Latest news with #RolfSaxon
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
A Mission: Impossible fan favourite returns three decades later. Even he's surprised
Rolf Saxon thought he was being pranked when the director of the new film contacted him for a role that actually expanded during production. When Rolf Saxon first auditioned to play William Donloe in Brian De Palma's 1996 Mission: Impossible, he didn't think he had gotten the role of the
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
What to know about NBC's new competition series, ‘Destination X,' plus this week's streaming picks
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone in need of a European getaway on a budget. If you're not taking a big summer trip this year, or if you are and want something to make the stress of traveling feel relaxing by comparison, NBC's new reality competition series might be up your alley. 'Destination X' features a mix of known reality stars and civilians as they put their geography knowledge and deduction skills to the test in Europe for a chance at a cash prize. Executive producer Andy Cadman stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the latest entrant in the travel-competition genre. Also in this week's Screen Gab, TV critic Robert Lloyd unpacks the appeal of Netflix's new series about a traumatized Edinburgh detective tasked with investigating cold cases, and film editor Josh Rothkopf explains why a quartet of travelogue comedy films featuring improv impresarios Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they road-trip across Europe makes for an enjoyable binge. Plus, a service announcement: The Emmys season of The Envelope video podcast launched this week. The premiere episode features Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, the stars of 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,' as well as 'Andor' actor Diego Luna. You can watch here or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Must-read stories you might have missed 'The Handmaid's Tale' showrunners on the unattainable finale reunion: 'It was heartbreaking': Co-showrunners Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang spoke about the finale of Hulu's dystopic drama and the show's parallels to the real world. 'The Last of Us': Kaitlyn Dever breaks down explosive finale, teases 'crazier' Season 3: The actor pulls back the curtain on the Season 2 finale, teases Season 3 and reveals why the reaction to Joel's death defied her expectations. After one legendary moment, actor Rolf Saxon chose to accept another 'Mission': His role in the first 'Mission: Impossible' was small but memorable. Now Rolf Saxon has been called back into action for 'The Final Reckoning' and a more substantial part. Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel on 'The Better Sister' finale and taking control: The co-stars and executive producers discuss making the Prime Video limited series and their decades of experience. Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times 'Dept. Q' (Netflix) In this dark yet strangely warm series adapted by Scott Frank ('The Queen's Gambit') from a book series by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen and transplanted from Copenhagen to Edinburgh, Matthew Goode plays Carl Morck, a moody police detective recovering from an incident, arguably his fault, that left him wounded, a partner partially paralyzed and a rookie dead. Talking his way back into service, he's given a basement storage space for an office and a cold case involving a missing prosecutor (Chloe Pirrie), whose distressing circumstances we see without learning why. (It's the mystery!) The primary pleasure of the series is in the team of fellow misfits who gather around Morck — a civilian expat (Alexej Manvelov) keeping mum on his experiences in the Syrian police; a chirpy cadet (Leah Byrne) back from a breakdown and tired of pushing pencils; and Morck's recovering partner (Jamie Sives), joining from a hospital bed. It feels like the beginning of a beautiful second series. (With Shirley Henderson and Kelly Macdonald as a bonus for Scots watchers.) — Robert Lloyd 'The Trip: The Complete Series' (Criterion Collection, starting June 1) Intensely bingeable (the movies actually got their start as four six-episode BBC runs), 'The Trip' makes beautiful sense as an afternoon of viewing, maybe one accompanied by different cuisines as you go. The central premise: Actor-comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, playing barely altered versions of themselves, take to the road for epic conversations behind the wheel and at dinners, where the contours of their hyper-competitive friendship take shape, as does a parade of celebrity impressions. Director Michael Winterbottom steers the duo toward a deeper appreciation of life viewed through the rearview mirror, though honestly, you're there for the vicious backbiting. For anyone wanting to dip in selectively: 2010's 'The Trip' features the guys' classic dueling Michael Caines; 2014's 'The Trip to Italy' takes on 'The Godfather'; 2017's 'The Trip to Spain' unleashes a killer, preening Mick Jagger; and 2020's 'The Trip to Greece' goes for Dustin Hoffman. — Joshua Rothkopf A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they're working on — and what they're watching Imagine the pressure of trying to figure out where you are in the world while a man known for carrying a bat studded with barbed wire watches on. NBC's new reality competition show, 'Destination X,' follows 12 players who are whisked around Europe in a blacked-out bus — no windows or GPS to guide them — and tasked with trying to decipher their mystery locations through clues and challenges for a chance to win a cash prize. There's plenty of alliances and rivalries that get formed along the way. The show is hosted by actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, known for his chilling turn as charismatic villain Negan in 'The Walking Dead.' New episodes air every Tuesday on NBC, and can be streamed the next day on Peacock. Executive producer Andy Cadman stopped by Guest Spot via email to discuss the show's mix of known reality TV personalities and civilians and more. — Yvonne Villarreal 'Destination X' is adapted from a Belgian format. How true to the original version is it? How much needed to be changed to suit American audiences? The DNA of the original Belgian format is still present: the idea of being lost and trying to work out where you are. To this we added elements of strategy, giving the players more opportunities to mislead one another, forcing them to make difficult decisions, keep secrets, form alliances and ultimately allowing the players to decide who was at risk of elimination in each episode. Pitting the players more directly against one another transformed the show from a game about geography into a strategic, social competition, more accessible to an American audience and ultimately a more dramatic and exciting reality competition show. The first season of the U.S. version of 'Traitors' featured a mix of reality TV personalities and civilians, but quickly pivoted to an all-celebrity lineup. 