Television was long the home to washed up former Hollywood icons who couldn’t get a job in a feature film. But, since THE SOPRANOS and HBO opened the door back in the 1990s, both network and cable television have big budget projects that draw from all levels of film celebrity. With the Fall season just getting started, here are some big casting reveals for several television projects.
First up, Larry David’s HBO movie CLEAR HISTORY has added Amy Ryan, Eva Mendes, Bill Hader, J.B. Smoove, and Danny McBride. They will join Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton. and David himself. David will star as a man named Nathan Flomm who ruins himself professionally and relocates to a Massachusetts island under the new name Rolly DaVore. It is not related to CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM as far as we know, but it will be improv-based. I was excited when I knew Hamm and Keaton were in it but now this is a must see movie.
Vulture also reports that the upcoming season of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT will include Isla Fisher and Terry Crews. No word on whether these will be cameos or recurring roles, but I would lean towards something more than a throwaway gag. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT made great use of Charlize Theron in her recurring role through the second season. Here’s hoping that Terry Crews plays a rival magician for Will Arnett’s Gob and that Isla Fisher plays a love interest for Jason Bateman.
Toby Stephens, who played villain Gustav Graves in DIE ANOTHER DAY will play the lead pirate role of Captain Flint in the Starz original series BLACK SAILS. The series serves as a prequel to Treasure Island. The first season plot summary for BLACK SAILS states: Threatened with extinction on all sides, he and his crew fight for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day – a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality. Flint adds a young stranger to his crew who goes by the name John Silver and sets forth on a plan that could alter the course of history forever. With this and Michael Bay’s pirate series coming soon, it seems that pirates are the next big thing.
Lastly, former LAW & ORDER star Jesse L. Martin is joining the cast of NBC’s SMASH. The show is rebooting after a lackluster first season and has added Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson and Sean Hayes as well. I tried watching SMASH to see how much involvement Steven Spielberg actually had with the project. The answer is little to none. The show felt like a wannabee GLEE but without the surreal undertones.
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