Breaking News: 'Tale of Tales' director Matteo Garrone To Reimagine Pinocchio, First Casting Announced

This is pretty exciting news hitting the newsroom this morning! Just an hour(ish) ago, Deadline announced that Matteo Garrone, who is set to do his personal reimagining of the Italian fairy tale classic, Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, has cast his first actor. Toni Servillo (The Great Beauty) will return to work with Garrone as Gepetto, Pinocchio's father.

Pinocchio and the pigeon fly to the seashore. - Chiostri 1911

While aware that Tale of Tales isn't a film for everyone, we thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it translated the difficult text of the tale extremely well from book to film. (Review coming soon.) As a result, we're now very (very!) curious as to how Garrone sees Pinocchio. We expect wonderful, artful, and yes, magical, things.

From Deadline:

Garrone’s live-action version will take an “artisanal approach, blending prosthetics, special makeup and CGI.” 

Garrone’s Archimede Productions, Jeremy Thomas’ Recorded Picture Company and Jean Labadie’s Le Pacte will produce the adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s bestselling classic. Garrone will direct from his own screenplay. 

“Pinocchio is a dream of mine that goes back in time to when I was a child,” Garrone said in the statement. “With this movie I will complete my journey through the fairy-tale world that I started with Tale of Tales.” 

The film is expected to begin shooting in the spring in Italy.

Geppetto brings Pinocchio to life, as Carlo Chiostri's illustrations bring Collodi's story to life. From: Le avventure di Pinocchio: Storia di un burattino; by Carlo Collodi, with illustrations by Carlo Chiostri; 1911, Firenze, R. Bemporad & Figlio Editori

Italian news outlet, badtaste.it, quotes Garrone as saying:

The director, according to initial statements, " will create a fantastic world of mystery and wonder, with a story full of touching moments, fun and lively. It will carry animals and fantastic creatures of Pinocchio world using a very practical approach, blending makeup, prosthetics and CGI . "

Complete his journey? I wonder how that will be reflected in the film.

It's been confirmed that this film will be in Italian, with Italian actors and, once again, shot in Italy.

If he's making the movie for his childhood self, there's a good chance this might be more of a family film - though likely a 'Euro family version' - than Tale of Tales (which was less horrific and lusty than we had been led to believe - most things were implied, not shown). 

Pinocchio is sentenced to four months in prison! Also from the 1911 Italian edition of the book.

Either way, we expect a much better film than Roberto Benigni's more-disturbing-than-charming effort of 2002, and look forward to seeing more casting, specifically of Pinocchio and the Blue Fairy, the latter of which may turn out to be a perfect strong female role for some lucky woman.

We found an interesting assessment of the difficulties in remaking Pinocchio by Italian media outlet ilfattoquotidiano.it, which we had to share, because it's a very distilled image of just why so many directors fail when they try to reinterpret the classics on film. We've put the main quote bold:

The puppet master Mangiafuoco, Carlo Chiostri 1911

It is what some call the effect Don Quixote: that in many, too many directors / screenwriters cinema approach a literary myth and their wings will melt. 

In short, the Collodi's fairy tale with its police, its circus and his coin buried under a tree by the Cat and the Fox and subsequently become a swag of gold coins - unintentional metaphor for the current speculative bubble that is scary - awaits the Garrone version. We hope to one of the most important Italian filmmakers in the world to get to the masterpiece. History shows that the transposition of the famous puppet does not allow half measures.

Hollywood is certainly having difficulty with its many versions. There is Guillermo del Toro's stop motion, which looked extremely promising, yet has been stalled for quite some time; Robert Downey Jr's version, which also stalled for a while until Ron Howard came on board to direct not long ago, and, of course, Disney have their own live action version of their animated film, waiting in the development wings (!) too. It seems Garrone's film is already further ahead than any of these.

Garrone's Pinocchio is expected to be released in 2018.

Andy Serkis' "The Jungle Book: Origins" Underway

This version of The Jungle Book (for Warner Bros) will be using Kipling's writing as it's source whereas Disney's will be using their own movie. Apparently this will be completely CG so we should expect something completely different from the upcoming Disney reboot. And yes, production is confirmed as having officially started.

