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 Fitzgerald died in 1940 at the age of 44 before
finishing the story about the studio system in the Golden Age of
Hollywood. He left notes on where the characters were heading
and the completed novel was released posthumously in 1941 by his
friend, Edmund Wilson.
"What's fun, I guess, about an unfinished novel is you can get
to do what you want to with it. He's laid out a really wonderful
blueprint and you get to finish it," said Grammer, who plays Pat
Brady, a character based on movie studio boss Louis B. Mayer.
"The Last Tycoon", which was previously adapted for television
in 1957 and film in 1976, will air in nine parts on Amazon
starting on Friday, July 28.
Collins, who plays Brady's daughter Cecelia, said she enjoyed
having the freedom to "take it and run with it and bring about
the historical facts of the period but also to bring in our
imagination."
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Cecelia is trying to break into production in Hollywood, which is
still a challenge for women nearly 80 years after Fitzgerald's
death.
"Some things have changed but many, many things have not. A lot of
the things that we are dealing with on the show are sadly really
relevant and fresh today, whether it's the ageism or the sexism or
the anti-Semitism and certain aspects of race," said Matt Bomer, who
plays Monroe Stahr, a character based on studio chief Irving
Thalberg.
Grammer, best known for TV comedies "Cheers" and "Frasier," said the
studio battles depicted in Fitzgerald's book also felt close to
home.
"I don't think it's very different. I think everybody is a lot more
polite now, but I think secretly down, down, deep inside they fight
like it's turf war, like it is a war they need to win," he said.
(Reporting by Reuters Television; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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