Cool News
The Vampire LeStatCast As Carl Kolchak!!
I am – Hercules!!
No, not Tom Cruise! The other LeStat de Lioncourt, Stuart Townsend, 32, who played the rock & roll vampire in 2002's “Queen of the Damned.” Townsend also played Dorian Gray in 2003's “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.”
Which is appropriate, because Townsend will play a much younger Carl Kolchak in this new version of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker." Darren McGavin was already 52 when he essayed the Chicago-based vampire-hunting journalist in 1974.
That hot black high-school cheerleader from "Bring It On," Gabrielle Union, now 31, has been cast as well.
It’s just an ABC pilot at this point. We’ll find out in about two and a half months whether it becomes a fall series or not.
Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cute cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!
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That Needed to be Said!
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maybe i'm thinking of another detective show remake.
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Mar 05, 2005 6:04:43 PM CST
I love Gabrielle Union's sweet body, but this is strating to sou
by big bad clone
Maybe they have stellar chemistry, but I feel like it's going young for young's sake. I just hope they don't have a wall to wall nu-metal score to the show.--- Oh, and Rhames is playing Kojak on USA. Who loves ya Baby? Marcellus Wallace that's who, bitch!
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but charlize theron can be the night stalker!
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If Kolchak is twenty years younger than he was in 1974 then the series will be set in the early fifties. Dawn of rock'n'roll, collapse of comic books and the introduction of the Code, the McCarthy hearings, early Mad Magazine, poodle skirts, I Love Lucy, I Like Ike (and Nixon as VP), bulky cars with rocket fins. Colchak vs. Commie monsters! This will be way cool. ***** Unless they screw it up and don;t do it as a historical piece, in which case they'll have to come up with some complicated Nick Fury/Fu Manchu plot to explain why Kolchak is twenty years younger thirtyone years later. Unless this isn't the same Kolchak. Maybe it's his son. Or maybe it's not related to the original series at all, in which case what's the point? ***** (Hey Joe Tam - I got the Kojak joke subject line before you explained it in your message.)
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Mar 05, 2005 6:24:07 PM CST
Wow, I did not understand a single thing of this terribly writte
by iamjacksuserid
Maybe some good solid details for people outside the loop who may not know what the fuck you are talking about?
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Sorry, but no McGavin, no Night Stalker. Still, Gabrielle Union will certainly add visual splendor.
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i really was confused. * fucking idiot, fucking idiot, fucking idiot *
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Does it help to know that Tom Cruise played LeStat before Townsend did. Was I wrong to assume everyone knew that?
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Maybe he could blame some of it on the movie itself though. Interview kicked ass. Anyway, despite being a remake of an older show, this is going to look like an X-Files ripoff.
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Geez, late enough on this. Really there's not much more news on this then what's above, IAmJack'sUserID. Althoughit's been on the site here already. Frank Spotnitz is doing a pilot, a remake of the 70's series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, through his outfit Big Light Productions. Dan Sackheim to direct. Now you know everything we do. As to Townsend, he's 33, and Union's 32. So we're not exactly talking WB "high schoolers" here. As I've noted elsewhere, it _could_ work - maybe Townsend as a Peter Fallow/Bonfire (yes, he's English, Bruce Willis not withstanding) reporter, down on his luck with the Fleet Street tabloids, stuck with a young perky reporter when he ends up back in the states. *shrug* There was a lot of of fan talk of having Bruce Campbell (naturally), Sam Buscemi, Bruce Campbell, Kevin Spacey, etc., taking the role and basically playing McGavin, but let's face it - no one could have "done" McGavin-as-Kolchak, and the fans would have griped about it. So they did a remake and *gasp* they took a variant approach. Whether it'll work...who knows? But it's a differnt variant on the same basic "Reporter trying to get back to the big time and ends up enmeshed in the supernatural" storyline.
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I would think sleeping with Charlize Theron would preclude you from any further benefits in life, such as being cast in a new show. But this guy's a lightweight talent, which is probably the only reason television was able to get him. Keep in mind that this guy not only did a terrible job as Lestat, but was fired from the role of Aragorn in LOTR before Viggo Mortensen was recruited...
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Not LeStat. People and weird capitalization.
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Olliver Platt would make A perfect Kolchak. He has the whole Devil-may-care disheveled attitude/look
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Mar 05, 2005 11:06:35 PM CST
Yes, I have no clue about any of this. I know who Lestat and Tom
by iamjacksuserid
I think the way some of these Aint It Cool articles are written really alienates some of the readers who aren't up or even aware of what the article is about! I had NO knowledge of anything pertaining to this article, so that's where I am coming from. I'm not the first to notice it and it ain't the first time it has happened to me. Would it be assumptive of me to recommend an article written in such a way that people who are AND aren't in the know benefit from the info equally?
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Attractive male and female leads, who investigate the paranormal. And it's being produced by Frank "Chris Carter's surfer buddy" Spotnitz. Wonderful.
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Well actually by Chris Carter's own admission in earlier interviews, he stated that the inspiration for The X-Files was Kolchak.
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As I said, I'll hold out hope that this might work.