'Destination X' features a mix of reality personalities and civilians. Is the hope to keep that kind of combo? And is that kind of blend becoming more important in today's reality competition landscape? I believe that there's a real benefit in the mix between civilians and established reality personalities. With 'Destination X,' we wanted to do a couple of things. Firstly, discover and get to know some amazing new reality personalities that we'll see on our screens for years to come. We have some brilliant characters in this season that are new, unique and surprising. Secondly, we wanted to see how some of the established reality faces might react to this incredible adventure. It was an opportunity to see some familiar faces taken out of their comfort zones and challenged in totally new ways. I think that this combination is a very valuable tool — it gives viewers the chance to meet some new favourites, while still giving them the comfort of some old friends dropping in. What's the game or competition series that hooked your interest in the format as a viewer and led to you pursuing a career in it? I grew up on the original 'Big Brother' and then made that show for many years here in the U.K. It was such a groundbreaking show and has survived the test of time like nothing else. Many of the production techniques that we still use today came from 'Big Brother.' The lure of the genre for me lies in the way that people react to difficult situations. The entertainment can often be in the competition, but for me the greatest interest lies in the social politics, relationships people make, what people will do when faced with a dilemma and how far people will go to win. We used all of these levers in 'Destination X' to create the most dramatic and engaging show possible. What have you watched recently that you're recommending to everyone you know? 'Slow Horses' [AppleTV+], [a] British spy thriller; 'The Glass Dome' [Netflix], [a] Scandi noir, and if you like tricky puzzles and social strategy, the U.K. version of 'Genius Game' is worth a look. What's your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again? I genuinely don't have one; I find comfort in new seasons of my favourites though. I'm very excited for the next [season of] 'Stranger Things' [Netflix]!
New York Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A ‘Mission: Impossible' Fan Favorite Returns 3 Decades Later. Even He's Surprised.
When Rolf Saxon first auditioned to play William Donloe in Brian De Palma's 1996 'Mission: Impossible,' he didn't think he had gotten the role of the bumbling C.I.A. analyst who is outsmarted by Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt during a break-in at Langley headquarters. He waited an hour and a half for De Palma, who then saw him for just five minutes. Saxon figured that was it. But not only did he get the role, making him a crucial player in what would become an iconic scene, he's now back playing that same character nearly 30 years later in 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.' It's a return that distinctly raises the profile of the self-described 'jobbing actor,' who spent the past 10 years mostly doing theater in the Bay Area. 'When this came along, it was like, 'Wow, are you kidding?'' he said in a video interview. 'This is fantastic. This is a nice little cherry on top.' In the first film, Donloe only has a few minutes of screen time. He's a working stooge who is poisoned by Ethan's team in its quest to steal a list of covert agents off his computer housed in a secure vault. While Donloe goes back and forth to the bathroom to throw up, Ethan drops down from a ceiling vent to pull off his caper. When Donloe returns to the vault, he finds a knife on his desk and realizes he messed up big time. His fate is sealed by Kittridge, the Impossible Mission Force official, who says, 'I want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day.' Donloe's main role is collateral damage. But according to the 'Final Reckoning' director Christopher McQuarrie, Donloe made a big impact. In fact, he said in an interview, fans frequently asked him when he was going to bring the character back. For a long time, he didn't understand why Donloe engendered such love, until he heard the question framed in a different way: 'When is the team going to do right by what they did to Donloe?' 'And I realized why William Donloe resonated,' McQuarrie said. 'There was a perceived injustice, whether anybody could put their finger on it or not.' So when McQuarrie and his co-writer, Erik Jendresen, were working out the story for 'Final Reckoning,' they hit on where to use Donloe: Members of Ethan's team, including Grace (Hayley Atwell) and Benji (Simon Pegg), have to trek to the Arctic to determine where a sunken submarine is located. In a tiny but cozy home in the middle of nowhere, they find Donloe. He has, indeed, been manning a radar tower. When Saxon, 69, first got wind that McQuarrie wanted to meet with him on a video call, he thought that a friend was playing an elaborate prank. 'I didn't get dressed up,' he said. 'I had just a T-shirt. And then I clicked it and there's McQ. And it's like, 'What?'' Sure, when watching the many sequels — he's seen them all — he occasionally thought of Donloe, 'Why not bring him back?' However, he had no idea that the character had become such a beloved figure. 