stars on screen
hollywood q&a By Adam Thomlison TV Media
By Sheila Busteed TV Media
Q: My kids love Disney’s “Mulan,” but every time I watch it, I can’t figure out who does the singing for the main male character. I know I’ve heard that voice before — can you help? A: It certainly was a new experience for former teen star Donny Osmond. Stepping in as a ringer on an animated film, to do the singing for a character while another actor handles the dialogue was a new feat. However, it can’t really be called a departure, since Osmond’s had no real pattern to depart from. Osmond has held just about every gig there is in the entertainment business, and he has even done voice acting — in 1995 he did a voice in the Canadian made-for-TV animated film “Nilus the Sandman: The First Day” — however, he didn’t get to do it in the 1998 Disney hit “Mulan.” In “Mulan,” Osmond provides the singing voice of Capt. Li Shang, who trains the disguised Mulan at a military camp, performing the song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” Having started out as an adorable child star, singing in his family band The Osmonds, Donny soon became a teen heartthrob. He later tried his hand as a variety show host alongside his sister, on “Donny and Marie.” Of course, the natural next step was acting, starting with the forgettable 1978 film “Goin’ Coconuts” (again, along with his sister). He later combined the acting and singing on Broadway, most notably in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Along the way, he’s tried just about everything else — film producer, reality show star, talk show host and more. Despite all of that, Osmond said in an interview with CNN that he took his kids to see “Mulan” in theaters, and it was then, he said, that they finally decided their dad was successful.
’CRIMINAL’ THREAT: A brunette bombshell who last played a polygamist’s wife will soon be weighing the actions and motives of all sorts of deviants. The departure of “Criminal Minds” cast member Paget Brewster at the end of last season opened the door for CBS to bring in Jeanne Tripplehorn, who will replace her as the team’s newest profiler starting at the beginning of the new season. “We’re thrilled to have Jeanne Tripplehorn join our team as a profiler,” said executive producer Erica Messer. “Her character will be introduced in the premiere. It’s an exciting way to start Season 8.” Tripplehorn’s last regular television gig was as Barb Henrickson, the first of Bill Henrickson’s three wives in the critically acclaimed and controversial HBO series “Big Love.” The series wrapped in 2011 after five seasons, and it also starred Bill Paxton, Chloe Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin and Amanda Seyfried. Television viewers may also remember Tripplehorn for her memorable portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the acclaimed 2009 telefilm “Grey Gardens” — a performance that earned her an Emmy nomination. The actress is also known for her versatility in
Q: I remember seeing a couple of British miniseries based on Catherine Cookson novels, but I haven’t seen one in a while. Are they still making them? A: British production company Festival Films teamed up with that country’s ITV network to produce a series of telefilms and miniseries based on Catherine Cookson’s historical romance novels in the late 1980s and through the ‘90s. Sadly, though, the last one they made was in 2000, and no one’s taken up the task since. They were quite a big deal in Britain but never found the same success, or distribution, over here. Several were shown on this side of the pond as part of PBS’s “Masterpiece” series, as well as on the Knowledge Network in Canada, but, again, they haven’t done so for years. Fortunately, the DVDs have always been easy to find, partly because some were distributed for free in Britain as a promotion by the “Daily Mail” newspaper. Of course, that doesn’t help us much here, but they’re still available for sale through more conventional means, either alone or in boxed sets. There are even VHS copies still kicking around. Many are still popular because they featured early appearances by future stars, such as Emily Mortimer, Sean Bean and “True Blood” star Stephen Moyer. Catherine Zeta-Jones starred in 1994’s “The Cinder Path,” a few years before finding fame in the U.S. with 1998’s “The Mask of Zorro.”
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film, with credits in such titles as “Swept Away” (2002), “Paranoid” (2000), “Mickey Blue Eyes” (1999), “Sliding Doors” (1998), “Waterworld” (1995), “The Firm” (1993) and “Basic Instinct” (1992). Most recently, she did a two-episode arc as Ouli in the hit freshman comedy “New Girl” on Fox. She was also one of many industry A-listers attached to the poignant Lifetime telefilm “Five” (2011), which told the stories of people affected by breast cancer through five short films. With this great variety of experience under her belt, it’s safe to assume that Tripplehorn will bring great strength to the long-running CBS series as it works through this transition. CUTTING-EDGE TV: Two Hollywood heavyweights have joined forces to make television just a bit darker. Tim Roth, who was last seen in Fox’s “Lie to Me,” will return to television under
Jeanne Tripplehorn, seen here in HBO’s “Big Love,” joins CBS’s “Criminal Minds” next season.
the guidance of filmmaker David Cronenberg, who will direct and executive produce a series of his own for the first time. The project, titled “Knifeman,” is being produced by Media Rights Capital, which will soon begin shopping the series to potential buyers. Roth is known for his scenestealing abilities and gritty roles in mostly big-screen titles, which include “Reservoir Dogs” (1992), “Pulp Fiction” (1994), “Planet of the Apes” (2001) and “The Incredible Hulk” (2008). Additionally, it was his character’s widereaching appeal, sharp wit and oddly appealing imperfections that helped “Lie to Me” survive for three seasons despite its similarities to CBS’s “The Mentalist” and USA’s “Psych” — both of which are still going strong. His pairing with Cronenberg will likely trigger a bidding war for the series, since the director has a reputation for making movies that not only do well at the box office but also garner plenty of critical acclaim. Cronenberg’s most recent film, “Cosmopolis,” debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May and will hit theaters in North America later this summer. He’s also known for helming “A Dangerous Method” (2011), “Eastern Promises” (2007), “A History of Violence” (2005), “Naked Lunch” (1991) and “The Fly” (1986).
ized version of a story first created by the late Scottish wordsmith Alistair MacLean. The project, which is currently filming in Luxembourg, will co-star Emilie de Ravin (“Lost”), Rupert Graves (2005’s “V for Vendetta”) and Jamie Thomas King (“The Tudors”). Hamilton (1984’s “The Terminator” and its 1991 sequel) will play President Harriet Rowntree, who is taken hostage when Air Force One is sabotaged and goes down in the Mediterranean. Her captor demands that an evil Serbian leader be released or the president will be killed on camera. It’s up to Capt. Fergus Markey (played by Sisto of “Suburgatory”) to come to her rescue and neutralize the threat to international security. The story of “Air Force One is Down” started in the 1970s when MacLean was commissioned by a production company to write several crimerelated movie outlines, all of which centered around the fictional United Nations AntiCrime Organization. However, MacLean died in 1987 before he could complete the stories, so they were published under his name but finished by other authors. This one in particular was finished by John Denis, who received criticism because the finished product had
SAVE THE CHIEF: Linda Hamilton is the kidnapped president of the United States, and Jeremy Sisto has to rescue her. The two veteran performers have signed on to lead the cast of the upcoming four-hour miniseries “Air Force One is Down,” a modernPENINSULA DAILY NEWS