercial
interruptions on Friday, April 13th.
UK TO GET THE RICHES?
"Channel 4, Five and Sky One are all believed to be bidding for
the UK rights to screen the show, probably later this year."
IT'S A HIT!
"FX may have yet another hit on its hands with the Eddie Izzard vehicle,
The Riches, as the Monday night premiere drew 3.8 million total viewers and 2.52
million adults 18-49 in its 10 p.m. time slot.
When the 11 p.m. encore presentation of The Riches was factored into the overall
ratings equation, FX lured a cumulative audience of 5.2 million viewers and 3.3
million adults 18-49.
The Riches stands as FX’s first series to premiere on a Monday night. The network
generally favors Tuesday night as a proving ground for its original dramas, which
include The Shield, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck.
The 2.52 million members of the core demo who tuned in to The Riches represent
the second largest A18-49 audience for a series premiere in FX history."
(From Mediaweek)
MR. ED (from the Minnesota Star Tribune)
Most days on the TCA press tour conclude with a cocktail party
for critics and celebrities to mingle, which sounds like a glamorous opportunity.
It's actually work, both for the critics, who must pretend to be interested in
the eighth runner-up on "America's Next Top Model," and for the stars, who momentarily
try to pretend they're "one of us." But it was a genuine joy to spend time with
comedian/actor Eddie Izzard, star of the FX series' "The Riches." (We'll provide
an in-depth review closer to its March debut, but get excited about this show.
Now.) What started as a casual introduction stretched into a three-hour conversation,
in which Izzard sat down at a piano for a few numbers, pushed aside some chairs
to perform a Charlie Chaplin routine and made a post-midnight visit to a critics'
suite party, which is a little like Roger Clemens popping by a T-ball game. Maybe
superstars aren't so bad after all.
FX Sets A Date for The Riches
FX has set March 12 as the premiere date for its new Eddie Izzard/Minnie
Driver drama The Riches. The show will run at 10 p.m. with limited commercials
through a sponsorship deal with The Weinstein Company/Dimension Films' upcoming
movie Grindhouse. 13 episodes of The Riches will run Mondays at 10 p.m. through
June 4. The show stars Izzard and Driver as gypsies from rural Louisiana who go
on the run with their three children after stealing money from extended family.
The duo steal the identities of an average couple to try live a "normal" life
in suburbia. Weinstein and Dimension will run commercials for double-feature film
"Grindhouse" during three breaks in the Riches premiere. The first break is slated
to be two and a half minutes and the last two will be two minutes each. FX has
used the single-sponsor, limited commercial strategy with its originals before,
in September premiering Nip/Tuck with limited ads by exclusive sponsor Sony. March
12 is something of a momentous date for FX; the network premiered its hit original
The Shield on that date in 2002.
It's a little early on the press tour to be talking about the shows getting the
most buzz. But at least a couple already are attracting some attention: FX's ``The
Riches'' is a series, coming in March, about Irish grifters, starring Eddie Izzard
and Minnie Driver, while Lifetime's ``State of Mind'' is a summer comedy-drama
about a divorce lawyer with marriage problems of her own. The latter, which stars
the marvelous Lili Taylor, looks to have a lot more edge than your traditional
Lifetime series.
FROM MEDIAWEEK
...As Landgraf tucks into his colossal meat dish, the primary ingredient of
which appears to be some particularly tasty genus of bison, he picks up an earlier
thread about the second drama that's being developed for next year, the iconoclastic
striver's fable, The Riches. Starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver, The Riches
is about a family of nomads (Travelers) who try to go straight in the suburbs
after a series of events leads them to believe that it's time they give up the
road for a lunge at the brass ring. (Or as Izzard lays it out in the pilot episode:
"The American Dream … We're going to steal it.") The pilot is unlike anything
on television, suffused as it is with a heady mix of antic mirth and grim fatalism.
It also looks like it could prove to be an exceedingly difficult series to pitch
to both viewers and advertisers, although Landgraf says his best marketing heads
are beginning to take a crack at it. "We think The Riches is something new and
really original, and we knew it was going to be a challenge when we picked the
show up," Landgraf says. "And if it doesn't have the kind of natural allure that
Dirt has, I have no illusions that the show won't sell, because it's really good."
