Sarah Gadon (Indignation, 11.22.63.) has signed on to star in the miniseries Alias Grace. The six-part dramatic series comes from Halfire Entertainment, CBC, and Netflix, with actress/filmmaker Sarah Polley writing and producing. The miniseries is based on Margaret Atwood’s book and will be executive produced by Polley, Mary Harron, and Noreen Halpern. Harron (American Psycho) is also directing.
Filming on Alias Grace is expected to begin in August in Ontario.
The Plot: The story of Alias Grace follows Grace Marks, a poor, young Irish immigrant and domestic servant in Upper Canada who, along with stable hand James McDermott, was convicted of the brutal murders of their employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery, in 1843. James was hanged while Grace was sentenced to life imprisonment. Grace became one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of 1840s Canada for her supposed role in the sensational double murder, and was eventually exonerated after 30 years in jail. Her conviction was controversial, and sparked much debate about whether Grace was actually involved in the murder, or merely an unwitting accessory.
Both the screen adaptation and the Margaret Atwood novel on which the miniseries is based, introduce a fictional young doctor named Simon Jordan who researches the case and begins to fall in love with Grace. He soon becomes obsessed with her as he seeks to reconcile his perception of the mild-mannered woman he sees with the savage murder of which she has been convicted.
Lena Headey in ‘Game of Thrones’ season 6 episode 10 (Photo: Courtesy of HBO)
Winter has arrived on Game of Thrones but we’re going to have to wait until April 2017 (if HBO sticks to their release date pattern) to find out exactly what that means. It’s going to be difficult remaining patient for the premiere of season seven, but at least we know Jon Snow (Kit Harington) is not only alive but has been proclaimed the King in the North. Season six also revealed the identity of Jon’s parents, but while viewers know the truth Jon Snow’s still unaware of the events that transpired in the Tower of Joy. The season six finale also found Arya checking off another name from her list (goodbye and good riddance, Walder Frey); Dany and her dragons sailing to Westeros accompanied by the Dothraki and the Unsullied; and Cersei (Lena Headey) snagging the crown after killing the High Sparrow, the Faith Militant, and Queen Margaery which resulted in the suicide of her last remaining child, King Tommen.
Series creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff released their finale behind-the-scenes video for season six, dissecting the events of the sixth season finale and revealing the reasoning behind some of the episode’s key events. The nine minute video provides fascinating insights into the storylines advanced in the season’s finale.
Watch the Game of Thrones Season 6 Inside Episode 10 video:
James Purefoy as Hap Collins and Michael Kenneth Williams as Leonard Pine in ‘Hap and Leonard’ (Photo Credit: James Minchin/SundanceTV)
SundanceTV is bringing the original series Hap and Leonard back for a six episode second season, with the network targeting a 2017 premiere. Starring James Purefoy (The Following, Episodes) and Michael Kenneth Williams (Boardwalk Empire, The Spoils Before Dying), Hap and Leonard is based on the book series by Joe R. Lansdale. Jim Mickle and Nick Damini developed the show, and John Wirth (Hell on Wheels) is confirmed as the season two showrunner. Season one of the series was based on Lansdale’s Savage Season novel; season two will follow the second novel in the series, Mucho Mojo.
“We’re thrilled to be bringing Hap and Leonard back for another season with these completely unique characters,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV. “James, Michael and the creative and production team did a superb job bringing Joe Lansdale’s characters to life in Season 1, and Sundance viewers responded accordingly. We can’t wait to see what the boys get up to in Season 2.”
The Plot: The darkly comic swamp noir story follows two lifelong best friends, Hap Collins (James Purefoy), an East Texas white boy with a weakness for Southern women, and Leonard Pine (Michael Kenneth Williams), a gay, black Vietnam vet with a hot temper.
