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Exclusive: Jake Weber is joining Mark Pellegrino (Supernatural), Jeff Fahey (Lost), William Forsythe (Raising Arizona) and Nicky Whelan (Halloween 2) in upcoming dramedy crime series A Motel.

Supernatural and 13 Reasons Why actor Pellegrino leads the show about a group of outcasts working at a seedy motel who find themselves in danger when they accidentally uncover a drug smuggling plot for the mafia.

Production on the series is due to begin in August. Brian A. Metcalf (UnderDeveloped) is showrunner and executive producer. Also executive-producing is Asif Akbar (Boneyard) who will also be directing some of the episodes. Kelly Arjen also serves as executive producer and Mark Pellegrino and Niko Foster are co-executive producers. 

The show is being produced and financed under Black Jellybeans and Akbar Media. 

Weber is repped by Artist International Group; Pellegrino is repped by Realm Talent and Framework Entertainment; Fahey is repped by Jeff Goldberg...

Exclusive: Jeff Fahey (Lost), William Forsythe (Raising Arizona) and Nicky Whelan (Halloween 2) are among cast joining Mark Pellegrino in upcoming dramedy crime series A Motel.

Also joining are Thomas Ian Nicholas (American Pie), Niko Foster (Mr-9: Do or Die), Nolan River (Old), Charlene Amoia (How I Met Your Mother), Luke Edwards (True Detective), Kelly Reiter (Deadlock) and Kelly Arjen (Adverse).

Supernatural and 13 Reasons Why actor Pellegrino leads the show about a group of outcasts working at a seedy motel who find themselves in danger when they accidentally uncover a drug smuggling plot for the mafia.

Production on the series is due to begin in August. Brian A. Metcalf (UnderDeveloped) is showrunner and executive producer. Also executive-producing is Asif Akbar (Boneyard) who will also be directing some of the episodes. Kelly Arjen also serves as executive producer and Mark Pellegrino and Niko Foster are co-executive producers. 

The show is...

After recently appearing in the comedy series Underdeveloped, Mark Pellegrino has officially landed a new project. A new report from Deadline revealed that Pellegrino will play the lead role and executive produce the upcoming dramedy series, A Motel. Brian A. Metcalf, who worked with Pellegrino on Underdeveloped, will act as a jack of all trades for the upcoming series, starring opposite Pellegrino while also writing, directing, producing, and serving as showrunner. Asif Askbar and Kelly Arjen will executive produce the series, and Akbar will also direct several episodes. A Motel is set to begin filming in June in Las Vegas, and the series will consist of six episodes.

Exclusive: Mark Pellegrino, known for series including Supernatural, 13 Reasons Why and American Rust, has been set to star in dramedy series A Motel.

Brian A. Metcalf (Underdeveloped) is behind the show about a group of outcasts working at a seedy motel who find themselves in danger when they accidentally uncover a drug smuggling plot for the mafia. Additional casting is being finalised.

The series is written and executive-produced by Metcalf, who will serve as showrunner, director and actor. Asif Akbar and Kelly Arjen will also executive-produce with Akbar directing some of the episodes. Pellegrino will serve as co-executive producer.

Filming begins next month in Las Vegas on the six-episode project, which doesn’t currently have a network aboard and is being independently financed by the producers. The plan is to sell it after production.

Akbar recently directed the crime-thriller Boneyard starring Mel Gibson and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, which is releasing this July from Lionsgate.

Exclusive: Tubi has picked up Underdeveloped, a mockumentary from Brian A. Metcalf, starring Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tom Arnold and Mark Pellegrino. It will premiere globally September 8 on Fox Entertainment’s free streaming service Tubi. As an independent production with no direct ties to members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television, it also is one of the latest projects to receive a waiver from SAG-AFTRA amid the actors strike, so filming can move forward.

Created and executive produced by Metcalf under his Black Jellybeans banner, the comedy series focuses on a group of failed and inexperienced producers working together at a production company.

Samm Levine, Shelley Regner, Kelly Arjen, Charlene Amoia, Nolan River, Jaret Reddick, David Henrie and David Kochner also star.

Nicholas, Arjen, Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor executive produce.

Nicholas and Metcalf previously collaborated on the Lionsgate film Adverse.

