Hey All,
Here are the news items for today:
TELEVISION
Actress Jurnee Smollett (Friday Night Lights) will appear in at least three episodes of the upcoming NBC drama Do No Harm, the Jekyll and Hyde thriller that will debut on January 31. Smollett will play the daughter of Phylicia Rashad’s character. (Kimberly Roots at TV Line)
Actor Colin Ford, best known for playing young Sam on Supernatural and appearing the box office film We Bought A Zoo, has been the first actor cast in the upcoming 13-episode series Under the Dome based on the Stephen King 2009 novel of the same name. The series will be set in Chester’s Mill, a small New England town suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an enormous transparent dome. The town’s inhabitants must deal with surviving the post-apocalyptic conditions while searching for answers to what this barrier is, where it came from and if and when it will go away. Ford will play Joe, a teenager living in Chester’s Mill, a very smart kid who’s understandably freaked out when he discovers that the mysterious barrier covers the whole town — and both his parents are outside of it. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
Actor Scott Foley (The Unit and Felicity) is joining the cast of the ABC drama Scandal, but details about his role are being kept under wraps, but it is said that he will be on the show for a major arc that will air toward the end of the show’s current second season. (Michael Ausiello at TV Line)
Actor Mark Moses (Desperate Housewives and Mad Men) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Blue Bloods, playing Curtis Swint, a racist, xenophobic talk-radio host who visits New York for a live broadcast of his show. His outspoken views will force police commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) to choose between his sworn duty to ensure Swint’s rights to free speech and assembly, and his own personal creed of tolerance and equality. This episode is slated to air on February 1. (Adam Bryant at TV Guide)
Actress Audra McDonald (Private Practice) will guest star in an upcoming episode of The Good Wife, playing Alicia’s (Julianna Margulies) “nemesis” from their days at Georgetown law school. The two will go toe-to-toe again in the courtroom. Currently McDonald is only booked for one episode, but there is a chance she could return. (Philiana Ng at The Hollywood Reporter)
Actress Alexandra Daddario, who can be seen in the current box office film Texas Chainsaw 3D (and also appeared in White Collar) and actress Elizabeth Reaser, best known for her role in the Twilight franchise have joined the cast of the upcoming HBO drama called True Detective that will star Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. The series centers on two detectives, Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson), whose lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana. The investigation of a bizarre murder in 1995 is framed and interlaced with testimony from the detectives in 2012, when the case was reopened. Daddario will play Lisa Tragnetti, a sexy court reporter whose relationship with Hart takes a dark turn for them both while Reaser will play Laurie Perkins, Cohle’s (McConaughey) pretty, refined girlfriend, a surgeon who works at the hospital with Maggie, and has dated Cohle for 4 years. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
It looks like the much-anticipated pilot S.H.I.E.L.D. (from Joss Whedon) may not be the only comic-based TV series from Marvel up for consideration. AKA Jessica Jones, which has been in the works for several years now, just might not be a dead project as once thought. It would seem the project is still being shopped around to the networks and could eventually land on cable. There are no certainties at this point in time, though. (IGN and Blastr)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
It is being reported that Warner Bros is making The Odyssey into a futuristic re-imagining of the Greek epic. (Mike Fleming at Deadline)
Actress and recent Golden Globe winner Anne Hathaway will star in a new adaptation of Taming of the Shrew, which will be a re-telling of the iconic play, shifting the action to mid-20th century Italy. (The Wrap and Dark Horizons)
Actor Billy Campbell (The Killing) has joined the cast of the upcoming romantic comedy called 10 Things I Hate About Life that will star actress Evan Rachel Wood (True Blood) and Thomas McDonnell (the box office film Prom) as a young woman and man who meet while attempting to commit suicide at the same jumping-off point. Complications ensue when the man’s ex-girlfriend re-enters his life just as his budding rock band is on the verge of signing a record deal. Campbell will play McDonnell’s father, a wealthy and entitled lawyer who doesn’t approve of his son dropping out of law school. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)
Warner Bros. Pictures has picked up the film rights to the upcoming period spy thriller novel called Dark Invasion by Howard Blum with plans to turn it into a project for actor Bradley Cooper. The story is set in 1915 when Germany, with war raging in Europe and the U.S. still neutral, decides to send their Secret Service to America to wage a covert war to keep this country from helping the Allies. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)
It looks like actor Johnny Depp will produce and could star in the upcoming movie called Mortimer Wintergreen, a magical adventure film based on the 1987 young adult novel called The Magic Hat of Mortimer Wintergreen by Myron Levoy. Depp would, of course, play the title character, a traveling magician who meets two young children who have run away from their evil aunt. (First Showing)
Q&A SECTION (with Sandra Gonzalez at Entertainment Weekly)
Question: I love Gabriel Mann so much! Can you ask him if someone is going to play Nolan’s mom? — @ean_nae
Sandra: If you’ve had many questions about Nolan’s still unseen mother, join the club! Mann told me during our chat that he’s as eager as we are to see who finally lands the plum part. But he’s got some strong suggestions. “I’m dying to reveal the actress who approached me about playing my mom on the show, but I would be terribly afraid to jinx the possibility of it. But it’s actually no one anybody has guessed yet,” he says, saying he’s received suggestions like Candice Bergen and Donna Mills. “I don’t think it’s a direction anyone is expecting at this moment.”
Question: Let’s have some Revolution scoop! — Megan
Sandra: Well, as the creators explained at the Television Critics Association press tour, the second half of Revolution will indeed focus on, well, the revolution aspect of the show. And with that, says star Tracy Spiridakos, comes not only a faster-paced show but “a little bit of a crazy battle.” “There’s going to be good guys versus bad guys…and some twists and turns will happen pretty quickly,” she says. As far as what awaits Charlie in the second half, Spiridakos says we’ll continue to see her grow into “quite the warrior” but the actress wonders of the stresses of her current situation may start to sully her good girl image. “I’m interested to see whether she’s going to be able to hold on to her humanity or not in the process of it all.”
Question: Can you tell me anything about the Castle two-parter? — Ginny
Sandra: Other than saying there were some “big, surprising” things in store, Seamus Dever was pretty mum when we caught up with him at the People’s Choice Awards. But he did reveal a nugget that will make fans of the dapper detective very happy. “I think later on in the season we’re going to find out some more about Ryan’s past,” he says. “So there’s an episode that’s going to be dedicated to that.”
Question: Any Arrow scoop would make my day. I’m mildly obsessed with Stephen Amell. — Suzie
Sandra: Those mildly obsessed with Amell or Arrow should stayed tuned for a mildly insane episode, according to the ripped star. “We just wrapped probably our most ambitious episode yet. It’s called The Odyssey and it explores the island a lot,” he says. “The island story is really the second stanza of the show. We took a break after episode 9 and are back for 6 or 7 episodes before another little break. The island is a really really, really big part of this moment.”
Question: I miss Grimm. I can’t wait (until) March! I need scoop! How will Nick deal with this Juliette-Renard thing? I need something!!! — Ashley
Sandra: Hopefully you’ve already seen the awesome Grimm trailer for a sneak peek, but in case you haven’t, I’ll let executive producers David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf elaborate: “Nick will deal with it by simmering and then coming to a violent boil,” says Greenwalt. “He will deal with this head on!!” Kouf agrees.
That’s it. Enjoy!
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