| Show Dove' Major studios rejected 'Lonesome 5v:r 7) by Diane Haithman 1 t: ricrot It!''''' 1'e:4 4 t4':!44' tation of Larry NIcMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winnin- g !N v: tl—" :::''' 1 '! with a - 4 ' 4 :f N ! t)':''''':::" t14T o 1N :''4 s:1f tt 41'! 0:1 4:'4 '1' :': '''"44''' 4 'ot N k o 14 p 4 f i'L I I i — v6 1 lii t - ' $$:- ' (4 q 410444i04444'''$e S1 Itt e' $t )4 IN 7 ! : 40 ed l':' i:ti7774te:c° I(!'ee: I ill It' F0 r ' 1!' Al tit pt10 1 J 43 itr? Aia ' 4i )' if ' :r r atir sii7 1 ir: 4 jt: A 41i ' top-rate- d V 1 lo - 4' 4" r44044 vrrt ':' '"t1 tie ' I iii 'al 44- I "16Nt v I 32-ho- 11: 1 t'1 :- -- till' predominantly novel scored a coup for the No 3 network as the highest-rated miniseries of the past five years a more likely question might be: "How fast can Motown does projects (starring make another Western?" white actors) BEFORE "Lonesome Added De Passe brightly: Dove" the miniseries form "I say let's forget all the was considered nearly boundaries and let's just go dead — particularly after for it" last November's lackluster AND MOTOWN intends ratings for the first half of to do just that she mainABC's $110 miltains without worrying Relion epic "War and membrance- The Western that the company might be surcriticized for genre was in even further rendered its having consocial disrepair: CBS' own effort science by breaking into to bring it back this season the mainstream DePASSE with the family "Lonesome Dove'' series "Paradise" proved hopes will help convince Hollyonce again that reviving wood that Motown Producthe TV Western is beating tion's ink is definitely the a dead horse and buggy color of money "I've alBesides wasn't Motown ready gotten some lovely a black record company calls from people who say best known for launching 'I want to be in business such stars as Diana Ross with you' " she said -- Um Michael Jackson and the hoping more great mateFour Tops? rial will find its way to us De Passe who joined Mo- or we'll find our way to it town in 1968 as the 21- - now that we have more year-olprotege of compa- credibility established" ny patriarch Berry Gordy Motown's credibility was is tired of answering the definitely not yet estabquestion "Why did Mo- lished when DePasse first town make a Western?" — asked author Larry but she hopes the success McMurtry if he had any of "Lonesome Dove" will available manuscripts — help prove that the other just before "Lonesome assumptions about Motown Dove" was published "We are untrue including the were sort of the saloon" she said assumption that Motown has some obligation to con- laughing "Motown was centrate solely on black hardly the first place the projects manuscript was sent" De Passe wearily anticiMcMURTRY told her he pated the question "Why had a book but that she did Motown make a West- wouldn't like it because it ern?" answering it before was a Western "I told him it was asked following I did like Westerns and I 4: fAr P 4 im4 414 -- IN - 4:iio " l''' Att think is interest- 101101P De continued Passe ing" n "is why no one asks Carsey' Werner (the white produc' eP 1 ers of NBC's ft!:2''-'- 1 4''' I ' ta 4 1 ": "The Cosby Show") why li '111$444''4$:1' they're in business with ‘ e$ It's very interestCosby I have to answer k ing that ler oL's)5' for the black company that "What i 1 '''' '' :1"1 c t a month after the critically acclaimed adap- 5'' o 111372$Niu 1 400'7 ''4 ''$''''' 4 f"':t weeks of quizzing prior to T'e -- ' lø: '4' ' the debut of "Lonesome ''7Nti e- - 4: '''' '--" Dove" about whether pro- 1 4 i ti t e s E! ducing a TV miniseries tl- )11:t dent Suzanne De Passe white cast — and no music It y:::i'faii $ found herself answering except in the background d most was: "Why is Motown — changes Motown's im- 004 Icr or worse for Si better 41 age making a NeVestern?" Now i i :e'' epiv44 Los Angeles Times Writer HOLLYWOOD — Before the premiere of the CBS miniseries -- Lonesome Dove" the question Motown Productions Presi- 7 ' - Are0-- '144-:- $ ' ''''fr ' 4s1' : I ''' 'kv 443 :' :Zaktols4444$ t ( II ! 4 Ali S'ix Diane Lane prepares for a scene in "Lonesome Dove" as cameraman checks lighting and composition Motown bought film rights to the McMurtry novel before it was published and at a time when other studios ignored the western low-rate- 4 OA' d 019 40- do" De Passe said 'lie said 'You're welcome to read it — call McMurtry ss agent) Irving Lazar And I did and the next day the mailroom wheeled in a dolly truck of the r2000-page- ) double-spacemanuscript of Lonesome Dove lift who wrote the scnenplay DEP1SSE also sold a 50 percent profit interest in the project to Qintex Entertainment in exchange for a $1 million fee plus an agreement to provide the ALTHOUGH the book other $4 million needed to had already been rejected produce the $20 million by major studios all over film for CBS given in extown — after all it was a change for a percentage of Western and even worse a eventual profits from calong Western De Passe ble home video and forloved it and because no eign sales one else wanted the loneDe Passe said that alsome script DePasse optioned it for $50000 in the though last summer's writers strike slowed Motown spring of I985 When the book netted Productions' aggressive efthe Pulitzer for fiction the fort to acquire new scripts following spring its value the company has several increased to such a degree new projects in the works I that Motown was able to including teatwave' a garner a whopping $16 movie about growing up in million from CBS for the larlem as De Passe did in right to telecast tile story conjunction with Warner De Passe was the tiros Bridesmaids' a of -- Lonesome rtiS-Tproducer movie starring Dove- with Bill Witt helley I lack and Brooke N darns iwhich airs Tues -- er-e Sunday February 26 1989 day! er-e 32T The Salt Lake Tribune TV Magazine MlignirEINMINIMIRIMIN11111EMOMMW71W r mwomouwgimmmww r-- er-er les "Sacrifices" based on the true story of an Oregon woman who murdered her children Further down the road are plans to produce a film based on the 1966 Ann Fairbairn novel -- Five Smooth Stones" TII ERE are many many great projects left to he done — and projects that don't come up to - De Passe greatnessmused "We cannot do projects that are our major contribution to the planet every time out I don't want to fall nto the trap of discardliw something just because it isn't up to 'Lonesome Dove' -What I think happened (with the success of Dove) I feel is that a lot on of value was placed the audience's appetite for quality I think what 'Lone- I some Dove' has done or hope it has done is to say: 'Look you can get the audience if you aim high — enough Not low enough high enough" tmlesmrmmo&m”twweimmmummmiamoimwoloobwoletoripoloosAlli" |
