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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, October 27, 2023 4 By Dana Simpson TV Media W hether first heard as a quippy one-liner from famous New York hu- morist Fran Lebowitz ("Pre- tend It's a City") or read in Es- ther Crain's book "The Gilded Age in New York, 1870–1910," there is little doubt you've heard about New York City's penchant for change. Per Crain's aforementioned book, released in 2016 and available through most major booksell- ers, "the most common obser- vation about New York is that it never stops evolving." This is especially true in the HBO series "The Gilded Age," premiering Season 2 on its home network and the Max streaming service Sunday, Oct. 29. Starring Carrie Coon ("Gone Girl," 2014), Cynthia Nixon ("Sex and the City") and Christine Baranski ("Mamma Mia!," 2008) as some of New York's finest wealthy gossips, the series follows a group of business moguls and socialites as they work hard to make a name for themselves and build an empire in New York City during the turn of the 20th cen- tury. Coon stars as Bertha Russell, a "new money heiress" who caused some major waves in Season 1 alongside her hus- band, railroad tycoon George Russell (Morgan Spector, "The Plot Against America"), and her fellow socialite Mrs. Caro- line Astor (Donna Murphy, "The Nanny Diaries," 2007), the leader of aristocratic social society called The Four Hun- dred. With her own societal standing foremost in her sights, Bertha often stirs up more trouble than is necessary to get what she wants. Also to blame for her fair bit of trouble is Marian Brook (new talent Louisa Jacobson), who fell on hard times when her father died in the series premiere and began Season 1 by moving into her estranged aunts' house for a bit of a life- style makeover in the Big Ap- ple. Marian's aunts, Ada Brook (Nixon) and Agnes Van Rhijn (Baranski), both belong to the old-money world and thus have very particular views on how things should be done among New York's finest. While Marian does her best to please her aunts, she has also learned that not ev- eryone subscribes to her fam- ily's conservative school of thought. Returning alongside Coon, Murphy, Jacobson, Nixon and Baranski for Season 2 is Denée Benton ("UnREAL"), who plays Peggy Scott, a highly motivated writer who moved from Pennsylvania to New York City with Marian. Despite holding down a job as Agnes' secretary, Peggy is of respectable societal stand- ing herself and has come to enjoy the company of her old friend in a new city. She also enjoys testing the boundaries set in place by those in high- up positions, often complicat- ing matters for herself and those closest to her. Headed into the show's second season, the Primetime Emmy-winning series follows more of the petticoat-clad drama that comes along with Gilded-era expansion. This time, according to the official HBO trailer, it seems that the bulk of the hullabaloo centers on the world of the operatic arts. More specifically, it likely revolves around the 1886 closing of the Metropolitan Opera House. As newcomers to the show (and maybe even some avid fans) may not yet know, "The Gilded Age" takes many of its plot lines from the annals of history. While hardly to be considered a true story, the first season held to realities of the robber barons of the late 1800s, like the railroading Russells. (The Astors were also a real family, fictionalized for the series.) Now headed into its second season, "The Gilded Age" is placing its fo- cus on the so-called "Opera House War" of the 1890s and the subsequent end of the "Knickerbocker era." According to Crain, who wrote of this historic moment in "The Gilded Age in New York," as the theater district began to spread across Man- hattan, "seeing the opera wasn't the point" of going to the show, rather "being seen was." And as these types of outings began to cater to more and more people from varying walks of life, members of the wealthier classes could no lon- ger procure seats. And so, they did what any multimillionaire family of the Gilded Age would do: they opened their own op- era house. Meanwhile, joining the cast are Laura Benanti ("Life and Beth"), Christopher Denham ("Argo," 2012), Robert Sean Leonard ("House"), Matilda Lawler ("Station Eleven"), Ben Lamb ("Divergent," 2014), Da- kin Matthews ("Gilmore Girls"), Nicole Brydon Bloom ("1BR," 2019) and David Furr ("The Highwaymen," 2019). Don't miss the expansion of New York City and Julian Fel- lowes' ("Downton Abbey") period drama "The Gilded Age" when Season 2 pre- mieres Sunday, Oct. 29, on HBO and Max. coverstory David Furr and Louisa Jacobson in "The Gilded Age" Operatic opposition: HBO period drama lifts curtain on Season 2 By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Is it true they were going to make an Indiana Jones movie about aliens? A: Technically, aliens did make an appearance in the fourth film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008), but they were originally going to be a much bigger part. The birdcages of Hollywood are lined with decades' worth of unfilmed Indiana Jones scripts that were commissioned by creator George Lucas ("Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope," 1977). One such script, by "Die Hard" (1988) screenwriter Jeb Stuart, would have seen Indy chasing aliens around the U.S. in a sort of pulp-sci-fi take on the character. The timing makes some sense, at least. "Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars" (the working title of the script) was set after the events of the third film, 1989's "The Last Cru- sade," thus placing it in the 1950s — the peak of little-green- man mania in the U.S. But it was ultimately scrapped. Copies of the script have cir- culated online, and elements of it were re-used for "Crystal Skull," but Stuart's vision never saw a screen. Rumor has it Steven Spielberg, who had directed the three previous films, saw the smash hit 1996 film "Independence Day" and decided he and Lucas couldn't make an alien-inva- sion movie that could compete. Q: How did Hugh Grant get his start? And has he ever won an Oscar? A: I think most people imagine Hugh Grant ("Notting Hill," 1999) bursting onto the film scene fully formed in 1994's "Four Weddings and a Funeral." But in fact, he was 34 when that film came out, at which point he'd been struggling to make his mark on screen for years. Its success determined his future career as a rom-com idol, but in recent years he's been trying to shake that up a little. And that seems to offer him the best chance of getting the Os- car that has so far eluded him. Grant actually had more than two dozen roles on film and TV prior to "Four Weddings," with a big focus on historical dra- ma. His first role was in a university-produced film called "Priv- ileged," about a bunch of students struggling to stage a ver- sion of the play "The Duchess of Malfi." Being that it was pro- duced on a micro-budget by Oxford University, it's pretty hard to find, despite Grant's involvement. His best-known pre-"Four Weddings" role was in the 1987 historical drama "Maurice," for which he won a best-actor award at the Venice Film Festival. His move to broad-appeal romantic comedies in the '90s hampered his chances of getting that kind of hardware again (the genre is generally overlooked during awards season). But lately, he's been expanding his range again. Most nota- bly, he has a role in the upcoming family adventure "Wonka," playing an Oompa Loompa — a magical creature first intro- duced in the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." "Won- ka" is a prequel to that story, detailing the early life of Willy Wonka, creator of the famous factory. With a release date right before Christmas this year, this one's already getting a bit of Oscar buzz. But it remains to be seen if it will actually pan out, and if any of it will go to Grant himself. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. hollywoodQ&A Norwich Monuments 1 x 3 NORWICH MONUMENT Over 100 Years of Excellent Service Markers, Monuments, Mausoleums Stone Lettering & Cleaning (607)334-3944 6395 State Highway 12 Norwich, N.Y. 13815 Website: www.norwichmonument.com EST 1897

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