IFC Miniseries Spoof ‘The Spoils of Babylon’ Adds Jessica Alba, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins, Michael Sheen and a Teaser Trailer
“The Spoils of Babylon,” IFC’s upcoming miniseries produced by Funny or Die, continues to add to its already starry cast. Joining previously announced leads Tobey Maguire and Kristen Wiig will be Jessica Alba, Val Kilmer, Haley Joel Osment, Michael Sheen and Tim Robbins. Will Ferrell, who’s executive producing the project with Adam McKay, Matt Piedmont, Andrew Steele and Nate Young, will also appear as fictional author Eric Jonrosh, on whose work the miniseries is supposed to be based.
“The Spoils of Babylon” is a parody of the epic miniseries, a bloated genre that has needed to be spoofed for some time. And what better team to do the spoofing than Piedmont and Steele, of “Casa de mi Padre” fame? The two wrote the series, and Piedmont is set to direct.
“The Spoils of Babylon” is “adapted” from the novel by Jonrosh (Ferrell), whose impressive “Spoils” series includes “The Spoils of Galaxy 7,” “The Spoils of Grasping for God,” “The Spoils of the Sahara,” “The Spoils of the Singing Night Squirrel,” “The Spoils of the Weeping Falcon,” and “The Spoils Beneath the Sea.” Jonrosh expressed his excitement about the series in a phone interview from his yacht “The Super Bard,” saying: “I’m thrilled my masterwork is finally making it to the screen, albeit the small screen. Although I guess these days people have pretty big screens in their homes but still not as big as ‘the big screen.’ I mean, some people who have home theaters might have screens that big, but most wouldn’t, at least that’s what I would imagine. Still, I’m thrilled, and I personally DO have a giant screen TV so….” Here Jonrosh trailed off, probably contemplating taking a dip in the Caspian Sea on a private beach of the coast of his personal island.
“The Spoils of Babylon” weaves the century-spanning tale of oil tycoon and patriarch Jonas Morehouse (Robbins) and his filthy-rich family, whose saga has no shortage of sex and drama. Start out with a taboo lust kindling between his daughter Cynthia (Wiig) and her adopted brother Devon (Maguire). Add in the machinations of Cynthia’s evil son Winston (Osment), her floundering relationship with her weak husband Chet Halner (Sheen), and Devon’s love interest Dixie Mellenworth (Alba), along with boozing, pill-popping, and heartbreak, and oh, what a tangled web we weave. Add to that illegal arms deals, international espionage, the Shah of Iran (Ferrell again) and two US army generals (Kilmer and Steve Tom) and you’re bound to have more than a mini amount of drama.
Check out the teaser trailer below. The series has begun production and is slated to premiere on IFC in early 2014.
