Welcome to Rumorville! Here you can learn about casting news that’s about to break in Hollywood. These speculations might be only rumors, but that doesn’t mean you can’t follow the trail all the way to the audition room.
Cher Biopic
A new biopic will turn back time on the life and work of Cher. The film will span the decades-long career of the multihyphenate star, and the legend herself tweeted the news on Wednesday, laying out the creative team details. Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman (“Mamma Mia!” franchise) will produce after having worked with her on “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” with Eric Roth (“A Star Is Born,” “Forrest Gump”) writing the screenplay. This will also be the second time Roth has worked with Cher after writing the screenplay for 1987’s “Suspect.” No director has been announced, nor has a star (or stars). Universal Pictures will produce.
Michaela Coel BBC Series
Looking to make more magic at the BBC, “I May Destroy You” creator and star Michaela Coel is working on a new series. The network announced the project as part of a slate of shows on Tuesday while remaining mostly silent about what the series has to offer, but drama controller Piers Wenger hinted at the possibility of it being connected to the award-winning drama series. “There’s a relationship between “Chewing Gum” and “I May Destroy You.” There’s a through-line to her thinking. I suspect there may be elements [of “I May Destroy You”] but it’s really too early to say anything specific.” The series is still too early in development to learn anything more, including who will be working with Coel (or starring alongside her if she chooses to also lead), but keep an eye on casting director Julie Harkin, who filled out the cast of “I May Destroy You.” Learn more about the hit series from the eyes of intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien here at Backstage!
“Green Lantern”
As reported by Deadline, “Treadstone” actor Jeremy Irvine is in negotiations to join Finn Wintrock in the upcoming HBO Max “Green Lantern” series from Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. If the deal goes through, Irvine would play Alan Scott, or the first Green Lantern, opposite Wittrock’s Guy Gardner, the second member of the Green Lantern Corps. to be chosen from Earth. Written by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Seth Grahame-Smith, the new series will span decades and galaxies, beginning on Earth in 1941 with the very first Green Lantern, secretly gay FBI agent Scott. HBO Max and Warner Bros. TV have declined to comment about the potential casting, and no further announcements have been made, but Berlanti almost exclusively works with Lyndsey Baldasare and David Rapaport on his projects, especially those in the superhero realm.
“Phantom”
First reported by Deadline, screenwriter Anthony McCarten will team with SB Projects for “Phantom,” a music-filled big scale contemporary psychological thriller film loosely inspired by the 1910 novel “Le Fantome de L’Opera” by Gaston Leroux. The creative team insists this will not be “The Phantom of the Opera” as we know it and will instead lean more heavily into the suspense and horror that was key to the novel. Braun and Shin will produce and are also reportedly looking to pull in leading songwriters and music producers to create new songs for the film, which, according to Deadline, will not be a movie-musical and the songs will only come as the characters perform them within the story. No casting or creative team has been announced, but McCarten is no stranger to music-centered films, having previously written “Bohemian Rhapsody” with work next on biopics for Whitney Houston, John Lennon/Yoko Ono, and the Bee Gees.
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