Lady Macbeth helmer William Oldroyd has been tapped to adapt a four-hour TV series based upon Lucy Kirkwood’s acclaimed stage play Chimerica, which is being produced by Playground Entertainment for the UK’s Channel 4.
According to Deadline, Chimerica “starts in China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 as young American photojournalist captures a piece of history as tanks roll through Beijing and soldiers hammer on his hotel door. Twenty years later, he is covering a presidential election, marred by debate over cheap labour and the outsourcing of American jobs to Chinese factories. He subsequently becomes obsessed with a cryptic message left in a Chinese newspaper and journeys to discover who the man was in the photo.”
Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange) is reportedly in talks to reprise his role from the stage play as Chinese dissident Zhang Lin, with the project said to be looking for a A-list star for the lead role.
Kirkwood, who recently made her feature directorial debut with Film 4’s The Briny, is set to serve as executive produce on the series along with Colin Callender of Playground Entertainment, Sophie Gardiner of Channel 4 and Adrian Sturges (The Enfield Haunting).
