Oftentimes actors need to negotiate some scary maneuver that they’re really not prepared for. That happened to Samuel West, who’s co-starring in PBS’ “All Creatures Great and Small,” which returns on Jan. 8.
As a veterinarian in the English countryside, West had to face a rearing horse that landed a few feet from him. “I haven't really done any riding since ‘Hornblower,’” recalls West.
In that series he played a battalion commander astride his noble steed in the British Army. But that was 23 years ago.
West recalls, “Our Portuguese horse-master on that one had done a bit of matador training, so I said, ‘What's the first rule about being a matador?’ And he said, ‘When the bull charges you, you have to tell yourself to keep your feet together.’ I said, ‘Why is that?’ He said, ‘Because they want to run away.’”
West says he knows the feeling. “So I gave myself that note in front of this rearing horse,” he continues. “I sent my girlfriend a wide‑angle picture of me with the horse above me and she said, ‘That looks exciting.’ I said, ‘Yes. I wanted to run away.’ And she said, ‘Oh, my God. That's you! I thought that was a stunt man.’”
The popular series “All Creatures Great and Small’’ — back for Season 3 — is based on James Herriot’s books that are themselves the result of the author’s life as a country vet. So the actors — many of them city kids — matriculated in what they call “vet boot camp.”
Rachel Shenton, who plays the neighbor of a nearby farm, says she had some minor experience in the field, though in the first series she was tethered to a black bull as big as Texas.
“ ... We did two or three days with Andy Barrett, who's now our on‑set vet. And we got to be on the farm and get sort of up-close-and-personal with the animals and ask all those questions,” she says.
“For me it was always just about feeling comfortable and natural. (My character) Helen grew up on the farm, was around livestock, cattle, from being a toddler. So as long as she felt comfortable and I felt comfortable, then that was kind of always my point of reference, sort of my operating point.”
For Nicholas Ralph, who plays the newcomer vet, this was not only his first time coping with animals, it’s his first acting role. That almost never happens, says Ralph. “I graduated drama school in Glasgow, and my first job, I was off to the Yorkshire Dales, on the train, looking at the stunning scenery.”
He was scared, he admits. “Healthy nerves, like anybody,” he says in his thick Scottish accent. “But once you got into it, I really did feel at home on that first day. I was really lucky as well because the first day was with Sam, and he didn't really leave my side, and he was there to answer any question. And we had a lot of fun with the scenes. And they were very hard, but it was a great introduction, really, and you just kicked on from there. I felt very comfortable from the (start), thankfully.”
West agrees, “I think when you start any new job — especially one that has as much name recognition as this one — we are all beautifully nervous about: is it going to work? I think what we realized really quite quickly was that we had a wonderful ensemble and as much care was being taken of it as could possibly be. And from then on, it was just a pleasure.”
While West had to cope with a bucking horse, that is not the worst thing about acting with animals, he says. “I have got to vote for my worst animal,” he notes. “The old thing about, ‘Never work with children, animals or Denholm Elliott.’ I would say children and specifically cows. Cows are much, much harder to act with than anything else.
“They don't like it if you move away from them. They like knowing where you are. So if you are standing next to a cow, and you have managed to get it on its mark, and then you continue the scene by walking away, as we had to do with a very funny scene ... that I really enjoyed, the cow goes, ‘Where is he? Where is he?’ and backs into you. And, in my case, steps on your foot.”
The books of James Herriot (a nom de plume for Alf Wight) have been adapted to the screen before. There was a 1975 film and the seven-season series that ran on PBS from 1978 to 1990.
Two years ago producer Colin Callender decided to try again. Callender, who has helmed such projects as “Temple Grandin,” “Grey Gardens,” “The Spanish Princess” and “Howard’s End,” says he was hesitant at first to resurrect the story.
“I was a bit nervous at the beginning — because we were following in the shoes of another version with a number of beloved actors in it, and I felt there was a way to do the show that could sit side-by-side that and not be upstaged by it. And I think within minutes of the first episode, the audience bought hook, line, sinker every actor in every role in that household,” he says.
“At the end of the day, it’s my job as producer to bring together the very best people and create an environment in which they can do their best work. And that's at every level. That's from the writer to the cast, down to the grips. It really is about creating a world where everyone can be their best.
“My first interest is this line that I actually used before: How does a character get through the day with dignity and deal with the challenges that they face? ... I've always used that as a starting point, because it's a way that the audience can relate to that character.
“Because each one of us has struggles in our lives and challenges and has to face things that we don't want to face. And I think when you see characters doing that on the screen, and you understand how they cope with that or not sometimes, I think you relate to it in an emotional — a deeply emotional way.
