What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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February 13 - 19, 2022 WHATS UP! T11 since "The Office" was actually a remake of an older British show of the same name, the central characters came pre- defined. The creators only had this kind of leeway with the supporting characters, who only became more defined as the show went on. Q: Is anyone going to make a film version of the "Gray Man" book series? It's been running a while and seems ripe for an adapta- tion. A: Calling it "ripe" is a bit of an understatement, and Holly- wood apparently agrees. Vari- ous people have been trying to get a Gray Man franchise off the ground since 2010, and the wait is almost over: a film adap- tation is due out this summer. Author Mark Greaney pub- lished the espionage thriller "The Gray Man," the first book in his series of the same name, in 2009. By the end of 2010, a screenplay adaptation was in- cluded on the so-called Black List — a compendium of Holly- wood's hottest unproduced screenplays, as voted on by in- dustry execs. That was followed by nearly a dozen years of attempted deals, rewrites and actor at- tachments, according to IMDb. com, before cameras started rolling in 2021. Behind those cameras is the famed directing duo the Russo brothers, Joe and Anthony (captains of multiple Marvel movies, including the 2019 me- ga-hit "Avengers: Endgame"), so expect a lavish, action- packed adaptation. And you can expect it pretty soon: the film is due for release this summer on Netflix. Q: Is "What We Do in the Shadows" coming back? A: So far, "What We Do in the Shadows," like its vampiric pro- tagonists, has been un-killable, and it will indeed live on for an- other season. But has it shown its first sign of mortality? No premiere date has been announced yet, but filming wrapped on the show's fourth season on Dec. 15, according to an Instagram post by Guillermo himself, series star Harvey Guil- lén ("The Internship," 2013). FX had already announced that the show was being renewed for a fourth season back in the fall, before Season 3 even aired. That's the good news. The bad news is that the show's ratings saw a significant drop in Season 3 (down 16% in total viewers, and 24% in the coveted 18-49 age demograph- ic). Production had already be- gun on the fourth season by the time those numbers were final, but FX will likely be a little slower to hit the renewal but- ton on Season 5. If the low-viewership trend continues, it could be a stake through the heart of the vam- pire comedy. Although, per- haps not. FX may decide to keep the show alive just to stay in the Taika Waititi business. Waititi, who co-writes and co- produces the show based on his hit 2014 film of the same name, is currently one of the hottest filmmakers in Hollywood. He won an Oscar in 2020 for his historical comedy "Jojo Rabbit" (2019) and is currently finishing work on the surefire superhero hit "Thor: Love and Thunder," due out later this year. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Per- sonal replies will not be provided. Advance Pest Control 2 x 2 TAKE 5 Solution on page T23 Use the clues above and beside the grid to fill in the squares BY ADAM THOMLISON TV Media Q: I've been watching "The Office" and noticed the actors who play Oscar, Phyllis and Creed are actu- ally named, well, Oscar, Phyllis and Creed. Why is that? A: There are a couple of an- swers to this: a flippant one used by the creators them- selves (because they refuse to take themselves seriously), and a serious one that we have to read between the lines to see. The funny one, supposedly offered by series creator Greg Daniels ("Parks and Recre- ation"), is that the writers just got lazy. "Greg Daniels describes it as 'he ran out of creative energy,'" Brian Baumgartner ("License to Wed," 2007) said on his pod- cast, "The Office Deep Dive." If you don't recognize Baumgart- ner's name, it's because he's one of the actors on the show who got to use a new one: Baumgartner played Kevin on "The Office." His podcast gives an insider's view of the show for fans like yourself. However, Phyllis's case pres- ents a slightly different possi- bility. Sales rep Phyllis Lapin- Vance, played by Phyllis Smith ("Bad Teacher," 2011), fell into the part after working as a cast- ing assistant. While she was reading lines for other actors' auditions, director and execu- tive producer Ken Kwapis ("Santa Clarita Diet") said he "just became fascinated with her." He said (on another episode of Baumgartner's podcast) that he gave her the role because of the realism she brought to the show, which was, after all, sup- posed to be a documentary. And so we have a more serious theory: the creators, far from being a bunch of occasionally lazy goofballs, were in fact tak- ing the idea of creating a faux- documentary rather seriously, and they wanted their actors to feel as un-actorly as possible. That only extends so far, of course. It should be noted that, Phyllis Smith from "The Office" HOLLYWOOD Q&A Rogers 479-636-5590 • Springdale 479-756-1788 Eureka Springs 479-253-8967 www.advancepestcontrolnwa.com Family Owned, Competitively Priced, Quality Service Since 1981 PEST CONTROL | TERMITE FERTILIZATION | WEED CONTROL PRE-EMERGENTS