Casting Tidbit: James Purefoy and Kevin Bacon to Series Television?
Casting Tidbit: Deadline is reporting that James Purefoy, soon to be seen in Disney’s John Carter (you’ve heard of that, right?) has just signed on to do another television series. Kevin Williamson of Dawson’s Creek, the Scream films and Vampire Diaries fame, has created a new show, described as an “edge-of-the-seat thriller”. Purefoy would play a serial killer named Joe Carroll who uses technology to create a “cult of serial killers”. Get this: his nemesis, a retired FBI profiler, would be played by Kevin Bacon.
Purefoy was last seen in a couple of episodes of the Starz series Camelot, but that was a guest shot. He did star in a very under-seen, and therefore short-lived, series called The Philanthropist in 2009. The show was good (it brought Jesse L. Martin back to my tv as well) and had some serious potential, but, for one, I think the title threw people off and second, it debuted during the summer and wasn’t allowed to grow. Before that, of course, Purefoy starred as Marc Antony in the brilliant HBO series, Rome.
Bacon on the other hand, has made a handful of guest appearances on television but hasn’t been a series regular since he left the soap Guiding Light back in 1981. (Even that was only six episodes.)
Bacon and Purefoy were apparently hot commodities this pilot season, each receiving multiple offers. Once the pilot for the as yet unnamed show is produced, there’s no guarantee it will go to series. If it does, it will consist of fifteen episodes, instead of the standard twenty two for broadcast television (although the norm seems to be between ten and twelve for cable shows like Game of Thrones or Boardwalk Empire.) This was apparently part of Bacon’s deal.
Williamson’s deal is with Fox, so if this turn s out as good as it has the potential to be, I hope it goes to FX. It does sound like something that would fit in with their lineup of shows like Justified, Sons of Anarchy and Damages, rather than Fox’s ilk, ie: Glee. Bacon and Purefoy may be too high profile (read too expensive) for basic cable. We’ll keep you posted on this.
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