Now that more of the back story of his Mr. Eko is being revealed on "Lost," Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje says, "I'd love to get Sidney Poitier to play my father. He's always been a great inspiration to me."
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| ABC Drama's Battle for Sidney Poitier |
When he's informed that Isaiah Washington told this column he's thinking of putting in his bid for Mr. Poitier to play his father on "Grey's Anatomy," Akinnuoye-Agbaje declares with a laugh, "Well, he's going to have to wait, isn't he? 'Cause we just won The Golden Globe! Who's got first choice? Where would you go?"
Actually, it sounds like Washington might already have the inside track with the big-screen pioneer who paved the way for black actors in such films as "Lilies of the Field," "In the Heat of the Night" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." Since this column reported Washington's desire to do a remake of Poitier's 1973 romantic comedy, "A Warm December," he happily reports, "I've been in contact with Sidney.
He says there are some issues with the rights, but don't let that stop me. Go ahead and make the film, just change the name, different setting, and do my own version of it." Washington adds, "He's sort of been mentoring me on how to go about that. He said I reminded him of him when he was younger, so that was the biggest thing. He's a beautiful man. He's in Africa now, and we try to keep in touch."
As things stand now, he believes the chances of Poitier coming out of retirement are slim. "He's very cognizant of his time on this earth, so he's not really interested in spending his time on a set. He's done it all. He's more interested in traveling, anthropology and the beginning of mankind in Southeast Africa. So we're having those kinds of unique, organic conversations and not really wasting our time talking about business. But who knows? I might ask Sidney (to play his father). He might say yes. I don't know. You never know." Hey, don't ask, don't get.
AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL:
Robert Knepper, who plays T-Bag, one of the most vile and heinous villains on TV today, in the WB hit "Prison Break," reports even he gets freaked out sometimes at how far his character goes in the series. "One day I'm slitting some guy's throat, and the next I'm putting a move on some guy, looking at him like he's pea soup at the Soup Plantation. Some days I'm like 'Oh, my God, I can't believe I just did that' inside."
Things will be getting even uglier when "Prison Break" returns in March. But Knepper says he has "two solutions" for shaking off the detritus left by his character at the end of the day. "I stick a little lavender in my bathtub and I'm OK," says Knepper with a laugh. "And the other thing that is a huge blessing is that I have the most amazing, beautiful, talented little boy who's almost 4 now."
Just the thought of his son overwhelms Knepper, who's been living in Chicago away from his family in L.A. "I'm going to start crying here … " he says, pausing to collect himself. "Whenever you start a new series you don't know if it will go beyond the first year, so my wife and I opted to keep him there. But he had a lousy year at preschool, and we talked to a therapist who said to figure out a daily routine, something I could do for him. So every day, whether I'm slitting some guy's throat or having someone hold my pocket (vernacular for keeping your prison lover in tow), I draw him a cartoon, and he takes it to bed with him. On those days that I'm feeling 'Oh, my God, what did I just do today?' I get him on the phone and he says, 'Papa, I love you,' and I just forget about what I did."
MOMMYHOOD RINGING HER CHIMES:
Former "JAG" star Catherine Bell says she's in no hurry to return to the TV grind. "It was a pretty crazy decade," she says. "I'm just enjoying my family and taking a little time off. We have a little cabin in the woods in Utah, and I'm looking at some new projects, maybe a sitcom." Bell, who's married with a toddler, says doing another hour-long drama is not an option on the table at this point in her life. "It would take something pretty spectacular to get me to do that. My daughter's 2-and-a-half now, and she's at the age now that she really needs me … We have so much fun."
GOT TO STOP MEETING LIKE THIS:
Voicemeister Bob Bergen says it's high time he and Patrick Warburton met. "Patrick and I have done two features and a series together, and I've never met the man in my life," says Bergen, who's the voice of Bucky the Squirrel in the "Emperor's New Groove" movies and the new ABC/Disney Channel animated series "Emperor's New School."
Bergen, who stepped into the late Mel Blanc's shoes to take over the voices of such classic Looney Tunes characters as Porky Pig, Tweety and Speedy Gonzalez, is very excited about his first Animation Voice-Over Seminar on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines scheduled for Feb. 10-13, from L.A. to Ensenada, Mexico. "I wanted to be Porky Pig since I was 5," he notes. "And I remember I was in 7th grade algebra or geometry and I told my teacher, 'I'm going to be Porky Pig, I'm not going to need this stuff.' I saw him at my high school reunion a few years ago, and he said, 'So what are you doing for a living?' And I said, 'I'm Porky Pig!'"
(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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