With Netflix’s British royal family drama series “The Crown” winding down, the streaming service aims to get another vital history family dynasty series off the ground. Variety is reporting that veteran screenwriter Eric Roth (“Munich”) is going to be developing a JFK limited series based on the critically acclaimed book “JFK: Coming of Age In The American Century” by author Fredrik Logevall, which is part one of a two-volume biography with the first book explores John’s birth to becoming the junior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. The outlet says sources claim that Netflix sees this JFK series as an American version of “The Crown,” and given how many scandals/skeletons going on with nearly everyone within the Kennedy Family, that would be an apt comparison.
Of course, plenty of dramatic elements could be fodder for an ongoing series, given The Kennedy Family being referred to as Camelot before both John and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Some of the salacious things that could be covered include Joseph Kennedy’s involvement with the criminal underworld during prohibition and getting mixed with the illegal transportation/sale of booze. Joe was said to have directed doctors to give his unmarried daughter Rosemary Kennedy a lobotomy when her “aggressive attitude” and sexual activity became “concerning” (A horrific reminder of the limited medical rights of women in the past).
The Kennedy boys also had their fair share of scandals from Bobby working alongside Senator McCarthy during the era of The Red Scare, leading to multiple people being blacklisted for their political beliefs, Ted leaving Mary Jo Kopechne to drown in a car and failing to report the accident promptly (leading many to assume fowl play), the alleged affairs that John and Bobby had with Hollywood icon Marylin Monroe, John was also said to have slept with the girlfriends/wives of mobsters, the Cuban Missle Crisis/Cold War escalations and the White House doctor nicknamed “Doctor Feelgood” that kept John boosted/energized with injections of methamphetamine as he was dealing with compromised health via Addison’s disease. Again, there is a lot of dramatic material from real life to cover for multiple seasons.
Roth recently worked with Martin Scorsese for his Indigenous Western “The Killers of The Flower Moon” and once was involved with Scorsese’s adaptation of the serial killer novel “The Devil In The White City.” The screenwriter’s other credits include “The Insider,” “Ali,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin,” “Forrest Gump,” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune.”
There is now a search for a showrunner as Roth will be both a writer and executive producer alongside Peter Chernin and Jenno Topping of Chernin Entertainment. The biggest question now becomes, who plays JFK through these multiple points in his life?
Given Roth’s previous working relationship with David Fincher and the filmmaker’s involvement with the Netflix series “House of Cards” and “Mindhunter,” we’ll keep our fingers crossed that this could be another attractive project for him given drama, sex, politics, and period-setting that could be highly appealing to someone like Fincher. Then again, if he can convince a very busy Scorsese (Expected to shoot the shipwreck drama “The Wager” next) to direct a couple of episodes, that would be fantastic, too.