Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Starz Cancels "Magic City" After Realizing Its Lead Actor Is Not Javier Bardem

By James J. Hamilton
Javier Bardem (left) and impostor Jeffrey Dean Morgan (right) 
LOS ANGELES—Premium cable network Starz announced the cancellation of its original drama series Magic City after two seasons, apparently after realizing that the series' lead actor is not in fact Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, but rather the nearly identical-looking but far less talented Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

The story of a hotel owner who makes a deal with a mob boss in 1959 Miami, Magic City featured what everyone thought was just a lazy, phoned-in performance by Bardem, but it turns out it was actually a completely different guy.
  
"What? You mean that's not Javier Bardem? You're shitting me," said Starz CEO Chris Albrecht, moments before canceling the series. "But I visited the set. I talked to the guy. I called him Javier. He never corrected me. I feel so stupid."

Series creator Mitch Glazer reportedly realized that his lead actor was not Bardem sometime during the filming of season one, but didn't say anything because he wanted the show to get picked up for a second season.

"I told him his performance in No Country For Old Men gave me nightmares," said Albrecht. "He just said 'Thanks.' I can't fucking believe this."