Brooke Shields has been tapped to star in NBC’s one-hour pilot “Lipstick Jungle,” while Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (“Dirty Little Scoundrels”) has signed on to star in Fox’s comedy pilot “Playing Chicken,” says The Hollywood Reporter.
In other pilot casting news, Kevin Daniels and Christopher Thornton have landed the two leads in NBC’s comedy “I’m With Stupid,” Eric Balfour has been cast as a lead role in CBS’ drama “Protect and Serve,” Jack Davenport and Grant Show are set to star in CBS’ drama “Swingtown,” and Xander Berkeley has been cast in NBC’s untitled Blake/Shore drama.
“Lipstick,” from NBC Universal TV Studio, is based on Candace Bushnell’s novel about three rich, power-hungry professional women in New York. Shields will play one of them, a movie studio president and a harried wife and mother of three.
“Chicken,” from Warner Bros. TV and Werner-Gold-Miller, revolves around Jake (Butz), a loudmouthed conservative, and his brother Tim, an intellectual lefty, who are forced to live together after an accident leaves Jake wheelchair-bound.
“Stupid,” from NBC Universal TV and Reveille, centers on a down-and-out guy (Daniels) who befriends a wheelchair-bound young man (Thornton) and winds up moving into his assisted living facility. Darryl “Chill” Mitchell also has been cast in “Stupid” as a cool and charismatic paraplegic.
“Protect and Serve,” from NBC Universal TV, follows the lives of street cops in suburban Los Angeles. Balfour will play one of them, an intense and emotional police officer.
“Swingtown,” from CBS Paramount Network TV, revolves around married couples in 1970s suburbia who explore partner-swapping and open marriages. Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) will play a successful businessman happily married to his high school sweetheart. Show (Fox’s “Point Pleasant”) will play a handsome airplane pilot who has an open marriage with his wife.
The untitled Shore/Blake project, from NBC Universal TV, is a drama with comedic elements about an ensemble of police officers with a female cop (Famke Janssen) at the center. Berkeley will play her boss.
In other pilot casting news, Leslie Odom Jr. has joined the Fox/20th Century Fox TV comedic drama “Supreme Courtships.” He will play one of the six Supreme Court clerks in the center of the show.
