New Starring Role for Love in Oxygen TV Movie

From Variety:

Oxygen breathes in Hewitt for 'Climber'

Tue Jul 13, 9:37 PM ET

Denise Martin, STAFF

Jennifer Love Hewitt is set to star in "Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber," an original movie for Oxygen.

Women's cabler has greenlit production on the two-hour comedy from exec producer Stan Brooks and his Once Upon a Time shingle ("Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss").

Pic, based on Adele Land's bestselling book of the same name, features Hewitt as a young ad sales exec who will do just about anything to claw her way up the San Francisco social ladder. "She's a character who's sort of out of the school of 'Ab Fab.' She's self-centered, rebellious and should really know better. But in the end you're rooting for her to get better," said programming president Debby Beece.

Exec aims to get at least two original longform projects on the air for next year. Pics will follow the same strategy as series -- a mix of irreverent comedy and female-centered drama.

Production on "Confessions" is slated to start next month for a premiere in early 2005.

Hewitt's feature credits include "Garfield the Movie" and "The Tuxedo." Thesp last co-exec produced and starred in the ABC pilot "In the Game."

Brooks is currently producing a quartet of back-to-back crime thrillers for cabler USA.

[Trotter]

[img]smile.gif[/img]
Thank-you SO much for this AMAZING news Tom.... [img]smile.gif[/img]

Fingers crossed everything goes OK for her... [img]graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img]

LOVE YOUNG GIFTED & GORGEOUS

Thnx for posting...sounds like great news [img]graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img] Another Love project to wait for [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks a bunch for that great news!.

[andrew r]

Sounds interesting, thanks for the news. I liked Love being b****y before, so hopefully she may be able to do it again. [img]graemlins/evil.gif[/img]

[img]graemlins/eek.gif[/img] TV movie for oxygen?!
Why would anybody be excited about that! I dont want to sound pessimist but damn he roles just keep getting worst...

Originally posted by TrueLuver_13:
[img]graemlins/eek.gif[/img] TV movie for oxygen?!
Why would anybody be excited about that!

Well, because it is a good role? Perception is going to be whatever it is going to be but there is nothing wrong with doing a tv movie. Halle Berry is shooting one right now and she just won an oscar a few years ago. Same thing with Charlize Theron who did a made for tv biopic last year. Not like this is a skin flick for Showtime or a movie of the week about how some couple steals her baby, this is from a real funny book from a few years ago and the character is very much against type for her. There is a point where you just have to bite the bullet and take a role that will at least give you an opportunity to show a little range and those aren't necessarily there for her when it comes to feature movies right now. These are the kind of things that can spawn better opportunities if her performance is impressive and she shows she can do it. Would have been nice had Devil & Daniel Webster done that instead of a movie for a channel that is just starting to get in to the game of producing movies, but waiting and waiting for that to get released so people can see it is just killing time at this point. Besides, maybe she'll be on Oprah to promote it. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Thanks for the info.

Well, this is just some little info. But my first thought is again that it doesn't sound that great. So I think it won't help her career!
It's just a first thought, of course I can change my mind if there's more info.
I really do hope it's gonna be great for her, but I doubt it. Please, let the truth be the opposite!

The only point I want to make is people often bring up how they are tired of seeing JLH in the same cutie pie role, and that her talent deserves better, but if you really want to see her expand beyond that I think you have to be realistic about the process of what it takes to do something different when you've already established that as your value in Hollywood. You just don't switch from one style to another at the same level, she has to establish herself as having more range at lower levels first before the big studios trust her in their films. I would personally love if I heard that she is going to be headlining a new drama directed by Oliver Stone, and co-starring Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise, Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep, yada, yada, but the bottom line is that isn't going to be happening right now. She can do "Garfield", and "The Tuxedo" type movies until the cows come home, but those studios aren't going to offer her parts in more serious stuff until she proves she is worth it. Catch 22 obviously, she can only prove it once given a chance, waiting on some of these indie films to get released is one thing, and doing a tv movie is another. Lots of other actors and actresses have done it, and Love is no different than them. If she wants to change a type-cast she is not going to be able to do it in the same type of big name studio films in which the type cast is already in place. I think people just have to come to grips with that fact and look at it from that perspective. That is why I am excited whenever I hear about her getting an opportunity to show more acting skill, this is about long term, not this particular project.

