Gawker: defamer, ed burns

'Wire' Creator Proud of New HBO Miniseries, No Matter Who Wrote it

STV — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:05:00 EDT

From the creator of The Wire! Sort of! The Iraq miniseries Generation Kill premieres this weekend on HBO, with do-no-wrong David Simon linked as co-writer/executive producer of the seven-part event. The LA Times had a look and seems to have liked it fine, despite the fingerprints of journalist and source author Evan Wright having smudged some of the central characters' "expository dialogue."

Fine — except Wright didn't write the scripts. Or did he? And did Simon and Wire collaborator Ed Burns fudge his screenwriting credit on five episodes? According to one report, excerpted after the jump, Wright could be hatching a plan for the forthcoming Generation Kill: 50% More Evan Wright Above The Line special-edition DVD:

Last summer, after HBO cut the series from eight episodes to seven, emails flew back and forth last summer from Baltimore, where Simon lives, to Baghdad, where Wright had returned to report for Rolling Stone. Wright was worried, correctly it turned out, that Simon was about to kill one of his scripts. Simon resolved the matter by giving joint credit to Wright and Burns. Again two months ago Wright had to request further credit in the wake of still more active input, and Simon agreed.
But Simon denies that Wright was responsible for half the scripts with his or Burns' name on them. "If he told you that, he's genuinely incorrect," Simon said this evening, from a screening for Marines in California, where Wright was also in attendance. He added: "Nobody wrote any of the scripts by themselves. There's stuff in Evan's script written by me and Ed. There's stuff written in total by me and Ed. There's stuff in our scripts written by Evan. That's what happens in every serialized show."

The two appear to have reached an amicable agreement, with Wright humbly acknowledging Simon's gracious Kill stewardship in exchange for the opportunity to work in this town again after a mandatory five-year probation. And seeing as that's just about as long as we have left in Iraq, a well-reported follow-up seems like an ideal re-teaming. Glad it worked out, guys.

Who Really Wrote 'Generation Kill'? [WaxWord]

'Generation Kill' [LAT]

Perhaps a little down that his latest labor...

Mark — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:15:27 EST

Perhaps a little down that his latest labor of love is making a straight-to-iTunes debut instead of getting a run at the Sunset 5 or the Angelika, filmmaker Ed Burns is already tossing dirt on the fresh grave of art-house cinema: "'This is the year that art house cinema died,' he says. Referring to the box office disappointments that have been Rendition and Lions for Lambs, Burns continued, 'If they're not going to see Reese Witherspoon and Tom Cruise they're not coming out to see me and Patrick Wilson. The audience isn't there anymore.'" [MTV Movie Blog]

Trade Round-Up: CBS Ready To Suppress Prince's Spontaneous Display Of Sexuality At Super Bowl Halftime Show

Mark — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:01:13 EST

Prince will headline the Super Bowl halftime show; broadcaster CBS has pledged to take every precaution necessary to ensure that the rocker will not try and top Janet Jackson's infamous nipple-display by having one of his background singers yank off his codpiece, revealing that his penis is barely covered by purple junk-armor. [Variety]
Columbia Pictures acquires the rights to 1930's pulp hero The Shadow for Sam Raimi to produce, hoping that by the time a film is eventually released, people will have completely forgotten about the disastrous 1994 version starring Alec Baldwin. [THR]
Steven Spielberg is actively developing two drama series at Fox via his DreamWorks TV label, including one set in the world of fashion written by Ed Burns and wife Christy Turlington. Given Turlington's experience in that industry, it's unclear how the duo will split up the scripting and "just sitting there and looking pretty" duties. [Variety]
· CAA, obviously still disoriented from the recent, baffling defections of Kate Hudson and Hugh Grant, agrees to take on Christian Slater as a client. [THR]
· Unlike other Europeans, Spaniards haven't fallen in love with Sacha Baron Cohen, rejecting both Borat and Da Ali G show. [Variety]

Jay Mohr Playfully Terrorizes Crew Member With His Hilarious Junk

Mark — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:47:26 EDT

At Wednesday's Hollywood premiere of Ed Burns' The Groomsmen, star Jay Mohr's castmates shared their appreciation of the actor's ability to keep thing light on the set through his ability to bond with members of the crew:

Asked about favorite memories of the shoot, cast members invariably cited Mohr's antics. "(We had) a camera assistant," [director Ed] Burns explained, "a young guy named Adam, who Jay was curiously attracted to and tortured in a very playful, funny way. It doesn't really translate, but (it's) in the bloopers reel on the DVD."
[Actor Donal] Logue put it more bluntly: "Jay constantly exposed himself."

We suppose one had to be there to distinguish between being "tortured in a very playful, funny way" and being "repeatedly menaced by Jay Mohr's exposed genitals" (we imagine a line is crossed when one can't find a craft services snack that hasn't been tainted by penis contact), but luckily for the young camera assistant, it sounds as if all the evidence he might need to file a grievance with his union or a harassment lawsuit were conveniently recorded for those DVD goodies.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Merry 'Groomsmen' [Variety]