The Seventh Son, the latest novel by author Orson Scott Card (beyond
Ender’s Game) to go before the
cameras, has added British actress Olivia Williams (The Ghost Writer, The Sixth Sense) to its cast, joining Ben Barnes,
Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore. The film is about a teen who learns the art of
wizardry after discovering that he is the seventh son of a seventh son.
Emmy Rossum (Shameless) has joined the cast of the Warner Bros. adaptation of
the young adult supernatural novel series Beautiful
Creatures. Richard LaGravenses will direct the film and write the
screenplay, based on the first novel written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
The plot follows two teenage lovers –the local boy and a mysterious new girl-
in small Southern town who uncover dark secrets about their families past. Dark
witches and mean girls will abound. Rossum joins already cast Jack O'Connell
and Alice Englert, along with Viola Davis and Emma Thompson.
Irish actress Ruth Bradley (In Her Skin) has landed the female lead
in ABC’s pilot Beauty and the Beast.
Scottish singer-actor Darius Campbell was already cast as the Beast. This is a
fantasy re-imagining of the classic Beauty
and the Beast tale, which will make it somewhat different from the CW’s
grittier, New York City based one. This Belle will have an unlikely connection to
a mysterious beast named, Shiro, who is a mercenary bodyguard.
With a lot of shows on “the
bubble” (they’re at a tipping point between being renewed or cancelled, but no
one knows which yet) The River's Paul Blackthorne is
covering his bases and has reportedly been cast in Arrow as Detective Quentin Lance, the father of Green Arrow's love
interest Laurel. He’ll play the detective who is out to bring Green Arrow to
justice on this CW pilot. On the unlikely hood The River gets a second season, Blackthrone would be forced to
return to that. Also added is Jamey Sheridan, who’ll play Green Arrow’s father,
Robert Queen. Susanna Thompson is playing his mother. Also joining Arrow in a recurring role is British
actor Colin Salmon (Resident Evil,
GoldenEye), who will play Walter Steele, a former business associate of
Oliver’s late father Robert Queen and now married Oliver’s mother.
John Barrowman -Captain Jack
Harkness on Doctor Who and Torchwood- has joined the cast of ABC’s
new series Gilded Lilys, which more
or less confirms that Torchwood is
indeed done for now. The new show is from Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. The series is set in 1895 and set in a lavish
hotel in New York. He’ll be playing the playboy son of the owners. Whether the
openly gay actor will be the same on the show is not known.
Meanwhile, another former Doctor Who companion, Freema Agyeman,
has been cast in the pilot for The CW’s The
Carrie Diaries, a prequel to the hyper, über-gay popular HBO series Sex and the City. She’s playing Larissa,
the editor who works at Interview Magazine and Carrie Bradshaw’s mentor. I
wonder if the CW can convince anyone from the original series to appear on this
prequel if it goes to series. While Carrie’s mom is dead in the book series, it
does not mean Sarah Jessica Parker can’t appear as an aged aunt or grandparent,
old friend or just a bitchy crazy person. Wait, that role could go to Kim
Cattrall, potentially earning her an Emmy and SAG nomination. I mean, if
Jessica Lange can do it, why not her? And with this potential series, does this
indicate The CW is upping its gay demographic beyond The Vampire Diaries, 90120
(which may end being cancelled), Supernatural,
and America’s Next Top Model?
Speaking of Doctor Who, filming on season seven continues, with a location
shoot in Spain. Apparently the episode is set in the American Wild West –the
first time the series has had western themed episode since the First Doctor
visited the OK Corral in The Gunfighter’s
serial from 1966. This will be the third episode to air, and is written by Being Human creator Toby Whithouse. Stargate SG-1 and Farscape actor Ben Browder is guest starring. Also confirmed is the
Chris Chibnall scripted episode is the second story of the season. That’s the
one that features Harry Potter actors
Mark Williams playing Rory’s Dad and David Bradley. And since they’re filming
in Spain (and on sets created some decades ago when Sergio Leone made his
classic spaghetti westerns), rumors that they’ll film other scenes for another
story (which they did when the series filmed in Croatia 2 years ago) is coming
to head. Suggestions are these other areas of Spain will be used as remains of
Skaro. So, basically the season opener has yet to begin filming. But
considering it is filmed in blocks, with two episodes shooting simultaneously {these
two under director Saul Metzstein}, it would seem the opener will be made after
filming completes on episode 2 and 3; meaning episodes 1 and 4 are part of
another block to be directed by Nick Hurran and both are to be written by
showrunner Steven Moffat. And there is also a suggestion that these 4 stories
will make up the only ones (beyond the Christmas episode?) to air in 2012.
The FOX Network made it official and has pulled
the plug on the expensive, but moderately-rated Terra Nova. At TCA in January, FOX’s entertainment president Kevin
Reilly told the press “If this is all we make (of Terra Nova), we made money on it, the studio made money on it, and
it seems to have resonated with the family audience,” he said. “There is a
show, which if we are to bring back, there’s an audience there. But creatively,
the show was hunting (for its identity). If we had more holes in our network,
we’d be thrilled to lock that right in.” But since 20th Century Fox built a semi-city
in Australia, they’ve decided to try and shop the series somewhere else. This
begs the question what network -beyond the other three broadcast ones- can
actually afford it? SyFy, which is owned by Universal, would need to pay a
license fee to Fox (well, all would actually), plus whatever the cost of each
episode is –though since it does film Down Under, there are already some built-in
cost savings. Plus, considering SyFy is cutting back on budget’s and looking
for more cheaper-to-produce reality and game shows, the odds they’ll pick this
show is pretty slim. The truth of the matter is that these types of expensive
shows don’t have the luxury of a waiting period to build a large audience; they
need to be huge hits from the start. And from a creative point, it took far too
long for this show to find its sea legs –though I would argue it never did. That
is why I don’t see any cable network picking up the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment