Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

BBC America will co-produce the new mini-series, based on the Alan Furst novel, The Spies of Warsaw and will air it as part of Dramaville, the network’s programming block that has featured such shows as Luthor, Whitechapel and The Hour. Actor David Tennant (Doctor Who) and actress Janet Montgomery (Human Target will star in the thrilling spy story set in Poland, Paris, London and Berlin in the years leading up to the Second World War. (The Futon Critic)

Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Jennifer Ferrin (The Cape) [among others] have been added to the two-hour pilot called Rewind over at Syfy that revolves around a team of military field operatives and civilian scientists who must use untested technology to travel back in time to alter past events in order to change the future and avoid a devastating terrorist attack. Castle-Hughes will play Priya, the team’s a-typical historian, a behavioral anthropologist who provides analytical context to the project and the missions, and whose knowledge of history extends beyond the boundaries of facts. Ferrin will play Bryce, a brilliant scientist who graduated MIT when she was 18; the smartest person in the room who is obsessive and driven and doesn’t really care what people think of her. The cast already includes Julie Benz (A Gifted Man and Dexter), Jamie Murray (Warehouse 13) and Tony Curran (Underworld 2). (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

Actor Kenny Johnson (The Shield and Saving Grace) will guest star in an upcoming episode of The Mentatlist, playing Greg Taybeck, the high school boyfriend and ex-fiancé of Lisbon (Robin Tunney). When Greg becomes involved in one of the CBI’s cases, Lisbon is a bit rattled. Ultimately, the reunion will give Lisbon a moment to reflect on her life choices. He will appear in the episode slated to air on May 3. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)

Actress Brooke Nevin (Breakout Kings) will guest star in the season finale of CSI, playing Meaghan, one of D.B. Russell’s (Ted Danson) four kids. Meaghan is the outdoorsy Seattle-type of woman who will be accompanied by her daughter, Kaitlyn. They are in town to visit her parents. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actor Dougray Scott (My Week with Marilyn) is in negotiations to play the male lead opposite Famke Janssen in Netflix’s new original series Hemlock Grove, which is based on Brian McGreevy’s upcoming goth horror novel of the same name. The story revolves around the murder of a young girl found close to the former Godfrey steel mill. The suspects in her killing include Peter (Landon Liboiron from Terra Nova), a 17-year-old Gypsy kid from the wrong side of the tracks, and Roman (Bill Skarsgard from the upcoming Anna Karenina), the arrogant Godfrey scion, whose sister Shelley is disturbingly deformed and whose mother, Olivia (Janssen), is the beautiful and controlling grand dame of Hemlock Grove. Scott will play Norman Godfrey, the older brother of Olivia’s late husband, JR, one of the founders of the Godfrey Center for Biomedical Technologies. (Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Actress Julia Stiles and actors Jim Broadbent and Ciarán Hinds [among others] have all joined the cast of the international suspense thriller called Boy A that will star Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall as two ex-lovers who find their loyalties tested and their lives at risk when they are joined together on the defense team in a terrorism trial. (Flick Daily and Dark Horizons)

Actresses Cheryl Hines (Suburgatory), Alicia Witt (Cybill) and Sonya Walger (Lost) and actor Ashton Holmes (Revenge and Nikita) have joined the cast of the upcoming film called Pasadena, which centers on an upper-class contemporary Los Angeles family torn apart by secrets revealed over a Thanksgiving weekend. The family gradually disintegrates squabbling over who will get the patriarch’s money, only to discover he’s broke. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

It looks like Sony Pictures is set to re-imagine Sabrina the Teenage Witch. This new live-action feature version will recast Sabrina as a superhero. It will essentially be an origin story about a young girl coming to terms with her remarkable powers. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)

Actor Sharlto Copley (District 9 and The A-Team) has been offered the role of the villain in the upcoming revenge thriller Oldboy, which already includes Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen as part of the cast. The story follows a man kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years for unknown reasons. Upon his perplexing release, he sets out to find out just who held him hostage and why. (Variety and First Showing)

BOX OFFICE TRAILER

Watch: Morgan Freeman in Rob Reiner’s ‘Magic of Belle Isle’ Trailer

That’s it. Enjoy!