Awkwafina is set to join Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage Universal Pictures’ Renfield, a monster movie centered on Dracula’s familiar henchman with Hoult playing the title role.
No word yet on what Awkwafina’s role would be.
The Tomorrow War director Chris McKay is on board to helm the pic, which is based on an original story outline from Robert Kirkman. Ryan Ridley wrote the script. Cage will play Dracula.
McKay’s producing partner Samantha Nisenboim will be joining the project as executive producer. The film will be produced by Skybound Entertainment’s film team including Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst and Sean Furst.
In the original Dracula novel, R.M. Renfield was an inmate at a lunatic asylum who was thought to be suffering from delusions but actually is a servant of Dracula. Plot details of the movie weren’t announced, but it’s believed to take place during the present day and is not a period piece.
Universal remains committed to creating filmmaker-driven projects based on characters from the studio’s vast monsters legacy. Instead of prescribing a mandated updating of these monster stories and making them all part of a larger scheme, the studio loosened these restrictions and open-sourced to filmmakers, who were inspired to create their own unique stories.
Golden Globe winner Awkwafina most recently was seen in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which made $431 million at the global box office. She next will be seen opposite Mahershala Ali in Apple’s Swan Song, as well as an untitled Netflix comedy with Sandra Oh. Her Comedy Central series Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens premiered its second season over the summer.
She is repped by UTA, Artists First and Isaac Dunham.
Source: Deadline
Christmas isn’t even here yet and Steve Harvey is already planning to take over television again next year. Harvey just unveiled the trailer for his new upcoming series “Judge Steve Harvey” which will debut on Jan. 4, 2022, at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
The one-hour unscripted courtroom comedy will see the comedian presiding over a range of cases as real-life people hash out their drama ranging from family disputes and sour friendships to small claims court disputes and unpaid bets. Harvey will bring the laughs as he plays by his own rules, using his own life experiences and some good old common sense.
“I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to continue my fruitful partnership with ABC and collaborate with them on my next venture. Viewers tuning into ‘Judge Steve Harvey’ will watch as I tackle tough and, at times, entertaining issues while also providing much-needed advice and good old-fashioned common sense to the litigants in my court,” Harvey told Deadline.
Ten episodes have already been locked in for the first season of “Judge Steve Harvey” next year while he continues his reign on syndicated radio and hosting gigs on “Family Feud” and “Celebrity Family Feud.”
Take a look at the trailer for Harvey’s newest TV adventure.
Source: Rolling Out, Deadline
Trevor Noah will return as Grammys host.
The Daily Show host and comedian will emcee the 64th annual Grammy Awards, taking place Monday, Jan. 31, at Staples Center (which is being renamed Crypto.com Arena on Dec. 25) in Los Angeles. It will air live on CBS and on-demand on Paramount+.
Noah previously hosted the 63rd Grammys.
“Trevor brought his trademark talent and versatility to last March’s Grammys, and we can’t wait for him to host the event on CBS and Paramount+ again this year,” said George Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS and chief content officer of news and sports at Paramount+.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Riz Ahmed’s Left Handed Films and Lulu Wang’s Local Time are partnering to develop the comedy series “The Son of Good Fortune” at Amazon.
Based on the novel of the same name by Lysley Tenorio, the series is about an undocumented Filipino teenager in the Bay area navigating a tumultuous relationship with his former B-movie action star mother, falling in love for the first time, and working out how to pay back a massive debt before his whole life crumbles.
Andrew Lopez will adapt the book for the screen and serve as an executive producer. Ahmed will executive produce along with Allie Moore of Left Handed. Wang and Dani Melia executive produce for Local Time. Tenorio will serve as consulting producer, with Amazon Studios producing.
The project is the first for Left Handed since it was announced that Ahmed and the company had signed a first-look TV deal at Amazon in January. He previously partnered with the streamer on the critically-acclaimed film “Sound of Metal,” for which Ahmed received an Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nomination for best actor. He and Left Handed are currently working on the series “Englistan” for BBC Two, with Ahmed having created that series in addition to executive producing.
Ahmed is repped by WME and lawyers Tara Kole and Danny Passman
Wang is currently working on the Amazon series “Expats,” on which she is the writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner. That series is based on the novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y. K. Lee. She has previously directed and wrote the highly-regarded films “The Farewell” and “Posthumous.”
She is repped by UTA, Redefine Entertainment, and Yorn Levine Barnes.
Lopez is a Filipino and Korean writer, director, actor and stand-up comic. He’s currently developing a pilot for FX, which he will write, produce and star in, with Hiro Murai and Chris Storer executive producing. He is also currently adapting “Slow Burn” as a feature for Amazon, based on a love story Sean Lewis.
Lopez is repped by UTA, Brillstein, and Felker Toczek. Tenorio is repped by The Book Group and CAA.
