Michelle Rodriguez And Justice Smith Land In New ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Film
Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley — the duo behind New Line’s sleeper hit ‘Game Night’ — are set to direct the feature based on the popular fantasy role-playing game.
Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith have joined Chris Pine in Paramount and eOne’s big-budget Dungeons & Dragons feature adaptation.
Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley — the duo behind New Line’s sleeper hit Game Night — are set to direct the feature based on the popular fantasy role-playing game from Wizards on the Coast. Goldstein and Daley also wrote the latest version of the script based on a previous draft by Michael Gilio.
Rodriguez, best known for her long-standing work in the Fast & Furious movies, and Smith, who starred in Pokemon Detective Pikachu, have closed deals and will be part of the wizarding campaign that Paramount and eOne are mounting.
Hasbro/eOne and Paramount are jointly producing and financing, with eOne distributing in the U.K. and Canada, and Paramount distributing rest of world.
Jeremy Latcham is producing via his deal with eOne, Hasbro’s entertainment arm. Hasbro’s Brian Goldner is also producing.
The game is known for its war games, treasure hunts, camaraderie and reversals of fortune, all in a fantasy setting that combines humans, elves, orcs and hundreds of other creatures. The game famously uses multi-sided dice in gameplay and is overseen by a host known as the Dungeon Master. It is not known whether the story is a straight up fantasy or incorporates the storytelling and game-playing aspects.
Rodriguez has the latest Fast movie, F9, in the can for May 28, 2021 release, although the movie has shifted numerous times and may so again. The actress, who also appeared in Steve McQueen’s Widows, is repped by CAA, David Markman and DLA Piper.
Smith recently wrapped shooting Jurassic World: Dominion for Universal in which he reprises his character from 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The actor last year starred opposite Elle Fanning in the romancer, All the Bright Places, and is repped by WME, the Kohl Group and Sloane Offer.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Gina Rodriguez To Star In New Comedy Venture ‘Lost And Found’ With Zachary Levi
Amazon Studios has made a deal to develop the comedy adventure Lost and Found as a starring vehicle for Gina Rodriguez and Zachary Levi, with Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine) directing. Pink and Jeff Morris wrote the script, about a headstrong lawyer and an off-the-grid renegade who reluctantly team up to find a long-lost buried treasure by the Mississippi River.
Rodriguez is producing with Molly Breeskin under their banner I Can and I Will Productions.
Rodriguez most recently starred in Kajillionaire for Focus Features, the Netflix rom-com Someone Great and Scoob! Her past past films include Deepwater Horizon, Ferdinand, Annihilation and the Miss Bala remake. She voices the title character in the Netflix animated action-adventure series Carmen San Diego and is producer of the Disney+ series Diary of a Future President.
Levi starred in Shazam! for Warner Bros/New Line and has a sequel in the works. He’ll next be seen in the Richard Linklater-directed Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Adventure, and Jon Gunn’s Unbreakable Boy, and will play Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner in American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story. Levi is also attached to star opposite Cole Sprouse in Pink’s Undercover.
Pink most recently directed episodes of Cobra Kai for Netflix and Wayne for Amazon. He recently wrapped The Wheel, a micro indie film he shot during the pandemic. He and Levi were slated to shoot the movie Undercover last summer in Cleveland for Lionsgate, until Covid hit and put the movie on the shelf. The two of them began to discuss the kind of films they loved and they found a mutual desire to recapture the spirit of the romantic action adventures from the ’80s. Rodriguez is a close friend of Levi, and they sparked to working together again. Pink and writing partner Morris kicked around ideas and all of them sparked to this one.
Pink is repped by UTA, and Morris Yorn; Levi is UTA, Untitled and McKuin Frankel; Rodriguez is CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; Morris is Adam Kolbrenner’s Lit Entertainment Group.
Source: Deadline
Lee Daniels Bringing Spy Drama ‘The Spook Who Sat By the Door’ to FX
Lee Daniels is expanding his Disney footprint to FX.The Empire co-creator is attached to executive produce The Spook Who Sat By the Door, a spy drama that has been ordered to pilot at the Disney-backed basic cable network.
