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A brand new episode of American Pickers: Best Of airs on History on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. The episode is titled “Quest for the Holy Grail”. In this episode, Frank and the team embark on a variety of adventures and pursuits. They visit an international man of mystery in California, where Frank learns Knucklehead Zen. […]

American Pickers: Best Of: Quest for the Holy Grail...

Exclusive: New Line’s feature take of John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down has added three: J. Smith-Cameron, Poorna Jagannathan and Maliq Johnson. They’re joining previously announced Isabela Merced, Cree Cicchino, Felix Mallard and Judy Reyes in the HBO Max movie.

Smith-Cameron plays Professor Abbott, Jagannathan appears as Dr. Singh and Johnson portrays Mychal.

The pic tackles anxiety through its 17-year-old protagonist, Aza Holmes. It’s not easy being Aza, but she’s trying… trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis, her childhood crush, Aza is confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope in the face of her mental illness. The book debuted as an instant No. 1 bestseller with rights sold in over 30 countries, and more than 2 million copies in print.

Burbank, CA – Two fan-favorite HBO television series will be available in their entirety when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Silicon Valley: The Complete Series boxset on DVD ($89.99 Srp Us / $169.99 Srp Canada) and The Deuce: The Complete Series boxset on DVD ($79.99 Srp Us / $109.99 Srp Canada) on May 26, 2020.

Additionally, the Silicon Valley: The Complete Sixth Season DVD and The Deuce: The Complete Third Season DVD will both be available the same day-and-date courtesy of Warner Archive Collection. Warner Archive releases are found at wb.com/warnerarchive and your favorite online retailer.

“Following the highly successful run of both Silicon Valley and The Deuce on HBO,” said Rosemary Markson, Whbe Senior Vice President, Television Marketing. “Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is thrilled to bring the complete series boxsets of each show to fans this spring so they can relive and collect their favorite show.”

Silicon Valley is a comedy series set in the high-tech...

Paul Wight, better known as WWE Superstar The Big Show, reveals the dark places he went to in portraying the ruthless killer Victor Abbott in our exclusive preview for Vendetta, arriving on Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD August 18. While the wrestler is used to man-handling his opponents in the ring, The Big Show reveals that the opening scene, where his character kills a pregnant woman, was very difficult for him to shoot. We also hear from co-star Adrian Holmes, who discusses this brutal death scene, and from directors Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska, who show us how this death scene was pulled off by using a lifelike dummy.

A hardened detective will stop at nothing in his quest for vengeance in Vendetta, arriving on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD), DVD (plus Digital) and Digital HD on Tuesday, August 18 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment and WWE Studios. The film is currently available via On Demand.

Stars: Dean Cain, Paul Wight, Michael Eklund, Ben Hollingsworth, Adrian Holmes, Matthew MacCaull, Kyra Zagorsky, Aleks Paunovic, Jonathan Walker, Dee Jay Jackson, Juan Riedinger, Leo Rano, David Allan Pearson, Garfield Wilson, William Stewart | Written by Justin Shady | Directed by Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska

“Get Ready for Hell in a Cell”

The Soska Twins (American Mary) have seemingly gone from strength to strength. The pair first appeared on the radar with their film Dead Hooker in a Trunk and received great acclaim with their body modification horror, American Mary, starring Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps). Thanks to the success of that film, they have been involved in projects such as The ABC’s of Death 2 and began a relationship with WWE Films starting with quite frankly god awful See No Evil 2. It’s safe to say that the pair have made quite an impact within the horror scene within a remarkably short time,...

WWE.com

The Big Show is currently on a break from WWE programming to film a new WWE Films project called Vendetta according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The filming began last week with Jen and Sylvia Soska directing it. They also directed See No Evil 2 starring Kane that will be out later this year.

The story for Vendetta revolves around a detective (played by Big Show) who deliberately commits a crime in order to wind up in prison and enact revenge on the man who murdered his wife. Show previously starred in the WWE film Knucklehead and also had minor roles in Jingle All The Way, The Waterboy and MacGruber. While no return date has been given, WWE’s film projects usually take about six weeks to film. Sometimes it’s more than that, but that’s typical of how long the films take.

