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News from 2004

Old *news* from 2003
Older *news* from 2002

  Dec 2004: Seasons Greetings
Heartfelt thanks to all those people from the industry, fellow fans of Michael, and friends (named and unnamed) of mine who once again helped me to keep my "Ask Dr. Mike" site the way it is. I certainly couldn't do it without your support!
Have a merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, joyful festivities, and a prosperous and peaceful new year.
 12-23-2004: Update on Sledge
Evi, I am very pleased to announce that SLEDGE: THE UNTOLD STORY will have it's worldwide premiere at SLAMDANCE in Park City, Utah. We will be screening twice during the last week of this coming January during the annual Sundance and Slamdance festivals. We will also be posting a website soon for fans to begin following the film's updates as it nears release. Take care and happy New Year.
Todd Grossman
SLEDGE, Producer


"Sledge" will be screened in the 'Midnight Series' at the Slamdance Fesitval on Sunday, Jan 23 at 10:00am at 608 Screening Room, 608 Main St., Park City, UT, and again on Tuesday, Jan 25 at 11:30pm at Main Screening Room (TMI), 255 Main St., Park City, UT.
 12-23-2004: Cover art of the 1st US Pretender DVD set announced
The 1st season of "The Pretender" will be released on DVD in the US on March 15th, 2005. Now Fox Home Entertainment has made the cover art of the box available, and here it is. Enjoy!

You can already pre-order the DVD set at amazon.com for $27.99 ; at amazon.ca for CDN$ 34.75 ; at DVDPlanet for $27.97 ; and probably thru even more on-line stores worldwide.
 12-22-2004: Update on Iowa
Matt Farnsworth said his film, tentatively entitled "Iowa," is off the cutting room floor and he has a sales representative "pushing the film into the Tribeca Film Festival in New York." The Tribeca Film Festival was cofounded by actor Robert De Niro and will run from April 21 to May 1, 2005.
Farnsworth shot the independent film in Appanoose County in May and June of 2003. "At the very least," said Farnsworth, "this movie will be rentable and buyable on video in the next 12 months. We are more likely to push (for), at a minimum, a regional theatrical release of the film in the Midwestern United States."
Farnsworth chose Centerville for the filming because he spent his younger summers here with his grandparents, the late Beryl and Thelma Farnsworth. Several years ago, Farnsworth said, he was surprised to hear about the meth scourge afflicting the scenic rural countryside that the rest of America still thinks of as peaceful and rustic.
The movie is a story of damaged love due to methamphetamine abuse - and he and Diane Foster both starred in the film, as well as co-directing it.
Appearing in the film are well-known actors Roseanna Arquette, John Savage and Michael T. Weiss. A number of area residents were used as extras in the filming.
Descriptions of the movie's genre have included it being of the quirky nature like David Lynch's works, which include "Twin Peaks," or films like "Pulp Fiction".

©Daily Iowegian; December 21, 2004

Also, a new photo from the set has appeared.
 12-20-2004: Mercy's photos from Boston
Mercy took her family to Boston to see "Burn This" on December 12, and she kindly gave me permission to share the photos she has taken there. Don't you agree, that a shaver would be the appropriate present for Michael this year? But enjoy the photos :) [Password = Pretender]
 12-16-2004: Questions about Burn This
Katrina Elliott, Company Manager of the Huntington Theatre Company was kind enough to answer some of my questions regarding the production of Burn This:
Q: You wrote that Mr Weiss was interested in doing this play. How come that he is doing it with the Huntington Theatre Company? And who recommended the other cast members?
A: We have a casting director in NY who makes casting recommendations, and sometimes actors come to us by way of knowing the director, artistic director or assoc artistic director. Both Nat DeWolf and Anne Torsiglieri had done other shows here previously. I don't know as we can take credit for "convincing" Michael to do the show - it was a play he was interested in and he wanted to do some live theatre.
Q: Will you extend the run of the play beyond December 12?
A: No, the run is set. [Yeah, we've noticed that by now.]
Q: Or will you take it on the road thru the US (with the same cast)?
A: No. Occasionally our productions get remounted at other regional theatres or on Broadway, but there are no plans thus far for Burn This.
Q: I've noticed that this play has only four characters. Does this become a hard task for the director, as well as the actors?
A: The cast and director had a great relationship, so I think they enjoyed being a foursome very much. Obviously the fewer characters the more lines for each actor, but they all learned them!
Q: How long was the rehearsal period?
A: 3 Weeks.
Q: How did the preview performances go? I've read some really rave reviews from several newspapers, so even the critics love the production. But how does the general audience react so far?
A: Previews went well, as did the run in generally. It especially picked up speed in terms of audience size after Thanksgiving. People seem to get more in the mood to come see shows in the holiday season.
Hope that helps. Sorry I didn't have more specifics to offer you about the actors' experience of the play and their characters. They did have a good time and a great run.
Thanks, Kate
 12-15-2004: Michael on German TV
"Die Macht des Geldes" (Net Worth) will be aired on little known Channel Tele5 on Monday, December 20, 2004 at 20:15-22:10.
Komödie, USA 2000, 89 Minuten
Regie: Kenny Griswold
mit Todd Field und Daniel Baldwin in den Hauptrollen
Vier befreundete Männer, alle Mitte 30, geraten darüber in Streit, wer von ihnen der lebenstüchtigste sei. Logisch, dass bei vier grundverschiedenen Lebensmodellen jeder meint, der Beste zu sein. Doch Einigkeit kann nur der Beweis erbirngen. Und so verabreden sie eine Wette: Jeder bekommt 100 Dollar Startkapital, mit denen er in einer beliebigen anderen Stadt den Neuanfang wagen soll. Wer nach einem Monat am meisten verdient hat, ist der Sieger.
See some Tele5 press stills of Net Worth. [Password = Pretender]

Michael's episode from the 3rd season of "Crossing Jordan" "Blutsbande" (Oh Brother Where Art Though?) will be aired on VOX on January 3, 2005 at 22:05, and will be repeated on January 4, 2005 at 01:20.
VOX strahlt diese Folgen in Abweichung von der US-Reihenfolge aus. In der ersten Episode mit dem Titel "Blutsbande" wird die Geschichte um den mysteriösen Tod von Jordans Mutter weitergeführt.
Max ist auf der Flucht. Woody hatte ihn mit der Dienstwaffe in der Hand neben der Leiche von Captain Malden angetroffen. Renee Walcott ist sich sicher: Max ist der Täter. Sie hält Jordan von einer Autopsie fern. Trotzdem macht sich Jordan an die Untersuchung des Falles. Sie findet heraus, dass der tödliche Schuss eine halbe Stunde vor den Schüssen, die Max abgefeuert hat, gefallen sein muss. Daraufhin gesteht ihr Woody, dass Max ihm erzählt habe, warum er geschossen habe, als Malden bereits tot war: Er wollte Jordan schützen, denn er war sich sicher, dass sie den Mord begangen habe. Jetzt ahnt Jordan, wer der wahre Täter ist - ihr verschollener Bruder James. Sie macht sich auf die Suche nach ihm. Doch da wird sie von James entführt. Im obersten Stock eines Hochhauses will er sie mit sich in den Tod ziehen. In letzter Minute taucht Woody auf ...
See some VOX press stills (and screencaps) from this episode in the photo album Oh Brother. [Password = Pretender]

The "Pretender" series continues to air on VOX weekdays at 17:00.
 12-9-2004: Final review of Burn This from The Somerville News
[Watch out for one Robert T. Weiss! ;) - EFi]
Passion and pain flare in Lanford Wilson's "Burn This"
by Franklin W. Liu
A sudden and impulsive one-night stand between a man and a woman can breed tumultuous ecstasy yet burn with life-altering madness when the affair becomes an addiction. That desire and the damage it wreaks are the themes of a searing, passion-play now presented by the Huntington Theatre Company.
Lanford Wilson, a vanguard gay playwright, wrote “Burn This” in 1987, to explore the pain of a repressed homosexual’s sudden death and the devastating emotional wreckage wrought upon unsuspecting families and friends.
Wilson is best known for the "Talley Trilogy"; "Talley’s Folly" won him the Pulitzer Prize, and “Fifth of July,” as well as “Talley and Son.”
He is said to thrive in the tradition of dramatic techniques perfected by prominent playwrights like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams; searching for compelling ethos in the examination of mundane problems of ordinary people and their families.
In 2002, Wilson decided to revise “Burn This,” bringing a successful run in New York City.
The play is comprised of two Acts, seven scenes, covering a short span of a little over two months during which Anna, played by Anne Torsiglieri, a dancer and choreographer in Manhattan, mourns the sudden accidental boating-death of her dancing partner, Robbie.
Her life becomes volatile, turned upside down by Robbie's brother, named Pale, played by Michael T. Weiss, who in his volcanic grief, barges into Anna's heart and life.
Anna's boyfriend, Burton, played by Brian Hutchison, sees Anna's devotion for him gradually erode, as if a delirious cupid was piercing his sweet fiancée's heart and the cocaine snorting, routinely drunk Pale's heart with the same arrow. Burton stands helpless. He watches Anna and Pale, succumbing to the sweet poison of common grief, bonding in reckless passion.
Robert T. Weiss’ portrayal of Pale, the intoxicated, manic, restaurant manager shaken by the lies in his brother’s life was engrossing. His performance shined with volatile vigor and extraordinary emotional resonance.
Weiss, a Chicago native, is known primarily for his acting in numerous films and television work. He starred as “Jarod” on the NBC hit, “The Pretender,” a role which challenged him to play 80 different characters.

Anne Torsiglieri plays Anna, who in sorrow, wanted safe retreat but instead, found herself dragged out to sea by a dangerous stranger’s undertow, drowning her in perilous passion.
Torsiglieri delivered a fluid, measured performance, striking the delicate balance required, showing reluctant passion checked by a clear-headed sensibility.
Torsiglieri is a Broadway veteran seen in “Miss Saigon” and the national tour of “Les Miserables.” She has also appeared in numerous off-Broadway and regional plays.
She is an alumnus of Princeton University and the Julliard School. Her television work includes; “Law & Order,” “All My Children,” and “Another World.”
Brian Hutchison plays Burton, Anna’s boyfriend. Nat DeWolf plays Anna’s roommate. Both actors gave enthusiastic, sustaining performances contributing significantly to the play.
Lanford Wilson’s script is nervy, edgy, but natural in tone. He is unafraid to work vulgarity into scenes that called for angry confrontations.
Directed by Susan Fenichell, “Burn This,” is a play brimming with exhilarating raw emotion, spilling into bawdy dialogues. It is a testament that life is not perfect, and sometimes, we are drawn like a moth to flame, to flirt with disaster.
Lanford Wilson’s admonition may well be that in life, conquer passion and you conquer the world.
(“Burn This” is at the Huntington Theatre until Dec 12th. For ticket information call 617 266-0800)
 12-6-2004: Theater page
You might have wondererd why there is a section Theater in the left hand navigation bar that stayed empty all these years.
Finally I've filled it with examples of Michael's theatre work. As you will learn he has quite a history there. :)
 12-3-2004: The Pretender out on DVD in the US
DVDs for all four seasons have been available in France for quite a while, but they don't have any special features or bonus material. But now hold on to your seats! Good news for fans from the US - our emails must have done the trick:

The Pretender - No pretend news here ... Season 1 is really coming!
by David Lambert, 12/02/2004

Jarod, a boy genius with a special gift for pretending, was kidnapped and held prisoner by a corporation that used him as a human simulator in their clandestine research. Escaping from The Centre more than 30 years later, Jarod now searches for clues to his true identity and family. He also uses his ability to quickly become an expert at anything to right wrongs and exact revenge on the wicked. All the while, Centre operatives led by Miss Parker work relentlessly to capture Jarod, and return him to the Centre. The Pretender aired for four seasons on NBC from 1996 - 2000. It was followed by two made for TV movies in 2001.