“So for me, in some senses, this show, it embodies everything I've ever done or wanted to do, because it is — it's so human.”
Burns back as GSN host
Brooke Burns returns as hostess to the Game Show Network’s “Master Minds” on Jan. 9. Most people don’t realize that the crafty femcee actually began as a dancer. “I was a ballerina for 12 years ... I think I was more demure and a bit more shy from 0 to 10. My ballet years dancing and being on stage was a way to help me express myself and overcome that through beauty and art. I think my confidence really grew with that because my identity was so deeply meshed with who I was as a dancer,” she says.
“I think I started to become more outgoing when I tore my ACL in a snow skiing accident. My dancing career was ended, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I think that was a come-to-Jesus moment of where do I go from here? I tore my ACL twice, once in a snow skiing accident, once in a karate accident. The first time I was 15 the second, 17,” she recalls.
“Then my mom encouraged me to get into modeling. I was at a Pancake House having pancakes — we’d get together and get away from the family. The head of JCPenney came over and he said, ‘You have a really fresh face you should think about modeling.’ My mom said, ‘You should just try it and get your mind off not being able to dance.’ So I tried it out and figured out that someone would pay me to travel the world, and I thought it was a great occupation, especially when my friends were working at the Limited.
“I’ll never forget going to a French Vogue casting call. I had my portfolio with me, and I was proud of my pictures, and I'm walking in there and I'm 15 years old and put my book down in front of the client, and she opens it and says, ‘Beautiful,’ to my headshot. She turns the page and I have this dancer’s full-body showing and she goes, ‘Is that a muscle?’ I go, ‘Yeah, I'm proud of it. Look at my legs, they’re all strong and muscley.’ And she goes, ‘Thank you.’ And slammed the book in my face.”
Caan cast in thriller
After 10 years on “Hawaii Five-0” Scott Caan is back in front of the camera with Fox’s new cop show, “Alert,” premiering Jan. 8. Caan plays a policeman in the Missing Persons Unit and finds himself doubly burdened because it turns out his own son is missing. Caan (who is the son of the late actor James Caan) says that performing in a series like “Alert” can be a test.
“I think what we do is a lot more difficult than showing up for a movie for three, four months and just doing one role,” he says.
“I think what turns me on about this ... dealing with the idea of having your son go missing and then having him come back, and you're not sure if it's actually your son, playing with those ideas week-to-week, month-to-month, episode-to-episode, it's nothing — it's unprecedented. I don't think you can find somebody and interview somebody who had that experience. So for me, this is — without question — the most complicated thing I've ever done.
“So to label it as a ‘procedural’ or label it as this kind of show or that kind of show, makes no sense to me. I'm learning more about myself. I'm learning a ton about acting. I'm learning — there's just so much going on, and I think that it is definitely more intense than anything I've ever done in a really beautiful, good way,” he says.
“And I don't mean to sound too goofy or corny, but ... if you like being creative, if you like digging in as an actor ... there isn't much out there that is more complicated problem‑solving as an actor than this show has been for me. And I think I knew that right away. And it's challenging. It's really challenging. And I think that the second we aren't challenged anymore at what we do, we should just quit.”
New Year's Eve doings
You don’t have to go out to have a good time on New Year’s Eve. Television will be sporting some specials that night including the annual “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2023” over at ABC. Entertainers will include Duran Duran, Jax and South Korean rapper J-Hope, plus many more. Disneyland will serve as the West Coast host of the proceedings.
Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen are back to co-host CNN’s New Year’s Eve from New York City’s Times Square at 8 p.m. ET. The show will include artists Usher, Kevin Hart, Ellie Goulding, Patti LaBelle, REO Speedwagon, Nick Cannon, Jenifer Lewis and John Stamos. Actress Jean Smart and comedian Cheri Oteri will be in-person with Cooper and Cohen and pop star Ava Max will perform live in Times Square.
CBS goes country with “New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash.” Performers like Jason Aldean, Jimmie Allen, Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, King Calaway, Sheryl Crow, Flo Rida, Riley Green, Elle King and Ashley McBryde will share the dais. The celebration begins at 8 p.m.
The five-hour broadcast will feature more than 50 back-to-back performances, live from the home of country music. Nashville will count down with the East Coast at midnight and keep the party going through midnight Central time.
Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton will be sharing their special over at NBC with “Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party” from Miami beginning at 10:30 p.m. The show will feature singer-songwriter Fletcher, rapper Latto and Grammy Award nominee Sia.
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