Based on the novel by Sam Greenlee, Leigh Dana Jackson (Raising Dion, Foundation) penned the script and will serve as showrunner on the drama. Gerard McMurray (Burning Sands) will exec produce and direct the pilot. Daniels will exec produce the potential series via his overall deal with Disney’s 20th Television. The book was optioned through Daniels’ inclusion fund. Lee Daniels Entertainment president Marc Velez will also exec produce.
“The Spook Who Sat By the Door was my dad’s favorite book,” Daniels said Monday in a release announcing the news. “He’d be so proud that I’m doing this and even prouder that I’m doing this with Gerard and Dana — two bold and brilliant Black storytellers.”
Greenlee’s novel, which inspired the 1973 feature starring Lawrence Cook and Janet League, explores the fictional story of Dan Freeman, the first Black CIA officer hired by the agency in the late 1960s. The story follows how he was recruited as part of an affirmative action program and how, following a training process, was “left by the door” as a token of the CIA’s “racial equality.” The book, first published in 1969, has been translated into several languages and won the Sunday Times Book of the Year prize the year it was released.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door is Daniels’ latest endeavor for Disney under his overall deal with the media giant. The prolific writer-director also is prepping a Black-focused reboot of The Wonder Years for ABC, has BET-turned-Hulu comedy Ms. Pat in the works for the streamer and is prepping Our Kind of People for Fox. Next up, Daniels has The United States vs. Billie Holiday due Feb. 26 on Hulu.
Should Spook move forward, it would join a roster of originals at FX — the former home to critically praised spy drama The Americans — that also includes American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Mayans, Pose, Snowfall and the upcoming Shogun and Rolling Stones limited series, among several others.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Christina Milian Joins ‘Step Up’ Series At Starz, Taking Over Naya Rivera’s Role
Christina Milian, the actor and Grammy-nominated singer, has joined the cast of Starz’s “Step Up” series, taking over the role originally played by Naya Rivera, who died in July 2020.
Milian will play Collette, the character Rivera originated in the series’ first two seasons as a YouTube original scripted show.
Starz acquired the series, inspired by the popular “Step Up” dance franchise, in May 2020. Filming for a third season began in Atlanta this month. The previous two seasons will be available on Starz’s platforms beginning March 5, and episodes will air on Starz Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT that same day.
“I am so excited to join the ‘Step Up’ family,” said Milian in a statement. “I know I have massive shoes to fill. Naya was incredible. I hope to honor Naya, her family, friends and fans with a great performance.”
The “Step Up” series stars Faizon Love, Jade Chynoweth, Carlito Olivero, Terrence Green, Eric Graise, Kendra Oyesanya and Tricia Helfer, who joins the cast in a series regular role. Singer Ne-Yo will also returns in his co-starring role.
“Naya’s death was a terrible loss to our world that we will, frankly, never stop mourning,” said series creator and executive producer Holly Sorensen. “It was almost impossible to consider there could be someone so graceful and loving who could both help us honor our loss, while also bringing a deep reservoir of talent to our show, in so many areas. Christina is an exceptional human and a dazzling performer and we are so happy she has joined our family.”
Starz and Lionsgate Television produce the “Step Up” series. Along with Sorenson, Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot, who produced the original “Step Up” films, serve as executive producers on the show through their Offspring Entertainment banner. Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan, who both co-starred in the original “Step Up” film, executive produce through Free Association production company and Everheart Productions, Inc., respectively. Erik Feig, who served as producer on all the films and oversaw the franchise while an executive at Lionsgate, is executive producing via his production shingle Picturestart. Bill Brown also serves as a writer and executive producer, and Dawn Wilkinson will serve as director and executive producer.
Source: Variety
Cathy Yan To Write And Direct New Sci-Fi Comedy Titled ‘The Freshening’
Cathy Yan, fresh off her success with “Birds of Prey,” will write and direct “The Freshening,” an adaptation of Rachel Khong’s short story. FilmNation, the company behind “Promising Young Woman” and “Arrival,” acquired rights to the story and will back the feature.
The science-fiction comedy will be set in a near-future where tensions over race and gender have reached a boiling point. In this explosive atmosphere, the U.S. government will institute a public health initiative known as “The Freshening.” It requires every American to receive an injection, which prevents them from no longer perceiving race or gender. For the story’s protagonist, this means a world entirely populated by Asian-American women like herself. When a street drug hits the scene, promising a chance to see the world as it really is, she faces an important choice.
