538 replies to this topic

[thatguy01]

The oldest Milch tropes in the newest ways! Plus the slashy homoeroticism of Michael Mann! Coming to you soon on HBO!

Nick Nolte? Really? Are he and David gonna sponsor each other long enough to get through a season of production?

[Lucille]

Heh.

Jinxer! Why don't you just go throw your hat on the bed and put a 30 day hex on the show too!

Ritchie Coster has landed a lead role in HBO's drama pilot "Luck."
[...]
"Luck," from Michael Mann and David Milch, takes a look at the worlds of horse racing and gambling through a group of characters surrounding a racetrack. It centers on an intelligent, intuitive tough man (Dustin Hoffman) who always has been involved with gambling.

Coster will play Renzo, a sweet-spirited mope-wannabe who borrows from a shylock to finance his position with the syndicate.

A "mope-wannabe," huh? Anyone can be a mope, anywhere, anytime. Looks to me like someone's trying to be a Milch wannabe!

Production on “Luck” began Monday and will continue through April. Of the 24 days allocated to shooting the pilot, 19 are scheduled to be shot at Santa Anita.

HBO has not announced an air date for the pilot, but it is expected that it will be ready to air in early 2011. Should HBO make a decision to proceed with “Luck” as an episodic series, shooting for multiple season-one episodes would begin at Santa Anita sometime next year.

Not if thatguy01 keeps up the hoodoo!

LUCK (HBO) - Ritchie Coster ("Virtuality") is the latest addition to the drama pilot, "a look at the worlds of horse racing and gambling through a group of characters surrounding a racetrack." He'll play Renzo, a track regular on disability who's "mentally less well-endowed" than the other betting degenerates. Dennis Farina, Dustin Hoffman, Ian Hart, John Ortiz, Kerry Condon, Kevin Dunn, Nick Nolte, Richard Kind and Tom Payne also star in the hour, which Michael Mann is directing from a script by David Milch.

[Irlandesa]

Damn, I love me some Ritchie Coster. But from the description it sounds like he'll be a nice guy. I think he's been a bad guy (which he does quite well) in just about everything I've seen him in.

It looks like an interesting cast. I hope it makes it to air.

[alynch]

It looks like an interesting cast. I hope it makes it to air.

There is a 0% chance that this won't be ordered to series.

[Irlandesa]

There is a 0% chance that this won't be ordered to series.

I realized last night after I posted that it was a terribly un-TV-savvy thing to say. It would have to be an unmitigated disaster for HBO to not pick it up.

[Lucille]

Gedrick added to 'Luck' cast

LUCK (HBO) - Jason Gedrick ("Desperate Housewives") and Jill Hennessey ("Crossing Jordan") have both landed roles on the pilot, a drama set in the world of horse racing. She'll play a veterinarian who flirts with Turo Escalante (John Ortiz)...

'Luck' Producer Donates to CA Charity:

A Thoroughbred owner and enthusiastic bettor, Milch then quipped, “And I want you to know that if I get out at the end of the day only having given $10,000, that’s going to be the best day I’ve had in a while.”

Milch has written the script for “Luck,” which he is also producing and which stars Dustin Hoffman. Milch said that he hopes to make paid apprenticeships available with the show should it get picked up as a series and also give young people from Arcadia opportunities to be around the production.

Pick it up, HBO, For the Children®!

Looks to me like someone's trying to be a Milch wannabe!

Criticism fail! "Trying to be a wannabe" is tautologous, repetitive and superfluous, and redundant!

[Lucille]

David Milch visits

On Monday evening he read the first 20 pages or so of the script for the Luck pilot. On Tuesday morning (yesterday) I interviewed him. Both these sessions are already available as audio recordings (mp3) and in video (streaming). All four files are linked here.

[Lucille]

Santa Anita bets on HBO's "Luck" to win

HBO officials say their programming department has yet to make a final decision as to whether the pilot, which was written by Milch of "Deadwood" fame and directed by Michael Mann, will be picked up as a series.

