Media Bits: 'Horror', 'Carrie', and 'Jupiter Ascending'

In a move that may give it help its chances at winning a drama Emmy, F/X’s American Horror Story will be submitted as a miniseries, instead of Best Drama. While the series could have also been submitted under the Best Drama umbrella –its premise as an anthology series where story and characters are designed to change from year-to-year- put in a unique category of being able to be submitted as a miniseries as well. This was the strategy the PBS used that allowed the super popular Downton Abbey to sweep that category last year. Now, however, Downton Abbey will vie for Best Drama this year, which will put it up against highly favored shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad. By moving American Horror Story out of the Best Drama, its stakes rise. Besides, it’s already forgone conclusion that Jessica Lange is the one to beat in Best Supporting category. She’s won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her crazy role of Constance, and her year will be topped off by an Emmy win this fall. 

BBC has renewed their version of Being Human for a 5^th season.

Both Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis are in early talks to star in the Wachowskis' brothers new sci-fi epic Jupiter Ascending, which will likely become a franchise if the first film does well. Deadline reports that while there is no plot information available, it should be noted that while the brothers are bankable producers, 2003’s The Matrix remains their best known film, overshadowing its two less-than-spectacular sequels. Then there was 2008’s take on Speed Racer, which failed to stir at the box-office, but the brothers have their highbrow drama Cloud Atlas which is in post-production, coming out soon.

While I think there is no demand for another version of Stephen King’s 1974 first novel, Carrie, we seemed destined to get one. Beyond the original 1976 film which starred Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, we seen a 1988 theater version, which closed after only 16 performances, a 1999 sequel The Rage: Carrie 2 and 2002 made-for-TV remake. Now MGM and Screen Gems are bring us another remake, this time with Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Pierce helming it. The film is said to be "less a remake of the De Palma film and more a re-adaptation of the original text.” While King once suggested –rather jokingly- Lindsey Lohan for the role of Carrie, apparently the choice have boiled down to two actresses, 15 year-old Chloe Moretz, she of Kick Ass and this May’s Dark Shadows, or 24 year-old Haley Bennett (The Haunting of Molly Hartley). Meanwhile, director Pierce is hoping to lure either Jodie Foster or Julianne Moore for the role of Carrie’s mother. While I believe Moretz is super talented and very capable of doing the role, having an actress under the age of 18 –one who is essentially in every scene- would not be financially viable. However, I do believe in casting someone who is closer in age, or at least looks like a teenager. But Hollywood has always casted early twenties actors for teens, but mostly because the ability for the actor to put in the long hours. Until Moretz’s reaches 18, she’s limited to her time on a set, and time, as always, is money. 

Director Jonathan Liebesman recently spoke to Collider about producer Michael Bay's comments about the how the live-action reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which caused a  stir when Bay mentioned they were going to be aliens, thus was changing their origins. The simple, often predictable words, were he was "taken out of context." Essentially, the creative team is working with the creators of the comic, and pointed out the ooze that creates the mutant turtles comes from outer space, and so it’s sort of alien. And, apparently, because saying Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles takes too long to say, the film may end just called Ninja Turtles.