FilmNation Entertainment, which will finance and handle worldwide sales, will produce with Ali Wong, Hyperobject Industries/Gary Sanchez Productions, and Rewild.
“When we read ’The Freshening’ we were blown away by this timely and provocative story. Developing this film with Cathy and all of our fantastic partners is going to be a one-of-a-kind experience in filmmaking,” said FilmNation Entertainment’s President, Film & Television Production Ben Browning and SVP of Production Ashley Fox.
“’The Freshening’ is exactly the type of daring and timely film that excites me as a writer and director, and that Ash and I started Rewild to produce,” Yan said. “I’m delighted to get to work with like-minded collaborators Ali Wong, Adam McKay, and the excellent people of Hyperobject and FilmNation to bring this bold and impactful story to the screen.”
“I was so haunted by Rachel Khong’s compelling and high concept story when I read it,” said Wong. “‘The Freshening’ is unlike anything I’ve ever worked on and I’m thrilled to develop it into a film with everyone involved. From the beginning, it was my dream for Cathy Yan to write and direct this project and I’m so incredibly grateful it came true.”
“We fell in love with Cathy when we met her and we’re thrilled she’s bringing her singular perspective to this wild, genre-bending material,” said Hyperobject Industries’ Betsy Koch.
FilmNation has been prolific of late, producing “Promising Young Woman,” which has generated Oscar buzz, as well as “The Personal History of David Copperfield” and “The Nest” with Jude Law and Carrie Coon. The company is also backing the upcoming spy thriller “The Courier” starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which Lionsgate and Roadside will release next month.
In addition to directing the DC Comics film “Birds of Prey,” Yan has directed “Dead Pigs,” which won a special jury prize for ensemble acting at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Yan operates a production banner, Rewild, with her producing partner, Ash Sarohia.
The deal was negotiated with UTA on behalf of FilmNation Entertainment by Sarah Vacchiano. Yan and Rewild are repped by CAA, ID, and Craig Jacobson of HJTH. Khong is repped by Jason Richman at UTA and Marya Spence at Janklow & Nesbit.
Source: Variety
Chiwetel Ejiofor To Star In New Series Titled ‘The Man Who Fell To Earth’ For Paramount+
Chiwetel Ejiofor will succeed David Bowie as the new Man Who Fell to Earth.
The Oscar-nominated 12 Years a Slave actor has been tapped as the lead of Paramount+’s series based on the Walter Tevis novel and Nicolas Roeg’s cult classic 1976 film starring Bowie.
Co-written and executive produced by Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, The Man Who Fell To Earth will follow a new alien character, played by Ejiofor, who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future.
“Chiwetel Ejiofor’s stage and film career are staggering in their bravery, commitment and quality,” said Kurtzman and Lumet. “He’s everything we could imagine and a million things we can’t. We couldn’t be more thrilled.”
Kurtzman and Lumet serve as co-showrunners alongside executive producer John Hlavin, with Kurtzman set to direct. Rola Bauer, Tim Halkin, Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly and Heather Kadin will also serve as executive producers, and Aaron Baiers will co-executive produce. The series will be co-produced by CBS Studios and Tandem Productions, a StudioCanal Company, in association with Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout and Timberman/Beverly. StudioCanal owns the rights for both the Walter Tevis’ book as well as the 1976 film.
Ejiofor received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, along with the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Solomon Northup in 12 Years A Slave. He wrote, directed and was featured in the 2019 Netflix film The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind and is also known for his performances in films including Dirty Pretty Things, Kinky Boots, The Martian, Doctor Strange, American Gangster, Children of Men and Love Actually.
The Man Who Fell To Earth will debut on Paramount+, ViacomCBS’ upcoming rebranded global streaming platform that will succeed CBS All Access March 4 in the US, Canada and Latin America, with a rollout in Australia and the Nordics to follow.
Source: Deadline
Barack And Michelle Obama’s Production Company ‘Higher Ground’ Moves Forward With 6 Projects
Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions has unveiled a new slate of projects at Netflix, with subjects ranging from one of the first men to reach the summit of Mt. Everest to a YA thriller centered on a Native American girl.
