Dana Delany has joined the cast of indie crime drama feature “Freelancers” from Cheetah Vision and Emmett Furla Films opposite Robert DeNiro, Curtis “50 Cent” Jacskon and Beau Garrett.

Jackson will portray the son of a murdered police officer who has succumbed to the “culture of corruption” that’s infected the force. Delany will play a woman from his past.

Film is directed by Jessy Terrero and written by L. Philippe Casseus, and produced by Mark Canton, Randall Emmett, George Furla and Jackson.

“Freelancers” is part of a 10-picture deal announced last fall that’s backed by a $200 million fund with Lionsgate releasing the films domestically. “Setup,” the first title under the deal, recently completed principal photography with Jackson, Bruce Willis and Ryan Phillippe starring.

Delany currently stars in the hit ABC series “Body of Proof.”

Variety

FRIDAY’S PUZZLE — If you do the New York Times crossword puzzle every day, you know that some of them are light repasts and some of them are multicourse feasts. Now that it’s Friday, we have survived another week of puzzle challenges, and I consider this one by Patrick Berry a sweet finish to the weekday hustle. An AFTER-DINNER MINT, if you will.

We have a special guest with us today, and I was very pleased to learn that she is not only a terrific actress and health issues activist, but she is an experienced crossword puzzle aficionado as well. Among many other roles, Dana Delany won an Emmy for her role on China Beach, co-starred on Desperate Housewives as Katherine Mayfair, and is currently starring in the ABC-TV series Body of Proof. She sits on the board of the Scleroderma Research Foundation and memorably underwent a televised mammogram to increase awareness on the live broadcast Stand Up 2 Cancer in 2008.

Let’s welcome Ms. Delany and see how she did:

Dana Delany’s Solving Notes

When I was a child, I used to watch my mother sit at the counter with a drink, peanuts and the New York Times crossword puzzle. Or at the beach in a low chair with her Bain de Soleil and the Sunday puzzle in the summer. It was the height of sophistication for me.

I dabbled with the Sunday puzzle when I was in my 20s, but I didn’t make the full commitment until I was 40. I was shooting a miniseries in Austin, Texas called “True Women” about the intrepid females who pioneered that wild west. They also had a LOT of hair. Which meant spending two hours in the make-up trailer adding extensions and crimping with a curling rod. Or rather, Joanie my hairdresser did; I just sat there bored. So my co-star Annabeth Gish and I started doing the puzzle. I wasn’t very good at first but I quickly became addicted and faithfully completed every day of the week. Over the years, I have cut back to only Friday and Saturday with an occasional Thursday for fun. I need to do other things!

Now, let’s discuss the iPad and the electronic crossword. It is my method of late, but I find the Google search way too tempting. And I do admit to succumbing once in a while. But not this puzzle. It was refreshing to pull out the ballpoint pen and remember the good old days. I am not sure if I found this Patrick Berry (for whom I have great respect) puzzle relatively easy because I used a pen or not. Maybe it’s a different neural pathway. Now that I am playing a former neurosurgeon on Body of Proof I should know the answer to that.

This was one of those puzzles where I didn’t know all of the answers, but they became clear the more I filled in. I usually like the long crossings, but they may have made things a little too easy.

There were a few movie references, which should be easy for me. However, I actually went to the premiere of The Children of Men (love Alfonso Cuaron films) and did not realize it was based on a P.D. JAMES novel (1A). But I got PIETA (1D) right away, which helped. Not a lot of Michelangelo works that would fit. Again, I saw Eastern Promise, but can only remember Viggo Mortensen wrestling naked in the steam room; was he tattooed? (17A). I knew that the Clint Eastwood movie was The Outlaw JOSEY Wales (3D) but who knew Josey was spelled like that? One movie reference I can never get is all the Harry Potter characters (38A). They appear everywhere now and I think I have only seen one of the movies. Never read any of the books. So I might have to rectify that if only for my puzzle solving abilities. Other film references were GRIPS (43D) and BAIO (52D). I kept wanting the last one to be Adam, because I think he’s funny. But I knew in my heart “Matter of contention” (52A) had to be BONE, hence the old crossword standby BAIO. There were a few too many crossword gimmes for me: EER, EELS, LAM, ACHE, APSE. Do people actually pray in an apse? Thank god for churches – what would we do without “nave”?

