It has no title yet, but Dan Levy’s new series for Netflix has everything else it needs: a co-creator in “Bottoms” star Rachel Sennott, and a cast led by Levy, Laurie Metcalf (“The Connors”) and Taylor Ortega (“Another Simple Favor”). Levy describes the eight-episode comedy-drama as the “chaotic” story of “two deeply incapable siblings who are blackmailed into the world of organized crime,” a premise bubbling with queer comedic possibility. Right now it’s unclear if Sennott will also take part in front of the camera, but it’d be great if she did: she’s hilarious. Whatever transpires, on paper this all sounds like a good time, and according to Levy, will provide him with the opportunity to call Laurie Metcalf “Mother,” something lots of us have been doing for a long time already.
Lions and tigers and Siegfried and Roy and Andrew and Jude
Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Uwe Horn were gay German magicians and animal trainers who honed an act that became a mainstay of the Las Vegas entertainment world for decades until 2003, when one of their signature white tigers attacked Horn, cutting the duo’s career short. Gone but not forgotten, the iconic pair will live again for an Apple TV+ series, “Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy.” Starring Jude Law as Siegfried and Andrew Garfield as Roy, the eight-episode limited series will be based on a podcast of the same name, and be written and executive produced by John Hoffman (“Only Murders in The Building”), who’ll also take on showrunner duties. The series is set to go into production later this year for a 2026 drop on the streamer. And we’re expecting an affectionate approach to these legends; they were the Liberaces of Lions, after all. What’s not to love?
Margaret Cho and Molly Ringwald deliver ‘Thoughts and Prayers’
Writer-director Nitzan Bachar “NB” Mager is jumping from the world of short films to her debut feature, “Thoughts and Prayers.” In the post-production stage at the moment, the dark comedy is based on Mager’s earlier short, “Run Amok,” about a teenage girl who attempts to stage a musical play about the school shooting that happened at her high school 10 years earlier. The cast is an impressive roster: “Conjuring” franchise mainstay Patrick Wilson, queer actress/comedian Margaret Cho (“Fire Island”), Molly Ringwald (“Feud: Capote vs The Swans”), Broadway actor Alyssa Marvin (“Appropriate”), Elizabeth Marvel (“Homeland”), Bill Camp (“The Night Of”), and Yul Vazquez (“Severance”). You knew someone, somewhere would take this disturbing subject matter and take it exactly where this film is going. Thoughtfully and prayerfully seek out its eventual arthouse distribution.
Looking into the future with Madonna, Cheryl Dunye and Lilly Wachowski
Coming soon? Or at least soon-ish? Or not at all? In development news, filmmaker Cheryl Dunye (“The Watermelon Woman”) has a production company, Jingletown Films, and, along with Lilly Wachowski, she’s developing “The Gilda Stories,” based on Jewel Gomez’s 1991 book, about a Black queer vampire traveling through two centuries of U.S. history. Dunye and Wachowski spent the Cannes Film Festival meeting with potential production backers, so more news on that one should be coming along soon enough. Meanwhile, to highlight the often tortured process of bringing an idea to any size screen, the Madonna biopic has turned another corner. When will it be back on track? Well, maybe never, because now it might be a limited series. Starting over with director Shawn Levy (“Night at The Museum”), Madonna’s life story is in development at Netflix and… is Julia Garner still going to play her? Casting, like life, is a mystery.
Romeo San Vicente got multiple, lengthy standing ovations at Cannes.
