Sunday finds a pair of movie actors — former co-stars, no less — playing behind the scenes in the world of television.
TNT’s “Baby” is a moving account of a family’s conflict after taking in an infant left on its doorstep. Premiering at 7 p.m., the film stars Farrah Fawcett, and is executive-produced by screen star Glenn Close, whose acting credits include “The Big Chill.”
Also airing at 7 p.m., on Showtime, the amusing “Frankie and Hazel” stars Mischa Barton as Frankie, a teenager who excels at both ballet and baseball. Ingrid Uribe is her activist-minded best friend, Hazel. Acting great Joan Plowright plays Frankie’s grandmother, who wants the girl on her toes instead of in the outfield.
Directing the film is actress JoBeth Williams, a co-star of Close’s in “The Big Chill.”
For both actresses, the chance to express themselves on a different creative level is the key to their roles.
Williams, who has acted in almost 40 films for the big and small screens, says she has worked with some marvelous directors (Lawrence Kasdan, Robert Benton, Steven Spielberg), and some not-so-marvelous directors. She says the latter can be “frustrating for an actress.”
“Actors who are aware of how a production functions and what goes on around them and how the camera works, there are some people who are interested in observing that. And then there are some actors who are so into doing their own thing with their own part that they won’t to be aware of that,” says Williams, who directed a short feature for Showtime a few years ago that won her an Oscar nomination.
Williams is one who has “always looked at the big picture.” So does Close, who also starred in “Fatal Attraction” and “The World According to Garp.” She has had a production company since 1987.
It’s almost natural Close would produce “Baby.” It is based on the novel by Patricia MacLachlan, who wrote the “Sarah, Plain and Tall” books that Close turned into strong films for CBS. Close also produced “Journey,” another CBS movie based on a MacLachlan book.
Close likes the process of putting together a team that will shepherd a film into fruition.
“That, to me, is the final, wonderful cherry on the cake,” she says. “For me now, I hope to develop pieces of material that will be gifts to anyone working on it. And then it becomes the process, where you get great joy in the process. Because who knows how it’s going to turn out, and even if it turns out where everybody’s liking it, you don’t know if anyone else is going to like it.”
While principal photography of “Baby” was under way, Close was in London making the sequel to “101 Dalmatians.”
“Basically, you give it up when you give it to a director and to the actors,” she says. “And sometimes it’s not what you envision, and sometimes it’s better than what you envisioned.”
Close says that, luckily, she has had “very few experiences” of her “baby” not being nurtured, and she’s “extremely vocal” in that situation.
“Baby’s” Fawcett also has taken a producer credit on a few projects, but only so that she could ensure the vision of the piece is maintained. She says she could never put in the time to deal with the numerous details such as casting, script supervising and other factors that Close attends to when she produces. (Close’s next producing venture is “South Pacific” for ABC this fall, in which she is also starring.)
Fawcett didn’t mind working for another actor. It’s probably better — who knows what an actor has to go through than another actor?
“I think that actors have sort of a more sympathetic understanding towards other actors, and they understand the process you need to go to,” Fawcett explains.
Fawcett also knows actors don’t like other actors telling them how to act, which Close avoids.
“In no way did she try to say, `Well, if I were doing it I would play the scene this way.’ And there was never any of that. She was very respectful of that.”
Book ’em: Fox, which bypassed live coverage of Tuesday’s presidential debate in favor of the two-hour premiere of “Dark Angel,” has offered an hour of free airtime to candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush. The network is reserving Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. (on WFLD-Ch. 32) with the theme: “Why Should Americans Vote for You?”
Tank ’em: An average of about 14 million people saw NBC’s taped Summer Olympics coverage during its 17 day-run, a 30-year Olympics low, Nielsen figures reveal.
Slam ’em: In the middle of a key, silent scene during the premiere broadcast of “The Sixth Sense” on Starz last Saturday, an announcer blared at viewers without notice, thanking them for watching and telling them to stay tuned for news of the cable network’s “I See Big Prizes” contest. We see tackiness.
Postscript ’em: “Price Is Right” host Bob Barker and an animal-rights activist have placed the egg-making chickens from CBS’ “Big Brother” in a refuge. But they may not be there for long. The network is soliciting candidates for a second edition of the snooze-fest, which, by averaging about 9 million viewers during the summer, attracted a younger crowd than those who usually watch CBS.
Oh, remember Eddie, the one-legged, tough-talking New Yorker? He won the $500,000 for being the last housemate left.
