BELLOmag #67 Entertainment

BELLO FEBRUARY 2015

Charlie WEBER Brad’s BUZZ Split ENDS Podcast NATION

CHAD

Coleman CASEY JON

Deidrick MPHO

Koaho Haute Chat:

Dylan Neal

ENTERTAINMENT

ENTERTAINMENT

“MR. MURDER” WORDS BY HIKO MITSUZUKA PHOTOS BY YONI GOLDBERG

MOST TABLE READS ARE DE RIGUEUR FOR THE CASTS AND CREWS OF HIT TV SHOWS. THEY’RE A CHANCE FOR ACTORS TO GET FAMILIAR WITH THEIR CHARACTERS’ ARCS AND FOR PRODUCERS TO FIGURE OUT THE FLOW OF AN EPISODE. BUT WHEN YOU HAVE AN OSCARWINNING POWERHOUSE LIKE DENZEL WASHINGTON FOCUSING ON YOUR EVERY WORD DURING SAID SCRIPT READING, THE NERVES ARE UNDERSTANDABLY ON EDGE.

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JACKET KENT & CURWEN SHIRT & PANTS TOMMY HILFIGER SWEATER GANT SHOES TOD’S

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SUIT REISS SHIRT TOMMY HILFIGER TIE & POCKET SQUARE THE TIE BAR

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FOR CHARLIE WEBER, WHO PLAYS FRANK DELFINO ON ABC’S REDHOT LEGAL SERIAL HOT TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, IT WAS ONE OF THOSE RARE STARSTRUCK MOMENTS. “HE’S FRIENDS WITH VIOLA [DAVIS] AND JUST STOPPED BY TO SAY HELLO AND ENDED UP SITTING IN ON OUR TABLE READ,” WEBER SAYS, DESCRIBING THAT DAY IN OCTOBER WHEN THE VETERAN ACTOR SAT IN ON A SCRIPT SESSION. WEBER COULDN’T HELP GLANCING AT WASHINGTON IN BETWEEN SCENE READINGS. “THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST INTENSE TABLE READS WE’VE EVER HAD. EVERYONE BROUGHT THEIR A-GAME.”

“Intense” can also be used to describe the last half of Murder’s stellar first season, which recently returned to continue the salacious storylines of America’s hottest legal team. Ever since launching in September, Murder has proven itself to be a worthy companion to ABC’s other hashtag-inspiring drama, Scandal. There isn’t a single plot twist - or racy sex scene - that didn’t have viewers scrambling to tweet their reactions across the interwebs.

“We try to keep it interesting for sure,” Weber tells me over the phone on a January morning while he prepares to hit up a few Golden Globe parties later in the evening. “We just keep going further and further down this rabbit hole.”

And viewers have been enjoying the perilous journey of Professor Annalise Keating (brilliantly portrayed by Oscar winner Viola Davis) and her eclectic group of law students as they try to figure out whodunit - and each other on a weekly basis. Twitter feeds have been filling up with #TGIT, keeping Thursday nights on the map as the hottest destination in network TV. Weber’s known for being highly responsive when he receives shoutouts on Twitter. “That’s my favorite part of Twitter,” he says. “It’s instant fan mail.” He remembers receiving actual postmarked letters and gifts when he did a stint on Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in the early aughts and notices the difference a decade makes. Now? “If they ask you a funny question, you can hit them back with an immediate response.”

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Yes, if you’re a Buffy fanatic, you may remember Weber as Ben, the young intern who played a key role in the fifth season of Joss Whedon’s supernatural saga. In fact, Buffy represents Weber’s first break into the biz, and all of it comes back to him while we chat and take a trip down memory lane. After leaving his Missouri roots to launch a successful modeling career in New York City (“I had wanted that pure culture shock [of] moving from a small town to the big city”), he then made the migration to L.A. in 1999 and dived into his first pilot season.

When it came to reading for Whedon, he was thrilled to be given the opportunity shortly after arriving in Hollywood.

