Cary Fukunaga to Direct ‘The Alienist’ TV Series

Eric Roth will executive produce

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“True Detective” director Cary Fukunaga has been tapped to direct the upcoming drama series “The Alienist,” based on the Caleb Carr novel.

Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”) has also been chosen to executive produce the project, which hails from Paramount Television and Anonymous Content. Hossein Amini, who wrote the pilot, will write the series as well as executive produce.

Set in the tenements and mansions of Gilded Age New York City (late-‘1800s), Carr’s 1994 novel tells the story of Dr. Laszlo Kreizler who, with the help of newspaper reporter John Moore and police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, uses the emerging discipline of psychology to track down one of New York City’s first serial killers.

“‘The Alienist’ is a fascinating and distinctive, fast-paced psychological thriller that is wonderfully evocative of the unrivaled Gilded Age of New York City,” Paramount Television president Amy Powell said of the project. “Cary Fukunaga’s unique vision and ability to render compelling, distinctive and superbly atmospheric direction is the perfect voice for this television series.  We are thrilled to have not only Cary’s expert direction, but also the creativity, imagination and storytelling abilities of the supremely talented Eric Roth and Hossein Amini.”

Added Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin and Rosalie Swedlin, “We are thrilled that Paramount has entrusted us and our brilliant creative dream team —  Eric Roth, Hossein Amini and Cary Fukunaga — to bring this much beloved, bestselling novel to the screen … The multi-episodic format will enable us to do justice to the complexity of Caleb Carr’s storytelling and his vivid and detailed portrait of late-19th century New York in all its splendor and grittiness.”

Fukunaga, whose work also includes the 2011 feature “Jane Eyre,” won an Emmy for his work on the first season of the HBO drama “True Detective,” which was also produced by Anonymous. He is currently working on the Stephen King adaptation “It,” from Warner Bros.

 

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