Show’s last appearance...

WWE Studios and Lionsgate have signed a new deal for a further six action films together, the first being the revenge thriller "Vendetta" which begins filming this summer.

Filmmaking twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska ("Dead Hooker In A Trunk," "See No Evil 2") will helm the film which stars WWE's Big Show (Paul Wight) who was previously seen on screen in films like "MacGruber," "The Waterboy" and "Knucklehead".

Justin Shady penned the script which tracks a hard-nosed detective who deliberately commits a crime to get sent to prison. Once there he seeks vengeance on the crook serving a life sentence for murdering his wife.

The next film in the six-title deal begins in the Fall, though details are under wraps for now.

Source: Deadline...

The History of WWE: 50 Years of Sports Entertainment begins with Vince McMahon getting out of his car at WWE headquarters in Connecticut and greeting employees as he makes his way to his office on the top floor of what was once known as TitanTowers.

The documentary portion of this release begins at the beginning, with information about Jess McMahon and Vince McMahon Sr, and how they began what we now know as WWE. Jess McMahon was a boxing promoter, his son Vince, turned it into a traditional regional professional wrestling promotion, and his son, the current head of WWE, Vince McMahon Jr, turned it into the multimedia conglomerate that we know today.

The talking heads are extremely relevant and well picked, it is nice to see the big names from wrestling’s history on here, talking about the history of WWE as a company and the wrestling business as a whole.

Exclusive: Directors Michael Watkins, Rob Bailey and Tawnia McKiernan have signed with Apa. Watkins has served as producer and director on shows such as Prison Break, Las Vegas, Smallville, Law & Order and The X-Files. Most recently, he directed the season finale of Justified, and the indie feature, Knucklehead, due out later this year. He was formerly with CAA. Bailey was the producer/director of CSI: New York for five seasons. Other directing credits include Treme and The Wire for HBO. He has also directed multiple episodes of the BBC’s Mi-5 and Glasgow Kiss. Bailey is also repped by Protocol and Independent Talent Group in the U.K. He was formerly with CAA. McKiernan has directed multiple episodes of Burn Notice, Fairly Legal and Leverage. She also just completed directing John Stamos in the Lifetime movie, Secrets Of Eden. She is managed by Andrea Simon and was formerly with CAA.

We’re all fed up of celebrities making appearances in movies in which they absolutely do not belong, whether it’s musicians, socialites, or in fact, professional wrestlers. Though one might expect that wrestlers’ natural charisma and penchant for theatricality would translate only too well into the cinematic sphere, these 10 atrocious movies eagerly prove otherwise. Though one might able to concede that a few of the muscle-bound brutes in these films were undone by a poor script above all else, the general consensus is that they deliver dire performances most of the time as well, making it clear that, unless you’re Rowdy Roddy Piper or The Rock, you probably shouldn’t even try starring in your own movie if you’re a household wrestling name.

After digging through the countless movies starring wrestlers – and believe me, there’s a lot of them, and a the overwhelming majority of them...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 4, 2012

Price: DVD $39.99, Blu-ray $49.99

Studio: HBO/Warner

Thomas Jane is the exceptionally endowed Ray Drecker in Hung.

Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane, Give ‘Em Hell Malone) — the well-endowed former high school sports legend turned middle-age high school basketball coach turned local gigolo — returns for his third and final go-round in HBO’s comedy TV series Hung: Season 3.

HBO officially cancelled the television show in December, 2011 and will not renew it for a fourth season.

In the face of a (still) recession-plagued economy, Ray and his unlikely pimp Tanya (Jane Adams, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) take matters into their own by hands by opening the “Happiness Consultants Wellness Center for Women.” The center is a very public front for their gigolo enterprise complete with “orgasmic living” seminars and “private consultations.” However, just as the business begins to make money, their former partner Lenore (Rebecca Creskoff,...

