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!
“Field of Dreams”
Peacock will build it: the streamer has officially given a series order to a “Field of Dreams” series from “The Good Place” creator Michael Schur. Based on Universal’s Oscar-nominated film starring Kevin Costner as a farmer who builds a baseball field in his Iowa cornfield that attracts the ghosts of baseball legends, “Field of Dreams” has seen a recent surge in popularity after a recent “Field of Dreams” game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox that became the most-watched regular season MLB telecast since 2005. The series “will reimagine the mixture of family, baseball, Iowa and magic that makes the movie so enduring and beloved,” and Schur will write and executive produce. No casting or casting director has been made public yet, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on “The Good Place” CD Allison Jones.
“The Thing About Pam”
On the network side of NBCUniversal, NBC has tapped Josh Duhamel to star opposite Renée Zellweger in its upcoming limited series “The Thing About Pam.” Written by Jessika Borsiczky, the series is based on the true-crime story of the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria that was featured on Dateline NBC and tells the “brutal crime set off a chain of events that would expose a diabolical scheme deeply involving Pam Hupp” (played by Zellweger). Duhamel will play Joel Schwartz, the defense attorney for Russ Faria. This marks the actor’s return to NBC, where he made his primetime series debut as the co-lead in “Las Vegas.” “The Thing About Pam” is produced by Blumhouse Television, NBC News Studios, and Zellweger’s Big Picture Co.
“To Be Real”
The Billy Porter takeover of Hollywood continues as the stage and screen star is set to add another feature to his directorial résumé. Gabrielle Union’s I’ll Have Another Productions has sold a queer teen comedy feature currently titled “To Be Real” to Amazon Studios with Porter set to direct. The multihyphenate is already hard at work on his feature directorial debut “What If?” “To Be Real” will have an original script by Ryan Shiraki and is described as an LGBTQ “Superbad” crossed with “Booksmart.” It will follow “three queer friends [who] escape their hometown for Pride Weekend in New York City where they discover that life over the rainbow is an insane, raunchy, often divisive, but ultimately FIERCE non-stop party.” No casting has been announced at this time, nor has a casting director. Porter is currently working with Alexa L. Fogel for “What If?”
“The Girl From Plainville”
Plainville has added a few more residents to its neighborhood. Chloë Sevigny has joined the cast of the Hulu limited series “The Girl From Plainville,” which will star Elle Fanning and Colton Ryan. The story will follow the true story of a texting suicide case made famous by an Esquire article of the same name and explore the relationship of Michelle Carter (Fanning) with Conrad “Coco” Roy III (Ryan) and the events that led to his death and, later, her controversial conviction of involuntary manslaughter. Sevigny is set to play Lynn Roy, Coco’s mother. This marks the second Hulu true-crime series that Sevigny has joined after the Emmy-winning limited series “The Act."Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus will co-write the series and serve as executive producers and co-showrunners.
“Murder Mystery” Sequel
It seems the mystery has not quite been solved. First reported by Deadline, Jeremy Garelick has been set to direct a sequel to the Netflix film “Murder Mystery” with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler once again circling to reprise their roles as a cop and his wife who go on vacation and got framed for the murder of an elderly rich man. Garelick has previously worked with Aniston as the writer for “The Break-Up.” The fast-tracked sequel is set to shoot in Paris and the Caribbean. Francine Maisler was the first film’s casting director.
Adele Lim Untitled Comedy
First reported by Deadline, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” actor Stephanie Hsu is the latest to join the upcoming Lionsgate untitled comedy that will have “Crazy Rich Asians” writer Adele Lim making her feature directorial debut. Hsu joins the previously announced Ashley Park and Sherry Cola, and the story will follow “the epic journey of four Asian-American women traveling through Asia in search of one of their birth mothers.” Cherry Chevapravatdumrong (“Family Guy”) and Teresa Hsiao (“Awkwafina is Nora from Queens”) are scripting the project from a story they wrote with Lim. The film is expected to film this fall.
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