[ July 15, 2004, 04:02 PM: Message edited by: TC Visitor ]

[ShaqJr]

LMAO [img]graemlins/spin.gif[/img] Oxygen TV made for cable movie???
wow thats not only a step down from the movies she is doing, that is like a tumble down the entire mountain of the type of movies she does for a star of her calibur. Maybe she will land that gig and be a correspondant for American Idol!!!! [img]graemlins/dunce.gif[/img]

TC Visitor: what TV movie roles are Halle Berry and Charlize Theron doing?
Listen, I have mixed feelings about this -- like TC Visitor says, Love can't just sit around waiting for her indie films to be released. She has to take action. And it sounds like it could be a great, showy role for her, playing against her girl-next-door persona.
HOWEVER ... doing a TV movie for Oxygen feels like a giant step down, no matter how juicy the role. She has a couple of movies still awaiting release, an ABC pilot that might or might not be a mid-season replacement series ... I don't think this will take her career in the right direction, no matter how good she is in it. HBO has a certain cache' that draws movie stars looking for great parts in well-written films. But Oxygen ..?

You can compare her career with others like:
Neve Campbell, after Scream and PO5 she hadn't real good movies. Maybe Panic and Three To Tango, like Love had Can't Hardly Wait and Heartbreakers. Neve is still doing movies, but you don't hear about her that much. Only the fans knows about the movies she's doing.
Then there's Sarah Michelle Gellar, very popular cause of Buffy. But that's over now. She also tried to do something different with Scooby Doo, like Love did Garfield. But after a few months (ok maybe a little bit more) the most people don't talk about it anymore.
Now she has to move on. So she tried horror again. It's the Grudge now. I guess it's the 154646461345 time that there's a remake of a Japanese movie. It looks normal all those remakes. I guess it'll be a pretty tough time for Sarah to be in the picture again! Same as Neve same as Love and for there are more examples, but I then this post will be endless.
I always thought, that starting with a soap serie (like PO5) that you won't make it in movies. In Holland I see that all the time and I think it's not that different in the US.
But I have to say that Jennifer Aniston is maybe doing well. Ok Friends is not a soap (but it's a serie). She did movies like Bruce Almighty and Along Came Polly. But also for her career I don't think it'll be that good.
So who will give me some exceptions (for sure there are a few)?
Love is the youngest of all of them I mentioned, so that's at least something that gives me some hope. If it's not different within like 7 years
then you can a summary of her career in a few lines and that probably won't be changed. :(

But of course I will be a fan whatever will happen with her career. I just hope that in the future she gets that role in that movie, that makes people say, wow she's a pretty good actress! She can handle a big role in a good movie, I'm sure of it!!

Oops! I forgot to thank Tom for posting this news. Thanks Tom [img]graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img]

[ July 15, 2004, 06:37 PM: Message edited by: IDoLoveLOVE ]

Originally posted by BooBoo:
TC Visitor: what TV movie roles are Halle Berry and Charlize Theron doing?

Halle Berry has been fliming "Their Eyes Were Watching God", which is an Oprah-produced tv movie for ABC. Charlize Theron played Britt Ekland in the "Life and Death of Peter Sellers" which was produced for HBO.

As for this being Oxygen, they aren't established for doing anything really tv-movie wise, they are trying to. This was a pretty high-profile acquisition for them in terms of buying the rights to produce the movie. Honestly, yes, you will get your ShaqJr.-esque "jokes" I'm sure from even your occasional tv writer, but the fact of the matter is I think she is at a point where, if her goal is to broaden her wings beyond things like "Garfield", she is going to have to take some chances. If this was 2 or 3 years ago I would have said to pass it up, but, I'm sitting here still waiting for "The Devil and Daniel Webster" to be released and not having heard a thing about "If Only", in terms of a potential US release, in almost 2 years. If the role is good worry about the rest later. She needs some stuff out there that shows what she can do.

