Kath & Kim: articles


Blair, Shannon

Selma joins US Kath & Kim

IT will be a case of look at me Selma, look at me. After a lengthy search, Hollywood actress Selma Blair has been cast to play Tiny Teddy-loving Kim in the US version of the Australian sitcom, Kath & Kim.

NBC, the network with the US rights, had cast Saturday Night Live comedienne Molly Shannon as Kath last year, but had trouble finding the right actress for Kim.

Blair, 35, starred opposite Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde and Cameron Diaz in The Sweetest Thing and will reprise her role this year in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the sequel to 2004's hit comic book adaptation, Hellboy.

NBC, which has had great success with a US version of UK sitcom The Office, has struggled to put its version of Kath & Kim on air.

NBC picked up the rights to the TV series 12 months ago and there were plans to shoot the pilot mid-2007, but the original choice for Kath, another Hollywood actress Joan Cusack, dropped out.

There was a change in scriptwriters and now the screenwriters' strike has stalled production.

Kath & Kim's Australian creators and stars, Jane Turner and Gina Riley, will serve as executive producers.

By Peter Mitchell
The Courier-Mail
January 23, 2008