That's the synopsis from Fox's long-anticipated announcement of The Pretender - Season 1 on DVD. Set to arrive on March 15th, it will contain all episodes from the first year: Pilot, Every Picture Tells a Story, Flyer, Curious Jarod, The Paper Clock, To Serve and Protect, A Virus Among Us, Not Even a Mouse, Mirage, Better Part of Valor, Bomb Squad (a.k.a. Potato Head Blues), Prison Story, Bazooka Jarod, Ranger Jarod, Jaroldo!, Under the Reds, Keys, Unhappy Landings, Jarod's Honor, Baby Love, and The Dragon House (double-length season-ender).

In addition, look for two Featurettes and multiple Commentary Tracks as bonus features on this set, which runs around 1100 minutes and will sell for $39.98 SRP. Video is 1.33:1 full frame, and audio is English Dolby Surround, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround. Also look for subtitles in English and Spanish.

Box artwork hasn't been distributed quite yet, but we'll bring that to you just as soon as Fox Home Entertainment makes it available. Please stay tuned!
 11-29-2004: Review of Burn This from Variety
Burn This
(Boston U. Theater; 890 seats; $69 top)
A Huntington Theater Co. presentation of a play in two acts by Lanford Wilson. Directed by Susan Fenichell.

Anna - Anne Torsiglieri
Burton - Brian Hutchison
Larry - Nat DeWolf
Pale - Michael T. Weiss

By Frank Rizzo
When Lanford Wilson introduced "Burn This" in 1987, mourning was a way of life for many overwhelmed by the devastation caused by AIDS, especially in the artistic community. Though the disease is not part of Wilson's narrative (Robbie, a gay dancer, and his lover die in a boating accident), a profound ache of loss permeates the play as it explores how grief can immobilize the body and desensitize the heart.

The two leading characters -- Robbie's mysterious and mesmerizing brother Pale and Anna, who was Robbie's roommate and dance partner -- spend the play in a dance of denial. But it's clear these sad, tortured souls desperately need each other for another shot at life.

Problem is, that fact is clear to the audience a lot quicker than the 2½ hours it takes the leading characters to reach the same conclusion in the downtown loft apartment. The padding threatens to take a dynamic and defensive tango and turn it into a hip, eccentric romantic comedy of opposites attracting.

But Wilson is such an adept writer that he never quite loses our interest, even as the play goes off course. The playwright continually punches the script with sharp-eyed, wicked observations (mostly delivered by Anna and Robbie's gay roommate Larry). And Wilson has written some amazing star-turn riffs (mostly for the anti-urban, blue-collar Pale) that in the right hands can be turned into magnificent theatrical arias.

But to make this fascinating, angry, funny and flawed play work for an audience requires two actors of incendiary power and presence.

The Huntington Theater Co. production, staged by Susan Fenichell, gets one with Michael T. Weiss' dazzling and deft performance.

Weiss, best known as the star of TV's "The Pretender," makes Pale's posturing, machismo and mood swings natural and not just actor-audition bravado. In the role famously originated by John Malkovich (and played in an Off Broadway revival two years ago by Edward Norton), Weiss gives Pale an innate sexiness, humor and sensitivity that make Anna's odd attraction to him -- and later compulsions -- believable.

Weiss is compelling whenever he is onstage, and the stage seems a rather lonely place when he is not.


As Anna, Anne Torsiglieri lacks that fire within. The role itself is part of the problem. Anna begins the play wounded, confused and angry, but unlike Pale, who rages, cries, sings and recites poetry with a blaze of charisma, Anna is, well, pale by comparison; sparks don't exactly fly between the two. She also has to portray that dreaded role, the "artist," and must be convincing as a choreographer who felt she and Robbie were destined "to change the face of dance in this loft."

As Larry, Nat DeWolf nicely adds color, contrast and commentary to the proceedings. DeWolf is expert at Wilson's most delicious dialogue, tossing off the golden lines with the smooth assurance of someone who doesn't have to show the strain.

As Anna's boyfriend Burton, a wealthy screenwriter, Brian Hutchison manages to be sympathetic and appealing, but it is clear that this pleasant enough sell-out is no match for a more explosive, messy life force. (A short, clumsily staged fight between the two men is indicative of the romantic duel for Anna's affections.) For all the quirky details Wilson gives the character, Burton exists merely to provide the play with a romantic triangle and fill it out to multi-act length, but the effort is forced on both counts.

Still, "Burn This" resonates in raw and instinctive ways that often defy logic and dramaturgy. The play's final tender moments provide a sense of closure to a period of deep mourning for the characters -- and for an era -- and allow the flickering embers of life to ignite again.

Set, James Noone; costumes, Candice Donnelly; lighting, Mary Louise Geiger; sound, Drew Levy; casting, James Calleri; production stage manager, Thomas M. Kauffman; stage manager, Jason Rossman. Opened Nov. 17, 2004;
Reviewed Nov. 20. Runs through Dec. 12. Running time: 2 hours, 25 min.
© 2004 Variety, Inc., Sun., Nov. 28, 2004, 6:32pm PT
 11-29-2004: Michael out on the town
Tracked down by Inside Track, Monday, November 29, 2004:
... "The Pretender" Michael T. Weiss cramming in some crab ravioli at Grotto ... Grotto lists them on their menue for $23.
 11-28-2004: Win tickets for Burn This
Boston's WBZ NewsRadio 1030 wants to send you out for a night on the town and give you a pair of tickets to see "Burn This" at The Huntington Theatre along with dinner for two at the Capital Grille!
The contest is open to all WBZ listeners who are 18 years of age or older and who reside in the greater Boston metropolitan area.
One entry per person. Contest ends November 28, 2004.
 11-28-2004: Burn This is a hot hit
"Burn This" a hot Huntington hit, now - December 12
By Frank Avruch - Boston's man about town:

The Huntington Repertory has come up with a searing, turbulent drama to bring some heat into the current winter season. It's Lanford Wilson's updated 2002 drama on the aftershocks of a dancer's tragic death, and the emotional turmoil it inflicts on close friends and family.
The drama really erupts when actor Michael T. Weiss, in the pivotal role of Pale, bursts onto the stage midway into the first act and with his rat-a-tat delivery and sexual magnetism we know we're in for some steamy moments. This could be the breakthrough role for Mr. Weiss, who has already built a strong fan base with his role in TV's "The Pretender".
With its floor to ceiling windows, the Manhattan loft in which the tense drama unfolds is a great setting for the explosive rantings that ensue. Aside from the explosive Mr Weiss, Nat DeWolf as Anna's gay roomate Larry is hilarious, and her would-be suitor, Burton (Brian Hutchison) has some touching scenes. The sometime cynical and desperate needs of the characters for love and affection play out they all search for life's meaning, the Huntington really turns up the heat with this well-crafted piece of theatre.
Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston, (617) 266-0800
Source: Boston Man
 11-26-2004: Burn This is the critic's pick
Critic's picks - The Boston Globe - November 26, 2004
"Burn This" -- Michael T. Weiss lights up the Huntington Theatre Company main stage in Lanford Wilson's class and culture clash. Through Dec. 12. 617-266-0800; Huntington Theatre.
Ed Siegel
Source: Boston Globe
 11-26-2004: Another review of Burn This
Huntington's 'Burn This' offers lots of fireworks
By David Brooks Andrews, Standard-Times correspondent

Some plays seem as if they were written as an opportunity for actors to give colorful, exciting performances more than for what the play itself has to say.

This definitely is true of Lanford Wilson's "Burn This," which is being revived by the Huntington Theatre Company 17 years after it was produced on Broadway with John Malkovich starring as the fiery, explosive Pale. The role is being played at the Huntington by Michael T. Weiss, best known for his work in the NBC television show "The Pretender," in which he played 80 characters, a different one each week.

Mr. Weiss certainly doesn't disappoint in "Burn This" as he storms into the New York loft apartment where his gay brother Robbie lived before dying in a boating accident that occurred just before the plays opens. He thrusts himself into the life of Anna, who had been Robbie's dance partner and close friend, turning her relatively safe and comfortable world upside down.

Mr. Weiss plays Pale as a lit fuse attached to a stick of dynamite with the accelerant being cocaine, alcohol, a job as restaurant manager that's eating him up, and a 17-year marriage that's become little more than a dried husk. Mr. Weiss paces and takes over the set as if he'd been coached by Al Pacino.

And he spews out foul language. This definitely is an R-rated show. The moment he comes crashing into Anna's loft very late one night, he begins by denigrating her neighborhood. When he finally pauses long enough to take a breath, Anna interjects, "I'm sorry, do I know who you are?" The play is punctuated with many such witty, ironic lines.

Pale is the title character in the sense that he applies the imperative "Burn This" to his own life. As Mr. Wilson was working on the play, he came across the words in a letter in E.M. Forster's novel "Howards End." He wrote them at the top of each page of his script as a directive to himself to write with total passion, holding nothing back. Pale clearly has his roots in Tennessee Williams' characters, specifically Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and Tom Wingfield in "The Glass Menagerie."

"Burn This" also seems written for Larry, a gay friend of Anna's who shares the loft with her and works in an ad agency. "You don't have to talk about whores to me," he says. "I work in advertising." Larry is the comic relief in the show. More important, he's a fulcrum point for the tempestuous relationships between Anna, Pale, and Burton, Anna's boyfriend who's a successful screenwriter of films he can't even bear to watch.

Nat DeWolf brings just the right degree of swishiness to Larry -- enough to be colorful but not so much as to swamp the humanity that his character is really all about -- while delivering his lines with terrific humor. The one weakness in the way Larry's character is written is that he doesn't seem to have much of a life of his own; he's primarily Anna's friend and protector.

Anne Torsiglieri as Anna does a good job of alternately resisting and succumbing to Pale's advances, though her performance doesn't reveal as much about her character as it might. No doubt this is due partly to the fact that Anna is more acted upon than someone who acts.

The way in which Anna's attitude towards Pale turns on a dime seems somewhat unbelievable -- it's a weakness in the writing -- and director Susan Fenichell might have helped Ms. Torsiglieri define this shift with more specificity. Brian Hutchison does a good job of creating Anna's unexceptional boyfriend Burton.

In spite of providing material for some very enjoyable performances, "Burn This" is not a first-rate play. It has an expansive, somewhat shapeless quality that makes us feel like we're watching the events take place in real time.

At the heart of the play are arguments that don't have a lot of substance to them. Surely, we can accept the notion that Pale with his dangerous life style might make a more exciting lover than Burton, but not a real alternative as a life partner. That might have been more plausible in 1987, or even more so in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but not in today's ultra practical world.

And Pale's statement that he feels more with Anna than he ever has with his wife and two kids in 17 years could easily be picked apart by any amateur psychologist.

The loft space created by scenic designer James Noone is spectacular as it looks through large windows onto a fire escape. And Candice Donnelly's costumes are elegant and sexy.

The performances are often exciting; just don't ask too much of the play.

This story appeared on Page C18 of The Standard-Times on November 25, 2004.
 11-25-2004: Even more compliments for Michael in Burn This
Fire and art - Michael T. Weiss sparks Burn This
By Carolyn Clay

Burn This
By Lanford Wilson. Directed by Susan Fenichell. Set by James Noone. Costumes by Candice Donnelly. Lighting by Mary Louise Geiger. Sound by Drew Levy. With Anne Torsiglieri, Brian Hutchison, Nat DeWolf, and Michael T. Weiss. Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Boston University Theatre through December 12.