But racetrack officials believe there is "a very strong possibility" that HBO will go forward with the high-stakes drama, which would also star Nick Nolte as a horse trainer.

"They have told me it's not official yet but they have been asking a lot of questions about how to make a series work here," said Pete Siberell, director of special projects at Santa Anita.

HBO officials have even discussed a potential fast track with Santa Anita, in which shooting would start as early as this fall during the Oak Tree meet, and a slow track, in which filming would start during the racetrack's winter meet, he said.

HBO shot 20 out of 25 days of its pilot at the racetrack this spring, and would probably shoot about 10 hour-long episodes for its first season, Siberell said.

[hardy har]

Aaaaand it's official.

Edited by hardy har, Jul 14, 2010 @ 2:08 PM.

[Lucille]

Finally. HBO was *this close* to being dropped in our household.

Edited by Lucille, Jul 14, 2010 @ 11:09 PM.

[Lucille]

HBO is building an 'Empire'

Back on the series side, with the pilot for David Milch's "Luck" now complete, HBO execs are anticipating that the horseracing skein will be more emblematic of his "Deadwood" than "John From Cincinnati."

Milch, a longtime racetrack fan and horse owner, is "writing from his gut," said Plepler.

"Deadwood" and "John From Cincinnati" ended their respective runs on completely different ends of the spectrum. Viewers clearly wanted more of "Deadwood" when it left the air, while "John" was canceled after a single season without much public outcry.

"Luck" has a bigscreen pedigree. Michael Mann directed the pilot and will remain on the show throughout the season, while Dustin Hoffman stars.

HBO gets star treatment with Bruce Springsteen, Dustin Hoffman in fall lineup

HBO also likes "Luck," a drama series that stars Hoffman and is set in the world of horse racing. It is expected to debut next year.

"Luck" is the latest production from David Milch, creator of "NYPD Blue" and "Deadwood," and Lombardo tactfully said he expects it will be an improvement on Milch's last series, the forgettable "John From Cincinnati."

"He's writing 'Luck' from his gut," said Lombardo. "I think maybe 'John' came a little more from his head."

Please stop analyzing David Milch, and leave John From Cincinnati alone!!!

TCA: HBO Exec Session - Dustin Hoffman In First TV Series, Bruce Springsteen Docu Set For October, 'Ladies Detective Agency' Alive

-- David Milch's new show about the horse racing world, Luck, begins shooting in October with Dustin Hoffman attached to star in his first TV series. "We weren't in these seats when John From Cincinnati was developed," Lombardo said. "David had such a clear vision for the [new] show. It's a world he knows. There's a confidence in the storytelling that's enormously compelling. He came up with a great [pilot] script. There's no question we're taking the journey with him. It's enormously accessible to non-horseracing people."

Press Tour Live-Blog: HBO Executive Session

4:08 p.m. How did the "Luck" pilot go? "This will either be magic or mayhem," Lombardo recalls thinking before they shot. But he felts it was ultimately magic. He says that the creative environment was productive and that Dustin Hoffman and David Milch loved working together. "With Dustin, he has a producer credit," Lombardo says, pointing out that the Oscar winner wants to be heard.

[Redtracer]

David Milch, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Mann, and Nick Nolte on the same show? Epic meltdown potential.

He says that the creative environment was productive and that Dustin Hoffman and David Milch loved working together. "With Dustin, he has a producer credit," Lombardo says, pointing out that the Oscar winner wants to be heard.

I'm glad to hear that they work well together. Dustin Hoffman isn't exactly the easiest guy to work with. I'm sure he would have made himself heard even if he didn't have a producer credit.

Love Deadwood and Michael Mann, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[alynch]

The thing about a pilot though, is that the script is completely nailed down before they even shoot a second of film. I'll be curious to hear what happens the first time Milch walks up to Hoffman or Nolte with a four page monologue that they only have a few hours to prepare for.

[attica finch]

leave John From Cincinnati alone!!!

Geez, I wish I'd left it alone, instead of subjecting myself to the entire thing. That show failed on a dozen levels, at least (except for Ed O'Neill).

