Month: March 2022

Michael Douglas has signed on to portray Benjamin Franklin in a limited series for Apple TV+. Douglas will also executive produce the series about Franklin and his diplomatic mission to France during the American Revolution.

The still-untitled series is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff’s book ‘A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.’  The series will depict Franklin at age 70 as he convinced France to supply military aid and funding for the founding of America. The eight year story led to the Franco-American alliance of 1778 and peace with England by l783.

Douglas most recently starred in Netflix’s ‘The Kominsky Method,’ which ended last year. That series earned Douglas three Emmy nominations for best lead actor in a comedy series. Douglas also portrays Dr. Hank Pym in Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man’ movies, and is set to portray Ronald Reagan in a Paramount TV Studios limited series about the 40th president’s negotiations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Christoph Waltz).

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Peacock announced a new comedy series Twisted Metal, a half-hour live-action comedy based on the PlayStation game series of the same name. Anthony Mackie (‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’) will star in and executive produce the series. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool, Zombieland) will executive produce the series, along with Mackie, and Michael Jonathan Smith (Cobra Kai), who also serves as showrunner and writer.

According to a statement from NBCUniversal, Mackie will portray “John Doe, a smug milkman and motor-mouthed outsider who has forgotten his past. Doe is offered a chance at a better life if he is able to survive vehicular combat while delivering a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.”

Jeff Frost, president Sony Pictures Television Studios and Jason Clodfelter, co-president, said in a joint statement:  “We are thrilled that our first series with our good friends at Peacock is with our amazing partners at Electric Avenue, Universal Television and colleagues at PlayStation Productions. Michael Jonathan Smith and Rhett and Paul have ingeniously brought this high-action comedy to life and we are so fortunate to have Anthony at the center of the show. We look forward to this incredible team blowing audiences away with this twisted and inventive concept.”

‘Twisted Metal’: Peacock Lands Live-Action Video Game Adaptation Starring Anthony Mackie With Series Order

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Jennifer Hudson will launch a new self-titled daytime talk show,‘The Jennifer Hudson Show’ for Fox Television Stations this fall. The one-hour daytime talk show is produced in Los Angeles by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. The Jennifer Hudson Show will tape in Los Angeles, with a creative team to be named soon.

David Decker, Executive Vice President, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, said in a statement: “Daytime has found its Dreamgirl. We are excited to bring Jennifer Hudson to Fox, Hearst and all our broadcast station partners this fall. Warner Bros. stands as the cornerstone between A-List talent and top tier stations building successful brands that drive audiences.”

Said Hudson in a statement: “I have experienced so much in my life; I’ve seen the highest of the highs, the lowest of the lows, and just about everything in between but as my mother always told me, ‘Once you think you’ve seen it all, just keep on living. People from around the world have been a part of my journey from the beginning – twenty years ago – and I’m so ready to join their journey as we sit down and talk about the things that inspire and move us all. I have always loved people and I cannot wait to connect on a deeper level and let audiences see the different sides of who I am, the human being, in return. And I couldn’t be more thrilled to do it alongside this incredible team. We’re about to have a lot of fun and shake things up a little bit!”

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Ryan Reynolds teams up with his 13-year-old self in the new action-packed trailer for ‘The Adam Project.’  The sci-fi film follows a time-traveling pilot named Adam Reed, who crash lands in his past while trying to save the future.  Adam — wounded and confused — then encounters his 13-year-old self , with whom he must team up to find his late father and save the world from inherent doom.

Directed by Shawn Levy, The Adam Project also stars Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner as Adam’s parents, Louis and Ellie Reed. Rounding out the cast are Zoe Saldana as his partner Laura, newcomer Walker Scobell as Adam’s younger self, Catherine Keener, and Alex Mallari Jr.  The forthcoming project will mark the second collaboration between Reynolds and Levy, whr previously worked on the 2021 comedy Free Guy. 

The Adam Project streams on Netflix on March 11, 2022. Take a look at the trailer – here.

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