Ad Astra writer-director James Gray has signed on to scribe and helm a television series about the life of the late celebrated and controversial author Norman Mailer. The filmmaker has teamed up with the author’s son, John Buffalo Mailer, who created the show, which will be titled Mailer, Deadline is reporting.
The series will tell the story of the intellectual but rebellious writer, who penned such books as The Executioner’s Song and The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster. The late author became known throughout his life for documenting the journey America took from World War II to the age of the internet.
But Mailer also gained notoriety throughout his life for several personal reasons. The most prominent cause was his violent confrontations with literary legends Truman Capote and Gore Vidal, political icons, sports figures, as well as his six wives and numerous mistresses.
The upcoming television show will be based on J. Michael Lennon’s biography Norman Mailer: A Double Life. The screen adaptation will also explore how the titular writer led a life filled with adventure, sex, love, hope, strife, betrayal, disappointments, brutal tragedies and epic triumphs. Those experiences helped him become one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.
The television series will be produced by Mailer Tuchman Media.
The writer’s son, who has starred in such films as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Blind, will serve as Mailer‘s showrunner. He’ll also executive produce the series with Gray, Rudy Langlais, Martin Tuchman and Jennifer Gelfer.
“It’s hard to come up with another individual whose voice meant more in his time than Norman Mailer’s – he chronicled humanity in all its outrageous and ugly glory through a lens that was uniquely his own.
I look forward to the exciting challenge of examining his wild legacy through this series,” Gray said about writing and directing Mailer.
While discussing the show, Langlais added, “Mailer loomed – and still looms – large over American culture – and as much lived an epically large and complex life – of exquisite writing, violent confrontations, drunken lifestyle, volatile marriages, brilliant ideas, clashes with fellow writers, feminists, cops, politicians – the whole gamut of America in a life lived not on the margins but in the center of the tumult — much of which he created himself so he could be the star of it.
“I worked with Mailer for 20 years. You couldn’t make him up, couldn’t find a better subject for a dramatic series,” Langlais also revealed.
While discussing her thoughts about Mailer and the upcoming show chronicling his life, Gelfer stated: “Throughout life writers have been the mainstay of recording the world’s history. It is my belief that Norman Mailer was one of our greatest. Not only did he write about life’s pathos, whether it be about a presidential race which changed the trajectory of our country, or diving into the mind of the world’s most beloved as well as maligned figures.
“Norman not only wrote about history, he lived it as well. His life was full of drama, humor and ultimately love. It’s the kind of life that makes for great storytelling. We plan to tell it, warts and all,” Gelfer also noted.
John Buffalo Mailer also chimed in on the series about his father’s life.
The producer said: “This series is going to be a no-holds-barred, pull-no-punches, intimate chronicle of my father’s life, as well as his role in shaping the American dialogue for over half a century.
“As we examine this unique cultural moment we are experiencing today in America, looking back on how we got here through one of the most fascinating, prophetic and controversial lenses of the 20th century will be an extraordinary tool in terms of understanding how far we have come, and how far we still have yet to go,” Mailer‘s showrunner continued.
“I cannot imagine a better visionary voice to bring this journey to life today than James Gray. We are honored that it will be in his hands,” John Buffalo Mailer added as he praised the series’ scribe-helmer.
Before Mailer and Ad Astra, the Independent Spirit Awards-nominated filmmaker garnered attention for writing, directing and producing the 2016 dramatic biopic, The Lost City of Z and the 2013 drama, The Immigrant. He also helmed an episode of SundanceTV’s The Red Road in 2014, but Mailer marks his first full television show.