It gets even more confusing trying to keep the films separate in your head when you see the cast - both films of which are impressive and have lots of "Names". (Hm - I probably haven't made it easier using Disney images alongside the characters but hopefully you get the idea - these guys = NOT Disney.)

For this one we have the following line-up:

The film includes Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan, Cate Blanchett as Kaa, Christian Bale as Bagheera, Naomie Harris as Nishi, Eddie Marsan as Vihaan, Peter Mullan as Akela, Tom Hollander as Tabaque, Jack Raynor as Mowgli's brother and Rohan Chand as Mowgli. Serkis, (Edit: who is directing) meanwhile, will (also) be the voice behind Baloo. (source)

Disney's is even more star-studded with:

..Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Bill Murray as Baloo, Giancarlo Esposito as Akela, Lupita Nyong'O as Raksha, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, and newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli.

Disney's The Jungle Book is due in theaters April 15, 2016 while Serkis' movie is scheduled for release on Oct. 6, 2017.

Perhaps the two movies really will be as radically different as the two Snow White movies were that were released at (pretty much) the same time. With over a year's difference in release time, I guess we'll see how it pans out.

Surprise Casting Addition to Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast": Stanley Tucci as "Cadenza"

Just announced via Variety:

Stanley Tucci has closed a deal to join the cast of Disney’s live-action retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. 

Tucci will be playing Cadenza the grand piano, a new character to the realm who is described as a neurotic maestro.

Hm - "NEW character to the realm." Well this will be interesting.

They already had a Maestro Forte in Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. (See pic at right.) He wasn't a good guy. I'd be very surprised if he was playing him (though, it would be interesting to have one of the enchanted objects not be on Belle and the Beast's side for the main story, wouldn't it?)

Well, I wasn't expecting that! Quite the star-studded cast, isn't it?

Ewan McGregro is still in negotiations to play Lumiere but the buzz is, it's pretty likely all will fall into place there.

But we still need a Chip!

Casting Update for Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast": Ewan McGregor in Talks to Play Lumiere

Just announced via Variety - Ewan McGregor is confirmed as being "in talks" to play Lumiere but has yet to sign that important piece of contract paper... (Of course, that may have changed between posting the news and you reading it - lots of updates from the B&tB film at the moment!)

(Not a choice that was on my radar, I must admit.)

Still no word on Chip, who is pretty key to the story events as per Disney's version, but the gang is almost complete.

Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Casting Update: Gugu Mbatha-Raw Joins as Plumette

Plumette - previously known as Babette or Fifi, depending which B&tB you referenced, also known as Lumiere's love interest, has now been cast. (I'm really curious to know if they're going to keep the gag with Fifi getting her feathers plucked, because live action, the subtext isn't so... "sub".)

Just in from Variety (Monday):

“Beyond the Lights” star Gugu Mbatha-Raw has been tapped to play the feather duster Plumette in Disney’s live-action adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast” starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. 

Mbatha-Raw’s character has gone through several iterations in the Disney canon, with the flirty feather duster previously called both Babette and Fifi in other versions of the story.

Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Casting Update: Ian McKellen = Cogsworth

In case you missed the announcement, here's what The Hollywood Reporter announced on Friday:

Ian McKellen has joined the all-star lineup of Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. 

...McKellen will play Cogsworth, the Prince’s butler who is transformed into a clock. While the character doesn’t have any major musical numbers, he does make part of the Be Our Guest show-stopper. 

The veteran actor is best known to modern audiences for playing Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies as well as the evil mutant Magneto in the X-Men movies. He can also be see currently on screen playing an aging Sherlock Holmes in the indie Mr. Holmes.

There have been 'clues' from various Instagram accounts (specifically Luke Evans' account, aka Gaston) that training, rehearsing and travelling to the UK shooting location for the movie is already underway

Next up: Lumiere. (We assume... though Fifi, Lumiere's "flame" [sorry], will likely feature as well, and we still need a Chip and a Monsieur D'Arque, the Asylum Owner/Keeper.)

Casting: Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Closes In On Finalizing Mains

Fan art poster for the upcoming movie by Prateek Mathur
(lovely speed-motion "making of" video at link)

The Downtown Abbey cast must be on high alert for Disney reps, now that a second cast member of theirs, Dan Stevens, has nabbed a starring role in a Disney live action fairy tale. Stevens will be Emma Watson's Beast (confirmed by both Disney and Stevens less than 24 hours ago).

