Who Is Number Six?

Doubtless you've heard that there's a feature-film adaptation being developed of the cult television show The Prisoner. Who knows how you can take something so idiosyncratic and transform it into a new story that doesn't cling too tightly to the past, or fixate too much on the present? But I do feel pretty certain about one thing. I really, really want Kevin McKidd to play Number Six.

If you don't know him, he did a terrific job as the character Lucious Vorenus on the short-lived HBO series Rome. There's a certain degree of physical resemblance, but I think what makes McKidd so appropriate is that his role on Rome shares a powerful sense of righteousness with McGoohan's creation. Lucious is taken to a place in the story where he feels that he has nothing to lose or live for, and I think that brought him within a stone's throw of the distrustful, acerbic Number Six.

McGoohan was so extreme with the character that your alliance with him was not so much based on sympathy as it was a sense of agreement, a desire to share or believe in his certainty of right and wrong. McKidd's performance gives me confidence that he could bring more sympathy and emotion to the role, to give Number Six's strident qualities some warmth.

Maybe the film'll never happen, and I'm sure Universal and the filmmakers have plenty of ideas on who will don the black blazer. Still, I had to get this off my chest, just in case someone who has a say in things is reading... you just never know.

Be seeing you.

Why The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Exists

NPR: Comic-Book Store Owner on Trial for Nude Images
Morning Edition, August 14, 2007

Listen to this story... by Susanna Capelouto

Gordon Lee, owner of Legends Comic Book Store in Rome, Ga., goes on trial this week over whether he willfully gave a comic that depicted nudity to a child. His store took part in a downtown trick-or-treat celebration three years ago. Instead of candy, Lee handed out free comics. One of them had two drawings showing painter Pablo Picasso moving about his studio in the nude, his genitals clearly exposed. Lee was arrested a week later. The case worries the comic book industry, which fears limits on artistic expression.

Susanna Capelouto reports from Georgia Public Broadcasting.

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I don't think this guy should be thrown in jail for a year and fined $1,000 for what was clearly an accident. I'd question Lee's judgement for handing out anything other than a Disney, Archie, or Harvey comic on Hallowe'en (especially if you haven't read it), but I don't think a court case or yet another call for a ratings system is necessary. Take the comic back, apologize to the parents, and you're done. Thank goodness the CBLDF is around to help out!

Fire At Cinecitta

VARIETY: 'Rome' burns in Cinecitta blaze
Studio plays down reports of damage
By NICK VIVARELLI - Posted: Fri., Aug. 10, 2007, 7:23am PT

ROME -- Flames blazed overnight on Rome's Cinecitta Studios backlot, where a swath of the monumental set of HBO's completed "Rome" skein burned down but few other damages were caused, leaving the sprawling facility's sound stages, film archives, and other sets intact.

"The studios are safe, sound, and in good shape, except for a corner of the backlot where the fire broke out," Cinecitta Studios deputy director Maurizio Sperandini told Daily Variety.

The Cinecitta exec said the fire broke out near the "Rome" set -- which HBO vacated in January -- between 10 and 10.30 p.m. on Thursday night and lasted for under three hours, thanks to prompt intervention by firefighters who stamped out the flames with powerful fire trucks known as Super Dragons, sent over from nearby Leonardo da Vinci and Ciampino airports.

The fire is believed to have been caused by an electrical short circuit in an equipment shed on the compound. Officials are ruling out arson.

Flames quickly spread to the area known as the "suburra," the ancient Roman red-light district on the "Rome" set which is considered among the largest open-air sets ever constructed. It comprises a partial recreation of the Roman Forum, with temples, thermal baths, bordellos, and public buildings, all made using fiberglass panels, and other materials, some of which are highly flammable.

According to Italian press reports the flames reached as high as 40 meters (133 feet) and burned down an area of 3,000 square meters, or 32,000 square feet.

Downplaying the damage, Sperandini said the scale of the fire had "been a bit exaggerated by early press reports."

The large complex founded by Benito Mussolini in 1937 -- and known as Hollywood on the Tiber in its 1950s heyday when "Ben Hur" and "Quo Vadis" shot there -- spreads out over 600,000 square meters (717,000 square yards) and comprises 22 soundstages, including the legendary Studio 5, where Federico Fellini worked.

Besides "Rome" recent Hollywood productions at Cinecitta include Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic" and "Exorcist: The Beginning."

On the artier front, Abel Ferrara last year shot his screwball comedy "Go Go Tales" there.

Sperandini said the BBC is on site preparing to shoot its revived sci-fier "Doctor Who" at Cinecitta in September.