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Tag: The Dovekeepers

  • Cote de Pablo: ‘NCIS’s’ Ziva David Makes TV Return in ‘The Dovekeepers’

    Cote de Pablo–best known for her role as Ziva David on NCIS, played alongside Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly–is making her TV return on Tuesday and Wednesday this week in a CBS four-hour miniseries called The Dovekeepers.

    The project is based on an Alice Hoffman novel, and in addition to Cote de Pablo, stars Rachel Brosnahan, Sam Neill, and Kathryn Prescott. The story focuses on the women at the center of a group of Jewish refugees who make a brave stand against the Romans from the ancient mountaintop fortress of Masada.

    The Dovekeepers is produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, who produced The Bible in 2013.

    Cote de Pablo visited Masada prior to playing this role.

    “I had a chance to go to Masada a couple of years ago when I was first doing NCIS. You are on top of a mountain (where) on one end you’ve got the desert and on the other, the Dead Sea. It’s a remarkable story of survival, never giving up hope or faith and holding up to what you believe are important values, principles and dignity,” she explained.

    Rachel Brosnahan, Kathryn Prescott, and Cote de Pablo play the roles of Yael, Aziza, and Shirah, respectively, and they are the women known as the dovekeepers.

    “What these women do is ahead of its time, even for today. They live so connected to their hearts that they can’t possibly betray the thing they feel. … You have these women who have gone through the mill, who have given up everything they love to tell their story. (If) the Romans write it, they will inevitably be the heroes of their story. (Shirah) needs to tell this story of what really happened, the story of her people,” de Pablo says.

    Call it coincidence or call it good planning on behalf of CBS, but just prior to The Dovekeepers premiere on Tuesday is the weekly airing of NCIS. And something fans are undoubtedly wondering is whether or not Cote de Pablo will ever reprise her role as Ziva David.

    “I think it could absolutely be explored,” de Pablo says. “I felt (character Ziva’s departure) was a little rushed but, given how it all played out, I think it was beautiful. I had three beautiful scenes with Michael (Weatherly), who I love dearly. Any time I get the chance to be with him, there’s something kind of magical that happens. It’s been such a love story in many ways.”

    And then she talked about the doves.

    “We had very little time to prepare. It was sort of like, ‘OK, you have two hours to handle birds. And then in two hours, you’ll be in front of the camera with the birds.’ We had to learn really quickly. If you’re holding the birds with anxiety, they will be anxious. We would approach the birds in a more loving manner, like we’d been doing it forever. They just immediately let go and weren’t so fussy. They’re incredibly intuitive beings,” she said.

    Fans of NCIS’s Ziva David can tune in to see Cote de Pablo in The Dovekeepers both Tuesday and Wednesday nights, March 31st and April 1st, on CBS at 9:00 PM ET.

    Do you think Michael Weatherly, Mark Harmon, Pauley Perrette, and Sean Murray will watch?

  • Roma Downey: Touched by an Angel Star Back with New Faith-Based Mini-Series

    Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett have become the couple to watch when it comes to faith-based television programming. Downey is famous for 10 years of Touched by an Angel, of course. But she and husband Mark also caught the eye of the public with their ten-part mini-series for the History Channel, The Bible.

    The mini-series was put out by Downey and Burnett’s production company LightWorkers Media.

    “I think that we’re seeing the desire for that is back,” Downey told reporters recently at the Television Critics’ Association in Pasadena. “I think [The Bible‘s success] shows that people are interested in these themes and they are hungry for product that inspires.”

    Now LightWorkers is launching a new project, this one based on the novel by Alice Hoffman, The Dovekeepers.

    “I was so profoundly touched by the story of a persecuted peoples who in the face of persecution, stood up for what they believed in,” Downey says of the novel.

    According to Amazon, the novel The Dovekeepers is set in the time of the siege of Masada, a Jewish stronghold that held out after the romans razed Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

    “Nearly two thousand years ago, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power.

    “The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.”