I will hold onto my HBO to see Luck, however. Whether that's taking the same action expecting a different result, or something more happily serendipitous remains to be seen. (I hope they use the horse from the Deadwood credit sequence to stage a comeback...)

[Lucille]

When I read this, I immediately thought of Milch's Ace:

* Horsefeathers: Assembly Speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles) sponsors a bill that would allow exchange betting -- in which gamblers can bet for and against the ponies -- at California racetracks. Is it the equine equivalent of the "complex financial instruments that nearly brought down the economy two years ago"? Will giving customers more freedom cause tracks to cut jobs? Track owners are making these and other claims as they urge lawmakers to vote neigh on what they call the "California Bookie Amendment."

Also! Maybe Bo Derek will make an appearance in Luck, or maybe not.

How much equestrian tragedy can a state bear in a single day?

Woe is the state of California.

A few photos. What's The Dude doing on the set?

I know I posted links to these upthread but, I was also searching for some youtube videos and came across the Kelly Writers House channel. Click uploads and search "David Milch" for the not QuickTime vids of his visit in April.

[Lucille]

The 2010 Screenwriting Expo Announces Speakers John August, Shane Black, David Milch & Jennifer Salt

The 2010 Screenwriting Expo is set to kick-off October 7-10 at the Hilton LAX, with an acclaimed Guest of Honor line-up, featuring screenwriters John August, Shane Black, David Milch and Jennifer Salt. Additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.
[...]
David Milch was an English Literature professor at Yale University when he wrote a script for Hill Street Blues. The episode, "Trial By Fury," won the Emmy, the Writers Guild Award, and the Humanitas Prize for that season. Milch went on to spend five seasons with Hill Street Blues becoming the show’s Executive Producer. Later, he co-created the history-making police drama NYPD Blue which garnered a record setting 26 Emmy Nominations its premier season, going on to win countless awards. David has continued to create numerous TV dramas including Brooklyn South, True Blue: The Real Stories Behind NYPD Blue, and as creative consultant for several series including Steven Bochco's Murder One and Total Security. Since forming Redboard Productions, Milch co-created Big Apple, and the multi-award winning drama Deadwood for HBO. He is currently in production on the new drama Luck, also for HBO, about the horse racing world.

New fall shows and what all the buzz is about
HBO, Showtime series are promising...

Good buzz
Luck, HBO (no date set). Dustin Hoffman will star in his first TV series, set in the world of horse racing and created by David Milch (Deadwood). Extended clips got people talking that Milch has found a new, rich milieu.

I'd like to see those clips! I wonder why HBO didn't include them, or even a mention of Luck, in the Countdown to the True Blood Season Finale (a finale full of suck!).

[Lucille]

Michael Mann back in the TV saddle

On the screen, a montage showed racehorses, gamblers, mob men and money as the Massive Attack song "Splitting the Atom" pulsed along with its languid whispers of desire.
[...]
Mann said he went for a ride with "Luck" for one reason alone: "Milch's script is one of the best I've ever read."
[...]
Mann is most interested in discussing "Luck" and the changing perceptions of audiences. He pointed to "Inception" and David Fincher's "The Social Network" as films that drop the viewer into a world and benefit from a Digital Age audience that is accustomed to taking in information with a different frequency and form.

"It's liberating to jump into the stream of a story and jump into the stream of a character and convey by attitude, ambience and the tone of that person — and their surroundings and how they're reacting to those surroundings — the magic of what's happening. When you can bring the audience into understanding and they have leapt over that little gap, and they're getting it on their own, it's a much more intense involvement."

Mann said the Milch script for "Luck" was one of the richest and most compelling that had ever crossed his desk. Milch certainly is no tourist when it comes to the subject matter — he owned Val Royal, the French-bred colt that won the 2001 Breeders' Cup Mile — and Milch said it only increases the pressure to get the voice, vocabulary and vibe just right.

