Pushing Daisies

[ACADEMY – NIGHT: Young Ned is lying awake in bed; turns and looks at the clock, which reads 2:01 a.m. Digby is lying at the foot of his bed]

Narrator: At this very moment at the Longborough School for Boys, young Ned was 9 years, 41 weeks, 14 hours and 3 minutes old … and exhausted. [Ned sits up; Digby whines in sympathy] For despite the endless waking hours spent assuring himself that his heart was on the mend, Ned discovered the truth in his sleep. Sadly, not a single night had passed since the death of his mother that he didn’t dream of her coming back to him. [gets out of bed and leaves the room] Realizing he couldn’t rush his heart into healing, he concocted a plan: to reconnect with his mother in a way that only he could. [KITCHEN: in the dark, vast industrial room, Ned looks up on a high shelf and sees fresh strawberries out of his reach. He looks at his reflection off toaster and sees the image of his smiling mother handing him a pie]

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Fans and followers of theater actor Raul Esperza, who plays Alfredo Aldirisio on Pushing Daisies, would be thrilled to know that the DVD of his musical comedy, Company is already out.

Product Description: “Winner of the 2007 Tony Award! Sweeping all the major theater awards for Best Revival of a Musical, a beloved era-defining classic is stunningly reinvented in this powerful Broadway production, featuring an explosive starring performance by Raul Esparza. Set in modern upper-crust Manhattan, Company is a funny, sophisticated exploration of love and commitment as seen through the eyes of a charming perpetual bachelor questioning his single state and his enthusiastically married, slightly envious friends. With a wise and witty Stephen Sondheim score including Another Hundred People, Side by Side by Side, The Ladies Who Lunch and Being Alive. Company offers musical comedy at its finest.”

The DVD is available at Amazon. A Blu Ray release is also coming in mid-May.

Raul Esperza, Company, Alfredo Aldirisio

In this interview, Lee Pace relates what it feels like to be working in a foreign film production where the cast and crew have no clue who he is. He also talks about his other roles aside from becoming Ned on Pushing Daisies —

Imagine being a young actor just off your first big film and a director meets you with this most unusual job offer: You are to play a paralyzed soldier and not let on to anyone you know - not even your co-stars or the film’s crew - that you can walk in real life.

[snipped]

“It was really lonely, I could walk around but no one could see me. I couldn’t have anyone over. I had to lie to everyone. Everyone thought I was paralyzed. I wasn’t the pie maker (on `Daisies’) then so I could get away with it.”

The other challenge was acting opposite then 6-year-old Catinca Untaru, a Romanian girl who didn’t know a word of English.

“She was cautious and as it went on, she got real close to my character. She would take care of me, draw me little pictures. She would play with my nose and talk in a way that was absolutely private. It’s like she had no idea she was being filmed. My job was kind of getting her to talk and be un-self-conscious and improvise with her a lot.”

“The Fall” goes into limited release on May 9, marking the first time it can be seen in the U.S. outside the film festival circuit.

The complete interview is found here.

Lee Pace, Lee Pace in The Fall, The Fall, Pushing Daisies

TheaterMania got hold of the very busy Kristin Chenoweth, who is still into a lot of performing. While some stars would probably use this break from shooting to give time to pamper themselves (Pushing Daisies is on hiatus and will start shooting Season 2 in June), Kristin is still up and about, doing what she loves best. She will be at the Corporate Night Celebration of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on May 6. She’s also slated to perform with Raul Esperza at the New York Philharmonic on May 20. And she’s also writing her memoir!

I wonder, when does she ever take a break?

The interview, after the jump…

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Here’s a scan of a Pushing Daisies promo material by UK’s ITV. I love it! I don’t think this photo ever appeared in the USA promos, did it?

Thanks to Ode Keats

This is courtesy of Lee Pace Org.

While an off-Broadway hit leads to TV ubiquity and a reinvention of the Hollywood character actor, Lee Pace keeps putting one foot in front of the other.

Coffee joints in L.A. are famously overrun with idling “thesps,” as Variety calls them, waiting for their Treos to warble while another perfect day evaporates.