Mason Cook as Ray, Kyla Kenedy as Dylan, John Ross Bowie as Jimmy, Minnie Driver as Maya, Micah Fowler as JJ and Cedric Yarbrough as Kenneth in ‘Speechless’ (ABC/Kevin Foley)
Dancing with the Stars season 23 will launch ABC’s 2016-2017 with its September 12th premiere. The network just released the premiere dates for its fall primetime lineup which will introduce five new series as well of a batch of returning shows including Once Upon a Time, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Goldbergs, Modern Family, and black-ish. The five new shows joining ABC’s roster in September and October are Designated Survivor with Kiefer Sutherland, Conviction with Hayley Atwell, Speechless starring Minnie Driver, American Housewife with Katy Mixon, and Notorious inspired by true life crime stories.
ABC 2016 Premiere Dates:
Monday, September 12
8:00-10:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars” (Season 23 premiere)
Sunday, September 18
7:00-8:00 p.m. “68th Emmy Awards Arrival Pre-Show” (live from Los Angeles)
8:00-11:00 p.m. “68th Emmy Awards” (live from Los Angeles)
Tuesday, September 20
8:00-10:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars Results Show”
10:00-11:00 p.m. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” (Season 4 premiere)
Wednesday, September 21
8:00-8:30 p.m. “The Goldbergs” (Season 4 premiere)
8:30-9:00 p.m. “Speechless” (Series premiere)
9:00-9:30 p.m. “Modern Family” (Season 8 premiere)
9:30-10:00 p.m. “black-ish” (Season 3 premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. “Designated Survivor” (Series premiere)
Thursday, September 22
8:00-9:00 p.m. “Grey’s Anatomy” (Season 13 premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. “Notorious” (Series premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. “How to Get Away with Murder” (Season 3 premiere)
Friday, September 23
8:00-8:30 p.m. “Last Man Standing” (Season 6 premiere)
8:30-9:00 p.m. “Dr. Ken” (Season 2 premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. “Shark Tank” (Season 8 premiere)
Sunday, September 25
8:00-9:00 p.m. “Once Upon A Time” (Season 6 premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. “Secrets and Lies” (Season 2 premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m. “Quantico” (Season 2 premiere)
Sunday, October 2
7:00-8:00 p.m. “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (Season 27 premiere)
Monday, October 3
10:00-11:00 p.m. “Conviction” (Series premiere)
Tuesday, October 11
8:00-8:30 p.m. “The Middle” (Season 8 premiere)
8:30-9:00 p.m. “American Housewife” (Series premiere)
9:00-9:30 p.m. “Fresh Off the Boat” (Season 3 premiere)
9:30-10:00 p.m. “The Real O’Neals” (Season 2 premiere)
American Housewife Plot: Katie Otto (Katy Mixon), a confident, unapologetic, plump wife and mother of three, raises her flawed family in the wealthy town of Westport, Connecticut, filled with “perfect” mommies and their “perfect” offspring. She lets us in on her deepest, most unfiltered thoughts through voiceover as the she lives her life as the second fattest housewife in Westport.
Speechless Plot: Maya DiMeo (Minnie Driver) is a mom on a mission who will do anything for her husband Jimmy, her kids Ray, Dylan, and JJ, her eldest son with special needs. As Maya fights injustices both real and imagined, the family works to make a new home for themselves, and searches for just the right person to give JJ his “voice.”
Conviction Plot: Lawyer and former First Daughter Hayes Morrison (Hayley Atwell) is about to accept a job offered from her sexy nemesis, NY District Attorney Wayne Wallis, to avoid jail time for cocaine possession and avoid hurting her mother’s Senate campaign. Working with his team at the new Conviction Integrity Unit will let her use her brilliant mind to turn over cases where there is credible suspicion of wrongful conviction, and give her a chance to turn things around with her high-powered political family.
Designated Survivor Plot: Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Kiefer Sutherland returns to primetime in a conspiracy thriller as Tom Kirkman, a lower cabinet member who unexpectedly becomes president after a devastating attack on Washington. He will struggle to prevent the country and his own family from falling into chaos, as he is thrust into one of the most difficult presidencies in history.
