Danielle Moné Truitt has been cast as a series regular opposite Christopher Meloni, Dylan McDermott and Tamara Taylor in Law & Order: Organized Crime, NBC’s Law & Order: SVU spinoff series.
The drama, now filming in New York after a brief pause earlier this month due to a positive Covid test, will premiere April 1 at 10 PM as part of a crossover with Law & Order: SVU at 9 PM that same night.
In Law & Order: Organized Crime, Elliot Stabler (Meloni) returns to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss. Stabler will aim to rebuild his life as part of a new elite task force that is taking apart the city’s most powerful criminal syndicates one by one. Meloni also is reprising his role as Stabler on SVU this season. No information about the other Organized Crime characters is being released.
Law & Order: Organized Crime was created by Dick Wolf, who will executive produce along with showrunner Ilene Chaiken, Terry Miller, Fred Berner, Arthur W. Forney and Peter Jankowski.
The series is produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Truitt, who started her career in theater, rose to prominence on screen as the lead of the late John Singleton’s BET drama series Rebel. She was recently a series regular on the Fox drama series Deputy opposite Stephen Dorff. Truitt has been nominated for two Ovation Awards; the first for her performance in The Mountaintop and the second, for her role in Dreamgirls. She was also nominated for an NAACP Theatre Award for her role in The Mountaintop.
She created a dynamic one woman play called 3: Black Girl Blues that she’s produced and performed in Los Angeles, Sacramento and New York. Some of her other stage credits include In The Heights, The Legend Of Georgia McBride, Aida, A Raisin in the Sun and Hair. On TV, Truitt also has done guest starring stints on Singleton’s Snowfall, Super Fun Night and Mulaney. Truitt played a key role in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog as the video reference for Princess Tiana, performing the body movements and facial expressions for the animated princess as well as doing a voice for another character, Georgia. Truitt is represented by UTA and managed by Cheryl Martin at CMA Entertainment.
Source: Deadline
Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya To Star in New Film From Jordan Peele
Peele wrote the script and will direct the movie.
Jordan Peele has found the leads for his newest directorial project.
Actress and recording artist Keke Palmer has signed to star in the feature project while Daniel Kaluuya, who famously toplined Peele’s Get Out, is in negotiations to reunite with the filmmaker.
Details for the project are being kept secret, but Peele once again wrote the script and is directing and producing. Ian Cooper of Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions is also producing.
The movie already has a release date of July 22, 2022.
Senior vp production Sara Scott and creative executive Tony Ducret are overseeing the project on behalf of Universal.
Palmer has been appearing in both TV and film steadily, starring in recent shows Star and Scream: The TV Series, while also appearing in movies such as the splashy hit Hustlers. Last year she earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for co-hosting Strahan, Sara and Keke and released a video aimed at raising voter turnout that went viral.
Kaluuya is currently earning raves for portraying Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton in Warners’ Judas and the Black Messiah. The role has earned him Golden Globe and SAG nominations.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Breakout Star Of ‘Bridgerton’ Rege-Jean Page To Star in New ‘Dungeons & Dragons’
Page has set his next project after breaking-out as the star of Netflix’s hit.
Regé-Jean Page has set his next project after breaking-out as the star of Netflix’s smash hit Bridgerton.
Page has closed a deal for a leading role in Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons feature, joining a cast that includes Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith.
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.
The game of Dungeons & Dragons is known for its war games, treasure hunts, campaigns, camaraderie and reversals of fortune, all in a setting that combines humans, elves, orcs and hundreds of other creatures. The game famously uses multisided dice in gameplay and is overseen by a host known as the Dungeon Master. It is not known whether the movie adaptation will be a straight-up fantasy film, set in the world of the game, or incorporate the storytelling and game-playing aspects.
Jeremy Latcham is producing through his deal with studio eOne, Hasbro’s entertainment arm. Hasbro’s Brian Goldner is also producing. Hasbro/eOne and Paramount are jointly producing and financing, with eOne distributing in the U.K. and Canada, and Paramount distributing rest of world.
Page, who is set to host Saturday Night Live this weekend, starred as the beloved Duke of Hastings in the Shonda Rhimes-produced drama that, according to the streamer, was watched by more than 82 million accounts in its first month, making it the service’s biggest series ever. His previous feature credits include Mortal Engines and period romance Sylvie’s Love.
Page is repped by CAA, the U.K.’s Artists Partnership, and Ziffren Brittenham.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Lenny Kravitz Joins Jennifer Lopez & Josh Duhamel In Action-Comedy ‘Shotgun Wedding’
Rock star and four-time Grammy award winner Lenny Kravitz is set to co-star opposite Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel in the Lionsgate action-comedy, Shotgun Wedding. Cheech Marin, Emmy nominee D’Arcy Carden, Selena Tan, Desmin Borges, and Alex Mallari have also signed on for the film, which is being directed by Jason Moore.
