Ray Romano joins the cast of Project Artemisthe Apple Original Movie about the space race in the 1960s, Deadline reports. Romano joins previously announced castmates Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum and Jim Rash. Project Artemis was written by Rose Gilroy and directed by Greg Berlanti, but details about the plot remain secret. Johansson will co-produce with Jonathan Lia and Keenan Flynn with Berlanti through their These Pictures banner. Chris Evans was originally linked to the project, but Tatum replaced Evans after the actor’s departure due to scheduling conflicts with other projects. There is currently no expected release date.
Romano became popular when Ray Baron in Everyone loves Raymond. Romano, who earned an Emmy for the role, portrayed the title character for nine seasons starting in 1996. Romano’s other notable credits include parenting, The Great Sick, the Irishman and Epix’s Get Shorty. through several Ice Age movies, Romano voiced Manny. He also played and created TNT’s Men of a certain age. The Emmy winner made his directorial debut this year with Somewhere in Queens. The film, starring Romano and Laurie Metcalfe, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year. Romano co-wrote the script with Mark Stegemann.
Ray Romano’s upcoming projects
In addition to Project Artemis, Romano has other projects for the foreseeable future. It was recently announced that Romano and Brad Garrett, who played Robert Barone in Everyone loves Raymondwould both appear in Pete Davidson’s upcoming Peacock series Bupkis. Written by Davidson, Dave Sirus and Judah Miller, the comedy series will present a fictionalized version of Davidson’s life. Bupkis will also feature Edie Falco, Joe Pesci, Charlie Day, Kenan Thompson, Chase Sui Wonders and Simon Rex. While Falco is known to play Davidson’s mother and Pesci has been cast in the role of his grandfather, other cast roles have not been announced.
Romano also plans to play the late basketball coach and commentator Jim Valvano in an upcoming biopic. The film chronicles the late basketball legend’s life until his death on April 28, 1993, after a battle with cancer. Valvano played college basketball until 1967 and later went on to pursue a coaching career. During the 1983 NCAA Championship, Valvano led the North Carolina State Wolfpack to an unexpected win against the expected winners Houston Cougars.
He later became a sports commentator for ABC Sports and ESPN. Valvano is remembered by many for his optimistic spirit even in the face of illness. He is widely remembered for his speech at the 1993 ESPYs, following his terminal diagnosis of metastatic bone cancer, where he encouraged the audience to never give up and smile every day. Romano will also serve as producer for the film.