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Kevin Costner has joined Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer in Fox 2000’s drama “Hidden Figures”, from director/producer Ted Melfi.
According to Variety, “The story centers on Johnson (Henson), a brilliant African-American mathematician who, along with her colleagues Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson, served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history — the momentous launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, and his safe return. Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission in 1962 and became the first American to orbit the Earth… The three women crossed all gender, race and professional boundaries by embarking on the mission.”
Costner will play the head of the space program.
The film is based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s book “Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race”.
Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez has signed on to play Vin Diesel’s love interest in “xXx: The Return of Xander Cage.”
According to TMZ, Gutierrez is “in 6 scenes and has 3 pages of dialogue.”
This will be her first movie role.
Nicole Scherzinger has been cast as Penny in ABC’s “Dirty Dancing” remake.
The three hour TV movie centres on “Baby (Abigail Breslin), an innocent young woman who vacations with her affluent parents at an early-1960s Catskill Mountains resort and gets swept off her feet by Johnny (Colt Prattes), a handsome, working-class dance instructor” (via THR).
Penny, originally played by Cynthia Rhodes, is Johnny’s dance partner.
Debra Messing co-stars as Marjorie Houseman, Baby’s mother, in the production from writer/exec producer Jessica Sharzer.
Katie Aselton has joined Dan Stevens, Aubrey Plaza, Rachel Keller, and Jean Smart in FX’s “X-Men” spinoff “Legion”.
According to EW, Aselton will play Amy, “the practical older sister to lead character David Haller (Dan Stevens), who does her best to remain positive, which proves difficult when her brother has spent years in and out of hospitals after being diagnosed as a schizophrenic.”
The show comes from “Fargo’s” Noah Hawley.
Stephan James (“Race”) has nabbed a lead role in new drama event series “Shots Fired”, from Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood.
Sanaa Lathan stars in the series as an expert investigator who digs into the cases, alongside a special prosecutor (James) sent to the town by the Department of Justice. The pair must navigate the media attention, public debate and the social unrest that comes with such volatile cases, as they seek justice before the divided town erupts. The event series is scheduled to debut in 2016.
