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[TheOddOne]

- Deadline: ‘The Expendables’ Event Series In Works At Fox With Sylvester Stallone Producing

TV action stars are getting The Expendables treatment as Sylvester Stallone’s hit feature franchise is heading to television. Fox is developing The Expendables, an event series based on the movies, with the franchise’s writer and star Stallone executive producing alongside the films’ producer Avi Lerner.

Writing/executive producing the TV adaptation are feature writing duo Greg Coolidge (Ride Along) & Kirk Ward and NCIS: LA executive producer/showrunner Shane Brennan. It is described as a fun action drama that unites iconic TV stars as a new team of highly-skilled heroes who are on a mission to stop a dangerous terrorist. The project hails from Lionsgate TV, whose feature sibling distributes The Expendables movies, and CBS TV Studios, where Brennan is under an overall deal. Also executive producing the potential event series, for which Fox has ordered a script, is Kevin King, long-time executive at Stallone’s Rogue Marble production company.

There is no cast attached or approached yet but the producers have plenty of beloved TV action stars to choose from: Walker Texas Ranger‘s Chuck Norris, who already is part of The Expendables feature franchise, 24‘s Kiefer Sutherland, Magnum P.I.’s Tom Selleck, Xena‘s Lucy Lawless, Quantum Leap‘s Scott Bakula, Alias‘ Jennifer Garner, A-Team‘s Mr. T and Strike Back‘s Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester, just to name a few.

:lol

 

[Mercury Fred]

Netflix Greenlights ‘The OA’, nothing much is known about the series at this point. It is eight episodes à one hour and is created by Zal Batmanglij & Brit Marling who have worked together on Sound of My Voice and The East.

Wow, Netflix is really on a roll.

I LOVED Sound of my Voice. I think Brit's other work is very uneven although TV might be a much better fit for her big, high concept ideas. Excited this is happening.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Lauren Ambrose Rounds Out Cast of ABC's '70s-Set Broad Squad

Nice to see her claw her way out of the hell that is Lifetime/Hallmark Original Movies.

True Blood's Anna Paquin to Star in HBO Miniseries Madame X

The project — based on Kate Manning’s book My Notorious Life, which was inspired by a true story — will center on Paquin’s Axie Muldoon, a wealthy woman who helps her husband build a midwife business in Victorian New York City and champions women’s reproductive rights.

Paquin will also executive-produce the miniseries, alongside True Blood co-star/real-life husband Stephen Moyer and The Brink star Jack Black.

Sounds good!

 

[TheOddOne]

- Variety: Jude Law in Talks to Play U.S. Pope in Paolo Sorrentino TV Series.

Jude Law is reportedly in advanced negotiations to play the lead role in Italian Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino’s high-concept TV series, working-titled “The Young Pope,” about an imaginary pontiff who is the first Italian-American pope in history.

Italian media is abuzz with unconfirmed news that Sorrentino has found his pope and Law is on board. Wildside, the Italian shingle that is producing the skein, has issed a “no comment.”

Law would play a hard-line conservative American pontiff recruited by a Vatican fed up with liberals, co-scribe Tony Grisoni recently told Variety. “No one, even at the Vatican, is prepared for how hard-line this American pope really is,” he said.

Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani’s Wildside are producing in collaboration with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky Italia paybox which will air the show in Italy.

Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”) and his co-writers, Umberto Contarello, Stefano Rulli and Grisoni, have finalized the first scripts for “The Young Pope.”

The ambitous big-budget skein has been touted by the producers as being “about dreams, fears, conflicts, battles, the search for meaning and the need for love of a pope, seen through the prism of Sorrentino’s unique vision capable of creating worlds that are at the same incredible and more real than reality itself.”

“Pope” will mark Sorrentino’s first foray directing a TV series.

Shooting on the eight-episode English-language skein in fifty-minute format, set in Vatican City and the U.S. and conceived for the international market, is expected to start at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios in July.

