EURweb |
FILM/TV BITS: Glover’s ‘Toussaint’; Thursdays get ‘Ugly’; ‘Psych’ renewed; Sebold’s ‘Bones’; Kirkland’s ‘F8.’
*Actor Danny Glover will move forward with his labor of love, “Toussaint,” a biopic of the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture, who led one of the few successful slave uprisings in history. Wesley Snipes, Don Cheadle and Angela Bassett will star in the film, reports Production Weekly, while Glover will make his directorial debut with the project. Production is set to begin later this year in South Africa.
*ABC’s new drama “Ugly Betty,” produced by Salma Hayek and starring America Ferrara as a plain Jane working for a high fashion magazine, has been given an airdate of 8 p.m. Thursdays for the fall, which puts it in the direct path of CBS’ “Survivor: Cook Islands” and the NBC comedies “My Name is Earl” and “The Office.” Vanessa L. Williams co-stars as fashionista editor Wilhelmina in “Betty,” which bows Sept. 28 and is based on Colombian telenovela phenomenon "Yo Soy Betty La Fea."
*USA Network has ordered 16 new episodes of its breakout comedy “Psych,” co-starring “The West Wing’s” Dule Hill as the buddy of a perceptive man (James Roday) who passing himself off as a psychic and helps cops solve crimes. "It was a hit out of the box," USA executive vice president of original programming Jeff Wachtel told the Hollywood Reporter. “‘Monk’ has been the game-changer for us, and ‘Psych’ is as close to a perfect match as you can get.”
*“The Lovely Bones,” one of Oprah Winfrey’s most popular book club selections, is being adapted into a feature film to be helmed by “Lord of the Rings” director, Peter Jackson. Alice Sebold’s fiction about a 14-year-old girl who narrates from heaven about her rape and murder, will be shot on location in Norristown, PA., a departure from the 44-year-old director who shot all three “Rings” films, as well as last year’s “King Kong,” in his native New Zealand. "I did think about doing a New Zealand shoot and faking that part of the world, but it's really very different than what we have in New Zealand and it's very distinctive and it is an integral part of the book," he told AP of Norristown.
*Actor Rob Kirkland, who got his big break as a bartender on the ABC soap “General Hospital,” stars in the provocative short film "F8 (Fate)," the story of a hateful man who regrets letting life pass him by while living recklessly. The film is among the works being screened at the current Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Sept. 14 - 21 and will also show at the New York Int. Independent Film Festival Nov. 9 - 16. Directed and co-written by Ian Truitner, “F8” also stars Clayne Crawford ("Swimfan," "A Walk to Remember") and Diego Serrano ("Another World," "24").
.jpg)
