‘Mailer’: James Gray To Write/Direct Series Based On Life Of Writer Norman Mailer

Filmmaker James Gray (“The Lost City of Z”), who was most recently behind the Brad Pitt-led sci-fi film “Ad Astra,” is turning his sights toward a more grounded dramatic series for his next effort. Gray will be writing and directing a show based on the life of famed writer Norman Mailer, the celebrated and controversial author of such books as “The Executioner’s Song” and “The White Negro: Superficial Reflections On The Hipster.”

Deadline reports that Gray’s series will be called “Mailer,” adding that the new project is based on the author J. Michael Lennon’s biography “Norman Mailer: A Double Life” and that Norman’s son, John Buffalo Mailer, created the television project working alongside Gray.

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Mailer’s book “The White Negro” was an essay published in 1957 that focused on the adoption of black culture by white people, something that continues today and one of the reasons the writer’s work continues to be relevant. It’s expected to explore his well-documented womanizing and various violent confrontations over the decades. The latter isn’t just hyperbole; Mailer once infamously head-butted fellow writer Gore Vidal on “The Dick Cavett Show” during heated conservation.

The outlet also provides insight into what the series will focus on with a synopsis:

‘Mailer’ will tell the story of the rebel intellectual, who documented the journey America took from World War II to WiFi and engaged in one of the most publicly controversial lives – of violent confrontations with literary lions like Truman Capote and Gore Vidal, political icons, sports legends, six wives and numerous mistresses.

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Gray previously directed an episode of SundanceTV’s “The Red Road,” but “Mailer” will be the director’s first real foray into television. We can’t wait to see who’ll be cast as the legendary writer. Gray’s next feature film is also a grounded, back-to-New-York effort titled “Armageddon Time.” Starring Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, and Jeremy Strong, the film is actually a coming of age film starring two relatively unknown boys (Michael Banks Repeta, Jaylin Webb), about a friendship that is torn apart when one of the boys leaves the public school system for the private school system in 1980s New York (Actors like Cate Blanchett and Oscar Isaac were initially cast, but had to drop out due to the pandemic). Donald Trump as a real estate tycoon lingers in the background, and this film should be complete by now. Given how the Cannes Film Festival loves Gray so much, it would not surprise us if the film appears there this May.