Clive Owen And Steven Soderbergh Team Up For New Period Drama

POP WRAPPED
November 7, 2013
Stephanie Coats
Lead Events Editor


Photo from Just Jared

You know how it is living in New York City. One minute it’s all 21st century hustle and bustle, and then you step outside your door to discover you've been transported back to the 1900s. Some residents of Downtown Manhattan are certainly feeling that way thanks to Steven Soderbergh’s Cinemax series, The Knick.

The ten-episode show about New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital in 1900, starring Clive Owen, required a transformation of a portion of Manhattan to do some filming. The pilot episode is written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler and will introduce viewers to the doctors and nurses of The Knick who, “Push the bounds of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics.”




READ MORE HERE: http://popwrapped.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/clive-owen-and-steven-soderbergh-team-up-for-new-period-drama/

Clive Owen flashes a broad grin as he relaxes between takes on the set of new hospital drama The Knick

MAIL ON LINE
By JASON CHESTER
October 13, 2013

He’s been sporting a rather urbane pencil moustache over recent weeks.

But while the thin sliver of facial hair hovering above Clive Owen’s upper-lip appears to suit his handsome features, its presence is more of a professional, rather than personal choice.

Indeed, the 49-year-old actor is currently filming The Knick, a new mini-series based in and around New York’s Knickerbocker Hospital in 1900.

Owen, confirmed as a lead in August, will feature prominently in the first season’s entire ten episode run.

Owen was joined on set by Irish co-star Eve Hewson – the 22-year-old daughter of U2 frontman Bono.

The young actress was dressed in an old fashioned nurse’s uniform as she cycled across the set on an equally archaic push-bike.

The recreation of New York circa 1900 was enhanced by the presence of horses, wagons and the prerequisite dusty, unpaved streets.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2457831/Clive-Owen-flashes-broad-grin-relaxes-takes-set-new-hospital-drama-The-Knick.html#ixzz2hdqh9wk4 
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Steven Soderbergh and Clive Owen Team Up for Cinemax's The Knick

 Source: Cinemax
July 26, 2013

Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Side Effects, HBO's "Behind the Candelabra") will direct Clive Owen (Children of Men, HBO's "Hemingway & Gellhorn") in the entire ten-episode season of the Cinemax original series "The Knick," which begins production in New York in September.

Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming, says, "We are thrilled that Steven and Clive have chosen to bring this unique and exciting series to Cinemax."

Set in downtown New York in 1900, "The Knick" centers on Knickerbocker Hospital and the groundbreaking surgeons, nurses and staff, who push the bounds of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics.

Read more here: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=107061

Martin Clunes to play ex-MI6 agent on 'Strike Back' Published Friday, Mar 15 2013, 5:54am EDT | By Morgan Jeffery (DIGITAL SPY)

Martin Clunes has become the latest star to join Sky / Cinemax drama Strike Back.

Dougray Scott (Mission: Impossible II) and Robson Green (Wire in the Blood) were previously reported to have been cast in the action-drama's latest season.


Clunes will also appear as former MI6 agent Sebastian Gray, now an intelligence officer operating out of Beirut, Sky has confirmed.

Additional details have also been revealed about Green's character - Lt Colonel Philip Locke is a new commanding officer in chief who takes charge of anti-terrorism agency Section 20.

Clunes, Green and Scott join returning cast members Philip Winchester (Michael Stonebridge), Sullivan Stapleton (Damian Scott) and Rhona Mitra (Rachel Dalton) in the fourth season of Strike Back - the third co-produced by Sky and US cable channel Cinemax.


Read more: http://www.digitalspy.com/british-tv/news/a465898/martin-clunes-to-play-ex-mi6-agent-on-strike-back.html#ixzz2NcZABkFy 
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Cinemax's explosion-heavy co-production of Sky1's Strike Back shows that Americans do it better … sometimes

Strike Back. Photograph: Rex

 

Greg Daniels, the one-time Simpsons producer who adapted The Office for America was recently hired to perform the same function for Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner. My initial reaction: there's no way that won't be a million times better than the original. That's the exact opposite of my usual reaction. Any time I hear about an American adaptation of a UK original, I automatically assume it's going to suck and that the Brits who handed over their creation in exchange for the network dollar will be left feeling violated and degraded. Just like the creators of Life On Mars, Cracker, Being Human, Teachers, Skins and Misfits (the remake hasn't even been written yet and I'm already condemning it). But I don't feel any patriotic outrage on behalf of Friday Night Dinner. If anything, I'm looking forward to a remake. Greg Daniels is a mammoth talent. Look at his CV: The Simpsons, King Of The Hill, The Office, Parks & Recreation. More importantly, unlike Life On Mars and Cracker and all those other shows, there's nothing to screw up. Which leads me to think the unthinkable: are there other British shows that might benefit from being remade by crass, tone-deaf, unsubtle American networks?

