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.
“Aladdin” Sequel
Less about exploring whole new worlds these days, Disney already has plans for a sequel to its recent live-action adaptation of its 1992 animated film “Aladdin.” Speaking with SYFY WIRE, producer Dan Lin spoke about the possibility of making a remake of the original direct-to-video sequel “Aladdin: The Return of Jafar.” “We get lots of fan letters and people asking us to make ‘Return [of] Jafar,’ and I can just tell you that we’re in early stages right now, but we’re certainly talking about another movie,” Lin said. After the original “Aladdin” animated film, Disney made a pair of sequels, “Return of Jafar” and “Aladdin and the King of Thieves,” so if the company is feeling short on live-action material, they have plenty to mine still. Plus, the recent live-action “Aladdin” recently crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office. Salah Benchegra and Lucinda Syson were the casting directors for the first film—expect their return for Jafar’s return.
Jeffrey Epstein Articles Series
Turn on a news channel in the past couple weeks and you can guarantee you will see something in the cycle about Jeffrey Epstein. Like so many large recent stories and scandals—be it the college admissions scandal or the Thai cave rescue—Hollywood is taking note as far as its earning potential. According to Variety, Patricia Heaton is reportedly developing a project based on the “Perversion of Justice” articles series in the Miami Herald that exposed Epstein as a serial child molester. Chris Gerolmo, who wrote “Mississipi Burning” and FX’s “Over There,” is reportedly on board to adapt the three-part articles series written by Julie K. Brown. There is no timeline yet for the project, but it is already one of two projects centering the Epstein case, with Lifetime already announcing it has a docuseries, “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein,” in the works.
“St. Elmo’s Fire” Series
We’re taking another trip back to the ‘80s as NBC has a new project in development: a series adaptation of “St. Elmo’s Fire.” The project will be a modern adaptation of the 1985 film that showcased a group of close friends struggling with the responsibilities of adulthood. Josh Berman (“Notorious,” “Drop Dead Diva”) will write and executive produce.
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