I did like the crossing of SURGEON GENERAL with POLICE SERGEANTS. Those are two words where I constantly have to think twice about their spelling. Which leads me to my final story: My name is a good one for crossword puzzles. As my mother reminds me, it’s not because I’m famous, it’s because I have a lot of vowels. However, I am famous for being one of the few errors ever made in the New York Times crossword puzzle. They used me as the clue, but spelled my last name “DELANEY” instead of “DELANY.” [Deb says: Hat tip to Patrick Merrell for setting up this link.] Which, of course, threw the whole puzzle off. I happened to be doing the puzzle that day and quickly realized what the problem was, as I am used to people spelling my name wrong. DELANEY is much more prevalent. If the clue had been “Star of NYPD BLUE” it would have been correct. Kim Delaney is a lovely actor and a friend of mine, but no, we are not related. I felt kind of bad about the whole thing, but honored to have a place in the annals of the New York Times crossword puzzle.

Thanks for playing, Ms. Delany (no “e”).

Your thoughts?

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It takes a special type of procedural to entice us to tune into a show that we’d otherwise ignore. Unfortunately for BODY OF PROOF, ABC’s latest entrant into an already overcrowded marketplace, the only thing special about it is the astounding amount of disdain it seems to have for its audience.

From its overtly formulaic write-by-numbers nature, to its insistence on beating you over the head with its premise, BODY OF PROOF just about encapsulates everything that is wrong with the way modern day network television works. Almost to the point where we encourage you to watch tonight’s premiere in order to see just how little ABC respects its audience’s intelligence. But before we get into examining everything that is truly wrong with this show, let’s start with what is right.
Dana Delany is proof positive that unless your name is Meryl Streep, television is where it’s at for woman of a certain age. As Dr. Megan Hunt, a brilliant yet cantankerous Brain Surgeon who is forced to work as a Medical Examiner [ME] following a horrific car crash that leaves her incapable of operating, Delany single-handedly steals the show. Smart, sexy, hard-nosed yet vulnerable, it’s little mystery as to how the small screen staple has managed to carve out a career for herself that’s lasted the better part of three decades.

Also solid are Delany’s supporting cast including partner Peter (Obligatory future love interest played by yet another Aussie import Nicholas Bishop), skeptical old school police detective (John Carroll Lynch) and her beautiful bombshell of a boss (the always welcome former numerical hottie Jeri “Seven of Nine” Ryan). Unfortunately where things get ugly are when the character’s start to open their mouths. And therein lies the problem.

It’s one thing to properly communicate the premise of a show (Read: Dr. Hunt, brilliant, hard to work with, pretty much the female equivalent of Dr. House or the Mentalist), it is another thing entirely to repeat said premise over and over and over again. Not only does every single scene feel the need to inexplicably reiterate Dr. Hunt’s current predicament (Again, she misses her previous life as a surgeon, regrets how her workaholic ways damaged her relationship with her daughter who is currently residing with her ex-husband who has sole custody and most importantly of all… plays by her on rules) it does so with the clunkiest of clunky dialogue. So much so that after 44 minutes of enduring one-liners like “She [Megan] seems to care about dead people more than she ever cared about the living,” “I know a lot of ME’s [Medical Examiners] and none of them are a big as a pain in the ass as you are,” and “You might try playing nice once in a while.” we can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be yelling to your TV… WE GET IT!

Suffice to say, TV audiences deserve better, and so to does star Dana Delany.

Source

Like Fox with “Chicago Code,” ABC saved its strongest new drama for late in the season.

“Body of Proof” stars Dana Delany as Dr. Megan Hunt, a brilliant, obsessed, irritating and unhappy neurosurgeon who can’t perform neurosurgery anymore.

