Robert De Niro explores Madoff’s ‘disconnect’ in HBO’s ‘Wizard of Lies’
‘Cops’ is animated; Bee angry
Highlights from the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.
HBO is going off to see the Wizard.
The Wizard of Lies, due in May, stars Robert De Niro as convicted financier Bernie Madoff, who ran one of the world’s most famous and profitable Ponzi schemes. Michelle Pfeiffer co-stars as his wife, Ruth. Barry Levinson directed.
One of the big questions raised by the film, which chronicles Madoff ’s success in scamming people (including friends) out of billions of dollars, is whether Madoff was a sociopath. De Niro isn’t sure — and didn’t play him as if he were.
“The only thing that I feel is that his kids didn’t know and his wife didn’t know,” De Niro told television critics Saturday. “What he did is beyond my comprehension, so there’s a disconnect somehow in him. And I still would like to understand. I did the best I could, but I don’t understand. ... Some people you can go so far and do your interpretation, but the only thing I do feel strongly about is he didn’t tell his kids and he didn’t tell his wife.”
SAUL’S OLD (AND NEW) PALS When Better Call Saul returns for a third season April 10, we’ll see familiar faces from AMC’s Breaking Bad, the acclaimed series for which Saul is a prequel.
“It’s a show where you know where it’s headed, what the ultimate goal is,” says co-creator Vince Gilligan. “This year is no different. We’re inching the show down the field” to see how Bob Odenkirk’s Jimmy McGill becomes the sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad.
AMC revealed, in a fake commercial for Los Pollos Hermanos, the chicken fast-food chain that figured into Bad, that Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) will be among them.
“I’m so honored to be able to come back” to playing Gus, Esposito says. He’s “a little more immature than when we left off. ... Gus is a very cagey character.”
‘THE COPS’ IS ON THE BEAT A new animated comedy starring the dynamic duo of Louis C.K. and Albert Brooks has landed at TBS.
The cable network has ordered 10 episodes of The Cops, which the comedians also created and will produce with Greg Daniels ( The Office).
The series follows two Los Angeles officers, Al (Brooks) and Lou (Louis C.K.), “trying their best to protect and serve, sometimes failing at both,” the network says.
WHY SAMANTHA BEE STINGS If anything separated TBS’ Full Frontal With Samantha Bee from other news comedy shows, it was Bee’s righteous anger. Frontal is a show with a definite point of view and a near-constant sense of outrage.
“Well,” Bee says, “there’s plenty to be outraged about. It’s a thoughtful experience. The only thing we really wanted from the show is that it come from a very gut place, a very visceral place. ... For those 21 minutes, it’s a very cleansing and cathartic experience for me, which permits me to live my life as I want to live it outside of the show.”