NBA Comedy Pilot Casts ‘Pitch Perfect’ Star Skylar Astin in Lead Role
ABC has picked up seven comedy pilots, including an untitled NBA project, a buddy comedy set in the basketball world which will follow the story following a non-English speaking rookie named Mo and his non-basketball speaking translator. Written by David Windsor and Casey Johnson, the series will be exec produced by Dan Fogelman of Rhode Island Ave. Prods. along with Mike Tollin, Peter Gruber of Mandalay Sports Media and Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment. The NBA is also officially attached according to Variety.
Skylar Astin has been cast to play the role of 'Jason,' a teaching assistant who is tapped to be a translator for Mo, a new NBA recruit from a different country. Although Jason's basketball knowledge is a bit lacking, he realizes he was not just hired to be a translator, but also a friend and mentor, reports Entertainment Weekly. Jason, as described by the studio, is a sweet, yet wimpy teaching assistant living in his parents' basement who's tapped by an NBA manager to become a translator for a talented but lazy recruit from a foreign country. Jason soon realizes he got a lot more than he signed up for when he's thrown into the company of pro basketball giants.
The 27-year-old Astin in known for his work on the Tony Award-winning stage musical Spring Awakening, the films Hamlet 2, Taking Woodstock, Pitch Perfect, and 21 & Over. On TV, he played the lead role in the just recently canceled workplace comedy Ground Floor on TBS. Astin will also next be seen in theaters reprising his role of 'Jesse Swanson' in Pitch Perfect 2, which show beginning May 15.
Playing Jason's mother in the still untitled upcoming sit-com is Jamie Gertz, who last played the role of 'Debbie Weaver' in ABC's sitcom The Neighbors. According to Deadline, the 49-year-old Gertz has signed on for the upcoming project which will also reunite her with The Neighbors creator/executive producer Dan Fogelman and executive producer Aaron Kaplan.