Nicholas is repped by The Green Room and Goodman,...

A quick glance at its supporting cast — a lineup that includes such notables as Mickey Rourke, Lou Diamond Phillips, Penelope Ann Miller and Sean Astin — might lead you to suspect “Adverse” has only recently been retrieved from a time capsule originally sealed in the mid-to-late 1990s. And, indeed, if it weren’t for the occupation of the protagonist — he’s a rideshare driver, not a cabbie — and the abundance of smartphone text messaging, director Brian A. Metcalf’s modestly diverting thriller probably could pass for a direct-to-video concoction from that era. There’s something positively meta going on here, though you may have to be a hard-core B-movie buff to fully appreciate it.

Lead player Thomas Nicholas dials it up to 11 — and, occasionally, 12 — with his intense portrayal of Ethan, a young man who starts out trying to keep his temper in check after a fuzzily defined brush with the law...

"Adverse" is a new crime thriller written and directed by Brian Metcalf, starring Thomas Nicholas, Lou Diamond Phillips, Sean Astin, Kelly Arjen, Penelope Ann Miller and Mickey Rourke, releasing January 23, 2021:

"...struggling to make ends meet, rideshare driver 'Ethan' (Nicholas) learns his sister is deep in debt to a sleazy drug dealer. When she goes missing, Ethan discovers that crime boss 'Kaden' (Rourke) is behind the act, and to get close to him Ethan takes a job as Kaden's driver. One by one Ethan hunts down members of Kaden's crew as he prepares to confront Kaden himself..."

Click the images to enlarge.... ...

Lionsgate’s Grindstone Entertainment Group has acquired the North American rights to the Brian A. Metcalf-directed Adverse which will debut in theaters January 23, 2021, followed by a release on media platforms through Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Adverse stars Thomas Nicolas as a rideshare driver who discovers his younger sister (Kelly Arjen) has become entangled with an underworld boss (Mickey Rourke) in drugs and debt. The neo-noir crime thriller also stars Lou Diamond Phillips, Penelope Ann Miller and Sean Astin.

“We’re excited to be working with the team at Grindstone and Lionsgate Home Entertainment – their success in this genre makes this company the perfect home for US distribution,” said Arjen, Metcalf, and Nicholas, who also serve as producers.

Stan Wertlieb, Grindstone Entertainment Group’s Head of Acquisitions, added, “Brian skillfully directs a cast of star performers and takes us on a thrilling and jarring ride into the underbelly of a violent...

In today’s film news roundup, a Mickey Rourke crime drama will premiere in Portugal, a film about the Purdue Pharma scandal is in the works and the documentary “After Parkland” will be shown at 100 locations on the second anniversary of the Parkland shootings.

Festival Opener

The world premiere of Mickey Rourke’s crime drama “Adverse” will take place on Feb. 28 as the opening film of the 40th Fantasporto Oporto Film Festival in Portugal — the country’s largest film festival.

Rourke stars as an underworld boss who hires a rideshare driver, porotrayed by Thomas Nicholas, whose younger sister is in debt to a dangerous crime syndicate. “Adverse” also stars Penelope Ann Miller, Lou Diamond Phillips, Sean Astin and Kelly Arjen.

“Adverse” is directed by Brian A. Metcalf from his own script. The film is produced by Metcalf, Nicholas, Arjen and executive produced by Scott Katzman, Lise Romanoff, Sergio Rizzuto and Ben Chan.

Exclusive: Mickey Rourke, Lou Diamond Phillips, Penelope Ann Miller, Sean Astin, Kelly Arjen (Strange Ones) and Thomas Ian Nicholas (Please Give, Rules of Attraction) will star in Adverse, an indie neo-noir drama written and to be directed by Brian A. Metcalf.

The film hails from Red Compass Media in association with Black Jellybeans Productions. It’s about a man who tries to save his younger sister after he discovers she is addicted to drugs and caught in a seedy underworld. Rourke will star as Kaden, the underworld boss who runs operations and who hires Ethan (Nicholas), a rideshare driver who discovers his younger sister (Arjen) has become entangled in drugs and debt.

Phillips will play Dr. Cruz, a parole officer who tries to prevent Ethan from going back to his old habits.