For the past few years, fans of WWE Studios have been treated mostly to family-friendly movies like Legendary, Knucklehead, and The Chaperone starring some of the biggest names in wrestling like John Cena, The Big Show, and Triple H. But the studio has heard feedback from the fans and decided to return to making PG-13 and R-rated films, and recently we reported that they're planning a reboot of Warwick Davis' Leprechaun series titled Leprechaun: Origins (not a joke). According to Variety, Davis' replacement will be WWE star Hornswoggle, who portrays a mischievous leprechaun in and out of the ring on television. You can read all about Hornswoggle's exploits at Wikipedia, but it seems like a piece of no-brainer casting for the WWE to involve one of their own in a film like this. I don't think anyone expects Hornswoggle to have the sort of star power that Dwayne Johnson has,...

One of the WWE’s worst performing financial departments of their business right now is their film division and Vince McMahon is finding his latest non-wrestling venture to be much of a fool’s errand. Simply put, WWE Studios is not making money and it’s not enhancing the profiles of the WWE stars as global brands as originally intended. The films aren’t making dough and neither are they bringing in cash as advertising for their bread and butter.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, McMahon is quoted as saying at an investors conference call at the beginning of the month;

“We have not been pleased with the rate of return in the movie business… We’ve invested $120 million in 15 films which have generated a loss, but we still expect to break even, but it’s well below our internal projections. There are still compelling reasons to continue in this business,...

Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane, Give ‘Em Hell Malone)—the well-endowed former high school sports legend turned middle-aged high school basketball coach turned local gigolo—returns for digital dominance on September 27 when HBO Home Entertainment releases Hung: The Complete Second Season on Blu-ray and DVD.

It's Season Two and Thomas Jane is still Hung.

The Blu-ray and DVD, which are priced at $49.98 and $39.98, respectively, will arrive on the eve of the HBO show’s Season Three premiere.

In the second season of the TV comedy series, Ray, and his unlikely pimp Tanya (Jane Adams, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) have taken on slick “life coach” Lenore Bernard (Rebecca Creskoff, Knucklehead) as co-pimp, devastating Tanya in the process. With Lenore pushing a debonair version of hooker Ray on her upscale clients, Tanya wants to prove she has the “right stuff” when it comes to being a successful – and far more ethical – pimp than Lenore.

Who says the WWE can’t make movies? They can, they just can’t seem to make bankable ones. And when they back movies with a premise like this one, it is sometimes painfully obvious why that is.

Mark Feurstein, Melona Hardin, Wendie Malick and the WWE’s “Big Show” Paul Wight star in Knucklehead (Samuel Goldwyn/WWE Films) about a con-artist and boxing trainer (Feurstein) who creates a get-rich scheme by convincing a secluded giant named Walter Crunk (“Big Show”) to travel across the country entering fighting competitions in order to get money for Walter’s orphanage, accompanied by the church’s assigned chaperone (Hardin).

Knucklehead is now available to buy on Blu-ray (and has been since February in fact)- but we have just been provided a copy for review. Read on to see what we thought…

It is no wonder the WWE is occasionally accused of undervaluing,...

The more I look at that picture above, the more I think it is a shame that Liam Neeson has never played Dracula.

Anyway- here we go with the latest update of my Owf Film Diary- almost at the end of the third month and creeping towards three figures slowly but surely, and with the viewing schedule I have planned in the next few weeks I should be at 100 and beyond before we know it.

I’m not sure I’ve ever had a reviewing schedule like this one- most of these titles, you’ll notice were for reviews within a week- but I wouldn’t change it for the world! As long as I’m immersing myself in film universes, what’s to complain about?

For anyone who missed it, here’s the skinny. Basically, what I’m presenting here is my attempt to chart a whole year’s...

Another week, another list of DVDs and Blu-rays out to buy from today – and what a selection of titles: action, drama, award-winners and even some complete drivel. I’ll let you decide which is which!

Red (DVD & Blu-ray) – Frank (Bruce Willis), Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren) used to be the CIA’s top agents – but the secrets they know just made them the Agency’s top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their deadly pursuers and stay alive. To stop the operation, the team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history. Review.

