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2 • August 16 - 22, 2015 • Brainerd Dispatch By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media I t's not always easy being the man in charge. While it's true that being a leader gives a person a fair amount of power, it can be a tough thing to wield — and keep- ing everyone beneath you happy is a near-impossible task. In 1987, former police officer Nick Wasicsko became the young- est mayor in the history of Yon- kers, N.Y., at the age of 28. In his latest HBO series, "Show Me a Hero," David Simon, creator of "The Wire" and "Treme," relates the true story of Wasicsko's fight for the desegregation of public housing in the city and its effects on him, other elected officials, ac- tivists and the citizens of Yonkers. The six-part miniseries premieres Sunday, Aug. 16, on HBO. The show is based on journalist Lisa Belkin's 1999 non-fiction book of the same name, which ex- amines the effects of a 1985 ruling by Judge Leonard B. Sand that 200 apartments be built in Yonkers to house poor, largely minority resi- dents in white, middle-class areas of the city. This effectively uproot- ed these poorer families and de- posited them into more affluent neighborhoods, many of whose residents opposed and resented their presence there. Wasicsko was elected on a promise that he would fight the demand for desegregation, but just days before his inauguration, a federal appeals court upheld the order. Persuaded by the city's law- yers that fighting it was a lost cause, Wasicsko reversed his posi- tion and instead backed integra- tion. The backlash from white resi- dents was immediate and strong, and heavy fines against city coun- cil members who opposed the plan threatened to push the city to bankruptcy. Wasicsko is portrayed in "Show Me a Hero" by Golden Globe nom- inee Oscar Isaac, in a rare depar- ture from the big screen to TV. The Guatemalan-born actor has been making a name for himself recent- ly, particularly since his title role in the critically acclaimed Coen Brothers film "Inside Llewyn Da- vis" (2013). He's been praised for his performance in "A Most Violent Year" (2014), in which he starred alongside Golden Globe winner Jessica Chastain, and appeared earlier this year in the creepy sci-fi flick "Ex Machina." Look for him towards the end of 2015 in "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens" and as the title villain in "X-Men: Apocalypse," scheduled for release next spring. For now, though, Isaac's stick- ing much closer to reality, and that's just the way Simon likes it. "I find myself drawn to stories that are about people as I actually have encountered them in the world," the writer and executive producer of the series told "The Journal News." "A lot of the en- tertainment world is about people who are bigger than the institutions they're in — the cop who won't take 'no,' the drug dealer who is more evil, the guy with magic powers. For me, the real was very interest- ing to us." Isaac isn't the only big name in "Show Me a Hero." Oscar nomi- nee and '90s darling Winona Ryder ("Girl, Interrupted," 1999) plays Yonkers city council president Vin- ni Restiano, an ad- vocate of inte- gration. Jim Belushi ("Ac- cording to Jim") plays Wasicsko's mayoral elec- tion opponent Angelo R. Martinelli, and Alfred Molina ("Spider-Man 2," 2004) portrays city council member Henry J. Spal- lone. Oscar nominee Catherine Keener ("Being John Malkovich," 1999) plays Mary Dorman, one of the many East Yonkers residents who is fervently against racial in- tegration in her neighborhood. "I think all the characters ap- pealed to us because they were not larger than life," Simon said in the "Journal News" interview. "They weren't smaller than life, but nor were they superheroes or rising above their moment or be- ing more evil than required." It's no surprise that the former journalist is drawn to reality, and Simon's shows are known to focus on the friction between those who make and enforce the laws and the ordinary people who are af- fected by them. Simon began his career as a crime reporter for "The Baltimore Sun," and his experiences shad- owing the Baltimore Police De- partment homicide unit in the late '80s served as the basis for his first book, "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets." This in turn was the basis for the NBC series "Ho- micide: Life on the Street," which Simon wrote and produced. He's described his critically acclaimed series "The Wire" as being "about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how in- stitutions have an effect on indi- viduals." He also adapted Evan Wright's book "Generation Kill" into an HBO miniseries of the same name, which is based on the author's experiences as an embed- ded reporter at the start of the Iraq war. "I'm sort of past the point where I want to do larger than life, and most of TV is about larger than life," he said. "We're trying to tell a story in a medium where vampires and gangsters and drag- ons prevail." For his part, Simon is far more concerned with telling a story that he feels needs to be told than he is with pulling in huge viewership numbers. If "Show Me a Hero" goes the way of his previous se- ries, it will prove a quiet but criti- cal success and Simon can consid- er his a job well done. "Show Me a Hero" premieres its six-part run Sunday, Aug. 16, on HBO. Winona Ryder and Oscar Isaac as seen in "Show Me a Hero" This is real life HBO's new miniseries examines the fi ght to desegregate Yonkers Cover Story this week 001288392r1 "Your One-Stop, Locally-Owned Medical Supply Company." 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