 

[beat]

- Variety: Jude Law in Talks to Play U.S. Pope in Paolo Sorrentino TV Series.

Law is neither Italian nor American, is he?

 

[TheOddOne]

Law is neither Italian nor American, is he?

Nope, he's English.

Unrelated:

- Variety: Michael Kenneth Williams Cast as Lead in Two Cable Series.

In “Hap and Leonard,” an original series from Sundance TV that tells the story of an unexpected friendship between an unlikely duo, Williams will co-star as Leonard Pine.

Williams’ character, Leonard, is an openly gay black Vietnam war vet who struggles with anger issues, and was raised by his homophobic uncle, causing him to lean on Hap — a white, working-class laborer — for support in the non-progressive rural South of the 1980s. Hap (who has yet to be cast) spent time in prison for refusing to be drafted and serve in the Vietnam War. Now in his 30s, he works on a plantation picking roses with little financial means, but still has Leonard, his lifelong best friend and confidant.

The drama is produced by Sundance Studios, and created by director-writer Jim Mickle and writer Nick Damici. The duo has adapted Joe Lansdale’s “Hap and Leonard” novels, novellas and short stories of the same name for this series. Lansdale will also serve as a co-exec producer on this project, along with Lowell Northrop and exec producers Nick Shumaker, Jeremy Platt and consulting producer Linda Moran.

Sundance TV ordered six hourlong episodes of “Hap and Leonard.” The series, set to bow in early 2016, marks the net’s third original scripted series, following “Rectify” and “The Red Road.”

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Unrelated:

- Variety: Michael Kenneth Williams Cast as Lead in Two Cable Series.

Sounds great. I'm very much looking forward to that one.

 

[berzeli]

From The Hollywood Reporter: Skydance Productions Developing 'Three Days of the Condor' Remake for TV

David Ellison's Skydance Productions is leaning more into television. The company, already involved in WGN America's Manhattan, is developing a small-screen remake of Sydney Pollack's Three Days of the Condor.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Skydance, producing in partnership with with MGM and Paramount TV, is currently shopping the project to networks — though it's still too early to tell if it will be a miniseries or something with more legs. Jason Smilovic (Lucky Number Slevin) and Todd Katzberg are writing.

Itself an adaptation of James Grady's novel Six Days of the Condor, the 1975 political thriller starred Robert Redford as a bookish CIA analyst who gets caught up in a conspiracy and spends 72 tours trying to elude death after his co-workers are all murdered. Faye Dunaway also starred and earned a Golden Globe nomination for the role.

TV certainly has an appetite for the subject matter. The Homeland effect is still influential, and there are multiple espionage and conspiracy projects in play this pilot season at the broadcast networks.

Skydance, which is based out of Paramount Pictures, currently has a full film slate — including sequels for the Mission Impossible and Star Trek franchises and summer's Terminator Genisys. On the TV front, Skydance also has Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie.

I'm cautiously optimistic, but then again I really love spy fiction.

 

[TheOddOne]

- Deadline: HBO Pilot ‘The Devil You Know': Ever Carradine & Damien Molony Among Additions.

HBO drama pilot The Devil You Know (working title), co-written by Orange Is The New Black creator Jenji Kohan, Bruce Miller and Tracy Miller, is building out its cast. Joining previously announced Eddie Izzard, Nadia Alexander and Ismenia Mendes in series regular roles are Ever Carradine, Damien Molony, Julian Rhind Tutt, Matthew James Thomas, Nigel Lindsay, Ewen Bremner, Karen Gillan, Hannah Nordberg, Naian Gonzalez Norvind and Zawe Ashton. Tapped as recurring are Will Pullen, Kate Nash, Seana Kofoed, Mary Mouser and Beanie Feldstein.

Described as a provocative period drama, The Devil You Know explores the circumstances around one of the most compelling chapters in American history — the infamous Salem Witch Trials in 17th century New England, where intolerance and repression set neighbor against neighbor and led a town to mass hysteria.

