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.
“Ultraman”
Netflix is looking to further bring an old superhero to new glory. The streamer is partnering with Tsuburaya Productions to develop an “Ultraman” CG-animated feature film, directed by Shannon Tindle (“Coraline,” “Kubo and the Two Strings”) and John Aoshima (“DuckTales,” “Gravity Falls”). Netflix has been home to an ongoing “Ultraman” animated TV series that continues the storyline of the original live-action Japanese series of the 1960s, but, according to Variety, the new feature will have “an all-new storyline designed to honor the past mythology while introducing the character to a new potential global fanbase.” It will reportedly follow Ken Sato, a superstar baseball player who returns to Japan to become the latest hero to take on the mantle of Ultraman, only to have his plans go awry when he is compelled to raise a newborn kaiju monster as his own child. Tindle wrote the script with “Kubo” screenwriter Marc Haimes, and this will be Tindle’s feature directorial debut. No actors have been cast yet, but the production plans on a mix of both Japanese and Western stars.
“While Justice Sleeps”
Georgia politician and writer Stacey Abrams will have her latest novel, “While Justice Sleeps,” adapted for a potential series by Working TItle Television/NBCUniversal International Studios. Released earlier this week by Penguin Random House, the book follows Avery Keene, “a brilliant young law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Wynn, whose descent into a coma plunges the court, and the country, into turmoil and turns Avery’s life upside down.” This is the first novel published under Abrams’ real name, who has previously published romance novels and memoirs under the pseudonym Selena Montgomery. Abrams will executive produce the potential series adaptation as well.
Untitled Miramax Thriller
First reported by Deadline, Miramax and “Scream” writer Kevin Williamson are teaming up for a new feature thriller now in the works that is set during the pandemic. “Blockers” actor Gideon Adlon will reportedly star in the feature, which takes place while the country is in lockdown and college student Parker (Adlon) and her best friend decide to quarantine at the family lake house alone…or so they think. John Hyams (“Black Summer”) will direct the screenplay by Williamson and Katelyn Crabb, which comes from an original story by Williamson. No further casting has been announced at this time.
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