“Clare Kramer (who played Glory on Buffy) and I were there together. Joss came out after we both read for the writers and said, “I’d like to hire you guys.” And we were both just elated; I remember I was on cloud nine. I walked out of there, got in my car, changed my shirt, and drove to the premiere of Broken Hearts Club. And that was a pretty good day for a young actor.”

Let’s back up for a second. The Broken Hearts Club, an indie cult film from 2000 (starring then-up-and-comers Zach Braff, Timothy Olyphant and Justin Theroux), happened to be the first feature film written and directed by current TV powerhouse Greg Berlanti (The Flash, Arrow, and The Mysteries of Laura). The self-proclaimed “romantic comedy” was also Weber’s on-camera debut; blink, and you might miss his one line as “the newbie” at the end of the movie (go Netflix it now). “My first

paying gig was that one line,” he fondly remembers. That experience proved to be so positive and lasting that it inspired him to keep going.

And he did.

Flash forward 15 years later, and he’s on one of the most talked about TV shows - and cutting a stylish figure - as Frank Delfino. Has his fashion sense changed since he started portraying a suit-loving power player? Not really, but he loves having a say in Frank’s wardrobe. “The waistcoat thing was very specific to Frank. I wanted him to be exceptionally put together [and] exceptionally well-groomed, almost to the point of being too much; like, why does he care so much about how he’s presenting himself? And it’s sort of because it’s the world where he came from. He still has one foot on the other side of the tracks, and it’s all sort of symbolic of his personality.” And that personality is one he describes as “that East Coast aggression and forwardness.”

As for hintng at what’s to come on Murder, he’s as tight-lipped as any actor starring in a Shonda Rhimesproduced drama. Details are always under wraps, and the cast is always kept in the dark...until they receive their next script.

Divulging such juicy secrets is just another thing Charlie Weber may to have to learn how to get away with. @TheFirstEcho

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PANTS SAND COPENHAGEN BELT ZEGNA SWEATER REISS

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JACKET & SHIRT H&M

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SWEATER REISS

Photography YONI GOLDBERG www. yonigoldbergstudio.com Styling WARREN ALFIE BAKER www.warrenalfiebaker.com Grooming CARISSA FERRERI with TRACEY MATTINGLY using BAXTER OF CALIFORNIAÂ Photo assistant GRIFFIN POCOCK 35

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ENTERTAINMENT

BRAD’S BUZZ

BY BRAD LIBERTI, ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR twitter and instagram @bjl233

1. Event Television Some people wait with baited breadth for the arrival of the holidays. I personally can’t wait for them to be over so that Hollywood’s holiday season can officially kick off. But while January offers a Thanksgiving teaser (with the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG Awards), it’s February that brings the Christmas payload. I’ll be rooting for Beyoncé and Taylor Swift at The Grammys and Julianne and Benedict at The Oscars. Oh yeah, and I’m all about Katy Perry at the Super Bowl (I heard that some football teams might be her opening act).

Photo courtesy of www.hottubtimemachine2.com

2. Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Since The Interview turned out to be more of a harbinger of the apocalypse than actually funny, it’s about time for a satisfying stoner comedy to blow into theaters (pun intended). While the first one was a cheesy delight that showed off the talents of its underappreciated comic cast (Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke), the sequel finds Adam Scott stepping in for John Cusack, and if the trailer is anything to be believed, it’s gonna be a stupid and sophomoric treat. I can’t wait.

Photo courtesy of IMDb

3. Jupiter Ascending I want to see this much-delayed sci-fi epic from the Wachowski siblings just based on curiosity alone. But with Mila Kunis playing some sort of crucible of civilization, Channing Tatum looking like a satyr on steroids, and Eddie Redmayne doing his best Eddie Izzard, I’m in. Although let’s just hope that it’s more The Fifth Element than Battlefield Earth...but honestly, it could go either way.

