I’ll be interested to see it - coming in April: FX’s ‘Fargo’ Cast, EPs on Film Comparisons, Anthology Format, Courting Billy Bob Thornton – The Hollywood Reporter
But they’re going to still keep calling it Fargo and not Brainerd? Sheesh.
What have we got here? Arby’s?
Has their blessing?
I should hope so.
Fun fact: Filmed in Calgary.
It’s got Martin Freeman in it?
I’m sold.
From the article;
“Freeman steps into the role of the bumbling salesman, Lester Nygaard, that was played by William H. Macy.”
I want to hear Martin Freeman’s Minnesotan-American accent.
Not Jerry Lundegaard?
Billy Bob will make a dynamite evildoer.
Dr. Watson Bilbo Baggins Martin Freeman? How could I not watch?
Why are Brits apparently better at regional American accents than Americans are? See: The Walking Dead.
Okay, maybe “better” isn’t the right word.
I’ll reserve judgment until after I hear him.
But just last night I was watching L.A. Confidential and marveling at Russell Crowe’s (I know, Australian) American accent. I think it was just as good as Hugh Laurie’s.
I can’t speak to this show, but more and more shows are filmed in Canada for tax reasons. Psych is one of them.
Love both of those films.
Yep. Also exchange rates. Oh, and freakin’ awesome location photography. See: Unforgiven. Legends of the Fall. I’m sure there are more recent examples as well.
Individual states in the United States of America give tax breaks to film productions to lure that business. Provinces in Canada do as well, although that comes and goes, and then you hear the industry howling that business will dry up. Never seems to completely happen, but you do hear of productions no longer considering a location due to tax changes or moving to another state/province/country.
Also a friend of my daughter got a selfie on the street with Martin Freeman and we recognized the location as just a little ways down the hill in Kengsington. Very cool!
You must’ve been even more impressed by Guy Pearce’s accent if you didn’t even realize he’s Australian as well. 
(Funnily enough I was watching L.A. Confidential too – were you watching on Amazon Prime Instant? I’ve been jonesing to see that film for a couple of years now since I lost the DVD, and always searched hopefully on Netflix streaming; looks like Amazon won the race!)
Sorry for the OT. I swear I thought Fargo had already been made into a TV show years ago. (Checks… oh yes, it was. Edie Falco as Marge? I can see that, actually.) I wonder why this new version has the same setting, and the article describes that it’s about what happens to Marge the day after she solves the crime from the film–but this cop’s not actually the same character, apparently. Seems to be this Marge-but-not-Marge could well be just a Marge manqué.
Marge was such a marvelous creation and for me was the standout in a terrific film, and that’s saying something because all the characters/performances were so wonderful. The sheer, stable, down-to-earth humanity of this woman, her relationship with her stamp-artist husband, and her easy-to-underestimate intellect and skill at her job made her the most compelling character to me by far. Seems like she’d be a natural person to remain at the center of the anthology. Would the Coens not give permission to use the film characters?
Hmm. Now that I think of it, I wonder if showrunner/producer Noah Hawley wanted a new character to make sure he’d get residuals under the WGA’s Basic Agreement “Character Payment” clause? (This involves writers who create characters for TV shows; subsequent uses of the character, even if written by someone else, require residual payments to the original creator.)
OTOH, it seems odd that a showrunner would be worried about residuals, but one never knows with the complex WGA rules. It’s good insurance in case the show gets picked up for a 2nd season and Hawley ends up not writing all the scripts (as he has for the first season)–or worse, in some kind of Dan Harmon situation where he’s booted out of his own show.
Total wild speculation as to the rationale for the change. I know TV writers, but don’t work in that industry myself, probably needless to say. What do others think the reason might be–or have you seen any articles that go more deeply into the reasoning?
(It kind of annoys me that the network dudes refer to the season-long story as a “another true crime” story from the region. People are still fooled by that disclaimer in the film! IIRC some woman died actually looking for the loot buried in the snow. I mean, that’s pretty much Darwin Award material, but still… I don’t know what the movie gained by outright lying about its fictional nature.)
Story of the Japanese woman who died “looking for the money from Fargo.”
…Not sure if I’m being whooshed. I find Hugh Laurie’s American accent to be bizarre.
I get the feeling that the writer of the article has either forgotten a lot of the movie, or hasn’t even seen it. Jerry was of course caught at the end of the movie, and is no doubt serving quite a bit of time in jail. The imdb page says that Lester Nygaard is an insurance salesman, so it’s probably a similar character, but not supposed to be the same guy.
The article also says:
“Thornton stars as Lorne Malvo, a decidedly more serious heavy than the one portrayed by Steve Buscemi in the feature;”
The real heavy in the movie was Peter Stormare (“Where is Pancakes House?”) and Billy Bob, on his best day, couldn’t be half as terrifying as Stormare was.
April 15th!
And the first actual trailers are out:
Looks like they nailed the vibe. Here’s hoping!
Wow, those look good. Didn’t hear too many words from Martin Freeman, but from what I did hear it sounds like his accent is pretty good.
::checking channels on Dish::
Yep, I get FX. I’m looking forward to this.
Most Hollywood television productions and films these days are filmed in British Columbia, New Mexico or Louisiana unless they have an exceptionally high budget or soundstages are required. Most CBS television fare is filmed in and around Los Angeles as a keen-eyed observer can tell.
Much of the Syfy low budget offerings are for filmed in Romania and Bulgaria.
The Coens know or suspected that there was a great deal of money to be made in television and that’s why they are supporting this venture.