The Official Peter Coyote Web Site

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FALL 2005 NEWSLETTER


Update - 10/18/05:

Last week Touchstone Television announced that Steven Bochco, of "NYPD Blue" and "Hill Street Blues" fame, would take over production of COMMANDER IN CHIEF  from its creator, Rod Lurie, who will remain as executive producer of the ABC series. You’ll begin to see the hand of Bochco when the seventh episode airs a few weeks from now. Journalist Catherine Seipp of National Review believes the vice-presidential nominee, General Warren Keaton, is imagined as an idealized John Kerry. She writes, "Played by Peter Coyote, this fictional war hero oozes so much loamy integrity, you could fertilize the entire Rose Garden with it." Reports indicate that the series has registered strongly with both critics and viewers. The premier drew 16 million people, while the second episode was watched by close to 17 million. Peter has so far had guest appearances in the second and third episodes. He will not appear in tomorrow's night episode, "First Dance". Here are some photos from the second episode.


 

Lewis & Clark College and Oregon Public Broadcasting are releasing a 13-part radio series on the Lewis and Clark Expedition called  "Unfinished Journey: The Lewis and Clark Expedition." This series, hosted by Peter, commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition and urges listeners to explore the profound impact the expedition had on American history - and most interestingly, how it greatly affects our lives even today. The program will also feature the College's humanities scholar in residence, Clay Jenkinson, in addition to several Lewis & Clark College faculty. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and distributed by Public Radio International, the series is available to public stations across the country, with radio stations in Oregon, Illinois, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Ohio already committed to broadcast the programs. Episode and series information is available online at Opb.org.

If you may have seen the documentary, "The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation" on your local PBS station recently. Written and directed by David Davis and Stephen Talbot, this two-hour film covers both the women’s liberation and larger civil rights movements, the rise of youth counterculture, and the turmoil surrounding the American involvement in Vietnam. It  features revealing interviews with Peter Coyote, Norman Mailer, Walter Cronkite, and key American political figures such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Henry Kissinger, Robert S. McNamara, Edwin Meese, Bobby Seale, Pat Buchanan, and Daniel Ellsberg. And the decade comes to life once again with a musical soundtrack featuring favorites from the 60s, including the music of Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Elvis Costello, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Chambers Brothers, the Doors and the Rolling Stones. From the NY Daily News, "Peter Coyote and Todd Gitlin are well-chosen contributors. So is Walter Cronkite, the former CBS anchor." Narrated by Paul Herlinger. You can purchase this DVD or video at the PBS shop.

Update - 10/10/05:

Today is Peter's 63rd birthday. Happy Birthday, dear friend. May you enjoy this day and be blessed with many more!

Next Sunday night, October 15, the Sci-fi Channel will feature the premiere of two RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD films - Necropolis and Rave to the Grave, which both star Coyote as the disgruntled mad scientist Charles Garrison. Click on the image below for more details.

More movie stills have been added to the DEEPWATER film page thanks to Coyote.

Did all Coyote fans tune in tonight to see his first appearance on COMMANDER IN CHIEF as the vice presidential nominee, General Warren Fitzgerald Keaton? He was awesome!

Update - 10/4/05:

Coyote is presently working on a new narration for a film called "The Tribe: Barbie's 5000 Year History. It's the unorthodox, unauthorized history of the Barbie doll! Here's the synopsis: What can the most successful doll on the planet tell us about what it means to be Jewish?  The Tribe uses the pop culture icon, the Barbie doll, to unravel a 5000 year history of the Jewish people struggling with its identity. The electric 20-minute film threads together archival images, animation, Barbie dioramas, and slam poetry, sending viewers on an visual rollercoaster ride that mixes humor, history, irony and cultural context. Linking the past to the present, The Tribe speaks to young American Jews disconnected from traditional Jewish establishments, and conveys a new sense of understanding and pride in the richness and complexity of the Jewish people and its multiple identities. There comes a time when every new generation must struggle with some very old questions: who am I, where do I come from, and where am I going? The Tribe triggers this discussion.

Update: 9/25/05:

ABC's COMMANDER IN CHIEF will premiere this Tuesday evening at 9/8c. It's  a series that has a cast that resembles the lineup of a major motion picture and apparently has a big-screen marketing budget to match. Promo for the program actually began last July. The major roles are played by big name stars including Oscar winner Geena Davis, whose character is the vice president (an Independent, not a Republican) and who, after the Republican president has a stroke, becomes the first female president of the United States. Donald Sutherland plays a conservative speaker of the House. Natasha Henstridge, best known for her movie roles in "Species" and "The Whole Nine Yards," plays an assistant to Sutherland's character. And Peter will have a recurring role as the vice presidential nominee, General Warren Keaton. He will  make his debut appearance in the second episode on October 5th. Here are more publicity photos (the first one shows Peter with CEO Lance Miccio of Happy Trailers HD):

To promote the new series, VP Events Inc. was hired by ABC to produce an Inaugural Ball for the Premiere Screening, which was held on September 21 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Here are some photos from that evening:

If you thought you heard Peter's voiceover on ABC's DESTINATION LOST last Wednesday, you were correct! One hour before the second season of the ABC hit series premiered, a recap of the key events from last season were narrated by Peter.