Elzer Associates; Mega
Mark Hammer and Liz Meriwether penned the screenplay. In the film, Grace (Lopez) and Tom (Duhamel) gather their lovable but very opinionated families for the ultimate destination wedding just as the couple begins to get cold feet. And if that wasn’t enough of a threat to the celebration, suddenly everyone’s lives are in danger when the entire party is taken hostage. “Til Death Do Us Part” takes on a whole new meaning in this hilarious, adrenaline-fueled adventure as Grace and Tom must save their loved ones — if they don’t kill each other first.
Kravitz will star as Sean, the globetrotting ex of Grace. Marin will play Robert, Grace’s father, while Carden is Harriet, Robert’s new wife. Tan will play Marge, the head of the wedding resort, Borges’ character is Ricky, the permanently whisky-buzzed, embarrassing childhood best friend of Tom, and Mallari will play Dog-Face, a pirate.
Mandeville’s Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman are producing the pic with Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Benny Medina for Nuyorican Productions.
Production is slated to commence this month.
Exec producers are Alex Young of Mandeville Films, Nuyorican’s Courtney Baxter, Ryan Reynolds, and George Dewey.
Kravitz, repped by CAA and CSM, has appeared in such films as The Hunger Games franchise, Precious, and The Butler. Marin, best known as one-half of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong, is repped by Innovative Artists and Weintraub Tobin. Carden, who received an Emmy nom for her work on The Good Place, is set to star in Amazon’s upcoming series A League of Their Own. She is with UTA, Rise Management, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Borges, whose credits include You’re the Worst on FX, Amazon’s Utopia, and the Netflix limited series Living with Yourself, is repped by Suskin Management, Gersh, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller. Mallari recently wrapped on Netflix’s The Adam Project and will be seen next in Ginny & Georgia also on the streamer. He’s repped by The Characters Talent Agency and Industry Entertainment. Tan, best known for playing Alix Young in the box office smash, Crazy Rich Asians, is a client of McKeon/Myones Entertainment, attorney Mark Stankevich and Dream Academy in Singapore.
Source: Deadline
Will Smith & Jada Pinkett Smith Team Up With Nigeria’s EbonyLife For Comedy Film & TV Projects
Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios is teaming up with EbonyLife Studios, one of Nigeria’s leading content companies, on a slate of co-produced film and television projects each connected to the African continent.
The deal is the first of its kind for Westbrook in Africa. Under the partnership, the companies will produce at least two series and one film, including the below projects:
Dada Safaris is an ‘Afropolitan’ dramedy series. It follows four best friends who, after finding themselves at personal and career dead ends, take a leap to the wild side when one of them inherits her late husband’s long-forgotten family-owned safari lodge and invites her friends to join her newfound purpose- renovating and relaunching the business.
In The Gods, a pair of married Cambridge professors set out to find answers to a surge of natural disasters, but find seven long forgotten African gods instead. Enlisting the help of two divine African children who can communicate with the immortals, the unlikely team must find the secret behind the awakening of the gods before the world as they know it is forever changed.
Are We Getting Married? is a comedy feature set in the U.S. and tells the story of the daughter of an embarrassingly wealthy Nigerian family who falls in love with a nerdy but charming African American from Atlanta and their decision to get married. While the couple hopes for an intimate ceremony, their parents have other ideas, and they are faced with the option of either standing their ground or agreeing to have the big Yoruba by way of Atlanta wedding they never wanted.
As we revealed last month, Westbrook’s recent expansion includes an international pact with Israel’s Euphoria producer Tedy Productions. EbonyLife has previously struck deals with studios including Netflix and Sony Pictures TV.
Westbrook Studios SVP, Head of International TV & Film, Eli Shibley, said: “As we set out to focus our initial slate of international content for the studio business across a diversified set of key territories and regions, the creative energy and world class artistry coming out of Africa is absolutely undeniable. We are thrilled to be working with a best-in-class producer like Mo and her EbonyLife team to tell stories that uniquely celebrate African characters and perspectives and resonate with fans of great film and television around the world.”
“We all dream of lofty goals becoming a reality, then one day those dreams come true,” added EbonyLife CEO, Mo Abudu. “I’m proud to announce that our vision of EbonyLife Studios being in partnership with Will and Jada’s Westbrook Studios is now real. Westbrook‘s goal is to create and curate powerful and inclusive content. This is completely in line with our vision at EbonyLife – to tell global African stories from our perspective. Together, we will be developing a slate of projects that reflect our shared goals. We are beyond excited!”
