Latest news with #TheDeuce
Daily Mail
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The Wire's Chris Bauer warmly remembers late costar Charley Scalies following actor's death at 84
Actor Chris Bauer remembered his late costar on The Wire Charley Scalies as a 'generous, prepared and hard working' colleague to Monday. Bauer, 58, spoke exclusively with in an email interview following Scalies' passing Thursday at age 84 in Pennsylvania following a battle with Alzheimer's. Bauer played the role of embattled Baltimore dock leader Frank Sobotka on the show's second season in 2003, with Scalies playing his loyal lieutenant, Thomas 'Horseface' Pakusa. Bauer, who has also been seen on shows such as True Blood, The Deuce and Heels, said that while he 'rarely has much to say, he really loved working with Charley. 'Like the best scene partners, he was generous, prepared, and hard working. He was an early example for me that you don't have to be an a**hole to be a good actor. In fact, the opposite is true: laughter, humility, and a warm heart is the way to go.' Bauer said that Scalies' 'love for his family stuck with [him] over the years' and that he was 'grateful' for the 'influence' he had on him. The sophomore frame of the enduring series from creator David Simon closely examined the economic issues Baltimore dockworkers faced amid changing times. It illustrated how the slow times at the docks led a few workers - including Pakusa - to earn extra cash smuggling in contraband. Amid the items unwittingly smuggled in by the Baltimore crew drugs and women tragically trafficked into the U.S. to be sex workers. On The Wire, the Horseface character was second-in-command to Bauer's character, union leader Frank Sobotka. The season showed how Frank had gotten into a desperate situation trying to keep his union and workers afloat amid declining times for the longshoremen. Frank, assisted by Horseface and his nephew Nick Sobotka (played by Pablo Schreiber) eventually resort to criminal smuggling to fund political efforts in a last-ditch effort to reinvigorate business at the docks. Scalies also appeared in an episode of another iconic HBO series - The Sopranos - as he played Coach Molinaro, the high school football coach of Tony Soprano, played by late legend James Gandolfini. The character appeared in an intense exchange in a dream scene in an episode titled The Test Dream. Scalies portrayed Thomas 'Horseface' Pakusa for 12 episodes of The Wire The discussion between the coach - who saw potential in a young Soprano - and the fully-grown Tony Soprano illustrated the psychological insecurities the fearsome New Jersey mob boss harbored, and sought to address through therapy. The episode (which first aired May 16, 2004) was the show's 11th episode of its fifth season, directed by Allen Coulter and written by Matthew Weiner and Sopranos creator David Chase. A Legacy obituary - which noted Scalies died 'peacefully' - emphasized the role family played in his life. It noted he was 'best known first and foremost as a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and friend,' adding that his 'favorite audience was always seated around the dinner table.' The obit described Scalies, a native of South Philadelphia, as 'an American actor and former business executive whose life reflected a rich blend of professional achievement, creative passion, and a true joy for life.' Soboktka's wayward son Ziggy (played by James Ransone, also gets involved peripherally, leading to tragic consequences down the line. Scalies told Chesapeake Bay Magazine in 2019 about his work on the HBO series, saying that the only time he had ever been on the docks was when he filmed the show. He had a memorable exchange with a grown Tony Soprano (played by the late James Gandolfini) that revealed the insecurities the mob boss harbored Scalies said that 'the only time I even met a stevedore was shortly after I was cast as Horseface.' The role was a perfect fit, as shortly after landing the part, Scalies happened to chat with several real-life stevedores and union reps for the International Longeshoremen's Association, who all approved of his casting. 'I told them I had just been cast as a union 'checker' on a TV show,' he recalled. 'Their response was immediate and unanimous: "He looks like a checker."' Scalies explained: 'As with all the other characters I've been blessed to portray, Horseface lives inside of me - I invite him out to play as needed.' On Twitter, a number of fans of the show paid homage to the late actor in the role he played on The Wire, making inside references to scenes that involved his character. A post from the Wire fan account Ziggy_Sobotka read: 'Heartbroken to report that Charlie Scalies, Horseface on The Wire and Coach Molinaro from The Sopranos has passed away.' It concluded: 'Charles J. Scalies, Jr. 7/19/1940 – 5/1/2025.' One fan commented, 'Great characters RIP to the legend.' A post from The Wire fan account Ziggy_Sobotka read: 'Heartbroken to report that Charlie Scalies, Horseface on The Wire and Coach Molinaro from The Sopranos has passed away' Another said, 'R. I. P. He's still on the clock.' Referring to a scene illustrating Horseface's loyalty to the union, one fan wrote, 'Good luck to St Peter getting anything out of him at the pearly gates without an IBS lawyer present.' One Twitter user aptly remarked, 'At what age does death not break your heart?' According to the Legacy obit, Scalies is survived by 'the true love and joy of his life, his wife of 62 years, Angeline M. Scalies (née Cardamone); his five children: Charles (Chuck) Scalies III, Angeline Kogut (Steve Kogut), Anthony (Tony) Scalies, Christa Ann Scalise, and Anne Marie Scalies (Shawn Weaver); and grandchildren Charles IV, Christopher, Domenic and Amelia Scalies.'
