Outlander star Sam Heughan and Supergirl star Melissa Benoist may be teaming up to star in Screen Gems’ romantic film Oxford. Deadline reports Heughan, who was robbed of an Emmy nomination this year for his work in the Starz series based on Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling book series, has landed one of the lead roles in the feature film, with Benoist set to tackle the female lead. Allison Burnett (Ask Me Anything, Underworld Awakening) wrote the current version of the script.
Oxford‘s been in development at Temple Hill with producers Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey for a few years, and now it appears the project’s moving forward with the reveal of Heughan and Benoist’s casting. Tracking Board reported Benoist was circling the project back in June, and at that time, it was Theo James of the Divergent franchise who was being sought for a starring role. No director has been announced and Screen Gems hasn’t set a potential release date.
Oxford is a romantic drama about an American who, while attending Oxford University, falls for a teaching assistant. Their relationship changes when she discovers he has leukemia.
Heughan recently completed work on When the Starlight Ends. His film credits also include Emulsion, Heart of Lightness, and Young Alexander the Great. Benoist has finished up working on Low Riders and Billy Boy, and was most recently seen on screen in The Longest Ride opposite Scott Eastman.
By the looks of this new trailer for season five of Homeland, Showtime’s award-winning series will find Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) once again in the thick of the action even after leaving the CIA. In addition to Danes, the cast of the upcoming season includes Rupert Friend, Mandy Patinkin, F. Murray Abraham, Sebastian Koch, Miranda Otto, Alexander Fehling, and Sarah Sokolovic. Homeland will premiere season five on October 4, 2015 at 9pm ET/PT.
The Plot:
Homeland season five will pick up two years after Carrie Mathison’s (Claire Danes) ill-fated tenure as Islamabad station chief. Struggling to reconcile her guilt and disillusionment with years of working on the front lines in the “war on terror,” Carrie finds herself in a self-imposed exile in Berlin, estranged from the CIA and working as the head of security for a German philanthropist.
New Regency and 20th Century Fox released the first official photo of Michael Fassbender in character as Callum Lynch in Assassin’s Creed, based on the video game franchise (for those who are into Assassin’s Creed the video game, the character Fassbender’s playing was created for the movie). The photo, which debuted on Yahoo!, was accompanied by a new synopsis for the action adventure film directed by Justin Kurzel who also directed Fassbender in Macbeth. The cast also includes Marion Cotillard, another member of Kurzel’s Macbeth ensemble.
Filming is expected to begin next week in Malta, London, and Spain, according to Yahoo!. Assassin’s Creed is aiming for a December 21, 2016 theatrical release.
The Plot:
Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch (Fassbender) experiences the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day.
Instagram’s switching things up, allowing portrait and landscape orientations on their platform which means users can now upload landscape videos. The first to take advantage of this change is Star Wars: The Force Awakens with Disney just posting a short video with new footage.
Directed by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek), Star Wars: The Force Awakens stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow. Abrams co-wrote the script with Lawrence Kasdan and produced the much-anticipated new Star Wars sci-fi adventure with Kathleen Kennedy and Bryan Burk.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters on December 18, 2015.
Actors Debbie Reynolds and Gena Rowlands, as well as filmmaker Spike Lee, have been tapped to receive honorary awards at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 7th Annual Governors Awards to be held on November 14, 2015. Rowlands and Lee will be recognized with Honorary Awards and Reynolds will receive this year’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
According to the Academy, the Honorary Award is given to “honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.” The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is awarded to “an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”
“The Board is proud to recognize our honorees’ remarkable contributions at this year’s Governors Awards,” stated Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’ll be celebrating their achievements with the knowledge that the work they have accomplished – with passion, dedication and a desire to make a positive difference – will also enrich future generations.”
More on Spike Lee, Gena Rowlands, and Debbie Reynolds, Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:
Spike Lee, a champion of independent film and an inspiration to young filmmakers, made an auspicious debut with his NYU thesis film, Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, which won a Student Academy Award® in 1983. He proceeded to blaze a distinctive trail with such features as She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze and Do the Right Thing, which earned him a 1989 Oscar® nomination for Original Screenplay. His work as a director ranges from the Oscar-nominated documentary feature 4 Little Girls to such mainstream successes as Malcolm X and Inside Man. Lee’s other feature credits include Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn, He Got Game, 25th Hour, Miracle at St. Anna and Red Hook Summer. He currently serves as the artistic director of the graduate film program at NYU.
Gena Rowlands, an original talent whose devotion to her craft has earned her worldwide recognition as an independent film icon, received Academy Award nominations for her lead performances in A Woman under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), both directed by her husband and frequent collaborator, John Cassavetes. She got her start on the New York stage and in live television in the 1950s and has appeared in 40 feature films to date, from The High Cost of Loving in 1958 to Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, which she starred in earlier this year. Her other notable films include Lonely Are the Brave, Faces, Minnie and Moskowitz, Opening Night, Another Woman, Unhook the Stars, Hope Floats, Playing by Heart, The Notebook and Broken English.