4. Maps to the Stars

5. Better Call Saul Not salivating over the premiere of this ‘spin-off’ starring everyone’s favorite Albuquerque ambulance chaser? Then you clearly haven’t seen Breaking Bad. Seriously, you need to stop reading and go do that NOW.

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Photo courtesy of nydailynews.com

Julianne Moore is currently riding a wave of acclaim for her transformative portrayal of a woman facing early Alzheimer’s, but I say give her another Oscar juts for the trailer to this one, in which she plays, go figure, a whiny, self-obsessed actress who gets caught up in quite the paranormal mystery. No, I have no idea what this movie is really about, but with David Cronenberg directing and the Academy Award Nominee starring, it’s bound to be anything but boring.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Chad L. Coleman: The Walking Dead ’s Gentle Giant WORDS BY DIO ANTHONY

AT THIS POINT IN THE GAME, FANS OF AMC’S WIDLY POPULAR ZOMBIE SERIES KNOW THAT TYREESE HAS SEEN BETTER DAYS. HE’S A SOFTIE IN A DANGEROUS NEW WORLD. CHAD L. COLEMAN SAT DOWN WITH ME AND LET ME PICK HIS BRAIN ON ALL THINGS WALKING DEAD. ONE THING’S FOR SURE: HE IS ALMOST POSITIVE THE SERIES’ WINTER PREMIERE (EPISODE 9) WILL ROCK OUR WALKER SOCKS RIGHT OFF. Last season, the episodes following the winter premiere with Tyreese, this big burly man, and these three very distinct fragile girls was so powerful in more ways than one. What was lingering in your mind during the production of all those scenes? photo credit: Bobby Quillard (BobbyQuillardInc.com)

A huge amount of gratitude to be able to play against type. Also, just being really thankful for Robert Kirkman and our showrunner Scott M. Gimple, who puts it all on the page. In addition to those things, I was very excited about how they dealt with gender roles.

Instead of having me go out and kill, I’m protecting. Very often society pushes the same roles: the man does this, the woman does that. In turn, we get to play around with that. We see

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photo credit: Jean Claude

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photo credit: Jean Claude

Carol emerging as this type of freedom fighter. It’s pretty awesome. I think males get a bad rap; you never see us vulnerable, and you never see us in this thoughtful space or sensitive space.

It was great to inhabit that. Quietly, I believe underneath it all is kind of an homage to President Obama.

I read that you have a daughter. Does she watch the show? With or without you?

She does watch it. She loves it, along with all her friends; they’re huge fans of the show. When I go to school to see her, everyone’s on board with it. Her mother doesn’t watch it with her,;she’s a bit of a scaredy cat, [and] she can’t handle it (laughs). Her grandmother can’t handle it either. So, she’s either by herself or watching it with friends, and when I’m home we watch it together. But I’m definitely not her favorite character, which shocked me.

She loves Daryl and Shane from earlier seasons. When she told me she liked them I was quite surprised, but...well, alright.

Walk me through a moment on set.

You’re about to jump into a very intense scene, walkers lurking nearby. Your director’s giving you some notes.

What’s that like for you? What’s the vibe?

I’m dialed in, doing everything I can to focus and suspense my disbelief, which is clearing my mind, to be as present in the scene as I [can] be. Usually the director doesn’t say too much to me; by the time we get to that moment we’ve already taken time to make sure the walkers are going to be safe if there’s a physical exchange. Then I let them know, alright, well, when we go for real, and we’ve mapped everything out...I’m going all out. Just know that it’s coming.

So, that’s how it is. Everybody is so passionate and wants it to be so real.

We’re all really dialed in, even down to the walkers as well.

Tyreese’s character is so great, partly because of his emotional depths. He 39

loves hard, and he feels harder. For you, the man behind the man, what has been the most rewarding part of playing this character?

Certainly the acceptance from the hardcore comic-book fans. Sometimes when you read something and have this personal relationship with it, [then] you see it on film or TV ... it can be deflating.

