Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu must be enjoying his career at the moment. He’s winning plaudits for Birdman and is gearing up to make anticipated historical thriller The Revenan****t. Added to those, the TV show he’s had a hand in developing, The One Percent, has won a series order at US cable channel Starz.
Ed Helms, Hilary Swank and Ed Harris are to star in the show, which will follow the struggles of downtrodden farmer Alfred Murphy (Helms) as he tries to keep the family business afloat in tough economic times. Swank is close to a deal to play his wife Laura, while Harris – who may end up pulling double duty between this and HBO’s Westworld – is set as Nathanial Cobb, the family patriarch.
Co-written by Iñárritu and his Birdman collaborators Alexander Dinelaris Jr., Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo, the filmmaker will direct the first two episodes of the series 10-instalment first season and dictate the visual style for the rest of the shows. Whether it makes it over to UK channels might depend on the show's success in the States.