News > HBO embarks on Crusades with miniseries
December 12, 2006
Content taken from TV.com:
HBO is developing a miniseries about the Third Crusade, the 12th century clash between Islam and Christianity.
The project, a co-production with Britain's Channel 4, will be told through the eyes of their respective leaders, Saladin and Richard the Lionheart. HBO is no stranger to the sword-and-sandal genre, having finished work on two seasons of the BBC co-production Rome, which returns next month.
The new miniseries is being written by Kario Salem, who won an Emmy for his script for HBO's 1997 biopic Don King: Only in America, and an Emmy nomination for another HBO biopic, The Rat Pack.
"This is not some dry historical costume drama," Salem said. "This is a personal story. I think it of it as a medieval gangster epic."
Salem was particularly enthused about offering a fresh angle on the storied life of Richard the Lionheart, best known from the classic The Lion in Winter.
He earned a script order for eight hours on the strength of an outline of more than 100 pages steeped in years of research. He originally envisioned a 10-hour version but agreed to trim it by two hours.
Salem, who will direct at least one episode, is writing the first four hours, and Don McPherson is writing the final four.
