Over the past few years, as Hollywood has drifted more and more towards $200-million-budgeted tentpoles, more filmmakers and actors have run into the warm embrace of television networks. The latest actor to make the move to a series? Greg Kinnear, and he’ll be getting some help from Sam Raimi.
Instead of basking in the box office success of “Oz The Great And Powerful,” Raimi has signed on to helm the pilot for the Fox drama “Rake,” which is based on an Australian comedic drama of the same name that “follows the chaotic and comedic life of criminal defense lawyer Keegan Joye.” Kinnear will play the lead role with production set to start in a few days which, if the network is satisfied with the finished product, may mean that series could premiere sometime in the coming fall or next spring. Though Raimi is no stranger to television — he’s the executive producer of Starz’s “Spartacus,” — “Rake” marks his first time directing a pilot.
But perhaps leading a network dramatic series isn’t enough for Kinnear as the actor is also in talks to take on the lead role of the adaptation of “Heaven Is for Real.” In case you’ve missed “The 400 Club” or haven’t talked to your religious family members lately, the film’s source material is the true-life best-seller by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent that centers on the four-year old son of Burpo, a small-town pastor, that “purportedly died during surgery and went to heaven. The boy awoke with wild descriptions of where he had been, but neither the boy’s father nor friends and family believed him until he began to reveal details that he simply could not have known.” Kinnear will play the father. [Deadline/THR]