Support NeoGAF

[Battersea Power Station]

I hope they film in time square since I work right there.

And the capitol hill one looks like an non idealistically take on the west wing. I really hope it focuses on staffers a lot more and not just the funny bits like veep but their sociopathic desire to advance. Their vices, and complete moral vapidity.

That wouldn't be realistic, though. A lot of those people really believe that they're doing right by the public.

 

[dead souls]

I loved her in The Honourable Woman (and basically everything else she's been in), so this is great news.

Yep.

She's one of those actresses who is great in everything she's in.

And yep. Great casting.

 

[More_Badass]

First Hardy, now Franco

Twice the James Franco for the price of one?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Margarita Levieva To Star In HBO Drama Pilot ‘The Deuce’; Two Others Cast

Margarita Levieva (Revenge) has landed a co-lead opposite James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal in David Simon’s HBO drama pilot The Deuce. Also cast in the project, a narrative set in the Times Square demimonde of the 1970s and ’80s, are Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (The Walking Dead) and Dominique Fishback (HBO’s Show Me a Hero).

Levieva will play Abigail “Abby” Parker, an adventurous college student who strikes up a relationship with nightclub owner Vincent Martino (Franco) who has ties to the burgeoning sex industry of early ’70s Times Square. Gilliard plays Chris Alston, an NYPD patrolman working midtown Manhattan. Fishback plays Darlene, a young, sweet-natured prostitute who’s trying to survive on the street while under the thumb of a volatile, violent pimp.

 

[Dan]

Still not sure I can get excited about a show with two doses of James Franco. Hopefully at least one of those characters will involve him playing someone other than James Franco.

Cool to see Gilliard Jr back with David Simon, and Dominique Fishback coming right back.

 

[Hero Prinny]

Speaking of HBO what ever happened to Del Toro's adaptation of the manga Monster? was it canned or what? I was looking forward to that, hoping it would fix the anti climatic ending of the manga.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Speaking of HBO what ever happened to Del Toro's adaptation of the manga Monster? was it canned or what?

It's most likely dead.

 

[biosnake20]

That chick from show me a hero is really good.

 

[Hero Prinny]

It's most likely dead.

just googled it and there has literally been 0 info about it since it was announced. Yea, I guess its safe to say that its no more. I really wish people wouldn't announce things so early, now I'm salty.

 

[biosnake20]

‘The Deuce’ Producer Steps Away From HBO Pilot After Being Questioned In Woman’s Death

 

[Cornballer]

David Simon tweet from on set while they're shooting the pilot of The Deuce:

Pimps up, actors down. From the set of #TheDeuce: Gary Carr, Method, Gbenga at rest somewhere in 1971 NYC.

 

[Discotheque]

70s porn drama?

i'm in

fuck I love this movie so much.

 

[torre_avenue]

They were shooting near NYU / Washington Square Park a week ago. There were a lot of 70s cars crowding the street, but I wasn't able to find out where they were actually shooting nor did I see Franco or Gyllenhaal. Let me see if I have any pictures of the cars.

 

[gdt]

David Simon tweet from on set while they're shooting the pilot of The Deuce:

Is that my dude Cheese?


Awwwww yeah

 

[Cornballer]

Is that my dude Cheese?

Awwwww yeah

Chris Partlow behind him with the afro, too.

 

[Mifune]

One of my favorite things about Simon's shows are all the returning actors in bit parts. I was watching Show Me a Hero when Namond showed up.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

The porn drama has been picked up to series.

The series pickup for The Deuce won’t impact the second David Simon HBO pilot, a Capitol Hill drama, on which he is collaborating with veteran journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame. The plan is for him to film that pilot after he wraps work on the first season of The Deuce.

per Deadline

 

[biosnake20]

Variety: Interview with David Simon

“The Deuce”: We know the cast – James Franco, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Carr, Margarita Levieva, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Emily Meade and Dominique Fishback. It’s been co-written by George Pelecanos and Richard Price, and novelists Megan Abbott and Lisa Lutz and is an HBO drama about the sex industry in the 70’s Could you give us some more details?

It’s roughly based on the story of the actual people who were there, some of the people that were the pioneers when pornography came out of the brown paper bag and became an open industry. Suddenly, a lucrative and provocative industry came out of nowhere soon to become a billion-dollar industry and a culture [impacting] right down to commercials to sell beer that became more and more overt right down to the sex education of a twelve-year-old with a laptop. We all live in a different world. There’s a cultural revolution here. But there is also a market story. It is a story about market capitalism and the rise of a new industry and what the world is like now when something is not supposed to be sold openly suddenly becomes legitimate and legitimized.

James Franco plays two roles, doesn’t he?

He plays twin brothers actually. His character is based on somebody who passed away in January, the last brother, but before that while we were developing the project the guy came to us and he told his whole life story to Marc Henry Johnson and he told it again to George [Pelecanos] and myself. He and his brother were deeply involved in the rise of all of 42nd street.

What’s the state of the series?

The pilot is already shot, they’ve ordered the series. We are supposed to start shooting the remaining episodes of season one beginning of May.

It must have been a remarkable effort in terms of budget and production to recreate 70’s New York.

The pilot was around $12 million. I confess we shot just enough to show you what the CGI could do. We used the computer generated enhancements in a couple of scenes and then we turned it on with the work undone on other scenes because why spend the money unless HBO is going to pick it up? Actually, we had to go back and finish the pilot with CGI. That’s pretty typical.

