All of your favorite directors are going to television.Steven Soderberghhelmed an entire two seasons ofThe Knick, theCoen Brothers’ will be working onThe Ballad of Buster Scruggs, andDanny Boyleis at work onTrust. The upcoming FX series follows John Paul Getty III’s infamous mafia kidnapping, and eventual ear removal, in 1973.
I recently spoke to Boyle about his new film,T2 Trainspotting, and we talked a bit about his goals forTrust. He revealed that his hope for the series is that every season will focus on a different decade, and that the show will run for five seasons, covering 50 years. Boyle is collaborating with Oscar-winningSlumdog MillionairewriterSimon Beaufoy, who’s handling the scripts, and producerChristian Colson. Boyle laid out his ambitious plan forTrust:
“We have a television series we’re developing for FX, which is kind of like a five-decade family thing, which in theory would happen over five years. Each series would shoot every year for five years, and each series is about a different decade. The first one would be set in the 70s and would happen in Italy and England, and we’re hoping to begin shooting that this summer. And it’s calledTrust. So that’s our plan at the moment. So again, it’s interesting because it’s a very different form. Long-term, long-form storytelling and it will be interesting to see how that affects the way one works and one behaves. The actors become the storytellers, really. Once you set them up, they carry the burden of the storytelling. I’m really fascinated by that.”
With some directors like Soderbergh withThe KnickorCary Fukunagawith the first season ofTrue Detective, they directed every episode, so I asked if Boyle was planning to take on the whole season, or divvy up the season with other directors:
“No, I will [direct] the first two or three. We’re just deciding that at the moment. I’d love to do them all. I think that would be wrong because I think the danger is you are not allowing the form to take over. You’d be doing 10 mini-films, which is not the form. The format is that you’re letting the characters tell the story and directors are an aid to that rather than the driving force. I’m going to limit to two or three. We’re just in the process of deciding whether it should be two or three.
It sounds like an exciting prospect for a show, and Boyle’s such a distinctive filmmaker that I can’t wait to see the tone he sets for the series.
Look for my full interview with Boyle closer to the release date ofT2 Trainspotting, which opens March 17th.
