When I worked for him, there were a lot of people around him that just told him what he wanted to hear. Every morning, his bodyguard would read my scripts and he and Sly would want to know what happens next. How did you end up working for Sylvester Stallone?Ī: I got a job as an office runner, answering phones, running errands. Q: You got your big break from another icon. ‘The reason I’m here,’ he said as he patted the script, ‘Is this. He said it was fine, but then asked, ‘Is this the rule or the exception?’ He told me that he prepares two weeks ahead of time. I came out to his patio and he asked me to explain what I did and why. I was summoned to his office, where his assistant told me that you don’t make changes on the same day. There was one moment where I had to add a piece of dialogue at the last moment. But after a few weeks, he started coming down to the hotel bar after shoots and buying beers for everyone. When he arrived in Morocco, he didn’t mingle much with the cast, keeping to himself between takes and in the evenings. When I was writing the character, I imagined Ben in the role, but you never say that, because it sounds so contrived. What was it like for you?Ī: It was such a joy. Q: I can’t think of many actors more intimidating than Kingsley. I’ve written a lot of scenes on the subway, at a bar, at a friend’s house. I needed to let my mind go and I found that moment during a family reunion, just sitting around a bonfire, chit-chatting and listening to a guitar. We really wanted it to be a juicy scene for Ben. There’s a great scene at the end of Night 1 in which Ben Kingsley lectures his son about taking advantage of opportunity. When I can sit by the water, far away from all the nonsense, I get more inspired. In Hollywood, you’re always playing catch-up with the girl or guy next to you. Is the process different when you’re not in Los Angeles?Ī: Absolutely. Q: Since you come to back to the area often, I assume you did a lot of writing here. I don’t want to say I made Tut Minnesota Nice, but I did try to infuse a human being in him. That makes for great characters, but I have a different outlook on life. In this golden age of TV, a lot of creators from the East and West Coasts live in a bubble and are very cynical. But my upbringing taught me to empathize with people. Q: What was it about your Minnesota background that helped prepare you to tell the story of King Tut?Ī: When I was a kid, my dad built a pyramid in the backyard. Vickerman, whose previous credits include a slew of TV movies and miniseries, spoke recently from New York about his most ambitious project to date. Vickerman, who has moved to Los Angeles but maintains a Minnesota residence just an amulet’s throw from his parents’ home, is one of the executive producers and co-writers of “Tut.” The six-hour miniseries debuts Sunday on Spike with Ben Kingsley - a pharaoh by Hollywood standards - as the boy king’s not-so-trustworthy adviser. The most advanced archaeologists would have a hard time proving that pyramids ever existed in Orono, Minn., but that didn’t deter Michael Vickerman from digging up inspiration in his hometown for a King Tut movie.
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