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‘Little Drummer Girl’ remains relevant in new miniseries
By JOHN CARUCCI, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — John le Carre’s best-selling novel “The Little Drummer Girl” was released in 1983 but remains timely — and that disturbs Alexander Skarsgard.
Skarsgard and Michael Shannon star in a six-hour miniseries based on the novel, playing Israeli agents on the hunt for a Palestinian bomber. “The Little Drummer Girl” premieres Monday night on AMC.
“What’s depressing is the fact that it takes place 35 years ago, but it feels more relevant today than ever,” Skarsgard said. “We’re in a situation where feels like we’ll be having this conversation in 35 years. And it’s horrific what’s happening down there.”
The story centers around the manipu-
lation of a radical left-wing actress named Charlie, played by Florence Pugh, who is coerced to go undercover to help root out a terrorist named Khalil, responsible for bombing Jewish-related targets in Europe.
Shannon didn’t see any ethical issues with the premise of using a thespian to a root out a terrorist. Instead, he was en- thralled by the concept.
“It seems to highlight something that I find very intriguing — that there can be a difference between your identity and your true self. That you can actually present yourself to be someone entirely other than who you actually are, which I think people do a lot,” Shannon said.
Korean director Chan-wook Park, best known for the 2003 classic “Old Boy,” helmed all six episodes of the miniseries.
“To spend like four or five months with one of the greatest filmmakers on the plan- et, it’s obviously such a treat for us actors,” Skarsgard said.
Skarsgard, fresh off an Emmy win for the HBO series “Big Little Lies,” tends to gravitate toward meatier projects, so the script length also appealed to him.
“When you have a 400-page script as opposed to 100, it’s so rich. You can go so deep and you can discover,” Skarsgard said. “You can really take your time and enjoy
it and slowly introduce characters and conflicts.”
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Follow John Carucci at http://www. twitter.com/jacarucci
Best-picture Oscars up for sale in rare auction
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two Academy Awards for best picture are going up for sale in a rare auction of Oscars.
Auction house Profiles in History an- nounced Monday that an Oscar awarded to “Mutiny on the Bounty” in 1936 and an- other given to “Gentleman’s Agreement” in 1948 will go up for auction in Los Angeles starting Dec. 11.
The “Mutiny on the Bounty” best-pic- ture statuette is expected to go for between $200,000 and $300,000. Frank Capra pre- sented the award to Irving Thalberg at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles when the Academy Awards were less than 10 years old. The award is being put up for sale for the first time by the family of Thalberg,
an essential figure in the early history of Hollywood.
The best-picture Oscar for “Gentleman’s Agreement,” the 1947 film starring Greg- ory Peck that took on anti-Semitism and won three Academy Awards, is expected to fetch between $150,000 and $200,000. Its seller wants to remain anonymous.
Hans Dreier’s art-direction Oscar for 1950’s “Sunset Boulevard” and Gloria Swanson’s Golden Globe for best actress in a drama for the film are also on offer in the December auction along with other historic movie awards.
Auctions of Oscar statuettes are very uncommon because winners from 1951 onward have had to agree that they or their
heirs must offer to sell it back to the Acad- emy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for $1 before selling it to anyone else. The Academy has said it firmly believes Oscars should be won, not sold.
Still, occasionally Oscars beyond the reach of the rules go up for sale and sell for large sums of money.
The late Michael Jackson acquired David O. Selznick’s “Gone With the Wind” Oscar for a record $1.5 million in 1999.
Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” statuette sold for $861,542 in 2011.
And in 2014, James Cagney’s best-actor Oscar for 1942’s “Yankee Doodle Dandy” failed to sell when no one would meet the minimum bid demand of $800,000.
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