Word: ideas
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...decade, arrogantly convinced that Jonathan Swift's 18th century political satire Gulliver's Travels was just waiting to be made into a mini-series starring Ted Danson, Halmi tirelessly pitched the idea to skeptical network executives until NBC succumbed two years ago. Improbably enough, Gulliver drew critical raves and wound up as last season's highest-rated mini-series. Motivated by that triumph, Halmi, whose curriculum vitae is not entirely without a smattering of titles like Ivana Trump's For Love Alone, has now made it a mission to devote himself almost exclusively to reinterpreting the classics for television...
...just had to convince the networks that I could do BBC-like programming but with entertainment," says Halmi, apparently a man whose idea of a good time does not include sitting down to six hours of that network's well-received version of Pride and Prejudice. "This is what the medium was invented for." He continues, "What television did to American young families is, it stopped them to read," he says in his broken second tongue. "It took the books out of kids' hands. I think we can make kids curious and get them to read again. I know...
Says David Picker, former head of United Artists and a friend of Halmi's: "He's a throwback to the kind of creative producer--Sam Spiegel, David O. Selznick--the cultured, romantic, passionate kind, who won't let go of an idea until it happens." And who wants things the way he wants things. When Assante tried to back out of The Odyssey at one point during the production because he was unhappy about the script, Halmi slapped him with a lawsuit for the entire budget of the film. Assante came back, and Halmi conceded to a reworking...
Last year's list of the most influential people in America was a terrific idea, but your decision to make it an annual, ever changing list is ridiculous. Really, how influential could last year's people have been if they're not in the Top 25 only one year later? It's more like a list of who is "hot." Your magazine doesn't need this kind of gimmick. TOM ZEIT Minneapolis, Minnesota...
...found your Top 25 to be one of the more disturbing recent articles in your magazine. The very idea that there are people in this country who allow their lives to be influenced by the likes of Rosie O'Donnell, Don Imus and Trent Reznor is frightening. ED KULASA Tinley Park, Illinois...