Cuba Gooding Jr. and Will Smith Heading to TV
Mega-movie stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and Will Smith are both planning new projects for TV.
Gooding follows the trend of big-screen actors heading to the networks, and is slated to star in a Fox legal drama pilot, Guilty, created by Brothers and Sisters producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar-winning actor will play William “Billy” Remz, an ethically dubious defense lawyer who is unjustly convicted of fraud and stripped of his license. He then uses radical tactics to pursue cases he’s been banned from and spends his time trying to get revenge on the people who set him up.
If the pilot gets picked up, it will be Gooding's first regular role on a TV series.
Over at ABC, Will Smith and his production company, Overbrook Entertainment, are preparing to begin filming a new comedy starring Dominican singer Romeo Santos. The network bought the Untitled Romeo Project back in October 2011, and it will center around a young man from Washington Heights, New York, "who tries to please his very traditional, immigrant father while also creating a life that reflects his new vision of the American Dream."
James Lassiter, who has produced most of Smith's movies over the last ten years (Seven Pounds, Hancock, I Am Legend, Hitch) also shares executive-producing credits.
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