There’s a strong ‘Band of Brothers’ feel to this.
Given the fact that Michael Mann is the genius that directed Heat, The Last Of The Mohicans, Ali and Collateral, we can forgive the fact that some of his recent films haven’t quite matches the superb standard that he set with his earlier work.
Then again, how the hell does anyone top Heat? It’s a bloody masterpiece.
Despite the mixed reviews of Miami Vice, Public Enemies and Blackhat, Mann is still one of the most exciting and visually stylish directors in Hollywood which is why we’re incredibly excited about his next TV project, an adaptation of Hue 1968, Mark Bowden’s bestselling novel about American involvement in the Vietnam War.
If you need another reason to be excited, Bowden is the man that’s responsible for writing Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War and the superb Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw.
In case you don’t know, we’er massive fans of Black Hawk Down as you can read here.
The series is expected to have 8-10 episodes in total and Mann will be on directing the pilot- he’s also serving as producer.
As reported by Deadline, the show will “humanize the conflict by telling the story through the eyes of different characters on both sides over a 26-day period.”
They’ve also provided a brief synopsis: “The intertwined characters include a seemingly innocent schoolgirl on a bike, whose heart had hardened her into a revolutionary after her sister was executed, leading her to help smuggle weapons; a former NFL tackle who became a U.S. Marine colonel and tactician; a Buddhist poet-turned-Viet Cong commissar; an American civilian meeting his Vietnamese fiancée’s family; a math teacher from Hanoi in the North Vietnamese Army; a Marine captain radio operator from Pennsylvania, who immersed himself in local culture and language and then found himself unable to convince his supervisors that Hue had been overrun by conventional infantry; and President Lyndon Johnson in his pajamas in the White House with Gen. William Westmoreland, a sleepover guest who presented a rosy view of progress in Vietnam. The limited series will follow Bowden’s narrative structure to make understandable why bloody events unfolded the way they did and made clear that Vietnam was an unwinnable war for the U.S.”
We’ll be keeping our eye on this one.
