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Anna Kendrick takes over Santa’s workshop in ‘Noelle’


By Romeo San Vicente

It’s a sign of the times that films initially slated for theatrical release wind up moving to streaming platforms instead. It’s been a winning model for Netflix, stripping films of the stigma of “going straight to video.†And now that Disney is planning to launch its own streaming service, they’re going to need fresh content and not simply rely on your urgent, middle-age desire to re-watch The Boatniks. Welcome, then, the Christmas 2019 premiere of Noelle from  Marc Lawrence (Miss Congeniality). Starring Anna Kendrick in the title role – last name “Claus†– it’s the story of Santa’s daughter taking over the toys-for-good-girls-and-boys operation in what we’re sure will be the smart, sardonic manner that has made her a queer audience favorite. It co-stars Bill Hader, Shirley Maclaine, Billy Eichner, _Airplane!_ star Julie Hagerty and Family Ties dad Michael Gross. Originally planned for theaters, Noelle will now be a part of that pending Mouse-stream, and we’ll be home on our couch that December avoiding the multiplex for it.

Fosse! Fosse! Fosse!

Brace yourselves, Broadway fans, because it’s about to get serious on your television. You want musical-theater legends as interpreted by today’s musical theater A-listers? FX has what you need. They’ve given the greenlight to a limited series about legendary director and choreographer Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, his equally legendary dancer-actress spouse. Together, they shaped 20th-century musical-theater and created classic work that audiences love decades after the fact. The unnamed eight-episode series is from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail, who created and directed Hamilton, and Dear Evan Hansen writer Steven Levenson, Tony Award winners all. Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell will star as Fosse and Oscar nominee Michelle Williams will take on Verdon’s role. And, of course, the show will feature Fosse’s choreography to sweeten the downside of making it huge in show business. And all that jazz.

The Romanoffs cast Andrew Rannells and Clea Duvall

Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men, has a new series in development, _The Romanoffs_, and it has a huge cast. That’s because it’s an anthology series that will revolve around eight different stories of people who believe themselves to be descendants of the Russian royal family. Listing them all would take up every bit of room in this column, so here’s a few: Aaron Eckhart, Kathryn Hahn, Diane Lane, Radha Mitchell, Amanda Peet, Corey Stoll, Isabelle Huppert, as well as _Mad Men_ alums Christina Hendricks, John Slattery and Jay R. Ferguson. But all we care about for now is the queer inclusive casting  of _Veep_’s Clea DuVall and _Girls_’ Andrew Rannells. DuVall’s career assortment of characters have been all over the map, but Rannells tends to play funny gay men, which always makes us happy from a funny gay man representation standpoint. All of that to say we assume he’ll play a funny gay man here, too, and even if we weren’t already in because we’re hardcore stans for Mad Men, we’d make this appointment television. The show hits Amazon in October.

Robin Roberts is having the Lifetime of her life

Robin Roberts is making movies for Lifetime now. The cable network is already known for their original movies (our favorite: Baby Monitor: Sound of Fear, because seriously you guys) but now they’re really planning to do battle with Hallmark, presumably improve the quality – hopefully not too much – pushing out 75 of them in 2019. Roberts has signed on to produce a series under the banner Robin Roberts Presents, and they’ll be a mix of narrative features and documentaries. The first two will feature singer-activist Mahalia Jackson and adult kidnap survivor Alexis Manigo, and both films will be accompanied by documentaries about their respective subjects. Now, Lifetime, please keep the prestige angle balanced and hand the producing reins over to someone like John Waters. We need more stuff like Pregnancy Pact.

Romeo San Vicente sleeps with danger just like Tori Spelling.

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