Life inspires art in upcoming programs

'Blues,' other specials based on true stories

By Suzanne C. Ryan, Globe Staff, 9/7/2003

True-life stories with the pull of fiction are among the movies and miniseries making their television debuts this fall.

From the rescue of Jessica Lynch in Iraq to Pancho Villa's battles in Mexico to a look at Ronald Reagan's White House years, the airwaves will be filled with dramas drawn from headlines new and old. Among them: the long-awaited adaptation of the Pulitizer Prize-winning "Angels in America," which looks at AIDS, faith, and redemption during the Reagan era and features fantastical characters as well as real-life lawyer Roy Cohn, played by Al Pacino.

Elsewhere, actress Salma Hayek directs her first film, for Showtime, and the brothers Ric and Ken Burns will each present documentary work on PBS. And Martin Scorsese will celebrate the music he loves, the blues, in a WGBH-TV (Channel 2) series.

Six years ago, Scorsese decided to produce a film about the art form. On Sept. 28, his vision comes to the small screen when WGBH presents perhaps its most anticipated fall series, called, naturally, "The Blues."

In an unprecedented move for the station, the PBS affiliate will devote seven consecutive nights to the series, which consists of seven feature-length films by seven directors, including Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. The documentaries, each with its own focus and format, will trace the origins and growth of the genre.

The films will include archival and present-day performances by a range of artists from B. B. King and Muddy Waters to the Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt.

"Our goal never was to produce the definitive work on the blues," said Scorsese in a statement." It was, from the start, to create highly personal and impressionistic films as seen through the eyes of . . . directors" with a passion for this music.

Elsewhere on WGBH this fall, the station's notable series will present a range of programming. Tomorrow night on "American Experience," Ric Burns offers "The Center of the World: New York," which will explore the rise and fall of the World Trade Center. This is the eighth episode of the series "New York: A Documentary Film."

"Frontline" will trace the roots of the Iraqi war back to the days following Sept. 11 in "Truth, War and Consequences" Oct. 9. "ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre" will open its season Oct. 12 with "Warrior Queen," a story starring Alex Kingston, of "ER," as Britain's famous warrior Boudica, who led the Celtic Britons in a battle against the Roman Empire.

"NOVA," celebrating its 30th anniversary this season, will broadcast "The Elegant Universe" on Oct. 28 and Nov. 4, a computer-animated exploration of the string theory which suggests that the core ingredients of nature are tiny strings of energy. On Nov. 11, the series will present a documentary on the "Wright Brothers' Flying Machine."

Ken Burns, who saw many of his fims rebroadcast last fall on PBS, will present his latest work Oct. 6: "Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip" This film documents the story of a Vermont doctor, Horatio Nelson Jackson, who took the first cross-country automobile trip in 1903, during a time when there were only 150 miles of paved roads nationwide, no gas stations, and virtually no road maps. Tom Hanks will provide Jackson's voice. Dayton Dunkin is a co-producer.

Among the big-six networks, NBC plans to broadcast perhaps the splashiest movie, "Saving Jessica Lynch," which will tell the unauthorized story of the ambush and rescue of the former Iraqi POW.

The soldier, who received a medical discharge from the Army last month, has been unable to speak publicly about her experiences because of military policy. Last week, she agreed to a $1 million book deal with publisher Alfred A. Knopf.

Producer Dan Paulson ("Passenger 57") said he secured details of Lynch's story from Mohammed Al Rehaief, an Iraqi citizen who risked his life to help Lynch and has since been granted political asylum. Al Rehaief's wife was a nurse who worked in the hospital where Lynch was held, Paulson said.

"We built the story on published reports and on events Mohammed saw with his own eyes," Paulson said. "We've been diligent in piecing the facts together." Although Paulson is coy to reveal too much of the story line, he said viewers will see scenes of Lynch's unit being ambushed, her treatment in the hospital by Iraqi doctors, and her dramatic rescue. "You will see there are heroes on both sides of the conflict," he said. The film is scheduled to air sometime in November.

ABC will air "Dreamkeeper" in December, a coming-of-age story about a Native American teenager. CBS is planning to broadcast "The Reagans," a miniseries about the former president and his family in the 1980s. That movie is tentatively scheduled to air in November.

For the 40th anniversary of the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy, CNN is producing a documentary commemorating the event, using current-day interviews with more than 50 journalists who covered the story, including CBS News's Dan Rather.

The film is scheduled to air Nov. 16. That day the History Channel is also planning to air a documentary on Kennedy, during a week of Kennedy-themed programming.

On a lighter note, MTV plans to air a musical adaptation of the classic novel "Wuthering Heights" next Sunday. Erika Christensen ("Traffic") will star as Cate. On Oct. 4 the Sci Fi Channel will air "Beyond Re-Animator," about a scientist who discovers a way to bring dead bodies back to life.

In the awards category, Spike TV will introduce television's first video game awards show sometime in the late fall. The ceremony will honor the "coolest" villains, the best weapons, and the most addictive games.

On Sept. 28, Showtime will air the documentary "The Boys of 2nd Street Park." The film explores the different paths taken by six boys who grew up playing basketball together in New York City in the 1960s. On Oct. 12, Showtime will air Hayek's directorial debut, "The Maldonado Miracle." Filmed in Utah, the movie, starring Peter Fonda, follows the story of a small town with a failing economy that is transformed when residents discover that a statue of Jesus is bleeding. Suddenly inundated with reporters and believers, the town has new hope. But a secret about the statue could unravel everything.

HBO continues to unveil the most star-powered TV movies of all. In December Pacino joins Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson in the six-hour adaptation of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America."

Tonight, HBO is debuting "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself," a true story about the Mexican revolutionary who raised money for his army in 1913 by selling to a US movie company the right to film the battles his soldiers engaged in. It would be the first time that movie cameras recorded live combat footage. Antonio Banderas stars as Villa. "Pancho was such an intriguing character to write about because he was heroic and despotic all at once," said producer Larry Gelbart, who wrote the script. "He did take away the haciendas of the rich. But he also educated his followers and made enormous improvements in transportation. He was a man with no education but he was brilliant." Suzanne Ryan can be reached at sryan@globe.com.