Notorious Plot:Notorious is inspired by the true-life stories of famed criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos and cable news producer Wendy Walker, who serve as executive producers. The series is a provocative look at the unique, sexy and dangerous interplay of criminal law and the media.
Renee Zellweger stars in Universal Pictures’ ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby.’
The second official trailer for Bridget Jones’s Baby finds Patrick Dempsey and Colin Firth vying for Renee Zellweger’s attention. The third Bridget Jones movie was directed by Sharon Maguire and also stars Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, and Emma Thompson. Universal Pictures is releasing the romantic comedy in theaters on September 16, 2016.
Bridget Jones’s Diary starring Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant opened in theaters on April 31, 2001 and made $282 million before exiting theaters. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason followed on November 12, 2004 and grossed $262 million during its theatrical run.
The Plot: After breaking up with Mark Darcy (Firth), Bridget Jones’s (Zellweger) “happily ever after” hasn’t quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her job as top news producer and surround herself with old friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything completely under control. What could possibly go wrong? Then her love life takes a turn and Bridget meets a dashing American named Jack (Dempsey), the suitor who is everything Mr. Darcy is not. In an unlikely twist she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch…she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby’s father.
Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, Trishna, Knight of Cups) will star in the six-part series Guerrilla set up at Sky Atlantic and Showtime. The limited series will be written and executive produced by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave), with Ridley directing three episodes and Sam Miller directing three episodes. Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation) is co-starring and will executive produce the dramatic series. Patrick Spence, Katie Swinden, Tracy Underwood, and Michael McDonald are also on board as executive producers. Filming’s expected to get underway this summer in London.
“I’m thrilled to be working with an artist like John Ridley who has written these compelling scripts filled with thoughtful and complicated characters,” stated Pinto.
The Plot:Guerrilla is a love story set against the backdrop of one of the most politically explosive times in U.K. history. It tells the story of a politically active couple whose relationship and values are tested when they liberate a political prisoner and form a radical underground cell in 1970s London. Their ultimate target becomes the Black Power Desk, a true-life, secretive counter-intelligence unit within Special Branch dedicated to crushing all forms of black activism. Whilst the series is set against a background of social and political activism, at its heart Guerrilla is about a relationship under pressure, and the reality that for any couple there comes a point when the choices they make have real and lasting consequences.
Pinto will play the role of Jas Mitra, a passionate and politically driven individual. As a member of a newly-formed radical underground cell, Jas helps liberate a charismatic convict from prison in an effort to lead the street fight against social injustice in 1971 London.
Lucinda Riley’s The Seven Sisters book series will be adapted for television, with Raffaella de Laurentiis’ Raffaella Productions optioning the book series and on board to produce. The book series begins with The Seven Sisters novel published in November 2014 followed by The Storm Sister in November 2015, with The Shadow Sister set for release in November 2016.
The fourth book of the bestselling series will be titled The Pearl Sister.
“The Seven Sisters story begins on the shores of Lake Geneva where six of the sisters gather in their childhood home after the death of their adoptive father and discover tantalizing clues about their true heritage,” said Riley. “We follow each sister on their journeys across the world to find their roots, but the overarching mystery is that of Pa Salt, the sisters’ adoptive father. Who was he? And where is the Seventh sister?” Through a story that unfolds in locations around the world, both in the past and present, the book series attains a Game of Thrones level of scale and expansive cast of characters, the emphasis firmly on complex family relationships and the redemptive power of love.”
Raffaella de Laurentiis was working on What Happened to Monday? starring Noomi Rapace when she saw The Seven Sisters in a book store. What Happened to Monday? also deals with seven sisters, and so the book’s title intrigued her. “While Riley’s storyline is completely different from What Happened to Monday?, the book’s title and the seven sisters connection compelled me to read it,” stated de Laurentiis. “Though What Happened to Monday? deals with seven sisters in quite a different time and setting, the coincidence was just too much to resist. I immediately fell in love with Lucinda’s story.”
