In Brief: Chris Redd out at ‘SNL’, and more

Chris Redd has joined the parade of Saturday Night Live cast members have who left the late-night sketch comedy show ahead of its 48th season, according to Deadline. He joins Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon and Kyle Mooney, who left at the end of last season, and Alex Moffat, Melissa Villaseñor and featured player Aristotle Athari, who departed over the summer. Redd, who joined SNL for its 43rd season, is currently developing the feature film Cyber Monday for Universal and has a stand-up special on HBO Max. SNL returns October 1 with three consecutive shows and four new featured players: Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker…

Variety reports Sara Paulson, who won an Emmy award for her portrayal of Marcia Clark in 2016’s The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, is attached to star in and executive-produce a scripted TV adaptation of The Way Down God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, which HBO Max is developing from its own five-part docuseries. The streamer in September 2021 dropped the first three episodes of Marina Zenovich’s investigative docuseries The Way Down, which chronicled Gwen Shamblin Lara’s rise from being a diet guru with her Weigh Down Workshop, launched in 1986, to the founding of her Tennessee church, Remnant Fellowship, in 1999. However, due to Lara’s death in a plane crash in May of 2021, the final two episodes were re-edited and released this past April. According to HBO Max, The Way Down was its “most-watched docuseries debut”…

The Kominsky Method‘s Alan Arkin, Misery star Kathy Bates and singer-turned-actress Teyana Taylor have joined Casey Affleck and Marisa Tomei in the indie heist thriller The Smack, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Smack follows “a con man — played by Affleck — who has hit rock bottom when he meets an upstart hustler — portrayed by Taylor.” Following a tip from a wise con, played by Arkin, the two head to LA to pull off the biggest scam of their lives, only to learn a list of schemers, including Arkin’s ambitious ex, played by Tomei are also after the money. He’s left to figure out if he and the woman are actually falling in love or is being set up for the ultimate grift…