Well, call it karma or something. While we were thrilled that HBO picked up "True Detective," a new crime series that will star Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, with Cary Fukunaga ("Jane Eyre," "Sin Nombre") directing, it looks like another starry project unfortunately won’t be going forward.
The network has passed on Noah Baumbach‘s "The Corrections," produced by Scott Rudin. Based on the acclaimed novel by Jonathan Franzen, the project lined up an incredible slate of talent with Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Dianne Wiest, Rhys Ifans and Greta Gerwig on board for the story of a dysfunctional and repressed Midwestern family. Ambitions were very, very high for the project which, if the two-hour pilot had passed the test at HBO, was being planned for four ten-episode seasons, presumably greatly expanding the scope of the book. But for whatever reason, HBO has decided not to move on. According to Deadline, the network liked the pilot but thought the time jumping narrative was going to be too tricky to translate to television.
This is another show to get the death blow in 2012 at HBO, following "Luck" which was axed after one accident on set too many, as well as Spike Lee‘s drama "Da Brick" with "Attack The Block" star John Boyega, which also didn’t get past pilot stage. It’s a bummer, and a blow for Baumbach who has been trying to get something mounted since "Greenberg" ("While We’re Young" seems to be stuck in perpetual limbo), and with that cast and source material it seemed like a no brainer.
We presume Rudin will have the right to shop it elsewhere if he so desires, so it will be interesting to see if that happens. With this talent attached it might be attractive to a rival network, but until then, can we see that pilot? [Variety]