the industry

Industry Roundup: Isaiah Mustafa, Union

Now Back to Him: Isaiah Mustafa, the “Old Spice guy,” has signed a talent deal with NBC. Mustafa gained a whole lot of attention for his “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” commercials (which first aired during the Super Bowl), earning appearances on both Ellen and Oprah. As part of the NBC deal, Mustafa will audition for several of the network’s existing and new series, and will be “first geared toward sitcoms.” NBC, if you don’t get the guy on a horse, we’re going to be severely disappointed. [Variety]

State of the Union: Lifetime is developing a spinoff of Army Wives that will star Gabrielle Union. The network has ordered a pilot of the new show that will air as an episode of Wives’ current fourth season. The spinoff will feature the show’s character Pamela Moran (Brigid Brannagh) who — recently divorced from her soldier husband — returns to her former career as a police officer. Union will play Moran’s partner in Atlanta’s major-crimes division. Hopefully this backdoor pilot will be more like Private Practice and less that ill-conceived Gossip Girl spinoff about Lily. [Deadline]

Berry Good: Glee’s Lea Michele will voice the lead role of Dorothy in the upcoming animated 3-D musical Dorothy of Oz. Michele will also provide the vocals for several original musical numbers in the film. The movie is an update of The Wizard of Oz that will focus on Dorothy returning to a tornado-devastated Kansas and being transported back to Oz to save her friends. Other actors signed on to provide voices include Jim Belushi (the Lion), Dan Aykroyd (the Scarecrow), Kelsey Grammer (the Tin Man), as well as Oliver Platt, Hugh Dancy, and Martin Short as other characters. Let’s hope for Michele’s sake that Dorothy doesn’t get curious about figuring out who her mom is. [Variety]

Great Scott
: Adam Scott (Party Down, Parks and Recreation) has joined the cast of My Idiot Brother, which includes Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, and Rashida Jones. Scott will play a neighbor of Banks’s character, who is one of Rudd’s three sisters. Presuming this means Banks and Scott will be romantically involved, there is a serious “Which Is the More Awesome Couple?” competition going on here between the Scott-Banks twosome and the Jones-Deschanel pairing. [Variety]

Asner Returns: Ed Asner has signed on for the CMT comedy pilot Regular Joe, which will also star Liza Snyder (Yes, Dear). Asner will play Tom Arnold’s father, a “gruff and outspoken man” who has started dating again after separating from his wife. Everyone is playing themselves on this show! [HR]

Clash of the
Writers: Dan Mazeau (The Flash, Jonny Quest) is being paired with David Leslie Johnson (The Orphan, The Girl with the Red Riding Hood) to scribe the sequel to Clash of the Titans. The studio brought the two writers together because Mazeau is known for “high-octane set pieces” while Johnson “writes darker character pieces.” So this is kind of like the dorky-screenwriter version of a blind date. [Heat Vision/HR]

Industry Roundup: Isaiah Mustafa, Union