Knowing that my performance was received well by them is really gratifying.

How’re you the least like your character on The Walking Dead?

Silly and crazy. You don’t see Tyreese in that mindset - never. He has a few moments of levity. But I’m silly and crazy; unlike him, I like to joke around and make people laugh.

You served in the United States Army. Had this zombie-craze actually occurred, do you think the armed forces would be able to keep things under control? Or at least create shelter, like we believed Terminus to be?

Great question. I have to believe that we would (laughs). I have to believe in our ability to protect and serve the people. I think we’d be equipped to handle something like this. It probably wouldn’t make for the greatest drama, but we’re doing a great job right now.

We may not be fighting zombies, but there are forces coming at us and we’re doing pretty well. For the most part, I think we’re keeping the peace. With all the services combined, I think we’d subdue the walkers.

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ENTERTAINMENT

Casey Jon Deidrick

SIX THINGS WITH

EYE CANDY’S

WORDS BY DIO ANTHONY PHOTOS BY KARL SIMONE

MTV IS ABOUT TO GET A WHOLE LOT BLOODIER WITH ITS NEW MYSTERY SERIES, EYE CANDY. WITH MYSTERIES COME HOT COPS, AND CASEY DEIDRICK TAKES THE NAME IN THE NEW YORK-SET SERIES OF A GIRL SEARCHING FOR A SERIAL KILLER. YOU MAY ALREADY KNOW DEIDRICK FROM HIS DAY JOB AS A SOAP STAR ON DAYS OF OUR LIVES. BUT IF YOU DON’T, HERE ARE A FEW THINGS TO GET TO KNOW THE MAN BEHIND EYE CANDY’S TOMMY.

1. Talk to me about your character Tommy and his place in the series.

I’ve had the most fun I’ve ever had playing Tommy. He’s a young detective, he’s a hard ass, and he’s constantly trying to prove himself in a competitive environment.

As the series progresses, Tommy must learn to work with Lindy and trust her in hopes of cracking this serial killer case.

2. Just until recently, I was unaware that Eye Candy was adapted from an R.L. Stine book.

Did you have any thorough knowledge of the original book coming into the show?

Actually, I am a huge fan of the Goosebumps books and I grew up with my Dad reading me those books to me before bedtime! I never heard of Eye Candy until I read for this role, and when I got the part, I read the book and love the similarities and differences it has from our scripts.

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3. The series deals a lot with social media and how it plays into modern society and crime. What’s your relationship like with Twitter, Instagram, Tinder and the plethora of apps and platforms available these days?

Social media platforms have been a great way for me to to reach out to fans and interact. They’re not something I use every day, but yes, I do have a twitter and Instragram account @ CaseyDeidrick.

4. This was your first big venture into Primetime, coming from a daytime soap. Talk to me about that transition.

It wasn’t easy. There was a period of time where I didn’t work, and I had concerns I wasn’t taken seriously as an actor due to my starring on a soap opera. However, I will say I worked with some incredibly talented actors in my soap days, and those actors are some of the hardest working people I ever met. We sometimes shot two to three episodes a day, and we had to tape it within a few hours. It was my boot camp, and I got a lot of great experience in front of a camera. I’m thrilled to have

done it and now grow as an actor in this next chapter.

5. Your pet Nanuk is all over your Instagram. A dog really is man’s best friend, huh?

A dog is a man’s best friend until the treat bag is empty (laughs). No, but seriously, he’s the greatest dog I’ve ever known. He’s my buddy; I taught him to pull me on my skateboard, I take him hiking with me...love that dog!

6. I’m a big true crime reader myself, and so I’m very excited for the series.

Serial killers are my worst fear. Did you care to look into some real cases in preparing for your role?

I actually got to sit down with NYPD detectives and talk to them about some real cases. They were so nice and informative. They taught me the proper way to clear a room and how to hold a gun. I also studied Brad Pitt’s character in Seven because my character reminded me of him so much. I watched True Detective twice all the way through; I was obsessed.

