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May 26, 2018

The Daily Star - Stay Tuned

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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, May 25, 2018 4 By K.a. Taylor TV Media F or much of the western world, war is either some- thing of the past or some- thing happening far away. Acts of wartime heroism and sacri- fice are honored periodically throughout the year, but sel- dom are they deeply reflected upon. Television and films have long tried to bring the realities of war to those who will never experience it themselves. No- table small-screen attempts in- clude "M*A*S*H" and "Band of Brothers," but these seldom possess the grit found in big- screen depictions. 2017 saw the exception to this, with the premiere of History's "SIX," which has its season 2 pre- miere appropriately airing on Monday, May 28: Memorial Day. "SIX" is a high-intensity, high-stakes drama that takes its inspiration from the real-life SEAL Team Six, a prominent component of the U.S. Armed Forces military division focused on counterterrorism. Each epi- sode delves into the split-sec- ond decisions that members of SEAL Team must make, and how those decisions have a lasting effect both for the team members involved and for the surrounding community. Al- though the team isn't adverse to providing aid if possible, the mission at hand is always top of mind, with the nation's se- curity of primary importance. SEAL Team Six is comprised of quite a diverse cast. Barry Sloane ("Longmire") is Joe "Bear" Graves, the team's se- nior chief special warfare oper- ator. Providing support are Kyle Schmid ("Being Human") as Alex Caulder and Juan Pablo Raba ("Narcos") as Ricky "Buddha" Ortiz. Rounding out the cast are Jaylen Moore ("Bad Moms," 2016) as Armin Khan and Edwin Hodge ("Sleepy Hollow") as Robert Chase III, fellow special war- fare operators. After the events of season 1, SEAL Team Six re- quired a new member, found in Eric Ladin's ("Bosch") role as special warfare operator first class, Trevor. Season 1 of "SIX" wasted little time wading into the moral grey zone of war, with senior chief special warfare operator Richard "Rip" Tag- gart (Walton Goggins, "The Hateful Eight," 2015) quickly reduced to former senior chief special warfare operator after shooting a man who had claimed to have American citi- zenship. A few years later, while earning a living working in private security at a Nigerian school for girls, Rip was taken hostage, prompting his former team to find and rescue him. The team's relentless hunt did not go unrewarded, but a be- trayal ultimately resulted in a violent assault on Rip, filling fans with unease as they des- perately longed to know the character's fate. If the trailers and promos are any indication, it does ap- pear that Rip is still alive — for now, at least, as he appears to be comatose. Season 2 finds the team on the hunt for the man behind Rip's shooter, a powerful figure known as "The Prince" (Nikolai Nikolaeff, "Daredevil"). The Prince is fully aware of SEAL Team's quest for vengeance, but he will not hold back or compromise on his own personal desires, seemingly fearless in the face of the six. While Trevor may be the lat- est member of the SEAL team, Laden isn't the only fresh face in season 2. Olivia Munn ("Miles from Tomorrowland") plays the role of CIA opera- tions officer Gina Cline, who seemingly has a tense past with some members of the team. While little is known about Gina pre-premiere, she appears to be a means of communication for the team, able to press captive terrorists into providing the information required to help locate and take down The Prince. Her fearless, determined spirit makes her a formidable ally for the team, but for them to truly succeed together, trust must be established. Much of the show's success thus far stems from its gritty and authentic portrayal of co- vert military operations, partic- ularly in terms of how the char- acters battle with their own sense of duty and morality. Rip's actions right at the start of the series exemplifies this. During a promo spot for "SIX," Goggins noted that Rip's deci- sion to shoot was merely him "reacting to the trauma he's been under over the course of his time in the service." Addi- tionally, "SIX" doesn't shy away from complicating tradi- tional notions of friend and foe. Even those initially seen as villainous can have under- standable motives, and for Goggins this is essential. View- ers may have wanted to side with Rip, but Goggins believes that it was "as important to him to tell [his captor's] story as it was to tell [his own] sto- ry." Fleshing out both the ter- rorists and the SEAL Team members may put some at odds with the show, but such an act holds much significance in times like ours, when hero and villain are often simply a matter of circumstance and perspective. coverstory Olivia Munn as seen in "SIX" The hunt is on for The Prince in season 2 of 'SIX' By adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Is it true they overdubbed Bob Hoskins' voice in "The Long Good Friday"? It sounds like his voice to me. A: It's not true, actually, but it almost was. This may seem incredible, since it's now revered as a gang- ster film classic, but the producers of "The Long Good Friday" (1980) were pretty sure it would be a failure and were trying to cut their losses before it was even released. They were afraid that star Bob Hoskins' thick, London ac- cent would be unintelligible to other audiences, so they planned to bring in an actor with a slightly more proper accent to overdub his parts. Hoskins was furious and sued the company to stop it. He drummed up support from some famous acting friends to back his case: Alec Guinness, Richard Burton and Warren Beatty all went on record insisting on the actor's right to keep his voice in the film. Ironically, this legal fight might have been the thing that got the film released. Even before the suit, the production compa- ny, ITC, had doubts about the film. Hoskins' suit brought the attention of another company, Handmade Films (co-owned by former Beatle George Harrison), which bought the rights from ITC and released the film, with Hoskins' voice intact. Hoskins' voice wasn't the only thing threatening the film's success — it was also nearly sunk by politics. The film's plot in- volved Irish republican terrorists, but the real-world Irish Re- publican Army was intensifying its bombing activities around the time the film was being finished. ITC felt these real-world events would hurt the box office, so they wanted to "dump" it on TV instead of in the cinemas. Q: Did Robin Williams do the singing parts for the ge- nie in "Aladdin"? It sounds like him, but Disney usually has different people doing the speaking and singing voices, especially when "Aladdin" came out. A: Robin Williams did most of the singing parts for the genie in "Aladdin" (1992), but not all. The musical numbers that feature the genie — "Arabian Nights," "Friend Like Me" and "Prince Ali" — are also come- dic bits, and we all know that when it comes to comedy, no one can imitate Robin Williams. Well, no one except Bruce Adler, apparently. Williams' shortcomings as a singer showed when it came time to record "Arabian Nights." He was unable to hit some of the high notes, so the producers hired Adler (who had previ- ously done some singing in 1991's "Beauty and the Beast") to fill in. "He was able to imitate Williams' voice so well that it is difficult to tell where the comic stops and Adler starts," Thom- as S. Hischak, author of "Disney Voice Actors: A Biographical Dictionary, said." Indeed, Adler repeated his feat in the sequel, "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" (1996). As you point out, having the same actor do both the talking and singing for a character was uncommon for Disney at the time, and you don't have to look far for proof. "Aladdin's" main characters, Aladdin and Jasmine, had separate dialogue actors (Scott Weinger and Linda Larkin) and singing actors (Brad Kane and Lea Salonga). Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. hollywoodQ&a All About the Girls by May 2 x 2

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