Westbrook’s TV projects include the recently announced Amend: The Fight for America, a six-part docu-series about the Fourteenth Amendment, and a two-season order for Bel-Air,the dramatic reboot of Will Smith’s iconic The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air from Peacock.
Source:Deadline
Zawe Ashton To Play Villain In Marvel Sequel ‘Captain Marvel 2’
As pre-production ramps up on Captain Marvel 2, Brie Larson looks to have found her next co-star she will square off against as sources tell Deadline, Velvet Buzzsaw‘s Zawe Ashton has been set as the villain in the next installment in the Marvel franchise. Nia DaCosta, who directed the anticipated reboot of Candyman, has been tapped as director on the film.
Disney and Marvel Studios had no comment.
Megan McDonnell, a story editor on the Marvel-based series WandaVision, penned the script for the Captain Marvel sequel, with Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani and Teyonah Parris also on board to star. While the exact character is unknown sources do say Ashton will be the main villain, though as we know with all Marvel films, there is always a chance the another antagonist may remain hidden till the very end of the film.
In the first film, Larson’s Carol Danvers was a human who becomes involved in the war between two alien races, the Kree and shape-shifting Skrulls. Surviving an explosion tied to an alien engine imbued her with incredible power, turning her into Captain Marvel and making her one of the most powerful heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The film was released in March 2019 and grossed $1.13 billion worldwide. Captain Marvel 2 is set to bow on November 11, 2022.
Ashton first broke on to the scene with her role in the TV series Fresh Meat. She was recently seen on Broadway in the revival of Betrayal opposite Tom Hiddleston.
On the film side, she was most recently seen opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw. Other credits include Nocturnal Animals and Greta. She is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.
Source: Deadline
Tiffany Haddish Shopping Shakespeare’s Dark Lady Series With Akiva Goldsman
Renaissance poet Amelia Bassano is poised to get the small screen treatment.
Tiffany Haddish, Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman and Mrs. America‘s Amma Asante are developing The Bardess for television. Envisioned as a limited series, the project will center on the true story of the Black, Venetian, Jewish poet, who some believe was behind Shakespeare’s literary work. Set in 16th Century England, The Bardess is expected to explore that premise, which has been backed by a collection of scholars. (Still others balk.)
News of the project comes as the interest in Bassano’s story has increasingly become a source of scholarship and theatrical interest of late. Among the latter was an eponymous play, which was hailed as a “feminist triumph” when it premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre a few years ago. For this iteration, Haddish’s She Ready Productions has optioned Shakespeare’s Secret Messiah: The Dark Lady by Joseph Atwill as source material.
Haddish is expected to star as well as produce, assuming her dizzying schedule permits. Asante will write and direct. The group will be targeting cable outlets and streamers with the pitch.
Melanie Clark will oversee the project for She Ready, with Greg Lessans doing so for Goldsman’s Weed Road Pictures Company. The Bardess joins considerable portfolios at both companies.
She Ready is behind the Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready series at Netflix, Tuca & Bertie at Adult Swim and Kids Say the Darndest Things at CBS. For its part, Weed Road is producing Michael B. Jordan’s upcoming film Without Remorse and the Asante-helmed Billion Dollar Spy, and in TV Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, both for CBS All Access.
Haddish repped by UTA, Brillstein Partners and Ziffren Brittenham; Goldsman is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson; and Asante is repped by CAA and Mosaic.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Michael Blackson To Star In New VH1 Reality Series ‘VH1 Couples Retreat’ With Stars From ‘Love & Hip Hop’ Franchise
“VH1 Couples Retreat,” a new six-episode series celebrating Black love, will premiere March 29 at 8 p.m., Variety earned.
The show will feature three couples best-known to audiences from the network’s “Love & Hip Hop” franchise (Yandy Smith-Harris and Mendeecees Harris; Rasheeda and Kirk Frost; Ray J and Princess Love), as well as activist Raymond Santana and model Deelishis, and actor Michael Blackson with his significant other Rada.
On the show, the couples will embark upon a week-long vacation and take part in honest and uncensored conversations about how the celebrity factor can challenge a relationship, the importance of communication and the pain of heartache. The show will also dive into social issues including mental health, racial injustice and prison reform, especially as Mendeecees Harris and Santana bond over shared emotional scars from their imprisonment and desire to shed prison survival skills to be strong men and good husbands and fathers.
Joining the couples for some of these discussions are life coach AJ Johnson, psychic medium Lakara Foster, relationship expert Dr. Russell Kawakami and tantra expert and sexologist Deva Ward.
“VH1 Couples Retreat” is executive produced by Sitarah Pendelton-Eaglin, Phakiso Collins, James Knox and Jubba Seyyid, Lashan Browning and Donna Edge-Rachell for VH1.