Lee Pace has seen their faces. “That Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Sunset,” the 28-year-old actor acknowledges, conjuring a particularly obnoxious franchise, “that’s ground zero for Hollywood drama and desperation.”

Pace has just slipped off his tortoiseshell Wayfarers and tabled his iPhone at a Hollywood Starbucks, but he’s not exactly waiting for his agent to call. The son of a globe-trotting Texas oilman, he stumbled into acting in high school in order to earn a few elective credits and has since put together a resume that would cause the typical coffeehouse actor-aspirant to choke on his grande macchiato.

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The series has finally reached Asia in the Philippines and will begin airing episodes of Pushing Daisies May 6, Tuesdays 8 PM on the cable channel ETC 2nd Ave. Promo clips for the series has been running on the said channel.

It will also come to AXN Beyond, another Asian cable channel, in the following months.

Pushing Daisies, Pushing Daisies in the Philippines

Personally, I think Lee Pace looks like no other actor I know. But since I began this whole look-a-like bit with Anna Friel yesterday, I thought it would be fun to do one for Lee.

It was difficult to find someone who may resemble him because there is something about Lee Pace’s face. If you’ve been staring at his photos long enough, you would be able to see that his face changes from angle to angle, from look to look. There’s a distinctive feature that’s all Lee. But somehow, each photo is different.

But say, if I were casting an older brother for Lee in a movie? I would have to get Clive Owen, he’d be perfect. I dare say, they even have the same nasal tone; they sound alike. Don’t you agree?

A careful search led me to this guy, JJ Field. I’m not familiar with him. But he’s supposed to be an accomplished British actor, who starred in the third installment of Goal! (Anna Friel was in the first one), among other movies. I found a few photos of him online, so you be the judge…. I am beginning to see the slight resemblance, though. Can you?

But here’s someone who uncannily does look like Lee Pace (thanks Howard for pointing it out) —- it’s Peter Lawford, another British actor from the 40’s. Our grandmas and grandpas will probably remember him, for he is part of the famous Rat Pack.

So, that’s three British men who look like Lee Pace.

Do you agree with the choices?

Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies, Men who look like Lee Pace, Clive Owen, JJ Field, Peter Lawford

Pushing Daisies would have to the very first time I learned who Anna Friel is. I’ve never seen her movie, Goal! and it had been quite popular among my friends. Since I’m not from the UK, I wasn’t familiar with Brookside, the drama series where she became a household name in Europe.When I first saw the previews of the show last year, I thought that the program starred Zooey Deschanel; she even sounded and moved like her. And this made me look forward to the show more because I like Zooey Deschanel.

I’m quite sure I’m not the only one who sees the resemblance between Anna and Zooey. As the show went on, other fans have been comparing her physical appearance to these actresses:

When Anna had shorter hair, I’m told she reminds someone of a young Ally Sheedy:

Ally Sheedy, actress from the 80’s…

A younger Anna Friel with shorter hair…

Anna also slightly resembles Sara Groves, a Christian Music Artist (photo to the right), who I see to be someone who’s also similar in looks as Evangeline Lilly. Some of my friends think Anna looks like Eve, too…but I fail to see the resemblance. Yet if you scroll down this site, they do think think Eve and Anna are look-a-likes.

This younger picture of Faye Dunaway reminds me a bit of Anna, too.

Does Anna resemble any of these actresses or do you have another face in mind? Does having a lot of look-a-likes makes her beauty pretty common? What do you think?

Anna Friel, Anna Friel look-a-likes, Anna Friel looks like Zooey Deschanel, Anna Friel and Ally Sheedy, Anna Friel and Sara Groves

The Asia-Pacific region will soon enjoy Pushing Daisies as cable TV channel AXN Beyond has acquired the fantasy program.

The cable channel, broadcasting in the Philippines and expanding its operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam and India this year, caters to “out-of-the-ordinary” entertainment. Its program variety carry themes that include science fiction, paranormal, supernatural, mystery and fantasy.

There is no date set for Pushing Daises in Asia, but teasers are already running on the said cable channel, along with another freshman series, Moonlight.

Via IndianTelevision 

Pushing Daisies, Pushing Daisies Asia

Coming Soon has an exclusive clip from the fantasy movie, The Fall. I first wrote about it last February, when the movie was reported to be released in March. Dates have changed and the actual movie date is on May 9th.

