Stay in the loop on industry and casting news with our write-up on who’s been slated for recent film and television roles!
“Tokyo Vice”
HBO Max is compiling a large slate of series for its launch in 2020, and the streaming platform has recently added “Tokyo Vice” to that list of original content. The series will be adapted from the memoir of Jake Adelstein, following his time as an investigative journalist in Japan. Tasked with embedding himself in the country’s Vice police squad, the writer soon finds a massive web of corruption within the department, discovering the underbelly of the city is teeming with people who are not always as they appear. Unsurprisingly, HBO is lining up an all-star roster: Ken Watanabe and Ansel Elgort are on board in lead roles while Francine Maisler assembles the remaining cast for the 10-episode first season. Production on the drama is slated to start in February 2020 in Tokyo, where it is also casting.
“Last Summer”
Jessica Biel is lending her name behind the scenes as an executive producer on a new Freeform drama-thriller. The series will tap into the true crime genre with a plot full of twists, turns, and mysteries to solve, stretching through three summers spanning from 1993 to 1995. Following the sudden abduction of a popular small-town girl, a seemingly unrelated event occurs: The social status of a once unknown peer rises to match that of the missing teen. Told through alternating points of view, the audience watches as the once anonymous girl goes from talk of the town to “the most despised person in America.” The mystery will pit the stories of the girls against each other while slowly uncovering which is the more trustworthy narrator. No cast is currently in place for the pilot, but Aquila/Wood Casting is assembling actors for the project. Production starts in November and will shoot in and around Dallas.
“Passing”
Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga will step into the past with their next film, “Passing.” Based on the 1929 novel by Nella Larsen, the story follows two black women, Clare and Irene, in the 1920s, who are reunited after having grown up best friends in New York. Tensions start to rise when the Harlem natives begin discovering aspects of each other’s lives that lead them down a dark road of obsession. Clare, who is married and living in a wealthy part of town, intentionally passes herself off as a white woman, much to the curiosity of Irene. The adaptation examines race and self-identity, and how those two components shape a person’s life and experiences. Along with Thompson and Negga, Laura Rosenthal Casting has attached André Holland to the period drama. The film will be directed by Rebecca Hall and is set to start filming in November in a yet-to-be-announced location, likely New York.
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This story originally appeared in the Oct. 31 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe here.