New Figure Skating Drama on Netflix (EDIT: no longer starring Emma Roberts)

missing

Well-Known To Whom She Wonders
Messages
4,882
I'd say you can't make this stuff up except probably any one of us could.

Created by Mr. Mercedes scribe Samantha Stratton, the project — which Netflix describes as “edgy” — centers on Roberts’ Kat Baker, an “up-and-coming, high-level single skater who’s about to turn in her skates after a disastrous fall took her off the competition track. When Kat seizes an opportunity to continue her career as a pair skater with a talented bad-boy partner, she risks exposing a fiercely kept secret that could unravel her entire life. On and off the ice, Kat and her new partner will face daunting odds, injury to body and soul, financial sacrifice, and even potential mental breakdown on their way to realizing their Olympic dream.”

But this is my favorite part of the article:

Casting for the aforementioned “bad-boy” is underway (if you have suggestions, drop ’em in the comments.)
 

peibeck

Simply looking
Messages
30,931
"Spinning Out" as the title? I guess that means she's supposed to be a drug addict or alcoholic? That's the "hip lingo" for that phrase (though it could also include having mental issues). Yeah, that should draw in fans to skating. :p
 

Willin

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,598
TBH this is the strangest casting I've ever seen. I think it would be much more believable if Emma was the bad girl helping the injured males single-skater get into pairs. The only way I can see this working is if Emma plays an ice queen (in the TV Tropes sense of the term) or Meagan Duhamel level of intense person who is annoyed that she has to "stoop" to skating pairs but does it since it's her only hope of making the olympics.
Emma isn't mean or anything, she's just either shy or very reserved about her emotions. I almost never saw her smile, laugh, tell jokes, or look happy and from what I've seen of her acting work it doesn't seem that's changed much.

Also that summary sounds like something off the back of a cheesy romance novel. Maybe I'll watch it for the laughs, but nothing in that summary inspires any confidence in me that this will be good. It will either be a cheesy romance soap-opera-esque TV show or boring award bait.
 

aftershocks

Banned Member
Messages
17,317
Whoa! Where's the real figure skating dramas on screen? There's absolutely a smorgasbord of skaters' life stories and on-ice dramas to choose between:

Sale/Pelletier and how they came together and rose quickly to the top; plus their battle with B/S and the SLC judging scandal.

The story of Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir who were opposites in their height differences and in their personalities. They didn't get along very well. Yet, they ultimately decided to stay together and ended up making it all the way to the Olympics.

Kavaguti/Smirnov and the odds against Yuka making it, plus the sacrifices she made to become a Russian citizen and to be coached by one of the best pairs figure skaters of all time, Tamara Moskvina.

Meno/Sand and the drama of how they came together after skating with other partners, then falling in love and deciding to split with their partners in order to skate with each other; they became a revered figure skating pairs team in the world of ballet/ dance.

Boy what does it take to tell at least some of the story of how Tai & Randy came together? They don't even have to talk about Tai's suicide attempt post-burnout in the aftermath of the 1980 Olympics, which was already covered in a television movie. There's a great opportunity for diversity and inclusion in casting since the famous African-American skater and coach, Mabel Fairbanks, is responsible for bringing Tai & Randy together when they were carefree young children barrelling around a California rink. The drama is built-in what with T&R winning the second World gold medal by a U.S. pair team 29 years after the Kennedy siblings managed that feat in 1950. Not to mention all of the 1980 Olympics drama when T&R were pitted against the greatest and most decorated female pairs skater of all time (obviously now rivalled by Aliona Savchenko's accomplishments), Irina Rodnina.

Don't even let me get started on the possibilities of telling the story of the rise of Shen/Zhao as the prize pupils of Bin Yao who realized his dream of making China a superpower in the pairs discipline...

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Aliona's fs journey is way boss and inspiring! Some of what she went through could be the basis of a figure skating pairs drama screenplay.

We need a figure skating aficionado screenwriter, post-haste! :COP:
 
Last edited:

aftershocks

Banned Member
Messages
17,317
Sale/Pelletier and how they came together and rose quickly to the top; plus their battle with B/S and the SLC judging scandal.

