Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the news items for today, few though they may be:

DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Sundance TV is developing a drama about Rip Van Winkle entitled Crack in the Sky that will find a “Don Draper-type” (the character Jon Hamm plays in Mad Men) fallen asleep in 1962 but waking up in 2012. (Lesley Goldberg at The Hollywood Reporter)

MADE FOR TV MOVIE NEWS

NBC will air a live production of The Music Man at some later point in their scheduling. This follows the announcement a few months ago that the network will put on a live production of Peter Pan. The network aired the live production of The Sound of Music last December. (Nellie Andreeva at Deadline)

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) has joined the cast of the upcoming film adaptation of Insurgent, the 2nd book from Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy. She will play Johanna, the leader of the Amity faction, which is dedicated to peacefulness, kindness, forgiveness, trust, self-sufficiency, and neutrality. Actress Shailene Woodley will be back as Tris Prior along with Theo James as Tris’ love interest Four and Kate Winslet as Jeanine, the leader of the Erudite (intelligence) faction. (Movie Web)

Actress Noomi Rapace (the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) will star alongside Will Smith in the upcoming box office film Brilliance that is an adaptation of the Marcus Sakey novel that focuses on a world where a rare set of people are born with extraordinary abilities called “brilliants.” At the center of the story is a federal agent with great hunting gifts who is drafted to hunt down a terrorist, another such brilliant who intends to start a civil war. (Mike Fleming, Jr. at Deadline)

Good, bad or otherwise, actor Channing Tatum (Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street) has been cast as Gambit in the next planned X-Men franchise film(s). (Laura Prudom at Variety)