HBO Orders Two David Simon Pilots

The premium cable network has ordered two new pilots from The Wire creator, with both scripts slated for back-to-back production over the next year. The first, a 1970s/'80s porn drama titled The Deuce, has snagged boldface names James Franco and Breaking Bad’s Michelle MacLaren as the potential series' star and director, respectively. The second, a political drama that’s still untitled, is set in the present-day world of Capitol Hill and will provide a detailed examination of partisanship and the influence of money on national governance.

The Deuce, which will begin filming in New York in October, follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York of the early 1970s and continues through the mid-1980s. The long-in-the-works entry will explore the rough-and-tumble world that existed in midtown Manhattan until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and the renewed real estate market all ended the bawdy turbulence. Named for 42nd Street, The Deuce is inspired in part by the career of twin brothers who were players in the Times Square world and became fronts for Mob control of the volatile and lucrative sex industry from its origins.

The second pilot is a collaboration between Simon and journalist Carl Bernstein (All the President’s Men), who will co-produce. Ed Burns, Simon’s co-writer and producer on The Wire, William F. Zorzi, a former Baltimore Sun political writer who collaborated with Simon on his upcoming miniseries Show Me a Hero, and Noble, who has co-produced all of Simon’s previous HBO fare, are also attached to the Capitol Hill project. The latter is a more recent idea, and remains a work in progress.

Source:

Hollywood Reporter