JOSEPH FIENNES IN 'NOSTRADAMUS' HISTORICAL TV SERIES! SANDRA BULLOCK IN TUPPERWARE MOVIE! JUNE DIANE RAPHALE JOINS JANE FONDA, LILY TOMLIN, MARTIN SHEEN IN 'GRACE AND FRANKIE' SITCOM

SANDRA BULLOCK

IS THE QUEEN OF TUPPER- WARE MARKETING IN A NEW MOVIE

If you're wondering what's Sandra Bullock been up to, she is heading towards kitchen: she will star in the big screen adaptation of Bob Kealing's book TUPPERWARE UNSEALED as the expert who launched Tupperware through famous parties that made the storage product a household name and into the multibillion company it still is today. 'Deadline' reports that Tate Taylor (The Help, Get On Up) will adapt, produce and direct this fun story about a divorcee from Detroit who convinced a plastics inventor to let her go crazy marketing a good product which, up until then, was getting little attention from consumers. The story will focus on her start and the clashes that she had with the company founder Tupper that led to her leaving the company (she left when he sold the company for $15 million, offering her only $35,000 as compensation).

TELEVISION HEADLINES

JOSEPH FIENNES TOPLINES 'NOSTRADAMUS' EPIC TV SERIES
And in TV news today it seems that Joseph Fiennes will again go psychic after miserably failing with his neurotic depiction of Merlin in CAMELOT. He will play the lead role in new television series on famous NOSTRADAMUS! Carnival Films, who are behind DOWNTON ABBEY, are making the historical series about the seer in 16th century France who became world renowned for his self professed ability to predict the future. With story set against the world of the French Royal Court, NOSTRADAMUS will be a complex, brooding character with immense appetites, a charismatic and self destructive man who is plagued with dangerous and disturbing visions and who seeks vengeance for the murder of his family. As you know you can also see the famous clairvoyant in CW's REIGN historical show.

JUNE DIANE RAPHAEL JOINS JANE FONDA & LILY TOMLIN IN 'GRACE & FRANKIE' SITCOM
Over at Netflix, June Diane Raphael has joined the cast of hilarious new sitcom GRACE AND FRANKIE which will see Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin playing long-time rivals who form a bond when their husbands declare their love for each other. In the Marta Kauffman (FRIENDS) created comedy series Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston will play the newly gay husbands, while Raphael has been cast as the daughter of Grace (Fonda) and Robert (Sheen), who has always rebelled against Grace's insistence on keeping up appearances, but finds that her own bluntness serves her well when she takes over her mother's beauty line.

FAMILY MONDAY: DELIGHTFUL NEW 'DOLPHIN TALE 2' AND 'THE GOOD DINOSAUR' POSTERS! DISNEY'S 'MOANA' ANIMATED ADVENTURE MOVIE ON A POLYNESIAN PRINCESS

DOLPHIN TALE 2

LOVELY NEW POSTERS ARE HERE

We're having a family Monday today at HOLLYWOOD SPY with new pics and posters from upcoming family movies, starting with the charming new posters for the DOLPHIN TALE 2 sequel which will swim into theatres this October! It has been several years since young Sawyer Nelson and the dedicated team at the Clearwater Marine Hospital, headed by Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr), rescued Winter. With the help of Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman), who developed a unique prosthetic tail for the injured dolphin, they were able to save her life. Yet their fight is not over. Winter's surrogate mother, the very elderly dolphin Panama, has passed away, leaving Winter without the only poolmate she has ever known. However, the loss of Panama may have even greater repercussions for Winter, who, according to USDA regulations, cannot be housed alone, as dolphins' social behaviour requires them to be paired with other dolphins. Time is running out to find a companion for her before the team at Clearwater loses their beloved Winter to another aquarium. Ashley Judd is also in the cast.

THE GOOD DINOSAUR

1ST POSTER FOR PIXAR'S MOVIE
Another thing to check out today is the first poster for Pixar's THE GOOD DINOSAUR which is expected in cinemas in December 2015 following animated adventures of Arlo, a 70-foot-tall teenage Apatosaurus, who befriends a young human boy named Spot. Neil Patrick Harris, John Lithgow and Judy Greer are in the cast!

