Penny Dreadful receives series commitment from #Showtime. New horror series marks landmark TV collaboration from John Logan & Sam Mendes
— SHO_PR (@SHO_PR) January 12, 2013
"PENNY DREADFUL" RECEIVES SERIES COMMITMENT FROM SHOWTIME(R)
Horror Series Marks Landmark Television Collaboration From Skyfall Duo John Logan And Sam Mendes
LOS ANGELES, CA (January 12, 2013) - Some of literature's most iconic figures will step into the light on SHOWTIME in PENNY DREADFUL, a psychosexual horror series created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar(R) nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) and Neal Street's Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife), it was announced today by David Nevins, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks. PENNY DREADFUL will begin production in London in the second half of 2013.
In PENNY DREADFUL, some of literature's most famously terrifying characters - including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula - become embroiled in Victorian London. The series weaves together these classic horror origin stories as the characters grapple with their monstrous alienation. This project marks Logan and Mendes' second major collaboration, following Skyfall, their recent critically-acclaimed and box office record-breaking James Bond film, which Mendes directed and Logan co-wrote; and their first ever collaboration for television. The project will be produced by Mendes' production company Neal Street Productions.
"John Logan and Sam Mendes are two of the great storytellers of our time," said Nevins. "The visual spectacle combined with the psychological insight in their reimagining of these iconic literary characters seems totally mesmerizing to me. This promises to be a wholly original television show."
Source: Showtime
Horror Series Marks Landmark Television Collaboration From Skyfall Duo John Logan And Sam Mendes
LOS ANGELES, CA (January 12, 2013) - Some of literature's most iconic figures will step into the light on SHOWTIME in PENNY DREADFUL, a psychosexual horror series created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar(R) nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) and Neal Street's Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife), it was announced today by David Nevins, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks. PENNY DREADFUL will begin production in London in the second half of 2013.
In PENNY DREADFUL, some of literature's most famously terrifying characters - including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula - become embroiled in Victorian London. The series weaves together these classic horror origin stories as the characters grapple with their monstrous alienation. This project marks Logan and Mendes' second major collaboration, following Skyfall, their recent critically-acclaimed and box office record-breaking James Bond film, which Mendes directed and Logan co-wrote; and their first ever collaboration for television. The project will be produced by Mendes' production company Neal Street Productions.
"John Logan and Sam Mendes are two of the great storytellers of our time," said Nevins. "The visual spectacle combined with the psychological insight in their reimagining of these iconic literary characters seems totally mesmerizing to me. This promises to be a wholly original television show."
Source: Showtime
Ummm... Could be interesting maybe? I dunno what to think about it.
ReplyDeleteOooh I'm definitely intrigued.
ReplyDeleteBut then again I'll check out any horror-related project on television. :)
I am keen but what I really look for in a tv show is something new and characters that I don't know. Television and film rely too heavily on literature, fairytales, comics, sequels, threequels and reboots. Show me something truly new and original!
ReplyDeleteToo much of the same. It sounds a little bit like Once Upon a Time with a whole lot of sex scenes included.
ReplyDeleteLet's play "capitalize on popular TV themes" math:
ReplyDeleteA Once Upon A Time template
+ A Vampire Diaries sensibility
+ True Blood-level sex, violence, and profanity
+ Academy Award credibility
+ Victorian setting for bonus, Downton Abbey-esque "period piece" credibility
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= The next hot pay-cable project that all actors and actresses will be stepping over each other to get cast in.
I'm in the same boat....
ReplyDeleteI can't say I'm optimistic about this one... It feels like such a tremendous stretch from Showtime's television personality that I don't know how it will fit in. I don't know how else to describe the showtime model but it's basically damaged characters + modern storytelling + hijinks= compelling television... I just don't see how this period horror with stock supernatural characters is compatible with that, and I don't really think that (basing this solely on the description, so I could be wrong) that this would be the most successful or intelligent or fun way to capitalize on ANY of these television trends... (See Bruce F's comment for the list)... Plus, I'm concerned that this might take them further away from their recent model that works (at least for me) and that perhaps they'll start picking more and more insane bandwagon series or ones that just are completely devoid of that showtime feel, and that's WAY more terrifying than frankenstein. I'm all for a network expirementing, but let's be honest, Showtime is basically damage-land and I like it that way, and I have come to really appreciate the uniting cord in Showtime's scripted programming. They all feel (and masters of sex and roy donovan seem in line as well) similar in tone, so while personally I hate dexter, it doesn't feel out of place on the network. Whereas I find FX and even HBO to be all over the map, and not in a good way. With showtime there's at least a greater chance that I will like a new series they air because there is (or perhaps was) this consistent feel to the programming, and this REALLY worries me in that in addition to sounding pretty darn awful, it will throw the network into a bit of chaos as well. I have two wishes for showtime, A) that this doesn't suck, or if it does that they scrap it B) They give that Augusten Burroughs series they were discussing a while back a turn at the wheel and oh yes C) They come up with more compelling and innovative series about broken people who entertain... Okay that was three, but after such a long rant who's counting?
ReplyDeleteThat said, if it actually airs I'll give it an episode or two to impress me... And then weep tv tears if it's bad, and full-on sob if it results in a disjointed network.
ReplyDelete