Prepare yourselves for a reach back into the archives... All right, only 2011. Back then, Robert Downey Jr. was developing a film based on the Perry Mason character as a potential starring role. Things have changed since then, and he'll now produce a miniseries for HBO starring Matthew Rhys as the legal eagle.
While the character of Perry Mason is most usually known to audiences through the Raymond Burr-starring TV series, he actually first stalked the courts in Erle Stanley Gardner’s books, the first of which was published in 1933. The author went on to write 82 novels and many short stories, which revolved around Mason, secretary Della Street, private eye Paul Drake and the team’s legal nemesis, Hamilton Burger.
When the film version failed to materialize at Warners, Downey Jr. brought the concept to HBO, with True Detective's Nic Pizzolatto on to oversee it. He's since been busy with the third season of his own series, so the producers have gone in a new direction. Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald will write and run the show, with the story here set in 1932 Los Angeles. While the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression, this city is booming. Oil! Olympic Games! Talking Pictures! Evangelical Fervor! And a child kidnapping gone very, very wrong! At this time in his life, Mason is living paycheque to paycheque as a low-rent private eye. When the case of the decade breaks down his door, Mason’s relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.
Rhys has been best known for playing Philip Jennings on TV drama The Americans, scooping up Emmy, Golden Globe and Critics' Choice awards in the process. Film-wise, he'll be seen this year in new drama The Report and opposite Tom Hanks in Mr. Rogers tale A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.
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