Full Article Text
NYP TV WEEK
• GETTING PERSONAL
Tom Selleck earns his wings
By MICHAEL GILTZ (( f)o/ u~
TOM Selleck can identify with
General Dwight D. Eisenhow
er, the Allied Commander who
had the overwhelming responsibili
ty of organizing D-Day.
"What got to me in playing Ike,"
says Selleck, 59, who plays the
beloved war hero in A&E's "Ike:
Countdown to D-Day" on Monday
night, "was the sheer load of it. He
was never dealing with one problem
at once. All he had to do was turn
his head and someone else was
coming to him with something else.
If it wasn't the weather, it was any
number of other things."
Surely Selleck understands that
constant demand for attention: his
career hasn't been this hot since he
catapulted to stardom in 1980 as the
mustachioed Vietnam vet turned
private eye on "Magnum P.!'''
(a role that famously cost
him the lead in 1981's
'"Raiders of the Lost Ark").
Last week he starred in
CBS' two-part TV movie
"Reversible Errors" oppo
site William H. Macy. His
Emmy-nominatcd stint on
·'Friends" proved he could be \'
as adroIt with comedy as he is
with drama. A string of West-
erns on TNT, among them
2001's "Crossfue Trail," have set cable ratings records. CBS
just announced his new project
"The Culpepper Cattle Company"
as one of its premiere TV movies
for the fall.
And tomorrow night comes "Ike,"
a look at the arduous buildup to D
Day, one of the most complex, disas
ter-fraught enterprises in military
history. It co-stars Timothy Bottoms
as his chief of staff and Gerald
McRaney as George S. Patton. His
tory can seem inevitable in retro
spect -of course, the Allied
Armies defeated Hitler -but Sell
eck hopes this movie ("It's not a
docudrama" he says repeatedly) can
show viewers the very real risks
involved and why they had to be
taken.
"This stuff is so hard, from an
ordinary soldier's point of view,"
says Selleck, who is mar
ried to the actress
Jillie Mack (she
appeared in a
few episodes
of "Mag
num") and
with whom
he has one
daughter. "It's
so hard from a
command point
of view. If we
hadn't invaded
France and taken
huge risks, it's quite
possible -even
From
cowboys to
Eisenhower:
Selleck though Germany was on the defen
sive by then ~ they could have sued
ror peace and· we could have had a
Nazi-dominated Europe. It's also
possible D-Day could have failed."
Selleck knew why A&E wanted
him for the role -his TNT movies
had been huge critical and commer
cial hits. The morning after "Cross
fire Trail" aired, the network called
to say it was going to wait a day
before putting out a press release,
and Selleck figured the numbers
just weren't that good.
In fact, the numbers were too
good. TNT was so stunned by the
figure - a record 9.6 that made
'"Crossfire Trail" far and away the
highest rated, basic-cable movie in
history -that they wanted to triple
check it before making any boasts.
"Ever since then, I've always had a
Western in development," says Sell
eck, "and I've always known it will
get made."
Given that track record, it's easy to
see why Selleck didn't quite see him
self as Ike. Lionel Chetwynd, the
writer and producer of the project,
convinced the actor that he had the
right sort of screen aura - a certain
decency that has served him well
when he played cowboys. Then he
plunged into the role. He knew he
didn't want to do an imitation, but
watching some footage proved
immensely useful.
"One show that helped me a lot
was this TV program [where] Wal
ter Cronkite! walked the beaches of
Normandy with Eisenhower and just
taIked and asked him questions,"
says SellecK.' They shared a rare
moment 'of unguarded emotions.
"Eisenhower was an old man, and
that generation didn't wear its heart
on its sleever -he says.
"Ike" is a far cry from Selleck's
brief appearance. in the 1976 military
drama "Midway."
"Wanna know my favorite line
from that?" laughs Selleck, who
played a military aide. ''After
they bomb the field in Mid
way, we come out to look and
I say, 'God, they creamed us!'"
He finally gets to have his
military victory in "Ike." The
three-hour movie leads up to
that fateful day and Selleck
zeroes in on one moment that
defmed the heavy respsonsibility
Ike had to shoulder.
"When he ordered airborne troops
in bad weather to do a close drop
behind German lines, Ike was look
ing at seven-out-of-lO dead," says
Selleck. "When he gave that order,
he went to the airfield and met them
and put on a happy face and shook
their hands. It's the one time people
say when he walked away from those
troops -:certainly not in front of
them -m,d ~e,l¥td tears in his eyes."