[ July 15, 2004, 06:08 PM: Message edited by: TC Visitor ]

[herbertlens]

New project for Love... [img]graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img]

on Oxygen network... :(

She is what she is people. We can't turn her into an Oscar winning A-lister, but she's doing her thing at her level and I for one am grateful for it.

IDoLoveLOVE writes:
"I just hope that in the future she gets that role in that movie, that makes people say, wow she's a pretty good actress! She can handle a big role in a good movie, I'm sure of it!!"
:(
That's what kills me, folks. She HAS that role in "If Only." And the greedy idiots who made the film turned down an incredible offer from a major studio to release the film last fall. Unfortunately, there's nothing Love can do about that. So you're right, TC V -- she needs to move on and work on other projects. I'm just hoping the Oxygen movie is good and that she's good in it. I'm afraid, though, that with her sitcom pilot, the Christmas Carol movie and now this, that Love will be viewed as a "TV actress" again, which might hurt the chances "If Only" or "D & DW" will end up in theaters. Still, you never know ... Jessica Lange won an Oscar in 1994 for "Blue Sky" -- a movie that sat on the shelf for over three years because the company that made it went bankrupt. Not saying Love could win an Oscar for If Only or D & DW -- just that you never know what could happen and so we all have to keep a positive thought for Love and all her projects -- film AND TV. Love tends to be a glass half-full kinda gal, so I'll try to take my cue from her, though I tend to see the empty side of things too often, LOL!

There are some reviews of the book that this movie is based on at amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

From the reviews it seems like Love's character is going to be pure evil.

Thanks Xator.

Here's a link to an online chat with the author and Kelly Ripa from a few years ago. Gives some decent insight in to the character too.

http://tvplex.go.com/buenavista/live...dele_lang.html

I'm afraid, though, that with her sitcom pilot, the Christmas Carol movie and now this, that Love will be viewed as a "TV actress" again, which might hurt the chances "If Only" or "D & DW" will end up in theaters.

I hear you about that, and that certainly may be possible, but I guess I think that what happens to those films are out of her control at this point. It is a shame that those films haven't been seen yet. Heck, that did just remind me of Alec Baldwin though, who did a string of tv movies a few years ago to pump some more life back in to his movie career, and has gotten some better big screen roles the last year or two because of how well received his performances in those films were. Sometimes you have to put the short term ego of being viewed as a big screen actor aside and look at the long term result. Hopefully these projects work out well for her, because I do think this has the makeup to be a good role to show off some range.

[ July 15, 2004, 08:48 PM: Message edited by: TC Visitor ]

heeh thanks guys atleast shes working <small>

[superboy]

Love has had real bad luck with the movies she's been in. I am hoping the tv. show gets off the ground but it doesn't look good. Hopefully her bad luck will change and as long as she is doing somthing I can see at the movies or t.v then I will be happy!

Whoah, a lot of input going into this thread.
I'll keep this short.
TC Visitor sums up the situation best in his posts.That's it i'm finished [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks for the info Jennyluvver.

One more thing...

Originally posted by IDoLoveLOVE:
I always thought, that starting with a soap serie (like PO5) that you won't make it in movies. In Holland I see that all the time and I think it's not that different in the US.
But I have to say that Jennifer Aniston is maybe doing well. Ok Friends is not a soap (but it's a serie). She did movies like Bruce Almighty and Along Came Polly. But also for her career I don't think it'll be that good.
So who will give me some exceptions (for sure there are a few)?

I know these aren't soaps (was PO5 a soap?) but '21 Jump street' and 'The darling buds of may' gave Johnny Depp and Catherine Zeta Jones a start in showbiz.

[ July 16, 2004, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: Mr. Clean ]