In 2008, Paul Giamatti starred as the title character in “John Adams,” a historical miniseries on HBO that followed the life of the second President of the United States. Now Giamatti may be the driving force behind another miniseries about a notable figure in American history.
Deadline is reporting that Giamatti’s Touchy Feely Films is developing a miniseries for FX based upon Tony Horwitz’s book “Midnight Rising,” which focused on John Brown, one of the most prominent abolitionists in the lead up to the Civil War.
Brown was an abolitionists who believed that slavery could only be destroyed by force and in 1859, Brown led an unsuccessful raid on the Harpers Ferry armory in Virginia that he hoped would lead to an armed slave insurrection. Brown was hanged for treason and his actions are widely viewed as one of the inciting incidents of the Civil War.
The currently untitled FX miniseries would chronicle Brown’s transition from an ordinary farmer to a passionate anti-slavery leader before ending with his ill-fated raid on Harper’s Ferry. It’s not clear if Giamatti is looking to star in the project, but he will serve as an executive producer alongside Daniel Carey, Perri Kipperman and David Stern. Gabriel Range (Death Of A President) is writing the script based upon Horwitz’s book.
FX is also developing several miniseries, including “Fargo” and the action-terrorist drama, “Grand Hotel.” Giamatti and Carey are also producing FX’s miniseries, “Mayflower,” which follows the first Puritan settlers in America.
