Skip to main content

Casting Couch: Parker Posey to Take on "Jezebel James"

So it seems my little campaign to get Lauren Graham to play the lead in Amy Sherman-Palladino's new comedy pilot, The Return of Jezebel James, didn't exactly get off the ground.

But no matter. While Graham's recently been upped to producer over on Gilmore Girls (making the possibility of her signing the contract to do Season Eight more likely), Sherman-Palladino has found a different leading lady for Jezebel James, one that you wouldn't ordinarily expect to sign on to a multi-camera half-hour comedy.

Yes, ladies and gents, I am talking about the one and only Parker Posey.

Posey (Best in Show, Party Girl, and a zillion other films I love) will play Sarah, a successful children's book editor who, after learning that she can't conceive a child, tries to convince her hellion sister to carry the baby for her. She joins the already cast Scott Cohen, who plays her boyfriend (and lifelong bachelor) Marcus.

"I can't believe it's happening," Sherman-Palladino told the Hollywood Reporter. "Because it's a comedy, the character runs the gamut of emotions from laughing to flipping out to breaking your heart in 22 minutes, and only one in a zillion people has enough skill and charm to pull that off. Parker Posey is that person."

Sherman-Palladino says she and hubby Daniel sent the script for Jezebel James to Posey despite the indie actress turning down every other pilot script she'd ever been offered over the years. The rest, as the say, is history.

Personally, I think it's fantastic casting and Posey will definitely bring the character of Sarah to live. But I am still trying to work my head around how this layered, brilliantly nuanced script will work in the vein of a multi-camera, laugh track-enhanced sitcom. (Ouch.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love it!!

I'd been off her lately (don't know why, but she's been bugging me), but I recently remembered why I once loved her so after seeing her in For You Consideration (I thought she was one of the only bright spots in an otherwise lackluster film).
Yay! Excellent casting. I am now very excited to see this show come together.
Anonymous said…
Does anyone know when the pilot for Jezebel James will be shooting?
Jace Lacob said…
Anonymous,

Last I heard, they hadn't nailed down a shooting date (or determined whether it would shoot in Los Angeles or New York), though that will change now that Parker Posey's on board.

Stay tuned.
Anonymous said…
I have it from a very reliable source that production begins in New York mid September through December 07.
Anonymous said…
We just went to the shooting of episode 5 in Astoria, NY at Kaufman Studios. I think they are shooting mostly on Friday evenings.
Anonymous said…
This show is finally going to premiere in March! Friday the 14th at 8pm - looks like they're running 2 episodes in a row. Check it out - can't wait to see amy sherman-palladinos new show!

Popular posts from this blog

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj