Javier Bardem has been cast in a lead role for Apple TV+’s upcoming series adaptation of Cape Fear, Variety is reporting. The Oscar-winning actor is set to play a new iteration of the notorious serial killer, Max Cady.
The streaming service has released the following official logline for the drama: A storm is coming for happily married attorneys Amanda and Steve Bowden when Max Cady, a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison.
The show was first reported to be in development last year. While a network and cast wasn’t attached to the project at that time. Apple TV+ soon signed on to broadcast the series. The streamer has since ordered 10 episodes of the drama.
As was reported last year, Nick Antosca will serve as the writer, executive producer and showrunner on Cape Fear. Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese will also executive produce the series.
Scorsese directed the Academy Award-nominated 1991 movie that the upcoming show will partially be based on. The new small screen adaptation is a part of the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s first-look TV deal with Apple TV+. He previously co-penned, directed and produced last year’s Oscar-nominated epic Western crime drama, Killers of the Flower Moon.
The television series will also be based on both John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel The Executioners. The book inspired the original Cape Fear feature, which starred Gregory Peck and was helmed by J. Lee Thompson. The film was released in 1962 by Universal Pictures.
Spielberg went on to produce Scorsese’s acclaimed 1991 movie remake. The adaptation starred Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte in the lead roles.
The upcoming show will feature some departures from the story’s previous iterations. Most notably, in MacDonald’s book and the films, only the husband is a lawyer.
In the 1962 feature, Max was played by Robert Mitchum, who was followed by De Niro in the 1991 iteration. The married couple was played by Gregory Peck and Polly Bergen in the first movie, and Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange in its follow-up big screen adaptation.
Antosca is executive producing the upcoming television adaptation under his Eat the Cat banner, along with Alex Hedlund. Bardem will serve as an additional executive producer, in addition to starring on the series.
Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will executive produce the new screen adaptation for Amblin Television, which produced the 1991 film. UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, will produce the show.
The series marks the latest project that Bardem has worked on with Apple TV+. The Academy Award-winning actor is also set to star in the streamer’s upcoming sports action film, F1, alongside Brad Pitt. The Joseph Kosinski-directed drama will premiere on June 25, 2025.
Bardem is known for starring in such a wide range of movies, including No Country for Old Men, for which he won his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He was also nominated for Academy Awards for his work in the movies Before Night Falls, Biutiful and Becoming the Ricardos. He recently starred in the two Dune films and played a lead role in the second season of Netflix’s acclaimed crime drama television show, Monsters.
Antosca has recently found critical acclaim for his work in the true crime genre. He has created scripted shows like the Gypsy Rose Blanchard series The Act, the Candy Montgomery series Candy and the Jan Broberg series A Friend of the Family.
Cape Fear is developed and produced through Antosca’s overall deal at UCP. Antosca, a big fan of both movies since childhood, approached Universal about adapting the property through UCP, where he has been based for the past eight years. Most recently, he served as an executive producer on the USA/Syfy/UCP show Chucky, based on the popular horror movie franchise.
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