His nemesis, Gaston, will (likely) be played by Luke Evans, star of Dracula Untold and also from The Hobbit. (Evans is in talks but as yet unconfirmed.)

Here's a little extra from Screenrant on the actors just cast and where you might have seen them before:

Stevens, in the years since he played would-be Downton Abbey heir Matthew Crawley, has found his niche as a character actor. His resume now including solid supporting turns in such films as The Fifth Estate and A Walk Among the Tombstones, as well as a memorable lead performance as a mysterious military vet in last year’s action/thriller throwback The Guest – and, most recently, a scene-stealing comedic appearance as Sir Lancelot in Night at the Museum: Tomb of the Emperor. 

...Evans is up to play the film’s villain Gaston: a brawny and vain hunter who, concerned solely with her attractive appearance, becomes determined to make Belle his wife. The most recent script draft for the Beauty and the Beast live-action feature was penned by Stephen Chbosky, who also directed Watson in the film adaptation of his own novel,The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Calling the shots here, however, is one Oscar-winner Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) – who, as it were, previously teamed with Stevens on Fifth Estate (the 2013 Julian Assange memoir). 

Condon wins Best Adapted Screenplay for
"God and Monsters"

Both Condon and Watson previously indicated that the plan is to carry over Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s songs from the 1991 Disney animated Beauty and the Beast feature into the live-action version – with Condon having told EW that modern filmmaking tech will allow them “to bring that brilliant, amazing score and beautiful story into three dimensions.” One just wonders if any of the original tunes from the Broadway musical adaptation will also make the cut. It could be fun to watch Stevens perform a number like “If I Can’t Love Her”, after all.

So, at a glance, the movie cast will look a little like this (though it should be remembered that Beast is a beast for most of the film - at least, in the animated one and there's no news yet on just how that will be handled):

 Belle: Emma Watson - confirmed
 The Beast: Dan Stevens - confirmed
 Gaston: Luke Evans - in talks (TBC)
 Mrs. Potts: Emma Thompson - in talks (TBC)

Quite the gorgeous British collection so far, don't you think?

Beauty and the Beast begins filming later in 2015 with the vague chance of a late 2016 release, but more likely to hit theaters in 2017.

Casting News: Emma Thompson in Talks for Mrs. Potts

The Oscar-winning actress is in negotiations to play Mrs Potts, the housekeeper turned into a teapot, in the live action film version of Disney’s Beauty And The Beast. 

The kindly Mrs Potts helps Belle, the tale’s heroine, sort out her romantic entanglements. Emma Watson will star as Belle. 

Director Bill Condon has been working with composer Alan Menken about which songs from the 1991 animated movie will feature in the new picture. (Source)

So will this be for her voice only, or her voice and an appearance at the end or ...?

Right now I'm having trouble imagining how the enchanted objects aspect of Disney's Beauty and the Beast will work for a live action film.

I've always been enamored of the invisible servants approach myself.

Emma Watson Is Disney's New (Feminist) Belle

You've heard the news: it's been EVERYWHERE (Heidi of SurLaLune was so right - even though I was offline for the better part of three days I still heard about this!) but I thought I should clarify those things that confused me when I heard (so, perhaps other people too) as well as why this is a "to be watched" development.

Emma Watson has been expected to be a Beast's Beauty (of one film or another) for at least four years, since Guillermo del Toro chose her for the lead in his live action adaptation. When things on that production dragged out and schedules got shuffled, the film stalled, with del Toro eventually steeping down from Director and just remaining on as Producer only. I'm guessing this is when Emma Watson started being open to other options to play Beauty (she was fairly vocal about her enthusiasm for the story and the part).

And now it's official. Emma Watson will officially be a Disney princess. (And is no longer attached to the del Toro project - of which there appears to be little-to-no news, unfortunately, other than the lovely note that del Toro gave his blessing for Disney to hire Watson away from his project.)

Which is REALLY interesting because... she's recently been in the headlines for HeForShe, real feminism = real equality campaign, as an ambassador for UN Women.

Why is this interesting? Because, in true equality style, Emma Watson strongly expressed her concerns for men as well as women, which means, you can be sure she's going to be critiquing the script from a true feminist standpoint (ie. equality for all) both how Belle is portrayed and developed, as well as the Beast.