 

[Wiktor]

Let The Right One In - A&E Developing Series Remake

A&E is ready to Let the Right One In.

The network is teaming with Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis and actor-screenwriter Brandon Boyce to adapt the Swedish vampire story, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

A&E landed the story, about a bullied teen boy who befriends a young female vampire — based on the best-selling Swedish book by John Ajvide Lindqvist that was subsequently adapted into the critically acclaimed 2008 movie directed by Tomas Alfredson — following a bidding war with Showtime.

The drama follows the boy and female vampire, who lives in secrecy with her mysterious guardian. When a series of strange murders pops up in their small Vermont town, it attracts the attention of a federal marshal with a mysterious past of his own.

I'm ok with this. Liked both movies and recently all the "let's turn movies into TV series" projects have turned out to be very good.

 

[Pachimari]

Oh I'm excited about a Let Me In series. The more horror shows the better. I actually don't know of any horrors other than American Horror Story and Penny Dreadful.

 

[Wiktor]

Oh I'm excited about a Let Me In series. The more horror shows the better. I actually don't know of any horrors other than American Horror Story and Penny Dreadful.

There's also Strain.

 

[berzeli]

Let The Right One In - A&E Developing Series Remake

I'm ok with this. Liked both movies and recently all the "let's turn movies into TV series" projects have turned out to be very good.

Fuck everything about this. I adore the book and the Swedish version of the film (the U.S. one is meh), there are plenty of other books written by Ajvide Lindqvist that they could have adapted instead of going for another round of LTROI. Also the line"federal marshal with a mysterious past of his own" fills me with dread and will end up being scarier than anything in the series.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Team Downey Producing Iraq Drama ‘Baghdad Country Club’ For Cinemax

Written by Dave Andron (Justified), the project is inspired by the digital article of same name by prolific journalist Joshuah Bearman, whose story The Great Escape became the basis for the 2012 Best Picture Oscar winner Argo. Baghdad Country Club centers on a special forces soldier-turned-mercenary who opens the only watering hole in Baghdad’s Green Zone at the height of the post-invasion Iraqi insurgency.

 

[Dan]

- Variety: Michael Kenneth Williams Cast as Lead in Two Cable Series.

Nicely done with that casting. Looking forward to it.

From The Hollywood Reporter: Skydance Productions Developing 'Three Days of the Condor' Remake for TV

I'm cautiously optimistic, but then again I really love spy fiction.

I'm sure this would work infinitely better as a miniseries... go in that direction if you must.

 

[Pachimari]

So when are new shows normally premiering/airing? In January each year or just randomly throughout the year?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

So when are new shows normally premiering/airing? In January each year or just randomly throughout the year?

New and returning shows premiere all throughout the year.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=964273

 

[Wiktor]

Fuck everything about this. I adore the book and the Swedish version of the film (the U.S. one is meh), there are plenty of other books written by Ajvide Lindqvist that they could have adapted instead of going for another round of LTROI. Also the line"federal marshal with a mysterious past of his own" fills me with dread and will end up being scarier than anything in the series.

You know..if they're smart they will tke the core concept, but also introduce the weird shit from other of his books.

Kind of like Total Recall tv show was at least 50% a Blade Runner show or how Haven has barely anything in common with Colorado Kid at this moment

 

[Dan]

You know..if they're smart they will tke the core concept, but also introduce the weird shit from other of his books.

Kind of like Total Recall tv show was at least 50% a Blade Runner show or how Haven has barely anything in common with Colorado Kid at this moment

Whoa, I never even know there was a Total Recall show.

 

[berzeli]

You know..if they're smart they will tke the core concept, but also introduce the weird shit from other of his books.

Kind of like Total Recall tv show was at least 50% a Blade Runner show or how Haven has barely anything in common with Colorado Kid at this moment

Somehow I think they will stay away from the pedophilia and genital mutilation... Also they only have the rights to one book, not including the short story sequel either so they're stuck with a fairly "limited" work to base this on.