Because an auto accident left her with a rare condition in which her hands can suddenly go numb, she can’t be trusted to cut open the living.

She tried it once. Her hands failed in the middle of the procedure and the patient died.

So now Megan has downshifted to medical examiner because, in her words, “You can’t kill someone who’s already dead.”

She’s much too driven and smart to take her new job passively, however, so she immediately begins trying to figure out not just how this person died, but why and who might have done it.

Technically, that’s the job of the police. Specifically, in this case, Detective Bud Morris (John Carroll Lynch). When Bud discovers the meddling Dr. Hunt will be working on his cases, he’s about as happy as if someone had frosted his doughnut with stink bugs.

Nor does it help that when Megan is right, which is often, she talks more trash than the entire NBA Atlantic Division.

This would make her very obnoxious very quickly if we didn’t know she also has a flip side that she works overtime to cover up.

She has a young daughter from whom she is mostly estranged, thanks to an angry ex-husband who felt even before the accident that Megan was ignoring her family to pursue neurosurgery stardom.

“I lost my daughter because of my career,” says Megan. “And then I lost my career.”

That’s not the assessment of a happy woman, and Megan is now driven by three things, only one of which is becoming the smartest crime-solver in the room.

She also wants to win back a relationship with her daughter and she wants to atone to the family of the woman who died on her operating table.

She makes these tasks harder because she tries not to let anyone past the titanium walls she has built around herself.

Fortunately for her and for viewers, though, those walls aren’t impenetrable. Her junior partner, Peter Dunlop (Nicholas Bishop), a former cop, not only can tell her the truth, but get her to occasionally listen.

And yes, this also sends a potential whiff of romance into the air. Megan doesn’t know that yet and it’s abstract to Peter, but it will definitely occur to viewers.

“Body of Proof” would be interesting enough if it were just “Quincy” with better legs. Add the other elements and you have something worth checking out at 10 o’clock.

Source

Dana Delany deserves a lifetime achievement award for capturing our hearts on “China Beach,” coming off fairly well in “Exit to Eden,” goosing “Desperate Housewives” and not once complaining about being confused with Kim Delaney.

Her prize: this starring vehicle, in which Delany plays a former neurosurgeon trying to redeem herself as a medical examiner.

The procedural is maddeningly by the numbers. Dr. Megan Hunt has a colorful trench coat that embraces her femininity (see: “The Closer”) and an uncanny ability to tell people’s life stories just by looking at them (see: “The Mentalist”). Lesser doctors clamor after her for medical advice (see: “House”), but no proof is really needed when Dr. Hunt simply accuses the killer to his or her face and extracts a confession (see: “Perry Mason”).

Visually, you couldn’t ask for much more in a series. Everything Delany does seems calculated to convey sex, whether it’s striding stairs in a leather skirt and boots or slapping on some rubber gloves. She’s 55, and she’s spectacular. For backup, the luscious Jeri Ryan has been cast as Hunt’s boss.

Delany is as likable as possible in an extremely unlikable role. But the writing is a bit too tidy, and Delany’s smarty-pants approach gets old in the first 10 minutes. I’m sure Dr. Hunt’s road to redemption will be touching, but I doubt anyone is going to stick around to see it.

Source

Dana Delany has a thing for dead bodies.

In researching her new role as a medical examiner on the new Citytv show “Body Of Proof” Delany watched numerous autopsies, but says she hasn’t completely got the hang of the whole doctor thing.

“I went and observed four different autopsies which I loved — it was fascinating. That part is easy because I like the science. The hard part was the terminology because they’re just words that don’t make any sense to me,” Delany said in an exclusive interview with CityNews.ca.

Delany plays Megan Hunt, a doctor whose life is turned upside down by a tragic accident. She’s forced to navigate a new job and difficult family relationships.

The show premieres Tuesday March 29 at 10pm on Citytv.