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ENTERTAINMENT

THE

Mpho Koaho Invasion WORDS BY GERRAD HALL PHOTOS BY MARC CARTWRIGHT GROOMER SIMONE FRAJND WITH EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS

HE COULD’VE SAID FIELD OF DREAMS OR DANCES WITH WOLVES...THE UNTOUCHABLES, BULL DURHAM OR EVEN ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES.

But when Mpho Koaho had a little down-time while filming Black or White with Kevin Costner, the actor shared with the two-time Oscar winner his “affinity,” as he put it, for Costner’s critically-panned 1995 action movie, Waterworld. “You should’ve seen his face light up,” Koaho recalls, laughing.

“Not many people mention Waterworld, and we had a really cool talk about that.”

There’s been a lot of talk surrounding Black or White, which hits theaters on January 30th. In the movie, Koaho portrays Duvan, a tutor for the granddaughter of Costner’s often drunk lawyer, Elliot, eventually taking on driver and, jokingly, bodyguard duties.

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“How ironic,” the Toronto-born Koaho, who’s also currently filming in Canada the fifth and final season of TNT’s Falling Skies, says of the quick mention that harkens back to Costner’s famous role opposite Whitney Houston.

Written and directed by Mike Binder, Costner fully financed Black or White, which takes a look at race relations on a familial level. After his wife dies in a car accident, Elliot attempts to retain custody of his bi-racial granddaughter, Eloise - whose mother, Elliot’s daughter, died during childbirth – battling the young girl’s paternal grandmother, Rowena (Octavia Spencer), for the right to raise her. For all his own shortcomings, Elliot makes a wise

decision in hiring African-born Duvan to help with Eloise’s schoolwork. Proud of his own tenacity and education, Duvan is quick to let anyone he meets know about his vast knowledge and that he, like young Eloise, is also mother-less, as he had witnessed the murder of her and the rest of his family as a child in Africa.

Although he was born thousands of miles away, Koaho, whose own mother fled South Africa during Apartheid, felt a connection to Duvan’s struggle.

“He wasn’t born in the Western world; I was, but I [understand] that based off of my mother. I get where he comes from. I get the difficulties for him to 42

leave Africa and make it here. He’s educated himself here. I’m of the same ilk, so I get that; I understand that plight,” Koaho explains. “There was an excitement when I read the script. I was like, ‘Oh, man, I can do this. I can give people a very wonderful take on this kid.’”

He’s trying to do the same with his character, Anthony, on Falling Skies.

In the home stretch of filming the show’s final ten episodes, speaking with us on the first day of shooting the ninth episode, he is equally sad about the looming end, but excited for the direction the show has taken.

“There’s a lot of different stuff happening this season. Charleston [South Carolina] looks different… everything is different,” he teases. “My character goes in a weird direction. I won’t say off the deep end, but he looks at the deep end. He waves at it.”

“The fans and people who care about my character have been waiting for this,” Koaho adds.

But he didn’t have to tell that to Maya Angelou. Some seventeen years ago, when he was just fourteen years old, Koaho auditioned for the author and poet, who was preparing to direct her one and only feature film, Down in the Delta.

“I go into the audition [and] this woman knows exactly where I’m from; she tells me where my name is from,” he recalls, the lasting power of the moment obvious in the tone of his voice, evident even over the phone. “She just had this… presence. It’s like God or something.

Really. It’s like…that. There’s a halo around her.”

If that wasn’t monumental enough, she then invited into the room Koaho’s mother, a huge fan of Angelou who regularly played her audio books in their home. “My mother hit the floor, on her knees, bowing to this woman.”

It was a moment he’ll never forget, just as when he saw for the first time

on YouTube his mother performing in the South African musical Ipi Ntombi: “[She was] in her 20s, skinny and hot, dancing around,” he says of the old footage from a TV program he describes as an “Israeli, Johnny Carson-type talk show.” Traveling with the popular production about a young man who leaves his village and wife for work in Johannesburg’s mines was his mother’s way out of her racially divided, civil war-torn country.

