After making a big splash last year with his unnerving indie "Marth Marcy May Marlene," director Sean Durkin is beginning to line up an impressive slate of projects. While reports that he was going to tackle a TV remake of "The Exorcist" ultimately seem to be erroneous (and highly denounced by William Friedkin), he since nabbed the gig helming the long-developing Janis Joplin biopic "Janis." But he isn't done with the small screen, and will tackle a show that will take him across the pond.
The Guardian reports that Durkin will get behind the camera for the four-part TV drama "Southcliffe." Penned by Tony Grisoni, the story will center on the aftermath of a number of shootings that all take place in one day, and as told from the perspective of a journalist who grew up in the small town where they occur. Large scale, layered crime tales are nothing new to Grisoni, who unfolded a captivating, multi-threaded yarn with "The Red Riding" trilogy of films. And this sounds like it will have the same sort of canvas. And speaking of that, it's definitely a bigger one for Durkin, and a change from the intimate 'Marthy Marcy.'
The plan is for "Southcliffe" to air next year, so we presume Durkin will knock this out before wrangling "Joplin" with Nina Arianda in the lead role in early 2013. Promising stuff indeed, and hopefully we'll get a line on casting soon.
