David Simon

HBO News: Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rhys Ifans in Talks for 40-Hour Series THE CORRECTIONS; Season Three of TREME Delayed Until Fall

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 20th, 2012 at 8:10 am

If you’re dismayed by the lack of “wow” in movies as of late, may I remind you that some of the best storytelling on any medium is currently happening on television. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones—from sprawling epics to intimate character dramas, we’ve got some insanely great entertainment at the command of our fingertips. One of the most anticipated new television series is the HBO adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Corrections. The story centers on an elderly Midwestern couple with three adult children who decide to trace their lives from the mid-20th century to “one last Christmas” together near the turn of the millennium.

Noah Baumbach is directing the pilot, and we’ve already got Dianne Wiest, Chris Cooper, and Ewan McGregor attached to star. Now comes word that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rhys Ifans may join the increasingly impressive cast. Hit the jump for more, including news concerning a delayed premiere for the HBO series Treme.

THE WIRE Creator Responds to Attorney General’s Request for Another Season, Tells U.S. Government to Do Their Job

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: June 10th, 2011 at 3:44 pm

I’ve yet to see an episode of HBO’s The Wire. I know, I know, I’m a morally reprehensible human being. It’s high on my Netflix queue and I keep promising myself I’m going to start it soon. This is because The Wire‘s five season run on HBO has consistently been called the greatest television series ever made. That the Emmys have failed to award the show even once speaks volumes about their relevance (that, and they consider Entourage and Two And a Half Men to be comedies). Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder, a fan of the show, directed comments at the show’s creators saying “Do another season of The Wire…I want another season or a movie.” Well, creator David Simon’s response may surprise you. Hit the jump to see what he said.

TREME Season 1 DVD Review

by Jake Lasker    Posted: April 21st, 2011 at 7:00 am

New Orleans as a setting is a tough place for outsiders. Between the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, generations of racial tension and the hyper-exclusive music scene, the world of New Orleans could be very intimidating to viewers. But if there was one man who could help usher audiences into this unfamiliar landscape, it was David Simon. After taking viewers through the gritty Baltimore crime scene for 5 years on The Wire, Simon returned to TV with HBO’s Treme. Following the lives of dozens of people in the Treme district of post-Katrina New Orleans, the show introduces viewers to all different walks of life and the things that connect them. Less explosive and more of a slow burn,Treme is still another Simon triumph. Continue reading for my full review.

David Simon Interview TREME

by Sara Wayland    Posted: April 9th, 2010 at 8:55 am

Treme is the new HBO drama series set in post-Katrina New Orleans. From executive producer David Simon (best known for his work on The Wire), the 10-episode first season follows musicians (Wendell Pierce), chefs (Kim Dickens), Mardi Gras Indians (Clark Peters) and ordinary New Orleanians (including Khandi Alexander, Steve Zahn, Melissa Leo and John Goodman), as they try to rebuild their lives, their homes and their unique culture in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane and the levee failure that caused the near-death of an American city.

At its heart, Treme, named for the New Orleans neighborhood where jazz was invented, is a series about the people and the culture that survived and, at times, it is so authentic and raw that you forget you’re watching actors merely speaking from a script.

We recently spoke to show co-creator/writer David Simon, about his passion for the unique and eccentric city, how he sees it taking four or five years to tell the story of these characters on Treme and how he could never work in network television. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

New Trailer, Images, and Featurette for HBO’s TREME, the New Orleans Series from WIRE Creator David Simon

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: March 15th, 2010 at 9:39 pm

Early in the new year we got our first look at the teaser trailer for Treme, the upcoming series from The Wire creator David Simon.  Consisting mostly of slow pans about New Orleans, it didn’t reveal much, though the scattering of various instruments hinted at the musical nature of the show.  HBO has released a new trailer that imparts all sorts of great imagery, though it still doesn’t reveal much about the narrative–we’ll let the logline do that: the show “explores the lives of several struggling musicians and other New Orleans locals in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina”.  The new trailer rather beautifully lingers on said musicians dancing and parading through the street amid the destruction, and gives us a look at cast members Steve Zahn, John Goodman, Wendell Pierce, Clarke Peters, Khandi Alexander, and Rob Brown (among others), plus an Elvis Costello cameo.  The 1:37 clip is often reminiscent of the mostly headless “Way Down in the Hole” montages that primed the viewer for each episode of The Wire.

The show’s debut date of April 11 is now less than a month away, so get excited.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer and the full plot synopsis.