    “I think [the mini-series] stays very true to the essence of the book,” Downey said. “There are many characters in the book and we have four hours…. We expand in some places and condense in others. I think that fans of this book will love it. They will see some differences, but I think everyone will be happy.”

    The mini-series airs March 31 and April 1 on CBS. It stars Cote de Pablo from NCIS, Rachel Brosnahan from House of Cards, Kathryn Prescott from Finding Carter, and Diego Boneta from Pretty Little Liars.

  • Cote De Pablo Returning To CBS For ‘The Dovekeepers’

    Cote De Pablo Returning To CBS For ‘The Dovekeepers’

    During the Television Critics Association’s winter tour, Cote de Pablo appeared on a panel for the upcoming miniseries The Dovekeepers. The former NCIS star talked about her new project as well as the potential return of her beloved NCIS character, ex-Mossad operative Ziva David. The actress revealed that she is open for a return visit under the right circumstances, citing the fact that the NCIS showrunners never killed off her character in the first place. Cote also said that she felt her departure was a little rushed.

    However, De Pablo added that she was pleased that her last scene was with Michael Weatherly who plays her love interest, Tony DiNozzo.

    De Pablo said, “I think, all in all, I could not be more blessed, because I got to be with my love, Michael. And, any time you have scenes with Michael and I together, there’s going to be a spark and there’s going to be real honesty. For that, I am forever grateful because there was a sense of conclusion as far as what they felt for each other.”

    Roma Downey, producer for The Dovekeepers, said that they wanted to air the miniseries after NCIS’ timeslot to capitalize on de Pablo’s fanbase. “We were thrilled to get Cote,” she said. “It’s no accident that our [premiere] date is a Tuesday night and we will come on after NCIS.” Downey hopes that de Pablo’s supporters will drum up support for the show, which is based on the bestselling novel by Alice Hoffman.

    The miniseries as well as the source material is a period piece detailing the siege of Masada by Roman Empire troops as seen from the point of view of four women. De Pablo will be playing Shirah, a single mother accused of practicing witchcraft.

    Aside from The Dovekeepers, de Pablo will also be seen on the big screen in the upcoming film The 33. The film, which is about a Chilean mining disaster, also stars Antonio Banderas and Juliette Binoche.

  • Cote de Pablo: ‘NCIS’s’ Ziva David Headed Back to CBS

    Cote de Pablo, best known for her role as Ziva David on the CBS hit show NCIS, is returning to the network this spring. No, she won’t be back at NCIS, reprising her role as Michael Weatherly’s (Tony DiNozzo) love interest. She is set to appear in a two-part miniseries called The Dovekeepers instead.

    The Dovekeepers is based on the book of the same name by famed author Alice Hoffman. Husband and wife producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett cast Cote de Pablo, along with Rachel Brosnahan, Kathryn Prescott, Diego Boneta, and Sam Neill.

    Downey said after the huge success of her Bible miniseries on The History Channel (it drew in over 100 million views), she knew viewers would be “hungry” for Dovekeepers. She also admitted she decided to produce because she isa huge fan of the novel.

    “At its heart, Dovekeepers is a love story…there is tragedy, of course, but at its heartbeat, there is beauty and hope,” Downey said on the TCA panel.

    The dark story of Masada, which was filmed in Malta, is “profoundly moving,” she said.

    If it’s any consolation to NCIS fans, and it likely won’t be, The Dovekeepers will air in the spot following NCIS on March 31st. The second part of the miniseries airs on April 1st. Cote de Pablo was surprised to hear this little tidbit of news.

    “Really?” she exclaimed after Roma Downey told the Television Critics Association about the March 31 scheduling.

    It seems the hope is that Cote de Pablo’s NCIS followers will be “very noisy” in drawing attention to the movie, according to Roma Downey. The project dramatizes the siege of the ancient desert fortress of Masada–now part of Israel–by Roman Empire troops.

    Even though this isn’t a reprisal of her role as Ziva David, will you tune in to see Cote de Pablo in The Dovekeepers?