Rueben's Ramblings

Hey All,

Here are the entertainment news items for this past week:

BOX OFFICE MOVIE NEWS

Djimon Hounsou and Halle Berry will star in the Africa-set trafficking thriller Red Card, which is based on real events out of Africa. Hounsou will star as Max Elmi, a veteran ranger battling poachers in Kenya who joins forces with Dane Harris, a tenacious special agent and part of a team led by FBI supervisor Amanda Bruckner (Berry) working with international law enforcement to fight trafficking rings abroad. When Max’s son, a talented soccer player, falls prey to a deceitful sports agent and disappears into the criminal underworld of North Africa, Max will stop at nothing to find his child, and Dane will have to decide how far he’s willing to go. Their odyssey takes them from the quiet Maasai villages of Kenya to the simmering streets of Casablanca. (Deadline)

Dakota Fanning, Jake Johnson and Cory Michael Smith will star in an untitled romantic drama that will be set in various locations throughout Alaska. Plot details are under wraps, though. (Deadline)

Doctor Who and House of the Dragon alum Matt Smith will star in the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter flick alongside Ryan Gosling. The film is set five years after the events of Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, which concluded the Skywalker saga and currently stands as the final feature chronologically on the Star Wars timeline. Details are vague about who Smith will play, but it is believed he will play one of the villain roles. (Deadline)

Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus and the Harry Potter film franchise) will star alongside Taylor Kitsch and Diego Luna in the indie hostage thriller Eleven Days that takes place in the sweltering heat of a Texas summer in 1974, watching as ruthless prisoner Federico Carrasco takes control of the Huntsville Penitentiary. The prison’s priest, Father Joseph O’Brien (Isaacs) joins forces with Jim Estelle (Kitsch), head of the Texas Department of Corrections, by entering the eye of the storm and offering himself as a hostage to out-game Carrasco and his men, in an attempt to save the lives of the other hostages that have been taken. (Deadline)

Yellowstone alum Jefferson White, Crispin Glover (Back to the Future franchise), Mena Suvari (American Beauty) and Teen Wolf alum Tyler Posey are set to star in the upcoming box office movie Death of a Brewer, which will be set against the backdrop of 1884 where a young doctor becomes entangled in a deadly conflict between a brewing empire and a radical temperance movement, forcing him to confront his morals in a world where survival and loyalty are at odds. (Deadline)

Ben Kingsley, Andy Serkis and Grammy winner Joel David Smallbone will star in the presidential origin story Young Washington, which will focus on a young George Washington, chronicling the beginnings of America’s first president. Kingsley will play Robert Dinwiddie, the strong-willed Governor of Virginia who entrusts the young Washington with his first command while Serkis will play General Edward Braddock, an overconfident British officer who gives the defeated Washington another chance at military glory. Meanwhile, Smallbone will play the cunning William Fairfax, a friend and romantic rival to George, who moves effortlessly in the world of the British upper class to which Washington aspires. (Deadline)

Aubrey Plaza (Agatha All Along and Legion) is set to portray the infamous “Hollywood madam” Heidi Fleiss in the upcoming movie about the woman who was busted in the early ‘90s for what was said to be the world’s largest high-end prostitution ring, which implicated Hollywood, politicians and other power figures. (Variety)

Riverdale hunk KJ Apa will star in a biopic about legendary actor Jimmy Stewart, chronicling the beloved actor’s life as a rising star before World War II, during which he served as a combat pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps. After his return home, he starred in the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Days of Our Lives alum and Great American Family movie star Jen Lilley will play Gloria Stewart, Stewart’s wife while Hallmark star Sarah Drew (Mistletoe Murders) will play famed gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. (People and Entertainment Now)

Desperate Housewives alum Eva Longoria will star in the upcoming box office movie The Last Sunrise, an adaptation of the bestselling romance novel by After series author Anna Todd. Longoria will play Isolde, the protective mother of Oriah “Ry” Pera, a 22-year-old whose life has been shaped by chronic illness and a well-meaning but overbearing mom. When a summer relocation gives her a taste of freedom, she meets Julián, who draws her into the kind of adventure she’s always longed for. But with a return to the U.S. on the horizon, Ry faces a decision that could change everything. (Deadline)

TV CASTING NEWS

Logan Marshall-Green (Big Sky and the Netflix movie Carry On) will star opposite Luke Grimes in the CBS Yellowstone spin-off series Y: Marshalls, playing Pete Calvin, a friend from Kayce’s (Grimes) time in the military. The series will focus on Kayce, joining an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring range justice to Montana, where he and his teammates must balance family, duty and the high psychological cost that comes with serving as the last line of defense in the region’s war on violence. (Deadline)

Will Trent has promoted Kevin Daniels to series regular for its upcoming 4th season on ABC. (Deadline)

Evil and Luke Cage alum Mike Colter has signed on for a leading role in Cupertino, which comes from Robert and Michelle King – the brains behind the CBS drama Evil. The show is described as a David vs. Goliath legal drama with Colter playing a lawyer fired by a Silicon Valley start-up intending to cheat him out of his stock options. Refusing to back down, he joins forces with another recently fired attorney to represent those taken advantage of by the tech elite and help them fight back in a high stakes battle against the Goliaths controlling Silicon Valley. Cupertino has not been greenlit yet, but all signs are pointing to it heading that way. (Variety)

Actress-comedian Amy Sedaris, late night star Andy Richter and Lindsay Mendez (Broadway’s Wicked and All Rise) will make guest appearances in the premiere episode of Elsbeth over on CBS this fall. Sedaris will play Laurel Hammond-Muntz, the headstrong and devoted head writer and executive producer of the popular late-night talk show Way Late. Richter will play Mickey Muntz, the hilarious but long-suffering sidekick to Scotty Bristol (Stephen Colbert), the host of Way Late. He’s also Laurel’s husband. Meanwhile Mendez will play Officer Grace Hackett, a hard-working officer and an aspiring stand-up comic when off the clock. When she teams up with Elsbeth for a case focused on the world of comedy, her knowledge of the business comes in handy. (Deadline)

That’s it. Enjoy!