Switchover: Big, exciting news about Diddy’s personal recording contract — his deal with Warner Music Group/Atlantic Records is being terminated at the end of the month in favor of another, not-yet-announced contract somewhere else (Interscope is rumored). What does that mean, practically speaking? Nothing; his upcoming album, the experimental Last Train to Paris — recently pushed back from November to next April — will still be available everywhere music is sold. [Billboard]
Three Join Dick: Three more actors have joined the cast of TeleMunchen Group’s $25.5 million telepic Moby Dick. William Hurt and Ethan Hawke were already onboard as Captain Ahab and first officer Starbuck, respectively. Now Charlie Cox is set to play Ishmael, Donald Sutherland will play Father Mapple, and Gillian Anderson will play Ahab’s wife, Elizabeth. Hooray for German television! [Variety]
Shoot ’Em Up: More of the international television news you crave: San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker will be animated in the kids show Basketball Adventures for France’s M6. The series will follow Parker and his co-ed street basketball team as it travels across the U.S. in an amateur tournament. The creative forces are promising not only a “hip-hop, urban touch,†but also a guest appearance by Eva Longoria. [Variety]
In the Kitchen: More of the international animated television news you crave: Toronto’s Cuppa Coffee Studios, the folks behind Celebrity Deathmatch, are working on a stop-motion animation program featuring Gordon Ramsay. There are no details except for the title, Gordon Ramsay, At Your Service, so hopefully he’ll be cartoon-fighting Britney Spears? [Variety]
Thrills: Relativity will produce Rubicon, a revenge thriller from former stuntman Ric Roman Waugh and former Newsweek war correspondent Michael A. Lerrner. Plot details are scarce, though it will be set in Mexico and “female-driven.†The title makes us ask ourselves, Has anyone optioned the Rubik’s Cube yet? And if the answer is no, then why the hell not? [HR]
Donezo: A&E has canceled The Cleaner, the scripted series starring Benjamin Bratt as a drug interventionist. It ran for two seasons, with the latest one wrapping up this month. If Cleaner fans would like to engage in the proud tradition of sending stuff to networks in the hopes of changing their minds, may we suggest hypodermic needles? [HR]