Skip to main content

Casting Couch: J.J. Abrams' "Fringe" Gets Series Regulars, Moves into Pre-production

While the entire town has been abuzz this week with speculation over the outcome of those in-progress discussions between the DGA and the AMPTP, I was thrilled to see that one of the only high-quality drama pilot projects this (non-existent) development season had finally begin to secure some cast.

Fringe, the two-hour FOX drama pilot from J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci, has locked three actors as series regulars, including Mark Valley, Kirk Acevedo, and Tomas Arana. The pilot, budgeted at $10 million, will be directed by Alex Graves, who recently helmed the pilot for Journeyman and served as that series' executive producer.

Project is still on the lookout for its three leads, including a female character, a tough FBI agent who is assigned to work with a institutionalized experimental researcher and his estranged and rather headstrong son as they investigate the onslaught of paranormal phenomenon currently gripping the world. (Click here for my full review of Fringe's pilot script, from October.)

Kirk Acevedo (The Black Donnellys) and Mark Valley (Boston Legal) will play FBI agents, while Arana (The Bourne Supremacy) will play a Homeland Security agent who heads up the Fringe division, which was set up in the wake of a series of terrorist/paranormal events.

Production on the pilot, from Warner Bros Television and Bad Robot, is slated to begin next month in Toronto.

Comments

It's good to at least see some foreward movement on something in the television world. And I love Mark Valley so that's a double plus!

Popular posts from this blog

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

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.

Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian