Lisa Cholodenko has signed on to direct Elle Fanning in Hulu’s upcoming limited series, The Girl From Plainville.
The series will mark one of Hulu’s first dives into the popular true crime genre, as the series revolves around the infamous texting-suicide case of Massachusetts teenager Michelle Carter, which was recently covered in the documentary series I Love You, Now Die.
The case rocked the close-knit community of Plainville, when Carter stood trial for homicide after her boyfriend Conrad Roy killed himself. Prosecutors argued that her calls and texts encouraging Roy to take his own life fueled his decision and that he would not have gone through with it had she not urged him to do so.
Hulu gave the show a straight-to-series order last August with Fanning already on board to star. Getting Cholodenko to direct is a great move, not only because she’s incredibly talented – previously directing films such as The Kids Are Alright and High Art – but also because she previously directed three episodes of Netflix’s Unbelievable, a similar crime drama.
The Girl From Plainville is based on Jesse Barron‘s 2017 Esquire article of the same name, with Liz Hannah (The Post) and Dr. Death executive producer Patrick Macmanus serving as co-showrunners. Barron will act as a consulting producer on the series, while I Love You, Now Die director Erin Lee Carr will also produce.
I Love You, Now Die already covered the case pretty well, so we’ll see what The Girl From Plainville can add to this intriguing story.
Expect the show to try and dive deep into the psychology of Carter in ways the documentary may not have been able to. If the series can match the quality of Unbelievable and Fanning’s other Hulu series, The Great, it should be a success.
#Peace.Love.TheGirlFromPlainville
