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Producer Howard Gordon discusses Homeland in an interview with 411mania.com:
Al Norton: Was the Homeland pilot the first thing you had written that was an adaptation of something else (Homeland is based on a popular Israeli series)?
Howard Gordon: No, I actually did a pilot 10 years ago called Ultraviolet that was an adaptation of a British series.
Al Norton: I have the DVD set of Ultraviolet.
Howard Gordon: Isn’t it great? I was excited about it but unfortunately it didn’t get picked up.
Al Norton: What challenges do you face as a writer when adapting someone else’s work?
Howard Gordon: The challenges are knowing not to fix what isn’t broken – some people can’t resist tearing something apart that’s not theirs – and to know what works and what doesn’t and on the other hand to resist the temptation to just change the names. Changing the names from Moshe to Mike didn’t work in this case. You really need to know what works for your market and with this adaptation it really was very specific to an Israeli audience and would not have worked so it really needed to be reinvented.
Al Norton: Not that the entire cast isn’t great (Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin) but how thrilled were you to get Damian Lewis as your lead?
Howard Gordon: Unbelievably. I didn’t know how much until I saw him work. I mean, I knew he was one of our best actors but I didn’t know just how great he was until I saw him work.
Al Norton: How’s the pilot coming?
Howard Gordon: We’re cutting it right now. Without jinxing it I’m very, very excited about it.
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