Octomom Inks Reality TV Deal, but No Takers Yet

Nadya Suleman makes good on her long-threatened reality show, signing a production deal for her own series; Halle Berry, Natalie Portman round out castings

Just what the world needs: more coverage of Octomom.

What with all the fuss about Jon & Kate plus their eight, fellow mother of multiples Nadya Suleman has been all but forgotten about by the media…but sadly not by television production companies.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Suleman has at long last secured a long-threatened deal to star, with all 14 of her children, in a reality show from 3Ball Productions.

Unlike most 24/7-shot series in the reality genre, Suleman's will be a more long-term, less intrusive project, more in line with a documentary that will chronicle her children's lives only through certain milestones, like birthdays and other special events.

It has not yet been sold to a network.

Rounding out the day's casting news: Halle Berry, Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart's latest fangless leading man, Lucy Punch (aka the new Nicole Kidman), Aidan Quinn, John Mahoney, Anthony Edwards and Penelope Ann Miller.

• The Surrogate is Halle Berry's newest baby. The Oscar winner is in talks to star in the thriller, per Variety, as one-half of a couple who hire a surrogate to carry their child—only to discover midway through her term that the surrogate is insane. Berry's onscreen hubby has yet to be cast in the film, which marks the thesp's first return to film since giving birth.

• Natalie Portman is reprising her turn at royalty, signing on to star in the blue-blooded comedy Your Highness. Per Variety, Portman joins the suddenly ubiquitous Danny McBride and James Franco in the flick, which centers on an arrogant prince who, along with his brother, embarks on a quest to save the kingdom and a warrior princess with which the arrogant and lazy prince (McBride) falls in love. Cameras roll in Ireland next month.

• Woody Allen has replaced Nicole Kidman in his upcoming, star-studded ensemble, adding little-known British actress Lucy Punch to his as yet untitled film, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The plot of Allen's latest opus has been kept under tight wraps, but the Hot Fuzz starlet joins Naomi Watts, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins in the flick, filming in London this summer.

• It may be one vampire short of a Twilight reunion, but Michael Shannon has joined Kristen Stewart and New Moon newbie Dakota Fanning in The Runaways, per the Hollywood Reporter, a film chronicling Joan Jett's seminal all-girl rock group. The Revolutionary Road Oscar nominee will be taking on one of the male leads in the film, though his exact part is not known.

• Aidan Quinn, Penelope Ann Miller, John Mahoney, Anthony Edwards, Rebecca De Mornay and Kevin Weisman are all in talks to join Rob Reiner's latest big-screen bonanza. Per the Hollywood Reporter, the sextet will star in the adaptation of Flipped, a young-adult novel following the romantic entanglements of boy-girl neighbors in the late '50s and early '60s as they come of age together.

• 24 continues to add to its season-eight ranks, with Mykelti Williamson the latest thesp to secure a regular role on the hit show. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the onetime CSI: New York star will play the razor-sharp head of CTU's New York bureau.

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