The pilot opens with a career bookmaker named Chester "Ace" Bernstein (Hoffman) leaving prison and wearing a shirt that still has the department store packaging creases. Waiting for him in a Mercedes is Gus Economou ( Dennis Farina), an old crony who's ready to help the parolee with his mysterious revenge plans. At the track, the show introduces a conniving trainer ( John Ortiz), jockeys and the betting regulars who seek their fortune at a venue that is sinking into bankruptcy. Underpinning all of it is the juxtaposition between the majestic horses and the desperate people who exploit them and one another.

Mann is especially pleased by the shadows in the plot. Who is the target of Bernstein's vendetta? What is the past of Nolte's secretive loner, a trainer who confides only in the horses when he speaks of a dark past on the East Coast? All of it is a puzzle to be solved, and Mann, the detective, seemed giddy to be on the case.

"To make these characters be alive, you have a sense of them intuitively and viscerally," Mann said. "The challenge of it is obvious, but the economy of it is wonderful — if you can make it work."

Great piece. That pic of Nolte was kind of shocking.

Al Norton: Are there shows that you watch that you'd love to appear on?

Garret Dillahunt: I've been really digging what I'm seeing for Boardwalk Empire. I'd love to be on that thing. It's just a monster cast. David Milch talked to me about playing a part on Luck but I'd already signed for Raising Hope so I'm hoping maybe to guest on it.

That would be cool.

Too bad about BVH not being asked, especially since he's on one of the most unwatchable shows ever conceived, now rumored to be dating one of the most horrifying faces in all of Hollywood, and being called a homewrecker to boot. Hell, Butchie had higher standards!

In horse racing news:

And throughout the decades, horse racing continues to hold a romantic spot in the public's mindset, despite its supposed lack of everyday appeal. You simply don't lure Oprah, Disney, Dodge, Dustin Hoffman and Diane Lane in this day and age without having something to sell, folks.

One of two things is going on here: Either horse racing is not nearly as dead as some would like to claim it is, or the bulk of racing's problems come from within its own family/industry. No rational person could look at the phenomenal amount of mainstream exposure this industry has received from afar and offer a legitimate complaint.

[Rhoswen]

Here are a few pages of the pilot script (from casting sides). The rest of the script is pretty much more of the same type of dialogue, although the first half of it was easier for me to understand than the 2nd half. Maybe I'm not the best person to judge this script, because I don't particularly care for horse racing and I'm not a gambler, but my personal opinion is that if someone isn't interested in one of those two activities, this may not be the show for them. The script is full of odd, offbeat characters and dialogue that appear to be more John From Cincinnati- than Deadwood-esque. Gambling and horseracing terminology abound, but even some of the dialogue that wasn't related to gambling or racing was at times not easy to comprehend (for me, at least), and many of the quirky characters seem oddly interchangeable in the script. I would read several pages and without the names in front of the lines, I wouldn't have had any idea who was speaking; it was lots of seemingly random or expository talk about betting forms, horse racing and what people did that day while they hung around the track waiting for the races to start. Other folks may love that, but I was bored.

pages 46-48 of the pilot script

pages 52-54 of the pilot script

I was a huge fan of Deadwood and also found many things to like about JFC, so I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy reading this script. I know that pilots are often full of exposition to establish the premise of the show, but if my experience reading the script is any indication, people who require the world of horse racing and betting forms to be explained to them (because they've never been interested in those things previously) aren't going to be the ones watching this show, especially if the "exposition" continues to be so incomprehensible.

Edited by Rhoswen, Apr 14, 2011 @ 6:29 PM.

[hardy har]

Unearthing the thread to post a video that aired last night on HBO.

LUCK: In Production

Hell yes.

[alynch]

Well this is interesting. I'd been assuming that Mann's creative involvement would for the most part end after directing the pilot ala Scorsese & Boardwalk Empire, but it seems he's functioning as an actual showrunner.

Edited by alynch, Apr 21, 2011 @ 5:15 PM.

[Lucille]

Until I saw the clip HBO played before the GoT premiere, I honestly was afraid it would never air. It looks so great.

