Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today:

TELEVISION

Actor Paul Giamatti will appear in the fourth season of Downton Abbey when it returns to PBS on January 5, 2014. He will play Cora’s maverick and “playboy” brother Harold. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Actor Charlie Carver and Max Carver (Desperate Housewives and Teen Wolf) have joined the cast of the HBO drama pilot called The Leftovers from Damon Lindelof and based on the Tom Perrotta novel. The project takes place after the Rapture happens, but not quite like it’s supposed to, centering on chief of police Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux). The Carver brothers will play happy-go-lucky identical twins Scott (Charlie) and Adam (Max) Frost, friends of Garvey’s daughter, whose laid back demeanor brings levity to a dark world. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

HBO and Cinemax as well as Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files and Strike Back) are developing a spin-off of the short-lived drama series Hunted. This spin-off will be called Sam Hunter, based on the lead character from Hunted that will see actress Melissa George reprising her role as the title character. This will be a four hour mini-series on Cinemax. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE NEWS

Here are the top 10 box office films for this past weekend courtesy of Deadline:

1. Monsters University – 81.1 million

2. World War Z – 66 million

3. Man Of Steel – 41.2 million

4. This Is The End – 13 million

5. Now You See Me – 7.8 million

6. Fast & Furious 6 – 4.8 million

7. The Purge – 3.3 million

8. The Internship – 3.2 million

9. Star Trek Into Darkness – 3 million

10. Iron Man 3 – 2.1 million

Actress Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect and the Twilight franchise) will star in the Broadway-to-film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods, starring as Cinderella. This film will be a mash-up of classic fairy tales, revolving around a baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt), who attempt to lift a family curse by journeying into the woods to confront The Witch, (Meryl Streep) who put the spell on them. Along their journey they meet classic characters including Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and Little Red Riding Hood. In this version, Cinderella is married to a vain prince (Chris Pine) and is described as “a woman trying to find her place in the world.” (First Showing)

Actor Adrien Brody and actress Jordana Brewster have joined the cast of the action thriller film called American Heist that is a remake of the 1959 Steve McQueen picture called St Louis Bank Robbery. The film will also star Hayden Christensen in a story about two brothers with checkered pasts; one struggling on the road to normalcy, the other just released from prison, who intertwine when one drags the other into an ill-fated bank robbery spearheaded by a gang of dangerous criminals, testing the loyalty of their sibling bond and how far they will go for greed and family. (The Deadline Team)

That’s it. Enjoy!