Justin Timberlake’s got the beat
If you’re old enough to remember disco’s heyday, then you know Casablanca Records. It was the dance music record label of the 1970s, home to Donna Summer, The Village People, Cher and even Kiss (who scored their one disco hit thanks to the label). And it was masterminded by marketing genius Neil Bogart, who was as extravagant and party-minded as the times themselves. Well now Spinning Gold, a biopic about the late music mogul, is in the works with Justin Timberlake acting as both producer and star. There’s no other cast or details just yet (for example, who’ll play Summer and Cher? Where will they find enough rollerskates?), but when it all falls into place you can expect a trip into hedonism, hit songs, happy-making chemicals and “Hot Stuff.”
Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall head for Broadway
From man-eating Samantha on Sex and the City to a revival of Private Lives, that’s what Kim Cattrall will be doing over Thanksgiving when she hits Broadway in that Noel Coward comedy (infamous for its line: “Certain women should be struck regularly like gongs”). It’s set to begin previews on Nov. 6 for a Nov. 17 opening at the Music Box Theater. And she’s not the only SatC alum working for it in front of a live audience. Cynthia Nixon (who’s always doing a play, it seems) will star in the Broadway revival of the humorous-yet-harrowing 1998 cancer drama Wit. That one opens in previews Jan. 5, 2012 for a Jan. 26 open at the Samuel J. Friedman. A couple of questions, though: Will the U.K.-born Cattrall do another British accent like in Roman Polanski’s film The Ghost Writer? And more exciting to think about, will Nixon shave her head for her own role like Kathleen Chalfant did in its original run? You know it would be cool if she did.
Ellen DeGeneres and Jane Lynch will make it a Laughing Stock
Comedy junkies, get ready, because Laughing Stock is coming. A project from veteran comic/director David Steinberg and producer Steve Carell, the forthcoming Showtime series promises interviews and profiles of the most prolific comic talents of the past fifty years. The short list alone is impressive: Carell, Ellen DeGeneres, Tina Fey, Jane Lynch, Sarah Silverman, Judd Apatow, Mel Brooks, Chris Rock, Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles and more. In other words, over the course of the 10-episode series, you’ll get to hear way too many firsthand accounts of what drives funny people to do what they and witness the mechanics of comedy dissected by people who are usually always “on.” The punchline? You have to wait until 2012.
The Glee Project refuses to stop believing
Glee? A record-breaking pop culture phenomenon. But The Glee Project? Less so. How much less so? Well, remember that 3D Glee concert movie that nobody went to see? The low-rated Glee Project was sort of like that, only free and on television. In other words, they couldn’t give it away. But sometimes shows just need time to develop and build their audience. And the powers that be must have gotten at least something of what they wanted from the reality competition, because a second season casting call is already in the works. Will tenacity pay off for the struggling Oxygen show? Will an audience rise up to meet it during season two? And does it matter? Because either way, it’s probably a cost-effective way to restock the show as aging “high schoolers” move on, no matter how many people tune in for the process.
*Romeo San Vicente never stopped believing, but then again he never really started in the first place. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.