In 1987, the subtext for Burn This was the AIDS crisis; now it’s September 11. Pulitzer Prize winner Lanford Wilson’s play is about the passionate collision of mourning, creativity, and sex, its unlikely if desperately charged lovers coming together after the sudden death of a promising dancer who was the terpsichorean partner and inspiration of choreographer Anna and the younger brother of coked-up lit-match-of-a-restaurant-manager Pale.

The play, an artfully constructed dance itself, would be more buyable if it remained a smart, tender Manhattan parable about how acknowledging our most primitive feelings, including grief and sex, can burst artistic floodgates. Instead, it turns sentimental toward the end, its mismatched lovers weeping into each other’s hair and appearing about to pick out china together. But at its best, the overlong work offers both wit and sizzle. And at the Huntington Theatre Company, it’s built on a fire-licked performance by Michael T. Weiss, who as Pale injects a heavy dose of Al Pacino into the showy role originally essayed on Broadway by John Malkovich. A 2002 Signature Theatre Company revival that featured Edward Norton and Catherine Keener among its quartet of actors is said to have gone for soul and a more balanced ensemble. The Huntington staging, though generally well acted, gives Weiss’s electrifying Pale free rein.

When writing the then-untitled play, Wilson is said to have inscribed "Burn this" at the top of every page, encouraging himself to be "bone honest" in the writing. Wealthy screenwriter Burton, who is Anna’s safer lover, says the way to create art is to "make it personal, tell the truth, and then write ‘Burn this’ on it." Indeed, the play begins with the flicker of a cigarette and ends with the roasting of a note — a matchmaking missive from the play’s fourth character, witty if jaded adman Larry, who having realized the guardedness of his own life morphs into a Will and Grace take on Cupid. On its romantic if arch surface, Burn This rubs together a hopped-up Heathcliff and a workaholic-twinkle-toes Cathy to spark fire. But underneath, this late-’80s play is a comment on isolated if cheek-by-jowl urban lives in a world where sexual contact may be comforting but deadly.

The Huntington revival, directed by Susan Fenichell, balances the excesses and the sophistication of the piece on a terrific set by James Noone that captures both the drama and the grime of the high-windowed industrial loft space shared by Anna and Larry, whose other roommate, Robbie, has been killed in a needless boating accident with his boyfriend. Anna, having lived through the marathon working-class-New-Jersey-family funeral (at which she was perceived as the grieving girlfriend), is devastated by how little his kin knew her beloved Robbie. None of them even saw him dance, she notes several times, with plaintive incredulity.

Anna, Larry, and Burton have been working through their shock and their bereavement when, a month after the funeral, a lurching, caterwauling midnight visit brings the drunken, agitated Pale — who looks like Robbie — to the apartment, ostensibly to pick up his brother’s things. Bristling like his sideburned coif, raging that the neighborhood has "crotch rot," threatening to burst at the heart or stomach, sobbing into a wadded expensive jacket, and toting a handgun in his pocket (he isn’t just glad to see her), this hyperkinetic, wounded emissary from another world triggers some deep desire in Anna. Perhaps in the wake of death, she’s attracted by so much exploding, careering life — which Weiss (of the NBC series The Pretender) makes dangerous, comical, and beckoning all at once.

Pale’s more urbane assaultees are well played at the Huntington — though Wilson arms them with sparklers and Pale with the arsenal of a suicide bomber. Anne Torsiglieri is a grounded yet bereft, emotionally fluid Anna. Brian Hutchison makes likable the stiff albeit artistically reaching Burton. And Nat DeWolfe, last seen at the Huntington carrying a severed head in a hatbox in Betty’s Summer Vacation, is an adorable Larry, wrapping his loneliness in gay stereotype and lobbing the snappiest lines with aplomb. The production supplies the right atmosphere, too, from the tumult of flashing lights beyond the fire escape to Candice Donnelly’s apt costumes, which include slinky formal wear, casual sweats, and even a Japanese "happy coat" worthy of ’80s Peter Sellars.

Burn This is not the "passionate modern classic" the Huntington thinks it is — though it’s curious that Boston had never seen a major professional production of the play. But as the Bard says, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Here the thrusting comes in the form of the expertly controlled, quicksilver chaos of Michael T. Weiss.

Issue Date: November 26 - December 2, 2004
 11-24-2004: More compliments for Michael in Burn This
The reviews are getting hotter by the moment!

Burn, baby, burn
By Jim Sullivan, Globe Staff - November 24, 2004

Go! saw the fabulously Brando-esque Michael T. Weiss playing Pale (a.k.a Jimmy) in Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" at the Huntington Theatre last week and immediately thought: This is our new role model! Drunk, disheveled (yet stylish), overheated, packin' heat, violent, unwittingly funny, profane (in an Al Pacino in "Scarface" kind of way), cynically romantic, exploitative, arrogant, sardonic. Then Go!'s companion gently suggested that while she, too, loved the character and Weiss's portrayal, he was not a role model. Sometimes we get confused that way. It happened when we heard Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer," too, way back when. But, lordy, this is a good 'un -- dark and volatile and funny as all get-out.
It starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $14-$69. (It runs through Dec. 12, but there's no show tomorrow because you're eating turkey, watching football, and napping all day. It's the American way.) 264 Huntington Ave., 617-266-0800.
Source: Boston Globe
 11-24-2004: Schedule changes of Burn This
Regular schedule: Tuesday 7:30pm / Wednesday 7:30pm / Thursday 7:30pm / Friday 8:00pm / Saturday 2:00pm & 8:00pm / Sunday 2:00pm & 7:00pm

Schedule changes:
No performance Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 25.
No Sunday, 7pm shows on December 5 and 12.
Additional performances Wednesdays, 2pm on December 1 and 8 only.
Source: TheaterMania
 11-23-2004: Another rave review of Burn This
A fire fueled by powerful emotions
By Debbie Forman, Staff writer, November 21, 2004

The first act does burn, full of heat and temper, angst and anger. But the second act of Lanford Wilson's 1987 "Burn This" takes a sharp turn and becomes rather sweet and poignant, winsome and wistful. The mood is so different, you almost feel the second act is a separate play. But perhaps you need the storm of those earlier scenes as a contrast to the calm at the end.

When the play opens, Anna is mourning the death of her dance partner and roommate Robbie. Her anger at his untimely drowning death explodes. She is furious with everyone, especially his family, who, she can hardly believe, never saw him dance, and, even worse, doesn’t even want to know about it. Robbie was a "brilliant" dancer and all his life’s possibilities have now become impossible.

When Robbie’s brother, Pale, blows into Anna’s loft apartment, his frenzy of frustration and guilt, makes her emotion look small. Fueled by booze and drugs, Pale storms at everything. He hates the city, the parking problems, the view of the river from the loft, and, perhaps most of all, his brother’s homosexuality, clearly an embarrassment to him and his family. Despite Pale’s fury, Anna is attracted to him. Perhaps she sees in Pale what she loved about Robbie, and with Pale, a sexual relationship is possible. So the two ignite in a powerful emotion. But the next morning, Pale, married with children, goes off, and Anna nonchalantly acts the liberated woman and contains her feelings.

In the second act, Anna and Pale come to terms with their grief. She begins to choreograph a new dance, and he finally settles down into a likeable guy, who knows how to cook and has other redeemable traits. And, we find out, his marriage has been bad for years.

Susan Fenichell directs this Huntington Theatre Company production with a vibrant understanding of the power of love and hate. Although the outpouring of emotion in the first act feels somewhat self-indulgent, after the second act, you begin to appreciate its necessity as the process that brings you to the heartfelt peace of the play’s conclusion. Wilson – who also wrote "The Hot l Baltimore, "Fifth of July" and "Tally’s Folly" – is known for his strong narrative work that emphasizes the poignancy of human emotion. Although, he takes a while to get to this point in "Burn This," he does leave you feeling the pathos in the relationship between Anna and Pale.

Michael T. Weiss is likely to blow you away with his powerful portrayal of Pale. He wildly takes over the stage in the first act, bellowing his anger and disappointment. He seems a selfish bully; you don’t like him and wonder what Anna sees in him. But in the second act, the gentleness and yearning he brings to the role win you over. It is a multifaceted performance of great depth.

Anne Torsiglieri plays Anna with a sensitive awareness of her character’s ambivalence and confusion. We understand Anna’s pain at her loss and her struggle for achievement. She could take the easy road and marry her rich boyfriend, Burton, but instead she falls for the angst-ridden, uncontrollable Pale.

Nat DeWolf is terrific as Anna’s gay roommate Larry, who is a wry commentator on the sultry scene before him. DeWolf brings humor to the play with his deadpan comments. He is the voice of reason without being judgmental, and is perhaps the most likeable of the characters. Brian Hutchison is engaging as Burton, the almost perfect guy you’re rooting for to win the love of Anna.

James Noone's set of a spare and untidy New York loft captures the unsettled mood of this disaffected foursome.

Although the play exudes the restiveness of the 1980s, it doesn’t seem very far away from our own time. The emotions portrayed are real and, we humans are eternally wrestling with those same irrationalities and difficult choices.
 11-22-2004: Another review of Burn This
Embers vs. Flames
By R. J. Donovan, 11/20/04

"Burn This", at the Huntington through December 12, is Lanford Wilson’s drama about a dancer’s tragic death and the turmoil it inflicts on friends and family.

First staged in the late 80's by New York's Circle Rep (which Wilson co-founded), "Burn This" is the story of Anna, a choreographer who lives in a New York City loft with two gay friends -- Larry, an ad exec, and Robbie, her gifted dance partner. Rounding out her life is her boyfriend, Burton, a privileged screenwriter.

Prior to the curtain, Robbie has been killed in a boating accident and Anna has attended the funeral, where she was swamped by his family. A huge family, in fact, most of whom did not know really know who he was, had not been in touch with him in years and had never seen him dance. At the services, Anna (Anne Torsiglieri) has been treated as the grieving widow, either in a refusal to acknowledge Robbie's homosexuality or an outright ignorance of who he really was.

Enter Pale (Michael Weiss), Robbie's rough-edged Stanley Kowalski-kind-of brother, who barges into the loft in the middle of the night to collect the meager possessions of the deceased.

Sparks fly. But Anna, who fills her life with work, wants no part of him -- in fact, she's afraid of him. He's the antithesis of her adored Robbie, yet she winds up with him by the final curtain. And the amount of time it takes to get to that ending is lengthy, despite its inevitability.

Michael Weiss, who has the perfect look and sound for the role of the erotic, overbearing Pale, doesn't strut as much as shoot around frenetically. He's dangerous, enraged and in everyone's face. Yet despite the macho braggadocio, there's a muddled, confused vulnerability that eventually surfaces.

Pale is a study in contrasts. He’s the tough guy with a gun, but he’s so detached, he loses it. He’s a homophobic bully, yet his hands fly and flutter when he speaks. He’s repulsed at having seen a picture of his brother’s same-sex partner flaunted in a magazine, yet he nonchalantly dons a woman’s lavender robe as he fusses in the kitchen making a pot of tea (actually scalding the pot first).


Brian Hutchinson is Burton, the guy who’s hardly had to work at life only to realize that his safe relationship with Anna was never going to prove satisfying for either one of them.

And as Larry, Nat DeWolf has some of the funniest lines in the play, touching on everything from Jerry Falwell and Opera Queens to corporate Christmas cards and gay New Year's Eve parties.

