Starz's Flesh and Bone

[Crockett]

Moira Walley-Beckett project post-Breaking Bad, which not long ago received a series order. The series "centers on Claire (Hay), who has a distinctly troubled past, as she joins a prestigious ballet company in New York. The dark and gritty series will unflinchingly explore the dysfunction and glamour of the ballet world." It's set to premiere 2015 and David Michôd, director of the excellent Animal Kingdom has recently been announced as the director of the first episode.

The lead (Sarah Hay) and some of the supporting roles (former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Irina Dvorovenko, ABT soloist Sascha Radetsky, Ballet Arizona company dancer Raychel Diane Weinerand Boardwalk Empire's Emily Tyra) are dancers themselves, which could go either way as to the acting but hopefully they'll do just fine. The same can be said for the series, the crew are talented but a Starz's series apart from Spartacus (and now I guess you could add Da Vinci's Demons and Black Sails) tend to have hard time finding an audience and this is a ballet series, which makes it an even more tough sell but I'm hoping for the best here.


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ballet-drama-flesh-bone-ordered-658349

http://www.deadline.com/2014/02/dav...of-starzs-ballet-drama-series-flesh-and-bone/

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Definitely intrigued by this. I think they did a good choice by casting dancers for the roles. And with Michôd directing and Walley-Beckett at the helm, I think this could be something more than just Starz's usual offerings.

 

[haephestus]

Interesting. An entire series about ballet.

I still wish that Starz had gone ahead with the Caesar spin-off from Spartacus and the duo of female assassins in Noir.

 

[Sawyer]

https://deadline.com/2014/10/flesh-and-bone-ballet-drama-becomes-limited-series-starz-859855/

Starz Ballet Drama ‘Flesh And Bone’ To Become Limited Series
by Nellie Andreeva

With filming on the upcoming eight-episode Starz drama series Flesh And Bone completed, the pay cable network has decided to air the project as a limited series. The format switch will require no script changes, reshoots or additional footage, with the eight episodes airing as originally written and the current finale standing as a suitable conclusion to the limited series.

Created/executive produced by Moira Walley-Beckett (Breaking Bad) and executive produced by Lawrence Bender, Kevin Brown and John Melfi, Flesh And Bone is described as a dark and gritty drama that unflinchingly explores the dysfunction and glamour of the ballet world and follows a young ballet dancer, Claire (Sarah Hay), who has a distinctly troubled past, as she joins a prestigious ballet company in New York.

“Moira is one of the most talented auteurs in television today, and the work she and her team have done on Flesh And Bone is nothing short of spectacular,” Starz CEO Chris Albrecht said in a statement to Deadline. “It is a tremendous undertaking to mix drama and dance, all the while keeping the world and story as authentic as possible, and Moira has accomplished this brilliantly.

“After seeing all the film, we realized this is not serialized television, but rather an eight-hour movie with a satisfying end for the audience. Therefore, we believe the best way to present Flesh And Bone is as a limited series. This format has been incredibly successful for Starz in terms of viewership, critical acclaim and awards recognition, and is the new growing format for true auteur-driven storytelling in premium TV today.”

Starz has had commercial and critical success with event-type limited series/miniseries, including the 10-episode The White Queen and six-episode Dancing On The Edge, both nominated in the best movie/miniseries category at the Golden Globes.

“I am grateful for the passion and dedication everyone has for Flesh And Bone and super excited for it to be seen,” Walley-Beckett said. “The team helped me realize an authentic world and truthful story. I look forward to unveiling not just the drama, but the incredible performances our actors and dancers delivered.”

Flesh and Bone has been a passion project for Walley-Beckett, Bender and Brown, who all have strong connections to the ballet world — Bender and Walley-Beckett are former ballet dancers, and Brown’s family is made up entirely of former ballet dancers and was the basis for the 1977 feature The Turning Point. The trio and Starz put a big emphasis on authenticity when developing Flesh And Bone. That included lengthy and exhaustive search for real-life accomplished dancers to play the roles of dancers in the series, including former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Irina Dvorovenko, current American Ballet Theatre soloist Sascha Radetsky, and Ballet Arizona company dancer Raychel Diane Weiner.

While that gives the drama instant credibility, it also has made production scheduling difficult because of cast members’ high-profile ballet commitments.

Flesh And Bone also recruited top professionals behind the scenes, including Ethan Stiefel, artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, who served and consultant and choreographer. He created 13 minutes of original ballet in addition to the other elaborate dancing involved in the series.

 

[Sawyer]

 

[Marvolo]

Anyone watching this? The ending of the first episode:

 

[Golgo-13]

This has been cancelled months ago.

 

[Marvolo]

This has been cancelled months ago.

Yeah I know. Im hoping the last episode doesn't have some sort of cliffhanger.

 

[kvz5]

I binged watched this a couple of days ago and I liked it a lot. Some things are downright ridiculous but once you embrace it, you'd enjoy it more. Plus, I looooove all the ballet stuff. This is like [blackout]Flowers in the Attic[/blackout] meets Black Swan.

The lead character's craziness puts Nina Sayers to shame.

 

[Paradox1]

I just finished the season and what a mind ****. Too bad the shows not getting a second season because I felt there was a lot more story to tell. My biggest question is what the hell was going on with Bryan and Claire's relationship. In the first episode it seemed very clear and for several episodes it played out that way. Then it showed something I've never seen and I just want to know how they got there.