the industry

Tracy Morgan Is a Nigerian Prince and He Needs Your Help

Tracy’s Roommate: Tracy Morgan, not Tracy Jordan, will star in and produce the comedy Freshman Roommates with T.J. Miller, one of the scared kids from Cloverfield. The movie focuses on a college kid who drunk-replies to an e-mail from a Nigerian prince. But this is no scam. Something that becomes clear when the spoiled son of a deposed African dictator (Morgan) shows up at his door to collect his cash. The script will be written by John Mulaney and Cavemen’s Nick Kroll (!) while 30 Rock executive producer David Miner will executive-produce. We’re just hoping they find roles for Grizz and Dot Com. [Variety]

Good Morning, Harrison: Harrison Ford has joined the cast of the Roger Mitchell–directed and J.J. Abrams–produced comedy Morning Glory. In Ford’s first comedy in 72 years, he will play a hard-nosed old-school TV anchor who resigns from the evening news after one too many gossip stories. He’s then recruited by a young producer (Rachel McAdams) to revive a morning talk show, journalism’s hotbed for hard-hitting consequential news stores. [Variety]

Crank That Webisode: Interscope is planning on producing Webisodes based on the widely respected hip-hop artist Soulja Boy. The characters in Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em: The Animated Series will be introduced in the first video for his second album, out this week. The animation–live action mix will follow an animated Soulja Boy as he returns to high school. Alfonso Ribiero (from Silver Spoons!!) will the play the principal and all the students will be animated, which the teachers deserve credit for. It’s so hard to get kids animated about school these days. [HR]

Kinda Sad Really: Universal and Gore Verbinski have acquired the rights to a 2007 Wall Street Journal article about online role-playing games and the harmful effects they have on people’s lives. The article focuses on a diabetic, 53-year-old chain smoker who spends twenty hours a day online existing through a muscle-bound avatar. Verbinski will develop the film to direct, and Eastern Promises scribe Steven Knight will write the script. We’re really excited about the naked fight scene. [Variety]

Wedding Crasher: Jason Reitman and producing partner Daniel Dubiecki have signed on to executive-produce The Wedding, one of those funny but sad indie comedies. Starring Jesse Eisenberg and written by Max (son of Henry) Winkler, the movie focuses on a twentysomething who crashes the wedding of a woman in her thirties (Anna Friel) who he’s obsessed with. On one hand, it’s sweet, but on the other, he a jerk. [Variety]

What Can’t She Do?: Oprah is one step closer to owning the whole world as her Harpo Films moves into the realm of cable with an exclusive deal with HBO to develop and produce scripted programming. The deal calls on Harpo to bring series, miniseries, movies and documentaries to cable. So what should expect out of Oprah? No one’s really saying, only that that programming will be an “eclectic mix,” which actually couldn’t sound more horrifying. [HR]

Tracy Morgan Is a Nigerian Prince and He Needs Your Help