HBO is officially back in business with David Simon - creator of The Wire and Treme. The premium cable network has ordered 6-part miniseries Show Me a Hero, based on the nonfiction book by Lisa Belkin and to be co-written by Simon and William F. Zorzi. Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) and Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich) are attached to star.
Show Me a Hero is set in an America generations removed from the greatest civil rights struggles of the 1960s. It centers on the young major of a mid-sized American city who is faced with a federal court order that says he must build a small number of low-income housing units in the white neighborhoods of his town. His attempt to do so tears the entire city apart, paralyzes the entire municipal government and, ultimately, destroys the major and his political future.
Isaac will star as Nick Wasicsko, the youngest big-city major in the nation who finds himself thrust into the center of this racial controversy. Keener will play Mary Dorman, an East Yonkers homeowner who comes to a remarkable realization during the battle over where to build low-income housing.
Executive producers include Simon, Zorzi, Nina Noble and Gail Mutrux. Paul Haggis (Crash) is attached to direct. A Blown Deadline will produce.
