CHRIS O’DOWD IS everywhere these days.
It was only last week that his romcom The Incredible Jessica James landed on Netflix to rave reviews, and next Sunday sees the launch of a new 10-part “dark comedy” series on US cable channel Epix – a remake of the classic 1995 John Travolta thriller Get Shorty, which itself was based on a 1990 novel of the same name.
O’Dowd stars alongside Ray Romano
Here’s the trailer, and yes, O’Dowd is rocking an Irish accent in the role
O’Dowd plays Miles Daly, who works as muscle for a murderous crime ring in Nevada and attempts to change professions and become a movie producer, laundering money through a Hollywood film.
Romano is Rick Moreweather, a “washed up producer of low quality films who becomes Miles’ partner and guide through the maze of Hollywood.”
O’Dowd was asked about the differences between the Travolta movie, the original book, and this new TV version at an event last week:
It’s like visiting the same bar at different times of the week.
The movie is Saturday night when everyone looks their best, apparently. The TV show?
We visit at 3 AM on a Thursday, when the floor is kind of sticky and you’re fighting with your girlfriend and the bar bill is about to arrive and you can’t afford to pay it.
So, a grittier vibe than Travolta and the lads can be expected
O’Dowd told IndieWire in an interview last week that Get Shorty is satirising Hollywood:
Poking fun at truth is satire. Us trying to extricate those things that we find ridiculous about Hollywood and putting them on film satirizes it. But we don’t have to fake it.
Moving to Hollywood himself gave O’Dowd a personal insight into his character in Get Shorty:
I think that everybody has a different perspective on the industry because nobody comes from here. It’s such an odd construct of a city. But for my character, I think I can definitely relate to him being very much of a fish out of water.
Guy coming here for the first time and seeing how much bullshit there is here, and how easy it is to cut through it, and what a commodity honesty, ironically, is here because it’s so rare, and how it can lead to success — it’s all stuff that I’ve seen in my time.
The first three episodes are available online to American audiences for free now, but it doesn’t actually air on Epix’s TV channel until next Sunday. No word yet on whether it’s coming to Irish shores, but with a high profile cast and a following building already, you can’t rule out an Irish or UK station picking it up.
Onwards and upwards.
