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April 18 - 24, 2016 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Role on "NCIS" (2) 10. "__ Upon a Time" 11. Singer/pianist John 12. Setting for "Bonanza": abbr. 13. Prior to 14. Format for a file sent electronically 16. Role on "NCIS: Los Angeles" (2) 18. Coffee holder 20. "Immediately!" in the ER 21. Singer-turned-mayor 22. Fight result, for short 23. Author Doyle's monogram 24. "__ Harry Met Sally ..." 25. Huntley or Atkins 27. Suffix for arrest or absent 28. Actor on "Code Black" (2) 32. 90 degrees from ENE 33. Record albums, for short 34. "__ Pilot"; John Wayne movie 37. Boredom 39. "__ of Arcadia" (2003- 05) 40. Role on "Castle" (2) DOWN 1. Stewart or Gosselin 2. Ending for Max or Joseph 3. 1105 4. "Just Shoot __!" 5. Gilpin of "Frasier" 6. Sir Guinness 7. Columbo's title: abbr. 8. Walks around with a long face 9. "Week-__ __ __ Waldorf"; Ginger Rogers movie 13. Series for Eriq La Salle, once 15. Bits of snow 16. Airheads 17. Prince William's alma mater 18. Caff"'e __; offerings at Starbucks 19. "The __ World of Jacques Cousteau" 21. "Brandenburg Concertos" composer 24. "License to __"; 2007 film for Robin Williams 26. Former U.S. Senator Lott 29. Botch; bungle 30. Mayberry resident 31. Initials for a Beatle 34. Pesci or Penny 35. "Please Don't __ the Daisies" 36. Explosive letters 38. Initials for singer and actor Mr. Eddy 39. HI followers Solution on page 2. By George Dickie © Zap2it At first blush, Richard Roper seems like the type of man you'd wish could run for president. Erudite, genteel and philanthropic to a fault, this billionaire British busi- nessman is the very im- age of someone in whom you would entrust the greater good. But get beneath the surface and another pic- ture emerges, one of a self-interested wheeler dealer who built his em- pire selling illegal arms to the highest bidder and buying a few souls in the process. As played by Hugh Laurie ("House"), he's the devil in designer threads. It is into this man's lavish world in "The Night Manager," a six-part miniseries that premieres Tuesday, April 19, on AMC, that ex-British sol- dier Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston, "Midnight in Paris") is thrust. Pine, an Iraq War veteran who has retreated from life as a night manager at a Cairo hotel, is recruited by intelligence operative An- gela Burr (Olivia Colman, "Broadchurch") to infiltrate Roper's inner circle and get at the heart of his vast empire. But he must first withstand the interroga- tions of Roper's suspi- cious chief of staff Major Corkoran (Tom Hollander, "Pirates of the Caribbe- an: At World's End") and resist the wiles of his gor- geous trophy girlfriend Jed (Elizabeth Debicki, "Ever- est"). And worst of all, he himself must become a criminal. The series, based on a John le Carré espionage novel, is set after the Cold War and was filmed in lo- cations ranging from Swit- zerland and England to Morocco and the Spanish island of Majorca, where Roper's Mediterranean villa is situated. "What I found fascinat- ing about Jonathan Pine in John le Carré's novel and in the adaptation," Hiddleston said to a re- cent gathering of TV crit- ics in Pasadena, Calif., "is there is a tension between a very calm exterior and a turbulent and chaotic interior, that he's someone who actually has a great amount of vulnerability and a huge amount of doubt. Le Carré describes him as a self exiled crea- ture of the night and a sailor without a destina- tion. And Angela Burr, played by Olivia Colman, compels him to make a commitment, and she lights a spark within him that impels him to act and to follow through on that commitment, which is to take down Richard Roper. And I think all the way through Susanne (Bier, an executive producer and di- rector) always encouraged me to lean into the tension between his obligation to be very, very calm and very passive on the sur- face while he's actually on fire beneath that, and that tension I enjoyed playing very much." As for Roper, Laurie describes him as a psy- chotic who operates in an almost medieval fashion outside the boundaries of society. "There's a sort of Col- onel Kurtz aspect to it, I think," he says, alluding to the unhinged character played by Marlon Brando in the 1979 war drama "Apocalypse Now," "that he has surrounded himself with people whose liveli- hoods depend on his good opinion. That's always likely to drive somebody psychotic, as any studio head will attest. "It's not good for one's sanity, I think, to be able to operate unopposed," he continues, "and this is a man who has created a world for himself where he can operate unopposed, unchallenged. And yes, he has given way to the dark side in a very, very big way. A very big way. He is described in the story as the worst man in the world, which is a pretty exciting challenge to take on as a character to play, but a thrilling one too." "I love everything, every word le Carré ever wrote, but this is a story that, in particular, I found incredi- bly compelling. Right back when the book was first published, I was three chapters in, and I tried to option it. I never optioned anything in my life before or since. But that's how compelling, how romantic and how powerful I found this story to be." Hugh Laurie stars in "The Night Manager," a six-part miniseries premiering Tuesday on AMC. CoverStory 'The Night Manager' brings John le Carré spy caper to AMC

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