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Monday, August 23, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
COLUMN: Shooting Stars
Las Vegas takes center stage in a variety of projects
By Carol Cling
Review-Journal
From Neon Nirvana to desolate desert outpost, Las Vegas plays multiple roles in a variety of projects this week.
The accent's on action as "The Strip" moves into its second week of production at its new on-camera home: Caesars Palace.
The hourlong, "testosterone-driven" show -- produced by Silver Films in association with Warner Bros. Television -- will showcase Caesars, from casino to Forum Shops, during filming.
The show focuses on a hip security team (played by Sean Patrick Flanery and Guy Torry) working for wealthy casino owner Cameron Greene (Joe Viterelli, who's currently on the big screen in "Mickey Blue Eyes").
Production officials approached Caesars about filming "The Strip's" pilot there this spring, according to Phil Cooper, vice president of publicity at Caesars.
But "we decided to pass," he notes. "It wasn't our cup of tea," in part because "early on, there were elements of drama that included ... a lot of violence happening on Caesars Palace property."
The pilot filmed at the Tropicana instead, but when "Strip" officials got a 12-episode series pickup from the UPN network, they reapproached Caesars, Cooper explains.
Caesars officials changed their minds about the show, in part, because on-property violence is "not the centerpiece of the show -- they've moved it elsewhere," he notes. "They met us more than halfway on content."
Although "The Strip" has been described as "Starsky and Hutch" meets "Vega$," it's more like " `Lethal Weapon' goes small screen," in Cooper's view. (Which makes perfect sense, considering that "Strip" creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar scripted "Lethal Weapon 4," which briefly filmed in Las Vegas last year.)
"There's an excitement about the chemistry between the two (lead) characters on the page," he says. "If they can bring that to the screen," the show should capture audiences easily, Cooper predicts.
That would be a big improvement over the fate of the last TV series set at Caesars: "Hearts Are Wild," a short-lived CBS drama that filmed in late 1991 and aired in early 1992.
Moving south from Caesars, the MGM Grand Garden steps into the TV spotlight as the locale for not one but two cable television extravaganzas this week.
Today, World Championship Wrestling's "Monday Night Nitro Live" brings rock and wrestling to the Strip when Kiss -- alias Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley -- join WCW stalwarts Goldberg and Hulk Hogan, among others.
In addition to a Kiss musical performance, the live TNT broadcast (live on the East Coast, at any rate; we Westerners get the tape-delayed version at 8 p.m.) will introduce Kiss-costumed wrestlers to the WCW ranks.
On Friday and Saturday, Tall Pony Productions checks into the MGM Grand Garden to capture Cher in concert for an HBO special scheduled to air at 9 p.m. Sunday.
"Originally, we were going to go live, but that's changed," according to associate producer Allen Cody.
Instead, 14 cameras will roll to record both Friday and Saturday night shows.
"I've never seen so many cameras in my life," Cody notes.
Calling the shots will be British director David Mallet, whose credits include such video extravaganzas as David Bowie's "Serious Moonlight," Michael Flatley's "Feet of Flames" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's now-and-forever musical "Cats."
In addition to Cher's MGM performance, HBO viewers will see aerial footage shot a few weeks ago at Hoover Dam -- and outside the MGM Grand, where a giant banner touting Cher's show has hovered over the Strip for weeks.
PBS also gets into the act Wednesday morning, when the Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek: The Experience serves as a backdrop for an episode of PBS' "Livelyhood."
The series, back on PBS with a mixture of new and repeat segments, is scheduled to conclude Oct. 15 with "Carpool to Nirvana," which depicts the quest for the ideal workplace.
That quest includes exploring various commuting methods, from light rail in St. Louis to buses in Los Angeles -- and a Star Trek transporter room in Las Vegas, where the show's host, comedian Will Durst, will introduce and wrap up the episode.
"That's the ultimate commute," Durst says of Star Trek "beam-me-up" transporter technology. "It's cutting the commute down from four hours to 45 minutes to 4.5 seconds."
Initially, the "Star Trek" footage was scheduled to shoot in Nashville, where a touring "Star Trek" museum exhibit is currently on display.
But "I'm a friend of Vegas," Durst admits, explaining the show's switch to the Hilton. After all, the comedian often performs at the MGM Grand's Catch a Rising Star and other Vegas venues.
"To me, Las Vegas is America," Durst quips. "Money is everywhere, and none of it is yours."
That one line describes the downbeat Vegas view in "A Leonard Cohen Afterworld," a New Line feature that begins an eight-day visit Thursday.
That's because the script, by "Con Air" scribe Scott Rosenberg, focuses on two post-Gen-X Vegans, played by Jared Leto (TV's "My So-Called Life") and Jake Gyllenhaal ("October Sky"), who trade their dreary trailer park lives for a quirky road trip to Seattle.
After all, as one character observes, "Las Vegas in the day is like a showgirl without her makeup."
According to Las Vegas location scout Maggie Mancuso, director James Cox and his "Leonard Cohen" cohorts are scheduled to shoot at a variety of locations, from a trailer park south of town to casino exteriors, where one of the characters "borrows" a Rolls Royce while impersonating a valet parking attendant.
Private residences in Overton and Las Vegas, the scenic loop in Red Rock Canyon and the entrance to Green Valley's Galleria at Sunset mall round out the list of planned locations, Mancuso reports.
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CAROL CLING
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