Once Upon a Time has dipped into the Whedonverse yet again to fill a guest-starring role.

Amy Acker, who had roles on both Joss Whedon’s Angel and Dollhouse, will visit ABC’s fantastical freshman drama as a romantic interest for both Grumpy (of the Seven Dwarves) and his surly Storybrooke counterpart, Leroy, in a late winter episode that delves into the grouch’s backstory.

Lee Arenberg (Grumpy/Leroy) cheered the casting via Twitter, saying that on Friday he was “living the dream” working opposite both Acker and Ginnifer Goodwin (aka Snow White/Mary Margaret) — though it was not clear in which of the show’s two worlds their scenes were taking place.

Well, TVLine can exclusively report that Acker will play characters in both Storybrooke and the fairy tale world that was.

Earlier this fall, Once cast Buffy the Vampire Slayer alumna Emma Caulfield as the Blind Witch from Hansel and Gretel lore; she will appear in this season’s ninth episode (get exclusive scoop here). Of course, Buffy/Angel/Dollhouse vet Jane Espenson is a writer/producer for Once.

Acker’s TV resume also includes ABC’s Happy Town and No Ordinary Family, and last month’s Lifetime movie Dear Santa. Ironically, she will also guest-star this winter on NBC’s Grimm, which like Once (though in a decidedly different way) revolves around fairy tale characters.

Once Upon a Time, having aired its seventh episode/fall finale this month, resumes its freshman run Jan. 8.

 

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With David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf among the creators Grimm, it shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise that a former beloved cast member of Angel would make its way over to the NBC supernatural procedural, but it’s exciting nonetheless.

Grimm follows a detective who learns he’s the descendent of a long line of people who can see mythological beings disguised as regular people. Storybook baddies like the Big Bad Wolf are real, as it turns out, and Nick’s job is to protect people from the ones who mean harm.

TV Line got the scoop on the latest bit of casting news for the NBC series, stating that Amy Acker is set to play the “fearsome Black Widow.” Read on for more details or stop reading after this paragraph if you don’t want spoilers. Acker’s episode will air in 2012.

Ok, consider yourself spoiler-warned. As the “Black Widow,” Acker’s character ages rapidly and must drain the life out of three guys over the course of three days, every five years in order to stay young and gorgeous. It’s probably safe to assume her five-year time is up and she’s on the prowl for three unsuspecting men. It’s also entirely possible that she turns out to be just a suspect in Nick’s investigation, much in the way Nick met Monroe (a non-practicing Wolf), but maybe that’s just me hoping Acker’s part will turn into a recurring role. For now, it sounds like it’s just one episode.

Acker’s played a number of TV roles, one of which was the adorable Fred (and less adorable but still beautiful Illyria) in Angel, which connects her with Greenwalt and Kouf, both of whom were consulting producers on the series.

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Either someone is having fun with us, or Joss Whedon has made a movie based on Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing. What’s more, the cast list is pretty amazing, especially if you’re a fan of Joss Whedon’s TV series.

Nathan Fillion tweeted the link to MuchAdoTheMovie.com late Sunday night, as though whispering some delicious little secret through a bull-horn. The one-page site includes the phrase “Bellwether Pictures is proud to announce the completion of principal photography,” followed by a long list of names, some more recognizable than others. Among them is Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof (Fred and Wesley!), Nathan Fillion, Sean Maher, Tom Lenk, Clark Gregg and Fran Kranz.

Below the list of names is a photo of a man standing in the water, wearing snorkel gear and holding a cocktail. Maurissa Tancharoen (Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) confirmed on her Facebook page that the man in the photo is Fran Kranz (Topher from Dollhouse).

So, what exactly is the deal here? Is it possible that Joss Whedon not only managed to work a Shakespeare adaptation into his schedule, which already included directing The Avengers, but also managed to keep this project a secret? Is it a big-screen picture? Or perhaps a new webseries? Your guess is as good as mine, but we’ll keep you posted if/when more information emerges.

The 18th Austin Film Festival is almost here. To help celebrate all the locally connected movies at this year’s fest, we’ve reached out to a number of filmmakers to find out about their Austin and Texas-tied films screening at AFF, and to hear about what they’re looking forward to doing during the festival.

Austin-based filmmaker Brandon Dickerson’s feature film debut Sironia features music by Texas singer-songwriter Wes Cunningham, who also co-wrote the script with Dickerson and Thomas Ward. Dickerson, pictured above on the right with actress Amy Acker and Wes Cunningham, shares some very personal stories about how the story and the film began. Audiences may not recognize all the names of cast and crew, but may notice a lot of familiar faces onscreen. The cast includes Jeremy Sisto, Carrie Preston and Ryan Cartwright, not to mention Dallas-born actress Acker.

Slackerwood: Describe your film for us, in a quick and dirty paragraph.

Brandon Dickerson: I’ve had some folks describe Sironia as “Once meets Away We Go,” which I’m cool with. Music plus love story. In simplest terms … the film is inspired by the music of singer-songwriter Wes Cunningham.

Sironia is the story of a talented musician who has been chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood music machine. Frustrated by his broken career, Thomas Fisher and his wife Molly impulsively pack up and move to small-town Sironia, Texas to live a more authentic life and raise their first child near Molly’s brother and his family. Despite the change of scenery, Thomas’s deep resentment over his lost dreams gets the best of him as he struggles to find peace with his stalled career, until he remembers what he loved about music — and Molly — in the first place. (more…)

The upcoming indie film “Sironia” will make its debut at the Austin Film Festival on Friday night. The film, set in Waco, is deeply rooted in dreams both fulfilled and lost.

Inspired by the music and life of singer-songwriter Wes Cunningham, “Sironia” is the story of talented musician Thomas Fisher,frustrated by his Hollywood career. Thomas and his wife, Molly, decide to move to small town Sironia, Texas, to find a better life. There, Thomas struggles to find contentment and peace with his lost career, forced to choose what to hold on to and what to let go.

The cast includes Cunningham, Amy Acker from the WB’s “Angel,” Tony Hale, of “Arrested Development” and “Chuck,” and Robyn Lively, of “Savannah.”

Laura Smith, Lauren Schwartz and Steven Sills produced “Sironia.”

More than half of the film is shot in Waco, a place familiar to its three writers: Cunningham, Thomas Ward, and Brandon Dickerson, who is also directing the movie. (more…)