Greenlit means a project is officially a go, so all you have to do is follow these leads to stay up to date. You never know where you’ll find an opportunity to land an audition!
Polly Pocket Live-Action Movie
Dust off your toy chests, Polly Pocket is making a comeback, but not in the way the character has previously been seen onscreen. “Girls” creator Lena Dunham will write and direct a live-action film featuring the 90s kid–favorite toy and Lily Collins will star as the titular Polly. The plot will follow a young girl and a pocket-sized woman who form a friendship. Mattel along with MGM are working with Dunham on the film, with Collins who is producing, as well. No casting director has been announced, but Jennifer Euston cast “Girls.”
“Julia”
Judith Light will dabble in a different type of greatness in a series about Julia Child. The Tony and Emmy winner will join the upcoming HBO Max series “Julia,” which chronicles the life of the late, great Child. Light will star as Blanche Knopf, co-founder of the Knopf publishing house who was widely credited with bringing in Child’s hugely successful “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” HBO Max picked up the series in January after ordering a pilot. The eight-episode miniseries stars Sarah Lancashire as the titular Child with David Hyde Pierce as her husband, Paul. Isabella Rossellini, Bebe Neuwirth, Jefferson Mays, Matthew Malone, Tim Misuradze, Cody Corelli, Brittany Bradford, and many others will star. The series is currently in production in Massachusetts. Sharon Bialy and Gohar Gazazyan are the casting directors.
“Cocaine Bear”
Announcing the cast for her upcoming “Cocaine Bear,” Elizabeth Banks called it a “dream team,” and it sounds like just that. Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson, Ray Liotta, Alden Ehrenreich, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson will star in the project, Banks’ second directorial feature for Universal. Plot specifics are being kept under wraps, but the project, written by Jimmy Warden, is being described as “a character-driven thriller inspired by true events that took place in Kentucky in 1985.” Banks previously directed “Pitch Perfect 2” for the studio back in 2015. Debra Zane and Dylan Jury are the casting directors.
“The Staircase”
“The Staircase” is climbing the ranks as one of the most highly anticipated upcoming series on HBO, and the crime drama miniseries has added more stars to its already star-studded cast. Michael Stuhlbarg and Tim Guinee are the latest to join the HBO Max and Annapurna project. As we’ve previously reported, Toni Collete and Colin Firth will lead the series that is based on a true story about a man who, while grieving the death of his wife who fell down a staircase, is accused of murdering her. Dane DeHaan, Rosemarie DeWitt, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sophie Turner, Odessa young, and Olivia DeJonge are also starring. Douglas Aibel is the series casting director, and filming has started in Atlanta—find out how you can land a role on the series here at Backstage!
Untitled Maya Rudolph Apple TV+ Series
Actor-comedian Joel Kim Booster will head to Apple TV+ as the latest star in the upcoming untitled Maya Rudolph-led comedy series (working title “Loot”). Booster will play the role of Nicholas, Molly’s (played by Rudolph) loyal assistant. “Pose” star Mj Rodriguez was the last cast member announced for the project, which is created by Alan Yang (“Master of None”) and Matt Hubbard (“30 Rock”). The series will follow Molly (Rudolph), a woman whose seemingly perfect life is upended after her husband leaves her with nothing… but $87 billion. The series is also executive produced by Rudolph through her production company, Animal Pictures, with Natasha Lyonne and Danielle Renfrew Behrens also executive producing. Universal Television serves as the studio. A casting director still has yet to be publicly named.
“The Monster of Florence”
First reported by Variety, Antonio Banderas is set to star in the upcoming Studiocanal series “The Monster of Florence,” a six-hour limited series based on The New York Times bestseller “The Monster Of Florence: A True Story” by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi. Banderas will play Italian crime reporter Spezi in the project, which follows a reconstruction of eight double homicides believed to have been committed single-handedly between 1968 and 1985 in and around Florence, Italy. Nikolaj Arcel and Anders Thomas Jensen will direct with Nathan Alexander, Bryce Kass, and Christopher McQuarrie on the writing team. A co-lead or further casting has yet to be announced.
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