When asked if The Riches might prove to be too much of a leap for viewers weaned
on a steady diet of procedurals and lawyer shows, Landgraf suggests that the FX
brand is all about delivering the unexpected. "Our audience comes to us because
they want to be surprised," he says. "They want to be taken on that roller-coaster
ride where the next rise or fall is never in clear view."
READ
THE WHOLE ARTICLE
STORY LINE: Wayne, a con man and member of the
Travellers, an underground criminal fellowship whose antecedents stem back generations,
is fed up with his empty life. When Dale, his hated rival, jockeys for control
of the Malone clan, Wayne steals from the family coffers and lights out for the
high road with his wife DAHLIA, recently released from prison, and their three
kids. En route, they see an affluent couple die in car crash on a remote highway.
Wayne decides to pre-empt the lives of the dead couple, and he and his family
settle in an affluent suburban community, where their previous identities are
unknown. Now, they must act like the "buffers" (i.e. law abiding citizens) that
they have typically victimized -- and going suddenly straight presents a unique
set of pressures and challenges. Added to their difficult period of adjustment,
Wayne must also keep a weather eye out for the vengeful Dale, who is intent upon
vengeance, whatever it takes. Complications arise when Wayne, whose new alter-ego
was a top-flight attorney, must interview for a job at a prestigious local law
firm. Meanwhile, Dahlia battles a cough syrup addiction and butts heads with the
elitist head of the local neighborhood association...
The Riches Go Into Production
An early December production start has been set for "The Riches"
-- as in the FX series in which Eddie Izzard stars as an Irish-American grifter
who, with his ex-con wife (Minnie Driver), seizes the opportunity to swap identities
with a wealthy couple they find dead in a car crash. Izzard is among the exec-producers
of the show, the pilot of which had to undergo reshoots. Formerly titled "Lowlife,"
it also got a new name. The extra tinkering could be worth it. The criminally
minded couple unleash themselves in the upscale neighborhood to which their stolen
ID counterparts were moving. He must pose as an attorney and she must deal with
pretentious neighbor women, even while she attempts to hide her addiction to cough
syrup. Izzard says one of the big attractions for him to take on the cable series
is that it required only a five-month-per-season time commitment. He still has
seven months a year to do other things.
'Riches' mines Traveller phenomenon
There goes the neighborhood. An upcoming FX drama, The Riches,
focuses on a family of Travellers, a nomadic group with roots in Ireland, who
assume the identities of an affluent family in Louisiana. Wayne and Dahlia Malloy,
played by Eddie Izzard (Eddie Izzard: Dressed to Kill) and Minnie Driver (Return
to Me), are con artists who get itchy with the concept of establishing roots.
Shooting starts in December, with a spring premiere planned. Driver, of Irish
heritage, says the Traveller culture, often associated with grifting and other
crimes, is private, and they believe they are misunderstood. "We're the image
they're trying to clean up. We're full-blown con people," says Driver, whose character
has done time. The willowy actress lost 15 pounds playing Dahlia, who has a history
of drug use. Driver was drawn to the script by playwright Dmitry Lipkin, because
it "says an enormous amount with very few words," vs. TV's trend of "quick-fire,
clever banter." She likes the show's complexity, too, saying the family loves
each other despite its practices. "You can still care about people who don't necessarily
follow the morally good or righteous" way.
Green light for US TV show
Eddie Izzard’s American TV career is taking off, as his new crime drama has
been commissioned for a 13-episode series. The FX channel has given the green
light to The Riches, following a successful pilot ordered in December. Originally
called Lowlife, the show co-stars Minnie Driver as Izzard’s wife. The pair are
con artists who find an upper-middle-class family killed in a car accident, and
assume their identities in the suburbs. Production should start in December, with
the series due to launch on the Fox-owned cable channel next summer. FX chief
John Landgraf sent the fist cut of the pilot back for re-shoots to lighten the
show's tone. The Riches will be the first family drama for FX, but Landgraf said:
‘albeit a show and a family unlike any television viewers have seen before’. He
added: ‘Izzard is a world-class comedian and here people will see he's a world-class
actor.’ Izzard said: '‘I am thrilled, this is the part I have been waiting for
all my life ' The show depicts Izzard’s character Wayne Malloy starting his new
life with wife Dahlia lead and their three children, after she is released from
a two-year prison stint and battles a drug habit. The comic is also one of the
six executive producers on the show.
