HBO is developing “Madame X,” a miniseries based on Kate Manning’s book “My Notorious Life” that will star Anna Paquin, who will also executive produce with Jack Black and her “True Blood” co-star Stephen Moyer, multiple individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap.
Lynn Shelton (“Laggies”) is attached to direct the miniseries, which will be written by Julia Hart (“The Keeping Room”).
HBO declined to comment.
Paquin and Moyer will executive produce through their Casm Films banner along with Mark Larkin and Cerise Hallam Larkin, while Black will executive produce with his Electric Dynamite partner Priyanka Mattoo.
Based on a true story from the scandalized headlines of Victorian-era New York City, “Madame X” follows Axie Muldoon (Paquin), the impoverished daughter of Irish immigrants who becomes an enormously successful — not to mention controversial — midwife and abortionist.
As she rises from the gutter to the glitter of Fifth Avenue and learns that the law doesn’t always apply to matters of medicine, Axie finds herself on a collision course with Anthony Comstock, a politician dedicated to ideas of Victorian morality.
Manning’s website describes the book as a love story, a family saga and the tale of one woman making her way in a difficult world amidst a heated political climate.
Black, Paquin, Moyer and Shelton are no strangers to HBO, though Hart is new to the network. She wrote the Civil War-era thriller “The Keeping Room,” which stars Brit Marling, Hailee Steinfeld and Sam Worthington. Drafthouse Films will release the movie this fall.
The husband-and-wife team of Moyer and Paquin co-starred on the HBO hit “True Blood,” while Black toplines the network’s half-hour series “The Brink.” Meanwhile, Shelton has been developing the HBO pilot “Terrible Infants” with “Laggies” writer Andrea Seigel.
WME represents Black, Paquin, Moyer and Hart, while UTA reps Shelton along with Anonymous Content and attorney Robert Offer. Paquin is also repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and attorney Jason Sloane, while Moyer is also repped by Luber Roklin Entertainment, United Agents and attorney Dave Feldman. Black’s attorney is Robert Offer.