Get Ready For a Carl Sagan Biopic, Thanks To the Folks At Warner Bros.
The legendary astrophysicist will be remembered in the upcoming biographical drama Sagan, with Courtney Valenti and Cate Adams producing for Warner, while Lynda Obst and Rachel Abarbanell overseeing for their shingle, Lynda Obst Productions. Ann Druyan, Sagan’s widow, will also serve as a producer on the film. Deadfall scribe Zach Dean is scripting. (TB)
Maya Rudolph’s NBC Variety Show Set to Add Martin Short as Co-Headliner
In May 2014, Rudolph hosted an hourlong NBC special — titled The Maya Rudolph Show — that served as a warm-up for a possible weekly series. The project remained in development at NBC (with Rudolph’s former SNL boss Lorne Michaels producing). Earlier this summer came reports that the network was eyeing the show as a possible companion to Neil Patrick Harris‘ upcoming variety-ish series Best Time Ever. The show is tentatively titled Maya & Marty. (TVL)
With No Success Getting a Cleopatra Film Going, Now There’s Going To Be a TV Series About Her
Slingshot Global Media is working with “Elizabeth” director Shekhar Kapur to develop Cleopatra, a series that will offer a new take on the Egyptian royal. Kapur will write and direct the series. “Cleopatra is probably the most famous and the least known/understood figure in all of time,” he said. “Her life will reflect a modern-day parable of our lives today.” Casting is underway. (WAH)
Director Jonathan Levine Circles Amy Schumer Mother-Daughter Comedy At Fox
The Warm Bodies helmer has been offered and is in early talks to direct the film that Schumer hopes to make her Trainwreck follow-up. The film’s an untitled mother-daughter relationship story that takes place on a vacation gone wrong. It was scripted by Katie Dippold and is inspired by her relationship with her mother. The film is being produced by Paul Feig’s Feigco and Chernin Entertainment, with Dippold the exec producer. (DH)
The Cast of ‘Bastards’, Already Jam-Packed With Fellas, Just Added Another
Ving Rhames is set to join Ed Helms and Owen Wilson in the cast. Film is the directorial debut of veteran cinematographer Lawrence Sher. J.K. Simmons and Terry Bradshaw have already been cast in the project, which focuses on two brothers whose eccentric mother raised them to believe their father had died when they were young. When they discover this to be a lie, they set out to find him, learning more about their mother than they ever wanted to know. (CS)
Blumhouse’s Next Big Horror Movie, ‘The Shee’, Has Found Itself a Director
Sinister 2 helmer Ciaran Foy has come on board the thriller, which is set in Foy’s native Ireland. Jason Blum will produce with Roads Entertainment’s Alan Maher along with Foy through his Shadow Aspect banner. The story centers on a troubled young woman who has to deal with her tragic past on a remote island. “Shee” is an Irish term for a supernatural race in Irish mythology that lives underground or in an invisible world. (VAR)
Legendary’s ‘Skull Island’ Brings In ‘Jurassic World’ Writer For a Go At the Script
Derek Connolly, who is director Colin Trevorrow’s frequent writing partner, was a co-screenwriter on this summer’s blockbuster and has now been brought on to work on Kong: Skull Island, Legendary and Universal’s monster movie that is steeped in the lore of King Kong. The scribe is doing some late minute work as the movie is deep in the casting stages and heading for a late October start in Hawaii. Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Corey Hawkins are starring. (HV)
A Good Day For Comedy: ‘Documentary Now!’ and ‘Another Period’ Get Second Season Orders
Comedy Central just announced a renewal of the 1902-set faux reality series starring Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome while IFC has quickly ordered two more seasons of Documentary Now! with Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and Helen Mirren. Another Period takes place in Rhode Island back in 1902, following Leggero and Lindhome as two spoiled, pampered, rich sisters who are basically the Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie of early 20th century America. (SF)
Here, Then, Is a Comprehensive Look At Your Upcoming Superhero Movie Releases Through 2020
Still Reeling In the Wake Of the ‘Fantastic Four’ Disaster? With nearly every major studio now working to turn its own comic book properties into the next big thing, and with Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. plotting out half a decade’s worth of material, it’s sometimes tough to keep track of what’s coming out when, who’s in it, and how it fits into the overall picture. (COL)
Screenwriters: ‘Please Give’
The 114-page screenplay by Nicole Holofcener, labeled Yellow Revisions and dated May 19th, 2008. (GITS)