Rod Serling biopic!

[Temis the Vorta]

Next stop...Rod Serling, The Movie!

Awesome idea. But who should be cast as Serling? The Deadline comments already have a couple great suggestions: Liev Schreiber and Nestor Carbonnel.

 

[Saga]

sounds good. with Serling's wife as producer it shouldn't stray too far from reality.

 

[Harvey]

I'm definitely interested in seeing this. A Roddenberry biopic would be interesting, too, but I imagine neither CBS nor Paramount wants a film about the creator of their Sacred Cow being made.

 

[Christopher]

Liev Schreiber? I don't see the resemblance to Serling. He's too stocky, and probably too old at 43, seeing as how Serling's story ends at 50. Nestor Carbonell? Closer, but I'm not sure.

 

[Greg Cox]

Hmm. I wonder whom they'll cast as Matheson?

 

[Harvey]

Serling may have died at 50, but he sure looked a lot worse for wear as he got older -- due to his smoking habit, perhaps? I think Schrieber could play the part, depending on what parts of Serling's life it tackled (obviously, he's not going to work as the writer in his 20s).

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I could see Schrieber doing a good job. If Kevin Spacey was a bit younger I'd say give him the part. I think that the filmmakers have a bit of leeway in that they don't have to get an exact physical double for Serling. The Twilight Zone was 50 years ago, after all. It'll be enough just to evoke his image.

 

[Admiral2]

I just hope it talks about some of his TV work before the Twilight Zone. Apparently he was a well regarded dramatic writer before he created that series.

 

[Christopher]

Serling may have died at 50, but he sure looked a lot worse for wear as he got older -- due to his smoking habit, perhaps? I think Schrieber could play the part, depending on what parts of Serling's life it tackled (obviously, he's not going to work as the writer in his 20s).

I see no physical resemblance between the two.

I just hope it talks about some of his TV work before the Twilight Zone. Apparently he was a well regarded dramatic writer before he created that series.

Indeed, one of TV's leading playwrights, up there with Paddy Chayefsky and Reginald Rose and the like. He got frustrated by the censorship of TV, which inhibited his ability to write seriously about racism or war or the like, so it occurred to him that if he told those stories through fantasy allegory, he could sneak them past the censors. I once saw a clip of an interview with Dan Rather where Rather asked if doing TZ meant that Serling was giving up on the serious TV writing he was known for, and Serling said "Yes" with a totally straight face, claiming that he was changing his tune and only writing escapist fluff from then on. And then he went on to prove to the television audience just how sophisticated fantasy and SF could be. It'd be cool to see that adapted in the biopic.


By the way, I once saw a biopic in which Rod Serling appeared as a character, played by... Rod Serling. It was an episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse called "The Man in the Funny Suit," and starred Ed Wynn and his son Keenan Wynn as themselves, dramatizing the true story (reputedly) of how Ed Wynn tried to move past his typecasting as a clownish figure and establish himself in dramatic roles, the kind Keenan was known for. It was in Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight (the original live version on Playhouse 90) that Ed Wynn got his big break at drama, starring alongside Keenan. And four years later in "Funny Suit" they recreated that production and the events surrounding it, along with Serling, director Ralph Nelson, one or two of the other cast members, and Red Skelton also playing themselves.

 

[23skidoo]

Whoever they cast in the part is going to have a challenge because of how widely impersonated and parodied Serling was, and still is. Steven Culp actually just came to mind, but he's a bit old for the part now.

Alex

 

[Greg Cox]

Maybe James Franco as the young Serling?

 

[DarthPipes]

Maybe James Franco as the young Serling?

You know, I like that choice.

Serling was a great writer, a pioneer in the television industry and one of my favorites. But is there really enough there for an interesting movie?

 

[diankra]

Zachary Levi. Far too tall, obviously, but otherwise he could get the right mix of uncertainty and buried self-belief.

 

[Harvey]

Serling may have died at 50, but he sure looked a lot worse for wear as he got older -- due to his smoking habit, perhaps? I think Schrieber could play the part, depending on what parts of Serling's life it tackled (obviously, he's not going to work as the writer in his 20s).

I see no physical resemblance between the two.

Anthony Hopkins doesn't look a bit like Richard Nixon, either, but that didn't seem to matter when he played the disgraced president in Oliver Stone's bio-pic.

If we were going for physical resemblance, the producers would probably just go ahead and cast Ed Wasser, but they'd obviously prefer (1) a better actor and (2) a more familiar name.

 

[Kegg]

Sounds interesting enough. I don't really know anything about Serling's life, but maybe there's grist in there for a good film.

Serling may have died at 50, but he sure looked a lot worse for wear as he got older -- due to his smoking habit, perhaps? I think Schrieber could play the part, depending on what parts of Serling's life it tackled (obviously, he's not going to work as the writer in his 20s).

I see no physical resemblance between the two.

Anthony Hopkins doesn't look a bit like Richard Nixon, either, but that didn't seem to matter when he played the disgraced president in Oliver Stone's bio-pic.

And Ken Ogata is markedly different from Yukio Mishima, and I thought he did a good job in Schrader's biopic about the Japanese author... it's common enough, really. (Colin Firth didn't strike me as very George VI-ish, for example.)

What's important is you get a good actor who is both willing and able to submerge themself in the role - rather than give a mere impersonation that looks similar.

 

[Admiral2]

Indeed, one of TV's leading playwrights, up there with Paddy Chayefsky and Reginald Rose and the like. He got frustrated by the censorship of TV, which inhibited his ability to write seriously about racism or war or the like, so it occurred to him that if he told those stories through fantasy allegory, he could sneak them past the censors. I once saw a clip of an interview with Dan Rather where Rather asked if doing TZ meant that Serling was giving up on the serious TV writing he was known for, and Serling said "Yes" with a totally straight face, claiming that he was changing his tune and only writing escapist fluff from then on. And then he went on to prove to the television audience just how sophisticated fantasy and SF could be. It'd be cool to see that adapted in the biopic.

Are you sure that interview wasn't with Ed Murrow? Because that's the interview I remember seeing and Rod gave exactly that answer with the straight face.

 

[Christopher]

What's important is you get a good actor who is both willing and able to submerge themself in the role - rather than give a mere impersonation that looks similar.

Well, yeah, of course. But what I'm saying is, I don't understand why that commenter would've thought Liev Schreiber in particular would make a good Serling. What was the basis they were using for drawing that connection? It can't be visual, so what, then?

Are you sure that interview wasn't with Ed Murrow? Because that's the interview I remember seeing and Rod gave exactly that answer with the straight face.

A producer touting his new television show is bound to give more than one interview, and may well say many of the same things in all of them. My recollection is that the one I saw was with a young Rather.

 

[Broccoli]

What's important is you get a good actor who is both willing and able to submerge themself in the role - rather than give a mere impersonation that looks similar.

Well, yeah, of course. But what I'm saying is, I don't understand why that commenter would've thought Liev Schreiber in particular would make a good Serling. What was the basis they were using for drawing that connection? It can't be visual, so what, then?

Clearly, it was his performance in X-Men: Origins: Wolverine.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I always thought that Guy Pearce would make a pretty good Rod Serling.

 

[Greg Cox]

I always thought that Guy Pearce would make a pretty good Rod Serling.

You know, I can see that.