JOSEPH FIENNES, NICOLE KIDMAN IN 'STRANGERLAND'! SOFIA COPPOLA HELMS 'LITTLE MERMAID' MOVIE! 'THE MAZE RUNNER' TRAILER! JOSH LUCAS JOINS DEBRA MESSING IN 'MYSTERIES OF LAURA'! KATHARINE MCPHEE IN 'SCORPION' SHOW

JOSEPH FIENNES

JOINS NICOLE KIDMAN IN STRANGERLAND DRAMA

It seems Nicole Kidman will get a new partner in Australian drama STRANGERLAND! Instead of Guy Pearce she will team up with Joseph Fiennes in this mystery drama in which  the story revolves around a couple whose teen kids turn up missing in the Australian Outback. Hugo Weaving is also in the cast! Before that, you shall watch Fiennes in Dwayne Johnson's Greek epic HERCULES THRACIAN WARS this summer!

LITTLE MERMAID LIVE ACTION MOVIE

And while we're waiting for MALEFICENT, ALICE IN WONDERLAND sequel and Cate Blanchett's CINDERELLA, LITTLE MERMAID will also get her live action movie to be directed by Sofia Coppola! According to 'Deadline' she is negotiating to helm Universal's movie on the Hans Christian Andersen's sea princess.

TELEVISION HEADLINES

KATHARINE MCPHEE IN CBS' 'SCORPION' PILOT

Over at the small screens, the show that I mentioned only yesterday, SCORPION, has just landed Katharine McPhee in the lead role! In the CBS pilot for the sf drama series she will play working-class hero and diner waitress Paige! The drama follows a global network of super-geniuses who fight against various threats of the modern age. Paige is the team's nanny and translator! Elyes Gabel, Robert Patrick and Eddie Kaye Thomas are in the cast!
JOSH LUCAS IN 'MYSTERIES OF LAURA'
Meanwhile, Josh Lucas has joined Debra Messing in NBC's new show MYSTERIES OF LAURA which follows the life and relationships of Laura Diamond (Messing), a female homicide detective who can handle murderous criminals but not her hell-raising twin children. Lucas will play Jake, a clever cop with keen instincts who winds up being captain in the same precinct as his soon-to-be ex-wife, Laura — ex, if only Jake would sign the papers. A serial cheater who could schmooze his way out of the electric chair, Jake’s charm and coveted “good dad” role means he deftly leaves the parenting of his young twin children entirely to Laura.

THE MAZE RUNNER

THE FIRST TRAILER IS HERE!

Yesterday brought us the very first trailer for science fiction adventure THE MAZE RUNNER which will try to find its way into cinemas this September following a boy named Thomas who wakes up in a strange place called the Glade with no memory aside from his first name. The Glade is an enclosed structure populated by other boys, and is surrounded by tall, stone walls that protect them from monsters called Grievers that live in the Maze, which surrounds the walls around the Glade. Every day, some of the kids who are Runners venture into the labyrinth trying to map the ever changing pattern of walls in an attempt to find an exit. As soon as Thomas arrives, unusual things begin to happen and the others grow suspicious of him. The Maze seems familiar to Thomas, but he's unable to make sense of the place despite his extraordinary abilities as a Runner. When the first girl arrives in the Glade, she brings a message that she will be the last one to ever arrive in the Glade, as the end is near.

'TESTAMENT OF YOUTH' WWI EPIC MOVIE WITH KIT HARINGTON, ALICIA VIKANDER! 'HOW I MET YOUR DAD' CAST REVEALED! 'UGLY' 17TH CENTURY TV SERIES! BRYCE JOHNSON JOINS 'SUPERNATURAL BLOODLINES' SHOW

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH WWI

 FILM WITH KIT HARINGTON

One of the future films we're definitely looking forward too is THE TESTAMENT OF YOUTH which has just started filming this week in Britain. Starring Kit Harington and Alicia Vikander the movie will mark the 100 years from the beginning of the World War I! The sweeping historical movie will bring the true story of Vera Brittain, who postponed her studies at Oxford University to serve as a nurse and then struggled to resume her life after both her brother and fiancé were killed on the battlefield. Scandinavian actress Alicia Vikander takes the lead role with GAME OF THRONES and POMPEII star Kit Harington playing her fiancée!

