|
Update - August 1:
The public television documentary "Seth Eastman: Painting the Dakota",
narrated by Coyote, won two more awards in recent months. A letter came last week
announcing a CINE Golden Eagle Award for excellence in filmmaking. And last month at Book
Expo in New York, it won a Benjamin Franklin Award from the Publisher's Marketing
Association for Best Video. The documentary tells the story of frontier soldier-artist
Seth Eastman, who captured a visual record of traditional Native American life in the
upper Mississippi Valley in the early nineteenth century. "Seth Eastman: Painting the
Dakota" was a co-production of Twin Cities Public Television and Afton Historical
Society Press and will be distributed to public television stations this November for
Native American Heritage Month.
Peter Coyote was at the Rafael theater in San Rafael recently to see My
Wife Is an Actress. He told The Chronicle's Rob Hurwitt that Yvan Attal,
director of that movie, is acting with him in Bon Voyage.
Coyote, who plays a British spy, will be speaking French (he's "pretty good, "
he says) and German ("I'm learning it phonetically; it's great fun but a lot of
work").
The Northfork film page has been
added with a 5/3/02 article from the Great Falls Tribune on the making of this
film in Montana.
Update - July 1:
If you're interested in the filming of the comedy, The Hebrew Hammer,
in NYC recently, read the New York Observer
article now posted. Adam Goldberg (A Beautiful Mind) stars as The Hebrew Hammer,
a handsome Orthodox Jewish boy who tries to save Hanukkah from being taken over by
Christmas. The cast includes Andy Dick, Mario Van Peebles, Judy Greer, Coyote, Nora Dunn
and Tony Cox. You can also check out the production notes
on the Coyote TV film called Phenomenon.
Update - June 1:
 Remember
on Sunday, June 2nd and 9th, Coyote will have a guest appearance on the Lifetime Cable
Series, The Division, which explores the personal and
professional lives of a group of female police officers in San Francisco. Peter takes on
the role of boyfriend to Capt. Kate McCafferty, played by Bonnie Bedelia. In
the first episode, "Brave New World", Captain Kate McCafferty (Bedelia) becomes
friends with a restaurant owner (Coyote) after a string of bad experiences with a dating
service. Looking for someone to escort her to a wedding, she gladly accepts his offer. In
the second episode, "Secrets, Lies and Weddings", they attend Inspector Magda
Ramirez's wedding.
Coyote has finished filming Northfork, the third
film of a trilogy penned by identical twin brothers, Mark and Michael Polish. His next
film is Phenomenon, a made-for-television movie based on the
1996 John Travolta movie of the same name. Coyote's role is a good fit - a Berkeley
professor. Phenomenon is currently scheduled to air during the 2002-03 season on
ABC.
There are two more films coming up. He will play a British spy named
Winkler in a French film called Bon Voyage, directed by
Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Cyrano de Bergerac). It's a WW II romantic drama with a cast
that includes Gerard Depardieu, Isabelle Adjani, Virginie Ledoyen, Gregori Derangere and
Yvan Attal. The release date has been set for Easter 2003. The second one is The
Hebrew Hammer, a comedy about a Jewish super-hero. Peter will play the head
of the Jewish Justice League, a kind of crime-busters outfit. For more details on these
movies, see the Spring newsletter
 You'll be able
to purchase the DVD and video of A Walk to Remember on July 9,
2002. The DVD sells at $19.99 and the video at $16.99. Based on the Nicholas Sparks novel
of the same name, the film takes place in a small Southern community during the 1950s.
Landon, the teenage son (Shane West) of a wealthy family finds himself strangely attracted
to an unpopular classmate, Jamie (Mandy Moore), the shy daughter of the town's Baptist
minister (Coyote). When the two finally come together, they realize the ignorance of the
preconceived notions about each other. Coyote comments on the making
of the film - “A Walk to Remember was a really pleasant
experience. The director, Adam Shankman, runs an easy, family-style set and is very, very,
relaxed. Mandy Moore and Shane West, besides being totally professional and prepared, were
lovely people to spend time with. I really enjoyed myself, and enjoyed Wilmington, NC
where the story was shot". ..."A love story
so sweet, sincere and positive that it sneaks past the defenses built up in this age of
irony"...Roger Ebert
 When the 20th
anniversary special edition of E.T. was released recently, Peter
was only too happy to talk to Clint Morris of Moviehole about what he remembered. "When I was first hired for E.T., it was for 38 days.
It was my 'fall' movie, that was all. Of course I knew who Steven Spielberg was, but that
was it. It was a job, and lots of fun. Not only did it not have blockbuster written all
over it, but Steven was very nervous. It was his little, personal picture and he seemed
unsure about it, because it was so close to him. Once Steven told Director of Cinematography Allan
Daviau that he wanted 'blue' light for a particular sequence. We came back 40 minutes
later and when Steven walked in, he announced the obvious, The light isn't blue.' Allan
began a long lecture about 'lumens of light' and why you could not put more blue gel on
the lamps than he had. Steven abruptly grabbed a roll of blue gel and began wrapping it
around the lamps. At a certain point he stepped back, and 'presto' - the light was blue.
The man knew what he wanted.”
"I was also really pleased with the chemistry that my character,
Keys, had with Henry Thomas's Elliot. There’s a scene in the hospital when I talk to
Elliot and confide that I too had been waiting for E.T. and that I'm so glad that he found
Elliot. I like it because it makes my character human, and in continuity with Elliot. It
doesn't demonize either adulthood or science, and that was important to me also. Any movie
which has touched millions and millions of people must have something going for it and E.T.
does. The performances are wonderful. The story will make you laugh and (I dare you not
to) cry. It's wonderfully conceived and shot, and it's a touching story carefully told. It
has no sex or violence in it and yet is totally satisfying to four year olds and forty
year olds. What's not to like. It's a great movie!’
By the way, according to Variety (6/9/02), both the original and
re-release of E.T. will be available in a limited DVD Collector's Edition
($22.95) on October 22 for 10 weeks only before the title goes on moratorium indefinitely.
The company, SkyDancer.TV, was launched last year as a
collaboration between the Oneida Nation and Sonny Skyhawk and Dan Jones, two veteran
American Indian entertainment professionals. The premise of SkyDancer.TV is to help
promote American Indians in the entertainment industry through television, film and news
media. The duo filmed 40 hours of footage during the 2001 Crow Fair at the Little Bighorn
in Montana. From the raw footage, a sales tape was made with narration by Peter. NBC is in
the process of pitching the four-minute tape to various cable companies. Dan Jones
comments that, "Peter is very supportive of American Indians and his voice is
extremely recognizable. He's also agreed to narrate the one-hour show, 'The World of
American Indian Dance', which is the next step in the company's three-year plan.
Over a year ago, it was announced that Peter was doing a narration for an
epic documentary called "The Shape of Life". This compelling
eight-hour series uses scientific investigation and discovery to chronicle the dramatic
rise of the animal kingdom. By exploring the major body plans upon which virtually all
animal life is built, the series seeks to answer fundamental questions of animal behavior,
body design and evolution. Hi-definition digital video and innovative camera techniques
bring creatures rarely filmed into viewers’ living rooms with startling clarity and
vivid reality. It is produced by Sea Studios Foundation for National Geographic Television
and Film in association with PBS and is being presented domestically in association with
KCET/Hollywood and also distributed internationally through Explore International.
Available as a four-disc DVD set (480 minutes), "The Shape of Life" is available
for purchase at $79.98 at shop.pbs.org.
|