News Roundup | Casting: Steven Spielberg’s New Movie; New ABC series, ‘Queens’, starring Brandy & Eve; ‘Powerpuff Girls’ Live Action Series

Steven Spielberg to Work with Michelle Williams on His Latest Film

Multiple sources have confirmed that Spielberg is working on his post West Side Story movie project with Tony Kushner. The story is said to be based, in part, on his childhood. Michelle Williams, four-time Oscar nominee, has now been added to the cast for the movie. Spielberg has also embarked on a covert hunt for young actors to star in the movie.

The plot is secret at this time but the project will be set in Phoenix, Arizona, where Spielberg lived in the late 1950s and 1960s. 

According to various sources, Michelle Williams will be playing Spielberg’s mother, while most of the young actors are likely to play Spielberg’s childhood friends. July 2022 is being scheduled for release.

Michelle Williams won an Emmy and Golden Globe for  her work in Fosse/Verdon and will be playing in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which will open June 25.

New CW Live-Action TV show, ‘The Powerpuff Girls’,  Casts Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron & Yana Perrault as The Powerpuff Girls

In another news on casting, Chloe Bennet (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Dove Cameron (Descendants) and Yana Perrault (Jagged Little Pill) have been announced as the leads in CW’s live-action pilot, The Powerpuff Girls. Chloe Bennet will portray Blossom Utonium, Dove Cameron will portray Bubbles Utonium, and Yana Perrault will play Buttercup Utonium. The live-action is written by Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier and directed by Maggie Kelly.

The Powerpuff Girls is produced by Berlanti Productions and Vita Vera Films in association with Warner Bros. Television. Cody and Mars executive produce with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, David Madden and Kiley. Erika Kennair will produce the series.

Cameron won a Daytime Emmy for her role on Disney Channel’s Liv & Maddie. She has also been on  Disney’s Descendants and NBC’s Hairspray Live! Bennet played Skye on all seven seasons of ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She has also had a role as Hailey on Nashville. Perrault worked on Broadway in the Alanis Morissette musical, Jagged Little Pill. 

Brandy Joins ABC’s Hip-Hop Drama Pilot, ‘Queens’, as One of its Lead

Another to-be released series that has just cast an actor is Queens. Cinderella star, Brandy, has signed on as a co-lead opposite Eve and Naturi Naughton in the pilot for Queens, which is spearheaded by Zahir McGhee, Sabrina Wind, and ABC Signature.

In Queens, written by McGhee, four estranged women in their 40s, three amongst them played by Brandy, Naughton, and Eve, reunite to recapture their fame and regain the glamour they had in the 90s that made them hip-hop legends.

Like Eve, actress and Grammy award winner, Brandy, will record and perform original songs for the show as her character. McGhee and Wind executive produce.