10-hour version of ‘The Thorn Birds’ cost $2l million

Press, 21 March 1983, Page 18

10-hour version of ‘The Thorn Birds’ cost $2l million

By

Arthur Spiegelman NZPA-Reuter New York One of the busiest producers in American television history is about to launch his latest blockbuster — a ?21 million, 10-hour version of Colleen McCullough’s Australian outback epic, “The Thorn Birds.” During his 35 years in the business, David Wolper has produced more than 600 films, documentaries, miniseries and television specials including “Roots,” the series which traced the history of a black American family back to their African ancestors and was the highest-rated programme in television history. “The Thorn Birds,” an international best seller concerning a love affair between an Australian woman and a priest, took two years to make and involved the creation of an entire Australian sheep station in a Hollywood lot after filmimg in Australia proved too difficult.

The film will go out on America’s A.B.C. network

later this month but 55-year-old Mr Wolper is already hard at work on the next six or so productions on his books. First there is the new television series he is develato be shown next based on one of the most beloved films of all time, “Casablanca.” Called “Rick’s Place,” the series has been damned in advance by critics who assert that even thinking of remarking the Bogart-Berg-man classic is sacrilege.

Then there is a documentary film he is contemplating on Picasso’s sulpture and a new mini-series he is completing called “Mystic Warrior” based on the bestseller, “Hunta-Ya,” about American Indian life. As vice-chairman of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organising Committee, he has effectively made himself a producer of the world’s biggest sporting event.

In addition he has four new projects on his desk, none of which he wants to talk about yet. Mr Wolper is convinced “The Thorn Birds” will do well and does not think it will have the same problems as A.B.C.’s last epic, an 18-hour series called “The Winds of War,” which was slammed by the critics for silly dialogue and poor acting.

But he is not so certain about the success of “Rick’s Place,” based on “Casablanca,” the 1942 film that pitted Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman against the Nazis in the North African city then ruled by Vichy French.

“Rick’s Place” has no Bergman as a love interest and the Bogart role is taken by David Soul, one of the stars of the television police series, “Starsky and Hutch.” The show, acording to Mr Wolper, will instead stress the friendship between the American expatriate, Rick, and the French police chief, Renault. But the choice of David Soul in the leading role has outraged critics in advance.

A defensive Mr Wolper, who picked him said, “Listen fella, I didn’t start World War Three, I’m only doing a television series.” Then he insisted, “It works, maybe. But after 35 years in the business I can survive if it doesn’t work.” A pioneer in producing television documentaries, Mr Wolper rarely works in that medium any more, saying that documentaries have pretty much vanished from the television screen — victims of the all-consuming ratings game. Ratings — the number of people viewing one network’s offerings as opposed to another network’s — are a prime reason why so much money is being spent on mini-series like “The Thorn Birds” and “Rick’s Place” in the hope that they will attract people who rarely watch television. Since ratings are the main ingredient in attracting vital advertising to fund the networks, A.B.C. television bosses are hoping that “The Thorn Birds” will win this season’s battle against their rivals at C.B.S. and allow them to charge higher advertising rates next season.