Debbie Reynolds (Photo Courtesy of SAG)
Debbie Reynolds, a Hollywood icon since she won hearts with her buoyant performance in Singin’ in the Rain, embarked on the role of a lifetime as a founding member of the Thalians, a charitable organization conceived and sustained by entertainers to promote awareness and treatment of mental health issues. She served as the group’s president almost continuously from 1957 to 2011, adding numerous terms as board chair and frequently presiding over its annual fundraising gala.
Her tireless efforts have enabled the Thalians to contribute millions to the Mental Health Center at Cedars-Sinai and to UCLA’s Operation Mend, which helps military veterans recover from the physical and psychological wounds of war. Reynolds has appeared in more than 40 feature films, including The Tender Trap, A Catered Affair and Mother, and received a 1964 Oscar nomination for her lead performance in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
Chris Isaak and Vanguard Records have confirmed First Comes the Night, Isaak’s 13th studio album and his first album of news songs in six years, will arrive on November 13, 2015. The upcoming album will feature 12 new songs recorded in LA and Nashville with Paul Worley, Dave Cobb, and Mark Needham producing.
“I totally enjoyed recording in Nashville – a city filled with terrific musicians and what an honor to work with such great producers,” said Isaak. “As for the new songs, I like to mix it up so there’s some dark ones, funny ones and romantic ones. You have to absolutely play these songs after the break up while you’re cleaning the house.”
Isaak is also set to take the stage during the 9th Annual ACM Honors on Tuesday, September 1, 2015. The event will take place at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Isaak’s also heading to Australia to be a judge on the upcoming season of X Factor Australia.
In ITV Studios’ new 10 part drama Jekyll & Hyde, the story centers around Robert Jekyll (Tom Bateman), the grandson of the famous Dr. Jekyll. And in the first clip from the action-adventure series, Robert attempts to rescue a woman assaulted by thugs and in the process channels his inner Hyde.
Inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story, Jekyll & Hyde was written and executive produced by novelist Charlie Higson. The cast also includes Richard E. Grant, Natalie Gumede, Stephanie Hyam, Donald Sumpter, Amit Shah, Phil McKee, Christian McKay, Ruby Bentall, Enzo Cilenti, Lolita Chakrabarti, Michael Karim, and Ace Bhatti.
The Plot:
Set in 1930’s London at a time of Hollywood glamour, aerodynamic cars and monster movies, the drama will pay homage to the Stevenson novel, and focus on the young, attractive, troubled hero, Robert Jekyll, the grandson of the original doctor.
At the heart of the drama is Robert Jekyll’s quest to discover his real identity, his true family history and the nature of his ‘curse’. Jekyll transforms into Hyde in moments of extreme anger, stress and when his or the lives of others are threatened.
Higson’s Jekyll is a young, sensitive and naïve man of intellect and morality, a well-meaning if slightly repressed character who slips between his two personas unwillingly. Hyde is a totally different person; a superhero with superpowers, great strength, speed and invulnerability. He is confident, risk-taking and lives life on the edge. His self-destructive nature gets him into trouble, and yet he is an incredibly powerful force. He is a man of action who gets things done despite the consequences!
Throughout the series, we will witness Jekyll wrestling with the dark, brooding personality of Hyde as he struggles to come to terms with his superhero alter ego.
In the opening episode Jekyll is a newly qualified doctor living with his foster parents in Ceylon. He knows nothing of his family history or his inherited condition, which his foster father, Dr Vishal Najaran, is controlling with medication. The drama follows his path to discovery, which coincides with the transformative powers of his condition growing stronger and more disruptive.
His journey will take him into a dark and unforgiving place, as his alter ego seems capable of anything. At the same time there are shadowy forces trying to find Jekyll and the source of his powers.
ABC Family’s ‘Pretty Little Liars’ stars Shay Mitchell as Emily Fields, Ashley Benson as Hanna Marin, Troian Bellisario as Spencer Hastings and Lucy Hale as Aria Montgomery (Photo by Andrew Eccles / ABC)
ABC Family is bringing cast members from Pretty Little Liars, Stitchers, and the upcoming Shadowhunters series to the New York Comic Con. The network confirmed the NYCC presentations will include exclusive footage from the shows as well as Q&As with Comic Con attendees.
The series will be well represented, with all of the main cast of Stitchers and Shadowhunters making the trip to New York as well as PLL stars Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, and Sasha Pieterse. The New York Comic Con runs October 8-11 at the Javits Center and the ABC Family panels will take place on October 9th and 10th.
ABC Family NY Comic Con Schedule:
Friday, October 9 from 11:00-12:15pm in room 1A06 – Stitchers and Pretty Little Liars will have back-to-back panels
Stitchers – Highly intelligent and emotionally distant, Kirsten Clark has an aptitude for technology but never expected that she’d be hacking into the minds of the recently deceased in ABC Family’s hit series Stitchers. Recruited into a covert government agency to be ‘stitched’ into the memories of the dead, Kirsten is the perfect candidate to investigate murders and decipher mysteries that otherwise would have gone to the grave.