I just can't see this end up being good, especially with that line about the marshal. The fact that they fuck up the gender of Eli in their description (though that could be on THR's behalf) and how A&E butchered Les Revnants with The Returned does not give me any hope. The entire ordeal is just mindbogglingly stupid, the beauty of LTROI is in its simplicity with the love story, everything else (especially the murdering) is the least interesting aspect of it.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Snoop Dogg & Allen Hughes Team For 1980s Family Drama At HBO

HBO is developing a drama series from rapper-actor Snoop Dogg and director-producer Allen Hughes (Broken City, Gang Related). Written by Rodney Barnes (The Boondocks, Everybody Hates Chris) and directed by Hughes, the untitled drama is set early 1980s Los Angeles and centers on a family whose seemingly idyllic life is turned upside down by the collision of their community and American politics.

 

[big ander]

Steve McQueen’s HBO Drama ‘Codes Of Conduct’ Picked Up As Limited Series

HBO is moving forward with Steve McQueen‘s drama pilot Codes of Conduct, giving the project a six-episode limited series order. The 12 Years A Slave helmer will direct all six episodes of Codes of Conduct, on which he had teamed with World War Z co-writer Matthew Michael Carnahan, hip-hop mogul/producer Russell Simmons, who has a deal at HBO, Oscar-winning producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech) and HBO veteran Alan Poul (The Newsroom, Six Feet Under). All six will executive produce.

Co-written by McQueen and Carnahan, Codes of Conduct is carrying McQueen’s signature style of provocative filmmaking and is described as an exploration of a young African-American man’s experience entering New York high society, with a past that may not be what it seems. It centers on Beverly Snow (newcomer Devon Terrell), a young man from Queens as talented as he is ambiguous. His self-confidence will enable him to break into the social circles of Manhattan’s elite, testing the boundaries of access and social mobility. Paul Dano, Helena Bonham Carter and Rebecca Hall co-star.

Him directing all six bumps this from "will watch" to "gimme gimme gimme"

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Andrew Dice Clay Comedy Series Dice Gets Series Order at Showtime

Andrew Dice Clay, the chain-smoking, R-rated comedian who gained notoriety in the 1990s, will headline a scripted series loosely based on his life, the premium cabler announced Friday.

Dice, a half-hour single-camera comedy, will follow the abrasive stand-up “as he works in Vegas to resurrect his career while supporting his family. And his girlfriend. And his ex-fiancé. And his ex-wife. And his mother-in-law. And his son’s band,” per the series official logline.

Production on Dice‘s six episodes is slated to being later this year, for a 2016 premiere.

Steve McQueen’s HBO Drama ‘Codes Of Conduct’ Picked Up As Limited Series

Him directing all six bumps this from "will watch" to "gimme gimme gimme"

Excellent!

 

[Dan]

I approve of the Steve McQueen series. I disapprove of Andrew Dice Clay somehow having a successful career that will soon involve his presence on both Showtime and HBO.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

I approve of the Steve McQueen series. I disapprove of Andrew Dice Clay somehow having a successful career that will soon involve his presence on both Showtime and HBO.

What's he doing at HBO?

 

[Dan]

What's he doing at HBO?

He's part of the cast for that untitled rock and roll drama.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

He's part of the cast for that untitled rock and roll drama.

Oh, I didn't know that. Hm.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Hulu, Parenthood's Jason Katims Team for Faith-Themed Family Drama

Hulu is getting into the Jason Katims business — and vice versa — by ordering straight to series The Way, a 10-episode drama about a family at the center of a controversial faith-based movement, and its struggles with relationships, marriage and power.

 

[Pachimari]

Hulu, Parenthood's Jason Katims Team for Faith-Themed Family Drama

Can we expect a Fall premiere?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

History Developing Scripted Series ‘Knightfall’

Knightfall chronicles the actual events leading up to and following the persecution, downfall and burning at the stake of the Knights Templar on Friday the 13th, 1307. More than 700 years later, Friday the 13th is known as a cursed day because of this event.

