Hollywood Q&A

Q: I caught the Tony Shalhoub movie “Thir13en Ghosts,” and while the movie was less than stellar, I recognized a couple of the stars. Who played the daughter and the spirit liberator?

A: Starring in a horror movie, even a slightly goofy one like “Thir13en Ghosts” (2001), was a bit out of character for both actresses you refer to.

The daughter of the protagonist (Tony Shalhoub, of “Monk” fame) was played by Shannon Elizabeth, and the so-called spirit liberator was Embeth Davidtz.

Elizabeth was just two years out from her star-making role in the landmark gross-out comedy “American Pie” (1999). She followed that up with a lead role in the even-grosser 2000 comedy film “Scary Movie” (recall that while the series sort of fell apart with its sequels, the first one was a true box office sensation).

Davidtz, meanwhile, was best known for playing the sweet Miss Honey in the familyfriendly 1996 hit “Matilda.” She followed that up with roles in hits such as “Mansfield Park” (1999) and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (2001).

All this is to say they weren’t the sort of people you’d expect to appear in a slightly schlocky horror flick.

Of course, we shouldn’t sell “Thir13en Ghosts” too short. It was actually a remake of the beloved 1960 B movie of the same name (well, not exactly the same name — it went by the lessstylized “13 Ghosts”).

Q: What has Armando Iannucci been doing since “Veep” ended?

A: Actually quite a lot. He had a whole HBO sitcom, “Avenue 5,” come and go since 2019, when his beloved, award-winning political comedy “Veep” ended.

If you didn’t know that, it’s likely because “Avenue 5,” a scifi comedy about a space cruise ship that gets stuck far from Earth, never really found an audience.

Its first-season ratings, in early 2020, were poor, and then the pandemic happened, which meant the second season didn’t air for another two and a half years. By then, any momentum it had was lost, as reflected in the even lower Season 2 numbers.

Sadly, it seems like maybe that experience has soured Iannucci on TV for a while. He’s currently focused on the stage, namely a live-theater adaptation of the classic film “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (1964). Even worse for TV fans: It’s being staged across an ocean in Iannucci’s native Britain.

Q: Can you tell me what the actress who played Calamity Jane has been doing since “Deadwood”?

A: It depends on what you mean by “since ‘Deadwood.’” One could argue that the biggest thing Robin Weigert has done since “Deadwood” is more “Deadwood.”

The series aired from 2004 to 2006 on HBO, back when a two-year run could still result in the sort of huge cultural impact “Deadwood” had. But it was revived in 2019 for a feature-length film aptly titled “Deadwood: The Movie.”

In both, Weigert played Calamity Jane, based on the reallife Wild West sharpshooter, and it’s by far the biggest role of her career so far.

In between and afterward, she’s split her time between supporting roles in highly regarded prestige films (“Synecdoche, New York,” 2008; “Pawn Sacrifice,” 2014) and lengthy arcs on TV dramas.

Of these TV roles, she’s most recognizable as lawyer Ally Lowen on “Sons of Anarchy” and doctor Wendy Ross-Hogart on the comic book series “Jessica Jones.”

But she has a potentially bigger role lined up. She will have a lead role in the new thriller series “Tracker,” which is being produced by CBS. The network is already planning to air the pilot episode after the Super Bowl in February — one of the most coveted slots on TV — suggesting it has high hopes for the series.