You've come a long way, baby ... Laurence Fishburne in kick-ass Matrix garb
Hello. I'm back. Did I miss much? Judging from what kicked off over on Organ Grinder with regard to Bonekickers, apparently I have. But more of that at a later date, perhaps.
Today's news that Laurence Fishburne to fill the shoes of William Petersen in CSI has confirmed, if confirmation was needed, that the movement of talent between big and small screen is increasingly fluid. Where once actors had to quit TV to pursue film careers - as George Clooney once did - now they can maintain a presence in both. Steve Carell, for example, combines his work in The Office with plenty, and plenty successful, film work.
Happily, that notion of there being a hierarchy between TV and film, with actors "graduating" from one to the other looks increasingly anachronistic. Fishburne's career isn't quite as shiny as it once was - voicing the narrator in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake and the Silver Surfer in the Fantastic Four sequel doesn't quite compare to Apocalypse Now, Boyz n the Hood and The Matrix - but he does seem set to combine film and television fairly successfully.
Of course, actors take work where they can get it and, like everyone else in these tough economic times, they may be forced to rethink what they're prepared to work on. Houses in the Hollywood Hills don't pay for themselves, after all. Gary Sinise, took the lead in CSI: New York because he needed the regular work and income. LA is littered with those who left behind credible telly to pursue film careers that never materialised. David Caruso and any Friend, I'm talking about you.
Recent US TV drama has provided wonderful opportunities for actresses (insanely) deemed too old to showcase their abilities in film. Glenn Close in Damages (and previously The Shield) and Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer spring to mind, while Oscar-winning Sally Field returned to network TV in Brothers and Sisters after an award-winning stint in ER, and Holly Hunter graces Saving Grace.
This change of tide confirms that television in the US is a more interesting place to work than Hollywood movies. With the rise of the inane, no-brainer blockbuster concurrent with the surge in thoughtful, quality TV drama, is it any wonder that actors are drawn to television where once they would have eschewed it in favour of film?
We're all multimedia these days, and so the snobbery and stigma that surrounds working in television should continue to wane. So what big screen actors would you like to see in small screen roles?
If Harvey Keitel can play Gene Hunt in the American remake of Life on Mars, would you like to see Robert De Niro pop up in Mad Men or Julia Roberts move in to Desperate Housewives?
Would Anne Hathaway be at home in House? Or how about Zac Efron in Gossip Girl?
And, if the very thought doesn't fill you with utter dread, who would play Hugh Bonneville's Dolly in any prospective - though hopefully unlikely - US take on Bonekickers?