The Social Network (DVD & Blu-ray) – David Fincher’s The Social Network is the tale of a new...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"Antichrist" (2009)

Directed by Lars von Trier

Released by Criterion Collection

From its incendiary debut at Cannes to becoming a cult hit defined by the meme "Chaos Reigns," Lars von Trier's psychosexual horror film about a married couple (Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) that repairs to a cabin in the woods to grieve over the death of their young son is receiving the Criterion Collection treatment. Video interviews with von Trier, Gainsbourg, and Dafoe, making-of vignettes and a documentary about the Cannes premiere accompany the feature. (Aaron Hillis' interview with von Trier is here.)

"The Battle of River Plate" (1956)

Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Released by Hen's Tooth Video

Despite being Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's most financially successful film, it has been a rare commodity in America on home video, where people have had to buy the British...

Good things come to those who wait and for those who feel as though they've suffered through a year of largely uninspired films up to now will likely breathe a sigh of relief at the sound of names like Darren Aronofsky, Sofia Coppola and Peter Weir. 'Tis the season for Jim Carrey to take a pay cut to star in a gay romance like "I Love You Phillip Morris" or Javier Bardem is whispering sweet nothings to spirits in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu's "Biutiful" rather than Julia Roberts.

There is the naughty -- Kristen Stewart stripping in "Welcome to the Rileys," the would-be terrorists of the Brit comedy "Four Lions," or the evil Santa in "Rare Exports" -- and the nice -- the tap-dancing lovers in "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench," the glory of James Franco's daredevil surviving "127 Hours" and Colin Firth's verbally-challenged royal conquering his stutter in "The King's Speech.

From the very beginning of WWE Films’ latest release, Knucklehead, it is abundantly clear that no one is swinging for the fences. Everything about the movie is engineered with an effort to garner some kind of emotional impact while exerting as little actual effort as possible. Unfortunately, with a list of stock characters including a gentle giant, an amoral sports manager in search of redemption, and a former-stripper with a heart of gold, Knucklehead never raises itself above the level of cliché.

The film focuses on the character of Walter Krunk, a humongous orphan played by professional wrestler Paul “Big Show” Wight. When the clumsy man-child accidentally sets fire to the orphanage he has lived at his entire life, he must find a way to raise enough money to rebuild the destroyed kitchen. Luckily, Mark Feuerstein’s shifty Mma manager enters, ready to train Krunk for an amateur competition with...

Six or eight months ago, out of respect for the work that he does with mentally handicapped folks, I promised a long-time reader of ours that I wouldn't use the word "retarded" in any of my post to describe a person's level of stupidity, and since that time, I've done my damndest to hold true to that promise. But, this? Knucklehead? I'm pretty sure the word is used in the movie's logline (though, iMDB lists the character as a "sweet gentle giant," which has to be the worst euphemism for that word I've ever heard).

Anyway, the movie is about how Mark Feuerstein commits career suicide by training a sweet, gentle giant to become a wrestler so that he can clear some debt. Melora Hardin (oh, Jan) and Denis Farina co-star. The gentle giant -- his name is apparently Big Show. His family must be very proud.

It's an embarrassment to humanity.

We have new clips in standard and high definition for Samuel Goldwyn Films' Knucklehead comedy/drama which opens on October 22nd in limited areas. Michael W. Watkins directs from the writing by Bear Aderhold, Tom Sullivan and Adam Rifkin. The film is rated PG-13 and produced by Michael Pavone. The story follows con artist Eddie Sullivan (Mark Feuerstein), who, after incurring a large debt with a local bookie (Dennis Farina), creates a get-rich-quick scheme by enlisting a sweet gentle giant named Walter (Paul “The Big Show” Wight) as his unwitting accomplice. Walter’s orphanage—the only home he’s ever known—also needs funds desperately. Upon overhearing Walter’s predicament, Eddie convinces the no-nonsense head nun, Sister Francesca (Wendie Malick), that Walter can win the money as a fighter and pay off the church’s debts...

