Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actor Robert Knepper (Prison Break) will co-star in the drama pilot Cult for The CW. The pilot centers on Skye (Jessica Lucas), an inquisitive, young female production assistant on a wildly popular television show called Cult who, after a rash of disappearances and a likely murder, joins a journalist blogger in investigating the rabid fans of the series who might be re-creating crimes seen on the program in real life. Knepper will play actor Roger Reeves, who plays the charismatic cult leader Billy Grimm on the show-within-a-show. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actresses Judy Reyes and Roselyn Sanchez [among others] have joined the cast of the ABC pilot called Devious Maids that will be about four maids with ambition and dreams of their own who work for the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. Reyes and Sanchez will play two of the maids – Zoila Del Barrio and Carmen Verde respectively – joining the previously cast Ana Ortiz and Dania Ramirez. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actor Scott Foley (The Unit and Felicity) has landed a lead role in the FOX comedy pilot called The Goodwin Games that is about a trio of siblings’ chance to inherit a fortune from their father, if only they can heed the idiosyncratic terms of his will. Foley is expected to play the eldest son Henry, who is a dedicated surgeon. Actress Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) will play the middle child Coney with the youngest Jimmy yet to be cast. (Variety and The Futon Critic)

The USA Network is moving forward with development of a mini-series called Succession that will center on a scenario where following a devastating attack; the American power structure is shaken. (Variety and The Futon Critic)

Actress Mira Sorvino is in final negotiations to star in the CBS drama pilot called Trooper that is already set to star Jay Hernandez. The pilot is about a common-sense mother (presumably Sorvino) who becomes a New York State Trooper. Hernandez will play Carlos Coto, her partner who is a former Miami homicide detective looking for a new start for him and his daughter following the death of his wife. (Deadline and The Futon Critic)

Actors Matt Long (Mad Men and Jack & Bobby) and Maury Sterling (Homeland) and actress Brigid Brannagh (Army Wives) have joined the cast of the ABC period pilot called Gilded Lilys (from show runner Shonda Rhimes). The drama centers on the opening of the first luxury hotel in New York City in 1895 and the stories of love, treachery and disdain between the classes set against a backdrop of vicious family rivalries, scandalous secrets and conflict and co-mingling of the classes. The Lily family has reigned over New York’s elite for decades but a recent family scandal has undermined their fortunes both financially and societally. Long will play the lead role of John Kidd, a lower-class survivor with an adventurous spirit and a romantic soul. Sterling will play a character named Jasper, while Brannagh is set to play Elizabeth, the beautiful matriarch of the Lily family. The cast already includes Brian F. O’Byrne, Blythe Danner, Sarah Bolger and Madeline Zima. (Lacey Rose at The Hollywood Reporter)

Actor Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters) will co-star in the ABC supernatural-tinged drama pilot called 666 Park Avenue that is based on the book series by Gabriella Pierce. The series centers on a young couple (Annable and his not-yet-cast spouse) who accept an offer to manage one of the most historic apartment buildings in New York City. They unwittingly begin to experience supernatural occurrences, which complicate and endanger the lives of everyone in the building. Terry O’Quinn (Lost) has already been cast to plays the haunted house’s owner. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor Idris Elba (Luther) will star as Nelson Mandela in the film adaptation of Long Walk To Freedom, which is Mandela’s own account of his life. (BBC America)

Actor Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker and The Adjustment Bureau) is in talks to join Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as the third lead in low-budget crime comedy called Pain and Gain that is based on a true story. The film follows a group of bodybuilders who engaged in a campaign of kidnapping, extortion and murder in Florida. Mackie would play a big-hearted bodybuilder who works out with Wahlberg’s character. (Variety and Dark Horizons)

Actor Harold Perrineau (Lost) has joined the cast of the as-yet-untitled film from director Kathryn Bigelow about Navy SEAL Team 6′s long hunt for Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. Perrineau’s role is being kept secret just like all the other roles in the film. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Actresses Lily Collins (Mirror Mirror) and Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood) and actor Dave Franco (Fright Night) are up for starring roles in the box office film Rosaline, which would be a contemporary re-telling of Romeo and Juliet from the perspective of Romeo’s spurned love. The film would be based on the debut novel by Rebecca Serle called When You Were Mine with Collins playing Rose whose boyfriend Rob (Franco) is stolen by her cousin and best friend Juliet (Woll) who is rumored to have suicidal tendencies. (Digital Spy and Dark Horizons)

Actor Dwayne Johnson is in talks to play the lead role in a new box office film about Hercules. In this adaptation, the story would follow Hercules years after he carried out his twelve tasks and has now turned his back on the Gods. He and six friends have become mercenaries who have been hired by the King of Thrace to train his men into becoming an army every bit as ruthless as they are. (The New York Daily News and Dark Horizons)

Actor Joel Kinnaman (The Killing and Safe House) has been offered the lead role in the box office remake of RoboCop. (Deadline and First Showing)

That’s it. Enjoy!

Have a terrific weekend!

