Natalie Dormer Nabs the Lead For Australian TV Remake of ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’
Foxtel has cast numerous roles in its 21st century re-imagining of Joan Lindsay’s literary classic. Game of Thrones‘ Dormer will star as English headmistress Mrs Hester Appleyard in the project produced by FremantleMedia Australia and co-financed by Screen Australia and Film Victoria. Show will premiere on Foxtel’s showcase channel in Australia this year, but no date has been announced. FremantleMedia is handling worldwide sales. (DH)
Cary Fukunaga Might Just Have His Next Project, and It’s Very Explosive
Director best known for steering the first season of HBO’s True Detective, is in negotiations to direct Working Title and Universal’s adaptation of atomic bomb drama Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima. Hossein Amini, who wrote Snow White and the Huntsman and 47 Ronin for Universal, will adapt the screenplay. (THR)
Sam Raimi’s Next Movie Might Just Be a Bermuda Triangle Flick
Spider-Man director is in talks to direct a mystery thriller revolving around the Bermuda Triangle for Skydance Productions. The project boasts a recent screenplay by scribes Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard, and is actually one of three separate Bermuda Triangle movies in development at the moment, as Universal and Warner Bros. have their own films in the works, so story details are being kept firmly under wraps. (COL)
Netflix Loves ‘Chelsea,’ Brings Back Handler’s Talk Show For a Second Season
The imaginatively titled talk show is officially returning to the streaming service for a second season. This new batch of episodes will bring with it a change in format, as the series will now be an hour long and feature more in-depth interviews and dinner parties as well as extensive field pieces. (IW)
‘Straight Outta Compton’ Writer Andrew Berloff Heads To ‘The Kitchen’ For Her Next Gig
Oscar nominee has been tapped by New Line to adapt and direct The Kitchen. This will be her directorial debut. Based on the Vertigo comic, Kitchen follows the wives of some Irish mobsters who take over their spouses’ organized crime ring after said spouses land in prison, and takes place in 1970s Hell’s Kitchen. (TB)
‘Pitch’ Star Set To Sign Up For a Whole Different Kind of ‘Game Night’
Kylie Bunbury, star of the freshman Fox drama, is in negotiations to join Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams in the New Line comedy. Jesse Plemons is also on board to topline with Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley helming the movie. Goldstein and Daley also wrote the latest version of the screenplay, based on Mark Perez’s original draft. (VAR)
Not Counting Its Chickens Before They Hatch, Warner Has Two Other Directors In Mind For ‘Suicide Squad 2’ If Mel Doesn’t Do It
A new report confirms that Warner Bros. and DC have considered Zombieland‘s Ruben Fleischer and Warm Bodies‘ Jonathan Levine to helm the upcoming Suicide Squad sequel if Mel Gibson doesn’t pan out. The film is obviously in the very earliest stages of development, so at this point, it remains to be seen who DC will ultimately opt to sign for the project. (CB)
Ryan Murphy Has Announced the Subject of the Next ‘American Horror Story’, and It’s Really Creepy
The prolific TV creator revealed that he will turn the 2016 presidential election into his next American Horror Story. Yup, that’s the newly revealed theme for the seventh season FX’s horror anthology series, which premieres this fall. Murphy revealed the election theme during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live. (SF)
Trailer Buzz: ‘The House’
Warner Bros. and New Line has released the first look at the upcoming comedy starring Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler. Directed by Andrew Jay Cohen, it hits theaters June 30th. (VUL)
Online Film School: Write Club — Five Choices You Must Make Before You Start Writing
As you commence writing your script, you may find that reaching page 60 (or so) is a gut-check moment. That mid-point can please, delight, and disturb you in equal measure. If the mid-point of your journey brings only flop-sweat and waves of self-doubt (or self-loathing), you may have joined that very non-exclusive club of writers who cheated themselves in the pre-writing phase. So what are the essential pre-writing choices you should make? Let’s start with these five. (SC)