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Post by annachibi on Jun 13, 2011 22:21:25 GMT
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Post by rueful on Jun 21, 2011 13:13:55 GMT
So far, the PBS website doesn't have a whole lot on Zen. I'm hoping they will add something when it airs--an interview or something! But they do have this paragraph as part of their series description.
Rufus Sewell (Middlemarch) stars as Zen, a Roman police detective hailing from Venice, where "Zen" is a local shortening of the name Zeno.
Ignoring the fact that they are calling all the way back to Middlemarch (PBS likes to only list shows that were on Masterpiece), I wondered about that "Zeno" thing. Where did they get that? I don't remember that from the books, but it has been a little while since I read them. Am I just being forgetful?
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Post by kissmekate on Jun 21, 2011 13:30:52 GMT
Am I just being forgetful? I don't think so ... at least I haven't encountered that explanation within the first six books. It's just that many people get the name wrong because it's so unusual and he often gets called Zeno or something else instead of Zen. |
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Post by adina on Jun 21, 2011 15:39:14 GMT
Where did they get that? I don't remember that from the books, but it has been a little while since I read them. Am I just being forgetful? Well, Rueful, we are fangirls of Rufus, of course we jumped to read the books. (And we are thankful, because the books are fantastic.) But I don't think the tv people did the same thing. It is more likely they did some internet search. For example: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Zen or something similar. "Palazzo Zen, residenza della famiglia Zeno (o Zen secondo la dizione veneziana)" |
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Post by robela on Jun 21, 2011 15:50:19 GMT
Where did they get that? I don't remember that from the books, but it has been a little while since I read them. Am I just being forgetful? Well, Rueful, we are fangirls of Rufus, of course we jumped to read the books. (And we are thankful, because the books are fantastic.) But I don't think the tv people did the same thing. It is more likely they did some internet search. For example: it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Zen or something similar. "Palazzo Zen, residenza della famiglia Zeno (o Zen secondo la dizione veneziana)" Well I've read all the books now and watched the DVD's many times and I have not read or heard anyone call him 'Zeno'!!! |
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Post by joyceinva on Jun 21, 2011 16:56:17 GMT
No Rue, you are not being forgetful - those twerps at PBS got it wrong. As KMK points out, they must have googled it and god knows EVERYTHING on goolge is correct.
And if I'm not being forgetful - Zen is asked about his name o more than one occasion and he always relples tha it is a Venetian name.
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Post by rueful on Jun 21, 2011 17:57:59 GMT
Thanks, everybody. It's nice to know I'm not (totally) crazy!  |
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Post by chocolate on Jun 21, 2011 20:33:20 GMT
Zen has been a Venetian name for real and it should have been pronounced [dzen]- that is what I read in a comment from one italian guy, cant remember exactly where I saw it.Those from pbs have to be more pro...
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Post by fzen1988 on Jun 21, 2011 20:40:13 GMT
Zen has been a Venetian name for real and it should have been pronounced [dzen]- that is what I read in a comment from one italian guy, cant remember exactly where I saw it.Those from pbs have to be more pro... This is true.For example double "z" is pronounced "ch"!But it depends where you live in Italy.North and central Italians would probably pronounce it DZen,whilst South Italians would pronounce it just Zzzzen!And older people would see it as a TZen!But it's a total Z,so it really is up to people! |
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Post by kygal on Jul 3, 2011 13:53:12 GMT
My mom saw an interview with Rufus talking about Zen while she was watching Masterpiece. I was not home so she could not call me. Does anyone know if this is something we have here or is it new? I thought it may be from the Zen dvd features.
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Post by robela on Jul 3, 2011 16:52:59 GMT
He did a lot of promotional interviews just before Zen aired in UK. More than likely it is one of those.  Unless he has done some specially for them showing in US. If so, would be good!  That would mean they too are hoping for big things to come from the US showing! Fingers crossed for more Zen films!  |
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Jul 8, 2011 20:14:59 GMT
Nice little piece in the NY Times: www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/arts/television/rufus-sewell-as-italian-detective-on-masterpiece-mystery.html?_r=1WHEN it comes to gloomy weather, dark English interiors and brooding loner detectives “Masterpiece Mystery!” on PBS has it covered. So far this season “Masterpiece Mystery!” has offered up Agatha Christie whodunits: three new episodes featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and on Sunday a new adventure for the gentle knitter Miss Marple. In September the show heads back to another traditional setting, Oxford University, with new episodes of “Inspector Lewis.”
Before then, however, the producers decided viewers needed a modern Roman holiday. Beginning next Sunday the series takes a very different turn, with adaptations of three books by the British writer Michael Dibdin, centered on his Italian police detective Aurelio Zen.
The soundtrack veers from opera to 1960s-era secret-agent themes. The camera tracks car chases through a lighted-up nighttime Rome and lingers on the Italian countryside. At the center of it all is the actor Rufus Sewell (“Middlemarch,” “The Pillars of the Earth”), more of a heartthrob than the standard “Mystery!” sleuth, sharp suits replacing his usual period dress.
While the Zen mysteries follow the formula of crimes that can be solved in 90 minutes, the series’s broader theme is a departure for “Masterpiece” as well, as Zen tries to maneuver his way around corruption in his own department and the government, with conflicting pressure from all sides in the cases at hand.