Source: Variety
Anthony Anderson has become the first Law & Order alum to sign for the upcoming Season 21. Meanwhile, Hugh Dancy has been tapped as a lead in the revival of Dick Wolf’s venerable crime drama.
Anderson, who I hear has signed a one-year deal, will reprise his role as Detective Kevin Bernard, which he played on Seasons 18-20 of Law & Order. He is one of two original cast members, alongside Sam Waterston, who were approached early on about returning in a major way. Waterston is still in discussions, I hear.
Dancy will play a new character, an Assistant District Attorney. He joins fellow new cast addition to the franchise, Jeffrey Donovan, who also is set as a lead, playing an NYPD detective.
The new installment of Law & Order, from Wolf and writer-showrunner Rick Eid, will continue the classic bifurcated format and will once again examine “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.”
Law & Order is produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. Wolf, Eid, Arthur W. Forney and Peter Jankowski are executive producers.
Dancy is known for his starring role as Will Graham in NBC’s Hannibal, receiving two Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series. He also starred in Hulu’s The Path and most recently wrapped production on the Apple TV+ anthology series Roar with Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo and Issa Rae. He’ll next be seen starring in Focus Features’ upcoming film Downton Abbey: A New Era, which will hit theaters in March. He is repped by UTA, United Agents in the UK, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway, Austen, Tyerman.
Anderson has starred in and executive produced ABC’s Black-ish, which is heading into its 8th and final season, since the series’ launch in 2014. He is repped by UTA, Artists First and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
Source: Deadline
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) today announced the winners of the competitive film selections and talent pipeline programs during the Best of the ABFF Awards ceremony. Hosted by comedian, actress and author Amanda Seales (Insecure), the ceremony was presented virtually for the second year on ABFF’s custom-designed streaming platform ABFF PLAY. ABFF winners receive a combined total cash prize of over $55,000 along with two actors cast in an upcoming original series. Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry served as this year’s ABFF ambassador.
Known for showcasing Black talent and discovering new voices, the month-long festival featured an unprecedented number of independent films — 102 — representing the best in Black cinema. The festival’s international film entries hailed from 32 countries, including Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Ghana, Germany, Haiti, Namibia, Portugal, Saint Croix, South Africa and the United Kingdom. This year’s jury president was producer and ABFF alum Will Packer (Girl’s Trip, Ride Along).
Complementing ABFF’s wide range of films, the festival’s lineup of events included spotlight screenings, networking events and talks featuring Debra Martin Chase, Morris Chestnut, Colman Domingo, Meagan Good, Regina King, MC Lyte, Niecy Nash, Michael Rainey Jr., Larenz Tate, Flex Alexander and Shanice Wilson. A festival highlight was a one-on-one conversation with Halle Berry where she discussed her career and directorial debut Bruised. All events were presented free of charge reaching a global audience from 95 countries around the world during the festival which ran November 3-28.
Along with ABFF Ventures Founder and CEO Jeff Friday, featured presenters at the award ceremony were film and television industry executives representing ABFF’s impressive roster of partners and sponsors including: Karen Horne SVP, Equity + Inclusion, WarnerMedia; Sirius XM “Bevelations” host Bevy Smith on behalf of HBO; Juanita Slappy, Head of Multicultural Marketing, Cadillac; Dupe Bosu, Vice President, Strategic Communications (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion), NBCUniversal; Keith Le Goy, Chairman, Distribution & Networks, Sony Pictures Entertainment; Yahoo National Reporter and Fellow, Garin Flowers.
The 2021 Jury Award winners are:
Prize: $10,000 for winner, $5,000 each for four finalists
When the Sun Sets, written and directed by Phumi Morare
Prize: $5,000
Trees of Peace, directed by Alanna Brown
Prize: $5,000
Trees of Peace, directed by Alanna Brown
Prize: 2,500
Trees of Peace, produced by Ron Ray, Barry Levine, Mike Bundlie, Brian Baniqued, Jeff Spiegel, Vicky Petela and Alanna Brown
Prize: 2,500
The Neutral Ground, directed by CJ Hunt, produced by Darcy McKinnon
Prize: $2,500
True Story: I Feel, directed and written by Matthew Law
The 2021 Talent Pipeline Program winners are:
Prize: $5,000
Soul City Texas, Tony Clomax
Prize: $5,000
Crazy in Love, Marcus Stricklin
Prize: Role in upcoming original series, West Philly, Baby
Virginia Watson and Harrison White
The 2021 Fan Favorites as determined by the ABFF’s virtual audience are:
“We wrapped our 25th year on an incredibly exhilarating high as we honored some of the most talented and promising filmmakers who are sharing authentic stories about experiences from a Black and Brown perspective,” said Jeff Friday, Founder and CEO, ABFF Ventures LLC. “Showcasing this content and uplifting Black creatives is what ABFF is all about. As we close out this landmark year, fraught with uncertainty, with a highly successful virtual celebration we are honored and encouraged. We extend profound thanks to our corporate partners and supporters, our worldwide audience and celebrity participants and look forward to continuing the ABFF legacy in Miami in 2022.”
