Britt Plunkett runs his forearm across his head, pushing sweat off his brow. “I actually took a picture of the thermostat,” he says. “I just had to record it: 99 degrees.”For Paul Rudd, the decision to star in Jay Roach’s new comedy, “Dinner for Schmucks,” was an easy one. “I thought the script was really funny,” he says. “That was it. It was kind of a no-brainer.” Of course Rudd, who’s built an impressive resume of smart comedies, was just as enamored of the man behind the camera. Though Lilith Fair returned from an 11-year hiatus to a very different musical landscape, it is one that Sarah McLachlan and Co. helped lay the blueprints for more than a decade ago.Although facts on the famed Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding, which is rumored to happen this weekend, are tighter than Hillary Clinton’s smile, some details have leaked out. Sources report that groom Marc Mezvinsky has “hurt” his father’s family by not inviting them to the wedding (Ed Mezvinsky pleaded guilty in 2002 to swindling investors out of $10 million.He may play the part of a high-end gigolo in “The Extra Man,” but offscreen, Kevin Kline continues to be quite a charmer.
PROFILE. It’s January, which means TV gets a do-over. Television’s mid-season brings with it new series, returning faves, and even the chance for shows on since the fall to retool (we’re looking at you, “Heroes”). It also means the country’s TV critics are converging on Los Angeles for the annual Television Critics Association winter press tour to get the scoop on what’s coming up in primetime.
Undeniably the biggest news so far to hit critics camped out at the Hilton in Universal City since last week came from A&E Television Networks President and CEO Abbe Raven, who announced on Friday that Patrick Swayze, star of A&E’s new crime drama “The Beast,” had checked himself into a hospital for observation after coming down with pneumonia. The 56-year-old actor, who has been battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer for the last year, insisted co-creators William Rotko and Vincent Angell, executive producer John Romano, executive consultant Michael Dinner and co-star Travis Fimmel promote the show without him at press tour. Swayze’s presence, though not physical, was highly palpable.
“It's just been an absolute inspiration for me and I'm sure the other guys,” Fimmel said of Swayze’s perseverance and dedication to “The Beast,” a high-energy, testosterone-filled action drama premiering Thursday. Swayze plays a veteran undercover FBI agent in Chicago who mentors Fimmel’s rookie. “He's an amazing guy,” Fimmel gushed about his co-star. “You can't help but to respect him. And I can't say enough good stuff about the guy. He's an inspiration. He makes a little thing seem so not important.”
The dire health of your leading man in your brand new television series would seem like a big thing. But Rotko insists Swayze has been from the beginning and still is the only man for the job.
“When we found out Patrick had cancer, it was four hours after we found out [the series] got picked up. From the moment Patrick found out he had cancer … he said, ‘I'm going to do this show.’ If you all watched the Barbara Walters special [featuring Swayze speaking in-depth about his illness], you see the type of cowboy personality that he has. That was his approach, and we immediately glommed on to that. We never considered another actor for the part.”
Indeed, Romano says Swayze’s current battle just adds that much more dimension to his character.
“Everybody who writes, produces, directs the show, they’re aware that he is bringing the force of his own personal struggle into that performance,” Romano says, commenting on the thought that this is Swayze’s finest work in his career. “That’s what you’re seeing. All of us who do the show, we work in the shadow of a tremendous act of courage.”
“He's such a man, you know,” Fimmel added. “The sickest thing about him on the set is probably his jokes.”
“The Beast” premieres Thursday at 10 p.m. on A&E
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In the July MMMpod, Young Veins talk about breaking away from Panic! at the Disco, Keith Lockhart talks about Buckwheat Zydeco throwing the Boston Pops for a loop, Zooey Deschanel talks about how Roy Orbison inspired a She & Him song, Derek Miller of Sleigh Bells talks about how awesome Funkadelic is, and we talk about how awesome Jimmy Cliff is, who in turn talks about Sam Cooke and divine intervention. An explosive show for July! Oh yeah, and we also test your knowledge of America songs in the MMMPod medley.
