Showtime announced at its TCA event this weekend that it has made a series commitment for “Penny Dreadful,” a series set in Victorian London that will feature the Frankenstein monster, Dorian Gray and associates of Count Dracula as characters. Sounds a little like Alan Moore’s “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” if you’re asking me.
Set to shoot late this year, the project will reunite two key members of the “Skyfall” team: screenwriter John Logan (“Rango,” “Hugo”) and director Sam Mendes (“Revolutionary Road,” “Away We Go”). Logan intends to write every episode and Mendes will produce and may direct the pilot.
Press release:
LOS ANGELES, CA (January 12, 2013) – Some of literature’s most iconic figures will step into the light on SHOWTIME in PENNY DREADFUL, a psychosexual horror series created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar® nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) and Neal Street’s Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife), it was announced today by David Nevins, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks. PENNY DREADFUL will begin production in London in the second half of 2013.In PENNY DREADFUL, some of literature’s most famously terrifying characters – including Dr. Frankenstein and his creature, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula – become embroiled in Victorian London. The series weaves together these classic horror origin stories as the characters grapple with their monstrous alienation. This project marks Logan and Mendes’ second major collaboration, following Skyfall, their recent critically-acclaimed and box office record-breaking James Bond film, which Mendes directed and Logan co-wrote; and their first ever collaboration for television. The project will be produced by Mendes’ production company Neal Street Productions.
“John Logan and Sam Mendes are two of the great storytellers of our time,” said Nevins. ”The visual spectacle combined with the psychological insight in their reimagining of these iconic literary characters seems totally mesmerizing to me. This promises to be a wholly original television show.”