POLYNESIAN MOANA IS DISNEY'S

NEW CLASSIC PRINCESS

After the huge successes of FROZEN, TANGLED and BRAVE, all eyes are turned over at Disney in anticipation of their new animated movies in the hope that we could get another classic set of animated characters and another memorable fairy tale on the big screen. Planned to appear in cinemas in March 2018 is MOANA, an exotic Polynesian story, set 2000 years ago, of Moana Waialiki, a sea voyaging enthusiast, and the only daughter of a chief in a long line of navigators. When her family needs her help, she sets off on an epic journey. The film will also include demi-gods and spirits taken from real mythology.

DID YOU KNOW?  
Ron Clements, who helmed THE LITTLE MERMAID, ALADDIN, HERCULES and THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG is directing together with John Musker who co-directed all those movies together with him. Mark Mancina (THE LION KING, TARZAN, PLANES) is composing the music. MOANA will be Disney's first Polynesian princess! And since Disney's previous movies had adjectival titles, the are rumours that MOANA could be changed into SPIRITED! Before this Disney will release GIANTS classic animated movie based on JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, and after it comes KING OF THE ELVES in 2019 about a band of elves living in modern day Mississippi delta.

WENTWORTH MILLER IS CAPTAIN COLD IN 'THE FLASH' TV SERIES! NEW BIG SCREEN BOOK ADAPTATIONS: LIANNE MORIARTY'S 'WHAT ALICE FORGOT' & JOJO MOYES' 'ME BEFORE YOU'

WENTWORTH MILLER IS

CAPTAIN COLD IN 'THE FLASH'  NEW TV SHOW OVER AT CW

One of CW's most anticipated of the new shows THE FLASH has just got itself a huge addition to the cast: Wentworth Miller will play Captain Cold in the superhero series!  Launching October 7th the ARROW spinoff series will see Grant Gustin playing scientist Barry Allen, who suffers a freak accident that turns him into a superhero with the power of incredible speed. Rick Cosnett, Tom Cavanagh, John Wesley Shipp, Danielle Panabaker are also in the cast. Captain Cold is the bitter enemy of THE FLASH, he doesn't have superpowers but he possesses a freeze gun that allows him to freeze objects to absolute zero, to create cold fields, to create ice beams! Wentworth will guest star in the series and the producers are planning to use as many of the characters from the comic books as possible in the series. 

NEW BOOK ADAPTATIONS

WHAT ALICE FORGOT
And I have two updates for you on new big screen book adaptations, starting with Lianne Moriarty's bestselling novel WHAT ALICE FORGOT which will get a movie version over at TriStar with DEVIL WEARS PRADA's David Frankel directing! The story follows a woman who wakes up after a head injury with no memory of the last 15 years. She discovers her once-happy life is gone – she’s now a divorced single mother who must decide whether to start over or fix her relationships.
JOJO MOYES' ME BEFORE YOU
Another novel to get a new life in cinemas is ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes. To be directed by stage director Thea Sharrock (this will be her movie debut) and set for August 21st 2015 release, the Warner Bros. movie follows Lou, a small-town girl caught between dead-end jobs, and Will, a high-profile, successful man who becomes wheelchair-bound following an accident. Will has decided his life is not worth living until Lou is hired for six months to be his new caretaker. Worlds apart and trapped together by circumstance, the two get off to a rocky start. But, Lou becomes determined to prove to Will that life is worth living, and as they embark on a series of adventures together, each finds their world changing in ways neither of them could begin to imagine. The book has already been sold for translation in over 30 countries!

DEBORAH ANN WOLL JOINS CHARLIE COX IN 'DAREDEVIL' TV SERIES! 'LAST WEEKEND' TRAILER WITH PATRICIA CLARKSON! 'THE ONE I LOVE' TRAILER WITH ELISABETH MOSS AND MARK DUPLASS

DAREDEVIL TV SHOW

GETS DEBORAH ANN WOLL IN THE LEAD FEMALE ROLE

In today's television news Netflix superhero TV series DAREDEVIL is rounding up its cast with the addition of Deborah Ann Woll (TRUE BLOOD) in the lead female role! She will play Karen Page, DAREDEVIL's greatest love interest. She was played by Ellen Pompeo in the 2003 big screen movie. Deborah Ann Woll will star opposite Charlie Cox in the 13 episode series, which follows a blind lawyer by day, crime-fighting hero by night who protects New York's dangerous Hell's Kitchen area and its citizens. With Steven S. DeKnight (SPARTACUS) as the showrunner, DAREDEVIL will also feature Elden Henson as Murdock’s best friend and legal partner, Vincent D’Onofrio as crime lord Kingpin, and Rosario Dawson in an unknown role.

