Minka Kelly, who stars in the drama series,
Friday Night Lights, will be appearing in the big screen this fall as Ms. Ross in
The Kingdom.
According to the film’s official website, the story revolves around 4 FBI agents who go to Saudi Arabia after "a terrorist bomb detonates inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh" and causes an international crisis. They are given 5 days "to locate the madman behind the bombing," but upon their arrival, are met with much suspicion from Saudi authorities.
Aside from Kelly, the star-studded cast includes Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman (
Arrested Development), Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner (
Alias),
Jeremy Piven (
Entourage), Richard Jenkins and Ali Suliman.
Filming began last year in Phoenix, Arizona, and after a few months, transferred to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the cast and crew remained for one week. Peter Berg, co-creator of
Friday Night Lights, is directing a script written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Academy Award nominee Michael Mann, who is also credited as one of its producers.
Originally,
The Kingdom was scheduled to be released on April 20th, but was pushed back to September 28th. The decision to reschedule was based on the favorable reactions the movie received from test audiences and Universal Pictures executives. The rescheduling will also give the movie a better chance of being considered for awards.
Although this is Minka’s first big budget film, the
Friday Night Lights star has appeared in a number of productions. She made her television series debut on the show,
Cracking Up, and followed that with guest roles on other shows such as
Drake & Josh,
American Dreams and
What I Like About You. Minka has also worked on several independent films, including the award-winning
Devil’s Highway and
State’s Evidence.
On
Friday Night Lights, Minka is known as Lyla Garrity, a cheerleader for the Dillon Panthers and ex-fiancee of former starting quarterback Jason Street, played by
Scott Porter.
-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: about.com
(Photo Courtesy of NBC)