ABFF sponsors to date include WarnerMedia and HBO® (Founding); Cadillac, Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Amazon Studios (Presenting); Comcast NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, American Airlines, AT&T, Meta and IMDb (Premier); ALLBLK, HBOMax, City of Miami Beach, Netflix, Prudential Financial, TBS, Yahoo, Starz, Warner Bros. Pictures, Disney Television Studios, National Geographic, and Variety (Official); Accenture, AspireTV, Motion Picture Association (MPA), Morgan Stanley, OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), and Sephora (Supporting). Media partners include BIN: Black Information Network, TheGrio and Rolling Out.
For festival information, visit and follow @ABFF on Twitter and @AmericanBlackFilmFestival on Instagram and Facebook. Join in on the conversation by using #ABFF. For information about media credentials, visit: https://www.abff.com/pressroom/.
Disney Channel has given a series order to Saturdays, a coming-of-age roller-skating comedy from Black-ish star Marsai Martin and her Genius Entertainment and writer-executive producer Norman Vance Jr. (Roll Bounce, Girlfriends). Production is slated to begin in May for premiere on Disney Channel.
Written by Vance, the single-camera comedy was ordered to pilot at Disney Channel in March. It centers on Paris Johnson, played by Danielle Jalade (Yes Day), who considers roller skating to be part of her soul – she breathes it in and makes it a lifestyle. She lives for the weekends because that’s when she gets to go to her sanctuary, the neon-lit Saturdays, a seemingly magical wood floor roller-rink where the impossible often manifests. In this wondrous place, Paris can hang with her best friends (the We-B-Girlz skate crew), choreograph exhilarating routines on wheels, banter with her rivals, navigate life with her DJ brother London and work on becoming a Golden – a member of Saturday’s skating elite, chosen by the mystical owner of the rink, The Duchess.
Also starring are Omar Gooding (Family Time) as Cal Johnson, Golden Brooks (Girlfriends) as Deb Johnson, Jermaine Harris (The Map of Tiny Perfect Things) as London Johnson, and Daria Johns (Nappily Ever After) as Simone.
Vance and Martin executive produce with Nicole Dow and Joshua and Carol Martin (Little).
Charles Stone III (Drumline, black-ish) directed the pilot.
“We’re thrilled to be in business with Marsai, Norman, Nicole, Joshua, and Carol in bringing this adventure to our viewers, said Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television. “We know that audiences will fall in love with Paris, her friends, and her family as they share in the love, laughter, and music in this fun-filled world of roller skating.”
A winner of multiple NAACP Image Awards and BET Awards for her roles on ABC’s Black-ish and the 2019 feature film Little, Martin became the youngest person ever to executive-produce a major studio feature film with Little. She founded Genius Productions, a Los Angeles-based production company, with Joshua and Carol Martin, to create compelling stories for television, features, and digital. Genius Productions is repped by UTA, Oronde Garrett of M88, and Stephen Barnes of Barnes Morris Klein & Yorn
Veteran TV and film writer Vance’s credits include Moesha and Girlfriends. He wrote and produced several films including Roll Bounce, Beauty Shop and Pride. He most recently served as Co-Executive Producer on Our Kind Of People and as a Supervising Producer on the series American Soul, Swagger and Queen Sugar. Vance is repped by The Gersh Agency, Heroes and Villains Entertainment and Will Jacobson of Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
Source: Deadline
Kevin Steele, the district attorney from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, who put Bill Cosby in prison in 2018, has filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the disgraced comedian’s conviction. Cosby was released from prison on June 30 after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that former prosecutor Bruce Castor’s decision not to prosecute Cosby in 2005 should have prevented him from being charged by a successor D.A. in 2015.
In the petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, Steele’s office called the Pennsylvania court’s ruling “a dangerous precedent.”
“A prosecution announcement not to file charges should not trigger due process protections against future criminal proceedings because circumstances could change, including new incriminating statements by the accused,” the prosecutor’s office argued.
Cosby, 84, was convicted in 2018 and was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home in 2004. He served nearly three years of his sentence before his June release.
The D.A.’s petition to the Supreme Court argues that the Pennsylvania ruling raises issues under the Constitution’s due process clause. In a press release accompanying the filing, Steele argues: “The question presented to the Court is: ‘Where a prosecutor publicly announces that he will not file criminal charges based on lack of evidence, does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment transform that announcement into a binding promise that no charges will ever be filed, a promise that the target may rely on as if it were a grant of immunity?’”