Can we expect a Fall premiere?

Possibly. Fall 2015/Spring 2016 most like.

 

[WarrenMax007]

- ‘Billions’ Financial Drama Starring Paul Giamatti & Damian Lewis Gets Showtime Series Order

After a short break, Homeland star Damian Lewis is returning to Showtime’s series lineup with a new drama, Billions. The pay cable network has picked up the Billions pilot, toplined by Lewis and Paul Gianatti, to series with a 12-episode order.

Described as a complex contemporary drama about power politics in the New York world of high finance, Billions is written and executive produced by screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Ocean’s Thirteen), who will serve as showrunners, and financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin (Too Big To Fail). Filming is slated to begin later this year in New York for a 2016 premiere.

Billions takes an insider look at the world of high finance by tracking the approaching collision between two titanic figures – the hard-charging, politically savvy U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Giamatti), and the brilliant, ambitious hedge fund king Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Lewis).
Maggie Siff, Malin Akerman, Toby Leonard Moore, David Costabile and Condola Rashad co-star. The pilot was directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist), who also serves as an executive producer.

Yesssss. Now order Roadies, Showtime, please.

 

[Dan]

Cool, I'm down for Billions.

 

[WarrenMax007]

Cool, I'm down for Billions.

Not sure about female part of the cast. Not a fan. But i'm sure they'll have some beautiful mistress.

 

[beat]

Cool, I'm down for Billions.

I'm not expecting much. I think Koppelman's a smart guy, but I have incredibly low expectations because of Andrew Ross Sorkin's involvement.

Not sure about female part of the cast. Not a fan. But i'm sure they'll have some beautiful mistress.

What's wrong with Siff and Akerman?

 

[WarrenMax007]

What's wrong with Siff and Akerman?

I pretty much hated Siff in Sons of Anarchy. And i'm meh on Akerman.

 

[TheOddOne]

- Screendaily: BBC orders Steve McQueen drama.

The BBC has formally commissioned its “epic” Steve McQueen drama about the experiences of a black community in west London.

The corporation and UK indie Rainmark Films, the indie led by Game Of Thrones producer Frank Doelger and former BBC Films executive Tracey Scoffield, are aiming to shoot the as-yet-untitled six-part series in spring 2016.

McQueen, the Oscar-winning director of 12 Years A Slave, will direct and co-write the drama, alongside writers including Debbie Tucker Green, who won a Bafta TV award in 2012 for Channel 4 single Random.

The series will chronicle the lives of a group of friends and their families living in west London between the 1960s and the present day. It has been in development since January 2014.

In a bid to secure the services of in-demand director McQueen, BBC drama controller Ben Stephenson took the unusual step of commissioning the series before reading a script. Lucy Richer ordered the series alongside Stephenson and will executive produce for the BBC.

 

[Dan]

Steve McQueen is super fucking busy, I hope he's not over extending himself.

I pretty much hated Siff in Sons of Anarchy.

How much of that was her and how much of it was the character? I thought she did a solid job with the material she was given, which was often pretty bad.

 

[berzeli]

- Screendaily: BBC orders Steve McQueen drama.

Oh, this sounds amazing in just about every conceivable way.

 

[big ander]

Steve McQueen is super fucking busy, I hope he's not over extending himself.

Sounds like they're spaced out enough. If the BBC series films in spring 2016, and he's filming Codes of Conduct for HBO over the first half of this year (can't find concrete dates for it), then he should have plenty of time to carry that to completion before going back to the UK for this series.

What bums me out about it is that he probably won't have another feature until late 2017 or even 2018 now, unless he somehow squeezes something in between.

