Martin Scorsese is about to attempt a third foray into television. His previous two attempts have yielded mixed results; Boardwalk Empire, which he worked on with Terence Winter, turned into one of HBO’s best shows, while his second HBO series Vinyl lasted only one season and was ambitious but problematic.
The legendary director is hoping his latest project is more the former and less of the latter. He’s teaming up with Michael Hirst, who is known for working on prestigious period dramas such as Vikings and The Tudors, for a series titled The Caesars, which will focus on the “youth and vitality” of early Roman leaders.
The appeal for Scorsese is clear, as the show would allow him to dig into Italian history, one of the filmmaker’s many passions. However, details regarding the series remain sparse and it is hard to know exactly how much involvement Scorsese would have in the project if it ever gets underway.
Like the previous two shows he was involved in, there might be an executive producer credit on the table, and maybe even Scorsese in the director’s chair for the pilot episode, but until we get more information it’s hard to know how the director is going to fit any meaningful involvement into the show when he’s got plenty of film projects on his plate right now.
Those include finishing the long post-production process for The Irishman for Netflix, the adaptation of Killers Of The Flower Moon, and a film about President Teddy Roosevelt.
The series doesn’t currently have a network attached, but is currently set to begin production in Italy in 2019. That’s plenty of time for Scorsese to get his affairs in order and make room for genuine involvement on the show. If he does, The Caesars immediately becomes one of the most anticipated shows in production.
#Peace.Love.TheCaesars
