Please wait...
Please wait...

DiCaprio, Nat Geo prep drama

National Geographic is extending its drama output after agreeing a scripted development deal with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions to produce a TV version of a Tom Wolfe novel.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff will be adapted into a “multi-season” drama for the US factual channel and is being produced in association with Warner Horizon Scripted Television.

The project is from executive producers DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson and Will Staples (Call of Duty), who is also writing. Nat Geo previously worked with Titanic and Wolf of Wall Street star DiCaprio and Davisson’s Appian Way on climate change doc Before the Flood.

The drama will be based on the novel, which explores the lives of astronauts during the 1950s as they attempt to become the first people in space. Later seasons will cover the first lunar landing.

Courteney Monroe, CEO of National Geographic Global Networks, said the story “gives a peek into the minds and goals of these astronauts seeking exploration and adventure during the space race of the 50s, making it the perfect story for National Geographic to tell.”

Davisson said the show “uncovers both the adventure of space exploration and the adventure of being unwittingly thrust into the public eye.”

The drama was unveiled at Nat Geo’s Television Critics Association presentation yesterday, where the company also confirmed fellow scripted series The State and three new documentary projects.

The State is a two-night event series that tells the stories of young ISIS recruits and claims to offer “an authentic and nuanced look” inside the repressive regime.

Courteney Monroe

The show was unveiled last year and is being produced with C4 in the UK, with Peter Kosminsky (Wolf Hall) writing and UK indie Archery Pictures producing.

Meanwhile Diana: In Her Own Words is from executive producer Tom Jennings of 1895 Films and weaves archival footage and photography with rarely heard interviews with the princess.

Titanic 20th Anniversary commemorates the premiere of the movie and is from its director James Cameron, who gives an updated interpretation of what happened to the luxury liner before it sunk on April 14, 1912.

A companion doc to scripted series The Long Road Home, based on Martha Raddatz’s novel of the same name, has also been ordered.

The Long Road Home doc, from Nat Geo and Lincoln Square Productions, will explore a surprise attack on the US army in 2004 in Iraq that became known as Black Sunday.

The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman, meanwhile, sees the actor travelling the world to meet people from all walks of life and discuss how their approaches to power, belief, rebellion, love and freedom have impacted their lives.

Freeman has already fronted two seasons of The Story of God for the network.

In related news, Nat Geo Wild has greenlit Ping Pong Productions’ survival show Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet, which features Les Stroud, while Leepson Bounds’ two-part show The Road to Westminster follows the run-up to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

RELATED ARTICLES

Please wait...