Miley Cyrus joins Woody Allen's Amazon show: Only the newest big name to make the jump to TV
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More actors have come on board director Woody Allen鈥檚 upcoming TV series for Amazon.聽
Singer Miley Cyrus and Elaine May of 鈥淪mall Time Crooks鈥 will reportedly star in Allen鈥檚 six-part program. Allen himself is also set to star.聽
The 鈥淚rrational Man鈥 helmer is also set to write and direct the TV show.聽
Allen has followed a steady pattern of releasing a movie a year, with his recent projects including the 2014 movie 鈥淢agic in the Moonlight,鈥 2013鈥檚 鈥淏lue Jasmine鈥 (which earned actress Cate Blanchett a Best Actress Oscar), and 2011鈥檚 鈥淢idnight in Paris,鈥 which was nominated for Best Picture and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.聽
The director鈥檚 other films include 鈥淎nnie Hall鈥 and 鈥淗annah and Her Sisters.鈥
Big names like these appearing at Amazon 鈥 and at cable networks or streaming services in general 鈥 are no longer a surprise. Amazon is now a big contender at awards shows, with its program 鈥淭ransparent鈥 in particular, which debuted in 2014, winning such prizes as the Emmy Award for best directing for a comedy series (Jill Soloway) and best actor in a comedy series (Jeffrey Tambor).聽
One famous example of A-listers heading to TV was the first season of HBO鈥檚 鈥淭rue Detective鈥 in 2014. Both Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson signed on for the show and the program was critically acclaimed.聽
Harrelson said he was attracted to do the project by the quality of programming that鈥檚 created by HBO.聽
鈥淭here鈥檚 just no finer organization making amazing stuff out there than HBO,鈥 he said in .聽 鈥淚t鈥檚 a privilege to work with them.鈥澛
Meanwhile, McConaughey said in the same interview of his decision to sign on for 鈥淒etective,鈥 鈥淎s we all know, it鈥檚 a different time in television. There鈥檚 not that feeling of, if you鈥檙e having a successful film career and somebody brings up something on television, [then you wouldn鈥檛 even consider it]鈥 I was just, at the time, looking for quality. So, it wasn鈥檛 something where I said, 'I鈥檓 in, but wait a minute, it鈥檚 TV.' That wasn鈥檛 a gauge. That transition is much more seamless, in reality and perception, more now than ever. It was, 'Television? Great! Let鈥檚 go to the right place to do it.' Some of the best drama going on has been on television, in comparison to some films.鈥澛
Now actors who have won Oscars and starred in acclaimed films are showing up in every TV format. Broadcast TV has Viola Davis in ABC鈥檚 鈥淗ow to Get Away with Murder鈥 and Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard in Fox鈥檚 鈥淓mpire,鈥 among others. On cable, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, and Vince Vaughn signed on for the second season of 鈥淒etective,鈥 while Showtime鈥檚 鈥淗omeland鈥 stars Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin and the network鈥檚 program 鈥淢asters of Sex鈥 stars Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, while the Showtime program 鈥淭he Affair鈥 stars Ruth Wilson and Dominic West. The network鈥檚 new show 鈥淏illions鈥 stars Paul Giamatti and Damien Lewis.聽
The story is the same on streaming, where stars with current shows include Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright (鈥淗ouse of Cards鈥 on Netflix), Sissy Spacek (Netflix鈥檚 鈥淏loodline鈥), Tambor (Amazon's "Transparent"), and Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin (Netflix鈥檚 鈥淕race and Frankie鈥).聽
When the issue of the lack of diversity among Oscars acting nominees and the lack of women among directing nominees arose recently, wondered if this is partly happening because so much talent is working in TV. 鈥淎dult dramas have migrated to television,鈥 they wrote. 鈥淎nd in turn, a creative brain drain is in effect, with established (white, male) filmmakers like聽Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher, Cameron Crowe, David Lynch聽and many more having already partly transitioned to prestige TV projects.鈥
They also noted how director Lee Daniels co-created 鈥淓mpire,鈥 writer John Ridley is working on ABC鈥檚 鈥淎merican Crime,鈥 and Ava DuVernay is working on a TV show for Oprah Winfrey鈥檚 OWN network.聽
鈥淚n an environment in which prestige TV is already increasingly siphoning viewers away from movie theaters, the film industry can ill afford to lose even more ground to its small-screen rival by treating an increase in diversity output as though it were a gift it can choose to bestow鈥 or not,鈥 Perez and Kiang wrote. 鈥淭he lack of non-white representation in high-profile, Oscar-friendly studio films is not the comfortable 鈥榯ut-tut, that's a shame鈥 situation it might have been back when film still held the balance of power over television.鈥