But it was Koaho’s way in to discovering more about who he is.

“I learned so much about where I get it from in those moments. And then, it only enhances my knowledge of how good she was,” he says. “I feel like I’m okay at what I do, especially because as a kid I wasn’t trained really to [be an actor]. I always wondered where I got it from, and she really validated it, giving me this sense of confidence I had never had before. She almost legitimized my ability.”

In the post-apocalyptic sci-fi series, which counts Steven Spielberg as an executive producer, Koaho is the smart and cunning Anthony, a former Boston police officer and narcotics detective. A survivor of the alien invasion that wiped out more than 90% of the Earth’s population, he is part of the regiment – along with characters played by Noah Wyle, Moon Bloodgood and Will Patton – assembled to destroy the menacing extraterrestrials that killed many of their families.

Invading people’s televisions the last four years on the show, Koaho says Anthony, and now Black or White’s Devon, have afforded him an opportunity he has rarely experienced in his career: the chance to play endearing characters. And with that, the chance that audiences may discover more of his work. “I’ve been working a long time, yet nobody knows me,” he contently acknowledges. And learn his name; it’s pronounced mm-POH ko-AH-ho, for the record.

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ENTERTAINMENT

HAUTE CHAT:

Dylan Neal

WORDS BY DEE TRILLO PHOTOS BY DAGNEY KERR Fashion, Beauty, Tech, Travel & Entertainment Expert| @HauteFrugalista| HauteFrugalista.com

DYLAN NEAL HAS BEEN GRACING THE SMALL SCREEN FOR OVER 25 YEARS. THE VERY HANDSOME AND TALENTED ACTOR HAS PLAYED AN ARRAY OF CHALLENGING AND PERSONAL ROLES THAT HAVE SHOWN HIS ABILITY TO TAKE A CHARACTER, BREAK IT DOWN, AND FIND WHAT TRULY MOTIVATES HIS ACTIONS. HIS NEW PROJECT, CEDAR COVE, HAS PROVEN TO BE A TRUE FAVORITE FOR VIEWERS LOOKING FOR AN EMOTIONALLY DEEP SERIES WHERE THE CHARACTERS ARE TRULY WELL CRAFTED AND DEVELOPED. This month we will get to see him as Robbin “Bob” Adams on the much anticipated screen adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. He plays Anastasia’s step-father, and we could not be more excited to see him take on that role.

Here is our exclusive BELLO interview with this leading man!

DT: Tell us about the experience as lead actor on Hallmark Channel’s first primetime series, Cedar Cove. Did you expect the incredible reception?

DN: Well, I was obviously very flattered to be offered the role in the first place.

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there was an offer for me to play the male lead opposite Andie MacDowell in a pilot for The Hallmark Channel and was I interested? It took me about half a second to answer, ‘Yes, of course I’m interested!’” We’re all so grateful that it has done as well as it has for the network and continues to grow in its second season.

Television has such horrible odds for success; this is my seventh prime time series as a series regular and none of them have done well until now, and I’m talking about a span of over 25 years!

You never know what’s going to work and what’s not; you just do your best and hope for the best. There are so many

reasons why a show succeeds or fails; you just control all the elements. At the end of the day, there’s just a certain amount of luck in all this.

Your character in Arrow was very different. How did you prepare for such a strong role?

The only tricky part about Ivo was that no one knew what he was about at first, not even the writers. We knew his trajectory a bit, but like with most of television, the writers and actors are discovering everything on the fly.

You’re basically guessing at stuff until pieces start to fall into place, and then once you get a little traction, you start building from there.

Fifty Shades is being released this month. What can you tell us about getting the part, and what do you think audiences will think about your character?