Director Susan Fenichell forces the first act to the point that the actors (particularly Torsiglieri) deliver their lines at a feverish pitch. As a result, some of the early monologues that are meant to provide character insight appear stiff and strained. The story and characters spin around one another with manic determination for almost an hour before finally settling in around the time Pale has an emotional meltdown.

In the end, there are four competent performances that might flame brightly if they connected more vividly. Right now, “Burn This” displays passion more than it creates it.

"Burn This" is at The Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue in Boston, through December 12. For information, call 617-266-0800 or log onto Huntington Theatre.
 11-21-2004: Another review of Burn This
'Burn This' has smoke, no fire
By Terry Byrne, Friday, November 19, 2004

Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" explodes with passion. Out of the embers comes an honesty and fearlessness that is breathtaking.

The Huntington Theatre Company's current production smolders and sparks, but this talented company hasn't yet generated enough friction to make the explosions knock our socks off.

Individually, the actors deliver strong performances, but director Susan Fenichell hasn't found a way to bring each of the flames together to create the necessary blaze.

Nat DeWolf as Larry, the play's observer and conscience, creates the most complete balance of reliable anchor and vulnerable outsider. Spinning in a dangerously unstable orbit around Larry are Anna (Anne Torsiglieri), her boyfriend Burton (Brian Hutchison) and Pale (Michael T. Weiss), the brother of Larry and Anna's friend Robbie.

The death of Robbie and his lover Dom in a freak boating accident has shaken Anna out of her protected shell, forcing her to confront feelings about her creative potential and her willingness to open herself up to someone else. Robbie had been her mentor, encouraging her to make the leap from dancer to choreographer and sharing a living-working loft with her and Larry. Torsiglieri delivers much of Anna's insecurity about her gift, but we never really feel her loss for her friend or her sense of being adrift without him.

As Burton, Hutchison is appropriately self-absorbed, but he needs a little more dash and swagger to convince us he's the rich boy more comfortable hiding behind his screenplays' sci-fi characters rather than writing about things that might explore a more nebulous world of love and connections.

Into this slightly stiff, formal dance of relationships comes Pale, blowing in like a tornado, so out of control you can almost see the trail of debris he leaves in his wake. Weiss is all over the place, waving his arms, tearing at his hair, pulling at his clothes, "flicking myself into little pieces" over his brother's death.

Pale, whose nickname comes from the V.S.O.P. cognac he favors, struggles with his feelings of guilt over his distance from his gay brother and his own macho posturing. Weiss brings all of the character's boundless energy to bear, but he has some trouble bringing out Pale's calmer, more subtle moments and his aching vulnerability.

When Pale meekly makes a pot of tea dressed in Anna's lavender-flowered bathrobe in Act II, he appears as a tamed beast who's unleashed the rage in everyone around him. It's an appropriate transformation, and Weiss carries it off with aplomb, but it feels awkward because Torsiglierihasn't made her own moth-to-the-flame attraction to him as believable as it should be.

Playwright Wilson allows his language to take flight, offering each of his characters the opportunity to soar with monologues about the cynicism of the movie business, the tragic nature of love, the mad family ritual of wakes and funerals, and the fleeting nature of life itself.

Ultimately, although Wilson pushes buttons of lust, freedom, guilt and vulnerability, Fenichell never manages to allow her actors to do more than circle each other. "This isn't opera, this is life," Larry says - but this production of "Burn This" is missing the operatic exuberance of an ensemble willing to throw caution to the wind.

Burn This, presented by the Huntington Theatre Company, Boston, through Dec. 12
 11-19-2004: Wonderful review of Burn This
A really nice review from the Boston Globe, as being compared to the likes of Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro is really something:

In the search for passion, this 'Burn' makes its mark
By Ed Siegel, Globe Staff - November 19, 2004

If the Huntington Theatre Company folks wanted to raise some easy money, they'd start making copies of Michael T. Weiss's TV series "The Pretender" and sell them in the lobby. Given how people at the opening-night audience were swooning over Weiss, they would probably pay any price for the opportunity to take Weiss home with them, even if only on DVD.

And for good reason. Weiss takes over the Huntington stage to such a degree in Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" that any time he is not inside the Manhattan loft, you keep waiting for him to burst through to make another pass at Anna, a seemingly self-sufficient dancer. And as unlikely a romantic hero as his loutish character Pale may be, it's more than likely you'll be rooting for him not to leave by play's end.

Wilson has crafted a surprisingly entertaining, if somewhat shopworn, piece out of a play whose title seems to imply a personal or political inferno in the making, particularly when Pale declares that his normal temperature is 110 degrees and that one of the things he likes is to watch whole cities burning. The title refers to any number of things, but mostly to a desire, no matter how damped down, for Anna and Pale to burst through their urban alienation as well as their half-lives of cynicism (he) and comfort (she) and to find some real passion.

How do they get together in the first place? Before the play opens, Pale's brother, also a dancer, had been Anna's roommate until he was killed in a boating accident. He was young, gifted, and gay, which sets up a certain amount of tension, as well as more than a fair amount of humorous banter between Pale and another gay roommate, Larry. The other character, Burton, is a writer in love with Anna, and is someone who would be a thoroughly safe choice for her.

Weiss's character is definitely not safe, though one suspects he's less dangerous than John Malkovich's version in the original production. You can see a lot of Pacino in Weiss's dismissiveness of anything arty as unmanly. And there's a bit of De Niro in his macho yet vulnerable way of not knowing whether to strike out or reach out.

The Huntington has assembled a superb design team under Susan Fenichell's brisk direction. The loft (James Noone), the clothes (Candice Donnelly), and the ambience (aided by Mary Louise Geiger's lighting) all strike just the right effect.

The play's opening, both the dialogue and the acting, seems overly mannered. Anne Torsiglieri, as Anna, seems straining to reach the back row. After a while, though, it becomes more enjoyable to stop wondering about Weiss's influences and to just enjoy his first-rate acting. Torsiglieri, meanwhile, lowers the volume and raises the heat, and the delightful Nat DeWolf, as Larry, keeps his body stiff while gesticulating with his hands, keeps things gay in both senses of the word. Actually, "Burn This" might be a bit too merry. While Weiss is so good you stop comparing him to other people, Wilson's writing is never so original that you stop wondering where you've seen the story before. There are echoes of Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo," especially because of the Huntington's production last May. And you can trace the working-class bad boy meets middle- or upper-class good girl story line from "Lady Chatterley's Lover" (and before) to "Cheers" (and after).

These are all good sources, and at his best Wilson does seem to be picking up where Williams left off. But for the most part, for all of Wilson's literary ambitions, it's not clear that "Burn This" is much more than a great, extended episode of "Cheers" -- with Sam in Diane's territory rather than vice-versa. The one-liners would not have been out of place on that show; nor does Wilson go much beyond the premise, despite the blue notes of alienation and the Mamet-like use of certain words.

This is live theater, though, and the sparks that fly between Weiss and Torsiglieri are not easily replicated on film. You keep rooting for these characters to go for the gold. If Wilson's play only merits a silver, that's not too bad, either.

Ed Siegel can be reached at siegel@globe.com
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
Source: Boston Globe
 11-18-2004: More promotional photos of Burn This
In time for yesterday's premiere, the Huntington Theatre Company has released several promotion photos of the cast of Burn This, all taken on stage. In case you are still undecided whether you'll travel to Boston, these photos might help you make up your mind! Enjoy!
 11-13-2004: Pomotional photos of Burn This
Two promotion photos of Michael - one in character - have emerged now. Enjoy! [Password = Pretender]
"Ask Dr. Mike" has sent a good luck bouquet of flowers for the first night. So even as I (like most of his fans) can't be there, Michael should know that he has moral support from afar.
 11-12-2004: Michael opens in Burn This tonight!
A really nice interview with the Boston Globe:

Burning man - Michael Weiss turns up the heat in an incendiary play
By Catherine Foster, Globe Staff - November 12, 2004

The first thing you notice about Michael T. Weiss, who plays the volatile, edgy Pale in Lanford Wilson's "Burn This," is how perfect his voice is for the role. Part smoker's rasp (though he's not a smoker), part fog horn, it's voice as cudgel.

Weiss, primarily a film and television actor perhaps best known for playing Jarod in the NBC series "The Pretender," seems to have the presence for the role, at least in person. Add to the voice the tousled hair, the three-day stubble, the lean, rangy body, and you've got an actor who seems tailor-made to play Pale, one of the sexiest, most dangerous characters to command the stage since Stanley Kowalski bellowed "Stella!" in "A Streetcar Named Desire."

In "Burn This," which begins previews at Huntington Theatre tonight, Pale shows up at the New York loft where his brother, Robbie, a gay dancer, lived with roommates Anna and Larry. Robbie has recently died in a boating accident, and Pale shows up to collect his clothes. He walks in and starts shooting his mouth off about the neighborhood, potholes, parking, and it escalates from there. His presence is alarming, to put it mildly.

On a recent sunny morning, Weiss is sitting with a reporter in a tiny coffee room at the Huntington Theatre. An assistant comes in and starts making coffee for the cast and crew. Weiss asks him if he could hold off a bit. He was nice about it, but definite. The guy left.

Pale is very complicated, Weiss says. "He wants desperately to be understood. He's an intellectual and an artist trapped in a blue-collar New Jersey body. He feels the world in an extremely passionate way. I think he's pained by the amount he feels."

Pale's intrusion into the lives of the two roommates sends everyone's life on a new trajectory, particularly Anna's. A dancer-turned-choreographer whose biological clock is running, she's on the verge of making a commitment to her perfectly acceptable if unthrilling boyfriend. And her creative juices dried up when Robbie died. All that changes when Pale walks in. Ka-bam!

Weiss is fascinated by the situation the play poses: "We have a visceral, emotional gut attraction to what's dangerous, with people you're not supposed to be with, because on paper they're not the right match for you, but the gut, the heart, the loins are all saying 'This is the one, this is the one.' Everything else is saying, 'No, not the one. Not the proper material.' And which one do you listen to?"

This guy knows where he stands on the subject: He'll go with the gut any time.

The 42-year-old actor is no stranger to playing on-the-edge guys; his film career is studded with them: among them, a perverted drug addict in the Oliver Stone-produced "Freeway," a corrupt cop in "Bones," with Pam Grier and Snoop Dogg. He's been on the soaps "Dark Shadows" and "Malibu Road." He also played a gay lover in the film "Jeffrey," based on Paul Rudnick's play of the same name. "The Pretender," which ran from 1996 to 2000, gave him a chance to play all kinds of characters -- a new one every week.

"I think I had one of the best roles on television," Weiss says. "Every week it was a new wardrobe and a new set; it was like doing a movie every week. I got to play 80 characters."

Weiss started relatively young as an actor. Growing up in Chicago, he began studying acting at the Chicago comedy troupe Second City when he was in high school.

He was selected to train at the University of Southern California, where his classmates included such actors as Forest Whitaker, Ally Sheedy, and Anthony Edwards.

"I did a lot of theater in those days, and then I got ... what's the word ... on the road of film and television," Weiss says. "I didn't want to say 'sidetracked' because I do love to work in front of the camera, but I love the theater and it's a treat to be back on the stage again."

It's been several years since he performed onstage, and in "Burn This," Weiss has some big shoes to fill. John Malkovich, who originated the role of Pale in 1987, was regarded as an incendiary scenery-chewer, impossible not to watch. Weiss saw him in the original production at the Mark Taper Forum.

"I was blown away by what he did," Weiss says. But he has no plans to copy Malkovich's vision.

Director Susan Fenichell, who's worked at numerous regional theaters, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and Seattle's Intiman Theatre, says she wasn't worried about Weiss's lack of recent stage experience; the fact that he had theatrical training and good early experience onstage was enough for her.

