We reported a while back that Sean Penn was taking on the mantle of Andrew Jackson in the developing AMERICAN LION miniseries and now a director is attached. Philip Noyce (pictured), who has directed such works as Patriot Games, The Bone Collector, Rabbit-Proof Fence and HBO Films: MARY AND MARTHA, is now expected to direct some of the six-hour program. Our source says the production should get before the cameras in October and air in 2017. Granted a six-hour period piece is a big project, but couldn’t Noyce take on the whole project? It would have made for a cohesiveness and singular vision had it been that way. We will keep an eye out for who else sign s on the direct.
On the writing front is Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard who both wrote Netflix’s Narcos and movies like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and National Treasure 3. Their subject matter this time is the controversial 7th President of these United States. As previously stated, the main source material is the non-fiction book by Jon Meacham entitled [amazon_link id=”0812973461″ target=”_blank” ]“American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.”[/amazon_link] Regarding that work Publishers Weekly states –
“We get the Indian fighter and hero of New Orleans facing down South Carolina radicals’ efforts to nullify federal laws they found unacceptable, speaking the words of democracy even if his banking and other policies strengthened local oligarchies, and doing nothing to protect southern Indians from their land-hungry white neighbors. For the first time, with Jackson, demagoguery became presidential, and his Democratic Party deepened its identification with Southern slavery. Relying on the huge mound of previous Jackson studies, Meacham can add little to this well-known story, save for the few tidbits he’s unearthed in private collections rarely consulted before. What he does bring is a writer’s flair and the ability to relate his story without the incrustations of ideology and position taking that often disfigure more scholarly studies of Jackson.”
More as we get it.
(Source: Deadline)
