Oi, Pilot! Your Name's Not On The List, You're Not Coming In

ABC have now decided which of it's series will be comissioned as full series and two film ick favourites were hanging in the balance.

The bad news is that, according to The Hollywood Reporter at least, Football Wives, with a Brian Singer pilot, is not on the list. Perhaps it was more like the execrable UK original than I'd hoped.

The better news is that, again according to the same list, The Cashmere Mafia has been picked up. The pilot was directed by Peyton Reed, one of the most underrated of studio filmmakers, and even if the series is a wash-out overall, I'm looking forward to Reed's installment very much.

It looks like the Mr. and Mrs. Smith spin-off has been left out in the cold too. Probably where it belongs.

And meanwhile over at Fox, the Terminator spin-off The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been given the nod. I blame all those wound-up insomniacs googling Lena Headey images - but let's see how long it lasts before Fox axes it. Three episodes? Four?

Sarah And John Connor Chronicled

A Czech Terminator fansite has procured the first image from The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which you can see below. Lena Headey has reportedly spent a couple of weeks in the top ten most searched celebrity women list, coming off of her 300 fame, and this kind of smut-based popularity will probably do the show's ratings no end of good.

Transfer Students

Toby Jones, Lena Headey, Celia Imrie and Anna Chancellor are now on the staff roll for Barnaby Thompson's St. Trinian's remake. Does this mean Headey's Terminator show didn't get picked up after a pilot? I wouldn't be surprised - she's bird-boned, not exactly Sarah Connor material.

This new St. Trinian's is going to be Britain's answer to the School For Scoundrels remake, I have no dounbt.

Headey Disses Gilliam

Lena Headey is still doing the press rounds for 300, and she's been quoted on the subject of Terry Gilliam.

On the subject of shooting The Brothers Grimm:

The director didn't want me in the role and let's just say he wasn't too subtle about showing his dislike for me. Once the film came out and didn't do so well, he blamed me for absolutely everything. It was pretty appalling, and it made me want to not work for a while.

Well, that's not fair. At all. She clearly wasn't Gilliam's first choice for the role - that was Samantha Morton - but the truth of how Gilliam felt about Lena's uneven performance is... a lot less simple. Bob McCabe's book Dreams and Nightmares: Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Grimm & Other Cautionary Tales of Hollywood covers it all in detail.

In essence, Headey turned in a substandard performance for weeks, but Gilliam persevered. She received a lot of coaching and support. Eventually, she started to play better. Gilliam then congratulated her - immediately - and their relationship began to thaw. She was notably happier on set from this point on. All of her remaining scenes were greatly improved...

...then, in the edit, some of Headey's leaden, lumpen work came back to gaunt Gilliam and Lesley Walker. They had to work around Headey, not with her. I suppose this had echoes of Kim Greist for Gilliam.

I'd be angry at her too. But does Gilliam go around bad mouthing her to the press? No, he praises her for what she finally acheived. He saves his criticisms for the genuine villains of the piece - Bob and Harvey Weinstein. If they hadn't been involved, Samantha Morton would have been in the role, anyway.