There’s a lot of breaking news in Hollywood happening every minute. In the age of the blockbuster, it’s easy for some smaller movie and television news to slip through the crack. Last Week in Hollywood is our new weekly series highlighting all the interesting news from the last week that we thought didn’t warrant its own post, but was still worth mentioning. It’s less personal opinions and more a hearty roundup of what you might have missed.
The Wicker Man TV Series in the Works
Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish‘s The Imaginarium and Studiocanal-backed Urban Myth Films are developing a television series based on the 1973 classic The Wicker Man. Howard Overman has penned the script for the project, which will differ from the original but “explore the same themes of sacrifice, superstition, and ritual that were at its core.” | Source: Deadline
Sony Lands GameStop/Wall Street Movie Dumb Money
Sony Pictures has picked up Dumb Money, an upcoming biographical film based on author Ben Mezrich’s book The Antisocial Network, which told “the story of fortunes made and lost overnight in the David vs Goliath GameStop short squeeze which made headlines far beyond Wall Street.”
The film is currently in production with a cast that includes Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Sebastian Stan, Pete Davidson, Shailene Woodley, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dane DeHaan, and Anthony Ramos. Craig Gillespie is directing Dumb Money from a screenplay adapted by Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum. | Source: Deadline
Dan Levy to Make Feature Directorial Debut with Good Grief
Dan Levy will make his feature directorial debut on the Netflix film Good Grief, an upcoming “cautionary tale about friendship and loss and all the mess that comes with it when the truth is something you’ve evaded for most of your life.” Levy also wrote the film’s script. The cast so far consists of Ruth Negga, Himesh Patel, Luke Evans, Celia Imrie, Arnaud Valois, David Bradley, and Jamael Westman.
Good Grief will follow Marc Dreyfus, who has “chosen to distract himself from the loss of his mom with a comfortable marriage. But when his husband also dies, unexpectedly, Marc is forced to finally confront the grief he’s tried so hard to avoid, sending him and his two closest friends on a Parisian weekend of self discovery.” | Source: Deadline
Sydney Sweeney to Star in The Caretaker
Universal Pictures has landed the rights to Marcus Kliewer’s short story The Caretaker, with Sydney Sweeney attached to star and produce. Karl Gajdusek is adapting the script.
The Caretaker follows “a young woman who accepts a caretaking job from Craigslist and quickly discovers her responsibilities have stakes far greater — and more dangerous — than she ever could have imagined.” | Source: Deadline
Cast Announced for Blackwater Lane
Minka Kelly, Maggie Grace, and Dermot Mulroney are set to star in the psychological thriller Blackwater Lane, based on the bestselling book The Breakdown by B.A. Paris. The film is currently shooting in the U.K. with director Jeff Celentano.
Blackwater Lane has been described as a psychological thriller with supernatural elements and tells the story of “a woman (Kelly) who drives by a stranded motorist later revealed to have been murdered. After a series of terrifying events, the woman becomes convinced she is the killer’s next victim while her husband (Mulroney) and her best friend (Grace) worry about her sanity.” | Source: THR
Disney Working on New 1001 Nights Film
Disney is working on a live-action fantasy/science-fiction movie inspired by the classic Middle East folk tale collection, One Thousand And One Nights. Arash Amel is writing the screenplay for the film, which will be an original take drawn on the source material and is not related to Disney’s Aladdin franchise. | Source: Deadline
More News to Know
- Will Patton has joined the cast of Kevin Costner’s Civil War epic Horizon. (Deadline)
- Rhona Mitra (Hounds of War) has boarded Red Sonja while Oliver Trevena (Wire Room) has departed the project due to scheduling conflicts. (Deadline)
- Gaia Scodellaro has signed on for a role in Sony Pictures’ The Equalizer 3. (Deadline)
- Timothy Dalton will portray Donald Whitfield, a powerful, self-confident man who reeks of wealth and the lack of empathy it requires to attain it, in Paramount+‘s Yellowstone prequel 1923, which is currently in production in Montana. (Deadline)
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians has added three more actors to its cast. Adam Copeland will play Ares, the God of War. Jessica Parker Kennedy will guest-star as Medusa and Suzanne Cryer will guest-star as Echidna / the Mother of Monsters. (Variety)
- Jake Choi (Single Parents) has signed on to star in 20th Century Studios’ Vacation Friends sequel Honeymoon Friends for Hulu. Choi will play “the dour and confident hotel group exec Yon, who talks a big game and cuts Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) down the moment they meet – all in efforts to hide his own insecurity. Though as they spend more time together, Yon comes to admire and respect Marcus, and the two form an unlikely friendship.” (Deadline)
- Jeremy Irons, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bobby Naderi, and Josh Hutcherson have joined the action-thriller The Beekeeper. (Deadline)
- Indira Varma has joined the HBO Max prequel series Dune: The Sisterhood in the role of Empress Natalya, “a formidable royal who united thousands of worlds in her marriage to Emperor Corrino.” Filming on The Sisterhood will get underway next month in Budapest. (Deadline)
- Zooey Deschanel has joined the Season 3 cast of Apple TV+‘s Physical. She will play Kelly, a network sitcom star who decides to enter the burgeoning fitness industry. (Deadline)
- Lucy Liu has boarded Prime Video‘s action-adventure holiday comedy Red One. (Deadline)
- Michelle Yeoh and Pete Davidson have joined the cast of Paramount’s upcoming film Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts. Yeoh will voice the Maximal Airazor while Davidson will voice Autobot Mirage. (Deadline)
That’s it for the last week. What projects mentioned are you interested in seeing once completed? Tell us down in the comments!
