Even as a writers’ strike begins to grind Hollywood to a halt, studios are still making plans for the future, unveiling projects and the stars that will, hopefully, one day be able to work on them. While the strike looks like it could go on for quite a while, optimistically, a handful of new announcements show that one day TV shows and movies will be back in production, with a more fair contract and with better treatment of everyone on set.
Zoey Deutch is officially headed for jury duty (alas, no, not that one.) Per Deadline, Deutch joins Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming film Juror #2, which follows “family man” Justin Kemp, who faces some serious ethical headwinds while serving as a juror on a high-profile murder trial. [Hattie Lindert]
It’s always a good choice to cast Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Ming-Na Wen in a project, even if this one is animated. Per Deadline, they lead the voice cast of Netflix’s Mech Cadets, set 50 years in the future after a terrible alien attack on the planet. A teen janitor and his classmates land the job of defending humanity. Brandon Soo Hoo and Debra Wilson co-star. [Saloni Gajjar]
Stranger Things‘ Jamie Campbell Bower is getting back into the ‘80s nostalgia game with a new role in the Witchboard remake, an adaptation of the classic 1986 supernatural horror flick. Now filming in Montreal, the reboot also stars Jumanji’s Madison Iseman, Only Murders In The Building’s Aaron Dominguez, Shantaram’s Antonia Desplat, and Ozark’s Charlie Tahan. [Hattie Lindert]
No one deserves to star in a comedy more than The Conjuring franchise, Bates Motel, and Five Days At Memorial star Vera Farmiga. Alas, it doesn’t seem like it’s time for that just yet. In Netflix’s The Corps, she plays Barbara, whose gay son, Cameron (Miles Heizer) joins the Marine Corps along with his straight best friend in 1990, per Deadline. As they fall into their new lives, they embark on a literal and metaphorical transformation. The cast includes Dominic Goodman, Brandon Tyler Moore, Max Parker, and Zach Roerig. [Saloni Gajjar]
Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao’s latest project, an adaptation of historical fiction hit Hamnet, has cast two heavy hitters as leads: Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. Hamnet retells the story of William Shakespeare through the lens of his wife, Agnes, whose devastation in the wake of losing her young son Hamnet sets the scene for Shakespeare’s creation of Hamlet; Buckley plays Agnes, while Mescal takes on the role of The Bard, per Deadline. Both should be more than up to the challenge: if 2022 taught Hollywood anything, it’s that few young actors working today can portray a grieving father with more nuance and heart than Mescal. [Hattie Lindert]
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel is keeping the fan favorites coming, casting The Last Of Us darling Pedro Pascal this week in an undisclosed role after announcing Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn last week. At this point, it’s unclear what stands to be more contentious: the literal arena in the film or the online arena of standom. [Hattie Lindert]
It’s a The Handmaid’s Tale reunion for Max Minghella and Elisabeth Moss. She’ll star in his directorial venture, Shell, alongside Kate Hudson and Kaia Gerber. The thriller is set in a near future where humanity’s obsession with beauty crosses extremes. Moss plays struggling actress Samantha, who is given the opportunity of a lifetime to look young forever. [Saloni Gajjar]
Post-She Said, Carey Mulligan is treading into comedic territory: the actor will star in the Steve Coogan-produced One For The Money alongside Afterlife’s Tom Basden and Love Wedding Repeat’s Tim Key. The comedy’s plot line has echoes of 2022 highlight The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent: One For The Money follows an eccentric lottery winner, Charles, who lives on a remote island and hires his favorite musician, Herb McGwyer, to play a private gig. Unbeknownst to Herb, Charles has also hired Herb’s ex-band mate and ex-girlfriend to contribute; in tried and true screwball fashion, a big storm traps everyone in the uncomfortable reunion. [Hattie Lindert]
Alert: Andrew Garfield will soon be on the big screen in a turtleneck once more. Garfield will reunite with Daisy Edgar Jones in Sebastian Lelio’s Voyagers, which follows the unlikely romance between Carl Sagan (Garfield) and filmmaker Ann Druyan (Jones) against the backdrop of NASA’s 1977 attempt to launch the first interstellar probes in human history. [Hattie Lindert]
Guy Ritchie’s untitled next project–reportedly a big-budget action film–stands to serve as a major reunion. Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Eiza González will star in the film, per Deadline, which follows two extraction specialists who must formulate an escape plan for a major female negotiator. All three actors have recently collaborated with Ritchie: Gyllenhaal starred in The Covenant, and Gonzalez performs in the upcoming The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. As for Cavill, this marks his third collaboration with the director, after The Man From U.N.C.L.E and TMOUW. [Hattie Lindert]