Massive news broke this weekend, as Academy Award winner Sam Mendes and Academy Award nominee John Logan are teaming up for PENNY DREADFUL, a high concept show coming to Showtime. The same pair found widespread acclaim for SKYFALL and look to keep the good thing going with a show set to feature Dr. Frankenstein, his monster, Dorian Grey, and characters from Bram Stoker’s DRACULA. Monsters continue to be the trend in Hollywood on both the big and small screens, and this sounds like one of the most promising to date. Here’s the press release:
Some of literature’s most iconic figures will step into the light on SHOWTIME in PENNY DREADFUL, a psychosexual horror series created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar(R) nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) and Neal Street’s Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife), it was announced today by David Nevins, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks. PENNY DREADFUL will begin production in London in the second half of 2013.
In PENNY DREADFUL, some of literature’s most famously terrifying characters – including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula – become embroiled in Victorian London. The series weaves together these classic horror origin stories as the characters grapple with their monstrous alienation. This project marks Logan and Mendes’ second major collaboration, following Skyfall, their recent critically-acclaimed and box office record-breaking James Bond film, which Mendes directed and Logan co-wrote; and their first ever collaboration for television. The project will be produced by Mendes’ production company Neal Street Productions.
“John Logan and Sam Mendes are two of the great storytellers of our time,” said Nevins. “The visual spectacle combined with the psychological insight in their reimagining of these iconic literary characters seems totally mesmerizing to me. This promises to be a wholly original television show.”
Showtime Entertainment President David Nevins described the project further to EW: “It’s very realistic, it’s very grounded…The characters are all in very human form in turn-of-the-century London. It’s very psychological and highly erotic.”
Frankenstein and Dracula are everywhere these days. Vampires are in every movie and TV show, practically, with a Dracula show starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers coming to NBC and the film I, FRANKENSTEIN starring Aaron Eckhart being made as we speak.