My role of Bob Adams in Fifty Shades was another straight offer. Bob is Anastasia’s step-father and is married 44

to her mother, Carla. I think Bob and Carla represent a juxtaposition to the relationship Anastasia finds herself in with Christian. They have a very traditional, loving and fun relationship, which is so different from what Anastasia is going through and makes her question what she is doing. That’s my personal take on it, anyway.

You’re taking on a different role as producer, too. What are some of your current and future projects in the work?

Right now I have a full schedule with acting, writing and producing. Along with Cedar Cove, I have a series of TV movies for the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel that I’m writing and executive producing with my wife, Becky Southwell, [one of which is] called The Gourmet Detective, which I’m also starring in. This is a series of murder mysteries based upon a series of books by Peter King. It’s a cute story, and Becky and I are looking forward to getting into production on it.

Do you have any beauty or fitness routines for staying in shape and looking great?

I try and stay on a regular fitness routine in the gym. Ideally, I lift weights five days a week with cardio thrown in, but working as much as I do can sometimes play havoc with that. I’m also in need of shoulder surgery to fix some standard wear and tear around my rotator cuff, but I haven’t been able to find a quiet six weeks for the surgery and recovery yet. But I’ll get there one of these days!

How did you get into working with wood, and what are some of the pieces you’ve liked doing the most?

I started building furniture over twenty years ago. I’ve always had a fascination with how things are made, and working with wood allows you to start with some very basic pieces and then build your knowledge and skill set from there.

The very first thing I made was a bed for myself as a teenager. As I acquired 45

more tools and knowledge I slowly started building more complicated pieces...and before long you’re able to recreate rather ornate armoires from scratch.

When you’re off the clock, how do you like to spend your time? Any recommendations as far as music, books, tv shows...?

In my down time, if I’m not working on my house or building something, I unwind with reading, movies and books. A great book for writers is called On Writing by Stephen King. I can’t recommend it

enough. I reference passages all the time with my acting students because so much of what Mr. King writes about pertains to acting as well, especially his example of what he calls “the talent pyramid.”

Two shows I love right now [include] Homeland – they’re still delivering cutting edge drama in their fourth season and that is hard to do - [and] Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unkown. I can binge watch this show forever. He’s the perfect host for this format, and I just love the mingling of cultures, politics and food.

February 2015 - BELLO

ENTERTAINMENT

SPLIT ENDS: Saying Goodbye to the Two-Part Movie Finale

BY ADRIENNE MCILVAINE

BY NOW, AUDIENCES ARE QUITE FAMILIAR WITH HOLLYWOOD’S INSATIABLE DESIRE FOR FRANCHISES THAT CAN BE ENDLESSLY REBOOTED, REPACKAGED, AND RESOLD. WAS ANYONE REALLY CLAMORING FOR ANDREW GARFIELD TO TAKE OVER AS SPIDER-MAN? OR A USELESS REMAKE OF THE CHEESY SLICE OF ‘90S NOSTALGIA THAT IS TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES? But the last few years have seen Hollywood play a far more insidious game, featuring the two-part movie finale. Desperate to squeeze as much money as they can out of box-office goldmines like the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games franchises, greedy studio executives super-size the finales into bloated cliffhangers that prove sometimes bigger isn’t always better.

It hasn’t always been this way.

Think about other great film trilogies, like Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Back to the Future. What do they all have in common, besides being treasured

childhood films and pop culture heavyweights? Their series-ending adventures all happened in one film.

Could you imagine a two-part version of The Last Crusade in which all the excitement of the race to find the Holy Grail is strangled by a cut to black just as Indy and his father enter the temple?

Or a Return of the Jedi that ends after Luke confesses to Leia that he’s her brother?

Of course you can’t. But the mindboggling success of the Harry Potter franchise changed the game in many ways. Even though the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, clocked in at nearly 800 pages, surely it was possible for the filmmakers to condense the story into a satisfying, two-and-a-half hour goodbye. Instead, they charged a devoted fanbase twice for the privilege of waiting a year between Deathly Hallows, Parts 1 and 2.