'LAST WEEKEND' TRAILER

WITH PATRICIA CLARKSON
Two trailers for smaller movies for you this lazy summer weekend, starting with LAST WEEKEND starring Patricia Clarkson as an affluent matriarch who gathers her dysfunctional family for a holiday at their Northern California lake house, but her carefully constructed weekend begins to come apart at the seams, leading her to question her own role in the family.

'THE ONE I LOVE' TRAILER

ELISABETH MOSS, MARK DUPLASS

The second trailer is for indie dramedy THE ONE I LOVE with Elisabeth Moss and Mark Duplass which comes out August 22nd!  On the brink of separation, Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss) escape to a beautiful vacation house for a weekend getaway in an attempt to save their marriage. What begins as a romantic and fun retreat soon becomes surreal, when an unexpected discovery forces the two to examine themselves, their relationship, and their future.

'TARZAN' STARS SHOOTING WITH ALEXANDER SKARSGARD, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, SAMUEL L. JACKSON! FIRST '12 MONKEYS' SF SERIES TRAILER. COTE DE PABLO LEADS THE CAST OF 'DOVEKEEPERS' HISTORICAL MINI TV SERIES

TARZAN STARTS PRODUCTION

WITH ALEXANDER SKARSGARD

Today marks the beginning of the production of the new live action version of TARZAN over in UK! The movie is expected in the cinemas in summer 2016 which is two years time :) It has been years since the man once known as Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård) left the jungles of Africa behind for a gentrified life as John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane (Margot Robbie) at his side. Now, he has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by the Belgian, Captain Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz). But those behind the murderous plot have no idea what they are about to unleash. Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Hounsou, John Hurt also star in the Warner Bros. adventure.

COTE DE PABLO TOPLINES THE CAST OF

 'THE DOVE- KEEPERS' HISTORICAL MINI SERIES FROM 'BIBLE' CREATORS AT CBS
In today's TV news CBS has found the lead actress for their upcoming historical mini series THE DOVEKEEPERS. NCIS star Cote de Pablo will lead the cast of the four hour mini series based on the bestselling novel by Alice Hoffman about four unique women involved in the siege of Masada in 70 CE. To be produced by 'The Bible's' Mark Burnett and Roma Downey the series will focus on the struggle of 900 Jews to survive in a mountain encampment after being exiled from Jerusalem by the Romans. De Pablo will portray Shirah, a sensuous outsider in Masada who nonetheless attracts attention for practicing ancient rites of magic.

TRAILER FOR '12 MONKEYS'

 SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

SyFy has released first trailer for their new science fiction series 12 MONKEYS which will arrive onto the small screens in January 2015. The remake of the popular sf film, starring Aaron Stanford  (Nikita, X-Men), Amanda Schull (Pretty Little Liars), Noah Bean (Nikita, Damages) and Kirk Acevedo (Fringe), follows the journey of a time traveler (Stanford) from the post-apocalyptic future who appears in present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will eventually decimate the human race.

ALICE OZMA'S 'THE READING PROMISE' TO BE MADE INTO A MOVIE! SPIKE TV'S 'THE CRUSADERS' AND HISTORY'S 'KNIGHTS TEMPLAR' HISTORICAL MINI SERIES ON CRUSADERS! EPIC NEW 'LIBERATOR' POSTER WITH EDGAR RAMIREZ

CRUSADERS & KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

SPIKE TV'S AND HISTORY'S MINI TV SERIES ON CRUSADERS

And more delightful news coming from Spike TV after last week's update on Ben Kingsley's joining their Ancient Egypt set mini series TUT on King Tutankhamun. They will team up with Oscar winning writer David Franzoni to pen a new historical mini series based on the Crusades. THE CRUSADERS will be set during the Third Crusade, after the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin’s armies, and will follow two very different knights who journey from Scotland to the Holy Land for very different reasons. 