I think this is partly why it's been such big news. Ms. Watson became a social media darling with her outspoken yet diplomatic equality speech, all while looking like the fashion icon she's become. Now she's everybody's favorite feminist and, in many ways, the new American & UK (and the world's!) "sweetheart".

But what will this mean for a Disney live action version of Belle?

Will there be overt changes to the story and character developments, or will it mainly be in the form of shifted nuances? We shall see, but for a story that sits, for most viewers on either one side of the spectrum (empowered female taking charge of her life and learning) or the other ("disguised Stockholm syndrome"), rather than somewhere in between, it's a tough and brave call to take up this role and not compromise yourself. (You know critics as well as both "feminazis" and anti-feminists will be going over this with fine tooth comb!)

I know I will be watching the development of this one because, while I understand how it is the favorite tale of many fellow fairy tale friends, I will admit that I am not completely comfortable reading the story* - any version of it frankly.

The TV show Once Upon A Time ("parented" by Disney) hasn't helped at all with the Disney interpretation either. It has Disney's version of Belle paired with Rumpelstiltskin as her Beast (an fairly fresh twist as a concept) and although, again, I understand the popularity of the couple by the "Rumbelle" fandom, for most of the show, Belle (to me) appears stupid for putting up with what she does and for not seeing the constant negative patterns. Putting a sword in Belle's hand from time to time, or showing her dark bondage-y side* doesn't balance this out. It just makes her seem even more stupid! (I was so very relieved when Belle finally forced Rumpel over the town line, never to return, though it hurt her so - one of the best performances of this "Frozen" season - though we know he will return, because this is OUAT after all...)


Other than that we know... it WILL be a musical! (Singing lessons, dancing... see her Facebook announcement above for the exact wording hints.)

And what of the Beast?

There is no news yet on how the Beast will be portrayed/handled and perhaps that's also due to the part still being written. There are many ways the handling of the Beast could go, though (CG/human hybrid tech, CGI with voice actor, prosthetics plus, animal/hybrid-animal with voice actor, human-behaving badly... the possibilities are only limited to your imagination really), as far as the story goes, we can expect it not to deviate too much from the original Disney classic. At least, not in quite the way Maleficent did from Sleeping Beauty (those two films shouldn't really be considered versions of each other at all - more like distant relations!)

Perks of Being A Wallflower author, Stephen Chbosky is officially on to take up the challenge of the script.

And we will (all) be watching...

In the meantime, it's time to bring this image out of the archives again:

* And this is from someone who views Snow White as being quite empowered in her own historical, seven year old way!
** Yes, Bondage Belle: did you miss that twist in the previous season? That actually seemed to start dealing with more of the issues than the regular sweet Belle ever has, though they backed off from facing anything head on, before Belle turned into sweetness-and-light again.

First Casting for Sofia Coppola's "The Little Mermaid" Makes Waves

The Little Mermaid by Edmund Dulac

Normally I don't bother with casting news unless it appears to be an indication of the direction the tale is going in. This announcement for Sofia Coppola's The Little Mermaid, though, would seem to do just that.

Although it isn't for the lead or any other main character, the casting news for "Sister #4", is already causing a lot of interest. Why? Because Sister #4 (likely a mermaid) will be played by fashion sensation and Australian model, Andrej Pejić.

(Even I've heard of Andrej Pejić!)

Why the big deal? Isn't the addition of pretty people an almost foregone conclusion with the-filmmaker-beloved-by-fashonistas, Sofia Coppola?

You may remember that Ms. Coppola's version of The Little Mermaid is not the Disney one. It's to be based on the Hans Andersen story. And you may also remember that HCA is thought to have written the unhappy story, based on his own unrequited love for another man.

The Little Mermaid has become THE fairy tale for the LGBT community (especially since Disney created their popular version and many people, often for the first time, saw a lower body transform and identified very personally with the agony of being "caught between worlds"), and Hans Andersen's own struggles go a long way to making that a valid interpretation.

