Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk has signed on to play an acclaimed journalist who struggled with addiction issues in an AMC miniseries.
The Shield creator Shawn Ryan is developing The Night of the Gunwith Odenkirk attached to start. The project is based on former New York Times columnist David Carr’s best-selling memoir. Eileen Myers (Masters of Sex) is also attached as an executive producer and writer.
“David Carr’s work as a journalist was uncompromising, enlightening, and most of all, always driven by a fundamental quest for the truth,” said Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC (AMCX). “When he turned those skills and values around to focus on his own life as an addict, the result was a stunningly original, compelling and important piece of journalism the likes of which the world had never seen – a simultaneously heartbreaking, funny, and inspirational account that redefined the idea of telling a personal story. Shawn Ryan, Bob Odenkirk, and the incredible team behind this have embraced all the things that David would have loved as a storyteller, and crafted a vision for The Night of the Gun that we hope will be as timeless as David’s book.”
Added Odenkirk: “I read David’s story, The Night of the Gun, when it came out and was wildly entertained by his saga. It’s a story of survival filled with pain, crack, journalistic righteousness, abandoned cars, crooks, lies, and then there’s the two little girls who saved his life; it’s overstuffed with humanity. Shawn Ryan is the man to explore this real anti-hero story. I hope to do justice to David’s intellect and his scrappy nature. It’s gonna be crazy… if we do it right.”
No date is set for the six-part series.