FX PICKS UP LOWLIFE
FX has picked up British comedian Eddie Izzard's new drama for 13 episodes,
a network spokesman confirmed. With a working title of "The Riches" (formerly
"Low Life"), the series stars Mr. Izzard and Minnie Driver as the parents of con-artist
family. When they find another family killed in a car accident, Mr. Izzard's clan
assumes their identities and settles down in the suburbs. The pilot order was
announced in December. FX President and General Manager John Landgraf sent the
first cut back for re-shoots to lighten the show's tone. "The Riches" will be
the first family drama for FX, a channel known for its dark anti-heroes. "It's
going to be a TVMA show, so I hesitate to call it a family show," Mr. Landgraf
said. "But it's a show about a family and very funny. Izzard is a world-class
comedian and here people will see he's a world-class actor." "The Riches" was
created by playwright Dmitry Lipkin, who wrote the pilot episode and will executive
produce along with Mr. Izzard The series will debut in second quarter of 2007.
Courtney Cox's tabloid news drama "Dirt' will debut on FX in the first quarter.
BLURB
FX is considering a pilot about a family of grifters, starring Minnie Driver
and Eddie Izzard, for March, 2007.
From the Sunday Times
Eddie Izzard is in Los Angeles, refining his next big show at the Coronet Theater.
The other reason behind his extended sojourn in La-La land is Izzard — the TV
series. Izzard and Minnie Driver are filming Low Life, about crooks who assume
the identity of an upper-class family and wreak mayhem in a posh Louisiana housing
estate. The audience test pilot will be broadcast on cable this summer.
Izzard has succeeded where so many others, such as Elvis Costello, who worked
on a teen musical for Warner Bros TV, were worn out. But after that? Only 10%
of pilots become a series, and 70% of those do not make it to the end of the first
season. For every Lost, hundreds end up, well, lost. Let’s hope the US networks
realise they have something special with Izzard and allow him to shine.
Star-struck
Local theater veteran and Pastorini-Bosby talent Jason Douglas is back in
town after wrapping filming in New Orleans for Lowlife, an FX pilot that is expected
to go to series. Our guy would have a recurring role in the saga about America's
so-called "Irish travelers" who move from place to place, often assuming new identities.
Lowlife stars Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard. The program is being produced by
Madonna's Maverick Productions and is expected to air later this year.
Minnie Driver, New Irish Gypsy
By Sean O’Driscoll
OSCAR nominee Minnie Driver is to play opposite hip British comedian Eddie
Izzard in a new FX television series about Irish travelers.
The pair will star in Lowlife, about a husband and wife, Wayne and Dahlia,
who spent their youth in the U.S. pulling cons with a group of Irish travelers,
or gypsies.
After Dahlia is released from prison, she, Wayne and their three kids move
to suburbia where they battle to live a normal life while trying to escape their
former friends.
The pair, living in Louisiana, decide to change their lives after Izzard,
playing Irish traveler Wayne Malone, is struck by a crisis of conscience.
Izzard is writing the script and the series is co-produced by Maverick TV,
Madonna’s production company. The series is the first co-produced drama
for FX, which has produced other adult shows such as Nip/ Tuck, the plastic surgery
soap, and The Shield, a drama about Los Angeles police corruption.
Driver, who was nominated for an Oscar for 1997’s Good Will Hunting,
is learning about Irish travelers before filming begins in New Orleans, which
is to double for Baton Rouge, where the series is set.
It’s hardly the British actress’s first brush with Irishness.