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Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Josh Hopkins (Cougar Town) will guest star in two upcoming episodes of the USA Network drama In Plain Sight. He will play Kenny, a fellow single parent who hits on Mary (Mary McCormack) shortly before she runs into her former fiancé, Ralph (Cristian de la Fuente). In Plain Sight is back for its fifth and final season starting on March 16 at 10 PM. (Kate Stanhope at TV Guide)

The rocker turned actor Meat Loaf will guest-star in an upcoming episode of Fairly Legal, playing Charlie DeKay, an old-school, blue-collar transportation union boss with a dirty mouth who wields an iron fist as he threatens to bring San Francisco to a halt in order to protect his workers. Enter Kate Reed (Sarah Shahi) as mediator. Season 2 of the series will be back on March 16 at 9 PM. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

Daytime darling Nadia Bjorlin (Days of Our Lives) will appear in an upcoming episode of CSI, playing Crystal Hasselbeck, a Las Vegas minx who has made a bit of a cottage industry of getting engaged, breaking it off and then holding onto the ring. And while that is not a crime, when a series of wedding robberies hit the strip, the CSIs suspect she might be upping her game. (Matt Mitovich at TV Line)

It was announced awhile back that actor Sebastian Stan (Captain America and Gossip Girl) would be appearing in an upcoming episode Once Upon a Time; and now it has been announced what role he will be playing. He will be the Mad Hatter. (Natalie Abrams at TV Guide)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actor Bradley Whtiford (The West Wing) will star opposite actress Ali Larter (Heroes) in the FOX drama pilot called The Asset, which centers on Anna King (Larter), a remarkably gifted globe-trotting photographer with a secret life: she is a CIA field operative. Whitford will play Leo, the Station Chief of the New York City CIA who is King’s biggest supporter. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Michael Raymond-James (True Blood and the short-lived Terriers) has landed a lead role in the NBC drama pilot called Midnight Sun that follows the mysterious disappearance of Midnight Sun, a group living on a cult-like commune in Dugan, Alaska, and a female FBI cult specialist leading the investigation that uncovers a larger conspiracy. Raymond-James will play the second-in-command of the Dugan Police Department, an Alaskan lawman. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Daytime soap stud Jonathan Jackson (General Hospital) has been cast in the ABC musically-driven drama pilot called Nashville that will center around the Nashville music scene and its rising and fading stars, including Avery (Jackson), a sexy bad boy musician and aspiring songwriter. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Greg Grunberg (Felicity, Alias and Heroes) has been cast in the untitled CBS comedy pilot from Greg Berlanti (the man behind Brothers & Sisters and Everwood). The pilot is to center on Nick, a notorious womanizer who, after surviving a health scare, realizes that “The One” he has never found is actually his best friend of 15 years, Wendy (JoAnna Garcia). The problem is that Wendy is engaged to a guy Nick likes; she and Nick own a business together; and their attempt at dating back in college was a disaster. Grunberg will play Wendy’s brother Charlie, beaten down by life, outrageously acerbic and in the midst of a bitter divorce. He went to college with both Wendy and Nick and is Nick’s best guy friend. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Brandon Routh (Superman Returns and Chuck) has joined the CBS comedy pilot called Partners that will star Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) and Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill). The comedy will center on lifelong friends and business partners —architects Charlie, who is straight, and Louis (Urie), who is gay. Routh will play Louis’ steady partner, a former alcoholic, club-hopping model, now a sober, vegan nurse. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actress Aimee Teegarden (Friday Night Lights) has landed the lead role in The CW drama pilot called The Selection that is to be an epic romance set 300 years in the future, centering on a poor young woman who is chosen by lottery to participate in a competition to become the next queen of a war-torn nation at a crossroads. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)

Actress Emilie de Ravin (Lost and Roswell) has joined the cast of the ABC drama pilot called Americana that will focus on Robert Soulter (Anthony LaPaglia), the creator of the most iconic fashion brand in the world that is celebrating its 30th anniversary. De Ravin will play his daughter Francesca, who handles special events for the company. Ken Olin will also star. (Movie Hole and The Futon Critic)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actor William Fichtner (Prison Break) will replace Dwight Yoakam the long-in-production box office film remake of the classic TV series The Lone Ranger. He will play villain Butch Cavendish. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Australian actor Jai Courtney (Spartacus: Blood and Sand) will play Jack McClane – the son of Bruce Willis’s character, John McClane – in the upcoming box office film A Good Day to Die Hard. This fifth film in the franchise introduces John McClane’s estranged son Jack and will have the two working together to keep each other alive in Moscow. The film is expected to be released on February 14 next year. (Joshua L. Weinstein at The Wrap)

BOX OFFICE TRAILERS

Watch: Spurlock’s ‘Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope’ Doc Trailer

Watch: Second Theatrical Trailer-Clip from Pixar’s ‘Brave’ Revealed

Q&A SECTION (with The TV Addict)

Question: Is George and Lemon really going to go through with their wedding on HART OF DIXIE? — Lisa

The TV Addict: Not if Mother Nature has anything to say about it (Evidently, Mother Nature is a supporter of Team Zoe!) According to our sources, a storm of biblical proportions is scheduled to touch down in BlueBell Alabama just in time for the season finale of HART OF DIXIE that will, as luck would have it, center around George and Lemon’s big day.

Question: Anything exciting coming up on my favorite new show of the season ONCE UPON A TIME? — Ashley

The TV Addict: Tons! That said, your level of excitement with regards to one of ONCE’s upcoming fables will truly be determined by your answer to the following question: Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? If you answered “Yes” to said aforementioned question you may want to watch the upcoming March 11th episode with the lights on. Well, that or risk being petrified by the original big baddie who will be making a killer first (and possible second and third) impression on poor Red Riding Hood and her unsuspecting town of fairytale denizens.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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