Among the CW fall pilot contenders, A Beautiful Life grabbed the headlines this week with some blockbuster casting announcements. The drama is another project from network fave Ashton Kutcher, and centers around a group of young models struggling to hit runway paydirt in New York City. Storylines promise to unmask the industry’s rarely-seen dark side. Media magnet Mischa Barton (Marissa on The O.C.) was first to sign on, and is now joined by ‘80s supermodel Elle Macpherson—who’ll head the Focus Models agency with a rather fierce management style. High School Musical fans are abuzz with the news that Corbin Bleu is set to play a male-model with the Lenny Kravitz-type vibe, reports Zap2it; while Sara Paxton, fresh off rave film reviews for Last House on the Left, returns to TV as a novice poser in the Big Apple. Other roomies include Ashley Madekwe (Secret Diary of a Call Girl), Ben Hollingsworth (Cutting Edge 3; pictured), and newcomer Nico Tortorella, who could quickly become a breakout CW heartthrob. Off-camera, Hollingsworth shares an apartment with fellow Canadian Nina Dobrev, who he met on the set of Degrassi, IMDb notes. Nina recently won the female lead role in The Vampire Diaries series pilot. A cast this noteworthy will be difficult to keep off the schedule in September.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:35 am
[...] and the network’s sleeper hit. We marveled at the star power in earlier postings, here and here; and Sullivan himself notes that modeling icons Elle Macpherson and Mischa Barton [...]