"Champion" was just child's play. At least compared to Kanye West's next attempt at puppet mastery.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Grammy-winning hip-hop star has teamed up with Comedy Central for a new half-hour pilot tentatively titled Alligator Boots.
While details on the series are scarce, it's being described by the trade as "hip-hop meets the Muppets," and a different celebrity guest will host each episode.
The series is being produced jointly by West and Jackhole Productions, the company founded by Crank Yanker puppet vets Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla, and, if picked up by the cable net, could hit screens next year.
Meanwhile, on the heels of news that Keira Knightley will be making a rare foray into modern-day fare comes word that she may be wading back to more familiar acting waters. The British thesp is in talks to star as the fairer half in the period biopic of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Nick Cassavetes will direct The Beautiful and the Damned, centering on the tempestuous 1920s couple cum Jazz Age icons.
The film is expected to start shooting in April, though no actor has yet been cast or entered talks for the role of the novelist.
In other big casting news:
- Everyone apparently loves Hannah Montana. Small-screen vets Ray Romano, Donny Osmond, Sheryl Lee Ralph and, someone the Disney demographic may actually recognize, High School Musical's Corbin Bleu, are set to guest star on the Miley Cyrus series Oct. 12. It will mark Bleu's first return to the show since the pilot and he will reprise his role. The episode centers around an auction to win a date.
- Erstwhile Friend Lisa Kudrow is set to flex her acting muscles on the very small screen, starring in a viral marketing Internet-only short comedy series dubbed Web Therapy. Per the Hollywood Reporter, she'll play an ineffectual shrink who conducts three-minute sessions with clients via the Internet. Bob Balaban and Rashida Jones will appear as the unhelped clients in the show's 15-episode run, which takes place on the newly created LStudio.com, an online branded channel from luxury carmaker Lexus.
- Young British thesp Tom Sturridge joins Jamie King, Nikki Blonsky, Rachel Bilson, Blythe Danner and Richard Jenkins in Waiting for Forever, an indie romantic comedy. Per the Hollywood Reporter, the story centers on a wanderer who attempts to reconnect with his childhood sweetheart, who has since become a Hollywood starlet. Cameras roll Monday in Utah.
- Tom Everett Scott and Arija Bareikis are joining the boys—and girls—in blue, signing on to star in the NBC drama pilot LAPD. Per Variety, Scott plays a cop and father of three who's rather topically married to a blogger who gets partnered with Regina King.
- It's clear who'll take Best in Show at this event. Veteran funnyman and Christopher Guest repertory player Fred Willard has signed on to host the Worldwide Fido Awards airing Oct. 5 on Nick at Nite.