TELEVISION HEADLINES

BRYCE JOHNSON IN 'SUPER- NATURAL BLOODLINES' SPINOFF
In TV updates, CW is adding new names to their SUPERNATURAL spinoff series SUPERNATURAL BLOODLINES! Bryce Johnson from PRETTY LITTLE LIARS is the new cast member in the new show which will focus on various Mafia-esque monster families who, unknown to humans, run the underbelly of Chicago. The clans are being tracked by a hunter who is trying to rid Chicago of anything supernatural. Melissa Roxburgh, Sean Faris and Nathaniel Buzolic are already attached to star!
'UGLY' 17TH CENTURY TV SERIES
Over in Europe, Freemantle and director Roland Joffe (he is also helming TEXAS RISING historical saga) will make UGLY historical TV series based on Victor Hugo's HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME! Set against the political, economic and social explosion of early 17th Century France the series will trace the titular character’s journey in order to show what it means to be human regardless of outward appearances.
'HOW I MET YOUR DAD' SPINOFF CAST REVEALED
Over at CBS the cast is being rounded up for their HOW I MET YOUR DAD sitcom, the spinoff to their HOW I MET YOUR MOM comedy which will present the spinoff characters in the series finale next week! Anders Holm will play Gavin, the soon to be ex-husband of female lead Sally (played by Greta Gerwig)! The story will follow her as she comes to the conclusion that she has little in common with her husband Gavin, after less than 12 months of marriage. Krysta Rodriguez (Smash) will appear as Sally's best friend, party girl Juliet, Nick D’Agosto (MASTERS OF SEX) will play Frank, the head of IT for Juliet’s fashion blog who falls for Sally. Andrew Santino will play Danny, Sally’s older brother, a perfect but uptight overachieving lawyer!

'THE SADHU' EPIC MOVIE ADVENTURE ON INDIAN MYTHOLOGY FROM '300' PRODUCER! SUPER GENIUSES ASSEMBLE IN 'SCORPION' SERIES WITH ELYES GABEL, EDDIE KAYE THOMAS! MELLISA GEORGE, ODED FEHR JOIN RUFUS SEWELL IN NEW ABC DRAMA

'THE SADHU' INDIAN EPIC FROM

 '300' PRODUCER MARK CANTON

And while Greek epic 300 RISE OF AN EMPIRE is scoring millions around the globe, its producer Mark Canton (who also brought us IMMORTALS blockbuster epic) already has another epic adventure in his sleeve! He will develop a movie out of Indian comic book THE SADHU! The story follows James Jenson, a British soldier whose family is brutally murdered by a corrupt superior officer in the Indian colony of Bengal in 1858. Jenson escapes in the remote forests of India, where he seeks refuge with the mysterious Indian mystics known as sadhus. After years of being trained in their supernatural arts, Jenson must decide whether to use his newfound powers for inner peace and enlightenment, or vengeance. Using the ancient mythology of India the producers are hoping to launch a new movie franchise.

TELEVISION HEADLINES

GENIUSES ASSEMBLE IN 'SCORPION' CBS DRAMA
In television news this Monday, CBS is preparing new series titled SCORPION in which the story will revolve around Walter (to be played by Elyes Gabel), an eccentric genius and his international network of super geniuses who form the last line of defense against the complex threats of the modern age. According to 'Deadline' the cast will also have AMERICAN PIE's Eddie Kaye Thomas who will portray Toby, a genius behaviourist and a member of the super geniuses team. Jadyn Wong from BEING ERICA will play Happy, the mechanical genius who can fabricate anything and has hands with a surgeon’s precision and a magician’s inhuman speed.
MELISSA GEORGE, ODED FEHR JOIN RUFUS SEWELL IN ABC DRAMA
Meanwhile, Melissa George has joined the untitled ABC's drama pilot in the vein of 'Dangerous Liaisons' which, set in New York, revolves around the love and rivalry between two equally matched, powerful socialites, Philip Fitzgerald Julien (Rufus Sewell) and Margot Worth Cole (Melissa George), who play out their obsessive attraction and seduction of each other through their manipulation of others. THE MUMMY star Oded Fehr will play Anderson Cole, Margot’s ex-husband and one of the Forbes 500 whose power has resulted in expanding a multimillion-dollar company into a multibillion-dollar corporation. Anderson has fooled three beautiful women into marrying him and is working on Trophy No. 4.