Answering Fontana's Challenge

[vanillalime]

As I mentioned already on oz_rapsheet...

To commemorate the 20th anniversay of Oz, Yahoo TV compiled an "oral history" about the premiere using interviews with Tom Fontana, Lee Tergesen, Dean Winters, and several other cast & crew members and HBO personnel. It is VERY long, but EXTREMELY interesting. For example, did you know that Jennifer Grey played Dr. Nathan in the original presentation to HBO? And that Mos Def played Augustus Hill? And that HBO had reservations about Lee as Beecher(!)? And that it was Lee's idea to perform The Last Duet with JK in the "Variety" episode?

I strongly recommend checking the whole thing out, because it's pretty fascinating. Here's the link again:

Return to ‘Oz’: An Oral History of the Pioneering Prison Drama

One of the quotes that really caught my eye was this one from Tom Fontana:

Fontana: I have to say, over the course of the series, there was only really one actor who lied to me and said he would do whatever I asked him, and then when it came time he said, “No, I’m not going to do it.” But he wasn’t a regular and I was able to kill him off fairly quick. Let them guess who that was!

Now, I'm one who generally takes internet gossip with a big ol' grain of salt, but when I read that, I immediately remembered something that I'd seen on Tumblr, posted about a year ago by an Oz fan. (I don't really know her, but she follows me on Tumblr and Twitter and "likes" some of my stuff.) And, I gotta say, 2+2 pretty much equals 4 here:



How the hell can someone not want to kiss Lee Tergesen? Moron.

Comments

[mazephoenix.livejournal.com]

I don't know..he's cute. Oh they had an actor on "True Blood" who refused to do love-scenes with a guy, and so they fired him and hired an actor who would. This was for the final season and Lafayette needed a happy ending so..oh now I recall Nelsan Ellis who played Lafayette just died. So very young too. Ah, Grills was a moron.

[suespur.livejournal.com]

What a maroon. Hell, Michael K Williams' Omar was supposed to be killed off early in S1 of The Wire but he totally improvised a kiss with his boyfriend Brandon while they were filming, which blew David Simon so far away that he kept writing for him and now Omar Little is considered one of the greatest television characters of all time. Imagine how different The Wire would have been if he hadn't done that.

[trillingstar]

And, like. Not that personal friendships necessarily outweigh professional casting decisions but on top of the normal amount of favoritism, if he hadn't noticed that Fontana & Tergesen were close pals, then it's best that he left. :P Also yeah, don't lie to your writers.

ALSO, apparently Mr Grills currently believes himself to be an on-'Terra' avatar of Lord Ganesha, and he holds a ~spiritual PhD which is "only given by the Gods." He runs seminars about enlightenment and world peace, which naturally can be yours! yours! yours! ...for a fee.

[mazephoenix.livejournal.com]

So there had to be a form for Oz actors to sign.
1. You are getting naked on the show, don't care if you are fit or not. The clothes come off, cause that's how we roll.
2. You are getting killed in an imaginative way, and if you misbehave it happens faster.
3. You kiss a guy if we say so. Okay, Chucky you don't have to do it.
Sign yes and you're on.

[mazephoenix.livejournal.com]

That's special. Wow. And yes, don't lie about what you can do.

[vanillalime]

It's not like Gano Grills was some big star who could afford to throw his weight around. And what is he doing now? Not acting, that's for sure.

[vanillalime]

Gano Grills seemed to waste his big opportunity here. It'd be interesting to know where Fontana's original arc for his character was supposed to go.

[vanillalime]

Lee has told a funny anecdote (in a DVD commentary, I think) about signing a sexual harassment disclaimer on the set of Oz. He protested that "Working on this show is nothing BUT sexual harassment." :D

[mazephoenix.livejournal.com]

haha..apt.

[vanillalime]

Ah, so the acting thing didn't quite work out, huh? I wonder why.... :P

[trillingstar]

Who was the True Blood actor? Surely it wasn't Kevin Alejandro?! That would make me sad. I loved them together. Though, if it is him, well, he did a good job convincing me that he really liked Lafayette.

Ohhh, just noticed that you said final season. OHHH, that dude who cheated on Jessica with Lafayette? Yep, answered my own question. Thanks, TB Wiki! ;)

It escaped my notice that they were played by different shaggy-haired dudes. HAH!

[mazephoenix.livejournal.com]

You've answered your own question, yeah. It was two shaggy haired dudes, and one was smarter. Alejandro seems like a sweetheart, and I shipped it so hard.