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!
“Lady in the Lake”
A pair of Oscar winners will head to television for their next major roles. Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o will star in a series adaptation of Laura Lipman’s “Lady in the Lake.” The project has been ordered straight to series at Apple and will be co-written by Alma Har’el and Dre Ryan, with Har’el writing the pilot and directing. The limited series takes place in 1960s Baltimore, “where an unsolved murder pushes housewife and mother Maddie Schwartz (Portman) to reinvent her life as an investigative journalist and sets her on a collision course with Cleo Sherwood (Nyong’o), a hard-working woman juggling motherhood, many jobs, and a passionate commitment to advancing Baltimore’s Black progressive agenda.” “Lady in the Lake” will be Portman’s first regular television role. (Nyong’o has previously appeared on the TV series “Shuga.”) A casting director has yet to be named.
“Writers and Lovers”
Toni Collette has more than proven her skills as an actor, and now, she will head behind the camera to show off some more. The actor will make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Lily King’s “Writers and Lovers,” a bestseller released last year. The story follows Casey Peabody, “an underemployed, aspiring writer in 1990s Boston whose world is rocked by a recent love affair and her mother’s sudden death.” Topic Studios (“Spotlight”) will back the project, which will be adapted by Collette with “The Crown” scribe Nick Payne. Says Collette of her new venture, “I have been wanting to direct for quite some time but have been a bit busy with my day job. l couldn’t be more thrilled to be bringing Lily King’s beautiful, funny, moving novel to filmic life. It’s an empowering story that speaks to me as a woman and an artist. It’s ultimately about coming to know and believe in oneself. This is not always an easy feat, but the most important journey any person can take. It inspires me on so many levels.” Collette and Topic Studios previously collaborated on “Dream Horse,” an upcoming drama that will be released by Bleecker Street later this year. Shaheen Baig was the casting director on that film, but a casting director for “Writers and Lovers” has yet to be named.
“The Boys” Spinoff
As its parent series is currently filming its third season in Toronto, the recently announced “The Boys” spinoff series is getting closer to our screens for what would be its first season. This past week, the series added its first cast members: Lizze Broadway and Jaz Sinclair. As we previously reported, Amazon fast-tracked the project for development back in September 2020. Written by “The Boys” executive producer Craig Rosenberg, the new iteration is being described as “an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive supes as they put their physical, sexual, and moral boundaries to the test” at America’s only college exclusively for young adult superheroes. “The Boys” is cast by Ulrich/Dawson/Kritzer, but it’s uncertain if the casting team for the spinoff is the same.
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
Martin Scorcese has added four Indigenous actors to his cast of the upcoming Apple Original Films project “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Jillian Dion have joined the previously announced Leonardo DiCaprio, Jesse Plemons, and Lily Gladstone in the adaptation of David Grann’s bestseller of the same name. The story will be set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation during the Reign of Terror. Cardinal will play the role of Lizzie Q, the mother of Mollie Burkhart, played by Gladstone, and Myers, Collins, and Dion will play Mollie’s sisters, Anna, Reta, and Minnie. Scorsese will produce and direct off a screenplay by Eric Roth, and Scorcese’s usual casting director Ellen Lewis will once again staff the film.
Untitled Bee Gees Biopic
Kenneth Branagh is set to direct the untitled Bee Gees biopic movie for Paramount Pictures. The project was fast-tracked in 2019 when Paramount got the rights to the Gibb family estate and the rights to use their classic songs in a movie. “Bohemian Rhapsody” producer Graham King is behind the project, as are Amblin and Sister. Ben Elton (“All Is True,” directed by Branagh) is writing the current draft of the screenplay. Branagh’s usual CD Lucy Bevan (with Emily Brockmann) was the casting director on that feature—look out to see if she will return to work with him once again.
“Ripley”
Dakota Fanning is getting comfortable at Showtime—first with her recently announced role in “The First Lady,” and now with her newly announced role in “Ripley.” The actor will join Andrew Scott and Johnny Flynn in the series based on Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels. The series follows Tom Ripley (Scott), a grifter living in New York during the 1960s who “is hired by a wealthy man to begin a complex life of deceit, fraud, and murder.” “Ripley” was ordered to series at Showtime in September 2019 with Steven Zaillian attached to write and direct the entire first season. Avy Kaufman, Barbara Giordani, and Francesco Vedovati are the series’ casting directors.
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