Coming off a two episode stint as reporter Brian Brenner on HBO's The Newsroom, "The Blackout Part I: Tragedy Porn" and "The Blackout Part II: The Debate," Paul Schneider is about to find himself some more consistent TV employment. Well, that's if everything goes as planned for the, as yet untitled, Richard LaGravenese and Tony Goldwyn political drama pilot at AMC which follows a district attorney who, after uncovering new evidence, resumes investigation into a 'sensational' murder case.
Probably best known as Mark Brendanawicz on the first season of NBC's Parks and Recreation (you know, the only season of the television show that's not spectacular, although no fault of his own), Schneider has popped up in some really interesting fare including All the Real Girls, Lars and the Real Girl and, most recently, Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War.
In the AMC project, according to THR, the actor will star opposite Malin Ireland (the aforementioned district attorney) as a senior lawyer at the Innocence Project (the place where they try to free the wrongfully convicted through previously unavailabe crime solving means) named Clark Rylance who's initially skeptical about taking on the famous case but since he's got the hots for Christine (Ireland), of course, he'll start digging. And when the new info could potentially free a Death Row inmate, he becomes invested in more than just his co-star.
LaGravenese will write the pilot with Goldwyn directing, the former the Oscar nominated screenwriter behind The Fisher King, The Ref and, more recently, uh, Water for Elephants with the latter, not only being Hollywood royalty, but a busy boy having helmed recent episodes of Dexter, Justified and ABC's Scandal (where he also plays the president) as well as a few features along the way like The Last Kiss and Conviction.