Don't get me wrong. I know people who work in American network TV. To a man and woman, their spirits are crushed under tons of illogical notes from executives who neither understand nor enjoy their programmes. Spending 15-hour days sequestered with groups of writers, each desperate to disparage the other's jokes and storylines, has left most of them haggard, twitching insecure wrecks. Not one of them wouldn't rather work in the UK system with its shorter seasons, relative freedom from upstairs interference and licence to curse. Then I tell them the kind of salaries they could expect if they followed their dreams and they shuffle back to the heaping fruit plates of the writers' room.
I don't think low budgets are to blame though for the malaise affecting British TV. If anything, the problem is lack of ambition and imagination. Where's the outlet for a budding UK Seth MacFarlane or Ryan Murphy or Joss Whedon? If you're not writing police procedurals, doctor dramas or period pieces, few opportunities await you. Outside of Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat, I don't get the sense that British schedules are filled with shows made by people who spent their formative years thinking way too much about TV. Whereas, with America's plethora of superstar showrunners, I know for a fact that none of them saw the sun until well into their teenage years.

Imagine if Sex And The City's Darren Star or Desperate Housewives' Marc Cherry had gotten their claws into the late, semi-lamented Mistresses. Imagine the histrionics, the operatic storylines, the cosmetically altered cast: that's right, it would have been awesome! Or what if the makers of Nurse Jackie got their hands on ITV1's Scott & Bailey? There's a show that gets by on the goodwill generated by its two stars. But it could stand to get a whole lot darker and the characters could be a whole lot quirkier.

Just because Sky's version of Trollied didn't realise the full potential of Cheers in a-supermarket, doesn't mean someone else won't

Trollied

Channel 4's recent paramedic dram-com Sirens could also benefit from a remodel. Good, solid workmanlike show, but missing the grit and gallows humour of a US cable series. Granted, I write this in the knowledge that Rescue Me's Denis Leary snapped up the US rights but my point remains. Then there's Trollied, the first in Sky1's new homegrown comedy roster. I think about NBC's Thursday night lineup of workplace ensemble comedies – Community, The Office, 30 Rock – and I can imagine Trollied fitting right in. If it was about a million times funnier, if it had some memorable characters, and if it didn't serve its leading actor as poorly as the homegrown version does Jane Horrocks. Just because the Sky version didn't realise the full potential of a Cheers-in-a-supermarket, doesn't mean someone else won't.

The above examples share one common characteristic – no one cares too much about them. Which is an insensitive way of saying that these shows aren't part of the national consciousness, in the same way as a Life On Mars or a Skins or an Inbetweeners (the original writers are working on the MTV version and I still fear the worst). There's no magic that's going to get lost in translation.
Beyond the speculative world of what shows might benefit from being remade in America, is there an actual living, breathing example of a British series that has actually improved with American input? I'm glad I asked. Last year, Sky brought to life one of Chris Ryan's in-flight bestsellers, the Special Forces saga Strike Back. It wasn't bad. Lots of gunfights. Lots of brooding from Richard Armitage. Lots of guilt from Andrew Lincoln. This year Cinemax, the HBO subsidiary catering exclusively to consumers of explosions and boobs, took its first steps in the original programming business by becoming a co-producer of Strike Back.

Here's how things changed: season one of Strike Back began with a chaotic military operation in Iraq. Season two (Strike Back: Project Dawn) starts with Richard Armitage being executed, cuts to a Malyasian brothel, then a naked kickboxing stand-off before culminating in a brutal street fight where the series' new co-leads insult each other while blasting off the limbs of their opponents. It's awesome! Everything that's capable of exploding explodes. What was a decent but unexceptional military action show is now Naked 24.

Not every show can or should be lobotomised quite as entertainingly as Strike Back, but if this is an example of how an American network can elevate a British product, I say give them Hollyoaks.


