Most of the cast for Cameron Crowe and Winnie Holzman’s new US cable comedy Roadies has already been assembled. But there are one or two key roles still to be filled, with Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks signing on.
Roadies, which charts similar territory to Crowe’s Almost Famous, follows the day-to-day dramas of a successful rock tour. He’s writing and directing the pilot, which finds Luke Wilson as road-weary, sleep-deprived tour manager Bill, the best in the business. Imogen Poots will be Kelly Ann, a first-tier tech genius with second-tier people skills, Keisha Castle-Hughes is the band’s outspoken sound mixer Donna, while Rafe Spall will be a successful British financial adviser sent to oversee the band’s budget despite knowing nothing about the music. And there’s also Peter Cambor, as a guitar tech with questionable personal hygiene but amazing charm.
Hendricks has scored the role of Shelli, the band’s production manager, a smart and capable woman who is also a very private person who is dedicated to her job. Holzman will run the show assuming it get picked up following the pilot, which will rock and roll cameras in Canada early next year. With Mad Men coming to an end in 2015, this should mark a big new TV gig for Hendricks, who will be seen in Ryan Gosling’s dark fantasy tale Lost River (out April 24) and Gillian Flynn adaptation Dark Places, which doesn’t yet have a UK release date.