And when both films took in a combined $2.2 billion, every studio took notice.

From a viewer’s standpoint, it’s hard to sustain the excitement of a finale when you know it’s not really the end, and even more difficult to resume that level of engagement a year later. From a storytelling perspective, writing a two-part finale really means crafting two separate stories with their own beginnings, middles and endings; getting it right once is tough enough,

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but doing it twice is a miracle. Not to mention that the twin evils of endless Internet speculation and the mindnumbing Hollywood hype machine inflate audience expectations to such a degree that nothing less than the Next Coming of Beyonce will be considered worthy.

You could spend the entire running time of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which, incidentally, just has one final film) discussing why Hollywood has become increasingly dependent on an MBA-approved formula of repeatable successes and carefully-mapped out superhero universes (and in fact, someone has: check out Mark Harris’s insightful piece, “The Birdcage,” on Grantland.com).

But maybe that’s the answer. If the story never really ends, you never really need a finale (or two). @mizocty 46

ENTERTAINMENT

Podcast Nation

BY ADRIENNE MCILVAINE

WITH THE INCREDIBLE CRITICAL AND COMMERCIAL ACCLAIM OF THE SERIAL PODCAST, AN EXPERIMENTAL PIECE OF JOURNALISTIC STORYTELLING THAT SURPRISED EVEN ITS CREATORS, IT’S BECOME CLEAR THAT 2014 WAS THE YEAR PODCASTS CAME INTO THEIR OWN (AND THERE’S NO STOPPING THEM IN 2015).

A spin-off of the wildly popular series This American Life, Serial managed to capture all the qualities of a great podcast. Each episode is engaging, informative, exciting and suspenseful.

And the best part about it? With no pictures or images to speak of, the real-life murder mystery exists solely in the listeners’ imaginations.

People talk, others listen; it’s a brilliantly simple format that stretches back to the 1920s, which saw the newlyinvented radio become a one-stop shop for news and entertainment. In fact, Garrison Keillor’s popular public radio series A Prairie Home Companion, which first began broadcasting in 1974, is an affectionate throwback to the radio dramas and music variety programs that characterized the pre-television era. The only difference now is that instead of being chained to a radio, podcasts can go anywhere; coined in 2004, the term initially referred to the iPod, which revolutionized media consumption in the digital age.

It’s never been easier to find a podcast, since there’s an estimated 300,000 unique titles in the iTunes store. Some of our favorites: The Bugle: Comedian John Oliver and his two friends in the UK discuss current events with razor-sharp wit and difficult-to-understand accents.

Throwing Shade: A genre-busting show from two UCB vets, this podcast takes down everything from gender stereotypes to the portrayal of gays in the media.

The Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project: This podcast showcases the gifted improv comedian’s take on a new character every week.

There’s a show for just about everything under the sun, and just as many ways to listen. Most episodes run between 30 and 60 minutes, making them perfect for listening while commuting, working out at the gym, doing household chores and other tedious daily tasks.

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The imagination is the ultimate creative engine, and podcasts exploit that to the fullest. There’s something intimate about listening to people talk; without the visual clutter of pictures, drawings and moving images, it’s easy to imagine that they’re speaking directly to you. And unencumbered by special effects budgets or high-priced talent, creators are free to dream up anything and everything they desire.

Scott Aukerman’s popular podcastturned-IFC series Comedy Bang Bang, for example, is especially known for its low-tech, nonsensical games and surreal comedy styling that has drawn everyone from Jon Hamm to “Weird Al” Yankovic to its (imaginary) stage.

There’s something deeply ironic that, in an age where anyone can be reached anytime and anywhere, and the world of the technology-warped BBC series Black Mirror is closer than we think, millions of people have rediscovered the simple joy of people getting together and having a conversation.

Is this the beginning of a backlash against the synergistic, corporate driven media, or just another fad? I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned... and downloaded. @mizocty February 2015 - BELLO

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