'In fact, when Chris told me that, I thought it was a way of getting me to do it,' he said. 'I thought he was being nice and generous.' For McQuarrie, enlisting Saxon was something of a risk. He was completely unfamiliar with the actor's work beyond his few beats in 'Mission: Impossible.' But although Saxon has never been a recognizable movie star, he considers himself lucky in his career. 'I've made a living out of it for my whole life,' he said. 'That's something many people can't say.' Born in Virginia and raised in California, Saxon moved to Britain to study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He spent 32 years in that country, a fact you can tell by his light mid-Atlantic accent with a slightly British lilt. In addition to 'Mission: Impossible,' he had small roles in 'Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998). For a number of years he was the narrator for 'Teletubbies.' Around 2010 he settled in Northern California, where his theater work included the 2018 premiere of 'Eureka Day,' which would go on to Broadway. But acting has also brought Saxon some heartbreak. Over the years he has been cut from multiple films, either partly or entirely. He was worried that would happen again with 'Final Reckoning.' 'I said to Chris that if that's going to happen with this one, I begged him to just let me know,' he said. 'Don't let me find out at the end of the day. And he just looked at me, 'Like, that's never going to happen.'' In the summer of 2023, after he shot his initial scenes, Saxon got a call from McQuarrie and braced for the worst. But the director was not getting in touch about axed scenes. Instead, he was informing him that they wanted him to come back to work. They had added him into the last section of the movie. 'We wrote a small part for him, and we just kept expanding, it kept growing,' McQuarrie said. 'I called Tom and I said, 'You know, I think we're doing ourselves a disservice if we let this character leave the movie midway through.' Tom said, 'I completely agree; he should be there in the third act.'' Saxon was nervous when he first got to set, but he said Cruise, whom he had interacted with only briefly during the first movie, quickly put him at ease. 'He gave me a big smile, a big hug,' he said. 'We spent a couple minutes chatting. It was like I was a long-lost friend.' To prepare to return as Donloe, Saxon imagined what would have happened to him in the decades since we last saw him. He didn't try to recreate his physicality from back then, but he put himself in the mind-set of someone who had essentially been exiled. 'I look at my career 30 years ago and where it is now, and in Donloe's case there's a fundamental difference,' he said. 'He didn't make this choice, and working with that is fascinating for me.' Saxon is reluctant to make parallels between his arc and Donloe's, but there are similarities. Both have been elevated from bit player in Ethan Hunt's story to a major part of his world. For McQuarrie that's a testament to Saxon's performance, which has always been the reason Donloe stood out. (The puking, Saxon said, was added after De Palma saw him making people laugh during downtime on set.) 'There's a humor, there's a dignity, there's a resourcefulness, and what I love is how this character who is an Everyman becomes utterly essential to the story,' McQuarrie said. Though McQuarrie expects Saxon to become a newly hot commodity upon the release of the film, the actor is keeping his expectations in check. 'It's a little bit early to be saying, 'Oh my God I'm going to be a big star,'' he said. 'We'll see.'
CBS News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Rolf Saxon thought he was being pranked when asked to return to "Mission: Impossible" franchise
Actor Rolf Saxon makes a return to the "Mission: Impossible" franchise in "The Final Reckoning," reprising his role as CIA analyst William Donloe nearly three decades after appearing in the original 1996 film. Saxon's character has been transferred to Alaska after Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt stole classified documents from CIA headquarters that Donloe oversaw in the first movie. When Saxon first received the call about returning to the franchise, he thought it was a prank. "My agent got a call that there's a European film company that wants to ask you about a film. I said, 'Great, OK, who are they. Don't know yet," Saxon said. "So then I found out it was Skydance and I thought 'Oh really'. Yeah, Chris McQuarrie wants to talk to you about 'Mission: Impossible'. And I thought, 'Oh right'. I got a buddy of mine." Saxon was so skeptical that he believed a friend was pulling an elaborate joke on him. "I thought that's what it is. That's what it is," he said. "Absolutely 100%, 100% and the address came up online and I thought, 'Oh, he's good'. Oh, this is. I am gonna owe him big time for this." When director Christopher McQuarrie appeared on camera, Saxon realized it was legitimate. Saxon said his return doesn't feel triumphant. "It's a wonderful opportunity but, but actually no, it's like a different job. So it's wonderful coming back but it's not like a triumphant return," he said. Working with McQuarrie, Saxon approached the character as the same person, aged by 30 years. "Not from scratch. He is who he was. It's 30 years later. It's a very different situation for him," Saxon said. The film allowed Saxon to participate in action sequences. "It was fantastic. Not gonna lie that was pretty exciting stuff. As good as it looks on camera, being involved in it, it's even better," he said. Saxon said the technology has vastly improved since 1996 and praised Cruise's continued commitment to performing his own stunts. "No kidding. No kidding. I mean, he is an extraordinary human. I've never met anyone like him - 100% focused," Saxon said. "When you see that motorcycle - I saw it without the CGI - I don't know how he does it. I just...I wouldn't train for it let alone do it." Saxon said the film serves as the culmination of seven previous films, putting it at No. 8. "It's a lot of fun, it really is. I've seen it twice now and it's epic." "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" is now playing in theaters nationwide.
