ABC develops 1960s drama about Pan Am pilots and stewardesses. Updated 2010-09-20 6:40 PM Two Pan Am A300-B4 jets on the runway of JFK International Airport in 1996.
The huge success of Mad Men has prompted ABC to develop a 1960s drama on the allegedly glamorous world of Pan Am pilots and flight attendants, Variety reports. First-class meal service circa 1960 aboard a Delta DC-8, the airline's first jet in service. Courtesy of Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum Sony Pictures TV is behind the project, the entertainment industry newspaper writes, which came from an idea by a producer who was a Pan Am flight attendant 30 years ago. Though some might recall the coffee-tea-or-me era of "stewardesses" as a limited one for women, Sony Pictures TV production President Zack Van Amburg describes these flight attendants as "the world's ambassadors.
" "They were really interesting women at a time when a lot of things were happening, particularly for women in this country," he tells Variety. Paging Don Draper. Christina Ricci to Star in ABC's 'Pan Am' Pilot. Pan Am (ABC) - Trailer. Test Pilot: Pan Am. Test Pilot is a semiregular feature sharing my first impressions of the pilots for next season’s shows.
These aren’t reviews, since these pilots can be rewritten, recast and retooled before airing, and the shows that eventually get on the air can prove much better or worse. But premature opinions are why God invented the Internet, so let’s get on with… The Show: Pan Am, ABC The Premise: It’s a work/relationship drama about life among the stewardesses of Pan Am airlines, who are held up as icons of glamour and sex appeal–and who are forced into girdles by the dress code, and forced out of the job once they marry or hit their early 30s. The pilot begins with the inaugural flight of the airline’s flagship new transatlantic clipper, and the meet the flight crew, one by one. First Impressions: Ask me how I feel about this series, and I have to say: which one? Do I Want to Watch Another Episode?
Christina Ricci On 'Pan Am' Pilot Costume Changes: "That Was Painful" TORONTO – This is uplifting: Pan Am pilot star Christina Ricci recalled a few panic-struck moments on set struggling in and out of stiff corsets and other foundation garments to play a 1960s-era Pan Am flight attendant for the upcoming ABC drama.
“That was painful,” she said of being filled to bursting during on set costume changes during a CTV Upfront press conference in Toronto on Thursday. Ricci, who plays head stewardess Maggie on the Sony Pictures TV drama, needed a slew of dressers to help her in and out of jackets and blouses and skirts, not to mention high heels, gloves and hats. “Someone has to help you because I can’t get this back together fast enough to run back to set,” Ricci recounted. The struggle with the iconic Pan Am airline's blue-grey stewardess costume was worth it, the actress insisted, because it allowed her to play a woman who does more than serve men in the First Class cabin at 30,000 feet. Christina Ricci and Margot Robbie on Girdles and Female Empowerment. Taking an airplane never looked so good. 'Pan Am,' slated to start in the fall, follows a group of young flight attendants who sign on to the "new" luxury airline in the hopes of making a change in their lives.
The passengers and crew face a voyage whose landscape is shaped by romance, a volatile 1960s society and yes, even undercover espionage. Starring Margot Robbie ('Neighbours'), Kelli Garner ('My Generation'), Karine Vanasse ('Polytechnique') and movie star Christina Ricci as the flight attendants, there is no shortage of sexiness in the sky. But that sexiness is not easily found, according to Ricci. "We wear girdles," said Ricci. "The girdles make you walk a certain way," she continued. "I don't know how women in the 1960s did it," adds Robbie. Similar to its predecessor, AMC's 'Mad Men,' there are plenty of curves to go around.
"We live in an age where people are more jaded," said Ricci.