De Palma a la Mod

This year's second seasons of HBO's The Leftovers and F/X's Fargo have been two of the greatest seasons of television I've ever seen. It just so happens that last week's episodes of both shows were each directed by Keith Gordon. The Leftovers episode, "Ten Thirteen", featured a significant cameo from another De Palma alumn, Betty Buckley, in it's opening scene. Buckley's character has something to tell her daughter that, without putting out too much in the way of "spoilers," sets off (or strongly appears to set off) what looks to be an explosive climax on tonight's season finale.

Meanwhile, Gordon's episode of Fargo last week, "Loplop", features a heavy amount of split screen work (a running visual style through every episode of the season), a suspenseful pan from a TV screen and then around a character's head, leading to an uh-oh reveal, and a crazy, hilariously outrageous performance from Kirsten Dunst.

Posted by Geoff at 7:21 PM CST
Updated: Sunday, December 6, 2015 7:22 PM CST
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Thursday, March 26, 2015

KEITH GORDON DEVELOPING NEW A&E SERIES
WOULD WRITE, DIRECT, PRODUCE POTENTIAL PILOT - BLIND SCRIPT COMMITMENT

Almost four years ago, Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr reported that Keith Gordon had been hired to write and direct a supernatural thriller, based on an undisclosed novel, that Christopher Nolan's company Syncopy was going to produce. No new information has come out about that project since. In the meantime, Gordon has been busy directing all kinds of terrific TV shows. His episode of HBO's The Leftovers last year ("Two Boats and a Helicopter") was a particular highlight, a character study of a preacher that included a supernatural element, and a surreal nightmare sequence that really took the series to another level.

However, in an interview last year with Curnblog's Simon Butler, Gordon noted that on most TV shows, the director really is relegated to presenting the vision of the showrunner. "The writing and acting on the shows I’m lucky enough to get to do is as good or better than anything in the feature [film] world," Gordon told Butler. "But the mixed blessing for a director is, it’s not a director’s medium. The show-runner producer/writer is the one creating the arc of the show, the style and the tone, and my job is to convey his or her vision. That’s a little less artistically satisfying than making your own film. That said, it’s also a fascinating challenge because often the show will have a different visual grammar than the one I instinctively go toward. I do feel I’ve learned a lot during that process, going outside my comfort zone, shooting things in ways I might not ordinarily and trying to make things fit the tone and style of a larger whole. But I do miss being the one who sets the tone and style of the larger whole."

Well, it looks like Gordon may get his shot to be the tone and style-setter. After directing and executive-producing the pilot episode of A&E's new American version of The Returned, Gordon has been signed to a development deal with A&E, Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reported last week. "It includes a blind script commitment for Gordon who would write, direct and produce the potential pilot," according to Andreeva. Stay tuned...

Posted by Geoff at 11:58 PM CDT
Updated: Friday, March 27, 2015 12:34 AM CDT
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