What would be your next project after or alongside “Deuce”? You mention several in your blog

Possibly “Legacy of Ashes” [a story of the Central Intelligence Agency. Based on a 2007 non-fiction U.S. National Book Award winner by Tim Weiner]. Ed Burns and Dan Fesperman have taken that. It’s in turnaround at the BBC. They want to do the show. They acquired the scripts from HBO and they are doing the show. We are taking another pass at the scripts because they want us to add a certain amount of U.K. stuff. A certain amount of MI6 along with CIA. The reason HBO was gracious enough to give them the scripts is because the BBC said: “Look we will find some of the funding as it’s a very expensive show as you can imagine. We will find some of the funding and we will get back to give you the chance of a first look, to be the American partner.” It’s gone from HBO leading it and the BBC is developing and they are getting back to HBO when the script’s next pass is done. Then HBO will get the chance to say yes in a situation where they are not bearing the whole cost.

 

[Blader]

David Simon was on WTF a few shows back and said he was still developing the Capitol Hill drama, so I guess that's still in the works?

 

[biosnake20]

Oh yeah there's that too. Three possible HBO shows from David Simon within the next few years, sounds good to me.

 

[Cornballer]

- Deadline: ‘The Deuce’ HBO Series Adds Chris Coy As Regular

Chris Coy is staying in the HBO fold with a series regular role on The Deuce, HBO’s upcoming drama series starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Also cast on the show as recurring is Mustafa Shakir.

Written by The Wire creator David Simon and longtime collaborator George Pelecanos and directed by Michelle MacLaren, The Deuce follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed there until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic, and the renewed real estate market ended the bawdy turbulence.

Coy will play Paul Hendrickson. A kindred spirit to Vincent Martino (Franco), Paul is a veteran bartender who pursues his own personal and professional ambitions in the emerging gay, lesbian and transsexual community of ’70s New York.

The project reunites Hendrickson with Simon after a series regular turn on Simon’s HBO drama series Treme. Hendrickson also recurred on HBO’s vampire drama True Blood and most recently was a series regular on Banshee, which aired on HBO’s sister network Cinemax.

Shakir plays Big Mike – Big Mike is a man of few words, a physically imposing loner who becomes Vincent Martino’s primary muscle and fiercely devoted friend.

On Deuce, Coy joins fellow new series regular cast additions Michael Rispoli and Natalie Paul. The series also co-stars Gary Carr, Margarita Levieva, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Dominique Fishback and Emily Meade.

Nice to see Chris Coy on there. I liked him in Treme, True Blood, and Banshee.

 

[Cornballer]

- ‘The Deuce’ HBO Series Adds Chris Bauer & Gbenga Akinnagbe As Regulars

True Blood alum Chris Bauer and Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire) have booked series regular roles on The Deuce, HBO’s upcoming drama series starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Bauer will play Bobby Dwyer, Vincent and Frankie Martino’s brother-in-law, a construction foreman and family man whose eyes are opened by their adventures along the Deuce. Akinnagbe is Larry Brown, an intense and demanding pimp who physically intimidates his stable of women but also has moments that betray a conflicted, underlying humanity.

 

[HStallion]

Damn this series seems like its been in development for a long damn time

 

[forgeforsaken]

Isn't the concept of the Deuce a bit close to Vinyl? Both focus to some degree on sex and drugs in 70s NY. Heck they could have them crossover.

 

[HStallion]

Isn't the concept of the Deuce a bit close to Vinyl? Both focus to some degree on sex and drugs in 70s NY. Heck they could have them crossover.

Except the Deuce is by David Simon. That's the big difference.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Except the Deuce is by David Simon. That's the big difference.

Terrence Winter is (was?) a pretty good writer too though. I think Vinyl's main problem is that there were too many cooks in the kitchen.

 

[Fuu]

I will watch anything David Simon makes.

.

 

[HStallion]

Terrence Winter is (was?) a pretty good writer too though. I think Vinyl's main problem is that there were too many cooks in the kitchen.

Winter isn't bad by any means but he's had some shows I never cared for where as Simon is pretty rock solid all around for me. Dude even did a great interview with Obama.

 

[Roland_Gunner]

Except the Deuce is by David Simon. That's the big difference.

Obviously the content will be very different but having two series set in roughly the same time with a similar aesthetic is going to be confusing for the audience. I'd believe those set pics as being from Vinyl season two if the dropped Bobby Cannevale in there.

 

[starchild excalibur]

I'd be okay with never seeing James Franco star in anything again.

Otherwise, they both sound interesting mostly because of Simon's involvement.

 

[HStallion]

Obviously the content will be very different but having two series set in roughly the same time with a similar aesthetic is going to be confusing for the audience. I'd believe those set pics as being from Vinyl season two if the dropped Bobby Cannevale in there.

Seeing how poorly Vinyl was received I don't think there is much of an audience to confuse.

 

[forgeforsaken]

Seeing how poorly Vinyl was received I don't think there is much of an audience to confuse.

Though it may have poisoned the well in regards to 70s NY show on HBO.

 

[andythinkpad]

Is the casting call looking for some unshaved actress?

 

[Crazemazing]

Is the casting call looking for some unshaved actress?

Merkins exist for a reason.

 

[HStallion]

Though it may have poisoned the well in regards to 70s NY show on HBO.

We shall see. I thought Vinyl was a huge missed opportunity myself as aside from great music it was another show about the suits and people behind the scenes and while that can be very interesting if done well, they went about it in the most boring and trite way possible.