IKE: COUNtDOWN TO D-DAY
Monday, 8 p.Il)., A&E
• GETTING PERSONAL
Tom Selleck earns his wings
By MICHAEL GILTZ (( f)o/ u~
TOM Selleck can identify with
General Dwight D. Eisenhow
er, the Allied Commander who
had the overwhelming responsibili
ty of organizing D-Day.
"What got to me in playing Ike,"
says Selleck, 59, who plays the
beloved war hero in A&E's "Ike:
Countdown to D-Day" on Monday
night, "was the sheer load of it. He
was never dealing with one problem
at once. All he had to do was turn
his head and someone else was
coming to him with something else.
If it wasn't the weather, it was any
number of other things."
Surely Selleck understands that
constant demand for attention: his
career hasn't been this hot since he
catapulted to stardom in 1980 as the
mustachioed Vietnam vet turned
private eye on "Magnum P.!'''
(a role that famously cost
him the lead in 1981's
'"Raiders of the Lost Ark").
Last week he starred in
CBS' two-part TV movie
"Reversible Errors" oppo
site William H. Macy. His
Emmy-nominatcd stint on
·'Friends" proved he could be \'
as adroIt with comedy as he is
with drama. A string of West-
erns on TNT, among them
2001's "Crossfue Trail," have set cable ratings records. CBS
just announced his new project
"The Culpepper Cattle Company"
as one of its premiere TV movies
for the fall.
And tomorrow night comes "Ike,"
a look at the arduous buildup to D
Day, one of the most complex, disas
ter-fraught enterprises in military
history. It co-stars Timothy Bottoms
as his chief of staff and Gerald
McRaney as George S. Patton. His
tory can seem inevitable in retro
spect -of course, the Allied
Armies defeated Hitler -but Sell
eck hopes this movie ("It's not a
docudrama" he says repeatedly) can
show viewers the very real risks
involved and why they had to be
taken.
"This stuff is so hard, from an
ordinary soldier's point of view,"
says Selleck, who is mar
ried to the actress
Jillie Mack (she
appeared in a
few episodes
of "Mag
num") and
with whom
he has one
daughter. "It's
so hard from a
command point
of view. If we
hadn't invaded
France and taken
huge risks, it's quite
possible -even
From
cowboys to
Eisenhower:
Selleck though Germany was on the defen
sive by then ~ they could have sued
ror peace and· we could have had a
Nazi-dominated Europe. It's also
possible D-Day could have failed."
Selleck knew why A&E wanted
him for the role -his TNT movies
had been huge critical and commer
cial hits. The morning after "Cross
fire Trail" aired, the network called
to say it was going to wait a day
before putting out a press release,
and Selleck figured the numbers
just weren't that good.
In fact, the numbers were too
good. TNT was so stunned by the
figure - a record 9.6 that made
'"Crossfire Trail" far and away the
highest rated, basic-cable movie in
history -that they wanted to triple
check it before making any boasts.
"Ever since then, I've always had a
Western in development," says Sell
eck, "and I've always known it will
get made."
Given that track record, it's easy to
see why Selleck didn't quite see him
self as Ike. Lionel Chetwynd, the
writer and producer of the project,
convinced the actor that he had the
right sort of screen aura - a certain
decency that has served him well
when he played cowboys. Then he
plunged into the role. He knew he
didn't want to do an imitation, but
watching some footage proved
immensely useful.
"One show that helped me a lot
was this TV program [where] Wal
ter Cronkite! walked the beaches of
Normandy with Eisenhower and just
taIked and asked him questions,"
says SellecK.' They shared a rare
moment 'of unguarded emotions.
"Eisenhower was an old man, and
that generation didn't wear its heart
on its sleever -he says.
"Ike" is a far cry from Selleck's
brief appearance. in the 1976 military
drama "Midway."
"Wanna know my favorite line
from that?" laughs Selleck, who
played a military aide. ''After
they bomb the field in Mid
way, we come out to look and
I say, 'God, they creamed us!'"
He finally gets to have his
military victory in "Ike." The
three-hour movie leads up to
that fateful day and Selleck
zeroes in on one moment that
defmed the heavy respsonsibility
Ike had to shoulder.
"When he ordered airborne troops
in bad weather to do a close drop
behind German lines, Ike was look
ing at seven-out-of-lO dead," says
Selleck. "When he gave that order,
he went to the airfield and met them
and put on a happy face and shook
their hands. It's the one time people
say when he walked away from those
troops -:certainly not in front of
them -m,d ~e,l¥td tears in his eyes."
IKE: COUNtDOWN TO D-DAY
Monday, 8 p.Il)., A&E