Yahoo Finance Harlan Coben Amazon Studios YA Pilot ‘Shelter’ Casts Jaden Michael in Lead Role (EXCLUSIVE)
Jaden Michael has been cast in the lead role in the YA pilot based on the Harlan Coben novel “Shelter,” Variety has learned exclusively.
“Shelter” hails from Amazon Studios and MGM International Television Productions. It tells the story of high school junior Mickey Bolitar (Michael) as he navigates his new life with a mom in rehab, a dead father, an annoying aunt, and a new school in New Jersey with a camel as its mascot. And a creepy old lady who may or may not be a ghost just told him on his way to school that his father isn’t dead. Then Mickey meets and falls for Ashley Kent, another new student who’s lived through her own tragedy. But when Ashley goes missing, Mickey searches for her and learns that everything she told him was a lie and that he is in serious danger unless he gets to the bottom of what happened to her and his father.
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Michael was recently featured in Variety’s Young Hollywood Impact Report and Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch list. He will next be seen in the Ava DuVernay-directed Netflix miniseries “Colin in Black and White” in the lead role, playing a young Colin Kaepernick. His other credits include the Netflix film “Vampires vs. The Bronx” and the Baz Luhrman Netflix series “The Get Down.”
He is repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and A3 Artists Agency.
“Shelter” is the first novel in Coben’s Mickey Bolitar book trilogy. MGM has acquired the rights to all the other books in the Mickey Bolitar series as well. According to an individual with knowledge of the project, should “Shelter” get ordered to series, it could go either to Amazon Prime Video or to IMDB TV. The pilot will film this fall in New Jersey. Variety exclusively reported on the project in April.
Coben is co-writing the series along with Charlotte Coben. He will also serve as showrunner and executive producer following the exit of originally announced showrunner Ed Decter. Erik Barmack is also executive producing along with MGM’s Rola Bauer. Patricia Cardoso will direct the pilot and executive produce.
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