20 year-old British actor Freddie
Highmore (Finding Neverland, Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory, The Spiderwick Chronicles, August Rush) has signed
on to play young Norman Bates in A&E’s upcoming series Bates Motel, which serves as a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock horror
classic Psycho. The series will
examine the relationship between mother and son and what drives the young-man
to become the killer in the classic movie. Vera Farmiga has signed on to play
Norma Bates, the domineering mother that somehow drove her child to kill. Also, has
been noted elsewhere, showrunner Carlton Cuse seems to understand that this new
series could be interpreted as reworking of the Showtime movie from years ago
called Psycho IV: The Beginning. So
to distance themselves from that and all other continuity issues, it seems the Bates Motel will be more of a reimaging
of Norman Bates life; which means now Norman has an older brother named Dylan,
played by Max Thieriot. Of course this now begs the question how Norman and
Norma become so entangled when there is an older brother out in this universe
(because even in the movie and its sequel’s and prequel’s, Norman was always an
only child). Is this a good wrinkle or desperate grab to find a viewing
audience who would not normally want to sit down through another rehash of this
franchise?
New Line acquired the rights to
Maggie Stiefvater‘s young adult novel The
Raven Boys before it is release in early September. Akiva Goldsman will produce the adaptation,
“a love story with a twist revolves around the offspring of psychic parents who
is told that if she find her true love and kisses him then he will die.”
It’s been rumored for months but
has finally been confirmed that British singer Adele has been handed the job of
writing and performing the title song to the James Bond film Skyfall. While the Bond songs have all
been hits, the last two from Casino
Royale and Quantum of Solace,
failed to ignite the music world. For that, you have to go back to 1985’s View to a Kill, which was performed by
Duran Duran at the height of their popularity. Since then, only Garbage’s The World is Not Enough and Madonna’s love
it or hate it Die Another Day have had any radio play, and each has not achieved the success that Duran Duran's tune did, which became the only song in the storied franchise to hit #1 on the singles chart. I’ll
be curious to see if she can chart this song as high as the hits from her last
album, 21. Thomas Newman, who has scored many films as far back as 1984 and has
written all the music to Sam Mendes’ films, will score his first Bond film with
Skyfall.
It’s been hinted for well over a
month, but it’s now been confirmed that James Gunn (Super) will direct Marvel’s Guardians
of the Galaxy. He’s also rewriting Chris
McCoy and Nicole Perlman‘s script. Gunn
is a more or less an inspired choice as he’s a bit offbeat, which could help
this film, as it’s probably the oddest movie Marvel could choose to bring to
the screen -I mean, it does has a talking space raccoon. According to The Avengers writer/director Joss
Whedon, Gunn is a perfect choice to direct it. “He has a very twisted take on it,
but it all comes from a real love for the material. It’s going to be hard for
the humans to keep up. I know he’s going to come from left field and I’m going
to go, ‘What?’ And then, ‘Of course, why didn’t I think of that?’ And then I’m
going to beat him!” The movie is scheduled for August 1, 2014.
Lost’s Ken Leung and Amy Irving have scored recurring roles on
ABC’s midseason conspiracy drama Zero
Hour, which stars ER’s Anthony
Edwards as an editor of a skeptic magazine, who after 20 years, becomes involved
in one of the most extraordinary conspiracies in human history. Irving will
play a seemingly innocent, philanthropic and ordinary mother who turns out to
be anything but. Married into money and well connected to the community through
the charity that she runs, her plans border on both mysterious and dangerous. Leung
will play Father Reggie, a mysterious priest who knows more than we initially
think.
Since Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, both the movie
studios and broadcast networks are working overtime to bring fairy tales (also
known as public domain characters) to the audience’s eyes. Most of the classic
stories are being reimaged as dramas and procedurals –Once Upon a Time and Grimm
in particular, but the CW has the new version of Beauty and the Beast (but FOX has Sleepy Hollow with Ichabod Crane partnering up with a female cop,
as well as another series that will update Peter
Pan’s The Lost Boys). And that small network is where a new take on Alice
in Wonderland has landed from producer McG. The broadcaster has announced Wunderland, a story that recasts Alice
as a cop who discovers a secret, fantastical underworld just below Los Angeles.
Strikingly, this sounds like the plot to their own Beast series, except that one is set in New York and features an
attorney.
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