HISTORY'S 'KNIGHTS TEMPLAR'
I've informed you recently that History is also making their own series on KNIGHTS TEMPLAR focusing on their origins. That one will bring the true story of three brothers, all knights, during the first Crusade, as they make the long journey through the Holy Lands to recapture Jerusalem, ultimately bringing rise to the Knights Templar.

ALICE OZMA'S READING PROMISE

GETS  A BIG SCREEN ADAPTATION

Relativity Media has announced that they will adapt bestselling Alice Ozma's memoirs THE READING PROMISE into a big screen movie! It will be a heartwarming, true story of a young woman whose single father, a beloved elementary school librarian, made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. When the hundredth night came, neither wanted to let go of their storytelling ritual, so they continued their tradition until the night she left for college, a remarkable 3,218 nights (eight years) later. Alice tells her story as a series of vignettes about her relationship with her father and the life lessons learned from the books he read to her.

THE LIBERATOR NEW EPIC

POSTER WITH EDGAR RAMIREZ
You can also check out a brilliant new poster for sweeping epic historical drama THE LIBERATOR which sees Edgar Ramirez playing famous freedom fighter and revolutionary  Simon Bolivar who fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great. His army never conquered - it liberated.

CHARMING 'MY OLD LADY' TRAILER WITH KEVIN KLINE & MAGGIE SMITH! THOMAS JANE TO TOPLINE SYFY'S 'THE EXPANSE' SF SERIES! CHRIS PRATT IN 'GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY' PHOTOSHOOT WITH A RACCOON

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

PHOTO SHOOT WITH CHRIS PRATT AND A SWEET RACCOON

Have you seen the latest Entertainment Weekly photo shoot with Chris Pratt? The lead star of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY shares the session with the most adorable of partners - a delightful little coon! He is promoting the upcoming sf adventure which arrives into theatres August 1st also starring Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, Glenn Close, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper. Pratt plays brash adventurer Peter Quill who finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan (Lee Pace), a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits— Rocket (Bradley Cooper), a gun-toting raccoon, Groot (Vin Diesel), a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista). But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand — with the galaxy's fate in the balance.

THOMAS JANE TOPLINES

SF TV SERIES 'THE EXPANSE'
In today's television news, SyFy has found the lead actor for their new science fiction thriller series THE EXPANSE in Thomas Jane. In the ten episode series based on the sf novels by James S.A. Corey, Jane will play Detective Miller: a cop in the intergalactic series who discovers a conspiracy while working in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. As I told you before, Jane will first star in historical mini series TEXAS RISING over at History which will describe the historical rise of the Texas Rangers against Mexico. That one will also star Bill Paxton, Brendan Fraser, Ray Liotta, Chad Michael Murray, Olivier Martinez....

'MY OLD LADY' TRAILER

KEVIN KLINE AND MAGGIE SMITH

Your trailer for today is a delightful one for BBC Films comedy MY OLD LADY which hits US cinemas this September starring Kevin Kline as a down and out American who moves to Paris to claim a house willed to him by his estranged father. There he discovers he must wait  for the current tenant, a spunky nonagenerian (Maggie Smith), to pass before he can assume ownership per French law. Kristin Scott Thomas plays her daughter.

BEN KINGSLEY LEADS THE CAST IN KING 'TUT' ANCIENT EGYPT TV SERIES! FIRST 'TESTAMENT OF YOUTH' WW1 DRAMA PICTURES WITH ALICIA VIKANDER, COLIN MORGAN, KIT HARINGTON!

BEN KINGSLEY IN

'TUT' ANCIENT EGYPT TV SERIES

We're remaining in epic waters, people, with the news coming from Spike TV's KING TUT epic series which is, after the tragic cancellation of HIEROGLYPH at Fox, now the only Ancient Egypt set show to look forward to! According to 'Deadline' Ben Kingsley will lead the cast playing Ay, the Grand Vizier to King Tutankhamun, who wields tremendous power and influence as the top advisor to the young Egyptian ruler! The six hour mini series revolves around Tutankhamun, aka King TUT (who reigned c. 1333 to 1323 BC), the youngest Pharaoh to rule Ancient Egypt, whose famous golden sarcophagus has become one of the symbols of the ancient civilization. This will be the biggest and the most ambitious project in Spike TV's history! 

