‘Cruel Intentions’ Series Adaptation Lands Greenlight At Amazon

Rob Brydon, Ricky Gervais, Matt Lucas and Carol Vorderman were among the famous faces remembering “true great” Barry Humphries following his death aged 89.The stage and screen veteran, best known for his comic character Dame Edna Everage, died at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney Australia on Saturday night (11am GMT). David Faktor, a spokesman for St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, told the PA news agency: “I can confirm Barry Humphries passed away this evening Sydney time, around 7pm on Saturday evening." His death came following a readmission to hospital after suffering complications following hip surgery last month. Dozens of celebrities have now shared touching tributes to the late star on social media.

This week’s guest is Cheryl Strayed.

Ewan McGregor has had decent luck in TV the past decade with shows like “Fargo,” “Halton,” and Disney+‘s “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Now Variety reports he’ll star in a new show in development at Amazon called “Lodi,” based on an Alta online article by Andrew Dubbins.

Sarah Michelle Gellar took over the 2023 Canneseries International Festival this week in Cannes, France.

K.J. Yossman Sarah Michelle Gellar is the embodiment of late ‘90s teen dreams thanks to iconic roles in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Cruel Intentions” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” After a self-imposed hiatus she recently returned to television with “Wolf Pack,” a show from “Teen Wolf” showrunner Jeff Davis which again deals with the traumas of teenhood. This time, however, she plays an ass-kicking investigator with a mysterious past as well as taking on an executive producer role on the project. “I like scheduling and budgets and all that,” she tells Variety in Cannes, where Gellar is in town to pick up a well-deserved Canneseries Icon Award. (Gellar says she was also offered an opportunity to direct “Wolf Pack,” which she turned down).

In a virtual appearance today at Deadline’s Contenders TV, Better Call Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk reflected on the opportunity he had to work with screen legend Carol Burnett over the course of the Breaking Bad prequel’s final season.

It was on the set of Wild that Tiny Beautiful Things author and executive producer Cheryl Strayed knew she wanted to work with Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Dern again after having “so much fun” collaborating together.

A new generation of wizards! HBO announced that a new Harry Potter series was officially in the works.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter A “Harry Potter” TV series is officially moving forward at HBO Max. The announcement was made during Warner Bros. Discovery’s presentation to press and investors on April 12, during which it was announced that HBO Max and Discovery+ are officially being combined into a new service dubbed simply Max. News of a show based on the megahit J.K. Rowling book series first leaked on April 3, but details have now been confirmed. Each season of the show will be based on one of the books in the franchise, with Warner Bros. Discovery describing the show as a “decade-long series.” It will feature an entirely new cast from the films.

Warner Bros Television has acquired rights to Jesse Q. Sutanto’s latest novel Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films will develop the book for television with Mindy Kaling’s production company Kaling International, which is under an overall deal at WBTV.

EXCLUSIVE: Legendary Entertainment and Veritas Entertainment have struck a first-look television deal and set their first project together – an adaptation of a Lee Childs story.

reported the news.Kuang is an Emmy-nominated writer and director, who also wrote the script for the adaptation of Henry’s “The People We Meet On Vacation” for 3000 Pictures with Temple Hill producing and Brett Haley (“All the Bright Places”) directing.Kuang herself has a three-book, seven-figure book deal with Avon following the auction for her debut novel, “Good in a Room” anticipated to publish Feb. 2024.“Beach Read” marks the third best-selling novel by Emily Henry to receive a feature film adaptation.

EXCLUSIVE: Orlando Bloom is set to play an American linguist in a series based on Maggie O’Farrell’s This Must Be The Place.

BreAnna Bell A “Cruel Intentions” TV adaptation has been ordered at Amazon, Variety has confirmed. Sources say Amazon has placed an eight-episode series order for a TV adaptation of the film which will likely be released through Freevee, Amazon’s free streaming service. Though it could potentially move to Prime Video. Amazon declined Variety’s request for comment. The TV adaptation is a long time coming for the 1999 cult classic. As Variety previously reported, a TV show based on the film (which is based on the classic novel, “Dangerous Liasons”) was set at IMDB TV with Amazon Studios producing alongside Sony Pictures Television in 2021.

Rafael Nadal is not ready to step on the court after injuring his leg on January 18th. The Spanish tennis star was set to compete at the Monte Carlo Masters tournament, which begins on Saturday, April 8th, but has pulled out.Nadal took to Instagram Tuesday to announce he is “still not prepared to compete at the highest level.” “So I will not be able to play in one of the most important tournaments of my career, Monte Carlo,” he wrote, disappointed.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Amazon is developing a series version of the Philip K. Dick novel “Clans of the Alphane Moon,” Variety has learned exclusively. The project is being developed under Electric Shepherd Productions and Patrick Moran’s first look deals with Amazon Studios. Moran, via Patrick Moran Productions, is executive producing the project along with John Leguizamo, as well as as Isa Dick Hakcett, the CEO of Electric Shepherd. Bradley Kaplan will also executive produce. “Clans of the Alphane Moon” is described as a “a subversive, genre-bending, sci-fi comedy about desperately trying to escape, and ultimately having to embrace our flaws, told through the prism of a Latinx family en route to a new, faraway moon.”

EXCLUSIVE: Black Mask’s graphic novel Destiny, NY, created by Pat Shand and Manuel Preitano, is being developed for the small screen by Sony Pictures Television.

EXCLUSIVE: Alberto Ferreras’ novel B as in Beauty is getting the TV treatment.

Naman Ramachandran Disney+ is set to take viewers on a journey through Tudor England with its latest series, “Shardlake.” Based on the internationally acclaimed Tudor murder mystery novels by C.J. Sansom, the four-part drama is set in 16th century England during the dissolution of the monasteries. The series will follow the story of Matthew Shardlake, played by Arthur Hughes (“The Innocents,” “Then Barbara Met Alan”), a lawyer with an acute sense of justice and one of the few honest men in a world beset with scheming and plots. Shardlake works for Thomas Cromwell, played by Sean Bean (“Time,” “Game of Thrones”), the dangerous and all-powerful right-hand man to Henry VIII.

From time to time we see various films end up getting series remakes with the likes of action flicks such as Fox‘s “Lethal Weapon,” two shows based on Luc Besson‘s “La Femme Nikita,” and most recently with a series take on James Cameron‘s spy pic “True Lies.” Well, yet another action movie is getting the small-screen treatment with “Man of Fire” getting an eight-episode straight-to-series order from New Regency and Netflix, according to a report hailing from THR.