The Seven Sisters Book Plot: Maia D’Apliése and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, “Atlantis”—a fabulous, secluded castle situated on the shores of Lake Geneva—having been told that their beloved father, who adopted them all as babies, has died. Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings.
Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.
Jean-Luc Bilodeau as Ben, Chelsea Kane as Riley and Derek Theler as Danny in ‘Baby Daddy’ (Photo: Freeform/Craig Sjodin)
Baby Daddy, created by Dan Berendsen (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch), will be back for a sixth season. Freeform made the announcement of the renewal on June 27, 2016, just a few weeks after the series’ fifth season returned to primetime on Wednesdays at 8:30pm ET/PT. Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Derek Theler, Tahj Mowry, with Melissa Peterman and Chelsea Kane star in the multi-camera comedy which will pass the 100th episode milestone during its sixth season.
Announcing the renewal, Karey Burke, executive vice president, Programming and Development, Freeform, stated, “The lines between family and friends are so wonderfully crossed in Baby Daddy. You can always count on the Wheeler clan for a big laugh along with heartfelt moments.”
The Plot: Per Freeform, in season six Ben will remain on his quest to find the “girl of his dreams” and Emma’s new mom while Danny and Riley figure out their future. Baby Daddy follows Ben (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), a young man in New York City living a bachelor’s life with his buddy, Tucker (Tahj Mowry), and his brother, Danny (Derek Theler), a professional hockey player. Their lives are turned upside down when they came home one day to find a baby girl left on the doorstep by an ex-girlfriend of Ben’s. Ben and his close-knit family and friends, including his overbearing mom Bonnie (Melissa Peterman) and close friend Riley (Chelsea Kane) band together to raise baby Emma together, navigating lives and loves with a kid in tow.
Sarah Gadon and Jamie Dornan in ‘The 9th Life of Louis Drax.’
Summit Premiere’s debuted the official trailer for the dramatic thriller The 9th Life of Louis Drax directed by Alexandre Aja. Based on the bestselling book by Liz Jensen and adapted for the screen by Max Minghella, The 9th Life cast includes 50 Shades‘ Jamie Dornan, Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul, and 11.22.63‘s Sarah Gadon. The 9th Life of Louis Drax will open in theaters on September 2, 2016.
The Plot: After surviving eight near-death accidents throughout his unlucky life, Louis Drax [Aiden Longworth] plunges off a steep cliff on his ninth birthday. While police investigate the cause of Louis’ near-fatal fall and the whereabouts of his violent father Peter [Aaron Paul], acclaimed neurologist Dr. Allan Pascal [Jamie Dornan] uses unorthodox techniques to try to tap into the boy’s unconscious mind and reveal the truth about the events that led to his condition. But as he’s drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery of Louis’ seeming ability to cheat death, the doctor finds himself falling for Louis’ mother, Natalie [Sarah Gadon]. As new clues emerge in the case, a shocking revelation changes the fates of Louis Drax and everyone around him.
IDW has confirmed the horror comic Aleister Arcane is being adapted into a feature film with Jim Carrey attached to star and executive produce. Hostel‘s Eli Roth is directing from a script by The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death‘s Jon Croker.
Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment is developing the Aleister Arcane film, and David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman from Mandeville Films are producing. Ted Adams, IDW Publishing CEO and Publisher, is executive producing. IDW Entertainment President David Ozer is also on board as an executive producer.
Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) wrote Aleister Arcane and Breehn Burns illustrated the comic. A film adaptation has been in the works off and on for over a decade, but this confirmation means it’s finally moving forward.
The Plot: The story centers on a group of children who befriend a former local TV horror host who was shunned by their parents and forced off the air. After his death, only they have the power to thwart the curse he has laid upon their town.
