Cuba Gooding Jr. has been tapped to star in TNT's upcoming original movie, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. Gooding will play Dr. Ben Carson, whose life story took him from a tough, inner-city childhood to become the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. The new TV movie is based on Carson's memoir, which recounts his life from his origins in Detroit, through medical school and ultimately to his professional success. The role marks a new turn for Gooding, who most recently played a flamboyant drug dealer in American Gangster. Playing Carson may allow Gooding Jr. to flex some different acting muscles than we've seen before. Does the role sound like a healthy fit, or the wrong diagnosis for the new program? — Anna Dimond
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Curb Your Enthusiasm's Cheryl Hines will make her feature-directing debut with the indie Serious Moonlight, from a screenplay by the late Adrienne Shelly.... Also per Variety, Michelle Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal are a New York City couple in crisis in Mammoth.... From the Reporter, Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke play Boston-bred thugs in the true-life crime drama Real Men Cry. Amanda Peet is Hawke's missus.... Cuba Gooding Jr. is a paramilitary operative who discovers a conspiracy in the action thriller The Way of War.
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Warner Bros. and überproducer Joel Silver are in talks to acquire the rights to the '80s TV 'toon Masters of the Universe, for the purpose of staging a live-action feature not stunk up by Dolph Lundgren.... Per Playbill.com, Nathan Lane and John Turturro join Elle Fanning in Nutcracker — The Untold Story, a cinematic take on the beloved ballet.... Cuba Gooding Jr. is a friendly high-school janitor in Harold, an indie comedy about a prematurely balding teen.
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Cuba Gooding Jr. serves his country with distinction tonight when he introduces the heartfelt PBS special When Parents Are Deployed (check local listings to confirm time). Aimed at the 700,000 children of military families under the age of 5 who are separated from a parent this holiday season, the show, from the producers at Sesame Workshop, probes the strains imposed on households by deployment. The Oscar-winning actor — and Elmo fan — describes the special as "a tool for healing."
TV Guide: Why this project? Cuba Gooding Jr.: Anything that I can do to help the proper development of children in the proper environment,
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