James Gray To Write & Direct Drama Series About Norman Mailer

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Norman Mailer, the celebrated and controversial author behind books such as The Executioner’s Song, made headlines earlier this year as part of a publishing brouhaha related to a new collection of his work.The author of The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster is now back in the news with a television series about his life.John Buffalo Mailer, the son of the writer who died in 2007, created Mailer and has now teamed up with Ad Astra writer/director James Gray on the project.Gray is also behind feature films including Charlie Hunnam-fronted The Lost City of Z and The Immigrant.

In 2014, he directed an episode of SundanceTV’s The Red Road, but Mailer marks his first full television series.Mailer will tell the story of the rebel-intellectual, who documented the journey America took from World War II to WiFi and engaged in one of the most publicly controversial lives – of violent confrontations with literary lions like Truman Capote and Gore Vidal, political icons, sports legends, six wives and numerous mistresses.The series is based on J.

Michael Lennon’s biography Norman Mailer: A Double Life.It will explore a life teeming with adventure, sex, love, violence, hope, strife, betrayal, disappointments, brutal tragedies, and epic triumphs – and some of the most influential writings of the 20th Century.It is produced by Mailer Tuchman Media, run by John Buffalo Mailer, who himself has starred in films including Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Blind.

Rudy Langlais, who produced Denzel Washington film The Hurricane, exec produces alongside Mailer, Martin Tuchman and Jennifer Gelfer.