Answering Fontana's Challenge
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.
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.