­Amy Ryan Interview GREEN ZONE

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: March 10th, 2010 at 10:34 pm

After a long time paying her dues, Amy Ryan had a great decade.  After all, anytime you’re nominated for an Academy Award (Gone Baby Gone) and have a great part on one of the best shows in the history of television (The Wire), you’ve had a good run.  But she’s not sitting back and resting on past glory, as she plays a reporter in Paul Greengrass’ new film Green Zone, and she’s also in Philip Seymour Hoffman’s directorial debut Jack Goes Boating – which premiered at Sundance a few months ago.

With Green Zone opening this weekend, I was able to participate in a roundtable interview with this great actress last week in New York City.  We talked about making Green Zone, will she come back to The Office, her next project with Tom McCarthy called Win Win, and reveals David Simon asked her to be a part of his new HBO show Treme, but she was pregnant at the time.

It’s a great in depth interview, so hit the jump and take a look:

HBO Adds Another Star To Its Roster As Kathryn Bigelow Signs On To Direct the Pilot For THE MIRACULOUS YEAR

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: February 14th, 2010 at 9:01 pm

Since the dawn of the new year, it’s been hard to keep up with all the film talent HBO was luring to the channel for various projects.  Michael Mann is directing a pilot for Luck from Deadwood creator David Milch.  Charlize Theron and David Fincher are teaming for the serial killer series Mind Hunter.  Russell Crowe and Maria Bello are set to star in Emergency Sex from Slumdog Millionaire scripter Simon Beaufoy.  Zooey Deschanel will headline a series adaptation of I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie.  And most recently HBO acquired the Todd Haynes miniseries adaptation of Mildred Pierce with none other than Kate Winslet attached to star.  Plus miniseries The Pacific, which counts Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks among its producers, will begin a ten-week run on March 14th and the Martin Scorsese-directed pilot for Boardwalk Empire starring Steve Buscemi is set to air later in the year.

But they’re not done just yet.  The Hollywood Reporter announced that recent Oscar-nominee (and soon-to-be Oscar-winner) Kathryn Bigelow will direct the pilot for The Miraculous Year from a screenplay by John Logan.  Details after the break.

First Teaser Trailer for David Simon’s New HBO Show, TREME

by Keith Demko    Posted: January 12th, 2010 at 2:30 pm

Fans of The Wire (and if you’re not one, we just have to assume you’ve never seen it) can rejoice: Not only is David Simon coming back to HBO with a new show called Treme in April, but now we’ve got the teaser trailer to prove it.

Treme, named for the New Orleans neighborhood in which it takes place, will be a drama about a group of musicians and other folks struggling to get by in the Big Easy post-Katrina. It will be a family reunion of sorts for not only vets of The Wire, but of Simon projects Homicide and The Corner as well. From The Wire, New Orleans native Wendell Pierce will play a jazz trombonist and Clarke Peters will play the leader of a Mardi Gras Indian tribe. The Corner star Khandi Alexander plays the ex-wife of Pierce’s character and a struggling bar owner, and from Homicide, Melissa Leo will play a civil rights attorney.

Hit the jump to view the teaser trailer, and let us know if you’re as thoroughly geeked up for this as I am.

Exclusive: Steve Zahn talks about David Simon’s New HBO Series TREME

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: August 5th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

If you’re a fan of David Simon (“Homicide”, “The Wire”, “Generation Kill”), you’re really going to enjoy the interview I did with Steve Zahn at the premiere of his new movie “A Perfect Getaway”. That’s because after talking about the film, he told me a ton of info about David’s new show which he’s a part of. The big info is the pilot is done and they start filming the first season this November! If you haven’t heard of the show yet, Steve says “Treme” is about the rebuilding of New Orleans right after Katrina through the eyes of the musicians. He says he play’s a DJ/musician named Davis that’s the voice of the jazz scene. He also talked about how badly he wanted to work for David Simon. Watch the full interview after the jump:

GENERATION KILL Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: June 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm

When The Wire ended it was a bittersweet moment. For five seasons, The Wire showed what television could be, and that long form storytelling need not get lost in useless subplots, or characters added to reinvigorate a stale premise. Put simply, The Wire is the finest accomplishment the format has come to offer, and the only consolation was that the show never faltered, it never stopped being brilliant. Creators David Simon and Ed Burns had earned the right to fail, to take chances, to do whatever television presented them, and their follow up was the HBO miniseries Generation Kill. My review is after the jump:

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