Click on the photo to be redirected to the clip. You will love the little girl! And I now wonder…can she guest star on Pushing Daisies, please?

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I’ve rounded up some reviews from the British press on Pushing Daisies first episode, which aired last Saturday. While fans and regular viewers seem to appreciate it (it did really well in the ratings), the critics aren’t impressed…

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This blurb appears on Publishers Weekly, saying Kristin Chenoweth is close to writing her memoir; a book bio that will touch on her career climb to success.

Stage and screen star Kristin Chenoweth has inked a deal for a memoir with Touchstone senior editor Michelle Howry; Kirby Kim at Vigliano sold world rights. The book will be a candid account of the Oklahoma-born actress’s life, from her adoption shortly after birth to her Tony-nominated turn in Wicked to her work in Hollywood. Chenoweth will address the challenges she’s faced in balancing her faith, family, private life and public persona.

The very talented Kristin…she never stops, does she? I think she’s always open to exploring what she can do next and that should be good for her personal growth.

I would be eager to read about her, especially since I do not know much about her background (she was adopted?).

The book (or memoir as some are calling it) is slated for a Spring 2009 release.

Kristin Chenoweth, Kristin Chenoweth memoire, Kristin Chenoweth Autobiography

Lee Pace was promoting in Brazil recently and the press had a chance to talk to him. Here’s an audio video of what Lee has apparently divulged about what should be happening in Season 2.

The audio isn’t quite clear but here’s a written transcript of that interview (which I got off this Portugese website, translated and edited to English).

What are the changes the network wants to make in the second season of Pushing Daisies?

My hair finished being horrible [ during the first season ], then we’ve got to make this right. This is one of the things that they go to arrange itself: my haircut is really bad.

There were a lot of things the network did not like, but that I find very good. The [ Alfred ] Hitchcock references, Tippi Hedren…and they had found that extreme. I think it’s perfect. Only it was a little expensive to do.

Olive must be a bigger threat in the next season. It’s hard to really believe in Ned not finding Olive attractive. The actress playing Olive is a beautiful girl and really, really funny. It is important to have him come to his senses on that

That’s not to say that Ned and Chuck….that’s the absolutely primary love story.

Another thing that the Bryan [ Fuller, creator of the series ] wants to make is to create longer arcs of histories. In the first episodes I felt that many possibilities were set up and expect pay-offs down the line and this pay-off never came (pertains to the strike) and was just sitting there…for three episode archs.

Pushing Daisies, Pushing Daisies Season 2, Lee Pace, Lee Pace in Brazil

[ACADEMY - NIGHT: In the community sleeping quarters, slumbering boys occupy the beds, except for one noticeably empty bed …]

Narrator: Bedtime at the Longborough School for Boys was a time for dreams, dreams filled with the bliss that came from a happy childhood. But on this night, one boy chose to dream with his eyes wide open. [Ned is wearing a makeshift Pterodactyl outfit and holding two Play-Doh figures modeled after his mother and himself, along with a model of Chuck] Eleven weeks, 1 day, 7 hours and 41 minutes ago, young Ned was living that happy childhood, complete with a lovely home, caring mother and boyhood sweetheart, a girl he called Chuck. [Digby pops his head out from inside a trunk in front of his bed] But when his mother died – twice – young Ned awoke to a new reality. Though he could reanimate the dead, young Ned could only animate the inanimate with his imagination. On this lonely night, he tried to recreate his past life … [the clay models of Ned and Chuck come alive and approach; just as they reach one another, the clay models of Chuck and himself collapse and fall apart, struggling to touch one another. Ned’s face falls as reality sets back in]

Narrator: … But he’d lost his ability to dream and found even his imagination failed him. [Digby whines and goes back inside the trunk. Ned turns away and looks sadly out the window at the full moon] Still, he wore hope on his head. What young Ned didn’t know was at that very moment, the girl he called Chuck was wearing hope on hers. [CHARLES’ HOME: Young Chuck is staring wistfully at the same moon wearing her dinosaur outfit] They were together even if they were far apart.

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