Cosby’s spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, issued a statement blasting the prosecutor’s office for asking the Supreme Court to “throw the Constitution out the window.”
“There is no merit to the DA’s request which centers on the unique facts of the Cosby case and has no impact on important federal questions of law,” Wyatt said. “This is a pathetic last-ditch effort that will not prevail. The Montgomery County’s DA’s fixation with Mr. Cosby is troubling to say the least.”
Constand reported the assault to police in January 2005. A month later, the then Montgomery County District Attorney, Castor, issued a press release stating that his office had decided not to file charges in the case.
Cosby then gave deposition testimony in a civil lawsuit Constand had filed, in which he acknowledged giving Quaaludes to other women. Constand eventually settled the suit for $3.38 million. In 2014, dozens of women — some of whom had accused him for years — came forward with similar allegations to Constand’s that Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted them.
Steele was elected district attorney in 2015, having criticized Castor’s handling of the case during his campaign. Cosby was charged in December 2015. Cosby’s attorneys argued at the time that Steele’s office had ignored Castor’s promise not to prosecute. They also contended that Cosby would have invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in the civil case if he believed he was in dan
The trial court held a hearing on that issue, and found that Castor had not actually made such an agreement. Castor has pointed to the press release as the written record of the agreement, though the release does not include language about immunity from future prosecution. Cosby’s first trial ended in a hung jury, but he was convicted at the second trial in 2018. Prosecutors used Cosby’s deposition testimony in both trials.
In June, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction on a 6-1 vote, finding that Cosby had relied on Castor’s promise not to prosecute when he gave his incriminating deposition testimony.
Since his release from prison, Cosby has largely remained out of the public eye. He’s done no high-profile interviews, and despite Wyatt’s promises, Cosby hasn’t announced a return to the stage or any future projects.
Source: Variety
You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have: “The Facts of Life.” But there’s no bad, only good — no, make that great — casting here for next week’s “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” remake of the classic 1980s sitcom.
Joining the previously announced Ann Dowd (as Edna Garrett) will be Jennifer Aniston as Blair, Gabrielle Union as Tootie, Allison Tolman as Natalie and Kathryn Hahn as Jo.
For the third installment of “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” executive producers Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel are pairing the iconic late 1970s/early 1980s comedy “Diff’rent Strokes” with its spinoff, “The Facts of Life.” Both series came from Lear’s production companies during that era, Tandem Productions (originally founded by Lear and Bud Yorkin in 1958) and T.A.T. Communications, which were later folded into Embassy Communications.
“Live in Front of a Studio Audience: ‘The Facts of Life’ and ‘Diff’rent Strokes’” will air live Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. As previously announced, the “Diff’rent Strokes” installment will star John Lithgow as Mr.Drummond, Kevin Hart playing Arnold, Damon Wayans as Willis and Dowd as Mrs. Garrett. Aniston, Tolman, Union and Hahn were announced as new cast additions on Monday night during “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
“I cannot imagine a better group than Jennifer Aniston, Allison Tolman, Gabrielle Union, Kathryn Hahn and Ann Dowd, and I can’t wait to do their hair,” said executive producer Jimmy Kimmel.
“The Facts of Life” aired for nine seasons between 1979 and 1988. In the show, Edna Garrett leaves the Drummonds’ Park Avenue hom and becomes housemother of a dormitory at a private all-girls school in Peekskill, New York. There, she oversees the care of students Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel), Dorothy “Tootie” Ramsey (Kim Fields), Natalie Green (Mindy Cohn) and others. After Season 1, several of the girls (including Molly Ringwald were written out of the show, and the focus narrowed to Mrs. Garrett as the school’s dietician and Blair, Tootie and Natalie as her helpers — along with Jo Polniaczek (Nancy McKeon), added as part of the revamp in Season 2.
The live special event will feature reenactments of episodes from “The Facts of Life,” created by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon, and “Diff’rent Strokes,” created by Bernie Kukoff and Jeff Harris, and will reunite executive producers Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Kerry Washington, Will Ferrell, Justin Theroux and Jim Burrows.
“Live in Front of a Studio Audience” is produced by Sony Pictures Television, Kimmelot, ACT III Productions, Gary Sanchez Productions, D’Arconville and Simpson Street. Jim Burrows and Andy Fisher are set to direct the live show.
The first “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” featured re-creations of “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” in spring 2019, averaging 13 million viewers. It was followed by a second edition featuring “All in the Family” and “Good Times” in winter 2019, which averaged nearly 8 million Total Viewers after 35 days of delayed viewing across all platforms. Both installments won Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Variety Special (Live).
Further editions were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but with production protocols in place, producers were ready to bring it back.
Source: Variety