Role Written For A Man Goes To A Plus-Size Woman
I do so love it when women get to play roles originally written for men.
Angelina Jolie is starring in an action film that was written for Tom Cruise. (The eponymous Edwin A. Salt became Evelyn Salt in the movie now called Salt.) Lucy Liu took on the role of Agent Sever in Ecks vs. Sever (which supposedly is awful but I’m sure it wasn’t Liu’s fault, because she’s awesome). The role was supposedly originally given to Jet Li and Sylvester Stallone. The new Battlestar Galactica made Starbuck a woman, in the person of Katee Sackhoff. (This has been called “fucked up” and “politically correct” of course.) And Jodie Foster has done it too, playing the role of Kyle in Flightplan (hey, they even let her keep the name!)
All of this is leading up to the tiny tidbit that I read in this week’s Entertainment Weekly about a new pilot called Kindreds, starring Kathy Bates as a “curmudgeonly former lawyer“:
How badly does Kelley want Bates to play the part? Well, it was originally written for a man, Harry Korn, but is being reworked for the talented actress who appeared on an episode of Kelley’s legal hit “LA Law.”
Oscar viewers just got a strong reminder of Bates’ acting ability when the horror montage showed her slamming James Caan’s foot with a sledgehammer from Stephen King’s famed movie “Misery.” She also had a recurring role on NBC’s “The Office,” playing Jo Bennett, the Marge Schott-inspired new owner of Dunder-Mifflin.
This is especially interesting because when I think of David E. Kelly, I think of Ally McBeal, a show with such a stick-thin cast that it drove at least one cast member to anorexia.
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Celebrities, Feel Good Friday, Feminism, Kathy Bates, Magazines, The Office, TV
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I hear you on Ally McBeal, but I Kelley also created “The Practice” which starred Camryn Manheim so I don’t think of him as totally towing the thin Hollywood line. I believe I read/heard once that he really stuck up for her when folks doubting the casting (though I could be wrong).
Well, David E. Kelley wasn’t the original producer (that was Stephen Bochco), and the show went downhill when Kelley took over, IMHO. (I DESPISED “Alley McBeal, with a fiery passion that still burns deep in my soul! But I hated it even more when I read about Portia DeRossi’s anorexia.)
On the other hand, there’s the whole Camryn Manheim thing…
Pre-The Practice, Camryn Manheim’s agent got her work by submitting her for jobs that were originally for men. ;)
Kathy Bates is an incredible actress, and it will be great to see her in this show. The scene from “Misery” makes me cringe every time!
For some reason, I have this (skewed?) view that television is something actors climb out of. So big movie stars doing a television series makes me wonder what went wrong.
I realize this isn’t how it’s viewed anymore, but I can’t help myself!
Anyway, Kathy Bates is great! I loved it when she was on The Office a few weeks ago.
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