While there have been a couple of teasers before it, the latest promo for HBO’s new, Martin Scorsese-spearheaded series Boardwalk Empire has us dribbling in anticipation for what promises to be a telly event of the year.
But while Scorsese is a producer, and, in an unusual move for him, director of the pilot (he’s made a few documentary episodes, but we think the last time he hoisted the megaphone for narrative TV was a 1986 episode of Amazing Stories), the real power behind the show’s creative throne is Terence Winter, one of the major collaborators on The Sopranos.
Empire finds occasional Sopranos guest and director Steve Buscemi stepping up to star as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, the ruler of prohibition-era Atlantic City and a dangerous man to deal with. A fixer and backroom dealer, he’s a crossbreed of politician and gangster and knows how to get what he wants from both worlds.
And based on this trailer, Buscemi nails it. He’s steely, slimy, and definitely not to be messed with. Given the track record of those involved with this, not to mention the boiling pot of story opportunities that the setting provides and the fact that it’s clearly been fashioned with care and attention to detail, and you have a show that we definitely want to see just as humanly possible.
Sadly, we’re going to have to wait until later in the year, and possibly even longer over here in the UK (that sound is our man in LA – hi folks! – chuckling in an evil way) for it to arrive.
Check out the new teaser and tell us you don’t want to see this thing as soon as possible…
Thanks to Collider for the spot.