From the THR piece:

Milch is also known for delivering scripts on his own schedule; HBO will have nine episodes of Luck as opposed to 10 because material has come at Milch's pace...

At this point, work is in progress on that ninth episode. HBO has yet to determine when Luck will premiere, but it likely won't debut until early next year.

GD it. Nine episodes is not a season! And when did ten become the standard anyhow? It used to be thirteen. And not until next year? Four years of teevee without Milch is too long a wait already. Oh well. Whatareyagonnado...

[YetAnotherAlex]

Nine episodes? That's merely an appetizer, not a full season. IMHO, tv seasons (on cable anyway) should have around 13 eps, with no less than 10. Oh well, at least it's not as bad as The Walking Dead, which had 6 episodes in its first season.

Now I hear Luck may not premiere until 2012. Really HBO? Let's get this show on the road!

[thatguy01]

January.

http://latimesblogs..../tca-2011-.html

[hardy har]

Aaaaaaaaannndd a new teaser is here.

[OoogleEyes]

I can . not . WAIT!!

[Lucille]

Milch Is Still in 'Luck'

18 years after NYPD Blue premiered on ABC, David Milch and Steve Bochco are teaming up again to create a new NBC legal drama that's "set inside DC’s hottest law firm" and centers on a star litigator...with a past. Before NYPD Blue (which he left in 2000 after seven seasons), Milch was Bocho's story editor on Hill Street Blues and wrote an episode of L.A. Law, but the reunion raises questions about the status of Luck, the horse racing drama Milch and director Michael Mann are making for HBO. Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports says the NBC show "won’t interfere with Milch’s duties" on Luck, which he'll return to after the NBC pilot is completed, with Bochco serving as show runner if it makes it to series. That's something of a surprise, since by various accounts Mann and Milch clashed making the pilot ("[A] smack-down from Day 1," a talent rep involved with the project told The Hollywood Reporter), with Mann supposedly banning Milch from the set. After watching the pilot, they hammered out a power-sharing agreement in April whereby Milch would get the last word on scripts, while Mann has the final say on "everything else, from casting to cutting to music...not a situation to which Milch, the Emmy-winning writer-producer of NYPD Blue and Deadwood, has lately been accustomed."
[...]
If David Caruso can bolt NYPD Blue after one season, David Milch can find a way to get out of Luck before season two.

And who could blame him?

[thatguy01]

Even I could have told you the Michael Mann/David Milch partnership wasn't going to work

[Lucille]

I'm considerably less excited about Luck knowing Milch has no control over casting, music, and cutting. When you get down to it, it's not even his show anymore! I wonder, is he even allowed on the set, or has he been relegated to his Red Board office in Santa Monica permanently to give the last fucking say?!

HBO cocksuckers!

Run away, David, RUN AWAY! But before you do, tell HBO: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=frFfQsDYeA4

Edited by Lucille, Oct 21, 2011 @ 4:50 PM.

[alynch]

What I find hilarious is even when Milch has no responsibilities beyond the actual writing, he still can't get the scripts done on time.

I'm considerably less excited about Luck knowing Milch has no control over casting, music, and cutting. When you get down to it, it's not even his show anymore!

I'd say it's about one-third his show.

Edited by alynch, Oct 21, 2011 @ 4:51 PM.

[Redtracer]

What I find hilarious is even when Milch has no responsibilities beyond the actual writing, he still can't get the scripts done on time.

There's the rub. I think Milch is brilliant and I love most of the stuff he's done (minus John from Cincinnati), but I think it's pretty clear by now that he's not the easiest guy to work with, from a cast, crew, or executive standpoint. He's definitely a high-maintenance guy, which can lead to difficulties both behind and in front of the camera, especially with scripts constantly coming in late and unfinished. If it works out in the end, great. If not, eventually something is going to have to change. It looks like Luck is going to end up being the latter situation.

As has been said, pairing him up with an equally difficult guy like Michael Mann was never going to work. It's too bad that Milch ended up getting the short end of the stick this time.

Edited by Redtracer, Oct 21, 2011 @ 8:50 PM.