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Maggie Gyllenhaal will star in and produce HBO porn pilot “The Deuce”.
From writers David Simon and George Pelecanos, “The Deuce” will explore the rough-and-tumble world of the porn industry that existed in midtown Manhattan in the 70s and 80s until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and the renewed real estate market ended the bawdy turbulence.
Gyllenhaal will play Eileen Merrell, a Times Square hooker in the 70s and 80s with the street name “Candy” who is drawn into the fledgling porn industry.
James Franco is also on board to star and exec produce. Michelle MacLaren is directing.
Jon Hamm (who just recieved an Emmy for his role as Don Draper on “Mad Men”) is set to voice a character named Don Grouper in an epidsode of “SpongeBob SquarePants”.
Grouper is a charming, smart, charasmatic ad exec (sound familiar?!) who helps Mr. Krabs launch his frozen Krabby Patties line.
Check out the sketch of the character from Nickelodeon below. The episode will air next year.
Rachel Weisz in in talks to join Tom Wilkinson in drama “Denial”.
“Denial” is based on Deborah E. Lipstadt’s book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier”, which explores “Lipstadt’s legal battle for historical truth against David Irving, who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust Denier. In the English legal system, the burden of proof is on the accused; therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust actually happened and he had manipulated data to make history vanish.”
Mick Jackson is directing the film from David Hare’s script.
Comedian Billy Eichner has joined Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloe Moretz and Selena Gomez in “Neighbors 2”, reports THR.
Nicholas Stoller is directing the sequel from a screenplay by Andrew Jay Cohen, Brendan O’Brien, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Production is currently underway.
Lily-Rose Depp is set to star in first-time director Stephanie Di Giusto’s 19th-century drama “The Dancer”, based on the life of American performer Loie Fuller (Soko).
Depp will play Isadora Duncan, a dancer from San Francisco who grew up in poverty and became a dance prodigy, quickly achieving worldwide fame.
The film will explore the fateful relationship between Fuller and Duncan.
SPOILER ALERT: if you’re yet to watch the “Scream Queens” premiere, don’t read this story!
Ariana Grande is returning to “Scream Queens”.
Despite the stabbing death of Grande’s character Chanel No. 2, co-creator Ryan Murphy has taken to Twitter to declare the actress/musician will be back.
Everybody have faith! @ArianaGrande is coming back! #ScreamQueens
— Ryan Murphy (@MrRPMurphy) September 23, 2015
In fact, Grande will be back for three more episodes, the first of which is set to air next week.
Dustin Hoffman and Richard Madden (“Game of Thrones”) will headline “Medici: Masters of Florence”,an eight-part drama series about the rise of Italian Renaissance political dynasty, the Medici family.
Madden plays enterprising son Cosimo de’ Medici and Hoffman plays family patriarch, Giovanni de’ Medici. The story will concentrate on the family’s ascent from simple merchants to power brokers who sparked an economic and cultural revolution. Along the way, they also accrue a long list of powerful enemies.
Doug Jones, Douglas Smith, Cressida Bonas and Lucien Laviscount have joined horror-thriller “The Bye Bye Man”.
Stacy Title is directing from Jonathan Penner’s script based Robert Damon Schneck’s short story “The Bridge to Body Island”.
According to Variety, the film “recounts a series of terrifying events experienced by three Wisconsin college students, to be played by Smith, Bonas and Laviscount, who are the leads. Jones will play the title character.”
Harold Perrineau and Sam Jaeger are set to lead the cast of the USA Network’s pilot “Poor Richard’s Almanack” (working title).
“Poor Richard’s Almanack” weaves between modern day and a possible future where the characters have changed radically. It offers a cadre of heroes who emerge as the new “Founding Fathers” after America is pushed to the brink of collapse.
Perrineau will play Matt Monroe, an FBI Agent who is put in charge after a terrorist attack on Philadelphia. His search for the attacker puts him in contact with Darwin Fischer (Jaeger), a former CIA field agent-turned-analyst.
The thriller will be exec produced by “Orange is the New Black’s” Jim Danger Gray and directed by “Game of Thrones'” Neil Marshall. Jordan Hayes co-stars.