The company also formally announced it’s developing Exit West, a feature starring Riz Ahmed and based on Mohsin Hamid’s acclaimed novel. News of the movie, directed by Yann Demange (White Boy Rick), first broke in March 2020.
“We created Higher Ground to tell great stories. This group of projects builds upon that goal and the incredible path forged by films like Crip Camp, Becoming, and the Oscar-winning American Factory,” the Obamas said in a statement. From science fiction to the beauty of our natural world to the relationships that define us, Higher Ground continues to strive for fresh perspectives, compelling characters, and a healthy dose of inspiration. We couldn’t be more proud to team up with the brilliant artists behind each of these stories. Each of them has something important to say.”
The newly announced slate joins animated kids’ show Ada Twist, Scientist from executive producer Chris Nee and docuseries The G Word With Adam Conover, loosely based on Michael Lewis’ book The Fifth Risk.
“It has been thrilling to watch President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and the Higher Ground team dive into original programming and produce incredible stories,” said Netflix co-CEO and chief content officer Ted Sarandos. “American Factory, Crip Camp and Becoming have captivated audiences all around the world, and their new slate highlights the variety and depth of programming on the horizon as well as new and exciting storytellers.”
The projects below are in various stages of development and will be released over the next several years. Along with Exit West, they are:
– Firekeeper’s Daughter, a YA series based on the forthcoming debut novel by Angeline Boulley. It centers on an 18-year-old Native girl who reluctantly goes undercover in a police investigation on her Ojibwe reservation. Mickey Fisher (National Geographic’s Mars, NBC’s Reverie) will serve as showrunner and co-write with Wenonah Wilms, who like Boulley is from the Ojibwe tribe. Fisher and Wilms executive produce.
– Great National Parks, a natural history series highlighting some of the most awe-inducing national parks and wild spaces around the world. Higher Ground is producing with Wild Space Productions and Blue Planet II veteran James Honeyborne.
– Satellite, a sci-fi feature from Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman’s T Street. Ola Shokunbi is writing, and Kiri Hart and Stephen Feder will produce for T Street.
– Tenzing, a feature based on the life of Tenzing Norgay, who along with Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. Documentary filmmaker Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa), who has spent years on Everest, will make her narrative feature directing debut. Luke Davies (Lion, Hulu’s Catch-22) wrote the script, which is based on the book Tenzing: Hero of Everest by Ed Douglas.
– The Young Wife, from writer-director Tayarisha Poe (Selah and the Spades), follows 29-year-old Celestina on the day of her first wedding — or not exactly a wedding, but a party where she feels out of sync.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle’ Suspends Production Amid Sexual Abuse Allegations
Over the past week, rapper-actor Tip “T.I.” Harris and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris, stars of VH1’s hit reality series T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle, have faced a range of sexual abuse accusations, including trafficking, drugging and coercing women. The duo have denied “in the strongest way possible the egregiously appalling allegations,” threatening possible legal action against the accuser.
With the matter still ongoing, filming on T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle has been put on hold. The show had been shooting its fourth season in Atlanta since December.
“We are aware of the allegations, and while they are not connected to our show, we have reached out to T.I. and Tameka Harris, as well as local and state officials,” an MTV Entertainment spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline. “Given the serious nature of the allegations, we have decided to suspend production in order to gather more information.”
According to sources, the decision to pause production was made mutually by MTV Entertainment, T.I. and Tameka Harris. I hear also on hold are the previously announced plans for a spring Season 4 premiere.
T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle comes from 51 Minds Entertainment. Its fourth season chronicles T.I. and Tiny living thought the pandemic with their family, becoming grandparents, celebrating their 10-year anniversary and embarking on philanthropic endeavors, T.I. hitting 40, releasing his latest album and becoming a professor at Clark Atlanta University, teaching a course on the “Business of Trap Music,” as well as Tiny executive producing a new talk show.
Source: Deadline
Lana Condor To Star In New Netflix Comedy Series Titled ‘Boo, Bitch’
Lana Condor is staying in business with Netflix.
The To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before favorite has signed on to star and exec produce an eight-episode limited comedy series for the streamer.
Titled Boo, Bitch, the series takes place over the course of one night and revolves around a high school senior, who has lived her life safely under the radar, who seizes the opportunity to change her narrative and start living an epic life only to find out the next morning that she’s a ghost.
