After success with The Wire and the shorter run of Generation Kill on US cable channel HBO, writer/producer David Simon is taking a shot at a miniseries for the network, with Winona Ryder, Catherine Keener, Oscar Isaac, Jon Bernthal and Alfred Molina all set to star in Show Me A Hero{
Drawn from Lisa Belkin’s non-fiction book, Hero will be set in an American city overseen by young, idealistic mayor Nick Wasickso (Isaac). When tasked by a federal court order with building low-income housing units in an upscale part of his town, he sparks protests that threaten to tear the place apart and kicks the struts out from under his own political career.
Keener will be Mary Dorman, a homeowner who discovers some key information about the plan, while Ryder will be Vinni Restiano, a confidante to the mayor who loses her seat after voting for the housing, only to come back four years later and become City Council President. Molina, meanwhile, will be Henry “Hank" Spallone, a former NYPD detective who rallies the local opponents to the housing plan, while Bernthal will be Michael H. Sussman, a hard-hitting lawyer who was involved with the NAACP’s real-life anti-segregation case against the city.
With Terry Kinney, James Belushi and Michael Stahl-David already aboard, Simon has written the script with William F. Zorzi. Crash director Paul Haggis will make one of his occasional forays back to TV to direct the series, which sounds like it could be thrilling. Sure, issues of social housing may not sound thrilling on paper, but they have sparked huge mass protests throughout the past half-century or more and regularly keep emotions running high.