As part of the interview, Delany spoke about how the show centers around a life-changing event; the vast amount of medical terminology required in the role, her interaction with the cast and whether it has made her view doctors in a different way.

Delany says there’s “a procedural aspect” to every episode: “We’ll have a mystery, and a different body and you’ll find out how that person died. But more than that we also have a lot of humour in the show, and we have a family drama aspect too.”

Source

Dana Delany doesn’t have to prove to anyone that she’s a TV star of the highest caliber. Her body of work, starting with the indelible Vietnam War classic China Beach, speaks for itself.

But not since China’s Colleen McMurphy has Delany had a role so well suited for her foxy, sardonic magnetism as Dr. Megan Hunt, neurosurgeon-turned-medical examiner/crime solver in the new Body of Proof. It’s ABC’s latest attempt to launch a crime drama to compete with the hit procedurals on other networks; only the more comedic Castle has had any traction in recent years. (ABC’s latest casualty: the underrated Detroit 1-8-7.)

From the few episodes I’ve seen so far, Body of Proof is just ordinary enough to be a success. There’s nothing in it you haven’t seen several hundred times before: a blend of CSI science, Bones banter, Mentalist uncanny acuity, House haughtiness, Rizzoli & Isles eye candy. In an encouraging sign, the problems of this week’s often-unbearable pilot episode are for the most part being addressed by Episode Two.

But first you have to make it through a pilot hour choked with exposition, presenting Delany’s character repeatedly in the most annoying light possible. Smug and arrogant as this know-it-all appears at a crime scene (Providence, R.I., pretending to be Philadelphia), she antagonizes local detectives John Carroll Lynch and Sonja Sohn with Sherlock-ian observations followed by lines like, “Don’t believe everything you’ve heard about me. The truth is much worse.”

And much more clichéd. Here’s her backstory in a nutshell: Dr. Megan Hunt was a world-class neurosurgeon, so driven she sacrificed her husband and custody of her daughter to her work. A car accident four years ago robbed her of her surgical skills (she loses a patient) and forces a career change, if not a change in attitude. She’s a terror to everyone in her wake, but we’re supposed to shift gears and pity her because Awful Old Husband (Jeffrey Nordling, who deserves better) won’t let her near her sweet little girl, not even to give her a special birthday present.

“You might try playing nice once in a while,” advises Peter, her long-suffering hunk of a partner (Nicholas Bishop), to little avail. An ex-cop investigator, Peter tags along with Megan as she butts in repeatedly, and preposterously, during confrontational interrogations. Even by TV’s loose standards of unreality, this is too much. Her boss, the knockout Jeri Ryan, appreciates Megan’s brilliance, but warns, “The knives will come out the minute you screw up.”

When one of the real detectives sputters that he’s never known an ME “as big a pain in the ass as you,” Megan smirks back, “They’re also not as good as I am.” To prove it, watch her barking insta-diagnoses to a nerdy squin-tern as she struts-and-talks around the lab. And worse, listen to her explain the show’s title: “The body is the proof. It will tell you everything you need to know if you only have the patience to look.” We get it, Megan. Please never go there again.

Delany delivers all of this with as much snap and gusto as a fierce pro can muster. (Hey, she even survived playing one of Desperate Housewives’ more hopelessly ill-conceived dishrags.) And the good news is that by week two, when confronted with a victim who hits uncomfortably close to home, Megan begins to realize the limitations of not being able to read the living as well as she reads the dead. As Peter wryly notes, “Even the most observant person in the world can miss what’s going on right in front of them.” So Megan tries to play nice, awkwardly pretending to be interested in her colleagues’ lives, attempts that invariably backfire. If this development doesn’t exactly humanize her, it at least makes her more enjoyable to watch.

But still, it takes a giant suspension of disbelief — so what else is new? — to watch a medical examiner keep dashing into the field, chasing leads and questioning suspects, always a step ahead of the local cops. Who does Megan think she is, Horatio Caine?

Body of Proof premieres Tuesday, 10/9c, on ABC