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Friday, October 11, 2002

Big-screen version of TV series on fictional oil empire upcoming

DALLAS (AP) - There was never a question that the big-screen version of the television series on J.R. Ewing's fictional oil empire would be shot here.

The question came in determining whether the larger-than-life clan would now be dabbling in the energy trading business as well as prospecting for petroleum.

"In some ways, `Dallas' has to be upscaled," says series creator David Jacobs, who sanctioned the multimillion-dollar deal for the movie tentatively scheduled for release in 2004. "Then, we were dealing with the oil business, and now we're dealing with the energy business.

"But it's not as if we're going to do an Enron story," he said. "The characters have to stay essentially the same, but the people who play them have to be different."

Jacobs envisions a grand-scale feature film with a new cast and more substantive roles for the series' often underfoot women.

The TV series, which ran from 1978 to 1991 on CBS, helped Dallas become an international tourist mecca and a symbol of lust and greed epitomized by Larry Hagman's portrayal of J.R. Ewing.

The show's "Who Shot J.R.?" episode, telecast on Nov. 21, 1980, is still the second highest-rated program in TV history.

Finding the right actor to play the villainous oilman will be the biggest casting hurdle, Jacobs said.

"Every actor 40 to 50 years old has been mentioned," he said. "From John Travolta to George Clooney to Harrison Ford, who I guess would be too old. Kevin Costner has been mentioned by more than a few people."

The role needs and actor with great humor and guts, he said.

After being canceled by CBS, the series returned to the network in two made-for-TV reunion movies. The last, "War of the Ewings," premiered in April 1998 and included a cameo by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

The occasional talk of a big-screen "Dallas" movie during the series run "didn't get very far," said Jacobs.

He said he wants a makeover of J.R.'s mother, "Miss Ellie" Ewing, played by Barbara Bel Geddes in the series, which was the top-rated entertainment on prime time from 1980 to 1984.

The movie is being bankrolled by Regency Enterprises, a production company based at 20th Century Fox.

"Part of the pleasure of watching `Dallas' was seeing people that rich being that miserable," said Jacobs. "It was fun, but it was never a send-up. And I don't think the movie can be a send-up. It's not going to be `The Godfather,' but I don't think it's going to be `Charlie's Angels' either."

from the Reporter-News