ACS: Adam and William MacDonald

Adam welcomes writer/producer and creator of the hit HBO series Rome, William MacDonald. Just before starting the podcast, William was telling Adam about his P-51 Mustang, one of his favorite planes. It reminds Adam of the time he met Tom Cruise at one of Jimmy's football gatherings, who owns and flies the same model plane (only tandem). Adam says 'the greatest celebrity freakout of all time would be if Tom Cruise just started strafing Hollywood and Santa Monica blvd; loaded up the 50mm and just went nuts [...] I don't think any celebrity could ever outdo that.' At one point William was engaged to Sharon Stone, and they both discuss her unique personality. This reminds Adam of other notoriously hard to work with actors like Val Kilmer and also Gary Busey. William says he had no problems with Val on the set of The Saint (which he produced), but Gary would often have to switch hotels because he was so intense. Adam and William begin talking about how Rome is being turned into a movie, and The Saint is being brought back as a new television series. Adam wants to know how these HBO shows with their huge budgets actually make their money back. William says, 'It's event programming to induce subscribers.' He goes onto explain (summarized): 'People will drop HBO for a period of time, but will resign up for a specific show. Band of Brothers, Deadwood, Rome, you'll see a big spike in the viewer subscriptions, and then it will taper off at the series finale. And then the great profits come from DVDs and boxed sets.' Adam unveils a surprising fascination with the Sex and the City series and movies, but afterward he wants to know how accurate the series Rome is. William says at one point he described it as the Sergio Leone version of Rome. You can't exactly say everything is accurate since we weren't actually there, but instead the series focuses on authenticity. Most of the daily rituals they portray are exactly as they were, and they go into a deep conversation about the importance of Roman aqueducts ('manipulation of water was the key to their power'), advanced surgical methods, and the danger of parasites. It reminds Adam of the island campaign in the HBO miniseries The Pacific. William says his dad was actually a combat surgeon on Iwo Jima, and they talk a little bit about the controversy surrounding POWs and internment camps. This morphs into a larger commentary about the atomic bomb, The Rape of Nanking, and essentially how as a country we have done some things that may not be looked at in the best light, but surely it's not as terrible as other countries atrocities. Bringing the discussion to more contemporary issues, they also talk about the Arizona border issue and waterboarding. Adam is sick of all the whiners and asks, 'What's the plan? You can't just shit on everyone else's plan.' To end the podcast, Adam takes a couple listener calls regarding movie questions. First, Adam rips into the new Queen Latifah film Just Wright, saying 'This looks like a concept and a poster that would be on a wall in a movie where you were making fun of guys who made movies.' Then he and William agree that the Oscar selection process has gotten considerably better over the last couple years. William gives Adam permission to call him Bill, and Adam says 'You gotta see my movie. It's not an upbeat Rape of Nanking type film, but it's got its moments.' To see more of William's work besides Rome, look for The Saint towards the beginning of next year (probably on TNT). Coming soon after that, a 10-part mini-series about the Carroll Shelby / Enzo Ferrari rivalry. Produced: Donny Misraje Audio Board: Chris Laxamana Search: Katie Levine Build and Edit: Katie Levine Show Summary: Matt Fondiler