"He's a lovely actor, incredibly spontaneous and incredibly precise at the same time," she says. "He's constantly exploring; there's not a lazy bone in his body. He's rigorous."

So, in keeping with one of the play's themes, she's taken the risk. "As is often the case, the death that precedes the story propels everybody into uncharted territory," she says. "It's a play about looking inside and seeing where you are and being bold enough, or not, to step up to that moment and do what you need to do, even if it's dangerous or risky."

Weiss says he loves the play and how contemporary it feels.

"When you work on it, you see that it's so poignant about how people have trouble committing to relationships, how our careers become more important than our relationships, how we're holding out for this perfect thing and it might never come. The play was written in the '80s and I think it really holds true now."

Catherine Foster can be reached at foster@globe.com

Burn This begins previews tonight, opens Nov. 17, and runs through Dec. 12 at the Huntington Theatre. Huntington Theatre Company, 264 Huntington Ave. Tickets: 617-266-0800.
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
Source: Boston Globe
 11-6-2004: Michael on stage in Burn This in Boston
Fans, our wishes were heard! Michael returns to stage - on the stage!
He will appear as Pale, a brooding working-class restaurateur (a part that John Malkovich originated in 1987) in Lanford Wilson's Burn This, alongside Anne Torsiglieri as Anna, Brian Hutchinson as Burton, and Nat DeWolf as Larry, directed by Susan Fenichell, in the Huntington Theatre Company's production, which begins a monthlong run on November 12 at the Boston University Theatre, on the grounds of the Northeastern University.
About the play: The title refers to letters too painful to contemplate for long. Burn This is about the pain of loss, the pain of love, and the cost in pain to be a great artist. It is both larger in implication and more personal than previous plays by Wilson. Yet it is also typical, in that it is about a tightly knit family-like group into which an outsider comes. The center of the play is Anna, a dancer, whose partner has died accidently, who must grieve and get on with her art. The catalyst character is the dead man's brother, Pale, a wild man in his passionate grief, and the center of cyclonic emotions for Anna and her friends. Anna creates an important ballet out of her agony, and Pale brings her to love.
Performance Times: Evenings: Tuesday - Thursday, 7:30pm (except November 25) ; Friday and Saturday, 8:00pm ; Sundays, 7pm (except December 5 and 12)
Matinees: Saturdays and Sundays, 2pm (except November 13 and 14) ; Wednesday, 2pm (December 1 and 8 only)
Club Nights: Designed for theatregoers aged 35 and under and for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities, special Huntington sponsored nights provide an opportunity to mingle with fellow theatregoers and participating members of the artistic team or cast at a pre- or post- show reception (free with purchase of tickets) ; Night Club: for theatregoers 35 and under: Thursday, November 18, after 7:30pm performance ; Out & About Club for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Communities: Wednesday, December 1, 7:30pm performance, with a pre-show reception at 6 p.m.
Actors Forums: Members of the Burn This cast will appear after the show to answer questions from the audience: Thursday, November 23, following the 7:30pm performance, and on Wednesday, December 8, after the 2pm matinee.
Burn This, Nov. 12-Dec. 12 at the Huntington Theatre Company's Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA. Tickets, $14-$69, are available at the box office or by calling 617-266-0800. Ticket sales have already begun.
Boston? Hm, does this mean he might film scenes for "Crossing Jordan" on location during his days there?
 10-28-2004: Michael in St. Louis
Michael didn't attend any of the recent festival screenings of "Until the Night", but it seems that he is a baseball fan, as he was spotted in St. Louis obviously because of the Boston Red Sox v/s the St. Louis Cardinals:
... Michael T. Weiss of "The Pretender" fame and Kirk Hammett of Metallica dining at blu ...
BTW: The Red Sox won 3-0.
 9-28-2004: Next screenings of Until The Night at 5 filmfestivals - Updated!
According to its director Gregory Hatanka, Until the Night will next be shown at the Silverlake Film Festival (Sept. 23 - 30, 2004) in Los Angeles, CA on Sunday Sept. 26 at 7:45pm at Arclight Cinemas, Theatre #13 on 6360 Sunset Blvd. (one block west of Vine).

Next at the San Diego Film Festival (Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, 2004) on Thursday Sept. 30 at 10:00pm, at The Pacific Gaslamp 15 Theatres, corner of 5th & G Street in the historic Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, CA. See full schedule.
Immediately following the credits, many directors and/or actors will be present for a Q&A session, so stay in your seat. They are usually excited to share their experiences with the audience, so don't be nervous to ask. No word if this note also means the director and actors of UTN ...

Until the Night will also be shown at the 2nd Annual Idaho International Film Festival in Boise, ID (Sept. 30 – Oct. 3, 2004), on Friday Oct. 1 at 9:15pm, at The Boise Centre on the Grove, and again on Sunday Oct. 3 at 9:15pm at The Flicks, both in downtown Boise. See full schedule.
The delegates will introduce their films and appear onstage in post-screening Q&A sessions to discuss their works with the audience. Norman Reedus will be in attendance for UTN.

Then at the 27th Starz Denver International Film Festival in Denver, CO (Oct. 27 – 24, 2004), on Friday Oct. 15 at 9:45pm and again on Saturday Oct. 16 at 7:15pm, at the Starz Film Center, SFC#2, at the Tivoli, on the corner of 9th & Auraria Parkway. See full schedule.
Director Gregory Hatanka and Norman Reedus will attend.

And finally at the 12th Annual Hampton's International Film Festival in East Hampton, Eastern Long Island, NY (Oct. 20 - 24, 2004), on Friday Oct. 22 at 1:30pm, at the United Artists Theatre #5 in the center of East Hampton. See full schedule.

Screening schedules, party times and party locations of these festivals are now online, and tickets are already on sale.
I still have no idea if all festivals will have Q&As, or if Michael will attend any of these festivals, let alone screenings of UTN or social events. But I'm still working on it!
 9-9-2004: Review of Until The Night from Variety
Until the Night

A Pathfinder Pictures presentation. Produced by Taka Arai. Executive producers, Shinichi Fujiki, Kaido Yamada, David Kuff. Co-producer, Norith Soth. Directed, written by Gregory Hatanaka.

Robert - Norman Reedus
Beth - Kathleen Robertson
Mina - Missy Crider
Karina - Sarah Lassez
Daniel - Michael T. Weiss
Michael - Matthew Settle
Cosma - Sean Young
Cynthia - Aimee Graham
David - Boyd Kestner

by Robert Koehler
Love flits by and vanishes like headlights on the Hollywood freeway in Gregory Hatanaka's personal but muddied first feature, "Until the Night." The collapse of two Los Angeles couples' lives is studied under Hatanaka's deliberately claustrophobic lens, but the filmmaking lacks the precision to create a thoroughly convincing or bracing experience. More stylistically radical than most Yank pics on the fest track, this intimate drama will need lusty critical support to boost visibility.
Hatanaka has publicly declared his intention was to make a Cassavetes film, and the influence of the pioneering actor-director's concerns for intimate emotions, male-female impasses and wide-ranging improv sequences are unmistakable. Another unacknowledged influence is surely Hou Hsiao-hsien (particularly "Millennium Mambo" and "Goodbye South, Goodbye"); shooting strategy in mini DV (with d.p. Yasu Yanida) that trains long lenses on each actor and then follows them around as they move is initially exciting to watch, suggesting what a Hou film set in the U.S. might look like.
It's a method, though, that can only be sustained with exceptional actors and potent moods, and neither surfaces in "Night." Training his amateur vid camera on g.f. Mina (Missy Crider), Robert (Norman Reedus) tries to probe with his toy what he can't seem to do with his heart. Business exec Beth (Kathleen Robertson) has a more destructive relationship with her constantly unemployed actor-beau Daniel (Michael T. Weiss), whose drive places him in the Type C male category. Mina thinks Robert has an "unhealthy fascination" with female actors, while Daniel correctly deems himself a failure. These are two couples whose expiration date is yesterday.
Beth runs into Robert after a brief fling with a co-worker (Boyd Kestner). Revelations that they broke off a relationship three years prior is a bit neat, but also seals the film's sense of people in a big city who are isolated from the rest of the world.
Hatanaka allows his actors to explore a scene, which would be thrilling with more exploratory actors. Reedus reveals a man without a compass, but not for a moment does his Robert seem the sort who would have ever attracted either Mina or Beth. Robertson and Crider are more willing than able to accomplish pic's adventurous mission. Sean Young appears in a brief, somewhat pointless scene as a Hollywood party host and apparent mother figure to Robert.
Lensing confirms that image resolution, always a problem in vid, has notably improved in latest generation of small digital cameras. Sound recording and mix were rough in the print digitally projected in screening for American Cinematheque's Alternative Screen series.
Camera (color, Mini DV), Yasu Yanida; editor, Chisako Yokoyama; music, Colin Chin; costume designer, Whitney Galitz; makeup, Akiko Matsumoto; sound (Dolby Digital), Alexander Arai; line producer, David Russell; assistant director, Chris Chan Lee; casting, Christa Hamilton.
Reviewed at Egyptian Theater, Los Angeles, Aug. 26, 2004. (In Cinevegas Film Festival.) Running time: 87 min.
© 2004 Variety, Inc., Thurs., Sep. 2, 2004, 6:14pm PT
 9-7-2004: Photos taken at the Q&A after Until The Night at the Egyptian Theater
Kelly and Mercy kindly provided photos they had taken at the event (See also: 8-30-2004). You can enjoy them here! Doesn't he look yummy??
She has also written a report about her adventures in Los Angeles posted at this MTW Group. See messages #1571 - 1573.
You can read the transcript of the Q&A in the Specials section.
 8-30-2004: Transcript of the Q&A after Until The Night at the Egyptian Theater
My US correspondent Kelly DeWitt was able to make it to the screening and the Q&A of Until the Night at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, CA on August 26, 2004. She took notes, and now kindly provided a transcript of this Q&A.
You can read it in the Specials section.
The whole Q&A lasted about 30 mins, and you have to excuse possible typos or misquotes – some names she couldn't make out and sometimes the sound was just ruined by someone moving around or by other noise so she'd miss a word or whole sentence.
Michael sounds gorgeous as ever, voice clear and deep and resonant each time he speaks. He looked gorgeous, a bit rumpled, but alert and interested in everything and everyone...). Oh, btw, as all were leaving the theatre, Michael ended up following Kelly and other two fans into the lobby. Kelly held the door for him, like a real "Gentleman". One of the other fans turned and asked him a question about the movie and what projects he has coming up and he mentioned that in about two weeks he may have a series or something happening... He was coy about it and wouldn't give any more details, probably still in negotiations or??
 8-29-2004: Campaign for a 3rd Pretender movie
This article at PRWeb made me aware of the new fan campaign for a 3rd Pretender movie:

Pretender Fans Persist - Fans of the tv series The Pretender are not letting go of their hopes for at least one more movie--the proof is in the latest fan campaign: Campaign TPM: Third Pretender movie.
(PRWEB) August 21, 2004 -- Campaign TPM: Third Pretender Movie
A new fan campaign is being initiated to mobilize the fans and get the attention of the so-called PTBs: NBC, TNT and even FOX. According to fans, the PTBs have consistently ignored their pleas for more from the thrilling series, The Pretender. The series which played on NBC for four seasons was picked up by TNT after its cancellation. TNT now airs re-runs of the show and also made two TV movies which left fans begging for more answers.
Therefore they have decided to start a more consistent and targetted email and snail-mail campaign together with a fan petition in which they will pledge to donate funds towards a third and final Pretender movie. The new petition is tentatively titled "Calling One Million Pretender Fans," because it is hoped they will have 1 million pledges at the end of it. The new campaign involves soliciting the help of Oprah with the "Harpo Hookup" as well. It seems this time the fans are determined to get results. The campaign website has been launched and fans are being urged to visit and comment on the proposed petition before it goes online.
Fans are also determined to have some control over the outcome of a third movie when it is made, namely to have Jarod and Miss Parker (played by Michael T. Weiss and Andrea Parker; Andrea is currently on ABC's Less Than Perfect) continue to explore their relationship. The self-titled "shipper" fans were not happy with the "almost-kiss" that happened in the last movie, Island of the Haunted. With this new campaign, Pretender fans are in ground-breaking territory-never before have fans ever united to fund the production of a program of their choosing. They may well be pioneers if they succeed in controlling what they want to see. The idea for Campaign TPM came from one fan who pragmatically suggested there must be at least one million fans willing to pay for one more Pretender movie.

