Well, nobody can accuse Kate Winslet of not being courageous. The actress -- also an Oscar-winner for The Reader -- is going to do a remake. Right now Mildred Pierce is slated as a miniseries starring Kate Winslet with Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) writing and directing. HBO is first in line to broadcast the mini, but the contracts haven't been signed yet.
Remakes always make me a little queasy. After all, for every success like The Fugitive, there's a debacle like The Wild Wild West. But this time around it's not a television series being remade, it's a famous and semi-classic Oscar-winner, Mildred Pierce. The name alone evokes images of Joan Crawford with shoulder pads you could die for and a horrible teenage daughter played by Ann Blyth.
As I may have mentioned here once or twice, I was a huge fan of the British version of The Office. No matter what the US version accomplishes or how good it gets, I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for the vision Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant had of the average dead-boring workplace and the relationships that are developed there.
Ugly Betty
Ricky Gervais is already hard at work on the upcoming second season of Extras. The 2006 British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards (or BAFTAs) will be presented on Sunday and Gervais plans to attend the ceremony as his Extras character Andy Millman. He and co-creator Stephen Merchant (who plays Andy's agent) will be armed with cameras in case any A-list celebrity does something stupid enough to be worthy to go on the show. So, all the stars will have to be on guard if they don't want to show up on Extras adjusting their bra or making an off-color remark. I'm lookin' at you, Dench!
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