Julia in new TV pilot "Incorporated" & Plenteous Additional News

1. Julia Ormond is set to star in a pilot for Syfy entitled Incorporated. The show is being described as "an espionage thriller that takes place in a future in which companies have unlimited power. It tells the story of executive Ben Larson (Reign's Sean Teale), who must change his identity in order to infiltrate a cutthroat corporate world to save the woman he loves. In the process, he takes on the entire system — with deadly consequences." Incorporated is being produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/julia-ormond-joins-incorporated-812272

Syfy's official site offers even more detail about the show and the role that Julia will be playing: "Incorporated" takes place in a world run by global umbrella companies with absolute power, centering on Ben Larson (Sean Teale), an executive who must infiltrate a sinister corporate world to save his wife, Laura (Georgina Haig). Complicating matters is the fact that one of the corporation's power-hungry officers is his own mother-in-law, Elizabeth (Ormond)."

http://www.syfy.com/blog/julia-ormond-incorporated

Wow! Count me in. It's just a pilot right now, but, man, does this sound like must-watch TV! Here's hoping it gets picked up!

2. If you are still upset about the cancellation of Julia's last TV show then this may cheer you up (or just depress you further)! Bustle.com has an fun article (with tons of animated gifs!) on their top 8 Witches Of East End episodes, all of which can currently be revisited on Netflix.

http://www.bustle.com/articles/98268-8-witches-of-east-end-episodes-to-watch-on-netflix-those-nights-when-you-truly-miss

3.  Julia appeared in a brief CBS News clip about her visit with Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota and corporate leaders "to raise awareness about the use of international slave labor.... Ormond spent about two hours with the Gov. Dayton on Friday. She said she hopes Minnesota will follow the California law passed in 2010, requiring companies to disclose where the raw materials come from for their products. Gov. Dayton said tougher transparency laws are something he’d consider." The news clip and accompanying article are linked below:

 http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/07/26/hollywood-actress-hits-minnesota-to-talk-human-trafficking/

4. While in Minneapolis Julia was also at the Starkey Hearing Foundation So The World May Hear Gala. 

Also present were singers Katy Perry (who performed at the event) and Gene Simmons and former U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The Starkey Hearing Foundation (home page: https://www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org ) is a charitable organization involved in providing hearing care to the underprivileged around the world.

Julia On The TV

The final episode of "Mad Men" (S7.E14 - "Person to Person") not only brought fans of the popular long-running series a satisfying conclusion to the show, but if you tuned in, you would also have seen Julia Ormond in her Emmy-nominated role of Marie Calvet for one last time. It was great to see. For those not yet ready to say goodbye to Julia on the TV - not to worry. "Witches of East End," Season 2, is finally being released on DVD on 7/7 as a 3 disc set. It will also become available on NetFlix on the same day. In additional news -

Julia was part of a lengthy panel discussion entitled "Transforming Global Supply Chains to Be Humane and Ethical" organized by the Milken Institute.



Julia Ormond was also a speaker at an event held in celebration of the 80th birthday of the Dalai Lama - the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize recipient - this past weekend at the Anaheim Honda Center in California.

Julia Is Back On "Mad Men"!

Those of us who had been hoping to see Julia back as Marie Calvet for the final half-season of "Mad Men" had a lot to be happy about this past week. With five more episodes of the series to go here's hoping this won't be the last we see of her on the show. Her Emmy-nominated performance has become one of the highlights of the show for us. Vulture.com has an interesting article on the French spoken between Julia Ormond and the Canadian actress playing her daughter, Jessica Pare:

http://www.vulture.com/2015/04/mad-men-french-megan-calvet.html

II. Julia appears energized and informed during an interview at the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary "Food Chains." The documentary is currently streaming on NetFlix.

"The Dreaming Child" - Unproduced Julia Ormond/Harold Pinter Project Now a BBC Radio Drama

Last year Julia was on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson where she briefly discussed an unproduced film project she had worked on with the late Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter. That 1997 screenplay, based on Karen Blixen's (also known by her pseudonym Isak Dinesen) short story The Dreaming Child is now a BBC radio drama starring Game of Throne's Leslie Rose (where she played Ygritte, the red-haired wilding). Julia does not appear to have any connection with this current adaptation. It will premiere on Saturday, March 7th on BBC Radio 4 (link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054gxpb )

I. According to the Daily Mail (link:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2963444/Now-aPinter-pause-New-plays-broadcast-seven-years-died.html ):

"Pinter’s adaptation of The Dreaming Child is set in Bristol in 1868 and tells the story of childless couple Emily and Tom Carter and their decision to adopt a boy from the slums. But happiness eludes the couple because Emily continues to be haunted by her passionate fling with a young soldier who was killed at sea.

It will be narrated by Anne Reid, who plays Celia in the Bafta-winning Last Tango In Halifax, and stars Rose Leslie.

Pinter was originally commissioned to write the screenplay by Hollywood star Julia Ormond, who at the time had signed a production deal with 20th Century Fox. She was delighted with Pinter’s work but the project collapsed when she insisted on directing the film as well as producing it. Pinter later commented: ‘It was this that brought the project to its knees. The money-men simply wouldn’t give her the chance.’

In his official biography of the playwright, critic Michael Billington said the screenplay for The Dreaming Child compared favourably with Pinter’s very best work."

Harold Pinter's original screenplay was published in the third volume of his "Collected Screenplays" (Farber & Farber, 2000). HaroldPinter.org has a quote from Julia in the Evening Standard from October 1997, "Working with him is the highlight of my career. I think he has done a brilliant script and I hope we will get the green light soon." (Link: http://www.haroldpinter.org/films/films_dreamingchild.shtml )

II. On January 16th Julia posted a link on her verified twitter account to Instagram page. Here's hoping we'll see more posts from her soon. (Link: https://instagram.com/julia.ormond/ )

'Witches' Comes to An End; A New Year Begins...

A very happy birthday to Julia Ormond who celebrated a very special birthday on January 4th. And a Happy New Year to all the readers of the Undefinitive Blog and best wishes for 2015!

I. Julia Ormond has an official Twitter account with - at the moment - over 15k followers @  https://twitter.com/JuliaOrmond.

II. Witches of East End was unfortunately cancelled at the end of its second season. On a major cliff-hanger no less. Apparently the ratings simply plummeted after the first season despite its very loyal fan-base. More information on the cancellation can be found below:

http://tvline.com/2014/11/04/witches-of-east-end-cancelled-lifetime/

There has also been a petition organized to renew the series or take it to another network as described here:

http://www.ibtimes.com/witches-east-end-canceled-fans-campaign-save-lifetime-series-find-out-how-get-1727000

The Petition:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/renew-witches-of-east-end

III. VARIETY magazine recently published an interview with Julia discussing her work over 20 years ago along with Robert Duvall on the 1992 HBO television film Stalin.

http://variety.com/2014/film/features/julia-ormond-first-variety-mention-1201325006/

IV. The final half-season of AMC's hit show Mad Men now has a premiere date of Sunday, April 5th. As far as I know there has been no confirmation as to whether Julia will appear in the final seven episodes in the role that won her her second Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress (she had won previously for Temple Grandin).