-----------------------

This means frequently contacting NBC, TNT and FOX who share the rights on the show. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Mailing addresses and more information about the campaign can be found at Campaign TPM.
If you want to do even more, and are able and willing to help with financing the movie, you can sign this Petition.
 8-26-2004: The Pretender Movies on DVD in France
A French distributor is currently preparing The Pretender movies for their release on DVD in December.
As a bonus, fans can ask the writers Craig Van Sickle & Steven Long Mitchell questions, some of which will be included on the DVDs. The questions - either in French or in English - should posted at Jarod's Friends Le Forum. So think of some good and unique ones. Deadline for posting is September 1st.
 8-25-2004: Pretender DVDs in France
Seasons 3 and 4 of The Pretender will be released in France on DVD on September 7. Each season is divided into two boxes, and each of them costs about 40 Euros + shipping. Amazon.fr and DVDZone, amongst other French on-line shops will carry them.
 8-18-2004: Sledge
There were rumors floating around that the feature length version of "Sledge: The Story of Frank Sledge" might have its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September.
However, its producer Todd Grossman put an end to the speculations:
Evi,
SLEDGE will unfortunately not be finished by the Toronto film festival. We actually had an updated screening of the new cut last week are all very excited about it. The final cut will be done soon and we'll have our premiere locked at that time. I appreciate your excitement about it's release, it'll be out there soon I promise.
Todd Grossman
SLEDGE, Producer
 8-12-2004: Update on Iowa and a photo
Today I've received an email from Full Fathom 5, the production company of Iowa with some long awaited information about the movie, and an even more awaited photo of Michael:
We received your letter regarding Mr. Weiss. The movie is shortly going to be distributed. Information on the film's release will be available on Imdb or the new Iowa website once it is finished.
Mr. Weiss is fabulous in the film and it is truly unlike any character Michael has ever played before. Since you are such a loyal fan I am sure you will be amazed with his work more so than ever before.
Full Fathom 5 LLC Public relations.


A short description of the movie:
In southern rural Iowa a young man native to the small town he lives in gets tired of being poor and wants to figure out a way to get out of town. His fathers unexpected death leaves him with the possibility of a 200 hundred thousand dollar insurance policy. After not receiving the policy for flakey reasons he slides into a world of methamphetamine addiction with his girlfriend. They become small time cooks and dealers and soon find the mystique of fast money and drugs is a façade that hides the problems the real world is creating for them outside they're fantasy.
Michael T. Weiss plays Larry Clarkson, a crooked Midwestern probation officer who uses and abuses his power for his own sadistic egoistical pleasure. This is a deviation from any other character Michael has portrayed and is truly a breakout role for him as a film star.
And thanks to Nex' work, here is the promised photo. Enjoy :)))
 8-8-2004: Next screening of Until the Night at the American Cinematheque
American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre presents ...
Thursday, August 26 - 7:30 PM Alternative Screen Independent Film Showcase
Sneak Preview! UNTIL THE NIGHT 2004, 90 min., USA. Directed & Written by Gregory Hatanaka. "One of the most mature, devastating and challenging films to come along. The film will recall the emotional minefield of John Cassavetes' "Faces"...hardly derivative; it is a bold, striking original." - Film Threat.
An intimate portrait of three lives on the brink of emotional and spiritual explosion. Hedonistic Robert (Norman Reedus, "Mimic") circulates in a Blow-up-style world of models, sex, alcohol and fashion photography. While he seeks inspiration in moments of idealized beauty, the women (Missy Crider, "Frailty" & Kathleen Robertson, "Nowhere", "Beverly Hilss 90210") in his life struggle with their own wrong turns and vulnerability as all three quest to reconnect with their own hearts. Also with Sean Young ("Blade Runner") and Michael T. Weiss ("The Pretender").
Discussion following with Gregory Hatanaka and cast and crew. (See also: News 7-13-2004)
The Egyptian Theatre is at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, between Las Palmas and McCadden, just east of Highland Avenue in Hollywood.
 7-25-2004: Review of Marmalade from Variety
Thanks to Terri who dug this review out of Variety's vaults!

Marmalade
A Gold Heart Pictures presentation. Produced by Ron Kastner. Executive producer: Lemore Syvan, Jill Sorenson, Jennifer Kusner. Directed by Kim Dempster. Screenplay: Jennifer Kusner, Jill Sorenson.

Kim - Jill Sorensen
Jessica - Jennifer Kusner
Peter - Michael T. Weiss
Dan - Eric Schaeffer
Antoine - Michael Cavadias
Karen - Karen Duffy
Angelica - Sarita Choudhury
Patty - Ilana Levine
Roger - Sam Robards
Aiden - Grant Show

By Robert Koehler
The modeling industry continues to baffle moviemakers in "Marmalade," the latest in a string of pics that tries to come to grips with a biz that should be a cinema natural yet stumbles badly on the runway. Basing their script on first-hand experience, co-writers Jennifer Kusner and Jill Sorenson (who also stars and serves as a producer) opt for a rather pathetic account of a once-top model who finds herself deemed too old at age 29 and doesn't know what to do next. Beyond a smattering of fest appearances, the best fit appears to be women's-oriented cablers.
Kim (Sorenson) would seem to non-pro eyes to still be a vivacious blonde hottie, but nose-in-the-air photographers, directors and agents tell her she looks "tired." On the home front, she finds her longtime boy friend Peter (Michael T. Weiss) bored, non-committal and unwilling to move from their Gotham pad to the Connecticut 'burbs in order to make babies, prompting her to break up with him.
Poor rich gal Kim now finds herself begging for rudimentary jobs far below what she's accustomed to, with no amour and two pals (Kusner's Jessica and Michael Cavadias' gay Antoine) who egg her to go out on one bad date after another. Eric Schaefer (typically overactive) appears as Jessica's sexually hampered boyfriend, and in style and tone, "Marmalade" closely resembles one of Schaefer's own comedies, though never as annoying -- even when Kim has sympathetic conversations in an animal shelter she dubs Marmalade.
The only note of believability is in a series of black-and-white vid clips from the docu Jessica is making about the downside of modeling (featuring actual vet models, plus the ubiquitous Donald Trump).
Though reasonably likable, Sorenson is limited in emotional range, especially when Kim is feeling her once-familiar world shifting under her feet. Weiss has nowhere to go in a role that's a stiff onscreen; Kusner registers best of all as a woman with more than one side.
Helmer Kim Dempster's credits as a commercials director are a hindrance, with shots and scenes looking too glossy and staged by half. Pic, shot in 35mm, was badly showcased at Cinevegas in a sub-par, pixilated Beta vid version.

With: Dasha Viasenko, Claudia Chagall, Daniella Van Graas, Frederique Van Der Wal, Tatianna, Nadine, Donald Trump.

Camera (color/B): Wolfgang Held; Editors: F. Paul Benz, Carol Dysinger; Music: Sunny Levine; Production designer: Jody Asnes; Art director: Shelly Federman; Set decorator: Cherish Magennis; Costume designer: Claudine Arnow; Makeup: Belene Sheppard, Julia Lallas; Sound: Barry London; Assistant director: Amy Lynn; Casting: Cindy Tolan.
Reviewed at Cinevegas Film Festival, June 15, 2004. Running time: 92 min.
© 2004 Variety, Inc., Fri., Jun. 25, 2004, 6:51pm PT
 7-15-2004: Movies.com
Unfortunately this site didn't made it into the finals of the '1st Annual Movies.com Movie Site Awards'. Maybe next year ...
Not enough support :( But thanks to all who have voiced their support for it!
 7-13-2004: Next screening of Until the Night at the American Cinematheque
Today I've received another email from Gregory Hatanaka, the director of Until the Night, with the next screening date:
Dear Evi,
UNTIL THE NIGHT is next screening in Los Angeles, Thursday, August 26 at 7:30pm at the American Cinematheque / Egyptian Theater as part of their Alternative Screen Film Series. I think that most of the cast, including Michael T. Weiss, will be present.
We will be announcing distribution plans for the film sometime around September.
Thanks for your support!
Greg


The address of the Egyptian Theatre is 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, between Las Palmas and McCadden, just east of Highland Avenue in Hollywood. 24-hour program info: 323.466.3456
 6-27-2004: More photos from the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Spring 2004 - Marc Jacobs-Show
I found two more photos, this time in a decent size :)) They were taken on September 15, 2003 during the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week for Spring 2004 at the Marc Jacobs Show at the New York State Armory in Bryant Park in New York City. Seems Michael is a fan of British band Radiohead.
See that smile for yourself and enjoy! [Password = Pretender]
 6-19-2004: Exclusive reviews of Until the Night and Marmalade
Kelly DeWitt was able to make it to the CineVegas Filmfestival and saw both Until the Night and Marmalade. She kindly agreed to write reviews, exclusively for Ask Dr. Mike. Thank you Kelly!
You can read them in the Specials section. But please do not reprint them without given permission.
She has also written a highly entertaining report about her adventures in Las Vegas posted at this MTW Group. See messages #1478, 1481, 1482.
 6-17-2004: Reviews of Marmalade and Until the Night
Some quite positive reviews of both "Marmalade" and "Until the Night":
Marmalade (NR) ***
Jill Sorensen, Michael T. Weiss, Sarita Choudhury
Directed by Kim Dempster
Marmalade has a lot in common with its subject: the fashion model. It doesn't have a whole lot of depth, but it's still pleasant to watch.
At the age of 29, cover girl Kim (former model Jill Sorensen, who also wrote the screenplay) is already over the hill. After being sent home from a photo shoot for "looking tired," and getting snubbed by her agent, Kim tries to coax her boyfriend (Michael T. Weiss) to move to Connecticut with her to start a family. When he dodges her request several times, she breaks up with him to get his attention. The breakup, which he accepts all too readily, ends up sticking, and Kim is forced to adjust to a new life.
The "learning to cope" storyline is straightforward and doesn't offer a hook we haven't seen before, but individual scenes still offer up plenty of laughs. Kim's misadventures in seeking employment and new love are the highlights of the film. A scene in which the director of a commercial for feminine hygiene products asks Kim to play the mother of a model only two years younger is hilarious while also feeling depressingly realistic. And several of her blind dates, including a sex addict who swears he's committed to abstinence and a guy who's last name unfortunately sounds like a venereal disease, come close to stealing the show.
There are times when Marmalade tries to venture too far into dramatic territory. Scenes having to do with Kim’s recently deceased mother feel out of place and exist only to force us to feel even more sorry for her. While we certainly sympathize with Kim in her various predicaments, it's difficult to pity her too much. After all, she's the one who insulted the photographer who sent her home, instigated her breakup, and squandered the fortune that she had made. Luckily, these melodramatic moments are few and far between.
The film does lack focus from time to time. Various subplots involving Kim's friend and her boyfriend and their trials and tribulations with jealousy, pregnancy and film financing wind up feeling like part of an entirely different movie. But, they also feel like part of a funny, entirely different movie.
Ultimately, Marmalade winds up being entertaining enough. And as romantic comedies go, that’s not half bad.
Matthew Scott Hunter, Las Vegas Weekly

Two more friendly small mentions of the movie at the Vegas' Arts & Entertainment Corner.

