BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. _ There's a secret tax shelter out there where con men rival their bigger mob brothers in turning a hefty, clandestine profit. It's the world of the occult. And Hulu is streaming a 10-part drama, "Shut Eye," which infiltrates this field of psychics, fortune tellers, and gifted grifters.
Creator Les Bohem said he landed the inspiration for the show when he began to ponder what would happen if a fake psychic suddenly became a real one. "I loved that idea. I had no idea where to set it," he says.
"I lived with it for years, thinking maybe it would be a TV psychic. Maybe it would be a Vegas psychic. And then I walked into a parlor in my neighborhood and I had my palm read and I was like, 'Whoa, this is interesting.'"
He began to notice that psychic storefronts were almost as thick as Starbuck's in L.A. "There's one three blocks away from here in Beverly Hills that can't possibly be making that rent on a $40 tarot reading," he says. "And so I started there. And I had the setup and the character before I ever found out that the parlors were owned by Romany families. And then, when I started doing the research and I discovered that the culture was just so rich and exciting _ I was in. And then I started writing."
The series stars Jeffrey Donovan, the macho guy from "Burn Notice," "Fargo," "Touching Evil." He plays Charlie, a phony psychic who oversees a string of fortune-telling sites. A blow on the head during hypnosis opens a whole new world to Charlie, that may or may not prove providential.
While he's portrayed a variety of tough-as-nails characters, Donovan says it's always the story that appeals to him, not the character. "An easy example, 'Oh, that character's really cool, but it's in a really bad script.' So you don't care. You could have a bad character in a really good script, and you just want to be in that script," he says, "so I just look for story."
One of the difficulties in casting Donovan in "Shut Eye" was accepting him as a more brutal guy than the ones he's played before. He was most memorable recently as the slow-witted but vicious member of the Gerhardt family in the second season of "Fargo."
"We all know how great (creator) Noah Hawley was in creating this new world based on the Cohen brothers," he says of "Fargo." "So I knew if I didn't f _ _ it up, I'd be part of something great. So it was a very easy decision. I was just very fortunate that Dodd, the character I played ... in 'Fargo,' was something very different from who I was. And Noah was very sweet to allow me to create that guy, gain 35 pounds, put on the accent, be that kind of new guy."
Afterward the role of Charlie arrived at Christmas time, says Donovan. "I wasn't doing anything. I was with my family. And a call came that said Les would like to talk to me about this new show called 'Shut Eye,' and we just talked and talked. And we Skyped and the premise was really fascinating to me. And then I read his scripts and I thought they were brilliant and a world I hadn't seen on television or on platforms or whatever you want to call it these days. So to that end, that's why I wanted to do it."(
Donovan says that Charlie marks a new test for him. "Charlie is, like Dodd, not a character I've ever played before, not because he's out there or that he has visions or anything like that. He's not the alpha in the room. Dodd was the alpha in the room. Michael Westen (of "Burn Notice") was the alpha in the room. When I was doing movies and 'Changeling,' my character J.J. Jones was the alpha in the room. They were all alphas. This is not an alpha. And it's been a very big challenge for me to play this type of character and I wanted that. And whether I'm succeeding or not, it was something I wanted to do."
Ever since he was 17, it's been something he's wanted to do. "I got into the theater program for high school students and there was a teacher there who cast me in a play," recalls Donovan of his first brush with the art.
"At the end of the summer she didn't tell anyone to go into acting. I was her last student and she said, 'I haven't told anybody else this, you should really think about being an actor. Believe me, I know how hard it is. I don't want to encourage the wrong people. I want to encourage you.' I remember that very clearly _ the theater, it was dark, wood, you could smell the pine. These dilapidated seats with rickety backs. Here was this beautiful spirited woman saying that. That changed me. I went, 'Oh, my God, somebody believes in me.' That was one of the big reasons why I became an actor."
KIM CATTRELL CO-STARS IN CHRISTIE MYSTERY
Kim Cattrell has left sex and the city and crossed the pond where she costars in the new British production of "Witness for the Prosecution." The drama begins streaming on Acorn TV on Jan. 30. Instead of playing the predator, Cattrell portrays the beautiful and rich murder victim in this new adaptation of Agatha Christie's short story. Cattrell, who was actually born in England, grew up in Canada. In her very first outing as an actress, she played a germ in her grammar school play. "The play was called 'The Mighty Germ,'" she says.
"I was the cold germ who infected a classroom of kids. I had this huge feather _ which I still have today _ and I would tickle them under their noses. And when it came time for me to get a production company I called it 'Mighty Germ Productions.'"
TV PROMISES HOLIDAY SPECIALS
On Santa's list are some wowzie TV marathons for the holiday season. AMC is airing "Breaking Bad," Seasons 1 though 5 beginning next Monday at noon. "The Walking Dead," Seasons 4 through 6 will stagger in on Dec. 30 at 11 p.m. Season 1 of "Humans" begins the same day at 9 a.m. followed by the marathon of "Into the Badlands," starting at 5 p.m. Of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without Jean Shepard's wonderful "A Christmas Story," which enjoys its annual marathon on both TNT and TBS beginning at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
FILMMAKER THE SUBJECT OF 'AMERICAN MASTERS'
"American Masters" inaugurates its new season with a documentary about the renowned film director Sidney Lumet on PBS Jan. 3. "By Sidney Lumet" chronicles the heartfelt and universal films that he helmed like "Prince of the City," "12 Angry Men," "Dog Day Afternoon," "Serpico." Lumet died five years ago, but he was honored with a special award by the American Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 2005. His acceptance speech personified the kind of man he was, and no one could say it better.
"I realize that if I totaled up all the 'thank yous' I've heard in all these years, I wouldn't be able (to return the thanks) to all the people that I really want to. I'm not just talking about the glorious talents I've worked with on both sides of the camera. But there are so many with whom I've never even worked, that I owe so much," he said.
"I mean, how do I thank Spielberg and Scorsese and Coppola? How do I thank Jean Vigo, Carl Dreyer, Willie Wyler, and Kurosawa, and Buster Keaton? And I'm not mentioning the ones I really stole from.
"What about the Epsteins for writing a line like, 'Here's lookin' at you, kid?' Or Wilder and Diamond for, 'Well, nobody's perfect.' Or Faragoh for, 'Mother of God, is this the end of Rico?' So, what I guess it comes down to, I'd like to thank the movies.(
"I know that sounds general. But it's very real to me. I've got the best job in the best profession in the world. So, I just want to thank all of it. And, of course, the ones who've paid more dues than I have. Thank you Piedy, Amy, Jenny. See you later."
