Download Dear Editor: Here is the April 7 installment of Deep Inside Hollywood

Dear Editor:
Here is the April 7 installment of Deep Inside Hollywood. A photo of is Jane Fonda is
included. Please credit Featureflash.
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Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin
_Nine To Five_ fanatics, are you ready to have your day made? Sure you are, and Jane
Fonda and Lily Tomlin are about to do it. The two have signed on for _Grace and
Frankie_, a Netflix original half-hour comedy series from _Friends_ co-creator Marta
Kauffman and Howard J. Morris. The show already has a 13-episode order and stars the
venerable actresses as arch-nemeses who find themselves having to mend fences when
their respective husbands come out as gay and leave them. For each other. Because it’s
Netflix the show gets to be as adult as it wants – think _Orange is The New Black_ – and,
though it’s never good to jinx a project with sentiments like “How can this fail?” it’s got
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in it, so the answer is … it can’t. Now all that needs to
happen during that first of many seasons is a Dolly Parton walk-on role as a Dolly Parton
impersonator.
Neil Patrick Harris is _Gone_, Girl
On the occasion of their fifth wedding anniversary, a husband reports his wife as missing,
and so begins the mystery at the heart of Gillian Flynn’s worldwide best-selling novel
_Gone Girl_. The much-anticipated film adaptation is also underway from acclaimed
director David Fincher (_The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo_) and the ensemble cast is
set: Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike playing the couple, joined by Scoot McNairy
(_Non-Stop_), Tyler Perry, Patrick Fugit, Sela Ward, _Happy Endings_’ Casey Wilson,
Missi Pyle, Kim Dickens and, returning to serious drama after years of comedy and
music, Neil Patrick Harris. Call it a return to his roots, the days of _Clara’s Heart_ and
_Doogie Howser, M.D._, when the young actor was all about keeping a straight face, as it
were. Maybe Fincher will turn him into identical twins like Armie Hammer in _The
Social Network_? Then one of them can still sing and tell jokes.
Hey kids, Willem Dafoe’s going to play Pasolini!
Not ringing a bell? OK, then. Italian filmmaker, poet and intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini,
born in 1922, was one of the greatest directors of the 20th century, as praised for
religious-themed dramas such as _The Gospel According to Matthew_ as he was
condemned for the sex and torture-filled _Salo: 120 Days of Sodom_. He was also openly
gay and died under mysterious circumstances (run over repeatedly with his own car) in
1975. So it’s fitting that a partnership between two men not unacquainted with
controversy, director Abel Ferrara (_Bad Lieutenant_) and Willem Dafoe (_The Last
Temptation of Christ_), will result in the biopic _Pasolini_. Set during the last days of the
director’s life, it’s currently filming in Italy and will probably see a wave of film festival
inclusion sometime by the end of this year or beginning of 2015. This gives you plenty of
time to get your auteur homework done. Just don’t blame us if _Salo_ gives you
nightmares.
Is _The Comeback_ coming back?
Chances are you’re a fan of _The Comeback_ – the HBO sitcom that starred Lisa
Kudrow as a failed sitcom star named Valerie Cherish who does whatever it takes to get
another shot at fame – but probably didn’t see it when it first aired nearly 10 years ago. It
was cancelled after one season, in spite of Emmy nominations and critical praise, but in
the past decade the show’s developed a cult following and now HBO might be in the
mood to give _Comeback_ a comeback of its own. Currently negotiating with creators
Kudrow and Michael Patrick King to go back into production, it appears that the network
is planning to position it as a limited series/event-style presentation, picking up Kudrow’s
character where she is a decade later. Kudrow’s brainstorming ideas for the clueless
Valerie: possibly taking some acting classes or appearing on a _Real Housewives_ series.
Deals aren’t done yet, but it’s all looking very likely. And really, wouldn’t it be nice if
the striving Valerie finally got her shot after all?
Romeo San Vicente’s ratings remain solid. Romeo San Vicente is very successful at
cutting in. He can be reached care of this publication or at
[email protected].