She first came to attention after starring in the 1995 film adaptation of Irish
novelist Maeve Binchy’s best-selling novel Circle of Friends.
“It’s a show about a family and a show about America through the
prism of so-called outsiders of normal American culture that infiltrate suburban
life,” said John Landgraf, president of FX Networks in a statement.
FX defended the series and said it was not trying to stereotype Irish travelers.
It said the characters were “very richly created and multidimensional.
They are very complex and flawed characters,” he said.
“If this does go to series I am sure some viewers will be educated about
Irish travelers, who they will not have heard about. We like to bring different
facets of this country to other people. Our main duty as a network is to entertain
our viewers and Lowlife is very smart.”
The network is known for taking risks and this year is showing a quirky Arrested
Development-style series about life in an Irish bar called It’s Always Sunny
in Philadelphia.
CHAT WITH MINNIE DRIVER
We were supposed to chat this morning, but your schedule has been crammed.
What have you been up to today? I did The View this morning, then I had other
interviews. Then I had to practice yoga in the middle of it, because I have to
practice every single day, otherwise I go mad. And then I had meetings about the
dialect (for) this TV show that I'm doing. I've got to do, like, a Florida accent,
so I'm learning that.
And how exactly do you speak with a Florida accent? Oh, it just sounds
like the South -- you don't turn the "O" quite so much. I don't know, it's weird.
It sounds like the South to me.
So tell me more about Lowlife, this new FX pilot you're doing with Eddie
Izzard. It's about Irish travelers living in America, who are kind of con
men and women. Drifters. And I'm getting out of jail -- I'm a methamphetamine
addict -- and we kind of go on the run and assume the identity of a family who
dies. You can't call them gypsies, they're travelers, but their accent is really
picked up from the areas they frequent, and most of the travelers living in the
U.S. today live in the South.
And I hear you'll be shooting it in New Orleans. Yeah, March 1. There's
about four movies shooting there at the moment, and there's a lot of people working
down there. It's kind of great.
I think there's a good chance it will become a series, don't you? It's
weird, because it's not the same as networks. With networks, they make a ton of
pilots and then they only make a few (series). But cable channels, really, the
stuff that they develop they usually end up making. I mean, it would have to be
a real mess, which I don't think it will be, because Carl Franklin is too brilliant
a director and Eddie's so good.
So what made you decide to try a TV series? Was it purely the script,
or were you looking for a more regular gig? God, no, I could care less about what
the medium is -- I'm just looking for good work. I mean any actor that significantly
says, "I just wanna be a movie star," it's like, that's a huge thing they're missing.
I just want good parts, and the greatest part that has been offered to me in recent
years was this one for FX. You know, straight out of the bat, I would do (Lowlife)
on any day of the week in any format, because it is a brilliant, brilliant role
and it's so far from who I am. It's probably gonna be the most challenging thing
I've ever done. So yeah, making TV when you're out on location and stuff, it's
like making a movie, except quicker. You've only got a week or two weeks to shoot
each episode.
Movie filming to close La. 3160
Through traffic will be banned Sunday Saturday, March 04, 2006
River Parishes bureau Louisiana 3160 in Hahnville will be closed to through
traffic on Sunday from 6 a.m. to dusk for filming of a movie for the Fox network.
The scene, which involves a car crash, is to be included in the 20th Century Fox
pilot "Low Lifes." Scenes from the movie, starring Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard,
also are being shot in Orleans, Jefferson, St. James and Iberville parishes, location
manager Wise Wolfe said. None of the stars will be on the set. "It's going to
be done with dummies and cables and pulleys," Wolfe said. Residents who must use
3160, also known as Home Place Road, to get to and from their homes will be allowed
to pass, although the road will be limited to one-way traffic, Wolfe said.
