Film News

Turner has picked up four new pilots for its TNT and TBS cablers, including an update of “Dallas” and a new entry from “Leverage” exec producer Dean Devlin. New pilots include two crime procedurals — “Perception,” from Kenneth Biller (”Star Trek: Voyager”) and an untitled drama from Allan Loeb (”Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”). TNT is also reviving “Dallas” via scribe Cynthia Cidre. Over at TBS, Devlin is behind “Brain Trust,” about a quirky detective. To get more info on what each series is about (as well as more details about the “Dallas” reboot), head on over to Variety.com for the full skinny.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023872.html?categoryId=4076&cs=1

Months after word first surfaced that CNN was looking to hire “America’s Got Talent” judge Piers Morgan to headline a new yakker, the news cabler finally admitted to such a deal. One of the worst-kept secrets in TV – the other being Fox’s new “American Idol” judges – has come true: Morgan will indeed replace Larry King’s 9 p.m. slot on CNN starting in January. King previously announced plans to step down from his long-running show by the end of this year.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023865.html?categoryId=14&cs=1

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all U.S. rights to “Barney’s Version,” which is in competish at the Venice Film Festival. Pic, which is produced by Robert Lantos and is helmed by Richard J. Lewis, is based on Mordecai Richler’s comic novel, and stars Paul Giamatti, Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman and Rosamund Pike. Giamatti plays a seemingly ordinary man who lives an extraordinary life.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023854.html?categoryId=4076&cs=1

After days of speculation, NBC officially announced its plans for the 36th season of “Saturday Night Live” — which kicks off Sept. 25 with guest host Amy Poehler. Poehler will be joined by musical guest Katy Perry, as well as new “SNL” featured players Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah. Exiting the show, as previously reported, is Will Forte. Featured player Jenny Slate isn’t expected to return.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023853.html?categoryId=4027&cs=1

Looking to make his mark as Showtime’s new entertainment prexy, David Nevins has turned to a familiar face: John Wells. Scribe Tom Perrotta is adapting his bestseller “The Wishbones” for Showtime through Wells’ Warner Bros. TV-based production company. Half-hour comedy reps Nevins’ first official piece of development at the pay cabler. “The Wishbones” centers on a group of guys who form a wedding band in their small town but aspire to rock ‘n’ roll greatness. Putnam originally published Perrotta’s novel in 1997; the book has gone through a decade of feature development hell before it was finally positioned as a comedy series project for Showtime. Wells (through John Wells Prods.) and Perrotta will serve as exec producers, while Warner Bros. TV is the studio.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023847.html?categoryId=14&cs=1

Andrea Bowen (”Desperate Housewives”) has been set to star in the upcoming indie feature “Preacher’s Daughter.” Michelle Mower will direct from her own script, with Adam Donaghey and Susan Elkins producing. “Preacher’s Daughter” centers on the estranged daughter of a small-town minister who’s forced to return to the strict, religious home of her youth — where she must confront the troubled relationships that caused her to leave four years before.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023846.html?categoryId=13&cs=1

Joel McHale is in final negotiations to star opposite Jessica Alba in Robert Rodriguez’s “Spy Kids 4″ reboot for Dimension. He will star as a spy-hunting reporter married to Alba’s character, the stepmother to his kids. “Spy Kids 4″ has already been set for release on Aug. 19. The first three pics — written and directed by Rodriguez — were released in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and cumed $360 million worldwide. Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara played the children of spy parents Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023844.html?categoryId=4026&cs=1

Judd Apatow will be one of the executive producers of an untitled HBO project written by 24-year-old filmmaker Lena Dunham. HBO has merely ordered a pilot so we won’t find out for some time if the project will become a full-fledged series, but the premise and the pedigree of the show are interesting. The series, which Dunham will write, direct and star in, will depict the “assorted humiliations and rare triumphs” of a group of young women in their early 20s. Not exactly the first thing one would think of with Apatow, but intriguing, nonetheless.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/09/08/judd-apatow/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Ftvsquad+%28TV+Squad%29

Tao Ruspoli (”Fix”) has been set to direct indie coming-of-age comedy “Bad Apples,” set in the social world of overprivileged L.A. teens. Sriram Das of Das Films is producing from a script by tyro scribes Wendy Kush and Dylan Meyer, daughter of writer-director Nicholas Meyer. “Bad Apples” centers on the social hierarchy in an exclusive L.A. prep school that’s thrown into chaos when a popular junior fakes a drug habit in order to get sent to rehab — where she develops a real one.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118023834.html?categoryId=13&cs=1