The alphabet network has found a beauty for its beast for their version of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and has added an FBI agent for the untitled Roland Emmerich sci-fi drama. Read on for details!
‘Beauty and the Beast’
Irish actress Ruth Bradley has been cast to play Grace in the network’s “re-imaging” of the classic ‘Beauty and the Beast’ fairy tale. Grace is the beleaguered princess who is engaged to Gorrick, a trusted soldier of the king, but finds an unlikely connection with her mysterious “beast” of a bodyguard, Shiro. Chris Egan (‘Kings’, ‘Eragon’) has already been cast in the role of Gorrick while Darius Campbell will be playing Shiro.
This will mark the first US outing for the Irish beauty who may be familiar to US audiences from her appearance as Emily Merchant in BBC America’s ‘Primeval.’ She has appeared opposite Aidan Gillen (‘Game of Thrones’) and Robert Sheehan (‘Misfits) in the Irish drama ‘Love/Hate.’ Bradley also starred in the comedy/horror movie ‘Grabbers’ about an island off the coast of Ireland that is invaded by bloodsucking aliens and the only way to survive is to by getting drunk. The movie screened at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. Bradley also stars in the TV miniseries ‘Titanic’ as Mary Maloney which, coincidentally, will air on ABC April 14th and 15th.
Untitled Roland Emmerich Sci-Fi Drama
Rounding out the cast of the untitled Roland Emmerich sci-fi drama (which I hope will have a title soon) is Monique Gabriela Curnen who will play the tough, no-nonsense FBI Agent Tracy Meyers.
Curnen is very familiar with playing law enforcement officers as she played an FBI agent in the movie ‘Fast & Furious’ and a detective in ‘Lie to Me.’ Sci-fi fans may recognize her from ‘The Dark Knight’ in the role of Ramirez and she was Lorraine Vasquez in the movie ‘Contagion.’
The untitled project from ‘Independence Day’ director Roland Emmerich will star Max Thieriot as Charlie Henderson, an astrophysics grad student who learns that he is the chosen one tasked with destroying the forces of evil. Also attached to the drama are Martin Landau who will play Mr. Armin, a trusted friend of Charlie’s, Linus Roache (‘Batman Begins’, ‘Chronicles of Riddick’, ‘Law & Order’) as an ambitious politician and Laila Robins (‘Witchblade’,’Person of Interest’) who will play his wife. Competing the cast list are Yaya DeCosta (‘Tron: Legacy’, ‘All my Children’) and Gabriella Wilde (‘The Three Musketeers’, ‘Doctor Who’).
Usually the decision as to whether pilots are picked up to become a series occurs in May, so it shouldn’t be too long before we hear the fate of these projects. As with all new shows, the placement of one means the loss of an already existing show. Since it’s already known that ‘Desperate Housewives’ will be ending in May, that leaves one spot open that executives have already mentioned they had hoped to slip ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in. As for the other pilots on ABC’s list, I guess we’ll just have to wait to see who gets the green light and who gets axed.
