Count me among the many who were fans of Alias, the 2001-2006 series that starred Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow, an international spy recruited while in college.
What an intriguing concept to have a young, bright woman worrying about saving the world – and passing her final exams.
It was a concept almost equal to the brilliant Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which used high school as a metaphor for horror.
Garner was certainly one of the main reasons why Alias was more than a one-note pony. Sure, Garner has movie-star looks but she also gave the impression that she really was the girl next door, down to earth, a loyal friend and whip smart.
But will she make a good sleuth? Especially one of mystery fiction’s most iconic sleuths.
Jennifer Garner has been tapped to play Miss Marple, the detective from Agatha Christie, in what is being called a “Disney reboot.”
Now you, I and everybody knows that Miss Marple is an elderly lady who watches over the goings on around her, especially in the small English village of St. Mary Mead. Miss Marple was played by Margaret Rutherford in four films during the 1960s, Angela Lansbury in the 1980 movie The Mirror Crack’d, and Joan Hickson in several BBC TV movies.
Of those, Hickson is considered by many to be the quintessential Miss Marple, whom Christie had said she based on her own grandmother.
Naturally, if a film ever is made with Garner as Miss Marple, we’ll see a younger and sexier sleuth. But is that in fitting with the character? Do we want to see Miss Marple’s earlier life? And the new Miss Marple won’t be living in a small English village but in an American city, according to several reports.
Often ideas for films just become that – ideas that never make it onto the screen.
What are your thoughts on this?
I've written several times about the images we have in mind when we read our favorite mystery series. Since we are surrounded daily by pop culture, often those images involve actors.
And it's not just we readers who think about who could play a particular character.
Take the movie Lincoln Lawyer, based on Michael Connelly's novel and now out on DVD and Blu-ray. I was dubious when I first heard that Matthew McConaughey would play Mickey Haller in the screen version. But McConaughey's portrayal of the attorney whose office is the back seat of his Lincoln is one of his best performances since A Time to Kill.
I may not have envisioned McConaughey as Mickey Haller, but Connelly did.
Apparently while watching McConaughey in a movie, Connelly told his wife that the actor would make a good Mickey Haller. He even put his opinion in his latest novel The Fifth Witness during a scene in which a producer asks Haller which actor does the attorney think should play him. He says Matthew McConaughey, "of course."
Which leads me to Zen, the series currently airing Sundays on PBS and based on the late Michael Dibdin's novels featuring Roman police detective Aurelio Zeno -- best known as Zen.
Rufus Sewell makes an impressive Zen, delving into the detective's perceptive nature, his humor, his frustration with corruption and the way he circumvents the system yet remains incorruptible.
The British actor makes us believe he is indeed an Italian cop. In addition to Zen, Sewell has appeared in Cold Comfort Farm, Middlemarch, Dark City, and The Pillars of the Earth. He played Dr. Jacob Hood in the TV series The Eleventh Hour. Sewell also does a lot of stage work in Great Britain and New York.
Sewell can appear both rumpled and debonair at the same time, especially when dealing with women.
As a personal, aside, Sewell is a darn good-looking man. This is alluded to a couple of times during Zen, though one character says she thinks he resembles Joaquin Phoenix. I think that character needed glasses.
So judge for yourself Sewell's portrayal of Aurelio Zeno. The second episode of Zen entitled "Cabal" airs July 24.
In "Cabal," the Ministry of Justice wants Zen to rule that a disgraced aristocrat committed suicide despite the evidence that suggests murder. But a powerful female prosecutor, who wants to make Zen an offer he cannot refuse, wants the detective to find a murderer. Was the secretive Cabal, which apparently has members at all levels of Italian society, behind the death?
Zen, which aired last year in Britain, also is available on DVD or Blu-ray.
Zen airs at 9 p.m. July 24 and July 31 on PBS. Check your local station for additional airings or change in times.
Photo: Rufus Sewell as Aurelio Zeno.PBS photo
When I read a Lee Child novel, I have a distinct picture in my mind about what Jack Reacher looks like.
Bigger than life almost . . . or at least 6 feet, 5 inches as Child, left, describes in the books.
Muscular but certainly not muscle bound like one of those pro wrestlers.
Strong. Lean.
And, of course, handsome in a rugged way.
The image of Tom Cruise never comes to mind.
But it appears that is who we will be seeing as the iconic Jack Reacher. Cruise is supposed to start filming in the fall the movie One Shot based on Child's series. And, yes, Cruise has been signed to play Reacher.
So much for icons.
Child has been quoted recently that Reacher's size is a mere metaphor for him being "an unstoppable force."
I certainly understand that, and agree with Child, whose latest Reacher novel The Affair comes out in September.
But Tom Cruise?
Even if you don't count the fact that Cruise is 5-feet, 8-inches, he just doesn't have that "unstoppable force" we want and need from Reacher.
Cruise is an entertaining actor and I have enjoyed his Mission Impossible roles. But Cruise's Ethan Hunt is a master of disguises; a man who works undercover to blend in and integrate himself as a team member. The third movie in this series Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is due out later this year.
But we need our Jack Reachers to be bigger than life. As readers, we want these heroes to save the day, to give us comfort that justice does rule in the end and that "unstoppable forces" do exist.
One Shot will be directed by Christopher McQuarrie, whose writing credits include Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Usual Suspects and The Tourist, as well as several television dramas.
If you do a search on YouTube, you will find several short films with other actors portraying Jack Reacher. These were made as auditions and for fun but these films will give you an idea of how Reacher could have made it to the screen.
I'll try to keep an open mind about Cruise as Jack Reacher but it won't be easy. And in the end, I'll probably prefer Child's novels.
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