Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

The news isn’t too long today, but there are still some interesting things to share with everyone. Please read on:

TELEVISION

Acting vet Danny Trejo (Machete and The Devil’s Rejects) will appear in a multi-episode arc on the FX series Sons of Anarchy, playing Romero “Romeo” Parada, a charismatic and dangerous former commando for the Mexican military who becomes a new associate of the SONS. The series is expected to return with new episodes in early September. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

UPFRONTS NEWS

NBC let slip a few of their new season pick-ups, including some new comedies and the dramas Smash – that stars Debra Messing – and Prime Suspect – that stars Maria Bello in an American adaptation of the classic British series. It also looks like Chuck will be back for a 5th season; albeit a shorter one, as it’s been rumored it will get a 13-episode season. Official word will be made to the New York advertisers on Monday. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actors Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan and Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) will co-star in the dramedy movie What Maisie Knew that is a contemporary-set adaptation of the Henry James novel, centering on Maisie, a six-year-old girl enmeshed in the bitter divorce of her mother (Moore), a rock and roll icon, and her father (Coogan), a charming but distracted art dealer. Skarsgård will play Moore’s new husband. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

Actors Ben Whishaw and Hugo Weaving are to play major roles in the ambitious adaptation of the David Mitchell novel Cloud Atlas, joining the already confirmed Halle Berry and Tom Hanks in the ensemble drama which spans six different story lines over a millennia. Each tale is revealed to be a story that is read (or watched) by the main character in the next. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

Actors Luke Evans and Kristin Scott Thomas are set to star in the box office film called Only God Forgives, which is a story of a Thai police lieutenant whose rivalry with a gangster sees the two settling their differences in a Thai boxing match. (Reuters and Dark Horizons)

Actors Emile Hirsch and Penelope Cruz are set to star in film Twice Born, which is based on the book Venuto Al Mondo, which tells the story of a woman who returns to Sarajevo with her son in tow and revisits the tumultuous past she shared with his late father. (Screen Daily and Dark Horizons)

Recent Aussie acting graduate Elizabeth Debicki will play Jordan Baker in the remake of The Great Gatsby. Baker is a famed golfer and love interest of narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire). (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Actor Dylan McDermott certainly is busy. He has been cast in the FX pilot American Horror Story from the men behind the FOX musicomedy Glee; but he has signed on for two movies as well. First is Nobody Walks that is about a Los Angeles family that takes in a stranger who winds up disrupting their lives. John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby and Jane Levy also star. Second is Perks of Being a Wallflower that revolves around a boy whose life dramatically changes as he learns about secrets buried deep in his past during his freshman year of high school. McDermott will also play the father of the main character. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actress Helen Hunt is set to star in, produce and direct the romantic comedy Ride, playing the mother of a 20-year-old NYU student. When he leaves for a summer in California, this strong-willed magazine-editor mother is alarmed. When he reveals he’s abandoning school for the surfing life, she follows him to L.A. There, each finds their own version of love, sex and self discovery. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Actors Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Katherine Heigl and Amanda Seyfried will star in the comedy called Gently Down the Stream. De Niro and Keaton play a long-divorced couple who, for the sake of their adopted son’s wedding and his biological mother, pretend they are still married. They quickly learn that acting the part isn’t easy, especially when their ‘relationship’ unravels for all to see. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actress Mary Lynn Rajskub (24) joins Aubrey Plaza and Kristen Bell (among others) in the film called Safety Not Guaranteed that is a real-life-inspired story of three magazine employees sent to investigate a classified ad from a man seeking a partner for time travel. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)

That’s it. Enjoy!