EXCLUSIVE: Nick Broomfield is lining up a 2015 shoot near Lake Victoria in Tanzania for his BBC four-parter The Catastrophist.
Broomfield has been attached to the project for several years, but the elements are now lining up with Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens set to take the lead role.
The director has already met with Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete, who is keen to boost the film industry in the country.
Broomfield and Marc Hoeferlin are writing the script, which is based on Ronan Bennett’s 1960, Belgian Congo-set novel about the love affair between a jaded writer and a young idealistic journalist who are forced to take sides when a violent civil war breaks out.
Broomfield admits he isn’t a typical TV drama director, and says “I like telling stories in a different way,,,it has to be something I can bring something to.”
He said he was drawn to The Catastrophist because it’s “incredibly subjective…it’s about a guy who is full of self-loathing.”
The director says he is excited to tell the story over four one-hour episodes. “You can go into all that darkness in a way you can’t with a one-off feature film.”
Broomfield was speaking to Screen in Copenhagen at CPH: DOX, where he is screening his latest documentary feature, Tales of the Grim Sleeper, about the world of alleged serial killer Lonnie Franklin. The film, which premiered in Telluride and then played Toronto, the New York Film Festival, and AFI Fest, is one of the frontrunners for the awards season. HBO will broadcast in 2015.
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