Charles Parnell Cast In ‘A Million Little Pieces’; Sony’s ‘Superfly’ Adds Big Bank Black & Kaalan Walker

Charles Parnell (The Last Ship) has come aboard the director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s drama, A Million Little Pieces, joining Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Odessa Young, Giovanni Ribisi and Billy Bob Thornton. The pic is based on James Frey’s 2003 novel, which follows a drug-addled young writer approaching the bottom of his descent. He submits himself to two months of agonizing rehab where he meets an eccentric band of inmates including a young girl named Lilly. Parnell will play Miles Davis, a judge and clarinet player who is one of James’ roommates. Makeready’s Pam Abdy is producing the pic with Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman of the Picture Company. Makeready will fully finance with Entertainment One distributing and Sierra/Affinity handling international sales. Parnell, who plays Master Chief Russ Jeter on TNT’s The Last Ship and whose other credits include Transformers: Age of Extinction and All My Children, is repped by Greene & Associates Talent Agency.

Hip-hop artists Big Bank Black and Kaalan “KR” Walker are the latest to join the cast of Sony’s Superfly redo, which has Director X at the helm. The two will be seen opposite Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Lex Scott Davis, Andrea Londo, Jacob Ming-Trent, Michael K. Williams, and Esai Morales in the film, which Joel Silver and Future are producing. The original 1970s film followed an African-American cocaine dealer who tries to secure one more deal before getting out of the business. Alex Tse penned the screenplay for the remake, which is currently filming in Atlanta. Future is mounting the pic’s soundtrack. Executive producers are Matthew Hirsch, Steven R. Shore (son of Sig Shore, producer of the original), Hal Sadoff and Aaron Auch. Walker, who next will be seen in Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s drama Kings, starring Halle Berry and Daniel Craig, is repped by ICM, Prospere Entertainment, LLC and Walter Jones Management. Black is repped by the Abercrombie Group.