- Title: Hollywood's golden era recreated for television
- Date: 27th July 2017
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - MARCH 15, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS, LILY COLLINS, SAYING: "Our story is about strength and tenacity and women in the business that are trying to make a name for themselves like Celia working from the ground up and it's relevant to today because a lot of women are writing, producing, directing, acting - you don't have to just wear one hat - and Celia specifically was trying to break the mould in the 1930s and there are plenty of those ground-breaking women today who are doing the same thing." VARIOUS OF SCENE BEING SHOT (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MATT BOMER, SAYING: "Some things have changed but many, many things have not and a lot of the things that we are dealing with on the show are sadly really relevant and fresh today whether it's the ageism or the sexism or the anti-semitism and certain aspects of race that are dealt with on the show. A lot of it unfortunately is really cropping up all over again so it's a good chance to offer some insight into the past but also with a commentary on the present." GRAMMER ON SET (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, KELSEY GRAMMER, SAYING: "The studio battle thing, I don't think it's very different. I think everybody is a lot more polite now but I think secretly down, down, deep inside they fight like it's turf war, like it is a war they need to win. I think that energy still exists with every one running a studio. It's a pretty brutal game and in this metaphor, the world we've created here, you get to play it out, hopefully pretend it's not real but I think it is."
- Embargoed: 10th August 2017 23:12
- Keywords: Kelsey Grammer Matt Bomer Lily Collins set visit The Last Tycoon F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation unfinished book
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES; UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Television
- Reuters ID: LVA0046RHQR0T
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The final and unfinished novel by acclaimed Jazz Age novelist F.Scott Fitzgerald, "The Last Tycoon", has been reimagined into a 9-part television series for Amazon Studios.
Fitzgerald, also known for "The Great Gatsby" and "Tender is the Night" died in 1940 aged 44 before finishing the story. However, notes existed on where the characters were heading and the completed novel was released posthumously in 1941 by his friend Edmund Wilson.
Set in the Golden Age of Hollywood, the story focuses on the studio system in Hollywood and the lead characters Monroe Stahr (Matt Bomer) and Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer) were based on two historical Hollywood players, Irving Thalberg and Louis B. Mayer respectively.
On the Los Feliz Golf Course, wearing 1930s sporting garb back in March, Kelsey Grammer told Reuters "What's fun, I guess, about an unfinished novel is you can get to do what you want to with it. He's laid out a really wonderful blue print and you get to finish it."
Lily Collins plays Brady's daughter Celia, who is trying to break into Hollywood production. "Our story is about strength and tenacity and women in the business that are trying to make a name for themselves like Celia working from the ground up," she said in between takes on set. "It's relevant to today because a lot of women are writing, producing, directing, acting - you don't have to just wear one hat - and Celia specifically was trying to break the mould in the 1930s and there are plenty of those ground-breaking women today who are doing the same thing."
However, Matt Bomer said that sadly Hollywood hasn't changed that much since the 1930s, saying "A lot of it unfortunately is really cropping up all over again so it's a good chance to offer some insight into the past but also with a commentary on the present."
"The Last Tycoon", which was already adapted for television in 1957 and film in 1976, will air on Amazon on July 28. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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