Forget features, television is where the most compelling and creative work is being done. And, like moths to the flame, that's also where the best artists are headed. And why not? You'd have a tough time arguing that any film was more satisfying than the last season of Mad Men or Sherlock. Or the first season of Homeland for that matter. Just today, it was announced that the best director of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Nicolas Winding Refn, would be taking his talents to the 'boob-tube' for his take on Barbarella, making him only the latest in a long list of acclaimed writers, actors and directors to make the transition.
Well, technically not the latest since word is Academy Award nominee Tim Roth and critically acclaimed director David Cronenberg are teaming up for a new series from Media Rights Capital called Knifeman. Deadline reports that Roth will star in the straight-to-series (confidence!) project that has Cronenberg behind the camera for the pilot and executive producing the rest with writers Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald. Knifeman is about self educated and seemingly morally ambiguous surgeon John Tattersall, played by Roth, who will do just about anything to 'uncover the secrets of the human body.' Why are all the brilliant scientists so mad? Like crazy mad, not angry. Sometimes both.
Tattersall will mark the second small screen role for Roth who previously starred in the Fox drama Lie To Me as a human lie detector. I have much more confidence in this project not only because the premise already sounds less formulaic but also since the Canadian director is at his best with body horror, exploring and pushing the limits of biology and technology. The pilot was written by by Emmy nominated Rolin Jones from a story by Jones and Ron Fitzgerald. Both writer-producers worked on the underrated and under watched United States of Tara and will be Executive Producers along with Cronenberg. The series is expected to start being shopped to the networks shortly.
