It’s a bird; It’s a plane! No – it’s a Manimal? Actually folks, MANIMAL is the title of a band new NBC movie of the week, staring – of course, SIMON!
Simon plays Jonathan Chase, a professor of animal behaviorisms, who, with the help of his partner (Glynn Turman) and a lady police officer, (Melody “Flash Gordon” Anderson) fights crime in New York City. Equipped with mystic powers inherited from his father, which include exceptional hearing and eyesight, Jonathan is also able to change into animals at will, and uses this to his advantage.
In this movie, created and produced by Glen Larson for a possible fall TV series, Simon becomes a black panther, an eagle, a little white pussycat, and believe it or not – a shark! Simon describes this film as a cross between CAT PEOPLE and THE INCREDIBLE HULK.
The movie will actually show the transformations as Simon changed from man to panther, consequently, our hero had to endure the horrible, claustrophobic experience of having a plaster mold of his face. He described this experience as “pretty horrid”, saying that the worst part of it was having the mouth mold made for the panther teeth. He had to sit with the “horrid” plaster material in his mouth and wait for it to harden. Yukk!
Recently a business acquaintance of Simon’s had to meet him on set. She found him in full “panther” prosthesis drinking his lunch through a straw. What that poor man doesn’t endure for the sake of entertainment!
Simon is scheduled to complete filming of MANIMAL around April 15th, after which he is hoping to rest for a while except for possible promotional work on RIDDLE OF THE SANDS or JAWS 3D
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