Casting Couch: Woody the Zombie Killer; Mario's Pop Stop; B'way the Place for Idol's Ace
Harrelson signs on to blood-and-guts romp Zombieland; Lopez fronts Top Pop Group
- Woody Harrelson's done the Natural Born Killers thing. Now he's tackling the supernatural kind in the horror comedy Zombieland. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Harrelson will be the world's last hope, bashing some brains in the blood-and-guts romp for Columbia Pictures.
- Mario Lopez keeps finding gainful employment. He's just been tapped to front MTV's Top Pop Group, an Idol-esque competition to find—wait for it—the top pop group in the U.S., with the winning outfit getting $100,000. The reality contest kicks off Sept. 11.
- Former O.C. denizen Ben McKenzie is heading back to the boob tube, playing a rookie cop in the NBC drama pilot LAPD.
- Former American Idol finalist Ace Young is the word for Grease. The season five finalist makes his Broadway debut Sept. 9, starring as Kenickie in the hit revival.
- MadTV's Will Sasso plays the title character, an out-of-shape Spartan general, in the swords-and-sandals parody National Lampoon's The Legend of Awesomest Maximus. Kristanna Loken, Sophie Monk, Rip Torn, Ian Ziering and Tony Cox
round out the cast. - Sean Astin, Sara Foster and Celia Weston have signed on to costar with Michael Vartan and David Cross in the indie comedy Demoted. The film follows two tire salesmen (Astin and Vartan) whose office pranks on a coworker (Cross) backfire when the victim becomes their boss and demotes them to secretarial duty. Cameras roll next month in Michigan.
- Speaking of promotions, Megalyn Echikunwoke is going from recurring role to regular on CSI: Miami.
- Teri Polo and Josh Charles, who starred together in the short-lived comedy series Sports Night, are reuniting to guest star as newlyweds on the Sept. 30 episode of NBC's Law & Order: SVU.
