July 25, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Bolivia: Movies: Hollywood: Edmonton Sun: RPCV Taylor Hackford convinces Dennis Hopper to star in E-Ring
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July 25, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Bolivia: Movies: Hollywood: Edmonton Sun: RPCV Taylor Hackford convinces Dennis Hopper to star in E-Ring
RPCV Taylor Hackford convinces Dennis Hopper to star in E-Ring
One day, he went to congratulate director pal Taylor Hackford for his success with the movie Ray. "You look terrific," Hackford told Hopper. "Have you ever thought of doing episodic TV?" "Absolutely not," Hopper said he said, conveniently ignoring his half-season stint two years ago on 24. Hackford sold him on the show just the same. The good news, he told him, is you'd be absolutely perfect for the role. The bad news is we start in two days. Movie Producer Taylor Hackford ("Ray," "An Officer and a Gentleman") served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia in the 1960's.
RPCV Taylor Hackford convinces Dennis Hopper to star in E-Ring
Get a haircut!
Movie villain Hopper joins establishment as high-ranking officer in TV's E-Ring
By BILL BRIOUX, SUN MEDIA
BEVERLY HILLS, California -- After a career playing hippies and villains, original Easy Rider Dennis Hopper was asked what it took for him to play a high-ranking member of the American military establishment.
"Stand a little straighter and get a haircut," he said.
Hopper spoke to critics yesterday at the NBC session for E-Ring, a new drama from TV super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
Hopper told critics that he took "a tremendous pay cut" - estimated at a $1.5-million hit - to play the role of U.S. military boss Colonel McNulty. The Pentagon drama also stars Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order) as a special ops hotshot.
Critics asked Hopper the same question over and over again during the E-Ring session: why ditch a steady film career as an actor and a director for a series that will air opposite ABC's mega-hit Lost?
Hopper said it all kinda happened by accident.
One day, he went to congratulate director pal Taylor Hackford for his success with the movie Ray. "You look terrific," Hackford told Hopper. "Have you ever thought of doing episodic TV?"
"Absolutely not," Hopper said he said, conveniently ignoring his half-season stint two years ago on 24.
Hackford sold him on the show just the same. The good news, he told him, is you'd be absolutely perfect for the role. The bad news is we start in two days.
The best news, said Hopper, was that the set was five minutes from his house.
One critic wanted to know if he hears "you look terrific" a lot these days.
Hopper, 69, has a well-earned reputation for living the high life, especially in the bad old days.
"Let's put it this way," he said. "Kazan never said it to me."
Legendary director Elia Kazan passed on Hopper for the leading role in the 1961 film classic, Splendour in the Grass, and instead went with a young Warren Beatty. Missing out on that movie still rankles Hopper to this day.
Hopper insisted that he doesn't really feel his age, saying that he still thinks of himself as a teenager.
"I'm going to create till they cart me away," he said, adding the obligatory, "keep on rockin' in the free world." The producers admitted that changes were being made to the original pilot episode critics screened late last May. Actress Kelly Rutherford (Melrose Place) is being added to E-Ring as a Pentagon lawyer. And Bratt's character no longer has a wife and child. "When I heard it, it made complete sense," said Bratt, who will be more of a "lone wolf, single guy" on the series.
Bratt dismissed one critic's suggestion that dropping the missus was a ploy by the network to make him more of a pull for the ladies. Bratt said he wasn't comfortable being tagged as the token hunk.
"That's a pretty one-dimensional way to be looked at," he said.
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Story Source: Edmonton Sun
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Bolivia; Movies; Hollywood
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