Filed under: Features, Celebrity Interviews

WWE fans know the 7-foot, 400-plus pound Paul Wight as The Big Show -- one of the most dominant wrestling superstars of the last 15 years.

But through the years, Wight has shown he's not just a looming ogre. He is also a gentle giant with a knack for comedy, appearing regularly on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien' and stealing scenes with cameos in movies and TV shows.

The Big Show has his first starring role in the upcoming film 'Knucklehead,' the first comedy produced by WWE Studios. To promote the film as well as 'WWE Friday Night SmackDown's' move to the SyFy network, The Big Show talked to TV Squad about getting laughs, his favorite Conan O'Brien moment and kissing dudes.

 

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We've just added new images from Samuel Goldwyn Films' "Knucklhead." The Michael W. Watkins-directed comedy opens on October 22nd and stars Mark Feuerstein (“Royal Pains”), Melora Hardin (“The Office”), WWE Superstar Paul “Big Show” Wight, Dennis Farina, Wendie Malick, Rebecca Creskoff, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Will Patton and Saul Rubinek “Knucklehead” follows a con artist named Eddie Sullivan (Mark Feuerstein). After incurring a large debt with a local criminal ringleader, Eddie creates a get-rich-quick scheme and enlists a sweet gentle giant named Walter (Paul “Big Show” Wight) as his unwitting accomplice. Walter’s orphanage—the only home he’s ever known—also needs funds desperately. Upon overhearing Walter’s predicament, Eddie convinces the no-nonsense head nun, Sister Francesca (Wendie Malick), that Walter can win the money as a fighter and pay off the church’s debts. Eddie’s plan: travel from town to town with Walter and enter small,...

Exclusive: I hear Melora Hardin is set to join NBC’s new drama series Outlaw in a key recurring role. She has also closed a deal to return to The Office for a multi-episode arc. Outlaw stars Jimmy Smits as Cyrus Garza, a U.S. Supreme Court justice who quits the bench and returns to private practice. Hardin will play Claire Sax, a powerful senior partner in an elite law firm and love interest to Garza. Hardin replaces Gina Gershon who played the role in the pilot. On The Office, Hardin will reprise her character Jan Levinson, Michael Scott’s unstable ex-girlfriend. With Jan and another Michael former love, Holly (Amy Ryan), both returning to The Office, Michael might be tying up some loose ends in what will be Carell’s final season on the comedy series. Hardin, repped by the Paul Kohner Agency and Framework, recently released her first...

Royal Pains, cable’s No. 1 new series last summer, returns tonight for its second season (USA, 10 p.m. Et, following Burn Notice’s season 4 premiere). When we left off, Mark Feuerstein’s Hank Lawson, a “concierge doctor” in the Hamptons, had just been informed by his brother Evan (Paulo Costanzo) of HankMed’s sudden financial trouble, and Evan had left to find the person responsible, their estranged con man father (Henry Winkler, who joins the cast in the recurring role of Eddie R. Lawson June 10). Hank had also begun to understand the severity of the mystery illness his top client...

Phoenix -- WWE Studios plans to shoot more movies back-to-back as part of its new film strategy to take advantage of cost efficiencies.

Michelle Wilson, executive vp of marketing, mentioned the sped-up and streamlined production process here Saturday.

Speaking at the sports entertainment company's annual Global Partners Summit a day ahead of pay-per-view extravaganza WrestleMania 26, Wilson said WWE just wrapped production of its third film under its new strategy, which was unveiled only earlier this year. The film stars Ed Harris and WWE superstar Randy Orton in a coming-of-age story.

WWE plans to release nine films over the next two and a half years with nearly back-to-back shoots for many to ensure production efficiencies, Wilson said, highlighting that WWE also produces live and TV shows in rapid-fire fashion all year long.

The first movie under the firm's new strategy, "Legendary" with Patricia Clarkson, Danny Glover and WWE star John Cena,...

