People get precious with remakes, and we suspect that Fox’s upcoming event series of 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show will get people more worked up than most. Still, judging by this first-footage glimpse – with Orange Is The New Black star Laverne Cox in the lead role as Dr Frank-N-Furter – we’d say the signs are good.
FOX is doing the Time Warp, with a brand-new production of the 1975 cult classic THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, set to air Fall 2016. A reimagining of the original movie, the two-hour event follows sweethearts JANET (Victoria Justice, “Victorious”) and BRAD (Ryan McCartan, “Liv & Maddie,” “Heathers the Musical”), who stumble upon DR. FRANK-N-FURTER’s (Emmy Award-nominated actress Laverne Cox, “Orange is the New Black”) bizarre abode. Frank-N-Furter, a sexually ambiguous, flirtatious mad-scientist, is holding an annual Transylvanian science convention to showcase the birth of ROCKY HORROR – a muscle-bound specimen created solely to fulfill Frank’s desires. Actor and singer Staz Nair (“Game of Thrones”) will star in the role. Also featured in the event are AMERICAN IDOL alum Adam Lambert as EDDIE, Reeve Carney (“Penny Dreadful,” “Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark”) as RIFF RAFF, Tony Award winner Annaleigh Ashford (“Sylvia,” “You Can’t Take It With You,” “Masters of Sex”) as COLUMBIA, Christina Milian (“Grandfathered”) as MAGENTA, Ivy Levan as USHERETTE, Tony Award winner Ben Vereen (“Pippin”) as DR. EVERETT SCOTT and Emmy Award nominee Tim Curry, the original Frank-N-Furter, as the show’s CRIMINOLOGIST NARRATOR. Celebrating 40 years of theatrical distribution – longer than any other film in history – “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is one of the most popular films of all time, and still plays in movie theaters around the world. THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is executive-produced by Lou Adler (Grammy Award winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and executive producer of the original “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”), Gail Berman (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” former President of Fox Broadcasting) and Kenny Ortega (Emmy Award-winning director and choreographer, “High School Musical” franchise, “This Is It,” “Descendants,” “Hocus Pocus,” “Newsies”). THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is based upon the original screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien with lyrics and music by Richard O’Brien.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show will air on Fox later in 2016, with a UK air date to follow. For more news about the biggest TV series, pick up the new issue of SciFiNow.