WW1 'TESTAMENT OF YOUTH'

FIRST IMAGES WITH ALICIA VIKANDER, COLIN MORGAN AND KIT HARINGTON
Check out what I have for you: the first pictures from epic World War One drama TESTAMENT OF YOUTH giving us the first look of leading stars Alicia Vikander, Colin Morgan and Kit Harington  in their period costumes! This BBC Films production follows Vera Brittain (Alicia Vikander), irrepressible, intelligent and free-minded, who overcomes the prejudices of her family and hometown to win a scholarship to Oxford. With everything to live for, she falls in love with her brother’s close friend Roland Leighton (Kit Harington) as they go to university to pursue their literary dreams. But the First World War is looming and as the boys leave for the front Vera realises she cannot sit idly by as her peers fight for their country, so volunteers as a nurse. She works tirelessly, experiencing all the grief of war, as one by one her  closest friends are all killed and the pillars of her world shattered. But, an indefatigable spirit, Vera endures, rediscovers love and returns to Oxford, irrevocably changed, yet determined to create a world in which such a war can never take place again. Based on the book by Vera Brittain herself, the movie will also star Dominic West, Emily Watson, Hayley Atwell and Miranda Richardson.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS REVEALED FOR EPIC ADVENTURE 'THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES' WITH MARTIN FREEMAN, LUKE EVANS, RICHARD ARMITAGE, AIDAN TURNER, IAN MCKELLEN, LEE PACE

SYNOPSIS REVEALED FOR

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES EPIC MOVIE

To end our epic genre week in high style, here's the cherry on top of our epic cake: official synopsis for THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES! The glorious journey of Bilbo and his company will end December 17th this winter starring Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace, Richard Armitage, Aidan Turner, Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Graham McTavish, Lily Evangeline. And while we anxiously wait for the first teaser at the upcoming Comic Con in San Diego (Peter Jackson revealed that the first full trailer should be expected only in October), check out the plot for the third instalment in the popular epic fantasy saga which will bring the beloved characters and heroes to the end of their journey in the heat of the glorious battle.

UNITE OR BE DESTROYED

FLAMES OF WAR ARE UPON YOU
The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch lends his voice to the legendary dragon), the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town. Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo's frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen), the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain. As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide - unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.

NEW IMAGES AND UPDATES FROM STARZ HISTORICAL FANTASY TV SERIES 'OUTLANDER' STARRING SAM HEUGHAN, CAITRIONA BALFE, GRAHAM MCTAVISH, TOBIAS MENZIES!

STARZ 'OUTLANDER' EPIC SHOW

18TH CENTURY SCOTLAND ON TV

The week behind us was great for the epic genre, what with the news on SHANNARA, THE LAST KINGDOM and THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEAR epic TV series and with the epic trailer for Ancient Egypt adventure EXODUS GODS AND KINGS, so let us end the week with some new images from the only remaining new epic TV series left to see this summer OUTLANDER which starts airing over at Starz August 9th! It was revealed this weekend that the historical adventure will see its first episode released online (at the show's Facebook and Twitter pages) a week before its official airing and that the whole first season will be divided into two parts: the first eight episodes will air till late September, the show will then take a short Autumn break and will return in January with the remaining episodes of the 16 episode season. Starz CEO Chris  Albrecht has also revealed that he was blown away by the first eight episodes and that he believes OUTLANDER will run for years. The show will also appear at San Diego's Comic Con in two weeks time with all the stars attending the panel!

THE STORY OF OUTLANDER

WHAT IF YOUR FUTURE IS ACTUALLY YOUR PAST?
The small screen adaptation of the bestselling set of historical adventure novels by Diana Gabaldon will  follow the story of Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a married combat nurse from 1945 Scotland who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. When she is forced to marry Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate relationship is ignited that tears Claire's heart between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives. Tobias Menzies (ROME) plays her 20th century husband with Graham McTavish  (THE HOBBIT saga), Lotte Verbeek (THE BORGIAS), Gary Lewis (BILLY ELLIOTT) and Nell Hudson playing the members of the 18th century Scottish clan.