The series is based on an original idea from newcomers Tim Schauer and Kuba Soltysiak. On My Block showrunner Lauren Iungerich and Erin Ehrlich (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) created a new take on Schauer and Soltysiak’s original script. Ehrlich and Iungerich will serve as showrunners and are credited alongside Schauer and Soltysiak as co-creators on the series. Jonathon Komack Martin (Deadpool), Blake Goza (The Escort) and Jamie Dooner (On My Block) will also exec produce.
A premiere timeframe has not yet been determined.
Boo, Bitch marks Condor’s latest collaboration with Netflix after she rocketed to fame as the first Asian-American leading lady in a YA romantic comedy as Lara Jean Covey in the streamer’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and its sequel, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. The third and final film in the series, To All the Boys: Always & Forever, will debut Feb. 12 on Netflix. Condor’s credits also include HBO Max’s upcoming Berlanti film Moonshot. Previous work includes Deadly Class, Alita: Battle Angel and X-Men: Apocalypse. Condor is repped by ICM and Goodman Genow.
The news comes the same week that Netflix renewed Iungerich’s breakout comedy On My Block for a fourth and final season. The Awkward creator remains in-house at the streaming giant with an overall deal. Iungerich is with ICM.
Erhlich is with UTA; Schauer, Sotysiak, Martin and Goza are also with ICM.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Merrin Dungey And Mira Sorvino Land In Starz’s Horror Comedy Pilot ‘Shining Vale’
Oscar winner Mira Sorvino and Merrin Dungey are set as leads opposite Courteney Cox and Greg Kinnear in Shining Vale, Starz’s horror-comedy pilot from Divorce creator Sharon Horgan and Trial & Error co-creator Jeff Astrof. The half-hour show hails from Warner Bros. Television and Lionsgate in association with Astrof’s Other Shoe Productions, Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment.
Written by Astrof from a story he wrote with Horgan, Shining Vale stems from an idea by Kaplan. It follows a dysfunctional family that moves from the city to a small town into a house in which terrible atrocities have taken place. But no one seems to notice except for Pat (Cox), who’s convinced she’s either depressed or possessed – turns out, the symptoms are exactly the same.
Sorvino will play Rosemary, who is either Pat’s alter ego, a split personality, her id, her muse, or a demon trying to possess her. Sometimes playful, sometimes evil, often tragic, Rosemary has been roaming the halls of Pat’s new house for 70 years, searching for a vulnerable soul to live vicariously through. She sees in Pat a kindred spirit: Like Pat, she was unfulfilled in her role as a dutiful housewife — and as a result, she may or may not have slaughtered her entire family, straightened up the house, then took her own life in the bathtub that Pat now uses to relax. In any case, Rosemary promises to help Pat get her groove back and finish her novel, if Pat will simply agree to let Rosemary “come inside her,” a bargain that may haunt Pat forever.
Dungey plays Kam, Pat’s oldest friend and book editor, a no-bulls**t straight talker who knows and loves Pat more than Pat does herself. Kam has been with Pat through the highs of Pat selling her first novel to the lows of everything that has happened since. She is the one person Pat can rely on for tough love, but Kam is running out of patience: If Pat does not give Kam a book she can sell, then Kam will have no choice but to leave her — this time for good.
Gus Birney and Dylan Gage also star.
Horgan and Mountford executive produce via Merman alongside Astrof through his Other Shoe Productions and Kapital’s Kaplan and Dana Honor. Dearbhla Walsh is set to direct and executive produce the pilot. Warner Bros. Television and Lionsgate produce in association with Other Shoe Productions, Merman and Kapital Entertainment.
Sorvino was most recently seen in Ryan Murphy’s Emmy-nominated Netflix series Hollywood as the Lana Turner-inspired star Jeanne Crandall. Other recent credits include the 20th Century feature Stuber opposite Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani, and director Mary Harron’s thriller The Expecting.
Dungey recently portrayed Detective Quinlan in HBO’s Big Little Lies. Her other credits include a turn as CEO Claire Thorpe on Fox’s The Resident and a starring role in legal dram The Fix. She’ll next be seen on the sixth and final season of Lucifer on Netflix.
