Netflix has seen success with its documentaries, it’s seen success with its fictional series; surely a hybrid is certain to be its next success. Wormwood is just that, a part documentary, part scripted series that details the CIA’s secret drug testings between 1953 to 1964.
The program – MK-ULTRA – involved testing LSD on hundreds of Americans who were completely unaware of the happenings. Sex workers were hired to lure in unsuspecting men; agents spiked men’s drinks; military men went about their days unknowingly high.
The base of the film, however, is the story of Frank Rudolph Olson, a CIA employee who plunged to his death from a hotel room in 1953 after being drugged with LSD. Once written off as a suicide, Frank’s sons Eric and Nils filed a lawsuit against the US government in 2012. They wish to only solve the mystery of their father’s death.
The trailer displays both the crafty cinematography used for the past, and the interviews that give the likes of Eric Olson a voice. The storytelling abilities already appear to be of fantastic quality, unsurprising under the direction of Errol Morris, whose 2003 film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The cast of Wormwood stars Peter Sarsgaard as Frank, as well as Molly Parker, Christian Camargo, Scott Shepherd, Tim Blake Nelson, Jimmi Simpson, Bob Balaban, and Michael Chernus.
The premise of the series should do popular considering the success of Making A Murderer and The Keepers, though the merging of scripted scenes to Morris’ series adds just enough to make it different.
A six-part series, Wormwood, premieres on Netflix December 15. Watch the teaser trailer below.
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