Film News Roundup: Kid Cudi Joins ‘Bill & Ted Face the Music’
In today’s film news roundup, Kid Cudi and Dyan Cannon get roles, drug addiction drama “Dear Jack” gets a director and Trafalgar Releasing is handling the “Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies” this year.
CASTINGS
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Scott Mescudi , best known by his stage name Kid Cudi, has joined the cast of “Bill & Ted Face the Music.”
Mescudi joins previously announced cast including Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves, William Sadler, Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine. Mescudi has a significant role, though details are being kept under wraps.
Reeves will again portray Ted “Theodore” Logan and Winter will reprise his role as Bill S. Preston, Esq. The two previous films were 1989’s “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and 1991’s “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.”
Dean Parisot (“Galaxy Quest”) will direct from a script by original creators Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. Scott Kroopf (“Limitless”) will produce with Alex Lebovici and Steve Ponce of Hammerstone Studios, with Steven Soderbergh executive producing alongside R. Scott Reid, Scott Fischer, John Ryan Jr., and John Santilli.
Orion will debut the movie in the U.S. through the United Artists Releasing banner on Aug. 21, 2020. Cudi’s feature credits include “Need for Speed,” “Entourage,” and “Drunk Parents.”
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Three-time Oscar nominee Dyan Cannon is starring in the romantic comedy “Hope’s Legacy,” which has started shooting in Maryland.
The DBM Films production is a recipient of the new Maryland Small Films Tax Credit program and a sequel to the independent feature “Christmas Ranch.” Cannon stars as a coach in a story set in the world of Maryland equestrian competition.
Cannon received Oscar acting nominations for “Heaven Can Wait” and “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice” and for Best Short film for “Number One.”
Douglas Maddox, president of DBM Communications, said,” “With the tax credit, I was able to secure the funding I needed for the film. I’m very pleased that the Maryland Film Office now has an incentive program that allows me to bring ‘Hope’s Legacy’ home to Maryland.”
DIRECTOR ATTACHED
Annette Haywood-Carter has been hired to direct the drug addiction drama “Dear Jack,” Variety has learned exclusively.
Producers are Cece King, Elyse Russell, Devon Ogden, Jeff Solema and Go East Media along with Twisted Valley Films. The project is based on the memoir “Dear Jack: A Love Letter, by Barbara Bates Conroy and Jackson Scott Conroy,” written by Barbara Bates Conroy to her son after he died in 2015 from a drug overdose.
Haywood-Carter’s directing credits include 1996’s “Foxfire,” starring Angelina Jolie, and 2013’s “Savannah,” starring Jim Caviezel, Chiwitel Eijofor, Jaimie Alexander, Bradley Whitford and Sam Shepard. She will serve as an executive producer on the film.
The film will focus on how Conroy was able to utilize her letters to deal with the tragedy of her son’s death. Shooting will take place in Massachusetts in the fall.
DEAD CONCERT
Trafalgar Releasing will screen the 9th annual “Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies” worldwide, including 400 U.S. movie theaters on Aug. 1.
The event will showcase the previously unreleased complete June 17, 1991, concert from Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The Aug. 1 date coincides with the birthday of late Grateful Dead founding member Jerry Garcia.
The show features “Eyes Of The World,” “Truckin’,””Uncle John’s Band,” “Saint Of Circumstance,” “Might As Well” and “New Speedway Boogie.” Fathom Events began presenting the “Meet-Up at the Movies” shows in 2011.
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