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‘Luther’ And ‘Pacific Rim’ Star Idris Elba Is In Play At The Big Agencies

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 16, 2013 @ 12:47pm PDTTags: Idris Elba, Luther, Pacific Rim, UTA
Mike Fleming

After quietly leaving UTA last week, Idris Elba is the hot actor in play, and it’s suspected he’ll either land at WME or CAA. Elba seems poised to finally make that transition from great actor to movie star, so he’s a real catch. But the gang at UTA certainly did their job; the agency booked him into Prometheus, Thor, Pacific Rim and Mandela: The Long Walk To Freedom, the latter a film the agency packaged around director client Justin Chadwick. By the time he’s done starring in Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim this summer and following up by playing Nelson Mandela in the Oscar-bait Weinstein Company release later this year, Elba should finally reach that level of stardom that has inexplicably eluded him. I must say that after watching his turns in The Wire and especially Neil Cross’s British crime series Luther, I find it baffling it has taken this long; how many actors out there are as good as this guy? Elba has also established himself as a serial agency jumper in the U.S. He moved from ICM to CAA, back to ICM, and then chose UTA over WME and CAA two years ago. He remains managed by Anonymous Content and agented by Ken McReddie Associates in the UK.

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Sienna Guillory Joins Season 3 Of ‘Luther’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday November 26, 2012 @ 1:59am PSTTags: BBC, Idris Elba, Luther

Resident Evil actress Sienna Guillory will romance Idris Elba‘s troubled English police detective Luther in the drama series’ upcoming third season. The BBC and BBC America co-production is readying a new run of four hourlong episodes that began filming last week. Per the BBC, this season puts John Luther back under intense pressure, with two conflicting crimes to investigate and a ruthless ex-cop determined to bring him down. Guillory will play Mary, a worker in a vintage clothing shop who meets Luther by chance. Read More »

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CAA Signs ‘Lone Ranger’ Lead Ruth Wilson

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday April 11, 2012 @ 9:34am PDTTags: CAA, Luther, Ruth Wilson, The Lone Ranger
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Actress Ruth Wilson signed with CAA. The signing was competitive for the British actress who is playing the female lead in the Gore Verbinski-directed The Lone Ranger, opposite Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Wilson, who … Read More »

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‘Luther’ Creator Neil Cross Signs Overall Deal With Universal Television

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 26, 2012 @ 2:25pm PDTTags: Big Deals TV, Luther, Neil Cross, Universal Television
Nellie Andreeva

Neil Cross LutherEXCLUSIVE: British novelist-screenwriter Neil Cross, creator of the BBC series Luther, is coming to American television. In his first formal U.S. TV pact, Cross has signed a two-year overall deal with Universal Television to develop new … Read More »

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ITV Planning Britain’s Next ‘Downton Abbey’

By TIM ADLER in London | Monday May 23, 2011 @ 4:27pm PDTTags: Downton Abbey, Hit And Miss, ITV Studios, Luther, Sherlock, The Hour, Upstairs Downstairs

Andrew Davies, who wrote the script for The Three Musketeers and a slew of BBC period dramas, is adapting Lindy Woodhead’s nonfiction bestseller Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge for ITV Studios. I’m told that ITV hopes the story of how brash American retailer Harry Gordon Selfridge –”The Showman of Shopping” — opened the world’s first purpose-built department store in London in 1909 will repeat the success of Downton Abbey. That NBC Universal production has been a huge hit over here for ITV. Certainly there’s a plum role for the American actor playing Selfridge, who blew his fortune on mistresses and gambling before dying destitute. Selfridge’s girlfriends included famed dancer Isadora Duncan and Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. His massive overspending ultimately cost him control of Selfridges.

The second series of Downton Abbey, meanwhile, started shooting on location at Highclere stately home in Berkshire in March. Filming continues until July. PBS Masterpiece will premiere the second series on Jan. 8, 2012, following its ITV run starting this fall.

But that’s not the only bonnet-on-bonnet action coming your way on Masterpiece.

The second series of the BBC’s Upstairs Downstairs, a sequel to the original 1970s ITV show that chronicled the lives of the Edwardian Bellamy family, goes into production in September. The BBC originally announced its Upstairs Downstairs remake at the same time ITV unveiled Downton Abbey. “Upstairs Downstairs is elegantly entertaining but doesn’t reach the same heights as Downton Abbey,” sniffed the Daily Telegraph. Still, BBC1 controller Danny Cohen was pleased enough with the average 8.4 million viewers to commission another 6×60-minute series. There is no U.S. transmission date for Series 2 yet. Read More »

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Idris Elba, Louis Theroux and ‘Top Gear’ Headline BBC America’s Fall

By TIM ADLER in London | Monday September 6, 2010 @ 3:00am PDTTags: BBC America, Cameron Diaz, Cross Idris Elba, David Twohy, Idris Elba, Luther, Tom Cruise, Top Gear, Top Gear Ratings

The Brit actor who’s just signed to play maverick cop Alex Cross in David Twohy’s Cross, stars in the 6-part BBC mini-series Luther playing another maverick cop (think Cracker meets Prime Suspect meets Wallender). Luther uses the Columbo trick of … Read More »

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