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!
“May December”
Oscar winners Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are set to star in “May December,” a new drama from Todd Haynes. The story follows a Hollywood actor (played by Portman) who travels to the picturesque coast of Maine to study the real-life woman (Moore) she’s set to play in a film: the subject of a tabloid scandal two decades prior, for marrying a man 23 years her junior. Samy Burch will write the script from a story by herself and Alex Mechanik. This will be the sixth time that Haynes and Moore have worked together, most recently on “Wonderstruck.” Jessica Elbaum and Will Ferrell of Gloria Sanchez Productions (“Hustlers,” “Booksmart”) and Christine Vachon (“Shirley”) and Pam Koffler of Killer Films will produce alongside Portman and Sophie Mas under their MountainA banner. Filming is set to begin in 2022. Haynes is loyal to regular casting collaborator Laura Rosenthal, so expect her to take on casting duties.
“Resident Evil”
Racoon City has found a few more inhabitants. The upcoming “Resident Evil” live-action Netflix series has cast Lance Reddick set to star as Albert Wesker, as well as Ella Balinska, Tamara Smart, Siena Agudong, Adeline Rudolph, and Paola Nuñez. (Details on which characters the others will be playing are being kept under wraps.) As we previously reported, the series was ordered at the streamer back in August and will be set nearly three decades after the discovery of the T-virus, an outbreak reveals the Umbrella Corporation’s dark secrets. Constantin Film, which produced the six-film franchise based on the games, will serve as the studio behind the series, which has so far been given an eight-episode order. Andrew Dabb (“Supernatural”) serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner, with Mary Leah Sutton also writing and executive producing. Suzanne Smith is the series casting director.
“Foe”
First reported by Deadline, “Lion” director Garth Davis will helm an adaptation of the Ian Reid bestselling sci-fi novel “Foe” and has cast Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, and LaKeith Stanfield as the leads. The story, described as “a taut, sensual, psychological mind-bender” is set in the near future where corporate power and environmental decay are ravaging the planet and where a young couple (Mescal and Ronan) encounter a stranger (Stanfield) who brings news that throws their isolated lives in turmoil. Said Davis in a statement to Deadline, “I’ve been on the hunt to do something in sci-fi…I read ‘Foe’ and could not put it down. It’s incredibly suspenseful, very moving, and dealt with sci-fi in a most grounded way that spoke to where we are heading as a society, with a lot of the questions we all have explored in a profound way…[it] was just a bull’s-eye, for me.” Davis wrote the script for the adaptation with Reid. Filming will get underway in January in Australia. Francine Maisler and Kirsty McGregor are the casting directors.
“The Dropout”
The upcoming Hulu limited series “The Dropout,” which centers on the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos, has added William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Elizabeth Marvel, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Kate Burton, Stephen Fry, Michel Gill, Michael Ironside, Bill Irwin, and Josh Pais to its starring and supporting cast. They join Amanda Seyfried and Naveen Andrews in the series from Liz Meriwether, Searchlight Television, and Disney Television Studios’ 20th Television. As we previously reported, Seyfried will lead the series based on the ABC Radio and ABC News podcast hosted by Rebecca Jarvis (who will executive produce the new project). The project will tell the story of Holmes, a Stanford dropout who founded medical testing start-up Theranos, once worth billions of dollars until it was revealed that none of the technology actually worked. Elizabeth Meriwether will serve as showrunner and 20th Television and Searchlight will serve as the studios. Jeanie Bacharach is the series casting director. Production is scheduled to begin this summer.
“The Pentaverate”
Over at Netflix, Ken Jeong, Keegan-Michael Key, Debi Mazar, Richard McCabe, Jennifer Saunders, and Lydia West have joined the cast of “The Pentaverate,” a half-hour comedy limited series produced by and starring Mike Myers. Created by Myers and directed by Tim Kirkby (“Fleabag”), the series asks, “What if a secret society of five men has been working to influence world events for the greater good since the Black Plague of 1347?” Myers will also executive produce with Kirkby and John Lyons (the “Austin Powers” franchise), as well as Tony Hernandez, Jason Weinberg, and Lilly Burns. Production has begun on the six-episode series.
“She Came to Me”
And finally, Rebecca Miller’s upcoming romantic comedy “She Came to Me” has added Anne Hathaway, Tahar Rahim, Marisa Tomei, Joanna Kulig, and Matthew Broderick. A multi-generational story in New York, the film will follow “a composer suffering from writer’s block who rediscovers his passion after an adventurous one-night stand, a couple of gifted teenagers who fight to prove to the parents that their young love is something that can last forever, and a woman who seemingly has it all for whom love arrives in the most unexpected places.” Principal photography is set to begin in Fall 2021 in New York. Cindy Tolan is the casting director.
Looking for remote work? Backstage has got you covered! Click here for auditions you can do from home!