 

[Dan]

Sounds like they're spaced out enough. If the BBC series films in spring 2016, and he's filming Codes of Conduct for HBO over the first half of this year (can't find concrete dates for it), then he should have plenty of time to carry that to completion before going back to the UK for this series.

What bums me out about it is that he probably won't have another feature until late 2017 or even 2018 now, unless he somehow squeezes something in between.

They just hired Gillian Flynn to co-wrote the Widows script with him, which he's signed to direct at some point. Not clear when that might happen now.

 

[big ander]

They just hired Gillian Flynn to co-wrote the Widows script with him, which he's signed to direct at some point. Not clear when that might happen now.

Ah I missed that news. Hm yeah he's tightly scheduled for a while then.

 

[Tim the Wiz]

They just hired Gillian Flynn to co-wrote the Widows script with him, which he's signed to direct at some point. Not clear when that might happen now.

I'd prefer to see his Robeson biopic come out next. But maybe Widows will turn out better than what its (thin) premise implies.

 

[berzeli]

Netflix Orders Supernatural Drama Series From Matt & Ross Duffer

Netflix has given a green light to Montauk, an 1980s drama series written and directed by young genre filmmakers Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer (Wayward Pines, Hidden) and executive produced by Shawn Levy. The streaming service has ordered eight hourlong episodes to premiere in 2016.

Described as a love letter to the 80s classics that captivated a generation, the series is set in 1980 Montauk, Long Island, where a young boy vanishes into thin air. As friends, family, and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one very strange little girl.

Um. Ok.

Spoiler

Tbh, I'm saddened that it doesn't take place in the 60s/70s so I could make a Hemlock Groovy joke

 

[Busty]

Netflix Orders Supernatural Drama Series From Matt & Ross Duffer

Um. Ok.

Spoiler

Tbh, I'm saddened that it doesn't take place in the 60s/70s so I could make a Hemlock Groovy joke

There's another mystery I'd rather see the Duffer Bros tackle.

These guys directed a horror film a couple of years ago called Hidden which starred Alexander Skarsgaard, for Warner Bros no less, almost straight out of college.

The film has yet to be released.

Spooky.

 

[TheOddOne]

- Deadline: Bob Odenkirk & David Cross Sketch Comedy Gets Netflix Series Order.

They’re back! Frequent collaborators and longtime friends Bob Odenkirk and David Cross have teamed for a new sketch comedy series, With Bob and David, which has been picked up by Netflix. The streaming service has ordered four half-hour episodes and one hourlong “making-of” special from the project, which has just started production.

Here is how Odenkirk and Cross describe With Bob and David: After being dishonorably discharged from the Navy SEAL, Bob and David are back serving our country the way they do best: making sketch comedy. Four half-hours of brand-new comedy featuring all new characters, all new scenes and, most importantly, all new wigs.

 

[Wiktor]

Shooting has begun on QUARRY in New Orleans.
Since it's only 8 eps it wil be done soon enough that Cinemax could easily air it this year. THe only question is if they want to.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Shooting has begun on QUARRY in New Orleans.
Since it's only 8 eps it wil be done soon enough that Cinemax could easily air it this year. THe only question is if they want to.

I think it'll air this year.

 

[WarrenMax007]

Shooting has begun on QUARRY in New Orleans.
Since it's only 8 eps it wil be done soon enough that Cinemax could easily air it this year. THe only question is if they want to.

I'm thinking and hoping it will air this year. October - November and then Banshee.

It’s exciting, sexy, violent, character-driven

Oh yes.

 

[Wiktor]

I think it'll air this year.

I hope so. Awfully excited about it. Love the novels, Cinemax owns for this type of IP and Logan is simply pitch-perfect casting.

 

[WarrenMax007]

I hope so. Awfully excited about it. Love the novels, Cinemax owns for this type of IP and Logan is simply pitch-perfect casting.

Greg Yaitanes is twitting photos from the set. Filming will take 82 days. They started on March 30th. So they'll finish at the end of June. More than enough time to air it this year.
Yesssssss.