Where Andrej Pejić makes a difference by being included in the casting is in being the world's most famous androgynous model, modeling both female and male clothing on the catwalk and being the current fashion poster child for the transgender community. Pejić was ranked number 18 in the Top 50 Male Models of the world in 2011 as well as being included in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World, the same year. Self-described as "living between genders" and indicating a preference for female pronouns, she has never shied away from the controversy surrounding her gender or status, and although, 
1) there's no doubt Pejić is ridiculously gorgeous as male or female (or between) and
2) Pejić has done a small amount of movie/film work before, 
casting her for inclusion in this particular project by the talented, smart and very aware director, Sofia Coppola, is no accident.

While it remains to be seen what direction the film will go and which themes are focused on in the story, at the very least, Ms. Coppola has essentially announced that this film is inclusive for all who see it as "their" film, even if this is the only nod the LGBT community.

It will be very interesting to see whom else will be part of that world...

Source: HERE

Hannah New Talks About Her Role as Aurora's Mother (aka 'Maleficent' News)

Apologies for a quiet weekend on the news front. It's been close to impossible to get to a computer I can blog on for days now, but I hope to put up a few shorter - and, sadly, less detailed - posts over the next couple of days to catch you up a bit.

First of all, the cast for Maleficent is beginning to be allowed to talk about their work on the film. The following excerpt is from an interview with Hannah New who plays Sleeping Beauty's mother when SB was a baby:

From CraveOnline:

You also worked on Maleficent. What’s your role in that?
It was fab. I got to play the mother of Sleeping Beauty which was an incredible role. Sleeping Beauty is a film that I remember very vividly as a kid and I remember all of those scenes, so revisiting the dark side of these fairy tales is almost cathartic as an adult. I think it’s an interesting trend that’s happening now that all of these tails are being explored from both sides, from the good and evil side. I’m very excited to see it. I haven’t seen it yet.

Is her mother out of the picture by the time Maleficent comes along?
Obviously when she’s born, that whole scene from the Disney film when she curses the baby is going to be in Maleficent. It’s the core conflict that happens in the story. Yeah, she then is obviously, because much of the story covers when she’s older, when she’s 16 so obviously I’m only playing her mom when she was a baby.

That still must have been a fun scene to do in live action.
Yeah, totally, it was awesome and also kind of was the culmination of lots of dreams because I’d always dreamed of working at Pinewood because it’s such an institution for us Brits. Obviously that childhood dream of being a Disney princess and getting dressed up in amazing, amazing costumes. The costumes are just out of this world, and obviously working with such incredible actors was another incredible bonus to that job. I’m just really, really glad to be part of it.

I think we're going to be seeing a lot more talk about looking at the darker side of fairy tale, aka seeing stories from the villain's POV in the immediate future. Even though it feels (to me) like we've been discussing this "darker side of fairy tales" thing for a few years now, I guess being sympathetic with the villain's story is a more specific strain of that, and people are completely fascinated by it. There are quizzes and hypothetical posts all over on "who will/should get the Maleficent treatment next?!".

I do think the consideration of the anti-hero, the misunderstood hero who sacrifices all (including reputation and their correct place in history) is a reflection of our current social considerations.. but that's for someone else with more time (and a bigger brain!) to discuss! Feel free to weigh in though. I'd love to see what your thoughts are on this.

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" Set to Make Mini-Series Magic c/- the BBC

A seven-part series adaptation of the best selling fairy tale-ish novel is being developed for the BBC (squee!), the cast has just been announced and they're set to start filming in Yorkshire, Canada and Croatia next week!

 I love the way SFX UK added extra commentary in their announcement so I'll share that with you instead of the usual list:

Bertie Carvel

Eddie Marsan

 The BBC has confirmed recent rumours that Eddie Marsan (Snow White And The Huntsman, Hancock and loads of much better non-SF stuff) will play Mr Norrell, and Bertie Carvel (Sherlock, Les Misérables) will play Jonathan Strange in their upcoming adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s best-selling alternate history novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

Joining Marsan and Carvel in the seven-part adaptation are Alice Englert (the best thing inBeautiful Creatures), Marc Warren (Doctor Who’s “Love And Monsters”), Samuel West (Eternal Law, Van Helsing), Charlotte Riley (Wuthering Heights, Easy Virtue), Enzo Cilenti (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Kick-Ass 2) and Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones, Being Human).

