Boardwalk Empire on HBO, Scorsese and creator or Sopranos, starts Sept
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Scorsese couldn't be there in person for the 'Boardwalk Empire' panel, but joined us via satellite from London, along with co-executive producer Terence Winter and stars Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald.
The series is based on the book by Nelson Johnson about the corrupt political atmosphere around Atlantic City in the Prohibition era of the 1920s, with Buscemi playing a fictionalized version of real political boss Nucky Johnson (Buscemi's version is called "Nucky Thompson"). Since the series has fictional characters interacting with real ones, Winter felt it was best to fictionalize Nucky to give the character more freedom.
"I was afraid that, if people started to Google the real Nucky Johnson, they would become ahead of the story, and they would know what became of Nucky or when did he live and die or what he did or didn't do," he said. "So by making him Nucky Thompson, he's Nucky, but he's not Nucky. Our Nucky can do anything and veer off into any directions, and it's much more freeing creatively for myself and my writers. We can just sort of open it up."
Winter feels there's enough of a landscape to have the show run for a long time, joking that he hopes the run is decades long. "You know, it's almost an epic novel, I would hope. And, you know, God willing, we'll have the opportunity to do that."
Buscemi, taking the lead after a long distinguished career of character roles, called the role "one of the best parts I've ever had in my life, and it's just so exciting for me to go to work and to know that these scripts are so strong and to play a character who is ambitious."
For his part, Scorsese was "pleasantly surprised" by the fact that corruption in New Jersey politics isn't exactly an old issue, giving 'Empire' resonance in 2010. He recalled his days as a kid when he'd notice cars with New Jersey plates park anywhere they wanted on the Lower East Side of New York. "And I think a lot of these cars were owned by characters who were rather dubious in a way. So I wondered why Jersey seemed to be a place where you were just able to put a, you know, license plate on your car and park anywhere in New York, supposedly."
A bustling little city by the seashore, totally dependent upon money spent by tourists, Atlantic City’s popularity rose in the early 20th century and peaked during Prohibition. The resort’s singular purpose of providing a good time to its visitors—whether lawful or not—demanded a single mentality to rule the town. Success of the local economy was the only ideology, and critics and do-gooders weren’t tolerated.
By 1900, a political juggernaut, funded by payoffs from gambling rooms, bars, and brothels, was firmly entrenched. For the next 70 years, Atlantic City was dominated by a partnership comprised of local politicians and racketeers. This unique alliance reached full bloom in the person of Enoch “Nucky” Johnson—the second of three bosses to head the Republican machine that dominated city politics and society.
In "Boardwalk Empire", Nucky Johnson, Louis “the Commodore” Kuehnle, Frank “Hap” Farley, and Atlantic City itself spring to life in all their garish splendor. Author Nelson Johnson traces “AC” from its humble beginnings as Jonathan Pitney’s seaside health resort, through the notorious backroom politics and power struggles, to the city’s astonishing rebirth as an entertainment and gambling mecca where anything goes.
"Boardwalk Empire" is a colorful, irresistible history of a unique city and culture. Here is proof positive that truth is stranger—and more compelling—than fiction.
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I may be in love. It's tough to say yet. "Boardwalk Empire" and I have only known each other for six episodes. You have to be cautious nowadays about giving yourself over to a serialized drama, especially one as ambitious as this. There are so many ways your relationship with a TV drama can all fall apart.
I should start at the beginning. You hear HBO is doing its second New Jersey organized crime series and your ears go up. Then you hear it's set in the 1920s, Atlantic City, during Prohibition, and Martin Scorsese is producing the series and directing the pilot. You have this vision in your mind what that TV show could ideally be.
"Boardwalk Empire" is remarkably close to what you imagined.
And its success comes despite a seemingly a crucial weakness.
Steve Buscemi, as the main character, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, a Boardwalk crime kingpin, is a bit … off. It's as if he's reading lines that were originally written for another actor, somebody of more earthy gravitas.
There's another issue too. The Boardwalk itself is a sprawling set constructed with shops on one side, and a green screen on the other (where the ocean is digitally added). There's a dreamy, unreal, strolling-around-the-deck-of-1999's-"Titanic" quality to these scenes.
So wait, you say: Both the main character AND the Boardwalk set are less-than convincing? How can this show be any good?
Because everything else in "Boardwalk Empire" is terrific. And there's a whole lot of "everything else."
The cast is sprawling. Pretty much every character works. There's little about "Boardwalk" that feels like a TV show. It's rich and cinematic (many shots remind you of "The Godfather" trilogy), heightened with unique period music. There's so much more to the show than Nucky and the Boardwalk, particularly after the first episode (directed nicely by Scorsese, his camera prowling around, though his style stays out of the way of the story). It's almost like the network watched the pilot, then decided to expand the show's scope so Buscemi didn't have to carry the whole production himself.
The scripts are well researched, perhaps past the point of showing off. The research is utilized in interesting ways -- one detail will make you feel nostalgic, another will make you laugh, and still another will leave you horrified (such as a woman using Lysol as a contraceptive after sex).
Oh, and did you know that by the fourth episode, half the show takes place in Chicago? And that the Chicago storyline is, if anything, more compelling than the action in Atlantic City? (It's taking me every ounce of my anti-spoiler convictions not to say more about this subject ... though I suspect everybody will know all about it by the time the show debuts).
Period pieces have a tough time drawing audiences. "Rome," "Deadwood," "Mad Men." As good as they were/are, attracting big numbers is a challenge. "Boardwalk Empire" might be able to break through. Not only is this an excellent organized crime drama, but the female characters are diverse and well done. That's a crucial element for any TV show to draw a large rating, and a rare quality in this particular genre (usually you have the one feisty heroine and an assortment of mob floozies … here, even a mobster's squeeze who's portrayed as colossally stupid, gorgeous, spoiled and cruel manages to generate unexpected empathy).
OK. That's enough. THR will have its official review closer to the "Boardwalk" premiere date (Sept. 19). Here's the third trailer for "Boardwalk" that seems designed to sell Buscemi as a tough-guy lead...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KfUNiFlo4c
