Tuesday, May 13, 2014

WE NEED TO RESHOOT THAT. I GOT SHOT IN THE F---ING CHEST, AND THERE'S NO SCAR:  Fifteen years ago this month, NBC unveiled The West Wing during upfronts. Its creators and stars tell some stories to The Hollywood Reporter, some of which you know (Eugene Levy! CCH Pounder!) and some you may not:
JOSHUA MALINA (WILL BAILEY, DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR): I read that Rob Lowe was thinking about leaving, and I really needed a job. I sent [Aaron] an email, the contents of which basically were: "What about a less well-known, less good-looking actor who would work for less money?" It was shameless, but to my surprise, Aaron's response suggested that he had already talked to Schlamme about the idea. I drove to meet him at the Four Seasons for lunch, and he said, "Here's the character I'm thinking of for you."

5 comments:

  1. Also fascinating, the discussion of salary negotiation, where Whitford/Spencer/Schiff/Janney united in part because none of them felt it was fair to the others for one of them to make more than the rest.

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  2. Joseph Finn10:41 AM

    Spencer surprises me a bit (just by his part, not his demeanor), but that's exactly the three people I'd have guessed were negotiating together.

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  3. Christy in Philly11:27 AM

    I loved John Spencer as much as a grown woman can love a man she's never met who plays pretend for a living. The episode containing John Spencer's funeral remains the saddest episode of television I have ever seen.

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  4. From another piece (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/emmys-roundtable-weiner-gilligan-sorkin-702972):

    Sorkin is asked about wildest thing done get an actor, and responds: "Mary-Louise Parker, who ended up on The West Wing, left a message on my voice mail saying, "Hi, this is Mary-Louise Parker. Josh Lyman [Bradley Whitford's character] badly needs to get laid, and I'm the one to do it." She was in the next episode."

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  5. Roger5:26 PM

    That sounds like something that would work on Sorkin. “A woman’s life is worth nothing unless she’s making a great man greater.”

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