Filmmaker Carolyn Scott has crafted her first film, narrated by Peter, in the ambitious Quest to Save Turtle Island documentary series, which protrays the lives of sixteen extraordinary women activists from around the world who work to find solutions for the global ecological crisis. TEXAS GOLD, which premieres at the Palm Springs International Film Festival of Shorts this week, tells the story of Diane Wilson, a fourth generation fisherwoman and mother of five. Back in 1989 she began her fight with the giants of the petro-chemical industry when she discovered that her small Texas county has been named the most toxic place in America. Witness to the mass death of dolphins along the Gulf Coast and the slow death of her once thriving fishing community, Diane boldy took action. Part eco-detective, part muck-raking humorist, this "unreasonable woman" recounts the hunger strikes and civil disobedience that have made her Public Enemy No. 1 to the powerful and lawless industries that routinely spill millions of pounds of toxins into our air, soil and water. The “Texas Gold” idea originated when Scott was filming a segment on Diane Wilson and came up with a three-minute, parody commercial for “Texas Gold” bottled water, “the last water you’ll ever drink”. Coyote, known for championing eco-causes, lent his voice for narration of the commercial, which resulted in his narration of this documentary. The film will also be screened next month at the Bioneers Moving Image Film Festival and the Hot Springs Film Festival.

Canada's Moviesonline spoke with Aimee Lynn Chadwick about filming the fourth and fifth sequels of  Return of the Living Dead in Romania last year. When questioned about working with Coyote, she said, "Peter was a great guy. On our down moments on set he would talk to us, give us advice, etc. Just a super down-to-earth TALENTED guy. I felt honored to be able to get work with him."

Update: 9/8/05:

In the last update, I mentioned that WRITTEN IN BLOOD was being shown on cable as well as being released on DVD. Since then I was able to find the following photos from the film:

A LITTLE TRIP TO HEAVEN will have its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday, September 12th. Helmed by Icelandic director, Baltasar Kormákur (The Sea), the film stars Forest Whitaker, Julia Stiles, Jeremy Renner and Peter. Set in the early '80s, the film follows insurance investigator Holt (Whitaker) as he travels to Hastings, a dreary, dying town in northern Minnesota. He’s there to confirm the death of notorious scam artist, allegedly killed in a car crash en route to visit his sister Isold (Stiles). Despite the local cops’ conviction that the corpse is definitely Kelvin, Holt isn’t so sure. For one thing, the body’s been burned to a crisp, making identification impossible. Then there’s the odd behaviour of skittish Isold and her sleazy husband Fred (Renner).

Coyote plays Frank, Holt's partner in a sleazy insurance company that practices various deceptions to bilk their clients out of their rightful money. Frank has the walk and talk of a silver-tongued car salesman. The $12 million production will be released in Europe by A-Film (Benelux), Sandrew Metronome (Scandinavia) and Monopole Pathé (Switzerland). There is no information on a US release at this time.

The SF Chronicle published an article on 8/31/05 with the headliner - "What's inside some noted Californians". Here are some excerpts:

They don't work at dangerous jobs or live near toxic- waste dumps. Yet the study showed that their bodies contain low levels of industrial chemicals, some known to harm the health of humans or laboratory animals.

Actor Peter Coyote has high levels of mercury, he thinks from eating fresh fish in his quest for a healthy diet. He describes himself as "a guy who has eaten organic food for 30 years, drunk bottled water and lived in West Marin with the cleanest air on the coast.''

Coyote, Jones, Lee, the Rev. Stephen Privett, president of the University of San Francisco, and seven other prominent Californians had their hair, blood and urine tested two months ago for dozens of substances, including mercury, DDT, PBDE flame retardants and the chemicals in hard plastic bottles, Gore-Tex and Teflon.

Coyote, 62 -- the narrator in "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,'' the researcher of extraterrestrials in "E.T.,'' and the German spy in "Bon Voyage'' -- said he was outraged at the results. His mercury level was almost four times as high as the other study participants.

"Just consider what it means that American mothers can't make tuna fish sandwiches for our kids any more,'' Coyote said. "Who gave anybody the right to poison the commons?''

Coyote blames industry for lobbying Congress to exempt from testing thousands of chemicals that are commonly used in products and supports the "precautionary principle'' followed by some European countries under which a manufacturer must first prove that a chemical is safe before it may be sold.

Eleven people cooperated in the study, coordinated by the Bolinas health research nonprofit, Commonweal, as a way to gain support for SB600, the Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program, coming before the full Assembly as early as this week; it already has passed the Senate.

If passed, California would be the first state to establish a statewide confidential, voluntary program designed to test contaminants in people's bodies.

San Francisco physician Dr. Jane Hightower, a mercury expert, said if she were Coyote's doctor, she would "want him to eat no fish or absolutely the lowest of mercury fish'' and take mercury-free PCB-free fish oil supplements.

His level is now 8.8 micrograms per gram in hair and should be less than 1.0 micrograms per gram, she said.