And you have to love this tidbit from Bertie Carvel who will be playing Strange:

“I read the book some years ago and was totally enchanted. I’ve been casting spells for the part of Strange ever since. It is a considerable surprise to find that some of them worked!”

I'm going to choose lovely, magical coincidence over marketing genius with that line.

Susanna Clarke's award winning novel has had numerous people attempt to realize it in movie form since it hit the best seller list but it looks like this mini-series is definitely a "go" now and, let's be honest, if you're a fan of the book, you'd rather a miniseries than just a two hour long movie... wouldn't you? (Though movie paraphernalia tie-ins would be awesome..)

I'm just VERY curious to see how they manage the footnotes... (Oh please be clever about it!)

You'll be glad to know Toby Haynes - director of both Doctor Who AND Sherlock will be calling the shots. Should be a good 'un! (And I have hopes on the footnote front with him at the helm too.)

Breaking Casting News: OUAT's The Shadow (spoiler warning)

The Shadow from OUAT

Just a quickie but I assume by now, since the "character" debuted at the end of Season 2, that you know about "The Shadow" in Neverland so it shouldn't be a surprise that "he" would get a voice.

The (somewhat unexpected) news (ie the "who" being unexpected, not that they gave "him" a voice) did make me think about The Shadows in fairy tales, specifically the malevolent, usually unseen-till-the-last (if at all), larger and over-arching nemesis that isn't named (from War, through to incarnations of The Morrigan) or given a specific personality.

I find this kind of character interesting because in fairy tales - and myth - Shadows (with a capital "s") can usually be defeated but they're so large, such forces of nature - are, in fact, often a personification of nature - that the vanquishing is only ever temporary. Sometimes it's for the lifetime of the hero/heroine, sometimes it's for centuries but it's part of that whole cycle of life thing and one of the reasons they are a necessary archetype in fairy tales. Often fairy tales are the smaller stories happening within a period of a Shadowed time or land and conquering the Shadow isn't part of the story at all.

Where I think modern retelling of tales often fall down is they 1) feel the need to make it so big/global/destroy-the-world type stakes that it MUST be faced NOW and 2) as such they must destroy ALL trace of the Big Evil, so that it will NEVER rise again, but this upsets the balance of the world in ways that are rarely dealt with.

Anyway, we shall see (probably at the end of this season) what happens in OUAT's Neverland with this oh-so-powerful Nemesis. Will he be forever destroyed? Or will he simply change form? (As energy does, since energy can't actually be destroyed, only transformed.)

For those who don't mind spoilers, finding out who the voice of The Shadow will be might make you think about shadows in a different way too...
✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line - NOTE: SPOILER AHEAD! ) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

More on "Galavant" (+ Some Bonus "Princess Bride" Illustrations)

by Sarah Mensinga

Do you remember the announcement on this new TV series I snuck into the blog at the beginning of the month HERE?

The casting call from Disney/ABC has gone out for their fairy tale musical comedy TV series in development, Galavant, and with it, a little more info on the premise.

by Seth Hippen

The show's casting director has begun auditioning actors for series regulars and possible recurring roles, including the title role of Galavant and his true love Madalena. Other roles include Kings and Queens, a Princess, henchman and a squire, among others. The actors are required to have Broadway singing style skills. The show's extras will be hired closer to the beginning of production, which does not have an exact start date yet. 

by Tracie Timmer

by Jeff Victor

"Galavant" is a classic storybook fairytale series that centers on a hero who gives up chasing dragons and saving damsels when the love of his life marries the evil King because she wants his wealth. But when a princess comes seeking his help he takes on the challenge, however she isn't completely honest with him. Two-time Annie Awards nominee Dan Fogelman is executive producing and writing, while Eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken will compose the music. Academy Award winner Glenn Slater is writing the lyrics. (Examiner)

by nthornborrow

If you're in LA, have "Broadway singing skills", and interested in auditioning, you can find the details HERE. Also, break a leg!

by RachelAnn Design

In the meantime, and for everyone else, enjoy some Princess Bride illustrations in which a "prince" is kept quite occupied getting his princess back (via a few detours along the way, like becoming a pirate). :) If you haven't read The Princess Bride, do yourself a favor and get a copy (then read it). This is one story where it's worth having the movie AND the book.

by Leslie Ditto