Until The Night (NR) ****
Norman Reedus, Kathleen Robertson, Missy Crider
Directed by Gregory Hatanaka
Lately, my job as a film critic has been more like that of a coal-mine canary. I go in first to suffer and die so everyone else is warned it isn't safe. Thus, it's a special treat on those rare occasions when I get to break the news to the world---or at least to Las Vegas---that I have seen brilliant, new talent. So, it's my great pleasure to tell you about director Gregory Hatanaka, and his incredible debut film.
Until the Night is an intensely moody character study about two people who have grown disillusioned with their lives and relationships. Kathleen Robertson is superb as Elizabeth, a woman who struggles to remain optimistic about her failing marriage to washed-up actor Daniel (Michael T. Weiss). "We have a realistic kind of love," she reassures a friend, and herself, "no fireworks." Meanwhile, Robert (Norman Reedus), a failed writer and sometimes photographer, descends into alcoholism in the waning days of his relationship with former actress Mina (Missy Crider).
Over 40 minutes of the film pass before Elizabeth and Robert meet, giving Hatanaka plenty of time to build an atmosphere that really makes us feel as if these characters are falling into private oblivions. When they finally meet, we feel the promise of salvation, even though both we and them know the affair is ultimately doomed. Above all, Elizabeth needs and wants stability, and Robert is anything but that. Robert, on the other hand, is addicted to wanting what he doesn't have. Once he has Elizabeth, he'll go back to leaving countless messages on model Karina's (Sarah Lassez) answering machine.
At times, Until the Night feels repetitive. There are too many similar scenes of Elizabeth fighting with her husband or Robert annoying his girlfriend by videotaping her. But even when these scenes fail to advance the characters' development, they never spoil the gloriously oppressive mood. Yasu Tanida should be commended for his claustrophobic cinematography. The images take on a life transcending their budgetary limitations, making you forget you're watching an indie film, or even watching a film at all.
Until the Night is an organic experience. Nothing seems plotted, written or purposefully intertwined; it all feels real. Reedus and Robertson's virtuoso performances create true people. They aren't good or evil; they're just flawed. This is a brilliant first film for Hatanaka. May there be many more. Matthew Scott Hunter, Las Vegas Weekly

And another review from the EFC.
 6-16-2004: Photos from a screening of Marmalade at The CineVegas Filmfestival
Photos from the 2nd screening of "Marmalade" at the Palms Casino Resort on June 15, and from the Questions & Answers are available online now. I try to get them (and probably even more) in larger versions, but it might take time.
Exclusive reviews of both "Marmalade" and "Until the Night" will be uploaded to ADM soon.
 6-13-2004: Photos from the premiere of Until the Night at The CineVegas Filmfestival
The first photos from the premiere of "Until the Night" at the Palms Casino Resort on June 12, from Questions & Answers, from a photo session of some cast members and director, and one photo of Michael attending a CineVegas Party at the Green Valley Ranch hosted by Premiere Magazine are online now. I try to get them (and probably even more) in larger versions, but it might take time.
Next screening of "Until the Night" will be on Monday, June 14th at 6:30pm.

The festival events were spread out nicely, allowing visitors to see more than the Palms; activities during the week included a lunch at Spago, a huge (and surreal) opening-night party (with Vegas magazine) at Caesars' Garden of the Gods, a cruise on Lake Las Vegas, a very impressive Premiere magazine party at Whiskey Beach at the nearby Green Valley Ranch, and parties at Mandalay Bay, Bellagio, and MGM. Filmmaker Greg Hatanaka, at the festival with the world premiere of Until the Night, said the party scene here was "absolutely insane ... like Cannes on Viagra."
 6-11-2004: Screencaps of Michael from Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? of Crossing Jordan
Thanks to the technical skills of Kelly and Cassandra2pg, who both kindly gave me permission to use their work, here are some screencaps of Michael T. Weiss as James Horton from the final episode (originally announced as the opening episode) of the 3rd season. [Password = Pretender]
 6-10-2004: Marmalade finally listed at the IMDB
I took the liberty to send all available information about Jill Sorensen's movie "Marmalade" to the IMDB. And slowly, very slowly it is added to their database. At least most of the cast members are already there, and some of the crew, and the release date. If you want to watch the updates, go to Marmalade.
The movie will premiere at the CineVegas Filmestival in Las Vegas, NV on Monday, June 14 at 9:30pm, with a second screening on Tuesday, June 15 at 8pm.
 6-9-2004: Alchemy without Michael
You might remember the movie project Alchemy to which Michael's name was attached for a while. (See: News Archive 2-4-2002) No news since 2002.
But now I've received an email from its producer Ken Schapiro:
Wanted to let you know that Alchemy is happening, with shooting starting very soon (from June 21 to July 18), but Michael T. Weiss will not be involved. Sorry. The movie will star Tom Cavanagh and Sarah Chalke.
Best,
Ken

The IMDB has been notified of the changes but the updates usually take some time, so the names Michael T. Weiss and Leslie Bibb are still listed.
 6-7-2004: Good new about Until the Night at The CineVegas Filmfestival
Today I've received an email from Gregory Hatanaka, the director of Until the Night, with a very good reason to visit the festival:
Hi Efi,
Thanks for posting information of the upcoming CineVegas screenings on your site. Michael T. Weiss will be attending the festival as well.
Sincerely,
Gregory Hatanaka


Screening dates and times of Michael's two movies at the CineVegas Filmfestival in Las Vegas, NV, are as follows:
Until The Night: Saturday, June 12th at 4:00pm, and Monday, June 14th at 6:30pm.
Marmalade: Monday, June 14th at 9:30pm, and Tuesday June 15th at 8pm.
Both run in the section "Jackpot Premieres: A collection of highly anticipated U.S. and world premieres".

The festival will be held at the Palms Casino Resort and Brenden Theatres from June 11th to 19th, 2004. Tickets are now available via the official website and at the CineVegas boxoffice at Brenden Theatres, open 10am - 6pm daily through June 10.
 6-1-2004: Photos of Michael from Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? of Crossing Jordan
Here are two photos [Password = Pretender] of Michael T. Weiss as James Horton from the preview of the final episode of the 3rd season, which will air on Sunday, June 6 at 9/10pm on NBC.
Synopsis: In the conclusion of the second season ending cliff-hanger, Jordan (Jill Hennessy) searches for evidence to clear her father Max (Ken Howard), who stands accused of murdering the chief of police. Hindered by Max' disappearance, Jordan relies on a suspended Woody (Jerry O'Connell), who works with Detective Capra (guest star Arija Bareikis) to help her track down her missing brother James (guest star Michael T. Weiss, "The Pretender") whom she believes to be the key to solving the homicide. Meanwhile, Garret (Miguel Ferrer) butts heads with former romantic partner D.A. Walcott (guest star Susan Gibney, NBC's "Happy Family") who has commandeered the morgue staff as part of the murder investigation. Kathryn Hahn, Steve Valentine, Ravi Kapoor and Ivan Sergei also star.
 5-17-2004: Screening dates at The 6th CineVegas Filmfestival
Screening dates and times of Michael's two movies at the CineVegas Filmfestival in Las Vegas, NV, are now added to the offical website:
Until The Night: Saturday, June 12th at 4:00pm, and Monday, June 14th at 6:30pm.
Marmalade: Monday, June 14th at 9:30pm, and Tuesday June 15th at 8pm.
Both run in the section "Jackpot Premieres: A collection of highly anticipated U.S. and world premieres".

The festival will be held at the Palms Casino Resort and Brenden Theatres from June 11th to 19th, 2004. Tickets are $10 for individual showings, prices for passes vary. They will be available after May 22 via the official website and at the CineVegas boxoffice at Brenden Theatres, open 10am - 6pm daily through June 10.
 5-13-2004: Airdate of Michael's episode of Crossing Jordan has changed
NBC in the U.S. has changed the airdate for this episode once again! TPTB have pushed it back to June 6.
An explanation from "Allan A" (probably Allan Arkush, one of the co-executive producers of the show) on 02:40, 5/13/2004:
One of the benefits of pushing back and the main reason we are OK with it is that the climax to season #2 "Pandora's Trunk" pt. 2(ep. #22) will be run on the previous Sunday. Isn't that what everyone was clamoring for? The chance to see these 2 interlinked episodes in the proper order. That is no small thing with many legal ramifications because it had already been run on A&E a couple of times. Getting NBC and GE to do this stuff is like turning a battleship. The down side to this schedule change aside from the protracted waiting period for the true fans is that #5, "Dead in the Water" is way out of sequence. There is Max information that is a *Spoiler* for #1. So now you've been warned.
 5-12-2004: Good news about Until The Night
Another reason to visit the CineVegas Filmfestival in Las Vegas, NV:
Until The Night, in which Michael T. Weiss plays Daniel, a failed actor whose self-pity and erratic behavior has created constant embarrassment for his wife Elizabeth, will also be making its World Premiere there!
I don't have the screening dates and times yet, but I'm working on it.
The festival runs from June 11th to 19th, 2004.

Film Threat has a pretty good review with a synopsis of the movie.
 5-7-2004: Good news about Marmalade
Today I've received another email from Jill Sorensen, with updates on her movie "Marmalade":
Hi Evi,
Marmalade is making it's first big screen debut at the CineVegas Filmfestival in Las Vegas, NV on Monday June 14th at 9:30pm, and on Tuesday June 15th at 8pm.
Jill