“I rather liked that he’s set up to fail,” said Andy Harries, the chief executive of Left Bank Pictures, which — fresh from adapting Henning Mankell’s “Wallander” mysteries, also shown on “Masterpiece Mystery!” — developed the series for the BBC and “Masterpiece.” “The levels of corruption are so immense, so culturally ingrained in Italy,” he said, referring to the scandals involving the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. “We might regard it as corruption, but the Italians don’t. It’s just a very, very different culture.”
The tension “makes for quite a subtle show, with the ambivalence and complexities,” he added. “It was designed to push the boat out further, make the viewer work a little harder.”
With “Wallander” and now “Zen,” said Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer of “Masterpiece,” “the way scripts are being written is reflecting a more serious view of life and crime, rather than just a lighthearted escape.”
In a late addition to the “Masterpiece Mystery!” schedule Ms. Eaton also just finalized a deal to add a new detective to the lineup for three weeks starting Oct. 16. “Case Histories,” based on the book by Kate Atkinson, will feature a modern detective named Jackson Brodie, played by Jason Isaacs (who will also appear on NBC in the midseason paranormal series “Awake”). As in “Zen,” Ms. Eaton said, the character is a younger man “with sex appeal,” and the setting, Edinburgh, “provides tremendous geographic flavor.”
Publicity materials for “Zen” paint the character as an “honest cop” bringing “justice to modern-day Italy, whether the authorities want it or not.” Mr. Sewell sees it differently. “Always be very much wary of DVD liner notes,” he said in a telephone interview. While not corrupt in the same sense that his colleagues are, he said, Zen “can be quite morally dubious when it suits him.”
He added: “He has a slightly lackadaisical moral code, a sense of wanting to do something good. But he’s not above kicking someone when they’re down. He’s a gray area, and that’s what makes it incredibly fun.”
Just shy of 40, Zen is separated from his wife and living with his mother. “There’s a certain lack of dynamism in the character,” Mr. Sewell said. “He’s pushed around by tides and circumstances.” (But just as he always solves his case despite the conflicting pressures, he also ends up with the most sought-after woman in the office, played by an Italian actress, Caterina Murino.)
The casting proved a challenge for the producers. With “Wallander,” Mr. Harries explained, it was easy to find British actors who shared the Scandinavians’ pallor; trying to find ones who could play Italians was much harder. Mr. Harries said he had Mr. Sewell in mind for the role from the beginning, because “he has a good Eastern European Mediterranean look about him.”
But while the men are almost all English speakers, Italians were largely cast for the female roles, for creative reasons and also because the project had partial Italian financing. “English girls on the whole simply just don’t have the sensuality and looks of the Italian girls,” Mr. Harries said, quickly adding that “they have different charms.”
The result was a mix of accents, something that “the audience was going to buy or not buy,” Mr. Sewell said. “It takes perhaps a little adjustment.”
The audience for “Masterpiece” soared in the past season, to an average of 3.5 million viewers, up 66 percent from the 2009-10 season, thanks to “Downton Abbey” and an “Upstairs, Downstairs” sequel. And for the first time since ExxonMobil ended its support in 2004, the financing prospects have brightened, as well.
A corporate sponsor, the mutual fund company Franklin Templeton, signed on to support the show from May through September. And a trust established in January to attract individual donors is closing in on its goal of $1 million six months ahead of schedule. For $25,000 each, supporters get their names in the credits, if they wish. “It seems to have hit a sweet spot,” said Ms. Eaton, adding that the donors clearly have an emotional attachment to the program.
Viewers who get too attached to “Zen” may be disappointed, however. While Ms. Eaton said she would love more episodes, Mr. Harries said that because of a change in management at the BBC, “Zen” hasn’t been renewed.
Mr. Sewell said he was philosophical about the situation. “There were rumblings in the air that certain people weren’t that fond of the tone and, for me, I think the tone is it.” He said he’d rather go on to other projects “than try to tinker with it.” But Mr. Harries said he hadn’t given up hope that the character could be resurrected. “I’m still working on it,” he said. My mom saw an interview with Rufus talking about Zen while she was watching Masterpiece. I was not home so she could not call me. Does anyone know if this is something we have here or is it new? I thought it may be from the Zen dvd features. I wonder if this is the interview your mother saw, Kygal?: nhpublictv.tumblr.com/post/7364679120/masterpiece-zen-behind-the-scenes-rufus-sewell(unfortunately, it won't play for those of us this side of the Big Pond! Wah!!!  ) |
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Post by megagem on Jul 8, 2011 20:31:03 GMT
I've just watched the vid, and don't worry GE2. You've seen it all. They've just taken portions of the behind-the-scenes part of the Zen DVD and mushed it into what (to those in the States who don't know the difference) looks like an all-new interview. So dry those tears, you haven't missed a thing!  |
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Post by GreenEyesToo on Jul 8, 2011 20:46:00 GMT
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Post by megagem on Jul 8, 2011 20:56:02 GMT
Yep! Exactly the same. Straight from the DVD. In the interviews, it's mostly the producers/directors talking about them, and Rufus and Caterina only show up and say a sentence or two at most, and it's stuff we've already heard ;D
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That would mean they too are hoping for big things to come from the US showing! Fingers crossed for more Zen films! 
