#the night manager tv

[raincitygirl76]

I knew that Claudia Black (the Australian actor who played Aeryn Sun on Farscape) had gotten divorced. I had not known about her C-PTSD or her custody battle. But she is a terrific actor who should be more widely recognized. And who I already knew had had some bad luck in terms of casting.

Regrettably, the contracts of Farscape’s Australian actors (I.e. most of the cast, since it was an American show shot in Sydney) did not include American residuals. Only imported American actors like Ben Browder who were members of SAG-AFTRA got residuals. Which is a damn shame, because the show ran 1999-2003. In the 2000s, syndicated reruns were still a good way for actors to get some financial stability courtesy of residuals from past work.

After moving to America following the end of Farscape, Black was cast in a recurring role on a big network show, as the ex-wife of Damian Lewis’s star character Charlie Crews on “Life”, which aired 2007-2009. She appeared as Jennifer in the pilot episode and some ads. But Black’s role was recast (and her scenes in the pilot episode reshot with a new actor) because in between the shooting of the pilot and production of the first season, Black had become pregnant.

It was a shame she lost that role, particularly since the actor they cast in her place didn’t have nearly as much charisma. Also because Jennifer is remarried with kids in the pilot episode, so it wouldn’t have been particularly difficult to write Jennifer as pregnant again by her second husband.

Jennifer was someone Charlie was still carrying a torch for a decade after their divorce. She should’ve been compelling. But the chemistry between Damian Lewis and the replacement Jennifer just wasn’t there, so it was sometimes hard to understand why Charlie was so nuts over her. Judging by Black’s accidental appearance in some ads for “Life”, she had envisioned and played Jennifer as a significantly tougher character than the replacement actor did.

Now, making Jennifer “softer” was probably the showrunner’s idea, rather than the fault of the replacement actor. Presumably she played Jennifer as she was directed to. But particularly in Season 2, when Jennifer’s role expands, the lack of chemistry between Damian Lewis and the replacement Jennifer had me wishing for a spikier version. Like the Jennifer we’d briefly glimpsed from footage of Claudia Black in early ads for the show.

Maybe the showrunner wanted Jennifer softer, and Claudia Black’s pregnancy was the excuse he needed to axe her and hire someone else to play the role differently. But it always seemed like a shame to me. In most industries, firing someone because they’re pregnant would be grounds for a lawsuit. Apparently in Hollywood it’s de rigeur.

Note that in “The Night Manager”, a British miniseries which aired in 2016, Olivia Colman was visibly pregnant with her third child. She played a prominent role in the series in spite of her pregnancy. Apparently the character had not been pregnant in John le Carre’s book (which I haven’t read).

But then, “The Night Manager” was directed by a woman, Danish director Susanne Bier. As a woman, and a mother of 2 kids herself, presumably Bier realized pregnancy wouldn’t sap Colman’s thespian powers. The male show runners of “Life” evidently felt differently in 2007.

For every Olivia Colman out there (a working actor whose career suddenly goes stratospheric when she’s approaching 40), there are probably a hundred Claudia Blacks. Excellent working actors whose careers start to wane as they’re approaching 40, and continue to wane as they’re approaching 50. And not because they’ve suddenly lost their talent. Hollywood is just fixated on youth.

[cinecuts1]

BRING BACK YEARNING MEN 😞

[olemisekunst]

The Night Manager (2016) dir. Susanne Bier

[theivesbustamate]

Happy birthday to Elizabeth Debicki!

The Australian actress turns 34 years today!

[twinnedpeaks]

im five years late but finally watching ready or not

[lilcathsmith]

Crime Show Meme - CSI insp [10/10 episodes]

"...as much as this is our universe, surrounded by science every day, I still like to think there's room for a spiritual side." - Ghosts of the Past (Season 13 Episode 21, 8th May 2013)

[kiwidotcom]

if you haven't watched The Night Manager. do it.

it's beautiful and tragic and poignant. and Hugh Laurie is an amazing actor. I knew that already but this was another level.

WATCH IT. 🥺

[ssaalexblake]

donald sutherland is Such a bitch in the thg movies and is one of those perfect casting instances that doesn't get the props it should

[born-to-lose]

I wish there was an arthouse theater in my town because whenever I wanna see something fun like the Led Zep documentary I have to go to another city almost an hour by train away 🙄

[ankahikoibaat]

Michael Malarkey looks so good in The Night Manager (my husband is watching and i got a glimpse and that's how i learned what he was watching lmao) someone make Bonenzo edits pls

[fiendishartist2]

need this strength at the end of this assignment

[dailyshowchica]

So this is all Loki (2021)’s fault: I remembered that Tom Hiddleston exists and is a cutie. So I watched The Night Manager, and I noticed something:

All of the names Tom Hiddleston’s character uses are plant based.

Jonathan Pine (kind of tree)

Jack Linden (also a kind of tree)

Thomas Quince (fruit/tree)

Andrew Birch (tree, that was on purpose in-universe)

I have no idea if this means something, if this was intentional on the part of the show’s writers, or on John Le Carre’s in the original novel. I just noticed it, and I wondered if anyone else had, too.

[vidocqsociety]

every time i see someone bitching about how the last strike "made television the worst it ever was" i remember the absolute genius that was stephen colbert, jon stewart, and conan o'brien faking a weeks-long feud that culminated in a brawl just to fill time

[misscrazyfangirl321]

Polls are a spectator sport

[socialoutsider1a]

If I had to sum up Hugh Laurie's role in the Night Manager with just one word, it would have to be terrifying.

HL has played a lot of villains since he began his acting career in 1981 but there's something about Roper that scares me.

He's seemingly harmless and almost human on the surface but underneath the charming façade lies a ruthless, amoral psychopath who doesn't care about the damage he causes and who in my opinion won't hesitant to get his hands dirty when it comes to torturing those he believes have betrayed him.

I also think the TV Trope "Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon" describes Roper perfectly.

[thatnerdio]

The FUCK am I getting consistent nightmares????