 The Guardian

Cinemax says Strike Back will return for season two

Cinemax’s first primetime drama series Strike Back is a keeper. HBO’s sibling cable network has picked up a 10-episode second season of the action series to air next year. Filming will begin in South Africa in early 2012.

Returning as producing partners to Cinemax/HBO are Left Bank and Sky, which will air the series in the U.K. Also coming back are Left Bank’s Andy Harries and Sky’s Huw Kennair-Jones as executive producers, series producer Michael Casey, head of production Marigo Kehoe, series directors Bill Eagles, who will direct four new episodes, Paul Wilmshurst, who will direct two episodes, and writer Tony Saint, who will write a number of episodes and co-executive produce.

There must be major deaths coming in the final episodes of Season 1 of Strike Back, which ends Oct. 21, as Cinemax declined to announce the cast for Season 2 “due to plot spoilers in upcoming episodes”.

Season 1 starred Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester, with Amanda Mealing, Eva Birthistle, Jimi Mistry, Rhashan Stone, Michelle Lukes and Richard Armitage. The current season of the show tells the story of a charismatic former U.S. Special Forces operative (Stapleton) who joins with a stealth British military unit when a resourceful international terrorist group plots a major attack.

RICHARD ARMITAGE

'Strike Back' Renewed by Cinemax for a Second Season

Written By Robert Seidman

October 6th, 2011

via press release:

HIT ACTION SERIES STRIKE BACK RETURNS TO

CINEMAX FOR SEASON TWO IN 2012

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2011 – The hit action series STRIKE BACK will return to CINEMAX in 2012 for a second season of ten new episodes, which will begin shooting in South Africa in early 2012 and air later in the year. CINEMAX/HBO will again produce the series with partners Left Bank and Sky, who will air the series in the U.K. The series marks the first time the two broadcasters have co-produced an original series together.

Left Bank’s Andy Harries will return as executive producer, and series producer Michael Casey and head of production Marigo Kehoe will also return. Sky’s Huw Kennair-Jones will executive produce. Also returning are Bill Eagles (“Beautiful Creatures”; director of episodes 3 and 4), who will direct four new episodes, Paul Wilmshurst (“Hiroshima”; director of episodes 7 and 8), who will direct two episodes, and Tony Saint (“Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley”; writer of episodes 9 and 10), who will write a number of episodes and co-executive produce.

Currently debuting new episodes Fridays at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT), STRIKE BACK concludes its first season Oct. 21.

Due to plot spoilers in upcoming episodes, the cast of season two will be announced at a later date.

The stars of season one of STRIKE BACK include Sullivan Stapleton (“Animal Kingdom,” upcoming “Gangster Squad”) and Philip Winchester (“Crusoe,” “Camelot”), with Amanda Mealing (“Holby City”), Eva Birthistle (“Silent Witness”), Jimi Mistry (“Blood Diamond”), Rhashan Stone (“Episodes”), Michelle Lukes (“Alexander”) and Richard Armitage (“The Hobbit”).

Season one guest stars include Liam Cunningham (“Clash of the Titans,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), Iain Glen (“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Killer Elite,” “Lost,” HBO’s “OZ”) and David Haig (“Two Weeks Notice,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral”).

The current season of STRIKE BACK tells the suspenseful story of a charismatic former U.S. Special Forces operative who joins with a stealth British military unit when a resourceful international terrorist group plots a major attack. Their covert efforts are never publicly acknowledged, their leads are few, the choices are difficult and results often come at a steep cost

Researched by the creators of the series and aided by consultants, the action-packed drama is rooted in the field of counter-terrorism, and set against the backdrop of timely global issues such as human and drug trafficking, conflict among nations, poverty, danger for international aid workers and child soldiers.

The Los Angeles Times observed that the show “shoots high with plenty of action and thrills and a simmering bromance that’s fun to watch,” while the New York Daily News hailed STRIKE BACK as “appointment television for the next 10 weeks” and an “unapologetic, first-pumping non-stop action thriller.” The Washington Post described the show as a “stylish and addictive new counterterrorism series,” and Indiewire called it “first rate pulp TV, with enough unexpected heart and authenticity to guarantee that its thrills are never cheap,” noting that “it is also the kind of show about the military that focuses on the day-to-day stresses of trying to stay alive on the ground, leaving the overriding political issues to the Suits at headquarters.”

STRIKE BACK is a CINEMAX Presentation in association with British Sky Broadcasting Limited; a Left Bank Pictures Production.

SOURCE: zap2it.com