John Ratzenberger has been cast opposite Whitney Cummings in her half-hour HBO pilot A Lot. Inspired by Maureen Dowd’s book Are Men Necessary?: When Sexes Collide, the not-so-romantic comedy is about how a financially successful woman navigates a world complicated by the biological and cultural differences between the sexes. Ratzenberger plays Gerry, Amanda’s (Cummings) father, who has a stroke-related condition known as “locked-in syndrome”. He has full mental capacity and can hear and smell, but he cannot speak or move and his eyes remain closed. He communicates with his daughter and nurse by wiggling his toe. He joins previously announced cast Brett Goldstein, Lucy Punch, Krystal Smith, and Jen Tullock. Ratzenberger played Cliff Claven for all 12 seasons of Cheers and voiced Mack the Truck and Hamm the Piggy Bank in the Cars and Toy Story franchises, among dozens of other credits. He’s repped by Global Artists Agency.
Roberta Colindrez (Girls) has joined the cast of Jill Soloway’s Amazon comedy pilot I Love Dick. Written by playwright Sarah Gubbins based on Chris Kraus’ influential and somewhat controversial 1997 novel, I Love Dick is set in a colorful academic community in Marfa, Texas. It centers on a struggling married couple, Chris and Sylvere, and their mutual obsession with Dick, an off-putting but charismatic professor. Told in Rashomon-style shifts of POV, I Love Dick charts the unraveling of a marriage, the awakening of an artist and the reluctant deification of a man named Dick. Colindrez will play Devon, a butch cowboy and amateur playwright who works as groundskeeper on the property Chris and Sylvere are renting in Marfa. She is instantly drawn to Chris, but she’s waiting for the couple to come to some sort of agreement before she makes her move. Colindrez, repped by Stone Manners Salners Agency and manager Davien Littlefield, recurred on Girls and currently stars in the Tony-winning Broadway musical Fun Home. She’ll next be seen in the upcoming season of USA’s Mr. Robot.
Must Read Stories
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.