Working alongside Kirsten is Cameron, a brilliant neuroscientist whose passion for the program is evident in his work, and Linus, a socially immature bioelectrical engineer and communications technician. The secret agency is headed by Maggie, a skilled veteran of covert operations who closely guards the deeper purpose of the Stitchers program. Kirsten’s roommate, Camille, a gifted computer science grad student, is also recruited to use her skills to assist Kirsten in her new role as a ‘stitcher,’ as well as LAPD Detective Fisher, who provides back-up and support for the team. Stitchers will air a stand-alone Halloween-themed episode in October 2015 and will return with all new episodes in 2016.
Panel to include exclusive video and Q&A with Stitchers Creator/Executive-Producer/Writer Jeffrey Alan Schechter, and series stars Emma Ishta (Kirsten Clark), Kyle Harris (Cameron Goodkin), Ritesh Rajan (Linus Ahluwalia), Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Maggie Baptiste), Allison Scagliotti (Camille Engelson) and Damon Dayoub (Detective Quincy Fisher).
Pretty Little Liars – Now in its sixth season, ABC Family’s #1 hit original series Pretty Little Liars has become a social-media phenomenon. The series follows the twists and turns of four friends – Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer – who were tormented by an unknown assailant who only goes by “A.” After years of mystery, murder, and mayhem, the Liars finally came face-to-face with “A” during the summer season finale. When Pretty Little Liars returns in early 2016, the PLLs are five years older and forced to return to Rosewood and deal with a new mystery.
Exclusive footage of the five-year time jump will be shown as well as executive producers and cast tease what is to come for Aria, Emily, Hanna, Spencer and Alison.
The panel will include exclusive footage and a Q&A with cast members Troian Bellisario (“Spencer”), Ashley Benson (“Hanna”), Lucy Hale (“Aria”), Shay Mitchell (“Emily”), Sasha Pieterse (“Alison”), and Executive Producers I. Marlene King, Oliver Goldstick and Joseph Dougherty and will give fans a look at the flash forward and what new mystery lays in store for fans and the Pretty Little Liars.
Saturday, October 10, from 11:00am-12:00pm on the Empire Stage
Shadowhunters – The new ABC Family television series Shadowhunters, based on the New York Times bestselling young adult fantasy book series The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, follows 18-year-old Clary Fray, who finds out on her birthday that she is not who she thinks she is but rather comes from a long line of Shadowhunters – human-angel hybrids who hunt down demons.
When her mother, Jocelyn, is kidnapped, Clary is thrown into the world of demon hunting with mysterious Shadowhunter Jace and her best friend, Simon. Now living among faeries, warlocks, vampires and werewolves, Clary begins a journey of self-discovery as she learns more about her past and what her future may hold. Shadowhunters is set to premiere in early 2016.
The panel will include exclusive footage and a Q&A with cast members Katherine McNamara (“Clary”), Dominic Sherwood (“Jace”), Harry Shum Jr. (“Magnus”), Alberto Rosende (“Simon”), Emeraude Toubia (“Isabelle”), Matthew Daddario (“Alec”) and Isaiah Mustafa (“Luke”), as well as showrunner Ed Decter (“Helix”), Executive Producer McG (Charlie’s Angels, Chuck) and book author Cassandra Clare.
Ready for this year’s big-name holiday film? Love the Coopers finds Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Ed Helms, Diane Keaton, Jake Lacy, Anthony Mackie, Amanda Seyfried, June Squibb, Marisa Tomei, and Olivia Wilde starring in a feature film about – you guessed it – multiple generations of a family coming together for Christmas. Directed by Jessie Nelson, Love the Coopers now has an official trailer and poster that features the family’s adorable dog.
CBS Films’ Love the Coopers will be opening in theaters on November 13, 2015.
The Plot:
Love The Coopers follows the Cooper clan as four generations of extended family come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration. As the evening unfolds, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.
Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson and Christian Slater as Mr. Robot (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood / USA Network)
USA Network has pulled tonight’s season one finale of Mr. Robot off the air out of respect to the family and friends of Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, of WDBJ7. The team were on location filming an interview with Vicki Gardner this morning in Moneta, Virginia when disgruntled ex-WDBJ7 reporter Bryce Williams (real name: Vester Lee Flanagan II) shot them live on air. Because the final episode of Mr. Robot season one contains a graphic scene that could appear similar to the horrific murder of the news team, USA Network made the wise decision to not air it this evening.
USA Network tweeted the update to fans of the series:
“The previously filmed season finale of Mr. Robot contains a graphic scene similar in nature to today’s tragic events in Virginia. Out of respect to the victims, their families and colleagues, and our viewers, we are postponing tonight’s episode. Our thoughts go out to all those affected during this difficult time.”
The network went on to confirm the updated schedule: “The season finale will air in its entirety next Wed, 9/2 at 10/9c. Tonight we will encore episode 9 of Mr. Robot at 10/9c.”
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Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Alison Parker and Adam Ward.
