Hot off his Oscar nominated film “The Fighter,” David O. Russell — who, as usual, has a number of projects he’s working on — has added one more and set his sights on the small screen. Deadline reports that the director has teamed up with “Friday Night Lights” actress Connie Britton to create a female-driven drama for FX.
While little is known at the moment, Russell will create the series with Britton in line to star. “Friday Night Lights” ended its five-season run last October and many had speculated whether the actress would make a leap to another series immediately thereafter. The acclaimed series struggled to find an audience over the years but thanks to DirecTV had a temporary second life. Britton was nominated for an Emmy last year for her work on the show, however, lost to Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer“).
This will be Russell’s first foray into television and definitely something to tune in for as things develop. A handful of wins at the Academy Awards next month should help boost the project. The director currently has his hands full developing a live-action film of the hit video game “Uncharted,” the buddy cop pic “2 Guns” based on the graphic novel by Steven Grant with Vince Vaughn attached, the long gestating “The Silver Linings Playbook” and a Dirty Harry style franchise for Ice Cube. And If Russell can draw at least an ounce of the intensity and realism out of Britton as he did from his two ‘Fighter’ leads then we are in for one wild ride with this new television project. Color us intrigued.
Meanwhile, over at CBS, Deadline reveals that Niels Arden Oplev, director of the Swedish version of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” has signed on to direct an untitled drama by writer/producers Ed Redlich (“Without A Trace“) and John Bellucci. The series “centers on a female NYPD detective who possesses the special ability to remember everything and, although a gift in her job, it’s also a curse in her personal life.” Apparently this is based on a real phenomenon known as “superior autobiographical memory” where someone has the ability to recall every minute detail of their life. Six people in the world have it and Marilu Henner is apparently one of them. Huh.