The festival runs from June 11th to 19th, 2004.
 5-4-2004: Synopsis of Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? of Crossing Jordan
Jordan (Jill Hennessy) searches for evidence to clear her father Max (Ken Howard), who stands accused of murdering the chief of police. Hindered by Max' disappearance, Jordan relies on a suspended Woody (Jerry O'Connell), who works with Detective Capra (guest star Arija Bareikis) to help her track down her missing brother James (guest star Michael T. Weiss, "The Pretender") whom she believes to be the key to solving the homicide. Meanwhile, Garret (Miguel Ferrer) butts heads with former romantic partner D.A. Walcott (guest star Susan Gibney, NBC's "Happy Family") who has commandeered the morgue staff as part of the murder investigation. Kathryn Hahn, Steve Valentine, Ravi Kapoor and Ivan Sergei also star.
Or, as "Allan A" (probably Allan Arkush, one of the co-executive producers), but certainly a big brass on the show puts it:
If we're all just speculating & surmising......IF Max didn't do it who did? Jordan? After all she was drugged & may not be entirely responsible for all her own actions. Or was it James? It would be fittingly tragic for him to kill the man who was his father. What does Max think happened? Is it the same as what Jordan believes? What does Macy think of this emotional pit that Jordan has fallen into again & again? Does he believe that James is her brother or that he even exists at all? Is Woody gonna take the fall for all this? How far will his love & compassion for Jordan stretch? Remember the finale to season #1 when Woody volunteered to run away with her?........... Just food for thought here. It all goes round & round like that Dylan song "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" on "John Wesley Hardin" the last line of which is "Nothing was revealed", but you have to study the rest of the song to know what that means. Its a big knot that will take forever to untie. By the way today was the first time that I ever read an NBC synopsis!!! They do a pretty good job plotting the facts of the cases, but they put the emphasis on completely different parts of the story than I do.
 5-3-2004: Michael in Crossing Jordan on Canadian TV
Good news for Michael's Canadian fans! Canadian TV channel Global will air Michael's episode "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?" on the same day as NBC does: Sunday, May 23rd. Several Canadians have confirmed the date, as I couldn't find it on-line. Please check your local TV guide for air times in your time zone.
 5-2-2004: Sledge completes production
April 30, 2004 - "Sledge" hammered for huge success.
Sledge: Action Star, a Double Edge Entertainment Production, has completed production in Los Angeles, California. Directed by up and coming first time director Brad Martin, Sledge is a clever satire based on stereotypical action star Frank Sledge. With cameos from many A-listers in Hollywood, Sledge has become on of the most anticipated independent films in the industry. Producer Nina Yang comments, "This film has been one of the best films I have ever worked on. The hardest part seems to be trying to not show anyone the film until the premiere." Executive Producer Bobby Sheng comments, "The list of cameos that we have are phenomenal. The fact that so many A-list actors and actresses would contribute to this film is a testament to the strength of the concept, script and the unique comedy written by Brad Martin and David Leitch." Sledge is currently in post-production and is set to premiere this winter.
Set against the most popular action movies of the 80’s (Bloodsport, Above the Law), 90’s (Rush Hour) and 2000’s (The Matrix), Frank Sledge, prolific b-action star exploits the rise and fall of being the most sought after actor to the black list of Tinseltown. With cameos from Hollywood A-list actors who comment on their experience in working with Frank through the two decades.
 4-25-2004: Michael in Crossing Jordan
NBC has finally added the airdate of the *missing* episode "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?" on the official website of the series:
Mystery solved?! Watch the one you've been waiting for, the resolve of last season's cliffhanger, on Sunday, May 23rd!
 4-22-2004: 34th Earth Day
The theme for Earth Day 2004 is "Partnering for a Sustainable Earth".
Support your local environmental organisations, pay a visit to Eco's website, and don't forget: Save the Earth! After all, it is the only planet with chocolate ...
For more information about the offical celebrations, have a look here.
 4-17-2004: Michael in Crossing Jordan
It seems that NBC has finally set an airdate for Michael's episode: May 23!
At least according to a big brass on the show:
From "Allan A" on 18:43, 4/14/2004:
The *lost* episode "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?" #1 for this season will air on May 23rd as a stand alone, meaning we could not convince TPTB to air last year's finale & #1 as a 2-parter on NBC or A&E or let us cut together a special Jordan's Mother Saga Clip Show to air 1st. Oh well, we are working on a very short - one minute fifty four seconds to be exact - "previously on Crossing Jordan" to air just before 10pm on 5/23.
 4-13-2004: Alchemy
There are no updates about the movie project Alchemy, also known as "Love is ..." on the IMBD since 2002, and is has still listed the names of Michael T. Weiss and Leslie Bibb as its main cast members.
However, a recent email from the producer Kenneth Schapiro has some news:
I've got a bit of good news and bad news regarding ALCHEMY. The good news is that financing is progressing and there's a good chance it could be made this year. We hope to shoot it this summer, but it may not involve Michael T. Weiss.
Best,
Ken Schapiro
Producer
 4-6-2004: Crossing Jordan
NBC has finally reacted to the *missing* episode "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?" on the official website of the series:
We have received a number of inquiries regarding Crossing Jordan's last season cliffhanger. As the show has been off the air for nearly a year, we thought it best to show the outcome of that episode later in the season so as to not confuse new viewers. We will post the airdate of that episode here on the NBC.com site in the coming weeks. We greatly appreciate your interest.

Also, the series has already been picked up for a 4th season, due to the fact that it scored NBC's highest regular program ratings on Sundays at 10pm in nearly three years. No word yet on who will return again. Too early maybe.
 3-22-2004: Sledge
I've contacted the producer of the movie again, to ask if there are any news about "Sledge", and he kindly answered me:
Happy to respond Evi,
Sledge as you saw it was: Sledge: A Documentary ... this film was shot as a short film, and we garnered financing to extend it into a feature length motion picture, which is now in post, and will hopefully reach the big screen with a worldwide theatrical release within the year.
Thanks for remaining a fan, and keep your eyes posted for the feature, we'll update the site once all is locked in stone.
Todd Grossman
SLEDGE, Producer


Good news, but no word whether Michael or the other actors will still be in it. Another fan was more successful in getting news:
Thanks for the continued interest. "Sledge, The Untold Story" contains the majority of the short film as well as an hour plus of new material. In addition to Ben Stiller, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and of course, Michael T. Weiss, we also have added Angelina Jolie, Eric Roberts, Ernie Hudson, Sean Young, Lee Arenberg, Richard Lewis so far. We hope to get a few more people soon. If all goes well, the film should be out by the end of the year. Tell all your friends.
Sincerely,
Brad Martin

There you have it! Right from both the producer and the director!
 3-19-2004: Marmalade
Today I've received an email from Jill Sorensen, with updates on her movie "Marmalade":
Hi Evi,
We are just completing the soundtrack on Marmalade. Sunny Levine, Quincy Jones' grandson has done a fantastic job. Believe it or not, but the film will be completed next week. It has taken forever!
We start screening it to sales reps next week. So far we haven't showed it to distributors or buyers or reps so we'll see how it goes. We've screened it a few times at private screenings to great reviews. In the meantime we're submitting it to festivals.
As soon as I have any news I will let you know.
Best,
Jill
 3-8-2004: Michael in Crossing Jordan
It seems that NBC doesn't air the episodes of the 3rd season in the order they were filmed and numbered. So Michael's episode won't air this coming weekend, but later in the year.
An explanation why, from a big brass on the show:
From "El Jefe" on 02:41, 3/8/2004:
Tonight's episode [Devil may care] was the 4th episode we produced for season three. The first one was the follow up to last year's season ender. It answers all the questions from the finale you all saw. Unfortunately, we could not air that as our first episode back. Believe me, even those of us who made the episodes were confused after this long -- a whole bunch of names and details about a story line that took place ten months ago. It was confusing as hell. Imagine how it would have played to someone tuning into the show for the first time. As difficult as it was, we decided to start with a "stand alone" episode to give new viewers a chance to get familiar with the show. We picked on that we thought showcased all the talents of the show. I think this was the right decision. There is still no clear date as to when episode one will air, but my guess is that you will see it somewhere towards the end of our thirteen episode run (June perhaps). Have faith that it was the right decision. The thinking is that we will make a cool two hour special out of the season ender and the first episode. I'll let you know when the decision has been made.

And a follow up on this, also from "El Jefe" on 03:22, 3/9/2004:
Don't worry. We won't leave you hanging out to dry. We'll get the cliffhanger answered as soon as we can. Meanwhile, there's a lot of questions you guys seem to have about how the characters are relating to each other without resolving the cliffhanger. Remember, the resolution to the cliffhanger was supposed to be episode one. It was shot right after the cliffhanger and has been in the can for ten months. It was supposed to air first, until we ended up off the air for ten months. Had we shown it last night, half the audience would have been diving for their remotes five minutes into it. The episodes you are seeing now were shot after the resolution and were always intended to air after it aired. So you shouldn't try to read any hidden messages into these episodes. They were shot months ago. Long before the decision to hold the resolution. Obviously, you have to assume that whatever happens in the resolution, sets Jordan's world (and her relationships) back to relatively normal so that what you're seeing now makes sense. (Does that make sense?) None of the subsequent episodes have continuing story lines. We want to make sure viewers don't have to have seen any other episode to know what's going on. I'm sorry it's confusing, but hope, like a lot of you have said, that you enjoy the show enough to stay tuned until the resolution to the cliffhanger airs. Again, not the best situation, but trust me, it had to be done for the good of the show. For its future. Not everyone is a loyal viewer. Research shows that most people who claim to be "fans" of a show watch only one out of every three episodes. We're trying to cast as wide a net as possible in order to insure a future. We took a huge step in that direction last night by winning the time slot, holding our audience and crushing the competition. In the end, I guess the lesson here for us is to think twice before doing a cliffhanger at the end of the season.
 2-27-2004: Episode Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? of Crossing Jordan
The next episode of "Crossing Jordan" with the title Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? in which Michael will apparently guest star as James Horton, Brother of Dr. Jordan Cavanagh will (hopefully) air on NBC on Sunday, March 14, 2004.
 2-26-2004: Michael's Valentine's Day
Michael had spent Valentine's Day in New York, and the evening in the John Golden Theatre, watching the musical Avenue Q (named "Stage Performance of the Year 2003" by Entertainment Weekly magazine) with a date ...:
Michael T. Weiss, of The Pretender fame, enjoying a Valentine's presentation of Avenue Q at the Golden Theater, InWhySee. Softly snickering with a redheaded darling at the witty puppets onstage, Michael T.Weiss wore threads that screamed beatnik-hippie: a pale yellow sweater, spiky hair, reading glasses and a soul-patch garnish.
Source:EOnline
 2-12-2004: Official Website of Until the Night updated
Pathfinder Pictures has updated the official website for the movie with two trailers named "The Passion" and "The Betrayal". Both feature Michael :o)
 2-4-2004: Crossing Jordan
The Dec.03/Jan.04 issue of French magazine Planet Scoop had a small article about Michael, The Pretender, and Crossing Jordan, with a larger version of one of the photos taken at the Marc Jacobs Show in New York last September. According to this, it sounds like he will be in the 3rd season.
My friend Joelle has kindly tranlated it into English:
Silence and Lotus
Michael T. Weiss has made his return to television during the 3rd season of "Preuve à l'appuie" (Crossing Jordan) on TFI after a lengthy absence. After spending two years after the end of The Pretender meditating and practicing yoga, he accepted to come back to television: "I considered quitting acting, admits the actor. I was tired of seeing myself on TV and of being compared to Jarod. Yoga, however, with it’s relaxing and healing properties has given me renewed life and appreciation for acting." Sound decision.
 2-2-2004: Birthday wishes
Happy Birthday, Michael. Hope you have a good one!
 2-2-2004: Crossing Jordan
The final episodes with Michael as James Horton ("Pandora's Box") of the 2nd season will air on German TV station VOX under the title "Familiengeheimnis" on Tuesday, Febr. 10, and on Febr. 17 respectively, at 22:15. They will be repeated later those nights.
VOX has only released one promotion still of Michael. It ican be found in this album. [Pasword = Pretender]
VOX has emailed me, that they will try to buy the 3rd season once it is on the market.

The 3rd season will start on US network NBC on March 7, now airing two new episodes each week on Sundays and on Fridays at 10/9pm. No word yet whether Michael will return.
Steve Valentine (Dr. Nigel Townsend) said in an interview in January that they are filming 24 episodes instead of the usual 22. Two of those episodes are 90-minute extravaganzas.
 2-1-2004: Apologies!
Sorry for not updating the site for so long! But my system had caught a Trojan Horse, that made it impossible to access any websites (I almost crashed this one!) and my mailboxes. The horse seems to be gone now, but its marks are still there :-(
My webmistress Isis has thankfully done major repair work, but even her keen eyes might have missed something. So, if you find broken links please let either Isis or me know about them! I'm only slowly trying to catch up!
 1-12-2004: Toyota Prius
The Toyota Prius was voted "Car of the Year 2004" at the Detroit Motor Show on January 4, 2004.
This electric hybrid car drives with electricity in the lower gears, and only needs gasoline in the higher gears.
Michael had already driven an a electric car in 1999, and later an early model of this hybrid car.

News from 2002
News from 2003