HBO
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zXN_GwdMYMo/TS...cation-1lg.jpg
The first time I saw this picture a few months ago, I didn't notice that there weren't any palm trees....
OK. I got over the idea that HBO was going to remake
Mildred Pierce after seeing the cast and given to understand that it would be truer to the Cain novel and set when the book was, in the '30s, a good decade before the famous 1945 version. I also became convinced that apparently the world has been crying out for a less-inhibited movie version of the book. Some Cain "scholars" have argued that we need such a version so we know that, for instance, Monty is sleeping with Mildred and Veda, not just sending them flowers--these things are very hard for adults to figure out, you know. But it looks like we may have to transfer our imagination from sleeping arrangements to accepting New York City and Long Island as stand-ins for Southern California. Actually, it is unclear to me whether the whole story might even have been relocated to the East Coast--which would defeat the whole purpose of keeping closer to the book, of course. But if we are meant to accept NY locations as noirland--well, this is where my anticipation for the new mini-series, due in March, curdles. Could this be another megabomb like the
Black Dahlia of a few years ago? It's the LIGHT, people, and the PALMS. But forget 200-foot palms for the moment--not even on the brightest day does Glen Cove or Locust Valley resemble Pasadena, nor does Midtown Manhattan resemble '30s downtown L.A. I guess I should reserve judgment until I see it--while HBO has done great things, including the best series of all time (
The Sopranos), it has also given us
Boardwalk Empire, which is wildly overproduced (and unwatchable, I think) even if it at least isn't being done with Santa Monica standing in for Atlantic City. I'm not sure that the new
Mildred Pierce trailer is working for me, either:
http://www.hbo.com/mildred-pierce/in...ayMQIAVKYXOA==
Anyone see it differently?
Nary a SoCal location is listed in the IMDB for the new production:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1492030/locations