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1997
was a pretty good year for Enrico Colantoni.
The
34-year-old actor could count among his blessings,
a new hit television series, a new wife and, by
the end of the year, his first child. The series
was, of course, Just Shoot Me. The new
wife was Nancy Snyder, referred to by Variety
as “non-pro”, and the new child was
a son, Quintin. Rico’s parents were, he
admits, more pleased by the latter developments.
“The work never really swayed them at all.
Not having to ask them for money anymore never
swayed them. [It was] the fact that I was ready
to settle down. That I got married and I'm a father.”
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Just
Shoot Me was a mid-season replacement that quickly
found a loyal audience and enjoyed seven successful
years on the air. “You never know what people
are going to like,” admits Colantoni. “Having
David Spade with us helped a lot, but I never
ever know. You never know if you were going to
come back next year. And we managed to do it,
even after they moved us to another night, and
so on. So I looked back and thought ‘Oh
wow, we survived seven years!’, which in
Hollywood standards is a miracle for a sitcom
to last that long. A loyal fanbase just kept coming
back to the show. They just kept finding us. |
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Colantoni
played photographer Elliott DiMauro. "Elliott
started out by being really cool," he says
about his character. "He was the cool, womanizing
guy; he wore great leather coats. I’m nothing
like my character,” he confided at the time.
“Except on a really good day! He's so much
cooler than I am.“
Over
the seasons his character developed. "Sure
enough, they just kind of like him being kind
of thumby, you know, and nerdy, which is fine,"
he said. "I think the bigger challenge is
to make him cool and funny, but it's kinda hard"
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He
also felt the show itself eventually lost a little
of its edge. " "I liked the relationships
much better when everyone in the office hated
everyone else. It's far more realistic for
one thing."
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"He's
extremely Italian - Italian-Canadian - which is
such a strange combination," says his "Just
Shoot Me" co-star Wendie Malick. "But
he comes in here and gives us the most fabulous
bear hugs everyday. He's a great hugger."
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My
Favorite Enrico Colantoni/Just Shoot
Me Assessment —
"Primary
among these is unlikely Casanova and fashion
photographer Elliott. Gloriously bald and
puzzlingly attractive, he is the very essence
of what makes this show so bizarre, and
yet so very enjoyable. |
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The fact that this borderline geek (Colantoni
memorably played an alien in Galaxy Quest)
can be successfully portrayed as a rakish
chick magnet is a triumph of casting.
It
would have been easy to put a beauteous, bedroom-eyed
hunk in the role, to make women's hearts beat
faster and foster the illusion of impossible
glamour. Instead, Elliott's loveable goofiness,
and the fact that his position as Blush's
staff photographer gets a guy like him laid
on a regular basis, underline Just Shoot Me's
point, that the world of fashion magazines
is shallow, empty, completely fake... and
very, very funny.
by Rachel Hyland
PopMatters
Film and TV Critic 2000 |
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On
the whole, Just Shoot Me was a positive experince
and an extraordinary break for the actor. "We
have so much fun just in the energy of fun and
love (of acting our scenes). We're always laughing.
Everybody loves being there and acknowledges everyone
else. There's no backstabbing. This is an amazing
group of people to work with," said Rico.
"We're like a family. Of course, just like
with a family, sometimes you need some time apart."
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All
this stuff is copyright 2003-2005. Some of it's
even original. Rico really said all this stuff
, but not to me. Different interviews, various
dates. I trust they all quoted him accurately
and that by and large he was truthful in his answers. |
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