Get to know the couples better below:
Yandy Smith-Harris and Mendeecees Harris – The duo was reunited after a year of activism and an early release from prison, but now they have been getting used to each other again amid a global pandemic. In addition to adjusting to life back in each other’s physical spaces, they also have to move past hidden conflicts from their four years apart.
Deelishis and Raymond Santana – As one of the wrongly accused adolescents that make up the Exonerated Five, Santana spent his teen years locked up and emerged with PTSD. He and Deelishis fell hard and fast for each other and got married without realizing what they would be up against with that struggle — or with her own challenges in trying to be seen for more than just her looks.
Michael Blackson and Rada – Although this couple has shared parts of their relationship (the good, the bad and the messy) on social media, they have yet to take their relationship this public. The network notes that not even their own families knew about their private lives and that they feared backlash for being in an interracial relationship.
Rasheeda and Kirk Frost – The Frosts have been known as the “relationship goals” couple that others strive to imitate, but no couple is truly perfect, and their issues and unresolved tension over past betrayals will finally come to light.
Ray J and Princess Love – In the early stages of divorce, Princess wants Ray J to stop disappearing for days at a time while he wants respect and acknowledgment for his hard work.
Source- Variety
Believe It Or Not-‘Chappelle’s Show’ Returns To Netflix With Dave Chappelle’s Blessing
The comedian revealed in an Instagram post on Thursday that Comedy Central had agreed to give his license back and “paid me millions of dollars.”
Chapelle’s Show is streaming on Netflix again and this time it has Dave Chappelle’s blessing.
In an Instagram clip posted on Thursday, Chappelle revealed that the Comedy Central show he created and acrimoniously left, returned to the streaming platform on Feb. 12, just over two months after it was pulled at his request.
In the clip, which looks to be from the comedian’s recent tour of Austin, Chappelle provides background on what led to Netflix pulling Chappelle’s Show back in late November last year. Speaking about the recent insurrection in Washington D.C., Chappelle pivots to people needing to know “where their power lies.” He summarized his dispute with Comedy Central and his demands that they pay him for any deals related to Chappelle’s Show and then explained, “I know where my power lies.”
“I asked you to stop watching the show and thank God almighty for you, you did,” Chappelle said about his fans. “You made that show worthless because without your eyes it’s nothing.”
He added: “And when you stopped watching it, they called me. And I got my name back and I got my license back and I got my show back and they paid me millions of dollars. Thank you very much.”
Chappelle then thanked Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos for having “the courage to take show off its platform at a financial detriment to his company, just because I asked him to.” He also thanked Chris McCarthy of ViacomCBS for “making the past right,” by completing the deal.
He ended the clip by saying, “after all these years, I can finally say to Comedy Central, ‘it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.'”
Chappelle’s Show had been streaming on Netflix in the U.S. from Nov. 1. In an 18-minute video of his standup released on Nov. 24, the comedian talked about the terrible contract he signed at the outset of Chappelle’s Show, which ran from 2003-06 on Comedy Central. “People think I made a lot of money from Chappelle’s Show,” he said. “When I left that show I never got paid. They didn’t have to pay me because I signed the contract. But is that right? I found out that these people were streaming my work and they never had to ask me or they never have to tell me. Perfectly legal because I signed the contract. But is that right? I didn’t think so, either.”
He revealed that he had asked Netflix to pull the show, which they subsequently did.
Chappelle’s Show was a breakout for Comedy Central and the comedian. After signing a reported $50 million deal ahead of the show’s third season, Chappelle quit the series, citing the stress of producing the show and his increasing discomfort with the material in its sketches.
‘Rap Sh*t’ Comedy Series From Issa Rae Ordered By HBO MAX
Issa Rae has landed a follow-up series to Insecure. HBO Max has given an eight-episode series order to Rap Sh*t (wt), a half-hour comedy from Insecure co-creator Rae and her Hoorae Productions, writer Syreeta Singleton and City Girls hip hop duo Yung Miami and JT. The project had been in development at HBO Max since 2019.
Rap Sh*t (wt) follows two estranged high school friends from Miami who reunite to form a rap group.
Rae will write the pilot and executive produce with Montrel McKay (A Black Lady Sketch Show, Road Trippp) for Hoorae, and Singleton, who also will serve as showrunner. Jonathan Berry (Insecure) and Dave Becky (Master of None, Russian Dolls) executive produce for 3 Arts Entertainment. Yung Miami and JT serve as co-executive producers along with Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas for Quality Control Films and Sara Rastogi for Hoorae. Rae’s audio content company Raedio will handle music supervision for the series.
Casting is currently underway. Production is scheduled to begin this summer.
Rae serves as executive producer on HBO’s Insecure, which is heading into its fifth and final season. She previously served as executive producer on Robin Thede’s A Black Lady Sketch Show.