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Mar 06, 2005 12:59:25 AM CST
No, he's NOT "appropriate". Townsend is a bland & humorless. Mc
by frankdrebin
Another actor from Interview, Brad Pitt, now HE would be appropriate. Or even Christian Slater, on or off the booze.
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Mar 06, 2005 7:40:43 AM CST
Is there even a point giving a shit about anything any more?
by wild at heart
Somebody just activate the codes and send the missiles flying. Get it all over with.
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McGavin could actually act, and damn well at that. Townsend can't, in fact I'd be surprised if he could even play himself in a biopic of his own life he's that damn useless. Bad idea. Bad, bad, bad idea. If they'd actually cast the new Kolchak with, oh I dunno, an actual actor (like how about Lance Henriksen, older, weathered looking, able to play cynical damn well, and can act, plus it'd be nice in a kind of reverse Millennium kinda way, what with McGavin playing his father on that show and all), then maybe I'd be willing to at least give it a shot, but with Townsend, not a chance.
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Mar 06, 2005 2:50:15 PM CST
He's too pretty boy for it, you need a rumpled young actor type
by spacesheik
Gavin McGavin had wit and charm; he knew how to charm the ladies with that alone -- not bad on looks. He looked rumpled in that suit and that straw hat of his -- but he was great. Simon Oakland and him had a great chemistry always yelling at each other etc -- they are doing the ALFIE thing again which is substituting wit adn charisma for good looks - as they did with Michael Caine > Jude Law - it wont work.
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are what the networks usually bitch about, saying shows like Buffy and alias aren't friendly to the new viewer. Of course, the success of Lost (and DH somewhat) may change that mindset a little. Whoever mentioned Michael Keaton, that was a great idea! Mandy Patinkin was who I was thinking about before Seeing Keaton suggested. Not that any of our ideas mean anything anyway.
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What a morbid post, Wild At Heart...you get dumped or something?
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Mar 06, 2005 5:47:36 PM CST
fucking shit....casting directors are dumb as shit the past few
by dr farragammo
Seriously, want a paranormal english detective/demon warrior? Cast Keanu Reeves as Contstantine!
OK, Now want a American, paunch bellied, acerbic, character actor to play a rumpled, supernatural P.I? One in the vein of the original Kolchak :Darren McGavin?
Cast a English pretty boy with no acting range!!
Jesus Shitturd, what is up with casting directors?!?! Jennifer Garner as a greek ninja, Ben Affleck as a blind, stoic badass?!?!
Seriously grade school kids could pick more appopriate choices then these.
Kolchak has to be a average looking joe, like Steve Buscemi, Joe Pantoliano,Tom (if he ever gets thru rehab)Sizemore, or Xander Berkley.
I was looking forward to this show before I read this post, and realized the producers have no love for the former show and want to shit all over the concept because they can't come up with their own ideas to shit on. -
Devilcat hit it squarely on the head: "Kolchak was a middle-aged, down on his luck, rumpled has-been reporter, not a pretty Brit in his thirties." Steve Buscemi would be PERFECT as his son...'nuff said...
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Nah I didn't get dumped. Yes, I'm being very glib of course but at the same time the cult of vacuity and colourlessness which seems to be taking over all facets of the popular media I find to be genuinely disturbing.
The argument of course is that "Ah, it's just Kolchak! Who cares?" but its happening all over the place like a malignant virus. For example, I don't really give two fucks about 'Doom' as a property - never played the game -, but somehow it bothers me that The Rock is on board this thing, just as it bothered me that The Rock was the star of 'Walking Tall' even when I had no particular interest in that film. Because it was more a feel of overriding unease that these are signposts of a malaise that runs far deeper, that material that used to be the domain of the outsider and the nonconformist is being progressively assimilated by a faceless corporate enemy and neutered, rendered bloodless. Hey I'm a passionate guy and I call down the valkyries if I stub my toe. That's why I'm here - because I do give a shit about this sort of thing. And the notion that I am living in a progressively culturally insipid and sterile world does bother me. -
as Kolchak and Andrienne Barbeau as Vincenzo
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Most of you have hit it on the head. Koljak the character should be in the style of Mc Gavin. The son idea is kind of cool to continue with the old show and maybe have an appearance by Mc Gavin. Funny I loved the show more for his character and his relationship with his boss. I loved those arguments, etc. These casting directors seem to have no feeling for many of these properties. I am truly amazed when they get it right!
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I meant KOLCHAK!!! Geez I need my traveling pop culture spell check.
Darren McGavin rules!! Okay it is
bed time. -
Malcolms dad in "Malcolm in the middle" would have been much better.
The dry, sly wit of Darren McGavin kept our belief in the character of Kolchak on the rails, almost as if he was sharing his disbelief in what he was dealing with. Bryan Cranston is the right age, a tremendously versatile actor, comedically and dramatically, and could very easily pull this off.
A younger Kolchak is, as far as I am concerned, a big mistake. Did Mr. Spotnitz ever consider that the age of the character was a part of it? To make the man younger WILL turn this into a half baked clone of Millenium which, whilst it was successful and had its fans, won't seperate it out from the pack.
No, I can't get behind this casting choice. No disrespect Mr. Townsend, but you're the wrong man for the job.
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