Hey All,
Here are the news items for today:
TELEVISION
Actor James Patrick Stewart (Naomi’s dad on 90210) will appear in the sixth episode of Supernatural as a new “bad guy” named Richard Roman. It is said he will be working with the Crowley (Mark Sheppard). Supernatural is back with new episodes starting on September 23. (Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
ABC has nabbed a high-concept light drama from No Ordinary Family co-creator/executive producer Jon Feldman that is described as Moonlighting meets Early Edition. The project centers on a charming ex-con who realizes that he’s receiving video links to the news reports of the beautiful, ambitious TV crime reporter who once upon a time put him away. The only catch: he’s getting her news stories before she actually films them, giving this unlikely duo 24 hours to prevent the crimes from taking place. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Samuel L. Jackson has sold a legal show to CBS, which will be written by Rob Bragin (Greek). The as-yet titled project centers on a father and a son, but those are the only details available at this time. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Starz is looking at a new project from David S. Goyer (the man behind the retooled Batman franchise) that would focus on Leonardo Da Vinci, which would cover the early years of the famous Renaissance Man. The title of the project is Da Vinci’s Demons. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Greg Berlanti (the man behind Everwood and Eli Stone – among others) has sold a cop drama called Golden Boy to CBS. The project centers on an ambitious twenty-something police officer who quickly rises to detective –perhaps too quickly– after breaking a major drug ring and becoming a hero. (Lacey Rose and Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)
NBC has bought a TV series adaptation of the 1984 film Romancing the Stone. Mark Friedman (creator of the TV series The Forgotten) will write the adaptation that will follow a successful but unfulfilled woman who teams with a risk-taking adventurer to take on weekly missions while on a larger quest to find her missing brother. There has been chatter over the past few years about FOX mounting a remake of the film that would possibly star Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler in the lead roles. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
ME: Again, I mentioned the possible film remake a short while ago in one of my earlier updates and mentioned that I’ve had an idea about remaking this film since late last year. I REALLY need to get my idea written down and posted so I can say, at the very least, I had the casting and this idea, even if it doesn’t get me anywhere except to say, “Hey, I thought of this great idea for the remake”…. {sigh!}
MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS
Actors Kevin Zegers (Gossip Girl), Chris Noth (The Good Wife) and legendary actor Derek Jacobi as well as actress Neve Campbell (Party of Five) are in various stages of negotiations to join the 12-part British miniseries Titanic: Blood & Steel. The 4-hour mini-series was picked up by ABC, but doesn’t have a US distribution yet. The mini chronicles the building of the Titanic, beginning in Edwardian Belfast in the early 1900s and depicting how the greatest leviathan of all time was hand-made in a city on the edge of revolution. Zegers will play Mark Muir, the metallurgist on the world’s greatest ship-building project who discovers potentially fatal flaws in the quality of metal being used to build the Titanic while Noth is expected to play financier J.P. Morgan. Jacobi would play Lord William Pirrie, chairman of the company that built the ill-fated liner and Campbell is a reporter covering the liner’s maiden voyage. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Young actor Callan McAuliffe (Flipped) is joining the cast of the film adaptation of Great Gatsby, playing a young Jay Gatsby, which will be played by Leonardo DiCaprio as the older version of the titular character. Meanwhile, actress-model Gemma Ward (the mermaid queen in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) has a role in the film, but it is unknown at this time who she will play. The cast also includes Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton. (The New York Observer, Entertainment Weekly and First Showing)
BOX OFFICE TRAILER
First Spoilery Trailer for ‘The Double’ with Richard Gere, Topher Grace
NOTE: Please DO NOT watch this trailer if you don’t want to be spoiled by the BIG twist in the story.
Q&A SECTION (with Adam Bryant and Natalie Abrams from TV Guide and Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Question: I loved Leverage’s midseason finale, especially Nate’s final scene with Sterling. Will he back during the winter episodes? — Mel
ADAM: Although Sterling will give Nate the info he requested in that final scene, don’t look for Mark Sheppard to return until at least Season 5. However, the show is going to bring back Jeri Ryan, Wil Wheaton, Richard Chamberlain and one other familiar face who will surprise you more than Sterling. Executive producer Dean Devlin offers only one hint: “Just remember that, as we designed the season, we had no idea there would be a fifth season,” he says. “So, the way that our season finale culminates really brings full circle the entire series from the beginning.”
Question: Please tell me E.J. Barrett’s NCIS return will be short-lived. I need Tiva! — Hanna
ADAM: Let’s let Michael Weatherly offer his take. “There’s a new wrinkle in [Tony and E.J.’s] relationship, and I would say it is somewhat troubling,” he says. “I think Tony questions a lot of things about her, and I don’t think there’s any going back to their initial blinky-blinky, lovey-dovey plot.” But before your little ‘shipper heart explodes, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee loads of Tony-Ziva goodness. “Tony ultimately has to lean on himself. He has to figure some of his own stuff out,” Weatherly says. “That might make him more able down the road to approach a relationship with Ziva.”
Question: Will Fringe go back to the future this season? —Barry
NATALIE: Yes, but it won’t be the same future we saw in the finale. “The future that we saw in 2026 will now not have happened, because by altering the past, inevitably you set in motion a new chain of events that lead to a different future,” executive producer Jeff Pinkner tells us. But the time-jumping series won’t just be looking forward. “There will definitely be [flashback] episodes, but the past would be different as well because Peter wasn’t a part of it, but he would be in the future.” As confused as we are?
Question: I just would like to know if we’re gonna meet Blaine’s parents on Glee. —Dalanda
Ausiello: No clue. I can, however, tell you that Mike Chang’s mom and dad aren’t the only set of never-before-seen parents we’ll meet in Episode 3.
Question: Do you have any scoop on Glee‘s Will and Emma? —Sara
Ausiello: The first part of the season is really about them adjusting to being in a relationship, and Emma making progress working through her considerable issues.
That’s it. Enjoy!
Rueben's Ramblings 