Oh yes, even the story of Berezhnaya's abusive former partner and how Anton rescued her after a head injury, and then they became partners. B/S are one of the greatest Russian pairs figure skating teams. At their best, they were sublime and out of this world. Even at their least strongest, they were still gorgeous and they still won the judges' hearts (forget about the nefarious judges). At the least, their story provides the basis for a dramatic screenplay based on realistic events.
 

dramagrrl

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,123
I thought they already made The Cutting Edge.
Not only that, but they also made The Cutting Edge 2 and The Cutting Edge 3! :lol:

ETA: I almost forgot about The Cutting Edge 4, which was almost identical in plot to the first one except the female skater wasn't rich "because" she was Hispanic. :rolleyes:

(I watched them all and enjoyed them because I have a thing for cheesy skating movies. I actually genuinely love the first one even though I know it's hilarawful. ;) )
 

dramagrrl

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,123
How does America's least-popular discipline manage to inspire the lion's share of its skating movies?
Because Hollywood seems to think skating is most interesting in a romantic context, and ice dancing isn't exciting enough (no jumps or "Pamchenko"-style tricks) and people don't understand it as a sport. The only figure skating movie I can remember that doesn't involve a pairs team or a major romantic storyline (like Ice Castles, which is about a single skater, but is mainly a romance) is Ice Princess with Michelle Trachtenberg, and even that one had a side storyline about her character being in "love" with her coach's son.
 

aftershocks

Banned Member
Messages
17,317
How does America's least-popular discipline manage to inspire the lion's share of its skating movies?

Because pairs figure skating is friggin' awesome! :cheer2: :kickass: You get to see 'two as one!' :IZ21:

Sadly, the movie productions about pairs skating, uh not so awesome, more like awe-ful. :yawn:
 

Daena

Well-Known Member
Messages
201
Because Hollywood seems to think skating is most interesting in a romantic context, and ice dancing isn't exciting enough (no jumps or "Pamchenko"-style tricks) and people don't understand it as a sport. The only figure skating movie I can remember that doesn't involve a pairs team or a major romantic storyline (like Ice Castles, which is about a single skater, but is mainly a romance) is Ice Princess with Michelle Trachtenberg, and even that one had a side storyline about her character being in "love" with her coach's son.
I remember some film about single skater who was bullied by her coach, she retired, made comeback and beat her ex-coach's new pupil? It was not romantic and fluffy, I watched it when I was a little girl...

Update: Found it. Canadian made for television film. "Blades of courage" (ugh, what a cheesy title).
Reading its plot on Wikipedia - lol, I didn't remember she was seduced by her creepy coach. Probably my young brain didn't want to process it :yikes:
 
Last edited:

DimaToe

Retired by Frank Carroll
Messages
5,535
It would be nice if there was an ice skating movie that didn’t involve a woman needing a man to make her skating dreams come true, or focused on a man without it being “Blades of Glory” like. ”Edgy” would involve doing something new, not a re-hash of every romantic story line ever done 😂😒
 

hanca

Values her privacy
Messages
12,547
So she's too injured to skate singles and her answer is to take up the even more dangerous pairs discipline? :rolleyes:
Maybe she can’t do that many jumps and that’s why she decided to do pairs because it is less of them. Wasn’t the same reasoning in Cutting Edge? He was too blind to play hockey but not blind enough to pair skate.

Oh come on, guys, someone is making a ten part drama and you are complaining? So the story may be a bit unrealistic, but so what. All those other skating films, Cutting Edge, Ice Princess, Blades of Glory and others, don’t have the story more realistic that this one.
 
Last edited:

aftershocks

Banned Member
Messages
17,317
Oh come on, guys, someone is making a ten part drama and you are complaining? So the story may be a bit unrealistic, but so what.

Yeah, it's always that figure skating fans should be happy for the scraps we get and not complain. :p

The issue is that if they are gonna feature pairs figure skating, why not be more authentic and respectful to the actual discipline? Especially when there are so many dramatic and realistic storylines readily available to base a production on if they would just take the time to do more research and execute more care and consideration in crafting a screenplay. That said, we can always hope that the final product will be better than that blurb currently indicates. :drama:
 

screech

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,409
And there'll be horrible editing to paste her face over the skating double, or to make doubles look like triples. I expect wide shots for the skating (so a double can be used), but close-ups for the Plushenko-style posing and arm movements.

My biggest hope for the series is that it is at least somewhat realistic.

As for the bad boy skater, I could see someone like Kellan Lutz (and not just for the name!) for the role. Something about him just seems 'right' to me. Maybe Wyatt Russell (son of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell). He's been acting the last few years, but was previously a successful hockey player (whose career was cut short by injuries). I don't foresee a 'big name' star, but someone with some minor recognition.
 

mjb52

Well-Known Member
Messages
5,995
OMG I hope they cast Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins from FNL). He is always showing off his hockey skills on his instagram. He's taken so many serious parts recently, this would be a good way for him to let loose and have fun.
 

missing

Well-Known To Whom She Wonders
Messages
4,882
Charlie White has tweeted on the subject:

Ok @netflix call me

ETA because Charlie White has tweeted again on the subject:

A “talented bad-boy partner”. They clearly had me in mind when they wrote this character.
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Top
Do Not Sell My Personal Information