Good News About Talented People
Hap & Leonard is ramping up production in Louisiana and is looking like one of the shows to watch for 2016. Based on the series of novels by Joe R. Lansdale, it follows the dark and darkly comic adventures of best pals and martial arts experts. The titular characters are to be played by Michael K. Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire) and James Purefoy (Rome, Solomon Kane, The Following).
The show was announced with almost no fanfare eight months ago. Then six weeks ago the stars were announced, and now it’s filming in Baton Rouge with more cast members popping up, and the creators stepping out from the shadows.
Behind the peculiar-sounding project is the filmmaking team of Jim Mickle and Nick Damici, who made Cold in July and We Are Who We Are, two of my favorite films of the last couple years. July was also based on a story by Landsdale, who is most well-known as the writer of the literary basis for Bubba Ho-Tep, a minor horror comedy classic starring the great Bruce Campbell.
The stories sound interesting, mysterious, and best of all, different than what we’re used to seeing.
Good News About Un-Talented People
Donald Trump, possibly the most disliked candidate in the history of politics, killer of the USFL, and many other horrible titles, seems to have finally stepped too far. And the crowd of people lining up to kick him is nothing short of inspiring.
Two weeks ago, in his campaign announcement (for president of the United States, just thought I should add that, he’s not running for a corporate board seat or something), Trump said the following: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people who have lots of problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.”
After what I can only assume was a worldwide moment of jaws hitting the floor, repercussions started happening pretty swiftly.
First Univision, by far the largest foreign language TV network in the U.S., dropped the Trump-owned Miss Universe brand as a way to hit him back for the preposterous comments.
Now NBC Universal is dropping their entire relationship with him, which of course includes his very popular Celebrity Apprentice, though of course they pointedly implied they were dropping him but probably keeping the show without him.
It’s not that there isn’t some truth buried in Trump’s uncouthness somewhere. The country certainly has an immigration “problem,” by which I mean, debate to be had, on its hands. And there’s nothing necessarily racist at all about having an opinion on that.
John Nolte of the conservative site Breitbart even felt compelled to point out, in a piece defending Trump, “First off, plenty of Mexican illegals have been accused and found guilty of rape.”
Of course nobody is denying that; the problem with Trump’s derogatory rhetoric is that he insinuates there are definitely many criminals, but no evidence of good, honest people trying to make a living. He’s just being a big-hearted guy in going out on a limb and assuming some of them are.
Fans of seeing a cartoonish villain like Trump being served by the forces of good, or at least political correctness, which for a change of pace is not being over-reactive and thin-skinned, should be pretty cheered by these developments. Will they put Trump out of business? Of course not. But they’ve got to be costing him street cred and actual revenue.
Most of all, he doesn’t belong in polite society and his continued presence constantly on our TV screens is now at least somewhat in question. Though for the next month it will be all Trump all the time…
Wait a second… Is he playing us?
By Ygal Kaufman
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