US cable network FX, which produces such shows as Sons Of Anarchy, Justified and Wilfred, has announced a slew of new projects featuring some big names from the big screen and some hefty talent usually found working in telly too. Among the biggest is Sam Mendes, who is behind a new miniseries called Grand Hotel.
Mendes is of course, fresh not only from Skyfall’s huge success but a recent Empire awards haul. He’s clearly got a yen for TV at the moment, as he’s also working on a horror series called Penny Dreadful alongside Skyfall scribe John Logan. As for Grand Hotel, there are few details about the project, though it’s being described as a terrorism thriller set in Paris.
Charlie Kaufman is also listed among the filmmakers developing projects for the channel – according to Vulture, the Being John Malkovich writer (who got his start working on the small screen) is creating a comedy series called How And Why. It’ll focus on a guy who knows everything about complicated nuclear reactors but has no clue how to navigate life.
Talking of comedy with a twist, FX’s new show orders include greenlight for something we reported on a while ago – the series based on Fargo. Joel and Ethan Coen are executive producing the show, but the day-to-day showrunner will be Noah Hawley.
Finally, there are other miniseries developing, including Mad Dogs (based on the British comedy thriller series) from The Shield’s Shawn Ryan and The Story Of The Mayflower, which boasts Paul Giamatti among its producers.
For more from Mendes, check out our interview with the man at the Empire awards below.