“All Quiet on the Western Front” director Ed Berger is set to direct a Kurt Vonnegut drama currently in development at Amazon Studios with Oscar Isaac attached to executive produce, an individual with knowledge confirmed to TheWrap.
The series, currently titled “Helltown,” will center on the acclaimed author’s journey prior to fame in an eight-episode crime series based on the book of the same name by Casey Sherman, who will also executive produce.
The official logline is as follows: “In 1969 Kurt was a struggling novelist and car salesman living life with his wife and five children on Cape Cod. When two women disappear and are later discovered murdered underneath the sand dunes on the outskirts of Provincetown, Kurt becomes obsessed and embroiled in the chilling hunt for a serial killer and forms a dangerous bond with the prime suspect.”
Deadline also reported that Isaac is in talks to play Vonnegut alongside his duties as executive producer.
Hailing from Team Downey, Mad Gene and Amazon Studios, “Severance” co-executive producer Mohamad El Masri will serve as creator, showrunner and writer alongside executive producers Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, Casey Sherman, Amanda Burrell, who executive produces for Team Downey and Oscar Isaac and Gena Konstantinakos, who executive produce for Mad Gene.
The news comes just a day after Berger’s lauded “All Quiet” brought in four Academy Award wins, including Best International Feature, Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Cinematography.
Berger is repped by Range Media Partners, CAA and Casarotto Ramsay & Associates; Isaac is represented by WME, The Lede Company and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson + Christopher, and El Masri is repped by UTA/Anonymous Content/Jackoway Austen Tyerman.