Robert Vaughn's BBC hit, "Hustle," makes its Stateside debut tomorrow (1/14) on AMC -- and viewers on this side of the pond will have the chance to find out what all the excitement has been about.
The one-time "Man From U.N.C.L.E." plays a rather elegant con artist named Albert Stroller on the show -- which is already two seasons old in the U.K., with a third season about to begin airing. Its popularity warranted a two-year renewal last March. "They're going to air the first, second and third seasons back-to-back in America," reports Vaughn.
He took on the part of Stroller literally two days after it was offered to him -- after having met with the producers (several of whom were also behind the beloved "MI-5" spy series) in London months earlier.
"Since I didn't have any chance to think about the character, what I've fashioned, in a way, takes off from the character I played in 'Man From U.N.C.L.E.,' Napoleon Solo," says Vaughn, referring to the debonair secret agent who was a TV sensation back in the '60s. "Let's imagine Napoleon Solo retired on a nice pension, but missed the girls, guns and casinos, and when he found out he couldn't live on his pension any more, he became a con man."
Vaughn, who was living a comparatively quiet life in upstate New York with actress wife Linda Staab when all this came about, is clearly reveling in being part of another pop phenom at 73. "I never thought I'd be playing a bon vivant bachelor at this time of life. It's great fun. My wife says I'm one of the few actors in Hollywood who still always looks good in a tux."
She has a point.
A CHANGE OF FACE:
We'll see Lauren Holly like we've never seen her before in the upcoming indie film "The Pleasure Drivers," reports the actress.
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| Holly plays a dirty, gritty character |
"I play a very dirty, gritty character, and I'm very proud of it," says the "NCIS" regular. "She's sort of a recovering drug addict who has been asked to take care of a disabled boy and gets involved in a kidnapping, and Meatloaf plays my cousin."
The dark comedy, which also stars Lacey Chabert and Angus Macfadyen, plays out in three separate interconnected stories involving a white trash kidnapper, an adulterous therapist, a young sociopath call girl, a vicious lesbian hit woman, and a brain-damaged ex-cult guru.
"It's directed by Andrzej Sekula (cq), who was Quentin Tarantino's director of photography for a long time, and he's just a fantastic director. I just love him." She adds that Sekula had her in mind for the role from the beginning. "I have no idea why. In fact, I was scared to do it, but Andrzej convinced me. He's a crazy Polish guy."
HEART OF 'STONE':
Viola Davis says that it was like reuniting with family when she joined Tom Selleck for "Jesse Stone: Night Passage," premiering Sunday (1/15) on CBS. Davis previously filmed the popular "Stone Cold" with Tom. The new telefilm is its prequel -- also based on Robert B. Parker's series of novels about small-town police chief Jesse Stone. "Everybody was so happy to see each other, from the crew to the actors, and that's rare. Usually you have such a bad experience you don't want to see the other person again," Davis confides with a laugh.
She notes, "This is where you're introduced to Tom Selleck's and my characters" -- who initially have nothing like the warm personal bond seen in "Stone Cold." At the beginning of the saga, Selleck's character is "replacing a police chief that I was very close to, so I do not like Jesse Stone and I'm not happy to see him," notes Davis. "That was a big surprise for me as an actor because I just assumed the relationship would be like it was in the first movie, but here you see how they learn to respect and actually like each other."
ON THE PERSONAL SIDE:
When lead singer of Audioslave, Chris Cornell, had his 15-month-old baby girl, Toni, with wife Vicky Karayiannis, he had no idea how much it would inspire his music. "'Out of Exile' is about how I was feeling when my wife was pregnant, about me turning my life around and how my wife and baby helped me," he says of his group's latest album, which debuted on the Billboard chart as No. 1. But no matter where the inspiration comes from, Cornell claims that all of Audioslave's songs are a group effort. "We write our songs with all four of us in the room, and we just sort of spark off of each other's creativity."
(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)
The Beck/Smith syndicated newspaper column includes exclusive in-depth, behind-the-scenes reports on the stars, on the business of television and movie-making, and on the recording, publishing and media beats.
©2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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