CASTING NEWS
LOW LIFE (FX) - Margo Martindale (CBS's "Silver
Bells"), Shannon Woodward (a recent guest on "Cold Case"), newcomer Aidan Mitchell
and Noel Fisher (Sam Johnson on "Huff") have all joined the cast of the drama
pilot, about a family of grifters (headed by Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver) who
take the identity of an upper-middle-class suburban family in Louisiana. Woodward
and Mitchell are set as two of the couple's kids while Martindale will play one
of their neighbors. Fisher's character wasn't specified. Fox Television Studios,
Maverick Television and FX Productions are behind the hour, which Carl Franklin
is directing from a script by Dmitry Lipkin. Izzard, Mark Morgan, Guy Oseary and
Michael Rosenberg also serve as executive producers.
MINNIE DRIVER JOINS FX'S LOWLIFE
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Minnie Driver will star opposite Eddie Izzard
in FX's drama pilot "Lowlife."
They will play Wayne and Dahlia, a husband-and-wife duo of traveling con artists
who, along with their three kids, wander the country in a group of Irish Travelers
who live off the grid.
After Dahlia's release from prison, where she battled her drug addiction, the
family decides to join the society and settle down in a suburban community.
Because Wayne and Dahlia are the central characters in the project, which centers
on their marriage, finding the right co-star for Izzard was crucial, FX Networks
president and general manager John Landgraf said.
"Its a very complicated marriage, and both characters are really strong, so
we needed two actors who are perfectly matched up and can hold their own," he
said.
"Lowlife" marks the first drama project that FX co-produces. The network already
produces unscripted and comedy series, including "30 Days," the upcoming "Black.
White." and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
Production on the pilot is slated to begin in early March in New Orleans, which
will double for Baton Rouge, La., where the show is set. Carl Franklin ("Devil
in a Blue Dress") will direct.
Driver, an Oscar nominee for her role in the 1997 film "Good Will Hunting,"
most recently appeared in Joel Schumacher's "The Phantom of the Opera."
FX UNLEASHES EDDIE IZZARD
FX sure knows how to pick ‘em. They’ve got “Nip/Tuck,” Denis Leary, and now
they are adding to their repertoire. The Hollywood Reporter says that the cable
network has signed English comedian Eddie Izzard to star in the drama “Low Life.”
The show has Izzard playing father to a family of traveling con artists, who
decides to settle down into a semi-normal life in suburbia. "Low Life" is the
first FX pilot to feature a family front-and-center. Izzard will play the father
of a family of traveling con artists who, after hitting a spiritual and midlife
crisis, settles down with his wife and kids in a suburban community. "It's a show
about a family and a show about America through the prism of so-called outsiders
of normal American culture that infiltrate suburban life," said John Landgraf,
FX's president and general manager.
The other is "Dirt," from executive producers Courteney Cox and David Arquette.
FX plans to pick up at least one of the pilots to series, to premiere in late
summer. If both shows make the cut, the second series would premiere in early
2007.
NEWS
(From ContactMusic.com) Pop superstar MADONNA has teamed up with
British comedian EDDIE IZZARD to make a new TV drama. The MATERIAL GIRL will produce,
and possibly appear, in the show - about an Irish conman (Izzard) who tricks the
residents of Baton Rouge, in America's deep south. The transvestite comic explains,
"It's very dark and sinister. It's a cracking script, but so far we're only on
the pilot, so I don't know whether she's going to appear in it herself."
(From BBC Radio 1) Eddie Izzard told us he's about to film a
TV pilot in the States about an Irish family. It's being made by Madonna's Maverick
company but Eddie says she won't be hands on:
"I don't think she comes in and says 'I think we should do this'."
"She does her thing and it's her company. She obviously encourages
stuff to happen that's hopefully left field and interesting."
"This is an interesting idea and that's why I went for it. So we will see."
FX RECRUITS CON MAN Izzard takes series turn
By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
Emmy winner Eddie Izzard -- whose HBO special "Dress to Kill" remains a cult
fave -- will try his hand at series TV, signing on to star in a dark comedy pilot
for FX.
Untitled project will feature Izzard (most recently seen in "Ocean's Twelve")
as the patriarch of an Irish family that moves to the southern U.S. and sets out
to con the community.
Russian playwright Dmitry Lipkin ("Baton Rouge," "Cranes") will create and
write the hour long pilot. Maverick TV is on board to produce. READ
MORE (thanks Teri)