The Independent
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Warfare cast reflect on their breakout roles: ‘I'm forever thankful'
In 20 years time, film fans will watch Warfare and wonder: 'How did they assemble that cast?'. Alex Garland 's drama, which he co-wrote and directed with Ray Mendoza, features a who's who of rising stars, ranging from Joseph Quinn, who's just been cast as George Harrison in Sam Mendes' four planned Beatles biopics, to Charles Melton, the Riverdale actor who won acclaim for his role in Todd Haynes drama May December. Ahead of the film, which is a re-enactment of a 2006 incident that former US Navy SEAL Mendoza experienced in Iraq, The Independent spoke to the cast, who reflected on the breakout roles that put them on a path to Hollywood success. Two years after playing a teenage version of Elton John in biopic Rocketman, Kit Connor, 21, was launched to fame with Heartstopper, the Netflix coming-of-age series he said he will be 'forever thankful for'. 'It's given me a lot of great friends and amazing opportunities and allowed me to meet a lot of really awesome people,' Connor said of the series that explores gay romance. The series, based on Oseman's webcomic and graphic novel of the same name, also stars Joe Locke, William Gao, Yasmin Finney and Olivia Colman in a cameo role. The profile of Connor's Warfare co-star Michael Gandolfini has risen considerably since 2021 when he starred as a young version of Tony Soprano in The Sopranos prequel film The Many Saints of Newark. This was the character memorably played by his father James Gandolfini in the acclaimed HBO series. 'I'd probably say The Many Saints of Newark was probably the first big thing I did,' the actor said, acknowledging that the role 'was so tied up with The Sopranos and my dad, and a lot of stuff'. Gandolfini said that while, on a global scale, The Many Saints of Newark put him on the Hollywood map, it was The Deuce, David Simon's HBO series about the porn industry, that provided him with his first screen acting experience. 'The first show I ever had was The Deuce – David Simon's unbelievable,' the actor said. 'Being on that show and learning how to hit marks and that being my own thing was pretty incredible.' Meanwhile, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai recalled his role in the comedy-drama series Reservation Dogs, which was the first American series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors. Woon-A-Tai received an Emmy nomination for his role as guarded teenager Bear Smallhill – and he attributed his success to 'luck'. 'I'm lucky Sterlin Harjo [who co-created the show with Taika Waititi] put his trust in me for telling such a personal story,' the actor said. One Warfare actor who is past the 'rising star' stage of his career is Will Poulter, who has amassed an impressive string of roles since his debut, when he was 14, in the comedy Son of Rambow. His credits include the comedy We're the Millers, horror film Midsommar and Marvel sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. But it's Son of Rambow he considers his breakout, saying: 'I got really lucky with that being my first job – not least in the sense that the director Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, the producer, were the best film dads I could have wished for in a first-time experience.' 'It was a really wholesome, fun time with my good friend Bill Milner. We played best mates in that movie and had the summer of our lives – and 20 years later, we're still friends.' Warfare is in cinemas on Friday (18 April).
Washington Post
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Intimacy coordinators say celebrity pushback misses the bigger picture
When Alicia Rodis walked onto the set of HBO's 'The Deuce' in 2018, she instantly made history as the first-ever intimacy coordinator on a major U.S. production. The gritty drama, which explores the rise and legalization of pornography in America, had already completed its first season without her. But after cast member Emily Meade advocated for better onset protections amid the entertainment industry's reckoning with sexual misconduct, Rodis joined the production — pioneering what is a now-booming profession.
