EXCLUSIVE: Siobhan Murphy (Murdoch Mysteries) is set to recur in the Amazon Original series Cross. She will star opposite Aldis Hodge, who brings to life the titular Alex Cross.
01.12.2022 - 16:41 / deadline.com
CBS Studios has teamed with Damon Wayans Jr to create a Baltimore-set version of its African drama MTV Shuga for streaming sister company Paramount+ and is co-producing shows in Australia and on the France-Spain border.
Shuga: Baltimore will follow the lives of six people seeking to find beauty in their futures while surviving in the rapidly tech-gentrifying Maryland city. Billed as a “hyper-surrealist tale,” the show is now in development, with Greg ‘Mellow’ Brown’ writing.
Wayans Jr. and Kameron Tarlow are co-producing through their Two Shakes Entertainment banner, with Paramount Global and MTV Staying Alive Foundation’s Georgia Arnold, Sara Piot and Richard Warburton sitting alongside them as executive producers. Mellow is a co-executive producer.
CBS Studios acquired rights to Shuga from the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which is a Paramount initiative aimed at using the power of entertainment to change the attitudes and behavior of young people.
MTV Shuga: Kenya launched out of Nairobi in 2009 and has gone on to become a long-running drama series following the lives of young people on the African continent. It has crossed borders, with episodes shot in Nigeria, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire and India and explored HIV testing, infection prevention, Covid-19, gender-based violence, condom use, family planning and contraception and transactional sex. Lupita Nyong’o (Black Panther) and Thuso Mbedu (The Woman King) have starred in the show. Mbedu entered into a Paramount+ development deal with Paramount production division VIS Social Impact, as Deadline revealed at the time.
All the series are produced locally and produced rights-cleared and given away free. CBS Studios cites several sources that have showed MTV
EXCLUSIVE: Siobhan Murphy (Murdoch Mysteries) is set to recur in the Amazon Original series Cross. She will star opposite Aldis Hodge, who brings to life the titular Alex Cross.
Reflecting on the past. Sarah Michelle Gellar opened up about a “toxic” set she worked on earlier in her career, leading observers to think she was referencing her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
EXCLUSIVE: Christina Milian (Step Up: High Water) and Steven Strait (The Expanse) will topline the thriller Body Language from MarVista Entertainment, which has wrapped production. Others set for the film directed by Cory Miller, which marks Milian’s first as a producer, include Annie Gonzalez (Flamin’ Hot), Gregg Wayans (Kidding) and Robert Belushi (Ballers).
EXCLUSIVE: BBC Studios is eyeing more LA expansion after Mark Linsey relocates early next year, while Linsey has unveiled changes to his scripted team.
From its triumphant world premiere (with seven-minute standing ovation) at the Venice Film Festival, A24 opens Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale in theaters this weekend amid a whirl of Oscar buzz around star Brendan Fraser. The former action star carries the psychological drama as Charlie, a reclusive and severely obese English teacher trying to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.
EXCLUSIVE: Lucas Till (MacGyver), Ruby Rose (Taurus), Tyrese Gibson (Morbius) and Don Johnson (Knives Out) will topline the action-thriller The Collective from Yale Entertainment, which has recently wrapped production.
EXCLUSIVE: After planning plenty of robberies in the Ocean’s Eleven movies, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are ready to plan another heist as two thieves in The Instigators for Apple Original Films. Apple recently landed the highly coveted package which has Doug Liman on board to direct and Damon and Ben Affleck producing through their newly announced banner Artists Equity, along with Jeff Robinov and John Graham through Studio 8 and Kevin Walsh through his The Walsh Company.
EXCLUSIVE: The Woman King Just got promoted to Chairman.
EXCLUSIVE: The NAACP production venture with CBS Studios has set up two more drama projects at CBS in its second broadcast development cycle, For Justice, from writers Sallie Patrick and Garen Thomas, which is based on the life of former NYPD Detective Katrina Brownlee; and The Pact, from writer Marcus Dalzine. They join Carver Law, from writer Aaron Carew and executive producer Martin Lawrence, which also was recently sold to CBS for development. The trio of projects span the three classic network drama genres, a cop (For Justice), medical (The Pact) and legal (Carver Law) show.
Sky Studios Names UK Drama Commissioning Boss
EXCLUSIVE: Esther Povitsky (Dollface), Bobby Lee (Reservation Dogs) and Beverly D’Angelo (National Lampoon’s Vacation) are among the notable comedic talents set for Drugstone June — a new feature that Utopia, All Things Comedy, and Shout! Studios have partnered to produce for world sales.
The team behind the Prince Charles Cinema, an independent theater in London’s West End, is set to launch a bid to revive Edinburgh Filmhouse, which closed its doors this month due to financial difficulties.
While fans await Denis Villeneuve‘s “Dune: Part Two,” in theaters (tentatively) next November, another “Dune” project looms on the horizon: HBO Max‘s “Dune: The Sisterhood.” And anticipation is already high for the upcoming series, with Emily Watson, Shirley Henderson, and Indira Varma leading the show’s cast. Now Deadline reports three more joining the ensemble: Mark Strong, Jade Anouka, and Chris Mason.
UPDATED, 8:16 AM: Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans will receive the Vanguard Award at the 2023 Palm Springs Film Festival’s gala in January.
Mark Strong (1917, Kingsman films), Jade Anouka (His Dark Materials, Small Axe) and Chris Mason (Broadchurch, Dirty John) have been cast opposite Emily Watson, Shirley Henderson and Travis Fimmel in HBO Max’s series Dune: The Sisterhood (wt), from Legendary Television.
Swish! Prince William and Princess Kate wrapped up their first day across the pond by enjoying one of America’s favorite pastimes.