A Big Detective Heads to the Small Screen

No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency On TV: The Weinstein Company is producing a TV movie (and possible series) based on Alexander McCall Smith’s much-loved series The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, with Anthony Minghella directing and writing alongside Richard Curtis. Singer Jill Scott stars as Botswanan detective Precious Ramotswe, Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) is secretary Mma Makotswe, and Idris Elba (The Wire) is also cast. Other than all the actors being way younger and prettier than in the books, this is way too awesome to make fun of. [Variety]

Delany, Fillion Desperate?: Dana Delany, reportedly Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry’s longtime first choice to play Marcia Cross’s role, is in talks to join the cast as a regular next season. So is Firefly star Nathan Fillion. We in the media are just thankful to have new people about whom we can make up stories about how much they hate each other. [HR]

Woody’s Barcelona Film Cast: In a press conference in Barcelona, Woody Allen announces the rest of the cast for his Spanish-set film. Patricia Clarkson, Pablo Schreiber, and Zak Orth join already-announced Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, and Penélope Cruz. Woody’s worldwide filmmaking tour will presumably continue with Rome, Bucharest, Moscow, Addis Ababa, Perth, and Omaha. [Variety]

PJ Harvey Announces Next Album: White Chalk, the newest album from PJ Harvey, will be released in September. Producers Flood and John Parish are on board, as is Dirty Three’s Jim White. [NME]

Grey Gardens to Close: Following co-star Mary Louise Wilson’s decision to leave the cast, producers of Grey Gardens decide to shutter the show July 29. Previously, plans were afoot to run show through the fall with star Christine Ebersole, but poor ticket sales led producers to change their tune. [Playbill]

Dinklage Joins Hawke: Peter Dinklage will star in Ethan Hawke’s directing debut, Things We Want by Jonathan Marc Sherman at the New Group. The Station Agent star will be joined by Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine) and Josh Hamilton (The Coast of Utopia). [Plimpton, Ferguson Hit the Park: Martha Plimpton (The Coast of Utopia) and Jesse Ferguson (The 25th Annual … ) join cast of Public’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Central Park, opening in August. Plimpton will play Helena, while Ferguson lands role of a Rude Mechanical — presumably, based on his performance as Leif Coneybear, the weirdest one. [Variety]