Questioning Greatness with Adam Rifkin:

Earth’S Premiere Storyteller

We (Bob Rose, me, I?) at the Opinion In A Haystack Department are proud to announce that I (we?) were (was?) given the chance to pick the brain bucket of Hollywood’s supreme philosopher and film-creationist, Sir Adam Rifkin (facebook, twitter, myspace.) He’s the filmmaker responsible for Detroit Rock City, The Chase, The Dark Backward, and, more recently, the award winning Look. I was able to sit down with Mr. Rifkin, in front of our respective computers, and interview him, via email, about a plethora of assorted, varied, diverse, sundry, indiscriminate, and heavily kaleidoscopic ideas.

I originally sent Mr. Rifkin over 3,000 questions, most of which involved very uncomfortable queries about his family lineage, sexual fears, and Laserdisc-replica collection. He answered all of them in full detail, thus passing the interview-qualification-process, which allowed me to send him the 16 questions you will find below.

New York -- World Wrestling Entertainment is changing its film strategy, with WWE Studios announcing Tuesday that it will use its superstars to support Hollywood leads and self-distribute and market an upcoming slate of nine films with Samuel Goldwyn Films and Vivendi as distribution partners.

On past film releases, WWE worked with the likes of Fox and Lionsgate.

The sports entertainment powerhouse on Tuesday also pushed back the release of comedy "Knucklehead" to the fall.

Importantly, it said its upcoming films will feature well-known actors and actresses in lead roles supported by WWE superstars. In the past, the wrestlers generally took the lead.

In another strategic tweak, upcoming projects will feature a broader range of genres, including family-friendly comedies, dramas and thrillers. Past WWE films generally were in the action and horror genres.

WWE said it plans to produce and release nine films through 2012.

The new strategy was put in place by Mike Pavone,...

There have been a couple of announcements from World Wrestling Entertainment regarding their latest film projects in the past few weeks. They've got The Marine 2 (starring Ted Dibiase Jr., wrestling son of "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase) hitting DVD, they're working on a horror/western origin movie for WWE veteran The Undertaker (a potentially so-bad-its-good film if I've ever heard one), and they're readying Knucklehead, a road comedy about mixed-martial arts starring Paul "The Big Show" Wight and Melora Hardin (with a plot that sounds an awful lot like Kingpin).

Nothing about that slate of releases gets me particularly excited as a movie fan. The WWE films at their best have only been compulsively watchable (The Condemned) and, at their worst, almost completely inept (See No Evil). The biggest loser in the whole WWE films pool of wrestling actors might be John Cena. He's got a natural charisma...

We’ve seen a lot of origin stories in the past few years – Wolverine just came out this summer, Magneto may or may not be happening, there is always Superman and of course Batman’s origin has been told several times. Heck, The Hobbit can even be considered an origin story. Ghost Rider was unfortunately given an origin movie that dated back to the old west. I’m a huge fan of Tremors and the 4th movie went back to the old west as well, for an origin story about the subterranean monster worm.

So I understand why studios and copyright holders want to make origin movies on comic book characters and even monsters, but I cannot for the life of me figure out this latest news coming from “wrastlin” news site Lords of Pain. WWE, in a bid to capitalize on one of their brands, is in the process...

Melora Hardin, Mark Feuerstein and World Wrestling Entertainment star Paul "Big Show" Wight are starring in "Knucklehead," a comedy-adventure Michael Watkins is directing from WWE Studios.

The film centers on a fight promoter (Feuerstein) deeply in debt to his crooked rival. Desperate for a new fighter that will help him win back everything he owes, the promoter catches a break when a 450-pound church handyman (Wight) who has spent his entire life in an orphanage agrees to wrestle on behalf of his fellow orphans.

Hardin runs the orphanage with a nun (Wendie Malick). The trio embark on a road trip on their quest to enter him into a wrestling competition for the first time.

Additionally, Rebecca Creskoff (HBO's "Hung"), Dennis Farina and Saul Rubinek have booked supporting roles. Lester Speight ("Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay") and Bobb'e J. Thompson ("Role Models") round out the cast.

Mike Pavone is producing,...