Davis Guggenheim won an Oscar for directing the enormously sexy Al Gore doomsday documentary An Inconvenient Truth. What high-profile project is next on his slate? The CW's upcoming Melrose Place reboot. How did this happen?

Guggenheim has some workmanlike TV credits to his name as a director—an episode of Alias here, a little bit of Deadwood there—but his most famous projects were Truth and the short biographical film that preceded Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Neither of those credits would suggest an affinity for high camp, but Guggenheim has one important link to the revamped franchise: his wife, Elisabeth Shue, is the sister of O.G. Melrose regular Andrew Shue. Plus, the world is ending, so why not grab a quick paycheck? Fuck it!

Also, THR reports that the reboot's first actor has been cast: Swingtown and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star Michael Rady (shown here with his traveling pants stripped off in a decidedly NSFW way). Rady will be playing "Jonah," who initial casting breakdowns described as the show's "Kevin Smith wannabe." He will be killed off in the third season finale, when Melrose Place is buried under melted polar ice caps.